After accompanying He Kegang to check the number of troops, it was time for He Kegang to leave.

On the other side, Li Yi proposed that he would stay in Pidao.

This surprised He Kegang. You must know that they came to Dongjiang during these times. Although they were given warm hospitality, they were always under surveillance. What was Li Yi doing here?

Li Yi didn't say much, and He Kegang didn't ask. He asked Liu Zhi to lead three hundred gentlemen to protect Li Yi, and he followed the fleet back to Ningyuan.

It was already the twelfth lunar month of winter, and the apocalypse was cold. Liu Zhi was wrapped in cotton clothes, looking at the shrinking ships in the distance, and said: "Zizheng, why do you want to stay here? You must know that most of Mao Wenlong's men are vulgar and sinister. You have provoked them before.

If Kong Youde makes Mao Wenlong angry, they are not very friendly to us."

Li Yi said: "Dongjiang Town is the most powerful town in the world. Since I inspect the border on behalf of the Emperor, of course I can inspect it clearly here."

As he spoke, he turned around and looked at Liu Zhi, who was wearing iron armor and a red tasseled general's helmet, and said with a smile: "Brother De, you have been promoted to Chief Qian this time, and you have finally entered the ranks of the fifth-grade military attache."

Liu Zhi also looked happy when he heard this, and said sheepishly: "Thanks to Brother Zizheng, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to be promoted to Qianhu so quickly."

This time not only Liu Zhi was granted the title, but many people were promoted because of the great victory in Dalinghe. Among them, Wang Wucheng became the commander-in-chief, and Sun Ce was also granted the title of Metropolitan Procuratorate. From the highest-ranking Yuan Chonghuan to the soldiers of Dalinghe City at that time, all

Many promotions greatly increased Li Yi's reputation in Ningjin.

A good leader is a leader who can lead his subordinates to make meritorious service and get promoted. Li Yi became a good leader in the eyes of many officials and soldiers outside the Pass, and they all wanted to have the opportunity to make meritorious service under him.

Liu Zhi was very envious of this, but Li Yi didn't care.

What he is more concerned about now is what the emperor told him to investigate. Did Mao Wenlong have any dealings with the Kingdom of Jin?

And if you want to understand this matter, there is one person on Phidao who must know it, and that is Liu Xingzuo.

Liu Xingzuo was a native of Kaiyuan, Liaodong. He grew up in Jurchen, Jianzhou. He was outstanding in talent, smart and intelligent, and won the respect of Nurhachi. Later, after Nurhachi raised his army, Liu Xingzuo participated in the battle at Zhenghongqi, made military exploits, and became the deputy general of the Jin Kingdom.

He has jurisdiction over the four areas of Jinzhou, Fuzhou, Haizhou and Gaizhou, which is equivalent to guarding half of the southern gate of the Jin Kingdom. This shows how much he is trusted by the Jin Kingdom.

Liu Xingzuo became a senior official of the Jin Kingdom as a Han, and became the leader of the Han people in Liaodong in disguise. However, due to the food crisis and conflict of ideas, conflicts broke out between the Han people in Liaodong and Zhushen. Nurhaci used force to suppress the Han people, resulting in brutal national oppression and slavery.

This caused Liu Xingzuo to have hatred towards the Kingdom of Jin and wanted to save the Han people.

Later, under his arrangement, his younger brother set off a wave of uprising in Liaodong, which was suppressed by Nurhachi. His younger brother Liu Xingren was also killed. Although Liu Xingzuo was deceived, he was demoted and oppressed. Later, he understood that it was no longer possible for Nikan and Zhushen to live in harmony.

Realized, the Aixinjueluo family couldn't believe themselves, so they took advantage of Amin's failure to attack Dongjiang and defected to Mao Wenlong.

Before defecting to Mao Wenlong, Liu Xingzuo had always been Mao Wenlong's biggest source of intelligence in the Jin Kingdom. If you want to know what the relationship between Mao Wenlong and the Jin Kingdom is, Liu Xingzuo is the best choice, because he must know about it.

But now Mao Wenlong is still wary of himself, and Li Yi can't approach Liu Xingzuo too suspiciously, so he can only wait for the right time on Pidao.

Soon, this opportunity came.

Mao Wenlong suddenly invited Li Yi to accompany him to inspect the Tieshan farmland, and Liu Xingzuo was also accompanying him.

Of course Li Yi agreed and followed Mao Wenlong from Pi Island to Tieshan.

Tieshan and Pi Island face each other across the sea. They are the land of the Korean vassal state. They were later used by Mao Wenlong to farm and supply grain and grass.

As the Kingdom of Jin grew stronger and ravaged North Korea many times, Mao Wenlong's farmland in Tieshan also suffered certain losses. In September this year, Huang Taiji led an army to attack North Korea. The King of North Korea was afraid that he would be deposed, so he actively sued for peace, and finally got his wish and became a gold pawn.

The dog of the country, but he did not dare to offend the Ming Dynasty as the suzerain country, so he did not pay attention to the occupation of Tieshan and other places by the Ming army.

Mao Wenlong inspected Tieshan. In order to protect safety, more than a thousand people accompanied him. They came to Tieshan in a mighty manner, set up camp, and began to kill pigs for meat.

Li Yi was wearing a blue cotton-padded coat and a square scarf on his head. He was not too bulky, but the others did not have such a good body. They were all wearing thick cotton-padded coats. Those who did not have cotton-padded coats were covered with animal skin coats and were frozen.

He had to tremble all over, rub his hands and throw wood into the fire.

Mao Wenlong is not tall or strong, but his long military career has made him strong and dark-skinned. Although he is over fifty years old, he is still very energetic.

When I saw that the iron pot was already boiling, I pulled out my waist knife, picked out a piece of pork, grabbed it with my hand, and took two bites.

The pork burned his mouth. After two bites, Mao Wenlong couldn't bear it anymore. He threw the rest back and laughed and said, "This pork is delicious today. Where did you get it?"

Kong Youde, who was next to him, also picked out a piece with his waist knife, ate it, and said with a smile: "This is a contribution from the North Korean official next to him."

Mao Wenlong snorted coldly and said: "These Koreans have soft bones and only know how to flatter people. If you eat their pork, be careful that it will turn into soft bones."

The soldiers next to him laughed, and Kong Youde also said viciously: "The commander-in-chief is right. If we hadn't fought against the Tatars in Gyeonggi and other places this year and won successively, how could the Tatars have retreated so easily? Their Korean king.

It’s really cowardly. There are still 100,000 troops from the south who haven’t arrived yet, so they were frightened into surrendering. Fortunately, the emperor allowed us to send troops to support them.”

Mao Wenlong stretched out his hand to pull out the shredded meat from between his teeth, threw it into his mouth and chewed, "The more he thinks about it, the angrier he gets. It's really impossible to hold up the wall with mud."

Liu Xingzuo next to him smiled and said: "They are also scared of being beaten."

Everyone was eating meat and joking. Li Yi walked to Liu Xingzuo and said, "Brother Liu, why did this Korean vassal country lose so quickly?"

Liu Xingzuo smiled and said: "Mr. Li, you may not understand the Korean vassal state. Their military etiquette and even their writing are all imitated by our Ming Dynasty. Although this also makes them civilized, the court also has the tendency of partisanship, so we stand in harmony with it.

The current king of Korea is weak in temperament and has little ambition and talent, so he frequently begs for peace and surrender. Even their king, in order not to be deposed by the Tatars, once knelt down to the old slave and begged for peace. Such a weak person,

How can a country remain undefeated?"

Li Yi smiled and said: "The king of North Korea knelt down to the old slave, but Li didn't know this."

Liu Xingzuo said with a smile: "The king of North Korea also wanted to lose face, so the news did not spread. I only found out about it when the Jin general who led the army talked about it."

The two chatted with each other, and Li Yi learned a lot about the Jin Kingdom from Liu Xingzuo. Although Liu Xingzuo defected to Mao Wenlong, he had been rejected by the Dongjiang faction and had no friends. He also chatted with Li Yi very well.

In this way, the two often chatted together in the next few days and soon became good friends.

Mao Wenlong inspected the farming affairs in Tashan. Although most of them were destroyed by the Jin army this year, with the food and grass sent by Yuan Chonghuan, it didn't matter.

Just when Mao Wenlong was about to return to Tieshan Fort after his inspection, Kong Youde suddenly hurried to his side and whispered a few words.

Although he didn't know what he said, Mao Wenlong became furious after hearing this and asked all his deputy generals and generals to hold a meeting.

After thinking for a while, he looked at Li Yi and said, "Master Li, please come in too."

Li Yi walked into the military tent and saw Kong Youde and Mao Youjian who were accompanying him this time. Liu Xingzuo was sitting at the bottom. When he saw Li Yi coming in, he quickly waved to him.

Li Yi sat down next to Liu Xingzuo.

At this time, Mao Wenlong said: "Since everyone is here, let's discuss the matter. Kong Youde, please tell us today's news."

Kong Youde stood up after hearing this and said: "According to our scouts at Zhenjiang Fort, Jierhalang brought Li Yongfang and Tong Yangxing into Zhenjiang Fort last night. They brought five thousand soldiers and horses, and they were probably targeting us.

"

Jierhalang is Baylor of the Jin Kingdom. Although he is not a descendant of Nurhaci, he was raised by him and is an effective general under Huang Taiji.

Li Yongfang was originally a guerrilla general of the Ming Dynasty. Later, when Nurhaci besieged Fushun, he resisted for a while and then surrendered to Nurhachi.

He is considered a veteran figure of Nurhachi.

When I heard that Jierhalang was leading his troops to visit Zhenjiang Fort, I immediately remembered the discussion in the military tent.

Mao Youjian stood up and said angrily: "Don't you think about it? They must have seen the commander come to Tieshan and wanted to attack him secretly."

Kong Youde also nodded and said: "I think so too. Especially the two old thieves, Li Yongfang and Tong Yangxing, are the most cunning. They must have thought of this treacherous plan."

Mao Youjian and Kong Youde scolded Li Yongfang and Tong Yangxing.

Mao Wenlong had a sullen face and said nothing.

Liu Xingzuo said at this time: "The important thing now is not who came up with the conspiracy, but what should we do next?"

Kong Youde said: "What else can we do? Now that Jierhalang has led the troops, we will quickly retreat to Phi Island. As long as they reach the sea, their Tatar soldiers will become soft-footed shrimps, and we can still be afraid of them."

Mao Youjian also said: "Jirharang brought five thousand soldiers and horses this time. The commander only has a thousand personal troops around him. Adding the thousand people from Tieshan, there are only two thousand soldiers and horses. They may not be theirs."

opponent."

After the two expressed their opinions, they both looked at Mao Wenlong.

Mao Wenlong glanced at Li Yi who made the move and said, "Master Li, what is your opinion on the current situation?"

Before Li Yi could speak, Kong Youde sneered and said, "Commander, Mr. Li is just a weak scholar. He has never led an army to fight, so what can he know?"

Mao Wenlong waved his hand to shut him up, looked at Li Yi and said, "Master Li."

Li Yi stood up, glanced at Kong Youde who looked unconvinced, and said thoughtfully: "May I ask the commander when this news came?"

Kong Youde said angrily: "What happened at noon today?"

Li Yi did not answer and continued: "Since Jierhalang entered Zhenjiang Fort last night, after a night of rest, they will probably set off early this morning."

Kong Youde stood up and said impatiently: "Master Li, if you have anything to say, just say it freely."

Li Yi glanced at Kong Youde and said, "I mean, where did Jierhalang go? How many soldiers and horses came over? Only when we know this situation can we make a decision."

Hearing this, Kong Youde sneered and said, "I thought Mr. Li had some great ideas, but it turns out it's just talk on paper. Zhenjiang Fort is not far from Tieshan, and the Tatars are marching fast, and I'm afraid they may arrive at any time. If we don't retreat now, by then
Chapter completed!