During the time when Li Yan was waiting for the end of Liuling, he kept receiving news from all over the place. Some were sent to him by Tian Jianxiu, some were scouted by his scouts, and some were circulated by people.

Although some of the details of the information are not very accurate, the general things are still indicative. He knew that the entire territory of Shanxi was occupied by Li Zicheng, and among the border towns, except for Ningwuguan, which resisted, the other towns all went down without a fight.

This made Li Yan very depressed. Originally, he also hoped that these border towns could inflict some casualties on Li Zicheng and weaken Li Zicheng's strength. However, these border towns made him very disappointed, not only did not weaken Li Zicheng's strength, but also threw himself under Li Zicheng's command, and the pressure he faced in the future will be even greater.

and Liu Zeqing didn't let him get his wish. He wanted to drive Liu Zeqing to Beijing before, but Liu Zeqing seized the opportunity of the Yellow River and resolutely fled south.

But he didn't get angry when he thought about it. The current situation is really what Tian Jianxiu said, everyone can see it, and Daming's qi is exhausted. Therefore, it is only natural that these soldiers will join the new dynasty and continue to maintain their wealth, or seek greater wealth. There are examples of the Ming Dynasty, many of the princes and princes who founded the country have continued to be rich for three hundred years, and this temptation is big enough for anyone.

However, Li Yan is not very optimistic about Li Zicheng, although Li Zicheng is now cooking oil on fire, and his momentum is booming, but he always feels that Li Zicheng has some hidden worries. For example, Li Zicheng's army is now expanding its territory too fast, and the previous method of distribution after training has been abandoned. In order to control the localities, they left field troops in the localities, and supplemented the surrendered officers and soldiers into the ranks. Although there was no major reduction in the number of troops under his command, the combat effectiveness was reduced by one level.

In this case, it will naturally not be a problem to deal with the officers and soldiers who have already planned to surrender, but it is even less of an opponent when it is used to deal with Li Yan. So even if Liu Fangliang left 50,000 troops in Zhending Mansion to guard against him, he didn't have much to worry about.

"Dashuai," Sun Sifu came in and reported: "I just received a pigeon letter from General Li Mou, and he has already sent someone north to receive Jinan. ”

Li Yan frowned, a little dissatisfied. Although Liu Zeqing fled south, there were not many officers and troops near Jinan, but after all, his troops in Shandong were only 20,000. If there are too many troops, and some large groups of officers and soldiers and thieves are encountered, those remaining troops may have to suffer. His troops are not strong men who can be replenished at any time, and it is a pity to lose one.

Li Yan instructed: "Let him not divide troops everywhere, just control Jinan, and I will send people over to other prefectures and counties." ”

"Okay."

Li Yan instructed again: "Let Huang Desheng come over." ”

After a while, Huang Desheng came to Li Yan.

"You prepare, and you will take the troops to set off tomorrow." Li Yan directly instructed: "When you arrive in Shandong, you must first suppress the bandits, and after exterminating the large number of bandits, you will take over the defense of the prefecture and county." ”

Huang Desheng was a little surprised, and then asked: "Dashuai, our Tiger Squat Cannon and small-caliber Frankie Cannon have not been replenished, we only have three cannons now, if we encounter a large group of bandits, we will suffer." ”

Li Yan said dissatisfiedly: "You have thirty-six tiger squat cannons, if you can't deal with those bandits, don't be the commander of this army (10,000 people)!" ”

Huang Desheng immediately said: "If there is no division at all, let alone a thief, even Liu Zeqing, I can deal with it." However, now that I occupy so many prefectures and counties, I plan to divide the troops into battalions (1,000 people) and draw their own districts to suppress bandits. ”

"There is no need to divide the troops first," Li Yan instructed: "Even if it is divided, it must be divided into divisions (more than 3,000)." In the past, you should first investigate the big bandits in various places, find a guide to lead you, and first get rid of these big bandits. But be mindful, don't be deceived by treacherous people, be vigilant. Those states and counties, you don't have to worry, with a force like you to deter, even if there are abnormal movers, it will not have much impact. ”

Huang Desheng nodded and said, "I understand the humble position." ”

Li Yan taught: "Think more! If you can't make a reasonable strategic and tactical arrangement, then your current position will come to an end! I don't feel comfortable handing over tens of thousands of brothers to you. ”

"You must learn more, think more, and live up to the trust of the commander." Huang Desheng clenched his fists and said. Although he was scolded, he was very happy in his heart. It shows that his status in Li Yan's heart is almost the same as that of Li Mu and Li Zhong, as long as he can work hard and forge ahead, he will be able to lead the way alone.

After Huang Desheng left, Li Yan instructed Liang Zhenfang to give orders to all localities to organize the people on both sides of the Yellow River to go to the river beach to eliminate locust eggs and nip the locust plague in the bud.

The people were also informed to take precautions against the occurrence of plague. Last year, the plague around Beijing was really shocking, and many people died. Dr. Wu suspected that the Qing soldiers killed and injured too many people, and the corpses were not disposed of in time, which caused the plague. Other rats, fleas, mosquitoes and flies are also important sources of infection, so they should also be cleaned up in time.

At the same time, orders were given to farms everywhere to continue to increase the cultivation of alfalfa and beans. There are more and more horses and livestock, and the demand for fodder is also increasing. Although he also ordered from the people, the enthusiasm of the people was not high. The famine of the previous two years frightened the people, and the people were still willing to grow food. Even if the family has enough food to eat for a year, they still want to store more. So he can only directly let the farm solve the problem.

At this time, there is a disturbing situation in Beijing.

Last year's plague, as the weather warmed, seemed to be showing signs of recurrence. Now on the streets of Beijing, there are occasional dead bodies. At first, I thought it was starvation, but after more and more deaths, even if it was a solid family, there would be a succession of deaths in the family.

However, the government doesn't care about these now, and all the officials are paying attention to the news of Juyongguan. Although Wu Sangui, Tang Tong and Liu Zeqing were ordered to come to Beijing to Qinwang a few days ago, it took time for Wu Sangui to settle the people. As for Liu Zeqing, there is no news, and there are rumors that Liu Zeqing has fled south, and he can't count on it. Only Tang Tong, the chief soldier of Jizhen, was ordered to come to Beijing with 8,000 men and horses.

However, Chongzhen sent a eunuch to Tang Tong, which made Tang Tong very unhappy. So Tang Tong wrote to him, saying that he had too few people to fight in the plains, and he wanted to help defend Juyong Pass. After that, without waiting for the emperor's order, he directly took the people and horses away, which made the hearts of the officials and relatives in the capital cold.

So officials only hope that Juyongguan can stop Li Zicheng, which is the only barrier in Beijing.

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