After a lot of confession, Yuan Jun was ordered to send a battalion of soldiers to escort the two people south, with all courtesy.
The imperial envoy and his entourage came and went in a hurry, but at least there was Li Luo to see them off this morning, unlike yesterday when Li Chengye walked away angrily and alone.
A few days later, the Dagan soldiers guarding Zangyun Valley in Qinzhou received an order from Li Luo and ordered the Dingbei Army to garrison 200,000 troops to guard the pass.
At this time, 530,000 Dagan soldiers had gathered inside and outside Zangyun Valley. Not only was the area in front of Zangyun Valley, but even Wangmei Mansion was overcrowded.
Li Luo issued a command order. The soldiers who were originally guarding Zangyun Valley were to remain stationary. The rest of the tribes were mobilized. In addition to being dispersed to guard various passes in Qinzhou, another 170,000 soldiers were to move to Youzhou. Li Luo did not mention it.
The reason caused speculation among the generals of Beifu.
When the commander's order arrived at Zangyun Valley, Li Chengye had not yet returned to the Dingbei Army.
In addition to Zangyun Valley, the Dagan soldiers guarding Qiling Mountain in Yanchen Prefecture also received orders from Li Luoshuai. One of the recipients of the order was Yuan Zhen, deputy commander of the Dingbei Army, and Ling Gumian, a rising star of the Dagan Northern Expedition Army.
This commander's order is very simple. There is no redundant explanation. There is only one sentence. All the soldiers abandoned Xiaoshi Pass and retreated to Youzhou.
Under this command, the officers and soldiers of Yanchen Prefecture were in an uproar and complained. They fought hard for several months and buried the bones of hundreds of thousands of heroes. In the end, there was a pale general order, ordering the officers and soldiers to abandon it.
Guard the small market.
Yuan Zhen invited Ling Gumian to the camp to discuss the matter. The heroes in the Dingbei Army's central tent were furious and complained endlessly, and they even cursed Li Luo.
"What kind of command is this!? Marshal, General Ling, you judge, in order to defend Xiaoshiguan, we have been on guard day and night these days, with our heads tucked into our belts. This is not a bad thing. We can just abandon the defense.
What's the point of all your previous efforts being wasted!" A general reprimanded angrily. He is not very old and is about the same age as Ling Gumian. If Li Luo were here, he would definitely look familiar. It was the same year that Zhang Zeliu and Yang Liuyan got married.
Lou Guanshan, known as one of the Seven Heroes of Zhuocheng, came to the banquet a few days ago.
The generals in the tent nodded one after another after hearing this. They could not understand the intention of Li Luo's command. Naturally, they were very dissatisfied with Li Luo's inexplicable order, and they poured bitter tears one after another.
Yuan Zhen frowned and thought, looking over and over at the few words on the command order, half dissatisfied and half embarrassed. If he accepted the order, it would be difficult to explain to the soldiers in the camp, let alone the soldiers who died on the battlefield, if not
Then, this commander's order is clearly stamped with the seal of commander Xikong Ji. Yuan Zhen has heard a little bit about Li Luo and his son's falling out in the camp, and he doesn't even give Li Chengye face. If he disobeys the order at this time, he can't say anything.
Li Luo would take action on himself, the deputy commander of the Dingbei Army.
After pondering for a long time, Yuan Zhen couldn't think of any clue. There was a commotion in the tent, and he felt even more upset. He raised his head and was about to speak when he suddenly saw Ling Gumian who was silent under the tent. He was slightly surprised, and his heart moved, and he raised his voice and asked
: "General Ling, what do you think of this handsome order?"
Ling Gumian snorted, exhaled helplessly, and said with a wry smile: "Marshal, is there any other way?"
"you mean?"
"Military orders are like mountains. This is a rule. There are no young or old in the army, but military orders are big or small. Unless there is another imperial edict, in Beifu, we must obey the prince's command, unless we dare to resist the order and disobey it."
There was silence under the tent, and all the generals began to think deeply. Ling Gumian was right. Unless the imperial court could receive an imperial decree at this moment, they would have no choice but to act in accordance with the orders. Disobeying orders in the army would be a capital crime of beheading.
"Then we will jointly submit a letter to the imperial court and ask the Holy Emperor to issue an edict." Lou Guanshan said loudly, and there were many voices in agreement at that time.
Ling Gumian smiled faintly and said: "There is not enough time. Moreover, even if we submit a letter to the court, how sure do you think we are that the Holy Spirit will order the prince to take back the command order?"
"That's better than giving up on Xiaoshiguan like this." Lou Guanshan yelled, twisting his neck.
Ling Gumian did not respond immediately, and remained silent for a while before slowly saying: "The prince must have his reasons for doing this..."
"What sense can there be in this nonsense? It's because we have defended Qiling Mountain, and we are afraid that we will compete with him for credit..."
"Xu Chang, shut up!" Yuan Zhen yelled, "If you speak without restraint, be careful if word gets out that you will be punished for being disrespectful."
The speaker was Xu Chang, a fierce general in the Dingbei Army. He was nearly fifty years old. He had been with Li Chengye when the Dingbei Army first came into being. He was considered a veteran of the Dingbei Army. In terms of seniority, except for Li Chengye and Yuan Zhen,
Even among the four commanders and 12 generals of the Dingbei Army, Xu Chang was second to none. He had a fiery temper and would not give face to anyone, so he could respect Li Chengye and Yuan Zhen three points.
Xu Chang has been in the army for thirty years, and now he is just a third-grade Yunhui general. Not to mention Li Luo, even the foster son opposite him, who is full of military orders, has a higher official position than himself. How can he convince Xu Chang?
In addition, this seemingly ridiculous command made Xu Chang even more angry. He cursed loudly, mostly to scold Li Luo, but also to hurt Ling Gumian's face.
Xu Chang was scolded by Yuan Zhen, but he didn't act arrogantly anymore, but he still had a dark face and kept swearing in a low voice. However, the Zhongjun tent was so big that others could hear him no matter how low he was.
Yuan Zhen shook his head helplessly. Xu Chang's temper had offended many people, otherwise he would not be still General Yunhui now. He is the oldest in the Dingbei Army, but ranks among the 12 generals.
But at the end of the day, Li Chengye had to look at Xu Chang's friendship with him for so many years, otherwise he might not even be able to rank among the twelve generals.
Yuan Zhen ignored the cursing Xu Chang, looked at Ling Gumian and asked in a deep voice: "What do you think the prince's intention is?"
Yuan Zhen did not underestimate the rising star of the Dagan Army in front of him. As the deputy commander of the First Army, his vision was naturally not comparable to that of Xu Chang. These days, the Dingbei Army and the Northern Expedition Army were fighting side by side. Ling Gumian's leadership ability
Yuan Zhen really saw it in his eyes. In terms of performance, he was indeed not as evil as Li Luo, but he was indeed a rare good general. In fact, Yuan Zhen had only measured it secretly in his heart.
In terms of talent, not to mention Li Luo, Ling Gumian should be better than Li Chengye.
Ling Gumian looked at Yuan Zhen with a thoughtful look on his face. After a long while, he sighed and said: "I'm sorry for my stupidity, but I can't guess the prince's intention. Maybe it's because the prince knows that we can't see through it, so he just can't figure it out."
I won’t say any more.”
The generals were in an uproar, what's the point? Could it be that Li Luo thought he was smart, but he wanted to treat other people as idiots? He didn't even bother to explain in one sentence. It was really too much to deceive others.