At the end of March, Liu Yan led more than 88,000 soldiers from various battalions of the New Army to Jinan. When the soldiers of the new army began to set up camp outside the city of Jinan, the entire city of Jinan was boiling, and nearly 90,000 elite troops did not commit any crimes all the way, with excellent armor and banners, as if turning the city of Jinan into a huge military camp.

It is not the first time that the soldiers of the new army in Qinglai Town have been stationed in the city of Jinan, and the people in the city have a good impression of the soldiers of the new army, after all, they have repelled the army of slaves and thieves and saved the lives of hundreds of people in the city, so they have gone out of the city to watch, just to see the demeanor of the new army in Qinglai Town.

After settling the soldiers of each battalion, Liu Yan took Xun Jingyun into the city to go to the governor's yamen, and went out on the expedition, and the money and food materials in the army were temporarily managed by Xun Jingyun, the town officer.

In the governor's yamen, Yan Jizu smiled and took out a thick booklet, handed it to Liu Yan's hand, and said: "General Liu has seen it, Ben Fu has ordered someone to repeatedly check and check the money, food and military equipment, and register the number of all materials, Ben Fu also personally stared at this matter, there is absolutely no problem." ”

Liu Yan glanced at it a few times, and then handed it to Xun Jingyun. I saw Xun Jingyun holding it in his hand, still with a straight face, and then saluted Yan Jizu and Liu Yan with a fist, and hurriedly went to the field to check.

Yan Jizu said with a smile: "This one under the command of General Liu is ......"

"It's the pacification officer in our army, Xun Jingyun."

"Well, at first glance, he is an iron-faced and selfless person, and it is just right to serve as a pacification officer."

Liu Yan exchanged a few words with Yan Jizu, and then Yan Jizu took out another document and said: "Liu Zongbing, take a look, this is a batch of money, food and materials, all of which are food and clothing for soldiers in the army, and His Royal Highness King De helped raise them and asked me to transfer them to you." ”

"His Royal Highness King De has a saying: I wish Mr. Liu a victory, a general to capture the flag, and when the army returns triumphantly, His Royal Highness King De should set up a banquet in the palace to congratulate Mr. Liu!"

Liu Yan was a little surprised, he didn't expect that the German king Zhu Youli could still take out money and food at this juncture, it was really not easy.

After Liu Yan hugged his fist and sent it to King Xie De, he took the document and sent it to look at it, only to see that this batch of materials included 80,000 stones of grain and grass, 30,000 taels of silver, and some cloth, medicine, leather and other materials. Although these materials are distributed to 80,000 or 90,000 soldiers, it is not enough, but it can be regarded as a piece of the mind of the German king Zhu Youli.

"In this case, I should go to the palace of the king of Germany and express my gratitude to His Royal Highness the king in person."

Yan Jizu stopped: "Don't go, if you have any thanks, I'll help you convey it." ”

"Huh? What does Futai mean? ”

"General Liu, you can't just care about leading troops to fight, you must also understand the power of officialdom, you must pay attention to the rules in everything, and be cautious."

"Please teach me."

Yan Jizu said: "Do you know why these materials were handed over to you through my hands, and why didn't His Royal Highness King De summon you over and give them to you in person?" ”

"That's because you want to avoid suspicion!"

Liu Yan instantly understood, according to the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty: vassal kings are not allowed to interact with Wenchen and Wufu, so as not to make the power of the vassal kings in various places bigger.

Now that the war is imminent, he is the chief military officer of the unified army, and the German king Zhu Youli naturally does not dare to meet him at this time, and it also involves the delivery of this batch of money and grain. Once this matter reaches the court, it will be yellow mud falling off the crotch, not is, and those envoys will pounce on them like mad dogs, and they will have to lose their skin if they don't die!

Looking at Liu Yan, who suddenly realized, Yan Jizu nodded with satisfaction and said: "Mr. Liu is a smart person, he can understand a little, as long as he can understand, I won't say more." ”

"Master Xie."

The two exchanged pleasantries for a while, and Xun Jingyun hurried back, then clasped his fists and said, "My lord, the materials are all ordered, and the points are exactly right." ”

Liu Yan said his hard work, and then said to Yan Jizu: "During this time, Master Lao has helped. ”

"Where is this, General Liu and the soldiers are going to fight with the slaves and thieves outside the gate, I am here to contribute, what hard work is there to talk about?"

Then Liu Yan thought of Lu Xiangsheng, so he asked, "Lord Futai, is there any news from Lu Duchen?" ”

Because the general Xu Tonghui went to Henan with the Fubiao camp, Liu Yan felt that Yan Jizu should have some news here.

Sure enough, Yan Jizu sighed and said: "There is indeed news coming, but it is all bad news, and the court doesn't know about it, so it's good that Liu Zongbing knows it himself, don't spread it." ”

Liu Yan was shocked in his heart, and hurriedly said: "Don't worry, my lord, I will never talk nonsense!" I wonder what the bad news is? ”

"Now the situation in Henan has deteriorated, first the Shaanxi Governor Zheng Chongjian led his troops to be besieged, and Zheng Chongjian and thousands of soldiers were killed by the thief general Liu Zongmin."

"Immediately afterwards, Fu Zonglong, the successor governor of Shaanxi, was also hit hard, and had to lead the remnants of the army to withdraw from Henan."

"Of course, these are all news that have been reported to the imperial court, and next, it is news that cannot be spread outside."

Yan Jizu lowered his voice slightly and continued: "After Lu Duchen led his troops to Henan, he led the Shandong soldiers such as the Dubiao Battalion and the Fubiao Battalion to fight a few battles, but he found that the combat power of the thieves suddenly increased a lot. ”

"Now the thieves and horses are divided into several battalions, each battalion is the elite after rectification, the armor and blades are excellent, and the number of horsemen is large, and even the cavalry of the Governor Battalion is not inferior at all!"

It is said that Li Dingguo, Sun Kewang, Ai Nengqi and others were organized into a separate battalion, and most of the thieves in the battalion used firearms, were well-trained and had strong firepower, although they did not reach the level of the new army, but the officers and men of the Supervisory Battalion and the Fubiao Battalion fought quite hard."

"Besides, now Li Zicheng has begun to divide land and grain in various parts of Henan, and he also put forward: kill officials and divide grain and land, and the slogan that King Chuang is coming and does not pay grain, and the hearts of the people in Henan have been occupied by Li Zicheng. Now that the officers and soldiers have arrived in one place, they must not only beware of the surprise attack of the thieves and soldiers, but also the people along the way. ”

"The people in Henan are either guides for the thieves and horses, or reveal the movements of the officials and soldiers to the thieves, and even dare to intercept and kill the lone officers and soldiers. In his letter to me, General Xu mentioned that now the army is fighting in Henan, as if entering the enemy's territory, it is difficult to move an inch! ”

Hearing this, Liu Yan frowned, the changes in Li Zicheng's department were beyond his expectations, not only began to correct military discipline and try not to kill the people indiscriminately, but also began to divide the fields and grain, this is to follow the "mass line"!

It seems that because of his appearance, the trajectory of history has begun to be deflected, and even Li Zicheng began to train firearms battalions and mobilize the people of Henan!

So Liu Yan asked, "Then where is the governor now, and what is the situation?" ”

Yan Jizu shook his head and said, "The latest news I received was sent half a month ago. At that time, the governor led his troops to be stationed in the area of Yangwu County, and the thief Li Guo led his troops to confront the governor, and the battle situation was also very bad. ”

Liu Yan was anxious at this time, the situation continued to develop like this, it was difficult to guarantee that Li Zicheng would not take Kaifeng Mansion in advance, and even after tasting the sweetness of the large-scale use of firearms, it was difficult to guarantee that Li Zicheng's ambition would not swell, where would Li Zicheng go next, would he change the style of rogue in history, but directly send troops to attack Beizhili!

Now Liu Yan was already a little shaken, thinking of leaving a battalion of troops to support Lu Xiangsheng, but Yan Jizu's next words made Liu Yan completely dispel this idea.

"There is also bad news: in order to rescue Jinzhou, the imperial court concentrated most of the money and grain on the front line of Shanhaiguan, so there is very little money and grain to supply the battlefield in Henan."

"In other words, the imperial court will not increase the number of troops for the governors, and it will not be able to maintain a large-scale force in the Henan battlefield."

Liu Yan closed his eyes in pain, in this way, even if he sent troops to support, he would be sent to death, without money and food supply, the heavenly soldiers and generals would not be able to win!

Yan Jizu looked at Liu Yan, sighed, and said, "What we can do now is to hope that the governor Jiren has his own natural appearance." ”

Liu Yan opened his eyes violently and said, "There is another way!" ”

Yan Jizu hurriedly asked, "Do you have a way?" ”

"This method is to defeat the army of slaves and thieves in the direction of Jinzhou as soon as possible, as long as the war in Jinzhou is over, the imperial court can mobilize elite soldiers and horses outside the Guan, as well as a large number of money and food, all of which are invested in the battlefield in Henan, even if Li Zicheng has an army of one million, he can't resist so many elites of the imperial court!"

Yan Jizu was deflated and said: "It's easy to say, according to the news from the imperial court, the slaves and thieves seem to be also moving south, and the army of slaves and thieves in the direction of Jinzhou is at least about 200,000. In the face of an army of 200,000 slaves and thieves, they still want to fight a quick battle, that is the way to death! ”

Liu Yan said firmly: "Then it depends on the will of God, it's man-made!" ”

Liu Yan led his troops to stay in Jinan Mansion for a day, and then set off from Jinan Mansion with a large amount of money, grain, and military equipment to Beijing.

The amount of supplies accompanying the army was huge, with 380,000 stones of grain and grass, enough for the soldiers of the army to eat for three months; There are also 550,000 taels of silver, which is equivalent to a month's salary for the whole army. As for the various types of armament, such as birds, ammunition, armor, and blades, it was enough to arm two more battalions.

It can be said that this time Liu Yan has made complete preparations, even if all the Ming armies are defeated, Liu Yan is confident that with more than 80,000 soldiers and a large number of materials, he can support the battle situation alone, even if he can't win, he can calmly retreat into the pass!

Yan Jizu saw off Liu Yan outside the north gate, and on the occasion of parting, Yan Jizu told Liu Yan another news: "Last night, Benfu received the latest palace report, Yang Sichang, the secretary of the military department, died of illness in Huguang, and the imperial court has sent someone to take care of the aftermath." ”

Liu Yan's face did not change when he heard this, and he said secretly in his heart: "Yang Sichang, Yang Sichang, you have fought with the governor all your life, but you have fallen into dust and dust, and fame and fortune have not fallen." I wonder if you regret what you did in the Battle of the Great Deer when you took your last breath? ”

Liu Yan took a deep breath, now that the war was imminent, he didn't have the heart to entangle a dead man again.

So Liu Yan hugged his fists and said goodbye to Yan Jizu, got on the horse and led his troops to set off.

For a time, more than 88,000 officers and men of the New Army formed a formation to the north, led by hundreds of baggage vehicles, followed by the infantry officers and soldiers of each battalion, Liu Yan led the personal guard battalion and artillery battalion behind each battalion, and Xu Ming led the cavalry battalion behind the rear hall.

The camps of the army were in good order, winding along the official road to the north, as spectacular as a dragon going out to sea.

Ten days later, in mid-April, Liu Yan led his troops to the outskirts of Beijing and stationed in Tongzhou, east of Beijing.

With the arrival of the new army in Qinglai Town, all the Ming troops were in a sensation!

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