Chapter 266: First arrival in Chongqing

At the end of September of the second year of Jianwen, Li Weizheng led 200,000 troops to reach Chongqing Prefecture, which was still controlled by the imperial court. Hundreds of huge warships arrived in advance gathered on the Chongqing River. On the river, sails covered the sky and the sun, and teams of fully armed soldiers lined down from the ship. The black armor shone with a layer of radiance under the sun.

On the shore, Gao Wei, the commander stationed in Chongqing Prefecture, was a little restless. The initial joy had disappeared. The powerful pressure brought by the Liaodong Army made him realize that he would be in a subordinate position on the Sichuan battlefield. He even thought about leading his army to leave Chongqing, but the situation in front of him told him that he had no way out.

At this time, a warship slowly landed. A general came down from the ship. Gao Wei recognized this person at a glance. Deng Jian, the former commander of Xuanwei Guard in Henan, was later transferred to Shandong to serve as the commander-in-chief. Twenty years ago, they were in Xuanwei Guard as a thousand households. The two were fellow villagers and worked together for five years. The relationship was very good. The sudden appearance of an old friend made Gao Wei feel as if he had found a way in the fog. He was overjoyed and hurriedly met.

Deng Jian was the vanguard general of the Liaodong Army's Western Expedition. He led 50,000 troops to Chongqing in advance. He had just got off the ship and was listening to the report of his generals. Suddenly, he heard someone calling him. When he turned around, he immediately recognized it. It was his former old friend Gao Wei. An undetectable expectation flashed in his eyes. He immediately strode forward. The two hugged each other tightly. Then Deng Jian punched the other person with a heavy punch and said with a smile: "I thought I was going to collect your body this time? I didn't expect you to be alive."

"You are not the same. I also thought you died under the sword of King Yan. Didn't you crawl out?"

The two looked at each other and raised their heads and laughed. Gao Wei immediately put his shoulder on his shoulder and pointed to the pavilion in the distance and smiled: "Let's go there and sit there, let's use tea instead of wine and talk about old friendships."

"Brother Gao waited for me for a moment."

Deng Jian immediately found the deputy general and ordered him to reorganize the army on the spot. Gao Wei also asked his generals to assist them in stationing and resting. After arranging military affairs, the two came to the pavilion to sit down. Several personal soldiers served them tea and put a few more plates of fine dots. Gao Wei said happily: "I have been stationed in Chongqing Prefecture for a whole year. I am looking forward to the reinforcements of the court every day, but the news I heard was defeated again and again. The millions of troops were destroyed, which made people feel cold. But I didn't expect that after suddenly receiving the imperial edict twenty days ago, the court actually sent Liaodong troops to Sichuan to fight, which was both surprising and surprising."

"Why are Brother Gao surprised?" Deng Jian asked without saying a word.

"Why isn't it unexpected? The Liaodong Army came from thousands of miles away. I thought that even if the Liaodong Army participated in the war, it would still fight against the King of Yan's army, but I didn't expect that it would actually come to Sichuan, which is really unexpected."

"This is the emperor's will. Of course General Li must obey, but General Li also told me that if Lan Yu is immortal for a day, the court will not be able to concentrate on dealing with the King of Yan, so he also believes that entering Sichuan is the right decision. This time he was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Five Armies, and he has full authority to quell Lan Yu's rebellion. Brother Gao must cooperate more."

Deng Jian's words pointed Gao Wei's thoughts. He was silent for a moment and suddenly asked, "What kind of person is Lord Li?"

Deng Jian smiled slightly and said, "Brother Gao has heard of the fact that he killed the governor of Yuezhou in Wuchang!"

Gao Wei nodded, "I heard that, I agree with Lord Li's point of view very much. Military law is as good as a mountain. Kill it if it should be killed. If you cannot admit your mistake, you can pass it. To be honest, I do not agree with the emperor's re-use of Li Jinglong, but instead re-use of him. But as a minister, I cannot argue with the emperor's decision. In fact, it is not just me. The generals under my command think that the emperor is too kind. Even if he does not kill Li Jinglong, he will never re-use him. This incident made us all feel cold. Such rewards and punishments are not clear, and the morale of the army is dissatisfied! So Lord Li dared to contradict the emperor and said that there is no past re-taken. If the military order is in the end, those who do not follow will be killed. The whole army shouted with joy."

Deng Jian smiled and said, "Not only you, but also our Liaodong Army are all relieved, so we think that if we come to Sichuan this time, if the general is in charge, our Liaodong Army will definitely defeat Lan Yu."

Speaking of this, Deng Jian suddenly frowned and said with some concern: "Brother Gao, there is a saying I don't know whether to say it or not."

"Brother Deng, based on the friendship between us, you can just say it or not."

"Okay! Then I'll just say it."

Deng Jian pondered for a moment and said, "You must have seen the emperor's order. It is written very clearly. As the commander-in-chief of the Five Armies, General Li will command the full authority to quell the Lan Yu rebellion. In other words, General Li will be the commander of the Sichuan battlefield. Whether it is the army in Chongqing or the army in Hanzhong, they will be under unified command. But I am very worried that Brother Gao will obey the orders on the surface, but in fact, he will not accept it. He will not care about Lord Li's military orders. That is why I recommended myself as a vanguard, just to tell Brother Gao that if Brother Gao is unwilling to obey General Li's orders, he can go back to the court before Lord Li takes office. If Brother Gao wants to make his own decisions and refuses to accept the orders after Lord Li takes office, then Brother Gao will be in danger."

Gao Wei was silent. Of course he understood what Deng Jian meant. He also knew that Deng Jian was not a vanguard. It must be Li Weizheng who sent him to come first and said ugly words in front. If he obeyed his orders, he would be a general under his command and entrusted important tasks. If he didn't obey, he would either leave first or die. This made Gao Wei very embarrassed. If Li Jinglong came, he might even be willing to fight troops with a sigh. After all, it was the army of the court, but Li Weizheng was different. The Liaodong Army was his own army. If he handed over the military power himself, wouldn't it mean that Liaodong had added another 50,000 new troops?

But the emperor's decree was made very clear. If he led his army to withdraw, it would mean that he would not obey the order. Li Weizheng would still kill him. Besides, the 50,000 vanguard troops in Liaodong had arrived in Chongqing. Where could he retreat?

He sighed and said, "Can I think about this?"

Seeing that he had already understood, Deng Jian nodded and said, "Brother Gao doesn't have much time anymore, so I might as well tell the truth! In fact, General Li's main force has arrived in Changshou County and can arrive in Chongqing in at most two days."

In the two days Deng Jian said, in fact, Li Weizheng's 100,000 main army arrived in Chongqing at noon the next day. The vast fleet was out of sight. Li Weizheng stood on the big ship, looking at the undulating mountains in the distance with a quiet look. Although his army defeated the elite of the King of Yan in Fengyang, it was just an encounter, and the scale was not large enough, nor was it large enough. This time it would be a real test of his army. His opponent would be the last famous general of the Ming Dynasty. Perhaps Lan Yu was incapable of political ability, but in military terms, he was a true genius. He was famous for his conquest of the Northern Yuan Dynasty. He fought south and north and won every battle, but Li Weizheng's military talent was far from comparable to Lan Yu.

Li Weizheng knew this very well, but he also had an advantage that Lan Yu could not match. Not only was his firearm sharp, but he was in the dark and Lan Yu was in the bright. For the arrival of this day, Li Weizheng had prepared for three years. Three years was enough to let him understand everything about Lan Yu, but Lan Yu knew nothing about him.

"Governor, look!" A personal soldier beside him pointed at the shore and shouted, interrupting his thoughts. Li Wei turned his head and looked up at the shore. He saw a group of people standing in a pavilion not far from the shore. Two of them stood in front to bow to him. He recognized one of them at a glance, which was his pioneer general Deng Jian, and next to him was a middle-aged general, with a burly figure and majestic temperament. Although Li Weizheng didn't recognize him, he had already guessed that this person must be the general Gao Wei. A knowing smile appeared on Li Weizheng's face. He knew that Gao Wei would definitely stay. Most smart people should see clearly the general trend of the court. He also bowed slightly and greeted the two in the pavilion.

The boat slowly landed, and a long board reached the shore. Deng Jian and Gao Wei had already arrived from the pavilion. They rushed onto the boat to pay homage to Li Weizheng. Gao Wei recognized Li Weizheng. He stepped forward and knelt down on one knee and saluted: "Gao Wei, the assistant general of the former army, met the Grand General."

Gao Wei has two official positions, one is the assistant general of the former army, and the other is the commander of the Jiangxi commander. The assistant general of the former army is just a false position. His real power official is the commander of the commander, but now he is reported to the official position of the Five Army Office, which actually recognizes Li Weizheng's commander as the chief general of the Five Army.

He didn't sleep all night last night, and repeatedly considered where he would go. Yesterday, Deng Jian revealed the real strength of the Liaodong Army, which had reached 600,000 people, which shocked Gao Wei. He finally realized that Li Weizheng was irreversible in power in the Ming Dynasty. For his future and destiny, he finally made up his mind to follow Li Weizheng.

Li Weizheng quickly helped him up and said sincerely: "General Gao is worthy of being the pillar of my Ming Dynasty. He can lead 50,000 troops alone to face a strong enemy for a year. Others do not know General Gao's contribution, but I know how hard General Gao has worked for this. If he pacified Lan Yu, General Gao's contribution can rank third."

Li Weizheng's words made Gao Wei feel warm in his heart. Of course, he knew that Li Weizheng was the first to rank first, while Zhang Yi from Hanzhong should be Zhang Yi. Zhang Yi led 200,000 troops to resist the attacks between Lan Yu and the King of Qin. The pressure was much greater than that of him. He felt inferior, so Li Weizheng ranked third in his credit, which shows that Li Weizheng was a truth-seeking person and treated him with sincerity.

He couldn't help but say gratefully: "Brothers bid farewell to their wives and parents for many years when they were fighting, and the most feared thing was that the reward and punishment was unknown. The emperor not only did not punish the defeated generals, but instead used them again. General Sheng won a great victory in Jinan, but he had to give up a meager reward and almost committed suicide. Such reward and punishment were reversed, which really made the brothers feel disappointed. However, the Lord dared to take the blame in the world in Wuchang and resolutely killed the governor of Yuezhou. Such courage and means made the soldiers respect him. This time, Lord Li led his army to fight against Lan Yu, and 50,000 soldiers in Chongqing were willing to listen to the orders of the Lord."

Li Wei nodded and said solemnly: "General Gao is a talented general. I will entrust him with great importance. The 50,000 garrisons in Chongqing will still be under the full command of General Gao as my left wing."
Chapter completed!