Territory means food, soldiers, materials, talents, etc., and the army is the lifeblood of warlords, the importance is self-evident, of course you have to grab it, Wang Kefan transferred Wang Deren into the south of the Yangtze River, just to compete with the Lu Wang regime for territory.

But the Chu army is not an ordinary warlord after all, compared with the elimination of the Qing army's living forces, the gains and losses of a city and a place are not so important, if they are Tong Yangjia and Tian Xiong, and the Tuo Hui Division, the difficulty of eliminating them will increase exponentially, and the Chu army will pay a heavy price for it, including sacrificing more soldiers, wasting a lot of manpower, financial and material resources, etc., which is far from being able to make up for those few pieces of territory.

If such a large group of Qing troops forcibly broke through the encirclement, went to Huizhou Mansion to join Li Chengdong, and crossed the river from Anqing Mansion, Fu Dingquan and Jin Shenghuan would definitely not be able to stop them, and even if Teng Shuanglin committed suicide and apologized, he would be sorry for the nearly 10,000 Chu officers and soldiers who died in the Battle of Ningzhen...... Fortunately, he returned to the army in time at the last moment and blocked the Xianxia Ancient Road in Jianglang Mountain.

But this is just a temporary fluke, from the strategic intention and the overall situation, Teng Shuanglin has already made the mistake of Yan zhòng, he can be regarded as a good general, but not a qualified commander, there is still a long way to go, maybe it will take three or five years, maybe it will take ten years or eight years, maybe it will not be able to break through this bottleneck in a lifetime.

Counting the generals of the Chu army, there are many people who are similar to Teng Shuanglin, most of the senior generals of the old eighth battalion of the Chu army are Wang Kefan's hometowns, and at most they are above average qualifications. Li Guo, Gao Yigong, Tian Jianxiu, Yuan Zongdi and others, who can still command one side of the army after 20 years of their careers, are one level higher than the generals of the old eighth battalion of the Chu army.

There is also Li Laiheng, although he is young. In the battle of Henan, the table xiàn is remarkable, quite a general's style. This can probably only be explained by talent, just like Han Xin, who was a great master in the early Han Dynasty, he was born a general and handsome.

The Chu army is now a feudal army, there are signs of ossification, and there are long-term hidden dangers, Wang Kefan is one of the top two warlords in the Southern Ming Dynasty, if the model of soldiers is maintained for a long time, the subordinate generals will develop into small warlords, and over time. Even Wang Kefan himself could not fully control this army.

"It's time for a major surgery." The existing military system of the Chu army was born from the original Gongyi battalion, and the setting of units at all levels was not reasonable, and it could not adapt to the further development of the army.

Change the establishment of the Chu army and break the model of soldiers as generals. It will inevitably cause a certain amount of shock in the army, and some middle and high-ranking officers will make trouble, play with attitudes, and even resist openly and covertly. However, the long-term pain is better than the short-term pain, and if adjustments are not made now, the battalions of the Chu army will become more and more closed. Forming independent hills, the needle cannot be inserted. If the water can't be splashed, it will be even more tricky when the time comes...... In the past six months. After education and propaganda, the officers and soldiers regarded joining the Soldiers' Comrades Association as an honor, and gradually formed a common belief and goal, and Wang Kefan's ability to control the Chu army was also continuously enhanced, which was enough to cope with possible shocks.

The hub is not beetle, the flowing water is not rotten, the Chu army is the sword in Wang Kefan's hand, and it must be sharpened often to maintain its edge.

……

Xiaoxing stayed overnight, rode a boat and horseback, and after Zhang Huangyan and Zhu Yijiang passed through Ningguo's mansion, they entered the Chu army's control area.

A completely different feeling came to his face, which made Zhang Huangyan feel a lot of pressure.

This is not a deliberate deterrence by the other party, on the contrary, the Chu officers and soldiers encountered along the road are very respectful, friendly and polite to them, and the Chu generals who received them did not deliberately show their strength, and the muscles that were unintentionally exposed were even more awe-inspiring. In Zhejiang and Fujian, the Lu regime was like a child who could just walk, with little arms and legs, and was cautious with every step, not daring to confront the Qing army head-on, and was also very cautious when dealing with the local people and gentry, but the Chu army was like a confident and powerful adult, and his every move was vigorous and resolute, and the military and political affairs under his rule were running efficiently, full of vitality, and thriving.

The gap is too big.

In Liyang County, Zhang Huangyan did not encounter the large army of the Chu army, only encountered two 100-person teams that were ordered to mobilize, and saw the distinguished guests accompanied by Shangguan, those soldiers had kindness on their faces, and some of them showed gentle smiles, but they could not hide the kind of coercive edge on their bodies, just like a steel knife that had drunk countless blood, even if it was placed in the corner, it would make people feel an abrupt murderous aura, and they were uncomfortable.

Zhang Huangyan is a Confucian general who leads the soldiers, and he is the most sensitive to the soldiers' plain zhì, just looking at the other party's sitting, standing and military posture, he knows that they are all first-class elite soldiers, after strict training and life and death tests, these soldiers themselves have been shaped into the most ferocious weapons, just like the steel knife that once drank countless blood.

In contrast, the army of King Lu's regime is too far behind, and the basic military temperament is not up to standard, and if there is a conflict with the Chu army, it will definitely be defeated......

After Liyang County, Zhang Huangyan and his entourage passed through Jintan County and went to Yanziji on the bank of the Yangtze River, Zheng Chenggong's military camp.

He and Zhu Yijiang came to Nanjing in a private capacity, and it was inconvenient to have direct contact with the high-level of the Longwu court, and Zheng Chenggong often dealt with the Lu Wang regime...... This is the plan set by Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu, before he came, after repeated discussions by the important ministers, that is, he must not hurt the face of the imperial court, and he should not wantonly provoke the Tang Dynasty regime.

There is no doubt that this mission to Nanjing is a thankless errand, no matter how hard Zhang Huangyan tries to fight for the interests of King Lu's regime, he will eventually be scolded, misunderstood, and despised...... In order to achieve their personal political goals, some extremists with ill intentions have always put on a tough posture to deceive themselves, advocating that they will not share the sky with those rebellious ministers and thieves of the Longwu regime, and sooner or later they will fight with one of them, and they can often get full applause, and even Zhang Kentang and Zhang Mingzhen can't hold back.

In the battle of Ningzhen, although Jintan County changed hands several times, there was no large-scale fierce battle, the county seat was preserved quite intact, Zhang Huangyan and others passed by here, decided to enter the city to rest for a night, and were strictly inspected at the city gate.

"It turned out to be a distinguished guest sent by King Lu! I'm sorry, although the Tartar army has returned to Nanjing, but it has left a lot of details, so there are more rules for entering the city, please read it carefully, so as not to cause misunderstanding. The officer guarding the gate checked the security documents, got out of the way and let them in, and pointed to a notice posted in the hole in the city gate.

Zhang Huangyan was just passing by, and did not arrange any activities in the city, so he just glanced at these notices casually, and then walked towards the city, his eyes inadvertently swept over the last notice, but suddenly stopped.

This is a copy of the "Essay on the Confession", the paper is crisp, the paste has not dried, it seems that it has just been posted not long ago, a few people are looking around under the notice, one of them is also reading while reading: "For the transmission of the matter: since the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, in the past five years, tens of millions of poisonous creatures, ravaged more than 6,000 miles of Zhou County, and ordered the Han people to cut their hair and make it easy to wear, which is to make the Chinese people abolish the Gangchang, and the bad ancestors obey the crown and forget its roots.......

The first half of the text counts the crimes and tyranny of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and reviews the history of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, with the deeds of Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, "expelling Hu Lu and restoring China" to call on the people's hearts, and then the pen turned around, and put forward the slogan of defending the road and saving the people, calling on all Han people to rise up together to resist the Qing Dynasty.

Different from the ordinary texts, this text has a strong pertinence to all strata, and calls for the gentry class to defend the famous religion, pointing out that the Manchus were originally barbaric, and if they dominate the world, they will inevitably castrate and tamper with the orthodox inheritance of Han culture, and call on scholars to defend the Tao and protect Confucianism, which is inseparable from the Manchus. For the ordinary people, it was called on for the rise and fall of the world and the responsibility of the husband, pointing out that the entry of the Manchu Qing Dynasty would inevitably enslave hundreds of millions of Han people, and the Chu army raised troops to relieve the people from hanging upside down and save the people from fire and water.

"That's good!" Zhang Huangyan nodded secretly.

The biggest difference between the Manchu Qing and the Mongol Yuan is that they dressed themselves up as the inheritors of Han culture, and adopted a policy of courtesy and co-optation of the gentry and landlords among the Han people, so that they could quickly control the northern provinces.

At that time, it will be an era of spiritual suffocation and no dignity, the open academic atmosphere of the middle and late Ming Dynasty will be gone, and the scholars will usher in the darkest era. (To be continued......)