Chapter 92: Rapid Rise

After devising this plan, Yang Xin finally set out on his journey back to the Capital City under the relieved gazes of the generals in Shenyang.

He traveled with Li Rubai.

As for Li Ruzhen, he had to wait for Li Huaixin to arrive, but their lives were no longer in danger.

At most, they would be dismissed from office.

Actually, even dismissal might not happen. Li Ruzhen was likely to keep his position as Left Commander-in-Chief. After all, he only lost Tieling. Kaiyuan was lost before he reached Shenyang; that was his older brother’s fault. His fault was losing Tieling. But this fault, compared to the victory at the Kaiyuan-Tieling and Shenyang battles, could completely be made up for. Li Rubai was definitely going to be dismissed. Theoretically, the Shenyang battle had nothing to do with him. He was just a guilty official stuck in the city. But he had been retired at home for nearly twenty years anyway. As a man in his sixties, he had no grand ambitions anymore. Escaping this disaster made him perfectly content.

Because of this, the Li Family felt extremely grateful to Yang Xin.

The group headed south at a normal pace.

Hupi Post, Liaoyang, Anshan Post…

They continued until they reached Niuzhuang Post. Yang Xin left two assistants there. They were responsible for setting up a trading company. Li Rubai generously gave him a Li family property in this place.

Such properties weren’t worth much money.

Actually, Yang Xin wasn’t short of money now.

On the contrary, he was wealthy.

The Great Ming’s military reward system paid thirty taels for one head! How many had he cut during this period? Just from blocking the city wall that one time, he earned nearly four thousand taels. This was documented. As for the bloody battle at Fan River, those heads were also documented. In short, the final number of heads he took, verified by Xiong Tingbi, was three hundred, resulting in a total reward of nine thousand taels of silver. Xiong Tingbi would definitely not skim any of this silver.

This didn’t even include those that couldn’t be verified, like those killed by explosions. Yang Xin simply credited those to the defending soldiers.

Also, the ones at Yehe City lacked evidence.

Jin Taiji reported two hundred heads for him, including two Niru Ezhen and one Jalan.

But Xiong Tingbi found it hard to decide how to count this, as he wasn’t with the Ming Army when he got them. So he could only say there was no evidence and reported it directly to the Ministry of War. The Ministry of War would decide what to do. It was estimated they wouldn’t give him the reward. Getting nine thousand taels was already a lot. As for the reward money for E Yi Dou and Abatai, that wasn’t something Xiong Tingbi could decide either.

That was up to Wanli to decide.

What Xiong Tingbi could decide was the heads he took during the Kaiyuan-Tieling and Shenyang battles. The total nine thousand taels had already been given to him directly and was now being pulled in the cart behind him. And this didn’t even include the price for the warhorses he captured and sold to Xiong Tingbi, nor the gifts the Yehe Tribe gave him. In short, going to the battlefield meant getting rich. Just the bounties alone could make him rich until his hands were tired. In the few months he’d been in Liaodong, his worth had already surpassed ten thousand taels. Even Huang Zhen and the others had gained a lot. Huang Zhen also shot three Jiannu. Those assistants also looted plenty in Kaiyuan, even seizing a whole herd of warhorses. In short, the Hejian People’s Volunteer Force became immensely wealthy from this campaign.

After leaving two assistants to set up the trading company, Yang Xin crossed the Sancha River pontoon bridge and entered Liaoxi.

As for boats, no need to worry.

Niuzhuang wasn’t short of boats. They could just hire local civilian boats when needed. This was a transport hub, full of civilian riverboats that specifically traveled the Crown Prince River and Hun River to transport goods to Liaoyang and Shenyang. Such boats could even go upstream to Kaiyuan; they just needed to ensure safety.

Fortunately, Yang Xin’s big sword was also very effective.

Yang Xin’s group entered Sancha Pass, then passed Shaling Post, Gaoping Post, Panshan Post, and reached Guangning City. The Li Family’s influence here was enormous, as this was where Li Chengliang had once been stationed. Yang Xin delayed here for several days before setting off south again with Li Rubai. They passed Lüyang Post, Shisanshan Post, reached Xiaoling River Post, entered Jinzhou, continued south, delayed a few more days in Ningyuan, and finally arrived at Shanhai Pass by the end of the eleventh month. At Shanhai Pass, he learned the result of the Sarhu Mountain fire. Propelled by the northwest wind, the fire had in fact burned all the way to the banks of the Yalu River. Even Mao Wenlong, stationed at Aiyang, was unfortunately affected. It was said a section of the Liaodong Frontier Wall was burned down…

Parts of the Liaodong Frontier Wall were made of wood.

After all, building a real wall through rugged mountains was extremely costly. The Liaodong Frontier Wall wasn’t as important as the Great Wall at Shanhai Pass. So when building it, they adapted to local conditions using earthen walls, stone walls, and in less important mountainous forest areas, they simply cut down nearby trees to erect a wooden wall.

This naturally couldn’t stop a big fire.

However, there were no Ming Army casualties because Mao Wenlong had been notified in advance; after all, it took several days for the fire to reach him.

But Wild Boar Skin suffered terribly.

The Jiannu army had just returned to Hetu Ala, not yet recovered from the depression of defeat, when the fire swept in. The poor Wild Boar Skin had to drag his exhausted body, bearing the pain of losing his son, and lead his soldiers to cut firebreaks. As people who grew up in deep forests, they had plenty of experience dealing with such fires. But the problem was, this wasn’t caused by summer lightning strikes. This was organized, premeditated large-scale arson. Truly extinguishing it was impossible for them.

They could only create firebreaks to protect their homes.

So Hetu Ala and the settlements where they lived could be preserved, but the surrounding forest that provided them with food could not be saved. The raging fire started at Sarhu Mountain and spread southeast in an expanding front, turning everything along the way to ash. The fire demon wreaked havoc past Hetu Ala and kept expanding. By the time it stopped at the Yalu River, the fire zone was over three hundred li wide.

The nuts covering the mountains and plains were gone. The beasts commonly seen in the mountains were gone. Even some small villages that couldn’t react in time were destroyed by the fire.

As for the Jiannu’s final losses…

No one knew.

After the fire, some Jiannu immediately defected, running to Mao Wenlong to cut ties with the rebel Wild Boar Skin.

After all, they needed to eat too.

The Jiannu were the same. Whoever could give them food, they would follow. If Wild Boar Skin could lead them to happily kill, burn, rob money, and seize women, they would follow Wild Boar Skin. But if Wild Boar Skin led them to a point where they couldn’t even eat their fill, they wouldn’t mind changing masters. In the original history, many Jiannu surrendered to the Ming Army, especially to people like Mao Wenlong. It’s just that our Great Qing would never record such things. If anyone dared to record it, they’d have to send them to the execution ground.

“Dealing with the Jiannu is actually this simple.”

Yang Xin said.

He was now at the Shanhai Pass Regional Military Headquarters. However, the Regional Military Commander Li Huaixin had already gone beyond the pass. The acting commander was Liu Qu, the one who in the original history went to rescue Luo Yiguan during the Xiping Fort battle but was betrayed by Sun Degong and killed. Wang Wanqing’s grandfather had already retired. The new Governor-General of Ji-Liao was Wen Qiu, another old man. It had to be said, Wanli made the whole Great Ming Dynasty seem lifeless.

He was quite appreciative of Yang Xin.

After all, as the Governor-General of Ji-Liao, he knew he could relax and comfortably drink tea at Shanhai Pass, rather than personally leading the army north to take charge, all thanks to this rather crude fellow before him.

“But this will also drive the Jiannu to desperation!”

Li Rubai said.

“Wild Boar Skin won’t survive this winter. He can only continue to plunder. If before, he could barely hold on without risking an attack in the harsh winter, but after this fire, he has no choice but to take the risk. So Liaodong will still face his invasions. I’m afraid Military Commissioner Xiong is already cursing you for causing trouble!”

Li Rubai said.

Of course, Xiong Tingbi wouldn’t curse.

But the Regional Military Commanders and civil officials in Liaodong would. Yang Xin’s fireburn was satisfying for him, but he left after setting it. These people had to face Wild Boar Skin’s cornered desperation.

“Then that depends on his ability!”

Yang Xin said indifferently.

He didn’t care about this. Xiong Tingbi’s strict defense wasn’t so easy to break, especially since Li Huaixin had already rushed there, and many more reinforcements from various places had arrived during this period. Wild Boar Skin might not have the courage. But it was true that he had no food there and had to come out to steal grain; otherwise, he really wouldn’t survive the winter. If he didn’t dare to provoke Xiong Tingbi, and didn’t dare to challenge the alliance of Jin Taiji and the Mongols to the north again, then there was only one direction left: to attack Joseon and rob the Joseon people.

If that happened…

Wouldn’t that be perfect?

It would be a great opportunity for the Great Ming to get rid of Gwanghaegun, who had always had unclear ties with Wild Boar Skin.

Of course, this had nothing to do with Yang Xin.

He was just a commoner. He didn’t need to worry about so much. Anyway, he had already set the fire. The consequences were none of his business. Let Xiong Tingbi worry about it; he wasn’t the Liaodong Military Commissioner.

“Imperial Edict arrives!”

A shout suddenly rang from outside.

Wen Qiu was startled and quickly led everyone out.

Immediately, a large group of Imperial Guards, surrounding a eunuch, surged in. The latter held an Imperial Edict. Several young eunuchs followed behind, holding boxes.

“Imperial Edict arrives! Hejian righteous commoner Yang Xin, receive the edict!”

the eunuch shouted.

“This commoner receives the edict!”

Yang Xin hurried out to receive it.

The eunuch looked at him with the same gaze as when he once said he was quite handsome, then opened the edict and read seriously: “By the command of Heaven and the Emperor’s mandate, it is decreed: Hejian righteous commoner Yang Xin, loyal and devoted to the state, served in Liaodong as a commoner. Within months, he beheaded five hundred Jiannu, killed the son of the chieftain, slew many of their great generals, defended Shenyang causing the chieftain to retreat in defeat. His merit stands foremost among the three armies. Therefore, he is granted the position of Jinyiwei Thousand-Household Officer, and bestowed a Douniu robe. The righteous commoners who followed him are all granted Imperial Guard status. After receiving this edict, return swiftly to the Capital City, and Jinyiwei Assistant Commander Xu Xianchun is ordered to escort and protect.

Officer Yang, quickly receive the edict!”

Then countless envious eyes fell upon Yang Xin.

A commoner directly promoted to Jinyiwei Thousand-Household Officer! And even granted the Douniu robe to wear. This was a rapid rise. One could imagine his future soaring success.

Yang Xin looked at the eunuch.

The latter smilingly presented the edict to him.

Yang Xin looked at this Imperial Edict…

“Um, Your Excellency, this commoner dares not receive the edict!”

he said.