The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 386 I am an honest man

Zhang said, "First, you must return the original document from today to me, and write another letter allowing me to remarry Old Wang and not to argue again."

"Old Wang? Which one?"

Zhang Sanniang said calmly, "I started dating Mr. Wang, the shopkeeper from Qinghe County next door, when you were fighting in Korea in the 38th year of the Wanli reign."

"So, Xu'er is also..."

Kang Yingqian originally thought that Zhang was greedy for money and only wanted to save her son Kang Guangxu, but he didn't expect that she would bring up this romantic affair and injustice. Thinking that Xu'er was not his own son, he was furious. After thinking it over, he gritted his teeth and held back:
"This Yide."

Zhang continued, "Secondly, the things I wear on my head, on my body, and in my home, even though they were all purchased by you, I have also issued a written document and you are not allowed to come back to ask for them later."

Kang Yingqian said, "This one is also acceptable."

Zhang added, "I'm afraid you won't agree to the third one."

Kang Yingqian said, "I have already agreed to both of your requests, why not this one?"

Zhang said, "Give me the ten thousand taels of silver that the bandit leader Liu Zongmin gave you, and I will spare you and return your letter!"

Kang Yingqian said: "I agree to both of those. But I don't have the ten thousand taels of silver. Please allow me a few days to prepare..."

Zhang said, "Kang Yingqian, what kind of person are you? Others may not know, but I know even less. 'Don't release the eagle until you see the rabbit' is what I'm talking about.' He won't give you the silver, but you're willing to risk your life by being an accomplice. Who are you trying to hide this from? Give me these ten thousand taels of silver!"

Kang Yingqian was on the verge of tears: "You know I'm an honest man and I wouldn't lie. If you don't believe me, give me three days. I'll sell all my belongings and borrow money from my old subordinates. At least I'll raise five thousand taels for you, and you'll return my letter!"

Zhang snorted coldly:
"Hmph! An honest man? Kang Yingqian, you're in this state and you still want to tease me! Quick! Ten thousand taels, not a penny less! Hand over the money and we'll deliver the goods!"

Kang Yingqian said: "No silver."

The woman said, "Then we'll meet at the Pacification Office! Let's go!"

Kang Yingqian asked, "Are you really not going to return it?"

Zhang said, "No! I won't give it back even if I spare you a hundred times!"

After saying this, she lifted the quilt and shouted at the window: "General Kang is collaborating with the thieves!"

Kang Yingqian struggled forward and tore at it, his hands tightly clasped across his chest.

Kang Yingqian became ruthless and fought to the death to get it back, but Zhang refused to let go even if she died.

With a click, Kang Yingqian pulled out the gong and bayonet.

"Kang Yingqian kills people!"

Kang Yingqian was anxious and angry. He didn't expect that after all his planning his whole life, he ended up in this situation. He was so angry that he had no idea where to vent it. But when Zhang screamed for the second time, he had already held down the woman with his left hand and had already swung the knife with his right hand.

Kang Yingqian was afraid she would not die, so he stabbed her again. The head fell alone on the pillow. He quickly took the recruitment bag, pulled out the letter, and burned it under the dim lamp. Seeing wine and meat on the table, he drank several cups of wine, cut a piece of clothing from the dead body, dipped it in the blood, and wrote a few large words on the whitewashed wall:
"The murderer is Wang Erchui, the shopkeeper of Qinghe."

He also wrote the name of the adulterer Wang Erchui on the painting of the lady several times, then changed into a clean military uniform, walked downstairs calmly, threw his blood-stained uniform into the bonfire at the corner of the street and burned it, then walked towards Guang'anmen.

Figures were swaying on the street, and soldiers were coming in groups to reinforce the city gates. The streets were filled with the roar of artillery. The divine fire crows flew across the night sky with long tails of flames, reflecting the fierce fighting between the Kaiyuan defenders and the bandits who climbed the city on the city wall.

Kang Yingqian walked forward along the base of the city wall. From time to time, dark shadows screamed and fell from the top of the city wall, crashing like sandbags not far away. The light was dim, and he could not tell whether they were Kaiyuan soldiers or bandits.

He continued to move forward among a group of new recruits. The attention of the pacification soldiers who were checking spies along the way was attracted by the fierce fighting on the city wall. Some of the pacification soldiers had already started to put on armor and prepare to climb the city to rescue.

No one noticed the thin old man.

After walking more than half a mile, he easily got rid of the messy group of recruits and returned to the house on T-shaped Street that he had visited during the day.

boom!boom!
A man who looked like a businessman stepped through the crack in the door, poked his head out, and looked around cautiously. Seeing no one was following him, he quickly let Kang Yingqian in and quietly closed the door. This was a courtyard even more dilapidated than the Kang family's. The side rooms were pitch black, with no signs of human activity.

As Kang Yingqian entered the courtyard, several dark figures flashed in the dim light, swarming around him from all sides. A dark figure felt around Kang Yingqian, confirmed the old man wasn't carrying any weapons, and whistled toward the wing room.

A dim candlelight lit up in front of Kang Yingqian.

"Come on, let me take you to see General Quan! Did you bring the things?"

Kang Yingqian quickly replied, "I've brought it. We can start tonight."

~~~~~~
The Tang Emperor Li Xianzhong felt a sharp pain in his left eye socket, and an urge to tear everything in front of him filled his heart.

He suddenly grabbed the jade seal on the desk and smashed it hard on the inkstone. A pair of fine Taohe inkstones were broken into two pieces by the jade seal, and the inky black liquid slowly flowed along the desk.

"Tell me again, how many people died in Liu Zongmin's army?"

The scout standing before the emperor had just returned from Guang'an Gate. The distance from the capital city to the Tang army's central camp was only thirty miles, but he galloped all the way and arrived in front of the tent in a moment. He heard that the emperor's old injury had flared up and the pain was unbearable. He waited outside the tent for half an hour before being brought in by General Li Yan.

Li Xianzhong was shot in the left eye by Qin Yuji's arrow during the Battle of Ningwu Pass.

At that time, Emperor Xuanbao reined in his horse and walked forward to the foot of Ningwu Pass. He loudly urged the defenders of Ningwu Pass to surrender, using the examples of Zuo Liangyu, the general of Shanxi Town, and Jiang Ge, the general of Datong Town.

"After you surrender, I will make you the Marquis of Ping Liao. Go to Liaodong on my behalf, sweep the land, and destroy Liu Zhaosun!"

Li Xianzhong's response was a dense rain of arrows.

A poisonous arrow shot through the air and hit the banner of the rebel army like a meteor. Li Xianzhong, who was under the banner, was unable to dodge and was hit by the poisonous arrow, almost becoming one-eyed. Fortunately, God bless the Tang Dynasty, and the arrow just grazed his eye socket and flew out.

The arrow wound has just healed, but it still hurts in cold weather.

Emperor Xuanbao was sitting in the tent which was as warm as spring, and he did not feel cold at all. However, when he heard that Liu Zongmin had lost thousands of old soldiers and lost a lot of his family property, the emperor flew into a rage and his arrow wound burst open.

"Your Majesty, General Liu's old camp lost two thousand men, and over ten thousand soldiers were killed or wounded. The shield carts and ladders were burned by the government troops. The corpses in front of Yongding Gate are piled up more than ten feet high, and the moat is filled with the dead..."

Li Xianzhong kicked the sentry horse over and cursed loudly:
"Liu Zongmin is such a fool! I told him not to underestimate the enemy, not to look down on Liu Zhaosun, but he insisted on heading towards Yongding Gate and even divided his forces! Now he's really lost a lot of soldiers and horses. Damn it, go to hell!"

Such vulgar insults are simply unbearable to hear, and it is hard to imagine that they came from the mouths of the descendants of Emperor Taizong of Tang Li Shimin and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Li Longji.

The reign title Zhenbao is actually taken from one character each of Zhenguan and Tianbao, implying that Li Xianzhong's achievements will surpass those of his two ancestors.

Unexpectedly, his first battle with Liu Zhaosun went so badly and he encountered a big setback.

Ma Jinxing winked, signaling the scout to withdraw first. The scout limped out of the tent. Ma Jinxing looked around and saw that Yuan Xiance and the others were silent. He had no choice but to bite the bullet and say:
"Your Majesty, there is no need to be angry. Victory and defeat are common in the military. The old camp has 20,000 elite troops, and the current loss is only 3,000. This is not a cause for concern. We should still have General Liu continue the siege and not give the government troops a chance to catch their breath."

Seeing that Ma Jinxing was still trying to reason, Li Xianzhong angrily said:
"You know nothing! We have hundreds of thousands of people, and all the food around us has been looted. These people below only know how to fight when the wind is favorable. They are waiting to see the show. If we can't win again, they will scatter on their own without Liu Zhaosun even having to fight us. Not to mention the Hongguang Emperor in the south, many people are eyeing us covetously. We can't afford to make any mistakes!"

Emperor Zhenbao waved his hand and ordered:
"Each battalion will draw 3,000 veterans, making up 50,000 soldiers to continue the attack. Tell Liu Zongmin that if he fails to capture Beijing by sunset tomorrow, he will return to northern Shaanxi to herd cattle."

Speaking of Emperor Hongguang, Li Xianzhong suddenly remembered something and said to Yuan Xiance who was standing next to him:
"Where is the envoy from King Gui?"

Yuan Xiance was nominally the military advisor of the Chuang army, but in fact his main job was the same as Ke Zhen'e's, both of them were fortune-telling.

When it comes to military decision-making, Yuan's military advisor has very limited abilities. Every time he encounters such high-level meetings, this charlatan who is just filling in the gaps becomes terrified, fearing that he might say something wrong.

"Your Majesty, the envoy arrived at the camp yesterday and has been waiting to be summoned."

"Let them in! These southern barbarians are very slippery! I want to see what they are going to do!"

(End of this chapter)