The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

Chapter 217 Old Chen 2: Your Majesty, I know how to dig graves!

Your portable library contains more than ten thousand volumes.

Seeing that he couldn't break free, Chen Lao Er shouted loudly.

"General, General!"

"I knew you were from Kaifeng just by hearing your voice!"

"My name is Chen Lao Er, a tomb raider for nine generations. I can read feng shui and dig pits, and I'm invincible in Henan. As for this armor, Wu Sangui forced me to join the army. I don't know how I got promoted so quickly. Don't kill me!"

"I can serve the Han Dynasty!"

Tomb raiders?

Aren't they tomb raiders?

My Han Dynasty is so rich that we need to rob tombs?

Wouldn't that make me a laughingstock?

Upon hearing this, Jiang Muning was amused and even covered her mouth, her whole body trembling!

Big Buck Teeth was so flustered by Jiang Muning's laughter that he felt like his head was about to be lost. So he knelt down again with a thud and hugged Jiang Muning's leg.

"General, my fellow villager, I'm in Kaifeng. I have an elderly mother of sixty and young children to support. Please don't kill me!"

"Also, I really am a rebel; I was tricked into joining by that stinky pai gow guy, Jiang Zhaoning!"

Chen Lao Er was naturally timid. The reason he dared to join the uprising this time was because he owed Jiang Muning money and was coerced. As for reporting to Wu Sangui, he never left his surveillance.

Now he's so scared that he'll say anything!

Upon hearing this, Jiang Zhaoning's eyes lit up!

Many people call him "General Jiang," since there are many people with the same name, but not many call him "Stinky Pai Gow."

So he waved his hand, and after the guards released him, he personally stepped forward to help Chen Lao Er up and looked him over.

"Good, very good!"

"What our great Han Dynasty lacks most are talented and extraordinary individuals!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Lao Er was instantly dumbfounded and didn't know what to say. He just stood there motionless!

At this moment, the Han army finally broke through the city gates, and the Wu soldiers who could not escape, except for some elites who resisted, began to kneel down and surrender in droves.

"Charge! Capture Wu Sangui!"

Upon hearing the name Wu Sangui, the Han soldiers became incredibly energetic, launching a full-scale pursuit. Those who couldn't keep up began discarding their belongings to lighten their load.

The first ones who couldn't run were the armored soldiers. Their cloth armor and helmets weighed nearly 30 pounds, which was really hard to bear.

Meanwhile, the musketeers, armed only with breastplates, continued to charge with their flintlock muskets, shouting "Whoosh!"

However, they stopped after about 15 minutes.

This is where the importance of cavalry becomes apparent.

However, Liu Mu did not allow the cavalry to participate. Did he really think that the Han Dynasty's money would come out of thin air? The terrain around Fangcheng was flat, but it was also full of potholes. If a horse broke its leg, the loss of one cavalryman would be equivalent to the loss of five elite infantrymen.

Left with no other option, Jiang Zhaoning had to order a withdrawal of troops!

……

The next day, after clearing the city, Liu Mu, who had entered saint mode, no longer had the energy to ride a horse. Instead, he chose to have a black slave carry his sedan chair. There were no ordinary people in the city, so who was he putting on a show for?

As for those ordinary soldiers, they watched the emperor ride in a sedan chair while they pushed cannons around!

Jiang Muning and Gao Qilong, the gatekeepers, both had dark circles under their eyes. Looking at the gleaming stone slabs on the ground, they slumped their shoulders and followed the sedan chair wearily.

Since the government office had been burned down, Chen Lao Er had already informed Jiang Zhaoning in advance to receive the emperor at the largest ancestral hall in the city, which was the grandest arrangement in those days.

However, most of the offering tablets in the ancestral hall have been cleaned up, because this is the ancestral hall of the Wu family, that is, the family of Wu Aheng, the Governor-General of Jiliao.

Wu Aheng died resisting the Manchus, but his family was the first to step forward and donate money and grain to the Manchus, quickly becoming the leading family in Fangcheng.

Jiang Zhaoning was from Kaifeng, so he naturally knew about the Wu family. He immediately discarded everything except for a portrait of someone who hadn't shaved his head.

As for Wu Aheng's ranking, the reason he is there is that it was only put up to flatter Wu Sangui after he became emperor; before that, he wouldn't have dared to put him up at all!

Liu Mu nodded. Jiang Zhaoning was meticulous and a promising talent. After everyone was seated, he wanted to say a few words of praise and then appoint him as a general after the war.

Before Liu Mu could even speak, Jiang Zhaoning knelt down with a thud and bowed deeply to him!

"Your Majesty, this humble general has failed to capture Wu Sangui!"

"Please punish me!"

Liu Mu had already heard reports from his spies about last night's battle and knew that Jiang Zhaoning had done his best. Upon hearing this, he raised his hand in response.

"You're a veteran too; kneeling is strictly forbidden in the military!"

"Wu Sangui is as cunning as a fox; he's escaped, so be it. We'll catch him again next time, and kill him then!"

After Liu Mu finished speaking, he looked at the three people standing at the back, dressed in Wu army armor, and knew that this was the key to breaking Fangcheng. He then revealed a Buddha-like smile.

"Are these three the greatest contributors to this battle?"

"Come forward! Come forward!"

Jiang Muning and Gao Qilong exchanged a glance, and their goodwill towards Liu Mu increased immediately. They hurriedly stepped forward, while the buck-toothed Chen Lao Er behind them jumped up excitedly.

Why was he allowed to come?

Burning down the South Gate government office was the most dangerous thing to do.

But most importantly, Jiang Muning had excellent gambling ethics. He promised to recommend someone to the Emperor of Han, and he would never go back on his word. That night, he shamelessly begged Jiang Zhaoning to put the item on his plate.

Seeing the three kneeling and kowtowing, Liu Mu accepted it calmly, as this was to confirm the etiquette between ruler and subject, so he raised his hand.

"All three of you, please get up!"

Liu Mu had been observing them all along. After the three of them stood up, he surprisingly skipped over Jiang Zhaoning's brothers and Gao Qilong, who looked the most like a military general, and looked at Chen Lao Er first.

"And who are you?"

It wasn't that Liu Mu was blind; it was just that Chen Lao Er was remarkably handsome. After all, Chen Lao Er was just strolling around when he was recruited into Wu Sangui's army.

He was less than 1.7 meters tall and had very little flesh on his body. He wasn't cut out to be a soldier, but he was promoted three ranks in less than a year after joining the army.

Upon hearing this, Chen Lao Er looked at Gao Qilong and Gao Qilong guiltily, swallowed hard, and then spoke in a trembling voice.

"Your Majesty, my name is Chen Lao Er, a native of Kaifeng. I serve as a commander of a thousand men in Wu's army. After the uprising last night, I led three hundred brothers to burn down the government office, and managed to escape by tearing off my turban!"

After Chen Lao Er finished speaking, he looked up and saw that Liu Mu was listening very attentively, so he calmed down and even sighed loudly!

"Alas, it's a pity that that treacherous Wu Sangui wasn't burned to death inside! What a shame!"

Liu Mu nodded upon hearing this. Burning Wu Sangui was indeed the most dangerous thing. If Wu Sangui hadn't been afraid of being ambushed and hadn't arranged a large number of Central Guard troops at the North Gate, this guy would definitely have had a hard time escaping the pursuit!

What is this? This is a person with great fortune.

There are benefits to staying!

However, since he is a commander of a thousand households, he cannot be promoted too high initially. If he has any special skills, then we can give him a try.

Thinking of this, Liu Mu asked.

What skills do you have?

When asked about his skills, Chen Lao Er was dumbfounded. He had no skills whatsoever. Besides fooling some ordinary soldiers, all he knew was how to do feng shui and loosen the soil for his ancestors.

But it's okay to say it out loud.

Jiang Muning didn't kill him last night, did he?

So, mustering his courage, he stood up and bowed!

"Your Majesty, I am a member of the Chen family from Kaifeng, a ninth-generation tomb raider, skilled in geomancy and star chart analysis!"

Read Chapter 217, "Chen Lao Er: Your Majesty, I Can Dig Graves!" now to start today's exciting content.