Li Zicheng was shocked in his heart, and then he thought of the artillery, don't have any problems with the Hongshi Cliff Copper Mine, otherwise, not only the artillery will be in vain, but also the bullets of the Xining rifle, I'm afraid you will also be nervous.

He was worried in his heart, but his face did not change color, he took the message, unfolded it, and was overjoyed: it turned out to be a craftsman from the Hongshiya Copper Mine, who inadvertently found an iron mine at the foot of Qilian Mountain near the mine.

For Li Zicheng, this is a great joy, the Mandate of Heaven army to make rifles, has been short of pig iron, although a ready-made iron mine was found in Guangwu Mountain, but most of the pig iron produced was used to build cement bridges, so long, Xining craftsman workshop only for Li Jibu to produce five hundred rifles.

If there is enough pig iron, the Manifest Destiny will break through the bottleneck of making rifles.

After occupying Longyou, the money and food in Li Zicheng's hands have been greatly improved, as long as there are enough rifles, the Mandate of Heaven Army can expand the army.

Li Zicheng asked He Xiaomi to go to Feige to pass the book and immediately develop the Qilian Mountain Iron Mine!

He lay in bed, unable to sleep for a while, and began to think about the expansion of the army.

If the Ma Youshui Department is expanded to 2,000 soldiers, and it will be stationed in Guguan in the future, it will be enough for him to expand to the east, and if it needs to expand to the east, at most add the cavalry of Liu Yunshui's department.

In this way, Li Guo's cavalry can return to Xining and respond to various places in the center, and Zhou Bin's troops can also leave Guguan as a mobile force in their hands.

Although the Heavenly Mandate Army has 7,000 households, the number of people in each 1,000 households is too small, except for the 1,000 households in Ma Youshui, the actual distribution of rifles is too small, no more than 500 households, so in the battle, it needs the cooperation of many thousand households.

In the battle of Longyou, Li Zicheng mobilized four thousand households, and the remaining three thousand households, Qin Danian's department was stationed in Ganzhou, Li Ji's department was stationed in Xining, and Song Wen's department was stationed in Triangle City and Kadang City.

If you want to have mobile forces in your hands, you must expand your forces!

Li Zicheng thought for a moment, but decided to expand the army of Ma Youshui, temporarily reaching two thousand households, all of them were issued with rifles, and he would be stationed in Guguan in the future to fight against the army of the imperial court.

The Ma Youshui Department had already expanded the auxiliary army of one hundred households from the thieves last time, and now it still needs nine hundred households, close to a thousand people.

As for the source of soldiers, there are thousands of troops in Longyou, and the cement road on the Guanshan Road is being poured, but now the weather is cold and the ground is freezing, and the pouring of the cement road has almost stopped, and they are almost wasting food in vain.

From Yang Zhaoji's body, Li Zicheng immediately thought of Mei Zhihuan, the governor of Gansu, and was ready to talk to him for a long time, but he waited until Hong Chengchou arrived, and then put the matter down.

Now that we want to expand the army, we are very dependent on Longyou's products, and we must talk to him.

After the Mandate of Heaven, Li Zicheng first asked He Xiaomi's flying geon to send a letter to Ganzhou, let Mei Zhihuan come to Longyou, and then summoned Ma Youshui in the camp.

"The Metropolitan Governor......" Ma Youshui is a little strange, why did the Metropolitan Governor, who only met yesterday, summon him again this morning.

"There's water, sit!" Li Zicheng went all the way to the wooden chair opposite, and asked the soldiers to serve tea, and said: "Cao Wenzhao returned from defeat, how do you see the situation in Guguan with water?" ”

It turned out to be this! Ma Youshui gasped, in terms of the overall situation, he was really not good at it, so he whispered: "Cao Wenzhao's army is defeated, Hong Chengchou will definitely not be good at resting, and he will definitely send a new army!" ”

"Youshui is right," Li Zicheng nodded slightly, "Hong Chengchou will not long take over as the governor of the three sides, he must want to eradicate all the thieves in Shaanxi, Cao Wenzhao suffered a defeat in Guguan, and the Mandate of Heaven Army will definitely become the target of his key conquest, Youshui said, how many troops do we need to stabilize Guguan?" ”

"This ...... The subordinates don't know how many troops Hong Chengchou will discharge......"

"In fact, Guguan Guancheng is not big, and it guards the Guanshan Road, no matter how many troops Hong Chengchou sends, he can only attack the city from the east and north of the city at most," Li Zicheng said lightly: "In a battle like yesterday, except for the consumption of bullets, we don't have much loss!" ”

"My lord, my subordinates understand," Ma Youshui's eyes lit up leisurely, but then his face showed a worried face, "Dadu Governor, if you don't want to go out of the city to pursue, the subordinate hundred households, there are already ten hundred households of gunners, and the subordinates can defend the fortified pass, which is just the shield of the Ming army...... In case the Ming army has any new formation, hidden behind the shield, the subordinates ......"

"Youshui is worried that I have found a killing weapon to deal with the shield of the Ming army, so I must return to Xining, only the craftsman workshop in Xining can produce it," Li Zicheng also wanted to hurry up and return to Xining, although Tang Ruowang is good at artillery technology, but he has been living in Daming for many years, and the technology he learned before is probably outdated, since he wants to develop artillery, he must be the most advanced, at least better than the current European artillery, "There is water, I will hand over the Guguan to you, and the current troops, Yunshui, Shuangxi, and Zhou Bin are all under your control!" ”

Ma Youshui knew that this was the Metropolitan Governor's trust in him, so he hurriedly got up and said: "Don't worry, the Metropolitan Governor's subordinates will definitely make the solid pass solid!" ”

"Sit down, sit down," Li Zicheng said with a faint smile: "This is just a temporary arrangement, a solid pass, and it can't attract the strength of the Ten Thousand Households of the Heavenly Mandate Army, so I plan to let the Water Department expand the army first!" ”

"Expansion?" Ma Youshui was overjoyed, he, the 6,000th household, has been at the forefront of the seven thousand households, the first to distribute rifles, the first to distribute rifles, and now he is the first to expand the army, this is the greatest trust of the Metropolitan Governor in him, his eyes are a little red, blinked a few times, and said: "The Metropolitan Governor, how many soldiers do you want to expand?" ”

Li Zicheng said with a smile: "Add the 100 households the day before yesterday, and expand the 100 households by 100, and all of them will be issued with rifles!" ”

"Ten? All rifles? Ma Youshui was stunned for a moment, his brain was like a bee "buzzing", he couldn't believe that all this was true.

Among the five thousand infantry households of the Heavenly Mandate Army, Zhou Binbu, Song Wenbu, and Li Jibu are all issued rifles from 500 households, and Qin Danian's department stationed in Ganzhou has not even seen the shadow of rifles so far, and his 6,000 households will be distributed with rifles from 2000 households in the future, which is more than their combined, this ...... Is it true?

Li Zicheng smiled and looked at Ma Youshui: "How is it?" There is water, if the soldier's training is over, the rifles are in place, and the cavalry assistance of the Yunshui Department is added, can you garrison the fortified pass? ”

Ma Youshui seemed to have come to his senses at this time, he quickly left his seat and prostrate in front of Li Zicheng, "The Metropolitan Governor trusts him so much, how can his subordinates not know?" The Metropolitan Governor can rest assured that people are in Guguan! ”

"There's water up!" Li Zicheng got up, gave him a handful, and pressed him to the seat, "It's enough to do your best with water, if you miss the Guguan, we can fight it again, if the person is gone, you will never be able to find it back!" ”

"Metropolitan Governor ......" Ma Youshui's eyes were a little blurry, he turned his back and secretly wiped his sleeves, and said: "Don't worry, Metropolitan Governor, no matter when, the Kyushu military flag will flutter on Guguan!" ”

"There is good water," Li Zicheng got up and patted him on the shoulder, "I believe you, taking advantage of Cao Wenzhao's new defeat, Hong Chengchou will not come to Guguan for a while and a half, you go to select soldiers from the prisoners of war, step up training, if the supply of soldiers is insufficient, I will let Yang Zhaoji make up for you!" ”

"Yes, Grand Duke!" Ma Youshui was about to say goodbye to Li Zicheng, but was stopped by Li Zicheng, "Wait, there is water, after the expansion of the army, your subordinates will be two complete thousand households, how can you lead the troops with this thousand households?" ”

Ma Youshui didn't understand, "Dadu Governor ......"

Li Zicheng took out a blank piece of paper from his arms, which was equivalent to the official body of the imperial court, and handed it over, "From now on, you are already a guerrilla general of the Heavenly Mandate Army!" ”

"Guerrilla general?" Ma Youshui stayed for a while, only then did he understand, took over the official body, and wanted to bow again, but was stopped by Li Zicheng, "You are invincible in Longyou, yesterday's battle, you three departments combined, and you hit Cao Wen's edict again, which you exchanged for your military exploits!" ”

"Thank you, Daduke...... His subordinates will not disappoint the expectations of the Grand Governor......"

Li Zicheng patted Ma Youshui's shoulder and said with a smile: "Go, train the new army well!" ”

"Yes, Grand Duke!" This time, Ma Youshui had to kowtow no matter what, and then he went.

Li Zicheng immediately summoned Liu Yunshui and Zhou Bin, and gave them new official positions, both of whom were promoted to guerrilla generals, because Li Guo's cavalry was already stationed at Anrong Pass, and Li Zicheng asked Zhou Bin to collect five hundred square auxiliaries and let them train their rifles.

Although Zhou Bin did not receive the dictation of the Grand Governor, he knew in his heart that since he trained the rifles, the day when the auxiliary soldiers would be promoted to soldiers and issued rifles was not far off, and he was also indescribably grateful to the Grand Governor.

At this point, there are four thousand household officials who participated in the Eastern Expedition Longyou, except for Li Guo, all of whom were promoted to guerrilla generals, for Li Guo, Li Zicheng was not deliberately suppressed, he was his own nephew, and he should be taken care of.

But Li Guo's ability to command troops is indeed inferior to Liu Yunshui, whether it is "brave" or "strategic", it is inferior to Liu Yunshui, so Liu Yunshui is always ahead of Li Guo in the expansion of the cavalry.

Do you want to promote Li Guo to a guerrilla general?

If you only talk about military merits, Li Guo did not participate in the battle against Cao Wenzhao, and his military merits are naturally not as good as the three of them, but some time ago, for the peace of Longyou, Li Guo has been running between prefectures and counties, appeasing the Han people, slaughtering aliens who refuse to naturalize, and making great contributions to the rapid takeover of the entire Longyou by the Mandate of Heaven Army.

And Li Guo has been living and dying with himself since Mizhi, if he hadn't been running around to rescue him, maybe he would still be in prison in Mizhi County, and he would have even been wiped out by Ai Zhao.

If he hadn't been dragged down by himself, he wouldn't have left his hometown and died in Ganzhou!

Thinking of this, Li Zicheng returned to his camp and made up for Li Guo's official body.