When Zhang Zhun traveled all the way to the west, Zhong Wuying also galloped all the way to the west.

After accepting the task from Zhang Zhun, Zhong Wuying took the tiger cavalry camp and set off quickly. That night, "they crossed the Lugou Bridge" and came to the territory of Zhuozhou. After a short break, they moved on.

Along the way, they passed through the state and the capital, day and night, and marched as fast as they could. Except for giving the horses water and feeding them forage, they basically spent the rest of the time on their way. Two days later, "they arrived in the territory of Zhendingfu."

As you can see along the way, many areas of Beizhili are indeed very desolate, and there are almost no people to see. Even if I occasionally see a few farmers farming, their expressions are quite indifferent. Probably scared by the repeated wars, I didn't feel anything. These people are basically old people, and they have no hope anymore, and they are not afraid of death.

Many of the villages on both sides of the road are charred black. These villages were either burned down by the Tartars" or the villagers themselves burned down when they evacuated. After the fire broke out, it spread at will, and all kinds of tragic situations were already in place. Now "the ruins of the village are still here, but the owner no longer knows where they have gone."

All this made the soldiers of the Tiger Riding Battalion feel quite depressed in their hearts. The damage of the Tartars to Beizhili is really too serious. I don't know when Beizhili will recover. In the Tiger Riding Battalion, some of the new fighters "are from Beizhili, and their mood is naturally even heavier."

What's even more uncomfortable is that all the way south, Zhong Wuying, almost can't hear any roosters and dogs. This is the most common thing to hear in the village, and wherever it is inhabited, there will be chickens and dogs crowing. But he didn't hear it all the way. It is conceivable that the desolation of Beizhili "has reached a serious stage."

After the retreat of the imperial court, Baoding Mansion and Zhending Mansion have been included in the rule of the Tiger Army. However, the high-level of the Tiger Ben Army "has not yet had time to arrange the officials of the headquarters, so the people in charge of order in various places are still the old local officials" or the local famous families, gentry and magnates, and so on, and the composition is very mixed. Most of the officials of Baoding Mansion and Zhending Mansion followed Emperor Chongzhen, and only a small number of people remained. These remaining officials "do not mean that they are the ones that the Tiger Army will reuse." It doesn't mean that they sincerely welcome the arrival of the Tiger Army. In fact, their composition is also very complex.

Among the officials who stayed in Beizhili, "there are several situations. The first is that they are disappointed in the court and don't want to serve the court anymore. This kind of person is unwilling to serve the imperial court, and he is also unwilling to serve the Tiger Ben Army. This kind of people are mainly the local gentry and magnates. They are still a little resistant to the policy of the Tiger Ben Army from the bottom of their hearts.

The second is that the original unwilling wanted to get the opportunity to display his talents when the Tiger Ben Army arrived. This kind of person, there are good and bad, "the key is to want to do something for the people", or to mix up a reputation. Unfortunately, judging from the current situation of the Tiger Army, the latter are the majority, and the number of people who are willing to really do something practical for the people is very small.

The third type is opportunists. At any given time, there is no shortage of speculators. Now, the power of the Tiger Army, like the sky, is about to sweep the world, "Dingding Central Plains, naturally some people begin to dream" how to please the Tiger Army, how to get benefits from the Tiger Army. It would be great if you could "mix a fat gap with oil and water" here in the Tiger Army.

The fourth type is the secret agent set up by the imperial court. This kind of person does not need to be explained in detail. The secret agents of the imperial court, there are Jinyiwei, Dongchang, and even, it is said that there are Xiaolingwei. Except for Emperor Chongzhen himself, "I'm afraid no one else can master it all."

As for how to screen these people, it is not Zhong Wuying's position, so naturally there are special personnel to deal with them. The Ministry of Military Affairs of the Tiger Ben Army is working on a plan to "prepare to take over the entire Northern Zhili." Zhong Wuying and his troops' "only task at present is to catch all the Jin merchants on the list, and at the same time get out all their property."

Hurry day and night, and after arriving at Zhending Mansion," Zhong Wuying decided to rest here for half a day. From here, to the west, you will enter the ground of Shanxi. Once on the ground in Shanxi, the battle was immediately possible, ΝniеpοΜ

The imperial army has been deployed to the west of Jingcheng Pass. As long as the cavalry of the Tiger Army reached the Jingbi Pass, it would collide with the imperial army. Cavalry is also a human being, and they also need to rest, especially before the start of a big war, and it is even more important to let the war horse have enough rest time. Zhending Mansion is the future Shijiazhuang "Changshan Zhao Zilong's hometown." However, at that time, Zhending City, where the "seat of Zhending Prefecture was located", was still relatively dilapidated. After repeated attacks by the Tartars, "Zhending City looks even more dilapidated."

Standing outside the city, Zhong Wuying felt that "Zhending City, there is no need for cannons at all, as long as dozens of catties of black explosives, it can be completely opened." Even, the broken city gate can be broken open with a war horse.

In the troubled times at the end of the Ming Dynasty, "careless of human life, ordinary officials, for everything around them, are passable. The only thing that interested them was to scavenge their pockets for silver taels. Zhending Mansion was originally stationed in Hong Chengchou's troops. When Hong Chengchou left Zhending Mansion, he was really polite, and looted all the valuable things. The population of Zhending City is not large, and the "all combined" may be less than 20,000 people. For a prefecture, such a population is indeed too small. But there is no way" The original population of Zhending Mansion was either killed by the Tartars and rebels, or fled, and not many people dared to stay in the city at all.

Similarly, the area around Zhending Castle is also quite sparsely populated. Originally, the number of satellite cities around Zhending City was quite large, such as Zhulu, Lingshou, Gaocheng, Wuji and other counties, all of which were satellite cities of Zhending City. But "at the time of the southern part of the Tatars, these counties were "severely damaged" and their populations plummeted.

It is certain that when rebuilding Beizhili in the future, the manpower, material and financial resources that Zhending Mansion needs to spend are quite amazing. This is also the basic reason why Zhang Zhun postponed the reconstruction of Beizhili. "There is not enough manpower, there is not enough material resources, everything is in vain!" The same manpower, material and financial resources, smashed elsewhere, will produce much greater results!

The soldiers of the Tiger Cavalry Battalion rested in a village west of Zhending City. This village was originally quite large, with at least more than 200 houses, but the Tartars continued to enter the village, and the population ran out. Among them, most of them went to Shanxi, and a small part went to Shandong. When Dong Shuyan first sold people, "the results were still very rich.

There is a deep well in the village, and the water is fairly clear. After a simple test, no poison was found, and everyone was relieved to drink water and horses. War horses consume much more water than people, and the water bladder they carry with them is simply impossible to meet the needs of war horses. Therefore, in the process of marching, it is very critical to look for water sources at all times and replenish the needs of war horses.

There are many reasons why the Han army always suffers losses when it fights in the Western Regions and when it fights in the Northern Frontier. One of the key reasons is the inability to find suitable drinking water. Fighting in those areas "If you don't have a good guide, you may not even be able to find a source of water." Besides, there are only a few water sources "in areas where water is scarce", and if they are poisoned or polluted, the people who come after them will be miserable.

Without water, the horses can be supported for several days, and the horses can only last for two days at most. Even the most powerful cavalry units "will be killed in a short time if they don't have enough water." Therefore, every time the Han cavalry went out of the fortress, there must be a local right-hand guide. It would be even better if the steppe peoples could play the striker directly.

"Humph!" Zhong Wuying took matters into his own hands and gave his mount a drink of water.

His black mount is a purebred Dawan horse, and like Zhang Zhun's mount, it is a special mount for the high-level of the Dajin Kingdom, and it runs very fast and has a strong impact. The only drawback is the endurance of the long journey.

In order to cherish the horsepower of Dahei, in addition to this Dawan horse, Zhong Wuying also equipped himself with two relatively tall Mongolian horses, which were specially used to hurry. The soldiers of the Tiger Cavalry Battalion, each with two horses, and Zhong Wuying had three, it was also a natural thing.

"Clock, there is a situation."

Suddenly, Liu Heizi hurriedly came over.

"What's the situation?" Zhong Wuying asked casually.

"Someone is pretending to be us!" , Liu Heizi said thoughtlessly.

"Huh?" Zhong Wuying didn't understand.

Liu Heizi swallowed his saliva, picked up the water scoop casually, poured himself a stomach full of cold well water, and spoke neatly. He reported in detail that some people cried to him that "in the Gaocheng area, there are unknown people, pretending to be the team of the Tiger Army, who are looting supplies, oppressing the people, and even robbing women." The local people were skeptical, "The impression of the Tiger Ben Army was greatly discounted." So that when some people saw the banner of the Tiger Army, they turned around and ran.

“！”

"Do you want to die?" Zhong Wuying suddenly screamed angrily.

As an old courtier at the beginning of the Tiger Army, Zhong Wuying's feelings for the Tiger Army are first-class, "I can't tolerate the slightest taint from outsiders." When I heard that someone was robbing wealth and robbing people's daughters, I immediately became angry. Even the Governor didn't dare to rob the people's daughters, where did the bastard "dare to do such a thing?"

After being annoyed, Zhong Wuying quickly calmed down and weighed how to deal with this matter. He knew that the current Zhending Mansion was still relatively chaotic, and the high-level internal affairs of the Tiger Ben Army had not yet arrived here. Local policing, based on the local people in management. This gives some people the opportunity to fish in troubled waters. Maybe "someone did it on purpose."

Since this kind of thing has happened to you, you can't pretend not to see it. Zhong Wuying calculated the time, "I feel that I can still intervene in this matter." He wanted to see who had the audacity to "dare to make trouble under the noses of the Tiger Army!" I'm so impatient! Do you think you have a stronger ability than Huang Taiji?

"Dispatch!"

"Arrest someone!" , Zhong Wuying shouted without hesitation.

The soldiers of the Tiger Cavalry Battalion immediately straightened their outfits, turned over their horses, and galloped towards Gaocheng.

The "number of people who pretended to be the Tiger Ben Army" to make trouble in Gaocheng was not much, only fifty or sixty people. The situation does seem to be as described by Liu Heizi, these guys are really lawless. They don't actually have any mark of the Tiger Army, they are people who verbally call themselves the Tiger Army. They burned, killed, looted, and the "local people" were terrified.

"Liu Heizi, you go arrest!"

"Dong Huaxia, you go and explain the situation to the people!"

"Liu Zongchun" leads your troops and takes a look around! ”

Zhong Wuying quickly commanded.

More than 1,000 battle-hardened Tiger Ben Army cavalry, dealing with dozens of rioters, it was really Lei Gong beating tofu, and he was able to capture it. The deputy commander, Chen Xingguo, together with Liu Heizi, took hundreds of cavalry to work together, "three times and five divided by two, and then tied up those people and sent them to Zhong Wuying. A few of the middle tried to resist, "Naturally, they were shot and killed."

"Who are you?" , Zhong Wuying's face was gloomy and terrifying.

Those people hung their heads, and they didn't dare to answer.

"Who are you?" Zhong Wuying asked gloomily.

They still wouldn't answer. Zhong Wuying smacked at Liu Heizi.

Liu Heizi immediately took his subordinates and dragged a few leaders away. He used to be a horse thief, and he was very skilled in "torture to extract confessions". Well, don't speak, you're comfortable! Sure enough, a moment later, Liu Heizi came back and said that those people had confessed, "They were sent by Zhang Xianzhong in Shaanxi."

"Zhang Xianzhong?"

"They are Zhang Xianzhong's subordinates?" Zhong Wuying's face suddenly became gloomy.

Zhang Xianzhong's subordinates ruined the reputation of the Tiger Ben Army in Beizhili, as long as normal people can deduce what they are going to do. In the past, "the Shaanxi rebel army did not take unfavorable actions against the Tiger Ben army." Now, out of nowhere, something like this has happened. It seems that "these guys seem to be going to be in the same league as the imperial court."

The Tiger Ben Army swept the world" is actually not good for Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong. They should understand that after the Tiger Army eliminated the imperial court, the next target was the Shaanxi Liukou. At this time, it is not surprising that they do such a thing for the sake of their own future. Self-help" is naturally a way to use.

Li Zicheng is relatively calm, leaving a little leeway in everything, and he should not do such an insidious thing. Zhang Xianzhong is different. He is in the more radical category. As long as he can think of a way, no matter what the consequences, he will do it. In the long run, the possibility of Zhang Xianzhong and the imperial court being united cannot be ruled out.

Anti-thief, anti-thief, that is the definition given to Zhang Xianzhong by the imperial court. If one day, the court said that Zhang Xianzhong had reformed and returned to the right, and he was not a thief, then he would be the king's master. In order to whitewash his identity, Zhang Xianzhong cooperated with the imperial court" is also expected.

It's just that Zhang Xianzhong seems a little irrational to do this. Could it be that "Zhang Xianzhong never thought about getting in touch with the Tiger Ben Army and cooperating with the Tiger Ben Army?" Is it always better to cooperate with the Tiger Army than with the imperial court?

"Liu Bichun!" Zhong Wuying shouted calmly.

"Here!"

Liu Zongchun came immediately.

"You personally send their confessions to Jingshi." Zhong Wuying calmly commanded.

This matter is related to the future relationship between the Huben Army and the Shaanxi Rebel Army, Zhong Wuying feels that it is necessary to go up to the heavens and report it directly to Zhang Zhun to know. If the Shaanxi rebel army fully cooperates with the imperial court, the future strategy of the Tiger Ben Army will definitely be affected.

"These people ......"

Liu Heizi asked meaningfully.

"Pretending to be our Tiger Army, ruining the reputation of the Tiger Army" is a heinous crime, kill! Zhong Wuying said without hesitation.

Since Zhang Xianzhong dared to resort to such a means, he would have to bear serious consequences. Since these people dared to make trouble on the land of the Tiger Army, they had to expect such consequences. When did the Tiger Benjun do things, when did he ever be soft?

"Understood!"

Liu Heizi agreed, turned around and carried out the order.

Soon, there was a short scream. Liu Heizi probably killed someone with a saber. With the words of the musket, "waste of ammunition." And Ping Pong, a person from his background, always feels that it is not safe enough to kill people with a musket, and it is safer to cut off his head with a saber. Cut down with a knife, the corpse is separated, and there is absolutely no possibility of resurrection.

"No!"

"Don't kill me!"

"I'll tell you the inside story!"

Suddenly, someone screamed in a hurry.

"Fuck you!"

"What's the inside story, you say?"

Liu Heizi's rude voice came.

"We, we were sent by Sun Chuanting!"

Someone screamed. Zhong Wuying's pupils suddenly contracted.

Sun Chuanting? Sun Chuanting sent someone to pretend to be Zhang Xianzhong's person, and then pretended to be the Tiger Benjun to make trouble here? Is this to blame Zhang Xianzhong? What is Sun Chuanting's purpose? Is it to pressure Shaanxi Liukou to cooperate with the imperial court?

"Wait."

Zhong Wuying shouted quickly.

If these people were really Sun Chuanting's subordinates, they couldn't be killed easily.

Over there" Liu Heizi also felt that the news was valuable, and dragged back the few remaining people. His method of killing people was too fast, and there were only three of the more than fifty people left. The remaining three were still trembling with fright. Saying that he is not afraid of death is a lie, and it depends on what environment he is in.

"Liu Zongchun, you take a small team of men and horses, escort all three of them to the Beijing Division, and hand them over to Lord Governor to deal with." Zhong Wuying said coldly.

He had a task ahead of him, and he couldn't stay here for too long, so he had to turn them in. At this time, he didn't know that Zhang Zhun had already left the capital division and arrived near the Xuanfu, and it was impossible to receive these three guys.

However, even if Zhang Zhun leaves, someone will naturally accept it. As for obtaining detailed and in-depth confessions, there are even more specialized talents. Ma Zhi, who completed the task in Liaodong, is already in charge of the Beijing Division. Yuan Xinyong, Sun Xin and others are currently also in Beijing.

"Get out!"

Liu Zongchun immediately led his subordinates and escorted the three embarrassed guys. The other fighters of the Tiger Cavalry Battalion reorganized their ranks and prepared to set off.

"Drive!" Zhong Wuying clamped the horse's belly and continued to gallop in the direction of Shanxi.

The sound of horses' hooves, the dust rolling, and in the blink of an eye, they disappeared.