In December of the eleventh year of Chongzhen, the weather in Hebei was extremely cold, there was no snow, and between heaven and earth, there seemed to be only the sound of cold wind "whistling".

However, in such weather, there was a sudden sound of rapid "boom", and I saw three fast horses galloping in the cold wind in the distance of the official road.

"Hey, who has such courage that he is not afraid of being bumped into by the Manchu exploration horse?" In the leeward field, someone said unexpectedly, "Let's go, go and see, maybe there is something urgent!" ”

As soon as the words fell, the Ming army drove their horses to meet them at night, shouting loudly: "What person? ”

The cold wind is blowing, so that the person who shouts at the head is concise and to the point, and he can't wait to say the least words.

When the three knights saw that the Ming army did not accept them at night, they did not slow down in the slightest, and they were so fast that they hurriedly stopped their horses, and the man at the head raised his head on the horse, and asked loudly with a hurry: "This official is the head of the military department under Lu Shilang, where is the high director?" ”

This person is Yang Tinglin, who came out on the order of Lu Xiangsheng, and when he spoke, all the white gas spewed out, and even the long beard he kept was painted with a layer of white, which was obviously caused by the rapid freezing of the exhaled breath.

Looking at the clothes, listening to the introduction, I knew that there was a six-grade civil official in front of me, and these greeting nights immediately glanced at each other. In any case, these warriors, they also admired from the bottom of their hearts for the civil officials who were ordered to work in this kind of ghost weather at the risk of bumping into the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

The leader of the night did not accept it, immediately clenched his fists, and saluted respectfully: "Back to the words of the lord, now Director Gao is leading the troops to be stationed in Jize, which is ten miles away from here!" ”

Without any nonsense or hesitation, as soon as Yang Tinglin heard this, he slammed the horse's belly, lowered his upper body again, and urged the horse to hurry. His two family members also immediately followed, escorted the old man, and left in the dust.

The night did not accept them, and watched them go away until they were out of sight, and one of them sighed: "It is really rare to see such a civil official who is not empty talk and is willing to endure hardships and take risks!" ”

"Yes, there are few civil officials like this in the imperial court, otherwise our Ming Dynasty would not have made such a ghost, so that the Manchu army can come and leave whenever they want, it's really a wretch!"

“……”

Yang Tinglin couldn't hear these compliments, he was just worried about the military order in his heart, and he only knew that Lu Shilang urgently needed him to bring grain, grass, soldiers and horses. Under the gallop, I soon arrived at Jize.

Looking up, with Jize City as the center, the densely packed military camp comes into view. From time to time, I heard the neighing of war horses, and it was obvious that there were quite a few cavalry here.

Yang Tinglin was anxious and had no intention of watching, so he hurriedly entered the city and went to the county office. Turned over and dismounted, didn't care about the war horse at all, and before the person could stand firmly, he had already taken out the seal letter, and said to the guard at the door: "Under the command of Lu Shilang, Yang Tinglin, the head of the Ministry of War, was ordered to have an urgent military situation to ask to see Director Gao. ”

When the captain at the gate heard this, he didn't dare to slack off, so he immediately stepped forward to check the seal and hurried in.

Only at this time did Yang Tinglin breathe a sigh of relief, feeling that he had not delayed anything on the way over, and Lu Shilang's side should be able to afford to wait. It was only at this time that he felt so cold, and he couldn't help but quickly rub his hands, rub his face vigorously, and wipe off the frost hanging on his beard.

But after waiting for a while, I felt that the time was almost up, and I didn't see the captain return, so I was a little anxious. But he is only a six-rank civil official, and he is the director here, and he is not qualified to break in, so he can only stretch his neck from time to time to take a look. After a while, he walked back and forth a little impatiently, trying to ease the anxiety in his heart.

Although Lu Xiangsheng didn't say it explicitly, Yang Tinglin already felt that there would be a war on Lu Xiangsheng's side soon. What's more, the Manchu army is eyeing each other, and it may take the initiative to fight with Lu Xiangsheng's army at any time. In this way, the grain and grass in the army must be in place as soon as possible, and it is best for the reinforcements to arrive as soon as possible, so that they can be regarded as having the strength to confront the Manchu army.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but touch Lu Xiangsheng's letter again, thinking in his heart, I don't know what kind of trick Lu Shilang has to fight with the Manchu army?

Just thinking about it, Yang Tinglin heard footsteps coming from the yamen, and hurriedly stood up, looked up, and saw that the captain had returned. Suddenly, in a hurry, he raised his legs and walked inside.

Who knows, the captain stopped him at once, and said coldly: "The superintendent is not available, if there is anything, the last general will convey it on his behalf." ”

When Yang Tinglin heard this, he was stunned at first, thinking that he had said that he had asked for an emergency military situation, but he was not available yet, what was the director doing, and he didn't have time to take care of the emergency military situation?

In his mind, a beardless face immediately flashed with a white face, and he always had a gloomy expression, knowing that he was afraid or didn't want to see Lu Shilang's side.

As soon as he thought of this, Yang Tinglin suddenly became angry, at this time, the military affairs, could it be that Gao Qiqian still had to take care of Lu Shilang? If it goes on like this, not counting the delay of the military plane, Lu Shilang is very likely to be in danger!

Staring at the captain's face, seeing his cold expression, Yang Tinglin suddenly came to his senses again. I came to ask for help, not to impeach Gao Qiqian, a dead eunuch.

Thinking so, Yang Tinglin immediately took out Lu Xiangsheng's letter, handed it over with both hands, and at the same time barely squeezed out a smile, and said in a slightly low voice: "This general, I am tired of transferring it to the director." It is said that the grain and grass in Lu Shilang's army have been cut off and urgently need to be replenished. And Lu Shilang has a plan, which can break the Manchu army, and he also asked the director to make a quick decision after reading the letter, and the subordinate officer was waiting for a response at the door. ”

A civil official, born as a dignified scholar, whispers to the gatekeepers, which is still quite rare in this era. When the captain heard this, his face suddenly looked much better, and he immediately ordered the person at the door and said, "Why don't you let the adults go to the gatehouse to avoid the cold!" ”

After finishing speaking, he also brightened his face, and said to Yang Tinglin with a little respect: "My lord, wait a minute, Rong Mo will go to pass it on again." ”

Then, the lieutenant hurriedly walked inside, went straight to the courtyard of the back hall, heard the sound of silk and bamboo from the house, remembered the anxiety of the civil official at the door, suddenly sighed in his heart, and after standing still, he immediately announced loudly: "Report, Lu Shilang urgently sent a letter to the director!" ”

After the words fell, the sound of silk and bamboo in the room was still the same, faintly, there was a woman's coquettish laughter, a rough voice, and the sound of pushing the cup and changing the lamp.

The captain looked at the two guards guarding the door, gritted his teeth, raised his voice again, repeated it again, and even added a sentence "The army has cut off food, and Lu Shilang has a plan to break the Manchu army."

In the lobby, there was an official wearing a red robe with a white face and beard sitting on the main seat, and on both sides sat a big man dressed as a military general, surrounded by wine maids, and several other women were dancing in the middle of the hall. Next to the door are a few musicians, playing and singing.

When the announcement was repeated several times outside the door, and each time it became louder and louder, it was finally heard in the room. The musicians at the door stopped first, the dancing girls also stopped, and the generals who were drinking also stopped and looked at the main seat.

This person is naturally the director of the main force of the Ming army, Gao Qiqian. He had actually heard it a long time ago, and at this time, he saw that the people in the lobby had stopped, and the sound of an announcement sounded outside, which made him frown, and seemed to be very annoyed.

Looking at his appearance, it seems that he doesn't want to pay attention to the sky falling outside. But at this time, everyone in the hall was looking at him, and it seemed that it was not good to do too much, so he had to ask people to get the letter with a gloomy face.

After a while, Gao Qiqian took Lu Xiangsheng's letter in his hand, and he didn't have any scruples, so he watched the military aircraft in this drinking place. The generals in the lobby were silent, waiting for the director to follow.

They all heard it just now, saying that Lu Xiangsheng had a strategy to break the Manchu army, if this was the case, they all had a doubt in their hearts, I don't know if Director Gao would still stand still?