"Drive!"

On October 25, the first year of Taichang, as more than 30 horsemen rode towards the north, the two brocade-clothed guards in the scarlet official uniforms also saw the arrows in the distant sky, and turned to a young man in the second row and said:

"Your Highness, three miles ahead is the Red Bridge, do you need to rest when you cross the Red Bridge?"

As soon as this Tiqi spoke, everyone knew that he wanted to take care of Zhu Youzhen's body, for fear that the other party would not be able to withstand the long-distance attack.

However, he underestimated Zhu Youzhen too much, and saw Zhu Youzhen reply with a smile:

"But the horse is called rest for an hour? Lonely is not tired, but you are tired? ”

"Go on, you must arrive at the Yanshan camp in an hour!"

"Yes!" Hearing Zhu Youzhen's words, all the horsemen were full of strength and rode towards the Yanshan camp.

Zhu Youzhen, who was sitting on horseback, was completely accustomed to riding a horse, except for feeling a little uncomfortable at the base of his thighs.

Comparatively, riding a horse is much easier than riding a bicycle, and going is much faster than a horse-drawn carriage.

If you take a horse-drawn carriage, the capital is 120 miles from Changping, and it takes at least six hours to arrive, that is, 72 kilometers in 12 hours, an average of 6 kilometers per hour.

But if you ride a horse directly, Zhu Youzhen and his party set off at the same time, and now they have arrived at Hongqiao in less than three minutes.

In other words, it took about two and a half hours, and I had already traveled nearly seventy miles.

There are only fifty miles left, and it is estimated that you will be able to reach the Yanshan camp before noon.

This is still the result of Zhu Youzhen and their failure to change horses.

If they want to change horses at the post station halfway, on the premise of changing horses without changing people, at most, they can arrive in the capital from the Yanshan camp.

However, Zhu Youzhen was not in such a hurry, so after crossing the red bridge, they slowed down their horses, and finally saw the Yanshan camp in the distance at their own moment.

"Stop! What people?! ”

When Zhu Youzhen led people over the flat ground, he immediately saw the rejection of horses and the sentry box, as well as a team of foot soldiers wearing cloth armor.

"Blind You ......"

"Huh!" Hearing that a brocade guard wanted to scold, Zhu Youzhen stopped the other party, and then showed his waist card.

As soon as the waist card appeared, the chief flag officer in charge of leading the team immediately constricted, knelt down on one knee and said in a panic:

"Your Highness! I don't know if it's Your Highness, please forgive Your Highness! ”

"What is the sin of guarding the front road of the camp? In the future, whoever comes here must first check the token, except for Banzai. Zhu Youzhen took a few steps in place and pacified the chief flag officer.

"Yes! Mark the command. The chief flag officer hurriedly returned the salute, and then turned his head and said, "Release!" ”

The soldiers next to them were already frightened and pulled away one after another, and Zhu Youzhen also led people to cross the checkpoint and ran towards the Yanshan camp.

When they came to the camp gate, it was the Zhejiang soldiers who were responsible for guarding the camp gate, and they had all seen Zhu Youzhen, but even so, they still saluted His Highness first, and then asked for the waist card.

After being released, the brocade guard next to him said angrily:

"Your Highness, this is too strict, they all know you, and you have to look at the waist card."

"It's good to be strict, the Yan army has its own iron battles!" Zhu Youzhen smiled and led people towards the school grounds.

I saw a lot of faces along the way, and there were many more people in the camp.

Soon someone notified Cao Huachun, Man Gui, Sun Yingyuan, Qin Bangping, Qi Jin and others to come to meet them.

Everyone shouted loudly for His Royal Highness, and then saluted, while Zhu Youzhen turned over and dismounted:

"There's no need for false courtesy, this time I will come to the camp for ten days, and say anything I need."

"Let's talk about the number of people in the barracks right now, it seems that there are a lot more people in the ten days since I left."

"Your Highness......" The first to speak was Cao Huachun.

As the eunuch of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, Cao Huachun is not only responsible for recruiting troops, but also supervising the generals and organizing the people to immigrate and settle for the land.

Therefore, he was very familiar with everything about the Imperial Horse Guard, and explained to Zhu Youzhen:

"Your Highness, in the past seven days, a total of tens of thousands of people have come to join the army, but according to the standard, only 7,643 people have joined the army."

"At present, Tengxiang's left guard has been completed, the warrior battalion has been completed, Tengxiang's right guard is still short of 2,400 people, and Wuxiang's left and right guards have not yet been established."

"The three guards of Yulin still maintain 6,600 people."

"In the Yanshan camp, counting the Zhejiang soldiers and the stone pillar white pole soldiers, there are more than 26,000 people in total."

"On the west side of the camp, the craftsmen of the martial arts three guards have built an outer camp there, which is currently a resting place for the craftsmen."

"In the past ten days, the Imperial Horse Supervisor has spent a total of 604,324 taels of silver, of which 600,000 taels have purchased a lot of wood and stone for the construction of the imperial tomb."

"The other 4,300 taels are military expenditures......

After saying all this, Cao Huachun looked at Zhu Youzhen, and Zhu Youzhen nodded and asked:

"The soldiers who came to join the army, did they take their families to roll up the wasteland of Tunyan Mountain?"

"Back to His Royal Highness, naturally there are, at present, there are 6,432 households in Changping, and more than 34,000 acres of land."

"Have you sent the Tianmu document of Huairou and Miyun?" When Zhu Youzhen heard this data, he was very satisfied and continued to ask.

"Naturally, it was sent, according to the booklet, the slope land at the foot of Yanshan Mountain in Changping, a total of 294,300 acres."

"Huairou slope land, 397,300 acres, Miyun slope 310,030 acres, a total of 1 million and 1,900 acres."

"According to His Highness's method, these acres can at least immigrate about 150,000 households."

"Hmm......" Listening to Cao Huachun's words, Zhu Youzhen was still very satisfied with his behavior of knowing everything about the Imperial Horse Supervisor.

Therefore, he looked at Qi Jin and Qin Bangping and said, "Are the two generals okay?" ”

"The last general is well, drag the blessing of His Highness, and the whole army has been replaced with new weapons and armor." Qin Bangping politely returned the salute, and Qi Jin also said:

"Your Highness, I chatted with General Qin for a while, and decided to set off together at the end of next month and go to Liaodong."

"Why the end of next month?" Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he looked at the relationship between Qi Jin and Qin Bangping.

Historically, the soldiers and horses under the command of the two were angry, which led to the Battle of the Hunhe River being broken one by one.

Now that the two teams are so harmonious, I don't think they will encounter the embarrassing situation of being broken one by one in history.

However, he was still curious as to why the two teams had postponed the time to the end of November instead of starting on November 20, as had been planned.

Regarding his doubts, Qin Bangping explained:

"My sister has arrived in Xiangyang Mansion with 3,000 Youyang white pole soldiers, and if nothing else, she should arrive in Changping on November 256."

"After a short rest, it would be safer to take six thousand soldiers and horses to garrison Shenyang."

"I see, that's ......" Hearing Qin Bangping's words, Zhu Youzhen nodded and said:

"Since this is the case, then I can only harass the two generals and help the imperial horse supervise the training of soldiers and horses for another month."

"Where is Your Highness......" Qi Jin said with a smile: "If it is a crisis in Liaodong, I am afraid that I will have to ask His Highness to call soldiers and horses to support at that time." ”

"That's nature!" Hearing this, Zhu Youzhen responded with a smile, and then glanced at Man Gui and Sun Yingyuan and said:

"Since you want to stay for a long time, let's eat it first today!"

The slave maid went to prepare, and by the way, Yang came to the middle of the matter. Seeing this, Cao Huachun proposed to prepare by himself, and Zhu Youzhen also nodded.

Xiong Tingbi's impeachment is still going on, maybe he will have to ask Yang Lian to help in the future, and he can't leave him behind if he eats.

Thinking so, Zhu Youzhen, surrounded by the generals, took a look at the military drills in the martial arts school, and then led people to rush towards the Yamen of the Imperial Horse Supervisor in the Yanshan camp.

Just as he was on his way, there was a commotion in a city thousands of miles away.

"If they want to check, let them check! If you can find out what is wrong with the old man, they will impeach him! ”

In the Jingluo Mansion of Guangning City, Liaodong, a tall man in a gray round-necked robe shouted loudly and scolded the officials next to him.

A forty-year-old elegant man next to him wearing a regular four-grade uniform saw a man in his prime like this, so he could only persuade him step by step:

"Feibai, why do you bother? His Royal Highness the Fifth Interceded for you, and so did Yang Wenru and others, and Zhu Tongmeng, who came to inspect, was a protégé of Governor Zhou, so he naturally wouldn't embarrass you. ”

"At present, Liaodong is in a difficult situation, without you, how will Liaodong deal with the old slave?"

"Humph! If they have the power to frame me, they have the power to have me replaced! The man in the prime of life was angry, obviously not lightly angry.

As for his identity, he is Xiong Tingbi, who has a hot temper and bad popularity.

The man who persuaded him was Yuan Yingtai, the governor of Liaodong who he cooperated happily with.

Yuan Yingtai looked at his appearance of ignoring the life and death of the Ming Dynasty in order to be angry, and the persuasion took too long, so he instantly lost his temper and said angrily:

"Okay, you bear Feibai! I originally thought you were a hero, but I didn't want to resign and return to my hometown for the impeachment of a few treacherous villains, and be an incompetent person in that hometown who only knows how to die! ”

"Good, good! There you go! Go, go now! ”

Yuan Yingtai pointed to the gate of the yamen and shouted angrily, and Xiong Tingbi saw that Yuan Yingtai was angry, and then realized that his behavior was angry with the other party, but his character was unwilling to soften, so he could only give himself the steps:

"Let them check, if they can't find anything, I'll go ...... again"

"I'm leaving, and I can't walk with stigma......"

His tone was a little weaker, Yuan Yingtai looked at him like this, and hated that iron could not become steel:

"You, you, do you want to abandon Liaodong, where the situation has just improved? Have you forgotten the letter sent by His Highness the Fifth Three Days ago? ”

"You are looking for guest soldiers, and now His Royal Highness is about to send you 10,000 guest soldiers, including the Tusi soldiers of Eastern Sichuan who Liu Dadao can't ask for, and the soldiers of the Qi family and Zhejiang."

"You're okay now, are you going to pick a pick? Fail me first, and then let down the Fifth Highness? You stubborn old stubborn! ”

"Who are you scolding for being stubborn? Why am I so stubborn? If it weren't for Yao Zongwen and others impeaching me indiscriminately, would I be so angry?! Seeing that Yuan Yingtai was scolding, Xiong Tingbi also retorted loudly.

He is like this, he eats soft rather than hard, even if he is an old friend, he can't stand to be scolded by others.

With such a temperament, it is no wonder that no one in the Chu Party speaks for him.

With this character, it is estimated that everyone who wants to be friends with him has been scolded by him.

As for Yuan Yingtai, who was standing opposite him, he was also so angry that he was about to vomit blood.

He had never seen such a vulgar minister, and he had never had such a grumpy friend.

He's ...... now. He really wants to die on the pillar next to him now, or would rather pull a stubborn donkey to talk to him than say a word to Xiong Tingbi!

Thinking like this, he turned around angrily and left, Xiong Tingbi saw him go, although he regretted it in his heart, he still said hardly:

"If you have the ability to go, you have the ability to go, don't come back!"

It is really surprising that two people who are almost a hundred years old together should quarrel like this in such an important place as Jingluo Mansion.

However, their quarrel could not stop Zhu Tongmeng, Yao Zongwen and others from inspecting Liaodong.

Three days after they arrived in Liaodong, they inspected from Shanhaiguan to Guangning City, and found nothing wrong, so Zhu Tongmeng breathed a sigh of relief, while Yao Zongwen was greatly annoyed.

He didn't believe that Xiong Tingbi could turn Liaodong from the chaos after the Battle of Salhu into what it is now in just one year.

But no matter how much he didn't believe it, the facts were already on the board.

They inspected for another six days, but to no avail, they could only embark on the road back to the capital.

It's just that two days after their return, Zhu Youzhen, who was in the Yanshan camp in Changping, received information from Nanzhen Fusi Jinyiwei.

On the fourth day of November, the weather was already snowy, and sitting in the backyard of the Imperial Horse Supervisor's yamen, he looked at the information in his hand, frowned slightly, and suddenly felt a headache.

Even Lu Wenzhao next to him admonished Zhu Youzhen:

"Your Highness, this Xiong Tingbi is short-tempered, and he thinks that it is better to replace him with Yuan Yingtai according to what he said."

"Otherwise, with his temperament, it is estimated that he will cause a lot of trouble for His Highness in the future."

"Who can you replace?" Zhu Youzhen sighed and could only maintain the current situation.

Yuan Yingtai is a person who has a hand in logistics and advice, but if he is allowed to do it himself, it will be blind, he is a typical expert in internal affairs and advice, and he can't do it in actual combat.

As far as the Wenchen at the end of the Ming Dynasty is concerned, only Xiong Tingbi, Yuan Keli, and Sun Chengzong have strategic vision and means of leading troops.

The reason why Sun Chengzong is half is because his strategy is based on the premise that it is impossible for the Ming Dynasty to survive, plus it is not good to lead the troops, so it can only be regarded as half.

Compared with him, Xiong Tingbi and Yuan Keli's ideas are more realistic.

Xiong Tingbi took into account the background that the Ming Dynasty was unable to pull out a large army in a short period of time and highly cooperate with the people to destroy the Houjin, so he came up with a way to hold Liaodong and drag down the Houjin.

It's a pity that because of the impeachment of the Zhejiang Party, he went to the field once halfway, and let the method die.

Speaking of Yuan Keli, although his strategy is somewhat opposite to Xiong Tingbi, the establishment of a base in southern Liaoning, the rebellion against Liu Aita, and the support of Mao Wenlong have greatly constrained Houjin's attention.

As long as these two places are still there, it is impossible for Huang Taiji to dare to enter the customs and loot lightly.

Yuan Keli's idea is very simple, that is, let Mao Wenlong sabotage.

It's okay for the man who can't beat Houjin, as long as he kills the old and weak women and children.

The population of Houjin is that ten Dongjiang soldiers are exchanged for one Houjin soldiers, and they are all earned.

So strategically, there is nothing good or bad, but among the people who can be used by Zhu Youzhen at the moment, only Xiong Tingbi can defend Liaodong.

As for Yuan Keli and him, Zhu Youzhen wants to be placed in Shandong.

He has always paid attention to Yuan Keli's situation, and as long as he has the opportunity, he will recommend Yuan Keli to patrol Shandong.

At that time, as long as grain is transported from Shandong to Liaodong, then Xiong Tingbi's strategy can be said to be solid.

And Zhu Youjian himself will destroy Nekhalkha and Korqin, then Houjin will wait for Xiaoice River to freeze to death in Hetuara six years later!

Thinking so, Zhu Youzhen also became interested in the training of the soldiers and horses under his command.

He rode his horse towards the school grounds, and when he turned over and dismounted, and when he came to the school grounds, he was greeted by a huge number of performers who occupied two-fifths of the field.

"Kill! Kill! Kill! ”

Shouting to kill the sky, more than 20,000 men dressed in mandarin ducks and fighting fertile shouted in the camp, and Zhu Youzhen also met Qin Bangping and Qi Jin who supervised the army's drills here.

"Cooperate! Cooperate! Cooperate! ”

"How many more times do you need to say these two words?! If you can't trust your comrades, don't go into battle! ”

"You are Banzai's pro-army, if you can't solve problems for Banzai, then obediently go back to the camp, take out the military salary and return it to Admiral Cao, and return the acres of land that Banzai and His Highness rewarded your family with!"

In the distance, Qi Jin scolded loudly, and the soldiers around him were red-faced and red-eared when they were scolded.

Qi Jiajun's training method is to cooperate.

Without this cooperation, even if you practice the Mandarin Duck Formation, you can't beat others.

But if they have this cooperation, then no matter what formation they use, they can be like a finger, even if the enemy is outnumbered, they can also face the head!

Zhu Youzhen did not use the Mandarin Duck Formation in a proper manner, because the Mandarin Duck Formation was of little use to the Golden Soldiers and Horses after the match.

What he wanted was the swords, guns, and sticks of the white pole soldiers, and the cooperation of the Qi family's army with their car battalions and battle formations.

Especially the Che battalion, this is an important reason why the Han people were able to fight more with less and go on a northern expedition with infantry.

Zhu Youzhen wanted to train troops, not infantry and cavalry alone, but highly mobile men and horses.

Even if you are an infantryman, you have to be an infantryman with horses!

He was short of silver at the moment, not only for military salaries and food, but also for the next year's mutual market and the money for the Mongols to buy horses.

The Mongols do not sell many cattle and sheep in the spring, but they do sell many winter-born ponies.

Those ponies are Zhu Youzhen's target, not only are they cheap, but they are also very suitable for being infantry marching horses.

Thinking so, Zhu Youzhen took Sun Yingyuan, Man Gui, and Cao Huachun to walk, and exhaled a breath of hot air:

"How much silver do you have in the Imperial Horse Warden right now?"

"Back to Your Highness, the generals of the Imperial Horse Prison before handed over 171,200 taels of dirty silver, and now the Imperial Horse Supervisor still has 1,164,200 taels of silver, of which Your Highness, after you come, you will definitely pay the military salary at the beginning of each month, and issue the military salary for the newly recruited soldiers and horses, a total of 36,065 taels."

Cao Huachun responded softly, and Man Gui also said:

"At present, there are a total of 28,852 soldiers in the Yanshan battalion, of which Tengxiang is full of left and right guards, warrior battalions are full, Wu Xiang left guards are full, Wu Xiang right guards are 2,548 people, and Yulin three guards are short of 10,200 people."

"At present, there is still a shortage of 12,738 people in the Qiwei and 1st Battalion, and according to the fact that nearly 1,000 people have signed up every day in recent days, and only more than half of them can be selected, it should only take more than 20 days for the whole army to be full."

Full...... This word was learned by Man Gui from Zhu Youzhenkou.

But they also think it's very simple and easy to use.

In the case of the Imperial Horse Warden, if the whole army is full, that is, 42,200 men, the fixed salary per month is 52,750 taels of silver.

This is only the military salary, as well as the salary, although the imperial horse supervisor himself has the imperial village and cultivated land to produce grain, but the meat eaten is a large amount, each soldier, the monthly meat is a fixed amount of 800 Wen, the total amount is 33,760 taels.

The ration of each soldier is rice and flour, but the weight is fixed at 4 catties per day and 120 catties per month, that is, about 32,500 stone per month.

All combined, the fixed cost of the army every month is 86,510 taels of silver and 32,500 stone of grain.

In a year, it was 1,038,120 taels of military salaries and 390,000 stone of grain.

Such a big financial pressure is definitely a thing that can crush everyone for the imperial horse supervisor who has an annual income of only 200,000 taels of silver and 1.6 million stone of grain.

It can be supported at the moment because it has not yet begun to be full, and there is also 1.5 million taels of help to support the emperor's mausoleum.

But even so, according to the deposit of the imperial horse supervisor, even if the displaced people were used to build the imperial tomb, and then the barren land of Yanshan Mountain was allocated to them, it would not last long.

The time given to Zhu Youjian was only about ten months to be exact.

He had to have a way to raise an army.

"Hua Chun, I asked you to find the craftsman, did you find it?"

"I've found him, and I'm waiting outside the camp, do you want to pass him in?" Hearing Zhu Youzhen's words, Cao Huachun responded.

"Tell him to come in, and by the way, have someone bring me the coal I brought with me." Zhu Youzhen said, then took it and walked onto the school platform and sat in his position.

He beckoned Man Gui and the others to sit down as well, and then quietly watched the army shouting and killing under the school platform.

At present, it is only about 20 days before Qin Liangyu arrives at the Yanshan camp, which means that Qi Jin and Qin Bangping, who are in charge of helping with military training, will take people to Liaodong at the end of the month.

And after that, Zhu Youzhen also had to hand over the imperial brother to help distribute the two armies for a year's salary, and then allocate another sum of silver to Qin Liangyu to bring back Shizhu and Youyang.

If Qin Liangyu and the others return to Sichuan lightly, it will take a month at most.

Even if Yu Chongming rebelled in advance, he would not pick the spring and summer seasons, which means that Qin Liangyu had half a year.

The local salary of Shizhu soldiers and horses is 12 taels of silver a year, even if only 120,000 taels of silver are allocated, it is enough to recruit 10,000 white pole soldiers.

However, 10,000 soldiers and horses need 300,000 taels to reach the level where everyone is wearing iron armor.

There is no need to think much about the matter of the stomach, Zhu Youzhen still has enough chain mail, piercing armor, and cloth face armor in the imperial horse prison.

Cloth armor is not suitable for the south, and the armor is full of defense, but it is cumbersome to maintain.

But it doesn't matter, as long as you finish fighting Extravagant Chongming, there is time for Qin Liangyu to maintain the armor.

The men and horses of the Imperial Horse Supervisor mainly dealt with the Inner Khalkha and Korqin Mongols.

If Nurhachi's two allies are not resolved, Nurhachi will have a steady stream of war horses, and the Ming army will never be able to compare with Houjin in terms of mobility.

When Zhu Youzhen was thinking so, a little eunuch also walked onto the school platform with more than a dozen people wearing coarse cotton clothes and gray faces.

"This is Your Highness, still don't you pay homage?" The little eunuch motioned to these people with a little look.

After this group of people saw Zhu Youzhen, they hurriedly knelt on the ground, saluted and sang: "The grass people meet His Highness, His Highness Chitose Chitose Chitose!" ”

"Get up." Zhu Youzhen saw that someone was coming, and his thoughts were interrupted, so he said to the little eunuch:

"Move some chairs for these people, urge people, bring the coal I brought from the capital, and ask someone to get a pound of soil by the way."

"The slave takes the command." Seeing this, the little eunuch hurriedly went down to urge people, and after Zhu Youzhen saw him go down, he also said to Man Gui and Sun Yingyuan:

"Okay, you go to training, this has nothing to do with training."

"Leave first...... the two saluted and retreated, and Zhu Youzhen also smiled at the group of restless craftsmen after they retreated:

"Relax, Lone is not a man-eating beast, look, isn't Lone a child?"

Zhu Youzhen's words seemed to sound like this to the craftsman, but Cao Huachun felt awkward no matter how he listened to it.

His Royal Highness of his own family doesn't do what a child can do......

When he was awkward, Zhu Youzhen smiled and said:

"I have come here to make you a thing, and the name of this thing is honeycomb coal......