The peasant army outside the city of the Daimyo Mansion is desperately making siege equipment, and the Qi family army in the city of the Daimyo Mansion and the village warriors defending the city are trying their best to strengthen the city defense.

For the muskets and artillery of the officers and men, the peasant army prepared siege vehicles with "rough skin and thick flesh", and the roofs were covered with thigh-thick wooden stakes, which could not be destroyed even if the tiger squatted and the artillery.

Zhang Bin prepared oil tanks and rockets for this kind of bulky siege vehicle, and the tiger squat cannon was a wooden stake with the thickness of a thigh, but the oil tank and rocket could set it on fire.

However, it is really difficult to find fire oil at this time, and ordinary people can't even afford to buy oil for stir-frying at home, so where to collect so much oil for ignition, if it is in Fujian, it is easier to do a little, palm oil, fish oil or something, there is no problem with the purchase of a boat, but the Daimyofu does not have this place to buy.

Zhang Bin had no choice but to order people to buy fat pigs everywhere, fat meat was used to squeeze oil, lean pork ribs or something, and it was used to improve the food of the soldiers, so that the entire Daimyo Mansion City was wafting with the fragrance of oil and meat every day, making the people drool greedily.

Just when the two sides were in full swing to prepare, Qi Yuanbi finally rushed over from the capital, and he not only brought the official document appointing and dismissing Lu Xiangsheng, but also brought a hundred truckloads of weapons and equipment.

These weapons and equipment are equipped according to the mandarin duck array of the Qi family's army, and there is nothing special, just some waist knives, shields and spears, these are conventional cold weapons, there are many in the arsenal of the capital, and it is no problem to equip tens of thousands of people, but there is no wolf and palladium, for this reason, Chongzhen also specially approved tens of thousands of catties of good iron for Lu Xiangsheng to build the head of the wolf and palladium.

Of course, these are not the point, the focus is on Lu Xiangsheng's position, Chongzhen actually ordered him to be the governor of Xuanda and Shanxi military affairs, and at the same time responsible for rectifying the military equipment of Daimyo, Guangping, and Shunde, so that he can not only train the new army, but also mobilize the border soldiers of Xuanfu Town and Datong Town and the garrison of Shanxi, and there will be more soldiers available under his command.

Originally, Zhang Bin just wanted to defeat the peasant army and finish the matter, but at this moment, with tens of thousands of border soldiers and guards, his mind became active again.

Although he didn't think that he would exterminate the peasant army now, he didn't want the peasant army to develop to the point of being out of control.

It may be a bit unrealistic for tens of thousands of horses to encircle and suppress the peasant army, but it is not difficult to severely damage the 36th battalion of the peasant army, after all, the main force of the peasant army is only tens of thousands at this time, and their equipment is not very good, there are 40,000 or 50,000 people, Zhang Bin is fully confident that the peasant army will be beaten to the ground.

So the two governors consulted over the map.

At this time, the main activity area of the 36th battalion of the peasant army was the area of more than 100 miles between Zhangde Mansion City and Daimyofu City, and Zhangde Mansion City was still in the hands of the peasant army at this time, according to the scout's report, there were only two battalions of ordinary peasant troops stationed in the city at this time, and the total was less than 10,000 people.

Zhang Bin pointed to Anyang City on the map and said: "Jiandou, the first step, we must take down Anyang Cheng, cut off their retreat, and press them in the area of more than 100 miles between Anyang and Daimyo, so that it will be much more convenient to clear up." ”

This is obvious, if Anyang City is in the hands of the peasant army, there is no way to encircle and suppress them, forcing them to be anxious, more than 200,000 people are entrenched around Anyang City, there is no 100,000 army, do not want to exterminate them.

They can also leave some people behind after the city of Anyang is broken, and then flee southward, and you can't chase it, and you can't chase it.

However, it is not easy to take Anyang City, because the main force of the peasant army is only more than 100 miles away from Anyang City, and if you can't take it in a day, the main force of the peasant army will come, and you can't take it anymore.

Lu Xiangsheng stared at the map for a while, and couldn't help but sigh: "It's difficult, the soldiers and horses in Shanxi have to defend against the Jiannu Mengyuan Eight Banners in the north, and the peasant army in the west that has not yet crossed the river and marched eastward. Twenty or thirty thousand people attacked a city garrisoned by almost more than 10,000 people, and it was difficult to take it in a day or two, and once the main force of the peasant army returned to help, it would be impossible for 20,000 or 30,000 people to capture Anyang City. ”

Zhang Bin pointed to the map and said confidently: "Let Zhang Zongheng, the governor of Xuanda, lead 10,000 elite cavalry from Luzhou, pass through Shaxian and Wu'an in the north, and detour to the east of Anyang City to intercept the main force of the peasant army that is ready to return at any time, and then let Xu Dingchen, the governor of Shanxi, lead 10,000 elite guards from Zezhou to attack Anyang City." If the main force of the peasant army comes back to help Zhang Zongheng and engage in a battle east of Anyang City, we will press through the Daimyo and attack from both sides. If the peasant army does not come back to help, it is estimated that it will not take a few days for Xu Dingchen to take Anyang City. ”

When Lu Xiangsheng heard this, he nodded again and again: "Okay, just do it." ”

Zhang Bin said proudly: "In this way, with an army of 20,000 on one side, as long as your new army is well trained, we can contact Zhang Zongheng and Xu Dingchen in Anyang City to attack the peasants on both sides, and the 40,000 army is enough for more than 200,000 rabble." ”

Lu Xiangsheng looked at the map and couldn't help but remind: "What if they flee south?" ”

Zhang Bin naturally had already thought about this question, he pointed in the direction of Anyang and said: "Let Zhang Zongheng lead 10,000 elite cavalry to rush over from Anyang City and cut off the retreat of his foot soldiers, as for the cavalry, there are only tens of thousands of people in total, and we can keep more than 100,000 foot soldiers." ”

This is true, it is unrealistic to want to annihilate more than 200,000 peasant troops with 40,000 horses, it is not bad to be able to leave more than half of them, but there is another problem, Lu Xiangsheng said embarrassedly: "If I recruit the villagers of Guangping and Shunde to come to assemble and exercise, the two prefectures of Guangping and Shunde will be empty, if the peasant army flees directly to the north, wouldn't it be able to rush directly to the capital!" ”

Zhang Bin was stunned when he heard this, this problem had to be prevented, at this time, the peasant army would definitely not be able to defeat the capital, but Chongzhen had a good face, if he forced the peasant army to the capital and let him lose face, he would be in big trouble.

Historically, Huang Taiji did not take down the capital, but Chongzhen listened to the rumors and killed Yuan Chonghuan alive, the main reason is that Yuan Chonghuan not only did not defeat Houjin, but also let them rush to the capital, and foreign enemies have come to the capital, which is quite embarrassing, Chongzhen can't hold it on his face, and he will naturally be resentful.

If the peasant army is allowed to "rush" to the capital, the consequences will be similar to that of Houjin rushing to the capital, and the anti-thieves will all hit the capital, which is also quite humiliating.

Zhang Bin looked at the map, and then proposed: "Jiandou, otherwise, you can simply concentrate the Xiangyong of the three prefectures of Daimyo, Guangping, and Shunde to the Wei County in the north to practice, so that you can not only block the way of the peasant army to the north, but also echo with the Daimyo, if the peasant army is desperate to storm the Daimyo's mansion, you can also lead the army to respond in the north." ”

Wei County is only more than 30 miles away from the Daimyo, if you want to lead the army to support, you can arrive in about an hour, which is quite convenient, and Wei County just blocked the official road from the Daimyo to the capital, and if you gather a new army there, you don't have to worry that the peasant army will flee north.

Lu Xiangsheng naturally had no opinion on this, and he began to issue an order, ordering Zhang Zongheng, the governor of Xuanda, to lead 10,000 elite cavalry from Luzhou, through Shaxian and Wu'an in the north, and detour to the east of Anyang City to ambush, ready to intercept the main force of the peasant army that returned to help, and ordered Xu Dingchen, the governor of Shanxi, to lead 10,000 elite guards from Zezhou to attack Anyang City, and ordered the Xiangyong of Guangping and Shunde to immediately rush to Wei County to assemble.

In order to speed up the training of the new army, Zhang Bin specially selected 1,000 elites from the Qi family army to serve as officers at all levels in the new army, and transferred Qi Yuanfu, deputy chief soldier, and generals Qi Xianzong and Qi Zhenzong to help Lu Xiangsheng train the new army, and at the same time allocated him 1,000 guns and 100 tiger squat cannons to increase his combat strength.

This is all because the two of them are their own Zhang Bin will be so generous, if it were someone else, he would not give it to anyone, let alone send any weapons, of course, if it was someone else, the weapons would definitely accept him, but people are unlikely to want him, because in this way, the officers at all levels of the new army have become the elite of the Qi family's army, then this new army is not equal to the troops under Zhang Bin.

Of course, Lu Xiangsheng didn't care about this, he knew that Zhang Bin was really helping him, not trying to control the new army in his hands, besides, the two were originally their own people, and it was naturally better for the army under his command to be closely linked.

Lu Xiangsheng suddenly led 2,000 villagers to Wei County, but Zhang Xianzhong was depressed, because he had to pass through Wei County to rush from the Daimyo's Mansion to the capital, and he thought that the officers and soldiers saw their intentions and sent troops to Wei County first.

He didn't know that a big net was quietly spreading, Zhang Zongheng, the governor of Xuanda, had led 10,000 elite cavalry to the east of Anyang to ambush, and Xu Dingchen, the governor of Shanxi, was also leading 10,000 elite guards to Anyang City, as long as Xu Dingchen took Anyang City, they were put into a set, as long as Lu Xiangsheng's recruits were almost trained, this set would be sealed, not only could they not go to the capital, but it was difficult to escape.

However, the situation is not all favorable to Zhang Bin, no, Lu Xiangsheng just led two thousand townships to Wei County, and Neihuang in the south of the Daimyo sent an urgent report, and the anti-thief Gao Yingxiang entered Neihuang County, asking the governor to send troops to support.

Zhang Bin received an urgent report, and did not send a single soldier, but just wrote a palindrome, ordering Huangzhi County to organize the families and nurses of the rich families of the squires in the city, recruit the villagers, and defend the county seat!

He knew that this was a ploy of the peasant army, and tried in vain to let him divide the troops, he estimated that as long as he sent troops to save Neihuang County, the peasant army would definitely ambush along the way, and they couldn't eat 10,000 Qi family troops, and it would not be a problem for them to eat two or three thousand, how could he send people to die.

More importantly, he didn't want to save corrupt officials.

In his opinion, the peasant uprising is not entirely a bad thing, as long as it is under control, it is a good thing!

Because there are many places in Daming that have rotted to the roots, royal relatives, corrupt officials, local tyrants and squires, etc., are like tumors, eroding the entire Ming Dynasty, and these tumors cannot be removed by themselves.

Like the royal family, they not only have fiefdoms, but also have a fortune, they are born to enjoy endless glory and wealth, but they are not satisfied, but also have to compete with the people for profit, but also desperately annex the land, desperately squeeze the people, the common people have a famine, not only do they not take out money and grain to help, but also desperately collect rent and taxes, making the people miserable, full of complaints.

However, the Ming Dynasty has no way to deal with them, and even the emperor has to offer them, such as Zhu Changxun, the blessed king, who is Chongzhen's own uncle, who dares to clean him up, even if he does all the bad things, he can only let him be free.

At this time, the royal family of the Ming Dynasty has reached more than 300,000, and the land they annexed exceeds sixty percent of all the cultivated land area of the Ming Dynasty, they account for most of the wealth of the Ming Dynasty, but they have no contribution to the Ming Dynasty, and they continue to oppress the people and force the people to rebel.

What's even more terrifying is that their fertility is still quite strong, almost every twenty years, the number will double, that is to say, in a few decades, the population of the Ming royal family will exceed one million, at that time, I am afraid that all the land of the Ming Dynasty will be annexed by them!

If this tumor is not removed, it is almost impossible to save Daming.

There are also corrupt officials and local tyrants and squires, the relationship can be described as intertwined, most of the officials in the court have direct or indirect contact with these people, or in other words, the Ming Dynasty has become a world of corrupt officials and corrupt officials at this time, and there are only a handful of honest and honest officials.

What's even more terrifying is that you know that they are corrupt officials and corrupt officials, but you can't move them, because if you move one, a large string will be drawn, and then all kinds of false accusations and all kinds of unwarranted impeachments can simply drown you.

These people, even if you are in power, you can't clean them up, because you can't clean them up at all, but will be cleaned up by them.

And the peasant army is this knife, they don't care what kind of royal relatives you are, and they don't care what kind of high-ranking officials your uncle and uncle are, anyway, the common people say it's good, they won't kill it, no one says it's good, then there's nothing to say, just drag it out and cut it!

The peasant uprising in the Chongzhen Dynasty is actually an opportunity, an opportunity to break and stand up, the peasant army will remove all the tumors, and everywhere it passes will go through a baptism, only the truly honest and honest officials will not kill, and only the local tyrants and squires who are really good to the people will not be killed.

Now in the Ming Dynasty, there are really not many honest and honest officials in the two capitals and thirteen provinces, so the peasant army is killing and killing everywhere, and there is basically no way to live.

Zhang Bin believes that this is just right, the royal family is going to be a wake-up call for them, and the atmosphere of officialdom should also be killed.

If he can't make a move, he will let the peasant army take action, and the relatives of the emperor who have done a lot of evil will die; corrupt officials, dead; For the rich and unkind local tyrant squire, die!

The so-called is not broken or standing, only if these people are almost killed, Daming can be saved, as long as these people are almost killed, Daming can be saved.

Therefore, he adopted a laissez-faire attitude towards Nei Huang's urgent report, if you are honest and honest for the officials, even if the county town is broken, it will be fine, if you are a corrupt official and corrupt officials, it is good to be cleaned up by the peasant army.

It's a good guy and he doesn't need to save it, and if it's a bad guy, he doesn't want to save it!