"What a mess this world is!" Zhu Youxiao sighed. It could be said that rituals and music have collapsed, and the good ideas of the ancients have all disappeared.
At this moment, Zhu Youxiao really hoped that there would be Hundred Schools of Thought. Even if there were none, at least it would be Confucian scholars from the Han Dynasty. The Confucian scholars of the Song Dynasty were not true Confucian scholars!
While Zhu Youxiao was sighing, the weather in Liaodong warmed up a little. Xiong Tingbi stood on the top of the city wall. The north wind made his face red, but Xiong Tingbi didn't care at all, and looked into the distance with a burning gaze.
Next to Xiong Tingbi stood a eunuch, none other than Cui Fu, the Liaodong garrison eunuch. This eunuch had arrived in Liaodong after Xiong Tingbi, and was said to be a disciple of Chen Hong, the eunuch in the imperial palace.
Xiong Tingbi had a good impression of the eunuch Chen Hong who had delivered the imperial edict to him. So after meeting this eunuch Cui Fu, Xiong Tingbi found that this eunuch Cui was a good person and did not interfere with his fighting at all.
Instead, this eunuch Cui led his men around the military camp, posing as if he was on patrol, as if he was ready to impeach anyone he disliked.
Thanks to the actions of Eunuch Cui, the military discipline in the entire Liaodong has improved a lot, which can be considered an unexpected surprise.
Xiong Tingbi glanced at Li Guangrong on the other side, then asked, "Are those people honest?"
The people closest to Xiong Tingbi were naturally the Mongolian refugees gathered by Yuan Yingtai, including many Nu Zhenren.
Yuan Yingtai planned to form an army with these people, but Xiong Tingbi did not think so.
In Xiong Tingbi's mind, the Mongols were unreliable, let alone these Mongol refugees? They were just trying to survive, so why would they risk their lives for the Ming Dynasty?
So Xiong Tingbi directly put these people to work, digging trenches, strengthening the city defenses, and even not allowing these people to enter the city at night.
Li Guangrong and his men were responsible for guarding the refugees who were digging trenches.
Hearing Xiong Tingbi's words, he said with some concern: "Some people ran away, and a few died. Some people were causing trouble. I have already led people to kill the troublemakers and hung their heads on the construction site."
As he spoke, Li Guangrong glanced at the smiling eunuch Cui Fu who was guarding the town next to him. Seeing that he had no reaction, he continued, "It has stabilized."
Xiong Tingbi said nonchalantly, "Keep an eye on them. If they die, drag them out and bury them. Don't let them cause a plague."
"Sir, I'm afraid you will be impeached if you do this!" Li Guangrong looked at Xiong Tingbi and said cautiously.
As the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, Li Guangrong has been well aware of the affairs of Liaodong over the years.
Being an official in Liaodong was not easy, especially being a military commander. Those inactive civil servants would keep an eye on you, tossing and turning, trying to find all sorts of ways to impeach you, and they wouldn't stop until they impeached you.
Under such circumstances, Li Guangrong was naturally afraid that Xiong Tingbi would be impeached.
You have to know that Xiong Tingbi has a criminal record. He was impeached last time and has only been back for a few days. What if he is impeached again?
"General Li, you can rest assured about this." Cui Fu spoke from the side at this time.
He tucked his hands into his sleeves and said with a grin, "The Emperor has ordered Eunuch Wei of the Eastern Depot to thoroughly investigate the impeachment of Lord Xiong, and we've already made some progress. Yao Zongwen and Liu Guojin are from Liaodong. They've colluded with Li Ruzhen, the Liaodong general, to force Lord Xiong to leave."
"The Emperor has already imprisoned them in the East Depot. And now Feng Sanyuan, Wei Yingjia, Zhang Xiude, and others have been implicated. These people all accepted bribes from Liu Guojin and Li Ruzhen."
Cui Fu looked at Xiong Tingbi and said with a bright smile: "Master Xiong, your grievances will soon be redressed."
Xiong Tingbi was stunned for a moment, then his whole body became excited, his body trembling, his face ecstatic, and he kowtowed directly in the direction of the capital: "Your Highness, Xiong Tingbi, thanks God for His grace!"
As he spoke, Xiong Tingbi kowtowed respectfully, then stood up with his eyes slightly red.
Cui Fu stood beside Xiong Tingbi, still smiling.
In Cui Fu's opinion, there was some acting involved in Xiong Tingbi's words, but it didn't matter, as having an attitude was better than having no attitude at all.
"Report!"
Suddenly, a shout was heard from under the city wall, and a fast horse rushed over. On the horse was a soldier with a command flag on his back. He was moving very fast.
The soldiers ran, shouting, and those along the way quickly hid to the side. The expressions of the people standing on the top of the city wall also became serious. These were scouts, and it was obvious that something big was going to happen.
Soon the scout ran into the city. Without waiting too long, he climbed to the top of the city wall, knelt on one knee and shouted loudly: "Report, Jurchen cavalry has been spotted approaching Shenyang City."
"He's here as expected!" A look of excitement flashed across Xiong Tingbi's face, and he said with a big laugh.
Xiong Tingbi knew very well that Shenyang and Liaoyang were like a thorn in the eyes of the Jurchens. As long as this thorn was stuck here, the Jurchens could do nothing. They could not attack the grassland to the west, nor could they march eastward to Korea. They could only be pinned down here.
No matter what, the Jurchens were determined to capture Shenyang and Liaoyang. Furthermore, it was March or April, a lean period, and the Jurchens needed supplies, otherwise they wouldn't survive. They simply wanted to rob.
"Send the order, fortify the city walls and clear the fields, everyone should retreat back into the city, drive all the Mongols out of the city, give them some weapons, and let them go to meet the enemy." Xiong Tingbi said with a serious face.
This time, even Cui Fu turned to look at Xiong Tingbi. He knew he was shameless and ruthless, but wasn't he too shameless and ruthless? They were working for you, and now you won't even let them into the city? What the hell are you doing?
But Cui Fu couldn't say anything. He knew his responsibilities. His godfather had repeatedly warned him to keep his mouth shut before he left the capital.
Li Guangrong had never expected that his own general would be such a general. Looking at Xiong Tingbi, he couldn't help but ask in a low voice: "General, is this move inappropriate?"
"What's wrong with that?" Xiong Tingbi said matter-of-factly. "Tell them that if they can defeat the Jurchen vanguard, I will accept them as Ming's frontier troops and provide them with food and wages."
Even a fool wouldn't believe this. If the Ming army couldn't defeat them, how could the Mongolian refugees defeat them? How could they fight without any equipment?
Besides, these people must have surrendered directly after they went there. Li Guangrong couldn't help but said with some concern: "General, I'm afraid this person will surrender to the Jurchens!"
"Just surrender, we can save some food." Xiong Tingbi said nonchalantly: "Do the Jurchens have food to feed them?"
"Just wait and see. If they surrender to the Jurchens, they will only be forced to attack the city. The Jurchens will show no mercy." Xiong Tingbi said, "Hurry and pass the message."
Li Guangrong nodded and quickly turned around to pass the message. Everyone knew that a big battle was about to come.
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