Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 392 Taking back the territory of the Ming Dynasty, inch by inch.

Shanhaiguan, Zhendonglou.

The night was like a piece of black velvet soaked in ink, pressing heavily on the majestic pass, airtight and impenetrable.

Since May, persistent overcast skies have replaced the clear early summer sunshine that should have been there, and the air is filled with a damp, greasy smell of earth and moisture.

This is not rain, but the silent thaw of the Liaodong land. The deadly spring thaw has arrived as promised, turning the vast black soil beyond the Great Wall into a huge swamp that devours life.

The top floor of Zhendong Building was brightly lit, as bright as day.

The giant tallow candle burned silently, its wax dripping like stalactites, casting a dim, yellowish glow onto the enormous geomantic sand table in the center.

On the sand table, the mountains, rivers, cities, and passes of Liaodong are depicted in exquisite detail. The three crimson arrows, dyed with cinnabar, were once Zhu Youjian's most prized stroke of genius.

They are like three unsheathed swords, pointing directly at the lonely city called Shengjing in the center of the map.

This was the glorious divine punishment he envisioned to end a century of border troubles.

However, at this moment, Zhu Youjian sat high on the temporary throne, and the gold thread carefully embroidered on his dragon robe seemed to be tinged with a dim shadow in the flickering candlelight.

He stared silently at the sand table before him. The three bright red arrows were no longer a symbol of victory, but rather like three venomous snakes writhing in his heart, cold and sticky, silently devouring the little warmth he had left as an emperor and as a human being.

On the rosewood desk in front of him, carved with dragons, lay three documents tightly wrapped in oilcloth.

They came from three different directions, carrying different scents from the front lines—the soil of the south, the sandstorms of the north, and the salty stench of the east.

These were Zhu Youjian's three-sided encirclement, and also his threefold suffering.

Before the war began, he presented all senior generals, including Sun Chengzong, Qin Liangyu, Man Gui, and Mao Wenlong, with a personally written "Nine Articles on Military and Political Affairs."

"The art of war is vast, but its essence lies in the person; the strategy of battle is numerous, but its root lies in the mind. These nine principles are the guidelines I have established for you, and also the standards by which I will evaluate you!"

Now that the battle has begun, it is time to test the results.

Zhu Youjian slowly closed his eyes, and the nine ironclad rules echoed in his mind one by one:

Firstly, it is called "diligence".

Secondly, it is called "clarifying the meaning".

Thirdly, it is called "investigating the principles".

……

The ninth is "rectifying the mind".

……

The first report came from Sun Chengzong, who was on the southern front, trudging through the mud with 100,000 troops.

The handwriting on the report was neat and tidy, just like the old marshal's character.

"Your Majesty, I have received Your Majesty's grace to lead the army on a southern expedition, with troops marching out of Yuguan and heading towards Liaoshen. However, the ways of Heaven are unpredictable, and the terrain is unpredictable. The harm caused by the flood is even greater than that of a sand table simulation..."

The report detailed the non-combat casualties suffered by the southern army due to the mudslide: fallen warhorses, heavily armed artillery pieces stuck in the mud, and soldiers who were mercilessly swallowed up in the swamp, leaving no trace of their names. "...Your Majesty has strictly followed the first principle of the Nine Military and Political Principles, namely the principle of diligence. Every day, except for the central army's dispatch, I personally lead my staff and engineers to trek through the mud to survey the terrain and verify the maps."

"Furthermore, I have followed Your Majesty's third instruction on thorough investigation, 'leaving no stone unturned.' Whenever we camped in a new place, we would gather local farmers and hunters to inquire in detail about the hydrology and geography. The reason why the vanguard camp suffered the calamity of the mud pit was precisely because they did not follow this instruction and rashly crossed the river. I have taken this as a lesson, circulated it to the entire army, and executed one vanguard camp commander who neglected his duty, as a warning to others."

"Furthermore, Your Majesty said in the ninth article, 'Rectifying the Mind,' that 'You should personally do political work to reassure the hearts of the people and the army.' I believe that in order to reassure the people, we must first vent their grievances; in order to establish a benevolent rule, we must first dismantle their false ways."

Therefore, whenever I recover a territory, I always conduct a public trial to hear grievances. A high platform is built in the marketplace, and all the captured Jianzhou princes, nobles, and other high-ranking officials, along with their families who have a history of tyranny and cruelty, are brought up onto the platform. Then, Han Chinese from the surrounding area, and even the lower-ranking bondservants and servants of Jianzhou who have been oppressed in the past, are invited to witness the trial.

"Then, all the Han people who had been ruined and humiliated by the Jurchens were made to come up on stage one by one and publicly denounce their crimes with tears in their eyes! All the bloody cases of how they seized land, forcibly levied taxes, treated human life as worthless, and cruelly enslaved Han people and inferior Jurchens were exposed and made public!"
Each tearful accusation evoked grief and outrage among the crowd. The enslaved lower classes of the Jurchens, their faces filled with fear and deep-seated hatred, realized that their masters' cruelty extended far beyond the Han Chinese.
This move was precisely to completely peel back the hypocritical facade of the Jurchen aristocracy, ruthlessly exposing their internal oppression and cruelty to everyone!

"When the evidence is irrefutable and the people are filled with resentment, I will immediately read out Your Majesty's benevolent edict and execute the ringleader on the spot to appease the people and uphold the law! As for the others who were coerced into following, their punishments will be determined according to the severity of their crimes, either through hard labor or by incorporating them into the auxiliary troops."

Thus, although this action may seem cruel, I believe that this is the true meaning of "plundering the court and sweeping away the den"!

Not only must the Jurchen army be physically wiped out, but the very foundation upon which they depend for survival—a rigid hierarchy and extreme brutality—must be uprooted from this land!

Let all the people of Liaodong, whether Han Chinese or from the lower classes of Jianzhou, see with their own eyes who the true oppressors are and who the true liberators are! Only in this way can the world be cleansed, the source restored, and the soil for rebellion eradicated!

A hint of warmth finally appeared on Zhu Youjian's face.

Diligent, inquisitive, and upright.

Sun Chengzong truly understood the profound meaning behind Zhu Youjian's strategy of "taking advantage of his weakness to kill him".

This was not only a military victory, but also a political and popular triumph.

Although the army's steps were slow, each step was firmly planted.

They are not only moving forward through the mud, but also building!
……

front.

The banks of the Xiaoling River were covered in knee-deep mud.

Nearly seventy years old, Sun Chengzong, wearing a straw raincoat, leaning on a wooden cane in one hand and holding a telescope in the other, was walking with uneven steps on the newly discovered hard, high slope.

Behind him, several young generals and engineering officers were nervously making notes on the blueprints from time to time.

"Write it down!" The old general's voice was hoarse but powerful. He pointed to a patch of reeds in the distance. "Tell Zhao Shuaijiao that there's a stagnant pool under those reeds, and have his troops go around it! Also, send the laborers over. This new road must be covered with gravel and planks by sunset today! His Majesty is watching us, 100,000 soldiers are watching us, and the million Han people of Liaodong are watching us! It doesn't matter if we're slow, but every step we take must be worthy of them!"

An hour later, in the central command tent.

"Commander-in-Chief," said Zu Dashou, the burly General of Liaodong, his face contorted with pain as he looked at the latest casualty report, "another hundred or so laborers have collapsed from exhaustion while repairing that broken road. At this snail's pace, when will we ever reach the walls of Jinzhou?"

Sun Chengzong put down his pen and looked at him calmly: "Da Shou, have you forgotten His Majesty's 'Nine Articles on Military and Political Affairs'? What is the fifth article?"

Zu Dashou was taken aback, scratched his head, and recited in a deep voice: "'We must think through all aspects of the problem thoroughly... We must find the answer from the worst and most serious scenario.'"

“Indeed.” Sun Chengzong nodded. “What’s the worst-case scenario? It’s not that we’re moving slowly, but that after we finally captured Jinzhou, our supply lines behind us have been washed away by several heavy rains, leaving our army without food and collapsing without a fight!”
Every slow step we take, every bridge we build, is a preparation for the worst-case scenario! We are not marching; we are driving nails! We are driving back the territory of the Ming Dynasty, inch by inch!

Zu Dashou nodded as if he understood, but the impatience in his eyes had calmed down considerably.

(End of this chapter)