In mid-November, Lu Xiangsheng's guard of honor arrived in the capital of Qingzhou.

Liu Yan led a group of commanders and envoys of the General Military Office to greet them outside the north gate, and Wang Congyi, the prefect of Qingzhou, also brought Guo Mintai, the governor of Qingzhou, and Han Jinchu, the general judge of Qingzhou, to greet him.

I saw Lu Xiangsheng coming along the official road under the escort of the soldiers of the Supervisory Battalion Brigade, and then Liu Yan and Wang Congyi led their subordinates to come forward and salute.

Lu Xiangsheng looked at everyone, first exchanged a few words with Wang Congyi and others, and then said: "This time the governor came, mainly for military affairs, and the prefect of King Lao led you to greet you, and then you don't have to follow, go and get busy." ”

Wang Congyi and the others originally wanted to behave well in front of Lu Xiangsheng, but they didn't want Lu Xiangsheng to give everyone a chance at all, so they looked at Liu Yan with some embarrassment, hoping that Liu Yan could help say a few good words.

But Liu Yan kept silent and ignored the plea gaze cast by Wang Congyi and others.

Seeing this, General Lu Huaiying smiled and said, "Your Excellency, please go back, after the governor has inspected the various departments of the new army, if you have time, you will be summoned." ”

Wang Congyi and the others breathed a sigh of relief, saluted one after another, and then went back "reluctantly".

Lu Xiangsheng looked at Wang Congyi and the others who returned to the city, sighed, and said: "Liu Yan, you have seen it all, now the court is full of this kind of flattering people, only caring about the officials, but clumsy in governance, if this continues, the country will be in danger!" ”

Liu Yan sighed and said, "The governor doesn't need to be anxious, if the situation is like this today, the corruption of officialdom is not an overnight thing, and it takes time to change." ”

Lu Xiangsheng's expression was full of anxiety and sorrow, and he asked rhetorically: "But is there still time for the national dynasty?" Have it? ”

Liu Yan shook his head, maybe he thought that Daming had no time, maybe he didn't know if Daming still had this opportunity.

Lu Xiangsheng said: "Let's go, go into the city." Take Ben to see your new army. ”

"Yes."

After entering the city, Lu Xiangsheng came directly to the barracks under the leadership of Liu Yan, and at this time, after more than two months of reorganization, the soldiers and equipment of each battalion have been fully equipped, and the drills of each battalion are also on the right track.

At this time, although there was still a gap between the combat strength of the battalions of the New Army and before the expansion, there was a great improvement. Before Lu Xiangsheng arrived in Qingzhou Fucheng, Liu Yan had already inspected the soldiers of each battalion once, and estimated that the overall combat strength of the new army at this time was about seven to eighty percent of that of the Battle of Jinan.

At this time, in the barracks, the officers and men of the cavalry battalion, the artillery battalion, and the personal guard battalion had been lined up for three months, and more than 20,000 officers and men were standing on the school grounds. The school field in Qingzhou Mansion is the largest among all the prefectures, even larger than Jinan Mansion City, but at this time it is full, and more than 20,000 soldiers will "fill" the entire school field.

At this time, the strength of the battalions of the new army has been deployed to all parts of Qinglai Town, and only the cavalry battalion, the personal guard battalion and the artillery battalion are stationed in the city of Qingzhou Prefecture, so the military battalion in the city can still live, otherwise if all the battalions are stationed in the city, they will not be able to live for a long time.

Lu Xiangsheng, accompanied by Liu Yan, Miao Shao, Xu Ming, Qian Qiao, Xun Jingyun, and Tian Huixu, strode to the stage of the martial arts, looking at the neat military formation in the school field, Lu Xiangsheng only felt that his heart was surging, and the original melancholy and anxiety in his heart were suddenly swept away, replaced by full of pride.

"This is what the Ming army should look like!"

Liu Yan looked at Lu Xiangsheng's excited expression, sighed in his heart, and then stepped forward and said: "Governor, the soldiers of each battalion will start the drill demonstration later, please watch." ”

"Good!"

Lu Xiangsheng then sat on the stage of the martial arts, and Liu Yan led the crowd to accompany Lu Huaiying.

Tian Huixu acted as the "host" of this test, holding a flag in his hand, and waved it vigorously at the officers and men of the army a few times, and the officers and men of the third battalion in the school field began to mobilize themselves.

After a while, all the officers and men returned to the barracks one after another, starting with the cavalry battalion and entering the school ground one by one for drills.

I saw that the cavalry battalion commander and guerrilla general Xu Ming led his troops to enter, and 12,000 iron cavalry soldiers rode their horses slowly.

Lu Xiangsheng looked at all the soldiers of the cavalry battalion who were dressed in armor and had a well-groomed appearance, and his face showed a look of relief: "I also have elite iron cavalry in the Ming Dynasty, and such a military appearance will never belong to the elite cavalry of slaves and thieves!" ”

Xu Ming suddenly raised the horse lance in his hand and shouted loudly: "I'm the new army of Qinglai Town!" ”

"Mighty! Mighty! Mighty! ”

"I'm Daming!"

"Wan Sheng!"

The iron cavalry army rolled away from the front of the martial arts platform, and then the commander and guerrilla general Miao Shao led the soldiers of the personal guard battalion to line up.

More than 12,000 soldiers and soldiers were in order, spearmen, birds, swords and shields were in order, and the large army array was advancing with neat steps.

Lu Xiangsheng only felt a killing aura coming to his face, and even the hairs on his body exploded, and a stream of blood rushed straight to the bullfight.

"Good!"

Lu Xiangsheng couldn't help but shout hello, and Lu Huaiying next to him was even more excited to increase his forehead, and said with a little stammering: "This, this male, this male strong army, it's really ......"

In the end, Lu Huaiying couldn't say anything, and directly turned into an end with a "sigh".

At this time, Lu Xiangsheng also looked carefully, and said to Liu Yan beside him: "Why, in the infantry battalion of the new army, there are many fewer pikemen, and more than half of them are birds?" ”

Liu Yan clenched his fists and said, "The governor has good eyesight!" In this expansion and rectification, half of the pikemen among the lowly generals were eliminated and replaced by bird-swordsmen, which greatly increased the firepower of the army. ”

Lu Xiangsheng said: "Then what if the enemy army rushes closer? ”

"I think that the only enemy in the world today who can withstand the fire of our army and rush to the front is only the slave and thief. When it comes closer, with the combat power of our army's spearmen, it can also be defeated! ”

"What's more, our army's bird gunners are equipped with war knives, and they can also kill the enemy in close combat."

Lu Xiangsheng nodded in agreement.

The last to go on the field was the artillery battalion, and when Lu Xiangsheng saw the commander Qian Jian leading the various departments of the artillery battalion to open the colonel's field, he stood up abruptly and looked ahead with wide eyes.

I saw more than 200 pieces of artillery of all kinds, including the Franc machine gun, the Tiger Cannon, the rocket artillery vehicle, and all of which were pulled out by Qian Zhang.

At present, except for Liu Yanbu, no soldier or horse in the Ming Dynasty can be equipped with such strong firepower!

Lu Xiangsheng looked at Liu Yan with a complicated expression, no wonder Liu Yan just said that the new army has strong firepower and can dismiss the spearmen with peace of mind. With more than 200 artillery pieces of all kinds bombarded in a burst, and tens of thousands of birds and gunners fired in a volley, even if the heavenly soldiers came to the future, it was estimated that they would be defeated.

"With so many artillery, where did you get it, Liu Yan?"

Lu Xiangsheng was very clear about the armament situation in various parts of Shandong, and even if Liu Yan gathered all the artillery in all the cities in Qinglai Town, and selected the artillery that could be used, he would not be able to make up so many artillery.

Liu Yan clenched his fists and said: "Governor Qiqi, all the artillery equipped with our army's artillery battalion is uniformly cast by lowly craftsmen. ”

"What!"

Lu Xiangsheng was even more surprised, although he originally knew that Liu Yan was building his own armament, but artillery was different from other armaments, not that someone could cast it in large quantities if he had silver.

In Lu Xiangsheng's cognition, the success rate of casting artillery is one tenth, and the craftsmen who can achieve two or three out of ten are now in Beijing.

"How did you do that?"

Liu Yan naturally didn't elaborate, but said: "The humble position gives those craftsmen a good treatment, so that they have money to earn and eat, so the pass rate of the cast artillery is very high." ”

Lu Xiangsheng was noncommittal, so naturally he would not believe Liu Yan's words.

"Liu Yan, if this governor buys artillery from you, how much can you sell?"

Liu Yan was slightly stunned, and said secretly: "It seems that Governor Lu heard some news and knew that he was about to go on an expedition, so this time one is to understand the situation of the new army, and the other is to raise armaments." ”

So Liu Yan said: "The governor is in need, and even if he smashes the pot and sells iron, he must make it up." At present, in order to equip the battalions of the new army, there are not many remaining military equipment, but there are still 20 Franc machine guns, Huzun cannon warrior doors, 300 bundles of various rockets, 2,000 flintlock bird guns, 80,000 rounds of ammunition, 50,000 catties of gunpowder, and 1,000 pairs of armor. All of these military units were transferred to the governors. ”

Lu Xiangsheng was stunned for a long time after hearing this, and then said: "So many soldiers! How much silver does that cost? ”

Liu Yan said: "In order to expand the new army, the lowly post is already smashing the pot and selling iron, anyway, it is also poor now, it is better to be poor and generous, and the governor only needs to give the lowly post a thousand taels of silver." ”

"A thousand taels?"

"One thousand taels!"

Lu Xiangsheng was shocked, but he was very grateful in his heart, he was lucky to have a subordinate like Liu Yan.

"Good! Even if it's a thousand taels! ”

That night, Lu Xiangsheng was settled in the General Soldier's Mansion, Liu Yan brought Wang Yunhe's mother and son to visit, Lu Xiangsheng was very happy, and rewarded Wang Yunhe with a meeting gift of fifty taels of silver, and gave Liu Sheng a silver longevity lock.

Then Liu Yan and Lu Xiangsheng had a detailed discussion in the study.

"Governor, there is a sentence that I don't know whether to say or not."

"Although the two of us are divided between the top and the bottom, but in the heart of the governor, you Liu Yan and I are already friends of life and death, so you can just say anything directly."

Liu Yan's heart warmed, and then said: "Is the governor going to go to Li Chuang?" ”

Lu Xiangsheng nodded, and said with a smile: "The governor knows that he will hide it from you, so he will simply tell you." ”

"Last month, the military department came to inspect the superintendent camp, and the governor was familiar with the comer, and after some inquiry, he learned that Yang Sichang was terminally ill, which was a matter of this time. Therefore, the imperial court continued to lead the army to resist Li Chuang's army, otherwise the situation in Henan and Shanxi would be out of control. ”

Liu Yan said: "At present, most of Zhang Xianzhong's remnants have defected to Li Chuang, and with Li Chuang's strength now, the governor is afraid that it will be extremely difficult to go." I wonder how the governor is going to deal with the enemy? ”

Lu Xiangsheng said: "Now the governor has not received the official order from the Ministry of War, and I don't know how many soldiers and horses the imperial court is ready to recruit to quell the rebellion. However, this governor is planning to send some elites from you to fight, and it is best if the imperial court can send you to directly lead the army to accompany you, so that the extermination of Li Chuang is just around the corner. ”

Liu Yan did not agree with the words, Li Zicheng is not Zhang Xianzhong, and military encirclement and suppression cannot completely eradicate Li Zicheng, and it is also necessary to assist civil affairs, so that the people in Henan, Shanxi and other places can have food to eat and live.

In this way, on the one hand, the army encircled and suppressed, and on the other hand, the bottom of the kettle was drawn, and the two-pronged approach could completely exterminate Li Zicheng.

But Liu Yan couldn't say these words to Lu Xiangshengming, and even if he did, he couldn't do it with Lu Xiangsheng's energy.

So Liu Yan had no choice but to say: "I hope the imperial court can make up its mind." ”

"Yes, it depends on whether the court has this determination!"

Some people died, but not completely......