In the eleventh year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, on the sixth day of October, at the end of Shenshi, the sun had disappeared from the horizon and the sky was dim.
After Lu Xiangsheng, the governor, received the imperial edict from the emperor, he immediately sent a message to Zhang Cheng, asking him to go to the governor's office and said to him: "Zhang Cheng, the emperor has ordered the Ministry of War to send personnel to verify the military merits and ranks as soon as possible. You go back and make arrangements tomorrow. I sent Chen An to hand over the heads of the slaves, the captives, and the banners and golden drums, so that they could go to the capital for verification."
Zhang Cheng chatted with Lu Duchen for a while, then got up and went back to the camp to prepare for the handover of the first-class prisoners tomorrow. However, he did not go back directly to his camp, but went to his uncle Zhang Yan's military tent first.
Liang Song, the infantry general who had just arrived in Changping, was also in Zhang Yan's military tent. When he saw Zhang Cheng coming in, he hurriedly greeted him and said, "You are so powerful, young general. I heard that more than a hundred Tartars were killed in this battle." The son’s head?”
Zhang Cheng also smiled and said: "Liang Hu, you are too late. If you were here, you wouldn't be able to kill one of these hundreds of Tatars."
Everyone in the military tent laughed.
At this time, Zhang Yan said: "Tiger, you will have to work harder tonight, patrolling the camp, those bastards, please be careful."
Liang Song agreed, got up and walked out. When passing by Zhang Cheng, he whispered to Zhang Cheng: "He Heizi has already set up camp for you with your supplies. I asked you, Mr. Master, do you have too many supplies?" point."
"Well, there are a lot of bits and pieces of cavalry." Zhang Cheng said vaguely.
When Zhang Yan saw that there was no one in the tent, he said to him: "The trees are beautiful in the forest, and the wind will destroy them. You and I are both warriors, and it is our duty to kill thieves and drive away slaves. However, since you entered the guard, your performance has been too outstanding, I'm afraid It's really not right to be hated by others. You are still young and have a long road ahead. If you make too many enemies at this time, I'm afraid it will be detrimental to your future."
After hearing this, Zhang Cheng fell into deep thought. After a long time, he finally spoke: "My uncle's sincere intention to protect me, Cheng'er was moved in his heart. He also knew that what his uncle said was correct. However, as a man standing between heaven and earth, he should move forward bravely and observe the world today." The general situation is already showing signs of chaos. It is the time when a good man sacrifices his life to serve the country. How can we look forward and backward?"
Zhang Yan's eyes suddenly brightened, he stared at Zhang Cheng for a long time, then dimmed, and said softly: "My Zhang family has been in the army for generations and has made many military exploits, which is why we have achieved what we have today. We can only serve the country by being loyal to the emperor. I am grateful to God. You have to take care of yourself."
…………
When Zhang Cheng returned to his military tent, the military tent was already bustling with activity. The four sentry commanders were congratulating Baihu, the governor of Changping, who had just arrived in Changping, bragging about their respective majestic moments in the Battle of Ma Fang.
"Lao He, you don't know how powerful that Tatar is, his waist is so thick, and his mace is so long..." Zhang Guangda was boasting proudly, and Zhang Cheng had already stepped into the tent, quietly Standing silently behind him, he didn't even notice.
"...I told that idiot that if he beats me, I will let him go... he is a bastard... he has no martial ethics... he attacked me in a sneak attack..." He was spitting, dancing and speaking brilliantly, and suddenly felt that everyone was They were all looking behind him with smiles.
Zhang Guangda turned around unconsciously, and Zhang Cheng's big face almost touched his mouth. He took a step back, scratched his head in embarrassment, and said: "General...General...when will you come..."
Zhang Cheng stared at Zhang Guangda with big eyes and said with a smile: "Who doesn't respect martial ethics?"
In the military tent, the sentries burst into laughter. Zhang Guangda reacted and scratched his head and laughed loudly.
He Biao did not smile. He had a sullen face, like a dead face, expressionless. His slightly hoarse voice broke through everyone's laughter: "Mr. Qian, fortunately He Biao has lived up to his command, so All the supplies have arrived, please check them, Mr. Qian."
"Yes, I have experienced it." Zhang Cheng replied perfunctorily, and took He Biao's hand and continued: "I was looking forward to your arrival. I have something to tell you."
After Zhang Cheng finished speaking, he took out a booklet from his arms. He opened the first page. There were many small words written on it. Zhang Cheng handed it to He Biao and said, "Lao He, let me tell you something serious. This The above is all about the battle at Mafang, but I wonder if I can change the notation."
He Biao picked up the booklet, flipped through it for a while, and said, "How do I change it? I don't remember it right."
The other people also looked at a loss. They were almost illiterate. Chen Zhong knew a dozen characters, and Hu Dake knew more than a hundred characters. Let alone the others.
"Look, Lao He." After Zhang Cheng said that, he picked up the brush on the desk and started writing. He only wrote about the gains of Mafang this time. The only difference was that in the sentence he wrote, The two punctuation marks of comma and period are added.
"Look, use these two symbols to divide it so that the sentence becomes simple and easy to understand. Are we conveying military information within the song?" Zhang Cheng said to He Biao excitedly.
He Biao looked at it for a long time and then said: "This is much simpler and clearer, but the clerks are afraid that they won't be used to it for a while, not to mention writing like this will make others laugh at it."
"This is only used in our ministry. For external official documents, it should still be written as it is." Zhang Cheng said.
He Biao thought for a while and said, "Okay, I will go to the book office and ask them to re-record the story of the Mafang victory according to this book format."
Zhang Cheng patted He Biao's shoulder with his hand and said, "This is the reason why I'm looking forward to your coming. It's so transparent to communicate with you."
The two looked at each other and laughed.
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In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, on the tenth day of October, the sky was clear and the sun was shining brightly.
In addition to the Qinwang troops from Xuanda and Shanxi towns who all arrived on the 6th, the Qinwang reinforcements from Guanning towns also arrived yesterday afternoon.
Outside Changping City, there were densely packed camps. Everywhere you looked, there were King Qin's elite Ming troops. They camped for dozens of miles, and their momentum was unparalleled.
On this day, Eunuch Gao Qiqian, the eunuch who was in charge of the soldiers and horses of King Qin of the World, suddenly came to Changping. Behind him were several young eunuchs and some elite cavalry guards from the Beijing camp. Their armor was bright and the water was bright red. cloak.
Superintendent Lu Xiangsheng came out to greet them personally. When the two met, Superintendent Gao Qiqian said, "Master Lu, I'm here to ask for your reward."
Lu Xiangsheng had some guesses in his mind, but he pretended to be stupid and said: "Mr. Gao, you are joking."
"Lord Lu, where is Zhang Chengan, the man who killed the slaves in the mafang? The emperor's decree is here, ask him to come with Yang Guozhu of Xuanzang to receive the order." Gao Qiqian spoke and looked sideways at Lu Xiangsheng. There was a man behind him. The little eunuch was holding a mahogany tray with a brocade box wrapped in yellow silk.
Lu Xiangsheng hurriedly ordered his accompanying general Chen An to summon Yang Guozhu and Zhang Cheng to come to the governor's camp to receive the order.
He then welcomed Gao Qiqian into the governor's palace first. After the two of them sat down respectively, Lu Xiangsheng described in detail to Gao Qiqian the gifts of silver, horses, and iron whips from the emperor in the past two days, and also said :
"In my opinion, the fighting spirit is very strong today. We can only live up to the holy will by rushing bravely to kill the enemy to repay the kindness of the country. As for the best strategy to kill the enemy, the students have planned it. It just so happens that the military supervisor is arriving today. , students are willing to hear about Jianjun Mingjiao."
On Gao Qiqian's clean face, the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, and he asked with an intriguing smile: "Master Lu, do you have any clever tips for me?"
Lu Xiangsheng lowered his voice and whispered to him: "Student, we plan to divide our troops into four groups to raid the slave camp on the night of the 14th, under the cover of the moonlight, and take advantage of his unpreparedness to kill him personally so that he will not dare to stay. I, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, act recklessly. What do you think, Duke Gao?"
Gao Qi's potential was a little cold, and he was obviously not very interested. He smiled coldly and said, "Our family has only heard of attacks on Caizhou on snowy nights, but we have never heard of attacks on enemy camps on moonlit nights."
Being ridiculed like this, Supervisor Lu Xiangsheng was so angry that he even wanted to lift up the supervisor and kick him out of the hall. However, he rationally chose to endure it and tried his best to control his emotions.
Because he knew that if he didn't endure such ridicule now, it wouldn't matter if he got into trouble, but there would be no need to talk about the important matter of fighting Jiannu.
So he suppressed his anger and said with a forced smile: "Now that Jiannu is victorious and arrogant, he must despise us and neglect to take precautions. What's more, on a moonlit night, we have all our elite troops coming out to attack from all sides. We will definitely be able to attack with one blow." If we defeat the enemy, even if we cannot defeat it, we will still damage its roots and make it fearful of our army, King Qin."
"The enemy is numerous and we are few. At this time, the best policy is to be cautious." Gao Qiqian picked up the tea cup, blew it gently, and said casually.
Lu Xiangsheng's anger surged and he said in an increasingly loud voice: "It is precisely because the enemy is outnumbered and we are outnumbered that the students chose the strategy of surprise attack."
"Master Lu, if you send troops rashly, if you don't win, wouldn't it be a desperate move?" Gao Qiqian played with his tea cup, still with a nonchalant attitude.
Lu Xiangsheng's anger grew stronger and he couldn't help but said loudly: "Sending surprise troops to win is a common thing for military strategists. How can it be called a desperate move?"
"This matter is not trivial. Don't be impatient, Mr. Lu. Let me think about it carefully and find a perfect solution." The corners of Gao Qiqian's mouth rose, revealing an unpredictable smile.
The conversation between the two reached a deadlock for a while. Neither of them was willing to make concessions. Both parties remained silent and drank tea in silence.
Just at this time, Chen An returned with Yang Guozhu, the commander-in-chief of Xuanzhen, and Zhang Cheng, the commander-in-chief of Qian.
Gao Qiqian suddenly changed the topic and said with a smile on his face: "Master Lu, these people are here, let's announce the decree first."
The incense table and offerings had been prepared there, and they were brought out and arranged one by one. Everyone, including the governor Lu Xiangsheng, hurriedly arranged their clothes and armor.
In the carriage, Zhang Cheng stood dazedly behind Yang Guozhu, and suddenly heard a rather high-pitched voice: "The imperial edict has arrived, Lu Xiangsheng, Yang Guozhu, Zhang Cheng receives the edict."
The governor Lu Xiangsheng retreated to the middle of the row and knelt down facing the incense table. Chen An followed Lu Xiangsheng and knelt down one step behind him on the right side. Yang Guozhu knelt down on the left side of Lu Xiangsheng, about half a step behind.
Zhang Cheng knelt down one step behind the commander-in-chief Yang Guozhu. He raised his eyes and peeked, and saw the man in eunuch clothes walking to the incense table and standing there upright.
This eunuch should be in his forties. He is quite tall and burly. He looks majestic and heroic, but his face is white and beardless. He is tall and slightly feminine. He wears a gold-embedded three-mountain cap and a tunic. The brocade robe, with an exquisite jade belt tied around the waist, is very eye-catching, and the face is full of contentment.
Following him were several people dressed in the same eunuch attire. They all had feminine faces, exuding the evil energy unique to eunuchs, and there seemed to be a vague smell of urine coming from afar.
Zhang Cheng secretly guessed that this guy must be the notorious father-in-law who rises high but hides high.
