Zodiac Zhou was stunned when he heard this, and asked rhetorically: "Framed? Where does this begin? ”

"Yang Wen was afraid that you would have the opportunity to go to Jiangnan and make a comeback, so he resorted to this plan, if you did this in Jiangnan, he would be able to say to the Holy Lord that you have a grudge and plot against you!"

"Well, shouldn't it?" Huang Daozhou was stunned when he heard this. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

"Sir, you can't have the heart to hurt others, and you can't have the heart to prevent people!" Hou Fangyu said in a low voice: "Yang Wenqiang seems to be loyal on the outside, but he is treacherous on the inside. At the beginning of the attack case, Wen Tiren was injured, Zhou Yanru went to work, Chen Zhenhui and his son died, only he went all the way up, do you think it's just luck? ”

Huang Daozhou was upset by Hou Fangyu's persuasion, his poetry and temperament are all selected, but for the world's people's hearts, they are just average, how can they distinguish the authenticity of Yang Sichang's intentions? In the end, he only paused and sighed: "Hey, people's hearts are so corrupt, is Daming really going to die?" ”

Datong.

Liu Cheng's private house is located outside the city next to a jujube forest, at this time it is early spring, the jujube tree has grown tender buds, the small river next to the mansion has also thawed, the river is murmuring, the jujube forest is covered, from a distance to see the pavilions in the house are scattered, the sound of pipa music is endless, because the surrounding population is sparse, it seems to be winding and quiet, like a fairyland on earth.

However, at this time, this mansion is a completely different scene, there are hundreds of healthy horses parked in the square at the door, and the sound of iron armor and swords are like a forest in the jujube forest. The outer walls of the mansion are full of archers with bird guns on their backs, and this fairyland on earth has become a barracks at this time.

"My lord, the generals from all over the country have arrived!" Zhao Wende walked up to Liu Cheng, who was facing the bronze mirror to straighten his clothes, and bowed, although he tried his best to make his voice sound calmer, he still betrayed him from the trembling corners of his sleeves. Liu Cheng turned around with a smile and gently patted Zhao Wende's shoulder: "Jiansheng, don't be nervous, I won't let the army turn the gun and point it at Beijing later!" ”

Zhao Wende's eyes widened suddenly, and he immediately realized that this was just a clumsy joke, but it effectively drove away the tension on his body, and he nodded with a smile: "It's not time yet, my lord, it's not time yet!" ”

"Not bad!" Liu Cheng nodded with satisfaction: "Now let's clean up the Jurchens first!" ”

"See the chief soldier Jinong) Your Excellency!"

When Liu Cheng walked into the room, dozens of generals with different costumes and appearances stood up and saluted him in different languages. Liu Cheng nodded, motioned for everyone to sit down, and began to speak to everyone in Chinese, his speed of speech was not fast, and every time he said a few words, he would pause for a while, so that the interpreter behind him could translate it into Mongolian, Tibetan, Turkic, and Russian, so that these generals belonging to different nationalities and different regions could know.

"Ladies and gentlemen, just four days ago, Yang Shoufu's excerpt on raising taxes and salaries for military training has been passed, and the eleven ministers who insist on opposing it have been dismissed from their posts and ordered to return to their hometowns immediately. According to the prior agreement, in Datong Town, that is, we will train eight infantry battalions here, in addition to fourteen battalions of armor equipment, all provided by Hongyang, in addition, a foot battalion will be transferred from Datong Town, and 2,000 cavalry will go south to crusade against the thieves! Speaking of this, Liu Cheng paused slightly: "Of course, all this is not done in vain, according to the plan of the imperial court, sixty percent of the three million 3.3 million taels of silver newly collected will be paid to Datong Town, and among the twelve newly organized infantry battalions, we can also leave one as a replacement for the one that was transferred." ”

Hearing Liu Cheng say that Datong Town will be able to get such a big piece of cake from the new taxes, the faces of the generals showed ecstasy, not to mention the poor Tartars of Mongolia and Tibet, even if they originally belonged to the Ming generals from Yansui, Ningxia, and Xuanda Town, the military expenditure of more than one million taels of silver is also an astronomical amount of money for them, after all, after the Houjin Uprising, most of the military expenditure of the Ming Dynasty fell on the head of the Liaoxi Military Town, which directly faced the Houjin, and it would be good if the rest of the army could get a fraction.

Liu Cheng paused for a while, and then continued: "The matter of eating the king, the matter of loyalty to the king, since we have eaten the salary, we have to do things." The matter of military training was handed over to Du Ruhu, and the infantry battalion that went south was led by Bai Wang, mixed with seventy percent of the recruits to go in, trained for three weeks, and then set off, first to Beijing, and then south along the canal, to Yangzhou to wait for Lord Xu's dispatch. ”

"Yes, sir!" Du Ruhu and Bai Wang both got up to receive the order, and all the generals cast envious eyes on Bai Wang, leading a battalion alone, and going to a rich place like Yangzhou, just to deal with thieves, no matter how you look at it, it is much better than staying in Datong. ”

"As for the cavalry!" Liu Cheng's gaze swept over the generals, and everyone subconsciously puffed up their chests, hoping that their names would be called: "It's just take off and don't spend it!" ”

"Me?" Totobuhua's eyes widened in astonishment, he was extremely old in Liu Chengjun's qualifications, and he was a thief; Kill the dragon; Breaking the old and returning to the eye; Ningxia Po Lin Dan Khan, Bu Lost Rabbit Khan; He crossed the Hanhai Sea to break the ground and Xie Tu, and he fought with the Chechen Ministry of the Coalition Army, and he had military merits, but after crossing the Hanhai battle, he became ill, and he had sores all over his body, unable to wear armor, and could not go to the battlefield. Liu Cheng had to let him recuperate in his own tribe and get a job. Later, he broke the Zalut Division, killed Kong Youde, Geng Jingzhong, captured Yue Tuo, and the left wing of the Eastern Expedition, and he did not participate in these battles, and his official position and military exploits with his peers were suddenly opened. Just now he sat in a group of juniors, looking dejected, but he didn't expect to be called by Liu Cheng by his name, and he didn't react at once.

"Yes, it's you! If you don't take off, could it be that you have been lying in bed for more than a year, and you can't put on armor and go into battle? ”

His face suddenly turned red, and he tore off his robe, revealing dense chest hair, just like a pig's bristles, and the following scars could still be seen: "Don't worry, my lord, as long as I don't take off my breath and survive, I can get on the horse and kill the thief for the adult!" ”

"Good!" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "Sure enough, it's still my beast minions, the two thousand cavalry will be led by you, a few days ago, the Neqi of the Zalut Department has already thrown to my side, I asked his son to draw seven hundred horsemen from the tribe, and then draw three hundred horsemen from the captives on the left flank, and the other thousand Uzbeks, Afghans, Pashtuns, and Zahu, all of them are one person and two horses, all of which are handed over to you to command." It's also the road of Baiwang, but now it's just spring, and the horses are not fat, so you start three months later than him, and wait until the horses eat the summer grass! ”

"Yes, sir!" Tokhoff Buhua replied angrily: "Don't worry, my lord, I will go south this time, and I will definitely cut off the heads of the thief, the thief, and Cao Cao and send them to the feet of the adults!" ”

After listening to the dispatch of these two people, the appetites of all the generals were aroused, and they were all eager to try, waiting for Liu Cheng's distribution. Liu Cheng walked to the wall and lifted the curtain on it, revealing the hanging map. He pointed to the map and said: "After our army's crusade to the east last winter, the left wing units that were originally attached to the east have been disabled, and not long ago the Zarut division abandoned the darkness and turned to the light, and robbed them before leaving, in fact, the left wing no longer exists. In fact, there is only one Horqin division between our army and the Eastern Captives. After the Horqin Department, it is the side wall of Shengjing. Speaking of this, Liu Cheng turned around and showed a meaningful smile to the generals.

"The last general is willing to lead the army to the east, smash the side wall, and capture the chieftain alive under the knees of the lord!" Du Guoying was the first to stand up, after breaking the left flank in the first battle, he seemed to be the first general under Liu Cheng, originally he thought that the task of leading the south to fight the thieves would fall on his head, but he didn't expect to send Bai Wang and Totobuhua, and he was still slightly unhappy in his heart, so he was the first to stand up at this time.

"Sit down, sit down!" Liu Cheng waved his hand: "We only have thirty or forty thousand soldiers on hand, how can we count that there are seventy or eighty thousand soldiers in Dongyu, right?" It's not certain who wins and who loses! Let's do it, let's do it! How can the elite that people have accumulated for decades be so easy to deal with? Liu Cheng repelled Du Guoying and began to tell his plan: the whole plan was divided into three steps: the first step was to eliminate the Horqin Division; The second step is to rebuild Daning City, firstly, to protect the land of Jingshi and Monan, and secondly, to accumulate grain in the fields there, as a base to continue to attack eastward; The third step is to go east along the Laoha River, and attack Guangningwei with the Ming army in western Liaoning, and restore eastern Liao.

"As you all know, the hardest day on the prairie is spring, and the cattle have managed to survive the winter, and the mare have to breed ponies, and they have no fat, and they can't fight, and they can't run. Most of us are actually about the same, but we were able to make six or seven thousand fat horses last year by exchanging honeycomb coal for straw on the Hetao side, and with the hoarding of horse feed. I plan to divide into two teams, led by Agui and Gesang respectively, and take turns to harass the Horqin people, plunder their livestock, so that they cannot rest and feed in peace, and wait until after autumn to send troops in a big way, and try to solve this problem this year! Everyone else will go back and recuperate, and wait until the autumn to send troops! ”

"Yes, sir!" All the generals took orders in unison, and only after Liu Cheng left the room did they retreat one after another. Bai Wang, who got the messenger, was about to hurry home to prepare, but was stopped by Hao Shaoqi: "Lord Bai, you come with me, my lord still has something to tell you!" ”

"Yes!" Bai Wang tamingly followed Hao Shaoqi, walked through a verandah, and came to Liu Cheng's study. He entered the study and saw that Liu Cheng had just finished writing a letter, so he hurriedly bowed down and bowed: "The last general will see your lord!" ”

"Get up!" Liu Cheng waved his hand briskly: "I called you here because there is another important thing for you to do, you are also an old man, you should understand the importance of it!" ”

"Don't worry, my lord, the last general's mouth is the strictest, and he won't say a word to the Hun family!"

"Okay, just understand!" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "Actually, it's very simple, in addition to that battalion of infantry when you go south this time, there will also be a team of soldiers who will go south with you, you have to bring them to Lord Xu together, and there can be no accidents on the way, understand?" ”

"Fan Bing, take it to Lord Xu, you can't have an accident on the way!" Bai Wang repeated Liu Cheng's words and asked, "Then what?" ”

"No more, you just hand over that team of soldiers to Lord Xu!" Liu Cheng took out an item and a letter from the desk and handed it to Bai Wang: "Also, give these two things to Lord Xu!" ”

Bai Wang saw that the thing was half a jade pendant, and he carefully hid the jade pendant and the letter in his arms: "Don't worry, my lord, the last general will definitely hand over the jade pendant and the letter to Lord Xu!" ”

Seeing that Bai Wang didn't ask much, Liu Cheng nodded with satisfaction: "You step down, if it is successful this time, I will guarantee you to the imperial court!" ”

"Thank you, sir!" Bai Wang hurriedly kowtowed to Liu Cheng before retreating. After he stepped back, Liu Cheng returned to the desk and sat down, sang a breath, and said to himself: "Everything I can do has been done, and the rest is only to look at God!" ”

Taiwan Dayuan Port, Dayuan Port.

In most of the trading ports of the 17th century, there were two of the most "global" buildings - brothels and taverns, and even if you don't know the local language, you can't find the wrong place. Storms, treks, groundruns, hunger, pirates, rough captains, and all kinds of diseases are mercilessly harvesting the lives of these sea boys, and it is common to lose a third of the sailors in a single voyage. Obviously, only the scum of society and the adventurers with an extreme thirst for money would join the ranks of sailors. When they have narrowly escaped the scythe of death and set foot on solid land, their instinctive reaction is to seek out taverns and brothels, to spend all the money in their pockets before the next voyage, and to numb their tense nerves with alcohol and women's*. As a proverb circulated among an English sailor - soak in wine, die at sea. Locals also shy away from these places - no one wants to get too close to these rough drunks and get into unnecessary trouble.

But Paul. Captain Taylor, however, had to put up with this, as one of the employees of the British East India Company, he had two days earlier commanded the three-masted galleon "Oak" to arrive at Dayuan Harbor to buy the local sulphur and golden sands, the former was in high demand in Vietnam, where the North and the South were killing each other, and both sides were willing to buy the raw materials for the manufacture of gunpowder at high prices, while the latter would be very profitable as long as it was shipped back to Europe, where the proportion of gold and silver was much higher than that of Asia. He had already heard of the port changing hands when he was in Surat, and the Ming Emperor's army surrounded the Dutch fortress and launched a fierce attack to finally force the Dutch to surrender. For this, Paul. Taylor, like most of the British, gloated that the British East India Company in the first half of the seventeenth century was far from its heyday in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and that in the Far East, in the world of the jungle, the little dwarf was able to occupy the end of the food chain, living on the food scraps of the Spaniards, the Portuguese, and the Dutch. The English merchants were envious and jealous of the Dutch, who monopolized the most lucrative trade of spices, silk, sugar, and ceramics, and naturally rejoiced in their calamity.