No matter what you think, being able to hold out for two days and two nights under the siege of an enemy who far outnumbered you, and save the lives of yourself and several of your comrades, is true bravery. The prince felt that he should be honored without care, and besides, he was willing to say that he was afraid and wanted to run away without anyone else knowing, which was honesty, and he felt that he could not punish the other person for being honest.

"Come, give me the medal."

On the order of the prince, the tray next to him was sent back again, he took the medal from the tray and walked in front of this soldier.

"Keep up the good work." He said it again, and then leaned over the medal.

Liao Xiaoshui, who had already stopped his tears, watched the prince continue to award him medals, he originally thought that he would be disqualified after saying all this, and he was also mentally prepared, but he didn't expect that His Royal Highness the prince actually awarded him a medal, and praised him in front of the whole army.

Tears rolled down his eyes again, but this time he was no longer afraid, but full of gratitude.

"Your Highness............ Thank you, Your Highness! His lips twitched, and he said out of tune, "Thank you, Your Highness!" ”

The prince only smiled slightly, and then hung the medal on his chest, the iron medal exuding a silvery-white brilliance, which set off the thin soldier with a bit of fortitude.

"Your Highness...... Please let me go with you to Japan! Liao Xiaoshuan suddenly shouted, "I must do my best to help you fight!" ”

"Okay." The prince was still smiling, "I will take you there when the time comes." ”

Then he walked past the weeping soldier and walked up to another man of rather tall and muscular stature. Judging by the style and insignia of the military uniform, he was a regimental and senior officer.

"This is Bi Su, the regiment of the Eighth Regiment, and Liao Xiaoxuan belongs to his regiment just now." The officer who explained to the prince had not yet recovered from the accident just now, so the commentary was a little absent-minded, "A few months ago, it was he who led his regiment all the way west, and in the combat operation, he beat the remnants of the Mongolian Horqin Division, and won a lot of money, and the losses of the division were very small, and the victory squad returned to Shenyang. After the examination and approval of the Military Council of the Liaodong Army and the consent of Marshal Chen, it was decided to award him a third-class Yinlan Medal. ”

In the eyes mixed with admiration and envy, Bi Su did not move, but the smug and excitement in his eyes really couldn't be concealed.

The Yinlan Medal is the highest rank of the medal except for the marshal's exclusive Jin Mei, even if it is the third class, it is not easy for ordinary people to get, only senior officers who have accumulated merit for many years and are favored by the upper echelons can get it. Being able to get such a medal also means that he is valued by the top management and has the possibility of further promotion.

The prince picked up another silver orchid medal from the tray next to him, and then leaned over to the regiment.

"Keep up the good work." Because the regimental figure was so tall, the prince had to stand on tiptoe slightly to pin the medal to his chest, and of course no one laughed out loud at this rather comical scene.

After being awarded the Silver Orchid Medal, Bi Su's face flushed slightly, as if he had drunk wine.

"Thank you...... Thank you, Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince! In the future, the minister will continue to fight to the death and serve the country! ”

"Bi Tuanzheng, were you marching into Mongolia before?" After the award was completed, the crown prince asked the doubts in his heart, "Mongolia...... Wasn't Mongolia in charge of the army on Cao Guogong's side? ”

The prince's unintentional question made Bi Su suddenly difficult.

In fact, the prince was right, at the beginning of the Han Dynasty, in order to clarify the combat responsibilities, the imperial court divided the legions in various parts of the Han Dynasty into their respective powers and theaters, and the Liaodong Army led by Chen Sheng was responsible for the Liaodong and further north theaters, while Cao Guogong Jixiang was responsible for the operations against the entire Mongolian region.

In the beginning, there were Jianzhou Jurchens in Liaodong, and even after defeating Nurhachi, there were still many remnants of the army, which could be used by the Liaodong army to strike, and the merits could be said to be endless, and the first position of the Liaodong army was consolidated. However, the good times did not last long, and since a few years ago, the Jianzhou Jurchens have been almost wiped out, and even if they have been marching north, they often do not get good results.

Without a glorious victory, there is no merit, and without merit, it is difficult to compete with other armies, and soon Shenyang fell into trouble, and some people even secretly complained that the Liaodong army was too active and fierce in suppressing thieves, so that all the thieves were exterminated.

Complaining is complaining, the Han army is strictly disciplined, and it is absolutely not okay to play the trick of raising Kou and self-respect like the previous Ming, so you have to find another way. After thinking about it, everyone finally came up with the idea of "expanding the war zone". From Liaodong to the west is Mongolia, and there are many Mongolian tribes along the way, and they are also considered enemies of the Han Dynasty, as long as they are cleared, they can also establish meritorious deeds.

As a result, since a few years ago, Shenyang has often deployed expeditions to the west, and troops have been constantly dispatched to the Mongolian region to conquer, which has brought great terror to various Mongolian tribes, especially those tribes that have settled very close to Liaodong, such as the Horqin tribe that the whole regiment fought together.

The Horqin Department was originally considered a strong Mongolian tribe, with very strong strength, and was extremely encircled when the Jianzhou Jurchens rose, which can be said to be the biggest reliance of Jiannu. And after the establishment of the Han Dynasty, it also became the key target of the Han Dynasty. The Mobei army under the command of Cao Guogong Jixiang launched several expeditions against it, and in several battles, the main army of this tribe was shattered, and they no longer dared to compete with the Han army.

But even if they were no longer able to pose any threat to the Han Dynasty, they still could not escape the blow of the Han army, although the Mobei Army had moved its main force further west because of many larger goals, but the Liaodong Army did not let them go, and regarded them as the target of conquest.

Suffering from the constant blows of the two armies of the Han Dynasty stationed in Liaodong and the Mongolian army, the Horqin Division, which had already weakened, is now even weaker, and has reached the point of being on the verge of disappearing, and will never regain its former glory.

These small actions of the Liaodong Army are also well known to the Mobei Army. However, the Mobei Army has always had more enemies to fight, so they are not particularly disgusted with this practice, and Marshal Yoshika is very nostalgic, so he did not raise any objections. The imperial court was naturally not unaware, but they understood the difficulties of the Liaodong Army, and also felt that it was necessary to maintain the combat effectiveness of the Liaodong Army by constantly fighting wars, so they did not say much. However, of course, this is not a long-term solution, so there has always been discussion within the imperial court about transferring the Liaodong Army to other places to continue fighting, and I am afraid that there are similar considerations in this expedition to Japan.

Bi Su knew these battles within the army as a regiment, but he also knew that he shouldn't tell the prince, so he hesitated a little.

"Horqin and other Mongolian tribes have banditry intentions, and they have been looting and killing our Han people, and their whereabouts are erratic, living in water and grass, not staying in Mongolia all the time, but often coming to Liaodong to eat." After thinking for a moment, he replied in a safe way, "We are waiting to kill the enemy for the country and go around to fight, and we don't have time to care whether they are Jurchens or Mongols!" This time we marched all the way against the wind and snow, and when we arrived in the desert, because the wind and snow were too big, even the guide lost his direction, so it caused so many soldiers to be separated, but fortunately, the soldiers and soldiers of the three armies took their lives, and they overcame the difficulties and marched everywhere in the wind and snow, and finally fought bloodily and strangled 2,000 Mongolian soldiers, captured cattle, sheep, women and children, and countless military funds,"

"Women and children?" The prince's attention was diverted by the word. "Do you want to take the women and children with you?"

"Yes, Your Highness, when you were in Liaodong, according to Marshal Chen's instructions, all tribes that stubbornly resisted the Han Heavenly Army would be executed if they were defeated, and the women and children must also be taken away." Bi Su replied very calmly, "These tribesmen live nomadically, do not accept the king, and it is not easy to search in the desert. If we only kill the rebellious tribal soldiers, then they will be able to recover quickly if they have women and children, and then they will continue to suffer for generations. Therefore, the Central Plains has been attacked many times before, but it has not been able to destroy it. In view of such lessons, the marshal felt that it was necessary to cut down the grass and eradicate the roots in order to bring peace to all the people in the Central Plains. This is true for the eastern Liaodong tribes, and naturally the same is true for the Mongolian tribes. ”

Although he said it plainly, as if he was used to it, the bloody air outside the words still made the prince shudder slightly. It is conceivable how resolute and ruthless the Liaodong Army was when it was carrying out the clean-up. Chop the grass and eradicate the roots, how many blood and tears are hidden in these four words?

"What about the women and children...... What to do with it after it is caught? The prince couldn't help but ask again.

"In the case of women, there are quite a few veterans in the army who have never been married, so they can be assigned to veterans for marriage, and the rest will be granted to immigrants, after all, most of the immigrants are men, and there are very few women." Bi Su immediately replied, "As for the children...... It is also granted to immigrants to prepare for the labor of future land reclamation. ”

"This dynasty is not allowed to keep slaves, don't spoil the big festival because of small profits!" The prince was shocked when he heard this.

In the pre-Ming era, the laws and regulations were in vain, and there were a large number of private slaves in the wealthy families, especially in the south of the Yangtze River, where the big landlords had a large number of slaves, as many as thousands. This practice is contrary to human ethics, and it also makes social contradictions extremely intensified, and in the late Ming Dynasty, there were many cases of slaves in Jiangnan who could not bear the oppression and exposed the rod.