weaving

Chapter 100

In the 11th year of Chongzhen, on the fourth day of November, Baoding Fucheng.

Baoding and Beijing were born together. The name of Baoding comes from the meaning of "defending the metropolis and stabilizing the world". It has always been an important place in Gyeonggi and the "South Gate of the capital".

Baoding City has a circumference of more than twelve miles, a wall three feet five feet high, and a moat three feet wide and one foot five feet deep outside the city.

Every sixty steps on the top of the city wall, there is a rectangular pier protruding outward, which allows the defender to attack the enemy from the side, so it is also called the enemy's platform. There are 81 piers in the whole city.

There are four gates built on the four sides of the city, the east gate is named "Wangying", the south gate is named "Yingxun", the west gate is named "Zhanyue", and the north gate is named "Gongji".

There are city towers and semi-circular urns built on the main tower of each city gate. Although the entire city is square, the southwestern part of the city protrudes more than sixty feet outward, and it is slightly arc-shaped, and it is straight to the north. The shape of the city is like a boot, so it is known as "the city of boots".

At this time, Baoding City was the seat of Fucheng and Baoding Town, and Qingyuan County was Fuguo County, so it was also the same city as the prefecture and the county, and there were many battalions of nearly 11 soldiers and horses such as Baoding Cheying. The governor of Baoding and the army of the governor of Baoding defended this majestic city, which is known as the most important town in the world, with its arch guarding Shenjing.

…………

Time entered November, and the weather became colder and colder. The snowflakes falling from the sky still couldn't cover up the bloodstains outside the city.

Under the majestic Baoding City Wall, there are bloodstains everywhere, and the places not far from the city are full of destroyed and unusable chariots and long ladders.

Looking from a distance, the city wall built of blue bricks is also covered with scars, and many towers also have traces of being burned by the flames of war. missing.

Along a river a few miles south of Baoding City, a large tent was set up, standing along the river, and extending to the official road in the distance.

A thin figure stood motionless on the official road outside the camp, staring at the high Baoding City on the horizon, but his heart was extremely angry.

I led the army day and night to come to the rescue. After the soldiers fought hard, the siege of Baoding was finally broken. Unexpectedly, after the Qing soldiers retreated, the governor of Baoding, Zhang Qiping, would close the gate of the city.

Not only did he not allow his army to enter the city alone, but he also refused to provide food and grass to the army on the grounds that there was no food in the city. He just ordered people to throw thousands of taels of silver from the city wall so that his army could buy food.

It is really ridiculous. After the looting by the Qing soldiers, all the villages and towns around Baoding City were empty. Where did you go to buy food with money?
He led more than 1 officers and soldiers in the three towns of Xuanda, and chased the Tartars all the way from the capital. There was not enough food and grass, and the soldiers were generally hungry and cold.

But now, it is difficult to satisfy even this small wish!
The remaining food and grass in the army can only last for a few more days. This is still under the suggestion of guerrilla Zhang Cheng. In the military rations, it has persisted until now.

"Hey……"

Lu Xiangsheng let out a long sigh. He never thought that he would enter King Jingqin with all his enthusiasm, but this would be the result.

For the past few days, Lu Xiangsheng shared joys and sorrows with the soldiers, eating bark and grass roots together. Although the soldiers also complained a lot, none of them fled.

The more he thought of this, the more Lu Xiangsheng felt like a knife was piercing his heart.

Since the day he left Beijing, he had written to the Ministry of War many times, requesting a timely supply of food and grass, but all of them fell silent, without a single reply.

Looking at Baoding City in the distance, Lu Xiangsheng actually passed a poem in his heart:

"I'm going to Baozhou Fortress, and the Yuhe River goes straight to the east.

The mountains and rivers still have spirit, how lush and beautiful they are.

Take care of my towel car prisoner, the fierce wind turns the autumn pendant.

The fragrance of the petals wants to worship, and the melancholy faces the sky. "

This is exactly what Wen Tianxiang felt when he was plundered by Hu Yuan to Baoding City. Although Baoding is beautiful and looks like a place in the south of the Yangtze River, just like Wen Tianxiang back then, Lu Xiangsheng's heart was also gloomy at this time, as if he could not see any light.

Just when he was in a trance, his relative Chen An came over and reported in a low voice: "Director, Yang Zanhua is back."

Lu Xiangsheng's spirit was lifted, and he sent Yang Tinglin to Qingyuan County to ask for food, wondering if there would be any good news.

…………

A month ago, when Lu Xiangsheng first arrived in Changzhou, he was full of enthusiasm for loyalty to the emperor and patriotism. He dared to touch the cabinet minister Yang Sichang and the supervising army. He was not afraid of anything.

However, during this month, he experienced a lot of hardships, and he also began to understand that he could not touch them by himself. These people relied on the emperor's favor, and dared to deceive the emperor above and suppress Zhongliang below.

He wanted to fight, but he was constrained everywhere.

Not only did the emperor not understand him and support him, but he was also angry with him. He demoted him several times, almost dismissed him, and even called him back to Beijing for investigation.

Now he is always worried, afraid that he will be dismissed and questioned if he suddenly receives an imperial decree, and his chance to serve the country loyally on the battlefield will be wiped out in an instant.

He also knows the current emperor's temper. Who dares to say that such a thing will never happen?

On the night when the army was stationed in Yizhou to rest, Lu Xiangsheng received a report from the residence, the contents of which surprised him, and he couldn't help but sighed.

In this mansion newspaper, there are two things related to him.

The first thing is that Yang Tinglin went up to impeach Yang Sichang, but Yang Sichang played a trick instead. On the one hand, he recommended him to be the head of the Ministry of War, and on the other hand, he sent Yang Tinglin to Lu Xiangsheng to praise the painting.

He read Yang Tinglin's memorials twice.

If it was a month ago, he would definitely have felt delighted, applauded, or even danced with his sword drawn, but now he no longer feels that way, and instead makes him feel deeply uneasy.

At that time, he pointed to the two sentences in the memorabilia: "Nanzhong is included, Li Gang has no merit; latent goodness is successful, Zongze perishes", and said to a colleague: "These two sentences are so happy, but they are just vain tricks." What's the benefit of being taboo? Bo Xiang is a scholar after all!"

Another thing is that the current emperor sent his chief assistant Liu Yuliang to the capital to inspect the army.

He knew that Liu Yuliang did not understand military affairs, and he was not a person who would fight against the Qing soldiers on weekdays. Although he was the chief assistant, he would only be obsequious and dare not make any claims or responsibilities.

Now, he asked himself to inspect the army, but he intends to act like a "Lin Rong" on behalf of the emperor, so as to win the favor of the emperor.

If the Qing soldiers continued to go deep into Jinan, he would not have to take direct responsibility; but if the Qing soldiers retreated, it would be his first contribution as the chief assistant inspector. Lu Xiangsheng deeply felt that besides Yang Sichang and Gao Qiqian, there were also Liu Yuliang was added out of thin air to hold him back, and his situation became even more difficult.

(End of this chapter)