Chapter 83, Internal strife in the Xuan Mansion
Xuanfu Town, Huailong Road East Road, Baoan Prefecture, the deserted river beach outside Shunxiang Fort
The bloody sunset hung obliquely on the top of the mountain, casting the twilight onto the battlefield that had just calmed down. Hundreds of military households in rags and rags, as well as a few generals and servants with bright armor, were all entangled together in a state of confusion. Corpses of men and horses lay on top of each other, broken swords and spears, torn military flags and drums were scattered everywhere. Groups of wild dogs searched for food in the pile of corpses, and from time to time they started fighting each other due to disputes over the uneven distribution of the spoils.
This is the most common scene on the battlefield - corpses strewn across the field, rotten odor permeating the air, terrifying and desolate.
What is even more sad is that the soldiers who fell here were all members of the Ming Dynasty.
——This is not a conflict between the two countries, nor even a counter-insurgency. It can only be said to be a tragic internal strife between the officials and soldiers of the imperial court.
The commander (defense officer) of Shunxiang Fort, the time traveler Wang Dou, and a few cavalry soldiers, silently inspected this desolate battlefield. At the same time, he turned back and ordered his subordinates to organize a group of civilians to come over as soon as possible to clean the battlefield and burn the corpses. In case the plague breaks out - it's a hot day now.
Speaking of which, how did the current chaotic war in which various Ming border troops fight against each other begin?
In short, silver makes people jealous!
——Although Wang Dou successfully established an elite Shunxiang army by relying on his insights and perseverance that transcended the times, which could not only occupy the fortress and defend it, but also defeat the Jurchen Tartars head-on in the field. His biggest asset in settling down in troubled times. But no matter how tough and capable the army is, it must be well-clothed and well-fed to fight... But his Shunxiang Army is not the Guanning Army in western Liaoning, and the court will obviously not allocate so much military expenditure - on the contrary, as a hereditary military household, Wang Dou's Shunxiang army not only had to rely on its own efforts, but also had to pay various exorbitant taxes and duties to the superiors. Usually only when war is about to begin, you can get some assistance from above.
Faced with the dilemma of not being able to make ends meet, Wang Dou also racked his brains and thought of many solutions, such as building water conservancy projects, digging fish ponds, expanding land and reclaiming wasteland, etc. Unfortunately, amid the raging natural disasters and endless wars, all these attempts failed. ——It is difficult for people in peaceful times to imagine the horrors of troubled times. The so-called suffering of war and war in troubled times means that in the blink of an eye, the land will be filled with dead bodies. In Xuanfu during the Chongzhen period, there were thieves in the suburbs and gangsters in the county. There was no place for peace and quiet. When safety is not guaranteed, it is very dangerous to make a living, and you will be robbed at every turn.
In the end, in order to solve the increasingly serious financial crisis of Shunxiang Fort, Wang Dou had no choice but to use his memories from later generations to develop the Xiangguang Silver Mine and Shangjinggou Silver Mine in Baoan Prefecture of Xuanfu and later Zhuolu County. Mine, the total reserves are said to be close to 300 tons.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, these places in Baoan Prefecture were still deserted, and no one knew about the underground silver mines. Therefore, Wang Dou successfully occupied those two barren lands, and after some hard work, he finally found them. Silver began to be mined in the autumn of the fourth year of Chongzhen.
But mining silver is just the beginning. The next problem that Wang Dou and the Shunxiang Army need to face is how to keep this life-saving source of wealth amidst the covetousness of enemies from all walks of life and the clever usurpation of the powerful officials above. .
Wang Dou was not unprepared for this, and had already done some work on bribing officials and smoothing relationships.
But he never expected that several of his enemies in Xuanfu Town would act so wantonly even under the emperor's feet!
(Datong Town in the late Ming Dynasty was located in today's Shanxi, and Xuanfu Town was the boundary of today's Hebei Province. The eastern half of Xuanfu Town has entered the scope of today's Beijing Municipality, close to the capital, and looks like a rural place. In fact, it is closer to Beijing than Tianjin)
——The other military leaders in Xuanfu Town have always had a feud with Shun Xiangbao because of the competition for credit, and they are jealous of Wang Dou’s newly acquired silver mine, and finally they can’t compete with the officialdom to spend a lot of money. Wang Du, so in accordance with the unspoken rules of the late Ming Dynasty, they started to use force to solve the problem. What they were thinking - these military leaders spent all their troops and recruited a few bandits and bandits to serve as cannon fodder. In addition, through some unknown means, they also recruited a general from Datong Town in the west to help put the pieces together. Minato gathered more than 20,000 people, claiming to be a hundred thousand people, and came to kill them fiercely.
Caught off guard, due to the huge disparity in numbers, the small number of mine protection teams stationed outside by the Shunxiang Army were severely defeated. They had to abandon two silver mines and the smelted silver ingots. They took the surviving miners and ran away overnight. After dozens of miles, he fled back to Shunxiang Fort and stayed behind closed doors. Next, several roadside soldiers who came to rob the silver mine suddenly broke out in a fight for some unknown reason, killing each other beside the silver mine pit, leaving corpses everywhere and rivers of blood flowing.
In the end, the powerful foreign dragon actually overpowered the local snake, and the general from Datong Town finally had the last laugh in this internal strife. So, while happily counting the blood-stained silver, he ordered five thousand soldiers and horses, turned around and headed straight for Shunxiang Castle, preparing to eliminate the weeds in one fell swoop... As a result, in a deserted area not far from Shunxiang Castle On the river beach, they met 1,200 Shunxiang troops led by Wang Dou head-on.
Then, not surprisingly, the seemingly outnumbered Shunxiang army achieved an overwhelming victory in the field battle.
——By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the military system of the imperial court had long been ruined. Officers at all levels were greedy for the pay and silver of the soldiers under Mo's command, and used the country's wealth to support their elite cronies, commonly known as servants. A general "accumulates ten times as many servants as he has, and he can use them to trap the enemy whenever there is a serious enemy." The strength of his servants not only reflects the strength of each military attache, but also reflects the strength of any military attache in times of danger. Guarantee of rescuing people and making great achievements. However, elite servants are elites, and the cost of recruiting soldiers is ten times higher than that of ordinary military households. The wages, money, food, clothing, and salary of one servant must be scraped from the heads of more than a dozen or even dozens of military household guards.
Therefore, the official army of Datong Town that invaded Shunxiang Fort this time had 5,000 troops. The only ones who could fight were more than 100 horse servants and more than 500 recruits. The rest were not strong civilians who were coerced to do work along the way. , that is, the military households who were driven to make up the numbers were almost the same as beggars - that is to say, among the five thousand invading enemies, only more than 600 people could really be defeated, and they were already very tired due to the long journey. .
The 1,200 Shunxiang troops brought out by Wang Dou, a time traveler, are all solid soldiers. Even though their personal martial arts are not as good as those of the servants, when they fight in formation, they are not necessarily much worse. It is equivalent to two soldiers. Hit one. In addition, the Shunxiang Army was fighting on the mainland, with abundant physical strength and high morale. It also had artillery launched from the fort to assist in the battle. In fact, it had an absolute advantage in all aspects.
So, after a short and fierce fight, the Datong town counselor was wounded by shotgun and led his family to flee in panic. Then the whole army collapsed and a cloud of people surrendered. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, all the officers and soldiers except The servants of the generals dared to die fearlessly, while other ordinary soldiers put their lives first. This is not because they are cowardly, but it is because ordinary soldiers in the Ming army have no hope of living. Servants are military attaches and private soldiers. They usually pay no hesitation. They kill in battle and give generous rewards. They share the honor and disgrace with the chief officers, so they are very effective in combat. However, ordinary soldiers are just cannon fodder in the eyes of generals. Not to mention that the court often defaults on food and salary. Even if it is paid in full, most of it will fall into the hands of the military attachés, and then be turned into "military expenses" to support the family members. Ordinary soldiers die in vain when they rush to the battlefield. Even if they are lucky enough to perform meritorious service, they still have to share the profits with their servants. If this is the case, why bother risking their own lives and benefiting others in vain?
What's more, this is not an official order from the imperial court to send troops to fight, but a private fight between generals... Who is willing to be stupid and fight to the death?
In this way, the battle ended in an anticlimactic manner, leaving only corpses and messes on the ground, as well as thousands of prisoners of war with sick heads and brains.
But for the person involved, Wang Dou, all kinds of troubles have just begun - the two silver mines are still occupied by others, and God knows what the final outcome of this internal strife among the border troops will be: Don't think that you are a victim It's okay. There are many things that confuse right and wrong in official circles!
What's even worse is that even though there is no income from the silver mine, the filial piety paid to the various monsters and snake gods above is still not reduced at all. On the contrary, in order to win the lawsuit, he has to pay several times more money. Thinking about it really makes people feel suffocated - it would be more refreshing to simply pull the flag and go against it!
Considering that the outcome of this pen and ink lawsuit was somewhat unpredictable, and there was also the possibility of being beaten fifty times by each side, Wang Dou finally couldn't help but lower his head and seriously evaluated the possibility of rebellion, but In the end, I still felt that the success rate was too low - Xuanfu was too close to Beijing, and Baoan Prefecture was close to Shuntianfu, where the capital was located. To rebel in a place like this would be like hanging yourself for a long time!
While Wang Dou was deep in thought, a middle-aged steward wearing a coarse robe rode over from the road on a donkey. Wang Dou looked back and asked casually, "...are you back? Have you bought the food? There have been so many mouths in the fort recently, and the food stored is not enough!"
"...I bought it back, but only one hundred shi of coarse grain. The grain dealer said that the Wenxiang Sect in Shandong was causing trouble and cutting off water transportation, so the price of grain will rise again..."
The middle-aged steward gasped and replied, and at the same time handed over a newspaper, "...In addition, someone from Xuanhua Mansion also sent this."
Wang Dou curiously took a look at the newspaper and was stunned, "... Shaanxi bandits invaded Taiyuan, and Shanxi governor Xu Dingchen committed suicide? The Ministry of War ordered Xuanfu and Datong Town to mobilize troops to quell the chaos? Are the higher-ups expecting me to send troops? Right? That's crazy! Those bastards just had a scuffle with us, so many people died, and we haven't even decided who is right. Where's the truth! What idiot would send troops so stupidly at this time, and then have his home raided?" He shook his head and sighed, rolled up the newspaper and stuffed it into his clothes, "...Hey, the defeat in Liaodong, the rebellion in Shandong, and the loss of Shanxi? After reaching the provincial capital, Xuanfu is still beating its own people... This Ming Dynasty is really going to end..."