For a team of 300,000 people, it is not so simple to lead well, and the practice of the rebel army has also damaged the idea of unified leadership, Gao Yingxiang deeply understands this.

When the rebel army was active, they were all battalions as units, each of them had no subordinate relationship with each other, there were more than 10 leaders of all sizes, and at the peak, the leaders even exceeded 20 people, these leaders, led their own teams, opposed the government in various places, killed the rich and helped the poor, because of the needs of the situation, and later united together, especially after the rise of the Jiangning battalion, the activities of the rebel army fell into a low ebb, and they had to unite and fight for survival, but from the time of the union, there were constant contradictions between each other, It's no wonder that everyone used to be the boss, and what they said counted, and when they came together, they had to listen to the arrangements of others, and everyone was a little unconvinced.

A few years have passed, and since Zijin Liang was beheaded by the imperial court, Gao Yingxiang is the nominal leader of the rebel army, but he has suffered many challenges, from all sides, even from his nephew Li Zicheng.

This time, it was also helpless to lead the troops out of the army to fight and collide with the Jiangning battalion head-on.

Asking other leaders to go out to fight, I'm afraid no one will agree, including Luo Rucai and Li Zicheng, they will not agree, although the idea is good, but the ferocity of the Jiangning battalion, everyone knows that such a conquest, whether it can achieve the expected results, no one is sure, besides, the other leaders lead troops out of Lu to go to the expedition, if they really win, their status must rise significantly, and even threaten his status as a leader.

After so many years of rebellion, Gao Yingxiang has also accumulated a lot of experience in warfare, and the sergeants under him are also the most prominent among all the teams. The strength is the strongest.

Of the 300,000 sergeants, there are not many who really have combat effectiveness, no more than 100,000, and these people come from all over the world, not necessarily all of them are from Shaanxi, and nearly 200,000 people who do not have much combat effectiveness. The vast majority are local.

Because of the need for survival, the rebels also adopted the method of tuntian, the army also had to farm, needed to feed themselves, went out to loot, and could get less and less money and food.

Over the years, most of the wealthy gentry and merchants in Shaanxi have moved away, or fled. Especially in the area of Hanzhong Mansion and Fengxiang Mansion, there were almost no rich people, which also greatly limited the supply of the rebel army, and for a period of time, the rebel army also began to collect taxes from the common people.

The viewpoint put forward by Li Zicheng at the meeting is actually very pertinent.

The decision to collect taxes was made, and Gao Yingxiang had no choice, and 300,000 people had to survive. There are also many family members among them, if these people have nothing to eat. The team will soon collapse.

The rebels did not have a particularly fixed base area, and on the one hand, they were forced by the pressure of the government to change places, and on the other hand, they were also needed for survival, but for more than a year, the rebels have been operating in a location. Basically fixed in Hanzhong Mansion and Fengxiang Mansion, they did not occupy the city, most of the time, they were in the countryside activities, backed by the mountains. to facilitate maneuvering.

Fortunately, Sun Chengzong only stuck to the big city, and did not have the intention of all-out encirclement and suppression, so that Gao Yingxiang and the righteous army were a little more comfortable.

The news of the conquest of the Jiangning camp is top secret, and it must not be leaked out, otherwise it will be his own death, and the person who knows about this matter, that is, the leader of the various ministries, Gao Yingxiang, held this meeting, the degree of secrecy is very high.

But he wanted to take 100,000 soldiers out of Lu, the army was divided into two ways into Xi'an Mansion, one way he personally led, from Foping to Chaijiaguan, one route led by Li Yichuan, the sweeping king, from Fengxiang Fufeng County into Wugong County, the two armies concentrated in Ju County, under the jurisdiction of Xi'an Prefecture, to give Jiangning battalion a sudden attack.

It is impossible for such a big operation to be without the slightest movement, and it is very difficult to keep it secret, but fortunately, the rebels are accustomed to mobile warfare, so they can naturally think of many ways to hide their own whereabouts.

Using the sergeants of those battalions, Gao Yingxiang took great pains, and the debate at the meeting was also very large, and finally unified the opinion, Gao Yingxiang led the 40,000 horses of the headquarters, plus the 30,000 people led by Li Yichuan, the sweeping king, plus the 20,000 people of Liu Guoneng who broke through the sky, and the 10,000 people who shot the sky Li Wanqing, a total of 100,000 troops. Among them, the 50,000 people of Li Yichuan and Liu Guoneng were all distributed in the territory of Fengxiang Mansion, temporarily led by Li Yichuan, and Li Wanqing's 10,000 sergeants, Gao Yingxiang personally led.

Therefore, in this expedition to the Jiangning battalion, Li Yichuan, Liu Guoneng, Li Wanqing and other leaders all went with the army to conquer.

Li Yichuan and others were dissatisfied, Gao Yingxiang was aware of the way, and a leader once proposed at the meeting that the sergeants belonging to each battalion should draw some out to form an army of 100,000, but Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng denied this suggestion, people are selfish, and the leaders of each battalion all want to preserve their elite strength, if the sergeants are transferred in this way, maybe the vast majority of the team formed are old, weak, sick and disabled, not to mention attacking the Jiangning battalion, that is, if they can go to Xi'an Mansion, it will be good.

In the face of the contradictions among the rebels, Gao Yingxiang also thought about whether to unify the understanding and tell everyone the truth that if everyone thinks about themselves, it will not be far from the time of destruction, but he is always difficult to make up his mind, if the rebels can win a few big battles, there is no big problem with such a unified understanding.

In this regard, Li Zicheng is more ruthless than him, Gao Yingxiang once revealed to Li Zicheng such worries, Li Zicheng's suggestion is very simple, for the unconvinced leaders, it is completely possible to carry out a purge operation, the understanding of the army must be unified, and the leader can only have one, otherwise they will work separately and cannot form a strong combat effectiveness.

Gao Yingxiang also had such an idea, this time the expedition to the Jiangning battalion, no matter what the result is, after coming back, he will start to clean up the team.

The time for departure is coming soon.

Su Tiancheng and the Jiangning battalion, as well as from the capital and Henan Mansion, time waits for no one, and they must take advantage of the fact that the Jiangning battalion is not stable to launch a surprise attack in order to be successful.

The night before departure, Li Zicheng came.

Gao Yingxiang knew that Li Zicheng must have something important when he came at this time, he didn't say anything long-winded, and spoke directly.

"Zicheng, is there anything going on?"

"Uncle, there is some instability in the ranks of the rebels, and I am very worried."

"Oh, tell me what the situation is."

"In this expedition to the Jiangning battalion, the morale of many leaders was not very high, and it was clearly requested at the meeting that it was not allowed to discuss this matter, so as not to leak the secret, but there were still people who discussed it in private, mainly because they were dissatisfied with the situation of the transfer of sergeants."

Gao Yingxiang's expression began to be serious, in the past few days, he has been concerned about the situation of the expedition, and he really didn't notice it, this is also a big mistake, if the sergeants who go out to go to the expedition have their own thoughts, what kind of battle will they fight.

"It is mainly Li Wanqing's discussion, at the same time, He Yilong also has the meaning of echoing, the two of them are mainly discussing, that is, they are not satisfied with the transfer of sergeants, Li Wanqing is needless to say, his own sergeants have been transferred 10,000 people, and there are only a few thousand left, as for He Yilong, there are many sergeants under his jurisdiction, because they have not been able to be transferred, and even suspect that this expedition is a disguised expedition to loot property."

Gao Yingxiang's expression began to become cold.

"Zicheng, do you know any other discussions?"

"I've heard of some, but it's not very accurate, mainly Li Yichuan and Liu Guoneng's, the sergeants to which the two belong have all been transferred, and I'm still a little dissatisfied in my heart."

"It's normal for the sergeant to be transferred and dissatisfied, needless to say, in addition to this, are there any other sayings and ideas."

Li Zicheng paused slightly.

"There are indeed other theories, I faintly heard that some leaders think that Su Tiancheng and Jiang Ningying have come to Shaanxi Province, and this time the expedition is asking for hardship, it is better to find a way to surrender to the court as soon as possible, don't do senseless struggles, and give the lives of the sergeants in vain, and this kind of rumor seems to have appeared among the sergeants."

Gao Yingxiang showed a smile on his face, such a smile was more ugly than crying.

"Sure enough, as I expected, it seems that this expedition is a matter of life and death, and it must be successful, otherwise the ranks of the rebels are likely to collapse, and they will be self-contained, it seems that your proposal a few days ago is correct, and the rebels must unify their thinking, and there are always some unfavorable remarks and discussions, which greatly affect the morale of the army."

"Okay, according to my uncle's opinion, when will this matter be handled."

Gao Yingxiang pondered for a while, and finally made up his mind.

"I took the sergeant to the battle, after leaving, you can take action, you must keep it secret, and at the same time you have to remember that they are all your own brothers, and when you move, you still have to take into account the specific situation, and you can't be too violent."

Li Zicheng nodded, without much expression on his face.

"You are directly responsible for this matter, the last time we had a meeting, I had already entrusted Luo Rucai to be in charge of the affairs of the family, so when you are doing things, when necessary, ask Luo Rucai's opinion, stability is the first, and you must not mess up the team because of unified thinking."

"Uncle, don't worry, I will definitely handle it properly."

Gao Yingxiang would never have thought that Li Zicheng had such an idea a long time ago, through some special means, to purge dissidents and achieve the goal of completely mastering the army, there are too many leaders in the righteous army, and they are doing their own thing, and if this situation continues, there is not much hope in the end.

As for soliciting Luo Rucai's opinion, of course Li Zicheng will not do it, in this way, what kind of clean-up, his heart has long been cleared, who needs to be cleaned up, who needs to be wooed, what kind of means to take, everything is planned and planned, and now the opportunity has finally come, which is also thanks to Su Tiancheng and Jiang Ningying's entry into Shaanxi Province. (To be continued......)