Chapter 578: Spring Thunder Camp, Part 1

Taking the telegram his personal guard handed over, Li Jichun lowered his head to read.

Before this, the native Li Jichun had once believed the telegraph was nothing but a fraud. Yet now, nearly a year after the Later Jin incursion last year, Li Jichun — a man in the grip of a Ming-dynasty midlife crisis — could no longer live without this seventeenth-century information great killer.

Later generations of countrymen probably think that waking up and checking one's phone to see what joke Trump pulled yesterday is the most natural thing in the world. But in the medieval era, this technology could only be described with one phrase: the art of gods and spirits.

Don't assume the ancients didn't understand the importance of information.

"A scholar, without leaving his door, knows all under Heaven." That this saying has been passed down proves that even a shoddy, counterfeit version of information transmission was a unique skill that only the cultured had the right to fantasize about and boast of.

And so Comrade Li Jichun, Yongping Assistant Regional Commander, thereafter took genuine, deep satisfaction in the telegraph, this truly advanced information technology.

"Sitting alone in the central command tent, tidings arrive from all eight directions."

Beijing, beyond the passes, Jiangnan, Fujian and Guangdong... whether it was the court a few hundred li away or the Guangzhou New District ten thousand li distant, so long as it was information his rank entitled him to know, he would always receive it at the first moment.

Most crucially, Li Jichun knew that not even the Emperor was his equal. Much of this intelligence was top secret — meaning that a certain telegram His Excellency Li read today, the Emperor and his chief ministers might not learn of until half a month later.

This advantage born of extreme information asymmetry often made Assistant Regional Commander Li feel as though he were drinking fine wine, his spirit soaring, giving him a luxurious sensation that "all things follow my will, the world rests in my hand."

Yet today, after he finished reading the telegram in his hand, he showed not the slightest trace of delight. On the contrary, the Assistant Regional Commander's face was now thick with dark clouds. Only after a full half-shang did he let out a long sigh and murmur, "A storm is coming from the hills!"

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When the King's Rescue affair had drawn to a close, the court began the process of meting out rewards for merit. Of course, where there were rewards, there was also settling scores after autumn.

Regarding the surrender of Yongping City to the enemy, the court was naturally not lenient. Apart from Li Jichun, that valiant general who had "beheaded Shuotuo in battle" and was thus permitted to atone for his crimes and be restored to his original post, the other Yongping officials, great and small, met the same fate as in history — personally ordered by Chongzhen to be hacked to death by a flurry of swords.

In this timeline, having received a great many genuine Tartar heads, Chongzhen had even more confidence than in history, and his hand was even less merciful when it came to killing the spineless traitors in his mind.

After this, Li Jichun rebuilt the troops under his command.

Unlike civil officials, who had to move from place to place, military officers in feudal society were mostly local men. Li Jichun, for instance, hailed from Qian'an Guard, not far from Yongping. He knew the area well, and once money and grain were distributed, he quickly filled his troop quota.

It is worth mentioning that when His Excellency Li recruited troops this time, quite a few local natives came forward eagerly to enlist — the many versions of the general beheading Shuotuo in battle had spread throughout his home region, and on top of that, the "benevolence and righteousness" the Transmigrators had shown in Yongping was now being credited by the natives to Assistant Regional Commander Li. Strictly speaking, His Excellency Li's prestige in the Yongping area now stood at +15 compared to before the war.

In the end, Li Jichun named this new army under his command "Spring Thunder Camp."

"Spring" was because the commanding general's name contained the character for spring, in keeping with the conventions of the time.

"Spring Thunder" perhaps reflected Assistant Regional Commander Li's desire to bid farewell to the past, a constant reminder to stay vigilant.

In short, the Yongping garrison force from now on would be Spring Thunder Camp.

After its formation, Spring Thunder Camp passed over a year in peace and stability. Li Jichun had originally thought that life would continue on happily like this, but Heaven does not always grant one's wishes... Two months ago, when the Grand Tutor and Minister of War Sun Chengzong once again inspected the lands beyond the passes and subsequently submitted a memorial to Zhu Youjian, the Ming state's final strategic counteroffensive against the Later Jin began.

Sun Chengzong, stationed at Shanhai Pass, had been frequently dispatching troops and generals and requisitioning logistical supplies during this period — all movements that Li Jichun, stationed at Yongping, observed clearly. Yongping lay directly behind Shanhai Pass; any movement of provisions, fodder, or troops heading beyond the passes was something Li Jichun, as the local military district Commander, was certain to know about.

At the same time, military intelligence telegrams from the direction of Beijing were also frequently sent to the Yongping Li Jichun Division, so the Assistant Regional Commander was thoroughly informed of the current strategic situation. His private, personal judgment aligned with the telegrams: before long, both the Ming and Jin sides would certainly fight a great battle beyond the passes.

Then time hurried by, and in the blink of an eye, it was today, in late August.

When the Assistant Regional Commander finished reading this telegram, sent at an irregular hour, he immediately thought to himself: "It's here."

Today was August 20th. This telegram from the General Staff stated very clearly: the Guanning Army's Zu Dashou Division had recently begun constructing a fortress on the Daling River, and the Later Jin main army had already gathered at Liaoyang, soon to move south toward the Jinzhou One Line.

The final section of the telegram was a military order: requiring the Li Jichun Division to complete mobilization work and be prepared to march beyond the passes at any time.

"A storm is coming from the hills!"

After reading the telegram, Assistant Regional Commander Li knew that the other shoe had finally dropped. This made him involuntarily recall last year's great battle, and all his dealings, before and after, with great figures like the Tartar generals, Lord Cao, and the Emperor.

Just as Li Jichun was reminiscing about the thick and crowded days of yore and sighing at the impermanence of worldly affairs, the personal guard beside him could no longer contain himself: "Daren, will our Spring Thunder Camp be entering the fray this time?"

Li Jichun started awake at these words. When he turned his head to look, he was somewhat surprised to find his personal guard's young face brimming with excitement.

Assistant Regional Commander Li's newly recruited personal guard was called Xiaoqi, recruited from among the Qianxi Li Clan. By blood, the eighteen-year-old Xiaoqi was a distant nephew of Li Jichun, so ordinarily the general treated Xiaoqi with great warmth.

"Xiaoqi, going beyond the passes to fight the Tartars means corpses everywhere and bones cast away in the wilderness! Aren't you afraid, lad?"

Hearing his General-in-Chief's question, Xiaoqi replied loudly: "What's there to fear? Our Spring Thunder Camp's battle strength is unmatched — the Tartars would just be coming to their deaths! This time, we might even go to Beijing to pile up a mound of heads and seek a reward before the Emperor!"

"Ha ha ha! You certainly think far and fine, lad!" Hearing his clan nephew's spirited reply, Assistant Regional Commander Li felt much of his melancholy scatter for a moment. Indeed, his own Spring Thunder Camp had long since been reborn — why fear the Tartars?

Infected by this youthful energy, Assistant Regional Commander Li set aside his brooding at that moment, stood up, and took a set of military webbing from the desktop. He put it on neatly, adjusted his sidearm, and said: "Follow me out!"

"Yes!"

The next moment, His Excellency Li pushed aside the door curtain and stepped out of the room.

Outside the door was the command tower. Li Jichun now stood against the wind, taking in the entirety of Spring Thunder Camp at a glance.

The newborn Spring Thunder Camp had been rebuilt on the foundations of the old Yongping Fortress. During the Later Jin incursion, the long-dilapidated Yongping garrison had offered no resistance whatsoever; those beggars inside had fled at the first sign of trouble, and the Tartar cavalry had casually set the garrison ablaze.

Aftermath, when Yongping Assistant Regional Commander Li Jichun wished to rebuild Spring Thunder Camp, he heeded the advice of the construction experts sent from Tianjin Station and directly commandeered the abandoned garrison.

The primary reason for choosing the garrison fortress was that it sat on a small plateau. And this small plateau was the only commanding height anywhere near Yongping City. Moreover, the site was only six li from Yongping City and was flanked on two sides by the Yongping River, giving it a certain suitability for both offense and defense. Thus, Spring Thunder Camp was ultimately sited here.

From the day the site was confirmed, Li Jichun, as well as the nearby Yongping natives, began to deeply feel the power of the distant Crossing Faction.

Hired with gleaming silver, golden-yellow wheat grains, and all manner of cloth and daily sundries, large numbers of civilians began a frenzy of infrastructure work.

The old garrison fortress was completely removed, its bricks and stones all discarded, and the foundations were dug anew. After this, goods shipped from Tianjin — boats coming along the Luan River system, horse teams coming along the official roads — brought an endless supply of green bricks, as well as cement for filling gaps and plastering walls.

There were even steel bars used in key sections of the City Wall.

The reason the Transmigrators invested such great capital in Spring Thunder Camp was simple: the position of the Li Jichun Division was very important.

Without a doubt, in the foreseeable future, the Li Jichun Division was to be put to great use.

When the day came that heaven and earth were overturned, the Li Jichun Division could ride west to raid Beijing, or ride east to raid Shanhai Pass. Taking a step back, even if adopting a defensive posture, the Li Jichun Division could, as needed, hold its base and harass or sever the Later Jin main army, or the Guanning main army... or the road to Beijing for a Later Jin + Guanning main army after they entered the passes, buying time for the "King's Army" to advance north.

Therefore, the new base for Spring Thunder Camp was built by the Crossing Faction's General Staff Department to the highest national defense military standard — a barbette.

The new fortress, built on the plateau, had its outer walls adapted to local conditions, following the plateau's edge in an irregular barbette pattern, capable of delivering multi-directional strikes against anyone attacking the city.

The new fortress was much larger in area than the previous garrison. Taking into account the need to temporarily quarter troops, its interior contained not only various planned "surplus" barracks but also scientifically constructed functional buildings such as a campus and an armory.

Additionally, deep wells had been specially dug within the fortress to cope with a large-scale enemy siege.

Finally, due to the existence of the sturdy central command tower, in an extreme situation — even if the walls were breached — Li Jichun himself could still lead the remnants in holding out for a period of time.

All of the above — this high-end real estate project that took half a year and greatly boosted the 1631 fiscal year GDP figures for the Yongping region — was, at this moment, fully captured in Li Jichun's gaze.

Now, Li Jichun, this old-style soldier, stood upon the command tower, greedily gazing at the towering, thick city walls all around, the steel cannons concealed in their gun positions, and the young soldiers on the campus, drenched in sweat and training desperately.

The next moment, as dust rose in the distance, Li Jichun raised a hand to shade his eyes. As far as the eye could see, against the backdrop of the silver-thread-like Luan River, a large body of cavalry was racing in from the horizon, seeming slow yet moving fast.

These cavalrymen wore no armor, clad instead in army-green summer round-collar undershirts. With black-powder carbines slung across their backs and sabers at their waists, they rode laughing and chatting loudly, the very picture of ease after returning from a training exercise.

"Follow me down to inspect the camp!"

In this One Moment, the Assistant Regional Commander's wrinkled face relaxed considerably. He clasped his hands behind his back and walked down from the gate tower.