Hongdong County is only sixty miles away from Linfen County, the capital of Pingyang, which is a day's journey, starting in the morning and arriving in the evening.
There is the Confucius Temple at the foot of the west mountain in Linfen County, and there is the Yunwu Temple next to the Immortal Cave on the mountain. Compared with the Yunwu Temple in Hanzhong and Dazhu, Sichuan, this Yunwu Temple is really simple and small in scale. It is built close to the mountain and has only one temple. The palace and several rooms.
It was already night, with snow falling outside. In the small courtyard of the temple, under the ancient Buddha with a green lantern, a young man was reading a book seriously. The door was gently pushed open and a man stepped in. He added new charcoal to the brazier and whispered casually. Sentence: "General, why don't you take a rest?"
"It's almost time. You should rest early." This young man was Li Yan, one of the eight pillar states of the Ming Dynasty. He arrived at Pingyang Mansion in a few days and was waiting to see Chang Yu.
"How can I sleep when I have a humble duty?" The personal attendant was flicking the charcoal fire. Li Yan smiled and continued to turn over the book without saying anything. It seemed a bit inexplicable that he came to Pingyang Mansion but did not enter the city. In fact, it was also difficult to say that he wanted to keep a low profile. , after all, it is a matter of safety, and secondly, it is related to people from the Yamen...
At the beginning of the year, Zhang Linran, the prefect of Pingyang Prefecture, surrendered to the city and shot Chang Yu in the head. Now the new prefect is Zhao Jianji, who has just taken office. He was originally the chief envoy of Shanxi and once followed Chang Yu to defend Taiyuan. He hated thieves to the core. At that time, Li Yan was sparing no effort in making plans to attack Taiyuan City, so if they met when Chang Yu was not around... how embarrassing it would be!
Footsteps came closer and closer outside the door. The attendant who was playing with the charcoal fire raised his eyebrows, walked to the door with his knife in hand, and heard someone outside breathing heavily: "General, here we come."
Li Yan stood up abruptly with a surprised look on his face: "At this time?"
The man outside the door hummed: "We have reached the foot of the mountain."
Li Yan hurriedly put on his clothes and went out. There was a strong wind and snow outside. He quickly walked out of the temple gate and looked down the mountain. He saw more than ten lights looming at the foot of the mountain. He said to the attendants beside him: "Let me tell all the brothers, don't make trouble." ".
"General, don't worry. There are brothers in front of and behind the temple, inside and outside the temple. Besides, which blind person would dare to seek bad luck from Lord Governor? I'm afraid that the entire Pingyang Mansion is now full of Jinyi guards and Dongchang Fanzi’s spy, just because our whereabouts are secret enough, the Governor can actually come to our door directly..."
"Be careful with the Ten Thousand Year Ship," Li Yan warned, wrapping up his clothes tightly and heading down the mountain to greet him.
Li Yan met Chang Yu halfway up the mountain and greeted Chang Yu quickly: "The Governor came here all night long."
"Looking for a quiet place to explore, General Li has found a good place. It's much more comfortable than the city." Chang Yu looked around at the darkness and whiteness. Li Yan quickly said: "General Li just found a quiet place at random. It's a waste of time for the governor to find a quiet place." It’s been a long trip, sir.”
"It's not hard work. I like this quiet place." As he said this, he walked up the mountain. Li Yan glanced behind him casually and saw that there were dozens of people in Chang Yu's entourage. What he was curious about was how many people there were besides being plain. There were several female relatives, guessing that they were maids, but when they glanced at the little eunuch next to Chang Yu, they were startled.
What a discerning eye Li Yan has!
He had met the prince, and not just once.
"My lord, pay homage to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." Li Yan quickly bowed and saluted (in the Ming Dynasty, except when the Crown Prince was in charge of the country, ministers did not have to kneel down). It was unexpected that Chang Yu actually brought the Crown Prince.
Zhu Cixiang obviously didn't expect that Li Yan's eyes were so poisonous, that he could still see through his tightly wrapped body with only half of his face exposed. He couldn't react in time and looked at Chang Yu: "This, this..."
"What the hell, am I still waiting to kowtow to you?" Chang Yu shuddered as he spoke, quickly wrapped up his clothes and climbed up the mountain quickly: "General Mo Duoli, it's too cold today, let's go up first and then talk. ".
"Yes, yes, General Li, don't be too polite." Zhu Cixiang stretched out his hand to help Li Yan and quickly followed Chang Yu, but Li Yan had mixed feelings in his heart. He learned the way of Confucius and Mencius and followed the traditional etiquette. Although he also knew Chang Yu Yu didn't like red tape, but he spoke too casually to the prince. No wonder there were always civil servants in the court scolding him for breaking the rules. He turned around and looked at the backs of the two of them, and felt excited in his heart. Chang Yu was afraid that he would become the leader of the Ming Dynasty. The second Lu Bing.
Lu Bing was the commander of the Jinyi Guards during the Jiajing period. He was named Zhongbo and was one of the few Jinyiwei commanders in the Ming Dynasty who had a happy death. Emperor Jiajing was superstitious about alchemy and ignored the government affairs, which caused the ministers to die one after another. Lu Bing was responsible for replacing Emperor Jiajing. They were dealt with one by one, Yang Zui, Yang Jue, Zhou Tianzuo and Pu Xian were all killed by his hands.
Li Yan felt that Chang Yu was the second Lu Bing. It was not that he was ruthless. Chang Yu would not frame Zhongliang, nor would he be a walleye like Lu Bing. Rather, the reason why Lu Bing gained the favor of Emperor Jiajing was because The two of them are growing up!
Lu Bing was born in the Jinyiwei family and was three years older than Emperor Jiajing. His mother was Emperor Jiajing's wet nurse. He and his mother went to and from the palace since childhood and developed a deep friendship with Emperor Jiajing. It is said that he even saved Emperor Jiajing's life.
But now, Chang Yu and Zhu Cihong are so similar to them.
The governor of Dongchang, the one who even the commander of the Jin Yiwei had to kowtow to, was a future emperor. The two were about the same age, and their friendship was not comparable to that between Lu Bing and Emperor Jiajing.
If Zhu Cihong ascends the throne in the future, then Chang Yu will still get it...
Although the abbot of the temple did not know Chang Yu's identity, he also knew that he was extraordinary. He led the monks to greet him at the entrance of the temple. Chang Yu had no intention of disturbing him, clasping his hands together and saying a greeting. He first settled the female relatives of Kunxing and gave them enough money for sesame oil. The abbot asked the monks to boil hot water for the guards to keep warm, and then returned to the room after making arrangements.
In this wing, Chang Yu, Li Yan, Zhu Cixiang and others were sitting on the floor. There was a fire pot and warm tea. It was quiet outside. Chang Yu leaned against the wall and listened to Li Yan's talk.
Li Yan led his troops straight from Anqing to Puzhou. The march lasted for more than a month and was indispensable for fatigue. He also took the opportunity to train the troops. This was one of Chang Yu's greatest concerns.
When Li Yan first surrendered, he had 8,000 troops. After fighting several tough battles with Chang Yu in the south and north for half a year, most of his troops were damaged. Later, after he planned to kill Liu Zeqing in Anqing, he included his troops. Counting more than 10,000.
It is well known what kind of virtue Liu Zeqing has. There were many people in this group who coveted him at that time, but Chang Yu was worried about anyone except Li Yan.
One is afraid of not being able to control it, and the other is afraid of not being able to convince the public.
Liu Zeqing was hostile to Gao Jie, Liu Liangzuo and others, and was quite dissatisfied.
But Li Yan was different. He had a good reputation for being brave and resourceful, and as one of the Zhuguo, he was relied upon by the eunuch of Dongchang to have a future.
There's just something wrong with it.
Li Yan has strict military discipline!
Chang Yu is worried that this group of people can't stand it and don't cause trouble.
At this time, I heard from Li Yan that he was worrying too much.
Both kindness and power were given, and the Gongzi camp was watching along the way. As long as the leading general was controlled, the people below him would be very obedient.
Unless they don't want to do it anymore, they either rebel or run away.
But now, these two roads are not so easy to walk. They are all paths of turning back and ending.
After Li Yan arrived in Puzhou, he took stones and cut wood to build a military camp under the Zhongtiao Mountains in the south of the city. Because the small Puzhou city could not accommodate tens of thousands of troops, and it was winter rather than summer, he needed to be protected from wind and cold. He also set up a long camp on the bank of the Yellow River. A defense line of thirty miles, a 200-person outpost for ten miles, and non-stop patrols at twelve hours a day...
