Nanming Engineer

Chapter 8 The Monk's Idea

When Li Tingyu returned to the small temple in the city, Li Yan had already informed Wang Huan of the implementation of the plan, and the two were sitting on the stone steps outside the firewood room, whispering something softly.

Li Tingyu strode into the backyard. He glanced around and saw that only monk Wang Huan was there. He couldn't help but wonder: "Why are you alone? Where are the other young monks?"

Li Yan stood up and saluted, and said in a low voice: "My lord, Tian Xiong came over early in the morning and drove the young monks to the street to carry the corpse."

Li Tingyu was furious when he heard this, and said: "Let the young monks carry the corpses? Did I not ask you to come here, or let you protect these monks? That Tian Xiong didn't deal with us, and when he learned that we were going to take the young monks away, he would definitely change Trying to embarrass them, what are you doing?"

Li Yan bowed his head, not daring to make a sound, but Wang Huan explained: "General Li, it's no wonder Brother Li Yan. At that time, there were so many people in Tianxiong that no one could do anything about it. Thanks to Brother Li Yan's tough attitude, he drew a knife to kill him. You worked so hard to keep me here."

Wang Huan's explanation made Li Tingyu calm down a little, but he was still angry. He sat down on the stone steps and said to Wang Huan in a rough voice: "According to what you said, I have finished it today. Liu Liangzuo has promised me to take my troops and set out the day after tomorrow to escort the family members of the army and their belongings to the north to Xuzhou."

Wang Huan perked up after hearing this and praised continuously: "General Li is really wise and courageous. He accomplished such a difficult thing in an instant. I admire him very much!"

Li Tingyu said angrily: "What do you admire? You were the one who made the plan, and you were the one who guessed that the Qing army would take their family members as pledges to Xuzhou. Don't come here. Your method almost gave me away. I, Li The third child is a soldier with a big sword, but you asked me to pretend to be an opera actor in Liyuan, and I broke out in a cold sweat to perform this scene."

Wang Huan said with a smile: "Yes, yes, it's difficult for General Li. I will award you an Oscar in the future."

Li Tingyu was stunned: "What is the award?"

Wang Huan knew he had made a slip of the tongue, so he quickly changed the topic and said, "Since the first step has been successful, it is worthy of congratulations, but this is still the beginning of the plan, and the next steps are still extremely dangerous, and we have to think about it in the long run."

Li Tingyu was attracted and immediately forgot about Oscar. He stood up and said, "Yes, we will start right away. Have you found the map I asked you to find?"

The last sentence was said to Li Yan.

Li Yan was standing on the side in a state of panic, and only realized when Li Tingyu called him, and immediately replied: "I've found it, it's in my arms." He took out a stack of papers from his arms.

Li Tingyu took it with his hand, glanced left and right, and said to Li Yan: "Stay here, don't let outsiders in, if something is wrong, sound a warning."

Li Yan said yes, Li Tingyu took Wang Huan, turned around and entered the woodshed, and closed the door.

There was not even a table in the firewood room, and the two sat on the floor, and spread out the map folded into a small piece on the ground by the light from the hole in the roof.

"This is the marching map issued by the Ministry of War, including the thirteen routes of the whole country. It is the best map I have at present." Li Tingyu said, slowly unfolding the map with gentle movements, as if what he held in his hand was not a piece of paper, but Like a stunning beauty.

Wang Huan stretched his neck and watched with anticipation as the kraft paper on the ground was opened layer by layer. After the map was unfolded, it was about the size of a table. On it were mountains, rivers, cities, and mountains. They were painted in two colors of red and ink, and the place names were marked in small letters. The whole country The landforms of mountains and rivers are clear at a glance.

"It's not easy to get. At least officials at the rank of general, commander-in-chief and local governor are eligible to get it." Li Tingyu explained why he cherished this map so much.

Wang Huan didn't take it seriously, and was even very disappointed. Compared with the high-resolution maps he used in mineral geological exploration in later generations, this kind of map is just a piece of graffiti.

However, this is the Ming Dynasty, and neither topographical survey satellites nor synthetic aperture radars came out. It is rare to have such a detailed map. Military map of the army.

Wang Huan first checked the map carefully, pinpointed the locations of several landmark cities, and then used his hand as a ruler to measure between several place names. He came from later generations, and the place names of this era, compared with later generations, are somewhat There are differences, such as Hefei, which was called Luzhou in this era. Wang Huan must first distinguish carefully to avoid mistakes.

Li Tingyu didn't have so many questions. Seeing Wang Huan frowning while looking at the map, he said first, "According to what you said yesterday, we will set off the day after tomorrow. We will go north first, follow the official road all the way to Huai'an, and find land in Huai'an." Started, slaughtered the accompanying Qing army, then entered Hongze Lake, crossed the lake into the Huaihe River, traveled westward all the way, landed on the ground of Xinyang, then traveled westward to Xiangyang, went south from Xiangyang, arrived at Yichang, and then entered the Yangtze River, from the Yangtze River upstream. Go up to Kuimen and you're done."

Wang Huan read the small script for a long time, his eyes were blurred, and he rubbed his eyes and said, "Probably so, if everything goes well, this route is our road map for returning to Sichuan from the west."

Li Tingyu nodded and said: "This plan is much more complicated and far away than I originally thought to directly pull the team to Nanjing and enter the Yangtze River from Nanjing."

Wang Huan shook his head and reminded: "It is indeed more complicated, but in comparison, it is much safer. You are raising troops to the south now, just when the Qing army is attacking Nanjing. No matter what you are going to do, first put yourself in the In front of the two armies, there are no people inside and outside, just like grilling on the fire, there is only one dead end."

Li Tingyu agreed: "Yes, that's why I agree with your daring plan, little monk, you must plan well, don't push hundreds of us into the fire pit."

Wang Huan smiled slightly, and looked up at Li Tingyu sincerely: "My lord, am I not with you too? If something goes wrong, I will also die without a whole body."

Li Tingyu looked at him with a complicated expression and asked in a deep voice: "Actually, you are not from Sichuan, so why do you have to help me return to Sichuan? The world is so big, where can't I settle down?"

"Didn't I say that last night? The world is so big, where can I stay?" Wang Huan asked, "Now there are wars and wars everywhere, and most of China has fallen into the hands of the Jianzhou Tatars. I am willing to To help the general is to see that the general has the will to help the country and turn the tide, and there is a heroine behind the general."

"You mean General Qin? Do you recognize her?" Li Tingyu was surprised.

"I've been fascinated for a long time, but I don't have a chance to be Bayer." Wang Huan raised his head 45 degrees and looked up at the sky. He really admired the heroine of the female high school who went to Liaodong in the north and southwest of Nanzhen from the bottom of his heart. Now, Qin Liangyu should be in his seventies Second, he can actually mount his horse to face the enemy. He is like a god of war.

Li Tingyu kept looking at Wang Huan, and after confirming that he was really not performing, he slapped him heavily on the shoulder and said with emotion: "I didn't expect General Qin to have an admirer like you. It doesn't matter, as long as we can live." When you go back, I will definitely introduce you to her!"

"Thank you, General." Wang Huan turned his head back to the map: "But let's review this route again, and estimate what problems we may encounter."

When Li Tingyu got to the point, he lifted his spirits, pointed to the map and said first: "Well, I figured it out last night. There are three questions. The first is from here to Huai'an. I don't know how many people the Qing army will send with us. My five hundred brothers will definitely be disarmed and used purely as civilians. How to kill the Qing army at that time is a problem. The second is across Hongze Lake. Can’t find ships? This problem also exists on the Yangtze River. Third, the territory from Xinyang to Xiangyang is still under the control of Li Zicheng. We are the Ming army, and we are incompatible with the bandits. Big problem."

Wang Huan listened quietly, completely absorbed in thinking, and added at this time: "Yes, what the general said is very true, there is still a difficult problem, the team of 500 people, food and drink along the way, how to solve it, we have to solve it. Plan well."

Li Tingyu's brows furrowed into the character "Chuan", almost forming a ball. He looked at the map with a sad face for a long time, racking his brains, but could not think of a way to solve the problems he raised. When he was helpless, he heard Wang Huan spoke.

"General, I have thought about these problems countless times in my heart, and now I have a preliminary solution."

Li Tingyu almost couldn't believe his ears. He was stunned for a moment, watching Wang Huan motionless. Wang Huan smiled and leaned over, chirping and croaking, which made Li Tingyu, who was like an iron tower, almost jump with joy.

"Hahaha, you really are a smart boy, to come up with such a method, but isn't it a bit despicable." Li Tingyu was a little embarrassed when he was happy.

"In a life-and-death war, there is no distinction between a gentleman and a villain. The general just needs to prepare, and I will do it when the time comes." Wang Huan patiently enlightened him.

Li Tingyu is not a person who pretends to be a pious person, so he immediately turned his head around, patted Wang Huan on the shoulder and said: "I understand, I have killed countless people, and I don't have so many rules to surround myself. Fighting, why not fight. But , Wang Huan, why is your head so smart, I will call you Xiao Zhuge from now on."

Wang Huan was startled, shaking his hands wildly: "Don't, don't, I can't afford Zhuge Zhuge's stuff."

"That won't work. If you join our army, how can you command the people below if you don't have a name? How about this? When the army is on the road one day, I will let you be the military advisor. This will make it easier."

Wang Huan smiled secretly in his heart: Military advisor? A team of 500 people like refugees doesn't even have weapons. What kind of military adviser do you need?

However, he didn't mean to underestimate the white soldiers in Sichuan. They were the only pure infantry army in Liaodong that had never lost face to face with the Qing army.In fact, Wang Huan clung to Li Tingyu and wanted to help him wholeheartedly. In fact, he had his little girl Jiujiu.

So Wang Huan was full of smiles, cupped his hands and said: "Thank you for the promotion, General, Wang Huan thanks."

That night, a group of young monks including Chen Ergou and Xu Goudan came back half dead. When they saw Wang Huan, they almost cried.

(End of this chapter)