Zhonglu Xuanwei Envoy Division, located in the southwest of Huguang, Shizhouwei westernmost front river, for generations for the Qin Tusi clan land. In Shizhou Weizhong, in addition to Zhonglu, there are more than 20 large and small propaganda and pacification envoys such as Zhongxiao, Zhongtong, Rongmei, Dongxiang, Shinan, Zhongjian, etc.

The Ming Dynasty inherited the Tusi system of the Yuan Dynasty, allowing the Tusi to be self-governing, and the Tusi of Shizhou Wei have developed so far, basically forming a ruling pattern dominated by the surnames of Qin, Tian, Xiang, and Mu, and the marriage between the regions is vertical and horizontal, fighting and alliance, and the intensity is no less than that of the Central Plains Dynasty. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the policy of "changing the land and returning to the stream" aroused the rebellion of the Tusi in various places, the largest of which was the rebellion of Yang Yinglong in Banzhou. Although it was suppressed, the vitality of the Central Plains Dynasty was also greatly damaged, and the Ming court had to re-examine the feasibility of this policy, and the reform efforts gradually slowed down.

The Tusi of Shizhouwei firmly stood on the side of the imperial court in the two rebellions of Banzhou and Luan, and the Ming court treated this area quite favorably. In addition, in recent years, the rise of slaves and thieves has made the Ming court tired of running for its life and has no time to take care of the southwest. When the whip was out of reach, the toast here began to move.

Among them, the Zhonglu Tan clan is the most ambitious. The Qin clan was a local official in the Mengyuan and Yuan dynasties, and at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he suffered a major blow for his rebellion against Zhu Yuanzhang, and it was not until the Yongle period that he officially submitted to the Ming court. Since then, it has flourished and annexed many small forces. By the Jiajing Dynasty, Zhonglu had become one of the largest toasts in Shizhouwei. When Yang Yinglong rebelled, the Qin family and the Yang family were not trusted because of their in-law relationship, but the head of the family at that time judged the situation, resolutely drew a line with the Yang family, and repeatedly asked soldiers to help suppress it, although it was not allowed and therefore not affected after the defeat of the Yang family, he still stood upright.

In the early years of the Apocalypse, Yongning Xuanfu envoys, Shuixi Xuanfu envoys Hao Chongming, and An Bangyan rose up, and the imperial court summoned local soldiers from near and far to encircle and suppress. Qin Yinhua and Qin Qixun's father and son were summoned to send troops, and they were awarded the posts of chief soldier and general respectively because of their merits, and the Zhonglu pacification envoy was also promoted to the consolation envoy.

Vested Longfu Wangshu. Zhonglu Xuanwei has gradually grown up in recent years, and Qin Qixun and Qin Jinxiao's father and son have always been ambitious, so they began to play the idea of the surrounding toast. It's just that the rest of the Zhulu Tusi are not deaf and blind, and knowing Zhonglu's thoughts, they began to unite to protect themselves and fight against the Zhonglu Qin clan together—although many of them are also Qin's branches, or have different relatives with Zhonglu.

In the past two years, Qin Qixun has used the excuse to invade the surrounding Tusi several times, but he has been repulsed, and he has clearly recognized the situation and gradually lost his will. But his son Qin Jinxiao is in his prime, and he is not willing to be mediocre. Then he turned his attention elsewhere. Among them, especially the Qianjiang River and Pengshui in Chongqing Prefecture, they are almost plundered by Qin Jinxiao more than ten times a year. The local governor is cowardly, and the Han residents are not as fierce as the natives, so they are helpless.

However, Qin Jin's filial piety is ambitious, and he is not satisfied by just plundering neighboring counties. He has been paying attention to the situation inside and outside the province in the past few months, and when he heard that a strong force had recently entered the Kuizhou capital, he had a different mind.

Qin does not mention it here, but says that on that day, Zhao Ying defeated the official army in the south of Xinning County, and Zhao Dangshi chased the Dazhou soldiers. Dazhou soldiers were defeated and returned to the city, the leader of the soldiers shouted loudly to the door, when Zhang Lianxiang was not in the city, the officers and soldiers guarding the city saw that the same knowledge shouted very anxiously and could only open the city gate and put it in. This opening was terrible, Yang Chengfu's cavalry galloped into the city, and immediately controlled the top and bottom of the city, Zhao Dangshi, Hao Shaoqi and others followed, and Dazhou City fell.

This is not the first time that Zhao Ying has broken through the county seat, and it has its own set of methods to deal with it. Zhang Lianxiang was executed, he would rather die than give in, scolded and died, his wife gave birth to a young son, fearing that he would be humiliated by the soldiers of Zhao Ying, and threw his son into the well and died. Zhao Ying plundered the city and sealed the knife the next day.

Dazhou is an important agricultural town in eastern Sichuan, and it is said to be rich, and Zhang Lianxiang is in office in order to prepare for the Kou and collect the materials of the rural market towns near and far, and the treasury is extremely full, which is cheap Zhao Ying. Zhao Ying came from the Danqu Mountain, and there was a lot of consumption of grain and military resources, so he had to replenish it for a while.

The official army west of the Qujiang River did not move, and Zhao Ying attacked Dongxiang County near Dazhou. During this period, the Tu family in Liangshan County lowered their voices and sent people to beg for the return of Tu Yuan, but of course Zhao Dangshi would not agree. The Tu family in Liangshan returned in vain, for fear that Tu Yuan would have three long and two short, and would not dare to send troops again. After this battle, the general Wang Xiang escaped by luck, but the battalion generals Dang Tengjiao and Xu Chengming died in battle, and their courage was lost, and they returned to Yunyang County to defend themselves. There are few people in Wanxian Tan Hong, and the other two parties do not move, it is difficult for him to do anything alone, and he knows that Kuixi can no longer do it, and he also returns to the city in a huff. Since then, Zhao Ying has occupied Dazhou, Xinning, Dongxiang and Zhukou Passes, and completely controlled Kuixi.

The current situation is very good, but Zhao Dangshi still feels that time is pressing. He knew that Kui Xi was in the middle of Sichuan, surrounded by officials and soldiers, and it was by no means a place of long-term peace, and since he had the opportunity to take a breath, he had to seize the opportunity to finish the two main affairs.

The first priority is to reorganize the second battalion of Bai and Liu. In the past few battles, Zhao Dangshi obviously felt that the command of the two battalions was not very effective. This is not only due to the low combat effectiveness of the second battalion, but also because the soldiers in it are not directly under the jurisdiction of the Zhao battalion. Since the beginning of winter, these two battalions have been seriously attrition due to fighting or desertion, and all that remains are some backbones, totaling about 2,000 people. Anyway, sooner or later, it will be absorbed, and the current time is right, so Zhao Dangshi will start to do it.

He first found Bai Jiaolong and Liu Weiming, and euphemistically said his thoughts. In fact, it was not unilaterally by him, and the two men had been thinking about it for a long time. In their opinion, the Zhao camp is thriving, and if it continues to develop like this, it will become a climate sooner or later, and if you are reluctant to have this little bit of military power in your hands, you will never be able to truly integrate into the Zhao Ying system. Because of small losses, they have always wandered around the periphery of the core, and it is difficult to have a future. The achievements achieved by following Zhao Ying in the past few months have long exceeded the limits that they could think of in the first half of their lives, and they have strengthened their belief in following Zhao Dangshi.

At that time, they were able to abandon Yuan Tao and join Zhao Dangshi's hands, but they handed over their lives to Zhao Ying. I have always wanted to be able to enter the Zhao Ying system, but because of the frequent wars, I have been holding back and not saying anything. Now Zhao Dangshi took the initiative to propose, and there was no resistance at all, and his attitude was extremely positive, but it was beyond Zhao Dangshi's expectations.

When the two sides thought together, it came naturally. After discussions between Zhao Dangshi, Bai, Liu, Hou Dagui, Xu Hui and others, it was decided to expand another battalion on the basis of Zhao Ying's original one. It seems simple, but it's actually complicated. Originally, there were five divisions in the first battalion, that is, the front, left, right, and rear plus a horse military division. When the new battalion was first established, it was impossible for the 2,000 men to belong to one battalion. Roughly speaking, the left and right divisions of the old battalion were transferred to the new battalion, and the old battalion absorbed the 1,000 people from the original Bai and Liu 2 divisions. This is only the most coarse deployment, down to the personnel deployment of one division and one team, which is extremely complicated. Although things are trivial, they have to be done, only in this way can they hold all the military power tightly in their own hands, this is not Zhao Dangshi's small belly, but the only way to lead the troops. Bai and Liu are used to seeing this kind of scene, and they will not have any disgust, and they will try their best to cooperate.

After five days in a row, the arrangements of the two battalions were initially perfected. It is roughly as follows: the old battalion is called the middle battalion, the new battalion is called the front battalion, and Zhao Dangshi is the commander of the capital and controls the two battalions. He had also thought about the position of chief soldier and general before, but he thought that he was still a thief, and calling himself such a self-proclaimed would inevitably be crowned by a monkey and make others laugh. Therefore, I chose a military position that was slightly less clear and had a somewhat archaic flavor. Hou Dagui and Xu Hui also ascended to heaven, and then "promoted", one served as the general manager of the middle battalion, the other as the former general manager of the battalion, and at the same time concurrently served as the former general manager of their respective battalions. The two of them have always been Zhao Dangshi's right-hand men, and they have great prestige in the army, and others have no objections.

In the old camp, the front division, the rear division and the Ma Jun division did not move, and Wang Laixing and Yang Chengfu still served as the last two commanders. Bai Jiaolong served as the head of the left division. On the surface, he brought fewer people, but in fact, most of the 500 people in this Zuo Division were soldiers transferred from the old Zhao Ying, and their combat effectiveness was much stronger than his subordinates before. He's not a raw melon egg, this scale is still there, of course there will be no dissatisfaction. The right division put the general Zhao Dangshi and let Wu Mingfeng take the position. Hou Dagui and Xu Hui both objected. They think that this surnamed Wu is too slippery, and he has not made a "name petition" to follow Zhao Ying with all his heart, and he is not trustworthy. Zhao Dangshi still persevered. Distrust is distrust, from Da Hou Mountain to here, this person still put forward a number of useful suggestions, without him, Zhao Ying's situation would not be as lenient as it is today. Moreover, he was once a family in a thousand places, and he led people, and his vision and organizational ability were much higher than those promoted from the bottom.

Zhao Ying is still in the initial stage, and Zhao Dangshi follows the principle of "reducing talents without sticking to one pattern", and appoints those who have the ability. He is no better than the Ming Court, and he can easily attract as many talents as the carp that crosses the river. No matter how powerful he is in the eyes of others, he is just a rogue, and he is definitely not a "good wood sage" who can take refuge in him. For talents, no matter how big or small, you can only get one. No one is perfect, and no matter how fat and thin you are, there will really be no one available.

Wu Mingfeng was also surprised by Zhao Dangshi's appointment. It's just that some of his city governments, after being caught off guard at first, readily accepted the position of general manager. Others looked at his unhappy and angry appearance, and they couldn't guess what he was thinking.

Of the four divisions of the new battalion, except for Xu Hui, who was the general manager of the former division, and Hao Shaoqi, who was still serving as the right division, the left division promoted Guo Hutou. This was recommended by Xu Hui to Zhao Dangshi. Zhao Dangshi admired Guo Hutou's bravery, and later in Qingshangai, he was able to be resourceful and call on soldiers to push snowballs to hinder the officers and soldiers, it seems that he is not a simple reckless man, so he agreed. The rear boss transferred Liu Weiming over, but he had some complaints.

Similar to the old battalion, the rear division of the new battalion mainly manages logistics, and the soldiers under the division are also selected by each division. But the reality is that nominally fair distribution, the specific calculation still depends on the relationship of strength. Although he has some courage, no matter the strength or comprehensive quality he had before, he is inferior to Bai Jiaolong, and he is not an old man under Zhao Dangshi, and it is already transcendent to be able to sit on an equal footing with Hou Dagui and others in the rear division. Zhao Dangshi knew that he might be unhappy, so he deliberately looked for him, said some good words, gave him some property, and promised that he was only temporary, and he would be transferred soon, so he barely swallowed his unhappiness.

The reorganization of the army is complicated, the general framework is set up, and it is good to hand it over to the people below to improve. In parallel with this, there is another priority - the search for the next target.

Taking advantage of the fact that the mobilization of troops was in full swing, Zhao Dangshi personally selected twenty horsemen from the Ma Military Division, an independent formation, and the number was "not collected at night". "Don't collect at night" is a unique title in the Ming Dynasty's Liaodong fort guard army or battalion soldiers, and the Standing Committee members use the elite as the special service personnel for sentinel reconnaissance. With this name, it can be seen that his intention is to use them as agents who can go deep behind enemy lines to detect information that is difficult for ordinary sentinels to detect.

Due to the particularity of their duties, these twenty people are all elite soldiers with ordinary faces, murderous introverts, and sharp and swift. Zhao Dangshi clarified their responsibilities for them, led by a hundred generals named Zhou Wenhe, who was elected, swore allegiance to Zhao Dangshi himself, and remembered the three rules and five laws. At the same time, as long as these people make meritorious contributions, they will be rewarded.

After a short period of "training", these 20 people immediately set off and infiltrated Kuidong, Chongqing, and even Huguang, Shizhouwei and other places, either disguised as foot merchants, or disguised as tourists and rangers. Zhao Dangshi stipulated that by the end of December at the latest, everyone must come back to return to life.

The end of December of the eighth year of Chongzhen is approaching in a blink of an eye. For most of the month, the heavy snow has never stopped, and there are occasional gaps, and it is also cold wind and sleet, even hiding indoors to roast the fire, and sometimes feeling piercing cold. As Zhao Dangshi guessed, the officers and troops west of the Qujiang River have never crossed the Danqu Mountain so far. Not only that, except for the big battle a month ago, the officials and troops in Fudong, Chongqing and other places near and far have almost no reaction to their own wrath, perhaps in their opinion, having a good Chinese New Year's Eve is the most important thing to do.

Zhao Dangshi and others did not spend the New Year in leisure. During this precious period of recuperation, the soldiers of the Zhao Battalion continued to train every day. Guo Hutou is very innovative and has made many training suggestions to Zhao Dangshi. For example, competitions such as running naked in the snow with weights, naked swimming in the glacier. The training is fun, the soldiers do not feel bored, and the winners of these projects have bounties to get them, so that although the training is hard, the enthusiasm of the soldiers is very high.

In addition to these, Zhao Dangshi asked He Kewei to ghostwrite and draft a military law. Most of the soldiers in the Zhao battalion were born in rogues, and some of them had been in many battalions, and they had little discipline, let alone any military law.

Prior to this, Zhao Dangshi had also roughly issued several military orders for various ministries to implement. However, the scope of verbal instructions is broad and the intensity of compliance is also very small, and it has little effect. The people cannot stand without trust, and the army cannot be disciplined. He had the intention to gradually change the habits of the rogue in the army, which was the first step.

There are more than 20 military laws, which are not detailed, but they are enough to surprise the soldiers. Among them, several articles that should be "cut off and decided" after violating the law include "plundering after sealing the knife", "robbing property but killing people's lives", "trespassing on private houses and committing adultery with good family girls", and other clauses that according to the soldiers' previous experience, they are normal or do not commit crimes to death.

Hou Dagui and others were also puzzled, but they had obeyed Zhao Dangshi's orders for a long time, and they still meticulously conveyed the military law layer by layer, so that officers at all levels urged the imperial soldiers to memorize it in their spare time. At first, some people didn't care. However, after Zhao Dangshi did not hesitate to behead several soldiers who violated military law, Zhao Ying was all suppressed from top to bottom - among the beheaded people even included the old man who had followed Zhao Dangshi since before entering Sichuan. This kind of impartial law enforcement shows Zhao Dangshi's determination to implement military law in the whole battalion, and everyone will weigh whether they are worthy of the beheaded veteran.

After these things are done, it is approaching New Year's Day. The night guards who had been sent out earlier also came back one after another to report what they had discovered. But there was one person who did not return for a long time. Zhao Dangshi asked Zhou Wenhe about his whereabouts for some reason. According to Zhou Wenhe, the area where the person was assigned to investigate was the Propaganda Department of Weizhong Road in Shizhou.