Ming Dynasty: Moral blackmail? I, Emperor Chongzhen, have no morals!

A dozen days later, the sun shone brightly on Liaodong.

On the front lines in Jinzhou, the ice and snow have melted, and the May weather is exceptionally crisp and clear...

On the city walls of Jinzhou, there are still mottled scars, with large patches of dark brown bloodstains remaining on the scars, all of which demonstrate the ferocity of the battle.

Outside the city, many soldiers' families are cultivating the limited land available to alleviate the food shortage...

Jinzhou City was located behind the Dalinghe and Xiaolinghe outposts. After the fall of the Dalinghe outposts, Jinzhou City became the frontline city of the Guan-Ning-Jinzhou defense line, and also a fortified city. There were many outposts around Jinzhou City, the most famous of which were the Tashan, Songshan, and Xingshan fortress complexes...

Starting from the thirteenth year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, the last major battle of the Ming Dynasty, the Battle of Songjin, was fought around Jinzhou. Hong Chengchou, as the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, fought against the Jurchens. More than 200,000 troops from both sides fought for two years in this flat area. Zu Dashou, the general of Jinzhou, also defended Jinzhou for two years. In the end, due to the destruction of food supplies, Ming generals Wang Pu and Wu Sangui fled first, and Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou surrendered, and Jinzhou fell!

The Ming army's last elite force of nine border troops and a large number of generals were wiped out, leaving the Ming Dynasty with no field military strength! Until the seventeenth year of Chongzhen's reign, the country collapsed! The land of China sank!

"Have you heard? The Emperor has decreed that anyone who brings three Jurchen heads can join the Divine Martial Guard and receive double pay!" Wang Laosan, a junior officer at a small outpost under the Songshan Fortress Complex, said to the four people around him.

There were only five soldiers and their families in this outpost, a total of twelve people. They were monitoring the front line from the outpost. In a sense, they were the victims of the Songshan bunker complex. If the Jurchens launched a war, they and their families would be killed in the first wave of attacks...

"I heard! The day before yesterday, right after the imperial decree was issued, a scout from Songshan Fort killed three Tartar family members. After the account book of the army sent by the court was confirmed, the equipment was returned, and he took the three Jurchen heads and his family to the capital!" said a soldier named Li Shanhe.

He was originally a scholar from Liaodong. After his family was massacred, he joined the Ming army and became an ordinary soldier!

"I'm so damn envious! After that spy and his family arrived in the capital, the Emperor gave them fifty acres of tax-exempt land and they even got double pay, just like those servants in the city (Jinzhou)!" Wang Laosan said while cursing.

"We've paid out 60% of the pay since last year, which is much better than in previous years. But I heard that the troops inside the Great Wall are all paid in full! They never delay payment, especially the troops near the capital. Not only are their pays on time, but they're also starting to upgrade their equipment!" Li Shanhe said in a low voice as he approached Wang Lao Er.

"Where did you hear that from?" Junior officer Wang Lao Er asked curiously.

"When the military pay was delivered to Jinzhou, I spent one tael of silver to ask about many things!" Li Shanhe said, then looked at his family members sitting together mending clothes in the outpost: "I heard that the Emperor now attaches great importance to the army. The military pay and combat orders for the troops within the pass are all from the Military and Political Bureau, and the Emperor commands and distributes the pay in a unified manner. Even the Ministry of War and local governors can no longer command them!"

Junior officer Wang Lao Er tugged at his armor, which was patched countless times, and said thoughtfully, "The court has declared that the entire country is exempt from taxes, and now there are three- and five-headed tax systems, plus increased military pay. Where does the money come from?"

"Could it be that the Emperor himself raised funds for it?"

Many soldiers on the Liaodong front, like Wang Lao Er, were puzzled: where did the imperial court get the money to exempt them from taxes, provide disaster relief, expand the army, and upgrade equipment? When news first broke that the court had exempted them from Liaodong military pay, there was considerable turmoil on the Liaodong front, with many fearing another pay cutoff. But then, a million taels of silver was delivered, stabilizing the situation...

"The messenger said that the Emperor has killed and exiled a lot of people in the interior, no less than 100,000 in total!" Li Shanhe said with a sigh.

In reality, there weren't that many, but the rumors spread over time, and if they continued for another one or two hundred years, history books might record Zhu Jian as a tyrant who killed millions...

Wang Lao Er looked at Li Shanhe in astonishment: "Really?"

"It's probably true. I heard there are at least 30,000 to 40,000 in Shanxi province alone! Among the wealthy merchant families in Shanxi, over a dozen families have had their entire clan exterminated, and many more have had their entire families wiped out! And then there are the officials in charge of the Three Departments, prefects, and magistrates—the number is even greater. Even the Prince of Jin and the Prince of Dai are dead! Now, both of their fiefdoms have been abolished by the Emperor!"

"I estimate that the majority of the imperial court's revenue comes from this place..."

"Serves them right! Those bastards only know how to bully others! We're fighting to the death with the Jurchens on the front lines, and those bastards actually collude with them, sending them equipment and food. If you ask me, His Majesty should have executed those parasites long ago!" Wang Lao Er cursed.

Li Shanhe nodded in agreement: "No matter what, the court isn't short of pay now. If you ask me, the five of us should go and kill a few Jurchen heads, go to the capital to get double pay, and earn a few dozen acres of land! We'll avoid being cannon fodder for those servants in this Zu family army!"

"Three heads per person, that's fifteen Jurchen heads! How can the five of us fight them?" Wang Lao Er said, somewhat disagreeing.

They have no chance of winning even in a five-on-five situation, and they have absolutely no chance of winning in a five-on-fifteen situation!

"We won't go after the Jurchen outposts, we'll go slaughter the families of their garrison! Anyway, the court only said three Jurchen heads with pig tails, it didn't say they had to be Jurchen soldiers!" Li Shanhe was thinking about this when he heard that the scout had brought back the heads of three Jurchen family members. Soldiers were hard to slaughter, but sneaking in and slaughtering their families was still possible!

After hearing this, Wang Lao Er didn't rush to answer. He paced back and forth in the house for a while, then stopped, looked at his wife and daughter doing chores outside, as if he had made an incredibly difficult decision: "Damn it! I'll do it! If I die, I'll die; if I don't, I'll live forever!"

"A few Jurchen heads, enough to build a fortune, and you can even join the Divine Martial Guard and get double pay like those servants! What a bargain!"

With that, Wang Lao Er turned and walked out of the room, calling down the three men on the watchtower: "I just discussed it with Brother Shanhe. The five of us will prepare some food and weapons, and we'll take three Jurchen heads in exchange for a fortune!"

The remaining three soldiers were taken aback for a moment, then nodded to each other: "Let's do it! Even if we didn't, we'd probably die at the hands of the Jurchen scouts sometime during their sweep!"

When the three of them heard about the imperial court's three-headed and five-headed system, they wanted to give it a try. After all, they were going to become cannon fodder sooner or later anyway, so they might as well take a gamble!

Night fell! The weather in Liaodong was slightly cool. The five men, carrying weapons and four days' worth of rations, left the outpost, handed over the task of guarding the sentry post to their families, and, under the cover of darkness, made their way to the nearest Jurchen military camp!

The military settlement wasn't entirely populated by Jurchens; there were also some Han Chinese who had shaved their heads. Most were Jurchen bondservants and slaves; some who resisted had been killed or escaped to the Ming army. The rest were all obedient citizens…

These five men, who hid during the day and ventured out at night, finally reached the outermost edge of the camp two days later. They saw the fire in a remote house had gone out, and after waiting for half an hour, they crept up to it.

They pried open the door, entered the room, and began hacking; the people inside instantly collapsed into pools of blood!

With a few more swift strokes, he severed the heads of the men. Wang Lao Er muttered, "These Jurchen heads are good; leaving a pig's tail is perfect for tying around our waists!"

"Let's check a few more places! If anyone spots us, we'll run!" Li Shanhe whispered from the side.