Jiaohua

Chapter 1495 Setting up a plan to get rid of Nie Huimo

In the year of Gengyin, Song Zhiyi captured Yong'an.

In the year of Renchen, Song Zhiyi ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, with the reign title Tianding.

Now in the Jiawu period, the people of the Taiping Dynasty, which he ruled, have not yet escaped from famine, war and disease.

Zhu Zhe, the commander of the Zhu family army, was originally a fisherman at the foot of Shangku Mountain in Tangzhou. In order to make a name for himself, he joined the rebel Han Chang.

Han Chang was born into an orthodox Confucian family in Fenghe County and was quite prestigious.

At the end of the Daqian period, Song Zhiyi gathered thousands of refugees and led them north. Before entering Beijing, the place where these thousands of refugees stayed was Fenghe County.

This also brought devastating disaster to the people of Fenghe County.

The wealthy Han family was looted in just three days. Han Chang's grandfather, grandmother, eldest uncle, and third uncle all died in the catastrophe. Han Chang's father escaped quickly but could not escape the severe winter.

In the second month after Song Zhiyi entered the imperial capital, Han Chang and his relatives gathered 500 civilians, erected poles and hung flags, and called themselves the Han Family Army. After several years of development, the total number of the Han Family Army reached 30,000.

Song Zhiyi was troubled by internal and external troubles. Several ministers in the court strongly advocated recruiting Han Chang. Han Chang, who had a family feud, naturally refused to surrender. Zhongshu Shilang Tian Wu advised that they could use a strategy of sowing discord.

So three months ago, Han Chang's guard captain Zhu Zhe rebelled, killed Han Chang and all of Han's relatives overnight, changed Han's army into Zhu's army, and surrendered to Daping as a general.

After Zhu's army surrendered, there was a heated discussion about whether Zhu Zhe should stay or go.

A group headed by Jin Hongkang felt that this traitor should be executed and should not be allowed to remain in the world.

The group headed by Yan Qinglin believed that since they had been offered amnesty, they should be allowed to stay at peace.

What he wanted was not Zhu Zhe, but the hearts of the rebels who were revolting everywhere. He wanted to reward them and persuade them to see that Emperor Tianding could really forgive the past.

Song Zhiyi adopted the latter.

He did not move any of Zhu Zhe's Zhu family army, and Zhu Zhe was still in command. He appointed Zhu Zhe as General Ningyuan, and granted him the title of Ningyuan Marquis, and awarded him three counties including Shushui.

Xia Zhaoyi wanted to leave Daping as quickly as possible and rush to Zheyang Road, and the Shushui River was the only way to go.

Zhu Zhe, who was still unaware of the approaching danger, was entertaining guests at this time.

In the largest restaurant in Shucheng City, there was singing and dancing, and the air was filled with the fragrance of rouge and powder. Behind a huge screen with peaches and willows hanging by the stream, Zhu Zhe and several of his followers were entertaining distinguished guests who had come from afar.

The distinguished guest was a middle-aged man with an elegant temperament and easy-going conversation. When he was drinking happily, he waved his hand lightly and his followers picked up several treasure boxes and placed them on the table. When they opened them, the gold, silver and jewels inside dazzled the eyes of Zhu Zhe and others.

"My father specifically instructed that these must be delivered to the Marquis personally. I hope the Marquis will accept them." The middle-aged man said with a smile.

Zhu Zhe was extremely excited, grinning from ear to ear. He grabbed a gold ingot with both hands, the heavy weight made his blood boil.

"Mr. Weng is really generous!" Zhu Zhe looked up and said happily, "All these, all these are for me?"

"If the Marquis can accomplish what my father has entrusted to me, there will be more to come."

"I'll do it! I'll definitely do it!" Zhu Zhe said hurriedly, "It's just digging a canal. I'll send someone to do it right away. My land is remote and no one is watching over it. Besides, it's just digging a canal, which is the most normal thing!"

"Thank you, sir. Thank you for your help." The middle-aged man raised his hand and bowed.

After the banquet, Zhu Zhe and others left with their big bellies.

The middle-aged man went back to the guest room and touched his round belly.

Although his men had prepared medicine in advance, the effect was not immediate after he took it. He lay in bed for half an hour but his stomach still made him feel uncomfortable.

"I don't know if tomorrow will be fine," the middle-aged man frowned and said, "I planned everything, but I didn't plan for the rain on the road."

The subordinate knew that he was vexing about the time he had wasted on the way here, so he consoled him, "Master, we can still make it back in time tomorrow."

"It would be terrible if we run into heavy rain on the way back," the middle-aged man closed his eyes, "There's another self-torture trick waiting for me in Jinzhou. If I mess it up..."

He didn't say anything more. His subordinate said, "Master, if we mess up, we can plan it next time. It's not the first time anyway..."

"What are you talking about!" The middle-aged man opened his eyes, sat up and cursed, "What do you mean by screw up and then plan again! Once or twice is not enough, how many more times do you need?! As long as Nie Huimo is not eliminated, our Weng family will not be able to sleep or eat in peace! Either he dies, or we die!"

The subordinate knelt down with a thud and raised his hand to slap his face: "Master! I was wrong, Master, calm down! I am stupid, I deserve to die!"

The middle-aged man kicked his subordinate in the face and said, "Get lost!"

The men ran away tumbling.

The rest of the men didn't dare to say a word, and everyone in the room suddenly fell silent.

The middle-aged man lay back and continued to digest his food. As he lay there, he closed his eyes and gradually fell asleep.

Zhu Zhe returned to the barracks with several boxes of treasures. He placed the treasures on the table one by one. He couldn't let go of them. He grabbed this ingot, held up that ingot, and then grabbed a huge pearl necklace and put it on his face, overjoyed.

He stopped several of his close followers outside and did not allow them to come in.

While he was away, a few people discussed in low voices what had been discussed at the banquet today.

The middle-aged man was none other than Weng Enhou, the eldest son of Weng Baoshan, Tian Dayao's confidant.

Recently, Weng Baoshan has been fighting more and more fiercely with Tian Dayao's adopted son Nie Huimo. This time, Weng Enhou traveled thousands of miles to Shushui Town, trying to persuade Zhu Zhe to dig a canal on the bank of Shushui River. He said that Weng Baoshan had set up a plan and would be able to make Nie Huimo enter the Huimen River on the east bank of Youzhou in late autumn.

The terrain along the Shushui River is much higher than that of the Cangjiang River and the Huimen River. Once the ditch is dug according to the drawings provided by Weng Baoshan, when Nie Huimo's army reaches Futouling, the sluice gates on the upper reaches of the Shushui River will be opened to release water, which will surely cause 80% casualties to Nie Huimo's navy.

Although Zhu Zhe has accepted the other party's generous gift, whether he should do so is still under discussion.

A few of my relatives were following me, and we couldn't make up our minds.

They were afraid that the other party was deceiving them, and they were also afraid that the other party was really willing to cooperate. Then, they would miss an opportunity to eliminate Nie Huimo.

But if the other party is cheating, what can they cheat from them?

Just when several people were engrossed in the discussion, they realized that man proposes, God disposes.

Suddenly, countless terrified screams were heard outside: "General! The army is under attack! The barracks are under attack!!!"

"My Lord! My Lord!!!"

"Oh no!!"

Several of the followers were startled and turned their heads away quickly, some even thought they had heard it wrongly.

Zhu Zhe, who was indulging in the jewels in the tent, frowned, put down the treasure in his hand, and strode out: "What's the noise?!"

A dozen soldiers came running over, "General! Troops are coming!"

"They kill people as soon as they meet, and they strike with their weapons raised!"

"Lord, many of our brothers have died, and many people have died outside!!"

……

Seeing the blood on the bodies of these soldiers, Zhu Zhe was shocked and thought to himself that something was wrong.

"Did something happen?" a close follower asked hurriedly, "My Lord, is it because of Weng Enhou?"

Another attendant widened his eyes and spoke quickly: "It seems so! It must be because of Weng Enhou! Lord, maybe it's because of your correspondence with Weng Baoshan, and the emperor knows about Weng Enhou's visit to Shucheng! Otherwise, why would these soldiers kill anyone they see? It must be because the emperor thinks you are colluding with Tian Dayao's people! ”

"Oh no..." Zhu Zhe murmured, "Oh no! What should I do?! What should I do!"

One of his followers rolled his eyes quickly, raised his head and said, "My Lord, at this point, we can only be ruthless and heartless!"