scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 167 This Is a False Edict
"Following the fate of heaven, the emperor's edict said: Taishi Oboi, long-term blessing of heaven, extremely noble salary, shade to his children and grandchildren, but he does not want to repay, is insane, bullies heaven and earth, roars at the court, harms living beings, is ruthless, The crimes are clear! The state of being a captive, polluting the country and harming the people, poisoning people and ghosts, is unforgivable! Command Dingyuan Pingkou General and Prince An Yue Le to capture and kill this beast. The military power of the Southern Army, restraining the officers and soldiers, rectifying military discipline, striking peace with Prince Wu Sangui of Pingxi, stopping fighting, and repaying the mighty grace of heaven in Yunnan and Guizhou! Aobai's party members, Yue Le can judge the situation, cut first and play later, and deal with it all by Yue Le on behalf of heaven Reward and punishment! Here!"

After reading this murderous little pockmarked secret decree, Yue Le's first reaction was not to question the authenticity of this secret decree, but to feel dizzy for a while, knowing that what he was most worried about and feared had finally happened, and then he tried to calm down Mood, carefully check whether this secret decree is true or not—it can’t be helped, I really can’t blame Yue Le for being reckless and credulous. The previous conflict with Aobai was too intense and sharp, Fatty Lu's tricks to disturb the morale of Qing Qing's army were too wicked and insidious, and Yue Le had completely preconceived it.

Fatty Lu and Wang Shaobo jointly forged the secret decree, whether it is perfect, whether it can be hidden from the eyes of old foxes like Yue Le and Aobai, Fatty Lu himself is not perfect, but in the dark and blind wilderness, It's really hard for Yue Le to tell the real from the fake with the moonlight in the sky and the few lights.So after checking and checking, Yue Le can only come to one conclusion - this secret decree, no matter the handwriting, shading, color, seal, or even the ink used to seal it, looks very real!
"No, you can't trust it." Yue Le rolled up the secret decree of the jade scroll and golden book, and secretly comforted himself: "Handwriting can be imitated, and jade seal can be forged. There are also samples from the old thief Wu Sangui. As long as you are willing to spend money, it is not difficult to imitate them. But the fake ones will never be real. When you return to Huangzhou, find a place with good light and check the authenticity carefully. , as long as it is fake, we will be able to find flaws."

"My lord, we should go." Yue Le's soldiers urged: "It's too dangerous here, if the ambushes of Wu Sangui's bandit army suddenly break out, it's nothing to hurt the servants, but if you hurt your golden branch and jade body, my lord They're going to die."

"I know." Yue Le, who was in a bad mood, did not agree angrily, stuffed the secret decree into his arms, and ordered: "Go, go back to Huangzhou City overnight."

Returning to Huangzhou from Laohuyan must pass through Jiaoxi Pass and Jiming Pass, but fortunately, the Gaode Jie army had already burned and abandoned these two passes when they retreated westward. The pass was already under the control of the Qing army. At the same time, Oboi sent a team of elite cavalry to ambush in Jiaoxi Pass to meet Yue Le. Yue Le's team had just returned to the pass. The cavalry came out immediately and escorted Yue Le back to a safe place.

During this period, Ladaha had to ask Yue Le about the result of the conversation with Fatty Lu, but Yue Le was in a panic at the moment, and he didn't dare to tell him the details of the process, so he just vaguely ordered to return to Huangzhou quickly, so as not to cause trouble. However, Ladaha didn't dare to ask any more questions, but led his [-] cavalry to surround Yue Le and hurried eastward, returning overnight to the Qing army's Huangzhou Camp outside Yuping Pass.

The way back went smoothly at first, and it didn't take long to pass through the Jiming Pass and return to the relatively open territory of Sizhou Prefecture. However, at midnight, when Yue Le's team was about to reach the city of Sizhou, A Qing army of about [-] troops suddenly appeared from the city of Zhou, and with densely packed torches, they blocked the way of Yue Le's team.What surprised Yue Le even more was that the leader of this Sizhou Qing army was none other than Aixinjueluo Leerjin, the forward commander of the Qing army stationed in Sizhou!
"What's up with Le Erjin? I went to Jiaoxi Pass for business, and I informed him beforehand? What are you doing stopping me?" Yue Le was puzzled, and hurried out of the crowd, showing his badge and official documents, and shouting He shouted: "Prince Shunjun, don't get me wrong. I'm Prince An, Yue Le. I was ordered to go to Jiaoxi Pass on business. Now that the errands are completed, I'm going back to Huangzhou Daying to do business. Don't get me wrong."

"Nephew Le Erjin, please greet my uncle." Daishan's great-grandson, Le Erjin, who is two generations shorter than Yue Le, came out of the crowd wearing armor, and immediately cupped his hands to Yue Le and said: "My nephew is in armor, so it is inconvenient to salute. , please forgive me, uncle."

"The King of Shunjun doesn't need to be too polite. In the army, there is no need to tell each other's seniority." Yue Le cupped his hands and returned the salute, and said, "King of Shunjun, I have sent someone to inform you before that I have been ordered by the Grand Master to go to Guan Gong. Now that I have finished my errands and am going to go back to work, why did you lead your army to stop me in the middle of the night?"

"Uncle misunderstood, nephew and grandson didn't stop you." Le Erjin shook his head and explained: "That's right, my nephew and grandson just heard the report from the scouts saying that uncle was outside Jiaoxi Pass. The emperor entrusted him with a mission, and the nephew and grandson led the army out to meet him. I want to ask my uncle if there is such a thing? Is there any mission that the emperor entrusted to the nephew and grandson on top of the emperor's secret decree?"

"You sent someone to watch me?" Yue Le quickly came to his senses, and then flew into a rage.

"Uncle misunderstood again." Le Erjin quickly shook his head again, explaining: "The nephew was ordered to be stationed in Sizhou to monitor and restrain Wu Sangui's rebels from Zhenyuan. Naturally, they had to send more scouts to visit outside the customs day and night, so I heard it unintentionally. Here comes some conversations between my uncle and the emperor's secret envoy."

"Really?" Yue Le was suspicious—at that time, he asked the guards to closely search the situation around Tiger Rock. The ordinary scouts sent by Le Erjin could get close to him and Fatty Lu so easily, and they could still hear The content of the conversation between myself and Fatty Lu?Thinking of this, Yue Le subconsciously glanced at the twenty guards he had brought from Huangzhou, and was startled in his heart—could it be that there were traitors among his guards?
"Whether this is the case or not is not irrelevant." Le Erjin obviously didn't want to get entangled with Yue Le on this matter, but asked: "What my nephew and grandson just want to ask my uncle is, has my uncle received a message when he is outside Jiaoxi Pass?" The emperor's secret decree? On top of the secret decree, is there an errand entrusted by the emperor to his grandnephew?"

"What on earth do you want to do?" Yue Le said angrily: "Whether this secret decree is true or not, let alone now, even if this secret decree is true, you are not qualified to know the content, right?"

"So, uncle admitted that there is this secret decree?" Le Erjin asked with an extremely serious expression, "Uncle, since there is this secret decree, why did you go back to the Huangzhou camp overnight? Could it be that the army There are rumors in the middle that Uncle, you have already taken refuge in the Grand Master, is it true?"

"When did the army have this rumor? Why didn't I know?" Yue Le asked angrily.Le Erjin didn't answer, and kept silent, but Yue Le himself came to his senses very quickly, and said angrily: "Could it be that it's because the grand master and I have been closest to each other during this period of time, and the grand master has entrusted me with many important errands, Do you suspect that I, Yue Le, betrayed the emperor and joined the Grand Master?"

"My grandnephew dare not." Le Erjin finally opened his mouth and asked, "My grandnephew just asked my uncle, after receiving the emperor's secret decree, why didn't my uncle discuss it with royal family members like us, but returned to Huangzhou camp overnight? "

"What does this have to do with you?" Yue Le was even more angry, and shouted: "I received a secret decree not to discuss with you, and returned to Huangzhou Camp overnight. What does it have to do with you? What right do you have to interfere?!"

"Prince An!" Le Erjin suddenly became angry and shouted loudly: "Prince An, although I am two generations younger than you and I am your nephew, I am a descendant of Aixinjueluo just like you. A courtier of the Qing Dynasty, a slave of the emperor! The emperor asked you, the prince, to punish the power and traitors in the court. Not only did you not obey the order, but you wanted to inform the news and betray the master for glory! I, Le Erjin, am the king of the court. Not qualified to manage?!"

"Who said that I tipped the news, who said that I betrayed my master for glory? Who is it?!" Yue Le asked angrily.

"Since the prince doesn't intend to do this, please show the emperor's imperial decree!" Le Erjin replied loudly: "Please read the imperial decree to us all, and see if the prince returns to Huangzhou overnight, and whether he intends to sell the master to ask for it!" Rong?!"

"Oops, there must be a traitor in my personal army!" Yue Le's forehead was dripping with sweat, and he felt extremely regretful - he knew that the emperor was worried about Oboi, so he planted eyeliner on Oboi, so why did he do that? Unexpectedly, the emperor was also worried about him, and also put eyeliner around him? !

"Uncle, you still have time to rein in the precipice." Le Erjin suddenly persuaded: "Nephews dare not lie to Uncle, in fact, quite a few generals in our army have secretly pledged that as long as someone dares to do something that is sorry to the emperor and the court, We will rise up together to eradicate traitors for the country and harm the people! Since the emperor issued such an imperial edict to you, uncle, and you follow the order, uncle, you are our leader, our leader! You order , we will go through fire and water for you, go up the mountain of swords and go down to the sea of ​​fire, and we will never frown!"

"Of course." Le Erjin paused, and added: "Uncle, if you not only resist the decree and refuse to obey it, but also want to tip off the news and sell the owner for glory—then I'm sorry, Uncle, you are also the enemy of us loyal ministers of the Qing Dynasty. !"

"Bold!" Yue Le was furious, and shouted: "Bold Le Erjin! How dare you join forces in secret among the army, plotting against the law, and breaking the hearts of the soldiers! Come, take Le Erjin down for me!"

Including Yue Le's personal soldiers, as well as the leader Radha who Oboi sent to protect Yue Le, they all remained motionless, as if they hadn't heard Yue Le's order, let alone the two thousand soldiers behind Le Erjin. army too.Yue Le also said that Radha and the others were afraid, and shouted again: "What are you still doing?! Take Leerjin down for me! I will bear the consequences alone! I want to see today, who is there?" Dare to follow Le Erjin to make trouble?!"

Radha and the others remained motionless, Yue Le was startled and angry, and called out his names directly: "Leader Radha Zuo, what are you still doing in a daze? Didn't you hear my general's order?"

"Go back to the lord, the general heard it." Ladaha lowered his head and replied: "But the general thinks that what the lord said is very reasonable. You, the lord..., it is better to rein in the precipice."

"What?!" Yue Le couldn't believe his ears, he shouted and asked: "Bold Radha, don't forget, you are the general under the king's command, the assistant leader under the yellow banner, the king and your banner owner How dare you disobey Grand Master Ao's order?"

"Back to your lord, the last general is indeed your general, and also Taishi Ao's slave." Radha hesitated for a long time, and finally said in a low voice: "But the last general is a servant of the Qing Dynasty, the emperor's slave, Moreover, the slave's surname is Niu Gulu, and the patriarch of the clan, Ye Bilong Ye Zhongtang,... let the general be loyal to the emperor."

"It turns out that the traitor next to this king is you!" Yue Le suddenly realized, and finally understood why Ladaha asked him about the secret conversation with Fatty Lu before, but after being rejected by him, he asked his own soldiers again and again.

"My lord misunderstood." Radha shook his head, and denied it flatly: "The last general is definitely not a traitor. The last general is just the emperor's slave who serves the grand master and the lord, and also protects the lord. Therefore, the lord, the last general cannot disobey the holy order." , please forgive me, my lord."

"Protect me?" Yue Le laughed back angrily, looked up to the sky and shouted: "Your Majesty, have you seen it?! The servants and Taishi Ao are on the front line, fighting for you, but your good servants are still behind Stabbing a knife and stumbling, shaking the morale of the army! Your Majesty, you are really wise!"

"Uncle, don't speak so harshly, who stabbed you in the back?" Le Erjin asked back with a frown, and then said: "Uncle, the same sentence, you showed the emperor's decree and swore to obey the decree, Never betray the emperor and the Qing court, then you will be the master of all of us here immediately! If it is not convenient for you to show this imperial decree in public, you can also go to Sizhou City with your grandnephew and show it to your grandnephew alone!"

"What if I don't show it?" Yue Le sneered and asked, "Could it be that you still want to kill me?"

"Of course my nephew doesn't dare to kill my uncle." Le Erjin said without fear, "But as an important minister of the imperial court, my nephew should take down my uncle for his crime of resisting and disobeying the order, and escort him to the capital to rectify the country's law!"

As he spoke, Le Erjin waved his hand, and immediately a group of Qing soldiers rushed out from behind, all armed with swords and guns to press towards Yue Le, while Ladaha quickly led the army back, allowing the Qing soldiers to capture Yue Le and the young men beside Yue Le. Surrounded by a dozen poor soldiers.Le Erjin asked loudly again: "Uncle, nephew and grandson will ask you one last time, the emperor's secret decree, do you want to obey it? Or do you want to resist the decree?!"

It was cold at night in the mountainous area, and the night wind made all the soldiers of the Qing army feel chills all over their bodies, and the cold penetrated to the marrow. Only Yue Le was sweating all over his body, sweating profusely. The morale of the army leads to internal strife and cannibalism in the army!Don't hand over this secret decree. Right now, this hurdle cannot be passed. Radha has already rebelled. Right now, the dozen or so soldiers around me have no resistance at all in front of Le Erjin's two thousand troops. If Le Erjin really resorted to force, not only would he not be able to keep this secret decree, but he would definitely be labeled as an accomplice of Oboi, beheaded and ransacked his family, and his family would be exterminated!In a dilemma, Yue Le has always been calm and wise, so he doesn't know how to make a choice.

"Just follow Lu Yifeng's advice just now." Nervously embarrassed, Yue Le even began to regret that he didn't listen to Fatty Lu's advice, "If you listened to Lu Yifeng's advice, you didn't take this edict or read this The content of the imperial decree is directly pretended to be false, and returning the imperial decree to Lu Yifeng will not cause such embarrassment."

"Prince An, do you obey the imperial decree?" Le Erjin urged loudly again, "Prince An, do you want to be a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty? Or do you want to be a running dog of rebellious officials and thieves?!"

"No! I can't hand it over!" Yue Le calculated almost subconsciously, "Once the content of this imperial decree is announced, our army will immediately be torn apart, Grand Master Ao will definitely not be caught without a fight in his rage, and the old thief Wu Sangui is not needed. We have to fight ourselves!"

"Prince An, if you don't speak again, Xiao Wang will be rude!" Le Erjin raised his right hand, ready to wave and order at any time.

"Hahahahahaha!" At the extremely critical moment, Yue Le suddenly had an idea, took out the imperial decree from his bosom, shook it, and asked loudly: "Le Erjin, the imperial decree you mentioned, but the imperial decree in my hand ?”

"That's right." Le Erjin's face, which had been tensed for a long time, finally showed some joy, and he nodded quickly and said, "Uncle, it's fine if you take out this imperial decree. As long as you promise to follow the decree, your nephew will kowtow to you immediately to apologize." !"

"My lord Shun, if this imperial decree is true, then I will definitely follow it." Yue Le nodded, and then said: "However, this imperial imperial decree is fake, it was forged by the old thief Wu Sangui to sway our army Military spirit, why should I follow the order?"

After finishing speaking, Yue Le suddenly tore the imperial decree to pieces with all his strength, and shouted loudly: "This is a false edict! It should be destroyed!"

"Stop!" Le Erjin was frightened, and when he subconsciously rushed to rescue the imperial decree, Yue Le had already torn the imperial decree to pieces, snatched the torch from a soldier, and burned the fragments on the fire, while burning the imperial decree While shouting, "Listen to this king, this is a false imperial decree! This king has already destroyed it! The court will pursue it, and this king will bear it all, and it has nothing to do with you!"

"Take down the traitor Yue Le!" Le Erjin roared with bloodshot eyes, and all the Qing soldiers rushed forward according to the order, and Yue Le threw the burning fragments of the imperial decree into the sky, laughing loudly: " If you take it, you will take it, but you, Le Erjin, may not have the guts to dare to kill me, and you, Le Erjin, may not even know what to do with this king? Hahahahahahaha..."

Laughing, the soldiers of the Leerjin army had already dragged Yue Le off the horse, tied him with ropes on the ground, Yue Le's soldiers did not dare to resist, and all put down their weapons and raised their hands to surrender, and Leerjin sent people forward again When the imperial decree was rescued, more than half of the fragments of the imperial decree had already been burned away. Not only could it not be reassembled to distinguish the authenticity from the false, but no one would ever know what was on it.

Seeing this scene, Le Erjin almost went mad with anger, rushed forward and kicked Yue Le's chest, and shouted: "Yue Le dog thief, you are so brave, you dare to tear up the emperor's imperial decree, you wait Get hacked by everyone!"

"That is a false imperial decree. What is the crime of destroying this king?" Yue Le endured the sharp pain in his chest, and asked with a big smile: "Lord Le Erjin, what can you do to this king now? Kill this king, have you done anything?" Evidence? If you have a way to prove that the edict is true, then the king is willing to die, but can you prove it?"

Le Erjin was speechless, he killed the prince without any evidence, even if it proves that the imperial decree is true in the future, Xiao Mazi will never forgive himself!Taking another ten thousand steps back, even if Xiao Mazi spared himself in the future, can Aobai who is so close at hand spare him?Without Xiao Mazi's imperial decree to launch a mutiny to clean up Oboi, the army is unknown, how many Qing generals and soldiers can listen to him?Under the rage, Le Erjin could only kick Yue Le in the chest again, and cursed: "Traitor!"

Le Erjin kicked Yue Le so hard that he vomited blood, but Yue Le was not angry, but kindly persuaded him: "Le Erjin, I know you are loyal to the emperor, otherwise you wouldn't be like this." To me. But don’t forget, before the old thief Wu Sangui was the enemy, once we were in civil strife and torn apart, it would be like sticking your head under the sword of the old thief Wu Sangui and giving it to him to kill. Put me in the prison car, and you will personally escort me Go to the capital and hand it over to the emperor, and hand this place over to grand master Ao, otherwise, if grand master gets angry, you will die sooner and earlier than me."

"I don't need you to teach me!" Le Erjin yelled, "Come here, take the dog thief Yue Le into Sizhou City and imprison him, gather the army, and defend Sizhou City to the death!"

"Leerjin, are you crazy?" Yue Le also yelled, "You want to fight against the grand master's army and let our Manchurian army kill each other? Don't even think about it, your division is unknown, and the soldiers of the Sizhou army have Who can listen to you? Listen to me, or take me to the capital overnight, or let me go, I can pretend that this has never happened, and guarantee your innocence in front of the grand master! All consequences, I will Bear it! I, Yue Le, keep my promises, spit a mouthful and make a hole, and I guarantee that you will be fine!"

Le Erjin was anxious and frightened, confused and completely at a loss.Yue Le yelled again: "Le Erjin, listen carefully, I ruined the imperial decree, and it has nothing to do with you! You let me go now, and you don't need to bear the slightest responsibility. If you insist on provoking a civil war in our army, Then not only the grand master can't spare you! The emperor can't spare you either! You let me go now, and I, Yue Le, swear to the sky that I will never pursue the debt from you, you have to believe me, this is your only way out!"

"Le Erjin, uncle, I beg you, now you have time to turn around, don't start a civil war! You are not enough for the army of the grand master! Let me go, I guarantee your innocence ! Otherwise, you will die!"

"Stop talking nonsense!" Le Erjin made up his mind and shouted: "Take Yue Le back to Sizhou City, let's discuss it!"

………………

Under the mishaps and mutual suspicion, what Yue Le was most worried about finally happened. That night, Le Erjin, who had no turning back, took Yue Le back to Sizhou City and imprisoned him, and ordered the Sizhou garrison to be called back to the city. At the same time, he sent a fast horse to Beijing to report the situation, preparing to defend Sizhou and wait for Xiao Mazi's reinforcements.On the second day, after receiving the news, Oboi was furious, and indeed he personally brought an army into Guizhou, surrounded the city of Sizhou, and vowed to kill this rebel army.

At noon on April 11, the 24th year of Kangmazi in the Qing Dynasty, Oboi's army encircled Sizhou City. Afterwards, Oboi sent envoys to the city to call out, demanding that the army in the city put down their weapons and leave the city to surrender. Erjin is not dead.Although Le Erjin tried his best to stop the shouting and boost morale, but his appeal and influence among the Qing army were far inferior to Obai's, and his morale was low because of his unknown name. The soldiers simply hacked and killed the gatekeepers, rushed out of the city gate and surrendered to Obai.

As a result, around Shen time in the afternoon, most of the 500 Qing troops in Sizhou City escaped completely, and most of those who did not escape died tragically under the guns of Oboi's counter-insurgency army, leaving less than 10,000 people Surrounded by Le Erjin and Yue Le, the Qing army retreated to the south gate tower of Shangsizhou, and was surrounded by Obai's [-]+ main force inside and outside the city.

"Little Leerjin, put down Prince An, I will spare you!" Obai shouted out in person, waving a ghost knife and shouting, "If you dare to hurt a single hair of Prince An, I promise you will regret being born into this world !"

"Le Erjin, surrender!" Yue Le also yelled, "I will guarantee you with my personality, and I will definitely protect you from death in front of the Grand Master, otherwise, you will really die!"

Everyone is enemies, there is no way to go to the sky, no way to go to the earth, Le Erjin really wants to die with Yue Le, but considering his beautiful wife and concubine in the capital, Le Erjin can say anything Not sure about this decision.But at this moment of dilemma, another group of troops rushed in from outside the Qing army, and the leader shouted from a distance, "Grand Master, Prince An, stop fighting, you have been fooled! You all be cheated!"

"Lu Zhen?" Aobai turned his head to look carefully, he couldn't help being startled, it turned out that the person who rushed over and yelled at him was Lu Zhen, the governor of Pianyuan who was supposed to be stationed in Changsha to transport grain and grass.

"Don't fight, don't fight at all!" Lu Zhen rushed up to the city tower of Sizhou almost scrambling, handed a mansion report to Oboi, and shouted in a crying voice: "Grand Master, you have been fooled!" , Your Majesty didn't release Wu Yingxiong at all, the mansion report that appeared in your army was replaced by someone, it's a fake! This is the real mansion report!"

"What?!" The thick-backed broadsword in Oboi's hand fell to the ground with a slam, and he roared incredulously, "The residence report is fake? How do you know?!"

"It's a fake!" Lu Zhen replied with a sad face: "Chen Wudian, the prefect of Yuanzhou, is a student of the humble official. He also received the fake residence report and mentioned this matter to the official in the letter. The official knew that the matter was important, so he hurried Bring the report from the real mansion and report it to the grand master and compare it! The emperor has a holy candle, and he didn't put any Wu Yingxiong at all!"

"What?!" This time the person who yelled was replaced by Le Erjin, and the steel knife placed on Yue Le's neck also fell with a bang, and he said in a daze: "Is the mansion report fake? The emperor didn't release Wu Yingxiong? So what?" Say, the emperor didn't even think about negotiating peace with Wu Sangui?"

"Ah!" Yue Le yelled hysterically, "Grand Master, we've been tricked again! Lu Yifeng, it's probably this fat savage again! He played us so badly! So miserable! ———!”

(End of this chapter)