When Li Zhi and Lu Xiangsheng returned from the victory, the entire reinforcement camp was shaken. They heard that Li Zhi had killed more than 400 enemies, and that Lu Xiangsheng, who went to support him, also made some gains. The other officers were jealous. They only blamed themselves for not being brought out by Governor Lu Xiangsheng himself.
The army was announced to be large, but the governor did not call him when he had something good to do.
The officers all went to the Chinese army's tent to see the Tatar heads piled up together, and were amazed.
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On October 9, the emperor summoned Lu Xiangsheng on the platform to discuss strategies for retreating from the enemy.
Stepping onto the platform, Lu Xiangsheng knelt down to Zhu Youjian and stood up. Zhu Youjian looked at Lu Xiangsheng's linen filial piety clothes and said: "Lu Qing worked hard!"
Lu Xiangsheng said: "Serving the country, I dare not express my hardships, I just wish I could not fulfill my filial piety." After a pause, Lu Xiangsheng raised his hands and said: "The day before yesterday, my subordinates Li Zhi, Yang Guozhu and other generals defeated a thousand Qing troops in Tongzhou and captured forty-one alive.
Man, behead four hundred and four levels!"
Zhu Youjian looked at Lu Xiangsheng in surprise, nodded, and said: "Lu Qing is good at running the army. I will definitely give you a heavy reward after retreating from the enemy this time!"
After thinking for a while, Zhu Youjian turned to ask: "Now that Dongnu is in great danger, what strategy does Lu Qing plan to use to retreat from the enemy?"
Lu Xiangsheng said proudly: "I will take charge of the battle!"
Hearing Lu Xiangsheng's words, Zhu Youjian's expression changed and he was speechless for a moment.
In the Ming Dynasty, fighting to the death with foreign enemies was the moral principle. Making peace with foreign enemies was an unspeakable shame. Although Zhu Youjian privately asked Yang Sichang to negotiate peace with the Manchus, he pretended not to do so on the surface.
I know about this. But I don’t know who leaked the news. Now everyone in the government and the public is saying that the emperor intends to negotiate peace with Dongnu, and the material debate is boiling.
But all the officials knew that the emperor did this secretly, and no one revealed this to Zhu Youjian.
But Lu Xiangsheng was different. He was a tough guy who led troops in battles. He said he was in charge of the battle as soon as he opened his mouth. Hearing this, Zhu Youjian felt that Lu Xiangsheng was scolding him for surrendering.
Zhu Youjian was a little angry all of a sudden. This Lu Xiangsheng has such a big air! Dare to expose his shortcomings in person? But at this time, the emperor cannot be angry with Lu Xiangsheng because of this matter, otherwise it will be even more embarrassing if it spreads. Then all the officials will say, the emperor is
He wanted to surrender to Dong Nu, so he was angry with the Minister of War who was in charge of the battle.
Zhu Youjian was so impressed by Lu Xiang that he couldn't get off the stage. He could only say angrily: "The imperial court didn't say anything about appeasement. The so-called appeasement was decided by the outside court."
After Lu Xiangsheng said these words, he realized that he had accidentally exposed the emperor's shortcomings, and he couldn't help but regret it. But the words had been spoken and he could no longer take them back. He cupped his hands and said nothing.
Zhu Youjian had no intention of talking to Lu Xiangsheng anymore. He sighed and said, "Shang Shu, go and discuss the strategy of retreating from the enemy with Mr. Yang Ge!"
Yang Sichang was originally the Minister of the Ministry of War. At this time, he had entered the cabinet because of his meritorious service in defeating the common thieves, but he was still in charge of the affairs of the Ministry of War. Zhu Youjian secretly said that it was Yang Sichang's idea to negotiate peace with the Qing army, so why should he be held responsible? When Lu Xiangsheng came up like this, he was
Let Yang Sichang deal with the hard issues that expose people's shortcomings.
With a flick of the long sleeves of his dragon robe, Zhu Youjian walked back to Qianqing Palace.
Lu Xiangsheng watched the emperor leave, then exited the platform and found Yang Sichang in the East Pavilion, who was in charge of the Ministry of War.
When Yang Sichang saw Lu Xiangsheng, he put down the official document in his hand and came up and said, "Has Jiandou met the emperor?"
Lu Xiangsheng nodded and said, "I've seen it before!"
Yang Sichang said: "Nowadays, the slave force is fierce and the attackers are not good. What good strategy can we use to defeat the enemy?"
Lu Xiangsheng looked at Yang Sichang and said calmly: "There is no good strategy, but to lead the army to fight to the death!"
Yang Sichang was stunned when he heard this, and thought to himself that he was scolding himself. Now everyone in the court was scolding Yang Sichang behind his back for wanting to surrender, but that was a scolding behind his back, and it was not enough to expose his shortcomings to his face. Lu Xiangsheng said that he would lead his army to fight to the death.
, to be a hero, do you have to be a traitor who surrendered to the city?
Didn't Lu Xiangsheng scold himself for not daring to fight? This Lu Xiangsheng is really a common man who doesn't understand current affairs!
Yang Sichang gritted his teeth and didn't know what to say for a moment. It took him a long time to hold back a sentence.
"Don't waste your time fighting!"
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On October 10, after Lu Xiangsheng returned from the capital, he discussed with the eunuch Gao Qiqi in the big tent for a whole day, and the argument was quite fierce. Early the next morning, Lu Xiangsheng summoned the generals to the big tent of the Chinese army.
middle.
Li Zhi walked into the tent and saw that all the generals had arrived, standing on both sides. Lu Xiangsheng and Gao Qiqian were sitting at the top, with different expressions. Lu Xiangsheng's face was livid, as if he had been shocked. Gao Qiqian was talking and laughing calmly, and
Several generals of the Guan Ning Army standing nearby were talking.
Lu Xiangsheng's face looked better when he saw Li Zhi coming in.
After a while, everyone arrived, and Lu Xiangsheng said: "I have agreed with the supervisory army that the two families will divide their forces! From today on, the soldiers and horses of Xuanfu, Datong, Shanxi and Tianjin Fourth Road will be under my command. The other soldiers and horses will obey the supervision.
Military command."
Upon hearing Lu Xiangsheng's words, all the generals were stunned and looked at each other.
One hundred thousand troops of the Qing army entered the pass with great momentum. The imperial court ordered the soldiers and horses of the world to be diligent. At present, they have only gathered 60,000 troops, which is weaker than the Tatar army. If the troops are divided into two groups, and each group only has 30,000 soldiers, what will they get?
Fight to the death with the Tatars? Attack 100,000 Tatars with 30,000 people along the way? Once surrounded by the Tatars, it will be the end of total annihilation.
All the generals knew that Gao Qiqian tried to avoid fighting. Once the troops were divided, it meant that the 30,000 soldiers and horses Gao Qiqian had sent would not participate in the battle. The remaining 30,000 soldiers and horses in the four groups were fighting to the death against 100,000 Tatars.
A lot of good luck.
Wang Pu, the commander-in-chief of Datong, was full of anxiety and stood up and said: "In the army, it is more important to unite your troops than to divide them. Uniting makes us strong, but dividing our forces makes us weak. Now the Eastern Numa Army is so strong that it can march hundreds of miles in one day. Our army can only be divided into two parts."
, it is extremely easy to be defeated by Dongnu one by one!"
Hu Dawei also stood up and said: "Master Governor, the general does not agree with the division of troops!"
Yang Guozhu also said loudly: "My lord, dividing your troops is not a good strategy. Please think again!"
Lu Xiangsheng looked at his three subordinates and sighed.
The eunuch Gao Qiqian stood up and said: "The matter has been made clear. The troops from Ji, Liao, and Shandong will follow me north and camp fifty miles away!"
The Qing army had already moved south, but Gao Qiqian wanted to camp in the north. This attitude of avoiding war was very clear. Li Zhi looked at the eunuch, a little speechless. Could he just sit back and watch the Qing army attack and plunder cities at will in the Central Plains without any help?
war?
After saying this, Gao Qiqian walked out of the big tent without stopping.
The soldiers and horses from each town who were separated by Gao Qiqian looked at each other, stepped forward and raised their hands to Lu Xiangsheng and said, "The governor is unparalleled in his loyalty and righteousness. In the end, I wish I could follow the governor to kill the enemy!"
"Since the governor and the supervisor have reached an agreement, we can only obey the order and resign!"
"Take care, Governor!"
The separated generals followed up and dived, and walked outside the tent. Lu Xiangsheng looked at the half-empty Chinese army tent, bent over in frustration, sat hunched on a chair, speechless.