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

Chapter 557 Triumph
Two days later, Li Xin and most of Zhang Ke's troops returned in triumph. Xu Xiancheng brought the civil and military officials stationed in Dengzhou out of the city to welcome them.

When Xu Xiancheng saw the flags of Li Xin and Zhang Keda appear from afar, his face was full of smiles and he was extremely happy.

A moment later, Li Xin and Zhang Keda, who were walking in front of the team, arrived first. Xu Xiancheng, regardless of his status, stepped forward to greet them. Seeing Xu Xiancheng coming to greet him personally, Li Xin hurriedly dismounted. Although Zhang Keda had never seen Xu Xiancheng, he recognized the official uniform he was wearing. Moreover, since joining forces with Li Xin, Li Xin also informed Zhang Keda about the Dengzhou incident, explaining that due to special reasons in Leiden, Xu Xiancheng would temporarily take charge of the Leiden military and political power.

Zhang Keda and Sun Yuanhua actually had a good relationship, and Zhang Keda was a capable and accomplished general in the Ming army. After he was appointed as the general of Leiden, Zhang Keda paid great attention to the defense of Leiden, inspected it in person many times, started to strengthen the defense line, and strictly trained the army.

Zhang Keda had a high prestige in the Shandong army and was fully qualified to be Sun Yuanhua's deputy. However, although he had a good personal relationship with Sun Yuanhua, he had some objections to Sun Yuanhua's use of Liao generals. In his opinion, although Sun Yuanhua's resettlement of Liao soldiers and Liao people was well-intentioned, he was too idealistic.

Moreover, since the Liao people poured into Leiden, the conflicts with the local people became increasingly serious. Faced with this situation, Sun Yuanhua could not come up with a good solution to the problem. As a result, the conflict gradually developed from the local area to the Shandong Army and the Liao Army, causing hostility between the two sides. More importantly, Sun Yuanhua promoted Liao generals many times and used them in important positions, which made the Shandong army extremely dissatisfied.

It was for this reason that Zhang Keda took the initiative to request to leave Dengzhou and took most of the Shandong troops to Laizhou in the name of garrison. He did this simply because he did not want to have a fierce conflict with Sun Yuanhua, and he did not want to be caught between the Liao army and the Shandong army.

Anyway, you, Sun Yuanhua, are the governor of Leiden. You are the top leader and you have the final say. It would be better for him, the general, to avoid the general, right? Going to Laizhou and turning a blind eye would actually save you from trouble.

This time, Kong Youde rebelled. Zhang Ke was so angry that he felt happy. In his opinion, this incident was entirely caused by Sun Yuanhua himself. If he had not indulged the Liao generals and accepted so many Liao people, how could he have caused such a big rebellion?

But besides gloating over the misfortune, Zhang Keda was also secretly worried, especially after he received the order from Sun Yuanhua to go to the battle, Zhang Keda was even more worried. He was very clear about the situation in Dengzhou. Since he led his troops to Laizhou, most of the people in Dengzhou were Liao generals and Liao troops, except for Kong Youde who was now rebelling. The lieutenant general of the central army was Kong Youde's sworn brother Geng Zhongming, and the guerrilla general was Kong Youde's old comrade Zhang Tao. Among the remaining generals, Shandong generals accounted for a very low proportion, and their military positions were not high. Most of the independent generals were Liao generals.

Sun Yuanhua has always trusted Liao generals, and in this case he is likely to send Liao generals to fight. But now Kong Youde has rebelled, are those Liao generals really reliable? Zhang Keda is skeptical about this, and is extremely worried that once the war starts, he will be attacked from both sides.

But Zhang Keda was a typical soldier, and he could only follow orders from his superiors. So after going to the battle, Zhang Keda had been on guard against such a situation. When the battle started, Zhang Keda's heart was hanging in the air. It was not until he saw Li Xin change the flag in the battle and lead his troops to charge directly at Kong Youde's central army that Zhang Keda was overjoyed and completely put his heart at ease.

After the war, Zhang Keda and Li Xin's armies met up, and Zhang Keda learned from Li Xin what had happened in Dengzhou. Zhang Keda agreed with Xu Xiancheng's thoughtful arrangement, and facts also proved that Xu Xiancheng was not doing this without purpose. Li Xin held a letter sent by Kong Youde before the war. Judging from the content of the letter, if Xu Xiancheng had not solved the internal troubles in Dengzhou first and let Li Xin lead the troops, the consequences might have been unimaginable.

When he got closer, Xu Xiancheng's eyes fell on Zhang Keda. Although Zhang Keda, who was nearly 50 years old, was a southerner, he was tall and looked more like a northerner. Moreover, unlike ordinary military generals, Zhang Keda did not have the arrogance of a military general. His gentle expression made people feel very comfortable. After all, Zhang Keda was born into a hereditary thousand-householder family, and he was also a military scholar in the 29th year of Wanli.

Xu Xiancheng did not talk to his friend Li Xin first, but walked towards Zhang Keda first, smiled and said: "This is General Zhang Guanfu, right? I have heard of General Zhang's great name for a long time, and it is really true to see him today. I am Xu Xiancheng, General Zhang has returned triumphantly today, and I am overjoyed, so I came here to greet him."

"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare." Zhang Keda didn't expect Xu Xiancheng to treat him so courteously as soon as they met. Although his official position was not low, he was the general of Leiden, but in the Ming Dynasty, civil officials were respected and military officials were despised. He was not the general of a general town, but only a second-rank military general.

Not to mention an official of the Ministry of War like Xu Xiancheng, even if it was an ordinary official of the sixth or seventh rank in the Ministry of War, Zhang Keda would have to bow first when he met him.

But now Xu Xiancheng treated him so courteously and even called him Zhang Shuai, which made Zhang Ke very surprised. He already had a good impression of Xu Xiancheng and felt even more grateful.

"Master Xu, I dare not claim to be the commander. Moreover, this victory is the result of Master Xu's planning. Without Master Xu's planning, how could we have achieved today's results?"

"Hahaha!" Xu Xiancheng laughed and said, "Marshal Zhang is wrong. Planning is just planning. To fight a war, we still need a brave general like Marshal Zhang to go to the battlefield and fight with swords and guns. The so-called strategist is not worth mentioning at all. I heard that Marshal Zhang defeated Kong Youde's troops in the battle of Zhaoyuan. If it weren't for Marshal Zhang's contribution, it would be hard to say whether Kong Youde could be captured."

"Master Xu is right." Li Xin, who was standing by, took over the conversation with a smile, "At that time, General Zhang not only held off Kong Youde's main force, but also defeated the rebels. If it weren't for General Zhang's contribution, how could there be a chance to capture Kong Youde alive later? In my opinion, the first credit for this battle should go to General Zhang!"

"Shame...Shame..." Zhang Keda said hurriedly, but his heart was warm at this moment. Both Xu Xiancheng and Li Xin were different from other civil officials. As an official sent by the court to inspect the local area, Xu Xiancheng not only held the royal flag, but also had outstanding ability and unique vision. In particular, Xu Xiancheng decisively dealt with the Dengzhou incident, solved the troubles of Dengzhou, and planned this great victory. Such ability is not something that ordinary people can have.

More importantly, Xu Xiancheng did not have the bad temper of those civil officials who looked down on military generals, which made Zhang Keda very happy. As for Li Xin, the head of the Ministry of War was the same, and he was fearless and brave in battle. Even the rebel Kong Youde was captured by Li Xin himself. Zhang Keda had never seen such a civil official in his nearly fifty years of life.

After the two armies joined forces, Zhang Keda and Li Xin hit it off immediately. They had become good friends on the way back. Now when he saw Xu Xiancheng again, it was the same. Zhang Keda was even happier, smiling from ear to ear, feeling extremely happy.

The three of them exchanged a few brief greetings, and Xu Xiancheng held Zhang Keda in one hand and Li Xin in the other, and walked towards Dengzhou City side by side.

As for Kong Youde and his rebel generals and soldiers, arrangements had naturally been made in advance to ensure they would be "well treated".

"Lord Xu..." After entering Dengzhou City, Zhang Keda looked around, seeming to want to say something but stopped himself.

"Marshal Zhang, just say whatever you want to say. Although you and I only meet for the first time today, we have known each other for a long time. We are brothers, so you can say whatever you want." Xu Xiancheng said generously.

Zhang Keda asked in a low voice: "Why don't you see Lord Sun? Lord Sun...?"

Xu Xiancheng led people to greet them, but Zhang Keda noticed that there was no Sun Yuanhua in the crowd. Although he thought that Sun Yuanhua's use of Liao generals had conflicts with the Liao army, and he led his troops to leave Dengzhou and garrison in Laizhou, to be honest, Zhang Keda still admired Sun Yuanhua very much, and he thought that Sun Yuanhua was a good official, a good official among civil officials who did not discriminate against their military generals. If Xu Xiancheng imprisoned Sun Yuanhua just because of Kong Youde's rebellion, it would be unfair to Sun Yuanhua.

The reason Zhang Keda asked this question was that he wanted to find out about Sun Yuanhua's current situation and say a few good words for Sun Yuanhua.

When he asked this question, Xu Xiancheng and Li Xin instantly understood his thoughts. They exchanged glances and couldn't help but laugh.

"General Zhang is worried that I will punish Lord Sun with the royal decree, right?"

"Master Xu, the last general..."

Without waiting for Zhang Keda to continue, Xu Xiancheng waved his hand and said, "Marshal Zhang may not know that Brother Li, Brother Chuyang and I were close friends when we were in the capital. This time we were ordered by the court to come to Leiden for inspection. It was a coincidence that we did not expect such a thing to happen. Although Brother Chuyang was responsible for the rebellion of Kong Youde, after a careful investigation, I found that there were other reasons."

"Brother Chuyang is not primarily responsible for the rebellion, but because of this incident, Brother Chuyang is no longer suitable to continue governing Leiden. Therefore, I have suspended Brother Chuyang's position with the royal decree, but have not made any other decisions. Brother Chuyang is still the governor of Leiden, and his actions are not restricted at all."

"That's good, that's good." Zhang Keda was relieved after hearing Xu Xiancheng's explanation. Since Xu Xiancheng and Li Xin were both good friends of Sun Yuanhua, and they made their words so clear, it must be true.

But if that was the case, why didn't Sun Yuanhua come with Xu Xiancheng to greet them? Instead, he was nowhere to be seen.

Thinking of this, Zhang Keda frowned slightly, and suddenly he understood. Could it be that because they had won the battle and learned that Kong Youde and other Liao generals had indeed colluded, Sun Yuanhua was too embarrassed to follow everyone out of the city to welcome them? If so, this was possible. For a moment, Zhang Keda couldn't help but laugh.

Zhang Keda's guess was correct. When they arrived at the governor's office, Sun Yuanhua was waiting there.

When Sun Yuanhua saw Xu Xiancheng, Li Xin and Zhang Keda walking towards him with smiles on their faces, he stood up subconsciously. He looked very embarrassed and his face turned blue and red.

(End of this chapter)