Datong Mansion, Gong Yonggu's temporary residence.
Noon.
Gong Yonggu, who was sitting quietly, suddenly opened his eyes and sighed with some annoyance.
This meditation is originally a method for scribes to cultivate their Qi and cultivate their minds. Gong Yonggu has been practicing it for many years and has developed considerable skills.
It's just that when he meditated for the past few days, not only was he unable to nourish his energy and cultivate his mind, but he became even more restless.
Often after sitting for less than a quarter of an hour, I feel upset and have to get off my seat.
Today's time is even shorter, almost less than half of yesterday's time.
He shook his head in annoyance, stood up slowly, stretched his body, and then picked up a memorial on the case.
This report was written by Xu Wenpu. According to the report, all the farms in Datong are now ready, with more than 100,000 civilians in peace and nearly 30,000 soldiers recruited.
Then he changed his mind and said that Baode and Watang, not far from Shuozhou, were both attacked by the Jurchens and asked for instructions whether to send troops to assist.
A look of boredom flashed across Gong Yonggu's face, he threw down the report and walked slowly to the march map.
There are a lot of circles on the marching map, which are the garrison areas of Ming soldiers.
After nearly two months of recruiting troops in the field, Gong Yonggu had more than 80,000 soldiers and horses.
If those remaining people are included, the total number has exceeded 100,000.
Of course, the rapid development of soldiers also brought great financial pressure to Gong Yonggu.
Fortunately, the imperial court was very supportive of Datong, and Ni Yuanlu established a relationship with Shanxi merchant Wang Dayu and raised a lot of silver, so he was able to develop rapidly.
But with the outbreak of the Xi'an Incident and the invasion of Jierhalang, his situation became somewhat passive.
After the Xi'an Incident, he originally intended to march into Shaanxi.
Later, he heard that Jierharang had entered the pass and was poisoning the people of Shaanxi. He immediately wrote to Zhu Yuanzhang and summoned an army to prepare for encirclement and suppression.
Unexpectedly, Zhu Yuanzhang did not allow him to fight, so he could only hold on to the city.
After Gong Yonggu received the letter, he wanted to write again.
At this time, Shen Zhanran also sent him a letter, asking him to obey Zhu Yuanzhang's instructions and not to go to war rashly.
In desperation, he had to cancel the battle plan.
It's just that although he can accept it, his soldiers can't understand it.
In particular, many of his soldiers escaped from Shaanxi. Now that they heard that their hometown was being ravaged by the Jurchens, they all asked to go to war.
Then there were the people of Datong, because Gong Yonggu had led them to defeat the Haugs before, and they were in high spirits to fight. Many people also donated their share of food, saying that they wanted to support the imperial court in fighting the Jurchens.
Just because Gong Yonggu had not sent troops for a long time, there were some voices slandering him among the people.
Some people even revealed that he used soldiers to spread the plague, accusing him of only seeking military success and not caring about the lives of the people.
Later, the voices became louder and louder, not only saying that he was greedy for life and afraid of death, but even worse, they also said that he was colluding with the Jurchens.
As this momentum spread, impulsive people would often come to make trouble in front of his house.
Gong Yonggu felt that his reputation had been damaged due to the plague, and he was already a little upset.
At this moment, seeing that the people misunderstood him again, he actively came forward to explain.
But later he found that not only could he not persuade the people, but he could not persuade himself either, so he had to huddle in his house and lick his wounds secretly.
In addition, Ren Zhihua and Li Yan put considerable pressure on him.
In fact, it may not be appropriate to say pressure. It should be more appropriate to say temptation.
Because Li Yan had already contacted many of Li Yan's old troops, they said that as long as Gong Yonggu invaded Shaanxi, they would lead an army to revolt and cooperate with him to attack Jierhalang.
Gong Yonggu once estimated that as long as he sends his army into Shaanxi, he can get more than 30,000 troops.
And if everything goes well, he can also occupy the area north of Yan'an.
Whenever he thought of this, he felt inexplicably excited.
Especially when he heard that Liu Wenbing had returned from a great victory, this emotion became even stronger.
It's just that Zhu Yuanzhang's will is like a sharp sword hanging above his head, making him dare not act rashly.
At this moment, a personal guard came in to report that a group of people came to petition outside the door, asking him to lead troops to attack Jilharang.
When Gong Yonggu heard the report, he couldn't help but frowned and said worriedly: "They are not making trouble, are they?"
The guard shook his head and said: "Not now, but I will be worried..."
"You go out and comfort them, don't anger them!"
Gong Yonggu didn't wait for the guard to finish, and interrupted him in a deep voice.
A look of hesitation flashed on the guard's face, and he walked out quickly.
Soon afterwards, Gong Yonggu heard waves of curses coming from outside the house.
He sighed softly and picked up a memorial, but he didn't read a word of it.
At this time, the previous guard came in to report that Ni Yuanlu and Ren Zhihua were outside seeking a meeting.
Gong Yonggu smiled bitterly in his heart, and signaled his guards to wait for them to come in, then braced himself and pretended to be nonchalant.
After a while, Ni Yuanlu, Ren Zhihua and Li Yan walked into the hall.
When Gong Yonggu saw Li Yan, a look of embarrassment flashed across his face, and then he forced himself to calm down and stepped forward to say hello and ask someone to serve him tea.
After Ni Yuanlu sat down, he glanced at Ren Zhihua and Li Yan first, and then said: "Ping Xigong, I was originally worried that you would be distracted by the people's affairs, but now that I see you are calm and composed, I feel relieved!"
Gong Yonggu forced a smile and waved his hand. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly heard Li Yan's voice: "Master Ni, what kind of person is our Ping Xigong? How can it be that we are just a few common people..."
"Yan'er, what are you talking about!"
Ren Zhihua on the side saw Gong Yonggu's expression change slightly, so he hurriedly interrupted Li Yan and winked secretly at her.
Li Yan glared at him with dissatisfaction and said coquettishly: "He is your Ping Xigong, not mine. If I had known that he was such a coward, I would never have come to Datong. You know..."
Seeing that he could not persuade Li Yan, Ren Zhihua had no choice but to apologize to Gong Yonggu.
When Li Yan saw this, she felt even more angry and turned around to leave.
Ni Yuanlu hurriedly stepped forward to dissuade her and said: "Miss Li, don't be anxious. You must know that marching and fighting is no longer a piece of cake. The situation is unclear now. If you act rashly..."
"The situation is unknown. My cousin has started an uprising in Mizhi, and Hao Yaoqi has also gone north from Yan'an. As long as you march westward, you can drive the Jurchens out."
"Then we will lead the victorious army south. Liu Fangliang will also cooperate with us. It will be easy to capture Niu Jinxing. What's the difficulty..."
Ni Yuanlu smiled and waited for Li Yan to finish speaking before she said, "Miss Li, you are right, but the three armies have not moved, so food and grass go first."
"If we want to send out troops, we have to prepare enough food and grass. Just wait a little longer until we have enough..."
"Didn't Wang Dayu promise to support you with three million taels of silver?"
Li Yan interrupted Ni Yuanlu with a look of contempt and said: "If you are afraid of death, be afraid of death. Stop making excuses. This will only make me look down on you even more."
"Also, I would like to advise you not to think about good things. The situation where you expect both sides to lose will never happen."
"Even this girl can understand this kind of thing. Do you think those generals in Dashun who have been fighting for many years are fools? It's really ridiculous."
"Everyone thinks they are smart, but in fact they are just..."
"Miss Li, remember what you promised me before you came here!"
Ren Zhihua saw that Li Yan was getting more and more outrageous, so he shouted to stop her.
When Li Yan saw Ren Zhihua calling her "Miss Li", she couldn't help but feel pain in her heart. She turned her head and said angrily to Ren Zhihua: "You know how to be mean to me. If I had known you were such a coward, I wouldn't have come to find you."
After she said that, she ran outside without looking back.
Some people died, but not completely...
