Everyone in Yong's army was full of expectations for the decisive battle in Jishui.
At this moment, the imperial troops east of Jishui were full of fear of war, so much that pessimism was spreading.
Although the defenses had been set up half a month earlier, the defense lines were not set up closely, and the cooperation between various departments was not very tacit.
As the commander-in-chief of the imperial army, An Guo Gong Zhu Chengming was very worried after a new round of inspections of the defense lines of various ministries.
Therefore, he has ordered the commanders of various ministries to come to his central military office to discuss matters.
The message was sent out yesterday, informing me that the hour is coming today, but now the time has passed and all the commanders have not arrived yet.
What made him even more upset were the people who had already arrived in front of him.
These people were either making loud noises or arguing with each other in the lobby, turning this solemn lobby into a vegetable market.
After all, people's patience has its limits. When Zhu Chengming couldn't bear it anymore, he slapped the table and shouted: "Shut up!"
After all, he is the commander-in-chief, so everyone still has to give him some face, especially the army chiefs transferred from the southeast.
Of course, just to give him some face and calm down, everyone still treated him coldly.
Zhu Chengming was unable to appease his subordinates. Generally speaking, there were two reasons.
Although he was the Duke of the country, Zhu Chengming was different from Lu Liqing in that he had only inherited the title for seven or eight years and had not been leading troops in wars for a long time, which resulted in his lack of prestige.
On the other hand, it is because the sources of the current military departments are complicated, including the differences between the old and new Imperial Guards, as well as the conflicts between the various capital and garrison offices.
Logically speaking, now that we are facing a formidable enemy, we should work together to overcome the crisis.
However, under the influence of pessimism in the military, the officers did not have strong confidence in winning this battle, and they had no sense of urgency about defeat.
It seems contradictory on the surface, but if you look deeper, you will understand that changing dynasties is a dead end for the emperor, but it is not so for the courtiers below.
The so-called emperor and ministers of one dynasty means that when the upper echelon of the imperial court is replaced, it actually has little impact on the people below.
Once the imperial court is defeated, as long as they switch sides, they will basically not be liquidated.
In fact, the purpose of Zhu Chengming calling everyone to discuss matters today is to suppress this unhealthy trend.
"Everyone, I didn't call you here to listen to your troubles..."
"Yesterday General Japan visited your military camp and found many omissions!"
"The Yulin Right Guards camp is too far back. There is almost five miles between the Huben Left Guards and the Shenwu Right Guards. How can this be done?"
Zhu Chengming, the commander of the left and right Jinwu Guards who did not come, did not intend to wait any longer, so at this moment he directly started the topic.
"General, there is a beach in front of our army. There is no way for our army to set up camp further forward. You can learn from this!"
"General, our army is setting up camp according to your military orders. The five miles of open space in the middle should be used for Shenwu Right Guards to approach!"
"Bullshit, why should we come closer and extend the front line? Why will our army fight?"
Suddenly there was another quarrel in the lobby, and Zhu Chengming still pounded the table to no avail. The internal conflicts among the hundreds of thousands of troops in the imperial court were too great.
Zhu Chengming was actually very distressed because he could not secure his position as general, and even thought of withdrawing.
But now, the capable people in the court don't want to take over, leaving him with no choice.
As for his lieutenant, Wu Shengchang, the Marquis of Gaoping, was hiding aside without saying a word.
The next scene was also witnessed by the censor and eunuch in charge of supervising the army, which made these two people extremely worried.
In the end, there was a lot of noise in the lobby for more than half an hour. Even though Zhu Chengming controlled the "discipline", the discussion ended hastily without achieving much results.
"General, his surname is Zhu. He placed my right guard, Yulin, at the front line. I endured it for the sake of the overall interests of the imperial court, but he also said that my army was stationed too far back. What do you mean by that?"
"General, my brothers have followed you in the north and south, and they have suffered a lot in the past few years. You have to speak up for your brothers!"
"Commander Chen is right. General, you can speak for the brothers, otherwise the gang in the southeast will take advantage of you!"
Although Wu Shengchang did not want to engage in factional fighting, even if he did not say anything about this kind of thing, the people below would come to find him.
He has led the old subordinates of the Forbidden Army and the Nanyang Dusi Guards during this year's campaign.
If he does not speak for his old subordinates, these people will alienate him, and then he will have no say in the military camp or the court.
Wu Shengchang was trapped. He also had his own difficulties, so he didn't say a word during the discussion just now in order to weaken the factional struggle as much as possible.
At this moment, the people below came directly to him, and he couldn't do anything without saying a few words.
"Everyone, the general has his own difficulties, and they all share the worries of the imperial court. We must be considerate and considerate of each other!"
However, Wu Shengchang's words were not recognized by everyone present, but instead attracted a lot of scrutiny.
After several years of fighting, these troops have developed an arrogant and domineering atmosphere. Wu Shengchang, the "military leader", does not live up to his reputation.
And these arrogant commanders are actually not much different from Wu Shengchang.
If they don't fight for benefits for their subordinates, they will be abandoned by their subordinates. Their power and status are always supported by the people below them.'
"General, we are willing to be considerate and considerate of others, but we are afraid that others will not be considerate of us!"
"that is……"
Knowing that it would be useless to talk any more, Wu Shengchang said: "No matter how many difficulties there are, we must win this battle first. Your and my difficulties will be seen by the court!"
Wu Shengchang had just finished speaking, and someone immediately answered: "General, don't talk about rewards. The rewards for the court's victory in the past two months have not been distributed yet. Brothers have made troubles several times.
Got it!"
Immediately afterwards, someone else complained: "Brothers are fighting abroad, and our families have to live on food, wages and rewards. If the court delays it any longer, I think we will have to disperse if we don't fight this war!"
Wu Shengchang only said one sentence, and the people below were waiting for him with several sentences, which made him helpless.
"It's hard for you, it's hard for the general, and it's hard for the court too!"
Wu Shengchang said this, but he didn't say it, because these problems are not something he can solve, or there is no way to solve them at all.
"Everyone, go back first, go back!"
After saying these words, Wu Shengchang quickened his pace and left. He would be bored to death if he stayed any longer.
Anyway, the commander-in-chief is Zhu Chengming, so these things should be a headache for him.
On the other side of the military camp, Gu Chongliang, the censor of the army, and Ding Youcheng, the eunuch of the army, were discussing the military meeting just now.
"Our family has submitted many reports to the court, but no one has replied to the court so far. Yong's army has already arrived on the other side of the river. It is unacceptable for the army to continue to quarrel like this!" Ding Youcheng looked worried.
"Yeah..." Gu Chongliang sighed.
After thinking for a while, Ding Youcheng said: "How about directly reporting to the emperor and requesting the replacement of the army's commander-in-chief?"
As military supervisors, they only explained the situation in the military and mentioned some issues, but did not express their views on the issues.
Now if they propose to replace the general, they will break the old rules.
For Ding Youcheng to say these words, one can imagine the hidden dangers in the army.
Gu Chongliang said: "This... I'm afraid it's against the rules!"
"How can we care about this at this time? We must put the safety of the imperial court first!" Ding Youcheng said earnestly.
It is ironic to say that the civil servants have read the books of sages and regarded it as their own responsibility to govern the country and bring peace to the world. Now when the court is in danger, they cherish their feathers and are not as good as a eunuch.
Of course, you can't knock down a whole boat of people with one stroke.
For example, among civil servants, there were people like Qiu Youxian and Lin Guanhai.
