Nanming Engineer

Chapter 328
It was Meng Qiaofang's daily routine to inspect the city's defenses. Since the Northern Shaanxi Rebellion, if he didn't go up for a day to take a look, he was unwilling to eat. He always felt that something was missing.

However, after the reinforcements from the Manchu and Han came from Henan, Meng Qiaofang felt more at ease. Although patrolling the city was still a routine, she no longer felt that nervous, and her temper improved a lot. Occasionally even praise a few well-performing subordinates.

The governor's temper is a weather vane. Anyone who is familiar with him knows that this is a sign that the situation is improving. The Qing Dynasty's control in the northwest is getting worse day by day. Anyone with a discerning eye can see it. If the Qing government does not make great efforts to solve the problem, sooner or later the entire Hexi region will be destroyed. Everything will change. Not to mention returning to the hands of the Ming court, at least countless local powerful people will take advantage of the opportunity. The huge area will be split into many small pieces. It will be difficult to clean up in the future.

Now that the strong reinforcements from the Qing Dynasty have arrived, everyone knows that even Li Zicheng's powerful army could not withstand the advance of the Eight Banners Army. The people in the city relaxed their hearts along with Meng Qiaofang. It became lively, shops opened their doors, and small merchants flooded the streets. Even the grain trucks that kept coming in from the outside began to become sparse. They were no longer as crazy as they were a few days ago. They worked day and night to transport food to the city.

But on September 21, things changed.

A sweaty horse galloped in from outside the city. The horse was panting like a cow, obviously running for a long time.

The sergeant on the horse was covered in dust, his face was covered by flying ash, and his leather armor was covered with loess so that he could hardly see his true color. The three small yellow flags stuck on his back indicated that he was an urgent courier from eight hundred miles away.

The horse enters through the north gate and goes straight to the governor's office along the long street. The courier shouted hoarsely, "Get out of the way!" If you were injured, the government will not only not compensate you, but will punish you for your crime.

People on the street watched the courier rush into the governor's office, and then started talking about it, speculating that something important had happened.

There was no need to guess, Meng Qiaofang knew it right away.

"Crack!" The fine blue and white fine porcelain teacup fell to the ground and shattered into pieces. The emerald green pre-rain premium tea had not been brewed yet, and it splashed all over the ground with the spray.

"What did you say?" Meng Qiaofang roared tearfully, "Say it again!"

The messenger knelt on the ground, glanced at the tea that was dripping all over the floor with chapped lips, then licked his lips, and then reported loudly: "Master Chen, the defense officer of Yaozhou, urgently reported that the rebel general Wang Yongqiang of Yan'an Prefecture gathered 15 troops. , Gathering together [-] rebels from the nearby prefectures, they are coming in the wild, the soldiers have already reached the Tongguan city in Yaozhou, and judging from the posture, it seems that they are going straight to the town of Xi'an, please prepare early, my lord!"

Standing upright, Meng Qiaofang was on the verge of falling, and stretched out her hands to support a square table beside her, so as not to fall down.

"15?" He muttered to himself, his face was pale, and he was about to faint: "15! 15! Where did so many rebels come from? Impossible, impossible!"

The cronies around him rushed forward, waved the messenger to go down, supported Meng Qiaofang, and slowly put him on the chair. Knowing that the governor was in a hurry, he hurried outside to fetch a bowl of cold water. Prepare to cool him down.

As soon as the cold water poured into the mouth of Meng Qiaofang, who had eyes wide open, before taking the second mouthful, he suddenly woke up, his eyes widened, and he jumped up like a spring, knocking the water bowl away with his face, and the porcelain pieces There was a bloody gash in his mouth, which frightened his followers into silence.

Meng Qiaofang didn't realize it, and ran out with a few steps. After running a few steps, she turned her head and shouted at her cronies with her bloody mouth: "Why are you standing still? Get the horse ready for the master. Go to Master Haha Mu to go to the gate!"

A moment later, at the gate of a large courtyard in Xi'an City, Meng Qiaofang staggered and jumped off the horse, and ran into the gate with a vigorous posture under the surprised eyes of the guards.

This house was originally the private residence of the Shaanxi Chief Envoy of the Ming Dynasty. The owner has long since left, and now it has become Hahamu's residence.

Haha Muzheng is sitting comfortably by a pond in the yard, surrounded by rockery, leaning against the bamboo shadow, sitting on a bamboo cool chair and fishing with a fishing rod.

The officials of the Ming Dynasty will enjoy it, and actually in this northwest land, they have built a courtyard in the south of the Yangtze River, a huge pond, full of fat fish, with beautiful girls by their side, flowers and wine in hand, the days are long, the days are long immortal.

Hahamu was thinking like this, immersed in the beautiful life, and then woke up by howls like ghosts crying.

"My lord, my lord, the big thing is not good, the big thing is not good!"

Hahamu suddenly had blue veins on his forehead, stood up suddenly, and shouted at the Eight Banners Ba Yala soldiers on duty: "Who? Who trespassed on the general's gate?"

The guards quickly agreed to go out to check, and they came back with Meng Qiaofang before they had gone far.

Seeing this elderly Han official running over in a hurry, Hahamu's anger disappeared in an instant. He is not a fool, and it must not be a trivial matter that can make Meng Qiaofang lose his composure like this.

"Show Master Meng a seat and make a cup of tea!" Hahamu said in a deep voice.

Unexpectedly, Meng Qiaofang was impatient, she waved her hand, jumped in front of him and shouted, "What time is it, what tea do you want to drink? My lord, the northern Shaanxi king thief has arrived in Yaozhou!"

Hearing this nonsense, Haha was stunned.

Meng Qiaofang continued to shout: "Wang Thief went south from Yan'an Mansion, led an army of 25, and went straight to Xi'an along the official road. Now that he has passed Yaozhou, he can go to the city of Xi'an!"

He changed the message and added Wang Yongqiang 10 people.

Saying this, of course, is to attract Hahamu's attention, and at the same time, it also paves the way for future developments. After all, exaggerating the number of enemies is beneficial and harmless.If you win, of course your contribution will be doubled, but if you lose, it will be due to the disparity between the enemy and ourselves, lack of strength, and no fault of the war.

Only then did Hahamu understand, that sturdy body immediately jumped up from the bamboo chair.

During this time, Hahamu looked at the map, Yaozhou is just north of Xi'an, only a hundred miles away from Xi'an city.

"25 people?" Hahamu couldn't believe it: "You didn't make a mistake?"

"There is no falsehood!" Meng Qiaofang swore, "The Yaozhou defense officer took the risk, and the letter reported to me by the person sent by Yaozhou will definitely not be wrong."

Hahamu touched his head and then became angry: "Where is Wu Sangui? Didn't he lead his troops to patrol around Huazhou, looking for opportunities to set up ambushes to destroy the rebels? Now that the king's thieves have all arrived in Yaozhou, where has he gone?"

Meng Qiaofang took a breath and said with a pale face: "I just found out that the army led by King Pingxi left Huazhou and went to Sanyuan County a few days ago."

"Sanyuan?" Hahamu opened his eyes wide in surprise, startled and angry: "Isn't that in the west?"

"Exactly!" Meng Qiaofang said: "It's two hundred miles away from here, my lord, you have to call King Pingxi back quickly. The army in the city plus my lord's Eight Banners soldiers is only more than 2 people. .”

Hahamu's face turned blue and purple, obviously impatient, he shook his hands violently, and strode towards the house, cursing angrily as he walked: "Wu Sangui, this idiot, is actually going back on what he says, what's going on in his mind? I don't want to The Regent cannot impeach him!"

Rolling his eyes, he loudly ordered to the soldiers who followed him: "Send an order to send an urgent general to King Pingxi, and let him rush to help the town without any mistakes!"

(End of this chapter)