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

Chapter 477 Parting on bad terms
On that day, Wang Chengen selected two people to go out of the city to meet Yuan Chonghuan in the name of entertaining the troops. In order to appease Yuan Chonghuan, Wang Chengen, after obtaining the consent of Emperor Chongzhen, also specially brought the brocade robes, jade belts and some food and fodder bestowed by the emperor on Yuan Chonghuan and the generals.

In this way, eunuch Feng Yunsheng and Lu Zhi went out of the city together and met Yuan Chonghuan. When Yuan Chonghuan learned that the emperor had sent someone to meet him, he hurried out of the camp to greet him and behaved very respectfully.

"Sir Yuan, the emperor ordered you to lead the troops to resist the enemy. The emperor values ​​you so much that he sent us here to entertain the troops. You must not let the emperor down." Feng Yunsheng directly criticized Yuan Chonghuan with a sneer on his face.

"What are you talking about, Eunuch Feng? I, Yuan Chonghuan, will serve you faithfully until my death. Please rest assured, Eunuch Feng. As long as I am here, the Jiannu will never be able to break through the capital. Please report this to your majesty so that your majesty can rest assured."

"Rest assured? Haha, now that the Jiannu army is at the gates of the city, how can the emperor be at ease in the palace?" Lu Zhi at the side asked bluntly. He just took a special walk around Yuan Chonghuan's army, but found that although the soldiers in Yuan Chonghuan's army looked tired, there was no sign of fighting. In other words, Yuan Chonghuan's Guanning Army had never had a direct battle with the Jiannu on the way from Shanhaiguan to the capital. They just ran here directly.

It is important to know that it is nearly a thousand miles from Shanhaiguan to the capital. The previous intelligence was that the Jiannu had captured Zunhua, and Jizhou City was still in the hands of the Ming army. Moreover, when Yuan Chonghuan sent troops, Emperor Chongzhen had already mobilized troops from all over the country, including the border troops of Xuanda and other troops, and gave all the command of these troops to Yuan Chonghuan.

According to normal reasoning, Yuan Chonghuan would have to fight a few battles with Jiannu when he was leading his troops to rescue the capital, and even if he was defeated, he would have fought. But what happened now? Yuan Chonghuan's troops came all the way here, but there was no sign of any battle. What was even more puzzling was that the Jiannu army arrived right after Yuan Chonghuan, and the two sides followed one after the other as if they had agreed, which was simply unimaginable.

You should know that before meeting Yuan Chonghuan, battle reports had already come from Xuanda. Hou Shilu, the general of Xuanfu, and Man Gui, the general of Datong, had both fought with the Jiannu. Now the two armies had just arrived in Shunyi chasing the Jiannu. Judging from the marching route, although Hou Shilu and Man Gui suffered a defeat, they were chasing the Jiannu. But Yuan Chonghuan was not like that.

This situation could not help but make Lu Zhi suspicious. In fact, Feng Yunsheng also felt it was strange, but Feng Yunsheng was more steady. He did not directly rebuke Yuan Chonghuan, but instead hinted at him with words.

"Eunuch, I don't know what you mean by this?" Yuan Chonghuan didn't know how to answer for a moment, but Zu Dashou next to him couldn't help it.

Zu Dashou was born a soldier, and as the leader of the Liaodong generals, he didn't take eunuchs seriously. In his opinion, these worthless people were nothing. Didn't the Guanning Army come to the capital from Liaodong with great difficulty just to rescue them? But now, not only did they not end up well, but they were scolded by the other party in a sarcastic tone as soon as they met, which was really unbearable for him.

"Haha, I am a eunuch who doesn't understand military affairs, so what I asked is naturally just to seek advice from you, which is not meaningful. But as for this general, even if I don't understand much, I know a thing or two about the principles that everyone knows. What I don't understand is that the Guanning Army came all the way here, but there is no sign of fighting with the Jiannu. Why is that? It would be fine if they couldn't catch up, but the Guanning Army arrived in the capital before the Jiannu, which is really strange. Could it be that the Guanning Army flew to the capital with wings? Or did the Jiannu treat the Guanning Army differently along the way and bypassed your army?" Lu Zhi rolled his eyes and asked sarcastically.

Zu Dashou was immediately furious when he heard this. Although he was a military general, he was not stupid. There was sting in Lu Zhi's words. He was clearly accusing them of chasing the Jiannu all the way without fighting with them, and even suspected that they had led the Jiannu to the capital. Wasn't this tantamount to accusing them of treason in disguise?
Zu Dashou couldn't help it and was about to open his mouth to refute, but before he could say anything, Yuan Chonghuan raised his hand to stop him.

Yuan Chonghuan's face was not looking good, but he knew that now was not the time to debate this matter. He suppressed his anger and explained: "My Lord, you don't know that my army originally set up defenses in the east of Jizhou to stop the Jiannu, but I didn't expect the Jiannu to be cunning and retreat without fighting. At that time, I thought the Jiannu were setting an ambush to lure my army, so I didn't send troops to chase them. Who would have thought that I would get news the next day that the cavalry sent by the Jiannu the day before was just a decoy, its purpose was to attract my attention, while its main force bypassed Jizhou and went directly west, breaking through Sanhe overnight, and heading straight for the capital."

"After receiving the news, I was worried about the capital and did not delay for a moment. To protect the capital, I ordered the Guanning Army to rescue the capital day and night. Today, they finally arrived before the Jiannu arrived in the capital. This is the situation. Please report it to Your Majesty and tell Your Majesty that our Guanning Army will protect the capital and will not let the Jiannu threaten the capital in the slightest. Your Majesty can rest assured."

After hearing this, Lu Zhi became even more unconvinced. He felt that Yuan Chonghuan's words were simply nonsense and made no sense.

He said earlier that he had stopped the Jiannu in Jizhou, but he fell into the Jiannu's trap and let the Jiannu bypass Jizhou and break through the Sanhe defense line and run directly in front of him. This sounds reasonable, but it is strange when you think about it carefully. The defense line was clearly set up, so how could the Jiannu easily bypass Jizhou? If it was an ordinary person, it would be fine, but the person leading the army was him, Yuan Chonghuan.

Yuan Chonghuan had led troops for many years and had fought countless battles with Jiannu. He must have been familiar with Jiannu. How could he be easily fooled by Jiannu? Moreover, the Sanhe defense line was the second defense line west of Jizhou set up by Yuan Chonghuan in advance. However, Jiannu broke through Sanhe overnight, which was simply incredible.

As for what happened next, it was even more unbelievable. Yuan Chonghuan said that when he was chasing Jiannu, Jiannu had already crossed Sanhe. This means that Yuan Chonghuan's Guanning Army was in the east, while Jiannu was in the west, and the two armies were more than a hundred miles apart. Jiannu's Eight Banners were all cavalry units with extremely fast marching speeds, while Guanning Army, except for Guanning Iron Cavalry, was mostly infantry. They chased cavalry with infantry and carried heavy equipment such as artillery. Logically, they should have followed Jiannu, but a few days later, Yuan Chonghuan ran ahead of Jiannu and arrived in the capital before Jiannu?

This kind of talk might fool a three-year-old child, but it was impossible to fool Lü Zhi. In Lü Zhi's opinion, Yuan Chonghuan was full of lies and could not be trusted. Judging from the current situation, he might have colluded with the Jiannu, and even the Jiannu's attack on the capital was deliberately done by Yuan Chonghuan.

Just as Lu Zhi was about to open his mouth to continue questioning, Feng Yunsheng at the side hurriedly and quietly pulled him and gave Lu Zhi a wink.

Lu Zhi was stunned at first, and then he understood what Feng Yunsheng meant. After all, they were in Yuan Chonghuan's army. What if they pushed Yuan Chonghuan too far and Yuan Chonghuan detained them or even chopped off their heads in anger? If it was someone else, Lu Zhi would not worry, but don't forget that this was Yuan Chonghuan. Yuan Chonghuan was always very courageous. He even dared to kill Mao Wenlong, let alone the two eunuchs? If they died in Yuan Chonghuan's hands, their lives would be fine, but how would they explain to the emperor? Don't forget that they are still shouldering the emperor's mission.

Feng Yunsheng took over the conversation and laughed a few times, saying that he naturally believed what Lord Yuan said. Since Lord Yuan explained it this way, it must be true. It was getting late, and they had to go back to the palace to ask Yuan Chonghuan to control the troops and reorganize the troops to fight the Jiannu as soon as possible. Once they defeated the Jiannu and defended the capital, Emperor Chongzhen would definitely reward them heavily.

After that, Feng Yunsheng did not stay any longer, and took Lü Zhi and others directly back to the city. After Feng Yunsheng and Lü Zhi left, Zu Dashou and other generals, who had been furious for a long time, could not help but curse. They had come all the way from Shanhaiguan with untold hardships, and arrived in the capital before Jiannu, but it was a mistake? If they had known this, they should not have chased non-stop all the way, and walked slowly behind Jiannu? Now, hard work has become a sin, and the reward for their passion is cold accusations. How can they bear this?

Several people cursed loudly, and the more they cursed, the more indignant they became. When they saw the food and fodder sent by Feng Yunsheng, they became even more furious.

The food and fodder that Feng Yunsheng and his men sent to entertain the troops was not much at all, only a dozen carts. Compared with the tens of thousands of Guanning Army main forces, this amount of food was only enough for two days. The capital was the center of the country, and they had come thousands of miles to serve the king, and this was the treatment they got? As for the brocade robes and jade belts, they were all good-looking but useless. How could this be considered entertaining the troops? It was simply a humiliation.

With his blood boiling, Zu Dashou could no longer hold back and took his men to overturn several trucks loaded with grain. The trucks turned over and the grain spilled all over the ground. Zu Dashou was still furious and spat at the grain several times.

If Yuan Chonghuan had not come to his senses and stopped him in time, Zu Dashou would have even planned to burn the food. Even if he had to starve and not eat the food, he would never let these two eunuchs humiliate him like this.

After stopping the angry Zu Dashou, Yuan Chonghuan ordered his men to pick up the spilled food and place it elsewhere.

These grains definitely cannot be burned. After all, Feng Yunsheng and his men are here to entertain the troops on behalf of Emperor Chongzhen. If they do so, there will be big problems. Now is a sensitive period, and they must not do anything that would give others an advantage.

After persuading Zu Dashou and others, Yuan Chonghuan returned to the tent with a worried look on his face. He had a vague feeling that something was wrong, as if he had made a wrong decision since he decided to send troops to rescue the capital from Shanhaiguan.

Since he decided to rescue the capital and started a war with the Jiannu in the capital, Yuan Chonghuan's good luck seemed to have run out. First, he failed to stop the Jiannu in Jizhou, and then the Sanhe defense line he had arranged in advance became a decoration. Yuan Chonghuan himself did not listen to the advice of his subordinates and intercepted the Jiannu in Tongzhou. Worried about the safety of the capital, he marched overnight for safety reasons and finally arrived in the capital to set up defenses before the Jiannu.

However, this action aroused suspicion from Feng Yunsheng and others, and Yuan Chonghuan himself knew that although his explanation was true, the truth was hard to convince people.

Yuan Chonghuan now regretted his decision. He regretted that he did not think carefully before making these decisions, and regretted that he did not listen to Sun Yuanhua's advice to adopt the tactic of "encircling Wei to save Zhao". Now he was in a thankless position. Not only did he not make any contribution, but he was also suspected of being the scapegoat. What if Emperor Chongzhen, who had listened to the report of Feng Yunsheng and others, became suspicious of him? For a time, Yuan Chonghuan was at a loss.

(End of this chapter)