Regarding Wu Shigong's expedition, the happiest thing was not that Zu Dashou was waiting eagerly for reinforcements from the Ming army in Dalinghe City (of course he didn't know that there was a Ming reinforcements like Wu Shigong), but that he was now waiting in Runing Fucheng, hoping that
The few followers left behind by Master Ling who accompanied Wu Shigong on the expedition.
When they finally waited for the news that Wu Shigong would go on the expedition as promised, some of them were still uneasy and accompanied Wu Shigong's Runing Battalion to march together. The remaining few flew to Kaifeng City to report the good news to the governor of Henan.
Of course Wu Shigong would not care about the actions of these people. He led the army and arrived at the Qianhusuo Fortress after two days of march. Then, Wu Shigong rested here for a day and replenished all the supplies for the last time.
Although most of Wu Shigong's workshops were relocated to Runing Mansion, some workshops still remained in Qianhusuo Fortress.
This time Wu Shigong's Runing Battalion went to Liaodong. The biggest problem was that they were not familiar with the roads. This reason is also very simple. Just imagine that a modern Henan local who does not travel far afield airdrops him to Jinzhou and lets him fly there.
He cannot ask for directions. If he walks to Shanhaiguan without road signs, he will most likely get lost.
Besides, Wu Shigong also calculated that when he rescued Dalinghe City, it happened to be when spring was blooming. At this time, the winter snow was also melting, so the roads in Liaodong must be quite muddy. This kind of road must also be
It is not conducive to the rapid movement of large vehicles.
Therefore, Wu Shigong had to replenish a batch of carts and cart wheels at the cart manufacturing workshop here in Qianhusuo Fortress. Fortunately, there was also stock in this workshop, and this November of the fourth year of Chongzhen
It was Runyue, and Wu Shigong had one more month of preparation time. Therefore, the cart manufacturing workshop was able to produce the carts and wheels Wu Shigong requested.
Also, just in case the cart got stuck in the mud, Wu Shigong was prepared to throw down the cart and escape. Therefore, in order to bring the dry food needed for the escape, Wu Shigong also prepared some supplies for the garment workshop in Senhusho Fortress.
Each soldier made a dry food bag.
The style of this dry ration bag will be familiar to anyone who has watched the TV series about the Long March. This dry ration bag will contain enough food for each soldier for ten days.
Wu Shigong brought a total of 300 carts with him on this expedition. As for the horses that pulled the carts, Wu Shigong also prepared two horses for each cart. He brought so many horses because if the cart got stuck in the mud, the soldiers could
He abandoned the cart and fled on horseback. With so many horses prepared, almost all of Wu Shigong's pack horses were wiped out.
There is another reason why Wu Shigong prepared so many carts and horses. In Wu Shigong's last two battles, although there was some luck, Wu Shigong still gained a lot from each battle. It can be said that he made two war fortunes.
But this time the expedition to Liaodong was a little different. Wu Shigong judged that Liaodong was sparsely populated, and fighting against the Tatars would only capture a few Tatar heads. It was impossible to capture any gold, silver, grain and grass. Even if there were, there would be no people.
Even the small Runing battalion cannot capture its own friendly forces.
Therefore, when Wu Shigong goes all the way north, he will look for opportunities to harvest more in various places. When the Runing camp reaches Tongzhou, he will hand over the harvested materials to Zhang Chunyu and let him sell them locally in the future.
, whether it is to return to Henan for the Runing Battalion, it is to make up for some expenses for the Runing Battalion's expedition.
Therefore, don't forget that Wu Shigong brought so many large carts. Many of the carts were actually empty. Wu Shigong himself only brought ten days' worth of grain, and was planning to go to the Jining Caoliang Official Warehouse to replenish it.
It should be said that Wu Shigong's preparations for this expedition had arranged everything he thought of. As for Wu Shigong's Runing Battalion encountering such a big accident on the way to the expedition, it can only be said that the plan could not keep up with the changes!
The army was preparing the final supplies, and Wu Shigong also wanted to receive the local people who saw him off. Gong Haoran brought dozens of local scholars to see Wu Shigong off.
Wu Shigong and Gong Haoran actually met only a few times, and their habits, hobbies, and ages were also very different. But every time they met, they could always talk happily. Wu Shigong himself also felt that
Somewhat strange.
But Gong Haoran felt a little sad when seeing him off this time. Wu Shigong thought that Gong Haoran thought that his expedition to Liaodong would be unlucky, so Gong Haoran showed such feelings.
However, after the conversation, I realized that Gong Haoran was not worried about Wu Shigong's expedition at all. He believed that Wu Shigong's expedition would definitely succeed immediately.
Gong Haoran's sadness is because he is getting old and will return to his hometown to retire. And when Wu Shigong returns from the expedition, it is estimated that Gong Haoran will no longer be an evangelist here and will have returned to his hometown long ago. According to the traffic of the Ming Dynasty
Due to the poor communication conditions, Gong Haoran will basically never meet or talk to Wu Shigong again. So this time, Gong Haoran really has to say goodbye to Wu Shigong!
After reluctantly bidding farewell to Gong Haoran, Wu Shigong received another group of visitors. They were none other than the local gentry who sent a batch of rewards, including Yuan Yuan.
Needless to say, Wu Shigong's mass base at Qianhusuo Fortress was quite solid, except for not having to deal with the county magistrate Yu Zilian.
Another tidbit happened during this meeting. Yuan Yuanwai and others asked Wu Shigong to arrange for some of their nephews to serve in the Runing camp. Of course, Yuan Yuanwai and others also said it very righteously, saying: send their nephews to accompany Wu Shigong
Shi Gong went to war together to protect his family and country without fear of death or injury.
After Wu Shigong asked Yao Yuanwai and others to send their nephews to serve in Wu Shigong's army, Yao Yuanwai and others basically sent men from their clan. At that time, they were not very optimistic about Wu Shigong's prospects.
But after such a long time, they discovered that those men from the side clan had a bright future in the Runing camp, and of course they couldn't sit still except for Yao Yuan. Therefore, this time they took advantage of this opportunity to ask for help.
Wu Shigong accepted their direct nephew.
Of course Wu Shigong also understood what Yao Yuanwai and the others were thinking. Seeing Yao Yuanwai and the others' treacherous expressions, Wu Shigong almost couldn't help but kick them a few times.
Because everyone was familiar with each other, Wu Shigong stopped pretending. He first laughed and scolded Yao Yuanwai, and then said to Yao Yuanwai and others: "You can rest assured that your nephew will be taken to Liaodong by me. I am not worried about it myself."
.What are you going to do? You don’t know how to fight, why are you going to die?"
"I understand what you are thinking. That's it! Let them go to Runing Fucheng to find Mr. Deng first, let Mr. Deng make arrangements, and let them all work for me. Don't worry! As long as they work hard, I promise
They all have a good future."
In the midst of laughter and laughter, Wu Shigong ended his meeting with Yao Yuanwai and the others. What is surprising is that both literati like Gong Haoran and gentry like Yao Yuanwai are extremely confident in Wu Shigong's expedition.
But this time Wu Shigong himself was preparing to run away because he felt that the prospect was not good. But these outsiders had absolute confidence in the Runing camp. I wonder if they were a little blind? Or were bystanders clear?
Then Wu Shigong's Runing camp set off again, and they stayed outside Guidefu City for another half day. Wu Shigong was about to enter the city to visit Mr. Hou and Commander Zhao Mingzhao.
The visit to Zhao Ming was just a courtesy, so the visit did not take much of Wu Shigong's time. Wu Shigong's visit to Mr. Hou had some purpose.
Wu Shigong knew through Guo Zeng'an that no matter whether he won or failed in this expedition, his chief assistant Zhou Yanru would transfer him away from Henan. Therefore, Wu Shigong wanted to use Hou Xun's relationship to find a way to turn things around. It would be best to be able to do it after this expedition.
Leave yourself in Henan.
Wu Shigong did not use the power of his Wu family and his father-in-law Xue family this time, because Wu Shigong also knew that they were not capable of solving his problem. Don't look at it in the eyes of the common people, the status of noble children is very high. But in the Ming Dynasty
The only people with power in the court were civil servants like Hou Xun.
Unexpectedly, Wu Shigong's visit went smoothly. Mr. Hou did not wait for Wu Shigong's request, but said to Wu Shigong in a cryptic manner: "Wu Shoubei took away all the good men from Henan this time. Wu Shoubei must remember to guard against arrogance and impetuosity.
We must try our best to bring these good men back!"
Wu Shigong suddenly heard the difference between Mr. Hou's words and those in the past. In the past, Mr. Hou would always add a few high-sounding words to his words, such as: Kill more barbarians to repay the emperor's favor. But this time he
He told Wu Shigong directly and nakedly that he wanted to preserve his strength. Of course Wu Shigong understood this immediately.
What Wu Shigong didn't know was that Mr. Hou had a good understanding of the situation in the Ming Dynasty through his letters with Hou Xun and his old relationships in official circles.
Mr. Hou, who once served as a high-ranking official, is certainly very discerning. He believes that under this situation, developing influence among civil servants is no longer so important. Winning over some powerful military generals will be very important for Hou Xun's career development.
On the contrary, it is quite important. So Mr. Hou certainly does not want Wu Shigong to lose any strength.
Seeing that his visit had achieved its purpose, Wu Shigong kowtowed and left. Although Wu Shigong still believed that the possibility of Hou Xun persuading Zhou Yanru, the chief minister, was very small, it was better to have hope than no hope.
After leaving Guidefu City, Wu Shigong asked the army to formally launch its marching formation and accelerated its march towards Jining.