But Chen Wang also knew where he was, and he suppressed the fluctuations in his heart.
When Chen Wang raised his head again, he happened to meet Cao Wenzhao's eyes like bright lights.
The candlelight flickered, and the firelight was reflected in Cao Wenzhao's eyes. They flickered and illuminated each other, seeming to be able to see into people's hearts.
Chen Wang's heart trembled. He felt as if everything he was thinking had been seen through by Cao Wenzhao.
Chen Wang stood up again and put the letter on the table, sat down again, still remaining respectful.
"If I remember correctly, your current military position is to test hundreds of households, right?"
Cao Wenzhao asked while sitting on the chair looking quite calm and relaxed.
"yes."
Chen Wang was slightly startled. He didn't know why Cao Wenzhao suddenly asked about his military position.
However, Chen Wang quickly came to his senses and nodded in response.
Cao Wenzhao paused for a moment before speaking.
"In the first battle of Qiutou Town and the first battle of Pizhou, if a hundred households are upgraded to two levels in a row, they will be deputy thousand households, and if they are upgraded one level again, they will be thousand households."
"Deputy Qianhu or Qianhu, depending on your qualifications and achievements, it is not difficult to fill the position of Chief Qian or battalion officer of the Chinese Army."
Chen Wang's heart skipped a beat, he raised his head and looked at Cao Wenzhao.
"General..."
But before he finished speaking, Cao Wenzhao raised his hand to stop him.
Chen Wang's expression changed slightly, and his heart was already filled with waves.
He just walked into the tent without revealing his purpose at all.
But now Cao Wenzhao expressed his inner thoughts.
Cao Wenzhao waved his hand and turned to talk about another thing.
"In my early years, I joined the army in Liaodong and worked my way up to the guerrilla level. I became friends with your clan. Many people from your family have followed me in the war since the Tianqi years."
"In the past eleven years, a total of fifty-seven people have joined the camp as soldiers, thirty-nine have been killed in battle, and six have been disabled. Now there are only twelve left, far away from Liaodong, and have followed me to take office in Datong."
Chen Wang was speechless, and Cao Wenzhao's words brought back the memories he had seen.
The Chen family and the Hu family had a good relationship and were related to each other by marriage. They both lived in Guangning, Liaodong.
During the Tianqi period, the situation in Liaodong had begun to deteriorate. In the 47th year of Wanli of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming army returned with a disastrous defeat in the Battle of Sarhu. The Hou Jin Dynasty became more and more powerful and successively captured large tracts of land in Liaodong.
In order to prepare for Hou Jin's advance, camps were set up in various places in Liaodong to recruit troops. Cao Wenzhao was serving as a guerrilla at that time and had good relations with the Chen family and the Hu family, so many young men from the two families joined his command.
However, although Liaodong has strong troops, it is still difficult to withstand the front of the Jin army.
Shenyang and Liaoyang fell successively, and a large number of Liao people fled westward.
In the second year of Tianqi, the Ming army was defeated in the Battle of Guangning. Because Wang Huazhen mistrusted Sun Degong, Sun Degong suddenly rebelled and surrendered, causing the city of Guangning to fall.
Xiong Tingbi had no choice but to retreat to Shanhaiguan. More than 40 military forts in western Liaoning and other places fell, all the land was lost, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians were killed or injured.
In his memory, there was a large sea of fire. Chen Wang couldn't help but close his eyes, and the memories belonging to his original body appeared in his mind one by one.
On the dilapidated official roads, there were endless cries and wailings all over the place. It was more of the unwillingness and pain engraved in the bones and blood.
On both sides of the official road were cavalry troops who were constantly going back and forth. They were traveling in the opposite direction and galloping towards the northeast.
And in the northeastern sky, wolf smoke billowed, filling the entire field of vision.
In the memory, there is only endless pain, which spreads from the heart to the top of the throat, like a knife twisting.
On this day, many of them lost their homeland and their relatives.
There were hundreds of people from both families, and nearly half of them were trapped in Guangning and could not escape.
Return to earth, return to earth!
From that day on, many people had the word "restoration" in their minds. Everyone wanted to fight back to Liaodong and regain their homeland.
Unfortunately……
Unfortunately, not everyone wants to return to earth.
Because once the soil is restored, there will not be so much military pay every year, and the authority in their hands will be weakened...
Chen Wang opened his eyes again, but his mind could not calm down.
Cao Wenzhao did not rush to speak, nor did he reprimand Chen Wang for closing his eyes.
"You four brothers have been following me since the first year of Chongzhen."
"I promised you back then that I would take you back to Guangning."
The candle flame flickered on and off, and the shadow behind Cao Wenzhao shone constantly swaying.
Cao Wenzhao looked slightly gloomy and sighed.
"I know I broke my promise..."
Chen Wang clasped his hands into fists, cupped his hands and said sincerely.
"General, don't worry about it. We all know very well that the orders cannot be disobeyed."
"There is nothing we can do to transfer the order to the general. It's not that we don't know why the general was transferred, it's just that we are powerless."
Cao Wenzhao had indeed tried his best, but it was not up to him where he wanted to go.
This is how the camp soldiers were. During the original eight years of his military career, he could hardly relax for a few months following Cao Wenzhao.
Either at war or on the way to war.
And this situation not only happened to Cao Wenzhao alone, this situation happened to most of the Ming army generals in the late Ming Dynasty.
In the camp system, they can only be commanded here and there, without any autonomy.
He was constantly being called back and forth on the battlefields in Liaodong and the mainland, and was exhausted.
Even an arrogant person like Zuo Liangyu, facing the censure of the governor at this time, can only dare to be passive and slow down the work, instead of disobeying orders.
Many generals of the Ming army were constantly mobilized in this way, and were surrounded and ambushed by rogue bandits. Then they were defeated and died without waiting for reinforcements or food.
Chen Wang knew very well that if he was an honest battalion officer and was in the system of a battalion soldier, he would be constantly fighting.
"There are only 900 people left in the Qibing Battalion under Zhang Waijia. They are in short supply of weapons. They are all Liao soldiers. When the time comes, the army will probably hand them over to me to control them."
"I have watched you train the soldiers during this period. The soldiers you recruited and trained according to Qi Jun's military training methods are indeed meritorious. No mistakes were made either before the battle or during the march."
Cao Wenzhao raised his voice a little and continued.
"I have already reported my merits. It will take some time to describe the merits and discuss the rewards. However, the position of battalion officer can be mentioned to you first, Mr. Qian."
"I can hand over Chunhua's nine hundred cavalry to you first. The army will not refuse the men I recommend now, and I will also find someone to allocate a batch of weapons to you."
In this situation, Hong Chengchou needs to rely on him, not that he needs to rely on Hong Chengchou.
"Cavalry is different from infantry. You should have learned a lot in the eight years you have followed me. Qi Jun's military training method is suitable for infantry, but not for cavalry."
"You are originally from Liaodong. If you perform several meritorious deeds and are promoted to guerrilla, you can lead a battalion alone. You can swallow up this remnant of the army."
