"The cavalry is indeed the weakness of our army, of course we can't watch the officers and soldiers escape, but it can't be done to replenish the battalions for a year and a half," seeing that everyone found the same problem as himself, Xu Ping was very satisfied, in this big camp he was the only one who knew the economic situation of the camp in Henan: "Since the mountain can't come to me, let's go to the mountain, and in the future, each battalion will no longer form a cavalry wing but a cavalry team, let's still form a cavalry battalion." ”

A cavalry team has only 200 people, Xu Ping plans to temporarily reach half a full number, such a little cavalry, each battalion can basically rely on its own strength to achieve full strength, the guards battalion can provide more than 400 cavalry to Xu Ping, and he can also loot nearly a thousand cavalry from the original West Battalion: "I recommend Brother Chi as the commander of the cavalry battalion, do you have any opinions?" ”

said that he was asking everyone, but in fact, he was mainly soliciting Li Dingguo's opinion. Li Dingguo had just been recommended by Xu Ping to Li Zicheng as the commander of the army, and all three field battalions with the word "west" in their names were handed over to him for command. Li Dingguo thought about it for a while, then reciprocated Li Di and nodded to Xu Ping: "Brother Chi can fight well, he is a very suitable candidate, and the general is well chosen!" ”

Since Li Dingguo spoke, the generals of Xiying also agreed, and the rest of the generals were either Xu Ping's henchmen or Li Zicheng's old man, of course they would not oppose Chi Shude's promotion, so everyone applauded.

A big stone fell to the ground in Xu Ping's heart, turned his head to Chi Shude and smiled: "General Chi is reluctantly embarrassed. ”

Originally, Chi Shude was just an inconspicuous cavalry general in the camp, always relying on Liu Zongmin's care, since he followed Xu Ping to leave the headquarters, he was in charge of the elite cavalry of the guard battalion, Yu Shenhe and others were also very polite to him, and the credit was not less. Hearing Xu Ping say this, Chi Shude immediately stood up and patted his chest to everyone in the camp and promised: "Brothers, don't worry, I will definitely take our cavalry well, and kill no officers and soldiers without leaving a piece of armor." ”

The strength of the cavalry is half of that of the infantry, and the rest is the same as the infantry, so that the cavalry battalion will have more than 2,000 soldiers at full strength. This number had an overwhelming advantage over the cavalry directly under any infantry battalion of the New Army, and Xu Ping planned to concentrate the cavalry - just like the direct guards of the New Army, he believed that the equal distribution of cavalry among the battalions by the Marquis of Zhendong might be to ensure that the battalion had independent combat capability, and that the battalion of the Marquis of Zhendong was very small at that time, and of course it was necessary to strengthen it as much as possible. Now this method is not very applicable, the scale of the war is getting bigger and bigger, any battalion fighting alone, even if the cavalry is large, it is difficult to survive on the battlefield, and each battalion has a cavalry team to ensure basic battlefield cover work.

Reorganizing the prisoners who were willing to surrender, releasing the rest, treating the wounded and sick, and establishing new combat units, Xu Ping had been very busy for the past two days, and he planned to wait for Li Zicheng to join his division before returning to Kaifeng. However, Xu Ping did not wait for Li Zicheng's army, and when he helped Chi Shude form the first cavalry battalion, Xu Ping received a letter from the old camp of King Chuang.

"King Chuang said that Yu Dong had withdrawn from Henan, and King Chuang had no intention of pursuing him, but would chase the new army to attack Shandong," Xu Ping showed Li Zicheng's letter to a few high-ranking generals, King Chuang's old camp had crossed Xu Ping's troops to the east, and Li Ziben himself did not make a detour to Xu Ping to celebrate the victory: "King Cao and King Ji went to Shandong with King Chuang, and King Chuang wanted us to attack Shandong alone." ”

"With our strength, it is more than enough to capture Kaifeng, but why did King Chuang go in such a hurry?" Li Dingguo's face was quite suspicious, Li Zicheng congratulated Xu Ping, Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo in the letter, telling them to rest at ease and recuperate, and there was no need to come to meet him, and Li Zicheng said that there is Ji Huisi, the head of the snake, and the capital is just around the corner, and it is easy to seize the whole of Shandong.

"That's true, King Chuang is in such a hurry." It was Zhang Xianbao who spoke, who was appointed by Sun Kewang as the new battalion officer of the Xirui Battalion and is now a subordinate of Li Dingguo.

"That's fine," Zhou Dongtian felt that although the Lu army was vulnerable, with the size of Shandong, it would inevitably take a lot of time for Li Zicheng to take it, so Xu Ping would have time to seize Kaifeng alone: "Kaifeng is a big supplement, if we take it, we can fill up all our battalions." ”

……

Capital

Chongzhen Tianzi has just made up his mind to reopen the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion for the second time, the war situation in the Central Plains has been in shambles, and the new army, which was pinned on by the imperial court, is now in dilapidation, and there are only 10,000 people left near the Beijing Division, and there are probably not a few thousand left in Shandong. After the defeat of Zhuxian Town and Ningling, the people of the government and the wilderness were panicked, Shanxi, Huguang, Nanjing, Shandong, these provinces bordering the camp all claimed to be the next target of the camp, Nanjing categorically intercepted most of the materials that should be transported to Beijing, while several other provinces shouted and asked for soldiers to ask for salaries - where was the imperial court still for soldiers' salaries?

As for Shaanxi, although the governor Sun Chuanting still boasted of his ability to govern the army and gathered more than 100,000 strong troops, he also said that he would not want to send troops within half a year, and he also asked for a large amount of military salaries, as well as the most popular weapon at the moment - flintlock pistols, Sun Chuanting said that without these salaries and materials, his strong army would not be maintained.

Chongzhen Tianzi hopes that the news of reopening the Dadu Governor's Mansion and re-appointing Zhendong Hou as the Dadu Governor can become a booster and bring some vitality to the Ming army with low morale, even if this is really like the cabinet said to quench thirst, it can't be taken care of, and the cabinet is not very unanimous, they are hesitant to reopen the Dadu Governor's Mansion, and no one is willing to come out and take responsibility for opposition.

Zhongdu sent an urgent report, saying that Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, with the aftermath of the great victory, has attacked Fengyang, Zhongdu 100,000 troops left behind, and now three times a day, there are already several subordinates of the general army in the camp has not yet stepped into Shandong today, the subordinates have fled most of the wind when they hear the wind, and the Jiangbei army not only refused to reinforce Shandong, but fled south one after another, such as Yu Shizhong and others, and even fled across the Yangtze River with his subordinates. Although these generals made Chongzhen half angry, they still had soldiers and guns under them, so Emperor Chongzhen did not dare to deal with them, so he could only be appeased with good words, hoping to move them to continue to serve the country. Now that the treasury was empty, the emperor of Chongzhen asked Nanjing to pay for these generals who had escaped from the battle, and strictly ordered Nanjing to persuade them to return to Jiangbei.

The only good news is today's recital from Yu Dong.

In fact, as early as after the defeat of Zhuxian Town, Yu Dong asked his cronies to flee back with the main force, but he himself followed the advice of his master Wu Wei and stayed in Henan with three hundred relatives, and kept writing reports to the imperial court from there. Until the new army began to withdraw troops, the court saw that Yu Dong's lone army insisted on Henan, and swore to relieve Kaifeng.

"The nemesis of the thief, the savior of the Central Plains." After Chongzhen Tianzi saw Yu Dong's recital today, he began to mumble to himself: "If everyone is as loyal and brave as Yu Shuai, why worry about it?" ”

After learning that the new army was almost completely wiped out, Yu Dong took three hundred cavalry to run hundreds of miles one day and night to escape from danger, and after arriving at the safety of the place, he immediately wrote this letter to the son of Chongzhen, in which Yu Dong cried: "The king is worried about the humiliation of the ministers, and the sinners think about it at dusk, and want to relieve the siege of Kaifeng, and capture Li Xu and the two thieves to sacrifice the Jiejing division to repay the saint Longen, how can both wings collapse, and the sinners are lonely and difficult to speak......"

Nanjing also praised Yu Dong, saying that Yu Dong actively supported in Nanjing, the commander mourned the soldiers in Li Zicheng, Xu Ping fought bloody battles, and all the soldiers were wounded, although they were eventually defeated, but Li Zicheng and Xu Ping suffered heavy casualties, Li Zicheng has not been able to attack Shandong so far is all Yu Dong's strength, and Xu Ping is so badly injured that he can't march, compared to Zuo Liangyu, who abandoned the army and absconded, and Yang Zhiyuan and Huang Xiwen, who lost their teachers and humiliated the country, Yu Dong and them are so different.

"If you are not afraid that your opponent is as fierce as a tiger, you are afraid that your allies are as stupid as pigs." The painful voice of Nanjing made Chongzhen also feel the same way, but Yu Dong was still defeated and retreated, and the prestige of Zhendong Hou was too prestigious, otherwise Chongzhen would have the intention of promoting Yu Dong to the governor of the capital: "Pass the decree, Yu Dong is the commander of Jiangbei Military Affairs, let the cabinet draw up votes." ”

……

When the emperor of Chongzhen announced the reopening of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, Li Zicheng was hurrying to Shandong, Niu Jinxing hurriedly suggested that Li Zicheng immediately send troops to Shandong after learning that Xu Ping had defeated the main force of the new army. ”

"Strategist, you are inevitably too wary of Brother Xu," there was no one else around, Li Zicheng complained without scruples, these days Niu Jinxing urged the army to rush away endlessly: "I always feel that Brother Xu has made such a contribution, and I will make the soldiers feel cold if I am so guarded against him." ”

"It's not a matter of chilling or not, but there must be no such thing as a weak lord and a strong minister." Niu Jinxing thinks that Kaifeng can still delay Xu Ping for a while, and now that the Yellow River has not been frozen, Xu Ping will most likely wait until winter to try to attack Jingshi: "Brother Xu's credit is already too great, and he is young and does not know how to restrain, so you are also for his good." ”

"The elite soldiers trained by Huang Hou have been swept away by Brother Xu," Niu Jinxing saw that Li Zicheng was silent, and seemed to hesitate a little, remembering that Khan immediately stayed: "The remaining bit is bound to be the Beijing Division, we will take Shandong first, and let Brother Liu learn from Brother Xu here to consolidate the business, and when the Xu brothers go north to attack the Beijing Division in winter, the king will send troops from Shandong to attack the Ming Court." ”

Since the fall of the ancient Jingshi, the prestige of the imperial court will be discredited, Niu Jinxing feels that when the time comes, Jiangnan is just a partial merit, Beijing has Li Zicheng presiding, and the natural credit is also owned by him, and when the time comes, Xu Ping's power will be limited to the Henan area, and the strength of the camp will be rebalanced.

……

"This is the meaning of King Chuang's suspicious general!" After receiving Zhang Xianbao's secret report, Sun Kewang, who had only walked halfway, hurried back again, leaving all the internal affairs that Xu Ping had explained to him behind: "Those who cover the world will not be rewarded, and those who threaten their masters are in danger, Brother Xu, you must not be on guard." ”

"Brother Sun is serious, with the land of the two provinces of Henan, it is indeed about to be unable to feed our army." Xu Ping was faintly worried in his heart, but he never admitted it: "Breaking into the king's army to eat Henan is indeed a necessary good move." ”

"What's a good move?" Sun Kewang disagreed: "When we attack the Jingshi, we will definitely encounter the crazy resistance of Huang Hou's last elite, I dare to say that King Chuang will not wait for us and the new army to fight for both defeats, and will never send troops, and when the time comes, he will come to pick up our peaches, and he will not share the credit with us." Since ancient times, the destruction of the country has been the work of sealing the grass and tearing the soil. ”

"Originally, we were the king of Chuang, and we also regarded him as the son of heaven when we seized the world," Xu Ping heard Sun Kewang say explicitly, and hurriedly thanked him: "As for the merit of sealing Mao, am I not enough now?" ”

"The general is enough, but I don't have it yet." Sun Kewang shouted dissatisfiedly: "General, if you have achieved the merit of sealing Mao alone, aren't you afraid of Huaiyin's hatred?" ”

"Brother Sun said carefully."

"Be careful!" Today, Sun Kewang dragged Li Dingguo with him, and he yelled at Xu Ping: "I heard that the general's subordinates said that you are already a prince, which is not wrong at all, but if there is only one prince, then the general is a mortal situation, this prince must have a lot of talents to get a good death, even if the general does not remember the long-term support of our brothers, it is for you to die in bed for yourself, you have to help us become princes together!" ”

Xu Ping groaned and looked at Li Dingguo: "Is this what Brother Li means too?" ”

"Before coming to the general, the third brother and I talked for a long time, I think it makes sense, what Ming Taizu did to the heroes is probably a lesson for us." Li Dingguo said solemnly to Xu Ping: "The third brother and I don't want to fight against King Chuang, we will support King Chuang's ascension, but we want King Chuang to be the son of Zhou Tianzi." ”

"Be Zhou Tianzi?"

"Yes." Li Dingguo obviously thought it through, and he immediately replied: "King Chuang is the Son of Heaven, but we should seal Mao, we fought for King Chuang, killed so many people, I don't know how many enemies we have made, if we don't have military power, maybe there will be that scholar who has an enmity with us will enter the court and will want to kill us to take revenge." We fight and kill people to seize the world for the king, and it is right to give us the vassal king, we can't have no military power, we can't do without the power of self-preservation, if the general doesn't think about the way out early, he will definitely regret it in the future. ”

"But since ancient times, the Son of Heaven has not wanted to cut the domain, how many scholars have taken the reduction of the domain as their own responsibility, for meritorious service, if we want to become the king of the domain, I am afraid it will invite unforeseen disasters." Xu Ping shook his head and objected: "Even if King Chuang doesn't want to, what about his children and grandchildren, what about our children and grandchildren?" ”

"So King Chuang has to be the son of Zhou Tianzi, our domain has to be big enough, and the vassal king has to be enough ......"

Before Li Dingguo's words were finished, Sun Kewang shouted impatiently: "General, becoming a hero of the founding of the country has already brought unforeseen disasters to himself, I don't know if the general is relieved to be a sword, I am a fish belly, anyway, I don't want to, I will always firmly hold the military power." ”

"What the third brother said is," Li Dingguo said to Xu Ping: "Not only us, but also many of our subordinates should be able to make meritorious contributions to sealing Mao, and now the general wants to help us, and we have to help others together, so we can't let King Chuang take all the credit, and in the future, we will let King Chuang swear never to cut the domain." ”

This conversation did not come to a conclusion, Xu Ping received an urgent report, saying that the imperial court had reopened the Dadu Governor's Mansion, and the Marquis of Zhendong, after receiving the order, immediately went south and went straight to the central capital.

After learning the news, Sun Kewang was overjoyed: "This is very good, if King Chuang delays time in Shandong, we and others will be able to make more contributions." ”

Xu Ping was a little anxious, the army of the Marquis of Zhendong had not been defeated since Chengcheng, and Li Zicheng's army was quite tired, and he said to the two: "We should immediately send troops to reinforce King Chuang." ”

"King Chuang clearly said that he didn't want us to go," Sun Kewang shook his head like a rattle: "Besides, our army is also very tired, and the elite of Huang Hou's men has been swept away by us, and King Chuang is enough to deal with him." ”

……

After separating from Sun and Li, Xu Ping stayed in his tent and pondered, and after dark, the Taoist priest of Qingzhi came to ask for an audience.

Xu Ping invited his psychiatrist in and talked to him about the conversation just now: "Someone once told me more than once that the cycle of chaos does not start at a certain time, but follows him like a shadow. Now we haven't taken the world yet, but the infighting has begun, and we have begun to fight with each other, and I really can't imagine what it will be like if we really take the world one day. ”

Qingzhi asked, "Then what does General Xu think?" ”

"I thought that since I knew that infighting was the way to control the cycle of chaos, then I would always reflect on it and not repeat the mistakes of the past, but I couldn't help but do it, and I didn't dare not watch out for it." Xu Ping sighed, it was precisely because of Gu Yanwu's words that he was always vigilant and paid special attention to his behavior, but that's all: "I used to be ambitious and make a covenant with King Chuang, and I must bring China out of the cycle of chaos, but I don't know if this is possible now, this may be the destiny of heaven." ”

"Does General Xu want to sacrifice himself to end the cycle of chaos?"

"If I can sacrifice......" Xu Ping paused, shook his head and said, "I don't want to sacrifice too much." ”

Xu Ping also met a few of his henchmen just now, and Zhou Dongtian and they did not agree to send troops immediately, of course, there were military reasons, but Xu Ping knew that these henchmen were also wary of Li Zicheng, and this vigilance was increasing day by day, and with the continuous military victories in the camp, this estrangement has become deeper and deeper.

"I'm still going to send troops!" Xu Ping struggled out of his troubles, although his subordinates were tired, but Xu Ping was still ready to send some elites to Shandong to help Li Zicheng, and this force was the armored battalion commanded by Li Laiheng, Xu Ping had just ordered the Fifth Infantry Wing to prepare for sortie, and the lack of personnel and equipment for this wing would be drawn from several other battalions led by Xu Ping: "In any case, now is far from the time for infighting, let's talk about it when we seize the world, I remember that Hou Ye once said: It is stupid to think about how to divide the meat before killing the bear." ”

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