Gu Zhenhua's rise has not been long, but with the swept wealth and thorough reforms, the power in his hands is already quite strong. In particular, in terms of troops, it is extremely abundant.

First of all, the most essential part of the Anguo Army is the 5,000 old guards personally mastered by Gu Zhenhua, and many of the personnel in it have followed all the way down from Shanhaiguan in the capital. After settling down, these people were assigned to the grange, married and had children, and their political status also improved dramatically.

The military generals of the Ming Dynasty are indeed treated unexpectedly low, and the general soldier level must be polite to the Qipin County Order. The hereditary martial arts hall even had to be yelled at by a showman, and his face was disgraced.

Nowadays, the status of the Anguo Army is very different, especially those old guards with bearskin hats, which are basically like Shang Fang's swords, invincible. These people know very well that their qiē was given by Gu Zhenhua and the Anguo Army, and they are willing to gamble in order to protect the existing qiē.

In addition to the Old Guards, there were three brigades of the Guards, plus two brigades of hussars, as well as five battalions of artillery, three regiments of chariots. A total of more than 20,000 is called a trump card force, and it is absolutely reluctant to use it until the critical moment, which is also the main source of troops during the battle of northern Henan.

Then there are the new and old soldiers recruited from Henan all the way, a total of 12 brigades have been organized and trained, which are under the command of Sun Cheng, Li Xu, Guo Yunlong, Xie Bin, Lu Yong and others, and are the main force of the Angolan army.

The subordinates of Huang Degong, Liu Kecheng, Hu Maozhen and others were also reorganized, with more than 100,000 horses, eliminating the old and weak, eliminating the soldiers, and in the end only more than 20,000 people remained. After some expansion, it has now reached more than 50,000, guarding the land of wealth of Lianghuai. It can be called a strong soldier.

After Zuo Liangyu was resolved, Ma Jinzhong, Jin Shengheng, Li Wanqing and others also took refuge in the Anguo Army, and their subordinates now have more than 20,000 people. There are also more than 10,000 subordinates of Li Guo and Gao Yigong, and 3,000 white pole soldiers under the command of Ma Wannian and Ma Wanchun. In terms of sailors, Shen Tingyang and Deng Wenhuan combined also have fifty or sixty thousand people.

These people put together. The number is almost 200,000, that is, all the belongings of the Anguo Army.

Li Jibo silently calculated in his heart, and then said, "Lord Wang." His Majesty drove the expedition and brought 30,000 horses, but according to the old man's observation, they were all goods. Nothing. Then there is the general army of Lu in Dongjiang Town, with tens of thousands of miscellaneous troops. But the road is long, and there is no unified scheduling. So what we can have at the moment are these centaurs, which are still a lot less than Tartars! ”

Wu Kaijie also said: "Lord, with all due respect, the Tartars raise the country's troops, but we still have to guard against others." We have fallen out with the courtiers, and these people are not enough to succeed and more to lose. Henan, Huguang. The first line of the canal must be guarded by men and horses, and the direction of Shandong must also be retained. Therefore, there are only 150,000 people who can be used on the front line. 150,000 against 500,000. That's a lot of pressure! ”

At this time, Li Dingguo, who had not spoken, suddenly stood up, since he became a staff officer, he has always used his efforts to familiarize himself with the system of the Anguo Army, and this is the first time he has officially spoken.

"Lord Qiqi, there are different views on lowly positions."

"Speak freely, what is blunt."

"Yes." Li Dingguo smiled confidently: "Lord Wang, although there are many Tartars, Vice Chief Wu has also calculated that the front-line combat strength is only about 200,000, which is not more than us." In addition, the Angolan army has a complete mobilization system, and although we do not have many regular soldiers, we can mobilize hundreds of thousands of civilians, and the shortage of troops is not a problem. The most important thing is how to seize the initiative and let the Tartars dance to our rhythm! ”

To tell the truth, everyone present, including Gu Zhenhua, did not have the experience of commanding hundreds of thousands of people to fight, although Li Guo, Huang Degong and others had commanded a large number of people, but after all, they were all known for their bravery, and they were not as good as Li Dingguo's all-round talents in civil and military affairs.

"Staff Officer Li, if you have any opinions, just put them forward, and the big guys will discuss them together."

"Yes!"

Li Dingguo smiled and said: "Lord Wang, the main battlefield of this battle is between Hebei and Henan, and the two provinces are intertwined, and the Tartars will inevitably go south, burning the war to northern Henan, and even threatening the south of the Yellow River, so that the Tartars can loot the rice, interfere with our summer harvest, and achieve the purpose of feeding the war with war." In particular, they are mainly cavalry, and they have strong mobility ability, and they can't resist the militia of the Grange alone, and once that time comes, our side will inevitably fall into the situation of taking care of one and losing the other, although the victory is especially defeated! ”

Listening to Li Dingguo's analysis, everyone present nodded frequently, especially Li Jibo nodded with a smile.

"Lord Wang, although the old man has been in Liaodong for many years, he is just talking on paper, but after listening to Staff Officer Li's analysis, he suddenly became enlightened. When hundreds of thousands of troops are fighting, we cannot simply calculate the number of troops and advanced weapons, but also see whether the tactics are appropriate! ”

Li Dingguo said with a smile: "In the words of the commander-in-chief, he thinks that our army should seize the opportunity to prevent the Tartars from going south, and let the war burn on the outer line. ”

Gu Zhenhua said expressionlessly: "Tell me about the specific plan." ”

"Yes, I thought I should take Handan first. This place has been a battleground for soldiers since the Warring States Period, it is Henan, Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi and four provinces to rush, as long as our army occupies Handan, the Tartars will not be able to go south, our army can calmly transfer troops, the main force of the Tartars will be submerged here! ”

According to the Angolan army's previous battle plan, the general idea was to replicate the previous victory in the Battle of Northern Henan, in short, to fight on the inside line, use tight defenses to weaken the Tartars, and then concentrate forces to win.

The plan was mainly handled by Wu Kaijie, and Gu Zhenhua basically agreed, but now listening to Li Dingguo's proposal, Gu Zhenhua couldn't help but have some doubts in his heart.

Wu Kaijie stood up at this time: "Staff Officer Li, although Handan is important, it is a strange soldier and the risk is very high. The Tartars could transfer troops from Shunde Mansion, Guangning Mansion, and Dongchang Mansion in Shandong, and under siege from three sides, it was very difficult to take Handan and hold it. And if the main force of our army wants to go north, it must first break through the Daimyo's Mansion, and then go to the aid of Handan, which will take almost five days before and after. If the Tartars attack in a hurry, will we not lose men and horses in vain and shake our morale? ”

Li Dingguo nodded and said with a smile: "Vice Minister Wu is very worried, but I thought that Dolgon had been using troops for many years, and this time he devoted the whole country to his strength, and he must have done a lot of homework, and he will not make old mistakes again." We still want to win on the counter-attack, is it very big? Imagine that the Tartars went from the north to the south, did not take the initiative to attack, but used the cavalry to disperse and harass southern Jin, northern Henan and other places, how should we deal with it? ”

Hearing this, Gu Zhenhua couldn't help but get up from his seat, came to the front of the sand table, and watched carefully.

"What Staff Officer Li said is reasonable!"

The successive victories made Gu Zhenhua underestimate the power of the cavalry a little, speaking of which, although the Anguo Army was equipped with a large number of firearms, which offset the impact of the cavalry, the mobility of the cavalry was still a rather terrible advantage. And Dolgon's southern and northern battles are definitely a rare cavalry commander in the world, once he is allowed to play, I am afraid that even if the Anguo army can win, it will be a residual victory.

The generals gathered in front of the sand table, carefully speculated, and nodded one after another.

Li Xu said: "Lord Wang, what Staff Officer Li said is reasonable, we can't passively face the battle, and we are willing to act as a vanguard and attack Handan!" ”

Gu Zhenhua's eyes narrowed, revealing two sharp rays of light.

"Are you sure you won?"

"If you don't succeed, you will become a benevolent!"

"I asked, are you sure you will win?" Gu Zhenhua gritted his teeth and said.

Li Xu also gritted his teeth, "Guaranteed victory!" ”

Gu Zhenhua let out a sigh of relief: "Staff Officer Li, you go and be Li Xu's assistant, and transfer a thousand people from the Old Guards." In addition, to attack Handan, it is necessary to pass through the Taihang Mountain, and let Ma Wannian lead two thousand white pole soldiers to accompany the expedition. This king will give you a total of 13,000 men, and you will take Handan within five days. ”

Li Xu and Li Dingguo raised their right arms almost at the same time, saluted the standard military salute, and said loudly: "The humble duty will definitely complete the task!" ”

Gu Zhenhua looked at the other generals again and said, "Liu Kecheng and Hu Maozhen led 10,000 soldiers from Kaocheng to enter Shandong, thinking that they should respond. Guo Yunlong and Xie Bin led four brigades of infantry plus two battalions of artillery as the vanguard. Seize the front line of Kaishu and Daimyofu. The main force of the prince and the commander of the king is postponed, so as to succeed in the first battle and completely destroy the Tartars! ”

Gu Zhenhua smashed his fist on the sand table, smashing the small flag symbolizing Tartar and Mongolia to pieces! (To be continued......)

PS: I just saw such an auspicious reward for "children bouncing", surprised, thank you. I also want to thank all the book friends who voted to subscribe, everyone can see that the book has entered the latter stage, and the small ones must try their best to write a wonderful peak and ending, thank you to all the book friends for their support!