Between Baofeng County and the Mining City, there is a small fort, called Junyang Fort (later Junyang Town), which is a hundred households fort on the north bank of the Zhushui River.

The distance between the county seat of Baofeng County and the mining city is about 100 miles, and the Junyang Fort is located in the middle, in fact, the post road between Baofeng County and the Junyang Fort has been completely occupied by the army of the Dragon Thirteen.

Fort Junyang.

The time has come to the beginning of February in the sixth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty (1633), and the land of the Central Plains is still cold.

According to the locals, since the beginning of winter, there has been neither rain nor snow in Ruzhou Mansion, and it is purely dry and cold, and Long 13 was shocked when he heard it.

"Is the dry season in Henan finally coming during the Xiaoice River?"

And then I was relieved.

"If it weren't for the dry season in the Central Plains, the grain production would be reduced and there would be a lot of displaced people, how could the thieves eventually become bigger?"

I can't help but worry about the situation in Nanyang Mansion.

But there was more important work to be done, and he had to put his worries aside for now.

"Ladies and gentlemen"

In the Sanjin Mansion of the Hundred Households before the Hundred Households Fort, Long Thirteen called the commanders of all the brigades over.

"Since most of the elites in the official army are gathered in Shanxi and Gyeonggi, now that we have arrived in Henan, according to Li Xin's intelligence, the entire Henan has also set up a general soldier in Kaifeng Prefecture, a deputy general in Luoyang, and then a sub-general of the mining city in front, and then a sub-general of Runing Mansion."

"The rest are the guards from all over the country, so there is nothing to worry about."

"When I get here, I won't hide it anymore."

"The place where our department is going is Nanyang Mansion in the south."

As soon as this remark came out, except for a few who were inflexible, most people were not surprised.

Seeing this, Long Thirteen secretly said: "My secrecy skills are not yet at home, and when I went south to Nanyang, I discussed with Li Xin and Li Zhanchun, and the others didn't know about it, and I also warned these two people not to talk about it, and now I look at this appearance, it seems that most people know about it."

glared at Li Xin and Li Zhanchun viciously.

"Ahem"

Li Zhanchun looked as usual, but Li Xin seemed a little embarrassed.

"Great boss, when you are in Huozhou and Anyi County, I will tell the personnel above the post chief according to your instructions about the geographical map of mountains and rivers in Shanxi and Henan......

Only then did Long 13 understand, "No wonder, Li Xin must have focused on Nanyang Mansion, and the characters who can do it above the post level are not too stupid, so they naturally understand."

was relieved, and said with a smile: "Okay, my department is going to Nanyang Mansion, why?"

"First of all, there are more than 100,000 people in our army, their families, and the people, and it is impossible for them all to survive by robbing the government and large households, so we must find a good place with fertile land, convenient irrigation, and a wide area that can accommodate us."

"In addition to this, this place must also be surrounded by mountains and rivers, otherwise if the imperial court pours the strength of the whole country to come to encircle and suppress us, our department will be very powerful, after all, the manpower is limited, so there must be the benefits of mountains and rivers."

"Nanyang Province, located in the southwest of Henan, is surrounded by mountains to the north and west, Hanshui to the south, and the Central Plains to the east, although there is a gap in the east, but it is generally a continuous group of mountains."

"Nanyang Mansion happens to be in the middle of the mountains, as long as you hold a few key places, you can dominate one side."

"Moreover, there are millions of acres of fertile land here, but less than half of them really belong to the people, and the rest are the granges of King Lu, King Fu and other vassal kings, most of the people are cultivating for these vassal kings, according to Li Xin, as long as we take this land, we can harvest at least 100,000 tenants."

"There are more than ten counties in Nanyang Prefecture, you now know why I divided more than 100,000 households according to counties before I set off again, and also appointed several county orders, chief registers, and county officials."

"Yes, Lao Tzu, I just want to occupy the entire Nanyang Mansion!"

When everyone heard this, although they had expected this for a long time, it was different from Long Thirteen's mouth now, so there were some excited and some apprehensive.

Needless to say, the nervousness was naturally thinking, "Occupy a mansion, and the government will definitely do its best to attack, can you farm the land in peace?"

I saw Bai Wenxuan say: "Big boss, our department is naturally very powerful, but there are only 10,000 people, if the government army comes from all directions, although we can cope with the war, but if we want to farm the land in a down-to-earth manner, I am afraid it will ......."

Long Thirteen smiled and said, "Who else thinks the same way?"

I saw that Wu Dading and several others nodded, and even Li Xin and Long Xiaoshi, who had always relied on him, were also a little confused, although they knew it early in the morning when they went south to Nanyang Mansion, but in their minds, Nanzhao County, Neixiang County, and Xichuan County, which occupied Nanzhao County, which were close to the mountains, were also located.

Occupy the entire Namyang Mansion? Didn't even think about it.

Long Thirteen nodded, "This place can accommodate 10,000 people, but at the moment, according to Li Xin, there are only a million people at most, which is obviously a lot of margin."

"Wow"

I saw Long Xiaoju and Long Xiaohu, who had been standing behind him, open the giant map.

Long Thirteen picked up the thin wooden stick.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Yuzhou, occupying this place can block the officers and troops coming from Yuncheng, of course, at this time, Yexian County and Wuyang County also belong to Nanyang Mansion, so we have to abandon these two counties."

(Yuzhou, later Fangcheng County)

"This is Piyang County, occupy here, you can block the army coming from Runing Mansion."

(Runing Mansion, later Zhumadian + Xinyang)

"This is Zaoyang County, of course, this county does not belong to Nanyang Mansion, but belongs to Huguang Province, but if we want to occupy Nanyang Mansion safely and steadily, we must occupy this place, and after that, we can block the Huguang official army from Suizhou."

"Yuzhou, Piyang County, and Zaoyang County are all stuck between the Tongbai Mountains, and if the army wants to pass, it must pass through these three counties, so as long as you occupy the three counties, you can block the enemy army coming from the Central Plains Plain."

"This is Fancheng, facing Xiangyang across the Han River, if you want to block the army coming from the Han River, you must occupy this place, and then you can control the Han River, of course, we don't have a sailor yet, but Xiangyang Mansion has it, and the ships can go straight from Hanzhong to here, so you need the Wang brothers to come forward and grab some of them."

"This is the Xixiakou Inspection Division."

(Xixiakou Inspection Division, later Xixia County)

"As long as you occupy this place, you can resist the enemies from Shaanxi and Lingbao."

"This is Xichuan County, as long as you occupy this place, you can block the enemy army coming from Yunyang Mansion."

"Of course, at the beginning, we obviously didn't have so many troops, because the rebel brothers such as Lao Huihui, Ge Liyan, and Red Army Friends were marching towards Lushi County, and they would eventually occupy important places in the Danshui Valley, such as the Xixiakou Inspection Division, etc."

"So, we don't have to worry too much about the mountains to the west."

"The biggest enemy is not the guards of Nanyang Mansion, there is only one guard post and two thousand households, which is not to be worried, but the military strength of Xiangyang Mansion and Yunyang Mansion is worried."

"So, after we break through Fangcheng County, we will drive straight in, occupy the backing Neixiang County and Xichuan County as soon as possible, settle the households there, and then station heavy troops in Gucheng to attract the officials and troops of Xiangyang Mansion and Yunyang Mansion to attack, and after defeating, we can slowly launch the strategy of the entire Nanyang Mansion."

"At this time, Hebei's military strength has been almost lost by our department, and it is impossible for a large army to be killed in a short period of time, and in the hinterland of the Central Plains, there are two divisions, Zijinliang and Chuang Wang, which will definitely attract most of the officers and troops."

"So, as long as we defeat the soldiers and horses of Xiangyang Mansion and Yunyang Mansion, we can ensure stability for half a year."

"Half a year is enough for me to gain a foothold in Nanyang Mansion......

"Big boss", Li Xin suddenly interjected, "Since we want to take Fancheng opposite Xiangyang Mansion, it is very likely that the people and horses of Hanzhong Mansion and Yunyang Mansion in the upper reaches of the Han River, as well as the people and horses of Huguang and Nanzhili in the lower reaches, will be in trouble if Zijin Liang and King Chuang are defeated, and all the officials and troops will be attracted to the area of Nanyang Mansion

Long Thirteen smiled and said, "Then in your opinion, what other foolproof plan do we have?"

Li Xin thought about it, but still shook his head.

"Black Harrier!"

Li Zhanchun quickly stood up.

"When I was passing through the Ruzhou Mansion, I caught a little eunuch who traveled back and forth between the Ruzhou Mansion and the Mining City, and according to this person's report, just this month, the men and horses under the command of Gao Yingxiang and Luo Rucai had crossed the Yellow River by fraudulent surrender and had arrived at the Guide Mansion......

Li Xin immediately understood, "Big boss, what do you mean......

Long Thirteen nodded, "If you want to defend the entire Nanyang Mansion, you still have to divide your troops to occupy so many dangerous passes, it is obviously not enough to rely on me and wait for the current number of people, at least we have to double the number of troops, and there are 30,000 people who can do it."

"At that time, it will be possible to hold the gap to the hinterland of the Central Plains in the East, and the other to hold the line of the Han River."

"How can we get here with more than 20,000 people?"

"My initial idea, half of them naturally come from the farmers of Nanyang Province, and half of them come from the rebel army, Zijin Liang and others cannot stay in the hinterland of the Central Plains for a long time, and they will soon flee westward, and they will inevitably pass through Nanyang Mansion."

"At this time, as long as anyone who is unfavorable to us and others, whether he is an official army or a righteous army, he must be annihilated, and then his subordinates will be surrendered, and the old battalion will be distributed to various places to farm and work."

"At this time, the government will have an idea, I can pretend to contact it, if I can seal a Nanyang general soldier, it is naturally the best, if not, the deputy general, the staff general is also fine, anyway, the entire territory of Nanyang Mansion is firmly in my hands."

"Wait until a year and a half, the time is ripe, the so-called ripe time refers to a large amount of grain storage, mines, workshops have also opened, according to Li Xin, Neixiang County, Xixiakou Inspection Division have a large number of mines."

"I am going to increase the strength of the firearms battalion and further train the cavalry, 30,000 people, which can be used as 100,000 officers and soldiers, so that I can occupy this place safely and securely before I turn against him."

"Great boss, what if the court asks us to attack other rebels?" , Long Xiaoshi asked.

Long Thirteen looked at Li Xin, "Li Xin, tell me about it."

Li Xin nodded, "In the mountains north of Nanyang Prefecture, near Nanzhao County, there is a group of strongmen, that is the real vicious mountain bandits, killing people and setting fires, and the countryside near Nanzhao County is almost devoid of people."

"The leader is called 'black-hearted wolf' Zhou Jiali, this person is extremely cruel, dealing with ordinary people, digging hearts, cramping, skinning, eating human flesh, there is nothing he dare not do, there are more than 1,000 people under his command, and the court has suppressed several times and returned with feathers"

"In the vicinity of Xichuan County, there is also a group of bandits, led by Zhang Youcai, who is also very vicious, doing things that endanger the township under the banner of the righteous army, and there are more than 1,000 households, and the nest is hidden in the deep mountains and old forests, not to mention the guards of Nanyang Mansion, even the people and horses of Yunyang Mansion have also entered and suppressed it several times."

"Equally Returning"

"Once you pretend to accept Zhao'an, you immediately take the initiative to suppress these two bandits, and a year has passed, both of which are under the banner of the righteous army, and together with Jin Shenghuan, the 'Yidousu' near Lushi County, they are the three largest bandits in Henan."

"Once these two are exterminated, and then the Jinshenghuan Department will be suppressed, it is said that this Jinshenghuan Department has the best reputation, but in order to ensure the peace of our western region, it must be exterminated."

(Jin Shenghuan, Zhou Jiali, and Zhang Youcai all took refuge in Li Zicheng when he went out of the mountain again, and later Jin Shenghuan surrendered to Zuo Liangyu, and the other two died in the chaos)

"In this way, the imperial court will definitely trust us, plus the annihilation of the other rebels who broke into Nanyang Mansion, it will be almost the same, as for taking the initiative to go out and suppress, it will not be our turn to wait, at that time, we are slowly advancing in the mountains to suppress the black-hearted wolf and others, where is there still the spare strength to participate in the encirclement and suppression of the rebels in other places?"

"Wonderful!" , Li Xin couldn't help but shout.