The fight between Shi Meng and Zhang Guangcui attracted Zhao Dangshi's great attention, but the importance itself did not lie in the fight between the two of them, but in the fact that he could seize the opportunity to play on the topic.

The first big gift that Zhao received in the New Year was the final version of the "Hengyan of the Present World" submitted by the Unified Power Inspection Institute under the Unified Power Inspection Institute. The content of this "Hengyan of the Present World" is not much, imitating the Q&A mode of "Analects", with "Zhao Zi" Zhao Dangshi playing the role of Confucius to answer various questions raised by other apocryphal characters - there are many cases of talking and laughing with legendary fairy characters such as Lu Dongbin and Liu Haichan to set off Zhao Dangshi's "profundity", there are about more than 100 dialogues and nearly 10,000 words.

All the dialogues in the whole book are taken from common scenes in the camp, in order to be realistic and make it more intimate and understandable to the generals of Zhao Yingjun, who are the main readers. The content of the book revolves around how Zhao Dangshi made wise decisions, how Zhao Ying was invincible, how the generals worked together, how traitors deserved, how the military and civilians enjoyed themselves, how to deal with urgent matters, etc., both concepts and a large number of methods, the language tried to be the most easy to understand, and the standard was to read it to a ten-year-old child without feeling jerky.

Although the language is popular and the truth is concise, in order to achieve the best effect, Yan Licheng pulled Mu Gongchun to study painstakingly for several months, deleting and deleting, changing and changing, and the waste manuscript was at least ten editions filled with several baskets, and countless classics were referred to in the compilation process, not to mention Liu Xiaohong, Chang Zeyu, Gu Junen and even Lin Wuzhang. In short, according to Yan Licheng himself, this "Hengyan of the World" is really the essence of hundreds of schools of thought, the supreme treasure of thousands of thoughts, and the quasi-guarantee makes people who read it from curiosity to like, from like to believe, from belief to determination.

Throughout the ages, a firm army has had firm beliefs, and abstract beliefs will be expressed in the form of military discipline or slogans in practice. Just like the current rapidly expanding army, under the suggestion of the Confucian Niu Jinxing, a nursery rhyme and slogan were also compiled, which not only encouraged the people to join them, but also strengthened the soldiers' will to fight.

Zhao Dangshi hopes to do this better, more perfect, and more disciplined, and "Hengyan of the World" is the first step. Zhao Dangshi and Yan Licheng said that as soon as this book was finalized, it would be distributed to the whole army immediately, so that everyone in Zhao Yingying, from the generals to the pawns, would have a copy. Moreover, it must be recited by everyone, and spot checks must be carried out regularly, and those who do not meet the standards will be punished by military law. In addition to supervising the army, the work of the counselors and superintendents set up in each war camp and each department and workshop must also memorize and understand the "Hengyan of the World" by memorizing and understanding the generals and personnel under the supervision. Considering that it is necessary to attract the attention of the whole army, especially the middle and senior generals, Zhao Dangshi said bluntly: "If you can't even remember this easy-to-understand content, this officer doesn't have to be an officer!" ”

In order to make this "Hengyan of the World" more visually impactful and admonishing, Zhao Dangshi asked the cover to be dyed vermilion as the background color, and cut the pages into palm-sized pages for easy carrying, just like a booklet, so it can also be called a "red book".

There are paper mills and printing workshops in Xiangyang Prefecture, and although the name of the Red Book has spread throughout the army in advance, it will take some time to print tens of thousands of copies to each person. In this interval, there happened to be an incident between Shi Meng and Zhang Guangcui, and Zhao Dangshi pushed the boat down the river, arrested the two of them as models, and handed them two freshly baked red books after punishment, so that they could study them carefully, and as a representative, they toured back and forth in Fanhecheng, Zaoyang County, Xiangyang Mansion and other places to talk about their experiences. Of course, the drafts of their speeches were carefully prepared by the Ministry of External Propaganda and Internal Propaganda.

Shi Meng and Zhang Guangcui are both soldiers and horses of the Terracotta Metropolitan Academy, and their status in the Zhao camp is not low, with them as an example, the attention of the Zhao camp to "Hengyan of the World" has undoubtedly reached a new level. Even if these two people won the attention of Zhao Dangshi through scandals, they still spared no effort to seize the opportunity to perform, and three days after getting the red book, they memorized all the contents well, and then reviewed them to other generals and soldiers.

also because of the opportunity of the Red Book, Shi and Zhang Bing released their previous suspicions, turned enemies into friends, and instantly became "comrades-in-arms" who supported each other. If it weren't for the complicated and difficult personnel transfer, they would even want to apply for transfer to the external propaganda and internal propaganda department to focus on publicity.

The pilot results are good, and Zhao Dangshi, Yan Licheng, Mu Gongchun and others can't help but have more confidence in "Hengyan of the World". However, because the red book has not yet been pushed out on a large scale, the actual effect has yet to be verified, so Zhao Dangshi set some regulations, and ordered to publicize the envoy and the envoy of the unification of power to the outside world, and then temporarily shifted his attention to other places.

Elsewhere, there are mainly two places, one in Sichuan and the other in Henan.

Sichuan affairs, as Luo Dain, who sent an envoy to Zhao Ying not long ago, said, from December to January, Xiying and Cao Ying had already begun to prepare for leaving Sichuan and entering Chu. Soon after the year, the West and Cao Ers, who had been flowing in eastern Sichuan, fell into the Tongjiang River from Bazhou and then went straight to Xiazhou, and the unaware officers and soldiers only said that it was a trick for the Liukou to flow back and forth, but Zhao Dangshi was a person who had personally been out of Sichuan twice, and after learning about this situation from the Tang newspaper in front, he was naturally keenly aware of the key points.

The follow-up Tang report arrived, because Zuo Liangyu watched from the wall, the main forces of the Ming army such as Fierce Tiger and Liu Shijie fought bloody battles with Xiying, and the sons of fierce Tiger were all killed on the battlefield, and the officers and troops were unfavorable. Judging from this, Zhao Dangshi judged that Yang Sichang had lost the opportunity to choke the return of Xi and Cao Erying.

Sure enough, the second battalions of Xi and Cao opened the gap in the encirclement of the official army through a victory, leaving behind the miscellaneous troops with poor mobility and leaving to fend for themselves, and only seized the opportunity to travel day and night with light cavalry, and went straight to Yunyang. By the time Zhao Dangshi received the last Tang report, it was already written that the thieves had returned to Kuizhou.

All this was both unexpected and somewhat unexpected in Zhao Dangshi. It is expected that Zhang Xianzhong is good at running and attacking, and he is a first-class good hand at tossing and turning, the terrain in central Sichuan is complicated, and the Ming army of various departments cannot fight in unity very well, and it is only a matter of time before there is a loophole in the West and Cao Second Battalions to get out. Unexpectedly, Yang Sichang personally sat on the front line, commanding the officials and troops of Sichuan, Shaanxi, Chu and other provinces, but the situation of suppressing the Kou was even more embarrassing than in the phenomenon.

From this point of view, by mid-February at the latest, the second battalion of Xi and Cao will return to Huguang.

Yu Shi, the army continued to march forward, Henan general soldier Wang Shaoyu went out to resist, but in Yiyang, Yongcheng lost two battles in a row, morale was greatly depressed, deputy generals Luo Tai, Liu Youyi rebelled and surrendered to the army. In just one month, the emerging army swept away the leaves with the autumn wind, and quickly conquered Yiyang, Yongning, Lushi, Yanshi, Lingbao, Xin'an, Baofeng, Lushan, Jiaxian, Yiyang and other places, and swept away the periphery of Luoyang.

Luoyang City is connected to the palace city of Fu Domain, Wang Shaoyu retreated and came in the hope of entering the city to assist in defending, although Zhu Changxun, the king of Fu, was afraid of death, he was even more afraid that the soldiers would invade his mansion, and he refused. Wang Shaoyu was furious and forced his way into the city, and the defenders were difficult to stop. He marched on the front foot, and the army on the back foot approached the city of Luoyang, and began to attack the city with the artillery bombardment of the surrendered official army.

Although the two lines go hand in hand, in the subtleties, it is still the first thing to do and the things to be later. In these two places, Zhao Dangshi has already subordinated the opportunity. Although he is in northern Chu, the waves in Zhao Dangshi's heart are no different from being in front of him.

Light snow and cold wind Luoyang City.

Not far away, the bell on the castle tower suddenly rang. And one after another, and the sound was incessant, very rapid. This was not the first time that the people of the city had encountered such a situation, and they immediately left all their inconsequential thoughts behind at this moment, and all tensed their nerves - the rogues began to fight the city again.

A loud bang erupted at the head of the city, and the shock of that moment was like the heavens and the earth cracking. In the rush of the bell, there is a clueless hustle and bustle. The scattered and frightened people continued one after another, and this chaotic scene spread from the city gate to the surroundings of Deng Longye and the others.

"His grandmother's, it's a step faster." Not far away, Man Ning climbed into the courtyard and stood under the base of the wall, took the sack pushed by the person on the other side of the wall, and cursed with a pant in his mouth.

The sack is long and heavy, Deng Longye walked over to help drag the sack to the courtyard, at this time, another person lightly climbed over the wall, looked at the sack on the ground, clapped his hands and said, "Qi is alive." ”

Man Ning listened to the great movement outside and asked, "Old Deng, has the army entered the city?" "Tut-tsk," I got it in less than a day, and this Luoyang city wall is not paper-paste?" ”

Deng Longye said: "I heard that the Chuang army used the artillery of the Shun official army to bombard the door. ”

The man who arrived later said: "If you bombard the city again, you won't be able to break the city in just one day, and there must be a cat in it." "His name is Xue Xuan, sharp-beaked monkey cheeks, thin and small, but he is not from Zhao Yingzhong.

Deng Longye shook his head and said, "Now is not the time to pull these things, why, only move one?" ”

Xue Zhao laughed dryly: "One? Brother Deng said lightly, and I don't know how much effort it took us to just this one. ”

Man Ning said: "Lao Deng, there are no more than a dozen people in the other one, so I really can't move here." Whatever the Lord commands, it is enough to have one of the two. ”

Deng Longye pondered for a moment and said, "Okay, one is enough." He added, "Luck said that it was good or not, and the army came in after the incident, we have to get out quickly, otherwise we will be busy with the rebels." Turning to Xue Xuan, "Old Xue, the person who answered has already been contacted?" ”

Xue Xuan nodded and said, "Don't worry, there are already our people waiting there at the Northeast Gate." ”

In the direction of the city, there was another loud cannon fire, and screams and howls filled the streets. Deng Longye pushed out a board cart that had been prepared from the corner of the yard, and together with Man Ning and Xue Xuan, he carried the sack up and put it away, and said, "Let's go, don't delay." ”

After leaving the courtyard gate, walking along the streets and alleys, the situation was extremely chaotic. The people who ran like headless flies were just fleeing without any rules. The three of Deng Longye, who were going backwards, were like a clear stream in this chaos. If it weren't for the fact that the bodies of the three of them were strong enough, I am afraid that they would have knocked over the few people who were panicked. There was a crackling sound behind his head, and Deng Longye turned his head to see that behind the rows of houses in the west, countless black pillars were rising in the distance. In broad daylight, the sky was faintly reflected in the fire.

Halfway through, hundreds of people rushed like a tide, Xue Zhao grabbed a few and asked about the situation, and said: "The first few buildings and pavilions in front of them were hit and destroyed by the cannon pellets that flew into the city, blocking the road, so we have to make a detour to the west first." ”

The three of them immediately stopped on the ground, and the cart sped west. When you arrive near the west of the city, you will gradually see countless burning houses, especially the piles of shacks in the west of the city, because they are all made of grass and trees, so they were the first to be burned to ashes, and a large number of displaced people escaped from the shacks, and their gray faces were like being smeared with charcoal, hugging each other and trembling together, or coughing, or wailing, or tearful looking at the people passing by.

Man Ning sighed, and his face couldn't bear it: "This has made them suffer, they finally have a place to stay, and now they have to suffer from the sun and rain again." ”

Xue reprimanded: "We can't take care of ourselves now, you better accept your kindness!" ”

Deng Longye reminded: "You two should also be careful, I see that there is a big chaos in this neighborhood, people are empty, and there is no order." He ordered it to the end, but Zhao and Xue knew it. People who are poor and white, who do anything to survive, especially those who are already desperate in their hearts, will not have any moral constraints. When there is order, relying on power, they can still be suppressed by bullets, but once they lose their suppression, these people will be no different from wild beasts out of the cage.

Based on past experience, Deng Longye and the others all knew that the reason why these groups of pitiful-looking homeless people were indifferent was because they had not yet figured out the situation, and because they lacked a budding bird to provoke. When these two conditions are ripe, these homeless people will be transformed from lambs to wild wolves in an instant.

Deng Longye didn't want to stay with this group of powder kegs that could explode at any time for too long, and a puff of smoke hit him, causing the three of them to cough violently. Xue Xuan looked through the smoke screen with red eyes, and found that there were figures with loaded guns and spears back and forth in several houses in the distance, and said: "There are officers and soldiers in front, cough cough, just in those rooms." ”

However, that was the way for the trio.

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Some of the people in Zhao Ying are age-tested

[Zhao Dangshi] was born in the thirty-seventh year of Wanli (1609); In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641), he was 33 years old

[Hou Dagui] was born in the twenty-ninth year of Wanli (1601); In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641), he was 41 years old

Xu Hui was born in the thirty-first year of Wanli (1603); In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641), he was 39 years old

[Guo Ruke] was born in the thirty-ninth year of Wanli (1611); In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641), he was 31 years old

[Yang Zhaofeng] was born in the forty-third year of Wanli (1615); In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641), he was 27 years old

【Wang Laixing】Born in the first year of Changtai (1620); In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641), he was 22 years old

【Zhao Yuanzai】Born in the second year of Chongzhen (1629); In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641), he was 13 years old

【Qin Qigong】The twenty-sixth year of Wanli (1598); In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641), he was 44 years old