met free Chapter 531 Sunrise in the East, Rain in the West
Chapter 531 Sunrise in the East, Rain in the West
In October of the ninth year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign (1636), less than a year later, the Later Jin army launched another large-scale invasion. Prince Ajige, along with Prince Raoyu Abatai and Duke Yingcheng Yangguli, led a large army that broke through the Great Wall defenses at Dushikou and marched directly towards Northern Zhili. Eight days later, the army converged on Yanqing County near the capital, defeating the Ming army seven times and capturing 13,230 people and livestock. To prevent the army from taking advantage of the situation, martial law was declared throughout the capital, and elite troops from various border garrisons were urgently summoned to defend the capital. Following the Jisi Incident of the second year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, Northern Zhili was once again shrouded in the shadow of war.
When news of the Later Jin invasion reached Shandong, it didn't cause much concern among the local military and civilians. After all, in the eyes of the officials and the people, the previous invasions by the Tartars had only involved looting in places like Xuanfu and Datong, or harassing the area around the capital, where they would plunder and then flee, never heading south. Therefore, even though the Tartar army was only a few hundred miles from Shandong, few people worried about being harmed. Many believed that Heaven was fair; Shandong had only recently recovered from the rebellion and was unlikely to suffer another war.
Outside Dengzhou City, Liang Xiaoming was still overseeing the construction of an integrated military camp and fortress bastion. For a tech-savvy military enthusiast, being able to build a permanent bastion with his own hands was an immense joy. Years ago, to resist He Rubin's massive army, a temporary rammed-earth bastion had been built near Bofu, but it was quickly leveled after the war, leaving him with a lingering regret. Now, he could finally make up for it.
Su Hongtu was leading the newly recruited soldiers of the Independent Regiment in drills nearby. He had offered to let the new recruits assist in the construction of the barracks, but Liang Xiaoming refused. His opinion was that with Governor Lin's help, there were enough laborers and craftsmen, and the soldiers didn't need to be used as manual laborers. The Independent Regiment was newly established, and apart from a few key members, there were too many greenhorns. They should intensify their training so that they wouldn't be unable to fire a gun when encountering the enemy.
Subsequent events proved that Liang Xiaoming's caution was correct.
So Su Hongtu led the new recruits to devote themselves wholeheartedly to training. The firearms and ammunition transported from Lingao had arrived in Dengzhou, but Su Hongtu did not rush to let the new recruits practice firearms. Instead, he started with the most basic drills and bayonet fighting. The artillerymen, however, began test firing of mountain guns with the instructors from Lingao. Every day, the sound of cannons echoed at the temporary firing range on the other side. Because the Independent Regiment was starting from scratch and lacked personnel, it was different from the First and Second Regiments in Lingao. It did not have a regimental artillery battalion, but only four under-strength infantry battalions. Therefore, the cannons used were only the 6-jin mountain guns used by the battalion artillery companies. The powerful 10-jin field guns were not equipped.
That day, Ma Wei arrived at the barracks construction site, found Liang Xiaoming, and asked him for instructions: "Sir, Governor Lin said that there is a band of horse bandits active in Mi Shen Mountain, at the border of Laizhou and Dengzhou. It is said that some remnants of the rebel army have colluded with local mountain bandits to rob and plunder. Since they are mainly composed of cavalry, the government is unable to suppress them. He asked if I could go and suppress them. I would like to lead the cavalry battalion to try it out, just as a training exercise. These men are quite skilled at riding, but unfortunately, they have never seen bloodshed." The cavalry battalion was directly under the command of the General. Although it could be commanded by the Deputy General Su Hongtu during wartime, it had a great deal of autonomy in peacetime. Therefore, to send troops to suppress bandits, he did not need to consult Su Hongtu's opinion, but had to ask Liang Xiaoming for instructions.
Liang Xiaoming, who was immersed in his role as a construction foreman, suddenly remembered that he also had the identity of the General of Dengzhou. He immediately said with a smile, "Since it is Governor Lin's idea and it is a good thing to protect the territory and the people, you can go. But remember not to cross the border of the three eastern prefectures. After all, the three western prefectures are under the jurisdiction of the Shandong Governor. It would be bad to cause unnecessary misunderstandings."
Ma Wei verbally agreed, but inwardly he was skeptical. He was determined to train his troops, and this band of bandits was to be pursued relentlessly. Otherwise, the cavalry battalion's first battle would fail to achieve complete success, affecting morale and causing him, as the battalion commander, to lose face. As for whether they would be pursued beyond the boundaries of the three eastern prefectures, he couldn't guarantee that. In any case, the newly appointed Shandong governor wouldn't dare to do anything to him—this cavalry and independent regiment were nominally under the command of Dengzhou, but in reality, they were under the control of the Earl of Pingnan, a fact almost everyone in Shandong's officialdom knew—he had no idea what kind of butterfly effect his willful decision would have.
The next day, the cavalry battalion, led by Ma Wei, filed out of the west gate of Dengzhou, their hooves thundering as they sped westward like a whirlwind.
The sun rose in the east while rain fell in the west. The overcast situation in Beizhili did not affect Guangdong. The marriage of the Earl of Pingnan proceeded as planned, and Qiongzhou Prefecture and Lingao County were immersed in a joyous atmosphere.
After meticulous preparations, the wedding route and procession, the decoration of the new house, and the security measures along the way were all carried out in an orderly manner, and the day quickly came to the ninth day of the eleventh lunar month.
The ninth day was an auspicious day according to the Chinese almanac, suitable for weddings, travel, sacrifices, and prayers. The large wedding procession arrived in Guangzhou and set off from the dock to Mu Tianyan's private residence to pick up the bride. Although Lin Shiyue usually lived with her aunt in the backyard of the governor's yamen, the wedding procession could not go to the yamen, so it was changed to her uncle's private residence.
Chinese people have always loved watching a spectacle, especially since this was the wedding of Pingnanbo, one of the most important figures in Guangdong. Almost half of the people in Guangzhou came, turning the streets into a sea of people and completely blocking the route. If it weren't for the fully armed Qionghai Navy soldiers setting up a human wall to block the way, the bridal sedan chair probably wouldn't have been able to move forward.
To ensure the smooth progress of the wedding procession, Guangzhou Prefect Yu Baocheng dispatched almost all the city's yamen runners and constables to assist the Qionghai Navy soldiers in maintaining order. This wedding involved two governors from the south and one from the north, as well as an earl, two of whom were local tycoons. He couldn't afford to offend any of them, or he would be in deep trouble if anything went wrong.
Gou Ergui mingled in the crowd, clutching a dagger tightly to his chest, his eyes filled with hatred as he stared in the direction the bridal sedan chair had gone—he planned to wait until the wedding procession picked up the bride, then rush in amidst the chaos to kill her. Even if he couldn't kill the man surnamed Liu, killing his woman would at least vent his anger. Although whether he succeeded or not, doing so would be tantamount to suicide, he couldn't care less.
After following He Rubin's army back to Qiongzhou from Guangzhou, he once thought that his chance to turn the tide had come. However, the crushing defeat of the Guangdong army dealt him a heavy blow. Later, Liu Ye led his troops to invade Guangdong, bombarded Guangzhou, and forced Wang Zunde, the then Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, to sign a treaty under duress, which completely shattered his illusions.
Just when Gou Ergui gave up all his unrealistic ideas and was preparing to start over from scratch with his family's savings, Liu Ye's series of actions destroyed his hopes once again.
First, when the three counties collected taxes on behalf of the local officials, they surveyed hidden land and required gentry to pay taxes together. This uncovered all the hidden land registered under his name, causing him to lose more than half of his fertile land. But this was not the end. Not long ago, the Qionghai Army stirred up trouble again. Under the name of the Qiongzhou Merchants, they "purchased" fertile land from landlords who owned a lot of land in the three counties at market price. They only kept 30 to 50 mu of land for the sellers, then transferred it to their own names and handed it over to refugees from Shandong and other places to cultivate. If anyone refused, they colluded with the government to arbitrarily accuse them of crimes and send them to prison.