Jinzhong, somewhere in the mountains
A scout quickly came to Xun Ke and loudly reported:
"Sir General, more than 300,000 clouds and troops ahead of us are besieging Lingyuan County. The situation in the county is very critical..."
Hearing the news, Xun Ke suddenly felt happy and said immediately;
"Zhang Lipeng really did not disappoint us! Lingyuan County is right in front, all the soldiers should follow me and rush forward!"
"yes!"
Although he told Lin Huaiwu that he had confidence in Zhang Lipeng and believed that he could block Wang Muzhi's offensive, Xun Ke actually had no idea whether Zhang Lipeng could do this, so he also led his troops as quickly as possible. He rushed over, and now that he heard the news of the enemy's attack on the city, he couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief.
After running for a full hour at a stretch, Xun Ke saw that Lingyuan County was still seven or eight miles ahead. Xun Ke felt more and more that victory was in sight. As long as his three thousand cavalrymen rushed to the rescue, Wang Muzhi's conspiracy would go bankrupt. .
Although he quickly felt anxious about Lingyuan County, at this time Xun Ke also noticed that the roads on both sides were getting steeper and the trees in front were also very lush. Seeing this, Xun Ke felt a sense of crisis for no reason.
Xun Ke also felt this and asked the subordinate next to him:
"where is this place?"
The subordinate looked around and then said hesitantly:
"Sir, this seems to be Fuhu Ridge in the west of Lingyuan City. After walking two miles from here, we will reach the county seat!"
Hearing the name "Fuhu Ridge", Xun Ke couldn't help but frown slightly. He was born in the year of Tiger and this year happened to be his birth year, and the current place was Fuhu Ridge. This happened to conflict with him!
Just when Xun Ke hesitated, another scout sent out hurriedly returned to report:
"General, Yun Bing's army has already reached the city wall. Our army in Lingyuan County is about to be unable to withstand it..."
Hearing this, Xun Ke ignored the sense of crisis in his heart and, with a hint of luck in his heart, ordered to his subordinates:
"Soldiers, don't delay! Pass quickly!"
"yes!"
At Xun Ke's order, the three thousand cavalrymen immediately continued to move forward quickly. After half a stick of incense, they were about to leave Fuhu Ridge. They had not encountered any danger yet. Xun Ke also felt that he was a little too nervous, so he When they were relaxing a little, they only heard two cannon shots coming from both sides of the mountain.
Immediately afterwards, there were only loud shouts of killing from both sides, and countless bullets and arrows were fired at them. Facing this sudden blow, the passing Fengwu army was caught off guard and was hit one after another. Hundreds of people were shot off their horses on the spot.
Seeing this situation, Xun Ke was shocked and his eyes were splitting with anger. However, although he was very angry, he still maintained his rationality at this time and shouted an order to the soldiers beside him:
"Ignore the enemy! Get out of here quickly!"
"yes!"
Under Xun Ke's order, the ambushed Fengwu Army officers also gave up their plan to fight back, and instead followed Xun Ke and rushed toward the exit of the mountain road. Wang Muzhi saw this scene, with a trace of pride on his face. smiled and then ordered:
"Seal the exit for me! No way Xun Ke can escape for me!"
"I will kill Xun Ke, the ferocious tiger, at Fuhu Ridge today..."
Under Wang Muzhi's order, the soldiers of the Yun Bing Army who were ambushing at the exit of the road immediately began to form a formation. The swordsmen and axemen were in front, followed by the firecrackers, and finally the spearmen. Under the cover of the swordsmen and axemen, the firemen The musketeer fired the first salvo. After firing, the musketeer immediately retreated, while the spearman stepped forward and used his spear to push back the attacking Fengwu Army cavalry.
Seeing that the number of soldiers around him was decreasing one by one, but they were still unable to break through the enemy's formation, Xun Ke knew very well that if he didn't rush out, he and the three thousand cavalry would be surrounded and annihilated here. Thinking of this, he gave a fierce thought. He gritted his teeth and yelled:
"Organize death squads
, blast me a bloody path! "
"yes!"
Under Xun Ke's order, the remaining Fengwu Army cavalry immediately organized a death squad of dozens of people. Their bodies were strapped with explosives. Under the cover of their comrades, they rushed towards the enemy's formation bravely and fearlessly. .
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
With dozens of explosions, these death squads used their flesh and blood to open a gap in the enemy's formation, opening up the hope of life for the comrades behind them, and Xun Ke naturally would not waste this precious life. , and immediately led his troops to take advantage of the situation and kill him.
Facing the soldiers of the Fengwu Army who were struggling to survive, and the soldiers of the Yunbing Army who blocked the road exit, although they tried their best to block the gap, in the end they fell short in the face of the offensive of the Fengwu Army soldiers. Come down...
Wang Muzhi, who saw this scene on the mountain ridge, hammered the big tree in front of him very reluctantly, his eyes full of unwillingness and regret.
In this surprise attack, he identified the weakness of Fengwu Army's insufficient strength and emptiness in the rear. He planned carefully for a long time in order to defeat Wei and rescue Zhao by surprise. However, what he did not expect was that the defenders of Lingyuan County were very tenacious and faced the enemy. The raid on him continues to this day.
Just when he was anxious about when he could break the city, he heard the news that Xun Ke was coming to kill him. Wang Muzhi was also surprised. However, when he reacted, he understood that the fall of Dagu County was a foregone conclusion, and he delayed the attack. Wang Muzhi, who was not going to the city, also had a change of heart and laid an ambush in Fuhu Ridge, thinking of ambushing Xun Ke!
For him, it would not be a big loss if he could encircle and annihilate Xunke's troops when Dagu County had been lost. What's more, if Xunke's troops were completely annihilated, then the Fengwu Army in Lingyuan County would see the reinforcements defeated. , maybe their morale will be severely damaged and they will give up the resistance. In this case, it can be said to be slightly better.
However, Wang Muzhi never expected that Xunke and his Fengwu Army cavalry would be so tenacious and able to grit their teeth and fight their way out of such a desperate situation.
At this time, Wang Muzhi was full of annoyance. Because Xun Ke came too quickly, he only had half an hour to arrange the ambush, so there was no way to make more arrangements. If he was given half an hour, Xun Ke and the others must be doomed...
When Wang Muzhi was feeling upset, Xunke, who was leading his troops to fight a bloody road, looked around at the scarred Fengwu Army soldiers beside him. He couldn't be happy at all. He originally had three thousand cavalry under his command, but after what happened just now, After a bloody battle, only more than 1,500 people escaped behind him.
Although he was very heartbroken and angry, Xun Ke was not swayed by his emotions and painfully made a wise decision.
"withdraw!"
Looking at the retreating Fengwu army, the disappointment in Wang Muzhi's eyes could not be greater. If Xun Ke had just chosen to take revenge, then he might still have a chance to annihilate all Xun Ke's troops here. But now that Xun Ke has withdrawn, then what will happen to him? A surprise attack is destined to be in vain!
At this moment, the subordinate on the side came over and reported happily:
"Sir, our army killed more than 1,300 enemy soldiers and captured 198 enemy soldiers. This battle can be called a great victory!"
After hearing the report from his subordinates, Wang Muzhi could not hide his bitterness. Compared with the victory over Dagu County, this achievement was nothing to mention.
Seeing that Wang Muzhi seemed not to be in high spirits, his subordinates also suppressed their smiles and cautiously asked:
"Sir, shall we continue to attack the city?"
Wang Muzhi shook his head and said helplessly:
"Let's go! There's no chance anymore. If you don't leave, you might be locked up and beaten..."
································
································
Yijing, Governor's Mansion
Ye Mingsheng was dealing with it in the study, Qi Lu
Looking at the financial report for the past three months, Ye Mingsheng also showed a slight smile.
Qilu, as the traditional hinterland of the dynasty, has experienced many years of war, but its economic foundation is still very good.
In addition, Sun Jingan had been in power in Qilu for many years and was very familiar with the local situation. Therefore, under the leadership of Ye Mingsheng, the progress of the reform was also very fast. Qilu's economy soon glowed with vitality, and the people gradually began to live and work in peace and contentment. .
At present, the financial balance on Qilu's account is already 150,000 taels of silver. Ye Mingsheng can't help but be a little hesitant about this, because he did not expect Sun Jingan to take care of Qilu so well, so he thought Qilu's finances were very difficult, so He decided to bite the bullet and tighten his belt. Even if he had a hard time, he did not plan to collect money from Qilu this year.
But the current situation in Qilu is much better than expected. Should some of the remaining 150,000 taels of silver be turned over?
Zhang Juning from the Financial Secretary has been noisy. Yun Bing is now burning three thousand taels of silver every day, and the Treasury of the Financial Secretary is almost at the bottom.
Besides, the New Year is coming soon, and as a rule, all departments and yamen have to pay benefits to officials, which is a big expense... ····
Just when Ye Mingsheng was hesitating, there was a knock on the door outside the study. Ye Mingsheng, who heard it was Ye Cheng knocking on the door, said without raising his head:
"Enter!"
After receiving Ye Mingsheng's instructions, Ye Cheng immediately walked into the room and handed two official documents to Ye Mingsheng.
"Sir, both Gongdu and Huainan have sent news!"
Hearing this, Ye Mingsheng also became energetic. After a slight hesitation, he chose to open Gongdu's news first and glanced at the content above carefully. Ye Mingsheng nodded with satisfaction. Wang Xuecheng did a good job in Gongdu. Li Xuanchang Kangshan Port, his home base, has been breached, and Li Xuanchang fled to Dongdao again.
Next, Wang Xuecheng is going to expand the influence of Fengwu Army in the palace capital, and ask the new palace capital chief to sign more terms with Fengwu Army that are conducive to peace and stability of both parties to ensure Fengwu Army's influence in the palace capital. The interests are not infringed. There is no doubt that this is very good news!
Putting down the message from the palace, Ye Mingsheng opened the message from Huainan. After only two glances, he couldn't help but shake his head.
This guy Xu Zhaojie really can't let him go. He didn't keep an eye on him for a few days, but he caused such a big thing in Huainan... ···········
This guy was still so ruthless. He once again launched a large-scale purge of the aristocratic families in Huainan. This time, more than 10,000 people were killed, and the water of the Huaihe River was once dyed red. Although this made the relationship between the two parties completely A life-and-death feud, but this also allows Xu Zhaojie to now firmly hold the power of Huainan in his hands.
According to information from the Coordination Office, after the purge was completed, Xu Zhaojie obtained a lot of money, food and land from these aristocratic families. Xu Zhaojie also followed the Fengwu Army's policy and distributed these lands to Zhennan Army soldiers and ordinary people. As a result, Xu Zhaojie gained great support among the people.
The current Zhennan Army is also cleaning up the remaining poisons of the aristocratic families, and on the other hand it is expanding its army to prepare for war. Under the temptation of land, money and food, the Zhennan Army is expanding its army very quickly, and has recruited more than 10,000 people in seven or eight days.
Seeing this situation, Ye Mingsheng knew very well that Xu Zhaojie, a bitch, had already foreseen that he would take advantage of the chaos to launch an attack on Huainan, so he expanded his army here to prepare for a rainy day. How important is it?
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng directly ordered:
"Let He Jingyun's First Army and Zhang Meng's Fourth Army divide into two groups and attack Huainan respectively! I want to see how many tricks Xu Zhaojie can pull off this time... ···············》
"yes!"
After thinking for a while, Ye Mingsheng ordered again:
"Qilu left 30,000 taels of the remaining 150,000 taels of silver. Let them send the rest to the central government! There are also those from Liaoyang
The money was also urged to be sent over as soon as possible. In addition, orders were sent to the central departments to reduce unnecessary expenses! "
"Understood! I will pass the order to all departments now!"
After being silent for a while, Ye Mingsheng seemed to have remembered something and asked Ye Cheng:
"What's going on in Madam's yard recently?"
Ye Cheng heard this and said:
"As always, there was nothing special. The eldest lady asked Master Jingren to start practicing calligraphy and asked him to recite Xunzi's advice to learn. Because it was a bit difficult to encourage learning, Master Jingren didn't understand it, which made the eldest lady a little angry. , and even hit Master Jingren several times!"
Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but shook his head when he heard this. He and An Miaoyi had already discussed this issue, but his wife always acted against her.
She didn't let her find her husband, so she went to tutor her personally. It's not the same as nonsense for a two or three-year-old child to recite and advise... ······
