Chapter 73: Come On, Let’s Have Some Fun!

The Li brothers acted quickly. After Yang Xin and Chen Yujie left, they immediately summoned the officers under their command…

After all, they were all trusted men of the Li family.

The Li family had entrenched themselves in Liaodong for over half a century. Starting from Li Chengliang, they were the de facto rulers of Liaodong. Their influence was deeply entrenched. The two brothers were the only surviving members of their generation of the Li family. In a sense, they represented the Liaodong faction of military commanders. Their words, at least for the time being, still carried weight.

As for how they handled the morale of these officers and their subordinate soldiers, that was not something Yang Xin needed to worry about.

In the end, it was simply a matter of throwing money at the problem.

Silver was the most effective.

The Li family had already withdrawn all movable assets from Tieling. In Shenyang, the Li family’s assets were plentiful. Now was a life-or-death moment for the Li family. If they didn’t spend now, when would they?

Currently, the Regional Military Commander for Liaodong reinforcement had over ten thousand men under him. Spending a hundred thousand taels of silver was enough to boost their fighting spirit!

But ten thousand men were indeed a bit few.

So they took out another hundred thousand taels to recruit new soldiers.

Shenyang city was not short of Military Households. Not only were there the original local Military Households, but also many refugees who had fled from Kaiyuan, Tieling, and even Fushun, most of whom were now in Shenyang. All these people were Military Households. In Liaodong, most able-bodied men knew how to fight. As for lacking weapons and armor, that was not worth mentioning. They could just confiscate weapons from the common people. Giving each man a saber and a Long Spear would do. Give them a shield, and they were soldiers. Moreover, Shenyang’s populace was not really short of weapons, especially among the wealthy families, who had items like bows and arrows and even crossbows. In short, as long as you were willing to spend money, everything was possible. And the Li family, as the top wealthy clan in Liaodong, were definitely not short of money. In fact, it wouldn’t cost that much. The hundred thousand taels was just talk; they could even forcibly conscript men on the streets.

But Yang Xin couldn’t afford to wait. On the third day, he pressed Li Rubai to send out troops.

Those Cannon Fodder were useless.

Yang Xin wasn’t counting on the Li family to counterattack. His goal in deceiving the Li brothers was simply to use them to deceive Chahua. What he truly relied on were Chahua’s thirty thousand Mongolian cavalry.

Actually, Li Rubai was also aware of this.

He was over sixty years old. He could guess what Yang Xin was playing at, and this was also to his liking. He knew that he couldn’t recapture Tieling by himself. This battle would ultimately have to rely on the Mongols. So he immediately had his brother lead three thousand men—also all the elite Cavalry he could currently muster—and follow Yang Xin out of Shenyang ahead of schedule, heading straight for Tieling. He himself stayed in Shenyang to continue recruiting troops and buying horses. More precisely, he used his connections, especially his intelligence network among the Mongols, to also trick Chahua into believing that a hundred thousand Ming troops were marching towards Tieling…

Exaggeration was still necessary.

It should be said that the crafty Liaodong tycoon and the cunning Yang Xin were essentially playing a game of bluff, using his three thousand elites plus the five hundred Capital Garrison troops to create the illusion of a large-scale Ming counterattack through a show of force.

Then they tricked Chahua into believing it was real.

And ultimately got him to bet on the Ming Army.

As long as he truly bet on the Ming Army, then the promise of opening Tieling and letting him take everything would be enough to make Chahua rush to claim the merit of capturing Tieling. To put it bluntly, everything was to trick Chahua. All the talk about counterattacking and recruiting troops was false, all meant to deceive Chahua. They also had to be careful of the inevitable spies within Shenyang city. But spies needed time to deliver messages. As long as their actions were fast enough, the spies couldn’t get the message to Wild Boar Skin ahead of them.

Fan River.

“Commander-in-Chief!”

Yang Xin looked at Li Ruzhen.

The latter was currently looking at the opposite bank. On the north shore of the river during the dry season, countless Jiannu Cavalry were arrayed. In the middle was a general clad in full Padded Cloth Armor studded with rivets, holding a Wolf-tooth Mace as he sat upright on his horse, like a diner waiting at a table for someone to serve him his meal.

And Li Ruzhen was the meal.

The three thousand Ming Cavalry behind him were also the meal.

Abatai certainly wouldn’t wait in Tieling. Given the Ming Army’s current track record, the northward advance of merely three thousand cavalry was not enough to make him hole up in the city for defense. In his view, this was free food. He could simply come out of the city and wait to intercept them at the banks of the Fan River. He didn’t even need to deploy all his forces. At this time, there were still a thousand Jiannu left in Tieling. Abatai only brought two thousand Cavalry. In his opinion, two thousand cavalry were enough to deal with Li Ruzhen’s three thousand.

“Commander-in-Chief, be brave!”

Yang Xin said.

This battle was very important; they had to win.

Because, to their west at this moment, several hundred Mongolian cavalry were silently watching. He could see the figure of Aobadaiqing even without a telescope. These were sent by Chahua to assess the strength of both sides. If the Ming Army lost this battle, then Chahua wouldn’t need to say anything more. He would directly go and ally with Wild Boar Skin. In the future, the Inner Khalkha Five Tribes would act together with the Jiannu. Conversely, if the Ming Army won, then Chahua would see the Ming Army’s ability to restore the old order in Liaodong. He would also join the Ming ranks, attacking Tieling together with the Ming Army to plunder money and grain. By the way, they would relieve the siege on Jin Taiji, re-establish the barrier between him and Wild Boar Skin, and restore their past normal life.

So this battle could only end in victory.

“Bring them up!”

Li Ruzhen said.

A group of Household Servants behind him carried chests forward.

“Pour!”

He said.

The chests were opened one by one, and the gleaming white silver inside was poured out, piling up into a small silver mountain in front of the formation. Immediately, all the soldiers watched this scene with greed.

These men were not all from the Li family.

At this time, border garrison commanders actually relied on Household Troops for fighting. Although their nominal troop strength might be several thousand or even tens of thousands, the actual numbers were much smaller. The missing part was used for padding payrolls. Then, the income from padding payrolls was used to bribe superiors and maintain elite Household Troops. These were the true elites, well-equipped, well-trained, and merciless. The commanders relied on them to seize merit in small-scale conflicts with surrounding Mongols, Jiannu, and other miscellaneous forces, and used that merit for promotion. Once a large-scale war broke out, they would hurriedly recruit new soldiers to fill the ranks. On the battlefield, these new recruits served as Cannon Fodder; they wore down the enemy, while the elites delivered the decisive blow.

Everyone played this game.

This was how the Li family rose to power.

As for the Ming Army’s paper strength, it was just for show. On paper, the Ministry of War had over seventy thousand troops deployed beyond the passes, but not even half that number were seen at Xiong Tingbi’s location. Yan Mingtai’s count was only thirty-three thousand, and most were newly recruited, lacking both armor and weapons. So on one hand, there was the splendidly impressive reinforcement figure reported by Minister of War Huang Jiashan; on the other hand, there was Xiong Tingbi’s urgent plea that he had no troops to use.

This was the reason.

Xiong Tingbi repeatedly memorialized, urging Li Huaixin to hurry to Liaodong, simply because the latter had seven hundred Household Troops.

He knew this number represented the actual fighting strength.

Li Ruzhen’s three thousand Cavalry were all solid fighting strength, all Household Troops belonging to various commanders, and even wealthy and powerful families in and around Shenyang. The core was the Li family’s own thousand or so. These Household Troops were private armies. Some were directly selected from Military Households in the guard units, some were recruited, some were non-Han people directly taken as Household Servants, and some were even adopted as family members, like god-sons. They could not be seen merely as Household Servants. In fact, commanders granted their every wish. Not only was their treatment ten times that of ordinary soldiers, they were even provided with women. Li Rusong once spent a thousand in gold to buy a prostitute for one of his Household Troops, who later died covering his escape at Biti Hall. Wu Xiang himself was reluctant to eat meat, but provided his Household Troops with wine and meat at every meal. When Liu Ting died in battle, a group of his god-sons fought and died alongside him.

These men were effective, but they really cost a lot of money.

During Li Rusong’s time, the Li family’s Household Troops were indeed formidable, but Li Rubai did not inherit them. After Li Rusong’s death, he was idle at home for twenty years, and was only reappointed last year.

A gap of twenty years.

The Li family’s several thousand Household Troops from back then had long since aged.

Li Rubai himself was over sixty.

And this thousand or so were newly gathered from the descendants of those men.

But they were not in the same league as the previous generation’s strength. If the Li family still had those several thousand Household Troops who held off tens of thousands of Japanese troops at Biti Hall, Wild Boar Skin wouldn’t have dared to make trouble.

“Thirty thousand taels. Collect it after the battle. For those who die in battle, double the amount goes to their wives and children. Another thirty thousand for capturing Tieling. I have three hundred thousand taels prepared in Guangning,” Li Ruzhen said slowly.

Behind him came excited cheers.

Li Ruzhen looked back. Behind him, five hundred Capital Garrison Cavalry stood with shining armor and bright banners. In the middle, a red-robed civil official wearing an black gauze cap controlled his horse, standing tall. Behind him were various ceremonial guards. And in the distance, those Mongols were also watching that spot.

“Young Warrior Yang, neither of us has a way back now!” he said to Yang Xin.

“Commander-in-Chief, please rest assured. I, Yang Xin, will have Commander-in-Chief set foot in Tieling once again!” Yang Xin said with a smile.

After saying this, he dismounted and directly picked up his Green Dragon Crescent Blade from the horse beside him.

At this moment, he was once again clad in Full Iron Armor, double-layered, with Padded Cloth Armor over it. He wore a phoenix-wing helmet with a gorget, his iron faceguard raised. A red flag was flamboyantly stuck behind his back, making him look like a moving iron tower. Thus, with his Green Dragon Crescent Blade held slantwise in one hand, he slowly walked to the front of the formation. Amidst a sea of bewildered gazes, he stood right in the center. The sky was overcast, and a cold north wind whipped the banners. Three thousand of the most elite Cavalry were arrayed in neat ranks. Though their equipment was mixed and their armor varied, these battle-hardened elites still displayed their imposing aura.

“I have killed over a hundred Jiannu!” Yang Xin said.

The soldiers buzzed with discussion.

E Yi Dou’s head had already left Shenyang and was on its way to Guangning. His deeds had also spread.

But the soldiers largely did not believe it.

They had fought the Jiannu before. For one man to kill over a hundred Jiannu was simply insane exaggeration. As for E Yi Dou’s head, since it was an assassination, it wasn’t that surprising. But killing over a hundred Jiannu face-to-face on a battlefield was completely impossible. No one understood the Jiannu’s fighting prowess better than them. On a battlefield, for an entire army to behead over a hundred enemies was a feat worthy of reporting to the emperor for merit.

“It seems none of you believe me!” Yang Xin said.

None of the soldiers answered him.

“Then open your eyes wide and watch! Watch how I, alone, kill over a hundred Jiannu!” Yang Xin said arrogantly.

After saying this, he turned to face the opposite bank, separated by the river…

“Abatai! I castrated your brother Hong Taiji. Today it’s your turn. Hurry up and come over so your granddaddy can use his blade on you!” he roared loudly.

On the opposite bank, Abatai remained unmoved.

Even if he was brave but not wise, Abatai knew it was best for him to hold his position on the opposite bank. Although the Fan River was a small river and could be forded on foot during the dry season, the Ming troops crossing would necessarily slow down. Then his cavalry could first shower them with arrows. If he took the initiative to attack, the Ming Army would be the ones shooting at him. He had recognized these as the Li family’s Household Troops. In a head-on charge, he certainly wasn’t afraid, but when it came to archery skills, the latter were not much worse than them.

“Coward! You are a low-born bastard. Even your younger brother Hong Taiji is a Beile, but you are still just a Taiji. You are not only a low-born bastard but also a coward. You will be one your whole life!” Yang Xin roared.

This provocation was rather harsh.

Abatai was the seventh son, Hong Taiji the eighth. But the former was born of a concubine, the latter of the principal wife. As a result, despite being older and having more military achievements than the latter, Abatai remained only a Taiji. This was something Abatai later deeply resented. Now that Yang Xin had exposed this sore point, the hot-tempered Abatai immediately lost his patience.

“Since you seek death, I shall grant your wish!” He pointed his Wolf-tooth Mace and said with a sinister smile.