Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 469 When the Northern Expedition is underway
Marching thirty miles every day is equivalent to having just finished lunch, and after walking for an hour, the army is ready to set up camp.

In this way, the team was delayed for more than [-] miles. Fortunately, there was a canal to transport food and grass, and communicate with each other, otherwise it would be really inconvenient.

However, in view of the huge army size of 140,000, Li Jizu wisely placed the Guanning Army and Henan soldiers and horses under the supervision of Chen Yongfu.

It is in the middle of the army.

The 30,000 people of the Yuyuan Army are in charge of holding the formation and are in the rear.

In fact, Li Jizu looked down on these rebels who were mixed with fish and dragons.

If it hadn't been for his forceful control, the Yuyuan army would have looted all the villages and towns along the river long ago.

Therefore, they are definitely weak points in the decisive battle. Instead of affecting morale, it is better to let them stay in Tianjin Wei as a backup.

For a decisive battle, his Huai Navy, Guanning Army, Henan Army, and Beijing Camp are enough.

In Shanxi, after the Qing army retreated, Jiang Guan was relieved and survived the catastrophe.

However, when he came back to his senses, he found that the huge Shanxi, except for Datong Mansion, was almost completely occupied by Shaanxi people, who only made wedding dresses for others.

At this time, he also deeply understood his situation. From Daming, then to Dashun, then to Daqing, and finally to Daming, he almost ran all over.

It has reached a point of no return.

"The last general pays homage to Yihou, Cheng—"

Jiang Guan bowed tactfully, with a very upright attitude.

Afterwards, all civil and military officials also bowed down, full of momentum, and gave You Shiwei and Liu Tingjie great face.

In this regard, the two nodded, and they also took a high look at Jiang Guan, who was still aware of current affairs.

"Jiang Zongbing made clear the general situation, set things right, and brought Jin Province back to Ming Dynasty. His meritorious service is still outstanding."

You Shiwei showed a smile, then took out the imperial decree from his arms, and said loudly:
"His Majesty has a decree—"

"I hereby appoint Jiang Guan as the commander-in-chief of Datong, and give him a title, son of Liaozhou..."

"At the end of the day, thank the emperor for his kindness——"

Jiang Guan breathed a sigh of relief, and kowtowed hard.

Immediately, he welcomed You Shiwei and Liu Tingjie into the city of Datong.

The tall and steep interior of Datong City is worthy of being an important military town. The roads inside have nine turns and eighteen turns, and a large number of defense facilities are extremely complete. It is worthy of being a strong city in the North.

"Now you and I belong to the courtiers, and I don't want to see you outside."

You Shiwei unceremoniously took the main seat, his tiger eyes swept across the generals of Datong, no one dared to look at him.

In Beidi Junzhen, no one dared to compare You Shiwei's qualifications.

During the Tianqi period, Bian Zhensu was famous for his bravery. As early as the second year of Chongzhen, he became the general soldier, guarding Juyong and Changping.

The prestige of decades is very terrifying.

"The imperial court intends to restore the capital to the north, and go east in Shanxi. I only have 20,000 people under my command. It is definitely not enough. The Datong soldiers under your command should also follow my command and go east together."

"It's natural." Jiang Guan patted his chest and said, "It's just that although Datong still has more than 20,000 soldiers and horses, there is not enough food and grass."

"For the past two years, the Manchu Qing has been drawing from Jin Province's food reserves, and even my military pay is only [-]% of what it used to be."

"It's easy to go east, but it's difficult if we can't get the food."

"There is not much food in Taiyuan."

You Shiwei frowned, sighing inwardly.

When he invaded Taiyuan, he noticed that there was very little food in stock, and he thought it was all for Datong Town, but unexpectedly Datong was also empty.

"Jiannu is so vicious."

After cursing, Jiang Guan on the side echoed: "Master Hou, since the defeat two years ago, that is, the year Duoduo died in battle, the Manchu Qing Dynasty was short of money and food, Jin Province was repeatedly drawn blood, and the people were in poverty. Zheng, I'm afraid it will easily lead to civil chaos..."

"Ugh!"

You Shiwei shook his head, he originally thought so, why not suffer for the sake of the people of the Ming and Jin provinces?The court will not forget them.

But it was difficult for Jiang Guan to speak first.

If something goes wrong in Shanxi in the future, he will have to memorize it.

Sacrificing oneself for the great cause of the court is impossible.

"If we go east, our 300,000-strong army will travel hundreds of miles. People will eat horses, and we will obviously not be able to reach the city of Beijing without [-] shi."

"Unfortunately, Jin Province is hard to sustain..."

You Shiwei looked at Jiang Yu's calm look, and thought suddenly:
Isn't this kid afraid of losing his troops and doesn't want to fight Beijing?
He looked up at Liu Tingjie: "It seems that we can't win the credit for the return of the capital."

"Unfortunately, Marquis An led a decisive battle with more than [-] people, and after a while he became Duke An!"

"Who says it's not? You can't get the staple food, so it's good to have some soup!"

Although Liu Tingyi didn't understand what it meant, he still cooperated and said it, his face was full of unwillingness.

On the side, Jiang Yu and other Datong generals were all thinking, whispering and muttering to each other.

Jiang Guan was even more moved.

If the main force of the Manchu Qing was to be dealt with, then they would be partial teachers, wouldn't they be able to fish in troubled waters and pick up leaks?

This belongs to the credit for sending it up!
"Unfortunately, where can I find those two 300,000 shi grains?"

You Shiwei sighed, with a pity on his face: "What a great opportunity! Maybe you can get a title, make a contribution or something..."

Jiang Guan's face remained unchanged, and he was still a bit of a city man.

After the meeting, Jiang Guan begged to see You Shiwei alone, and said, "The last general has been in Datong for a long time. Although his family is small, he still prepared some food. Now all the five thousand shi are used for military use."

"Jiang Zongbing is righteous!"

You Shiwei said with emotion, and patted his arm heavily.

Afterwards, more than a dozen officers from the Datong Mansion, ranging from guerrillas to deputy generals and generals, donated a total of [-] shi of food and grass.

You Shiwei was not surprised by these grains. Which of these hereditary generals did not have tens of thousands of acres of land?
Not only were the military fields in Shanxi swallowed up by them, but there were also military households as tenants who didn’t have to pay taxes, and they could even plunder the military pay sent by the imperial court, although they had owed it for many years.

The game played by military households in Yulin is the same in Shanxi, and the water and soil near Datong are much better than those in northern Shaanxi.

"These are not enough!"

Liu Tingjie sighed: "You need at least 200,000 shi for military rations before you can leave."

"Let me think about—"

You Shiwei shook his head and began to think hard.

"Shanxi is much richer than Shaanxi. The government is poor, but the folks are not poor. If the mud legs have no food, it doesn't mean that the gentry are short of food."

You Shiwei said solemnly: "Nowadays it is a special situation, we can only do special things, one is to persuade the gentry of various prefectures to donate, if it is not possible to borrow money."

"The other way is to check out the traitors."

"Ok?"

Liu Tingjie was taken aback, and immediately said: "A traitor?"

"As long as someone in the family served as an official in Beijing but did not sacrifice his life, or resigned from office, he would be punished as a traitor, and half of his family's money and food would be confiscated."

"Is half too little?"

Liu Tingjie said.

"You stupid, where do we have this power? In the future, we will settle the accounts and say that they donated voluntarily. It will be hard to tell."

You Shiwei said helplessly.

(End of this chapter)