Looking at the frightened three people, Zhu Dashan said a little casually: "It's nothing, just let you come and take a look." "Hou Tianci, Tan Xinchuan, and Deng Jiushao heard it, and immediately scolded their mothers in their hearts, who wants to come and see this meeting now?

What is the Restoration Army doing? and judge the officers who surrendered, and execute those who were in office. But the three of them are the biggest officers in these surrendered soldiers, you let us take a look now, and if you want to kill us, you can say it. Hou Tianci said more and more respectfully: "Hou Ye said that he laughed, we are all sinful people, and we are a little afraid that we can't stand it." Tan Xinchuan and Deng Jiushao also smiled stiffly: "Yes, if Hou Ye asks us to do something, we will do our best to do it, and ask Hou Ye to surround our lives." ”

Zhu Dashan didn't answer immediately, but stared at the three of them for a long time, and then thought about Deng Jiushao and Hou Tianci and said, "Deng Jiushao, Hou Tianci." The two immediately smiled at Zhu Dashan and said: "The last general" Zhu Dashan said: "You two were the Ming Chongqing guards before?" ”

The two of them were suddenly a little embarrassed, Hou Tianci said: "Yes, I made a wrong step back then, and now I regret it when I think about it, but it was Chongqing Inspector Qu Chang who wanted to surrender, and Hou Ye knew that our Ming Dynasty used literature to control the military, and this Qu Chang ordered to surrender, and we couldn't help it." Deng Jiushao on the side also hurriedly said: "Yes, Master Hou, we are also forced to be helpless." In fact, we are committed to the Ming Dynasty, and now that we see the arrival of the Ming Dynasty, we will hurry up and return to the Ming anyway. ”

Of course, Zhu Dashan knew that the two were talking nonsense, but he still said: "I understand your heart towards Daming, and the credit anyway, but how many people will know the inside story?" Hou Tianci was a little depressed and said: "What can this be, who made us go the wrong way at that time." But Hou Ye, we were really forced, and now that Hou Ye can record the little credit I waited, we will be satisfied. ”

Zhu Dashan said: "I did something wrong back then, it's okay." As long as we don't do anything wrong in the future, haven't you already come to your senses anyway? This is the beginning of correcting mistakes, the saints have said that knowing mistakes can be corrected, and it is great to be good. Seeing that the two of them were about to answer again, he said: "You two don't have to be so nervous, since I didn't let them take you to the reckoning, you will be fine." But then it's up to you to perform. ”

Deng Jiushao heard Zhu Dashan say this, so he said: "Don't worry, Hou Ye, as long as it is Hou Ye's orders, we will do it well." Zhu Dashan said: "Okay, I really have one thing I want you to do." Hou Tianci said: "Master Hou, please command." ”

At this time, Yuan Zongdi and Hao Yongzhong saw Zhu Dashan in the barracks, so they also walked over and said: "Ping Yuhou is so interested, why do these three people also want to be liquidated?" When the three of them heard Yuan Zongdi's words, their faces suddenly became unpleasant, but they didn't dare to show it. Zhu Dashan smiled: "No, I have something to do with them, the two of them have liquidated all those who should be liquidated?" Yuan Zongdi said: "It's almost, I've cleaned up everything that should be invited in the past three days, and I'll talk about other training things slowly in the future." ”

Zhu Dashan said: "I was also about talking about training, we are now in order to reorganize the army and change our thinking about surrendering, we have been delayed for three days in Dinghizu, and we can only set off for Chongqing tomorrow." If we can save that time, we can be in Chongqing now. If this is the case, Chongqing simply does not have time to put its defenses in order, and it is also unprepared for our siege. ”

Hao Yongzhong said with a smile: "I'm afraid I'm a little anxious, isn't this the case since ancient times?" It is impossible to save the army from the reorganization and surrender of the army and the rest of the army, if you can save these things. If there is a fight, will the defenders still be prepared? I am afraid that the defenders of the city have not yet reached the city walls, and the enemy has entered the city. ”

Zhu Dashan said: "No, it is because we regarded these things of the army too important in the past, so that we have the speed of the soldiers, what light cavalry advances, and this kind of thing frequently appears on the battlefield." This time we were able to win, in fact, because we threw off the baggage that slowed down the speed of the march, and basically it was a light advance, but in fact we were not, because each of our soldiers carried more than three days of food and grass on the march. This greatly reduced our dependence on the baggage team, and made Li Guoying misestimate the speed of our preparations and marches. ”

Yuan Zongdi looked at Zhu Dashan with some puzzlement, and Zhu Dashan said: "First of all, Song Gao's Zhenwei unexpectedly captured Hezhou from behind Li Guoying's back, and their marching speed was not within Li Guoying's estimate at all, because according to the previous Ming army or Kuidong army, they could not appear in Hezhou so covertly. Because if you want to go from Kuidong to Hezhou, you must pass through Huaying Mountain next to the adjacent water, with a lot of baggage, no one can hide from the adjacent water, not to mention that Li Guoying also stationed troops in Guang'an Prefecture next to it. ”

Hao Yongzhong said: "So Li Guoying has always thought that Hezhou is safe, because an army without grain and grass will not be able to capture Hezhou in a short period of time, even if it is an elite." If there is an army to attack Hezhou, Linshui and Guang'an Prefecture will be the first to find out and send troops to stop it. Zhu Dashan said: "Yes, but he didn't know that Song Gaoju relied on our camouflage, so he rushed to Hezhou with grain and grass." The defenders of Hezhou were caught off guard and were taken by Song Gaoju in one fell swoop, and then there was a plan for me and Song Gaoju to cooperate with each other. ”

Yuan Zongdi also understood: "This is indeed the case, if the previous Ming army, including our Kuidong, is the same, not only will a large number of baggage troops, but even the armor and weapons of the soldiers have to be transported with baggage. Zhu Dashan said: "That's right, so the baggage team is becoming more and more important, so that as long as there is any mistake in the baggage team, the army will immediately be in danger, and it will lose its combat effectiveness in an instant." Even Hou Tianci and the other three nodded again and again.

Zhu Dashan said: "In the three hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, the enemies of the grasslands in the north, the Tatars and the Manchus, they just got rid of the dependence on the baggage, so every time they easily broke into the Great Wall to burn and loot in my Ming Dynasty. ”

Hao Yongzhong was a little puzzled: "It's impossible to put it, what do they eat without baggage?" Zhu Dashan said: "What they bring is some cattle and sheep, even if there is some rice and flour grain, but the accompanying cattle, sheep and horses can help them transport it, and there will be no speed of the entire army because of the speed of the baggage team, and besides, as long as they enter the pass and rob everywhere, what else do they need to bring?" ”

Hao Yongzhong couldn't find the words to refute for a while. Zhu Dashan said again: "Their 20,000 army is 20,000 troops, our 20,000 army can only have 2,000 troops, and the others are transporting grain, armor and weapons." Therefore, our army often needs several times or even ten times them to resist them. However, in the field, a large number of our baggage auxiliary armies had no combat power at all, and they were basically collapsed by their large army, and then the real army was rushed to pieces in the rout of this baggage auxiliary army, so that they could only be slaughtered by the Manchu cavalry. ”

Hou Tianci was a little dumbfounded, but he didn't expect Zhu Dashan to explain why the Ming army was defeated again and again against the Manchurian Eight Banners. Hou Tianci asked: "But after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, there were also a large number of baggage teams." Zhu Dashan asked rhetorically: "Are they just a baggage team?" No, after the Qing army surrendered the previous Ming army, they did not change any rapid supply methods for the army, but every time they captured a city, they would sack a city, and would they still lack baggage? Although the Manchu Qing Dynasty has a large number of baggage troops, these people are cannon fodder when they attack the city, to consume the defenders' materials and shake the morale of the army. ”

Hou Tianci was speechless for a moment, because he had also eaten these people. Zhu Dashan said again: "We let the Zhenyu guard abandon the dependence of the team's baggage, and he can raid Hezhou and cut off Li Guoying's back road, so that Li Guoying will be attacked from both sides." If we can put aside the matter of recruiting and educating the troops, we will be able to surprise the enemy even more. The enemy will not be able to defend against us. ”

Yuan Zongdi said: "What Master Hou said is right, but how can we let it go?" If these things are not done, after the troops are lowered and incorporated into the team, loyalty is a problem, and combat effectiveness is a big problem. Zhu Dashan pointed to Hou Tianci and the three of them: "That's why I came to the three of them, the three of them are very aware of what the Qing soldiers are doing, and they can know what the soldiers are most afraid of and what they can think of." ”

Hao Yongzhong said: "What's the use of knowing this? Can the troops be immediately reorganized? Zhu Dashan shook his head and said: "Of course not, but we can let them do the things of reorganizing and surrendering troops and changing their minds, and then we only need to accept the people who have been screened by them and have changed their minds about surrendering, so that we can integrate the surrendered troops into the team in half a day or even less and put them into the later battles." ”

Hao Yongzhong and Yuan Zongdi both looked at Zhu Dashan in surprise, they didn't know that Zhu Dashan would come up with such a method. After a long time, Yuan Zongdi said: "Master Hou, can this method work?" If that's the case, I can set off the next day after the siege of Dingyuan is over, and I'm afraid I'm already under the city of Chongqing by now. I estimate that Chongqing also received the news of Li Guoying's defeat at this time. ”

Hao Yongzhong also said: "Then Chen Xixian and others in Hezhou are afraid that they are not even in a hurry to run, and we detour from Suining behind Du Xue and others, maybe they are still dreaming." Zhu Dashan said: "Whether it succeeds or not, we have to try it, and we are not afraid that the Manchu cavalry will come quickly." ”

Yuan Zongdi said: "You can try it." Zhu Dashan said: "Hou Tianci, how about Deng Jiushao, the two of you just go to do this?" When Hou Tianci and Deng Jiushao heard this, although this matter was good, their own army was no more. But now people are under the eaves, and they have to bow their heads. Immediately said: "Master Hou ordered, we must do it well." ”

Zhu Dashan said: "Okay, as long as you do this well, Daming will not forget your credit." The place where you adapt the captives is called the prisoner reform camp, you have to let those soldiers know that what they are doing is evil, we resist the Qing Dynasty is to let the Han people stand and behave, and let them see the suffering of the people and the Han people who were brutalized by them, and completely make them willing to contribute to the recovery of the Ming Dynasty. Although the two didn't understand the full meaning of what Zhu Dashan said, they still kept agreeing.

Yuan Zongdi and Hao Yongzhong glanced at each other and said, "If the captives are arranged like this, then we will integrate these captives into the army, and the loyalty and combat effectiveness of the captives will be guaranteed." Our army has thrown off the time of these reorganized prisoners, and it can also play a role in the surprise attack of the Qing army. ”

was said by Yuan Zongyi first, Zhu Dashan was a little floating, and hurriedly said: "Okay, this thing hasn't been done yet, I don't know if it's useful." By the way, when the two of you are reforming the prisoners, if they are confirmed to be reformed, their training should also be arrested, so as not to wait for them to become unsuitable in the army. Wait a minute, I'll ask Zhang Yongquan to do this with you, so that these prisoners can adapt to our training and some new rules in the army as soon as possible. Zhu Dashan said to Hou Tianci and Deng Jiushao behind him.

Hou Tianci and Deng Jiushao dared not say a word, but kept agreeing on the side. I thought I could do things alone, but now it seems that I still have to find someone to monitor me, and both of them look at each other and smile bitterly.

Seeing that Hou Tianci and Deng Jiushao had been arranged to save their lives, Tan Xinchuan was a little anxious, but he couldn't say it. Of course, Zhu Dashan saw Tan Xinchuan's performance, and said: "The matter of surrendering troops will be arranged like this for the time being, but we ourselves have a large number of wounded soldiers now, and there will be more in the future." ”

Yuan Zongdi also said: "Yes, just this Dingyuan siege, I estimate that there are about 4,000 soldiers who will not be able to return to the battlefield." Hao Yongzhong said: "This is also an inevitable thing, there have been a lot of injuries in this war since ancient times." Zhu Dashan said: "We have to find a home for them, and we can't let them fend for themselves like this." ”

Yuan Zongdi said: "We also gave a bereavement pension, and it is not considered to let them fend for themselves. Zhu Dashan sighed: "This is not enough, it would be better if they had families, but there are a large number of bachelors in our army, if they lose their ability to work, it will be difficult for them to survive in the local area after they go back, and the pensions we give are not enough at all." And even if it is a family, if there are no parents, it is difficult for a wife to be willing to take a cripple for the rest of her life. Even if the parents are still there, most of the parents are old, so the little pension given is far from enough. ”