Part 270: The Butterfly of Wuqiao

While preparations were being made nervously in Longkou, in a small village outside Wuqiao County, Hebei, adjacent to Shandong, a dilapidated small temple stood alone on a bare small hill, shrouded in rain and snow.

Below the hill, more than a thousand disheveled soldiers and their horses were scattered about. They huddled together around flickering campfires, cursing and warming their hands over the flames.

A burly young general, wearing a surcoat over his armor, stood under the eaves of the small temple. His face was dark and his skin rough, and his expression was one of cold gravity, a look only found on those who had been through many battles. Behind him stood a banner. The banner was soaked through by the cold rain and snow, hanging limply under the eaves. A cold wind blew, and one could barely make out the character “Kong” on it.

Several horses were tied in front of the temple gate. They were much taller and more spirited than the horses on the hillside. With expressions of disgust, the horses reluctantly ate the blackened wheat straw that the soldiers had pulled from the roofs of the peasants’ houses.

He seemed to be waiting for someone, gazing intently to the north. To the north, across vast fields and sparse small woods, there were faint lights—that was Sangyuan Town, where Wuqiao County was located.

This general was none other than Kong Youde, the acting commander of the Dengzhou Left Infantry Battalion. Although his official title was in the infantry, he actually commanded all the former Liaodong cavalry. He was a native of Tieling in Liaodong. Both his father and he were local miners. After Nurhaci rose in rebellion, Tieling Guard quickly fell. As a youth, he participated in an uprising organized by his father in Tieling against the Later Jin regime. After the uprising failed, he wandered through various parts of Liaodong and joined the army in Guangning, once rising to the rank of guerrilla commander. After the withdrawal from Guangning, he joined Mao Wenlong and changed his name to Mao Yongshi.

After Mao Wenlong was killed by Yuan Chonghuan, his former subordinates from Dongjiang were placed under the command of the Dongjiang Vice General, Chen Jisheng. Soon, acting commander Liu Xingzhi mutinied on Pi Island, killing Chen Jisheng and more than ten others. The new Dongjiang General, Huang Long, immediately went to Pi Island to suppress the rebellion. Feeling marginalized by Huang Long, Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming refused to submit to his command and led their troops to join the Governor of Deng-Lai, Sun Yuanhua. Kong Youde became the acting commander of the Left Infantry Battalion, still commanding his old subordinates.

It was constantly raining and snowing, and a northwest wind was blowing. It felt particularly cold on his soaked surcoat, and every breath he took turned into a thick white mist. Most of the cavalrymen on the hillside were thinly dressed, in dirty and tattered clothes. They huddled together in groups of three or five, wrapping their ragged clothes tightly around themselves. Some were whispering, some were swaying, already half asleep.

At this moment, a few fast horses came from the north, their hoofbeats breaking the silence on the hill.

Hearing the sound of the hoofbeats, he let out a heavy breath.

A short while later, the hoofbeats grew closer. Then, among the sparse, leafless bushes, under the pale moonlight, a small group of horsemen appeared.

There were four or five men in this group, led by a young captain. After reaching the top of the hill, they all dismounted. The leading officer led his horse to the general and reported:

“Reporting to the General, the matter has been settled.”

Hearing this news, Kong Youde’s brow relaxed a little. The long march to reinforce Liaodong was already a miserable and uncertain task, and now this had happened!

When Kong Youde led his troops to Wuqiao, they encountered severe weather with rain and snow. The troops were short of supplies, hungry, and cold. They had no pay and no provisions. They asked Wuqiao County to prepare provisions, but the county ignored them. Kong Youde was a passing general from Shandong and had no influence in Hebei. The army was on the verge of starvation. The common people in the countryside and towns were terrified of the soldiers—the discipline of the late Ming army was extremely poor, and a long march was almost like a band of roving bandits. As soon as they heard the army was coming, they all fled. Although the county town did not close its gates to them, all the shops were closed. Even if they wanted to buy grain, there was nowhere to go, not to mention that they had no money.

As the old saying goes, a soldier never starves. With no one supplying them, the soldiers began to fend for themselves. With the tacit approval of their officers, they split into small groups at night, quietly leaving the camp to “forage” in the countryside and the city—which was, in fact, looting.

During the looting, a soldier broke down the gate of a seemingly inconspicuous house in the city and stole a chicken. Unexpectedly, this chicken belonged to a servant of the Wang family, a prominent clan in Shandong.

Offending a large local household was different from robbing the common people. The consequences were very different. The soldier who had stolen the chicken was punished by being “paraded through the camp with an arrow through his ear”—a very severe punishment in ancient armies, second only to beheading. The resentful soldier immediately killed the servant.

This created a major problem for Kong Youde, who had originally wanted to settle the matter peacefully. The power of the gentry in the Ming Dynasty was immense, not to mention a former high-ranking official like Wang Xiangchun, who had been listed in the “Donglin Roll Call of Generals.” He was a top-ranking member of the local gentry, and even the county magistrate and prefect had to be polite to him. Wang Xiangchun’s son refused to let the matter rest and insisted on pursuing responsibility.

Kong Youde was just a minor acting commander. Although he could lead thousands of men into battle, in terms of power and status, he was no match for a gentry family like the Wangs. Not to mention that the Donglin Party had great influence in the court. If the Wang family really wanted to “denounce him by name,” getting rid of a minor acting commander like him would be a piece of cake.

Therefore, he could only continue to compromise. He led his men out of Wuqiao County and camped on this barren land, sending Li Yingyuan to negotiate the matter.

“I had that troublemaker beheaded, so the matter is settled,” Li Yingyuan said resentfully. “The steward who came out to speak still seemed unwilling to let it go. I had to give him another ten taels of silver to finally appease him.”

Kong Youde sighed heavily. “There’s no other way! What a pity for a good man!” He stamped his foot. “These scholars—unwilling to part with their wealth, forcing us to serve the public on an empty stomach!”

“The brothers all say they can’t take it anymore. First, they forced us to go to Pi Island to suppress Huang Long’s rebellion. Can’t Huang Long handle it himself? If it weren’t for your decisive decision to turn back, General, we would probably all be feeding the fish and shrimp! Now they’re making us go to Dalinghe to die, cold and hungry!” Li Yingyuan said, getting agitated. “We risk our lives for the court, following Marshal Mao on the island, enduring the wind and eating sand to fight the Tartars. How many brothers have died! The court and the gentry don’t even treat us as human beings!”

A ripple of unease spread among the surrounding personal guards and generals. They were all former subordinates of Mao Wenlong from Dongjiang in Liaodong. The execution of Marshal Mao had already sown seeds of discontent in their hearts. They were marginalized by Huang Long in Dongjiang, and after arriving in Dengzhou, they were constantly discriminated against and pushed aside by the local Shandong troops and the southern army.

This northern expedition to reinforce Dalinghe was already a dangerous and difficult battle with little chance of survival, and they had to endure such treatment along the way. The hearts of the officers and men grew more and more resentful.

These words also resonated with Kong Youde. His chest heaved, and he seemed to want to say something, but in the end, he said nothing. He waved his hand decisively and said with a grim smile, “We can’t afford to offend these masters right now. We can’t stay here; it will freeze the men. Everyone, let’s set out. We’ll go far away, find a village, and slaughter it. Let the brothers warm themselves up!”

“Yes, sir!” Li Yingyuan and the several officers beside him responded with excited expressions. Although the army had been looting along the way, they had at least only taken enough food to eat and had not gone too far. This time, since they were going to let loose, they could make a good profit.

Everyone went to prepare for departure. Li Yingyuan was also about to leave when Kong Youde stopped him.

“Yingyuan, when will your father arrive?”

Li Yingyuan’s father was named Li Jiucheng. Although his position was only that of a guerrilla commander, he had great prestige among the former Dongjiang subordinates in Liaodong. Even people like Kong Youde had to show him some respect.

A month ago, Li Jiucheng had been ordered by Sun Yuanhua to go to the frontier to buy horses from the Mongols. He failed to buy the horses but spent all the money. Fearing punishment, he did not dare to return to Dengzhou. Hearing that Kong Youde was leading his army north, he sent someone to contact him, wanting to go north with him to see if he could earn some military merit to atone for his crime.

Li Jiucheng had high prestige among the former Dongjiang subordinates. At this moment, the morale of the army was wavering, and he urgently needed a veteran general like Li Jiucheng to suppress and appease them. Otherwise, this contingent of troops would likely desert halfway before they even reached Shanhaiguan. And he, the commanding general, would have to flee to avoid being beheaded.

Li Yingyuan replied, “My father has sent someone. He said he was delayed on the road by the wind and snow. He will be able to meet the General in Wuqiao in two days.”

In the old timeline, Li Jiucheng, who was afraid to return to Dengzhou after losing the money for the horses, was already with Kong Youde’s army on October 31st.

The incitement of the soldiers by Li Jiucheng and his son was the main reason for the mutiny of Kong Youde’s troops in Wuqiao. But in this timeline, Li Jiucheng was delayed by the road conditions and did not arrive in the army on this day, thus losing the opportunity to incite the soldiers to mutiny.

The wings of the butterfly of history had deviated slightly in a different direction. This was something the Senators had not anticipated.

“Good, let’s set out to the north!” Kong Youde ordered. “Send a few sharp brothers in civilian clothes to Sangyuan Town to wait for General Li to catch up.”

With a command, the soldiers, who were originally hungry, cold, and drowsy, suddenly came to life. They tightened their saddle girths and mounted their horses. The more than one thousand infantry and cavalry let out a cheer and headed north.

The early morning sun on November 1st shone on Wuqiao County. The people in the county town, learning that the Shandong army had gone far away, breathed a sigh of relief and opened their doors to go about their business. No one knew that they had just escaped a catastrophe that was originally destined to befall them.

More than twenty li to their north, however, a large village had already vanished, slaughtered and wiped clean.

The Senators on Qimu Island, waiting in readiness, had not anticipated this at all. In their view, any historical event would strictly follow the historical trajectory of the old timeline.