Chapter 138 The army triumphs

Chapter 138 The army triumphs

Chapter 138 The army triumphs
Entering May, for some unknown reason, the atmosphere among the entire army returning south suddenly became tense.
The soldiers shuttled back and forth to inquire about the situation, trying to get news about the grassland dignitaries from the grassland captives and grassland criminals.

Names were registered one by one, and some of the missing and hiding dignitaries were also found.

This move made the grassland dignitaries in the army sweat coldly, not knowing what had happened.
The fear of the grassland nobles was spreading rapidly, and there were even cases where many grassland nobles refused to coordinate.

Naturally, the army had no room for relaxation and killed them all.

Because some of the military officers were still in fear, most of the people they found were of noble status.

It is easy to form a team on the grassland, but if they are allowed to find a gap and escape back to the grassland, there will be endless troubles.

The strange thing is that those grassland nobles were not afraid when they saw the mountains of corpses and seas of blood on the battlefield.
But when they saw these heads, they were extremely frightened and rushed to reveal the identities of their colleagues, not daring to hide anything.

In the rear army camp, soldiers shuttled among the grassland captives all day long, holding a list and constantly recording their names.

Thick lists appeared one after another and piled up on the carriage specially used to store books.

At this time, the sun was shining brightly, and the personnel counting that had lasted for several days had come to an end.
Two carts large enough to carry hundreds of pamphlets,
The soldiers escorted them to the central army tent, and then the central army clerks compiled them.

In this way, all the grassland dignitaries in the entire army were registered almost exactly.

If anyone wants to use their names to cause trouble again,

It is extremely easy to find him or his relatives.

Lu Yunyi, Liu Heiying and other soldiers watched the cart speed away quietly. They also urged their horses to catch up with the main force.

Liu Heiying lowered his voice and whispered:

"Brother Yun'er, I always feel that something is wrong."

"Why do you say that?" Lu Yunyi squinted his eyes and looked at the blue sky in the distance, feeling refreshed.

"Why are they suddenly investigating those grassland people? And Jiang Lin seems a little restless. I wonder if we are being targeted."

Liu Heiying's expression changed, his eyes narrowed, and he spoke grimly:
"No. It couldn't have been instigated by Jiang Li."

"not him."

"Who is that?"

"it's me."

what?
Liu Heiying was stunned for a moment, his face froze, his mouth opened wide, and shock flashed in his eyes.

"I submitted a military report to the general, and the general took this opportunity to conduct an investigation and eliminate future troubles."

He quickly said: "Wasn't that a revelation?"

"How did it get exposed?" Lu Yunyi was a little surprised and pointed at the cart in front of him that had not disappeared yet:
"Then what is written on it is not up to you and me, right?
The general is eliminating future troubles, and we are also eliminating future troubles.
The omissions of Yarong and Ortai have been completely made up. These two people no longer exist in this world."

Liu Heiying suddenly felt a little scared and nodded repeatedly:

"That's good."

Lu Yunyi's lips curled up into a slight smile, his eyes were deep, and his voice was hollow:

"The army has been on the march for over a month and will soon reach Gyeongju. That's when we'll take action.

Regardless of success or failure, it would alert the court, and even the military commanders would help investigate.
If we don't do it cleanly, we might be suspected based on our experience in the Northern Yuan Dynasty court.

After this incident, we are the most vigilant and ruthless people towards those grassland nobles. How could the dukes and marquises suspect us?"

Liu Heiying frowned and moved closer:
"Isn't that man a Jinyiwei? The adults all wish he was dead, so why would he help the court investigate a case?"

"Ugh"

Lu Yunyi urged his horse to move closer to Liu Heiying, then he reached out and patted him on the shoulder.

"Black Hawk, you can't always control the big head with your small head. You need to be smarter.
If that person died in an unrelated place, the soldiers would probably open a glass of wine to celebrate.
But now we are in the army, and the court is blaming us, so we should first look for the tall man.

Any of these military officers is capable of doing this.

In order to clear the suspicion, we naturally have to find the murderer, and then we will be in danger.

Now, through the registration, we can completely eliminate the hidden dangers and omissions, and no one will doubt us. "

There was a trace of confusion in Liu Heiying's eyes. He understood some of it, but also some of it he didn't understand.

"By the way, is Yarong pregnant?" Lu Yunyi showed a strange smile on his face and winked at him.

"Not at all, not so fast." Liu Heiying's face turned red and he spoke haltingly.

"That's a pity. We are too far away from Fishing Lake now.
You can't go back and forth in one night, you poor couple, you have to wait for several months before you can meet again." Lu Yunyi had a gloating look on his face.

Liu Heiying blinked his eyes, his face flushed a little, and he scratched his head:

"Yarong is old, so let's wait and bring her to Daming so that she can be taken care of."

Lu Yunyi's eyes narrowed, and he turned his head sharply, staring at him with a slightly strange look:
"You haven't been working hard these days, have you?"

"How is that possible! I'm dying of exhaustion!"

Liu Heiying jumped on his warhorse, causing the horse to snort in dissatisfaction.

"Oh~" Lu Yunyi's face was exaggerated.
"I don't know who is saying every day that he is not tired at all and wants to marry a third concubine."

Liu Heiying opened his mouth wide, uttered a wail, and punched Lu Yunyi's armor twice.

I relaxed for a moment and was tricked again.

Lu Yunyi smiled for a long time before he put away his smile and looked serious:

"Yu Tongyuan has returned, but strangely he didn't come to cause trouble for us. This is very unreasonable.
I suspect he has bad intentions, so we should be careful."

Liu Heiying also put away the smile on his face and nodded seriously:
"I heard from Guo Quan that Yu Tongyuan was in a very bad situation this time and didn't catch anything. He might be so angry that he will vent it on us."

"This is something we have anticipated. It's better to let him cause some trouble, so that we won't be feared by others."

The corners of Lu Yunyi's mouth curved slightly, showing a calmness that everything was under control.

"Ya Rong's matter must be dealt with quickly, so as to avoid any more trouble.
When we have a child, even if she knows our identities, it won’t matter. This card is very important.”

Liu Heiying's face was solemn, and he nodded heavily:

"I understand, Brother Yun'er."

The two men rode side by side on their war horses, laughing and joking, causing many soldiers who had just entered the front army scout unit to look strange on the face.

Shangguan not only looks young, but also seems to still have some childishness in him.

Having experienced two dynasties, Zhang Yu, who was over 40 years old, was already a mature official.
He is currently the deputy captain of the front army scout department and Wu Fuliu's deputy.

He looked ahead quietly with a strange expression on his face. He turned his head to look at Shangguan, whose expression became even stranger.

The front scouts were different from the troops he was with.
In the past, military superiors were middle-aged men, and the soldiers were all young people.

But here, the superiors are younger and younger, and the soldiers are older and older.
He is already 45 years old this year, and there are even some people in the army who are older than him.

They were not responsible for marching and fighting, but for observing the weather and drawing maps.

He is exhausted all day long, just like an old farmer working in the fields.

"What's wrong, Zhang Yu, you look like this."

Wu Fuliu, who was not far away from him, saw his expression changing back and forth, smiled and asked.

Zhang Yu's face froze, a hint of embarrassment flashed across his eyes, and he quickly saluted:

"Sir, I just think you two are a little...easy-going."

Wu Fuliu laughed heartily:
"It will be fine once you get used to it. Lord Lu and Lord Black Hawk have grown up together.
The two families are old friends, so naturally their relationship is very good.

By the way, there are some people in the army who are from Gyeongju, and we grew up together.”

"No wonder." A trace of shock flashed in Zhang Yu's eyes.
There are so many young talents in Gyeongju.

Looking at myself again, I am nearly fifty years old and still wasting my time.

"I have some doubts in my mind, but I don't know whether I should speak them out or not." Zhang Yu asked tentatively.

"Speak up, this is not a battlefield, why are you so dull?"

Zhang Yu nodded, looking hesitant:
"I just don't know why you suddenly transferred me from the central army to the front army."

"What? You don't want to come to the front army? Do you want to transport food for the rest of your life?" Wu Fuliu was a little surprised.

"No no no!"

Zhang Yu quickly shook his head. As a veteran of two dynasties, he naturally knew how complicated the army was.

If you want to make a contribution, you must first go to the front line to fight.

Some people who go to the frontline to fight have no chance even if they beg for mercy. Just like him, he surrendered in the 18th year of Hongwu.

Now three years have passed, and all we have done is transport food and train soldiers. Not to mention making any achievements, we haven't even seen the enemy.

Now, he suddenly came to the popular front-line scout unit in the army and was promoted, which made Zhang Yu feel like he was dreaming.

"I just feel it's sudden.
Some of the commanders of the Central Army wanted to transfer troops to the Front Army, but they spent money and paid people, but in the end, the plan failed.
I just feel that I am ordinary and I don't deserve to be here."

Wu Fuliu frowned: "There is such a thing?"

"Of course." Zhang Yu lowered his voice and whispered:

"I was previously the Privy Councilor of the Yuan Dynasty. Although I have a high reputation, I have no soldiers under my command.
Now some of the military officers and commanders in the central army are also facing the same dilemma.
Although the official position is high, but there is no military power.

In this army, without military authority, everything I do is restricted.
A few days ago, I saw with my own eyes a captain of the Central Army pointing at the grain transport commander and cursing him, just because their grain was a quarter of an hour late. "

Wu Fuliu's eyes widened, unable to conceal the strangeness in them.

He was promoted so quickly that he didn't know the ins and outs of the military.
He didn't know what benefits Zhang Yu's coming to the front army would bring to the army, but for him, he gained a lot of knowledge during this period of time.

Wu Fuliu thought for a moment, then pointed forward:

"The list of candidates was personally selected by Lord Xiao Lu.
As for why you were transferred here, I don’t know. Maybe it was because of your experience as an official in Guyuan?"

Zhang Yu was stunned. Choose? Choose?

In the army, it is a blessing to be promoted and have soldiers to supplement your ranks.

Nowadays, countless people in the army have been promoted early, but the soldiers have not been fully replenished, and they have been leading their old subordinates, with high positions but little power.

This front-line scout unit is indeed different. Not only are there enough soldiers to fill the vacant positions, but they can also be selected personally! !

Zhang Yu looked at Lu Yunyi in front of him. If he hadn't known that Lord Lu was from Qingzhou, he might have thought that he was the legitimate son of some duke in the capital.

Zhang Yu suppressed his excitement and smiled bitterly:

"Master Wu, please don't make fun of me.

Lord Lu is well-known in the Northern Yuan court, and some of the grassland nobles are clamoring to come here to join the army, so how could they be short of a dean like me? "

"Then I don't know. Maybe you are a lucky person, just like me, and you followed the adults by accident.

As long as you work hard, you will have plenty of opportunities to get promoted and make money in the future."

Zhang Yu was extremely confused, but since Shangguan said so, he could only smile:
"Please rest assured, sir, I will do my best and will not stop until my death.

When I was in the middle of the army, I heard them say that the scouts in the front army were all so tired of hearing it that they were almost callused.

Especially after learning that they were going to expand the army by 3,000 soldiers, everyone was trying their best to squeeze in."

Seeing the doubt flashing across Wu Fuliu's eyes, Zhang Yu breathed a sigh of relief.
At least he has now found a way to survive, which is to help these young people solve their problems.

He explained:

"The imperial court has not yet decided on the reward. The front scouts have made great contributions in the northern expedition, and the imperial court will certainly reward them.
If you come a step earlier, you can benefit from it earlier. This is a merit you picked up for free."

As he spoke, Zhang Yu showed a hint of embarrassment on his face, and said:

"When some of my colleagues learned that I was going to be transferred here, they joked that I had finally made it after transporting food and fodder for several years.

I am a deputy captain. If Lord Lu gives me some advice when reporting my merits, I will be promoted again.

Others may have to climb for a lifetime, but now they can decide with just a few strokes, and they are so jealous. "

Wu Fuliu suddenly understood something. No wonder Lord Black Hawk offended so many people when he talked about expanding the army a few days ago.

He looked at Zhang Yu with a serious expression:

"Promotion still depends on military merit. Lord Lu doesn't like those crooked ways."

Zhang Yu chuckled: "Of course, I am already satisfied that I don't have to transport food and train soldiers anymore."

"If you want to be promoted, you must show some ability in the next battle, otherwise the soldiers will not obey you."

"I will certainly do my best, but I don't know when the next battle will come."

Zhang Yu sighed. In troubled times, there were wars everywhere. If you had the ability, you would be promoted quickly.
Now that the Ming Dynasty is at peace, there are countless Kunpengs hiding in the woods, without a chance to soar into the sky, and ultimately end up wasting their lives.

"Don't worry, it will be very fast, so fast that you can't imagine." Wu Fuliu smiled slightly, his heart was excited.

The 20th day passed in a flash, and at the end of May, the sun was blazing hot.

It shines on every inch of Gyeongju and sweeps away the coldness of winter.

On this day, the air was filled with an unusual sense of anticipation and excitement, as if even the wind carried the scent of victory.

Just after noon, north of Gyeongju,
A dusty scene gradually emerged on the distant horizon.

At first, it was just a blur.
But as the distance got closer, a small black dot quickly expanded into a long dragon winding between heaven and earth!

The sound of horse hooves, drums, and the shouts of soldiers as they saw the Ming city intertwined together.
Getting clearer and louder!
The soldiers defending the city and many Gyeongju officials could no longer contain their excitement. They climbed up the city wall, stared into the distance with their eyes wide open.

When the familiar battle flag came into view, the two big words on top caught my eye!
"bright!"

"blue!"

The soldiers' cheers broke out instantly. They waved their weapons, hugged each other, and waved and shouted.

The officials straightened their sleeves and robes, hurried down the city wall and went out of the city to greet them.

At the same time, a team of soldiers ran from the city gate into Gyeongju, walking on the only two bluestone roads!
"Great victory!!"

"Great victory!!!"

"Great victory in the Northern Expedition! The Northern Yuan Dynasty is destroyed!"

When the people in the city heard the cheers, they came out of their homes, their faces filled with surprise and their eyes widening little by little.

The old people were leaning on crutches, the children were running in front, and the men and women were rushing towards the north gate.

They are fathers who are looking forward to their children's return, children who miss their fathers day and night, and wives who worry all day long.

They came to the city gate and looked into the distance.

When the army finally became visible, tears could not stop flowing from their eyes.

Neat steps, high morale,
And the military formation filled with sharp murderous aura, all of which indicated that this battle would be a great victory!
The people cheered one after another.

They opened the city gates, spontaneously lined up in two rows, and welcomed the heroes of the Northern Expedition in the simplest yet most sincere way.

They tiptoed and quickly scanned those dry faces, looking for familiar faces.

Suddenly, a gleam of light flashed in the eyes of an old man.
He stretched out his hand tremblingly, pointed at a soldier riding on a tall horse, and shouted that it was his grandson.

Since he was young, the grandson has been determined to serve his country and avenge his father. Now he has returned victorious.

The old man's vision was blurred. The sounds of cheering and crying mixed together, filling his surroundings with noise.

However, some people shed tears silently.

A young woman searched anxiously among the crowd but could not find the familiar figure.

She saw the flag of the Qingzhou Central Guard.
An indescribable light burst out of his eyes, and then quickly dimmed, and the tears could no longer be stopped from flowing.

The flag of the Qingzhou Central Guard was taken by a strange soldier.
Not only that, there was no one she was familiar with in Gyeongju Zhongwei.

Military families know exactly what this means.

The entire army was wiped out, but the number and flag were retained.

She clasped her hands tightly together, tears silently falling, the grief in her heart spreading little by little. Most of the people around her were family members of the Qingzhou Central Guard.

At this time, the crying was deafening.

Mother Li and the women from the brothel stood on one side, standing on tiptoe and looking at them with anticipation on their faces.

Suddenly, Mother Li's eyes lit up, and she raised her hand holding the silk scarf and waved it back and forth, with tears in her eyes.
"General."

Mother Li's vision was blurred by tears. She looked at the figure that haunted her dreams.

The general looked much more haggard and thinner.

"Master, it's Master!!"

Qiu He, dressed in green, saw a handsome young general. Her eyes lit up and she shouted and pulled the woman and gentleman beside her.

Hearing the voice, Liu looked in the direction of the sound. The worry on her face instantly disappeared, replaced by relief and excitement. She saw her son.

The hands of Lu Dangjia, who was standing to one side, were clenched palely at his waist, and his nails were deeply embedded in his flesh.
Until I saw the heroic young figure standing on the warhorse,
He let out a long breath, loosened his clenched fists, and returned to his calm and composed look.

(End of this chapter)