On September 15 of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, Zheng Xunrui led 40,000 Zheng soldiers and soldiers from Nanjing to Xiangyang Mansion in Huguang, and Zheng Jiajun will take advantage of Xiangyang Mansion to directly enter Kuizhou Mansion in Sichuan.

Sichuan is known as the land of abundance, since ancient times it has been a place of fertile land and simple folk customs, and there are more toasts in Sichuan, and the simple people have a trace of fierceness.

Zheng Xunrui personally led the first army of the Zheng family army from Nanjing, and at the same time ordered the 20,000 soldiers of the Third Army led by Zheng Kaitao to leave Tongguan and enter Henan, the purpose of their entry into Henan was to control Li Zicheng and his subordinates, to prevent any intersection between Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, Hong Xintao, who was stationed in Yan'an Prefecture, received an order to lead 20,000 soldiers to be stationed in Wubao Town, Suide Prefecture, which is close to Shanxi, and always pay attention to the Liukou under Li Zicheng who was attacking Taiyuan Mansion.

As for the Second Army of the Zheng Family Army, which was stationed in Dengzhou, Laizhou, Penglai, and southern Liaoning, it was tasked with closely monitoring the Eight Banners Army in Gaizhou and other places, and once the Eight Banners Army made any moves, it should be reported in a timely manner so that Zheng Xunrui could make a decision.

Zhou Yanru's suggestion is to let Zheng Xunrui take advantage of the opportunity to attack the Liukou, in one fell swoop to control Henan, Huguang and Sichuan and other places, after careful thinking, Zheng Xunrui decided to temporarily abandon Henan, first control Huguang and Sichuan provinces, he led the Zheng army this time, need to completely eliminate Zhang Xianzhong, as for Li Zicheng, there is still a need to exist.

If you want to completely control Henan, you want to exterminate the rogue under Li Zicheng, then Zheng Jiajun is likely to face a two-front battle situation, not that Zheng Xunrui can't bear such a situation, but Zheng Xunrui doesn't want to completely exterminate the rogue in a short period of time, so he will really make a wedding dress for others.

For such purposes. The purpose of Zheng Xunrui's expedition was to temporarily abandon Henan and western Liaoning in Huguang and Sichuan.

Yang Tingshu, Li Yan and Xu Jikuang followed Zheng Xunrui on the expedition, Yang Tingshu had become one of the members of the staff group, and Xu Wanghua and Zhou Yanru stayed in Nanjing and presided over everything.

Zheng Jiajun's side. Zheng Jinhong, the chief soldier, Hong Xinyu, Liu Zeqing, the deputy chief soldier, followed the expedition, the deputy general Hong Xingui stayed in Nanzhili, and the Zheng family army staff generals Su Congjin, Su Manzi and Wang Xiaoer all followed the expedition.

In the past few years, the Zheng family army has undergone earth-shaking changes, the configuration of firepower has long been different from the past, its main weapons are Mauser guns, Hongyi cannons and Furlong machines, etc., the artillery battalion has become the main battalion of the Zheng army, and the strength of the Shenji battalion has gradually grown. Almost half of the Zheng family's army has been supported, the scout battalion and the pro-soldier battalion have also been strengthened, and the other highlight is the women's battalion, which is responsible for the rescue on the battlefield, etc., as for the cavalry battalion, it is gradually decreasing.

Zheng Xunrui led the 40,000 Zheng family army soldiers on the expedition, and the number of cavalry battalions was only 5,000, and its main role was to charge the opponent's camp. Hit as fast as you can, without giving the other side any respite. All the soldiers of the Zheng family army are equipped with Mauser guns, including the soldiers of the artillery battalion, and only the cavalry is equipped with bows and arrows.

So many years have passed. After countless studies and tests, Bi Maokang and others of the Huai'an Firearms Bureau have greatly improved the power of the Mauser gun, and the current Mauser gun is very different from a few years ago, mainly in terms of range and speed. Its range or lethality has reached a distance of 500 meters, and the bullets fired per minute can reach more than ten rounds, of course, this power is still not comparable with hundreds of years later, but in today's era, it is already a huge killing weapon.

You must know that the cavalry charged from 500 meters away, and the bows and spears could not be completely resisted, but the Mauser guns could, and tens of thousands of Mauser guns fired at the same time, even if there were thousands of troops and horses in front, it would be the fate of all annihilation.

It is precisely because of the powerful firearms and artillery that Zheng Xunrui can guarantee the complete elimination of Zhang Xianzhong and his subordinates, he believes that this battle will not consume too much time, Zhang Xianzhong could never have dreamed that there are such powerful firearms in this world, whether it is cavalry or foot soldiers, in the face of such powerful firearms, there is no resistance, only the fate of destruction.

Winning the battle is no longer a key concern for Zheng Xunrui, he needs to think more about how to completely control Huguang and Sichuan provinces.

The speed of the army's march is not very fast, after all, the artillery battalion has a large number of Hongyi cannons and Furlong machines, considering that the main branch of the Liukou under Zhang Xianzhong is in Kuizhou, Sichuan, and the mountains are sparsely populated, so the artillery carried by the artillery battalion this time is mainly based on the Furlong machine, and the mobility of the Furlong machine is far stronger than that of the Hongyi cannon, and it can play an important role in the pursuit battle.

The selection of the governors of Huguang and Sichuan is a question that Zheng Xunrui needs to think about, and the staff committee has long discussed this matter, and Zheng Xunrui is not very satisfied with the proposed candidate.

The staff suggested that Liang Xingli be the governor of Huguang, which is probably for the sake of his Zheng Xunrui's face, after all, Zhao Danyu has already served as the governor of Zhejiang, and he is doing very well in Zhejiang, and he is also Zheng Xunrui's brother-in-law, Liang Xingli should also be the governor of the local area, and govern a province alone.

Zheng Xunrui doesn't see it that way, the personalities of Zhao Danyu and Liang Xingli, he knows, Zhao Danyu is smarter than Liang Xingli, and his receptivity is much stronger, and he can absorb a lot of fresh concepts, Liang Xingli is more honest than Zhao Danyu, and he lacks the ability to take charge of himself, it is still very good to stay by his side to do things, but it is not appropriate to let it out.

Zheng Xunrui thought of the two candidates for governor with him this time, that is, Li Yan and Xu Jikuang.

Li Yan and Xu Jikuang's abilities are both very outstanding, and they have also shown through many opportunities, and the two are very loyal to Zheng Xunrui, they are both people who have experienced strong winds and waves, once they are determined to pursue, there will be no change, even if they face huge temptation or great danger.

Zheng Xunrui has always used people according to his ability, and he will not pay special attention to the so-called two-list background, Jinshi and first, etc., you must know that Wen Kun is just a showman, and now he is still the governor of Shaanxi, and after arriving in Shaanxi, everything that should be done is very good.

Zheng Xunrui also has a characteristic of employing people, that is, he is willing to delegate power, that is, the governor of Shaanxi is very different from the governors of other places in the imperial court, the governor of Shaanxi can not only directly appoint the governors and counties of the prefectures and counties, and even decide the candidates for the prefects, Zheng Xunrui basically does not interfere in this regard, unless it is a particularly important place, such as Xi'an Mansion.

The reason why Zhejiang's transformation is so fast is because Zhao Danyu, who served as the governor, has sufficient personnel power, and unsuitable officials can be adjusted at any time.

After the army entered Huguang, Zheng Xunrui asked Xu Jikuang to pay more attention to the situation in Huguang.

Xu Jikuang was very smart, and soon understood what Zheng Xunrui meant, during the march of the army, he would take some sergeants into the villages and towns to inquire about the situation when the army was camping, and be familiar with and grasp the relevant situation in Huguang.

The lake is ripe and the world is full, and it can be seen from this sentence that Huguang is the land of fish and rice.

It's a pity that the years of war have made Huguang unable to calm down at all.

After a period of investigation, Xu Jikuang's brows were locked for a long time.

Zheng Xunrui found that Xu Jikuang's mood was wrong, he knew very well that Nanzhili, Zhejiang and Shaanxi and other places were developing rapidly, and other places in the Ming Dynasty could not be compared with them, all because the policies implemented and implemented were different, and they needed to be solved slowly after he controlled the world, after all, it was still the world of the Zhu family, and many things could not be solved in a short time.

The primary purpose of Zheng Jiajun's troops this time is to completely exterminate Zhang Xianzhong, and the rest of the things can be put to a later step.

When the army was about to arrive in Wuchang, Zheng Xunrui had an important discussion with Yang Tingshu, Li Yan, Xu Jikuang, and others.

Zheng Xunrui's point of view is very clear, that is, Zheng Jiajun not only wants to completely exterminate Zhang Xianzhong and his subordinates, but also to control Huguang and Sichuan and other places through this expedition, Huguang and Sichuan have fertile land, which is an important granary of the Ming Dynasty, and it is very important to maintain the stability of these places and let the people live a peaceful life, which is very important for stabilizing the world.

Zheng Xunrui specifically mentioned that the emperor and the imperial court asked Zheng Jiajun to exterminate the Liukou, and their intentions were different, which everyone knows, Zheng Jiajun is to take advantage of such an opportunity to cause some established facts, such as firmly controlling the government at all levels in Huguang and Sichuan, not only to exterminate the Liukou, but also to get rid of those officials and scholars who do not obey the management, etc.

Zheng Xunrui's request made Li Yan and Xu Jikuang quickly understand the key points, especially Xu Jikuang, who understood that when he was familiar with and mastered the situation in various parts of Huguang, it was more necessary to find a solution to the problem.

Yang Tingshu was surprised, in his impression, Zheng Xunrui has always been very gentle and elegant, and when he encounters problems, he also adopts a reasonable attitude to convince others, but now it is very different, and he actually directly mentioned the matter of eliminating dissidents.

Of course, Yang Tingshu will not understand that Zheng Xunrui's position is not more than ten years ago, at this time, Zheng Xunrui, with the whole world in mind, is thinking about how to revitalize the dynasty and continue to stand at the top of the world after controlling the world. (To be continued.) )