In the thirteenth year of Yongli, the beginning of winter is coming, although it is located in the south of the Yangtze River, but Nanchang has already shown a bit of winter chill, and most of the passers-by on the street have already worn the cotton clothes in winter. Perhaps because the weather is getting colder, the streets in the city seem a little deserted, and some of the occasionally burned houses in the city, the blood on the ground, and the notice on the wall are reminding people that Nanchang has just experienced a war.

Compared with the deserted city, in the flower hall of the governor's yamen, it seems to be very lively, full of celebratory voices, and the cups are not lively.

"Linchuan, the success of Nanchang, thanks to your first soldier, so that you can overcome Nanjing, this battle is not easy to achieve, Linchuan's merit, this official in the bottom of his heart, until the future after the court returns to the court, this official will definitely ask for credit to the court for Linchuan." Because Zhang Huangyan did not have the power to appoint officials from the opening of the government like Zheng Chenggong, he could only keep Li Ziyuan's merits in mind, and could not reward him for his merits like Zheng Chenggong, so he would raise his glass and say these words to him.

"If there is no Shao Sima's scheduling, how can the last general take Nanchang, this merit of capturing the city must be Shao Sima."

Li Ziyuan's whole person seemed very cautious, he couldn't help but be cautious, after all, after betraying the loyal army, except for a few hundred old brothers in the battalion, he lost almost everything, although later the general supplemented him with 3,000 soldiers, Zhang Huangyan also supplemented it with 2,000 recruits, although after some drills, although these 5,000 soldiers may not be able to compare with the veterans of the original loyal and righteous army, but they can barely be regarded as elite, since entering Jiangxi, with 5,000 pikemen, almost never encountered the opponent him, It was with his military exploits that he gained a firm foothold under Zhang Huangyan and became the number one general under his command.

But even so, Li Ziyuan knew that in the eyes of this young Sima, his character was flawless. In fact, in the eyes of outsiders, it is probably the same, and it is precisely because of this that he will be careful in everything and everywhere, so as not to fall into the truth of others and lose his life when the time comes.

"Haha! Linchuan, you, you, your merits, this official will remember it in his heart. ”

Zhang Huangyan, who was in a good mood, raised the wine glass in his hand again:

"Come on! Cheers everyone, congratulations to me! ”

"Congratulations to me!"

After drinking the wine in the cup in one sip, everyone's mood seemed very happy, and Zhang Liang, who originally did not appreciate Li Ziyuan, even toasted him three glasses of wine in succession, perhaps his character was flawless, but Zhang Liang had to admit that whether it was training or bravery, Li Ziyuan was far superior to him, especially in the siege of Nanchang, Li Ziyuan, as the commander of a battalion, took the lead, carrying a sword and going into battle shirtless, and ordinary soldiers, trapping the city and fighting, and the Qing captives killed were not his opponents, for such a brave person, Zhang Liang, who is also a martial artist, is naturally extremely admired.

Seeing that the relationship between the generals under his command was more harmonious than in the past, coupled with the change in the situation, Zhang Huangyan's mood was extremely comfortable, and after drinking a few drinks in succession, he still turned the topic to the situation in Jiangxi.

"Nanchang Kefu, the whole province of Jiangxi will be shaken, even if the matter is clear, the stubborn officials will also come to me, next, I don't know what you think will happen?"

"Young Sima, the last general thinks that he should go all out, strike while the iron is hot, and be sent to Huguang before the year, and the current trend is in me, and it is the time to take advantage of the current trend."

Zhang Liang almost did not hesitate to express his thoughts, and fought in one go, and kept beating Huguang down, once Huguang was defeated, the general trend of the world would irreversibly return to the Ming Dynasty.

"Well, this discussion, it's not impossible, the current trend is in me, in many places, if it is a matter of clearing the stubborn officials, it is determined by the rumor, and at the beginning of Nanchang now, when the army's morale is greatly boosted, it is also appropriate to enter Huguang."

Zhang Huangyan nodded, and did not object, whether it was Jiangnan or Jiangxi, he basically relied on his personal prestige to force the local affairs to surrender the city, and only a few places went through a fight, so in general, he did not doubt that after entering Huguang, it could also be passed on.

"At present, the general trend of the world is in me, this is a well-known thing, although the Qing chieftain led the army to the south to conquer in person, up to the defeat of 100,000 elites, has been known to the world, when I am a new Ming Dynasty and a succession of great victories, the world's puppet officials dare to refuse to Wang Shi, with the prestige of Shao Sima Yu Shilin, want to come to Huguang is also like Jiangxi, except for a few stubborn cities such as Changsha and Wuchang, local states and counties will definitely open the city and surrender when the king is there, after all, the general trend is in me, and the people's hearts are also in me, so why worry about Huguang uncertain......"

When Luo Lun's opinion was praised by everyone, Zhang Huangyan noticed that Li Ziyuan had been silent, he just listened quietly to other suggestions, and occasionally drank alone and asked with a smile.

"Linchuan, you drink alone, do you have other opinions?"

Li Ziyuan, who was named, saw that Shao Sima and everyone's eyes fell on him, and after hesitating for a moment, he said.

"If Shao Sima is destined to enter Yihuguang at the end, the last general will naturally not dare to disobey, but from the point of view of the last general, this is definitely not the time to enter Huguang......"

Although Li Ziyuan almost never gave much opinion after entering Zhang Huangyan's command, but now he has to say that the reason is simple - in the battle of Nanchang, more than half of the 5,000 soldiers under his command were killed or wounded.

"Oh? Why is that? ”

His brows furrowed slightly, and Zhang Huangyan's tone looked a little unhappy, but he still motioned for Li Ziyuan to continue,

"Shao Sima Mingjian, since I entered Jiangxi with the Western Expeditionary Army, although it has been won many battles, although the local pseudo-officials are all surrendered when they heard the wind, maybe our Western Expeditionary Army has also been somewhat damaged, although the Western Expeditionary Army seems to be a large number of people, with more than 100,000 soldiers, but the elite who can go into battle is still less than 20,000, and the Nanchang War, although our Western Expeditionary Army captured Nanchang, but the casualties were no less than 20,000, which can be described as a great injury to the vitality.

If there is anything Li Ziyuan learned by Zhu Mingzhong's side, that is, when the army was marching and fighting, he paid attention to the collection of intelligence, although he had never entered Huguang, it did not prevent him from learning about the Qing army in Huguang from the mouth of the Qing army's generals, so he continued:

"And there are tens of thousands of Qing prisoners stationed in the Huguang area, and now there are more Annan Qing prisoners on the left road into Huguang, if our army boldly enters Huguang, it will be blocked by it, and when the time comes, our army will meet tens of thousands of elite Qing captives with a tired division, so I am afraid that the victory or defeat in the war is unpredictable, and ......."

Looking at Zhang Huangyan, Li Ziyuan said again.

"Moreover, the current and Changsha presiding officer is the five provinces entrusted by the Qing Dynasty to pass through the five provinces of Hong Chengchou, although he is only in charge of food and salary, and does not participate in military affairs, but this fang has always been cunning, if our army rushes to act, I am afraid that it will fall into its tricks!"

Li Ziyuan's reminder made Zhang Huangyan's brows frown, although he hated Hong Chengchou to the core, but he didn't know that he was good at strategy, and he rushed into Huguang, which was indeed inconsiderate.

"What Linchuan said is very true, so in Linchuan's opinion, what should our army do now?"