On the tenth day of the first month of April, Li Zhi stood in the big tent of the Chinese army in the Fanjiazhuang barracks of the Huben Army, wearing the crimson uniform of the commander of the Huben Army. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Li Zhi has received the holy decree of the Son of Heaven and is ready to crusade against Li Zicheng, who occupies Henan.

Of course, according to the Pegasus Express report of Han Jinxin's informant, Li Zicheng is not in Henan, and he has led 100,000 thieves into Shaanxi. Now Shaanxi Province is already boiling. As soon as the invading army arrived, the people all rose up and opened the city gates, beating gongs and drums to welcome the invading army. Except for a few big cities such as Xi'an, the rest of Shaanxi can be said to be a matter of transmission.

Li Zicheng is a hero in troubled times, but he also keeps his promises. He implemented the policy of exempting taxes all the way in Shaanxi, killing the gentry and dividing the land, which made the poor peasants in Shaanxi extremely excited. Li Zicheng's personal prestige has reached its peak.

It is said that when Li Zicheng returned to his hometown of Mizhi, the people welcomed him in thousands of empty alleys. Li Zicheng played the prince's honor guard snatched in Kaifeng City, and returned home with incomparable scenery and lichen.

Of course, the grain and silver seized in various counties and counties in Shaanxi were transported to Henan in an endless stream, and the hundreds of thousands of thieves in Henan no longer had to worry about the problem of food and wages.

With the salary, Li Zicheng can continue his myth that "the king comes and doesn't pay for the food".

Li Zhi looked in front of a large sand table in the North China Plain and nodded.

The sand table is five meters long and four meters wide, and was made by the young cadres of the General Staff Department according to Li Zhi's design, and the sand table is made of rice and glue, and all the mountains and rivers in Shaanxi, Shaanxi, Beizhili, Henan, and Shandong are all made. In recent years, Li Zhi has sent many surveyors to various places to reconnoiter the geography and grasp the confidential roads in various dangerous areas, so there is sufficient information to make such a sand table.

With such a big sand table, the operational arrangements for the crusade against Li Zicheng can be accurate to the kilometer level.

Li Zhi raised his head and asked the generals in the big tent, "Everyone, what do you think about this crusade against the thieves?" ”

Hearing Li Zhi's words, the generals in the tent began to discuss one by one. Everyone whispered around the big sand table, but no one stood up to say anything for a while.

Hong Chengchou suddenly stood up and arched his hand and said, "Grandpa Guo, I thought this was unbeatable. ”

Li Zhi nodded and asked, "Why does Deputy Chief of Staff Hong think so?" ”

With the merits of the counselor in the previous battles, Hong Chengchou has been promoted to deputy chief of staff at this time, and his status is similar to that of an ordinary regiment commander.

Hong Chengchou arched his hand and said: "Grandpa Mingjian, now I have more than enough rules for the Tiger Army, and if it is attacked, it is really insufficient." ”

Hong Chengchou cleared his throat and said, "The border of my town and four provinces seems to be calm, but in fact, the dark tide is turbulent. North Korea has just been conquered, and the two classes of Korean nobles are full of hatred for us. In the south, there are 160,000 Jiangbei troops eyeing us, and they may go north to bite us at any time. ”

"There are 100,000 people in my Tiger Ben army in name, but in fact there are only 60,000 veterans. The training of 40,000 recruits has not been completed for less than a month, and it is impossible to go into battle. 60,000 people were placed in Tianjin to deter the Jiangbei Army, which could form a balance with the Jiangbei Army. If it is attacked and fought with the thieves, the Jiangbei Army will definitely take advantage of the situation and attack the southeast of our mountain. ”

"At that time, my 60,000 soldiers and horses will have to deal with hundreds of thousands of thieves and 160,000 Jiangbei troops at the same time, and I am afraid that there is a risk of collapse."

Hearing Hong Chengchou's words, all the generals had a grim face and looked at the sand table carefully.

Hong Chengchou raised a small stick and placed the chess pieces representing the 160,000 Jiangbei Army and the 300,000 Chuang Army in the southern part of Shandong. The southern border of Shandong suddenly became very precarious.

The generals looked at the two chess pieces, and their faces changed color.

Zheng Kaicheng shook his head and said, "Grandpa Guo, this battle really can't be fought. Although most of the intruding troops were rabble, there were also many Ma troops. After Sun Chuanting was defeated by the Chuang army this time, at least 10,000 of the more than 100,000 officers and soldiers were thieves. Now the army is very well armoured and armoured, and if we ride horses to attack our infantry formation, I am afraid that there are not tens of thousands of people who cannot stop it. ”

"Without 40,000 people, you can't stop the Ma army that broke into the army."

"But now that the Jiangbei Army and Hongyi have bought thousands of heavy artillery, and they don't know how to learn our standard rifles, there are no 40,000 people in the south, and they can't hold it anyway."

"Tianjin, Northeast China and North Korea, no matter what, keep 10,000 people stationed."

"No matter how you look at it, we don't have enough troops."

Li Laosi looked at the sand table and said in a deep voice: "However, now the Jiangbei Army has recruited tens of thousands of blacksmiths who can make bird guns all over the country, and they produce standard rifles day and night. If the war started at this time, the Jiangbei Army would still have only a small number of standard rifles. The further back the time drags on, the stronger the equipment of the Jiangbei Army will be. ”

"By the time our 40,000 recruits have been trained, the Jiangbei Army will have all been equipped with standard rifles."

The generals listened to Li Laosi's words and frowned one by one.

Over the years, the armament of the Tiger Ben Army has indeed been continuously strengthened, but the enemy is facing the pressure of survival and is also getting stronger. What's even more terrifying is that as Li Zhi's southern and northern wars continued to expand his territory, Li Zhi's enemies became more and more. Unlike in the past, when he only occupied one place in Tianjin, once Li Zhi's troops were sent out, the empty rear was likely to be besieged.

It can be said that Li Zhi used the population of Tianjin and Shandong to fight against all the forces in Northeast Asia.

And that's not even counting the European colonizers who made waves of the Red Empire.

Li Xing walked around the map and suddenly asked, "Big brother, will those warriors of the Wa Kingdom take advantage of the chaos to stab us in the rear?" ”

Li Zhi's fleet commander Lu Hu was as good-tempered as ever, and said with a smile: "The second general is too worried, even if the Japanese state has the intention to make trouble, their backward fleet will not be able to cross the Korean Strait. Even if our ironclad ships are rammed, they can also knock over all the Japanese Ataka ships. ”

Li Xing heard Lu Hu's words and didn't say anything more.

Li Zhi looked at the sand table, raised a holding stick, and put Li Zicheng's 300,000 soldiers and horses in Shanxi, and said in a deep voice: "Everyone, if we don't send troops to attack the thieves, I'm afraid that the thieves will join forces to besiege Shanxi." Now that Li Zicheng's prestige is in full swing, and the people are looking down on the wind, the defenders of Shandong may not be able to parry. If the thieves are allowed to go down to Shanxi again, the armaments and strength of the thieves will go up to a new level. ”

"At that time, I'm afraid that there will be big problems in the entire Ming Dynasty. When the thieves have the strength to sweep the world, we can't be alone in one town and four provinces. ”

"So no matter what, we have to restrain the thief and not let him continue to swell."

"This time we have to fight, not only for the sake of the Ming Dynasty, but also for the survival of our one town and four provinces."

When the generals heard Li Zhi's words, they were silent one by one.

"The soldiers will block, and the water will cover the earth. Let's try the thieves and the Jiangbei Army first! Li Zhi put down the stick and ordered: "40,000 recruits are stationed in Tianjin to continue training, and the deterrence is small." 30,000 veterans were selected as the Southern Route Army and stationed in the south of Shandong to guard against the Jiangbei Army. Another 30,000 recruits were sent to the Western Route Army to attack the thieves in the west. ”