Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 359 Angry

Although he had the idea of ​​helping his brother in his heart, he had to help him. If you really think about it, this matter is not unrelated to him. Moreover, they have been brothers for life. Since the second brother in the family passed away, he, Yuan Chonghuan, only has this one brother. He can't bear to see his brother get into trouble, right?

But this matter is also quite tricky. Although Yuan Chonghuan's rank is not low now, he is still not as good as Mao Wenlong. In addition, since the establishment of Dongjiang Town, Mao Wenlong has not had much relationship with Ji and Liao. As the general of a town, Mao Wenlong and Ji and Liao are just friendly forces cooperating on the Liaodong battlefield. The two sides have no direct authority. Even if Sun Chengzong wants Mao Wenlong to do something, it is usually discussed. As for Yuan Chonghuan, he has no say at all.

But even so, Yuan Chonghuan still had to find a way to solve the problem. After sending his brother Yuan Chongyu away, Yuan Chonghuan thought hard. After thinking for a long time, he still couldn't let Sun Chengzong know about this matter, let alone let the officials in the court know. Now he had no choice but to write a letter to Mao Wenlong in person, saying a few good words, so that Mao Wenlong would let his brother go for his sake.

So Yuan Chonghuan immediately wrote a letter, sealed it and handed it to a trusted confidant, asking someone to send it to Pi Island as soon as possible.

After the letter was sent, Yuan Chonghuan immediately worked to clean up his brother's mess. You know, those supplies of Yuan Chongyu were all military war reserves, and now these things disappeared. It would be troublesome if someone found them.

In order to eliminate the trouble, Yuan Chonghuan had to immediately erase the traces of these things, and the best way was to do something with the quantity. He found Zu Dashou, and the two of them discussed behind closed doors. Then, with the cooperation of Zu Dashou, the loophole was directly filled by modifying the previously allocated material data. Of course, Zu Dashou's help was not in vain, and Yuan Chonghuan would naturally not treat him unfairly. The two of them got what they needed and had their own benefits.

In a blink of an eye, more than half a month passed, and Mao Wenlong in Pi Island finally wrote back to Yuan Chonghuan.

After receiving the letter, Yuan Chonghuan quickly opened it and read it carefully. His smiling expression froze after reading a few lines. After reading the letter, Yuan Chonghuan's face became extremely ugly. He clenched his fists with veins bulging, and cursed Mao Wenlong for being too bullying.

It turned out that Mao Wenlong told Yuan Chonghuan in the letter that he had received Yuan Chonghuan's letter and expressed his understanding of Yuan Chonghuan's explanation of the batch of materials in the letter. However, Mao Wenlong asked Yuan Chonghuan, since the batch of materials was intended to bribe the generals of the Later Jin Dynasty and make them surrender to the Ming Dynasty, why did the people he captured not answer in this way, but instead said that the batch of materials was transported to Liaodong and Korea for trade in exchange for gold, silver and Liaodong's local specialties.

Mao Wenlong expressed his doubts about this, but he also said that this was probably the nonsense of the two men he had captured. As senior generals of the court, although he and Yuan Chonghuan were not familiar with each other, one of them was in Pi Island and the other in Ningyuan. Both were former commanders and had cooperated in battles. In a sense, they were all on the same side.

According to his impression of Yuan Chonghuan, Yuan Chonghuan was a very capable person, especially as a civil servant who could fight, which made Mao Wenlong admire him even more. Moreover, Mao Wenlong was not a real military general. Although the Mao family had a hereditary position of a hundred households, Mao Wenlong's father was a student of the Imperial Academy. Mao Wenlong had studied since he was a child. If his father had not died early, Mao Wenlong would probably not have given up literature and become a military general.

Mao Wenlong believed Yuan Chonghuan's words more because of their mutual respect. He didn't believe that Yuan Chonghuan, as the commander of the front line, would do anything to aid the enemy. The words of the subordinates were not to be trusted. These were all the words of villains and must be nonsense.

Now that the misunderstanding was resolved, Mao Wenlong apologized for the decision to detain people and materials, and told Yuan Chonghuan that he would release the detained people as soon as possible. However, the materials would not be returned. Since Yuan Chonghuan clearly stated in the letter that these materials were used to bribe the generals of the Later Jin Dynasty, in order to express his apology, Mao Wenlong decided to do this for Yuan Chonghuan. Anyway, his territory was behind the Later Jin Dynasty, and he was very familiar with the generals of the Later Jin Dynasty. It was more convenient for him to bribe the other party. In this way, it could be regarded as a practical action to make amends to Yuan Chonghuan.

The content of the letter is as mentioned above. On the surface, Mao Wenlong was very polite to Yuan Chonghuan and apologized to him. But after reading the letter, Yuan Chonghuan was furious. He did not expect Mao Wenlong to be so shameless that he used his words to directly trick him and even made up such a reason.

Yuan Chonghuan didn't believe that Mao Wenlong really didn't know or was just pretending not to know. The latter was very likely. Mao Wenlong was not stupid. Besides, Mao Wenlong lived on smuggling and collecting bribes to support the army and civilians while he was stationed in Pi Island. Didn't he know the twists and turns in it?

But Mao Wenlong did just that. Yuan Chonghuan also guessed the purpose of his doing so. It was nothing more than using this incident to warn Yuan Chonghuan and give him a warning.

Mao Wenlong told Yuan Chonghuan not to think about Pi Island and Korea, let alone smuggling money to Houjin. The former trade route belongs to Mao Wenlong. Anyone who wants to take this trade route must agree with Mao Wenlong, and they have to pay a toll. If there is no money and no benefits, Mao Wenlong will not recognize him. As for the latter, warning is not something that an official of the court can do. What's more, you, Yuan Chonghuan, are the top leader of Ningyuan. On the one hand, you are fighting with Houjin, and on the other hand, you are trading privately with Houjin? Is this something a human can do? Now that the blockade of Houjin by the Ming Dynasty is so severe, and Houjin has shown signs of being unable to support it, you, Yuan Chonghuan, actually smuggled food and military supplies to Houjin? Isn't this aiding the enemy? If Mao Wenlong hadn't reported it to the emperor for the sake of his colleagues, your actions alone would be enough to make you lose your job or even your head.

Now, in order to warn Yuan Chonghuan, all your supplies have been confiscated, and such a high-sounding reason of yours has been used. You, Yuan Chonghuan, should thank Mao Wenlong. Be more careful in the future and abide by the rules. You should be clear about what you can and cannot do. If there is a next time, I will not be so polite.

The above is Mao Wenlong's true attitude. After reading the letter, Yuan Chonghuan was so angry that his lungs were about to explode. He clenched his teeth and clenched his fists. He wanted to run to Pi Island to fight Mao Wenlong. How could a soldier like you insult him like this? You even pretended to take away his supplies. This is simply too much!
Unfortunately, no matter how angry Yuan Chonghuan was, it was of no use because he had no way to deal with Mao Wenlong.

Not to mention that Mao Wenlong's official position was much higher than his, and Mao Wenlong also had a powerful Dongjiang Town at his command. In addition, Mao Wenlong was deeply trusted by Emperor Tianqi, who also gave him the Imperial Sword. Not to mention Yuan Chonghuan, even Sun Chengzong could not touch Mao Wenlong.

As for going to Pi Island to fight, it was even more ridiculous. Although Yuan Chonghuan was stubborn, he was not a fool. Even if he was a civil servant who could lead troops, his fighting power was definitely not as good as Mao Wenlong. Mao Wenlong was a military general who could personally take up a sword and go into battle. He was ranked sixth in the martial arts examination that year. Three Yuan Chonghuans tied together were no match for Mao Wenlong alone. Mao Wenlong could beat a scholar like Yuan Chonghuan with one hand.

After much thought, Yuan Chonghuan could not think of any way to deal with Mao Wenlong. The situation was stronger than the person, so he could only accept the matter helplessly. It was a loss, fortunately Mao Wenlong did not make a big deal out of it. If he insisted on not releasing the two people, or even sent the two people to the capital, plus the confessions and physical objects he had obtained as evidence, Yuan Chonghuan would be in big trouble.

This solution to the problem can be regarded as leaving room for maneuver, and this is the only way to deal with it for now. However, Yuan Chonghuan hated Mao Wenlong in his heart. Although he could not do anything to Mao Wenlong now, he believed that one day he would be able to avenge the humiliation today and let Mao Wenlong know how powerful he was.

Burying his hatred deep in his heart, Yuan Chonghuan called his younger brother Yuan Chongyu to tell him the outcome of the incident. After hearing this, Yuan Chongyu exclaimed that the loss was too great. So much supplies were taken away by Mao Wenlong. How could such a thing happen in the world?

Unwilling to give up, Yuan Chongyu wanted Yuan Chonghuan to think of another way to contact Mao Wenlong to get all the goods back. Unexpectedly, Yuan Chonghuan scolded him directly and warned him not to try to take the goods again, and never go to Pi Island for business in the future. If it happened again, he would not care about him.

After being scolded by Yuan Chonghuan and losing the goods, Yuan Chongyu felt more distressed than if his parents had died. This was a lot of money, and it just fell into Mao Wenlong's hands? Thinking about it, Yuan Chongyu was so distressed that tears fell down, but even his brother Yuan Chonghuan couldn't do anything about it, so what could he do? He could only bite his teeth and accept it. After returning home, Yuan Chongyu lost his temper and smashed everything in the house. He cursed Mao Wenlong, a bastard, for taking advantage of them and his brothers, and he deserved a bad death.

The matter was settled after Mao Wenlong released Hong Xiu and Fang Feng. Yuan Chonghuan and his brothers suffered a loss, but they could not do anything to Mao Wenlong. Yuan Chongyu also became more cautious and never dared to swagger through the Pidao trade route again, fearing that Mao Wenlong would once again take his goods for himself.

As time went by, three months later, Ma Shilong, the commander-in-chief of Shanhaiguan, suddenly received a message from the student Liu Boqiong, saying that the fourth prince of the Later Jin Dynasty, Huang Taiji, was stationed in Yaozhou with less than three hundred troops.

After learning of the letter, Ma Shilong was overjoyed. Without confirming the accuracy of the intelligence and without reporting it to Sun Chengzong for approval, Ma Shilong, who was eager to make a contribution, decided to lead his troops to launch a surprise attack on Yaozhou and catch Huang Taiji off guard.

In early August, Ma Shilong, who was well prepared, sent two generals, Lu Zhijia and Li Chengxian, to attack. They divided their troops into two groups and led 800 people to force a crossing of the Sancha River. When they arrived at Liuhe, they did not expect that the intelligence was wrong. The student Liu Boqi was actually a spy of the Later Jin Dynasty. Huang Taiji was well prepared, and his subordinates were far more than the less than 300 people mentioned. His military strength even exceeded that of the Ming army.

When encountering the enemy, Lu Zhijia and Li Chengxian fought hastily and died in battle one after another. Qian Yingke, the central army soldier, fell into the water and died while fleeing. The 800 Ming troops were defeated and only a few people escaped. This battle is also called the Battle of Liuhe.

(End of this chapter)