Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 283 Simon's Story and the Imperial Envoy

West of Liaoyang City, Xiong Tingbi, wearing the crimson peacock robe symbolizing a third-rank civil official, stood atop the city gate tower, which had already topped out and was nearing completion, gazing into the distance. Beside him stood Governor Yuan Yingtai, Inspector Yang Lian, and the commanders of the various reinforcements. Like Xiong Tingbi, they all wore the crimson official uniform. Meanwhile, the generals under each commander, clad in armor, waited quietly beneath the city tower.

"Mom," Ma Xianglin, the young Shiqu envoy, asked his mother softly, tilting his head slightly. "Why do we have to go through the West Gate? Isn't it closer to Liaoyang from Anshan Post Station through the South Gate?"

When he brought the local soldiers of Shiqusi to Liaoyang, he took this route.

"Lord Zuotang must have his own considerations when making such arrangements. Where do you get so many questions?" Qin Liangyu still stood there solemnly and proudly.

Ma Xianglin often encountered this kind of soft, innocuous rejection from his mother. He knew very well that once his mother asked, "Where do you get so many questions from?", she herself would be clueless. At this point, talking back was out of the question; otherwise, he would either receive a small beating or be forced to leave. The best thing to do was to quietly withdraw and pretend nothing had happened.

"This door is newly built and was blown down before." Zhang Mingshi, who was separated from Ma Xianglin by a Qinbangping, heard the conversation here and couldn't help but interrupt.

Because they were both largely migrant troops from the south, Xiong Tingbi assigned Zhang Mingshi, who was in charge of training and commanding the newly recruited Zhejiang troops, and Ma Xianglin, the leader of the Shiqusi native troops, to the same division. In May and June of the previous year, the Zhejiang and native troops had a conflict in Tongzhou over supplies, which led to a fight. Xu Guangqi, who was in charge of training troops in Tongzhou at the time, learned of this and submitted a document to the Ministry of War to report the incident.

However, afterward, the imperial court reward arrived. The local officials of Tongzhou took advantage of the situation and arranged for the two groups to have a good meal together, helping them to resolve their past grievances. Otherwise, Xiong Tingbi would not have dared to station the local and Zhejiang troops in the same area.

"How did you know?" Ma Xianglin asked.

"I got here earlier than you." Although Zhang Mingshi and Qi Jin had trained the Zhejiang soldiers in Liaodong together, recruiting soldiers was not his responsibility; that was the responsibility of the Ministry of War. After being released, he immediately went to Liaodong. He arrived at least half a year earlier than these local soldiers and officers. "I've inquired about the situation in this city."

"What's going on?" Qin Bangping also became interested.

"I heard about it too. I can't guarantee the specific facts. Just listen and believe it." Zhang Mingshi took precautions first, and then continued: "On the eleventh day of the twelfth lunar month of the year before last, the Korean Li Tinggui delegation arrived in Liaoyang. Six days later, on the seventeenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the gunpowder depot near the west gate caught fire and exploded. Seventy thousand kilograms of gunpowder disappeared in an instant! Hundreds of houses in the surrounding area were destroyed by the violent explosion, and countless people were killed or injured. The city walls and gates were blown down, and the city gate tower disappeared completely." Zhang Mingshi's tone was like he was telling a story.

"Xiong Zuotang was in Liaoyang when the gunpowder depot exploded. He was already ill from anxiety, and the explosion exacerbated his anxiety, causing him to fall ill and become bedridden."

Zhang Mingshi was right. The Liaoyang gunpowder depot explosion nearly shattered Xiong Tingbi's heart. The Liaoyang gunpowder depot was the largest in Liaodong. The gunpowder Yang Hao had stored during his stay in Liao, as well as the new gunpowder he had produced afterward, was completely destroyed in this explosion. Everything had to start all over again.

Even more terrifying was the explosion that destroyed half of Liaoyang's west gate and a section of the city wall several meters long. If I had taken advantage of this crisis and launched an all-out attack on Shenyang, or even bypassed Shenyang and launched a reckless assault on Liaoyang, I'd probably have died fighting for my country in Liaoyang.

"According to you, this matter has something to do with the Koreans?" Qin Bangping asked.

"I didn't say that. Don't talk nonsense." Zhang Mingshi did not reject conspiracy theories, but after all, no one in the Korean delegation was captured and beheaded by Xiong Jinglie, so he didn't want to talk nonsense.

Moreover, when the Joseon envoys arrived in Yutian, Queen Wang had passed away. As the group finished their business in the capital and prepared to leave, the emperor also passed away. It's impossible to say that the deaths of both the empress and the emperor were solely the fault of the Joseon. It can only be said that Yi Jeonggui's envoys were somewhat unlucky.

"Then why did they come to Liaoyang?" Qin Bangping asked again.

"I don't know. This is a matter for the higher-ups. How can I find out?" Zhang Mingshi raised his thumb and poked the sky a few times.

"Didn't you say you had inquired about it all?" Qin Bangping said sarcastically.

"I have asked everything I could and dared to ask. As for why the Koreans came to Liaoyang and why they went to the capital, it is something I cannot and have no way of finding out." Zhang Mingshi shrugged.

"Tsk." Qin Bangping rolled his eyes.

"But what does this have to do with us going to the west gate to welcome the imperial envoy?" The curious young man listened for a long time but didn't get the answer he wanted, so he couldn't help but ask.

"I came to Liaoyang last February. When I arrived, the collapsed walls had been barely repaired with rammed earth and wood, and the city gates had been blocked." Zhang Mingshi poked his head over Qin Bangping. "Do you know why?"

"I don't know." Ma Xianglin shook his head.

"We have no money and no materials," Zhang Mingshi explained. "After decades of the Li family's rule, Liaodong has fallen into disrepair. To defend the Shenyang area, especially Hupi and Fengji Forts, almost all of Liaodong's stockpiles of bricks and stone materials were used up. Locals simply couldn't find the materials to repair the broken walls. We had to rely on wood and rammed earth to maintain stability."

"Doesn't it look pretty good now?" Ma Xianglin looked up and saw the brand-new gate tower standing proudly on the city wall. It was taller and grander than any other gate tower he had seen in the southwest. The only flaw was that the new gate tower was unpainted, thus lacking some of its vibrant majesty.

"Large-scale bricklaying only began after August. Since the Emperor ascended the throne, he has not only allocated several sums of money to Liaodong, but also had the Ministry of Works send a lot of building materials. I heard that many of the materials here were originally intended for the late Emperor to use to build the palace." Zhang Mingshi stopped here. "So you know, right?"

"Know what?" Ma Xianglin asked doubtfully.

"Yeah." Zhang Mingshi stretched out his hand and gestured between the gate tower and the city wall, saying, "It's intuitive and can be seen at a glance." After that, Zhang Mingshi stopped talking.

Xiong Tingbi in the tower couldn't hear the whispers below the city wall, but Zhang Mingshi's guess was correct: he was indeed waiting there on purpose, so that the imperial envoy from the palace could directly see the results of Liaoyang's reconstruction.

After several rounds of grain and silver payments, Liaodong's shortages were largely eliminated within a short period of time. However, silver and grain could be used to support and train the army, but they couldn't be used to build walls. Without building materials, no amount of silver was of any use.

Xiong Tingbi knew far more than Zhang Mingshi, who had relied on hearsay. The bricklaying of the west gate and the broken wall was successfully completed before the first year of the Taichang reign entirely because the emperor halted all major projects, including the renovation of the Huangji Hall, and instructed the Imperial Household Department and the Ministry of Works to channel as much manpower, financial resources, and building materials from internal and external warehouses as possible to Liaodong. This influx of supplies significantly strengthened Liaodong's defenses.

It could be said that Emperor Taichang's support for him was even greater than that of Emperor Wanli. The Wanli Emperor only provided policies, but when Xiong Tingbi requested materials, he issued an imperial decree directing the outer court to raise funds, unwilling to use his own treasury. Emperor Taichang, on the other hand, simply transferred funds from the imperial treasury, halting construction projects. Whenever he needed any valuable tribute, Liaodong was the first place he thought of. Old Xiong was a sincere man, and he felt it was necessary to let the emperor know, through the imperial envoy, that he had taken care of things after receiving the gifts. To ensure that the performance could proceed smoothly on the stage he had chosen, Xiong Tingbi had already arranged for a fully equipped cavalry unit to greet and lead the way.

Lao Xiong wanted to make the scene more grand, but after being pushed by Yang Lian, he had no choice but to cancel the second part he had originally envisioned, which was to have the Liaodong General Li Huaixin personally come out ten miles to greet him.

Thinking of this, Xiong Tingbi turned his head and glanced at Yang Lian again. Yang Lian didn't understand what he meant, so he smiled back. Xiong Tingbi rolled his eyes, then turned his gaze back to the distance. Under the bright morning sun, he saw a cloud of dust rising slowly towards them.

"The imperial envoy is here, let's go down to greet him." Xiong Tingbi turned around and said solemnly to the civil and military officials.

"Yes!" The generals clasped their fists and accepted the order, silently waiting for Yuan and Yang, who were following Xiong Tingbi, to walk in front of all of them.

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At six o'clock in the morning, General Mao Wenlong, leading the way, spotted the newly built gatehouse at Liaoyang City's west gate from afar. He pulled the reins, turned around, and approached the carriage in the center of the procession, running alongside it. The imperial envoy's team had many carriages, but only two carried passengers. Mao Wenlong knew the first carriage held the imperial envoy's delegation, but he had no idea who was in the second.

He tapped the window frame lightly with his knuckles and called out, "Imperial Envoy."

The curtains were immediately drawn aside. The person who emerged was Cui Zhongqing, the highest-ranking official in the imperial delegation, the Director of the General Affairs Department of the East Depot. "Guerrilla Mao, have you arrived yet?"

"In reply to the imperial envoy, we can already see the city wall," said Mao Wenlong.

Xiong Tingbi sent Mao Wenlong to greet the imperial envoys because Mao Wenlong volunteered to do so. He claimed that during his early years under Li Chengliang, he had worked at Anshan Post for a period of time and was familiar with the area. This claim was somewhat exaggerated, but the general idea was correct.

In February of the 33rd year of the Wanli reign, Mao Wenlong, nearly thirty years old but with no achievements, was adopted by his uncle, Mao Dechun, the hereditary centurion of Haizhou Guard, Liaodong Commandery, who had no heirs. To inherit his uncle's hereditary position, he traveled north alone, first visiting his maternal uncle, Shen Guangzuo, in Beijing, hoping he would show some favor.

Shen Guangzuo was a Jinshi (Jinshi) in the 23rd year of the Wanli reign. He passed the imperial examination in the same year as Liu Yirong and Yuan Yingtai. At the time, he was serving as a director of the Military Affairs Department in Beijing. Mao Wenlong lost his father at the age of nine, and his mother took him and his two younger brothers to live with Shen Guangzuo for a period of time.

Shen Guangzuo, knowing early on that the boy wasn't a scholar, recommended him to the service of Li Chengliang, the Earl of Ningyuan. In September of that year, he placed sixth in the Liaodong military examination, inheriting his uncle's hereditary title of "Cai Bai Hu" (a centurion) and rising one rank to become a centurion in Anshan. However, he didn't stay in Anshan long, as Li Chengliang transferred him there to become a Qianzong (a thousand-man commander). Three years later, he was promoted to the garrison commander of Yiyang.

And then, nothing happened. Shen Guangzuo rose through the ranks, now serving as the Left Governor of Shandong Province, a second-rank official, one rank higher than Xiong Tingbi, who held the title of Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War. Yet, Shen Guangzuo only gave him a recommendation, or rather, a chance to participate in the Liaodong military examination. After that, Shen Guangzuo never helped him again. It wasn't until Nurhaci's rebellion, chaos in Liaodong, and Xiong Tingbi's journey north through Liao that he finally had a chance to show his skills, having lost the defense of Yiyang.

"Isn't that quite far away?" Cui Zhongqing stuck his head out and indeed saw the city gate tower.

"I remember you said you could ride a horse." Mao Wenlong smiled brightly.

"What's wrong with knowing how to ride a little?" Cui Zhongqing was the only one among the eunuchs who knew some horsemanship.

"Why don't you go there on horseback? It will look more majestic." Mao Wenlong suggested.

"That makes sense." Cui Zhongqing thought for a moment and nodded, "Then go find me a horse."

"Yes." Mao Wenlong nodded. He then galloped over to stop the nearly 2,000-man team and came to the carriage with a cavalryman.

"Imperial Envoy. The horse you asked for is here." Mao Wenlong knocked on the window frame again.

"Where is the horse?" Cui Zhongqing jumped out of the car, but didn't see any horse.

"Come down." Mao Wenlong ordered the cavalryman.

The cavalryman was startled, then dismounted as ordered.

"This is it." Mao Wenlong waved his hand.

"You are really a wonderful person." Cui Zhongqing shook his head and chuckled at Mao Wenlong, then with the help of the cavalry, he swayed and mounted the cavalry's horse.

The warhorse had been castrated and had a relatively docile temperament, but it did not like the unfamiliar scent of the new rider, so it struggled twice in protest.

"It seems it doesn't like me very much." Cui Zhongqing said to the cavalryman, "You will be my stable boy."

The cavalryman was a young Liao man. In his mind, eunuchs were demons who were eager to eat human flesh. Therefore, when the horse struggled, he began to panic, fearing that he would be whipped. Seeing this delicate eunuch so amiable, the cavalryman couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He quickly replied, "Yes, yes! Thank you, eunuch."

"Don't thank me, I'm not planning on rewarding you." Cui Zhongqing was in a good mood and made a joke, but his new groom clearly didn't get it. Instead, Mao Wenlong, who was gradually becoming more tactful, gave a couple of dry laughs in agreement.

Cui Zhongqing was disappointed and said awkwardly, "Guerrilla Mao, let's keep going. Don't keep everyone waiting."

"Yes." Mao Wenlong led Cui Zhongqing and the first carriage to the front of the line, and then ordered the team: "Follow!"

(End of this chapter)