What was supposed to come finally came.

Fortunately, Yang Zhen was mentally prepared for sending troops south and entering the battlefield to suppress bandits within the pass.

At the same time, the other generals of Jinhai Town, who were kneeling behind Yang Zhen and listening to the imperial court's orders, had already made up their mind, especially Zhang Degui, Zhang Chen and others.

After all, as early as February, Fang Guangchen had criticized them in the town hall for this matter on the pretext of being indulging in pleasure.

After that incident, Yang Zhen, Zhang Degui, Zhang Chen and other generals all realized that once the situation inside the pass deteriorated, it would be a matter of time before Emperor Chongzhen mobilized troops from Jinhai Town to cross the sea and go south, and ask them to join the battlefield to suppress thieves.

.

Because Yang Zhen's soldiers and horses, in terms of affiliation, were subordinate to the Beijing camp and directly belonged to the emperor, it was only logical to mobilize them in advance to join the battlefield of suppressing bandits.

At the same time, the troops and horses of western Liaoning were stuck between Qinglu and Shanhaiguan. No matter how you look at it, they are not as easy to mobilize as the troops and horses of Jinhai Town.

After all, there is still a sea between Jinhai Town and Denglai, which can be used as a barrier. Even if you think about the worst, if Jinhai Town is empty and cannot withstand the attack of the Qing army, then isn't there still a sea?

Of course, in addition to this, another reason why everyone felt that this matter was inevitable was that the people in western Liaoning had also been ordered to send troops southward.

This was also the news that Yuan Jin brought to Yang Zhen and the Lushunkou generals as early as February.

Since the western part of Liaoning has been ordered to send troops into the pass, once the emperor issues an order, can Jinhai Town, which has always been honest and obedient and never disobeys the imperial decree, not divide its troops to help suppress the bandits?

"I obey your decree, long live my emperor!"

"Okay, okay, okay! Your Majesty did not misunderstand the Commander-in-Chief, and Chen Benbing and I did not misunderstand the Commander-in-Chief either. The Commander-in-Chief is indeed unparalleled in his loyalty and righteousness!"

Before coming to Jinhai Town, Zhang Ruoqi had sworn in front of the emperor and Chen Xinjia that he and Yang Zhen had an irreversible friendship and if he took action, Yang Zhen would definitely mobilize his troops according to the order.

But in fact, what he was most worried about along the way was that Yang Zhen came up with various reasons and finally refused to accept the order.

Or maybe Yang Zhen was willing to accept the decree, but put forward a lot of conditions that the court should meet, such as repaying arrears of food and salary, replenishing the required armor and weapons, etc.

Once Yang Zhen, like other generals, puts forward these conditions, then the court really has no good solution.

After all, the emperor has no shortage of hungry soldiers. You can't let the soldiers and horses of Jinhaizhen go to war hungry?

Furthermore, Jinhai Town is different from other border towns. Even if Yang Zhen doesn't mention the matter of food, grass and ordnance, he only needs to have someone send a newspaper from the Fuzhou front line or the Zhenjiang Fort front line, saying that there are abnormal movements of Qing prisoners.

Then Yang Zhen would have every reason to put aside the decree issued by the imperial court.

For this reason, before Zhang Ruoqi left, he discussed countermeasures with Chen Xinjia in advance in order to plan ahead and implement the emperor's will.

Of course, the best countermeasure they came up with was to tie Emperor Chongzhen's reward to Yang Zhen with his order to mobilize troops from Jinhai Town to assist the rogue bandits.

That is, to use a reward that breaks the convention to induce Yang Zhen to accept the arrangement of transferring troops to the south.

Obviously, this strategy succeeded.

So when Zhang Ruoqi saw Yang Zhen accept the order and thank him so happily, he immediately praised him and immediately gave Yang Zhen a hat of unparalleled loyalty so that Yang Zhen would not be able to regret it.

Of course Yang Zhen didn't know the tricks hidden behind the imperial edict drafted by Chen Xinjia, Zhang Ruoqi and others.

But even if he knew it, he would just laugh it off at most, and he would still accept the instructions that should be received.

Not to mention that he had made preparations. Even if he had no preparations, if Emperor Chongzhen was willing to exchange the defense of Denglai Town for Yang Zhen to send troops south, Yang Zhen would immediately prepare a force.

Xu Renlong, the governor of Denglai, died in the battle, and Chen Hongfan, the commander-in-chief of Denglai, also died. At the same time, there was a plague and then a severe drought in the Denglai area. Famines occurred one after another, and refugees broke out everywhere.

For the imperial court, this place is now a hot potato, and the mess left by Xu Renlong and Chen Hongfan is difficult to clean up.

It is easy for the imperial court to appoint a governor, and there is no problem in sending a general soldier, but if there is no food, no pay, and no soldiers, it will be useless if anyone goes there.

It would be better to hand it over directly to Yang Zhen to take charge of it. At least after handing it over to Yang Zhen, if there is trouble here, Yang Zhen will have to suppress it with troops, so that it will not turn into the kind of rogue bandits that cause trouble in the mountains and central plains of Shaanxi.

Whether it is Emperor Chongzhen, Chen Xinjia, or Zhang Ruoqi, it is normal for them to think this way.

But to Yang Zhen, the Denglai area is by no means a mess.

On the one hand, this is the only place for the large number of immigrants that Jinhai Town needs to go north and go to sea. If it can be directly controlled by oneself, it would be the best. Originally, Yang Zhen could not reach it.

a piece of land.

On the other hand, although the area under the jurisdiction of Denglai Town is not large, it only has the jurisdiction of Dengzhou Prefecture, Laizhou Prefecture and several coastal guard posts, but it is enough for him to move around briefly and then arrange for those who have repeatedly made military exploits under his command.

Generals.

Of course, local court officials such as the magistrate and the state magistrate, Yang Zhen, the general military officer who also leads the defense of Denglai Town, cannot and cannot be moved.

Even including the hereditary commanders of Weihai Guard, Chengshan Guard and other local guards, he could not move or move.

However, even if these cannot be touched, Yang Zhen can still follow the practice in Jinhai Town and divide the defense of Denglai Town into Denglai Middle Road, Denglai East Road and Denglai West Road within his own scope of authority.

three directions.

In this way, after Yang Zhen also took charge of the defense of Denglai Town, he would have at least three more positions as general defense officers under his command.

Of course, if he wanted to, he could even set up an additional Denglai South Road Assistant Defense General Military Office in Jiaozhou Bay.

All in all, after Yang Zhen takes charge of the defense of Denglai Town, although he will inevitably be involved in the battlefield of suppressing bandits in the pass that he has never wanted to be involved in the future, the benefits are also obvious.

At least the generals under his command who have made great achievements will have more opportunities for promotion in the future.

For Yang Zhen, this is no small matter.

If the generals under their command feel that their room for advancement is limited, or think that their promotion has been hindered, or even treated unfairly, then even the most trusted generals at this moment may have dissent one day in the future.

However, in the afternoon of that day, Zhang Ruoqi and his entourage publicly conveyed the imperial court's reward to Yang Zhen and the intention to mobilize troops to help suppress the bandits outside the city gate of Lushun South City in front of the generals of Jinhai Town who were waiting for them, and then followed Yang Zhen into the city.

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Yang Zhen originally thought that Chu Xianzhang would publicly convey the emperor's oral edict or imperial decree on behalf of Emperor Chongzhen himself after Zhang Ruoqi conveyed the decree on behalf of the court.

But Chu Xianzhang showed no sign in front of the waiting crowd.

Fang Yizao and Zhang Ruoqi, who crossed the sea with Chu Xianzhang all the way to Jinhai Town, also turned a blind eye to this, as if they had discussed it in advance, and did not have any strange reactions.

This situation naturally made Yang Zhen confused. He couldn't figure out why Emperor Chongzhen sent Chu Xianzhang to come to Jinhai Town so hard.

Is there anything that is not suitable for public announcements or orders in public?

The doubts in Yang Zhen's heart were soon clarified after the imperial envoy entered the city and the waiting crowd dispersed.

When Zhang Ruoqi, Chu Xianzhang, Fang Yizao and their entourage finished conveying the decree and followed them into the city, it was already dusk. As usual, Yang Zhen arranged for Fang Yizao and the imperial envoy Zhang Ruoqi to stay in a guest house on the side of the main town building.

But when the arrangement came to Chu Xianzhang, Chu Xianzhang smiled and almost refused, and then asked someone to drive the two carriages with sedans from the rear of the entering team outside the main gate of the town hall.

It was only at this time that Fang Yizao, the newly promoted governor of Denglai, and Zhang Ruoqi, a doctor in the Imperial Military Department, took the initiative to talk to Yang Zhen about this mysterious carriage with a smile on his face.

"Haha, Your Majesty treats Governor Yang with great care and meticulous attention to detail!"

"That's right, except for the Yang Ge Department in the past, Governor Yang's Holy Family is really unparalleled in the world today!"

Hearing what Fang Yizao and Zhang Ruoqi said, Yang Zhen quickly turned to Chu Xianzhang.

At this time, Chu Xianzhang looked around and saw that everyone present was an acquaintance, so he stopped hiding it.

"What Governor Fang, Doctor Zhang and the others said is not wrong. Your Majesty treats the Governor very well this time!"

Chu Xianzhang first said this to Yang Zhen, then turned around and came to the carriage and said: "Everyone Chen, the place has arrived!"

At this moment, I heard the outer door of the carriage slowly open with a creaking sound, then the cotton curtain was lifted, and half of my body leaned out from inside.

Looking at the posture, Yang Zhen knew at a glance that she was a woman, but she was wearing a soap gauze curtain hat, and her head and face were completely covered, so her face could not be seen clearly.

And his figure was also covered by a slightly larger red cloak, so it was not immediately apparent that he was slender.

Seeing Chu Xianzhang help a woman wearing a soap gauze hat and a red cloak from the carriage, and the woman turned around and took out a pipa from the car, Yang Zhen was completely dumbfounded.

Even Zhang Degui, Zhang Chen, and Li Lu who were following Yang Zhen were stunned for a moment.

In this great victory at Zhenjiang Fort, Yang Zhen's men and horses gained a lot, and the heads of real Tatars and two Tatars they obtained could be counted in the tens of thousands.

According to the imperial court's reward amount, a reward of one hundred thousand and two hundred thousand taels of silver would have to be given.

But when they were welcoming the imperial envoys outside the city, they saw only a few large carts. How much gold, silver, and cloth could be loaded in a few carts?

Only this carriage with a sedan was mysterious and seemed to be a valuable gift from the imperial court.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, a person walked out, and she was a woman holding a pipa!

"This -, this, Eunuch Chu, what does this mean?"

"The little girl Gusu Chen has met the governor, and wishes the governor a happy life!"

As soon as Yang Zhen finished speaking, before Chu Xianzhang could give an explanation to Yang Zhen, he saw the woman getting off the carriage, holding her pipa and bowing her hands towards Yang Zhen, and then spoke timidly.

This Chen's greeting voice was not loud, but the Mandarin he spoke was mixed with the soft and waxy phonology of Wu Nong's soft language, which was particularly unique and mellow. The crowd of rough guys behind Yang Zhen fell silent.

Yang Zhen himself was completely petrified and was stunned on the spot.

"Haha, Mr. Chen was originally a famous actress in Wuzhong. At a young age, he has outstanding talents and has already become famous all over the south of the Yangtze River. Not long ago, he was adopted as an adopted daughter by Tian Guozhang and was raised at home.

"The Holy One heard about this and heard that the governor liked female music. He thought that after years of hard fighting, the governor had no music for silk and bamboo to entertain his ears, and no female music for entertainment. So he decreed that this girl should be given to the governor to reward him for his extraordinary achievements."

Seeing Yang Zhen's stunned look, Chu Xianzhang quickly told the whole story.

However, his explanation did not dispel the surprise of Yang Zhen and the few trusted generals behind Yang Zhen.

"This——, Eunuch Chu, how to do this?!"

"Since ancient times, beauties have been paired with heroes. The governor was the hero of his time. How could he not do it?"

"No, Eunuch Chu, Yang already has a wife. Both the Holy One and the father-in-law know about this!"
Chapter completed!