When the little leader saw that he was no longer cursing in the village, he boldly took a few steps forward, and a nervous shout came from the wall: "What are you doing? If you get closer, you will release the arrows! “

"I don't mean anything malicious!" The little leader raised his hands, showing that there was no weapon in his hand, he took out a cloth bag from his arms with a smile, and said with a smile: "I made a little fortune outside, and everyone is a spoon in a pot, this is a little heart!" As he spoke, he threw the cloth bag into it, and a half-sized man picked it up in front of the one-armed soldier, and when he opened it, he saw that there were six or seven pieces of broken silver, which added up to five or six taels. The military man looked at the silver, his face looked a little better, and asked, "Since this is the case, then thank you very much, just ask if you have anything, and I will tell you if I know." ”

"That's a good dare, all the way we came to the villages on both sides of the road are gone, and there are only women and children in many villages, what's going on?"

"You don't know? It is said that there are seventy or eighty thousand horsemen, and many villages have been broken, and even the Ningxia Mansion City has been besieged, Du Wenhuan Du has been seriously injured, and Guyuan City has ordered that the men in the stockade east of the city are more than sixteen and less than sixty, all of them go to Guyuan City. For the sake of the silver, I advise you, turn around, the Tartars don't distinguish whether you are a thief or an official soldier! “

Hearing this astonishing news, the little leader opened his mouth wide and was speechless for a while. He is also born in the border army, it can be said that he was born to know swords and guns, and he will hold a bow and crossbow after he grows up, and the Tatar into the fortress is similar to the wind and rain for him, and every autumn when the horses are fat, the Mongols on the northern steppe, and the Tibetan and Qiang tribes in the west will come to loot the harvest in the Han people's fields to compensate for the lack of food in winter. But it is usually the scale of three or five thousand people, and tens of thousands is very rare, such as this kind of seventy or eighty thousand horsemen to the city of Ningxia Mansion, which has not been seen for decades.

"Thank you, brother!" The little leader arched his hand towards the stockade. Then he turned and struck his horse. He came to Cao Cao and Li Guo and repeated the inquiring soldier.

"How so!" Li Guo sighed: "After years of disasters, and encountering the Tartar breaking the edge, it is really bad luck!" ”

Cao Cao was silent, Li Guo thought that he was worried about the invasion of Mongolia and the road ahead, so he rewarded the little leader and let him retreat, and when others retreated, he persuaded in a low voice: "Don't worry too much, big boss, as the saying goes, 'there is no endless road to heaven'." Together, you and I can always find a way out. “

"Hahaha!" Cao Cao suddenly laughed: "The road of heaven is endless, Brother Li, you said this well, well!" God really doesn't want me to die, but wants me to do a great job! He saw that Li Guo's face was full of worry, and said with a smile: "Good brother, do you think that my old Luo has lost his heart and gone crazy, don't you?" Tartar breaking the edge is a good thing for us, a great thing! ”

"Tartar into the edge. We can't go forward, and there are officers and soldiers behind us, how can this be a good thing? ”

Cao Cao shook his head with a smile and asked, "Brother Li." What kind of official do you say Hong Chengchou should be? “

"Naturally, it's the Trilateral Governor, what's wrong?"

"Shine! Since he is the governor of the tripartite, the most important thing is to resist those Mongol Tatars, and dealing with us is only the second most important. Right now, the Tartars are breaking the edges. Do you think he still has the kung fu to deal with us? “

Li Guo couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, if today's political terminology is to say: Hong Chengchou's main job is to deal with foreign enemies in the northwest, and suppressing these thieves is just temporary work. This can be seen from the fact that the garrison of the trilateral governors was in Guyuan at the foot of Liupan Mountain instead of Xi'an, and since the Mongol troops had all hit the city of Ningxia, Hong Chengchou had to shift the focus of his work to resist the invasion of foreign enemies, which was undoubtedly a great thing for Li Guo and them. However, Li Guo is still a little at a loss for the future.

"So what should we do?"

"Naturally, I should hurry back and take advantage of the fact that the leaders of the other families have not surrendered yet!" Cao Cao said with a smile: "We also understand the thoughts of the leaders of each family, we are not only afraid that they will not be able to defeat the official army and be wiped out, but also worried that they will end up with a god and not muddy after surrendering to the official army. Hong Chengchou won the beautiful this time, and the spear was stabbed to the tip of the nose, and everyone was disorganized, so they had to dismount and surrender. But if I bring this news back, everyone will hear that Hong Chengchou will not be angry for a few days, then who would want to get off the horse and be a grandson, and put his head in other people's hands and worry all day long? Everyone burns a stove of incense together, kowtows to be brothers, pushes a leader, fights to Shanxi together, and lives a few days of lawless and happy life? Speaking of this, Cao Cao shouted loudly: "Someone, pass the order, the armies turn around, let's go back!" ”

Looking at Cao Cao's excited face, Li Guo's eyes appeared in front of his eyes with the round eyes that stared at the fifth lady when she was killed. Yes, the Tartars broke the border and led away the officials and soldiers, and they could escape from death, but what about the women who were killed by Cao Cao for "light clothing"? As long as there are people and horses, Cao Cao can have more "fifth ladies", "sixth ladies" and even "seventh ladies" and "eighth ladies", but it is impossible for the dead to come back to life. Thinking of this, Li Guoping felt confused for the first time in his life.

"Brother Li, what do you want!" Cao Cao saw that Li Guo was in a daze, and laughed loudly: "I'm afraid I'm not dizzy?" This time, I plan to cross the Yellow River to Shanxi according to your uncle's method, but we have to write a letter first to stabilize those dogs, otherwise we won't be able to set off big waves with our little people! “

Li Guo nodded, he shook his head vigorously, as if to get rid of the confusion in his heart, beat the horse and followed, and said to himself in the depths of his heart: "I'm sorry, but I'm just trying to live." “

Huan County.

For Hong Chengchou, fate is like a willful madwoman, He Huchen's death will knock him into the abyss, and Liu Cheng quickly beheaded the old man and returned to the back, and Ge Liyan lifted him to the peak, but just sent an urgent Tang newspaper knocked him down from the peak to the abyss: Mengbu Khan Hudun Rabbit rode into Kou with 70,000 horses, broke through dozens of fortresses along the border, surrounded Ningxia Fucheng, Du Wenhuan was seriously injured, unconscious, and Guyuan was in danger. Every word on the newspaper was like a heavy fist hitting his head dizzy, as a high-ranking imperial bureaucrat who knew a lot about border affairs, Hong Chengchou knew better than others the great danger hidden behind these few lines.

The sweat of the tiger dun rabbit was the Ming people at that time to the children of the only catty. The transliteration abbreviation of Khutuktu Khan of Lindan Batur and Chahar Department, this person is the Lindan Khan mentioned in later generations. In terms of strength, this person is not the strongest among the Mongolian tribes on the steppe, but this person is a descendant of Genghis Khan's Tore line, the seventh grandson of Dayan Khan. If it was on the grassland before the twelfth century AD, the name of a descendant of the overlord of the steppe hundreds of years ago could be said to be worthless. Liu Yuan of the Western Jin Dynasty was obviously a Huns. but insisted on recognizing An Le Gong as his ancestor; Who would claim to be a descendant of the Great Khan in the Tang Dynasty? Climbing relatives is a habit that only civilized people will have, and it is the most realistic on the prairie that follows the naked law of the jungle, the Huns won the Huns, everyone is the Huns, the Xianbei people won the battle and everyone became the Xianbei people, the past only belongs to the past, and it is worthless for the present and the future. This situation did not change until the advent of Genghis Khan, the greatest conqueror in human history, who completely changed the law of the steppe - only the descendants of the Golden Family could become the Great Khan, even with the strength of the Tile Thorn, who was killed by himself after killing the nominal Great Khan of Mongolia at that time, and the Tile Empire he established fell apart. The Eruts were forced to move westward and were expelled from the center of power in the steppes. Later, Dayan Khan, who revived the Mongol Empire, strengthened this iron law, and while dividing the princes, he also gave the descendants of his eldest son, Tuluborot, the power to rule the Chahar tribe and the Mongol Great Khan. Although the Mongol tribes fell apart after Dayan Khan's death, Lin Dan Khan, a direct descendant of his eldest son, was undoubtedly the closest to the throne of the Mongol Great Khan. Since he ascended the throne of the Great Khan in 1604, he has been planning to restore the unity of the Mongol tribes, and due to the rise of the Later Jin, Lin Dan Khan adopted the strategy of uniting the Ming Empire to contain the Later Jin and use the main forces to unify the Mongol tribes. Year 1627. Lin Dan Khan led his headquarters to move westward, intending to avoid the Jin soldiers behind him, and pacify the right flank of Ordos Wanhu (present-day Yikezhao League), Menggoljin Wanhu (present-day Daqingshan Xiatumute area), and Yongshao Buwanhu (present-day Zhangjiakou north of Zhangjiakou). But this also provoked opposition from the Mongol tribes, and in April 1632 (the fifth year of Chongzhen). Huang Taiji united with the Mongolian Horqin, Zalut, Balin, Naiman, Aohan, Karaqin (Harashen), Tumut, Alu Korqin, Wengniut, Asuut and other troops on the banks of the Xilamulun River, totaling more than 100,000 people, to prepare for the crusade against Lin Dan Khan. At that time, two Mongolian herdsmen escaped by stealing horses and reported the news to Lin Dan Khan, who was located outside Xuanfu, not far from Datong. Due to the disparity in strength, he had to lead his troops to cross the Yellow River to the west and escape, and the troops lost along the way. Heavy losses, lack of food. To compensate for the losses, Lin Dan Khan launched this invasion. Although his strength was much weaker than before, this victory would evoke the memories of many Mongol tribes of his illustrious ancestors, and there was never a shortage of hungry outlaws in the steppe, and if they were not quickly repulsed, the northwest frontier of the Ming Dynasty would be left without peace for a long time to come.

"General Liu, what do you think should be done?" Hong Chengchou asked in a low voice, after learning the news, he did not convene the generals as usual, but recruited Liu Cheng alone, the reason is very simple, Liu Cheng is the only mobile force under his command that can be deployed immediately, he knows very well that the situation in Ningxia Mansion is so bad that it can not be delayed any longer, if Ningxia Mansion is captured, all the forces will be pressed on Guyuan, if Guyuan is lost again, then the Mongolian cavalry will go down the Jinghe River valley and pass through Jingzhou, Chang'an is already undefensible.

Liu Cheng didn't answer immediately, he put Tang Bao aside, his eyes slightly closed as if he was thinking about something, according to the political conventions at the time, it was extremely rude for a military general to make such a move in front of a civil official who was his boss, but Hong Chengchou did not show a trace of unhappiness, he showed great patience and waited for Liu Cheng silently.

"Your Excellency, the situation is terrible." Liu Cheng finally spoke, he picked up the newspaper again, and said in a low voice: "Very bad. ”

"The situation is indeed extremely critical!" Hong Chengchou nodded: "So I hope that General Liu, you will immediately lead the men and horses of your headquarters to Ningxia Mansion to help, without further ado, please set off as soon as possible!" ”

"Then who is the positive and the deputy between me and General Du?"

Hong Chengchou's face turned slightly cold, and then he smiled and said: "Lord Liu, you are a guest army, so naturally you are based on General Du's soldiers." “

Liu Cheng didn't let go, and continued to ask: "Then if Master Du is not in good health, who is the positive and who is the deputy?" Speaking of this, he paused: "Lord Hong, it's not that the last general is greedy for power, but the most taboo in the art of war is the difference in power, if Lord Du is not injured, it doesn't hurt for me to be deployed by him, but the Tang newspaper said that he was seriously injured, that is, the deputy chief soldier is the commander, and the order is the same as mine, there must be someone who can call the shots!" “

According to the military system of the late Ming Dynasty, it was usually civilian officials, military generals in charge of the army, and eunuchs in charge of the army, and the three checked each other so as not to threaten the imperial power. The reason why Liu Cheng has not supervised the army now is because his original official position was too small, and then he was promoted to the rank of the firing line, and he was promoted too quickly, and he didn't have time to send eunuchs, and now he saw that he meant to promote the power of the generals, Hong Chengchou couldn't help but feel a little unhappy in his heart, and he raised his voice slightly: "Lord Liu, the ancestral law is here, you first hurry up to help Ningxia Mansion, this official has finished dealing with the thieves, and he will naturally go to Guyuan to supervise the battle for the army!" “

When Liu Cheng heard Hong Chengchou say this, he still didn't understand what the other party meant, and said with a smile: "Since the governor has made arrangements, the last general will not say much, and will send troops tomorrow, but there is one thing that the lord of the army should agree to." ”

Hong Chengchou saw that Liu Cheng did not send troops to push back and block, and he was relieved in his heart, although there was no situation in the Ming army that the kind of military generals regarded military orders as child's play after Chongzhen twelve years, and civilian officials were helpless to take the military generals, but at this time, if Liu Cheng found a reason to delay, Hong Chengchou really had no way to take him, after all, this army could be said to be pulled up by Liu Cheng single-handedly, it was easy to kill him, and it would be difficult to find someone to replace Liu Cheng to lead the troops to Ningxia Mansion. As long as this major event is agreed, it is also the proper meaning of the question to ask for some benefits at this juncture.

"General Liu, please speak, as long as the official office can get it, it will definitely be accepted!" Hong Chengchou tried his best to make his tone more amiable, trying to make up for Fang Cai's categorical refusal to cause damage to the relationship between the two. (To be continued.) )