The reason why Wu Shigong agreed to come down was because Wu Shigong was aware of a problem: Wu Shigong and his cavalry had been named by the governor of Henan and the Henan Supervisor to go to King Qin, so he and his cavalry had to go to the expedition now.

Since there was no escape, Wu Shigong had no choice but to retreat. That is, try to preserve your strength. To be honest, Wu Shigong did not have any loyalty to the Ming Dynasty and Emperor Chongzhen at all.

Part of this idea comes from his identity as a time-traveler, and he has no sense of belonging to the Ming Dynasty and Emperor Chongzhen; But a bigger part is because Wu Shigong is a very realistic person. His current strength is not enough to protect himself and his family, where is there still that spare effort to save the country and save the people. After all, Wu Shigong is still a very selfish person.

However, if the army returned to King Dewei Qin this time was led by Zhao Ming, the commander or other officials, Wu Shigong would only be their subordinate in any case. When these bosses command blindly, not even blindly, but as long as Wu Shigong's soldiers and horses are allowed to gnaw hard bones, then Wu Shigong's idea of preserving his strength will definitely become a dream.

But now Zhao Ming's bosses let Wu Shigong lead the expedition, so now Wu Shigong has a complete grasp of the army that was levied. Wu Shigong can completely use the soldiers of other thousand households as cannon fodder to save his henchmen and soldiers of the thousand households. Of course, this is also the practice of last resort, but if the most dangerous moment comes, Wu Shigong will definitely not hesitate to abandon those cannon fodder.

Moreover, Zhao Ming's bosses don't want to lead the expedition, and now they are begging Wu Shigong to lead, so Wu Shigong must maximize his interests.

So, Wu Shigong then said to Zhao Ming: "Commander Zhao, although the lower official agreed, however, the lower official also has a few requests, and I hope that Commander Zhao can agree." ”

"No problem, you say." Zhao Ming smiled and replied very cheerfully.

"The first requirement is: this time, King Qin's army must obey the orders of the lower officials, and the order must be forbidden." Seeing that several thousands of households around him seemed to have objections, Wu Shigong hurriedly added: "Of course, the lower officials will also treat them equally." ”

Wu Shigong continued: "Xia Guan estimates that it will not take too long for the Tartars to enter the customs this time. Besides, not to mention the strength of the Jingying in the capital, let's talk about the troops of King Qin in various places, they all arrived basically before our army of King Qin in Henan. Our Henan is relatively far away from the capital, and our return to Dewei is one of the farthest places in Henan from the capital. By the time the Qinwang army arrived at the Dewei army, it was possible that the Tartars had already been out of the pass under the attack of the Qinwang army in Beijing and various places. ”

"Commander Zhao, you are also doing the subordinate a favor here, and move the time of the expedition back as much as possible, just do it just right. When the lower officials are marching, they will also control the proportions, and try to let our army return to Dewei arrive in the capital later. To tell the truth, we are the sons of Dewei, and we have nothing to say to protect the family and the land, but we go to fight hard with the Tartars, so many soldiers who are paid are in front, and we can't make our bitter soldiers desperate. ”

"The most haode result is that our army of Dewei went to the capital to hang around like this, which can be regarded as fulfilling our responsibility. However, Xiaguan's ugly words are ahead, in case he really wants to fight with the Tartars, Xiaguan doesn't want to make any contributions, he just wants to bring home as many of our sons and daughters as possible, and at that time, Commander Zhao doesn't blame Xiaguan! ”

Listening to Wu Shigong's words, Zhao Ming glanced at the military attaches beside him. Wu Shigong's words were too thorough, but they did speak to the hearts of all the military attaches here.

After pondering for a while, Zhao Ming opened his mouth and said: "Let Wu Qianhu lead the army this time, and King Qin's sons should listen to Wu Qianhu's orders." However, Wu Qianhu also has to keep his promise and bring as many sons and daughters home as possible. Here, on behalf of everyone present, this conductor asks Wu Qianhu. ”

Seeing that Zhao Ming agreed to his first request, Wu Shigong was very satisfied. As for Zhao Ming, he did not answer the question about delaying the date of the expedition. Wu Shigong and Zhao Ming tacitly agreed. Zhao Ming's silence was an answer.

Wu Shigong continued: "The second request is: Commander Zhao allocates the quota of 600 Qinwang soldiers to our Thousand Households. The subordinates guaranteed that they would be drawn out, and they were by no means ambiguous. However, the lower officials also have some family guards, and they will also go out with them this time. Commander Zhao wants to approve it, and their supplies must also be counted. ”

"How many are there?" Zhao Ming asked curiously.

"Three or four hundred." Wu Shigong replied.

Wu Shigong's answer made all the people present gasp. Of course, these people understand that the "family guards" mentioned by Wu Shigong are actually Wu Shigong's personal soldiers. Although they all knew that Wu Shigong was rich, Wu Shigong also spent a lot of money to raise some pro-soldiers. But none of them expected that Wu Shigong had raised so many pro-soldiers.

And the reason why Wu Shigong confessed these pro-soldiers to Zhao Ming. The main reason is that Wu Shigong felt that if he only led the 600 henchmen of his Qianhu, he might not be able to suppress the 900 soldiers drawn from the other Qianhu.

Besides, if Wu Shigong had 600 cavalry now, there would be no problem. In case there was any danger, Wu Shigong could use the speed of the horses, throw away those cannon fodder, and let all the cavalry escape.

But now Wu Shigong only has 500 cavalry. Therefore, in this expedition, Wu Shigong must draw out some infantry. But the infantry moved too slowly, and if two or three hundred infantry faced the Tartar cavalry, it would be a dish.

Therefore, this time, Wu Shigong thought about leading more than 500 infantry, so that after these infantry formed a phalanx, they would at least have the ability to protect themselves. However, the number of cavalry that Wu Shigong wanted to bring out could not be less.

Therefore, in the end, the number of soldiers that Wu Shigong decided to bring out was largely more than the number of 600 soldiers arranged by Zhao Ming to transfer Wu Shigong, a thousand households. Wu Shigong thought: By bringing more of his henchmen and soldiers, he can improve the survival probability of his soldiers on the battlefield.

However, in this way, Wu Shigong's behavior of raising more soldiers was completely presented in the eyes of Zhao Ming and the officials of the Guide Mansion. In order to eliminate some future troubles, Wu Shigong simply made things clear, and said that the soldiers he raised more were his own family guards.

In this regard, Wu Shigong is thinking about eight or nine not leaving ten, and Zhao Ming will definitely agree. At the request of the governor and the supervisor, Gui Dewei was able to send some more soldiers, for such a good thing, how could Zhao Ming, as the commander of Gui Dewei, be willing to refuse?

Sure enough, Zhao Ming simply agreed to Wu Shigong's request. However, Zhao Ming's consent was in Wu Shigong's arms. Because of Zhao Ming's consent, in fact, the names of those soldiers raised by Wu Shigong have been semi-legalized procedurally.

Wu Shigong continued: "The third requirement is: this time, King Qin's soldiers, their provisions, and in case they have any casualties, those burning silver, Commander Zhao must also arrange it." ”

"That's certainly no problem. This commander has already consulted with Lord Fuzun. This time, King Qin's soldiers were each given a settling-in allowance of one or two pieces of silver. If there are any casualties, then burn the silver, and Wu Qianhu doesn't have to worry. The Lord of the Mansion has already asked the gentry of the Guide Mansion to donate. As for provisions, Wu Qianhu doesn't have to worry about it. Grain and grass and mule and horse carts for transporting grain and grass will also be arranged by Lord Fuzun. Besides, Wu Qianhu's march route for King Qin's time was to Jining first, and then along the Grand Canal to the capital, where both sides of the canal were stored with grain transported, and it was only natural that the grain was supplied to us, King Qin's army. When the time comes, Lord Fuzun will also arrange the corresponding official documents and let Wu Qianhu take them with him. ”

Seeing that all his requirements were met, Wu Shigong had no other problems. So, everyone went on to discuss some details. In the end, it was decided that after the discussion of the thousand households, the thousand households immediately went back to their thousand households to gather the soldiers they had drawn to gather in the city of Guide. The date of departure was set five days later, that is, on October 15.

Zhao Ming and the others also negotiated and arranged for a deputy Qianhu of Dewei to be Wu Shigong's deputy. The deputy Qianhu's name is Yu Ji. However, the reason for choosing Yu Ji to go on the expedition is also very simple, because among these hereditary military attaches in Guide Mansion, only Yu Ji is in his twenties, which can be called young and strong.

Moreover, Yu Ji is a deputy of a thousand households, and it is logical to become Wu Shigong, the deputy of a thousand households. In addition, Yu Ji, the deputy Qianhu, is not qualified to participate in today's deliberation meeting, so he cannot object to the results of today's deliberation.