Yang Sichang, as the supervisor, came to supervise the encirclement and suppression of the Central Plains bandits, and the object of his encirclement and suppression was the thieves in the Xiangyang area dominated by Zhang Xianzhong and Cao Cao. Of course, the Fifth Battalion of Huizuo, which has been cowering in the Huanghuo Mountains of Nanzhili in the past few years, is also the main target of this encirclement and suppression.

In the early years, Yang Sichang was ordered to preside over the encirclement and suppression of bandits, when he proposed the strategy of leveling the thieves in four positive and six corners, with Shaanxi, Henan, Huguang, and Jiangbei as the four positives, and the four governors divided and suppressed and defended; With Yansui, Shanxi, Shandong, Jiangnan, Jiangxi, and Sichuan as the six corners, the six governors divided the defense and assisted in suppression; It is a web of ten sides. And the governor and the prime minister's two ministers, as the thieves wanted, levied expropriation.

At that time, the imperial court gathered heavy troops, Sun Chuanting, Hong Chengchou, Lu Xiangsheng, Xiong Wencan, Cao Wenzhao and other generals gathered, although they finally failed to exterminate the thieves within three months, but they did carry out an exterminating blow to the bandits. Under his officiation, all kinds of bandits were killed, appeased or surrendered, and the bandits could be solved once and for all.

However, the prisoners outside the border frequently entered the border, and the imperial court had to transfer Sun Chuanting, Hong Chengchou, Lu Xiangsheng and other famous bandit commanders to the northern border pass. Later, Prime Minister Xiong Wencan, who was in charge of continuing to preside over the plan to suppress bandits, was bent on recruiting bandits, so that Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng, Cao Cao, Lao Huihui and other thieves had a chance to recuperate.

Wait until this year, the thieves who have licked their wounds finally show their true nature again and rebel one after another. By now, the traitors were getting louder and louder, and the imperial court had to send Yang Sichang back out of Beijing to supervise the division.

Before coming, the emperor had personally summoned him and had a secret decree to him, so that after he arrived in Xiangyang, he would immediately investigate the guilt of Prime Minister Xiong Wencan and others, and let him re-preside over the suppression of bandits.

What Yang Sichang didn't expect was that he had just entered Xiangyang, and he hadn't come to summon Xiong Wencan yet. Xiong Wencan first reported a great victory to him, beheaded more than 2,000, captured more than 2,000, and defeated more than 20,000 bandits, and these bandits were not ordinary bandits, but the soldiers and horses of the fifth battalion of the most powerful rebel army today.

When he first saw this good news, Yang Sichang didn't believe it at all, and thought that this was Xiong Wencan's stupid trick to jump off the wall in a hurry. He believed that Xiong Wencan must have known that he was coming here and was definitely going to take him down. That's why he came to such a hand and falsely reported his achievements. Maybe there will be a battle, but there will never be such a big battle, and there will never be such a good record.

"Check, check carefully, you must check clearly." Yang Sichang gave an order to the Jinyi guards who came with him. Then he lived in the post station on the grounds that he was infected with the wind and cold on the road, avoiding the guests. Xiong Wencan came to visit several times, but was blocked by his family.

Although Jinyiwei is relatively low-key in the Chongzhen Dynasty, Jinyiwei's huge network is still all over the world. They're looking something up, and that's easy. Soon, Jin Yiwei found out the details of Qi Huang Dajie, and even the specific details were collected by them.

There was indeed a great victory for Qi Huang, and it was indeed beheaded more than 2,000 and more than 2,000 captured. However, what surprised both Jinyiwei and Yang Sichang was that it was not so much a victory as a victory in Hutoubao. In this whole battle, only Tiger Head Fort was the most fierce, and the rest were just confrontations.

"Liu Jun, the general training officer of the Macheng Regiment, led more than 600 people of the Nine-headed Bird Township Regiment and the people in the Tiger Head Fort, and fought fiercely for two days and nights with thousands of thieves and bandits led by the Diamond Leopard, destroying more than 1,700 enemies before and after, capturing more than 1,000 prisoners, and annihilating all the bandits in the Diamond Leopard."

Yang Sichang tapped lightly on the table, looking at the information in front of him, it was really a little unbelievable.

"This Liu Jun, what is the origin? Have you found out? ”

"Back to the superintendent, this Liu Jiye is just 20 years old this year, he was originally a student of Huangzhou Weiwu, but he is not a military household of the guard, his family is a gentry in Xiwan, Macheng, and his father is a Xiucai in Macheng. When he was a teenager, Liu Jiye also liked to mess around in his hometown, and later got into a lawsuit because of a dispute with the township, so he went to Fucheng and was admitted to Huangzhou Weiwu School with his martial arts skills. ”

"It's ordinary." Yang Sichang gave a judgment after listening. "And then?"

"And then it's a little weird." That brocade guard Qianhu said, "Just this year, Liu Jun returned to his home in Macheng from Fucheng Martial Arts, and then somehow got acquainted with Li Changgeng's nephew Li Chunjiang, and later established a township regiment horse team with Li Chunjiang, that is, the original nine-headed bird. ”

"Speaking of this nine-headed bird is not simple, it is said that Liu Jun and Li Chunjiang raised their own money to establish this horse team of only more than 100 people at the beginning, and then they only trained for more than a month, and then took the initiative to attack the bandits, and in one fell swoop exterminated a group of horse thieves who committed the tragedy of exterminating the village in Macheng at that time, which is quite good."

"It's kind of interesting." Yang Sichang nodded and motioned to continue.

"Later, Liu Jiye once recruited new soldiers in Taiping Township, Macheng, and happened to encounter a group of bandits who attacked the inspection department of Hutou Fort and trapped the inspection at that time.

"Courage."

Later, Li Chunjiang was injured a little because he was fighting bandits, and because he was preparing to participate in the examination next spring, he withdrew from the nine-headed bird. Since then, the nine-headed bird was led by Liu Jun alone, and because of the work of suppressing bandits, Macheng County reported to the army and prepared the road, so that Liu Jun was the patrol of Hutou Fort. Then the imperial court ordered all localities to hold group exercises, and Macheng County let Liu Jun become the general manager of Macheng training, and his nine-headed bird was also transferred to Macheng group training. After that, they recruited some more men and horses, and then this time the thieves attacked, and more than 3,000 thieves were crushed in front of the nine-headed bird, and the whole army was annihilated. ”

"Do you know how Liu Jun's nine-headed bird annihilated more than 3,000 thieves in the horse guard?"

"We have also inquired about the specific situation, and we have heard it from many parties, and there will be absolutely no mistake. It's pretty powerful, I can't believe it. "Jinyi Wei Qianhu is like a storyteller, and tells the whole battle of Tiger Head Fort in detail.

"The Hydra has a lot of firearms, and it's a bit special." Yang Sichang quickly discovered the key point, this time the tiger head fort victory, one is that the bandits are light on the enemy, the second is that the city fortifications of the tiger head fort are quite complicated, and the other is that the nine-headed bird is equipped with a large number of firearms, and the team members are also proficient in firearms, these situations are indeed very unexpected. Ordinary regimental training will not be equipped with so many firearms, nor will they be so proficient in firearms, not to mention, the nine-headed bird regimental training is still a standing army and horses, daily drills, and the salary is rich, and even most of their salaries and ordnance are solved by raising their own money. This nine-headed bird, it's a miracle, how did they do it.

Or rather, how did Liu Jun do it.

Now Yang Sichang is really curious about this Liu Jun.

"I can't imagine that there are such young and handsome people in the countryside. Such a talent, it is really condescending to only be the general manager of one county. Yang Sichang muttered, and he suddenly said to the Jinyi Wei Qianhu, "I first came to Xiangyang and was about to establish a superintendent standard camp, what do you think, how about transferring this Liu Jiye to the standard camp?" Well, how about just transferring his nine-headed bird together and directly organizing it into a battalion. ”

The thousand households didn't expect Yang Sichang to ask him this, so he had to nod.

Nowadays, supervisors like Yang Sichang will establish their own standard camps, and there is often more than one standard camp, and sometimes the standard camp even reaches tens of thousands of horses. Some are divided into three battalions on the left, center and right, while others have five battalions on the left, center and right, each battalion is 3,000 or 2,000, all of which are the most elite soldiers and horses.

It is precisely because the superintendents, managers, governors, governors, and commanders have their own standard battalions, and they are all elite soldiers, so they also have a heavier right to speak when directing and transferring. With Yang Sichang's cabinet bachelor, he came to the Central Plains to supervise the bandits, and with Shang Fang's sword, even if he built five battalions of pacesetters, it was not a strange thing.

That Jinyi Wei Qianhu was secretly envious of that Liu Jiye in his heart, but at the age of twenty, he was now appreciated by the Supervisor. Transferred to the superintendent standard battalion, the future is limitless. What's more, listening to the meaning of the overseer, it turned out to be to let Liu Jun and his nine-headed bird become a separate battalion.

According to the current system in the army, the person who commands a battalion of soldiers and horses is also a guerrilla. The battalion officers of the Chinese army are even generally led by generals, even if it is just a guerrilla, for Liu Jun, who is now only a small group training, this is also rolling up several levels.

The regimental training is only equivalent to the general manager, and there are thousands of generals in general, and there are garrisons in the general of thousands, and there are guerrillas above the garrison. If Liu Jun really went straight to the standard battalion guerrilla, then he jumped over the thousand generals and garrisons at once, and went straight to the guerrillas. The county training is always from the eight-rank military position, and the guerrilla general belongs to the post of reprimand, and there is no grade, but the guerrilla generally has the command of the guard army or the command of the service, which is roughly equivalent to the grade from the three to the four, in the Ming Dynasty military attaché, the guerrilla general is a very senior military position, can command a battalion of soldiers and horses.

The difference between this and practicing is not one or two levels, but simply heaven and earth.

When Yang Sichang was about to transfer Liu Jun to Xiangyang to meet him face-to-face, and then consider whether to let Liu Jun be his standard battalion guerrilla, someone started before him.

Xiong Wencan, the prime minister of the bandits, has been very bad recently, Zhang Xianzhong and Cao Cao have reversed, so that Xiong Wencan, who advocates the Zhao'an plan, has been slapped in the face, but the thieves are still a little unstoppable, since the thieves rebelled in May, until now in July, more than two months have passed, Xiong Wencan, the prime minister, has not come up with the slightest record of suppressing bandits.

Seeing that Yang Sichang had already come with Shang Fang's sword, Xiong Wencan knew that not only was his official position difficult to protect, but even his life might not be guaranteed. Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty still understands a little, and when he wants to use you, it is really a reward, but once you can't meet the emperor's requirements, the fate waiting for you will be miserable.

At this moment, a good news report of Qi Huang's great victory was reported on the desk. Although this victory had nothing to do with him, he didn't even know about it beforehand. But if he wins, and Qi Huang is still under the jurisdiction of him, the prime minister, then this naturally has to be classified as his own merit.

With this victory, he finally had a little confidence in his heart, and he even wrote a 10,000-word recital that day, sending it straight to the Beijing Division, presenting the Son of Heaven, saying that the matter of suppressing the bandits was under his control, and this Qihuang victory was only a small victory, and then they would give the bandits a more severe blow.

Xiong Wencan has not forgotten the protagonist of this victory, Liu Jun of Hutou Fort. In addition to being happy, he planned to issue a reward order.

Liu Junchao, the general of the regimental training of Macheng County, promoted the garrison of Macheng, and commanded the command of Huangzhouwei, and commanded the defense and garrison of Huang'an, Macheng, Luotian, Qishui, and Huangmei counties at the western foot of Dabie Mountain, with a garrison of 3,000 troops in Macheng.