There was no rest during the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Ming Dynasty, and it was only because of a big victory just now, and the yamen gave an unprecedented day of vacation in order to reward the soldiers.

Early in the morning of 16 August, Zhu Ping'an's headquarters resumed training. The morning sun had just revealed half of his head, and the morning dew soon wet the clothes of the soldiers, and the white steam above the heads of more than 300 people was spectacular. Wang Jinfa dragged at the back of the line, like a dead dog who was about to be paralyzed.

"Watch the queue! Keep your breathing pacious! Zhu Ping'an was dressed in a short dress, covered with light armor, and like all the soldiers, he carried a marching package and a saber on his back, and ran at the forefront of the team.

The surrounding residents were already surprised by this, and no one was watching nearby, except for two shepherd boys, who had risen early to herd cattle, lying on the crossbar by the gate of the school yard with great interest, watching happily.

Hong Fatzi and King Mafu were not in the queue, and early, they drove the more than 200 war horses of various colors that the Baihu Institute currently owned to the foot of Phoenix Mountain, which is a valuable resource for the Baihu Institute at present. Among them, some were originally obtained from Duan Xinian, and most of them were the trophies of this battle.

Hong Fatzi and King Mafu are very precious to these war horses, and they can't wait to sleep in the stables every day, and they are even more diligent in brushing and feeding every day. There was no fine feed in the barracks, and it could not be found even in the entire Fengyang City, so the two of them had the idea of Phoenix Mountain, where the water and grass were abundant, and it was a good place for grazing, but because it was close to the imperial tomb, it was never allowed to enter without permission. This is because Zhu Ping'an spent some gold and silver to buy off the officers of the New Army to protect the tomb, so that he was able to get a "exclusive pasture".

Zhu Ping'an was still a little uneasy. This is not for the sake of being in the limelight at the celebration banquet of the governor's yamen before, but not far from Fengyang, and the eight kings of the thieves and heroes who are raging in the state generation - Zhang Xianzhong.

When attacking the camp of the Chinese army in a gust of wind that day, more than 100 cavalrymen encountered head-on, led by Zhang Kewang, were beaten by Zhu Ping'an and vomited blood and fell off his horse, and then were rescued by the young man named Zhang Rujing.

These two people are not nobodies, and they can be regarded as figures who can stir the world in the history of Nanming. Of course, now they are just fledglings, and there is nothing to be afraid of Zhu Ping'an. But behind them there is a figure who is terrifying to the people of the world, that is their father-in-law, Zhang Xianzhong, who later established the Onishi regime.

This man is known for his narrow-mindedness, retribution, and murderous cruelty, and if he is targeted by him because of a gust of wind, it is definitely not a good thing to be thankful for.

Fortunately, I got the news yesterday that after Zhang Xianzhong's troops conquered Hezhou, they fell into a bitter battle with Shi Kefa, the imperial envoy of Luzhou and Taiping. Shi Kefa personally put on armor and carried out the sharp, organized Huanggang, Qianshan, Tongcheng and other defenders to jointly defend against the enemy, and dragged Zhang Xianzhong firmly in the local area, several fierce battles, mutual casualties, but Zhang Xianzhong had nothing to do.

Only then did Zhu Ping'an put his mind at ease, joined Zhang Xianzhong in annoyance and shame, and personally waved his army to Fengyang, which could not be defended. Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but be inexplicably grateful to Shi Kefa.

As everyone knows, at this time, Shi Kefa was also grateful for Fengyang's good news. Originally, after receiving the news of Fengyang's urgency, the Nanjing Military Department ordered Shi Kefa's department to reinforce it, but because of Zhang Xianzhong's onslaught, Shi Kefa could not mobilize troops to support Fengyang for a while. In addition, Shi Kefa was also worried that he was deeply afraid that Fengyang would fall, and the 30,000 army with a gust of wind would turn around and march eastward, and the Taiping line would be dangerous and abnormal.

It's good now, the thieves were wiped out under Fengyang City by a gust of wind, and even if Zhang Xianzhong was fierce, he could only fight alone at this time, so that Shi Kefa's pressure was reduced a lot.

As soon as the marching training is over, there is a time to rest for a stick of incense, followed by platoon training and assassination training. These were arranged by Yue Jinfeng and the three Xiaoqi brothers of the Zhang family. 、

Before Zhu Ping'an had time to remove his armor, Duan Xinian came on a horse in an official uniform, and pulled Zhu Ping'an to leave, "Quick, the will of the imperial court has arrived at the governor's yamen, Lord Lu has an order, let you and I hurry up to receive the order!" ”

……

Although Lu Zhenfei didn't like flattery and luxury, he also followed the rules, bathed and changed clothes, burned incense and set up cases, and invited the eunuch Lu Jiude and the Fengyang prefect, the political envoy, and the chief officials such as the inspection envoy to come one by one, and saw Duan Xinian and Zhu Ping'an dressed neatly and standing at the end of the queue, so he nodded with satisfaction, stood up and asked a dusty green-clothed eunuch to start announcing the decree.

The words of the holy decree are gorgeous and obscure, but Zhu Ping'an heard the final reward clearly. It can be seen from the content of the holy decree that Emperor Chongzhen was extremely happy about this Fengyang victory. After all, the thieves have plagued Shanxi and Beizhili for many years, and it is rare that there is a record of annihilating 30,000 bandits this time, and the emperor is naturally a dragon-faced Dayue, so he will definitely not hesitate to reward.

The commander of the high wall guard, Duan Xinian, as the main general of the decisive battle out of the city, naturally made great contributions, and was promoted to the commander of the second grade Fengyang Guard. The commander of Fengyang Weidu and the two commanders were ordered to die after the thieves conquered Fengyang in the eighth year of Chongzhen, and these three positions are still vacant until now. Duan Xinian's appointment as a commander this time is equivalent to occupying the highest military attache position in Fengyang Mansion, which can be said to be the biggest beneficiary this time.

Duan Xinian couldn't help crying with joy, knelt on the ground, kowtowed like pounding garlic, and thanked Tianen vigorously, but in the end, the eunuch who was holding the decree couldn't stand it anymore, so people helped him up.

The other Fengyang civil and military forces also have rewards, and Lu Zhenfei was promoted to the left deputy envoy of Zheng Sanpin, and continued to patrol and rebuild Fengyang.

As for Zhu Ping'an's reward, it was placed at the end. Promoted to the high wall guard, he commanded the same knowledge from the fourth rank, and took charge of the high wall guard, that is, he clearly told Zhu Ping'an, "Do a good job, the commander of the high wall guard will be yours sooner or later!" ”。 There is also gold and silver and two hundred acres of fertile land near Fengyang, and there is also a hereditary brocade and guard hundred households.

Holding the farewell of the military department and a brand-new official uniform given by the emperor, Zhu Ping'an thanked him calmly, and still retreated to the last position. In my heart, it is like turning over the river and the sea, and this feeling is the same as the feeling of being suddenly promoted in the later life, but I have already learned that joy and anger are invisible. It's just that the people around him were quite surprised by his calmness.

After the green-robed eunuch finished reading, he looked at Lu Zhenfei and Lu Jiude, and smiled: "Lord Lu, Grandpa Lu, there is one more thing." Shi Yingzhao, the eunuch guarding the imperial tomb, violated the law of the country, and the villain was ordered to bring him back to the capital to receive the crime. ”

Lu Zhenfei and Lu Jiude hurriedly glanced at each other, Lu Jiude took a step forward and arched his hand at the green-robed eunuch, "Chang Gonggong Mingjian, our family is also trying to clarify this matter." In the middle of the day and night before Shi Yingzhao, he had already left a suicide note in prison and hanged himself! ”

Everyone immediately discussed, Lu Zhenfei turned around and glanced coldly, and the surroundings immediately returned to a silent state.

The green-robed eunuch was not surprised, but instead smiled and nodded, "In this case, there is a father-in-law of Lao Lu who handed over the suicide note to the villain, and when it is verified that the criminal official is right, he will immediately return to Beijing to restore his life!" ”

Zhu Ping'an, who had been keeping his head down, raised his head in surprise. Shi Yingzhao is dead? How could it be so easy? At the beginning, when the thieves besieged the city, didn't he send Cao Wuxian to tell Lu Zhenfei about Shi Yingzhao's abuse of Zhu Yujian? According to his temperament, how could he tolerate such a shocking case being covered up quietly like this, and who is behind Shi Yingzhao? Who exactly wants to be unfavorable to Zhu Yujian? None of this has yet come to fruition.

Now that Shi Yingzhao is dead, and all the secrets have disappeared, will anyone come to deal with Zhu Yujian after that?

The reason why Zhu Ping'an chose to pass guò Cao Wuxian to Lu Zhenfei and Panpan was because he believed in his historical knowledge and made a decision based on his personality, but he didn't expect Lu Zhenfei to lightly hand over the matter to the internal officials to deal with themselves, which seemed to be contrary to the record and evaluation of him in the history books, and it was this little discrepancy that made Zhu Ping'an hope that with the help of Lu Zhenfei, he would find out the mastermind behind the scenes at once, and his plan to cut the grass and eradicate the roots fell through.

Zhu Ping'an's raised eyes collided with Lu Zhenfei's cold-looking gaze, and his heart sank, and he hurriedly lowered his head again.

Lu Zhenfei was also a little disappointed at this time, but more attention was not paid to this matter, as the governor of the imperial history, he knew very well the significance of the emperor's order to come to Fengyang this time. Compared with such a royal secret, there are still big things waiting for him to do.

The civil and military officials who had benefited dispersed one after another, Zhu Ping'an bowed to Lu Zhenfei and just came to leave, but was stopped by Lu Zhenfei, "You come to the back hall with me!" ”

The tone is unmistakable.

Zhu Ping'an couldn't, so he had to hand over his benees and other things to Duan Xinian's personal soldiers to take back to the barracks, and he was led to the back hall by the officials of the governor's yamen.

After a while, Lu Zhenfei changed into homely clothes and came out, and retreated.

"Shi Yingzhao is dead! The purpose you want has been achieved, and you have been rewarded by His Majesty today, why don't you seem to be very happy when you see it? ”

Zhu Ping'an stood up, and Lu Zhenfei waved his hand to sit down. "The lower officials don't dare, it's just ......!"

Lu Zhenfei said to himself: "It is understandable for a prince to have a son and protect his own master. However, the situation in the court is complicated, and there are priorities, and the official has made a note of impeachment, which is to do his duty. The matter involves the palace, and if the official intervenes again, it will be a bit arrogant! ”

Lu Zhenfei's eyes looked at Zhu Ping'an fixedly, which made Zhu Ping'an's heart suddenly rise a chill.

"Do you know that what you have done is already transgression?"

"If it weren't for your great achievements and alarming the Son of Heaven, do you think Lu Jiude would have left you alive?"

Zhu Ping'an was taken aback, left his seat and turned over and knelt down: "Please make it clear!" ”

Lu Zhenfei picked up the teacup and gently blew away the tea leaves floating on it, "What happened inside the high wall that day, although Shi Yingzhao ordered to block the news, Lu Jiude still knew it clearly. To put it simply, Lu Jiude thinks, you know, too much! ”

"Take advantage of the contradiction between the internal officials, and then want to use the official as a knife to get rid of Shi Yingzhao, you, hum, you should be punished for your crimes!"