Promotion Letter for the Chief Executive

Pingan was planning to let Kaiyang go to the city to send a letter at night, and asked the officers and soldiers inside to cooperate to attack the Xirong people's camp at night, when he heard the scouts he sent out panicked to report, "My lord, another army is coming! "

"Who is it?" Ping An was taken aback. It couldn't be the reinforcements from the Xirong people, right?They are so unlucky?

"The subordinates only took a few glances from a distance, and couldn't see the serial number clearly," said the man.How dare he approach the army coming at this time so easily?Maybe he will be discovered and caught.

Ping An didn't mean to blame him, and asked, "Where did he go?"

"It's just over a dozen miles west of Xinzhou City. It looks like they are going to set up camp." The soldier said, "I don't think they are reinforcements from the Xirong people."

Ping An nodded, if it was Xirong's army, it would be fine to join the Xirong people directly, why bother?But if it is Da Chu's reinforcements, where did they come from?

These people are naturally the remnants of the Xinzhou Army.In fact, it's not that they don't want to come, it's just that they can guess that there must be Xirong people under the city of Xinzhou.If you rush over, I'm afraid you won't be able to please.It's just that there are Beidi people chasing after them, even if they set up camp, it will not be safe.So scouts were quickly sent over to investigate.

Ping An led people to hide in the dark, and successfully captured a few scouts. After asking, he found out that it was the Xinzhou Army!

"So, Xirong and Beidi joined forces long ago, and after getting news from Dachu, they deliberately showed the enemy weakness, introduced the elite of Dachu into the grassland, and then defeated them one by one, and finally gathered under the city of Xinzhou to attack?" Ping An analyzed the current situation.

If the people of Xirong were to link up with Beidi, then I am afraid that they would definitely win Xinzhou City.

After all, it was just a few things looted from the villages outside the city, so it wasn't worth their trouble.The city must be broken, and the harvest will be attractive enough.Especially in Xinzhou City, there are still many high-ranking officials and generals. If they are caught, Da Chu may not be able to spend money to redeem them, which is another income.

He speculated about the other party's plan, but Ping An was not complacent about it.Because it has come to the present, even if you know this, what is the use?The armies of both sides have already been mobilized, and the battle is imminent. Even if Da Chu wanted reinforcements, he couldn't come up with any troops at all.

Moreover, Ping An and Qi Yuan had similar concerns: Did the Changhe Tribe get involved in this alliance?

Mostly there are.Fortunately, there is still Zhao Can in Hebei, otherwise, Dachu might be defeated in the third line this time, and suffer a big loss.At this moment, Ping An could only believe that Zhao Can could control the situation in Hebei, and it could only depend on them for the rest.

However, these people came at just the right time!

"Kaiyang!" After Pingan figured it out, he immediately said excitedly, "When you enter the city today, go to the governor of the Northwest and tell him about the fact that the Xinzhou Army encountered Beidi troops and the remnants retreated outside the city, and ask him to cooperate tomorrow night. Let's steal camp!"

If there were only fifty of them, even if Kai Yang could enter the city, the other party would probably not believe him.After all what can 50 people do?At that time, maybe I will bring a bomb in to demonstrate its power.But that way, the Xirong people might be prepared.

Even if they believed it in the end, how could it be more reassuring than the army stationed outside the city?

"Shouldn't we contact the Xinzhou Army first?" Deputy General Zhou asked curiously.

Pingan smiled at him, "Of course we will go. But we have to wait for Kaiyang to come back from the city. After all, the Xinzhou Army is newly defeated, so I'm afraid they are very vigilant now, and they don't want to trust us casually. But if there is a handwritten letter from the Northwest Governor, it will be different .” Thinking about being able to gather so many troops, there should be generals who can read the handwriting of the Northwest Governor.

Vice General Zhou nodded in conviction, "That's true." It's just that he has new doubts. Kaiyang just said that there is a large army outside the city, so the governor of the Northwest believed it?

Of course, this problem is not unexpected by Ping An, but...for the current Xinzhou City, any reinforcements are precious, and I would rather believe in them.Anyway, stealing camp at night when defending the city is also a strategy, so that the attacking party cannot rest and is exhausted, thus affecting the progress of the siege.It doesn't matter if someone cooperates or not.

It was getting late by this time.After dinner, it was completely dark.The Xirong people also just had dinner, and it was the rarest time of the day to relax.Because after a while it really gets dark, but you have to be vigilant.

It was at this time that Kai Yang mixed in.I didn't wait for the dead of night when everyone was sleeping soundly. Firstly, the slightest movement at that time would alarm the people of Xirong. Secondly... At that time, if you entered the city, you had to trespass if you wanted to see the Northwest Governor.After all, everyone is asleep.

Before dawn, Kai Yang came back.Everything went well, the Northwest Governor learned that they came from Qinzhou, and hunted and killed many Xirong people outside the city, he was very appreciative.After knowing that the Xinzhou Army was defeated, his face became heavy for a while, and then he recovered.After all, having reinforcements at this time is better than nothing.

In the end, he wrote a handwritten letter in person, explaining the situation, and handed it to Kai Yang to bring it back.

Ping An took it apart and took a look, and saw that there was no problem, so he was relieved.It seems that the governor of the Northwest is also a smart man—but yes, this war has been prepared for several years, and the main battlefield is in the Northwest, so he, the governor of the Northwest, will lead the battle.As a result, there were so many unexpected situations. When the time comes to return to the court, I am afraid that there will be no merits.

But if he can reverse the situation in such a situation, it will be different.Then he will be the key person to turn the tide, a great achievement!It is not known that he was transferred back to the court, Xuanma worshiped the prime minister, and officially became a figure who was avoided by officials and saluted by officials.

Keeping Xinzhou is only the first step. Under such circumstances, the more help the better.

Ping An passed the letter to Vice General Zhou.The other party looked at him in astonishment, "My lord, what does this mean?"

When he went out, although he called Ping An "Eunuch Qi", he didn't mean much respect.But after leaving Funing County and watching Ping An show various methods all the way, Deputy General Zhou was convinced.I don't know when it started, but I have already called Ping An "adult" like everyone else.

Ping An said with a smile, "It's a flattery for you to call me an adult. But this kind of occasion is not suitable for me to come forward after all."

Civil servants despise the status of eunuch, but most of them will do it to save face, after all, there is always time to contact.But generals are usually less polite.Anyway, their promotions are determined by meritorious deeds, and most people are very disgusted with eunuchs who are "neither male nor female".

This is especially true after the army of this dynasty had the tradition of eunuchs serving as military supervisors.Although the eunuch cannot make the final decision, many generals would think that it is "unlucky" for the opponent to follow in the team, and they hate it deeply.

Who knows if there is such a character in the Xinzhou Army?Anyway, with Vice Admiral Zhou around, Ping An didn't bother to come forward.

He ran thousands of miles from Qinzhou, turned Funing County into an iron barrel, came out to harvest the lives of many Xirong people, and rescued ordinary people, which is already exciting enough.Seeing that they are going to provide bombs for stealing the camp again, the credit can no longer be lost, so there is no need to fight for it.

The reason why Vice General Zhou hesitated was not that he didn't understand the meaning of peace, but that he had no intention of fighting for merit.Hearing what Ping An said, there was a bit of indignation on his face, "I see that many of those people are national thieves, and they may not be stronger than adults."

He uttered the exclamation that many people who have seen Ping An once said, "If your lord..." Wouldn't it be nice if he wasn't a eunuch?What kind of future can't be earned by being a Marquis and worshiping a prime minister?

It's just that no one mentioned this kind of talk in front of Ping An.Vice-General Zhou quickly realized, "If so, I will go through it on behalf of the adults."

Deputy General Zhou led two or three people, rode away from the place where they were temporarily stationed, and headed to the west of Xinzhou City.Well, the ones leading the way are the few scouts we captured earlier.This trip did not come back until dark, and it was agreed to steal the camp at the beginning of the ugly time. Before that, the Xinzhou Army would rush over to join them, and then the Ping An people would be the vanguard, dropping bombs from several directions.

The Xirong army was awakened unexpectedly, and someone was injured by the explosion, the team will definitely be in chaos.Even if there are generals who want to form a team, it will be very difficult amidst the rumbling explosions.At this time, the Xinzhou Army and the defenders in the city rushed to the camp at the same time, which would cause even greater chaos.In the dark and people can't be seen clearly, the soldiers of the Western Army might kill each other.

And the army could encircle the entire Xirong camp, kill or arrest those who escaped, and deal with them easily.

Of course, in the later stage, most of the Xirong people will be able to restore this decline, but it is uncertain how many of them will be left.When the time comes to fight head-on, are you still afraid of them?

Of course, this is the result predicted by a few people in Ping An.At present, neither the Xinzhou Army nor the city defenders think they can play much role, at most they just sneak in and disturb the Xirong people.It's just that they can have this plan and get in touch with each other. Thanks to them, this face will naturally not be denied.

So on this day, the people in Ping An didn't go out to wander around, but stayed and slept to refresh their energy.And Ping An called Kai Yang in private, and gave him a task: find out where the people who were looted by the Xirong people were placed.

There is going to be a siege battle here, so it is naturally impossible for the soldiers to carry all their things with them, but to hand them in uniformly for distribution in the future. ——This is also the reason why Xi Rongbing wants to go out and get some benefits for himself.After redistribution of these handed-in items, if you can get one-third of the original ones, it is considered very good.

As for the captives, they were naturally locked together.

Ping An needs Kaiyang to find these people, and then take advantage of the chaos to rescue them.If possible, it would be even better to bring out the stolen things by the way.If it doesn't work, people's safety must be ensured, and the things should be burned.How to do it, needs to be mastered by Kaiyang himself.

The Xirong people have no food and grass. The purpose of their attack is to plunder food, so they have always "supported war with war", and they can eat wherever they fight.So those things, if you can't take them away, you'd rather burn them than leave them.Without enough food supplies, the Xirong people will have to retreat sooner or later.

The day passed quickly, and after nightfall, everyone began to gear up, waiting for that moment to come.

After the camp of the Xirong army rested, 50 people dispersed in an orderly manner under the safe arrangement, and surrounded the entire camp from a distance.These people are soldiers who are good at fighting. They have extraordinary physical strength. After training, there is no problem in throwing a bomb ten meters away.Of course, they can still run a certain distance at that time. Anyway, as long as the bomb explodes, the people of Xirong probably won't care about them.

As soon as the ugly hour arrived, they made sure that the troops on both sides had formed an encirclement not far away, so they lit the bombs and threw them into the camp.After throwing away, according to Ping An's explanation, cover your ears and lie on the ground.

After being reminded in advance by Ping An, neither the city defenders nor the Xinzhou Army had cavalry (it is said that the Xinzhou Army fled all the way, because they could not find food, and most of their horses were injured, so they had already become rations, and they could not organize any cavalry at all. ).There was only a sound of "boom--", fifty bombs exploded together, and the power was extraordinary.

The camp of the Xirong army immediately boiled like a pot of water, and everyone woke up from their sleep, wandering around like headless flies.As we all know, people will be temporarily deaf after hearing loud noises at close range, so even if the generals shouted hoarsely, they would not get any response from the soldiers.When the soldiers found that the leader hadn't moved, they became even more flustered.

Because someone was injured, many people saw it through the faint bonfire outside the camp, shouted that this was God's punishment, and then quickly ran towards the exit of the camp, intending to escape.It was in the chaos that when one person did this, the others rushed to follow.

At this time, even if the generals reacted, they would not be able to restrain these people anymore.

At this time, seeing that the time was almost right, Ping An asked someone to drop a second wave of bombs. ——They all brought less than a hundred coins. They threw away fifty for the first time, but this time they only threw away twenty. The rest are safe to keep and may be useful in the future.

As soon as the sound was heard, the people of Xirong were even more frightened, pushing and running out of the camp.However, in order to prevent people from stealing the camp, the camp has set up many fortifications. Everyone can't run fast. People behind are anxious and push those in front, and some people will fall down, causing a stampede.

In addition, the Xirong people have many war horses, and the sound is so deterrent to people, let alone horses?The panicked horses rushed around, trampling many Xirong people to death.

The most wonderful thing is that the camp of the Xirong people is stationed in the middle of the mountain.It stands to reason that it is easy to defend but difficult to attack.But now, many Xirong soldiers rolled down the hillside after being squeezed from behind.The people behind lost their leverage point and also fell down.So they went forward and rolled down the hillside to the soldiers of Dachu.

In fact, not to mention the Xirong people, even the great Chu soldiers guarding around the camp were dumbfounded.What the hell is this?How could it be so powerful?

Everyone was stunned at first, and they had completely forgotten the purpose of coming here.Fortunately, after the second wave of bombs exploded, they all came back to their senses, just in time to see Xirong soldiers rolling to their feet.

What are you waiting for?One knife at a time, chopping melons and vegetables is generally solved.

The Xirong people were still in shock, and when they escaped, they ran into the soldiers of Dachu. The first reaction was that the god of thunder (...) invited by the people of Dachu at that time was cut off after being a little dazed. , Immediately knelt down and surrendered, luckily survived, and was tied up.Well, the soldiers of Dachu are very well prepared.

The situation is better than Ping An expected.It was only after the investigation after the war that the leader of the Xirong army was found surrounded by soldiers and easily captured.There were two other unlucky ones who were trampled to death by Xirong soldiers themselves.As for the leaders of other small tribes, those who were caught and had their heads beheaded were numerous.

Even if some of the leaderless Xirong soldiers stayed in the camp and did not go out, they were not exempted from being captured in the end.

After all these people were cleaned up, Kaiyang Shi Shiran came out from a certain corner of the camp with Dachu's captured subjects.By the way, the location of the granary was also pointed out.

By daybreak, the battle was completely over and a complete victory was won.

When counting the trophies afterwards, everyone slowly came back to their senses. After the unbelievable feeling disappeared, they began to realize that they really won such a battle with ease.Not to mention the thousands of Xirong people captured, they also got nearly [-] war horses!This is the biggest gain.In addition, countless people were rescued, and the food, grass and various items looted by the Xirong people were worthless.

Of course, this batch of supplies will be returned to the captured people for the time being, so that when the war is over, they can return to their hometowns and continue farming.

Naturally, the people below are busy with these matters, and Ping An is going to see the Northwest Governor.After all, what they brought out was too shocking, so someone would naturally come to check it out.But they are all from Dachu, and they knew that they came from the palace, so they must just ask.

Sure enough, the attitude of the Northwest governor was very polite.When he came out of the palace safely and arrived at the place, he was considered to be half an envoy of the emperor.Just looking at the powerful thing he holds in his hand, there will definitely be a day when he returns to the palace.For these officials who are far away, if someone can say a word or two in front of the emperor, it will be of great benefit.

So the governor of the Northwest greeted Ping An with a smile, and praised him again, and then asked carefully, "I wonder what the eunuch Qi used today? There is such a failure. If it can be equipped in the army, it must be Very helpful."

Regardless of the fact that there is a gunpowder bureau under the Bingzhan Bureau that handles these things, in fact most people—including officials—don’t know the existence of this thing.Xu Wenmei was able to know because he was well-read and knowledgeable, and also because he was a close servant of the emperor and a member of the 24 yamen, so he knew more than outsiders.But he hadn't actually seen the real thing either.

The research on firearms at this time was really too backward.Especially on the side of the Gunpowder Bureau, they couldn't get anything good after repeated tossing and turning, and the power was so poor that even the emperor didn't pay much attention to it.According to Ping An's understanding, these people seem to have switched from researching weapons of mass destruction to researching fireworks and firecrackers, hoping to entertain the emperor during the Chinese New Year, so as not to be completely forgotten by the emperor.

Chinese people seem to be accustomed to going farther and farther on these "crossroads".Most eunuchs have more experience on how to please the emperor, as for how to make weapons?What does that have to do with them?Anyway, even if something is built, it turns out that it will go wrong when it is used.This kind of thing itself may not be usable.

This is also one of the reasons why Ping An did not use the brains of the Gunpowder Bureau, but did it himself.The atmosphere over there is already bad, and we have to rectify it from the beginning.If there is improvement here, I will ask the emperor to distribute all the craftsmen.

After listening to the Northwest Governor's question, Ping An explained the difficulty of large-scale promotion, and then answered his question, "This thing is called an improvised bomb."

The corner of the Northwest governor's mouth twitched, "This name is really..." He wanted to say that it was not majestic enough, but after thinking about it, he said, "When the news spreads back to Beijing, His Majesty will definitely give it a name, and this name may not be used in the future. "

Ping An twitched the corner of his mouth, because he knew very well the emperor's style of naming, most likely either "General Tianlei" or "General Thunder God". "Lei Huo Dan" is already a realistic name, and it mainly depends on the emperor's painting style.

"Cough..." He coughed twice to cover up his gaffe, and then said, "There is something I need to ask my lord to decide. When we were wandering outside the city before, we saved many people and resettled them. But now Beidi people are still watching outside the city, and they don’t know what will happen next. It’s better to move them into the city.”

To stay outside is to wait for the prairie people to snatch it, that's what fools do.

The governor of the Northwest immediately said, "You are right, I will ask someone to handle this matter."

Being reminded by Ping An, he also remembered the existence of Beidi.Probably because of the relationship between the bomb and Gao Gao, he glanced at Pingan, and said in a discussion tone for the first time, "I have already written a memorial to your Majesty about the Beidi matter. The capital city is far away, and I don't know when the news will come back." .At present, we still need to work together to fight against Beidi people. 1

Ping An was stunned for a moment before realizing it.Of course, the governor didn't want to discuss with him, but wanted to ask how many bombs were left.

"My lord, I brought out more than [-] improvised bombs this time. Seventy of them were used up last night, so please leave the rest to your lord," Ping An said.

Seeing the disappointment on the governor's face, he continued to add, "However, if there are raw materials, such a powerful one can't be done, but simple bombs can still be made." All of these he brought used the forging process , the gunpowder is sealed in the iron ball, only the fuze is exposed, because the sealing is good, so the power is huge.

But having said that, as long as Xinzhou City can provide enough raw materials and fill it in large quantities, let alone bombs, even the power of artillery may be able to achieve it.