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

Chapter 480: Capital - Jin County

Man Gui, who was already full of anger, naturally wanted to complain about his grievances when he heard Emperor Chongzhen's question. He immediately cried to Emperor Chongzhen with tears and snot, telling him how he was almost killed by Yuan Chonghuan's cannon on the battlefield today.

Listening to Man Gui's cry, Emperor Chongzhen looked unhappy. He knew that what Man Gui said was right, because he was watching the battle on the city wall at that time. He also heard about the conflict between Yuan Chonghuan and Man Gui. It was because Yuan Chonghuan did not tolerate Man Gui that he pushed Man Gui out of Liaodong and sent him to Datong to serve as the general. So, although there were some personal emotions in Man Gui's cry, it was indeed the case.

"My dear Yuan!"

"I'm here!" Yuan Chonghuan responded hurriedly, feeling uneasy. Just now Man Gui had complained in front of him, and Yuan Chonghuan was extremely embarrassed. Although he wanted to clarify, he didn't know how to start. Moreover, as a minister, he couldn't interrupt the emperor before he started talking, so he could only endure it.

"I want to ask you, is it true that Lord Man was injured by your army's artillery fire?" Emperor Chongzhen asked directly.

"Your Majesty... it is true..." Yuan Chonghuan did not dare to lie to his face. He could not hide this matter. Many people saw the battle today, and Man Gui was seriously injured. However, just when Yuan Chonghuan was about to explain that his cannon was not aimed at Man Gui, and it was indeed an accidental injury, Emperor Chongzhen interrupted him in advance.

"Yuan Chonghuan, since your artillery was responsible for your injury, no matter what the cause, shouldn't you apologize to General Man?"

"Your Majesty, this is my fault. I must apologize to General Man." Yuan Chonghuan sighed in his heart. If he had known this would happen, he should not have put on airs and tried to save face. He should have visited Man Gui in person after learning that he was injured. Now that the matter had come to the emperor, the emperor spoke again. Yuan Chonghuan had no choice but to apologize. He immediately bowed to Man Gui and said that it was his fault. It was because of his mistake in command that he accidentally injured friendly troops, so that Man Gui could forgive him.

Man Gui snorted coldly after hearing this. He originally planned to make some sarcastic remarks about Yuan Chonghuan, but for the sake of Emperor Chongzhen's face, Man Gui had to have an attitude. He immediately reluctantly accepted Yuan Chonghuan's apology, but there was still a hint of anger in his expression.

Looking at these two people, Emperor Chongzhen naturally understood that they had many contradictions. Although Yuan Chonghuan was promoted by Emperor Chongzhen and was appointed as the commander-in-chief of Ji and Liao by him, and since he had used Yuan Chonghuan, Emperor Chongzhen had always trusted Yuan Chonghuan. He never refuted Yuan Chonghuan's requests, and tried his best to meet them.

The reason for this is that Emperor Chongzhen entrusted the important task of solving the Liaodong problem to Yuan Chonghuan, and he hoped that Yuan Chonghuan could pacify Liaodong in five years as he promised to him and completely solve the Liaodong problem. However, Emperor Chongzhen never expected that in less than two years, Yuan Chonghuan not only failed to make any progress in Liaodong, but also caused so many problems one after another, which really disappointed him.

First, he killed Mao Wenlong, the general of Dongjiang Town, and then reduced the number of Liaodong military generals. At the same time, he asked the court for countless military rations and weapons. Emperor Chongzhen accepted all these reluctantly. In the eyes of Emperor Chongzhen, no matter how outrageous Yuan Chonghuan was, as long as he could destroy the Jiannu, the price would be worth it.

However, the attempt to pacify Liaodong not only failed, but also allowed the Jiannu in Liaodong to become more and more powerful. Previously, the war was still maintained to the east of Shanhaiguan, but now the Jiannu directly broke through the Great Wall and besieged the capital.

The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. Emperor Chongzhen was now extremely disappointed with Yuan Chonghuan. He was even more angry about Yuan Chonghuan's actions and felt that he had been deceived.

Just like a pair of lovers in love, they thought they loved each other wholeheartedly, but in the end they found out that the other party was actually a scumbag. All the previous vows of love were fake, and all the sweet words were lies. In this case, the deeper the love was at the beginning, the more hatred there was in the heart now. Emperor Chongzhen was like a deceived woman. Looking at Yuan Chonghuan, the anger in his heart could no longer be suppressed.

However, reason told Emperor Chongzhen that now was not the time to completely turn against Yuan Chonghuan, because the Jiannu army was still outside the capital and Yuan Chonghuan was still useful. Now was not the right time to deal with Yuan Chonghuan. For the sake of the overall situation, Emperor Chongzhen swallowed his anger.

Suppressing his anger, Emperor Chongzhen comforted them with a few words, and finally warned them that they should work together in the face of a powerful enemy, put personal grudges aside, and focus on the overall situation.

The emperor said so, and Man Gui and Yuan Chonghuan naturally had no objection, and immediately kowtowed in agreement. Emperor Chongzhen also asked people to take out the prepared rewards and give them to the two of them, asking them to lead the troops well after returning, cooperate in the battle, and repel the Jiannu as soon as possible, so as not to disappoint his expectations.

Just like that, after meeting Emperor Chongzhen, the two left the palace holding the rewards given by the emperor. When they arrived outside the palace, Man Gui didn't even look at Yuan Chonghuan beside him. He snorted coldly and walked away first. After Man Gui left, Yuan Chonghuan looked at Man Gui's departing back and felt very uncomfortable. At the same time, he also felt extremely uneasy.

Jin County, Gansu.

Li Hongji, now Li Zicheng, killed his fickle wife Han Jiner and her adulterer Gai Hu with his own hands, and broke into Wen Juren's house and chopped off his head. Then Li Zicheng fled the county with his brother Wen Xinghu and nephew Li Guo. The three of them had nowhere to go with their lives left, so after discussion, Li Zicheng changed his name and went to the border to join the army. With the help of Wen Xinghu's friends, he successfully became a member of the border army.

As a frontier soldier, he no longer had to worry about being caught by the government. Although Li Zicheng had never been a soldier before, he had worked in a post station. In addition, Li Zicheng had good martial arts skills, and with the help of Wen Xinghu and Li Guo, he quickly gained a foothold in the frontier army. Moreover, because of Li Zicheng's prestige and good skills in the frontier army, he was favored by the superiors. After just one year, he went from an ordinary soldier to a captain. The captain is a low-ranking military officer in the army. According to the rank, it is the seventh rank, second only to the thousand-general (garrison) who commanded a thousand combat soldiers in the army, and has about 440 combat soldiers under his command.

From this point of view, the battalion commander was already a formal military officer, and the number of soldiers he led was not small. In later generations, it would be roughly the level of a battalion commander.

However, the situation of border troops eating empty salaries is serious. The current captain-general is no longer the same as before. Nominally, he can lead 440 soldiers, but in reality, Captain-general Li Zicheng has only more than 100 brothers under his command. As for the remaining vacancies, there is a serious shortage, and the empty salary share has long been taken away by the higher-ups.

But even so, from a murderer to a captain, it can be seen that Li Zicheng was doing well in the border army. Since he became a captain, his life has been much better than before, and Wen Xinghu and Li Guo who followed him also rose in status and became the general flags under him.

If nothing had changed, Li Zicheng would probably have lived a peaceful life in the border army. Although life in the border army was hard, at least this kind of life was quite accustomed to Li Zicheng, as if Li Zicheng was born to be a soldier.

In addition, he was already a battalion commander, a formal officer, and his living conditions and other aspects were much better than those of ordinary sergeants. If he could endure for a few years and slowly rise up, maybe Li Zicheng could be promoted from a battalion commander to a thousand commander or a garrison commander. If he was luckier, he might even become a guerrilla general. If he could reach that point, Li Zicheng would have truly made a name for himself.

But changes happened much faster than expected. Not long after Li Zicheng became a captain-general and was planning to continue serving in the border army, an order from the imperial court suddenly arrived in Gansu.

A few days ago, an urgent order came from afar. Gansu General Yang Zhaoji was shocked after receiving the order, because it was an order to serve the king. The Jiannu in Liaodong suddenly invaded the pass in large numbers, and their troops advanced westward to threaten the capital. After Emperor Chongzhen learned the news, he issued an edict to serve the king to various places on the same day. Nearby places such as Xuanda had already sent troops to rescue, and Gansu, which was farther away, also received the edict to serve the king one after another.

The capital was in danger, so Yang Zhaoji could not sit idly by, especially since the emperor had already sent an order for the border troops to rush to the capital to defend the emperor. Yang Zhaoji immediately called a meeting of his generals, and after discussion, he decided that he would continue to stay in Gansu and dispatch 3,000 Gansu soldiers, led by Lieutenant General Wang Guo, to rush to the capital to rescue.

After receiving the order, Wang Guo immediately began to mobilize the army, and selected 3,000 soldiers from his army to march out of the border and rush towards the capital day and night. In this mobilization of troops, Li Zicheng and his brothers were among them, and arrived in Jin County a few days later.

"My lord, it's time for dinner."

A cook walked in from outside, saluted Li Zicheng and spoke.

Since Li Zicheng became a captain-general, he could barely be called "sir". Of course, this sir was just a title used in the army. In the Ming Dynasty, where civil officials were more respected than military officials, he, a captain-general, was just a small military officer. Ordinary civil officials did not take him seriously at all.

But no matter what, an official is an official, even a military officer is an official. Li Zicheng, who was an official for the first time, was very concerned about his official position, so he required his brothers to call him "sir" on weekdays, which was also a way to satisfy his desire to be an official.

Li Zicheng was talking to Wen Xinghu and Li Guo when he heard the cook say that dinner was ready. He nodded and said, "Thank you for your hard work. Bring in the food."

"Yes!"

The cook responded and brought the food in. When the food was served, Li Zicheng frowned as soon as he saw the food in front of him, because it was much worse than he had imagined. It was a bowl of yellow and green wild vegetables cooked into a mushy mess, and coupled with the dry biscuits made of wild vegetables and grains, it was really not that good.

The border troops had a hard life, with their salaries often in arrears when they were at the border, but even so, they could still basically guarantee food. And with Li Zicheng's current status as a general, he could not expect to have white flour and delicious meat every day, but at least his food was much better than the crap in front of him.

But now, since receiving the order to defend the king, all the troops have gathered and marched towards the capital day and night, but the food they eat along the way is worse than when they were at the border. They have been eating this kind of crappy stuff for several days. They thought they would have a good meal when they arrived in Jin County today, but why are they still eating this stuff?

(End of this chapter)