It was the middle of winter, and the current of the Red River was still rapid. The road on the river is wide, but the banks are high mountains. Huang Zhongnai is a military general who leads troops all the year round, and it is inevitable to be nervous when he sees such terrain.

However, after everyone passed through Jiling Pass (Old Street) one after another, they gradually felt a lot more relieved. Jiling Pass is one of the most important passes in the north of Annanguo, and being able to pass this pass naturally makes people feel that things are going well.

A smile appeared on the face of the military Chinese officer Lu Song, and said to Huang Zhong: "The Hu clan resents Chen Tianping, but they dare not act rashly against the Daming generals, not to mention that we hold the holy decree. ”

Huang Zhong thought so, and nodded after listening: "Make what you say reasonable." ”

After the Hu clan usurped the throne, he sent an envoy to Beijing, wanting to get through the customs and get the canonization of the Ming court. It can be seen that they still dare not offend the Ming Dynasty.

Huang Zhong was ordered to escort Chen Tianping, only 4,000 men, and it was not to provoke, and there was no need for Annan to have any conflict with his thousands of people. So far, the two sides have been at peace and there have been no disputes.

Lu Song said with a calm expression: "The former Li Yushi went to Annan, and the Hu father and son were very respectful, and General Huang was the first to come back to Annan?" You don't have to worry too much, though. ”

At this time, the former army had arrived at another pass on the main road of the Red River, Qin Station.

Huang Zhong observed the Annan defenders on the city tower as he walked towards the open gate. Because Lu Song's words were very reasonable, Huang Zhong was also relieved at this time.

"Bang bang ......" Suddenly, a dense firecracker-like sound sounded in the air.

Huang Zhong was in a hurry, hurriedly reined in his mount, and followed the sound to see what was happening. I saw bursts of white smoke on the hillsides on both sides of the pass, as if a heavy fog had suddenly risen. Of course, Huang Zhong understood what it was, the smoke of firearms!

Suddenly, many soldiers were hit by the gun pill and fell to the ground screaming. After an instant, there were murderous sounds on the hillside, and I don't know how many ambushes rushed out!

"Stand back!" Huang Zhong immediately shouted loudly.

Many soldiers of the Ming army had already passed the pass, and at this time they turned around and retreated to the city gate, and the road was crowded and chaotic for a while. There were ambushes on both sides, and after rushing down, the people did not come back to their senses, and they fought everywhere.

Huang Zhong led the crowd to fight and retreat, his men and horses were on the main road, and they were like long snakes before; Suddenly, he was unprepared for a sneak attack and ambush, and he was simply overwhelmed and defeated. The Ming army poured a hundred paces to the north before they could barely form a defensive line with foot soldiers, and the crossbowmen fired several times and shot at the position.

The Annan army did not take advantage of the victory to rush up, and Huang Zhong took the opportunity to hurriedly shout, telling the generals to reorganize their troops and horses and line up for defense. At this time, on the slopes on both sides, the mountains were full of people and flags, and Huang Zhong was so anxious that his forehead was full of sweat.

"Lu Yuanjun!" Huang Zhong stretched out his neck and shouted, "Call Lu Yuanjun over and ask what's going on." ”

"Lu Yuanjun is on the city tower!" I don't know who in the chaos responded.

Huang Zhong looked up and saw that Chen Tianping and Lu Song were on it, grabbed by a group of people wearing bamboo hats...... The situation was very chaotic just now, and the Annan army ambushed and rushed down; Chen Tianping and Lu Song were arrested, it must have been at that time!

I heard that many officials in Annan could speak Chinese, so Huang Zhongpai stepped forward immediately and was about to ask.

Unexpectedly, at this time, seeing the flash of the upper limit knife, Chen Tianping's head was suddenly chopped off by the big knife! Without warning, without reason. The head of the person rolled straight down from the castle tower to the post road, making a "bang" sound.

A sentence choked in Huang Zhong's throat, and he swallowed it again. The soldiers of the Ming army all looked up and watched, and the noise in the crowd gradually quieted down, and countless people were shocked by the scene just now.

At this moment, an Annam man shouted in Chinese: "Kneel down and beg for mercy!" ”

Lu Song struggled to straighten his neck and said, "This official is a ...... of the Ming Dynasty."

"Boom!" Before Lu Song could finish his words, the bloody broadsword slashed down, and his head rolled down from the city, falling to the ground with a "thump", stained with a lot of dirt.

After a while, another Ming Dynasty official wearing a red round-necked robe, with a rope tied to his body, was lifted to the city tower. Lu Song recognized that the person was Xue Yan, the Qing of Dali Temple! Xue Yan was a Zheng Sanpin official, one of the three highest-ranking civil servants, and was sent to Thanh Hoa in Annam before Li Qi.

With two heads falling to the ground in a row, Lu Song didn't dare to imagine what would happen next. Xue Yan was twisting his neck and talking, faintly saying that he was a relative of King Han or something.

But Xue Yan was still pushed to the top of the city, and the blood-dripping machete was raised high behind him.

A jerky Chinese voice asked, "Surrender or not?" ”

Xue Yan faced thousands of soldiers of the Ming army, stood on the city tower and closed his eyes, without saying a word.

Unexpectedly, there was an Annan man next to him, and he said "wow", and the big knife was put down. Several people dragged Xue Yan over like a sack.

"Hahaha......" There was a mocking laugh from the castle tower, and then there was laughter everywhere on the castle tower and on the hillsides on both sides, and the laughter was deafening, as if a grand holiday party was being held.

Laughter came and went in the mountains, and the sound of firecrackers was mixed in. Rows of Ming prisoners were pushed to the city wall, some jumped off the tower and fell half to death, and some were killed by the fire against their faces.

Only the thousands of soldiers of the Ming army on the main road of the valley did not laugh, and everyone saw their officials and sergeants being insulted, abused, and killed, who could still laugh?

In the crowd of three or four thousand people, there was not even a word to speak, they were sandwiched in the middle of the valley and waited, and no one said a word. Many have only anger on their faces.

The bowstring next to him opened and made a trilling sound of "...... Titicaca", but Huang Zhong stretched out his hand and made a gesture down, he took a deep breath, looked at the people on the city tower with a complicated expression, and said, "Order, the rear army will be the front army, and slowly retreat!" ”

…… In the capital city of Yunnan, Zhu Gaoxu was the first to learn about what happened at Annan Guoqin Station. It's been ten days, and the end of the year has passed.

The city of Kunming is still shrouded in the atmosphere of the New Year, with lights everywhere and the sound of firecrackers wafting in the air.

Zhu Gaoxu's reaction was also dumbfounded, he sat on the mahogany chair and couldn't say a word for a long time. He felt a sense of unreality for a while, but when he touched the letter in the yellow in his hand, the textured rice paper was very real, and the words on it were described in great detail...... I have to believe that this is indeed what happened ten days ago!

It's not that this matter is serious, he was shocked, after all, since Zhu Gaoxu arrived in the Ming Dynasty, he has experienced a lot of winds and waves; It was that he could not understand Annan Guo Hu and began to question his own thinking again.

Thousands of calculations, Zhu Gaoxu really never even thought about it, the Annan Congress did this!

There were also two long histories, two guard generals, and a eunuch standing beside him, and several people looked at Zhu Gaoxu's stunned expression, looking curious.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu slapped his palm on the rice paper and pushed it forward, "Let's take a look." ”

After several civil and military officials circulated it, they were all shocked and surprised. Zhu Gaoxu was a lot relieved at this time, at least he didn't feel it alone.

Li Mo said: "This news is reported to the court, I'm afraid it can't be good." How will the imperial court handle this matter? ”

Zhu Gaoxu gradually calmed down and said, "What else can I do?" They each prepared their weapons and met on the battlefield. ”

Li Mo muttered again: "What is the reason for the actions of the Hu father and son? ”

Zhu Gaoxu said: "You may feel too tired to live, so it's better to go to the underworld to see the ancestors and ancestors!" ”

Several people looked at each other after hearing this, and some wanted to laugh but felt that it was out of place, so they held back and didn't laugh.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't mean to joke, he could only deduce Hu's motives at this time, so that he could barely explain the matter in front of him, which was reasonable.

"I'll talk about it when Asari gets the news." Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand.

Several civil and military officers hugged their fists one after another and retreated.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't move for a long time, and his thoughts were still very chaotic...... Although what he did last time he thought and practiced the Fa taught him a lesson. But Annan is not a small country, and he still doesn't want to believe that someone who can be in charge of the country's affairs will be so child's play?

Perhaps, the perspective of the world's thinking and the value of what things are still very different from Zhu Gaoxu.

He re-read Huang Zhong's letter again, and a detail described in it aroused Zhu Gaoxu's interest......

The ambush of the Annan army was fifty steps away from the main road, and suddenly the fire was fired in unison, and the Ming army suffered many casualties?

Zhu Gaoxu has come into contact with all kinds of firearms of the Ming army, among which all kinds of firearms, ten steps away can hit people basically depends on luck, and the distance is a little farther, it is difficult for a sergeant in armor to break the armor.

At a range of 50 paces, it can also kill and injure "many people", which makes Zhu Gaoxu feel a little strange.

However, at this time, some officials like to falsely report the number, even Zhu Gaoxu himself is no exception, the last time he went to fight Si's family, he counted all the guards and guards, and there were less than 10,000 people together, but they were called 50,000 troops...... Therefore, it is not necessary that Huang Zhong may have exaggerated the distance by five times in the letter; Moreover, Huang Zhong was ambushed and defeated, and he exaggerated the firearms of the Annan army, and he also had the motive to shirk responsibility.

After Zhu Gaoxu speculated like this, he still felt that something was wrong. If the enemy ambush is ten paces away, so many people are about to lie in ambush with their faces on their faces, how can no matter how careless people are completely unaware?

He thought about it, then picked up his pen and wrote two lines, and beckoned to the yellow dog: "Seal the letter and send it to the palace." Asked Hou Hai to send two people to send the letter to Huang Zhong. ”

The yellow dog bent down and shrieked, "The slave obeys." ”

Na Huangzhong took the Red River to return, or through Yunnan. Just ask Huang Zhong to come to Kunming City and ask him face to face, and the truth will be revealed.

Zhu Gaoxu's previous education was not high, and many of his knowledge was very scattered. For example, he knew about such a thing as a fortress because he had played strategy games. But he had never come into contact with the specific types of guns, and he only knew that there were such things as gunpowder guns. Now I know more about it, all of which I have seen in the Ming Dynasty army.