One after another, the edicts were quickly drawn up by the official office, and after Li Shouhan approved the use of seals, they were sent to various places by the clippers anchored on the Pearl River, setting off a lot of turbulent waves.

The order was delivered to Nanjing, the capital of Liu, and after being ignored by the gentlemen who prevailed in Long, they immediately set off for Wuwei to meet Zhang Xianzhong, the eight kings of Xiying, who were garrisoning here at this time.

"Wow! Let's wait for your prince to make up his mind! After Zhang Xianzhong heard the visitor's explanation, he was immediately excited and almost ripped off a beard! Zhang Xianzhong's four adopted sons on the side, Zhang Kewang, Zhang Dingguo, Zhang Nengqi, Zhang Wenxiu, as well as Bai Wenxuan, Ma Yuanli and other Xiying generals, were also happy.

Since dividing the troops with Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai, Xiying has gone all the way south, swept through Jianghuai, and made Zhu Dadian and other Ming Dynasty feudal officials frightened, expanding the army by more than 100,000 along the way, occupying dozens of large and small cities. Piggybacking, he also killed the leaders of the Henan indigenous rebels such as Yidougu and clay pots, and annexed the leaders' subordinates.

However, the armament has expanded, and there has never been much more elite soldiers available!

Holding a large handful of gold and silver goods seized along the way, all kinds of valuable items, but they could not be turned into usable elite weapons, which undoubtedly made the Eight Kings extremely annoyed. In order to be able to pay money with one hand and deliver the goods with one hand from those damned Nanban merchants as before, Zhang Xianzhong sent three or four groups of people such as Bai Wenxuan, Zhang Kewang, and Zhang Dingguo to secretly infiltrate the capital and contact the merchants who were prevalent in Long, as long as they could sell me weapons and grain in Xiying, no matter how high the price was, it would be easy to discuss!

Helpless, Long Shengxing is a very warm hospitality for the envoys of Xiying, who plays everywhere during the day, visits the Qinhuai River at night, and drinks flowers and wine to push Pai Gow. However, for the procurement list proposed by Xiying, it was Gu left and right for him. Zhang Kewang and others, who were anxious, scratched their ears and cheeks, but they couldn't attack.

Zhang Dingguo's mind is much more thoughtful, and he tried to inquire about the inside story from the familiar deacon and shopkeeper of Longsheng several times, but the statement he got was the same: "Our lord is also more than enough but not enough." At present, his old man is bent on quelling the rebellion in the south, and the army everywhere is very expensive. How can I sell surplus weapons to your ministry? ”

Under careful questioning, Zhang Dingguo had to believe that the Nanyue Army led by Li Shouhan had a direct command of all parts of the country, and on the other hand, he also had a large number of expanded troops, so it was reasonable that there was no surplus weapons and ammunition to sell to Xiying.

Now, though! Liang Guogong personally agreed. Ready to sell weapons to the West Battalion.

"Tell me, what are you going to sell to our old man? Where is it delivered? What is the price? ”

"My lord said that as long as the eight kings want, we can sell it. Naturally, we must be very considerate of the payment, after all, we have been friends for many years. However, this delivery location is going to trouble the eight kings and the soldiers of the Western Camp! ”

The deacon who prevailed in Nalong took the map and pointed with his index and middle fingers in several areas south of the Yangtze River. "My Nanyue army has now controlled Fujian and Guangdong, as long as the eight kings raise troops to the south. Crossing the Yangtze River and hitting Huguang and Gannan, it is the sea that is wide and the fish can jump into the sky and let the birds fly! ”

"To Huguang? Gannan? Can we sell whatever Lao Tzu wants? Zhang Xianzhong blinked and looked at the person who came. If we are going to ask for eighteen pounds and twenty-four pounds of heavy artillery for siege purposes, you are willing to sell them? ”

"Of course! I don't know how many doors the Eight Kings plan to have? The person who came asked Zhang Xianzhong without blinking.

"Xiao Wang! Yu'er, you guys go back separately. Go to the river to seal the boat, let's go across the river to play! Zhang Xianzhong did not answer the envoy's question, but only conveyed the order to Zhang Kewang, Zhang Dingguo and others, "Lao Bai, you ask Mr. Xu to write a letter to Lao Huihui." You work hard, run to the sun to see the old man back. Tell him that we plan to cross the river in Xiying. If he doesn't want to be pickled by Lao Li over there, he will cross the river with Lao Zhang to play! ”

After eliminating the main force of Zuo Liangyu's army, more than 10,000 elite soldiers of Lao Hui Ma Shouying refused to wave his army north to Henan on the grounds of clearing the remnants of the Ming army, but circled left and right in the area of Jianli and Chuyang, refusing to join Li Zicheng. Not only did he refuse to go back, but he also returned to the messengers of the Fourth Battalion of Ge Liyan and other Ge Zuo in private, and persuaded them to pull them out as soon as possible, and it was the best policy for everyone to go back to Yingshan and Huoshan together.

For the old return, Zhang Xianzhong is six or seven percent sure that he will go south to Huguang and Jiangnan together, not only for more than 10,000 elite soldiers, but also for Li Zicheng, who is in the limelight at the moment, a resounding slap in the face! The rest of the Fifth Battalion of the Hui Revolution, which had been in the same spirit, was also ready to move, so that Li Zicheng had to spare his energy to appease the inside, and he could only be patient with his unique behavior for the time being.

"After the order goes down, after all battalions and outposts cross the Yangtze River, they must strictly enforce military discipline, and they must not kill at will, and they must not collect food at will. Jiangnan is not as good as Jiangbei, God knows which one will be grabbed! ”

Before leaving, Zhang Xianzhong emphasized military discipline with an uncharacteristically murderous face. "However, when it comes to Changde, our Lao Tzu is going to burn Yang Sichang's house, dig up his family's ancestral grave, and pull this guy out of the coffin and cut off his head!"

Speaking of the goal of this trip to the south, Zhang Xianzhong hated it so much, although Yang Sichang had been dead for several years, but it still made him angry when he thought about it.

"Eight kings, my lord has one thing to ask the marshal. If it hits Changsha, Liuyang and other places, it will be the marshal who will kill all the royal clans, and his old man will also nod and praise. It's best to kill them all. However, those poor people who make a living by planting linen and weaving cloth still hope that the Eight Kings will show mercy to the sword. ”

"You just don't know our old Zhang! Our Lao Tzu crisscrossed the Central Plains, in order to cut off corrupt officials, corrupt officials, local tyrants and inferior gentry, those poor people, our Lao Tzu all opened warehouses to distribute grain relief. What are you doing to kill them? Besides, in the Liuyang area, as you said, there are so many fireworks craftsmen, and Lao Tzu's firearms battalion still relies on them to make gunpowder! Kill them? It's too late to make offerings! ”

The shopkeeper of Longsheng, who was squeezed by Zhang Xianzhong for a few words, had to praise Zhang Xianzhong's benevolence and righteousness with a smile on his face, but he couldn't figure out why the lord's order repeatedly emphasized that the craftsmen and poor people in Changsha and Liuyang should be preserved, on the contrary, Zhang Xianzhong was encouraged to wave a butcher's knife at the Ming Dynasty clan. Or even instigated him to kill all these clans?

He didn't know that this was the reaction of a little emotion in Li Shouhan's heart!

Who made the Ming Dynasty produce a figure among the descendants of the clan in Changsha that made Li Shouhan hate the root of his teeth? This duke has always been known for his loud words, and countless people often advocate for him and call on others to endure the pain, but he has left many drawbacks and sequelae for the country and society, so that his successor is busy wiping his buttocks.

"Easy to do! Isn't it just killing the descendants of the surname Zhu?! Our Lao Tzu was able to kill Huguang so much that no one dared to be surnamed Zhu from now on! Zhang Xianzhong stroked his beard proudly.

Really. Soon after he crossed the river, such a folk song was heard on the ground of Huguang: "A herd of pigs! The butcher is coming! ”

The edict ordering Li Huayu to rectify Shandong, Denglai, and the newly occupied Zhangde Mansion and other places to organize and organize all kinds of soldiers and horses of the Canadian Commission, as well as to hand over to Liao Dongzhi the power to supply and distribute military salaries, military rations, and weapons to Denglai in Shandong and the areas occupied by the southern Guangdong army north of the Yellow River in Henan.

"Father, I'm worried that I've been deceived by this group of dirt buns! So let you get hold of this money bag! Li Huayu disappreciatively handed the order to Liao Dongzhi.

Liao Dongzhi has gone through the previous turmoil and has become much calmer. At this time, he went to Shandong to take over the soldiers and horses of the thirteenth town as a commander. At the same time, as the highest-ranking military attache on the ground in Shandong, Denglai and other places, he has the power to allocate and pay the food and salary of these tens of thousands of troops. As early as when he went north, someone privately pointed out the key to him.

"What kind of virtue do the mainland officers and soldiers have? The eldest prince still doesn't know? I'm afraid that when I receive grain, grass and silver, I claim to be 100,000, hundreds of thousands, and when I really go to the battlefield, I may not be able to rely on thousands of elite soldiers. Therefore, the last general thinks that it is the right way to test and practice well. In the future, the lord will have an edict, and the eldest prince will not miss the lord's business. Liao Dongzhi's words were neither humble nor arrogant. made Li Huayu nod his head incessantly.

"It's good! It's the autumn queen now. After the autumn grain collection is completed, let's go to the land of Qilu. Check out how many available soldiers there are in each department! ”

These two words are easy to say, but they are a very significant move. This is the most hated and hated thing by the generals who led the troops in all dynasties. There is no reason, as long as it is a little test, the strength of his own battalion will be stripped naked and exposed in broad daylight. It will be difficult to embezzle military salaries with empty sums of money. Therefore, Li Huayu and Liao Dongzhi's plan to conduct inspections in various parts of Shandong is also a military operation that is not better than war. It was even more complicated than combat, because the two of them had to consider all kinds of problems that could arise.

Fortunately, once the power is in hand, the order will be carried out, but it is an unchanging truth throughout the ages.

Liao Dongzhi passed down an order. All localities accepted the appointment of the Nanyue Army, and the leaders of the various motley armed forces who received military salaries under the command of Li Dagongzi arrived in Jinan one after another.

In the city of Jinan, after the wine and meat were chased for several days, Liao Dongzhi suddenly announced to them that the troops and horses of all departments had been driven from their respective stations to the outside of Jinan City in accordance with the orders of Li Dagongzi, and were stationed near the Hetao of the Yellow River.

Hearing this, the leaders of the soldiers and horses suddenly secretly screamed bitterly! If it is in the residence of each family, this kind of temporary check-up and salary payment activity can also be carried out from various villages and towns to cope with errands, even if it is to spend some money and food to go out, you can fool the past. However, now that Liao Dongzhi has pulled the team out of the nest, where can I catch the strong man?

Immediately afterwards, Li Huayu made up for the leaders who were secretly jumping to their feet and scolding: "As long as everyone's soldiers and horses and strength are the same as when they were accepted by this official on that day, everyone's official positions can be paid attention to immediately." "The implication is that if you're too disparity, you're sorry. Not only is your official position not necessarily the same as your thoughts, but even your head may not be saved!

Sure enough, after starting to check, Li Huayu sneered continuously. Nearly 10,000 people were reported, and only more than 1,000 people actually met the standards of soldiers, claiming to have complete armor, knives and guns, but only hundreds of families were fully equipped, and the rest were only tied to a spearhead on a wooden stick. The inspections of various departments for several days made Li Huayu very annoyed, and he cut off the heads of four or five people in a row. There are the leaders of various families and officials, as well as the officials who went to the Canadian Commission.

However, the inspection on the fourth day made Li Huayu feel bright, and he never thought that gold was really mined in the gravel pile!

Horseshoe crisp. Luan bells rang randomly, but these voices were quite shocking when they heard Li Huayu's ears. Over the past few days, Li Huayu has inspected many of the troops he has appointed to recruit An, and most of the people he has seen are ragged and in an irregular ranks, but the troops he inspected today are in a neat ranks. The armament is excellent, and what is even more rare is that when you walk through it, you can only hear the sound of your own horses' hooves and the sound of luan bells, and you can't hear the slightest other noise. If this happened to the Nanyue Army, it would naturally be a very common thing, but it would be a great miracle to happen in these incorporated and commissioned troops.

When Li Huayu was in a daze. A general in his thirties beside him suddenly shouted: "Whose meal are you eating?" Whose clothes are you wearing? For whom will you die? ”

After a while, a tsunami-like roar of the mountains surged out from the silent sea of people: "Eat Lord Li's meal." Wear Lord Li's clothes and serve Lord Li to death. ”

Li Huayu smiled, nodded at the young general, and then said: "General Zhang Linghu has trained his troops well, and his army is majestic. That's it. ”

This general named Zhang Linghu hurriedly said modestly: "It's all taught by Li Gongzi, even if the ants follow Master Li for a few days, they will develop some skills." The last general was intellectually rude, and he was very afraid to be praised by Master Li. ”

Li Huayu smiled. said plainly: "General Zhang doesn't have to be too humble, I heard from the people who issued the military salaries below that this time to check the distribution of military salaries, the other departments more or less have empty deductions, but General Zhang has a lot of money and no one vacancy, even a few have not arrived, and there are also the causes and prescriptions prescribed by Lang Zhong, which is very rare, very rare!" ”

A simple sentence shocked Zhang Linghu's heart, and secretly said that he was fortunate to have taken precautions and never deducted a penny, otherwise he was afraid that his impression in Li Gongzi's mind would be greatly reduced. Thinking of this, Zhang Linghu hurriedly urged the horse to come to Li Huayu's side and said: "My lord, the last general has written several times before to request that the army and horses of the last general's department be incorporated into the Nanyue Army, but your lord will not allow it on the grounds that our army's combat strength is still poor. At the end of today, I will dare to ask again, and I hope that Gongzi will not refuse again. ”

Li Huayu smiled after hearing this: "You are also interesting, and the others, when they hear the reorganization, they are scared like avoiding the tiger and wolf, you are good, you ask for the reorganization." However, it's not the official's resignation, but the matter of this number, which requires the consent of the father. The father of the family will be rewarded for his meritorious service, and if he thinks of Wu Liuqi, he can only get the number of a town if he has great achievements. You don't have an inch of merit now, of course you can't give a number. However, if you can open up a world in eastern Henan and give me hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land to grow wheat and cotton for the Nanyue Army, then the official will recommend it to his father, and I believe that my father will not refuse. ”

When Zhang Linghu heard this, he immediately turned over and dismounted, knelt down and bowed down and said: "I will be indomitable and open up territory for adults." If Li Zicheng doesn't come, if he dares to stand in the way of the adults and his grandfather, I will capture Li Zicheng and His Majesty. ”

Li Huayu didn't care about it, anyway, he often saw this kind of thing, so he got used to it, he just smiled and nodded and said, "General Zhang has such ambitions, and he will definitely make great achievements in the future." By the way, I don't know where the soldiers and horses under the general's command were selected from, and this officer has also trained soldiers, and he is confident that his soldiers and horses are all elite for a while, but this officer thinks that he can't train the soldiers and horses to such a point in such a short time. I don't know what secret book General Zhang has, so I should give him advice. ”

As soon as these words came out, Zhang Linghu's face suddenly changed, and he wanted to say something, but he didn't know how to say it, and he looked like he wanted to say something. Li Huayu couldn't help but have some doubts in his heart, but in a blink of an eye, he was relieved, and said in his heart that it seems that this Zhang Linghu still inevitably has the disadvantages of private army generals, and some things are regarded as a magic weapon for the house, and he refuses to show others. So he said: "Okay, General Zhang, I'm just a joke, the so-called training, but diligent in training, and the soldiers share the joys and sorrows, I believe that these days, General Zhang must be very hard." However, my father said that he sweats more in peacetime and sheds less blood in wartime. This little labor today will be rewarded on the battlefield in the future. ”

Listening to Li Huayu's words, Zhang Linghu hurriedly said yes, but in his heart, he had a feeling that the ghost door was closed. Of course, he has his own knack for training and selecting troops, but if he says this trick, he is afraid that he will be beaten into a sieve by the fire gun immediately. As for Zhang Linghu's tricks, please allow the author to sell a pass.

After some inspection, Li Huayu was very annoyed to find that all the miscellaneous armed forces he had collected before, except for Zhang Linghu's family, the rest were all good at false claims. Those who falsely reported three or four percent of the soldiers and horses were all conscientious, most of them reported half of the flowers, and the most hateful one even reported nearly ten times the vacancy! That is, there are only more than 1,000 people, but more than 10,000 people are paid for the army.

"Originally, the official prepared more than ten copies of the official body documents and waist cards of the adjutant general, but now it seems that I am afraid that you may not even be competent for a garrison official position!"

Li Huayu's face was black, and he ordered his Dongfan soldiers to drag out a few begging miscellaneous armed leaders and cut them down, and their heads were hung up for public display. (To be continued.) )