The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 779 The Age of Chaos
After the Cold War between Oceania and Qi collapsed, Great Qi unified the world, advancing science and technology, flourishing culture, and experiencing unprecedented prosperity. However, our world has not entered an era of the end of ideology, as some theorists predicted. Commercialism has replaced nationalism and capitalism as the dominant ideology in today's world. Humanity has become a slave to material desires and technological evolution, sinking into an endless sea of suffering. The mission of the rebels is to rescue them from this suffering.

——"Declaration of the Rebels". Memorandum of the Seventh Year of Yonghe

"Fortunately, the Senate did not set saving the Ming Dynasty as the game goal of the Eastern World."

Qi Meng secretly rejoiced.

The shaky Ming Dynasty was collapsing. Saving such a dying dynasty was as difficult as hell. Similar storylines only existed in literary works.

Qi Meng is not a romantic person.

The reality we need to face now is how to expand our strength as quickly as possible.

On the second day after the night attack on the Bordered Blue Banner, General Qi sent Zhang Chao to Shenyang to visit his future ally, Yang Hao, the governor of Liaodong, in advance.

In the next few days, they continued to absorb the defeated soldiers along the way. In the Battle of Sarhu, except for Li Rubai who "turned away" in time, the other three armies fought with the Eight Banners to varying degrees.

The Ming army was not completely wiped out. A considerable number of troops broke through the encirclement, escaped from the battlefield, and fled to Liaoning and Shenyang. Nurhaci had the power to defeat Dusong Malin, but he could not completely wipe out the 60,000 Ming troops.

In the words of a general in later generations, even if 60,000 pigs were placed on the mountain, it would take three days and three nights to catch them all, let alone the Ming army?
Therefore, Qi Meng continued to recruit these defeated soldiers on the road, and his power continued to grow.

At Kang Yingqian's suggestion, Qi Qianzong was promoted from Qianzong to ethics officer.

When there were only a hundred miles left to Shenyang, the growing team behind Qi Meng had more than two thousand people. Kang Yingqian thought that if he continued to lead this group of soldiers as a captain, he would obviously not be able to convince the people, so he promoted Qi to a higher rank.

Qi Caoshou's territory was designated Changdian Fort, one of the six forts in Kuandian. This area had already been occupied by the Later Jin before the Battle of Sarhu, effectively meaning Qi Caoshou had no territory. No territory meant no conflict.

It is necessary to say a few more words about the abandonment of Kuandian Liubao.

In the 34th year of the Wanli reign, Li Chengliang, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, submitted a memorial suggesting that the six Kuandian forts built on the Liaodong border in the early years of the Wanli reign be abandoned and that more than 60,000 people in the forts be forcibly relocated back to the interior.

As a result, not surprisingly, he was accused by the censors of "abandoning land to feed the enemy". After investigation by the Liaodong Inspector Xiong Tingbi, it was said that the abandonment of hundreds of miles of land benefited Nurhaci's tribe, so he criticized Li Chengliang for "giving away land to the enemy".

Afterwards, some censors made a big fuss about this incident, saying that Li Chengliang and Nurhaci were "as close as father and son" and had an "ambiguous relationship", which was a heinous crime.

Although Li Chengliang submitted memorials to defend himself several times, he was ultimately convicted and dismissed from office. This was the second time Li Chengliang was impeached and dismissed from office.

Since then, the Li family has gradually declined in Liaodong.

Li Chengliang abandoned the six forts in Kuandian, a situation similar to Gao Di's later abandonment of the area east of Shanhaiguan.

They are all rational judgments made by comprehensively considering the pros and cons and focusing on the gains and losses.

After Gao Di overturned Sun Chengzong's strategy and abandoned Liaodong, the tough guy Yuan Chonghuan appeared out of nowhere and managed to stop Wild Boar Skin in Ningyuan.

However, Kuandian Liubao was lost and that’s it.

After Zhang Juzheng's death, the government was abolished, the annexation of land in Liaodong continued, the military settlement system was severely damaged, and the desertion of soldiers intensified.

According to the "Veritable Records of Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty," in the 37th year of the Wanli reign, "the Liaozhen cavalry and infantry force was originally established at 94,693 men, but now it is 22,000 fewer. Excluding the elderly and weak, the remaining strong and able-bodied soldiers are no more than 20,000."

In addition, Gao Huai rebelled against Liao, Wanli aided Korea, and many other factors combined. When Li Chengliang took command of Liao for the second time, the situation was actually unsolvable.

Due to the shortage of soldiers and food, the elite troops were almost completely lost, the garrison strength in each fort was greatly reduced, and the military settlements could not be self-sufficient.

Corresponding to this was the rapid rise of Jianzhou forces.

Nurhaci first conquered the tribes in Changbai Mountain and Yalu River, and then levied the four Hulun tribes, the Mongolian Khorchin, Xibe, and Gulecha tribes. His power increased greatly. In the 29th year of Wanli, he formed the Eight Banners Army and became an important force in Liaodong.

Wanli continued to be in a daze and turned a deaf ear to these dramatic changes.

So, when Ye Zhupi published the Seven Great Hates, the situation in Liaozhen was roughly as follows:

"A team of official soldiers consists of 25 men, the most are no more than 14 or 15, and the least are only 5 or 7."

"The castles are deserted everywhere. In every large city, where there used to be thousands of households, there are now only a few hundred or so. In a large fortress, where there used to be 1 or households, there are now only or deserted houses." (Note ) With such a force, it would be a miracle if they could hold down the six forts in Kuandian, let alone the Liaoshen Tiekai.

Abandoning Kuandian Liubao and concentrating the main forces to guard key towns was also a helpless move.

Of course, the censors would not see it that way.

To be fair, the cost of garrisoning both Kuandian Liubao and Ningyuan Jinzhou was unaffordable for the Ming court (although the Ningjin Line of Defense held up, it opened a gap in the northeast corner of the Ming Empire, and the Liao Dynasty levied more and more troops, which continued to bleed the Ming Empire until Li Zicheng captured Beijing).

It was precisely because of this that Li Chengliang and Gao Di, as the authorities, chose to give up.

Of course, when people in later generations discuss this period of history, they like to simply explain everything by the good and bad character of the people involved.

It seems that sticking to one's principles regardless of cost represents loyalty, righteousness and bravery, while giving up is cowardice and shamelessness.

After all, such an explanation is more likely to incite people's emotions...

Qi Meng was not prepared to fight to the death with the Later Jin.

He has no romanticism, he is not Liu Zhaosun, and he does not have the aura of a protagonist - if he does, it is probably only one millionth of the aura of a protagonist. The number of players online at the same time in the Eastern World has already exceeded one million.

Therefore, neither Kuandian Liubao nor Ningyuan Jinzhou are worth defending.

The only result of holding on is death. Not everyone is a strong man like Yuandudu who falls from the sky.

~~~~~
Before leaving the Sarhu battlefield, Qi Meng did not forget to accept "that Yiliu General" Jin Yinghe:

The enemy's cavalry pressed him down, and the soldiers of the left camp were defeated, with almost all of them dead. Yinghe leaned alone against a large tree, firing his three large bows repeatedly, piercing the strings and killing many. The enemy dared not press him, so they stabbed him from behind. Even with the iron spear piercing his chest, he still held on to the bow. The captives sighed and said to each other, "With a few men like him, it would be difficult to resist." They called him "General Yiliu." (Note 2)

Even though the commander Jiang Hongli was secretly communicating with the Later Jin and betraying the Ming army, Jin Yinghe was still determined to fight to the death. He leaned against a willow tree and shot at the Later Jin army, who went around the tree and killed him.

At the last moment, he still held on to the bow and was known as "General Yiliu".

Of course, Qi Caoshou had to go through some "friendly negotiations" before accepting this powerful general.

"General Jin, now that Jiang Hongli has been executed, the army cannot be without a leader for a single day. You can lead the army and help me pacify the thief Liu. The position of commander-in-chief will be yours!"

Pei Dahu, Shen Lian and others held their scabbards with their hands, staring eagerly.

Jin Yinghe's expression remained unchanged as he said calmly:
"Jin is not talented enough. I can only lead a small army. I cannot be the commander-in-chief! Besides, Marshal Jiang is dead. As the deputy general, I cannot escape responsibility. General Qi, there is no need to force it..."

Qi Meng smiled coldly: "Since General Jin is willing to follow Jiang Hongli, I will oblige him..."

After saying that, he was about to wave.

"However," General Yi Liu sensed the danger and quickly changed his words:
"When Liu Jing was in Korea, he exploited our people, allowed his subordinates to abduct women, bullied people in the market, took human lives, and stole kimchi. He was a scoundrel... Today, he betrayed the Ming Dynasty, and both humans and gods are outraged! Although I am a Korean general, I must kill this traitor for the Celestial Empire!"

"Good! Good! Good!"

Qi Meng clapped his hands and laughed.

He held down the servants' weapons, stepped forward and put his arm around the Korean man's shoulders:

"Back in Pyongyang, I heard of the general's name. The soldiers all said you were a young hero. Seeing you today, I can see you're truly extraordinary. With your help, Liu Jing's death is not far away!"

"General, do you dare to follow me back to Shenyang? Let's make great achievements!"

The sound of Jin Yinghe is like a huge bell:
"How dare you disobey orders!"

Note:
1. "Miscellaneous Notes on Medicine" by He Qin, Ming Dynasty
2. Chinese Historical Materials in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, page 3026.

(End of this chapter)