In such a warm environment, Wu Shigong's heart was completely settled. He began to think differently: if he led the peasant rebel army, in which direction would he move?

Heading west back to Shaanxi? It's not that there is no possibility of killing back the carbine, and it can fight a decisive battle with the main force of the Ming army led by Hong Chengchou, even if it wins, it will occupy the broken Shaanxi, and it will not get any benefits, so this direction is the most unlikely.

Crossing the Yellow River to the north? There is a possibility. However, after the peasant rebels crossed the Yellow River, one direction was to return to Shanxi, but the situation there was similar to that of Shaanxi. One direction is to enter the North Zhili. However, after arriving in Beizhili, it was close to Beijing City, where there were heavy troops in Beijing, plus the Ming army that pursued the encirclement and suppression, so the peasant rebel army at that time was killing itself.

Of course, there is another possibility to cross the Yellow River, that is, to cross the Yellow River into Henan in a circle. If that is the case, it will be able to threaten the northern part of Guide Province, but the location where the peasant rebels cross the river is the area of Kaifeng Province! No matter what, Xuan Mo won't give up the defense in this area. Isn't he afraid of losing Kaifeng City?

In any case, if the peasant rebels had chosen this route, the threat to the Runing army would have been minimal. Even Xuan Mo, the governor of Henan, was relieved because of the departure of these plague gods.

To the east into Henan Province, Guide Province, into the hinterland of Henan? This is a good possibility. And the peasant rebels at this time also had three choices:

One is to attack the big cities along the Yellow River, such as Luoyang and Kaifeng. In that case, the heavily defended cities will always be able to hold out for a while. At that time, the Runing Army did not mind sending troops quickly to stab the peasant rebels in the back.

However, judging from the previous examples of the peasant rebels, their ability to attack cities was not strong, and they were only able to take down some county towns that were not defended by troops, but even the fall of these counties was mostly due to the combination of internal and external forces. So. This choice is not very likely;

One option is to head south into Runing. However, with the evil tiger village and the double tiger guard gate of the fortress of Qianhusuo, coupled with the natural obstacles in the mountainous areas in the north of Runing Province, the peasant rebels probably chose this road because of their bad brains.

Otherwise, as long as they enter the mountainous area in the northern part of Runing Province and there is no supply of grain and grass, they will have more than 300,000 people when they enter the mountainous area, and 30,000 or 40,000 people when they go out of the mountainous area. At that time, Wu Shigong had absolute confidence to defeat all the peasant rebels alone;

The most likely option is to head southeast into Guide. But this road was not an easy road for the peasant rebels. Or first of all, we have to face the double tiger guarding the gate of the evil tiger village and the fortress of Qianhusuo. And at this time, Wu Shigong couldn't help but feel a little proud of his move to build a thousand fortresses when he first arrived in Guide Mansion.

In case the peasant rebels ignored the threat of the Evil Tiger Village and the Thousand Households Fortress, they directly attacked the city of Guide. Then they will immediately face the danger of the Holy Spirit being in the back of the enemy.

And there is also a danger, if Guide is occupied by the peasant rebels, they can threaten the Grand Canal in the east, and Fengyang, the central capital, in the south, at that time. Isn't the main force of the Ming army stationed in the Grand Canal and Fengyang going crazy to pounce on it? In addition, the Runing Army and the Henan Ming Army led by Xuan Mo intercepted the retreat, and the peasant rebel army waited for the whole army to be surrounded.

Therefore, it is unlikely that the peasant rebels will choose this path. However, Wu Shigong also has an extra heart. After all, the peasant rebels did not know the true strength of the Runing Army. I don't know the situation of the Evil Tiger Village and the Thousand Households Fortress, maybe they thought that the defense here was weak and they came over like this. Therefore, the Runing army still has to arrange heavy troops on the line of the Evil Tiger Village and the Qianhusuo Fortress;

Then the rest is to go south into Nanyang, and then enter Huguang. Wu Shigong believed that the peasant rebels were most likely to choose this path.

As long as you reach Huguang, it is an area where the Ming army's defense is weak, and there is a lot of room for maneuver in the southeast, northwest and northwest. In addition, Huguang is ripe and the world is full, and Huguang's abundant grain and grass are too attractive to the peasant rebels who rose up because of the famine.

But the peasant rebels had to go to Huguang. Then you must pass through Nanyang Province. Then the threat to Yexian and the western front of Runing Mansion is too great. The peasant rebels would at any time turn to these areas under the control of the Runing Army.

Thinking about all this, Wu Shigong began to think about the response of the Runing Army.

First of all, the forces of the Runing Army must be concentrated. At present, the peasant rebel army has exceeded 300,000, and with the continuous defection of displaced people in Henan, it is possible that it will exceed 500,000 by then. If the Runing army is not concentrated. Relying on two or three thousand men and horses to refuel separately, they don't even know how to die when the time comes.

The Kegui German army will definitely not be able to move, so first use three militia groups of 500 people to defend the evil tiger village, the fortress of Qianhusuo and the county seat where Yu Zilian is located, forming a defensive circle of iron triangles. Then place the Guide Corps on this line to support the attack at any time. Then first of all, the foundation of the Runing Army in Guide Province was preserved.

As for the city of Guidehouse! Zhao Ming, the commander of the Dewei, can always make up two or three thousand military households, plus the family owned by the nearby gentry, Ding Qingzhuang, how about five thousand. It is no problem to hold the city of Guide for a while.

However, Wu Shigong Zuihou thought about it for a while and decided to send a militia to Zhao Ming to support. In the end, where the Hou Mansion is, Zhao Ming is also an ally with him, so he should express it anyway.

In the final analysis, the Guide Prefecture did not implement the three decrees, and the time for the Jimin Reclamation Commercial Bank to carry out tuntian there was too short, and those village protection teams had no training at all, so they could not form combat effectiveness. Therefore, after the peasant rebel army was resolved this time, the Runing Army also had to strengthen its control over Guide Province.

And the bases of Nanyang Ye County, Luojia Town, and Longyan Town, there are 500 personal soldiers of Li Lu, more than 1,000 local private mine gentry, and 1,000 men and horses of the Jimin Reclamation Commercial Bank, mainly Ye Zhong Mine Ding (this time Wu Shigong is ready to withdraw an infantry regiment to support the reclamation commercial bank), plus the transfer of two militia groups, and more than 4,000 local well-trained village guards and mine guards.

If this happens, the Nanyang Legion can all be freed up as a mobile force.

And in the northern mountainous area of Runing Province, there must be two militia groups to defend it. However, at that time, Wu Shigong was the first to give his retired veterans and domestic slave land in this area, so the training level of the village and road guard team there was the highest, and they were also the most loyal to Wu Shigong, and the number of people could also be more than 3,000, so this direction can basically be assured.

In the south of Runing Province, there is only the Runing Legion, and the two militia groups are defending, which is the weakest place in the entire defense line. Although the village guards and road guards in this place can all concentrate more than 30,000 people, first, they do not have much training, and secondly, the maximum number of armed people is only 5,000, so field warfare is definitely not possible. This also made Wu Shigong feel how short-sighted it was to sell so many second-hand weapons!

Zuihou is the headquarters of the Runing Army. How about leaving a regiment to defend the city of Runing Mansion and the camp of the Runing army. Anyway, the families of Wu Shigong and the officials of the Runing Army are here.

Of course, there are more than 1,000 horses under the control of the Department of Internal Affairs and the Department of Mountains and Rivers, and the craftsmen of the Workshop Division who have received military training can also make up nearly 2,000.

In addition, it is the village guard and the road protection team. It is even more exaggerated here, the total mobilization can make up more than 40,000, but it is still the same problem as the southern part of Runing Province, insufficient training and no weapons, at most 5 or 6,000.

But in this way, the mobile strength of the Runing Army is only the two corps and the directly subordinate troops of the headquarters, plus the Nanyang Legion. The total number of people is only a little over 10,000, how can such strength hurt the peasant rebels of 300,000 to 500,000?

Wu Shigong had a headache at this moment. It's really a soldier to be hated when it's used! In fact, according to Wu Shigong's plan, as long as the Runing Army develops step by step and expands at the rate of one or two corps per year, it will not only allow the Runing Army to develop in a balanced manner in all aspects, but also expand the field force of the Runing Army by more than 30,000 men after three years. Coupled with the reserve village guards and road guards who have prepared 100,000 people who have been trained for more than a year, the Runing Army is absolutely confident that it will compete with the peasant rebel army and the Houjin army.

But now it's too late to say this, where can you scatter beans into soldiers? Therefore, Wu Shigong looked at the past one by one, and felt that the troops laid on each point could not move.

Suddenly, Wu Shigong remembered the practice of modern Taizu, when he was so bold that he gave up the capital Yan'an to fight for the initiative, and Zuihou won the victory of the whole country. Then why should you want everything, you may not be able to keep everything when the time comes?

Wu Shigong suddenly felt that his mind had been opened, and his vision suddenly became clearer.

Since the peasant rebels were most likely to go to Nanyang Mansion, they simply transferred all the cavalry and an infantry regiment of the Guide Corps. Anyway, the infantry regiment left by the Guide Legion only lost its ability to maneuver, as long as they held the iron triangle, plus Zhao Ming held the city of Guide Fu, in case the peasant rebels attacked, they only needed to hold for a while and wait for their main force to rescue.

And the Runing Legion can also be drawn out in full. If the peasant rebels who invaded Nanyang were beaten, they would not dare to approach the southern part of Runing Province. If defeated, the small number of troops of the Runing Army would not be able to stop the peasant rebel army, which was outnumbered and outnumbered. It's better to gather them together.

So in this way, the main force that the Runing army can concentrate can reach about 16,000 people. This made Wu Shigong also very excited. (To be continued......)