On March 28, the twelfth year of Chongzhen, in the early morning, Yang Zhen was woken up early by the sound of hammering in the ironworks, just like the previous days.

He got up, packed up, picked up his "piece of iron", and went to the yard to chop wood, practicing using the extremely powerful arm strength possessed by his predecessor.

As a result, not long after he started, he heard urgent footsteps outside. He looked up and saw Jin Guofeng's eldest son, Jin Shijun, striding across the threshold of the third courtyard and walking in quickly.

Jin Shijun walked quickly and shouted to Yang Zhen a few steps away: "Yang Xiezhen! Ning Yuancheng has sent someone! They have arrived at the North Gate Deputy General Military Mansion! My father asks you to hurry over! Yes!

The imperial envoys and ministers have arrived in Ningyuan! The imperial court has issued a decree!"

Jin Shijun spoke in a hurry, but his face was full of joy.

Everyone has waited too long.

Counting from the day when the Tatars withdrew, more than half a month had passed, whether it was the victory in the defense battle of Songshan or the success of Yang Zhen's rescue mission to the north.

Whether it was for Jin Guofeng or Yang Zhen, the reaction of the court far away in the capital was a bit too slow.

In Songshan City, both the main army and the guest army were waiting a little impatiently. After all the hard work and fighting life and death for so long, there must be an explanation!

Now, the court's statement has come.

Yang Zhen threw down the ax in his hand, took a few followers with him, and hurriedly followed Jin Shijun to the Songshan Deputy General Military Office inside the north gate.

The messenger who came from Ningyuan to deliver the order was the young warrior Gao Dejie, the leather-armored Qingqi Dusi under Wu Sangui.

Yang Zhen heard that it was Gao Dejie who came here, and when he met him, he couldn't help but take a few more glances.

I saw that he was tall and burly, wearing an iron chain-locked neck helmet on his head, cotton armor, and a cape. He looked majestic and outstanding.

When Yang Zhen arrived, Gao Dejie was talking to Jin Guofeng. When he heard that Yang Zhen had arrived, he was introduced by Jin Guofeng and hurriedly came over to greet him.

The iron lock neck helmet worn on his head covered most of his face. Only the eyes, nose and mouth were exposed. He looked at Yang Zhen with piercing eyes.

What Yang Zhen didn't know was that his own reputation had already spread among Ningyuan's army. Even a strong general like Gao Dejie, who thought highly of himself, looked at him with admiration and admiration.

It is a pity that at this time, Gao Dejie had already risen in Zu Dashou's army and was pulled under his command by Wu Sangui. It was extremely difficult for Yang Zhen to win over these people.

Gao Dejie met with Yang Zhen and once again explained his intention to Yang Zhen.

It turned out that the imperial envoys and ministers of the imperial court had arrived in Ningyuan. Zu Dashou and the governor of Liaodong had both accepted the award, and now ordered Jin Guofeng and Yang Zhen to rush to Ningyuan immediately to receive the imperial edict in person.

"Brother Gao! I would like to ask Yang, does Ningyuan City know about the imperial court's arrangements for Deputy General Jin and me?!"

Yang Zhen understood Gao Dejie's intention of coming to Songshan to deliver the order, and immediately asked him a question.

Although Yang Zhen seems to be leisurely and at ease these days, only he knows how entangled and anxious he is in his heart.

Once there was a discrepancy between the imperial court's will and Governor Fang Yizao's vision, he would not know what to do next.

"I don't dare to call Yang Xiezhen that! No one in Ningyuan City knows about the imperial decree's arrangements for the two of them! The commander-in-chief also asked Wang Dajue face to face! But Wang Dajue smiled and said nothing and only said to wait for the two generals to arrive.

Know yourself!

"However, there was news in Ningyuan City that Fang Fuyuan, Qiu Bingbei, Yuan Langzhong, and Marshal Zu all jointly guaranteed that Yang Xiezhen would be promoted to Ningyuan Commander-in-Chief, and Deputy Commander Jin would be promoted to Songshan Commander-in-Chief!

This news——isn’t it possible that Songshan Castle doesn’t know about it?”

Gao Dejie said these words with a serious look on his face. Finally, he looked at Yang Zhen with some confusion and clicked to stop.

Yang Zhen saw that Gao Dejie didn't look like he was faking it, so he calmed down a little. He knew the imperial court's will, and the officials in Ningyuan City didn't know either.

After Yang Zhen asked Gao Dejie who the imperial envoy Da Yuan was, he looked at Jin Guofeng and said, "In that case! Deputy General Jin, the imperial envoy and ministers have arrived in Ningyuan, we can't delay.

It’s better to set off for Ningyuan sooner rather than later!”

In the morning of that day, after Yang Zhen met Gao Dejie, he hurried back to the Self-Army garrison in the Chenghuang Temple, summoned Zhang Degui, Li Lu, Pan Wenmao, and Wang Shoutang to hold an emergency short meeting to explain the situation, and then brought

Zhang Chen, all the soldiers and twenty musketeers on the left wing of the musketeers left the city.

Afterwards, following Gao Dejie's men and horses and Jin Guofeng's personal troops, they went all the way south to Ningyuan.

From Songshan City to Ningyuan City, there is a wide and flat post road connecting it, a total of more than 120 miles.

A group of more than a hundred people passed through Xingshan, Tashan, Lianshan and other places without entering the castle. Around noon that day, they finally followed Gao Dejie into the north gate of Ningyuan and went straight to the Liaodong Governor's Office - Qianji

The seat of the Liao Governor's Mansion.

Gao Dejie and Jin Guofeng were both cavalry generals. They rode their horses at a gallop for two or three hours without getting off the saddle. It seemed like there was no problem at all.

But Yang Zhen, a time-traveler, was almost knocked to pieces by the war horse that was taken from the Tatars.

When he arrived at the gate of the governor's office in Ningyuan City, he was helped off the horse by Zhang Chen, who could hardly stand well.

He stood there for a while, and then his numb legs gradually regained consciousness.

At midnight on March 28, the twelfth year of Chongzhen, in the lobby of the Liaodong Governor's Office, civil and military officials from Ningyuan City gathered together.

The scene when Yang Zhen was appointed in early March seemed to reappear at this moment——

The civil servants are on the left, Qiu Minyang is on the Ningqian Military Preparation Road, Zhang Dou is on the patrol road in Liaodong, and Yuan Jin, the governor of the Household Department stationed in Liaodong, is sitting in turn.

The military attache is on the right, and Zu Dashou's trusted generals Sanggarsai, Zu Dabi and Liu Yingxuan are also sitting in sequence.

In addition, on the side of the military attache above the lobby, there were two generals that Yang Zhen had never seen before, and they seemed to be generals in the Liaodong Army.

After Gao Dejie entered the governor's office, he went to the backyard to report and deliver errands, leaving Jin Guofeng and Yang Zhen at a loss.

Fortunately, when Yang Zhen accompanied Jin Guofeng into the lobby, Yuan Shu, the governor's official who was sitting at the head of the civil service, and Zhang Dou, the branch patrol officer who had met Jin Guofeng in Songshan City, all stood up immediately.

, nodded to them, which saved them from the embarrassment of being at a loss.

Yang Zhen glanced at the few people sitting next to the military commander. Although he recognized them, no one took the initiative to pay attention to him.

And he couldn't take the initiative to get closer, so he simply pulled Jin Guofeng and stood under Yuan Shu.

"Vice General Jin! Yang Xiezhen! The merits of the two generals have been heard in heaven! Long live the Holy Lord has sent imperial envoys and ministers to Ningyuan to convey the decree!

"Yesterday evening, the imperial envoy came into the city. Both Zuzong Town and Governor Fang were commended by the imperial edict of Long Live Lord! Each of them has a son, and was awarded the rank of Guards for Thousands of Households in Imperial Clothes! You two have made great achievements in battle, and you are truly worthy of your title. Why should you be promoted to such a high position?

You will see the result soon!"

When Yang Zhen and Jin Guofeng came to Yuan Shu's side, they heard Yuan Shu whispering to them with a smile.

On this occasion, Yang Zhen knew that silence is golden, so he just smiled at Yuan Shu without saying a word, and then bowed to Qiu Min, who was smiling and nodding at him, clasping his fists and saluting from a distance.

Jin Guofeng originally wanted to stand with the military generals, but Yang Zhen pulled him to the civilian officials' side.

Yang Zhen was kind to him, and when he was in Songshan City, Yang Zhen's good intentions towards him were very obvious. He couldn't refuse Yang Zhen's intention, so he followed Yang Zhen and sided with the civil servants.

At the moment, he didn't care about anything else and hurriedly met with Yuan Shu, Zhang Dou and Qiu Minyang.

The two people stopped in the lobby and looked across. They saw that in front of the screen in the lobby, the large desk where the office used to be had been removed from the pen, ink, paper, inkstones and other items, and there were only three incense burners, one large, two small, and two small.

When Yang Zhen thought about it, he knew that it was the standard equipment for imperial envoys to deliver orders, also known as the incense case.

Looking across the way, Jin Guofeng recognized the two general-looking figures that Yang Zhen didn't recognize.

I saw Jin Guofeng clasping his fists and bowing to those people one by one, bowing and bowing.

Seeing this, Yang Zhen turned his head and asked in a low voice: "Those two standing there look familiar, but I can't tell them their names. I don't know who they are. What position do they hold?!"

Seeing that Yang Zhen didn't recognize him, Jin Guofeng quickly whispered: "The one standing outside is Liu Zhouzhi. This time the Tatar army invaded Songjin, and it was he who was guarding Tashan!"

"As for the one standing in the back, it is Zu Zeyuan. He is the disciple of Marshal Zu, and he has always been trusted by Marshal Zu the most! It is he who is guarding Xingshan in this battle!"

After Yang Zhen heard this, he quickly looked over and saw that the handsome disciple Zu Zeyuan opposite was also looking at him with narrowed eyes.

Zu Ze saw Yang Zhen looking at him, a smile suddenly appeared on his face, and he cupped his hands at Yang Zhen from a distance as a courtesy.

Yang Zhen also quickly smiled at him, followed his example and cupped his hands, and an intuition immediately came to his heart: "This kid Zu Zeyuan seems to be a smiling tiger!"

Yang Zhen was just thinking when he heard footsteps coming from outside. Soon, several figures in green robes came out from behind the screen in the lobby, holding two signs in their hands.

Those two signs clearly read "By Order" and "Imperial Envoy" in large Song fonts!
Chapter completed!