Chuzhou, also known as "Tuzhong" by the people of the time, was known as the "gateway to the north of the Yangtze River" in the past dynasties, and the geographical position is superior.

When the Shandong army came to Chuzhou, it did not come directly to the city, but the sentinels and envoys came out, and the army set up camp in Qingliu Pass, making people unsure of what to do.

Chuzhou is also an important town through which the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal flows, so it naturally knows that the upper-class Shandong army set up cards to collect money.

The big families in the city originally thought that this was Wang Zheng bringing about his own destruction, but now a few months have passed, and no matter how much trouble is made in the south, the money is still collected.

Interestingly, Anton Hou Wang Zheng stood still after suffering the impeachment of almost half of the generals in the north and south, but Zhou Yanru, the first assistant of the cabinet, was dismissed from office.

Some people who think too much have taken these two things together for granted, and they are a little jealous in their hearts, feeling that there are still people in the DPRK and China who are helping Shandong.

It's a foregone conclusion here, and there are more urgent things over there, Wang Zheng came with an army from Shandong.

At first, Chuzhou felt that it was a joke, but as people from the north came one after another, they all mentioned it with trembling faces, and they believed it.

All of a sudden, the gentry and lords in Chuzhou City were in chaos, and after a few days like headless flies, they remembered the stubble in Zhizhou and hurriedly gathered in Lu Mansion.

Speaking of which, Lu Wei, the governor of Zhizhou at the time, also just got the news that Wang Zheng swore westward in Xuzhou, and the whole world knew that he wanted to fight to the death with the thieves, and it was said that Li Thief had even given up Xiangyang in order to avoid the edge for the time being.

But who would have thought that the Shandong army did not go west to find the thief, but went south non-stop, and within half a month, it had already arrived in Chuzhou.

You know, behind the ass of Chuzhou, it is Nanjing City!

"My lord, Master Liu, Master Li, they have brought someone to look for them again, what should I do?"

Lu Wei sat in the lobby and was concentrating on writing something, and after hearing the chaotic sounds outside, his head was already full of black lines, and he waved his hand directly and said impatiently:

"It's time like this, what's the use of blocking the door of the official's mansion? I can't help it, I can't do it, you go out and say that you are seriously ill, and you will be pushed. ”

The housekeeper hesitated a little, and said in his heart These gentry are not fools, who will believe this, just as he was thinking, Lu Wei raised his head, frowned and said:

"Why don't you go yet?"

After a while, the door of the Lu Mansion opened with a "squeak", and the old men and scholars surrounded outside hurriedly stepped forward, and the housekeeper smiled, but only showed half of his face, and shouted:

"Master Liu, Zhang Dongjia, Lin Gongzi, you can go back, my family is seriously ill and can't see guests!"

"Seriously ill? When anyone is stupid, call Lu Zhizhou out! ”

"That is, if the city is broken by the soldiers and horses of Shandong, he Lu Wei will not survive!"

Hearing the noise outside, the housekeeper was prepared, and quickly asked his subordinates to close the door, and even personally lifted the wooden chair to block the door.

Chuzhou is not far from Nanjing, basically only separated by the Yangtze River.

Under the propaganda of the Jiangnan scholars, the Shandong soldiers and horses led by Wang Zhengtong have long become chaotic soldiers who have been plagued for thousands of years.

The gentry had also heard of what Wang Zheng had done to the local gentry in Shandong, and it was not wrong to say that he killed people without blinking.

Although the net worth and life are in Chuzhou, but across the river is Nanjing, even if they fight to the death, few people want to stay here and wait for Shandong soldiers and horses to come to raid their homes.

After all, the rumors are often that there is no wind and no waves, and the king can't deal with his own landlords, where does the money come from to make armor and pay military salaries?

There was a commotion outside the house, but Lu Wei was frowning and writing hard, and after a long time, he got up and handed the letter to the messenger who had been waiting next to him for a long time, and sighed:

"It's too late to fly to the book saint now, only to remind Shi Shangshu to deploy defenses in Nanjing, the old man can see that the Shandong thief army is menacing, and Wang Zheng has already prepared, and it will not stop at Chuzhou, its intention is in Nanjing."

Speaking of this, Lu Wei actually bowed to the messenger and said solemnly:

"The king thief steals the country, the Ming Dynasty is in danger, it is tied to you, you must send the letter!"

It is said that during the Apocalypse, he offended the right eunuch Wei Zhongxian and was dismissed as a citizen, Chongzhen was rehabilitated after taking the throne, and he was reappointed as the governor of Chuzhou.

The messenger himself admired him, and was taken aback at the moment, and quickly knelt on the ground, and said in a deep voice:

"Zhizhou rest assured, faith is in fate!"

"Go ahead, there's no time to wait." This messenger is his own person, Lu Wei naturally trusts it, and when he sends the messenger away from the back door, he sighs heavily, and is very worried in his heart.

"Hopefully..."

Lu Wei has already decided to stick to it, leaving time for Shi Kefa in Nanjing City.

But the civil and military affairs have different paths, and the hearts of the people are separated from the belly, and Zhizhou thinks so, which does not mean that the gentry in the city think so, and it also does not mean that the rest of the civil and military generals will also die for the imperial court.

......

That night, the Chuzhou garrison mansion.

At that time, Li Jingguang was stationed at the Zhizhou Yamen and Lu Mansion to increase troops, under the name of investigating thieves and spies, but in fact, he was to gather four thousand generals under his subordinates to discuss the opportunity to play cover.

Li Jingguang and the five of them had a secret conversation in the inner room, and there was a guard with a family member outside the door.

"Shourong, according to the humble position, it is better to welcome the Shandong army into the city!"

It was a fat man who spoke, his buttocks were wider than the seat, and although he sat extremely uncomfortable, he did not hesitate to say what he had just said.

Since someone has already made it clear, another sharp-faced Qian Zong nodded and said;

"That's right!"

"Shourong, have you all heard, Chen Yongfu, the chief soldier of Henan, Huang Chuangzi, the chief soldier of Fengyang, Weng Zhiqi, the chief soldier of Zhoushan, and even the commander and eunuch of the Beijing camp in Nanjing City, have all been working under Anton Hou."

The other Qianzong nodded, his face full of horror:

"Of course I heard that not long ago, Anton Hou killed Liu Liangzuo in Suzhou, Liu Mina has more than 30,000 soldiers and horses, and if he doesn't even have a decent resistance in front of the Shandong army, the world will evaporate."

"Where did so many people go, and they were not swallowed by the Shandong army?"

Hearing this, the garrison Li Jingguang nodded thoughtfully.

Indeed, Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo are some famous commanders in the entire Nanzhili, one can fight, and there are many people.

In the past few days, the two who can fight have been reorganized into the Shandong Army, and the other was hacked to death by Wang Zheng on the spot, and the soldiers and horses accumulated over the years have become funeral objects.

Not to mention these commander-level marshals for the time being, the eunuch has always been a slave of the Son of Heaven, and he prides himself on being superior, but he is willing to work under Anton Hou, which is really unexpected.

With only more than 1,000 soldiers and horses under his command, how can he resist an army of 200,000.

The fat man at the beginning continued:

"Have you seen Lu Zhizhou's appearance today, that guy is clearly in a posture of co-living and dying with the city!"

"Let him go to battle with his pen in hand! The soldiers in Shandong couldn't even resist the Tartars, so there was no need for the brothers to follow him to find death. ”

Speaking of which, the Shandong army is still in the name of the imperial court, and it is enough to welcome the city in the name of opening the city, and it is not possible to fight with the traitors.

In other words, as long as the imperial court does not dare to move Anton and Hou Wang Zheng, there will be no safety for these people below them, which is also an important reason why Li Jingguang and others are devoted to this.

Besides, Li Jingguang is not worried about the treatment of the foreign department of the Shandong Army after joining the foreign department, because there are too many examples in the past.

The Shandong army went all the way south, Xuzhou, Suizhou, Suzhou, Fengyang, and now Chuzhou, how could they have encountered any real resistance?

With the banner of the Shandong Army, many officers and soldiers have been frightened, but is this reason alone that the officers and soldiers everywhere are invincible?

Obviously not, in addition to the strength of the Shandong army, the most important thing is Wang Zheng's treatment of the foreign system, as well as the emptiness of the garrisons in various places.

The garrison of the state city is at most 3,000, and the county seat is even less, basically only about 1,000 people.

That was still in the first few years of the Wanli Dynasty, when the military armament was not so lax, and the three major campaigns had not yet begun, until now they have been frequently transferred, and military salaries and uniforms have not been issued for many years, and there are basically empty salaries in various places.

For example, in Chuzhou, the last time the imperial court came to approve the name was Chongzhen for three years, more than ten years ago, and the current garrison at that time was not him Li Jingguang.

In other words, since Li Jingguang was appointed as the garrison of Chuzhou, there has not been a single official from the imperial court who has come down to check the military roster, so he can't report it as he wants.

Last year, Li Jingguang reported that he was 2,927 soldiers in armor, and he was thinking of eating 3,000 people's salaries, but later he realized that he had thought too much and had not sent a penny at all.

As a garrison, Li Jingguang can only raise thirteen ironclad family members.

It has been so miserable, and then I heard that Shandong's foreign soldiers and horses are paid, and the garrison and the thousand general level have their own special armor and welfare, and it is said that there will be dresses and mourning clothes in the near future.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and they can't help but be tempted.

It is impossible to win the battle if you resist hard, and you have to lose your own net worth and life, and Kaesong can be appreciated by Anton Hou and entered the foreign department.

Anyway, they all do things under the blastry of the imperial court, and what difference does it make who they follow.

Although it will have to be reorganized and abolished by Shandong, and there are all kinds of strict military regulations, Li Jingguang and the others are still very tempted, as long as the treatment is true, the rest is not a problem.

If you wear a bright and mighty dress, are well treated, and mix up every day, the ghosts will oppress the people and deduct any military salary, and no one will want to do this kind of rotten thing in their hearts.

At the end of the day, most people are forced out.