"Commander, send out troops, kill Wang Gao, and massacre Gule City."
"Commander, send out troops, kill Wang Gao, and massacre Gule City."
The banquet, which had been lively just now, suddenly erupted with a strong murderous aura. The big trees outside seemed to feel it, and the leaves kept swaying.
At this time, the Liaodong Ming army did not experience the same feeling of powerlessness faced by the rising Jianzhou Jurchens decades later.
Although the Ming army is on the defensive in Liaodong, once the attack target is selected, whether it is against the Tuman tribe in the west or the Jurchen tribe in the north, the chance of victory is extremely high.
Even if they miss occasionally, as long as the Ming army cheers up, revenge will be easy.
Otherwise, the vast land of Liaodong would not be firmly under the control of the Ming court.
As for the battle reports from the capital, many of them exaggerate the strength of the Mongols, especially the Tuman tribe who are still at war with the Ming court.
Actually, this is not a puzzling question. If you want to get more money from the court, you have to build a "powerful" enemy for yourself.
Otherwise, when it comes to rewards based on merit, the difference between defeating a strong enemy and defeating a small thief will be huge.
At this time, the reward set by the Ming Dynasty was that the head of a mature Mongolian was several times more expensive than the head of a mature Jurchen.
The reason why the first level is called "the first level" is because "the first level is one level", which originated from the Qin State's military merit awarding system in Shang Yang's Reform. Officials get fifty dan."
However, the use of heads to record merit did not start in the Qin Dynasty. It existed as early as the Shang Dynasty. However, Shang Yang's reform put many previously unwritten rules into writing and made them well-founded.
For a long time, beheading has been the mainstream method.
But there are definitely some drawbacks, such as taking credit for killing good people, and even killing each other in order to fight for the head on the battlefield.
Therefore, Di Qingshangshu, a famous general in the Northern Song Dynasty, proposed the abolition of beheadings and was approved. From then on, beheadings were no longer implemented in the Song Dynasty.
At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, military merit was also used as the assessment standard, and it was divided into three types: extraordinary merit, first merit, and minor merit.
The so-called miraculous skills refer to beheading generals, seizing the flag, trapping the formation, and ascending first in the battle formation. The first skill refers to taking the lead, jumping on the swing, destroying the front, and defeating the enemy. The second skill refers to reconnaissance. , defend the formation, capture the enemy, be injured, etc.
In fact, the Ming Dynasty's merit book usually mainly consists of first and second merits. After the founding war in the early Ming Dynasty, extraordinary achievements rarely appeared.
For example, in the battle of Caishiji in the 15th year of the reign of Emperor Zhizheng of the Yuan Dynasty, Chang Yuchun rode into the enemy formation alone. Unstoppable, he tore apart the Yuan army's defense line with his own strength, and the Ming army won. This is the miracle of trapping.
Although this kind of war merit design has its rationality, it is only suitable for the entrepreneurial period. As long as you have the courage and are not afraid of death, you will have a lot of achievements to make. It does not matter if there are loopholes or not, it is done.
However, it is not enough to enter the defensive period after the founding of the country. The credit is limited, and the combat quality of the army is far inferior to that of the founding of the country.
And this kind of unquantifiable war merit system will inevitably lead to injustice and corruption, and all the merits will become a matter of merit.
So starting from Hongxi, there have been many cases of indiscriminate reporting and false reporting. Whenever a battle is won, the people around the general are basically the ones who report the merit.
In the end, the Ming court discovered that it was necessary to have a quantifiable decapitation record to convince people. It would be simple and trouble-free to record as much merit as the number of heads handed over.
Starting from the Zhengtong period, the Ming army's beheadings were recorded in four categories from high to low: the first was from the north, that is, the Mongolian tribe; the second was from Liaodong, that is, the Jurchen tribe; the third was from the Fanman, that is, the Tubo and Miao territories; The fourth are the internal thieves, namely the rebels and the peasant army.
Taking the example of Tianshun five years ago, one leader in Yibei can be promoted to one rank or receive a reward of 50 taels of silver. Five to seven leaders of Liaodong and Fanman can be promoted to one rank or receive a reward of 40 taels of silver. ; With 30 heads of internal thieves, you can be promoted to one level or receive a reward of 30 taels.
Of course, this upgrade does not include mid- to high-level generals, but only reaches the level of 100 households.
This also shows that there is a huge gap between the heads of Mongolians and Jurchens.
Of course, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, the rewards between the two were reversed again, but that's a story later.
"Rusong, take your troops to go first to Gushan Fort to understand the situation."
With insufficient information now, Li Chengliang would not let his son go directly to Changdian.
"Father, why don't you go to Changdian and capture Wang Gao's son?"
Li Rusong, a newborn calf, is not afraid of tigers, so he shouted immediately.
"Just do whatever you are told and execute the military orders."
In the following time, Li Chengliang began to mobilize troops and generals. While sending reinforcements to Shichakou to avoid the Changdian tragedy from happening again, he also organized his troops and prepared to go to Gushan Fort.
The banquet prepared for Liu Tai naturally could not go on.
A few days later, when Li Chengliang and Liu Tai arrived at Gushan Fort and saw more than a thousand soldiers and civilians who had escaped from the pass, and heard some things, they realized that the matter was worse than he imagined. Be serious.
According to what the escaped soldiers said, after General Liu Chengyi and Hundred Household Liu Zhongwen led troops to support Wang Gao and Laili's Red Army, they were defeated. Pei Chengzu, Liu Chengyi, and Liu Zhongwen were disembowelled and their hearts were gouged out, and all the other prisoners were also killed. Being chopped with a sword, the scene was extremely tragic.
After that, Wang Gao led his troops to storm the camp from the north gate. Because there was no one in the camp to take charge, the morale of the troops was disorganized, resulting in the complete collapse of the camp.
When they were unable to escape, they were chased by Jurchen cavalry. Of the six to seven thousand people who went out, only a few thousand returned.
"Where is Rusong?"
On the top of the Gushan Castle, Li Chengliang saw that everyone was there, but there was no trace of his eldest son Li Rusong.
"The Major General went to Gushan Fort two days ago. He learned the news from the soldiers who had escaped, so he took his troops and went to Changdian to seek revenge on Wang Gao."
Gushan Fort. The guard Cao Husheng hurriedly reported, "The general did not stop him, so he had to send his men to follow."
When Li Chengliang heard the news, there was no change in his face, but he would not stay in Gushan Fort anymore, so he immediately ordered: "Follow me to Changdian."
After saying this, Li Chengliang looked at Yu Shi Liutai said: "Liu Yushi please invite Rest for two days at Gushan Fort, and wait until I collect the remains of the Changdian soldiers before I apologize to the court."
"Marshal Li is serious. This matter is all due to the viciousness and cunning of the traitor chief and has nothing to do with the general."
Liu Tai shook his head and said.
Just now he also inquired about the news of the defeat and learned that Pei Chengzu was more cautious at the beginning, just holding on to the camp and making preparations for building the city.
However, he was later deceived by a spy sent by the Jurchens, thinking that Wang Gao only came with a small number of troops to observe the camp, so he rushed out with more than 200 people to capture the thieves and the king. Unexpectedly, he fell into the trap of the Jurchens. The army was destroyed.
And because the hilltop was very close to the Ming army camp, Pei Chengzu thought that even if he failed to succeed, it would be no problem to escape unscathed, so he did not explain other arrangements.
It would be a small matter if he died, but it would be a big pain to the Ming army and the civilian craftsmen.
Although it seems that Li Chengliang is not responsible for this matter, Liu Tai still knows that the document he gave to Governor Zhang Xueyan stated that he chose Pei Chengzu because he was cautious. He was ordered to lead an army to Changdian.
Obviously, Li Chengliang misjudged the wrong person, or maybe this person was cautious and ambitious, but he just didn't expose it.
But no matter what, thousands of people died. This was already a big defeat. As the censor of Liaodong patrol, Liu Tai still had to report it.
As for how the court will deal with it in the end, it has nothing to do with him.
However, after seeing Li Chengliang, Liu Tai understood to some extent that as long as the court did not have a suitable candidate to replace Li Chengliang, his position as commander-in-chief would be as secure as a mountain.
When the Ming army packed up and marched out from the north gate of Gushan Fort, Li Chengliang led the generals behind him down the city wall. He called a personal guard on the way and whispered: "Send someone to contact Hachi, so Damn it that the important news was not informed in advance.
Tell him, if there are two sides, I don't mind taking action on his tribe. ’
"Yes."
The guard hurriedly retreated and passed on Li Chengliang's order.
Yes, Li Chengliang has been able to gain a foothold in Liaodong over the years, not only because of the three thousand servants around him, but also because he has placed informants in the Mongolian Tuman tribe and the Jurchen tribe, allowing him to master both Party news.
It is precisely because of the intelligence support that he has gained the upper hand in many foreign battles, and has not lost a single battle for many years.
But obviously, this time his intelligence network did not get the news in advance that Wang Gao was going to take action in advance, or the other party moved too quickly and had no time to notify him.
The Ha Chi in his mouth was actually a small leader in Wang Gao's tribe. He had hundreds of people in his tribe and was a force that was attached to Wang Gao.
Of course, in addition to him, Li Chengliang also had contacts with many Mongolian and Jurchen nobles and leaders. After all, they needed to trade with the Ming Dynasty to obtain the supplies they needed. In exchange, they also have to provide Li Chengliang with various information.
Li Chengliang not only wants to make money through mutual trading to support his troops, but also wants them to provide intelligence. He has to do both.
As a native of Liaodong, through his experience in the capital and the actual situation in Liaodong, he already has his own way of doing things, which is to pull together one faction and fight against another.
Whether it is the Liaodong Army or its opponents, the Mongols or the Jurchens, they all have competing interests internally and have long since split into countless factions.
Using this relationship to obtain the greatest benefit for oneself is what he saw those civil servants doing in private in the capital.
Party fighting was strictly prohibited in the Ming Dynasty, but in fact the whole dynasty was full of party members.
However, after he led his people out of Gushan Fort, Liu Tai quickly followed him on horseback with his guards, saying that he wanted to visit Changdian.
Liu Tai came to Liaodong naturally not on his own accord. He was specially sent here by his teacher Zhang Juzheng.
The purpose is naturally to observe the Liaodong generals.
Wei Guangde has already taken control of Datong and Jizhen in Jiubian. As the first assistant, Zhang Juzheng is naturally unwilling to lag behind. He has set his sights on Datong and Liaodong.
At least at this stage, Li Chengliang gave him a good feeling, because he could win the battle and was exactly the person he needed.
So, for Liu Tai, he still hopes to have a good relationship with Li Chengliang, although he despises this vulgar soldier from the bottom of his heart.
When the group arrived in Changdian, they only saw densely packed small mounds of soil at the foot of a hillside.
While arranging for people to set up camp, they soon found Li Rusong on a small slope.
“Father.”
Seeing Li Chengliang arriving, Li Rusong hurriedly stepped forward to salute.
Seeing that Yushi Liu Tai was following behind him, he hurriedly bowed and saluted: "Master Liu has worked hard, how come Master Liu is here."
"You can come, What? Can’t I come?”
Liu Tai smiled kindly.
“This place is outside the border wall and is still somewhat dangerous.”
Li Rusong explained hurriedly.
Liu Tai didn't take it seriously, just waved his hand, stood on the top of the mountain and looked to the north.
“Have you ever found any trace of Wang Gao?”
Li Chengliang brought people here to find Wang Gao.
But judging from the current situation, he should have left.
“After they broke the camp, they chased the remnants of our army for a day and then fled north, probably back to Gule City or Hongli Village.”
Li Rusong said harshly, Then he pointed to the mounds at the foot of the hillside, "Those are the remains of the soldiers I asked my men to collect."
"The loss of more than 5,000 people this time is too tragic."
Liu Tai withdrew his gaze at this time and just interjected.
“They are all incompetent.”
Li Chengliang hurriedly admitted his mistake.
"Commander Li will never feel sorry for himself. Sooner or later, Wang Gao will pay with his life."
Liu Tai still knew the court's plan to some extent. He was originally dissatisfied with Wang Gao, so this time he even sent troops. reason.
"Let the Major General talk about the situation here. I just reported a briefing to the court a few days ago, and a detailed battle report must be delivered to the capital."
Liu Tai continued.
"Mr. Wei Ge, we are almost ready."
After carefully checking the test papers and rankings, Deputy Examiner Wang Xilie came to Wei Guangde and whispered to him.
“Everyone is here?”
Wei Guangde put down the teacup in his hand and asked casually.
“We are all here.”
Wang Xilie replied, “It should be time to open the seal and fill in the list.”
Hearing this, Wei Guangde stood up and walked over In front of a large desk, the examination answer sheets have been densely arranged, but at this time, the place where the candidates' names are filled in the answer sheets is still sealed, and the candidates' names cannot be seen.
I picked up the above copies casually, read the examiner's comments, nodded, and put them back as they were.
"Everyone, everyone has worked hard these past two months.
At least, we have finally completed this imperial mission.
Now that the list has been released, let's open the seal and fill in the list.
I think the candidates outside are already looking forward to it, just like you and I were before."
Wei Guangde smiled at the examiners and invigilators around him.
"Haha, yes, I was restless after the general examination."
When an examiner said this, he shook his head in embarrassment.
"What's the point? Who was not like this at the beginning? Do you think so?"
"Haha. Exactly, exactly."
The examiners were all talking. Talking about interesting things from back then, the hall was really lively.
Wei Guangde returned to his seat and sat down, indicating that he could start filling in the list.
According to the rules, we naturally start from the last one, open the seal, roll call, and fill in the list.
"Gong Jingguo, a native of Xuancheng, Ningguo Prefecture, South Zhili, will take the three hundred examination "
As the name of the first tribute student was sung, the examination paper was handed over to the invigilator for verification. The official responsible for filling in the results had already picked up a pen and dipped it in ink to fill it out.
However, Wei Guangde's eyes were looking outside the lobby. At this time, a guard was running away with his back to them.
Wang Xilie noticed Wei Guangde's gaze, looked out curiously, and then laughed "hehehe".
"Let him go, the candidates are still waiting for them to announce the good news."
Wei Guangde turned his head and looked at Wang Xilie and said.
Wang Xilie nodded, having experienced this, he naturally knew what the officer was doing.
It is also good to like money and everyone likes it.
"Continue."
Wei Guangde looked at the examiners around him and smiled. (End of this chapter)