November has already entered winter, although the weather in the south is not as cold as in the north, but it has been snowing in Huguang and Anhui for several days, and the white land seems silent.

A long procession is winding forward on the official road, stretching for dozens of miles before and after, and the number of people is almost uncountable, this is Kangxi's pro-conquest army, and the destination is Lu'an, two hundred miles away.

The clothes worn by the Qing soldiers were very thin, especially the green battalion soldiers, who were originally treated poorly in peacetime, and their winter clothes were not complete, and most of them were wearing a number coat, shivering in the cold wind. As for the Eight Banners of Jingying, it is much better, the cotton armor they wear, and there are thickened cotton clothes inside, and their spirit looks pretty good.

In addition to the shortage of cotton clothes, the biggest problem of this army is that the morale is extremely low, originally they came to the south from the north, and they also suffered a lot along the way, but after arriving in Huguang, they attacked the three passes of Yiyang for a long time, but lost more than 20,000 soldiers, which was considered to have lost the morale of the Qing army.

Because of this, Kangxi had no choice but to give up, and then moved to the direction of Anhui, even ignoring the heavy snow, but in this way, many soldiers complained in their hearts.

"Ahem, Erniu, I'm afraid I can't walk the road ahead......"

Lao Chen Tou is almost fifty years old this year, and he originally just wanted to eat in the green camp and feed his family, but he never expected that Chu rebelled in the south, and under the leadership of Li Shude, the governor and governor of Shandong, he went all the way from Shandong to Henan, and then to Hubei.

Erniu on the side was a tall man, his face was red, and he didn't know if it was cold or hot all the way, he was angry as he walked, and muttered in his mouth: "Uncle Chen, you better say less.... This made Shangguan hear, and we all had to lose our heads, which was not fun. ”

Old Chen shrugged the snow on his shoulders, looked at the endless road in front of him, his courage seemed to be much greater than usual, he looked around, and found that the big guy was burying his head in the road, no one paid attention to the movement here, so he came to the side of Er Niu and said mysteriously: "Er Niu, I have heard that there was a big defeat in the east, and many people in official clothes can't come back, let's not go to the east to die?" ”

Erniu's expression was a little nervous, "Uncle, what are you talking nonsense, you can't talk nonsense, uncle, you are shaking the heart of the army, and you will be cut off in the head, but you don't dare to talk nonsense." ”

"Ahem, you stupid cow don't know anything, this news has spread all over the army now, and the big guys know it in their hearts, even the adults above have said this kind of thing. It's not because I took you out from the army, you don't even have a daughter-in-law now, if it's not here, how can I go back and explain to your father? ”

Lao Chen's face was bitter, he pulled Er Niu, and instructed carefully: "Er Niu, you just listen to me, once we find a suitable opportunity, we will immediately slip away, originally we came out to be soldiers to eat with a mouth, and we couldn't afford to give the emperor Lao'er." If you can't escape, you will act according to my color, and once you are on the battlefield, we must learn to play dead! ”

Erniu was a little hesitant on his face, after all, he was a young man who had just come out, so he was a little more scared in his heart, and hurriedly looked at the Qing army around him, and found that everyone was in a hurry, so he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

"Uncle, I listen to you, but I'm really going to the battlefield, and I'm worried that I won't be able to tell what I'll encounter when the time comes, I'm afraid it's not easy to pretend to be dead...."

Old Chen Tou smiled and said softly: "I can be regarded as a soldier for many years, I can't fight this war, but it's okay to pretend to be dead, you just wait to see my look....."

Before he finished speaking, Lao Chen Tou noticed that some green battalion soldiers were approaching, so he immediately closed his mouth, but the snow in the sky was getting heavier and heavier, and he couldn't help but shiver, and then he tightly wrapped the gown on his body and moved forward.....

As the wind and snow became heavier, the Qing army finally stopped and chose to camp at a place called Kaishun Town along the way to temporarily resist the wind and cold.

The scale of Kaishun Town is very small, so it can't accommodate many people, especially the emperor's royal drive here, and can only grieve the local townspeople, all of whom were driven out of the town by the Qing army, but in this cold winter weather, the townspeople have no shelter and no clothes, but they are all frozen to the point of purple, but they dare not bring out the slightest resentment on their faces.

The Emperor is coming! What a great honor! After the rebellion is quelled, everyone in their Kaishun Town will also be rewarded, so the temporary grievances are completely acceptable!

A Qing army official looked at the townspeople who were shivering from the cold and talked eloquently, after all, but he didn't think so, what benefits these townspeople can get, it has nothing to do with him, but to be able to handle this matter cleanly and beautifully, don't get in the way of the emperor's eyes, that is a great achievement. Of course, some people will feel resentful in their hearts, but looking at the Qing soldiers with swords and guns around them, they dare not show anything.

Emperor Kangxi's royal drive went directly to the highest and most luxurious mansion in the town, in fact, it is a small courtyard with three entrances, but it is very precious at the moment, after all, even Shangshu and the servants can only be wronged, and they are crowded together in other small courtyards, and hundreds of dignitaries and nobles of the Qing court occupy all the houses in the town.

As for the 100,000 troops outside, they were still camped along the official road, and everyone was huddled together, around the fire to keep warm, and from time to time someone whispered a few curses to God.

"Hengchen, along the way, can there be new poems?"

In a courtyard in Kaishun Town, an old man was looking at Zhang Tingyu with a smile and asked softly.

Zhang Tingyu took off the heavy weight on his body, wiped the sweat on his forehead, and said with a wry smile: "Why do you have to make fun of me? All I saw along the way was down, where did the mind come from? ”

This brother is also a great man, his name is Tian Wenjing, he is from the Blue Banner of the Han Army, and he is now a bachelor in the cabinet, although he is not as young and early as Zhang Tingyu, but he can also be regarded as having a bright future.

The two are very different in terms of origin and experience, Zhang Tingyu was born in a family of eunuchs, is the second son of Zhang Ying, a bachelor of Zhang, he has read poetry and books since he was a child, and at the age of twenty-nine, he was admitted to the Jinshi, and was awarded the title of Jishi of the Hanlin Academy.

As for Tian Wenjing, his experience is relatively bumpy, when he was young, he did not take the right path to take the Jinshi examination, he just entered the officialdom as a prisoner, and became a county magistrate who crossed the river with an egg, but he was very capable, and was later promoted to the magistrate, but this magistrate has been doing it for 22 years, and he was promoted to the Zhili Yizhou Governor until he was in his forties.

Therefore, Tian Wenjing's more experience comes from general affairs, before this expedition, the two only met occasionally, and they were not friends, but on the journey, the two talked very happily, and they were friends.

Hearing Zhang Tingyu's words, Tian Wenjing just smiled slightly, he really knew this situation well with his experience, and said in a low voice: "Hengchen, don't dare to say anything at will. ”