A Journey Through the Worlds of Film and Television.

Chapter 116 Arrival in Liaodong

(The protagonist uses a knife)

In early July of the 47th year of the Wanli reign, Xiong Tingbi finally left Beijing in accordance with the imperial order and headed for Liaodong with the imperial sword. Naturally, he was accompanied by Lu Zongqi, who was familiar with the situation in Liaodong.

Of course, at this time, Lu Cheng was no longer just a small general flag, but became a thousand households of the Ming Dynasty.

He went directly from being a general flag-bearer to a trial centurion, a centurion, a deputy centurion, and was promoted several levels to a centurion. This speed of promotion was quite fast.

The commander-in-chief of the frontier army was just a minor official, but the captain was already a fifth-rank military officer.

The reason why he was able to be promoted so quickly was naturally inseparable from Xiong Tingbi's personal request for a title for Lu Cheng, and it was also inseparable from Lu Wenzhao's manipulation.

Now, the court has placed all its hopes on Xiong Tingbi, hoping that he can turn the tide. Naturally, the court immediately agreed to some of Xiong Tingbi's requests.

Anyway, he was just a small thousand households, and in the eyes of the ministers in the court, he was just a small military officer. It wasn't like he was asking for money or soldiers, so what was there to not agree to?

Moreover, Liaodong was in ruins now, and no one wanted to go there. No one cared about Lu Cheng, who wanted to die.

Of course, Lu Cheng, the commander of a thousand households, is now a commander without troops. The court has only given him a document of appointment, a set of armor, a sword, a warhorse, and a waist badge.

As for the troops, Lu Cheng had to recruit them on his own when he arrived in Liaodong.

Even so, Lu Cheng was already very satisfied. With the position of Qianhu, at least he could openly own a team of 1,000 people.

As for troops, there were plenty of defeated soldiers in Liaodong and plenty of war horses outside the Great Wall.

Moreover, to be honest, Lu Cheng is not completely penniless now. At least he still has two soldiers, Ding Xiu and Ding Xian.

Following Xiong Tingbi out of Kyoto and heading towards Liaodong, Lu Cheng couldn't help but think of a line from an opera: "When my team first started, there were a dozen people in total, seven or eight guns..."

After all, Xiong Tingbi was already 50 years old and was a civil official, so it was naturally impossible for him to travel too fast.

Before leaving the capital, the imperial court had received news from Liaodong that the Later Jin had captured Kaiyuan.

When Lu Cheng and Xiong Tingbi had just left Shanhaiguan, they received another battle report from the front that the Later Jin had captured Tieling. At this point, the situation in Liaodong became more critical.

In early August, Xiong Tingbi finally arrived in Haizhou and completed the handover with Yang Hao. The next day, he immediately rushed to Liaoyang without stopping.

Along the way, there were Liaodong soldiers and civilians fleeing westward everywhere.

After seeing this scene, Xiong Tingbi immediately ordered all his men to be dispatched to persuade the soldiers and civilians to stop fleeing.

If the soldiers and civilians in Liaodong were allowed to flee to the interior, there would be no one left in the entire Liaodong area, and that would be the end of it.

As early as 10 years ago, Xiong Tingbi was ordered to pacify Liaodong, and he enjoyed a certain prestige among the military and civilians in Liaodong.

Therefore, some soldiers and civilians were dissuaded from fleeing and instead followed Xiong Tingbi to Liaoyang.

After all, if there is still a glimmer of hope, no one would be willing to leave their homeland and flee.

During this period, Lu Cheng also gathered some deserters and temporarily let Ding Xiu and Ding Xian take care of them.

By the time he arrived in Liaoyang, Lu Cheng had gathered seventy or eighty deserters and was finally no longer a lone commander.

Of course, these deserters were of varying ages, and most of them were weak and frail due to lack of food, and had little fighting power.

Fortunately, when leaving the capital, Lu Cheng specifically reminded Xiong Tingbi to buy as much food and fodder as possible.

With these food and fodder, the deserters would be well fed and would be willing to follow.

After the group entered Liaoyang City, they found that the entire city was deserted. There were not many pedestrians on the streets, and most of the shops along the streets were closed.

Seeing this scene, Xiong Tingbi couldn't help but sigh: "Ten years ago, when I was pacifying Liaodong, Liaoyang City was not rich, but it was prosperous. But now this scene is really worrying."

Lu Cheng looked at the situation around him and advised: "Sir, now that you are here, everything will slowly get better."

After the group entered the Liaoyang government office, they found that the office was empty. Except for the gatekeeper and a few runners, the entire office was deserted.

Xiong Tingbi was furious. He called a yamen runner and asked, "Where is your prefect? ​​Where are the staff in the government office?"

"Your Excellency, our prefect is afraid that the Jurchens will attack, so he has taken his family and fled outside the city."

"This is outrageous. As the chief official of a local government, he should not have failed to protect the land and the people, but he was the first to escape. Captain Lu, you must immediately lead your men to the outskirts of the city and bring back the governor Li Shangcun and his family."

"Yes, my lord."

Lu Cheng waved his hand, and Ding Xiu and Ding Xian immediately brought dozens of soldiers and followed Lu Cheng out of the city.

It is impossible that these dozens of soldiers are all the defeated soldiers who were gathered recently. They are mainly the guards that Xiong Tingbi brought with him when he left Kyoto.

Regardless of their specific combat effectiveness, these guards are at least young and strong, and are equipped with knives, guns, bows and arrows and other weapons, and many of them are also wearing armor.

When they heard that they were going to arrest the prefect, a bailiff immediately ran out of the yamen and offered to lead them.

Lu Cheng led his men to the gate of a hidden manor outside the city, and with a wave of his hand, he surrounded the manor.

The guards at the gate of the manor immediately became alert: "This is the residence of the prefect. Who are you? How dare you come here to cause trouble?"

"I am a captain under the command of the new Liaodong governor Xiong. I have been ordered to capture Li Shangcun and his family. Anyone who resists will be killed without mercy. Ding Xiu, take your men to investigate and block the back door."

"Yes, my lord!"

Ding Xiu immediately left with a dozen people, and Lu Cheng waved his hand, and more than twenty archers immediately squatted down, drew their bows and arrows, and aimed forward.

The guards who were guarding the house immediately laid down their weapons and did not dare to resist at all.

Lu Cheng waved his hand, and more than twenty soldiers rushed into the mansion.

"What are you doing? I am an official appointed by the court...you..."

Lu Cheng walked into the mansion with a goose-wing knife on his waist. He looked at the greasy-faced guy opposite him, then turned to the yamen runner who was leading the way and asked, "Is he Li Shangcun?"

"it's him."

Lu Cheng put his hand on the hilt of the knife: "Master Li, do you want to go with us by yourself, or wait for us to carry you away?"

"Hmph...I will leave."

"That's great. Please invite Lord Li's family as well."

"Yes!"

Soon, Li Shangcun's wife, concubine, son, daughter, etc. were all brought out and escorted out of the mansion.

Of course, since this person was brought out, the property in the mansion must also be taken away.

Although Lu Cheng is not very familiar with house confiscation, he can still learn from it.

As for the benefits that would be taken away during the house search, that had long been an established rule.

Of course, Lu Cheng wouldn't go too far.

Xiong Tingbi has just arrived in Liaodong and is in great need of money. If Lu Cheng shows too greedy, it will definitely greatly reduce his impression in Xiong Tingbi's mind.

Therefore, apart from secretly collecting a few antique calligraphy and paintings, Lu Cheng did not touch any other gold, silver or other valuables.

There will be plenty of opportunities to make a fortune in the future, so you must not be greedy when you shouldn’t be.

When Lu Cheng brought Li Shangcun's family back to Liaoyang City, there were many people blocking the gates of the city.

The prefect took his family and hid outside the city, and naturally the wealthy families in the city also hid away.

As long as the army of the Later Jin attacked, the wealthy families would definitely flee at the first opportunity. If the enemy did not attack, they could return to the city.

At this time, Xiong Tingbi sent people to notify every household, asking them to bring their families and belongings that were settled outside the city back to the city in order to calm the people's hearts.

Then, Lu Cheng took Ding Xiu, Ding Xian and a team of soldiers to intercept the defeated soldiers fleeing from the front and capture some fleeing generals.

In just two or three days, the population of Liaoyang City slowly recovered.

On this day, Xiong Tingbi ordered the public beheading of the fugitive generals Liu Yujie, Wang Jie, Wang Wendi and the corrupt general Chen Lun.

These fleeing generals begged for mercy: "Xiong Jinglüe, it's not that we don't want to fight, it's just that the front line has been defeated and every place can't be defended. I think it's time to use more people. Please let us go, Master Jinglüe, we will definitely reform ourselves."

Xiong Tingbi waved his hand and said, "If I let those generals who escaped go, how can I face those generals who didn't escape? Behead them!"

With an order, all the fleeing generals were beheaded in public, which greatly deterred those soldiers who still wanted to escape, and temporarily stabilized the morale of the people and the military in Liaoyang City.