Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 285 Mao Wenlong's Rangers

"Imperial Envoy Cui, where will the execution be carried out?" Xiong Tingbi asked Cui Zhongqing.

Cui Zhongqing was visibly stunned. "My godfather didn't say anything. He just told me to bring Gao Huai to Liaodong. It depends on what you think. I'm fine with either."

Hearing Cui Zhongqing mention his godfather, Yang Lian's eyebrows moved unconsciously, but he did not respond.

"Gao Huai has been wreaking havoc in Liao for ten years, and the people of Liao have suffered greatly. The capital, Liaoyang, has been the worst hit." Xiong Tingbi said, "How about carrying out the execution in Liaoyang?"

"Of course." Cui Zhongqing nodded and took the initiative to ask, "Let's set a date. If you're willing, we can start today."

"Can you wait a little longer?" Xiong Tingbi said.

"What are you waiting for?" Cui Zhongqing was puzzled.

"Gao Huai's crimes, though cut into pieces, could never be redeemed. But there's no need to rush now," Xiong Tingbi explained. "We can first post notices in every city and fortress, and wait for the Liao people to gather in Liaoyang before carrying out the divine punishment. This way, perhaps Liao will regain its confidence."

Xiong Tingbi didn't reject the death penalty at all. On the contrary, he felt that Gao Huai wasn't the only one who deserved to be skinned alive. He believed that Li Chengliang, Zhao Ji, and a large number of civil and military officials in the Liao garrison should also be included. In Xiong Tingbi's view, if the responsibility for the destruction of the Liao Dynasty was divided tenfold, Gao Huai alone would bear thirty percent, while those civil and military officials would bear sixty percent. As for the remaining ten percent, the late emperor should at least shoulder some of the blame for his negligence.

Unfortunately, Li Chengliang was already dead, and most of the Liao army officers had been killed at Sarhu. This could be considered as atonement.

After a moment's silence, Cui Zhongqing replied, "Okay. Please set a date. But please don't wait too long, as the palace is waiting for my report."

Cui Zhongqing didn't want to stay in Liaodong for long. Every fort he'd stationed at along the way was on high alert. This tense situation was a stark contrast to the relaxed atmosphere within Shanhaiguan. Cui Zhongqing instinctively sensed that Liaodong was far from peaceful. He should complete his mission quickly, return to Beijing, and resume his normal, happy life.

"How about the 11th of this month?" asked Xiong Tingbi.

"Okay." Cui Zhongqing thought about it and realized that there were only a few days left.

"Okay." Xiong Tingbi said, "Then I'll arrange for people to post notices in various cities today."

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When the imperial envoys and the high-ranking officials of Liaozhen entered the city hand in hand, the cavalry of Maoying, who had been left aside by Cui Zhongqing, rode his horse back to his camp.

"Kong Youde. How does it feel to be a eunuch leading a horse?" The soldier guarding the camp gate saw the young man coming up on horseback, and immediately put on a very artificial expression and went up to him to mock him.

"Go back and guard your gate, okay?" Kong Youde waved his hands repeatedly, lowering his voice to tell the soldier to go back. He didn't want to attract too much attention, he just wanted to lead the horse back to the stable and then eat.

But unexpectedly, the soldier at the gate got excited. Not only did he block the door to prevent Kong Youde from entering, he also shouted loudly, "Kong Youde! How does it feel to lead a eunuch's horse?"

Soon, the entire Mao camp knew that "Ma Bian Kong" had returned. Because of Gao Huai, the older Liao people had developed a negative impression of eunuchs. They didn't dare express their dissatisfaction with the eunuchs or the tasks they faced, so they could only vent their anger on the young "Ma Bian Kong," as if he were the embodiment of the eunuchs.

"You guys are all burping after eating chicken and you must be bloated!" Mao Wenlong, who heard the noise, came out with two people to stop them.

Kong Youde took a closer look and immediately recognized the two men. The first was Mao Wenlong's adopted son, Mao Chenglu, who had not yet earned the nickname "Mao Da." The second was Kong Youde's elder brother, Kong Youxing.

Mao Wenlong not only had a dark complexion, silver teeth, a prominent forehead and a plump face, but he also had a loud voice. His roar immediately calmed the situation.

"Damn it, I asked him to deliver the horse to the imperial envoy. If you want to talk nonsense, come and tell me!" Mao Wenlong looked around with his eyes wide open, and finally stopped his gaze on Kong Youde. "Hey. Kid."

"Sir." Kong Youde lowered his head and gripped the reins tightly. His voice was choked with sobs.

"It's almost time for dinner. Please have dinner with me." Mao Wenlong walked forward, put the big dark hand on Mao Wenlong's head, and scratched it gently.

"Thank you, sir." Kong Youde blinked, and two tears fell.

Mao Wenlong took the reins from Kong Youde and threw them to the soldier who had led the commotion. "Go, take the horse away."

"Yes." The soldier lowered his head, completely losing his previous arrogance.

The four of them soon arrived at Mao Wenlong's barracks, which were reserved for him alone. Steaming flatbreads and cooked meat were already on the table. Kong Youde, now feeling a bit calmer, was keenly aware that this wasn't just a spur-of-the-moment dinner.

"There's only so much room. Sit next to your brother." Mao Wenlong arranged the seating and pulled out two jars of wine from the corner of the barracks. "You two have one, too." After placing the wine on the table, he pulled four ceramic bowls from the cupboard by the bed and tossed two of them in front of the Kong brothers.

"Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir." Kong Youxing and Kong Youde bowed quickly.

Although they saw Guerrilla Mao every day, this was the first time they had ever sat at the same table with such a high-ranking official. The two brothers instinctively became nervous and did not dare to initiate a conversation.

After taking a few sips of wine, Mao Wenlong broke the silence and said, "After we leave, did the imperial envoy arrange any other tasks for you?"

"No." Kong Youde stopped chewing and raised his head.

"Then why did you come back just now?" Mao Wenlong's tongue licked across his teeth, but failed to push the meat scraps down.

"I was afraid there would be other instructions. So I waited until the adults entered the city before coming back," said Kong Youde.

"Hmm," Mao Wenlong asked, "what's your impression of the imperial envoy?" "He's quite kind," Kong Youde said. "Very different from what was rumored."

During the years when Gao Huai's rebellion was at its worst, Kong Youde was still young. By the time he began to remember things, Gao Huai had already been transferred away amidst internal and external strife, leaving behind only a mess and a bad reputation.

"Did he reward you?"

"No." Kong Youde chuckled and said, "How could the imperial envoy think of such a trivial matter?"

"That's right." Mao Wenlong grinned, revealing two rows of white teeth. "I heard that you two tell everyone that you are descendants of Confucius?"

Kong Youxing wasn't as big as Kong Youde, but he was much more outgoing than his brother. Seeing the harmonious atmosphere, he took the initiative to put aside his restraint and joined Mao Wenlong in saying, "General, all the people with the surname Kong are family. My grandfather's surname is Kong, my father's is Kong, and we both have the same surname. We're very likely descendants of Confucius."

"Qiu can't even read a single word, yet you still have the nerve to call yourself a descendant of the Great Sage." Mao Wenlong laughed heartily: "Have you ever been to Shandong?"

"No." Kong Youde blushed and lowered his head again. He actually didn't like his brother bragging about being a descendant of Confucius. He didn't think that if he said that, others would look up to them.

After chatting about all sorts of things for a while, Mao Wenlong suddenly asked, "I heard you two escaped from Tieling?"

"Yes." Kong Youxing's eyes suddenly dimmed. It was as if he had remembered something sad. "We both escaped from Tieling after it was captured by the bandits."

"Is there anyone else at home?"

"Gone." Kong Youxing sniffed. "Both my parents are dead."

On July 25, the 47th year of the Wanli reign, the Jiannu, carrying the momentum of their conquest of Kaiyuan, attacked Tieling from Sanchakou. When Tieling was under siege, the defending lieutenant general Ding Bi simultaneously appealed for help to Li Ruzhen, who was stationed in Shenyang, and He Shixian, who was stationed at Hupiyi.

Shenyang was over 120 li from Tieling, but Li Ruzhen couldn't reach it by road. Instead, He Shixian, the commander of Hupi Post, over 180 li away, led his troops to the rescue. The Ming army defending Tieling held out, and a bloody battle lasted from the hour of Yin to the hour of Chen. After the death of Lieutenant General Ding Bi, the Tieling fortress was breached by spies.

At this time, He Shixian was engaged in a field battle with a small enemy force, with casualties on both sides. Soon after, He Shixian heard that the defending commander had been killed, Tieling City had been captured, and no reinforcements had been sent from Shenyang. He had no choice but to turn back.

Before Tieling fell, then-Governor Yang Hao anticipated that the city would be undefendable and ordered the evacuation of its inhabitants. However, when the city fell, over 20,000 people, including local residents and refugees from Kaiyuan and nearby forts, remained inside. They were either taken as slaves or massacred by the slave soldiers.

The parents of the two Kong brothers were killed during this period.

Afterwards, they first fled to Shenyang and were then transferred to Liaoyang. During Xiong Tingbi's early years in Liao, he drew lessons from Fushun, Qinghe, Kaiyuan, Tieling, and other places, as well as his observations after arriving in Liao, and he hesitated to recruit Liao people on a large scale. Instead, he repeatedly petitioned the court to dispatch troops from various garrisons and southern foreign troops to garrison Liaodong.

Once the situation in Liaodong stabilized somewhat, Xiong Tingbi made another small concession, allowing some refugees with blood feuds with the Jiannu to serve as roving soldiers under his trusted Liao generals. Because of this policy, the two Kong brothers were able to join Mao Wenlong's army.

Mao Wenlong remained silent for the rest of the meal, and the meal ended abruptly. It seemed as if Mao Wenlong had invited them over simply because Kong Youde had served as a horseman for the eunuch envoy.

After the two left, Mao Chenglu, who had been sitting next to Mao Wenlong but hadn't spoken a word, turned to look at his adoptive father. "Dad, didn't you ask your son to adopt them as his adopted sons?"

"They've been mourning the death of their parents for a long time. They're good children. They wouldn't want to be your sons now." Mao Wenlong sighed, "Just take good care of them on a daily basis. We can talk about it later. It's better to let things develop naturally and step by step."

"You're right." Mao Chenglu didn't have much of an opinion on this matter, so since his father said so, he just let it go.

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After lunch, Mao Wenlong took the soldiers to the training ground in the camp for training.

Mao Wenlong's battalion was a somewhat irregular, non-standard roving battalion. It lacked a fixed defense zone and its missions were relatively flexible. Its primary responsibility was to "attack within the town," which generally meant responding to invaded areas within the town. Currently, Mao's battalion operated between the cities of Liaoyang and Shenyang.

Since Yuan Yingtai, the Liaodong Governor, rarely left Liaoyang, he rarely needed an escort. Besides the city garrison, Liaoyang was also guarded by the General Li Huaixin's standard-bearing troops, so Yuan Yingtai didn't have a standard-bearing troop. Therefore, when he needed to leave Liaoyang for some reason, he would call upon Mao Wenlong's roving troops for protection.

Some time ago, Xiong Tingbi had assigned him the task of rounding up Mongol refugees near Liaoning and Shenyang. However, this mission was quickly completed, and few lives were taken. After completing this task, Mao Wenlong's focus shifted back to training his troops.

The basic organization of the guerrilla army consisted of two infantry divisions and one cavalry division, a mixed force of infantry and cavalry, totaling 3,000 combat troops. However, because Xiong Tingbi did not allow Liao generals to recruit Liao troops on their own, they had to accept allocations from the governor's office. As a result, Mao Wenlong's battalion was often incomplete, and even with the support troops, it only had a little over 2,000 men.

But in contrast, his battalion of mobile soldiers had no shortage of horses.

Mao Wenlong had always harbored ambitions for a title of nobility. Even back in his hometown of Qiantang, he often told people, "I won't stop until I'm a nobility." But after more than a decade in Liaodong, with little success, he briefly considered returning south to his adopted mother. However, the chaotic situation in Liaodong and Xiong Jinglüe's credibility reignited his latent ambition.

Mao Wenlong knew that if he wanted to achieve great success, he couldn't rely solely on passive defense. Only by actively attacking, penetrating deep into enemy territory, and beheading the two slave chiefs and bandit leaders would he be able to make rapid progress. He was already forty-four years old, and if he didn't achieve great success soon, he would have no chance.

Therefore, he proposed to Xiong Tingbi that he wanted to transform his roving troops into a highly mobile, pure cavalry unit. He wanted them not to roam within the town, but rather into enemy territory outside the town. When he presented this idea to Xiong Tingbi, he immediately received his strong support.

During his time in Liao, Xiong Tingbi raised thousands of new horses by exchanging horses from temples, purchasing horses from civilians, and investigating horse regulations. When the 1,800 fine horses he had purchased arrived in Liaoyang, Xiong Tingbi immediately allocated 40% to Mao Wenlong. Combined with the horses already in Mao's army, the number of horses in his camp now exceeded the standard cavalry strength, reaching 1,300.

Horses alone weren't enough; they also required skilled cavalrymen. To equip his men for both mobility and combat, Mao Wenlong trained all the soldiers in his camp, regardless of whether they were mounted or cavalry, as cavalry. Soldiers with horses rode, while those without them marched. The horses were divided into three groups, each taking turns training. One group stayed in the camp to gain weight, one was taken out to Liaoyang for field training to lose weight, and one group stayed in the camp to practice close combat techniques with the soldiers.

Of the soldiers recently assigned to him by the Governor's Office, he was particularly pleased with the Kong brothers. Though they had been ordinary miners who had never even ridden a horse before joining the army, after basic training, they could hold their own in spearfights with veterans. Kong Youde, in particular, was a skilled horseman, capable of hitting nine out of ten arrows from mounted archery. He believed that with more experience in battle, the two brothers would become elite troops.

(End of this chapter)