The bright moon shines in the sky, and the stars are dotted.
Under the starry sky, soldiers and horses are on the road. Although walking at night is inconvenient, it is a hundred times more comfortable than a hundred days of scorching heat.
Chang Yu broke out of camp with Wu Weiying, but did not wander slowly with him. After all, Shenji Camp carried too much baggage and was destined to be the last to arrive in Jiangnan.
"I'll beg you some stuff from the front, you can pick it up at the back," Chang Yu said before they left. Wu Weiying was so happy that she still hasn't closed her mouth.
The Shenji Battalion's biggest capital and reliance is artillery and firearms. However, after the Ningyuan War, the Baoding War, the forced crossing of the Yellow River, and the defense of Qingzhou Prefecture, the loss of firearms and ammunition was excessive. Many artillery and firearms exploded and ammunition was seriously insufficient. Even this
This time the inventory in the capital was almost depleted, which was even less than when we left the country a few months ago.
This is what makes Wu Weiying feel most unsure about this trip. But listening to the little eunuch’s words, he will not only have to beg for food but also for equipment along the way!
The waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves ahead. The little eunuch is destined to be the most troublesome person these days. He is thick-skinned, shameless enough, and his methods are cunning enough. He still has problems and has strength and face. If it were anyone else, he would have paid a high price for tolls without being blackmailed all the way south.
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On this point, Wu Weiying was particularly impressed by the little eunuch.
It was a cool night, and Chang Yu and his entourage rode wildly. Even his two-horse chariot could run freely because there was no one to ride on it. They took ten miles to catch their breath, twenty miles to urinate, and thirty miles to wash their horses.
This was repeated, and at dawn, they had passed through Yongqing County and arrived at Bazhou County. A report came from the front: Li Yan's troops were repairing by the Zhongting River in the south of Bazhou City.
Ha, Chang Yu and Li Muxian looked at each other and couldn't hide their joy, they actually caught up with the large army.
Li Yan's injury was not completely healed and he had to ride the carriage all the way, but this was not the reason why he slowed down his marching speed.
The main reason is that I am too fat and cannot walk fast.
Li Yan was not alone on the journey. He was accompanied by Huang Degong, Ma Ke and the emperor's Eighth Guards. After defeating Dorgon, he and Huang Degong shared a large amount of military equipment and baggage, which was at the level of a big fat sheep. With more people, food and grass would naturally be needed.
He brought a lot of troops, and although his subordinates were all cavalry, they did not dare to ride away from the rear to supply supplies. Therefore, although they walked faster than Wu Weiying who pulled the cannon, they were much slower than Gao Jie and others, and even slower than the eight guards of the pro-army army.
Go more than ten miles.
Surprisingly, Chang Yu also met three commanders of the Guards here, Xuancheng Bowei Shichun, Hui'an Bo Zhang Qingzhen, and Xinlehou Liu Wenbing.
The three men commanded more than 10,000 personal guards, and the troops were more than ten miles in front. It is actually very strange why the commander was chatting behind them.
Liu Wenbing and the others were able to leave the capital to command the troops. Firstly, Chang Yu gave them a chance to practice, and secondly, Emperor Chongzhen stopped the trolls and pretended to get a few nobles to divide Chang Yu's authority.
There is no shortage of noise in the court hall.
However, two of the three Liu Wenbing were ennobled by royal relatives and one was hereditary. Although he had served in the military, he had no experience in leading troops in combat.
But the three of them, Li Huang and Ma, were all experienced generals. Didn't they deliberately use the excuse of escorting the baggage from behind to accompany Li Yan and others? In fact, they were just asking for some experience.
Experience cannot be learned in a short time, and just relying on advice without actual combat is just talk on paper, but getting close can produce immediate results, and it is very necessary. The three of them are now basically on the same side as Chang Yu, while Li Yan and Huang Degong are on the same side.
It would be beneficial to get closer to Chang Yu's military henchmen.
Early in the morning, the coolest time of the day.
Next to Li Yan's military tent under the shade of trees by the Zhongting River, Chang Yu was stirring the gruel in the hanging pot with a spoon. There was meat in the porridge.
Horse meat was the subject of constant fighting for several months. Many war horses were injured or dead and were killed and salted into bacon to serve as military rations. It can also be said that although there was a famine at the moment, the food for the soldiers was still good, and meat could be seen in every meal.
In the distance, various soldiers and horses were busy crossing the river, and some were busy making fires and cooking. Within ten miles, there was a lot of noise and neighing of people and horses.
Chang Yube traveled all night and fell into a dream.
Li Yan did not march as hard as Chang Yu. He walked early in the morning, walked in the evening, and walked in the middle of the night, and spent the rest of the time repairing.
Huang Degong, Ma Ke, Liu Wenbing and others were chatting in the distance, while Chang Yu and Li Yan were cooking porridge and talking outside the military tent.
"It's easier to enter the mountains than to get out of them." Li Yan has been among the bandits for many years and is familiar with the bandits' tactics: "In summer, the mountains and forests are lush with leaves, making it easy for bandits to hide and ambush. In addition, mosquito infestations are very detrimental to the officers and soldiers, but if you want to use them
Although it is a good idea to bring them in from outside the mountain to annihilate them, the thieves are too shrewd to be fooled easily, but it is not impossible, but is the governor willing to spend the money?"
Chang Yu chuckled and said: "As the old saying goes, if you don't let go of your children, you can't catch the wolf. The governors of Anqing and Luzhou can be used as bait."
Li Yan was surprised: "It's a big deal, but the governor is not afraid of stealing the chicken but losing the rice?"
"So please ask General Li, oh no, Li Zhuguo to moisten the pen." Chang Yu chuckled, but Li Yan didn't even dare.
Amidst the curls of green smoke, the two of them were holding bowls of porridge and discussing in low voices under the tree. In the distance, next to a small forest, more than ten people were half-suspended, with blood stains on their bodies.
"Those people..." Chang Yu raised his eyebrows.
"I was caught by the Gongzi camp for misbehaving with a village woman during the march, so I was beaten." Li Yan glanced at him and said calmly.
"Your people?" Chang Yu narrowed his eyes, and Li Yan chuckled and shook his head: "Ma Ke's."
Chang Yu exclaimed: "No wonder, the people who expected you and Huang Degong could not be so forgetful."
"Memories are all typed out," Li Yan laughed.
Chang Yu woke up at noon, or rather woke up from the heat. He went to the river to wash his face and looked around. Only a few hundred of his own people were left in the riverside camp. Huang Degong and others had all left.
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But Li Yan did not leave. He limped from the shade of a tree in a single coat and said, "The Governor is hungry, I just caught a few fish and grilled them for you."
Li Yan has a very special status in the military. In addition to being the commander of the Justice Army, he is also an important think tank of Chang Yu.
At present, they are marching thousands of miles. Although there is no fighting on the way, there are many difficult military affairs to deal with. Chang Yu needs his advice.
The so-called important military affairs require tens of thousands of people's mouths and tens of thousands of people's stomachs to solve them.
Gao Jie and Liu Liu were self-sufficient in food and grass. Chang Yu didn't care. Li, Huang, and Ma each took a share of the pie in the capital. The food and grass were barely enough for the journey, but it was only enough for the journey. Should we fight on an empty stomach when we reach the end of the field? Or should we raise food on the spot?
, Shi Kefa went to Nanjing first. It was okay if he raised money, but what if he couldn't?
But in addition to them, there are 5,000 soldiers and horses from the Shenji Battalion, more than 10,000 people from the Guards, plus Wu Sangui who gets 5,000 from behind. The rations for these 20,000 people need to be supplied by the court, which is the responsibility of the Octopus Chamber of Commerce.
The Octopus Chamber of Commerce has money and has already prepared for a rainy day to go south to purchase. At this time, stocking up in Xuzhou can meet the urgent need.
But who would be dissatisfied with the abundance of food and grass, and who would be willing to spend money to buy it if he could get it for free? Besides, the famine in the north is too serious. In addition to meeting military needs, he also wants to provide some relief to the people's needs!
But these days, landlords don’t have much leftover food. You don’t have anywhere to buy food, let alone nothing.
If the landlord doesn't have it, he'll go to the old rich man. If the old rich man doesn't have it, he'll go to the rich man.
There were still many rich people in the Ming Dynasty. Although the common people were so poor that they had to exchange their children for food, it did not affect the rich people's wealth and food. After all, the gap between the rich and the poor in this era has reached an abnormal level.
Chang Yu had a bold idea, that is, to go all the way south and scrape the land. Of course, what he scraped was not the land of ordinary people, but the land of the rich.
We are about to enter the territory of Shandong. This is a large province known for being overrun with thieves, but it has also nurtured a few wealthy people.
In addition to several vassal kings, Liu Zeqing, the commander-in-chief of Shandong Province, was one of Chang Yu's targets. However, Liu Zeqing was a piece of meat and it was not easy to get food from him. Chang Yu needed to make careful calculations with Li Yan.