stubborn thief

Chapter 364 Gifts
The five divisions go out together, and they go fast and lose fast.

Within ten days, the battle situation of the Ming court in the northwest took a turn for the worse, and the news of all four parties being defeated spread throughout Lanzhou.

When He Huchen and others fought with Liu Chengzong in the Hehuang Valley, Wang Xingshan, the leader of the North Route of the Gansu Army, hadn't even climbed from Yongdeng Mountain to Liancheng.

His army was plagued by smallpox, marching like an old hen laying eggs, leaving behind dozens of pox-prone soldiers every two hours.

Suddenly hearing that all roads were defeated, Wang Xingshan ordered the chieftain Lu Yunchang to retreat without the slightest hesitation, turned around and picked up all the eggs he had laid, and led his troops to Yongdeng City, the Zhuanglang Wei Zhi.

He can't lead troops to Lanzhou. The Gansu army is different from the other four towns. The others are on the other side of the Yellow River. Only Gansu Town and Xining are on the north bank of the Yellow River.

Where there is retreat, there is advance.

Liu Chengzu had no siege equipment, and he was besieging a mountain fort. The strong attack was ineffective, so he had to spend time repairing the equipment. Before the equipment was finished, the enemy abandoned the city and fled.

The Xining army under Liu Chengzu's command was full of anger, but fortunately there were still food, goods, livestock, cattle and horses left by the chieftain of Lu, which greatly shocked the soldiers who attacked the city. uplifting.

The huge harvest directly caused the army led by Liu Chengzu to lose the ability to move forward.

Liu Chengzong sent an order here, suggesting to increase troops to Liancheng, and further oppress Wang Xingshan's Gansu army to Yongdeng City. On the other side, Liu Chengzu left Li Wanqing to guard the city.

Liu Chengzong saw the continuous convoy from a distance, knew it was his brother coming, so he rode forward, and heard Liu Chengzu say: "Lion, are you here?"

"I asked the carrier to transport the raft, and it's still on the west side. Are these things from Tusi Lu's house?"

Liu Chengzong rode his horse and glanced into the distance. He saw the convoy that could not be seen, and the Xining Weiqi army had unspeakable joy on their faces, which also made him laugh unconsciously: "Oh, so many?"

He never expected that the chieftain yamen, which he didn't think much of, would have so much money.

Unexpectedly, Liu Chengzu shook his head and said: "If only this is the case, I will go east. I don't know how many treasures there are, let alone what the treasures are. I only know that there are only 890 cars there. , I even use the horse to pull things."

As he said that, Liu Chengzu turned his head slightly to the convoy: "54 catties, after unloading the things and going back to pull them, at least [-] cars will be needed."

Who thinks there are too many loot?
Liu Chengzong was overjoyed immediately and asked, "Is there a lot of food?"

The eldest brother was dumbfounded by the question, Liu Chengzu turned his head to look at the convoy behind, and then looked at Liu Chengzong, wondering if we came from northern Shaanxi?
He said: "Yes, but they are all in the warehouse of the chieftain's yamen. All the goods brought over are kiln wares, gold, silver and precious stones, copper and iron strange objects, mirrors, vases, chairs, beds, armored soldiers and silk... Are you short of military supplies?"

The prices in the minds of the people in the Marshal's Mansion are abnormal, switching back and forth between famine years and peaceful years at any time.

Before the expedition, everyone was in a time of famine. With the capture of Hehuang, the granaries of chieftains, landlords, and rich households were smashed in the rear, and the worries about food and grass issues at the front line were easily resolved, and people gradually became the prices of peaceful years.

Even if we go to Hehuang this time, the food and grass we get will still not be able to fully make up for the shortage of soldiers and rations.

But Liu Shizi said that there was not much food, and he brought Liu Chengzu back to the price of famine full of hunger.

Liu Chengzong nodded his head heavily and said, "Fifteen thousand surrendered troops."

Liu Chengzu frowned and shook his head when he heard this.

Because of the constant battles in the Marshal's Mansion, Liu Chengzu always wanted to have a good chat with Liu Shizi about their military issues, but there was never a suitable opportunity.

They have too many armies, especially inefficient ones.

In fact, since the beginning of this battle, Liu Chengzu wanted to finish the battle, and persuaded Liu Chengzong to abolish the establishment of the Xining Guard, and carry out the elimination of the Weisuo Banner Army. At the same time, Xie Erhu, A Haidaiqing, Ba There are three Fanmeng camps in Sana.

There are more than 2 people in these four armies alone, and they will kill nearly [-] hectares of harvest a year.

Yang Yao's and Wang Wenxiu's two battalions only ate half of their annual food. If there were no more than 2 people, the Marshal's Mansion could support four more training battalions.

Now they want a population with a population, a territory with a territory, and they need to be reorganized and trained. They have two infantry, cavalry, artillery, and ten thousand legions as the main force. What can they want to do in the northwest?
But this is obviously not the time to make this suggestion. Even Liu Chengzu, who had never fought side by side with Mongolian soldiers and Fan soldiers, knew very well in his heart that he couldn't just use others to fight a war and turn around and say they were useless.

He just said: "If you can't afford it like this, you have to find a way to let some soldiers graze the fields when you are rewarded for your merits."

"Brother thought of me together."

Liu Chengzong smiled and asked Basang to lead the team to pack up the vehicles and go to Liancheng to bring back the grain, grass and goods. Then he waved to his eldest brother: "Come on, let's go to the account and talk about the next plan."

The wisdom of later generations stands on the shoulders of the predecessors, and the greatness of the predecessors lies in the spread of thought and wisdom.

Just like the difference between a famous general and a military strategist, there is only one Xiang Yu, but everyone after Sun Wu can be Sun Wu.

After Emperor Taizu, Liu Chengzong naturally cherished the guards set up by Emperor Taizu. He also thought of farming, but he thought it could be let go.

The war is still going on, he wants to get all the things he can get in the war, and then think about things after the war.

Along the way, Liu Chengzong chatted with his elder brother about his plan to enter Lanzhou, but he didn't expect to get close to the commander's tent of the Chinese army. His elder brother brought him two things from the horseback, entered the army tent and put them on the commander's case.

One is a wooden box and the other is a long roll.

When I opened it, I found that there were a bunch of seals in the wooden box, such as the golden seal of camel button Tuohuan of Wang Anding in Yuan Dynasty, the silver seal of turtle button of the general, etc. The long scroll is the mountains of Nianbo, Liancheng and other places drawn by Liu Chengzu along the way. Maps of rivers, markets, villages, roads, and fortresses.

This topographic map of Hehuang was to be handed over to Liu Chengzong, who suggested returning to Xining to recompile the map; and the Anding Wang Jinyin was Liu Chengzu's spoils of war when he broke into the Lu chieftain's yamen.

On Liu Chengzong's side, he took out a thick list for his brother to look at. It was a list of rich families from the surrender report, covering more than 700 households in the entire Lintao Prefecture, with general property, livestock, location, defensive strength, etc. Wait.

Liu Chengzong said that the list has not been compiled yet, but after estimation, these people already have the strength to solve the food and grass shortage of the Marshal's Mansion. There is only one problem. The financial measurement unit on the list is two, not stone.

There are 5000 households with a net worth of more than 180 taels, and 1000 households with a net worth of more than [-] taels. The minimum standard for being on the list is [-] taels.

Therefore, they may plunder endless precious metals, but they cannot get enough food to eat. Therefore, Lintao Fucheng, Didao County, Hezhou City and the warehouses outside Lanzhou City are still their targets.

Liu Chengzong said: "I led the infantry battalion and the shooting hunting battalion to encircle Lanzhou. Yang Yao went to Jin County, and my elder brother went to Didao. There are still soldiers and horses from Lintao Guard over there. If you can grab it, you can grab it. If you can't grab it, you can wait for Yang Yao to finish and go south to help. , and then plunder Hezhou, and then return from Lanzhou, how about it?"

Liu Chengzu looked at the list, and to be honest, without the experience of the bandits in Shaanxi, this kind of list could not be made.

The person who wrote the list listed the estimated property of the looting target, and there was a note added by Liu Chengzong beside it, which is the reference force for raiding various targets.

Big households like grain merchants belong to the No. [-] target of Tianzi with low risk and high return. It is recommended to have [-] troops.

Wangzhuang, the Supervisory and Pastoral Office, and Guancang are the No. [-] targets with high risks and high returns. It is recommended that the number of troops should not be less than [-].

Then there are big households of official and gentry origin, whose income is generally not high, and they live with ordinary people. It is recommended to use [-] well-disciplined teams to perform tasks.

Finally, there are the military officers of the Weisuo. In fact, many of the big households reported by the surrendered soldiers were from the military attaches of the Guards.

To rob this group of people, at least [-] troops need to be mobilized, because the military attaches of the guards live in clusters, and there are guards in their families, so it is relatively difficult to rob them.

very professional.

Yoo Seung Jo couldn't fault anything.

The only concern in his heart is that many people on this list can actually be recruited, but unfortunately, the Marshal's Mansion does not need to recruit anyone right now, they only lack food.

Liu Chengzu only focused on the present, and he was not even interested in things like Liu Chengzong's entry into Guanzhong.

Just think about those things, anyway, they don’t count when they make a decision, all they need is a drought this summer, no long-term goals are useless, if they fail, they will lose even Hehuang, and they can only enter Shu through Dajian Furnace .

Do your best, listen to destiny.

However, Liu Chengzu had no opinion on the general direction, but put forward four suggestions on the details.

"The captive officers on the list can be redeemed by themselves and brought back to collect food and release them. Otherwise, it would be a disaster for them to stay here."

"As for the soldiers of the Banner Army, those who are ready to be released can work and transport food first, and those who are not ready to be released can be picked out and taken away. Like Yang Qi, they brought their families into Hehuang to reassure people's hearts."

"In addition to this, there is Yongdeng, which will also enter the army. The Zhuanglang River area has been a grain-producing area since the Han Dynasty. The name means that there will always be a bumper crop."

"The last thing is the map. The soldiers and horses who raided the counties must bring along the painters accompanying the army. Since we plan to enter the Guanzhong within a few years, this is a good time to draw the map."

Liu Shizi is very good at this.

During the few days of waiting for the carrier to bring the captives over, while stabilizing the newly recruited soldiers, he sent Dai Daozi to the east to investigate the military situation. Soon, intelligence came from the east. Lanzhou is now in a mess, and it is a good time to march .

On March 28, Dai Daozi sent people to arrest a spy from along the Yellow River, an old acquaintance He Yong.

Liu Chengzong no longer remembers how many times this guy has been his prisoner. He only thinks that He Yong is still sneaky. The outside of the burqa is covered with buttocks and footprints by the Tang soldiers, and he is quietly brought into the handsome tent by the guards. Just come in. After receiving the big gift, he said: "General Lion, no, He Yong kowtowed to see Commander Lion."

Liu Chengzong wanted to laugh when he saw his old friend. He pointed to the blanket beside him to let him sit down, and asked, "I let you go, why are you here?"

He Yong was also quite nervous at first, time has passed, and no one knows what will happen when he comes here, but now that he can see Liu Chengzong, he is also relaxed, rubbing his hands and grinning: "I'll see if Marshal Lion wants to report to the mansion. "

"Heh, are you keeping all the residence newspapers for me?"

Liu Chengzong laughed, knowing that this guy was joking. After all, Di reported that he had no shortage, so he didn't answer the question, just smiled and said: "I heard that General He has been promoted, why, didn't you get an official position?"

"Boss Bai, the family member." He Yong smiled: "Marshal Lion is a person who makes great achievements, and Boss Bai is not worth mentioning."

"Good thing, when General He becomes the commander-in-chief in the future, you will be indispensable." Liu Chengzong played with the gold seal of King Anding in his hand, and asked He Yong: "General He called you here? What's the matter, tell me. "

He Yong frowned when he heard Liu Chengzong mention the official position of Biaoying Counselor General, which was an official position that he could not even imagine.

Even if everything goes well for the Ming army in this battle, He Renlong will only be awarded as a guerrilla general. If he is lucky to a certain extent, he is only a general. Where did he, He Yong, become a general?

But isn't this time for daydreaming? He Yong was afraid of offending Liu Chengzong and being kicked out, so he hurried into the group and said, "The commander-in-chief wants to attack Lanzhou?"

Where did this question come from.

Liu Chengzong said with a smile: "General He wants to help me break the city?"

"Huh?" He Yong was taken aback, and quickly shook his head: "General He wants to ask the commander, can you not attack the city wall we are guarding?"

Liu Chengzong rubbed his chin and asked, "What are the benefits?"

"The general wants the commander-in-chief not to kill the Yansui army for the sake of the past."

After He Yong finished speaking, he looked left and right. This action made Liu Shizi very puzzled, and there was no one else in the handsome tent.

"I have another piece of information here."

Seeing He Yong leaning forward on the blanket, he said in a low voice, "Don't snatch the ferry, Commander. There is gunpowder in the cabin, and the state affairs also planted mines at the ferry, and the steel wheel will explode when you step on it; Zhang Quanchang is still in Lama Ridge. Set up an ambush with gunners to kill you."

Liu Chengzong didn't show any emotion on his face, but his heart skipped a beat, ambush soldiers on boats, ferry crossings, and mountains, he vowed not to give up until he was killed.

"Why did you tell me this?" he asked.

"I'm afraid your brother will slaughter the city."

He Yong was very sincere. He felt that if he didn't talk about it, Liu Chengzong would be dead. At that time, Liu Chengzu could do anything in a fit of anger.

He eloquently said, "A few years ago, thanks to the blessing of the commander-in-chief, I saved some silver taels. The young one got married the year before last, married the former cook of the Chang family, and had a baby last year."

After all, He Yong raised his head and looked at Liu Chengzong with an ugly smile: "I want to live, I don't want to die here."

Chang's cook, Liu Chengzong has the impression that when he was still learning martial arts in Mizhi, the little cook was a famous beauty, but in my impression... that girl seems to be the one who was taken away by his father when he was promoted to be a tax official in Yan'an Mansion. Married away as a concubine.

Liu Chengzong: "You murdered and took your wife?"

He Yong thought that you didn't congratulate me, so he quickly waved his hand and said, "No, no, I didn't. Zhang Yichuan, known as the Sweeping King, killed Master Qi and took away his wives and concubines. I happened to know Zhang Yichuan, so I asked him to come back." gone."

What can Liu Chengzong say, this He Yong's way is also very wild, he clasped his fists and said: "Congratulations, congratulations, good thing...a gift for the baby."

He Yong was taken aback for a moment, when he saw Liu Chengzong throwing a piece of gold, and when he got it, he found that it was the third-class king seal of the Yuan Dynasty, so he was so frightened that he hurriedly wanted to send it back.

"Take it, the mine won't kill me, but my soldiers are worth more than these few taels of gold."

This is the seal of the previous dynasty, but now it is an antique, and its value is said to be far more than its weight, but in Liu Chengzong's hands, it is meaningless, he can engrave it at will, and its value is only its weight.

But in He Yong's hands, this thing can't be sold. If it is not used as a family heirloom that lost its head, it can only be melted or chopped up, so it is only a few taels of gold.

As Liu Chengzong spoke, he pointed to He Yong and said, "Ascend to the city to guard and plant seven flags on the city wall, and I will know that General He is there. If the mine ambushes are true, I will give you a gift after the battle. "

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)