From the Kaocheng of Kaifeng Mansion to the mouth of the Yellow River in Huaiyin Mansion, stretching for more than 1,500 miles, the garrison of the 30 towns envisioned by Chongzhen defended an average of 50 miles per town.

But that's just a statement.

In reality, it is certainly not possible to achieve an even distribution.

The whole line of defense must have a focus.

This focus is on the 150-mile area between the new canal of the Luhe River and the new canal of Xiazhen.

If Jiannu only went south on a small scale, the more than 1,500 miles from Kaocheng to Yuntiguan would naturally be a breakthrough everywhere, but Jiannu's small-scale southward movement would not destroy the Ming Dynasty.

What's more, a small group of Jiannu may not be able to cross the Yellow River.

Because Chongzhen had already ordered Zheng Zhilong to go north to Huanghuai.

If nothing else, Zheng Zhilong will most likely refuse to come.

But Zheng Zhilong's fourth brother Zheng Zhifeng, also known as Zheng Hongkui, will definitely come.

With Zheng Hongkui's sailors in Xuzhou, they could provide water support to the Ming army upstream and downstream along the Yellow River, and it would be difficult for a small group of Jiannu to break through the Yellow River defense line.

And if the main force of Jiannu goes south, it will definitely march along the canal.

The reason is simple, the logistical support of advancing along the canal is the least stressful.

And if you go south from other directions, you have to cross the Yellow River, and in the end you will be intercepted by the Ming army's naval division, so why not simply go south along the canal and fight a decisive battle with the Ming army in the canal?

As long as Jiannu is not a fool, he will definitely choose to fight a decisive battle with the Ming army along the canal.

Therefore, the 150 miles from the new canal of Xia Town in the west to the new canal of the Luhe River in the east is the center of gravity of the entire defense line, and it is the defense line of Xuzhou.

When Chongzhen was about to state his strategic concept, Jin Yiwei commanded his fellow acquaintance Li Ruolian to walk into the lobby and whispered a few words in Wang Chengen's ear, and Wang Chengen whispered a few words to the Wu Yan who was standing beside him.

Wu threw the charcoal in his hand, and walked out of the state hall with a scimitar.

After another moment, Wang Chengen walked up to Chongzhen and whispered, "Long live Lord, the matter of the trouble has been clarified." ”

Chongzhen put down the long wooden pole in his hand and said lightly: "Let's talk about something, the incident that happened eight days ago, Jinyiwei has already found out who is behind the scenes. ”

Whispers rang out in the lobby.

Li Chengdong's face changed slightly, and he subconsciously took a step back.

Chongzhen turned his gaze to Li Chengdong and asked, "Li Chengdong, what else do you have to say now?" ”

With Chongzhen's questioning, Wu Zhangtan had already poured into the state government hall with more than a dozen fully equipped Yiding, and immediately surrounded Li Chengdong, and the rest of the general soldiers were busy pulling away.

Huang Degong stood beside Chongzhen without a trace.

Li Chengdong changed color and said, "Holy Lord, what do you mean by this?" ”

"Do you still want to deny it?" Chongzhen said suddenly.

Li Chengdong snorted coldly and said: "The king wants the minister to die, the minister has to die, if the saint wants to kill the minister, he will do it, why make these excuses?" ”

This is an attempt to stir up the emotions of the other town commanders.

It's a pity that it didn't resonate with others.

Not only the general soldiers of the ten towns under Huang Degong and the ten towns of Liu Zeqing's old department, but even the other seven towns of Gao Jie's old department were indifferent.

No one is stupid.

Is now the time to come out stronger?

Besides, is Li Chengdong worthy of them to stand up for him?

It's just a colleague, and it's not a fateful friendship.

Chongzhen said: "That's right, I have made a lot of mistakes before, but now I have repented, from now on I will not wronged any loyal ministers and good generals, but I will never let go of any traitorous villain!" Li Ruolian, you come to tell everyone, what did Li Chengdong do eight days ago? ”

Li Ruolian likes to speak with facts.

At the same time as he came in, he also brought in two people.

The two men had their hands tied behind their backs and their mouths gagged.

After the two came in, their eyes widened angrily, and they muttered at Li Chengdong, looking extremely angry.

Hu Maozhen, Gao Jinku and other generals immediately recognized that these were the two generals under Li Chengdong, and they were the two most trusted commanders, who were responsible for commanding his three hundred soldiers.

"Mr. Li." Li Ruolian said, "Your henchmen have already explained everything." ”

"If you want to add sin, why should you do it?" Li Chengdong is still resisting, "If the saint wants to kill the minister, just kill it, there is really no need to buy such two villains to frame the minister." ”

Li Ruolian smiled and made a move.

Holding down the two, the general Yiding reached out and tore off the strips of cloth.

The two spit out the dung balls in their mouths and scolded: "Li Chengdong, you idiot, Lao Tzu didn't say anything, when did you frame you?" Huh? ”

"Ahh Li Chengdong was stunned when he heard this.

One of the generals said angrily: "Since you are unkind, blame us for being unjust, long live, we have recruited, and the matter of making trouble was instigated by Li Chengdong, and he asked us to secretly connect with the chief sentinels of the various general posts and agreed to make trouble at the same time, all of which was instigated by Li Chengdong behind the scenes." ”

Li Chengdong could no longer remain calm.

However, this guy is indeed fierce, and in such a desperate situation, instead of rushing out of the lobby, he pounced on Chongzhen, obviously trying to control Chongzhen as a hostage.

It's a pity that Li Chengdong miscalculated.

Huang Degong and Wu Jiaotan have long guarded against him.

"Boom!" The scimitar of the charcoal and the iron whip of Huang Degong fell on Li Chengdong almost at the same time.

However, the scimitar of the charcoal was blocked by the straight armor on Li Chengdong's body, but Huang Degong's iron whip smashed Li Chengdong's pocket into a large piece at once.

This time, it is estimated that the skull was smashed.

Li Chengdong's eyes instantly became dull and he stood still.

After a while, Li Chengdong fell straight forward, and after two convulsions, he didn't move.

Seeing this, the remaining twenty-seven town commanders were silent, for more than half a year before this, they once thought that the imperial power of the Ming Dynasty had declined, but at this moment they suddenly found that the imperial power was still sacred and could not be desecrated, and Li Chengdong paid the price of blood when he tried to challenge the imperial power.

It seems that in the future, we must be in awe and not do anything wrong.

"That's the end of the trouble." Chongzhen's gaze swept over the other twenty-seven town chief officers, and Sen Ran said, "But I hope this is the last time!" If anyone commits it again, it won't be a dead person, and I don't want to cause trouble to my family, let alone make a fuss, but there are always some people who force me to do it, so what can I do? ”

The chief military officer of the twenty-seventh town was silent, and the Son of Heaven was furious, and the blood flowed.

Whoever governs the army must be gracious and powerful, and the salary issued according to the standard of the Guan Ning army before is a show of grace.

Now the killing of Li Chengdong is a demonstration, but it is not enough to kill Li Chengdong, it has to be beaten further.

After a pause, Chongzhen said again: "There is something I have wanted to tell you for a long time, but I have never had a chance, so today I will tell you while the general soldiers of each town are here." ”

"The 28 towns that converge in Xuzhou are seriously unbalanced."

"Some towns have six or seven thousand people, while others have fewer than a thousand."

"This will undoubtedly have a very negative impact on the defense of the Huanghuai defense line."

"So it's imperative to reorganize, so you shouldn't have any opinions, right?"

Hearing this, the general soldier with a large number of troops showed a bitter look on his face, but the general soldier with few soldiers secretly rejoiced.

Chongzhen said: "Since everyone has no opinion, then I will make an order, 120,000 border troops plus 20,000 village warriors, and 140,000 horses will be divided equally by the general army of 28 towns, with 5,000 people in each town." ”

Hearing this, the chief soldier with many soldiers secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

It's not bad, but if you have 5,000 people, you won't lose many troops.

But Chongzhen's next sentence immediately turned them into bitter gourd faces.

Chongzhen said: "What's more, in the future, the military salaries of each town will be distributed by me or Qincha, and you may not have so much silver to support your family." ”

The general soldiers of the twenty-eighth town looked embarrassed.

Even Huang Degong is a little unnatural.

Because it has become the norm to support the family.

None of the generals of the Ming Dynasty did not support their families.

Where, then, does the money come from?

Naturally, it can only be deducted from the salaries of other soldiers.

Now that Chongzhen has choked the salary from the source, they really can't afford to support their families.

Chongzhen said: "These families are all elites, it would be a pity to let them go like this, in case they join the thieves or Jiannu, it will be even more troublesome, so I decided to gather them together to form a town of elite soldiers, I will provide them with the best weapons and armor, and will also pay them double salaries." ”

The general soldiers of the twenty-seven towns were silent.

Obviously, these commanders are not very reluctant.

But Chongzhen didn't give them a chance to refuse at all.

After a pause, Chongzhen said again: "Time is pressing, and I don't have time to spend with you, so quickly send your relatives back to their respective barracks to issue a notice, all the families in each town must come to the state government before this evening to stand by, and those who dare to disobey the order or fail to arrive within the time limit will be killed for the crime of treason!" ”

The general soldiers of the twenty-seventh town were silent.

At that moment, Hu Maozhen and the others came out of the lobby and called the relatives who were on call outside to talk.

Chongzhen turned his head to Xuzhou Wei and instructed Wang Wenming and said: "Wang Wenming, Li Chengdong's town will be handed over to you, you can go to Li Chengdong's camp now and bring his family to me." ”

"Commandment." Wang Wenming was overjoyed when he heard this, and went away in a hurry.

After the general division of the twenty-seven towns came back, Chongzhen continued: "Continuing to talk about the Huanghuai defense line, due to the limited number of troops, I decided to concentrate my forces and focus on the defense of the new canal of the Luhe River, the new canal of Xia Zhen and the triangle area in the middle of the Yellow River, and the entire defense line is supported by Xuzhou City and Pizhou City as the east and west wings. ”

"Xia Zhen is the northern support of the entire defensive line."

"Among them, the status of Xia Zhen is the most important."

"Because Xia Zhen is at the northernmost point of the entire defense line, the position is protruding."

"Once Jiannu goes south along the river, Xia Zhen will bear the brunt."

"So Xia Zhen is the eye of the entire Huanghuai defense line, the top priority!"