Chapter 912 1001 Filling the List

"General, send out troops, kill Wang Gao, and massacre Gule City."

"General, send out troops, kill Wang Gao, and massacre Gule City."

The banquet, which was just lively, suddenly burst into a strong murderous aura, and the big trees outside the house seemed to feel it, and the leaves kept shaking.

At this time, the Liaodong Ming army had not experienced the feeling of powerlessness facing the rising Jianzhou Jurchens decades later.

Although the Ming army was on the defensive in Liaodong, once the attack target was selected, whether it was against the Tuman tribe in the west or the Jurchens in the north, the chances of winning were extremely high.

Even if there were occasional failures, as long as the Ming army cheered up, revenge would be easy.

Otherwise, the vast land of Liaodong would not be firmly controlled by the Ming court.

As for the war reports to the capital, there were many elements of exaggerating the strength of the Mongols, especially the Tuman tribe, which was still at war with the Ming court.

In fact, this is not a puzzling question. If you want to get more silver from the court, you have to set up a " "powerful" enemy.

Otherwise, when rewarding merit, the difference between defeating a powerful enemy and defeating a petty thief will be huge.

At this time, the reward set by the Ming Dynasty was that the head of a strong Mongolian was several times more expensive than the head of a strong Jurchen.

The reason why the head is called "head" is because "one head, one level", which originated from the Qin military merit system in Shang Yang's reform, "one head cut in battle will be awarded one level of nobility, and those who want to be officials will be awarded 50 stones."

However, the practice of recording merit by head did not start in the Qin Dynasty, but existed as early as the Shang Dynasty, but Shang Yang's reform put many previously unwritten rules into writing, so that there is a basis to rely on.

For a long time, beheading was the mainstream.

But there are definitely disadvantages, such as killing innocent people to claim credit, and even killing each other on the battlefield to compete for heads.

So the famous general Di Qing in the Northern Song Dynasty proposed to abolish it. Except for beheading, which was approved, beheading was no longer implemented in the Song Dynasty.

At the beginning of the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, military merit was also used as the standard for verification, which was divided into three types: extraordinary merit, first merit, and second merit.

The so-called extraordinary merit refers to beheading the general, seizing the flag, breaking through the formation, and being the first to climb the mountain in the battle formation, while the first merit refers to being the first, jumping, destroying the front, and defeating the enemy. The second merit refers to tracking, defending the formation, capturing the enemy, and being injured.

In fact, the merit book of the Ming Dynasty is generally mainly the first merit and the second merit. After the founding war of the Ming Dynasty, extraordinary merit has rarely appeared.

For example, in the Caishiji Battle in the 15th year of Zhizheng in the Yuan Dynasty, Chang Yuchun rushed into the enemy formation alone, and no one could stop him. He tore the Yuan army's defense line with his own strength, and the Ming army won. This is the extraordinary merit of breaking through the formation.

Although this kind of military merit design has its rationality, it is only applicable to the start-up period. As long as you are brave and fearless, you can have a lot of merits. Care about loopholes or not, just do it.

However, after the founding of the country, it was no longer possible to maintain the status quo. The merits were limited, and the combat quality of the army was far inferior to that of the founding of the country.

And this unquantifiable military merit system will inevitably lead to injustice and corruption, and all the merits have become a matter of a word from Gongcao.

So starting from Hongxi, there were many cases of over-reporting and false reporting. Whenever a victory was won, the merits were basically reported by the generals' entourage.

In the end, the Ming court found that it was still the quantifiable beheading merit that could convince people. The more heads handed over, the greater the merit, which was simple and easy.

Starting from the Zhengtong period, the price of the Ming army's beheading merit was divided into four categories from high to low. The first was Yibei, that is, the Mongolian tribe; the second was Liaodong, that is, the Jurchen tribe; the third was Fanman, that is, Tubo and Miaojiang; the fourth was the internal thieves, that is, the rebels and peasant army.

For example, in the fifth year of Tianshun, one head in Yibei could be promoted by one rank or receive a reward of 50 taels of silver, 5-7 heads in Liaodong and Fanman could be promoted by one rank or receive a reward of 40 taels of silver; 30 heads of internal thieves could be promoted by one rank or receive a reward of 30 taels of silver.

Of course, this promotion does not include middle and senior military generals, but only up to the level of a hundred households.

From this, it can be seen that the difference between the heads of Mongolians and Jurchens is huge.

Of course, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, the rewards of the two were reversed, but that is another story.

"Rusong, you take your troops and go ahead to Gushanbao to understand the situation."

Now that there is insufficient information at hand, Li Chengliang will not let his son go directly to Changdian.

"Father, don't go to Changdian to catch Wang Gao?"

Li Rusong was a newborn calf who was not afraid of tigers, and he shouted immediately.

"Do whatever you are told to do and follow military orders."

In the following time, Li Chengliang began to deploy troops, sending reinforcements to Shichakou to prevent the tragedy of Changdian from happening again, while organizing troops to go to Gushanbao.

The banquet prepared for Liu Tai naturally could not go on.

A few days later, when Li Chengliang and Liu Tai arrived at Gushanbao, they saw more than a thousand soldiers and civilians who had escaped from outside the pass, and heard some things, and then they realized that the situation was more serious than he imagined.

According to the escaped soldiers, after the general Liu Chengyi and the centurion Liu Zhongwen led troops to support and were defeated by the army of Wang Gao and Lai Lihong, Pei Chengzu, Liu Chengyi, and Liu Zhongwen were cut open and their hearts were removed, and the rest of the captives were all beheaded with swords. The scene was extremely tragic.

Afterwards, Wang Gao led his troops to attack the camp from the north gate. Because there was no one in charge of the camp, the morale of the army was loose, which led to the complete collapse of the camp.

When they were unable to escape, they were chased by Jurchen cavalry. Of the six or seven thousand people who had gone out, only a thousand or so escaped back.

“Where is Rusong?”

On the top of Gushan Fort, Li Chengliang saw that everyone was there, except for 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 garrison 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 any longer. He immediately ordered: "Follow me to Changdian."

Having said this, Li Chengliang looked at Yushi Liu Tai and said, "Yushi Liu, please rest in Gushan Fort for two days. After I collect the remains of the Changdian soldiers, I can then 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 first, 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 had only brought 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 intact, so he did not explain other arrangements.

His death would be a minor matter, but it would be a hardship 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 Pei Chengzu was chosen because he was cautious, so he was allowed to lead the army alone. Entered 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 the matter in the end, that has nothing to do with him.

However, 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. Such important news was not given in advance." Tell me, damn it.

He told him that I wouldn't mind taking advantage of his tribe if they were the two sides. ’

"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 grasp information from both sides.

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 opponent moved too quickly and did not have time to notify him.

The Ha Chi in his mouth was actually a small leader of Wang Gao's tribe. There were hundreds of people in his tribe, and he was a force 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 wanted to make money through mutual trading to support his troops, but also wanted them to provide intelligence. He had to do both.

As a native of Liaodong, through his visits to the capital and the actual situation in Liaodong, he already had his own way of doing things, which was 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 yourself was what he saw those civil servants doing in private in the capital.

Party strife 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 he wanted to visit Changdian.

When Liu Tai came to Liaodong, he naturally did not come willingly. He was specially sent here by his teacher Zhang Juzheng.

The purpose is naturally to observe the Liaodong generals.

Wei Guangde had already taken control of Datong and Jizhen in Jiubian. As the chief assistant, Zhang Juzheng was naturally unwilling to lag behind, and his eyes were set 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.

Therefore, 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, why is Master Liu here?"

"You can come, what? Can't I come?"

Liu Tai smiled kindly.

"This place is already outside the border wall and is still a bit 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 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 camp, they chased the remnants of our army for a day and then fled north. They probably went back to Gule City or Hongli Village."

Li Rusong said harshly, and then pointed to the mounds at the foot of the hillside, "Those are the remains of the soldiers I asked my men to restrain."

"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 quickly admitted his mistake.

"Marshal 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 had even more reason to send troops.

"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 needs to be delivered to the capital."

Liu Tai continued.

"Mr. Wei Ge, it's 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.

"They're all here."

Wang Xilie replied, "It should be possible to open the seal and fill in the list."

After hearing this, Wei Guangde stood up and walked to a large desk, on which the examination answer sheets had been densely arranged. However, the place where the candidates' names were filled in the answer sheets was still sealed, and the candidates' names could not be seen.

I casually picked up the top few, read the examiner's comments, nodded, and put them back as they were.

"Everyone, everyone has worked hard these past two months.

At any rate, I finally finished this imperial mission.

Now that the list is out, let’s open it up and fill in the list.

Come to think of it, the candidates outside have long been fascinated, just like you and me. "

Wei Guangde smiled at the examiners and invigilators around him.

"Haha, yes, I was restless after the first test."

An examiner said this and 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 chatted about interesting things from the past, and 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, naturally starting from the last one, the seals are opened, the names are called, and the list is filled in.

"Gong Jingguo, a native of Xuancheng, Ningguo Prefecture, South Zhili, will test three hundred people."

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 and was ready 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 chapter)