After Lan Guanwei asked, the brocade-clothed envoy hurriedly replied: "Although since the news of our killing of Chen Shixun and Mao Xiang reached Liangjing, many officials in the DPRK and China have been denouncing our Han army for not abiding by the law of etiquette, wantonly destroying discipline and ethics, and harming scholars, competing with the people for profit, causing public resentment to boil, etc.

But Chongzhen, who had been busy dealing with Li Zicheng, didn't care, but not long after Chen Yan suddenly informed Chongzhen of the news that our Han army had set up six cabinet sections, Chongzhen agreed to Chen Yan's request to take the initiative to ask Ying to be the governor of several provinces to exterminate our Han army, and Chongzhen also planned to wait for Chen Yan to destroy our Han army and then join Li Zicheng with Sun Chuanting. ”

"It seems that our series of rectifications have touched the entire bureaucracy, so that the officials of the DPRK and China have no good impression of us at all, and the six sections of the cabinet set up have also committed Chongzhen's taboo, so as to mistakenly think that our Han army has the heart of the emperor, plus this Chen Ge old man wants to announce his personal vendetta will also add fuel to the vinegar and say how much harm our Han army will cause to the Ming Dynasty, so Chongzhen is eager to exterminate our Han army as soon as possible, in this case, we can't have any hope for Zhaofu, from now on we have to prepare for the second anti-encirclement and suppression!"

Yang Ming said and ordered: "Brother Guanwei, you immediately notify Chen Gui now, and ask him to send someone to inform the officials above the seventh grade in all prefectures and counties and the officers above the division level in each battalion to come to Dongxiang County for a meeting on the day of Shuowang, in addition, Brother Bai Qian, you must now step up preparations to collect information on the officers and troops in Huguang, Sichuan, Shaanxi and other places, the generals and above must have detailed information, the grain reserves of Huguang, Sichuan and other prefectures and counties must be explored clearly, and Chen Yan must find out where the army will start to be sent and when it can enter Kuizhou!" ”

"Yes!" Lan Guanwei and Bai Qian responded, and immediately retreated with the brocade-clothed envoy.

Since the imperial court still wants to encircle and suppress the Han army, Yang Ming can no longer expect to reach a reconciliation with the Ming ruling class in a short period of time, and he can only seriously regard the Ming official army as the biggest enemy at present.

However, he also knew that he would not only face tens of thousands of officers and soldiers this time, but most likely hundreds of thousands or even millions, because as far as he knew, Zuo Liangyu's troops alone had nearly 800,000 soldiers and horses, although most of them were improvised, but it was estimated that there were no less than 100,000 elite soldiers.

In this regard, Yang Ming had no choice but to step up military preparations. On the one hand, the construction of non-military facilities was immediately halted and all labor was used for the construction of military facilities and the manufacture of weapons; in addition to this, officials at all levels were ordered to step up the stockpiling of basic materials such as grain, grass, and clothing, and the vigilance of important places such as Qutangwei, Taipingguan, and Tieshanguan was gradually strengthened.

"It is reported that the imperial court has appointed Chen Yan, a scholar of Wuyingdian University, as the supervisor, and led Zuo Liangyu, Chen Hongfan, Fang Guoan, Zeng Ying, Zhao Ronggui and other officers and soldiers with a total of more than 200,000 troops, and externally it is claimed that 500,000 troops will come to suppress our Han army, that is to say, from now on, our 50,000 Han army will face four times the enemy, and today we will call everyone to come to the force, that is, to discuss countermeasures as soon as possible, and everyone can speak freely!"

Due to the accumulation of wealth in recent months, the Han army has expanded by four battalions, a total of ten battalions of soldiers and horses, a total of more than 50,000 people, in addition to participating in some anti-bandit battles, most of them are recruits who have not been on the battlefield, but due to the improvement of weapons and equipment, these recruits are also enough to fight against the same number of elite officers and soldiers.

It is precisely because of this that the officials of the Han army, military and political circles did not show panic after learning that the imperial court had sent hundreds of thousands of troops, perhaps because most of them were former court officials who had a good understanding of the incompetence of the officials and soldiers, so they behaved very calmly, and some even directly shouted to give the officials and soldiers a look.

Among them, the cabinet scholar Shang Tao Xing even thought that this was a good opportunity to expand the territory, because he was the first executor of the new policy, so he has become the second great man in the hearts of the people in addition to Yang Ming, and even some families will put him and Yang Ming together in the ancestral hall to worship. It was precisely because the New Deal brought him great fame that the well-known Shang Governor had begun to want to become a great man in the eyes of more people, so he was very active in the expansion of the Han army.

"Rest assured, I have mobilized officials and literati at all levels in Kuizhou to vigorously publicize and support the righteous behavior of the Han army against the imperial court riots, and specially ordered the "Kuizhou Daily" to publish the oath of the soldiers of the Han army and officials at all levels and the general public, and let them actively call on all the people of Kuizhou to donate money and materials, and also invited a large number of literati to be responsible for publicizing the heroic stories of the soldiers of the Han army and the atrocities of the officials and soldiers!"

Yang Ming was very satisfied with the actions of the Shang prefect, and by the way, he also gave him the title of the chief of the Han army, so as to facilitate the affairs related to the army's propaganda. Seeing this, other officials also responded positively, and for a time, the entire territory of Kuizhou, from the highest power holder to an ordinary citizen, were actively preparing to confront the official army.

……

Although the western part of Huguang, that is, the northern part of Hubei and Hunan today, has been plowed several times by Zhang Xianzhong and other thieves and Zuo Liangyu and other large armies, and now it is deserted, and as long as you bring enough people and horses, you are not afraid that there will be officials and soldiers along the road, but in order to prevent encountering thieves or stragglers, Yang Ming still sent a target cavalry to escort the women who had been detained for a long time to return home.

"Everyone be careful, this is no longer the territory of Kuizhou, and if you can't meet any thieves and bandits!"

As soon as he entered the boundary of Jingzhou, the first battalion of cavalry marked the guerrilla Tang Zhicai while stroking the horse's mane and said in a deep voice.

Zhang Youcai, who was on the side, said very indifferently: "Tang Guerrilla doesn't have to be so careful, since we are disguised as a caravan, the thieves will only collect some tolls and will not cause death, besides, we have thousands of human guns here, even if we really meet thieves, there is no need to be afraid." ”

"Lord Zhang said lightly, this time the escort is not any materials, but Miss Block and other women, if there is a mistake, how can you and I explain to the son! Besides, how can there be a caravan with thousands of war horses? As Tang Zhicai spoke, he saw a cavalry scout riding his horse and running over.

Then, I heard the cavalry shouting loudly: "Guerrilla lord, it's not good, a large number of officers and soldiers have appeared in front, and the number is not less than 10,000!" ”

Zhang Youcai, who didn't care just now, almost didn't fall off his horse when he heard this, and hurriedly said: "How can there be a large number of officers and soldiers, didn't the people of the Jinyi envoy say that there are no established officers and soldiers in Jingzhou, in vain they still claim to know what Emperor Chongzhen eats, this is good, I don't even know how many officers and soldiers are nearby." ”

"No matter how powerful the envoy in brocade is, there will be mistakes, maybe this group of officers and soldiers just entered Jingzhou like us, and it is not necessarily aimed at us", Du Xiaoyuan said and lifted the curtain and walked out, but saw that there were starving corpses everywhere outside, and the air still smelled of decay, and the broken wheels and spears that fell on both sides of the road were also rusty, compared with the noisy and prosperous Kuizhou, it was like a hell on earth.

At the same time, the large number of officers and soldiers mentioned by the cavalry gradually surfaced on the horizon, and Tang Guerrilla saw that he was busy and asked the cavalry soldiers to line up to meet the battle, and shouted: "Please also ask Miss Du and Master Zhang to hide back in the car, you can rest assured, this mere more than 10,000 foot soldiers are not our opponents!" ”