Everyone mentioned Mrs. Zuo, and they all thought she was a great figure comparable to Qin Liangyu among women.
Although she did not lead troops to fight, she was still skilled in bow and horse, bold in temperament, and quite masculine.
A few years ago, Zu Dashou fought against slave thieves in the Daling River, but was defeated and captured. He surrendered to Jiannu as a last resort, and later deceived the slave chief Huang Taiji into helping him defraud Jinzhou City, and was then released.
When Mrs. Zuo knew the whole story, she firmly opposed him helping the slave chief Huang Taiji to defraud Jinzhou.
Mrs. Zuo persuaded Zu Dashou: "Since you have returned safely, you can give up the matter of surrender. The walls of Jinzhou are thick and there are many soldiers and sufficient food. Even if the slave chief Huang Taiji comes in person, he can hold out for several months to wait for reinforcements."
You should immediately apologize to the court and explain how you were defeated and captured in the Battle of Daling River, and how you had to resort to the trick of surrendering to the captives in order to earn your life, so that you can continue to serve the country with loyalty, and tell everything truthfully with sincerity. Go ahead and leave it to the emperor's disposal.
This matter is related to the eternal good, and you must not betray your master and become a slave! "
Under Mrs. Zuo's persuasion, Zu Dashou listened to her words and reported the truth about his capture to the court. After Emperor Chongzhen learned the truth, he did not punish him. Not only did he pardon his crime, but he still ordered him to garrison in Jinzhou.
This matter is already known to almost everyone in Liaodong, so everyone always talks about Mrs. Zuo with some respect.
Nowadays, although Mrs. Zuo is over fifty years old, she can still draw a powerful bow and ride a fierce horse. Zu Dashou is trapped in Jinzhou City, and she is also anxious.
Therefore, he led his servants and two to three hundred servants and soldiers out of the city every day to practice riding and archery battle formations, hoping that the siege of Jinzhou would be lifted as soon as possible.
Although Zhang Cheng has never met this Madam Zuo, he has heard of her name for a long time since he arrived in Ningyuan City. Although he has other opinions about Zu Dashou, this Madam Zuo is indeed respected.
Zhang Ruoqi and Ma Shaoyu on the side strongly agreed with Mrs. Zuo to go to the Songjin front line. He believed that this aid to Jin Dynasty would be successful. Our army of hundreds of thousands of elite troops of the King's Division fought against tens of thousands of slave thieves. It was not just a victory, but easy to capture.
And if Mrs. Zuo goes to Jinzhou City, it will further arouse Qizu Dashou's fighting spirit. This should be done by external cooperation, and the slave thieves can be driven away with one blow.
However, Xie Sixin, Li Song, and Liu Zizheng all shook their heads to express their disapproval. They believed that in the battle to aid the Jin Dynasty, they still had no chance of winning.
As the saying goes, the war is fierce and dangerous. If Mrs. Zuo really arrives at the Songjin front line, if something goes wrong, it will shake the morale of the army. Moreover, Mrs. Zuo's eagerness to save her husband will also be detrimental to the judgment of the fighting opportunity.
Zhang Ruoqi said: "Mr. Zheng is too pessimistic. The use of troops this time is different from the past. Governor Hong has been in the army for a long time, and he is not as good as ordinary ministers in arranging troops. What's more, I, Master Wang, have fought against slaves several times." , and all the generals who came to help have been in battle for a long time and have made outstanding achievements.
Furthermore, more than 100,000 soldiers are gearing up to fight the slaves and break the siege of Jinzhou. It seems that it is not as difficult as Mr. Zheng thought. Once our army crosses Songshan, Jianlu sees that our army is strong. Maybe it will retreat on its own.
If they don't know how to retreat, then attack them from both inside and outside and defeat them all! "
Zhang Cheng was wandering around leisurely. At this time, after hearing Zhang Ruoqi's words, he suppressed his laughter and cursed in his heart: "What a idiot!"
Sure enough, Liu Zizheng sneered and said: "Since the end of Wanli, the imperial dynasty has sent troops to Liaodong several times. At first, they thought it was a sure-win situation, but they always ended in failure.
Although the Jianlu were barbarians, they also had strong folk customs. Especially since they were old slaves, they were even better at cheating and treachery. Liaoyang, Shenyang, and Guangning were all taken advantage of by the Jianlu because of this, which shows that they should not be underestimated in military affairs.
The ancients said, "Know the enemy and yourself, and you will not be in danger in a hundred battles; if you do not know the enemy but know yourself, you will win every time; if you do not know the enemy and yourself, you will be in danger in every battle." Looking back at the military situation in Liaodong today, we must be cautious in predicting the enemy and seek invincibility first. Then come back to win. "
Although Zhang Ruoqi was robbed and scolded, he still wanted to persuade Liu Zizheng. He continued: "Your Majesty is worried about the Liao Dynasty and is very anxious to urge the war. As a minister, we can only advance, not retreat. We can only win, not defeat!
Although Jianlu is strong, as long as our soldiers are united, not timid in the face of battle, and have the courage to kill the enemy, they will definitely be defeated. How can we be afraid of ourselves before facing the enemy?
Mr. Zheng, we live on the emperor's salary, and as we are in the army, we must understand the emperor's painstaking efforts in urging the war. "
Liu Zizheng didn't take his words seriously and immediately pushed back: "Although the emperor urged the war, the military in Liaodong this time is related to the safety of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, the safety of hundreds of thousands of people in Liaodong, and even more related to the survival of the country, how can it be done? put all one's eggs in one basket!"
Zhang Ruoqi was robbed by him again, and felt that he had lost face, so he said anxiously: "Currently, our army's morale is very high, and we often win small victories..."
Liu Zizheng interrupted him rudely this time and said: "The morale is very high, but it is just an appearance. Has Zhang Jianjun ever visited each battalion carefully and talked with the soldiers of each battalion personally?"
As for the so-called small victory, it is just a small encounter between the two sides, which only kills each other, but has nothing to do with the overall situation. How many thieves were captured today and how many will be captured tomorrow, this cannot be regarded as a real battle.
A real battle requires both sides to use their full strength to decide the outcome in one battle. But now, it is impossible to talk about it. If we only look at the occasional small victory, how many people are caught and how many people are killed, instead of focusing on the fundamentals, this It's easy to make a mistake. "
Zhang Cheng saw the two of them arguing with each other to no avail, so he came over and poked Wu Sangui, signaling him to stop them.
In fact, Wu Sangui also saw that the two of them were tit for tat, and knew that it was not a good thing. He was even more afraid that it would cause a grudge, causing the drinking party to break up unhappy later.
He quickly stood up with a smile to dissuade them, and warmly invited everyone to the flower hall for a banquet.
…………
The banquet was extremely exquisite, with all kinds of dishes prepared, as well as a variety of Liao game meats. However, everyone ate and drank in an elegant manner, and Zhang Cheng felt a little inconvenienced.
At the banquet, in order to avoid another dispute between Zhang Ruoqi and Liu Zizheng, Wu Sangui deliberately did not talk about military affairs, but only talked about gossip and romantic affairs, so that everyone could enjoy the wine.
He even called several singing girls to come out to drink and sing a cappella song, but for some unknown reason, they failed to cheer up the atmosphere at the banquet.
So Wu Sangui waved away the singing girls who were drinking wine, and sighed: "Our town has been living outside the pass for a long time, and we can't even find a decent singing girl. You are all from the capital, so it is natural that these singing girls are not in the eyes of the public."
When the Liao affairs subside, I also want to go to Beijing to feast my eyes! "
Wu Sangui's staff immediately picked up the conversation and talked about the singer in the capital...
In order to boast about his wide acquaintances, Zhang Ruoqi talked about how he once went to Prince Tian's house for a banquet, which was always accompanied by singing and dancing. Ma Shaoyu immediately said, "I heard that Prince Tian is going to go there again next year." Jiangnan, it is expected that he will return with Meiji again.
If General Wu comes to Beijing in the future, he can go to Tian Huang's house to feast his eyes. "
