In October, Shaanxi Xingdu Division, Ganzhou City.

Ganzhou is the seat of the Shaanxi Xingdu Division, located in the middle of the Hexi Corridor, known as the land of mulberry and hemp, the land of fish and rice.

The Jiayu Pass of the Shaanxi Xingdu Division is the westernmost territory of the Ming Dynasty, and the territory of the Ming Dynasty in the Western Regions crossed the Yumen Pass outside the Jiayu Pass and reached Hami.

It's a pity that with the decline of the Ming Dynasty's national strength, the Shaanxi Xingdu Division had to give up the area west of Jiayuguan and rely on the natural danger of Jiayuguan to block the invasion of the Western Regions.

Li Hongyu's visit to Shaanxi Xingdu was secretly acting, so his identity was only known to Tongzhi Gushan, the commander of Shaanxi Xingdu and the governor of the right army.

Gu Shan suddenly received the 800 li urgent cipher from the Ministry of War a few days ago, and then he knew that Li Hongyu was actually coming to Ganzhou, and he was suddenly taken aback in his heart.

In the eyes of the officials of the Ming court, Ganzhou is a remote and barbaric place, and there has never been a civil official with such a high rank, Li Hongyu is now one of the three princes of the Ming Dynasty, and this time he can come to Ganzhou is really beyond Gushan's expectations.

However, when I thought about Gushan, I was relieved, the Western Expedition army led by Man Gui has now captured Dunhuang City and controlled the two important passes of Dunhuang City to the Western Regions, that is, Yumen Pass and Yangguan, and it is reasonable for Li Hongyu to come, after all, the Western Expedition was promoted by Li Hongyu.

The ancient Silk Road had two routes, one through Yumen Pass and the other through Yangguan, which shows the importance of Dunhuang City.

To tell the truth, Gushan was not optimistic about the Mangui expedition to the west at the beginning, and the Shaanxi Xingdu Division was not at war with it on weekdays because it was connected to the territory of the Mongolian Warat people in the north.

To be exact, the Warat people entered the territory of Shaanxi Xingdu Division and plundered after a long march, the Ming army was in a passive situation of being beaten, don't look at the Warat people only more than one million, but they are all soldiers, and the combat effectiveness is fiercer than the Ming army, so that the Ming army can only rely on the city defense to defend.

In the Ming Dynasty, the soldiers in the northwest are the most powerful because of the complex situation of the territory, and many of the generals who made meritorious achievements during the Salhu War are from the northwest.

In addition, the military supplies of the army led by Man Gui was also a huge problem, all of which were provided by the Customs Department, and the Shaanxi Xingdu Division acted as a spectator.

This is also a matter of no choice, Shaanxi Xingdu Division is not even in financial difficulties, and there is no money to even give to the local health center, where is there money and grain for the Western Expeditionary Army.

Originally, Furuyama thought that even if Mangui's western expeditionary army was not defeated by the Warats, it would collapse due to a lack of food and grass, but the truth was completely unexpected.

Man Gui and the Western Expeditionary Army spent the first two most difficult years with strong perseverance, and even ate grass root bark at the most difficult time, the Western Regions were already vast and sparsely populated, and the cultivated land was limited, and Li Hongyu forbade disturbing the people, so it was not easy to raise food, only to use grass root bark to satisfy hunger.

Fortunately, after the first two years of hardship, the logistics system of the Western Expeditionary Army was finally perfected after a lot of hardship, and a steady stream of supplies from the interior met the garrison of the Western Expeditionary Army.

Because those materials had to pass through the city of Ganzhou, the abundant materials not only made Gushan not only jealous, but also enough to ensure the consumption of the Western Expeditionary Army, but also to assist the Trans-Khalkha Mongol army that fought side by side with the Western Expeditionary Army.

The Mangui Western Expeditionary Army was naturally not fighting alone, and the Mongol Western Expeditionary Army of the Transkhalkha Department was its ally, and the relationship between the two sides had become more and more intimate as they fought side by side, and the Transkhalkha Army's dependence on the Ming Army was also increasing.

After all, Li Hongyu provided a large amount of military supplies needed by the Mongol army in the Transkhalkha region, and the scale of Mangui's Western Expeditionary Army became larger and larger, and gradually became the main force in the war in the Western Regions, which put the Mongol army in the Transkhalkha region in a subordinate position.

It is worth mentioning that in the logistics system of the Manguixi Expedition, civilian merchant groups occupied a large part, and Li Hongyu handed over the logistics supply to the merchants, saving a lot of financial and material resources, which was much more efficient than the army's transportation.

Of course, the reason why the Western Expeditionary Army was able to lay down the current world in the Western Regions was definitely inseparable from Li Hongyu's support, and if Li Hongyu did not mobilize materials, it would be difficult for the Western Expeditionary Army to survive.

This is also the place where Gushan admires Li Hongyu the most, and now the people in the Ming officialdom are all thinking about how to make money, but Li Hongyu is not moved at all, and then the Western Expeditionary Army has gained a firm foothold in the Western Regions.

"I've seen Li Taibao!"

In the back hall of the Yamen of the Shaanxi Xingdu Division, Gu Shan led the commander of the Shaanxi Xingdu Division, Tongzhi Zhao Hai, and the commander of the Shaanxi Xingdu Division, Wang Erhu, bowed down to greet Li Hongyu, who entered the door surrounded by several guards.

"Excuse me!" Li Hongyu was dressed in a hundred military uniforms, raised his hand to the three Gushan people who bowed down, and sat down in the first seat in the lobby.

"Lord Taibao came here in person this time, I don't know why?"

After Li Hongyu sat down, Gu Shan and the three of them sat down in the next seat, Gu Shan asked curiously, you must know that now that Emperor Chongzhen has just ascended the throne, it is the time when Li Hongyu is needed to sit in the capital.

"This official has come this time for the Warats and Yarkands."

Seeing the puzzled expressions of the three people in Gushan, Li Hongyu pondered for a while and then said, "Now that Jiannu is making waves in Liaodong, in order to prevent the Warat and Yarkand people from taking the opportunity to attack and harass the Ming Dynasty on two fronts, this official has decided to defeat the Warat and Yarkand people to ensure the peace of the northwest territory of the Ming Dynasty!" ”

"Taibao, do you mean to conquer the territory of the Warat and Yarkands?" Hearing this, Gu Shan and the three of them were taken aback, and couldn't help but glance at each other in astonishment, and then Gu Shan asked tentatively.

"That's exactly what it means." Li Hongyu bowed slightly, looked at the three of them and said, "The Ministry of War has issued an official document, and from now on, the Shaanxi Xingdu Division will be controlled by this official. ”

As he spoke, Li Hongyu waved his hand, and a guard standing next to him handed Gu Shan an official document stamped with the seal of the Ministry of War.

"Taibao rest assured, the humble rank will go all out and live up to the trust of Taibao!" After checking the official documents of the Ministry of War, Gushan bowed to Li Hongyu and said excitedly.

Prior to this, Gushan never thought that one day Shaanxi Xingdu Division would launch an offensive against the Warat people and Yarkand people, since Emperor Jiajing, Shaanxi Xingdu Division was pressed and beaten by the Yarkand and Warat people, and honestly hid behind Jiayuguan.

"Taibao, our line is limited in grain and grass, once the war starts, I'm afraid it will be ......" Zhao Hai and Wang Erhu checked the official documents of the military department one after another, and then Zhao Hai looked at Li Hongyu with a difficult face.

The cost of fighting a war is very large, and it needs to consume a lot of money and food, and the Shaanxi Xingdu Division has just been able to maintain food and clothing, where is there spare money to use as military expenses.

Obviously, the military focus of the Ming Dynasty is now in Liaodong, and the huge cost of the Guanjin defense line has made the imperial court a little difficult, so where does the imperial court have the spare strength to manage the affairs of the Western Regions.

Therefore, Zhao Hai, who was in charge of the money and grain of the Shaanxi Xingdu Division, naturally wanted to cry to Li Hongyu that he was poor, for fear that Li Hongyu would let the Shaanxi Xingdu Division raise grain and grass by himself, in that case, things would be bad, and the territory of the Shaanxi Xingdu Division was originally barren, where could they possibly gather grain and grass!

"This matter will be settled by the official."

How could Li Hongyu not know what Zhao Hai was calculating, but there was a good saying, the emperor was not short of hungry soldiers, since he was going to attack the Warat and Yarkand people, then it was natural to ensure the logistics supply of the army.

The three of Gushan breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this, they could rest assured that they would not have to worry about logistics anymore.

"Let's talk about it, how many troops do you have now?" Li Hongyu took a sip of the tea on the side, and asked quietly, he naturally wanted to find out the troop allocation of the Shaanxi Xingdu Division.

"Back to the Taibao, the Shaanxi Xingdu Division has 14 guards and 4 guards for thousands of households, with a full number of troops of nearly 100,000."

Hearing this, Zhao Hai couldn't help but glance at Gu Shan, Gu Shan bowed slightly to him, so he bowed to Li Hongyu and replied with an embarrassed expression, "However, since there are many shortages in various health centers, the actual number of troops should be fifty or sixty thousand!" ”

"Fifty or sixty thousand?" Li Hongyu's brows suddenly frowned, although he knew that there was a shortage of local guard troops, but he didn't expect the shortage to be as high as half.

Gu Shan, Zhao Hai, and Wang Erhu immediately looked ashamed when they saw this, they reported to the imperial court in full, and the oil and water brought by the difference naturally fell into the pockets of military attachés at all levels of the Shaanxi Xingdu Division.

If someone else asked about it, then Gu Shan would definitely let Zhao Hai lie, but Li Hongyu was different, he was not the kind of person who easily fooled the past, so he chose to tell the truth, anyway, Li Hongyu would definitely send someone to check the situation of the guards under the Shaanxi Xingdu Division.

Li Hongyu didn't want to dwell on this matter, after all, this was a common problem in the national health center, so he quickly calculated in his heart that if he got rid of the old, weak, sick and disabled, then there were almost 40,000 young and middle-aged people who could be used to fight in the Shaanxi Xingdu Division, and it was 40,000 horses who were negligent in training.

No wonder the Ming Dynasty, which has millions of troops, collapsed during the Chongzhen period, millions are just the size of the full number of troops in the Ming Dynasty, in fact, the shortage is amazing, coupled with the slack of training and low morale, the combat effectiveness is worrying.

"This official will send people to the various guard posts to check the soldiers and military households, and you will send people to assist." After shaking his head secretly, Li Hongyu looked at Gu Shan and said, he must find out the actual situation of Shaanxi Xingdu Division.

"Obedience." Gu Shan nodded again and again, it seems that Li Hongyu is not the kind of person who does not understand people, if he were another official, I am afraid that he would have already scolded him at this time.

"Taibao, the banquet is ready." At this time, a subordinate came over and whispered a few words in Gu Shan's ear, and Gu Shan smiled and said to Li Hongyu that he naturally wanted to prepare a reception banquet for Li Hongyu.

Li Hongyu bowed slightly when he heard this, got up and went to the banquet with Gu Shan, this is the welcome of officialdom, and it is naturally not exempt from vulgarity to him, and he can also get close to Gu Shan and others at the banquet, after all, there are many things that need to be done by Shaanxi Xingdu Division in the future, and he can also take the opportunity to understand the situation in the Western Regions.

(End of chapter)