Wang Pu smiled silently and did not refute Liu Ruyi's argument, but he did not agree with Liu Ruyi's opinion in his heart, and he did not plan to do what she said, the military secretary is equivalent to a staff officer, Liu Ruye's opinion is only for reference, if everything is done according to what she says, it will be anti-customer-oriented.

It is of course important to let the armies of the three towns in Jiangbei return to their hearts, but the armies of these three towns are not Wang Pu's descendants after all, and Wang Pu has only one purpose for these miscellaneous armies, that is, Chairman Chiang's trick to deal with the local warlords -- division and disintegration: if they can be absorbed, they will be absorbed, and if they cannot be recruited, they will be annihilated on the spot, and they must not be tolerated and annihilated.

People like Zuo Liangyu, Gao Jie, Liu Liangzuo, Liu Zeqing, Jiang Pin, Tang Tong, Wang Chengyin and others are actually warlords in troubled times, and the armies of each town are nominally the official army of the Ming Dynasty, but in fact they are their private armies! Even if Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing, and Liu Liangzuo are cut off, there are still large and small warlords below, and the armies of various towns will still not obey the orders of the Ming court.

"Ugh."

Liu Ru is ice and snow is smart, and he has already guessed Wang Pu's inner thoughts, so he sighed lightly and said: "The enemy is currently going to disintegrate the elite soldiers of the three towns in Jiangbei, which is almost self-cutting, and the happy thing is the Jiannu in the north, and the Hou Ye has thought about it, what will Zuo Liangyu of Wuchang think?" What if he led 800,000 elite soldiers down the Yangtze River to the east? ”

"Elite soldiers?" Wang Pu smiled and said, "Hehe, do you think the army under Zuo Liangyu, Gao Jie, Liu Liangzuo, and Liu Zeqing is elite soldiers?" ”

"Isn't it?" Liu Ru was stunned and said, "Zuo Liangyu, Gao Jie, Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing are all veterans who have experienced a hundred battles and made great achievements. ”

"Of course not." Wang Pu said coldly, "Zuo Liangyu, Gao Jie, and Liu Liangzuo can be called experienced in a hundred battles and have made great achievements, but the army under them is a rabble, and such an army is more than enough to bully the common people. ”

Wang Pu had trained in Datong, and of course he knew how difficult it was to build an elite army!

If you want to create an elite division that cannot be dragged down or defeated, you not only need to invest a lot of silver, but also need to experience the baptism of war.

In Datong, Wang Pu invested nearly one million taels of silver, and personally led the army into danger and fought several bloody battles with the Mongols, and finally created 4,000 elite soldiers!

How can such elite soldiers be built and built? Relying on the rich land in the south of the Yangtze River, Sun Chuanting and Wang Pu have only trained 100,000 new troops so far, and these 100,000 new troops are still far from elite soldiers! Zuo Liangyu, Gao Jie, Liu Liangzuo, Liu Zeqing and others want money or money, food or food, why do they build elite soldiers?

Zuo Liangyu, who is entrenched in Wuchang, claims to be 800,000 people, but in Wang Pu's opinion, the army that can really fight may be less than 8,000 people, and the rest are either the people who were coerced by the left army, or the family members of the army, all of which are bluffs and scare people.

In the official history, Li Zicheng was beaten by Jiannu in Guanzhong and could not stand, so he had to turn to Huguang, and as a result, Zuo Liangyu's "800,000 elite soldiers" were defeated by only tens of thousands of remnants, and Zuo Liangyu heard that Li Zicheng was coming, so frightened that he quickly abandoned Wuchang and fled along the Yangtze River to Nanjing, and he also wanted to face the banner of "Qingjun side", saying that he was going to Nanjing to kill the annihilator Ma Shiying.

With such an army, it will do nothing but harm the people, so what's the use of keeping it?

Liu Ru pursed her lips and stopped talking, but it could be seen that she was still a little unconvinced, although she had vision and ambition, she had never experienced military affairs after all, and she didn't know how deep and shallow the water was.

Wang Pu smiled and said: "Don't be unconvinced, you'll know when you get to Gaoyou." ”

■■■

At the end of October of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen (1643), Wang Pu, the marquis of Jingnan of the Ming Dynasty and the governor of the five provinces, led an army of 40,000 to the north.

At the beginning of November, the army arrived in Gaoyou.

On the order of Wang Pu, Gao Jie's troops and Liu Zeqing's troops had already assembled in the Gaoyou area a few days ago, and the chief military officers Li Benshen, Wu Shengzhao, Gao Jinku, Li Chengdong, Liu Konghe, Liu Hongji, and Li Huajing came to the Gaoyou Caoyun Wharf to greet Wang Pu.

In order to deter Li Benshen, Li Chengdong and others, and let the chief officers of these miscellaneous armies see the majesty of the "Central Army" of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Pu ordered the fleet of sailors to line up, with large cannons and small cannons all placed on the port side, and the two musket battalions marching along the canal were also lined up in four columns, carrying muskets with good bayonets on their shoulders, and marching in unison with the chanting of "the flag is fluttering."

At the Caoyun wharf, Li Benshen, Wu Shengzhao and other seven chief military officers lined up.

Not far behind him stood hundreds of guards brought by the seven general soldiers, and these seven general soldiers moved with the same thoughts as Wang Pu, and they all selected the strongest soldiers from their respective armies, wanting to give Wang Pu a dismount, so that Wang Pu knew that the Northern Expedition had to rely on their Jiangbei soldiers, and they only deserved to play tricks with the eggs of the recruits of the Yanziji battalion in the south of the Yangtze River.

But as soon as they saw the momentum of the "Central Army", the seven chief officers were immediately dumbfounded.

The "Central Army" wore a one-color blue cloth cotton coat, a one-color blue cap, and one-color thick-soled long-barreled cowhide boots on their feet, stepping on the ground and making a uniform "shell" sound, not to mention how majestic it was.

Looking back at the "elite" guards that they picked out, they were wearing old cloth robes from a few years ago, which were about to reveal their background color, and their heads were covered with scarves from Chongzhen's early years, the system was scattered, the colors were not uniform, and the cloth shoes worn on their feet were even more incomparable.

Looking at the equipment again, the "Central Army" is a one-color musket, with a wide belt tied around the waist, an armed belt on the shoulder, four dragon king cannons hanging from the left waist, two boxes of paper shell bullets hanging from the right waist, and military daggers stuck in the upper of the boots, especially the bayonet with a bright handle stuck on the gun base, which almost stunned the eyes of the seven chief officers.

Looking back at their own guards, some of them were carrying waist knives, some were holding spears, some were carrying bird guns, and one guy was still carrying a rusty three-eyed gun on his shoulder, obviously, this three-eyed gun had been smashed by this guy for many years as a hammer instead of a firearm.

The seven chief officers have been in the army for many years, but they have never seen such a majestic army in their lives!

What frightened the seven generals the most was the fleet of sailors on the canal, large and small cannons were lined up on the side of the cabin, and the muzzles of the black holes were all aimed at the left bank of the canal, and behind each cannon stood two gunners, two ammunition men, and an officer, all of whom were cold and expressionless, standing there without doing anything, and there was a murderous aura on their bodies.

"Shell Shell Shell ......"

The loud military song did not know when it had stopped, only the sound of uniform footsteps was left between heaven and earth, and when the infantry marching in a four-way column was about to enter the dock, a fast horse suddenly galloped from behind, and the herald on horseback roared hoarsely while galloping: "The general has an order, stop advancing......"

As a result, the seven chief officers and hundreds of guards on the pier saw a scene that they would never forget.

An officer of the "Central Army" ran out of the ranks, made a series of applauding movements, and then stood in front of the left side of the line with his feet together and shouted: "Stand up...... Decide! ”

"Brush!"

After two neat and loud footsteps, the 200 infantry of a brigade had been established in place, and long before this brigade, the infantry brigade that followed up had all been established.

"Stand upright!"

The officer gave another order, and the officers and men of the "Central Army" unloaded the musket post on their shoulders on the side of their right leg in a set of uniform movements, and then straightened their chests, one by one, like javelins, and all of them looked straight ahead, with hideous expressions, as if they were their most ferocious enemy in front of them.

What is a prohibition, this is a prohibition!

An army that is forbidden is not necessarily an elite division, but an elite division must be an army that is forbidden! Based on this alone, Li Chengdong and the other seven general soldiers are ashamed of themselves, and their army will definitely not be able to do this!

But they still comforted themselves in their hearts, the Central Army is actually just a showmanship, and if it really goes to the battlefield, it may not be as good as the Jiangbei Army, which is called the surface light of cow.

In the midst of a suffocating wait, a naval warship finally docked at the Caoyun dock.

Wang Pu, who was dressed in the governor's dress, walked out of the cabin surrounded by the guards, and stepped on the gangway to the dock, Li Benshen, Wu Shengzhao, Li Chengdong and other seven general soldiers hurriedly trotted forward to meet them, and then saluted Wang Pu one by one and reported their names, and when it was Li Chengdong's turn, Wang Pu couldn't help but look at it twice.

In the official history, the character of Li Chengdong is not simple, this guy is the accomplice of Yangzhou Shiyue, and he is the culprit of the three massacres in Jiading, he single-handedly destroyed the Nanming regime of Emperor Zhu Yujian of Longwu, and captured Emperor Shaowu Zhu Yuyue with his own hands, and also laid down Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Liangguang for Jiannu, which can be described as a great crime.

But looking back, he was able to get lost and return, and became the most loyal minister of Emperor Yongli of the Southern Ming Dynasty, and Jin Shengyuan, Wang Deren, Li Dingguo, Jiang Pini and others opposed the Qing Dynasty, and almost drove Jiannu out of the Central Plains.

But such a person, now he is just a young man in his early thirties.

If you want to say that the murder created in the official history, Li Chengdong is a Han annihilation, and it is not an exaggeration to kill him with a knife, but after all, he has not yet taken refuge in Jiannu, because of Wang Pu's crossing, history has changed, and the Ming Dynasty will sail in a completely different direction, will Li Chengdong still be a lackey of Jiannu like in the official history?

Wang Pu thought that Li Chengdong would not.

In fact, Li Chengdong, Jin Shengyuan, Wang Deren, Jiang Zhuang, these generals are different from the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty, the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty have been influenced by Confucianism since childhood, pay attention to the three outlines and five constants, and advertise their loyalty to the imperial court in everything, and the social atmosphere at that time had a great impact on the civil officials.

But the generals are different, the generals basically have no culture, they have been beating in blood and fire from the army, and there is only one truth they believe in, that is, whoever has a hard fist is the king! Therefore, there is no clear concept of right and wrong in the eyes of the generals, and there is no distinction between barbarians and Manchus, but only between strength and weakness.

When the Ming Dynasty was strong, the generals were loyal to the Ming Dynasty, and when the thieves were strong, the generals fell to the thieves, and when the Jiannu was strong, they fell to the Jiannu, and when they turned around, when the generals found that the Jiannu had treated them badly, and they had to suppress and guard against them everywhere, they immediately turned their faces with the Jiannu.

Things are as simple as that, this is the logic of the Ming generals: with the powerful Lao Tzu, with whomever you want, whoever wants Lao Tzu's life Lao Tzu will play with him!

Therefore, as long as Wang Pu's strength is strong enough and the Ming "Central Army" is strong enough, generals like Li Chengdong will never have any dissent towards the Ming Dynasty, as long as Wang Pu finds a way to integrate them into his lineage, they will become the most effective thugs under Wang Pu.

This is also the reason why Wang Pu deliberately showed off the military prestige of the "Central Army" to the general soldiers of the Seven Towns.

■■■

When the Central Army set up camp, more than 100,000 soldiers of the Jiangbei Army ran out of the barracks one after another to watch the excitement.

Wang Pu pointed to the soldiers of the Jiangbei Army crowded outside the camp, turned back to Liu Rushi beside him and said, "Look, what kind of army is this?" There are thirteen or fourteen-year-old children, there are also old men in their sixties, and the vast majority of them are empty-handed, is this still like an army? ”

Liu Ru looked disappointed and sighed: "I really didn't expect that the Jiangbei Army would be like this." ”

Wang Pu said: "When such an army arrives on the battlefield, can it be the opponent of the thieves and the Jiannu?" If the imperial court pulls out food and pay for such an army, isn't that spending a lot of money and grain to support a batch of waste? ”

Liu Ru nodded and said, "It seems that the Jiangbei Army should be well organized." ”

■■■

The camp of the Central Army, Wang Pu's account.

The general soldiers of the seven towns were sitting in a precarious position, and they had seen the military appearance and military might of the Central Army during the day, and none of them dared to slack off, and they all straightened their waists and put on a look of not squinting.

Hurried footsteps sounded from outside the tent, and immediately a soldier shouted: "Jingnan Hou arrives in ......"

Huo Ran, the chief soldier of the seven towns, got up, turned to the tent door with his eyes, and the tent curtain was happy, Wang Pu went straight in under the support of Lu Liu and Nen Niang, and the general soldiers of the seven towns hugged their fists at the same time, and said loudly: "See Hou Ye for your humble position." ”

Wang Pu walked to the main seat, waved his hand at the chief soldier of the Seven Towns, and said indifferently: "Sit down." ”

"Master Xie."

The general soldiers of the seven towns thanked each other and sat down one after another.

Wang Pu's eyes showed a majestic look, and he swept over the faces of the chief soldiers of the Seven Towns one by one, and said in a deep voice: "Have you brought the roster?" ”

Only Li Chengdong got up and responded: "Lord Hou, I brought my humble position." ”

Seeing that the other six town commanders had no reaction, Wang Pu frowned and said angrily: "What about the six of you? Didn't Ben Hou already send someone to inform you in advance that he was going to bring the roster to participate in this military conference? ”

Li Benshen, Wu Shengzhao and others looked at each other.

In the end, Liu Konghe got up and explained: "Lord Hou, the lowly commander has just recruited a large number of recruits, and he hasn't had time to register yet, so ...... Please forgive me. ”

"No roster?" Wang Pu said in a deep voice, "How can you pay money without a roster?" How to pay pensions to the families of soldiers who are killed in battle? And how to pull out military rations, clothing, weapons and equipment? After you go back, you will immediately register and make a register, and you will be limited to make a register within three days, and you are not allowed to cheat, and once discovered, you will be severely punished! ”

Although the Seven Towns of Jiangbei are not Wang Pu's descendants, Wang Pu's Central Army has already given them a dismount, and the more Wang Pu behaves arbitrarily, the more he can suppress these arrogant soldiers.

"Yes."

Liu Konghe, Li Benshen and others looked embarrassed, but as soon as they heard that Wang Pu was going to distribute food and weapons and equipment according to the book, the unhappiness in their hearts immediately disappeared.

Li Chengdong respectfully handed the roster to Wang Pu's case, Wang Pu turned a few pages and frowned and asked: "General Li Bing, your roster is not complete, only the name is not enough, you have to write down the age, place of origin, and military age of the soldiers, this military age is different, the standard of payment of salary is not the same, and there is also a place of origin, how to issue a pension without a place of origin?" ”

"Yes, yes, yes."

The smug look on Li Chengdong's face has long been gone, and he is embarrassed, "If you look back from your humble position, let you join the army and add the age, place of origin and military age of the officers and men of the whole army." ”

"And." Wang Pu said again, "Ben Hou also saw it just now, there are many underage children and old people in the Jiangbei Army, when you go back to make a book, children under the age of eighteen and old people over forty years old should not write up, marching to fight and defending the country is the duty of our adult men, how can we let the old man go to the battlefield and let the child bleed?" ”

"Yes." The commanders of the seven towns responded in unison, "The lowly rank must be followed." ”

Wang Pu said: "You make a separate book for the old people and children in the army, and Benhou will distribute the silver according to the booklet and let them go home." ”

As for the dismissal of children under the age of eighteen and the elderly over forty years old, the Jiangbei Army has to lose at least 30,000 people, and this is just the first step for Wang Pu to reorganize the Jiangbei Army.

First unconsciously weakened the strength of the Jiangbei Army, and when the general soldiers of the Seven Towns realized that the situation was wrong, they were already weak, at that time, the General Soldiers of the Seven Towns could only be at the mercy of Wang Pu, of course, with the strength of the Central Army, it was completely possible to solve the hundreds of thousands of Jiangbei Army by force, but Wang Pu did not want to see the Han people suffocating together after all.

The next day, Wang Pu specially arranged a military competition.

After the slimming down, the 100,000 Jiangbei Army and the 40,000 Central Army lined up in the wilderness of Gaoyou Dongxiao, first asked the general soldiers of the Seven Towns to select 200 elite soldiers from the Jiangbei Army, and then asked Li Chengdong to randomly select a brigade from the queue of the Central Army, and the 200 infantry of this brigade competed with the 200 elite soldiers selected from the Jiangbei Army.

The contest was divided into two parts, first a 20-mile armed march, followed by an armed group beating.

Four hundred men armed with wooden knives and guns beat them in front of hundreds of thousands of soldiers on a pre-selected hill, and until all the people of one side were driven off the hill, the one that could still stay on the hill won in the end.

Wang Pu arranged this military competition for demonstration.

Wang Pu wanted to deeply imprint the impression of the strength and invincibility of the Central Army into the minds of every soldier of the Jiangbei Army, and in the end, Wang Pu successfully achieved his goal.

Although the two hundred people selected by the general soldiers of the Seven Towns from their respective guards are all veterans of a hundred battles, and it is not ambiguous to go to the battlefield, where have they experienced purgatory-like physical training? The twenty-mile armed march ran down, all panting like dogs, and there was no strength left.

And the officers and men of the Central Army, twenty miles of armed rapid march ran down, as if nothing happened.

In line with the principle of sweating more in peacetime and less bloodshed in wartime, the training intensity set by Wang Pu for the officers and men of the Central Army can be described as perverted. Therefore, as soon as the war arrived, the officers and men of the Central Army were so excited that they could not stop fighting.

After running twenty miles to the hill, a group of beaters immediately showed the gap between the two armies.

The elite soldiers of Jiangbei who are selected by thousands of people all have a good skill, and they are almost all ruthless moves, and there is no trace of superfluous tricks, but they will only fight alone, and rarely cooperate with each other, and although the officers and men of the Central Army have no actual combat experience, and their moves are slightly blunt, they are fighting as a team and cooperate with each other tacitly.

Coupled with the absolute physical superiority of the officers and men of the Central Army, in less than a moment, the two hundred elite soldiers of Jiangbei were defeated and fled down the hill in embarrassment.

Li Benshen, Li Chengdong and other commanders of the seven towns were dumbfounded, these two hundred Jiangbei elite soldiers were all elites selected from their guards, but the two hundred people of the Central Army were just an infantry brigade randomly pulled out, and the final result was a complete victory for the Central Army, which could not but shock them!

Soldiers are uneducated rough people, they have no ideals, they have no ambitions, they only believe in fists.

An ordinary infantry brigade of the Central Army can defeat the 200 elites of the Jiangbei Army, which can only show the fact that if the two armies go to war now, the 100,000 Jiangbei Army will not be the opponent of the 40,000 Central Army at all.

■■■

Two days later, Wang Pu issued another military order, and only one of the brothers or brothers who served as soldiers in the Jiangbei Army was allowed to stay!

Wu Shengzhao, Gao Jinku, and Li Chengdong of Gao Jie's family all gathered in Li Benshen's tent, and Gao Jinku scolded as soon as he entered the tent door: "Damn, first dismissed the old man and children, and yesterday dismissed the only son, and today he ordered that all brothers who are soldiers in the army are only allowed to stay, and Lao Tzu's roster is deleted and deleted, and there are more than 8,000 people left in the 20,000 small horses." ”

Wu Shengzhao said angrily: "You still have more than 8,000 left, and there are only more than 5,000 people left in my camp." ”

Li Dongdong said: "Isn't this also a good thing? Although the number of people is small, all those who are left are strong men who can fight, and the strength of the Jiangbei Army has not weakened much. ”

"Don't talk about it, all of you." Li Benshen said impatiently, "Since everyone has already complied, what else is there to say." ”

"Ugh." Wu Shengzhao sighed and said, "I'm afraid that in the end, we will all become the chief soldiers of the light pole." ”

Li Chengdong said disapprerovingly: "Master Hou really wants you and me to be the chief soldier of the light pole, can you use it so troublesomely?" As soon as the Central Army bombarded with artillery, and after a few rounds of platoon guns, the Jiangbei Army was afraid that it would blow up the battalion! ”

Wu Shengzhao thought about it and felt that what Li Chengdong said was also reasonable, Wang Pu really wanted them to be the chief soldier of the light pole, it seemed that there was no need to be so troublesome, just start the fight and fight, so he scratched his head and asked: "Then you should tell me, what kind of medicine is sold in the gourd of Master Hou?" ”

"You still don't understand?" Li Chengdong said, "Master Hou is also a military general, he knows what the army is all about!" So I advise a few of you, put away those careful thoughts as soon as possible, and stop thinking about eating shortages and empty salaries, it is better to ponder how to lead good soldiers and fight a good war. ”

Li Chengdong was only half right, Wang Pu did not mean to let Li Benshen and others be the chief soldier of the light pole, but his determination to rectify the three towns in Jiangbei far exceeded their expectations.

Li Benshen finally said: "Okay, don't talk about it, you and I should go to see Hou Ye, whether Hou Ye plans to let you and me be the chief soldier of the light pole, I will know when I go back." ”

■■■

A moment later, Wang Pu, the camp of the Central Army, made a tent.

Wang Pu took over the roster submitted by Li Benshen and others, and found that after three cuts, there were less than 40,000 soldiers and horses left in the seven towns, and the remaining 90,000 people had all been sent home.

"Hmm." Wang Pu nodded, put down the roster in his hand, and said in a deep voice, "Now Ben Hou announces a decision to you. ”

Li Benshen and the other commanders of the Seven Towns hurriedly straightened their chests, and their eyes gathered on Wang Pu's face.

Wang Pu said: "You also saw the military competition two days ago, the two hundred elites of the Jiangbei Army who were selected by thousands of thousands of people could not defeat an ordinary infantry brigade of the Central Army, the quality of the Jiangbei Army was too poor, and if such an army was pulled to the battlefield, it would be for them to die!" ”

Li Benshen and the others all lowered their heads.

Although Wang Pu's depreciation of the Jiangbei Army to nothing is infuriating, this is the case, and they can't help but bow their heads.

"So......" Wang Pu glanced coldly at the general soldiers of the Seven Towns, and then said, "Benhou has decided to send the remaining 40,000 people to the Yanziji camp and conduct strict military training for them according to the training standards of the Central Army. ”

Up to now, the Jiangbei Army has been completely under Wang Pu's control, and Wang Pu has the final say on how to reorganize the Jiangbei Army, and the general soldiers of the Seven Towns are helpless even if they are dissatisfied, not to mention that even if the General Soldiers of the Seven Towns want to take away the army, the soldiers of the Jiangbei Army will not go with them.

"Huh?"

"What?"

"How so?"

The general soldiers of the Seven Towns were shocked when they heard this, and pulled the army to the Yanziji camp for training, wasn't that a disguised deprivation of their military rights? Li Chengdong hurriedly said: "What about the humble grade?" ”

"As for you, Benhou has other arrangements." Wang Pu said in a deep voice, "You still go with the army in this Northern Expedition, and you can freely choose to go to the musket battalion, artillery battalion, spear battalion or baggage battalion as a trainee adjutant, first familiarize yourself with the tactics of the Central Army, and then still be your commander-in-chief." ”

"What about the lowly soldiers?" Wu Shengzhao hurriedly said, "After the training is completed, will you return to the lowly commander?" ”

"Your soldiers! Is it your soldier? Wang Pu glared at Wu Shengzhao coldly, then looked around at the rest of the six town commanders, and shouted coldly, "You all listen to Benhou, the Jiangbei Army is the army of the imperial court, not your personal, after the Jiangbei Army is trained, whoever the imperial court lets you lead will be under the command of whoever you want, and you, you have to bring whatever army you want, don't fucking pick and choose!" ”

……

(To be continued)