Looking at the opposite side of the East Mountain, the mountains are full of trees and flags are all Ming army camps, just like many armies in this era, the Ming army has not yet learned to hide its true strength, and often achieves a deterrent effect through multi-tree flags.

Even so, Gao Mingzhan still felt palpitations when he talked about the battle in the previous two days, if he was a little careless, or if Li Guohan's reinforcements were delayed for a few more days, then the Waist Ridge Pass would inevitably change hands.

The reason is that He Zhen and Liu Tichun's Ming army are too weird.

Li Guohan also felt very strange, since he entered the army, he had been guarding against He Zhen's troops and Liu Tichun's troops to harass the back road, but the other party actually avoided his own close surveillance and approached the waist ridge pass.

It turned out that in late November, after Li Gande, Yuan Taowu, and Dading stayed in Sichuan, all the rebels were annihilated, and Li Zhanchun, Yu Dahai and other troops were also defeated, Yang Lin pondered how to end the war in Hanzhong.

According to the envoy and the capital supervisor Qian Bangqi proposed to rebel against Wu Sangui, the king of Pingxi, although Yang Lin agreed on the surface, but he knew that Wu Sangui, who was selfish and selfish under the current situation, would not give up his good future and return to the Ming Dynasty.

Although the discord plan can make the two armies separate from Germany and not share the same hatred on the battlefield, it is difficult for the two armies to really meet each other, and in the face of the soldiers and horses of the Hanzhong Guanning and the army of the expedition to the west, the strength of the volunteer army is obviously not enough, how to fundamentally reverse the decline of the battlefield?

In this case, Yang Lin thought of He Zhenbu and Liu Tichun who retreated to the deep mountains and old forests.

Looking at the introductions of He Zhen and Liu Tichun handed over, Yang Lin analyzed carefully, and his brows furrowed from time to time.

As a traverser, of course, he knows the importance of his resume, and through the work history of asphalt officials and generals, he can speculate on the relationship with other officials with a little analysis.

This He Zhen was originally a Ming general, and later returned to Dashun, which is logically an ideal object to woo, but the fatal thing is that the other party was a general under Fan Yixuan's account, and at the end of the rebellion in Sichuan, the former governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and Fan Yixuan, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, was almost completely set up by himself.

Looking at He Zhen and Liu Tichun's personal profile, Yang Lin looked quite puzzled, but the generals around him didn't think so, and everyone volunteered to go.

Yang Lin thought about it, picked up the pen and wrote the letters of appointment for the two of them, and looking at the letters of appointment, everyone was in an uproar.

Qian Bangqi shook his head and said: "My lord, He Zhen's fame is far above Liu Tichun, and he was originally a Ming general who was not conducive to fighting and returned to Dashun, why did your lord appoint him as the deputy commander-in-chief, but instead appointed that Liu Tichun as the chief soldier?" ”

Yang Lin didn't say anything, Liu Xuanchu, the magistrate of Ba County, who had just arrived in Hanzhong, rolled his eyes and said, "Everyone, this is the way of employing adults, and it is also the way for my volunteers to survive.

Since its establishment, our volunteers have won many small battles and defeated the strong with the weak, and surrendered if they were slightly unfavorable, so how can our volunteers stand between heaven and earth. ”

Everyone reacted and nodded yes.

Liu Xuanchu was smug and arched his hand: "My lord, although the lower officials are civil officials, if there is a big chaos today, there are many officials who govern the people in the Ming Dynasty like a carp crossing the river, and there is a lack of hot-blooded men.

Rather than a hundred heads, not a scholar, he is not talented, and he is willing to lobby Liu Tichun and He Zhen. ”

Yang Lin was overjoyed, and immediately ordered Liu Xuanben to go to Liu Tichun and He Zhen's department as an envoy to mobilize soldiers and horses to cut off the grain route of the Qing army.

By the middle of December of this year, news came from He Zhen and Liu Tichun that He Zhen and Liu Tichun had accepted the reorganization and were now leading troops and horses to attack the Waist Ridge Pass of the Meridian Road to cut off the Meridian Road.

It turned out that He Zhen Liu Tichun and others retreated to eastern Sichuan, and suddenly heard that the volunteers and the Tartars were fighting in Hanzhong, and He Zhen sent people to contact Liu Tichun and others in order to enter Hanzhong.

Since the defeat and flight to eastern Sichuan last year, this suffering can be imagined, not to mention that the mountains around eastern Sichuan are much higher than those encountered in Hanzhong.

In this deep mountain, all kinds of materials are scarce, and although everyone is ploughing, the grain production in the field is very small, and there is not enough to eat.

There is really no way, everyone goes out to hunt game, although they can improve their lives a little, but compared to the past in Hanzhong, in Xing'an Prefecture to eat meat and drink wine, it is simply not the same.

Now when they heard that the Volunteers and the Tartars were fighting in Hanzhong, everyone was eager to try it one by one.

A few days ago, everyone was still holding it, thinking that although he had suffered a defeat, there were still more than 10,000 people under his command, and Yang Lin would not despise such a team of himself no matter what, and he would definitely send a messenger to ask for help, so that he could ask for a price.

However, the battle of Hanzhong lasted for more than three months, and the volunteers won successive battles, and their envoys were nowhere to be found.

Now rumors are flying outside, saying that Yang Lin has already sent troops and horses to lobby He Zhen and Liu Tichun, hoping to attack the Qing army in Hanzhong from east to west.

At first, everyone was able to bear it, but after a few months, Liu Tichun couldn't bear it anymore, and invited He Zhen and others to discuss the matter of raising troops to attack the Qing army.

At this time, a person under the village claimed to be the envoy of Yang Lin, the governor of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu, Liu Tichun was overjoyed, and hurriedly opened the door of the village and welcomed Liu Xuanchu into the hall.

After everyone sat down separately, Liu Xuanchu handed over Yang Lin's handwritten letter after explaining his intentions, and Liu Tichun was overjoyed after reading it: "Yang Lin is really a hero in the world, I can't imagine that he will defeat the Tartars and recover the land of Hanzhong, which is really gratifying."

I won't tell you the truth, after my brother heard that Yang Lin defeated the Tartars, everyone was so happy that they didn't close their eyes for a few days, even if Mr. didn't come, I would lead the army to go. ”

Hearing Liu Tichun say this, Liu Xuanchu secretly pondered, it seems that the matter of inviting soldiers can be appropriate, thinking of this and saying: "General Liu values my family so much, congratulations.

General Liu, do you know that my family is quite different from others when they lead troops to fight?

He Zhen was stunned, shook his head and said, "Sir's teachings, we are willing to listen to them."

Liu Xuanchu arched his hand to the surroundings and said: "General Liu, all the generals only see that the salary of our volunteer army is high, and you see that the soldiers of our volunteer army are strong enemies, and you don't know why my volunteer army is so strong.

Everyone may have heard of Qi Jiajun, my family takes Qi Jiajun as a model, and the blue is better than the blue. All soldiers must be able to endure hardships, and it is not a problem to travel 100 miles a day and 80 miles at night.

All the soldiers are proficient in one or two unique skills, eighteen kinds of weapons, and have a lot of experience.

All the soldiers must obey the order, the officers and men of the three armies, the order, even if there are rivers and cliffs in front, everyone does not frown, and all of them move forward bravely.

All lieutenant generals and colonels in the army participated in the six-month study of the Armed Forces Hall, and all those who came out were reborn and led the troops to fight, which can be said to be invincible

…….”

He Zhen, Liu Tichun and others were amazed: "It turns out that it is so troublesome to train elite soldiers, and it takes so much effort.

Mr. Liu, we also have more than 1,000 pro-soldiers, and we think that they are quite elite, but they are just strong and brave people who are not afraid of death, so there is a lot of difference between them and the Governor's volunteers.

This volunteer is more strict in selecting than picking a son-in-law, where is this selection of so many people?

As the saying goes, Ci is not in charge of the army, righteousness is not in charge of money, and it is too unbelievable to ask the generals below to participate in the study of the martial arts hall.

In addition, all the artillerymen in the army have studied private school for two years, and they have to participate in three months of training, which is incredible. ”

Liu Xuanchu said with a smile: "General Liu, General He, the soldiers are fine but not many, if you talk about the number of people, the Hu people in the north are far below our Han people, why the Qing soldiers invaded the Central Plains many times in the past few years, why the Manchurian, Mongolian and Han Eight Banners can run rampant in the world, aside from the reason why its army is dominated by cavalry, mainly because its troops are well-trained and its soldiers are quite sophisticated."

Our volunteers have tens of thousands, although the cavalry is difficult to compare with the Eight Banners elite cavalry, and the infantry alone is far above it. ”

Liu Tichun was shocked: "Oh, this, isn't this too strict, basically to the point of elite soldiers, I now have 30,000 horses, including more than 20,000 old and weak women and children who are disabled and sick, and only these 10,000 horses can go to the battlefield." “”

Liu Xuanchu smiled, shook his head and said, "General Liu, although you have tens of thousands of soldiers, you must always leave some people to guard the backyard." If you are accidentally served by someone else, I am afraid that General Liu will resent my family at that time. ”

Liu Tichun was slightly stunned, looked at Liu Xuanchu and said, "Mr. Liu, how many soldiers do you want to invite this time?" ”

Liu Xuanchu said with a smile: "General Liu has tens of thousands of elite soldiers, of course we don't dare to ask General He to take them all." If General Liu had 2,000 elite armorers, I would have been able to succeed. ”

Liu Tichun thought about it and felt that the number was still too small, so he said: "Mr. Liu, I have 30,000 soldiers and horses, of which 10,000 can be called elite, if only 2,000 people are transferred, is it too little." ”

Liu Xuanchu shook his head and said, "General Liu, there are already quite a lot of people."

General Liu, you also participated in the rebel army, and in the past, you couldn't move 100,000 people, what is the use of these 100,000 people?

What is the use of a hundred thousand people having 100,000 mouths, and eating up all the cities and villages wherever they pass?

100,000 horses looks quite scary, but many people go into battle with hoes and collapse at the first touch, what is the use of this?

100,000 people and horses traveled thousands of miles, and for every mile they walked, people were dragged down and dragged to death, what good is this except for creating evil?

The kind of people who pull out 100,000 people at every turn is just to scare people who don't know how to soldier, to scare cowards, just to cheer for themselves and strengthen their courage.

Many people can't even hold a hoe, so what is it to run to the battlefield not to give the other party a war merit? Killing these people who can't walk steadily is really a good feat. ”

Liu Tichun pondered for a moment, shook his head and said: "Sir, having said that, these people have followed me for many years, and everyone is closer than relatives, if we leave him here, I can't bear it." ”

Liu Xuanchu smiled: "General, I don't think that's the case, right?" Dare to ask the general, if it is really closer than the general's relatives, they are thin, undertrained, and some are even old, weak, sick and disabled, if it is really the general's family, is the general willing to let this kind of family go into battle with the Tartars and the barbarians?

General, how majestic you used to be, when the Tartars killed, are there still fewer of these weak, ill-trained, old, weak, sick and disabled brothers who have died? ”

Liu Tichun remembered being chased and killed by the Tartars all the way, wailing his brothers on the side of the road, his eyes moistened: "Sir, but if the world is in chaos and the people are not happy, if I put them here to destroy themselves, they, they..."

Liu Xuanchu shook his head and said: "General, don't worry about this, as long as the general sincerely follows my family, your brother must also be the brother of my family, and my family will definitely treat everyone equally."

As long as we occupy the land, as long as we join forces and return to the division in victory, the brothers can cultivate at that time.

If you are willing to do it, the first year will be distributed farm tools, seeds, and you can also get a loan, the first year of the land harvest after the tun ploughing is exempt from taxes, the second year, the third year is only 3 percent of the field tax, to the fourth year, the field is only 4 percent, and the Ding Fu is only 1 money and 2 cents of silver.

I heard that many people have cultivated more than 20 acres of land, and many have become well-off families, and many people can eat white rice in a big gulp on the occasion of this cold winter wax moon, and many can eat meat once or twice a month for ten days and half a month."

Despite this, the thought of throwing these brothers in the deep mountains and old forests made everyone quite hesitant, and many people were even more suspicious and unwilling to be separated from their families.

Liu Xuanchu further said: "General Liu, generals, ten points in the world, now the Barbarian Qing has occupied eight points, and today's heroes, the only one who can compete with the Manqing is my family."

General Liu, if you really only want to live in this deep mountain and old forest, I can't help it.

If you want to get rid of the hardship and want to make a difference, after following our volunteers, all the soldiers will be paid according to the standards of our volunteers, and other men can also be given 2 taels of silver for settling-in expenses.

Look, this is a silver coin minted by my family, which is not only beautiful and atmospheric, but also real silver. ”

Everyone was shocked, and took the silver coin to see, everyone often sees copper coins, and everyone often sees loose silver, but this silver coin is the first time to see, everyone takes it in their hands, and looks at this silver coin is more beautiful than copper coins.

Some of them are even put in their mouths and bites, and everyone knows that this is made of real patterned silver.

Some even greedily asked about the salaries of the rebel soldiers, Liu Xuanchu was overjoyed, and told everyone about the excerpts of the salaries of the volunteers.

The soldier was 1 tael of silver, and the private was 1 tael of 5 taels of silver

The implementation of technical allowance, after passing the assessment, each technical allowance 3 yuan silver, a person can get up to 3 technical allowances.

The corporal is 2 taels a month, the sergeant is 2 taels and 5 cents, and the sergeant is 3 taels of silver

Captain, 2 taels to 3 taels of silver, squadron leader, 4 taels and 5 taels of silver; The captain of the brigade has a monthly salary of 6 taels to 7 taels; The battalion commander, that is, the total monthly salary of the army is 8 taels to 12 taels; Qian Zong 12-16, Toji 16-20, Guerrilla 20-24

In addition to this, any soldier's family can be exempted from one person's tax.

When everyone heard this, they were amazed again and again, and as Liu Xuanchu's voice was suppressed and frustrated, there were sounds of admiration from time to time.

Hearing this, Liu Tichun also saw the changes, and said to everyone with a smile: "If Yang Lin really treats me sincerely, I can follow him."

Brothers, although we have 30,000 horses, we always have to leave some brothers to watch the house, and there are only more than 2,000 horses that can really be drawn.

In this way, we formed 4 divisions (battalions) of soldiers and horses to gallop to help, I don't know what the brothers think? ”

When the generals heard this, they applauded repeatedly, although there was a lot of money in the past when the Dashun Army was in the past, it was public, and in fact, everyone did not have much money.

Now I hear that the worst student soldier has 12 taels of silver a year, and the private has 18 taels, and everyone has been fighting on the battlefield for many years, and each of them has a few unique skills, and they can get the 9 yuan technical allowance.

In this way, the most ordinary soldiers can also get more than 20 taels of silver, and the ordinary family has no worries about food and clothing.

In this way, He Zhen was particularly embarrassed, He Zhen was originally a Ming general and later returned to Dashun, and then to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and finally claimed to be the advocacy general (Li Zicheng's previous title) to oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty.

If you talk about the determination to return to the Ming Dynasty, He Zhen is far above Liu Tichun, and now seeing that Liu Tichun is the chief soldier and he is just a chief soldier, He Zhen has long been unable to lose face, and said with a flat face: "This Yang Lin is really too bullying, when the old man was a Ming general in the past, Yang Lin was still wearing open crotch pants, and I can't imagine that Liu Tichun is appointed as the chief soldier now, and the old man is appointed as the deputy general, and it is unbearable to succumb to Liu Tichun." ”

When Liu Tichun heard this, he hurriedly grabbed the other party, and begged him again and again to hope that He Zhen would focus on the overall situation, but He Zhen would make his temperament more and more happy.

When Liu Xuanchu saw it, he laughed out loud, He Zhen was quite annoyed, pulled out his treasure knife and said: "You birdman, probably you are playing right and wrong in front of Yang Lin, making Yang Lin look down on the old man so much." ”

Liu Xuanchu put away his smile and said: "This official originally thought that He Zhen was a heroic man in both civil and military affairs, and he called himself a great general, but now it seems that it is nothing more than that. ”

He Zhen said in a loud voice: "What's wrong with the old man, the old man can't get used to Yang Lin looking down on the old man." ”

Liu Xuanchu said with a smile: "On that day, the intelligence department collected the situation of the two generals and reported them to the adults, just when everyone thought that the adults would take General He as the main commander and General Liu as the deputy general, the adults figured out the resumes of the two generals for a long time, and finally made such a decision.

You may wonder why you have always been wise and martial, why did you make such a decision? ”

Everyone also felt quite strange, according to everyone's thoughts, He Zhen's fame was far above Liu Tichun, why did he make such an appointment?

Liu Xuanchu talked eloquently, of course, it is impossible to say that He Zhen was originally a Ming general, successively returned to the Dashun Manchu Dynasty, and finally rebelled against the Qing Dynasty and restored the Ming Dynasty, let alone think that He Zhen was a subordinate of Fan Yixuan.

Liu Xuanchu thinks that He Zhen has been famous for a long time, and if he is directly transferred, he is worried that the other party will not be convinced.

believes that this task is quite difficult and dangerous, and it is even more necessary to borrow Liu Tichun's troops and horses.

In order to enlighten He Zhen, Liu Xuanchu persuaded that as long as he made contributions under the adult's account, the adult would definitely not treat everyone badly.

As said at the beginning, He Zhen was originally a Ming general, successively returned to the Dashun Manchu Dynasty, and now reverts to the Qing Dynasty and restores the Ming Dynasty, basically there is no way out.

Liu Tichun ordered a big feast to entertain Liu Xuanchu and others.

After ten days of preparation, He Zhen and Liu Tichun led their troops to evade the Qing army's reconnaissance, crossed the mountains and mountains, and approached the Waist Pass after more than ten days of marching.

In order to ensure the safety of Ningshan County, Gao Minzhan, the general soldier of the Green Battalion, was stationed here, and Ningshan County also had a soldier and horse of the Qing Army.

At this moment, a grain transport team passed by, Liu Tichun was overjoyed, and immediately ordered a hundred general managers to pretend to be bandits to rob grain.

Hearing that someone was robbing Liang in front, the guard of the waist ridge was shocked, and on the one hand, he sent people to Gao Mingzhan, the chief soldier of Ningshan County, to report the emergency, and on the other hand, he led the soldiers and horses to come to the rescue.

As soon as the Qing army was dispatched, it fell into the ambush circle of the Ming army, and after a fight, the Qing army was defeated, and the defenders fled back to the waist ridge pass.

How could Liu Tichun and He Zhen give up such a good opportunity, everyone pursued all the way, led their troops to attack the mountain, and saw that the gate was about to be broken, who expected Gao Mingzhan to lead his troops to arrive.

It turned out that after hearing that there were bandits in the Meridian Road, Gao Mingzhan secretly shouted that it was not good, and led the pro-army to arrive, so as to ensure that the door was closed.

But the Ming army was grand, Liu Tichun and He Zhen were all elite generals, and their strength was far above Gao Mingzhan.

The army of the expedition to the west suffered heavy losses, and the Manchu, Mongolian and Han Eight Banners, which the Qing court relied on the most, also lost two or three, and now there are only more than 5,000 people, not to mention the other green battalion soldiers and horses.

The Western Army that entered Hanzhong had many soldiers and horses, such as the general soldier Nan Yikui, Zhang Tianfu, and the deputy general Hou Dajie, who were all annihilated by the volunteers.

Li Guohan was able to gather only 20,000 soldiers and horses, and after successively annihilating Nan Yikui, Zhang Tianfu, Hou Dajie and other troops, the Volunteer Army had captured Ziwu Town, so the army of the Western Expedition was completely driven out of Hanzhong.

Thinking of the rumors of Wu Sangui's collusion with the volunteers, Li Guohan did not dare to stay, leaving Gao Mingzhan to lead his troops to retreat to Guanzhong.