"Your Excellency the General, Lord Zu is waiting outside the tent!" The voices of Wu Sangui's personal soldiers were heard outside the tent.

"Please ask him to come in."

"Yes, sir."

With a swish, the curtain of the military tent was opened from the outside, and Zu Zepu walked in quickly.

"General..." Zu Zepu was about to salute Wu Sangui.

"No need to be so polite," Wu Sangui stood up to greet him, "You and I are cousins, so you can just call each other brothers in private!"

"Yes, cousin!" Zu Zepu said respectfully.

After the two of them sat down, Zu Zepu asked, "Cousin, do you want to talk to me about something?"

"Yes," Wu Sangui pointed at the map, "Fifty miles ahead is Ningyuan Zhongyouso, there must be Jiannu troops guarding there."

"Cousin, do you want me to go and provoke you?" Zu Zepu asked with a blink of his eyes.

"No!" Wu Sangui shook his head. "I mean you write a letter and ask the garrison at Zhongyouso to hand it over to your uncle (Zu Dashou)."

Zu Dashou was born in the seventh year of Wanli reign. By the twenty-second year of Chongzhen reign, he was already seventy years old.

"What's in the letter?" Zu Zepu's expression immediately became serious.

Although his father had surrendered to the Jiannu, he had not yet surrendered.

Writing a letter at this time could easily arouse suspicion.

Wu Sangui sighed and said, "Well, of course I want to ask about my uncle's recent situation! Liaodong is bitterly cold, and my uncle is old. I am worried that he will not be able to bear it."

Zu Zepu smiled bitterly and said, "This...is not so good!"

"What's wrong with that?" Wu Sangui asked back, "It's only natural for a son to care about his father!"

What a natural statement!

Zu Zepu began to curse in his heart: Wu Sangui, Wu Sangui, you are too treacherous.

Once the court learned that he had written a letter to his father Zu Dashou, he would definitely be punished.

Wu Sangui did not do this risky thing himself but asked him to do it, which shows how treacherous he was.

He wanted to refuse, but felt it was inappropriate, so he could only lower his head and think.

After a moment, Zu Zepu nodded: "Okay."

"There is one more thing!" Wu Sangui said while looking outside the military tent.

"What's the matter?" Zu Zepu asked.

Wu Sangui did not answer, but walked out of the tent and drove his personal soldiers twenty steps away.

After making sure that there was no one else nearby, Wu Sangui whispered in Zu Zepu's ear: "The imperial court will counterattack Liaodong sooner or later. I hope the Jiannu can distinguish the priorities!"

Zu Zepu's face turned pale: "Cousin, are you going to surrender?"

"Of course not!" Wu Sangui glared at Zu Zepu, "Our families are all inside the Great Wall. Surrendering to the Jian Nu will kill all our family members!"

Wu Sangui paused, took a deep breath and continued, "I mean to tell you to tell the Jiannu not to focus all your attention on the Guanning Army! Although the Guanning Army may not be able to defeat the Eight Banners Army, it can still protect itself."

Wu Sangui said half of his words and left the rest unsaid.

We are all smart people, so there is no need to make some things clear.

Zu Zepu thought for a moment and said, "Well, I understand, cousin!"

He picked up the paper and pen that had been prepared beside him and began to write a letter.

After writing the letter, he handed it to Wu Sangui.

Wu Sangui read the letter twice, and after confirming that there was no evidence, he stuffed the letter into an envelope and handed it to Zu Zepu.

The next morning.

Zu Zepu led two hundred cavalrymen and rushed towards the direction of Ningyuan Zhongyouso.

Wu Sangui sent people to follow them from a distance to prevent them from being attacked.

At noon, they were blocked by a river.

The name of this river is Yantai River. Due to heavy rain in the summer, the river water has risen sharply and it is impossible to wade through it, so the only way to cross it is to cross it on a bridge.

But the previous bridge had been destroyed, so Zu Zepu could only send people to look for a new bridge.

A moment later, the scout came back at full speed, "There is a floating bridge two miles upstream. There is a troop stationed on the other side of the bridge. The flag is a red flag, and the number of troops is unknown!"

"Let's go and meet them!" Zu Zepu drew his bow and arrow and rushed forward.

The Eight Banners soldiers had already discovered Zu Zepu and his group.

Instead of launching a rash attack, they retreated to the other side of the river and blocked the pontoon bridge with obstacles such as chevaux de frise and deer horns, and immediately sent a message to Ningyuan Zhongyou.

"Report, a Ming cavalry was spotted on the other side of the river!" In the city of Ningyuan Zhongyou, six miles away from the Yantai River, Lekedehun, who was eating a watermelon, was interrupted by the sound of a scout.

(Watermelon was introduced to Anxi Protectorate in the early Tang Dynasty, and was introduced to the mainland during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It became popular during the Song and Liao dynasties.)

Lekedehun raised his head suddenly and threw away the watermelon in his hand. "Quick, beat the drums and assemble to meet the enemy."

Boom boom boom!

As the war drums sounded, the Eight Banners soldiers in the city quickly became busy.

By the time Lekedehun put on his armor, his troops had already assembled.

A group of people passed through the city gate and ran towards the floating bridge.

When they reached the shore, Zu Zepu had also arrived near the floating bridge.

Zu Zepu sent a soldier onto the pontoon bridge and moved slowly.

"Stop! If you take another step forward, you will be killed!" On the other side of the bridge, the Eight Banners soldiers shouted at the top of their lungs.

The Ming soldiers stopped and shouted at the top of their lungs: "I am a soldier under the command of Master Zuze Puzu. I have been ordered to come here to deliver a message. Whose generals are you?"

The Eight Banners soldiers looked at Lekedehun.

Lekedehun nodded to the soldiers behind him.

The guard immediately stood up and shouted, "The man standing before you is a brave warrior, a man of both civil and military talents, a handsome man, the great-grandson of the Qing Emperor Taizu Gao, the grandson of Prince Li, the second son of Prince Heshuo Yingyi, Duoluo Beile, and the pillar of the Zhenghong Banner, Leke Dehun!"

The Ming army on the floating bridge was stunned for a while before they understood the other party's identity.

At this moment, he had only one thought in his mind: regret.

I regret that I was too casual when introducing Zu Zepu just now, without adding any modifiers or official titles.

"Wait a moment, I'll go back and ask for instructions!" The Ming army turned and left.

"Why did you come back just after saying a word?" Zu Zepu was very puzzled.

The Ming army conveyed the other party's words to Zu Zepu verbatim.

Zu Zepu sneered after hearing this: "What a bullshit! He doesn't pick people to brag about! My grandfather was a personal soldier under Li Chengliang, the Earl of Ningyuan, and Nurhaci was also a personal soldier. What qualifications does he have to brag?"

"No," Zu Zepu shook his head and smiled bitterly after saying this, "Nurhaci was Ningyuan Earl's adopted son, and my grandfather was just a personal soldier, and he was indeed not as good as him!"

"Hahaha!" The surrounding Ming soldiers laughed.

"Maybe he's my biological son!"

"Even if he's my biological son, he's still an illegitimate child!"

Led by Zu Zepu, the Ming army began to make fun of them.

After the laughter, Zu Zepu ordered his personal soldiers: "Go ask Leke Dehun if he dares to meet me alone on the bridge!"