Nanming Engineer

Chapter 50
When Xu Dingguo was busy mobilizing ships and troops to enter Hongze Lake, a fleet of ships on the Huaihe River was bravely sailing against the current, braving the wind and waves.

In ancient times, when going upstream against the current, the boat had no power, and could only rely on the experience of the boat boss to use the wind direction to change the direction of the sail, and use the wind to propel the boat upward.

Li Tingyu stood at the bow of the boat, the cloth towel on his head was blown by the river wind, and the coolness was blowing on his face. He was very comfortable. He laughed loudly, and turned around and shouted: "San Shu, look at the northwest wind blowing, it's God helping me, Erlang How lucky we are that the boats go so fast that we don't need oars."

Wang Huan, who was sitting on the side of the boat, was holding a book and buried his head in reading. He listened to Li Tingyu's words, raised his head and responded with a smile: "My lord is lucky, God will help us."

Li Tingyu was so happy that his beard turned up, and he sighed: "I have fought countless battles and marched in my life. I have always practiced the right way and won victory with strength, but I didn't expect to get this wonderful man who is a councilor today. Only then did I know that there are still soldiers who practice deceitful methods. If it weren't for Wang Huan and your clever tricks along the way, I'm afraid that hundreds of us would have been thrown on the battlefield and turned into bones."

Wang Huan said with a smile: "A dignified general, of course, pays attention to the majesty of the battle and the awe-inspiring righteousness. Even if he uses tricks, it is also a conspiracy. However, Wang Huan is small and weak, so the way of thinking is naturally different. It is not enough to use some tricks and tricks. Strange."

Li Tingyu suppressed his smile, shook his head and said: "No, no, you can't say that. It is said in the military book that soldiers are cunning. You should not judge it by the number of soldiers and the strength of the few, but you should follow the current situation and follow the trend. , we are now fleeing thousands of miles and going deep into the heart of the enemy, so we should be more cautious, this has nothing to do with your identity or my age."

Wang Huan stood up and cupped his hands to Li Tingyu and said: "It turns out that the master is so open-minded, and I am still worried that letting the master disguise himself will hurt the master's sense of shame and self-respect. It seems that the kid is overly worried."

It turned out that Wang Huan knew very well that for a brave general like Li Tingyu, feathers are the heaviest. If he is asked to fight the enemy and fight for his life, he will not frown.Let him pretend to be a Qing soldier with braids glued to the back of his head, and this time let him pretend to be a lowly businessman in the Ming Dynasty. With the accumulation of resentment, it will be troublesome if he blows his hair.

Li Tingyu glared at Wang Huan angrily, and said, "Shame? How much is that worth? Counselor, don't think that I, Li Laosan, is just a single-minded idiot. I still understand the principle of being able to bend and stretch a man. My whole army is up and down, you little monk can abandon Buddhism and return to vulgarity, what else can I not care about?"

Wang Huanxin said: "Monk? The ghost wants to be a monk of Lao Shizi, but I am in love with the world of flowers and flowers."

On the lips, he praised: "A grown-up has a heart like the sea, Wang Huan is ashamed of himself."

Li Tingyu squinted at Wang Huan with a smile that was not a smile, and sighed: "Wang Huan, you have resourcefulness and courage in your chest, and you are not arrogant. It is really rare. This ability to brag and flatter is not easy in my opinion. If you change it In a time of peace and prosperity, with what you have learned, you might be able to rise to the top of the temple, but what a pity, what a waste of your talent in troubled times."

Wang Huan was saddened by what he said, and he couldn't help complaining secretly: Yes, who is to blame for this? Flesh everywhere?Eating bran rice and drinking porridge every day, damn it, did I do something wrong in my previous life to encounter such bad luck?

Li Tingyu didn't know what he was thinking, pointed to the two sides of the river, and continued to himself: "More than ten years ago, the general also went to HN. At that time, it was still in the Wanli period. It’s still full of boats and densely populated, just look at how long it’s been and how dilapidated it has become.”

Wang Huan felt the same way. The fleet sailed on the river for more than half a day. As far as he could see, there was a desolate scene everywhere. There were no traces of people.In fact, in ancient times, the Huaihe River, since the beginning of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, before the Yellow River took the Huaihe River into the sea, the economy on the river was prosperous, and it was the transportation artery running through the east and west.However, after the Southern Song Dynasty broke the Yellow River to block the Jin soldiers, the Huaihe River had floods every few years, and the people on both sides of the river suffered unspeakably. The entire historical period of the feudal dynasty lasted for thousands of years, and even the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty was born in Lianghuai.

And the province of HN is the hardest-hit area of ​​Huaihe River floods. In the past ten years, there have been floods every year. Occasionally, there have been no floods for a year, but there have been locust plagues and crop failures. However, the local government and the central court of the Ming Dynasty are in the middle of the situation. The people at the bottom of the dire straits turned a blind eye to the sufferings suffered by the people at the bottom. Not only did they not provide large-scale relief, but they continued to increase food and pay as usual. It is not surprising that the people lined the road to welcome and eat pots of pulp.

Li Tingyu was silent for a while, then sadly said: "The imperial government has been suppressing bandits every year, but the bandits are getting more and more suppressed. Li Nie even gathered millions of people to break into BJ City. Now Dongnu has driven Li Nie away again. Seeing that the Han family is about to be taken away, Wang Huan, tell me, what is going on? Is it true that, as Liu Liangzuo said, the Great Ming is dead, and it is time to change the dynasty?"

Wang Huan squeezed the book in his hand, thought for a while, and replied leisurely: "My lord, flowers bloom and their flowers fall. There have been prosperity and decline in all dynasties. If you want to stand forever, you have to follow the harmony of the weather and the people. The Ming Dynasty has been in power for 200 years, and it is already rotten and empty. Your lord is an official in the court, and you can see it more clearly than me. Isn't it the reason for the court that the bandits went crazy and shook the country? Isn’t it the fault of the big men in the temple? From my point of view, even if Jian Nu doesn’t enter the customs and Li Ni doesn’t have trouble, Daming will end up like this sooner or later.”

Li Tingyu frowned and listened carefully, then lowered his head and thought for a long time, then raised his head to look deeply at Wang Huan, and said: "If we go back this trip, even if we return to the middle of Sichuan, it will still be Zhang Xianzhong's territory, and General Qin is only guarding the stone pillars. The reason why Zhang Xianzhong is unwilling to attack on a large scale is due to the prestige of Qin Zongbing, and the high and dangerous roads of Shizhu Mountain, and the barren land, so there is no need to take it hard. Even if we go back, we will probably guard our ancestral property and wait to die. Wang Huan, you are still young, and I have wronged you by going back to farming with me."

After a pause, he continued with a sincere face: "I don't think you are a thing in the pond. You have wasted your youth for nothing by relying on me, a reckless man, and China is so big that there is Duke Qian in the south guarding YN and King Lu in the east." In Jianguo, Hangzhou, if Ma Quan and the others on Hongze Lake and the two million taels of gold and silver were used as a meeting gift, they would definitely change their backgrounds, why not..."

Without waiting for him to finish speaking, Wang Huan interrupted his words decisively, and said in a deep voice: "My lord, there is no need to say too much. Since Wang Huan has followed your lord into Sichuan, he should do his best. How can he go to Qin Muchu? You will wait for me from Yangzhou City Wang Huan is unwilling to be that ungrateful person. Besides, Duke Qian is located in a remote place, King Lu is incompetent, and there are still internal struggles in the Ming court. What's the use? Sooner or later there will be a dead end. When we reach the stone pillar, Wang Huan will have his own way to gain a foothold, so don't worry too much, my lord."

Li Tingyu looked at Wang Huan fixedly, with complex eyes that kept flickering, while Wang Huan had firm eyes, with unquestionable determination in his pupils, and the two just looked at each other until Li Tingyu sighed and turned around.

Ahead, the Huaihe River's first water center, Yuancheng, is close at hand, and the towering watchtower shows its outline between the water skylines.

(End of this chapter)