The drizzle poured down on the city roads of Beijing in the breeze, staining the red walls and yellow tiles of the Imperial Palace. The willows were green and dripping, and the remaining flowers were in a mess. The Lotus Moon Covered Bridge on the lake in the palace was like a hazy staircase leading to the end of the sky. His Majesty the Emperor, wearing a black crane cloak, walked along the covered bridge, followed by a mysterious man covered in iron.
The eunuchs and maids near the covered bridge had all dispersed, allowing this mysterious shadow-like person to appear, but the clouds enveloped him, and he was not walking under the majestic light after all.
"As I get older, I feel tired after taking just two steps."
Zhu Di stretched out his arm, and the mysterious man understood, and supported the emperor to rest against the mahogany railing.
"I remember when I was young, when the roads were blocked by heavy snow in the mountains north of the vast sea, I could lead my soldiers to march day and night, climb over the mountains and find the enemy to fight with. I was still full of energy after the dark and dark battle."
The old emperor chuckled lightly, "At that time, I never thought that one day, I would be out of breath after taking only two steps, and I would continue to remember my past self when I grow old."
The mysterious man's eyes were also in a trance: "Yes, thirty years have passed in the blink of an eye. You are old, and so am I."
He still remembered that when he was young, the Yan King Zhu Di was domineering and unruly, like a rampaging wild donkey. It's just that you can just think about these words in your heart, but never say them out loud.
"I remember that you fought with the blue jade general in the southwest at that time?" the emperor asked abruptly.
"The past is like smoke, I can't remember it."
The mysterious man chuckled lightly and brushed off the matter, as if he didn't want to mention his past.
However, Zhu Di refused to give up and scolded with a smile: "You are following me like this. I still remember clearly that you and General Lan Yu were building a city in Sichuan at that time. The two Xuanfu divisions of the Southern Barbarians rebelled. You and General Lan Yu The general fought all the way, and Duyun, Xifan and other places were defeated by you and General Lanyu. If Taizu had not allowed you to recruit local people as soldiers, you would have planned to attack Duogan and Baiyi. "
The mysterious man gave a wry smile: "Grandfather Taizu asked me to keep an eye on Dian Lanyu, a tough guy, and not let him do anything stupid. Unexpectedly, when the war started, these eight cows couldn't be pulled back, and they had to be killed all the way. How could I Nothing can stop him."
"The territory of the Ming Dynasty was conquered by these arrogant and powerful generals." Zhu Di said with emotion, "Just like the current crown prince, isn't this kid Lao Si also a reckless man? After moving to the Northeast and adding three provinces to the Ming Dynasty, being reckless has the benefits of being reckless.”
The mysterious man coughed lightly and said: "He is not a reckless man. He has more ideas than anyone else. He seems to be an ordinary man, but in fact he is strategizing and has everything in his hands."
At this point, the man paused and then said calmly, "Those shadows under my command got the news. Your Crown Prince issued an order to transfer two guards from the Northeast to Shanhaiguan. The Liaodong General Soldier acquiesced without saying a word. Now, why don’t you guard against him?”
Zhu Di asked calmly: "What are we guarding against? It's just a normal deployment. It's not like we transferred the troops to the pass."
"It's true that he didn't move his troops to the pass, but he did some tricks inside the pass."
The mysterious man said coldly, "As far as I know, at least two guards from the nine gates of the capital have collected the money from the East Palace. I haven't found out who it is yet. You can weigh it yourself. There is a line inside and outside the pass. From Beijing to Shanhaiguan and then to the Northeast, he has paved the way."
Zhu Di was a little puzzled: "It doesn't look like he is going to rebel, why does he seem to be running away?"
"There is no doubt that he is preparing to run away."
The mysterious man said firmly, "He neither touched the three camps nor the Twelve Guards. He didn't even transfer the guards of Prince Qi's Mansion in Nanjing to Beijing. It can be seen from this that he never thought about rebellion at all. He I just wanted to run away to the Northeast."
Zhu Di was delighted: "It's inappropriate to let the prince go. He went to the northeast for what purpose. I won't live for a few more years. When I die, won't the whole world become his?"
The man said quietly: "Have you ever thought that maybe it's your own fault?"
His Majesty the Emperor's laughter suddenly came, and there seemed to be the sound of something breaking in his chest.
The man was undoubtedly hinting that he had fooled his sons in the past by playing tricks on them, and their sons were all psychologically affected. Who else would have to be on guard against such a father?
"Your fourth son behaves like this, don't you plan to make some preparations to prevent future troubles?" The mysterious man was a little confused.
"What are you doing to prepare yourself for a fight with your son before you die?"
Zhu Di chuckled lightly and said, "The hero who fills the sky with the hot blood in his chest is half buried in the soil. Whoever is right or wrong is in charge of ups and downs. The one with the ability can take the lead.
A general can be deposed, but a country cannot be destroyed. "
He is old and tired. He is no longer a young man who would risk all his wealth for a moment. Now, he is willing to use everything he has to protect this mountain and river. Although he still has a blazing warlike heart, the flames of war can only be burned outside the pass, not within it.
As long as the Ming Dynasty can prosper, what if the throne is given up?
What's more, that kid has no intention of rebellion, he is just leaving a way out.
If he really wanted to rebel, Zhu Di could conclude that the boy's methods would not leave such obvious traces, and even the Shadow Warriors would not be able to catch his tail.
The mysterious man was silent for a while and said, "This doesn't look like you."
The emperor held his hand on the carved mahogany railing, looked down, and saw white lotuses blooming on the blue waves of the deep pool. He said quietly to himself: "Drinking horses across the autumn water, the water is cold and the wind is like a knife. You are not me, how can you know me?"
The breeze blew by, and he kept coughing. The figure in the shadow next to him came over and gently comforted the emperor's back.
The man sighed: "Your health is getting worse and worse. How could it be like this? It was obvious that it was not like this a few days ago."
Zhu Di said with emotion: "For more than thirty years in the army, I have suffered open and covert wounds, wounds from swords and arrows, and crawled out from among the dead, all with one breath in my heart, wanting to finish everything and bring blessings to future generations. Now. Now Seeing that this great river and mountains are safe and sound even without me, the fear of death in my heart disappears.
I have taken all the creation from heaven and earth and borrowed luck from heaven many times in my life. How can I live a long life? "
In the Battle of Jingnan, the power of one land was used against a country. Eight hundred Yanshan warriors raised their troops and captured the right time, place, and people, which was better than Emperor Jianwen's million-strong army. If it weren't for the strong winds again and again, he would have slept under the loess long ago and became a defeated general of Emperor Jianwen.
The emperor closed his eyes lightly and saw that he died in the 22nd year of Yongle, but he understood that he actually had far less than seven years left.
As the Ming Dynasty became stronger and stronger, his health became worse and worse. In the past, he felt that he could not die and the empire could not leave him. Now that he saw Daming gradually climbing to the top under the leadership of that boy, he suddenly felt that there was no need for him to carry on anymore.
Zhu Di closed his eyes lightly and murmured to himself: "Queen, maybe it won't be long before I can meet you again."
"Da Ming, I can leave it to my son with peace of mind."
…
To the north of Jiaozhou Prefecture, there is a vast Huanggao Forest. This is a rainforest covering thousands of miles with a huge temperature difference between day and night. It is located in the lower reaches of Zuojiang River and adjacent to Taiping Prefecture on Zuojiang Road in Guangxi Province of the Ming Empire.
It is said that a Jiaozhi mountain villager went into the forest to collect medicine. When he was drinking by the stream, his arm was wrapped up in a waterweed and he was unable to free himself. The man next to him made a quick decision and cut off his arm with a sickle. The strange thing is that the grass swept away the arm in an instant, leaving only a blur of blood.
Local people believe that Huanggao Forest is an ominous place where demons are rampant.
However, Li Bin, Li Li and others chose this ominous place as the battlefield for the 19th Route Allied Forces and the Ming Army to decide the outcome with the Ming Army.
They know one thing very well. Whether the Huanggao Forest is an ominous place or haunted by demons, if the Ming army is allowed to successfully advance to Qinghua Mansion, no one knows whether the Ming army will be in trouble, but they know that they are sure There will be unknown occurrences.
Bai Qi, who led more than 20,000 Yunnan troops to the border of Huanggao Forest, did not make any conclusions. Instead, he first sent scouts to explore the terrain and enemy deployment. The hostile 19th Route Allied Forces also eliminated the vanguard troops to test the situation. military deployment.
Neither side took action rashly. Fighting in such a complex terrain, once a slight problem occurs, it is very likely to be magnified countless times. Top commanders clash and seize the slightest opportunity to crush their opponents.
In the Ming army commander's camp, Shen Qingyu faced Lu Chaoyang and asked in a low voice: "I still can't figure out why the enemy wants to put the battlefield in this damn place."
Lu Chaoyang said calmly: "It's okay if you can't figure it out. I can't figure it out either."
He knew that his purpose on this battlefield was to direct the scouts to explore the terrain, and nothing else. Each performing his or her duties is the greatest contribution.
"You didn't understand it, but Li Bin did."
Zhang Fu's voice came, causing Shen Qingyu to lower his head: "I'm humble, I'm too talkative, please forgive me."
"It doesn't matter."
Zhang Fu said calmly, "Do you also think Li Bin is stupid? He can clearly command the army to fight in the east capital, and use the advantages of high walls and fortresses to wear down the effective strength of our army, thus minimizing losses. But Li Bin chose the most puzzling way of fighting. He gave up fighting defensively in Dongdu and deployed most of his troops in the vast forest. In this case, his military advantage fell. If you take advantage of it, wouldn’t it mean that you are trapping yourself in a cocoon?”
Shen Qingyu was surprised and asked: "I am humble enough to dare to ask the Duke to show me."
"Li Bin is very smart and understands His Highness very well."
Zhang Fu said solemnly, "Fighting in the rainforest, not only did his Nineteenth Route Rebels tie themselves up, but also us. He knew that fighting in the plains, His Highness had never lost. Back then, His Highness could lead eight hundred cavalry. He, Li Bin, was also a person who participated in the Northern Expedition when he hunted down tens of thousands of Oara tribe's iron cavalry. How could he not know the importance of this?
He knew that if he used the commander's command to its full potential on the frontal battlefield, not to mention his 19th Route Allied Forces, even the 29th Route and the 39th Route would be useless!
Therefore, he wanted to lock the battlefield in the rain forest, because the terrain restrictions of the rain forest destined the commander to be unable to command flexibly and could only rely on tug-of-war to decide the outcome. Li Bin wants to dye this rainforest red with his life, even if he has to pay twice the battle damage. They have a huge advantage in total strength. If this tug of war goes to the end, he can always remain invincible. place. "
Zhang Fu is worthy of being the most outstanding commander in the southwest battlefield of the Ming Dynasty. Even before the war broke out, he had already figured out Li Bin's tactics.
In other words, the other party has no intention of concealing their tactics at all. This is a conspiracy.
Li Bin has decades of experience in leading troops and has fought in various places. Even in the southwest, he still has adapted tactics.
After listening to Zhang Fu's explanation, Shen Qingyu suddenly realized. He gritted his teeth and said fiercely: "This traitor is really not a human being. He has used all his evil intentions on his own family. He exchanged human lives for human lives. His heart." Are they all tall?"
"Perhaps he wished that more people from the Nineteenth Route Allied Forces would die on the battlefield."
Zhang Fu said coldly, "For him, once he forces the imperial court back, his enemy will become the remaining Eighteenth Route Allied Forces. He is treating the Cochin rebels as pawns, leaving us and the rebels to fight. When clams fight, both sides suffer, so that he can gain in the end.”
Even he found it a bit tricky. In terms of fighting in the southwest, Li Bin was definitely not as good as him.
But Li Bin is not a simple person. He is also a famous general who was awarded titles through military exploits from a humble beginning. He also has a huge advantage in military strength. This is his home court.
Bai Qi, who had been groping for the map, his eyes turned cold: "Silence."
The originally noisy commander's camp suddenly became quiet, and everyone turned their attention to "Zhu Gaojie" on the main seat.
"I am making the following arrangements. Everyone, please act as ordered. Anyone who disobeys military orders will be killed on the spot. He will be charged with imprisonment afterward!"
Bai Qi tapped the map on the table with his fingers and ordered calmly, "British Duke Zhang Fu, commanding fifteen thousand soldiers and horses, will set up defenses on the northern periphery of the rain forest. He will serve as the main defensive force and set up camp and build defensive positions in the shortest possible time."
Lu Chaoyang, command the vanguard battalion. Following Zhang Fu's orders, you do not need to attack first. I order you to attack the enemy's left and right flanks in the eastern and western areas of the rainforest respectively to disrupt the enemy's offensive. When facing danger, you can retreat without the need for consecutive battles. The principle is to retain combat effectiveness. "
Shen Qingyu is responsible for communications among various ministries to ensure communication between the northern defense line and other battalions..."
Bai Qi arranged for each general and each military camp to have a clear division of labor. Everyone only needs to do their own jobs and does not need to worry about other matters.
Finally, he said slowly: "I personally led six thousand soldiers and horses as the main attacker to fight the enemy in the middle of the rain forest."
All the generals were shocked when they heard this and quickly advised: "Your Highness, how can you personally take charge of the main attack? How can this be done!"
"The enemy has more than 100,000 troops. Even if some troops are detached, the main force in the central area is still 60,000 to 70,000. You have to deal with the main force of the enemy with 6,000 troops. This is too dangerous!"
"Your Highness, please take back the military order. This is absolutely unacceptable!"
All they had to say to Bai Qi was: Your Highness, you brought 6,000 men to challenge the other side's 60,000 men. It's not even enough to fill the gap between the other side's teeth. You are treating yourself like a piece of cake to the other side!
Zhang Fu couldn't help but persuade: "Your Highness, I think this matter is slightly lacking. You have such a respected status, how can you take the risk of plundering the formation personally? I think that I should be the main offensive commander. There is no shortage of fierce generals in the army, but your safety must be Put it first.”
Faced with everyone's advice, Bai Qi frowned slightly:
“In the military, the commander-in-chief’s order comes first, and soldiers should obey orders first.”
"You don't need to question it, just obey the order."
(End of chapter)
