Chongzhen four years of the first month of the twentieth month, the Beijing division began to work one after another, began the new year of difficult maintenance, last year fought a half-year war, the second half of the year to have the energy to resume some production near Gyeonggi, the overall situation of lack of money remains unchanged, so the increase in a Liao, the first day of December officially opened the world, from the original nine cents to one cent, the emperor hopes that this year can be better.

In the Forbidden City, where the palace walls were heavy, Chongzhen convened the court discussion of the officials of various ministries in the Qianqing Palace, and the expressions of the officials were solemn.

After the death of Wu Zhiwang in the second year of Chongzhen, Yang He took over as the governor of the three sides, the situation was not too bad after he took office, although there were many Liukou, but they were basically limited to some areas, and did not form a prairie fire, but it was just at this time that Jiannu entered the Kou, Yansui and Gansu on the three sides of Shaanxi, and Ningxia all had the transfer of troops to Qinwang, plus the nearby military towns such as Guyuan and Shanxi, a total of more than 30,000 border troops transferred Qinwang.

After these troops left, Yang He had no elite to use in Shaanxi, the drought in the second year of Chongzhen made the situation worse, the Liukou took advantage of the power vacuum of the Ming army to leave, began to flow everywhere, at the end of the year, some of the Liukou on the East Road entered Shanxi, and the same drought in Shanxi became another hotbed of the Liukou, a large number of poor people became thieves, and production was more destroyed, resulting in a greater vicious circle.

Among the border armies of Qinwang from all walks of life, Gansu and Shanxi became routs, and Wu Zimian's Yansui soldiers also escaped a lot on the road, and a large number of fleeing border troops did not dare to return to their original ranks. Most of the time they fled, but they began to dare to take the initiative to attack some small groups of Ming troops, or attack larger county seats.

After the Battle of the Four Cities, the trilateral armies began to return to Shaanxi one after another, and the pressure of the rogue increased suddenly, and the thieves on the eastern road began to move to the more empty Shanxi. Occupying an important crossing of the Yellow River, a large number of rogues began to pour into Shanxi, including Ba King Kong, Wang Zishun, Shangtian Monkey, Wang Jiayin, Zhang Xianzhong, Hengtian Wang, Yizi Wang and dozens of others. Among them, the most famous and powerful is Wang Jiayin.

In order to deal with the rogues, in addition to ordering the border armies to return to the army, the military department also transferred a cavalry from the Guanning army. In order to curb the flow of the chaotic people, Cao Wenzhao because of the battle of the four cities made outstanding achievements, and was a little excluded by other generals, was thrown out by Guan Ning, the Ministry of War appointed him as the deputy chief soldier of Yansui East Road, Cao Wenzhao even Jiannu dared to fight in the field, how could he put these chaotic people in his eyes, he quickly took the headquarters to Shaanxi, and beat all the rogue chickens and dogs, often hundreds of people chased tens of thousands of rogue people into the ground. This famous general who killed the homeless began to make a name for himself.

Although the Ming army has been winning big victories, there is still a feeling that it is impossible to suppress it, Yang He thinks that it is also a cost of money, it is better to use military expenses to appease the rogue, so as not to kill too many people. It was against the peace of heaven, so he went to a few tricks, hoping that the court would support some silver and food.

Now what is being discussed in the Qianqing Palace, that is, Yang He's strategy of appeasement, Chongzhen glanced at Liu Jiayu, a political participant in Shaanxi who participated in the court meeting, and asked lightly: "What do the governors of the three sides mean." I understand whether you and other officials in Shaanxi think so. ”

Liu Jiayu lowered his head and said: "Long live back, there are also those who are the main suppressors, such as Hong Chengchou, who participates in politics, but the treasury of various prefectures is tight, often only a few thousand taels of silver remain, and the soldiers come out, and the amount is not enough, and the beginning of the chaos of the people, always because of the extreme famine, the people are not able to make a living, if there is no way to live, it is nothing more than to scatter and gather, and when there is no end, the army will fight each other, and the suppression will not be able to suppress." It is because Lord Yang thinks that it is not easy to settle the situation, and it must be both suppressed and appeased, but the situation of appeasement is also not easy to conclude, and it is still not enough money and food. ”

He said for a long time, but he still didn't say whether the officials in Shaanxi were the same, and the adults in the court didn't ask, Chongzhen was slightly unhappy, Liang Tingdong, as a soldier, couldn't pretend to be dumb at this time, he came out and said: "Long live, dealing with the chaotic people, it was originally a second strategy to suppress and appease, nothing more than what is the main thing, if there is only appeasement, it is also inappropriate." ”

Wen Tiren was about to come out of the ranks, Zhou Yanru took the first step forward and said: "The minister also believes that the suppression of each other is indispensable, when to suppress, when to caress each other, it still needs the trilateral governor to use some thoughts, the thieves are now large and small, and the thieves need to be subdivided in detail, which can be suppressed, which can be appeased, and those who are stubborn and unruly, move with thunder to deter the small, and those who still have conscience, apply tenderness, so as to really get the effect of appeasement, which not only shows the benevolence of Long live, but also shows the majesty of Long live." And when the suppression is appeased, can not be confined to this province, now the Qin thief has entered the three Jin, Shanxi even Henan, North Zhili, these two places and Shandong are also within reach, the land of the Central Plains of Henan, the chaos is the world shakes, the throat of the Shandong division, the canal is cut off in chaos, and it must not be allowed to spread. ”

Chongzhen nodded again and again when he heard this, this Zhou Yanru had an opinion every time he talked about practical problems, which made Chongzhen more and more satisfied with him, Wen Tiren lowered his head, Zhou Yanru said everything he wanted to say, but Wen Tiren couldn't express any dissatisfaction, because Zhou Yanru had been promoted to the first assistant of the cabinet in November, and the holy family was in power, and he was not as polite as he was before.

Qiu Weizhen stood up in the next military department, dealing with the thieves is the business of the military department, and it is the military department that he should check and fill in the gaps in the matter, he said calmly: "The Kou of Qin Zhong was originally a hungry people, and he gathered to become a thief, but for the sake of his life, he cultivated to Jin, slaughtered the city and plundered the fort, and saw reports everywhere, if the local officials worked hard, how could it become the current situation." Governor Yang said: There is a situation that is not easy to conclude in the suppression of the appeasement, and the ministers look at their intentions and return to the fu, and the ministers repeatedly plan. The Qin and Jin military machines are slightly different, the thieves of the Jin Dynasty were also the original Qin people, who started from the Qin and were chaotic in the Jin, and recently looted the rich money to raise money, and the Jin people began to respond to it. Now all the soldiers have gathered in the river meander, and the cardinal ordered You Shilu to rebel from all over Pingyang, Shilu is a general, and the thief will be afraid when he hears it. It is easy to take advantage of their fears. In addition, the governor of Qin not only took care of himself, but also widely recruited those who were in the Jin Dynasty when they were starving the people, so that the soldiers who were difficult to commit in the Jin Dynasty took away their courage. ”

What Qiu Weizhen said is to use force as the backing, and eradicate the chaos in Shanxi through guò appeasement, which is more detailed than Zhou Yanru's lofty position, which is very in line with his identity in the military department. Chongzhen praised: "What you said is very agreeable. ”

Liu Jia met that the emperor was about to approve Yang He's appeasement policy, so he hurriedly stepped up his strength and said: "Lord Yang once said that money and grain are used to suppress thieves, and the gold and silver are not returned, and there are too many beheadings, so they are kind and angry. Spend on caressing, money goes and the people are there. To live one person is to get the life of one person, and to steal the peace of the people, and to be great. ”

Chongzhen sighed and said, "Kou is also my child. It should be caressed. ”

All the ministers bowed down together and said, "The emperor is sage." "In fact, these people are all talking about the use of suppression, and they will not be caught if there is a leak, and Yang He can only be held responsible.

Chongzhen said to them, "Spread my will." Shaanxi has repeatedly reported famines, and the small people have lost their jobs, and they have even been forced to obey the thieves and fall into the blade. Whoever is not a child, who is upside down, and who is sick and sick, can be more merciful. Today, 100,000 gold was issued, and the imperial history was ordered to go forward, and the disaster was given to the first place. but also to the foolish. That is, he has been coerced and mistakenly entered the thief party, if he is willing to be corrected, he is a good citizen, and he is good and reformed. All-in-one compromise. ”——

On the colonel's field of the Wendeng battalion, 300 cavalrymen of the cavalry team were exercising, and Chen Xin and other officers stood on the general's platform and watched carefully. The cavalry of the Wendeng battalion was also a team of twelve people, and the cavalry of the Wendeng battalion was small in number, and it was mainly engaged in some work such as reporting and erecting beams in the battle of Jisi, and there were some reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance skirmishes with Jiannu. But it was far from being able to fight against Jiannu, and it happened that they had captured hundreds of horses in the Battle of Jisi, so the next part that Chen Xin decided to strengthen was the cavalry.

Chen Xin divided the cavalry into two parts, the cavalry team is mainly used as a battle formation duel, the other is used for reconnaissance and communication, the Central Military Department directly under a sentry cavalry team, the others are assigned to each thousand headquarters, now each thousand headquarters each has an additional division, each thousand under the jurisdiction of three divisions, an increase of one than the original, the number of nearly 1,000 people, in the future, each thousand headquarters will be attached to an artillery team, so that each thousand headquarters has its own fire support and reconnaissance force, all have independent combat capabilities, can make Chen Xin's deployment more flexible.

Now the school field is training Zhu Guobin's cavalry team, Chen Xin simplified the weapons of the cavalry team, only using two weapons, the cavalry gun and the Qi family knife, the cavalry of the three bureaus are lined up in three wide horizontal rows, the first row is the flag gun, the second row is the Qi family knife, the third row is also the Qi family knife, these unskilled riders finally lined up the formation neatly, the horn sounded, the front row of the hundred total sabers pointed forward, the whole began to accelerate, the formation was quite neat, after thirty steps began to see the scattered, the speed of the soldiers was different, and some horses ran crookedly to the side, When it was less than 100 paces, it became a plate of loose sand, Zhu Guobin played the banner, and the 100 general manager who led the team to train had to blow the assembly horn again, and the cavalry began to line up again.

Zhu Guobin looked at Chen Xin with some embarrassment, Chen Xin smiled and encouraged: "Guobin, you let it go, it's not so easy at the beginning." ”

Dai Zhenggang looked at those cavalry for a while, and asked Chen Xin: "My lord, these cavalry practice the method like this, just like our infantry team, and the clutch soldiers have become a cavalry infantry team." ”

Zhu Guobin was prepared to listen to what Chen Xin had to say, he had been practicing according to Chen Xin's method for a period of time, which was very different from the cavalry combat he had always understood, but he did not question Chen Xin's decision, but kept trying to find ways to meet the requirements.

Chen Xin's voice sounded, "It's the cavalry on horseback, my first requirement for them is the queue, they must be as close and strict as the infantry, to ensure that every enemy rushes up to fight more with less, after the first row of cavalry guns, is the second and third rows of sabers, Guobin, you have to test the distance between each row, it is best to adjust after the enemy attack, he will immediately face the attack of at least two sabers in the second row, even if he has a big life, there is a third row." When you have trained, the sentry cavalry will also be trained together, and they can form a fourth row in a loose formation, clutch at will, and attack the remnants of the enemy cavalry. ”

Although Chen Xin is full of confidence, Zhu Guobin still has no confidence, after all, he has never done this, he has picked some people to try, and the effect does not seem to be obvious at present, maybe it will be better after practice, but it may not be as good as Chen Xin said.

Chen Xin looked at the Mongolian horses like mules under the cavalry, which made him feel very helpless, he very much hoped to have a European tall horse, used to train a really strong modern cavalry, since Frederick could train the Prussian cavalry from rotten scum to proud of Europe in two or three years, he thought that he could use a similar method, even if he was not as good as Frederick, he could always close the distance with the Manchu Qing in terms of cavalry, in fact, the modern cavalry is more similar to the cavalry that fights with infantry tactics, emphasizing discipline and scientific training, It's easy to say, but in fact, training also requires a lot of thought, including the horses, which are carefully selected and cultivated, and these details need to be explored slowly.

Once they had truly matured, all the traditional cavalry had fallen behind, including the notoriously fierce North African cavalry, and the Houjin Manchu Eight Banners were actually mostly fought on foot, and Chen Xin was more certain that he would be able to gain the upper hand with the same numbers.

Zhu Guobin still said: "My lord, in such a battle, there is no long-range attack, do you issue a flintlock pistol to each soldier in the front row, and put the lancers in the second row." ”

Chen Xin was a little hesitant, he was not sure, the cavalry must mainly use cold weapons, if the first row of guns is of course more effective, but in that case, the first row will be replaced by saber cavalry, the impact is far inferior to the cavalry, thought for a long time before saying: "First equip the saber cavalry with flintlock short guns, as for how to line up, you have to test it yourself, after setting the tactics, the establishment should also be adjusted according to the tactics, if it is three rows, each game will be changed to three flag teams, in order to facilitate the command and layout, the total qiē should be adjusted around the tactics." ”

Lu Chuanzong said with a big grin: "It's just that there is no opponent, if Jiannu comes again this year, we can try it, I can't do the interview on the school field alone, I want to try the three-pound iron cannon now, it's comfortable to touch, faster than an arquebus." ”

Lu Chuanzong couldn't help rubbing his hands as he spoke, and Dai Zhenggang also grinned, they, the infantry commanders, were most looking forward to the four-pound run.

Chen Xin smiled slightly: "Don't worry, each division has at least one class, and the cavalry will also be equipped with a few in the future, and the gunners will also ride horses, follow the cavalry at any time, and fire a few cannons before impacting." Don't worry that the cavalry has no opponents, needless to say, the chaos in Shanxi has started, if the thieves have a day to break into the Central Plains, our Wendeng battalion will inevitably recruit and suppress the Kou, and there will be a lot of opportunities to train the troops. ”