"Mr. Li, what is written in this letter?" Wu Liang asked with concern.

"It's just that Shandong Governor Li Maofang wrote a letter to come to plead for Liu Zeqing. He said that everyone is a Shandong official army. Although there was a conflict between the upper and lower levels due to villains, he still hopes that our army and Liu Zeqing will reconcile as soon as possible and then release the prisoners. This matter can be revealed. Humph, this person is funny. Our army finally captured these prisoners, so how could it be that he could easily release the prisoners with just one letter!" Li Xiao sneered and immediately threw the letter aside.

"Sir, even though he said that, since the Wanli year, the governor has been under the jurisdiction of the three departments and also served as the commander of the Shandong chief commander. He has both civil and military power and is quite powerful. He is actually a prince who can kill and seize power and use his own power in a province of Shandong. Since he wrote a letter in person, he still has to give this face." Wu Liang replied solemnly.

Li Xiao pondered for a moment, sighed and said, "Well, I'll give this Governor Li a face. I personally wrote a letter to explain the ins and outs of the internal struggle to prevent the governor from being partial to the side. Just listening to Liu Zeqing's one-sided words, he would be useless to our army."

After Wu Liang left, Li Xiao spread paper and grind the ink, wrote a quick letter, and quickly finished a long letter.

Although Li Xiao did not clearly name the letter, he had already explained in detail how Liu Zeqing and his gang secretly wooed their generals, so that they could cooperate with Zheng Longfang and wanted to seize the Chifeng Castle in one fell swoop. In the letter, Li Xiao said righteously that Liu Zeqing, as a superior, had given such a vicious move to his subordinates. How despicable! Fortunately, he had prepared himself long ago and had not allowed his vicious plan to succeed. Li Xiao finally wrote at the end of the letter that he hoped that the governor would make a decision and punish some people who provoked trouble. Only after returning Li Xiaojun to his innocence and justice can he discuss the return of the prisoners.

After Li Xiao finished writing, he sealed the wax seal and handed it to the messenger who had already rested in the fort, asking him to take the letter back to Jinan tomorrow, but the messenger repeatedly agreed without mentioning it.

In the next few days, there was nothing else in the fort except for the intensive construction of the warehouse.

Now, all the soldiers have been replaced with armor. The original part of the Black Tiger heavy cavalry that was worn by cotton armor has been replaced with iron armor. The extra ten pieces of iron armor are replaced with flying kites wearing cotton armor. The existing spearmen and shield soldiers are all replaced with cotton armor. The mandarin duck war jackets that have been replaced from the spearmen and shield soldiers are distributed to the firearms troops, and the navy sailors and security brigades wear. Li Xiao did not match them with heavy cotton armor, but to make their movements more convenient and faster.

After changing to better equipment, everyone's face was full of joy, and they were even more enthusiastic when they were trained.

Li Xiaojun had more than a thousand pieces of seized cotton armor left and did not use it. After Li Xiao planned to recruit new auxiliary soldiers, he sent them to wear it.

Li Xiao didn't know that at this time, there was a fierce debate between Shandong General Liu Zeqing and Governor Li Maofang in the Governor's Office.

"Sir, look at what Li Xiaoxin said, it is completely nonsense, and his words are so arrogant! It is nonsense that I want to plot against his Chifeng Castle before I win over his subordinates and secretly send troops to attack him. It's really nonsense and slander! I have 30,000 soldiers and horses under my command. If I want to plan for his small Qianhu Fort, why bother so much? Just as the army comes out, his Chifeng Fort will become a piece of powder!" Liu Zeqing sat on a nanmu chair with an angry expression on his face.

Li Maofang, sitting on a soft official hat chair on the top, had a white face and a long beard floating, with a leisurely and elegant look of a scholar-official. After hearing Liu Zeqing's words, his face was as calm as usual. At the same time, a faint cold snorted from his nostrils.

Li Maofang, whose courtesy name was Guohua and his pseudonym Yuwan, was a native of Shangyu in the Ming Dynasty. He passed the Jinshi in the 41st year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1613). He was first appointed as the magistrate of Xinghua County, Fujian. He was later promoted to the top and was finally promoted to the left deputy censor by the chief assistant Zhou Yanru. After Zhou Yanru was attacked by Wen Tiren, he fell from the throne due to the struggle between the two factions in the court. Li Maofang, who had always defended himself and did not participate in forming cliques for personal gain, eventually replaced Zhu Dadian, the former governor who was promoted to the governor of the grain transportation, and succeeded as the governor of Shandong and commander of Shandong.

Li Maofang was able to become the governor of Shandong, not because he was outstanding in his ability, but because it was entirely the result of internal struggles and compromises in the court. Therefore, when he was appointed, he was shocked.

Since taking office in Shandong, this new civil servant Li Maofang acted relatively weak and mediocre. Liu Zeqing, who was appointed as the commander-in-chief and general of Shandong, looked extremely despised and took the lead in hiding his slander. Especially in terms of military affairs, Liu Zeqing had the final say. Although Li Maofang was extremely angry, he had no choice but to do anything in his heart. After all, he did not understand military affairs and had no reliance on power, so he could only silently endure Liu Zeqing's domineering arrogance.

It is a pity that although Li Maofang was so indifferent, Liu Zeqing became more and more disliked about him. Finally, he found an opportunity later. At the end of the eighth year of Chongzhen, he reported that he was greedy for public funds during the disaster relief period, did not care about the people's livelihood, and embezzled more than 20,000 taels of military pay. Wen Tiren, who was known for his treacherous minister, had originally wanted to promote his own people, so he took this opportunity to impeach Li Maofang from his post, and then arranged his confidant Yan Jizu to succeed as the governor of Shandong.

Li Maofang, who had left his job and returned home, was depressed and stayed in the door. After a few years, he died of worries and anger.

Seeing Liu Zeqing's angry look, Li Maofang glanced at him and said lightly: "Hezhou, since you said this, how could the three thousand soldiers of Zheng Longfang's army run to Chifeng Castle for no reason, and how would they fight with Li Xiao's army? Isn't that strange?"

Liu Zeqing choked when he heard this. He looked at the smiley expression on Li Maofang's face, and gritted his teeth with hatred. He had to bite the bullet and said, "Sir, why did Zheng Longfang's troops go to Chifeng Castle, the lower officials do not know the reason. After Zheng Longfang is released and returned, I will ask him clearly."

Li Maofang snorted coldly in his heart and said to himself, Liu Zeqing, as the general of Shandong, you are the gangsters below, and they will attack Chifeng Castle with three thousand soldiers. You even said that you don’t know the reason. Humph, you can go and lie.

He then thought again, Liu Zeqing was really an irresponsible person. If something happened, he pushed the blame to his subordinates. Zheng Longfang was blind after following such a person.

However, although Li Maofang thought so, his face was still calm. He said oh, and then said calmly: "How should we deal with this matter according to General Liu's intention?"

Liu Zeqing stood up from the chair, bowed and said loudly to Li Maofang: "I beg the governor to agree, and let me immediately summon the troops of Shandong garrisons and gather the army together, and send troops immediately. I will be able to quickly scatter the thief Li Xiao's nest Chifeng Castle in one fell swoop. Our captured soldiers can also be rescued."

After Liu Zeqing finished speaking, he looked at Li Maofang with a sincere look on his face, but Li Maofang just squinted his eyes and didn't say anything.

Seeing Li Maofang's calm and uneasy look, Liu Zeqing was both ashamed and angry. In his heart, he had secretly scolded his military advisor Li Huajing several times.

After the defeated soldiers fled back to Jinan that day, Liu Zeqing, who heard the news, was almost furious. More than 2,000 elite soldiers were lost to Li Xiao in this way, which was a great humiliation!

On the same day, Liu Zeqing was so angry that he almost wanted to behead Li Huajing, who was standing in front of him and trembling, and fortunately he suppressed the evil fire in his heart and only cursed Li Huajing fiercely and fined his salary for half a year.

Damn, if it weren't for Li Huajing, he had to take a shortcut and make some tricks to rebel and send troops to attack him. How could he be like this now? He lost his wife and his troops, and even let Li Maofang, a useless civil servant, see a joke.

If I had been a little tougher at the time, I would have taken advantage of the opportunity that Li Xiao's Chifeng Fort had not yet been built, and the 30,000 troops would have attacked him, and now I would have cut off Li Xiao's dog head. Why should I still be here now? I will be so angry with the bird-like energy of this civil servant named Li?

Liu Zeqing, who was furious that day, finally calmed down and began to face reality.

Now, among the 30,000 soldiers and horses, all of the 3,000 elite soldiers selected were killed or captured by Li Xiao, except for the nearly 800 people who escaped. Liu Zeqing knew very well that after Li Xiao's victory, his morale and morale would definitely increase greatly. However, his elite soldiers were greatly destroyed. Even though the number of people was still large, the elite soldiers had been lost. It would be difficult to attack Li Xiao, who was already strong in the city, who was well-defended.

This is why Liu Zeqing came to see Li Maofang a few days ago.

He wanted to use Li Maofang to issue military orders to mobilize troops in various places, so as to gather the army to conquer the damn Chifeng Castle in one fell swoop and cut the damn Li Xiao into pieces.

What surprised and ashamed Liu Zeqing was that Li Maofang, who seemed weak and could be bullied, actually refused his request.

Li Maofang said to him, "You and Li Xiao are both the Ming Dynasty official troops in Shandong, how can we fall into such a state of killing each other and killing each other?" Our Shandong official troops lasted for two years. By March last year, the rebellious rebels who were in rebellion by Kong Youde were already seriously injured. How could we attack each other so much? General Liu, you act recklessly, will your relatives suffer, and the enemy be happy. Besides, if the court blames you, General Liu, and Li Xiao, not only will you be unable to bear it, but I, as the governor, also be scolded by the emperor.

Liu Zeqing was speechless by Li Maofang's words of slander and reprimand. In the end, he had to agree, and Li Maofang came forward to mediate and wrote a letter of persuasion to Li Xiao, hoping that Li Xiao would release the prisoners and reconcile the two families.

Unexpectedly, Li Xiao refused to give himself this step. Although he did not name it, he denounced his despicable behavior in his reply letter and asked Li Maofang to severely punish him. This made Liu Zeqing, who had read the reply letter, feel angry again.

"Hezhou, you should be calmer." Li Maofang sighed and said lightly: "The words in Li Xiao's letter also make sense. If you listen to them in a biased manner, Ben Xian will deal with the unfairness. Well, Ben Xian will give Li Xiao a little more face and go to Chifeng Castle in person to investigate the matter clearly, and settle the matter of reconciliation as soon as possible."

Liu Zeqing looked embarrassed: "Why should you do this? Do you think Li Xiao is too proud of that guy?"

Li Maofang shook his head: "Benxian is just a walk. If we can exchange for the harmonious coexistence of our Shandong government troops, it is worth it. Let's go back in Hezhou. After Benxian understands the facts, he will make a decision on this matter."

Liu Zeqing had no choice but to say goodbye and leave.

Liu Zeqing walked away, and from behind the screen in the living room, a young man wearing a blue Confucian shirt and a white and round face walked out with a smile and said to Li Maofang: "Dongweng, now that Liu Zeqing has settled, he wants to decide when to set off for Chifeng Castle?"

Li Maofang looked at him with a happy look and replied with a smile: "Wuzi, it seems that this matter is in your control."

The young man laughed and bowed to Li Maofang and said, "Where? The students are just giving some simple opinions. It is a blessing for the adults to adopt them."

This young man named Wozi was a young master at that time, with his full name Chen Zilong.

Chen Zilong, a native of Huating, Songjiang, Zhili, was a famous writer and a famous scholar in Fushe. His first name was Jie, whose courtesy name was Wozi, Maozhong, Renzhong, and his pseudonym was Dazun, Haishi, Yifu, etc. This man was loyal and upright, with both civil and military skills, and was a rare talent. He served as a prosecutor in Shaoxing and was promoted to the military department for his merits. As a result, he was appointed as the Ming Dynasty. After the Qing army captured Nanjing, he contacted the Taihu people's armed organizations and carried out anti-Qing activities. He was eventually arrested after his defeat and died in the first year of Yongli.

At this time, Chen Zilong had just married Zhang Guiduan, the magistrate of Shaoyang County, Baoqing Prefecture, Huguang. In order to obtain fame, he went to the capital at the beginning of this year to participate in the seventh year of Chongzhen examination.

Unexpectedly, because he talked about the difficulties of state affairs in the imperial examination, it was because many senior officials in the court did not do anything, and was deeply hated by the chief assistant Wen Tiren and others, which made him fail to return home. According to official historical records, it was not until Wen Tiren stepped down that this person passed the imperial examination.

After returning from the south of the capital, Chen Zilong went to Jinan to visit Li Maofang, who was then the governor of Shandong. Chen Sowen, the father of Chen Zilong, was once the Minister of Justice and was a friend of Li Maofang when he was old friends. Li Maofang was very welcome when he saw his old friends coming. Later, he found that Chen Zilong had a good conversation, his words were smart, and his talent seemed to be above his father. He admired him very much and wanted to take Chen Zilong as a staff member under the tent. Unexpectedly, although Chen Zilong had called him Dongweng, he never clearly agreed to become his aide. Li Maofang cherished his talent and invited him to live in the mansion for a longer time. Chen Zilong could not refuse his intentions, so he could not mention it in the mansion.

Li Maofang looked at Chen Zilong, who was in front of him, and smiled again: "It seems that Wozi wants to go to the Chifeng Castle with Benxian?"
Chapter completed!