Chapter 182: Moving to Shanhai Pass

Things after the war had nothing to do with a front-line team leader like Wang Yan. After reporting the military achievements of his subordinates to Chen Baoning, he took people to clean up the battlefield outside the city, ate an extra meal for dinner, and followed Sun Fugui to take his troops back to the camp to rest.

This time, the privileges of Centurion Wang were displayed. Sun Fugui took him to the place where his previous dead ghost centurion lived, which was a separate small courtyard.

Looking at Wang Yan searching around, Sun Fugui said with a smile: "How is it, not bad, right?"

Nodding, Wang Yan reached out and touched the heated brick bed: "This isn't even burning fire, it's ice cold."

"Where is there such effort? Just call your subordinates to come over and help you burn it later."

"Did you call?"

"Called."

"Then I'll just sleep at your place for the night, and we'll talk tomorrow."

Thinking that Wang Yan was embarrassed to order his subordinates, Sun Fugui couldn't laugh or cry: "Alright, then follow me. Just nearby. Burn some water later and wash well, these two days were really tossed to death."

Wang Yan didn't speak, followed Sun Fugui to the place where he lived. When he arrived, there were subordinates helping him burn fire.

Talking idly with Sun Fugui, after the water boiled, Wang Yan simply wiped his body, changed into a set of clothes, and lay on the bed to sleep without a word.

Sun Fugui knew that Wang Yan was really tired, and asked his subordinates to burn another pot of water, wiped his body, and lay down beside Wang Yan, snoring not long after.

Wang Yan fell asleep here, but Yuan Chonghuan over there had no heart to sleep. He had to study how to report this matter.

After discussing with Man Gui, Yuan Chonghuan sent a beautiful report to Gao Di, the Liaodong big brother stationed in the back at Shanhai Pass. After all, nominally, Yuan Chonghuan was Gao Di's subordinate. Although he stood up this time and didn't look down on Gao Di, the rules were rules, and there was no reason to report over his head.

Ningyuan was about 100 kilometers away from Shanhai Pass. With fast horses and whips, Gao Di received the news in the evening.

Seeing the report of victory, Gao Di knew that he was almost finished. After all, he advocated running away, and Yuan Chonghuan disobeyed orders to stay and guard Ningyuan. If he lost, wouldn't he be at his mercy? As a result, God didn't follow his wishes, and Yuan Chonghuan actually held it. Gao Di wasn't a fool, and he naturally knew what this meant.

Since the 46th year of Wanli, when Nurhaci issued the Seven Great Hates to rebel against the Great Ming, the Great Ming army had been retreating all the way, and now Liaodong was gone. Under such circumstances, Yuan Chonghuan held Ningyuan... The Great Ming needed victory, the emperor needed victory, and his big brother Wei Zhongxian needed victory even more. So it went without saying, he had to go down.

Gao Di sighed and looked at the information of the report of victory. After a long time, he attached a memorial of his own and sent it to the capital.

It was about 300 kilometers from Shanhai Pass to the capital, plus it was a report of victory information, which took a special channel. Along the way, the post stations were delivered urgently, people stopped but horses didn't, and it was sent to the capital all the way.........

The next day, Emperor Zhu Youxiao, who was doing carpentry work, heard the news reported by Wei Zhongxian, threw the plane aside, and hurriedly patted the wood chips on his hands: "Quick, let me see."

Wei Zhongxian respectfully presented the report of victory document, looking at the emperor whose face was flushed and happy with a smile.

He received the news even earlier than the cabinet. After all, there were eunuchs guarding the supervision there, all of whom were his god-sons and god-grandsons, and if there was such a good thing, they must tell him.

Now it was their group of eunuchs suppressing the cabinet in power, so the matter of fighting was their job. Liaodong had been beaten all the way by the Jianzhou Jurchens, beaten until their heads were covered in bags, and Liaodong was lost. This was all his, Wei Zhongxian's, pot, and the pressure was quite heavy. Honestly, if there wasn't this victory, he would be soon too.

Now that God had given him a chance, although it was just defending the city like a turtle, it could be considered a victory. This not only consolidated his position but also took the opportunity to suppress the Donglin Party further.

"Good, good." Zhu Youxiao swayed twice and stopped: "Big companion, have you sent someone to Ningyuan?"

"Emperor, rest assured, the old slave sent someone to follow the cabinet to go over as soon as I received the news."

Zhu Youxiao nodded without speaking.

Wei Zhongxian thought for a while and said: "Before, the old slave looked at the report of the eunuch guarding below, saying that a capable person appeared in this battle, killing more than a hundred Jianzhou Jurchens in two days."

He lived by the emperor. No matter how great his power was, it was just a word from the emperor. In a word, the emperor was happy, he was happy; the emperor was uncomfortable, he had to cry. So picking some happy things to say to make the emperor happy was his basic job. Truthfully speaking, this matter could be considered an auspicious sign.

Zhu Youxiao heard this and was surprised: "Oh? Really? Why have I never heard of such a warrior before?"

It was no wonder he was surprised. After all, since the Later Jin established the country, they had fought many battles, both city battles and field battles. In a battle of thousands or tens of thousands of people, the number of heads in one battle was only one or two hundred. Now a person appeared, and the harvest of one person was equivalent to a big battle, which was unheard of.

A proper person wouldn't say "maybe," "should," "perhaps." Wei Zhongxian was like this: "What was reported was that it was the centurion promoted by Ningqian Garrison Commander Yuan Chonghuan and Deputy Commander Man Gui together on the evening of January 24th. He is still a sixteen-year-old boy named Wang Yan, and this is his first time on the battlefield."

It was true, he reported it. If it was fake, Yuan Chonghuan and Man Gui would take the blame.

Civil and military officials guaranteed it together, so the credibility was very high. Besides, so many eyes were watching, the possibility of faking it was minimal.

Zhu Youxiao laughed: "Send someone to investigate this Wang Yan carefully and see if it's true. How long has it been since my Great Ming produced such a warrior? If it's true, after verification, this person must be rewarded heavily."

"Yes, Emperor."

Just a small soldier who could fight, Wei Zhongxian didn't care about that. What he cared about was whether the emperor, who was worried and couldn't eat or sleep all day, could eat two more bowls of rice today because of such a happy event.

Zhu Youxiao nodded: "Big companion, summon a few cabinet elders to discuss matters."

Although he basically didn't go to court, such a big thing happened, so he had to discuss rewards, study the next Liaodong policy, and he had to have a count in his heart.

"The old slave obeys the decree."

Wang Yan naturally didn't know about the things in the capital, and of course, he didn't care if he knew. After all, he had a count of his own record, and it was such a hard-won defensive battle against the Later Jin, plus Yuan Chonghuan and Man Gui promoted him personally, so he didn't believe anyone in the city dared to covet his military merit.

A big battle, and another rare successful defensive battle, everyone from top to bottom was quite happy, so there was no training today, and everyone rested well. Of course, they basically didn't train much in the past either. After all, they couldn't even eat enough, and the pay wasn't in place, so what to train...

Wang Yan wandered around Ningyuan City boredly, looking at this military town, thinking about his future plans in his mind.

In the short term, he had no way to do business to make money, because his strength wasn't enough, and he couldn't protect it even if he had a source of wealth. He still had to study how to be promoted. When he had more people, it would be easy to make money.

He didn't even need the things in his mind later. Just going to Mongolia to smuggle would be enough to make a fortune, not to mention engaging in maritime trade, and robbing on the road by the way. And those landlords, the Eight Great Jin Merchants, etc., copying two families when he had nothing to do later, weren't these all money?

After strolling for a while, there was nothing good to see. There was no poetic atmosphere of the ancient style, the houses were all broken, and the roads were all muddy. Of course, there were good houses and roads paved with stone slabs, but that was the commercial area or where rich people lived.

Perhaps it was because it was located in the north and was a border fortress, not the Qinhuai River bank where there was singing and dancing every night in the south. He had to go and experience how those eight beauties were beautiful when he had time later...

In the following time, Wang Yan practiced martial arts daily, and by the way, taught some moves to the remaining sixteen subordinates, practicing them whenever he had nothing to do. Of course, the amount of exercise wasn't too big, because the food was really bad, and he didn't have money to subsidize it. Besides, he couldn't spend money like that even if he had it. Attacking him for being suspicious if he did that by people with ulterior motives would be troublesome.

And as time passed, his subordinates were also supplemented to eighty people. He ate ten of the remaining thirty, and his big brother Chen Baoning ate twenty.

In March, the imperial court issued a decree to re-establish the Liaodong Governor, served by Yuan Chonghuan. Man Gui was promoted to Regional Commander, actually serving as General. At the same time, Wei Zhongxian took the opportunity to insert quite a few people. Yuan Chonghuan submitted a memorial to request the transfer of these people, because these people were clearly here to frame him. Zhu Youxiao didn't allow it, and added the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, and the hereditary Jinyi thousand-man commander for his descendants.

Wang Yan's level was too low to know the specific details, but he estimated that this Ningyuan defense battle allowed the superiors to see the hope of recovering lost territory and defeating the Later Jin. After all, the existence of the Guanningjin defense line now had two meanings: one was to guard the Shanhai Pass, the gate of the Great Ming, to protect the capital, and the other was to be a bridgehead to fight the Later Jin. Otherwise, why did Sun Chengzong spend several years here building fortresses and training troops and making fire weapons?

In April, after more than two months, the rewards for this Battle of Ningyuan finally came down.

On the drill ground, more than 10,000 people who participated in the battle stood together densely. Wang Yan stood in the front row, behind a group of generals. Who would be rewarded was notified in advance, and Chen Baoning had already told him.

Just heard the eunuch who read the decree shout loudly, reading the imperial decree: "The emperor's decree: Ningyuan defeated the thieves, recovery is organic, the emperor is happy. All civil and military officials, merit has been investigated, and should be praised... Yuan Chonghuan added Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and Right Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, patrolling as before, shading one son... Man Gui promoted to Right Regional Commander, shading one son, rewarded with twenty taels of silver..."

After reading a long string from top to bottom, a group of generals like Zu Dashou, finally, it was Wang Mou's turn: "Wang Yan promoted to thousand-man commander, rewarded with ten taels of silver..."

Once this reward came out, quite a few people who heard the commotion nearby couldn't help but glance at the lucky boy who was grinning foolishly. He was only sixteen, although he had grown taller, his age wasn't big. This emperor was f***ing stupid from planing wood, directly giving a child a thousand-man commander? Could he manage things?

Of course, what they thought had nothing to do with Wang Yan, who was grinning foolishly. He didn't expect this carpenter emperor to have such strength, directly giving him a thousand-man commander. At this age and position, he was almost the best in the Nine Borders. Although military officials weren't very valuable, it was still a proper fifth-rank. In the middle, there were deputy thousand-man commanders, town-fostering, etc.

It was just that he cut off more than a hundred heads, and according to his age, he couldn't reach this step in such an environment. It could be seen how satisfied Zhu Youxiao was with this battle, or maybe it was Wei Zhongxian? Who knows, anyway, he got to the top. After all, Yuan Chonghuan went from Magistrate Yuan to Governor Yuan in eight years, so why couldn't he, Wang Mou, go from Big-Headed Wang to Thousand-Man Commander Wang in one battle? There was no such reason.

After a while, after the eunuch finished speaking, he saw Yuan Chonghuan, Man Gui, and others kneel on one knee, calling to receive the decree. Wang Yan followed and knelt down after a beat.

Then it was a group of big and small military officers and big-headed soldiers following, and amidst a rustling sound of armor leaves, they followed and shouted "Long live, long live, long live."

Although Wang Yan hadn't seen this battle, he just followed and shouted loudly, and there was definitely no problem.

After this set was finished, it had nothing to do with the people below them; it was all the business of the civil and military officials above. After the goods were scattered, Wang Yan was called over by Chen Baoning: "Follow me, you take my shift."

Wang Yan smiled: "Congratulations to the Lord for being promoted."

After this battle, from the cabinet to the group of people under Wei Zhongxian, and then to the people fighting in Liaodong, everyone from top to bottom was basically promoted once. Chen Baoning was promoted to Regional Commander, and the position of thousand-man commander was just right for him. If you don't fight, this promotion and getting rich is too f***ing fast.

Chen Baoning laughed more foolishly than Wang Yan: "Hey, I'm just basking in your glory; otherwise, who knows, I might have been dismissed with just a bit of silver."

"Lord is too conservative. Before, I heard Sun Fugui say that you should have been promoted long ago, but it was just... hmm, a coincidence. This time we held Ningyuan City, so we should have been promoted. It has nothing to do with me, it's all the Lord's own arrival."

Chen Baoning understood Wang Yan's meaning. It was very normal for a relationship household to push him down. After all, he had no one and no money, how could he compare to those with deep roots? He knew his own situation. If there weren't so many heads from Wang Yan this time, he would really be enough, after all, there wasn't only one thousand-man commander.

"Alright, don't say those things, anyway, I'm promoted now."

The two laughed and arrived at the office where Chen Baoning handled official business.

Chen Baoning rummaged through the cabinet and found several big books: "Right, kid, you are literate, right?"

"Recognize."

"That's fine." Chen Baoning beckoned: "Come, these are the troop situation of our thousand-man commander station, and..."

Later, he said a lot of things to Wang Yan. In fact, it was summarized as obeying orders and listening to commands. As for the matter of fishing for money, he didn't avoid it either. Although the age was indeed a bit small, and not even as old as his son, but since Wang Yan had reached this position, no one would treat him with any hair-pulling because of his age. So he had to say what he had to say, so as not to offend people if he didn't do things well.

He was quite proud of this kid who got him promoted. Otherwise, he wouldn't care so much, love to die or not.

After talking for a long time, Chen Baoning drank water: "Understand everything?"

Wang Yan nodded, thought for a while, looked at him and said: "Don't know if there is anything for the other centurion lords..." Seeing Chen Baoning nod, he didn't say anything more.

Chen Baoning had to admit that this kid, besides being able to fight, wasn't a fool, and even knew how to inquire about the background of others. Thinking of his unfilial son who ate, drank, whored, and gambled, he really wanted to go back and pull him hard, but it was a pity that his family had been sent to the pass, and he couldn't pull anyone for a while.

"One of the centurions is the son of a mobile corps commander, that is..." Chen Baoning said a name, then said: "But don't worry, the problem is not big. After all, if his father really had ability, I wouldn't be unable to get ahead, but would have gone down long ago. Giving some face is enough. If he really finds trouble, you don't have to get used to him. After all, you are a thousand-man commander appointed by the emperor this time, and you have General Man to stand for you, so don't be afraid of them."

He was right. After all, whoever had such a capable person under his command wouldn't need others, and he would protect him himself, because that was a treasure for promotion and wealth.

Wang Yan nodded: "Will I still be under the Lord in the future?"

Chen Baoning waved his hand: "This is not certain. I also want you under my command, but it still depends on how the superiors arrange it. You don't have to worry. Looking at this situation, there will be plenty of battles for you to fight in the future."

"Then thank you, Lord. If there is anything useful in the future, just send me."

"Easy to say, easy to say."

"Then subordinate retires."

Seeing Chen Baoning nod, Wang Yan bowed and cupped his hands and left.

After he left, he was recruited to Man Gui.

Arriving at the place, Wang Yan didn't say a word, knelt on one knee directly and saluted: "Subordinate Wang Yan, seen General Man."

Man Gui looked at the energetic young boy in front of him, nodded: "Get up, your credit this time, I don't know how it reached the emperor's ears. Heard that the emperor specifically praised you a few words at that time."

"Long live, long live, long live the emperor."

Wang Yan's sentence made Man Gui stunned for a moment. After a long time, he shook his head. He was still young, so it was understandable. Cultivate slowly: "You are too young, you don't understand many things. This time the emperor promoted you by breaking the rules, I don't know if it's good or bad for you. Ask others for advice if you have problems in the future, understand?"

"Yes, Lord."

"Alright, do things well in the future, go down."

"Subordinate retires."

He was a big shot, after all; seeing a promising talent and pulling him in for a chat was still within his style. For someone at Wang Yan's level, being granted a private audience by Man Gui and wasting a bit of his saliva was a supreme honor, not to mention that the man had even spoken two words of concern in the tone of an elder—that was more than enough to buy the heart of the foolish young Wang.

Of course, Wang Mou is no foolish boy, and he would not be bought by anyone's loyalty; after all, he, Wang Mou, is the true big shot.

Thus, Battalion Commander Wang officially took up his post.

His new boss was a Regional Military Commissioner named Zhang Xinggui, and Wang Yan licked his boots perfectly with the appearance of a naive youth. His new mission was to be sent out to garrison a place twenty li in front of Ningyuan to repair fortresses and drill troops. Those fortresses had all been built by Sun Chengzong previously, and then Gao Di had run away...

As for the Company Commander under him whose father was a Mobile Corps Commander, he had long since been played into the palm of Battalion Commander Wang's hand. After all, he had the bigger fist and was the boss; a county magistrate is not as effective as the one currently in charge, let alone a Mobile Corps Commander—even if his father were an Assistant Regional Commander, Battalion Commander Wang might truly have to give some face... In any case, he had been thoroughly manipulated through a combination of intimidation and inducement.

Sun Fugui had ended up under his command this time, becoming a Deputy Battalion Commander; in any case, he was his loyal old brother.

But the quiet days did not last long. Before Battalion Commander Wang could even employ his means of making money, by the fifth month, Man Gui and Yuan Chonghuan had a falling out, and Yuan Chonghuan once again submitted a memorial requesting Man Gui's transfer...

After more than a month of tossing and turning, maneuvering, and the strong backing of the newly arrived Liaodong Grand Coordinator Wang Zhichen, Man Gui was finally awarded the seal of the General Who Conquers the Captives in the sixth month and bestowed with the Imperial Sword, leading troops to garrison Shanhai Pass.

Wang Yan was a little brother, so naturally, he followed his big brother, thereby escaping the embrace of Governor Yuan and no longer being a small soldier under his command.

Upon arriving at Shanhai Pass, after a round of reorganization, Wang Yan was sent to garrison a spot thirty li in front of Shanhai Pass, still tasked with repairing fortresses and conducting military land cultivation. He would occasionally go to check in with his big brother Zhang Xinggui and report the situation, and that was it; everything else in his own territory was left entirely to his discretion.

Having finally obtained autonomy this time, with six full-strength companies under his command, Wang Yan finally had the opportunity to stretch his limbs and do something big...