Xie Ming

Ten thousand cavalrymen roar like tigers and leopards on the riverbank, while a thousand ships stand with torches, their flames blazing like dragons and fish!
In early April, in a corner of Jiujiang-Anqing, after a great victory, a mutiny occurred on the tenth day of the month.

Later, Xiao Lang worked tirelessly day and night, running between various camps to organize and mediate matters.

After more than ten days of effort, a large number of surrendered soldiers and generals were stabilized and reorganized, and integrated into the various departments.

Internal military conflicts and desertion have gradually become rare.

By mid-month, the condition will be completely stable and compliant.

During this period, the Nanjing office also delayed in responding to the imperial edict.

When Xiao submitted the victory report, the Nanjing court approved all the requests for commendations and awards to the officers and generals.

Furthermore, in terms of military affairs in Hubei, the government largely tacitly allowed Xiao Jingchuan to organize his own troops. However, the rebel leader Zuo Liangyu's son, Zuo Menggeng, requested that a team be dispatched to escort him directly to Nanjing.

Xiao had no objection to this, and thus approved it, sending the convicted official eastward.

Besides, following the imperial decree, I will not go into the trivial details, but it turns out that this time it was also an urgent matter, and I ordered my trusted confidant Yue Xiu to secretly follow me to Jiujiang.

He couldn't show himself, so he relayed the urgent message from Shandong through Qi Gang.

That day, Xiao Ben was still in the city, holding a grand banquet to reward his troops.

At the banquet, Hu Chen, drunk and unrestrained, uttered wild words, saying that this victory was a great one and that all the troops were strong and well-equipped.

The Italian leader wanted to regroup and fight again, to press his advantage and then sail west along the Yangtze River to capture Wuchang and take control of the entire Hubei province.

Xiao Yi had actually considered this idea.

Thinking about it, if we were to strike first, without waiting for the emperor's reply, we could seize Hubei without waiting for his approval.

Those two provinces are connected by a gas line, and going north leads directly to Henan.

The thought of having a vast territory, an army of hundreds of thousands, and hundreds of thousands of armored soldiers is exhilarating.

However, no matter what, things didn't go as planned!
At the celebratory banquet, after several rounds of drinks, Xiao Lang, who was sitting at the head of the table and whose eyes were glazed with drunkenness, entered the tent with a solemn and respectful expression.

Xiao Lang observed that something big was about to happen, and there was no need to be negligent.

After driving away the whispered conversation in the back room, the message from Zhizhong was finally understood.

There was nothing else to it but an urgent report from Shandong.

The Southern Court did not mention this matter upon its recall, presumably because General Xiao's army was currently at its strongest, and the Hongguang Emperor was likely afraid.

I fear that my brother-in-law might do something unexpected at this time.

It's as if one Zuo Liangyu has just been eliminated, and another Xiao Liangyu has already emerged.

In that case, Nanjing would be completely finished.

In his letter to CITIC, he recounted the entire war situation in Shandong in detail.

With the enemy general Dodo in command of 70,000 to 80,000 troops, and Huang Degong in charge, how did they manage to resist Jinan and hold the city in a siege for more than a month?

The two factions under Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing have become too powerful to manage, so no support will be provided.

He said everything that needed to be said, and told Xiao the truth about everything.

Furthermore, the letter to China also emphasized the profound implications of the current situation.

In light of Xiao Jun's current situation, the letter stated:

The Jurchens' southward advance was entirely expected.

Hearing the analysis, he realized that the heart of Shandong would soon be engulfed in war.

Both Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing are untrustworthy.

The situation may be far worse than previously predicted and simulated.

At present, my brother has a large army, stationed on the banks of the Yangtze River between Hubei and Jiangxi provinces, with tens of thousands of armored soldiers.

At this critical juncture, when all is well and the opportunity is at stake, we must not act rashly lest we miss this crucial moment.

In my humble opinion, given the current situation, the best course of action is to remain inactive for the time being.

Moreover, one must not return without an imperial edict.

Since there is an imperial edict, please be patient and communicate with us to exchange information and then assess the situation for a better outcome.

Whether our plans will succeed depends on this moment!

Please proceed with caution and wait for the opportune moment.

After reading the letter, Xiao Lang sighed with emotion, and his drunkenness subsided by seven or eight parts.

Excitement, hesitation, and tension mingled within him, a chaotic mix that churned in his chest, making him extremely uncomfortable. He thought to himself that it was thanks to Zhizhong's words that he was able to awaken him from his reverie.

If we follow the ideas discussed at the banquet, we can truly prepare for the westward journey.

If it had been a few days later, I fear he might not have been able to resist the temptation and would have led his army to Wuchang.

If that is indeed the case, then the major undertaking may fall apart, and it will be difficult to prepare for anything else.

And so on, and so forth, I will briefly explain without going into too much detail.
Several days have passed in the blink of an eye.

It was the 25th of April.

After more than half a month of reorganization, the military is now intensifying its daily training and drills, and is moving in an orderly manner.

At that time, Zuo Liangyu's army in Jiujiang had enough provisions for two or three months.

With Minglu's unified coordination and management, Xiao Yi was finally able to relax for a short time and catch his breath.

So, just after noon that day, Xiao, having finally managed to free himself, rode off with a squad of guards led by the jinx, carrying several jars of fine wine, to the tomb of Chuanwu.

It is truly a pity that Wang Chuanwu, who had just achieved great success, died so soon.

For the past half month, although Xiao has been preoccupied with many military affairs, he has been thinking about finding a time to come to this grave to pay his respects and express his feelings.

Now that he finally had some free time, he no longer cared about choosing a particular day. As soon as the thought came to him, he rode his horse over.

Now, this grave was chosen at the beginning of the month by Xiao Jingchuan himself, in front of the dense forest at the southern ambush site in Anqing.

Since the arrangements were made by the Changting family, there was no need for any temples or shrines. Simply gathering the remains of Chuanwu and Lao Huang and erecting two grave mounds nearby would suffice.

Aside from that, the erection of the monument needs no further explanation; it was only after personally experiencing it today that Xiao discovered this.

Changting was also interested, but he didn't know where the person had found such fine bluestone material in the midst of the chaos of war.

The feng shui walls on the left and right sides of the tomb were also neatly built of blue bricks, forming a semi-circle.

It is a place with mountains behind and water in front, a truly auspicious feng shui location.

"Uu——"

The river breeze was cool, just as Xiao Ren was busy talking alone in front of Chuanwu's tomb.

Suddenly, not far to the southwest, on a mountain road, a fast horse, Gu Changting, arrived at this place in a flash.

When they were about thirty paces away, the Star of Death led a troop of guards and waited outside to rest.

Changting immediately kicked off and leaped down, landing right in front of the jinx.

"Shut up!"

"Shut up!"

"Hey, you..."

"Good heavens, Vice General Gu, why didn't you stop a couple of steps earlier when you were rushing around like lightning?"

"Why don't you just run me over here and kill me?"

"I'll be buried in one pile too, to keep General Wang company!"

Seeing that Changting was stunned and didn't care about being in a hurry, the jinx was sure that Qing would come.

Luckily, he didn't rein in his horse and crash into himself.

So he blurted out a remark that left Changting speechless.

Upon hearing this, Changting, being a straightforward man, grinned but didn't pay much attention, nor did he respond, only asking the question himself.

"Heh, the general..."

"Oh, they're just sweeping the graves over there, it's no problem. You can go directly there if you have something to do," the jinx replied readily, pointing casually and thus brushing aside the previous conversation.

After they finished speaking, Changting threw down his horse's reins and headed straight for Xiao.

Before they could get close, Xiao Gong was sitting with his back bent in front of the Martial Arts Stele, and he lit three more incense sticks.

"Is that Changting?"

Why are you here at this hour?

"Could it be another deserter from another battalion? Or was it a private fight that escalated into another death?!"

Hearing this, one can see how impatient and irritable Xiao is with such matters.

(End of this chapter)