In the wilderness of the land of Yan Zhao, a team of thousands of people was heading all the way south, and it was the new Praetorian Guard army led by Lu Xiangsheng.

There were cavalry outposts, infantry guards, and a large group of men and horses in the middle. More than 100 horse-drawn carts walked in the middle of the official road, and the carts were loaded with tiger squat cannons, Buddha cannons, and a swarm of firearms such as flying dragons, all covered with rain cloths.

The convoy was lined with silently walking foot soldiers. Pikemen, sword and shield soldiers, and firecrackers are all well-armored and well-armed.

Hundreds of thousands of taels of silver were smashed, but in terms of being well-equipped, few troops could compare with this Praetorian Guard.

It's just that in a few months, the guns produced by the arsenal were only enough to arm a battalion of 3,000 people.

The 10,000 Janissaries New Army was reorganized into three battalions, which were named by Zhu Youzhen as Loyalty, Loyalty, and Loyalty. The Zhongyong Battalion was served by Cao Bianjiao as a general, and was the first to equip the weapons of the arsenal, and then was taken out by Lu Xiangsheng and went to Luoyang to "quell the rebellion".

To tell the truth, the time for the Zhongyong battalion to equip firearms is only one month, and the firearms and artillery in the battalion have just become familiar with the firearms in their hands, and they are far from being proficient. Not to mention the slow loading of firearms, the accuracy is also miserable.

The new Praetorian Guard army is far from forming combat effectiveness, not to mention compared with the elite Jiannu Eight Banner soldiers, even compared with the western Liaoning border army outside Shanhaiguan, it is also inferior. Of course, now it is just a matter of "counterinsurgency", and it is still unknown whether it will be able to fight, so there is no need to worry too much.

And in the heart of Lu Xiangsheng, who is the commander-in-chief, I am afraid that there will be no battle at all. King Fu may have a rebellious heart, but if he really dares to make trouble, he doesn't need the Praetorian Guards to Luoyang, and the defenders of Luoyang will clean him up.

In the Ming Dynasty, the only one who could successfully rebel with the vassal king was Taizong Zhu Di. However, it is far different from the time of Taizu, when the vassal kings of Taizu had military power and territory, and they were real feudal feuds, and the current vassal kings were just captive. Even King Ning, who was ambitious at the time of Zhengde, his rebellion was just a joke. What's more, King Fu, who is located in the Central Plains and is under close surveillance?

Therefore, Lu Xiangsheng was not worried about the counterinsurgency, he just regarded this dispatch as an excellent training opportunity, hoping to take advantage of this opportunity to make the loyal battalion under his command completely form combat effectiveness!

Therefore, along the way, Lu Xiangsheng marched completely according to the battle mode.

Outpost guards were assigned during the march, infantry protected the convoys, and cavalry cruised on both sides.

Only marching more than 40 miles a day, setting off only after three poles in the day, setting up camp before dusk, and it is not a simple camp, it is a serious camp, with trenches, walls, antlers, and horses. The troops assigned to be on duty at night took turns to keep vigil, and Lu Xiangsheng would personally inspect several times every night to check the vigil troops.

Then the army would have a meal at the end of the day, and after breakfast they would train on the spot for an hour, while the musketeers would practice loading and firing, and the gunners would practice the artillery. Considering the impact when he was in Xiyuan, he can now conduct live ammunition training at will.

The training will not continue until mid-morning, and the team will continue to march, and camp after traveling forty miles, every day.

At the beginning, Cao Bianjiao, the general of the Zhongyong Battalion, was very anxious and thought that he should speed up the march to Luoyang to quell the rebellion. Lu Xiangsheng just lightly told him that he didn't have to care too much about the counterinsurance.

Slowly, Cao Bianjiao came back to his senses and began to spend his energy on marching training, no longer in a hurry to fight.

As the march to the south, the march and camp training, everything became more and more legal, and the combat effectiveness of the team grew rapidly, and everyone in the team could feel this growth rate.

For Lu Xiangsheng, the journey south gave birth to a lot of emotion, lamenting the withering of people's livelihood.

From Jingshi to the south, everywhere you pass is a wide plain and a densely populated place, but along the way, although there are not too many displaced people, the people are all ragged and dish-faced.

The road is lined with farmland on both sides, where men work and weed, and women and children dig wild vegetables in the fields.

Seeing the passing army, the adults all avoided with fear on their faces, but only the children watched curiously with innocent eyes.

Fortunately, in the first year of Chongzhen, the world has not yet been in turmoil, the displaced people in northern Shaanxi have just shown some signs, the land of Yanzhao is still peaceful, and the people are not very afraid of the army.

However, Lu Xiangsheng can see from the tattered clothes and dishes on the faces of the people that most of the people are not having a good time, far worse than more than ten years ago.

And all this is caused by the levy of Liao. Since Nurhachi rebelled and occupied Liaodong, it has been 20 years now, and Jiannu has replaced Mongolia as the biggest enemy of the Ming Dynasty.

Liaodong was lost, Liaonan was lost, and now the imperial court only has Ningjin left outside the pass, and Jiannu does not want to capture Jinzhou and Ningyuan all the time, and the troops are in Shanhaiguan. The imperial court had to garrison heavy troops on the front line of western Liaoxi outside the border to prevent the attack of Jiannu.

Every year, more than 5 million taels of money and grain are spent on the western Liaoning border army alone, which exceeds the annual income of the state treasury.

There is no choice but to levy additional salaries. However, the Liao salary could not be levied on the gentry and the clan, and could only be borne by ordinary households, coupled with the greed of the local officials, the imperial court levied an additional penny of silver, and the local convenience would levy an additional penny, which caused the people's livelihood to wither.

The farther south, the more miserable the life of the people became, and when they passed through Zhangde Mansion, they had already seen a lot of homeless people appearing, and they didn't dodge when they saw the army, but just watched with dull eyes.

Lu Xiangsheng's expression became more and more solemn, and he had a premonition that the current Da Ming was like sitting on a powder keg, and the slightest spark was afraid that it would explode quickly.

Zhangde Mansion is located in the Central Plains, the land is still fertile, not far from Beijing, it is still the case here, so what is the scene in more distant places such as Shaanxi where there is a drought for many years?

Lu Xiangsheng sighed secretly in his heart.

Along the way, it was inevitable to pass through many cities, and Lu Xiangsheng constrained the army never to enter the city, but only sent people to ask for food and vegetables in advance. According to the Ming system, if the army marched within the territory, the local government through which it passed provided the needs.

At present, the majesty of the imperial court is still there, no magistrate dares to delay and not give the army the food it needs, if there is something that is not open, there is no need for Lu Xiangsheng to speak, there is a Jinyi guard with the army to enter the city, and in the next time, the Jinyi guard will investigate the corruption situation of the official since he took office.

When camping, Lu Xiangsheng never chose to enter villages and towns, but would choose to camp in the wilderness far away from villages and towns. It is forbidden to disturb the people, this is an iron law set by Lu Xiangsheng to his subordinates!

It took a month to reach the north bank of the Yellow River after starting from Beijing in mid-March and arriving in mid-April.

At this time, the news that the imperial court had sent a large army had already reached Luoyang.

In Luoyang City, the people were panicked, and King Fu was even more frightened!

PS: It's a little late, sorry. There should be a change.