Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

Judging from the scene, there must be thousands of people welcoming them at the city gate, and they are all cavalrymen in armor.

Although they were generally on guard against Zhang Shikang's lack of martial ethics, you just tell me whether they were being grand or not!

"Marshal, that Zu Dashou actually dared to leave the city. If I lead three thousand cavalrymen and catch him off guard, as long as we get close, we might be able to capture him alive."

Sun Weifan returned the telescope to Zhang Shikang.

"Do you think Zu Dashou thinks the same way?" Zhang Shikang asked back.

His arrival undoubtedly posed a problem to the twisted Zu Dashou, but it was obvious that Zu Dashou was prepared.

But no matter what, if they went out of the city to welcome us, it would be like throwing the problem back again.

If they simply disregard martial ethics and start fighting as soon as they meet, then the court is unjust. Even if they rebel, it is because of Zhang Shikang who forced them to do so.

Moreover, Zu Dashou had commanded troops for decades, so he must have taken more than just these precautions. Perhaps the cannons on the city walls had already been aimed at the predetermined positions.

"Don't act rashly. Let's go and meet them."

A quarter of an hour later, Zhang Shikang finally led his troops to the gate of Shanhaiguan and saw Zu Dashou, whom he had been thinking about for more than a year.

Zu Dashou, you are old now.

Although he was wearing armor, it still couldn't hide his old body. But looking at his face, his old age revealed the majesty of a veteran.

When the two groups were only a few dozen steps apart, Zhang Shikang waved his hand and ordered the troops to stop.

Zu Dashou wanted to wait until the two groups came together before speaking, but Zhang Shikang stopped when they were still thirty or forty steps away, which undoubtedly posed another problem for him.

You went out of town to greet me and kicked the ball over here. Now I'm here and I kicked the ball over again.

How come you, a subordinate, don't even dare to come over? Are you going to rebel?

The distance was thirty or forty steps, or about forty or fifty meters, neither near nor far. Zhang Shikang just rode on his warhorse, staring at Zu Dashou calmly, with even a smile on his lips.

Zu Dashou hesitated for a moment, and finally came over with a dozen personal guards.

He rode forward about twenty steps, dismounted, walked to Zhang Shikang, and knelt on one knee:

"I greet the Grand Marshal. I didn't know the Grand Marshal was visiting. I'm sorry that I failed to welcome him."

Zu Dashou's official military position was the commander-in-chief of the vanguard general of the Liao expedition.

Seeing Zu Dashou like this, Zhang Shikang smiled, dismounted from his horse, and went over to support him.

But Sun Weifan was obviously worried. He gave a wink to his son Sun Dasheng and Hong Xiucheng, and the two immediately followed.

"Oh, General Zu, you are so old, there is no need to be so polite. Please stand up quickly." Zhang Shikang said with a smile.

"I wonder why the Grand Marshal came to Shanhaiguan? Is the imperial court preparing for a northern expedition?" Zu Dashou pretended to guess and tested.

"Northern Expedition? Can it be carried out?" Zhang Shikang shook his head.

"Just came to see you." Zhang Shikang smiled again.

You keep pretending, you are trying to fool people, right? Then you have chosen the wrong person.

When it comes to manipulating people's mentality, Zhang Shikang thought he had a way of doing it. When court officials wanted to use underhanded tricks, he would simply overturn the table. When court officials wanted to overturn the table, he would start beating them.

Of course, Zhang Shikang usually drugs people based on their personal preferences.

This sudden truth made Zu Dashou at a loss as to how to respond.

"What's so good about this humble servant? How dare I trouble the great Marshal to come here?" Zu Dashou answered subconsciously.

After saying this, he felt that what he said was really stupid.

"Are we going to talk about it outside?" Zhang Shikang did not point it out but changed the subject.

"Please forgive me, Grand Marshal. Please come into the city. I have already ordered people to prepare a banquet to welcome you." Zu Dashou said quickly.

"Oh? You must have prepared executioners and poison as well?" Although Zhang Shikang had a smile on his face, his words were shocking.

It was a very cold day, and Zu Dashou, who had experienced decades of war, suddenly had cold sweat on his forehead.

This is the fear caused by the long-term distrust between the court and the world's military commander.

No matter how powerful his force is in the Guanningjin Defense Line, it is only the force of a defense line. Zhang Shikang's words undoubtedly have some Sima Zhao's intentions.

Zu Dashou knelt down again hurriedly and said in great fear:

"How dare I do this? If the Grand Marshal is dissatisfied with me, I can just be dismissed from my military post. How dare I harm the Grand Marshal!"

"Hahaha! General Zu, please stand up quickly. I was just joking. Why did you take it so seriously?

It's just a joke because I've been facing assassination attempts recently." Zhang Shikang explained with a laugh.

Zu Dashou grinned and thought, this is not a joke. He was not so nervous when he was guarding Dalingh River.

After some greetings, Zhang Shikang was personally led by Zu Dashou to the city of Shanhaiguan.

When he walked to the bottom of the Shanhaiguan city gate, he stopped unconsciously and looked up.

But I saw huge city gate bricks, which were almost the same size as the bricks used in Beijing city. Looking up, they were several meters high.

Shanhaiguan was originally built in a strategic location, and it is a strong iron chain pass. After hundreds of years of continuous reinforcement, it is worthy of being the most powerful pass in the world.

Zhang Shikang instantly understood that Mao Huang Taiji was going to deceive Zu Dashou even though he was disgusted.

Just for the city of Dalinghe, Huang Taiji had to besiege it for more than half a year until the city ran out of ammunition and food before he could capture it. Such city defenses were extremely difficult to break through even with a large number of troops.

If Wu Sangui had not offered the city voluntarily, Dorgon would have found it difficult to break through even if he had spent all his wealth.

The banquet was held in Zu Dashou's general's residence. Zhang Shikang chatted with Zu Dashou while sitting in the main seat without any hesitation.

The busiest person was Sun Weifan. On the one hand, he ordered Hong Xiucheng and his son to protect him closely, and on the other hand, he signaled to other guards to keep an eye on the surrounding situation.

Outside the general's mansion, Zhang Shikang's one thousand personal guards were standing in a row.

Zu Dashou did not raise any objections. Even before he and Zhang Shikang started eating, Sun Dasheng had already eaten all the dishes on the table without saying anything more.

He just felt that this guy was really rude as a subordinate. Sun Dasheng didn't care about that. This was a mission assigned to him by his father.

He was just a guinea pig. After eating all the dishes, Sun Dasheng took another sip of wine, then put down his chopsticks and grinned at Zu Dashou.

After a while, everyone took their seats one after another. Apart from Zhang Shikang himself, there were only Sun Weifan and his son on his side. As the commander of the personal guards, Hong Xiucheng was not qualified to sit down and just stood behind Zhang Shikang.

Sun Weifan and his son stood on the left and right, sandwiching Zhang Shikang in the middle. Zhang Shikang actually felt that his uncle was a little frightened, but he didn't say anything.

The reason why Sun Weifan, as the second-in-command of the Guards, dared to sit here was because he had already discussed it with Huang Degong, and Huang Degong took over the command of 10,000 Guards.

There were not many people on Zu Dashou's side. Zhang Shikang did not see Wu Sangui. There were only Zu Dashou and Zu Kuan.

I do have some impression of Zu Kuan and Zhang Shikang, but not much.

Zhang Shikang took one look at the appetizers prepared by Zu Dashou and his eyes lit up.

As soon as he came in, he smelled the aroma of meat. After traveling for five or six days, he was indeed a little hungry.

"General Zu, I'm hungry, so I won't be polite to you. Let's eat first!"

After saying that, Zhang Shikang started to work seriously.

……