In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, November 24, noon.

Just when the Qing army was discussing, outside the Ming army camp outside Zhending City, Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng were standing opposite each other.

Sun Chuanting is still the same as before, wearing fish scale armor, wearing a bright iron helmet, the helmet is decorated with cloud wings, the top is decorated with red tassels, and the armor is wearing a scarlet civil official uniform, and the big sleeves have already been tied with arm bindings.

His spirit and outlook are still the same, and they have not changed much from when he stepped out of Beijing a few years ago.

If you have to say that there is, then it is even more sharp and compelling, and Gu Pan is obviously powerful.

But today's Lu Xiangsheng is no longer as high-spirited as he was when he was the prime minister of the seven provinces.

Sun Chuanting looked at Lu Xiangsheng in front of him, Rao was his tenacity, but he couldn't help but be moved.

Lu Xiangsheng was wearing a white robe and a white scarf on his head, his father died on the way home, during his father's funeral, and the state affairs were difficult.

Lu Xiangsheng wore frost on his sideburns, there were many scars on his armor, his robe was torn, his body was covered with wind and dust, and his face was full of exhaustion.

He once had the courage to supervise the world's reinforcements and hold the sword of Shang Fang.

Only one pair of eyes were still bright, still hot.

Chen Wang also wore a robe and belt, followed by Cao Wenzhao, Cao Bianjiao and He Renlong, standing beside Sun Chuanting together.

On Lu Xiangsheng's side, Du Wenhuan, the chief soldier of Datong, Yang Guozhu, the chief soldier of Xuanfu, and Hu Dawei, the chief soldier of Shanxi, stood according to their seniority and status.

Yang Guozhu, the chief soldier of Xuanfu, wore a three-banner moonlight helmet on his head, a black armor, a battle robe, and a sleeve on his right side, with a modest expression, and stood by the sword.

Sensing Chen Wang's gaze, Yang Guozhu nodded slightly, then turned his gaze to Chen Wang, and then quickly took it back.

Chen Wang also nodded slightly, saying hello, and then moved his gaze to a rather burly general standing beside Yang Guozhu, with a beard and a silver and white fish scale armor.

The general with a beard and a slightly darkened complexion was none other than Hu Dawei, who was the chief soldier of Shanxi at the time.

Hu Dawei and fierce as the tiger are both Mongolians, Chongzhen in the early years of the two came from outside the Saiwai to join the Ming Dynasty, their name was the governor of Yansui at that time to the two people when they changed their names called "Tiger Two Generals".

Hu Dawei served in the army, tired officers to Shanxi generals, supported Shaanxi, and acted as the general of Shanxi on behalf of Wang Zhong.

When Chen Wang looked at Hu Dawei, Hu Dawei's gaze also happened to come.

Looking at each other, Hu Dawei grinned slightly, showing a smile, which can be regarded as a courtesy.

In the end, Chen Wang's gaze stayed on Du Wenhuan's body, and the storm caused by the flapping of his butterfly's wings changed a lot of things.

Wang Pu, who was supposed to be the chief soldier of Datong, was now demoted due to his crime and was not the chief military officer of Datong.

The general army of Datong fell to Du Wenhuan, different from the timid and incompetent Wang Pu.

Although Du Wenhuan has a loss of personal morality, he is first-class in both command and combat, and his prestige in the army is extremely high.

Du Wenhuan and Yansui of the two towns were the general soldiers, and they were repeatedly defeated and invaded the Mongolian tribes, and later added the Sichuan general army, and assisted Chengdu to make many contributions to the rebellion of Pingfu Chongming.

Even if he has been dismissed for many years, the generals and soldiers in Yansui Town still respect Du Wenhuan's name very much.

In the fourth year of Chongzhen, Shen Yiyuan surrounded Qingyang, and Du Wenhuan relieved its siege.

Yushi Wu Fu impeached Du Wenhuan's generals for killing Yanchuan refugees, and Zhang Chengzhao was impeached in the matter, and Du Wenhuan was imprisoned and resigned.

This time he was released from prison and took over as the chief soldier of Datong Town.

Historically, Lu Xiangsheng was at the end of November, and when it was almost December, there were only five or six thousand soldiers and horses left under his command.

Yang Sichang transferred troops several times and constantly weakened the military strength under Lu Xiangsheng's command, just to prevent Lu Xiangsheng from fighting.

Lu Xiangsheng and Yang Sichang competed with each other because of their different political views, Lu Xiangsheng reprimanded Yang Sichang for "the crime of frustrating teachers and raising cowards", and Yang Sichang forced Lu Xiangsheng to use Shang Fang's sword against him, and as a result, they broke up unhappily.

Not long ago, part of the troops under the command of Lu Xiangsheng was handed over to Chen Xinjia to guard the Changping Imperial Mausoleum.

Later, Yang Sichang transferred the Datong army under Lu Xiangsheng again on the grounds that Datong had police, which made the military strength under Lu Xiangsheng extremely weak.

But now, there are still more than 8,000 people under Lu Xiangsheng's command, and Du Wenhuan is still following Lu Xiangsheng's rear.

There was also an alarm in Datong, and the Ministry of War did issue a message to return to defense, but Du Wenhuan did not lead all the soldiers and horses in Datong Town to return to help like Wang Pu.

Instead, he ordered the other two battalions to return to Datong, and the regular soldiers of his headquarters still followed Lu Xiangsheng.

Chen Wang's heart was strange, and Yang Sichang at this time ruthlessly suppressed Lu Xiangsheng.

The reason why Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei followed was because they were ordered by the military, but Du Wenhuan had an excuse, but he didn't take the opportunity to escape like Wang Pu, but followed Lu Xiangsheng into the tiger's den, but there was something wrong.

Chen Wang's eyes were slightly condensed, and he observed Du Wenhuan standing not far away without a trace.

Du Wenhuan was wearing a general's armor and a bright iron helmet, standing on Lu Xiangsheng's side.

His appearance is upright, his eyes are peaceful, and he doesn't have much anger, not like a military general, but like an ordinary rich man in the countryside.

Chen Wang has some impressions of Du Wenhuan, but he is not familiar with it, and the reason why he remembers one or two is because of Juniper.

Du Wenhuan's qualifications are quite old and his prestige is also high, which is a few points higher than Cao Wenzhao, but he is not as good as Cao Wenzhao.

I heard that I used to be arrogant and domineering, but now there is no trace of the legendary shadow.

Chen Wang was thinking in his heart, and Du Wenhuan, who was standing not far away, seemed to notice something, and turned his gaze slightly sideways.

Between eye contact, Chen Wang's heart couldn't help but sink downward.

However, Du Wenhuan's gaze only swept over, and he quickly took it back.

Chen Wang's brows frowned slightly, and he also withdrew his gaze from observing Du Wenhuan.

No matter what Du Wenhuan thinks, none of this has anything to do with him now, he doesn't need to follow Lu Xiangsheng to stay in Zhending, and he will soon follow Sun Chuanting to the north and march in the direction of Baoning Mansion.

The main force of the Qing army has passed Boryeong at this time, and Boryeong Mansion is now safe for the time being, and there is no Qing army at all in Boryeong Province.

It's just that......

Chen Wang turned his gaze back and looked at Lu Xiangsheng who was standing in front of him, and his heart couldn't help but sink down......

……

Sun Chuanting stared at Lu Xiangsheng standing in front of him, but he didn't know where to start for a while.

"Brother Boya is willing to share part of the military rations, so there is no need to worry about it because the money and food are too small."

Lu Xiangsheng took a step forward, he saw Sun Chuanting's thoughts, but he did not take this as the starting point of the conversation, but sincerely stepped forward to thank him.

Sun Chuanting's expression moved slightly, and he subconsciously glanced at the north, and then couldn't help but sigh lightly.

"I heard that the sun was fighting on the temple, but I didn't want it to be like this."

Sun Chuanting's heart was cold, he only knew that Lu Xiangsheng and Yang Sichang were not in harmony, Lu Xiangsheng was the main battle, Yang Sichang was the main soothing, and several conflicts broke out between the two one after another.

thought it was just a political dispute above the court, but Yang Sichang actually did it.

Yang Sichang held the power of the army, constrained everything, and forced Lu Xiangsheng not to go to war by cutting grain and cutting off salaries.

The army under Lu Xiangsheng has been starving for several days without food, and if it were an ordinary army, it would have already provoked a mutiny.

However, Lu Xiangsheng's prestige in the army was extremely high, and when Lu Xiangsheng was appointed governor of Xuanda, most of the soldiers in the two towns of Xuanda were hungry and precarious, and their clothes were ragged.

It was Lu Xiangsheng who clarified the rule of officials, revitalized the fields, invited food and wages, and the clothes to come, so that they would no longer suffer as in the past.

During the period of lack of food and salary, Lu Xiangsheng and the sergeants shared weal and woe, and did not even eat for a few days, and the soldiers below felt that Lu Xiangsheng did not have the slightest complaint even if he was hungry.

Lu Xiangsheng's eyes moved slightly, and there was no expression on his face, but Sun Chuanting still saw the helplessness in the depths of Lu Xiangsheng's eyes.

Sun Chuanting was moved in his heart, and after thinking about it for a long time, he still couldn't help but say.

"Jiannu is powerful, the armor is strong and sharp, the soldiers are sharp and difficult to resist, the border army is weak for a long time, and the soldiers who dare to fight are cherished, if they are defeated in a war, the country is afraid of overturning."

"Building a Bucket ......"

Sun Chuanting's words were not finished, because he saw the answer in Lu Xiangsheng's eyes.

Lu Xiangsheng's gaze was calm, like a silent ancient well.

"I understand, I know, I know ......"

Lu Xiangsheng's tone was calm, but his trembling hands still showed the waves in his heart.

"Jiannu entered the Kou, burned, killed and looted all the way, ravaged cities and counties, and plundered and prostituted."

"I led the troops out of Beijing all the way south, and all I saw along the road were full of devastation, the people were disfigured, their heads were in different places, and their bodies were in the wilderness,"

"Gaoyang City is broken, Mrs. Sun is martyred, I am in Baoning, but I am powerless to save me."

"Build slaves to kidnap my people, destroy my cities, kill my people, and cause my race to be scattered, exiled as slaves, all over Zhili!"

Lu Xiangsheng clenched his fists and looked directly at Sun Chuanting, his original peaceful color was gone, and his eyes were full of anger.

Gaoyang City was besieged, but he couldn't do anything, to the important minister Sun Chengzong led his family to guard the lonely city of Gaoyang, and finally the city was captured, hanged to death, his five sons, six grandsons, two nephews, eight nephews were all killed in battle, more than 100 people of the Sun family were killed, martyrdom for the country.

"How can such a sea of blood feud and national shame be tolerated?!"

"It is true that Jiannu is powerful and sharp, but Jiannu is not invincible!"

Anger flowed in Lu Xiangsheng's eyes, and Lu Xiangsheng tried his best to suppress his emotions and said in a deep voice.

"The reason why Jiannu entered the customs was not to conquer cities and expand territory, but to plunder money and grain, and rob the population and people."

"Jiannu took advantage of the internal turmoil in our dynasty to make a rebellion in Liaodong and was able to grow, and Mongolia was scattered due to the death of its Khan, so Jiannu was able to gather the Mongol tribes to fight."

"The Mongolian tribes have always come to hear profit, and if there is no profit, they will retreat, and their fighting spirit is not strong, and this time they followed Jiannu to the south, just for gold and silver treasures."

"Although Jiannu is different from Mongolia, the purpose of this southward movement is the same, the same is to plunder wealth, once the casualties are too heavy, their army will retreat without a fight."

Lu Xiangsheng's expression was gloomy, and he said in a deep voice.

"The population of Jiannu is sparse, Dingkou is only hundreds of thousands, and the soldiers are only tens of thousands, and the so-called 100,000 troops are mostly Mongolians and Dingding, with different thoughts, strong and middle-handed, only need to kill and injure thousands of the main force of their army, which can make them hurt their muscles and bones, and the army has no will to fight."

Sun Chuanting frowned slightly, although what Lu Xiangsheng said was reasonable, but now that the situation is rash, the probability of defeat is above eighty percent.

Although Lu Xiangsheng is known as the governor's reinforcements, there are only 8,000 soldiers under Lu Xiangsheng's command at this time.

In addition to the Tianxiong Army, the superintendent battalion under his command, only Du Wenhuan, Yang Guozhu, and Hu Dawei were left in the main barracks under the command of the three general soldiers.

According to the reports of various places in the past few days, the number of Qing troops who have entered the prison is nearly 100,000, and now there are 40,000 or 50,000 people entrenched in Zhending and Hejian Prefectures......

"I already know what's at stake, Brother Boya doesn't need to say anything more."

Lu Xiangsheng interrupted Sun Chuanting's movements with his fists and said in a deep voice.

"I will never rush into battle, and I need to protect myself first to protect the territory and the people, I know it."

Sun Chuanting opened his mouth, but after all, he was no longer able to say words of persuasion.

Lu Xiangsheng has already said it to this point, what can he say.

It's not that Lu Xiangsheng doesn't know, he knows everything, but Lu Xiangsheng can't sit high on top of the temple like Yang Sichang, and sit back and watch ordinary people be displaced and taken into slavery......

It is difficult to tell whether it is fair or not, the matter between Yang Sichang and Lu Xiangsheng is too complicated, he can't get into the troubled waters this time, and he can't manage it.

Allocating seven or eight days of military rations to Lu Xiangsheng is already his greatest authority and the best thing he can do.

In the long run, Yang Sichang seems to be right, now that the country is in trouble, if you want to fight outside, you need to settle down first.

Otherwise, fighting on two fronts, the generals and soldiers are running back and forth, and they are tired of running for their lives and are simply unable to fight.

And now the country's finances are getting more and more severe every year, and the imperial court really has no money......

If the internal troubles are not eliminated, the country will not be at peace, and the rogues will destroy one place after another, and there will be no way to collect taxes wherever the rogues have passed.

If the slaves are pacified, and the border is temporarily suspended, they can concentrate on solving domestic troubles.

At that time, it will not be difficult to remove the domestic troubles, hold the heavy power, remove the ills of Liaodong, unite the world to strengthen the army, the Northern Expedition to restore the land, and take revenge.

But......

Along the way, the once prosperous North Zhili is now a withered scene everywhere.

Jiannu burned, killed, looted, destroyed the city and slaughtered, the towns and villages around Zhending City were all turned into ruins, the dead piled down each other, the corpses were in the wilderness, and there was a purgatory-like scene everywhere.

Seeing such a scene, how can he let Jiannu be so unscrupulous.

As Lu Xiangsheng said, what Jiannu did was gold and silver, and they could not accept a large number of casualties, and once the casualties were about to reach a critical value, they would take the initiative to evacuate outside the Guanwai.

"Take care."

Sun Chuanting clenched his fists lightly, and all the thoughts in his heart finally turned into a sigh.

Lu Xiangsheng bowed slightly, lowered his head, and also returned the salute with a fist, he knew that everything about Sun Chuanting was sincerely considered for him and the country.

The neighing of horses, and the sound of hurried horses' hooves from far and near, interrupted the dull atmosphere among the crowds.

"The main force of Jiannu turned to the south, and advanced rapidly to the south through the line of Wuqiang, Wuyi, and Hengshui in the northeast of Zhending Mansion!"

"The Jiannu striker has crossed Tuoshui, and eight counties including Jizhou, Zaoqiang, Xinhe, and Nangong are in an emergency!"

……

"History of the Ming Dynasty, Biography of One Hundred and Forty-Nine, Biography of Lu Xiangsheng":

"In the army, I have tasted three days' salary, and I don't eat water slurry like a sheng, so I win the hearts of soldiers and have meritorious service in battle."

(End of chapter)