Chapter 137: To Marry or Not to Marry
Tianjin had been under siege for nearly 35 days, and Li Zicheng had been in Beijing for nearly 40 days. It was likely that the city had been severely weakened by the combined forces of Wu Sangui and the Jianlu. Zhao Xiaofei had finally returned, and together with Wanshan, he loaded batches of soldiers onto the ship.
At the dock, Zhao Xiaofei asked with a smile, "Don't you think Hongniang is a country girl? Why did you take her in?"
"Hey! People can't be too handsome. I was too handsome and that's why the girl took advantage of me. One misstep will lead to eternal regret!" Wanshan said with a sad face.
Zhao Xiaofei's face was filled with black lines after hearing this. He thought to himself: You are handsome? What makes you handsome? Don't think that you are a heartthrob just because you are pushed upside down on the bed by a country girl!
"She doesn't have any requirements? Didn't she say she wants to be the legal wife?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.
"No! She's already married for the second time, and she still wants to be the legal wife? If I get the chance, I'll deal with her ex-husband Li Yan! Otherwise, I'll feel uncomfortable!" Wanshan said.
"It's up to you!" said Zhao Xiaofei.
"Let's not talk about me. There was a letter from Nanjing. Zhu Guobi was planning to purge the court together with Zuo Liangyu, but we were the first to do it. It's a pity that Ruan Dacheng escaped! He also tricked more than 100,000 troops outside the city into rebelling and besieging Nanjing. Fortunately, your second wife Li Sihong brought troops and your eldest brother to defeat them. However, Ruan Dacheng was very slippery and ran away early. I guess he is very likely to defect to Zuo Liangyu!" Wanshan said.
"What about Gao Jie and Liu Zeqing? How do they react now?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.
"These two warlords also plan to threaten the imperial court together with Zuo Liangyu, but they haven't fallen out yet. Especially Gao Jie is still hesitating!" Wan Shan said.
"Where is Liu Zeqing's main force now?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.
"Luzhou!" Wanshan said.
"How many soldiers does he have?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.
"He had 30,000 troops before, but now he has expanded his army and has 100,000 men under his command," Wanshan said.
"Let's first send some silver to appease this grandson, and don't use the court's money. The court has no money at all, so we can do it privately. When we get to Nanjing, we will rest up and then deal with the Liu guy!" said Zhao Xiaofei.
"Isn't it a bit too much for us to attack from two fronts? Zuo Liangyu's army is almost here!" Wanshan said.
"Is our army not strong enough?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.
"Of course it's not enough. Zuo Liangyu has nearly 800,000 troops. Even if you have a Gatling gun, you can't kill so many people?" Wanshan said.
"What should we do then?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.
"Leave 30,000 people to defend Nanjing City, and mobilize the rest to attack Zuo Liangyu. We will not negotiate with him. If we eliminate Zuo Liangyu, other local warlords will be obedient. Hand over the military power to give him a way to survive, and give him some silver and an honorary position. Those who refuse to hand it over will be killed!" Wanshan said.
"Okay! That's it! You stay in Nanjing, and I will take General Zhou to meet Zuo Liangyu!" said Zhao Xiaofei.
"Why should I stay behind? It would be better to let the Three Heroes of Jiangyin stay behind. Don't you trust them? Let's go together to deal with Zuo Liangyu!" Wanshan said.
"What about those three people? Do you know them?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.
"Your eldest brother actually praises them very much, saying that they are reliable in their work. In particular, their organizational ability is extremely strong. Feng Dunhou is particularly good at calming people's hearts, Chen Mingyu is particularly good at supervising the construction of fortifications, and Yan Yingyuan has strong overall command capabilities!" Wanshan said.
"What a pity! They are all fifth-rank officials now. If they are promoted again, other officials will gossip about them and even make trouble for them!" Zhao Xiaofei said helplessly.
"These Ming Dynasty officials are good at internal fighting but not good at external fighting! But you can give them real power, but not promotion, right?" Wanshan said.
"That's fine! Let's see how those officials react. Is there any news about Fang Xinyu?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.
"Aren't they going to deliver silver? The telegram said that Qin Liangyu's family was full of gratitude, and the old lady wanted to expand the White Rod Army. They were preparing to enter Sichuan to deal with Zhang Xianzhong! Fang Xinyu stayed there to give them guidance. Teach them how to use firearms!" Wanshan said.
"Firearm? I didn't give Qin Liangyu a firearm?" Zhao Xiaofei said.
"Qin Liangyu and the others bought them themselves! Some were even bought from bandits!" Wanshan said.
"They are really like mice accompanying cats, they want money but not their lives!" said Zhao Xiaofei.
As they were talking about Fang Xinyu, Fang Xinyu was receiving the greatest welcome and the highest treatment in Shizhu. Apart from the loss of a few soldiers on the way due to Zuo Liangyu's incident, everything else went smoothly.
When he arrived at Shizhu and met the legendary female general Qin Liangyu, who was already an old lady in her sixties, he took out the imperial edict and read out the meaning of the new court. Old Lady Qin burst into tears.
Zhao Xiaofei also gave the old lady a dragon-headed cane, saying that the emperor sympathized with her age and gave it to her specially. This touched the Qin family again.
Qin Liangyu grabbed Fang Xinyu and said, "General Fang! It will take time for my White Spear Army to rebuild. What will we do if we enter Sichuan to attack Zhang Xianzhong without firearms? I don't want too many soldiers to die in vain!"
"General Qin, I am good at firearms and can help the White Spear Soldiers train artillerymen!" Fang Xinyu said.
At this time, Qin Yiming said: "That's great! General Fang, please help me!"
"But how many firearms do you have here?" Fang Xinyu asked.
Ma Wanchun also stepped forward and said, "We can purchase the firearms! General Fang, don't worry about it!"
So Fang Xinyu stayed to help Qin Liangyu's new recruits train the artillerymen, but this stay led to trouble. Qin Liangyu had a great-granddaughter named Ma Xiangling. Remember, this wasn't Ma Xianglan from the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai! She immediately took a liking to Fang Xinyu, who was instructing the artillerymen on how to fire.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
