Due to the fact that there was a bit of alcohol, Lu Boqi's expression was a little confused, but Liu Cheng still understood what the other party meant, compared to the Yangtze River, the Huai River, especially the upper reaches of the Huai River, is not too difficult to overcome geographical obstacles, but even so, under the pursuit of the army, Cao Cao and Zhang Xianzhong will inevitably abandon most of the baggage and livestock, and can only flee back to the south bank with a small number of backbones. www.biquge.info The newly defeated two of them will inevitably retreat to the western mountains to join Li Zicheng to seek refuge, and it should be autumn at this time, and Li Zicheng, who has increased many mouths at once, has only one choice is to go out to plunder before the arrival of winter, which is a good opportunity for Lu Xiangsheng and Xiong Wencan to fight. Although the whole strategy was still crude and required hard work to perfect the details, it was not his task as a governor of the party, Lüberqi. Presumably, Lu Xiangsheng's strategy is not far behind, so he is so anxious to ask Liu Cheng for a new army that has not yet been fully trained, it seems that people will improve!

Thinking of this, Liu Cheng picked up the wine jug, filled Lu Boqi's wine glass, raised his own wine glass, and said with a serious expression: "Lord Lu, it is really a blessing for me to have a boss like you!" ”

Lu Boqi was stunned when he saw this, saw Liu Cheng's serious eyes, and picked up the wine glass: "General Liu, it's also a blessing for me to meet you!" The two looked at each other, burst out laughing, and drank the wine from their glasses.

At this time, Zhao Wende came in from the outside, looking hurried, he walked to Liu Cheng's side, made a gesture, and said in a low voice: "My lord, I have something important to tell you below!" ”

"It's Jiansheng!" Seeing Zhao Wende like this, Lu Boqi knew that there was something important about the military plane, and said with a smile: "If you have something, just say it!" It's too hot in the house, I'll go outside and blow the wind! He pushed hard, trying to stand up, but he didn't want to drink too quickly, and before he knew it, his legs went limp, and he sat back in his chair and shook his chopsticks to the ground. Seeing him like this, Liu Cheng couldn't help but smile and said, "Come on, quickly help Lord Lu to go to the back room to rest!" ”

The two maidservants came in and helped Lu Boqi out, and after he went out, Liu Cheng said to Zhao Wende with a smile: "Jiansheng, sit down and talk, what's the matter?" ”

"It's Mr. Lin's news!" Zhao Wende took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Liu Cheng: "I will ask people to make a few copies of the chart for record, and send it as soon as it is finished!" ”

"Oh, it's time to get to Xingkai Lake, so fast?" Liu Cheng was taken aback, then showed joy, opened the letterhead and looked at it, after a while, he raised his head and said with a smile: "Well, it hasn't arrived yet, but it can open up a sea route, as long as this road is open, even if Xingkai Lake can't be defended, you can retreat to Niluhan, and if you can't do it, you can retreat to North Ezo, anyway, I don't expect them to conquer the city, as long as they can contain Dongyu all the way!" ”

"What your lord says is very true!" Zhao Wende said with a smile: "Although the Donglu is known as 150,000 people, in addition to the soldiers on duty, there are only 70,000 or 80,000 soldiers who can mobilize in the field. ”

"10,000 people?" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "Two or three thousand people, no, even if it is one or two thousand people, I am satisfied, that Niluhan is in the extreme north, more than two thousand miles away from Shenyang, and the way is sparsely populated, the road is rugged, Dongyu sent a soldier to guard there, there must be seven or eight people on the way to transport, even if a battle is not fought, it will consume Huang Taiji." ”

"What about the armor, iron, craftsmen, and reinforcements that Mr. Lin wants?"

"You can give him armor and iron materials, but there are no reinforcements! Neither did the craftsmen! Liu Cheng's answer was categorical, and seeing Zhao Wende's surprised eyes, Liu Cheng sneered: "Jiansheng, to fight with soldiers, you must divide the main and secondary, whether it is Xingkai Lake or Niluhan, no matter how important it is, it is also a secondary battlefield, and the road from Daning to Guangning is the main one." I sent Acton and the Jurchens to surrender troops, and later to the Cossacks, which became the best of nature, and at most lost some money. The infantry team here, as well as the Mongolian departments, is the capital that I have accumulated with great difficulty over the years, and it is no different from my flesh and blood, which is to be used to build Daning City in the future, attack Guangning, and restore Liaodong, and not a single soldier will be lost in the wild land of Niluhan. You told Lin Heshui in the letter that there are only so many reinforcements, and I will not give him any more, but I can give him another 400 sets of armor, 100 stone of iron, and another 100 stone of raw silk, 100 stone of tea, and 5,000 taels of silver. It just so happens that Japan has just finished the war, there must be a lot of ronins who have nowhere to make a living, and there must be craftsmen, so he uses these as capital to recruit more Japanese ronin, or the local barbarians, whatever he wants, he doesn't have anyone, money, food, silk, these can be, as long as he can keep the stronghold in Niluhan and contain the Donglu all the way, I will reward him heavily after the deed! ”

"Yes, sir!" Zhao Wende answered, turned around and was about to go out, but when he walked to the door, he was stopped by Liu Cheng: "Jiansheng, slow down!" ”

"My lord, what else do you command?"

"You write another letter to Chechen Khan Shuo Lei for me, asking him to come to Monan in August, and I will hunt with him in Jining Haizi!"

Ningguta, Pulu Township.

"You're saying those wildlings are going to rebel, so we should retreat?" Bahai asked with a shallow smile.

Tartu did not have the method of being provoked, he had just reached forty and he was fifty on the surface, thanks to the cold wind and snow of the north, his face was like a knife and an axe, like a hard rock, and there was no expression in one of his eyes, and those who knew him well would know that this man was as strong as a rock. "These beggars want to rebel every day, and as long as you turn your back to him, they will shoot arrows at you!" "But this time it's different," he said. ”

"It's different, what's the difference?" Ba Haiyi looked at the sky with interest: "Since this is the case every day, why do you need to retreat?" Tartu, you are not afraid of the barbarians with wooden spears, stone arrowheads, and animal skins, right? ”

Tartu's lips pursed, and he lowered his eyes so as not to let the other party see the anger in his eyes, even a fearless veteran who had been in Ningguta for more than ten years and had long been accustomed to fighting and death, would tremble in fear when he saw Tartu show such an expression. Still, he took a deep breath and suppressed the anger in his chest, and what made him do so was a deep-seated uneasiness—an instinct about the danger that was coming to him from more than twenty years of riding horses. He looked around, but there seemed to be some kind of malicious presence in the familiar forest in the past, and he was coldly watching him. At this point, all he wanted was to turn his horse's head around immediately, flee back to Ningguta, and then close the gates. But this is something you should never say to your boss.

"We still have a long way to go back to Ningguta!" Tartu tried his best to calm his voice: "It's a matter of eight or nine days, anything can happen on the road!" ”

"What about the mink?" Bahai frowned.

"We can come back next time!"

"Next time?" Bahai suddenly laughed, and suddenly he kicked a wooden barrel next to him, and shouted, "No one likes to come to this place again except for you beggars!" ”

This is a village in the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River, and like most of the local villages, it consists of dozens of thatched huts, a ring of wooden walls, a ditch, and hundreds of beggars who look as dirty and smelly as their pigs and hounds, at least in Bahai's eyes. The only difference from the other villages was that the village was surrounded by a stone wall, and every summer in June, Aung Bang Zhangjing, who was stationed in Ningguta, sent people to receive mink skins as tribute from the natives and the inhabitants of Sakhalin, which was an extremely important strategic material for the emerging Manchurian regime.

Ba Hai, who was born in the Blue Banner, was only twenty-five years old, and he was ordered to lead a hundred infantry and fifty cavalry to collect tribute. Although in the eyes of the people of the Ming Dynasty, he was a barbarian who drank blood, but Bahai himself could regard himself as a member of a civilized society, and he had never regarded these beggars who exuded a terrible smell and wore stinking animal skins all year round as his compatriots, in fact, in his eyes, Tartu and Sauron were similar. At this time, he was dressed in gray deerskin boots, brown leather trousers, and a round-necked robe made of Songjiang cloth under the polished and shiny iron armor, and the thick and soft mink cloak on his body contrasted sharply with the shabby sheepskin jacket on his deputy. This constitutes a striking example of the well-known sociological assertion that in any human society there is a chain of contempt, and that those at the top gain a sense of superiority through contempt for those at the bottom.

"Aung Bang Zhangjing asked us to come here to collect mink, and we have already collected it!" Tartu pointed to the pile of furs that were a man tall next to him: "Now the mink is here, we have received it, there is still a long way to wait for us, yes, it is not winter, but even if it is summer, it is a long way, and on both sides of the road are wild forests with no end in sight, there is everything in the forest, but there are no houses, hot water and food, only begging for charming poisoned arrows." My lord, have you seen those brute shooters? Before they could walk, they played with small bows and arrows; When you are five or six years old, you have to shoot squirrels, rabbits, and pheasants with a small bow for your own food, or you will starve to death; When you grow up, all of them will be able to shoot more than two stones, and they can easily shoot through your eyes within 70 steps! ”

Bahai didn't seem to be listening to Tartu's words at all. He looked at the surrounding scenery with the uninterested and nonchalant look peculiar to aristocrats, and just when Tartu thought that the other party was not listening to him at all, Bahai suddenly asked: "Tartu, tell me, why do you think you should retreat?" You know there are still more than a dozen tribes whose tributes have not yet been delivered! ”

Before becoming a soldier of the Eight Banners, Tartu was originally a beggar charmer, but it was more than twenty years ago that he was incorporated into the Eight Banners. For these compatriots, whose level of civilization was far lower than their own, the Jianzhou Jurchens and Haixi Jurchens contemptuously referred to them as Sauron. In the past 20 years, he has climbed from an Aha to the position of Niu Lu Ezhen with his bravery and tenacity. In Ningguta, Tartu knew more about the situation of these barbarian tribes on both sides of the Heilongjiang River than anyone else, which is why the Ningguta guard sent him to Bahai as his deputy.

"My lord, the dozen or so tribes that didn't send tribute are all near Xingkai Lake, and the furs there are the finest, and the prescribed tributes are also the most, don't you think it's strange?"

"Strange? What's so strange? Bahai smiled: "Maybe they are delayed on the way, maybe they don't have enough offerings to want to be in arrears, what is this?" ”

"This can't be?" Tartu shook his head: "How can all the tribes be delayed together?" Even if their tribute is insufficient, they will send some first, after all, they need to exchange their furs for salt! ”

Tartu's second reason is very convincing, as he said, for these barbarians living in the mountains and forests, salt and iron are two necessities that cannot be produced by themselves, in order to weaken their threat, the Later Jin regime strictly restricted the import of iron tools to them, but did not restrict salt, and in addition to collecting tribute, they also had a mission to use salt to buy the skins of these mountain hunters. And for these beggars, this time of year is a rare opportunity to obtain salt, and it will never be missed.

"What does this mean?" Bahai had a disapproving look on his face.

"My lord, there are only two possibilities: 1. The dozen or so tribes around Xingkai Lake have been unified by a strong leader, otherwise they would not have acted in such a uniform manner; 2. It is very likely that they have got a new channel of salt. Speaking of this, Tartu paused slightly, and stared at Bahai with blazing eyes: "My lord, Ningguta has a total of a thousand horse armor guards, but it has to rule over the barbarians in a radius of thousands of miles, and the reason why they can control so many barbarians with such a few people is because they belong to hundreds of tribes, and these tribes hate each other and fight each other for hunting grounds, water sources or other things. Because of this, Ninguta was able to control the situation. But if someone can unify a dozen tribes, then the situation will be different! ”

"You mean they're going to attack us, to attack Ninguta?" As if hearing something incredible, Bahai's face showed a mocking smile: "Just their arrows made of bones and flint? Roast a hard spear with fire? You're not scared, are you? ”

"Arrows of bones and flint can kill people if they hit the eye!" Tartu sneered, and he stretched out his finger and pointed to his right eye, which was covered by a black cloth: "Fifteen years ago, if the woman who shot me used a soft bow, I'm afraid I would have lost more than just an eye!" ”

(To be continued.) )