Zhu Youzhen's anger is beyond measure.

Liukou suffered a heavy blow, seeing that the extermination was imminent, who knew that Lu Dao, but suffered such a big defeat, the army that went to the rescue, more than 25,000 soldiers, rushed out less than 4,000 people, and the remaining more than 21,000 soldiers, all killed.

If it is against Houjin, suffering such a big loss, Zhu Youzhen will not be so angry, the combat effectiveness of the Manchurian Eight Banners and the Mengba Banners is indeed very good, to tell the truth it is stronger than the Ming army, but the Liukou has suffered heavy losses one after another, especially in the battle of Zhongdu, the elite has lost everything, and now most of them are some rabble.

It was these rabble that annihilated more than 20,000 elite soldiers in the imperial court.

Hong Chengchou and He Renlong were all escorted to the capital, and they could not understand the strategic deployment of the Liukou to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao, as the commander and important general of the Liukou, they could not escape the blame.

Zhu Youzhen made up his mind that Hong Chengchou and He Renlong must be severely punished, but who was appointed to be responsible for the extermination of the rogues made it difficult for him.

Su Tiancheng is a very good candidate, but he has just taken office as the governor of Henan Prefecture, if he suddenly becomes the governor of the military affairs of the five provinces, his qualifications will definitely not work, and he will not be able to pass it in the imperial court. No matter how much credit Su Tian made to the establishment, he was still too young.

In the imperial court, it is difficult to select such talents.

The original military department of the right squire, the right envoy Yang Sichang is still good, since the first year of Chongzhen, the governor of Yongping, Shanhaiguan and other places, famous for knowing the soldiers, he patrolled the Shanhaiguan during the period, the rectification of defense, the construction of Shanhaiguan two wings of the city, effectively resisted the invasion of Houjin, but unfortunately his father Yang He died, went home Ding worried.

Yang He is also a famous general, the official to the right attendant of the military department, the governor of Shaanxi trilateral military affairs, once proposed to appease the liukou. Later, he failed and was dismissed from his post by the imperial court.

Filial piety is more important than the sky, even if there is a big thing in the court, Zhu Youzhen does not dare to recruit Yang Sichang into Beijing at will.

The Ministry of War put forward several candidates, but Zhu Youzhen was not very satisfied, and the prince Shaobao and Zhang Fengyi, the secretary of the Ministry of War, even put forward. Take charge of the extermination of the Rogue himself.

None of these are good choices.

After thinking about it, Zhu Youzhen was even ready to make a decision, and after reprimanding Hong Chengchou, he would continue to let Hong Chengchou lead the extermination of the Liukou.

But this time the losses were too heavy.

The more than 20,000 soldiers who were annihilated were all battle-hardened soldiers who belonged to the elite army of the imperial court. All of them are guaranteed to be allocated, and all prefectures and counties are strictly ordered to supply grain and grass, and some ministers propose to impeach, which means that the army of the Liukou is exterminated, and there are military discipline corruption, killing good and risky merits, Zhu Youzhen turned a blind eye and turned a blind eye, confused the past, thinking about the extermination of the Liukou. Do a good job of appeasing the people.

Such a result is difficult for anyone to accept.

In such cases. It is certainly inappropriate to propose that Hong Chengchou continue to lead the matter of exterminating the Liukou.

But Hong Chengchou fought really well, he once won a great victory in Theo, and he realized very early on that he could not be soft on dealing with the rogues, and the first thing was to exterminate them. followed by appeasement, this kind of understanding coincides with Su Tiancheng's.

The matter of exterminating the Liukou must not be relaxed, and the Liukou annihilated more than 20,000 imperial army this time. If the morale is high, it must be thinking of expansion, and if it can't be hit hard, the arrogance must be getting more and more arrogant.

Faced with a dilemma, Zhu Youzhen fell into a hesitation.

Su Tiancheng looked at the information sent by the dark line and was silent for nearly a day.

Suffered such a heavy loss, this is what he did not expect, more than 20,000 soldiers were killed, the shock formed was huge, it must have hit the morale of the Ming army, and such news, after the news came out, the Houjin in the north would also be ready to move, taking advantage of the opportunity, which was the means that Houjin was best at using.

Once again, the imperial court was in crisis.

Of course, this time is not a catastrophe, after all, the Liukou is only active in Shaanxi, and has not yet expanded everywhere, besides, the Liukou 100,000 people, besieged 25,000 people, it is rumored that they have also lost nearly 30,000 people, and the sergeants who rushed out of the army are close to 4,000 people, which fully shows how strong the Liukou are in combat effectiveness.

Qu Qingze rushed to Luoyang.

He had already learned the news and sighed at Su Tiancheng's judgment. When he came to Luoyang this time, he also thought carefully, the Jiangning battalion might be about to go on the expedition, and he thought that he could enter the Jiangning battalion again and follow the army to the expedition.

Wang Dazhi took him and entered the three halls of the palace.

"Lao Qu, you're here, sit down."

"Xiaguan just heard Wang Dazhi say that the adults have been here all day."

"It's nothing, I'm thinking about something, by the way, it's the autumn harvest season, what are you doing when you don't supervise the formation in Shaanzhou, you came to the mansion."

"The lower official thought of something and came to report it to the adult."

Su Tiancheng looked at Qu Qingze and did not speak.

"The army has suffered such a major defeat, the shock of the imperial court must be very great, Lord Hong and He Qianhu have been escorted to the imperial court, Xia Guan feels that the Jiang Ning battalion must be out of the army to exterminate the Liukou, your lord, Xia Guan has always been in the army, and this sudden arrival in Shaanzhou is still a little uncomfortable."

"It turns out that you are thinking of returning to the Jiangning camp, I thought it was a big deal, this matter, don't think about it for the time being, do a good job as the governor of Shaanzhou, the Jiangning camp may not go out to exterminate the rogue this time."

Qu Qingze was taken aback.

"Why did the lord say that, the lower official thought that the army had suffered a heavy blow, and the imperial court must have to suppress the Liukou with all its might, and the lower official even thought that the adult would lead the five provinces to exterminate the Liukou."

"Oh, why do you think so, tell me more."

"I don't have any detailed thoughts, I just think that the adults must be able to do it if they hit the rogue many times."

"I see, don't have such thoughts in the future, I will not be responsible for the extermination of the Liukou, let alone the military affairs of the five provinces, if I am at this age, sitting in such a high position, so many adults in the court, where to put face, this is impossible, as for the matter of exterminating the Liukou, I personally think that in the current situation, it is better not to worry, the more at such a time, the more calm you must be calm, the eradication of the Liukou is not something that can be done in a short time."

"Why do you have such an opinion, the lower officials think that the imperial court will definitely make a big move."

"What you said is good, but I have already played, I suggest that the court should not be in a hurry, although the Liukou have won a big victory, it does not prove that they are strong, at this time, the most important thing for the imperial court to do is to stabilize the morale of the army, you should remember, I once said that the extermination of the Liukou is not purely a military matter, but more importantly, in terms of people's livelihood."

"This official is clear, in Jiangning County for such a long time, the lower official has followed the adults, and has learned a lot, the reason why the Shaanxi Liukou is rampant is because the people's livelihood has not been done well, and the people have no food to eat, so they have joined the team of the Liukou, if you blindly exterminate the Liukou, you can't cut the grass and eradicate the roots."

"Yes, but it doesn't mean that because of this situation, the rogue will be allowed to grow and develop, and it must be two-pronged."

Qu Qingze felt that his thinking was a little insufficient, on the one hand, he wanted to develop people's livelihood, and on the other hand, he wanted to exterminate the rogues, so what should he do.

Looking at Qu Qingze's puzzled expression, Su Tiancheng said that what he said was a little vague, in fact, it was not only what he said that was vague, but also his heart, how the court would deal with this matter, he was not very clear, but he had already put forward his own suggestions, whether to adopt them or not, that was something that the emperor considered.

"Lao Qu, in fact, I also have some doubts, so I can't make it clear for a while, if the imperial court sends a large army to collect the Liukou, the Jiangning battalion will definitely be dispatched, and the guards in Shaanxi and Shanxi may also be dispatched, but in doing so, is it a bit counterproductive, the Liukou are used to flowing around, and after this big victory, I am afraid that their morale is booming, and I wish the imperial army would exterminate them. When such a situation arises, they will not be able to have more room for movement. ”

"What my lord meant, the strategy I adhered to before, is still not wrong."

"Yes, there is nothing wrong with the overall strategy, we must fight steadily, step by step, it is better to cut off one of its fingers than to hurt its ten fingers, since the rogue is erratic, the imperial court army should respond to all changes with the same, consolidate the city, and gradually infiltrate the villages and towns, at the same time, the provinces should jointly coordinate, share intelligence, station a large army on the main transportation routes, and gradually block the activity route of the rogues."

Qu Qingze finally understood the meaning, it turned out that Su Tiancheng meant that it was still necessary to compress the activity space of the Liukou, and the imperial army first needed to do a good job, that is, to limit the Liukou to a certain range to prevent the large-scale transfer of the Liukou, and the guards of the provinces, in accordance with this requirement, compress the activity area of the Liukou, and in today's situation, follow the Liukou's ass and chase after it, the effect is probably not very good.

"Lao Qu, you understand the meaning, it's better to hurry back to Shaanzhou, the autumn harvest must be hurried, can't be delayed, the more times like this, the more you have to care about the lives of the people, and there can be no deviation."

There is one most important thing, Su Tiancheng did not tell Qu Qingze for the time being, he had recommended to the emperor the commander who would lead the extermination of the Liukou, that is, Sun Chengzong.

Although Sun Chengzong is old, he has rich experience, and has fought against the Eight Banners of Houjin Manchuria, Sun Chengzong's biggest advantage is that he is steady and steady, not impatient, not impulsive, and Sun Chengzong is good at discovering and recommending talents.

The influence of the Zhongxing Society has gone out and is completely on the right track, under such conditions, there is no need for Sun Chengzong to continue to take the lead, after all, the Zhongxing Society is mainly engaged in theoretical research, so that Sun Chengzong has always been in the Zhongxing Society, which is quite overkill.

Su Tiancheng also spoke for Hong Chengchou and He Renlong, not to judge heroes by success or failure, the key is to see how they suffered defeats, and they can't deny the whole person because of a failure. (To be continued......)