In the fifteenth year of orthodoxy, at the beginning of February, Jingshi, the imperial study.

"In the capital, grain merchants everywhere have raised the price of grain, so that the price of grain has risen three times a day, which is more than four times that of normal days, and the people are miserable for this, and the poor families are almost out of food! Please ask the imperial court to immediately open a Jicang to stabilize grain prices! ”

"Shops everywhere have hoarded goods and raised prices, so that the people's livelihood is difficult, and the officials are also distressed! Please instruct Jing Zhaoyi to come forward to suppress the profiteers! ”

"Hu merchants in the city secretly connected in tandem, spreading the news that the situation in northern Xinjiang was critical and confusing people's hearts, Jing Zhaoyin's visit was fruitless, and the people in the capital were panicked! Please Beizhen Fusi thoroughly investigate Hu Lu's spies and illegal Hu businessmen! ”

"Fujian thieves attacked the city, and the garrisons of various prefectures and counties couldn't resist it, and urgent documents came one after another, please send a large army to conquer as soon as possible!"

The orthodox emperor (Ming Yingzong) looked at the urgent folds on the bookcase one after another, his brows had wrinkled into a lump of flesh, and his face was very ugly, like a volcano, which could erupt at any time.

The surrounding eunuchs and palace maids all trembled when they saw this, and no one dared to speak out at will, for fear of touching the moldy head, being heavily blamed by the orthodox emperor, and losing their lives in vain.

"How have the soldiers and horses mobilized to the south to fight for thieves? Now Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi are almost one a day! ”

At this time, the words of the orthodox emperor seemed to contain endless anger, and they were squeezed out of his mouth, frightening the surrounding eunuchs and palace maids.

Next to him, Yu Qian, the squire of the military department, did not change his face, and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, the order of the military department to recruit soldiers and horses from Shandong, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi provinces to go south to suppress thieves has been issued, and the soldiers and horses from all over the country are expected to be assembled within half a month; At the same time, the 5,000 Mongolian cavalry requisitioned from along the Great Wall have also arrived in Tongxian, and the soldiers and horses of the Beijing camp are also ready to go, and in two days they can go south with the 5,000 Mongolian cavalry. ”

"Then how to arrange the soldiers and horses in Jiangxi and Zhejiang?"

Yu Qian couldn't help but pause when he heard this, and said: "Your Majesty, when the thief Kou Ye Zongliu made a big fuss in Zhejiang and Jiangxi earlier, the garrisons in Zhejiang and Jiangxi had already been injured and had not recovered until now. Therefore, the soldiers and horses of these two provinces can only respond from the sidelines to prevent the flow of thieves and soldiers and horses into Zhejiang and Jiangxi, and they should not be the main force of soldiers and horses. ”

Hearing this, the orthodox emperor couldn't help frowning, and said with anger: "In other words, the army that went south to fight for thieves this time only had the soldiers and horses of the Beijing camp, the Mongolian iron cavalry, and the garrison of Shandong?" ”

"Exactly!"

"Exactly?"

The Orthodox Emperor stood up abruptly and asked angrily, "How many soldiers and horses can there be?" ”

Yu Qian said: "Your Majesty, the main forces of the southward this time are: 5,000 Mongolian iron cavalry, 20,000 Beijing battalion soldiers and horses, as for the strength of Shandong soldiers and horses, Yanzhou Mansion and Ren Chengwei have just reported, about 25,000 soldiers and horses. ”

"A total of 50,000 troops?"

The Orthodox Emperor sat down slowly, secretly thought about it, and then said, "It's okay!" Now the imperial court can only mobilize so many soldiers and horses in a short period of time. So who is the main general of this southward rebellion? ”

"Dai Jingkui, the general of the Beijing camp."

"Hmm."

Dai Jingkui, the chief general of the Beijing camp, still knew that this person was originally a guerrilla general in the Nanjing Beijing camp, a veteran who had been promoted step by step from the commander of the army, and was already over 40 years old this year.

In the twelfth year of orthodoxy, Dai Jingkui made meritorious contributions to the thieves in Nanzhili, gathered and annihilated 2,000 thieves with 800 officers and soldiers, pacified the place, and was promoted to general by the Ministry of War, and was transferred to the north of the Beijing Division the following year, and was a member of the Beijing battalion.

The orthodox emperor said in a deep voice: "That's Dai Jingkui, I think Dai Shen will be able to take on this great responsibility!" ”

After speaking, the orthodox emperor said to Qian: "Tell Dai Jingkui that this battle must be resolved quickly, annihilate the thieves and pacify the place at all costs, and never delay time!" Now that the Warat army has arrived along the Great Wall, it may go south at any time, and the energy of the imperial court must be all focused on the north, and it must not be restrained by these thieves! I will also issue an edict to the four provinces of Fujian, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Guangdong, ordering all the prefectures and counties, soldiers and horses of the four provinces to fully assist in the conquest and suppression of the army, all with the aim of exterminating the thieves! ”

Yu Qian responded on the surface, but he was a little worried in his heart: this time the 50,000 army went south to fight for thieves, and the imperial court and the orthodox emperor have always advocated a quick victory, which may backfire!

After all, there are hundreds of thousands of thieves, and now is the time to show their edge, the difference between the strength of the official army and the thieves is too great, even if those hundreds of thousands of thieves are a rabble, and the 50,000 officers and soldiers can only outwit, how can they blindly attack and fight quickly?

However, Yu Qian did not say such a worry, because the Orthodox Emperor's worries were also very reasonable.

Yu Qian knew that now that the hundreds of thousands of troops in Warat had been assembled, once the war in the south was indecisive for a long time, and the Warat army poured down again, the imperial court would face a grim situation of fighting on two fronts, which would shake the country's foundation!

"The lesser of two evils! Let's hope everything goes well with this thief! ”

Yu Qian could only respond to the request of the orthodox emperor and secretly prayed in his heart.

A few days later, the order issued by the military department to send troops to Ren Chengwei was sent to Ren Chengwei on a fast horse, and Ren Chengwei commanded Lei Bo not to slack off, while mobilizing money and grain to carry heavy baggage, and on the other hand, he sent Li Qianhu to rush to Yushan Town to deliver the order.

Only two days later, Liu Juntao received an order from Ren Chengwei, and immediately ordered the front battalion, rear battalion, cavalry battalion, and Yanzhou Mansion Strange Battalion of the Yushan Town Guards to open and assemble in Yanzhou Mansion.

Previously, all the money, food, and military equipment needed for the army to go south had been transported to Qulipu, Xuzhou Prefecture, for hoarding, so this time the army did not need to consider the problem of logistics baggage, and it can be said that the action was fast.

And Liu Juntao also said goodbye to Guo Yongzhong, Guo Muying, Tang Yu, Zhang Baigui, Chen Ziping and others one by one, and everyone kept sending Liu Juntao, Li Qianhu, Zhou Zongsheng, and the soldiers of the cavalry battalion who went south ten miles away, and then reluctantly returned to Yushan Town.

Before parting, Guo Muying's eyes were slightly red and said to Liu Juntao: "Husband, this time the south is different from the past, our Yushan Town needs to fight under the command of the imperial court, it can be said that we can't help ourselves, and my husband must be more cautious; While the husband is winning military exploits, he must also have a good relationship with the court generals! ”

Liu Juntao was relieved when he heard this, and said, "Don't worry! Waiting for me to return triumphantly! ”

On the way, Liu Juntao and Li Qianhu walked together, constantly inquiring about the specific news of this southward trip.

Li Qianhu knew that the stakes were very high, and he also knew everything, and answered Liu Juntao's inquiries one by one.

"Liu Guerrilla, this time the imperial court not only mobilized 20,000 elites in Beijing, but also dispatched 5,000 Mongolian iron cavalry, which can be described as inevitable! Guerrilla Liu must seize the opportunity, firstly, to win military merits for himself, and secondly, to win glory for our Yanzhou Mansion and Renchengwei! ”

Liu Juntao promised on his lips, but he had some expectations in his heart.

After all, since Liu Juntao came to the Ming Dynasty, he has not seen the combat power of the elite battalion of the Ming army, nor the power of the Mongolian iron cavalry, but he didn't expect to be able to see it together this time, and these two soldiers and horses are still their allies!

"Know yourself and know your opponent, and win all battles!"

Liu Juntao has secretly made up his mind that when the time comes to start the war, he must carefully observe the combat methods of the five thousand Mongolian iron cavalry and how effective they are, so as to accumulate experience for himself to go north to conquer Warat and Tatar in the future.

"I think the combat methods and combat power of these five thousand Mongolian iron cavalry should be similar to those of the Warat and Tatar iron cavalry, right?"

Liu Juntao secretly thought in his heart, and Li Qianhu was still saying in his ear: "Liu Guerrilla, I heard that this time I went south to beg for thieves, Your Majesty has already issued a death order, and we want to fight quickly, and when we get to the battlefield, you have to be cautious!" ”

Hearing this, Liu Juntao also frowned slightly.

In history, all the big battles that were urged by the emperor in the rear to be quickly resolved would fail, and the rest of them would be defeated!

Although Liu Juntao understood that the reason why the orthodox emperor was anxious was because there were hundreds of thousands of iron horsemen in the north, he couldn't let the soldiers who went south to beg for thieves die in vain!

Therefore, Liu Juntao secretly made up his mind that no matter how the court urged him or how the officials drove him away, he must fight steadily and steadily, and he must not let his brothers die worthless!

Three days later, Liu Juntao and Zhou Zongsheng led the cavalry battalion of the Yushan Town Escort to the capital of Yanzhou and set up camp at Fengsui Fort in the west of the city.

At this time, the Yanzhou Mansion Qi Barracks in Dongping Prefecture had already arrived, while the front and rear battalions of the Yushan Town Guards were still on the way, and they were expected to arrive within two days.

On the same day, Liu Juntao hurriedly rushed to the Yamen of the city guard commander in the city of Yanzhou Mansion and met the commander Lei Bo.