After Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and other troops escaped from danger in Hanzhong, they separately attacked the areas near Xi'an and the areas of Qingyang, Gongchang, and Pingliang in Gansu, and their prestige was greatly boosted for a while. The Ming court and local officials have spoken out to accuse Chen Qiyu of causing misdeeds. Zhu Youzhen was annoyed and ashamed, and ordered Chen Qiyu to be removed from his post and imprisoned in Chongzhen. Hong Chengchou was promoted to the secretary of the military department, and the governor of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Huguang, and Henan military affairs.

At this time, there was a mutiny in the Xining garrison, the generals were killed, the guards were driven away, and the eunuchs who guarded the town also fled in a hurry. Hong Chengchou was forced to personally lead the army to Xining. The rebel army took the opportunity to "trap Guanlong." When Hong Chengchou quelled the mutiny and freed up his hands to suppress the peasant uprising, the rebel army "ran eastward and divided into Henan, Jiwan and Luojian." ”

At the beginning of the first month, there were constantly thieves who reported quickly, and the Xingyang Conference did not happen, and it is estimated that some historians who were well fed and supported in later generations made it. It's like writing martial arts, always blowing things up to legend.

……

"According to the intelligence, the westward thieves are divided into three routes, the first route is to cross the river in Shaanxi County and attack Pingyang, Shanxi, but the situation in Shanxi is not optimistic, they estimate that they will not find much food, so it is very likely that they will go south to attack Huaiqing Mansion and Guide Mansion. The second route passes through Nanyang Mansion through Wuguan and attacks Huguang in the south. The third route is to attack Henan in the east of Lushi County. Zhao Yan looked at the map, and the situation was already relatively clear.

Pointing to the map, he said: "The thieves who attacked Henan in the east are mainly the King of Sweepers, the King of Taiping and other departments, and their destination may be ...... here."

"Imperial Township!" Liu Heng looked at the place Zhao Yan pointed to and exclaimed.

"That's right." Zhao Yan nodded and said, "Henan is the hinterland of my Ming Dynasty, and the officers and soldiers rarely have battle formations, although the thieves entered Henan last year, but in fact, they have no experience in fighting with the thieves." In addition, Henan has no danger to defend, and the thieves are good at controlling the enemy by walking, so it is very likely that they will flow to Anhui. ”

"The land of Fengyang is barren, but the labor is heavy, and the thieves will inevitably follow like a cloud when they arrive."

"That'...... Isn't the Holy Ancestral Tomb ......," Zhang Buyun said in a deep voice.

"Assuming that the imperial tomb is about to be excavated, if the horse gallops to help, maybe it will be too late." Liu Heng said. "However, we only have five thousand horses, and most of the other horses that are not up to standard are equipped for transportation, which is only enough to form a battalion of dragoons."

"The number of thieves coming from the east this time is about two or three hundred thousand, and these thieves are infesting very quickly, and they cannot be exterminated if they don't have enough mobile surnames." Zhao Yan looked at everyone and said, "This time I went to Anhui and Henan to suppress thieves, and I only brought a cavalry battalion and an infantry battalion. ”

When Zhao Yong and Wang Wenyue heard this, they immediately went out to ask Zhao Yan for their lives, and the competition between the first and second battalions has always existed.

Zhao Yan looked at the two of them and said, "After all, the first battalion has experienced a tough battle, so let's take the second battalion first this time to suppress the thieves!" Rotate again after three months. ”

"Yes." The two responded in unison.

"When does the lord plan to leave?" Liu Heng asked.

"The fourth day of the first month is gathered, and the fifth day of the first month is opened." Zhao Yan said that he still planned to let the soldiers spend the New Year at home.

"On the fifth day of the first month, if the whole camp rides horses, you can reach Fengyang in seven or eight days, and you should be in time." Liu Heng estimated the time of the march.

"The primary purpose of our dispatch this time is to train troops, and secondly, to gather the displaced people. The commercial bank transferred 300,000 stone sweet potatoes to Henan for disaster relief, how many days can it be transported to Henan? Zhao Yan asked Zhao Quan.

"In fifteen days at most, the first batch will be able to reach Henan." Zhao Quan estimated.

"The baggage battalion brought twenty days of supplies, each battalion carried ten days' supplies, and the soldiers brought three days' rations." Zhao Yan commanded.

With Zhao Yan's order, a group of staff officers in the staff department began to get busy. Calculate the number of personnel to be dispatched, the number of supplies, and the number of horses, vehicles, and ships needed. where to set up supply depots, etc......

This time it touched the 1st Cavalry Battalion, the 2nd Infantry Battalion, and a 2,000-strong baggage battalion. Needless to say, the mobile surname of the cavalry battalion is self-explanatory.

The infantry battalion was mounted on horseback, and the artillery of the infantry battalion was equipped with 75-millimeter howitzers also drawn by horses, and each gun was towed by three horses in rotation to keep up with the march, and the baggage company was also equipped with a large number of horses and vehicles.

The mobile surname of the baggage battalion is a little worse, mainly following behind. Then behind is the transport team of the commercial bank, the commercial bank transported grain to Henan, the same land, the Yellow River has been frozen after winter, and it can only go in spring.

………

On the fourth day of the first lunar month, the soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Battalion and the 2nd Infantry Battalion were assembled.

A thousand cavalrymen, fifteen hundred pikemen, all covered with plate armor. The production speed of plate armor is still very fast, and after several months of continuous construction, more than 3,000 sets have been produced.

Zhang Buyun took the Education Committee to start the pre-war mobilization work, and the soldiers under Zhao Yan were very active in combat. They not only have good training, but also have sophisticated equipment, and have initially formed the beliefs that soldiers should have.

On the morning of the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Zhao Yan had a brief swearing-in ceremony. Once again, the nature of the thief was revealed to the soldiers, as well as the danger of the thief's surname.

"Thieves do not produce, they only live by looting, and in the process of looting, they destroy the otherwise stable environment, displace more people, and then join them. But most of the displaced people are ordinary people who can't survive, they are coerced by a few bandits, and use these ordinary people to attack the towns and help them rob them of gold and silver treasures. Zhao Yan stood on the high platform and said to the soldiers below.

"We went on this expedition to eliminate that small group of bandits. Take back the people who have been held hostage, just as you did when you first came, so that they can have land to plant, and a stable environment for them to produce. Zhao Yan's words infected many soldiers.

Most of the soldiers recruited at the beginning were originally outcasts or captured thieves.

They had a very happy Spring Festival this year, most of the soldiers were introduced by the matchmaker to marry their daughters-in-law, and the shadow of the broken family was smoothed a lot, and because of the reason for starting a family, they were more completely integrated into this group.

Moreover, the generous salaries and rewards not only brought them material worries, but also brought them enough status, as long as they went outside to say that they were soldiers under guerrilla generals, it would attract a wave of envy and respect.

These pleasures do not come without a price, which comes with training for most of the year and short vacations.

In Europe, the state compensated soldiers with knighthoods, but most of them were enjoyed by cavalry.

Zhao Yan has not yet reached the point where he can be knighted, so he can only compensate them materially, and at the same time, the treatment is also indiscriminate.

Most of this financial compensation comes from land, which is tax-exempt for soldiers. However, it was the tenants who cultivated the land, and the soldiers were compensated for what was harvested.

This year, in order to increase the cultivation of sweet potatoes, the price of each stone was set at two pieces of silver, and both tenants and soldiers had a large amount of silver in their accounts.

It is expected that by next year, the purchase price of sweet potatoes will drop to one penny, and the year after next is estimated to drop to half a penny.

"Exterminate the thieves and take back the people."

"Exterminate the thieves and take back the people's ......"

Wave after wave of cries, in the midst of loud military songs, soldiers stepped on horseback and set out for battle......

On the first day of the first lunar month, Zhu Dadian received Zhao Yan's request to go to Henan to suppress thieves, which made Zhu Dadian surprised and surprised.

Zhao Yan is the opposite, but the active surname of the thief is so high. Zhao Yan's active surname in suppressing bandits is beyond doubt.

Originally, Zhu Dadian planned to transfer Zhao Yan's soldiers and horses to the Eastern Three Mansions to consult the bandits. As a result, Zhao Yan asked people to pretend to be horse thieves and attack those places.

Zhu Dadian naturally didn't believe in any horse bandits, and he knew that Zhao Yan had made people pretend to be them, after all, the last time they met, Zhao Yan had asked him how to deal with the problems of those local heroes.

As soon as Haoqiang in Denglai Second Mansion was attacked, Zhu Dadian immediately reacted. Coupled with Zhao Yan's salty and non-salty reaction after that, that guess can already be absolutely certain.

In order not to make any trouble, Zhu Dadian gave up his original idea.

Want to go to Henan to suppress bandits? That's a good thing! As long as you don't make any trouble in Shandong. Zhu Dadian was thinking about reporting to the imperial court in two days, but he didn't expect that on the fifth day of the new year, Zhao Yan took nearly 5,000 people to pass by Jinan Mansion in a hurry, and galloped all the way to Henan.

When Zhu Dadian heard the report, he hurriedly sent Zhou Maofan, the prefect of Jinan, to inquire.

Although Zhao Yan was in a hurry, he only maintained a speed of two hundred miles, and Zhou Maofan, the prefect of Jinan, took more than a dozen people to chase after him all the way on horseback, and chased after him in less than a few hours.

The first thing you see is the baggage battalion behind, although the baggage battalion is only more than 2,000 people, but the supplies transported are very large, each cart is loaded with five or six hundred catties of supplies, each cart is pulled by horses and mules, and it is a cart with two horses, or a cart with three mules in rotation.

In the front, there are cannons, all of which are pulled by horses, which look like only two or three hundred catties, but they are also equipped with three horses.

Zhou Maofan chased to the front, and the situation he saw was even more exaggerated. Each soldier rode a horse, and each carried two warhorses in rotation.

These war horses are different from the war horses seen behind, each of them is fat and strong. Moreover, all the soldiers had armor, some wore iron armor that he had never seen before, and there seemed to be a layer of cotton armor inside, and some wore leather armor.

The officers and soldiers have always been horses, but there are so many horses on this Denglai guerrilla! And the horses are so strong, it's really amazing.

Chasing to the front and finally seeing Zhao Yan, Zhao Yan saw Zhou Maofan chasing after him, and asked, "What's the important thing for Lord Zhou to catch up in a hurry?" ”

"Lord Junmen sent his own official here, I don't know why Lord Zhao transferred troops and horses without an order?" Zhou Maofan asked.

"This ...... Ask the Warden. Zhao Yan kicked the ball to Qian Zhiyi on the side, and Qian Zhiyi was very cooperative during this time.

"Lord Zhou, the thieves have invaded Anhui, and the emperor is in an emergency." Qian Zhiyi arched his hand and said to Zhou Maofan.

"Ahh The emperor is in a hurry? Zhou Maofan was taken aback and shouted.

"Although there is no order, there will be no order from the king. The situation in the imperial township is urgent, and we, as courtiers, need to sacrifice our lives and forget death to embrace the grace of the king. Zhao Yan hugged Zhou Maofan on the horse, and then continued to ride forward.

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3000 words!

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