Chapter 458: Rebuilding

"You cannot kill me!"

In the General Headquarters of Santunying, the Beile's shout drew laughter from everyone; the main hall, inside and out, was filled with a merry atmosphere.

Just now on Huarong Road, since Shuotuo was no Cao Cao, he naturally did not encounter Lord Guan.

His remnant force had no chance to resist under the chaotic gunfire and was utterly routed. Shuotuo himself, in his final suicidal charge, first had his horse shot dead, then was pinned beneath it. He wanted to commit suicide but could not muster the courage, and so in the end he was captured.

After being escorted to the main hall of Santunying, the Beile, while struggling, shouted, "You cannot kill me!"

The Transmigrators sitting in the hall could not help themselves and burst out laughing: "Damn, did they all graduate from the same POW re-education class? The exact same line?"

"Well, Beile, why can't we kill you?"

"I have a secret pact with the court; I was already planning to surrender to the Ming!"

"Oh? Now that's something new."

Qian Tieshan had not done that much homework beforehand, so he was a bit careless at this moment, and he turned his head to look at the others.

"Give it a rest." Zhang Zhongqi, since he would be permanently stationed in the north from now on, had done his homework thoroughly: "Aisin Gioro Šoto, born of the primary consort, later suffered constant abuse from his stepmother and his biological father Daišan."

"When Daišan divided the household previously, he left the wealthy subjects to the younger son Sahaliyan, born of his later wife, but assigned the impoverished subjects to the brothers Yoto and Shuotuo. So this guy, resentful of Daišan's mistreatment, secretly plotted to surrender to the Ming, and then the plot was exposed and he was locked up for a few days."

Zhang Zhongqi, reaching this point, wore a sarcastic expression: "It was nothing but an excuse to tear at his old man. This 'surrendering to the Ming' was known to everyone under heaven; before two days had passed the whole clan knew about it. What kind of 'secret plot' is that?"

Having said this, Zhang Zhongqi no longer looked at Shuotuo's astonished face and turned his head to Qian Tieshan: "His surrender to the Ming has not a shred of substantive meaning, neither for us nor for the court."

"Drag him out and behead him!" Qian Tieshan swung his hand and ordered Shuotuo dragged out the main gate of the General Headquarters.

In a moment, the head on the tray was brought in.

From the moment the head was brought in, the initiative in the main hall shifted to Zhang Zhongqi, who was responsible for the aftermath and future planning. Qian Tieshan had now completed his combat mission and silently retreated to the second line.

"Brother Shiqiu (Li Jichun's courtesy name), how about I give you this little trinket?"

Looking at the head brought in, Zhang Zhongqi smiled and said to Li Jichun, who was seated at the lower end.

The telegram transmitted from the old nest ultimately decided to protect Li Jichun.

The telegram's content was very simple: Li Jichun would be useful in the future; protect him.

For the Cabinet, no one cared about such a trivial matter. So this decision mainly came from the Intelligence Bureau headquarters and the Military. The two major factions were in complete agreement: they would be the ones doing the hard work and fighting in the north and Liaodong in the future, so they needed to place pieces in advance to reduce pressure.

In addition, the telegram also gave clear instructions: regarding Ming military officers who controlled large amounts of "labor," seize any opportunity to win them over and corrupt them; do not engage in moral purism.

After receiving the order, Zhang Zhongqi and the others quickly unified their thinking, and at the last moment before departing from Yongping, they brought along the Light Pole Commander Li Jichun.

For an Assistant Regional Commander to have only two personal guards left at his side, he was indeed a light pole.

However, after setting out with the unit, Li Jichun's mood was quite good. He had a premonition that his fortune was turning — if this strange group of Southern Soldiers did not intend to give a brother a hand, they could have just let him wait in Yongping for the court's order to behead him. Why bother bringing him along on the march?

With this premonition in his heart, Li Jichun sought every opportunity along the way to chat with Zhang Zhongqi and the others. Before long, Assistant Regional Commander Li confirmed his own speculation.

Through intentional and unintentional hints from the Transmigrators, Assistant Regional Commander Li learned: that Regional Commander Cao, whom he had never met, had actually already sent word that he wished to form a mutual support alliance with him, Li?

This was truly a pie falling from the sky.

Others might not know, but Assistant Regional Commander Li, who had stood atop the camp wall and watched the entire battle, was all too clear on the capabilities of this Regional Commander Cao's subordinates.

In the battle of Yongping City, over a thousand Tartar elites, including Amin, were cut down like melons and vegetables. Standing before the Prefectural Yamen, watching the rolling heads packed into baskets, Li Jichun was indeed overwhelmed with emotion at that time, as if in a dream... The Tartars, who had slaughtered thousands upon thousands of Great Ming soldiers and were like demon gods, were thus easily butchered, utterly helpless.

No matter how he usually muddled through life waiting to die, he was a soldier after all, and deep down he thirsted for victory. It was just that the Great Ming's long-rotten system had caused all military officers like Li Jichun to remain perpetually soaked in filth, unable to see light or a future.

So he was shocked, shaken to his core and his entire worldview beyond measure. At that moment, Li Jichun truly saw an army completely different from that of the Great Ming.

In other words, he saw a glimmer of dawn.

After this, he sought an audience with the Transmigrators to plead guilty. He did not follow the pre-planned script of evading, deflecting, wailing, and begging for mercy; instead, he spoke from the heart, pouring out years of pent-up resentment.

Before an army like this, playing the Great Ming's games was meaningless.

Li Jichun had ultimately made the right bet.

On the way to Santunying, Zhang Zhongqi explicitly told him that Regional Commander Cao, upon learning of such a person, was willing to be friends with Brother Li, and that from now on everyone would "look after" each other and "help" one another.

Upon hearing this, Li Jichun was endlessly grateful and hastily gushed a long string of praise for Regional Commander Cao.

However, both he and the Transmigrators knew perfectly well: this so-called mutual help was a joke, at least at this stage. Assistant Regional Commander Li, a Light Pole Commander bearing a capital crime, had no qualifications whatsoever to speak of mutual help. He was now a bootlicker with nothing to his name, living entirely on others' charity.

Charity of what? Battle merits. In other words, heads.

The most pressing matter before a certain person was to shed his own capital crime of having surrendered. Therefore, Assistant Regional Commander Li urgently needed Tartar heads to trade with Chongzhen for reinstatement to his original post.

As for the price he would have to pay for these heads in the future, Assistant Regional Commander Li did not care — whatever the price, it was better than having the Emperor chop off his own head, right?

Then, not long after, in the main hall of the General Headquarters at Santunying, Assistant Regional Commander Li waited dumbfounded until Shuotuo's fresh, hot head was presented.

"This, this... this is probably not quite proper. You generals honor me too much; I am ashamed!"

Hearing Zhang Zhongqi smilingly say he would give him Shuotuo's head, Li Jichun could scarcely believe his own ears.

Who was Shuotuo? Shuotuo was Nurhaci's own grandson, a bona fide Yellow Belt. Among the Later Jin nobility left to garrison this time, Shuotuo's importance was second only to Amin himself!

It could be said without exaggeration: as long as a soldier obtained Shuotuo's head, in the current situation where the Great Ming was tottering and miscellaneous military officers proliferated daily, exchanging it for a Vice General's hat from the Emperor was without a doubt! And the entire court of civil officials would not say a word about it.

Now, if this head were given to Li Jichun, then Chongzhen, faced with such overwhelming merit, would inevitably be overjoyed and pardon all his previous faults; a promotion of one level was even possible.

So Li Jichun stammered at this moment — his best previous expectation had merely been to have the Transmigrators "spare" him two or three hundred ordinary Tartar Soldier heads, which would have been enough to guarantee his reinstatement.

"Heh heh." Seeing Li Jichun stammering, several Transmigrators in the hall laughed: either don't do it, or do it thoroughly. This was the attitude they had agreed upon beforehand regarding Li Jichun. Since they had ample resources on hand, why not elevate a "comrade-in-arms" higher? Why not enjoy doing so?

"When your servant was attacking Yongping, the surrendered general within the city, Li Jichun, at the critical moment, rose up violently and struck, killing two hundred Tartars at the West Gate, coordinating from within and without, and guided your servant into the city. Yongping City was thus breached."

Hearing this passage recited from Zhang Zhongqi's mouth, Li Jichun instantly realized that this was the wording, in Regional Commander Cao's tone, for the memorial to the Emperor, arranging his merit for him.

Seeing Li Jichun's lips trembling, at a loss for words, Zhang Zhongqi smiled again and recounted another story: "At Santunying, we encountered Shuotuo's force... fought bitterly and won... Shuotuo fled for his life... at Nameless Gorge, he met Li Jichun... a great battle of eighty rounds... a parting shot... and the head was taken!"

After reciting this section with a swaying head, Zhang Zhongqi concluded: "I reckon the Emperor is also fond of listening to storytelling. This time, we'll write the memorial just like this, and see what the Emperor, in his delight, might reward you with."

Just then, a long laugh came from outside the main hall door: "Not bad, not bad! This storytelling is top-notch, it has a Guo Degang flavor!"

The speaker, holding a horsewhip, drenched in sweat, and wearing a bright red Official Robe, was naturally Regional Commander Cao himself, arrived in person!

After receiving the telegram from Yongping yesterday, Zhang Dongdong immediately set out from Tianjin, changing horses constantly along the way and traveling through the night, and finally, after noon today, covering 200 li, he rushed to Santunying.

"Haha, Lord Cao has arrived at just the right moment."

Seeing Zhang Dongdong enter, the Transmigrators all rose to salute.

Just then, a figure darted over and, with a "plop," knelt right before Lord Cao: "Your humble servant Li Jichun kowtows in thanks for Your Excellency's life-saving grace! Your Excellency's kindness to this humble servant is tantamount to being given a second life. Henceforth, should you have any orders, this humble servant would die ten thousand deaths without refusal!"

At this, Assistant Regional Commander Li repeatedly knocked his head on the ground until the crowd, with many hands, pulled him to his feet.

Looking at this middle-aged man brimming with emotion, Comrade Zhang Dongdong hurriedly assumed the leadership demeanor he had cultivated to grand perfection, inquiring after his well-being and offering reassurances and promises. In short, from today onward, everyone is brothers eating from the same pot — as long as I, Lao Cao, have a mouthful, you, Lao Li, will have a mouthful too!

Just as this heartwarming scene was playing out in the main hall, a troublemaker arrived from outside: "Report! A large force of troops is approaching under the city!"

"Oh? Looks like Ma Hui is back."

"Could also be Lao Sun."

"Let's go, let's go — we'll know once we get out there and look!"

At this, the group emerged from the main hall, mounted their horses, and headed toward the South City gate.

The next moment, before the Transmigrators could reach the city wall, the familiar sound of volley fire rang out from the South City battlements.

"Not good — could it be another band of Tartars?"

At this thought, the Transmigrators immediately spurred their horses on and galloped away at full speed.