Since Beiyuan became King Qin, and Li Zhaoji went in and out of the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty, he found that he had suddenly become a sweetheart.

The reason for this lies in the essence of the army of the Eastern Brigade, whether it is the Eastern Army or the Ryukyu Foreign Domain, in essence, this army is a mercenary army for the Ming Dynasty. Mercenaries have no political stance, and they have two characteristics, one is that they are mothers if they have milk, and the other is that they are grass on the wall.

Qian Qianyi thinks that he has influence on Jiangnan finance and taxation, so he wants to win over Li Zhaoji, and Wu Sangui is the strongest in the Ming army now, and he feels that there is an opportunity to win over Li Zhaoji and let him fall to his side.

"Don't worry about these useless things, go to Dengzhou immediately to assist the army in handling intelligence and logistics affairs." Li Zhaoji said to Liu Li.

Liu Li had to do two things, one was to buy war horses for the cavalry, and the other was to use Dengzhou as the distribution center of the northern maritime trade to find out all kinds of information through merchants. Although the information on Dashun and the Manchu Qing Dynasty may not be timely and reliable, Li Zhaoji always needs some information to corroborate.

Xia Guo Prime Minister's Mansion.

Wu Sangui entertained Shen Youlong with his own mansion, and he himself hid in Xia Guoxiang's mansion, in the living room, Wu Sangui sat in the main seat, and listened to Xia Guoxiang talk about the results of this trip to Juehua Island.

"In half an hour, Li Zhaoji will be there. He had already seen him, and he looked tall and magnificent, not like an ordinary businessman. He spoke kindly, but he didn't know the rules very well, and he might bump into his uncle when he arrived.

However, seeing that he has prepared a lot of gifts for you, it seems that he has a sincere fellowship. "Xia Guoxiang is reporting one by one.

Wu Sangui said: "You went to the island, but you went to see the vassal army under his command?" ”

Xia Guoxiang immediately said: "Look at it, but it's not just to see, Li Zhaoji also arranged for his relatives to demonstrate the ordnance of the lowly office, and their bird guns are very good, and the lowly official saw that someone hit a table of eight immortals two hundred steps away."

They also have a small Hongyi cannon, which is quite light and powerful, and is called a field cannon. Speaking of which, such an army, which has never been seen before, is almost fully equipped with firearms, and it looks similar to Wuzhen Chaoha on the Donglu side, but there are also differences.

By the way, Li Zhaoji has very little armor under his command, and his gunners are not worthy of armor. ”

"Can you tell where this army came from?" Wu Sangui listened to Xia Guoxiang's words and asked again.

Xia Guoxiang smiled and said, "Uncle, you don't necessarily need to see it." Li Zhaoji and his subordinates don't hide much from us, they can watch it if they like it, and they will answer whatever they want to ask, but they don't mean to deceive, as for whether what they say is true, it's up to us to judge for ourselves. ”

"Well, it looks like Lee Zhaoji really wants to be friends with Benbo. Tell me about the ....... of the Oriental Brigade. Wu Sangui said.

Xia Guoxiang said: "Back to the uncle's words, this Eastern Brigade is known as the Ryukyu Foreign Domain, but there are no Ryukyu soldiers in the actual army, and General Li Zhaoji said that there are only 200 Ryukyuan people to decorate the façade, but they have not yet arrived."

This army is called the Oriental Brigade, which is completely Li Zhaoji's private army, and has nothing to do with the imperial court from the formation of equipment to the cost of sending troops to fight, nominally to send troops to suppress thieves and captives, but in fact Li Zhaoji may have other plans, or get other benefits from Shen Youlong.

The current Eastern Brigade has 400 men, which is not large, but you can also get a glimpse of the whole leopard, this army has no cavalry, and is mainly equipped with guns. Its equipment is very different from our Ming Dynasty's division, and it is also different from the Eastern Tatars, and its military formations and command methods are also different.

These people cut off their hair and shave ......... ”

"Broken hair?" Wu Sangui suddenly interrupted Xia Guoxiang.

Xia Guoxiang hurriedly said: "Yes, the hair is broken, but unlike the Dongyu Tartars, Li Zhaoji also broke his hair, they cut their hair short, the more an inch long, but they all have military caps, and they can't see it." Looking at its appearance, there are most Ming people in it, and most of them are Cantonese people, and some of them are simply from the military households of Guangdong Province.

In addition to the Ming people, it is the Nanyang barbarians, these barbarians have a darker complexion than ours, and there are many tattoos on their faces, which look quite fierce, but in the army, the order is forbidden, and there is no difference from the Ming people.

Then there are some foreign Yi, whose appearance is very different from ours. ”

Wu Sangui nodded slightly: "What do you think of Li Zhaoji?" ”

Xia Guoxiang said: "Judging from the composition of the Eastern Brigade, Li Zhaoji and Shen Youlong have a great friendship, so we have to deal with it carefully." ”

Wu Sangui smiled: "But it's not necessarily true, Ben Bo thinks that Li Zhaoji is very interesting, and let's see what he says after he arrives." ”

The two were talking about the Oriental Trading Company, and they heard a report from the soldiers outside that Li Zhaoji of the Oriental Trading Company was coming.

For a while, Xia Guoxiang's house was very busy, because Li Zhaoji hired more than 20 porters and carried a large number of gifts into Xia Guoxiang's house, the momentum was the same as the marriage of the daughter of a big family, and the gifts were carried directly to the inner courtyard.

"Ping Xibo, the first time we met, a small gift, not a tribute." Li Zhaoji came to the hall and met Wu Sangui.

Wu Sangui was in the prime of life at this time, quite deceitful, Li Zhaoji looked carefully, and found that the appearance of this guy was bluffing, quite a bit decent, I couldn't see that he was the kind of capricious villain, but this kind of appearance can also deceive others, but it can't deceive Li Zhaoji.

For a while, the atmosphere in the hall was quite strange, and Li Zhaoji just owed his body and did not salute, which made everyone a little uncomfortable. You must know that since Wu Sangui became Ping Xibo, that is the Ming Dynasty, even if the Ming officials and generals see it, they can't lose their honor.

"Well, you, you don't know how to be polite, why don't you kneel when you see your uncle." A pro-soldier scolded.

Li Zhaoji laughed and said: "I am from overseas, and in our place, the etiquette is all about gifts, not kneeling and kowtowing." ”

Saying that, Li Zhaoji directly handed over the gift list, Wu Sangui opened it and saw that the list on it was all heavy gifts, including four Hongyi cannons, 400 horses of Songjiang cloth, and 20 boxes of high-quality tea, these few things alone were enough to satisfy him. Wu Sangui's face was full of smiles, and he said to his own soldiers: "Why are you rude to Benbo's guests, and don't retreat quickly, don't let people think that our lord is a big bully." ”

Wu Sangui originally had the intention of wooing Li Zhaoji, pulled him to sit on the chair, and said: "Mr. Li, I have heard of your name for a long time, and it is indeed worthy of your reputation, bold and righteous, very much to my liking, come, please drink tea." ”

"Thank you Pingxibo for your kindness, but it's disrespectful." Li Zhaoji sat down and responded with a smile.

"I don't know the etiquette on your side, how Mr. Li is on Lord Shen's side, and it's okay here, it's okay to be loose and take it off." Wu Sangui put on a broad-minded appearance.

Li Zhaoji said: "Ping Xibo, I came here this time for a purpose, one is to make friends with a Ming Optimus Prime Stone like you. The second is to do a major event for King Qin, and in terms of military strategy, I want to discuss one or two with Xibo. ”

"Heck, Mr. Li is a straightforward person. If you say that, Ben won't hide it.

Now although I am made an earl, the affairs of King Qin are fully under the responsibility of the governor Lord Shen, and Lord Shen is loyal to the Son of Heaven, but he does not know the situation in the pass, and it is really difficult for some strong people to let my department enter the pass immediately.

The whole town of Liao is in the relocation pass, the army is in turmoil, Ben Bo is caught in the middle, the upper part can not cope with the orders of Lord Shen, and the subordinates are coerced by the subordinates. It was really unflattering to both ends, so he had to hide in the Xia State Prime Minister's Mansion and didn't dare to see Lord Shen.

It's just that I hid from the first year of junior high school, but I can't hide from the fifteenth ........ Wu Sangui looked like he was sighing, it seemed that it was not that he was unwilling to be Qinwang, but that he was forced by the situation.

He vomited bitterness in front of Li Zhaoji and said: "Mr. Li, you are a heroic man at sea, fighting with soldiers, and you are quite disciplined. People say, the authorities are confused, and the bystanders are clear, what do you think? ”

Li Zhaoji sighed: "If there is anyone in this world who knows Ping Xibo's difficulties, it must be me, Ping Xibo still hides, I can't even hide." Although Lord Shen said that he was in Ningyuan, he asked about the transportation of troops on Juehua Island every day, and asked me to report how many ships had arrived today, how many soldiers had come, and when the main forces of the Yue army and the vassal army would assemble and when they could go to battle.

I'm in a hurry, if it's just urging, this Lord Shen .......... ”

Speaking of this, Li Zhaoji's voice stopped abruptly, and he looked around carefully, Wu Sangui waved his hand, and asked all the soldiers and maids to retreat, leaving only Xia Guoxiang aside, he said: "Mr. Li, there is no one else here, what do you say, enter the ears of the two of us, and never let the fourth person know." ”

Li Zhaoji put on a look of courage, lowered his voice and said: "Ping Xibo, don't look at the Son of Heaven appointing Shen Youlong as the governor of the king, don't look at him in Fuyao in Guangdong Province to suppress thieves, in fact, he doesn't know soldiers at all!" It's no different from those idle scholars in the court.

Now all the net worth is pressed on this Qinwang matter, and I am worried every day, for fear that because of Shen Youlong's carelessness, everyone will be harmed. ”

"Yes, Lord Shen has quite a lot of military merits."

Li Zhaoji said: "Ping Xibo has lived in Liaodi for a long time and does not know about the south. Shen Youlong pacified the Yao chaos in the eighth row, relying on fu, not fighting, and took a few battles first, but they were all defeated. And to exterminate the four pirates, it depends on the strong ships and guns of our Oriental Trading Company, and the land division does not play much, and the real use of troops is still under the command of Chen Ping, his personal general.

Let, Lord Shen, appease and block, that's a good hand, and we really have to use soldiers....... Alas, don't mention it.

For example, this time, neither the Yue army nor the vassal army arrived, and they had not yet formed a joint force with Liaozhen, so they rashly marched and fought a decisive battle with the main force of the thieves, isn't this a rash advance? What's more, Dongyu is eyeing the tiger, behind the side of our army, in case of simultaneous attack, the last family of the Ming Dynasty will all be folded in Shanhaiguan.

Even if you want to march, what will you do if you want Liaozhen to return to the Guannei? Isn't this a ruined boat, not a last resort, who would arrange it like this, the thieves are strong, the east is on the side, and now under the tension, it is not a victory, if Liaozhen moves back to the pass, the army has lost its foundation, not to mention failure, that is, the forward is frustrated, and it is possible to be defeated. ”

Li Zhaoji's words are bold, but they do speak to Wu Sangui's heart, he doesn't want to give up the family business in Liaoxi, and now Li Zhaoji has made it clear that his attitude is more radical than his, how can he not like it?

Wu Sangui and Xia Guo glanced at each other and nodded their heads, both feeling that Li Zhaoji was a person who could cooperate, Wu Sangui said: "With what Mr. Li sees, what should I do?" Disobedience is definitely not possible, Lord Shen is the governor of the king army, it is the will of the Son of Heaven. ”

"Disobedience is naturally impossible, Lord Shen is a Shangguan, let's look up to people, and we will serve under him in the future, and we can't be offended." Li Zhaoji rubbed his hands and said, "But you can do it well."

In my opinion, Ping Xibo can say that the situation in the pass is more dangerous, anyway, the Yue army and the vassal army are new, and they can't grasp the local situation, what is the situation in the pass, where is the Son of Heaven now, don't you have the final say? ”

Wu Sangui said: "But if you are nervous, wouldn't Lord Shen be even more urging the army." ”

"That's natural, just follow what he said, march to fight the thief, but the march may not be able to win, Liaozhen has not finished moving, the main force of the Guangdong army has not arrived, the light army is rushing, failure is inevitable, once it fails, it ........" Li Zhaoji said half of it, so there is no need to say it again, how smart these two people are, how can they not understand?

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