Nanming Engineer

Chapter 332 The Enemy Comes from the West

"The bandit army has already approached the city of Xi'an. The bandit king is very powerful, and he has more than [-] refugees. There are not many troops in the city. If there is a mistake, we will not be able to afford it." Huang Erxing, the governor of Shaanxi who accompanied the army, was the most anxious. At this time, regardless of his status as a civil servant, he was out of place among a group of warriors, and said eagerly: "There is still Mr. Ha in the city. He holds the title of Minister of the Ministry of Officials. If he loses a hair in the chaos, The Regent will definitely not let us off lightly, it is easy to cut off officials and resign, even beheading and ransacking the house is possible!"

Huang Erxing's family's small property is all in the city, which is the yellow and white things that he has painstakingly searched for for decades.If the city is destroyed, he will be left alone, and Wu Sangui and others are guest soldiers, so they may not be so concerned about Xi'an, so Huang Erxing can't sit still when he hears that the rebels are besieging Xi'an.

"My lord, send troops immediately, without delay!" He almost knelt down.

Wu Sangui looked at him indifferently, and seeing Huang Erxing's face full of mourning, he wondered how much this look belonged to the court and how much it belonged to his own family.

But he said with relief: "Lord Huang, don't worry, military affairs should be discussed in a long-term manner, otherwise the situation will be messed up, and we will be included instead of breaking the siege. Don't worry, my lord, with me in everything, Xi'an will not lose."

Li Benshen also echoed: "Yes, Mr. Huang, don't be in a hurry, you must know that caring will cause chaos, and the thief may be waiting for us to panic."

Huang Erxing had no choice, even though he was very anxious, he had no military power and could not mobilize these big men, so he had to stand aside with a sigh.

Wu Sangui appeased Huang Erxing, and said solemnly to the generals in the tent, "Do you have a good plan for the current plan?"

Wang Pingfan stood up and said loudly: "Didn't the lord have already made a strategy, we stay here and wait and see, the king's thief came to destroy the king's thief, the Ming army came to attack the Ming army, since the king's thief came first, then we will return to the division first Xi'an, let's get rid of that king thief first."

Some of the generals nodded in agreement. This was a long-established plan, and Wang Pingfan was right.

Huang Erxing was overjoyed and bowed to Wang Pingfan again and again.

With an indifferent face, Wu Sangui looked down at the table in front of him expressionlessly, as if there were flowers on it, noncommittal.

But Xia Guoxiang, Li Benshen and other witty people, after seeing Wu Sangui's reaction, were thoughtful and silent.

Wang Pingfan said a few words, and suddenly found that Wu Sangui lowered his eyelids and said nothing, as if he didn't hear him. Move with the trend, you will end up thinking about things that are not right, let the prince decide at his discretion!"

The topic changed so quickly, Huang Erxing's joyful face froze when he heard it, Wu Sangui gave Wang Pingfan a slight approval glance, this Wang Dadao finally got the hang of it.

It is necessary to save Xi'an, but there is no rush. At this moment, according to the news from Meng Qiaofang, there are actually 25 bandits in northern Shaanxi. No one expected this. What is the concept of 25 people?At that time, Sun Chuanting led nearly 4 soldiers from Qin, Sichuan, and Henan to fight against Li Zicheng in Tongguan.By the way, Shizhu Qin Yiming was the chief soldier under Sun Chuanting's account at that time.

Now Wang Yongqiang has 25 soldiers, even if two-thirds of them are refugees, this number is very scary. Wu Sangui has only more than 2 people. Beating the old master to death with punches, the soldiers can't stand the crowd, Sun Chuanting's end is in front of him, Wu Sangui doesn't want to repeat the same mistakes.

So from the moment he received the number of rebels besieging the city, Wu Sangui was shaken from his original intention, and decided to wait for a while, observe and inquire, first to find out whether there are so many rebels, and second, there is a strong city in Xi'an. It is so easy to be captured, it would be great if we could use the city to consume some of the rebels' vigor and kill some people.

Xia Guoxiang and Li Benshen were quick-witted, and immediately understood Wu Sangui's intentions, while Wang Pingfan was a bit slow, but he was not stupid. Mention the matter of returning to the teacher immediately.

The tent fell silent, Wu Sangui glanced at everyone with satisfaction, except for Huang Erxing's wonderful expression, everyone else looked at him silently.

He coughed and was about to speak, but he heard someone shouting outside the tent: "The messenger from Xi'an City has arrived!"

The people in the tent didn't look surprised when they heard the sound, Wang Pingfan still smiled and said: "How many times is this the first time? Isn't Lord Meng afraid to send all the soldiers out to order no one to defend the city?"

In the past two days, there have been not only [-] but also [-] people who have broken out from the city of Xi'an to urge troops. A wave will come almost every hour, and they are coming in an endless stream. It can be seen from the expression on the messenger's face. The anxious moods of Meng Qiaofang and Hahamu in the city.

As for these messengers, Wu Sangui avoided them as much as he could, asked Xia Guo and others to greet them, gathered troops to prepare under perfunctory excuses, and delayed as long as he could.

Now hearing that there were people outside to urge the soldiers again, Wu Sangui looked at Huang Erxing who was on the side, and felt that it would be difficult to refuse people thousands of miles away in front of him, so he had to wave his hand to let the soldiers let them in.

After a while, a man in sackcloth rolled in. His body was covered in sweat and his face was covered with dust. Judging by his clothes, he should have slipped out as a civilian dressed up.

As soon as this person entered the tent, he saw clearly the characters in the tent, he rushed to Wu Sangui and bowed his head, speaking loudly about the crisis in Xi'an, he also took out a wax-sealed letter from his bosom and handed it to Wu Sangui.

The letter was nothing more than saying that the situation was worrisome, and he hoped that Wu Sangui would march in to rescue the siege immediately. Wu Sangui could recite it, so he crushed wax pills and looked at it hastily, and wanted to send a messenger out.

Unexpectedly, the messenger took off the cloth cap on his head and showed his face. Wu Sangui was shocked, the messenger turned out to be a banner man.

The messenger reached into his bosom, took out a wooden token, handed it to Wu Sangui respectfully, and said: "This is from Master Ha Mu to the villain. Master Ha said that it must be handed over to the lord, please lord." When you see this token, send troops immediately."

Wu Sangui was not calm anymore, and took the token with a serious face.

The token is small, two palm-sized circles, surrounded by embossed cloud patterns, and the middle is engraved with Manchu characters. The surface is covered with vermilion lacquer, and the ink is deep. It looks fine, and it should be something that has been used for a long time.

Xia Guoxiang, Li Benshen and others didn't recognize this thing, but Wu Sangui did. This wooden sign has a lot of background. He is the trump card used by the regent Dorgon to dispatch troops. Seeing the sign is like seeing Dorgon himself. It is a token awarded to the general in charge of the army.

At this moment, Hahamu was using it to mobilize himself. If he didn't move, he would be unjustified. Even if he won this battle, Wu Sangui could not bear the crime of disobeying the king's order.

"Please reply to Mr. Ha, I will lead my troops back immediately without delay!" Wu Sangui stood up and put the token into his pocket.

The messenger promised to bow and retreat, and went back to Xi'an.

Huang Erxing was overjoyed again, this time he was relieved, although he had never seen the token, he had seen Wu Sangui's statement, that solemn look and respectful tone could not be faked, King Pingxi really wanted to send troops up.

He pleaded guilty, and rushed to pay the bills. The army was dispatched, and he, the grain and grass transporter, had to make preparations first.

As soon as Huang Erxing left, all the generals in the tent looked at Wu Sangui, wondering why King Pingxi's attitude suddenly changed. Li Benshen cupped his hands and said, "My lord, do we really want to go back immediately? Wait?"

Wu Sangui frowned and nodded: "I can't wait any longer. Hahamu seems to be in a panic. He even used up the token given to him by the Regent. If he doesn't move, we won't be able to deal with business."

Li Benshen continued: "The rebels from northern Shaanxi came so suddenly, and the army is so large, it is too strange. Logically speaking, the local rebellion party, unable to protect itself, how could they gather so many people to attack the town, I am afraid it is a bit strange. "

Wu Sangui's eyes shone brightly, his eyeballs turned again and again, he pondered for a while, put his hands on the table and said in a deep voice: "If there is any weirdness, you have to go, Wang Yongqiang is just a reckless person, the remnants of Li Zicheng back then, when he occupied some counties, he was supercilious, forgive me He can't play too many tricks, as long as we are careful and don't fall into his crowd, it will not be difficult to kill him. I am a strong soldier in Liaodong, am I really afraid of him as a turkey?"

Li Benshen opened his mouth. He wanted to say that the weird thing was not Wang Yongqiang, but something else, but Wu Sangui had already stood up and went to pay the bill, and the generals followed him. He wanted to speak, but he had no chance, so he had to give up.

The Liaodong Army moved vigorously, and an hour later, the men mounted their horses and put on their carts. The huge camp was empty, and the whole army set foot on the direction of marching into Xi'an.

The army went east, and the only ones left to guard the front line of the Qinling Pass were some troops deployed by Meng Qiaofang, totaling nearly ten thousand people, scattered at various passes.

Among them, Meng Qiaofang's commander-in-chief, Ma Ning, was the one who guarded Chencang Road, which is the most westward of all the entrances in Guanzhong, Qinling Mountains.

Ma Ning was also a famous general, good at wielding a long spear, and quite brave. He failed in the Ming court and became a minor garrison officer. Feeling elated and proud, he vowed to do something great.

Unexpectedly, not long after the good times, things changed in Shaanxi. First Hanzhong was lost, Paize Chen De and Ren Zhen died in a battle with the Ming army, and then the Yan'an camp in northern Shaanxi rebelled. The situation was critical. The Ming army on the other side of the Qinling Mountains, It is heard that they are also gathering, and they seem to be moving.

Ma Ning has 3000 soldiers under his command, guarding the Chencang Road, which is the most spacious and easy to walk among the Qinling Mountains. He has a heavy responsibility, which makes him tremble with fear and fear of losing. Wan Dajun was like a backer, which reassured him a lot, but Wu Sangui left again after a few days.

Wu Sangui left in the afternoon, and Ma Ning didn't get the news until that evening.

At that time, Ma Ning was sitting on the tower of Fengxiang Mansion in Zhencheng, blowing the wind. When he heard the news, he immediately became restless.

His lieutenant general Liu Youyuan comforted him and said: "Don't worry about the army. King Pingxi is going to relieve the siege of Xi'an. With their army here, Wang Yongqiang and his generation will not make any big troubles."

Ma Ning glanced at him and said, "Am I worried about Xi'an? Old Liu, you and I have been in the same robe for many years, and you still don't know what I'm worried about?"

Liu Youyuan is a capable little man who looks a bit cunning. He has two mustaches, one on the left and one on the right, but no beard on his chin. It is very funny. He smiled and said: "What are the military men worried about?"

Ma Ning sighed and said: "Xi'an is fortified and there is a large army of the imperial court, so naturally everything will be fine. What I am worried about is Hanzhong."

"Oh?" Liu Youyuan said in surprise: "Hanzhong is just the Ming army. What should we be afraid of those incompetent people?"

Ma Ning shook his head: "Incompetent? Old Liu, do you still think that Uncle Pingliang Wang Huan in Hanzhong is still the famous general you and I met when we ate Ming court dinner? No, this Uncle Pingliang is so powerful that even Hauge He is not his opponent, you think he is not scary?"

Liu Youyuan put his hands on his knees, and said leisurely: "The army doesn't need to boost other people's ambitions."

Ma Ning shook his head again and again: "It's not that I boosted his ambition, but it's the truth. Old Liu, just look at it. Our enemies must not come from northern Shaanxi, but must come from the west!"

(End of this chapter)