Li Rusong was a pure soldier. If a historical figure had to be used as a comparison, probably only the Han Dynasty's cavalry, Huo Qubing, would be the most suitable. Li Rusong was Huo Qubing of the Ming Dynasty. Both of them were descendants of high-ranking officials. Huo Qubing had Wei Qing behind him, and Li Rusong's father was the number one general of the Wanli Dynasty, Li Chengliang, who had dominated the northern defense line for more than 20 years.
Li Chengliang's awesomeness was not only reflected in his military achievements, but more so in the fact that he was the only martial artist in the Great Ming Dynasty who had ascended to the position of one of the Three Dukes. He was a legend, a figure who was far more awesome than Xiao Ruxun at this moment. The reason why he did not participate in this battle was because he had just been removed from his post and impeached. Logically speaking, he could not lead the army into battle. In that case, he could only settle for the next best choice. The tiger son of a clan of generals, Li Rusong, was one of the best candidates.
Li Chengliang had a total of nine sons. Among these nine sons were five commander-in-chief and four generals. One family had nine generals. Including his father, Li Chengliang, there were ten generals in total, two more than the legendary Yang family's generals, and twice as many as the Xiao family's. The difference in power was like heaven and earth.
More importantly, the Li family's old friends were all over the army, forming a complicated force that firmly controlled the entire military power of Liaodong. The brothers, friends, and elders that Li Rusong had been in contact with since he was a child were all bloody generals at the frontier. From the time he could remember, he was imperceptibly influenced by military affairs every day.
When the children in the Central Plains began to read and learn, he had already learned to carry a gun and a bow, and followed his father to battle. When other young people held a brush to take the provincial examination, he could already skillfully cut off the enemy's head, tie it to the saddle, and bring it back to ask for merit. Growing up in such a military family, Li Rusong never thought about other paths of development, as if he was born to be a soldier.
His teacher was a living legend — Xu Wei, Xu Wenchang.
He was born to be a legend.
This time was no exception.
Li Rusong's pride was engraved in his bones. He would not allow anyone to step on his head. Perhaps only his father could. Other than that, he did not think that anyone was braver and better at fighting than the Liaodong Army and its generals. Originally, he heard the news about the pacification of Ningxia from his father and asked him to do it. However, before the order was given, the Ningxia battle had been pacified.
Who? Xiao Ruxun? Who was that? Sissy? Why haven't I heard of it before?
Behead three thousand captives? Three thousand rebels? Six thousand heads in one battle? I can do it too! Although I don't have that many, but if you have the ability, let's fight in the open! I'm galloping on the grasslands and fighting face-to-face. How can it be the same as that brat fighting back in the city? Even in that turtle shell, I can still behead six thousand!
Gunpowder overturned the city wall? It was the gunpowder that was strong, not him! If you have the ability, then show me if it's raining!?
In short, I won't accept it!
Li Rusong's personality was almost the same as Huo Qubing's. More than 30 years of military campaigns made him the most arrogant and toughest general in the whole of Daming. Looking at his life history, he had as many achievements as problems. Every time he went to a place, he would definitely have conflicts with his civil officials, and he usually won.
Since the founding of the Great Ming Dynasty, with the exception of the Taizu and Chengzu dynasties, military generals were always a head lower than civil officials. Almost no military general could change all of this. However, Li Rusong insisted on changing this. For this reason, he did not hesitate to fight with his civil official superior and cause a scandal.
But he was fine, and his reputation grew, and his official position became higher and higher.
Such a person was fierce and arrogant, but suddenly, a young boy appeared to fight for credit and status with him. Moreover, there was even a rumor that this person did not advocate using the Liaodong Army as the main force, and wanted to use troops from other places as the main force. If a civil official were to be scolded by him, then a young general?!
Conferred a title? So what if I'm conferred a title? Sooner or later, I will also be conferred a title!
Just like that, Li Rusong, who had been running around in the imperial court in hopes of becoming the commanding general of the Eastern Punitive Expedition, could no longer sit still when he heard that Xiao Ruxun would be going to the Ministry of War on the 30th of the eighth month. He decided that no matter what, he would go and teach this military brat who didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth a lesson.
Li Chengliang's face was gloomy. Looking at his angry son's face, he had a bad feeling in his heart.
He had also heard a lot of rumors that the reason why Xiao Ruxun was nominated as a candidate for the chief general was because of the emperor's instructions. Also, under the influence of Xiao Ruxun, the whole group of generals and nobles were also running around in the imperial court to make arrangements.
It should be known that although the whole group of generals and nobles were raised like pigs in a pen, they still had power. Over the years, they worked with some civil officials to eat without pay. It was impossible for these civil officials to just eat and not do anything. So, if they really wanted to operate, their power was no less than that of his backer. Moreover, as a general who had been conferred a title for military merit, he had some face in front of the civil officials. This was his advantage.
Not to mention that the old and muddle-headed acting Grand Secretary had actually expressed his admiration for the young Xiao Ruxun and said that the imperial court should give young people more opportunities to perform. This had led a large number of people who were originally on the fence to support Xiao Ruxun. But Zhang Wei had actually remained silent. How could this be possible without the emperor adding fuel to the fire and tacit approval?
And who knew how this boy had become so close to the whole group of generals after coming to the capital for only three months! He had even received the emperor's appreciation!
Li Chengliang felt deeply uneasy. Although he had the backing of the civil officials, if he was facing the great Buddha like the emperor, he didn't have much room to turn back if the emperor really wanted to touch him. If he offended the emperor this time, he was afraid that his days in the future wouldn't be very good.
After all, he was old, and his temper wasn't as abundant as when he was young. He was no longer a pure soldier, but had changed in the direction of a politician. When he thought about problems, he also brought the way of thinking of a politician and leaned towards the maximization of benefits. This was a big guarantee for him to maintain his honorable status.
And looking at all the choices, the most irrational one was the option of offending the emperor. Once he offended the emperor, there really wouldn't be any good days to live, and no one was willing to speak up for them.
But at the same time, he was very clear that behind him was an entire interest group. This group worshipped him as the master and his son as the young master. Their purpose was to rely on them to obtain benefits. If they couldn't obtain benefits for the entire group, then they would be abandoned.
Once it was proved that they didn't have the ability to lead the Liaodong Group to a higher level, the Liaodong Group would choose another suitable person to replace their position, no matter how many students and old friends they had. Because of the poor background and short lifespan of the soldiers in Liaodong, the most important thing was interests, not feelings.
Li Chengliang had a very strong backer, but these backers also regarded him as a sword, a sharp sword that could be swung out to cut people at any time. Once the sword was not sharp, the Li family would face the risk of being abandoned. Once abandoned, the entire Li family would inevitably be uprooted … The best result was to retire and never think of returning.
Therefore, Li Chengliang wanted Li Rusong to make the last fight in any case.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
