Cheng Zilong? This name does have some meaning. In later generations, Gao Heng's favorite star was Jackie Chan. This person's name only has one more character than Jackie Chan, but they have completely different personalities. Jackie Chan is a martial arts star, but Jackie Chan looks like a Literati.
Gao Heng took a step forward and said, "Sir, you."
Although Cheng Zilong has a good appearance, he still has the demeanor of a scholar. He cupped his hands to Gao Heng and said: "I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself to the general. My ancestors were from Xiangyang. Later, our branch moved to Guangdong and Guangxi. He went to Leizhou and became the chief clerk of Haikang County Government."
Gao Heng said a little strangely: "So, I am disrespectful to say that you are still a registered official. Although I am known as a small flag official, in fact, my official status has not been reported to the state capital. It is just because I killed a few people on the battlefield. The enemy has only been temporarily promoted to a small flag officer. Even so, the Ming Dynasty values civility over military affairs. You sir are an official of good character, so I should show you the courtesy."
"Hahahaha, I didn't expect it, I really didn't expect it. When General Gao was talking in the city tower just now, I felt that General Gao's conversation was extraordinary. He didn't look like a big-headed soldier at all. I didn't expect General Gao to have such remarks about the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty. Insight, this is not the insight of a big-headed soldier. I am just a chief clerk, only a ninth-grade official, which is the so-called ninth-grade sesame official. Moreover, I have resigned from my job a long time ago and my whole family has come here to make a living. There is no grade at all. Just a poor and rotten scholar." Cheng Zilong stroked his beard.
Gao Heng said: "Sir, please take a seat. Gao is also new to the county government in Annan. He doesn't even know where to put the tea cup, so I won't show him the tea."
Cheng Zilong sat down and said: "It doesn't matter. When life and death are at stake, there is no time to drink tea. If we can survive this difficulty, I will personally serve tea to the general."
Gao Heng said: "Sir, don't be a general. How can I afford it?"
"Haha, General Gao is so humble. He saved all the people from the fire and water, and now he has formed a 2,000 militia. If this was done in the Ming Dynasty, Gao and low would be a guerrilla. How can he not be a general?" Cheng Zilong said.
Gao Heng changed the topic and said: "I would like to ask, sir, why did you come here to make a living when you left the main bookkeeping job? Annan is a remote and wild place compared to the Ming Dynasty, so what can attract sir?"
Cheng Zilong shook his head and said: "No. The general only knows one thing but not the other. I am a little chief secretary, but I am a sesame mung bean official. I think the general knows what the Ming Dynasty is like now. The bandits are raging and the treasury is raging. It's a total loss. The soldiers at the front can't receive military pay. Can we, the sesame and mung bean officers, receive pay? A few years ago, I couldn't receive a penny."
Gao Heng pondered for a moment, and what Cheng Zilong said should be the truth. He had studied the history of the late Ming Dynasty when he was studying in the military academy. Jianlu kept knocking on the pass, the war ahead was tense, Liaodong was lost, and the frontier troops were all wiped out. The imperial court's 10 million taels of salary a year were all wasted. Not to mention the Central Plains. There are countless books and novels written by later generations describing the tragic situation of the people in the late Ming Dynasty. Anyone with some common sense will know this.
In this way, it is normal for such small officials to not receive salary. Besides, what can they do if they are officials? When the Jianlu bandits come, these officials are the target of being purged. It is indeed not safe to stay in the Ming Dynasty. If I remember correctly, not five or six years after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, around 1650 AD, Guangdong and Guangxi were captured by the Qing army. Even if Jackie Chan stayed there, he would still be a slave of the subjugated country, and he would not be able to get anything from him. Judging from the situation where his salary is enough to make a living on his own, this person is not a corrupt official. There are not many officials in the late Ming Dynasty who can have his justice and integrity.
Cheng Zilong continued: "So I took my wife, children, and children and followed the merchant ship all the way westward, starting from Leizhou and arriving at Annan. The reason why I came to Annan is that on the one hand it is safer than the Ming Dynasty, and on the other hand the trade here is developed. Come here, you should You can make money.”
Regarding Annan's trade, Gao Heng really had a blind spot. He didn't know what Annan was rich in or what it needed. Cheng Zilong looked at Gao Heng's expression and said: "Haha, it seems that the general is also very interested in trade. Yes, if you want to gain a foothold in Annan, you have to use money everywhere. A penny will stump a heroic man. Without money, it is difficult to move forward. General , what I said is correct."
"Ah? What! No, sir, sir, misunderstood, misunderstood." Gao Heng quickly covered it up. In fact, he didn't have such an idea. Since he traveled back to the Ming Dynasty and had four hundred years of knowledge ahead of him, of course he could not allow tragic history to happen again, especially when the Manchu Qing Dynasty ruled China for three hundred years, and China experienced the darkest period in history. We have been poor and weak for hundreds of years. A great man once said that if you fall behind, you will be beaten. The reason why we fall behind is obvious.
So what Gao Heng can do and how to avoid such a situation has become the goal he wants to accomplish most. However, this kind of grand plan cannot be just talked about. It needs to be done down-to-earth. It is impossible for Gao Heng to complete this task alone. If he wants to succeed, he must at least defeat the Manchu and the peasant army. If Without an army, how can we talk about these things? But where the army will come from is a problem. Where the money and food for recruiting the army will come from is an even bigger problem. Gao Heng has no idea where to start.
Now that Cheng Zilong had revealed his thoughts, it made Gao Heng a little embarrassed. At the same time, he felt that Cheng Zilong was not an ordinary person and could actually see through his mind.
Cheng Zilong stood up and said: "General Gao, a man was born between heaven and earth. How can he live in depression for a long time? He should do something. I look at the general's words and deeds. They are not ordinary people. As the saying goes, golden scales are not things in the pond. A dragon changes into a dragon when encountering the storm. If the general is willing, I would be willing to lend a helping hand to the general and make suggestions for him using what I have learned throughout my life."
"Sir, this." Gao Heng also stood up at the same time. Cheng Zilong smiled and said: "Don't think I am just a small bookkeeper, but in fact, I don't want to hide it from the general. It is because I am not doing my job properly that I can only donate money to be a small bookkeeper. This donation of money can be regarded as a gift." It's all in vain. In fact, I have always loved the art of war since I was a child, so I immersed myself in studying the art of war and put aside those stereotypes of recruiting soldiers."
"No wonder, no wonder Mr. Cai instigated the camp riot and mastered the timing so well. It turns out that's the case. As a result, I often have to ask Mr. Gao Heng for advice." Gao Heng said.
Then he turned to Cheng Zilong and said: "Sir, in this case, I will say it bluntly, this battle is very likely to be a disaster, and we may not be sure of it against Annan's tens of thousands of troops."
A smile appeared on the corner of Cheng Zilong's mouth, "General, you may not know much about the situation here. Let me analyze it. I also made some calculations on the way here. In fact, the dangers and difficulties are not as great as the general said. "
"Please give me some advice, sir." Gao Heng said, cupping his fists.
"You must have known about the power struggle between Annan's Zheng and Nguyen families. In fact, the gap in strength between the two families is quite large. In the war, Ruan has always had the upper hand. The southern part of Annam is rich, while the northern part is relatively barren. After the confrontation between the north and the south, thanks to more excellent ports and close contact with Westerners in the south, the south occupies more resources. Whether it is weapons and equipment, or grain and grass supplies, it is much more abundant than the north." Cheng Zilong said.
Then he got up, walked to the yard, picked up a branch, roughly sketched the shape of Annan on the ground, and drew a line in the middle to indicate the separation of north and south.
"General, please see, the current situation is like this. With Quang Binh Prefecture as the boundary, the troops of both sides have fought several times in succession. Lord Ruan has always won easily. The war is protracted and wastes people and money. Although the damage is to both families, it is obvious , Master Zheng’s foundation is much weaker, which is why they are eager to conquer the Ming Dynasty and plunder supplies and food.”
"The Ming Dynasty was troubled internally and externally, and the southwest border had long been left unattended, and was full of chieftain forces. Some of these people listened to the court, some did not, and some waited and watched to protect themselves. As a result, the southwest was It is a piece of loose sand, which is the source of Lord Zheng’s confidence, as he feels that Ming’s hand cannot be stretched that far.”
Gao Heng was about to speak, but Cheng Zilong stopped him and said: "General, wait a minute, listen to what I have to say. Therefore, the general does not need to worry too much about this battle. Although the situation is critical, we have three advantages."
"First, Lord Zheng sent out 10,000 troops. In addition to Zheng Guang's 3,000 soldiers who were destroyed by the general, Lord Zheng sent out more than 10,000 troops. You must know that the total number of troops in Zheng Dynasty was only over 100,000. Half of the people in Guangping Mansion are facing a confrontation, and 20% of the 50,000 people in the rear are dispatched at once. The domestic situation will definitely become more tense. He is playing with fire, so the Annan Army's ability to withstand casualties is very low." Cheng Zilong said.
Gao Heng nodded, "I understand. The loss of three thousand Beijing soldiers is already very huge for them. It's just that they have to shoot when the arrow is on the string. When the follow-up army arrives, it is understandable that they will be eager to attack with revenge, but if we can annihilate them outside Tuoxian City, The other party has a lot of strength, and Lord Zheng cannot bear such a loss."
Cheng Zilong smiled and said: "Yes, this is exactly the reason, so their resilience is far less than ours. As long as the losses reach a certain level, even if they want to fight, they don't have the strength. They can't mobilize the country's troops for our expatriates." , then he doesn’t want Guangping Mansion anymore.”
Cheng Zilong made a cross on the ground and said: "This is Zhennanguan. Ten thousand people are coming to attack. General, if you think about it, it's impossible for them all to pounce on us. The lessons of Yuan County are vivid in our minds, and no one can guarantee that we will understand them." The army will not attack by surprise. If I were the general, I would divide my troops into half at most. In this way, I would only have five thousand enemies in front of me, and this is the second one."
"The third one is actually not difficult for the general to guess."
"Sir, what you are saying is that our army's survival is at stake, so we are united and have high morale. Not to mention that the other party has come from afar, the country has been fighting for many years and has already been depleted of men and horses. The morale of the soldiers in the four towns cannot be so high. , the advantage of people and people lies with me." Gao Heng said.
"Amazing, amazing. If the general doesn't say it, I think this insight must at least come from the mouth of a general." Cheng Zilong gave a thumbs up.
"Sir, you are exaggerating. Gao is just making random guesses." Gao Heng said with cupped hands.
Cheng Zilong glanced at Gao Heng meaningfully. Sure enough, this man was quite majestic. What he had learned all his life had been useless until now. He finally ran to Annan and ran into this kind of thing again. If he hadn't been in time, If you show up, your life will be lost.
Cheng Zilong suddenly bowed solemnly and said: "General, can you tell me the truth? In ancient times, Jizi, the son of King Wen Ding of the Shang Dynasty, led his followers to cross eastward and established Jizi Korea. If the general had the opportunity to start a business in Annan, would the general do it or not? ?”
Gao Heng didn't know how to respond for a moment. Jackie Chan stepped forward and said, "General, please tell me the truth. Should you do it or not?"
"Do it! Of course I have to do it! A true man must stand upright and wipe out the injustices in the world. Now all the people of China are struggling in dire straits. If I stand by and watch, what difference will I make to an animal? If there is a chance to form troops here in the future, Gao will definitely do it. Send troops to the Northern Expedition, wipe out the rebels and bandits, and restore a peaceful world to China." Gao Heng said firmly.
"General, please accept my bow." Cheng Zilong bowed to the ground after saying this. Gao Heng quickly lifted him up and said, "Sir, what are you doing?"
Cheng Zilong said: "General Gao, if you don't give up, I, Cheng Zilong, am willing to follow the general, make suggestions for the general, and achieve a great career. I am willing to dedicate all I have learned in my life. This heart can be learned from heaven."
Happiness came so suddenly that Gao Heng was in a daze for a moment. In later generations, he read many novels. Every time a protagonist traveled through time, he hoped to meet a great talent in the world who could be his mastermind. Although Cheng Zilong has not been mentioned in the history books, Records, but after a conversation, it turned out that this person was by no means a mediocre person. On the contrary, he had a lot of ink. In this era that was familiar but unfamiliar to Gao Heng, there was such a think tank beside him to make suggestions and analyze the situation. That couldn't be better.
At least, it can help him avoid many detours, just like a rifle ruler, which can continuously correct the accuracy. Jackie Chan plays exactly this role.
"Sir, please call me quickly. Gao is just a young man in his early twenties. How can he be so virtuous and talented as to be able to help you, sir?"
"No, heroes don't care about their age. Please take them in, general." Cheng Zilong said.
In fact, Jackie Chan is not without his own little calculations. He is already in his forties. The average life expectancy in ancient times was not long. Half of his body was already buried in the earth at the age of forty. If he could do something good before his death, , this life is not in vain. In addition, he was living a precarious life in Annan. If Gao Heng could really succeed and follow Gao Heng's army, the safety problem of his family would be solved, and he might still be able to leave his name in history.
Youdao means finding wealth through danger. At such an old age, why not take a gamble?
"Thank you for your favor, sir. From today on, I will ask you to be Gao's military advisor."
