Yang Shiqi said to Zhuang De: "Commander Zhuang, now the imperial court's anti-rebellion army has moved north. We got the news yesterday that the army has already entered Jinan City. It seems that the enemy is already a turtle in the urn and can be destroyed in a day or night."
After Yang Shiqi followed Zhuang De, Xia Zi and others to break through the encirclement, Zhuang De and Xia Zi led their troops to first withdraw to the territory of Dongchang Prefecture. However, Cheng Ni's army pursued them closely, so they had no choice but to withdraw north to Linzhou Prefecture instead of entering Dongchang Prefecture. Cheongju.
But then the rebellious army pursued Linqing Prefecture. They were all cavalry, good at maneuvering but not good at defending the city, but the other side had more cavalry than they did. The two sides fought a battle, and Xia Zi died in the battle. They had no choice but to fight again Escaped in embarrassment.
Later, a decree came from the capital, asking them to go to the north to contain the rebels in Dezhou, so that they could leave Shandong Province. So they led the remaining defeated soldiers into Baobei and stationed in Wuqiao County to harass Dezhou.
In fact, although Yang Shiqi is the censor patrolling Shandong, fighting is obviously not within the scope of his business, so he can stop following the defeated army and continue to run around. Zhuang De has also repeatedly persuaded him to go to the Ping army led by His Majesty himself. They rebelled against the army, but Yang Shiqi just didn't want to.
Yang Shiqi himself couldn't explain why he was unwilling to leave this army. Maybe it was because he escaped from Jinan in embarrassment with this army, so he wanted to return to Jinan with this army; maybe it was because he was a member of the army. He was the patrol censor who patrolled Shandong, so it was best to stay with the army in Shandong before His Majesty removed him from this official position; perhaps, it was because of the words of his good friend He Yuan before he died.
But no matter why, he still followed this army and did not leave. And now he was very happy to hear the news that Cheng Ni would be eliminated soon.
Of course Zhuang De was also happy. He said: "I don't know whether the last battle took place in Dezhou or Jinan. Now the army is attacking Jinan, but a partial force is sent to attack Dezhou. I don't know whether we want to attack Dezhou or Jinan first." ."
As a civil servant, Yang Shiqi was of course even less likely to guess the court's intentions, so he said: "Whether we go to Dezhou first or Jinan first, we must attack Dezhou, and then we will fight back to Dezhou! But I still want to attack Dezhou first. , then our army can attack Jinan and personally avenge He Yuan and others!"
Of course Yang Shiqi knew that the rebels would not be his turn to deal with, but he still stubbornly believed that he could avenge Yuan by fighting back to Jinan himself.
Zhuang De was of course willing to do what Yang Shiqi thought. After agreeing with Yang Shiqi for a while, he picked up the seal sent by the court and said: "But why does your majesty's recent order require us to pay attention to the situation in the north? ?”
"I know that Cheng Ni sent troops to occupy Binzhou, but I haven't heard that they sent troops to continue attacking north?"
Yang Shiqi was also very puzzled. He was about to speak when suddenly a soldier guarding the gate came in and said: "Commander Zhuang, Yang Yushi, and Wuqiao County Magistrate Dong Liang have come to pay homage to you two adults."
Yang Shiqi then said: "Then let the county magistrate Dong come in." Dong Liang often came to visit them for some reasons, so they were not surprised. Moreover, Dong Liang, as the county magistrate, was a civil servant, so Yang Shiqi usually spoke.
After a while, a magistrate in his thirties, the most common magistrate in the Ming Dynasty, came in, saluted Yang Shiqi and Zhuang De and said, "Dong Liang, the magistrate of Wuqiao County, has met these two adults."
Zhuang De returned the gift, but Yang Shiqi stood up and said: "We have met many times, why do we need so many gifts every time we meet."
However, Dong Liang insisted on finishing the ceremony and said: "The ceremony cannot be abolished."
Then Dong Liang stood up and said: "My lords, I came to see you today because I have something to ask."
"Today, someone from a post station in the northwest of Wuqiao County near Dongguang County told me: 'A large army came from the north, with a total of forty or fifty thousand people. It was under the banner of His Majesty the King of Yan, saying that it was going south on His Majesty's order.
Counterinsurgency.'"
"After listening to what the people at the inn said, I felt something was wrong. Since the army went south to suppress the rebellion, why didn't we inform the prefectures and counties along the way? Or did other prefectures and counties get the news and only our Wuqiao County was left out?"
"It just so happens that you two adults are currently in Wuqiao County, so I want to ask if you two adults have received such news?"
Zhuang De immediately said: "We have not received such news. We do not know that His Majesty mobilized His Majesty the King of Yan's army to go south to quell the rebellion. And according to common sense, he mobilized the troops of Henan, Jianghuai, and even Hebei Dusi.
Even so, Your Majesty will never mobilize the troops of His Highness King Yan to quell the rebellion in Shandong. What is going on?"
"What else could be going on! His Highness King Yan has rebelled!" Yang Shiqi stood up from his seat and said with a very ugly face: "His Royal Highness King Yan has always been quite ambitious, and now Shandong's Cheng Ni has rebelled. If Yan
If Wang rebels again, Shandong and Baobei will be connected together, and it will become a climate."
"Although from our point of view, even if they occupy all of Shandong and Baobei, they will only be a corner of the world. It is impossible to fight against the whole world with just one corner. However, King Yan may not think so, so he could not restrain his ambition and decided to rebel.
!”
Zhuang De and Dong Liang were already stunned by what Yang Shiqi said. At this time, Yang Shiqi temporarily stopped talking, and Zhuang De couldn't help but ask: "Then what should we do now?"
Yang Shiqi said: "The most important thing for King Yan now is to rush to Dezhou to join Cheng Ni. If Shandong and Baobei are connected together, the situation will be very difficult to control."
Then Yang Shiqi pondered for a while and then said: "We must stop the King of Yan! Although even if Shandong and Baobei are connected, the King of Yan will definitely not be the opponent of the imperial court if he rebels. But in this case, the imperial court will not be able to pacify them.
If we spend more effort, the wealth saved by Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty will also be consumed, so we must stop King Yan! At least delay King Yan for a while."
What Yang Shiqi said made sense, but Zhuang De said in a dilemma: "Yang Yushi, you also know our current situation. We only have less than two thousand cavalry in hand, and there are no imperial troops in Wuqiao County.
; And King Yan went south with an army of 40,000 to 50,000 people, among which I estimate that there are at least 6,000 to 7,000 cavalrymen, and they are all very fierce cavalrymen who have been in border towns for a long time. If we take these people to stop it, then we will probably be like moths.
It’s like putting out a fire. And it can’t be delayed much, let alone stopped.”
"If we are harassed by our entourage, King Yan can send a cavalry to fight with us, and the army will continue to move south, but it will have no effect."
Yang Shiqi knew that Zhuang De's words were right, and the little cavalry they had in their hands would not be of much use. But he was unwilling to let His Highness the King of Yan go over like this.
Yang Shiqi walked around the room irritably. After a long time, when Zhuang De wanted to persuade Yang Shiqi to give up, Yang Shiqi suddenly shouted: "Yes!"
Zhuang De heard Yang Shiqi's cry and immediately asked: "Is there any way?"
At this time, Yang Shiqi swept away his ugly expression and said to Zhuang De with a smile: "I have thought of a way to delay King Yan."
Then Yang Shiqi did not explain to Zhuang De, but said to Dong Liang: "Dong Zhixian, please collect all the live sheep, live pigs, and even better live cattle in Wuqiao County, and gather them in Wuqiao
At the north gate of the county, I can find some people who are good at driving sheep and pigs to drive these sheep, pigs and cattle. I will be of great use."
Although Dong Liang didn't know what Yang Shiqi's purpose was, he quickly agreed, and then went out to find the government officials to collect the live sheep and pigs.
Zhuang De was also very curious and asked Yang Shiqi: "Yang Yushi, how do you want to stop King Yan's army?"
Yang Shiqi smiled confidently: "You will know later."
The sun is the strongest at noon. Although it is already October, it is still very uncomfortable to march against the sun at noon. After capturing Cangzhou City, there is no longer a big city that can block Dezhou, and Zhu Di did not order the army to march urgently, so
At noon, he found a forest for the soldiers to rest, and sent someone to a nearby post station to inquire about where there was a water source nearby.
After noon passed, Zhu Di asked the generals to wake up the soldiers and continue the march.
Zhu Di rode on his horse and looked at the army in front of him, but his mind was not on the army at this time. Instead, he said to Dao Yan: "Since the army went south, not a single state or county knew that this king had rebelled.
, Why doesn’t Yunxi send people to hurry up and inform these states and counties that the king has raised troops?”
Dao Yan said: "Because your Majesty is not sure that His Highness has raised troops. Although Prince Gaoyang will definitely report to Your Majesty, Your Majesty will also worry about whether the letter has been slipped by someone and it was not His Highness's original intention."
"So it is clear why Your Majesty did not tell the state and county officials below but led the troops to conquer the country in person. After all, Your Highness is a member of the Ming Dynasty's clan. Only Your Majesty can decide how to deal with His Highness. Therefore, Your Majesty's personal expedition is just to be able to deal with His Highness immediately."
Zhu Di thought about it for himself and felt that Yun Xi's approach was indeed the safest. Under the situation where he was not sure whether Zhu Di was really rebelling, it was indeed the best not to rashly announce that he was raising troops, but to lead the troops north himself.
There's a solution.
At this time, Dao Yan said: "Your Highness, the two poor civil servants who suddenly turned to Your Highness have been found out. They are all from Huzhou."
Zhu Di murmured to himself: "Huzhou, the five prefectures of Jiangsu and Zhejiang? What do they want to do?"
Dao Yan said: "According to the poor monk, they want to make the rebellion longer. They even want His Highness to succeed."
