stubborn thief

On February [-]th of the seventh year of Chongzhen, an angel entered Pingliang Mansion with an edict.

The emperor was not harsh on the well-known King Su, and the so-called punishment was nothing more than a glass of wine, and confiscated Lumi for three years.

Sufan's Lumi level is the lowest among all the feudal clans, that is, the level of the second grade, and the punishment is like a joke to the court and King Su.

On the contrary, King Han, who looked like he was waiting to die, seemed to be disliked by the emperor. He clearly abandoned King Su who ran away in Lanzhou, but the emperor ordered Han Wangfu to be responsible for the expenses of the [-] people of Sufan in Pingliang City when they took refuge. .

King Han was so angry that he closed the door and scolded the Fourth Patriarch for no good people!
However, the envoys of the Son of Heaven did not come to Shaanxi to punish King Su or torment King Han. The main purpose was to meet Governor Chen Qiyu of Yansui and grant him a new official post after the court discussion.

This new official position is the right servant of the Ministry of War and the right deputy capital censor, and the governor of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Huguang, and Sichuan military affairs.

At this moment, Chen Qiyu became the most powerful official in the borderlands of the Ming Empire, and Emperor Chongzhen threw his net at Li Zicheng and others.

In the northeast of this large net is Xuanmo, the governor of Henan who led Zuo Liangyu, Tang Jiuzhou and Chen Bing to the critical point.

In the northwest, the governor of Shaanxi who led He Renlong and Zhang Yingchang stationed in Xi'an practiced state affairs; while in the south was the governor Lu Xiangsheng who led Li Yuhua and Zhou Shifeng stationed in Xunyang.

In the southeast, there is Tang Hui, the governor of Huguang who is gathering troops to guard the border in Nanzhang.

The weakest area is Lu Xiangsheng's defense area, because there is no so-called Tianxiong Army in this world. The Tianxiong Army is just a nickname given by the people to the army that Lu Xiangsheng led when he was appointed as a soldier in the Daming Mansion.

And the actual composition of that army is the army of daimyo, guangping, and shunde.

In case of trouble, officials and gentry took the lead, and the people raised military salaries and equipment. The loyal people among the people spontaneously armed themselves and went into battle.

What's more, the so-called Tianxiong was the armed forces of the separatist vassals and towns in the Tang Dynasty. Lu Xiangsheng was also an official after all, and he kept such a designation by his side because he had a hole in his brain.

Lu Xiangsheng rode Ren Xunyang alone, and it was impossible to take away the landlord Tuanlian of Daming Mansion, so he did not have a direct army in his hand, only the [-] pacesetters left by the former governor, all of whom were old, weak, sick and disabled. In order to prevent Xunyang from falling, he I'm racking my brains to figure it out.

For this reason, Lu Xiangsheng has three strategies. The worst strategy is to recruit refugees, peasants or landlords to train on the spot. The disadvantage is that it takes a long time and consumes food and supplies.

The best strategy is to write a letter back to my hometown in Changzhou Prefecture, recruit fellow villagers who are familiar with the military, and build a [-]-strong governor's pacesetter. The advantage is that it is reliable and easy to use, and the disadvantage is that its combat effectiveness is not strong.

The best strategy is to go directly to the court for troops, guest troops, especially those who can fight.

Lu Xiangsheng first set his sights on Deng Qi, the general of the Sichuan army. This army worked hard and had a good style in the past. However, everyone knows that Deng Qi’s Sichuan army can fight. There are many governors who have their eyes on Deng Qi. past.

He knew very well in his heart that even if Deng Qi's army could get under his command, he might not be able to keep it for too long. The Sichuan army has been away from home for four years, and the military discipline has been getting worse and worse.

So another army came into Lu Xiangsheng's field of vision, the Guan Ning Army.

If it is a shortcoming that the military discipline of the inland guest army has deteriorated due to long-term transfers, then the Guan Ning Army, which has a consistent military discipline style, is perfect.

Guan Ning's military discipline has never been very good, not to mention that the outside of the pass is a battlefield, and being transferred to fight inside the pass is basically equivalent to a long vacation between the battlefields. The generals and soldiers will not have much homesickness. After three to five years of fighting, the more they fight, the happier they are.

At this moment, there are two Guanning troops entering the Central Plains, one led by Cao Wenzhao and under Hong Chengchou's command, but this army is actually the Northwest Frontier Army led by General Guan Ning.

The other one, led by Li Chongzhen and Zu Kuan, fought against the rebels in Shandong. At this time, the war had just ended, and the imperial court had no intention of sending them back outside the pass. Lu Xiangsheng planned to bring this army over.

Sichuan is part of Chen Qiyu's jurisdiction, but Chongzhen Lord's big net does not include Sichuan, because Liu Hanru, the governor of Sichuan, said something wrong.

Sichuan was already fighting against the peasant army. It was originally fought against the Huang Shisan family. Since last winter, a large number of Central Plains peasant troops have entered Sichuan.

Because all the elite soldiers in central Sichuan were transferred to the Central Plains to fight, the governor Liu Hanru had no other choice. While waiting for Qin Liangyu to come back, he pitifully mobilized the villagers Xiangyong to fight against the peasant army one by one. He personally escorted food and grass to support .

The regular army in Sichuan was really not good at it. They were beaten for a while by the peasant army, and they were hammered into a big bag as soon as they were beaten.

But the strange thing about Sichuan is that the township soldiers it recruits from the common people are very powerful. Don't look at the Sichuan men who are not big, and they are lazy and playful on weekdays, but they are not afraid of death when they are in war. No amount of training, but they were able to fight back and forth with the peasant army that came out of the Central Plains, which was very powerful.

Liu Hanru played well, and he was very honest. He gave Chongzhen a letter to sum up his experience, and said that the reason for this strange situation was that the officers were all foreigners and did not take Shu soldiers seriously. The Shu people ruled the Shu soldiers.

Ouch, Lord Chongzhen is so angry that your liver hurts, you fucking want to use Shu people to rule Shu soldiers today, what should you want to do tomorrow?

It is true that Liu Hanru has been very successful since he became the governor of Sichuan in the fifth year of Chongzhen. Just give him a reason.

This is the first time that the Ming court combined the forces of the five provinces to suppress the rebels.

It's just that at this time, Chen Qiyu disagreed with the governors of the provinces.

Others want to wipe out the Shaanxi rebels who are trapped in the big net first. In fact, it is no longer appropriate to say that they are the Shaanxi rebels. A small half of the more than [-] peasant troops who fled to the Central Plains are from Shanxi, and there are many Henan people.

People have this idea because they can all see that the peasant army at this time is also united like never before, but because of its loose organization, it cannot form a joint force.

In the complex terrain of southern Shaanxi and eastern Sichuan, its huge military strength cannot be brought into play, but the officers and soldiers can rely on the geographical advantages to chase and intercept them. This is their chance to solve the problem in one fell swoop.

After all, anyone with a discerning eye knows that although Liu Chengzong's troops in the west are far less powerful than the gang of thieves, a good organization can display stronger confrontation capabilities, and it will not be resolved for a while.

What Chen Qiyu wanted was to take back Lanzhou first.

In Chen Qiyu's mind, this was a prerequisite for the Allied Forces of the Five Provinces to be able to operate successfully. Lanzhou must be recovered before the bandits can be wiped out.

In this way, he will transfer Lian Guoshi to the west to take Lanzhou.

He was not happy about practicing state affairs, so he made a special trip to find Chen Qiyu, and said: "Junmen, why do you need to recover Lanzhou first to destroy the gangsters?

Chen Qiyu was also anxious when he heard this. Originally, it was neither Hong Chengchou's responsibility nor Chen Qiyu's responsibility for the loss of Lanzhou. We are a trilateral governor and a Yansui governor. This is the responsibility of your Shaanxi Fuchen.

But now the emperor asked me, Chen Qiyu, to be the governor of the five provinces. I am in a hurry to accept this Lanzhou, but you are not in a hurry to accept it?

He asked: "If Lanzhou is not accepted, will it be possible to fight on two fronts, let Liu Chengzong tear the encirclement of the five provinces of the Ministry of War from the outside?"

Lian Guoshi said: "Let's not talk about whether Lanzhou can be defeated, even if it is defeated, shouldn't it be necessary to deploy heavy troops, then Liu Chengzong will be obedient and watch the city be taken?"

"If I can capture the city, I have a defender in my heart, not to mention that it is safe, but it is also considered solid."

Chen Qiyu thought to himself, how should I explain to you that I have a magic card in my hand?

But he didn't expect Lian to directly wave his hand in state affairs: "Junmen, I know who you are talking about, and I don't have six ears here, so I boldly said that it is Yan'an General Yang. It must be because of him that the army wants to take Lanzhou first." .”

"I think this is absolutely impossible."

Chen Qiyu raised his eyebrows: "Brother Jun Yu thinks there is something wrong with General Yang?"

"I dare not say that."

Lian Guoshi had doubts about Yang Yanchang, and it had nothing to do with Liu Chengzong, because Gao Yingxiang had fought against the army of Yan'an Prefecture before going south, and later Gao Yingxiang had fought against Lian Guoshi again when he went to Xi'an Prefecture.

He didn't know the situation of Yang Yanchang, but he knew the situation of Gao Yingxiang's army very well.

Those things don't look like they have suffered losses at all. Gao Yingxiang's army, who has been planting for several years, is more rigorous than anyone else, and the whole thing is a high imitation master.

Gao Yingxiang has a high imitation lion brigade with rifles, which is exactly the same as Liu Chengzong's army when he rioted in northern Shaanxi; They are exactly the same, even the configuration of Yi Ding is the same.

The two brigades were fully staffed, and even if Yang Yanchang couldn't do it, he wouldn't let Gao Yingxiang go down the mountain because he couldn't even knock down the headquarters.

So for Lian Guoshi, there is no need to think about this problem. Yang Yanchang must have a problem.

It's just that there is no evidence, he can't speak ill of the leading general on Chen Qiyu's side, if it's all right, if he says that Yang Yanchang is wrong, it's his fault.

Chen Qiyu knew what he was worried about, and said with a smile: "That's why we want to take over Lanzhou and let Yang Yanchang guard Lanzhou. As long as he is under surveillance, Lanzhou can't be lost no matter what. Let Hong Hengjiu worry about the rest."

Lian understood the state affairs, and Chen Qiyu also thought there was something wrong with Yang Yanchang.

Thinking about it in this way, it is imperative to take Lanzhou, because Yang Yanchang is useless in Anding. Even if he keeps Anding, Liu Chengzong can still take a detour. Only by taking Lanzhou can Liu Chengzong be stuck on the other side of the Yellow River.

Looking at his expression, Chen Qiyu knew that the two of them had understood each other, and said with a smile: "Now this matter is not a secret to us, everyone has some opinions on General Yang, but don't worry, Brother Jun Yu, Hong Hengjiu from Gansu has nothing against General Yang. From my point of view, their cooperation must be close."

Lian Guoshi nodded, then Hong Laojiu definitely had no opinion on Yang Yanchang. After all, Cao Wenzhao was Hong Chengchou's confidant and favorite general. The only time Yang Yanchang went full throttle to suppress bandits was when he was inspired by Cao Wenzhao, and that battle was fought neatly.

"It's easy to take care of Yang Yanchang, but if he doesn't care about his family, what else can he do?"

Chen Qiyu was confident: "Ren Quan'er of the Yan'an Guard Command Center will help us keep an eye on him."

Lian Guoshi shook his head. As long as there is a premise in anything, it means that the premise itself is very problematic, and things basically cannot be done.

For example, if there is enough food and grass, you can win the battle, if the five provinces are close, you can win, if you defend Lanzhou, you can guard against Liu Chengzong, if you guard Yang Yanchang, you can guard Lanzhou, and Ren Quan'er can guard Yang Yanchang.

"What if Ren Quan'er can't be trusted?"

Chen Qiyu waved his hand and said, "Then there is still Brother Jun Yu."

Lian Guoshi felt that he was off the mark, so he opened his hands under the sleeves of his official robe and said, "Am I that reliable?"

Lian Guoshi thinks that he is very unreliable, so Zhang Yingchang, his subordinate battalion, is not to be mentioned. He is a loyal and reliable general who came from a general background.

But he has the mighty general He Renlong in his army. He Renlong, who was born as a Wu Jinshi, is very fierce in battle. He also has a way of controlling the army, but his way is too wild.

All the people from his hometown have become bandits, Li Zicheng and Gao Jie are all from his hometown, especially Gao Jie knows him very well, it seems that he had contact with him when he was in the post station before, so he asked the little thief named Li Hezi to congratulate him Renlong sent letters several times.

Not to mention the group of generals at the marshal's mansion, a marshal and two deputy commanders were all sent out by He Renlong.

In recent years, He Renlong has been promoted very quickly because he is familiar with the rogues. When he doesn't want the rogues to provide information, he can't stop having information about the rogues. intelligence.

Practicing state affairs itself has to let Zhang Yingchang of the standard battalion look at He Renlong, and now it's good to pick up the dragon.

Zhang Yingchang looks at He Renlong, He Renlong looks at Ren Quan'er, Ren Quaner looks at Yang Yanchang, Yang Yanchang looks at Liu Chengzong... With so many prerequisites, can it be done?
Chen Qiyu thinks it can be done.

He went to Anding to meet Yang Yanchang with Lian Guoshi.

As soon as Yang Yanchang saw them, he complained about the situation. He agreed to let us guard Lanzhou, but we were lost before arriving in Lanzhou. Now the situation is changing too fast. Master Junmen and Futai hurry up to appease and appease.

This matter frightened Chen Qiyu and Lian Guoshi, and hurriedly went to the camp to inspect, only to find that the army's salary...was very low.

Moreover, it is said that there were a large number of deserters. In fact, after the investigation, the number of soldiers was [-] more than that of a full battalion.

Chen Qiyu just appeased the soldiers face to face, didn't say anything, and asked the commander Ren Quan'er to come over with Lian state affairs in private, and asked, "Why are there deserters, and the number of soldiers is more than that of the first battalion?"

"Reporting to the army is a good deed done by General Yang."

Ren Quan'er clasped his fists and said: "When we dispatched troops from Yan'an, many young and strong people were packed along the way. When we arrived here, the lowly post probably fell into the forest."

Chen Qiyu and Lian Guoshi looked at each other, they both knew what was going on, so they asked, "Can we take back Lanzhou City?"

Ren Quan'er shook his head slowly at first, and then he wondered: "When you return to the military gate, you don't dare to brag about your lowly position. You can't rely on the Yan'an camp alone. If there are two more reinforcements, you can still try."

Chen Qiyu felt comfortable, and while holding his arm practicing state affairs, he reached out to Ren Quan'er and said, "General Ren has great ambitions, so the right to desert this time should be selected among the best, and Lanzhou City must be taken back!"