Upon hearing Wu Xiang's order, many soldiers indeed emerged from various parts of Shanhaiguan and gathered near the city gate.
They whispered among themselves, "I heard that the vanguard of the Beijing garrison recently crossed the border?"
"Yes, I've heard about that too. Apparently, they're quite elite."
"Hehe, if an army of tens of thousands can't select a few thousand elite soldiers, then it's simply a joke."
"Do you really think the Beijing Garrison has 70,000 troops? How many of those are empty positions?"
"It should be at least 20% or 30%, right?"
"The Beijing Garrison is a newly formed army. If there are too many empty salaries, we won't be able to explain it to the Emperor."
But others shook their heads, saying, "I've heard that there are absolutely no vacancies in the Beijing Garrison..."
Before he could finish speaking, everyone around him burst into laughter.
"Haha, do you even believe what you're saying?"
"Exactly! Does our Great Ming Dynasty even have soldiers who don't draw salaries without actually working?"
"Don't tell me, the emperor's personal guards probably don't get paid for doing nothing."
"Isn't that obvious? Those who can serve as the emperor's personal guards are all officials with ranks, so naturally there are no vacancies!"
Hearing these murmurs, Li Ruolian suddenly raised her eyebrows: "General Wu, is that what you think too?"
Wu Xiang quickly waved his hand: "General Li, please don't say that. I would never think that way."
"Putting everything else aside, just the fact that you personally trained the new Beijing garrison makes me think that the Beijing garrison is very reliable."
"If General Li is angry, I will go and punish them immediately, and tell them to stop talking nonsense!"
Li Ruolian had no idea what Wu Xiang was thinking.
He still considered Wu Xiang a loyal minister.
So he nodded and said, "It's great that you think that way, General Wu."
"As for punishing the soldiers, there's no rush."
"Once they meet the Beijing garrison, these rumors will naturally fall apart."
Li Ruolian spoke with considerable confidence at this point.
Seeing this, Wu Xiang felt somewhat uncertain.
"General Li, will the Beijing Garrison really be able to arrive soon?"
Li Ruolian smiled and nodded, then began to explain in detail.
"In fact, at the beginning, when the Beijing garrison heard that they were going to be allocated land, their morale was high, but not too outrageous."
"But when the latest news from the imperial court came last night, they were truly in an uproar..."
Wu Xiang was completely confused.
"No, General Li, please stop for a moment. What's going on with this land allocation?"
"And what's the latest news from last night?"
Upon hearing this, Li Ruolian quickly asked, "General Wu, haven't you heard about this?"
He was even more curious when he asked this question.
"Wu Xiang shouldn't be unaware of these things, should he?"
But he was unaware that Wu Xiang was implicated because of his son.
Zhu Youjian knew that Wu Sangui was unreliable, and consequently, he also distrusted Wu Xiang.
Although this distrust has not yet developed to the point of directly replacing him.
However, Zhu Youjian did indeed instruct the Embroidered Uniform Guard to deliberately conceal many things from Wu Xiang.
In addition, Wu Xiang himself was busy finding excuses to delay, so as not to let his own family be on the front line.
So, by a twist of fate, Wu Xiang was truly unaware of the imperial court's major move.
Seeing Wu Xiang's puzzled expression, Li Ruolian began to explain.
"It seems you really don't know, General Wu."
"Actually, it's quite simple. His Majesty the Emperor decreed that anyone who makes a contribution during the Beijing Garrison's campaign outside the pass will be allocated fifty acres of paddy fields in Jiangnan after the battle."
"Those who make great contributions will receive additional rewards."
"As for last night, the imperial court issued an edict to appoint four new generals."
Wu Xiang understood after hearing only the first half of the story.
Now I know why the Beijing garrison was advancing like crazy, as if it had been injected with chicken blood.
"So it turns out the emperor himself spared no expense!"
"That's fifty acres of paddy fields in Jiangnan! When those Shaanxi folks hear about such a reward, they'll definitely risk their lives."
"Let alone the Shaanxi people who are terrified of poverty, even my soldiers would probably go crazy if they heard this."
Thinking of this, he casually asked, "The imperial court has appointed four new generals. What's going on here?"
"Oh, I see. His Majesty the Emperor must have appointed you as a general. And who are the other three? General Qin must be one of them..."
Wu Xiang started counting on his fingers.
But Li Ruolian shook her head again.
"General Wu, you are mistaken. I am not among these four new generals, nor is General Qin."
"They're all in Korea right now."
"Huh?" Wu Xiang didn't quite understand: "In Korea? Could it be that Yuan Chonghuan displayed his great power and decisively defeated the main force of the Jurchens in Hanjing?"
"Is that why the imperial court lavishly rewarded his soldiers?"
“That makes sense. If the Jurchens suffered a crushing defeat in Korea, they couldn’t even beat Yuan Chonghuan’s canal workers.”
"This shows that the Jurchens are like grasshoppers in autumn, their good days are numbered."
"It's normal for the Beijing garrison to speed up their advance in order to grab credit."
Wu Xiang started talking to himself again.
However, Li Ruolian still shook her head.
"General Wu, you are wrong again."
"Those four new generals were in Goryeo, but not because Lord Yuan defeated the main force of the Jurchens."
"But not long ago, Zhang Xianzhong led his men to ambush the Jurchen vanguard and killed the Jurchen general Nikan in battle."
"At that time, in order to boost morale, Zhang Xianzhong then offered a reward, appointing four commanders of a thousand households as generals."
"When His Majesty the Emperor heard about it, he actually accepted the appointment."
Wu Xiang was truly stunned.
"Huh? The emperor can even recognize this?"
"That's a general!"
In fact, there was no such thing as a general in the official system of the Ming Dynasty. The position of general was just a temporary appointment.
However, as the Ming Dynasty, like a dilapidated ship, leaked everywhere, it needed to deploy troops in every direction.
Thus, the position of General gradually became a fixed one.
The title of General may sound unremarkable, but it is actually extremely prestigious.
Currently, there are only a dozen or so generals in the entire Ming Dynasty.
The emperor appointed four generals at once, all because of a casual remark made by a minister at the front.
This is quite unexpected, and even a bit childish.
But soon he understood Zhu Youjian's intention in doing so.
"Isn't this a matter of keeping one's word?"
Wu Xiang felt a chill run down his spine.
"The emperor even fulfilled a minister's casual remark."
"Then it's even less likely that he would go back on his word, issuing a decree to allocate land to those who have rendered meritorious service!"
"this……"
Wu Xiang turned to look in the direction of the capital and exclaimed from the bottom of his heart, "His Majesty's methods are truly remarkable."
Thinking about this, he hesitated.
"Since the emperor has gone to such lengths, perhaps we really do have a chance of winning this decisive battle against the Jurchens?"
"In that case, should I change my mind and join the army in the advance...?"
Wu Xiang lowered his head and fell into deep thought.
But by this time, the main force of the Beijing garrison had already arrived outside Shanhaiguan.
The army of tens of thousands was somewhat disorganized and its ranks were not in perfect order.
However, their marching speed was extremely fast.
When they passed Shanhaiguan, they didn't even look up. They just kept walking silently, passing through the city and continuing eastward.
Upon seeing this, the soldiers in Shanhaiguan fell silent.
"This...this is the Beijing Garrison?"
At that moment, they realized how ridiculous their earlier words were.
"How could there be any vacancies in such a team? How could anyone dare to draw a salary without working!"
But some people suddenly burst into tears.
"It seems that this time, the imperial court is truly able to recover Liaodong."
"I can finally go home!"
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