Chapter 90: A Song of Ice and Fire

Chapter 90: A Song of Ice and Fire

The influential families of Liaodong…

This was not something Yang Xin had considered at all.

The Li Family was the biggest in Liaodong.

But the Li Family was basically finished. At most, the two brothers Li Rubai and Li Ruzhen would escape death by relying on this battle, but regaining their former power was impossible. Their ages also wouldn’t allow it. While the story about Minister of War Huang Jiashan wanting them dead was fabricated by Yang Xin, it was true that the civil officials wanted to destroy the Li Family for good. The Imperial Edict dismissing Li Ruzhen had even been brought by Xiong Tingbi.

Li Huaixin was on his way to replace him.

There was still no new disposition for Li Rubai either, meaning he still had to go to the capital to await punishment.

The battles of Shenyang and Kaiyuan-Tieling might, at most, give Emperor Wanli an excuse to spare their lives. But keeping all of the Li Family’s assets and influence was impossible. What the civil officials wanted was to settle the Li Family issue completely.

In short, the Li Family was done.

Apart from the Li Family, there were no other families in Liaodong with truly significant power at the court. After all, this place wasn’t a core region of the Great Ming. The entire Liaodong region was still under the administration of Shandong! Among the generals who once followed Li Chengliang and Li Rusong, only a few second-tier families remained, like the Zu Family and the Tong Family. The Zu Family was in Liaoxi, and the Tong Family was already considered traitors. Don’t underestimate Tong Yangxing. The Tong Family in Liaodong was on the same level as the Zu Family; both were part of the Liaodong aristocracy led by the Li Chengliang clan. Tong Bunian was also a senior general under Li Rusong and a Jinshi from the 44th year of Wanli’s reign, still serving as an official inside the Great Wall.

Liaoyang was led by families like the Han, Cui, and Gao.

In southern Liaodong, there was also the Liu Family.

But they were already in relative decline. These were all powerful local families from before Li Chengliang’s rise. At this time, they held little significant influence at the court. To assess which region had the most influence during the Ming Dynasty, one only needed to look at the number of Jinshi produced there. Nothing was more accurate than that. And Liaodong ranked last in the entire country for the number of Jinshi produced.

It was even worse than Guizhou.

The entire Ming Dynasty produced only twenty-three from Liaodong, less than one percent of those from Southern Zhili.

What kind of real aristocratic families could exist here?

Anyway, Yang Xin didn’t care about this issue.

However, Xiong Tingbi didn’t give him a direct answer. This question was easy for Yang Xin to ask, but Xiong Tingbi needed to consider it carefully.

It wasn’t that simple.

He wasn’t stupid. When Yang Xin undertook military supply transport, he certainly wouldn’t transport only military supplies. The transport ships heading north from Sancha River would carry everything the Mongols and various Jurchen tribes needed. This would harm the trade at various border markets. And behind the merchants at these markets were the powerful families of Liaodong, even high-ranking officials and nobles from inside the Great Wall. Yang Xin was taking food from their mouths; these people wouldn’t tolerate it. But for Xiong Tingbi, he also admitted this was the best way to maintain the garrison at Kaiyuan. Wild Boar Skin’s reach couldn’t extend past the two frontier walls. And the Mongol tribes capable of raiding had witnessed Yang Xin’s methods; they wouldn’t be bold enough to provoke him.

Besides, Yang Xin would certainly give them benefits as well.

Fortunately, this matter wasn’t urgent.

Winter was approaching. Nothing would happen in Liaodong before next spring. Both the Yehe Tribe and Wild Boar Skin would be holed up for the winter. Furthermore, the Liao River would freeze. Even if they really rebuilt Kaiyuan city, it would have to wait until spring next year at the earliest.

“Let’s go, come with me to Fushun!”

Xiong Tingbi said.

Yang Xin said nothing more.

The other matters here no longer concerned him.

This included the reward silver for Aobadaiqing, the benefits that would also be given to Dergele, the battle result tallies, the assessment of city damages, especially the inventory of properties forcibly requisitioned by Yang Xin from wealthy households, the pensions for fallen soldiers, and so on. None of this concerned him anymore. However, the soldiers wouldn’t suffer just because he wasn’t involved. The reward silver these past few days had been paid daily. The money provided by the Li Family and the forcibly requisitioned goods had all been distributed long ago to those soldiers and able-bodied men. Silver, silk, even tea—everything was shared. Unless those officials dared to ask for it back.

And that was impossible.

In short, the entire Shenyang was filled with jubilation at this moment.

Amid the sincere cheers of the soldiers and common people, Yang Xin followed Xiong Tingbi out of Shenyang. With them were two thousand Capital Garrison troops. They galloped along the route Wild Boar Skin had retreated. The eighty-li journey passed quickly, and they reached Fushun city just as evening fell. The city was completely empty, reduced to ruins. Only the city walls remained, but the gate towers were burned. The whole city was like a ghost land. Broken walls and remnants of buildings stood among scattered falling snowflakes, showing traces of its former prosperity.

This place had indeed been prosperous.

Because Fushun was also a trade hub; trade with Jianzhou was mostly conducted here.

They stayed in Fushun city that night.

It was still snowing the next day. The northwest wind pushed scattered snowflakes, spreading the cold from Siberia across the Liaodong land, marking the official start of deep winter.

Luckily, the snow wasn’t heavy.

Soon after, they left Fushun city and continued forward. After galloping for half a shichen, they reached their destination.

The sprawling Liaodong Frontier Wall appeared again among the forested mountains. On the stone-built wall, the ruins of a small fortress lay on the north bank of the Hun River.

This was Fushun Pass.

And the rugged mountains to the southeast outside this wall bore the name etched in the memory of the Great Ming Dynasty.

Sarhu.

Their group immediately entered the destroyed Fushun Pass, walked over rubble and debris, and exited the frontier wall. Then several of Xiong Tingbi’s Personal Guards took out prepared offerings. They laid them out on the bank of the Hun River, facing the mountains of Sarhu. Xiong Tingbi also changed into his court robes and began a ceremony to honor the heroic spirits who had died in battle in the mountains ahead. Behind him, the two thousand Capital Garrison Cavalry stood in solemn formation. These former incompetents now genuinely had the bearing of elite troops. Clearly, their time following Xiong Tingbi had not been easy.

Just as Xiong Tingbi was honoring the fallen heroes, Yang Xin led a group of soldiers into the nearby forest.

When Xiong Tingbi was nearly finished with the ceremony, Yang Xin emerged with these men, each carrying a bundle of dry pine branches on their shoulders.

“Take this!”

Yang Xin handed Jiang Yingzhao a dried branch as thick as an arm and about a meter long.

“Brother Yang, what is this for?”

Jiang Yingzhao asked, surprised.

“Tear a piece of cloth from your clothes and wrap it around the top. See those wooden barrels on the horses over there? They’re full of oil. Dip it in, then light it. Then ride across the Hun River to the forest on the other side. I don’t need to teach you the rest, right?”

Yang Xin said.

Jiang Yingzhao smiled and nodded.

“Come on, everyone, come get one!”

Then Yang Xin, holding an armful of similar dried branches, called out to Jiang Yingzhao’s Personal Guards.

At the same time, the soldiers following him, also holding bundles of such branches, began distributing them among the Cavalry in formation, like vendors selling goods on a congested road. Meanwhile, Huang Zhen and several others took down the oil barrels carried by the horses and lined them up along the Hun River bank. Jiang Yingzhao quickly made a torch. He immediately urged his horse forward, dipped it into an oil barrel, then took out a Tinder Lighter and lit it. His Personal Guards behind him extended their similarly oil-dipped torches to catch the flame, then clustered around their general as he urged his horse into the Hun River during its dry season.

Then more Cavalry lit their torches and crossed the Hun River.

Xiong Tingbi remained standing there, completely ignoring what was happening behind him.

At his feet, the paper money offered to the heroic spirits was burning.

On the southern bank, Jiang Yingzhao, who had arrived first, directed his Personal Guards to line up at the foot of Sarhu Mountain. Then he thrust his torch into the thick layer of pine needles underfoot. The dry, oil-rich pine needles and pinecones instantly ignited. Roaring flames suddenly rose amidst the drifting snowflakes. Pushed by the northwest wind, the fire quickly spread to a nearby tree. As the flames licked it, the pine tree’s bark and resin immediately caught fire, climbing upward rapidly as if alive, soon spreading along its branches.

Then the entire tree began to burn.

“This is our way of paying respects at Du Song’s grave!”

Jiang Yingzhao said with keen interest.

The pine tree before him had become a giant torch, and the northwest wind pushed the flames to quickly ignite more pine trees ahead.

On both sides of him, more and more soldiers arrived and spread out, using the newly made torches in their hands to ignite the pine needles underfoot. Flames instantly engulfed the forest, spreading forward through the woods. Soon, a sea of fire was formed. Towering flames and billowing smoke rushed forward rapidly, driven by the northwest wind. Animals in the forest immediately ran out, fleeing in panic, but they couldn’t escape this man-made disaster. They were swallowed by the flames in an instant. And the fire continued its relentless advance.

The snowflakes drifting in the sky and the raging flames rising from the ground…

“This is a song of ice and fire!”

Yang Xin exclaimed in awe.

At this moment, he was leading a group of Cavalry galloping forward along the Hun River.

“You are really ruthless!”

Chen Yujie also watched the flames on Sarhu Mountain and sighed.

“Don’t talk nonsense. This is purification. Using fire to purify this forest!”

Yang Xin said.

Immediately after, he urged his horse into the river.

To his right was a river mouth, where a small river meandered from the southern mountains.

This was the Suzi River. Traveling upstream along this river for over a hundred li would lead to Wild Boar Skin’s lair.

In this sense, Yang Gao’s campaign itself was a mistake. This environment was fundamentally unsuitable for a large-scale offensive by outside armies. Large troop formations couldn’t be maintained among rugged mountains, especially when the vast majority of the participating soldiers were unfamiliar with this mountainous forest. The extermination strategy itself was an error. No matter how many Ming Army troops entered such terrain, they couldn’t avoid being divided and surrounded by the Jiannu, who knew the terrain well, and then defeated piecemeal. For enemies in such an environment, Xiong Tingbi’s strategy was the wisest.

It was containment.

Cut off all external supplies and let them starve inside.

At most, send elite small units to constantly infiltrate, set fires, hunt for heads, even poison the rivers.

Of course, it was all too late now. The tragedy had already happened. In these sprawling mountains lay the bones of forty thousand heroic Ming Army spirits.

“Brothers who died in battle, this is our tribute at your graves!”

Yang Xin said to the mountains.

After speaking, he also lit the thick layer of pine needles under his feet…