"Xiong Wencan misled the country!"

Because there were only two people, Fang Kongzhi and Yu Guozhen, he did not hide his anger, and criticized his top boss as soon as he opened his mouth.

Since Xiong Wencan advocated appeasement from the beginning, Fang Kongzhi disagreed, and this defeat that plunged Daming into an unprecedented crisis made him even more dissatisfied with Xiong Wencan. Although strictly speaking, the person directly responsible for the defeat is Zuo Liangyu, but Fang Kongzhi felt that since Xiong Wencan couldn't control Zuo Liangyu, he should obediently resign and let the governor who could control Zuo Liangyu be the prime minister.

"The thieves are now in great force, claiming to be a million people, and although there are some boasts, there are only six or seven hundred thousand people. Part of it was Zuo Liangyu and other subordinates who defected to him, and part of it was the people who were coerced by him. In the eighth and ninth years of Chongzhen, there was a great drought in the Central Plains for two consecutive years, and this year it was a drought and locust disaster, affecting the north and south of the Qinling Mountains, and the land of Jianghan was also affected a lot, and the hungry people in the Central Plains went south one after another, so some people were forced to make a living and follow the thieves to chaos. The thieves are now divided into two routes, one to the east, and it seems that they are preparing to go to Yinghuo, and the other is down the river in Jiangbei, entering Yueyang, threatening Wuchang. ”

"Split in two?"

This news made Yu Guozhen surprised, if he was a thief, there were two choices at this time, one was to take advantage of the pressure behind him, go east to the south of the Yangtze River, find a weak defense to cross the river, as long as he plundered the south of the Yangtze River again, the foundation of the Ming Dynasty will be shaken, and half of the world's wealth will depend on the south of the Yangtze River, and there will be money and food here; The other is to coerce the people to go south, occupy the land of the Xiangjiang River, and wait for the opportunity to conquer Bashu in the west. But no matter which choice you choose, you need to concentrate your forces, don't look at the huge number of rogues now, in fact, most of them are coerced people, the vast majority of them still have no combat effectiveness, and it is really unwise to divide the troops.

"Luo Rucai was captured, and his department was merged by Zhang Xianzhong, and then Lao Huihui, He Yilong and others parted ways with Zhang Xianzhong." Fang Kongzhi smiled bitterly when he said this: "If it weren't for the dispute between the two sides, it would have been delayed for two days, and the situation would have been difficult to control." ”

"It's hard to think strategically because you only have immediate benefits." Yu Guozhen commented, and the tall pillar behind him nodded repeatedly.

But in any case, the power of the Liukou is extremely large, even if they divide their troops, it is not something that Fang Kongzhi and the others can stop.

"How many soldiers did Jimin bring with him when he went north this time?" Fang Kongzhi asked.

"Limited to the imperial court system, I only brought 4,000 men and horses...... Well, in order to avoid impeachment, I also have to ask my uncle to give them a name. ”

"That's natural, just rest assured."

Fang Kongzhi knew that he was in power, but Yu Guozhen brought 4,000 people, which still surprised him a little, but he knew that when Yu Guozhen left Wuwei to go to Qin'zhou to develop, there were only a few hundred, but in a short period of time, there were already 4,000 soldiers. Based on his understanding of Yu Guozhen's military training, these 4,000 must be elite, and they are definitely above the combat effectiveness of the Guanning Army. Previously, Lu Xiangsheng and others repeatedly broke the rogue, relying on only Zukuan's 3,000 Guan Ning army and Yu Guozhen's 4,000 tiger guards, which was enough to sweep away the thieves.

Yu Guozhen now has 11,000 tiger guards, of which 1,000 are guarding Tamna, 1,000 are guarding Hoi An, 2,000 are guarding Xinxiang, and 2,000 have gone to Xinhang. The remaining four thousand were brought to Huguang by Yu Guozhenquan. Among these 4,000 people, half are veterans and half are Xinding, but now Huwei has entered a period of rapid expansion, even Xinding has already received preliminary military training in Xinxiang and Hoi An, and he will be able to carry out various orders after three months of enlistment.

This is also inseparable from the night school system vigorously promoted by Xinxiang, without a certificate of graduation from night school, there is no qualification to join the Tiger Guard, so the New Xiang Tiger Guard is the most extravagant army in this era: the vast majority of all members can be literate.

Xinxiang's literacy is not the same as that of a certain country in later generations, and it is considered literate if it can recognize its own name, and Xinxiang's literacy is measured by knowing 1,000 commonly used words, being proficient in reading vernacular proclamations, and being able to write a briefing of one or two hundred words. Only such a soldier can have the ordinary ability to learn independently, and be able to read a brief instruction manual and make some military equipment.

"The thieves are afraid of the people, the last time they saw the banner of the people, they fled away, this time the people themselves came, I don't know how they will deal with it......" Knowing that Yu Guozhen brought enough troops, Fang Kongzhi let go of half of his worries: "How do you think Jimin should destroy the thief?" ”

"With my troops, it is easy to defeat a thief, but it is impossible to destroy a thief."

Yu Guozhen's response was not as unexpected by Fang Kongzhi, Yu Guozhen's 4,000 people, supplemented by nearly 10,000 troops from Fang Kongzhihu, it is not a problem to defeat the main force of the Liukou, and it is nothing to defeat the arrogance of the Liukou now, but it is really difficult to exterminate it. The eradication of the rogues has never been just a military issue, but also a political issue, and as long as the people's livelihood cannot be resolved, the rebellion will not stop.

Fang Kongzhi was about to ask again, but at this time, the messenger sent by Xiong Wencan arrived again, but he urged Fang Kongzhi to send troops to Jiangbei. His rhetoric was very intense, and it was quite implicated that if Fang Kongzhi did not send troops, the responsibility for the erosion of the situation in Jiangbei would be borne by Fang Kongzhi alone.

After reading the official document, Fang Kongzhi's face sank, Xiong Wencan's previous credit for capturing Luo Rucai by Gao Dazhu had already made Fang Kongzhi extremely dissatisfied with him, and now he deliberately pushed the responsibility for Jing Chu's defeat on his head, which is really unbearable!

However, he understands that Prime Minister Xiong Wencan's provincial military affairs, as his immediate boss, if he really pushes him, it will be really difficult to deal with it.

"Is there something wrong again?" He asked the messenger.

The messenger was a little hesitant, and was forced by Fang Kongzhi before he told the truth: "The thieves besieged Jingzhou, and the prime minister ordered Shen Zhixu, the Jingzhou garrison guarding Jianli, to rescue, but he met the thieves on the way, and Shen Zhixu's soldiers were defeated and righteous...... Now the thieves are besieging Jianli, and I don't know if they are still holding on at this time. ”

Yu Guozhen heard the name "Shen Zhixu", felt a little familiar, looked left and right, and sent Qi Niu's expression seemed to be a little wrong, so he asked: "Old Niu, do you recognize this Shen Zhixu?" ”

"Yes, when we met the assassins in Gyeonggi last year, he fought alongside us."

Qi Niu's response was very brief, and Yu Guozhen suddenly remembered that he had heard Fang Ziyi talk about this person, and Fang Ziyi said very tactfully that Qi Niu seemed to be a little different from this person's daughter. At that time, he only mentioned it to Fang Ziyi, but now that I think about it, Fang Ziyi is actually very meaningful.

"Ziyi mentioned it to me...... He also has a daughter, right? ”

Qi Niu nodded, a hint of worry flashing in his eyes.

He was pulled up by Yu Guozhen, followed Yu Guozhen to eat the first full meal in his life, followed Yu Guozhen to practice martial arts, and followed Yu Guozhen to become a famous warrior in Nanzhili. Therefore, he felt that his surname belonged to Yu Guozhen, and he didn't care what other guards thought of him, he was only dedicated to being Yu Guozhen's "servant", so his marriage problem would not allow him to be his own master, and Yu Guozhen should arrange it for him.

Therefore, for a long time, he didn't lie to women, until he saw Shen Yunying, the sword girl's appearance was secondary, and the key was the sassiness he showed, which made him quite excited.

But the other party is too young, and he is only fourteen years old this year.

He didn't know that the fourteen-year-old Shen Yunying's face was sad at this time, dressed in filial piety, and he was sitting on a horse.

In front of her, a pear flower spear hangs, and behind her back is a carved bow. A family general pulled the reins of her and said with a worried expression: "Little aunt, you really can't go, the thief is big, how can you get to a girl's house!" ”

"My father was a country and died on the battlefield, and he was loyal to the country; Yun Ying couldn't bear her father's exposure in the wilderness, so she went to look for it, which was her father's filial piety. The home of loyalty and filial piety, why be afraid? ”

When these words were spoken, the general was stunned.

"When the father was there, he was not thin to you, this time the father was killed, and there was no boy in the family, only the little woman went to clean up the corpse, if you read the kindness of the father and were willing to help, the little woman will scatter all the family wealth to thank you!"

Shen Zhixu, the post of Jingzhou garrison, has been in office for less than eight months. Last time, he was assassinated at the same time as Fang Ziyi, and thus entered the eyes of Cao Huachun, Cao Huachun casually placed him a Jingzhou garrison messenger, and after he recovered from his injury, he was sent to Jingzhou, but he was defeated because of Xiong Wencan's incompetence. When Shen Yunying learned the news of his father's death, he made up his mind to go outside Jingzhou City to retrieve his father's remains. Hearing her little girl say this, the generals looked at each other, and then someone said sharply: "What the little aunt said is that we are just a cheap life, and since we have received the great favor of the guard master, we must repay each other with our surname." Auntie and grandmother, the villain is willing to go with you! ”

One took the lead, and the rest were also emotional. Seeing that their blood was stimulated, Shen Yunying said again: "Now that the thieves are besieging the prison for profit, although my father is dead, I, as his daughter, am also supported by the country's wealth, eating the king's lu, and being loyal to the king, I want to go to the city to defend it, not to let the thieves break the city...... If you have a heart, go with me to defend the city. ”

Among these family members, many people quietly breathed a sigh of relief, and now a group of more than 100,000 thieves surrounded Jianli, let them go out of the city and fight, although now they are so excited that they can only promise, but everyone is still worried in their hearts, but if they defend the city, then the danger will be smaller.

"Come with me to the barracks!" Shen Yunying said again.

She galloped and soon reached the camp in the city. At this time, there was panic in the city, and the soldiers in the barracks were at a loss, and there was no morale at all. Shen Yunying's arrival surprised those soldiers, but also somewhat relieved them.

Unlike other people's daughters, this Shen Shoubei's daughter often goes in and out of the barracks to dance knives and guns, don't look at her only fourteen years old, but her marksmanship is extremely outstanding, and idle soldiers are not her opponents.

"Although the slave is a little woman, in order to inherit the will of her father, she is determined to live and die with Jianli City. All of you are good men, parents, wives and children, and most of them are local people in Jianli. Do you want to abandon your parents, wife and children and escape alone? ”

She shouted angrily, and as soon as these words came out, the faces of thousands of officers and soldiers in the barracks turned red.

Shen Zhixu was the chief officer of the garrison, and took them out with about 2,000 people, but they had an encounter with the Liukou, they left Shen Zhixu and fled back to the city, and Shen Zhixu was defeated and killed, this matter was told by a little woman, how not to make them ashamed?

Besides, Shen Yunying's later words were right, they can abandon Shen Zhixu, who is an official, but can they abandon their parents, wives and children?

(To be continued)