It only took a few days.
Li Jinglong's mood changed drastically, from complacency to despair.
The spies he sent out all disappeared.
The food they brought has already bottomed out.
If Li Jinglong does not make a decision, this 50,000-strong cavalry force may starve to death on the grassland.
"God of War of the Ming Dynasty, you have an idea now!"
Sheng Yong on the side was very dissatisfied. He advised Li Jinglong many times on the way not to go any further in case there were changes.
But Li Jinglong couldn't listen at all, which led to this situation.
"Sheng Yong, you are responsible for the communication between the two armies. Now that the communication is broken, you cannot escape the blame!" Li Jinglong looked at Sheng Yong and shouted.
Seeing that there was going to be a complete quarrel, the morale of the army was weakened.
Guo Ying said anxiously: "Now is not the time to hold people accountable. The most important thing right now is to find a direction and withdraw to Datong."
Li Jinglong said: "Yes, the most important thing right now is to find the way."
He stood up and looked at the vast grassland. Everything seemed to be the same in all directions. Now he could only rely on his own intuition.
Li Jinglong hesitated for a moment and pointed in a direction: "No matter what, just go in this direction."
Everyone's expressions changed, and they obviously knew that this was a guess based on intuition.
If you guessed it right, everyone can still survive.
If you guess wrong, you will die.
But right now, there is no other way. Rather than sit back and wait for death, it is better to give it a try.
"Now that the general has decided, let's go in this direction!"
Sheng Yong snorted and left to command the army.
Just like that, Li Jinglong led the army and walked in one direction.
After walking for a long time, the wind and smoke started to rise again. They could no longer see the road clearly, they were tired and tired, and they were still walking against the wind. The most terrifying thing was that their water source had been cut off.
"Take a rest where you are."
Li Jinglong ordered someone to explore the surrounding area to see if they could find a source of water. Now is the time when Li Jinglong's troops are at their weakest.
At this moment, the sound of horse hooves suddenly sounded, and shouts sounded. What Li Jinglong feared most finally happened.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
The cavalry on the grassland made a strange roar and suddenly appeared on the horizon. They appeared in a crowd and charged towards the Ming army with their swords!
"Line up to meet the enemy!"
Li Jinglong shouted.
Before his army even started to bury pots and make rice, the enemy actually came over to kill them. The plain was extremely flat, without any bunkers, and the light cavalry penetrated deeply, making it impossible to set up camps.
These soldiers had not slept well for several days. Many of them had colds, fevers, and dizziness. There was not even a doctor.
One can imagine how poor the combat effectiveness of Li Jinglong's army is now.
"Li Jinglong, I will kill you today! Hahaha!"
Gui Lichi charged on horseback, and the two armies soon collided with each other. Li Jinglong's army collapsed at the first touch.
"It's Guilichi. He's not dead, he's faking his death."
Li Jinglong felt like the world was spinning. If he had known that Gui Lichi was not dead, he would not have pursued him at all. But now, the opponent's army was obviously still a whole, and it was all Gui Lichi's fault.
"It's over. I heard that this man was extremely cruel. He scraped the meat with a knife and roasted it before eating it. He ate half of it, but he was still alive. If I were caught, I don't know how he would torture me."
Li Jinglong looked at the situation on the battlefield. Although the opponent only attacked with 20,000 cavalry, they were in an uninhabited territory.
"You can keep the green hills without worrying about having no firewood."
Li Jinglong gritted his teeth, turned around and galloped in the other direction on his horse.
"Li Jinglong ran away?"
Sheng Yong was about to lead a group of cavalry to rush for reinforcements and report to Li Jinglong. When he turned around, he suddenly found that the general next to him had disappeared. He only saw the back of a horse on horseback in the distance, which quickly disappeared.
"The general has run away, what a slap in the face!"
Sheng Yong had no choice but to command the troops in front of him and said: "Follow me. The situation is over. Go find a way back to Peiping and move reinforcements."
In fact, Sheng Yong also wanted to leave, but his reasons for leaving were better than Li Jinglong's, and he also took some people with him.
Unlike Li Jinglong, he was the first to escape while riding alone, without anyone noticing.
Soon, the soldiers were fighting and found that there were fewer and fewer people. The cavalry on the periphery had discovered it early and had already sneaked away on horseback.
"The general has run away! The general has run away!"
I don't know who shouted, and then everyone saw that even the commanding flag soldiers were gone, and they quickly ran away.
Cavalry is different from infantry. Infantry can fight to the last soldier, but cavalry cannot.
Often when half of the cavalry force is gone and the whole army is defeated, they will flee like a goddess scattering flowers, because the cavalry rides horses and can escape on the battlefield.
Unlike infantry, if the person in front of infantry runs away, the person behind can kill the person in front.
Just like that, the 50,000 cavalrymen brought by Li Jinglong all ran away not long after the battle, just like the goddess scattering flowers, they fled for their lives.
As for the generals such as Zhai Neng, who led 100,000 infantry in the rear, they were anxious after discovering that they had lost contact with the troops in front, so they stationed where they were and kept sending people to search for them.
And all this was also seen by Gui Lichi. Gui Lichi captured many of Li Jinglong's heralds and scouts. Using these people, he created an illusion and used tactics to divert the 100,000 troops, and then The old trick was repeated, causing the 100,000-strong army to lose its direction.
Gui Lichi planned to annex the 150,000 troops brought by Li Jinglong in one fell swoop. This place was close to the Fishing Sea.
Gui Lichi felt that he wanted to avenge Yuan Ting's battle at Yuerhai.
The same army of 150,000 was defeated this time by the Ming army! !
At this time, there was a man sitting next to the river on the grassland in a daze.
It was Li Jinglong.
When Li Jinglong left, he brought a lot of dry food and fresh water with him. Unfortunately, he also went in the wrong direction and had no idea where he went.
Fortunately, when the fresh water was almost exhausted, he found a river that could replenish the fresh water. Then he took a bow and arrow, shot a few fish into the river, lit a fire by the river, and grilled the fish.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuu"
As he ate, Li Jinglong choked up, wondering why he had ended up in this situation.
At this time, he felt extremely regretful, and his intestines were green with regret.
Originally, he could return to Beijing and resume his life, and after accepting the title of Ming God of War, he would be respected by thousands of people.
But now, he, the Ming God of War, is probably going to be despised by thousands of people.
If I had known this, why bother?
Li Jinglong seemed to have gone in the wrong direction, but some cavalrymen accidentally bumped into each other and rushed in the same direction. With luck, they actually rode to Beiping City on horseback.
"What?? The whole army was wiped out?? Oh my god"
Zhang Yu, the guard of Beiping City, had a cold face and immediately passed the news to the court at high speed.
Imperial Palace, Yangxin Palace.
Zhu Yunwen had already learned that Li Jinglong led his army to pursue him.
He was a little dissatisfied with this, but there was nothing he could do about it. The sky was high and the emperor was far away, and he couldn't control Li Jinglong at all. He only hoped that Li Jinglong could come back victorious again.
"Report——"
A guard hurriedly entered the hall.
Zhu Yunwen said excitedly: "But is there news about the general's triumphant return?"
The guard shook his head and said: "General Li Jinglong led 150,000 men to the north in pursuit. He was ambushed and the entire army was wiped out."
"What, the whole army was wiped out"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Yunwen rolled his eyes and fainted.
Thinking about it, this prison country of his has come to an end, falling from heaven to hell, that's all.
The expressions of Qi Tai and the three of them were fused.
Qi Tai hurriedly walked over, pinched Zhu Yunwen's acupuncture point, woke him up, and said: "The matter with the emperor and grandson has come to an end. Now it is time to solve the problem and deal with the aftermath."
Zhu Yunwen was completely confused and nodded hurriedly: "Yes, Qi Qin is right. Qi Qin, you are the Minister of the Ministry of War. You tell us how to deal with the aftermath."
Qi Tai cupped his hands and said: "At this moment, the entire army of 150,000 has been wiped out. The northern front is empty of troops. In case of changes, we must quickly mobilize troops and generals to station soldiers in Peiping for defense."
Zhu Yunwen said sadly: "But are there any generals available in the court?"
Qi Tai said: "There is still one person available."
Zhu Yunwen: "Who?"
Qi Tai said: "There is also veteran Geng Bingwen."
Zhu Yunwen said: "Quickly remove General Li Jinglong from his post and let Geng Bingwen and I lead 100,000 troops to garrison in Beiyuan."
Qi Tai said: "Li Jinglong himself has not come back, so he is probably dead."
Zhu Yunwen said: "Then assign him directly."
Huangshan.
"What? Li Jinglong's entire army was wiped out??"
Zhu Yuanzhang's beard stood up in anger, and he cursed: "Li Jinglong is a waste, a big waste! A mediocre man, a fool. It's a shame that I trust him so much. He deserves my trust."
Zhu Yuanzhang has always been very optimistic about Li Jinglong, but real gold is not afraid of fire. Whether it is gold or stone, he finally found out.
Facts have proved that Li Jinglong is unable to bear the heavy responsibility.
"Father, now it's better to send me back to Peking to take charge of the overall situation."
Zhu Di surrendered his hands and asked for a fight.
Zhu Yuanzhang was sitting on the stool, thinking a lot.
Zhu Yunwen did not make a mistake. He asked Li Jinglong to go out to fight and then sent him back after he won. It was Li Jinglong himself who disobeyed orders and advanced greedily, which led to the annihilation of the entire army.
Subsequently, Zhu Yunwen sent Geng Bingwen to Peiping to guard.
This operation is quite acceptable.
But Zhu Yuanzhang felt that it was almost unreasonable. Zhu Yunwen was not useful. He blamed him for not foreseeing the enemy's opportunity. He should give half of the power to the deputy general Guo Ying who went with him. It was because Li Jinglong's family was the only one that led to this disaster.
Even for the sake of stability, it would be safe to let Geng Bingwen defend rather than attack from the beginning.
As a monarch, you cannot make mistakes. If you make one mistake, your army of 150,000 will be gone.
How many times can the country withstand this kind of consumption?
From this point of view, there is no need to compare, the fourth child is more suitable.
"Fourth brother, you don't have to go. Since Geng Bingwen has gone, you can stay here peacefully. In half a month, you will be the supervisor of the country. We are optimistic about you."
Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly.
Zhu Di understood the meaning of the words.
Let yourself wait for the supervision of the country and take good care of yourself.
What does it mean?
Isn't it just that he has denied Zhu Yunwen and affirmed himself?
There are two months left to supervise the country. As long as I don't make any big mistakes, I can naturally become the crown prince.
It’s really a lie. You win without doing anything? ?
Zhu Di realized it.
Then when it is your turn to supervise the country, you would rather do nothing than make a mistake
The other side.
These days, Zhu Gaoxu felt extremely depressed after returning to Peiping.
Although the three Yanshan guards were brought back, there were still 50,000 to 60,000 guardsmen and horses taken out by Li Jinglong.
If anything goes wrong with Li Jinglong, all the 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers and horses will be lost.
"Brother-in-law, let me come over and help you."
These days, Zhu Gaoxu hangs out in Li's house every day, looking for Li Xiao to relieve his boredom.
Let's see if there's anything I can do to help.
After all, this Peiping might belong to him from now on. If you help your brother-in-law more in governing Peiping, helping your brother-in-law is equivalent to helping yourself.
"What can I ask for your help? Come and practice in the martial arts field with your brother-in-law."
"That's okay, I haven't practiced with my brother-in-law for a long time."
Zhu Gaoxu agreed wholeheartedly and followed Li Xiao to the martial arts arena of Li Mansion.
He still remembered that five months ago, his brother-in-law was still a farmer, and he took his brother-in-law to practice martial arts. But five months later,
Bang bang bang!
In the martial arts arena, the two were shirtless and fought fiercely. You came and I went back and forth. In the end, Zhu Gaoxu was punched by Li Xiao and flew several meters away.
Li Xiao withdrew his fist, smiled slightly and said, "I agree."
Li Xiao's current strength is equivalent to that of a peerless general like Xiang Yu.
But Zhu Gaoxu has been able to defeat him a few times, and his apparent strength has already reached the level of a first-class general. Given time, he can go further. No wonder he can help Zhu Di turn the tide of the battle many times in the future.
"Isn't Jinling like a thing in a pond? It turns into a dragon when it encounters the storm!"
Zhu Gaoxu stood up with a somersault, patted the dust on his body, and cast an admiring look at Li Xiao. "Brother-in-law, you have really turned into a dragon now."
Li Xiao laughed and said: "Gao Xu, tell me honestly, how many books did your sister get?"
Zhu Gaoxu smiled and said: "Take them all. It's really fun to read. It's much more enjoyable than reading the newspaper. You can only read the newspaper once at a time. I can read the whole thing in one night."
Li Xiao nodded and praised: "Gao Xu, if I am a dragon, then who are you?"
Zhu Gaoxu was stunned for a moment, and then said ecstatically: "The first brother-in-law met me, then I am Fengyun!"
Li Xiao nodded: "Yes, you are Fengyun."
After this compliment, Zhu Gaoxu's gloomy mood was completely swept away, and he felt much better.
He smiled boldly: "There is always a place for me, Zhu Gaoxu, to be useful in this world!"
Li Xiaodao: "That's right, if you are born with talent, you will be useful. If you lose a lot of money, you will come back again! Gao Xu, you listen to me in everything, and I will ensure that your name will go down in history!"
Since history has changed, Li Xiao naturally hopes that Zhu Gaoxu, who has the best relationship with him, will not embark on that repetitive path.
Zhu Gaoxu said: "Brother-in-law, do you want to help me start a career?"
Li Xiao nodded: "The time has not yet come. One day, we will do something big together."
Zhu Gaoxu said excitedly: "What's the big deal?"
Li Xiao said: "Look for the great secret treasure and become the Pirate King!"
Zhu Gaoxu: "????"
Li Xiao did not explain. This matter still needs to be discussed.
After all, if the Ming Dynasty did not move its capital to Beiping, Zhu Gaoxu would probably have to guard Beiping in the future.
At this time, Tongluo Xu Jiuan came to Li Mansion.
Li Xiao's Li Mansion is not as good as Prince Yan's Mansion, but it is no worse than the princes of other vassals.
Xu Jiu'an, who was led into the mansion by his servants, was completely shocked by the scale of Li's mansion. It turned out that the master was not just a general informing the county, but also a big shot!
Xu Jiu'an excitedly raised his hands and said, "I've seen you, sir. I don't have much to do over there anymore. The mountain you want to buy is a branch of the Shen family, but it has no connection with the main branch in the south. He has a small background and only has a few weak connections with the six leaders in the court. The reason why he doesn't sell is because the incident at the salt mine last time reminded everyone. Now those people refuse to sell any mountains. They must have enough Benefits and dividends will only be considered.”
These things were discovered by Xu Jiuan with great pains over the past few days. In order to hear some words, he lay on the roof all night.
"Jiu'an, you've done well. I will promote you as a silver gong next month."
Li Xiao nodded slightly, quite satisfied with Xu Jiu'an.
"Thank you, sir." Li Jiuan said with joy, cupping his hands.
"Back off."
"It's my lord."
After Xu Jiuan left, Li Xiao frowned slightly.
"This guy surnamed Shen is really a big talker. He wants to get dividends. He is just talking nonsense!" Li Xiao felt displeased.
"Brother-in-law, I have nothing to do anyway, so leave this matter to me."
Zhu Gaoxu patted his chest and seemed to understand. His brother-in-law wanted to buy the mountain again. Although he didn't know what he wanted to do, he didn't want to sell it.
"Forget it, I'm afraid you'll get excited and beat someone to death."
Li Xiao waved his hand.
I can only think of other ways.
Zhu Gaoxu, on the other hand, was very restless, so he secretly went to do things in private.
Morning of the third day.
Li Xiao is busy in Dong'an County.
Suddenly, a group of gongs who had been waiting for a long time came hurriedly and said with an anxious look: "My lord, something is wrong! The people have changed, the people have changed, and a large-scale armed fight has started in Balidian Township, with at least 10,000 people! Gaoyang County The king is surrounded!"
"What?"
"Lead the way quickly!"
Li Xiao stood up suddenly, wondering why Zhu Gaoxu was doing things by himself, so Li Xiao immediately called all the county government watchmen and gongs, and rushed over with a knife.
On the way, Li Xiao asked Xu Jiuan about the situation.
It was Zhu Gaoxu who took hundreds of people to make trouble in Shenjiazhuang, threatening to buy the mountain. If he didn't sell it, he would overthrow the village.
However, Zhu Gaoxu was not in Peiping during this period and was not aware of the changes.
The rural gentlemen and clans from all over the country have united together for a long time, waiting for Li Xiao to make a mistake.
When Zhu Gaoxu took people there, the people in Shenjiazhuang confronted Zhu Gaoxu to delay, and on the other hand began to call people from other villages.
The landlord class of the entire county in these ten miles and eight items took all their clansmen, servants, and people hired with money. They all took hoes, sickles and other farm tools, and surrounded them from all directions. Ten thousand people, including Zhu Gaoxu, were killed. The hundreds of people he brought were surrounded.
A number of people of this size is a proper civil uprising. If it is not handled well and reported to the superiors, a group of officials will be charged and removed from office.
At this time, Li Xiao was so worried that he immediately called people to Prince Yan's Mansion to send troops to suppress it, otherwise how could he kill people.
Not long after, Li Xiao led people to the outskirts of Shenjiazhuang. They were already surrounded by water and overcrowded.
"The magistrate is here!"
The county government officials shouted.
Then when the people saw Li Xiao coming, they all gave way and shouted.
"Everyone, please give way, Master Qingtian is here!"
"Master Qingtian is here, someone can help us speak."
"Master Qingtian, you must punish the bullies!"
These people didn't know the relationship between Li Xiao and Zhu Gaoxu, so they kept shouting and calling Zhu Gaoxu a bully.
Li Xiao frowned slightly, I'm afraid this matter will be difficult to handle today.
Walking to the center of the crowd, Li Xiao finally saw Zhu Gaoxu.
Zhu Gaoxu was dressed as an ordinary person in civilian clothes, and he also brought hundreds of military personnel with him.
Fortunately, although the swords were tense, there was no fight.
Zhu Gaoxu also understood that once he opened it up, it would not end well. Besides, it was difficult to teach the fourth class with two fists. This group of unscrupulous people didn't know what was going on, and so many of them suddenly gathered.
However, when Zhu Gaoxu saw his brother-in-law coming to the rescue, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Everyone, please be patient, be quiet, and don't be impulsive!"
"I will take these troublemakers away."
As soon as Li Xiao arrived, he directly greeted his own people and took Zhu Gaoxu and others away before talking.
"Master Li!"
The head of the Shen family raised his voice and said loudly: "Isn't this inappropriate? These bullies come here to buy and sell by force. They will not leave without giving an explanation today. Is it Mr. Li who wants to protect these people?"
As he said this, many people shouted:
"I heard that the county magistrate wanted to buy this mountain not long ago, and today another group of people came. It's hard not to think of this."
"Could it be that the county magistrate failed to buy the mountain, so he called the bullies to buy and sell it? Is this still our Lord Qingtian?"
"Yes, this is still our Mr. Qingtian. He claims to hate evil as much as he hates it, but in fact he is not colluding with bullies to oppress the people!"
These people who spoke were all people the Shen family had found in advance, who wanted to tarnish Li Xiao's reputation.
At this time, the people all looked at Li Xiao.
This is a public relations affair and must be handled properly, otherwise your reputation will be tarnished.
"I have seen this person. This person is Mr. Li's brother-in-law. No wonder he was taken away as soon as he came. This is to protect him!"
"Yes, this is cover-up! Master Qingtian has turned dark."
"I think it's Master Krishna!"
Another group of people shouted.
But now, there are more and more people, there are 10,000 people inside, and there are probably 20,000 people outside. It is these landlords who spread the news, let people come to watch the fun, and smear Li Xiao's reputation.
Li Xiao was thinking about how to deal with it.
Suddenly a woman shouted: "Master Qingtian, please save my husband!"
This is the sound coming from the outside of the crowd.
Soon, another woman shouted:
"My husband-in-law went out to fight a few days ago. I heard that only a few people came back and the others died on the grassland. How can we survive?"
"Master Qingtian, you are very resourceful, please help us!"
"Yes, Mr. Qingtian, the people who came back said that many people are still outside and can't find their way home."
It turned out that the families of these soldiers went to the commander every day to inquire and found out the cause of the matter.
In Dong'an County alone, none of the 5,200 soldiers from the Dong'an Guard Station have returned. They are all outside the city. It is impossible for the defenders to go out to search rashly.
These common people complained that the sky was not working, and the earth and the earth were not responding. They had no way to go to heaven, and no way to the earth. They could only put their hope in their parents, Li Xiao.
At this time, the 20,000 people outside the area knelt down together.
"Please Lord Qingtian, please save my family!"
"Please Lord Qingtian, please save my family!"
"Please Lord Qingtian, please save my family!"
Among the crowd, there were many people from other counties.
The voices grew older and louder, and the number of people kneeling became older and louder.
Ringing throughout the sky!
Li Xiao looked at this scene with a solemn expression and raised his right hand high:
"Quiet! Listen to me!"
(End of chapter)
