"What exactly do you want to do?" Looking at Ma Yingkui who looked very attentive, the official from the Ministry of Examination asked impatiently.
"Can you please make an exception?" Ma Yingkui said humbly, "I and my brothers paid with our lives to get these heads! I lost many of my brothers for these heads! We are counting on the money from these first merits to provide for their families in their old age!"
"Impossible!" The official from the Ministry of Examination flatly refused. "Rules are rules!"
Ma Yingkui opened his mouth and swallowed back what he was about to say.
The official from the Ministry of Examination said as he examined the head: "This one's teeth are too straight, so it doesn't count! This one's nose is missing, so it doesn't count either..."
Over the next half day, officials from the Ministry of Examination carefully checked all the heads.
"After investigation, your unit brought 1,726 heads, 127 of which were qualified, and the rest were unqualified!"
Ma Yingkui was so angry that he almost drew his sword on the spot!
Fortunately, reason finally prevailed, and he left the center of the army and returned to the camp cursing.
Prince Ding Zhu Cijiong happened to see this scene and secretly wrote down everything he saw.
In the evening of that day, the Ming army completely recaptured Ningyuan City.
The Eight Banners soldiers who remained in the city were either killed or forced to surrender.
However, the Ming army did not let them go. Except for the Eight Banners of Han and a few Manchu and Mongolian generals, the rest were all beheaded.
In addition, there are more than a thousand people in the city.
These people were conscripted by the Jiannu to transport supplies, help wash clothes, feed horses, etc.
Some of them were local Liao people, and the others were Ming people who were looted when the Jiannu invaded the pass.
There was a disagreement within the Ping Liao army on the issue of whether these people should stay or go.
Some people believed that these people were aiding and abetting the evil and advocated killing them all.
Some people believed that these people were originally the people of the Ming Dynasty, and they worked for the Qing army out of helplessness, so they must not be killed.
Wang Yongji was afraid that there might be spies among these people, so he did not dare to let them stay in the city.
So they cordoned off an area outside the city for them to rest.
Wang Yongji wrote these situations and good news into a letter and sent a fast horse to deliver the good news to the capital.
The army took a brief rest for a day and then continued to advance.
July 19th.
Chongzhen was taking a nap in the Qianqing Palace.
"Your Majesty, good news from Ningyuan! Good news from Ningyuan!" Wang Chengen ran to Chongzhen, panting, holding the corner of his clothes with his left hand and holding the good news in his right hand.
"Did Wang Yongji take Ningyuan?" Chongzhen asked calmly.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Wang Chengen quickly opened the victory report and read: "On July 16, our army fought with the Jiannu for a whole day. Late that night, Hauge led his troops to retreat... Wu Sangui was the first to attack Ningyuan and had the merit of being the first to reach the city..."
"Wait a minute," Chongzhen said to stop him, "Did I hear correctly? Wu Sangui was the first to attack Ningyuan?"
"Your Majesty, you heard it right. The credit for being the first to reach the enemy's territory goes to the Guanning Army!" Wang Chengen replied.
"Huh?" Chongzhen sneered, "Wu Sangui has his own army and I don't believe he would do such a thing. There must be something fishy going on."
Wang Chengen did not dare to respond to Chongzhen's doubts, and could only lower his head and continue reading: "Our army has recaptured Ningyuan, and after a short rest, we will approach Jinzhou!"
When Chongzhen heard the word Jinzhou, he became unusually nervous.
In the 14th year of Chongzhen, Hong Chengchou led 130,000 Ming troops and was defeated in Jinzhou.
That battle resulted in the loss of all the elite troops of the Ming army.
They were unable to fight against the Jiannu externally and unable to quell the bandits internally.
Now that Ningyuan is being attacked again, Chongzhen’s nervousness can be imagined.
"Did Wang Yongji say when we will attack Jinzhou?" Chongzhen asked.
Wang Chengen took the letter and read it twice quickly before shaking his head: "Before attacking Jinzhou, we need to capture Xingshan and Songshan City! Since we are not sure about the situation of these two cities, Wang Yongji cannot determine the time to attack Jinzhou."
"Then let him decide for himself!" Chongzhen sighed, "If you can avoid interfering, don't interfere. Otherwise, it will disrupt Wang Yongji's deployment."
"Your Majesty is wise!" Wang Chengen flattered him without any concealment.
At this moment, footsteps were suddenly heard outside.
A young eunuch walked into the hall and knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, the Chief of the Imperial Household Department Gao Shiming, the Chief Minister of the Cabinet Fan Jingwen, and the Minister of War Wang Jiayan request to see you."
"Let them in."
"yes."
The three of them walked into the hall, bowed, and stood aside.
Chongzhen pointed at the victory report in Wang Chengen's hand and asked: "Have you read Wang Yongji's victory report?"
"Your Majesty, we have all read them," Fan Jingwen replied.
"I saw it too." Gao Shiming replied.
"Let's solve Wang Yongji's problem first!" Chongzhen said, "Not only did we recover Ningyuan this time, there were more than a thousand civilians, but also hundreds of soldiers who surrendered voluntarily. Some of them were from the Eight Banners of Han, and some were from Baoyi. Regardless of whether they surrendered sincerely, things have developed to this point."
"What do you think should be done with them?"
Fan Jingwen thought for a moment and replied, "I think we can disrupt the organization of the surrendered soldiers and mix them into the various armies, so that the soldiers can monitor their words and deeds. If they find anything abnormal, the soldiers in charge of supervision can directly arrest them, or even execute them on the spot!"
"The surrendered soldiers are quite capable. This will not only increase our army's combat power, but also show our attitude towards surrendered soldiers and generals!"
"What does the Ministry of War think?" Chongzhen asked the Minister of War Wang Jiayan.
"I think this is feasible," Wang Jiayan replied.
"Then let's do it this way. Next, let's talk about how to deal with those civilians!" Chongzhen quickened his speech.
"Civilians..." Fan Jingwen and Wang Jiayan looked at each other, not knowing what to say.
Civilians are not scary; what is scary are the spies disguised among the civilians.
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