In Xingquan Mansion City, Song Zhiwen was sitting in his study. For a fourth-grade red-robed official, he was not too old, only about forty years old. At this age, he was considered to be in his prime in official circles.
He is not too old, and he was born in the second class when he took the imperial examination in his early years. He chose to enter the Hanlin Academy and became a scholar. Although he failed to pass the examination and stayed in the Hanlin Academy three years later, he still stayed in the Hanlin Academy for three years.
Year.
Although the starting point of his official career was not as good as those lucky ones who were born in the first grade and could directly enter the Hanlin Academy, it was still much higher than that of most officials.
At least compared to Su Jiakang, who was born in the top three, but could not enter the Imperial Academy, and could not even become an official in the Sixth Division, he was incomparable to Song Zhiwen.
In addition, he has a profound background and his tutor is a senior official of the current court. In the eyes of many people, Song Zhiwen is a young and promising official who has great hope for further advancement. If he is not a formal Hanlin official, there is no hope for him to join the cabinet.
However, the possibility of serving as the chief envoy or even governor of a province in the future, or even returning to the capital to serve as the Minister of the Six Ministries is extremely high.
But such an official with a bright future in the eyes of outsiders was frowning at this time.
Opposite him stood a middle-aged scholar, and at this time it was none other than his confidant master Wu Nuanzhi.
"So, the puppet Tang rebel army has become a trend?" When Song Zhiwen spoke, his fingers were still tapping lightly on the table.
At this time, Wu Nuanzhi, who had always been neither humble nor arrogant in front of Su Jiakang, bowed slightly and kept his attitude very low: "Sir, it is indeed true. The students have dealt with the puppet Tang rebels several times. Before the beginning of this year, this
The puppet army of the Tang Dynasty was just hiding in the mountains and lingering. However, since this summer, the army of the puppet army of the Tang Dynasty has increased rapidly. They have continued to plunder the countryside, hijack the people, and even looted Longhua Town and Zhengtai County, so that other
The strength has greatly increased. Before the students came back, they heard that the Puppet Tang Dynasty traitor army was recruiting troops. At present, it looks like it has no less than a thousand soldiers!"
"Are there thousands of people? Didn't I say before that the puppet Tang bandit army only numbered five hundred? How come it doubled in half a month? Are you at Chintai just watching Li Ni recruit troops?" Song Zhiwen said
There was a hint of dissatisfaction in those words.
Wu Nuanzhi said: "Your Excellency, it is clear that the puppet army of the Tang Dynasty is very cunning and is best at ambushes. However, the troops at Zhengtai are less than 500. It is not enough to stick to Zhengtai. It is really difficult to divide the troops and attack!"
Wu Nuanzhi didn't say what he said very clearly, but Song Zhiwen heard it clearly. What Wu Nuanzhi meant was that Zhengtai County currently has few troops, and too many people are here. Zhengtai County is in danger, and it's not good if there are too few people.
He was swallowed up by the puppet Tang bandit army.
Besides, half a month ago, Su Jiakang led more than a thousand troops to pursue the puppet Tang traitor army, but was defeated by the puppet Tang traitor army. Now, the combined strength of Zhengtai County and Longhua Town is no more than a thousand soldiers.
Even if they were all brought to chase the puppet Tang bandits, it would still be a situation where they would lose more than they won!
Song Zhiwen understood it, but he was still a little dissatisfied. The puppet Tang bandits were just a group of bandits. Even if they took hundreds of refugees hostage, they were just bandits plus refugees. Such a group of people could actually take Su
The army led by Ieyasu was defeated!
So what does Su Jiakang do for food?
There are many kinds of mountain bandits and refugees in Xingquan Mansion. In the past year, he has wiped out three or four gangs of bandits who were so bold that they dared to come out of the mountains to plunder the countryside. The largest ones numbered three to four hundred people.
In his eyes, the puppet Tang bandits also belong to this kind of bandits. The special thing is that their bandit leader is so clever that he actually proclaimed himself emperor.
To deal with such bandits, just sending a few hundred men would be enough to destroy them. However, Su Jiakang suffered defeat after defeat, which led to the situation worsening to the point where Zhengtai County was robbed and the bandit army expanded to a thousand people.
If he were not worried about the defeat of the army and the fall of Chintai, which would affect his career, he, Song Zhiwen, would be the first to impeach Su Jiakang, and remove Su Jiakang's official hat in a matter of minutes.
It is a pity that Zhengtai County is also under the jurisdiction of his Xingquan Mansion. A group of traitors appeared in his jurisdiction. Moreover, the traitors killed more than a thousand officers and soldiers in a small fight, and even robbed one.
Bringing matters like the county seat to the top will definitely become a stain on oneself, thus affecting one's career.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have helped Su Jiakang suppress these things.
However, after being suppressed, the pseudo-Tang traitor army still needs to be wiped out. We cannot allow the pseudo-Tang traitor army to gain power.
Thinking of this, Song Zhiwen said: "You should rush back to Zhengtai today and tell Su Jiakang that I will send three thousand soldiers to Zhengtai tomorrow to let him prepare for the reception."
After waving Wu Nuanzhi out, Song Zhiwen thought for a while, then picked up his pen and wrote a letter. Then he called in an entourage from outside: "You must send this letter to the provincial capital with your own hands."
Leave it to Master Lin!"
The attendant immediately said: "Young man, I obey!"
After his entourage went out, Song Zhiwen stood up, then walked to the window and looked up at the sky. The sky was cloudless. It was the perfect weather to go out to suppress bandits!
The next day, the city of Xingquan Prefecture was very lively. Many people saw with their own eyes that a large number of Ming troops began to leave the city and then headed straight to Zhengtai County in the west.
Song Zhiwen stood on the city wall, looking at the army that was gradually retreating, and smiled. This time the army went forward, the puppet Tang bandit army would not be wiped out. After capturing the puppet emperor Li Xuan, he would write more wonderful works.
With a little effort, not only can the negative effects of the fall of Chint and the defeat of the army be eliminated, but also a great credit can be gained for oneself.
As for whether the army would be defeated here, he was not worried at all. Although half of the 3,000 people he sent were young and strong, among the remaining 1,500 people, nearly a thousand were recruited.
, on the contrary, there are only five or six hundred soldiers in the guard station.
The Ming army these days is no longer able to fight the garrison soldiers, but relies on the soldiers recruited by local officials at all levels. This situation is even more serious in inland remote areas where banditry is serious and in coastal areas where Japanese pirates are seriously invading.
That's true.
Xingquan Mansion is close to the junction of three provinces, and it is also a remote area with many mountains. There are countless bandits of all kinds. There are many bandits, and the guards soldiers cannot fight, so Song Zhiwen has no choice but to imitate others and recruit young men to train soldiers.
.
The effect of this training is pretty good. Many bandits have been wiped out in succession, and their combat effectiveness is much stronger than those of the guards.
The only pity is that these recruited soldiers have to spend money to support them. They have to be given salaries, food, and weapons and equipment. Although the officials of the Ming Dynasty are all very fat, they can only serve in the local area for a few years.
If I don't make tens of thousands of taels of silver, I can't bear to study hard for ten years.
But just because the officials are rich, it doesn't mean that the government is also rich. The government in the Ming Dynasty has always been poor. With the financial resources of Xingquan Mansion, it is considered the limit to support a thousand-strong army.
Now, Song Zhiwen has sent out this recruiting force. He believes that the annihilation of the puppet Tang traitor army is just around the corner!
And he didn't know yet that Li Xuan and the others had already rushed to the Lanjiang River ferry. If they wanted to annihilate the puppet Tang rebel army, they had to cross the Lanjiang River first!