high official

Chapter 178 Dilemma
"Father, I'm back." Zheng Yan said softly.

"Yeah." Zheng Tang turned his head slowly and said, "What did your old classmate say?"

"I didn't say anything." Zheng Yan said in a low voice: "It's just reminiscing about the past..." After a pause, he said: "Father, I'm afraid this matter will be difficult to resolve."

"Yes." Zheng Tang turned his head, looked at the couplet and said, "For my father, I have kept Mr. Zhengxue's couplet, even if I know that we may not escape the same ending."

"It's just like this..." Zheng Yan said sadly: "It's too unfair to the clansmen."

"Alas." Zheng Tang sighed, and tremblingly said: "Loyalty and filial piety have been in a dilemma since ancient times. My father finally realized how difficult the choice Mr. Zhengxue made ten years ago was." Life, when you can't have both, whichever you choose is a complete tragedy.

If you choose the former, you will become a cold-blooded loyal minister. Although you have left your name in history, behind every word, there is the blood of the whole family; if you choose the latter, you are still a person with feelings, but you will betray your own beliefs , Become a disloyal minister.Not only will it leave a bad reputation for thousands of years, but it will also shame the whole family. This is a crueler punishment than death...

During the countless sleepless nights before, Mr. Zheng repeatedly asked himself, who should he be responsible for and loyal to.But the answer is without exception... People must know how to repay their kindness. Emperor Taizu treated the Zheng family well and awarded the highest honor to the Zheng family. Emperor Jianwen reduced taxes for Zhejiang and chose to trust the Zheng family in times of crisis. There is no other choice at all, but to protect Jianwen to the end, even if the whole family is sacrificed, it will not hesitate!

Although he had made a choice earlier, when he came to this pass, Mr. Zheng was still heartbroken. In the past few days, as long as he closed his eyes, his eyes would be filled with mountains of corpses and seas of blood...

Fortunately, at this point, there is no other choice. If you betray the emperor at this time, not only will your reputation be tarnished, but the lives of your family will also be at stake.How could a tyrant like Zhu Di tolerate the existence of the Zheng family who took in Jianwen?

"Father, when will you tell them the truth?" Zheng Yan had no choice but to retreat and said: "The tribe has the right to know the truth."

"Of course, but not now." Zheng Tang said slowly: "Now, we haven't reached the end of the mountain, and we still have a chance to protect the master and the clan!" After a pause, his old eyes became sharp and said: "So Brat, cheer up! Don't speak of despair until the last moment!"

"Do we have any hole cards?" Zheng Yan asked suspiciously.

"Yes!" Zheng Tang said in a deep voice, "It is not only my Zheng family who care about the safety of Master, but also the loyal people in the world. They will try their best to save him!"

"I hope..." Seeing his father pinning his hope on foreign aid, Zheng Yan couldn't help but be disappointed. Under the watchful eye of Emperor Yongle, under the pressure of tens of thousands of officers and troops, no god can get people from Pujiang.

But Zheng Tang didn't want to go into details. The reason why the hole card can become the hole card is first of all the top secret.

"Father has one more thing." Zheng Yan changed the subject and said a more realistic crisis: "The officers and soldiers are digging deep trenches around the town, will they dig out our secret road?"

"..." Zheng Tang heard the words and said in a low voice: "Zhou Xin is too cunning, I didn't expect to do this as soon as he came up." The secret tunnel is deep underground, and the imperial court doesn't know the exact location, so it can only be dug with average force, and it can't be dug in a short time." After a pause, he said: "It's really impossible, we can only pour the water of Tanxi River into the tunnel. "

"In that case, the master will have no escape route at all." Zheng Yan whispered: "Why doesn't my father let the master leave from the secret path, or there may be a possibility of escape."

"Impossible. The court's eyes and ears have spread all over the county. As long as Master and the others show their heads, they will be discovered within a short distance." Zheng Tang shook his head.

"Alas..." Zheng Yan was deeply depressed when he heard the words: "I really regret it now. I didn't listen to the Sixth Brother at the beginning, and cooperated with the Mingjiao to raise the flag of righteousness. Even if I die, it will be vigorous. How can it be like this now... I can only be cowardly. Waiting for the butcher knife to fall."

"I think you've lost your head!" Zheng Tang resolutely reprimanded: "Why do you think the imperial court surrounded my Zheng family and didn't attack? Isn't it because we occupy the name of righteousness. If we merge with Mingjiao, it will be against us." Emperor Taizu's betrayal, the court will naturally raise the butcher's knife without any scruples!" He grabbed his son's wrist, and the sharp nails stabbed him in pain: "We don't need to do anything, even if it is Emperor Yongle , nor can we clearly destroy the Zheng family, this is our vitality!" After a pause, he said one word at a time: "Remember, although we put the lives of our clansmen in second place, it is not important to the safety of the master. Still above all else!"

"Yes..." Zheng Yan didn't care about the pain, chewed on this sentence repeatedly, and finally realized that his father still hadn't given up on protecting the tribe...

"As for the people of Mingjiao, it is foolish to choose Zhejiang to start an incident. Don't pull us in if you are looking for death!" Zheng Tang sneered at Mingjiao. Success is absolutely impossible.

Because in the past ten years, too many scholars in Zhejiang Province served in the Yongle Dynasty, which caused the gentry to be divided into two factions. One of them was the murdered old man of Jianwen. This faction was very popular among the people. It has been withered, and it is difficult to compete with the rising upstarts of the Yongle Dynasty.Not to mention, facing the mighty Emperor Yongle and his wolf-like General Jingnan!
As for the refugees that the Ming Cult relied on, Mr. Zheng looked down upon them from the bottom of his heart. In this world, what can be accomplished with mud legs?
.

But the facts made his jaw drop in shock, and he regretted it...

On the head of Pujiang City, the muddy legs of the Ming religion that Mr. Zheng looked down upon gave a head-on blow to General Jing Nan whom he feared!

Qin Zhongyuan, the commander of the Mingjiao Red Turban Army, although he is a big old man, grew up from the battlefield at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. He also helped the Annan people resist the imperial army in Jiaozhi for many years, and his war experience is even more than Tang Yun.Besides, there is Mizhi County next to him. When Lao Mi is not drinking, he is also a famous and ruthless character. When the [-] troops of Zhejiang Dusi suddenly arrived at the city of Pujiang, although the Mingjiao people were not afraid of death, they did not take the initiative to attack. In other words, they all want to defend the city.However, Mizhi County said to them: "The officers and soldiers who came to attack this time are the elite division led by Tang Yun. , Launching a surprise attack will surely defeat the enemy and boost my morale!"

The generals' faces changed when they heard the words, but Tiger King Qin Zhongyuan laughed and said, "It's just what I want!" He asked Mizhi County to lead the crowd to defend the city, and he personally led two thousand elites, and suddenly rushed out of the city and went straight to the officers and soldiers. camp.

In that room, Tang Yun really underestimated the enemy. He didn't expect these mud legs to dare to fight out, so that the whole army was busy building engineering equipment, but didn't pay attention to fortification.As a result, the officers and soldiers were caught off guard, and a large area was hacked and killed, so they had to retreat temporarily... However, the experienced division is indeed amazing. At the same time that the front army was attacked, the rear army established a defense line and stabilized its position. A major defeat was formed, and the casualties were not too great.

But the terrible thing is that those accessories for making siege equipment were burned clean by the mud legs wrapped in red scarves... and it would take at least half a month to mobilize new equipment, which greatly affected the attack of the officers and troops. city ​​strength.

In the days that followed, Uncle Tang, who was furious and unable to wait for the new equipment, ordered his subordinates to forcibly attack the city.It's just that although he surrounded Pujiang City tightly and gave the Red Scarf Army no chance to take advantage of it, he was still unable to attack and suffered heavy casualties.

The reason for this situation.In addition to the unfavorable equipment, the main reason is that the Red Scarf Army is not afraid of death.When you meet on a narrow road, the brave wins, let alone the one who defends the city.They used rolling stones to beat trees, bows and arrows to snipe at the officers and soldiers attacking the city, but the low city walls could not give them enough protection, and the officers and soldiers could always climb to the top of the city after paying a heavy price.At this time, the officers and soldiers of the Red Scarf Army would kill him viciously. They chopped, kicked, bit with their teeth, and even jumped off the city with the officers and soldiers in their arms...

In just a few days, countless corpses were piled up in the city of Pujiang, some from the officers and soldiers, some from the Red Scarf Army, no matter which side they were, they would all be turned into dust forever, and no one would even remember their names...

This scene was unexpected by Tang Yun. He was completely stunned. Looking at the low but unconquerable city of Pujiang County, Uncle Tang's eyes were red and angry, but he was an experienced man after all. Veteran general, knowing that one's own front has been defeated, continuing to attack hard will not be effective, and will only increase sacrifices.I had no choice but to endure the overwhelming anger and ordered a truce to repair, and waited for the reinforcements to arrive with siege equipment before attacking the city.

The city of Pujiang, which had been fighting fiercely for several days, suddenly fell silent, and the Red Scarf Army also took advantage of this rare opportunity to lick their wounds.Most of them haven't been on the battlefield for a day. Although they occupy a good location and regard death as home, they have more casualties than the army. It has to be said that the situation is extremely bad.

But no anxiety could be seen on Qin Zhongyuan's face. He smiled proudly and patrolled around the city, encouraging his heroic men, comforting the wounded soldiers, and attending the funeral of the victims...Ming Cultists were all cremated.They set up a firewood pile in the due west, placed the remains, and then poured vegetable oil on fire, and the raging fire devoured the remains in an instant...

Qin Zhongyuan stood at the front, and behind him were thousands of believers who participated in the funeral. They murmured together and chanted the mantra of Mingjiao: "Burning holy fire, burn my remnant body, what joy is there in life, why bother in death..."

Mi Zhixian stood aside, his old face was reddened by the fire, and the despair in those old eyes was also reflected... because he was tied to a wooden frame and was about to be thrown into the fire.

(End of this chapter)