The Great General and His Little Scholars

In the Chaman camp, Li Chengwu held a grand banquet to welcome Liao Mingsi.

Liao Mingsi led a few lieutenants to the night banquet tent, Li Chengwu made a special trip to greet him personally, and enthusiastically held Liao Mingsi's hand and said: "Li is not talented, and I have to trouble the major general to go all the way to check this barren land for reinforcements." , I feel very sorry. Tonight, I invite General Liao to sit down."

Liao Mingsi smiled: "The check is full of General Li's residence, and I am a fourth-rank military general, and the general is from the third rank. How can I mess up the rank at will."

"Hey, the mountain is high and the emperor is far away. In this barren mountain, there are only you and my brother. How can there be any rank. Come, brother, take your seat."

Liao Mingsi didn't refuse anymore, and followed Li Chengwu to the guest of honor and sat down.Looking around, the banquet table was full, but the deputy general he brought was placed in the middle, far away from himself and the tent door.There were people from Li Chengwu's army sitting all around.

Liao Mingsi was surrounded by only two captains of the personal guards.Liao Mingsi naturally understood that this was a grand banquet.From the departure to the present, everything was within his expectations - including the banquet carefully arranged by Li Chengwu.

Liao Mingsi sat upright, quietly watching what Li Chengwu was going to sing next.

Li Chengwu sat down next to Liao Mingsi's right hand, looked around the entire night banquet tent with a red face, and said in a loud and authentic voice: "Tonight is the first day that the major general came to check the man. If there is a major general in charge, Li will I feel unprecedented courage. Come, let's make a toast to the sincere cooperation of our two armies against the Russian captives and victory!"

"General Li is mighty! Major General Li is mighty!"

All the generals raised their glasses to welcome, and the sound resounded throughout the banquet tent.

Liao Mingsi smiled slightly, slowly raised his wine glass, and touched Li Chengwu.The smile on Li Chengwu's face was still enthusiastic, but there was an uncontrollable nervousness in his eyes.When they clinked glasses, they couldn't help but glance at Liao Mingsi's wine glass.

Liao Mingsi's smile deepened, and he held up his wine glass and said, "General Li's toast speech is very heroic, and Liao is also very encouraged. Since everyone shares the same hatred, then, General Li, let's have a pairing cup." how?"

Pairing is to drink half of one's own wine, and then exchange half with the other party.

Li Chengwu was stunned for a moment, but before he could react, Liao Mingsi had already reached out and snatched his wine glass, and drank half of it with his back.

"Good!" Liao Mingsi's lieutenants cheered. The other generals glanced at each other and cheered a few times, but their eyes turned around Liao Mingsi and Li Chengwu.

Li Chengwu's smile froze: "Hehe, the general understands the major general's intentions, but... the general is used to drinking cold wine, and the major general's wine was specially heated for them."

"That's okay." Liao Mingsi reached out and poured the wine in his glass on the ground, took the jug in front of Li Chengwu and refilled a glass: "Come on, this is the general's own wine."

The redness on Li Chengwu's face gradually faded and began to turn pale.Liao Mingsi refused to let him go, and approached him and said, "Why? The general dare not touch his mouth after changing the wine? It seems that my glass of wine is very strong. If it is poured out, if there is a little residue, it can scare the general Woolen cloth."

"What did the major general say? This general will not be frightened. It's just a glass of wine." Li Chengwu stared at Liao Mingsi, took the glass of wine with trembling lips, hesitated, and rolled his eyes around. Suddenly, he flicked his hand and dropped the cup in his hand.

With a sound of "clang", the celadon wine glass was immediately smashed to pieces, and the hesitation in Li Chengwu's eyes turned into excitement, and then into complacency.Staring at Liao Mingsi, he seemed to be waiting for something.

However, there was silence in the tent, so many people seemed to be frozen, only staring at the two people on the main seat with piercing eyes, without any movement or sound.

Li Chengwu's complacent complexion became stiff, and he looked around wonderingly, but still no one moved.

"What the hell are you doing! Why don't you come out and deal with the general named Liao!" Li Chengwu shouted, and then shouted at several generals: "Zhang Qian, Zhu Xiuzhen, what are you doing! Hurry up! action!"

Liao Mingsi looked at Li Chengwu with a calm expression, and calmly said: "General Li, the people you are waiting for... I have assembled them for you."

As soon as the sound fell, the curtain of the tent was lifted, and a group of people dressed in black were tied up and escorted in by Liao Mingsi's soldiers.

Xing'an took the lead, came over and cupped his fists and said, "Young Master, the people General Li sent to assassinate you have already been taken down by us, please send them down."

Li Chengwu's complexion turned from green to white, and he stared at the men in black with an expression of disbelief.Liao Mingsi said in a cold voice: "Put them in good custody, and take their confessions carefully. When they return triumphantly, they will be escorted back to the capital for punishment."

After Xing'an led the order, Liao Mingsi winked at the lieutenants sitting on the table, and the lieutenants immediately stood up.Li Chengwu was startled, but tried his best to suppress his panic and said, "You...Liao Mingsi, what do you want to do?"

Liao Mingsi ignored him, and only extended a hand to the captain of the personal guard beside him.The captain of the personal guard immediately unwrapped a package from his waist, and carefully took out an imperial decree.

Seeing this, Liao Mingsi's lieutenants all knelt down on the ground in unison, and other members of Li Chengwu's army also stood up, followed and knelt down on the ground.

Liao Mingsi calmly waited for the guards to carry the water basin and clean his hands before carefully unfolding the imperial decree, his voice was not loud, but his words were clear: "General Li Chengwu of Huaihua accepts the decree!"

Li Chengwu was stunned for a moment, but he had no choice but to quickly get off his seat and kneel down on the ground.

Liao Mingsi said: "General Li Chengwu of Huaihua embezzled military pay, colluded with Russian captives, and delayed the war opportunity on the day when the troops were checked. He also committed several crimes such as neglecting human life and framing people. Now Li Chengwu will be dismissed on the spot and reduced to a civilian. Detain him in prison and return to Beijing to await trial! Here you go!"

Before Li Chengwu finished listening, he trembled all over. As soon as Liao Mingsi finished speaking, Li Chengwu suddenly jumped up and shouted, "Where is General Portus!"

Lieutenant General Liao Mingsi immediately rushed forward and pressed Li Chengwu to the ground. They skillfully tied Li Chengwu's hands and feet and gagged his mouth.

Liao Mingsi then slowly closed the edict and said: "Li Chengwu, thank you for not accepting the edict!"

Li Chengwu faltered and struggled, looking around at the lieutenants.However, the two lieutenants Zhang Qian and Zhu Xiuzhen, whose names were just called out, came over and clasped their fists at Liao Mingsi and said, "Young General, I wouldn't have dared to come without Portus, maybe I heard the news early in the morning and didn't know According to the agreement with General Li, bring people into the camp."

Liao Mingsi snorted coldly and said, "It doesn't matter, anyway, we will see them on the battlefield, and then we will settle accounts with them."

Li Chengwu couldn't believe everything in front of him. His eyes were like copper bells, staring at the lieutenants in his own army.

Liao Mingsi walked up to Li Chengwu, looked at him condescendingly, and said in a deep voice: "Li Chengwu, this general is not like you, he is vicious and vicious, and his death will make your death clear."

After finishing speaking, he waved his hand to the outside of the tent, and a man walked in with a limp on one leg.This man is tall and tall, but he has been tortured before, and he looks a lot haggard.

He walked up to Li Chengwu, fixed his eyes on Li Chengwu's eyes and said: "General, don't come here without any problems."

When Li Chengwu saw this person, his whole body froze, and immediately went limp like a deflated ball.

It turned out that this person was Zhu Huan, the captain of the personal guard who defected from Li Chengwu.Zhu Huan said coldly: "General Li, I followed you and did many things that are ashamed of the emperor and the country. But Zhu's conscience is still there, and he was rescued by the young general. I will willingly go to prison with the general and go to Beijing to die!"

Li Chengwu lost any arrogance at all, and seemed to shrink a lot in an instant.

Liao Mingsi stepped forward and patted Zhu Huan on the shoulder and said: "The discipline of a soldier in the army is absolute obedience. You are just obeying orders, and you will not be guilty of death. This general will definitely act impartially."

Zhu Huan excitedly said: "The major general treats Zhu with kindness. Although Zhu is guilty, but the enemy is at hand, Zhu is willing to do his best. When the Russian captives are defeated and triumphant, Zhu will ask for help." Cage, kneel down to the capital."

"Okay, the enemy is in front of you, and it's time to employ people, so you stay here. If you can take the blame and make meritorious service, this general will also ask for merit for you."

Seeing this, the other lieutenants of General Li Chengwu immediately knelt down and said, "I wish to pay my crimes and make meritorious deeds!"

Liao Mingsi hastily signaled the generals to stand up and said: "You generals are diligent and self-restraining, you have not joined forces with Li Chengwu, it's just that you are following someone who is not human, so what is the crime!"

Liao Mingsi comforted the lieutenants, walked up to Li Chengwu and said, "Do you think this general has no preparations, so he rushed here to check everything?"

"From the capital to here, one carrier pigeon per day, the situation is under the control of this general. You only care about putting the general's salary in your pocket, spending time and wine, and selling the country. How can you care about the oriole behind you! "

"Zhu Huan has been hiding fifty miles away from you. When this general came, I brought him along along the way, just to let you know that everything you do is under the control of this general and the emperor."

After finishing speaking, he said with a heavy tone: "Think carefully about what you have done to offend the emperor, maybe if you think about it clearly, you might be able to save your life."

Li Chengwu's eyes flickered, obviously touched by Liao Mingsi's words a lot.Liao Mingsi was not in a hurry to force him, so he stopped talking and said no more.

At present, the entire military camp is coordinated, and the generals who defected to Liao Mingsi have taken down Li Chengwu's followers one by one.Liao Mingsi put those who had committed the most serious crimes together with Li Chengwu in prison.Those who have minor crimes and express repentance will be temporarily retained and demoted to other positions, giving them a chance to make up for their mistakes.

The soldiers and lieutenants in Li Chengwu's team saw that Liao Mingsi was so clear about rewards and punishments and strictly enforced the law.The originally uneasy military spirit has stabilized.

In the next few days, Liao Mingsi distributed the luggage and supplies brought by the capital to the original Li Chengwu army.He also took out Li Chengwu's embezzled silver, and reissued part of the arrears of military pay.

Those Li Chengwu's troops stationed here for more than a year in vain, lost countless battles, and were forced by Li Chengwu's domineering, arrears of military pay and other corrupt measures to hold back their anger.However, Liao Mingsi's military management is good, his work is rigorous and orderly, and he is calm and wise when facing the enemy.

Not only let them get benefits, but also let them see the hope of winning the battle again.

In terms of deployment and scheduling, Liao Mingsi did not separate each other because of closeness.The practice of appointing others and leading troops impartially has made the atmosphere of the entire Chaman army unprecedentedly high.

After rectifying the team, Liao Mingsi first asked Zhu Huan, who was very familiar with the surrounding environment, and Li Chengwu's original team to lead the reconnaissance team to investigate the opponent's army, food and grass subordinates many times.In a few days, the situation on the Russian side has been figured out.

The Russian captives also received news that Li Chengwu had been imprisoned and that Liao Mingsi's name was known, so they had long been ready for battle.

However, Liao Mingsi knew that the weather in the north was cold, and compared with the Russian captives, his army was not at an advantage.Therefore, it has been standing still.After sixteen or seven days like this, the Russian captives were used to being lazy, so they relaxed a little.

In fact, Liao Mingsi had already planned carefully. Seeing the slackness of the Russian captives, he ordered people to gather at night, sneaked in from the back, and attacked the Russian captives' military supplies and grass camps.

The night troops performing the mission are mainly composed of Li Chengwu's original troops.These generals and soldiers naturally knew that the failure of following Li Chengwu here had angered the emperor.Now that they have the opportunity to make meritorious deeds and atone for their crimes, everyone has scored 120 points and is extremely brave.

Although the Russian captives had taken precautions, most of their military supplies were destroyed and half of their food and grass were burned overnight.

On the second day, when the Russian captives were panicking, Liao Mingsi quickly led the army to kill them without giving them any chance to breathe.The Russian captives hurriedly fought, but they were no match for the elite troops of the Liao family army, and they were killed and retreated steadily.

After several attacks, Liao Mingsi had taken back all the territory lost by Li Chengwu within a year.

Liao Mingsi took advantage of the victory and pursued, and soon reached the Russian captive city that was closest to the border.Seeing that something was wrong, the Russian captive army hurriedly sent envoys here to seek peace.

Liao Mingsi was too lazy to see him at first, thinking he might as well take down the city.It doesn't need to be included in the territory, just destroy the facilities, drive the people away, and teach them a lesson.

In this way, it will take several years to restore the strongholds on the border between Russia and Captives, and I am afraid that there will be no more harassment of Chaman in five to ten years.

However, the envoys insisted that they had a hostage from the previous dynasty in their hands, and this hostage was very important to the stability of the current court.If Liao Mingsi is willing to negotiate and withdraw his troops, the Russian side will hand over the hostage to Liao Mingsi and bring him back to the capital.

Liao Mingsi became curious and asked the envoy to come to see him.

"Who is the hostage you are talking about?" Liao Mingsi asked.

The envoy replied respectfully: "General Hui, the hostage is the late emperor's personal eunuch named Zhou Rong."

Liao Mingsi was shocked when he heard this: "Zhou Rong?! Didn't he voluntarily sacrifice himself for the late emperor?"

The envoy smiled: "That's true, but Zhou Rong didn't want to die that day, so he bribed the eunuch who was executing him, and put someone else in the late emperor's coffin instead. He disguised himself and fled to Chaman , Later, because he was hunted down by secret guards, he came to our country for help."

Liao Mingsi raised his eyebrows, and said contemptuously: "You want to use a slave who betrayed the late emperor, greedy for life and fear of death, to negotiate terms with this general? Are you blatantly contemptuous of this general?!"

The envoy hurriedly said: "Don't dare, General, don't be angry, there is a reason for this."

"I heard that the general has a very good personal relationship with the returned emperor, so he must know about the royal family." The envoy looked at Liao Mingsi and saw that he was noncommittal, so he continued: "This Zhou Rong, from when the former emperor was King Jing, I followed the late emperor. So..." The envoy said this, and suddenly looked around.

When Liao Mingsi heard him repeatedly mentioning the matter of the late emperor, his heart moved, and he immediately backed away.The envoy lowered his voice and said, "Compared to the general, he must know about King Chu, and he also knew that Emperor Chengzu wanted to make King Chu the crown prince, but because of his sudden death, King Jing succeeded."

"It wasn't God who single-handedly brought about this matter back then, nor was it some sudden illness, but Empress Duanxian and his son—Prince Jing."

Liao Mingsi was taken aback, stared at the envoy and said, "You mean..."

"This Zhou Rong was the late emperor's confidant at that time, therefore, he personally took the bowl of medicine that was ordered by Emperor Chengzu. This is why Zhou Rong was buried with the late emperor when he was dying."

Liao Mingsi frowned even tighter.If what the envoy said is true, then Emperor Chengzu was killed by the first emperor himself.In other words, what the former emperor gained from the country is not justified.Then Song Yuanhao and Song Yuanxi, no matter who is on the throne, are also dishonest.

But why did Song Yuanxi want to protect Jiang Tong's secret edict, but Song Yuanhao insisted on destroying it?

Liao Mingsi said in a deep voice: "It is impossible for this general to listen to your one-sided opinion and decide on this matter. If you want to negotiate, you must first meet this Zhou Rong in person before you can draw a conclusion."

As soon as the envoy heard this, he knew that Liao Mingsi was moved, and hurriedly said: "Naturally. Our general has arranged for a lieutenant—Wu Portus, to take Zhou Rong on standby. The general can see him at any time to confirm the truth. Fake."

Liao Mingsi thought for a moment, let Xing'an come in, made some arrangements, and then led a group of soldiers and more than ten personal guards to follow the envoy to the city.

The gate of the walled city opened, and Portus escorted a carriage out.

"General Liao, Zhou Rong is in that car." The envoy said, waving to Portus.Portus reached out to lift the curtain, and saw an old man with white hair sitting in the car.

Xing'an walked forward with two guard captains and stood beside the carriage.Wu Portus also took two people and stood on the other side.

Liao Mingsi got off his horse and walked to the carriage.

The old man in the car took a look at Liao Mingsi, and a look of surprise appeared on his face: "General Liao Shan?!"

Liao Mingsi paused, and said: "My name is Liao Mingsi, and I am his eldest son."

The man was startled, nodded slowly and said: "Yes, after so long, Liao Shan's son is already a general. Young general, my name is Zhou Rong, and I used to be the late emperor's chief internal officer. "

In the capital, on the General's Mansion.

King Zhao Song Yuanhao came to the general's mansion with his hussar guards.

Liao Shan greeted him to the hall, but saw Song Yuanhao had already walked in, and said with a cold expression: "This king received a report saying that the general's house has intercepted and hidden the things that Wotuo Guojin offered to the emperor, and this king has come to search."

Liao Shan was slightly surprised and said: "This must be a random legend. Although I received the envoy of Otuo under the emperor's order, all the tribute and detailed list have been handed over to the treasury. Please also ask King Zhao to check."

Song Yuanhao sneered and said: "Check where you old officials can find out. You are as shrewd as an elder brother and an old fox. This king naturally found out with secret guards. If the general refuses to accept it, you can go to see the emperor together with this king in a while."

After finishing speaking, he winked at Zhao Qun who was following behind, and Zhao Qun immediately led people into Liao Shan's backyard to search.

Liao Shan looked at them coldly, but did not stop them.At this time, He Qing walked in, looked at the chaotic scene, and panicked: "General, what's wrong?"

Liao Shan comforted her and said, "It's okay, it's just a misunderstanding."

"Hehe, the general and his wife are deeply in love. It seems that it is really not a rumor. You can still call it a misunderstanding when such a serious thing happened." Song Yuanhao sneered, and said to He Qing: "Madam, the evil fruit you planted many years ago, today It should be repaid."

He Qing was taken aback, and said puzzledly, "The minister's wife doesn't understand what your Highness said."

"Hmph! Pretend to be confused." Song Yuanhao said: "Back then you helped King Fucheng sneak out of the capital, met with the King of Chu, and urged him to return to Beijing to rebel. And you are going to persuade Liao Shanli to join forces with others, aren't you?"

He Qing turned pale for a while, and Song Yuanhao glanced at Liao Shan triumphantly: "Maybe General Liao doesn't know about the affair between the general's wife and Fucheng Wang Sima Zhong?"

Liao Shan's expression changed, he stared at Song Yuanhao and said, "King Zhao respects himself. I have always known about the friendship between my wife and King Fucheng. What happened back then was not done by my wife, but I asked my wife to help. Your Highness If you want to pursue it, you can only pursue the minister."

After finishing speaking, he smiled mockingly: "His Royal Highness's secret guards are indeed very difficult, but... they seem to be unable to tell which news is true and which news is false."

Song Yuanhao's complexion darkened: "Huh! Liao Shan, don't be too complacent. If I dare to come today, I won't let your general's mansion live in peace."

As soon as the words fell, Zhao Qun had brought someone in with a small mahogany box, and said to Song Yuanhao: "His Royal Highness, just now I found this box from the back house of General Liao Shan, and it is a tribute from Wotuo Kingdom—— White Jade Mountain."

After finishing speaking, he opened the lid of the box, revealing a half-foot-long white jade sculpture inside.The whole body of the white jade is moist and white, without a trace of variegation.With extremely fine engraving, the landscape picture of the border between Wotuo Kingdom and this dynasty was carved, and the two characters "Jiangshan" were written under the carvings in the languages ​​of the two countries.The end is a priceless national treasure.

Song Yuanhao turned to Liao Shan proudly: "General Liao, what do you mean?"

Liao Shan glanced at the box and said in a deep voice, "I have never seen this before, and this is the first time I have seen it today. I really don't know where it came from."

Seeing this, He Qing became even more panicked, and hurriedly said: "Your Highness, this must be framed by a villain..."

"Nonsense! This thing was found in the general's backyard, framed by villains? Huh!" Song Yuanhao said coldly, "How many people can enter the general's backyard? Could it be that Madam did it?"

He Qing was so angry that he couldn't speak, Liao Shan put his arms around He Qing's shoulders and said, "Don't panic, this must be a frame-up, and when we get to the emperor, we will investigate clearly."

Song Yuanhao stood up, walked to the box, looked at the white jade sculpture and said, "It's really a good thing, let alone a general, even this king really likes it after seeing it."

As he said that, he reached out to pick up the white jade sculpture, as if he wanted to take a closer look.Suddenly he let out a "huh", his complexion sank, he turned to Liao Shan and said, "General Liao, I'm afraid there are other things in your box!"

Liao Shan was taken aback, glanced at the box, shook his head and said: "I have said before, this thing does not belong to me, I don't know what is inside."

"Hmph! What's there?" Song Yuanhao gave Zhao Qun a wink, and Zhao Qun immediately reached out and poked under the white jade sculpture, exaggerating: "Oh, it seems to be another piece of jade, this is... this shape is... jade... ..."

As he spoke, he pulled something out of the box and lifted it into the air.His face froze with excitement, and his voice changed dryly: "Jade... Brick??"

Song Yuanhao was also taken aback, carefully looking at the things in Zhao Qun's hands, his eyes almost fell out of their sockets: "This... this is not..."

"It's not the Jade Seal of the Chuan Kingdom that you snatched from the bandits, right!" A voice came from a small door next to the hall. Song Yuanhao's face turned ashen when he heard this voice.

The small door opened, and Song Yuanxi was standing at the door, with Jiang Tong and Sima Jingxuan standing behind him.

The author has something to say:

Sudden vertigo, bedridden for a week, thank the little angel for never leaving, release a chapter of the big fat chapter, and talk about my heart (dizzy, if there is a typo, please forgive me.)