Liu Er woke up from his curled up corner. He rubbed his eye sockets and flicked the gum out of his eyes. Then he took out his nose and wiped the half-wet bullet on the soldier lying beside him.
The flicked earwax fell into the mouth of the sleeping man on the left, and he chewed it unconsciously.
When the cold wind blew, he woke up completely.
His surname was Liu, and he was the adopted son of Liu Tichun, so he was in charge of about five hundred people and was awarded the title of school captain.
He was nearly 40 years old and had joined the army since he was a child, but the sequelae on the battlefield caused him constant physical pain, especially after he came to Kang State and was assigned land, slaves, and a warm and comfortable house.
Just like ordinary old people, after having children, they no longer have such a desire for war.
Therefore, those second generations were keen to expand the country, become defenders like their father, plunder a large amount of wealth, and then conquer the west.
But he doesn't want war.
Twenty years of battlefield career have made him exhausted.
He looked at the sky. The sun had not yet come out. The cold wind was howling in the mountains, and the Ming army tents below the city were brightly lit.
He pulled on his leather jacket, somewhat envious of Mingren's cotton-padded clothes.
Even though he wore more leather jackets, cotton-padded clothes still symbolized expensiveness in his mind.
And these Ming people wear this, which represents more wealth.
When he thought of the Ming army, his first impression was that of the Ming army that chased the Chu army as they fled westward. During that time, they were constantly on the run, walking through deserts and grasslands.
When they reached Kang State, the army that once dominated the entire north suddenly dropped from 300,000 to 50,000, including 10,000 Mongolians.
Can't beat it anymore.
"The reason why those young people went to the west is that we are old, but the most important thing is that those young Tibetans have become stronger!"
"They need to be consumed, and at the same time they need military exploits to stabilize them..."
He felt this was right because there were more and more slaves in the house.
From thirty people to fifty people.
The surrounding Tubo villages have also increased a lot. If there is no war, these Tibetans will be unable to bear it and attack the intruders with their swords.
The words of his adoptive father echoed in his mind, and he murmured:
"Why is Akito here during this war?"
The good life stopped after the arrival of the Ming army.
He has old arms and legs and still has to go to the battlefield.
Suddenly, his eyes narrowed, and there seemed to be something underneath.
Since he had no shortage of meat, he naturally had no night blindness.
"Ming army?"
Suddenly, he shouted.
For a moment, the entire city wall was immediately disturbed, and then everyone woke up.
Archers are always the first to prepare.
But at this time, the Ming army carrying shields arrived directly at the city gate, and entered the city straight away without carrying any battering rams.
"How can it be?"
Liu Er was stunned in disbelief, and then looked at Weng Cheng again.
The gate of Wengcheng is open.
The entire city of Kangding was opened and fell almost in a matter of seconds.
For some reason, he felt relieved in his heart.
At this time, Liu Tichun, who came in armor, happened to see the Ming army passing through Wengcheng and was shocked.
"Who is it? Who let them in?"
Immediately, the Ming army, like a torrent, directly captured the small city of Kangding, and Liu Tichun had to return to his mansion to resist.
Unfortunately, even this small request was shattered by his son Liu Guan.
"Why?"
Liu Tichun said angrily.
He looked at his son, who used to be a bit elegant and cowardly, but after all, he was also the inheritance of the Liu family.
Therefore, he did not point with the sword.
Although these servants obey his orders, they are ultimately the masters of the family.
"Dad, you can't fight!" Liu Guan knelt down calmly, without a trace of hesitation, but raised his head and said:
"Everyone is tired."
"I remember that when you were in Shaanxi, you had sixteen adopted sons, but now there are only three left."
"The old servant back then is only over three hundred now."
"Our Liu family's property in Kangding is destined to be unable to stop the Ming army. When the time comes, hitting an egg with an egg against a stone will be equivalent to sacrificing our lives in exchange for the wealth of the country of Kang."
"Why?"
Liu Guan said bluntly: "This so-called Kang State has only a million people living in a corner, living among the barbarians all day long. Without knowing the elegant words of Zhou etiquette, this Kang State will sooner or later become a barbarian land.
Besides, the entire Sichuan government now has more than one million people, and Kang State will be over sooner or later."
"Prince Kang is the son-in-law of the Ming Emperor. There will definitely be no danger for his life."
"That's right!"
Before Liu Tichun could react, a big man walked in and said with a smile:
"I, Emperor Shaowu, are wise and benevolent, and I never engage in indiscriminate killing. Today, when my army entered the city, I did not kill an innocent person."
"Instead of lingering for a while, the state of Kang would be better off surrendering to me, the Ming Dynasty."
Zhu Jing smiled and said: "Li Zicheng is dead and Li Zijing is gone. Do you, Liu Tichun, want to die for the Li family?"
"At the expense of the entire Kangding?"
Liu Tichun took a look at these veteran soldiers. The oldest ones were nearly fifty years old, and even the youngest ones were in their thirties. They were all old men who had been with him for more than twenty years.
Under his gaze, most of these old people lowered their heads helplessly, not daring to look directly.
Only a few people have the courage and firm eyes.
He understood that if he faced those riots or the natives in the mountains, these people would support him without hesitation, but now he was facing the Ming army.
The Ming army chased them for thousands of miles.
And the Ming Dynasty, which represents the orthodoxy of the entire world.
Years of service in the vassal state have made them aware of the gap.
"That's all!" Liu Tichun looked directly at Zhu Jing: "I don't ask for much, I just ask you not to kill rashly, especially His Highness Prince Kang!"
"Of course!" Zhu Jing laughed: "As far as I know, of the seventeen defense envoys and one hundred and twenty-eight captains, less than 30% are left in Kang State at this time."
"As long as they don't resist, there will naturally be no killing, and at the same time, the family property and even the title will be preserved."
As he spoke, Zhu Jing showed a trace of helplessness and spread his hands: "What a pity, many people are as stubborn as you."
"When the time comes, it will inevitably lead to massacres, even massacres of cities."
Liu Tichun was furious: "You——"
"It's nothing, I'm just telling the truth." Zhu Jing stopped smiling:
"Only with your help can the entire Kang country be brought to peace."
"You don't want your few relatives and friends to continue to die on the battlefield!"
Liu Tichun sighed and remained silent.
Zhu Jing was satisfied with this.
For these remnants of thieves, the imperial court's policy was not to kill or drive them away, but to resettle them on the spot.
To be honest, Kang State is too remote. Horses, medicinal materials, and minerals are all dispensable to the imperial court. Even if the imperial merchants were to contract them, they would be limited by the winding and steep ancient tea-horse road.
They don't want to come either.
Moreover, if we try to remove these remnants of the insurgent army, wouldn’t that be an advantage to the natives?
No matter how bad things go, these intruders still know how to read and are afraid of the court.
This is important.
The natives fear power but not virtue, while the invaders fear power and virtue, making it easier to rule.
Moreover, in the future, the Kangguo area will definitely be an important base for marching into the plateau.
After several days of rest, under the guidance of Liu Tichun and the huge force of the Ming army, the road was smooth and smooth.
Half a month later, after dozens of captains and several defense officers surrendered, Shunjing was surrounded.
Shunjing is the former Ganzi. It is a city built on the mountains. Most of the buildings are made of wood and stone.
After becoming the capital, its scale continued to expand, especially the city wall which was more than three feet high and had a huge moat.
This is extremely rare on the plateau.
At first, facing the sudden attack of the Ming army, Li Si was surprised, and then he became angry.
He immediately stayed away from his princess and expressed his rebellious stance to everyone.
Immediately, he began to command the army and prepare to support Kangding.
But Liu Tichun surrendered, Kangding was captured, and he also served as the leader and persuaded most of the people.
In this case, he would not dare to send troops.
Because there are many mountains along the way, this means an ambush. Without the guidance of those nobles, the army will only die when they leave the city.
Just like that, Shun Jing was trapped to death.
Then, the capitulationists appeared.
The princess once again gained respect and even awe from everyone.
The Ming army did not want to attack the city, but instead sent envoys to persuade them to surrender.
"The title of the county prince remains unchanged, and the land and property that he deserves will be retained. He just has to live in Beijing!"
Li Si trembled as he described this condition.
It was extremely difficult for the young man to accept leaving the powerful state of Kang and becoming a minister.
But he turned and looked at the crowd.
Everyone, including the prime minister, bowed their heads and stared in silence.
He felt like he was facing some wood.
"Let's break up!"
After waving his hand, he arrived at the harem.
Princess Zhu was eating snacks. It seemed that the army outside the city posed no threat to her.
Of course, this must be the case, no one wants to be charged with killing a princess.
Even the princess of Qin Fan.
"Princess, are you satisfied? Can you return to Beijing and continue to enjoy the glory and wealth?"
Li Si said angrily: "This is all a conspiracy. When you married me, this was the beginning of the conspiracy."
"Da Ming has been plotting against Kang State for a long time. He has never thought of letting us go."
"That's right!" the princess said calmly, "I have wanted to return to Beijing for a long time."
"There are no pastries here that I want to eat in the morning, let alone those delicacies, silks, books, and those fresh gadgets."
"This is a barbaric and poor place. Even if the lowly farmers from the Ming Dynasty came, they would leave shaking their heads."
As she said that, she stared at her husband with clear black and white eyes: "As the leader of a country, you only have the Shunting Palace under your command, with 300,000 to 400,000 people, and only 20,000 troops."
"I've been worried all day about whether those feudal towns would rebel."
"I don't like it if you covet such wealth."
"My son must not be happy either."
Li Si sat down slumped, speechless, only the rising and falling of his chest proved his anger.
No matter how small the Shunting Mansion is, it is still his world.
But now everything is gone, and he can only be imprisoned in Beijing, groveling and enduring the humiliation of the powerful imperial power.
"Your Highness!" The princess couldn't bear it and said seriously: "Here you are just a frog in the well. You can't even compare with ordinary nobles, and you have to face threats from the feudal towns all the time."
"Li Laiheng is the commander of this Western Expedition. He will gain unparalleled prestige. Even if there is no change of dynasty, who knows what will happen next?"
"Instead of being king and hegemony in this remote place, it is better to go to Beijing City and enjoy the real wealth of a prince."
Li Si remained silent.
"Your Highness, even if you don't want to surrender, who among the civil and military officials in the dynasty doesn't?"
"Although we have settled here, we still really want to return to the Ming Dynasty, a truly civilized place."
"You, I'm afraid you know it all!"
"Princess!" Li Si sighed: "Get ready..."
After saying that, he stood up and left with staggering steps.
The place we went to was, of course, the Ancestral Temple.
Their Li family world has collapsed in just three generations.
"Father, my son is unfilial and has failed to protect the country..."
In the 22nd year of Shaowu, on June 18th, Kang State surrendered.
All civil and military officials submitted to the Ming Dynasty.
This Han Chinese regime that became independent from the plateau became part of the Ming Dynasty.
The prince personally presided over the surrender ceremony of Kangguo.
Moreover, he personally made a guarantee to maintain the safety of the property of the defense envoys and captains, and would award titles according to their merits.
And this, of course, can only be a viscount or baron.
There are only a few real earls.
At the same time, Kang State also officially established a province, named Xikang Province, and Shunjing was renamed Kangcheng and became the provincial capital.
What concerned the Ming army was nothing more than the fighting on the plateau.
There are tens of thousands of Kang troops fighting on the plateau, and they pose a huge threat.
At this time, the Lhasa Valley was already occupied by the Kang army.
The generals headed by Li Laiheng accepted the gold and silver from his nobles and completely occupied Lhasa.
The food problem that troubled them was solved.
However, the remnants of the Wei Zang Kingdom fled westward and did not surrender.
Coupled with the support of the two major lamas, Kang Jun's legal power over Weizang has not really fallen into the pot.
But before the generals were happy for a moment, they learned the news that their homes had been confiscated.
All the generals were furious.
You must know that their family members and property are still in Kang State, and it is difficult to have complete stability when they are alone outside. It can be regarded as being attacked on both sides.
Li Laiheng was equally angry, but could only remain silent.
"The food and fodder in Lhasa is only enough to last the army for three months."
Tian Jianxiu said calmly: "If we abandon Lhasa and return directly to Kang State, as long as we delay for ten days and a half, we will definitely run out of food and grass."
"The only way out is defeat."
"As for Lhasa?" Tian Jianxiu said with a bitter smile: "Without the support of the trumpet, we can't hold it at all."
"Send someone to negotiate!" Li Laiheng said solemnly: "We occupy half of Weizang and have tens of thousands of troops. It depends on what price Ming will offer!"
The generals breathed a sigh of relief.
When you don’t have a home, you naturally have no choice but to move forward.
But after having a family and wealth, people naturally have gains and losses and hesitations.