"General Li, I never expected you to be from the same clan as me."
After Li Zicheng arrived at the army, he was quite outgoing. He grabbed Li Ruolian and started to get close to him.
That makes sense, though. Without such shamelessness, he wouldn't have made such a big splash in history.
Li Ruolian, on the other hand, felt somewhat helpless.
Even though Li Zicheng had a strange background but was personally favored by the emperor, he dared not be negligent.
He had no choice but to get up and say:
"Young Master Li, I'm afraid we're not related by blood, are we?"
Li Zicheng waved his hand dismissively.
"Hey, if we share the same surname, then we were one family eight hundred years ago!"
As he spoke, he stepped forward and sat down next to Li Ruolian.
Before Li Ruolian could speak, the generals beside him couldn't help but speak up.
"Where did this little scoundrel come from, daring to be so insolent towards our General Li?"
These generals, not long ago, reluctantly gave up all the extra credit they had accumulated over the years.
This is the time when I feel the pinch.
Moreover, they did not know Li Zicheng's background.
Seeing Li Zicheng's rudeness, they simply vented all their anger on him.
"This little scoundrel might be a spy for the Jurchens! Men, seize him and torture him severely!"
As soon as the order was given, several guards rushed in and were about to take Li Zicheng away.
Before Li Zicheng could even show his expression, Li Ruolian was startled.
He quickly waved to the guards, saying, "You must not act rashly!"
"This young Li brother, he..."
After hesitating for a moment, Li Ruolian still felt that she should keep it a secret.
So he simply said:
"This brother Li Zicheng is His Majesty's confidant; you must not offend him!"
However, the generals present were all shrewd and capable individuals.
They exchanged a glance and began to wonder to themselves.
"When did another person surnamed Li appear by the emperor's side?"
“That’s right. Since His Majesty ascended the throne, we have thoroughly investigated all the people who were in his former residence when he was a prince, but we have never found anyone like this.”
"Moreover, he spoke with a Shaanxi-Gansu accent, which clearly indicates that he is not from Beijing, nor is he a relative of Li Ruolian, and he has not been in officialdom for long."
"Besides, if he really held an official position, why would Li Ruolian have called him Brother Li just now? She would have definitely called him by his official title."
"unless……"
Many people immediately guessed the answer.
"Unless he is one of Master Gao's men, then it doesn't make sense."
There was a general with a rather rough appearance who, relying on his deceptive appearance, deliberately walked casually to Li Zicheng's side.
"Well, since Lord Li has said so, we should get to know Brother Li better."
As he spoke, he put his arm around Li Zicheng's shoulder.
Then, seemingly casually, he asked Li Zicheng:
"Brother Li, may I ask where you are from and who your teacher is?"
Li Zicheng was too young and was actually fooled by that general.
He instinctively introduced himself.
"I come from Mizhi, and I studied under Gao..."
She had barely finished speaking when Li Ruolian started coughing.
When Luo Yangxing brought Li Zicheng here, he had already given him instructions.
The fact that Li Zicheng was Master Gao's student cannot be revealed casually.
However, the generals present, upon hearing just one word "high" and seeing Li Ruolian's performance, already understood perfectly.
"Sure enough, this is another one sent by Master Gao!"
"Wait a minute, something's not right. The more I look at Master Gao's behavior, the more it seems to be a disaster for the country and its people..."
It's no wonder these generals harbored resentment.
After all, a figure resembling a "national advisor" suddenly appeared out of nowhere, claiming to be able to cure the emperor with miraculous medicine.
Then this "national advisor" sent people to interfere in military power.
No matter how you look at it, it's not much different from the behavior of demons and monsters in fantasy novels.
A moment later, Li Ruolian pulled Li Zicheng away.
The remaining generals immediately began to whisper among themselves.
"At this rate, what if a monkey suddenly appears out of somewhere in the capital in a couple of days?"
"You've been listening to too many stories, kid. I think it's more likely that tigers, deer, and sheep will emerge instead of monkeys!"
Seeing that these people were talking more and more incoherently, it was the rough and rude general who spoke up first.
"Alright, let's stop talking about those supernatural and bizarre things and talk about how to deal with Li Zicheng."
"When I got close to him just now, I tested him. This kid is indeed worthy of being from the Northwest. He has a good physique and is a good candidate for being a soldier."
"But I noticed that he didn't have calluses on his hands, so he probably doesn't know any martial arts."
"What was the Emperor, or rather, Master Gao, doing here? Was it simply to claim credit?"
Upon hearing this, everyone else shook their heads.
"How can we possibly claim credit for this? Our fight against the Jurchens this time is likely to end in disaster!"
"It could end in total annihilation. What credit could he possibly gain then?"
However, some people said:
What's the point of us guessing here?
"Why don't we quickly prepare a feast and invite Li Zicheng over, and then try to find out more information?"
The others nodded in agreement.
"That's a good idea."
They booked a restaurant in the capital and invited Li Zicheng to the appointment.
However, to the generals' surprise, Li Ruolian, fearing that Li Zicheng might let something slip again, came along in person.
Seeing this, the generals dared not act rashly and could only take advantage of the moment when they were drunk and in high spirits to play it safe.
"Brother Li, I wonder what role you can play in our army this time? You can't just be a military supervisor, can you?"
After asking that question, he immediately perked up his ears.
After finishing his drink, Li Zicheng started speaking in a Shaanxi-Gansu accent again, which was hard to understand unless you listened carefully.
Sure enough, Li Zicheng seemed to have been given a hint and stopped talking about his master.
However, he did not hide the fact that he had come to the military.
"Haha, bro, you don't know this, I'm here to help you guys with your cannons."
"What the heck?" The general thought he had misheard.
Li Zicheng simply started gesturing with his hands.
"Cannons! Long and thick, they fired with a loud bang."
Upon hearing only the first half of the sentence, the general broke out in a cold sweat, thinking that Li Zicheng was about to tell a dirty joke.
He finally breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the second half of the sentence.
"Oh, it really is an artillery piece. I'm relieved."
He wiped his sweat, then looked on with curiosity.
"Brother Li, you say you can fire cannons, but what kind of cannons are they? Are they similar to those of the generals in Ningyuan?"
The Ming Dynasty has always liked to refer to cannons as "Great Generals".
Even different types of cannons had different general titles.
Li Zicheng, slurring his words, shook his head at the man and said, "What are those cannons? I'll give you my cannons, these are the real deal..."
Li Ruolian had been watching closely. Seeing that Li Zicheng's speech was becoming increasingly incoherent, he interrupted him.
"Little Li, you've had too much to drink!"
"Someone, take him back to the military camp."
The other generals were somewhat disappointed, but they had already gleaned a lot of details from just the few sentences they had extracted.
"This kid can operate artillery?"
"By the way, last time someone from the palace came, they brought a cannon to our training ground for testing, which caused quite a commotion. Could it be that he was the one operating that cannon?"
"Wait a minute, they do look somewhat similar."
To maintain secrecy, Li Ruolian prevented the generals from getting close, so they could only watch from a distance and that's why they didn't recognize Li Zicheng immediately.
But now that they've gained some insight, they compare the two points and the more they talk about it, the more reliable it seems.
"If that's really the case, that would be wonderful."
"We're confident we can defeat the Jurchens this time!"
But soon, someone else looked miserable.
"Damn it! If we had known all this earlier, why did we rush to reveal the ghost employee issue and insist on settling accounts?"
"We've suffered a huge loss!"
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