Chapter 150 Concubine Zheng, Liaoyang City

Cuihua Garden is located in the West Garden, and is a place for Emperor Wanli and Concubine Zheng to rest.

At this time, in the Huayuan Pavilion in Cuihua Garden, Huang Laifu met Concubine Zheng, a famous historical book. She was over 20 years old, wearing a phoenix crown, a four-phoenix flower hairpin on her crown, a red silk skirt and a phoenix text embroidered with gold-weaving phoenix text.

To be honest, Concubine Zheng was not very beautiful, and her appearance was just a good look. In the Ming Dynasty, women who were charming could not be selected to enter the palace. According to Huang Laifu's understanding of relevant historical materials, the reason why Concubine Zheng was favored by Emperor Wanli was because she liked to study, had common interests and hobbies with Emperor Wanli, and could become his spiritual pillar. If she only confuses her beauty, it would be impossible to be favored by Emperor Wanli for decades.

The ground dragons were burned in the Huayuan Pavilion to keep warm, and there were several plates of copper basins and charcoal fires next to it, making the pavilion warm and peaceful. There were some banquets in the pavilion, which was beyond Huang Laifu's expectations, and the dishes were not luxurious. Compared with the grand show of various banquets by the gentlemen and officials of the Ming Dynasty at this time, it was considered frugal.

Among the dishes, there were several plates of wild vegetables. The Ming Taizu was born in Kuhan, so in order to teach his descendants not to forget their roots, there were several plates of wild vegetables in royal dishes. Zhu Xu, the fifth son of Emperor Yongle, also wrote a book called "Wild Food", which introduced more than 400 kinds of wild vegetables, wild fruits, etc. that can be eaten.

Concubine Zheng is a woman with a more lively temperament and quite unique personality. All her energy is devoted to Emperor Wanli. When she saw Emperor Wanli coming with Huang Laifu, she looked happy and knew that this was all Huang Laifu's merit, so she became more and more concerned about Huang Laifu.

During the banquet, she kept persuading Huang Laifu to eat the dishes. Huang Laifu was also hungry and could taste royal dishes. Therefore, she let go of her stomach and ate without any intention of treating herself as an outsider.

Seeing Huang Laifu like this, Emperor Wanli and Concubine Zheng both looked at each other and laughed at each other. They had not had any banquets, and they were all trembling. How could they be as calm as Huang Laifu? However, Huang Laifu's appearance made the two very relaxed and had a bit of fun in the banquet.

Emperor Wanli and Concubine Zheng whispered from time to time. At this time, Emperor Wanli smiled and said something to Concubine Zheng. Concubine Zheng covered her mouth and smiled, giving Emperor Wanli a blank look: "You are also a handsome man?"

Emperor Wanli glanced at Huang Laifu and coughed awkwardly. Huang Laifu just pretended that he didn't hear it.

Concubine Zheng's eyes were flowing, and she looked at Emperor Wanli with affection, and then said to Huang Laifu, who was eating, "Zhongming, I heard that you have been married and have a wife, Gu?"

Huang Laifu put down his bowl and said, "When I say to the Empress, my wife Gu Yunniang has been engaged to my ministers since she was a child. We are a pair of children. We are made of heaven and earth."

Concubine Zheng smiled like a flower branch, Emperor Wanli smiled, and even the palace maids serving next to him were laughing secretly.

Finally, Concubine Zheng held back her smile and said, "It is rare that you, a military general, know so many allusions. It is said in ancient times that you have a virtuous wife in your family, but there is no disaster for your husband. A pillar of the country like Huang Aiqing, probably your wife is also a beautiful woman. I have no words in this palace, but I really want to see you, my wife."

Huang Laifu said: "I thanked the concubine for their kindness. Speaking of which, my wife is indeed a very good woman. She is knowledgeable and tactful and pleasing. When the concubine sees her, she will definitely like her."

The three of them talked and laughed. Everyone was very satisfied with the meal. During the banquet, Huang Laifu talked about many interesting stories about the border town, which made Emperor Wanli and Concubine Zheng listened with relish.

When Emperor Wanli and Concubine Zheng both gave Huang Laifu a lot of things. When Huang Laifu returned to the military camp, he had to carry them with him a few strong servants.

Due to the urgent military situation, Huang Laifu set off the camp early the next morning and continued to lead the army to Liaodong.

However, Huang Laifu was received by Emperor Wanli and the monarch and ministers had a secret talk, but it quickly spread. At this time, the chief minister of the cabinet was changed from Wang Jiaping to Zhao Zhigao. Not to mention the jealousy of all officials, even Zhao Zhigao was also mixed with all kinds of feelings. Since he was appointed as the chief minister of the cabinet, he had never been privately received by Emperor Wanli. Unexpectedly, a general in the border town could be favored by Emperor Wanli in this way. It was impossible not to be jealous.

The strong military appearance of the Wuzhai Fort army and the interesting story of transporting grain and supplies through merchant convoys have also become a long-term topic for the people in the capital.

Liaodong Town is one of the powerful towns in the nine borders. The town extends for more than a thousand miles, resists Hu in the north, blocks Korea in the south, and controls the realm of Fuyu Zhenfan in the east, and is second only to Ji Town. The town originally had more than 94,600 soldiers and more than 77,000 horses. In addition to the escape of the New Year holiday, there are more than 81,900 official troops and more than 43,800 horses.

In addition to the main soldiers allocated more than 160,000 taels of silver and more than 40,000 taels of silver from the national treasury, these military horses also need nearly one million taels of food and salary per year.

The town town and the Liaodong Metropolitan Division are both located in Liaoyang. Here, there is a governor, who is Hao Jie at this time. There is also a general in the garrison.

Since the Ming Dynasty decided to launch heavy troops to expedition to Korea, from August of the 20th year of Wanli, the armies of Jizhou, Baoding, Shandong, Zhejiang, Shanxi and Nanzhili have been ordered to gather in the direction of Liaodong.

Song Yingchang first led his army to the city of Liaoyang. In late December, Li Rusong led his two thousand servants from Ningxia to Liaoyang. After a long journey, he also arrived in Liaoyang and met with Song Yingchang. At this time, there were less than 40,000 troops aiding Korea.

At this time, there were only 4,000 troops from the Zhejiang army, Wu Weizhong's troops, and 3,000 troops from the Huang Laifu troops in Shanxi Town, and they had not arrived yet.

On December 23, 20th year of Wanli, on January 25, 1593, the third day after Li Rusong led his troops to Liaoyang.

The endless plains and black soil in the Northeast Plain, although it is cold and freezing, there is no snow on the ground, and the cold air penetrates people's hearts.

"Sir, it's the Liaoyang territory ahead. If you walk twenty miles in another time, you'll reach Liaoyang City."

The whole army cheered. Their army, from Wuzhai Fort to the capital, had a journey of more than a thousand miles. From the capital to Shanhaiguan, passed through Ningyuan, Guangning and other places, had a journey of more than a thousand miles and finally arrived.

The 25-day field marching was long and cold, which was very testable. Fortunately, the Wuzhaibao army resisted it. In addition to some horses, a small number of soldiers fell into the team sick, most of the rest arrived smoothly.

Huang Laifu sent an order loudly: "Transfer the order, the army speeded up and went to Liaoyang to rest."

The whole army cheered, and the carriages and horses rolled forward.

The soldiers of Wuzhai Fort were all one and two horses. At this time, thousands of people urged them to release their horses, which was a sound of hooves and awesome. Soon, they arrived at the city of Liaoyang.

At this time, outside Liaoyang City, there were already many troops aiding Korea, and the camps were full of elite soldiers from all over the world. They had already heard the news that another friendly army from Shanxi Town would arrive, and they didn't care. However, at this time, they heard the sound of hooves like thunder, and slowly, countless flags appeared from the horizon, followed a cavalry rolling in. With such a momentum, everyone took a breath of air conditioning.

Hao Jie, the governor of Liaodong who was looking around on the city wall, and Song Yingchang, the minister of the Japanese invasion, were also amazed: "Where did this army come from? It is so powerful?"

Li Rusong beside them said lightly: "From the banner, this is the military horse of Shanxi Town. The person who commands the army should be Huang Laifu, deputy general of Shanxi Town."

"Huang Laifu?" Hao Jie said in surprise: "But Huang Laifu, the Wuzhai Fort in Shanxi Town, known as the God of Grain?"

Li Rusong said: "That's right."

Song Yingchang thought deeply, but Hao Jie was shocked and suspicious.

Li Rusong said: "Two sirs, friendly troops are here, let's go and greet them?"

Song Yingchang and Hao Jie were surprised again. Li Rusong was very arrogant. Hao Jie had been with him for the longest time. Although he couldn't stand it, he also knew about his character and did not have the same knowledge as him.

However, Song Yingchang was a manager, but in the few days he had contacted Li Rusong, he was very unhappy. Good guy, Song Yingchang was a minister of the Japanese in charge of the Japanese. When Li Rusong first met him, he was not fully armored and just wore a casual suit and did not pay attention to his etiquette. It can be said that he left a very bad impression in Song Yingchang's heart. It was just because he had to rely on Li Rusong to fight, Song Yingchang was helpless.

Unexpectedly, such a person would take the initiative to welcome the arrival of an army. This is really strange. Song Yingchang and Hao Jie were both unhappy. With their own identities, how could they welcome a general with a very different official position from them? However, they couldn't refute this and they had to follow Li Rusong to the city reluctantly.

When we arrived at the city, we saw that the army and horses of Shanxi Town had been lined up, thousands of cavalry lined up in neat square formations, with a yellow-shaped flag fluttering in the wind, and the entire army had a speechless power. Next to it were soldiers from various towns pointing at them, and there was endless discussion.

Li Rusong's face remained unchanged. Song Yingchang and Hao Jie became more and more surprised the more they looked at it. When they walked in front of them, they could find that the army was full of one person and two horses. Not to mention that each knight was wearing iron armor, everyone was tall and burly, and well-equipped. Even the war horses under them were also jumping around and were all good horses. Although the entire army stood speechless, they were shockingly oppressive. Moreover, thousands of troops were motionless, leaving only the white air that the people and horses exhaled from time to time in the biting cold, showing the rigorous military discipline of the Wuzhaibao army.

Not to mention that Song Yingchang, Hao Jie and others were moved, even Li Rumei, the fifth brother beside Li Rusong, was shocked and suspicious. He always thought that he was in the Liaodong warriors, but he didn't expect that he could still be at a disadvantage compared with the Wuzhai Fort army.

While everyone was looking at the Wuzhaibao army, Huang Laifu squinted his eyes and looked at the Liaoyang City not far behind him. Like the towns of each town on Jiubian, Liaoyang City was also built very thick and profound. The city was surrounded by blue bricks for several miles, and it had multiple city gates. There were countless cannons placed in the battlements on the city wall.

Since the Ming Dynasty was pacified, the army and horses gathered here, so it became an important logistics base. Countless food, supplies, and materials were transported into it. Many civilians were busy and could smell the smell of gunpowder.
Chapter completed!