Chapter 60: Hu Gone, Han’s Way Thrives
Chapter 60: Hu Gone, Han’s Way Thrives
Little friend Sangui’s house really had no goldfish to look at…
But there were fish to eat.
“This fish isn’t fresh!”
Yang Xin said with dissatisfaction as he ate the large sea bream on the plate.
“Having fresh fish to eat is good enough! Do you think this is Gegu? The fishermen catch them in the sea, sail the boats back, and then they have to travel another thirty miles to get here. In winter, it’s okay. In weather like this, if it hasn’t rotted yet, it must have been delivered specially by fast horse. Sea fish are indeed not rare. One net can catch countless fish. One big fish is enough for a whole village to eat. But more than thirty miles from the sea, you can eat them in winter. In summer, you can only eat spoiled fish.”
Chen Yujie said.
“Sounds like we have a good business opportunity.”
Yang Xin said.
“Doing what?”
Chen Yujie asked, confused.
“Canned Food! Cook the sea fish with plenty of salt and spices until it’s mushy, then seal it in jars like wine jars. Even in summer, it can last for more than half a month. Isn’t Liaodong short of food? But the Liaodong Bay isn’t short of fish!”
Yang Xin said.
“That’s not a bad idea. But it’s impossible for you to do it. I’ll say it again: do you think the food shortage in Liaodong really can’t be solved? If you solve this problem, what will those grain merchants eat? Five taels of silver for one dan of rice. In the south, it’s less than half a tael. Load the ship in Songjiang, sail to the Black Water Ocean, and it can be delivered to Niuzhuang in just half a month. The losses during the journey are minimal. Then here it sells for five taels. That’s ten times the profit!
If you cut off this money-making path for them, don’t be surprised if they shoot a black arrow at you halfway!
Do you know who is behind that grain trade? Any one of them could crush you like an ant.
If you want to do it, you’d at least need to be a local strongman like Zu Dashou and these others. But if you were, you wouldn’t need to bother with this. Is making Canned Food profitable, or is directly reselling grain profitable? Those grain merchants making nine times the profit still have to share at least two times of that with these local bosses. If you were Zu Dashou, would you rather put in the effort to make canned food or sit back and collect shiny white silver?”
Chen Yujie said.
As he spoke, he even raised his cup towards Zu Dashou in a toast!
Zu Dashou had come specifically to welcome them.
The Zu family was the biggest local boss in Ningyuan and also one of the notable families outside the pass. They were considered just one level below the Li Family. Zu Chengxun was a top general under Li Rusong, like his right-hand man, and fought with distinction alongside him in Joseon.
Zu Dashou also raised his cup in return.
He wasn’t an official yet at this time; he would become a guerrilla commander next year.
“It’s so damn complicated!”
Yang Xin said helplessly.
“That’s how our Great Ming Dynasty is. Everyone understands what’s going on, but no one can change it. Because changing it involves the interests of countless people. They might not openly oppose you, but they’ll stab you in the back. Anyone who dares to change things meets that fate.
Zhang Juzheng was powerful, right?
While he was alive, they certainly couldn’t defeat him. But they settled the score after he died.
As for small fries like us, they don’t need to wait until we’re dead.
Don’t think Xiong Tingbi can change anything. He can’t change anything either. He was already preparing to go to Liaoyang to execute a few who fled from battle to make an example. But there wasn’t a single civil official on his execution list. In the Battle of Kaiyuan, all the military officers fought to the death. The acting Army Supervisor and judge, Zheng Zhifan, abandoned the city and fled. He was the one actually in charge of Kaiyuan. Shouldn’t he be the first to be beheaded and shown to the public? But Xiong Tingbi seemed to have forgotten he even existed. So, our Military Commissioner Xiong is no fool. He also knows the way of being an official. You ask him to support you and offend the whole… using your term… ‘interest group’? He won’t do it.
Even if he dared to do it, he wouldn’t come to a good end.”
Chen Yujie said.
This was the truth. Zheng Zhifan only ended up in prison on Emperor Wanli’s orders because Yang Gao exposed him, and he died inside. But Xiong Tingbi really didn’t touch him. In the end, Old Xiong still favored the civil officials. He could mercilessly arrest fleeing generals and use the Imperial Sword, but he always gave leniency to civil officials. This included later, when people like Yan Mingtai were afraid of the enemy and didn’t even dare go to Shenyang; he didn’t do anything to Old Yan either.
In his view, any mistake made by a civil official was forgivable. They needed to be protected like naughty children.
But if a military officer didn’t perform well, the Imperial Sword came out directly.
At that moment, a junior officer walked in. The local guerrilla commander sitting with them quickly stood up, took the military dispatch from his hand, walked over to Xiong Tingbi, and respectfully handed it to his new superior.
Xiong Tingbi looked at the dispatch, then raised his head and looked at Yang Xin with a strange expression.
“Does Military Commissioner Xiong have something?”
Yang Xin asked, startled.
“You guessed right again!”
Xiong Tingbi said with an expressionless face.
Well, Yang Xin’s crow’s mouth was powerful once more!
Tieling had fallen.
Again, traitors from inside had opened the city gates. Tieling’s defending generals, Yu Chenming and Li Ketai, fought to the death. Li Ruzhen led relief forces and arrived, but faced with the Jiannu who had already captured Tieling, he fled without fighting. The Great Ming’s defensive line in Liaodong had finally retreated to the core area. Shenyang now faced the Jiannu’s attack directly. And, more importantly, the Yehe Tribe would be in trouble next. Once the Yehe Tribe was destroyed, Wild Boar Skin would have no more worries from the rear, completely unifying all the Jurchen tribes.
“Military Commissioner Xiong, we must protect the Yehe Tribe!”
Yang Xin said.
“It’s too late. Unless Li Ruzhen counterattacks Tieling now, we ultimately cannot save Jin Taiji.”
Xiong Tingbi said.
“But we can’t just do nothing. Right now, Jin Taiji probably doesn’t believe Wild Boar Skin will head north to attack him. If we can send someone to warn him, have him prepare his defenses, at least we can create some trouble for Wild Boar Skin. If Jin Taiji can hold against the Jiannu’s attack, even just for a while, and after you go to Liaoyang and reorganize the armies to launch a counterattack on Tieling, or even lure Zaisai into moving against the Jiannu—for example, by giving him some benefits—then maybe we really can protect the Yehe Tribe!”
Yang Xin said.
“From here to the Northern Pass is over a thousand miles, with the Jiannu and the Western Barbarians in between. How can we send a message to Jin Taiji?”
Xiong Tingbi said.
“I’ll go!”
Yang Xin said.
“With four horses to switch between, given my stamina, three days is enough to reach Yehe City. The whole way there is plains, just some rivers in the way. The upper streams should be shallow enough to cross on horseback.
But I’ll need your personal letter.
Also, you can write another letter to Chahua. On the way, I can stop by his place. You can promise him anything, whether we can fulfill it or not, just coax him for now. Then have Chahua pressure Zaisai. Zaisai just wants wealth. If Chahua and we join forces, and you then promise him a reward in the court’s name, he will surely be tempted. As long as he can attack the Jiannu from the flank when they attack the Yehe Tribe, then a situation of three sides joining against the Jiannu can form.
The rest will be decided on the battlefield.”
He continued.
Chahua roamed north of Guangning, outside the Liaodong Frontier Wall. He was, you could say, the current leader of the Inner Khalkha alliance. The five tribes of Inner Khalkha were called Chahua’s Five Camps by the Ming. Zaisai was his grandnephew and the leader of the Hongjila Tribe among the five tribes. Of course, the Mongol tribes were as messy as a pot of porridge. Chahua’s leadership was just nominal. They might get together for raids, but afterward, they went their separate ways. But Zaisai had a special relationship with the Yehe Tribe because the Yehe leader, Jin Taiji, was actually his father-in-law. He married Jin Taiji’s daughter, who was originally supposed to marry Daišan. But this son-in-law was clearly not up to par. In the original history, he just watched his father-in-law get destroyed.
Moreover, while his father-in-law was drawing Wild Boar Skin’s fire, instead of going north to rescue him, he went south to plunder Wild Boar Skin’s spoils.
Truly unfilial.
Then, after his father-in-law died, he was brutally beaten by Wild Boar Skin’s returning army, captured, and imprisoned in a dungeon as a hostage to blackmail Chahua, who had no choice but to form an alliance with him. Later, the Inner Khalkha Five Tribes were gradually worn away in the wars between Ligdan Khan and the Jiannu. Most of the remnants were incorporated into the Eight Banners. Only the Jarud and Barin tribes remained within the Mongol noble system.
“You really want to go? Jin Taiji can’t withstand the Jiannu!”
Xiong Tingbi said, somewhat puzzled.
“But we have to do something!”
Yang Xin said.
“Fine, I’ll write the letters. You go and prepare!”
Xiong Tingbi said.
“Why are you so concerned about Jin Taiji?”
After they came out, Chen Yujie asked, puzzled.
“Since they have submitted to the Great Ming, and they sent troops to participate in the last major battle, they acknowledge us as the boss. Then we have to act like a boss. If we let them be attacked by the Jiannu and do nothing, how can we face our own conscience?”
Yang Xin said righteously.
“Please tell the truth!”
Chen Yujie said bluntly.
“The Jiannu and the Yehe Tribe are actually relatives. He is Wild Boar Skin’s brother-in-law. His younger sister married Wild Boar Skin and gave birth to his eighth son. So, the result of Wild Boar Skin conquering and destroying the Yehe Tribe would be the entire Yehe Tribe joining under his command and becoming Jiannu. But Jin Taiji and his nephew Boo Yanggu refuse to surrender. If they surrender, they’d have to serve under Wild Boar Skin. That’s why the Jiannu and the Yehe Tribe are fighting. We want them to fight more fiercely, give hope to Jin Taiji and his people, make them fight desperately with Wild Boar Skin. If they can really hold on, then a deep blood feud will be formed between the two sides. The Yehe Tribe will continue to lie in wait like hungry wolves behind Wild Boar Skin’s back. Whatever he does, he’ll have to save strength to guard against his brother-in-law.
What if Jin Taiji loses in the end?
It’s no big deal. He was going to lose anyway. But during this period, whether Jiannu die or Hailan Jurchen people die, it weakens the forces that originally belonged to the Jiannu.
Understand?”
Yang Xin said.
“I understand. You actually don’t care about the outcome. What you want is just for them to die. You’re really ruthless!”
Chen Yujie said with feeling.
“Hu Gone, Han’s Way Thrives. Our goal is: no Hu barbarians. The days without Hu barbarians are our good days!”
Yang Xin said.
Then he set off the next day.
Relying on his strong physique and stamina far beyond ordinary people, carrying Xiong Tingbi’s written orders and the letters for Chahua and Jin Taiji and his nephew, he raced like an urgent courier, constantly changing horses at post stations. In just one morning, he covered three hundred miles and reached Jinzhou.