Song Xiance and Liu Rukui have been in Dezhou for several days.
Song Xiance got to know Li Laiheng relatively late, and only met Li Laiheng a few times in Luoyang. However, he often heard good news about Huguang's military successes. In particular, Li Laiheng led his army to kill Zuo Liangyu.
This incident made Song Xiance look at him with admiration and felt that Li Laiheng's achievements were indeed the first-class general among the army.
But generally speaking, Song Xiance only regarded Li Laiheng as a character with a similar temperament to Li Guo, and believed that he was a relatively pure warrior.
Song Xiance thought of Niu Jinxing's increasingly blatant clique behavior after the Chuang Army captured Kaifeng, especially the fact that Niu Jinxing and Tian Jianxiu had become increasingly close and had secretly promised to marry.
I feel that among the troops, it would be better to have more upright and honest ministers like Li Laiheng under the command of His Highness the King of Tang.
Liu Rukui got acquainted with Li Laiheng as early as the Battle of Junlingchuan where Ai Dusi was killed.
However, although "Soap Eagle" Liu Rukui had known Li Laiheng longer than Song Xiance, his understanding of Li Laiheng was still at the stage when he was a small peasant in Zhuxi.
In Liu Rukui's mind and impression, Li Laiheng was still the young boy who mourned and defected to the camp. Therefore, his impression of Li Laiheng was actually much more biased than that of Song Xiance, and he regarded Li Laiheng as a simple nephew and nephew.
As for Li Laiheng, this time Song Xiance came to Dezhou not only alone, but also brought a group of literati who had recently defected to the camp. Among them were some down-and-out scholars and officials who had surrendered to the Ming Dynasty.
Li Laiheng estimated that these people were all from Niu Jinxing's sect. Song Xiance brought them to Dezhou and arranged for them to serve as officials in Shandong, which somewhat made Li Laiheng feel a little unhappy.
But overall, Li Laiheng's impression of Song Xiance was much better than his impression of Niu Jinxing.
As for Liu Rukui, Li Laiheng simply regarded him as a tool...
In the past few days, apart from helping Song Xiance and Liu Rukui arrange the new troops they brought, Li Laiheng was also inspecting the troops under his command.
Although he knew that the Qing army would not enter the Pass until the Chuang army captured Beijing, but now the Chuang army only had 70,000 to 80,000 troops in the entire North China region, and they were scattered over a wide range from Shanxi to Shandong, which always made Li Laiheng a little worried.
Have you been attacked by the enemy?
He asked Gu Junen to bring all the personnel of the Army Joining Department to Dezhou, and asked the Marching Sima and the Army Joining Department to strengthen the arrangements for the troop training plan. Hao Yaoqi, Zhang Piliu, Ma Bao, and Li Shiwei, the main elite troops, also received
Made some additions and enhancements.
When He Hongqi and several other Huguang New Army generals came to Xuzhou for reinforcements, they also brought over a batch of red cannons and bird blunderbuss recently produced in Wuchang, including more than 100 self-generated fire blunderbuss trial-produced by Baijiuhe.
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Li Laiheng has also strengthened these weapons into the troops, and asked Gu Junen to arrange corresponding training plans. The soldiers must be proficient in the use of new weapons. The training intensity must reach the level of one drill every two days and one drill every five days.
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"The handsome young tiger!"
Li Laiheng was a little surprised when he suddenly heard the name Shaohu Shuai. Nowadays, few people in the Huguang Army call him Shaohu Shuai. They mostly call him Marshal or Envoy. Only people from the Central Plains Army call him Shaohu Shuai.
Still call him handsome young tiger.
"Zhang Hong?"
Zhang Hong was a cavalry commander under Liu Rukui. When Li Laiheng fought against Liu Guoneng in Ye County, Zhang Hong brought hundreds of cavalrymen from Zuoying to help him a lot.
He was a brave and skilled general who was also proficient in cavalry tactics. Li Laiheng was quite impressed by him because of his dealings with Liu Guoneng.
"Liu Shuai sent you here too."
Li Laiheng laughed and hugged Zhang Hong: "We will meet Liu Shuai in Baoding soon. Liu Shuai really doesn't need to go to such unnecessary lengths."
Zhang Hong replied: "We, Commander Liu, heard that Commander Young Tigers lost a lot of cavalry in the Battle of Dangshan. He said Commander Commander Young Tigers was going to suppress Shandong now and there must be a shortage of cavalry, so he asked General Liu and me to lead a group of cavalry.
Come here to support.”
"I see." Li Laiheng raised his eyebrows and said, "What did Liu Shuai say about the Battle of Dangshan?"
"His Royal Highness the King of Tang did not pay much attention to the Battle of Dangshan. Only Liu Shuai paid special attention to it after hearing about the Battle of Dangshan. He believed that the Donglu cavalry was more powerful than the three walls of the army. If you are not careful,
If we don’t deal with it, we will definitely leave serious problems in the future.”
"If Liu Shuai can view the Battle of Dangshan with such caution, then my hard battle will be in vain."
Li Laiheng did not expect that he defeated the Qing army in the Battle of Dangshan, which did not attract Li Zicheng's attention. Instead, Li Zicheng despised the Donglu's combat power. On the contrary, Liu Fangliang heard about the process of the Battle of Dangshan, especially the Qing cavalry.
After understanding the situation of the Donglu's tactics, special attention was paid to Donglu's combat power.
Zhang Hong continued: "Liu Shuai is about to go north to Baoding. What he is most worried about is that a Donglu force is still staying near the capital. If the Donglu cavalry is as sharp as Commander Shaohu said, Baoding will be on the side of Jifu.
, we must be more careful during the Northern Expedition."
There was also a general standing next to Zhang Hong. He looked to be in his thirties. He was somewhat different from the rash temperament of ordinary generals who invaded the army. He looked very calm and steady.
He continued what Zhang Hong said: "There has been a severe epidemic in Jifu recently, and the people have died seventeen or eighty. Lord Sun... Sun Chuanting's 30,000 Qin soldiers, I guess, will not dare to be dispatched easily in a short time. The same is probably true for the captive soldiers. Now
The plague was rampant everywhere, and the army was dispatched hastily. It is likely that more than half of the people were killed or injured due to the disease."
When Li Laiheng listened to this man speak, he first called Sun Chuanting Mr. Sun. He thought for a moment that he might be a general who had surrendered, so he asked, "Who is this?"
"Commander Young Tiger, this is General Guo Shengguo. He was originally the deputy general of Liugou of the Ming Army. He was previously transferred to Shunde Mansion for defense by Emperor Chongzhen. Because Emperor Chongzhen transferred troops but did not pay them, and Sun Chuanting took them away halfway.
All the troops except the Biao camp, General Guo was so angry that he simply defected to us."
"I see."
Li Laiheng was very impressed by the name Guo Sheng. Historically, after the Liugou deputy general surrendered to the Chuang army, he was sent by Li Zicheng to clean up the situation in Shandong. After the Chuang army was defeated in the Battle of Shanhaiguan, Shandong officials and gentry rebelled, and Guo Sheng led hundreds of
Strong soldiers put down most of the rebellions.
Later, the Chuang army withdrew to the west, and Guo Sheng retreated from Shandong and returned to Shaanxi. Since then, he has been fighting with the Chuang army, and finally became one of the important general officers under Li Laiheng during the Kuidong Thirteen Family period.
Among the generals who surrendered, Guo Sheng's tenacity and loyalty were exceptional.
"It's good that General Guo is willing to work with us. But the plague you mentioned... It's late winter now, and maybe the plague situation will not be as serious as before."
Li Laiheng's words made both Zhang Hong and Guo Sheng feel very strange. Guo Sheng said: "The weather this winter is much colder than in previous years. With such cold wind, the plague will definitely be more severe!"
"Plague and cold are two different things... Hey, this should be explained to you by the military advisor of Song Dynasty who is knowledgeable in medicine. Plague mostly occurs on rats and insects. Most of these little things will no longer come out when winter comes, so the plague may occur during this period.
It’s much reduced.”
Li Laiheng didn't know how to give a specific explanation to the two of them, but Guo Sheng's expression changed after he heard half of it. He said in shock: "If the plague is reduced by half, wouldn't Liu Shuai be in great danger in Baoding Prefecture? He will be alone."
What a force!"
"What are you talking about? Didn't Liu Shuai want to wait for me to take over Hejian Mansion and join forces in Baoding?"
Guo Sheng explained: "After I defected to the camp, I explained to Liu Shuai that the officers and soldiers had abandoned southern Hebei and retreated to the capital due to the plague. Because there were basically no soldiers guarding southern Hebei, so when we came here,
Liu Shuai also sent a vanguard force to capture Baoding. If it is true as Marshal Young Tiger said, and now that the plague has mostly subsided, before we rush to Baoding, wouldn’t it be possible that Liu Shuai’s lone army would be attacked by Sun Chuanting?”
Li Laiheng looked north from the city wall of Dezhou City and squinted his eyes for a while to look at the horizon. It had already snowed in the Lubei area, and several small rivers in the distance were frozen.
Such weather...
"Don't be impatient. Sun Chuanting only has 30,000 remnants of the Qin army, and his morale is low. The possibility of him taking the initiative to attack Zuoying southward is extremely low. But it's okay, with such a severe cold, I estimate that the epidemic situation in Jifu should be improved. In this way
, we went to join the Military Department, training and rest have been long enough, it’s time for us to go to Baoding!”