Whether it is a treasure or not, Zhang Rui doesn't know yet. At this time, he was troubled in the general's mansion.

Since the start of the bandit army, it has mostly relied on the advantage of firearms to quickly conquer this territory. It is precisely because of this that the gunpowder consumption of the bandit army has always been very high.

Although Zhang Rui noticed this problem when the bandit army had not yet raised troops, at the same time, Zhang Rui also continued to invest a lot of manpower and material resources in Zhilian Mountain to produce gunpowder. However, with the continuous expansion of the war, the gunpowder produced by the bandit army alone has completely failed to keep up with the speed consumed by the war.

If it weren't for the fact that the places attacked and conquered by the bandit army were all prosperous places in the south of the Yangtze River, and there were quite a lot of fireworks and firecracker workshops, and there was plenty of gunpowder, so that the bandit army captured a lot of gunpowder, I am afraid that the gunpowder of the bandit army would have been unable to support it for a long time.

However, even with the addition of a large number of seizures, after the bandit army fought the battle of Nanjing, the gunpowder inventory was really bottomed out.

If the bandit army can make a truce with the Manchu Qing for a year and a half, and slow down the time, the bandit army will be able to produce gunpowder with all its strength to make up for the current shortfall.

However, the biggest problem right now is that there is not much time.

It is impossible for the Manchus to let the bandit army entrench themselves in this fertile land south of the Yangtze River, unless the bandit army can repeatedly inflict heavy losses on the Qing army.

At this time, although the Manchu Qing Dynasty was also fighting on two fronts, due to the sudden rise of the bandit army, Wuya, who would not have been reused until next year in history. Zhaohui was appointed by Qianlong in advance to go to Northwest Mongolia to pacify Erut.

Although Zhang Rui had already sent people to the Khalkha Mongolian steppe to release the news that Qianlong would carry out a massacre in Erut. But judging from the news from the northwest, the tribes of Khalkha Mongolia seem to be united, but in fact they are just looking at their own interests. Zhaohui's pacification of Errut should be a sure thing.

Once the Manchu Qing pacified the northwestern Jungar, the Qing army, which was originally fighting on two fronts, could free up its hands to deal with the bandit army, and the pressure on the bandit army would increase exponentially.

"Now it seems that even if it is useless to inform the Erut Mongols in advance that the Manchus will carry out a massacre against them. I really hope that Qinggon Zabu and that Amur Sana of Dzungar can show some skills and give me more time. Zhang Rui said with some prayer.

The north is cold, so northerners are generally taller and more burly than southerners. In the age of firearms, these disparities would have had little impact. But in this era of cold weapon competition, southerners have to suffer a lot from physical differences.

Although the anti-bandit army has always emphasized training, it has been formed relatively early, and there are not many old troops, and many sergeants have been directly surrendered by the green battalion of the Qing army, and they have not had time to train, and their level is not necessarily much better than that of the green battalion in other places.

During the first battle between the bandit army and the Qing army outside Nanjing, due to the lack of gunpowder, most of the firearms troops could not participate in the battle, and the bandit army could only engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Qing army, resulting in a lot of casualties among the bandit army. Especially in the battle with the Green Camp in Shaanxi, this difference in size caused more casualties.

After the First Battle outside Nanjing, both the Qing army and the bandit army suffered heavy casualties. During the truce of the Qing army, the bandit army also stopped advancing and stopped in front of the Yangtze River.

In fact, it's not that Zhang Rui doesn't want to cross the Yangtze River in one go, and Wu Sangui's experience is there. But now it seems that the army of suppressing bandits in a good form has actually reached the end of the crossbow, and if there is no time to sort out the military and politics, rest and recuperate, it may not be a good thing to continue fighting.

At present, most of the troops of the anti-bandit army have not been well trained, and there is a serious shortage of gunpowder. The local government departments are not fully staffed with officials. The impact is not big in a short period of time, but if it is like this for a long time, it will definitely cause local turmoil.

Judging from the history of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, it has always been in luck. Just a few days ago, Zhang Rui received a military intelligence from Guangxi:

When the small country of Annam saw the great war between the bandit army and the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the lord of Annam, Ruan Quang Binh (1), felt that it was an opportunity to take advantage of it, so he found an excuse to make trouble and join the army in Guangxi.

Although the local Tusi of Guangxi were good at fighting, they were not united, and they were defeated and retreated in the face of the attack of the Annan army. Zheng Yuanzhen, the puppet governor of Guangxi, was unable to organize a strong counterattack, so the Annan army began to burn and loot as soon as it entered Guangxi.

In order to avoid the war, many people who had nothing to rely on went east to seek refuge in the place where the bandit army was located. Seeing this, Zheng Yuanzhen, the governor of Guangxi of the puppet Qing Dynasty, at the request of many Tusi, led troops to surrender, in order to suppress the bandit army to send more troops to counterattack Annan.

Once the Tusi in Guangxi cannot stop the attack of Annan, the place where the bandit army is located will be affected.

In Guangxi, Zhang Rui had to pay attention to it. Most of the old subordinates of the bandit army are from Liangguang, and if they cannot defeat the invasion of Annam, it will have a serious impact on the current morale of the army.

Since Guangxi wants to vote, there is no reason for it to refuse. Even if this is a hot potato, Zhang Rui can only gnaw on it, as long as he can eat it, he will be able to play with those toasts slowly when the time comes. After all, he also has the knowledge of the future, Zhang Rui doesn't believe that he can't get them.

Judging from the current form, Zhang Rui felt that peace talks with the Manchus were imminent. Once the bandit army also fights on two fronts, it will be too difficult for the bandit army.

Now it's just Annan who is here to make trouble. But Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other places are also making trouble at this time, and maybe they will come to intervene in the bandit army at any time.

Therefore, Zhang Rui had to consider stopping at this moment, sorting out the military and politics, and continuing his strength to fight to the death with the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

However, any peace talks are based on strength.

If he didn't hurt the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Qianlong would not be willing to put aside his face and sit down for peace talks.

The Manchus were most proud of cavalry at the moment. Before the advent of heavy machine guns, cavalry had always been a terrifying existence.

At this time, the bandit army was only more than 2,000 cavalry, and the scene of its charge was very spectacular. But compared with the huge cavalry of the Eight Banners of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the cavalry of the bandit army is really not worth mentioning.

Only by personally experiencing the battlefield and feeling the shock brought by the cavalry charge can we truly feel the helplessness of the infantry meeting the cavalry. It's a kind of powerless oppression.

The lack of horses has always been a pain in the south.

Due to the lack of horses and cavalry, the battle of cold weapons between the north and the south will make the south always in a passive position, and defeat is not unusual.

Although Zhang Rui has not yet heard that the Manchus will send a large force of cavalry south. But as long as the news of the bandit army occupying Jiangning Mansion reached Qianlong's ears, he would soon mobilize a large number of cavalry to participate in the battle.

Thinking of the disturbing cavalry of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, especially the cavalry that fought all year round on the border, Zhang Rui had to be upset.

"It looks like it's time to come out with something epoch-making." Zhang Ruinian said.

Note (1): Ruan Guangping should have been the one who came out of the Battle of Annan fought by Qianlong, but now he let him come out early.