Su Tiancheng's previous performances, Zhu Youzhen almost all approved, and did not say much else, but this time, in exchange for a reprimand, about Zhu Youxiang's participation in the Jiangning battalion's expedition, Zhu Youzhen was angry, saying that Su Tiancheng came to Hu, such a tone is already very unkind.

Su Tiancheng could only shake his head and sigh, no wonder the imperial power was so restricted.

The edict of the Ministry of War and the letter from Sun Chengzong also arrived.

This time's arrangement was somewhat unexpected by Su Tiancheng.

The imperial army led by Sun Chengzong was responsible for exterminating the rogues in Shaanxi, and the Jiangning battalion led by Su Tiancheng entered the territory of Shanxi and was responsible for exterminating the rogues operating in Shanxi.

The contents of the edict of the Ministry of War are exactly the same.

It's just that the Jiangning battalion went out this time, and Fuzhou County in Shanxi must give the greatest support in terms of grain and grass.

Such an arrangement means that the Jiangning battalion must be in charge alone.

The armies in Shaanxi and Shanxi, all of which belong to elite troops, are almost not fully transferred by Sun Chengzong, except for the border army, which has not been dispatched for the time being, and it is necessary to prevent Houjin from taking the opportunity to harass them.

The Jiangning battalion entered the territory of Shanxi to exterminate the Liukou, and could only rely on itself.

Even if the Ministry of War has an edict asking Fuzhou and counties in Shanxi to give support in terms of grain and grass, Su Tiancheng has no intention of relying on it, the local government has no money and grain, it is just redundant, those officials can still watch, they have already figured out a way to get it into their pockets, if the Jiangning camp asks the local prefecture and county yamen to supplement grain and grass, it is still the people who suffer.

After the first month, the spring ploughing season is the time when the green and yellow are not harvested, which increases the burden on the people and will promote the birth of a large number of displaced people. If such a situation really occurs, Jiang Ningying doesn't know whether to exterminate the Liukou or help the Liukou expand the team.

The second day of February is the time of departure.

This day is the day when the dragon raises its head, and choosing this day to set off has a more meaning than ordinary.

In Henan and other places, drought in previous years. I don't know how many people starved to death in Ludao, last year's situation was better, because of this reason, the day when the dragon raised its head, it was particularly important, and all places attached great importance to it, and made a lot of sacrificial activities, looking forward to the wind and rain, and looking forward to the green dragon in the sky to bless them.

The Jiangning camp chose to depart on the second day of February. The same is looking forward to God's blessing.

Although Su Tiancheng does not believe in these, war is about strength, bravery and wisdom, but many soldiers still have to use some special ways to encourage, choosing such a day to start, to the hearts of many soldiers, is the greatest comfort.

Zhu Youxiang there. Su Tiancheng said simply, they are all smart people. Some words are up to the point, and each other understands.

The only one who followed Su Tiancheng and set off was not a soldier of the Jiangning Battalion, and that was Liu Jingting.

Regarding the formation of literary and artistic soldiers, Su Tiancheng also once thought that the role of literary and artistic soldiers is huge. He also knows this about being able to boost morale, but the current conditions are not ripe, besides, there are only 30,000 soldiers in the Jiangning battalion. The mobility is very strong, if it is said that the soldiers should be separated to protect the literary and artistic soldiers, it is not a good choice, and more importantly, there are a large number of singles in the Jiangning battalion, and the literary and artistic soldiers are mainly women, if there is any story here, it is not easy to deal with.

The news is absolutely confidential, and except for a few people who know the mission of the Jiangning Battalion, the rest are not clear.

After the Jiangning battalion came to Henan Mansion, it had a lot of time for training, and the territory here was much larger than that of Jiangning County, and the soldiers often went out for training, so it was not very strange for the Jiangning battalion soldiers to be ready to go.

The departure route is still the same, from Shaanzhou to Pingyang Mansion in Shanxi.

Early in the morning, the soldiers in full gear stood in the playground of the barracks.

The day before, all the soldiers wrote their wishes and kept them in the barracks, without mobilization, and the soldiers also knew that this time they were going to conquer the Liukou.

There was no speech ceremony, Su Tiancheng and Sun Chuanting, Bi Maokang, Xiong Zijian and others rode around the soldiers in a circle, and as Su Tiancheng raised his horsewhip, the team left the barracks and rushed to Shanxi.

Sun Chuanting led the front army of 5,000 people, walking in the front, these were all cavalry, Su Tiancheng sat in the Chinese army, led 18,000 soldiers, and Bi Maokang led 2,000 soldiers to the back.

The distance between the front, middle and rear armies is no more than five miles.

The speed of the march cannot be very fast, mainly the artillery battalion, it is impossible to have such a fast speed, this time the conquest of the Liukou, the Jiangning battalion carried all the tiger squat artillery and the Fran machine, the red-coated cannon and the general's cannon are too heavy, not easy to carry, besides, to meet the Liukou, there is no siege of the city, the focus is still on mobile combat, the key is to strike at close range.

The morale of the soldiers of the Jiangning battalion was high, as if they were not going to fight a war, but to travel.

In particular, the more than 10,000 elite sergeants of the Liukou brought with them the combat style that the Liukou were accustomed to, and the officers and men of the Jiangning Battalion had carefully studied them.

Don't talk about soldiers, it is Sun Chuanting, who has always been cautious, with a smile on his face all the way.

Su Tiancheng is not so optimistic.

This time, his opponent is the famous Zhang Xianzhong.

Zhang Xianzhong was unruly, short-tempered, and a well-known thorn, who once served as a government official in Yan'an Mansion, and was later expelled for committing crimes, joined the army, and became a border soldier. After being driven out of the barracks, Zhang Xianzhong rebelled and proclaimed himself the Eight Kings.

It is ironic that such a man has become the leader of the rogues.

Zhang Xianzhong entered Shanxi because of his opinions with Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng and others.

Because of his extraordinary talent, Li Zicheng began to get ahead, as Gao Yingxiang's general, his prestige became higher and higher, and he was more and more valued by Gao Yingxiang, and gradually overpowered Zhang Xianzhong.

Of course Zhang Xianzhong is not convinced, Li Zicheng is just Gao Yingxiang's general, and he can't be compared, his identity is completely different, to put it bluntly, he is Gao Yingxiang's deputy general, besides, Li Zicheng used to be a post soldier, and he didn't mix in the army at all, but he was a little smart, why should he get ahead.

The contradiction between Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng gradually became clear, Gao Yingxiang saw it in his eyes, but Gao Yingxiang's attitude was also a little strange, he did not directly express his support for Zhang Xianzhong, nor did he support Li Zicheng, and always mediated in the middle.

This is actually to support Li Zicheng.

Since the change of commander of the imperial court, Sun Chengzong presided over the extermination of the Liukou, the scope of the Liukou's activities has been greatly restricted, Sun Chengzong came up with the tactics of dealing with the Eight Banners of Houjin Manchuria, steadily and steadily, not caring about the gains and losses of one city and one pool, focusing on limiting the scope of the Liukou's activities and sticking to the key areas.

Such tactics gave Gao Yingxiang and others a big headache.

The excitement of the last great victory over the imperial army has long since disappeared, on the contrary, because of the narrowing of the scope of activities, the contradictions between the leaders have begun to come to the fore, and there are often conflicts over the problem of food and grass.

In this case, Gao Yingxiang had to take a risk.

Thinking about continuing to win a big victory, there is no possibility, for the sake of today, it is to open up a new battlefield, and it is not possible to continue to defend in Shaanxi, as long as it can go deep into Shanxi and break through the key defense line of the imperial army, it will be regarded as another victory.

This is a relatively difficult task, and I can't imagine that Zhang Xianzhong took the initiative to take it.

Moreover, the route chosen by Zhang Xianzhong was actually to directly enter Pingyang Mansion in Shanxi.

This line is the route that everyone is afraid of, without him, the fame of Jiangning Camp is too great, Pingyang Mansion is close to Henan Mansion, if it alarms Jiangning Camp and suffers a devastating blow, it may not be able to escape back to Shaanxi.

I have to say that Zhang Xianzhong's choice is still correct, the so-called place of death and then life, Taiyuan Mansion and Datong Mansion, because of Sun Chengzong's strict arrangement, it is difficult to break through, Pingyang Mansion is close to Henan Mansion, the guards are a lot lax, probably Sun Chengzong thought of it, Pingyang Mansion is close to Henan Mansion, and Jiangning Camp has this unusual prestige.

Zhang Xianzhong led 50,000 soldiers to suddenly set off from Yan'an Mansion, through Yanchuan at the fastest speed, straight into Pingyang Mansion in Shanxi, and brought it to Sun Chengzong to find that Zhang Xianzhong had entered the territory of Yonghe County in Pingyang Prefecture.

The information that Su Tiancheng got from the dark line of Jinyiwei, Zhang Xianzhong's plan is estimated to be passing through Pingyang Mansion and arriving in Qinzhou or Zezhou.

The route and purpose of Zhang Xianzhong's march are very important, if you follow behind the pursuit, the effect will definitely be bad, we must predict Zhang Xianzhong's accurate marching route, and strike at it purposefully, so that the effect can be good.

Su Tiancheng looked at the map and meditated.

Such an analysis can only rely on himself.

After more than a day, my head hurts, and Su Tiancheng didn't figure it out, so Zhang Xianzhong can take any route.

The army has entered Shanxi and has come to Pinglu County.

There are three road options in front of you, the first line, through Xia County to descend County, and then to Yicheng, this line, the purpose is to prepare Zhang Xianzhong's army to enter Zezhou, the second line, through Xia County, Quwo, Pingyang Fucheng, to Yueyang, this line, in the center, to observe the direction of Zhang Xianzhong's army, can be pursued at any time, the third line, after passing through Pingyang City, directly to Fenxi, this line, is to prepare Zhang Xianzhong's army to enter Qinzhou.

At first glance, the second line is the best choice, but in fact, the army is stationed in Yueyang, it seems that both sides are taken into account, but the distance is too far, the reconnaissance learned the intention of Zhang Xianzhong's army, thinking of an ambush or a head-on duel, there is almost no possibility, you can only follow Zhang Xianzhong's ass to chase, so that the results will be greatly reduced, or even unable to fight.

Su Tiancheng began to face the most important test, and he had to choose between the first line and the third line. This time, the judgment must be accurate, accurate information is impossible to know, waiting for Zhang Xianzhong to reveal his intentions, it will be too late. (To be continued......)