Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 697 Assessing the Situation
Zhu Yong led the reinforcements from the Beijing camp and approached Pianguan.

After Li Zisheng led his men into the pass, he hoped that Zhu Yong could bring his troops as soon as possible. After all, this group of people were specially allocated by the emperor for him to fight.

This means that his direct troops have not arrived yet.

As for the people he could use at the moment, apart from the soldiers from the Beijing camp who he brought from the capital to escort cloth, military uniforms and other supplies, and the troops transferred from the Jingping Qianhu Suo, the rest were local soldiers and horses, and he had no trust in them at all.

Even the defenders inside the pass believed that Li Zisheng had stolen the credit from them, which resulted in him entering the city and finding it extremely difficult to find a decent place inside the pass to accommodate his troops, let alone the necessary supplies.

"Is there no one in charge of this Piantou Pass?"

As the eunuch supervising the army, Qin Chang visited many government offices in the city every day.

After returning to Li Zisheng, he discovered that Li Zisheng seemed to be more reliable in doing things.

At least by talking to Li Zisheng, even if things cannot be done in the end, there is room for discussion.

However, inside this fortress, he had a mouth but could not say anything, let alone use his status as a eunuch in the Imperial Household Department to exert power to pressure others.

The most frustrating thing is having power but not being able to use it.

Li Zisheng said, "Take a look at this first."

Qin Chang took the letter from Li Zisheng and asked, "What is this...?"

"The troops under the command of Lord Baoguo have already reached the mouth of the Guanhe River. They are only 20 to 30 miles away from here."

Li Zisheng introduced.

"This is a good thing."

Qin Chang's spirits lifted, and he said with a smile, "Our people are finally here."

"Eunuch Qin, don't be too quick to celebrate. Read the letter first."

Li Zisheng said helplessly.

After Qin Chang finished reading the contents of the letter, his face looked as if a dead fly had been eaten, and he couldn't utter a word.

Li Zisheng said: "Zhu Yong said that his Beijing garrison troops were ignorant and were afraid that they would clash with the local troops after entering the pass. In addition, concentrating troops in one place is not a good strategy to resist the enemy. It is better to form a pincer attack with us to prevent the Tatars from attacking suddenly and surrounding all the troops without even a mobile force outside. So he wanted to station troops at Baliushu, so that he could attack or defend."

"Ah? What on earth is Zhu Yong going to do?"

Qin Chang frowned and asked, "He was ordered to come to assist you, but he didn't come here when he was so close?"

"hehe."

Li Zisheng seemed to have expected this move, and sneered, "People's minds are hidden, how can I know what Zhu Yong is thinking?"

"You really don't know?"

Tan Chang asked with a dark face.

Li Zisheng said: "Actually, there is not much difference between the battlefield and the officialdom... Besides, we didn't wait for him when we fought before, right?"

Qin Chang's mind moved, and he asked, "Is he holding a grudge because he didn't have the chance to make achievements? That's why he didn't come to the pass even though his troops have already reached the territory under the jurisdiction of Piantou Pass? Does he want to negotiate with us, or does he intend to fight with you at the cost of disobeying orders?"

Li Zisheng sighed, "If he refused to cooperate, he wouldn't have written me a letter. Or he could have just made excuses, saying that he had discovered signs of Tatar activity and it was inconvenient for him to come. Wouldn't that be much simpler?"

"This……"

Qin Chang was also a little confused for a moment, "No matter what, he is one with you, and we share honor and disgrace. Why are you trying to avoid him? Is he trying to form his own faction and openly offend the superior?"

Li Zisheng shook his head and said, "He clearly doesn't want to be tied to me."

Qin Chang was furious and asked, "How can he get away? We are one body, so why does he think he can get away from us?"

Li Zisheng sighed, "Eunuch Tan, now that Zhu Yongming knows that if he leads his troops into Pianguan, I will use him as a pawn. I will use his prestige to gain the right to speak for the local army, and I will use him to fight against those who oppose me in the court. It is not surprising that he made this choice.

"Especially now that the ambush is over, the only strategic need left is to resist the Tatars' retaliation. In other words... he doesn't seek merit now, but only wants to avoid mistakes."

"he……"

Qin Chang couldn't find any fault with Zhu Yong's approach.

"This unexpected victory has made me, Li, feel like a nobody."

Li Zisheng laughed at himself, shook his head and smiled bitterly, "I didn't expect that not only the Tatars hated me, but also the officials in the court hated me, and even the soldiers in the northwest regarded me as a thorn in their eyes. This world does not tolerate mavericks, they all want us to behave in accordance with the rules..."

Qin Chang smiled bitterly and said, "What are you talking about? According to you, we shouldn't be stationed in Piantou Pass. We should continue to go west to Yansui or even Ningxia or Gansu?"

Li Zisheng shook his head and said, "We are the ones who provoked the Tatars. If they want revenge, they will only come after us! There must have been memorials in the court impeaching us for retreating in the face of a battle. If we give up guarding Pianguan and continue to move west, won't that give them an excuse to accuse us?" "Then...then..."

Qin Chang was confused for a moment.

As a former eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, at this point he seemed to have deeply understood why, in the last years of the Chenghua period, he was clearly qualified to hold sway over the government, but was manipulated by Li Zisheng and Liang Fang to gain power.

And Qin Chang couldn't even get the most basic trust from the emperor.

Because at the critical moment... he really couldn't hold on.

Li Zisheng said: "But from what I have seen, Your Majesty will definitely give me a chance."

"What are you waiting for?"

Tan Chang frowned.

Li Zisheng asked: "Do you think our emperor is a foolish king?"

"Minister Li, don't say that. You'll be beheaded."

Tan Chang warned.

"I'm saying, Your Majesty is so wise, how could he not see all this?" Li Zisheng said, "I'll just stay here, at the border, and see if those people will listen to me. No food? At worst, they'll starve to death here. I'm afraid of the brave ones who don't care about their lives. I dare to fight even the Tartars, so why should I be afraid of a bunch of thugs at the border?"

……

……

Beijing.

Zhang Luan is really sick.

And he didn't fall ill at home, but directly fell ill in the outer residence inside Chongwenmen.

Qi Niang had no choice but to go to the market to ask for a doctor, but the problem was that even Zhang Luan himself looked down on ordinary doctors, and Qi Niang even thought that he was afraid of seeing a doctor.

You are already so sick, yet you still want to pretend that nothing is wrong?
Finally, Qi Niang had no choice but to notify Zhang Yanling and ask Zhang Yanling to come to the outer house in person to diagnose Zhang Luan.

Zhang Luan lay on the couch, his face pale. He opened his eyes with difficulty and glanced at his youngest son. His tone was very weak as he asked, "Am I dying?"

Zhang Yanling carefully examined Zhang Luan's body, and finally turned back to look at Qi Niang.

Qi Niang was very tactful and quickly bowed and left.

After everyone left, Zhang Yanling asked, "Did Dad go to a crowded place these past two days? You really seem to have been infected with some plague this time."

"Ok?"

Zhang Luan was very surprised, but it was difficult for his face to show any big expressions.

In general, my heart was in turmoil, but I could only make a very forced expression of surprise on my face.

Seeing his cheap father's behavior, Zhang Yanling shook his head and said, "I really shouldn't have come."

Zhang Luan said with a bitter face: "I regret it. I should have listened to you and stayed at home."

"Do you want me to find someone to carry my father back home?"

Zhang Yanling asked with a heavy face.

When Zhang Luan heard this, tears immediately flowed down his cheeks. He asked sadly, "Are you going to prepare for your funeral?"

Zhang Yanling shook his head and said, "It's too early to say that. You need to rest now... I'm afraid you can't calm down here."

Zhang Luan smiled bitterly, it was difficult for him to make any more expressions.

Zhang Yanling hesitated for a moment, then shook his head: "Dad, you should get some sleep first. I will go and think about the prescription and give you the medicine later. You must put aside all distractions now and have a good rest. You must have a clear mind."

"I'm almost dead, how can I care about anything else? Oh, I feel so bad."

Zhang Luan gritted his teeth, as if enduring the pain.

Zhang Yanling looked helplessly at his extremely weak old father lying there, thinking to himself that an old father who is seriously ill and bedridden is indeed a good father.

Old man Zhang, who likes to hang out outside like he used to, pretends to be cool all day long but has no skills and only knows how to make a lot of noise, is the most dangerous one.

(End of this chapter)