"Greetings to the Duke, Chinese Army." Laixi opened the curtain and entered the tent, looked around and then saluted.
"Laixi'er, come on, get up and talk." It was obvious that Laiheng was overjoyed. Song Qingping looked at Laixi's face, which was full of food and dusty, and immediately gave instructions:
"Come here, prepare a table of wine and food quickly!" The soldier outside the door agreed and went.
I saw Laixi still lowering his head, face turned sideways, kneeling down with his fists clasped in his hands. After a while, he heard Laixi say:
"Mao Shoudeng and Wang Jincai defected. This is Laixi's crime. Please be punished by the Duke!"
Laiheng stood up, looked at Song Qingping, laughed and said:
"It's going to rain and my mother is getting married. You can't control it. Get up quickly!" Lai Heng smiled and helped Xi with both hands, and gave him a stool.
"My lord, that king...Wang Jincai, he didn't go to surrender to the Qing troops."
"Oh, really? Where is he now?" Leghorn asked with his eyes shining, which was a bit beyond his expectation.
"In my opinion, he must have fled to Wangzhou Mountain." Song Qingping interjected.
"There are Qing soldiers blocking the way in front, and they are afraid of Langwu's pursuit, and there are no boats or rafts. Wang Jincai is at the end of his road!" Song Qingping stroked her beard and smiled happily at Lai.
"Exactly what the Chinese army expected!" Laixiwang Qingping nodded and sat down sideways, but hesitated to speak.
When Laiheng saw it, he immediately signaled Song Qingping with his eyes. Qingping understood and said to Lai Xi:
"I'll hurry them up while the food is served. You and the Duke have a chat first, and I'll be back as soon as I can." Then he patted Laixi on the shoulder and walked out of the tent.
"Thank you, Chinese army!" Laixi bowed slightly.
"Just call the military advisor from now on." Lai Heng said to Lai Xi while looking at Qing Ping's back with a smile.
After a moment's pause, Lai Xi expected Qing Ping to walk away, and bowed to Lai Heng. Lai Heng hurriedly supported her and asked:
"Why is Laixi'er like this?"
But seeing Laixi kneeling on the ground with his head down and fists clasped, refusing to get up, he whispered:
"Laixi received a great favor from the Duke but did not repay it, but instead worshiped Wang Jincai as his adoptive father. Laixi really doesn't know how to deal with himself. He is really ashamed of the Duke of Guo and the Duke of Guo... wu wu... Laixi is punished by death." Laixi was already in tears. But I heard Laiheng say:
"Hey, Lai Xi'er, I know your difficulties. Get up and tell me what happened to you at Wang Jincai's place. It's not too late to cry again."
It turns out that Laishun, the leader of Laixi and Hei Yougong, Gui Huaiyuan, and Laifu, the leader of Li Keming's army, are all orphans brought from Laiheng's hometown. They grew up in a boy's camp since they were young. Li Laiheng saw that they were both good-natured, somewhat proficient in writing, and very clever, so he asked them to go out for training three years ago. Moreover, rebellion was prevalent in the army at that time, so they were regarded as chess pieces and spies placed by Li Laiheng in various armies.
After listening patiently to Laixi's words, Li Laiheng realized that it was Wang Jincai who took the initiative to recognize him as his godson. He felt more and more that Laixi was indeed a kind-hearted person. All the doubts in his mind were gone, and he immediately said to Laixi:
"It would be great if you can come back. If Wang Jincai doesn't surrender to the Qing soldiers, I will let him go. Now that you are back, just stay here with me."
"Yes, Laixi... Laixi thanks the Duke for his grace!" At this moment, Laixi turned his sorrow into joy, turned over and bowed again, just at this time Qingping led a table of food into the tent. The soldier who came with him and was waiting in front of the tent couldn't help but feel doubtful and uneasy when he saw that the Duke was treating the visitors like this.
When Laixi went out of the tent, he immediately took off the two bags and carried them into the tent. Laiheng saw that they were very heavy and knew that they were the several hundred taels of gold and ingots given to him by Wang Jincai. Then he smiled and said:
"Wang Jincai is quite generous!"
Qingping heard this, glanced at the two robes, and said while arranging the glasses for wine and food:
"Yes, it's a pity that he has nowhere to spend the money now."
Soon the food and wine were put on the table, and Laiheng Qingping joined them for a drink.
After a while, when he saw Laixi having eaten almost as much as he could, Laiheng asked:
"Where are the other three people who came out of the King's Material Recruitment Office that day?"
When Laixi asked, he immediately put down his cup and chopsticks and replied:
"One of them was Wang Jincai's confidant. He was from Wuling, Huguang. He was killed by the young man and threw himself into the river. The other two were general Langwu's personal soldiers. They were discovered by me when they were undercover at Wang Jincai's place. At that time, the young man thought they were good friends. , so we became sworn friends with the two of them. After we parted ways that day, we should go to General Lang’s camp."
Laiheng Qingping looked at each other and thought, "This guy is pretty good, he's a good piece of material!"
"Well, okay!" Lai Heng nodded immediately and said to Lai Xi in front of Qing Ping and the two soldiers standing beside him:
"From today on, you will be the leader of my personal soldiers, are you willing?"
"I am willing to hold the whip and stirrups for the Duke of the country, and I am willing to die!" He stood up and bowed again.
"Okay, okay, it's rare that you are so loyal. Get up quickly and have another drink to rest." The soldier standing aside immediately filled the wine glass for Laixi.
I saw Laixi picking up the cup and drinking it all in one gulp, and then said:
"My lord, military advisor, I'm going to leave first." After saying that, he turned around and followed another soldier out of the tent.
"We're finally home. I wonder how Min'er is doing now? And Wei Shunjun, hey, I wonder if this kid has grown taller." Laixi walked out of the Zhongjun tent, her heart already flying to the children's camp...
"My lord, my lord." Song Qingping called out several times when she saw Lai Heng staring blankly outside the tent in the direction where Lai Xi left.
"Oh, what's the matter? Qingping."
"Now that we have learned about Wang Jincai's whereabouts, it is best to send troops to arrest him with lightning speed and eliminate the troublesome party. If we wait..."
Leghorn shook his hand gently, interrupting him and saying:
"Although Wang Jincai is abominable and deserves to be killed, he didn't bring many men and horses with him. He has not surrendered to the Manchus at the moment, so let him go for the time being. You and I don't have the extra men and horses to go to hunt down at this time. Kuang Qing's soldiers don't know when they will attack Come on, this is the point.”
"Yes, the Duke of the country." Seeing that Lai Heng said this, Qingping felt that it was reasonable, so she said no more. I was about to continue deciphering the "Heavenly Book", but suddenly I felt that I still had something to say in my heart, which I really couldn't say out loud, so I said:
"My lord, we used to buy grain in the Jingxiang area. Now Jingzhou, Xiangyang, Yiling and other places are heavily guarded by Manchu troops. Obviously, these places are no longer possible. If we go to Wuling, Huguang, we need to capture Li Qinxiang." It is estimated that Li Qinxiang's troops and horses in Yi Dao where he is stationed should be no less than 20,000. It seems impossible to capture Yi Dao City in the short term. Now, I think the plan is..." Qing Ping lowered her voice as much as possible. , and then paid close attention to the outside of the tent, moved to Lai Heng's side, and then said:
"According to my opinion, the only best option is to go west along the river and go to Chongqing Prefecture on East Sichuan Road to purchase grain. Although transshipment by water is more time-consuming, there is no other way."
After Laiheng listened, he thought for a moment, looked at Song Qingping and said:
"Going to Chongqing by water is time-consuming and laborious. There are many bandits along the way. The most important thing is that the round trip takes too long. I am afraid that the water in the distance will not save me from thirst."
"That's also a no-brainer."
"Qingping, according to what you said, who is suitable to send and how many people are needed?" Laiheng asked with a frown.
"Under Gui Huaiyuan's tent, all the troops at the Xiling Gorge ferry were sent out. Li Yong was asked to carry the gold and silver to supervise the troops along the way. In addition, two thousand troops and horses were allocated from Gui Camp to still guard the ferry to prevent the Qing army from coming ashore to sneak attack. At dawn, Li Yong was called If you have the courage, you can do it, what do you think?"
After Laiheng heard this, he really didn't want to ask Li Yong to go, so he smiled and said:
"Instead of sending Li Yong, how about sending someone else?"
Song Qingping knew Laiheng's intention, sighed and said seriously:
"My lord, I'm going to buy grain here. It's actually very important. I need a general to go there to be safe. Besides, I need a personal letter from you from Gui Huai."
After hearing this, Laiheng had no choice but to shake his head and said:
"Then... okay, I'll write it right away, but I don't know when they will be back to buy food tomorrow?"
"If everything goes smoothly, it will probably take half a month at the earliest before we can turn around." Qingping thought for a moment and then said:
"Now Liu Wenxiu, the adopted son of the 'Eight Kings' (referring to Zhang Xianzhong, another leader of the peasant uprising army), is still entrenched in the Chongqing area with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses. Li Yong needs to be warned to be careful and not to fight with him unless it is absolutely necessary. ." Before he finished speaking, the sound of banging was clearly heard in the camp, and the third watch was about to end.
At this time, there was a noise outside the tent. Laiheng Qingping looked out of the tent to wait and see, and saw a small group of soldiers on night duty changing the guard. Qingping called softly and someone came over immediately.
"You are the personal bodyguards of the Duke. You have nothing to do on weekdays and just practice training. Now that the 'Loyalty Battalion' is on the front line, the burden on you has become heavier. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Chinese Army." The soldier replied respectfully.
"Then do you know why we are stationed in Baiyangzhai?" Qingping asked again.
"Return to the Central Army, guard Maolu Mountain, and protect the Lord." The soldier continued to answer.
"The most important thing now is not just that. This is the most important place for our army to store grain, and it is related to the lifeblood of the entire army." After a pause, Qingping looked at the soldier and whispered with seriousness:
"Go ahead and send more people to keep an eye on the granary here. Duke Guo will just leave two of them here."
"Well..., I'm afraid of Zhang..." The soldier's words were obviously not as clear-cut as before. Qingping knew that he might be afraid that Zhang Shun would blame him, so she asked him again, "What is your name? I will tell Zhang Shun tomorrow not to let him blame you."
"Yes, thank you, Zhongjun. Because I am short, I am the seventh eldest child in my family, so everyone calls me the seventh eldest son."
After Wang Qi finished speaking, he turned around and left the two of them behind, then led the rest of his soldiers to patrol the stronghold at night.
Qingping watched Wang Qi and others leave, feeling a little excited. After all, there were so many people caring about Li Laiheng's life and death. He turned around and entered the tent, but another inexplicable chill hit his heart. He tightened his clothes tightly and glanced over to see Laiheng sitting cross-legged on the bed, his eyes closed, his hands like Buddha holding flowers, and a translation of the 'Book of Heaven' placed in front of him.
Qingping stepped lightly, not daring to disturb Laiheng. She walked straight to the bookcase and took a pen to translate the 'Heavenly Book'.
After about half an hour, Qingping was about to get up to relieve herself when she suddenly heard a "clunking" sound behind her.
Qingping's heart suddenly sank, "Oh, no!" When she turned around to look, she saw Lai Heng lying on his back on the bed, not knowing whether he was alive or dead. Qingping panicked and shouted outside the tent:
"Come on, come on, come on!"
"Go and call for the medical officer! Go and call for the medical officer!"
…
