In May of the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong rebelled against the officials in Huguanggu City and revolted again. The rebel army conquered several county towns one after another, and its strength expanded rapidly, and it was invincible everywhere it went, Zuo Liangyu, who was stationed in Huguang, was defeated and fled in a hurry, and Li Zicheng, who was hiding in Henan and Shaanxi, was also eager to try, and actively contacted Luo Rucai, Zhang Xianzhong and others.

The emergency documents flew like snowflakes, Emperor Chongzhen began to be anxious again, Hong Chengchou has been transferred to Liaodong to set up defenses, Sun Chuanting was also ordered to block the North Great Wall, the court has no generals to send, Emperor Chongzhen ordered Yang Sichang to supervise Henan, command the counterinsurgency against Li Zicheng, and then there are no more troops to send, the courtiers suggested that Zhu Hao's troops march to Huguang to deal with Zhang Xianzhong, and Emperor Chongzhen agreed.

Just as Zhu Hao was busy with the affairs of the workers' school, the military order of the imperial court reached Xuzhou, and Zhu Hao's troops were ordered to rush to Huguang to quell the rebellion.

Zhu Hao immediately convened a military meeting to discuss the matter of marching into Huguang. Most of the generals believed that the new army was large enough to fight. But how to control the scale of the troops has to be decided by Zhu Hao.

At this time, the deployment of the new army was like this, the three main divisions were stationed near Xuzhou, and the prefectures and counties were guarded by the reserve and militia, after discussion, Zhu Hao decided to take the second division as the main force, and the first battalion of the cavalry regiment was supplemented as the troops for this expedition, the first division stayed in the base camp of Xuzhou, and assisted in the defense of the thieves in Henan, and the third division was used as a reserve, Zhu Hao specially asked Zhang Huangyan to be a staff officer with the army.

The second division is a typical veteran with new soldiers, a quarter of the soldiers have participated in the Yanzhou Campaign, the rest are recruits, but they have exterminated a few small bandits near Xuzhou, and they do not have formal combat experience, so he also has the intention of training recruits in this arrangement, as for why only 10,000 troops were sent, Zhu Hao had his own ideas.

After the meeting, Zhu Hao left four division commanders, Wang Fuzhi and other key personnel to have a small meeting.

"Marshal, although the combat effectiveness of our new army is far stronger than that of the thieves, the strength of one division does not seem to be enough to sweep Zhang Xianzhong in a short time, right?" Wang Boda asked the questions of most of the generals.

"And Nong, do you know my intentions for this arrangement?" Zhu Hao looked at Wang Fudao.

"I also think this arrangement is inappropriate, is it because the marshal doesn't plan to kill Zhang Xianzhong?" Wang Fuzhi wondered.

"Alas, you still lack political experience, if Hong Chengchou or Li Yan were here, they would have thought of what I meant by doing this." Zhu Hao sighed.

"It's okay for Lord Hong, who is Li Yan." Zhao Yuansheng asked.

"Huh? This Li Yan is a young talent I overheard about, and he is very capable. Zhu Hao looked sloppy, secretly wondering if Li Yan was not famous at this time? Yes, Li Yan's defection to Li Zicheng was in the last years of Chongzhen, although it is not clear which year, but it should be about to happen, Zhu Hao secretly made up his mind to catch this Li Gongzi.

"Everyone is their own brothers, let me tell you the truth, the reason why I arranged it this way is not to fight, nor to fight desperately, but to control it within a reasonable range, neither to let the thieves develop too much, nor to completely eliminate them." Zhu Hao continued to prompt the gang.

"I understand, what Dashuai means is that raising thieves is self-respecting!" Wang Fuzhi finally came back to his senses and whispered. The rest of the people also came to their senses.

"That's right! And what Nong said is right, you all know that the generals who can fight since ancient times have not ended well, the so-called rabbit dead dog cooking, just look at our predecessors, Xu Da and Lan Yu at the beginning of the founding of the country, Yu Qian, Qi Jiguang, and then Yuan Chonghuan a few years ago. If all the thieves are exterminated, and the merits are high, do you think that with the suspicious character of the current emperor, will we continue to exist? When the time comes, as soon as the officials in the court are stirred, we will all die and have no place to be buried, so in order to protect ourselves, we are helpless to do this! Zhu Hao carefully analyzed the reasoning for them, "In addition, it is convenient for us to continue to expand our strength and influence by doing this, as long as we have enough strength, no one, including the emperor, will dare to touch us, do you understand?" ”

"I understand, but Dashuai, since you have to risk losing your head to be an official in this mediocre court, it is better for us to do it ourselves, and by the way, pull the emperor down and let you do the country!" Wang Boda said with a hideous face, he was a bandit, and he didn't have so many loyal thoughts.

"Boda, what nonsense are you talking about? Do you want to trap the great commander in injustice? Wang Fuzhi's face changed greatly.

"Minister Wang, don't be angry, Boda is also indignant for a while, but what he said is also reasonable, our team has not contributed a penny from the imperial court, why help those masters?" Xiao Maoce pouted.

"Yes, our status today is all given by the handsome, why should we be at the mercy of others? I, Zhao Yuansheng, only recognize the handsome man in my life, whoever dares to be unfavorable to the handsome, Lao Tzu will cut him! Zhao Yuansheng also said angrily.

"You all misunderstood, I didn't mean that, you think about it with your brains, now our strength is not enough to overturn the rivers and seas, aren't you putting the marshal in danger when you say such things?" Wang Fuzhi looked at these soldiers and smiled bitterly.

"Yes, and Nong is right, now is not the time to say this, only when our strength is so strong that no one can shake it, let's think about anything else, to be honest, I Zhu Hao has no ambitions, and my biggest wish is to prosper our Han people." Zhu Hao saw that everyone was discussing, but he didn't speak at first, for fear that a literati like Wang Fuzhi would resist, and seeing that he was also a little relaxed, he ended everyone's discussion.

After the meeting, Zhu Hao wanted to get Li Yan over, but if Li Yan was attached to himself, Li Zicheng would be difficult to achieve, and it was very likely that he would not be able to hit Beijing, and his overall plan would be destroyed. Thinking about it again, it is still good for Li Yan to admit that he has a love, so he immediately sent someone to Qixian County with his own hand, at this time Li Yan was in prison because of his private disaster relief, and when Zhu Hao's handwritten message arrived, the magistrate did not dare to stop it, so he let Li Yan go, and later Li Yan knew that it was Zhu Hao who helped him, although he did not take refuge in him, but he was also grateful, which is a later story.

After a few days of arrangement, Zhu Hao announced that he would officially start his army and go to Huguang to suppress bandits.

Before the expedition, Zhu Hao convened the officers of various departments and the Young Guards to hold a swearing-in meeting, at which Zhu Hao made an impassioned speech, some of which were set as national declarations by relevant people in the future, but he did not expect.

"Soldiers, today we are going to go on an expedition, go to the south to fight the thieves, to be honest, I did not have the slightest joy, on the contrary, it is very sad, although they are thieves, but the blood of our Han people flows in the body, they are all our compatriots, but now we have to fight in the same room, I am very sad, I can't wait to go to Liaodong now to fight with the Manchurian real swords and guns! But I can't, the exiles must be fought, this can't help but be the will of the imperial court, and because these people have made the already weak country even more ruined, and they are sinners who destroy the peace of the country, therefore, I ask you to never have the slightest mercy, the only thing you have to do is to unconditionally obey my orders and destroy the enemy, no matter who he is!

You all listen well, my Zhu Hao training army is not for the purpose of glory and wealth, not for the purpose of high-ranking officials and Houlu, the only goal is for the great rejuvenation of the Han nation, for this goal, you will have a lot of sacrifices, even including me, no one is out of the way, the Han nationality is a hard-working and intelligent nation, but since ancient times, both internally and externally, the Han people have suffered countless pains and tribulations, I really don't want this suffering to continue, the Han people are the most noble race in the world, I hope you can work with me to reinvigorate the prestige of China and build a strong, united, and infinite Chinese nation! ”

After Zhu Hao's speech, countless people listened to it with enthusiasm, especially the young people of the Green Guards cheered and shouted with infinite fanaticism: Long live the handsome! Long live the Han nation! The bluff of the officers couldn't suppress the bullets.

After the pledge meeting, the thinking of the entire New Army began to be highly unified, and later historians also studied this pledge speech as a milestone topic.

The entire army consisted of 10,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry, plus Zhu Hao's personal guards and 300 green guards, each of whom carried a base number of ammunition.

Before the expedition, Wang Jingwen visited, Zhu Hao promised to marry Wang Suxian immediately after the battle, and Wang Jingwen, who was happy, generously donated 50,000 stone of military rations.

The army set off for eight days before arriving at Fengyang Mansion, and Zhu Hao specially visited Ma Shiying and was encouraged by him. Although Zhu Hao, the general soldier, is nominally controlled by Ma Shiying, the governor, Zhu Hao, as the governor's political envoy, is also an earl, and the emperor's uncle, Ma Shiying does not dare to hold it up, and he is also the one who leads the troops, knowing that it is difficult to control the generals under Zhu Hao, so he simply maintains the same level of etiquette with him.