When Jinling City in the south of the Yangtze River began to be busy after the New Year's Festival, the Ming army in the northwest was also carrying out frequent transfers and deployments.

Lu Zhongheng, the governor of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion who secretly led troops into Xiliang, rode on horseback in the vast frontier of the northwest with a group of personal guards, looking at the snow-capped mountain scenery at the end of his field of vision.

At the end of the year before the beginning of the series of wars, Lu Zhongheng, who was the commander of the Ganzhou Wei at that time, followed Liao Yongzhong to the south, and when Guangdong was pacified, Lu Zhongheng returned to the division, as one of the most trusted generals of Lao Zhu, he was promoted to the governor of the Dadu Governor's Mansion from the second rank under the command of the Ganzhou Wei of Zheng Sanpin, and replaced Deng Yuzhen, who was transferred to the Beijing Division, to guard the key pass Xiangyang.

The war in Shuzhong was launched in advance, and Lu Zhongheng took the initiative to ask for help and was allowed to follow Liao Yongzhong and Yang Jing into Shu together.

It's a pity that when the Eastern Route Army was still blocked in the White Emperor City, General Chang Da went all the way to Chongqing and forced the Xia monarchs and ministers.

The Eastern Route Army then continued into Shu.

General Chang Da led the Northern Route Army to triumph first, while the Eastern Route Army was left to defend Bashu, Liao Yongzhong was stationed in Chongqing, and Yang Jing rushed to Chengdu.

Although I picked the 'peaches', I was very aggrieved up and down.

Lu Zhongheng is also one of them.

took the initiative to ask Ying before, Lu Zhongheng just wanted to take advantage of the time when the world was about to be calmed down, and make some more merits.

After all these years of fighting, Lu Zhongheng also understands that the lord is a person with clear rewards and punishments, and he ...... Although it is close, but over the years to now, even if it has reached the second grade, in terms of military merits, compared to the group of provincial Pingzhang from the first grade, I am afraid that it is still a little worse than the feudal marquis.

If you only have an earl, it will be heartwarming.

So, Shuzhong was pacified, and Lu Zhongheng asked Ying again to go north from Shuzhong to Shaanxi.

Because I got the news, this side ...... Or maybe there are some battles.

At the moment, recalling all the things that have happened in the past year or so, Lu Zhongheng has a feeling that he can't explain clearly.

Probably ......

It's so fast!

It's so smooth!

Look back.

went south, all the way to Guangdong, and destroyed the withering and decaying. Going north, although I didn't experience it in person, but it was even more exciting, most of them were broken in a blink of an eye, the Yuan room was even the nest end, and then to the west, in just a few months, Shanxi and Shaanxi have entered the Ming Dynasty, and the first year of Hongwu has to pass in a blink of an eye, thinking that it is going to stop, but I didn't expect that Shuxia will fight like that.

It's as if there's an extra hand in the dark, and it's speeding up all this.

If not......

After all, it's so easy for anyone to fight the world!

Let's just say that the Zhao Song Dynasty, Taizu and Taizong's repeated Northern Expeditions, the soldiers are not many, and they will not be strong, but they are all returning with a feather, their own Ming Dynasty, only one year after the founding of the country, and the territory is already wider than the peak of the Song Dynasty.

The lord is really blessed by gods!

When Lu Zhongheng was hesitating whether to ride his horse towards the snow-capped mountain in the southwest, he was not afraid of being discovered in this direction anyway, so he saw several fast horses coming, approached closer, and said loudly: "Lu Yanshi, General Tang convened a military meeting in front of the battle and ordered you to return to the camp quickly." ”

When Lu Zhongheng heard this, he agreed, gave up his plan to see the snow mountain, beat his horse and joined the herald cavalry, and the group quickly headed towards the military camp in the south of Xiliang City.

Xiliang is a name frequently seen in Chinese history books and Biansai poems.

To be precise, according to the regulations of the Yuan Dynasty, where everyone is at the moment is Xiliangzhou, which belongs to Yongchang Road in Gansu Province. However, speaking carefully, there is another name for this Xiliang Prefecture: Wuwei!

Hou Xizheng, the champion of the Han Dynasty, defeated the Xiongnu and set up three counties of Wuwei, Jiuquan and Zhangye in this Hexi corridor.

It's a pity that after the Han Dynasty, the northwest frontier was mostly occupied by foreign races, and the names of Wuwei, Jiuquan, and Zhangye, which represent the prestige of the Han family, don't sound very pleasant.

At present, this Xiliang City, which has not been patronized by the orthodoxy of the Han family for hundreds of years, has quietly stationed 30,000 elite soldiers in the Ming Dynasty. Tang He, the general who was supposed to be in Chang'an, did not even settle down during the New Year's Festival, and also secretly arrived at this place west of the river.

It is only for His Majesty the Ming Emperor to 'kill chickens and set an example for monkeys'.

It all started from the beginning.

After the Ming army took most of Shaanxi without bloodshed, because of Jinling's planning, it was planned to slow down the map of Sichuan and Shu after the year, so Chang Yuchun's initial business direction was not to the south, but to continue to the west.

Here's one more detail.

Lanzhou, in the impression of ordinary people, should belong to Gansu, a few hundred years later it is still the capital of Gansu, at present, according to the administrative division of the old Yuan, but it belongs to Shaanxi. Just like Xingyuan, the hometown of Hanzhong, it should belong to Sichuan Province, but in fact, it still belongs to Shaanxi.

This was a common phenomenon in the Yuan Dynasty's administrative division.

In order to prevent local provinces from taking advantage of themselves, some provinces were deliberately placed under the jurisdiction of other provinces.

Most of Shaanxi returned to Shun, and at the beginning of September of the first year of Hongwu, this side had already launched contact with Lanzhou, hoping to also be able to fight without blood.

Lanzhou is the gateway to the northwest.

As long as Lanzhou can be taken, it is like taking Xingyuan in the south, that is, 'Hanzhong', which can be attacked and defended.

Unexpectedly, Lanzhou has not been taken yet, but in the south, Xingyuan, which was originally in the hands of Shu Xia, has surrendered.

Chang Yuchun seized the opportunity to decisively go south before the Xia State strengthened the defense of Shu Dao, and finally pacified Shuzhong in advance.

Let's talk about Shaanxi.

After Tang He took over the military affairs of Shaanxi, he was not idle.

He didn't have to worry too much about the south, it was just a large army grain route, and Chang Yuchun himself arranged it in an orderly manner, so Tang He continued his previous strategy to the west, and at the beginning of November, he successfully persuaded the Lanzhou defenders, so Yuan Taiwei lost Rahan and Pingzhang He Zhu surrendered.

Among them, He Zhu, who is a Han Chinese, played a great role.

Then, there is a relatively long lobbying process.

The Ming army stationed in Lanzhou, and with the momentum of the army, they sent envoys to the neighboring Gansu provinces of Xining Road, Yongchang Road, Ningxia Road, Ganzhou Road, Suzhou Road, Shazhou Road, and Yijinai Road.

The Yuan Dynasty has fallen, Emperor Zhizheng has been exiled to Jinling, and seeing that the Ming army is so elite, the attitude of all military towns in Gansu is not so resolute. At least, the envoys sent by the Ming army to each way were well received this time, and it was not as good as before, and it was inevitable that the envoys would be killed.

However, attitude is attitude, and it is not so easy to make people obedient.

The turning point of the matter was that at the beginning of last year, the news of Chang Yuchun's forced landing in Chongqing came, and Xining, the closest to Lanzhou, first gave the most sincere attitude.

In the former Yuan Dynasty, the right Cheng Duoer of Gansu Province lost his knot and led more than 1,900 people and took the initiative to accept the reorganization of the Ming army. Subsequently, the two military towns of Suzhou Road and Shazhou Road, which were far away, also sent envoys to give soup and gifts in order to make friends and further discuss the conditions for reconciling.

And then it comes to the present.

On Xiliang's side, it was Tang He who sent Yongxingwei to command Fei Ju to lead an army of 5,000, and directly came to the city, and took it down half-talkingly. After taking Xiliang, the Ming army began to flow in a steady stream, gradually increasing to as many as 30,000, including 10,000 cavalry, and a large number of mules and horses, which could be ridden by the whole army.

Unlike the prosperous Central Plains, the desolate northwest frontier, the mobilization of 30,000 troops, and the large number of attached baggage, it is impossible for the news not to leak out at all.

It's just that all over Gansu, many local military towns knew about the arrival of the Ming army in Xiliang, but ...... The specifics, but not very clear. However, the feeling of impending wind and rain also made the entire Hexi Corridor a little jumpy. Even the various departments of Ningxia Road, which had been relatively negative before, recently sent a thousand cattle and sheep over, saying that they were a sacrifice for the army.

The cattle and sheep were harvested, and the men were sent away.

In the military camp in the south of Xiliang City.

Lu Zhongheng arrived at the big tent of the Chinese army in the dust, made a report, entered the door, and was studying a sand table soup with the generals, and glanced up at someone, and said solemnly: "I have confessed, this battle is secret, you still have to run around, this military stick is remembered first, if there is no success after the battle, the two crimes will be punished together." ”

Lu Zhongheng was not afraid in his heart, but he also hugged his fists and confessed to Tang He's face.

Then come to the sand table.

Around the sand table, in addition to Tang He, there were also Guo Xing, who was also the governor of the capital like Lu Zhongheng, as well as Fei Ju, Guo Ying and other commanders.

Among them, Fei Ju took Yongxingwei all the way south with Tang after the start of the war the year before last.

Yongxingwei and Tianxingwei, originally in the south and north of Taihu Lake, were led by Geng Bingwen and Wu Liang respectively, like two gates, firmly locking Zhang Shicheng's westward road.

Wu Liang has now been reduced to the deputy envoy of the camp from Sanpin, and Tianxingwei has been transferred to Wu Zhen, the younger brother of the Wu brothers.

Geng Bingwen broke away from Yongxingwei earlier and followed Xu Da north.

After that, going around and around, he is currently in Chang'an.

Geng Bingwen was good at guarding, and it was also his town in Chang'an that Tang He dared to come to Hexi quietly.

Besides, the Guo brothers, as the in-laws of His Majesty the Emperor, were also drawn from the direction of Dadu after Chang Yuchun went south to supplement the shortage of troops in Shaanxi.

Inside the big tent.

When Lu Zhongheng came to the sand table, Tang He did not repeat it, and continued directly: "...... According to the investigation, the late Yuanqi Wang Duoer stationed in the White Sea only has 50,000 troops, of which only 10,000 elites, and 30,000 of our army are pressed on, even if they can't capture that Duo'er class alive, as long as they are defeated and expelled from the White Sea, they can not only complete the main bus generation's strategy of 'killing chickens and monkeys', but also get a large number of cattle and sheep in Duo'er's class to supplement the consumption of our army, what do you think? ”

Lu Zhongheng stood opposite Tang He, looking at the sand table in front of him.

Tang and said that the White Sea, located in the West Liangcheng is three hundred miles north, or belongs to the jurisdiction of Yongchang Road, the White Sea is nearly a hundred miles in circumference, composed of two large lakes on the left and right, is a piece of feng shui treasure land where the nomads gather for the winter, and is now led by the late Yuanqi Wang Duoer only class.

Things have been laid out here, and everyone understands that the soup and the mind have been decided.

However, Guo Xing, the governor of the capital, still said: "General, let's go to Xiliang here, I'm afraid that Duo'er only class already knows, from Xiliang to Baihai, three hundred miles of march, I am afraid that we have arrived, just let the king of Naqi wait for work." ”

The elder brother spoke, Guo Xing thought about it, and also followed: "General, the lord asked us to kill chickens and monkeys, and now ...... I'm afraid I'm killing monkeys and making an example of chickens? ”

"The lord also said let me act cheaply," Tang He shook his head and said: "This killing chickens and monkeys can't be too rigid, let's kill a chicken against a monkey, the monkey must be afraid, but if you kill a chicken against a wolf, it will only stimulate the ferocity of the wolf even more." At present, in Hexi, the most disrespectful thing to our Daming is Duo'er only class, relying on his own high ground and high ground, and with elite support, he wants to divide one side. How can this work. We defeated this evil wolf, and the other chickens and monkeys were also shocked. ”

Lu Zhongheng listened to the discussion of several people, and said at this time: "General, Duo'er only said that there are no more than 10,000 elites, but the grassland tribe, if it is an emergency, can be fought by men, women and children, on horseback...... There are 30,000 of us, which is still a little less. ”

Fei Ju echoed: "Since all the departments in Hexi have the intention of surrendering, general, why don't you invite all the departments to send troops together, this is also the name of the vote, beat the king of Qi, and divide this piece of fat, and they will have no room for maneuver?" ”

"I also thought so," Tang He said, "But those chickens and monkeys, can you be sure that their hearts are for me?" If I send troops openly and secretly collude with that Duo'er class, and cooperate with the inside and outside, won't my 30,000 soldiers fall into danger? At the moment, if we don't inform him, everyone in this Hexi department is in danger, but we must be more stable. ”

After Tang He finished saying this, the generals in the account were speechless for a while.

Glancing around, Tang He said, "If you have no other doubts, the matter is decided?" ”

Lu Zhongheng hesitated, and said again: "General, if the 30,000 army is pressed, it will definitely be discovered in advance, why don't we take the strategy of attacking Kaiping by surprise, and the 10,000 cavalry will gather all the mules and horses and quickly kill the White Sea?" ”

Tang He shook his head: "According to the letter of the lord...... This time, our strategic goals are different. The surprise attack on Kaiping over there in the capital, more in order to deter the grassland, 30,000 elites swept by, and they also did not let the northern tribe of Mobei gather in Kaiping again. At the moment, we not only have to defeat Duo'er Zhiban, but also need his cattle and sheep to replenish the consumption of the army, which requires the whole army to press, defeat, drive it, and plunder it! ”

Tang He said and gestured to the sand table in front of him: "Let's fight from the south to the north, don't ask for any surprise attack, just with an army of 30,000 to defeat and drive that Duoer to the desert in the north of the desert, rob their cattle and sheep, occupy the rich white sea, and the strategic goal of our army will become. ”

After Tang He finished talking this time, the generals did not raise any further objections.

Afterwards, the specific strategy of the march was discussed.

However, while talking to the generals, Tang He sighed in his heart.

Compared with Xu Da and Chang Yuchun, and even Feng Sheng and Liao Yongzhong, he is in this army...... This prestige...... It's really a bit aggrieved.

Tang He also regretted it.

Who would have thought of today?

When he wrote a letter to invite a fellow villager to join the army with him, he didn't expect that in just a few years, the other party would become his own commander, and Tang He had always been a little unbalanced in his heart, so that after he was drunk, he said the words 'like sitting on the roof, but left and right', this matter was not only remembered by the lord in his heart, but also known by many people in the army.

The result is now.

As the commander of an army, the people below know what he wants to do, but in fact, they don't necessarily oppose what he wants to do, but ...... It's always inevitable to make a statement.

Soup and discord with him!

After all, they are all old soldiers, and if there is no other reason, there will be some stupid questions that sound like they shouldn't be said by generals like them?

Tang He is not a person who does not know how to advance and retreat, when the battle that should be fought is over, the class teacher returns to the court, no matter what title he can get, he feels that he still has to be smarter, and retreat bravely from the rapids early, so as not to repeat the fate of the founding heroes of the previous dynasty who were cooked by the 'cunning rabbit and dead lackey'.

(End of chapter)