Huguang Jiuxiwei, the camp of loyalty

In recent days, Li Guo has always been at a loss. www.biquge.info As the nominal commander of the various departments of the Loyal Battalion, he has too many things to consider. In all aspects, there are all kinds of troubles. I think about it, but there are few solutions.

The 50,000 or 60,000 troops, plus the elderly, weak, women and children accompanying the army, have a total of more than 200,000 mouths waiting there, and the amount required is not a few. That alone can almost make people burn.

According to the regulations of the imperial court, the food and salary of the loyal camp must first be obtained from self-cultivation, and the insufficient part will be allocated by the imperial court. After the end of the Huguang War in the first half of the year, Emperor Longwu officially issued an edict to assign Jiuxiwei and part of the Weisho area in Changde to the Zhongzhen Battalion as a garrison. Most of the original military households were moved to Chenzhou Wei, and the rest were accepted by the rest of the guards in Changde. The original guard camp Tuntian was taken over by the Chung Chung Battalion and became self-reliant to meet daily needs.

The relocation of military households did not take much effort, Jiuxi Wei because of the neighboring war-prone Hubei, the loss of military households is the most serious, so far there are only more than 1,000 households left, Chenzhou Wei did not have much pressure to receive, and the loyal battalion has a place to live since then.

The problem is food. Even in its heyday, according to the theoretical maximum amount, the military land that could be cultivated under the jurisdiction of Jiuxiwei was only a little more than 200,000 mu. Even if these more than 200,000 mu are all fertile land, they are all in the hands of the loyal battalion, they cultivate their own land, they do not need to pay taxes and grain, and they encounter bumper harvests in two seasons every year, and the harvest in one year is still insufficient compared to the needs of all the families of the whole army. If there is no war. Tighten your belt, maybe you can last a year, but it's just enough to make ends meet. If the harvest is not good. Or if there is a large-scale military operation, then the harvest of food will not be enough.

This is still according to the maximum theoretical number of acres of land and the best year, not to mention that there are not three out of ten military fields that Jiuxiwei should have now, and this year's agricultural time has also been delayed by the war. The Loyal Battalion, which had just taken over the area, could not be self-sufficient immediately.

It stands to reason that this problem is not unsolvable, and the shortfall can be paid by the imperial court. But now Huguang has only experienced a major war, and the two Guangxi have not long recovered. The Longwu Imperial Court's own finances are still stretched, so how can it have the spare resources to allocate it? Even if you can allocate some of it, it's still a drop in the bucket.

He Tengjiao, the governor of Huguang, has been operating in Huguang for a long time. You may have surplus food on your hands. But hoping to borrow grain from Lord He, Li Guo never thought about it.

In short, the current Loyalty Battalion has fallen into the dilemma of a shortage of food and grass, and there is no solution to it. At most, they will be completely out of food within a month. The shortage of grain and grass will inevitably lead to many derivative problems. This is also where Li Guo's worries lie.

At present, Li Guo is only the nominal commander of the loyalty battalion, and his original status cannot be compared with his uncle Li Zicheng's original status. Since the death of Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin, although the rest of the Dashun army still maintains the unity on the surface, it has long been divided into many mountains. The same is true of the current loyalty battalion, in addition to him and Gao Yigong, Tian Jianxiu, Yuan Zongdi, Liu Tichun, and Dang Shousu also have their own forces.

If he, the nominal commander, still can't solve the problem of food and grass, then I am afraid that the nominal unity of the loyal battalion company will no longer exist. The once famous Dashun army will be completely divided until it disappears.

But how could Li Guo be willing to face such a result? At the beginning, the shame of the defeat of the stone soldiers was not snowed, the revenge of the slaughter of the hometown Jiqian Village, and the hatred of the death of his uncle Li Zicheng in Jiugong Mountain were not repaid. Dolgon, Wu Sangui, Azig...... The faces of the wicked are still dangling in the world, how can the loyalty camp be divided?

But how do you get food? Do you have to eat a few times like before? Or......

Just when Li Guo was puzzled. The righteous son Lee Rae-hyung walked in.

"Dad, a messenger from the official army has come, saying that he wants to see you."

"How many times has Lai Heng told you? Don't call an official or an army in the future, do you think it was three years ago? ”

Li Laiheng smiled embarrassedly: "Haha, Dad, I just can't change my mouth." But I don't think I'm right to call it that, they never treated us as their own. ”

"Hugh wants to say this again, where did the messenger come from?"

"I heard him say that he was sent by Pang Yue, the chief soldier of Huguang and the Marquis of Dingwu."

Li Guo nodded thoughtfully: "Does Marquis Gao know?" ”

"Yes, he just saw it."

"Zehou (Tian Jianxiu), Mianhou (Yuan Zongdi) What about them?"

"They all went to the camp and haven't come back yet, so they shouldn't know."

"Okay, you go and invite the messenger in, and then invite the high marquis over."

"Okay, I'll go, Dad."

......

"I've seen the Marquis of Xingguo, I've seen General Gao!" In the living room, Qian Youde saluted Li Guo and Gao Yigong one by one.

"Your envoy doesn't have to be polite!"

"Please be seated!"

Since Qian Youde was only a general, in order to show respect, Li Guo and Gao Yigong did not call him a position, and only replaced him with a "noble envoy".

"This pinching fingers, I haven't seen Dingwu Hou for more than half a year, but I heard that Hou Ye went south to Liangguang with Yang Dutai, defeated Tong Yangjia in a row, Li Chengdong and the second captive, and recovered the lost land, all kinds of glorious feats, although we are thousands of miles away, I am fascinated when I hear it. I wonder if Marquis Dingwu has returned to Chenzhou now? How is it all good? Gao Yigong said with a smile. Because Li Guo is not good at words, these polite words are generally spoken by him. This is also the reason why Li Guo invited him over. First, it was to better negotiate with the envoy, and secondly, it was also to find a witness to avoid suspicion, so as not to be unclear in front of Yuan Zongdi, Tian Jianxiu and others.

"There is General Lao Gao's concern, the marshal just returned to Chenzhou a few days ago, and everything is fine. On weekdays, as long as the Marquis of Xingguo and General Gao are mentioned, the marshal is also full of praise, all of them are called 'the good generals of the world, the pillars of the country', every time the matter of Hengshan is mentioned, it is not forgotten that the Marquis of Xingguo and General Gao and all the soldiers of the loyal battalion have saved their lives in Huguang Town. Although he was in a humble position, he also agreed with this, but unfortunately he was not in the army at that time, and he could not see the heroic posture of Xingguo Marquis and General Gao with his own eyes. Today, I was lucky enough to be sent here by the marshal, which can be regarded as a matter of concern. ”

"Haha, your envoy is eloquent, and the Marquis of Dingwu is really full of talents!" Gao Yigong said with a smile.

Everyone can hear polite words, but everyone loves to listen to them, since ancient times.

Li Guo also smiled: "Your envoy's words are serious, and the trivial things are not enough to worry about." If I had learned earlier that the Marquis of Dingwu had returned to Chenzhou, I would have visited him first. I don't know what the Marquis of Dingwu sent a noble envoy to come this time, what do you think? ”

"I don't dare to be a teacher, the marshal is coming down, there are two people, a good deed, a fortune, the marshal wants to do it with the loyal battalion soldiers, hand in hand to take it, but I don't know if the Marquis of Xingguo and General Gao are interested?"

"Good deeds? Belongings? Li Guo and Gao Yigong glanced at each other and said quietly, "Please also ask your envoy to speak clearly." ”

......

Chenzhou, Huguang General Soldier Yamen

"Mr. thinks that Qian Youde is going this time, can he say that he will move the Marquis of Xingguo and others?" Pang Yue asked while looking up to enjoy the warm sunlight pouring into the room.

Tian Shizun twisted his beard and smiled: "The handsome man has always acted carefully, and since he has sent Lord Qian to go, he must have made a bamboo in his chest." Even from the student's point of view, Xingguohou had no reason to refuse this matter. The Loyal Battalion was originally the remnant of Li Chuang, but it has always been squeezed out by the ministers of the DPRK and the central government and the local military towns, and now it is in the dilemma of a shortage of grain and grass, which can be said to be even worse. Whether it was for the sake of loyalty or his own status, the Marquis of Xingguo had to find a way to get out of this predicament as soon as possible. Looking around, the current imperial court itself is not enough to help. He Duxian has always regarded the loyal camp as a thief, and it is already extraordinarily generous not to add fuel to the fire, so why not send charcoal in the snow? Only Hubei, this year's autumn harvest is quite abundant, the warehouses are full, and the main force of the Qing Dynasty has returned to the north, the morale of the troops left behind is not high, and there is Xiangyang Wang Guangtai to control it, such a good opportunity, how can the Marquis of Xingguo turn a blind eye? Now there is a proposal from the marshal, with the 20,000 tigers in my Huguang town to rely on, and the various visible benefits of the marshal's generosity, the original hesitation and scruples in the heart of the Marquis of Xingguo will definitely go to most of them. In this case, why worry about not being able to do it? ”

"Whoever knows me, sir!" Pang Yue turned around and smiled, and walked a few steps, "However, there is still one thing that I don't know if Mr. has ever thought of?" ”

"Boss, please speak!"

"The Loyalty Camp is in trouble, and it's not just us who cares about it. Tong Yanghe, the pseudo-governor of Qinghuguang, is by no means a good stubble, and I am afraid that he will not let go of this opportunity after learning the news. Thinking about it from another perspective, if I were him, the secret envoy sent to Jiuxiwei would probably be on the way. ”

"Dashuai means ......"

Without waiting for Tian Shizun to finish speaking, Pang Yue nodded: "People have no long-term concerns, but they must have near-term worries." Although I understand the personality of Xingguohou, everything cannot be extrapolated by common sense, and some things have to be guarded against. ”

The student thought that there was no need to worry too much about this matter. The Marquis of Xingguo and the Qing Dynasty have the hatred of destroying the country first, and the hatred of breaking the family last, and the mustard in it cannot be resolved with a little grain and grass and rewards. Thinking about how He Duxian excluded and suppressed the loyalty camp at the beginning, and how lured Tong Yuhe was, the Marquis of Xingguo never wavered in his will, and every time a Qing Confession lobbyist came, people did not believe it. What's more, how can the situation today be the same as it was then? How could the Marquis of Xingguo put the cart before the horse and be willing to be infamy? But it is not impossible for the marshal to be prepared for danger in times of peace, and it is necessary to send more people to pay attention, after all, Jiuxiwei is not too far away from Chenzhou. ”

"Hehe, hearing what Mr. said, I was relieved."

......

Four days later, Gao Yigong personally came to Chenzhou, as the representative of Li Guo and the generals of the loyal battalion, formally reached an agreement with Huguang Town to send troops to Hubei, and gratefully transported away the first dividend that could solve the urgent need - 60,000 stone of grain given by Pang Yue.

On the day of sending off Gao Yigong, Pang Yue came to the Gaojing Village Iron Works in the east of the city to inspect by the way. But who knew that after a few glances, there was a fast horse in the city, and an uninvited guest came to Chenzhou.

After hearing the identity and intention of the visitor, Pang Yue was surprised, hurriedly ended his inspection at the iron factory, and hurried back to the city. (To be continued.) )