What Gao Jie didn't expect was that Li Yan came back from Chizhou so soon. He left last night and came back late at night today. He wanted to quietly go back to camp and rest early, but he didn't expect that someone would come to his door soon.
Not one person came, but seven or eight, all Liu Zeqing's subordinates.
Although Li Yan is in command, he is the one and only person in Anqing. Even the earls and princes have to obey orders, but he cannot and does not want to use his official position to suppress these people, and in addition to being Liu Zeqing's cronies, these people are also generals of the imperial court. Ah, people like Ma Huabao, Zhang Shiyi, Bai Yongfu, Gao Jinzhong, Zhang Guozhu and others are either deputy chief soldiers or deputy generals or generals at this time. Their strength and power cannot be underestimated, not to mention it is when the public is furious.
"Li Shuai, what did the Governor say?" Everyone gathered around Li Yan's tent and started arguing and refused to listen. Li Yan could only patiently invite everyone to the tent and serve tea: "The Governor said this. The body should be handled with caution. General Liu died in battle and he was heartbroken. However, people cannot be resurrected after death, so the overall situation should be taken into consideration. I would like to ask the court to give him a generous burial..."
Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by the generals: "The leader of the thieves, Cheng Niandong, must die to apologize! Otherwise, we will not accept, are unwilling, and will not obey."
Li Yandun felt his head was pounding, so he comforted the generals: "This general has already reported this matter to the Lord Governor. Since you are not convinced, you can go and petition in person when the Lord Governor comes back in two days. There is no reason for this. "Come on."
Everyone thought that Li Yan had actually indulged them a lot in terms of emotion and reason. Since he couldn't handle this, why bother him, so they left one by one, saying that they would protest and petition when Chang Yu came back.
As soon as the generals left, Li Yan ordered his confidants to secretly invite Gao Jie into the tent: "Ma Huabao and the others are getting more and more angry, and they can't contain themselves and something is going to happen."
Gao Jie was also anxious: "What did the young governor say?"
Li Yan looked outside the tent and said, "The governor said that Cheng Niandong cannot stay."
Hearing this, Gao Jie stood up abruptly: "Then kill him and level Ma Huabao, isn't it just right for their anger..." Before he could finish his words, Li Yan pulled him back to his seat: "Shh, keep your voice down, I'm asking you, If Cheng Niandong is killed, what do you think the thousands of thieves under him will think, and will there be chaos? Are you going to kill them all?"
"Just kill it. It's not like the little governor has done this before. You know better than me about the prisoners he killed in Taiyuan." Gao Jie disagreed. Li Yan smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Today is different from the past. There have been continuous battles in several months. "Our troops are in short supply. Didn't you expect that the emperor's personal guards will be mobilized for this southern expedition... We can't kill them now, we have to keep them to attack Xi'an."
"Then...then why are you saying this? You can kill but you can't kill. If you don't kill, it's hard to calm people's hearts." Gao Jie stamped his feet sadly: "I see, if this continues, there will be trouble within three days."
"I came to you to discuss this matter. The young governor once reminded me..." Li Yan whispered in his ear.
It was very late at night, and drizzle began to fall in the sky. The patrol team on duty at the top of Anqing City carried lanterns back and forth, and the lights in the camp outside the city flickered on and off.
Liu Zeqing's handsome tent was crowded with people at this time. In addition to Ma Huabao and other generals, there was also their latest backer, Gao Jie.
"I just got the news from Li Yan and said that the young governor did not agree to kill him, so as not to upset the morale of the army. Moreover, these surrendered troops are still of great use. When we attack Xi'an, we hope to use them to fill holes. It seems that this matter is not as difficult as yours. What I wished for.”
"We don't care about the life and death of those soldiers who surrendered. What we want is for Cheng Niandong to pay for his life. If the governor doesn't agree, we will..." The speaker was a general under Liu Zeqing, named Zhang Guozhu. Yes, it was later. Become the Zhang Guozhu who followed Wu Sangui to fight against the Qing Dynasty!
"Bastard!" Gao Jie got up in anger and shouted: "What do you think? I see you are all impatient. Even if Liu Zeqing was alive, he would not dare to say that word. You still think that the current court is the court half a year ago?" Ah, if you don't believe me, just tell me what I said. Even if I don't take action, you will be surrounded and die in less than half an hour! Do you think that the little governor is a living person, or do you think that Li Yan is just a decoration? , I remember Liu Zeqing's old love, and I sent troops to monitor you, but in fact they are to protect you, can't you see that Huang Degong has been ready to make a move?"
"Commander Gao, calm down. We, we were so angry that we didn't hesitate to speak." When the generals saw Gao Jie angry, they all stood up to persuade him. Gao Jie snorted coldly: "Since the little governor has spoken, this matter cannot be done." Why, you guys... at least not clearly."
Hey, the generals were startled and vaguely heard the hidden meaning of Gao Jie's words. Bai Yongfu took a step forward and cupped his hands and said, "Please give me some advice from General Gao."
Gao Jie sighed: "There is a nest of bears, but a person like Lao Liu is so calculating, why are all his subordinates stupid like you?" He said in a low voice: "Thieves can attack Lao Liu, so you can't do it secretly. What can the young governor say when the rice is ready? He is just a traitor and a general who died, and he is not a big shot. He can't just kill you all for Cheng Niandong."
"Yes, one life is for another. The bowl of water, little governor, must be leveled." The generals kept talking incessantly. Zhang Shiyi waved his hand to signal everyone to be quiet: "This matter should be discussed in the long term. But we have to be quick, we have to be secretive before the governor comes back, first we have to hide it from Li Yan, and finally..." He looked at Gao Jie and said: "The leader of the bandit can't hide in the military camp, how can we have a chance? Take action".
Gao Jie frowned and thought for a while: "Leave this matter to me."
That night, all the generals under Liu Zeqing's tent had no sleep.
And many people in Chizhou hundreds of miles away could not sleep.
Before leaving Chizhou, Chang Yu had ordered that the army camped outside the city and were not allowed to enter the city. Lu Daqi strictly implemented the order without violating it when he was acting as military agent. Before leaving, he also repeatedly told Xu Hongji, who was temporarily acting as military agent, not to violate the order.
Xu Hongji is an absolute boss. Even Chang Yu has to give him three points of respect. After all, he is the prince of the country. But this boss has now learned to be a low-key person. From Nanjing to here, he has already grown fond of the little eunuch. I was so impressed that I couldn't help but be so arrogant and domineering, it turned out that I had real ability.
After Lu Daqi, Wang Tizhong and others led their troops to the west, Chizhou City was what Xu Hongji had said. Those who were left behind, whether it was Wu Weiying, Wu Sangui, Ma Ke and others, were inferior to him in terms of seniority.
However, Bai Wang was defeated and died at this time. They stayed in Chizhou to wait for orders but had nothing to do. Xu Hongji couldn't sleep in the military camp so he moved into the Yamen. Wu Weiying also entered the city on the pretext of being old. However, as a military general, Wu Sangui, Ma Ke, Hao Yaoqi, Ji Jike and others stayed in the camp outside the city.
There are still more than 10,000 soldiers and horses in Nanjing City. Under the leadership of Xu Hongji's generals, they are eating and playing in the camp. As for Jin Shenghuan, he was originally a general under Zuo Liangyu. He was later ordered to guard Jiujiang with Lu Daqi. Bai Wang's lair in De'an was finally sent to Xuzhou to suppress bandits, and after a long circuit, he returned to Lu Daqi's command. At this time, Lu Daqi was ordered to go westward, and he naturally had to follow.
As for Wu Sangui and Ma Ke, they originally had three to five thousand cavalry each, but they suffered a lot in the battles. At this time, Wu Sangui only had three thousand warriors, and Ma Ke had less than two thousand. This made them extremely distressed.
On the contrary, Hao Yaoqi and Ji Ji were the least stressed among the generals. The two of them went all the way south from the capital, recruiting troops and horses as they went. When they arrived at the end of the field, they had no chance to compete with the big guys. However, Chang Yu gave an order and the two of them A suicide squad was formed to come back from Anqing and kill Bai Wang in Chizhou. Although the two suffered heavy losses, they achieved great achievements that everyone envied. With this achievement, the journey south was considered perfect.
In addition, there are the third battalion of Dongchang in Chizhou City, that is, Tu Yuan, Jia Waixiong and Lao Jiu. Chang Yu left the third battalion before, ostensibly to let them go into the mountains to help hunt down Bai Wang and train troops, but in fact it was to monitor the generals. After all, there are too many troops and horses with too many backgrounds.
The Third Camp of Dongchang has a special status. To put it simply, everyone keeps a respectful distance. They will not offend you but are not friendly with you. The Third Camp is also happy to be quiet. Others are stationed at Tianjing Lake or Baiyang River or Qiupu River. The three of them are different from the others. Don't run north and camp by the river.
