On the seventh day of the twelfth month of the fifth year of Chongzhen, Cao Wenzhao, the chief soldier of Lintao, led 3,500 elite horse infantry officers and soldiers to set off from Qingyang Mansion, which had been decided.

After that, it went east out of Tongguan and crossed the river to Puzhou, Hejin and other areas where thieves were entrenched in Shanxi. Under their strong combat power, the thieves everywhere they went were not the opponents of the Shaanxi reinforcements.

The Qin soldiers, who had just come out of the customs, advanced all the way to Pingyang and Lu'an with unstoppable momentum. While the thieves in these areas were trying their best to deal with the encirclement and suppression of the Jin soldiers, they had to start a battle with the Qin soldiers who had just left the customs.

The morale of Cao Wenzhao's troops was like a rainbow, except because the states and counties along the way barely cobbled together enough grain and grass. What's more important is that before the expedition, Hong Chengchou privately informed them that the imperial court would promote the positions of the military attaches in the ministry.

And when the time came to the first month of the sixth year of Chongzhen, the military officials in Beijing did have such considerations, and most of the Qin military attachés who came to the aid this time made a good decision, and finally made a decision after looking at their previous combat exploits in Shaanxi.

Cao Wenzhao, the main general, is now a guest army, and he can control the officials and troops of Shanxi Zhulu. Only Zhang Yingchang, the chief soldier who was previously transferred to Shanxi, could not be restrained by him, and the two continued to cooperate in Shanxi.

Although Cao Bianjiao, Ma Ke, Feng Ju, and Liu Chenggong were guerrilla generals, they were actually not awarded this official by the imperial court. For example, Cao Bianjiao is just a garrison officer who is also in charge of guerrilla affairs, and Ma Ke, Feng Ju, and Liu Chenggong, who originally held higher positions, are only the former secretaries of the capital.

Now Cao Bianjiao has been directly promoted to two levels, and Ma Ke and the three of them have been directly promoted to one level, and they have all become actual guerrilla generals. And other military attachés, such as the former garrison Ping'an, Diao Mingzhong, Jia Chengfang, Zhai Yingxiang, and Cao Wenyao, also added one level each, and all became the actual secretary of the capital.

But there is one person who has caused disputes among the bigwigs of the military department, that is, Zhang Mengjin, the former head of the military department.

Zhang Mengjin's identity is too embarrassing, and he can't compare with other military attachés who are good at fighting. Although his previous exploits were indeed very shining, because of the arrangement in the previous months, this person had been promoted to the actual commander of the capital.

Now, if Zhang Mengjin is also raised by one level, it will be a guerrilla general. For a leader who has taken refuge in the official army for less than two years, it is too eye-catching.

Zhang Fengyi, the secretary of the military department, insisted on giving Zhang Mengjin a guerrilla general who was actually taught although he used his previous great achievements on Yansui West Road to make nests. However, the other officials who were in turmoil still took the opportunity to make trouble, and they have not been able to settle down.

They thought that Zhang Mengjin, a lucky guy, just took advantage of the westward migration of Hudun Rabbit to pick up soft persimmons and kill and capture hundreds of old and weak people (some of whom were Han Chinese).

Moreover, at the time when Zhang Mengjin was about to lead his troops to aid Shanxi, he suddenly ran out of the wall to provoke the Mongols. This is clearly a manifestation of wanting to deliberately make trouble, so that he can continue to stay on the West Road safely and is unwilling to obey the recruitment.

The nature of this matter is the same as Du Wenhuan's refusal to recruit aid to Liao in the first year of the Apocalypse. At that time, Du Wenhuan privately sent troops to Hetao to smash the nest, causing the set to retaliate, Yansui Town started the war again, and the Mongols even besieged Yan'an Fucheng, and it took more than ten days to plunder before leaving.

For these views against him, Zhang Fengyi was a little angry. He knew that these officials wanted to take the opportunity to attack him, because Dai Junen, the soldier of Yansui West Road, was the same year as himself.

These opponents believe that the previous work of going out of Yansui West Road to make a nest was originally an unauthorized action suspected of starting a private war. Dai Junen and others suddenly did this, there must be an ulterior secret, and it is very likely to be related to himself, the secretary of the military department.

These people turned a deaf ear to the current stable environment of Yansui West Road, and Zhang Mengjin and others also turned a blind eye to the attitude of leading troops to Shanxi without the slightest shirk, and always wanted to forcibly involve some strange intentions and kept suspicious. This kind of never-ending behind-the-scenes struggle really does not help the development of various works of the imperial court.

Zhang Fengyi thought that he should continue to insist, so he forcefully handed his decision in front of His Majesty Chongzhen. At the same time, Dai Junen and Wu Fu, who had been transferred to Shanxi, all handed over the official documents of the evaluation of Zhang Mengjin and his gang to His Majesty the Emperor in the same year.

Emperor Chongzhen actually received some rumored reports from the imperial history in private, and had a general understanding of the relationship between Zhang Fengyi, Dai Junen, Wu Fu, and even Zhang Fuzhen, who was removed from office before.

Although the imperial historians are suspicious, Zhang Fengyi's nepotism is a little concerned. But after thinking about it, Chongzhen still decided to support his military department at this time, and the central decision-making of the imperial court should still be more efficient, and the never-ending internal friction is really unbearable.

However, Chongzhen cared a little about the statements of the imperial historians after all, so Zhang Fengyi's proposal was not fully passed, but compromised to become the capital in charge of guerrilla affairs, saying that no matter how outstanding the military exploits are, he will be given a real position.

After this decision was finally made, although Zhang Fengyi was complaining in his heart, he finally maintained his majesty.

Therefore, Zhang Mengjin, an embarrassing general, did not become a guerrilla general in the end. Instead, among the military attaches who have been promoted, they have conspicuously become a more special existence, which has also attracted ridicule from some colleagues who are jealous of Zhang Mengjin.

As for the reaction of Zhang Mengjin and the others after that, this matter is not known, and now it is his third brother Zhang Mengcheng who is more worthy of attention.

The third brother who was left in the old nest by his means was now fooling the rich landowners who were fooling the security guards in Jinding Mountain, and joined his development plan that anyone thought was too bold. And beside him, there is also Cai Zhongquan, the fifth brother of Cai Xiaozi.

……

A Hermes-Epitek who had cultivated land outside the border wall was briefing the rich landowners on the grain output outside the border wall. Although in his mouth, those particularly fertile lands were eight or nine times as much as the dry land of the security half, or even ten times more.

However, the audience did not respond enthusiastically, which made the atmosphere very embarrassing. However, under the several supplementary speeches of the leader of Xiucai, the rich men who knew each other were not too cold.

"Xiucai, do you think this will work. Before, you and your second brother (Cai Zhongde) knocked a lot of money and grain from these people, and now if you want to take out money and food from them, how much can you squeeze out? ”

After Cai Zhongquan glanced at the local tyrants present, he immediately had a lot of doubts about Xiucai's thoughts. Things don't look good, and Xiucai's fundraising plan may not be successful.

"No matter how small a mosquito is, it's still meat, so it's as much as it can scrape."

Xiucai, who had just finished speaking, also saw the expressions on the faces of the "guests" in the field. However, the ninth brother-in-law did not show too much disappointment, and just continued to carry out his work seriously. The flat expression looked a bit like nonchalant.

Cai Zhongquan's reaction to his brother-in-law's reaction suddenly became a little speechless.

Before Xiucai ran to the top of Artemisia to tell his thoughts, almost everyone thought that this uncle was crazy, and actually wanted to run outside the side wall to cultivate and graze.

In the end, naturally no one responded to Xiucai's call. On the contrary, everyone kept persuading him to return to the right path, and the seventh uncle (Zhang Mengcheng's father-in-law) also thought that his son-in-law was not doing his job, and angrily reprimanded him.

But Xiucai didn't know if he was obsessed with it, and he was unwilling to give up. In the end, the leaders of Artemisia Peak were really tired of listening, so they each scraped together some private money for this uncle to squander. But because the total amount was more than 100 taels of silver, Cai Zhongquan was asked to follow as the representative of Artemisia Peak.

Cai Zhongquan also didn't want to stay under the wing of his eldest brother, and he always wanted to make a career. So after hearing about Xiucai's idea, he took the initiative to invest more than 30 taels of silver, which is more supportive of Zhang Mengcheng's idea.

But after seeing Xiucai's busyness for a while, he has not collected enough money. The leaders left behind by Jin Dingshan were not optimistic about this matter, and even the ninth sister hid her own dowry, which shows how difficult Xiucai's preparations are for a while.

Now it seems that this time Xiucai gathered other local tyrants to protect the local area in a private name, and he may not receive much funding. Although these local tyrants are afraid of Xiucai, they also share the power of Xiucai this time.

Just like now, a native who listened to how fertile the land outside the wall was, was complaining about how sad life was outside.

“…… The cold outside the mouth is early and the summer ruler, the ice is not pan in March, the grass begins to sprout in April, the wheat becomes after the summer solstice, the frost falls or the Mid-Autumn Festival, the summer does not waste the sheep fur, and the severe cold must be the soil room. So Brother Zixin, this reclamation outside the wall is still too whimsical. (Note 1)

Cai Zhongquan saw the opposing guy in the field, and his demeanor was sven, but his eyes looked sharp. Although he didn't understand all what he said just now, the other party seemed to be very reasonable, and the surrounding rich people all nodded their heads to indicate that this was indeed the case.

"Now that Tatsuko is outside the wall, he is too busy to take care of himself, and even if he comes back after a few months, we should have established ourselves outside the wall. Besides, the officers and soldiers on the West Road are prestigious, and Dazi doesn't want to hit his head and break the bloodstream. This time, I will personally lead the team for reclamation outside the wall, is Brother Shangde still afraid that he will not be able to grow food? ”

After all, it's a request for people, Xiucai's final reply, the tone is like a friend joking. No, Xiucai seems to be really familiar with this kid, and just now this kid seems to be calling Xiucai what "Brother Zixin"!?

Cai Zhongquan, who reacted, hurriedly began to recall. This person who seems to be more familiar with Xiucai seems to be a representative of a clan surnamed Li in the south of the security guard, although their Li family is not as good as the two behemoths of Jinding Mountain and Artemisia Peak, but the family is also considered to have some wealth.

According to his eldest brother and second brother, the Li family can barely keep their family business in the turmoil of Baoan County in the past few years, it seems that it is because their vision is very accurate and there are no big mistakes in decision-making, and there should be a capable person to guide them, could it be this kid!?

Cai Zhongquan looked at the kid who was talking eloquently in the field, and the more he looked at it, the more familiar he became. After thinking about it desperately, I finally remembered that I seemed to have seen this person next to Hou Sanguang before.

PS: Note 1: The previous classical Chinese is from Guangxu's "Jingbian County Chronicles" Volume 4 of the "Art and Literature Chronicles".