In the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, on the sixteenth day of the first month, Sun Chuanting, who was in Wuchang Mansion, received a holy decree, and the general soldiers of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Huguang, Henan and Sichuan provinces were all under his control.

The holy decree demanded that Sun Chuanting, the governor of the five provinces, and Wang Yongji, the superintendent of the army, must completely exterminate the rogues within half a year.

This holy decree can be said to be shocking.

From the point of view of troops, the number of troops controlled by Sun Chuanting is claimed to be more than 300,000, of which 100,000 are under Liu Liangzuo, and the number of troops controlled by the total army of the remaining five provinces is at least 40,000 to 50,000.

Judging from the degree of attention, it is by no means ordinary, you must know that the concentration of so many large armies, the consumption of grain and grass is also huge, not to mention the army controlled by the general army of the five provinces, that is, the army under the command of Liu Liangzuo, who was transferred to Huguang to participate in the extermination of the Liukou, the consumption is a lot, which must be taken out by the imperial court and rely on local supplies, which is almost impossible.

How much silver the court took out, others don't know, but everyone can guess, but there is one fact that everyone is also clear, that is, all the silver taels allocated are controlled by the prison army Wang Yongji, which is the rule of the imperial court.

Sun Chuanting stabilized the people's livelihood in Nanyang Mansion and Runing Mansion and collected taxes to stabilize the army under his command, which was praised by the emperor, but the common people of the two prefectures could not bear the expenses of more than 100,000 troops no matter what, so the expenses of military salaries and grain and grass still depended on the allocation of the imperial court.

Nanjing, Ministry of War.

Zheng Xunrui looked at the imperial court's mansion newspaper. With a sneering look on his face.

Xu Wanghua has entered the Nanjing Military Department to do things, his identity is Zheng Xunrui's staff, Ma Zhukui and Li Yan have become Zheng Xunrui's right-hand men, although Ma Zhukui is the left attendant of the Nanjing Military Department, but in many things, Xu Wanghua's opinion is still to be consulted. Li Yan, as a soldier in the army, generally follows Xu Wanghua's side.

At this time, it was still during the spring break, and the Nanjing Sixth Department, like other yamen, could not see anyone.

Seeing Zheng Xunrui's expression, Xu Wanghua spoke first.

"My lord, my subordinates feel that Lord Sun's life is not easy."

Zheng Xunrui turned his head to look at Xu Wanghua and did not speak immediately.

The imperial court dispatched Liu Liangzuo, the chief soldier of Songjiang, to Huguang to participate in the battle to exterminate the Liukou, and Liu Liangzuo commanded an army of 100,000. According to the actual information that the Investigation Department has under its command, there are only more than 50,000 people under its command, which means that the army that Lord Sun can directly control is about 100,000 at most, and as for the army controlled by the general army of the five provinces, it is impossible for them to participate in the extermination of the rogues, and they must guard the city. ”

"The emperor's holy decree seems to have given Lord Sun a heavy responsibility. In fact, it is Wang Yongji who really controls the army. A holy decree controlled the army of the five provinces, as well as the army under Liu Liangzuo, and there must be many people who were uncomfortable. ”

Xu Wanghua's analysis was praised by Zheng Xunrui, and seeing Zheng Xunrui nodding frequently, Xu Wanghua spoke again.

"The subordinates are also inspired by the guidance and Qi of the adults. Only then did I have this judgment, the adults had long expected the fall of Xiangyang Mansion City, and their subordinates admired it, and if they couldn't make a useful analysis, they would be ashamed to be by the side of the adults. ”

"Mr. Xu, don't have such thoughts. Okay, you talk about how much influence the emperor's decree will have on Nanzhili. ”

"The subordinates think it's a good thing, just as the adults analyzed, the main attention of the imperial court, has been focused on the matter of exterminating the Liukou, the emperor's holy decree, is the best embodiment, Songjiang general Liu Liangzuo was transferred, the army of Nanzhili, that is, Nanjing Jingying and Huai'an Weicao soldiers, Wei Cao soldiers are still drawn from Nanjing Jingying, just two months, is the people's panic, after all, it takes expenses to maintain the army, Gan Lord can't take out so much silver, so Wei Cao soldiers are angry, Without the slightest combat effectiveness, it is not worth considering, and the rest is nearly 50,000 sergeants in the Nanjing Beijing camp. ”

When Xu Wanghua said this, he found that Zheng Xunrui's face was unusually calm.

Xu Wanghua focused on the affairs of Nanzhili, all his thinking, basically inclined to Nanzhili, in his opinion, the imperial court dispatched the troops stationed in Songjiang into Huguang, reducing the pressure on the Zheng family's army, are the army of the Ming Dynasty, it is still inappropriate to control Nanzhili by means of forced attack, the best way is to let the imperial court continue to dispatch the army stationed in Nanzhili, so as to avoid conflict.

It is impossible to dispatch the Nanjing Beijing camp, unless the capital encounters a huge danger, the Wei Cao soldiers were originally transferred from the Nanjing Beijing camp, this team of 15,000 people is currently very unstable, the key is that the salary is difficult to be in place for a while, think about it, Cao Yun can not maintain normal, let alone earn the salary, the Wei Cao soldiers' salary is basically obtained by relying on Cao Yun.

No matter how good it is, it doesn't have much effect, the key is to rely on strength, Zheng Jiajun stationed in Nanjing, stationed in Moling Town, after the situation in Nanjing has undergone a lot of subtle changes, even the chief soldier of Nanjing Beijing Battalion, He Renlong, has also visited the military camp in Moling Town twice, and Zheng Xunrui, the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, has become the focus of everyone's attention, although everyone will not say anything on the surface, but everyone knows that with the courage of Zheng Jiajun, want to control Nanjing City, it is just a matter of one sentence.

Hongmen Qian Zhuang played a huge role, and the amount of tickets and ticket stubs of Hongmen Qian Zhuang began to circulate on a large scale in Nanjing, and even officials at all levels in Nanjing and the sergeants of Nanjing Jingying began to use them.

All the circumstances indicate that Zheng Xunrui's foundation in Nanjing has begun to solidify, and in this critical process of expanding power, the rogues have begun to make a big move, which is of course a good thing for Zheng Xunrui.

"Mr. Xu, your analysis is very good, the imperial court has spent so much effort to exterminate the Liukou, and it should be able to achieve some victories, but don't think that you can completely exterminate the Liukou, if you don't pay attention to it, this campaign to exterminate the Liukou may cause a heavy blow to the imperial court."

Wuchang Mansion, Sun Chuanting, the governor of the five provinces, did not go to the capital to receive the decree, but stayed in the city of Wuchang Mansion, waiting for the emperor's decree and the edict of the Ministry of War.

The imperial court was so generous, out of Sun Chuanting's expectations, he thought that the matter of exterminating the Liukou had finally been valued by the imperial court, so it was a good thing for the Liukou to capture the city of Xiangyang, which aroused the vigilance of the imperial court, especially the attention of Yang Sichang, the cabinet minister and the secretary of the Ministry of War, so the imperial court spent so much effort to exterminate the Liukou.

The eunuch Wang Yongji served as the supervisor of the army, which made Sun Chuanting's heart sink a little, according to the rules, he had never sent a prison army to exterminate the Liukou before, after all, the mobility of the battle was very large, and the supply was mostly locally responsible, and there was no particularly fixed army under the command of the governor of the five provinces, and most of them were temporarily patchworked, which was different from the governor of Jiliao, who had a fixed army.

On the one hand, the power to exterminate the Liukou has been strengthened, and on the other hand, the imperial court has indeed attached great importance to it, but the attitude of restraint is also extremely obvious.

After receiving the order, the governor of Huguang, Fang Kongjiong, held a banquet to entertain Wang Yongji.

The meal ended quickly, Wang Yongji ran for a long time, he was very tired, and after eating a few bites of food, he shirked and wanted to rest.

After Wang Yongji left, Sun Chuanting's face had no expression, and Fang Kongzhi's face was worried.

Sun Chuanting and Wang Yongji still needed to stay in Wuchang Mansion for a few days, waiting for Liu Liangzuo to lead the army to Huguang.

Sun Chuanting believed that the army should enter Runing Mansion in Henan, with Runing Mansion as the center, and expand to Huguang, Henan, Shanxi, and Sichuan respectively, as for Shaanxi, there is no need to consider that the general army in Huguang, Henan, Shanxi, and Sichuan needs to protect the city on the one hand, and on the other hand, it also needs to obey the unified dispatch and participate in the battle to exterminate the Liukou.

But this is just Sun Chuanting's idea, I don't know what the prison Wang Yongji thinks.

On the twenty-second day of the first month, the army led by Liu Liangzuo rushed to Wuchang Mansion.

During this period, Sun Chuanting discussed the next battle with Wang Yongji several times, but Wang Yongji diverted it, which made Sun Chuanting very anxious, the Liukou rested in Xiangyang and Nanyang and other places for a long time, and it may be about to act, the news from Xiangyang and Nanyang is very bad, Zhang Xianzhong's Liukou, with Xiangyang Fucheng as the center, began to attack the surrounding cities, Li Zicheng is from Xinye to the west and north direction, and broke through some county seats.

Judging from the actions of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, they obviously wanted to completely occupy Xiangyang and Nanyang, and use these two places as a base to plot the next step of development.

Finally, after Liu Liangzuo arrived in Wuchang Fucheng, Wang Yongji took the initiative to find Sun Chuanting to discuss the combat deployment of the army.

Wang Yongji's opinion, the army was stationed in Wuchang Fucheng, with Wuchang Fucheng as the center of gravity, and first recovered Xiangyang Fucheng.

Sun Chuanting clearly disagreed, from the geographical location, Runing Mansion is close to Xiangyang Mansion and Nanyang Mansion, whether it is offensive or defensive, it is the best, Wuchang Mansion is far away, and the first task of the army is not to recover Xiangyang Mansion City, and to create a situation of encirclement and deterrence to the Liukou, forcing the Liukou to shrink their forces, and then it is the time to organize a decisive battle of the army.

At the beginning, the posture of recovering Xiangyang Fucheng is likely to lead to the union of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, so that the army is likely to face an unfavorable situation of fighting on two fronts.

Wang Yongji's attitude did not change in the slightest, and he decided that the army must be stationed in Wuchang Fucheng, and the first task was to recover Xiangyang Fucheng, and as for the possibility that Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong might fight together, then he ordered the general troops of Huguang, Henan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Sichuan to lead the army into Xiangyang Fu to fight, and exterminate the Liukou in one go.

Sun Chuanting had no choice but to agree. (To be continued......)