Zheng Qiu also had ups and downs in the Sui Navy for many years. He used to be the fourth-ranked outstanding talent when he graduated from the Yanwu Academy, and he was the one whose name was written into the talent record by Emperor Zhenzong, but his official career was quite bumpy. The mobilization of troops against the Shang Kingdom during the reign of Zhenzong was the beginning of his fortune, and he was directly promoted to a fourth-rank general from the accumulation of military merits from the position of a fifth-rank general. However, because of the discord with the previous naval general, all his later military exploits were suppressed, and he was despised by the general for his offensive disadvantage.
According to the official system of the Sui Dynasty, the general of the Taoist government is the first person under the governor of each province. From the third rank, he has almost reached the peak of the official position of military general. But during the Taiping period, the general of the Taoist government was simply a vacant position, and he had no real power at all under the governors of the various provinces. I do nothing every day, watching the face of the governor and doing things.
Zheng Qiu originally thought that his official career had come to an end, and that he might have a chance to be promoted to Governor-General in another twenty years, but the chances were slim.
But after Tianyou Emperor Yang Yi ascended the throne, his fate changed again.
Yang Yi re-appointed the general of the navy, promoted Wang Yiqu, and at the same time recommended Zheng Qiu to Emperor Tianyou. Yang Yi then decreed to appoint Zheng Qiu as the commanding general of the Tenglong Ship. You must know that there is already a custom among the navy that anyone who commands the Tenglong ship will definitely be the first choice for the general of the navy in the future. This is how Wang Yiqu went up, and this is how Wang Yiqu took office.
Zheng Qiu was ecstatic when he received the decree. Although the transition from Daofu General to Tenglong Ship Commanding General has been reduced by half a level in terms of rank, from the third rank to the fourth rank, but everyone knows which is more important. The general of the Taoist government may not be able to rise one step further if he survives for another twenty years, but the commanding general of the Tenglong ship is equivalent to the deputy commander of the navy, and there are at least tens of thousands of soldiers under his command, which is a real soldier.
Zheng Qiu waited for more than ten years, seeing that Wang Yiqu was about to reach the age when he had to ask for an order to return home, but Da Sui was in chaos. Wang Yiqu rebelled in the northwest, intercepted and killed Emperor Tianyou, and forcibly led the navy and Gao Kaitai to occupy Hedong Road. Zheng Qiu knew that if he wanted to become a naval general, he no longer had a chance.
Later, when Luo Yao invited him to Yongjun, he also hesitated. Although Luo Yao had a strong army at the time, but after all, he carried the word traitor on his back. For a person like him, as long as he relies on the past, it will be imprinted forever, and a mark about him will be left in the history books, which will never be erased.
In the end, he decided to join Luo Yao because of his disappointment with the court.
When Luo Yao was still there, Zheng Qiu's status in General Luo was actually not low, even more prominent than the ten heroes of Luomen. At least Luo Yao gave him enough face and deliberately showed his status in front of others. For this, Zheng Qiu is very grateful to Luo Yao.
Later, Luo Yao died for no apparent reason, and Luo Tu succeeded General Luo. From that moment on, the future of the Navy became confused again.
The Dahong River is 160 miles away from Liuzhou, but four days is enough time for the news to pass through Liuzhou. Luo Tu set up an ambush on Tennuo Mountain and wiped out more than ten thousand troops of Muli's troops. This matter was only reported to the Navy yesterday afternoon, who would have thought that Mu Li would dare to appear outside the Navy today.
Zheng Qiu glanced at Mu Li, and after a moment of silence, he said: "General Mu... It is rumored that you have already died in battle. Isn't this a good thing for you? Since you are already dead, why show up again? It is much wiser for you to come to see me today, no matter whether it is to live in seclusion or to seek refuge with others."
Mu Li smiled and said: "Thank you, General Zheng, for being so straightforward. If there is some detour, it will be difficult for me to open my mouth."
He took a sip of tea: "Does General Zheng know why Luo Tu wants to kill me?"
Zheng Qiu shook his head: "I don't know, and I don't want to know. If General Mu came to ask for help, I would like to subsidize General Mu with some silver and give you a good horse. I will pretend that you have never been here, and neither will the people below me." Leak your whereabouts, and I still have this confidence in the Navy."
"No matter how downcast I am..."
Mu Li shook his head and smiled, "I'm not so courageous as to come here to ask for a few taels of silver. My martial arts aren't very good, but I'm not so troubled by money. I didn't come here to save myself, but to I came here to save you, General Zheng."
"oh?"
Zheng Qiu couldn't help but smiled: "It's already reached this point, why does General Mu still have to put on airs? If you come to persuade me to betray the prince, then you should save your mouth. I didn't take you down and send you to Liuzhou immediately. Thinking of the friendship of colleagues in the past, if you say something nonsense, there is no guarantee that I will not change my mind."
"General Mu... let's go."
Zuo Mingchan, who was sitting under Muli, couldn't help but shook his head: "You want to save him, but he begs to die. This kind of person can't be saved. It's useless for you and me to talk here. It's better to go back earlier Huang Yang said to go. In comparison, other people's lives are not as important as our own future. If we go fast, we can reach Xinyang City in a month and a half."
"Huang Yangdao?"
Zheng Qiu's face changed suddenly, he glanced at Zuo Mingchan: "This...what's your name?"
…
…
Zuo Mingchan stood up and cupped his fists: "Since General Mu told you the truth, I will not hide anything. I am a small scout captain in the Black Banner Army. Discussing with General Mu about surrendering, but unfortunately, because some things were exposed, there was the bloody battle a few days ago."
He took a look at Mu Li, it was a talk that the two had discussed. If Zuo Mingchan said that he was just passing by and happened to save Mu Li, then Zheng Qiu might not believe that he was a member of the Black Banner Army. Even if he believed it, he would not believe that Mu Li had already had contact with the Black Banner Army. For people like Zheng Qiu, if Mu Li wants to persuade him, he has to pretend that he has been in contact with the Black Banner Army for a long time.
"Speaking of which, I blame me too."
Zuo Mingchan sighed and said, "I underestimated Luo Tu's ambition. I thought that as long as I could keep Luo Tu from hiding, I would be able to take advantage of the opportunity of military training outside the city to lead General Mu's troops to Huangyang Road. It's a pity... I had the heart to kill General Mu, I didn’t think enough about it, but it also reminded me of something with General Mu, that’s why I rushed to the navy to see General Zheng.”
He asked: "General Zheng may have guessed, what did General Mu and I remember?"
Zheng Qiu's heart was shocked, he vaguely guessed something but didn't say it out.
Mu Li said: "Didn't General Zheng see that Luo Tu has killed a lot these days? The old people in the army are basically dead. Luo Tu has already started the killing ring in order to completely control the army. Yesterday it was someone else. , Today is me, who is tomorrow? As far as I know, Luo Tu doesn't seem to be very relieved that General Zheng is in charge of the navy, right?"
"It's not good to speculate on other people's minds like this?"
Zheng Qiu said.
"I only know!"
Mu Li said in a loud voice: "If I had figured out these things earlier, the more than ten thousand sons under my command would not have died tragically! If I hadn't always had hope for Luo Tu, I wouldn't have fallen to where I am today!"
Zheng Qiu opened his mouth, but did not speak.
Zuo Mingchan gave Mu Li a hand, smiled and said: "We are just here to remind General Zheng with good intentions, don't offend others because of our good intentions. Since we have already mentioned this matter, we have done our best, don't General, let's go. While Luo Tu has not found this place, let's take the Dahong River to the north and enter the Yangtze River, and we can reach Xinyang City by water. Less than a year ago, my lord has captured Xinyang, and it is now safe .”
He pulled Mu Li and said: "My lord is just preparing to build a navy, and General Duan Zheng is in charge of the matter in the Black Banner Army. It's just that I can't do what I want... My lord should have already wiped out Nanyan at this time. Before I came, General Duan Zheng was in charge of this matter. He was ordered to go to Nanyan to take over the navy, and then take over the shipyard in Nanyan. But Huang Yangdao also built a shipyard, and no one is watching now... "
Mu Li nodded, and then cupped his fists towards Zheng Qiu: "I was too anxious, let's stop this matter. In fact, I still have a request from General Zheng, can you give us a boat? Luo Tu is here Manpower has been deployed to the west, and it will be very difficult for us to go by land.”
"this… "
Zheng Qiu's expression kept changing, and he subconsciously glanced at Zuo Mingchan, but Zuo Mingchan didn't look at him, and lowered his head to play with the cup in his hand.
"The boat is not a problem."
Zheng Qiu was silent for a while and then said: "However, since General Mu is leaving, I still have to give it away. I will send someone to prepare the banquet first, and it will not be too late to leave after I am full, right? I will order someone to prepare a The fast boat, arrange dozens of strong sailors to take you to the ferry of the Yangtze River, how about you hire a boat to go west?"
"it's not good… "
Zuo Mingchan tugged Mu Li and whispered something in his ear, Mu Li nodded: "Don't bother General Zheng, we will leave now."
After he finished speaking, he turned around and was about to go out, Zuo Mingchan got up and followed behind.
When the two people reached the door, a person came in hurriedly from outside and almost ran into him. The person's face was a bit unsightly. He subconsciously glanced at the two of them, and then quickly walked over and said to Zheng Qiu: "General... Luo Tu sent someone Here I come, I want to see you!"
Zheng Qiu's eyes froze, his brows twitched twice.
…
…
Zheng Qiu personally sent the person sent by Luo Tu off the big boat, cupped his fists to that person and said, "Go back and tell the lord, I will definitely go to the city early on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival. I will also beg for the lord's wine at that time, and I have prepared Some gadgets for the prince."
The man cupped his fists to say goodbye, and when he got off the boat, he looked at the boat as if he had discovered something, with doubts in his eyes.
On the bow of the boat, Mu Li smiled and said, "That person is Luo Tu's confidant, called Scarface. I shook it deliberately just now, and this person must have seen it. This person is the most careful, even though I was just shaking like that in a daze After a while, but he must be suspicious. Luo Tu has not been able to catch me these days, and he has not seen my dead body, so he must be uneasy. After this person returns, he will definitely mention this to Luo Tu. "
Zuo Mingchan thought in his heart that this person surnamed Mu was cruel enough, so pulling Zheng Qiu onto his boat was a shameful word.
"However, I suspect that Scarface has no good intentions."
Mu Li said: "You heard it too, he invited Zheng Qiu to Liuzhou, and he said that he would share fine wine and appreciate the bright moon... Nine times out of ten, he had the intention of killing someone."
Zuo Mingchan said: "I think that Zheng Qiu's heart is already moved, just a little bit!"
Just as he was talking, Zheng Qiu sent someone to invite the two of them. The two walked into Zheng Qiu's study again, and Zheng Qiu had already sent someone to prepare the meals.
The three chatted while eating, Zheng Qiu brought the topic to the Black Banner Army a few times, Zuo Mingchan pretended not to understand what Gu Zuo said about him, the more this happened, the more itchy Zheng Qiu felt.
While the three of them were drinking, someone in the water quietly approached the Tenglong ship. The man breathes with a thin reed tube in his mouth, and the man has been diving underwater. When he got to the side of the boat, he poked his head out cautiously, put both hands on the boat, and climbed up like a gecko!
After he boarded the boat, he avoided the guards and went outside the study lightly. He listened carefully, and happened to hear Mu Li talking. The man's eyes changed, and a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth.
Then he left immediately, without making a sound.
Zuo Mingchan, who was drinking from a glass, glanced outside, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.