The Reborn Duke of Ming Dynasty

Zhang Fan doesn't feel any novelty now.The excitement of riding the horse at the beginning has long since disappeared. After a few hours of riding, the only thing left is the pain in the inner thigh.Zhang Fan wanted to ask the little schoolman who led the horse for him earlier, but seeing so many sergeants walking, Zhang Fan was afraid that he would appear hypocritical, so he had to endure the pain silently.

Today is the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, and tomorrow is Laba. Zhang Fan couldn't bear the thought of letting his mother spend it at home alone.In memory, every year in Laba, the Zhao family would clean up the house, put on the spiritual tablets of his grandfather and father, worship the ancestors and pray for blessings, and also sacrifice to the gods of all parties.In the past, no matter how difficult the family was, my mother would cook a pot of fragrant Laba porridge on this day. This was Zhang Fan's happiest moment when he was a child. Now that Zhang Fan has grown up, although the child-like joy no longer appears on his face. The color, but the heart is still the same happy.Some activities will also be held in the city, and farmers in Zhou Village will also come to celebrate the harvest, hoping for a good harvest in the coming year.Now it seems that this year's festival is not going well.But Zhang Fan is not worried about the festival, he just misses his mother a little bit.

Zhang Fan was thinking about when Liu Canjun came to him on horseback.Seeing that Zhang Fan was thinking, he didn't even notice that he was around, and said, "What is Master Bo thinking about? Do you miss your mother at home?"

"Ah, it's Liu Canjun!" Liu Canjun's voice woke up the cranky Zhang Fan, "I am laughing at the general. This is the first time I am going out for a long time. I really miss my mother in my heart. Tomorrow is Laba again, so naturally I am more worried about my mother."

"That's right, tomorrow is Laba!" General Liu Shen seemed to have forgotten about it, and only then did he remember it after Zhang Fan reminded him, "If you don't tell me, I forgot about it. This damned Tartar, I've already forgotten about it." If you don’t come late or come late, but choose this family’s festive day to come, you really deserve to be killed!”

"General, why did this tartar make such a big move this year?" Zhang Fan asked.

"Well, I think it has been more than a hundred years since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, and the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty have also been harassing the borders of the Ming Dynasty. The Tartars think it is tired after more than a hundred years, since 20 years ago At the beginning, there were very few major actions, only a small group of people came to plunder, and the court didn't take it seriously. Since the 43rd year of Jiajing, when Lord Wang was in charge of Ningxia, the Tartars had made several major actions, all of which were suppressed by Wang. My lord sent people to find out, and took the initiative to lead the troops to attack the Tartar noble army and disintegrate all its forces. This time the Tartar army went south, obviously it has been planned for a long time, but now it happens to be at the time when our patrol offices in Shaanxi are changing their defenses Come to plunder, which caused such heavy damage."

"Are the armies in Shaanxi that changed defense the day before yesterday?" Zhang Fan asked.

"That's right, the troops in all parts of Shanxi haven't changed their defenses, and only my army in Shaanxi has been notified of changing defenses." General Liu Shen replied.

"..." Hearing General Liu Can's words, Zhang Fan's previous analysis with Magistrate Ma reappeared in his mind. Zhang Fan wanted to tell General Liu Can, but for some reason, he swallowed the words again.

"Now that the imperial court has ordered a surprise attack on the back of the Tartars, we only hope that the war can be resolved early and the soldiers can go home for a good year." General Liu Shen continued.

The two of them had no more words at the moment.The army drove all night, the soldiers didn't eat anything, and they arrived in Ningxia at noon the next day. Although the 5 army was a little tired, they were still in good shape.The city of Ningxia had already prepared food for [-] people, General Liu Shen immediately ordered the leaders of the battalions under him to lead the team to rest.At this time, someone came to report that Wang Chonggu knew that the army had arrived, and he had already summoned his generals to discuss military affairs, and asked General Liu Can and Zhang Fan to go.

The two heard that they didn't care about not eating all day and night, so they hurried over. Fortunately, Zhang Fan had the dry food brought by his mother, and now he doesn't feel hungry. As a soldier, General Liu Can has long been used to this kind of life.

Zhang Fan, as the leader of the army, had to record all the matters in the meetings held by the general during the war, and report them to the court in the future. Regardless of the victory or defeat of the war, this is an important evidence for the court to reward and punish the general.It is also necessary to record the expenses in the army, the number of enemies wiped out and captured in each battle, and the consumption of the own army, etc.Now is the time for Zhang Fan to play.

Zhang Fan followed General Liu Shen to the Governor's Yamen, the meeting hall was already full of generals in armor, but an old man about 50 years old in official second-rank official uniform was sitting on the chairman's seat. I think this is the Governor Wang Chonggu.During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, he was the governor and the right deputy of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, with the title of Cong Ershi, and the title of Minister of the Ministry of War, with the title of Zheng Er.Now Wang Chonggu, Governor General of Shaanxi, Yanning, and Gansu provinces military affairs, although he was born as a Jinshi, he has commanded battles for many years, but he still shows the demeanor of a general.

The two made a salute to Wang Chonggu, Wang Chonggu saw the two came in, first motioned to General Liu Shen to take a seat, and then nodded slightly to Zhang Fan, expressing that they are going to discuss important matters now, and the etiquette will wait until later.Zhang Fan also knew about it, and immediately put it on the desk beside him. There was already a pen and paper ready.

"Everyone, the army has arrived now. I am following the imperial court order to deploy troops to raid the rear of the Tartars. Now I will deploy the defense areas." Wang Chonggu said, "This time the Tartars are going south on a very large scale. They reach Datong and Jizhou in the east and arrive in the west. In my Ningxia Mansion, it can be said that this is a grand event that I haven’t seen for many years.”

"Damn it, this Tartar is too much!" Immediately, the general under his seat cursed, and someone patted the man's arm, indicating that the Lord Bo was present here, and the man shut his mouth.Zhang Fan was instructed by the county magistrate, and he took the initiative to omit the mantra in his mind, and continued to write down.

"You don't need to be like this, it's not beneficial to the overall situation." Wang Chonggu calmed down, "Nowadays, it's the right thing to come up with a strategy to defeat the enemy."

"Your Excellency, please give me your orders. We will all obey your orders." A kind of generals said one after another.

"In this case, I will arrange tasks for everyone." Wang Chonggu did not show any pretense, and directly ordered, "Li Yongquan, you lead two battalions to support Yan'an Mansion and wipe out the Tartars there. If the Tartars are powerful, You also have to hold back their actions for me, don't let them continue to invade the south, and don't let them retreat back to the Hetao."

"Promise!" A general in his 30s who looked like he joined the army immediately got up and promised.

"Liu Dazhuang and Wang Qishan, the two of you led three battalions to attack long distances to support Datong and Jizhou prefectures. Lord Qi's Qi family army is already on the way. When the time comes, the two of you must listen to Lord Qi's orders and don't neglect them." Wang Chonggu then ordered.

"No!" "No!" At that moment, two more generals stood up and took orders.

"Qian Yang, Zhang Rui, Zhao Guangwen, and Sun Dajun, each of you will lead a battalion to patrol the dangerous unguarded mountains and rivers along the Hetao section to prevent the Tartars from raiding or retreating."

"No!" "No!" "No!" "No!"

"Liu Jinquan and Zhou Biao, you two have been with me for many years and are familiar with the terrain of Hetao. This raid will be entrusted to you two. Liu Jinquan will be the chief general and Zhou Biao will be the deputy. With the strength of a battalion and our Ningxia Guard The 5000 guards with [-] men and [-] horses will raid the main force of the Tartars."

"Promise!" "Promise!" General Liu Shen and a general who looked much younger stood up and promised.

Wang Chonggu asked them to sit down, and said: "In order to achieve a surprise attack this time, our army's goal should not be too big, and we are afraid that we will not be successful if we have fewer people, so the two of you only have 5000 people. Whether you can succeed depends on the joint efforts of the two of you." OK!"

"Respect your lord's order, we will do our best to fulfill your great trust." General Liu Can said, and General Zhou Biao also stood up and clasped his fists at each other to show our determination.

"Well, I'm relieved that the two of you have such determination. With the abilities of the two of you, I still believe it very much." Wang Chonggu stroked his long beard under his chin and said gratifiedly, "The time for this attack should not be too long. For a long time, we had to bring food and grass for 5000 men and horses for ten days. Remember to hit the ground with one blow, and don't go deep alone!"

"My lord, don't worry, my subordinates will keep it in mind." The two replied loudly again.

"This time, the attack by the Tartars is quite strange. How can the timing be so accurate? It happens to be the time when several city patrols collectively change defenses. Everyone should pay more attention, and don't let the spies take advantage of the loopholes." Wang Chonggu said I've noticed something wrong a long time ago, and now I'm making some arrangements to prevent problems before they happen!

"I'll keep your lord's orders in mind." All the generals agreed, but their voices were not too loud. Maybe after hearing Wang Chonggu's words, they had different thoughts in their hearts.

"In that case, let's go down, everyone. Choose each department and take a good rest. Tomorrow, all armies will be dispatched." Wang Chonggu made the final conclusion, "I wish you all smooth sailing."

"Thank you, my lord, my subordinates will live up to my lord's expectations." Everyone said.The military discussion ended here, and all the participating generals also dispersed.

Zhang Fan packed up the minutes of the meeting, came over to salute Wang Chonggu, and said, "I have met the governor in Anhua County, Qingyang Prefecture, later generations."

"Well, Zhang Zhubo rode a horse at night, he must be tired, and he hasn't eaten yet." At that moment, Wang Chonggu ordered his servants to serve some cooked Laba porridge, as well as some inexpensive but delicately made side dishes.Wang Chonggu invited Zhang Fan to sit down, and said: "Today is Laba, and the imperial court transferred Zhang Zhubo to be here with the army, so he couldn't reunite with his family. The government is also deeply sorry. A bowl of Laba porridge is not a respect."

"Your Excellency is serious!" Zhang Fan said, "The imperial court transferred Wansheng to come here because he thinks highly of him, not to mention everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the country, and Wansheng has no dissatisfaction in his heart."

"Haha, it's a good saying 'every man is responsible for the rise and fall of a country', Zhang Zhubo won Zhongjieyuan at a young age, it really deserves the name!" Wang Chonggu praised Zhang Fan's words greatly.

Zhang Fan suddenly remembered that this sentence only existed in the Qing Dynasty, and he felt ashamed at the thought of plagiarizing other people's words, and it was hard to explain, so he smiled wryly in his heart, and said modestly, "My lord is too famous."

"By the way, is Master Ma okay?" Wang Chonggu asked suddenly.

"Ma County Magistrate is over sixty years old, but fortunately, he is still in good health." Zhang Fan said, "Does your lord know Ma County Magistrate?"

"I was also a colleague in the past. At that time, when I first entered the official career, Ma County Magistrate also kindly promoted my subordinates." Wang Chonggu said, but he hesitated to speak when he thought of something.

Zhang Fan was about to ask, but Wang Chonggu said, "What does Zhang Zhubo think about the Tartar invasion?"

"The Tatars haven't made a big move south for many years, so this move must have been planned for a long time." Zhang Fan replied, "It's just that the timing is quite weird."

"Zhang Zhubo is really smart, and he has noticed it?" Wang Chonggu sighed, "I don't know what Zhubo thinks?"

Zhang Fan thought for a while and said: "Wansheng's family has helped refugees in Yan'an Prefecture. Among them, a woman's husband is serving in the two city patrol divisions of Yan'an Prefecture. I heard from her that the soldiers received the order to change defenses on the same day. The Tatars would not have acted so quickly if they had not been bribed and informed. If this was not a coincidence, there must have been secret agents sneaking into the top ranks of the military, or..."

"Maybe someone in the top ranks of our military has defected!" Wang Chonggu said for him.

"And it's in Shaanxi." Zhang Fan said, "I asked General Liu Shen about the situation on the way here, and I learned that only the armies in Shaanxi changed their defense yesterday. I'm afraid it's..."

"Zhang Zhubo's analysis is good." Wang Chonggu frowned and said, "It seems that there are spies in the army! It's just that there are more than ten guards and inspectors in various places in Shaanxi, and those who can know the news in advance are probably There are also hundreds of people, so it will be troublesome to check."

The two were in deep thought again.Wang Chonggu first said: "However, I don't need to worry about this matter. The government will investigate secretly, and I hope that the news will not be leaked."

"Wan Sheng knows, so he must keep his mouth shut." Zhang Fan said.

"Master Bo must be tired after a day's journey!" Wang Chonggu said, "After the meal is finished, the mansion has prepared a room for Master Bo to rest. Replenish your energy, and you will be enlisted with the army tomorrow!"

"Thank you for your concern, my lord, I will remember it in my heart," Zhang Fan said.

After eating, Zhang Fan came to the room that Wang Chonggu had prepared for him. After riding for a day and a night, Zhang Fan was really tired, so he fell asleep and prepared to set off with the army tomorrow.