"Aiqing has a strategy to quickly annihilate the thieves?" Hearing Chen Yue say so surely, a trace of flush appeared on Chongzhen's face, and he reluctantly sat up straight, and asked hurriedly.

"Swift Chen doesn't dare to guarantee, after all, hundreds of thousands of thieves are good at wandering, and they can't be completely wiped out in a short time, but for defeating the main force of thieves, Zhang Xianzhong, the minister is somewhat sure!" Chen Yue said.

"Aiqing will elaborate." Chongzhen looked at Chen Yue intently, his eyes full of hope. The thief and thief chief Li Zicheng is dead, although there are many remnants left, but it is not a climate, and now only Zhang Xianzhong can threaten the Ming Dynasty, if Zhang Xianzhong can be defeated quickly, the remaining thieves are no longer worried.

"The thief Zhang was brutal and unkind, slaughtering the city at every turn, but because of his strong circulation, he never refused to stay in one place for a long time, so the imperial army had countless times to clean up and suppress it, but there was no way to use it, so that it continued to grow.

If Zhang Thief continued to wander, Weichen would not dare to defeat him lightly, but he should never pull the main forces to Jiangxi and try to capture the whole province of Jiangxi.

Jiangxi Province is surrounded by mountains on three sides, there is Panyang Lake in it, and the army can only move by waterway through Jiujiang River into the Yangtze River. As long as our army can quickly capture Jiujiang City, we can block the Zhang thief in Jiangxi Province and force it to attack Jiujiang and fight a decisive battle with us, and it will be a good time to defeat the main force of the Zhang thief in one fell swoop! ”

Chen Yue explained his long-planned strategy to Chongzhen He, and if he wanted to win this battle, he must gain Chongzhen's absolute trust.

After listening to Chen Yue's explanation, Chongzhen closed his eyes for a long time, and then opened his eyes again, "Zhang Thief has an army of more than 200,000, does Aiqing have the certainty of defeating him?" ”

Chen Yue's strategy is simple and clear, but if you want to defeat Zhang Xianzhong quickly, you must have overwhelming troops, now the Huguang army is annihilated, the Jiangxi army is also defeated, there are only more than 100,000 Beijing battalion soldiers in Nanjing, and then there are local troops in Fengyang and Huaiyang in Jiangbei, but it is necessary to guard against the Qing army taking the opportunity to go south, and it is really difficult to make up an overwhelming force.

And even if there are troops, the imperial court can't get much money at all, and the recent Northern Expedition has almost exhausted this year's savings.

"Weichen doesn't need too many troops, only 100,000 troops are enough!" Chen Yue said confidently. Zhang Xianzhong's combat power is nothing remarkable, far inferior to the Eight Banners of the Manchurian Tartars, at most similar to the combat power of the Ming army, Zuo Liangyu Huang has defeated Zhang Xianzhong several times.

The Great Western Army said that there were more than 300,000 troops, and how many of them were really elite? Most of them are just farmers who put down their hoes and pick up their swords, and their combat power is not at all good.

"Please Your Majesty transfer 50,000 Beijing battalion soldiers to Weichen, and then transfer Dinghai General Soldier Lu Tai Sailor, Fengyang General Soldier Jin Shenghuan, and Anqing General Soldier Yu Feng to the command of the ministers, these three generals are all old men under the ministers, and the command is smoother. These departments add up to 100,000 people, which is enough to deal with Zhang Thief! Chen Yue made a request to Chongzhen.

Chongzhen nodded and agreed to Chen Yue's request, "Yes!" ”

Commanding operations, of course, is that the familiar army is more smooth to command, Lu Taijin, Shenghuan, and Yu Feng are all Chen Yue's former subordinates, and it is natural for them to be transferred to Chen Yue's command again.

"Fighting a war requires food, 100,000 troops consume thousands of taels of grain a day, and at least 200,000 taels of silver are needed every month, plus the usual reward, Weichen needs 1 million taels of silver from the imperial court to me!"

Chen Yue put forward the request again, Chongzhen suddenly smiled bitterly, Daming has just experienced a bumper harvest, but in the blink of an eye, Jiangxi Huguang, which produces the most grain, has fallen, and now it can only transfer grain from Nanjing, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, although the shortage of food for 100,000 people to eat for a few months can still be raised. But a million taels of silver? I'm afraid I won't find so much if the entire treasury is emptied along with the inner treasury of the palace!

"I can mobilize food from all over the country, but I'm afraid it's a little difficult for the silver." Chongzhen's face was ugly.

"Your Majesty, if you don't have enough food, you can't do it, even Weichen can't guarantee that the soldiers will obey their orders." Chen Yue spread his hands and said embarrassedly.

As a soldier, he only worked for food, without the stimulation of food, according to the temperament of the Ming army, even Chen Yue could not guarantee that the soldiers would obey orders, after all, these troops were not Chen Yue's current direct subordinates. Of course, Chen Yue has enough silver in his hands, but that is the guarantee of opening up the east, besides, it is natural for him to fight for the country to exterminate the traitors, and it makes no sense to let himself fill it with silver, and Chen Yue does not want to be the unjust leader.

However, seeing Chongzhen's embarrassed appearance, Chen Yue couldn't help but come up with an idea.

"Your Majesty, it doesn't matter if the court doesn't have silver at the moment, you can also think of other ways, such as rewarding the soldiers with land."

"Where do I have so much land to be rewarded?" Chongzhen shook his head and said. The land in this world is owned by the owner, even if Chongzhen is the emperor, he can't just take other people's land and reward soldiers.

"Your Majesty has not forgotten that now that Huguangjiang and Jiangxi are being ravaged by thieves, countless people will definitely die, including those landlords who own a lot of land. After the thieves are exterminated, all these ownerless fields can be nationalized, just in time to reward meritorious soldiers. Chen Yue said with a smile.

Chongzhen's eyes lit up suddenly: "This method is good!" ”

It is certainly a good way for him to spend a tael of silver to make the soldiers use their lives! Chongzhen knows that there is too much arable land in the hands of the gentry in this world, and he has never paid taxes to the imperial court, and now he is taking advantage of the thief's rebellion to take the opportunity to reward a large amount of land in Huguangjiangxi to the soldiers.

"What else does Aiqing want, although I can do it, I will definitely satisfy you!" Looking at Chen Yue, Chongzhen's eyes showed a soft light, it was the person in front of him who brought him surprises again and again.

"I heard that Your Majesty has appointed Wang Yin, the governor of Zhejiang, as the secretary of the military department, which is really a good person, but there is another person who also asks Your Majesty to reuse." Since Chongzhen promised, Chen Yue was no longer polite, "Lord Lu, although the Northern Expedition failed, it was not all his fault, Lord Lu was loyal to the imperial court, and his ability was also above the ministers, but the Mantars were too fierce, which led to the defeat, in fact, Lord Lu did not have many problems in the command of the Northern Expedition." When the army was defeated, he could also lead tens of thousands of troops to withdraw to Xiangyang, preserving a certain strength for our army, only this, not many people could do it, and the minister also asked His Majesty to be gracious, pardon the guilt of Lord Lu, and let him listen to our army. ”

Lu Zhenfei's ability is one of the best among the ministers in Nanjing, and there are not many people who can compare with his ability to lead troops in a big battle. He was defeated in the Northern Expedition of the Imperial Court and was too careful, and despised the combat power of the Manchu Eight Banners.

Chen Yue and Lu Zhenfei have always been friends, and they also value Lu Zhenfei's ability, so he asked Chongzhen to release Lu Zhenfei from prison and give him another chance.