~~~~~~

As night fell, the wind and snow became stronger and stronger, and the biting north wind roared across the sky, tearing the entire world apart.

At this time, outside the gate of Zhenjiang City Official Hall, the lights were brightly lit.

Piles of red bonfires were burning brightly, dispelling the chill of most of the night. More than a hundred gentry and wealthy people from Zhenjiang City had been waiting outside the door for a long time, waiting for news from inside to invite them in.

These gentry and wealthy people are not fools.

Li Yuanqing used the all-rounded Cao Erniang to inform them of the evening banquet. To a large extent, it had shown the sincerity of the Ming army. Otherwise, the people who informed them would not have been Cao Erniang's servants, but fully armed soldiers.

.

"Old Wang, this is really unexpected. The Ming army was able to re-capture Zhenjiang City. And it only took one night. This~, this Li Yuanqing is really a character."

In a corner of the crowd, a thin, white-haired old man whispered to a short, fat middle-aged man next to him.

The fat old Wang's face was very fair, and he always wore a smile like Maitreya Buddha. When he heard the thin old man's words, he quickly glanced around and found that no one was paying attention to them. Then he lowered his voice and said almost like a mosquito: "Qi

Brother, be careful what you say. The Tatars are powerful. We don’t know whether the Ming army can hold Zhenjiang or whether they want to hold it."

The skinny old man Lao Qi nodded with deep understanding, "Old Wang, I'm worried about this too. I heard that Mao Wenlong is also here."

Fatty Lao Wang suddenly sneered, "Humph. The guy named Mao is just a thief who deceives the world and steals his reputation. He has already tricked us Zhenjiang people once, and he wants to trick us again?"

But Lao Qi shook his head slightly, "Old Wang, you can't say that. At the beginning, Mao Wenlong also had difficulties. Alas, this is all the fault of these damned dog Tatars."

Lao Wang nodded, but did not answer any more questions.

Lao Qi knew that Lao Wang still had a deep connection with Mao Wenlong, so he quickly changed the subject and said: "Lao Wang, tell me, what are Mao Wenlong and Li Yuanqing thinking about inviting us over this time?"

Lao Wang thought for a moment and suddenly sneered, "What else could it be? The wool comes from the sheep. No wonder we need to use our talents and efforts. Maybe this Li Yuanqing, who is young and energetic, can be more ruthless than Mao Wenlong."

Just as Lao Qi was about to speak, the door to the official hall was opened. A middle-aged eunuch wearing a bright red eunuch's official robe, with a smile on his face, was smiling as he was guarded by dozens of tall soldiers.

He came out and said, "Oh, it's all Wei who didn't think well and neglected this distinguished guest. I hope you all, Sir, Haihan is the only one. Here comes someone. Please come quickly, please come quickly, gentlemen, please come in and have a cup of hot food first."

Tea warms you up."

"Fellow members, please come!"

The soldiers hurriedly separated themselves to the left and right, straightened their bodies, and respectfully welcomed the gentry into the official hall.

The gentlemen present here all have sharp eyes.

Looking at Wei Liang's official robe, they all realized that today's standard was a bit scary. The great eunuchs and supervisors actually came out to greet him...

This, is this going to kill them with a knife in the neck?

Someone in front of me laughed and said: "Father, you are really embarrassing us common people. Father, please go first."

But Wei Liang hurriedly smiled and said: "Everyone among you, I am a noble person. If you can give Mr. Wei some face, Wei will be very happy. Everyone, please go first."

Wei Liang has made enough gestures, how can the gentry in front of him be able to resist?

Soon, some people could no longer resist Wei Liang's power and began to enter.

Not far behind, Lao Qi lowered his voice and said, "This old eunuch's surname is Wei. Could it be that he is..."

Lao Wang also looked surprised. He had heard before that there was a supervisor named Wei on Changsheng Island, but he didn't know his details. At this time, the Eunuch Wei actually came to greet them in person. This...

After a moment, Lao Wang hurriedly said: "Lao Qi, something is wrong today. We must be more careful."

Lao Qi nodded hurriedly, "That's right. We should work together as one."

…………

In the official hall, a dozen grand banquet tables have been set up.

Zhenjiang City was the core territory of Houjin, and to a large extent, Lao Nu managed Zhenjiang painstakingly.

However, when Li Yuanqing suddenly breached the city, Daishan and Amin were completely unprepared and retreated hastily. This also caused a large amount of materials and goods in Zhenjiang City to fall into the hands of the Ming army.

The abundant supplies gave Mao Wenlong and Li Yuanqing a strong sense of confidence. Each table at the banquet had more than 0 dishes, including things that could fly in the sky, crawl on the ground, and swim in the water. The standards were extremely high.

Li Yuanqing was not very familiar with these gentry, mainly because when he was in Zhenjiang City, his status was not high enough.

But Mao Wenlong had many acquaintances, and he soon started chatting with everyone.

In addition, with the help of Wei Liang, Zhang Qiliang and Ma Gonggong, the atmosphere in the hall suddenly became a lot more lively.

Zhang Qiliang and Eunuch Ma personally directed everyone to sit down, while Wei Liang and Mao Wenlong stood in the middle, greeting everyone.

Looking at the high-spirited Wei Liang in the middle, an unspeakable sadness flashed across Eunuch Ma's eyes.

There was a time when Wei Liang was worse than a dog in front of him, and he didn't even bother to look at Wei Liang.

But at this time, Wei Liang was 'along with' Li Yuanqing. Although his rank was not yet as high as his, he had already become the number one supervisor in Liao.

‘What the fuck! Comparing people with each other is so irritating.’ Eunuch Ma spat inwardly.

But the situation is stronger than the people.

This time, Li Yuanqing conquered Zhenjiang on his own again. It must be that Wei Liang, this old dog, will reach a higher level again.

Even if Eunuch Ma is unhappy, he can't change the reality.

Li Yuanqing was already at the height of his power, and he had even faintly surpassed Mao Wenlong. He could only think of a way to try to hang out with Li Yuanqing and get some soup to drink so that he would not be hungry.

"Master Ma, please make arrangements for these gentlemen here."

At this time, he suddenly heard Wei Liang's call. Eunuch Ma didn't dare to think any more. He quickly collected his thoughts and said with a smile: "Come on. The Za family will be here soon." He went to work.

With their three supervisors and Mao Wenlong in charge, Li Yuanqing would have nothing to do.

In a dark corner to the side, Li Yuanqing was sitting on a soft couch, holding a glass of wine and sipping it slowly.

Next to him, Chen Zhong was playing with the wine glass in his hand boredly, glancing at everyone in the hall.

After a moment, he whispered: "Yuan Qing, I think these people are not so easy to get along with. If we don't kill a group of chickens to scare the monkeys, I'm afraid it will be difficult for them to follow us."

Li Yuanqing slowly took a sip of the wine, but slowly shook his head, "Brother, we are all sons of the Han family. If one person can survive, it will be one person. Don't worry about this matter, let's take our time."

Although Chen Zhong didn't understand what Li Yuanqing meant, at this time, he naturally couldn't ask more questions. He forced himself to be patient and slowly sipped the wine in the glass.

At this banquet, Mao Wenlong and Li Yuanqing basically treated them with the highest standards.

Apart from Mao Wenlong and Li Yuanqing, the only military general was Chen Zhong. Even Chen Jisheng and Zhang Pan were not allowed to participate.

These gentry soon discovered this situation and started talking in low voices.

At this time, almost all the seats in the venue had been arranged, and Mao Wenlong also sat down at the main table. Wei Liang stood up and said with a smile: "Everyone, everyone. Today is the first day for our elite men of the Ming Dynasty to enter the city. You should not disturb them."

Your leisure. But you also know that the Houjin Tatars are rampant and inhumane at the moment, and we must be fully prepared to deal with it..."

Listening to Wei Liang's chatter, Li Yuanqing couldn't help but smile a little.

An old eunuch who was usually languid appeared on this scene, and his face was radiant and his performance was quite satisfactory, even much better than Li Yuanqing thought.

Sure enough, as the old saying goes, ‘the butt determines the head’.

However, the better Wei Liang's performance is, the more energy Li Yuanqing will save.

At this time, Li Yuanqing winked at Chen Zhong, stood up with a smile, and walked towards the crowd in front.

Chen Zhong naturally understood, stood up quickly, and followed Li Yuanqing quickly.

"Fellows and elders, Yuanqing is busy with military affairs, so I'm a little late, so please forgive me! Yuanqing will be punished by drinking three glasses of wine to make amends to you."

As he said that, Li Yuanqing smiled and said, "Bring me the wine!"

"yes!"

After a while, Niu Gensheng personally carried the tray and quickly came to Li Yuanqing's side.

Li Yuanqing smiled and filled up the three wine glasses one by one, drank them all, and looked at everyone in the hall with a smile.

At this time, everyone still didn't understand that the tall military commander in front of them was the famous and already majestic Li Yuanqing.

Everyone stood up in a hurry, "Li Junmen is so heroic."

"Li Junmen is mighty! He is worthy of being a hero of the Ming Dynasty!"

"Li Junmen..."

Seeing the constant flattery from the crowd, Li Yuanqing smiled slightly and waved his hand to signal everyone to be quiet.

Although Li Yuanqing seemed to be just making a simple action, everyone present seemed to be able to clearly feel the power of it. They were silent for a moment, and the entire hall instantly became quiet.

Li Yuanqing smiled and said: "The commander-in-chief and I are not strangers to the elders of Zhenjiang! That time in the first year of Tianqi, the commander-in-chief and I were really sad for a long time. Fortunately, today, our Ming Dynasty's elite came back to fight again

!Tonight, I, Li Yuanqing, have nothing to say. My fellow villagers must eat and drink well!"

With that said, Li Yuanqing bowed his hands and came to sit down at the main table.

Chen Zhong also 'imitated the gourd and painted the ladle', following the pattern Li Yuanqing had just followed.

The atmosphere in the hall instantly became more enthusiastic.

Mao Wenlong, Li Yuanqing, Chen Zhong, Wei Liang, Ma Gonggong, Zhang Qiliang, and several leading gentry in Zhenjiang City all sat down at the main table and drank and chatted.

On the other tables, cups and cups also began to be exchanged, and the hall became lively for a while.

At a table near the corner, Lao Qi and Lao Wang were still sitting at the same table.
To be continued...