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In the face of Mei Zhihuan's inquiry, Liu Jun already had the answer in his heart.

"Back to the teacher, the students think that the court has suppressed bandits for so many years, not because of how strong the bandits are, but because the bandits are like sparks, they can't be put out at all, and they can resurrect at any time, and then become a prairie fire. Therefore, the key is to use both soothing and appeasement. ”

"Suppress and soothe?" Mei Zhihuan shook his head, and seemed to be a little disappointed with this answer, but I don't know how many ministers have mentioned these four words, and the important ministers in charge of suppressing bandits over the years have gone from Yang He to Xiong Wencan, and there are too many people who have proposed to suppress them. Even Yang He and Xiong Wencan, who were the ones who cared for it, did not end well.

"Of course, to suppress bandits at the same time, you have to suppress them first, and then you have to soothe them, and you will be able to do both. Moreover, there must be means to care. For example, every time a thief is killed, the thief must be distinguished, and those thieves who have been in trouble for many years naturally cannot be spared, even if they want to be touched, their soldiers and horses must be separated, and the soldiers will be separated. And it must be subdued first and then touched, especially the thief cannot agree as soon as he loses his position and shouts surrender, and he must thoroughly grasp the initiative before he can be touched. ”

In fact, there have been many bandits who have been subdued by the imperial court in recent years, many of the thieves who surrendered after being subdued, and many of whom have since died for the imperial court, many of whom have been famous leaders among the bandits.

"First subdued, then appeased, and then placed. Placement is also very important, if it can't be settled, the thieves may rebel at any time, Yang He appeased the thieves back then, and the thieves were once appeased, but in the end they reversed. Why, just because I can't live. ”

Mei Zhihuan let out a long sigh when he heard it, what Liu Jun said was not new, people of insight in the court could realize this, but the key was how to do it. Don't talk about stroking now. Even if they can't beat the bandits, they flee in all directions.

Yang Sichang's strategy of suppressing bandits in a network of four positives, six corners and ten sides is actually a strategy specially proposed because of the uncertain flow of thieves. His idea was actually good, dividing the Central Plains into ten theaters, four for defense and six for blocking, and the prime minister of the Governor was specifically pursuing.

But this seemingly perfect strategy is actually not feasible, because it requires too good cooperation. In fact, what the Ming court lacks most now is cooperation. There are always all kinds of pig teammates who pull their hind legs and drop their crotch. As a result, it can't be blocked at all, it can't be encircled, and thieves can always escape from the encirclement.

The most important tactic for bandits to fight in unfounded places and in all directions is to avoid reality and make ends meet, and to wander around specifically to see a vacancy. Just go to those places where the defense is weak to fight a battle and grab a vote, they don't need to produce, they just rely on looting, or even through coercion. As long as the main force is not lost, their team will fight more and more.

In the final analysis, it is still the local armament that is lax and faces the raids of bandits. There is no defense at all, it can't withstand it at all, and even reinforcements can't wait. And the various soldiers and horses who are responsible for the conquest. There are also many problems, such as empty salaries, deductions, unpaid wages, lack of training, lax military discipline, and so on.

Of course, there is a deeper reason that makes the bandits inexhaustible, that is, now the Ming Dynasty has long been eroded, the gentry and landlords have occupied all the fields, and they have all kinds of privileges, and the taxes have been passed on to the landless and bankrupt people, which has aggravated the burden of the people, and countless people can no longer live, and they have no choice but to rebel. Because of this, the more thieves the court suppressed, the more thieves there were.

Mei Zhihuan has stayed in the local area for several years, and he is well aware of these situations, so he is not happy at all about being the prime minister of the six provinces, he knows in his heart that the bandits cannot be killed endlessly, and from the beginning, he is fighting a battle that will never have a chance of winning.

"Your Excellency should build your own soldiers and horses, so as to conquer the bandits, kill each thief, pacify the people, and pacify the land, so that there is hope." Liu Jun put forward his own suggestion, although it seems a little too naïve, but it is also the only way.

"Mobilize troops and horses from all over the country to suppress bandits, not to mention that there are too many soldiers, and it is easy to harm the localities. Especially when the imperial court is always in arrears and unable to pay money and food in time, the more troops are transferred, the more chaos will only become, and they will not only fail to play a role, but worsen the situation. Therefore, the students thought that the more soldiers the better, and that there was no need for more soldiers and horses in the provinces, so it was enough for them to stay in their own defense areas and do a good job of defense. If you want to suppress bandits, the key is to rely on your own soldiers. ”

Mei Zhihuan was a little surprised at this time.

"The Baoshengbao Township Regiment under the command of the adult has been training for many years, in fact, it is not worse than the official army, and the students have now also trained a soldier and horse, which can be used to form the Prime Minister's standard battalion, these soldiers we know the roots, they are all children of the Huguang Township Party, they usually train hard, and they are not in arrears, and their morale far exceeds that of the officers and soldiers from all over the country. With them, one can top two. ”

Those officers and soldiers in various places are not easy to use, and such a powerful general as Zuo Liangyu can't move him at all. In that case, what else do you want them to do?

In the final analysis, in fact, the bandits at this time did not have the ability to confront the official army head-on. They still relied on guerrilla warfare to avoid reality and hypocrisy, and relied on sneak attacks, ambushes, and other means to attack the officers and troops. And in history, Li Zicheng, who was not well-known among the bandits in the early days, suddenly became stronger, and it was not that he was really powerful all of a sudden, but that the elite of the imperial court were basically transferred to the north to fight against the Qing army, and later buried outside the pass, the Central Plains was completely empty, and the bandits suddenly sat up, and since then, the official army has not been able to defeat the bandits on the frontal battlefield.

But now, the bandits still dare not fight head-on with the official army, and in the past two years, the bandits have been almost wiped out by Lu Xiangsheng, Hong Chengchou, Sun Chuanting and other court generals, because of this.

However, Liu Jun's method also has a big drawback, that is, it is difficult to block the bandits who are wandering around with only one or two elites, and the deployment of troops to surround them will eventually follow the old path of failure of Yang Sichang and others.

However, it is difficult to have everything perfect, and Mei Zhihuan still appreciates Liu Jun's self-confidence.

"I heard that Xiong Wencan has appointed you as a mid-level officer under the prime minister's standard and a guerrilla general in the left battalion, and he also promised to give you 100,000 taels of food?" Mei Zhihuan asked.

"Indeed, half of the 100,000 taels of silver have been taken, and the remaining half seems to be unavailable." Liu Jun also smiled, he also heard that this silver was actually Xiong Wencan's own pocket, in order to protect his future, but in the end, because of Zuo Liangyu's big defeat, he was compensated. Now Xiong Wencan is being escorted to Beijing. Liu Jun will not return his 50,000 taels of silver.

Mei Zhihuan stroked his beard and said, "I'm not Xiong Wencan, and I don't have such a rich net worth as him, so I can't give you 100,000 taels of silver." But if you want, I want to continue to make you a mid-level officer and a mid-camp officer under the Prime Minister's standard. ”

"The teacher exalted me too much, and the teacher built a standard camp, so naturally Mr. Hu should be the middle officer." Liu Jun hurriedly said. Hu Gongguo is Mei Zhihuan's old partner, and has been serving as the battalion officer of the main barracks of Baosheng Fort.

"I have other arrangements for the principality, so you can say if you want to."

Liu Jun immediately responded, "Since Gong Mei has a life." Liu Jun dared not to comply. ”

"Okay, what I want is your happy words, what I like is your bravery." Mei Zhihuan slapped the table, laughed loudly, and then brought two wine glasses, and brought a pot of wine, and poured a glass from each of the two glasses. "Drink!"

Liu Jun picked up the wine glass and drank it all. It is indeed a pleasure to do things with a straightforward person like Mei Zhihuan.

Mei Zhihuan decided on the spot. It is necessary to establish its own prime minister's standard battalion, and the standard battalion will have a total of five battalions, each with 3,000 battalions, divided into five battalions on the left, the center, and the right. The front battalion is the original Fort Baosheng Ranger Battalion and several teams directly under it. The rear camp is the original main barracks of Fort Baosheng. The three battalions on the left, center and right are composed of Liu Jun's nine-headed bird training battalion, the combat battalion and the baggage battalion.

Liu Jun was awarded the title of Chinese military officer under the prime minister's standard and guerrilla general in the middle battalion.

"When can your three battalions leave?" Mei Zhihuan asked.

"It's all ready to go."

"Good. Then we'll leave in two days. Mei Zhihuan drank all the wine in the cup, and said arrogantly, his face flushed. After many years of silence, he finally got a chance to make a comeback.

"Will you leave the day after tomorrow and go to Xiangyang?"

"No, let's not go to Xiangyang, let's go directly to Zhang Xianzhong, go to Wuchang first, and then we will go directly to Jingzhou by boat, we have to be one step ahead of the thieves this time, and block their retreat in advance." Mei Zhihuan said in high spirits.

"Aren't you going to see Yang Gebu?" Liu Jun asked tentatively.

"It's not that set, there's no such thing as empty now. Jiye, as I expected, Zhang Xianzhong is about to enter Sichuan next. Once we let Zhang Xianzhong and other bandits break into Sichuan, then it will be impossible for us to defeat and exterminate him in the short term. Therefore, we are now short of time, and we must take the first step to block their way into Sichuan. ”

"I have already sent someone to contact a group of big ships, we will take the boat directly up the river and rush to Jingzhou, which can save a lot of time, and then we will also surprise Zhang Thief, catch him off guard, and be dizzy." Mei Zhihuan pulled Liu Jun to a large map, pointed to the map and said his plan.

"Is it too late for the transfer of troops and horses?"

"I didn't plan to transfer other troops and horses this time, just our five battalions. Do not tune with other people, and take the waterway to achieve stealth and suddenness. ”

Liu Jun was surprised a lot, and he admired Mei Zhihuan's boldness more and more.

He really didn't plan to go to Xiangyang to meet Yang Sichang, nor did he plan to discuss with Yang Sichang, and he didn't even plan to mobilize other soldiers and horses to cooperate, so he only took the fifth battalion of the subordinate regiment that was only a township regiment a month ago to intercept Zhang Xianzhong's Dao.

Admiration, really admiration, but think that after Mei Zhihuan once received Chongzhen's Qinwang order, he led his troops to the halfway road, but when he heard that there was a rebellion in his jurisdiction, he immediately didn't say a word, ignored the emperor's Qinwang order, and turned back to quell the rebellion. Mei Zhihuan once even the emperor could be thrown aside, let alone just a supervisor.

However, Mei Zhihuan dumped the emperor back then, and as a result, he was dismissed afterwards. If you don't dump Yang Sichang now, even if you win this battle, I'm afraid that you will completely offend Yang Sichang afterwards, if you don't succeed, I'm afraid it will be more troublesome.

But Liu Jun looked at Mei Zhihuan's appearance, and he didn't seem to be at ease with these at all. Thinking of this, he didn't say anything, Mei Zhihuan is not a stupid person, Mei Zhihuan must have thought of it, since he doesn't care about this, then he will go crazy. (To be continued......)