From a son-in-law to a favorite of the empress

Chapter 514

Empress Zhaojing clenched her fists, her face flushed, and she was so excited that she couldn't speak.

She took more than ten breaths before finally panting and saying, "Good! Good! Great!"

She was wearing a thin nightgown and was woken up from her dream by Xiaozhuang. She was not angry because she knew very well that Xiaozhuang was a man of measure. If he woke her up while she was sleeping, it must be a big happy event.

As expected, as expected!

"Junior brother is really a great general of Tiance! The gap between our strength is so huge, but he can bombard the enemy chieftain and blow Nurhaci into pieces. It's really satisfying!"

"For more than 20 years, our Great Jin has been troubled by the Eastern Tartars. From the fall of Liaodong to the fall of Shenzhou, and now the fall of Jizhou and the decisive battle of Shanhaiguan, we have been suppressed."

"This cannon directly killed the enemy chieftain, which can be regarded as the national prestige of our Great Jin Dynasty, making us completely proud."

Empress Zhaojing has always been introverted and never showed her emotions, but this time she was so excited that she couldn't help but talk non-stop.

"More importantly, with Nurhaci's death, the Jurchens will quickly fall into power struggles, and the Eight Banners Beile will certainly have their own supporters. For at least two years, they will not be able to provoke a war."

"It is no exaggeration to say that my junior brother has made great achievements in this battle!"

Xiao Zhuang chuckled and said, "So congratulations to your majesty, your biggest worry has been solved."

Empress Zhao Jing couldn't help laughing and nodded continuously, saying, "Yes, my biggest worry was the Eastern Tartars, but my junior brother helped me get rid of them. Other minor illnesses and pains are no longer a big deal."

She sat down, took a long breath, and said, "It seems that my Great Jin Dynasty will not end here. It seems that I will not be the king of a fallen country after all!"

Xiao Zhuang nodded and said, "But your majesty, Zhou Yuan let Wanyan Daichan go."

Zhao Queen Jing waved her hand and said, "What's this? Compared with the merits of Junior Brother, this flaw can be ignored."

"Besides, letting Wanyan Daichan go is actually a good thing at present. The situation in the Eastern Tartars is more complicated. Nurhaci's candidates are several strong ones, and Wanyan Daichan, as the high priest of Shamanism, has extraordinary influence among the Jurchen people, but... this woman is very close to Huang Taiji, who has a relatively shallow foundation."

"Her survival has greatly strengthened Huang Taiji, preventing the Jurchen power struggle from becoming one-sided, balancing the trump cards and forces, and helping to buy more time for our Great Jin."

"As a marshal, Junior Brother is far-sighted and naturally knows that leaving Wanyan Daichan is equivalent to leaving a window for communication between the Great Jin and the Jurchen upper class. mouth, which can also play a great strategic role at a critical moment. "

"Killing a person who has no effect on the battle situation is meaningless, so it is a good thing to let him go."

Xiao Zhuang smiled and said, "Your Majesty, do you think that Zhou Yuan let him go because of these reasons?"

Empress Zhao Jing was stunned for a moment, then chuckled and said, "Xiao Zhuang, although you have a good talent for martial arts, you don't know much about human nature."

"Junior brother has such a status in less than two years since Yunzhou. Is it really just based on ability?"

"Can a person have countless followers if he has ability? So many girls like him because they admire him?"

Xiao Zhuang shook his head and said, "I don't understand."

Empress Zhao Jing smiled and said, "Junior brother can get to where he is today and be so likable. In addition to being able to do things and have ability, He also has a very outstanding personality charm. "

"What is personality charm? We can understand it as the ability to do things, the style of doing things, the way of doing things, personality, character, morality and cultivation."

"There are many more details, such as kindness, goodness, tolerance, mind, etc..."

Speaking of this, her eyes were crazy, and she whispered: "Decisiveness is a good quality of a person. The little junior brother is obviously such a person, so the six major families in Kaifeng were killed, and countless peasant soldiers in the Kaidai Dynasty in Funiushan were killed and wounded."

"But facing his former friend, protector and savior, of course, he was also his enemy who hunted him down..."

"Faced with such an enemy, without affecting the overall situation, if Zhou Yuan killed him without hesitation, would he really be worshipped and admired by others? Perhaps more sighs and fears, right?"

"People are complicated. The little junior brother has a good grasp of the scale of human nature, so people admire him, follow him and worship him. "

"If he really killed him, then his heart would be too hard, and such a person would be too frightening... including me, I would be afraid..."

Xiao Zhuang smiled and said, "It's too complicated, it's easier to practice martial arts."

Empress Zhao Jing said softly, "I remember I said that I would never let my junior brother end up in a tragic end because of his achievements. This is not my kindness, nor is it my imperial skill.Not in place, but I understand my junior brother..."

"He won't kill. If he kills, he won't be Zhou Yuan."

"People with feelings in their hearts are not perfect, but they are approachable."

Speaking of this, she frowned suddenly, as if she thought of something.

She turned her head to look at Xiaozhuang and said in a serious tone: "Wait! You just said... Nurhaci was still three or four hundred feet away from the city wall when he was bombarded? Three or four hundred feet?"

Xiaozhuang nodded and said: "More or less, it is indeed this distance."

Empress Zhaojing said in a deep voice: "The range of the Portuguese cannon is so far? How many cannons did the Jinling Firearms Bureau build? What is the specific data? Ask the Inner Court to investigate for me! "

Xiaozhuang was slightly startled, then lowered his head and went out.

…

Although Nurhaci died and the Eastern Tartar Army retreated, there were still some finishing touches in the war.

Zhou Yuan was not in a hurry to return to the court, but commanded Li He, Wu Dingzhong and others to continuously harass and guerrilla against the Eastern Tartar Army to block their access to food and grass.

After four or five days of fighting back and forth, the Eastern Tartar Army was miserable. They couldn't fight or move. The enemy was like a fly, which was really disgusting.

The key point was that they couldn't afford to delay, because there was only so much food, and they would starve to death if they dragged it on.

Although They ate sparingly, but on the third day of the Han army's pursuit, they were completely out of food and had only water to survive.

On the fourth day, their combat effectiveness dropped sharply, and their already broken morale collapsed even more. Being chased and killed by the Han army, they could hardly organize a decent counterattack.

On the fifth day, the Eastern Tartar army stopped fighting back and just fled madly towards Jizhou in the northwest. Even if there were casualties, they did not dare to fight back.

On the sixth day, the Eastern Tartar army collapsed, and countless people began to flee. They were killed like pigs by Li He, Xiang Yong and others.

On the seventh day, the Eastern Tartar army joined with food and grass, and their morale was greatly boosted. Relying on the wheel-type welcoming After defeating the Han army, they finally got a break and began to recover.

On the eighth day, Zhou Yuan ordered all soldiers to retreat and count the results of the battle.

The results were astonishing. The soldiers of the Jin Dynasty annihilated 51,000 Donglu enemies at the cost of more than 4,000 casualties!

This is a number that you can't even imagine. Food and grass are really too deadly.

According to Xiang Yong's report, more than 40,000 of the 51,000 were killed in the last four days, because the Donglu people were already hungry at that time and their mentality collapsed.

Zhou Yuan was completely relieved. This round of killing had seriously damaged the vitality of the Donglu, and I am afraid that they would be in trouble for the next few years. It is difficult to organize the fighting force.

Nurhaci's death only laid the foundation for victory. The pursuit and guerrilla warfare in the past few days are the real results of the war!

The soldiers of all factions in Shanhaiguan are proud. After fighting for so many years and suffering countless hardships at the hands of the Eastern Tartars, this is the first time that they are so happy and hearty.

That night, Zhou Yuan slaughtered pigs and sheep to reward the soldiers of the whole army.

The grand celebration banquet lasted until dawn, drinking and eating meat.

On this day, all the soldiers finally got a rest.

And Zhou Yuan was finally going back to the court. He was tired enough and missed his family enough.