Zhang Fan can't feel a little new now. The excitement of riding a horse at the beginning was long gone, and after a few hours, all that remained was the pain in the inner thigh. Zhang Fan wanted to ask the little colonel who had led the horse for him before, but seeing that so many sergeants were on foot, Zhang Fan was afraid that he would be hypocritical, so he had to endure the pain silently.

Today is the seventh day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, and tomorrow is Laba, Zhang Fan thought of letting his mother spend time at home alone, and his heart was unbearable for a while. In my memory, every year in Laba, the Zhao family would clean up the house, put the spiritual seats of his grandfather and father, worship the ancestors and pray for blessings, and also sacrifice to the gods of all parties. In the past, no matter how difficult it was at home, my mother would boil a pot of fragrant laba porridge on this day, which used to be the happiest moment for Zhang Fan when he was a child, and now Zhang Fan has grown up, although his face no longer shows the joy of a child, but his heart is still the same happy. Some events are also held in the city, and the farmers of Zhou Village also come to celebrate the harvest and hope for a good harvest in the coming year. Now it seems that this year's festival is not going well. However, Zhang Fan is not worried about the festival, he just misses his mother a little.

Zhang Fan was thinking about it, and Liu Senjun didn't know when he came to him. He saw that Zhang Fan was thoughtful, and he didn't even notice that he was beside him, and said, "What is Lord Bo thinking?" But do you miss your mother at home? ”

"Ah, it's Liu joining the army!" Liu Senjun's voice woke up the cranky Zhang Fan, "Let the general smile, the first time I went out in the next day, I really miss my mother, and tomorrow will be Laba, so I am naturally more worried about my mother." ”

"That's right, tomorrow is Laba!" General Liu seemed to have forgotten about this, and only then did he think about it after being reminded by Zhang Fan, "Don't say anything, I have forgotten it." This damn Tartar, if you don't come early or late, you just choose this family's festive day, you really deserve to be killed! ”

"General, why has this Tartar made such a big move this year?" Zhang Fan asked.

"Alas, I think that since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it has been more than a hundred years, and the remnants of the Yuan and Mongolian Remnants are also constantly harassing my Ming frontier. The Tartars thought that they had been tired for more than 100 years, and since 20 years ago, there have been very few major movements, only some small groups of people have come to plunder, and the court has not taken it to heart. Since the forty-third year of Jiajing, when Lord Wang was patrolling Ningxia, the Tartars had several major actions, all of which were sent by Lord Wang to find out, and took the initiative to lead his troops to attack, raid the army of the Tartar nobles, and collapse their forces. This time, the Tartar army went south, obviously it has been planned for a long time, but now it happened to come to plunder when the yamen of our Shaanxi patrol department changed their guards, which caused such a heavy blow. ”

"Was it only the armies in Shaanxi that changed their guard the day before yesterday?" Zhang Fan asked.

"Yes, the armies in various parts of Shanxi have not changed their guards, and only the troops in Shaanxi have received a notice of changing guards." General Liu replied.

"......" Zhang Fan heard General Liu's words, and the situation analyzed by Ma Xianling appeared in his mind again, Zhang Fan was about to say it to General Liu, but somehow, the words that came to his mouth were swallowed again.

"Now that the imperial court has ordered a raid on the rear of the Tartars, I just hope that the war can be resolved as soon as possible, and the soldiers can go home for a good year." General Liu continued.

At that moment, the two of them were speechless. The army drove all night, the soldiers did not eat, and arrived in Ningxia at noon the next day, although the 50,000 troops were a little tired, but the army was still in good shape. Ningxia City had prepared food for 50,000 people, and General Liu Shen immediately ordered the leading generals of his battalions to lead the troops to rest. At this time, someone came to report that Wang Chonggu knew that the army had arrived, and had already beckoned his generals to discuss the military and asked General Liu and Zhang Fan to go.

When the two heard it, they didn't care about not eating for a day and a night, so they hurried over, Zhang Fan was fortunate to have the dry food that his mother brought for him, and now he didn't feel hungry, General Liu Shen, as a soldier, had long been accustomed to this kind of life.

Zhang Fan is the chief of the army, and all the matters at the meeting of the chief general during the war must be recorded by him one by one, and reported to the imperial court in the future, regardless of the victory or defeat of the war, this is an important evidence for the imperial court to reward and punish the generals. It is also necessary to record the expenses of the army, the number of enemies destroyed and captured in each battle, and the consumption of the own army. Now it's time for Zhang Fan to play.

Zhang Fan came to the governor's yamen with General Liu, and the meeting hall was already full of generals wearing armor, but there was an old man about fifty years old wearing a second-grade official uniform. On the occasion of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the governor and the right deputy of the Imperial Court of the Imperial Palace, from the second rank, plus the rank of the military department, and the second rank. Now Wang Chonggu, the governor of the military affairs of Shaanxi, Yanning, and Gansu provinces, although he was born as a jinshi and has commanded operations for many years, he also shows the demeanor of a military general.

The two made a salute to Wang Chonggu, and when Wang Chonggu saw the two coming in, he first signaled to General Liu to take a seat, and then nodded slightly to Zhang Fan, indicating that he was now going to discuss a major matter, and the courtesy would be done later. Zhang Fan also knew, and then on the desk on the side, there was already paper and pen ready.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the army has arrived. I have been ordered by the imperial court to send troops to raid the rear of the Tartars, and now I will deploy your defense areas. Wang Chonggu said, "This time the Tartars went south on a very large scale, east to Datong and Jizhou, and west to my Ningxia Mansion, which can be described as a big movement that has not been seen for many years." ”

"Damn, this Tartar is too much!" At that moment, the general under the seat cursed, and someone on the side patted the man's arm, signaling that the master was present, and the man closed his mouth. Zhang Fan Dema County Commander pointed out, and took the initiative to omit that mantra in his heart and continued to write down.

"You don't have to be like this, it's not good for the big picture." Wang Chonggu calmed people's hearts, "At this moment, it is the right thing to come up with a way to break the enemy. ”

"Your Excellency's orders, and we will all listen to your orders." A kind of general said one after another.

"In that case, then the official will arrange your tasks." Wang Chonggu was not hypocritical, and directly ordered, "Li Yongquan, you lead two battalions of troops to support Yan'an Mansion and exterminate the Tartars there. ”

"No!" A general in his thirties who looked like he had joined the army immediately stood up and agreed.

"Liu Dazhuang and Wang Qishan, you two led three battalions of troops to attack for a long distance to support Datong and Jizhou, Lord Qi's Qi family army has already hit the road, and you two must listen to Lord Qi's dispatch at that time, and you must not slack off." Wang Chonggu then ordered.

"No!" "No!" At that moment, two more generals stood up to receive the order.

"Qian Yang, Zhang Rui, Zhao Guangwen, Sun Dajun, each of the four of you will lead a battalion to patrol the unguarded mountains and rivers in a section of the Hetao to prevent the Tartars from attacking or retreating from anywhere."

"No!" "No!" "No!" "No!"

"Liu Jinquan and Zhou Biao, you two have been with me for many years, and you are also familiar with the terrain of the Hetao. This raid will be handed over to the two of you, Liu Jinquan is the main general, Zhou Biao is the deputy, with the strength of a battalion, plus the 2,000 guards of my Ningxia Guard, gather 5,000 people, 2,000 horses, and raid the main force of the Tartars. ”

"No!" "No!" General Liu and a much younger general stood up and agreed.

Wang Chonggu asked the two of them to sit down, and said: "In order to achieve the surprise attack this time, our army's goal must not be too big, and I am afraid that there will be no climate if there are fewer people, so there are only 5,000 people in the two of you, and whether you can succeed depends on the two of you working together!" ”

"Honoring the orders of the adults, we will go all out to complete the great trust of the adults." General Liu said, and General Zhou Biao and Zhou also stood up and hugged their fists to show their determination.

"Well, if you two are determined, I'm relieved. With the power of the two of you, I still believe in it. Wang Chonggu stroked his long beard under his chin and said with satisfaction, "This attack should not take too long, so I have to bring grain and grass for ten days for five thousand men and horses." Remember to get it all in one hit, don't go it alone! ”

"Don't worry, my lord, my subordinates should keep it in mind." The two of them replied in a loud voice.

"This time, the attack of the Tartars is quite strange, how can the time be so accurate, just when the patrol divisions of several cities collectively change guards, you must be more careful, and don't let the spies take advantage of the loopholes." Wang Chonggu seems to have noticed that something was wrong for a long time, and now he is arranging it to prevent trouble!

"We'll take your lordship's orders to heart." The staff will agree, but the voice is not too loud, maybe after listening to Wang Chonggu's words, they all have a few different thoughts in their hearts.

"In that case, let's go down. Pick the divisions, have a good rest, and tomorrow the armies will be mobilized. Wang Chonggu made a final summary, "I wish you all the best. ”

"Lord Xie, my subordinates will live up to your expectations." The crowd said. The military discussion ended, and now all the generals dispersed.

Zhang Fan packed up the minutes of the meeting, came over to salute Wang Chonggu, and said, "Zhang Fan of Anhua County, Qingyang Prefecture, who was born later, has seen the governor. ”

"Well, Master Zhang rode a horse at night, presumably because he was tired and hadn't eaten yet." At the moment, Wang Chonggu ordered his subordinates to serve some boiled laba porridge, as well as a few small dishes that were not expensive but were exquisitely made. Wang Chonggu invited Zhang Fan to sit down and said: "Today is Laba, the court transferred Zhang Zhubo to accompany the army here, and he can't reunite with his family. ”

"Your Excellency!" Zhang Fan said, "The imperial court sent the late students to come because they can afford the late students, not to mention that the rise and fall of the country is the responsibility of the husband, and the late students are not dissatisfied." ”

"Haha, it's a good sentence 'The rise and fall of the country is the responsibility of the husband', Zhang Zhubo got the middle solution at a young age, and it really lives up to its name!" When Wang Chonggu heard Zhang Fan's words, he praised him greatly.

Zhang Fan suddenly remembered that this sentence would not exist until the Qing Dynasty, and he thought that he had plagiarized other people's words, and he was ashamed for a while, and it was difficult to explain, so he had to smile bitterly in his heart, and be more modest on his face, and said: "My lord has an overreputation." ”

"By the way, is Master Ma okay?" Wang Chonggu asked suddenly.

"Ma Xianling is over the age of six, but fortunately, his body is still tough." Zhang Fan said, "Do you know the Ma County Order? ”

"I used to be a colleague, and at that time, I was just starting my career, and the Ma County Order was also kind to the subordinates." Wang Chonggu said, but when he remembered something, he stopped talking.

Zhang Fan was about to ask, but Wang Chonggu said again, "What does Zhang Zhubo think about this southern invasion of the Tartars?" ”

"The Tartars have not made a big move south for many years, and this move must have been planned for a long time." Zhang Fan replied, "It's just that the timing is quite strange. ”

"Zhang Zhubo is really smart, and he is also aware of it?" Wang Chonggu sighed, "I don't know what Lord Bo thinks? ”

Zhang Fan thought for a while and said: "The late family has helped the refugees in Yan'an Prefecture, and one of the women's husbands is serving in the two cities of Yan'an Prefecture. If this is not a coincidence, there must be a detailed work to infiltrate the military hierarchy, or ......"

"Or someone in the top echelons of our military has defected!" Wang Chonggu said for him.

"And it's in Shaanxi." Zhang Fan said, "On the way here, I learned about the situation from General Liu, and only the armies in Shaanxi were the ones who changed their guards yesterday. I'm afraid it's ......."

"Zhang Zhubo's analysis is good." Wang Chonggu frowned and said, "It seems that there are spies in the army!" It's just that there are more than 10 health stations and patrol departments all over Shaanxi, and there are hundreds of people who can know the news in advance, so it will be troublesome to investigate. ”

The two of them pondered again. Wang Chonggu first said: "But this matter will not be bothered, the government will secretly inquire, and I hope that the news will not be leaked." ”

"If you know it later, you must keep your mouth shut." Zhang Fan said.

"The Lord Bo must be tired after a day's journey!" Wang Chonggu said, "When the meal is finished, a room has been prepared in the house for the master to rest." Raise your spirit, and you will join the army tomorrow! ”

"Thank you for your concern, and I will remember it in my later life." Zhang Fan said.

After eating, Zhang Fan came to the room prepared by Wang Chonggu for himself, Xu was riding a horse for a day and a night, Zhang Fan was really tired, and fell asleep, preparing to go with the army tomorrow.