Liu Xingzuo and Bai Xianzhi in the big tent were very calm, the Fengzhou army forced the Jin army to retreat, and they were already able to free up their hands to deal with the unexpected, and the old marshal's reinforcements should also arrive - the Ming army is still late, and the consequences of opportunism may be self-inflicted.

"I'll go out and see, the cavalry of the Grand Commander may be arriving, pony, you will follow me." Bai Xianzhi picked up the war knife and walked out, and Ma Shizhong hurriedly followed.

"Order, Hou Shijie and Haishan's two battalions immediately follow me to support Xue Xianguang's left flank and take down Yanghe City, a group of bastards, since they want to turn their faces, don't blame Lao Tzu for being polite." Liu Xingzuo slapped the table heavily and shouted, and then he also came out of the big tent - the battlefield situation was chaotic, Yanghe had become the top priority, and if he took this fortified city, he could attack and retreat and defend, no matter what tricks the Jin army and the Ming army played, they could deal with it.

Liu Xingzuo arrived at the city of Yanghe, just met Li Yu also hurried over, the two of them thought together, Li Yu learned the news of the sneak attack in the rear, and immediately ordered Zhao Ji to command the cavalry to counterattack the Ming army, and he led the Flying Tiger Battalion and Fang Zhikun and Bak's merchant army to rush to Yanghe City - the situation has changed, first of all, we must keep the way to retreat, if we can't take Yanghe, the whole army must retreat to Xinping Fort, where Asari and Huiden are stationed.

"Hermes-Epitek, are you wounded?" Liu Xingzuo hurriedly asked, Li Yu's face was pale, and his chest was bulging.

"Arrow wound, it's okay, big brother, you come to command, take Yanghe as soon as possible," Li Yu waved his hand, turned back to the other party and instructed Kun and Buck, "Tell the people in the city that the Datong Ming army has rebelled, and this commander will take over Yanghe City, and those who dare to resist will be punished with rebellion." ”

The merchant army followed the ass of the Flying Tiger Battalion and fought for a long time, and was fighting smoothly, but was disturbed by the Ming army, and they were also angry, and they opened their throats to threaten and lure the officers and soldiers in the city. The people in the city were condescending, and they saw the battlefield situation very clearly, it was clear that the Fengzhou army desperately repelled the Jin army, how could the Datong Ming army copy the back of the Fengzhou army in a blink of an eye, and the Datong Ming army had rebelled. Sun Tingyao, who fled into the city, and the local gentry took the opportunity to incite the army and the people to make trouble, and the defenders and the people listened to the words of the local snake the most, and together they tied up the "rebellious" Yanghe deputy envoy and Yanghe deputy commander-in-chief, and then opened the city gate, and Yanghe, the garrison of the governor of Xuanda, easily fell into the hands of the Fengzhou army.

After Li Yu entered the city, he ordered all units of the Fengzhou army to get rid of the enemy in front of him and quickly retreat to Yanghecheng, but Zhao Ji and Bai Xianzhi in front replied that the Fengzhou army was launching a fierce attack, and the collapse of the Ming army was imminent, so he insisted on retreating after this battle.

Cao Wenzhao was too ruthless, and killed five or six hundred Fengzhou people and wounded soldiers when he made a move, which completely angered the Fengzhou people, and he was ruthless to knock the Datong Ming army to the ground. The people of Fengzhou are not ordinary people, the time to touch the knife is not less than the time to touch the hoe, in addition to no armor, they carry bows and arrows, knives and spears when they go far away, and they all have a bloody nature, pick up the guy in their hands and find the Ming army desperately. Bai Xianzhi led the remnants of Zhang Chuanjie and Tie Biao's two battalions to arrive, and lined up intensively with the people, using the rain of arrows as a cover to wait for reinforcements, biting the Ming army, and tens of thousands of Ming troops surrounded these thousands of people helplessly, but suffered heavy casualties.

Soon after the battle, Zhao Ji's more than 10,000 Fengzhou iron cavalry first came to help, the Ming army was hit hard, before the time to readjust, the old marshal Du Wenhuan led 15,000 garrisons to arrive, and joined the war group non-stop, and the most fatal thing is that 10,000 Jin army iron cavalry also killed from behind, the Ming army fell into the encirclement of the Fengzhou army and the Jin army in a blink of an eye, the whole army collapsed instantly, fortunately it was dark at this time, Cao Wenzhao and Cao Bianjiao led a small number of remnants to escape, and the Ming army of Datong was almost lost after this battle.

Defeated the Ming army in Datong, the various units of the Fengzhou army quickly withdrew into Yanghe City, and the scouts also reported: the Ming army east of Yanghe had been defeated, and the Jin army retreated in the direction of Xuanfu overnight after the victory, and Sakhalian's troops pursued the Ming army to the south for thirty miles, and then also pursued the main force to the east, and the remnants of the Ming army of about 5,000 people all retreated to Datong.

Li Yu quietly breathed a sigh of relief, turned his face and asked Ma Shiying in a low voice: "What are the casualties of our army in this battle?" ”

"A tragic victory, including the people, our army lost more than 4,200 people, of which 1,000 died under the official saber, and it is difficult to survive with a thousand seriously wounded, and the final number of casualties must exceed 5,000," Ma Shiying said and cried, waving his fists to the sky and yelling, "Why are they like this, they don't help us, but stab us in the back, emperor, open your eyes and see, there is a traitor in the court!" ”

"Bai Yintu, Man Zhu, Du Hongfang, Wang Dongqiang, ......, what a good brother, just leave." Liu Xingzuo, Zhao Ji, and Bai Xianzhi wiped their tears and said the familiar names of the fallen battalion officers, sentry officers, and garrison officers.

"There are also Chen Erzhu, Wu Xian, He Dashui......" Li Yu was also muttering in a low voice, suddenly a mouthful of blood spurted out, and then fell on his back, everyone exclaimed, rushed over to support Li Yu, Li Yu couldn't speak, trembling and raised his hand to point at Liu Zhilun.

"The guards are on guard, and the news is tightly sealed, Mo Rige, you will leave immediately to report to the Grand Commander's Mansion," Liu Xingzuo ordered without hesitation, and at the same time beckoned to Liu Zhilun, "Lord Governor, Yuzi is the most worried about you, you are safest to stay by his side, and something is going to happen in Fengzhou." ”

Naturalization, the Great Commander's Mansion was solemn, except for Li Huai, who was in the Victory Fort, and Cai Ruxun, who replaced Wu Dayou as the commander of Xuandewei, Ortai, Li Fugui, Yun Rong, and Zhang Mengcun, several officials who were in advance of the secret, plus Jin Sheng, Bu Yantu, Li Jianji, and Ma Guangyuan, who were temporarily participating in the secrets, sat quietly in the lobby and listened to Na Mu'er explain the current situation.

"The Yanghe War has made subtle changes in the current situation, and the official troops of the four towns of Shanhaiguan, Ningyuan, Xuanfu and Datong of the Ming Kingdom failed to attack our army and the Jin army, but were defeated and suffered heavy losses; Although the main force of the Jin army is basically intact, the number of dead will not be less than 5,000, and such a big battle is absolutely unwilling to bear it again, so it can only escape from Xuanfu to the customs; However, the strength of the Ming and Kim countries is strong and can withstand such losses, on the other hand, our army is in a difficult situation, spending countless money and food, and the number of casualties is also more than 5,000, but the strength is the weakest, and we must consider an armistice as soon as possible. We are too weak to compete with any of the Ming and Jin countries, after this heavy setback, if we figure out the peace with the Jin country, then we have become its main opponent, when the Jin cavalry pursued the Datong Ming army, they also hit our Black Eagle Banner, what do they want to do? The success of the peace talks between the Ming and Kim countries means that we are completely passive, and the sudden fall of the great commander is not so much caused by arrow wounds as it is more of a mixture of grief and indignation. ”

"The peace between the Ming Dynasty and the Jin State can not be considered, I understand the imperial court, whoever dares to propose peace in the court, who is the target of the public, even the emperor does not dare, what I am worried about is the attitude of the imperial court towards us, if the imperial court is determined to exterminate Fengzhou, you, you can please do it yourself, but once you start, the road ahead will not be easy to go!" Jin Sheng said with a sigh.

Ma Guangyuan shook his head and whispered: "Zanhua Military Affairs Office has a plan, if the Ming State regards me as an enemy, the Fengzhou Army must not hesitate to seize Datong and Taiyuan, and then attack Xuanfu, threaten Juyong Pass, and force the Ming court to make peace with me, but this is a way to survive in the death, and it cannot be used until it is absolutely necessary." ”

"Don't think about the attitude of the imperial court, we have big trouble ourselves, the Ming Kingdom has done it this time, we can hide the injury of the commander, but we can't hide the news of the Ming army's sneak attack on our army, the people of Fengzhou do not have the habit of suffering losses in vain, and naturalization will be lively soon, Zhengxi, go to my house tonight to avoid it." Buyantu glanced at Jin Sheng and said, Jin Sheng lowered his head and smiled bitterly.

Ortai stood up and walked a few steps, pointed at Ma Guangyuan and asked, "Old Ma, if there is a riot in naturalization, can you control it?" ”

"No, if a foreign enemy invades and plunders, the common people will listen to me, but I have been beaten and killed, but I can't fight back, what do I say? Our people are all soldiers, every family has weapons, and there are no battalion soldiers in their hands, so those few inspections are useless," Ma Guangyuan replied very simply, and glanced at Zhang Mengcun by the way and said, "There are unjust debtors and owners, and if we don't seek justice from Mingguo, we will not be unfair internally." ”

"Zhang Mengcun, I know what you're thinking, but now the situation is critical, Fengzhou must not have an accident, calm down your people, and if there is a mess, you and Wang Fang will be punished first." Yun Rong immediately warned Zhang Mengcun.

Zhang Mengcun was indeed thinking about rebellion, and muttered with a red face: "There are many people who want to trouble the court, where can I appease it, and there should be no trouble." ”

"Then it will be the same to punish your sins first." Ortai replied coldly.

"This year's drought has reduced grain production, we must recuperate, Jin Khan's life is definitely not good, fighting to the end with us is not good for him, maybe he is looking forward to making peace with us, after all, the Ming State is the biggest threat to him," Li Fugui slowly opened his mouth, looked at the people present and continued, "The Jin army suddenly sent troops to help us defeat the Ming army, which can be understood as a signal, Jin Guo Khan wants to make peace with us, I have sent Fan Erxi to test, he is familiar with the people on the Jin side." If the Jin State is pulled, it will be easy to deal with the Ming State, and it is not advisable to rebel, but the Qing monarch is justified in seeking justice, and by the way, it can also calm the public anger in Fengzhou. ”

Jin Sheng immediately shook his head and said: "No, the wolf ambition of the Jin Kingdom may be jealous of Daming, but the heart of plotting Fengzhou will never die, and forming an alliance with it is tantamount to seeking skin with the tiger, and Daming will never tolerate it, and will definitely try his best to kill us, and Fengzhou will be in danger at that time." ”

Li Fugui smiled: "Jin Guo is plotting Fengzhou, Fengzhou is not plotting Jinguo, isn't it just a peace agreement, today and tomorrow will fight again, the key is that we need time, hehe, stepping on two boats has always been the way of survival in Fengzhou, and there is no need to form an alliance with peace." ”

This is how Fengzhou survived in the gap between the Ming Kingdom and Chahar back then, and everyone laughed understandingly, but Li Fugui put on a straight face at this time and said to Li Jianji: "Erzeng, tell everyone about the accounts of the branch bureau." ”

Li Jianji had been settling accounts with his head bored, and then raised his head and said with a wry smile: "Everyone, don't be too happy, there are only 200,000 taels of silver bills left on the account of the branch bureau, and there will be military salary, military merit money, pension money, and horse levy money to be paid soon. Don't think about the additional issuance of silver banknotes, this year's drought, the price of grain in the customs has risen sharply, the inventory of silver in the silver banknote bureau is tight, and the exchange of silver banknotes is inadequate. ”

There was silence in the lobby, and after a long time, Yun Rongsheng blushed and said, "Brother Erzeng, you are a master of financial management in Fengzhou, can you think of a way?" ”

"The war costs money like running water, the taxes collected are not enough, and this war is in and out, what can I do," Li Jian shook his head vigorously, and immediately became vigilant again, "You don't plan to borrow money from me again, do you?" Not this time, our money didn't fall from the sky, and I couldn't talk again. ”

"Learzen! You are not righteous! How much money have you earned from Fengzhou, is it so difficult to make some money, and if you don't pay for it, you will raise taxes, I don't believe you dare not pay out of your pocket. Zhang Mengcun yelled.

"Then raise taxes, drive us all away, and you won't be able to collect any of them." Li Jianji replied with a sneer.

"Zhang Mengcun, Hugh is talking nonsense!" Ortai shouted, and immediately changed a smile to Li Jianji and said: "Mr. Li is chivalrous and courageous, and all the people of Fengzhou are praised, and you will have a hand in the chair of the Grand Commander's Mansion sooner or later, and at this time of crisis, Mr. Li will help Fengzhou." ”

"It's a big deal, I really can't help it, we are a family, what is money, Ah Duwu, I can't help it sooner." Li Jianji continued to shake his head.

"Needless to say, from now on Li Erzeng is the head of the Grand Commander's Mansion, in charge of money and grain affairs, and has the right to anticipate the secrets, I will go to the Grand Commander and the General Assembly to say," Li Fugui got up and walked in front of Li Jianji, and said earnestly, "Erzeng, I know that you have great ambitions and outstanding talents, but this burden is too heavy, I have been hesitating, now I can only ask you, do it boldly, Fengzhou people have come from a desperate situation, and they are never afraid of setbacks." ”

Li Jianji stood up at a loss, but didn't know what to say, Li Fugui turned his head and said to everyone: "Fengzhou is all of us, the burden can't be all on Erzeng's shoulders, we fought and shed blood for the Ming Kingdom, but they are treacherous, this account must be counted, go to the Ming Kingdom to ask for money, even if it is a bone, you have to squeeze two taels of oil for me." ”

Li Jianji ran to the council as soon as the meeting was dismissed, and during this time, the council was also full of major and small affairs, and it was not easy to distribute the number of councillors according to the population of each prefecture, but it was even worse for rich businessmen and poor people to get together, businessmen were not used to seeing the common people vulgar, unreasonable, and unruly, and the common people thought that businessmen were selfish and mercenary, and the two sides would make a big fuss about trivial matters. If you don't fight yourself, you can't blame others, the Commander's Office is disheartened with them, the councillors themselves don't know what to do, and most people think that it's a matter of time before they break up. Shen Shoulian and Shen Tingyang's uncle and nephew still have some ideas, and they are trying to maintain the normal operation of the council, which is of course very hard, and the two often work until late at night, and when Li Jianji came, they were sorting out official documents in the official room.

"Yongnian and Ji Ming are so busy, and every day is nothing more than that." Li Jianji said.

"Serving Fengzhou, isn't Erzeng also working for the country!" Shen Shoulian replied with a smile and pulled Li Jianji to sit down.

Li Jianji recounted the situation of the meeting of the Great Commander's Mansion, and eagerly asked his uncle and nephew: "Yongnian, Ji Ming, I know that you southerners have brains, is there a good way?" ”

"Congratulations on joining the cabinet!" Shen Shoulian smiled and glanced at Shen Tingyang, and after pondering for a while, he said, "Erzeng's errand is not easy to do, the land outside Fengzhou has been poor since ancient times, and there are no precedents to follow in the Guan, I am afraid that we need to seek new and different things, Ji Ming said that the Taixi countries issue public bonds to help the country, maybe it can be inspired." ”

"I've heard of Taixi's public debt, it's not borrowing money, Fengzhou can't always live by borrowing money, they can't even pay back our money, how can we pay the public debt in the future?"

"You only know one thing, you don't know the other, it's because you can't afford to pay it off, you have to issue public debts, there is a lot of knowledge here, we can make a lot of money if we do it well, maybe the future politics of Fengzhou will also be our first to look forward, Ji Ming, tell Er Zeng what you know."

Shen Tingyang came over with a smile, and said that he knew about the Taixi public debt, Li Jianji was born in a generation of giant businessmen, traveled from south to north, saw a lot of things, and dealt with the Taixi people, many things were clear, and after discussing with Shen's uncle and nephew for a while, he couldn't help but clap his hands and laugh - he thought that it was nothing more than that.

The news of the Yanghe War spread all over Fengzhou in three days, and the people were stunned, the victory was expected, but no one thought that Fengzhou would help the Ming Kingdom, but it was shamelessly betrayed by the other party, and the anger completely overwhelmed the joy of victory, and the storm that should come came - thousands of people flocked to the Great Commander's Palace, asking for troops to recruit the Ming Kingdom, and there was no response, so they gathered in the square to demonstrate and petition, shouting slogans and singing, and some people simply set up tents in the square, carrying weapons and war horses to stay overnight, ready to obey the order at any time to go on the expedition.

The people who petitioned were still well-behaved, but some people were ferocious, these guys wanted to take revenge on the Ming country, and they beat the Ming people who saw the hair, and smashed the shops of the Ming merchants when they met them, and the bold ones also went to the governor's yamen and the prefect's yamen to arrest the Ming officials, fortunately Liu Zhilun was not in the governor's mansion, and Jin Sheng hid again, but a few official officials were beaten half to death. Ortai was furious when he heard the news, and ordered Han Dagong to arrest people, and the inspection department was also anxious, and when he caught the rioters, he dragged them to the square and whipped them ten times in public, which was the highest authority of the inspection department. Zhang Shi'an was even more ruthless, beheading several Jin State spies captured by the Titang Division to show the public, and warned the people that whoever dared to disobey the rules was an accomplice of Jin Kou.

A few days later, Fan Erxi came back and reported that the Jin army had been out of the Xuanfu, and Ying Erdai conveyed the attitude of Jin Khan, and made it clear that he hoped to negotiate peace with Fengzhou, Li Fugui and Ortai high-fived each other, and now they could deal with the Ming Kingdom, and immediately ordered Zhang Mengcun and Wang Fang to lead the anti-Ming elements who were stranded in the square to rush to Desheng Fort.