Mei Zhihuan had already contacted the river boats, and several large ship companies that specialized in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River took over Mei Zhihuan's employment and organized hundreds of large river boats.

After dawn, the five newly formed standard battalions under Mei Zhihuan and Li Changgeng's Fubiao battalion assembled outside the fort, and Mei Zhihuan made a simple mobilization oath before officially sending troops.

The river boat has sailed directly to the Jushui River wharf outside the county, where the six battalions of soldiers and horses boarded the boat, and then went straight into the Yangtze River.

From the mouth of the Huangzhou River to the destination of this trip, Fengjie, Sichuan, the journey is thousands of miles. Nearly 20,000 horses and horses are still carrying a lot of baggage, and if you advance by land, you will have to walk for more than half a month for forty or fifty miles a day. And the military situation is urgent, and after half a month, the situation has long been different. And change to take the river boat upstream, because this section of the Yangtze River belongs to the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the river is wide, the channel is safe, so the big river boat can go more than 300 miles a day, from Huangzhou to Fengjie, it is only three or four days.

Hundreds of large river boats form a dense fleet, thousands of sails are flying, covering the river and the sun. Sailing on the Yangtze River is like getting on the highway, not only is it fast, but the most important thing is comfort.

"Last night, You Qing and I discussed it carefully." Mei Zhihuan stood on the deck and said to Liu Jun, "Although Zhang Thief set up an ambush in Fang County to defeat Zuo Liangyu and Luo Dai, they are now rebellious, and their strength is far less than the original momentum. As soon as Zuo Liangyu was defeated, the court was furious, and Yang Sichang was about to encircle and suppress it next, as long as Zhang Xianzhong was not stupid, he knew that Huguang would not be able to stay. ”

Li Changgeng also said on the side, "It is impossible for Zhang Xianzhong to go to Henan, there is Xiangyang blocking the way, he can't get around, and it is impossible for him to go east and south, so they can't go around Xiangyang either." Therefore, there are only two ways in front of the thieves, either to the northwest into Shaanxi, or to the southwest into Sichuan. ”

Liu Jun also agrees with this analysis, "But why do gentlemen think that the thieves will inevitably choose Sichuan?" ”

Judging by the movements of bandits over the years. Shaanxi is the place where bandits first broke out, and many of the bandits who are still on the run today originated in Shaanxi. And in history, these bandits did return to Shaanxi several times. First, it is natural that many of the leaders and leaders of the bandits are from Shaanxi, and they are more familiar with Shaanxi. Second, it is also because the situation in Shaanxi is more favorable to the bandits, Shaanxi has been completely destroyed in recent years, and there are countless people in the customs who can no longer survive, as long as they go back and raise their arms casually, they can pull up a large army.

"It is naturally beneficial if he can return to Shaanxi, but because of this, Yang Sichang will definitely be prepared for this. There will definitely be soldiers and horses intercepting on the border of Shaanxi, and it is not so easy to kill back. On the other hand, Shaanxi has been broken all these years, and even if they go back, they have nothing to grab. However, Sichuan is different, as long as they can break into the western Sichuan Plain, it will be almost difficult to stop them, and Sichuan is rich, and Yang Sichang and others will put their defenses on the border of Shaanxi. ”

Reverse thinking. In other words, Mei Zhihuan and Li Changgeng quickly concluded that Zhang Xianzhong was most likely to break into Sichuan.

And if Zhang Xianzhong wants to enter Sichuan, with his current position, he can only enter from the east of Kuizhou Mansion. The first city in front of them was Dachang Castle. Mei Zhihuan said.

Dacheng is the northeasternmost city of Kuizhou Prefecture, bordering Yunyang Mansion in Huguang and close to Shaanxi. If Mei Zhihuan's prediction is really accurate, then they will now be able to quickly reach Kuizhou Mansion through the Yangtze River waterway. Get to Dachang first.

"Can we get to Dachang City before Zhang Xianzhong?" Liu Jun asked.

"We can reach Qutang Pass in Kuizhou in three days at most, and Zhang Xianzhong wants to rush to Dachang, but he can only go over the mountains and take the mountain road. The road is not smoother than the Yangtze River waterway. Mei Zhihuan said very confidently.

"Then the most important thing now is not to let Zhang Xianzhong enter Shaanxi, maybe we should inform Yang Gebu and ask him to send troops to block the road to Shaanxi?" Liu Jun reminded, and he was also thinking about Mei Zhihuan, after all, although he was the new prime minister, the matter of suppressing bandits in the Central Plains was still commanded by Yang Sichang, the auxiliary minister and the commander-in-chief, and notifying Yang Sichang was not only to cooperate, but also to show respect.

"Nope." Mei Zhihuan once again rejected Liu Jun's proposal, "Our actions must be kept secret, and if there is even the slightest leakage, the thieves may know about it, and it will be difficult for us to intercept them at that time." ”

"But what if the Yang Pavilion Department also thinks that the thieves want to enter Sichuan, and the soldiers and horses are arranged to prevent the thieves from entering Sichuan, what if it leads to the lack of troops on the border of Shaanxi and allows the thieves to enter Shaanxi?"

"With the old man's understanding of Yang Sichang, he will definitely think that the thieves will enter Shaanxi, and he will definitely put the heavy army on the border of Shaanxi."

Huguang, Xiangyang.

Yang Sichang received Chongzhen's latest will, and after taking out the sword of Shang Fang and taking down Xiong Wencan, the prime minister of the suppression of bandits, who was recommended by him, he officially took over the command of the bandits.

He changed the former Prime Minister's Office into his Governor's Office, and asked his subordinates to display the banner of General Yanmei. This Yanmei Admiral comes from a poem given by the emperor when he personally summoned him before he left Beijing. Sweep away the atmosphere of Kou from now on, and return the period of education and people's livelihood.

In ancient times, salt and plum were important necessities in life, and later they were used to refer to the pillars of the building. Chongzhen called Yang Sichang by Admiral Yanmei, which shows his trust in him.

Yang Sichang also liked this comment very much, and after leaving Beijing, he made a special flag embroidered with General Yanmei, together with the flags of the superintendent.

After succeeding Xiong Wencan, Yang Sichang convened Liu Yuanbin, the lieutenant governor, Wan Yuanji, the superintendent, and Chen Hongfan, the chief soldier, to hold a military meeting.

Yang Sichang is only in his early fifties this year, a native of Wuling, Huguang, born in a scholarly family, and his grandfather Yang Shifang is a famous person in Wuling. His father Yang He was a Jinshi in the 32nd year of Wanli, and Yang Sichang was only six years later than his father and was also a Jinshi, in the troubled times at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Yang Sichang and his son were both famous for supervising soldiers.

Yang Sichang's father, the official to the right servant of the military department, was the governor of the trilateral military affairs of Shaanxi. After Yang Sichang entered the official career, he successively served as a professor in Hangzhou, a doctor in Nanjing Guozijian, and a middle official in Hubu Lang. In the third year of the Apocalypse, he was ostracized by the eunuch party, and resigned due to illness. In the first year of Chongzhen, he became the deputy envoy of Henan and joined the right to participate in politics. Later, he was promoted to the imperial history of the right capital, governor of Yongping and Shanhaiguan, and was famous for knowing the soldiers.

In the seventh year of Chongzhen, he was awarded the right attendant of the military department and the right to the imperial history, and the military affairs of Xuanfu, Datong and Shanxi. Xuan returned home with the death of his parents one after another. In the tenth year of Chongzhen, the peasant uprising swept the Central Plains, and he was appointed as the secretary of the military department, presided over the suppression of the rebel rebellion, and formulated the encirclement and suppression plan of "four positives, six corners and ten nets".

In the fourth time of Chongzhen, Yang Sichang's father Yang He was arrested for failing to appease the thieves.

Yang Sichang is rich in eloquence, work in the pen, talented, every time he is summoned to the Chongzhen Emperor, he can always impress the Chongzhen Emperor with his thinking and eloquence, and each time the call is more than the specified time, so that the Chongzhen Emperor has a feeling of seeing him late, and then being introduced as the minister of the humerus! sighed: "Hate to use Qingwan!" ”

It can be said that although Yang Sichang only entered the cabinet in the eleventh year of Chongzhen, he was extremely trusted by Chongzhen in the court. This kind of trust is even a little surprising, Chongzhen has changed countless auxiliary ministers at one time, but there are few people who trust Yang Sichang. Although he is not the first assistant, he can be trusted more than the first assistant, and the real power is tilted towards the government and the opposition.

In the eyes of today's son, Yang Sichang is the most knowledgeable minister in the court.

This time he went to Beijing, he also burdened the emperor's infinite trust and expectations. But the defeat of Zuoliang Yufang County made him very passive, and many officials in the court and central government rushed to impeach him, but the emperor stood up for him and still trusted him.

But secretly, the emperor also sent him a secret decree, asking him to step up the suppression of bandits.

Yang Sichang took Xiong Wencan, he was a little depressed, he wanted to give Xiong Wencan some time, so that he could defeat the thief, but unexpectedly, this time it caused a big defeat in Fang County, which made him extremely embarrassed, and finally got rid of the impeachment of the ministers in the court.

Although he got rid of impeachment, the emperor successively used a group of ministers of Huguang Zhishi, Mei Zhihuan, Li Changgeng, Li Shuchu, and Yuan Jixian, and the reactivation of these people made him feel a sense of urgency and crisis.

After Liu Yuanbin, the eunuch of the prison army, Wan Yuanji, the chief soldier Chen Hongfan and others arrived, Yang Sichang walked out wearing the red bullfighting robe given by the emperor.

Glancing at everyone, Yang Sichang was a little unhappy. He had summoned the governors and commanders of the provinces to come to the meeting and discuss matters, but now, only these few came. The new prime minister Mei Zhihuan has no news, and the three governors of Huguang, Yunyang, and Henan are nowhere to be seen.

Even Zuo Liangyu, who was newly defeated last time, is still stationed in Junzhou.

He suppressed the dislike in his heart and said in a deep voice, "Ladies and gentlemen, Your Majesty is very dissatisfied with the current situation of suppressing bandits. Your Majesty has ordered us to exterminate the thieves before the end of the year, and I will give you only one month. ”

Everyone in the audience couldn't help but change color slightly, and the deadline was one month, how could this be possible.

"It is judged that the thieves will definitely try to jump out of Huguang to avoid the encirclement and suppression of the officials and soldiers, and after jumping out of Huguang, they will inevitably escape into Shaanxi. For this reason, we must intercept the front and rear interception, never let the thieves escape, and we must surround them in the Yunyang area and exterminate them in one fell swoop. ”

"Now, the generals are at the mercy of my military orders. Zheng Chongjian, the governor of Shaanxi and the three sides, was ordered to lead his deputy commanders-in-chief, He Renlong, and Li Guoan's troops to immediately enter Hanzhong Xixiang to fortify and intercept. ”

"Ordered Huguang General Zuo Liangyu to lead the deputy general soldiers Liu Guoneng, Li Wanqing, Wang Guangen, Ma Jinzhong, Jin Shengheng, and Liu Hongqi to garrison Xing'an and Pingli in Shaanxi Province to defend and intercept."

"Sichuan deputy general Zhang Zuokai led his troops and horses into Dachang City, Kuizhou."

"Henan General Soldier Chen Hongfan, Deputy General Soldier Chen Yongfu, Sichuan General Soldier Fang Guoan and other other departments followed this officer to chase down the thieves."

"The official general order has been issued, the military order is like a mountain, if there is anyone who dares to disobey the military order, the official will ask Shang Fang to sword to follow suit!"

"Obey your orders!" (To be continued......)