How can one be Emperor Chongzhen without money?

Chapter 57 We still haven't killed enough Tartars! (Please add to your favorites and read on!)
The west gate tower of Xuanfu Town.

Looking at the mother and son weeping in each other's arms on the ice below the city, and at the Mongol cavalry raising their whips, Wei Zhongxian felt a surge of anger rush to his head! He trembled with rage, his mink cloak billowing in the cold wind.

"Your Excellency! The people have reached the edge of the moat!" a young eunuch from the Imperial Guard reported in a shrill voice, his voice trembling with tears.

Wei Zhongxian abruptly closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the cold air. When he opened his eyes again, there was no more hesitation in his old eyes, only a chilling killing intent and ruthlessness!

"Police musketeers!" he suddenly raised his voice, the shrill sound echoing throughout the entire west gate of the city. "Listen up, all of you!"

Behind the city wall, hundreds of arquebusiers from the Jingjun (a type of military unit) all looked up at the city gate.

Wei Zhongxian pointed his big finger at the wailing crowd below the city wall, his voice chillingly cold: "Do you see them? Those people below the city wall are the parents of our Xuanfu garrison soldiers! They are the wives and children of our Xuanfu garrison soldiers! They are the flesh and blood of our Xuanfu garrison soldiers!"

He paused, then raised his voice again: "But now, they are being forced by the Tartars' scimitars! Being whipped by the Tartars' leather whips! They are coming to fill our trenches! To break through our city! To take our lives! And more importantly—the Tartars' dead soldiers are mixed in with them! They are just waiting for the city gates to open so they can rush in and massacre the city!"

The city walls were deathly silent, save for the howling wind. All the guards, whether they were Qing soldiers or Xuanfu troops, stared intently at Wei Zhongxian.

“I know! You can’t bring yourself to do it! They are your family!” Wei Zhongxian’s voice was filled with helplessness and hatred. “But listen to me! Once the city gates open and the city falls! You! Your parents! Your wives and children! Not one of you will survive! You will all have your heads chopped off by the Tartars’ scimitars! You will all be trampled into mincemeat by the Tartars’ horses!”

"Police musketeers!" Wei Zhongxian raised his voice to its highest point, "Aim at us! Aim at those Tartars with whips! Aim at those Tartar soldiers who are sneaking around in the crowd, they don't look like good guys! Fire at us!"

His words were actually meant to reassure his troops. If his arquebusiers were that accurate, the Jurchens would have been wiped out long ago!

"Tum! Tum! Tum!"

Hundreds of sparks suddenly erupted from behind the crenellations of the city wall! White smoke billowed up, and lead bullets rained down on the city below!
"Pfft!"

"what!"

There really was a Mongol cavalryman who was whipping a woman when suddenly a burst of blood erupted from his chest, and he screamed and fell off his horse!
In the crowd, several men with fierce eyes and nimble movements were about to rush forward in the chaos when they were instantly hit by a barrage of lead bullets and fell to the ground on the cold snow!

The chaotic crowd erupted into chaos! The people screamed and cried, instinctively trying to scatter and flee, but were forced back by the scimitars of the Mongol cavalry and an even denser rain of arrows!

"Fire arrows! Hold them off!" Dorjigunchuk roared from behind. A hail of arrows rained down on the city walls, suppressing the defenders' firepower while forcing the civilians to continue their advance.

"Divine Arrow! Fire!" Hou Shilu roared, brandishing his sword atop the city wall.

"Buzz!"

A barrage of rockets, trailing fiery tails, hurtled down and plunged into the Mongol cavalry, causing a commotion.

But the people had been forced to the banks of the moat. Under the death threat of the Mongol cavalry, they cried out and threw the mounds of earth they carried into the frozen ice, trying to build a slope.

"Grandpa! They're filling in the city walls!" Liu Yingkun exclaimed urgently.

Wei Zhongxian stared intently at the city below, watching the frozen mounds of earth crash against the base of the walls, watching the Mongol arrows fly towards the civilians who tried to escape along the walls after throwing down the mounds… He suddenly waved his hand:

"Roll logs! Bombs! Throw them at our house! Throw those who are throwing dirt mounds! Throw those that are near the moat!"

Heavy logs and stones roared down from the city wall!
"boom!"

"what!"

An old man who was throwing a mound of earth was hit by a rolling log and rolled onto the ice, his blood staining the frozen ground beneath him.

Several women near the edge of the ditch were hit by falling rocks and fell down screaming.

On the ice, a scene of utter devastation unfolded. Scattered mounds of earth were mixed with blood and corpses. Cries, screams, curses, and the shouts of Mongol cavalrymen mingled together in a chaotic cacophony.

The cold wind on the city wall was like a knife, whipping snowflakes against the blue bricks of the battlements.

Heavy logs and stones rained down from the city wall once again!

"boom!"

A muffled thud, mixed with the sound of bones shattering, suddenly pierced through the cold wind!

"Father!" A heart-wrenching scream suddenly erupted from behind the crenellations on the east side of the West Gate tower! The young Xuanfu garrison soldier, Li Er, stared with bloodshot eyes that seemed about to pop out!

He witnessed a millstone-sized boulder fall from the sky and smash it hard against his hunched old father, who was struggling to throw a mound of dirt onto the ice!
The old man didn't even utter a sound before his body was smashed to pieces... The old man died such a tragic and unjust death!

Immediately afterward, his mother, who was crying out and rushing towards the pool of flesh and blood, was pierced through the chest by a heavy arrow shot by a Mongol cavalryman! The arrowhead emerged from her back, dripping with blood, pinning her firmly to the cold river surface!

"Father! Mother!" Upon seeing this tragic scene, Li Er felt his head buzz and all reason vanished! He let out a beastly roar, his body leaping up from behind the battlements, recklessly trying to jump over them!

"Are you looking for death?!" A withered yet unusually powerful hand suddenly grabbed him from behind by the back of his collar! It yanked him back violently and slammed him heavily onto the cold, hard city bricks!
Li Er was thrown so hard he saw stars. He struggled to lift his head and met a single eye that gleamed with a fierce light—it was none other than the supervising eunuch Liu Yingkun!

"You little bastard! Want to die?" Liu Yingkun's voice was hoarse and deep. "Jump down and feed the Tartars? Did your parents raise you for nothing?! Want revenge? Then leave this life for me! You'll have plenty of opportunities to chop off Tartar heads!"

Li Er was thrown around, completely disoriented, and stunned by the fierce glint in Liu Yingkun's single eye, unable to utter a word. Overwhelmed by immense grief, he could only lie prone on the cold city bricks, pounding his fists against the ground and letting out heart-wrenching howls.

The Mongols finally retreated like the tide. The deathly silence on the city walls lasted only a moment before being replaced by wailing and angry roars! Many soldiers from Xuanfu recognized their loved ones who had died tragically below the city walls—their white-haired parents, their wives who depended on each other for survival, and their crying, infant children… The morale of the army, like a taut bowstring, teetered on the brink of collapse and explosion!

Wei Zhongxian stood in the center of the city tower, the hem of his sable cloak fluttering in the cold wind. His face was expressionless as he gazed at the battlefield below, littered with corpses, his ears filled with the cries and roars of the defenders on the city walls.

He may not understand military strategy, but he understands people's hearts—at this moment, the morale of the army is like a volcano about to erupt, either collapsing in despair or burning into a raging fire of hatred!
He whirled around, then pointed fiercely at the blood-stained snow below the city walls, his shrill voice, sharp enough to pierce the cold wind, echoing throughout the entire West Gate tower:

"Crying?! Howling?! What good are they! Can your tears drown the Tartars below the city?! Who killed your fathers, mothers, wives and children?! The Tartars! That bastard Hudun Tu Khan! Those Mongol beasts who whipped, shot with bows and arrows, and slashed with curved swords!"

His voice suddenly rose, becoming inflammatory: "Do you want revenge?! Do you want to avenge your parents, wives, and children?! Do you want them to be able to rest in peace in the afterlife?!"

The wailing from the city walls gradually subsided until deathly silence fell. Countless bloodshot eyes, burning with hatred, were fixed on Wei Zhongxian!

"I'm giving you this chance!" Wei Zhongxian waved his hand sharply. "Select death squads! Three thousand... no! Five thousand! Five thousand men who dare to risk their lives! Tonight, charge out of the city for me! Launch a night raid on that dog of a Tartar, Hudun Tuhan! Slaughter them until the heavens and earth are turned upside down! Slaughter them until their blood flows like rivers!"

He stopped abruptly, his gaze sweeping across the throng of people on the city wall like a knife, then spoke each word with a sharp, piercing blow to the hearts of every single one of them:
"Thirty taels of silver per person! Plenty of gleaming silver! We'll have it carried up right now and piled up on this city wall! As long as you register and sign the document, the silver will be in your hands immediately!"

"Kill a real Tartar! Bring back his head, and I'll add ten taels of silver! A hundred acres of land as a reward! And he'll be enlisted in the Imperial Guard!"

"Whoever beheads Hudun Tuhan will be rewarded with ten thousand taels of silver! I will personally vouch for him and guarantee his future as a general!"

"Do you dare?! Do you even have the guts?! Step forward and face us!"

Dead!

A suffocating silence enveloped the city walls, with only the howling of the cold wind.

After a brief silence, it erupted like a volcano!
"dare!"

"I've got guts!"

Count me in!

"Chop that damned Tartar into pieces! Avenge our parents!"

Li Er sprang to his feet from the cold ground, hastily wiping the blood and tears from his face. He rushed to Wei Zhongxian and knelt down heavily with a thud! His forehead slammed against the cold city bricks with a dull thud, and blood gushed out instantly! He raised his head, his eyes bloodshot: "My lord! I, Li Er, am willing to die for my country! I don't want money! I only want to personally cut off the head of that Tartar leader to avenge my parents!"

"Good!" Wei Zhongxian's old face showed a slight smile, and he slapped Li Er's shoulder heavily. "You're a man! Take the money! This is the money you earned by risking your life! It's also the money for the blood feud of your parents! Tonight, kill for our family! Kill until there's a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood!"

He turned abruptly, his gaze sharp as a knife, piercing Liu Yingkun and Hou Shilu:

"Liu Yingkun! Hou Shilu!"

"The slave is here!"

"The general is here!"

"Take a count immediately! Five thousand elite soldiers! Thirty taels of silver per person! Distribute them immediately! After that, let them eat and drink their fill! At midnight tonight, leave the city! Night raid! Target: Tiger Mound Rabbit Khan's golden tent! Kill! Kill as many as you can for us!"

"Yes, sir!" Liu Yingkun's one eye gleamed with excitement, and Hou Shilu clasped his hands tightly, his eyes burning with fighting spirit.

(End of this chapter)