"I think about the same as this son. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info" Liu Guangzu said, and Niu Huan shook his head.

Zhao Guohua said: "A strong country must have a virtuous monarch and a strong army, but a strong army needs population and goods, without these two, a strong army is a source of water." I wonder if you agree with this point of view? ”

After thinking carefully for a while, Li Xin nodded and said, "What Brother Zhao said is right, this is indeed the truth. ”

"The reason why the Tartars frequently enter the customs and invade the Ming Dynasty is to rob the population and goods of the Ming Dynasty, one is to strengthen their own strength, and the other is to weaken the national strength of my Ming Dynasty, which is like cutting down a tree, but when it is cut to a certain time, the big tree of the Ming Dynasty will fall down, and that is the day of the Ming Dynasty's demise." Zhao Guohua said solemnly.

After listening to Zhao Guohua's analysis, Li Xinru was struck by lightning and looked sluggish.

He had never thought that the Tartars would have such terrible plans, but when he thought about it, it was. The Tartars are getting stronger and stronger, but the Ming is getting weaker and weaker. If this continues, the Ming Dynasty will be destroyed by the Tartars, which is already expected, and the rule of the Central Plains by barbarians like Meng Yuan will be repeated again.

Thinking of the terrible situation of the Tatars occupying the Central Plains one day, and thinking of the status of the Han people like cattle and horses in the Yuan Dynasty. Li Xin was cold, like falling into an ice cave.

He muttered, "Isn't there a way to change it?" Is it just to let the Ming Dynasty perish in the hands of the Tartars? ”

"Of course not. We must not allow this to happen. Zhao Guohua said resolutely.

He definitely did not want to be replaced by a tribal force like Houjin, which represented barbarism and backwardness, for the Ming Dynasty, which had advanced civilization and technology.

It is not that he looks down on the national regime, but that the national regime is indeed inferior to the Central Plains regime.

In April 1592, the Japanese invading army landed from the southern port city of Busan, and 45 days later, occupied the strategic location of Sacheon and advanced to the important town of Jinju. In less than two months, most of North Korea's territory had been lost.

In July 1592, the Ming Dynasty sent the pioneers Dai Chaoqi and Shi Ru to lead 20,000 troops to the expedition, and the deputy chief soldier Zu Chengxun led a large army into North Korea, which opened the prelude to the war of resistance against Japan in the Ming Dynasty.

In 1597, the alliance of the Ming Dynasty entered the decisive stage of the anti-Japanese war. The Ming Dynasty mobilized a total of 140,000 troops of the army and navy to reinforce Korea, and a year later, the Japanese army was defeated, most of the Japanese navy was completely annihilated, and the remnants of the army reluctantly withdrew to Japan. The seven-year-long War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression ended with the victory of China and North Korea and the defeat of Japan.

In 1840, seventy-one years before the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Britain launched the Opium War, and the Qing Dynasty, which had more than one million troops, was beaten by thousands of British soldiers and paid reparations, followed by more than 100 unequal treaties, which not only reduced China from a first-class country to a third-rate weak country, and was arbitrarily slaughtered, but also made thousands of years of Chinese civilization by the crazy destruction of foreign powers.

Countless treasures, books, and historical records were lost abroad, and later Japan's invasion was directly related to the destruction of national strength by the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

These things are a shame for China, and now that Zhao Guohua has come to the Ming Dynasty, he has to prevent the occurrence of such a thing as Houjin's entry into the Central Plains.

Liu Guangzu asked: "What can we do to keep the Ming Dynasty immortal." ”

"The first is to provide relief to the victims and reduce the number of displaced people, the second is to eliminate the rogues, and the third is to train the army and strengthen the national defense force. Zhao Guohua said eloquently.

After listening to Zhao Guohua's analysis, Li Xin thought about it carefully and suddenly understood.

He stood up and said respectfully: "It is an honor to be able to meet someone like Brother Zhao, and I also invite Brother Zhao to bow to Li Xin." After speaking, he bowed to Zhao Guohua.

Li Gongzi was polite. Come on, drink! Drink! Zhao Guohua stretched out his hand and pulled him up.

After lunch, everyone was invited to go to Bao Gong Temple and Tianbo Yang Mansion to play, and then rode to the Yue Fei Temple in Zhuxian Town, outside Kaifeng City.

Yue Fei Temple is located 22 kilometers south of Kaifeng City. According to legend, Zhuxian Town was the hometown of Zhu Hai, a righteous man of Wei during the Warring States Period, and became one of the four famous towns in the country during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, Yue Fei, the anti-Jin hero, led his troops to defeat the Jin Wushu here. Yue Fei Temple was built in the 14th year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty and is one of the four major Yue temples in the Ming Dynasty.

Sighing at Yue Fei's fate, Liu Guangzu said: "General, it would be good if Yue Fei was born in my Daming, at least Daming would not be pressed and beaten by the Tartars." ”

"General? Are you a general? Li Xin asked in surprise.

He didn't think that this Zhao Guohua was actually a leader of the troops.

Arching his hand, Zhao Guohua said in a flat tone: "Li Gongzi, I am the captain of the Volunteer Brigade of Ji'an Prefecture, Jiangxi, because of his exploits in the defense of Zhuozhou, the Volunteer Brigade was given the name of the Ming Loyal and Brave Brigade by His Majesty, and I am the five-rank admiral of the Loyal and Brave Corps, and I am the general of Wude, Li Gongzi, I do not mean to conceal it, but I feel that the intersection of people is equal and should not be affected by external things such as status or money, so I did not say the identity of the next. ”

"I see." Li Xin said.

Hearing Zhao Guohua say the name of the Volunteer Brigade, Li Xin knew that it was a militia group, and he couldn't think of how a militia group could make a contribution in the defense of Zhuozhou. But if that's all there is to it, how can the emperor give a name to a militia group.

Puzzled, he decided to take a look at this militia in person, thinking of this, he asked with a smile: "General Zhao, I don't know where your loyal brigade is now, whether it is still in Zhuozhou." ”

"Nope. Zhuozhou is over, the Tartars are retreating north, so we are also going back to our hometown in Jiangxi, and now the brigade is not far ahead, if Li Gongzi doesn't dislike it, how about having a cup of tea in the past? ”

These words hit the nail on the head, and Li Xin said with a smile: "Then disturb General Zhao." ”

"Please." Zhao Guohua led the way with a smile, walked for more than ten miles, and arrived at the place where the army camped and rested.

Li Xin opened his eyes wide and observed carefully, and saw a row of thick wooden fences surrounding the barracks, and there were several groups of soldiers dressed in black and blue clothes outside with spears in their hands and steel knives on their waists patrolling back and forth around the barracks.

At the gate of the battalion, the four soldiers stood straight with their hands on the hilts of their swords, their faces neat, and their eyes did not squint.

Zhao Guohua approached the barracks with Li Xin, and the four guards saw it and said in unison: "Salute." As he spoke, he neatly raised his right hand and gave a military salute.

"Return the favor." Zhao Guohua said and made the same salute.

"What kind of etiquette is this? How is it so strange. Li Xin pondered while watching.

Entering the barracks and entering the big tent of the Chinese army, Zhao Guohua introduced Cheng Chong and Lu Qing and others to Li Xin. After sending tea, Li Xin asked with interest about the defense of Zhuozhou.

Zhao Guohua roughly told him about the process of the battle, Li Xin listened very carefully, when he heard that Zhongyong rescued more than 40,000 people from the hands of the Tartars, and robbed the Tartars of five or six thousand horses, he was even more surprised, he admired and said: "No wonder you will be given a name by the emperor, it turns out that you have made this great achievement." ”

After two days in the loyal and brave corps, Li Xincai left satisfied.

After seeing off Li Xin, the army continued south.

Li Zicheng, Guo Tianxing, Scorpion Block and others recuperated in Longzhou to recover their strength, how did this matter escape the eyes of the officials and soldiers.

"Lord Governor, the small ones have already found out that Liukou Li Zicheng, Guo Tianxing, Scorpion Block and other troops are recruiting troops and horses in Longzhou, stockpiling supplies, and intending to restore their strength." A thousand households knelt on one leg and reported to the governor of the three sides, Hong Chengchou.

With a wave of his hand, Tanma Qianhu got up and went out. Hong Chengchou frowned and paced in the room.

Since the capture of Gao Yingxiang, Hong Chengchou has been investigating the whereabouts of Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai and other rogues.

He knew that these people were the source of the civil strife in the Ming Dynasty, and as long as these people were caught, the civil strife in the Ming Dynasty could basically be said to have subsided. After quelling the civil strife, Da Ming could concentrate on dealing with the Tartars outside the Guan.

In all fairness, in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, the three powerful ministers Sun Chuanting, Lu Xiangsheng, and Hong Chengchou, in terms of character, Lu Xiangsheng was the highest in terms of comprehensive ability, or Hong Chengchou was the strongest, if he hadn't surrendered to the Manchus later and formulated a series of policies to stabilize the occupied areas, it was still unknown whether the Manchus could gain a foothold in Guannei.

He had already seen that the trouble of Da Ming's henchmen was not the Liukou but the Houjin, so he also hoped to exterminate the Liukou as soon as possible.

However, these people are like loaches, adopting a series of tactics, fighting if they have fought, and leaving if they can't fight, it is not easy to catch their main force, and it is indeed not easy to capture these people like Gao Yingxiang.

To this end, he sent many spies disguised as various identities to the area where the rogue was active to find out the location of the rogue army.

Only then did I find out the news of Li Zicheng, Guo Tianxing, and Scorpion Block in Longzhou.

"Thief, how can the old man allow you to wait here to become bigger." He said as he paced.

In order to encircle and suppress Li Zicheng, he mobilized the elite troops on the three sides, and sent people to contact the governor of Shaanxi, Sun Chuanting, after the two sides agreed on countermeasures, after careful deployment, on December 15 of the ninth year of Chongzhen, he personally led the army to Longzhou.

"Brothers, Hong is here, with three thousand Guanning cavalry as the vanguard, Cao Bianjiao, Zuo Guangxian, and Ma Ke each with 10,000 soldiers and horses, with strong troops, he is going to kill us all, what do you say? Hit or go? Li Zicheng asked.

Guotianxing Hui Dengxiang said with his hands in full swing: "This dog's shaved head, he came quickly, since he came, let's fight with him and avenge the revenge of the big brother." ”

"Grandma's, he and Sun Chuanting caught Brother Gao on that dog's day, this revenge has not been avenged, he actually sent it to the door, so beat him hard." Scorpion block Tuoyangkun gritted his teeth and said.