On May 28, the 14th year of Chongzhen, at Balipu in the northeast of Shanhaiguan City, hundreds of carriages and chariots were ready to go, and nearly ten thousand soldiers lined up beside each vehicle to protect them.
Chen Jiugao rode his horse on the top of a hillside and couldn't help but exclaimed: "It's really spectacular. I never thought that the size of your car camp, brother, is more than double that of the Henan Province when they suppressed bandits!"
"hey-hey!"
Zhang Cheng just laughed dryly and said: "Where there is, there is no such thing. They are just auxiliary soldiers and handymen put together temporarily."
Fu Yingchong also laughed dryly and said: "Brother Zhang, these auxiliary soldiers, in my opinion, seem to be better equipped than the regular soldiers in the front camp."
Zhang Cheng smiled and said nothing, but Chen Jiugao took the opportunity to knock the Fu Yingchong and said: "Fu Daya, you have to remember it well. The soldiers and horses of other camps and our front camp may be able to compete with each other, but only the officers and soldiers under Brother Zhang, we
Incomparable.”
Fu Yingchong was stunned when he heard this. He glanced at Zhang Cheng, looking rather unconvinced. However, because of the warning from Xiangcheng Bo Li Guozhen and now the reminder from his eldest brother, Commander-in-Chief Chen Jiugao, he didn't say anything else.
Not a moment later, Wei Zhice galloped up the hillside on horseback. He first clasped his fists and said, "Commander, all the soldiers in the carriage camp are ready for action. Please give me your instructions."
Zhang Cheng shouted: "Send the order, all the officers and soldiers in the Cheying camp will immediately break up their camps and march to Guangning Zhongqian to wait for orders."
"Here!"
Not long after Wei Zhice ran down the hillside, the carriage camp began to move forward in formation. They advanced in order. Although there were nearly ten thousand sergeants and hundreds of carts, it was not chaotic.
Suddenly, Fu Yingchong exclaimed: "What are these things behind, with messy numbers and colors, and an unorganized army?"
Chen Jiugao looked in the direction of his finger and saw horse-drawn carriages, ox-carts, and even some donkey carts suddenly appearing behind the army of cart camps. They were obviously not as neat as the carts in front, and they were also wearing various colors.
Well-dressed, not in military uniform.
Further behind, there were unicycles and some strong men carrying poles. Although they were all dressed in high-quality shorts, their clothes were not uniform in color. He turned to look at Zhang Cheng and asked with confusion.
: "Brother, these are the handymen you're talking about, right?"
"Ha ha!"
Zhang Cheng laughed for a while and then said: "Two brothers, these are the transportation team of my North Road Merchant Gang."
"Convoy team? Isn't it a civilian?" Chen Jiugao and Fu Yingchong both looked puzzled.
"Exactly."
Zhang Cheng further explained: "I am worried that the army will march to Liaodong, far away from the heart of the Ming Dynasty. Once there is insufficient food and grass, the morale of the army will be chaotic and it will not last long.
What's more, this time we sent out troops, they brought many military supplies such as gunpowder, cannons, ointments, etc., which were difficult to transport, so we cooperated with the local business gangs and let them purchase and transport them to Ningyuan City on their behalf. I just paid the money!"
Chen Jiugao nodded in thought, but Fu Yingchong kept mumbling: "Just throw away the money in vain? Aren't all the people who transport grain and fodder used to be requisitioned?"
Zhang Cheng ignored him and just said: "Two brothers, let's go back and have breakfast. After reorganizing the army and setting off, we will rush to the Zhongqian Post and have a rest."
Corncoat
"good……"
…………
At about midnight on the same day, Zhang Cheng led his cavalry and Chen Jiugao's front battalion artillery team to set off from Shanhaiguan and entered the frontier of Guangning, Liaodong. Only then did they truly step into the land outside the pass in Liaodong.
Walking on this land, a feeling of desolation and desolation comes to you, mixed with indescribable tragic and heroic feelings.
Since the slave rebellion started in Liaodong during the Wanli period, how many fierce generals and troops from the Ming Dynasty came here?
For decades, they continued to pour into this desolate black land and dumped them on this desolate black land. Their corpses were forever buried in this desolate Ming Dynasty borderland.
The desolate and mysterious land of Liaodong, where our ancestors have performed many thrilling stories. This desolate land has shed the blood of too many loyal soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, but they still failed to defend this vast land.
Liaodong, what left the deepest impression on future generations is undoubtedly the endless black land. In later generations, it was one of the most precious assets in China. The food grown after its development fed countless people.
What's more, the more precious petroleum, coal, forestry, medicinal materials, and many abundant mineral resources in that land are simply a treasure land.
However, most of those resources cannot be exploited and used at present. Even the precious black soil is now unsuitable for farming due to the severe cold of the Ice Age. Only the Liaohe Tao and Songnen Plains are still barely farmable, but they have all been occupied by Jiannu.
Already.
However, the Songnen Plain area at this time was also difficult to cultivate due to the severe cold of the glacier, and the output was limited. The only area suitable for cultivation was the Liaohetao area. No wonder the slaves occupied a large area of land in Liaodong, but they were unable to feed their own people and had to enter the customs year after year.
Loot.
Initially, after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the Liaodong Capital Command and Envoys Department was established in Liaodong in the eighth year of Hongwu. Its organizational structure was still under the Shandong Chengxuan Administrative Envoys Department, which was responsible for 25 guards, 138 stations, two states, and one alliance in Liaodong.
, in addition there are Daning Dusi and Nuergan Dusi managing other places.
After decades of construction, agriculture and handicrafts in Liaodong were greatly developed at that time. Liaoyang and other places were even more prosperous places with "enviable wealth, thousands of miles of roads connected, and villages and forts facing each other."
At that time, Liaodong Dusi's iron smelting, salt making and other handicraft industries were also extremely developed and extremely important. The 30,000 Guards and Jilin Shipyard under the jurisdiction of Liaodong Dusi was a well-known iron smelting and shipbuilding center in the country at that time.
…………
As soon as he stepped into the land of Liaodong, what impressed Zhang Cheng the most was the number of piers and platforms here. The mountains and hills in western Liaoning are rolling and rolling, giving him a unique advantage in building piers.
Moreover, Liaodong Town has been in chaos for many years, and many castles have been repaired and destroyed, and destroyed and repaired again. The same is probably true for the construction of fire road piers in various places. In order to spread the police training, it is also ranked first among the towns on the nine sides of the Ming Dynasty.
, worthy of the name of three miles and one pier, five miles and one platform.
On the other hand, in Xuanfu, the nine-sided important town that is also "the key to the capital", there are only one pier every five miles and one pier every ten miles. However, now the piers and platforms in many places have been abandoned, and only some remnants are still standing in their original places.
at.
Abandoned, this was Zhang Cheng’s second impression of Liaodong. Along the way, the ruins were in ruins. In fact, there were many rivers along this section of the Liaodong Corridor. Occasionally, there were some villages and forts where Liao people lived, and they farmed in fear every day.
Apart from handing over some land to the military commanders, they could barely make a living.
Zhang Cheng looked at the various guard posts and piers he passed along the way, and most of them were in dilapidated condition, and the official roads were also very dilapidated. He really didn't know where the huge Liao salaries issued by the imperial court every year were spent on.
He looked at the faces of the people around him, and they all had angry expressions on their faces.