Chapter 188: Missing
"A great victory?" Sheng Tianzi asked with confusion on his face, "Has Henan reported another great victory?"
"This time it is absolutely true, long live it!" Shen Xuan, the general envoy, said with joy, "The king of Zhou destroyed his family to save the people in trouble, and the army and people of Kaifeng worked together to defeat Zhang's thieves! In this battle, more than ten thousand thieves were killed, and their corpses were exposed. Yepinggou is full of ravines..." At this point, he suddenly realized that he had a speech problem, his voice became smaller and smaller, and he stopped talking.
"Long live my minister Qi. What Mr. Shen said is true. After inspection by the Ministry of War, among the 1,123 heads sent to the capital by the Kaifeng Mansion, they were all real strong thieves. There were also 3,400 who were unrecognizable after being bombarded by artillery. The number of levels. It is indeed a great victory, Your Majesty." Not only Emperor Sheng, but everyone also noticed the word "this time" in Shen Xuan's words. Feng Kai (also known as Guofeng), the right minister of the Ministry of War, hurriedly helped Master Shen to rescue him.
"Long live Qizou. The prefect of Luzhou during the Song and Ming Dynasties discussed how Ding You could return to Kaifeng. He also mentioned in his private message to the minister that he saw the corpses of thieves all over the place with his own eyes, and he sighed a lot." The speaker was Yuan Shijie, the Minister of Household Affairs. . Song Mingyi turned out to be a doctor in the Sichuan Qing Dynasty, and he was highly valued by the adults. His mother passed away a while ago, and Mr. Lin and Mr. Yuan expressed their condolences. It is only natural for people to write private messages to their old superiors to express their gratitude.
"I'm not doubting the King of Zhou, let alone Lu Shen and the others. I'm afraid that just like before, soon after every great victory, the thief will suddenly appear in another place, and his momentum will become stronger every time! Alas, Over ten thousand thieves were killed, and the Ministry of War inspected and found more than a thousand thieves' heads. In other words, more than 80% of those who died under Kaifeng City were my people!" The Holy Emperor was a little sad.
"Long live Chen Qi. If a humble minister is brave, he who attacks the city with the thieves is a thieves!" Gu Yiben, the Prime Minister of Zuosi of Dali Temple, said.
"Who among those who live a good life would be willing to attack the city with thieves? They are all forced by thieves. Besides, even if you are a thief, how can you be born a thief? Everyone in the world is innocent, I feel , I must have had no choice but to become a thief because I really couldn't survive. If the people could live and work in peace and contentment, where would there be any thieves?" The Holy Emperor shook his head, his tone a little heavy.
Hu Ke felt that Qiao Nanxing had an opportunity to show off, and said generously with a face filled with righteous indignation: "Long live, I have something to say. The king, the king, the minister, and the minister are the way of heaven, even if they cut the neck with a bare sword, they should still have righteousness in mind! If I , I would rather die than follow it! If all the people are like this, how can mere rats cause trouble?"
"Ahem. Your Majesty, I have something unclear and I would like to ask you a question." The one who left was Zuo Tongzheng and Ma Quan.
Emperor Sheng felt that what Ma Quan said was a bit strange, and asked curiously: "What's wrong with Ma Aiqing?"
"Your Majesty, I want to ask Master Qiao." After speaking, Ma Quan turned to Qiao Nanxing and asked sincerely, "Master Qiao, may I ask what you had for breakfast?"
Qiao Nanxing was a little confused. He looked at Ma Quan and then peeked at Sheng Tianzi. Seeing that the latter was also waiting, he could only reply: "I drank a bowl of mutton soup and ate a few poached eggs. What's wrong?"
"Yes. Last night, Xiaguan passed by Liuquanju in Jiurifang and happened to see Mr. Qiao coming out of it. The 'cloud sliced abalone', 'lotus agarwood' and 'three kinds of explosion' must be very delicious, right?" Ma Quan asked with a smile.
"Master Ma, you, what do you mean?" Qiao Nanxing was a little confused, but he could already feel that something was wrong in Ma Quan's words.
"It's not interesting to go to Xiaguan. During the last morning, Xiaguan happened to hear Mr. Qiao telling people that the roast duck in Dianyifang was too greasy. It was better to eat it while it was hot in the restaurant. If he asked them to deliver it to his home, the skin would not be crispy and he had to pour boiling oil on it. It takes a while before you can enter... Mr. Qiao has read the books of sages and ate delicacies every day, so he is naturally full of awe-inspiring righteousness. However, during the time when Xianguan returned to the countryside, when he saw the people around him, if I would be very happy after eating a mixed flour pancake mixed with most of the wild vegetables. In the morning, I would often drink four or five large bowls of boiled wild vegetables to satisfy my stomach, and then go to work in the fields. Our village has not suffered from any drought or flood. The people are living a good life. In this state, he always accuses them of why they don't die... Well, I think Master Qiao is right, and there is nothing wrong with him at all." After saying that, he never looked at Qiao Nanxing and turned to the Holy Emperor: "Your Majesty, I have finished asking. ." Yan Bi returned to the courtroom, leaving Mr. Qiao there with his face turning red and white at a loss.
The Holy Emperor smiled and felt a little happier. These science and technology officials talk about their righteousness all the time. I have long been tired of hearing it, but I can't do anything to them. Ma Quan's cynicism is really enjoyable.
After laughing, a hint of worry appeared on the forehead of the Holy Emperor: Although the defeat of Thief Zhang was certain, the dead were all minions, and the chief culprits were all at large. I don’t know where the thief Zhang will cause harm in the next step? To be able to hold so many people hostage, the number of thieves is indispensable! But how many thieves are there? It's useless to ask hundreds of officials - these people either don't know anything at all, and those who know will never tell the truth to themselves. They either make alarmist statements about "millions of thieves have been killed" or "what's the trouble with just rogue bandits?" Just fool around and deal with it... Well, I'll have to ask Dongchang to check it out later. Guan Shengyun was finally calmed down, and the Huguang area was very peaceful. But this thief, although his combat power seems to be inferior to that of Guan Shengyun in the past, he is much more destructive: In addition to Nanyang, although Guan Shengyun also robbed and kidnapped people, the people still have a way to survive. The place it has passed through is as if it has been burned by fire... No, Zhang Thief always sets off a big fire and burns everything to ashes! Alas, when will this scourge be resolved? How is Sun Jie? When will the chaos in She'an be put down? Come back quickly and kill Thief Zhang for me! The Holy Emperor couldn't help but think of his beloved general.
Five thousand miles away, in the dense forest southwest of Chishui Guard, Sun Jie, who was covered in blood, pulled out his sword from a corpse. He raised his head and looked around. The people standing around him were all his own men in Ming army uniforms. Xin smiled and said: "Er Lei, I killed two. What about you?"
Shi Erlei replied angrily: "I killed one. There was another one who was already out of strength and could never stop my swordsmanship. Uncle Sheng stabbed him to death in the back, otherwise it would still be a draw." "
"I've been watching for a long time. You've been fighting for a long time but you can't get it. You just stabbed him because you couldn't bear it anymore. Why, it's a mistake to be kind and help?" Sheng Degong, the captain of Sun Jie's bodyguard, joked. .
"Hmph, you clearly knew that I had a bet with the Marshal, and you deliberately helped the Marshal, but you didn't think I could see it?" Er Lei looked even more angry.
"Bah, bah, bah, I don't know that. Er Lei's kung fu is amazing, who doesn't know it? He's just a little bit worse than the commander in terms of brains, and a little bit worse than your uncle Sheng." Sheng Degong and Er Lei's I have a very good relationship with my father and Shi Meng. I really like this lively young man and always tease him.
"Uncle Sheng, you..." Er Lei was so angry that he was speechless.
Sheng Degong straightened his face and changed his tone into a lecture: "Er Lei, do you know what you do?"
"The handsome personal guard." Er Lei muttered unconvincedly.
"Thank you for knowing that you are the Marshal's personal guard! What do the bodyguards do? Protect the Marshal! Right? They should always stay by the Marshal's side to block the thieves' knives! It would be better for you to just pounce on the thieves when you see them. In the past, you no longer care about the commander! What kind of personal guard is this? You kill a hundred thieves, and if the commander is injured by the thieves, does it count as your ability?" Sheng Degong's tone became stern.
Shi Erlei then remembered his responsibilities and was so embarrassed that he couldn't speak.
"It's okay, it's okay. It was Er Lei and I who made the bet. Don't blame him. We are all fighting petty thieves. We can't hurt the general." Sun Jie was excusing Er Lei, then changed the subject and looked around. Asked, "Do we have any casualties?"
"Come back to the commander, fifteen are dead and twenty-three are injured. Most of the injured brothers are not serious."
"Hmm. How many thieves are there?"
"Come back to the commander, one hundred and thirty-one thieves were killed, and probably twenty or thirty escaped."
"Okay. I finally didn't feed mosquitoes for three days in vain. Clean up and go back to camp." Sun Jie ordered.
At first, this battle made Sun Jie very depressed. After resolving the siege of Guiyang, the Yongning bandits and Shuixi bandits discovered that Sun Jie's troops were much stronger than their previous Ming army opponents and that it was impossible to win through large-scale field battles, so they took advantage of their geographical advantages to engage in guerrilla warfare with Sun Jie , harassment war. Several times Sun Jie came out in full force hoping to find the main force of the two She'an thieves for a decisive battle, but failed every time. On the contrary, the two thieves, She Chong, Ming and An Bangyan, broke into pieces. They captured an outpost today and attacked a fleet of grain ships the next. The Ming army, which had a huge military advantage, was unable to use it until Sun Jie came up with the idea of breaking up the army and using small units. Take small measures. This time Sun Jie led a battalion of 200 personal guards to set up an ambush for three days, and he was able to intercept a surprise attack team from She Chongming.
"Commander, counting our more than 100 levels this time, as well as Deputy Commander Shen, General Shangguan, and General Shi, we have already killed nearly two thousand people this time, right?" On the way back to the camp, Sheng Degong Appears to be in high spirits.
"That's about it. However, continuing like this is not an option. We still have to find a way to have a good time." Sun Jie was a little absent-minded, "I don't want to spend half my life here."
"Who says it's not the case? But the two thieves of She'an are scared of being beaten by us and no longer dare to fight openly. There is nothing we can do." Sheng Degong scratched his head, "These many beheadings must be counted as many levels of skill." ?”
"Hmph, don't think you don't know what you are thinking. You are waiting for the reward, right? However, don't expect too much. The people sent by the thief chief to harass are not elites. The Ministry of War estimates that even 10% of the surveyors will be here. It won’t work.”
"This..." Sheng Degong actually knew that this was the case, but he was still a little disappointed when Sun Jie said it himself.
"I'm thinking that the Holy One will provide some internal funds, don't worry." Sun Jie's heart moved when he mentioned the Holy One. "I wonder what the Holy Emperor's dragon body is like. No matter how big the commotion here is, it's just a corner of the border. That Zhang thief should have been defeated by now, right?" Sun Jie thought to himself, but he didn't know that the Holy Emperor was also thinking about his men at this moment. Love general.
*As for Rifang, the archway built during the Yongle period (some say the Zhengtong period) is what we call "Dongdan" in Beijing today - Dongdan and Xidan are both abbreviations, and the full names are "Dongdan Archway" and "Xidan Archway". It refers to the place name. The archway on the east side is inscribed "Jiu Ri", and the archway on the west side is inscribed "Looking at the Clouds". The phrase comes from "Historical Records·Five Emperors": "Look at it like the sun, look at it like clouds." It means looking at the sunrise in the east in the morning and looking at colorful clouds in the west in the evening. Fan Zhongyan's "Mingtang Fu" contains: "Looking at the clouds and looking at the sun, singing Yao and praising Shun." This metaphor refers to the people's yearning for the Holy Emperor and feeling the emperor's grace, so they took these two names and built it next to the Forbidden City.
