"Huh!" Yang Sichang's face showed a self-deprecating smile: "But just after listening to Liu Zhentai's words, I suddenly became enlightened." Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info you are willing to even play a Mongolian Tartar for the sake of the Ming Dynasty, what can this cabinet minister not do? The country has reached this point, and I am still thinking about a little personal gain and disgrace, I have really read the sage books in vain all these years! ”

"Master Overseer! No, it should be said that it is the first (the honorific title of the first assistant in the Ming Dynasty)! Inadvertently, Liu Cheng slapped Yang Sichang again: "The saint is in such a hurry to recruit you back, it can be seen that you have deep expectations!" ”

"Hmm!" Yang Sichang nodded: "Liu Zhentai, I have already remembered what you said last time, you must also hurry up here, once the court passes, the matter of military training will bother you, by the way, I asked you how many soldiers you want to train last time, you said that you are not in a hurry, you are not ready, I will return to Beijing in the next two days, you should give me a thorough understanding!" ”

"It's good!" Liu Cheng smiled: "According to my plan, if you want to attack Dongyu, you need a total of sixteen full-training infantry battalions in the direction of Xuanda, and I plan to mainly use Mongolian volunteers for cavalry, in addition to a special siege artillery team, an engineering battalion, that's all." ”

"Sixteen infantry battalions, all you need is so many?" Yang Sichang almost couldn't believe his ears, although there was no definite number for the number of a battalion in the late Ming Dynasty, it was usually between three thousand and one thousand, that is to say, at most it was only 48,000 people, and the number of artillery and engineering battalions was even less, adding up to only 55,000 people, even if one person counted 20 taels a year, it was only 1.1 million taels of silver, which was only a little compared to the consumption of 3 or 4 million taels of silver a year of the Guanning Army.

"Actually, only twelve battalions of infantry are enough, because I already have four battalions under my command! However, these twelve battalions must be fully trained units, and the armor and weapons training is the same as my original four battalions, so I require that their weapons and armor must be purchased from my arsenal, that is to say, the Yuanyang! ”

"Buy from your arsenal? How is this possible, the imperial court is absolutely impassable, and it is not three hundred and five hundred, this is a battle of tens of thousands of people, how can the imperial court agree? ”

"Then I can't help it!" Liu Cheng spread his hands: "Since this is the case, then you can ask for another master!" ”

Yang Sichang's eyes flashed with angry sparks, and then they went out again: "Liu Zhentai, are you so short of money?" As far as I know, you have salt, tea, and horses to buy and sell, which one of them is not to make a lot of money, this time you won the battle in the east, the court will definitely give you a marquis, there is nothing to be rich and prosperous, why do you care so much about this bit of silver? ”

"Yes, I'm short of money! But it's not for any glory and wealth, but for raising these soldiers, you also know how much silver the imperial court gives us Ningxia Town a year, where is there enough to raise so many soldiers? Is this for myself? Speaking of this, Liu Cheng sneered: "Besides, I'm not just for money, what kind of virtue is the armor weapon from the military department, don't you know it?" The armor was torn when stabbed, the tendons and corners of the bow and arrows were rotten, the swords and guns were rusty, and the firearms exploded as soon as they were released. You have also seen the armor used by my soldiers, and if you don't use good things, wouldn't it be a fool to use the military department? ”

Liu Cheng's fierce rebuttal made Yang Sichang dumb for a moment, he has always been known for knowing soldiers, and naturally knew that what Liu Cheng said was not a lie, the quality of the weapons produced by the military department at the end of the Ming Dynasty had been rotten to an incredible level, and even his own officials admitted that this was to let the soldiers play thieves with their bare hands, and the reason was simple, it was nothing more than officials squeezing costs from materials and craftsmen in order to obtain personal gains. But it is very difficult to change, because the whole system has accumulated a lot of difficulties, unless it can be uprooted in its entirety, and then replaced by a group of new people who have no contact with the predecessor at all, and this is obviously not something that Yang Sichang can do alone. He thought for a while, and said in a consultative tone: "Liu Zhentai, I can ask people to strictly supervise it, the quality of your batch should be better, and you can also increase the number of troops to be recruited, such as twenty-five or thirty battalions!" ”

"No way!" Liu Cheng shook his head: "My lord, things are not as simple as you think, the combat effectiveness of a single soldier is poor, so there are more numbers to make up for it." But the more troops, the more difficult it is to organize and command, if you ask me to command a dozen battalions, I can barely command 40,000 or 50,000 people, 25 battalions, 30 battalions, that is, 780,000 people, I have to command and deploy it. And the more people, the more difficult it is to supply, there is no big river outside the exit from this side, the grain and straw have to rely on livestock manpower, one more soldier will require three or four people, several large livestock to serve him, no need to fight with the Dongyu, I myself will collapse, one person in the army will be the use of one person, there can not be a person who eats idle food, this number is carefully calculated by me, in fact, I hope to be less, after all, to deal with the Dongyu, the Guanning army is the main army, my side is just a partial division! ”

"But, but there is no such precedent in this dynasty!"

"My lord, it depends on your ability, you are the head of the court, the most trusted minister of the Son of Heaven!" Liu Cheng's voice was not loud, but his tone was very heavy: "Actually, I have a way, but I don't know if it works!" ”

"What's the method?"

"Those who oppose it should say that these militaristic instruments cannot be made by private businessmen. Then you can get an official to supervise the business office, and send two foreign men from the military department to my factory as overseers, isn't that okay? ”

"That's a solution!" Yang Sichang's eyes lit up: "The official supervision and business office, good, good!" Liu Zhentai, you can always give me unexpected joy! He smiled, and a suspicious look suddenly appeared on his face: "It's just that there are so many armor weapons, just rely on your factory, is it too late?" ”

"There should be no problem! I'll go back to Chaoyi after this matter, prepare these things, and wait for your news! “

"Hmm!"

After talking about the most important things, Yang Sichang's mood became a lot more relaxed. Liu Cheng called the servants from outside and brought the roasted venison to the two, Yang Sichang took a bite, and it was really delicious: "By the way, Liu Zhentai, you haven't mentioned to me the strategy of going into the East Capture!" ”

"Oh, two-pronged, let's consume the strategy!"

"How?" Yang Sichang listened to two fresh terms and asked curiously.

"The two-pronged approach is to fight and make peace, didn't we arrest Yue Tuo this time? This is just a good opportunity to negotiate peace, no matter what Huang Taiji thinks in his heart, as long as we show this bargaining chip, he must talk to us, otherwise there will be problems within them. ”

"Well, that's good!" Yang Sichang said with a smile: "I heard that this Yue Tuo has a very high status in the Eastern Captives, and his father is still the second son of the old slave, even if it is Huang Taiji, he can't completely ignore it, so what about the other hand?" ”

"That's my thing! If Huang Taiji accuses us, the court will pretend to reprimand, anyway, the most important thing is to gain time to recover these Mongolian tribes! ”

"Good!" When Yang Sichang heard this, he couldn't help but praise Liu Cheng's strategic vision. After defeating the Later Jin's westward expedition, Liu Cheng actually completely controlled the territory that traditionally belonged to the right-wing 30,000 households, and he himself had the official position of Jinong, and on behalf of the young Great Khan, he commanded the right-wing 30,000 households centered on the Hetao area, while the many tribes that originally belonged to the left-wing 30,000 households, except for the Chahar Wanhu who accompanied Lin Dan Khan's westward expedition, most of them had become dependent on the Later Jin regime and became its vassals and allies. After Liu Cheng conquered and Lingelsheng captured Yuetuo, the dividing line between the spheres of influence of the two sides was probably the line between Guihua City and Xiashui Sea. For the Ming and Qing dynasties, the core of the next step of contention was the hometown of 30,000 households on the left wing centered on the Liaohe Hetao area. If Liu Cheng was able to bring 30,000 left-wing households under his command, not only would his own strength increase, but more importantly, the Later Jin Dynasty would be reduced from a large empire spanning thousands of miles consisting of many Mongols, Jurchens, Mature Jurchens, Liaodong Han Chinese, and Joseon to a small secession regime cramped in the land of Liaodong. Later Jin not only could not unite the Mongol tribes to bypass the Liaoxi Corridor, but randomly selected any weak point on the Mingjiu border defense line to attack, and entered the North China Plain to plunder, but would fall back into the dilemma of being attacked on several sides. This is tantamount to making all the countless victories won by Nurhachi and Huang Taiji for decades come to naught. Considering the huge disparity in human and material resources between the two opposing sides, it is only a matter of time before the post-Kim regime, which is in a passive position to be beaten, is finished. Undoubtedly, Huang Taiji also knew this, and he would definitely use his greatest strength to compete with Liu Cheng for the Mongolian left wing. However, due to the political system of "collegial discussion of kings" in the Later Jin, as long as the Ming Dynasty used Yue Tuo as a bargaining chip to put forward a request for peace, no matter whether Huang Taiji believed in the sincerity of the Ming Dynasty or not, he must at least show an attitude of willingness to negotiate peace, otherwise it would trigger contradictions within the high-level of the Later Jin. And the ongoing Mingjin peace conference itself will undoubtedly shake the will of the 30,000 left-wing households who are still on the side of Houjin, after all, who knows if Houjin will sell his own interests to reach a compromise with Ming? Some of these tribes will feel that instead of letting Houjin betray them, it is better to secretly reach an agreement with Ming to leave a way for the tribe to retreat, which is undoubtedly very beneficial to Liu Chengjing's 30,000 households on the left wing.

"This is just an idea, if you want to realize it, first of all, you must reach an agreement with the Son of Heaven to control the court, otherwise all this is just empty words!"

"Yes, it has been many years since my friends in the Ming Dynasty competed with each other, only about intimacy, whether it was right or wrong." Yang Sichang sighed, he knew in his heart what Liu Cheng was referring to, Liu Cheng's strategy must have two prerequisites for it to succeed: 1. The imperial court must openly negotiate peace with the Houjin, and this will inevitably cause fierce attacks from the officials and Qingliu, as the saying goes, what a thousand people refer to, die without illness, not to mention that this is not an ordinary person, but an internal member of the ruling class in the late Ming Dynasty; 2. In the case of the imperial court openly discussing peace, Liu Cheng did not stop using troops to the left wing of 30,000 households, and the imperial court could not really hinder his military operations under the condition of public reprimand. You must know that in the political life of the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the status of military generals was very low, and Liu Cheng could easily be regarded as disobedient and arrogant, and he was likely to fall into a situation where the world was said to be killable, and the Son of Heaven and the ruling ministers must have enough willpower to persevere. Yang Sichang has confidence in himself, but he has little confidence in Chongzhen, he has not forgotten how his father died.

Just as Yang Sichang was thinking about his thoughts, Gesang rushed in from outside, kowtowed to Liu Cheng excitedly, and presented a letter with both hands: "Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations!" ”

Liu Cheng was stunned when he saw this, took the letter and opened it, his hands suddenly trembled, and he almost dropped the letter to the ground, he rubbed his eyes, as if he couldn't believe his eyes, and looked at the letter carefully, before he asked in a trembling voice: "Gesang, where is the person who sent the letter?" ”

"It's right outside!"

"Let him in!"

"Yes, sir!"

Yang Sichang, who was on the side, saw Liu Cheng's appearance and couldn't help but ask curiously: "Liu Zhentai, what is written in this letter?" ”

"Huh!" Liu Cheng smirked twice: "Adult, it's Minmin who came, I'm a father, it's twins, it's all boys!" ”

Yang Sichang was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then reacted, and hurriedly smiled: "I see, it's really gratifying, congratulations!" Liu Zhentai, your family gave birth to a unicorn, and I also have someone on the border of Daming! ”

"Thank you, sir!" Liu Cheng was already smiling from ear to ear at this time, at this time Gesang had already brought the messenger in, but it was a nephew of Fugu Heai, Liu Cheng asked about the situation of the mother and son, so he rewarded twenty taels of silver and let him go down to eat wine and rice. At this time, Liu Cheng's mood gradually calmed down, and he said to Gesang in a deep voice: "Pass the order, the whole army will enjoy wine and meat tonight, and receive double money this month!" ”

"Yes, sir!" Gesang replied and quickly retreated. Liu Cheng watched the backs of his subordinates disappear at the tent gate, and then smiled at Yang Sichang: "My lord, I plan to go back to Chaoyi tomorrow, please forgive me!" ”

"Are you going to see the kids? What's this! Yang Sichang smiled: "Ruthless may not be a real hero, and the poor son is also a husband, which is also human nature!" Anyway, I also said goodbye, and it is estimated that the edict of the Holy Lord asking me to return to Beijing will arrive in two days, and I will also prepare it! ”

Liu Cheng hurriedly stood up and wanted to send Yang Sichang out of the camp, but he didn't want to be in a hurry, so he brought down the cups and plates on several cases and fell to the ground. Seeing this, Yang Sichang smiled and said, "Liu Zhentai, I see that you are unsettled now, and you don't have to be too formalistic today." If you want something, I will return to Beijing and I will show the saint, and you must also hurry up here, don't let me commit the crime of bullying the king! (To be continued.) )