Chapter 23: Unifying the Army (Part 2)

  After the five good doctors arrived, Hanbu Village had another scenic spot. Yang Yingqi asked Liu Cong to help him hire twenty-five literate medicine boys from various parts of Daliao, who would serve as assistants to these five famous doctors and ask them to teach them medical skills - especially emergency surgical techniques. He also asked them to recommend good doctors they knew, one by one, for future reference.

  The imperial edict appointing Abaoji as the Jiedushi did not arrive until June, by which time Abaoji had already lost all interest in the commission. He summoned Zhao Yanhong to ask whether he was familiar with the Liao army's situation, and Zhao responded: "We have fought against the Huanyuanjun of Liao before; at that time our men were not as elite as they are now, but we could defeat three of theirs for every one of ours!"

  "What now?"

  "Right now, one of us can take on five of them, ten of us can take on a hundred! My 160 men can break through their army of 2,000!"

  Aguoda exclaimed with great joy: "The Han army's elite troops are no match for the Jurchen brave warriors, I can summon several thousand Jurchen brave warriors with just one call!"

  Zhe Yan Chong said, "But I only came into contact with a small part of the Khitan soldiers. As for whether the other palace guards and tribal troops are the same, it's hard to say. Know yourself and know your enemy, then you can win every battle."

  Aguo nodded and said: "Good!" He immediately sent his confidant Xigu Nai to the Liao State to demand A Shuo.

  A Shi was a member of the Xi Liao Shi Lie tribe, and his father had surrendered to Aguda's grandfather many years ago. The two families were close, but after A Shi's power grew stronger, he began to have ambitions for independence, becoming the biggest obstacle to the unification of the Jurchen tribes under the Wanyan clan. After being defeated by Aguda's uncle, Yan Song, who was the head of the Wanyan clan at that time, A Shi fled to the Liao Kingdom, and his tribe's property all fell into the hands of the Wanyan clan. The Wanyan clan repeatedly demanded that the Liao Kingdom return A Shi, but the Liao Kingdom refused every time. From then on, whenever the Wanyan clan needed a pretext for something, they would send someone to the Liao Kingdom to demand the return of this "rebel", A Shi.

  Xigunai and others were very flexible, they did not see the Liao master because the Liao master was avoiding the heat at that time in Shan Shui Yuan. Before the Liao officials responded to them in a formalized manner, Xigunai and others had already seen enough of all aspects of Liao. And the Khitan people didn't find anything wrong with it.

  After Xi Gu and others returned, they said: "The Khitan people's military preparations are slack, and what the son-in-law said is not different." At that time, the Jurchen people did not have the title of son-in-law, but the Han people liked to call Wanyan Hu Gongzhu, and after inquiring about it, the Jurchen people all called Zhe Yan Chong son-in-law.

  Zhe Yan Chong said, "Ying Qi is often in contact with merchants from various places of Khitan, and learns that the Bohai people, Han people, etc. are all deeply oppressed by the Liao government. The western Mongolia, Zhubo and other tribes are also rebellious and surrendering at times. Although the Liao country is large, it is actually a case of being strong on the outside but weak on the inside."

  The Khitan Emperor Xingzong changed his expression: "The ruler of Liao is arrogant and lazy, the mountains and rivers for thousands of miles are all resentful. If you want to do something big, it's today."

  "Alright! Let's get to it! Each of you return and instruct your subordinates, repair your weapons, build fortifications, guard the key passes well, and wait for my orders!"

  Zhe Yan Chong returned to the Han Department village, Yang Ying Qi heard and sighed: "Finally came."

  The village of Han has become increasingly prosperous, with a permanent population of over 600 and a floating population of around 100-200 people every day, quietly becoming a market town.

  Among the new recruits, there were many escaped slaves from within the Liao border. As long as they understood Chinese, Yang Yung-chi accepted them one by one and arranged work for them. Dozens of people had already been trained as engineers. As for the escaped slaves from various Jurchen tribes, Yang Yung-chi advised them to return to avoid conflicts with the Jurchens. Some physically strong and intelligent ones were bought back with money.

  In the face of a large increase in population, the Ministry of War still maintained a staff of one hundred and sixty people. Xiao Tienu had been requesting to expand the Ministry of War's team, but Zhe Yan Chong did not agree, only further strengthening the training of the Ministry of War, requiring them not only to learn how to fight, but also to learn how to lead troops. In this half year, more than a dozen relatively dull people were removed and sent to serve under Yang Yingqi, replaced by some new and good soldiers. This change had a great impact on others, with everyone working hard and not daring to slack off.

  Yang Yingqi presented a rough sketch of how to transform the city walls of Huining City. Aguda was overjoyed after seeing it and immediately ordered the construction to begin.

  Yang Yingqi also mobilized the civilians to build eight village strongholds around Hanzhuang. Zong Xiong saw that his map had sixteen villages, and there was one between Hanzhuang and Huining, and asked: "You chose this place, isn't it blocking the gate of Huining?"

  Yang Yingqi said, "This village was the last to be built. The first step in my plan is to make Han Village a sub-city of Hui Ning, which can form a horn-shaped defense during wartime and support each other. In the future, as it gradually expands and extends, Han Village can merge with Hui Ning to become a brand new large city! Isn't it the original intention of our lord to unite the Han and Jurchen peoples as one?"

  The Prime Minister of Jin Dynasty, Xiao Hui, heard this and said: "This is indeed a good strategy. The current scale of Huining is hardly enough to be called the capital of a country."

  Cao Guangyi then asked Yang Yingqi, "Do you really want to live with the Jurchen people? We are only a few hundred people, surrounded by Jurchens. If we live here for ten or twenty years, no one will remember that they are Han people."

  Yang Yingqi said: "In ten or twenty years, where would we live for so long!"

  Cao Guangyi thought to himself: "If you don't plan on staying for long, what's the point of making such a big fuss?"

  Yang Yingqi said, "The Jurchen people's city-building skills are far inferior to ours. We have built this foundation, it is a valuable treasure! The more valuable it becomes, the greater the value of what we will get in return."

  "What do you want to exchange?"

  "Now is perhaps still too early to say this. There are so many variables in things, and I only have a vague direction."

  The Liao people, no matter how dull they were, still had some perception of such a large-scale military action. The Liao military commander sent someone to ask the Jurchen people why they were building cities and preparing troops, who they wanted to defend against. Abaoji heard this and replied indifferently: "We are just defending ourselves, what's the need to come and ask about these things?"

  Liao sent Ashibo again to ask, Abaoji saw him and indignantly said: "You are indeed a small country, Khitan is a big country, we are willing to follow the attitude that a small country should have towards a big country. But you harbor our national thieves, which makes my people resentful. If Khitan can return our national thief Ashu to us, then we will be willing to repair the tribute relationship with Khitan. Otherwise, humph!"

  "A Xi Ba listened to his words and no longer pretended to be a Jiedushi, saying: 'Betraying the Great Liao, do you know the consequences?'"

  Aguo laughed coldly and said: "If the Great Liao uses military force to pressure our borders, then we have no choice but to fight to the end with all our might, and absolutely will not wait for death with our hands tied!"

  Yang Yingqi's scouts returned with news of the Liao people's reaction, and found that after Ashi Baohui went back, the Liao army began to prepare, while the Liao ruler seemed to not take this "small matter" to heart at all.

  Yang Yingqi thought to himself, "I'm not familiar with history in my dreams, unlike other genius crossers who can recall the life stories of every outstanding figure and events that occurred each year or even month. I can only remember the general outline. However, judging from the current situation, the wheel of history is still moving forward along its original main path. The Jurchen people's destruction of the Liao Dynasty seemed to have taken no time at all; it seems our southward journey will begin soon."

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  Lately it's been hard to get started, but Abuo won't delay submissions. Even if I don't post on the same day, I'll make up for it the next day.

  By the way: I heard it's going to be recommended. If everyone has a vote, I hope you can give it to Abuo. Thank you.