How can one be Emperor Chongzhen without money?

Chapter 135 Zhongxian's Wrath is Unstoppable (Please Subscribe)

The defeated army collapsed in the afternoon.

When several blood-soaked servants of the Wei family scrambled into Wei Zhongxian's temporary resting tent, the eunuch was resting with his eyes closed, holding a string of sandalwood prayer beads in his hand and muttering incantations.

"Grandfather! Grandfather! Something terrible has happened!" The head servant's voice cracked, trembling with sobs, "Master...Master, he..."

Wei Zhongxian didn't even lift his eyelids, only snorting through his nose: "What's the panic? Liangqing has caused trouble again? Oh right, he went to perform meritorious service. How did he do? How many heads did he bring back?"

"No... Lord... he's gone!" the servant wailed, his head hitting the ground heavily. "We protected Lord and chased after him to the north... but... but we ran into the main banner of Tiger Mound Rabbit Khan! Tartars... Tartars everywhere! Lord... Lord was trampled... trampled into mincemeat by the Tartar general!" He recalled the horrific scene, his stomach churned, and he vomited.

The tent was deathly silent.

Wei Zhongxian's fingers, which were holding the prayer beads, suddenly stopped.

He slowly opened his eyes.

Those old eyes, usually somber, dignified, or tinged with a forced smile, were now empty, like two bottomless, dry wells. No tears, no light, only a deathly gray.

"What...did you say?" The voice was hoarse.

"Lord... he fought bravely and died for his country!" the servant cried out. "The Tartars... the Tartars are numerous and powerful, Lord... Lord was at the forefront... and was... was killed by the Tartar cavalry..."

"boom--!"

Wei Zhongxian suddenly stood up! The tiger-skin-covered chair beneath him was overturned by him! His chainmail rattled, and he trembled all over!
He rushed to the tent entrance and flung open the thick cotton curtain! A gust of wind from the grasslands rushed in, whipping his graying hair wildly. He stared intently at Li Huaixin, Ma Chengen, Wang Tong, Liu Yingkun, and the others who stood respectfully outside, having rushed over upon hearing the news.

"Li Huaixin!" Wei Zhongxian's voice suddenly rose, "Ma Chengen! Wang Tong! Liu Yingkun! You lot... good! Very good indeed!"

His fingers trembled as he pointed at each of the officers' faces, each word seeming to be squeezed out from between his teeth:
"Yesterday! What were you all saying to us? Huh? Swearing to protect us to the death? Your lives are priceless? You'll surely achieve great merit? Bullshit! All of it is bullshit!"

He turned abruptly, pointing at the wailing servants on the ground: "Listen! Listen! Our family's bloodline! Our good-for-nothing nephew! He's dead! We can't even find his whole body!"

"Do you live up to our family's expectations? Do you live up to the Emperor's trust? Do you live up to the clothes you wear?!" Wei Zhongxian's roar echoed in the tent, making everyone's eardrums buzz.

Li Huaixin and the others turned ashen-faced, cold sweat pouring down their faces, and they all knelt down with a thud.

"Please calm down, Your Excellency! I deserve to die a thousand deaths!" Li Huaixin's voice trembled. "I...I really didn't know the main force of the Tartars was there! My lord...he charged too fast..."

"Bullshit!" Wei Zhongxian kicked Li Huaixin in the shoulder armor, making him stagger. "Don't you know? I entrusted my nephew to you, so you should have kept him by your side! The main force of the Tartars? Even if there were mountains of knives and seas of fire ahead, you should have protected him and made it through! Now that he's gone...you...you..."

He was so angry he couldn't speak, his chest heaving violently.

Ma Chengen suddenly looked up, his eyes red: "Eunuch! We deserve to die a thousand deaths! Lord... Lord cannot die in vain! I will gather my men and go fight the Tartars! If I don't cut off Hu Duntu's dog head, I will bring you my own head!"

Wang Tong, who had received great favors from Wei Zhongxian, kowtowed deeply and said, "This humble general is willing to be the vanguard! Slaughter all the Tartars and avenge my lord!"

Liu Yingkun shouted even more shrilly, "Ancestor! The men of the Jing Army are not to be trifled with! At your command, I will lead my men to charge forward and riddle the Tartars with muskets!"

Wei Zhongxian, panting heavily, swept his bloodshot eyes over the kneeling generals. His destructive rage seemed to have found an outlet.

"Fight? Get revenge?" he repeated hoarsely, a smile more painful than a grimace spreading across his face. "Fine...fine...we'll fight too! What's the point of keeping all that gold and silver if we've lost our nephew?!"

He whirled around and roared at the outside of the tent, "Men! Bring out our silver! Now!"

The eunuchs who were accompanying him outside the tent scrambled away. Before long, more than a hundred sturdy eunuchs and guards came carrying dozens of heavy camphor wood chests, which they placed heavily outside the tent.

"Open them all!"

Wei Zhongxian shouted.

Click
Then it was all white! Sparkling!
Boxes of silver ingots, each ingot weighing fifty taels, were stacked neatly, reflecting a dazzling light under the afternoon sun on the grassland! A full one hundred thousand taels!
A collective gasp rippled through the area outside the tent. Even Li Huaixin and the others were stunned.

Does this Eunuch Wei carry so much silver with him wherever he goes?

Wei Zhongxian grabbed two silver ingots and slammed them onto the grass. Pointing at the pile of silver, he raised a shrill voice:
"Pass on my order! A reward of fifty taels of silver will be given for each genuine Tartar head taken! Cash will be paid on the spot! I'll be right here and watching! This one hundred thousand taels is my silver, the money to buy the lives of Tartar dogs! The Emperor's reward will be separate!"

His bloodshot eyes swept over the generals again: "Li Huaixin! Ma Chengen! Wang Tong! Bring all your servants! Liu Yingkun! Have your men push forward for us! Muskets, spears, swords and shields, all of them, put them at the very front!"

"We don't want prisoners! We don't want survivors! We only want the heads of the Tartars! Piled up like mountains! To offer sacrifices to our nephews!"

"Kill them all!"

The final word "kill" seemed to carry an overwhelming hatred, bursting through the tent roof and soaring into the sky!
……

"Woo-woo-woo!" The desolate and urgent bugle call resounded throughout the entire Ming army camp.

Li Huaixin, Ma Chengen, and Wang Tong all had red eyes. Wei Liangqing's death made them unable to hold their heads high in front of Wei Zhongxian, and they would inevitably face the Emperor's reprimand later!

Now, with the bounty of 100,000 taels of silver, the fire in everyone's hearts has been ignited! Fifty taels for a head. And this is only the money Wei Zhongxian is personally paying; the Emperor also has a share!

At this price, if the people below don't work their butts off, they'll never be able to earn a living on the edge.

"My lads! Eunuch Wei has bestowed a reward! Fifty taels of silver for slaying a first-class Tartar! Cash!" Li Huaixin leaped onto his horse, drew his sword, and shouted hoarsely, "Avenge the Earl of Suning! Kill the Tartars! Claim your reward!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" Five thousand elite cavalrymen roared in fury! Formation and flanking maneuvers were forgotten! They were originally trained warriors by various military families, and now, spurred on by the huge reward and their commander's willingness to lead from the front, they had completely transformed into a pack of bloodthirsty wolves!
Rumble!
Five thousand iron cavalry, like a flood bursting its banks, held nothing back, made no further probing, and thundered directly toward the Suluding banner ten miles away! The sound of their hooves thundered as they pounded the ground, and the dust they kicked up blotted out the sky!

Following closely behind was the 5,000-strong elite army personally led by Liu Yingkun!
These eunuch soldiers, who might have been somewhat effeminate in normal times, were now spurred on by Wei Zhongxian's madness and the lump sums of silver, roaring with excitement. They no longer hesitated to use gunpowder; the musketeers, in tight ranks and protected by swordsmen and spearmen, advanced at a much faster pace than usual, almost jogging. One after another, tiger-crouching cannons and breech-loading cannons were brought out, and the gunners quickly loaded them, waiting to reach firing range.

The entire Ming army suddenly went berserk, rushing towards the still bewildered Ligdan Khan without regard for anything else!

……

On the high slope, Hu Dun Tu Han's smugness hadn't faded yet. The "Earl of Suning Wei" banner presented by Batu Taiji made him feel even more aggrieved. He was even considering whether to press forward and deliver a heavy blow to the slowly approaching main force of the Ming army.

"Great Khan! Look to the south!" The terrified voice of the pilgrim interrupted his thoughts.

Hu Dun Tu Han looked up and his expression changed drastically!
Dust billowed from the south! A massive Ming cavalry force was charging toward his central army with a frenzied speed he had never seen before! Their momentum was clearly not that of fighting a battle, but of fighting to the death!
What alarmed him even more was that behind this cavalry was a dense mass of infantry, their muskets and spears forming a continuous line, like a moving metal forest!
"They...they've gone mad?!" Tiger Mound Rabbit Khan exclaimed in disbelief. He simply couldn't understand why the Ming army, having just lost a count (though a good-for-nothing), didn't retreat but instead pounced on him like a hornet's nest had been stirred up.

"Great Khan! It's Wei Zhongxian's eunuch's eunuchs! And those Ming generals' retainers!" Fan Wencheng's voice tightened. "Judging from their posture... they're here to fight to the death! Quick! Get Batu Taiji to the front lines! Stop them!"

Hudun Tu Khan panicked and hurriedly ordered, "Quickly! Sound the horn! Have Batu stop them! All units assemble! Prepare for battle!"

However, it's too late!

The retainers of Li Huaixin, Ma Chengen, Wang Tong, and others completely ignored Batu Taiji's troops (who had just returned with 500 men to report their victory) who were trying to intercept them. These retainers only had eyes for the Suluding banner and heads worth fifty taels each! Like a red-hot knife cutting through butter, they instantly shattered Batu Taiji's hastily assembled defenses!

Batu Taiji himself didn't even have time to raise his scimitar before he was pierced through by several spears thrusting at him at the same time, and his body was trampled to pieces by the galloping warhorses!
"kill!"

"Fifty taels!"

The roars of the Ming soldiers' retainers mingled with the screams of the Mongol cavalry. Five thousand well-rested, well-equipped retainers, driven mad by the bounty, faced twenty thousand Mongol cavalrymen who had just won a "victory," whose formation was loose and who were most afraid of hand-to-hand combat. The result was almost a crushing defeat!

The Mongols' pride in their horsemanship and archery proved utterly ineffective against the Ming army's fearless charge.

The Ming soldiers' household guards were all equipped with decent armor and were not afraid of the Mongols' soft bows.

Once the Mongols are engaged in close combat, their scimitars are completely at a disadvantage against spears and heavy armor!

Moreover, these Ming soldiers were fighting desperately under the leadership of their respective commanders!

With that kind of drive, how could the Mongols of the Chahan tribe possibly withstand it? If they had that kind of ability, Ligdan Khan wouldn't have been known as the "Runaway Khan."

At the same time, the Qing army's muskets, tiger-squatting cannons, and breech-loading cannons also opened fire!

"bang bang bang"

"Boom boom boom"

The roar of the breech-loading cannons and tiger-squat cannons, though not as powerful as bronze field guns, was sufficient to deal with the chaotic Mongol cavalry. Smoke filled the air, bullets flew everywhere, and men and horses fell. Under Liu Yingkun's piercing shouts of command, the Jingjun soldiers mechanically loaded, fired, loaded, and fired again! Their advance was slow, but their firepower was extremely fierce and sustained!
The Mongol cavalry were thrown into complete chaos! They had never seen such a frenzied Ming army! The cavalry charged like madmen, and the infantry's firepower was terrifyingly fierce! Their front was covered by the Qing army's firepower, while their flanks were constantly being cut off by the Ming cavalry!
Fear spread like a plague.

"Defeated! Defeated!"

"Ming Gou has gone mad! Run!"

Someone shouted first, and like the last straw that broke the camel's back, the 20,000 elite Mongol cavalry collapsed before Ligdan Khan's horrified eyes! Countless riders turned their horses and fled north once again in a desperate panic!

As usual, Tiger Mound Rabbit Khan turned deathly pale and fled north in panic under the desperate protection of his personal guards. Only one thought remained in his mind: This Great Khan will never, ever again fight that old madman Wei Zhongxian!
The setting sun, like blood, illuminated the grassland strewn with corpses. Ming soldiers, their eyes bloodshot, rummaged through the piles of corpses for the heads of the Tartars, cutting them off, stringing them together, preparing to return and collect their fifty taels of silver reward. The air was thick with the stench of blood and gunpowder.

Under the central military banner, Wei Zhongxian still stood there, the hem of his python robe fluttering in the wind. He stared expressionlessly at the carnage before him, watching the soldiers gleefully sever heads.

The blurry mass of flesh and blood of my nephew Wei Liangqing seemed to be right before my eyes.

He slowly closed his eyes, two streams of cloudy tears...
"Liangqing, you are now a martyr, a true martyr!"

(End of this chapter)