Although it was the time of the newlywed Yan'er, Zhu Mingzhong, as the party concerned, did not enjoy the newlywed, at least it was impossible to enjoy the marriage leave and honeymoon like the people of later generations, and even on the third day after the marriage, as the aunt of the Zheng family, when he took Zheng Ling back to the door, he was invited into the study by Zheng Chenggong after a simple politeness with Mrs. Dong and other family members.

"Chengren, sit!"

Zheng Chenggong, who was dressed in casual clothes, asked Zhu Mingzhong to sit down, then looked at him and said.

"Chengren, after a while, let's go back to Qinghe!"

Looking at Zhu Mingzhong, Zheng Chenggong said directly.

"This time, I invite you and Cangshui to come to Nanjing, that is, to set the direction of this year, Cangshui does not advocate the Northern Expedition, he intends to take Huguang this year, relieve the pressure on the southwest, and let the imperial court breathe a sigh of relief, as for Nanjing, the generals in the army hope to take advantage of the situation to defeat Fujian Province, in short, that's probably it......"

When Zheng Chenggong spoke, his eyes looked directly at Zhu Mingzhong, who had become his family, although it seemed to be more close, but for some reason, for Zhu Mingzhong in front of him, he didn't have the kind of appreciation from his bones in the past, perhaps because his scheming was too heavy.

Thinking of scheming, another thing came to his mind, and when he looked at Zhu Mingzhong, that thought always became much more complicated.

"Oh, the little brother knows that compared to Jiangbei, the current Qing army in Jiangnan is empty, and the way to use troops is to avoid reality and make a difference, and it is natural for the general and the young Sima to make such a decision!"

Because now that he has become Zheng Chenggong's family, Zhu Mingzhong naturally can no longer call himself the "last general" as in the past.

In fact, after making sure that they did not advocate the Northern Expedition, Zhu Mingzhong really breathed a sigh of relief, at least he bought himself another year, no matter what the results of this year's Western Expedition were, at least one thing is certain - the Northern Expedition is absolutely impossible.

Perhaps in the eyes of outsiders, the Northern Expedition is the most beneficial to Zhu Mingzhong, but for Zhu Mingzhong, who controls Jiangbei, he naturally does not want anyone to interfere in Jiangbei, not only for himself, but also for Jiangbei and for the future Northern Expedition, after all, for the Northern Expedition, he has his own plans. In this case, now the Northern Expedition, naturally, he insisted on opposing it.

But fortunately, it was not his turn to resolutely oppose it, and here Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Huangyan have reached an agreement in private - the Western Expedition!

In the next one to two years, the army will carry out a westward expedition to recover the entire area south of the Yangtze River.

"Taking Jiangnan as the foundation, and then carrying out the Northern Expedition when the time is ripe, this plan is also the plan of Emperor Gao back then, and the last general also deeply agrees!"

Zhu Mingzhong's approval, in Zheng Chenggong's view, is just another manifestation of "deep scheming", and even in his opinion, Zhu Mingzhong, who was like a naked man with a fist heart, has disappeared, and now what he sees in front of him is just a scheming person.

"Chengren, do you have any opinion on this decision to be a brother?"

"The last general will not dare!"

Faced with Zheng Chenggong's question, Zhu Mingzhong could only answer like this, and then continued for fear of his dissatisfaction. "Not to mention that avoiding the truth is false, it is in line with the way of using troops, and furthermore, at present, with the strength of our army, it is not also a hard confrontation with the Qing captives, if it is directly waved to the Northern Expedition, in a hurry, I am afraid that the Northern Expedition will be frustrated, and when the time comes, our army will lose the capital of the Northern Expedition, so it will be useless for national affairs!"

Listening to Zhu Mingzhong's explanation, Zheng Chenggong just nodded thoughtfully, but this did not prevent him from looking at Zhu Mingzhong with another eye, he had really changed.

Is it becoming more sleek, or is it more cautious?

Zheng Chenggong doesn't know, but one thing is for sure that Zhu Mingzhong last year would never say this.

Thinking of Zhu Mingzhong's sincerity last year, Zheng Chenggong couldn't help but sigh secretly that officialdom is really a place to change people, but it's a pity......

"What Chengren said is extremely true!"

Nodding slightly, Zheng Chenggong looked at Zhu Mingzhong and said.

"As for Jiangbei, well, I'm afraid this Jiangbei can only rely on Chengren to support it alone, but don't worry, if you have what you need, Brother Wei will never refuse."

Zheng Chenggong then added.

"Last year, during the Suqian War, it was not because my brother was unwilling to send troops, but because I couldn't, you knew at that time, in order to use troops in Zhejiang, 100,000 troops were all gathered in Zhejiang, and the soldiers defended in Nanjing, but there were only tens of thousands of people, although my brother intended to reinforce Jiangbei, but Jiangnan was fundamental, and there was no room for loss, and most of the troops left behind were naval troops, so naturally there was no reinforcement, so I could only support a little military supply ......at that time."

What Zheng Chenggong said is also true, although he did not send troops at the beginning, he did give Jiangbei a lot of funding in terms of military supplies and silver.

"However, since the restoration of Nanjing, Brother Wei has been recruiting troops to practice foot soldiers, if the Qing captives go south this time, Brother Wei will definitely send reinforcements to the north!"

"Little brother knows! My brother was also extremely embarrassed that day, after all, Jiangnan is the foundation of my Ming Zhongxing, and there is no room for failure. ”

said this, but in his heart he secretly screamed that he was lucky, fortunately he didn't send troops at the beginning, otherwise it would be really easy to invite God, but it would be difficult to send God. If Zheng Jiajun was stationed in Jiangbei like that, it would not necessarily be a good thing for Jiangbei.

"As for the Qing captives going south this time, well, for the defense of Jiangbei, the younger brother also has his own plans!"

Looking at Zheng Chenggong and pondering for a moment, Zhu Mingzhong did not refuse, but directly mentioned his deployment of Jiangbei defense.

"At present, compared with the 300,000 soldiers led by the Qing chieftains, Jiangbei's biggest weakness is that the number of troops is too small, but only 80,000, but these 80,000 officers and soldiers are all elite soldiers in the prime of life, and on the other hand, the Qing prisoners are all the men in their clan, the few are only 15, and there are more old soldiers who are not less than 50 years old, if you deduct the old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers in their army, I am afraid that there will be no more than 150,000 ......"

At the beginning, almost everyone would be taken aback by the so-called "300,000" army of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but as the information sent back by the spies lurking in the capital of the Junzheng Division continued to arrive in Qinghe, Zhu Mingzhong breathed a sigh of relief, because it was only a manifestation of strength. The so-called 300,000 army is just a group of "old, weak, sick and disabled", half of which are vulnerable young soldiers.

"Chengren, you must know that although the old soldiers are old, most of them are the so-called "entering the customs from the dragon" of the Qing Dynasty, although they are old, they should not be underestimated, and even more fierce than those soldiers in the prime of life! ”

Zheng Chenggong looked at Zhu Mingzhong and reminded directly, as a veteran on the battlefield, he naturally knew that those Qing veterans were more difficult than ordinary soldiers because of their experience, and it could even be said that those people were very likely to be the most tenacious enemies Jiangbei would face in the future.

"Fist is afraid of being strong!"

Zhu Mingzhong smiled, he didn't know the bravery of those experienced veterans, he had also encountered it when he was in Tongjimen, but now is the era of cold weapons, and experience cannot make up for the gap in physical strength. Sometimes physical strength is the deadliest thing compared to experience. Of course, in the age of hot weapons, experience is more important than physical strength.

"But don't forget, your forces are weak!"

Seeing Zhu Mingzhong's confident appearance, Zheng Chenggong looked a little unhappy.

"...... Troops"

After pondering for a moment, Zhu Mingzhong said.

"For the troops, the younger brother has already made some plans, and when he came to Nanjing this time, he was going to report this matter to his brother."

Because the "A Soldier System" is very important, Zhu Mingzhong originally did not intend to hide it from Zheng Chenggong, so when he heard him say this, it was natural to say it.

"Brother should know that since the beginning of winter, Jiangbei has been reorganizing the armor, and the people under the rule of the four prefectures of Jiangbei and Changzhou Mansion have been reorganized, one is to rectify the tax, and the other is to implement the armor, but the people don't know that the implementation of the "armor" is not just for taxes! ”

Not for taxes?

Zheng Chenggong glanced at Zhu Mingzhong quietly, for Jiangbei's re-arrangement of "Baojia", he was in Nanjing, he naturally heard of it, but, in the eyes of many people, this is just a measure taken by Jiangbei in order to enrich the tax source, after all, the tax is also an important tax source, and the compilation of "Baojia" can find out the amount of people, so as to further enrich the tax source.

But now, listening to Zhu Mingzhong's words, Zheng Chenggong seemed a little confused.

Not for taxes?

What's that for?

"Brother, even if the case is to reorganize the armor, the increase in the tax is only a few tens of thousands of taels, tens of thousands of people and two people, what can you do? It is used to raise soldiers, but it can only raise thousands of soldiers......"

Shaking his head, Zhu Mingzhong explained with a chuckle.

"The purpose of this regrouping of "Baojia" is to find out how many Dingkou there are under the rule of Jiangbei, and to find out Dingkou is not for taxes, but for soldiers! ”

"For the soldiers!"

Zhu Mingzhong's answer made Zheng Chenggong stunned, he almost immediately became interested, after all, this Jiangbei compilation of "Baojia" was no longer in the self-righteous speculation of the staff in the palace, and when Zhu Mingzhong mentioned "Bing", it was even more unexpected for him, and naturally he was interested.

"That's right, the elder brother should know that since the day the younger brother trained the Loyal Battalion in Jiangyin, he has raised soldiers with "generous salaries", although brave men are necessary under heavy rewards, the Loyal and Righteous Army can have today, and it is also thanks to the courage of the officers and soldiers, among which the "generous salary to raise soldiers" can be said to be indispensable. But the "generous salary to raise the army" is also a mixed pros and cons, and the biggest shortcoming is that this "under the heavy reward" is gradually exhausting the financial resources of Jiangbei, it can be said that the larger the size of the army, the easier it is to be exhausted, now the Qing Dynasty has gathered nearly 300,000 troops to the south, if the younger brother expands the army by 200,000, the monthly increase in military salaries will not be less than 500,000 taels, if there are no 10 million taels per year, it will naturally not be able to maintain, and how can the barren Jiangbei raise more than 200,000 troops? ”