Chapter 100 Yang Tinglin praised the painting in front of the army
In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, on the fourth day of the eleventh month, Baoding Fucheng.
Baoding and Beijing were born together. Baoding's name comes from the meaning of "defend the capital and stabilize the world". It has always been an important place in the capital and the "southern gate of the capital".
Baoding City has a circumference of more than twelve miles, the wall is three feet and five feet high, and there is a trench outside the city that is three feet wide and one foot and five feet deep.
Every sixty steps on the top of the city wall, there is a rectangular pier protruding outward, which allows the defender to attack the enemy from the side, so it is also called the enemy platform. There are 81 in total in the city.
There are four gates built on the four sides of the city. The east gate is named "Wangying", the south gate is named "Yingxun", the west gate is named "Zhanyue" and the north gate is named "Gongji".
There is a tower on the main tower of each city gate and a semicircular urn. Although the entire city is square, the southwestern part of the city protrudes outward by more than 60 feet and is slightly arc-shaped. To the north, it is straight.
The city's perimeter is shaped like a boot, so it is known as the "Boot City".
At this time, Baoding City was the seat of the Prefecture City and Baoding Town, and Qingyuan County was the Fuguo County, so it was also the same city as the Prefecture and County.
The Governor of Baoding and the Commander-in-Chief of Baoding were appointed to defend this majestic city, which is known as the most important town in the world and protects the sacred capital.
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As the time entered November, the weather became increasingly colder, and the snowflakes falling from the sky still could not cover up the numerous bloodstains outside the city.
Under the majestic Baoding city wall, there are stains of blood everywhere. Not far from the city, there are many chariots and long ladders that have been destroyed and cannot be used.
Looking from a distance, the city wall made of blue bricks is also covered with scars, and many of the city buildings also have traces of being burned by the war. The villages around Baoding City were also burned by the war, and the residents fled one after another.
Missing.
A large number of tents were set up beside a river a few miles south of Baoding City, standing along the river and extending to the official road in the distance.
A thin figure stood on the official road outside the camp, motionless, staring at the tall Baoding City on the horizon, but his heart was extremely angry.
He led his army day and night to come to the rescue. After the soldiers fought hard, they were able to break the siege of Baoding. Unexpectedly, after the Qing troops retreated, Zhang Qiping, the governor of Baoding, actually closed the city gate tightly.
Not only did he not allow any of his army to enter the city, he even refused to provide food and grass to the army on the grounds that there was no food in the city. He only ordered people to throw thousands of taels of silver from the city wall so that his army could buy food.
It's really ridiculous. After the Qing soldiers looted, all the villages and towns around Baoding City were deserted. Where did this person go to buy food with his money?
He led more than 10,000 officers and soldiers from Xuandasan Town to pursue the Tartars all the way from the capital. There was insufficient food and grass, and the soldiers were generally hungry and cold. They only hoped to have a full meal after arriving in Baoding.
But now, even this small wish is difficult to be satisfied!
The remaining food and grass in the army can only last for a few more days. This was at the suggestion of guerrilla Zhang Cheng. In order to save food and grass, the soldiers dug up some wild vegetables, bark and grass roots wherever they went.
Only with the military rations can we persist until now.
"Why……"
Lu Xiangsheng let out a long sigh. He could not have imagined that he would end up with such a result after he enthusiastically entered the capital to serve as the king.
For the past few days, Lu Xiangsheng shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers every day, eating bark and grass roots together. Although the soldiers in the army had many complaints, no one fled away.
The more he thought about this, the more Lu Xiangsheng felt like his heart was being cut by a knife.
Since the day he left Beijing, he has written to the Ministry of War many times, requesting timely supplies of food and grass, but all of them have been like a stone's throw without a single reply.
Lu Xiangsheng looked at Baoding City in the distance, and a poem passed through his mind:
"I went to Baozhou Fortress and headed to the east of the river.
The mountains and rivers are still alive, and the good atmosphere is so lush.
I am a prisoner in a turban and carriage, and the strong wind turns to autumn.
The fragrant petals want to worship, and melancholy reaches the sky."
This was exactly what Wen Tianxiang felt when he was plundered by Hu Yuan and brought to Baoding City. Although Baoding was beautiful and had the color of the south of the Yangtze River, like Wen Tianxiang back then, Lu Xiangsheng's heart was equally gloomy at this time, and he seemed to be unable to see any light.
While he was lost in thought, his general Chen An came over and reported in a low voice: "Master Governor, Yang Zanhua is back."
Lu Xiangsheng's spirit was lifted, and he sent Yang Tinglin to Qingyuan County to ask for food. He wondered if there would be any good news.
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A month ago, when Lu Xiangsheng first arrived in Changping, he was full of loyalty and patriotism. He dared to confront the cabinet minister Yang Sichang and the supervisory army. He was not afraid of anything.
However, during this month, he suffered a lot and began to understand that he could not touch them on his own. These people relied on the emperor's favor and dared to deceive the emperor above and suppress Zhongliang below.
He wanted to fight, but he was hindered at every turn.
Not only did the emperor not understand him and support him, but he was also angry with him. He demoted him several times, demoted him, almost dismissed him, and even summoned him back to the capital to await questioning.
Now he is always on guard, fearing that if he suddenly receives an imperial edict, he will be dismissed from his post and questioned, so that all his chances of serving the country with loyalty on the battlefield are gone in an instant.
He also knows the temper of the current emperor. Who can say that something like this will not happen?
On the night when the army was stationed in Yizhou to rest, Lu Xiangsheng received a newspaper from Di. The content in it shocked him and he couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
There are two things related to him in this newspaper.
The first thing was that Yang Tinglin impeached Yang Sichang, but Yang Sichang played a trick. On the one hand, he recommended him as the head of the Ministry of War, but on the other hand, he relegated Yang Tinglin to Lu Xiang to praise the painting in front of the army.
He read Yang Tinglin's memorials twice.
If it was a month ago, he would have felt so happy, so excited, or even drawn his sword and danced, but now he no longer felt that way, and instead it made him feel deeply uneasy.
At that time, he pointed to the two sentences in the memorial: "Nan Zhong is included, Li Gang has no merit; Qianshan is successful, Zongze dies" and said to a colleague: "These two sentences are really happy, but they are useless.
What's the point of being jealous of the person involved? Boxiang is a scholar after all!"
Another thing is that the emperor now sent his chief assistant Liu Yuliang out of Beijing to supervise the armies.
He knew very well that Liu Yuliang did not understand military affairs, and in ordinary times, he was not a person who took the lead in fighting against the Qing army. Although he was the first and second-in-command, he only obeyed and did not dare to make any claims or take responsibility.
Now, he asked himself to supervise the armies, just to win the favor of the emperor by pretending to be "Lin Rong" on behalf of the emperor.
If the Qing troops continued to penetrate deep into Jinan, he would not be directly responsible; but once the Qing troops retreated, it would be his first assistant inspector's first contribution. Lu Xiangsheng deeply felt that besides Yang Sichang and Gao Qiqian, there were also
Liu Yuliang was added out of thin air to constrain him, and his situation became even more difficult.