Mount Song Twenty-Eighth

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  Brothers, don't forget to vote after reading books.

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  "Big Brother!"

  Wei Yue indeed showed great courtesy, it seems that the favor he received back then was not small. As soon as Feng Da Gongzi and his entourage entered the city, Wei Yue was already kneeling on the ground, saying: "Your subordinate has seen the young master!"

  This is no longer a simple friendship, but rather a close relationship that treats each other as family, and considers oneself as a guest under the other's roof.

  "I don't dare, I don't dare!"

  Feng Gongzi was a young man in his early twenties, wearing a brocade robe, with a warm hat adorned with green jade on his head, leather boots with horsehair tassels on his feet, and riding a fine steed, accompanied by a retinue of over ten attendants... All these details indicate that he was a young master from a noble family.

  That's also true.

  Feng Gongzi's name is Kai Zhang, and his family has been prominent for several generations. His grandfather was the Minister of the Imperial Stables, and his father, Feng Yuanxiao, was the Vice-Governor of Tianjin. If his uncle, Feng Yuanyong, were still in office, he would be the Minister of War of the Ming dynasty. For several generations, his family has been composed of officials, so it is natural that Feng Gongzi carries an air of nobility that ordinary people do not possess.

  However, the Feng family obviously had good home training. Seeing Wei Yue paying his respects, Feng Kezhang hastily dismounted from his horse and revealed a beautiful riding skill, taking three steps as two, and then helped Wei Yue up before complaining: "Big Brother Wei, if I'd known you were going to pay your respects like this, I might as well not have met you."

  He was already a Xiucai, but his face had a heroic air, and he didn't wear a sword at his waist, but instead wore a straight knife. At this time, when talking to Wei Yue, he was also straightforward and direct, not like a noble young master from a scholarly family, but rather having a heroic and chivalrous spirit.

  "It's inconvenient to talk here, let's go with me." Wei Yue saw Feng Kechang like this, and also nodded slightly, then said: "Young master is staying at the hostel or going home?"

  "I asked you to come, of course I'll go to your place to stay. If we're going to stay at the hostel, why bother you?"

  "Alright, come down with the door."

  They were all straightforward and efficient people, and they immediately turned over their horses and went to Wei Yue's residence.

  Wei Yue lived in the Donghe area just north of Qianmen, and he took the straight road to get there. It was cold and there were few people on the street, so no one blocked his way, and before long he arrived at his destination.

  The place where I live is close to the city gate, and it's also very close to the majestic Zhengyangmen Gate Tower. From Wanshishan to Chentianmen, then to Qianmen, Yongdingmen, one can see layer upon layer of tall city towers in a glance. The sky is overcast, but these city gates still stand towering, even from a distance, and they look truly magnificent.

  "Alas!"

  After a while, Feng Kechang's face was gloomy, and he let out a long sigh, turning his head away and no longer looking.

  Wei Yue shook his head and stretched out his hand to invite him in, saying: "Please come in, young master."

  Although he was a military officer in the capital, his residence was not good. It was just a small courtyard with about ten rooms. The gate on the east side was already dilapidated and overgrown with weeds. The yard was not big either, but the wing room and main room had been renovated recently. The new kang bed was freshly built, and the windows were newly pasted with paper, making it very clean and warm inside.

  "Not bad." Feng Kai Zhang entered the house and sat down with Wei Yue by the window, only then did he let out a sigh of relief. He smiled and said: "Before I came, Father specially instructed me that Wei Da Sheng is stubborn and narrow-minded, and because of the case back then, he didn't think about making progress, so his life might be difficult. But now it seems, it's not related."

  "It's not that." Wei Yue's face also looked a bit embarrassed, and he smiled: "There are several sworn brothers who have made a fortune recently, and they've helped me out several times. I don't like taking money from others, but if I didn't take theirs, our lifelong friendship would be over... So it's still passable, and the old master is still thinking of me, I'm ashamed to not live up to his expectations."

  "Wei Da, don't be like this." Looking at the big man in front of him with a thoughtful expression, his whole body was full of a depressed and listless air, completely lacking any ambition. Just by looking at him, although he seemed to be living an easy life, it was clear that this person lacked vitality, not to mention fame or wealth; even if something were to provoke his anger, it would be difficult for him.

  He didn't know that the last time at Wansuishan, Wei Yue was provoked by the Crown Prince and revealed a strong shooting technique, but it was just like this, one shot was amazing, and then he sank again. Maybe such a powerful martial artist, with an unremarkable reputation, is because the knot in his heart can't be untied.

  Two men conversed in private, and Feng Kai Zhang relaxed a lot. He then turned to Wei Yue and said: "I know you're an uncompromising martial artist who remembers every kindness received, especially since my father saved your life back then, so you consider yourself under his wing... Please let me finish speaking... But with this attitude and demeanor of yours, you're not only disgracing your own martial arts skills but also the life you've earned through bloody battles. A man living in this world may have suffered grievances, but he must never lower himself to be inferior. Today's words are spoken bluntly by my younger brother, but they come from his heart. Please forgive me, older brother."

  "Ah, you're absolutely right."

  Being moved by such sincere words, Wei Yue's face was also somewhat affected, but after a while, he still clenched his fists and said calmly: "It's still the same, without the emperor's personal edict to apologize to us, we will never truly serve the court... Young Master, don't persuade me anymore."

  "Alas, past events were indeed too humiliating for you."

  "Is it just a concession?" Wei Yue's expression was ferocious, and he said angrily: "It's simply inhumane!"

  He tore open his chest, but saw a dozen or so scars up and down, with all sorts of knife cuts and sword stabs. Looking at Feng Kai Zhang, Wei Yue angrily said: "Our injuries are all on our chests, for the sake of the great Ming dynasty, we have suffered like this, and yet you still don't say anything. But during the Songshan battle, we followed General Hong's orders to charge into the enemy lines with our iron cavalry, and the Qin army brothers were indeed good fighters, they charged forward together with us! Along the way, the Eastern barbarians only ran away at the sight of us, who could be our match? We just kept advancing, cutting down anyone in our path!"

  It wasn't until then that Wei Yue's true demeanor was revealed, standing tall with a voice that carried the sound of gold and stone, completely unlike his previous lifeless appearance.

  It was such a great Han that, in the Battle of Songshan, when the whole army was defeated and fleeing, he did not retreat but instead advanced with the main force of Hong Chengchou's central army guard cavalry and Qin Liangyu's vanguard, thousands of iron cavalry not only did not flee with the Datong Army and Ganning Army, but instead charged straight into the enemy's densest, most flag-dense, and loudest drumbeat central army formation!

  Even after all these years, Wei Yue's face still had a look of shock and awe: "The Tartars are numerous and their morale is high! They have never been defeated since they started the war, and every battle they fought against us for decades was a victory. The Gengning Army only dared to defend the city and never dared to fight in the open field. The Dongjiang Army mostly used guerrilla tactics and didn't dare to fight head-on with them. Those corrupt officials also said that we couldn't defeat the Tartars in a wild battle, that their cavalry was invincible, and that our Great Ming army would definitely lose... But is it really that strange? General, our capital's military officers have always been looked down upon by the outside garrisons. When the Hong Army went on an expedition, the Emperor searched for soldiers from various garrisons before finally sending us out. So everyone was holding back their breath, and adding to that, the Qin brothers were really good fighters, they didn't even look at the arrows that hit them, they just kept moving forward, and if they fell off their horses, as long as they weren't dead, they would grit their teeth and find another horse to charge forward! It was a chaotic and desperate charge, with only one goal in mind: to move forward. People who weren't there really can't imagine it...

  "I know, I know!"

  Wei Yue was already in tears, while Feng Kai Zhang also jumped down from the pit and stood below Wei Yue with his hands clasped together, listening with utmost respect.

  "In this way, the Eastern Barbarians first dispatched a few dozen banners and several hundred troops, but we charged right through them and they couldn't stop us. Later, seeing that things were not going well for them, they added more troops, but we didn't pay any attention to them, just kept advancing forward, ignoring both sides and the rear. With this kind of charge, it was natural that they couldn't stop us, and later we charged right up to the front of the imperial carriage. I had already seen it - under the imperial canopy, there was a stout figure with a barbarian chieftain's hat adorned with several layers of pearls, which could be seen from far away even though he was wearing a green brocade arrow robe. Although we all knew that this was the slave leader Huangtaiji, when we saw him, everyone shouted loudly and charged forward..."

  Wei Yue's voice gradually became lower and more indistinct as he spoke up to this point.

  In fact, Songshan was the last battle, and tomorrow morning all the elite soldiers were dispatched to Hong Chengchou. The 130,000-strong army was almost entirely composed of elite soldiers from various garrisons. Why did Chen Xingjia and others urge Hong Chengchou to fight quickly and win decisively? Apart from the fact that the grain allowance could not be sustained, this time a huge sum of money was spent mobilizing all the crack troops on the border, which was also the reason why everyone from the emperor to the ministers were confident.

  It was the first time since the war with Dongyue that so many border troops and garrison towns were mobilized together for battle.

  Unfortunately, Hong Chengchou was too hasty and lost his composure, causing the grain supply lines to be cut off. As a result, the commander of Datong fled first, followed by the Guanning army, which immediately retreated in disarray. The entire army collapsed like a landslide.

  At the critical moment, the Qin army and Hong Chengchou's central army did not retreat but instead advanced, with several thousand cavalry charging towards the Qing army's main formation. At the closest point, they were only a few arrows' distance away from Huang Taiji's own formation.

  This was a time when Huang Taiji was shocked and angry, even sending out a large army could not stop the Ming army like a madman. In the end, he had to send all his own guards to barely hold off the Ming army.

  After this battle, the slave leader also felt hurt and did not enter the border for many years. It was not until the Ming and Qing dynasties that they lived in peace for several years.

  As one of the vanguard officers at that time, Wei Yue's pride was justified, but his anger also evoked sympathy.

  Wang Pu, the commander of Datong who fled first, was beheaded. However, Wei Yue and others who charged into the battlefield but were rolled back by the chaotic army were also captured as fugitive generals. The Ganning Army also fled in front, but they were safe and sound from top to bottom, and the court did not ask about it at all.

  Weiyue and others also knew that the eastern affairs still relied on the Guanning Army, so in the court, especially the emperor, they were absolutely unwilling to push the Liao Xi Jiangmen to the Dong Yu side.

  It's only proper to put them at a disadvantage... Those who escaped, more than half were beheaded. As for Wei Yue and the others, if it weren't for Feng Yuanfei, the brother of the Minister of War, and others coming forward to rescue them, they probably wouldn't have been able to keep their heads on their shoulders.

  In this way, the military officer in front of him was unwilling to truly serve the Ming dynasty again. Even if he was later found not guilty and re-entered the capital as a military officer, his heart had cooled down and could never be warmed up again.

  "Alas, this is how the great Ming dynasty has been ruined!"

  Feng Jia's eldest son also has a somewhat arrogant and depraved appearance. In the past decade or so since the current emperor took power, he has been unfair in his decisions, overly hasty and credulous in his use of people, stingy with rewards and grudges, and often makes mistakes... The person before us is a perfect example of this.

  "Unless His Majesty apologizes to us, otherwise, this time the eldest son comes with a heavy responsibility, but let the eldest son handle it himself." Saying these impossible words, Wei Yue's expression remained calm and collected, only saying: "The great affairs of state have nothing to do with me anymore."