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

Zhang Shikang's answer made Li Dingguo even more puzzled, but since the other party was sincere, Li Dingguo thought about it and said:

"I can surrender to you, but I have two conditions."

"Tell me about it." Zhang Shikang said calmly.

"My adoptive father was killed by Luo Wenlong, who has now surrendered to the court. I want to kill him to avenge my adoptive father." Li Dingguo said firmly.

"No problem, he is in the army and can be killed for you now." Zhang Shikang agreed without any hesitation.

Luo Wenlong has committed many evil deeds and would be a nuisance if he were kept alive. In fact, if Li Dingguo had not mentioned it, Zhang Shikang would not have planned to spare Luo Wenlong.

"He has surrendered to you. If you do this, aren't you afraid of the court's blame?" Li Dingguo asked back.

In his impression, court officials were best at infighting, especially generals who were on military campaigns, who were constrained by them.

Killing surrendered prisoners is a serious crime. Once the court officials make things difficult for you, even a high-ranking official will be in big trouble.

"Who told you that? That's nonsense! It's not true at all!

Luo Wenlong attacked our Ming army camp, but was captured alive by me." Zhang Shikang said with a smile.

Li Dingguo was stunned when he heard this.

"The second thing is that I promised Sun Kewang that I would do my best to buy him three days. I never do anything unjust."

The implication was that if Zhang Shikang did not agree, he would keep his promise even at the cost of his death.

Zhang Shikang did not doubt Li Dingguo's determination. As a young man, he always regards loyalty as everything else.

"No problem, I can agree to this condition.

But you should understand that the reason for this is not because I am afraid of your small number of troops.

I agreed only because of you, Li Dingguo."

Zhang Shikang hesitated for only half a second before agreeing to the condition.

In fact, it would be a bit difficult to catch up with him in three days, and by then Sun Kewang would probably have gone deep into the mountains of Yunnan.

But compared to Sun Kewang, Zhang Shikang obviously valued Li Dingguo more.

This guy is only twenty years old. It is the first time he has met a famous general younger than himself in the more than two years since he came to Ming Dynasty.

In other words, as long as Li Dingguo worked hard, he could serve the Ming Dynasty for at least thirty or forty years.

Where can you find a younger brother who is both loyal and capable?

At this time, several soldiers came over with Luo Wenlong under pressure. Luo Wenlong was tied up like a twist, with only his two legs able to move.

When Luo Wenlong saw Li Dingguo, he immediately knew what was about to happen to him.

Luo Wenlong has been in custody these days, and he has actually regretted it in his heart for a long time. If he had known this earlier, he should have run away that day.

His eyes only met Li Dingguo's for a moment, and then he quickly lowered his head, because what he saw were a pair of murderous eyes.

He immediately begged Zhang Shikang for mercy:

"General, I surrendered to the court sincerely, how could you treat me like this?

If you do this, you are putting the court in an unkind and unjust position. Aren't you afraid of the criticism from the civil officials in the court?"

At this time, Luo Wenlong still held a glimmer of hope in his heart, hoping that Zhang Shikang would take the struggles in the officialdom into consideration and let him go.

Zhang Shikang laughed when he heard it.

"Luo Wenlong, you may not believe it, but I'm really not afraid."

Given Brother Chongzhen's current state, if anyone dares to make things difficult for him, I'm afraid Brother Chongzhen will be the first one to disagree.

Besides, who the hell are you, Luo Wenlong? You don’t even know a single person in the court. Who the hell will speak for you?

Seeing that he was so humble but only received ridicule from Zhang Shikang, Luo Wenlong knew that he could not escape and stopped pretending.

"Zhang Shikang, you bastard, I must be blind to surrender to you.

Even if I become a ghost, I will not let you go!

"You bastard!"

"Forget about it. If you become a ghost, not only will Zhang Xianzhong not forgive you, but even the women you killed will not let you go.

Since you're going to die anyway, you might as well be decent."

As he said this, Zhang Shikang winked at Li Dingguo.

Li Dingguo stared at Luo Wenlong coldly, then slowly walked towards him, drawing his sword as he walked.

When the cold blade reached Luo Wenlong's neck, his legs were shaking, but knowing that he was going to die, he closed his mouth instead.

"Godfather, I have avenged you!" After saying that, Li Dingguo turned around and the sharp blade cut open Luo Wenlong's carotid artery.

The blood spurted out more than a meter away. Luo Wenlong opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but only blood foam came out.

His body twitched unconsciously on the ground, but no one looked at him again.

After killing Luo Wenlong, Li Dingguo threw his sword to the ground, walked towards Zhang Shikang, knelt on one knee and said:

"Li Dingguo is willing to lead his subordinates to surrender to the Grand Marshal."

As soon as he knelt, cheers broke out from the woods behind him. They were Li Dingguo's subordinates.

Li Dingguo enforced strict military discipline when leading his troops, never treated his subordinates harshly, and was highly respected by his subordinates.

That is why when Li Dingguo told them that he would lead them with 16,000 troops to resist the imperial army for three days, they all obeyed the military order.

But obedience is obedience, and it is better not to fight this war if possible. So when Li Dingguo received Zhang Shikang's letter of surrender, several of his subordinates expressed their opinions.

When Li Dingguo went to negotiate, those generals naturally paid close attention. As soon as Li Dingguo knelt down, they immediately understood that the matter was settled.

"I also have a condition." Zhang Shikang did not let Li Dingguo stand up, but spoke on his own.

Li Dingguo frowned slightly, not knowing what conditions Zhang Shikang was going to put forward.

"There are many people in your army who have committed crimes and incurred the wrath of heaven and man. I must deal with them according to the military law of the Ming Dynasty."

These bandits rebelled mostly because they couldn't survive at the time, there's nothing to say about that.

Even if he had participated in the massacre of Ming royal family members and landlords, Zhang Shikang could let it go. After all, he was just following orders, and it could also be considered as reducing the burden on the court.

But what if, in addition to this, they also commit crimes, kill people in private and bully the weak with guns.

Zhang Shikang would never allow these black sheep to ruin the reputation of the Ming army.

This was different from the way he dealt with border army generals. As for border army generals, Zhang Shikang generally held the policy of letting bygones be bygones, but not punishing them for their past mistakes, but not allowing them to make the same mistake again.

But as for the bandits, many ordinary people died directly or indirectly at their hands. If they just surrendered to the court, they could be cleared of all charges immediately.

That would be true. If you want to be an official, you can be recruited even if you kill people or set fires.

"If there really is such a person in my army, I, Li Dingguo, will be the first one to not forgive him."

Li Dingguo breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this.

Zhang Shikang nodded with satisfaction.

"Get up.

I finally gained something from my trip to Sichuan."

Zhang Shikang smiled and helped Li Dingguo up.

However, Li Dingguo was still confused at this time. He didn't know why this equally young marshal treated him so well.

He asked again, but Zhang Shikang still didn't say it clearly, he just said lightly:

"You will understand later, time will tell."

Zhang Shikang was very relieved to let Li Dingguo go and gather his generals. After Li Dingguo left, Zhang Shikang quickly called over two subordinates of the Jinyiwei and said:

"You two should go to Yunnan immediately and order Mu Tianbo, the Duke of Qian, to stop Sun Kewang."

……