Three hours later, amid the shouts and wails, a hint of fish belly white gradually appeared in the sky to the east, and Yang Chongqing could not help but feel a trace of bitterness in his expression... ········
His goal has changed from last night's effort to capture the Fengwu Army's Zhongjun Yingzhai and completely defeat the Fengwu Army to just attack the Fengwu Army's Zhongjun Yingzhai.
As long as they attack the Zhongjun camp and stick to the Fengwu army, the most powerful red cannons of the Fengwu army will be restricted, and the Forbidden Army will still have the possibility of victory.
Although the Forbidden Army soldiers almost opened a gap several times and invaded the Fengwu Army's military camp, in the end they failed and the Fengwu Army took advantage of the gap.
Although he didn't want to admit it, Yang Chongqing knew that his last desperate attack had failed. It was already dawn, and the Fengwu Army's artillery would soon regain its full power. Continuing to launch an offensive against the Fengwu Army would only lead to death. , thinking of this, Yang Chongqing planned to order the troops to withdraw.
Although the crazy attack this night caused the Forbidden Army to pay a lot of casualties, there are still tens of thousands of soldiers and horses left by the Forbidden Army. There is still hope to defend Eryang Mountain and Pingyang City. Now the Kipchaks are still continuing in the hinterland of Yunbing. Harassment, as long as you can hold on, I believe there will always be opportunities!
Just when Yang Chongqing was about to issue the order to withdraw troops, countless deafening roars suddenly sounded in the direction of Eryang Mountain... ··
When Yang Chongqing heard these roars, he was startled at first, and then seemed to realize something. He immediately raised his telescope and looked in the direction of Eryang Mountain.
Although it was difficult to see clearly from a distance, Yang Chongqing also saw that the Forbidden Army camps on Eryang Mountain were filled with dust. There was no doubt that they were shelled by the Fengwu Army again. Soon a messenger came to Yang Chongqing in a hurry. Reported:
"Commander Yang is in trouble. A group of troops from the Fengwu Army have detoured back to the foot of Eryang Mountain and are currently attacking Eryang Mountain under the cover of artillery fire."
When Yang Chongqing heard the words of the messenger, his face suddenly darkened, and the last trace of luck in his heart was gone. He knew that he had fallen into Yuan Song's trick to lure the enemy deeper!
Yuan Song deliberately used a front camp and a few red cannons as bait to let himself see the hope of victory. He deceived himself into putting all the troops and horses in his hands, and then he arranged for the troops to go to Eryang Mountain to steal the house. Thinking of this, Yang Chongqing felt extremely self-blame and regretted that he had fallen into Yuan Song's trap.
But at this moment, even if Yang Chongqing blames himself and is upset, it is of no avail. Things have happened and cannot be changed. Now he is faced with a painful choice.
It will be dawn soon. Once I order my troops to rush to Eryang Mountain, my troops will be exposed to the artillery range of the Fengwu Army... ··
Without the protection of fortifications and bunkers on the periphery of Eryang Mountain, they were bombarded continuously and unobstructed by hundreds of red cannons from the Fengwu Army. Their troops would suffer huge casualties and even be surrounded by the Fengwu Army. , leading to the annihilation of the main force of the Forbidden Army
And if he does not order the rescue of Eryang Mountain, then once Eryang Mountain is captured by the Fengwu Army, the Fengwu Army can mount the red cannon on Eryang Mountain and bombard Pingyang City from above, and Pingyang City will be lost in an instant. ! ….
Faced with such a difficult choice, Yang Chongqing immediately asked General Liu Cheng on the side:
"How many defenders are there on Eryang Mountain now?"
Facing Yang Chongqing's inquiry, Liu Cheng thought for a moment and said:
"Commander, after you ordered the entire army to attack last night, almost all the defenders on Eryang Mountain pressed forward. Now there may only be two to three thousand people left on the mountain!"
After hearing this answer, Yang Chongqing's face undoubtedly became more gloomy. Then he looked at the messenger. The messenger was also a smart man and understood what Yang Chongqing meant and immediately said:
"The Fengwu Army that attacked Eryang Mountain numbered at least 10,000 people. Judging from their flag, it should be that of the Fourth Division of the Fengwu Army, and they also carried a flag with the word "Chen". It seemed that they were personally commanded by General Shen Quan of the Fourth Division. Attack Eryang Mountain··························"
After hearing this, Yang Chongqing
Desperation suddenly occurred in his heart, and he almost fell to the ground in a flash. Although the fourth division general Shen Quan was not well-known in the Fengwu Army, he was promoted later and had never heard of anything outstanding, but the fourth division general Shen Quan was not famous in the Fengwu Army. The Fourth Division is truly the main division of the Fengwu Army, and its combat effectiveness is still very strong!
On the surface, Yang Chongqing now faces a decision of whether to rush to aid Eryang Mountain, but at a deeper level, it is a question of whether to accept defeat!
If you accept defeat, then give up Eryang Mountain. Giving up Eryang Mountain is equivalent to giving up Pingyang and retreating to Guanzhong. Although it is ugly to return in embarrassment, you can save the lizi and the remaining tens of thousands of Forbidden Army, and also for The Luoan court saved the last fire!
If you do not accept defeat, you must hold on to Pingyang until the last moment. Now you must rush to help Eryang Mountain immediately!
But the possibility of success is very low. Once it fails, it will be completely doomed. The main force of the Forbidden Army will be lost. The Luo'an court may even fall apart before the Fengwu Army enters Guanzhong!
Faced with this painful choice, Yang Chongqing let out a long sigh and ordered to the people around him who were anxiously waiting for orders:
"Let the soldiers withdraw to Pingyang City!"
"Prepare to evacuate Pingyang City tonight and retreat towards Weiguan!"
"yes························"
After completing this order, Yang Chongqing glanced at the clouds on the horizon with some nostalgia, then left the city wall and returned to his government office in the city.
After returning to the government office, Yang Chongqing entered the study and started writing letters. Although there have been a lot of conflicts between him and Shangguan Changgong recently due to various things, the two have still had a deep friendship for decades, so now this At that time, Yang Chongqing felt that he needed to write a letter to Shangguan Changgong.
After writing the letter, Yang Chongqing put it in an envelope and asked his personal guard captain to send it back to Luo'an and hand it over to Shangguan Changgong.
Then Yang Chongqing found his big seal and put it on the table, wrote his last military order, and transferred the military power to Tang Peng.
After doing this, Yang Chongqing pulled out his sword. Looking at his sword with cold light, a self-deprecating smile appeared on Yang Chongqing's face.
How glorious and high-spirited he was when he led 100,000 imperial troops into Yunbin a few months ago. He never imagined that he would end up like this a few months later! ….
Yang Chongqing knew that with the war going like this, someone had to stand up and take responsibility, and he, Yang, as the military commander, had to bear this responsibility!
Yang Chongqing also knew that Shangguan Changgong was an emotional person. Although he was very disappointed with himself, when he returned to Luo'an, he would not kill himself or let himself go to jail. He would only completely remove himself from military power and let him do what he wanted. An idler································
To be honest, this is already a gift for any general!
But he, Yang Chongqing, couldn't pass his own test. Although he lost the war with the Fengwu Army, he was not afraid of the Fengwu Army!
However, what Yang Chongqing was afraid of was the helpless feeling of watching the Luo'an court, which he had served all his life, being destroyed by the Fengwu army, but as an idler, he could do nothing!
So he wanted to be a deserter and use his death to give an explanation to Shangguan Changgong and to the Luoan court where he had dedicated his life!
"Loyal bones are buried everywhere in the mountains, why return them wrapped in horse leather!"
After muttering the last sentence, Yang Chongqing swung the sword in his hand and killed himself in the study, ending his magnificent life with his own hands!
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Yi Jing, Cui Mansion
At three o'clock in the morning, Cui Shao, the central commander, returned home with his tired body. During the recent period, Ye Mingsheng visited various places, so the government affairs that Ye Mingsheng should have handled also fell into Cui Shao's hands.
, which also doubled Cui Shao's already heavy workload.
After returning home, Cui Shao had a simple meal and planned to wash up and go to bed early. Tomorrow at 3:30 he would hold a meeting at the Government Affairs Bureau to discuss the prevention of locust plagues, financial approvals in Anqing and Huainan, and many other matters.
But just as Cui Shao lay down, the maid came over to report that Cui Zibo had something important to do with him. Cui Shao wanted to refuse directly. In his eyes, Cui Zibo didn't have anything important. After thinking about it carefully at that time, he still felt a little uneasy. Just ask the maid to bring Cui Zibo in.
After getting dressed, Cui Shao sat on a chair. As soon as Cui Zibo entered the room, he preached mysteriously:
"Dad, I have a friend in the Attendance Department who revealed a very important news to me!"
After hearing this, Cui Shao took a sip of tea and asked:
"This friend of yours is Song Haibo?"
Seeing that his father had found out, Cui Zibo felt a little resentful and immediately introduced:
"Dad, didn't you teach me before that I shouldn't have any sectarian opinions and that I should have a good relationship with polite corporals and poor people? So I made friends with Song Haibo. He was selected from Qilu to serve as the deputy director of the Attendance Department. He is very capable. Also very talented···························」
"Although the salary given to him by the Attendant Department is quite large, including various allowances and subsidies, it amounts to more than 150 taels of silver a year, but the cost of living for Song Haibo and his family in Yijing is very high!"...
"Furthermore, his family used to sell wontons. Now his parents are old, so not only can they not help Song Haibo, they also need to send money back to Song Haibo frequently. Song Haibo's life is very tight!"
"Recently, his wife gave birth to a pair of twins, and his eldest brother came from Qilu to join him. His whole family could no longer live in the original courtyard, so he wanted to change to a larger courtyard, but he couldn't afford it. I’m so shy that I can’t afford the rent!”
"So I called Zhang Peng and asked Zhang Peng to rent the courtyard he owned to Song Haibo at a low price. I saved Song Haibo a lot of money, and I also arranged a job for his elder brother as a servant. , you can earn some money in a year.”
"Song Haibo is also very grateful to me for this, and the relationship between the two of us has been established, and we often move around every day!"
After hearing his son's words, Cui Shao nodded slightly and said:
"I have seen this Song Haibo. He is talented and thoughtful. He is indeed a rare talent. And the most important thing is that the reason why he was selected to join the Attendant Department in Qilu was that the commander-in-chief valued his lack of background. ······················》
"I can't think of anything unexpected. The commander-in-chief will keep Song Haibo with him for a while, and then let him return to Qilu to take up an important position. Zibo, it will be of great benefit to you to have a good relationship with him now!"
Seeing that what he had done was recognized by his father, Cui Zibo was also very happy. He said to his father Cui Shao in a low voice:
"Dad, isn't the Marshal out on inspection during this time? But the Attendant Department has not been quiet, and has been planning something. I was a little curious, so I asked Song Haibo out to try to trick him. At first, Song Haibo's tone was still It’s very tight, but after a few glasses of wine, I pulled something out of Song Haibo!”
"He told me that the commander-in-chief is planning to implement tax reform in a certain county in Yunbin and what kind of tiered tax rates he will implement!"
"The specific meaning seems to be that some extremely poor people will not pay taxes in the future. Those whose annual income is less than fifty taels of silver will be taxed at 10%, and those whose annual income is more than fifty taels and less than one hundred taels will be taxed at 20%. !」
"The annual income is more than 100 taels, and the portion up to 500 taels of silver is taxed at 30%!"
"The annual income is more than 500 taels, and the part below 1,000 taels is taxed at 40%!"
"Any annual income of more than one thousand taels will be taxed at 50%..."
Cui Shao's expression changed instantly when he heard this. He looked at Cui Zibo and asked seriously:
"Is this what Song Haibo told you?"
Cui Zibo nodded without thinking and said:
"Yes, this commander is really interesting. He specializes in carrying out such tax reform for a county, and he does it with such seriousness that it really makes people wonder what he is doing!"
Cui Shao heard some very ironic sermons:
"Shut up! You idiot!"
"The Marshal is not just doing tax reform for one county. He clearly plans to implement his tax plan all over the world in the future!"
Cui Zibo's expression suddenly froze as soon as these words came out, and he asked in disbelief:
"Dad, you said he wants to implement his plan all over the world? How is this possible and how dare he..."
(I don’t know what everyone thinks of my idea. What opinions do you have? I’m all ears!).
Zhang Tongming
