"Senior Brother Jing is right." The red lady glanced around at the generals and said in a condensed voice, "The strength of the thief is stronger than ours now, and it is not yet time to take revenge, let's go back to Henan, develop and expand our own forces first, and then go to the thief to take revenge when the strength is strong in the future!" ”

"Yes." Jing Maocheng echoed, "It is not too late for a gentleman to take revenge. ”

He Laosi hurriedly said: "This is a good way, the general has a deep foundation in Henan, and the defenders of Kaifeng, Huaining, Nanyang, and Guide are all the old generals of the generals. As long as the lady ascends to the heights and shouts, the soldiers of all provinces will gather under the command of the lady. ”

Li Hu was disappointed in his heart, and said in his mouth: "But has my sister-in-law thought about it, now Wu Sangui has led Jiannu into the customs, and the thieves have been defeated back to Shanxi, and then Henan will be sandwiched between the forces of the thieves, Jiannu, Wu Sangui, Remnant Ming and Zuo Liangyu, I am afraid that it will be very sad." ”

"Quite the opposite." Jing Maocheng said disapprerovingly, "It is precisely because Henan is between several forces that it can meet the source left and right." ”

"I've made up my mind." The red lady said in a deep voice, "The whole army immediately pulled out the camp and returned to Henan." ”

■■■

North Zhili, Bauhinia Pass.

The thieves were slow to move because they carried a large amount of baggage and property, and the Guan Ning army of Wu Sangui, who had withdrawn from Yanjing less than two hundred miles, caught up, and the two armies fought in front of the Bauhinia Pass, with mutual casualties, and finally ended up because the thieves had no intention of throwing down a large amount of baggage and property and fled on their own initiative.

Guan Ningjun did not continue the pursuit, and Wu Sangui wanted to take a breath at Bauhinia Pass.

Unfortunately, Dolgon soon sent Duoduo to lead the army of the Eight Banners to chase after him, forcing Wu Gui to continue advancing, Dolgon was determined not to give the thieves a chance to regroup, and he also did not intend to give Wu Sangui a chance to breathe, he wanted to exhaust the two Han armies in exhaustion.

This is Dolgon's cleverness, his strategy is to control the Han with Han, for the Manchus, the Ming Dynasty is too huge, the Han people are too much, only the Eight Banners can not conquer the entire Ming Dynasty in any case, really want to use the Eight Banners to conquer the Ming, even if it succeeds in the end, the Eight Banners are afraid that there is not much left, and in the end it is still a wedding dress for others!

Under the persecution of Duoduo, Wu Sangui had no choice but to cheer up and lead the Guan Ning army to chase the thief's ass into Shanxi, although Wu Sangui originally wanted to borrow the Qing soldiers to enter the customs to go to the country, but now it is said that Wu Sangui can't help himself, he can only serve as a pawn for Jiannu, and die to be a Han annihilation!

In Yanjing City, those remnant Ming officials who were half-dead by the thieves "chasing dirty salaries" lined up outside the Desheng Gate again, warmly welcoming Jiannu into the city, this time it was really warm and happy from the heart, in their eyes, at this time, Jiannu was no longer the barbarians outside the previous pass, but the benevolent and righteous teachers who went to the Ming Dynasty.

Wu Sangui's "official" invitation did play an unexpected role.

These remnant Ming officials are still dreaming, thinking that after Jiannu helps Daming exterminate the thieves, they will retreat outside the border, at most, Daming will give them some more goods.

Li Zicheng had fled back to Taiyuan, and when he was dispatching troops to prepare to fight Jiannu to the death, the blows followed, and Tang Tong, the general soldier of Miyun, Zhu Zhifeng, the governor of Xuanfu, Wang Chengyin, the general soldier of Xuanfu, Jiang Ping, the general soldier of Datong, and Jiang Xuan, the deputy general of Datong, rebelled one after another, and they all played the banner of begging for thieves.

The strength of the Dashun army was seriously weakened, and Li Zicheng's plan to counterattack Yanjing suddenly came to naught!

At the same time, Wu Sangui's Guanning army also pursued from the east of Taiyuan, and the situation took a sharp turn for the worse, Taiyuan has become a lonely city, which can no longer be defended, Li Zicheng had to abandon the city again and go away, defeated back to Shaanxi.

In less than half a month, the thieves lost the two provinces of Beizhi and Shanxi, and the red lady became self-reliant in Henan, and the thieves' sphere of influence soon shrank to a corner of Shaanxi, which made Zhang Xianzhong, the "Emperor of the West" entrenched in Sichuan, very pleased, he and Li Zicheng were finally able to sit on an equal footing again, and after more than ten years, neither of the two brothers was stronger than anyone.

The Eight Banners army defeated the two provinces of Beizhi and Shanxi so quickly, and the Manchu nobles were overjoyed, and they suggested that Dolgon order to be plundered, but what they were thinking about was to grab money, food, and women, and they never thought of entering the Central Plains, but of course the ambitious Dolgon would not do this, and unceremoniously rejected this suggestion.

Dorgon's ambitions didn't stop there.

Just wait for Wu Sangui's Guan Ning army to cooperate with Duoduo's army to exterminate the thieves in Shaanxi, and the Qing army's troops will point to Henan and Shandong, and then level Jiangnan to completely destroy the former Ming forces, and finally unify China! He absolutely did not want the situation in which Dajin and the Southern Song Dynasty divided the river and ruled the country repeat itself today.

■■■

Gao Jie and Liu Liangzuo finally arrived in Nanjing.

The first thing the two did after arriving in Nanjing was to visit the old boss Sima Shiying and find out the reality of Nanjing officialdom, Ma Shiying sighed and said to the two: "You shouldn't come to Nanjing." ”

Gao Jie and Liu Liangzuo were shocked and said, "Why? ”

Ma Shiying said: "Isn't the matter clear, Wang Pu transferred you to Beijing to deprive you of the military power in your hands!" ”

"He dares!" Gao Jie said in a deep voice, "Lao Tzu's army is all brothers in life and death who have been with him for many years, how can he take it away if Wang Pu wants to?" ”

"Yes." Liu Liangzuo also said, "If he, Wang Pu, dares to detain our brothers, hundreds of thousands of troops will turn around and fight across the river!" ”

"You guys are underestimating Wang Pu." Ma Shiying sighed, "He has already made arrangements. ”

"Arrangement?" Gao Jie and Liu Liangzuo said puzzledly, "What arrangement?" ”

Ma Shiying said: "The cabinet has drawn up a list of military generals to be promoted, and your subordinates Li Benshen, Wu Shengzhao, Gao Jinku, Li Chengdong, Ma Degong, Tian Xiong, and Liu Konghe, Liu Hongji, Li Huajing and others under Liu Zeqing have all been promoted to chief military officers. ”

Gao Jie and Liu Liangzuo were shocked and said: "This ......"

If Wang Pu really does this, then they will really be in trouble!

What is General Soldier? That's a general town, according to the practice of the Ming Dynasty, if the court does not send civil officials to supervise the division, the general army is the highest military general in the place, the court really wants to seal these proud soldiers as the general soldier, then Wang Pu detained Gao Jie, Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing, the happiest belong to them, they are willing to come out of this way.

People are selfish after all, who wants to put a master on their head?

"But you don't have to worry." Ma Shiying said, "As long as you don't do anything out of the ordinary, you can at least be a rich man in Nanjing in this life, as for Liu Zeqing, I'm afraid it will be difficult to escape." ”

Gao Jie complained: "Master Inspector, why don't you send someone to inform you? ”

"yes." Liu Liangzuo also complained bitterly, "If I knew this, I shouldn't have come to Nanjing." ”

"Send someone to deliver a letter?" Ma Shiying smiled bitterly, "Do you think the old man didn't send it?" But the entire city of Nanjing was run by Wang Pu like an iron bucket, even a fly couldn't fly out, and the four messengers sent by the old man were intercepted! Wang Pu is ruthless, far more ruthless than the old man expected, this time it was planted in his hands, not wronged. ”

Just as he was talking, Ma Shiying's housekeeper came in and said, "Master, Gonggong Zhang is here, saying that he wants to summon the two generals into the palace to see him." ”

"Look." Ma Shiying shook his head and said, "Wang Pu's people are here. ”

Gao Jie and Liu Liangzuo walked out of Ma Shiying's mansion, only to see that there were already guards standing outside the gate, which looked like a guard of honor to greet the two, but a discerning person knew at a glance that they were sent to monitor Gao Jie and Liu Liangzuo, and from now on, Gao Jie and Liu Liangzuo will lose their personal freedom.

■■■

Swallow Rock Camp, sign the house.

Wang Pu was holding a military meeting, and the five general military officers of Scarface, Zhao Xin, Tang Sheng, Zhang Monk, and Huang Degong, as well as the general Shi Lang, Zhen Youcai, Fang Yizhi, and Song Yingxing, all attended the meeting.

If you don't make adequate preparations, it is unimaginable to lead the army in a hurry, after all, this is fighting on the territory of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Pu's army can neither learn to eat big households from thieves, nor can it learn to build slaves to suck people's fat and people's ointment!

There is a huge military topographic map hanging on the wall, although this is only a very general map of the country, but it already has the appearance of a modern map, and it is no longer like the map before the Ming Dynasty, the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty are crowded into a box, and the Yangtze River and the Yellow River are actually two straight lines.

Wang Pu pointed to the map with a wooden pole in his hand and said: "According to reliable sources, the thieves have been defeated back to Shaanxi, and the red lady in Henan has also broken away from the thieves and set up another mountain. ”

Tang Sheng said with emotion: "It's only been a few days, and the thieves have been defeated so quickly!" ”

"This is the wall falling down and everyone pushing it!" Wang Pu said, "If nothing else, Jiannu and Wu Sangui's Guanning army will invade Shaanxi within two months, and the thieves will be weak and weak, and it will be a matter of time before they are defeated!" ”

Zhao Xin said: "General, after the defeat of the thieves, the soldiers of Jiannu and Wu Sangui will definitely turn to Jiangnan!" ”

"Well, what Mr. Zhao said is extremely true."

Wang Pu looked back at Zhao Xin, with a look of appreciation, Zhao Xin is becoming more and more strategic, and it seems that he can already stand alone.

"After Jiannu finishes cleaning up the thieves, the next step will be to attack Jiangnan, and then we will face the combined forces of Jiannu and Wu Sangui alone, the situation is not in my favor, so we have to strike first, and send troops to the Northern Expedition before Jiannu has not exterminated the thieves, forcing Jiannu to shrink, although the thieves should die, but they can't finish it now!"

Scarface said excitedly: "Great, are you finally going to send troops?" ”

Wang Pu turned his gaze to Zhen Youcai and asked, "Youcai, how many muskets are there in the armory now?" ”

Recently, Wang Pu was either busy going to Yanjing to save people, or he was busy intriguing with Donglin Fushe and Ma Shiying and Gao Hongtu, and he couldn't take care of the ordnance production of the arsenal and the training of recruits.

Zhen Youcai said: "General Hui, at present, there are more than 9,000 muskets, more than 50,000 Dragon King cannons, and more than 1.2 million rounds of paper shell ammunition in the armory, which can almost equip two musket battalions." ”

Wang Pu suddenly remembered the new musket and asked, "What about the breech gun?" How many are there? ”

Zhen Youcai showed embarrassment, bowed his head and responded: "Because the breech gun has relatively high processing technology requirements, it must have a hydraulic drilling machine to process the barrel, but at present, a suitable arsenal site has not been found, so it is not mass-produced, and it is incompetent, and I ask the general to forgive me." ”

"How can I blame you for that." Wang Pu said, "But the matter of the location of the arsenal has to be stepped up, I heard that the mountains and rivers in Jiande, Zhejiang are high, you can go to the field with Mr. Song and Mr. Fang to see if you want to build a levee around an artificial lake first, and then open a canal to divert water, won't this solve the problem of hydraulics?" ”

"Yes." Zhen Youcai replied respectfully, "I must do it." ”

Although Wang Pu and Zhen Youcai have a good personal relationship, Zhen Youcai is still very measured in front of people, Wang Pu may not care about these, but he Zhen Youcai can't help but not know the severity.

Wang Pu asked again: "What about the cannon, has the Hongyi cannon been imitated?" ”

Zhen Youcai turned his gaze to Song Yingxing, and this question had to be answered by Song Yingxing.

Song Yingxing stood up, first hugged his fist at Wang Pu, and then said: "General, the cannon foundry has imitated two Hongyi cannons, and purchased the cannons according to the Western to fill the gunpowder dose, but the final test firing was blown up, which shows that the quality of the fine iron produced by our Ming Dynasty is not as good as that of the West." ”

The Western world began at the end of the 16th century, because of the endless wars between countries, which gave birth to a revolution in military science and technology, and in the first half of the 17th century, the technology of steelmaking, cannon casting, firearms and other aspects has surpassed the Ming Dynasty, but the Ming Dynasty at that time was still ahead of the West in academic exploration.

Wang Pu frowned and said, "Is there any way to improve?" ”

"Yes." Song Yingxing nodded and said, "If you want to improve the texture of refined iron, you have to reduce the internal impurities, and Mi Zhi knows a coking method, which can make charcoal into coke, use this coke as a raw material, and then supplement it with the iron frying method, you can smelt the best quality steel." ”

"Good!" Wang Pu was overjoyed when he heard this, "Although the two gentlemen let go of their hands to study, if you want helpers, you want silver, and you can find talented craftsmen, and if you can't be the master, you can go to Sun Ge Lao, these are not problems, I just want you to develop the toughest steel and the most sophisticated firearms!" ”

Song Yingxing and Fang Yizhi clasped their fists at the same time and said, "Take orders under you." ”

"Okay, now back to business."

Wang Pu waved his hand to signal Song Yingxing and Fang Yizhi to sit down, and then said: "There are more than 9,000 muskets and more than 50,000 Dragon King cannons in the armory, which determines the scale of this Northern Expedition, we can dispatch two musket battalions and one artillery battalion, plus three spear battalions and two baggage battalion auxiliaries, the total strength is 40,000 people!" ”

Scarface and the others' eyes suddenly showed excitement, 40,000 people are a big battle!

Wang Pu's eyes swept over the faces of the generals, and he suddenly shouted: "The generals listen to the order!" ”

Scarface, Zhao Xin, Tang Sheng, Monk Zhang, Huang Degong, Shi Lang, Zhen Youcai, Song Yingxing, Fang Yizhi and others stood up at the same time, and looked at Wang Pu with their eyes.

"Huang Degong."

"Yes."

"Lead the Nanjing Navy Division to blockade the Yangtze River."

"Yes."

"Shi Lang."

"Yes."

"Lead the Zhenhai Division to transport the artillery battalion and the baggage battalion from the canal waterway to Yangzhou."

"Yes."

"Monk Zhang."

"Yes."

"Lead the White Lotus Camp out of Anqing and closely monitor the movements of Zuo Liangyu's department in Wuchang."

"Yes."

"Zhao Xin."

"Yes."

"Stay in Nanjing, the 70,000 new troops of the Yanziji battalion are ready to go out at any time."

"Yes."

"Scarface, Tang Sheng."

"Yes."

"Lead the musket battalion and the spear battalion along the banks of the canal to Yangzhou."

"Yes!"

After the generals and Zhen Youcai had left, Wang Pucai turned to the back of the screen and said, "If so, light smoke, you all come out." ”

In a flash, Liu Rushi and Liu Qingyan had already turned out from behind the screen at the same time.

As Wang Pu's military secretary and intelligence secretary, Liu Rushi and Liu Qingyan should have attended today's military meeting, but Wang Pu was worried that his generals couldn't stand the temptation of beauty, especially Liu Qingyan, this demon girl is simply a vixen who turns all beings upside down, with her present, how can this military meeting be held?

Liu Qingyan twisted her small waist and walked in front of Wang Pu, regardless of Liu Ru's presence, she directly stretched out her jade arm and hugged Wang Pu's neck, and then leaned into Wang Pu's ear and said in an extremely ambiguous tone: "Master Horse, are you really becoming more and more like Cao Ying?" ”

Liu Ruye's beautiful eyes couldn't help but have a trace of resentment, but she quickly regained her calm, thinking that she was neither Wang Pu's wife nor his concubine. Even if you want to be jealous, aren't there still round sisters, Xiaowan sisters and young sisters?

"Smack!"

With a crisp sound, Wang Pu slapped Liu Qingyan's plump buttocks, of course he knew what Liu Qingyan was thinking? This demon girl regards Liu Ru as a rival in love and is demonstrating.

"Ouch." Liu Qingyan groaned, and said with a smile, "Master Horse, are you really good?" ”

Liu Ru couldn't help but look away, and Fang was inevitably a little disappointed in her heart.

"Don't make a fuss."

Wang Pu glared at Liu Qingyan fiercely.

Liu Qingyan restrained a little at this time, looked back at Liu Ru is smile, and said in a flattering voice: "If it's a sister, my sister just wants to make a joke with you, don't misunderstand, hehe." ”

Liu Ru smiled faintly, noncommittal.

"That'...... Get down to business. ”

Liu Qingyan looked back and threw Wang Pu a wink, and then twisted his thin waist and disappeared behind the screen.

Liu Ru glanced at Wang Pu at this time, and said pointedly: "Master Hou, the round girl is generous and tolerant, but you don't want to wronged her." ”

"Cough, what's this......" Wang Pu's old face flushed, and he changed the topic, "The enemy won't talk about this at present, the soldiers and horses of the three towns of Yangzhou, Huai'an, and Fengyang must be properly disposed of, if they are not handled properly, it is likely to plunge the four prefectures of Jiangbei into war and bring the suffering of swords and soldiers to the people of Jiangbei, do you have any ideas?" ”

Liu Ru put away the ridicule on his face, and said solemnly: "The three towns of Jiangbei are the strongest in the Gao Jie department, with nearly 100,000 troops, Liu Liangzuo's department is slightly weaker, and there are also 60,000 troops, and Liu Zeqing's department is the weakest, only more than 30,000 people, so if you want to rectify the three towns in Jiangbei, you must start with the Gao Jie department, as long as Gao Jie's department is in the heart, it will be much easier to rectify Liu Liangzuo's department and Liu Zeqing's department." ”

Wang Pudao: "How can we make the three towns of Jiangbei return to their hearts?" ”

Liu said: "If you want the three towns in Jiangbei to return to your heart, Lord Hou must pay equal attention to grace and power, and reward and punish clearly. ”

Wang Pudao: "Why is there a combination of grace and power, and there are clear rewards and punishments?" ”

Liu said: "The so-called equal emphasis on grace and power, and clear rewards and punishments mean that the Hou Ye must regard the soldiers of the three towns in Jiangbei as the soldiers of the new army in the Yanziji camp, and the reward will be the same reward, and the punishment will be the same punishment, and the scale must be unified, and one cannot be favored over the other!" Only in this way can the soldiers of the three towns of Jiangbei return to their hearts. ”

……

(To be continued)