The Record of Righteousness

Fang Daqing led his troops to attack for dozens of days without success.

The two armies suffered more than 6,000 casualties. He did not dare to put all his chips on the table, so he had to retreat with hatred.

At this time, the Ming army gathered in Laizhou had 60,000 people.

It can be said that there was plenty of money and food, and many soldiers and generals.

However, at this time, a bad news came.

Many garrisons in other prefectures sent reports saying that epidemics broke out in many prefectures and counties such as Jinan, Qingzhou, and Yanzhou.

So far, many civilians have died, and there are also many infected soldiers in the army.

The infected people have cold bodies, tremors in their limbs, and gradually their faces ulcerate. They vomit all their food and drink, and their minds are unclear. Once infected, they will die within half a month.

The garrisons of various towns sent people to invite famous doctors to treat them.

But the effect was not good, and they could not stop the spread of the epidemic at all. Instead, several so-called famous doctors were infected and died.

Zhai Zongyao was originally complacent, but now he looked at the report in his hand and realized the seriousness of the matter.

He immediately ordered people to check for soldiers with such symptoms in the army.

Fortunately, after several days of investigation, no soldiers in the army were infected with the disease.

It seems that the source of the disease is in the prefectures in the west, and it has not spread yet.

Zhai Zongyao felt relieved and returned to send a report to the towns.

He asked the commanders of each town to burn all the dead to cut off the source, and if their relatives did not obey, they would be killed without mercy.

The outbreak of epidemics among the people in all dynasties was a major event. At the least, there would be civil unrest, and at the worst, the dynasty would be changed.

Thinking of this, Zhai Zongyao immediately wrote a memorial to the court.

Please issue an order to the prefectures bordering Shandong to strictly guard against it, and never let Shandong people get out. Otherwise, there will be no place to stand in the territory of Daming.

Zhai Zongyao was dressed in military uniform, sitting in the central army camp. He lowered his head and stared at the map on the table, then looked up and saw the shadows of soldiers outside the camp.

He had a high nose bridge, thick eyebrows and big eyes, a thin and bony face, sharp edges and corners, and a medium-sized mouth with a stubble around his face.

His skin color was rough and wheat-colored due to years of fighting, which made him look more stable and profound like a general. Ying Sa couldn't help but show some worry on his face.

The war in Shandong needs to end as soon as possible. If the epidemic is not handled well, I am afraid that the pseudo-Zhou will revive and take advantage of the situation to attack. By then, all the people will be devastated and all the previous efforts will be wasted.

That night, Zhai Zongyao summoned the two envoys who were under house arrest.

The three of them talked for a long time in the military tent. I don't know what they talked about, but it was at four o'clock in the morning that the two envoys left the military tent of the Ming army and returned to the city...

The next day, the morning cock did not crow, and the red sun did not rise.

The Ming army of 60,000 troops set out in two routes.

Each route had 25,000 troops. Zhai Zongyao led 10,000 troops in the middle and supervised the rear, personally commanding the two armies to attack the city.

The Ming army attacked the two county towns of Zhaoyuan and Laiyang from mid-November.

On November 20, the Ming army surrounded Laiyang. Mo Qingqiu, as the commander-in-chief, sent troops to break through. He ordered the garrison commander of Zhaoyuan to lead his troops to rescue immediately.

Unexpectedly, the garrison commander of Zhaoyuan refused to send troops to rescue, saying that he only wanted to die, but it would be sooner or later.

On November 22, the Ming army captured Laiyang.

The soldiers who entered the city to cause trouble were ordered to be executed by Zhai Zongyao.

The Ming army did not harm the local people, and the people were all grateful and begged the king's army to enter the city to rest.

Mo Qingqiu, the pseudo-Zhou national teacher stationed in Laiyang, led more than 2,000 defeated soldiers to flee to Zhaoyuan in the north, hoping to join forces with the pseudo-Zhou garrison in Zhaoyuan to fight to the death.

Zhai Zongyao's more than 10,000 central troops happened to be located on the main road connecting Zhaoyuan and Laiyang, cutting off Mo Qingqiu's escape route and annihilating more than 1,000 pseudo-Zhou soldiers.

After breaking through, Mo Qingqiu, the pseudo-Zhou national teacher, had to flee eastward with more than 1,000 defeated soldiers.

After retaking Laiyang, Zhai Zongyao left 3,000 defenders and then marched north.

On November 25, more than 55,000 Ming troops besieged Zhaoyuan, a small place.

The garrison commander of Zhaoyuan was Yang Xun, the Guangzhong Earl of the pseudo-Zhou, and the number of troops in the city was only more than 5,000.

Yang Xun's ancestral home was Luoyang in the Central Plains.

His grandfather was the prefect of Luoyang.

He was born in a wealthy family. He not only liked to read scriptures, but also had a deep knowledge of military strategies. He had great ambitions and vowed to be loyal to the emperor and the country and repay the emperor's grace.

So he worked hard, studied and asked questions day and night, and studied day and night without eating or drinking.

He passed the examination at the age of seventeen.

He was well-versed in all the provincial and imperial examinations, and was praised as a child prodigy. Finally, he passed the examination at the age of twenty-six and became a Jinshi.

It can be said that the extreme of yang will lead to the decline of yin.

In the same year, his grandfather Yang Yongchen offended the eunuch Liu Zhen of the dynasty because of his outspoken advice. He was dismissed from office and imprisoned, and finally died in prison.

Yang Xun's father Yang Xiangrong was an official in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Liu Zhen then offered slanderous words to the emperor, saying that he was corrupt and perverted the law, coveted the imperial silver, and enriched himself.

The emperor was furious, dismissed Yang Xiangrong from office, and ordered the East Factory to investigate the matter thoroughly.

Later, Yang Xiangrong was tortured into confessing, and was escorted to Donghuamen to be beheaded and his family was confiscated.

From then on, the Yang family in Luoyang declined, and Yang Xun was disheartened. He left his hometown and drifted to Shandong. He joined the White Lotus Sect when it was first established.

Now that the pseudo-Zhou Dynasty has been established, he, as a veteran, has risen to prominence and was named Guangzhong Bo by the pseudo-Zhou court. At this time, he is nearly fifty years old.

Even though he is in a high position and has achieved the right result, he still has his own way of doing things.

During his time guarding Zhaoyuan, he still believed in the teachings of Confucius and Mencius and the principle of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism.

Yang Xun regarded the people as water, was happy to give alms, never bullied people, presided over local justice, and suppressed powerful landlords.

After the Kun River burst its banks and flooded, he took the initiative to open the warehouse to release grain to help the people.

It was this good deed that saved tens of thousands of lives, and he was affectionately called "Old Man Yang" by the local people.

My dear, there is more to come after this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be more exciting later!