Zhu Cihong's Chinese army camp has now moved to the palace villa that Zuo Mengmei arranged for him at the beginning.

This is a summer villa located on the water's edge of a lake called Jade Lake. This jade lake is very close to the county seat of Gong'an, and not far from the Yangtze River, and it should be surrounded by a dense and lively place in the countryside. However, there are layers of woods near this royal villa, which isolate the villa from the surrounding rural farmland, and forcibly trap a shade.

From this layout alone, you can see that this villa has really put a lot of thought into it. After Zhu Cihong entered, although he didn't see any luxury, he could feel comfortable everywhere, which was indeed very good.

However, living comfortably is not the reason why Zhu Cihong chose this place as the location of the Chinese army, the main reason why he is stationed here is to facilitate command.

Although the current situation on the Huguang battlefield is gradually favorable to Zhu Cihong, Li Zicheng's advantage on the inner line is still there, and on the other hand, Zhu Cihong's army has to be distributed on the relatively long front on the outer front.

The previous meeting at Hudu was not of military significance, but a political meeting.

After the meeting, all parties met and held meetings, bargained, and those who should be sealed officials should be sealed, those who should make wishes should be made, those who should be scared are scared, and those who should be held hostages are handed over to hostages.

After some operation, the army, which was about to disperse into sand, was pinched together by Zhu Cihong again - in He Tengjiao's opinion, this matter was too difficult, but it was a piece of cake for Zhu Cihong.

Because he and Zhu Cizhao, Zuo Mengmei, Jin Shenghuan, and Daniel Zhang still have common interests!

Everyone is a northerner who came south with two fists clenched! If you are united, you can find food in the south, but if you don't...... Hehe, the big blades of the landlord class in the south are not good, but they have a pen to poke people!

So under the domination of common interests, the big guys unanimously support Zhu Cihong to go one step further - he must improve! If he doesn't make progress, relying on Emperor Chongzhen, everyone will not end up sooner or later!

After the reunification of the division at Hudukou, the troops naturally had to be redeployed and deployed along the river. From west to east, they occupy Yidu, Zhijiang, Songzi, Hudukou, Xiabailizhou, Jiangbei bridgehead, Gong'an County, Yuhu Xinggong (Yuhu Villa), Shishou County, Dispatching Port, Shimen Mountain, Tashi, Huarong County, Dongting Junshan, Baling County, Linxiang County and other places.

If you look at the situation map, it is a long snake formation that twists and turns. However, Zhu Cihong also knew that he could not disperse his troops too much. Therefore, most of the strongholds did not have many troops, but hundreds or thousands, and set up a guard. The main force is still deployed in Hudukou and the public security, the former is facing Jiangling, and the latter is the place where Zhu Cihong's army is stocked with grain - the public security itself is the land of fish and rice, and it is also the jurisdiction of the king of Chu, and part of the grain collected last year is stored in the public security, and there are hundreds of thousands of stone white rice, which is enough for Zhu Cihong's army to eat enough.

In order to understand the enemy's situation in time, Zhu Cihong also accepted the suggestion of the old lady Qin Liangyu and ordered people to build beacon towers along the river.

After the arrangement was completed, Prince Zhu was very determined to "vacation" with Wu Sanmei in the Yuhu Villa.

Wait...... In these years, there were two kinds of wars: fast-paced and slow-paced, and there were also two kinds of confrontation between the two armies for a year and a half.

However, Zhu Cihong didn't think that he would wait so long, at most in a month or two, Li Yan and Zhu Yujian should turn over Li Zicheng's "home"!

And Li Yan and Zhu Yu's ability to fight the landlord really did not disappoint Zhu Cihong, he was comfortable in Yuhu for less than 20 days, and the beacon tower in the east released wolf smoke one by one.

"Do you know where it is?" Dressed in a thin silk robe and holding a fan in his hand, Prince Zhu stood in front of a map table made up of several tables. He Tengjiao, Yan Yingyuan, Du Yinxi, and the old grandmother Qin Liangyu were all invited over and accompanied Prince Zhu to look at the map together.

"It's not Shishou, it's Baling." Qin Liangyu already had an answer, so he was the first to speak, "There is a Shishou Mountain outside Shishou County, which can just hold the Yangtze River waterway. As for Baling, it is a dangerous place that follows Dongting, Xiangjiang and Yangtze River. If the thieves want to make a big deal, they must go to Baling. ”

"What's the show?" Zhu Cihong asked, "What is a big job?" ”

"Enter Hunan, force Wuchang, and enter Jiangxi....... If it had been a few years earlier, Li Zicheng would have done so. Qin Liangyu said, "But now that he is the emperor, he can't let go of his hands and feet anymore." So most of them are attacking the stone head! ”

Not to mention, the grandmother has a lot of dealings with the thieves, so Li Zicheng moves, and her old man is not far from ten.

"What was his purpose in taking the stone head?" Zhu Cihong asked.

Qin Liangyu said: "Of course, it is to mobilize the main force of our army to go to Shishou...... Shishou is also a critical place, close to the public security, and it threatens our back road. How can the prince sit idly by? ”

"Decisive battle at Shishou Mountain...... Are you sure? Zhu Cihong glanced at Yan Yingyuan, who is now acting as Li Yan and Wu Sanfu, and has become Zhu Cihong's senior staff.

Yan Yingyuan said: "If we can fight a decisive battle in Shishou Mountain, we will have a great chance of winning." ”

Zhu Cihong looked at Qin Liangyu again, and the old grandmother shook her head with a smile: "If you win big, you won't win much...... Li Zicheng knows that he is going to lose, how can he be willing to place a heavy bet? ”

"Yes, yes!" Zhu Cihong nodded again and again, "Li Zicheng's purpose must be to lure me into the trap, and then use Shishou Mountain to contain the main force of our army, and then attack elsewhere." ”

He Tengjiao said: "Elsewhere...... Back to Xiangyang? His Xiangyang nest was about to be copied by Li Junshi, and it seemed that he couldn't hold his breath! ”

Du Yinxi said: "Hanyang Mansion is the most important place, once Hanyang is lost, our naval brigade will be able to enter the Han River and enter the Jingjiang River." ”

Zhu Cihong looked at the old grandmother again, and Qin Liangyu smiled without saying a word.

"Governor Qin, what do you think?"

Qin Liangyu said: "Why do you have to guess blindly? ”

"Don't guess?" Zhu Cihong thought for a while, "Then what should I do?" ”

Qin Liangyu said: "Since the advantage is mine, then I don't have to figure out what Li Zicheng wants to do...... His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can take the initiative to attack Gangneung! ”

"Attack Gangneung?"

"Defeat Jiangling," Qin Liangyu said, "the overall situation will be alive!" Hanyang and Xiangyang Li Zicheng can't hold it, and it's unlikely that they will even go west to Sichuan. At that time, he will have to retreat to Shaanxi and Henan to fight to the death with Dongyu! ”

Zhu Cihong looked at Yan Yingyuan again.

Yan Yingyuan shook his head, "The Yangtze River channel has not been opened yet, and the heavy artillery can't pull it in, only twenty-four three-pounder regimental guns can be used, and Jiangling City is strong, I'm afraid it won't be easy to fight." ”

Qin Liangyu smiled: "Without such a three-stick cannon, our Ming army can't fight?" ”

Ah, how can you fight without a three-pounder gun? Zhu Cihong thought to himself: Fighting a war now is a cannon!

He Tengjiao stroked his beard beside him: "His Royal Highness the Prince, what the Governor of Qin said is extremely good. When the Japanese attacked Gangneung, they didn't even have a three-pounder cannon, so they almost succeeded? ”

So it's a little bit close!

Zhu Cihong doesn't have any hope for He Tengjiao's military level, so let's listen to what the old grandmother says.

Qin Liangyu said with a smile: "Master Chitose, how to use the cannon, the old body doesn't know, but the old body has brought a lifetime of soldiers." What kind of soldiers can fight and what kind of soldiers can't fight, the old body can see at a glance.

In the eyes of the old man, the 100,000 army under the prince can be called a strong force that I have not had in the Ming Dynasty for decades! ”

That's right!

How can the Ming Dynasty have paid enough salaries for decades? Now, whether it is Zhu Cixi's New Army of Overcoming Difficulties, or He Tengjiao and Chang Yanling's Xiangyong, or Zuo Mengmei and Daniel Zhang's "Dian Army", or Jin Shenghuan's subordinates who are about to join Gui, they can now get full rations.

That alone hasn't been there in decades!

Zhu Cihong nodded: "What the old lady said is still reasonable!" He thought for a moment, "Let's go north and attack Gangneung!" Li Zicheng wants to mobilize the palace, and the palace also wants to mobilize Li Zicheng...... It's better to see if Gangneung is important, or Shishou is important! ”