It was raining and foggy in Binzhou County Government Office, and the courtyard was a little deep.
Li Yan looked out the window for a few times, put down the book in his hand, struggled to get up with a cane, and when the soldiers heard the noise, he hurriedly came to help him, but he refused and limped into the yard.
Although the rain stopped, the weather was gloomy and foggy, and the water drops on the leaves were crystal clear. The chanting sounds of Li Muxian and the Taoist boy came from the next room. Li Yan closed his eyes slightly with a smile on his face and took a few breaths of fresh air.
War, what a beautiful day.
But he knew that this was unrealistic. There were tens of thousands of Qing troops dozens of miles away. Although peace had been negotiated, he had to be careful.
Yesterday, he and the main army marched from Beiyang River to camp and settled in Binzhou City at dark. In order to avoid disturbing the people, the army camped outside the city, and the main general entered the city to rest.
It's not something special, but because the Qing army fulfilled its promise to release more than 400 Ming army prisoners, as well as more than a thousand civilians and baggage, and they were settled in Binzhou City. Therefore, Li Yan and others had to go to the city to discuss the reception and settlement with the local officials, and the soldiers had to rejoin the army.
, the people need to settle down, and how to deal with the property looted by the Qing army is also a problem.
After some discussion, the property could not be confiscated and returned to the public, but it was impossible to return it to its original owner, so the property should be dispersed as refugees, and the Binzhou government would subsidize some food to send them home.
Cheng Ming came in from the outside and saw Li Yan walking around on crutches in the courtyard. He quickly approached and helped him: "General Li, it is better to lie down for a while to avoid injuring the wound."
Li Yan smiled slightly: "It's okay. I'm tired of sitting for a long time and have some fresh air. Then I asked again, where are the Tatars at this time?"
Cheng Ming was originally a member of the Tengxiang Four Guards, Chang Yu, who was promoted to the commander of the guards. He performed well when sniping the rebels in Baoding Prefecture. Later, he followed the army north to King Qin and then went south to pursue the enemy to Cangzhou, where he was sent to borrow food by Li Yan.
, missed the battle of Qingzhou and heard that his confidant Duan Wuhu died in the battle, he has been grudged and wanted revenge, but the two parties now have no chance to negotiate peace.
Yesterday, Li Yan's army went to Binzhou City to rest and recuperate. He originally wanted to send Hao Yaoqi and his troops to keep an eye on the Qing army, but Cheng Ming volunteered and brought more than a thousand troops in the city to pursue them.
"We have entered Haifeng County (today's Wudi County) and stopped in an ancient town:" Cheng Ming said with a look of hatred on his face. The dog Tatars did their own evil. When they went south, they left no chickens or dogs behind. Now they don't even have a place to shelter from the rain. Why not?
The next heavy rain will kill these beasts!"
Li Yan frowned: "The ancient town is only a few dozen miles away from here, and the Tatars are very slow!"
"No, since the Tatars crossed the Yellow River and negotiated peace with us, they don't seem to be in a hurry to leave." Cheng Ming was also a little confused: ""Maybe it's been difficult to travel on rainy days recently, and the Tatars were tired from the previous battle and took advantage of the peace talks to slow down.
Take a little rest.
"I hope so." Li Yan frowned: "But if the Tatars don't come out of seclusion for a day, we can't take it lightly." Cheng Ming nodded: "General Li, the Tatars don't know how to play tricks."
"It's hard to say that the army behaves in a deceitful way." Li Yan twitched the corner of his mouth: "Our little governor is the best at this, but the Tatars are also knives and have no good stubble. The failure to maintain peace talks is just a tactic to delay the war. What are they secretly planning?"
"I think they'd better be thinking about something." Cheng Ming snorted and saw murderous intent bursting out. Li Yan glanced at him and said nothing. Cheng Ming asked again: "Aren't Mr. Huang and the others up yet?"
Li Yan frowned. Although it was a rainy day, it was almost noon. Why hadn't he seen anyone yet? Maybe he drank too much last night.
So he waved his hand to the soldiers to invite a few people over.
Cheng Ming helped Li Yan into the room and made tea for him. Seeing the anger on Li Yan's face, he asked curiously: "Is it possible that General Li is angry with General Huang and the others?"
Li Yan was silent, and Cheng Ming laughed: "A while ago, all the departments were tired and tired of fighting for a long time. It is difficult to have such a break, so it is better to relax."
Li Yan had a serious look on his face: "I have nothing to say if you want to relax and rest, but it is inappropriate to drink and have fun. After all, the current situation is unstable, how can you be so careless. From now on, the entire army is prohibited from drinking, except for those two people.
Violators will be severely punished!"
Hey, Cheng Ming smiled bitterly: "It's not like I can't control Mr. Huang."
Chang Yu had ordered that alcohol be banned during the war, with the exception of two people, one was Huang Degong, who never drank and was unhappy, and the other was Hao Yaoqi, who drank more and more.
This is also their privilege.
After the Qing army failed to attack the city and negotiated peace with the Ming army, Chang Yu sympathized with the soldiers and lifted the ban on alcohol in order to relieve their mental fatigue. However, Li Yan reintroduced the ban on alcohol only two days later, fearing that it would offend the soldiers, but he had this
Right, because Chang Yu authorized it.
"I'm not targeting Mr. Huang. He can drink as much as he likes as long as he doesn't miss the military situation, but he can't bring other generals with him. You see, it's almost noon now, and most of the troops will be drunk.
In the city, if there is a war and there is no leader, the consequences will be..." Li Yan sighed heavily as he spoke.
Cheng Ming nodded, not knowing how to answer, when Zhou Yuji walked in and saw Cheng Ming cupping his hands: "The Tatars are lying down?" He said with experience, Cheng Ming would not have come back otherwise.
"Yes, I'm lying down in an abandoned village more than thirty miles away. I think I want to rest for two days." Cheng Ming responded, and Zhou Yuji said, "I'm not in a hurry anymore. If I'm not really tired, I'm just nervous."
What a bad idea."
"General Zhou is a very sensible person. He knows that the Tatars have evil intentions, but the generals are drunk in the city. What if..." Li Yan said and said nothing. Zhou Yuji looked at his words and knew that Li Yan was not in good spirits due to the drunkenness of the others.
Then he laughed and said: "General Li, don't make trouble. It's not the first day for all of you to lead troops to fight, and the opponent is the Tatars. How can you not be on guard? Last night, Lao Huang and I each sent three generals to the city."
When you are on duty at a foreign military camp, you will definitely not be completely drunk in the city."
Li Yan felt a little better after hearing this: "It's not that I don't know how to care about people, but I can't be careless at this time. The Tatar's cunning subordinate, the lieutenant...ahem, is very cunning!"
Zhou Yuji and Cheng Ming laughed loudly, and Huang Degong's rough voice came from outside: "Laughing so much, I think I am so happy."
"There is a young child nearby, Mr. Huang's words are extremely vulgar," Li Muxian could faintly be heard scolding.
"Hey, Mr. Niu, you don't care about heaven and earth now, but you also care about my words and farts. You are a bit too strict." It was obvious that Huang Degong was still hungover, drunk, and screamed with a loud voice. Look at his posture.
He was looking for Li Muxian to argue with him, but he was dragged into the lobby by Tu Yuan and Hao Yaoqi, followed by more than a dozen generals who were laughing and laughing at the joke.
"From now on until the capital, the entire army is prohibited from drinking alcohol. Any offenders will be punished for delaying military intelligence!" When everyone entered the lobby, they saw Li Yan's face darken.
"Hey, I'm talking about Li Yan, you..." Huang Degong was the first to be dissatisfied and was about to call out, but Li Yan glared at him: "Except you and Hao Yongzhong!"
"Oh, oh, hahaha, that's okay. You have to ban alcohol. These bastards are like their fate when they see alcohol. Look at how drunk they are..." Huang Degong pointed at a person in a pretentious manner.
General Zhong shouted and scolded, while everyone smiled bitterly and shook their heads in silence.
At this moment, one of Cheng Ming's soldiers rushed in and looked at him but hesitated to speak.
"But the Tatars have broken camp?" Cheng Ming stood up and asked. The soldier shook his head and said quickly: "The Tatars are still resting, but suddenly they released more than a thousand people."
Everyone was startled and looked at each other.
According to the terms of the peace talks, the Tatars released thousands of people and looted property within a few hundred miles. They just handed over a batch the day before yesterday. How come they were released dozens of miles away in advance?
Everyone was very puzzled.
"Only the people are released, but what about the baggage?" Li Muchian asked, looking up at Li Yan and seeing him frowning in thought.
The soldier shook his head: "I only let people go."
"When things go wrong, there must be a monster." Zhou Yuji stared at the tea cup in his hand and sneered: "This Tatar dog is really evil."
"Are you tired of playing tricks with these bastards every day? According to what I said, we will just raise troops to do it!" Huang Degong shouted angrily, and beside him, Cheng Ming, Tu Yuan, Hao Yongzhong and Lu Xing, several personal guards commanders, also loudly agreed.
They are all militants.
"Maybe it's just a bad idea," Li Yan suddenly raised his head and said to everyone.