Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 206 The wild boar's skin is itchy

Fang Guoxing thought that he didn't dare to say much just now, so how could he dare to have any other thoughts now.

Matters like enforcing military discipline can be big or small.

Even if a general accidentally beats a general to death, the higher-ups won't be able to find any flaws, unless the general has a backer...

Fang Guoxing lowered his head and glanced worriedly at the soldiers who were screaming in pain after being beaten with sticks, muttering to himself that these idiots had really screwed him over.

You all are from the side branch. You should just follow the Black Flag Battalion honestly to gain military merits and be promoted in the future. But you insist on contradicting the ever-victorious Marshal, which is simply courting death.

It would be fine if this group of people were seeking death, but they had to make him, who is also a member of the side branch, suffer.

If he said something careless and was caught by General Li, he would be the next one to be hit by the iron rod.

The expression on his face was sometimes shocked, sometimes embarrassed, his dry and cracked lips slightly parted, as if he wanted to say something but stopped himself, his distorted facial features kept changing, and finally settled into fear.

Under the cold gaze of the soldiers, Fang Guoxing was like an unlucky guy having a kidney stone attack, and he had to endure the pain. In just a short moment, his chest and back were soaked with sweat.

Fang Guoxing secretly tried to guess General Li's thoughts, then gritted his teeth and said, "Great Marshal, you fought well! Wu Zhong allowed his arrogant soldiers to harass the people, and he deserves severe punishment. He was too weak to withstand the military blows. Great Marshal, you enforce the law impartially, and your sincere heart for the country and the people is evident to all. I admire you, please accept my greeting..."

Fang Guoxing's legs immediately went weak and he knelt down to kowtow to Li Mu.

After Fang Guoxing finished his worship, Li Mu quickly stepped forward and helped Fang Guoxing lift his arm up.

"Commander Fang, you're overly kind. You followed me west to reclaim four lost cities, and your contributions and hard work are evident to the soldiers. Your troops maintain strict discipline, and your marches and battles are methodical. You possess a knack for military leadership and are destined for great use!"

"Your Excellency, I'm sorry to trouble you. I was just following the lead of others and trying to get away with it by following the Black Flag Battalion..."

Fang Guoxing casually raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead and let out a short breath.

He thought to himself that he only had a few hundred personal soldiers and he could not control the more than a thousand Black Flag soldiers in the same camp, so of course the military discipline was strict.

"Do you also think that my use of military law against Wu Zhong was revenge?"

"I don't think it's revenge..." Fang Guoxing couldn't think of any good words, so he opened his mouth to please his superior.

Li Mu remained silent, his tone becoming stern, "Because I have repeatedly stressed the Black Flag Army's discipline, but he has ignored it, treating me like a clay figure and ruining our army's morale!

I don’t care how many bad rules and evil deeds he has committed in the past, but now that he is in my Black Flag Camp, he must abide by the rules of my Black Flag Camp!
If anyone, relying on their strong backing, disregards this officer and insists on disobeying the orders of the Black Flag Battalion, even if the Jade Emperor comes, he will be beaten to the ground!"

"I understand!" Fang Guoxing quickly replied, "From now on, I will follow your lead! If you tell me to go east, I will never go west!"

"As long as you work hard, I will not treat you unfairly."

Li Mu pulled out a piece of paper from his bosom and put it into the palm of the lieutenant general. The latter took a closer look and found that it was a silver note from a money shop, worth fifty taels.

Fifty silver coins are just a drop in the bucket compared to the generals' salaries and gray income, but at this moment they have quite important symbolic significance.

This means that Fang Guoxing successfully crossed the "gate of hell" and was further accepted by the commander of the Black Flag Camp and became a direct descendant.

The killing of a chicken to scare the monkeys frightened Fang Guoxing so much that he broke out in a sweat. The fifty silver coins gave him a sweet "candy". The conspiracy of combining kindness and force made him dizzy.

Fang Guoxing felt his legs weaken again, and he was about to kneel down, "Eat the Marshal's food, use the Marshal's salary, and work for the Marshal!"

Li Mu held his armpits without waiting for him to kneel down.

"Well, from now on, we're all colleagues in the Black Flag Battalion. Just follow military regulations and do your job diligently. No need to be polite. If you don't understand military regulations, you can go to the military judge and get a manual of military regulations. Read it more and think about it more."

Fang Guoxing, having gone through a roller coaster of emotions, nearly burst into tears. He turned his head to observe the already silent empty space beside him. The arrogant soldier who had been beaten with a military stick had long since died.

……

There were not more or less than two lieutenant generals, and the size of their personal guards was also very small, but as everyone knows, a single bad apple spoils the whole barrel, and any trouble they caused could have a negative impact on the soldiers of the Black Flag Battalion.

After all, it is difficult for people to learn good things, but it is easy to learn bad things.

Li Mu subdued all the spies sent by the imperial court, and the five battalions of soldiers were completely under his control.

He knew very well that even one or two years before its demise, the Ming court had been hindering local governors and generals.

He understood that the head is determined by the butt, and whoever sat in that position would limit the power of local generals to prevent the development of warlord separatism.

However, judging from the current situation, the Ming court's next fierce suppression will not be too quick, and will not trigger a conflict between him and the court.

In history, Zuo Liangyu and the Four Towns of Jiangbei became veritable warlords. At one point, the imperial court had to ask the acquaintances of these generals to plead with them in order to persuade the warlords to send troops.

However, the problems Li Mu faced were different from theirs.

He would not allow his soldiers to plunder the people, nor would he collude with the gentry, so he would face even greater resistance if he wanted to become a warlord.

He will not change the status quo until the court forces him to tear off his mask.

Soon, the team from the court that was to promote him arrived, led by Wang Chengen, a loyal eunuch beside Zhu Youjian.

Although Wang Chengen was also very greedy and had average abilities, he was the only loyal servant who accompanied Zhu Youjian to be hanged on the old crooked tree.

The court promoted him to be the Left Commander-in-Chief of the Central Military Commission and gave him the seal of "General Suppressing Bandits".

Throughout the Chongzhen period, the number of people who could reach the level of "holding the seal of a general" could be counted on one hand.

The court allowed him to control the troops in Henan, Huguang and Jiangbei. All civil and military officials below the third rank were subject to his command, and generals of the same rank respected him.

This means that he officially became the commander-in-chief of the war zone. Not to mention the governor or the governor-general, even if the commander-in-chief came to transfer him, he would not be able to refuse.

Holding the general's seal, he stayed in his old nest to collect taxes and train soldiers. He also received three annual salaries and sent Chongzhen some good news from time to time to comfort him.

What's more, Wang Chengen also revealed that when the emperor heard the recent rumors about the Black Flag Camp, he directly said that it was a traitor who spread the rumors and insisted on arresting all those who spread the rumors.

Li Mu was possessed by the emperor on the spot, and with tears in his eyes, he thanked His Majesty for his "appreciation and grace." However, he was promoted to General Suppressing Bandits in just a year or two, a favor he could never repay even in three lifetimes.

We can only devote all our energy to training and strengthening the army, and train thousands more elite Black Flag soldiers for Your Majesty.

Aren't they just a few thousand elite soldiers? The emperor has spoken, how can we not obey?

Li Mu dragged the "angel" to the Huai River, and then pointed at the Huai River and swore that three months later, he would send thousands of elite soldiers north to Shanhaiguan to help the court fight against the Eastern Tartars!

Li Mu then became furious and denounced the rumormonger as hateful.

He didn't want to explain his true feelings, but the soldiers had shed blood and sweat for their country, so how could they be slandered by such wicked villains? If he caught these villains, he would tear out their tendons and bones and grind them into dust.

Thanks to Wang Chengen's unintentional reminder, Li Mu realized how much trust the emperor in the palace had in him, and he even didn't believe the rumors of praise and punishment that were spread day and night.

No wonder, Chongzhen was such a credulous person.

As long as he likes a civil or military official, he will give him whatever he wants without any reservations.

But if it was someone like Lu Xiangsheng or Sun Chuanting who was straightforward and spoke harshly, Zhu Youjian would physically dislike him. No matter how many great achievements he had made, he would severely punish him if he made a mistake.

Li Mu sighed inwardly, thinking that with Zhu Youjian's strange temper, how could he retain such honest and loyal talents?

In the end, all those who remained by the emperor's side were mediocre people who kept silent about their own safety, flattered him, and used sweet words. None of the loyal ministers received any compensation even after their death.

By the way, what's with this sudden surge of praise?

Li Mu thought to himself that he had not arranged for players to do publicity for him. At most, he would organize some "unknown tabloids" in various provinces to expose the corruption, exploitation, and money-making and harming deeds of officials and gentry to raise the pressure on the people.

Besides, if you use this kind of flattery tactic on yourself, it would be foolish.

According to the basic principle of "whoever benefits is the mastermind", Li Mu speculated that it was done by the bandits and the Jiannu.

Once the Black Flag Camp was suppressed and targeted, and eventually forced to rebel, the imperial court would lose a main force that dared to fight.

Li Mu changed his mind and thought that the possibility of them being bandits was not high.

There are more than a dozen undercover agents planted inside the West Camp. Although he is far away in southern Henan, he knows the next move of the West Camp better than the governor on the front line.

He knew everything about what the West Camp did along the way, where it went, which civil and military officials it killed, how much money and food supplies it looted, how many government troops pursued it, and how many casualties it had suffered.

It can't be that the peasant army spread the news to flatter and kill.

Sometimes he could also remotely control the strategic goals of the West Camp through people like Yang Wenli.

For example, Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai, Zhang Tianlin and other old rebel veterans all joined the West Camp to reorganize the rebel coalition forces when "King Gao Chuang" was in power.

Although Li Zicheng still became the leader of the alliance, Yang Wenli and others, under the instructions of Li Mu, continued to resist Li Zicheng's attempts to win him over, which prevented Li Zicheng from taking control of the West Camp.

However, Li Zicheng was unwilling to be underdog. At this time in history, he came out of retirement and cooperated with Zhang Xianzhong for several months. He was really unwilling to be subservient, so he left.

At present, Li Zicheng has also taken the same old path, breaking away from Xiying and developing on his own. It is said that he is hiding in the mountainous area of ​​northern Sichuan, waiting for the main force of the government troops that encircled Xiying to leave before making plans.

Luo Rucai, the "living Cao Cao", became the leader of the coalition forces by virtue of his seniority. Their next plan was to move out of Sichuan, but they had a disagreement on whether to go to Henan to beg for a living, or to go to Huguang and go down the river to the south of the Yangtze River.

Yang Wenli, who had been promoted to the coalition's strategist, was also worried because there was no special mission to tell him what to do next.

According to his thinking, he would definitely suggest that the coalition forces surrender to the Beggar Army, giving his brothers the opportunity to snatch away some talents from the Peasant Army, and even gradually erode the Peasant Army to expand the Beggar Army's strength.

Others, however, thought that it would be best to let the coalition forces go to Jiangnan and kill all the gentry there.

Li Mu also thought so. Jiangnan was one of the most powerful regions for the Ming court gentry, and it was also the region that looked down upon the bandits the most.

In history, the officials of the Southern Ming Dynasty were able to come up with the bold move of "allying with the enemy to suppress the bandits". Even though only the southwestern half of the country was left in the end, they still discriminated against and made things difficult for the peasant army that took the initiative to unite.

No matter how much the peasant army compromises and makes concessions, it will never be favored by the gentry until it has the strength to conquer the world.

It's just right to let them fight each other and weaken the power of the gentry.

But Li Mu has more important things to do right now. Since the peasant army did not spread rumors, there is only one mastermind behind this.

Huang Taiji of Liaodong.

This guy really likes to use the strategy of sowing discord.

Li Mu still remembered the most famous strategy of sowing discord in history, which was when Ying Zheng bribed Guo Kai of Zhao State to slander him to King Zhao, forcing the front commander Li Mu to commit suicide.

My goodness, who is Li Mu?

Li Mu of Zhao State would be forced to commit suicide, but Li Mu of the late Ming Dynasty would not allow himself to be slaughtered.

Whenever Huang Taiji made a move to trip him up, he would always retaliate by making the other party suffer.

It just so happened that the Qihuo Army had recently defeated two government armies in a row, severely weakening the Ming Dynasty. It was recently sweeping across the counties and prefectures around the provincial capital to digest the fruits of victory.

The Ming Dynasty was weakened once, and Li Mu could not show partiality to one side and had to give the Qing Dynasty a severe beating.

Parents who treat their children equally are good parents, and only then can their children live in harmony.

【Special Missions in the Northern Theater Command】

[The merit point reward for capturing the head of a true Tartar within 20 days increases by %]

[Goal: Seize at least one city in southern Liaoning as a bridgehead]

[For teams that capture more than 50% of their team's True Tartar heads each month, the team's reward bonus will increase by %]

(End of this chapter)