The news that the Li family's ancestral grave had been dug had already reached Li Laiheng's ears before Xiao Weisong sent people back to Suizhou. Other business travelers traveling to and from Huguang had already spread the news to various places, and the soldiers of the Chuang Army were all greatly moved when they heard it. Angry.
Although Gao Yigong, who was related to Li Zicheng, was not a Li family, he was still the most aggrieved. He stamped his foot and cursed: "Damn it, you can't beat us in a war, but you do this vicious thing!"
Li Laiheng was much calmer. He said frankly: "It is precisely because he could not defeat the Chuang army in a battle that Emperor Chongzhen could only use this despicable and stingy method to regain some face for himself. The imperial court valued the Chuang army so much, and so valued the great army." Marshal, it just shows that the vigorous development of the Chuang Army has made the emperor and governors feel a deep threat. In doing so, they obviously no longer regard the Chuang Army as a bandit with no influence, but as a force capable of competing for the throne. The power of one of the princes."
"Junzhen will be back soon. Wait for the generals and soldiers to be in place, capture Zaoyang, and then go east to deal with Huang An's Shenzhuang army. Did Emperor Chongzhen really think that killing a red snake would save him? The world? Kill Chen Sheng, Liu Xiang is also there. After Liu Xiang is removed, wouldn’t Chen Yu Zhang Er and Peng Yue Yingbu be able to overthrow the Qin Dynasty? I think the imperial court will be over in a year or two at most. What we have to do We are fully prepared to take over. Yongjia is coming, but don’t give Liu Cong and Shi Le a chance."
What Li Laiheng was more worried about was that after the rumors of the Red Snake spread, it might have a certain impact on the confidence and fighting spirit of the soldiers of the Chuang Army. Fortunately, that afternoon, the envoy sent by Xiao Weisong rushed back to Suizhou City and handed over another edition with " The story of the "shedding" element was told to Li Laiheng and Fang Yiren.
Both of them are extremely smart people. Upon hearing the key points emphasized by Xiao Weisong, they immediately understood the connotation of this new version of the rumor. The red snake sheds its skin, which shows that the anger of the king of Chuangjun has not disappeared. Not only has it not disappeared, but it will shed its skin and be reborn. , from a snake to a dragon.
After Fang Yiren understood this, he immediately suggested that the Red Team and Ken Deji arrange their strongholds in various states and counties in Huguang to spread this new version of the rumor.
But Li Laiheng, who was familiar with the historical changes of later generations, had more thoughts. He knew that General Chuang would be in danger of the collapse of the middle path. If he could kill the red snake in the middle path, but then shed its skin and be reborn, he would create a story that is unique to him. The myth of destiny may produce some miraculous effects.
Anyway, he has already dealt with the myth of Long Sha's prophecy, so what's the harm in creating a new myth of a red snake transforming into a dragon?
"Xiao Weisong has a quick mind and is really a useful person!"
Li Laiheng was overjoyed and admired Xiao Weisong's keen thinking. After discussing with Fang Yiren for a while, he decided to hand over the task to the leader of the red team, Yan Xin, and Xiao Weisong to handle it together, and also transferred 20 people from Li Laiheng's personal soldiers. Many skilled soldiers and generals were assigned to Yan Xin and asked to take them to Dachengtan Town.
"The Red Team and Kendeji have performed well recently. We should increase the strength and status of these two organizations as appropriate."
Fang Yiren also suggested: "There is a saying in the art of war that when it comes to the affairs of the three armies, no one should be close to each other, no rewards should be given generously, and no affairs should be kept secret. Those who do not know the enemy's feelings are unkind and are not human generals. The master's assistant is not the leader of victory. Therefore, a wise king and a wise general can conquer others by action, and the success comes from everyone, and he is a prophet. A prophet cannot be based on ghosts and gods, cannot be likened to things, and cannot be verified by measurement. Take it from people and know the enemy's feelings."
"Well... only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you be victorious in every battle. There are countless traders, traders, and horse dealers in the army. This is a major advantage we have over the official army. Not only can they detect the enemy's situation, spies can also poison.
Cutting off water, opening doors and setting fires, and at the next level there are divisions and divisions to disturb the enemy's hearts. The current strength of the red team is far from enough. Leshan, if there are any needs from the red team in the future, we must try our best to meet them first in terms of manpower and material resources."
In Li Laiheng's expectation, detecting military intelligence is only the most basic task of the Red Team. In the future, it will also need to undertake many tasks of internal anti-corruption and external infiltration.
It's not enough to have the army alone, he also needs a group of spies as his eyes and ears!
The bad news that Li Zicheng's ancestral grave was dug up turned into "good news" in Li Laiheng's heart. There was still a bit of a smile on his face, which made Fang Yiren couldn't help but shrug his shoulders, but the real good news was also
It arrived soon.
Guo Junzhen and Zhang Pili finally led the soldiers and horses who conquered the Dabie Mountain stronghold and returned to Suizhou City. Zhang Pili personally took a few people who stayed overnight and rushed back to Suizhou to summon the message.
The young general has matured a lot, and the wind and frost have carved a somewhat calm look on Zhang Pizhu's face. His body has grown a lot. He was originally half a head shorter than Li Laiheng, but now he is less handsome.
A little too tall.
Although the knights who returned to Suizhou all had dirty faces, their victory in wiping out the armed forces of the officials and gentry in the Dabie Mountains gave them a sense of victory, making them look proud, proud, and extraordinarily heroic.
Li Laiheng, who went to the gate of Suizhou City to greet him in person, was overjoyed. He threw off his cloak, dismounted before the horse came to a complete stop, and hugged Zhang Pifu into his arms like flying.
"You guys can do it! I've heard the news about how you defeated the Dabie Mountain stronghold. Junzhen is really good at using troops. The cook and the ox are very skillful. They solved my troubles without any effort."
Zhang Pizhu has been Li Laiheng's guard captain for a long time. In many cases, he not only serves as the guard captain, but also undertakes most of the work of the secretary-general and deputy chief. In Li Laiheng's mind, Zhang Pizhu's status is like
In the minds of Li Zicheng and Li Guo, he himself can be regarded as a direct descendant and nephew, with a relationship of dependence between master and slave, and a friendship that is close to family affection.
Of course, with Li Laiheng's Machiavellian and scheming personality, it is impossible for him to really treat Zhang Pizhu as his own (Zhang Pixu was not Li Laiheng's adopted son in the first place!) and treat him with sincerity like Li Zicheng and Li Guo did.
treat.
But there is no doubt that among the generals under the command of Li Laiheng, Zhang Pili's status as a direct descendant and close confidant in the group called Qian Biaojun was almost equal to that of Li Changqing and other barbarians.
And unlike Uncle Qing, who had little military exploits or talents, Zhang Pili was brave and good at fighting. He was young and had the potential to become a general.
Although Guo Junzhen, Li Laiheng's most admired military master, served as the commander of this expedition, this was the first time that Li Laiheng appointed a general to be solely responsible for a strategic direction. Although Guo Junzhen was very talented, it was hard to say whether he could take charge of it alone.
of.
Not to mention that Zhang Pizhu had only stayed with Li Laiheng for a long time, doing some adjutant work and never led an army independently.
Therefore, this time Guo Junzhen and Zhang Pizhen successfully defeated the Dabie Mountains, which indeed gave Li Laiheng a lot of confidence, making him look at the characters in his pocket with admiration and becoming more confident about his basic strength.
In order to highlight his love and care for his beloved general Zhang Piyu, Li Laiheng specially asked Kendeji to buy a short mouse fur fur.
He put the fur coat directly on Zhang Piyi and said softly: "This fur coat is made from the fur of chinchilla armpits, gathered together and woven. Now that the weather is getting colder and autumn and winter have arrived, Xiao Weisong sent the fur coat to Shuai The original intention is to keep me warm from the cold. But I think I am just living in Suizhou City during this period. How can it compare with the hardships you have to fight in the east and west of Dabie Mountain? Try this short fur on, does it fit you perfectly? "
Zhang Pizhu already had a deep respect for Li Laiheng, but now he was greeted by Li Laiheng when he came out of the city and presented him with a fur. His eyes immediately became moist. His eyes were red, his voice was choked, and he held his hands tightly. He grabbed the chinchilla fur short fur gifted by Li Laiheng. He was so excited that his hands trembled slightly and he was speechless.
"Commander... Commander, I really don't know how to repay the commander for treating me like this. What can I do if the commander has nine deaths?"
"Haha, don't say any unlucky words. You have returned victorious and a great victory, so you should receive preferential treatment."
Li Laiheng smiled and patted Zhang Pizhu on the shoulder, and asked Fang Yiren, the secretary in charge of the Commander's Mansion, to coordinate the barracks for the returning victorious army, and Zhang Pizhu went directly back to live in the Commander's Mansion.
As for Guo Junzhen, he would lead his troops to Suizhou City a little later. Li Laiheng discussed with Fang Yiren, Gao Yigong, and Bai Wang that it was necessary to organize a big event in Suizhou to welcome Guo Junzhen. When Jun Zhen returned from victory, he also wanted to use this victory to suppress the small group of dissatisfied people in Suizhou City.
After all, Bai Wang, who is now serving as the envoy of the camp, has already started the reform of sharecropping and grain sharing. Many gentry's fields were "occupied" by the tenant farmers, and they still harbored resentment and had serious secret grievances against the intruders.
Let's take advantage of Guo Junzhen's victory to suppress the small thoughts of the small group of sneaky people!