Although they were blown to pieces by the first round of grenades, as Liu Zongchang's escort, these people were also the elite of the Zhennan Army. Under Liu Zongchang's shouts, they quickly stabilized their position.

And tried to use the numerical advantage to resist the offensive of Zhang Chenghu and others...

However, the elite Fengwu troops under Zhang Chenghu remained unmoved and focused on rushing towards Liu Zongchang.

Seeing that all the brothers in front were killed, Liu Zongchang's lieutenant opened his mouth to persuade Liu Zongchang:

"Sir, please withdraw! This group of Fengwu troops are charging too hard. Our brothers can hardly hold it anymore. We can leave the green hills without worrying about having no firewood!"

, Liu Zongchang gave him a cold look at the deputy general's dissuasion, then pulled out his sword and walked towards the forefront of the battle formation with his bodyguards. As he walked, he shouted:

"Brothers of the Zhennan Army! I, Liu Zongchang, am here. Brothers, follow me and kill! See how many heads these Fengwu Army have, whether they are enough for us to chop off!"

Hearing Liu Zongchang's killing cry, the deputy general behind him knew that his temper was rising. He could only sigh and signal his men to go to Huaiyuan County for help, while following Liu Zongchang step by step, while the Zhennan Army was fighting

When the soldiers saw Liu Zongchang coming up, their morale was immediately boosted, and they showed signs of resisting the Fengwu army's attack.

Liu Zongchang's leading the way has many benefits for the soldiers of the Zhennan Army, but this also means that the Fengwu Army has locked his position. Originally, it was dark now, Liu Zongchang was hiding in the Zhennan Army formation, and Zhang Chenghu

It was really hard to find them, but now he took the initiative to jump out, which undoubtedly helped Fengwu Army a lot...

····

Seeing Liu Zongchang coming and going, Zhang Chenghu immediately led his troops to kill Liu Zongchang. Liu Zongchang really deserved the title of a fierce general. When he saw Zhang Chenghu and his men running towards him, he didn't dodge or hesitate at all.

He just took the guards around him to greet him.

As a well-known fierce general in the Zhennan Army, Liu Zongchang's personal martial arts is also very strong. Using a thick ring-shaped sword, he killed two Fengwu Army soldiers with just two swords. As soon as he wiped the blood on his face, he was ready to chop

When the third sword was struck, a Tang Dao quietly slashed at his neck!

Faced with this sneak attack, Liu Zongchang seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He immediately turned around and drew his sword to block. The huge power coming from the ring-shou sword immediately knocked Zhang Chenghu back a few steps and forced Zhang Chenghu back.

Finally, Liu Zongchang did not take advantage of the situation to pursue, but instead observed the Huanshou knife in his hand. Under his gaze, a small gap suddenly appeared on the sharp blade of the Huanshou knife.

Noticing this, Liu Zongchang was a little surprised. The next second he raised his head and looked at the Tang Dao in Zhang Chenghu's hand. There was a hint of greed in his fierce eyes and he couldn't help but praise:

"Good knife!"

Hearing Liu Zongchang's praise of the sword in his hand, Zhang Chenghu's expression did not change at all. He gathered up enough strength to kill Liu Zongchang again...

······

Seeing Zhang Chenghu running towards him, Liu Zongchang laughed and faced him with a ring-headed sword. Under his hand, the ring-headed sword weighing dozens of kilograms was opened and closed in a big way. It took only a few moves to kill Zhang Chenghu.

The one who cut Zhang Chenghu was retreating steadily, and there were many dangers. If this attitude continued, Zhang Chenghu would probably die miserably under his sword if he took two or three more moves!

At this critical moment, the Fengwu gunman finally found an opportunity. A bullet hit the abdomen of Liu Zongchang, who was holding a sword high. The Zhennan Army general who was so majestic a second ago suddenly fell to the ground.

Zhang Chenghu's heart was filled with surprises at this twisting scene.

However, at this moment, Liu Zongchang, who was hit in the abdomen and bleeding, struggled to stand up. Seeing this scene, Zhang Chenghu was a little surprised. He knew the power of Fengwu gun, although its armor-piercing ability was not as good as Fengwu's.

The army's razor-breaking gun was greatly improved compared to the Weiyuan gun. It could hit Liu Zongchang in the abdomen within a hundred steps, even if it couldn't kill Liu Zongchang with one shot, at least it shouldn't let him stand up again.

Although he was a little surprised, Zhang Chenghu's reaction was not slow. He immediately went up with a knife and wanted to kill Liu Zongchang while you were sick. At this time, Liu Zongchang's soldiers saw Liu Zongchang was shot.

, also gathered around desperately, trying to stop Zhang Chenghu...

However, these little miscellaneous hairs, how could they stop Zhang Chenghu, they were directly taken care of by Zhang Chenghu. When he came to Liu Zongchang's side, Zhang Chenghu raised his knife and chopped without any hesitation. At this time, Liu Zongchang, who was shot in the abdomen, although he could barely stand up

He stood up, but could no longer lift his heavy ring-shou sword. Facing the murderous Zhang Chenghu, he could only instinctively raise his arms to block.

A knife was struck on Liu Zongchang's arm, but it did not cut off his arm directly as Zhang Chenghu thought, but only cut a bloody wound on Liu Zongchang's arm. At this time, Zhang Chenghu was surprised to discover

, It turns out that the cotton armor worn by Liu Zongchang is much thicker than the cotton armor worn by ordinary soldiers. In addition, there are many iron sheets for protection in the key positions of the cotton armor.

Although the bullet fired by Fengwu Gun just hit Liu Zongchang, its potential energy had been greatly weakened after passing through the cotton armor, so it did not cause Liu Zongchang the fatal damage expected. Please understand this

Zhang Chenghu chopped directly at Liu Zongchang's head.

There was no accident this time. As Zhang Chenghu raised and lowered the knife, Liu Zongchang's head rolled to the ground with an angry look.

Looking at Liu Zongchang's huge head, Zhang Chenghu felt relieved after completing the mission. However, the grief-stricken shouts of Liu Zongchang's soldiers all around him in the next second suddenly made him realize that the mission was not completely over yet. He would continue to

We must try our best to bring our brothers back to Hebei Province...

Their mission was to kill Liu Zongchang, so after completing the mission, there was no need to tangle with Liu Zongchang's escorts, so after wrapping up Liu Zongchang's head, Zhang Chenghu asked all the ministries to take turns to cover the retreat. However, at this time, because of Liu Zongchang's

Even after his death, every one of his escort troops turned red-eyed and bitten the Fengwu army.

Zhang Chenghu spent a lot of effort to use the darkness to throw them away and return to a safe place. After Zhang Chenghu counted the number of people, his mood suddenly became serious. In the fierce battle just now, almost half of their small force had injuries.

, in addition to more than forty people were killed and eight seriously wounded. You must know that these people are the elites of the Fengwu Army, so the casualties are not small.

However, Zhang Chenghu felt much better when he thought that they had killed Liu Zongchang and completed the task assigned above. As long as they could kill Liu Zongchang, they would be able to annihilate their entire army.

Taking advantage of everyone's short rest, Zhang Chenghu immediately found Lu Wu and discussed the next retreat route. Time is life for them now. The news of Liu Zongchang's assassination will spread after dawn. By then, the surrounding towns will

The Confederate army will start a clearing operation, so in order to survive, they will start taking action tonight and run as far as possible under the cover of night!

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Yijing, Governor's Mansion, Study Room

Ye Mingsheng, who looked solemn, was carefully checking the memorial in front of him. Recently, due to the deepening of trade with Jiangnan, the Fengwu Army had obtained a large amount of money. With the support of this money, the Fengwu Army also intensively carried out the recruitment and expansion of the army.

!

In addition to letting Xun Ke serve as the general of the Eighth Division, Ye Mingsheng also plans to make Ye Dong the general of the Ninth Division. In terms of establishment, he will first expand the army by two divisions and then supplement and expand manpower for other units. The staff estimates that this expansion will be about 50,000.

To a scale of 60,000 people, including the cost of settling in and weapons and armor, a total investment of about 500,000 taels of silver is required.

This money has been sent to the General Staff Department in batches by the Financial Department this month. Originally, this matter was considered completed, but what people did not expect was that just a month ago, the Coordination Office received news that a clerk from the Logistics Department under the General Staff Headquarters

, I lost more than thirty taels of silver in one night in an underground casino in Yijing.

And according to his salary, these more than thirty taels of silver were his salary for more than three years without food or drink. There is no doubt that there is something wrong with this matter!

Therefore, the Coordination Office also used him to follow the clues and successfully uncovered a corruption case. Yuan Sheng, the deputy director of the Logistics Department of the Fengwu Army, together with some grassroots generals of the Fourth Division and the Fifth Division, involved dozens of people in the case.

, they joined forces and worked together to distribute some substandard weapons and armor to recruits as inferior goods, and then took these good things and sold them on the black market, thereby making huge profits. By the time of the incident, they had sold thousands of weapons and armors.

pieces, and gained a profit of 50,000 taels of silver························

This case can be said to be the first case of corruption in the Fengwu Army so far. Corruption has also occurred in the Fengwu Army before, but neither the number of people involved nor the amount of money involved was so large. In this regard, Ye Mingsheng

He was also very angry. Not only did he demand that all the military attachés involved be handed over to the Military Chief Division for severe punishment, he also directly ordered the Coordination Office and the Military Chief Division to conduct a major investigation into the Fengwu Army's logistics department. The logistics department must not let this happen again.

What Ye Mingsheng is looking at now is that the Military Chief Division and the Coordination Office gave him a joint report on this matter. In the joint report, the Coordination Office and the Military Chief Division believed that after the Logistics Department removed Yuan Sheng and a few of his minions, the Logistics Department was left with

The officials below are basically trustworthy. Even if some individuals have some minor problems, it is not enough to open a case for investigation and just criticize and educate them.

Ye Mingsheng also felt a little relieved about this result. He had decided to give the logistics department an extra month's bonus to appease people and reward their integrity.

However, regarding the handling of those involved in the case, Ye Mingsheng was somewhat dissatisfied with Jun Zhengsi's handling plan! He felt that the treatment of some people was too light!

Regarding this corruption case, Yue Qing from the Military Affairs Bureau proposed a solution: the main culprit Yuan Sheng and several of his minions would be executed and their homes would be confiscated and all property confiscated.

However, for some low-level generals involved in the case, Yue Qing's sentences were much lighter. Some of them were even given major demerits, and the whole army was criticized. They were fined with a year's salary confiscation and sentenced to beheading. Only three of them were sentenced to death.

The vast majority of people are just demoted and dismissed from their posts...

In this regard, Ye Mingsheng believes that the punishment measures are too light. Important cases like this involving dozens of people must be dealt with seriously to make sure that everyone understands that corruption is a red line in the Fengwu Army and whoever touches this red line

Whoever has to pay the price must create a political environment within the military that cannot and dares not corrupt.

As for why Yue Qing was given such a lenient sentence, Ye Mingsheng could more or less guess. The grassroots military attachés involved in the case were all chief officers of various ministries, and they were all capable of fighting. Some of them had made many military exploits.

, are the beloved generals of the generals and commanders. Now the Fengwu Army is about to fight. If these people are punished too harshly, it is likely to cause some problems in the army's command. So if nothing happens, there will be more than one person saying hello to Yue Qing.

Oh! Otherwise, Yue Qing’s upright character wouldn’t have done this!

Ye Mingsheng also knows that this is a problem, but he still has to stick to his principles, so he has to be the villain to do this!

Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng left a comment in the report and asked Yue Qing to strictly formulate a handling plan!

After settling this matter, Ye Mingsheng was planning to drink tea and rest for a while. Suddenly Ye Cheng walked in and reported to Ye Mingsheng:

"Sir, Qiqige needs to see you for something!"

Regarding this, Ye Mingsheng only thought that An Miaoyi had something to tell him, so he asked Qi Qige to pass on the message, so he nodded to Ye Cheng without thinking too much.

A moment later, the tall Qiqige appeared in front of Ye Mingsheng, and after scanning the peaks and long legs, Ye Mingsheng asked:

"Why did Miaoyi ask you to come?"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's inquiry, Qiqi Ge's pretty face showed a complex look, but under Ye Mingsheng's gaze, she hesitated to speak. Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng only felt that An Miaoyi asked her to convey some shame between husband and wife.

It was something embarrassing, so he continued:

"You and I are here. If you have anything to say, just say it!"

Qiqige made up her mind after hearing this, and the next second she knelt down in front of Ye Mingsheng and begged with tears in her eyes:
Chapter completed!