"It's reasonable, and I feel the same way."

The hearty laughter resounded through the big tent of the Chinese army, and through the curtain of the big tent, it clearly reached the ears of Guo Zhiqi and Lian Chengbi.

There will be such a situation, the two of them have predicted it in their hearts. But when this scene was really presented in front of their eyes, it was still inevitable that their faces would be pale and the secret was not good.

glanced at each other, gritted his teeth and continued to step forward, and when he arrived outside the tent door, Li Dingguo's guards were known outside, and the laughter inside came to an end.

Walking into it, there were only three people in the tent: Li Dingguo, Chen Kai and Jin Weixin. Jin Weixin confessed and was about to get up, but he saw Chen Kai sitting in the place where Guo Zhiqi was sitting yesterday and didn't move.

Respect and humility, whether it is anything or something Chinese or foreign, it is necessary to pay attention to the rules. Ming Chongzuo, for example, is the same as the waiter, the same level, the left waiter is also higher than the right waiter.

In the meantime, in terms of seats, Guo Zhiqi is the supervisor, Lian Chengbi is the governor, Chen Kai is the governor, and Jin Weixin is just a staff member. Theoretically, Guo and Lian have to sit in the first position of the seats on the left and right, while Chen Kai has to stoop down. However, because Chen Kai was still the representative of the Zheng group and the leader of the Guangdong Ming army under the command of the Zheng group, and they were also enemies, so yesterday Guo Zhiqi and Lian Chengbi divided the first and second seats on Li Dingguo's left hand, while Chen Kai sat in the first seat on his right.

At this time, since there were only three people in the tent, it was natural for Chen Kai to sit in the first position on his left hand. When Guo Zhiqi came, Chen Kai was going to give up his seat and return to yesterday's position as usual. However, Chen Kai was motionless, and Guo Zhiqi, as a superintendent scholar, naturally refused to condescend to the subordinates, so he looked at each other like this.

"Actually, Chen Fujun."

With such big eyes and small eyes, Li Dingguo was also helpless, so he simply called Chen Kai. Hearing this, Chen Kai stood up, bowed to Li Dingguo, and sat down opposite to the position he had sat on yesterday.

In this way, Jin Weixin couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and hurriedly moved to the position where Chen Kai started, and stood there, waiting for the supervisor and the governor to sit down. But from beginning to end, Chen Kai didn't even say a word to Guo Zhiqi, completely ignoring his existence. Even if he gave up his seat, it was because of Li Dingguo, who was furious at the moment, Guo Zhiqi snorted coldly, flicked his sleeves, and strode out of the big tent.

"Inspector Guo......"

Li Dingguo called, but Guo Zhiqi still left here without looking back. Turning his head, he looked at Chen Kai again, and shook his head helplessly. He knew very well that Chen Kai sincerely made it disgusting to Guo Zhiqi.

At this time, Chen Kai was already seated, but Lian Chengbi and Jin Weixin were still standing there, looking not embarrassed or embarrassed. It stands to reason that Guo Zhiqi left in a bad mood, and even Chengbi couldn't stay any longer, but this time it was Li Dingguo who invited them to continue yesterday's head-to-head meeting, and it was a little bit of not giving Li Dingguo face if he left like this.

After thinking about it, Lian Chengbi still didn't leave, snorted coldly, and sat down. However, he did not sit in the first position on his left hand, which was originally reserved for Guo Zhiqi, but still sat in the second position.

Li Dingguo really can't understand the open and secret struggle between civil officials, but seeing this, he also knows that something is wrong. At this moment, seeing that Lian Chengbi was seated, Jin Weixin also hurriedly sat down, and then immediately stood up again, made a statement to Li Dingguo, and continued yesterday's topic.

"At present, the Gaozhou Mansion, Lianzhou Mansion and Leizhou Mansion in the southwest of Guangdong have been recovered by the Wang Division, and now Zhang Fujun is under the command of the Wang Division; Luoding Prefecture and the four counties of Xinxing, Enping, Yangchun, and Yangjiang south of Cangbushui in Zhaoqing Prefecture and Xinning County in Guangzhou Prefecture are also under my control; In addition, Chen Linghai's array beheaded Yipeng, and the sailors took control of Jiangmen, although the captives had the move to recapture Jiangmen in the south, but they did not really raise a large army to attack, but only went south to Shunde and Sanshui counties near the territory controlled by the Wang division to consolidate the defense. ”

Li Dingguo's capture of Xinning County was a matter of September, Chen Qice killed Gai Yipeng, and the control of Jiangmen was a matter of August, and by September 12, the Qing army once went south, but Shang Kexi obviously still planned to regain the old skills of the battle of Zhaoqing last year, and use Xinhui County to wear down the sharpness of the Ming army, and then fight a decisive battle after the arrival of Qing court reinforcements.

The current situation is that Xinhui has been sealed airtightly, and only when this city is breached, the Ming army can go north after it has this support point.

After more than half a year of hard fighting, Li Dingguo's army, together with the Ming army and the rebel army of various departments in western Guangdong, has recovered a large area of land in southwestern Guangdong. Chen Kai has presided over the Guangdong battlefield for many years, and it can be said that the geography and region of Guangdong have long been imprinted in his mind. This is basically the limit of the expansion of Li Dingguo's army, and if it goes north or east, it will inevitably have a decisive battle with the main force of the Qing army, which is very unwise when Xinhui has not yet recovered.

And the battlefield in eastern Guangdong that he presided over is roughly the same, but Hao Shangjiu has already muddied the pool anyway. He was not in a hurry to recover Huizhou, but was more inclined to cooperate with Li Dingguo to conquer Guangzhou. In this way, it is a gesture of total victory.

The current point is obviously how to break through the county seat of Xinhui. Chen Kai was pondering, but he didn't know that Lian Chengbi asked him directly.

"I don't know how many soldiers and horses Chen Fujun brought with him this time?"

As soon as these words came out, everyone's eyes should have converged on Chen Kai. In the final analysis, after all, they are coming to help, and there must always be a number of troops. Li Dingguo and Jin Weixin already have a bottom in their hearts, and Chen Kai can ignore Lianchengbi, but now that Guo Zhiqi is gone, Chen Kai consciously needs to continue to fight.

In this way, Chen Kai looked around at everyone, saw the different expressions of each one, and then replied modestly: "Not much, only six towns." ”

The six towns, placed before Jiashen, do not say the deputy generals, staff generals, guerrillas, and garrisons who lead an army under the command of the general army, but only say that a regular barracks is also 3,000 soldiers, and six towns are 18,000 soldiers. But now, the abuse of officials in the Ming court has reached an almost unparalleled level, and it is not new for a total soldier to manage two or three hundred soldiers.

As far as Lian Chengbi knew, the soldiers and horses in each town under the Zheng group seemed to be the size of two battalions and 1,000 soldiers. Do the math, that's what six thousand soldiers look like.

The 6,000 soldiers and horses are still not important compared to the army gathered under Xinhui City today, and compared to the Ming army and the righteous army that are now rampant in western Guangdong. So much so that when Chen Kai said the six towns, even if there was a sneer, as if it came out from between his teeth, although it was slight and almost inaudible, it was still understood by Chen Kai.

In this regard, Chen Kai himself didn't bother to explain too much, only said that there were follow-up soldiers and horses on the way, and he didn't explain too much. It's just that after that sneer, Lian Chengbi immediately realized that something was wrong, until Chen Kai's words were finished.

"And? How much would that be? ”

Chen Kai said that due to Fujian's large-scale use of troops, there are not many naval divisions and ships that can be mobilized, so it can only give priority to combat troops and armaments, and it is divided into batches. As for the auxiliary troops, they need to be dispatched by Li Dingguo, and his current capacity is indeed not enough.

Fujian is seizing a province in one go, and the resources it needs to occupy are bound to be unimaginably huge. This is understandable for Li Dingguo, Lian Chengbi and Jin Weixin. Li Dingguo agreed and asked Jin Weixin to make arrangements, and even Chengbi didn't say anything about it.

"In terms of grain and grass...... soldiers are extremely important, but grain and grass cannot be ignored. As soon as Chen Kai said these four words, the eyes of the three of them focused on him again. However, this time Chen Kai did not make a request.

"Our army should be self-sufficient, including those auxiliaries, and there is no need for His Highness to worry. The early ones have been transported to Hong Kong, and the lower officials have also sent people to Qiongzhou to requisition some of them, so they can worry about it. ”

"That's fine."

When reinforcements first arrived, there were many things that the two sides needed to communicate in order to achieve effective cooperation. Chen Kai took care of the food, weapons and other aspects of the soldiers and horses of his headquarters on his own, and mobilized a large army to come, Li Dingguo was naturally very happy. By the end of the meeting, Li Dingguo had already arranged the camp, while Chen Kai sent people back to Hong Kong Island to mobilize the towns to join the army.

At the end of the meeting, Lian Chengbi took his leave. When he returned to the camp, he naturally rushed to meet Guo Zhiqi directly, but he learned from Guo Zhiqi that he was preparing to leave.

"Supervisor ......"

"I don't need to persuade you, I've already thought about this very clearly." Stretching out his hand to give up his seat, Guo Zhiqi sighed, and explained to Lian Chengbi: "Chen Kai, this son, was originally underestimated by us - underestimated his ability, and also underestimated his mind. ”

When Lian Chengbi heard this, even if he was stunned, he suddenly realized. In fact, speaking of which, when the incident in Wencun was at the beginning, Chen Kai and Lianchengbi broke out in contradictions, which was of course Lianchengbi's exclusion. Subsequently, Chen Kai secretly wooed Chen Qice and Li Changrong, and even some other generals in western Guangdong were also moved. Later, there was the dispute over the ownership of Qiongzhou, and Chen Kai even turned Zhou Tengfeng around, and he had already given the civil official group in western Guangdong a good look.

This time, Chen Kai didn't come to look for trouble at all, he just didn't want to be constrained, so he met again, and Lian Chengbi, who was even more contradictory, just mentioned it in passing, as a lead to open the cannon, and then looked for Guo Zhiqi's unhappiness. In the final analysis, it is still because Lianchengbi is only a governor, and he cannot control Chen Kai, the governor of the four prefectures of Zhangquan Chaohui who is theoretically located in Zhangzhou Prefecture, Fujian. And Guo Zhiqi is a supervisor, or a scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion University and a prince Taibao, his status is too high, and there is more room for stumbling.

"Spend the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain!"

"As white it is, it is so." Guo Zhiqi nodded: "I remember telling you that when I was an official in Fujian, I had seen the Zheng family's gentleman ......."

Guo Zhiqi is a native of Jieyang County, Chaozhou Prefecture, Guangdong, but his ancestors are from Putian, Fujian. In the first year of Chongzhen, Guo Zhiqi had already been admitted to the Jinshi and was also selected as a Shujishi, and his future was bright. Since becoming an official, in addition to the years in the center, he has basically been an official in Fujian when he went to the locality, and he has also done a school and a deputy envoy according to the inspection, and he has also served as a military preparation to exterminate the bandits in northern Fujian.

The Chongzhen Dynasty was an official in Fujian, and the most unlikely person not to deal with was the Zheng family. Zheng Zhilong was appeased, and then exterminated all kinds of pirates for the Ming court, defeated the invasion of the Dutch, and became the overlord of the Fujian Sea. At that time, "Zhilong is all the nobles of Haili Traffic, and it is a great show", and "Bafu takes Zheng's as the Great Wall".

At that time, Zheng Zhilong's status and ability were getting higher and greater, Zheng Chenggong only returned to Fujian from Japan at the age of seven, and he was already admitted to Xiucai at the age of fifteen, and he was even a student. The so-called Lisheng is the outstanding person among the talents, and can receive the government's Dimi allowance, which is like a scholarship for future generations.

It was already the eleventh year of Chongzhen, and Guo Zhiqi didn't know much about it, but then he heard about some things, such as Zheng Chenggong had an exam, and the invigilator greeted him, and handed over the exam questions to his fellow students to do, and served them with rare fruits and delicacies.

"The Zheng family's fame must have love and disadvantages, Chen Kai's house is even more exaggerated, a guy who hasn't even taken the county exam claims to be a child, and now he is still the governor. It is a national selection ceremony, and official positions cannot be arbitrarily awarded, how can they be so fortunate to do so. These two people are indeed talented, and my family members have also mentioned that they suppressed the local bandits in Chaozhou and restored the governance of the local people's livelihood, but it is precisely because of their ability that they must be even more prepared to use their talents to bring disaster to the world! ”

Zheng Chenggong's early years of gentleness and Chen Kai's staff status, even if they have "turned back", are also intolerable to these orthodox scholars who have been tested step by step according to the system. In addition, Zheng Zhilong's surrender to the Qing Dynasty, as well as the greasy relationship between the imperial court and the feudal town, made the difference between the factions between them. This is never a matter of one or two sentences, driven by the interests behind it, and it is also the power struggle caused by Chen Kai's recovery of Qiongzhou Mansion, Zhang Xiaoqi's nominal jurisdiction.

The contradictions between the two sides are getting thicker and thicker, and it is no longer Chen Kai's-for-tat confrontation with Guo Zhiqi. However, at the time of this battle, Guo Zhiqi chose to retreat, although there was a worry about not continuing to be humiliated by Chen Kai and losing face in front of the Ming army from all walks of life, even Chengbi quickly figured out his intentions.

"Please rest assured, the lower officials will not be as familiar as Chen Kai's family."

"If you know my heart."

According to Guo Zhiqi's statement, he planned to return to Gaozhou Mansion to review the battalion first, and then go to Xinxing County to sit in the town to guard against Li Shutai, the governor of Zhaoqing and Guangzhou. As for the task of coordinating the various ministries before the army, it was given full authority to Lian Chengbi.

"Although we will still have a fight with those lucky people sooner or later, this battle is a matter of life and death for the imperial court and the safety of the Son of Heaven, so we must assist the King of Xining to annihilate the captive master."

exchanged ideas with Lian Chengbi, and the next day, Guo Zhiqi said goodbye to Li Dingguo, and he was unable to stay after repeated efforts.

Such a move made Chen Kai bear a reputation for being forced to become an official. However, he didn't care about this, he just said "smart man" in front of Li Dingguo, Lian Chengbi, Jin Weixin and others, and no longer continued to dwell on this matter, and even politely presented a piece of etiquette and Guo Zhiqi, as if nothing had happened before.

It's just that standing in the distance, looking at the back of Guo Zhiqi and his party leaving, Chen Kai still couldn't help but show a little silence, which was fleeting.

"I'm sorry, but if possible, I don't plan to embarrass you loyal people who resisted the death of the Qing Dynasty. However, the party struggle has been provoked by you, and it is just a matter of weekdays, this battle is related to the fate of the entire Guangdong, and I must not risk that someone is dragging behind me, even if it is just a possibility! ”