Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 564: Knowing the Small Things
"How do you say it the other way around?" Yuan Keli's attention was not originally on the top of his head, but now, influenced by Liu Zongzhen, he suddenly felt hot, so he took off the helmet he had been wearing all the way.

Seeing this, Lu Wenzhao immediately went forward to take it.

Earlier, Yuan Keli wasn't used to having the Jinyiwei serve him, but after more interactions and a long period of pretending, he no longer had any major psychological barriers to these minor matters. He just thought of it as having another student. "Thank you." Yuan Keli finally smiled at Lu Wenzhao.

"I thought," Liu Zongzheng's eyes flickered to Lu Wenzhao's face at the thank you, but he didn't think too much about it. "Previously, the Nu chieftain intended to raid Liaoning and Shenyang, so he mobilized a large number of slave bandits from all over the country. The scattered slave bandits were mobilized, and the sporadic looting became less frequent. Now, the Nu chieftain's plot has failed, and he's disbanded his army. The scattered slave bandits have retreated, and the situation has returned to normal."

"Recovered?" Yuan Keli nodded approvingly. "General Liu is very insightful."

"No, no, it's all obvious." Liu Zongzheng smiled innocently. Then, he waved his hand in a guiding gesture. "Yuan Bingxian, please come this way. You've had a hard time traveling. Come to the yamen and sit down to talk."

"Alright," Yuan Keli asked, his mind calming down for a moment as he followed Liu Zongzheng. Lu Wenzhao followed, clutching his helmet. The other Jinyiwei remained behind, guarding the valuables tied to the horses' buttocks.

"Is there a map of this area? I'd like to see it." Yuan Keli asked.

"Of course there is. It's hanging in the lobby of the yamen. Please go to the tea room and sit for a while. I'll ask someone to bring it to you." Liu Zongzheng nodded.

"No need to bother, just go to the lobby." Yuan Keli waved his hand.

"Okay." Liu Zongzheng responded with a smile, then turned around and winked at a personal soldier.

The personal soldier immediately understood and ran to ask the yamen soldiers to bring the prepared tea and snacks to the lobby.

The Garrison Office was the largest building in Yuanjiabao, but since Yuanjiabao itself was small, the Garrison Office was also not that large. The group had just passed through the slightly shabby screen wall and within a few steps they had arrived at the lobby of the office.

There was almost no unnecessary decoration in the lobby, except for tables, chairs and desks. The most eye-catching things were the maps hanging on the left and right sides of the desks.

The map on the right is centered on Yuanjiabao, located on the official road. The largest military units nearby are Qijiabao to the northeast and Songjiatun to the southeast. Scattered among the mountains, rivers, and valleys between the two forts and one tun are numerous watchtowers and towers. If you look closely, you'll notice the name of the officer guarding the tower and the number of troops stationed at each location written in small characters next to each.

The map on the left side of the lobby centered on the core of this region, Phoenix City. On the left map, Yuanjiabao was just a small fort on the northwest edge of the map. The real center of gravity was Phoenix City itself and its two outposts, Zhenningbao and Ningyibao, which guarded the north-south river to the east of Phoenix City.

This larger-scale map also has indications of garrisons and watchtowers, but these indications are just simple punctuation marks, without the names of the garrison officers and the number of troops stationed. If you look at this map, the indications of garrisons and watchtowers can be said to be densely packed.

"Captain Liu," Yuan Keli asked, standing in front of the map on the right side of the lobby, studying it thoughtfully. "I want to know if the frequency of the bandits' attacks on the surrounding areas has simply returned to the normal level before the siege of Liaoshen, or has it increased more than before?"

"This..." Liu Zongzheng thought for a long time, then shook his head in embarrassment. "I can't answer that."

"Huh?" Yuan Keli turned around in surprise, seeing several yamen soldiers approaching with tea trays. "Then let me ask this another way. How many recorded attacks were there in the past month? Before the Liaoshen attack, that is, from mid-January to mid-February of this year, how many were recorded? And last year, how many recorded attacks were there per month on average?"

As the saying goes, a small detail can reveal a big picture. Yuan Keli believes that changes in the frequency of harassment can reflect the enemy's movements to a certain extent.

Liu Zongzheng turned around and handed a cup of hot tea to Yuan Keli. "Very little, very little."

"What do you mean 'very little'?" Yuan Keli took the teacup and took a sip politely.

"Go and get the booklet," Liu Zongzheng first gave an order to a clerk who was in charge of record keeping. Then, he stepped forward and explained to Yuan Keli, "According to the regulations, there are only three types of harassment that can be recorded and reported. One is that the fort sent support, the second is that people died, and the third is that our fort was surrounded. As for ordinary enemy situations that the fort can handle on its own, there are only oral reports. But you see," Liu Zongzheng said, pointing to the map,

"Yuanjiabao is on the official road and is guarded by Qijiabao. If the bandits can lure our fort to come to our aid, or cause casualties within our territory, Qijiabao will undoubtedly be alerted. This way, the bandits' retreat will be cut off. Therefore, unless they stray into our territory, the bandits usually won't venture deep into our territory unless they intend to plunder grain ships. As for the last possibility, if our fort is besieged, that in itself means Qijiabao has already fallen. Such a loss of a city has never happened before. That's why I say it's rare."

As Liu Zongzheng finished speaking, the clerk brought the booklets over. "The top one is for last year, and the bottom one is for this year. Please take a look."

Yuan Keli took the booklet and flipped through it, asking, "Does Liu Shoubei know about the situation at Qijiabao?"

"I don't know," Liu Zongzheng shook his head. "If you want to know what's going on at Qijiabao, I can send someone there to ask, or just bring the booklet over. You could also ask Zhang Shoubei directly; that might explain it more clearly."

Although Qijiabao and Yuanjiabao corresponded to each other, they had no subordinate relationship and did not need to report to each other. Before Yuan Keli raised this question, Liu Zongzheng had not even thought about it.

"Then send someone to ask, and bring the booklet over for me to see." Yuan Keli handed the booklet back. "There's no need to invite Zhang Shoubei. Just let him do his job." Yuan Keli decided to accept Liu Zongzheng's advice and spend the night in Yuanjiabao before leaving for Fenghuang City early the next morning. After all, Fenghuang City was only two days' journey from Zhenjiang.

"Could you please write a note for me? After all, I need to borrow some official documents." Liu Zongzhen took the booklet and handed it over.

"Of course." Yuan Keli nodded. "Writing and ink are ready!" Liu Zongzheng turned around and called out.

--------

At four quarters past five in the morning the next day, the east gate of Yuanjiabao slowly opened, and the cavalry escorting Yuan Keli to Phoenix City rushed out.

Although Yuan Keli and his entourage had been protected by garrisons along the way since leaving Liaoyang, the standard of support varied. The most lavish section of the escort was from Weining Camp to Lianshan Pass. There, Hou Shilu sent his son to lead five hundred fearless cavalrymen from the standard battalion to protect the emperor. This massive formation was capable of defeating not only scattered bandits but also elite organized bandits.

But when they left Yuanjiabao, there were only about 200 people accompanying them, and most of them were infantry.

This wasn't because Liu Zongzheng dared to neglect Yuan Keli, a military advisor who might one day oversee him, but rather because he simply didn't have many mobile troops at his disposal. In the entire Yuanjiabao area, there were fewer than 500 soldiers free to roam, and just over 300 stationed within the fort. Liu Zongzheng personally led 200 men to escort Yuan Keli, which was already the best he could do to treat him as a distinguished guest.

Although the number of soldiers in this team is small, Liu Zongzhen has trained them very well.

The cavalry, commanded by Liu Zongzheng himself, marched at the front. Although they numbered less than a hundred, they performed the necessary advance reconnaissance with impeccable skill, no less effective than Hou Shilu's standard-bearing troops. Behind the cavalry, the infantry from Yuanjiabao, carrying spears, shields, and various firearms, marched behind them. They were fully equipped and ready to form a formation and block the road at any moment. The rearguard role fell to the 120 cavalrymen from the Beijing Camp.

Yuan Keli's experiences along the way had made him see clearly the true colors of these guys. He shuddered at the thought that most of the 25,000 soldiers sent to Korea were of this kind. The only thing that gave Yuan Keli some comfort was that these timid guys would at least not be frightened by some false alarms and lose their composure.

boom.
In the distance, another cannon shot was heard.

"Which shot is this?" Yuan Keli frowned and looked in the direction of the sound. He saw a row of black dots suddenly startled from the edge of the distant mountain outline. They were frightened birds fleeing from the smoke.

Soon, intermittent gunfire sounds came from the direction the bird was flying.

"If we count from the time we left Yuanjiabao, this is already the fifth shot." Lu Wenzhao also looked over and saw a column of smoke rising. "But this is the first time I've lit a cigarette today."

"Vietnam is becoming increasingly unstable." Yuan Keli gazed intently for a moment, then, seeing no second column of smoke rising, he withdrew his gaze. A column of smoke indicated that the enemy's fort needed support from nearby friendly forces, but the situation wasn't yet so urgent that the fort needed to be abandoned.

Ever since crossing Lianshan Pass, the journey had been anything but peaceful. The sounds of multiple exchanges of fire could be heard daily, and the further south they went, the more frequent these noises became. However, these noises had little to do with Yuan Keli and his group. As long as there weren't more than three beacon smoke rising somewhere, or the sound of approaching troops, his troops wouldn't stop.

"Yeah. But look at the time," Lu Wenzhao said, glancing at the position of the sun. "We should be almost in Phoenix City."

Yuan Keli nodded. "After Phoenix City, we'll reach Zhenjiang. Captain Lu, what are your plans from now on?"

Lu Wenzhao blinked and looked away, glancing at the infantry ahead. "Of course, I'll accompany Yuan Jiao all the way to Hanyang."

"I'm talking about what happens next," Yuan Keli said with a smile. "After announcing the imperial edict in Hanyang, will Captain Lu take the original route back to Liaodong to report back, or will he take the sea route and sail to Tianjin?"

Yuan Keli had noticed that Lu Wenzhao would send a report to the capital whenever he arrived in a major city. Even though Yuan Keli felt he hadn't made any mistakes or said anything wrong, and even had some affection for the young man, the constant scrutiny still made him feel pressured and uncomfortable.

Lu Wenzhao hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to tell the truth: "I probably won't be returning to Beijing in the short term."

"Not returning to the capital!" Yuan Keli's pupils shrank slightly, and he asked in surprise, "Captain Lu is going to stay in Hanyang for a long time?"

"It doesn't necessarily have to be Hanyang," Lu Wenzhao said. "The exact location of the station depends on what Luo Chenshi arranges."

Yuan Keli was stunned for a moment. "Is there a deputy official named Luo in the Jinyiwei yamen?" Although Yuan Keli was not very familiar with the Jinyiwei, he was still familiar with which high-ranking officials held real positions there.

"That's Luo Yangxing, Luo Tairu." Lu Wenzhao simply laid out his explanation, "The Emperor has decided to establish a branch of the Imperial Guard in Korea, with its headquarters in Hanyang. Luo Chenshi is the first official to hold the seal of this branch. The Commander-in-Chief's Office has ordered me to follow Luo Chenshi's instructions once I accompany you to Hanyang."

The emperor's plan for the Jinyiwei branch stationed in Korea was to be a mere 1,000-household unit. However, to elevate its status and strengthen its chief's authority, the emperor decided to assign Luo Yangxing the title of "Jinyiwei Commander-in-Chief." In other words, Luo Yangxing had been promoted again, and he had jumped two ranks: from a fifth-rank Jinyiwei Qianhu to a fourth-rank Jinyiwei Commander-in-Chief.

This promotion was obviously intended to reward Luo Sigong, but the reason given for the promotion was still very legitimate, that is, Luo Yangxing deserved the primary credit in the Shen Caiyu case.

It just doesn't make sense. Even though Lu Wenzhao spearheaded this case and brought Shen Caiyu back from afar, he's still considered second best when it comes to merit. The biggest fish in this case isn't Shen Caiyu, but the Marquis of Wuqing. According to the official narrative, the Jinyiwei were able to accurately locate the fugitive Shen Caiyu and ultimately uncover the Marquis of Wuqing's illegal activities because Luo Yangxing, while in charge of the Eastern Office, was recognized for his effective work and leadership.

With such a great achievement, it wouldn't be surprising if Luo Yangxing was promoted two levels in a row, or even five levels in the space of six months. His rapid promotion showed that the emperor had a keen eye.

(End of this chapter)