Chongzhen 10th June 5th Tongguan

Hong Chengchou, the military secretary of the military department of the crown prince and the imperial secretary of the right capital, and Hong Chengchou, the military governor of Shaanxi, the trilateral governor and the governor of Henan, came to Tongguan before dusk today. When he came, he did not use a guard of honor, a deacon or a gong and drum to open the way, nor did he sit in a sedan chair, but wore civilian civilian clothes, rode a horse, and mixed in the midst of a large group of staff on horseback, and suddenly came in front of the guards and guards of hundreds of cronies.

In the forty-third year of Wanli (1615), the twenty-three-year-old Hong Chengchou went to the province to participate in the township examination, and was the nineteenth person in the Chinese style of the Yimao family. The following year, he went to Beijing to take the examination, and even Jiedengke, ranked 14th in the second class of the Bingchen Branch Palace, and was given the background of Jinshi.

A few years ago, he became the governor of Shaanxi and the three sides, and he was only in his early fifties. Years of life on the horse had stained his plump and fair face with the color of wind and dust. However, Hong Chengchou has a very outstanding feature, that is, he was able to lead the army to suppress the peasant uprising on the one hand, and on the other hand, he maintained the neat clothes and elegant demeanor of camouflage. The more sophisticated he is, the more he sharpens off the edges and corners, hides the viciousness and deceit in his heart, and is able to be arrogant or impatient in the face of things, and has a far-sighted plan. It is precisely because of these strengths that his generals are willing to serve him, and the jealous Yang Sichang is not jealous of him, and the jealous and suspicious Chongzhen relies on him very much.

Prior to this, he received two edicts from the emperor and three military documents, asking him to supervise the governor Sun Chuanting and the generals in Shaanxi to quickly annihilate Li Zicheng, and then serve as the king in the starry night. Although he always exaggerated Li Zicheng's numbers in his recital to the emperor, shouting that the officials and troops were short of food and horses, and other difficulties, as if he was not sure of victory, in fact, he understood that Li Zicheng did not have many men and horses left, and he had been exhausted and isolated for a long time. He was full of hope that this success in the battle at Tongguan would relieve the imperial court of its worries and realize his unfinished ambition for several years. On the eve of leaving Xi'an, he had a lesson with several cronies and aided Luan, all of which satisfied him. Now he not only hopes to win a big victory, but also hopes to capture Li Zicheng, Liu Zongmin, Gao Guiying and others in front of the battle, and sacrifice them to His Majesty, so that the emperor will be greatly happy.

Now seeing that his wish is about to come true, the excitement in Hong Chengchou's heart is indescribable.

Came to the gate of the Daotai Yamen, Shanxi Governor Sun Chuanting has led the generals to wait in front of the house, Hong Chengchou has a teacher-student friendship with Sun Chuanting, and Hong Chengchou also appreciates Sun Chuanting's talent, so he can tolerate some of Sun Chuanting's small problems, and the cooperation between the two is quite pleasant.

Seeing that Sun Chuanting had already led the generals to greet him at the door, Hong Chengchou greeted him with a smile, "There is Governor Lao here to greet him, Hong is ashamed!" ”

Sun Chuanting said respectfully: "Your Excellency the Governor is here in Tongguan, how dare the lower officials not come, Your Excellency the Governor has been working on a saddle horse all the way, please enter and rest first." ”

The two of them joined hands in the signing room and sat down, and soon the guards stepped forward to serve tea, Hong Chengchou took a sip of the silver-white teacup, closed his eyes as if reminiscing about the mellow fragrance in his mouth, and said with emotion for a long time: "I didn't expect that the teacher would have a good red robe, so the trip to this old man for tea is worthwhile." ”

The personal relationship between the two is good, coupled with the friendship between teachers and students, and there are no outsiders at this time, Sun Chuanting is known as a teacher.

Sun Chuanting smiled: "Although this big red robe was obtained by the students with great difficulty, as long as the teacher likes it, it can be regarded as living up to the students' hard work." ”

"Hahaha......" Hong Chengchou laughed out loud and said to Sun Chuanting: "Boya, Boya, you are still as wild and uninhibited as in the past, it's really worrying, do you remember what the old man said to you in the past?" If your temper can be changed, I'm afraid the position of old man will be yours a long time ago."

Sun Chuanting smiled bitterly: "If a student changes all this, is he still a student?" ”

Hong Chengchou shook his head and said nothing, although Sun Chuanting was too sharp, and sometimes he argued with him from time to time, but Hong Chengchou could always look at the big picture and laugh at some unpleasant things, he smiled and said: "Boya, I came here with you this time to join hands with you to annihilate the thief, and the years of hard work will come to an end today." ”

"yes, it's time to finish!" Sun Chuanting nodded: "There was a group of rogues who came to the outside of Tongguan at the end of last month, originally to pick up the thieves who went east to Henan, because they came too early, and they were defeated by the students, and fled to Huguang to ask for help. The thieves didn't know about it, so they dared to rush straight to Tongguan desperately. The students have sent someone to pretend to be a rogue and carry a secret book to meet the thief, just waiting for the thief's army to come to the west of Lingbao, and it is scheduled to attack Tongguan in the Ming Dynasty, just waiting for the thief to quickly take the opportunity to kill Henan from the south of Tongguan. As a student, the thief will be overjoyed to see this secret book, and we will definitely be able to catch it at that time! ”

Seeing Sun Chuanting's confident appearance, Hong Chengchou always felt that things were not so simple, and sighed: "This matter is indeed feasible, but the old man is always a little restless today, these words must have received news from the imperial court, right?" Lu Xiangsheng died in battle, which is very bad news. ”

Sun Chuanting snorted coldly, "Gao Qi submerged the country, he should be killed, that Pang Gang killed well!" If he hadn't allocated grain and grass and didn't send troops to support, how could Lu Xiangsheng have killed the giant deer, I think that Pang Gang is very good, and he dared to lead people all the way to the capital to kill Gao Qiqian and his party. ”

Seeing that Sun Chuanting was still so rebellious, Hong Chengchou had no choice but to choose the deafness of his surname, lowered his head and drank tea by himself.

At this time, a report came from outside the door, and then a young general dressed in a deputy general's uniform, with a beautiful appearance and a handsome demeanor, opened the curtain and came to Sun Chuanting and said respectfully: "Lord Governor, this is an eight-hundred-mile urgent from the Ministry of War. ”

After speaking, the young general handed over an official letter to Sun Chuanting, and Sun Chuanting said to Hong Chengchou with a smile while opening the letter: "It seems that this is another letter from the emperor urging us to attack quickly." ”

Sun Chuanting took out the letter with a smile, looked at the letter with both eyes, and when he saw it, his smile suddenly stiffened, his lips trembled slightly, and he muttered, "This ...... This is impossible, how could the emperor transfer us back at this time, this is absolutely impossible! ”

Seeing the sudden change in Sun Chuanting's face, Hong Chengchou hurriedly took the letter in Sun Chuanting's hand, fixed his eyes, the corners of his mouth couldn't help twitching, and he lost his voice: "What, is Yang Ge crazy, how could he give such a ridiculous order to let us give up the rogue in the encirclement and defend Gyeonggi?" ”

Rao is two people who have experienced strong winds and waves, and at this moment they can't help but be surprised by this ridiculous order, on this official letter sent in the name of the Ministry of War, they can't help but sign the name of Yang Sichang, the secretary of the Ministry of War, and even the name of the first assistant Wen Tiren is also on it, and what is more important is that there is Chongzhen's seal on it, and the wording on it is harsh, ordering them to leave within two days from the moment they receive the official letter, otherwise they will be punished for collaborating with the enemy.

Such harsh wording is very rare, and it also means that there is no room for bargaining between the two and must be carried out immediately.

Looking at this official letter, Hong Chengchou's eyes were blank, and he looked at the front blankly for a while, but Sun Chuanting was so angry that he shouted: "Yang Sichang misled the country, Wen Tiren is incompetent, don't they know that if we withdraw our troops immediately at this moment, then the countless expenses spent over the years and the tens of thousands of soldiers sacrificed will be wasted!" ”

Hong Chengchou took a deep breath, slowly stood up and said sadly: "Boya, this matter can't be blamed entirely on the emperor and Yang Ge Lao, if it weren't for Lu Xiangsheng's death, how could the emperor transfer us to the capital, and you see, the emperor only gave us twenty-five days, it can be seen that time is pressing, and they have no choice!" ”

"There's no way to fart, what is the use of the hundreds of thousands of wastes spent by the imperial court every year to raise the hundreds of thousands of wastes in Jingying, it's just that it can't fight in the field, can't even defend the heavy land of Gyeonggi?"

At this moment, Hong Chengchou had calmed down, and seeing that Sun Chuanting was very emotional, he said solemnly: "Boya, calm down, the old man believes that if it weren't for the critical situation in Gyeonggi, the emperor would not let us leave everything behind and rush to the capital at this time, besides, the military order is like a mountain, you and I have to obey!" ”

"Hey!" Sun Chuanting only felt that there was no way to vent his anger, his chest swelled as if it was about to burst, and he stood up and strode out.

Looking at Sun Chuanting who went out with hatred, Hong Chengchou just smiled helplessly, he really had a helpless feeling about this violent student and subordinate.

Just when Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting received an official letter from the Ministry of War to urgently mobilize 50,000 soldiers and horses to the capital, in the eastern part of Shaanxi, in the desolate mountains north of Luonan County, on a bare hill with only a tall pine tree standing in the middle of a few large rocks, at the fork in the sheep's intestine path, there was a group of undressed cavalry, about one or two hundred people. A burly cavalryman, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and a bearded sideburns, like the statue of the Heavenly King or the statue of Lux in the ancient stone carving art of Longmen, with a solemn and majestic demeanor, riding motionlessly on a horse, holding the reins with one hand and holding a red flag tightly with the other. This large flag carries a banner tassel made of snow-white horsehair and a silver spear with a white light, and the center of the flag is embroidered with a large character "Chuang" in black satin.

Under this banner, a man in his thirties was standing under the flag, looking intently into the distance......

(To be continued)