Sichuan-Hubei border, Yudu Creek.

Zuo Liangyu, the chief military officer of Huguang, and Zheng Chongjian, the governor of Shaanxi, finally came to join Yang Sichang with their subordinates.

In the temporary Chinese army camp, a young military attache shouted, "The superintendent is promoted!" ”

Although it was in wartime, the pomp and circumstance of the superintendent's promotion, the firing of trumpets and cannons, the beating of drums and music, and the loud registration of the generals and colonels by various officials, were still the same, and could not be reduced in the slightest.

Yang Sichang has changed into a first-class crane complement big red silk python suit, wearing a seven-beam crown on his head and a jade belt around his waist. When he walked in, he was followed by a military general, holding the sword of the Emperor's Imperial Shangfang in a yellow satin embroidered dragon sleeve.

The officials who saw it had already stood solemnly and respectfully, silently silent. Around the big tent, there are the guards of the Beijing camp that the emperor gave him when Yang Sichang left Beijing.

Yang Sichang sat down in the middle, habitually coughed heavily, and then swept his gaze back and forth twice over the civil and military officials.

Zheng Chongjian, the governor of Shaanxi, Li Shuchu, the governor of Henan, Liu Yuanbin, the lieutenant official, and Shi Wanji, the superintendent of the army, all felt the majesty of the superintendent from this cough.

Next, Zheng Chongjian and others stepped forward in turn to salute, and then Chen Hongfan, the general soldier of Henan, Zuo Liangyu, the general soldier of Huguang, and the general soldier Hu Dawei and fierce as a tiger, and the deputy generals of Shaanxi He Renlong and Li Guoqi, the deputy generals of Hubei Yang Shien and Luo Wanbang, the deputy generals of Hubei Liu Guoneng and Li Wanqing, and the deputy general of Henan Chen Yongfu stepped forward to meet in turn.

Shang Fang's sword was held there, and the superintendent was the superintendent with the title of Cabinet University Sergeant and Rite Department and Military Department, and there was also a crown prince and prince title, and all civil and military officers felt a little pressure.

Yang Sichang only set up seats for the governor Zheng Chongjian, the two superintendents and governor Li Shuchu, and several general military officers in the tent, and the other dozens of adjutant generals, staff generals, and guerrilla generals could only stand on both sides after paying homage.

Yang Sichang's face was not ordinary gentle, elegant, and amiable, and his face was only very majestic at this time.

Seeing the end of the ceremony, Yang Sichang first invited out the sword of Shang Fang, and then loudly reprimanded the general of the Beijing camp, Diao Mingzhong, for disobeying military orders and plundering the people.

"Diao Mingzhong is not effective in controlling the public. Forty lashes. Yin Dabai, as a prisoner, is even more derelict in his duties, please Shang Fang's sword, slash! ”

Yang Sichang shouted the order, and the guards on both sides rushed out, and captured Diao Mingzhong, the general of the Beijing camp with the title of deputy commander-in-chief, and his supervisor Yin Dabai went out, Diao Mingzhong and the two did not expect that Yang Sichang would suddenly attack, take him to establish authority, and begged for mercy again and again, but Yang Sichang was not moved at all. The rest of the generals still wanted to ask for mercy, but Yang Sichang swept his eyes angrily. The generals did not dare to speak.

A moment later, the guard took a wooden tray and brought Yin Dabai's head up. A human head spilled with blood, its eyes not yet closed, and it was dead and blind.

After killing Yin Dabai, Yang Sichang whipped Diao Mingzhong forty times.

Whipping the deputy general and beheading the prison army, Yang Sichang's killing of chickens and monkeys immediately played an excellent role, and all the generals present couldn't help but be afraid.

After borrowing Yin Dabai and Diao Mingzhong to establish their authority, Yang Sichang asked people to get another box. But it was the seal of the thief general he asked for Zuo Liangyu.

"General Kunshan. Your Majesty has very high hopes for you, and specially entitles you as the general of the thief and confers the seal of the general of the thief. ”

Zuo Liangyu looked at the seal and was very excited. A battle in Fang County. Zuo Liangyu's whole army was wiped out, and he also lost the Great Seal of the General Army, and became a general without a seal, which can be described as a great humiliation. On the other hand. After the defeat, he was very afraid, for fear that the emperor would be punished for this.

But now, Yang Sichang not only did not condemn him. Instead, he invited the number of the general of the thief and the seal of the general of the peace thief. It's a great favor. The general of the thief is not a simple name, in the Ming Dynasty, there are many total soldiers now, but there are very few who can get the name of the general and hang the division.

For example, when Man Gui was the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan, he had to be awarded the seal of General Pingyu. Although the general of the flat thief is not as good as the general of the flat thief, but he can get this seal, he can immediately distinguish it from the rest of the general soldiers. Now all the towns are gathered, not to mention that Chen Hongfan, the chief soldier of Henan, is equivalent to his official position, and Hu Dawei and Meng Ruhu have both served as chief military officers, but they were also demoted because of the Qing army's entry into the Kou at the beginning of the year, and were sent to the Central Plains to suppress bandits.

Now that he has to be awarded the general of the thief, Zuo Liangyu immediately changed from a general without a seal who was ridiculed by the generals to a general with a seal.

Yang Sichang has been paying attention to Zuo Liangyu's reaction, and he was full of joy after seeing him get the seal, he was very grateful to himself, and he was very satisfied in his heart. A general of the thief took Zuo Liangyu under his command, which is very worthwhile.

Then, Yang Sichang appointed He Renlong, the deputy general of Shaanxi, as the general soldier of Shaanxi, replacing the position vacated by Chen Hongfan, who was transferred to the general army of Henan.

"Ladies and gentlemen, now that the thieves and thieves have all entered Sichuan, in order to prevent the two thieves from poisoning Sichuan and causing greater turmoil, we must quickly catch up with the thieves and exterminate them in eastern Sichuan."

Yang Sichang has now assembled tens of thousands of troops, full of confidence, and he is now waiting for a news, waiting for the news that Mei Zhihuan was defeated by the Xianzhong Cao thief. In his opinion, Mei Zhihuan guessed the direction of the bandits' escape by mistake? And he thinks that if he hadn't laid heavy troops on the Hubei-Shaanxi border, the bandits would not have gone to Sichuan, but they would definitely have gone to Shaanxi.

But even if Mei Zhihuan used his defense and ran to Sichuan, he used his surprise to ambush Zhang Xianzhong once, could he still ambush him twice? Zhang Xianzhong is now connected with fifty or sixty thousand bandits, how can Mei Zhihuan's ten thousand people be able to stop him.

However, Mei Zhihuan wants to die, and he will not stop him, and he intercepts the bandits in Sichuan, which is also beneficial to himself. Now he has gathered tens of thousands of officers and soldiers, just taking advantage of the fight between the bandits and Mei Zhihuan and others, to reap the benefits of the fishermen.

Just when he was thinking about when the news of Mei Zhihuan's defeat could come, there were relatives outside who reported that Mei Zhihuan's military situation had arrived.

"Mei Zhihuan was defeated so quickly, then he had to speed up his march." Yang Sichang was overjoyed in his heart, and let the messenger in.

"Under the command of the little Prime Minister Mei, on the orders of the Prime Minister, I have come to report to the Yang Pavilion Department."

"Victory?" Yang Sichang choked. "What kind of good news, didn't you report the good news of the Battle of Wushan a few days ago?"

A few days ago, Premier Mei's Hu guerrilla led his troops to ambush and annihilate more than 1,000 bandits on the Bawu Gorge on the east side of Wushan Mountain."

When Yang Sichang heard that Mei Zhihuan had won another battle, not only was he not half happy, but he was also a little unhappy. After hearing that it was after annihilating a thousand people. couldn't help sneering twice, "It turns out that Prime Minister Mei led his troops to kill thousands of bandits, well, you have worked hard to make such a trip, take it down and reward a tael of silver." ”

Although it was a compliment, there was a hint of ridicule in the words.

"Back to the cabinet department, the small one has another good news."

"What's the good news?"

"At the same time as the Battle of Bawu Gorge, General Liu under the command of Mei Gong led his troops to set up an ambush in the mud ditch, annihilated more than 5,000 thieves and bandits in a battle, and killed the two generals under the command of Xian Thief and Cao Thief, King Shuntian and King Chaoshi."

Yang Sichang didn't speak for a long time.

Zuo Liangyu and other generals were also full of shock. It was also after they arrived at Yudu Creek that they learned that Premier Mei had already entered the Sichuan first, blocking in front of the bandits, and as soon as they entered the Sichuan, they annihilated more than 5,000 bandits, and beheaded the two thieves Cao Wei, the sweeping king and Yang Youxian, the king of the ten antis.

Killing two thieves and annihilating thousands of thieves and bandits is indeed good, but it has not shocked these general generals. But it was only a few days later, and thousands of bandits were annihilated. beheaded the leaders of the two anti-thieves again, which is a bit abnormal. Especially these two battles are still commanded by that Liu Jun, who is this fucking Liu Jun?

Many generals have never heard of the name Liu Jun.

"The bandits must be stupid!" Yang Sichang was shocked, so he could only think like this. He would never admit it. Mei Zhihuan expected the enemy to take the lead, and Liu Jun used his troops like a god.

When Yang Sichang heard that Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai had killed Mei Zhihuan and Liu Jun in Wushan with more than 50,000 thieves and bandits in Dachang City, he was a little gloating in his heart.

"Zuo Liangyu listened to the order, and this governor ordered you to lead the troops and horses of the headquarters to march into Daning City immediately."

He Renlong and Li Guoqi listened to the order. Your two generals led the Shaanxi army to march immediately to Dachang City. ”

"The tiger is mighty, as fierce as the tiger, and the two generals will listen to the order, and the two of you will immediately lead the soldiers and horses of the Beijing battalion to march into Fengjie."

After giving three orders in a row, Yang Sichang added another sentence. "After the troops have been stationed in the cities, they must strictly defend the cities, and they must not be moved lightly without the orders of the governor."

Li Shuchu, the governor of Henan, proposed that the thief army was attacking Wushan in a big way, and at this time he should hurry up to reinforce Wushan, and cooperate with Mei Zhihuan's department to fight a decisive battle with the thief army in Wushan.

But his suggestion was vetoed by Yang Sichang, and Yang Sichang proposed that now the thief army is marching towards Wushan, which is a great opportunity. At this time, the official army could quickly enter the three cities of Daning, Dachang and Fengjie, which were located southwest of Wushan. If these three cities can be captured, it will be equivalent to blocking the road of the bandits south to Chuanzhong.

And he led a large army to Wushan to fight the thieves.

As for Mei Zhihuan's safety, of course, there is no need to worry. In a short period of time, Premier Mei has won three consecutive victories, annihilated more than 10,000 bandits, and captured several thieves.

"Daning, Dachang, and Fengjie are dedicated to one place to prevent bandits from escaping south, and the governor leads the rest of the departments to attack and suppress. All departments must strictly obey the order, if there is anyone who dares to disobey the order, don't blame the governor for asking Shang Fang's sword to cut first and then play! ”

Yang Sichang wished that Mei Zhihuan would fight with the bandits, so that he would have the opportunity to surround the bandits again and exterminate them in one fell swoop. As for whether Mei Zhihuan can withstand the attack of the bandits, he doesn't care

Halfway to Wushan, Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai climbed a high slope to look at the officers and soldiers who suddenly stopped on the road opposite. About five or six thousand men, basically infantry, just set up in formation and stopped the road.

"Officers and soldiers are nothing more than that!"

In the slanting wind and drizzle, Zhang Xianzhong put on a poncho, looked at it a few times, and then commented. There were quite a few officers and soldiers, but they intercepted them halfway, but they did not choose those passes that were easy to attack and difficult to defend, nor did they choose those places that were easy to ambush like ravines and valleys.

The officers and men chose an open and flat place, and at a glance, it was flat, and there were no dangers conducive to defense around it, and there was no place for ambush. The officers and soldiers directly gave up those advantages, and they wanted to stop his 50,000 army with these thousands of men?

It's ridiculous, and it's beyond my means.

"Beware of deception!" Cao Cao Luo Rucai squinted his eyes and looked at the officers and soldiers on the opposite side for a long time, and then reminded loudly.

Zhang Xianzhong laughed for a while, "Is there a fraud, just try it!" (To be continued......)