Chapter 951
: Memorials Should Be Polished
Chapter 951: Memorials Should Be Polished
Jingnan,
Under Daliang City,
The corpses were scattered all over the city, it was extremely tragic, the original bluestone color of the city wall could no longer be seen, only the dark and smelly blood. On the city wall, armored soldiers stood in rows, and the guards looked out of the city with solemn expressions.
A few miles away, the Taiping Sect camp stretched for dozens of miles. It was as if all the dead people under the city were puppets, and it was impossible to kill them all.
On top of the city,
Many generals and lieutenants had lost their luster in their eyes. Jia Lian's mouth was cracked and bloody. He was leaning against the battlement of the city wall, biting a piece of naan and drinking water from his water bag. He glanced outside the city.
Strange to say,
Today, the Taiping Sect seemed to be asleep. There has been no movement so far. Only a few scouts were wandering around the city. Even the slave soldiers were not seen. Could it be that they overslept?
Thinking about it, it was impossible. Jia Lian shook his head and smiled helplessly. They had been trapped here for nearly ten days. There had been batches of messengers trying to break out, but no news had come back. They probably hadn't escaped. He didn't know if the court would send reinforcements.
"Brother, come and take a look. Those Taiping Cult thieves are not making any noise. Could it be that they have fallen asleep and are taking a day off?"
Wang Ren was sitting against the battlement of the city wall, biting a piece of naan in his mouth. His breakfast was simple, just this little bit of food to fill his stomach, and there was not even a decent pickle. He listened to Jia Lian's words without getting up, swallowed the food in his mouth, and replied;
"Humph, it's all the same old tricks. What else can they do now? They can only come back for another three rounds later. There are still enough soldiers in the city now. The brothers have all seen blood. Those who survived are not afraid, and those who are afraid will not survive. You can relax, unless they use some elite guards. The Taiping Cult is nothing more than that. If you can withstand their three axes, they will be helpless."
Wang Ren snorted. It was easy to say, but how many people could withstand those three axes? Too many people died, and their blood ran cold.
I guess the Taiping Cult members were also terrified by the killing. For more than ten days, there were three rounds of sieges every day, with more than 50,000 Taiping Cult slave soldiers in each round. Almost all living people disappeared before their eyes, leaving the ground full of the stench of corpses, which was disgusting.
Jia Lian only dared to look far away. He didn't even look at the black things under the city. They were all traces of burnt kerosene.
In the middle of the south city,
It was the main camp of the bandit army. The tents on the left and right sides had been captured by the bandit army. They were all occupied by slave soldiers. Earlier, there were crowds of people and horses, but now there were only a few bandit soldiers, leaning against the wooden fence of the camp to keep watch. The densely packed slave soldiers inside had already been reduced to a few. Perhaps the bandit army was short of manpower.
"Brother, something is wrong. The two camps we set up before were occupied by the bandits and used as military camps for the slave soldiers to live in. Today, I took a look and it seems that the slave soldiers in the military camps have disappeared. Are they all dead?"
He stretched his head and looked again and again. There was not much change in the camps in front and behind, and there was no sign of the enemy troops gathering. It seemed that something must have happened.
Jia Lian shrank his head, only took a look at the gap between the battlements, and immediately hid behind the wall, fearing that someone would suddenly shoot an arrow. He didn't know how many brothers had died from such a blow.
Wang Ren was sitting there, having finished his cake and opened his water bag to drink a few sips of water. Hearing Jia Lian's chatter, he also became interested. How did he say it? Even if the Taiping Sect taught those thieves a bad character, they could still give the slave army a chance to survive.
"You kid, hurry up and fill your stomach. If a fight breaks out later, you won't have a chance to eat. Let me take a look at the people down there."
Brushing off the dust on his legs and feet, Wang Ren reached out to hold on to the wall, and slowly stood up reluctantly. He also looked out along the battlement. There were indeed few people in the two camps on the left and right. There were only the sentry post of the camp and the tents in the front where the bandits were stationed. There seemed to be only a few scattered figures in the tents inside. Most of the people were not outside at all. It seemed that the camp was empty?
"Brother Lian, what you said seems to be true. Yesterday, the two camps were noisy, but now they are empty. Do you think it is possible that these bandit soldiers of the Taiping Sect withdrew at night?"
The two looked left and right for a long time but couldn't see anything special. However, the number of people had changed obviously. Where did the missing people go?
The two looked at each other and both felt something was wrong.
"Brother, should we wait a little longer? If they still haven't made any movement, it means that there is no one in the two camps. Then can we lead the troops to recapture the camps? In this way, the two armies won't be so close to spy on the situation in the city."
The reason why Jia Lian had such an idea was that when they first came to set up camp, in order to guard the surroundings, they asked the soldiers of the baggage camp to build a watchtower as high as the city wall. Although everything in the city could be seen at a glance,
However, the distribution of officers and soldiers on the top of the city wall was visible to everyone at a glance. It was a great threat to the deployment of troops in the city. Since there was an opportunity, it must not be missed. It was not that Jia Lian was brave, but after leading troops in battles for so many days, he finally accumulated some experience. He suffered many losses and many deaths before he realized it.
Wang Ren licked his lips and did not object. During the fight yesterday, it was because of the command of the man on the watchtower that the brothers in his crossbow battalion were ambushed by the Taiping Sect crossbowmen several times, resulting in heavy casualties. He had long remembered this hatred, and now it seemed like a good opportunity.
But I was afraid it was a trap. The inner side of the city gate had been firmly held up by a huge tree, and there were stones blocking the bottom. If we wanted to leave the city, we would need an hour to clear those things. So, it was hard to say whether we could send troops.
"Brother Lian, uncle has ordered a fight to the death. The city gates are locked, and it is difficult for the soldiers to leave the city. I am afraid that we will fall into the enemy's trap, so it is best to keep the troops in place. Even if the enemy army deceives us, it will only take another day to kill. By the way, uncle, do you have any reinforcements?"
Wang Ren thought about it. He was originally a person who was afraid of trouble. Seeing that it was difficult to climb the city wall, he decided to just stay on the wall for a while longer.
When I think of rest,
Suddenly I felt sore and weak all over. The blood blisters on my hands had almost healed a little, but then the wounds burst because of touching the knife. This happened repeatedly, and finally a layer of blood scabs and calluses were left on my hands.
After sitting down against the wall, he reached out and pulled Jia Lian's sleeve, advising him;
"Brother Lian, sit down and take a rest. What's the use of waiting? The enemy outnumbers us. We can only wait for reinforcements to arrive. By the way, where did Kang Mengyu go?"
Speaking of the bloody battles these days, I haven't seen that kid coming over. Could he be slacking off in the inner city? Wang Ren was joking. How could he be slacking off in such a bloody battle?
Jia Lian drew his head back and imitated his elder brother, leaning against the wall and sitting down, not caring about the messy bloodstains on the ground, and replied:
"He should still be sleeping. If he hadn't brought the imperial guards to reinforce the city wall these days, who knows where it would have collapsed."
I don't know why, but after this battle, Jia Lian lost all his pride. No matter the weird inner house of the Duke's Mansion, or the smiling faces outside but daggers hidden behind, it all seemed like passing clouds. It might not be a good thing to inherit the Duke's Mansion.
Under the sad smile, what he was most worried about was the future appearance of Rongguo Mansion. The income from the industry was all in the hands of the second house. Over the years, most of the original silver in the mansion had been consumed. After paying off the old debts of the court, the silver in the treasury was almost empty.
After finally finding out the excess wealth of several stewards, they have to build a garden for the Empress in the palace before they get it. As a result, when the Empress leaves the palace to visit her parents, what will be left in the Rongguo Mansion?
My father only had five shops, with an annual income of ten thousand taels of silver, which was not enough to pay the monthly allowance for the servants in the mansion.
The remaining imperial manors outside the city were good, but unfortunately, one was sold to pay off debts, and the other was put on the public account of the Duke's Mansion. In the future, it would be given to the second wife. At that time, I would only have the title, and in the eyes of all the old relatives and nobles, I would be a joke, not much better than the Shi family.
He thought a lot in an instant, but didn't say a word. His elder brother Wang Ren saw this and felt it was a bit strange. He wanted to ask a few more questions,
suddenly,
There was a horn sound from the city, followed by a sobbing sound, which frightened the two men. They quickly stood up and looked outside. They saw a large number of soldiers and horses coming out from the two camps on the left and right of Daliang City, carrying ladders and holding long swords, and began to agitate and say something.
A moment later, the Taiping Sect bandits rushed out of the camp with red faces, preparing to attack the city.
"Brother, luckily we didn't act rashly. There are still so many people hiding inside, but the number is much less than yesterday."
"It doesn't matter if there are many or few people. We must defend the city wall. Just like yesterday, we brothers will take turns. I'll go first, brother."
Wang Ren didn't care about those. No matter what conspiracy or intrigue, in the end, he still had to fight with his own hands. Thinking of this, he waved his hand, raised his sword, put on his iron helmet, stood on the city wall and shouted;
"Brothers of the First Battalion, get ready to work,"
"Yes, General." A loud shout came, and the soldiers were already in full armor, ready for battle.
There is still one day's journey to the north of here.
After Zhang Jinyu arranged the troops last night, he ordered the camp to start cooking in the morning. The remaining soldiers, that is, the more than 30,000 people under Gu Ping, went to deal with the corpses left on the battlefield. The weather was getting hotter. If they were not dealt with in time, the plague might spread. As a result, the fire on the battlefield burned all night.
The smell must be unpleasant. Fortunately, the camp is located upwind, otherwise, we should have moved to another place to camp last night.
In the central tent,
Zhang Jinyu got up first, and after finishing his meal, he took out his writing brush, inkstone, and paper, ground some ink, and took out a red folder from his package and placed it on the table.
I hold the pen in my hand but I don't know how to write. After all, after a day of bloody battle, I killed a thousand enemies but lost eight hundred of my own. It's not easy to write even for polishing.
"My Lord, you got up so early?"
While he was thinking, the voice of Jin Wang Zhou Ding came from behind the curtain on the east side. He looked up and saw His Royal Highness Jin Wang yawning, his sparse eyelids drooping. He didn't know if he didn't sleep well last night, his eyes were dark and he looked listless. Zhang Jinyu saw this and asked with concern;
"Your Highness, did you not sleep well last night? Are you still worried?"
In fact, he himself was also thinking about many things. If Yue'er hadn't been sleeping with him, he might have ended up like His Highness.
"Well, my Lord, I tossed and turned last night, feeling both happy and worried. I was happy because we won the battle yesterday, but I was worried because many elite members of the Taiping Sect escaped, which was like letting a tiger go back to the mountains. I felt uneasy."
It was no wonder that the King of Jin was so worried. As he grew older, he understood many things. The position of the Crown Prince seemed to be something his mother said was easy, and it was just a matter of choosing between the three brothers. But there was only one position for the Crown Prince after all, so how could he dare to slack off?
Being able to have the opportunity to be with Marquis Luo Yun is equivalent to taking a step ahead and taking advantage of the opportunity. Although the Prince of Beijing and the Prince of Dongping are the backbone of the military meritorious old relatives, the "trouble" of the four kings and eight dukes has always been in my father's mind. Therefore, even if he relies on the ceremonial guard, he still has to think twice.
Zhang Jinyu was obviously stunned when he heard this. Shouldn't he have thought of these things? He looked up and saw that His Highness had a worried look on his face. It was a pity that the emperor didn't want a diligent "cow and horse" but a
"Your Highness, please take a seat and do not worry. As the saying goes, you should eat one bite at a time and do things one by one. More haste makes waste. The same is true for war. The Taiping rebels who broke through yesterday were only 50,000 in number, which was not a big deal. You should know that trapped beasts fight more fiercely. I don't know how to write the memorial to the court today. Your Highness, please consider it."
Zhang Jinyu's so-called words of consolation were full of meaning. Although the results of the battle were acceptable, the losses were not small. Therefore, in order to write it "decently," he still needed to coordinate the testimony with His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin.
Fortunately, King Jin Zhou Ding listened to his words, walked over, yawned, sat down beside the table, and looked at a red memorial on the table with an extremely surprised expression. This was an urgent memorial!
"My Lord, do you want to submit an urgent memorial to report yesterday's battle results?"
Zhang Jinyu nodded. You asked even though you knew the answer.
"Yes, Your Highness. I wanted to write it yesterday, but the results of the battle were not counted, so I delayed it overnight. I can't put it off today. But I still need to tell Your Highness in detail what to say in the memorial. After all, the entire court is waiting for this memorial, and so is the emperor."
After all, the army is outside, and every move involves the attention of everyone in the court. I am afraid that many people in the palace, or people inside and outside the court, are a little restless.
"Your Majesty is right. Since it is a great victory, then we should write it down like this. I wonder why Your Majesty does not write it down."
Jin Wang Zhou Ding was a little confused. He glanced at the table and saw that there was already a document on the statistics of war losses and military merits. Why did the Marquis hesitate to write? This look made Zhang Jinyu smile bitterly and explained;
"Your Highness, this memorial concerns the reputation of the court. Do I need to exaggerate, or be more tactful, or more intense? After all, everyone is waiting. Your Highness, as the military supervisor, is as important as the commander-in-chief. This matter is of great importance, so I naturally have to consider it carefully."
Zhang Jinyu almost said it clearly. Historically, all the generals who fought in the front had falsely reported their military achievements or killed innocent people to claim credit in order to get rewards. They also estimated their own losses and reported them. There were rules for how to calculate the silver for compensation.
But how could the Prince of Jin know all this? Although he had heard of it, he had never actually seen it. So when the Marquis mentioned it, he was a little hesitant and didn't know what to say. His father should be waiting for the letter.
"My Lord, I don't understand this. You mean to say that I should write more."
Hearing the King of Jin's whispered words, Zhang Jinyu chuckled. It was just a trivial matter.
"Your Highness, how the memorial is written depends on your and my opinions. This great victory is due to the great grace of the Emperor, but the letter on the memorial still needs to be polished. That's all I want to say. In addition, a copy of the military achievements must be attached. Your Highness is the military supervisor, so the signature needs to be stamped by you and me."
"Okay, Lord Marquis, you have the overall situation in mind. I admire you and will do as you say."
With an excited look on his face, King Jin finished his words and impatiently took out the seal and placed it on the table, ready to use it. Zhang Jinyu smiled and then he started writing.
I, the Lord of Luoyun, bow my head and respectfully present this to His Majesty the Emperor;
I was ordered to go to war and went through hardships.
The pen kept moving, and in less than half an incense stick of time, a memorial was written. Then he blew on it and handed it to His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin for inspection.
Zhou Ding quickly reached out and took it, and took a closer look at what was written on the memorial. It was passionate and comprehensive, and there were bloody and tearful fighting scenes, which were thrilling. He was unconsciously mesmerized and still moved.
"Your Majesty is sincere. My prince did not go to war with you. How can you write my prince in the list? Isn't that a bit inappropriate?"
His face flushed slightly, ashamed. When the Taiping rebels came, he led the royal guards back to the camp and did not come out until the battle was over. However, the memorial did not say so. He felt uneasy.
Looking at the somewhat shy Prince Jin, Zhang Jinyu was really surprised that he was not greedy for merit or power. He was really a good prince.
"Your Highness, what you said is wrong. Before the enemy army came, it was you and I who discussed it. You also went to the battlefield to boost morale. As for fighting in the battlefield, that is not what Your Highness would do. As for the overall situation, Your Highness, you have already done everything."
Without giving His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin a chance to hesitate, he reached out and took the Prince of Jin's seal, and stamped it on the memorial letter, as well as the copy of the military merits. It simply recorded the merits of some generals, and there must be no mistakes in the order of arrival.
Seeing that the seal had been affixed, Zhou Ding could not regret it any longer, so he simply stood up and returned to the east side tent, took out a memorial, copied it in front of Luo Yunhou, put the seal on it, and pushed it over.
"My Lord, since this is the case, I am also an open-minded person. How about writing a memorial and submitting it?"
At this moment, Zhang Jinyu only took a glance and saw that the memorial was full of praise for him. It was a courtesy to exchange gifts. His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin really wanted to win him over.
"Haha, good, Your Highness is thoughtful. I would like to thank Your Highness for the compliment."
He put the two memorials, the military documents, and a secret letter into a wooden box in front of the King of Jin, sealed it with lacquer, and finally shouted to the outside;
"Someone, come here, the capital is 800 miles away, the three-color blood flag is reporting urgently, hurry up,"
"Yes, Lord Marquis."
The guards outside the tent quickly entered, took the wooden box, wrapped it in yellow cloth, put it on their backs, saluted and hurried out. Seeing that His Highness was still confused, Zhang Jinyu did not say anything more and ordered Ningbian to start preparing food. After all, it was time to go south.
Then, while the entire camp was still gathering, a group of messengers heading north had already left at full speed, with the three-color blood-red flag fluttering in the wind, leaving behind trails of dust on the official road!
(End of this chapter)