Chongzhen Sunset Song

?one

After Zuo Liangyu left, the more Yang Sichang thought about it, the more unhappy he felt.Zuo Liangyu was reckless, he had heard of it in Beijing, but he never expected that this person was so reckless that he was so defiant, domineering and difficult to control.The tactics he had carefully considered were actually made worthless by a warrior. As a powerful minister who controlled half of the court, Yang Sichang had never suffered such humiliation.This Zuo Liangyu is a wild horse that is used to being arrogant and domineering. It may not be so easy to control it in his hands. The arrangement to win Zuo Liangyu before leaving seems to have come to nothing.That being the case, the title of General Ping Thief, which was so easily obtained from the emperor, should not be thrown in vain on him.Thinking in this way, Yang Sichang went to the study room, sharpened his pen, thought for a while, and began to write an excerpt.

What made Yang Sichang even more depressed was that a few days later, what flew to Xiangyang was the news of Zuo Liangyu's victory over the enemy.Sure enough, Zhang Xianzhong entered Sichuan via the road, and met Zuo Liangyu's blocking army at Manao Mountain.Zhang Xianzhong was the first to camp on the top of the mountain, thinking he had taken advantage of the land, but was besieged by Zuo Liangyu's army at the foot of the mountain.Zuo Liangyu seized the opportunity to set fire to the camp, wiped out the elite of the rebels, captured Zhang Xianzhong's wife, concubine, military division, etc., and captured Zhang Xianzhong's gold seal, weapons, command flags and arrows.Zhang Xianzhong led the remnants of the tribe to flee, and the government and army won a complete victory in one fell swoop.

"Your Majesty! We have won! We have won!" In the Hall of Martial Arts, Wang Chengen presented the battle report to Chongzhen with both hands, his eyes hard to hide his joy.Chongzhen's eyes lit up, and after receiving the battle report, he nodded frequently and even said yes. "It's a pity that Zhang Xianzhong couldn't be completely eradicated, but such a big victory is enough to boost the morale of the army." Chongzhen closed the battle report, his spirits were lifted, and his face was full of radiance, "I will pass on my will, and I ordered Chen Xinjia to be responsible for this great victory. We will award 5 taels of silver and [-] bolts of brocade and silk as rewards for meritorious service. Zuo Liangyu was the one who made the most contributions in the Battle of Manao Mountain, and he was named the crown prince Shaobao as a sign of encouragement."

"Obey." Every sentence was a refreshing reward, and Wang Chengen responded to the order very simply and neatly.And after finishing the sentence of obeying orders, he suddenly remembered something, and his tone of voice was a little hesitant. "However... Your Majesty, General Zuo has made great contributions this time, so he should be rewarded rather than punished. Then the note that Mr. Yang submitted a few days ago to transfer the title of General Ping Thief to the congratulator, General Long He, How should I respond?"

"Hmm..." Chongzhen lost his joy a little, and pondered for a moment and said, "Yang Qing's actions were ill-considered. If you want to confer He Renlong, you can ask me for a conferment, but why do you do such a capricious act? If so If I agree with this, I'm afraid it's inappropriate. Let's keep this paper for now, the title was originally requested by Yang Qing, but now that Zuo Liangyu has made a contribution, it's up to Yang Qing to deal with it."

At this time, Yang Sichang who was in Xiangyang had mixed feelings in his heart, and he didn't know whether he should be happy or annoyed.Originally, he wanted to see Zuo Liangyu joke, but who would have thought that this reckless general's going his own way would achieve his first victory since he took office as a supervisor.It stands to reason that this first victory in office should be a double reward, but in this way, not only will he lose face, but also in the eyes of Zuo Liangyu, who is already arrogant, will he still have him as a supervisor in the future?But if he doesn't express himself, he will be called narrow-minded, and his subordinates' will to fight and serve the country will be chilled.Yang Sichang thought about it, weighed it over and over again, finally swallowed his anger, let go of his figure, and settled his calculations in his mind - regardless of other things for the time being, in short, this general who suppressed bandits should hurry up and talk to him first.

two

Shu, Zhushan.

As the name suggests, Zhushan is full of lush and green bamboos, and the fields are quiet and elegant.The continual drizzle came and went, which washed away a lot of the cold light and hostility on the armored iron blade.Zhang Xianzhong's remnants had already fled to the middle of Shu, while Zuo Liangyu's army stayed here for more than ten days, but there was no sign of any revolt.As the commander-in-chief, Zuo Liangyu lived in seclusion and had no instructions or orders. Of course, the soldiers were happy and at ease. The whole army was leisurely and undisciplined, and there was no reorganization of the army at all. Rather, it looked like an idle soldier stationed in some comfortable small city, who had long been far away from the turmoil on the battlefield.

After noon that day, several tall horses walked through the mud and water through the bamboo forest and stopped at the gate of Daying.A mighty middle-aged man in plain clothes got off his horse, reported his name to the battalion guards, and headed straight for the camp with a few followers.

Zuo Liangyu was resting in the tent with his eyes closed. Hearing the announcement, he quickly woke up and straightened his clothes.

"General Zuo, are you safe?"

"General He! Come, sit down quickly. Come, serve tea!" Zuo Liangyu hurriedly got up to return the salute, changing his usual posture of being fearless, and his demeanor was unexpectedly restrained and jerky.

"Hey~ When did the general become so polite. It's almost impossible for the subordinates to recognize you." The middle-aged man was polite, and then sat on the side seat with a hearty smile on his face—he was The person Yang Sichang wanted to transfer the title of General Naping Bandit to, He Renlong.

"Hey! Liangyu, I feel sorry for Brother He. I really don't know what to say." Zuo Liangyu slammed his thigh and sighed, "This General Pingzei belongs to Brother He, who knows that His Majesty will give you the title again?" Give it to me. I was restless day and night. I just wanted to explain to Brother He, but before I could think about it, Brother He came here by himself..." As he spoke, Zuo Liangyu stood up again, with a guilty expression on his face, and turned to He Renlong. He made a bow, "Liangyu has always respected Brother He as a person, and never deliberately competed with Brother He for this title. This time, Liangyu really didn't think about it. Please don't mind Brother He."

"General Zuo is the one. Don't worry about it." Although there are differences in official ranks, the two seem to be quite accustomed to the random addressing of Brother He, General, Liangyu, and Xiaguan, and neither of them felt anything unusual.He Renlong also stood up abruptly, pressed down the arched hands in front of him, looked at Zuo Liangyu sincerely and said: "Today, I came here for this matter. I understand in my heart that this matter has nothing to do with General Zuo. There is no need for the general to blame himself for the slightest relationship. This title was originally given to General Zuo. In terms of merit, it is really difficult for a low-ranking official to compare with the general. How can he be awarded the title before the general? He almost snatched the title of general. Secondly, this incident was inconsistent, and it was obviously not the general's instruction. Everything was caused by Yang Sichang. First he was granted to the general, then to the lower officials, and then to the general, according to the following From the official point of view, that fellow Yang Sichang was probably trying to drive a wedge between you and me this time, and he did it on purpose."

"What? Could it be that Yang Sichang promised the title to Brother He in person?" Zuo Liangyu stared and asked.

"That's right. Before the news of the change came from the capital, Yang Sichang had already come to the camp and made a promise to the subordinate officer himself. In the Battle of Manao Mountain, the general won a complete victory, so Yang Sichang changed his words and said that he would discuss it later. In a few days, I heard the news that His Majesty named you a general." He Renlong said truthfully, "Actually, the title is just a false name, and it doesn't matter if you have it or not. I don't care much about it, but it's just that Yang Sichang's facts are hateful. I'm afraid that Yang Sichang will succeed because of the estrangement between me and the general because of this matter, and I know that the general doesn't like letters, so I came here to explain and remind the general by the way that the man surnamed Yang is full of tricks. But His Majesty believed him again, this time the general won, and he can't say anything, from now on the general will act with caution, he must be on guard against him."

"Hmph, Brother He is right." Zuo Liangyu sat down and snorted coldly, "Brother He knows that Yang Sichang saw that I didn't send troops these days and thought I was angry about this title, so he wrote a letter saying What?"

"What?" He Renlong asked.

Zuo Liangyu sneered again, and said disdainfully: "In his letter, he said that the Ministry of War and the cabinet planned to confer the title on brother He, but he managed to keep it for me with all his heart. I didn't really believe it. Today Hearing Brother He's words, I realized that it was all his fault! Brother He is right, who cares about such a title! It's just that this kind of villain is full of tricks, and he is no more straightforward than me and other martial arts practitioners. In the past, with all sincerity, even though he has calculated everything, he doesn't believe me, who would really work hard for him!"

Both Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong are illiterate warriors, they have always been congenial, but now that this matter happened, they became united in hatred, and they felt that they were very close to each other.The two scolded Yang Sichang together to relieve the anger in their hearts. He Renlong suddenly felt something, so he asked again: "However, there is one thing that I don't understand. Although Yang Sichang is hateful, Zhang Xianzhong still wants to suppress him. Why doesn't the general Taking advantage of the victory to pursue, instead of standing still here and letting him go to Sichuan?"

Zuo Liangyu fell silent after hearing the words.Seeing that Zuo Liangyu was embarrassed by his question, He Renlong was about to change the subject, but suddenly seeing Zuo Liangyu's eyes fixed, he sent the left and right guards away with an excuse, took a deep look at He Renlong, and said seriously: "I Although there is a difference in official position from Brother He, you and I have fought side by side for many years, through life and death, and in Liangyu's heart, he has long been treated as brother He. Since Brother He asks, Liangyu might as well speak up." Zuo Liangyu paused Dun continued, "After the Battle of Manao Mountain, I was going to pursue Zhang Xianzhong's remnants and kill the grass, but one day I received a letter from Zhang Xianzhong."

"Oh?" He Renlong listened, his expression suddenly became serious.

"Yes." Zuo Liangyu understood the meaning of congratulating Renlong, and nodded affirmatively, "Zhang Xianzhong said in the letter that now I have to be reused by Yang Sichang, but it is because the rebellion continues. Yang Sichang has suspicions about me, and Liangyu I also know that self-discipline is not strict, and there are tricks everywhere. If Zhang Xianzhong is really driven out and the chaos of the bandits is gone, there is no guarantee that Yang Sichang will not turn against me. Although I know that Zhang Xianzhong was forced this time, this letter should be His self-protection strategy, but after thinking about it, what he said in the letter is indeed reasonable, and it probably has the same meaning as Brother He's warning to be careful about Yang Sichang just now. Having said that, Brother He should understand."

"Hmm..." He Renlong didn't respond immediately, but just fell into deep thought. After a long while, he nodded slowly: "The general is right, the cunning rabbit is dead, the lackey is cooking, and although the officials don't read much, this sentence I often hear about it. It's just that His Majesty is not a fool, and he may not follow Yang Sichang's wishes."

"Hey..." Zuo Liangyu raised his head and subconsciously looked to the northeast, where the imperial city was thousands of miles away. "Brother He thinks, you and Yang Sichang, who is closer to His Majesty, and who does His Majesty trust more?"

"This..." He Renlong was speechless for a while.

Zuo Liangyu didn't seem to be waiting for He Renlong's answer, and instead said solemnly: "Anyway, Brother He must keep this matter a secret for Liangyu. Once it gets out, the accusation of collaborating with the enemy will implicate the whole family!"

"Where is General Zuo talking, I still understand this matter." He Renlong stood up and saluted Zuo Liangyu again, "It's getting late, I should leave now."

"Let's go after dinner." Zuo Liangyu raised his eyebrows and tried to persuade him to stay.

"The journey here and there is not that short, and I'd better go back before dark. I'll save this meal for another time." He Renlong said with a smile.

"Alright, then I'll send Brother He out of the camp!" Zuo Liangyu showed off his face and smiled boldly, and the dignified atmosphere just now was swept away like this.So the two said you said I smiled, and walked to the gate of the camp together.