Chen Xin's army has been dragging and has not set off. ◎◎The Fifth Battalion completed the replenishment of troops within one month, and a Mandarin Duck Formation Division was transferred from the 1st and 3rd Battalions respectively, which were combined into the 1st General of the 5th Battalion as the combat core of the 5th Battalion. The newly built 2,000 headquarters mobilized two mobilization commands and reinforced some of the junior officers and non-commissioned officers.

This fifth battalion is also a mixed battalion, with reinforced cavalry and artillery, Chen Xin transferred two cavalry bureaus from Jinzhou, and added all the second batch of trainees of the accelerated cavalry section to it, pulling a thousand headquarters shelves, in fact, there are only more than 300 people, he hopes to slowly capture horses and mules in this long-term battle, expand the cavalry and dragoons, and form a battalion with a high degree of mobility, so as to effectively deal with the rogues, the reason why he transferred Zhong Laosi is because Zhong Laosi is familiar with all infantry and dragoon subjects, I also like to study new things, and then exercise, which is also the material of the battalion officer.

The original note of the Ministry of War was to ask the regiment to train the general army to lead the army, of course Chen Xin would not let Liu Minyou do this, and asked Wang Tingtry to send a report to the Ministry of War, and took the initiative to ask Ying to defend the Beijing Division, and made up a reason for Liu Minyou's illness.

Liang Tingdong saw that it was Chen Xin's application, and immediately agreed, he thought that Chen Xin wanted to earn benefits from the table, so naturally he would not quarrel with Chen Xin on such a trivial matter.

At this time, there were some changes in the shape of the rogues, and in March, some Shaanxi thieves wreaked havoc in Sichuan, breaking through the Baizhang Pass, and the official army suffered another defeat. The 36th battalion of Shanxi spread from the long mountainous area to the north of Zhili, especially after the first battle of Wu'an, the Changping army was defeated, the Jingjingguan people and horses were defeated, the local soldiers and horses of Henan were successively defeated, and the original 7,000 local officers and soldiers in Henan were left with little and no fighting spirit. Liukou took advantage of this opening and entered Wu'an in large numbers from Shexian County. Zijin Liang and Chuang Wang and other troops conquered Zezhou north of Wangwu Mountain, and entered Jiyuan and other places in the south, Taihang Mountain and Wangwu Mountain formed a breakthrough, and the vast North China Plain was in front of Liukou's eyes.

The remaining men and horses around Beizhili are all moving to the mountainous areas, and various localities have also begun to organize regiments to train the people and prepare to fight against the Liukou. Seeing that Chen Xin had not left on April 10, even Wang Tingxuan was a little anxious, after all, the military department first urged Wang Tingchu to the head of Wang Tingchu.

He had no choice but to keep urging Chen Xin. Chen Xin took the opportunity to ask for benefits, and almost fished out all the chain mail in the Dengzhou arsenal, Chen Xin's own inventory and the hundreds of pieces sent by Liang Tingdong made Zhong Laosi's thousand headquarters the first thousand headquarters to be fully equipped with chain mail. Chen Xin planned to let them focus on mobility, and the chain mail should be enough to deal with the rogues.

Chen Xin dragged on for so long. It is also necessary to complete the intensive training subjects of those mobilized soldiers, and the content of the marching part can be trained on the road, but it is inconvenient to practice the coordination of formation battles and infantry artillery.

Although the army had not moved, the intelligence, foreign affairs, trading companies, and special service teams had already set off in advance, and their assembly place was in the Daimyo's Mansion, and they would bring a batch of grain from Linqing.

The Daimyo's Mansion belongs to the Northern Zhili, and it is next to Wu'an. There was a branch of a trading company established last year, and Chen Xin was still a little hesitant to store enough food in the Daimyo's Mansion, for fear that the Liukou would take possession of the Daimyo's Mansion by surprise. Later, I took a look at the local situation reported by the Intelligence Division, and immediately agreed that the Daimyo's Mansion was used as a relay station between Linqing and Henan, and I was not worried that the Daimyo's Mansion would be conquered, because the name of the Daming Army's preparation was called. Lu Xiangsheng.

At present, he has led a local militia to Wu'an, but Chen Xin knows Lu Xiangsheng. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, he was a bull, he was both a civil official and a military attaché, and he was born as a jinshi and dared to swing a knife to cut people, and he cut it very well, at least more fiercely than many generals.

Lu Xiangsheng and Xiong Tingbi are all outliers among scholars in the late Ming Dynasty, with the status of civil officials, and they also train and strategize, and they can still take the lead, but the number is too small.

Lu Xiangsheng was promoted from the prefect of the Daimyo Mansion to the governor of Yunyang in a few years, if even the Laowo Daimyo Mansion would be conquered, then Lu Xiangsheng would definitely not be promoted to an official, so Chen Xin deduced according to this logic that the Daimyo Mansion should be fine, and it can be used as an advance base.

Before Chen Xin set off, Liang Tingdong had already changed Chen Xin's reporting location to Zhending Mansion, Chen Xin didn't know why there was this adjustment for a while, but with his historical knowledge, Liukou was far from becoming a climate, and he didn't have the strength to go straight to Beizhili. Maybe when he is halfway there, Liang Tingdong will continue to adjust his destination to the south.

After dragging it out to April, Chen Xin also felt that it was almost over, this delay was just a way to complain, taking benefits was one thing, and on the other hand, it was also necessary to sue the imperial court, Dengzhou Town was indeed very difficult, and it was a lot of strength to make up this point. During the waiting period, Jinzhou resumed its offensive against Fuzhou, and began to harass the spring wheat sowing along the Fuzhou line, cutting off more than 20 Jiannu heads, and killing hundreds of Baoyi, and the two sides began a brutal scout war in the mountains east of Fuzhou, but Houjin showed no signs of increasing troops in southern Liaoning.

In addition to the Fifth Battalion, there were also strengthened units directly under the Third General Guards Battalion, the Guards Battalion Artillery Team, the Chinese Army Reconnaissance Cavalry, the Special Service Team, and the General Baggage Team. Chen Xin brought a simplified version of Dengzhou Town this time, and even the civil affairs were accompanied by more than 100 people, mainly officials who were familiar with the tun affairs and some craftsmen.

Chen Xin also felt that it was almost time to go, otherwise the imperial court would be in a hurry, and it would be time to transfer the Guanning army back to the Baojing Division, which would undoubtedly increase the Guanning army's right to speak.

Another anxious person is Lu Zhi, this time the risk of fighting the rogues is not big, but the political zhì has a great benefit, especially with a gimmick to defend the Beijing Division, you can show loyalty to the emperor for a good time, which is very useful for a prison army like them.

Chongzhen recalled the eunuchs from all over the country when dealing with Wei Zhongxian, but this did not mean that he did not need eunuchs, and since the second year of Chongzhen, he has frequently sent ministers to supervise the army.

The appearance of the civil officials made him more and more disappointed, and even those who supervised the civil officials were full of suspicion, and it was the eunuchs around him who made him feel more at ease, and he could get some news through the eunuchs who were released.

When the Great Ling River was in place, he insisted and sent three eunuchs to Guanning to supervise the army. Cao Wenzhao, Zuo Liangyu, Zhang Yingchang, and Deng Xi all had a supervisor in the four departments, which invisibly also gave Lu Zhi some competitive pressure, so he urgently needed to go to the Henan battlefield to earn a watch.

Lu Zhi brought his own people, including two hundred of his own soldiers, and Geng Zhongming's men.

On April 12, all the troops of Denglai set off from Pingdu Prefecture, and Wang Tingqian personally went to Pingdu Prefecture to make a strong trip, and he specially found someone to calculate the auspicious time and set off at one o'clock in the afternoon.

On the colonel's field of the 3rd battalion. All the men and horses on the expedition stood solemnly, the Dengzhou soldiers as the main force were silent, and the five thousand soldiers raised their heads slightly in the unique military posture of Dengzhou Town, with their own arrogance, and even Geng Zhongming's department next to them was also infected. Although they still did not get rid of the habits of the Ming army, the military salary this year was more adequate than in previous years, and Geng Zhongming still drank the blood of the soldiers and ate empty salaries, but the deduction of ordinary battalion soldiers was reduced, and the morale was much higher than that of the ordinary Ming army.

Most of these mobilized soldiers came from Pingdu's Tunpu and were trained to be prominent in each fort. Because of the large population base, in terms of the quality of the source of soldiers, it surpassed the previous batches. Whenever those tun households saw the children in the queue, they let out bursts of cheers.

On this march, Chen Xin abandoned his plan to land in Tianjin. Originally, the plan made by the Military Command Department was to send it to Tianjin by Dengzhou and Wendengshui, and if there was no new order from the Ministry of War, it would go to Zhending Mansion via Baiyangdian and Zhulonghe, and if the Ministry of War changed its location. If you need to go to Wu'an and other places, you will land in Tianjin through the Grand Canal to Linqing or Dezhou. After marching along the Wei River to the Daimyo's Mansion, grain and grass could be transported by water, which could reduce a lot of losses.

However, Chen Xin hoped to cross Shandong by land, first, to complete the marching training subjects of the mobilized troops, to practice the long-distance march of battalion-level units, so as to provide experience for large-scale operations in the future, and second, to demonstrate the combat strength of Dengzhou Town to Shandong officialdom. To his surprise, Xu Congzhi actually took the initiative to send someone to contact, saying that he would provide food and grass for the Denglai army in Jinan, and at the same time sent orders to the various prefectures under his rule, asking all localities to provide convenience for the Denglai soldiers, and also hoped that Dengzhou Town could set off as much as possible.

Later, Chen Xin thought about it and understood, Xu Congzhi did not have many soldiers who could fight, and now there was a long strip of Daimyo Mansion between Dongchang Mansion and Wu'an, and Dongchang Mansion was a rich area along the way, and he was naturally very resistant to the Liukou.

Blocking the Liukou from Dongchang Mansion will also prevent the Liukou from entering Shandong, and Dongchang Mansion has a more fatal thing, that is, the Grand Canal, the Grand Canal crosses Dongchang Mansion from south to north, any point is captured by the Liukou, it will paralyze the Grand Canal entirely, and the grain and commodities of the Jingshi depend on this canal, so Xu Congzhi will never dare to take it lightly, and his Fubiao battalion has also been transferred to Dongchang Mansion, but Dengzhou Town obviously reassures him more.

As soon as the noon hour arrived, Wang Tingtry raised the banner in the general's platform, the generals and generals who went out to the expedition knelt down in front of the stage in order, and the flag bearers of the various departments were also lined up in front of the stage, Wang Tingtry to wait for the generals to kneel, and was very satisfied, although the soldiers still did not kneel, but it was better than when Xiong Ming came, he said loudly to the generals in the stage: "The world sees me Denglai, has been the world's first male town, out of the world's first male soldiers, today you are leading the troops to suppress Kou, but also need to be more attentive, in order to repay the emperor's high hopes." Don't have the heart to escape, the husband and the military are holding the benefits with both hands, and the success is to show the fame of the relatives, and the officials are entering the Lu, which is to hold the benefits with one hand; If you die in battle, you will build a temple, and you will eat blood for a hundred years, and you will be cheap with one hand. It is good to be born, and it is good to die......"

"Why is this so familiar?" Chen Xin reminisced in his mind, and it took a long time to remember that it was Qi Jiguang's original words in "The Actual Record of Military Training", which was to encourage military attachés, but Qi Dashuai still had a bit of taste when he said it, and Wang Ting's trial of this civil official seemed to be a kind of sarcasm.

Wang Ting's trial ended after a while, and after beating the drum three times, the army was mobilized, more than 5,000 people were fully armed, and a large number of baggage vehicles accompanied it, and the queue was very long.

Wang Tingqian waited for the civil officials to step down, and Chen Xin, Lu Zhi and others said goodbye to him one by one, Chen Xin couldn't see that he was worried at all, this was the fourth time that Wang Tingqian sent him on the expedition, the first time was when he was in his own state, when Wang Tingtry was still on the Lai Road, it can be said that he stepped on Chen Xin's military exploits step by step, if there is another change in the court, he may become a supervisor or a scholar.

Chen Xin scolded secretly, with a smile on his face, perfunctory with the civil officials.

The avenue outside the camp gate was crowded with people, and many scouts and students were beating gongs and drums, and they erupted in enthusiastic cheers and applause whenever artillery or cavalry rarely seen in normal times passed.

The three monks also mingled in the crowd, carefully observing the passing troops.

"Between the two thousand flags, there are two small cannons." Li Yongfang silently remembered in his heart, and there was another commotion next to him, but he saw that there were several large copper cannons, which should be the kind that appeared in Fuzhou, this time there were four of them, and the body tube was bigger than that kind of small cannon, but the wheels were the same, Li Yongfang also remembered it, and checked with a few of his subordinates when he went back.

There were not many cavalry in this group of Dengzhou soldiers, but the infantry looked strong and young, and many of them seemed to be new recruits, because there were many tunhu next to Li Yongfang, and several of their neighbors had just been drafted. But these recruits were very imposing, which made Li Yongfang secretly frightened. The military flags of their thousands of headquarters are slightly different, but they all have a flying tiger mark.

When all the Dengzhou soldiers were gone, Li Yongfang didn't know how many people had passed, and he roughly estimated that there were four or five thousand people. Finally, there is the red flag of Chen Xin's general army, on which are written a few big characters of General Pingliao Chen, the chief military officer of Dengzhou Town, and a military attache with a mountain armor quickly passed guò under the escort of a group of cavalry.

Li Yongfang saw Chen Xin for the first time, only to see that he was tall, full of heroism, his eyebrows seemed to be relatively delicate, and he was secretly surprised in his heart, the information collected before was very different, some said that Chen Xin was a reckless martial artist, and some said that Chen Xin was a little white-faced, and after seeing it with his own eyes today, it seemed that neither was like either.

One of his subordinates leaned over and said in a mosquito-like voice, "Elder, should we rush to the front and kill this Chen Xin." ”

Li Yongfang hesitated for a moment and shook his head, "The marching army is wearing mountain armor, and the guards around him are like clouds, and we don't have bows and crossbows, so we can't kill him." We have other things to do, you go to the city of Najiang and send the Dengzhou soldiers back to Liaodong. ”

The subordinate was a little unwilling, and glanced at the red flag of the general soldier in the distance, this general soldier has killed thousands of Houjin soldiers so far, although he does not kill much each time, but he never compromises, and never stops. A group of people under his command were not afraid of the prestige of the Houjin soldiers at all, and it was not enough to fight in winter, they only rested for the coldest two months, and in February they began to raid Fuzhou again, and their military newspaper also reported it.

Li Yongfang didn't have to think about it to know that the South Fourth Guard was not fighting, nor was it withdrawn, and if they tossed like this, Dongjiang Town would also take advantage of the fire to rob, and what was more troublesome would be to enhance the confidence of the Ming army.

Looking at the words "General Pingliao" on the red flag, Li Yongfang sighed softly, "It turns out that General Pingliao was killed by civilian officials, and this General Pingliao doesn't know who will kill him, and it is best to die at the hands of the rogue." ”