in2ebook Chapter 146 General's Mansion 17
Chapter 146 General's Mansion 17
When my father was stationed in the Northern Frontier, there was no such person as Zhuo Feng in the Northern Frontier. At that time, my father's official position was also deputy commander, ranking below the commander Lin Gong.
Marshal Lin Gong was a close minister of Daliang. There were not many people like him who were still standing firm on the front line with gray hair. More importantly, this old general was trusted by the royal family.
After all, Lin Gong had lost four sons and two sons-in-law for Daliang. Now the Lin family only has this old man left.
When my father was under his command, he assisted General Lin in fighting against the Qi army, and there was no mistake for so many years. But after General Zhou was injured three years ago, the new deputy commander was replaced by someone from the Gu family. The situation took a sharp turn for the worse.
This is Gu Dalang's uncle. The marshal's evaluation of this deputy general is just four words: paper talk.
However, these are the affairs of the Northern Frontier, and Zhou Leping cannot interfere too much. Even if the country is really destroyed, it is the end of Daliang's fate, and it should be so. He just needs to do his job well and not leave any handle for future generations.
However, the emperor of Daliang obviously did not want Zhou Leping to be so idle, so he directly issued an imperial edict to arrange for Zhou Leping to rush to the northern border to take up a post as the left general.
When they saw the transfer order, many people in the big tent laughed out of anger: "Our deputy commander of the Western Frontier can only be a left general in the Northern Frontier? This is a demotion! This is simply too much."
"Who came up with this idea to have the deputy commander serve under Gu? He must be a traitor!"
"That's right, that's right. We have also analyzed the situation in Northern Xinjiang. A large part of the reason is that Deputy Marshal Gu did not issue orders in a timely manner. Now the higher-ups not only do not want to remove him from office, but they even want our deputy marshal to go there. It's obvious that they want him to take the blame. Deputy marshal, you can't go."
Zhou Leping put away the imperial edict in his hand: "If I don't go, it would be disobeying the order. My family is still in the capital, how can I not go? It's just a war, it doesn't matter where I go. It's good to be a left general, it will make my mind relaxed."
Just like that, with a piece of brocade, Zhou Leping traveled across most of Daliang and rushed to Ning'an Pass.
Ning'an Pass, this is the fief of King Ning. Who is King Ning? He is the first king of a different surname in Daliang who became the king due to his military merits. He is also the father of Princess Anhe who is imprisoned in the palace.
Since the death of the previous emperor and the ascension of the new emperor, Prince Ning has petitioned more than once to take his daughter back. However, the emperor repeatedly refused, arguing that Princess Anhe was a concubine and should live in the harem. It was clearly a trick to hold the hostages, and how could Prince Ning not see it?
Feeling disheartened, King Ning left the capital alone and went to live in his fiefdom, Ning'an Pass.
Why would the emperor transfer such a great military leader from Daliang from afar when he had nothing to do with it? Could it be that even with the hostages in his hands, the emperor did not trust Prince Ning?
By the way, Prince Ning initially supported the eldest prince! The emperor must have been brooding over this matter! Three years have passed, and Prince Ning's subordinates have been almost eliminated, and the officials in the capital have gone through several reshuffles. What is there to be afraid of a deceased prince?
After such wild thoughts all the way, I finally arrived at Ning'an Pass.
As soon as he arrived at this pass, Zhou Leping found that the city was severely damaged, with homeless people on both sides of the street, broken houses, messy streets, and a foul smell in the air.
The entire city was shrouded in a huge sorrow that made it hard for people to breathe and left them without any hope.
Why is the morale of this city so low? How can they resist the surging Qi army?
Following the soldiers into the barracks, Zhou Leping saw Marshal Lin with gray hair and a furrowed brow. Zhou Leping had heard his father talk about this brave warrior more than once, and now he finally saw him in person, how could he not be excited.
Marshal Lin stepped forward to help Zhou Leping up and nodded slightly: "Not bad, not bad, you have the heroic spirit of your father! Even better than your father when he was young."
Zhou Leping was happy: "Then next time, Marshal Lin must speak in front of my father and let him hear it, so that he won't keep scolding me."
This made Commander Lin laugh out loud: "Okay, okay, when this war is over and we all return to the capital, I will go to your house and talk to you in person."
As they were talking, a man with a pale complexion and dressed like a scholar came in. Zhou Leping thought it was the military advisor, but Marshal Lin introduced him directly: "This is the deputy commander, Gu Song."
What? Deputy Commander! Why is he so Confucian? No wonder many people are dissatisfied.
Zhou Leping didn't show it on the surface, but he saluted respectfully: "Deputy Commander Gu!"
Gu Song smiled and waved his hand: "You and I are still half relatives, no need to be so polite."
Zhou Leping didn't want to be polite with this person, so he stood up directly.
Marshal Lin Gong looked at the map spread out on the table and said to Zhou Leping, "Now, we have already had two cities captured by the Qi army. If Ning'an Pass is lost again, Daliang will be in real danger. Xiao Zhou, what do you think?"
The first thing Zhou Leping thought of was to boost the morale of the army and the people. It was impossible to defeat the Qi army in such a lifeless state with no hope for the future and people waiting to die. Only by mobilizing all the people in Ning'an City would there be a possibility of a battle.
Marshal Lin listened to Zhou Leping's words and nodded in agreement: "You are right, this matter must be handled as soon as possible."
Marshal Lin and Zhou Leping were having a heated discussion on how to boost morale and did not notice the vicious look from Gu Song who was sitting in a chair behind them.
After several days of hard work, the morale of Ning'an Pass finally improved. The military and civilians were no longer huddled in a corner as before, and the entire Ning'an Pass was on the move.
This incident allowed Zhou Leping to gain a foothold in the strange place of Ning'an Pass and successfully integrate into the army and civilians of Northern Xinjiang. However, he was also officially included in Gu Song's blacklist.
One day, Gu Song handed Zhou Leping a military order with the marshal's seal: "General Zhou, the marshal's order is for you to lead a team of troops to scout from the left side and find out the enemy's situation."
"Zhou Leping obeys the order."
However, in this battle, they encountered an ambush by the Qi army.
As if they had been prepared in advance, they had just entered Shimen Valley from the left side of Ning'an Pass when they were attacked by the Qi army who were ambushed there.
"Oh no, the route has been sold, everyone retreat!" Zhou Leping gave an order and everyone began to evacuate.
However, there were too many people lying in ambush here. Zhou Leping only brought a thousand people with him to investigate, but the Qi army that surrounded this place had at least 10,000 people. They were so densely packed and in groups that it seemed that there was no end in sight.
The soldiers behind were frightened by the scene: "General, what should we do? We've been ambushed!"
"Damn it, there must be a spy in the army. We have been betrayed. No one from Daliang who was captured by the Qi army survived more than three days. Every one of them was severely tortured! Soldiers, waiting to be captured here means death! If you rush out, you may have a chance of survival."
"Yes, we all listen to the general."
Zhou Leping: "I remember there is a river to the left on the map. Maybe this is our only chance of survival. I will cover you later. Everyone, no matter who gets out alive, must let everyone know what happened here. There is a spy in the army! If we don't get rid of him as soon as possible, it will be a danger of national destruction!"