"General Zhang Fu?" After hearing his words, the person who just asked the question was a little surprised and some people were talking in low voices. After a while, the voice returned to normal and said: "Can I hold a token?
"
"Hold the token." Zhang Fu said.
"Please take the token with you and approach the camp with no weapons." The voice rang again.
Zhang Fu handed the weapon to the guard, then slowly walked his horse to the vicinity of the enclosure, next to a very bright torch, and handed over the token.
Blocking this side, Mu Sheng took the token from the messenger and looked at it carefully, and said to the person beside him: "This token is real, not a forgery."
The man next to him immediately said: "I have seen Zhang Fu with this appearance before; he also has the aura of a military commander. You can't fake it. Let him lead the troops in."
"But, should we let Zhang Fu come in and ask questions? After all, there may be people in Annan who look like him." Mu Sheng was still a little doubtful.
"Hey, even if Annan can find someone who looks exactly like the Ming Dynasty military general, I can still see that most people can't pretend to be a military general, so this Zhang Fu must be real, so there is no need to be so cautious." The man said, and
Tell the people in front of you to deliver the order.
The ordering soldier secretly looked at Mu Sheng in embarrassment. Although the person who was giving him orders had a higher status, Mu Sheng was the commander in chief.
Mu Sheng gave a wry smile and nodded to him. The ordering soldiers hurriedly went to deliver the order.
The man beside Mu Sheng turned around and said to him: "Mu Sheng, let's not stay here. Although Zhang Fu is not familiar with him, he must be appointed as a general directly from the general secretary.
You cannot offend the Emperor's confidant, so the two of us should go and greet him."
"We should indeed greet him." Mu Sheng also said, and then went out to greet him with him.
Zhang Fu waited near the fence for a while and was told that he could lead his troops in. So he sent guards to pass the order, and he dismounted and walked in through the gate of the camp.
He had only walked a few steps when he saw five or six people walking out of a tent and walking towards him. It was night and Zhang Fu couldn't see their faces clearly, so he recognized the person walking in the middle based on his clothes.
Mu Sheng, when he was about ten feet away from him, bowed slightly and said, "The last general Zhang Fu has met the Marquis of Xiping."
"No need to be polite." Mu Sheng walked to him and stood in front of him, leaning forward slightly and saying. He was a marquis, and Zhang Fu was just an ordinary military commander, so Mu Sheng did not need to return the courtesy to him.
Zhang Fu saluted again, straightened up, and wanted to talk to him; but at this moment, he glanced out of the corner of his eyes and saw a person standing next to Mu Sheng. He was shocked and bowed again and said: "I see you, Zhang Fu."
Your Highness, King Min, is a thousand years old! Your Highness, please forgive me for being in armor and unable to pay homage."
The person who dared to refute Mu Sheng's words just now and make him change his mind was Zhu Zhen, the king of Min, who was granted a title in northern Myanmar and western Yunnan. When Meng Lian was dealing with the delivery of local official swords, he learned that Yunxi was going to send troops
After hearing the news from Annan, he immediately led his army and the soldiers recruited by Meng Lian Chieftain, and rushed to Lin'an Mansion day and night. He finally arrived before the troops were sent out, and found Mu Sheng and said that he wanted to go to war with him.
The moment Mu Sheng saw Zhu Chu, his head felt as big as a bucket. If Zhu Chu also went with him, even though he was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the right army, how could he not care about Zhu Chu's words at all? What's more, his relationship with Zhu Chu
Not that great either.
Mu Sheng then tried his best to persuade him not to go and to return to his fiefdom. "Your Highness, Ava and other places have just been settled for less than a year and are not yet stable. Your Highness should go back."
"There are Zhuo Jing and He Fu in Awa. Their civil and military skills are still better than those of Gu. There will be no problem in leaving the place to them for a year and a half. On the contrary, the expedition to Annan needs Gu to be responsible for it: Gu has to take care of it. After a few battles, as long as Gu treated them as equals, they would be the same as the soldiers Gu brought over from Yunnan. So Gu It is very necessary to conquer Annan." Zhu Zhen said eloquently.
Mu Sheng couldn't reason with him, and seeing the last date of departure coming, he had to send troops to Annan with him. Fortunately, Zhu Zhen did not interfere with his command along the way, but only struggled with some details, allowing him to secretly relax. Take a breath.
At this time, Zhu Zhen saw Zhang Fu saluting and said with a smile: "No courtesy. I know that everything in the army follows the rules of the army, so you don't have to apologize."
Zhang Fu bowed again and then straightened up.
When Zhang Fu was saluting, Mu Sheng had been secretly sizing him up. Now he is very famous among the entire Annan Expeditionary Army, but this reputation is not a good one. At first, he announced his name, which surprised the general who asked him. , also because of his current reputation.
Zhang Fu used to be Yunxi's assistant. Although he had studied in the martial arts hall before, he is only twenty-eight years old this year. He has never led an army in a battle before, and his qualifications and military exploits are not as high as those of a general. ; No, let alone a general, not even a commander. To be a commander is to be a top commander: most of the generals who come out of the martial arts hall first serve as deputy Qianhu, and then are promoted to Qianhu, and then He was promoted to the rank of commander or commander, and then to the rank of commander. As for the higher official rank, he had to wait for a while.
But he rose to the top in one fell swoop without even having a formal military rank. He served as a general and commanded two or three guards.
It is strange that he can have a good reputation like this. Everyone said that he was lucky enough to get the position of general because he favored his majesty and the emperor trusted him very much.
Of course, a considerable number of people feel that although the current emperor may favor someone because of his own hobbies, his majesty has always made a distinction between public and private affairs. He just stayed in the capital to let Zhang Fu enjoy glory and wealth. How could he be sent to fight?
But a considerable number of people have deduced a sensational conclusion: the emperor "pushed" Zhang Fu, and liked him too much, so he sent him to the front line to gain credit. However, this conclusion was deduced People don't dare to communicate with others, only people with the best connections can talk.
In the end, some people felt that the truth of the matter was that the emperor had a keen eye for talents and thought that Zhang Fu was very capable, so he promoted him to the rank of general.
Mu Sheng has always been relatively rational, and he has a high status and knows a lot of things. He understands that Yunxi is not, at least not yet, an emperor who will let him have meritorious deeds because of his belief in someone, and he has no hobby of liking men, so he must He felt that Zhang Fu had the ability to fight with soldiers, so he appointed him as a staff general.
But the problem is that Yunxi’s vision is not necessarily reliable! Yunxi’s own strategic vision has been recognized by many famous generals such as Zhang Wen, but he has not shown much ability at the tactical level. To borrow a private sentence from Sun Ke He said: 'It's okay for your Majesty to serve as a staff officer to a commander of 500,000 people, and his suggestions will probably be useful, but if he becomes the commander himself, well, I won't say that.'
Therefore, Mu Sheng was not very convinced by Yun He's vision. Yun He might have thought that Zhang Fu could be compared to Han Xin or Lu Xun, but Mu Sheng was worried that he was actually Ma Su.
But when he looked at it at this time, Zhang Fu's first impression on him was not bad. At least from his eyes, he didn't look like a showman.
When he straightened up, Mu Sheng said: "It's winter now. Although the southern part of Annan is like spring all year round, there is also a bit of coolness at night. Let's go into the big tent to talk."
"His Royal Highness King Min, Lord Mu, and Xiaguan will settle down the two guards they brought before coming to talk to His Highness and Lord Marquis." Zhang Fu said: "I wonder where the camps for our left guard of Yulin and the right guard of Fujun are?
where?"
Zhu Ming and Mu Sheng both nodded secretly. He was a qualified general who thought of arranging his army instead of talking to Shangguan first.
"I have arranged the left guard of Yu Lin and the right guard of the Fu army in the middle of the camp to the east." Mu Sheng pointed to a place: "Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, the army led by Lan Zhen will be stationed on the east side of the camp.
I will ask someone to take you there."
"Thank you, Lord Marquis," Zhang Fu said.
As the two of them were talking, Sang Jing led the Yulin left guard, and Song Xuan led the soldiers of the Fujun right guard into the camp, waiting for the next order. Zhang Fu immediately walked over with the guide assigned to him by Mu Sheng.
Start arranging for the soldiers to camp.
Mu Sheng nodded secretly when he saw him setting up camp. Zhang Fu's arrangements were very organized, and he indeed seemed to be a relatively capable general.
'After a while, I will ask Sang Jing and Song Xuan about Zhang Fu's behavior in the past few days, and we will know whether he has embroidered pillows or not.' He thought.
"Why, are you observing Zhang Fu's camp?" He was thinking when a voice like this suddenly sounded in his ears.
Mu Sheng was startled, turned his head and saw it was Zhu Zhen, and then said: "Aren't you also coming to see him camp?"
"It's true that I came to see him set up camp." Zhu Zhen nodded and said, "He is indeed very organized in setting up camp."
"And I have asked Sang Jing and Song Xuan just now. They both said that Zhang Fu has performed well these days: he has made contributions in breaking through Polei Pass and Jiling Pass, and has been commended by Lan Zhen; he can also compete with Lan Zhen on weekdays.
Soldiers share joys and sorrows, and if the soldiers don't eat, he won't eat either. He made several suggestions to Lan Zhen, although not all of them were adopted, they were all quite insightful."
"If he could perform like this throughout the entire campaign to conquer Annan, he would be worthy of being a general." Zhu Ming said.
"I'm afraid that he is a short-lived flash in the pan and will not last long." Mu Sheng paused, and then said: "Besides, when His Majesty appointed him as a staff general, he must have felt that he had the ability to be a deputy general or even a commander-in-chief. He only condescended to him because his qualifications were too low.
Being a general, so..."
He was interrupted by Zhu Zhen before he finished speaking. "Oh, Your Majesty has such great expectations for him? Then I want to see if His Majesty's vision is accurate this time." He stared not far away.
Zhang Fu, who was arranging for the soldiers to eat, said.
