It was not only the old man who had followed Empress Gao and Li Zicheng for many years who made this suggestion, but even the imperial concubine Chen, who had the title of imperial concubine, specially wrote to suggest that Empress Gao seize the opportunity, and she even put forward a very important reason: "Kaifeng is the hometown of Empress Yingtian, and the sooner you recover Kaifeng, Empress Yingtian will be open for a day!" ”

Although neither Empress Gao nor the Chen family had ever seen the legendary Empress Yingtian Zhang, they knew very well that the legitimacy of the Chengtian Dynasty's inheritance of the Ming Dynasty came from this Empress Chengtian, and from Liu Yongxi's words, they also knew that Empress Zhang was the true master of the harem.

Because of this, whether it is Empress Gao or Chen Guifei, she always thinks about how to please Empress Zhang, and now taking Kaifeng is the best opportunity, but Gao once followed Li Zicheng to sweep Henan, Jingxiang, and Shaanxi, so she has little interest in seizing famous cities such as Kaifeng and Luoyang, and now she is thinking about the problem more far-reaching: "Kaifeng and Luoyang will be the territory of the imperial court sooner or later, so what does it matter who takes it?" Even if it is the three prefectures of northern Henan and the northern Zhili, sooner or later it will be the territory of the imperial court, and I will not fight for this limelight! ”

None of the people around Empress Gao expected Empress Gao to be so humble on this issue, and they all persuaded: "Niangniang, then we have to do something, right?" Niangniang took a big risk to drive the expedition, if there is no great achievement, I am afraid that someone will gossip! ”

They had always regarded Empress Gao as a mascot before, and felt that it was enough for Empress Gao to be able to drive the expedition in person, and she could fully explain it to the people of the world and Emperor Chengtian, but no one expected that this Northern Expedition would go so smoothly, so they also had more ideas, hoping that Empress Gao could make a few earth-shattering achievements to show off to Emperor Chengtian Liu Yongxi.

And Empress Gao immediately replied: "What do I want to do with great achievements, Your Majesty will not be particularly gracious to me because of what great achievements I have made, and the most important thing now is to keep a close eye on the Caozhou thieves!" ”

A few years ago, Empress Gao and the two armies under her command were called "thieves" by the Ming Dynasty, and the three soldiers and horses of Caozhou were called "pillars of the court", but now the situation is completely reversed, Empress Gao and her soldiers and horses have been the mainstay of the Chengtian Dynasty, and although the three branches of Caozhou rebelled against the Qing Dynasty and created an excellent opportunity for the Northern Expedition of the imperial court, they are still Caozhou thieves in the eyes of Queen Gao.

Now although the primary enemy of the Chengtian Dynasty is still Jianyu, tens of thousands of Caozhou thieves are the objects that the Chengtian Dynasty must focus on, and when Queen Gao said this, the people around her understood her spirit: "Niangniang is wise, Caozhou is the enemy we have to deal with first!" ”

"If the Caozhou thieves were willing to resist Jianyu with their hearts, how could the Hongguang Dynasty hold out for another three or five months, so the country must be careful of Caozhou for a long time!"

"Caozhou is our old rival, I think Caozhou is even more ruthless than Jianyu!"

Liu Zeqing, Liu Liangzuo, and Zuo Mengeng in the Caozhou military system can be said to be the old opponents of the loyal battalion and the Daxi battalion, and it can even be said that they have a deep blood feud, but the economic division of the Chengtian Dynasty has no experience in fighting with the loyal battalion and the Daxi battalion in the past, so now the new hatred and old hatred are pouring into their hearts, and everyone feels that they must do it according to Queen Gao's wishes.

And Empress Gao also said very clearly: "I don't care who took Kaifeng and Luoyang, but it can't be Caozhou!" ”

Before Empress Gao gave the order, the officers and men of the various armies participating in the Northern Expedition had already paid attention to Caozhou, even Xing Shengping, who sent troops from Anhui to the Northern Expedition, and in everyone's eyes, since the Northern Expedition had been half successful, the Caozhou Army had little value but was in big trouble.

After Empress Gao's order, the Zhulu Northern Expeditionary Army focused on guarding the Caozhou army, not allowing them to leave the original defense area too far, and even went all out to win over the gentry, Haoqiang, and Tukou who were allied with Caozhou, and now Xing Shengping ushered in such a very important guest: "Ren Fuxing, who is this behind you?" ”

Ren Fuxing is the most famous leader of the Yuyuan Army, Ren Qi, the most important reason why Caozhou was able to sweep dozens of counties in the siege of the Qing army and persist until now is that it has the full support of the Yuyuan Army, but the alliance between the Yuyuan Army and Caozhou is based on the premise of playing the banner of the Chengtian Dynasty.

And now that the Northern Expedition of the Chengtian Dynasty has reached Henan and Shandong, the leaders of the Yuyuan Army, including Ren Fuxing, think that there is no need to convey their interests through Caozhou, so they directly establish contact with Xing Shengping.

It's just that Ren Fuxing brought a very mysterious guest, which made the second monk Xing Shengping puzzled, and he didn't know what Ren Fuxing's intentions were, and Ren Fuxing lowered his voice and said: "Tianmen Bo, this is an important person, and he came here at a great risk!" ”

Xing Shengping knew that the matter was urgent, and he was not polite to this mysterious person: "Which gentleman is it, please show your true face?" ”

But the mysterious man who came first asked a very important question in his eyes: "I heard that Tianmen Bo is Xing Niangniang's younger brother?" ”

Although Xing Shengping is only Mrs. Xing's brother, Mrs. Xing is rising, so Xing Shengping always thinks of himself as Queen Xing's younger brother: "You are right, Xing Niangniang is my own sister, if there is anything, you just have to speak, Niangniang and Your Majesty can take care of you!" ”

The mysterious guest immediately replied: "In Xia Zuo Menggeng, I am under the order of His Majesty to lead the thirty battalions of soldiers to receive the Caozhou soldiers!" ”

Although Zuo Mengeng's department suffered a heavy blow in this Caozhou Incident, and there were only more than 3,000 soldiers and horses in the 30 battalions of the department, he knew that his biggest hole card was to enter Caozhou and get the tacit approval of the Chengtian Dynasty, and Xing Shengping didn't expect that it was this Zuo Mengeng: "I know the name of Ningnanhou, Ningnanhou made a special trip to see me Caozhou to change?" ”

Zuo Mengeng didn't say any nonsense to Xing Shengping, and directly explained his intentions: "Tianmen Bo is like a god, Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo have reached an agreement with Jianyu to prepare to let Jianyu go north to the Yellow River, and Jianyu is ready to hand over Henan to Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo!" ”

Hearing this, Xing Shengping sneered: "Don't measure yourself, kill yourself, the queen has already issued an edict, no matter who takes Kaifeng, Luoyang, and Zhengzhou, it's no problem, but it can't be Caozhou!" ”

Zuo Mengeng was full of cold sweat when he heard this, he knew that the Chengtian Dynasty must have been on guard against Caozhou, but he didn't expect to be wary of it to such an extent, and even Empress Xing, who was far away in Nanjing, issued an edict: "That's right, Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo are indeed self-defeating!" ”

It's just that when he was about to plan with Xing Shengping how to kill Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo with lightning speed, Ren Fuxing had already volunteered: "This matter is handed over to the villain, I am very familiar with this place in Caozhou, we might as well take Caozhou down now, with the cooperation of our Yuyuan Army, it is not enough for a mere Liu Zeqing!" ”

Zuo Mengeng even volunteered: "Uncle Tianmen, Zuo is willing to be a pioneer!" ”

In this life, Zuo Mengeng is the most courageous now.

For Liu Liangzuo, since Liu Zeqing reached a consensus with Azig, he always had a feeling of fidgeting.

He was not afraid that Azig would poke things out, but he was worried that Caozhou would not make enough money this time, after all, Caozhou was taking a big risk this time, and if he really didn't get enough benefits, he was afraid that it would be a catastrophe, and the Chengtian Dynasty had invested two hundred battalions on the east and west fronts at the same time.

Liu Liangzuo has seen a lot of big scenes, but now he has become hesitant, after all, in the past, he was afraid of Jianyu like a tiger, and when he encountered elite thieves, he was also defeated by the wind, but now the Yue Ming army is scared of Jianyu and collapsed, and it has also incorporated hundreds of elite thieves at the head of the battalion.

It seems that the risk of playing power between the Yue Ming Kingdom and the Great Qing Kingdom is too great, but Liu Liangzuo has an almost crazy idea in his heart: "Since the Yue Ming Dynasty is so powerful, if you don't take this opportunity to seize more strength and territory, why should you survive with these thousands of remnants?" ”

Now is the most difficult time for Caozhou, and Liu Liangzuo can also feel the hostility of the Chengtian Dynasty towards these people who have repeatedly rebelled, and feel that if he does not take advantage of this opportunity to make a lot of money, there will be no chance in the future.

He is the four towns of Jiangbei in the Hongguang Dynasty, at that time the Chengtian Emperor Liu Yongxi was still playing with mud, if Liu Yongxi used many conspiracy methods, how could he rise to the top within two or three years!

Thinking of the battle of Linhuai Pass, Liu Liangzuo couldn't help but be angry, he even suspected that his defeat might be an earth-shattering conspiracy, otherwise how could Wang Puxiang be promoted so quickly in the Yue Ming Army, in the past, he never looked at Wang Puxiang, a small personal soldier, and now it was his turn to find a way to tie Wang Puxiang.

Just said that Cao Cao Cao had arrived, and news had already come from outside: "Guangchangbo, General Wang Puxiang sent someone to deliver a message!" ”

Wang Puxiang is Liu Liangzuo's personal soldier, but in the past, Wang Puxiang never mentioned this part of his history, Liu Liangzuo could not satisfy Wang Puxiang no matter what means he used, but now Wang Puxiang finally showed signs of relenting, and even took the initiative to send a messenger to contact, Liu Liangzuo was naturally happy in his heart: "It's good for Wang Puxiang to send someone over, I knew that he was not an ordinary person!" ”

As soon as Liu Liangzuo's words fell, he heard the outside say: "Guangchangbo is indeed a unique vision, if Guangchangbo is not promoted, my Wang Puxiang would not be where he is today!" ”

Liu Liangzuo never expected Wang Puxiang to come over in person, he had an ominous omen: "Puxiang, why did you come in person, but it's good to come, our brothers drank two cups!" ”

Wang Puxiang didn't say anything polite to Liu Liangzuo: "Thank you Guangchangbo, I came here this time because I thought that my achievements in the Northern Expedition this time were not small, and I should be able to be promoted one or two more, so I want to ask Guangchangbo for a favor and give me the opportunity to be promoted one by one!" ”

Liu Liangzuo felt that Wang Puxiang had no way to be promoted again, and he must have used this name to fight the autumn wind for himself: "What are our brothers polite, as long as Puxiang is promoted and makes a fortune, just open your mouth if you need anything!" ”