The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 51 Battle Situation
Xingping County, Chengdong Daying.

Holding a whip in his hand, Hong Chengchou walked slowly into the military tent surrounded by a group of personal guards.

He had just finished inspecting the defense lines around the barracks, and went to the wounded barracks to express condolences to the sergeants.

The capital, Tian Yinglong, died in battle, and almost all his servants died in battle. His battalion's combat strength was greatly damaged, and now only ordinary soldiers are left in the battalion.

The successive defeats made the morale of the soldiers under the command of He Renlong and Zhang Quanchang always sluggish.

Even after repelling the army led by Gao Yingxiang a few days ago, the morale of the army has not recovered much.

Fortunately, Gao Yingxiang's desire to advance eastward is not too strong, but only a tentative attack.

Relying on the pacesetter battalion under his hands and He Renlong's desperate efforts, at least Gao Yingxiang retreated temporarily.

Hong Chengchou had already received news from Binzhou and Sanshui that bandits from Pingliang Mansion and Qingyang Mansion were coming to the Guanzhong area.

Hong Chengchou understood why Gao Yingxiang divided his troops, and also understood why Gao Yingxiang only made a tentative attack and then retreated.

Gao Yingxiang did not let him attack Guanzhong and enter Xi'an.

The purpose of dividing troops and looting is to continue to expand the scale, replenish the number of people, and increase combat power.

Gao Yingxiang marched in three directions, in order to coerce the hungry and refugees from the three prefectures to enter Guanzhong and capture Xi'an.

The reason why he left after testing it out was just to find out how many soldiers he still had under his command, and to wait for the two groups of soldiers from the direction of Pingliang Mansion and Qingyang Mansion to encircle him.

"Zhang Waijia..."

There was a fierce light in Hong Chengchou's eyes, he clenched the horsewhip tightly in his hand, resisting the urge to throw it on the ground.

Ai Wannian, Liu Chenggong and others were all good fighters in the army, and they all suffered defeats. Even Cao Wenzhao suffered a lot. They were almost trapped in Qiutou Town, Li Zicheng and Hui In the hands of the Prime Minister.

The bandit army in Qingyang Mansion in the north had the least number of bandits, and at the same time, it was the worst.

Therefore, he repeatedly reminded Zhang Waijia not to underestimate the enemy, but to guard Sanshui City.

After he received the news of Cao Wenzhao's victory from Binzhou, he was not happy for a few days before he received the news of the fall of Sanshui City.

These soldiers and horses from Liao Town can indeed fight, but the generals leading the troops hardly listen to the instructions, and they are all arrogant, thinking that the current rogues are just a bunch of local chickens and dogs.

That is to say, You Shiwei and Cao Wenzhao knew how to advance and retreat, and obeyed his orders.

Hong Chengchou pressed his hands on his temples, and the throbbing of his head made him feel excruciating pain.

Since entering Tongguan, he has rarely heard good news.

Many places in Fengxiang Mansion fell, and urgent paperwork filled his desk like snowflakes.

The magistrate of Fengxiang Mansion has written a letter to impeach him for allowing the bandits to wreak havoc and flee without a fight.

It's a mess inside and out, waiting for him to deal with it.

There are so many things to do, these days he hasn't slept peacefully once a day.

Hong Chengchou raised his head, opened his bloodshot eyes, and asked.

"What's the situation with Liu Chenggong now?"

In the Battle of Xiangle in Ningzhou, the Ming army was ambushed, and Ai Wannian and Liu Guozhen fought hard and died.

Liu Chenggong and Wang Xi ordered them to lead the remnant soldiers out of the siege, but they were also seriously injured.

The two men have recovered from their injuries so far, and Liu Chenggong has almost recovered, but Wang Ximing suffered injuries to his thighs and arms.

Liu Chenggong's injuries would take some time to heal, but the soldiers under Tian Yinglong had no choice but to take care of them.

Now Liu Chenggong is still in the capacity of deputy general, temporarily in charge of the soldiers under the command of the capital Si Tian Yinglong.

Hearing Hong Chengchou's question, Sun Shoufa stood up and reported.

"The affairs of the battalion have been properly arranged. Vice General Liu has replaced several generals, and the battalion has been stabilized."

"It's just that the morale in the army is still quite low, and it may take about half a month to recover."

Hong Chengchou frowned slightly, half a month was really too long.

Sun Shoufa saw Hong Chengchou's displeasure on his face, and he and Liu Chenggong had a good relationship, so he could only bite the bullet and say at the moment.

"Tian Dusi died for the country, and there were many casualties in the camp. The food and salary for the pension has not yet been paid, and it was even last month..."

Hong Chengchou's expression froze slightly, and he couldn't say what he was going to say.

Military pay, military pay, and all battalions in various places need military pay.

Although the emperor distributed more than 100 million taels of money from Beijing, provinces, and other provinces as military pay, a lot of this million taels of silver was withheld before it left Beijing, and there was not much left when it was sent to Shaanxi, Huguang, and Henan.

"There is no need to worry about pensions and military pay. Tomorrow, I will arrange for people to distribute them and inform Liu Chenggong to rectify military affairs as soon as possible. The situation is becoming more urgent now, and there is no room for negligence."

"The humble official thanked the army for the casualties. The whole army must be greatly boosted when they hear the news!"

Sun Shoufa fell to his knees and said sincerely.

Hong Chengchou sighed in his heart, showing a trace of fatigue, but soon he regained his composure.

In May, Lu Xiangsheng succeeded Tang Hui as the right deputy capital censor and governor of Huguang. Now he is stationed in Xiangfan.

The bandits are being suppressed more and more fiercely, and the civil upheavals are endless.

Now the civil uprising has spread to Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Huguang, Nanzhili, Sichuan, Shandong and many other provinces, and he alone has been inseparable from his energy to govern.

There have been rumors from above that it seems that there is an intention to set up the post of "Prime Minister of the Five Provinces", with Lu Xiangsheng concurrently in charge of the military affairs of the five provinces of Southern Zhili, Henan, Shandong, Sichuan, and Huguang.

"By the way, who did Cao Wenzhao send to take over the Liao soldiers under Zhang Waijia's command?"

Hong Chengchou stood up, and while asking, he stood up and asked the left and right to take off the armor he was wearing.

The soldiers of this era are extremely regional.

Zhang Waijia led Liao soldiers, Zuo Liangyu led Changping soldiers, He Renlong, and Zhang Quanchang led Shaanxi soldiers.

No matter who is in charge of the three of them, it is difficult to control the nine hundred Liao soldiers. Naturally, Hong Chengchou will not assign them to any of the three of them.

The only candidate, of course, can only be Cao Wenzhao.

Although Hong Chengchou had a feud with Cao Wenzhao before, this time Cao Wenzhao's attitude was extremely respectful, and he let go of his grievances, and the two of them have settled down.

Let Cao Wenzhao restrain these Liao soldiers this time, which also means to compensate for the loss of their military exploits before.

"Is it Cao Bianjiao or Cao Dingjiao?"

Because of the defeat of Datong, Cao Wenzhao was dismissed from his post and sent to the army, but he was transferred again to counter the rebellion before retiring.

There are not many people available under Cao Wenzhao's command now, only Cao Bianjiao and Cao Dingjiao's two nephews and a few others, all of whom he remembers their names.

Only Cao Bianjiao and Cao Dingjiao were able to lead a battalion alone, so Hong Chengchou asked for their names directly.

"what happened?"

Hong Chengchou waited for a while, but he still didn't hear Sun Shoufa's answer.

He turned his head to look at Sun Shoufa, but saw that Sun Shoufa had a strange expression on his face.

Hong Chengchou raised his eyebrows, shook the python robe he was wearing, and sat down on the chair again.

"Is it possible that apart from his two nephews, there is a third person under his command who can manage those Liao soldiers?"

(End of this chapter)