My father is Jiajing

Chapter 172 Crouching Dragon and Phoenix's Clever Plan

After obtaining the official title of General Pinglu, Zhu Zaigui also gained legitimate power.

Before, Zhu Zaigui issued orders to the troops using a golden order with the words "As if I were present in person" and Huang Jin's testimony.

Now with Zhao Zhenji's edict, Zhu Zaigui officially wore the seal of the General of Pinglu, and everything seemed more formal and more legitimate.

"Inform the Chaobai River defense troops that they are not allowed to move without my order."

Zhu Zaigui formally issued such a repetitive order to the defensive army on the Chaobai River line in the name of General Pinglu.

At the same time, Zhu Zaigui also ordered Zhang Tianci, who was guarding the dike upstream of the Chaobai River, to be prepared and to obey orders at any time to break the dike and release water.

After making these preparations, Zhu Zaigui ordered the scouts to disperse and investigate the movements of the Tatar army to see whether they were heading towards Shunyi according to the predetermined plan.

At the same time, just as Zhu Zaigui was making final preparations for the decisive battle of Chaobai River, Qiu Luan behind Zhu Zaigui was like a cat that smelled blood.

His situation was not much better than that of Anda whose camp was burned down. He hurriedly led 20,000 Datong soldiers from Juyongguan, wanting to be the first to gain credit for serving the king.

Therefore, his preparations were extremely rough, so much so that he had not even prepared food and supplies for 20,000 troops.

Therefore, the 20,000 Datong soldiers he led were all hungry.

Now this group of soldiers has also heard the news that there is an industrial park with abundant supplies in Shunyi behind the Chaobai River, so their evil intentions have become active.

Looking at the angry attitudes of the various lieutenant generals and guerrilla generals under his command, Qiu Luan couldn't help rubbing his head, feeling a little overwhelmed.

"Don't worry, everyone. I have already written to the court. The food problem will be solved soon. You can appease your subordinates."

Qiu Luan spoke kindly to the lieutenant generals and guerrilla generals in the tent. He was also worried that these people would suddenly revolt because they had no food.

The lieutenant generals and guerrilla generals in the tent were all veteran generals from the Xuan-Da front line. They were not easy to please and would not listen to the empty promises made by their superiors.

Their creed is that they will contribute as much as their superiors give them.

If you talk to them about loyalty, righteousness, and sentimental nonsense, unless the leader can be as fearless as Zhang Da and Lin Chun, the generals who lead the charge, and charge forward together.

It is obvious that Qiu Luan does not have the noble awareness like Zhang Da and Lin Chun, nor does he have the courage to charge into battle.

He just wanted to make these unruly Datong soldiers obey his orders by talking, which was simply wishful thinking.

"Marshal, do you know that the brothers have been eating dry biscuits for several days? Since Juyongguan, the brothers have followed the Marshal to the outskirts of Beijing for wealth and military merit, and they wanted to fight the Tatars. As a result, we have been circling around in the rear these days and have not even seen the shadow of the Tatars."

"The imperial court has not provided the army with supplies. Are we, the old brothers who fought for the Ming Dynasty, so worthless? Are we so unwelcome? I have made this clear today. If we still cannot see the food today, the Marshal will not blame me for not cooperating."

When these lieutenant generals and guerrilla generals got angry, they were really arrogant. They even looked down on the imperial general with a title like Qiu Luan.

Qiu Luan listened to the threats from these lieutenant generals and guerrilla generals, and he did not dare to refute them loudly.

Because Qiu Luan was also feeling insecure. When things were fine, everyone was friendly and he could even act like a great commander. But now everyone was in a bad situation. Not only did they not get any credit, they couldn't even eat. How could this be tolerated?
There is an old saying that goes, "Emperor has no shortage of hungry soldiers."

Now, these 20,000 Datong soldiers are almost starving because of Qiu Luan's incompetence. If they had not been kept hanging by a whim by Qiu Luan's credit for his great contribution to the king, they would have taught Qiu Luan a lesson and let him know why the flowers are so red.

Qiu Luan gritted his teeth and replied, "Brothers, rest assured, there is food, there must be food. Go and talk to the brothers below. I will definitely not treat you unfairly."

The lieutenant general and the guerrilla generals looked at Qiu Luan who had already surrendered, and snorted unceremoniously, "Okay, we will trust the Marshal again, but after today, if the food problem is not solved, we will have to find food in our own way."

After hearing this, Qiu Luan's heart tightened.

He knew exactly what these people meant by "their way".

This method worked before, but the situation is different now. The power to command the army in the suburbs of Beijing is not in his hands, which makes Qiu Luan feel the weakening of his own emperor's favor.

If something really goes wrong and someone finds out and pursues the matter, the consequences will be disastrous.

Therefore, until the last step, Qiu Luan really didn't dare to let these people go crazy and rob the food of ordinary people that the Tatars had not yet robbed.

Because once he did that, he would have no reason to blame the Tatar bandits.

Just after these lieutenant generals and guerrilla generals threatened and left Qiu Luan's tent, Qiu Luan's two lackeys Shi Yi and Hou Rong, the two "Crouching Dragon and Phoenix Chicks", quietly appeared from behind the big tent.

The two men looked at Qiu Luan's sad face, and they looked at each other. It seemed that each of them had a good idea in their minds to share their master's worries.

Shi Yi and Hou Rong bowed to Qiu Luan and said, "General, I have a plan to relieve your worries."

Qiu Luan, who was worried, immediately perked up after hearing what Shi Yi and Hou Rong said, as if he had grasped the last straw.

"Say it quickly."

Qiu Luan looked at the two of them anxiously and urged them on.

Shi Yi and Hou Rong glanced at each other again, and Shi Yi said, "I heard that there is a Shunyi Industrial Park behind the Chaobai River, where countless food and gold and silver treasures are stored. Now the army is in a tight spot on the front line, the commander-in-chief can temporarily requisition the money and food from here, and then report to the court to make up for it after the war is over."

When Qiu Luan heard Shi Yi's words, he immediately felt that it made sense and seemed that it could be done.

Qiu Luan's eyes couldn't help but light up, but then Qiu Luan also expressed his concerns worriedly.

Qiu Luan said, "I heard that it is the property of the palace. If we really go to borrow it, we might offend the people in the palace to death, and the consequences will be very serious."

Hearing Qiu Luan's concerns, Shi Yi and Hou Rong also started thinking about it.

After a while, Hou Rong said, "I have another idea, but it's a little unusual."

Qiu Luan said quickly: "It's not a big deal if it's unusual, just tell me."

(End of this chapter)