"Yes!"

Datong. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

"Kill, kill!"

Rows of recruits held spears, mimicking the movements of the veterans in front of them. The spears in their hands had no blades, and instead of blades were lead-filled blunt iron heads, so as not to injure their own men in training—but they weighed twice as much as the spears used on the battlefield, as did the arquebuses and knives used in training. In terms of training soldiers, Liu Cheng was a loyal fan of the ancient Romans and Qi Jiguang, and he firmly believed that the courage of soldiers did not come out of thin air - survival is the first instinct of man, and heavy rewards, fear of punishment, and various spiritual incentives could not fundamentally overcome the fear of death, and any belief would eventually be broken if it was not supported by material force. But if a soldier is well trained, knows how to use his weapons correctly and skillfully, has good equipment, and understands the enemy's weaknesses, he will naturally be brave, because he knows that he is on the side of the advantage, and that victory will continue to strengthen this belief. As long as the victories accumulate a certain number of times, this belief becomes extremely terrifying.

"My lord! Lu Zhitai's messenger has arrived! ”

"Hmm!" Liu Cheng, who was watching the training of recruits on the school field on the platform, turned around and nodded: "Let him come over!" ”

"Yes, sir!" The soldiers retreated, Liu Cheng turned around, with a disdainful smile on his face, and said to Lu Boqi on the side: "Lord Lu, this Lord Lu is really anxious, it's only been June, he has already shot the messenger three times to urge, and he has no patience at all!" ”

"Huh!" Lu Boqi laughed dryly: "Liu Zhentai, you can't say that, Lord Lu also has his difficulties, how many people are staring at his position, if you are not in a hurry, you can't do it!" ”

"I know someone is urging him, but these recruits have only been in the camp for less than three months, and the queue has not been completed, and the gunners have not fired a few shots. The others are just that, Cao Cao, the thief, and the sacrifice thief are all old thieves for four or five years, and the elite soldiers under them have fought seven or eight battles, to say the least. Just pull it over, what if you lose? ”

"If someone else urges it, it's fine!" Speaking of this, Lu Boqi paused slightly, and his voice became low: "I'm afraid that the palace is also urging!" ”

"Hmm!" Liu Cheng showed a hint of sympathy on his face: "If you want to say that, then it's no wonder!" ”

While speaking, the pro-soldier led the envoy to arrive, Liu Cheng looked up and down, only to see that his figure had grown up, his red face and thick beard, and he looked at his attire, he should be a deputy general, Liu Cheng saw it, and secretly thought in his heart that Lu Xiangsheng was indeed in a hurry, and actually asked a deputy general to be a messenger.

"The last general, Zuo Liangyu, see the superintendent and the lord of Zhentai!" The messenger bowed to Lu Boqi and Liu Cheng. Liu Cheng was stunned when he heard it, the name Zuo Liangyu was too loud at the end of the Ming Dynasty, he subconsciously looked at the person again, only to see his thick eyebrows and big eyes, the bridge of his nose is high, his face is like a jujube, and his beard is like ink, according to the aesthetics of the Ming Dynasty, he is a rare beautiful man, and he secretly thinks that it is no wonder that some people gossip at that time Zuo Liangyu was favored by the then military department waiter Hou Sui and was unusually promoted, not to mention anything else, it is really not groundless from the appearance.

"General Zuo, please get up!" Lu Boqi motioned for Zuo Liangyu to get up, but suddenly felt that something was wrong, and when he looked back, he saw Liu Cheng staring at the comer, his eyes were full of surprise, and he hurriedly coughed lowly, Liu Cheng reacted at this time, and hurriedly smiled: "General Zuo describes might, and he is really a talent!" ”

Zuo Liangyu was stunned when he heard this, and he didn't know why Liu Cheng suddenly came up with such a sentence, but after all, the other party's official position was above himself, so he hurriedly bowed down and said: "The last general will not dare to be an adult, and the adult has repeatedly broken the thieves, the western captives, and the eastern captives, and they are the pillars of the imperial court, and they are the model of my Ming martial artists." ”

As soon as Liu Cheng spoke, he realized that he had said the wrong thing, and then he saw the surprised eyes cast by Lu Boqi next to him, so he had to laugh twice to hide his embarrassment: "I can't afford it, I can't afford it, General Zuo sit, sit!" ”

The three of them sat down in a somewhat weird atmosphere, Zuo Liangyu took out the letter from his arms, presented it with both hands, and said, "Two adults, this is Inspector Lu's letter!" ”

Lu Boqi took the letter from the hands of his own soldiers, opened it and looked at it, and sure enough, as Liu Cheng expected, he urged the transfer of troops, he handed the letter to Liu Cheng casually, and said with a smile: "General Zuo, it's only June, and the time agreed at the beginning has not yet arrived!" ”

"That's what your lord said!" Zuo Liangyu responded and said with a smile: "It's just that the military situation is urgent, just last month, the thief and Cao Cao went out of Shou County, crossed the Huai River, entered Huaibei, and joined the local thieves, known as 500,000, and the military situation of 100,000 is urgent!" ”

"Poof!" After reading the letter, Liu Cheng couldn't help laughing: "Pay back 500,000, Master Lu has also fought, he is embarrassed to say this kind of foolish words?" If the thieves and Cao Cao really had an army of 500,000, they would have entered Beijing City a long time ago, and I don't think they even have 500,000 donkeys in their army. It is estimated that the number of people in their army who can go into battle is only a little discount, and the thieves will support the death of 20,000 people, and Cao Cao's more is estimated to be 30,000 or 40,000 people, but only two-thirds of Cao Cao's 30,000 or 40,000 people are his own, and one-third are dependent on thieves from all walks of life. General Zuo, am I guessing right? ”

"Lord Zhentai really sees everything!" Zuo Liangyu hurriedly responded: "But 50,000 people is not a lot, Huaibei is flat, there is no danger to defend, Lord Lu has to divide troops to guard, and there are only 20,000 or 30,000 soldiers under his command!" ”

"Twenty or thirty thousand is not a lot!" Liu Cheng smiled: "Each city is guarded, strangled, and moved, most of the thieves are rabble, and the wilderness is naturally divided into troops, and it is not difficult to break them all." I'm all new recruits here, and I haven't finished training, so wouldn't it be better to wait another month or two? ”

Zuo Liangyu said with a smile: "My lord said that he was joking, I think these soldiers are already very good, even if they are the standard battalion under the command of Lord Lu, it is nothing more than that!" ”

Liu Cheng was stunned for a moment and asked, "General Zuo, you won't be serious, right?" I'm a recruit here who has only been training for more than two months? ”

"It's already good to know the golden drum and know how to advance and retreat. These soldiers also coach guns, spears, knives and cards, and they practice martial arts in the army, even when Qi Shaobao is just like this, as long as they fight one or two battles and see blood, they are elite soldiers! ”

Liu Cheng couldn't help but be a little stunned when he heard Zuo Liangyu say this, after all, according to the standards of the Ming army at that time, Zuo Liangyu was telling the truth. He thought for a while and said, "In this way, General Zuo will stay here for another four or five days, and I will deploy the armor and weapons, and then bring it back to General Zuo?" However, there are only two infantry battalions, and the remaining six infantry battalions will be given two battalions every month for the next month, what do you think? ”

Zuo Liangyu was secretly happy, he didn't expect Liu Chengken to let go this time, after all, according to the unspoken rules of the Ming Dynasty, whether it is to give money or to people, there are all kinds of routine rules, he is ready to grind hard and toss for a month or two, Liu Cheng agreed so happily, it was really unexpected for him. He hurriedly responded: "Everything is arranged by the adults!" ”

"Hmm!" A smile appeared on Liu Cheng's face: "General Zuo didn't come alone this time, you will go to the camp in the next few days to have a look, and appoint the generals and colonels, the current officers are all veterans I drew from my own battalion, since I am going to hand it over to you, I will have to draw it back when the time comes!" ”

"Thank you, sir!" Zuo Liangyu was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, Liu Cheng meant that I vacated the officer positions of these two battalions, whether you use the people you brought with yourself, or promote from the original people in the battalion, they all have to accept your favor, how does this make him dislike?

Zuo Liangyu nodded and asked Zuo Liangyu, who was very grateful, to step back. Lu Boqi, who was standing on the side, did not speak, he had partnered with Liu Cheng for so long, and naturally knew that Liu Cheng did not do this to sell Zuo Liangyu's favor, but was unwilling to hand over his veterans and low-level officers who had experienced a hundred battles. Limited by economic capacity, Liu Cheng did not expand the army on a large scale, except for the infantry battalion sent to Yangzhou to Xu Hecheng, his directly governed army in Datong Town was actually only four infantry battalions, and in fact it did not increase. However, after these four battalions are all in a hundred battles, both soldiers and officers have rich experience, if necessary, immediately recruit a group of new soldiers, each battalion to draw out a part of the veterans to form a new army, strict training, half a month, the formation of eight battalions is not difficult. But Lu Boqi can only be regarded as not seeing Liu Cheng's obviously dissenting behavior, for two reasons: first of all, he and Liu Cheng are really too deeply involved, and the two have long been in a relationship of both glory and loss, if he reports to the court, even if Chongzhen lets himself go this time, but so many things that Liu Cheng cooperated with him in the past will become the handle of the attack of political enemies in the court, he is just a man from a high background, and he has no strong backer behind him, and he is in a high position, so he will only fall to pieces; Second, Daming is already in internal and external difficulties, wind and rain situation, although Liu Cheng has ill intentions, but after all, he is still obedient to the imperial court, and he can also fight, if he really cuts down this pillar, it may not be a good thing for Daming. Although Lu Boqi is not well-known, he has also been in the political arena for decades, and he understands in his heart that this world is not a simple either/or in many cases, and if he stiffens his neck and goes to the black, it is often not good for the country and himself.

"Lord Lu, if you are okay at night, why don't you go to Zhuangzi outside my city to have a glass of water and wine together, how about soaking in the hot springs?"

Liu Cheng's voice woke Lu Boqi from his thoughts, he looked at the smile on the other party's face, and secretly thought that no matter what he said, this person still had nothing to say to himself and his friends. He rolled up his sleeves and smiled: "It's okay, I'm about to taste General Liu's grape wine!" ”

Lu and Liu went to Zhuangzi surrounded by guards, and after grooming, they sat down separately and after three rounds of wine, Lu Boqi asked with three points of wine: "General Liu, why do you think the imperial court chose Lord Lu and Lord Xiong to suppress the thieves this time?" ”

Liu Cheng put down his wine glass, he knew in his heart that the focus of Lu Boqi's question was on "two people" rather than Lu Xiangsheng and Xiong Wencan, as Lu Boqi asked, the purpose of the Ming Dynasty's establishment of governors and governors was to solve the problem of the division of provinces and the dispersion of forces, so as to integrate forces to do great things; However, two governors, Lu Xiangsheng and Xiong Wencan, were set up, each of which was one side, but they did not govern each other. Although the areas under the jurisdiction of the two do not overlap, there will be problems of shirking each other's responsibilities and beggar-thy-neighbor. Neither Yang Sichang nor Chongzhen could fail to see such a simple question, and they would only do it for another reason.

"Then what does Lord Lu think is the reason?"

"The power is too high, the power is too heavy, Yang Wen is weak and can't leave the Jingshi, and there is no one in his hands who can be trusted, so he can only divide it into two for Xiong and Lu!" Lu Boqi was rare and straightforward this time, which made Liu Cheng a little surprised. As Lu Boqi said, after the fall of Zhongdu, although Yang Sichang fought back and won a complete victory, he not only retained his position, but also passed the matter of raising taxes and salaries to train troops, and also drove a group of ministers who opposed him out of the court. But this exposes a new problem - there are too few talents in the pocket. Judging from his previous official positions, Yang Sichang is an official who is good at managing money and reorganizing the army, but according to the political rules of the Ming Dynasty, only when he goes out and lets go of Xuezheng in the court can he have enough supporters to control the key departments such as the Yushitai, the Household Department, and the Military Department, and the result is that Yang Sichang cannot leave the center, because once he leaves the center, he cannot maintain his influence on Chongzhen, and there is no trustworthy and capable person at hand, and the battlefield of exterminating the thieves has expanded from the original north to the east to the canal, west to Sichuan, south to the Yangtze River, In the vast area north of the Great Wall, putting the power of such a large piece of land in the hands of one person did not conform to the principle of political checks and balances, so it could only be divided into two and handed over to Lu Xiangsheng and Xiong Wencan.

"Hmm!" Liu Cheng smiled slightly, secretly thinking that his old partner had also been trained, if he had done the Houjin mess at that time, the thieves had not been exterminated, it was estimated that Yang Sichang would let Lu Boqi be the governor and let himself deal with the thieves, so he might as well test him: "Then if you are Lu Xiangsheng, how should you deal with Cao Cao and the thieves?" ”

"General Liu has taken the test for his own officer?" Lu Boqi laughed.

"Don't dare, anyway, there's nothing to talk about, and just bring it to drink!"

Lu Boqi smiled and thought for a moment: "I don't know about the use of soldiers, but I think it's a good thing!" ”

"Why do you say that?"

"I remember that last winter, the thieves broke through the central capital, and it was the three of Chuang, Xian, and Cao Cao who united more than 20 bandits and more than 100,000 troops to besiege and take it. According to what General Zuo said, there were only Cao Cao and Xian two thieves who crossed the Huai River north, but there were no thieves, and the strength was weak! ”

"Well, that's what your lord said!" Liu Cheng poured a glass of wine for Lu Boqi with a smile: "What's next?" ”

Getting Liu Cheng's approval, Lu Boqi was very happy, he drank all the wine in the cup, and said with a little drunkenness: "If I am Lu Xiangsheng, I will naturally take advantage of the weakness of the thief, first break the thief and Cao Cao, force them to go south, and then join forces with Lord Xiong to besiege!" (To be continued.) )