Chapter 124 Li Rubai, Li Ruzhang

Under the leadership of a central military barracks officer, Huang Laifu led his soldiers to his camp.

At this time, the city of Ningxia was surrounded by the endless barracks of the Ming Dynasty's rebel army. Each was divided into several sieges of the city gates. The city was surrounded by solemn and murderous aura.

In the Yinchuan area of ​​Ningxia, there are convenient irrigation and dense river networks, and it has always been known as the beauty of the south of the Yangtze River. Near the town of Ningxia, there are many lakes called Jinbo Lake and Santa Lake in the Ming Dynasty. In the southeast, there are also water flows called Guanyin Lake, Xinqu, Honghua Canal and other water flows in the Ming Dynasty.

In the past, these lakes were surrounded by fertile and prosperous places, and many of the residents of villages and towns were destroyed by war. Not to mention that local residents escaped, most of the houses everywhere were burned down. As far as you can see, there were broken walls and some houses in some places were still emitting blue smoke.

Huang Laifu rode on his horse and looked at Ningxia Town not far away. It can be seen that the terrain of the entire town was as if it was at the bottom of a cauldron. No wonder it would be broken by water war soon. Like all the towns in the border towns of the Ming Dynasty, Ningxia Town was also built very thick and profound. The whole city was covered with blue bricks and there were multiple city towers. It is estimated that the city was more than seven miles around. There were many city gates and a complete defense system.

However, after several months of attack, the city walls were already terrible, and most of the city towers were burned down. The city walls were scarred, mostly due to artillery fire. The city was covered with destroyed battle ladders, covered with bloodstains everywhere, showing the ruthless side of the battlefield.

The camps of Li Rubai, Li Ruzhang and others were stationed in the northeast, and Huang Laifu rushed to meet with them. His army went all the way, attracting countless surprises, envy, jealousy and other gazes along the way.

In the eyes of the Ming army in the tents along the road, this army had distinctive armor and mighty appearance. Both people and horses were well-nourished, which formed a sharp contrast with their tattered armor, their faces were dishy, ​​and their mental fatigue.

Flashes of discussion kept coming.

"Where did this army come from? It's so powerful and so murderous intent!"

"Looking at their men and horses, I guess they are full every day and have no worries about food and wages? I saw that they were all fat and big even with mules and horses."

"I'm afraid it's the servants of which general? Look at them, from officers to soldiers, everyone is wearing iron armor and everyone rides a horse. How much money does it cost?"

"That's right, I don't have that body of iron armor as a soldier. They just have a pair of iron armor..."

"Do you see the baggage and auxiliary soldiers behind them? I'm afraid that the servants under our military gate are just like this, right?"

"After the banner, it is a visiting army from Shanxi Town. Does anyone know which general named Huang in Shanxi Town is so rich?"

"How do I know? This is to ask our general Yang Shen. He knows literacy and often reads some court newspapers and other things..."

Amid the discussions and gazes of the soldiers along the way, the two thousand three hundred and five fortress soldiers in front of them were all riding on horses, holding their heads high, and advancing proudly. Even the thousand auxiliary soldiers behind the team were also urging them to escort the mules, horses, food, and pay, and follow closely with blush on their faces. Of course, compared with the pride of ordinary soldiers, Huang Laifu had a calm expression. He rode on the high-headed horse and talked to the central military officer who was leading the way from time to time.

Since the reinforcements from the three sides of Liaodong Town, Xuanfu Town, Datong Town, Shanxi Town and other places that will come to the future are independently controlled by Admiral Li Rusong, and are not uniformly dispatched by Governor Wei Xuezeng, the Li Rubai and Li Ruzhang brothers who arrived earlier did not obey Wei Xuezeng's dispatch. Moreover, in order to show that the two factions are different, the barracks of his brothers and their brothers are slightly away from the Ming army camps that were camped in various directions under the city.

The reinforcements in Shanxi Town led by Huang Laifu were also controlled by Admiral Li Rusong, so they naturally had to camp next to the camp of Li Rubai and others.

Not far from the north gate of Ningxia Town, next to a canal in the northeast, it turned out that there was a small village called Crescent Village. There were originally many civil structures in the village, flat roofs and tiles without tiles. However, after the war broke out, most of the houses in the village had been destroyed, and only a few of the houses were left. As for the villagers in the village, they had already escaped.

One of the brothers Li Rubai and Li Ruzhang was the vanguard officer and the other was the escort officer, and there were thousands of people. At this time, the barracks of their army were surrounded by Crescent Village.

At this time, Li Rubai was the general of the governor, Li Ruzhang was the deputy commander of the commander, and the title of the chief minister was also given. Both of them were far inferior to Huang Laifu. The two had long received news that Huang Laifu led the army. Although they were the younger brothers of the admiral Li Rusong, they would usually flatter others to flatter them wherever they went, but they were not rude in the military manner. In addition, this was the first "our own" army to arrive, so the two brought some relatives and servants to welcome them from the barracks from afar.

Soon, the two saw Huang Laifu's iron-armored cavalry rolling in, with flags like clouds, and the strong military appearance and the murderous aura in their bones surprised both of them.

Xuanfu is one of the world's strong towns, with more than 150,000 official troops and more than 55,000 horses and mules. The main soldiers, guest soldiers, Beijing transport silver, civil transport silver, garrison grain, and salt calculations, the court allocated nearly one million taels of food and salary in a year. There were too many soldiers and enough food. The two of them always thought that the troops sent by their Xuanfu were the strong army in the world, but they didn't expect that there was another Shanxi township that could compare with their own troops.

The closer the Wuzhai Fort army came, the more powerful it became. Li Rubai and Li Ruzhang could see clearly that this army was tall and stout, well-nutritioned, well-equipped, and they were all full of spirits. If the servants led by themselves and their elder brother Li Rusong also had such qualities, ordinary soldiers in Xuanfu Town were far from catching up with such qualities.

Especially the three hundred iron-armored cavalry rolling in front, among the three thousand servants under the eldest brother Li Rusong, I am afraid that only hundreds of people could find to have such equipment and spirit. I don’t know if this army is all servants of Huang Laifu, the deputy general of Shanxi Town.

Li Ruzhang said: "Second brother, I often hear people say that among the strong army in the world, only the Jizhen army trained by Grandpa Qi in Jizhen, the Xuanfu army of the eldest brother, and the Liaodong army led by Dad, can only be called the strong army of the world. Unexpectedly, the Shanxi army was so powerful."

Li Rubai thoughtfully said, "Yes, I once heard from Dibao that Huang Laifu was very good at farming in Shanxi Town. He received a lot of money and food in a year and did not require the court to lose money at all. Unexpectedly, his military management was so powerful that we ignored it. I should have thought that last year, Dibao said that Huang Laifu defeated the guerrilla thieves in Wuzhaibao, Shanxi Town, and beheaded thousands of them, and was finally promoted to deputy general officer of Shanxi Town. If he was not good at managing the military, he would not have such achievements... Okay, Huang Laifu is here, fourth brother, let's come forward to welcome him."

On this side, Huang Laifu also saw Li Ruzhang, Li Rubai and others coming up. He jumped off his horse and stepped on the ground with heavy steps. He used the sound of his armored whip to Jiang Dazhong, the relatives who followed him, and then he laughed and greeted him.

Everyone came to the front, and Li Rubai had a smile on his face, took the lead, clasped his fists and saluted Huang Laifu, and said, "Li Rubai, the general of Xuanfu, and his fourth brother Li Ruzhang, met General Huang Laifu. General Huang defeated the enemy thieves at Wuzhai Fort. Rubai had heard of Daming for a long time. He saw him today. He was really lucky to see him in his three lives."

Li Ruzhang also hugged Huang Laifu and said in a muffled voice: "I have met General Huang, General Huang, the Minister of Xuanfu."

Huang Laifu smiled and said, "I dare not, I hope the two generals will come out to greet you."

Both sides looked at each other. Li Ruzhang and Li Rubai looked surprised when they saw Huang Laifu so young. He was so young that he was in the position of deputy general, so others could not be jealous. Moreover, looking at the appearance of Huang, who was surnamed Huang, like them, he was a typical military man. Why did he make money by farming so well?

Huang Laifu also looked at the two brothers carefully and saw that Li Ruzhang and Li Rubai were both nearly forty years old, with a rough expression, and a typical military general family. However, Li Rubai's behavior would be smoother, while Li Ruzhang would be more heroic and rougher.

Li Chengliang's family was a general. Huang Laifu came from later generations and had long been well known for their reputation. At this time, the two were in front of him, and Huang Laifu looked at them carefully.

According to Huang Laifu's review of the relevant history of the Li family, Li Rubai in front of him was the second son of the famous general Li Chengliang, and his father was appointed as the commander of the Tieling Weidu. He served as the Miyun Guerrilla, Huanghualing Governor, and Jizhen Deputy General. He is now the governor of Xuanfu Town.

In history, in the battle of expedition to Korea soon, Li Rubai led his troops to aid Pyongyang and made contributions to the capture of Kaicheng. The Later Jin Governor General Tongzhi and succeeded as the general of Guizhou. This was his glory in his life.

However, in the Battle of Sarhu in the late Ming Dynasty, Li Rubai was shocking. At that time, when Nurhaci launched the first wave of attacks on the Ming army, there were only twenty Nurhaci's cavalry in front of Li Rubai's army. Li Rubai, who led tens of thousands of troops, never broke through the defense line composed of these twenty cavalry and never went to the city of Hetuara until he received the order to withdraw from Yang Hao. Nurhaci seemed to have never been prepared to attack Li Rubai, but he chased after Li Rubai symbolically when he retreated. The level of tacit understanding between the two sides really makes it doubt that something must be strange.

Some people suspect that Li Rubai's selfishness was causing trouble, so they deliberately retreated without fighting because his wife was the daughter of Nurhaci's younger brother Shurhaci, and the two also had a son. At that time, there was a song by people from Liaodong: The son-in-law of the slave chief is the guard, and I wonder who will take the lead in Liaodong?

No matter what, Li Rubai was impeached and returned to Beijing in the first year of Tianqi, and committed suicide in his house. The glory of the Li family came to an end.

As for Li Ruzhang, as the fourth son of Li Chengliang, historical records that he was brave and good at fighting. When he was conquering Ningxia, his subordinate He Shien took the head of the fire and won the second son of the army, and chased the Mongolians at Helan Mountain with Ma Gui. He won more than 120 heads and promoted the general of Guangxi. He is a typical Ming army general.

These historical materials flashed through Huang Laifu's mind like electricity. On the surface, several people laughed at each other. Li Rubai felt: "This Huang Laifu's words and deeds are too different from a military man who just turned 20. It is not an exaggeration to say that his experience and thoughts are in his thirties."

He clasped his fists and said, "It's been hard for General Huang to come all the way, please go to the camp to rest."
Chapter completed!