I am a temporary worker in Jinyiwei, how did I become a powerful official?

Chapter 181 I am the No. Jungle Immortal in Liaodong, Li Chengliang
Three days later, we arrived at the Xianshan Qianhu Suo, at the western foot of the Xianshan Mountain.

Although the Ming army here only had a thousand-household organization, the highest official was a third-rank lieutenant general, who was directly under the command of the Left Army Governor's Office.

Lin Shisan met Li Chengliang, the Lieutenant General of Xianshan, in front of the gate of Qianhu Suo.

Li Chengliang was in his thirties, with a strong build, a particularly long philtrum under his nose, and huge earlobes. It is said that a long philtrum means a long life, and big earlobes mean fewer illnesses.

This person has a look of longevity.

Li Chengliang was a legitimate Red Turban soldier who had followed his grandfather into Nanjing and into Yuan Dadu with the King of Zhongshan.

In the third year of the Ming Dynasty, Taizu conferred titles on hereditary military commanders. The ancestor of the Li family offended someone and was appointed as a hereditary centurion in Tieling Guard, Liaodong.

Even dogs don't want to come to Liaodong.

Several old Red Turban comrades who were in the same group as the ancestor of the Li family were either granted titles in Suzhou and Hangzhou, or stayed in Yingtian. Only he was sent to Liaodong by the Governor's Office to suffer.

Blessings and misfortunes depend on it.

Thirty years later, the Jingnan Campaign broke out. The sixty-year-old Li family ancestor was in Liaodong and was recruited by the King of Yan to join the Yan army.

Although the process of Jingnan was difficult, the ancestor of the Li family survived and became a hero of the Jingnan Campaign.

This time, he took the initiative to request to be transferred back to Tieling Wei in Liaodong.

He thought this was his blessed land: If he had not been sent to Tieling but stayed in Jiangnan, he would have been a drifter on the Yangtze River with the Southern Army!

When he returned to Tieling, the ancestor of the Li family was no longer a small hereditary centurion, but a hereditary commander!
Perhaps it was because smoke was coming out of the Li family’s ancestral tomb, because during the Jiajing period, Li Chengliang, a descendant of the Li family, actually passed the imperial examination and became a scholar.

It was common for the sons of hereditary military households to pass the military examination, but it was rare for them to pass the Chinese examination.

Moreover, Li Chengliang was a member of the Liaodong army. Almost all the soldiers in the Liaodong frontier army received prenatal education, and Li Chengliang was simply a great scholar in the army.

Such a brave frontier soldier who is both civil and military and has a sword on his waist should be given important positions.

However, it did not.

Both Li Chengliang and his contemporary Qi Jiguang encountered an awkward situation when they inherited military positions: they needed travel expenses to go to Beijing, and after arriving in Beijing, they needed to take money to the Ministry of War to make arrangements.

If you don't save enough money, don't even think about inheriting your ancestors' position.

There were many rumors among the border troops about how Li Chengliang saved up so much money.

The most outrageous rumor is that Li Chengliang took a dozen border army sons, kidnapped a Jianzhou Jurchen leader as a hostage, extorted dozens of animal skins, and sold them in the capital for thousands of taels of silver.

He gave the money to the minor officials in the Military Selection Department of the Ministry of War on the spot.

It's not that he didn't spend money. His resume was successfully delivered to the lobby of the Ministry of War.

Yang Bo happened to be in the court that day. Seeing that Li Chengliang had the title of Wen Xiucai in his resume, Yang Bo immediately became very interested in this young man from the frontier army.

After being questioned in the classroom, Yang Bo suddenly felt like he had found a treasure.

With a stroke of his pen, he allowed Li Chengliang to inherit the hereditary position. A few years later, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General of Xianshan and was given the important task of forming elite cavalry in Liaodong.

Standing in front of Lin Shisan was such a legendary figure among the border troops.

Li Chengliang was indeed a man who had read Confucius and Mencius, and was well-read and well-informed. When he saw Lin Shisan, he bowed and said, "I am Li Chengliang, the lieutenant commander of the mountain. I respectfully greet you, Your Majesty."

Lin Shisan said, "I hope you are well. General Li, please get up quickly."

Li Chengliang stood up and hurriedly tried to get close to him: "Yang Butang has sent someone to tell me to entertain Lin Chuanfeng well."

Lin Shisan smiled and said, "Thank you, General Li."

Li Chengliang saw Fu Man standing behind Lin Shisan and he scolded him, "Old man, I've been looking for you for a long time. It's early spring now, and you're not taking your people to plant seeds for my military fields. Where have you been wandering around?"

Fuman quickly explained: "General Li, please forgive me. I went to Liaoyang to sell the furs I captured from the Jiagu tribe last winter."

Lin Shisan said with a smile: "General Li, this time when we go into the dangerous mountains to catch black bears, I have to let old man Fuman be our guide."

Li Chengliang nodded, and then said to Fuman in a commanding manner: "Serve Lin Chuanfeng well. Otherwise, I will lead my troops to wipe out your lair."

Fuman said repeatedly: "Yes, yes, yes."

Li Chengliang made a gesture of invitation: "Lin Chuanfeng, please come in."

Lin Shisan, Sun Yue and more than thirty Jinyiwei comrades followed Li Chengliang into the Xianshan Qianhu Suo.

Because Fuman was a Jurchen, he could only stay outside the place.

Inside the Xianshan Qianhu Suo, three hundred cavalrymen were practicing archery, hacking, and stabbing.

Lin Shisan asked: "General Li, is this your Liaodong's top cavalry elite?"

Li Chengliang smiled bitterly, "The Liaodong General has five divisions under his command, and I must command at least one of them. I say it is a thousand-household division, but in fact it is only three hundred people."

"There are only a handful of lieutenant generals with 300 soldiers in the entire Ming army."

Lin Shisan smiled and said, "Although three hundred people are few, they are like a ball of fire when together and a sky full of stars when apart."

"One day, three hundred people will become thousands, tens of thousands. Across Liaodong, the iron cavalry will gallop."

Li Chengliang shouted, "All comrades, listen up, dismount, line up, and greet the imperial envoy Lin Chuanfeng."

These three hundred mountain cavalry were indeed well-trained. It only took them a moment to rein in their horses, dismount, and line up.

Lin Shisan walked up to a cavalryman and asked, "Are you full?"

The cavalry replied: "Reply to the imperial envoy, we are full."

Lin Shisan asked again: "How much food is supplied per day?"

The cavalry replied: "Two catties of grain, half a catty of meat, half a liter of wine, and some fruits and vegetables."

Lin Shisan was extremely surprised: "What rank are you?"

The cavalry replied, "Reply to Lin Chuanfeng, I am a worthless soldier, just an ordinary sergeant with no rank."

Lin Shisan turned to ask Li Chengliang: "General Li, all along the way I have come, the border troops in Liaodong have been eating only coarse food. How come even the daily supplies for your soldiers are so abundant?"

"There are meat, vegetables and wine?"

Li Chengliang smiled slightly: "Hehe, if the commander of the army can't even provide food for his men, then he should go home and hug his children."

Lin Shisan asked: "Did the Council of State Affairs delay the food and salary for Xianshan?"

Li Chengliang sighed, "Damn it, they delay and deduct money every month. If I rely on the food and wages of the Council of State, all my men and horses will starve to death, and I'm afraid they won't even be able to get on the horses."

Lin Shisan became interested: "Oh? Then how do you get supplies?"

Li Chengliang kept the secret: "Well, chickens don't pee, everyone has their own way. I have prepared a welcoming banquet for the imperial envoy, let's talk while we eat."

Lin Shisan and Sun Yue followed Li Chengliang into the kitchen.

The cook was roasting a sheep over a charcoal fire.

The three of them sat down.

Lin Shisan asked curiously, "General Li, how did you solve the problem of food supply?"

Li Chengliang talked freely: "The grain production in this damn place of Liaodong is not high. When the weather is bad, one mu of land can only produce 20 to 30 kilograms of grain." "The military fields allocated to the Qianhu Suo in the dangerous mountains by the Council of Government Offices are all barren wastelands. All you get when you dig with a pickaxe is stones."

"Why don't you use your brain? Forget about training elite cavalry. The brothers are starving to death!"

"We can only be self-sufficient and raise our own food and wages. All comrades should start to correct their attitudes and put aside their airs as elite frontier troops. Just think of us as who we are."

"They just think we are the kings of the mountains. What kind of life is that? Drinking a lot, eating a lot of meat, and dividing gold and silver by weight."

Lin Shisan was sweating profusely when he heard this: "Wait a minute. You are not letting your soldiers become bandits and robbing the merchants passing by, are you?"

Li Chengliang chuckled and said, "How can that be possible? No matter how bad I am, I am still a legitimate military officer of the imperial court. I cannot live as a bandit who robs and plunders people."

"I have three ways to get money and food from this barren place to support my brothers."

"The first method is that there are many unowned lands in the dangerous mountains. I selected 8,000 acres of fertile and arable land, designated it as military farmland, and divided it equally among the brothers."

Lin Shisan said, "Three hundred people plowing eight thousand acres of land? And there are no oxen. How can they practice?"

Li Chengliang said: "Simple! Let the Jurchens do the farming. The mountain cavalry will guard the area and protect the safety of the thirty or so Jianzhou Jurchen tribes. They should at least pay some military expenses."

"I understand that they are poor. It doesn't matter if they are poor. They still have strength, right? Then they can cultivate the military fields for us."

Lin Shisan asked: "The farmhands have to be given some food when they work for the landlord. How much food did you give to the Jurchens?"

Li Chengliang laughed and said, "Not a single grain of food will be shared."

Lin Shisan was surprised: "Ah?"

Li Chengliang laughed and said, "I didn't bully the Jianzhou Jurchens. What I owed the Jianzhou Jurchens was already paid by Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong of Song hundreds of years ago!"

Li Chengliang's theory sounds reasonable.

This guy blamed all the debts he owed to the Jurchens on Jin Taizong Wanyan Sheng.

Li Chengliang said: "How much gold and silver did the ancestors of the Jurchens rob from our Han people? Princesses of the Song Dynasty were tortured to death by having their anus broken, and the queen mother was treated as a thousand horsemen by them."

"Isn't it reasonable to ask their descendants to give us some back?"

Sun Yue echoed: "That makes sense!"

Lin Shisan asked: "What about the second method?"

Li Chengliang said: "Although the imperial court has a strict tribute system, it strictly prohibits merchants from vassal states from doing business in the Ming Dynasty privately."

"But Liaodong is far away, so it's normal for fish and sheep merchants to come here to do business."

"There are many Haixi Jurchens in Liaodong who come here to rob people and make a living as bandits. The fish and sheep merchants of Chaozhou are often robbed clean."

"You come to Liaodong to do business. I, Li Chengliang, can escort you with the Xianshan cavalry! But you have to pay some military expenses and return a little favor."

"My cavalry was formed not long ago, and we lack both combat experience and military pay. Escorting the fish and sheep caravans of the Chao Dynasty can help us earn military pay. Secondly, we can train our troops in actual combat if we encounter the Haixi Jurchens."

"As the saying goes, if you change your weapons into darts, you can solve your dilemma."

Lin Shisan gave a thumbs up: "High, really high!"

Li Chengliang said, "The third method. For example, the Kanni tribe of the Jianzhou Jurchens attacked the Suocha tribe for no reason, and the two sides became enemies. The Suocha tribe found me and asked me to send troops to avenge them."

"Revenge? Sure. Give me some military funds! I am not picky about food. Gold, silver, grain, arrows, hides, ginseng, women, I don't mind if you give me too much. If you give me too little, I will be unhappy."

"If you don't send it, I will curse you, hahahaha!"

Lin Shisan sighed, "Since the Chenghua Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty has used the strategy of restraint to control the Jurchens in Liaodong. That is, to instigate internal strife among the Jurchen tribes."

"It's no wonder that General Li's third method is quite in line with the court's strategy of restraint."

Li Chengliang drank a large bowl of wine generously and said proudly: "Lin Chuanfeng, I am not bragging. The Liaodong General has five lieutenant generals and twenty-five garrisons under his command. In terms of food and salary supply, my Xianshan Qianhu Garrison has the most!"

"Brothers, there is food and meat in the pots, and wine in the bowls. Every now and then, they can share some silver and animal skins. How can they not train hard and fight to the death?"

"Since ancient times, it has always been easier to get things done with money. Apart from distributing the food and wages to my brothers, I sent someone to deliver the rest to the capital as a gift to the doctor of the Arsenal Department of the Ministry of War."

"Other garrisons are given a few broken guns that don't fire every year. But my Xianshan Thousand Household Garrison has a hundred fine bird guns and eight Portuguese cannons."

"I have fifty of the new three-barreled guns made by the Ministry of War!"

"I have a good weapon in my hand, so I am strong. No matter if it is the Jianzhou Jurchens or the Haixi Jurchens who fled to Liaodong, who dares to mess with my Xianshan Cavalry?"

Lin Shisan gave a thumbs up: "General Li, Marshal Yu and Deputy Marshal Qi in the southeast are the three northern and southern walls of the Ming army!"

"But Marshal Yu and Vice Marshal Qi are not on the same page as you."

Li Chengliang laughed and said, "Hehe, Lin Chuanfeng, you are flattering me."

After a moment, Li Chengliang changed the subject: "The great Liaodong cannot be guarded by just my 300 cavalrymen. I can only guard this small piece of land in the dangerous mountains."

"The rest of the garrisons in Liaodong were left without food, clothing, arrows and armor by those poor civil servants. Those were the days of our comrades. I want to weep when I see them."

"Let those poor civil servants stir up trouble. They will make the border troops lose their will to fight, and make the Tatars invade the east, and the border troops will be unable to resist. If they destroy Liaodong, I will die along with my 25 comrades in arms."

Li Chengliang's words were full of resentment.

Lin Shisan said: "I have a few words to say to General Li alone."

Li Chengliang dismissed his attendants and said, "Lin Chuanfeng, please speak."

Lin Shisan asked, "Did Yang Butang's letter mention the real purpose of my coming to Liaodong?"

Li Chengliang said sternly: "I have told you that you are here to deal with the corrupt officials of the Yan Party and help our Liaodong Border Army brothers vent their anger."

Lin Shisan nodded: "Well, before I set out, Yang Butang told me that Xianshan Lieutenant General Li Chengliang can be trusted."

"I have something to ask you to do right now."

Li Chengliang asked: "What's the matter?"

Lin Shisan said: "Have you heard of Xingde Commercial Bank?"

Li Chengliang said angrily: "How come I haven't heard of it? All the military pay and food for the border troops were sent to that damned trading company."

Lin Shisan said: "In the account office of Xingde Commercial Bank, there is evidence that Liaodong civil officials drank the blood of soldiers."

"I want you to send a hundred men to sneak into Liaoyang City, disguise themselves as Tatars, and rob the Xingde Trading Company. Whatever goods you can transport out of the store will be yours."

"I just want the evidence from the account books in the accounting office."

"After you have robbed them, you can set them on fire. I will ask General Sun Yue to lead the way for your comrades."

Li Chengliang was very excited: "Setting fire? I'm not exaggerating. When it comes to setting fire, no other garrison in Liaodong can compare to our Xianshan Thousand Households Garrison! Our fire is amazing..."

"But Liaoyang is the seat of the Liaodong governor, and the walls are high and thick. It's easy to sneak in and rob and burn, but it's hard to withdraw."

Lin Shisan said, "The defense of Liaoyang City is under the jurisdiction of Governor Hu Zongming. I have already informed Hu Chenyuan. He will find a way to help you evacuate the city smoothly."

Upon hearing this, Li Chengliang patted his chest and said, "Okay! I'll take care of it."

Li Chengliang could be called the best hunter in Liaodong. Pretending to be a Tatar to rob and set fire was just a small matter for him.

(End of this chapter)