Anti Qing

Chapter 66 Secret Letter
After fighting the fire all night, Li Zijing once again felt what it means to be exhausted. There was an unconcealable exhaustion in his eyes, and the bucket in his hand fell to his feet inadvertently.

The black arrow jacket on his body was covered with scorched ash, and the crackling sound of the fire was still echoing in his ears.

The eastern sky floated a fish-belly white, and on the side where the sky and the earth were connected, the golden sun spread on the plain outside Xi'an, and the earth gradually became brighter.

It was scorched black everywhere, and under the ruined walls, the soldiers of the front battalion were sitting or standing, in groups of twos and threes, watching all this silently.

The fire in the Shenhang hangar was extinguished without any risk.

The Dashun army in the city was mobilized in a timely manner, and there were usually a lot of water tanks in Xi'an city, so the fire did not have time to spread.

The air was filled with an unpleasant smell of charred, and the second half of the once magnificent Xi'an Shenhang was burnt to ruins.

Now Li Zijing's mood is very complicated, some are angry, some are unwilling, and more are dissatisfied.

From Li Zijing's point of view, Li Zicheng had been reminded yesterday, but he thought he was making up an excuse for not wanting to accept these surrenders.

With the current result, Li Zijing felt that he had done everything he had to do. This was not his own problem, let alone the result of the poor defense of the front battalion.

With such a mood, Li Zijing came to Qin Palace.

The sudden fire made all the Dashun generals present look very heavy. Like Li Zijing, they all stayed up all night.

The dragon chairs standing high on the steps were empty, and the main hall of Prince Qin's mansion was more than enough for Dashun's more than a hundred civil and military officials and generals.

However, the owner of this court meeting, the Yongchang Emperor Li Zicheng, who always arrived early, unexpectedly arrived late today.

During the waiting time, voices of discussion gradually arose in the hall.

Tian Jianxiu and Niu Jinxing stood at the top of the generals and civil servants. Compared with the cursing and discussions of the others, the two of them were much calmer.

Liu Zongmin, who has always been grumpy, became dumb this time.

"Before His Majesty arrives, let me mention a few words."

Niu Jinxing stood up and said in a deep voice.

"The former battalion stationed in Dingmen Urn City in Xi'an cannot absolve itself of the blame and must bear the main responsibility for the fire."

Hearing this, Li Zijing's expression froze.

Niu Jinxing hadn't finished speaking yet, so he looked here.

"I heard that the soldiers of the Qing army that Wu Zhaosheng led in the battle of Tongguan were also stationed at Andingmen. Little King Chuang, is there such a thing?"

Li Zijing didn't know what the old fox was going to do, so he had no choice but to speak sternly.

"That's true."

Hearing this, Niu Jinxing smiled slightly.

There was a little noise above the main hall, and many people didn't care much about the whereabouts of these soldiers. Now that the god hangar is on fire, it just so happens that these soldiers are camping at Andingmen.

Is all this a bit too coincidental?
Niu Jinxing didn't speak any more, and the discussion in the main hall gradually increased, and many Dashun generals who were dissatisfied with the surrender began to ridicule.

"This is definitely not the problem of Little Chuang Wang. Those soldiers have always been of one mind with our Dashun, or they set the fire!"

"The fire must have been secretly set by those soldiers. The number of people in the front battalion is small, and the scale of the Andingmen urn is very large. It is understandable that the guards were lost!"

Listening to the direction of the discussion in the hall, Li Zijing frowned slightly, tightly clutching the note he intended to hand to Li Zicheng.

Niu Jinxing raised his hand and paced back and forth on the steps.

"In this way, things will be much easier to handle."

"Your Majesty will come down later, King Xiao Chuang just needs to put all this matter on Wu Zhaosheng's head, and His Majesty will not blame the brothers in the front camp."

Li Zijing stared at Niu Jinxing closely, as if trying to see through him.

This Niu Jinxing, in the hall today, has always had a smiling face, teaching himself to do things inside and outside the words.

Li Zijing knew in his heart that once he did what Niu Jinxing said, the four thousand soldiers would no longer have a share in the front battalion.

Both Wu Zhaosheng and Dai Zhijun were going to die, and the best outcome for these four thousand soldiers would be to be scattered and distributed among the battalions.

At that time, the front battalion will still be the weakest one.

After working so hard for a long time, it was a waste of effort to win people's hearts with weapons and armor, and to treat people equally.

Just as he was thinking, there was a sound of heavy footsteps outside the hall.

"Your Majesty is down!"

With an exclamation, everyone turned their gazes over.

The sound of footsteps was getting closer, and the noisy atmosphere in the hall gradually fell silent. Every sound of footsteps seemed to step on the hearts of everyone.

Li Zicheng, dressed in a light blue arrow suit, suddenly appeared at the entrance of the hall.

I saw him looking at the entire hall expressionlessly, and the crowd was overshadowed wherever his eyes passed.

Li Zicheng walked in slowly from outside the hall, stepped up the steps step by step, came to the dragon chair, turned around and scanned the entire hall silently.

During the whole process, the civil and military personnel of Dashun in the main hall kept their eyes on him, and no one dared to say a word rashly.

Even Niu Jinxing immediately retreated to the position of head of civil servants.

It was the first time in a long time that Li Zicheng showed such a suffocating aura, even looking at his side face made people feel nervous.

"What happened to the fire last night?"

Niu Jinxing stepped out immediately, with a faint smile still on his face.

"Your Majesty, there was a fire at the Anding Gate last night, King Xiao Chuang's front battalion was the first to arrive, and they worked hard to put out the fire."

"The fire this time should have nothing to do with Little Chuang Wang's front camp."

As he was speaking, Li Zicheng suddenly interrupted his words with a cold tone.

"Did I ask you this?"

Niu Jinxing trembled all over, the smile froze on his face, and he bowed down.

"Yes, the minister said the wrong thing."

"Returning to Your Majesty, the fire last night was set off by the soldiers of the Qing army stationed at Andingmen. I proposed that Wu Zhaosheng and Dai Zhijun be bound to the market and beheaded."

"As for the remaining [-] Green Battalions, they will be handed over to General Quan's Central Battalion for the time being. There are a lot of people in the Central Battalion, and these soldiers will not be able to make any waves."

Li Zicheng looked around the field slightly, his eyes did not stay on Li Zijing at all, and a smile was drawn at the corner of his mouth.

"What do you guys think, these Qing soldiers set the fire?"

Both Liu Zongmin and Tian Jianxiu were extremely honest today, and they didn't stand up and say a word from the beginning to the end.

It is possible that Tian Jianxiu, who is stable by nature, does not say a word.

But in terms of Liu Zongmin's carefree personality, after such a big event happened, he couldn't bear to say a word?

Li Zijing observed this, his eyes changed slightly.

Everyone looked at me and I looked at you, they all clasped their fists and saluted.

"Return to Your Majesty, we all thought so!"

Li Zicheng smiled with satisfaction, sat on the dragon chair, and waved his hands slightly.

"Since this is the case, I will issue an order to arrest Wu Zhaosheng and Dai Zhijun, and immediately arrest Xishi and behead them."

"According to the order!"

A veteran soldier in Tsing Yi immediately clasped his fists in salute, then turned and walked out of the hall.

After finishing speaking, Li Zicheng glanced slightly, and sat on the dragon chair.

His eyes were looking forward, but the corners of his eyes were fixed on Li Zijing who was standing among the generals on the left without saying a word.

Li Zicheng's eyes flickered, his fingers inadvertently tapped on the armrest of the dragon chair, and following the pace of the old soldier who sent the order away, his breath was a little short, as if he was waiting for something.

"Your Majesty, my brother has something to announce!"

Seeing that the old soldier was about to walk out of the hall, Li Zijing hesitated for a long time and had to speak.

Li Zijing couldn't just watch the four thousand freshmen being snatched away by Liu Zongmin, at least he had to try.

For Liu Zongmin, these four thousand veterans were just a little supplementary source of troops, but they were indispensable for Li Zijing, who was just starting out.

Li Zicheng's eyes flashed brightly, but it was quickly covered by his plain face. Hearing that this was the first time he looked at Li Zijing.

"What did my brother say?"

Li Zijing stood up and presented the note respectfully.

"This is a secret letter from Dai Zhijun to the captive chieftain Azig, obtained by my younger brother. Please have a look at it, and make a decision before it is too late!"

(End of this chapter)