How can one be Emperor Chongzhen without money?

Chapter 66 Your Majesty, More Money Required! (Three chapters today, please add to your favorites and follow along!)
Kuanhebao.

Li Juzheng leaned against the cold earthen wall, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the front. The dark, imposing Kharachin cavalry pressed in once more like a storm cloud. Dozens of sturdy shield carts trudged slowly across the snow.

"Franklin! Load the loose coins!" Li Juzheng gritted his teeth and gave the order.

He knew perfectly well that these cannons were old stock unearthed from the Jizhou garrison, poorly cast, leaky, with short range and weak power; the gunpowder was also of inferior quality and useless.

After His Majesty ascended the throne, he finally distributed wages and provisions, ensuring that the brothers could eat their fill and have the strength to fight. But the weaponry... was still lacking.

If we had newly cast cannons or high-quality gunpowder, how could the Tartars' shield carts be so rampant?
The imperial court is too poor. His Majesty has just managed to procure some money and grain, which has been used to make up for some of the arrears in salaries and rations. As for the money to upgrade firearms and strengthen city defenses, where would they find the funds in such a short time?

This Kuanhe Fort, in the end, is still made of wood; how can it compare to a brick and stone city? If we had more money and supplies, we could replace the fort walls with bricks and stones and equip it with a few more good cannons…

"Tum! Tum! Tum!"

The cannons roared again! Scattered bullets rained down on the wet cowhide of the shield carts, making muffled thuds with little effect. If it were a cannon firing solid shot, it would have shattered those shield carts.
The shield carts, enduring the bullets fired by the breech-loading cannons, advanced ever closer. Under the orders of the Manchu supervisors, the Mongol soldiers reluctantly pushed the shield carts across the trenches and pits filled with corpses and mounds of earth…

"Woo-ho..." As the shield carts approached the earthen wall, the Mongol soldiers behind them howled like wolves, charging towards the low earthen wall like a flood bursting its banks!

"Release!" Li Juzheng swung his sword down fiercely!

The cavalry behind the earthen wall sounded again! This time the fighting was good; the Mongols were falling in droves, like dumplings being dropped into a pot! But the following cavalry, stepping over the corpses of their comrades, surged forward frantically—there was no other way, the Manchu lords were overseeing the battle from behind! They had to be loyal to the Great Khan Huang Taiji!
Huang Taiji, loyal! Sincere!
"Archers! Fire!"

"Bang bang bang!"

Gunfire rained down, and the cavalrymen who charged into the breach fell one after another.

But the earthen wall was too low, and soon the corpses of men and horses piled up to form a ramp, allowing more and more enemies to pour in!

"Sir! We can't hold on any longer!" roared a captain whose face was covered in blood.

Li Juzheng looked at his fallen brothers, at those young faces, and gritted his teeth!

"Wang Ergou! Zhao Tiezhu! Li Shuanzi!" He hissed, pointing out dozens of names. "You lot! You have parents to support! You have kids who haven't been weaned yet! Listen to me!" The soldier who was called out was stunned and looked at him.

"Now! From the east gate! On horseback! Run for your lives!" Li Juzheng pointed to the relatively quiet east direction, where the frozen Kuanhe River lay. "Escape as many as you can! Take the message out! Tell His Majesty! Tell General Sun! I, Li Juzheng, and the brothers of Kuanhe Fort have not disgraced the Ming Dynasty! My brothers have done their best!"

He paused, then said, “Tell His Majesty, our soldiers are excellent! As long as they are well-paid and fed, they dare to fight to the death! But this city… these cannons… still need money! More money! If the fortress walls could be covered with a layer of bricks… if two more cannons could be added… and if the gunpowder could be better… then how could we not defend it!”

"Sir! We're not leaving!" Wang Ergou's eyes were bloodshot.

"Bullshit!" Li Juzheng kicked him in the backside. "This is a military order! Get out! Go back to your place alive!"

Without a word, he pushed the man toward the east gate. Outside, on the wide, frozen river, only a few dozen Kharachin Mongol cavalrymen were loitering about.

Seeing the dozens of riders rush out of the East Gate under cover and head south along the wide river, Li Juzheng suddenly closed the East Gate.

He turned around, leaning against the cold door panel, and looked at the more than one hundred wounded soldiers who had surrounded him, their bodies covered in blood and their eyes resolute.

"Brothers!" Li Juzheng shouted, "The current Emperor... cares about us! He's paid us and made sure we're well-fed! Even if we die here today, our parents, wives, and children will receive a generous pension! Those with sons will get priority to join the Imperial Guard... to eat the emperor's food and receive their pay! It's all worth it!"

His eyes burned with a final flame:
“The brothers who ran out just now are the seed! They have to live! Live to tell His Majesty what happened to us! So that His Majesty knows... that our Ming soldiers, as long as they are well-fed and clothed, paid in full, and have good armor... are invincible! It's a pity this fortress isn't sturdy enough, and the firearms aren't sharp enough... If only we had more silver..."

Li Juzheng suddenly raised his chipped sword and roared with all his might:
"kill!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

A bloody battle, to the death!

Lianghekou is the confluence of the Kuanhe River and the Luanhe River.

Sun Zushou, the general of Jizhou, stood on a high slope by the river, his white beard covered with frost, his gaze sweeping over the terrain with a solemn expression.

Behind them, five thousand infantrymen from Jizhou were building fortifications using makeshift barricades and chevaux-de-frise. Despite the freezing weather, the soldiers moved quickly, clearly having eaten their fill and received their pay well.

A fast horse galloped up; it was Sun Zuyi, Sun Zushou's cousin. He dismounted and knelt on one knee: "General! We drove back the Tartars, beheaded thirty-seven! We captured a Mongol interrogator and seized twenty warhorses!" His voice lowered, "...and the brothers who escaped from Kuanhe Fort...we've also brought them here."

Sun Zushou's heart tightened, and he turned around abruptly.

A dozen or so figures, covered in blood and supporting each other, were brought over. Wang Ergou, at the head, held in trembling hands a waist token covered in blood and soot, though its gilded outline was still discernible.
She knelt down with a thud, sobbing uncontrollably.

Sun Zushou took the cold waist tag and saw the inscription "Imperial Guard" on it; his fingers trembled slightly.

"My good brother!" Sun Zushou's voice was hoarse. "It's all my fault...it's all my fault! I'm late!"

He seemed to see Li Juzheng, that fierce and capable man, leading hundreds of his brothers, fighting to the death against an enemy many times their size in the freezing snow.

Wang Ergou burst into tears, his hoarse voice recounting the fierce battle of the last few days at Kuanhebao, how General Li led them to dig pits and build earthen walls, how he left the way out to his brothers with families, and how he himself went to his death...

The surrounding generals and soldiers were all deeply moved, and many men had tears in their eyes, gripping their weapons tightly.

Zhang An, the assistant commander of the Central Army, who had come with him, was filled with grief and indignation. He stepped forward and said in a low voice, "General, please accept my condolences... At present, the terrain of Lianghekou is crucial. It controls the two rivers, Kuanhe and Luanhe, and is the key to preventing the enemy from advancing south to attack Xifengkou and west to threaten Luanhebao. I believe that we should immediately establish a fortress here to form a pincer movement with Luanhebao."

Sun Zushou took a deep breath and nodded emphatically, "This place must be defended!"

He waved his hand: "Bring the Mongolian tongue over!"

A tightly bound, bruised and battered Kharachin prisoner was shoved forward. Sun Zushou abruptly drew his waist knife, the cold blade pressed against the prisoner's neck, and shouted in Mongolian, "Speak! Are there any Jianzhou Jurchens in your ranks? Which banner are they from? How many are there? Who is their commander?!"

The prisoners, already subdued, were now terrified by the gleaming sword and the murderous aura of a seasoned warrior emanating from Sun Zushou. They stammered out their confessions:
"Yes...yes...it's the Great Jin Kingdom...the Bordered Blue Banner of Jianzhou...two thousand elite soldiers personally led by Prince Amin! And white-armored soldiers...it was he who held our Hong Taiji hostage, forcing us to attack Kuanhe Fort day and night...we fought for four days, and many people died, five or six hundred died just filling the trenches...if they hadn't been holding knives to us from behind and shooting down deserters with arrows, we would have run away long ago..."

Sun Zushou and Zhang An exchanged a glance, their hearts sinking. It was indeed the Jurchen elites involved; no wonder Kuanhe Fort was attacked so badly, and even Li Juzheng, fighting with all his might, only managed to hold out for four days.

"Take the prisoners away and keep them under strict guard!" Sun Zushou ordered.

After the prisoners were brought down, Sun Zushou said to Zhang An in a deep voice, "Amin commands a large army and has occupied Kuanhe Fort to await the enemy's attack. Although our army has arrived, we are outnumbered, and a hasty counterattack will not be very successful. The most urgent task is to take advantage of the terrain at the confluence of the two rivers and quickly establish a strong camp. First, set up a wagon camp to block the Tartars' path to Xifengkou and Luanhe Fort! Then... build a fortress here that can house several thousand soldiers!"

"Build a fortified camp outside the border wall with several thousand troops?" Zhang An frowned, his face showing difficulty. "General, this method is certainly the best way to stop the enemy, but... it's too expensive! Earthwork, bricks and stones, craftsmen's provisions, soldiers' rewards. Can the imperial court really allocate that much silver to our Jizhou garrison?"

Sun Zushou frowned deeply. The border wall of Jizhou stretched for hundreds of miles and had been neglected for many years, with many sections being low and flimsy. The imperial court called for wall repairs every year, but the funds never materialized. Military strength was also stretched thin, and the dispersed defenses created numerous loopholes.

That's why a series of sturdy fortresses were built along the Kuanhe and Luanhe rivers, taking advantage of the terrain, to provide layer upon layer of defense. Even if they couldn't stop the main force of the enemy, they could at least slow them down and send timely messages.

The problem is, I don't have any money!

Why was Kuanhebao a wooden fortress? Why was it defended by only a few hundred men? The root cause was poverty! If it had been a fortified city of bricks and stones, with ample food supplies, well-equipped soldiers, and a fierce general like Li Juzheng, could Amin have easily succeeded?
Li Juzheng... in the end, he died poor! He died a heroic death because the Emperor's actions brought a little money to Jizhou.

But to defeat the Jurchens, we'll need to pay more!

(End of this chapter)