On the eighth day of the first month of the twenty-first year of Chongzhen, Tianjin was still shrouded in the joy of the New Year. The people of Pen, Fun and Pavilion www.biquge.info enjoy a thriving and happy life, and this year has had another prosperous New Year. From time to time, the city resounded with the sound of crackling firecrackers, red lanterns hung everywhere on the streets, and paper cutouts were pasted on the glass windows of every house, creating a joyful atmosphere.

But the war that had been fought for half a year was not over, the soldiers on the front line were still fighting, and Li Zhi in the rear could not rest.

On the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, the main generals of the front rushed back to discuss military strategy. Li Zhi sat in the second hall of the Guogong Mansion, listening to the reports of the front-line generals on the situation.

Li Xing arched his hand and said: "Big brother, now my army of 40,000 people has occupied Tongguan. Although the battle was very exhausting, after a month of repairing at Tongguan, the soldiers are now in better condition. As long as the eldest brother gives an order, the 40,000 West Route Army can invade Shaanxi and capture the thief Li Zicheng. ”

Hearing Li Xing's words, all the generals in the second hall were very happy. This time the war Korea, the thieves and the Jiangbei Army fought again and again because of the crusade against Li Zicheng, and now the Western Route Army is like a bamboo in the west, so this war can be regarded as a fundamental victory.

The combined attacks of the three major enemies were all broken by the Tiger Ben Army one by one, and the Tiger Ben Army was strong.

Li Xing waved his sleeves and said, "Big brother, you can give the order." 40,000 tiger ben are ready to go. ”

Li Laosi also said: "Owner, now 10,000 recruits who have been trained for more than half a year can control the entire territory of Henan, as long as 3,000 recruits are mobilized to defend Tongguan, a large number of soldiers and horses of thieves will not be able to enter Henan and cut off our grain route." Grain and grass could be safely transported from Kaifeng to Tongguan, and the Western Route Army continued to advance without any worries. ”

Obviously, Li Xing and Li Laosi both hope to be able to move westward and make new contributions. Li Zicheng was simply vulnerable in front of the Tiger Army, and this was the best opportunity to accumulate military merits, and neither division commander wanted to let go of such an opportunity.

Li Zhi looked at the chief general and deputy general of the Western Route Army, and said slowly: "Yesterday, the holy decree came, and the Holy Son of Heaven wanted to canonize this prince as the king of Tianjin. In a few days, this father will enter Beijing to be sealed. ”

Hearing the news, the eyes of the generals who had just returned from the front line lit up one by one.

Sure enough, the lord is about to be crowned king.

Li Zhi became the king of the county, and the status of Tianjin's system was improved again. In the future, Li Zhi can be widowed and lonely, and the future will be brighter. And as Li Zhi's generals, everyone's future is also bright.

Zhong Feng laughed. Li Xing and Li Laosi glanced at each other, their eyes full of excitement. Zheng Kaicheng shook his head and sighed: "Son of Heaven Shengming! ”

All the generals stood up in unison, walked to the center of the second hall and knelt down towards Li Zhi, and shouted in unison: "Lord Chitose Chitose Chitose!" ”

Li Zhi smiled, waved his hand to make the generals stand up, and said slowly: "But the Son of Heaven has an order at the same time, so that we are stationed in Tongguan and cannot advance westward. The Son of Heaven will send a new army south to attack the thieves. ”

Hearing Li Zhi's words, all the generals in the hall were stunned.

At this time, Li Zicheng was defeated by Li Laosi in Shaanzhou, retreated from Kaifeng to Tongguan, and then retreated from Tongguan to Xi'an, which can be described as a defeat. A large number of members of the invading army fled from the ranks, and only 200,000 of the 300,000 invading troops were left. At this time, the breaking army can be said to be at its weakest, as long as it launches a thunderous blow, it will definitely be able to knock it down.

At this time, the Son of Heaven stopped the Tiger Ben Army from advancing westward and let the new army of Jingying go south, which was obviously a credit for robbing people.

The generals were silent for a moment.

After a long time, Zhong Feng snorted coldly and said, "The Son of Heaven is really a saint!" ”

Li Xing sat down on the chair in frustration and said angrily: "My Western Route Army has been fighting hard for several months, but I have prepared a great achievement for the new army of the Son of Heaven. ”

However, Li Laosi had a different idea. After a moment of silence, Li Laosi said: "If the Son of Heaven is bent on making the new army meritorious, it doesn't matter if we let the virtuous fall. It's just that the New Army has not fought a battle since its formation, and it is still unknown whether it can defeat Li Zicheng's 200,000 soldiers and horses. ”

When everyone heard Li Laosi's words, they all pondered.

Although the new army was built by the emperor with a lot of money and equipped with the best equipment and weapons of the Ming Dynasty, as Li Laosi said, this army has never been in actual combat. No matter how capable Cao Bianjiao and Yang Guozhu are, it is impossible for them to turn a group of soldiers and horses who have never been on the battlefield into a division of tigers and wolves.

In the face of Li Zicheng, who is as cunning as a fox, it is really difficult to say whether the new army can snatch this credit.

Zhong Feng said with a smile: "Speaking of which, if the new army of the Son of Heaven is defeated by the thieves, then we will attack Shaanxi, and it will really become a great achievement." At that time, if Li Xing led his troops to destroy the thieves, the Son of Heaven would at least give Li Xing a marquis, right? We people should be rewarded, right? ”

Li Xing blinked and looked at Zhong Feng.

I, Li Xing, also want to be a marquis? Li Xing laughed, and it was rare to see Zhong Feng feel pleasing to the eye.

Cui Changwu, who was sitting at the bottom of the crowd, suddenly stood up and said, "Lord, the subordinates also feel that it is not appropriate to capture Shaanxi at this time." ”

Everyone looked at Choi Chang-moo.

Cui Changwu said: "Now that our Tiger Army has captured North Korea and Henan, the number of people under our rule has increased by 10 million at once, in fact, it has doubled. Nowadays, there is a shortage of officials everywhere, and there is a shortage of manpower. It is very difficult to hire a literate and educated officer in the new police station, water bureau, court and tax office. ”

"If we annex Shaanxi again, we will have to hire Confucian scholars and the original officials in order to get literate administrators. Those Confucian scholars only know how to communicate with each other about private morality, and wherever they go, they will destroy the order of public morality. Those officials are even more slippery, I didn't know how many small people were bullied before, and they were all characters who should be chopped to death. ”

"Today, we have a limited number of secondary and primary school students, and it is impossible to form a competent government. If we let those Confucian scholars and officials manage Shaanxi, then the officialdom in Shaanxi is estimated to be much better than before. Even if the discipline inspection team stares at it day and night, these people may not dare to be corrupt in the open, but it is inevitable that they will bend the law for personal gain in private. ”

"The prestige of the prince will inevitably be ruined by these people."

"Hiring these people to blend into our officialdom and form a faction is never a good thing for our official ranks. If these people are mixed in and cleaned up in the future, there will be great resistance, not to mention, it will also undermine our system of employing people, and make our officially cultivated officials have a great sense of insecurity. ”

"And the prince will attack the Jiangbei Army next, and I don't know how many places and populations will be increased, and how big a shortage of officials will be caused. When the time comes, it will be bad for the qualified officials to learn the same. ”

"All in all, I don't think we can expand too much in one go this time, and Shaanxi is better left to the Son of Heaven."

Hearing Cui Changwu's words, everyone was silent, and they all felt that it made sense.

Li Xing was "arrested" by Cui Changwu, but he never looked down on Cui Changwu. Seeing Cui Changwu's words at this time, Li Xing snorted coldly.

Li Zhi smiled and said, "Cui Changwu is reasonable, so let the Son of Heaven try it." Let's see if the new army in Beijing is capable. ”