Lu Ming

Chapter 392
Xiong Wencan received the urgent document from Babaili on the 22nd.Immediately after reading the official document, Old Xiong ordered his followers to go to the store in the city to deliver the message: Please come and see General Cao immediately.

And Zhang Dongdong did not delay after receiving the telegram, and immediately set off from Taiwan by boat. On the evening of the 23rd, Cao Zhentai (deputy) arrived at the governor's office in Fujian.

The first time he saw the visitor, Old Xiong picked up the official document on the table and handed it over.At the same time, Old Xiong's tone also changed, showing impatience in his kindness: "Brother, something big happened in the capital."

Zhang Dongdong was well aware of what Lao Xiong was talking about, but he still pretended to be ignorant, took the official document, and read it carefully.

Unsurprisingly: Qin Wangzhao.

"My lord, what should I do about this matter?" After reading the official document, Zhang Dongdong followed the routine and brought up the topic.

Xiong Wencan frowned in a rare way at this moment, stroked his long beard under his chin lightly, shook his head and analyzed: "Once this edict is issued, all armies and towns in the world will definitely go to King Jingqin. In this way, if there is no movement in Fujian, I am afraid I can't explain it."

When Xiong Wencan said this, he glanced at Zhang Dongdong.

Seeing Old Xiong hesitating and hesitant to speak, Zhang Dongdong's heart was clear at the moment.

In history, after Zheng Zhilong was caressed, Chongzhen had repeatedly issued edicts to transfer Lao Zheng to the north to contribute—it could be to fight the Tartars or the peasant army. In short, in Chongzhen's view, it was probably a dog eats a dog.

However, Chongzhen's simple means of driving tigers and devouring wolves can't fool people at all.Zheng Zhilong never gave Xiong Wencan and Chongzhen any face when it came to things like King Qin.

In a word: I am a warlord and I am proud. If a tiger does not come out of its hole, no one can do anything to the tiger.

So the old bear was a little hesitant today.After all, he is a normal bureaucrat with experience in governance, and he knows very well that for a warlord, this King Qin's request is a bit too much.

It is indeed a bit difficult for a group of pirates to go thousands of miles away to fight the Tartars in the northern plains.If Cao Chuan could not make Cao Chuan think that he, the old bear, was going to use some kind of trick to "tune the tiger away from the mountain" to destroy the alliance between the two sides, then the loss outweighed the gain.

So the old bear is still very cautious today, not daring to make a big thorn and just make a request like this.

However, someone's reaction caught Lao Xiong off guard.

Cao Pirates was full of loyalty and courage at the moment, and he was full of blood and loyalty. He raised his hand in the shape of cutting vegetables, leaned his upper body slightly, and stared at Xiong Da with wide eyes. , This is what your lord said. The last general will go back to build an army ship, is one thousand soldiers enough? Or two thousand?"

Xiong Wencan was speechless at first when he heard the words, and then when he was sure that Cao Chuan was not talking ironically, he immediately expressed emotion, stretched out his hand full of apology, and patted Cao Zhongchen's arm a few times: "National affairs are difficult every day, alas, grievances are broken empty."

"Where did your lord come from?" Cao Zhongchen confided his heart at this moment: "The imperial capital is besieged, if Fujian is ignored, then wouldn't your lord be sitting on the ground? The plan now is whether you are diligent or loyal. If there is nothing to say, it will fall on Cao."

Xiong Wencan nodded his beard at this moment, feeling relieved: Cao Chuan was able to see the essence of the incident so quickly, which saved him a lot of difficult words to say.

In fact, logically speaking, the person surnamed Cao should have gone to Beijing to meet his majesty long ago: an official as high as the deputy chief soldier would go to the Golden Luan Hall to meet the emperor before his appointment.Due to the special circumstances of Cao Pirates, he was a bandit recruiting for security, so from the beginning of recruiting security, this step was omitted.

However, Cao Pirates is different from others: he has always maintained a posture of "doing his best to integrate into the system" from the time he was recruited to the present.And this King Qin incident, from another point of view, is also a test: No matter what you say or do, the court now needs you to lead troops to Beijing, so you can go?
Of course, if Cao Chuan really wanted to go, the old bear would have nothing to do with him, but from that moment on, everyone knew each other.From now on, the surname Cao doesn't need to put on a mixed-system stance—you don't even dare to meet the emperor, aren't you just a warlord with ulterior motives?
So for Xiong Wencan, someone who can express his position like this today is really the best situation he expected: Warlord Cao "thoroughly" expressed the attitude of the mixed system, and he is willing to go to danger for thousands of miles, and he, Xiong Wencan, does not need to be in the court and Cao Cao. It is difficult to do things among warlords, it can be said that it is both public and private convenience, loyalty and filial piety.

The moment in Xiong Wencan's study was warm and touching.Now that it is confirmed that Cao Chuan is a "Da Ming minister" who really intends to "be a minister in the same palace" with him, it is naturally impossible for Lao Xiong, who is a close ally, to see Cao Zhongchen, who is full of blood and heart, go to the north and suffer.

So the old Xiong also opened the skylight at this time and said bluntly: "King Qin this time, you don't need to bring a large army, and you don't need to go into battle to kill the Liaodong slaves. Fengxue, if you go there, you will die."

"The people of Fujian are not tolerant of the severe cold, and the king of the army from all walks of life in this world will not miss my way. You can go as you go, just put on a little show."

"As for military exploits. You must have enough money in your hands. When you are in a hurry, just "find" some heads to pay for."

After all, Xiong Wencan is a great official in the frontier, and he analyzed the King Qin incident overnight: there are towns in the nine borders, and there are soldiers and horses of King Qin from various provinces in the north. to complete political tasks.

Everyone go, if you don't go, won't you be remembered by the emperor?

So Xiong Wencan called King Qin, but in fact he didn't intend to let Cao Chuan take a large number of pirates to the snow to die.

According to Xiong Fujun's meaning, this time Cao Chuan is to bring some people to Beijing to show his aura; after the matter is over, he will randomly "find" some heads and take them to the capital for a job, and show his loyalty in front of the emperor, and it's over. .

After listening to Lao Xiong Yitong's analysis and explanation, Zhang Dongdong naturally wanted to say yes.As for what he will do when he goes back to the capital, he will definitely not tell Old Xiong now.Tell him, what if the old man is scared?
However, for Old Xiong's Chunchun teachings, Zhang Dongdong still bought it - he was able to talk to this point, and hinted that Cao Zhongchen "find" some heads to deal with, and Old Xiong really treated Cao Chuan as his own brother.

After unifying their opinions, the two discussed some details.

For Xiong Wencan, since Qin Wang puts political show first, he must send Fubiao's personal guards to go around the capital on behalf of his old man.Otherwise, wouldn't his good image in the emperor's mind be maintained in vain?
In addition, since King Qin is on official business this time, and Cao Zhongchen is required to go far and dangerous, Xiong Wencan immediately stated: the official treasury will first provide 20 taels of silver as military expenses, and if it is not enough, he can add more.

As for the fee, Zhang Dongdong would naturally not refuse the 20 taels of silver.As for the pro-military forces in the Fubiao Camp, Zhang Dongdong has already said in advance: the number of people must be small, and they must follow his command unconditionally. Anyway, Zhang Dongdong will not forget to brag about the old bears in front of Chongzhen.

The matter was settled like this: Comrade Cao Pokong, who is courageous and ambitious, will lead the Fujian delegation to Beijing to participate in the general battle in the near future.

As for Guangdong, due to the bad relationship between Deputy General Cao and the number one leader of the Guangdong army, there is nothing wrong with Guangdong this time——Wang Zunde wants to follow the king’s words, so he pays his own money to discuss with He Rubin, and Cao will not accompany him at all. .

After this is a series of preparatory work.Fortunately, there was nothing prepared in Fujian. After Xiong Wencan took out the silver, he allocated another 50 pro-army troops with full armor and horses to be called by Deputy General Cao.

And Zhang Dongdong returned those pro-military horses right away—it's not that there are no horses in Tianjin, and it would be brain-dead to transport the sea ships here for thousands of miles.

As for the 50 personal soldiers, he took them in after meeting the leader Qian Zong Chen Ce.

Chen Ce was a young general. When he was trapping and killing Zheng Zhilong, he shot and killed one of Zheng Zhilong's subordinates at the gate of the city.Chen Ce is skilled in archery and horse, and is proficient in martial arts. He is the eldest son of a hereditary family in Hebei.Since Chen Ce's father had an old friend with Xiong Wencan many years ago, after Lao Xiong became the governor, he came to ask for his eldest son to come over for his future.

And Xiong Wencan did not live up to his old friend's entrustment, and Chen Ce became the commander-in-chief of the field army at a young age.But this time Chen Ce was sent to Qin Wang, but it was not what Lao Xiong wanted: he was afraid that the young general, who was restless on weekdays, would run to the north with enthusiasm to poach the basket, so he originally sent someone else on this errand.

Later, the reason why the old bear changed his mind was that Chen Ce came to beg and beg, and the second was that the old bear considered that Chen Ce was from Hebei, he was familiar with the local customs and people, and he was a guide in the army of King Qin, where most of the southerners lived, so he went to the ruthless After admonishing the young general, he was finally sent over.

When fifty officers and soldiers and 20 taels of silver were on board, Zhang Dongdong bid farewell to Xiong Wencan and went straight back to Taiwan.

And Taiwan is frantically preparing for the war. Wrong, it is "stocking up".It seems that no one cares about how many Tartars Cao Zhongchen can kill when he goes there. On the contrary, industrial products from the kiln area are continuously stuffed into the transport ships.

After finally waiting until the end of the month, the first batch of potbellied transport fleets sailed to Shanghai, the intermediate station.These transport ships are all 600-ton new lock ships, and they are all sail-type with power systems installed.

On the 5th day after the sailing fleet set off, on December 1629, 12, the huge battle fleet finally rushed out of the Taijiang River, started at full speed, and went straight to Shanghai.

The battle fleet this time included two Youguang-class gunboats and two Taijiang-class frigates.And what really makes the fleet called "huge" is the 1200-ton double-layer gunboat with iron ribs and wooden hulls that took ten months to complete: the Zhenman.

(End of this chapter)