After the meeting, Zhu Hao left Wang Fuzhi and Luo Yunqu and other generals of the new army to hold a new strategic meeting to discuss how to deal with the increasingly rampant peasant army next. Li Dingguo, Shi Lang and other newcomers are also listed.

First of all, Zhu Hao gave a briefing on the current construction of the New Army.

The new army has about 40,000 troops in four infantry divisions of the regular army, one cavalry brigade includes two regiments of 5,000 cavalry, and an independent artillery brigade has more than 200 new artillery pieces of various types.

In terms of ammunition, the arsenal has 3 million rounds of ammunition, more than 50,000 artillery shells, and 200,000 new-style grenades, which are enough to cope with several major battles, and the logistics and transportation are also ready, and a total of more than 10,000 mules and horses, more than 2,000 carts, and more than 20,000 civilians have been mobilized.

In terms of military rations, this year's grain depot has a total of 2 million stone of new grain and countless old grains, and there is no problem at all in supplying them.

"Li Zicheng has taken root in western Henan, this time he is no longer fighting and running, but wants to use Henan and Shaanxi as a base, let's talk about it." Zhu Hao got up.

"Marshal, according to his subordinates, Li Zicheng's ambition is far from here, after the consolidation of western Henan, he is bound to go east into Luoyang, Kaifeng, with the current military deployment of the imperial court, it is difficult to stop him, once these two places are lost, then Li Zicheng's righteous army will directly confront our new army, although we will win, but if it is too close, it will inevitably affect the results of the new deal, so I suggest that the troops go out of Kaifeng, and Li Zicheng will be blocked west of Luoyang." As the first staff officer of the General Staff Department, Li Dingguo could not wait to speak first.

"Hongyuan's words are reasonable, and Li Zicheng must not be allowed to pass Kaifeng." Zhu Hao said appreciatively.

"At present, Li Zicheng has formed an encirclement of Luoyang, if our army sets off now, we can barely relieve the siege of Luoyang, I don't know how to deal with it?" Zhang Huangyan also said that on formal occasions, he called Zhu Hao a handsome.

"No, just let Li Zicheng fight Luoyang, the benefits still outweigh the disadvantages for us." Zhu Hao smiled mysteriously.

"What do you mean?" Seeing that everyone was puzzled, Luo Yunqu asked.

"Hehe, the main reason is that the will of the court hasn't come down yet, so we can't overstep the bounds, right?"

Seeing Zhu Hao show his signature evil smile again, everyone shook their heads secretly, I don't know what bad ideas this handsome man is playing, and which unlucky guy is unlucky.

"Now let's discuss, what if Li Zicheng defeats Luoyang?" Zhu Hao looked at everyone's disbelieving eyes and quickly diverted the topic.

"Now the New Year is coming soon, I estimate that Li Zicheng is about to take action against Luoyang in the New Year, although Luoyang is a strong city, but it is difficult to hold without reinforcements, and within a month, the city will be broken." Li Dingguo thought for a while.

Zhu Hao was a little surprised, because he did know that Li Zicheng was the Luoyang City conquered in the first month of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, and executed Zhu Changxun, the king of Fu. However, Li Dingguo relied on his own analysis to come to the conclusion that it was purely military talent.

"After the city is broken, Li Zicheng will definitely attack Kaifeng with coercion, and then it will be the time for my new army to come forward, although I don't know the strategic intentions of the marshal, but I think Kaifeng can't be lost anyway." Zhang Huangyan also concluded.

It's really my good nephew, you and Li Dingguo are worthy of being the right-hand men of Ben Shuai, Zhu Hao sighed secretly.

"Hehe, Hongyuan and Xuanzhu have roughly guessed my idea, but how to fight this battle still needs everyone's suggestions."

"Marshal, no matter what, this time it's my fourth division's turn to fight, you can't break your word." Zhao Yuansheng hurriedly began to grab the battle order.

"Marshal, my third division hasn't moved for a long time, Xiao Maoce asks to fight!" Seeing that someone applied first, Xiao Maoce was also a little flustered.

"The third division is also embarrassed to apply? You've all fought the Manchurian devils, so you have to show your majesty with the first division. Luo Yunqu, who had always been calm, was also anxious, and only Wang Boda did not make a sound.

"What are you doing? Monkey business! Zhu Hao coldly left a sentence, "The battle plan is formulated by the General Staff, you just have to abide by it, Lao Luo, although you are the deputy chief of staff, the commander will not show favoritism." ”

"Yes, Marshal." Seeing that Zhu Hao was a little annoyed, Luo Yunqu and the three of them also blushed a little.

"This time the task is very heavy, so I am ready to dispatch two divisions, and in order to prevent Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai in the southwest from making too much noise, there will be some people to support the front line of Suima, so there are enough battles for you to fight."

"In a few days, I will publish the battle plan of the General Staff, in short, our principle is that we can neither beat the peasant army too hard, nor allow it to develop unlimitedly, but must be able to play with ease and strengthen ourselves, understand?"

"Understood!"

On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, the third decree of the imperial court was finally belated, and Zhu Hao was severely reprimanded in the holy decree, and at the same time, he was also crowned as the governor of Xu Huai, and ordered the new army to immediately march into Henan to fight against the peasant army.

Zhu Hao raised the holy decree and smiled at the generals: "After one or two, but not three, it seems that you have to send troops, hehe." ”

"Young master, I don't understand why the emperor said so harshly and gave you the title of official?" Li Dong touched his head and asked.

"And the farmer, can you see the mystery in it?" Zhu Hao didn't answer, but asked Wang Fudao.

Wang Fuzhi thought for a while, and suddenly his eyes lit up, and he shouted: "Gao, this handsome move is clever!" Previously, we beat Zhang Xianzhong away, and the court did not have a substantial reward, this time the emperor out of helplessness, to give the marshal an official, which is a trap. As for the stern tone, it is just a superficial article, which means to remind us not to forget the imperial court, and at the same time, there is also the idea of testing the marshal. Therefore, although it is a precept, it can be regarded as a letter for help, which means that the court has recognized our status, as long as we do not act excessively, the court is helpless against us! ”

Zhu Hao smiled and didn't say anything, and everyone also showed a sudden expression, which is equivalent to Zhu Hao's acquiescence to the pattern of self-respect of his army, as for whether to listen to the dispatch of the imperial court, it depends on Zhu Hao's ideas and whether it is beneficial to the new army, and there is a layer of window paper from the open self-reliance portal.

Thinking of this, everyone's expressions were different, Luo Yunqu and other old-school generals didn't care, anyway, they were working for Zhu Hao, no matter what he did, he would not object. A general like Li Dingguo was excited, he was originally the master of killing officials and rebelling, which was actually equivalent to going back to the old road, it didn't matter at all.

Among the senior generals, only Zhang Huangyan and Shi Lang were a little hesitant, after all, one of them had an innocent background, the other was a fledgling, and it was normal for people to make up their minds.

Zhang Huangyan said that he was Zhu Hao's cousin after all, as long as Zhu Hao did not stand on his own feet openly, he would not have any opinions, Shi Lang was an honest child, and he was a little scared when he saw the expressions of these people.

"Don't think nonsense, Ben Shuai is loyal to Daming, you can't talk nonsense and ruin my reputation." Zhu Hao said with a smile.

"Shi Lang, you can train the navy with peace of mind, the army is none of your business, don't have any burden."

"Yes, Dashuai!" Shi Lang was also relieved to see that he didn't have to deal with the things in front of him, and he would talk about the situation in the future.

"Now let me tell you about this combat mission, the first division, the fourth division, and the cavalry brigade will go to Henan with me, Li Dingguo will be the staff officer of the army, Xiao Maoce's third division will enter Huguang and guard the area of Suima, and Zhang Huangyan will be the staff officer of the army. We must ensure the security of this area, and if necessary, we can take the initiative to attack and annihilate Luo Rucai. The 2nd Division of Wang Boda's Division stayed in the base camp and united with the reserve forces to prevent the enemy from sneaking up. Zhu Hao announced the plan.

"Yes, Dashuai!" All stood up at the same time.

According to Chongzhen's idea, Zhu Hao couldn't wait to put on his wings and fly to Luoyang immediately, Zhu Hao was not so anxious, but announced that he would set off after the New Year.

However, this New Year seems to be a bit nondescript in a tense atmosphere of preparation, and the people in the marshal's mansion are also busy, and no one pays attention to these.

The New Year is the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, and on the fifth day of the first month, Zhu Hao officially set off to march west. The army bid farewell to the farewell crowd in Xuzhou and went straight to Kaifeng. At the same time, Zhu Hao also requisitioned twenty merchant ships and ten thousand warships along the Yellow River upstream, for his strange move, many people couldn't understand, Zhu Hao just smiled, did not explain.