The officer was startled, and the New Army soldiers behind him also leaned back violently, and looked at Xu Ping with disbelief in their eyes. The officer soon came to his senses, and he quickly saluted Xu Ping, and then

He asked politely: "May I ask, do you have a belt?"

"No, it was lost on the road."

After being taken to the New Army barracks, several soldiers who rushed to greet him at the camp gate were already waiting there. One of them looked familiar, but before Xu Ping could remember who this person was, the officer was already saluting him: "

Mr. Xu, I have been waiting for you for a long time."

After being convinced, the new officers and soldiers who accompanied Xu Ping also saluted him again: "Sir Xu, I have neglected my humble duty. Please forgive me."

Although the etiquette was flawless, the look he looked at Xu Ping was very strange.

When Xu Ping dismounted and strode toward the military camp, Zhong Guinian followed closely behind him, smiling and bowing to the surrounding generals and soldiers. The familiar-looking officer stepped aside to make way for Xu Ping, and stretched out his arms toward the camp, hurriedly

He said: "Master Xu, please come with your humble position. The commander-in-chief is eager to see you."

Xu Ping nodded, turned back to Zhong Guinian and said, "Brother Zhong, please wait a moment." Then he quickly followed the officer who was leading the way, and hurried to see He Baodao.

As soon as he walked into He Baodao's handsome tent, Xu Ping felt that something was wrong with the atmosphere. He Baodao's face was very gloomy, and when he saw Xu Ping, he became even more frighteningly stern.

Xu Ping bent down and knelt down on one knee: "Commander, I would like to see you at last, General Xu Ping."

"Get up." There was no emotion or anger in He Baodao's voice, but after Xu Ping got up, He Baodao just looked at him and didn't say anything for a while.

After a while, He Baodao called a guard and whispered a few instructions, and the guard came out following the order. He Baodao stared at Xu Ping and said: "Xu Ping, you have made things difficult for me and the Marquis."

Xu Ping proudly replied: "The general is so stupid that I dare to ask the commander to give me a clear explanation."

"The Marquis protected you in front of the Emperor, but both the Emperor and the Marquis thought that you had died for the country, so the Holy One reluctantly agreed not to hold you accountable. But even so, the Holy One still refused to give you a posthumous posthumous title.

I only agree to keep you as the commander of the Evergreen Battalion during your lifetime, so that you can be buried with dignity in this capacity."

He Baodao spoke very quickly, but Xu Ping did not miss a word. After He Baodao finished speaking, he said loudly: "I am stupid and don't know what my sin is. I dare you to make it clear to me."

He Baodao stared into Xu Ping's eyes and asked in a deep voice: "Let's forget about the others. There are reports that in the deduction conducted before this troop dispatch, there has been a situation where our army was cut off by bandits. Is it you?

You insisted on going your own way. First, you ordered to change the three attacks to one. When the result was still not satisfactory to you, you canceled the attack effect of the thieves in the deduction. Only then did you get the result of the deduction that the thieves could not cut off our army's retreat. Yes.

It's not like this?"

Xu Ping opened his mouth in surprise and almost didn't know how to answer. Seeing this, He Baodao asked again: "Is there such a thing?"

"Yes, but..."

"That's enough!" He Baodao roared angrily, and at the same time he slapped his palm heavily on the table, interrupting Xu Ping's defense: "This one is enough! Do you know how heartbroken this matter made the Marquis?

"

Xu Ping opened his mouth to defend himself, but a thought flashed in his mind and he swallowed the excuses back. Seeing that Xu Ping was speechless, He Baodao became more angry and pointed at him and cursed:

"The purpose of staff deduction is to estimate the battlefield situation and avoid casualties. You are the number one in the training team, so you should be very clear about this. For the sake of your own face, you forcibly modified the rules of the deduction to achieve the results you want! Xu Ping

Do you know that these thousands of soldiers died because of you!"

After He Baodao finished speaking, he still couldn't hold back his anger and cursed Xu Ping for a long time before he stopped. He stared at him and asked, "Xu Ping, what else do you have to say?"

During this period, Xu Ping remained silent. After hearing He Baodao's question, he calmly asked: "May I ask the commander, what crime should the last general deserve?"

He Baodao replied angrily: "You can say it yourself."

"According to the military law of our new army, whether an officer commits a crime does not depend on what he thinks in his heart, but on what he actually does." Xu Ping looked ahead and said without stopping: "If there is evidence to prove it, the officer

If he was able to understand in advance that his actions would cause bad consequences, and if his actions indeed caused such consequences, then he is guilty."

Xu Ping stopped talking at this point and He Baodao nodded solemnly: "Then Xu Ping, tell me, are you smart enough to realize in advance that doing this will have serious consequences?"

"For example, if an officer shoots a colleague, as long as he is smart enough to realize that this behavior will cause the death of his colleague, and indeed has such consequences, then the officer has committed the crime of intentionally killing his colleague." Xu Ping gave an example, but it is obvious

The answer is not what was asked.

He Baodao nodded again and asked: "Then Xu Ping, have you admitted your guilt?"

"May I ask, Marshal, if this is the report made by Wu Zhong, the commander of Changqing Battalion, to the New Army?" After Xu Ping asked, he saw that He Baodao was just staring at him but did not speak, so he added: "Dare to ask Marshal,

Is there someone in the Changqing Battalion staff team who accuses General Mo of committing such a crime?"

He Baodao nodded slowly, and when Xu Ping saw this, he immediately said loudly: "Commander Qi, we are going to accuse Wu Zhong, the commander of Changqing Battalion, and other Changqing Battalion staff officers involved in the case, of committing the crime of framed colleagues.

.”

"But you just admitted to doing such a thing."

"Yes, the general changed the rules and results during the staff deduction, but obviously they did not report the entire process to the superiors, and they were aware that these concealments would make the general suffer unjust injustice." Xu Ping said again.

He made a request to He Baodao: "The general will request the commander-in-chief to convene a military court meeting for this purpose."

He Baodao's expression changed again and again, and when he spoke again, his voice slowed down: "Xu Ping, please tell me slowly, what is going on?"

"Yes, Commander." Xu Ping immediately recounted the situation of that day's deduction, including the reasons why he changed the rules, as well as the strength and type of rebel troops used to cut off the Ming army's retreat. Finally, he concluded: "Big

Shuai, the general is certainly aware of the consequences of this modification, and he is fully prepared to take responsibility for it. However, the modification by the general did not cause any bad consequences, and our army was not manipulated by some errant knights.

It was the tens of thousands of troops led by the thief chief Ji Tuisiqin who cut off the retreat."

"Wu Zhong, that kid." He Baodao snorted. After hearing Xu Ping's explanation, most of the clouds on his face had dissipated.

After whispering a few words to a guard, He Baodao waved everyone else to exit. He pointed to the chair in front of the table and said, "Keqin, sit down."

"Thank you, Marshal." After Xu Pingping congratulated Baodao and sat back on the chair, he also sat down firmly on the chair pointed to him.

"This matter was reported to Mr. Marquis by Chief of Staff Jin. I have not asked him personally." Although He Baodao did not explain, his tone was already apologizing to Xu Ping: "If the matter is indeed as you said,

I don’t think you are at fault, it’s Wu Zhong who is shirking responsibility for the defeat. I will ask for a military court meeting and a face-to-face confrontation on your behalf.”

Xu Ping stood up and bowed: "Thank you, Marshal."

He Baodao sighed deeply again and said to Xu Ping: "However, I think Ziyu thought that you had died for the country. He wanted to keep his position. This time the emperor was angry, and he was afraid of being punished."

"So he wants to blame everything on me?" Xu Ping asked, raising his voice at the end: "The dead can't speak anyway?"

He Baodao didn't speak, just looked at Xu Ping. In the past few days, Xu Ping had been filled with resentment. After hearing those words just now, he immediately directed all his anger at Wu Zhong. Now that his anger had subsided, he started to vent his anger.

He said: "Just do whatever the commander-in-chief says."

"I plan to suggest that the Marquis convene an internal military court meeting and give Ziyu an internal rebuke. I hope this will satisfy you." He Baodao explained his plan: "Keqin, there is indeed something personal about me in this.

I don’t want Ziyu to ruin our love. But I think about you. You still have a long way to go in the future. Don’t let others think you are mean. Try to leave some gratitude to others. Ziyu will remember it. I think he will

Very ashamed too.”

"I don't need other people's gratitude." Xu Ping blurted out, his emotions started to get excited again, and now he had a lot of complaints that needed to be vented.

He Baodao stopped talking again. After Xu Ping finished venting, He Baodao said softly: "Keqin, Ziyu is not the only one who did this this time."

"oh?"

"And the Marquis."

These four words made Xu Ping stunned. He Baodao put his elbows on the table and said to Xu Ping: "I just said you made it difficult for the Marquis, and that's what I meant. This time the army was defeated so miserably.

, neither the emperor nor the cabinet could explain it at all. The Marquis thought you had died for the country, so he passed most of the responsibility on to you."

Xu Ping only felt a tightness in his throat. He Baodao told him that due to random command this time, eight battalions of the New Army, including the fire-fighting battalion, crowded towards the left wing and blocked their own way. The food and fodder for the combat troops

Unable to move forward, even before the rebels attacked, the frontline battalions were already out of food. When the rebels crossed the river to attack the supervisor's camp, friendly forces bombed the camp again. The retreat of the headquarters triggered a chain reaction of friendly forces on the left. In this area

In the chaos, the New Army could not even make adjustments and responses. With the powerful Eighth Battalion on the left wing of the New Army, the rebels failed miserably without even seeing a single figure.

The commanders of the New Army battalions have not participated in large-scale battles for many years. They were tactical officers under the command of Huangshi. In the past, they only obeyed orders mechanically. The commanders were at a loss when faced with a situation that the staff had never thought of.

and slow. After losing unified command, several nearby New Army commanders contacted themselves to discuss countermeasures. The opinions of each battalion were also mixed. In the end, these eight battalions were forced to carry out long-term operations one after another.

They retreated separately for hundreds of miles. Not only did they have no command along the way, but they were also without food. He Baodao admitted that the Chizhuo Camp and the Jingjin Camp survived and bombed the camp, but said that the other New Army battalions basically returned to the Ming Army in an organized manner.

There was no collapse in the controlled area, all thanks to the strict military discipline of the New Army. Although the New Army lost a lot of personnel and equipment, and all the heavy artillery was lost. However, the result was still far better than other friendly forces. The New Army

Very few Ming troops returned to the areas controlled by the imperial court, and tens of thousands of rebel soldiers caused great harm to southern Zhili.

"This is the responsibility of Governor Hou..." Xu Ping opened his mouth and planned to report everything he saw to He Baodao.

But He Baodao shook his head and refused to let Xu Ping continue: "The Marquis stepped forward to save the governor."

"Why?" Xu Ping felt the anger in his chest beginning to surge again.

"This war, if we were commanding it, would never have turned into such a mess." The chaos in each battalion made He Baodao feel very sad. A consensus has been reached within the New Army that in the future, it must be led by the New Army's leaders.

The senior commander is in charge of the entire army and coordinates and directs the operations of each battalion.

He Baodao didn't say the rest, but Xu Ping guessed that it must be the secret of the highest level of the New Army. He guessed: "Commander, has it been that Governor Hou has given a guarantee to Lord Hou that he will let Lord Hou know when he sends troops again in the future?

The recommended person will lead the army?"

He Baodao said nothing, obviously acquiescing. Xu Ping was furious and stood up suddenly: "So many brothers died in the battle..." He thought of Cao Yun, Jiang Yizhou, Yu Shenhe, and countless battles.

The dead subordinates also have the voice and smile of Zhang Chengye.

"Commander, do you know how many people Governor Hou killed in Shandong?"

He Baodao glanced at Xu Ping: "Are you not among them?"

"Yes, the general will not dare to shun the law of the country, but the governor-general is the chief culprit."

"No need to talk about it anymore." He Baodao became a little impatient: "Isn't this because civilians are in charge of the army? If we want to prevent the tragedy in Shandong from happening again, we must temporarily protect the governor. The right saying is: not without retribution
To be continued...