Nanming Engineer

Chapter 424 Bear's Paw and Fish
The hot summer is approaching, and people in Zhaoqing City in the south have already put on light clothes. The branches and leaves on the canopy are becoming more and more dense, the green shades are lovely, and the flowers and plants are fragrant, which brings a strong sense of vitality to this ancient city. Pedestrians shuttle like weaves, there are many shops on both sides, and there is a lot of people's voices. The not very spacious stone road is full of people. People's faces are peaceful, their expressions are peaceful, and they bow to each other. As solid as a sycamore tree.

The chaotic current situation doesn't seem to be felt here. Except that there are many listless beggars everywhere in the corners of the city, everything is the same as before. Zhaoqing hasn't fought for many years. When was the last time I experienced a military disaster? Even the oldest man in town couldn't remember.

The sound of horse hooves suddenly started, and a horse came through the city gate like flying. The Imperial Guards guarding the door held a spear and wanted to step forward to stop him. However, he saw three small yellow flags on the knight's back from a distance, and hurriedly moved away. Reject the horse and let him enter the city.

The knight kept moving and galloped forward. The bustling crowd on the street hurriedly made way out of the way as if they saw a group of soldiers coming. The knight passed through the alley, which seemed to be suddenly avoided by a sharp ax in a sea of ​​people. Run past and disappear around the corner of the street.

The crowd stuck together again, and the bustling scene like a sea of ​​people resumed. Some people looked at the direction where the knight disappeared, chatted a few words, and then they didn't care, and walked around their own streets with a smile.

After all, in the recent period of time, this kind of urgent court messenger has appeared many times, and everyone is used to it.

At the end of the long street, at the intersection of several avenues, there is the largest restaurant in the city, named Qingyun Tower, which is three stories high and extremely grand. Delicious food, there are singers who play and sing, if the money is enough or the face is big enough, you can also have sex with prostitutes in the private rooms above the second floor. Of course, the quality of women here is not as high as that of the Qinhuai River, but you can still get by all at once.

At a window facing the street on the third floor of Qingyun Building, the person startled by the sound of horseshoes looked down and closed the window.

"It's another eight hundred miles to rush into the city. I don't know where the news came from." Hu Ke told Meng Zhengfa to close the windows tightly, shutting out all the noise, and the room became quiet.

He returned to the round table and sat down. On the small round table, there were more than ten dishes and a white porcelain wine pot. There were exactly five people sitting around the table, including Meng Zhengfa.

The thin old man sitting at the top is quite impressive as the Qu style of the court. He is wearing a Confucian shirt at the moment. Yuan Pengnian, the censor of the capital, Liu Xiangke, the censor of the left deputy, and Meng Zhengfa, the backbone of the Chu Party at that time, are all here.

The five famous tigers of the Yongli Dynasty in the Southern Ming Dynasty were all on the table, except that Ding Chugui, who died suddenly, was replaced by Qu Shixu.

Yuan Pengnian played with the wine glass in his hand, looked at the closed window, and said absently and casually: "The military situation in various places is urgent, of course there are more people reporting."

Liu Xiangke's face was a little red. He was not good at drinking alcohol. He had drunk a few glasses at this time, and he was a little drunk. Xinfeng suffered a crushing defeat, He Tengjiao lost his trousers in Huguang, the current situation is like this, how can it be called military sentiment?"

He snorted a few times, and then said in a drunken mood: "This guy Li Chengdong is showing off his might and power. He is arrogant. If you don't look at us seriously, I think he is really capable, but he is like a waste of wine and food!"

Jin Bao glared at him, handed over a bowl of soup, and said, "Brother Rui Xing, don't talk nonsense. Although Li Chengdong is domineering, he is our foreign aid. Once he loses power, we will have a difficult time in the court without a strong foreign aid. Zhu Tianlin's gang of arrogant officials will inevitably take the opportunity to make trouble, I'm afraid they are not afraid, but it is quite troublesome to deal with."

Liu Xiangke snorted again, Meng Zhengfa frowned, and said with a sigh: "Think about that Li Chengdong, galloping around under Donglu's hands, destroying the dead like a demon god, why can't help be beaten now? He has 10 people under his command , at least [-] to [-] are real numbers, and there are soldiers who can fight. The Qing soldiers add up to only a little over [-], and most of them are Han troops. How could they be defeated? It's really puzzling!"

"Warrior has such a virtue. Once he gains power, his tail will go up to the sky! As the saying goes, arrogant soldiers must be defeated, and Duke Hui's arrogant appearance, not only arrogant soldiers, but also uncle soldiers can be counted!" Liu Xiangke shouted with his tongue out road.

"Li Chengdong was able to fight well in the past few years, but for some reason in the past two years, he has lost his strength. We would not have supported him if he hadn't had someone under his command, who had a fighting power that was unrivaled in the court." Yuan Pengnian looked at Liu Xiangke: "Rising is drunk, drink a bowl of soup to wake up from the bar."

He knew that Liu Xiangke was usually very resourceful and could be regarded as a wise man among the Five Tigers. He lost his temper at this moment. Firstly, he was angry at Li Chengdong's defeat. He was so angry that he refused to fight and drowned his sorrow with wine. Secondly, the Five Tigers instigated Li Chengdong in the first place. Anyway, Liu Xiangke was one of them, and it was his persuasion that made Li Chengdong decide to return to the Ming Dynasty anyway. At this moment, Li Chengdong was defeated, leaving them with a mess. The coming storm in the court would definitely not hit those far away in Xinfeng. They were the only ones who could bear the consequences of Li Chengdong's death.

Thinking of this, Yuan Pengnian also felt his head was getting bigger, he couldn't help but rubbed his temples, glanced at Qu Shixu who was silent and murmured: "If we could have dug Wang Huan from Wang Yingxiong back then, we wouldn't be so devastated today. "

Qu Shixuan opened his narrowed eyes slightly, and his face was full of gloom: "Then Wang Huan, I used Wang Yingxiong to find out about him, and this son went smoothly in the northwest. On the other hand, it is indeed a pity that he was not dug out at the beginning. However, Wang Yingxiong also did not grasp him. From the old man's point of view, Wang Yingxiong is just the link between him and the imperial court. In terms of real power, this son is firmly in his hands. hands."

"In this way, isn't it just another Zuo Liangyu?" Yuan Pengnian frowned and said, "Li Chengdong will be more or less connected with us, advancing and retreating together, but Wang Huan is hanging out alone. The court is close to him. Yu was out of control, he could neither control his military power nor collect his taxes, and even the imperial court did not receive a single cent of the large sum of money in the silver mine, so this son is not equal to a country within a country?"

Qu Shishu was expressionless and shook his head: "When he started his career, he relied on Qin Liangyu, and the court did not give him a cent of silver or half a soldier. Now that he is self-proclaimed, nothing can be done to him."

He was born as an official in Jinbao, known for his straightness and outspokenness. Hearing his words, he turned against the case and said angrily: "This son monopolizes the silver mines and cuts off taxes. The silver mine in Tubaozhai produces thousands of dollars a day, and the taxes and taxes are considerable. If a lot of wealth flows into the treasury and the imperial court uses it to recruit troops to strengthen the army, why worry about the northern land being lost? Wang Huan is not afraid of the king's law and will not pay it if he refuses to pay it for his own self-interest. Are you not afraid of morality?"

Qu Shixu said indifferently: "I heard that Wang Huan was an orphan in Yangzhou from a rough background. Of course he didn't know the etiquette, hadn't read the books, and naturally didn't know Confucius and Mencius. To put it bluntly, he is just a white man. You can tell him the laws of the king and the morals. He won't care."

Jin Bao frowned: "Is there nothing we can do against him?"

"The people we sent to win over couldn't even see them. When they got to Wang Yingxiong, they were blocked and couldn't talk about it." Yuan Pengnian sighed: "When he came to Zhaoqing to face the saint, he was almost assassinated by Li Chengdong's son. Afterwards, Li Chengdong went all out to hunt him down, and the imperial court also issued documents to punish him, so it’s no wonder he has a good impression of the imperial court.”

"Now he is in Shanxi to rescue Jiang Yu. Once it is done, the Kuizhou army will be able to point his sword at Hebei, spy on Jingpu, and cut off the way for the eastern captives to return to the north. The frequent messengers these days are the news from various places. The prisoner is transferring the Eight Banners soldiers from all over the country to the north. Speaking of which, it is thanks to him that the battle situation on our side has not continued to deteriorate."

After Yuan Pengnian said these words, there was a silence at the table, everyone was thinking with their heads down.

In the end, Qu Shixu calmed down, and said slowly: "Yesterday the emperor got angry in the palace and even flipped the table over. I have to be prepared in the next few days. Once Zhu Tianlin and his gang get mad, there will be a war of words."

Yuan Pengnian swallowed his wine glass, and said with a sneer, "He Tengjiao also suffered a disastrous defeat in Huguang. If Zhu Tianlin dares to fight us, we are not afraid of him!"

Qu Shixu nodded, suddenly remembered something, and asked: "By the way, the boy from the Zheng family in Fujian, I heard that he won several battles. Brother Jiemei can pay attention to it. He and Li Chengdong are at odds. , Winning in a new general is a way to make up for it.”

Yuan Pengnian thought for a moment, then cupped his hands and said, "I obey."

Qu Shiqi stood up and waved his sleeves: "Let's go, you can't have both. When we had no choice but to choose Li Chengdong, we had to help him all the way to the dark. If he falls, we will surely die." Not to end well!"

(End of this chapter)