Qi Biaojia, who is far away in Suzhou, is calculating Ma Cheng, and Ma Cheng naturally wants to understand this Qi Biaojia.

On the first day of the second month of the third year of Shaowu in the Ming Dynasty, stationed in the military camp five miles outside the city of Zhenjiang Prefecture, Ma Cheng was listening to the military report of Changshi Wang Xian.

The power of the long history of the Ming Dynasty is very small, probably similar to that of the secretaries of later generations. However, because Ma Cheng's power is very large, his identity as a king of Changshi is very important. Wang Xian has now replaced the Chinese officer as the first staff member of Ma Cheng's side, in addition to being responsible for the grain and grass logistics that should be in charge of before, etc., Ma Cheng also asked Wang Xian to supervise the Military Intelligence Department this time.

After more than a year of integration, the Military Intelligence Department has regained its vitality with the efforts of Zhang Erpei, and the entire prefecture and county of Nanzhili have military intelligence department spouts, and daily intelligence is sent to the Nanjing Military Intelligence Department in an endless stream.

Ma Cheng did not bring Zhang Erpei with him on this expedition, but left him in Nanjing to cooperate with Ma Shiying, so the intelligence work around Ma Cheng was supervised by Wang Xian, who was the most trusted.

Wang Xian opened the document transferred by the Military Intelligence Department with the only remaining hand, looked at it twice, and said: "Master Hou, according to the secret report of the Military Intelligence Department, the generals of the Luwang Army in Suzhou are not in harmony, and the governor Qi Biaojia wants to attack Zhenjiang immediately, but Fang Guoan wants to wait for work and rely on the city wall of Suzhou to resist the army of Hou Ye!" ”

Ma Cheng thought about this governor Qi Biaojia, he was not impressed, probably a bureaucrat with little ability. Ma Cheng didn't know much about the history of the late Ming Dynasty, except for those famous civil and military generals, he had no impression of anything else.

"Mr. Wang, what is the number of this Qi Biaojia?"

Wang Xian looked through the information, and then said: "Master Hou, this Qi Biaojia is from Meishu Village, Shanyin County, Zhejiang. Apocalypse two years of Jinshi, Chongzhen four years promoted to the right of the imperial history, after the first assistant Zhou Yanru ostracized, resigned home to live for many years, Chongzhen fourteen years for the Henan Province imperial history. In the first year of Hongguang, he patrolled Jiangnan, and offended Gao Jie because of the impeachment of the governor Liu Zhaoji's arson. ”

After Wang Xian finished speaking, he looked at Ma Cheng, and then continued: "Later, the old lady instructed the imperial historian Zhang Sun Zhen to participate in the difficulty of Hongguang's accession to the throne, and he had the heart to support King Lu, so Qi Biaojia said that he was going to work. In June of the first year of Shaowu, King Lu supervised Hangzhou, worshiped Qi Biaojia as the squire of the military department, and Su Song, the governor. ”

When Ma Cheng heard this, he knew in his heart that he was another political loser who was persecuted by his own Lao Tzu. Ma Shiying's royal thug Zhang Sun Zhen Ma Cheng has seen it, and he is completely a ruthless old guy. Zhang Sunzhen was a patrol in Shanxi back then, and in order to be promoted, he gave gifts to Yuan Jixian, who was then a school inspector in Shanxi, hoping to say good things for himself, but Yuan Jixian rejected him. This Zhang Sunzhen began to hold a grudge against Yuan Jixian, and immediately went to Emperor Shu to frame Yuan Jixian for corruption.

But Zhang Sunzhen forgot that Yuan Jixian is the Donglin Party, and if you offend these righteous gentlemen, can you still be good? Zhang Sunzhen was immediately defeated under the encirclement and suppression of the Donglin Zhugong, and lost all his official positions and went home to retire and wait for death.

When Zhu Yousong was proclaimed emperor in Jiangnan, Zhang Sunzhen went to Nanjing to take refuge with Ma Shiying, and turned into an officialdom scum who everyone shouted at, and became a typical Qing official under Ma Shiying. Ma Cheng was also very disgusted with this Zhang Sunzhen, but for the sake of Ma Shiying's face, he couldn't attack. Now that I heard that the governor on the opposite side, Qi Biaojia, was framed by Zhang Sunzhen and lost his crown, he couldn't help asking: "It seems that this Qi Biaojia is a clean official?" ”

"I don't know if it's a subordinate of the Qing official, but this Qi Biaojia's official reputation is really good! Now Qi Biaojia has finally integrated all the generals

, preparing to send troops to fight a decisive battle with Hou Ye after the beginning of spring in March, the specific location of the Military Intelligence Department has not yet been found. ”

Ma Cheng snorted twice: "Do you still need to check this?" The location is definitely between Changzhou and Zhenjiang! After speaking, Ma Cheng pointed to the map in front of him and said, "It must be here, Lu Cheng!" ”

Lucheng Town is under the jurisdiction of Danyang County, which is under the jurisdiction of Zhenjiang Prefecture, and is located at the junction of Zhenjiang and Changzhou, and is one of the important traffic nodes on the canal. Whether it is Ma Cheng or Qi Biaojia, the march in Nanzhili has to rely on the Grand Canal to transport logistics supplies, so this Lu town has become the key.

"What Master Hou said is very right, the terrain around Lu Cheng is flat, which is suitable for the deployment of large armies, in that case, should we prepare?"

Ma Cheng thought for a while and said: "No, Fang Guoan is very cautious, if we are prepared, we are afraid that we will scare them off, so we should wait for Qi Biaojia to come to the door." However, we can let the Military Intelligence Department spread the news of our lack of food, and let Qi Biaojia strengthen his determination to fight a decisive battle! ”

Ma Cheng's military rations contain one-third of sweet potatoes and wheat, which are fed to pigs in the eyes of the people of Nanzhili.

Ma Cheng thought for a moment and then said: "Send a letter to Qi Biaojia in the tone of this governor, with an arrogant attitude, saying that this governor does not look down on his 150,000 rabble at all, and this governor can destroy them with only 10,000 guards!" If Qi Biaojiaken kneels in front of the governor and begs, the governor can consider interceding for him in front of the emperor and get him lightly! ”

China has a history of 5,000 years of war, and this kind of means of provoking the enemy have been used poorly, Wang Xian is very optimistic about what Ma Cheng's strategy can do, but Ma Cheng is a Shangguan, since the strategy has been set, Wang Xian only needs to implement it. Wang Xian wrote down what Ma Cheng said, and then bowed down to prepare.

After Wang Xian went out, his soldiers came in to deliver lunch, and today's lunch was potato stewed chicken rack, and the chicken was to be made into a dish, and this bone was naturally used as an adjunct. Other pork and lamb bones are similar, either stewed with potatoes or stewed cabbage. Now there are few green vegetables in the ice and snow in Nanzhili, so all kinds of bone stewed potatoes have become the norm.

Ma Cheng looked at the potatoes in the bowl and the acid water in his stomach, this kind of thing has been eaten for half a month, it is either potatoes or radishes, Ma Cheng is really tired of eating it. But there is no way to get tired of eating, Ma Cheng stipulates that no matter how high a general in the army, he must eat the same thing as ordinary soldiers, and Ma Cheng, as the supreme commander, must lead by example.

Ma Cheng picked up a potato cube, sighed and put it in his mouth, in fact, the potato stewed chicken rack tastes good, and ordinary soldiers also like to eat it very much, but Ma Cheng is not tired of eating at home, and it is okay to eat a few meals of this kind of crude food, and it can be eaten for half a month?

The soldiers on the side looked at Ma Cheng's sad face, and said on the side: "Master Hou, why don't you go to the city to buy some delicious food?" ”

Dantu Town is less than five miles away from Zhenjiang City, and it's not bad to buy some food, but Ma Cheng thinks that this kind of example can't be opened, if the generals in the army learn from each other, how will this army be managed in the future?

"No, Ben Du can eat these!"

Ma Cheng sighed after speaking, picked up chopsticks and began to eat. When Ma Cheng was about to eat, a person came in from outside the big tent, who was the only admiral under Ma Cheng at present, Zhang Guozhu.

Zhang Guozhu came in and saluted Ma Cheng first, and then said with a smile: "The chief lord is eating?" ”

"Doesn't this ask for some reason? Isn't it pooping if you don't eat? Ma Cheng glared at Zhang Guozhu and asked, "Have you eaten?" Is there anything to do with the Doge? ”

"Hehe, just after today's training, the last general originally wanted to invite the chief master to have a meal, so I know that the adult will eat first!"

Dine? This proposal was good, Ma Cheng put down the dishes and chopsticks and asked, "Zhang Guozhu, do you have something to ask the governor?" Why don't you want to invite Bendu to dinner for no reason? ”

Zhang Guozhu was told by Ma Cheng, and said with a wry smile: "It's not a big deal, it's a group of local businessmen in Zhenjiang, who want to get acquainted with the general system, but they have no way, so don't you want to come here at the end of the general!" ”

Merchant? Zhenjiang is located in the north-south traffic artery, has always been a gathering of businessmen, some businessmen want to go up the route, so it is not surprising to find Ma Cheng here, but Ma Cheng does not want to have anything to do with these businessmen, after listening to Zhang Guozhu Ma Cheng directly refused: "No need, the governor does not want to see these businessmen." ”

Zhang Guozhu had already accepted the benefits of those businessmen, and promised them to invite Ma Cheng to attend today, but now he heard Ma Cheng's refusal, and hurriedly persuaded him: "Lord General, these businessmen are very rich, and their requirements are very simple, that is, they want to carry the grain and grass of the army, please Lord General System must appreciate it!" ”

Ma Cheng's military food transfer is responsible for the household department, but every time the military food is shipped, thirty percent is floated, which is also a helpless thing, state-owned enterprises, operating costs are naturally higher. Originally, when the military food was sufficient, Ma Cheng didn't care about the thirty percent of the grain, but now it can't, millions of people in the entire Zhenjiang Mansion are starving, and Ma Cheng's army has to use potatoes as military food, so naturally he doesn't want these grain rats to embezzle their own food.

Although Ma Cheng wants to cure corruption, the head of the household is Li Zhan, Ma Shiying's ironcore, and the grain rats of the household department are also Li Zhan's henchmen, and they basically belong to the same party as Ma Cheng. In addition, the household department has already given Ma Cheng face, so he embezzled thirty percent, you must know that these guys used to embezzle seventy percent.

Ma Cheng heard Zhang Guozhu say this, and his curiosity came, and he asked, "They want to carry military rations?" The Governor's army has 110,000 men, and he needs 1,600 stone of food every day, not counting raw chickens, pigs and other meat, can they take it? ”

Ma Cheng's army of 110,000 people needs 1,650 stone of grain per day according to the daily need of one and a half liters of food per person. In addition, the gang of the household department only needed 30% of the benefits, so Ma Cheng needed 2,000 stone of grain every day, which was not a small amount.

"Please rest assured, these merchants are all from the grain ship gang, and they can still afford this bit of food!"

Grain Ship Gang? Ma Cheng frowned when he heard this term. The Grain Gang Gang is a group of boatmen who beg for a living on the Grand Canal. Since the Song Dynasty*, the Grand Canal has become the main artery of north-south traffic, and the boatmen who come and go on the canal have formed a loose alliance over the centuries, similar to the trade unions of later generations, which is the boat gang.

After the Manchu occupation of China, Cao Yun became more important, starting from Yongzheng to integrate the originally loose boat gangs to form a well-organized quasi-black * social organization, at this time he had a famous name Cao Gang, also called the Qing Gang.