Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 376 Calling a deer a horse

Zhu Dadian did not readily believe Liu Zeqing's one-sided account, and there were many doubts about what Liu Zeqing said: for example, both the Guan Ning Army and the rebel army deployed cavalry, and Liu Zeqing himself participated in the battle with cavalry, so how could the Qiongzhou Battalion, as an infantry unit, stab them in the back? Could it be that the lead bullets of their muskets had eyes and knew who to shoot and who not to shoot?

However, he did not jump to conclusions. He neither followed Liu Zeqing and Gao Qiqian's words to put an end to the Qiongzhou Camp, nor did he expose Liu Zeqing's words as untrue. When the parties involved, the Qiongzhou Camp and the Guan Ning Army, arrived, the truth of the matter naturally came to light.

Seeing that Zhu Dadian remained silent, but Gao Qiqian was clearly on his side, Liu Zeqing felt a little more confident. It was all thanks to the Qiongzhou Camp; his only capable force of over a thousand cavalrymen had been wiped out. Although he still had nearly a thousand infantrymen, they were all old, weak, sick, or disabled—useless and practically useless generals. If he couldn't take the moral high ground and fiercely criticize the Qiongzhou Camp, his reckless advances and obstruction of the Guan Ning Army on the battlefield would be universally condemned, and he would likely be abandoned or even punished by his superiors. His only hope was that the governor and the supervising officer would trust him, and that the Guan Ning Army would stand idly by and watch him push the Qiongzhou Camp into the fire. Only then would he have a chance to rise again.

As for whether the Guan Ning Army would hold his actions on the battlefield against him, Liu Zeqing wasn't sure. However, the Shandong troops were, after all, local strongmen, and the commander-in-chief of this suppression campaign was the Shandong governor. The Guan Ning Army wouldn't bother with a foreign army from Guangdong; the possibility of them remaining neutral was more likely. At worst, they could just bleed a little and give half of the silver they looted during the suppression to Zu Dabi and his men.

After much deliberation, Liu Zeqing felt that his chances of winning were still quite high, so he composed himself and waited for the Qiongzhou camp to return to their camp for a "confrontation".

Not long after, bursts of laughter came from outside the tent. As they approached, Zu Dabi and other generals from Liaodong entered the tent with Liu Ye. Both sides had smiles on their faces and seemed to be in a very good mood.

Liu Zeqing's heart skipped a beat. What was going on? Shouldn't these two families keep to themselves and not interfere with each other? Why were they chatting and laughing like old friends who had known each other for many years?

Zu Dabi was the first to report the good news to Zhu Dadian and Gao Qiqian: "Reporting to the Governor and the Military Supervisor, in the battle just now, we killed the enemy chieftain Li Jiucheng and annihilated several thousand of his troops. Our troops have won a great victory!"

"What?" Zhu Dadian and Gao Qiqian stood up simultaneously. This news was too shocking. Who was Li Jiucheng? He was the leader of the rebel army. Killing him and annihilating his elite troops was an enormous achievement.

Gao Qiqian hurriedly pressed, "Is it true? Is there any exaggeration? Where is the army now?" Although he wasn't the commander-in-chief, he shared in the army's achievements. When he returned to the capital and reported to the Emperor, he could further enhance his reputation as a "military expert" and elevate his standing in the Emperor's eyes. Therefore, he was more concerned about the veracity of this victory than anyone else.

Zu Dabi replied, "The battlefield is being cleaned up by the troops of Wu Anbang, the general of Dengzhou. The rebels' heads cannot be brought back immediately, but Li Jiucheng's head has been brought. If Eunuch Gao wants to inspect it, I will have someone bring it in right away."

"There's no rush. The verification can be done later. I naturally believe General Zu's words," Zhu Dadian said. "However, I would like to ask General Zu and Lieutenant General Liu to explain in detail how the battle was fought, how the rebels were annihilated, and how General Liu's troops were lost on the battlefield." The war to quell the rebellion had lasted for two years. The key figures of the rebels, such as Li Jiucheng and Kong Youde, had already had their portraits drawn by the soldiers. Whether they had lied about their military achievements could be easily verified by comparing their portraits. However, Zhu Dadian believed that Zu Dabi would not lie about something so easily verifiable; what he said was mostly true. Although he was very happy, he still needed to clarify the ins and outs of the matter before celebrating the great victory.

Upon hearing this, Zu Dabi glanced at Liu Zeqing with disdain, snorted, and said contemptuously, "This scoundrel Liu Zeqing rushed up just as our troops were about to defeat the rebel vanguard and charge into the rebel main camp. He claimed it was to seize military merit, but in reality, it was to cover for the rebels and give Li Jiucheng a chance to catch his breath, almost ruining this great victory. I suspect that this scoundrel had been in cahoots with Li Jiucheng all along."

The crowd in the tent erupted in uproar. This statement was completely different from what Liu Zeqing had said. A "victim" had suddenly become an "undercover agent," his identity having undergone a complete 180-degree change.

Liu Zeqing's vision blurred. He hadn't expected that the Guan Ning Army would not only not stand idly by, but would instead stab him in the back, pushing him towards his death! He stammered, "Nonsense...nonsense! I, Liu, am utterly loyal to the court. How...how could I collude with the rebels?"

Zhu Dadian remained silent, seemingly pondering the veracity of Zu Dabi's words. Gao Qiqian, unable to contain himself, asked Wu Sangui, "My son, is this matter truly true?"

When Liu Ye heard Gao Qiqian address Wu Sangui in this way, he vaguely remembered that Wu Sangui in history seemed to have recognized a grand eunuch as his adoptive father. Could this be Gao Qiqian? He couldn't help but glance at Wu Xiang, only to see that Wu Xiang had a beaming smile on his face and did not look angry at all. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart, "This father is really thick-skinned. He can't even be moved by a eunuch calling his own son 'my son'."

Wu Sangui replied, “Reporting to my adoptive father, General Zu’s words are all true. After Liu Zeqing blocked our attack on the rebels, fearing that we would see through his true colors, he turned around and led the rebels to charge the Qiongzhou camp’s formation, intending to crush it in one fell swoop. Unexpectedly, Liu Zeqing underestimated the enemy and kicked a hornet’s nest, suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of the Qiongzhou camp’s muskets and cannons. However, his treacherous intentions are now obvious. If he hadn’t colluded with the rebels, why would he have blocked our attack first and then charged the Qiongzhou camp? Every single thing he did was something that would cause pain to his allies and joy to his enemies.”

Gao Qiqian stared at Liu Zeqing suspiciously, pondering. Compared to Liu Zeqing, he naturally trusted his adopted son and the Guan Ning Army unconditionally. If what Wu Sangui said was true, regardless of whether Liu Zeqing had truly colluded with the rebels, his actions on the battlefield could be punished according to military law, and even beheading would not be excessive.

Wu Sangui continued, "It was precisely because the Qiongzhou camp held back Liu Zeqing's and Li Jiucheng's troops that our troops were able to successfully form a pincer movement, leaving the two traitors with nowhere to escape. In the end, Liu Zeqing managed to escape by chance, Li Jiucheng was killed by muskets, and his cavalry were completely annihilated by our troops, with not a single one escaping."