At the end of October, Li Zhong drew up a battle plan for going south and brought it to discuss with Li Yan.

However, before discussing, Li Zhong first talked about Li Yan's itinerary. He reminded: "It's time for you to prepare to go to Beijing, the sixteenth day of the lunar month is the day of the enthronement ceremony, and now it's the end of the month, and if you don't prepare, it will be delayed." ”

Li Yan said nonchalantly: "Kaifeng is not far from Beijing, and the roads are all rested, and it will be there in six or seven days." ”

"This is not a march to fight, and you are not going alone, the queen and concubines must be canonized, and the children must be brought with them, so you can't be too busy on the road." Li Zhonggui persuaded.

Li Yan said with a smile: "Second brother, don't worry, you have already asked them to prepare." The officials of the various ministries and halls can accompany them, and the other officials will stay and work as usual, so let those idle people in Beijing support the scene. Anyway, I don't plan to live in Beijing permanently, and I still have to go back to Kaifeng after the year. The northern defense line is basically worry-free, and the center of gravity next year will still be in the south. The children will not be brought with them, and those who are in the cold winter will not suffer from that sin. Besides, what kind of prince is a milk doll, tell the world, just know that I have a son. ”

"This," Li Zhong hesitated: "The Beijing side is ready, and the prince should be established as soon as possible to avoid other troubles in the future." ”

Li Yan still didn't listen, and said: "How can a child know his temperament and ability, and get a mediocre or even a wicked person to sit on the throne, sooner or later the world will be in chaos." Let them change the process, use it if the rules are appropriate, and keep it if it is not suitable. Times change, clinging to old rules and bad habits, and it will be us who will suffer. ”

For Li Yan's insistence, Li Zhong could only give up persuasion. He knew that Li Yan's decision was made after summarizing the defeat of the Ming Dynasty, but Lixian would also have disadvantages such as forming gangs, standing in line in advance, and even competing for the princes. However, he felt that Li Yan should have thought about these things, and Yuan Zheng still had enough time to think about these issues.

Li Zhong began to report the battle plan: "Our plan is to send 10,000 men from Wuchang to Changsha first. In the follow-up, there were 20,000 horses as backup, and when Zhang Xianzhong's troops concentrated on besieging the front army, they entered the battlefield and defeated Zhang Xianzhong's Western Army in one fell swoop. Judging from the last battle between Zhang Xianzhong and Zuo Mengeng, Zhang Xianzhong cares about his capital Changsha very much and will not give up easily. And our army of 10,000 horses to attack, Zhang Xianzhong should also concentrate the main force to destroy our army, and it is unlikely that he will take the initiative to withdraw. ”

Li Yan said while thinking: "Well, Zhang Xianzhong has 100,000 troops around Changsha, and our army has 10,000 horses to attack, so it may not scare him away." However, even if the follow-up troops followed up the battle, they only defeated Zhang Xianzhong. It is better to annihilate as much as possible, otherwise there will be the remnants of a protracted pursuit and suppression. ”

"The follow-up army has 4,000 cavalry," Li Zhong explained, "plus the 1,000 cavalry of the front team, once Zhang Xianzhong's main force is defeated, it can also form a momentum of pursuit." ”

Li Yan shook his head: "Four thousand cavalry is too few, in the face of the rout of 100,000 enemy troops, it is necessary to have more cavalry to chase and destroy it to have a good effect." ”

Li Zhong added: "Bai Shixiong and the others have just returned from the grassland, and they are still resting in the north. And we take into account that Li Zicheng has become a frightened bird, and when our army goes south, he is more likely to escape, so we will deploy a team of 10,000 people and 8,000 cavalry in the direction of Zhejiang to eliminate as many Li Zicheng's troops as possible. ”

Li Yan crossed his arms and pondered for a while before he spoke: "Let Bai Shixiong and them switch with the cavalry guarding along the Great Wall, there have been two heavy snowfalls outside the pass, and the possibility of the Qing army attacking is not very likely, let them rest while on guard." The attack was postponed a bit, one was to wait for the cavalry to take position. Another is to let the troops bring more baggage ammunition, especially rockets, which is more effective for the assembled army. ”

Li Zhong also thought that several rounds of hundreds or thousands of rockets scurried around in the dense military formation and then exploded, and the army of tens of thousands of people might collapse in an instant. At this time, tens of thousands of cavalry rushed to chase and kill, and after this battle, Zhang Xianzhong's main force may not be one in ten, and it will no longer become a competitor of Daliang.

Li Zhong nodded and added, "Well, that makes sense. For Li Zicheng, he can drive to the east and south as much as possible, so that he and Zhang Xianzhong cannot cooperate with each other, and there should be no big problem in solving Zhang Xianzhong's main force in this battle. ”

"By the way," Li Yan suddenly asked, "Doesn't Zhang Xianzhong have a sailor in Poyang Lake?" Transfer our sailors over and give them practice. ”

Li Zhong smiled and said, "That's not necessary. Zhang Xianzhong's sailors were mostly made up of fishing boats, and there were few large ships, and they mainly engaged in arson and gang jumping. With some river boats, loaded with Frankie under two inches, supplemented by tiger squat cannons and crossbows, they can completely block them in Poyang Lake. As long as they don't go ashore, it will not affect our southward movement. ”

Li Yan still insisted: "Then let the sailor also carry out the activities." Training alone cannot detect any problems, and only on the battlefield of life and death can soldiers practice their true skills. ”

"Well, then the battle time is going to be delayed again." Li Zhong reluctantly agreed.

Li Yan smiled casually: "It's late, it's late, and you don't have to rush the auspicious time." As long as there is no rain in the middle, it will be good for our firearms to be affected. It is necessary to distribute more crossbow arrows to the troops, and in case of real winter rains, do not let the troops have no power to fight back. ”

"It's all set." Li Zhong agreed. After that, he asked: "Then, who will lead the commander who is going south?" ”

Li Yan knew what Li Zhong meant as soon as he heard it, so he immediately made a decision: "Huguang all the way, let Chen Yongfu go." Although he is a demoted general, he has performed well in the past few years, and his son is also decent in the north, so he should be given the opportunity he should give. Also, Gao Jie's subordinates picked those who were not bad-hearted, and also let them participate in the offensive all the way to Zhejiang. As for those who are already ambitious, let them take care of the captives in the future. ”

"Okay." Li Zhong said with a smile: "This incident is troublesome, it was originally Gao Jie who abducted Li Zicheng's concubine, but now it is Gao Jie who is beside us and wants to beat Li Zicheng, the bitter master, down." ”

Li Yan said indifferently: "As long as he can follow the rules with us, don't worry about the previous things." But we must make the rules clear to them, so as not to kill them again in the future, saying that we will be punished for not teaching. ”

"Okay, I'll arrange it." Li Zhong nodded.

Li Yan stood up and said sincerely: "The war in the south, as well as the affairs of various ministries, I will rely on the second brother to take care of it first, I will be lazy in Beijing and have a good rest for a while." Second brother and Brother Mou, you are all going to be crowned kings, not because we are brothers, but because you have made outstanding contributions. ”

Li Zhong bowed and hugged his fists and thanked him: "Thank you for your majesty's praise." Your Majesty will do your best to serve Your Majesty. ”

Li Yan hurriedly held Li Zhong up and corrected, "It's to serve the beam." Everyone makes mistakes, they are deceived by selfish desires, and I don't want no one to dare to come out and admonish them, and all of them will be sycophants. ”

"Your Majesty, rest assured, the minister will definitely be a direct minister." Li Zhong also made a solemn promise. Just between the words of the two brothers, the names of the monarch and the minister are officially determined, and their brotherhood will be in the back row in the future.