The snowflakes kept falling, and the world was shaking.
Liu Tingjie was riding a horse, followed by eight thousand troops and nearly ten thousand prisoners. They dragged grain and grass and walked slowly like a long dragon under the supervision of the Ming army.
The further north you go, the worse the weather and the worse the environment.
Occasionally, even after walking for more than a hundred miles, there is no village in sight. Instead, there are groups of wild wolves and sparse wild dogs, constantly looking for food.
Although it is difficult, Liu Tingjie is very satisfied with the current situation.
Before, he was just a general with hundreds of people in the entire Ming Dynasty, but now he is the commander of a battalion, with a general rank and a high position of authority.
"I don't know when King Yu will ascend the throne..."
Looking at the desolate scene in the distance, he rode his horse and muttered.
Compared with the Manchu Qing Dynasty or the Nanjing court, King Yu's power was the weakest. It was an extremely risky move to take the Northern Expedition to invade the country.
However, King Yu succeeded, and this stirred up his heart.
Obviously, King Yu is the chosen one. Especially when Nanjing is about to be unable to hold on, it is only a matter of time before King Yu ascends the throne and proclaims himself emperor.
"I can finally go home."
The lieutenant on the side breathed greedily, and his whole body was full of energy:
"His grandma, a group of people regarded King Yu as a fool. They only wanted food and people. They never thought that we were back."
"Hmph!" Liu Tingjie heard this with a bit of pride on his face: "I'm going to Yulin today to take care of those itchy guys. I'll catch up just in time."
As a native of Yulin, Liu Tingjie knows everything about Yansui Town, that is, Yulin.
This group of people is unruly and has always regarded Yansui Town as their own territory. When Li Zicheng's army swept across the town, it was difficult for them to surrender.
Obviously, King Yu had become the enemy in their eyes at this time, and he made probing moves one after another.
"Commander, if we follow King Yu, we will have a bright future..." the deputy general said without hesitation.
"Don't worry, I'm not stupid!"
Liu Tingjie curled his lips and said casually: "In the past, in Yulin, my family was not ranked among the top. Now, with Prince Yu, I can still tell the difference between the important and the important."
"That's good!" The deputy general breathed a sigh of relief.
Their mission for this trip, King Yu made it clear before leaving, was to rush to Yulin, not only to comfort the border troops and replenish the money and food they owed, but also to completely clean up the border town before leaving.
To put it bluntly, it is to recruit and reorganize, eliminate the old and young, clean up the farmland and border fields, and change the structure of the border army.
The rotten and overwhelmed frontier army system needs to be completely rebuilt, and they are the driving force behind it.
When King Yu was about to ascend to the throne, Liu Tingjie also realized deeply that this was a critical period for him, and his future promotions would depend on this impression.
The vast army crushed the snow and killed the wild animals along the way, and finally arrived at Yan'an Prefecture.
From then on, Liu Tingjie stopped completely, and asked Yulin to come and greet him in person on the pretext of inconvenience in transporting food.
The eagerness for money and food, especially Liu Tingjie, who was one of their own, made them forget themselves and couldn't wait to obey, far away from their base camp.
"Haha, Lao Liu, I didn't expect you to get up, not bad!"
"Tingjie, thank you for your hard work. You are indeed a good man from Yulin..."
Facing Liu Tingjie's greeting, the generals looked happy, and they came one after another with great pride, showing off their airs and feeling quite proud.
It's no wonder that they were proud of it. Almost all of the people sitting in the queue had joined the army. The deputy commander-in-chief was senior and flourished in Yulin.
You see, King Yu just sent food and grass in a hurry, without daring to say no.
Facing the attitude of everyone, Liu Tingjie kept his attitude very low and kept flattering, making the host and guest enjoy themselves.
But it makes me very frustrated.
When everyone was drunk, Liu Tingjie quickly ordered:
"The snake headed south without a head, and these guys happened to come to the door in person. Now Yulin is at our mercy..."
So, that night, thousands of troops marched north to Yulin, completely overthrowing Yansui Town in the name of rectifying military affairs.
"I am following the order of King Yu to open the door quickly!"
Under Yulin City, traces of the war still remained, and an army came impatiently, waking up the entire Yulin City.
Immediately, this army, which followed the king's order, quickly organized troops: each person was given five taels of silver.
This news spread throughout Yulin Town.
For a time, the crowd was excited and the reputation of King Yu spread rapidly.
For two or three days in a row, there were only more than 5,000 people on the roster who came to apply.
In other words, Yansui Town, which once had 50,000 soldiers, is less than 10% of its peak strength in the 880 kilometers of land from Huangfuchuan Fort in the east to Huamachi in the west.
There are loopholes in the defense line. It is no wonder that the Tatars can march straight in and constantly harass Shaanxi Province.
"Wang ordered that three households in Yulin must send out one soldier and pay ten taels for their settlement..."
"Wang Ling, the Yulin border army will be abolished by the old and weak..."
"King's order, from now on, Liu Tingjie, commander of Mingjie Battalion, will take over as the commander-in-chief of Yansui..."
"Wang Ling, Wang Ling..."
Military orders were issued one after another, and the people in Yansui Town had no choice but to accept them.
The military leaders went to Yan'an, the soldiers were bribed, and Yansui Town became a toothless tiger, allowing others to bully them.
Just after controlling the situation, Liu Tingjie did not dare to delay, took the generals hostage, and arrived at Yulin City amidst a chorus of curses.
"Liu Tingjie, you are selling your land for glory, are you still from Yulin?"
"Hmph, your official supplement is all the blood of Yulin people..."
Faced with the insults, Liu Tingjie did not change his expression, but kept sneering:
"Shibo, Shixiong, times have changed now. It is King Yu's turn to rule Shaanxi. How can the border army remain the same as before?"
"Today, Yulin, and even Yansui Town, are all decided by me, Liu Tingjie. You'd better be careful and don't scold me in the future!"
His butt determines his head, and he is receiving military pay from King Yu. Naturally, he no longer considers himself a Yansui native. Likewise, he has no interest in the Nanjing imperial court.
His power was almost completely dependent on King Yu, and he naturally did things to King Yu.
Sitting on the wolf-skin chair, Liu Tingjie's eyes were reddish. He had coveted this position for many years and finally got it.
"Land reform, land reform!"
Stroking the increasingly stiff chair, Liu Tingjie murmured softly, his face solemn.
Compared with inland areas, land annexation in border towns is more severe.
The land distributed to military households since the reign of Taizu in the early Ming Dynasty had been divided up as early as the Jiajing period, and all military households were completely reduced to tenant households.
Not only did they have to fight, but they also had to farm for the general banner, hundreds or thousands of households, and they almost completely relied on the salaries issued by the court to survive.
Even so, most of them were expropriated and countless wives were sold in exchange for their children.
"It's difficult!"
Liu Tingjie rubbed his eyes. Even though Yulin's troops were extremely weak, if he was careless, the consequences would be disastrous.
"Cut out flesh to treat sores, you have to do it!"
Sighing, Liu Tingjie looked firmly.
For the sake of his official position and future, he had to sacrifice his interest in challenging Yansui officer.