Wu Shigong returned to Runing's home on the evening of June 21, the seventh year of Chongzhen. Seeing Wu Shigong's return, the ladies in the inner house were very happy. Because this time Wu Shigong finally did not bring a woman back.
Especially when it comes to the world-famous Qinhuai River.
As soon as Wu Shigong arrived home, in addition to immediately informing Deng Qifan that Xue Yongli and the others would discuss matters tomorrow morning, he took a stack of newspapers and the Shanchuan Division's intelligence analysis back to his inner house to read through them in detail.
So when Wu Shigong entered the study the next day, people who were familiar with Wu Shigong, such as Deng Qifan and Xue Yongli, could see that Wu Shigong was worried. Wu Shigong was worried not because the external situation was not going well, but because Chen Qiyu's encirclement and suppression of the peasant rebel army was going too smoothly.
.
During these four months, Chen Qiyu, the governor of the five provinces, organized twenty-three battles and won all of them. The peasant rebel army could not stand in the plains and could only rely on the mountainous areas to fight in Hanzhong, Xing'an, Yunyang, and Fangxian.
area.
At this time, Zhang Xianzhong's peasant army entered Sichuan to conquer Kuizhou (today's Fengjie, Chongqing) and besieged Taiping. Wu Shigong's godmother, Qin Liangyu, arrived with troops, and happened to attack Zhang Xianzhong with his son Ma Xianglin who had returned to Sichuan. They defeated Zhang Xianzhong in Kuizhou.
, the bandits were frightened by the reputation of Qin Liangyu and his "white pole soldiers", and they fled in panic to Dading in eastern Sichuan. Zhang Xianzhong was defeated and retreated to Huguang.
However, when the peasant rebels entered the mountainous areas, the government and army cowered in the face of difficulties. No one was willing to do the dirty work of chasing and suppressing the peasants in the mountains. They all focused on driving the peasant rebels to neighboring provinces.
However, Emperor Chongzhen was very dissatisfied with this kind of kicking the ball. On April 20th, he personally issued an order to urge the war and gave verbal warnings to various towns.
So Chen Qiyu personally planned the strategic deployment of regional defense and full-field press: He ordered the governor of Shaanxi to guard the northern line, the governor of Yunyang Lu Xiangsheng to guard the west, the governor of Henan Xuanmo to guard the east, and the governor of Huguang Tang Hui to guard the east.
Southern line.
As for Chen Qiyu himself, he personally took on the task of pressing the entire field and led his troops into the mountains to chase down the peasant rebels. In any case, Chen Qiyu's spirit of bravely shouldering heavy responsibilities at this time is still very commendable.
Chen Qiyu and Lu Xiangsheng decided to first focus on killing the civilian army in the mountains near Yunyang. The two led the officers and soldiers to cross mountains and rivers, climb trees on cliffs, and track and kill the civilian army, with many successes.
So Chen Qiyu was so proud of his achievements that he reported to Chongzhen that because he personally led his troops into the mountains to search and suppress, the big bandits in Chuzhong were basically wiped out.
But what Chen Qiyu said is true, but there is another fact. A large number of peasant rebels moved from the mountainous areas of Huguang to the mountains of the Hannan area of Shaanxi.
In fact, Chen Qiyu also had a small idea here. He wanted to cause some trouble to his biggest competitor, Hong Chengchou, and disgust him. But how could Hong Chengchou, the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi Province, not fight back?
So Emperor Chongzhen got "another fact" from Hong Chengchou, the governor of Shaanxi Province. He believed that Chen Qiyu had not done a clean job. He instructed Chen Qiyu to "move up as quickly as possible", so Chen Qiyu continued to lead his army northward.
But no matter what, there is no doubt that the Ming army won successive victories, and there is no doubt that the peasant rebel army was in dire straits. Even Zheng Ling's intelligence analysis mainly analyzed and predicted that after the victory of the encirclement and suppression, Chen Qiyu and
How do the two factions of officials headed by Hong Chengchou compete for power and profit, and how can the Runing army take advantage of the situation to obtain some benefits?
But Wu Shigong knew that the situation was not optimistic at all. A military group that would conquer Beijing and overthrow the rule of the Ming Dynasty in the future would not be that simple.
Wu Shigong knew that if anything changed the original history, it would be the Ruzhou victory of his Runing army. But Wu Shigong also knew that although the Ruzhou victory looked brilliant in terms of results, it did not cause any casualties to the peasant rebel army.
Their muscles, bones, and even their fur were not harmed much. So it was impossible to count.
Besides, on the surface, the peasant rebel army is indeed in dire straits. But just look at Henan. Except for Runing Mansion and Guide Mansion, which were suppressed by the Runing Army, the rule of the Ming Dynasty has been reduced to the city.
, the area outside the city is completely in a state of anarchy.
To be honest, as long as a reputable peasant rebel leader comes to Henan and raises his voice, Wu Shigong believes that he can immediately mobilize an army of hundreds of thousands of refugees.
Henan is like this, and the crippled Shaanxi and Shaanxi are also like this. The Huguang and Sichuan areas where the peasant rebels are raging this time will also be like this. Therefore, if Li Zicheng, the leader of the peasant rebels, is not removed,
If it is completely wiped out, the giant python of the peasant rebel army will not hurt Qicun's vital points at all. They can recover at any time and can still make trouble in the Central Plains.
But Wu Shigong couldn't express his worries. Being a crow's mouth always irritates others. In the final analysis, it was Wu Shigong's own guess. Besides, Wu Shigong was also lucky in his heart. He thought that if the encirclement and suppression could really succeed this time,
, that means you have eliminated a serious worry for yourself.
As a result, the discussion went on normally. First, each department reported its work. And there was also good news here in the Runing Army.
The summer harvest of the Runing Army's farm has been a bumper harvest. Because the three decrees were issued a little late, the abandoned land can only be harvested for one season this year. However, judging from the situation, it is a bumper harvest. In terms of food, the Runing Army
Finally, they can breathe a sigh of relief. For the first time in so many years, the Runing Army has been able to become self-sufficient in food supplies without obtaining food from outside sources.
As for the business of Sihai Commercial Bank and Sihai Bank, due to their good reputation in the past and the efforts of principal shopkeepers such as Yuan Xingshan, they borrowed a batch of goods from outside merchants based on their reputation, so the working capital was not as tight as originally expected.
Moreover, because Runing Prefecture has become a safety island in the surrounding areas, only the workshops here can produce smoothly. Therefore, Runing Prefecture and Guide Prefecture have gradually become a trade distribution center in the surrounding areas. This also makes the work of attracting investment
It went very smoothly. The tax revenue obtained by the Runing Army was also growing steadily.
Everything is normal in the army, except that due to the gathering of refugees, another four or five thousand people have been added to protect the village. The only trouble is the continuous influx of refugees. However, under Deng Qifan's strong control, the influx of refugees can still be
Temporarily tolerated.
However, Deng Qifan pointed out that with the bumper harvest of the Runing Army, special attention must be paid to the issue of the influx of refugees. Because if they are forcibly refused, it will affect the "benevolence and justice" image that the Runing Army has established in the past. But
If those who come are not rejected, the Runing Army may once again face financial collapse. (To be continued.)