stubborn thief

It really made Hong Chengchou and Wang Ji count.

Liu Shizi really has no idea about his own logistics, and at the same time he really wants to be in charge of Guanzhong.

After all, the geographical conditions in the northwest are not very good, and there are only a few places that can be called rich. Liu Chengzong's intentions for Guanzhong are almost written on his face.

When the generals at all levels stationed in Qinghai and Gansu gathered in Lanzhou, Liu Chengzong held a lively military meeting at the Marshal's Mansion. In the evening, the generals had a banquet in the Ningxi Garden of Suwang City, and Liu Chengzong boarded the Fuyun Tower. Looking at the Yellow River under the night.

"How does it feel to be in charge of Gansu, brother, and what difficult problems do you encounter?"

Cao Yao was holding on to the railing of Fuyun Building, he was stunned for a moment when he heard this, then he shook his head and said, "Speaking of it, it is still a town, but according to its population, it is nothing more than a large scattered county, very dilapidated, there is no big problem, Lots of little problems."

After all, he said with a smile to Liu Chengzong: "It's the same problems that other places in our commander's mansion have, such as too much road consumption, too long distances, troops stationed in various places, food transportation is not enough, and a bunch of officials have to be assigned to pay them. It hurts."

Liu Chengzong nodded and laughed when he heard the words, and said with emotion: "The administrative cost is high, and this is the price of our survival."

This is almost a common problem in all the sites of the Marshal's Mansion. This is a hopeless regime. In the long history, there are many ethnic groups like them who ruled the Northwest by force for a short time. Many of them collapsed within a decade or even a few years.

Unless the enfeoffment system is used, it is possible to extend the rule to the second or third generation by luck.

The root cause lies in administrative costs. The poor land and difficult roads lead to administrative dispersion, and more bureaucrats or nobles are needed to rule. Things cannot be transported here, and the needs of the other side cannot be met.

It is a province in name, but its population and output are equivalent to one or two counties in Kanto, but it has to pay more than ten times the administrative cost. Every minute and every second of its rule consumes its prestige invisibly.

The so-called mountains are high and the emperor is far away, this is what they are talking about.

There is no higher mountain than the Northwest.

But this was the price the Marshal's Mansion had to bear. If they hadn't come to Qinghai, they might still be a group of rebels fleeing in the Central Plains, and they might have died in the endless pursuit.

"Chengyun has repaired the track in Hehuang, and it will be repaired by the end of this year. Depending on the situation of the military discussion, if it can be spared, Gansu will also build a road from Jiayuguan to Liangzhou."

Hearing the track, Cao Yao was invigorated, because there is a post road from Ganzhou to Hehuang to deliver urgent messages, so he had heard about the track in Hehuang. He had long wanted to build such a road in Gansu, but the locust plague hit, The manpower and financial resources under the disaster are stretched, and there is no capital for road construction.

"That's good, but let's watch the battle first." Cao Yao said, the smile on his face gradually faded: "This is the battle of Kongguo again."

"Which time is it not?"

Liu Chengzong became more sentimental after discovering that Cao Yao became the governor of Gansu: "War is the most dangerous thing in the world. If you are not careful, you will fall into the abyss of eternal doom."

As he said that, he changed the subject: "However, rebels like our Marshal's Mansion are already swimming in the abyss, and the chances of going ashore are very small. To be honest...the preparation for the Eastern Expedition this time is not a whim. Forced by the situation, if there is no war, I will not even be able to pay the military salary."

Cao Yao hadn’t been in Hehuang since he set off at the end of the year before last, and he had the impression that the Marshal’s Mansion had sufficient money and food in the past. Moreover, there were not many troops in the Marshal’s Mansion who had to pay military salaries at that time. Unable to speak, he immediately opened his mouth and asked, "Huh?"

"There are expenses everywhere. Hehuang is too small, and the Marshal's Mansion is too big. After the Northern Expedition is over, there are six more battalions of paid soldiers. This is the result of me sending Yang Qi and his gang to Monan."

Liu Chengzong shook his head: "There is really no other way. If we want to keep going, the only thing left is to start a war and fight the enemy."

In the Gansu battle, seven battalions were not added on paper, but the expanded soldiers of the three big battalions Zhang Tianlin, Wei Qianer, and Gao Yingdeng alone were close to two standard battalions; The three battalions of Zhouzhou and Liangzhou, as well as the miscellaneous deployment and expansion of the battalions, further expanded the army paid by the Marshal's Mansion.

Without this plague of locusts, Liu Chengzong would still be able to survive, but now this is obviously an extravagant hope.

Thinking of this, Liu Chengzong took a deep breath and said with emotion: "Northwest, how can we regain our vitality?"

"So that's what happened, I just said..."

Cao Yao didn't finish his sentence. In fact, he was surprised when he received the news that Liu Chengzong planned to march east in Gansu.

It was not that the interval between the two battles was too short, but that he knew Liu Chengzong too well. The Eastern Expedition was a war where the scale of the battle could not be controlled. This was not like what Liu Chengzong would do.

In the eyes of the civil and military ministers of the imperial court, Liu Chengzong is the most terrifying monster in the northwest, but Cao Yao knows that this is not the case. In fact, there are a group of monsters in the northwest that intend to die together. Destroy the world.

The generals of the Marshal's Mansion counted one by one, and all of them expected the Marshal's Mansion to integrate the peasant army, Oirat Tartars, Mongolian soldiers, and Fan soldiers, and rush down the mountain with hundreds of thousands of tigers to the Central Plains, killing and robbing.

As for how to use the abandoned fields, how to restore the damaged water conservancy, and how to cultivate the dilapidated population, that is not something they consider... Among them there are many people who are accustomed to fighting, and no one is as convinced as Liu Chengzong that Ming Dynasty will soon be finished. .

Cao Yao knew from the time they started the incident that only Liu Chengzong really believed in this matter, and he only considered things that would happen three to five years later.

As for the others, they don't even know if they can live another three or five years.

The pessimists think that they will die soon, and the optimists think that they can cause heavy damage to Ming Dynasty, even if they die ten years first, they can be regarded as the pioneers who will die together.

Liu Chengzong's belief belongs to a terminally ill lunatic.

Of course, this kind of madness is mutual. They think that Liu Chengzong firmly believes that the powerful Ming Dynasty will be finished, so it is crazy to establish a stable regime to compete with Ming Dynasty;

Up to now they are not dead, they are still alive and well, the battles that the Generalissimo said will be fought will definitely be won, and the difficulties that the Generalissimo said will be overcome without fighting will definitely be overcome. basis for regime stability.

"So the Marshal's Mansion has come to this point."

Cao Yao looked up at the dark night, opened his mouth and didn't speak, it was very difficult.

He joined the army in Henan, was defeated in Liaodong, Luocao in Beizhili, recruited in Shanxi, became a thief again, recruited in Shaanxi, and had an incident with Liu Chengzong in Yan'an Mansion. Every step in his life was pushed by God, and finally when Liu Chengzong decided to enter Qinghai At that moment, I had the illusion that I was in control of my own destiny.

It's very short, but still can't escape God's pursuit.

But Liu Chengzong didn't know his sense of fate, and asked in surprise: "Which step?"

Cao Yao didn't go into too much detail, but just smiled and said: "Because I can't pay the salary soon, it's better to take advantage of the time to go to war, and the military salary will be given if I win; There is no need to think about paying the military salary."

"Are you so pessimistic about the situation? Haha!"

Liu Chengzong laughed heartily, leaned on the railing, raised his index finger and swayed in the air in front of him, and said, "It's not necessary. There are three goals in the military plan. One is to capture Longxi, the other is to enter Guanzhong, and the third is to capture the whole of Shaanxi." .”

Cao Yao was very cautious about the situation of this war, and said: "I also heard it at the military meeting, the battle line is too long, thousands of people from Ningxia to Hanzhong..."

"This is our chance to win. It is impossible for me to attack everywhere on a front thousands of miles away, but the Ming army has to defend everywhere. I didn't say that everyone was excited during the military meeting. The brothers now value the territory too much. Battle We can fight, but there is no need to fight with them, we can fight wherever we want, and it doesn’t matter if there are holes in the defense.”

"When the Ming army comes, we will lose the land. From Jingning Prefecture to Gongchang Mansion, from Gongchang Mansion to Lintao Mansion, we can lose it. Just like before, don't care about those lands. There is neither food nor people on the land. , the huge Jingning Prefecture has only 97 people, and it is all empty."

Liu Chengzong raised his hand and waved it in the air on the Fuyun Building, as if he had half a map that accurately marked the location of the city in front of him, and said: "We will fight Weizhou and Ningxia towns on the North Road, the two royal cities of Qingfan, and take a military pay That's it."

"The Guanzhong in the middle road is not easy to enter. The Ming army throws He Renlong's mobile troops. If we can't defend well, we will run them over. If we defend well, we will attack Guyuan and ask Han Xiaowang to ask them for help. When they go north, we will run over them." Enter Guanzhong."

"We will attack Hanzhong on the South Road. It is not easy for our heavy troops to enter that place, but the light soldiers of Master Gao and Brother Huang Wa cross the mountains and ridges like walking on flat ground. There is a Ruifan there, and it is also a good place to pay for food."

After Liu Chengzong finished speaking, he withdrew his hand, tapped twice on the railing, and said: "Go in if it is easy to fight, and retreat if it is not easy to fight, mobilize the Ming army, and put Lian Guoshi, He Renlong, and He Renlong led by Chen Qiyu into the battle. With the battalions of Zhang Yingchang, Yang Yanchang, Zuo Liangyu, Deng Qi, and Tang Jiuzhou wiped out, we can go wherever we want in the whole of Shaanxi?"

Cao Yao was delighted, and slowly shook his head and said: "It's not that the generals value the territory, and they don't seek their own politics if they are not in their positions. If you don't speak up, who of us would dare to say abandon the land and fight with the Ming army?"

Liu Chengzong also smiled at these words. Giving up the land is easy to say, but it requires a complicated migration process. It is impossible for him to directly tell all the participating generals to throw away the land at the military meeting, as long as the brigade commanders who command the battle know. up.

The play is still to be done, and the commander of the Ming army must think that he has a place to fight.

"Is Gansu going to lose too?"

Cao Yao thought about it, and finally asked this question. He explained: "The population of other places is easy to relocate, but Gansu is not easy to relocate. Besides, Liangzhou will really feel distressed if it is lost... The one surnamed Hong burned well last year. The land in Wuwei Oasis is very fertile, and it can produce a lot of grain this year."

Not to mention the food is okay, but when it comes to food, Liu Shizi also feels distressed: "Gansu, the army from Ningxia must be attacking Gansu. Let's see who is quick. I will attack Weizhou first, and the frontier army from Gansu will not be able to go to Liangzhou." Let's go, they attacked Liangzhou first...we gave up and continued to attack Weizhou."

The big deal is to turn Liangzhou into a happy city for the Ming army like Bajiao City, and it will continue to surround it this year.

"However, if this happens, Gansu will definitely be unstable." Liu Chengzong thought for a while and said, "Go back and have a look. I remember that Gansu has many generals of the Ming army who are at home. How are they doing now?"

"Yes, there are 43." Cao Yao had been prepared for this, and he said like a few treasures: "For example, Ouyang Gun, a Ganzhou native, happened to stay at home during the Gansu Battle. He was going to be the deputy general of Lintao. Together with a group of squires, Yang Jiamo formed two Ganzhou battalions."

"They didn't surrender to the Marshal's Mansion until the end of the war. They hid in the city and wanted to go back to their hometown when they were found. I sent them to the Great Buddha Temple to accompany Bai Yiqing to chant scriptures."

Cao Yao said with a smile: "The Great Buddha Temple in Ganzhou is not like you would have nobody. I threw away a bunch of old Ming generals and officials, from the governor to the scholar, from the deputy chief soldier to the thousand households. Anyway, I don't want to surrender. Just throw it inside and read scriptures, anyway, the army is suppressing in Gansu, and the sky cannot be turned."

"Brother is doing well."

Liu Chengzong gave a word of encouragement, and said: "But now that the war is about to start, most of the troops stationed in Gansu will be transferred to Shaanxi. If the news of the setbacks on the front line is sent back, I am afraid they will not be able to stabilize them, lest the backyard catch fire. You go back and move them together with their families. Lanzhou."

Lanzhou is the most important transportation hub in Hexi, and military supplies from Gansu and Hehuang must pass through here. No matter what happens to the front line, Liu Chengzong will definitely keep one or two battalions in Lanzhou, more than enough to take care of these people.

"Well, I'll do it when I get back."

After Cao Yao agreed, Liu Chengzong asked easily, "How about it, brother, do you want to make a move? Do you want to attack Ningxia or guard Lanzhou?"

Cao Yao said without hesitation, "Ningxia."

There is no need to think about this issue. Even if he stays in Gansu, he will definitely meet the frontier army in Ningxia. In this case, it is better to attack Weizhou first to avoid the flames of war from reaching Liangzhou.

"But I'm going to Ningxia, what about Gansu? How many troops does the commander plan to keep guarding?"

"I plan to let Zhong Hu lead the army of training soldiers to go there. There is the Chijin Department outside the pass, guarding Ganzhou; other troops will be pulled into Shaanxi to fight the imperial court."

Liu Chengzong clapped his hands while talking, and said: "By the way, I almost forgot about the important event. When you go to Ningxia, there is an important event. It is Qing Fan's clan. If you don't want to kill them, don't kill them. Get them all to Tianshan."

"Go to Tianshan?"

Cao Yao was puzzled, there was no shortage of people in the mountain that day, instead of sending them to Tianshan, it would be better to stay in the quarry at the foot of Qilian Mountain, not to mention that there are mines in Gansu that can accommodate those princes.

Liu Shizi knew what Brother Cao was thinking at a glance, and quickly shook his head and said, "It's Dai Daozi. I promise Dai Daozi to help him avenge him. I imagined it would be earlier, he probably won’t be back until next year, and I’ll send him there after the fight.”

"Don't worry, I will come to Guanzhong and Guyuan. When the ministries are dispatched, if you need support in Ningxia, just tell me." (End of this chapter)