Nanming Engineer

Chapter 380
In Xiezhou City, Han Zhaoxuan, who was still angry, returned to the state government office, kicked off his horse, went straight into the inner hall, and sat down on the grand teacher's chair behind the table, with a straight face and no words, as if he was fighting for wealth and losing The dead young master, his complexion was livid.

Several cronies and leaders followed behind him, equally aggrieved. Seeing him sitting down, one brought him tea, the other handed him water, and the rest scattered around Han Zhaoxuan, chattering away.

These people were all subordinate officials who had been raised by Han Zhaoxuan when he was a soldier. They were both civilized and military. They had just cut off their braids and grown their hair. They were all wearing hats to cover up their ugly heads.

"The Shanxi Wang Huan is too rude. Your Excellency received him kindly, but he took one leader at a time. Do you really regard your Excellency as a rebellious thief?"

"That's unreasonable! Your Excellency, this is called being a rebel. Are there any rebel thieves?"

"Yes, I think that when my lord was preparing for the army, Wang Huan didn't know where he was, but he dared to be so domineering at this time. It should be noted that his Shaanxi soldiers came to Shanxi, and it would be fine with or without him. I heard that a few days ago The Tatar emperor has gone back, and Shanxi is about to be liberated, but we can’t let outsiders come and take advantage.”

"That's right, my lord. After Shanxi is recovered, the court will appoint officials for a province. You and Yu Shuai are the strongest. Besides the Jiang family, we are the only ones. No matter what, we have to find someone like the chief envoy of the province. , we must prevent Shaanxi soldiers from picking peaches and taking credit for their achievements."

A few subordinate officials spoke to each other, making Han Zhaoxuan so upset that he slapped the table and said angrily, "Enough!"

A few people trembled and shut up quickly.

Han Zhaoxuan patted the table again with a beard and staring eyes, pointed at the noses of several people and cursed: "I know that you can use your words here and have the ability to bring down Yicheng and Pingyang. How many days have passed? The small Yicheng County has not been taken yet, so why go to recover the whole province? Huh? Are you talking about it?"

He hated iron and continued to curse: "The Shaanxi soldiers have an imperial decree to support the Jiang family. What can we do? Block the way and keep people from going? Even if others have made meritorious deeds? It's not your fault. This group of people failed to live up to expectations, Shuai Yu attacked Pingyang, we attacked Yicheng, Pingyang is a prefectural city with high walls and thick walls, obviously we want to take advantage, but even the small town can't be broken, how can we speak hard?"

Everyone fell silent. These words were true, and there was no way to answer them.

Most of the Pingyang Mansion was in the hands of Han and Yu. The main reason was that the anti-Qing movement was raging everywhere. In every prefecture and county, old officials from the Ming Dynasty stood up to take charge, gathered people to kill officials, and set up flags anyway, like a spring breeze. It didn't take much effort for the two of them to make troubles like the earth. These prefectures and counties took the initiative to come over and sent people to submit to the table. Han Zhaoxuan and Yu Yin just sent some troops to garrison the local area. Only Pingyang Fucheng and Yicheng County used soldiers and horses to fight.

Of these two places, one is Fuzhi. The prefect of Pingyang of the Qing court is in the city, and the Han army is stationed there for defense. The generals of the state battalion also rushed into the city, making Pingyang Fucheng instantly become the city with the largest number of Qing troops in southern Shanxi; the other Yicheng was built on the mountainside with the county seat, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack. The county magistrate was a Jin Shang's son, the whole family is in Taiyuan, fearing that resigning rashly will affect the family members in Taiyuan city, so they also stiffen their necks and stick to it.

However, both Han Zhaoxuan and Yu Yin were unable to defeat these two places that needed to be attacked by force. After a while, the Mongolian cavalry of Prince Jingjin of the Qing Army rushed to help from the direction of Zhending, and the two were even more stressed. , Yu Yin was still carrying it outside Pingyang City, Han Zhaoxuan simply retreated and returned, leaving some bandit-born people outside the city to harass.

The Mongolian cavalry came and went like the wind, crossing Pingyang, aiming at the soldiers and horses of the rebels who were alone, so that Han Zhaoxuan dared not leave the city casually. Once he left the city, there would be thousands of troops, otherwise he would be in danger of being attacked and eaten by the Mongols. It's really useless.

At this moment, seeing several of his subordinates who were disheveled and silent, Han Zhaoxuan became even more angry, and was about to explode with his eyes puffed up, but he saw a guy with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks roll his eyeballs, and smiled strangely with his small eyes open.

The man declared to Han Zhao: "My lord, don't get angry. This subordinate has a plan. It can not only make the Shaanxi army suffer, but also take Yicheng."

"Oh?!" Han Zhaoxuan knew that this person had always had a lot of tricks, so he hurriedly stretched out his hand to beckon him, saying: "If there is a clever plan, why don't you tell it quickly!"

The man's cheeks puffed up, and he said in a thief-like way: "Don't the Shaanxi army and horses boast that they are extraordinary? Tomorrow, my lord will invite the old laborers from the village, drink to the point of intoxication, and point out Pingyang Fucheng and Yicheng by the way, and go north from Jiezhou. These two places must be passed through. Let him choose one to attack, otherwise he will not be able to pass. In this way, if he is defeated, he will naturally be handed over to us Shanxi people. If he cannot be defeated, it has nothing to do with us. Wouldn’t it be great huh?"

Han Zhaoxuan clapped his hands and applauded after thinking about it for a while, "Wonderful, driving tigers and devouring wolves is indeed a good strategy! But what if the Shaanxi soldiers don't go?"

The subordinate sneered and said: "If we don't go, the Shaanxi soldiers will be disgraced, and we can see their strength clearly. This kind of weak brigade can't even beat Yicheng, why don't you just go back in despair?"

Everyone laughed, thinking it was indeed good, after a while, it came back to mind, no, couldn't we beat Yicheng by ourselves?Are we underdogs too?
Han Zhaoxuan kicked the sharp-tongued man, and said with a smile: "Of course we can take down Yicheng, but it's just playing hard to get, understand?"

Everyone was enlightened and flattered one after another: "Yes, yes, yes, play hard to get, play hard to get, my lord is wise!"

……

Early the next morning, when the sun was rising, Jiezhou City opened its gates wide. Han Zhaoxuan led a group of gentry and old officials, carrying pigs and sheep, and those carrying wine and meat came out of the city under the guard of a group of soldiers. There were flowers and drums in front of them. Afterwards, there was suona preaching, and it was very lively. Han Zhaoxuan just wanted to create a warm atmosphere so that Wang Huan would willingly attack the city for him.

Unexpectedly, when he arrived at the place, there was a blank field in front of his eyes, and the rows of camp fences standing up neatly remained in place, but the camp tents and army horses all over the mountains and plains were gone.

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing why.

Han Zhaoxuan turned back suspiciously and asked, "Master Wang camped here yesterday, right?"

The entourage responded: "My lord, you sent them here yourself, how can there be any mistake?"

Someone else replied: "Last night, from the top of the city, I saw a bright campfire here. The Shaanxi soldiers were cooking and cooking, and the smell wafted to the city. They must have camped here."

Han Zhaoxuan was at a loss. He stood there in a daze, looked left and right, and then looked at the empty white field. His eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost, and he said to himself, "So, where did they go now?"

(End of this chapter)