On February 15th of the seventh year of Chongzhen, an angel entered Pingliang Mansion with an imperial edict.
The emperor was not harsh on the well-known King Su, and the so-called punishment was just a drink of wine and the confiscation of Lumi for three years.
Su Fan's Lumi level is the lowest among all the vassals, which is the level of a second-grade official. Punishing this is just like a joke to the court and King Su.
On the other hand, King Han, who looked like he was just waiting for death, seemed to be unpopular with the emperor. He clearly abandoned King Su who was running away in Lanzhou, but the emperor ordered King Han's palace to be responsible for all the expenses for the evacuation of a hundred people from Su Fan in Pingliang City.
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King Han was so angry that he closed the door and scolded the Fourth Ancestor that there were no good people here!
However, the emperor's envoys came to Shaanxi not specifically to punish King Su or torment King Han. The main purpose was to meet with Chen Qiyu, the governor of Yansui, and grant him a new official position after the court meeting.
This new official position is the right minister of the Ministry of War and the right deputy censor of the capital, and the governor of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Huguang, and Sichuan military affairs.
At this moment, Chen Qiyu became the most powerful frontier official in the Ming Empire, and Emperor Chongzhen threw out his net against Li Zicheng and others.
In the northeast of this large network is Xuanmo, the governor of Henan, who led Zuo Liangyu, Tang Jiuzhou and Chen Bing to attack.
In the northwest, the governor of Shaanxi, who led He Renlong and Zhang Yingchang to station in Xi'an, practiced state affairs; while in the south, the governor of Shaanxi, Lu Xiangsheng, led Li Yuhua and Zhou Shifeng to station in Xunyang.
To the southeast is Tang Hui, the governor of Huguang who gathered troops to guard the border in Nanzhang.
The weakest area among them is Lu Xiangsheng's defense area, because there is no so-called Tianxiong Army in the world. Tianxiong Army is just the nickname given by the people to the army Lu Xiangsheng commanded when he was in Damingfu Military Preparation Road.
The actual composition of that army was composed of soldiers, civilians, Zhuang and landlords from the three villages of Guangping, Shunde and Tuanlian, which was the same as the armed nature of the loyal gentry in Sanyuan in early Shaanxi Province.
When something happens, there are officials above, the gentry take the lead, and the people raise military pay and equipment. The loyal people among the people will spontaneously arm themselves and go into battle. When the incident is over, they will withdraw and everyone will go back to their homes to find their mothers.
What's more, the so-called Tianxiong is an armed force of the Tang Dynasty's separatist vassal. After all, Lu Xiangsheng is also an official, and he would leave such a designation around him because of his brainlessness.
Lu Xiangsheng took office in Xunyang on his own. It was impossible to take away the landlord regiments of Daming Prefecture, so he had no direct troops. He only had 500 pacesetters left by the previous governor, all of whom were old, weak, sick and disabled. In order to prevent Xunyang from falling, he
I am racking my brains to think of a solution.
To this end, Lu Xiangsheng has three strategies. The next best option is to recruit refugees on the spot, to recruit local people, or to train the landlords' armed forces. The disadvantage is that it takes a long time and consumes food and supplies.
The central strategy is to write a letter back to his hometown in Changzhou Prefecture, recruit fellow villagers who are familiar with military affairs, and build a 1,000-strong governor's model army. The advantage is that it is reliable and easy to use, but the disadvantage is that the combat effectiveness is not strong.
The best thing to do is to go directly to the imperial court and ask for troops, guest troops, the kind that are particularly capable of fighting.
The first thing Lu Xiangsheng targeted was General Deng Qi of the Sichuan Army. This army worked hard and had a good style in the past. However, everyone knew that Deng Qi's Sichuan Army could defeat him. There were many governors who were eyeing Deng Qi. Tang Hui from Huguang also wanted to recruit Deng Qi.
Past.
He knew very well that even if he could get Deng Qi's army, he probably wouldn't be able to keep it for long. The Sichuan army had been away from home for four years, and its military discipline was getting worse and worse.
Therefore, another army came into Lu Xiangsheng's sight, the Guan Ning Army.
If it is a shortcoming that the military discipline of the mainland guest troops has deteriorated due to long-term external transfers, then the Guan Ning Army, which has a consistent military discipline style, is perfect.
Guan Ning's military discipline has always been poor, not to mention that there is a battlefield outside the pass. Being transferred to fight inside the pass is basically the same as taking a long vacation between battlefields. The generals and soldiers will not feel much homesick. After three to five years of fighting, the more they fight, the happier they become. At this moment, there are two Guan Ning armies entering the Central Plains. One is led by Cao Wenzhao and under the command of Hong Chengchou, but this army is now actually the northwest frontier army led by General Guan Ning.
Another army, led by Li Chongzhen and Zu Kuan, fought against the rebels in Shandong. The war had just ended and the court had no intention of transferring them back outside the pass. Lu Xiangsheng planned to bring this army over.
The area under Chen Qiyu's jurisdiction includes Sichuan, but Lord Chongzhen's network does not include Sichuan because Sichuan Governor Liu Hanru said something wrong.
Sichuan has been fighting the peasant army for a long time. Originally, it was the Yaohuang Thirteen Family's gang. Starting from last winter, a large number of peasant troops from the Central Plains entered Sichuan.
Because all the elite soldiers in Sichuan were transferred to fight in the Central Plains, Governor Liu Hanru had no other choice. While waiting for Qin Liangyu to come back, he pitifully mobilized the villagers and warriors to fight against the peasant army one by one, and personally escorted the grain and grass to support everywhere.
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The regular army in Sichuan is really not good at it. They were beaten up and down by the peasant army, and they were beaten to a pulp after a beating.
But the strange thing about Sichuan is that the soldiers and warriors it recruits from the common people are very powerful. Although Sichuan men are not big, they are lazy and playful on weekdays, but when it comes to war, they obey orders and are not afraid of death.
Even with no amount of training, he was able to fight back and forth with the peasant army that came out of the Central Plains. It was very impressive.
Liu Hanru fought well and was very sincere. He wrote a memorial to Master Chongzhen to summarize his experience and said that the reason for this strange situation was because the officers were all outsiders and did not take the Shu soldiers seriously, so they should treat them as
Shu people rule Shu soldiers.
Ouch, Master Chongzhen is so angry that his liver aches. Damn it, today you want to use Shu people to control Shu soldiers. What are you going to do tomorrow?
In fact, Liu Hanru has been very successful in politics since he became the governor of Sichuan in the fifth year of Chongzhen's reign. This time, he did a good job against the thieves, leaving Chongzhen with no excuse. However, based on this memorial, he has already been arranged... sooner or later.
Just give him a reason.
This was the first time that the Ming Dynasty combined the efforts of five provinces to suppress the rebels. Good generals from all over the country were gearing up, hoping to succeed in one battle.
However, at this time, Chen Qiyu had different opinions from the governors of various provinces.
Others want to first wipe out the Shaanxi Rebels who are trapped in a large net. In fact, it is no longer appropriate to call them Shaanxi Rebels at this time. Of the more than 100,000 peasant troops fleeing the Central Plains, less than half are from Shanxi, and there are many more.
People from Henan.
People have this idea because they can all see that the peasant army at this time is also united as never before, but its organization is loose and unable to form a joint force.
In the complex terrain of southern Shaanxi and eastern Sichuan, its huge force cannot be used. However, the government and army can rely on the geographical advantage to pursue and intercept it. This is their opportunity 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 inferior to those of the thieves, good organization can exert stronger confrontation capabilities, and it will not be solved for a while.
But what Chen Qiyu wanted to do was to take Lanzhou back first.
In Chen Qiyu's mind, this was a prerequisite for the successful operation of the five-province coalition. Lanzhou must be recovered first before the bandits could be wiped out.
In this case, he will mobilize his state affairs to go west to capture Lanzhou.
He was not happy to practice state affairs, so he went to find Chen Qiyu and said: "Junmen, why should we destroy the bandits first and regain Lanzhou first? This is the opposite. I think we should destroy the bandits first and then recover Lanzhou."
Chen Qiyu was anxious when he heard this. Originally, the loss of Lanzhou was neither Hong Chengchou's responsibility nor Chen Qiyu's responsibility. We have a trilateral governor and a governor of Yansui. This is the responsibility of your Shaanxi Fuchen.
But now the emperor has made me, Chen Qiyu, the governor-general of five provinces. I am eager to take over Lanzhou, but you are not in a hurry to take over?
He asked: "If we don't capture Lanzhou, is it possible that we will fight on two fronts and leave the encirclement of the five provinces of the Ministry of War to be torn apart by Liu Chengzong from the outside?"
Lian Guoshi said: "Not to mention whether Lanzhou can be captured, even if it is captured, wouldn't it be necessary to deploy heavy troops? Then Liu Chengzong would just obey and watch the city be taken away?"
"If the city can be captured, I have a defender in my heart. Not to say it is foolproof, it can be considered impregnable."
Chen Qiyu thought to herself, how should I explain to you, I have a magic card in my hand?
Unexpectedly, Lian Guoshi waved his hand directly: "Junmen, I know who you are talking about. I don't have six ears here, so I boldly said that it is General Yang of Yan'an. It must be because of him that Junmen wants to take over Lanzhou first.
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"I think this is absolutely impossible."
Chen Qiyu raised his eyebrows: "Brother Jun Yu, do you think there is something wrong with General Yang?"
"I dare not say that."
Lian Guoshi's suspicion of Yang Yanchang had nothing to do with Liu Chengzong, because Gao Yingxiang had fought a battle with the Yan'an army before he went south, and later Gao Yingxiang went to Xi'an and fought another battle with Lian Guoshi.
He didn't know what was going on with Yang Yanchang, but he knew the situation of Gao Yingxiang's army very well.
Those guys don't look like they have suffered losses at all. Gao Yingxiang, who has been farming for several years, has a more organized army than anyone else, and he is a master of high imitation.
Gao Yingxiang has a high-imitation Lion Brigade, equipped with infantry and artillery, which is exactly the same as the army when Liu Chengzong caused trouble in northern Shaanxi; he also has a high-imitation Guan Ning Brigade, with two cavalry battalions and one vehicle camp, which is also similar to the original Commander Guan Ning. They are exactly the same, even the Yiding configuration is the same.
The two brigades are fully staffed. Even if Yang Yanchang fails, he will not let Gao Yingxiang go down the mountain without even knocking down the headquarters.
Therefore, there is no need to think about this issue when it comes to practicing state affairs. Yang Yanchang must have a problem.
It's just that there is no evidence. He can't speak ill of the general who led the army to Chen Qiyu. If nothing is wrong, if he says that Yang Yanchang rebels, it will be his fault.
Chen Qiyu knew what he was worried about and said with a smile: "That's why we want to take Lanzhou and let Yang Yanchang guard Lanzhou. As long as we keep an eye on him, Lanzhou can't be lost no matter what. Hong Hengjiu can worry about the rest."< /p>
Lian Guoshi understood it, and Chen Qiyu also thought there was something wrong with Yang Yanchang.
Thinking this way, it becomes imperative to capture Lanzhou, because Yang Yanchang is useless in An'an. Even if he keeps An'an, Liu Chengzong can make a detour. Only by capturing 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 a tacit understanding, and said with a smile: "This matter is not a secret to us now. Everyone has some opinions about General Yang, but brother Jun Yu, don't worry, Hong Hengjiu of Gansu has nothing to do with General Yang. I think they must work closely together."
Lian Guoshi nodded. Hong Laojiu must have no opinion of Yang Yanchang. After all, Cao Wenzhao was Hong Chengchou's favorite general. The only time Yang Yanchang went to full power to suppress thieves was when he was inspired by Cao Wenzhao. The battle was a smooth one.< /p>
"It's easy to keep an eye on 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 Post will help us keep an eye on him."
Lian Guoshi shook his head. As long as anything comes with a premise, it means that the premise itself is very problematic and basically the thing cannot be done.
For example, if you have enough food and grass, you can win, 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 defend Lanzhou, and if Ren Quan'er can guard Yang Yanchang.
"What if Ren Quan'er can't be trusted?"
Chen Qiyu waved his hand and said, "Isn't there brother Jun Yu?"
Lian Guoshi felt that something was wrong. He opened his hands under the sleeves of his official robe and said, "Am I that reliable?"
Lian Guoshi believes that he is very unreliable. Not to mention Zhang Yingchang, his subordinate in the Biaoying camp. He is a loyal and reliable general with a background of generals. He has sufficient experience in conquering east and west and has nothing wrong with him.
But he has a strong general named He Renlong. He Renlong, who was born in Wu Jinshi, is very fierce in fighting and has a way of controlling the army, but his method is too wild.
All the people in his hometown have become rogues. The general Li Zicheng and the mountain harrier Gao Jie are all from his hometown. Gao Jie in particular is very familiar with him. It seems that he has been in contact with him at the inn before. He asked the little thief named Li Hezi to congratulate him.
Renlong has sent letters several times.
Not to mention the group of generals at the Marshal's Mansion, a marshal and two deputy generals were all packaged and sent out by He Renlong.
In recent years, He Renlong has been promoted very quickly because he is familiar with the bandits. When he didn't want the bandits to provide information, he couldn't tell if he had information about the bandits. But when the superior officers really wanted the bandits to provide information, He Renlong didn't.
Information.
Practicing state affairs itself requires Zhang Yingchang of Biaoying to watch He Renlong, but now it’s better to pick up the dragon.
Zhang Yingchang looks to He Renlong, He Renlong looks to Ren Quan'er, Ren Quan'er looks to Yang Yanchang, Yang Yanchang looks to Liu Chengzong... With so many prerequisites, can this be accomplished?
Chen Qiyu thinks it can be done.
He took Lian Guoshi to Anding to meet Yang Yanchang.
As soon as Yang Yanchang saw them, he complained bitterly about the situation. He agreed to let us guard Lanzhou, but we were lost before we arrived in Lanzhou. Now the situation has changed too fast. The army is constantly raising money, and there are even deserters.
Lord Junmen and Futai please hurry up and appease me.
This incident frightened Chen Qiyu and Lian Guoshi. They hurriedly went down to the camp to review and found that the level of military pay... was very low.
Moreover, it was said that there were a large number of deserters. In fact, after an inventory, the number of soldiers was 400 more than a full battalion.
Chen Qiyu just comforted the soldiers in person and said nothing. In private, he asked the commander Ren Quan'er to come over with Lian Guoshi and asked: "How come there are deserters and there are more soldiers than the first battalion?"
"Reporting to the military is a good thing done by General Yang."
Ren Quan'er clasped his fists and said: "When we sent out troops from Yan'an, the common people crowded in many young men along the way. When we got here, I guess the birds fell into the forest."
Chen Qiyu and Lian Guoshi looked at each other. They both knew what was going on, and asked, "Can we recapture Lanzhou City?"
Ren Quan'er shook his head slowly at first, and then he thought: "Back to the military gate, I don't dare to boast about my humble position. The Yan'an camp alone cannot do it. If there are two more reinforcements, we can give it a try."
Chen Qiyu felt comfortable, and while holding the arm that practiced state affairs, he touched Ren Quan'er's hand and said: "General Ren has great ambitions, so this deserter Quan should be the best of the best. We must take back Lanzhou City!"<
