At noon that day, Zu Dashou sent a sergeant to give an order, asking Li Xiao to go to the front camp to perform martial arts in the main hall to accept the promotion of the imperial court. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

In the hall of the martial arts, Li Xiao and the others knelt down to receive the order, and the person who read out to him the commendation order of the military department was Zu Dashou, the chief officer of the forward battalion who had just added the general of the scattered hussars.

Zu Dashou was able to add a scattered rank, and it was also thanks to Li Xiao, after all, Li Xiao was his subordinate officers and soldiers, and the credit of this direct subordinate did not run.

This time, there were no other generals in the martial arts hall. This is because it is rumored that the Tartars are about to send troops to attack, and in order to strengthen the war preparations, Zu Dashou ordered all the generals to strictly train the soldiers and horses, in order to prepare for the invasion of the Tartars. Therefore, he did not arrange for all the generals to come together, but separately awarded promotions and rewards to Li Xiao and others.

In this somewhat deserted occasion, Li Xiao felt comfortable instead. After all, not having to face those jealous and jealous eyes made him feel a lot more comfortable.

Zu Dashou was dressed in the uniform of the military attache of the governor of the second grade, his face was full of energy, and he could see that he was in a good mood.

In a loud voice, he read out to Li Xiao the imperial court's edict on promotion.

"The Ming Military Department of the Ming Dynasty Military Department of the Ming Dynasty Inspector Liaodong Guangning Zhongtun 100 households Li Xiao, led the troops to fight the Tartar sentry cavalry, annihilated the enemy, killed 18 Tartar heads, loyal and commendable, outstanding martial arts, its people can be surveyed and used, specially promoted to the position of a thousand households, the military position is promoted to the general, given a hereditary hundred households, and awarded the general of the five grades of martial arts, the member needs to have a holy grace, dedication, serve the court, and live up to the high expectations of the appointment!"

Li Xiao knew in his heart that adding a loose rank to a thousand-household official was rare in the Ming Dynasty, which meant that he was more trusted by the emperor, and he was also happy in his heart at the moment.

"The commander is grateful!" Li Xiao, who was smiling, took the edict from the smiling Zu Dashou.

Next, he received the official uniform seal issued by the imperial court from Zu Dashou, and the waist card was closed, and he was rewarded by the imperial court with 800 taels of silver and 20 pieces of silk and satin.

In addition, in this promotion, the subordinate general Wang Yishou was promoted to a trial of 100 households, rewarded 200 taels of silver, and rewarded 4 horses of silk. Tian Wei was promoted to the chief flag officer, rewarded 100 taels of silver, and 1 piece of silk. Duan Shi was promoted to a small flag officer, and 30 taels of silver were rewarded.

Subsequently, the 18 first-level rewards of the imperial court were issued, at a price of 50 taels each, a total of 900 taels of silver, and handed them to Li Xiao.

Zu Dashou told Li Xiao that Zu Dabi, who was stationed in the battalion, had been promoted to deputy general as he wished because of these 25 heads, and at the same time, he was promoted to the commander of the capital.

When Zu Dashou told Li Xiao about this, his face was full of inexplicable smiles, Li Xiao naturally knew what he meant, and both of them laughed without mentioning it.

In order to participate in the banquet arranged by Zu Dashou, Li Xiao and others then changed their clothes, he wore a silver wire plate hinged blue crystal jade bundle hair crown, wearing a five-grade Qianhu official uniform with a bear pattern on the chest and back, a jade belt wrapped with black horns and silver flowers around the waist, wearing a beautiful bronze medal of a thousand household official unicorn, and wearing black rhino thick-faced straight-seam official boots, which looked even more heroic and upright.

At this time, Tian Wei, Wang Yishou, and Duan also changed into official uniforms, and after the three of them changed their clothes, Tian Wei and Wang Yishou pulled each other's clothes and laughed loudly for fun, laughing at each other for their ugly clothes. Duan Shidi's face was calm, and he just carefully pulled his official uniform neatly without saying a word.

Li Xiao smiled and watched them make enough fuss, then straightened his collar, and said proudly: "Let's go, everyone, Lord Zu's banquet is waiting for us." ”

In this feast, Zu Dashou and Li Xiao and others dispersed happily.

It's just that when he left, Li Xiao saw that the general soldier Zu Dashou's vision of himself was a little complicated, including appreciation, nostalgia, and inexplicable loss.

After returning to the pier of no return, Li Xiao took the initiative to hand over the 800 taels of silver and 900 taels of silver he had obtained to Wu Liang, and he only left 2 of the 20 pieces of silk, but handed over 18 pieces of silk to Wu Liang to sell, so that he could use all the proceeds for the living expenses of the soldiers and their families.

Li Xiaolei's compassion for his subordinates made Wang Yishou, Tian Wei and Duan Shidi deeply moved. Although they were dissuaded by Li Xiao, the three of them then scraped together 150 taels of silver and handed them over to Wu Liang.

Now in Li Xiao's silver treasury, the total public silver of the whole army is more than 2,400 taels, which can barely support two months.

The days passed as calmly as flowing water, and Li Xiaojun trained every day, but he didn't realize that the time was already in early November.

During this time, Li Xiao was worried about the lack of money every day, but in the land of Jinzhou, a terrible thing suddenly happened.

In the first half of the 11th lunar month of the sixth year of Chongzhen, after the general of the white flag of Jinzheng, Gushan Ezhen Ilgen Jueluo. Ah Shan, after making sufficient preparations, led 2,000 elite horse infantry of the White Banner Division, together with 2,000 Han troops of the Tong Yang Division, a total of 4,000 soldiers and horses, and plundered Jinzhou on a large scale.

The Ming army everywhere in Jinzhou strictly guarded the castle and waited for the battle, preparing to fight against the invading Tartars. But he didn't expect that the Tartars attacked this time, and they did not take the initiative to attack the state capital and town fort at all, but only wantonly plundered the villages near Jinzhou, and the soldiers were in the direction, burning, killing and looting, and all the villages in Jinzhou were in ruins, and the people were taken captive more than 2,000 households.

When Li Xiao heard that the Tartars were invading on a large scale, he was extremely worried, he only hated that he was outnumbered, and he was not allowed to fight to the death with the Tartars. These days, everyone in the pier saw that although this young Qianhu official was no different from usual, his face was full of solemnity.

A few days later, in the evening, Zu Dashou sent two sentinels, galloped and beat horses to the pier of no return, and told Li Xiao a news that shocked him even more.

It turned out that yesterday, the Zu Dabi Department, which was stationed at the west gate of Jinzhou, saw dozens of Jurchen Tartars burning a nearby village, and his heart was filled with anger. Seeing that the Tartars were so rampant and evil, Zu Dabi, who had endured for many days, could no longer hold back, ignoring the military order issued by Fang Yizao, the governor of Liaodong, and Zu Dashou, the chief soldier, to strictly defend the fort of the state town and fort and not to fight with the enemy. He led more than 400 elite horsemen in Jinzhou City to rush out of the city, wanting to eliminate these dozens of Tartars who were burning the village in one fell swoop.

But he never expected that these dozens of Tartars turned out to be just bait, and after Zu Dabi led the elite horsemen out of the city, he was quickly surrounded by more than a thousand elite Tartar horse infantry regiments after walking not far away. After a desperate battle, Zu Dabi Fang led the remaining dozens of horsemen to break out of the siege and fled back to the city of Jinzhou. In this battle, in addition to the dozens of cavalry who fled back, more than 370 cavalrymen were killed or captured, and Zu Dabi was shot in the back and thigh and was seriously wounded.

After hearing the news, Li Xiao sighed. He thought to himself that it was very likely that this ancestor Dabi wanted to rush out of the city to fight with the enemy cavalry like his own rescue food team that day, but he didn't expect this to be the result.

"How is Vice General Zu's injury?" Li Xiao asked anxiously.

"General Chief, although Vice General Zu was seriously injured and difficult to get out of bed, because of his strong body, after being diagnosed and rescued by a doctor, he was no longer in serious trouble. The general adults and the little ones were ordered by the military commander of the ancestors, and they came here to ask Li Qianhu to rush back to Jinzhou with us urgently. The commander and the generals should discuss the military situation with the commander-in-chief. ”

After the two sentinels finished speaking, they bowed their hands one after another, and their faces were full of anxiety.

Wu Liang next to him looked surprised, he lowered his voice and said: "My lord, this is strange, this ancestor marshal and a number of high-ranking officials and generals, but it is quite strange to invite a general like you, my lord, to discuss the military. ”

Li Xiao's face was calm and serious, he didn't answer Wu Liang, but just whispered to the two sentinels: "The military situation is urgent, this officer will go to Jinzhou with you immediately!" ”

The twilight was drowsy, the evening breeze was bleak, and in the sound of horses' hooves, Li Xiao led a group of flying harriers to ride lightly, followed these two sentry horses, and galloped towards Jinzhou City together.

(Thank you Brother Long for coming, the innocent longbow two rewards, please recommend and collect more readers, thank you!) ）