On the eighth day of April in the tenth year of Chongzhen, King Qin’s army camp in the capital city
It has been a month since King Qin's army began to gather. At this moment, the Ming army gathered in the capital has reached 90,000. They are stationed outside Xibianmen on the outskirts of the capital under the command of Lu Xiangsheng.
As the army gathered, Chongzhen's attitude, which had been urging Lu Xiangsheng to find the enemy for a decisive battle, gradually became ambiguous. This can be seen from the attitude of Gao Qiqian, the eunuch who supervises the army.
Originally, Gao Qiqian urged Lu Xiangsheng to start a decisive battle with the Qing soldiers, but since April, Gao Qiqian no longer urged Lu Xiangsheng to send troops to fight a decisive battle with the Qing soldiers. This also made Lu Xiangsheng feel confused and worried.
In the large tent outside the Xibian Gate, Lu Xiangsheng was discussing the military situation with the generals. At this moment, Lu Xiangsheng was still in the period of observing filial piety. He was wearing a bright yellow cloak given by the emperor and a white linen clothes underneath. He looked upright.
Sitting in the handsome seat, he remained silent.
Liu Zeqing, the former Shandong Commander-in-Chief and now the Henan Commander-in-Chief, came forward to report: "Director Lu, now that most of our troops have been assembled and are strong enough to fight the Tatars, can we send troops to wipe out the Qing troops in Hebei?
The last general heard that after the Qing troops captured Tianjin a few days ago, they destroyed Tianjin to a great extent. This revenge must be avenged!"
Lu Xiangsheng nodded and said: "General Liu's words are very true. A few days ago, the emperor urged me to send troops, but I pushed him back. That was because the troops had not yet arrived at that time. Now that the main force of our army has been gathered, it is time to attack.
.But now the emperor's attitude has changed somewhat, especially Eunuch Gao..."
Hearing this, everyone understood that now that there is an extra military supervisor in the camp, Lu Xiangsheng's military orders cannot be enforced and prohibited in the camp as before. They must have Gao Qiqian's consent before they can take effect. Especially nowadays, the imperial court
When your attitude starts to become ambiguous, your attitude of rising and falling is especially important.
The commander-in-chief, Ma Rulong, also asked: "Captain Lu, I have heard in the past few days that the emperor intends to negotiate peace with the Tatars. Is that true?"
Lu Xiangsheng glared at Ma Rulong, "Don't spread rumors about things that have no trace!"
"Yes. The general will finally be convicted!" Ma Rulong lowered his head when he saw Lu Xiangsheng getting angry.
While he was talking, a soldier walked in outside the big tent and reported loudly: "Report to the Governor, we will not collect incoming reports at night. A team came from the north, still twenty miles away from my big tent. It was heading towards me quickly.
The army is coming, it is probably one of our troops who came to serve the king."
"Oh, which troops in our army have not arrived yet?" The generals began to discuss.
Just when everyone was a little puzzled, someone from the soldiers outside the tent shouted loudly: "Eunuch Gao is here!"
Following the voice of the soldier, a tall man wearing a light blue fourth-grade eunuch's uniform and a white face without a beard sneaked in.
As soon as Gao Qiqian entered the tent, he smiled and said: "Oh, it turns out that Governor Lu and all the generals are here. It's a coincidence that we are here. What are you guys discussing?"
As Gao Qiqian spoke, he walked up to Lu Xiangsheng and sat down unceremoniously, not noticing the dissatisfied looks of the generals in the tent at all.
The generals could show their faces to Gao Qiqian, but Lu Xiangsheng, the coach, could not. He forced out a smile and said: "I want Eunuch Gao to know that we are discussing the dispatch of troops. I don't know what Eunuch Gao wants."
How is it?"
"Send troops?" Gao Qiqian was stunned for a moment, and then he laughed loudly, his voice as sharp as an old hen's hiccups.
Lu Xiangsheng replied: "Yes, we have the emperor's favor. At this moment, the army is still gathered, so we should send troops to fight against the Tatars."
Gao Qiqian listened and smiled but said nothing, with an ambiguous expression on his face. Lu Xiangsheng felt very depressed after seeing this.
At the same time, the soldiers came to report again, "Report to the Commander-in-Chief, the King Qin's troops have arrived three miles away from my camp and are heading towards my camp."
"Oh, are there King Qin's soldiers and horses that haven't arrived yet?" After hearing Qizhen's words, Gao Qiqian was also stunned, and then said: "In that case, how about we go outside the big tent and take a look?"
"Very good!" Lu Xiangsheng nodded, got up first and led the generals out of the tent.
When Lu Xiangsheng, Gao Qiqian and the generals came to a high slope outside the camp to look down, a loud roar like rolling thunder rang above everyone's heads. The originally gloomy sky became even darker, and then there were heavy raindrops.
Start hitting everyone on the head.
The rain became heavier and heavier, and soon turned into a heavy downpour, soaking everyone who was caught off guard. After a while, the followers below quickly brought rain gear to cover everyone.
Lu Xiangsheng and the generals may have been used to this kind of thing, and there was no surprise on their faces. However, Gao Qiqian, who was drowned by the sudden heavy rain, did not look so good. He muttered a few words,
He seemed to be angry, but couldn't find a place to vent his anger. After all, it was his idea to come out to watch the reinforcements, so he could only stand there angrily and let the rain flow down.
The weather in April was still a bit cool. Gao Qiqian was soaked in the rain and his whole body was wet. After the water vapor began to seep into his body, he felt that his whole body began to feel cold.
"Bastard, this is the army that came to King Qin. I got wet all over my father-in-law. I must make him look good later!" Sometimes resentment always comes out of nowhere, and just like this, the army that has not yet been met has been destroyed.
I hate it.
Just when Gao Qiqian was feeling resentful, he suddenly saw a man and horse rolling towards him from the north. Although the man and horse's military flags and orders could not be clearly seen in the heavy rain, he could feel its overwhelming power.
Soon, the army came to a stop outside the camp, and soon a horse came out of the camp. The knight on the horse came outside the camp and said a few words to the guard sergeant of the camp.
Soon the sergeant guarding the gate came to Lu Xiangsheng and Gao Qiqian and said loudly: "To inform Governor Lu and Gao Jianjun, the army coming from outside claims to be the troops of King Qin from Qingzhou, led by General Pang Gang of Dingguo.
The leader is waiting outside the camp!"
"Oh, is Pang Gang here?" Lu Xiangsheng was delighted when he heard this, "Come on, order Pang Gang to quickly enter the camp and set up camp."
"Wait, wait a minute!" Gao Qiqian on the side quickly stopped Lu Xiangsheng and said gloomily: "Captain Lu, what time did the note you sent to Pang Gang tell him to arrive?"
Lu Xiangsheng glanced at Gao Qiqian and said slowly: "The deadline for the letter I sent to Pang Gang is today."
"Oh, is it today?" Gao Qiqian's tone was a little disappointed, but he remembered that the emperor solemnly told him to be on strict guard against this Pang Gang. Hearing the emperor's tone, he was very wary of that Pang Gang.
, if I could take this opportunity to get rid of him, the emperor would definitely be very happy, right? It's a pity, why didn't he come only tomorrow?
Although he felt a little regretful in his heart that he could not convict Pang Gang, Gao Qiqian still planned to give him some color, so he snorted and said: "Although it has not expired, now the army only counts his battalion."
He’s the last to come, but I still have to teach him a lesson, so let him stand there!”
"What?" Everyone couldn't help being surprised when they heard Gao Qiqian's sharp voice. This Eunuch Gao was going to give the new general a showdown.
"This...I'm afraid it's inappropriate. General Pang didn't violate any military regulations, but he was punished to stand outside the camp. This is not good." Lu Xiangsheng frowned. He came all the way and didn't violate it.
There are no military disciplines and regulations, but for no reason, people stand outside the camp in the pouring rain. This is not the way to be a general and will cause public anger. But Gao Qiqian has the power of food and grass in the camp, and Lu Xiangsheng does not dare to be too
Because he was disobedient, he had to talk with him in a gentle tone.
Gao Qiqian snorted coldly: "What is this? Our family has heard about this Pang Gang a long time ago. He is lawless and does not care about the court at all. If we don't show him some color today, how will we discipline him in the future?"
Ah, that’s it, let him stand outside to cool off first!”
After hearing Gao Qiqian's words, Lu Xiangsheng sighed slightly and stopped talking. Although the generals behind him were all aggrieved by Pang Gang, they were too angry and dared not speak, so they had to stand aside and watch the camp silently.
The army of King Qin who just arrived outside.
But gradually, the colors on everyone's faces began to change. At this time, the army had arrived, and thousands of soldiers and horses were lined up in neat square formations outside the camp, motionless.
The rain is getting heavier and heavier, and the downpour is like pouring down from the Milky Way. There is more and more water on the ground, especially the Qingzhou army located below. It will soon submerge their feet, but the soldiers and horses are still
They were neatly lined up in four directions and motionless, looking from a distance as if they were made of bronze. This sight made Lu Xiangsheng and the other generals horrified.
Time passed little by little, and half an hour passed. The troops outside were still in neat formation. The heavy rain hit them and a little raindrops appeared on them. At this time, even the soldiers in the camp were shocked.
Watching from the camp, the more they watched, the more horrified they became. Looking at this kind of military power, they had never heard of it in their lives. This kind of military appearance and power can be said to be the first-class powerful army of the Ming Dynasty without exaggeration.
In the eyes of Gao Qiqian, a half-empty supervisor, this kind of military appearance can only be said to be good-looking and well-disciplined, but it is completely different in the eyes of Lu Xiangsheng and the generals behind him, and this
This kind of military appearance and majesty is something they have never seen before in all their years of service. This means that the troops under Pang Gang's command are very powerful. In the eyes of those who are interested, the commander of this army is a figure worth making friends with.
After a while, Lu Xiangsheng couldn't stand it any longer and said sternly: "Eunuch Gao, that's it. Can you afford it if such a powerful army gets sick because of this?"
At this moment, Gao Qiqian had no reason to stop the army from entering the camp, so he could only snort: "Okay, then let them enter the camp!"...