The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 103 Inspection

In the eighth year of Chongzhen, Fengyang fell, and the government and the public were shaken.

Chongzhen sent more than 100 million taels of capital, provincial and financial funds as military pay.

But the million taels of silver had been embezzled before it even left the capital.

When it was sent to Shaanxi, Huguang, and Henan, there was not much left.

It was originally agreed that there would be a total of 2000 soldiers for countering the rebellion, but in fact, the provincial generals and schools only had 2000 soldiers.

There were only 6000 people in the Ming army who followed Hong Chengchou to attack in Shaanxi.

By the beginning of October in the eighth year of Chongzhen, the situation in the Quartet was rapidly deteriorating.

There are already more than 20 rogues entrenched in Shangluo, Pingli, and Hanzhong.

Among them, there are about 12 people in Shangluo and Pingli, and [-] people in Hanzhong Prefecture.

There are only one battalion of more than [-] soldiers in the Hanzhong Mansion, and they can only guard the main roads and block them left and right.

The total number of rogues in Xi'an Mansion exceeded 33. When Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong besieged Jingyang and Sanyuan, many of the rogues who had plundered in the south of Xi'an Mansion went north to join them, so that their strength expanded again.

In Yan'an Mansion, Yu Chongxiao, the chief soldier of Yansui Town, died in battle, and the soldiers of Yansui Town surrendered to protect the town.

Most of the soldiers in Yan'an Mansion suffered casualties and were unable to fight any more, so they could only retreat to the cities. The situation in Yan'an Mansion completely collapsed.

Guotianxing, Mantianxing, and Huntianxing plundered the north of Yan'an Prefecture, with [-] troops.

Li Zicheng and Xiezikuai plundered the south of Yan'an Prefecture, and many fled Yansui town soldiers joined Li Zicheng and Xiezikuai's army and became the backbone of their army.

However, the elite of Li Zicheng's subordinates were not lost. Although all the horse troops were lost in Chunhua, they also lost a lot of elite cavalry.

But most of the elite cavalry left behind were newly promoted cavalry troops, and those elite cavalry from the frontier army were basically brought by his side.

The Yan'an Mansion had no soldiers to defend, so Li Zicheng and Xie Zikuai became more unscrupulous, and the military strength once again expanded to 3, and the momentum regained momentum.

In Fengxiang Mansion, there are about [-] rogues left.

In the Gongchang mansion, a tiger and Li crossed Sizhong Mountain to join the Four Heavenly King Li Yangchun, and the two troops joined forces in one place, camping in the north of Sizhong Mountain and south of Ma Paoquan.

The Climbing King also gathered troops from the south of the mountain to the north of the mountain. The total number of the three combined troops exceeded 3.

In other words, throughout Shaanxi, the number of rogues has swelled to 60.

At this time, even if the Ming army in Shaanxi is counted as auxiliary soldiers among the various armies, it is still difficult for Jiang Ding to raise [-] soldiers, and the military strength of the two sides is very different.

Except for Shaanxi, there are still many rogues raging in Huguang, Henan and other places. This part of the rogues has developed rapidly again because Hong Chengchou led troops into Shaanxi to suppress them.

There are dozens of rogues reported by each province, and each share varies in size, ranging from as many as [-] to as few as [-].

The impact of the civil uprising may have caused millions of people to follow the thieves.

In September, Lu Xiangsheng was appointed Prime Minister of Jiangbei, Henan, Shandong, Sichuan, and Huguang military affairs, and also led the governor of Huguang.

Hong Chengchou supervised Guanzhong, and Lu Xiangsheng supervised Guanwai, each specializing in one side.

At this time, the officers and soldiers in Huguang, Henan and other provinces were all responsible for defending important areas, and their strength was stretched.

However, Zu Kuan and Zu Dale led the Guan Ning army to arrive in Henan successively in October.

Lu Xiangsheng gathered generals in Henan to recruit troops and gather courage to prepare for defense.

On the orders, Lu Xiangsheng commanded the general, deputy, Shen, and You battalions of Liaodong, Changping and other northern military towns to suppress the rebellion in the five provinces.

Therefore, Zuo Liangyu was placed under Lu Xiangsheng's command.

Chen Wang was not placed under Lu Xiangsheng's command as he had expected.

Although he led the Liaozhen cavalry, he accepted Zhang Waijia's old troops.

However, when he was promoted to guerrilla, he was assigned to Datong Town, subordinate to Cao Wenzhao, and controlled by Cao Wenzhao.

Chen Wang was relieved that he was not assigned to Lu Xiangsheng's command.

To be honest, Chen Wang understands history, so he naturally admires Lu Xiangsheng very much.

It's just that if he is really under Lu Xiangsheng's command, I'm afraid he will be exhausted every day in the future, going around everywhere, and will not be able to develop at all.

In the end, most likely, Jia Zhuang, who followed Lu Xiangsheng in the battle and died in Julu, would not change the overall situation at all.

Lu Xiangsheng's defeat was not due to the lack of combat power of the headquarters, but because of the fact that he was in the hinterland of the country, but he was isolated and helpless.

And just fifty miles away, Gao Qiqian surrounded Jize with a heavy army and was immovable like a mountain. Lu Xiangsheng sent people to ask for help, but Gao Qiqian ignored him, so that the army was defeated in the end.

It is ironic that when Lu Xiangsheng died in Julu, news of his death did not reach the capital in time.

Chongzhen was still reprimanding Lu Xiangsheng, saying that his detectives were unclear, his dispatching was incompetent, he sat and watched the cities fall, and there was no relief.

But he didn't know that apart from the other armies, only Lu Xiangsheng was fighting alone, and the rest of the armies were the culprit who sat by and watched the cities fall.

Looking at the military order in his hand, Hong Chengchou had already set a time limit for him, and he had to wipe out Li Guo and other troops within ten months.

Hong Chengchou's hand letter is full of the meaning of beating, but the words are still restrained.

Along with the military order, there was also a letter from Cao Wenzhao. Cao Wenzhao's tone in the letter was much better than that of Hong Chengchou.

Let him fight steadily, don't be too impatient, he should be fully prepared before marching.

He also talked to him about how the new army can quickly adapt to the battle formation when the new army is fighting, and what he wrote was some experience.

In the end, he made a subtle point, not to lose too many soldiers.

Chen Wang saw Cao Wenzhao's last sentence in the letter, which also gave him a new understanding of Cao Wenzhao.

Cao Wenzhao also realized this.

Whether it is Hong Chengchou, the rest of the governors, or the court.

Those generals and schools who suffered defeat and suffered heavy losses were directly punished without hesitation.

As for those generals who were defeated but not damaged in strength, they were just a few sentences of harsh punishment and salary, and at most one demotion.

Moreover, even if he was demoted, he would continue to command the army and horses of the battalion, without losing his actual authority.

It's not that Chen Wang doesn't have the righteousness of his family and country in his heart, it's just that the premise of all this is to save his life first.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was not that there were no good generals, nor was it that there were no loyal ministers, let alone a strong army.

Doing something rashly will only put yourself in danger.

He is not a guard, he does not have a stable environment to develop, and he is not qualified to recruit craftsmen, so he can make ordnance by himself.

He knows all the means of making money by local legal system, but there is no place for him to do these things.

Now if he wants to obtain gold and silver, he can only rely on force in his hands to snatch it from the bandits, or go to other places...

Chen Wang put down the letter in his hand and raised his head.

Inside the tent, Chen Gong, Hu Zhili, Tang Shiping, and Zhao Huailiang sat on the seats on both sides, holding their breath, waiting for his military order.

There was silence outside the tent, but in this camp, more than [-] soldiers gathered.

More than [-] people seemed to be alone in silence, the mules and horses were silent, and Zhang Wai didn't even hear the wind.

Shaanxi in October has gradually entered autumn, and the weather is gradually getting cooler, without the boredom of summer.

Chen Wang's gaze swept over the four of them slowly, and then slowly stood up from the seat while propping up his body.

In fact, there is no shortage of food and grass in the army. After entering Qinzhou, he has already sent people to various places in Gongchang Mansion to buy a large amount of military food.

It was the harvest season at this time, and taxes would be collected soon, and the grain merchants tried their best to lower the price of the grain they purchased.

Chen Wang directly sent people to the villages and towns, and bought a large amount of cheap grain and grass with silver at a price slightly higher than that purchased by grain merchants.

As for the transportation, it is even simpler. For a small amount of freight, the villagers either carried or pushed the grain to send it to the military camp bag by bag.

Such behavior naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of the grain merchants in Gongchang Prefecture.

But Chen Wang had naturally considered their dissatisfaction, and he sent several reports that Gongchang Mansion refused to provide food.

Hong Chengchou would naturally help him suppress these trivial matters. As long as the political influence was kept to a minimum, other influences would not matter.

No matter how arrogant those grain merchants are, do they dare to send someone to intercept and kill his army halfway?

Now the sharpest knife in Gongchang's mansion is not in the hands of the grain merchant, but in his hands.

The problem of rations has been solved.

Next, the problem that needs to be solved is Hong Chengchou's order.

Now is far from the time to turn his face, and most importantly, it is indeed as Hong Chengchou said.

An army that has not experienced battle is ultimately just a weak brigade.

Of the three tribes of Li Guo, Li Yangchun, and Climbing King, only the tribe under Li Yangchun's command is slightly more elite.

Although there are 3 people, the threat is actually not that great, and it is just used to test the combat power of the army under his command.

(End of this chapter)