In 1595, the 23rd year of Wanli’s reign in the Ming Dynasty, on the Yellow Sea.
On the vast, boundless sea, a standard Ming Dynasty fu boat sailed alone.
The once mighty and imposing fu boat now resembled a defeated rooster; its hull was not only tattered, but even the hard sails on the mast were missing pieces here and there, looking utterly desolate.
The deck, which should have been neat and orderly, was now packed with people, most of whom wore the Ming Army’s large red cotton armor, and some even wore expensive iron armor.
Their situation was dire; most of them were wounded, some even with severed limbs, which they could only haphazardly bandage with scraps of clothing, their freely flowing blood almost staining the wooden deck red.
As for whether they would live, no one cared anymore, at least not at the moment.
After all, no one knew how much longer he could live.
It was already late October, and the weather in the north was getting colder and colder, let alone on such a vast sea, where the howling winds blew incessantly, making these wounded soldiers shiver constantly.
Those without injuries were fine, but the wounded could only huddle together, seemingly trying to use each other's bodies to keep themselves warmer.
But this was merely their beautiful fantasy. No matter how much heat they generated, as soon as the cold wind came, that negligible warmth would vanish without a trace.
And in a nearby cabin, a few military leaders were gathered, discussing their future and that of the soldiers.
“Bang!”
A bearded man slammed the table in front of him, angrily shouting at the others, “This damned court! They promised rewards and didn’t deliver! They broke their word and got fat from it!!!”
An older officer sighed, “If it were just about not giving rewards, that would be one thing. At least settle the military pay, right? But they actually…”
“Alas…”
At these words, everyone started clamoring, cursing the west in a cacophony of voices, wishing they could unleash every swear word he knew.
No matter when, being betrayed by one's own people is the most infuriating thing.
“Alright, alright, what’s the use of cursing? Are we going to take the head of that bastard Wang Bao or what?”
Another younger officer quickly stopped everyone, “Things have come to this point, what’s the use of talking about these things? Let’s think about what to do next, shall we?”
“What’s wrong with me cursing a few words? Why are you meddling?!”
“What’s the use of cursing? It’s just a waste of energy. If you’re so capable, why don’t you get our pay back?”
“Bai Shugui! What do you mean? What business is it of yours if I curse that bastard Wang Bao? Is he your father?!”
“Zhou Yong, what do you mean?!”
Zhou Yong, with his full beard, slammed the table and stood up, pointing at Bai Shugui’s nose and cursing, “Damn it, you were at the very back during the breakout, and now you’re talking such sarcastic nonsense to me. Do you think my blade isn’t sharp?!”
“Everyone calm down, now is not the time for infighting!”
“Ji Dalin, don’t act like a good person now either. If I hadn’t led my men to cut a bloody path, all of you would have died in Jizhou!”
Zhou Yong was also fuming; anyone who spoke to him now would be cursed.
“You’re spewing nonsense! If it weren’t for Commander Chen risking his life to cover our retreat, how would it be your turn to show off here?!”
Bai Shugui immediately slammed the table and stood up. The two instantly became belligerent, on the verge of a fight.
Ji Dalin knew his old brother’s temper, so he didn’t indulge him, directly ignoring him and turning to comfort the younger Bai Shugui.
“Brother Bai, calm down. This big-brained Zhou just has that foul temper. Don’t take him seriously.”
Zhou Yong twisted his mouth, about to curse again, but then heard the distant door creak open.
“Damn it, didn’t I say I was discussing military matters…”
Before he could finish his sentence, Zhou Yong became like a rooster whose neck had been squeezed, unable to utter a single “ga-ga” sound.
The newcomer was a young man, very handsome, with a face like jade, a refined and elegant demeanor, sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, and an imposing bearing; almost all these complimentary words could be used to describe him.
In stark contrast to his face was his robust physique.
Zhou Yong considered himself a rare strongman, broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, quite imposing. But standing before the young man, he seemed a bit… petite?
Seeing the newcomer, everyone in the room quickly stood up in unison and bowed in salute, “Yun Ba Zong!”
It was then that the rough Zhou Yong finally reacted, hastily lowering his head and shouting a greeting behind the others.
“Hmm.”
Yun Tianyang nodded slightly and limped to the center of the group.
Ji Dalin quickly pulled out the topmost chair, then carefully helped Yun Tianyang sit down.
“Yun Ba Zong, why didn’t you say anything when you woke up? We should have come to pay our respects to you.”
“It’s fine, just a minor injury.”
Yun Tianyang waved his hand dismissively, “While I was unconscious, who was in charge of things on the ship?”
His gaze swept over everyone, causing them to lower their heads. Yun Tianyang immediately knew that these people had done nothing at all.
“Cough, cough… Ji Dalin!”
Yun Tianyang first called out to Ji Dalin beside him and asked sternly, “You’ve been in the army for seven years, and you’re the oldest Ba Zong among us. How could you make such a big mistake?”
Ji Dalin was speechless. Yun Tianyang turned his head again to look at Zhou Yong and Bai Shugui: “You two are also Ba Zongs now, officials no matter how small. Why are you still bickering here like village children?”
“And the rest of you, you’re all leaders of various squads. Why aren’t you comforting the soldiers and treating the wounded? Are you gathered here waiting to die?!”
Seeing that no one spoke, Yun Tianyang took a deep breath, and a sense of powerlessness welled up in his heart.
Without him, this bunch of ruffians was just a disorganized mob!
“Bai Shugui!”
“Reporting!”
“Go count the number of people, equipment, and weapons. How many are intact, how many are lightly wounded, and how many are severely wounded. You have one hour; I want to see the exact figures!”
“Understood!”
“Ji Dalin!”
“Reporting!”
“Go inventory the supplies on the ship. I need to know how many days we can last!”
“Understood!”
“Zhou Yong!”
“Reporting!”
“Take your men and keep a close eye on the boatmen. Anyone who dares to cause trouble, execute him!”
“Understood!”
“The rest of you, settle your subordinates. There are so many empty berths in the cabin; put all the wounded soldiers in there. Get out!”
With Yun Tianyang’s shout of “Get out,” the entire cabin instantly fell silent.
Seeing everyone gone, Yun Tianyang finally let out a long sigh.
These scoundrels, they wouldn’t do anything without orders.
In a word, stupid.
Thinking of this, Yun Tianyang couldn’t help but laugh at himself. Wasn’t he also a scoundrel now?
It was quite laughable. In his previous life, he was a civil engineering dog despised by everyone, but in this life, he became a Ming Dynasty officer who was even more disliked.
Well, since he was disliked anyway, it didn’t make much difference.
That’s right, Yun Tianyang was a transmigrator.
Yun Tianyang clearly remembered that he was originally working on a project in the north, but a sudden heavy snowfall crushed the temporary housing he was staying in, and he was hit directly on the head by a steel plate.
And when he opened his eyes again, he was already in Korea in 1595.
That’s right, Korea.
He was directly blown from 2024 AD to 1595 AD, which was the 23rd year of Wanli’s reign in Korea.
Yun Tianyang went from a glorious civil engineering dog to a low-ranking Ming Dynasty military officer, a Ba Zong commanding over 200 soldiers.
A Ming Dynasty Ba Zong who had just conquered Pyongyang, which was occupied by the Japanese invaders, and had been the first to scale the city wall, earning him the top merit, but was unfortunately severely wounded and on the verge of death.
Fate plays tricks on people.
However, the unit Yun Tianyang belonged to was quite famous. Its official designation was the Jisanxie Southern Camp Army, which was later referred to as the Qijia Army.
At first, Yun Tianyang thought so too, but later, combining it with his understanding from memory, he realized that this unit and Qi Jiguang were not closely related, or rather, had little to do with each other.
That’s right, this unit was indeed established and trained by Qi Jiguang, but at this time, Qi Jiguang had already been dead for eight years, and this so-called Qijia Army had changed hands who knows how many times.
In other words, apart from being founded by Qi Jiguang, and apart from the commanding general being Wu Weizhong, who was once Qi Jiguang’s personal guard, this unit had no real connection to Qi Jiguang himself anymore.
However, no matter what, this unit’s combat effectiveness was still very strong, as could be seen from their ability to be the first to scale the city wall.
Of course, this so-called “very strong” was according to the standards of this era, because the unit he was familiar with in later generations was a bit too… how to put it, too over-the-top.
Yun Tianyang didn’t know much about history, but he knew that the Ming Dynasty would probably fall in another 50 years.
At that time, the Manchu would enter the pass, causing widespread devastation, and everyone would have to wear ugly queue hairstyles and kneel on the ground, never to rise again for over 200 years.
Whether the Ming Dynasty died or not didn’t matter to him; it was just a change of emperor. But he didn’t want to kneel. As a person of the new era, he wouldn’t, and couldn’t, kneel to those guys.
Yun Tianyang wanted to do something; perhaps he could save this world?
Unfortunately, before his grand ambitions could even begin, reality dealt him a heavy blow, leaving him dazed and disheveled.
After taking Pyongyang, the First Korean War ended, the Japanese invaders temporarily retreated, and the severely wounded Yun Tianyang, along with his men, followed the main army back to Jizhou, which is modern-day Tianjin, for recuperation.
However, just a few days after their return, chaos broke out in the military camp.
The court wasn't issuing pay.
To be precise, the court wasn’t entirely withholding pay; basic salaries were still given, but the promised rewards were gone.
When attacking Pyongyang, Li Rusong, the Ming Army’s commander-in-chief at the time, boasted to everyone that those who scaled the wall first would be heavily rewarded.
Yun Tianyang was among the first to scale the wall, so the bulk of this reward money should naturally go to his unit.
However, the court changed its mind, stating that the money wasn’t unavailable, but they would have to wait, telling these people to calm down and wait a bit longer.
Everyone stayed in the military camp, and this waiting lasted for several months. By the time Yun Tianyang’s injuries had healed, the money still hadn’t arrived.
How could these ruffians endure it any longer?
Originally, in Korea, the northern troops represented by Li Rusong looked down on them, the southerners, constantly ostracizing them. All the dirty and arduous work fell to them, and they didn’t get any benefits.
They endured these things, after all, they had to prioritize the bigger picture. But now, even the promised money wasn’t given, which was a bit too much, wasn’t it?
The soldiers, already simmering with anger, became agitated under the instigation of a few instigators, almost causing a mutiny.
Yun Tianyang knew the dangers of mutiny and quickly controlled his subordinates, forbidding them from participating in the unrest. But his position was low and his words carried little weight. Although he had gained some prestige in the army due to his achievement of being the first to scale the wall, he could only suppress his own subordinates; he couldn’t control the subordinates of others.
After several days of unrest, news came from above again.
The court planned to issue a sum of money and then directly disband them, sending them back to their hometowns.
This wasn’t entirely unacceptable. Everyone thought that taking a severance package and returning home was a good idea, after all, serving as a soldier in the Ming Dynasty was either forced or for money.
“Bandit soldiers” wasn’t just an empty phrase.
Moreover, after fighting for over a year, who wouldn’t want to go home safely with money now?
For a time, the beautiful anticipation of the future calmed everyone down, and they all happily waited for the court to issue the money.
Now, everyone waited bitterly in the barracks for another two months. By late October, they still hadn’t seen the money, and everyone suddenly felt they had been tricked again, immediately causing unrest once more.
Just two days ago, an officer came to their camp, leaving only a chilling message for Yun Tianyang before departing.
“Tomorrow, collect your pay at the drill ground. Gentlemen, do not wear armor or carry weapons.”
