Chapter 593: Everything Else as Usual

As he spoke, Li Yongfang finally calmed down considerably. He saw the expressions on his men's faces, and his own deathly pale complexion gradually regained some color as his breathing grew heavier and heavier.

"... But we will abide by the General's decision..."

When his personal guards shouted this ragged, uneven cry, Li Yongfang knew the overall situation was settled.

Surrender had its own elaborate protocols, and with so many people in Fushun City, there was certainly no unity of purpose — some wanted to fight, others wanted to surrender. But the Jianzhou Jurchen army had already stormed the battlements, Fushun Mobile Corps Commander Li Yongfang and his personal guards had decided to surrender, and the core faction no longer wanted to fight. With the tide of battle so overwhelming, surrender was already a foregone conclusion.

The Jianzhou Jurchens had never imagined the Ming army would surrender so quickly. By their reckoning, taking a major city like Fushun would require considerable effort; no matter how feeble the Ming troops were, there should have been at least some bloody fighting. Who could have guessed that the moment they scaled the walls, the other side would simply surrender?

The gates of Fushun were thrown wide open. The Ming troops inside laid down their weapons and marched out of the city to form ranks and await orders. Company after company of Jianzhou Jurchen soldiers marched into the city. In Jianzhou, in Haixi, in the Northern Mountains — in all those Jurchen lands, where could one find a city this large, a place this rich? The soldiers of the Jianzhou Jurchens all went red-eyed with greed.

Li Yongfang's residence was already under the protection of Jurchen soldiers. He could hear the wails and wild laughter coming from the neighboring compounds. Those sounds made his heart pound with terror, but now he could barely look after himself — how could he concern himself with anyone else?

In the main hall stood several stocky, short Jurchen soldiers. The looks they gave him were a mixture of curiosity and contempt. In years past, even a Defense Commander could swagger and throw his weight around in Jianzhou. Now, the man before them was a Mobile Corps Commander. But this Mobile Corps Commander had already surrendered — a complete coward. When they had entered just moments ago, this Mobile Corps General had worn a fawning, ingratiating smile and pressed gold and silver into their hands. Gleaming white silver, glittering yellow gold — a year of bitter ginseng harvesting, risking death to trap a few pelts, might not earn enough to trade for this much. Yet this coward had handed it over so casually.

They had heard people say that Fushun City was still a remote outpost of the Great Ming — no, of the Ming State — and that the truly wealthy places lay to the south. They truly wondered what those places must look like...

Not long after, a Niru commander came to Li Yongfang and said the Great Khan wished to see him. Li Yongfang rose in fearful trepidation and followed behind the Niru commander out the door.

The Niru commander was of medium height and looked extremely sturdy. His leather armor was stained with quite a bit of blood. He had taken off his leather cap, and his head, which should have been shaved bald, was now covered with short stubble. Most conspicuous was the palm-sized patch of hair at the back of his skull, from which hung a thin queue just over three inches long.

The common folk of Liaodong had always called this a "pig's tail," and there were plenty of jokes about it. Li Yongfang understood perfectly well that he could never call it that again. What was it they themselves called it? "Coin-string rat-tail"?

Li Yongfang walked down the street just like that, flanked by several Jurchen soldiers escorting him. The place where Li Yongfang lived was the district where the rich and noble families of Fushun resided. Ordinarily, strict decorum was observed there, but now every gate stood wide open. Squads of Jurchen soldiers could be seen excitedly going in and out. Amid such chaos, the cries of women could already be ignored. Li Yongfang only stared at the gold, silver, and valuables the Jurchen soldiers were carrying out, his heart clenching painfully again and again. He thought of the family fortune he had built up over so many years through skimming and scrimping — how much of it could he preserve after surrendering? But a defeated general had no say in anything. He could only leave everything to fate.

"I was wondering why he wasn't wearing armor, dressed up in that official guest-receiving robe. So he'd planned to surrender all along."

He could hear the cold, mocking words coming from behind him. Li Yongfang recognized the voice of one of his own household retainers, but there was no way to take issue with it now. They had surrendered. Now, there was no distinction between officer and retainer — they were all captives of the Jurchens. What standing did he have to take issue?

He was marched out of the city on foot just like that. On both sides of the official road outside the city gate, Jianzhou Jurchen troops were resting in place. Some companies of the various banners and Niru sat on the ground, while others were marching off toward the city or in other directions. It was a chaotic, noisy din. Some were grumbling about why they couldn't go into the city to enjoy themselves, but it was only grumbling.

As Li Yongfang walked forward, he stole glances at the military formations on either side. He was, after all, a military officer who led troops, and he could discern many subtleties that others would miss.

If this were a Ming army that had breached a city, unless it was led by famous generals like Qi Jiguang or Yu Dayou, they would certainly have stormed in to burn, kill, and loot, running wild for days. If some were allowed in while the majority were kept outside the city, a mutiny would erupt within the time it takes to burn a few sticks of incense. Yet the Jianzhou Jurchen troops could wait in place like this.

Among the Ming government troops, apart from the personal battalions of civil officials leading the army, the eunuch guards, and the personal soldiers and household retainers of the various officers, the rest of the men were little better than common civilians — some were even worse. Sallow and emaciated, clutching tattered, broken weapons, wearing no armor, their clothes barely in one piece at best. The Jianzhou Jurchen army, by contrast — though there were old men and young boys mixed in among them — every man he saw was robust and strong. Their weapons were in good order; even if not brand-new, one could see they were regularly maintained. Their clothing was neat and whole, and many wore leather jerkins that could barely pass for armor.

Could his own household retainers, already gone soft from easy living, fight an equal number of Jurchen soldiers? Looking at it now, his own personal soldiers and household retainers really didn't stand much chance of victory.

The Jianzhou Jurchen troops lining both sides of the official road also watched Li Yongfang with curiosity. Many of them were setting foot in Ming territory for the first time, but they could tell from what others said that the red-robed Ming official being marched forward was a high-ranking officer. The thought that this great battle had actually netted such a big official sent morale soaring. Some jeered; some shouted curses directly at Li Yongfang.

Walking in the middle, Li Yongfang knew he was being viciously cursed, but he could only lower his head and pretend not to hear. In this situation, he had no standing to say anything.

After walking a while, he saw an area cordoned off by even more elite Jurchen soldiers ahead, where no one else was permitted to approach. From time to time, someone would run out, mount a horse, and gallop off at full speed. This must be the central command of the Jianzhou Jurchen army.

He could see a group of men clustered around a mighty, imposing man on horseback. The Niru commander escorting Li Yongfang ran ahead at a quick pace to report, while Li Yongfang raised his head to look over. So this was that chieftain of the Jianzhou Jurchens? No — so this was Nurhaci, the Great Khan of the Jianzhou Jurchen Great Jin State?

Those men clustered around Nurhaci must be the nobles and kin of the Jianzhou Jurchens. But why did their attire look barely better than that of his own personal soldiers? They truly were a frontier tribe from the backwaters.

As these wild thoughts raced through Li Yongfang's mind, his steps inevitably slowed. The soldiers behind him couldn't resist shoving him forward, but then a young man at the side of the mounted giant made a hand gesture, and the soldiers halted their actions.

"You stand before the Great Khan — kneel!" someone barked. It was perfectly pronounced Liaodong military dialect, the common tongue used for shouting commands throughout Liaodong and among the surrounding Jurchens and Mongols.

Li Yongfang's knees had long since gone weak. He hastily dropped to his knees and unconsciously performed the ritual obeisance reserved for the Son of Heaven. After kowtowing several times, he heard snickers coming from ahead. At this moment, Li Yongfang felt no humiliation in his heart; he was only thinking about how the other party would deal with him, and whether this grand ritual of his was still insufficient.

"Since you've surrendered, you're one of us now. Rise!" The voice was resonant and full of vigor, but one could still tell it was an old man speaking.

Li Yongfang dared not stand. He merely knelt there and raised his head. Only then did he notice that the mighty, imposing man on horseback was an old man. At a rough glance, he looked to be in his forties, but the fine wrinkles and the graying beard and hair all betrayed his true age. This did not surprise Li Yongfang. In the north, old men looked youthful until they turned sixty, after which they aged very rapidly.

From the man's attire and the attitude of everyone around him, Li Yongfang knew who this old man was. This was Nurhaci, the Great Khan of the Jianzhou Jurchens.

Nurhaci cast a single glance at Li Yongfang, then paid him no further attention, merely sweeping his gaze over Fushun City and the momentum of the Jurchen forces below the walls. As for the nobles and kin surrounding Nurhaci, some looked curious, some contemptuous, and some tried their utmost to put on an amiable expression.

In the old days, this Nurhaci would have had to bow and cup his hands in salute upon seeing him, and the others might well have had to kowtow. The thought suddenly flashed through Li Yongfang's mind. A defeated general, a surrendered man kneeling on the ground — nothing he said mattered anymore. Li Yongfang did not rise. He merely kowtowed heavily, his head striking the ground.

With express riders sparing no expense, urgent dispatches from the capital to Xuzhou did not require many days. On the eleventh day of the sixth month, Zhao Jin received an urgent letter sent from the capital.

After taking Qingjiangpu, given its importance, Zhao Jin could not simply stay at the He Family Estate in Xuzhou and direct things remotely. He had to go there periodically and make decisions on the spot to maintain control. By all rights, Zhao Jin should have left for Qingjiangpu at the beginning of the sixth month. Many people there had seen the benefits of the large marketplaces in Xuzhou and wanted to establish the same in Qingjiangpu. How much silver this undertaking would cost, how much profit it would bring in the future, and how many people it would need to connect with — no matter how you looked at it, Zhao Jin and his partners had to go there in person.

But when the time came, Zhao Jin could not make the trip. He could only entrust Ruhui to go first, hold an initial round of talks with all parties, and investigate the details everywhere.

The reason he could not go was very simple: Xu Zhenzhen was about to go into labor and give birth.

From childhood to adulthood, Zhao Jin had never been much involved in domestic matters, and he viewed pregnancy and childbirth as quite ordinary. In his memory, it was no great affair.

But the elders in the family had repeatedly admonished him, and Xu Zhenzhen had made numerous arrangements as if settling her final affairs. She had also made Zhao Jin promise that no matter what happened to her, he would take good care of the Xu family, ensure that Xu Housheng would not be bullied, and see that he either brought glory to the family through the imperial examinations or took over the family business. Only then did Zhao Jin finally realize that in this era, childbirth was an extremely dangerous affair — the slightest carelessness could mean the death of both mother and child.

On the tenth day of the sixth month, Xu Zhenzhen gave birth to a child. Before and after this event, the entire city of Xuzhou was watching with bated breath.