Chongzhen Sunset Song

?one

"The lower official deserves to die! This defeat is due to the lower official's dereliction of duty, please punish me severely!"

In the Chinese army tent, Chen Guowei barged in with disheveled clothes and disheveled hair, fell to his knees with a plop, full of remorse.Lu Xiangsheng was treating the wound in the tent, and when he saw that it was Chen Guowei, he ordered the military doctor to retreat, looked at the bewildered general in front of him, and sighed softly.

"I've heard about the cause and effect. It's none of your business. Don't blame yourself too much."

"No! I could have disobeyed the eunuch's command, so that the follow-up troops would not have defeated Sun Hou. If not, this battle would have been won in one fell swoop! Everything is due to my ignorance. If my lord does not punish me, I will go back to you!" I'm ashamed to see my lord!" Chen Guowei lowered his head and punched the ground hard with his fist.

"Hey~ General Chen, what are you talking about?" Lu Xiangsheng smiled gently, put on his clothes, and covered the wound on his body, "I don't understand why you obey the orders of the high supervisor army. Besides, no one knows The reinforcements of the Qing army will come from Sun Hou, and no one could have expected that the high supervisor army will let the follow-up troops have no command. In short, the facts of this time are beyond your control. Victory or defeat is a common matter in military affairs. General Chen should not be too loose It's on my mind."

"My lord..." Chen Guowei was moved and opened his mouth, but he didn't know what to say for a while.Lu Xiangsheng tightened his clothes, stepped forward, and supported Chen Guowei, who was covered in blood, with both hands.

"This battle has been very hard for the general, so let's go back early to rest and recuperate, and it will not be too late to avenge this battle after regrouping in the future." Lu Xiangsheng said with a faint smile.

"Yes..." Chen Guowei stood up, and pieces of armor that fell off his body collided and rattled. "My lord, please take good care of your wounds, I'm an official...Leave me..."

"Well, let's go." Lu Xiangsheng nodded, watched as Chen Guowei lifted the curtain, and left the Chinese military tent with his head down.And just as the curtain fell, it was suddenly raised by someone.Lu Xiangsheng took a closer look and found that it was his attendant Yang Lukai.

"The villain heard it from outside the tent." Yang Lukai sneaked into the tent, clenched his fists, with an expression of indignation on his face, "This bastard, who is neither male nor female, turned against the adults like this, how could the adults bear it! "

"Hey, be careful what you say, don't cause trouble for nothing." Lu Xiangsheng frowned, and reprimanded in a low voice, but he saw Yang Lukai clenched his fist fiercely with one hand, while the other hand was hanging limply by his side, motionless.

"Your hand..." Lu Xiangsheng calmed down and asked with concern.

"Oh, it's okay." Yang Lukai glanced at his arm, and grinned, "This time the injury is a bit deep, it seems to have hurt the muscles and bones, but the doctor said that it will be able to move after raising it, it's no big deal."

"..." Lu Xiangsheng's heart tightened suddenly when he heard the words.He looked at the badly injured hand, then at Yang Lukai's plain eyes, lowered his eyes, turned around, and walked slowly into the depths of the tent.

"About the High Supervisor...I will find a way."

two

A few days later, Chongzhen adopted Lu Xiangsheng's suggestion and divided the enemy's army into two groups. The [-] troops in Xuanda Shanxi were assigned to Lu Xiangsheng and stationed in Changping, and the [-] troops of the Guanning Army were assigned to Gao Qiqian and stationed in Tongzhou. They lived separately in the northeast, each waiting for the enemy.

"You, you, what are you doing with this trick!" Gao Qiqian returned to Beijing to report on his work, and visited Yang's mansion on the way, but was complained by Yang Sichang, "I wanted you to go to the army to control the overall situation, but now it's good, Lu Xiangsheng once The paper memorial keeps you far away, how can you control him!"

"Master Yang didn't see his arrogant look, how could we let him get the military exploits easily!" Gao Qiqian said unconvinced.

"You...!" Yang Sichang was so angry that his throat was blocked by Gao Qiqian's words, and his chest felt tight. It took him a long time to recover: "My father-in-law is happy to see his army defeated!"

"Hey~ Our family is also thinking about the peace talks." Gao Qiqian also felt that what he said was wrong, so he quickly softened his tone and tried to make amends.

"Even if peace talks are imperative, you can't intentionally teach Lu Xiangsheng to lose his army! This defeat is not all about Daming's army, and Daming's face!" Yang Sichang was restless, and as he spoke, he tapped his fingers fiercely. desktop.

"Master Yang, this is the benevolence of a woman." Gao Qiqian rolled his eyes, and quickly made up a set of excuses, "It's not up to the two of us to decide whether to negotiate or not, it depends on the emperor. Master Yang thinks about it, the emperor has already been moved by his words, if he is allowed to win again and again, will the emperor still have the idea of ​​making peace? He narrowly won a few games, but it was only a momentary glory. Who can guarantee that he will really retreat from the enemy in the end? Even if he retreats from the enemy by chance, who can guarantee that the Jianlu will not come again? Master Yang knows this much better than our family, since It’s a detour, so why bother, it’s better to cut through the mess quickly and urge the emperor to make peace as soon as possible.”

Gao Qiqian's words finally hit the heart of that box, and Yang Sichang breathed a sigh of relief, looking thoughtful, and he spoke again after a long time: "It's just that my father-in-law's wrist is really good. It's better to do it wisely." He said flatly, "Teaching people to understand that it seems that the father-in-law is obstructing it is of no benefit to you, me, or to discussing the overall situation."

"This..." This time Gao Qiqian had nothing to say - at that time, he just came up with this heartache, so why did he think so much...

"Elder-in-law has led soldiers alone?" Yang Sichang asked again.

"...Our family has supervised the army for many years, and it is not difficult to lead the army alone..." Gao Qiqian swallowed and squeezed out a few words.

Yang Sichang looked at Gao Qi's vague expression, and complained again, but because he was a member of the palace and rarely his ally, he had no choice but to swallow it back. "In short, if you want to contain Lu Xiangsheng, you can't divide your troops." After a long silence, Yang Sichang finally said, "I'll meet His Majesty tomorrow. His Majesty's will."

three

"Now that the two armies of the Qing army have joined forces in Tongzhou, and are about to attack on a large scale in the near future, His Majesty has allocated 3 troops from Inspector Lu to guard Changping. This is really not the best policy."

In the Hall of Martial Heroes, Yang Sichang began to lay out the speeches prepared last night one by one.Although Chongzhen was listening patiently, but the expression on his face was always noncommittal, which made people really unable to see through his thoughts.

"Dividing the troops is what Lu Qing meant." Chongzhen said lightly, with neither joy nor anger between his brows, "Lu Qing compromised and said that Tongzhou has [-] Guanning troops sitting in the town, and the Qing army will give up what is hard to get easy, and detour to Changping to march , At that time, sending surprise soldiers from the middle to attack them, flanking back and forth, is the way to win with twice the result with half the effort. I think what Lu Qing said is reasonable, so I will play it."

Yang Sichang frowned slightly. "Your Majesty trusts him too much. If the enemy army does not go to Changping this time, or if it directly confronts the Guan Ning army led by Eunuch Gao, then what should we do? We should concentrate our troops in one place and follow the enemy's movements closely. That's the safe way." Yang Sichang leaned forward and remonstrated.

"I entrusted him with the position of governor and gave him the sword of Shang Fang, so I can rest assured that everything will be decided by him. Since he said that it is appropriate to divide the army, he must have thought it through. Naturally, I will agree." Chongzhen said, still It's unwavering.

"But no one in the world can be an ever-victorious general, and the same is true of Governor Lu. The failure to attack the enemy camp this time is an example. How can His Majesty leave everything to him and ignore it?" Although Yang Sichang's attitude was respectful , but there is no compromise between words.

When Chongzhen heard this defeat, a trace of displeasure flashed in his eyes. "I don't want him to win every battle, but I want him to retreat in the end. I ask myself that leading troops in battle is no better than him, and looking around the court, there are few people who are better than him. If Yang Qing doesn't teach me to trust him, Could it be that you have someone else who can teach me to rest assured?"

"This..." Naturally, there is no such candidate.Yang Sichang's several words failed to persuade Chongzhen, but was blocked by Chongzhen. He was speechless for a while, so he had to grit his teeth and resorted to the last trick: "Your Majesty, don't blame the minister for disrespectful words. It's not because I don't trust you." Inspector Lu, there is just one thing, I don't want to say it clearly, since the matter has come to this point, I don't allow the minister to stop talking."

"What's the matter?" Chongzhen asked.

"Forgive me, to be blunt, in fact, the division of troops alone may not be impossible, but His Majesty and Governor Lu both overestimated a person."

"Who?"

"Gao Qiqian, Eunuch Gao." Yang Sichang bowed and directly threw out this useless ally.

"Oh?" Chongzhen narrowed his eyes, revealing a hint of doubt, "Why did Yang Qing say that?"

"Your Majesty has learned from you. Although Eunuch Gao has been with the army for many years, he has never fought against the enemy alone as a governor. I am afraid that Governor Lu does not know the depth of Eunuch Gao's ability, so he made this suggestion to divide the army, and the minister met yesterday. I have asked Eunuch Gao if I am sure, but I can clearly see Eunuch Gao's ambiguity." Yang Sichang replied respectfully.

"Although the Guan Ning army was handed over to Gao Qiqian to lead, there is still Zu Dashou in the army to assist him, and Zu Dashou is also a good leader, so it should be safe to imagine." Chongzhen still responded firmly, seemingly unmoved .

"But Zu Zongbing is no more appointed by His Majesty's governor-general than Lu Dushi. After the division of troops, Zu Zongbing must obey the orders of Gao Gonggong. Guan Ning's army is the elite of our army. If you don't make good use of it, just in case something goes wrong. What to do!" Yang Sichang said while carefully observing Chongzhen's face, and finally saw a slight change in Chongzhen's indifferent expression. "Besides, the enemy army is currently gathering in Tongzhou. If they really confront our army head-on, even if the Guanning army can barely resist, it will be a fierce battle. If the Guanning army is outnumbered, the loss will be too much..."

"Well. I will consider it. You step down." Chongzhen cut off Yang Sichang's words.Yang Sichang was taken aback for a moment, and met Chongzhen's eyes inadvertently.Those eyes didn't hide anything, but they were bottomless and unclear, and Yang Sichang felt a chill on the back of his neck, as if he was completely naked. The emperor saw it thoroughly.His heart was in a state of confusion, he quickly lowered his eyes and collected his thoughts, saluted and said goodbye according to the order.But as soon as he turned around, he was stopped by Chongzhen again.

"What orders does Your Majesty have?" Yang Sichang turned around anxiously.

"I allocated some money, food and supplies for the labor force the day before yesterday, and I am going to order you to send them to Lu Qing's camp in person to show your solemnity. I wonder if you would like to work for me?" Chongzhen stared straight at Yang Sichang.

"Your Majesty displeases me, and I am willing to serve His Majesty's orders." Yang Sichang bowed his body and bowed deeply, but secretly he was even more hesitant and guilty.

"Okay. I have given Wang Cheng'en the specific matters, so you can ask him yourself."

"Yes. I will retire."