***
Huang Lianshan felt that he was also to blame for Qin Mu's assassination. Although he was not responsible for Qin Mu's personal protection, as the "Jinyiwei Commander", he had nearly a thousand men under his command. They were not only responsible for gathering intelligence, but also for anti-espionage. Now that the assassin had sneaked into the city, could he say that he had no responsibility
He stood hunched in front of Qin Mu's desk, waiting dejectedly to be criticized.
Qin Mu said in a deep voice: "If I die on the battlefield, it is a worthy death. If I die under the knife of an assassin, it is your incompetence!"
Qin Mu rarely said such harsh words to them. Including Zhu Yijin and others, they all knelt on the ground and pleaded in unison: "Please forgive me, sir."
"Huang Lianshan, considering that the Scouting Camp was established not long ago, I will not bother with you this time. If there is a next time, I will never let you off easily."
"Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir." Huang Lianshan bowed again. He glanced at Zhu Yijin and Li Shi secretly and said hesitantly, "Sir, today is different from the past. You will have less and less time in the army, and there will be more and more forces that intend to harm you. For your safety, I think it is necessary for you to strengthen your own defense. Although the Niu brothers came from humble backgrounds, they have practiced martial arts since childhood. They are loyal and careful, and they know all kinds of unconventional ways. If you can trust them, let the Niu brothers protect you together."
Qin Mu thought for a moment and said, "Let Niu Wanchuan continue to be Su Jin's deputy general, and let Niu Wanshan come."
"Yes, sir."
"Get up, everyone." Qin Mu finished speaking, but Zhu Yijin and Li Shi did not get up. "Get up!" Qin Mu shouted again, and the two hurriedly got up. "Li Shi, continue to stay by my side. Yijin, you don't have to think too much. Just finish what I asked you to do first, and I will make arrangements for you when the time comes."
"Thank you for not punishing me." Zhu Yijin was in a very complicated mood. Ever since the riot in Nanchang, he had been guarding Qin Mu closely. In the past, Qin Mu had few men and horses under his command, so he always went to the battlefield himself. He and Li Shi were his personal soldiers.
But now, just as Huang Lianshan said, Qin Mu expanded his army by more than 100,000 at once and started fighting on all sides. Qin Mu had to take charge of the overall situation, and his opportunities to personally charge into battle became fewer and fewer. They and Li Shi also gradually transformed from personal soldiers into guards.
Zhu Yijin longed to be like Liu Meng and Su Jin, to fight on the battlefield and make achievements, but being a "close minister of the emperor" beside Qin Mu was also a rare opportunity, making it difficult for him to choose.
Now, because of the poor guards, Qin Mu asked him to leave, and Zhu Yijin couldn't help feeling uneasy. Fortunately, he was still entrusted with such a secret task as transferring the treasure, which showed that Qin Mu still trusted him. Zhu Yijin finally felt a little comforted.
Of course, he also knew that this was probably Qin Mu's last test for him. If he failed, even if Qin Mu didn't kill him, Zhu Yijin would never be able to make a name for himself in Qin Mu's camp.
"Sir, there are eight spies in total, all of whom have been captured. Here are their confessions. Please review them."
Qin Mu took the confession handed over by Huang Lianshan and looked through it. It was the same as the two statements made by Zhu Yitie during the interrogation, nothing new.
Huang Lianshan asked, "Does your Excellency have any instructions on how to deal with these eight people?"
"Can I control them and use them for my own benefit?"
"Your Excellency, one of them is called Cheng Erhu and is from Ningxiang. His parents, wife and children are already under our control. As long as we promise him a lot of money, it won't be difficult to make him obedient."
"Okay, come forward." Qin Mu gave careful instructions to Huang Lianshan who was whispering to him. Huang Lianshan wrote down everything and left in a hurry.
Qin Mu then said to Li Shi, "Let someone prepare a table of wine and food first. I want to invite Lady Hong to the banquet. Well, you go there in person and invite Lady Hong to the governor's office. Remember, make it grand."
"Yes, sir."
***
Zhang Kewang marched in the rain, causing complaints among the 50,000 soldiers, many of whom even deserted, and morale was extremely low.
Zhang Wenxiu, who escaped from Changsha, walked in front of the team with a defeated look on his face. Qin Mu used an insider to capture Changsha without anyone noticing. If it could be said that it was his momentary negligence, then the battle outside the west gate of Changsha, with a ratio of ten to one, was a fair fight, and he was actually unable to withstand a blow, which led to the surrender of the counties and cities around Changsha. He no longer had any excuse to exonerate himself.
The rain kept falling and the march was slow. He was more anxious than Zhang Kewang, but Zhang Kewang also disliked his brother in distress. He felt that he had ruined the good situation. He had never treated him well since they met and had been mocking him constantly. Zhang Wenxiu didn't want to see his ugly face, so she simply ran to the front of the army.
There was still 40 miles to Xiangyin County. The sky was as gloomy as lead, and the raindrops hit the body, which was cold and made people shrink. The soldiers walked forward with difficulty in the mud, one foot high and one foot low. At the current speed, it would take at least two days to walk 40 miles.
"This damn God, why is there never a clear sky?" Zhang Wenxiu was so anxious that he cursed. At this time, the scout in front brought back a man. Zhang Wenxiu took a look through the misty rain and found that it was Cheng Erhu, the person he sent to Changsha to gather intelligence and wait for an opportunity to assassinate Qin Mu.
"Cheng Erhu, Cheng Erhu, come this way."
Cheng Erhu was covered in mud. When he saw Zhang Wenxiu, he immediately ran over and cried, "General, General, it's over. All the brothers we sent are finished."
"What's going on? Tell me quickly."
"General, Qin Mu was busy recruiting soldiers, so we easily got into Changsha City. We gathered information while keeping an eye on Qin Mu's whereabouts. Yesterday, Qin Mu and Hong Niangzi went to a teahouse by the river to drink tea. We thought this was a rare opportunity, so we swam to the back window of the teahouse to assassinate him. At that time, Qin Mu was discussing joining Li Zicheng with Hong Niangzi, and Zhang Qing and I saw him from the back window..."
"Wait, you said that Qin Mu and Hong Niangzi were discussing joining Li Zicheng?"
"They are talking about joining Li Zicheng, General, what's wrong?"
"Tell me, what did you hear?"
"Zhang Qing and I sneaked under the back window, and heard Qin Mu ask: When will the army sent by King Dashun arrive? Hong Niangzi answered him: If you hold on for another five or six days, I will have sent people back to Xiangyang. According to the distance, the army will arrive in five or six days if they go downstream by water. Qin Mu said, if you send people to urge them, I will lead the army north in two days."
"No wonder, no wonder Lady Hong and Qin Mu attacked Changsha together, it turns out that the two of them had been in cahoots for a long time." Zhang Wenxiu muttered to himself. He had never understood why Lady Hong and Qin Mu got together. Now everything finally made sense. "Tell me quickly, what else did they say?"
"General, he's gone. Qin Mu had more than a dozen guards downstairs at the time. Zhang Qing and I were worried that we would be discovered if we stayed there for too long, so we climbed in through the window after hearing a few words and assassinated him..."
"Idiots, you are courting death."
"General, how did you know?"
"Mrs. Hong is a skilled martial artist. If you go in to assassinate her while she's here, you're clearly courting death."
"Ah... I and Zhang Qing didn't know it at the time. As soon as Zhang Qing climbed in through the window, Hong Niang hit him on the nose with a teacup. I followed Zhang Qing closely, but was kicked out of the window by Hong Niang. Fortunately, there was a river below, so I swam away. When I returned to where I was staying and prepared to inform others, I found that my place was surrounded by Qin Mu's men. General, this must be Zhang Qing's trick. I dare not stay any longer, so I hurried out of the city to report to the general..."
"Okay, let's stop talking. Just follow me." Zhang Wenxiu took Cheng Erhu and rushed to Zhang Kewang.
"What? Is this true?" Zhang Kewang couldn't help but exclaimed when he heard that Li Zicheng's army was marching south. He asked Cheng Erhu in person, and Cheng Erhu answered him verbatim. Zhang Kewang couldn't find any flaws and was confused for a moment.
Don't think that Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were friendly forces because they rebelled against the Ming Dynasty together. It is well known that Li Zicheng had long wanted to annex Zhang Xianzhong. When Zhang Xianzhong proclaimed himself king in Wuchang, Li Zicheng sent people to threaten him. When Zhang Xianzhong was about to attack Jiangxi, Li Zicheng again sent Hong Niangzi to threaten him.
Moreover, it is an indisputable fact that Hongniang and Qin Mu are fighting side by side. It would be hard to believe if they said that there was no collusion between the two sides. Now Qin Mu raided Changsha and seized countless gold, silver, treasures, food and supplies. With these, it is only natural for Li Zicheng to send a large army to support them.
"Brother, since Qin Mu is heading north, father doesn't have to worry about being trapped. Quickly order the army to stop advancing. I only have 10,000 men in Wuchang. If Li Zicheng sends troops south, I will definitely not be able to hold on. Once Wuchang is lost, the troops in Yuezhou will surely panic..."
"Do I need you to tell me that?" Zhang Kewang shouted before Zhang Wenxiu finished speaking, and then shouted to the messenger, "Pass my order, the army will stop advancing immediately. At the same time, send someone to inform Yuezhou and Wuchang to guard against Li Zicheng's army moving south. Go quickly."
It is no wonder that Zhang Kewang believed Cheng Erhu's words so easily. First of all, Qin Mu had fought a battle with the officers and soldiers led by Lu Daqi in Yuanzhou, and seized more than 5,000 war horses. Qin Mu's behavior itself made people suspect that he had ulterior motives and showed signs of rebellion.
Next, Hongniangzi fought side by side with Qin Mu at the foot of Yuanzhou City, blocking Zhang Xianzhong's pursuers together, and then attacked Changsha together. This was enough to show that the two sides had colluded with each other. Then it was only natural for Qin Mu to lead his army north and Li Zicheng to send a large army south to support him.
After carefully sorting out the causes and consequences, Zhang Kewang and Zhang Wenxiu believed the news that Cheng Erhu had "inquired" about. The current situation was that Qin Mu had already emptied Changsha. If Wuchang and Yuezhou were to be defeated by Li Zicheng's army from behind, the consequences would be disastrous.
And since Qin Mu was heading north, there was no need for him to go south in the rain and tire himself out. The wisest thing to do was undoubtedly to wait for Qin Mu to tire himself out and then stop him.
There is nothing wrong with Zhang Kewang's decision, but what he doesn't know is that this is just a trap set by Mr. Qin.
**********************
ps: The internet was down again this morning, so the update is delayed. Sorry, sorry.
.(To be continued..)
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