Outside the tent of the Chinese army, the wind and snow were mixed, and the cold and violent wind swept the cold snowflakes endlessly.

At night, there was a bleak scene between heaven and earth, and the lights were almost inaudible in the wind and rain.

The armor guard outside the tent opened the tent curtain, and an old man wearing a Lingyun scarf and a sea green coat walked into the tent with some hesitation.

The old man walked into the tent, three steps and two stops, as if he was a little hesitant and frightened.

Lu Xiangsheng stood up and looked at the old man who had entered the account, just opposite his eyes.

The old man's body stiffened, his eyes were full of surprise, and there was a little disbelief, and his face changed a lot for a while.

The old man held the crutches in his hand, as if he wanted to see more clearly, and took a step forward, he looked at Lu Xiangsheng who was not far in front of him, and then trembled, and then fell to his knees with the crutches, and said in a trembling voice.

"Grass people Yang Qi, knock to see you...... Ming Gong ......"

Lu Xiangsheng stood up, raised his hand slightly, and said warmly.

"The old gentleman doesn't have to be polite, it's cold, please get up and say something."

"I heard that the old gentleman came from Guangping Mansion, and now there are fires everywhere, why did he venture to come here when the war was in chaos, could it be that he has some grievances and wants to ask me for justice?"

Lu Xiangsheng motioned for the guards to come forward, brought the old man a chair, and let him sit down.

"Thank you Ming Gong for your mercy, the grass people don't have grievances."

Yang Qi shook his head, looked at Lu Xiangsheng who was sitting at the top, and said with emotion.

"After five years, Ming Gong is still as upright as in the past."

Lu Xiangsheng's expression was slightly abrupt, and the figure of the old man in front of him and the figure of a person in his memory coincided.

That was the man he had met five years earlier, when he was still a daimyo soldier.

At that time, the Liukou rushed into the North Zhili, in order to resist the invasion of the Liukou, he recruited Ding Zhuang in Shunde, Guangping, and Daimyo to form an army, and the squires from all over the country donated food and materials at that time.

Yang Qi was among the representatives of those squires at that time, and the Yang family donated no less money at that time, and many children of the clan even joined the army.

Lu Xiangsheng remembered that now there is a general in his army, who seems to be from the Yang family in Guangping.

"It seems that Ming Gong remembered the grass people, and it is the luck of the grass people to be remembered by Ming Gong."

Yang Qi saw that Lu Xiangsheng's eyes gradually became clearer, and he was also quite excited.

"The reason why the three mansions of the daimyo can be stable is precisely because of Mr. Yang and his gentry who are willing to donate money and serve the country."

Lu Xiangsheng's attitude slowed down a lot again, and meeting the old man in the past also made the coldness in his heart dissipate a lot.

"Since it's not a grievance, why did Mr. Yang take the risk of galloping all the way here?"

Yang Qi let out a long sigh, his expression was complicated, and he met Mr. Lu's puzzled gaze and said.

"Jiannu is vicious, I have heard a lot about it these days, and now people are panicking, and no one dares to go out of the city."

"But I heard that Ming Gong led the army to come, even if we take the risk, we must come to greet me, I am pushed by everyone, and I am here to visit Ming Gong."

"In the past, the Duke of Ming served as a famous soldier to prepare the road, drive out the rogues, sweep away the bandits, protect the peace of the people of our three provinces, and benefit the place, how dare we forget it?"

Lu Xiangsheng's expression was slightly moved, and his originally cold heart also showed a hint of throbbing.

"The world has been turbulent for ten years, the rogue is in turmoil in the world, the north is rampant, and the plan of Ming Gong's life is the first in the world."

"The Duke of Ming led the army all the way to help, but he refused to receive any help along the county seat, these things have already spread all over the land of Sanfu, and we have all heard of it."

"The traitorous ministers are in the court, jealous of loyalty, Ming Gong is hated because of lonely loyalty, the three armies are out of the gate, but the soldiers have the heart to return to the west."

Yang Qi didn't sit down, he was still kneeling on the ground, his expression sad and tearful.

They have not heard of the affairs of the DPRK and China, and they also know the treatment of the soldiers and horses galloping to help from all over the country.

"The Ming army was stationed in the wilderness like this, sleeping in the open, but it was difficult to eat even a full meal, and the sergeants I saw along the road were all bloodless on their faces."

"Jiannu is vicious and has a large number of people, but it is difficult for the soldiers under the command of Ming Gong to even have enough food, how can they go into battle to kill the enemy?!"

Every word of Yang Qi's words pierced Lu Xiangsheng's heart like a sharp blade.

Lu Xiangsheng unconsciously clenched his fists, and his eyes gradually became cold, but in the end, all kinds of emotions and thousands of words of savings just turned into a sigh and dissipated in the tent.

"The country is in danger, can An stay out of the matter?"

"The people are suffering, can An sit idly by?"

Lu Xiangsheng knew the hidden meaning of Yang Qi's words, Yang Qi wanted to avoid the main force of Jiannu like the rest of the army.

He knew it was the best option at the moment, but he couldn't, and his answer was only two sentences.

He had no way to convince Yang Sichang, and there was no way to identify with Yang Sichang.

He is not Yang Sichang, and he will never be Yang Sichang, let alone Yang Sichang.

He couldn't just watch it happen, and think of it as something he had to go through on the way to success.

Yang Qi did not feel the slightest surprise at Lu Xiangsheng's answer, he had already expected that Lu Xiangsheng would reject his proposal.

Yang Qi leaned down and bowed to the ground, pleading sincerely.

"If there is no Ming Gong, our three mansions have already been harmed by the rogues, how can there be so many years of peace and stability."

"Now that Jiannu has gone south to plunder and has invaded Sanfu, although we are resentful, we have the intention to kill the thief, but we are suffering from no one to lead it."

"Jiannu has tens of thousands of troops, but Ming Gong is now weak and helpless."

"Caomin, I implore the Duke of Ming to move the army to Guangping and gather the righteous division. When the children of the three mansions heard that Ming Gong was coming, they would inevitably flock to it, and they would like to follow it, and they could also add help to Ming Gong, so that they would not build slaves alone. ”

Outside the tent, the wind howled.

Inside the tent, the candles flickered.

Lu Xiangsheng's figure continued to change with the flickering candle flame, and the look on his face was difficult to see because of the shadows.

The atmosphere was silent and terrible......

I don't know how long it took.

Lu Xiangsheng slowly walked down the first seat, helped up Yang Qi, who was kneeling on the ground, and sighed.

"I, Lu Xiangsheng, how can I be so concerned about the elders of the three mansions."

"The enemy is rushing to the west, and the army is separated from the east, but even so, in the face of the raging Jiannu, how can I, as the governor, stay out of the matter?"

"What's more, this matter is an order of the imperial court, how can it be disobeyed?"

Lu Xiangsheng helped Yang Qi up, took a step back, and shook his head.

"Please forgive me for refusing the request of the elders of the three mansions."

"Now there are only 8,000 tired soldiers under my command, who have entered the Jiannu Clan, who is alone and helpless, who is poor in food and poverty, and who dies every day and goes to Guangping, but in vain the people of the three provinces suffer together with me."

"Dawei, send a team of horsemen to send Mr. Yang back to Guangping Mansion......"

Lu Xiangsheng didn't give Yang Qi a chance to refuse, and directly gave an order to Hu Dawei.

Yang Qi wanted to say more, but seeing Lu Xiangsheng's expression, he didn't say anything to persuade him in the end.

Hu Dawei stood up and walked towards the outside of the tent with Yang Qi.

After Hu Dawei left, the tent was quiet again.

Lu Xiangsheng sat back down.

Du Wenhuan and Yang Guozhu didn't say anything from beginning to end, just sat quietly on the chairs.

However, Lu Xiangsheng did not intend to remain silent any longer.

"The giant deer is a place of death, you don't need to follow me to the place of death......"

"If you want to leave, now is the last chance, I can give you a military order, you go to Quang Binh, go to Guangping, go to Guangping."

Lu Xiangsheng didn't look up, and Du Wenhuan and Yang Guozhu, who were sitting at the bottom, were still silent.

"You followed me all the way from the border town to Jingshi, and from Jingshi all the way to Nangong, you have done your best to be benevolent and righteous, I know in my heart that I will not blame."

Lu Xiangsheng raised his hand and waved it.

"You go back to the camp first, I have signed a military order and sent it to your tent, if you want to leave, you will leave the camp and go east tomorrow, and don't come back......"

Du Wenhuan and Yang Guozhu looked at Lu Xiangsheng, who was sitting on the top, and Lu Xiangsheng's voice fell, but neither of them moved or left the tent.

"Let's go."

When Lu Xiangsheng spoke again, Du Wenhuan slowly stood up first, and then Yang Guozhu also stood up.

The two saluted respectfully to Lu Xiangsheng, and then faced Lu Xiangsheng and slowly withdrew from the camp.

The curtain was lowered, and Lu Xiangsheng finally raised his head.

Listening to the roar of the wind outside, Lu Xiangsheng's mood also fluttered constantly.

No one knows his current situation, Du Wenhuan doesn't know, Yang Guozhu doesn't know, and Hu Dawei doesn't know either......

Hu Dawei, wait until he comes back, and then let him make a decision.

The people who want him to die now are not the only ones who want him to die...... and Yang Sichang......

Now Lu Xiangsheng has figured everything out.

Since he re-took over the duties of governor, his end was already doomed when the platform spoke about the main battle.

Jiannu went all the way south to loot, and the soldiers came to Beijing, tanned all over Beijing, and flowed poison for thousands of miles, and there must be someone to bear this responsibility.

And he also had a-for-tat confrontation with Yang Sichang, so he was also hit mercilessly by Yang Sichang.

Yang Sichang first continued to weaken the army under his command, and then planted all kinds of trumped-up charges on his head.

The title of Shangshu of his military department has been seized by order of the emperor, and now he is a supervisor with the rank of squire, and he has made meritorious service for his crimes.

Obviously, Yang Sichang sent people to cut off his food and pay and divide the soldiers under his command, so that he had no way to rush to the aid of various places.

But the public opinion in the court is that he did not move, feared and cowardly, and sat back and watched the fall of the prefecture and county.

The responsibility for Sun Chengzong's martyrdom was also pushed to him, and the edicts sent by the imperial court were more severe than one another, and even the Son of Heaven sent a letter of reprimand.

All the blame has now been put on him, and the blame for the fall of various prefectures and prefectures is also because of him, and the successive defeats of the army and soldiers in various places are also because of him, and everything is because of him.

He was leading his troops outside, and he was constrained, and he was obviously doing his best, but in the end, he was asked to bear these trumped-up guilt.

Lu Xiangsheng's heart was cold at this time, and wearing a cloak on his body could not bring him the slightest warmth, because the chill came from the bottom of his heart and was hidden in the veins, not the cold of the outside world.

If the troops do not move, then they will be charged with being afraid of the war and watching the place fall.

When Jiannu is out of the customs, he will be a sinner of history and a sinner of the country.

At that time, what he was waiting for would not be the edict of the imperial court, but the cavalry of the Jinyi Guard.

It seemed that there were countless options, but in reality he had no choice.

At this moment, only death can prove his innocence and clarify his grievances......

Lu Xiangsheng lowered his head and looked at the map on the table.

He didn't know Jiannu's strategy, and he didn't know how Jiannu's movements were.

Everything lies in the giant deer.

Jiannu set up a major net in Shunde, Guangping, and Zhending, just to surround him in Julu and wait for him to plunge into the encirclement net.

Lu Xiangsheng's gaze kept moving on the map, observing the surrounding situation.

On the side of Shunde Mansion, he had previously sent two generals, Liu Shijue and Li Yougong from Xuanzhen, to rescue, and Chen Zhenyi also led the reinforcement battalion of the headquarters, with almost six or seven thousand people, which may be used as help.

But now the main force of the Qing army is in the territory of Shunde Mansion, and there are six or seven thousand officers and soldiers in Shunde Mansion.

Moreover, the relationship between Chen Zhenyi and Gao Qiqian is extraordinary, both of them are prison soldiers, and they are from the same family.

It seems that Gao Qiqian had resisted the territory of the Daimyo Mansion a few days ago, and now the Daimyo Mansion stationed in the south of Shunde Mansion is guarding against the enemy.

But Gao Qiqian and Yang Sichang colluded and obstructed him from sending troops several times, this time I was afraid that it would be......

Lu Xiangsheng's eyes were gloomy, and he seemed to have really reached the end of his rope now.

Lu Xiangsheng's gaze followed Nangong all the way up, where was the Qing army that had cut off their way, and there seemed to be a crowd of 10,000 people.

It's just that...... Maybe......

Lu Xiangsheng slowly clenched his fists, this battle may not be a sure defeat, there may be a glimmer of life......

It's not really the end of the day......

……

In the 11th year of Chongzhen, November 6, Pingdan.

The commotion outside the tent made Lu Xiangsheng wake up from his sleep.

Lu Xiangsheng's expression was calm, and the rising noise was most likely the sound of Du Wenhuan and their troops withdrawing.

Lu Xiangsheng thought like this, he didn't take off his armor when he slept, he stood up directly and walked out of the military tent.

But when he stepped out of the camp, there was no way to take a second step.

Outside the tent, Du Wenhuan, Yang Guozhu, and Hu Dawei wore helmets and armor, and stood on both sides of the aisle with a group of military academies, and no one left......

Lu Xiangsheng noticed that next to Hu Dawei stood a person he was familiar with, a person who should have been sent away yesterday - Yang Qi.

The camp was originally empty, but now it is full of all kinds of rice and grain.

On the road in the camp were people coming and going, and in the flow of people, some people pushed small carts, some people drove donkeys and horses to ride wagons and grain carts, and carts of grain were transported to the camp.

And besides those men, there were many more people, carrying bags on their backs, and marching in line along the road in the middle of the camp.

They went to the place where the grain was stored, opened the pockets, opened the cloth bags, and poured all the little grain in the bags into it.

The bodies of those people were thin, and many of them were extremely thinly clothed.

Most of the food they fell on was very small, some were two buckets, some were one bucket, and some were even only half a bucket

Lu Xiangsheng stood in place, staring ahead, silent.

Looking at the people in front of him, he still didn't know what was happening.

"Ming Gong doesn't want to involve us and others, so he moved to Guangping."

Yang Qi took a step forward, bowed down and saluted Lu Xiangsheng, and said with tears in his eyes.

"Ming Gong is kind, we have nothing to repay, we can only pour out all the grain reserves to help Ming Gong."

"We are weak, and I ask Ming Gong to forgive me, these grains, please Ming Gong cook them as military food, so that the soldiers under his command can eat and fight."

"It's windy and rainy ahead, be careful on the Ming Highway......"

Lu Xiangsheng's hands trembled slightly, looking at the scene in front of him, for some reason, the fog lingered in front of his eyes, obscuring his vision.

The country has a way, but it does not change, and the country has no way, and it does not change until death......

Lu Xiangsheng slowly closed his eyes and clenched his fists.

Yang Sichang...... In this world, perhaps, as you said, in order to win, only those who can ignore any morality can have the last laugh.

But even so, I still have to stand up for my morality.

As a human being, you can't change your integrity when you're in trouble, and you can't change your ambition even if you die!

There are some things that cannot be compromised.

Jade can be broken, but it cannot be changed to white.

Bamboo can be burned, but not destroyed.

Although the body is dead, the name can hang on the bamboo silk, so why be afraid?!

……

"The Annals of Sima Lu Gong of the Ming Dynasty":

Seven years old, thirty-five years old, outstanding moves. In March, entering the imperial history of the capital and governing Yunyang, the people of the three southern counties wept to each other, and sought to ambush the book to stay in the public, and the public has been on the road by bicycle, tens of thousands of people cover the road and call for seats, and they can't ride forward.

The public condolence was for a long time, the people cried on the ground, and could not get up, and the public was moved, and the public was asked to sit on the shoulder.

History of the Ming Dynasty, Volume 261, Biography 149, Biography of Lu Xiangsheng

The crowd cried and thundered, each carrying a bedside fight for the army, or a liter of mussels, and said: "Cook for food!" ”

(End of chapter)