In a room in the northwest of the county, a charcoal fire was burning brightly. Occasionally, some green smoke would rise from the unburned charcoal, choking the people next to the fire pot and coughing.
After the first lunar month, there is no heavy snow here in Yan'an Prefecture, but the weather is still extremely cold. The wind blowing on the face is like a knife blowing, not to mention that it rains several times every three days. In such weather, in
There is also a fire in the house, which is already very comfortable, especially after filling the stomach, these people can sit by the fire pot for the whole day without getting up.
However, none of the people gathered around the brazier at this moment had a happy expression on their faces, and all of them were extremely dignified.
Gao Yingxiang, the one in the middle, frowned even more, and his face looked like the ice and snow last month.
"Brother, there is not much time left for us. What should we brothers do? Please show us the way!"
The person who spoke, Zhang Xianzhong, was the person with the highest status in the room besides Gao Yingxiang. His words could actually represent the meaning of several other people.
"Wu Sangui's envoy hasn't left yet!" Gao Yingxiang said with a sinking face.
"He has been waiting for a reply from his eldest brother. How can he leave so easily?" Zhang Xianzhong said.
"Today, I will choose a beautiful woman and send it to the envoy's room. She will serve her with good wine and meat. Tell her that I will be back tomorrow and let him calm down."
Gao Yingxiang nodded: "The reply from Yan'an Prefecture should be arriving soon!"
"What if there is no news from Yan'an Prefecture tomorrow, and the eldest brother continues to delay like this?" Zhang Xianzhong asked: "This is not a problem. Anyone who can be sent to us as an envoy will not have enough brains. We
Drag him, he must have noticed it!"
"So what, are we treating him badly?" Gao Yingxiang snorted: "It concerns the life and death of my three thousand brothers. Shouldn't I be more cautious?"
"According to me, there is no need to count on the officers and soldiers. The officers and soldiers of Yan'an Prefecture are different from the officers and soldiers of Governor Yang. Governor Yang's soldiers want fame and money. These officers and soldiers are serious about their lives. From last year to this year, they died in Yan'an Prefecture.
How many people have been killed, even if we surrender now, it will be too late. When Wang Jiayin attacked Yan'an Prefecture, if we surrendered at that time, we could still negotiate some good terms!"
"So, you mean, we voted for Wu Sangui?"
Gao Yingxiang glanced at Zhang Xianzhong, then at several other generals: "That's right, Wu Sangui now has a large number of people. The Qingyang Mansion is in his hands, and he has also taken Luochuan, Yanchuan, and Yichuan. These are all almost occupied."
He has occupied half of Shaanxi's territory. If we vote for him, Yan'an Mansion will become an isolated city of the government, surrounded by his territory!"
"Brother, it turns out that he has figured it out a long time ago!" Zhang Xianzhong nodded: "He now has tens of thousands of troops, and his subordinates are the Thirteen Taibao. We just want to have a chance with him, but the strength is too far apart. We are all rebels.
Even if you can't beat him, there's no shame in joining. Big Brother has passed, can't these Thirteen Taibao become the Fourteenth Taibao?"
"But, if we surrender, what if he orders us to attack Yan'an Prefecture?" Gao Yingxiang said calmly: "If not, the possibility is as high as 90%, he will not know that Yan'an Prefecture is a hard nut to crack.
, The problem is, if we fight for him in Yan'an Prefecture, it will become his territory, otherwise, our brother will die!"
The people in the room became quiet. This possibility really existed. If it were them, they would do the same thing.
"Maybe, they will attack the Yan'an Prefecture first?" Zhang Xianzhong thought for a while, "Or, at that time, we can surrender officers and soldiers. In this case, even if the brothers are recruited, it will be a good time!"
Outside the house, there were hurried footsteps, and someone ran in. When Gao Yingxiang saw this person, his eyes suddenly lit up.
"You're back, Brother Wang, how are the officers and soldiers doing there? Have you seen their general?"
"I saw it, but I didn't see it completely!" The man, who was a little soaked, took off his wet clothes and roasted them on the fire: "I saw a thousand households of officers and soldiers, but I
I don’t know why these officers and soldiers are so strange, one thousand households can lead more soldiers than one general!"
He spat fiercely: "A thousand households have four to five thousand men and horses, these officers and soldiers are really a mess!"
"They are guards from the capital, not soldiers. They must be a little different!" Gao Yingxiang didn't care about his complaints: "How big a master can these thousands of households be?"
"He said he can make all the decisions!" The man calmed down his emotions; "He also said that even if we surrender, we will definitely be his subordinates. If you have anything to say, just tell him!"
"What did he say?" Gao Yingxiang tilted his head and asked seriously.
"We will surrender without recruiting!" The man surnamed Wang let out a long sigh: "If we surrender, they can send people to accept our surrender, but to recruit us..."
His face became a little ugly: "He can give us a system of 100 households. Brother, a 100 households, just a hundred people, this is nothing to recruit, this is simply looking down on us!"
"Haha, a sixth-grade sesame military attache sent our eldest brother away?" Zhang Xianzhong sneered: "He can tell it, Wu Sangui has more capital than the officers and soldiers. If the eldest brother takes us to vote, then the eldest brother will directly
Break into the general!"
The faces of the other leaders in the room are not good-looking. If even their eldest brother Gao Yingxiang is elected as an officer, he is just a hundred households with a hundred soldiers, then their official positions will be even lower. Everyone now has the most
There are hundreds of brothers in the police force. If you go to work as a small soldier among the officers and soldiers, you can attack five or six of them. This is not what they want!
"That's right, brother, the officers and soldiers are so useless, they are sending beggars away!"
"Huh, for more than a year, I haven't seen them come to attack our Ansai. Now that I heard that we are going to surrender, we have sent people here to surrender? The dogs can run very fast!"
"Wu Sangui can't go there, and neither can the officers and soldiers. I'm caught in the middle. It's very difficult!"
After a long time, Gao Yingxiang let out a long sigh: "Perhaps, both sides are dragging them until they get impatient. Whoever strikes first, we will vote for the other one. What do you think?"
Zhang Xianzhong had been thinking about it. Seeing Gao Yingxiang's helpless appearance, he coughed: "Brother, actually we may have a third way?"
"You say it!" Gao Yingxiang said: "As long as I can bring my brothers a way to survive, I will listen to you!"
"They are forcing us so much, don't they just want Ansai County?" Zhang Xianzhong said: "I know this is the place where the eldest brother is causing trouble. The eldest brother also has feelings for Ansai, but at this time, they can't care about so much. At worst, we will
Just leave Ansai to them!"
There was a stern look on his face: "Let's go, take away all the people who can fight, take away all the food and supplies, and leave them an empty Anzai to fight dogs with dogs."
go!"
When everyone heard this, they suddenly became enlightened. They suddenly realized that everyone had been having a hard time making a choice before. In fact, it was not because they tied themselves to Ansai, and they both prospered and suffered.
But Zhang Xianzhong's words reminded them that they can leave! As long as they are no longer in Ansai, who will force them to make a choice?
"Where to go?" Gao Yingxiang exclaimed softly, "You must have an idea if you can say this!"
"It's definitely not possible to go west to the Qingyang Prefecture in Yan'an Prefecture. The officers and soldiers are blocking it there; if you go south, it will be sent directly into the hands of Wu Sangui, which is even more impossible!"
Zhang Xianzhong pondered for a moment: "If we go north, over to Suide, there is no human habitation for hundreds of miles now, and there is no way we can feed thousands of us!"
He slapped his thigh fiercely: "The only place we can go is to go east to Shanxi. There happened to be a war in the imperial court recently, and Shanxi transferred many officers and soldiers to the capital. The defense of officers and soldiers in Shanxi should be very weak.
I think the officers and soldiers are also short of troops, so we can just take advantage of it, occupy a piece of territory, and do something big!"
"I think it's okay, brother!"
"The officers and soldiers never dreamed that we would go directly to Shanxi and attack a few counties. It is not impossible for us to bring tens of thousands of people out!"
"Yes, when the time comes, don't say Chuang General, Chuang Shuai, Chuang King, our eldest brother will do it too!"
Gao Yingxiang considered Zhang Xianzhong's words. To be honest, as long as he was not limited to Shaanxi, the current dilemma would be solved immediately. However, this also has a shortcoming, that is, Gao Yingxiang no longer has a fixed territory and has truly become an officer and soldier.
"It's a thief!"
"Since everyone thinks it's good, let's discuss the details, where to go in Shanxi, when to go, and how to act then..."
Gao Yingxiang said: "Let's all think about it carefully. We either don't move, or we move... neatly, don't be sloppy!"
…
At the same time, in Yan'an Mansion.
Yanran was playing with her corner in boredom. She was in a barracks next to the Chinese army tent in the military camp.
Xu Caining and several senior officers of the Nanhai Guard were discussing something in the Chinese army's tent. As the maid appointed by Xu Caining himself, Yanran must either be within Xu Caining's sight or be followed by at least two companions.
Therefore, at this moment, besides staying in this barracks with a few of Xu Caining's guards, she had no place to go.
These days, because Xu Caining does not allow her to have contact with outsiders, he has become very familiar with the guards around Xu Caining. At first, these guards saw nothing about this little girl, and later they did not know what Xu Caining told them.
, their attitude towards Yanran improved.
He even considered her as one of his own.
"Brother An, what's the matter with the lady saying that she hasn't come out for so long? It's such a cold weather and there's no war, is there anything else important?"
"We don't know about this!" The guard, who was called Brother An by Yanran, said casually: "However, I see that Xu Zhenfu and Li Qianhu are here. There must be something big, maybe it's spring plowing.
As soon as the weather warms up, you have to plant those sweet potatoes. This is something our Lord Jiang has told us again and again. Miss Jiang has always been very concerned about Lord Jiang's affairs!"
"Well, this is really a big deal!" Yanran nodded fiercely. Ever since she learned that Nanhaiwei had cultivated sweet potatoes, she recognized what they were at a glance. If these sweet potatoes could really be planted and harvested, it would really be great.
No more fear of food shortage.
However, this thing should not have appeared in Shaanxi at this time. I heard that it was brought back from the sea by the Buddhist girl Qianhu from the 5000th household. This made Yanran very interested. This girl Qianhu named Catherine
, it’s not like her, who has also had a long, long sweet dream!
Of course, maybe it was Commander Jiang who said that for sure.
Anyway, according to Xu Caining, she can't say these nonsense words to outsiders in the future. This is for her own good. If she gets into trouble, no one in Yan'an Mansion can protect her except Xu Caining.
.
"No, that female Qianhu didn't come today!"
Yanran shook her head: "I didn't see her. I've long wanted to meet this Qianhu master. I heard that she also speaks the official dialect of our Ming Dynasty. This is amazing!"
"Kai Qianhu was an interpreter in the past, so it doesn't matter what we say about our Ming Dynasty!" An Huwei said with a smile: "However, he has the ability to even get the Folangji cannon to come to our Ming Dynasty, and now he is willing to naturalize our Ming Dynasty.
, the court gave her a thousand households, it’s not too much!”
"It's really not too much." Yanran muttered in her heart. Just getting the sweet potatoes was already a huge achievement, not to mention that this woman is also good at doing business. Now I heard that the food and salary of Nanhaiwei were all raised by this woman.
A capable person like this can thrive anywhere.
She tilted her head and thought blankly.
She has no hope of becoming someone like Xu Caining. This is the knowledge of reincarnation and she cannot control it. However, it seems good to become someone like Catherine.
Are there female generals in the Ming Dynasty? It seems that there are, but I can’t remember clearly. However, there are female generals in Nanhaiwei, and there are thousands of female generals. Of course she, Yan Ran, can remember her.
If you really achieve merit, even if you don't go to war, you can go to Sihai Trading Company and hold the title of an officer, which will be prestigious and safe.
But Xu Caining keeps him by his side every day and doesn't give him anything to do. No matter where he goes to make meritorious deeds, it won't work. He should stop being the Virgin Mother and change his job to a little maid for the rest of his life!
Such a life is too frustrating.
"Miss is out!"
While she was thinking wildly, the security guard beside her stood up and walked outside.
She was stunned and hurriedly followed him out.
"Yanran, come here!" Xu Caining stood at the door of the tent and called over: "We have something to ask you!"
"Ah...me?"
"It's you, come in!"
Xu Caining nodded, turned around and walked in. Yan Ran was stunned for a moment and then followed him.