Chapter 87 Significance

On the eleventh day of December in the fourth year of Chongzhen, ten miles south of Ruanjiadian, an army was marching without jīng, and it was the standard battalion of the governor of Shandong who was ordered to chase after the Denglai soldiers. Both sides of the official road were full of refugees who had just run out of the area where the rebellion was raging, and were about to flee south to Jinan.

As the strongest battalion soldiers in Shandong Province, they are actually only a little better than the Weisuo Army, it is said that Shandong has always produced a strong army, and there have been military geniuses like Qi Jiguang, but at this time in the late Ming Dynasty, Shandong has always been not taken seriously, because there is no major military threat around them, the imperial court does not give silver, and no matter how good the source of soldiers is, they cannot train a strong army.

When Xu Hongru rebelled, some talents emerged, and the fastest rise was Yang Guodong, who was promoted to the general army of Denglai by killing demons, and now went to Tongzhou as a general soldier, during the battle of the four cities, Shandong general soldier Yang Zhaoji took Liu Zeqing and a group of people to guard the Santun camp, and did not soften against Amin, which was regarded as a name for the Shandong soldiers, but the troops immediately followed Yang Zhaoji's son to Zhili, and there was still no reliable battalion in Shandong.

Now in Shandong, the standard camp can barely fight, so Yu Dacheng mobilized them to punch Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng, one foot and two feet long under the red flag of the general is an eight-lift sedan chair, is swaying and walking, eight sedan chair drivers spew white gas, according to the frequency of the sedan chair up and down shaking to adjust the pace, in order to save the body, behind them are another eight sedan chair drivers.

The curtain of the sedan chair was rolled open to reveal a face with fine skin and tender flesh, and a handful of beautiful hair on his chin made him look completely like a civilian official, but he was actually a military attaché, that is, Shen Tingyu, the general of the Shandong pacesetter battalion who led this army.

Shen Tingyu looked left and right, and asked lazily, "Where is this going?" ”

A family leader came over and said respectfully: "Lord Hui, it's almost time to Ruan's store." ”

Shen Tingyu couldn't figure out where Ruan's shop was, so he yawned and said: "Sue sù ahead, don't go so fast, his mother's Denglai soldiers should go to Dengzhou Town to fight, and Guan Laozi Shandong Biaoying bullshit." ”

"What the lord said is, if you want to say that those Liao people are too, they can't beat Jiannu to come to our Shandong, every year our Shandong political secretary provides the Bensè of Denglai Dongjiang, that's a lot of effort, you say they should be content, but they are still restless, so we have to go this far way in winter." The head of the family lowered his voice and said: "My lord, the killing over there in Xincheng is miserable, more than half of Wang Xiang's family is dead, these Denglai soldiers are black, we have to go slowly." ”

Shen Tingyu flattened his mouth, he deeply sympathized with the words of the leader of the family, if it weren't for Kong Youde's gang to make trouble, he should be in the warm room, holding a few concubines comfortably smoking Wen Dengxiang, where is this icy and snowy appearance.

"Okay, let's follow them and send them out of Qingzhou Mansion, which is the place of Denglai." Shen Tingyu suppressed the dissatisfaction in his heart, turned his head to see that the family was still beside him, stretched out his hand from the sedan chair and hit him on the head and scolded: "You dog, tell you to send an order to let them go slowly, and they are busy reincarnating." ”

The leader of the family hurriedly ran to the side, punching and kicking to urge several other family members, several family members hurriedly rode on their horses, shouting all the way to inform the people in front, Shen Tingyu closed the thick curtains, and muttered two sentences. Although his palanquin was not large, it was quite complete in it, and there was wine and meat on the small table in front of him.

Shen Tingyu lit a Wen Dengxiang, and after taking a puff of smoke, he sighed comfortably, leaning on the table and chair to recuperate, in the poor mountain and bad water place in Dengzhou, the only thing that can make him feel a little good is Wen Dengxiang.

Just walked for a short while, there were bursts of crying outside, mixed with some loud scolding, Shen Tingyu lazily finished his cigarette, there was still crying outside, he impatiently opened the curtains again, and the cold wind poured in with snowflakes, making Shen Tingyu's body shiver.

Shen Tingyu angrily called the leader of the family and scolded: "Shen Fa is dead, grab something and make it earth-shattering, let Lao Tzu rest, go and tell him personally, don't fucking toss around, do something useful." ”

The leader of the family nodded and said: "Lord Shen sent someone to come just now, and the villain was afraid that he would disturb the adult's rest, so he sent it back, and he said that he was looking for a few yellow flower girls and wanted to send them to honor the adult." ”

Shen Tingyu's face changed, and he scolded: "You dog, what are you sending back for, why don't you send him over quickly." ”

The head of the leader of the family shrank, and he crawled away, Shen Tingyu had been looking in that direction expectantly, the crying over there was getting louder and louder, but the woman had not yet come, Shen Tingyu couldn't help but be a little dissatisfied with their efficiency, and then there was a sudden buzzing sound in front, which turned into an earth-shattering shout after a while.

Shen Tingyu was about to curse, but the leader of the family had already stumbled back, and he couldn't help but stop the sedan chair and drag Shen Tingyu down.

"You're a, you're a fart."

"The Denglai soldiers are here, run quickly."

Shen Tingyu turned his eyes to look north, and saw groups of standard soldiers and refugees surging in, and some cavalry was faintly visible behind him.

"Run!" Shen Tingyu's movements became extremely fast, snatching a family's horse, drawing out his waist knife and slashing the soldiers and civilians blocking the road all the way, and fled south......

On a hill in the distance, the brave Li Jiu set up a horse on the top of the mountain, looked at the standard battalion soldiers who trampled on each other in the rout, and laughed: "Chop melons and vegetables." ”

Kong Youde looked at him with a different gaze, Li Jiucheng was better than him in the war after all, Li Jiucheng estimated early that he would send troops to Jinan, and sent sentry horses to pretend to be refugees to scout the west and south, and really found the Shandong army, and then he took the cavalry to attack, and defeated the Shandong standard battalion.

Li Jiucheng looked disdainful, "Brother Kong, the Shandong soldiers are just like this, far inferior to our Liaomin, even Nawen Deng's camp, I think it is also in vain, several military exploits may be fake heads, and the court is just hiding people's eyes." This official really wants to have a trick with Chen Xin. ”

Kong Youde hurriedly shook his hand and said: "I can't help it, you are a person who fights old battles, whether the soldiers are strong or not, you can know at a glance, what is the matter with the imperial court, and the idea of Wendeng camp, you can't fight, at least I will never agree." ”

Li Jiucheng snorted dissatisfied, pulled out his mace and shouted: "Kill all the Shandong soldiers with Lao Tzu." Kill! After that, he clamped the horse's belly and chased the tail of the Shandong soldier and killed it directly-

Outside Lingxian County, a Flying Tiger Army flag passed between the blackened broken walls, the front and rear were a group of people marching quietly, the roadside was full of local residents who had lost their homes, sitting on the ground with blank eyes, and when they saw the Ming army coming, they fled in panic into the remaining houses, and only the Wendeng camp was left on the official road.

Chen Xin took the guards to the north gate and walked to the city, the city gate was opened, and the people inside saw that it was the army, and they were scattered, the houses in the city were dense, and most of the houses were burned down by a fire when the hole retreated.

There were some corpses left on the side of the road that no one had to pick up, all of them were people who had no relatives or friends, Zhu Guobin rode a few steps and whispered to Chen Xin: "My lord, do you want the soldiers to bury the corpses?" ”

Chen Xin paused for a moment before saying, "You are the commander of the march, you decide for yourself." ”

Zhu Guobin glanced around, estimated the workload, and said: "Then the subordinate asked the soldiers to camp outside the city to rest, and the auxiliary soldiers went to help bury them after the camp was completed, and only buried near the north gate, the auxiliary soldiers also need to rest." ”

Chen Xin nodded encouragingly, "Then do what you want." ”

Zhu Guobin agreed, turned back to the staff officer and instructed, Chen Xin was more satisfied with Zhu Guobin's arrangement, most of his subordinates were reckless men before, without any military command foundation, especially lacking the ability to make decisions, so he let Zhu Guobin command this time, even if he sometimes felt that something was slightly inappropriate, he only recorded it, and planned to discuss it with Zhu Guobin after returning to Wendeng.

Zhu Guobin went to arrange camping and letting go, Chen Xin continued to move forward, grabbed a common man to ask for the way, and went to the original county office in Ling County surrounded by the guards, which was also lit on fire, but the residence behind was not burned, he stepped over the collapsed gate and entered the rear.

Chen Xin took the sea dog and others around the courtyard, each room was in a mess, furniture cabinets were poured all over the ground, there were still blackened blood stains on the ground under the corridor, but there were a few more graves in the garden.

The guards dragged out a servant-like person from a room in the east wing and brought it to Chen Xin, Chen Xin turned to him and asked, "What about the county magistrate?" ”

The people didn't know if these soldiers were rebels again, and he was so frightened that he couldn't incontinence, and his teeth chattered and he made a strange sound.

Chen Xin shouted impatiently: "Zhao Xuan, appease him and let him talk well." ”

This time, Zhao Xuan, the deputy chief instructor, came out at the order, pulled the people aside, and explained in a soft and low voice, saying that his group of people was not a chaotic army, but a civilized army and a mighty army, so that the people could only talk, and finally temporarily took two taels of silver to the people from the quartermaster.

The man calmed down and replied in a low voice: "The whole family of the county magistrate has been killed, and a few servants who escaped his life have come back and transported his body out of the city, and everyone is worried that the rebels will come back and do not want to stay in the city for a long time, and the rest of the corpses are hurriedly buried in the courtyard." ”

Chen Xin didn't speak, they came all the way from Wu County, where there were towns and cities were looted and burned, and the loss of shelter in winter meant death for many people, Kong Youde's rebellious soldiers formed a new flow of displaced people, and their flow was mainly to Dezhou and Jinan. There are many rumors along the way, some say that there are ten rooms and nine empty rooms in Changyi, Lingxian County, and some say that Zhixian County surrendered, and so on.

So as soon as Chen Xin arrived outside the city, he rushed to the county office, who knew that the county was really dead, and Li Jiucheng did a good job, just because he dared to kill the civil official, he didn't plan to leave a way out for himself.

Chen Xin walked around the courtyard, knowing that he couldn't inquire about anything, and planned to go back to the barracks to rest, but Zhu Guobin hurriedly rushed in and shouted: "My lord, there is a messenger who has come to announce the decree, and he has already found it, and he will come as soon as he speaks." ”

Chen Xin was stunned for a moment, this Qin Cha was quite bold, he dared to come to the front line at this time, and hurriedly ordered the incense case to be placed left and right, fortunately, these things are available in the county government, and no one will rob them.

As soon as he got it done, a young eunuch wearing a black gauze appeared at the door, and as soon as he saw where everyone was standing, he went straight to Chen Xin and asked, "This is General Chen." ”

Chen Xin looked at the eunuch twice, afraid that he was only fifteen or sixteen years old, but after all, he was representing the emperor, and said politely: "It's the lower official, I don't know what to call the angel?" After asking, he swept his eyes at the eunuch's entourage, and found that Zhang Dahui was also inside.

The young eunuch smiled heartily, "If it's really majestic, it's no wonder that the general is not even afraid of Jiannu." The emperor said that General Chen knows how to understand the sacred heart and understand grace, and the name of our family is the same as the general, called Wang Chengen. ”

"Wang Xiaogonggong understands these truths at such a young age, that is a natural loyalty, but the lower officials only understand it in their twenties, if you want to talk about it, it should be that the people around the emperor have been with the emperor for a long time, and they have also been stained with aura, otherwise how can they be so insightful." Chen Xin hurriedly recalled that it should be the eunuch who accompanied Chongzhen to hang, but he didn't expect Wang Chengen to be so young.

Wang Chengen saw that Chen Xin could speak, and said with a smile: "The lower officials should announce the decree first, and there is time for General Chen to talk in detail." ”

After Wang Chengen stood in front of the incense case and stood south, Chen Xin first kowtowed five times, then beckoned everyone to kneel on the ground and kowtow four times, and then knelt down to listen to the order after raising his head.

Wang Chengen waited for them to kowtow, unfolded a silk silk brocade holy decree, about half a meter wide, more than one meter long, and with yellow, red and blue three sè intervals, this kind of multi-sè holy decree is generally used for five or more appointments, lower level only with a single sè holy decree, in the three kinds of bottom sè on the top is also embroidered with white sè auspicious clouds, in the middle is the neat block letters written by the text, the left and right sides are the seal script written "Fengtian edict" several big characters.

Wang Chengen held the holy decree and said loudly: "Fengtian carries the emperor, the edict says: Jianbu jumped beams, more than ten years, recently more rampant, vainly trying to attack Dongjiang Town and the country of my vassal, Lai Wendeng battalion general Chen Xin Yuyun from the island a drum to destroy, beheaded 700 and captured the mountain Ezhen one, is an unprecedented victory since the East Incident, now check Chen Xinxiang hard work, liver and gall, repeatedly won great achievements, I am very relieved. Chen Xin was promoted to the deputy general of Dengzhou Town, the governor of the Left Army's Governor's Office, awarded the rank of Protector Order, and was promoted to General Jinwu in the scattered ranks, and found out that Chen Xinzheng's wife Zhao Xiangxian was virtuous and virtuous, and was awarded the wife of the Sanpin Command, and the first son of Yin was the Jinyi Wei Qianhu, still in charge of the Wendeng camp, and issued 10,000 gold to the army, which was admired. ”

Chen Xin heard that it was okay, the benefits of this Mi Island had finally come down, but there were not many substantial things, and he didn't even mention the head reward, and the 10,000 internal money was only enough to stuff his teeth......

Chen Xin and the others said loudly according to the etiquette system: "Long live, long live, long live!" Taking everyone to kowtow eight more times before standing up, Wang Chengen smiled and offered the holy decree with both hands, and Chen Xin carefully put it away. Glancing at Zhao Xuan, Zhao Xuan immediately came to the quartermaster's side, and the quartermaster immediately went to the side and began to prepare the silver.

Wang Chengen didn't want to stay in Lingxian County for longer, so he smiled at Chen Xin and said, "Since it has been delivered to the general, our family has already done an errand, so I will leave and return to Beijing." ”

Chen Xin naturally couldn't let him leave like this, and hurriedly said: "It is difficult for the little father-in-law to go out of Beijing once, and it has always been hard to serve the emperor, although we and other martial artists have the intention of serving the emperor, but how can I be as meticulous as my father-in-law, and the last general thinks that my father-in-law has served the emperor well, which is a great blessing for our courtiers, and I also ask my father-in-law to take care of some people's feelings, and let the emperor check the situation of the people." ”

Wang Chengen was naturally willing to come out for a walk, but he looked around with some hesitation, there was really nothing to stay in the messy Ling County.

Chen Xin called Zhang Dahui, and said to Wang Chengen: "This march is fierce and dangerous, the people along the way are displaced, and most of them go to Dezhou. ”

Although Wang Chengen is young, he has been in the palace for a long time, and he has always followed Cao Huachun, and he understands the ways of officialdom, Dezhou is only dozens of miles away from Ling County, and it is a very rich place in Shandong, the city is thick and not in the direction of the rebellion, it should be safe, and there is fun to be found, so he squinted and agreed.

His status in the palace is acceptable, but he has not yet been respected by the emperor, and the general ministers only regard him as Cao Huachun's follower, he usually acts as Cao Huachun's liaison, and is very familiar with Zhang Dahui and others, and he is originally relatively close to Wendengying.

He was used to being clean and clean in the palace, and he was extremely unhappy with the mess in Lingxian County, so he hurriedly said goodbye, and Zhang Dahui didn't even have time to say a few words to Chen Xin, so he could only accompany Wang Chengen to leave.

Chen Xin wanted to send Wang Chengen, Wang Chengen shook his hand vigorously and said: "General Chen is busy with himself, when our family comes out, the emperor has an explanation, and he can't make trouble for the general. Hey, I heard that the Xincheng Wang's family was slaughtered, so you can talk about these Qiu Ba. I still have Lord Chen's Wendeng camp, our family came all the way, the people and officials praised it, these people's feelings are the most real, our family must tell the emperor when we go back, General Chen will please stay, and our family will go first. ”

Chen Xin no longer insisted, and called Zhang Dahui and said loudly: "General Assembly, then you accompany Wang Xiaogonggong to Dezhou on behalf of the official, Wang Xiaogonggong waits hard for the emperor, be sure to let Wang Xiaogonggong stay for more time and use Zhang Dahui to block Wang Chengen's sight, and come out with a finger."

Zhang Dahui said a thousand words with his mouth, and Chen Xin nodded slightly, indicating that he would send a thousand taels of silver. Zhang Dahui was a little surprised, this Wang Chengen can't be regarded as powerful, one thousand taels is really more, this time Song Wenxian asked himself to accompany him, in fact, he also sent a letter and gave Cao Huachun face, not really fell in love with this Wang Chengen. However, Chen Xin opened his mouth, and Zhang Dahui had no choice but to do so, he hurriedly took out a letter from Song Wenxian and handed it to Chen Xin, and then followed the carriage away. Chen Xin stood and saw Wang Chengen off until the carriage disappeared around the corner of the dilapidated street.

The sea dog smiled behind his back and said: "The adult has been promoted again, and when Li Jiucheng finishes tossing, the adult should be promoted to the general soldier." He was basically present with what Chen Xin was doing, and he knew that Chen Xin had already prepared, so he didn't take Li Jiucheng and the others to heart at all.

Chen Xin held the heavy holy decree in his hand, turned his head to look at the several graves between the rubble and was silent for a moment, and suddenly asked the sea dog: "Dog, is human life valuable?" ”

Hai Gouzi didn't think twice, "Yes, the official's life is expensive, I used to be a beggar and my life was not worth much, but now it can be worth dozens of taels, well, no, it should be worth a hundred taels." ”

Chen Xin smiled strangely, shook his head lightly and said, "Then do you think that what is valuable is life itself or the connotation of life, or the so-called meaning?" ”

The sea dog's head tilted a few times, "Anyway, I have one life, to live is to live, to die is to count the ball, I don't understand the rest, I listen to adults." ”

Chen Xin looked down at the holy decree in his hand, "Actually, I don't understand it either." (To be continued.)