Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 86 Crisis
Seeing Cen Danchu remained silent, Jiao Lian was very displeased, his eyes flashed with ferocity, and he said in an unquestionable tone:

"I am not the only one who wants to annihilate Hao Yongzhong. There are many people who support this. We just need to wait for Elder Qu to make the final decision, and then we can launch a thunderous attack."

Danchu still didn't say anything and just kept gnawing on the chicken leg.

Hao Yongzhong had many enemies, including Li Chixin, Gao Bizheng, Yuan Zongdi and others from the Dashun Army. Ma Jinzhong and Wang Jincai were both former generals of Zuo Liangyu, who had fought with the peasant army for many years and competed with Hao Yongzhong for pay in Hunan.

Lu Ding had a good relationship with Hao Yongzhong, but he had no real power and was a puppet of his generals Bai Liangfu and Wu Ziqiang. In order to help Lu Ding gain prestige, Hao Yongzhong once beat Bai Liangfu and Wu Ziqiang in public.

Yu Yuanye, the Minister of War and Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, became a relative of Zhao Yinxuan, the commander of the Imperial Yunnan Camp. He became more confident and spoke with more confidence. He discriminated against the peasant army and was particularly hostile to Hao Yongzhong.

However, Hao Yongzhong was not a pushover after all, and he was not an ordinary person like Feng Zhiji. Therefore, Jiao Lian wanted to bring out Qu Shisi to encourage more military generals.

Seeing that Danchu remained silent, Jiao Lian was somewhat displeased and asked, "Danchu, what do you think about this?"

Danchu had already thought of a countermeasure. He said in a calm but firm voice, "Marshal, forgive me for being blunt, but this is not feasible. First, Commander He relies on Hao Yongzhong. Elder Qu has a deep friendship with Commander He, and he will definitely not offend Commander He for Hao Yongzhong. Second, with a powerful enemy at hand, if there is an internal conflict, it will only disrupt the formation, and the situation will become even more embarrassing and out of control."

Jiao Lian's face changed slightly, and his eyes lingered on Cen Danchu, as if he was expecting something. He knew that Cen Danchu's words made sense, but the hatred in his heart was hard to calm down.

Not long ago, the two armies fell out. Qu Shisi tried his best to mediate, and moved Jiao Lian to Pingle and Hao Yongzhong to Lingchuan. This was a matter of great loss of face and prestige for the warriors.

Jiao Lian "was humble and yielding to other generals, and all the generals were at ease with him." Cao Zhijian, the Marquis of Baochang, was arrogant and domineering, but he was friendly with Jiao Lian and called him an elder.

The generals unanimously recommended Jiao Lian to take charge of the murder of Hao Yongzhong. However, Jiao Lian was not sure, so he wanted to ask Qu Shisi to give the order to fight the enemy so that he could have a legitimate reason to do so. Cen Danchu was Qu Shisi's son-in-law, so he was the most suitable person to be a lobbyist.

What Danchu said made sense, and Jiao Lian didn't want to force him, so he sighed and asked, "What are your plans? Do you want to go to Guilin first, or stay in Yangshuo and move with my army?"

If he stayed in Yangshuo, he might fall into the conspiracy to murder Hao Yongzhong. After what happened to Feng Zhiji, Danchu became more cautious and said, "I will follow the arrangements of the commander."

When Jiao Lian heard this, he knew that Danchu had other intentions. The child had grown up and had become independent, so he had no choice but to say:

"The people of Guilin are in turmoil. Lord Qu has no reliable soldiers under his command, and he may be exhausted at the moment. You might as well go to Guilin first to help him deal with the crisis. I have a secret letter for him, and you must hand it to him personally."

"promise."

"Thinking back to the past..." When talking about the past, Jiao Lian's eyes lit up, as if he had infinite longing.

Danchu listened absentmindedly, secretly feeling emotional: "Jie Shuai was honored as the Marquis of Xinxing, but unfortunately he has no talent as a general. The situation is getting more and more chaotic, and I am really worried that he will lose his mind and do something stupid."

The next day, the camp left Yangshuo City and after two days of trekking, arrived in Guilin on the morning of the 21st.

Guilin was in chaos, and the rich and powerful rushed to flee the city. The soldiers guarding Wenchang Gate were just pretending to do their job, and since they were familiar with Danchu, they checked his documents and allowed the standard camp to enter the city.

The Yongli Emperor and his ministers were stationed in Guilin, but the gatekeepers dared to let the outsiders in without permission. It can be seen that the city defense was extremely weak. Dan Chu felt that something was wrong and led his troops to the garrison.

Qu Shisi was not in the mansion, saying that he had a court meeting and left the mansion early in the morning. The housekeeper Qu Gongmei received Danchu, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then asked, "How many soldiers did the governor bring with him on this trip?"

Qu Gongmei was a member of Qu Shisi's clan and also his staff. Danchu was familiar with him and said bluntly: "I will bring 500 standard soldiers and another 1,300 infantrymen, and they will arrive in two days."

"Too little, too little." Qu Gongmei sighed, his face full of sadness.

"The Marquis of Xinxing is stationed in Yangshuo to mobilize troops and generals. The army will arrive in Guilin soon." Danchu comforted him and asked, "But is there any bad news in Lingchuan?" "It's hard to say," Qu Gongmei said, "When the elder comes back, there may be definite news. By the way, the lady is sick in bed, you can go and see her."

Shao was Danchu's mother-in-law, and Danchu was very grateful to her. He hurried to the inner courtyard. Shao had just taken the medicine, and when she heard that Danchu was coming, she struggled to sit up.

After not seeing her for two months, Shao looked much more haggard, her face was sallow and she had completely lost the charm of a first-rank lady.

Danchu felt sad and said, "Mother-in-law, you don't look very well. How about I send someone to take you to Yong'an. Although it's remote, it's still peaceful. Maybe you can recuperate there."

Shao shook her head and smiled bitterly, saying weakly: "Hui'er is pregnant, and you are a young hero. I have no regrets in my death. I don't have much time left, so I would rather stay with your father-in-law and share some of his worries."

Hearing the word "death", Danchu suddenly felt ominous, and Jinji beside him also sobbed. He said: "My mother-in-law has done countless good deeds, and good people will be rewarded. This little illness will not be a big deal."

Shao started to cough, and Jin Ji and the maidservant hurriedly helped her massage her back. She smiled bitterly and said, "Danchu, the elder is exhausted both physically and mentally, and there is no way to save him. After you come back, you can help him as much as you can, but don't force yourself."

"Yes." Thinking of how his parents-in-law took good care of him, Danchu's eyes couldn't help but turn red.

"I can rest assured that Hui'er will marry you and be entrusted to someone. She is proud and sometimes competitive. If she offends you, please bear with her."

This actually sounded like a farewell. Danchu choked up and said, "Don't worry, mother-in-law. Xuanhui and I treat each other with respect and have never had a quarrel."

Shao smiled with relief and said, "I take a lot of medicine. The house is full of medicine smell and I am unlucky. Danchu, you are doing great things. Don't be infected with bad luck. Go out and do your work."

Danchu shed tears, bowed and left.

At noon, Qu Shisi returned to the mansion with Lu Kezao, his face full of worry. When he saw Danchu, he smiled a rare smile and said to Lu Kezao beside him: "My son-in-law is loyal and upright, leading the troops to guard the palace, which is enough to comfort me."

After the greetings, Danchu handed Jiao Lian's secret letter to Qu Shisi.

Qu Shisi took his glasses and looked at the letter with a gloomy face. He asked, "Zhuoru, what instructions did the Xinxing Marquis give you in this letter?"

It was most likely about the execution of Hao Yongzhong. Danchu did not want to get involved in this matter, so he answered truthfully: "Marshal Jue only asked me to personally deliver the letter to the elder, and he did not say anything else."

Qu Shisi felt relieved and asked Qu Gongmei to light a candle and burn the secret letter himself. Lu Kezao and Qu Gongmei looked at each other in surprise. They were very close to Qu Shisi and could talk about anything. The elder made this move because he thought the letter must contain top secrets.

As expected, Qu Shisi said: "Don't read the secrets in the letter, so as not to be suspected. In short, someone instigated Xinxing Marquis to write to me and ask me to order a surprise attack on Nan'an Marquis.

"The letter mentioned, 'With strong enemies outside and treacherous people fighting inside, we cannot have both. I would like to move the army to Guangxi and help Duke Yongzhong leave the city. When Yongzhong runs out of food, I will lead the army to attack him from all sides and kill him.'

"I am not a coward. I have already made a promise that I am willing to live and die with Guilin. As for Hao Yongzhong's matter, it is even more unfeasible. With a powerful enemy at hand, how can we fight among ourselves and make our relatives sad and our enemies happy?"

Danchu heaved a sigh of relief and said, "The Lord Minister is loyal to the country and is truly a role model for us. The Marquis of Xinxing mentioned Hao Yongzhong's matter briefly. I advised him to put the overall situation first, but he was still angry. The Lord Minister has made up his mind, and I believe he will not go against his opinion."

Qu Shisi hesitated for a moment, but still said, "In Lingchuan, Zhang Tongchang sent a secret letter saying that Hao Yongzhong's military discipline was broken and he had no intention of fighting. The emperor summoned the ministers to discuss the matter today, worried that Lingchuan could not be defended, and he also intended to tour the south."

"Ah?" Cen Danchu was shocked, his mind racing. He could have expected the situation to get worse, but he didn't expect it to get worse so quickly.

(End of this chapter)