The Ming Dynasty: Starting with bandits, it swept across the land.

What Li Chengye presented was a purple floral cloth armor.

Upon seeing it, Luo Dai's eyes almost lit up. He gently stroked the surface of the cloth armor and tapped the tassel on the helmet with his fingers.

"Good stuff, really good stuff," Luo Dai exclaimed. "It's much better than those junk items made by the officials in the Ministry of Works to fool the border troops."

Suddenly his expression darkened again. "If Grand Tutor Du had such a fine helmet back then, he wouldn't have been killed by an arrow from the Eastern barbarians."

Li Chengye knew who Grand Tutor Du was, as Luo Dai had mentioned.

Juniper.

He was born into a hereditary military family in Yulin Guard. When he first joined the border army, he was called "Du Heizi" by the Mongols because of his ruthless and dark-skinned fighting style. Later, because of his great courage and fierce fighting, he was also called "Honglangshan" by the Mongols. In the end, the Mongols begged and pleaded with him not to come to the grasslands, but it was no use. He continued to do as he pleased. After more than a hundred battles, he was undefeated.

The Mongols were driven to desperation. Upon hearing that the highest-ranking military officer in the Ming Dynasty was the Grand Tutor, they respectfully addressed him as Grand Tutor Du.

When this Grand Tutor Du was the commander-in-chief of Suide Town, the entire area inside and outside the Shaanxi border was quiet.

Even today, when Mongolians on the grasslands swear oaths, the most vicious one is still "May I run into Grand Tutor Du on my way out."

But this fierce man died at Sarhu, his helmet pierced by an arrow from the Eastern Barbarians.

After carefully putting away the purple floral cloth armor, Luo Dai looked at Li Chengye.

"Brother Chengye, what brings you such an expensive gift?"

Luo Dai knew that no one would visit a temple without a reason, especially since the other party had given him such fine armor; there must be something else going on.

But Luo Dai had already made up his mind that no matter what Li Chengye said next, he would not return the armor.

Li Chengye didn't hide anything and said directly, "Brother Luo, since we have already started an uprising, we will have to face the government army sooner or later, so we should train our troops."

Although I have a few brothers who came from the border army and know some of the rules of small-scale combat, they have never trained a large army.

I've heard that Brother Luo has many outstanding men from the border army; could you perhaps send one or two to help train your troops?

Upon hearing Li Chengye's request, Luo Dai felt relieved. It turned out that it was just about helping to train the men, which was simple enough. However, he knew he couldn't agree too easily, lest he be looked down upon.

So Luo Dai pretended to hesitate, paused for a moment, and then said, "Brother Chengye, you certainly have great ambitions. However, my unit also has many new recruits and is in dire need of officer training, so..."

Seeing that his tone wasn't firm, Li Chengye understood what was going on.

But he didn't expose him, only speaking with increasing sincerity: "Brother Luo is right. All teams are full of new recruits and lack training. I know that my behavior of asking for help is like taking away what others love."

No matter what kind of gift you give, it cannot express your true feelings.

"When we breached the city the other day, besides this purple floral cloth armor, we also received some indigo cloth armor. I'd like to send ten more sets of cloth armor to help Brother Luo form his army as soon as possible."

Ten pairs of indigo cloth armor!

Luo Dai was overjoyed upon hearing this, as the price was already higher than he had expected.

He immediately and readily agreed.

He then beckoned his deputy, Liu Ye, over and introduced him to Li Chengye.

"This is my deputy captain, Liu Ye, courtesy name Gangfu. He comes from a hereditary centurion family and is proficient in all military disciplines, formations, and commands."

"Let him go work for you for a while, and I guarantee he'll train you to a decent level."

Upon hearing this, Li Chengye carefully examined Luo Dai's deputy team leader.

This Captain Liu has broad shoulders, a narrow waist, long and powerful arms. He is in his early twenties, about the same age as me. His skin shows signs of sun exposure, but you can still see the clear and bright look he had in the past.

This somewhat aligns with what Luo Dai said about his family's lineage as centurions of the garrison.

He was just a little puzzled as to why a proper garrison officer would defect to the rebels.

Perhaps sensing Li Chengye's confusion, Deputy Captain Liu clasped his hands and smiled wryly:

"Commander, you flatter me. What hereditary centurion? He's nothing but a down-on-his-luck military household now."

Through his explanation, Li Chengye roughly understood what had happened.

Liu Ye was indeed born into a family of centurions in Yan'an Guard, but the family had fallen into decline by his generation.

The reason for the defeat was the Battle of Sarhu.

By the Tianqi era, the garrison system established at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty had become utterly corrupt. A garrison was required to have a full complement of 5600 men when needed, but in reality, only a quarter of them were present, and many of them were old, weak, sick, or disabled.

The same was true for Yan'an Garrison, where Liu Ye was stationed. The military farmland of the garrison had long been seized by officers of all ranks, and the military households had all become tenants of the officers' families.

Liu Ye's ancestors earned his family a hereditary position as a centurion. By his father's generation, including the land they owned and the land they were entitled to, they had nearly 500 mu of land.

With these 500 acres of land, Liu Ye lived a proper life as a respectable young man in the Ming Dynasty. He didn't have to worry about food and clothing and could focus on studying and practicing martial arts, thinking about how he would serve the court and bring honor to his family when he grew up.

But then came the Battle of Sarhu, and the imperial court mobilized elite troops from all directions to go to Liaodong to wipe out the Jurchen Tartars.

Liu Ye's father was a centurion of the garrison. The Ming Dynasty supported them for their entire lives, only to use them for this one moment.

His father led the remaining seven or eight men from his centurion unit to Liaodong with their commander.

And then he never came back.

Before going into battle, Liu Ye knew that war was dangerous, but he thought that his father and his garrison soldiers were only assisting in escorting grain and fodder, and would not have to fight the Jurchen Tartars face to face, so they should be fine.

However, in the Battle of Sarhu, the Ming Dynasty's elite army of 120,000 was completely annihilated, and famous generals such as Du Song and Liu Ting perished.

The balance of power shifted between the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty. In the following years, Nurhaci led the Eight Banners Jurchens to occupy the entire Liaodong region.

Upon learning of his father's death in battle, Liu Ye vowed to kill all the Jurchen Tartars to avenge his father.

But before Liu Ye could take revenge, a survival crisis followed.

The Battle of Sarhu took place in the 47th year of the Wanli reign (1594), when Liu Ye was only 14 years old.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the age for men to inherit military positions was eighteen, but this was relaxed to fifteen after the Chenghua era.

Without his position as a centurion, Liu Ye's family collapsed immediately. First, the land he had occupied was taken away by other officers of the garrison, leaving him with only seventy mu of land designated for a centurion.

Because his father died in battle, the imperial court, in accordance with the regulations on benevolent support, was to provide "preferential treatment," which meant providing a pension based on his father's original salary, until Liu Ye came of age.

The salaries of the guard posts had been in arrears for many years, and officers at all levels lived off the revenue generated from the land.

Commander Yu made the decision and reserved these seventy acres of land for him.

Liu Ye originally thought that in another year, when he would be fifteen years old, he would be able to inherit the military post of a centurion and take back the land.

But when he turned fifteen and was about to inherit the military post, Wang Jizong, the commander of Yan'an Guard, said that he needed two hundred taels of silver to inherit the post of centurion.

The two hundred taels of silver were called "inheritance allowance for idle positions." Any son of a military officer who wanted to inherit his father's position had to pay this "inheritance allowance for idle positions" according to his official rank.

Back then, Li Chengliang from Liaodong wasted many years in Beijing because he didn't have this money.

Two hundred taels of silver is equivalent to the harvest of 70 mu of land for twenty years in Yan'an Prefecture, and that twenty years must be blessed with favorable weather, free from drought or flood.

Even if Liu Ye sold all his possessions, he still couldn't come up with this amount of money.

Having no other recourse, he took a jar of sorghum liquor brewed by his father and went to the neighboring household of a friend of his father, where he obtained a letter of recommendation and went to Yansui Town.

Liu Ye thought to himself, with the skills he had honed since childhood, couldn't he achieve the same success as his ancestors?

It turns out that it really doesn't work.

He stayed in Yansui Town for four years, and even surviving was a struggle, let alone earning merit or receiving a medal.

Aside from his first year in Yansui, Liu Ye had never received any military pay, and then it remained unsettled.

Forced into a corner, he volunteered to patrol the border outside the Great Wall, hoping to encounter a lone captive.

They exchanged other people's heads for bounties.

They managed to get by like this, but the two hundred taels of silver seemed like a distant dream.

However, after the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, Liaodong was in dire need of help repeatedly, and the court prioritized the Guan Ning army with its money and grain, leaving the soldiers of Yansui Garrison feeling like stepchildren.

The bounty for the heads was not paid out in a timely manner.

One day at lunchtime, the food was bland and tasteless. Someone said that the imperial court had cut back on the salt money. The soldiers couldn't stand it anymore and started a riot to demand their pay.

The soldiers stormed into Yulin city, threatening to tear down the city's bell tower in their anger.

If it were any other building, it wouldn't matter, but this bell tower is also called the Triumph Tower. It was built when Emperor Zhengde inspected the three armies here during his inspection tour of the border.

If this bell tower is to be demolished, none of the officials, big or small, in Yulin City will have a good ending.

At that time, Yue Hesheng, the governor of Yansui, gritted his teeth and took out seven thousand taels of silver from the imperial court to buy warhorses, and handed them over to Du Wenhuan, the general of Yansui, so that he could appease the soldiers.

At that time, the soldiers who were owed the least amount of their pay had been owed for two years. According to the calculation that border soldiers were paid 9 qian of silver per month, it would be at least 21 taels.

Seven thousand taels of silver is simply not enough to pay out.

However, Du Wenhuan's uncle was Du Song and his father was Du Tong. All three of them served as the General of Yansui, and they had a wide influence and high prestige.

In the end, each soldier received two ounces and returned to camp.

When news of the salary dispute reached Beijing, it drew a reprimand from the imperial court, and Governor Yue Hesheng died in office that October.

Someone from above has to take responsibility. Once the soldiers return to camp, they'll use mid-level officers like Liu Ye, who were pushed out during the pay riot, as a warning to others.

It was around that time that Liu Ye and Luo Dai left Yansui and became deserters.

Later, Liu Ye hid in Yan'an for half a year until the arrest warrant for Yansui Town arrived there, forcing him to flee again.

Hearing that Wang Er had rebelled, he decided to try his luck and met Luo Dai, becoming his deputy.

After hearing Liu Ye's life story, Li Chengye couldn't help but lament that the Ming Dynasty was truly doomed, having driven a respectable young man into becoming a rebel.

Liu Ye's experience was by no means an isolated case among the border troops.

Li Chengye was truly delighted to have acquired Liu Ye, a talent who had received formal military training from the Ming Dynasty, from Luo Dai.

However, a conversation on the way back to the camp at the North City Wall made Li Chengye realize that although Liu Ye was now utterly disappointed with the Ming Dynasty, he still wanted to bring glory to his ancestors.

Back at the camp, before Li Chengye could even settle Liu Ye in, Master Qin came knocking on the door.

"Chengye, I've found the spirits, but will your method really work?"

Upon hearing this, Li Chengye's face immediately lit up with joy.

Earlier, when the city was breached, Li Chengye saw wounded people all over the ground and began to think about ways to treat them.

As soon as he entered the city, he led his men to abduct the city's doctor and forced him to treat the wounded.

However, this doctor specializes in internal medicine. After examining the injury, he prescribed some blood-activating and stasis-removing formulas to nourish the five internal organs, in addition to the appropriate wound medicine.

In this respect, the city doctor is no match for Master Qin.

When treating wounds, Master Qin would wash them with clean water and carefully remove any dust, grass, or other debris to ensure the wound was clean during bandaging. Even the cotton cloth used would be clean.

Li Chengye asked Master Qin how he knew how to do it, and Master Qin answered very simply.

The animal's horn was scratched and its leg was broken; he did the same thing, simply because he'd done it too much.

It seems that Master Qin is not only a veterinarian, but also an experienced "quack doctor".

Li Chengye told Master Qin that strong liquor could kill viruses after cleaning the wound, and Master Qin agreed that it was worth a try.

However, unlike Li Chengye's knowledge which came from his memories of the future, Master Qin had heard in his early years that "strong liquor can kill insidious poisons," but he didn't know how to use it.

Li Chengye poured some of the strong liquor that Master Qin had found into a shallow white porcelain dish.

Then I lit it with a tinderbox, and a small, pale blue flame appeared.

The onlookers exclaimed in surprise, "What a strong liquor! It's really strong spirit!"

The blue flame hissed and burned for a while in the white porcelain plate, producing a puff of white mist before going out.

Li Chengye rubbed the bottom of the plate with his fingers; there were water stains, and the wine flavor was very weak.

According to that memory, pure alcohol will produce a small amount of water when burned, but the water left in this porcelain plate is about one-third the amount of alcohol that was just poured in.

This can hardly be considered a small amount.

However, given the time constraints, it's already quite good that we were able to find such strong liquor.

"Master Qin, what kind of wine is this?"

"This is Liulin wine from Fengxiang Prefecture. One sip and it's like three rounds of liquor. There's no stronger wine in northern Shaanxi. What do you say?"

"It's usable, but it would be better to use a stronger liquor."

"That will be hard to find."

Seeing that Master Qin was pondering, Li Chengye reminded him, "Master Qin, this wine is usable. Use this wine to clean the wounds once a day, and at the same time, replace the cotton strips used for bandaging with new cotton cloth that has been boiled."

Master Qin then came to his senses and said, "Okay, let's do it your way. I feel that this is at least better than washing with water."

Then, Master Qin, along with several young men who were helping him, went to the wounded's quarters and began changing their dressings.

Li Chengye said apologetically to Liu Ye, who had been watching from the side, "I've kept Brother Liu waiting."

Liu Ye wasn't annoyed at all. Instead, he said to Li Chengye, "Captain Li, if there were superiors in Yansui who cared about the wounded as much as you do, there wouldn't be so many brothers who lost their lives because of minor injuries."

"Back then, when we got injured, we would just sprinkle some wood ash on the wound or apply a vinegar-soaked cloth. Whether it got better or not depended on how tough we were."

Seeing Liu Ye's attitude, Li Chengye was even more satisfied with him.

In the open space below the city wall, Yang Chongwang was leading a group of people to practice the Mandarin Duck Formation, with spearmen in front, swordsmen and shieldmen in the middle, and archers behind.

All the trainees were fully armored and looked extremely heroic.

Li Chengye took Liu Ye over to take a look. After watching for a while, Liu Ye's brows began to furrow.

He said seriously to Li Chengye, "This force is enough to deal with the county magistrates and garrison troops, but if we use it to deal with the border troops, we're just asking for death."