A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 862 Scam
In fact, the matter of chasing stolen goods and subsidizing payment has spread to Shanhaiguan since the end of March. The capital is [-] miles away from Shanhaiguan.If you walk slowly, you will have to walk for more than ten days. If you drive fast day and night, it will only take two or three days.

When the news reached Shanhaiguan, Wu Sangui, Liu Zhaoji, Fan Zhiwan, Li Yutian and others were in shock and could not believe their ears.However, when more news came out, it was confirmed that this matter was true. All the civil servants and generals in Shanhaiguan were panicked and frightened, not knowing what to do.

Even at this time in Shanhaiguan, Dingxibo Tangtong, who had surrendered one step earlier and had the heavy responsibility of recruiting surrender, felt terrified and at a loss.

On the second day of April, Ping Xibo Wu Sangui stood on the east tower of the town in a daze. Shanhaiguan was extremely magnificent. Seven castles including Yicheng, Weiyuan City and Ninghai City are connected.

Moreover, Guancheng is also connected with the Great Wall, including Guancheng Great Wall, South Wing Great Wall, North Wing Great Wall, Laolongtou Great Wall, Jiaoshan Great Wall, Sandaoguan Great Wall and Jiumenkou Great Wall (a piece of stone), with a total length of more than 50 miles. .

Guancheng is located in the middle of the plain. Its east wall is not only the east part of Guancheng, but also a part of the Great Wall. An archery tower".

Wu Sangui took out the binoculars and looked out. He looked outside the archery tower for a long time. Through the Wengcheng, he could see the Dongluo City on the opposite side.The circumference of the city is more than 500 feet, with a slightly arc-shaped extension. The west wall is connected with the east wall of Guancheng and the Great Wall, and the southeast city wall is connected with the east gate of Guancheng.

Looking through Dongluo City, you can see that Qing army camps are scattered for several miles, especially on the Huanxi Ridge, where banners and flags are flying.Wu Sangui looked there for a long time, he had seen the yellow dragon umbrella of slave chief Dorgon appear on Weiyuan Fort, maybe at this time the Qing emperor's camp was stationed in that mountain range.

Going to Jiaoshan in the northwest, you can see huge rocks like dragon heads wearing horns. The Changshou Mountain and Yanshan Mountains in the northeast of the Great Wall in Jiaoshan are also full of dense Qing army camps. The mighty camps and banners seem to be far away.

Wu Sangui looked at it worriedly and blankly for a long time, at this moment, hurried footsteps sounded, Wu Sangui turned his head, only to see one of his personal guards rushing over.

……

Wu Sangui had just stepped into the hall in the governor's residence, when he heard the joyful and hearty voices of Uncle Dongping and Liu Zhaoji, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan: "Haha, this is really great joy, the crown prince is safe and sound, God bless me."

Wu Sangui was stunned, and then he was overjoyed: "The prince is safe and sound?"

When he stepped into the lobby, he saw Liu Zhaoji's burly figure standing there. He laughed loudly, waving a letter in his hand with extreme joy on his face.

Beside him, Fan Zhiwan, governor of Jiliao, and Li Yutian, governor of Guanmen, were sitting, whispering to each other, but they both had happy expressions on their faces.

There was another person sitting awkwardly, but he had already taken refuge with Dashun, the former general of Miyun, Dingxibo Tangtong.

Seeing Wu Sangui coming in, everyone looked at him, Liu Zhaoji strode over and called out: "Elder Uncle, come and see, this is a letter from Yang Shuai, saying that the crown prince has been welcomed into the Xuanfu by the Marquis of Yongning, I am very bright." Not finished, hahaha..."

Wu Sangui first saluted Liu Zhaoji, Fan Zhiwan, and Li Yutian calmly: "Liu Shuai, two soldiers."

He was polite and courteous, and his every move showed the demeanor of a family member. Both Fan Zhiwan and Li Yutian had gentle smiles on their faces, while Tang Tong's eyes flashed with jealousy.

Then Wu Sangui took the letter from Liu Zhaoji and read it carefully, his hands trembling involuntarily: "...On the 28th of last month, the crown prince was rescued by a righteous man and fled to Xuanfu Town. Now Wangdou, Marquis of Yongning, Ji Shiwei, Governor of Xuanda, and former Shangshu of the Ministry of War Chen Xinjia, guarding eunuch Du Xun and others have welcomed him and settled down, is... is this news true?"

Liu Zhaoji laughed loudly and said, "This is a letter written by Marquis Yongning himself to Yang Shuai, and then Yang Shuai hurriedly told me to wait, how can it be untrue?"

He laughed loudly and said: "Prince Anran, I think he will launch a crusade with the Marquis of Yongning soon, and the end of the banditry will come."

Fan Zhiwan and Li Yutian both stroked their beards and smiled, while Tang Tong's face turned green and pale, especially when he heard the word "Liu Thief".

He laughed dryly and said: "Liu Shuai, Wu Shuai, two military sects, we are now the servants of Dashun, these two words..."

Liu Zhaoji shouted sharply: "Da Shun? What Da Shun? The Da Shun who tortured officials and gentry? The Da Shun who went from house to house to steal money? The Da Shun who cruelly plundered women's money? A certain Liu Zhaoji joined the new dynasty to protect the people of the country, didn't he?" In order for the thieves to go from house to house to break down and plunder!... These thieves are used to tricking the people with sweet words, but the thieves are thieves after all, and they can't help but show themselves after only a few days. Damn, a certain family was almost deceived by this thieves !"

Fan Zhiwan and Li Yutian looked at Tang Tong with a bit of cold eyes. Ever since they knew about the recovery of stolen goods and money, especially when they heard that officials Xungui were tortured to death, they drew a clear line with Dashun in their hearts.Hearing that the crown prince is still alive, he swore against the bandit even more.

They couldn't imagine the consequences. One day they declared their allegiance, but the next day they were arrested and tortured, and then they and their family members were beaten to death. They lost their money and life. Thinking about it makes people shudder.

Li Yutian said indifferently: "Torturing the gentry and the common people, extorting money and women, is this a new dynasty? There are still thieves! Don't mention the word Dashun again!"

Fan Zhiwan also laughed and said: "Ding Xibo received the emperor's favor, and Emperor Daxing's kindness is as heavy as a mountain. Now I am full of vitality, and people want to be loyal. Ding Xibo will be counted in the morning."

Tang Tong was fidgeting. At first he was full of vigor and complacency in front of Wu Sangui, Liu Zhaoji, Fan Zhiwan and others, but now his momentum has weakened a lot.

After the news came that the capital and other places were chasing stolen goods to help pay, he also secretly regretted in his heart, feeling that the Dashun Dynasty was unreliable, and his earlier decision was hasty.Good birds choose trees to live in, obviously this Dashun is not an ideal tree.

However, he still had hope in his heart, and he said with a dry smile: "Sure enough, if Shun Guotian is angry and complains, he should abandon the dark and turn to the light, and return to my allegiance to Daming. It's just...whether the news is wrong or not, we need to find out more. .”

Liu Zhaoji sneered, Fan Zhiwan and Li Yutian were also pondering, Tang Tong's words were also reasonable, the rumors were so unbelievable, could the news from Beijing be exaggerated?
After all, it is too appalling to pursue stolen goods to subsidize wages and plunder people. Any wise king or emerging dynasty would not do such stupid things.Indeed, it would be better to inquire about it again, so as to save myself from making a difficult destiny decision again.

In particular, Fan Zhiwan is cowardly and greedy. Apart from making money, he also pays attention to harmony. If he can avoid trouble, it is better not to cause trouble.

Wu Sangui had been sitting quietly, not knowing what he was thinking, when he was about to speak, he heard hurried footsteps, but a family member from the Governor's Mansion rushed in, bringing important news to everyone in the hall.

"What, someone from Ping Xibo's family escaped from the capital, and there is still a close friend?"

Fan Zhiwan and the others stood up abruptly.

……

Several people were brought into the meeting hall, Wu Sangui looked at it hesitantly, one person was supported by two servants of the Wu residence, walking with difficulty, looked very familiar, seemed to be...

There is one more person.

"Uncle..."

"Brother Ting Xian."

This person turned out to be my good friend Fang Guangchen, courtesy name Tingxian, the son of Fang Yizao, the former Minister of Rites. When Fang Yizao was the governor of Liaodong as a university scholar, he himself worshiped him as his disciple, and formed an alliance with his son Fang Guangchen. Appeared in front of oneself in a busy manner.

After he greeted, he retreated to the side, revealing the person being supported in the middle.This person was bruised many times, his hands and feet were trembling, if he hadn't been supported by someone, he would have shrunk to the ground.Wu Sangui looked at it hesitantly, the more he looked at it, the more familiar it became, and finally he woke up, this completely changed person was his elder brother Wu Sanfeng.

Seeing Wu Sanfeng trembling and trembling, his tears rolled down big and big, his lips were trembling, he suddenly threw himself at Wu Sangui's feet, and screamed: "Brother!"

He hugged Wu Sangui's feet, and howled heart-piercingly, his voice was like a cuckoo crying blood.

Wu Sangui knelt down, tremblingly said: "Brother, you...how did you become like this?"

He couldn't recognize the person in front of him. Just by looking at his hands and feet, he could tell how much inhuman torture he had endured.

Wu Sanfeng howled and cried: "Ying Qi... Ying Qi is gone, and your sister-in-law and the others are all dead!... They were crushed to death..."

Wu Sangui said: "Clamp...clamp to death...then...what about father?"

Wu Sanfeng howled, "Father is dying too, he was burned..."

Wu Sangui staggered suddenly, his face was as pale as gray, and he murmured: "How dare they... how dare they..."

He murmured, he didn't understand, he was a key general at the frontier, Li Zicheng, Liu Zongmin and others didn't look at the face of the monk or the face of the Buddha, and they shouldn't attack his family, why did they ignore it?How did they think, so unscrupulous?

"what!"

He suddenly let out a roar, the voice was terrible, full of incomparable hatred, seeing his ferocious expression, the hall was silent, not to mention Fan Zhiwan and Li Yutian were silent like cicadas, even Liu Zhaoji sat sighing.

"I swear I will not be born with a thief!" Roaring, Wu Sangui suddenly drew his sharp sword, and knocked over the table and chairs in front of him with one blow.Hearing the crazy voice coming out of his mouth, Tang Tong unknowingly shrank himself a little, so as not to attract Wu Sangui's attention.

Suddenly Wu Sangui thought of something and pointed his sharp sword at him, which made Tang Tong stand up in a hurry. He put one hand on his sword and said in a panic: "Wu Shuai, my brother has abandoned the dark side and returned to Ming Dynasty. Don't get me wrong..."

He cursed even louder: "You hateful thief, a certain Tang Tong and his generation swear against each other."

Fan Zhiwan, Li Yutian and others hurriedly persuaded him, but Wu Sangui just said coldly: "I ask you, after you took refuge with the bandits, the bandits once said that you would be in charge of the defense of Shanhaiguan, Jizhen, etc. Leading troops into Beijing, will there be bandits coming to defend the border walls of Jizhen, Shanhaiguan, etc.?"

Tang Tong thought for a while, then shook his head: "It seems not!"

"what?"

Fan Zhiwan and the others turned pale with shock, Liu Zhaoji stood up abruptly, and shouted at Tang Tong: "Only you, Tang Tong, can guard these two defenses?"

Fan Zhiwan murmured: "They, what kind of tricks are they practicing?"

Fan Zhiwan didn't think too much about it at the time, but now that Wu Sangui asked, he suddenly realized that this matter was extremely absurd.There are hundreds of thousands of Tartars outside the pass, and it is still difficult for so many good ministers and generals to sit in the town. How can Tang Tong be better than Yang Guozhu, Wu Sangui, Liu Zhaoji and others?
What did the intruder think, or did he think that there was no trouble outside the wall, and that hundreds of thousands of Tartars never existed in this world?
Wu Sangui returned the sword into the sheath, he was clear in his heart, no matter how absurd the trespassers and others were doing, one thing he can be sure of is that this solicitation is a scam!

Their purpose is to lure their own people into Beijing, and then they will be the swordsman and I will be the fish.

Wu Sangui didn't dare to imagine what it would be like to be tortured, but when he thought about that scene, an indescribable panic emerged in his mind, and in the end he was even more horrified than ever before.

Fortunately, I didn't fall into the trap myself.

fortunately.

(End of this chapter)