At noon, Chang Yu was writing secret chapters for Emperor Chongzhen in the county government office. He had stopped updating since Tongling. Chongzhen had urged him to update again and again. Now that the overall situation was decided, he took advantage of his free time to update a few chapters for him, while Li Yan was working on his Beside him, he was writing furiously. He didn't need to write secret records but was writing battle reports and performance statistics. How many battles were fought along the way south? Who fought them? How many troops participated in the battles, the victory or defeat, and the casualties. He was a Westerner. Commander Lu also wrote for the young eunuch to make East Road statistics, which would then be reported to the imperial court and the Ministry of War.
The two of them were busy on their own. Huang Degong and Gao Jie finally woke up, rubbed their sleepy eyes, smashed their heads with melon seeds, and cursed that they would never drink again. When they suddenly saw Li Yan, they were confused. Could it be that they went back to Anqing last night? ?
"Leaving your post without permission is a serious offense. I will be given a lighter sentence if you ask for mercy from the Governor. Each person will be fined and go to Gongzi Camp to get fifty military sticks." Li Yan snorted coldly. Gao Jie and Huang Degong looked at each other and quickly smiled. He walked up to Li Yan and pinched his shoulders and slapped his back: "General Li, don't give face to the governor. We don't need him to plead for mercy. Just fine us a silver fine. One hundred taels per person. Two hundred taels will do. That's fine." Just dispense with the military stick..."
Are you kidding me? Fifty military sticks. Those people from Gongziying are so cruel that they won’t be merciful in beating their own people. Fan Jiaqian and Hu Ling received twenty military sticks two days ago and they still can’t lie down and sleep. What’s more, Tangtang The two commander-in-chiefs, Huang Degong, was still an earl, and he was even worse at receiving a military stick in public.
While they were laughing and scolding, some light meals were prepared in the kitchen. Several people gathered around to eat and discuss military matters, mainly about Wang TiZhong. Li Yan believed that Wang TiZhong's surrender caused Bai Wang's offensive to stop and change to defense. For the officers and soldiers, it directly changed the situation from passive to active. This was considered a great achievement. After surrendering, he had to fight in every battle. He also captured Bai Wang. This was his first achievement on the east road. Obviously, he surpassed Wu Sangui and Ma Ke. .
When it comes to merit, Gao Jie and Huang Degong have no objection, but when it comes to rewards, they feel that many generals have never touched upon such a thing as a knighthood in life and death, so giving it to him like this is too much of an advantage.
Chang Yu then told a few people the same rhetoric he had made with Li Muxian before. Since he had promised to do his best to facilitate it, Li Yan heard an unusual flavor from these words: "Supervisor, in fact, The imperial court did not promise to capture Bai Wang and ennoble him, right?"
Chang Yu smiled and said something very shocking: "I agree."
Several people have their own feelings.
Just after the meal was finished, information came in: Hukou County had been defeated, and Lu Daqi and Liu Liangzuo had joined forces to attack Huanglong from both sides of Poyang Lake. Chang Yu smiled after hearing the news: "Within five days, the dust has settled. If we are bored, we will go shopping in Jiujiang with the governor."
Li Yan and others readily agreed.
As a personal aide, Li Muxian naturally had to go with him. Chang Yu left Chen Wangting behind. Several wounded people in Wuzhong were recuperating in the city. Li Yan was very considerate and left six soldiers to help take care of him. After all, Chang Yu no longer had enough soldiers around him at this time. Keep manpower available.
Everyone did not need to carry light and fast horses with food, grass and baggage. They left the city and crossed Yao to cross the river to the west to run along the river. In fact, it was easier to take the waterway, but Chang Yu was very active. Running hundreds of miles on the boat would make him anxious, not to mention he was still Be aware of the sentiments of the people along the way.
Just after the heavy rain, the roads were muddy and there were rivers, beaches, hills and swamps. Everyone walked and walked until dark for only a few dozen miles. They rested in a small village at the foot of the mountain and asked the local villagers that the mountain was called Ma'anshan!
Chang Yu thought it was funny. In fact, at this time, there was only Dangtu City next to Nanjing but not Ma'anshan. The villager saw Chang Yu's expression of surprise and asked, "Has the official thought of Ma'anshan, the King of Chu's house in Dangtu?"
"Hey, fellow villager, you still know about Ma'anshan over there. The villager curled his lips. I also know that there is a famous mountain called Huangshan. We also have Huangshan here. If you go ten miles further, there is a place blocking the road by the river. The mountain is Huangshan..."
Seeing that the villager was chatty, Chang Yu had a chat with him and asked if the passing officers and soldiers had harassed him. The villager answered sincerely: "No, we all hid in the mountains when they were crossing the border..."
Chang Yu was speechless: "Then why didn't you hide when we came over?" The villagers said very seriously: "I didn't have time, and there were only a few of you... Last time when those armies crossed the border, when we came back and found that everything at home was in good condition, we knew He is a good soldier..."
After resting for half an hour, Chang Yu and his party continued westward under the stars and the moon. After walking ten miles, they were still blocked by a mountain by the river. However, this Huangshan Mountain was a bit shabby, just a small mountain.
There are still more than 300 miles to go to Jiujiang. Fortunately, Chang Yu is not in a hurry. As long as it doesn't rain, it is very cool and comfortable to walk at night. There are many villages and towns along the way. You can stay overnight when you are tired. It is like traveling in the mountains. water.
Hundreds of miles away in Wuchang City, although it was already late at night, from Hanyang Gate (one of the west gates of the city) to Catfish Tao outside Wangshan Gate (one of the south gates of the city), the several-mile-long pier was bustling with people coming and going. There were rows of ships on the pier, and one ship was loaded and picked up by the next... Zuo Liangyu finally bowed his head to reality, and decided to temporarily agree to Chang Yu's request, providing him with food, grass, and thousands of stones and handing it over to his son Zuo Mengeng to personally escort him. Going to Jiujiang, since he was only given five days, he had to hurry up.
Kuang Ren had already said goodbye and left in the evening. Zuo Liangyu gave him enough silver reward to send a letter to Chang Yu. Since he agreed, it was still very necessary to maintain the friendship in the scene.
At noon the next day, Chang Yu and his entourage arrived in Pengze County. This county town, which was not much larger than Dongliu, was in the hands of Chen Suole and his brothers. In their words, Lu Daqi and Wang Tizhong did not let them in when they were crossing the border. , I'm just worried that the army will disturb the people in the city. Lu Daqi and his party can't force it. After all, they are from Dongchang, and they won't give you any pressure.
But Chang Yu was more concerned about how they captured Peng Ze and whether any of his brothers were injured. The result was beyond his expectation. It turned out that the two brothers led fifty cavalry and ran all the way to the city in the rain. They wanted to rest for a long time and think about it. How to seize the city, the result... The city gate was wide open and people came in and out. Two bandit soldiers lazily guarded the door.
So the two brothers galloped over, and the thieves guarding the gate were furious: "Who dares to act wild like this..."
"So, so, there was no fight?" Chang Yu looked stunned. The Chen brothers nodded vigorously: "There was no fight, they surrendered directly."
"Where are the soldiers?"
"Kill them all. Only half an hour after my subordinates took over the city, many people came to the yamen gate and cried out, accusing these thieves of many evil deeds. They were angry for the people, so they killed them all." Chen Ruxin pointed to the heads hanging on the city gate. Chang Yu said Only then did he notice it, and he couldn't help but frown: "I left it for a long time on a hot day and it smelled bad, so I threw it away and fed it to the dogs." After resting for an afternoon in Pengze, everyone had dinner at dusk. Chang Yu and his party broke camp and left again. This time they took Chen Suole and thirty personal guards with them, leaving Chen Ruxin and twenty personal guards behind. city.
Pengze is a hundred miles away from Hukou County, but the road is much smoother than before. Everyone had enough to eat and drink, and they were enjoying the cool breeze. Sometimes they galloped their horses and sometimes they walked slowly to relax. At dawn, when they were still twenty miles away from Hukou County, they discovered a large number of people. The officers, soldiers, and guards asked forward. It was Huama Liu's subordinates who said they were preparing to move south along the east bank of Poyang Lake to recapture Duchang, and block the rebel army's retreat, because Liu Wenbing led his troops to enter the mountain via the Xipan Mountain Road, and De'an's After the bandits got the news, they would definitely send troops to take advantage of the terrain to carry out sniper attacks, but he might not have thought that there would actually be a group of troops coming around from elsewhere to outflank them. This was also part of the tactics discussed by Liu Zeqing and Liu Wenbing.
Chang Yu didn't care about any of this at all. He had the experienced Hua Ma Liu in charge and Wang Ti Zhong, a demoted general. The two groups of troops combined tens of thousands of people. If they couldn't get it done by copying a rat's nest, then let alone follow him in the future. Those who fight cannot afford to lose this person.