On the vast grassland, the wind caressed the green grass, and hundreds of vultures circled in the air, waiting, and from time to time let out a sharp hissing sound.

These vultures seem to be waiting for something. Sometimes they hover lower and lower. That will soon be in mid-air again. Then hovering in the air, waiting, waiting for the opportunity to land on the ground again.

Suddenly, in the half-human deep grass, there was a sound of bangs, and there were some prayers mixed with the sound of guns. Heaven and earth became chaotic. Then the sound quickly died down.

A moment later. Heaven and earth have once again returned to their former tranquility. Only the cries of vultures like scissors cutting through iron sheets. The vultures hovering in the air seemed to have seen an opportunity, and they circled from high to low, and the vultures who had been waiting for a long time had become a little impatient at this point.

When a group of sergeants left the meadow with their guns on their backs, the group of vultures that had been hovering in the air for a long time immediately flew down, and even some of them did not leave even if they were there. Then they started walking between the meadows.

At least a few hundred vultures came silently. They greedily ate the food in the grass, and the smell of blood was strong, and the wind carried far away, attracting more vultures and other animals. At the same time, there were hundreds of large crows, which had been waiting impatiently, and they shuttled through the gaps in the vultures, and their bodies were very swift, and they stirred up a small riot among the vultures.

They just roamed through the grass and tore at it. Those foods that are vying for tantra, and in recent times, such food has always been brought to them. So that these animals can be fed all day long.

It's these animals that trap everything and eventually make everything disappear into nature. As soon as you enter, there are a small number of remains left, which will eventually slowly disappear into the erosion of nature.

……

Walking out of the somewhat dull office, facing the snowy Li Dingguo on the top of the distant mountain, he walked to the balcony, and then stared at the snow-capped mountains in the distance, since the march, everything has been quite smooth, the fortresses of the Qing army have been uprooted one by one, and tens of thousands of Qing troops have been annihilated.

In a few months, a year at most, the war should be over. Again, everything here will come to an end and the region will have a new beginning. Millions of immigrants will start their new lives here.

Perhaps at that time, the Ming Dynasty will enter a truly peaceful and prosperous era, far from the peaceful and prosperous era of war.

"Report to the general, a letter is being sent from the Western Expeditionary Army."

Suddenly, the adjutant's report interrupted Li Dingguo's thoughts.

"Read.

Li Dingguo, who came back to his senses, replied casually.

"Yes, my lord."

The adjutant opened the letter box and read aloud.

"Through the screening of captured prisoners, our ministry has sentenced 3,867 of them to death punishment on suspicion of massacring local natives in accordance with the Military Law, and another 3,527 people have been sentenced to capital punishment on suspicion of robbery. It has been ascertained that a small group of enemy captives have fled into the mountains to become bandits, and whether according to the "Law on Quelling Bandits", it is ordered that all departments can act in accordance with the law and do not need to worry about the difference between the captives. ”

"Oh, do it all according to the law!"

Li Dingguo said without hesitation.

The Ming Dynasty is a country that is very law-conscious, everything is governed by law, and the same is true for the army, as a royal army, the Ming army will never participate in any massacres, let alone kill prisoners. However, it is precisely because of the importance of the law that the prisoners are interrogated and trained to obtain information, and secondly, to determine whether they have massacred civilians or robbed civilians.

The Ming army will not harm civilians, and it will not allow its enemies to harm and endanger civilians, so along with the trial and training, there will naturally be large-scale executions, and military law is different from civil law, which is extremely strict. In addition, for the rout of the bandits who followed into the deep mountains, there was also the corresponding "Law of Quelling Bandits", when the world was initially decided, there were not many routs and chaotic people in the mountains and lakes of the world, for this reason, the imperial court specially promulgated this decree, granting the army full power to suppress bandits with an iron fist, it is because of the Ming Dynasty's implementation of zero tolerance for bandits, there is now peace under the heavens.

Here, of course, Li Dingguo did not mind that the army was signing an order to order the implementation of the "Law on Suppressing Bandits", which meant that the army could execute all the routed bandits hiding in the deep mountains at will—bandits were not prisoners of war, so they naturally did not enjoy the treatment of prisoners of war.

Everything will be done in accordance with the law. After all, the Ming army was not those barbarians, and it was absolutely impossible to kill innocents indiscriminately like them.

"Soon, everything will be over!"

Thinking of this, Li Dingguo's mood became more and more relaxed. He seems to have seen the scene of returning to his hometown and renovating the old city of Yulin, and at that time, the old city will be revitalized again.

Of course, at that time, the old city of Yulin will no longer be the old city, but the royal city of the King of Jin.

But, it's finally back to the roots!

Luckily, everything went well!

Soon everything here will be over, and by that time he will be able to get out of here.

Shi is when he decisively ordered.

"Send a message to the Left Wing Army, ordering it to take Tashkent from the left flank in a roundabout way, but the whole army must take Tashkent as the boundary, and must not pursue the remnants of the enemy without Lone's order. Violators will be dealt with by military law! ”

The more things are going well, the more you need to be cautious. The more you need to be careful, there is nothing wrong with being careful. He didn't want to make a big mistake because of his arrogance when he was about to win the final victory.

"Yes, my lord."

After seeing the entourage adjutant leave, the corners of Li Dingguo's lips lifted slightly, and he muttered to himself.

"Now, all that's needed is to make sure ......"

Suddenly, at this moment, there was a sound of a bang in the distance, and the sound came from Chengcheng, not from outside the city. The sound made Li Dingguo stunned, and he immediately frowned and asked.

"What's going on? Is there a gun being fired? ”

Zhang Mingchuan and his entourage, who were riding on horses, had just entered the city, and there was a cry in front of them. I saw a few natives with cloth wrapped around their heads driving a group of women out of the city with fierce looks. These women are all wearing cheongsam, different ages, from the appearance of the Qing captives, it is obvious that they are all local women robbed by the Qing captives, although many of them have children for the Qing captives, but many of them did not flee with the Qing captives, and stayed in the city, but now, these women are like grasshoppers tied to a rope. The natives shouted that they could not understand speech, and from time to time they threw stones at the women.

Seeing this, Zhang Mingchuan couldn't help frowning.

"What's going on, when will it be their turn to be so rampant."

"Isn't it? What about Junzheng? Are you blind, don't you see? ”

With that, he grabbed the horse's legs and rushed to the group. As soon as the swaggering native, who was still whipping the woman with a whip just now, saw Zhang Mingchuan, he immediately nodded like a pug and bowed.

He speaks a vernacular that no one understands.

"Which of you speaks Chinese?"

Zhang Mingchuan didn't even look at him, and directly pointed to the string of depressed women and asked. These women lived with the Qing for a long time, and they always spoke some Chinese. One of the women hurriedly said timidly.

"I, I will, sir."

Zhang Mingchuan asked with a straight face.

"What's going on?"

"Back to my lord, he, they said that we were plundered by the Qing people, our chastity was destroyed, and we didn't wear a veil and showed our faces, so they wanted to take us outside the city and stone us to death, and asked your lord to save us."

The woman replied resignedly, and the young woman on the side cried out in fear. For a while, the whole street was filled with the crying of women. They fell to their knees, trying to call for help. You know, maybe only these Han people can save them.

"My lord, my lord, these women are, they are our family, and we have the right to dispose of them......"

At this moment, a thorny native ran over and hurriedly defended.

"Deal with them? As a man, you can't protect your wives and daughters, and your wives and daughters have been taken away as handmaidens, and now you finally come back, but you don't know how to cherish them, but you want to be stoned to death, is there such a truth in the world! ”

Zhang Mingchuan scolded angrily.

With the advance of the official army, many disappeared natives came out of the deep mountains, although the number was small, most of them were only one or two hundred, and the few were only a few dozen. In order to show the image of the righteous teacher of the Ming Dynasty, they were specially allowed to take back their wives and daughters who had been robbed. But there was an idea that such a situation would happen.

Although some of the customs of the natives had already been heard of before that. For this reason, the army also specially instructed that after the battle, it was necessary to carefully handle the customs of the time. But even so, they didn't expect that the so-called custom would be such a result.

Of course, they can't sit idly by.

But when he saw that the man gave Zhang Mingchuan such a drink, he immediately knelt on his knees and begged for mercy.

"Your Majesty is angry. These people are all women who have been robbed of them by the captives, and their chastity has been destroyed by the captives, and keeping them will also shame me, so it will be so ...... for the villain"

Seeing the woman crying under his feet, Zhang Mingchuan's eyebrows raised, and he immediately reprimanded angrily.

"You don't want to talk nonsense, how can there be a truth in this world that the family law is greater than the national law? Go, untie them all......"

Just as his subordinates were about to start, a native man came out and preached.

"Oh, brave and warlike general, this kind of thing is our family business."

Although the native who came out seemed enthusiastic, his tone was stiff.

"If you must interfere in our family affairs, I am afraid that it will cause the whole city to revolt, and when the time comes, will the general be able to handle it?"

There was a threat in the other party's words. Obviously, at this time, they had forgotten how they trembled under the butcher's knife of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, how they hid in the mountains, and how they didn't even dare to come out of their heads.

Their group of people is just a group of people who bully the weak and fear the hard.

"Hmph, you're threatening me?"

Staring at each other, Zhang Mingchuan sneered, he didn't pay attention to the threat from these natives at all.

"General, I'm telling you the facts, we have our customs, you have your laws, and we are grateful to the Celestial Empire for driving out the cruel pigtailed army, but it doesn't mean that we have to obey your laws, we have our own laws."

Although the native still saluted Zhang Mingchuan respectfully, his tone did not mean to give in. There was not the slightest concession made because of the identity of the other party. It seems that they have figured out the character of these Han people, and know that they cannot kill innocents indiscriminately like those pigtailed soldiers. It is precisely because of this that they are so fearless.

"Hmph, what a good one you have yours, we have ours ......"

With a cold smile, Zhang Mingchuan's eyes revealed murderous aura.

"Today I want to tell you, what is the whole world is not the king's land, come and release them, who dares to stop them!"

After a pause, Zhang Mingchuan stared at the person in front of him and said.

"Just kill him!"

Kill him!

Just as they rushed up to rescue those women, several natives hurriedly drew their knives, and as soon as their scimitars were pulled out, Zhang Mingchuan pulled out his gun and killed the natives in front of him with a single blow.

Almost at the moment when the person was killed, everyone's eyes widened in surprise, and those natives drew their knives angrily, shouting in a native language that no one could understand. Of course, along with anger, they also feel fear. They didn't expect that these gentle and elegant Han people would kill people if they didn't agree with each other. Just like those pigtail armies.

Seeing the appearance of the natives, Zhang Mingchuan shouted loudly.

"Bandits are making trouble, intending to murder officials and soldiers, kill!"

If you want to kill someone, you have to find a suitable reason for yourself. This reason didn't even need him to go to the other party, and he had already taken the initiative to send it.

As soon as his words fell, a native rushed with a sword, and the cavalry around him immediately waved his gun, and in an instant, a dense sound of gunfire sounded in the street.

The deafening sound of guns echoed through the streets, and after the sound of guns ended, a group of soldiers who rushed to hear the news also aimed their long and short guns at these people.

"What's going on?"

After learning the cause and effect of the incident from the adjutant, Li Dingguo was silent for a moment, and then said.

"At the beginning, they had promised Lone that they would be kind to those women who were struggling with their lives, but what they did was clearly contrary to their previous promises. Well, in this matter, the other party is guilty, Zhang Mingchuan is also guilty, and the guilt is offset, but he must always give an explanation and order him and his comrades to retire. ”

The reason why Li Dingguo was so resettled was because he clearly knew what he was doing, and he also knew what was needed here, and what he needed here was someone who could intimidate the local natives. The natives are respectful but not virtuous, and Zhang Mingchuan is here, at least there is no chaos here.

For the Western Expeditionary Army, what happened on this day was just a small episode. It's even just a thing that doesn't even matter much. After dealing with this matter, Li Dingguo, as usual, continued to deal with the military reports sent from various places, and as the commander of the Western Expeditionary Army, although there were commanders of various wing planes in charge of the operation, he still needed to take charge of the overall situation.

Occasionally, he would put down the letter and walk to the map, then mark the next location with colored pencils on the map, ponder for a moment, and then immediately make adjustments to his troops.

The use of telegrams allowed Li Dingguo to directly grasp the actions of various units, although there would be a delay of one or two days due to the march of the troops and other problems, but it still allowed him to intuitively understand the situation of each road, as well as the movements of the enemy troops in various places, and then adjust the departments at any time according to the movements of the enemy troops.

Cross-era communications have improved the combat effectiveness of the Ming army, which is why in the past 20 years, every time a military offensive comes, the engineers must build field telegraph lines at no cost, in order to let the commander grasp the dynamics of the front line, through the collection of reports of various departments, many times, Li Dingguo is even faster than the Manchu court, and accurately grasp the movement of his army, so as to adjust the deployment of troops in a targeted manner. And this kind of unilateral battlefield transparency also allowed the Ming army to always clearly see the dynamics of the entire battlefield, laying a solid foundation for victory.

"The Central Route Army is now a little too strong, it can strengthen the Left Wing Army and break through from the left flank ......"

Just as Li Dingguo was talking to himself, the adjutant sent another telegram.

"My lord, a telegram has been sent from the Middle Route Army."

"Something happened to the Middle Route Army?"

Li Dingguo, who was originally preparing to be deployed, frowned.

"Read."

"Zhang Xiaowudian, the commander of the Middle Route Army: When the 36th Battalion of our Road Cavalry swept on the flank, he privately accepted the surrender of the Qing captives, and the Qing captives Anji Yanshou General Shi Huashan surrendered the city, and his 5,000 soldiers are currently waiting in the camp outside the city, how to deal with it, please ask His Royal Highness the King of Jin to give instructions......"

The seemingly simple words in the telegram made Li Dingguo's brows tighten, and there was even a trace of displeasure flashing in his eyebrows, and he surrendered privately!

What a man is so bold!

Didn't he know the purpose of this expedition to the west?

While being annoyed in his heart, he could also imagine what kind of blow Shi Huashan's surrender would cause to the Qing army.

"Then Shi Huashan is the third-class uncle of the Manchu Qing Dynasty!"

"Yes, the king, his father Shi Tingzhu was a general of Guangning in the Ming Dynasty, and later surrendered to the Qing Dynasty."

"After the traitor?"

Raising his eyebrows coldly, Li Dingguo said again.

"No wonder they will surrender, this kind of person is soft bones in his bones!"

smiled coldly, his brows tightened, Li Dingguo's expression became more and more solemn, this matter is really tricky!

It's not just a general tricky!

Simple is extremely tricky, as soon as Shi Huashan descended, someone accepted it like this, and all the problems came out.

What to do with it after the drop?

If the old method is used, it will definitely make the Manchus hate the same enemy, and then fight to the death. But if they just surrender and leave their lives, how can it be so easy in this world!

It's hard......

Just as he felt that the question was more and more difficult, he heard the adjutant say again.

"King, in fact, this matter is easy to do!"