In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, in 1642 of the Western calendar, the fifteenth day of the first month.

In the early morning of the Shangyuan Festival, Hong Chengchou led the soldiers of the towns to arrive outside the Desheng Gate of the Beijing Division, Liu Yan got the news in advance, and also led the troops to move the camp north from outside the Dongzhi Gate, and joined the towns led by Hong Chengchou.

More than 200,000 Ming troops gathered outside the city, and for a time the Beijing division was shaken, and the people were jubilant.

The Shangyuan Festival has existed since the Han Dynasty and reached its pomp in the Tang Dynasty.

"On the night of Bingyin, the emperor and the queen watched the lanterns". On the night of the Tang Dynasty, there would be thousands of palace maids watching the lanterns, and the lanterns were put on the three nights from the 14th to the 16th of the first lunar month. In the Song Dynasty, the Shangyuan Festival was not only brilliantly lit, but also filled the streets and alleys with singing and dancing, and "the music was noisy for more than ten miles". The custom of eating the festival food "Lantern Festival" (called Yuanzi at that time) on the Shangyuan Festival has also long appeared.

The Ming Dynasty still follows the old habits, the palace is on holiday for three days before and after the Shangyuan Festival, and gives the civil and military ministers and the elderly a banquet, and the Aoshan lamp is placed at the noon gate, listening to the people looking at it, saying that it is happy with the people.

Ministers can come to watch the lanterns with their parents, and the emperor will reward them. During the Yongle years, there was a fire in the lamp mountain, and there were those who died in time to dodge, and the emperor was very sorry, and it was not held again in the future, but the holiday and the banquet were the same.

According to the "History of the Ming Palace", on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the palace dependents of the ministers all wore lantern scenery complements and python clothes. The lamp market is more prosperous on the 16th, the world is prosperous and salty here, and the relatives of the relatives go upstairs to play and see, and they are not afraid of people.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there are also Ming people who recorded that since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, "Shangyuan Ten Night Lights", from the eighth to the seventeenth day of the first month.

Beijing's Lamp Market is north of Dong'anmen Gate (the area around the entrance of the later Dengshi). The lamp makers all take what they have and sell them at the lamp market. "Lamps have different names, but they are worth thousands

Golden. "It is the time when businessmen from all over the world gather, beads and stones, Luo Qi silk, ancient and modern foreign objects. There are also hundreds of skilled operas, which are performed in the market, and the audience is staggered with men and women, rubbing their backs side by side, which is very lively.

The rural people then tie the straw to make the shed, hang the miscellaneous lamps around, the door twists and turns, three or four miles long, the traveler can not get out for a while, it is called "the Yellow River nine curved lanterns".

At night, fireworks and firecrackers are set off, and there are hundreds of kinds of cannons, fires, three-level waves, ground mice, flower pots, flower tubes, etc. Some fireworks are erected one foot high, and the box is divided into five layers, which are set off everywhere and all night.

In addition, there are customs such as walking bridges and touching nails to get rid of all kinds of diseases. Zhengyang, Xuanwu, and Chongwen are not closed, allowing the people to come and go, and the school captain patrols and stays all night, and its grand occasion is no less than that of the Tang and Song dynasties.

However, in this year's Shangyuan Festival, the people in Beijing flocked to the Deshengmen area, vying to witness the bloody battle of the soldiers of various towns in Jinzhou, so that there were almost not many people watching the lanterns in the city, and the sound of fireworks and firecrackers was almost not heard in the city.

In Hong Chengchou's Chinese army tent, Hong Chengchou set up a banquet, Liu Yan took Xu Ming, Miao Shao, Wang Yue, Wang Bo, Zhang Yi, Shen Tuo, Xun Jingyun and others to participate, and Chen Xun also rushed to the banquet.

The rest of the people, Yang Guozhu, Wang Pu, Cao Bianjiao, Wang Tingchen and others sat next to Liu Yan one after another, chatting and laughing with Liu Yan warmly, so lively.

Wu Sangui, Liu Zhaoji, Li Fuming, and Zuo Guangxian sat opposite, and they also kept raising their glasses to toast Liu Yan, and Liu Yan did not refuse all of them.

As for Ma Ke and Tang Tong, they were also smiling at this time, if the battle was won, everyone would have a reward, and at this time, the two were no longer embarrassed by Liu Yan, and they also took the initiative to salute Liu Yan for two glasses

Wine, Liu Yan ignored his previous suspicions, and invited the two to drink.

Hong Chengchou sat at the top, Ma Shaoyu and Zhang Ruoqi sat on both sides, one left and one right, the three of them were not as bold as the generals, but they also drank very lively, talking about all kinds of hardships in the war from time to time, and then laughed loudly, looking very happy.

During the banquet, Wang Pu, Yang Guozhu and others told Liu Yan the details of the follow-up war in Jinzhou.

Liu Yan heard that the soldiers of each town relied on the geographical advantages to fight back and forth with more than 200,000 Qing troops, and even Yang Guozhu, Cao Bianjiao and others personally led their families to ride the iron cavalry to impact the Qing army, almost nine deaths.

Even Wang Pu, a famous escaped general in history, was also north of Rufeng Mountain and east of the Daughter River, leading his troops to fight a bloody battle with more than 10,000 Mongolian iron cavalry, although the casualties were more than those of the Qing army, but he also repelled the enemy army and beheaded more than 1,000 levels, which made Liu Yan impressed.

Even Ma Ke and Tang Tong were able to be decent in the follow-up war, leading their troops to behead hundreds, with the front battalion of the new army guarding the grain road and supporting the army, these Ming army soldiers seemed to have a reliance, and they all performed miraculously and extraordinarily, so that Liu Yan couldn't help but sigh that the times create heroes, and they can also transform bears!

Then Wang Pu said with a smile: "By the way, Dingyu Bo led his troops to Beijing first, could it be that he is ready to rush to Jinzhou again?" ”

"Exactly, this town received the order of this soldier and was about to rush to the aid of Jinzhou City again, but I didn't expect that under the leadership of Hongdu, the generals were mighty and repelled the army of slaves and thieves!"

Everyone's faces were full of joy, and they could be praised by Liu Yan, and everyone felt that there was light on their faces.

Yang Guozhu asked: "

Dingyubo, the siege of Kaifeng has been lifted? What about Li Zicheng's army of hundreds of thousands? Who is leading the fight now? ”

After Hong Chengchou led the towns to arrive in Beijing, only the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Rites each sent a squire to come to reward the army, and the squire of the military department conveyed Chen Xinjia's order to Hong Chengchou and others: The soldiers of each town are not allowed to go out of the camp at will, and they are temporarily on standby in their respective camps.

Therefore, whether it is Hong Chengchou or the chief military officer of each town, they don't know about Kaifeng's victory for the time being.

Liu Yan faced Yang Guozhu's three questions, and saw that Hong Chengchou, Wu Sangui, Ma Ke and others also cast inquiring eyes, so he said with a smile: "Hehe, Mr. Yang rest assured, this town led the troops to rush thousands of miles to aid Kaifeng, and fought two bloody battles with hundreds of thousands of troops led by Li Zicheng under Kaifeng City, two battles and two victories, beheaded more than 200,000 people, and beheaded Sun Kewang, the general of the firearms battalion, Liu Xiyao, the deputy general of the left battalion, Bai Minghe, the general of the right battalion, and the general Helan and Lu Yingbiao of the right battalion. ”

"The army of thieves has been completely dispersed, and now the siege of Kaifeng has been lifted, and Kaifeng deputy general Chen Yongfu and Henan governor Gao Mingheng are leading their troops to pursue and suppress the remnants of the enemy."

After Liu Yan finished speaking, there was silence in the big tent, and everyone's faces were full of shock. Only Chen Xun was full of regret that he did not catch up with this kind of battle, which would be his lifelong regret.

"Dingyubo is mighty!"

Wang Pu was the first to roar.

Immediately afterwards, Yang Guozhu, Cao Bianjiao, Wang Tingchen, and Wu Sangui and others let out a burst of exclamation, and even Ma Ke and Tang Tong opened their mouths wide and praised twice.

Hong Chengchou laughed and said: "Haha, Bendu and Li Thief have also fought a few times, although they have also won quite a lot, but never."

There have been two wars of beheading more than 200,000 feats, Dinglu Bo is really a fierce general at that time, the country is very lucky, and the saint is very lucky! ”

Ma Shaoyu and Zhang Ruoqi also congratulated Liu Yan one after another, and then competed to face the south and saluted in the direction where Emperor Chongzhen was, looking like ministers who wanted to cry bitterly.

Although Liu Yan's head was a thief's, the record of beheading more than 200,000 in the two battles is also rare in the world, except for the great war against the remnants of the Yuan in the early days of the dynasty, and the great war against the Mongols during the Yongle period, the dynasty has never beheaded such a great victory.

This also explains why the reaction of the crowd was so great and the expressions were so shocked.

Wu Sangui's expression flickered, and then he asked with a smile: "Ding Yubo is already the chief military officer with the general's seal, and now he has made such a great achievement, I don't know how the imperial court rewarded him?" We also want to be happy and happy with Dingyubo. ”

Speaking of the reward, everyone's interest was ignited again, after all, next, the imperial court will reward everyone's Jinzhou military exploits.

Looking at Liu Yan's reward scale, everyone can estimate what level of reward they can get, and naturally they all come to the spirit.

Liu Yan looked at everyone's expectant expressions, and said indifferently: "All battalions of our new army are commanders and guerrilla generals, and all of them have been promoted to the first level. ”

"There are also rewards of 1,000 taels of silver and other goods in this town, and soldiers at all levels also have different amounts of rewards, and there is no other reward."

"Oh, yes."

"The soldiers of our new army suffered thousands of casualties in the battle of Kaifeng, and the pension of the soldiers was still some time ago

The soldiers are coming. ”

After Liu Yan finished speaking, the big tent fell silent again. And Xu Ming, Miao Shao, Shen Tuo, Wang Bo, Zhang Yi, Wang Yue, and Xun Jingyun were angry, if it weren't for the presence of a group of officials, several people would probably have begun to scold to vent their dissatisfaction.

After listening to Liu Yan's words, everyone had an unbelievable expression on their faces, and Hong Chengchou's face was also changing, they never imagined that Chen Xinjia would do such a ridiculous thing, soldiers can't be rewarded for their merits, so who will work hard for the court in the future!

Thinking of this, Hong Chengchou's anger rose in his heart, but he still suppressed the anger in his heart and looked at everyone.

Wang Pu, Yang Guozhu, Cao Bianjiao, and Wang Tingchen were the first to react, and they all held grievances for Liu Yan.

Wang Pu said: "This soldier's treatment is simply an insult to Dinglubo and the soldiers of the new army, this time even Dinglubo swallowed this breath, brother, I will never give up, I will definitely ask this soldier for an explanation!" ”

Yang Guozhu said in a deep voice: "The soldiers are too much, the meritorious soldiers cannot be rewarded, and the heart of the soldiers of the army is cold, this is a mistake for the country, and the town must also speak to the soldiers and ask for an explanation for Dingyubo!" ”

"Count me in!"

Wang Tingchen shouted loudly: "Uncle Dingyu is very helpful to us on weekdays, and he is a great hero of the dynasty, how can I be insulted by this, when this soldier arrives, I must have an explanation, otherwise I will never let this soldier leave!" ”

Cao Bianjiao said in a cold voice: "The imperial court is so factional, I'm afraid it's not just the meaning of the soldiers, but it's a pity that we fought bloodily, and Dingyubo was even a thief in the south and the north to fight for the peace of the country, but he ended up like this, and the world is so turbulent, it's not for no reason!"

This time, I will stand with Dingyubo, and if the court does not give the uncle the reward he deserves, I will not give up! ”

Seeing that the four commanders spoke one after another, their words were fierce, which made Hong Chengchou, Ma Shaoyu, and Zhang Ruoqi feel disturbed.

Chen Xun jumped out even more, although he was only a guerrilla general, but with the victory of the defensive battle of Hongluo Mountain, Chen Xun was also quite valued among everyone.

At this time, Chen Xun directly called out Chen Xinjia's name, and scolded loudly, Hong Chengchou glanced at the two prison guards, and then said: "General Chen, your mood is understandable, but you must be cautious. ”

Chen Xun sat down indignantly, but still muttered quietly. Wang Yue, Miao Shao, Xu Ming and others next to him also snorted coldly.