Sun Chuanting rested in Xiangyang Mansion for about a month, and in early March, he finally started to act.

In order to ensure the sufficiency of the army, after a month of rest, Sun Chuanting recruited some sergeants again, so that the number of troops under his command remained at about 120,000, and at the same time, Yang Sichang, the cabinet minister and the secretary of the military department, and the cabinet minister, the left waiter of the military department, also won a military salary of three million taels of silver for Sun Chuanting in the capital.

Sun Chuanting, who had sufficient guarantees for the sergeant and money and food, went out again with confidence.

Sun Chuanting had already sent scouts to investigate Zhang Xianzhong's every move, and the news of the scout's report reassured Sun Chuanting a lot, Zhang Xianzhong, who suffered a fiasco, has always been stationed in Yunyang, did not take the strategy of counterattack, and did not try to escape from Yunyang, although he can't understand why Zhang Xianzhong has been staying in Yunyang, but Sun Chuanting believes that as long as Zhang Xianzhong's main force is still in Yunyang, he has enough confidence to completely defeat and destroy Zhang Xianzhong.

The situation in Nanyang and Xinyang is the thing that Sun Chuanting is most concerned about, the sergeants led by He Renlong, the chief soldier of Henan, have always been stationed in Xinye and Xinyang, and Li Zicheng did not try to launch a large-scale attack on the two places, when the imperial army launched the battle of Xiangyang, Li Zicheng was very quiet, as if the battle of Xiangyang had nothing to do with him, and even some of the taste of watching the tiger fight from the other mountain, during that time Chen Xinjia and Sun Chuanting were very concerned about the situation in Henan, and the information sent by Wu Fu, the governor of Henan, and the general soldier He Renlong, were all safe, which allowed the Battle of Xiangyang to be carried out smoothly.

After the battle of Xiangyang, Henan was still very calm, Wu Fu and He Renlong did not take the initiative to attack Li Zicheng, Li Zicheng also did not make any moves, and the two sides seemed to have reached a tacit understanding.

According to the original deployment, Sun Chuanting's next battle plan. It is to completely exterminate Zhang Xianzhong and his subordinates, and continue to stabilize Li Zicheng.

It is impossible to change this battle plan, after all, Zhang Xianzhong has already suffered a heavy blow, and Li Dingguo under his command has also been captured alive, and his combat effectiveness is relatively weak, and Sun Chuanting has also made up his mind. No matter where Zhang Xianzhong escapes, he will not let it go.

Sun Chuanting still adopted the tactics of steady and steady fighting, the 120,000 army was divided into two parts, the front army was 40,000 people, the Chinese army was 80,000, Sun Chuanting himself led 40,000 front troops to open the way in front, and Wang Yongji, the supervisor army, led 80,000 Chinese troops to follow behind, and the distance between the front army and the Chinese army was no more than 30 miles.

On March 10, Sun Chuanting led the army to officially set off from Xiangyang Fucheng. Head to Yunyang Mansion.

The capital, the military department

Chen Xinjia stood opposite Yang Sichang, with a very humble look on his face, although Chen Xinjia also entered the cabinet and became a cabinet minister, almost on an equal footing with Yang Sichang, but Yang Sichang's kindness, Chen Xinjia will not forget. Besides, Yang Sichang is still the secretary of the Ministry of War, mainly responsible for the affairs of the Ministry of War. Chen Xinjia is still assisting Yang Sichang in coordinating many matters of the military department.

It is rare for two cabinet ministers to be directly responsible for the affairs of the Ministry of War, which shows that the emperor attaches great importance to the affairs of the Ministry of War.

After Chen Xinjia returned to the capital, he discussed with Yang Sichang several times. It's all about the imperial army's extermination of the Liukou.

Yang Sichang has a very clear understanding of the matter of exterminating the Liukou, and the victory in the Battle of Xiangyang is just the beginning, and the situation is far from the situation of completely defeating the Liukou. Li Zicheng's strength is very strong, and it is still developing gradually, Zhang Xianzhong's Liu Wenxiu and Ai Nengqi led nearly 100,000 rogues are entrenched in Yunyang, and their combat effectiveness should not be underestimated.

Sun Chuanting, with the title of Shangshu of the Ministry of War, concurrently served as the governor of the five provinces, which played a certain role in mobilizing troops from all over the country to exterminate the Liukou, but the effect could not be overestimated.

Chen Xinjia's understanding is similar to Yang Sichang's, and he believes that it will take at least two to three years to exterminate the Liukou, and it will be a huge victory to be able to completely exterminate the Liukou in the sixteenth to seventeenth year of Chongzhen.

It is impossible for the military department to completely focus on the matter of exterminating the Liukou, so there is a division of labor between Yang Sichang and Chen Xinjia, specifically Yang Sichang is responsible for the overall matters, and Chen Xinjia is responsible for the extermination of the Liukou, which includes the scheduling and coordination of all aspects.

There was a huge map on the table, and Yang Sichang looked at the map and spoke.

"Lord Chen, Lord Sun and Wang Jianjun have already led an army of 120,000 to set off, their purpose is to completely exterminate Zhang Xianzhong, judging from the current situation, Zhang Xianzhong's strength has suffered a lot of losses, and he should not be the opponent of the imperial court, but I am still worried about Li Zicheng, if Li Zicheng has the intention of uniting with Zhang Xianzhong, the situation will become complicated."

Chen Xinjia also looked at the map.

"Lord Yang's worries, I also feel the same way, Zhang Xianzhong is entrenched in Yunyang, and has not acted for a long time, which is strange, according to common sense, Zhang Xianzhong lost the battle of Xiangyang, after fleeing to Yunyang, there should be action, or to consolidate the fortifications of Yunyang, and fight to the death with the imperial army, from my analysis, this is the next policy, Zhang Xianzhong is unlikely to do this, or to evacuate Yunyang, south into Sichuan, this is Zhang Xianzhong's most likely choice, Zhang Xianzhong is basically impossible to go north and Li Zicheng to unite, Not to dare to go west into the territory of Shaanxi, the imperial army regained Xiangyang City, a bleak scene in the city, when Zhang Xianzhong evacuated, almost turned Xiangyang City into a ghost city. ”

"Lord Chen, your analysis is very reasonable, I also see it this way, I think that Zhang Xianzhong is very likely to go south into Sichuan, Sichuan's Kuizhou, surrounded by mountains, the terrain is complex, which is not conducive to the army to spread out the battle, the white pole soldiers under the command of General Qin Liangyu, the general soldier of Sichuan, have not completely recovered their vitality, and it is unlikely to face Zhang Xianzhong head-on, the imperial army enters Sichuan to conquer, and it is necessary to be extra careful, no matter how you look at it, this is the most beneficial to Zhang Xianzhong's approach, but Zhang Xianzhong does not move, this is really incomprehensible."

Chen Xinjia frowned for a while before speaking.

"Will Zhang Xianzhong choose to join forces with Li Zicheng to fight, if such a possibility appears, then Zhang Xianzhong will definitely stick to Yunyang."

Chen Xinjia has communicated with Yang Sichang several times about this worry, but judging from the information currently available, there is no sign that Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong will join forces to fight, but Zhang Xianzhong is stuck in Yunyang, this action is too strange.

Finally, Yang Sichang sighed softly and slowly spoke.

"I hope that Zhang Xianzhong is not willing to fail, thinking of fighting with the imperial army in Yunyang, so it is the most beneficial for us, Li Zicheng of Henan, can only ask the governor of Henan, Lord Wu, and the chief soldier He Renlong to pay more attention, once you find any abnormal situation, you must report to the military department as soon as possible and notify Lord Sun." ……

After the discussion on the matter of exterminating the rogues was basically over, Yang Sichang's words changed.

"Lord Chen, the military department is not only about exterminating the Liukou, the situation in Liaodong, the border army of Datong, Ningxia and Yansui, and the military towns such as Dengzhou and Laizhou in Shandong, also need to pay attention to it, in the next time, I will focus on the situation in the direction of Liaodong, at this critical moment, the Houjin Tartars must not make any moves, in order to prevent changes in the north, I will contact the governor of Jiliao more, Lord Hong Chengchou, this matter of exterminating the Liukou, please worry more."

"Lord Yang, don't worry, I will definitely pay full attention to the matter of exterminating the Liukou."

"Well, you just led the army and won a major victory in the Battle of Xiangyang, which can be said to have boosted the morale of the army, and also made the emperor see the hope of completely exterminating the Liukou, the emperor originally asked for a two-sided war, and must exterminate Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong's rogues as quickly as possible, and now he has changed his opinion, and agreed to exterminate Zhang Xianzhong first, and the change in the emperor's understanding, you are indispensable."

"The victory of the battle of Xiangyang is not the credit of me alone, Lord Yang strategized in the capital, put forward the operational deployment of ambush on all sides, four positive and six corners, Lord Sun Chuanting did his best, led the army to fight bravely, and the strong assistance of Huguang, Henan and other places was able to win the battle of Xiangyang."

"Lord Chen is polite, credit is merit, or that sentence, please ask Lord Chen to bother more about the matter of exterminating the rogue."

Chen Xinjia had a smile on his face, but his heart was not a taste, Yang Sichang's arrangement, so that he could only ask about the matter of exterminating the Liukou, and other things of the military department were not easy to interfere in, you must know that after the battle of Xiangyang, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong must be highly vigilant, and the next battle situation is not optimistic, as for the situation in Liaodong, there will be no problems for the time being, and the Houjin Tartars have entered the customs and plundered three times, all of which have suffered a fiasco, and they are already afraid, unless there are major changes in the Ming Dynasty, In a short period of time, the Houjin Tartars did not dare to invade, and the imperial army would not launch any attacks in Liaodong, not to mention that the direction of Fuzhou and Jinzhou was garrisoned by the Zheng family's army, and the Houjin Tartars would not act rashly.

In this way, Yang Sichang actually has not much to do.

However, Chen Xinjia and Yang Sichang both understand one thing, which is also one of the important responsibilities of the Ministry of War, that is, how to divide and disintegrate the Zheng family's army, Zheng's army is too strong, and it has become the heart disease of the emperor and the imperial court. (To be continued......)