Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

Chapter 617 The Man of Destiny

Two informal letters were placed in front of him. The bright yellow one represented Emperor Chongzhen, while the other one with a dark red cover came from Zhang Shikang, the Duke of the Ming Dynasty.

Unexpectedly, the first letter Li Zicheng opened was from Zhang Shikang.

As soon as his eyes fell on the letter, Li Zicheng frowned slightly.

Is this a personal letter from the Grand Marshal?

How come this handwriting is not as good as mine?

After taking a quick look at the content, Li Zicheng frowned even more.

'Old Li, you guys are doing a good job outside the Great Wall. You haven't brought shame upon me as a Han Chinese.

Before I set out on the expedition, I have already reported this to Your Majesty. I believe that it won't be long before your crimes will be pardoned.

Based on my understanding of His Majesty, I think he will give you some small favors, such as appointing you as a small official, and then either send you to the interior to become a small wealthy family, or send you to the Tiger Guards to guard the Great Wall.

Well, you should know that our Majesty is very stingy.

However, I do not recommend that you just sit there and wait for death. You and your subordinates are all people who have been appointed to this destiny.

Please forgive me for speaking frankly, but the current situation is a major change that has not been seen in the Ming Dynasty for a hundred years. As a person who responds to the times, we should do greater things so that we can be praised by future generations.

Of course, the choice is up to you.

If you want to do something big, come find me.

Zhang Shikang's book.

Not only is the handwriting of this letter ugly, but it also contains typos and misspellings. It also has no structure and uses plain language.

Fortunately, the signature is stamped with the seal of the Grand Marshal, which cannot be faked.

And is there anyone else who dares to slander His Majesty in a letter?

"A man of destiny..." Li Zicheng muttered to himself.

Li Zicheng had no time to savor it. After handing Zhang Shikang's letter to his nephew Li Guo, he opened the letter from Emperor Chongzhen.

The content of Emperor Chongzhen's letter was much more formal, but Li Zicheng frowned again.

Precisely because it was too formal, all the writing was in classical Chinese. Li Zicheng's cultural attainments were limited to prenatal education. Although he taught himself for a long time after becoming the King of Chuang, his knowledge was only mediocre.

The words of Emperor Chongzhen in the letter were relatively mild. He did not mention the evil deeds committed by Li Zicheng inside the Great Wall, but simply affirmed Li Zicheng's achievements outside the Great Wall.

In the letter, Emperor Chongzhen formally acknowledged that Li Zicheng had made amends, but whether or not to reward him would still depend on the decision of court officials.

In addition to the letter to Li Zicheng, there was also a letter to Shunyi King Emubu. The Xitumed tribe has also performed well in the past two years.

But because the imperial court is currently engaged in a war, the evaluation of military merits may be delayed for a while.

Li Guo was also a little confused after reading the letter. He exchanged a glance with his second uncle, but Li Zicheng felt that this was not the place to talk, so he just used his eyes to indicate that he would talk later.

"General Li, considering that your subordinates have suffered heavy casualties in two consecutive battles, you can choose to stay in Guihua City to rest." Lu Xiangsheng said.

Although Zhang Shikang clearly stated that the Zui Camp was under the command of the Huben Army, Lu Xiangsheng had a strong sense of detachment from the Zui Camp, and many Huben Army officers and soldiers were even very resistant to the Zui Camp.

There is no way. The border troops have been fighting the bandits for more than ten years, and the war cannot be resolved in a few days.

But Lu Xiangsheng was not one to take revenge on personal grudges, so he chose to handle the matter impartially, and added:

"Oh, if you want to go back to Xuanfu to rest, that's certainly possible."

"I wonder what plans Commander Lu has next?"

Li Zicheng also lacked a sense of belonging to the Tiger Guards. Although the two were superiors and subordinates and their words were calm, it could be seen that they were very estranged.

But it was just a strange feeling, not hostility.

His subordinates had been wandering outside the Great Wall for so long, and whenever they ran out of food and supplies, they would go to Lu Xiangsheng, but Lu Xiangsheng never made things difficult for them.

There were even small groups of people who were chased by the Tatars and had to flee to the border town, only to be rescued by the Tiger and Leopard Army.

Lu Xiangsheng was slightly surprised when he heard this, but he didn't think about it and said:

"We will rest tonight, and the army will leave Guihua City tomorrow morning.

However, Guihua City should be safe for the short term, as the Jianlu will never send a large number of troops to attack Guihua City again."

Lu Xiangsheng's words not only answered Li Zicheng's questions, but also did not expose the army's plan.

Although the Zui Camp was considered one of his own, out of caution he usually did not say much to the generals who were not involved in the plan.

"So urgent? But the war in Jinzhou is getting intense?"

Li Zicheng obviously had more ideas, which were not made clear in Zhang Shikang's letter, but as the King of Rebellion, it was impossible for him to be content with being ordinary.

He had already made a rough decision in his mind and needed to go back to discuss it with Liu Zongmin and others, but before that it would always be a good idea to understand more about the current situation.

"Master Lu, Second Uncle, I just led the troops to suppress Jirgalang's counterattack.

Before he died, he said that the main force of the Jianlu gave up Guihua City because of the Grand Marshal. Then Jirgalang vowed that the Grand Marshal would be buried with him.

"I thought that when I quickly sent someone to inform the Marshal, I suspected that this was their real goal," Li Guo interrupted.

Jirgalang's tone at the time did not sound fake, and Li Guo was a little suspicious at the time.

"This is also the reason why I have to leave tomorrow morning. You don't have to worry about this matter. Go back and rest first." Lu Xiangsheng suddenly became anxious for no reason and said lightly.

In fact, he had learned the specific plan of the Guards three days ago. He was really bold.

He even thought that if Zhang Shikang was his son or nephew, he would tie him up and beat him up.

The safety of the Grand Marshal is very important, even more important than the losses of the Ming army. This cannot be said openly, but it is the consensus of the three major armies of the Ming Dynasty.

But their commander actually took the initiative to put himself in danger!

When Lu Xiangsheng first heard the news from the Jinyiwei, he was so angry that he almost cursed.

For this reason, even if the army had just arrived in Guihua from Xuanfu and Datong and had experienced a day of fighting, it would have to continue its march early the next morning, and it might still be in a forced march mode.

This really tests the physical endurance of the Hu Ben soldiers and the coordination ability of the generals of various departments.

"I'll take my leave." Li Zicheng bowed to Lu Xiangsheng.

He actually wanted to know more, but Lu Xiangsheng had clearly expressed twice that he didn't want to say more, so he could only withdraw first.

After leaving the tent, Li Guo followed Li Zicheng. Omubu's face showed joy and he said to Li Zicheng:

"Congratulations, Brother Li. It seems the court will no longer pursue your crimes. You can return to the interior to see your family."

Having been through thick and thin together for more than half a year, Ombu's words were particularly sincere.

"Yeah." Li Zicheng replied with only one word.

He is not a talkative person and most of the time he likes to think in silence.

"I wonder what Brother Li's plans are? Are you going back to the interior to reunite with your family?" Omubu asked again.

This was indeed the reason why Li Zicheng was upset. Of course he wanted to be reunited with his family. In fact, everyone in the Zui Camp wanted to be reunited with his family.

But then what?

People are often like this. They seem to know what they want, but when they get it, it seems that it is not what they originally thought.

Li Guo also wanted to go back to the interior to see his family, just as he had promised his subordinates before.

But if he were to go back and just live a quiet and contented life, that was definitely not what he wanted.

He did not hesitate like Li Zicheng, and directly said to Li Zicheng in a low voice:

"Second Uncle, I want to go find the Grand Marshal."

……