Zeng Xuan originally saw Han Du looking at the soldiers with eyes full of admiration, which made him have a good impression of Han Du. After all, the soldiers under his command were a little poor, he admitted. But he definitely thought that the soldiers under his command were all from the Ming Dynasty.
Good men and women are all first-class good soldiers. If Han Du despises his soldiers because of their poor appearance, he will never agree.
But the good impression he had just had on Han Du suddenly disappeared when the other party glanced at his chin several times.
Zeng Xuan's face couldn't help but darken, and he explained angrily, "The general is born without a beard, so he is not a eunuch as ordinary people think."
Han Du nodded indifferently and said, "I know that some people are like this."
It’s not like Han Du has never seen such people before. In his previous life, material conditions were very rich, which resulted in a large number of people having no worries about food, clothing and exercise. There are countless people like this who don’t have beards.
Han Du was not surprised at all by this. He just saw it suddenly and couldn't help but take a second look. After all, Zeng Xuan's situation was still very rare in the Ming Dynasty.
"Master Marquis, please show me your military talisman!" Zeng Xuan's good impression of Han Du disappeared. Although Han Du gave an explanation, he still kept a straight face and went about business.
Han Du took out the military talisman and brought it directly to him.
Zeng Xuan took it, inspected it carefully, and returned the military talisman to Han Du.
He nodded and said, "The military talisman is real, but where is the prince? Why didn't he come in person to give the order?"
Zeng Xuan's words seemed normal, but he was wondering whether Han Du had captured Prince Ning.
At the same time, the general behind him quietly took a step forward, staring at Han Du with wide eyes and tensing up, ready to jump up and catch him at any moment.
Han Du put the military talisman away, as if he had not noticed their movements at all, and explained with a smile, "King Ning is reminiscing with King Liao in the palace. If you don't believe it, you can send someone to take a look."
"Okay!" Zeng Xuan nodded immediately, then turned around and shouted to the person next to him, "He Wenxin, go and see the prince immediately."
As he said this, he also glanced at He Wenxin, indicating to him that he should ask the prince personally whether he had really handed over all the troops and horses to Han Du.
He Wenxin immediately shouted back, "Follow the order!"
Reaching out to wave a war horse, He Wenxin climbed onto the horse's back, waved the whip in his hand, and galloped towards the Liao Palace.
When He Wenxin left in a hurry, Zeng Xuan forced a smile on his face and stretched out his hand to signal, "Since the Marquis has the military talisman, please invite the Marquis to take a seat in the tent."
"Lead the way." Han Du nodded briskly.
Han Du came to the commander's tent and looked at the chair at the top, knowing that Zhu Quan once sat on it and gave orders.
Zeng Xuan and others also looked at Han Du, wanting to see what Han Du would do.
Han Du just took a look and did not sit on it. After all, these people still had doubts about his identity, so it was not appropriate to sit on it rashly.
Then he turned around and looked at everyone, and just stood there and said, "Everyone, please take your seats."
When Zeng Xuan saw that Han Du did not directly take the command, his attitude toward Han Du improved a lot, and so did the others. In any case, at least Han Du's respect for the prince won the respect of Zeng Xuan and others.
Respect.
Zeng Xuan glanced around, then bowed in deep thought, "You are so polite, Mr. Marquis, it's fine for me to wait here."
"That's right, we have always stood around in the past, so it doesn't matter."
"Well~ I just moved around a little bit. It would be more comfortable to stand."
Han Du looked at the tall and thick people, racking their brains to come up with these lame excuses, and suddenly smiled in his heart. He no longer asked them to sit down, and just stood and waited quietly.
Not long after, He Wenxin opened the curtain and walked in.
The sound immediately attracted everyone's attention, and everyone's eyes fell on his face, waiting for the news he brought back.
He Wenxin looked at Zeng Xuan, nodded heavily and said, "The prince is indeed reminiscing with the King of Liao. We met the prince in person. And the prince did give the military talisman to the Marquis of Zhenhai, and also told us to follow the Marquis of Zhenhai to kill the Tatars. In addition,
The army of the Liao Palace will also be under the command of Marquis Zhenhai."
Things have become clear, and the clouds on everyone's faces instantly dissipated.
Led by Zeng Xuan, he led all the generals to bow down to Han Du.
"General, please wait and see the Marquis of Zhenhai!"
Han Du smiled, then walked to the main seat and sat down, "No courtesy."
"Thank you, Lord Marquis." After everyone bowed again, they straightened up and faced Han Du.
Han Du stretched out his hand to signal to everyone, "Don't stand still, everyone should take their seats."
"Thank you, Lord Marquis."
When everyone sat down, Han Du looked at Zeng Xuan and asked, "What is your official position? How many people are there in this camp?"
Zeng Xuan clasped his fists towards Han Du and replied, "General Tian will be the commander of Prince Ning's palace. The prince has brought 40,000 cavalry this time."
Han Du frowned and said, "Why is it 40,000? Shouldn't it be 60,000?"
Zeng Xuan looked embarrassed and smiled bitterly
He replied, "Back to Lord Marquis, this is said to be sixty thousand."
Han Du suddenly understood something, and then asked hurriedly, "I heard that King Ning has 80,000 soldiers and horses under his command?"
Zeng Xuan nodded, confirmed Han Du's guess, and replied calmly, "It is also said to be 80,000 people, but in fact there are only more than 60,000 people."
Zeng Xuan spoke hesitantly, and he was very good at talking. The last word "yu" was very confusing. How much more is left? One more is also more than 20,000.
But Han Du already understood. To put it bluntly, King Ning reported to the court that he had 80,000 troops under his command, but in fact there were only 60,000. It cannot be said that the extra 20,000 were paid by King Ning. It was possible that he was in Liaodong.
The cost of raising troops in the land is higher than that in the capital.
"Forty thousand cavalry and infantry." Han Du pondered for a moment and asked again, "How many cavalry are there in total? Just tell the truth and don't say how many you claim to have."
"Twenty thousand." Zeng Xuan replied immediately.
"Only 20,000?" Han Du suddenly said in disbelief, "The three Wuliangha guards under King Ning alone must have more than 20,000 cavalry. How could it be so little?"
In the way of serving as subordinates, the most intolerable thing is the deception of subordinates.
The same is true for Han Du. What he dislikes most is when others treat him as a fool. So Han Du immediately stood up and sneered, "Okay, very good. It seems that you don't take me seriously."
"
Zeng Xuan quickly stood up, stretched out his hand to comfort, and said close to Han Du's ear, "The marquis misunderstood. Although the three guards of Wuliangha were controlled by the prince, they were all Mongolian people who had just surrendered. The prince did not like them very much. This time
We didn't bring them with us when we went on an expedition. These 20,000 cavalrymen are entirely the royal palace's troops."
So Han Du was very surprised why he didn't see the Meng Yuan people in the military camp just now. It turned out that Zhu Quan didn't order the three guards of Wuliangha to be brought out.
This is not possible. Since the three guards of Wuliangha have joined the Ming Dynasty, this is the time when they need to prove their loyalty to the Ming Dynasty. If we don't take them with us at this time, wouldn't it be an advantage for them?
Besides, there will be casualties in any war. If the Ming army charges in the front, Dasheng will be killed, while the three Uuliangha guards in the rear are holding hands and watching the show. It would be okay if the Ming Dynasty wins a big victory, but if the Ming Dynasty suffers heavy losses
, the three guards of Wuliangha may not be tempted to rebel again when they see that Ming Dynasty's strength has been damaged.
No! It is absolutely impossible to leave the three guards of Wu Liangha behind. You must ask King Ning to summon the three guards of Wu Liangha.
But that's not enough, let's deal with the matter at hand first.
Han Du sat back again and asked Zeng Xuan, "I am here."
At that time, I saw that some of your soldiers were still wearing single clothes. What's going on? It's freezing now. How can people in single clothes survive? Besides, we are going to the grassland this time, and it is even colder there.
The wind and snow are getting worse, so if you go there wearing single clothes, you won’t find the Tatars all frozen to death, right?”
After hearing this, Zeng Xuan's eyes turned red and his lips were noisy: "Master Hou, it's not that the general doesn't care about the soldiers. It's that the clothes in Liaodong are very valuable. If they are replaced by animal skins, they will be even more expensive."
I don’t want them to wear unlined clothes, but I really have no choice.”
The other generals had tears in their eyes and lowered their heads in shame. They also felt sorry for their soldiers, but as Zeng Xuan said, they knew nothing but fighting, and there was nothing they could do about it.
Although there are Han people in Liaodong, after being ruled for a hundred years BC, these people are good at horseback riding and archery, and they can barely farm, but when it comes to weaving and weaving, it is too difficult for them. The skills of the past
They were discontinued long ago due to their advocating for riding and shooting, and now the clothes they wear are all trafficked from merchants in the Ming Dynasty.
Merchants transport clothes thousands of miles away, of course, in order to make a lot of money, and the selling prices are naturally very high.
Han Du lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment, then looked up at Zeng Xuan and asked, "You just said, how many people are there in total?"
"Forty thousand on foot and on horseback."
"I want an accurate number." Han Du shouted in a deep voice.
"Back to the Marquis, there are 41,312 people in the army." Zeng Xuan replied in the same loud voice.
Han Du grabbed a piece of paper on the desk in front of him, picked up the pen but saw that there was no ink in the inkstone. He said softly, "Come here, grind the ink for me."
Zeng Xuan immediately walked out of the handsome tent and soon brought back a scribe.
After the scribe polished the ink, Han Du took up his pen and wrote down an order.
He handed it to Zeng Xuan and said, "Take it and go to Shanzi Camp to find Xu Chengfei and ask him to transfer you a batch of cotton-padded clothes and military equipment."
"Dare I ask Lord Marquis, what is cotton-padded clothes?" Zeng Xuan, an ordnance baggage commander, understood, but this was the first time he heard the word cotton-padded clothes.
Han Du directly stuffed the warrant into his hand without explaining too much, "You will understand when you go there."
"General, I will obey the order." Zeng Xuan did not continue to ask. He was not stupid. Since the Marquis took it out at this time, it was probably a good thing.
Zeng Xuan took people to Shanzi Camp to transfer supplies, while Han Du asked He Wenxin to accompany him and inspect the camp.