Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 522: Inside Shenyang City
Su Qingying is not dead, at least not yet.

In the winter of the 47th year of the Wanli reign, after a large number of newly recruited Liao soldiers fled, Xiong Tingbi formulated and implemented the contraction strategy of "annexation of Shen and protection of Liao".

The first step of this strategy was to directly abandon the border forts in Kuandian, Yiyang, Qinghe and other places, and withdraw the scattered troops to Shenyang and its surrounding areas to avoid the border forts with empty defenses from being destroyed one by one, and the loss of precious manpower in vain.

Su Qingying, who was originally assigned to Kuandian, was dispatched by this strategy and retreated to Shenyang along with other newly recruited Liao soldiers who did not escape.

Over the next year or so, Xiong Tingbi reorganized and reorganized the Liao soldiers many times and provided centralized resettlement for their families.

Su Qingyao and the mother of the three Su brothers settled in the triangle area formed by the three towns of Shen, Feng and Hu.

From a strategic perspective, this triangle is an extremely dangerous place because in Xiong Tingbi's plan, this triangle is the most important buffer zone for Liaoyang, the capital of Liaozhen.

Before the Ming Dynasty recaptured Fushun and Tieling, this region was the primary battlefield for the Ming-Jin conflict. Even if Nurhaci didn't mobilize the entire nation for a massive westward raid, sporadic Jurchen or Tatar bandits would have sought opportunities to plunder. Even though the surrounding government forces were always able to mobilize cavalry many times their numbers to drive back the bandits and defend their garrisons, the situation remained extremely dangerous.

Therefore, Su Qingying had always wanted to move his mother and brother to a safe place. Even if he couldn't retreat all the way to western Liaoning or even the interior of the country, it would be good to retreat further south to the area around Liaoyang.

However, how could the Liaodong government, under Xiong Tingbi's leadership, allow the Liao soldiers' families to retreat to a safer place? The government was using the families to control the Liao soldiers' hearts. If they didn't want to defend their country, they should at least protect their families, right?
Xiong Tingbi saw it clearly: good governance could win people's hearts, as could the brutality of the enemy. Gao Huai's rebellion against the Liao had caused the Ming to lose the support of the Liao people, who then fostered unrealistic fantasies about brutal foreign rulers like Nurhaci. But fantasies are vulnerable to the sword. If the Liao people were to truly feel Nurhaci's blade, all fantasies would be shattered. Good governance by the imperial court would also achieve greater results.

As for those who neither wanted to defend their homeland nor their country, they were simply treated like cattle and horses. Wherever there was a need for manpower for an engineering project, the foreign troops would organize them and deploy them locally. These outsiders held no affection for the Liao people; for them, any rebellion automatically became a military achievement. The Liao people themselves were well aware of this, which is why no rebellion had occurred until now. When faced with a choice between a knife and food, anyone with a modicum of common sense would know which to choose.

The turning point occurred after the Battle of Puhe in August of the 48th year of the Wanli reign.

In that battle, the Ming and Jin armies confronted each other, but in the end only small-scale local conflicts broke out.

For the Ming, the greatest significance of this battle lay not in casualties, but in the fact that the Ming army stabilized its position and avoided another large-scale collapse. This gave the Ming an extra winter to reinforce the Liaoshen defenses. For Xiong Tingbi, the importance of this battle was self-evident, as through this confrontation he had proven himself right to the new emperor and earned his master's trust. This was more important than anything else.

For the small Su family, the good thing about the Puhe Campaign was that they put on a grand display but did not actually fight.

If there had been no fighting, Su Qingying, on the front lines, wouldn't have had to engage the enemy infantry head-on. The bandits' large-scale deployment at the front meant their rear was empty and their oversight lax. It was during this period that Su Qingyuan, the head of the Su family, managed to escape, seizing an opportunity when the enemy was least prepared.

Su Qingyuan escaped from Hetuala and traveled westward to the edge of the Great Wall. After crossing the Great Wall, he passed by the retreating Jin army. Su Qingyuan didn't know that at the most dangerous moment, the distance between him and the Jin army's cavalry scouts was only a mile.

He crossed the mountains and entered the plains, and was eventually discovered by the Ming army soldiers who were responsible for driving out the remaining Jin troops and retaking the outpost. If he had not been extremely emaciated due to hunger and had not previously shaved off the tuft of pig tail on his head with a knife, the Ming army soldiers who discovered him would probably have directly chopped him down as a Jin soldier who had deserted the team.

Su Qingyuan escaped anyway and was escorted to Shenyang by the garrison troops. Originally, Su Qingyuan was to be transferred to Liaoyang for further screening along with other Liao refugees. But before that, he met his second brother, Su Qingying, who was serving in Shenyang.

Therefore, Shenyang Circuit Inspector Sun Chuanting personally went through a simplified registration process for six other Liao refugees who had similar circumstances, including Su Qingying. Specifically, Su Qingying signed the register as guarantor, and after that, Su Qingyuan was released on the spot and restored to freedom.

After the family reunited, the eldest brother Su Qingyuan accepted the suggestion of the second brother Su Qingying to join the army elsewhere. In this way, the third brother Su Qingyao and his mother could once again be "settled with the army" as the family members of the sergeants.

This situation was not uncommon. The Liaodong government, fully aware of this, turned a blind eye, allowing these soldiers to exploit this "policy loophole." After all, newly recruited Liao soldiers were only dispatched to a few locations on the front lines, and their families were simply assigned to a new location. Each family relocation meant a new male member of the family was enlisting in the army.

Su Qingyao and his mother were subsequently relocated to Weining Camp. Weining served as Liaoyang's eastern barrier; if the enemy wanted to attack Liaoyang from east to west, they had to first eliminate Weining. In this respect, Weining's status was similar to Shenyang's, but the Su family was still pleased with the relocation, as it covered a narrower area than Shenyang.

The bandits' light cavalry could bypass Shenzhen and raid surrounding villages, but it was difficult for them to bypass Weining and attack the rear. So, while Weining itself wasn't particularly safe, its immediate rear was much safer than Shenyang's. At the very least, those stationed there could be less fear until Weining was captured.

But fate cannot be defied, and human plans are ultimately inferior to heaven's. After a sudden and unexpected cold wind, Su's mother's old illness relapses, and she desperately needs money to buy medicine. Meanwhile, Weining General Hou Shilu, unwilling to be left out, offers generous salaries and establishes a "hunting camp," openly recruiting brave men who dare to venture deep into enemy territory. Su Qingyuan is drawn to the guaranteed two taels of silver, three taels of silver for deployment, and additional bonuses for first place and doubled compensation for those killed in action.

He signed up and died, and his fortune turned into seventy ounces of silver.

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Dusk had already fallen, and the sun was setting. The last ray of flame on the horizon completely sank to the horizon after a cannon shot from the top of the city.

The bandits retreated, but no one in the city or outside cheered.

Outside Yongning Gate, there were the gasps of the living, the wails of the wounded, and the desolation of the dead. Seven days had passed, a relentless cycle of attack and defense from morning till night. Yet, both the fortified city of Shenyang and the Jin army camp seven miles east of Shenyang stubbornly held their ground.

A quarter of an hour after the cannonade faded, the gates of the Yongning Gate opened and the drawbridge descended. Thousands of cavalrymen filed out, advancing to the frontline trenches and forming a battle formation. Then, officers at all levels on the battlefield began directing their soldiers to collect the bodies and carry away the wounded.

The remaining troops guarding the field retreated, and fresh troops, having rested, left the city to take over. Tonight, the fresh troops outside Yongning Gate might have a less peaceful night.

The moment he passed through the city gate and entered the inner city, Su Qingying's tense nerves suddenly relaxed. The surging adrenaline gradually subsided. Soon, a wave of fatigue mixed with hunger spread from his abdomen throughout his body. He wanted to collapse on the spot, fall asleep, and then wake up to have a hearty meal.

But this was obviously impossible, he had to retreat to the designated location with the other soldiers in his unit, then have a group meal and wait for reorganization and replenishment. Only after everything was over could he return to the barracks to enjoy the peace of this night.

Under the control of Inspector Sun Chuanting, Shenyang City was transformed into a tortoise with a well-defined schedule. When to stick its head out and when to retract its tail were all planned, and no one was allowed to act outside of the plan, not even General He Shixian. If Su Qingying lay down, the generals and standard-bearers stationed on both sides of the city gate would immediately come over and pull him up and away.

Returning to the garrison, Su Qingying laid down his rifle and pistol at the designated spot. He then removed the lacquered, straight-brimmed iron helmet. After over a year of crafting and stockpiling, nearly every soldier in Shenzhen possessed one. Inside the helmet was a "brain bag," a thick cotton cloth wrapped around the helmet for cushioning.

Su Qingying held up the helmet and looked left and right, and found that there was indeed a dent next to the word "勇" that was almost broken.

"Hahahaha!" Su Qingying's heart rate suddenly increased and he burst into laughter.

"Are you having a hysterical fit?" Sergeant Wu walked over and patted Su Qingying on the head.

"I'm alive! I'm alive!" Su Qingying shouted excitedly, hugging the helmet with the word "Yong" on it. Tears of survival flowed unconsciously from his eyes.

"Stop yelling, it's annoying." Seeing the dent, the sergeant also smiled, "Just ask the higher-ups to replace it for you."

"No! It protected me, I want to keep it!" Su Qingying put the helmet with the word "Yong" on it back on his head.

"Leave a feather for me!" The sergeant understood the boy's feelings; he simply used this thing as a talisman. But swords and arrows are merciless, there's no such thing as metaphysics; if it hits, it hits. Wearing a damaged helmet is just making things difficult for yourself.

"No." Su Qingying stepped back, his face still flushed with excitement.

"Hey! How dare you disobey me, kid?" The sergeant reached out and grabbed him.

Su Qingying was incredibly agile, turning and dodging again. Wu Chang cursed and laughed, then chased after him.

"Stop messing around, take off your armor and eat." The team leader shouted at the two men while taking off his arm armor and throwing it on the ground.

After the adrenaline wore off, a soreness gradually set in. The captain lifted the armored armpit guard and found a large, red patch near his armpit. He reached across his chest and prodded, breathing a sigh of relief. The most painful spot was a little raw and bleeding, but thankfully, his ribs weren't broken. There shouldn't be any major internal injuries.

"You son of a bitch! You dare to attack me? I'll smash your head!" The captain cursed and immediately took off his throat protector. Fortunately, the heart and throat were not hit, so there was no need to replace the heart protector and throat protector.

"I'm talking to you two!" Seeing Su Qingying and his sergeant still arguing, the captain simply roared. "Didn't anyone hear me?"

The two men immediately calmed down, returned to their team's tent, and continued to take off their armor.

Compared to the lower-ranking officers and their armor, the soldiers' armor was simpler, but it still included the basic helmet, body armor, arm armor, and an iron breastplate. The full set weighed at least thirty pounds, but after removing it, it felt like a real relief.

Soldiers didn't have to prepare dinner themselves. While the fighting raged outside the city, the stoves were lit on schedule inside. For the baggage soldiers in the rear, no matter how loud the artillery fire from the city walls, as long as the enemy hadn't broken through the city gates and entered the city, they had to cook on time.

After the soldiers took off their armor, the team leader took those of his men who were still able to move and lined up next to the stove that had been prepared in advance.

The staple food today is still steamed cakes made from wheat flour. Unlike portable guangbing (light cakes), these are giant pancakes specially prepared for the army. One steamed cake can feed a soldier for 50 days.

Not long ago, Mao Yuanyi, a guerrilla commander under the Tianjin Governor's command, presented a comprehensive set of military manuals, titled "Wu Bei Zhi," to the imperial court. In the section titled "Military Resources," he mentioned the recipe for steamed buns: Take wheat flour, make a steamed bun, soak it in one liter of vinegar, and dry it in the sun until the vinegar is gone. To eat, cook it until it's the size of a sycamore seed. A person can eat it for 50 days.

In other words, although this thing is a cake, it is not eaten directly. Instead, a piece is thrown into the pot and cooked into a paste. Because it is soaked in vinegar, the whole camp can smell the sour smell of vinegar when it is cooked.

"Oh! Old Tang, you are still alive?" The chef scooped out a large spoonful of thick black-gray paste from the big pot that was still bubbling, poured it upside down into a large porcelain bowl, and handed it to the team leader named Tang.

"Look at what you're saying. You'd be happy if I died?" Captain Tang took the porridge and scooped a small spoonful of fermented black beans from a wide-mouthed ceramic jar on the table into the bowl. This soybean-based side dish, rich in salt, provided the soldiers with ample salt.

"Of course not," the cook laughed. "I couldn't be happier. I'm so glad to see you, my dear."

"Is there meat today?" Captain Tang seemed to smell a greasy smell, but he looked around and didn't see any.

"No, I did add two spoonfuls of lard when I cooked the pancakes." As he spoke, the cook scooped out another large spoonful of thick paste and poured it into the next bowl. "You have a very sharp nose, you can smell the vinegar even through such a strong smell."

"Lard cream, huh, so stingy." Captain Tang scooped another spoonful of fermented black beans. "I thought there was meat in it."

"There's meat at the General's Mansion. Go eat there." According to the rules set by the higher-ups, each person could only have one spoonful of fermented black beans per meal. However, this rule was very lax, relying solely on the chef's supervision. And this chef always turned a blind eye to Captain Tang.

"I would like to go." Captain Tang said with a smile.

"Then go ahead," the cook waved at Captain Tang. "Don't stand there. You're blocking the way."

"They are all my soldiers. What's wrong with them holding off for a while? It's not like they are going to starve to death." Captain Tang grumbled stubbornly, but he still left with his dinner.

(End of this chapter)