Zhang Bin actually knew for a long time that the target of the anti-thieves was not in Nanzhili, nor Jinling City, but Lu Xiangsheng and the others didn't know.

After listening to Zhang Bin's explanation, they were all suspicious, Jinling City is indeed a high and deep moat, but Jinling City is also rich in the world, will the thieves not be blushing at this piece of "fat"?

Lu Xiangsheng couldn't help but remind: "Shuangquan, don't be careless, although Jinling City is high and deep, the garrison is quite weak. In my opinion, the reason why Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, was reluctant to give Hushan a letter was not because he deliberately violated the yang and yin, but because the shortage of the Du Siwei in Nanzhili was too serious, and he didn't have a bottom in his heart. You have also been in Jinling, you should know very well that a Xiongcheng like Jinling, if there are no more than 100,000 people, it is simply a decoration, because the city wall of Jinling City is too long, the length of the inner city wall alone is more than 60 miles, the length of the outer city wall is more than 120 miles, the inner city gate is 13, the outer city gate is 16, even if it is an army of 100,000 people, scattered to various city gates, each city gate is only two or three thousand people. And Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, was reluctant to give Hushan a letter of approval, which proved that he could not gather an army of 100,000 at all, and even 50,000 was enough. Even if you can gather 50,000 people, if you disperse to all the city gates, then there are only more than 1,000 people at each city gate, so calculated, the defense of Jinling City is even inferior to Fengyang, as long as the thieves attack at the same time in all directions, not to mention the inner city, the outer city can be broken almost instantly! Jinling City is rich in the world, do you say that anti-thieves won't be red-eyed? ”

This is indeed the truth, the inner city and the outer city add up to nearly two hundred miles of city walls, even if there are 100,000 troops, scattered, the average per meter is only one person, if you remove the soldiers stationed at the city gate, the one mile long city wall can be sparsely pulled on the hundred or so people is considered good, if the peasant army attacks in all directions, who can withstand it, no one guards, no matter how high the city wall is, it is useless!

When Zhang Bin heard this, he pretended to be wise and analyzed: "Jinling is indeed weakly garrisoned, I estimate that Xu Hongji is afraid that 50,000 people will not be able to make it up, but this is not the point, the point is whether the thieves will really run to attack Jinling City." The reason why I say no, is precisely because the Jinling area is too rich. Think about it, why can't the thieves be exterminated no matter how much they suppress, not because they can fight, but because they replenish too quickly, the five provinces in the northwest are full of hungry people, as long as they raise their arms and shout, they will definitely gather, because the hungry people will starve to death if they don't rebel! But Jinling City is different, think about it, will the people of Jinling risk killing their heads to rebel against them? It's impossible, no matter how bad the people of Jinling are, it's still no problem to eat with a mouthful of food, who would risk killing their heads to rebel with the thieves! In this way, even if the anti-thieves defeat Jinling, their subordinates will fight less and less, and if they are not replenished, it is only a matter of time before they are exterminated. ”

Everyone here is a number of commanders and generals in the late Ming Dynasty, there is no doubt about their intelligence, Zhang Bin explained, they all showed a sudden expression, this question is the key, why did the people of the five northwest provinces rebel, because there is no food, the people of Jinling have not reached that extent, if the thieves march in the direction of Jinling, they will not be replenished, as long as they cut off the passage to the west, they may really be wiped out.

Zhang Bin can see through this, and the anti-thieves themselves are naturally more clear, it seems that the anti-thieves are bluffing nine times out of ten, so where is their goal?

Zhang Bin had been watching everyone's expressions closely, and when he saw that everyone had roughly understood, he pointed to the map and said: "In my opinion, the target of the anti-thieves must be in the northwest, and the most familiar area in the northwest is nothing more than the vicinity of Huaiqing Mansion at the junction of Shanxi and Henan, the Yunyang and Zhuxi areas at the junction of Huguang, Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Henan provinces, and Shaanxi!" When they get to these places, they can be like fish in water, because most of the thieves come from these places, the so-called return to the hometown, when you are developed, do you want to go home and become a rich man or do you want to continue to wander outside? ”

There may be different answers to this question in later generations, but at this time, there is absolutely only one answer, that is, to return to his hometown and become a rich man!

Obviously, these are the places where the thieves are targeting.

Zhang Bin then said categorically: "I can conclude that the ultimate target of the thieves must be Shaanxi, but in order to disperse our forces, it is very likely that they will take Yunyang and Huaiqing by the way, and these three places are the key." ”

When everyone heard this, they all nodded in agreement.

Zhang Bin then arranged: "Now, the Qin army is still assembling in Yulin Town, Boya, you work hard, first take a boat from near Jinling to Dagu Port, and then rush to Yulin Town day and night, and lead the Qin army assembled there to Xi'an south, and garrison near Xi'an." ”

When Sun Chuanting heard this, he hurriedly arched his hand and said, "My subordinates understand." ”

Did he really understand, maybe, but Zhang Bin still couldn't help but point to the map and "analyze": "It is very likely that the main force of the thieves will pass through Yunyang and enter Hanzhong, and then enter Guanzhong through the Qinling Mountains, you must have heard of the Meridian Valley conspiracy, Wuhou didn't listen to Wei Yan at the beginning, but the anti-thieves are likely to take risks, and go north from the Meridian Valley, you must pay attention." ”

Sun Chuanting looked at the map and said thoughtfully: "Well, there is really such a possibility, Shuangquan, don't worry, I will pay attention." ”

Zhang Bin nodded, then pointed to the map and said: "According to the report of the Sichuan army, they should be about to arrive at Zhangde Mansion at this time, Wen Zhao, you and Boya will take a boat to Dagu Port, and then rush directly to Zhangde Mansion, join the Sichuan army, and drive the thieves near Kaifeng Mansion to Yunyang in the south from Huaiqing Mansion." Don't be too urgent, you can chase and suppress the thieves, and at the same time reorganize the guards along the way, and strive to reorganize more than 10,000 troops along the way. ”

Cao Wenzhao looked at the map, and then arched his hand and said, "The last general understands." ”

Zhang Bin then ordered: "Jiandou, you will take 20,000 Tunwei from Shanxi, 20,000 border soldiers from Xuanda and Tianxiong Army with me to Hezhou, and when the Yuan power Qi family army arrives, we will push all the way from Luzhou and drive the thieves to the direction of Yunyang." However, at this time, Zhang Zongheng and Xu Dingchen have returned to their respective jurisdictions, and the Shanxi army has no leader, so let's do it, I will temporarily promote a few of them to guerrilla generals, each commanding 5,000 men and horses, and help you lead the Shanxi army. ”

When Lu Xiangsheng heard this, he did not hesitate to arch his hand and said, "My subordinates obey orders." ”

Zhang Bin said to Huang Degong again: "Hushan, I'll write a letter later, you can bring it to Jinling early tomorrow morning, and let Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, immediately gather 10,000 horses for you to bring to garrison Fengyang, I can only wait for you here for five days at most." ”

When Huang Degong heard this, he hurriedly arched his hand and said, "The last general understands." ”

Zhang Bin nodded and then waved his hand: "Okay, let's go back and rest, time is pressing, everyone will set off early tomorrow morning." ”

When everyone heard this, they arched their hands with a little regret and slowly retreated, only Huang Degong stood there upright and waited.

Zhang Bin was not verbose, he directly took out a piece of letter paper and wrote it with a pen.

His meaning is very simple, because Fengyang is lost, the emperor is very angry, however, at this time, the emperor did not expect to hold the Nandu Xungui responsible, they had better get to know each other and be honest and obedient, otherwise, he will directly hand it over, and it is hard to say whether the emperor will be mad again!

Huang Degong read the content of the letter, and immediately grinned, this is simply a threat to Chiguoguo, but he likes it, these days, these few days in Nandu, these nobles have made him angry, and now that Lord Zhang is here, see if they dare to go crazy.

Early the next morning, outside the south gate of Fengyang Mansion, Sun Chuanting, Qi Yuangong, Cao Wenzhao, and Huang Degong stepped on their horses and went straight to the wharf north of Jinling.

Zhang Bin looked a little melancholy at this time, he really wanted to follow them to Jinling to see Bi Maokang and others, but he was afraid that someone would see Ran Chongzhen there to chew the root of his tongue, so in the end, he still didn't go, looking at the back of Sun Chuanting and the others, he couldn't help sighing: "Jiandou, Menghou, are they okay?" ”

It's definitely not very good, everyone is a loyal minister and good general who is worried about the country and the people, and it is at the time of the national crisis, but he was inexplicably reprimanded to Nanjing for the elderly, and it is strange that he can be in a good mood.

However, he didn't seem to be in a good mood when he saw that Zhang Bin was not in a good mood, so he could only say nonsense: "They, they have all become famous talents in Jinling City at this time." ”

Sure enough, the melancholy on Zhang Bin's face disappeared in an instant, and he asked curiously, "Oh, what's going on?" ”

Lu Xiangsheng smiled and said: "It's not a good thing that Brother Meng Hou did, he has an old man named Li Wanjun in Meixianglou on the bank of the Qinhuai River, this time he returned to Jinling and he fought with others, every time he had to call us idlers, go together to have fun, every night in the Meixiang Building to drink and listen to music, chant poems against each other, this year, the reputation has spread throughout the Qinhuai River, alas, ashamed, ashamed, don't say it." ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he couldn't help but ask with interest: "Then Brother Jiandou has you found a good match?" ”

When Lu Xiangsheng heard this, he waved his hand again and again: "Shuangquan, don't stumble on me, I'll just go and have a drink, I don't have the mood to listen to the music, how can I have that leisure!" ”

Seeing his embarrassed expression, Zhang Bin couldn't help laughing.

The two chatted all the way, all the way to the military camp outside the city, and soon, they came to the handsome tent set up by Chen Qiyu outside the city.

Zhang Bin didn't care about the training of the army, but just sat in the tent to study the map, while Lu Xiangsheng took Li Dingguo and other young generals to soak in the barracks of the Shanxi Army and the Tianxiong Army all day long.

In the next few days, there were materials from the direction of Jinling, the first batch of arrivals was the grain, grass and materials "donated" by Dongshengtang, there were grain, melons and fruits, meat, and even dried seafood, the faces of the soldiers of the Tianxiong Army and the Shanxi Army suddenly bloomed, and it was cool to follow Lord Zhang and Lord Lu to fight, not only the food was enough, but also the meat could be eaten often, which was like following Lord Chen, the food was tight day by day, and sometimes even hungry.

Following Zhang Bin is not only this benefit, within two days, the Fujian Navy Division sent a batch of guns and ammunition, originally the Tianxiong Army had tiger squat guns and flintlock guns, and there were a lot of them, but Chongzhen and Wen Tiren insisted on withdrawing Lu Xiangsheng, Zhang Bin was very annoyed, he simply asked people to take away all the tiger squat guns and flintlock guns, and the external explanation was that these were borrowed from Zheng Zhilong, the chief soldier of the Fujian Navy Division, anyway, Zheng Zhilong is a hob meat, there is a kind, you go to bite him!

Chongzhen and Wen Tiren didn't dare to provoke Zheng Zhilong, the pirate leader, after all, the muskets and artillery of the Tianxiong Army were gone.

As soon as the muskets and artillery were withdrawn, the combat strength of the Tianxiong army suddenly dropped by more than half, and without the command of Lu Xiangsheng, the Tianxiong army almost became ordinary foot soldiers, so they attacked a small county town like Yongcheng and attacked for three days without defeating, if King Lu Yan was in Japan, I am afraid that it would be defeated in one day!

At this time, Lord Lu finally came back, and Zheng Zhilong also "borrowed back" muskets and artillery, and this time there were more than last time, directly four hundred tiger squat cannons, eight thousand flintlock guns, the same configuration as the Qi family's army!

This guy, the combat power of the Tianxiong Army exploded in an instant, if you want to let them attack the original Yongcheng now, they 10,000 people dare to fight against 200,000 anti-thieves!

The combat strength of the Tianxiong army has increased sharply, and the Shanxi army is not bad, Zhang Bin not only sent them eight small tiger generals, but also equipped each of them with two thunderbolts, as well as throwing guns, which are sent to and from car to car, how many as they want.

The Kaohsiung Arsenal has not stopped production, and the output of all kinds of weapons is skyrocketing, Zhang Bin's order to them is to focus on manufacturing, how much can be built, this year, the guns and artillery equipment made are enough for 50,000 people, but the Shanxi Army is not his descendant after all, so he has no energy to equip the Shanxi Army, and he wants him to equip the Shanxi Army according to the standards of the Qi Army, and these 50,000 people alone can overthrow the more than 500,000 thieves!

At the same time that weapons and equipment and grain and grass were constantly being sent, intelligence from all over the country slowly began to gather in Fengyang, and the peasant army was really playing the tactics of attacking the east and west, according to the secret agents from Henan and Huguang, there were only more than 100,000 peasant troops left near Luzhou Mansion, and looking at the banner, it was very likely that it was the fifth battalion of the revolutionary left, and the main force of the peasant army, Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong, had lost their traces.

However, according to the secret agents, on the official road leading from Luzhou to Yunyang and Kaifeng, many people have seen countless peasant armies without banners passing through, which is very conspicuous, and they have "secretly" rushed to Yunyang and Kaifeng, but they don't know who went to Yunyang and who went to Kaifeng.

When Zhang Bin received the news, he couldn't help sneering in his heart, hehe, if you want to play with me, there is really no door!

On the Fengyang side, the Tianxiong Army and the Shanxi Army are in full swing to prepare for war, and on the Jinling side, Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, did not dare to disobey Yang Fengyin after receiving a letter from Zhang Bin, the governor of the five provinces, and he also knew that the emperor was on fire at this time, if Zhang Bin sent a letter to him, the emperor might really catch him and be angry, if Zhang Bin asked him to immediately mobilize 50,000 guards, it would be really difficult, but only 10,000 is not very difficult, just the guards near Jinling can make it up.

Therefore, the day after Huang Degong arrived in Jinling, Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, gave him 10,000 guards, and he didn't have time to reorganize, so he rushed to Fengyang with this 10,000 newly assembled guards, and on the afternoon of the fifth day, he finally led the army to Fengyang Fucheng.

Zhang Bin didn't stay long, and early on the morning of the sixth day, he and Lu Xiangsheng led the Tianxiong Army and the Shanxi Army straight to Hezhou.