For the Chengtian Dynasty, the Northern Expedition is a big matter of life and death, even if it cannot be immediately Northern Expedition, but it is necessary to maintain a relatively stable front to maintain power, and Liu Yongxi also gave a very clear answer: "When the country goes on the Northern Expedition, it depends on when the situation in Hunan and Guangxi can be stabilized!" ”

Although Liu Yongxi did not mention Guangdong, Jiang Yueguang knew very well that if Hunan and Guangxi were taken, then Guangdong would definitely have to be taken, and the current situation said that most of the southern provinces could be passed on, but there would definitely be some twists and turns, which was why Liu Yongxi let Sun Kewang, who was born a thief, go to Yunnan.

Therefore, Jiang Yueguang also reminded Liu Yongxi: "Your Majesty, the faster the Northern Expedition, the better, Li Dingguo, Gao Yigong, and Li Guo are thieves after all!" ”

Liu Yongxi's biggest gain in this westward expedition was not to take the territory of the three provinces of Jiangxi, Hunan and Hubei, but to incorporate the remnants of the Dashun Army and the Great Western Army, but now the main forces of these two bandits are gathered near Jingzhou, and there are hundreds of thousands of mouths to feed, even the battleable soldiers have more than 100,000 people, and Sun Kewang and Hao Shaoqi have already gone south.

The reason why Jiang Yueguang specifically mentioned Li Dingguo's name was naturally because everyone thought that Liu Yongxi would snub Li Dingguo, after all, among the four generals, only Li Dingguo did not get a clear personal commitment, but the fact is completely opposite, Liu Yongxi was extremely favored by Li Dingguo, and even made Li Dingguo's headquarters his own imperial camp.

And Li Dingguo was also flattered, and repeatedly said that he would never live up to Liu Yongxi's expectations, but in the eyes of Jiang Yueguang and many gentry, these thieves-born generals were completely untrustworthy, and the more important problem was that not to mention the manpower and material resources of the two lakes, even with the national strength of the imperial court, it was difficult to feed the hundreds of thousands of combatable soldiers and hundreds of thousands of old and weak dependents gathered near Jingzhou, and the Northern Expedition must be dispatched as soon as possible.

And Liu Yongxi also understood that Jiang Yueguang was well-intentioned: "This matter still depends on the reaction of the Qingguo side, after all, there are many princes and Baylors in Jianyu who propose to abandon the Jingshi and retreat outside the pass, I look forward to them making a good fuss!" ”

On this question, King Azig has his own answer: "Retreat outside the border without a fight?" They actually have such an idea, the Jinhua thieves are completely different from Emperor Chongzhen and Emperor Hongguang, we can't deal with the Jinhua thieves by mobilizing the forces of the entire north, if we give up China and retreat outside the pass, what will we do to deal with the Ming Kingdom! ”

All the Baylors and Beizi around him applauded the reply of King Azig of England, but the reason why they, including Azig, said this also had their own selfish thoughts.

Now the largest field regiment in the Qing Dynasty is in the hands of King Azig, but since Azig's department is known as 100,000, it is naturally impossible for all of them to be full of Mongolian elites, and most of the generals are green battalion soldiers after entering the customs.

Although the green battalion and the new annexed army can follow Azig to retreat to Henan and Shaanxi, it is impossible to follow Azig to retreat outside the pass, and Azig not only has to lose the territory of Henan, but also has to lose everything that has worked hard, so it is naturally unwilling to retreat outside the pass.

And Wu Sangui was unwilling to retreat outside the pass: "What the king said is extremely true, we can retreat outside the pass at this time, and we can only give up the Central Plains to the Jinhua thieves, and after the Jinhua thieves get the Central Plains and Shanxi, I'm afraid no one can deal with it!" ”

The current Chengtian Dynasty only controls many provinces on both sides of the Yangtze River, but it has already made the Qing Dynasty return with two major defeats in the southern expedition, if the Chengtian Dynasty controls Henan, Shanxi, Shanxi, and Shaanxi, I am afraid that there are ten Great Qing States that will not be able to turn the tables.

But there are still people under Azig's command who are in favor of retreating outside the pass: "But the regent's two southern expeditions were defeated, and now the Jinhua thieves have recruited more than 100,000 elite thieves, they really want to go on a large-scale northern expedition, and our Great Qing Kingdom may have no chance of winning!" ”

Wu Sangui has been thinking about this issue for a long time, and he said very clearly: "Although the Jinhua thieves have incorporated more than 100,000 elite thieves, the focus of the next step is definitely in the south and not in the north, our Qing soldiers are one of the few elite divisions in the world no matter what, and the Ming officials and troops in the southern provinces are completely vulnerable, and the Jinhua thieves will definitely not attack the Great Qing State before they unify the south!" ”

And King Azig also gave a very clear answer: "This is indeed the case, now that the thieves Sun Kewang and Hao Shaoqi have gone south, I believe that the hundreds of thousands of thieves in Huguang will go south!" ”

Hearing this news, the Qing generals present were all relieved, as long as the Chengtian Dynasty did not point the finger at the Great Qing Kingdom, then they could naturally continue to enjoy the life of the emperor like Mount Tai.

But there are also people who have objections to this issue: "Although Sun Kewang and Hao Shaoqi have gone south, they are more than 100,000 thieves!" ”

For the Chengtian Dynasty, the hundreds of thousands of soldiers near Jingzhou are the most valuable information, but on the other hand, it is also a very unstable factor.

After all, Li Zicheng only has one queen Gao, and Zhang Xianzhong has set up four queens in one go, and it is impossible for the Chengtian Dynasty to canonize four queens in one go, so except for Queen Chen, who got the title of a noble concubine, the other three queens are just ordinary concubines now.

Now the most anxious about this problem is Li Dingguo, he took the opportunity of guarding Liu Yongxi to specially remind: "Your Majesty, there are so many soldiers in Xiying who have to let them be useful, and the court can't keep them all the time!" ”

Liu Yongxi immediately laughed when he heard Li Dingguo say this: "It will definitely make them useful, otherwise I can't support it even if I have gold and silver, Dingguo, do you think that if our army sends troops to the Central Plains, there is a chance of victory!" ”

Li Dingguo felt that this question was not easy to answer, now that most of the main forces of the Yue Ming Army had returned to the east, and now the main forces in Hubei and Hunan provinces were all troops adapted from the Dashun Army and the Great Western Army.

After all, the Dashun Army was chased and killed by the Qing army all the way from Shanhaiguan until Li Zicheng died in Jiugong Mountain, and although the Great Western Army maintained its integrity, it also experienced a series of defeats in Sichuan and Yiling, and Liu Yongxi immediately said: "I am not raising these hundreds of thousands of righteous teachers now, but I am doing my best to train this righteous teacher, so that they can be owned by the imperial court!" ”

Although most of these righteous teachers were born in poverty, and as the elite of the Great Western Army and the Great Shun Army, they were all mighty divisions, but the experience of wandering around in the past ten years has brought countless problems and defects, and even there are many problems in military discipline.

There is naturally a reason why those gentlemen, scholars, and powerful people are hostile to those who are born as "thieves", Liu Yongxi continued: "I now hope that after these few months of training, they can become the Yue Wumu of this dynasty like you Li Dingguo!" ”

Liu Yongxi was originally very kind to Li Dingguo, and the evaluation of "Yue Wumu of this dynasty" made Li Dingguo feel that he had met the real Ming master.

In the past, although he was Zhang Xianzhong's righteous son, Zhang Xianzhong always tried every possible way to guard against him Li Dingguo, and now Liu Yongxi really regards Li Dingguo as his own: "Thank you, Your Majesty, I will explain things clearly to the old brothers in Xiying, so that they can rest assured that the court will not treat us badly!" ”

If the meeting between the Chengtian Dynasty and the Zhongzhen Camp and Zhongxin Town was quite smooth, the reorganization of the old Xiying Department did encounter a lot of trouble, and the old generals of the Xiying, including Liu Wenxiu and Ai Nengqi, also had many doubts, after all, there were two queens in the camp, and there was only one Chen Guifei in the Xiying.

And the more important problem is that although Liu Yongxi transferred a lot of money and grain from Jiangnan to supply the old Xiying department, the old Xiying department felt that this was not a long-term plan, and the current supply was not particularly sufficient, so they could only barely manage it, and sometimes they had to use the savings of each battalion head to buy grain, so they would confide their worries to Li Dingguo.

And Liu Yongxi can also understand these Xiying veterans, he said with a smile: "Let's get together when we go back, everyone can mention any difficulties, and I will definitely help you solve them!" ”

Li Dingguo felt that Liu Yongxi was really thinking about Xiying, and he immediately said: "The problem that everyone is most concerned about now is that there are two queens in the camp, and there is only one concubine in Xiying!" ”

Liu Yongxi laughed when he heard this: "Dingguo, you are confused, if you seal the four queens as soon as you enter the door, will Sister Chen still serve me so hard?" ”

It's just that Zhang Xianzhong's four queens Liu Yongxi are all happy, although Mrs. Xing, Li Xiangjun and Queen Gao have been by Liu Yongxi's side since this Western Expedition, but only these four concubines make Liu Yongxi what is the real fairy day, these four beauties revolve around Liu Yongxi day and night, no matter what tricks Liu Yongxi wants to play, they will fully cooperate.

Although they are just noble concubines and ordinary concubines, they are very favored now, and now Li Dingguo also understands: "Now the supply in Xiying is relatively limited, and it is also deliberately arranged by His Majesty?" ”

Liu Yongxi did not answer Li Dingguo directly, but said with a smile: "Dingguo, when I go back, I will promote Sister Chen to the imperial concubine, and then Sister Bai and Sister Ding to concubines, will Xiying be satisfied!" ”

Hearing Liu Yongxi's arrangement, Li Dingguo immediately understood: "Your Majesty means that the Northern Expedition is close at hand?" ”

Although Liu Yongxi repeatedly said that the Northern Expedition could only be made after pacifying the south, and even said so in front of many important ministers, but now Li Dingguo guessed Liu Yongxi's true thoughts, and Liu Yongxi did not deny it: "It's not so fast, it takes a month or two to prepare, and the most important thing is to let Zuo Mengeng, Liu Zeqing, and Liu Liangzuo make a good fuss!" ”