After returning to Kaifeng, Xu Ping began to reorganize his troops with peace of mind, while waiting for a reply from the Marquis of Zhendong, who had fought with Yang Zhiyuan before, although Xu Ping's troops had won, but the battalions under his command also paid the price of more than 5,000 casualties. At present, Sun Kewang is helping Li Dingguo to carry out an ambitious expansion of the army, intending to replenish all seven battalions to full or nearly full strength, and once this goal is achieved, Xu Ping will have a field force of up to 50,000 people.

After meeting Xu Ping, Sun Kewang didn't say much nonsense, but he could still feel that there was a deep estrangement in their alliance. This was also expected by Xu Ping, and the secret agreement reached with Zhendonghou, Xu Ping did not mention it to Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo, and he planned to wait until at least Zhendonghou replied to him and agreed with him on the issue of the breakout of the Shanlan camp.

"After the Marquis of Zhendong became the governor of the capital, the morale of the officers and soldiers in Shandong was greatly boosted, and many units of the Jiangbei Army, which had always been afraid of our army like a tiger, also rushed to Shandong to participate in the war, but this was not the main reason for the defeat of our army, the main reason was that the morale of our army was also greatly affected." After Xu Ping left, Li Dingguo, Sun Kewang and Li Guo basically formed a three-person leading group, but needless to say, they also knew that the opinions of the West Battalion had an overwhelming advantage in it, and now Xu Ping's staff officers gave a combat briefing to the generals of the battalions who did not go to Zhongdu: "Zhendong Hou carried out cowpox, and there were countless living people, even King Chuang, General Liu, and Niu Junshi have also planted pox, and many soldiers regard Zhendonghou as a life-saving benefactor. Taken in Zhendong Hou's unparalleled martial arts in the world, King Cao and King Ji's subordinates all escaped from the battle......"

"If this is the case in the future, the battle will not be fought." Li Dingguo shook his head again and again when he heard this: "Pass the order, from now on, the scarecrow we train recruits will be on the scarecrow, and the name of Zhendonghou will be on the book." ”

After Li Dingguo finished speaking, the staff officer in the account did not respond, but hesitated and said: "General Li, I'm afraid it's not good to act like this?" ”

"That's why I said I couldn't fight this battle." Li Dingguo sighed: "Huang Hou is our enemy, you are the deployment of the camp, I ordered his name to be written on the scarecrow, you will feel inappropriate, what will the soldiers under you think?" If the soldiers refuse to fire at Zhendong Hou on another day, how can we win? The order went down, and immediately wrote the name of Zhendonghou on the target. ”

The staff officer cast his eyes on Xu Ping, and the eyes of Li Dingguo, Sun Kewang and many other generals followed: "General, should you put the friendship between teachers and students above the safety of our camp?" ”

"Of course not." Xu Ping hesitated and discussed with Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo.

But they didn't mean to continue bargaining with Xu Ping: "The general has said it." Sun Kewang asked the staff officer: "Do you still have any dissatisfaction?" ”

"It's not a trouble to take Kaifeng," Sun Kewang didn't wait for Xu Ping to object, and brought up another important military issue: "The biggest trouble is our gunpowder production. ”

With the increasing number of firearms equipped by the invading army, the output of gunpowder has surpassed that of flintlock pistols, which has become a serious problem for Xu Ping. Tens of thousands of soldiers need to carry out firearms training every day, and the repair rate of flintlock pistols is already lower than the scrapping rate, relying on *** smuggling and seizure can barely be level, but the output of gunpowder is currently only half of the training consumption, Sun Kewang tried his best to collect manure to produce saltpeter, but the increase in production was far from keeping up with the increase in consumption. At the same time, the rest of the army was also undergoing firearms, and they also needed a lot of gunpowder to train their troops.

Sun Kewang estimated that within three months, the consumption of gunpowder will increase to more than three times the output, the smuggling of the Jiangbei Army is certainly a supplementary channel, but this is not stable, and it is impossible to have a significant increase, although the current gunpowder reserves in the camp are quite sufficient, but no matter how sufficient the reserves are, sooner or later there will be a day when they will be exhausted.

"If General Sun doesn't have a good way, then I'm afraid others will be even more powerless." In terms of military quartermasters, Xu Ping is the shopkeeper.

"Manure is limited, and the farmland needs fertilizer, so I've ordered more saltpeter collection teams to dig caves."

Sun Kewang sold very well at this pass, and Xu Ping was very curious: "Cave? Is there saltpeter in the cave? ”

"Many caves are inhabited by bats, and there may be bat droppings that have accumulated over hundreds of years on the ground, and the saltpeter in these dungs has already been revealed, and they can be used immediately after they are dug up." Sun Kewang proudly told Xu Ping that some caves were even a few meters thick with bat droppings, but this was still a one-time supplement, relying on these saltpeters, Sun Kewang could not only ensure that the training of the army would be consumed within a few months, even if the size of the army's firearms force reached 100,000, Sun Kewang could also ensure that the army had the gunpowder needed for one or two large-scale battles: "But once these saltpeters are exhausted, I can't think of where else to get saltpeter." ”

"What does General Sun suggest?"

"King Chuang is from Shaanxi, and so am I, we know that King Chuang has always wanted to enter Tongguan and return to his hometown, while Niu Junshi wants to go north to attack the Beijing Division after conquering Kaifeng, so that the Ming Court will be torn apart and fish in troubled waters." Sun Kewang said: "But I think we should consider going south to Huguang instead of going north. ”

Xu Ping frowned and said: "If we don't get Shaanxi and go south to Huguang, as soon as we go on the front foot, the back foot of the officers and soldiers will attack Henan from Shaanxi and Zhili to the east and west. And if the new army of Zhendonghou is not obtained for a day and the new army of Zhendonghou is annihilated, the authority of the imperial court will still be there, and the Jiangbei army and the Chu army will not openly defect. ”

"General, this is wishful thinking, the military strength of our army is growing every day, and without the grain of Huguang, Henan cannot afford to raise an army of 100,000. Moreover, the general knew that the imperial court's gunpowder production was also seriously insufficient, and it all depended on Fujian to provide it. Sun Kewang pointed out that according to the information report of the camp, Fujian currently provides Nanjing with the whole ship and the whole ship of gunpowder every day, and then sends it north by Cao Yun and sea to maintain the huge consumption after the Ming Dynasty: "Sun Chuanting, the governor of the three sides, said in almost every letter that he needs more gunpowder and muskets, I don't know why there is so much saltpeter in Fujian, but the capture of Fujian can make the firearms of our army not turn into burning sticks, as for Henan, if it is really not good, give up." ”

Xu Ping's brows became tighter and tighter: "I understand what General Sun means, but most of our army are from Henan, let them leave their hometowns to go to Huguang and Fujian, the army's morale will be unstable, and I heard that Fujian is mountainous, and we don't even have a Fujian person in our army, and we don't know anything about the terrain of Fujian. ”

Afterwards, Xu Ping and other generals who broke into the camp talked about this matter again, and the generals felt that it was too risky to go south, and no one was sure to maintain the morale of the army, Yu Shenhe even said that even if the backbone of the guard battalion was forcibly sent south, there would be a large number of soldiers fleeing because they did not want to leave their hometowns: "In the past two years, we have reclaimed a large number of fields, and many officers and soldiers have started families in Henan. In the past two years, we have repelled the imperial court's attacks on Henan again and again, and the soldiers are very confident in defending their homeland. My lord, it is not feasible to go south. ”

"Henan can't provide enough food and gunpowder."

"This adult knows, and the last general also understands, but the soldiers don't know, and they may not believe it, and forcing them to abandon their wives and go south is bound to be full of complaints."

……

After returning to the camp today, Yue Mu came to Qin Dedong's side: "Qin Tou, I don't have any elders when I'm alone, are you willing to help me go to propose?" ”

"Good boy," Qin Dedong, who was cleaning up the hare, put down the prey he had caught today: "It's done?" ”

"Not yet." Yue Muhuan's face was full of faces, and he rubbed his hands and said, "Her mother told me today, this matter always requires the head of the family to nod, when do you say we can take Kaifeng?" ”

"Isn't that just done?" Qin Dedong patted Yue Mu's shoulder with a smile, and then turned back to concentrate on cleaning up his rabbit: "It's soon, it's fast, it's just these two days." ”

……

Now in addition to Yue Mu, there is another frequent visitor to the Liu family's dinner table every day, that is, the magpie that lives near Liu's house, in this magpie's small mind, it is obvious that it is the center of the universe, and the world revolves around it. Every day on time at Liu's house, this magpie will definitely come to report and eat with Liu's family, if Liu's family delays the meal, the magpie will look very unhappy. Since the magpie hatched its eggs a few days ago, the magpie has taken some food with its children every day when it leaves. Today, after Yue Mu finished chopping firewood for the Liu family, he also accompanied Miss Liu to visit this happy mother.

When Yue Mu was happily chatting with Miss Liu, she noticed that Miss Liu seemed depressed, and Yue Mu, who was a little strange in her heart, couldn't help but ask Miss Liu what else was on her mind. Miss Liu pondered for a moment, and finally confided in Yue Mu: "I said that when will you continue to do this?" ”

Hearing Miss Liu's question, Yue Mu was originally very happy and depressed, but she didn't think about this problem, since her sweetheart asked, Yue Mu also said bluntly: "Qin Tou, they also said before, as long as we can defeat the encirclement and suppression of the official army repeatedly, then sooner or later the imperial court will edict us." This time the new army was defeated again, and it is estimated that the imperial court will definitely consider recruiting An. ”

"Then what if the court doesn't recruit you?" Miss Liu asked.

"Alas... I can't say anything about this matter, but with the presence of the general, the officers and soldiers will not encircle and exterminate us under any circumstances. ”

In Xu Ping's army, most of the soldiers also had similar thoughts to Yue Mu. Since the beginning of this year, the rain has become more abundant, and the climate has become more and more suitable for farming, and many soldiers have begun to look forward to the day when they can return to a peaceful life. Many of Xu Pingzhong's troops and many soldiers have also started families. These people are more likely to see the end of the war sooner rather than later, and then they can resume their farming life.

The Son of Heaven is always good, but the key is that he has been deceived by corrupt officials below, and this view is basically a common view among the low-level soldiers of the Chuang Army. As for what the end of their beloved generals would be, these soldiers did not think too much about it, and they always felt that one day once the emperor was freed from the deception of traitorous ministers and could realize that they could not survive and had to embark on this path, then the Son of Heaven would magnanimously pardon all of them. As for their leaders, they can also find peace in this amnesty, and even get official positions rewarded by the imperial court. All in all, in the minds of the invading soldiers, this war is already a war that could end at any time.

……

"Since ancient times, *** has relied on a force," in Li Zicheng's battalion, in front of everyone, Sun Kewang and Niu Jinxing had a fierce argument: "There are pros and cons to letting the soldiers settle down, the advantage is that the imperial court is not easy to exterminate us, and the disadvantage is that the soldiers are thinking about recruiting all day long." ”

Xu Ping listened silently on the side, he felt that not only the soldiers, but also the generals, if the strong enemy was on the side or there was a target in front of them, everyone could still be united, but if the territory was stable, the generals would have each other, not twisted into a rope like before.

Sun Kewang had already made up his mind to persuade Li Zicheng to go south, and Ji Huisi, who had just led a team to join Li Zicheng, also expressed his willingness to take the lead in the battle of going south to attack Zuo Liangyu in order to wash away the shame of his escape. In view of the issue of the new policy of returning to Germany mentioned by Xu Ping, Sun Kewang said that he could let part of the army stay, and the main force still had to go to the south to fight the country.

Niu Jinxing agreed with Sun Kewang's opinion on ***, but he still thought that he should go north to attack Jingshi, almost all of the people in the camp were northerners, and the south was not a place they were familiar with, not to mention that there was a secret agreement with Zhendonghou.

Looking at the two factions arguing together, the more Xu Ping listened, the more upset he felt, in the past, he only needed to fight seriously, but now the intrigue within the camp, the strategy is not only a matter of pros and cons, but also involves prestige and power distribution, no matter which faction is unwilling to adopt the other party's strategy and achieve a major victory.

"What does the General think?" Sun Kewang suddenly kicked the ball to Xu Ping.

"Yes, does the general think it should go south or north?" Niu Jinxing rarely called him so solemnly in front of everyone, especially when Li Zicheng was present.

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