The action of the Xingtian Army immediately stirred up the situation in the entire Central Plains, and the situation in the Central Plains, which had just stabilized after Gao Yingxiang was killed, changed dramatically, and as a result, both the court and the local government were once again greatly nervous.

At this time, Lu Xiangsheng, who was also sitting in the Central Plains, was transferred to Xuanda in the north, and for a while no one in the Central Plains could cope with such a situation.

Seeing that the Chinese New Year is approaching, Chongzhen sits on the main hall but does not feel the breath of the approaching Spring Festival, but the heart is a mess, the situation in the north is needless to say, the imperial court invests millions of taels of silver in the north every year, but now there is no improvement, not only does not improve, but it is the Jiannu chieftain Huang Taiji who called the emperor this year outside the pass, and he wants to be on an equal footing with his dignified Ming Emperor, the Jiannu army is even more southward as if entering no man's land, no one can lead the troops to block its soldiers, so that in August this year, After the Jiannu army actually entered the vicinity of Jingshi again and plundered, they swaggered back to the outside of the pass.

The situation in the north is so erosive, and now even the situation in the Central Plains, which has just stabilized, has begun to fall into erosion, which makes Chongzhen really have a headache, and he can't think of any good solution for a while.

If you have the heart to mobilize troops to suppress it, let's go away! However, the soldiers and generals that can be used now are really limited, and some elite soldiers and horses should be placed in the Gyeonggi area to prevent Jiannu from entering the army again, and the soldiers and generals in various places are unusable, and some generals support their own troops and are unwilling to contribute to suppress them, so that now the thieves are revived, but for a time except for Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting, who are in Shaanxi, there are few people available.

Just when Chongzhen had a headache for this, there was a messenger from the inner servant, informing Chongzhen that Yang Sichang, the new secretary of the military department, had an audience, and when he heard the news of Yang Sichang's visit, Chongzhen cheered up and sent a decree to Yang Sichang to meet him.

Not long after Yang Sichang walked into the hall, knelt down and kowtowed to Chongzhen, Chongzhen waved his hand and said: "Yang Aiqing is exempt, you came just right, now the situation in Henan is repeated again, although there are Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng in the west of Shaanxi, but Lu Xiangsheng in Henan is gone, Wang Jiazhen replaced, but in the near future, Wang Jiazhen's suppression is quite unfavorable, even the Guanning army under the command of Zu Kuan was defeated by the hands of the bandit Punishment Army, since you have done the military department, then you should share your worries for me, for the current situation, do you have any way?" ”

Yang Sichang was promoted to the secretary of the military department this time, which can be said to be a critical order, so in the past few days, he has also been thinking about the situation in Henan and Shaanxi, and has been thinking about how to deal with the current situation.

So he said to Chongzhen: "The Holy Lord doesn't have to worry too much about this, although Lord Lu has left Henan now, but Weichen can recommend a person for the Holy Lord, as long as this person enters Henan, the situation in the Central Plains will be decided!" ”

Chongzhen couldn't help but perk up when he heard this, so he immediately asked, "I don't know who Yang Aiqing wants to recommend for me this time?" ”

"Prime Minister Chensi, and the Governor of Guangzhou, must be brave and capable of responding to emergencies, and the current Governor of Liangguang Xiong Wencan must be!" Yang Sichang replied immediately.

After Chongzhen heard this, his heart immediately became happy.

Speaking of Xiong Wencan, he is also a famous figure in the Ming Dynasty at present, Wanli thirty-five years of Jinshi, awarded Huangzhou Push Official, Director of the Ministry of Rites, Lang Zhong, Shandong Left Politics, Chongzhen in the first year of the promotion of the right to the imperial history, governor of Fujian, and later in Fujian to appease the current sea thief Zheng Zhilong, and then use Zheng Zhilong to kill Liu Xiang, who was against the imperial court, and completely pacified the pirate forces on the southeast coast.

Therefore, as soon as he heard that Yang Sichang proposed to recommend Governor Xiong Wencan to suppress him, Chongzhen immediately agreed.

Poor Xiong Wencan was killed by Yang Sichang this time, he was originally an official in the Liangguang area, and now after Zheng Zhilong on the southeast coast returned to the imperial court, he has become much more stable, drinking tea and reading books when he is fine, and he has to die of leisure, but the disaster comes from the mouth, Xiong Wencan has a problem, he likes to talk about the current situation when he is fine, and repeatedly talks about how if he is allowed to preside over the suppression, how to do it, this is usually just said in the wine field, who doesn't brag? But these words reached Yang Sichang's ears, and Xiong Wencan did a good job of exterminating pirates in southern Fujian, so in the eyes of Yang Sichang and Chongzhen, he became a very capable figure.

When Xiong Wencan suddenly received the holy decree, saying that he should be appointed as the governor of the five provinces to replace Wang Jiazhen to suppress the thieves in the Central Plains, Xiong Wencan was shocked at the time, and he couldn't wait to slap himself a few mouths, he usually bragged to blow, but now it has become this fact, if these thieves are easy to suppress, then Yang Yihe, Hong Chengchou, Lu Xiangsheng, and Wang Jiazhen in front have already suppressed them.

So Xiong Wencan didn't dare to slack off, stayed in the house all night, and finally came up with a recital, listing the five difficulties and four indispensables, and sent someone to Beijing urgently.

But what Xiong Wencan didn't expect was that after receiving his five difficulties and four indispensable twists and turns, Emperor Chongzhen actually agreed with a wave of his pen, ordering Xiong Wencan to go to his post quickly and hurry to Henan to start suppressing it.

Xiong Wencan reluctantly stepped down in Liangguang, and began to travel to Nanjing with his family, replacing the current Wang Jiazhen, and suppressing the displaced people in the Central Plains.

This Spring Festival has nothing to explain to Xiao Tianjian and his Xingtianjun, since the Xingtianjun took the two counties of Yongning and Lushi, they did not expand their territory outward, but immediately turned to the defense and began to run these two counties with all their might.

After confiscating the land properties of the officials and magnates, as well as the gentry and relatives of the emperor, the Xingtianjun immediately applied the methods implemented in Shanxi to these two counties.

A large amount of land was quickly distributed to the displaced people gathered in these two counties, and at the same time, a considerable part of the grain obtained was taken out to help these hungry people, and immediately won a large number of people's hearts in the western Henan area, attracting more hungry people, and began to pour towards Yongning and Lushi counties.

But what is not quite the same as in Shanxi is that after the Xingtian Army occupied these two counties, the targets of the attack were mainly concentrated on those magnates and gentry who occupied a large amount of land in the local area, and for the smaller gentry, the Xingtian Army did not strike too hard, as long as they surrendered to the Xingtian Army and acted in accordance with the requirements of the Xingtian Army, then the Xingtian Army did not go too far with them, but only asked them to rent the land at home to 40%, so that the tenants could make a living, and in accordance with the requirements of the Xingtian Army, pay the land taxes on time. And he let them go.

For these requirements of the Xingtianjun, these small landlords did not dare not agree, after all, their family is here, whoever has a big fist, they can only listen to whom, otherwise they will be raided and destroyed, and no one dares to confront the Xingtianjun head-on, so the small landlords in the two counties did not dare to make a fuss.

As a result, in the two months after the New Year, the situation in these two counties quickly stabilized, and the troops on the Shanxi side were also constantly turning to Henan, making the strength of the Xingtian Army in Henan more and more sufficient.

Originally, Shanxi and Henan are still separated by a Yellow River, and there is a Mianchi County in the middle, once the official army is stuck here, it will be difficult for the Xingtian Army to communicate with each other, but the number of defenders in Mianchi County is very limited, and every time the supplies of the Xingtian Army pass through the territory of Mianchi County, there are soldiers and horses to escort, and the suppressed officers and soldiers of Mianchi County do not dare to go out of the city to intercept, so the Xingtian Army travels between Shanxi and Henan, basically not affected, and sometimes even swaggers and shows off from outside Mianchi County. The Michi County government can only stare dryly, and there is no way to do it.

After Xiao Tianjian took control of Lushi County, Yan Chongxi, Fu Deming and others on the Shanxi side began to transfer some craftsmen gathered in the Yangcheng area to Henan, and were escorted to Lushi County by the soldiers of the Xingtian Army.

After the Xingtian Army arrived here, they were also ruthlessly swept away, and the three iron mines were returned to the Xingtian Army, as for the miners who originally worked for the rich, the Xingtian Army also took over all of them, greatly improving their treatment, and making them continue to mine iron ore for the Xingtian Army.

Therefore, the mining industry here has not been affected at all, and with the influx of a large number of hungry people, the labor force is much more sufficient, not only has the number of mining not decreased, but it has risen sharply by two or three times in more than a month, Xiao Tianjian chose a place near these three iron mines, smelted iron on the spot, opened an iron field with hundreds of blacksmiths, and began to build weapons and agricultural tools on the spot to meet the needs of the Xingtian Army in Henan.

At this point, the people in charge of the Xingtian Army already had sufficient experience, and everything was carried out smoothly, and soon after the year, the first batch of iron produced in Lushi County was made into weapons and agricultural tools, and began to be distributed everywhere and put into use.

For the actions of the Xingtian Army, Henan Governor Chen Biqian and Luoyang Governor Feng Yijun were a little relieved, what they were most afraid of was that the Xingtian Army was like other righteous armies, like locusts swept through Henan, in that case, they couldn't cope at all, not to mention, they would have to be condemned by the emperor at that time, and after the Xingtian Army conquered Lushi County a few years ago, it did not continue to expand, but began to stagnate, which made them Henan officials breathe a sigh of relief.

Since Zu Kuan's defeat in Liuquan Town, the officers and soldiers in Henan have also heard about it, and they all want to gasp when they mention the Xingtian Army, so no one dares to take the initiative to provoke the Xingtian Army, and Wang Shaoyu's house, since the defeat of Yongning, has retracted to Yiyang, and no longer dares to show his head, and he is frightened in Yiyang all day long, for fear that the Xingtian Army will send Yiyang, let alone expect that the family will provoke the Xingtian Army.

Therefore, the Xingtian Army did not take the initiative to attack, and the surrounding officials naturally swept the snow in front of the door, and did not take the initiative to find trouble with the Xingtian Army, so they watched the Xingtian Army take root in western Henan, and its strength became stronger and stronger.

After Xiao Tianjian entered Henan, he learned that the number of hungry people in Henan was too large because Henan had suffered from drought in previous years, coupled with the fact that the rebels from all walks of life in Shaanxi and some local poles were going back and forth in Henan, so that the people of Henan could not live in peace at all, so the number of hungry people in Henan, even Xiao Tianjian was a little surprised, in just two or three months, after hearing the news of the Xingtianjun relief in western Henan, Yongning County and Lushi County poured into seventy or eighty thousand hungry people. As a result, the population of the two counties, which were originally vast and sparsely populated, suddenly recovered.

The hungry people in Henan did not ask much, as long as they could give them two meals of porridge every day, they would be satisfied, so the Xingtian Army took advantage of this opportunity to immediately recruit the hungry people, and built seven strong forts on some of the main roads in and out of this area in lieu of work, firmly guarding the roads into the area controlled by the Xingtian Army in all directions.

As for the strength of the Xingtian Army, in the past two months, it has also been greatly expanded, in addition to the two new battalions formed by Yongning County using the surrendered troops under the command of the clay pot and the prisoners under the command of Yidougu, Liu Bao led the four battalions to Yongning County on time during the month of Layue, and at the same time brought 1,000 recruits from Shanxi to supplement the battle damage and lack of the three battalions that followed Xiao Tianjian into Henan, so that Xiao Tianjian's available battalions in Henan reached the state of four full battalions.

In addition, Shanxi also took the opportunity to transport more than a dozen newly cast three-pounder guns and six newly cast six-pounder guns for Xiao Tianjian, and greeted the already trained gunners to supplement the directly subordinate artillery team of the combat battalion on the side of the Xingtian Army.

But for Xiao Tianjian, he knew that the current calm was only temporary, and he suddenly led his troops south, which had disrupted the arrangements of the imperial court, and for a while Wang Jiazhen and Chen Biqian were powerless to deal with him, but this does not mean that the imperial court just sat back and watched him so entrenched in Henan, if he expected it to be good, the imperial court should also be trying to mobilize troops and horses to deal with him.

Therefore, Xiao Tianjian did not dare to slack off, and took advantage of this rare free opportunity around the Spring Festival to greatly expand his troops in Yongning and Lushi counties, and in addition to the two new battalions in Yongning County, he also selected 4,000 strong homeless people in Lushi County, formed three new battalions, and braved the severe cold to carry out strict training for them.

These recruits from Henan are very cherished such an opportunity, in their opinion, they have been cornered, they can suddenly get such an opportunity, it is not easy, plus although the Xingtian Army has no salary, but they can care about their full food, leaving such a place, they still don't know how to survive, so for the officers' orders, they are very concerned, dare not disobey a little, and the training is also very hard, just a month, the queue training is basically over, Transferred to the battle formation training, it will soon be able to have considerable combat effectiveness.

However, for a few new battalions, Xiao Tianjian can't take out so many bird guns to equip them, although two or three hundred new self-generated firearms were transferred from Shanxi after the year before the year, but it is obviously impossible to meet the needs of so many recruits at once, and the newly built craftsman battalion in Lushi County, because all kinds of tools are not yet in place, can only build some cold weapons in a short time, and the production of firearms will have to wait for a while.

Therefore, these five new battalions were temporarily used as local garrisons, and their equipment was much worse than that of the other four war battalions, and it was impossible to distribute armor for the time being.

Even some of the bows and crossbows that have been eliminated by the Xingtian Army before, as well as the old-fashioned fire guns and three-eyed guns, have also been equipped into these five new battalions, even so, the quality of the equipment of these five new battalions has far exceeded the equipment quality of the ordinary rebel army, and it is basically the same as the quality of the equipment of the general officer army, coupled with the high-intensity training and battle formation of the Xingtian Army, the combat effectiveness of these five new battalions should not be underestimated, at least as the auxiliary soldiers of the combat battalion, there is no problem.

Whether it is the official or the Xingtian Army, it can be said that they are sharpening their knives during this Spring Festival, and they just have to compete again after the New Year.

(I originally wanted to have a big chapter of more than 5,000 words!) But why is he going to drink a friend's child's full moon wine at noon, so he can only stop there! ）