Dashun Yongchang

Standing by the sand table, Li Zicheng regretfully said to the stunned generals: "There are still many places that have not been explored, and China, North Korea, and Japan are more detailed. Other places can only follow the books." , I squeezed it for a while, and we will not be able to complete it until more detailed exploration materials are sent back in the future.”

For a certain person, it is indeed a pity. He has read the world map countless times in later generations, but he can only roughly draw the outline of a few continents, and he cannot remember the detailed terrain.The map of China has a deeper memory, but it only remembers the locations of a few plains.What is really useful is the memory of the North Pacific region.At least now without an expedition team, everyone can see through the sand table that there is another huge continent east of Japan.

Yuan Zongdi finally withdrew his gaze that was about to fall to the ground, and said to Li Zicheng: "Having such a sand table is enough for us and Jiannu to deal with the area around the Yellow River. I think that even in the palace, it is impossible for such a sand table to exist. With a detailed map, Jiannu can only follow a general direction when going south, and it is impossible to know the roads in the Central Plains well. Our army is now geographically superior."

Li Zicheng smiled, then stepped aside from his seat, and then said to Song Xiance: "Let's talk about your investigation and analysis report from the General Staff Headquarters first. If you compare it with the sand table, everyone will be more impressed."

Song Xiance actually wanted to go up to show off the limelight, but since the establishment of the General Staff Headquarters, it has developed faster and faster. To a certain extent, what this department needs is not some clever strategy, but a down-to-earth In terms of actual calculation and organization, the General Staff Headquarters is more and more fond of linking military operations and logistics, because the morale of the army cannot be calculated, but the daily itinerary and material consumption of an army can be calculated.

Therefore, the staff headquarters is more and more inclined to not require an elite soldier who can fight ten each, nor any strong generals or wise generals. They only need a standard force that can maintain basic combat capabilities, and a force that can strictly An officer who follows the plans of the General Staff.What is a standard force unit?It is to be able to withstand the same number of attacking troops after ensuring sufficient supply.

Why is it able to withstand the same number of attacking troops? Because the General Staff finally realized a common sense after linking logistics and combat troops, that is, both soldiers and horses have to eat, especially those troops that are still using cold weapons , Their physical strength is even more valuable. Matchlock guns only need to be aimed and ignited, while archers have to draw their bows 1-4 times within 6 minute. Without enough food supplements, even Jiannu can't pull a hard bow.

After discovering this common sense, the General Staff found a winning formula, cutting off a unit's logistics and then following it until it collapsed.Of course, this theory has not been proved, but this theory has been supported by Li Zicheng.However, if we want to maintain our army's logistics and cut off the enemy's logistics, all we need is computing power, which is obviously not suitable for Song Xiance.

Although Song Xiance had studied divination and was no stranger to mathematics, he would rather lose his mind for such a large-scale calculation and then organize the logistics and transportation routes of his army based on the calculation results.

So Song Xiance went to the sand table to have a look, and then said to the generals beside the sand table solemnly: "Your Majesty once said that besides this real world, there actually exists another world that can be expressed mathematically. With reference to His Majesty's judgment, the General Staff Headquarters has taken a small step in this world of mathematical expressions. Next, I will invite the former deputy minister to tell you how we use mathematics to analyze the route of Jiannu going south."

Song Xiance stepped aside and gave up the position to Yuan Yuzong. Although he maintained enough vigilance against Yuan Yuzong, he had to admit that there are no fools who are admitted to Jinshi, and Yuan Yuzong is born with the ability to grasp The ability of the nature of things.No matter how much he guarded against the other party, before he knew it, the work of the entire staff headquarters was still in his hands.

Yuan Yuzong didn't look nervous when he walked to the sand table, although such a scene was something he never thought about when he was preparing for the exam.Although Yuan Yuzong didn't want to be buried with the Ming Dynasty, he had hoped that he could save the dynasty after being elected, but he didn't get that chance, and Daming was already in collapse.

He didn't regret surrendering to Li Zicheng, but Li Zicheng's performance after entering Beijing and his order to go to Shanhaiguan, but he was not eager to accept the world of Ming Dynasty, made him very disappointed.In his opinion, Li Zicheng still didn't regard himself as the master of the world after all, that's why he was so eager, lest the Manchus would go south and compete with him for the world.

But from Yuan Yuzong's point of view, this is really irrelevant.As long as Li Zicheng first made an alliance with the gentry of the world, the small border tribes with a population of no more than one million, even if they drained their own blood, would not be able to win a sovereign world.Li Zicheng gave up the world to seize Shanhaiguan, which actually showed that he did not have the confidence to really become the emperor, so he was afraid that the Manchus would enter the pass to snatch it.

There are many smart people in the world. Since you, Li Zicheng, have no confidence, people will naturally not invest in you, and will wait and see the direction of the wind.Fighting for the world is a snowball process. Without new blood to join in, completely relying on your own capital to fight the world will only waste your own capital to make wedding dresses for others.

Yuan Yuzong's point of view was not wrong. Whether it was the Ming frontier army that fell to the Manchus in the north, or the southern provinces that regrouped and elected Emperor Hongguang, they all tore apart Li Zicheng's destiny in an instant.The only thing he didn't expect was that Li Zicheng could find a way out in such a dangerous situation, and the monarchs and ministers in Nandu were so weak.Looking at it this way, it seems that the destiny is still favoring Li Zicheng.

After realizing this, Yuan Yuzong calmly started the job assigned to him by Li Zicheng, and he was still satisfied with the job at hand.At least this new job doesn't require constant dealings with people, and he spends most of his time wrestling with numbers and files.Although many Jinshi officials in the Ming Dynasty did not like copywriting work, especially copywriting work related to numbers, Yuan Yuzong was just the opposite, because "mathematics can't deceive people."

After looking at the sand table for a while, this is the best position, so Yuan Yuzong quickly found the direction of some rivers and post roads. He looked up at the people in front of the sand table, and opened his mouth and said: "Before starting the analysis, Let me talk about the settings first.

We believe that to provide a soldier with a daily standard dry ration, at least 1 catties of 1.6 liter of rice or wheat cake, 0.7 catty of vegetables, meat and other non-staple foods are required, which add up to 2.3 catties in total; such a daily standard dry food, It can support a soldier to walk 30 miles while carrying weapons, and still have enough power to launch an attack.

运河上标明载重500石的船只常常能载重600石以上，而一辆大车在官道上行走时可以携带3-4石物资，综合考虑下，我们认为一艘额定载重500石的船只抵得上200辆大车。一辆大车至少需要2匹骡子或2匹马，一匹马战时一日需要15斤草，3升豆…”

Chapter 116

Yuan Yuzong's setting is very cumbersome. He even explained how many liters of boiled water a person needs to drink a day, how much fuel is needed to boil the boiled water, and how much labor is needed to cut down and collect various fuels.

However, for such a boring explanation, the generals present listened with great interest. No matter whether these peasant generals have read books or not, all those who can live to this day are willing to keep learning how to fight.After all, they are not the children of the generals, and they have no servants around them to help them organize and manage the army and command the soldiers to fight.

Of course, even the children of generals like Zuo Yi, Guan Fumin, and Zhou Fengwu, the secret combat skills passed down in their families are still at the level of Tongsheng for Jinshi in the face of the marching and combat regulations deduced by the General Staff Headquarters.What's more, this Tongsheng is still a 80-[-]-year-old Tongsheng, and the Jinshi is only a young Jinshi of fifteen or sixteen years old.

For example, Liu Zongmin, Li Guo and others have to deal with the General Staff Headquarters every day. These settings of the General Staff Headquarters are summarized from the army’s daily training and marching and fighting. After comparing a large amount of data and then setting up formula calculations, these are all It is data that requires a lot of cooperation from the army, so they are less surprised, but still very shocked. They did not expect these useless records to be so useful.

For Yuan Zongdi and other generals from Xiangyang, the content of these settings is simply unbelievable. What strategy is needed according to these settings?The reality of the army is completely in front of you, all you need to do is to use your own army to eat up the weak enemy, and then weaken the strong enemy into a weak enemy, so they can't help but start to doubt these settings that Yuan Yuzong said Not necessarily true.

To these generals' questions, Yuan Yuzong just responded easily: "All the settings are presumptions based on the newly formulated marching and combat regulations of the General Staff Headquarters. The Staff Headquarters does not think that the current marching and combat regulations are perfect.

Because we mainly consider the environment in the area from Beijing to Xuzhou, the mountainous and rivery areas in the south, the winter areas outside the customs, the grassland areas, the desert uninhabited areas, the dense forests of Nanyang islands, the jungle areas of Myanmar, the plateau areas of Uzbekistan, etc. Wait, we don't have any data yet.

Therefore, we welcome all armies to submit their marching combat experience after studying the marching combat regulations, and the staff headquarters will make new settings after verification.

Of course, before this, all armies should first conduct training in accordance with the marching and combat regulations compiled by the General Staff Headquarters.If you have no other questions, then I will talk about the analysis results of the Manchus going south in autumn and winter. "

At this time, Li Zicheng finally stood up and said, "The marching and combat regulations will be given priority to the newly formed army, and all officers of the new army will conduct intensive study in batches for about 10 days until the officers of the new army are fully trained." Until the regulations have been studied. For the study regulations of other troops, training will be carried out in batches according to the functions of the army and the distance of the place.

In the end, the Marshal's Mansion decided to build an army officer academy in Xuzhou. From now on, all officers of the new army must have received officer studies.If you have any questions, you can ask Song Junshi after the meeting. Now let's listen to the former vice minister's continuation. "

Regarding the reform of the new military system presided over by Li Zicheng, it should now be called the formation and training of the new army. For the generals of Dashun, the feelings are more complicated.Li Zicheng carried out a military system reform in the rebel army before the founding of Xi'an, and organized the rebel army into a system of five battalions and 22 generals. For this reason, Li Zicheng did not hesitate to kill He Yilong, Yuan Shizhong and other leaders of the rebel army. Zhang Xianzhong and a group of rebels escaped from the camp.

Although such military system reform strengthened the discipline and organization of the rebel army, it laid the foundation for the founding of Dashun.But after all, he couldn't escape, and Li Zi became the suspect of being the emperor who did not hesitate to fight his brothers. After all, the story of Zhu Yuanzhang killing Xiaoming King had been widely circulated in the late Ming Dynasty. As I said, Lao Zhu did not hesitate to kill King Xiao Ming in order to become the emperor.

Applying it to Li Zicheng's deeds of killing He Yilong, Yuan Shizhong and other leaders of the rebel army, everyone is naturally wary that Li Zicheng will not engage in another trick of killing heroes when he becomes emperor, right?This is also the reason why Liu Zongmin confronted Li Zicheng in the capital, because everyone was worried that Li Zicheng would become the second Zhu Yuanzhang, so on the one hand, he threatened with military force, and on the other hand, he used plundering of wealth and women to show that he had no ambition to compete with Li Zicheng for the position of emperor. .

After all, thousands of years of traditional culture have told them that there is only one master in the world, so the only one who loves the people in the world is the emperor. Will the long-term workers who work for the landlord cherish the farm tools of the landlord's family?It's just that everyone didn't expect that Li Zicheng went to Shanhaiguan and came up with new tricks.

This new reform of the military system is just a name change in name, to select sergeants and guarantee logistics supplies.But after the Battle of Tianjin, the generals realized that it was difficult for them to regard the new army as their own private part.

In fact, the systems of the rebel army and the official army are similar. Soldiers are gathered to the leader of the rebel army through their allegiance to the leader.The military discipline of the rebel army is not achieved by the restraint of grassroots officers and the self-consciousness of soldiers, but by the awe of the general.

Therefore, once a rebel general like Gao Jie betrayed Li Zicheng, almost all his troops followed suit.After breaking away from the rebel army, Gao Jie's troops lost their military discipline and looted the people just like the official army. It can be seen that the fact that the rebel army's military discipline is good is not because the grassroots soldiers of the rebel army really love the people, but out of respect for the general and the people. Li Zicheng's awe.

In the new army, the logistics was taken over by the General Staff Headquarters, the rewards and punishments were taken over by the Examination and Punishment Division, and even the promotions of officers at all levels were taken away by the Governor's Office of the Five Armies.The general only has the power to command. Now, according to the meaning of the staff headquarters, the general will only have the power to execute. Under such heavy constraints, can the general treat the army as a private army?

Officers at all levels will not agree to follow you, because they have a clear path to promotion in the new army system.The soldiers refused to follow suit. The new army not only had better logistics, but also had the right path to retire and be promoted to officers, and their families were also resettled.

To put it simply, everyone has done a good job in Dashun, why did they follow you to change jobs and suffer from hunger?Even if they could plunder freely, wouldn't all the benefits be taken away by the higher-ups? The soldiers at the bottom would have to die.

The loyalty of the soldiers to the general in the past has now been transferred to Li Zicheng through the officer corps.Of course, the new army showed a higher degree of cooperation during the battle, because after the promotion of all officers was unified in the hands of Li Zicheng, it was difficult for the general's selfishness to prevent his subordinates from obeying the orders of the staff headquarters, because disobedience to orders was a real challenge. Those who die will die, and the Lord and General will all question their sins together.

Although the generals of Dashun were somewhat resistant to the new army, after Li Zicheng had completed the reorganization of the middle battalion, the front battalion, and the rear battalion, they had no way to hinder the establishment of the new army.Moreover, the performance of the new army in Tianjin after its establishment also blocked the mouths of many people.

It's just that everyone didn't expect that they were all planning to lie flat, but Li Zicheng came up with something like a military academy.Although Daming also had martial arts, it hardly taught any useful content. It mainly taught the officers' personal martial arts and so-called strategies. Therefore, martial arts did not cultivate any talents, because martial arts and the army were not necessarily related, and only relied on The emperor's preferences were assigned to serve in various armies, or he was a general's son to be gilded, and he just returned home after learning and getting an official position.

Everyone is smart. Maybe Yuan Zongdi and others who just arrived in Xuzhou didn't understand the meaning of this military academy, but Liu Zongmin and others immediately realized that this was Li Zicheng's plan to train a group of officers to take over the new army. They probably won't be able to command the new army anymore, but they can't express their thoughts.

No matter how distracted the Dashun generals beside the sand table were, Yuan Yuzong had almost finished the analysis of the staff headquarters.Different from the meticulous and thoughtful setting explanation, the analysis of the Manchurians going south by the General Staff Headquarters is very neat.

First of all, the first point is that the Manchus will definitely launch a southward attack after September, because September-October is the rice harvest season in the south. For example, in the south of Xuzhou, most of the rice is planted, so the Manchus do not need to carry much food. went south.And this season is when the autumn grass is fertile, and the large animals brought by the Manchus don't have to worry about finding horse feed.

The second point is that the main force of the Manchus will definitely advance along the river. The first choice is the Grand Canal, followed by the Yellow River, Jialu River, Tuohui River and Shaying River in Henan.Going along the river can not only reduce the logistical transportation burden, but also the two sides of the river are the places with the most abundant aquatic plants, and you will not lose your way.

The third point is that when marching by land, the Manchus will definitely disperse and march, and then gather for battle.This is not a habit of the Eight Banners, but a restriction on the collection of horse feed during land marches. 6 mu of grass or straw is enough for 50 horses to feed for a day, so an army carrying 4 horses and mules going south needs to harvest 4800 mu of green fodder every day.

In other words, with the camp as the center, the servants only need to harvest green fodder within 4 miles.Beyond this distance, it was difficult for the army to keep the servants safe or contain them.

Therefore, the conclusion of the General Staff Headquarters is to control the key points of these rivers and collect food and fodder from the places along the rivers.Then beware of raids by Manchu cavalry in other places.In this way, what the Dashun Army has to defend is no longer the large areas of Shandong and Henan, but narrowed down to a few marching routes and key cities, and maintain a mobile force to eliminate those small groups that penetrated behind the defense line enemy.

Yuan Zongdi and other Xiangyang generals, who were still worried about Dashun's loss of Beijing, couldn't help cheering up after hearing Yuan Yuzong's analysis results.Before, they were concerned that they did not know how to fight against the Manchus going south. With the Ming army in the north constantly surrendering to the Manchus, can the Ming troops in Henan and Hebei still be trusted?Relying on Shunjun's own old soldiers, how can this battle go on.

But after Yuan Yuzong's analysis, they suddenly felt confident.If it is just to defend a few rivers, then the original strength of the Shun army is enough, and those Ming troops who surrendered can be assigned to unimportant places.In this way, even if they surrendered, it would be difficult to shake the defense line of the Shun army.

Chapter 117 Military Discussion II

The generals standing in front of the sand table talked with each other, and conducted a targeted discussion on defense assumptions based on the analysis report made by Yuan Yuzong.After about an hour, Li Zicheng saw that no one had any new opinions, so he took the minutes of the meeting from Song Xiance and concluded while flipping through them.

"In this way, everyone's opinions are summarized as follows. If the first Jiannu is dispatched in autumn, it will inevitably put the main force in the south to encircle and suppress our army that has not gained a stable foothold between the Yellow River and the Huai River, instead of sending the main force to the south. The strength is on the front line in Shanxi. Because they can't give up the rear to us, otherwise when they attack Shanxi and we move northward, they will rush back to defend Beijing.

The second is that the main force of Jiannu going south should be divided into two routes. One route will take the Grand Canal from Tianjin, and then break through the Yellow River and enter Shandong on the front line of Dezhou and Dongchangfu; Crossing the river between Luoyang.

The third is that the road south of the Grand Canal must be the main force of the main force. There are two combat objectives for building slaves along the way: one is to fight along the canal to Xuzhou, forcing our army to retreat to the south of the Huaihe River; Take Shandong, and then bypass Mount Tai and go south to capture Huai'an, cutting off the road for our army to retreat to Huai'an.

The fourth is the Jiannu who cross the river between Luoyang and Kaifeng. There are three choices.One is to go west through Luoyang and seize Tongguan to threaten Xi'an; the other is to go down from Luoyang along the Yihe River, take the Shahe and Yinghe Rivers to Xuchang, and attack Xuzhou through Zhoukou, Bozhou, and Suzhou.Or go directly south to Baihe, capture Nanyang and attack Xiangyang; the third is to go to Kaifeng, or follow the Yellow River, or follow the Jialu River, and take Guide to attack Xuzhou.

In the fourth article, Jiannu went south to Baihe and went to Xiangyang via Luoyang, which is the least likely, so it can be directly eliminated.It is possible to go to Tongguan to threaten Xi'an, but it is inappropriate strategically, because it is tantamount to exposing his back.Once such a situation occurs, the troops in the Xiangyang area should go northward to capture Luoyang with all their strength, and encircle Jiannu between Luoyang and Tongguan.

Therefore, Jiannu left two options for crossing the river from Kaifeng to Luoyang. One is to go along the Kaifeng-Guide-Xuzhou line; the other is to enter Xuchang and wait and see the situation.The current province of Henan is the sphere of influence of various small villages. Li Jiyu in Luoyang, Xiao Yingxun in Nanyang, Li Hao in Yuzhou, Liu Xuan in Xiangcheng, Han Jiadi in Xuchang, and Liu Hongqi in Runing are all relatively large. In addition to those small village forces, for example, there are hundreds of villages all the way from Runing to Guide, and the whole province of Henan is even more difficult to count.

These native villages in Henan have always been rudderless grass. When the court is strong, they are the court's helpers. When we are strong, they will submit to me as ministers.Li Jiyu from Luoyang, Han Jiadi from Xuchang, and Liu Xuan from Xiangcheng are all such people.If we believe them and put them behind us, if we defeat them in front, they will turn around and surrender to Jiannu.It would take too much effort to get them out of the native villages, and it may also prompt these native villages to unite to protect themselves, which is more troublesome for us.

In Henan, the local village forces are capricious, while in Shandong, the gentry are unpredictable.Therefore, if we put the main force on the front line of the Yellow River, the rear may not be able to guarantee stability.In view of the above conclusions, my opinion is to establish a defensive area connecting Jining, Guide, Xuzhou, and Taishan to the north with Xuzhou as the center. In this polygonal area, all unstable factors, and control all population and materials.

Especially in the triangle area of ​​Jining, Guide, and Xuzhou, there is Weishan Lake in the east and the Yellow River in the west, and Xuzhou is at the bottom of this triangle.As long as we can hold this triangular area, the two armies of Jiannu, east and west, will not be able to converge, nor will we be able to break through Xuzhou.As long as this point in Xuzhou is not broken, then the supplies from the south will be continuously transported up. With supplies and people, we can keep Jiannu from the area north of Xuzhou.

With Xuzhou as the apex, the Xuzhou-Suixi County-Suzhou-Suqian defense zone should also be established from west to south. The purpose of this defense zone is to prevent the West Road Jiannu from bypassing Xuzhou and attacking Yangzhou southward. It can also be used to guard against the south. Some unreliable troops attacked Xuzhou.

The second is to establish the Yizhou-Jiaozhou-Huai'an secondary defense circle in the south and east of Mount Tai. This defense zone is not only used to resist Jiannu from going south to Huai'an from this area, but also to prepare for the recovery of Shandong in the future.These three areas can be connected by sea transportation. As long as several fortresses near the port can be established, it is impossible for Jiannu to break through this area.

Finally, there is the area from Huai'an to Yangzhou. This is the most fertile area between the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River. As long as we occupy this area, even if Nandu refuses to support us, we can last for a long time.So this is the logistics area of ​​my Dashun.As long as the above three defense areas and one logistics area can be established, then we can be regarded as occupying a foothold between Jianghuai, and the next task is to open up the connection with Xiangyang, and take all the land between Jianghuai..."

Liu Zongmin was the first to voice his support for Li Zicheng's strategy. He also really felt that Li Zicheng's strategy was good. He said to the generals: "I think Your Majesty's strategy is very good. Indeed, although Shandong and Henan are nominally surrendered To me, but in fact, how many people in these places are willing to follow us to fight against slavery, none of us can count.

Think about it, those scholars always say that they have received the grace of the country, but after we invaded Beijing, didn't they all come to pledge their allegiance to Dashun?No one even cared about the whereabouts of Lie Huang.On the way to the south, although those gentry and scholars came to pay homage to the emperor and the prince, they were either old men or young men, so they really wanted to work for Dashun?

It's all right if Jiannu can't cross the river. Once they cross the river and break into Shandong, I think those gentry will definitely surrender.Therefore, our army cannot put its strength on the front line of the Yellow River, but should reduce the scope of defense.In this way, the strength of the army can be concentrated, and the personnel we want to protect will become safer, and there will be no situation where there will be loopholes everywhere..."

As one of the few scholars in this room, Yuan Yuzong could only pretend that he could not hear Liu Zongmin's slander against scholars. Although he also knew that the integrity of scholars had dropped after the city of Beijing was broken, he still didn't want to listen to a warrior like Liu Zongmin. It's not about arranging readers.

Although Li Guo and Yuan Zongdi agreed with Li Zicheng's strategy, they still suggested that some soldiers and horses should be sent along the Yellow River, firstly to give the southern army an early warning, and secondly to reassure the people in Shandong and Henan. Before Jiannu came, the people of the two places were in chaos.

After nearly half an hour of discussion, when it was getting dark, the military discussion finally came to a basic conclusion.Li Zicheng had someone bring up noodles, and it was considered dinner. After eating the noodles, everyone discussed for half an hour, filling in some details, and a targeted autumn defense plan was freshly released.

Next, the General Staff Headquarters will make more detailed adjustments to this combat plan, and the military council also decided to send a force to the south to force the surrender or eliminate Liu Liangzuo's troops in Linhuai.Among the four towns in Jiangbei, Liu Liangzuo is the weakest. He claims to have three thousand cavalry, but it is difficult to say whether there are actually one thousand cavalry.

However, after Huang Degong expressed his support for the prince, Liu Liangzuo, who had a good relationship with Huang Degong, refused to speak out. Li Zicheng hadn't figured out the situation in Xuzhou before, so he was left alone.But now that Suzhou, Suqian, and Guide all voted for him, and after Yuan Zongdi also entered Bozhou, he could no longer tolerate this weak Nanming feudal town dangling behind him.

Although many generals of the Shun Army volunteered to join forces, Li Zicheng chose Zuo Guangxian as the chief general of the southward marching army, and Yang Zixiu as his deputy. He led two cavalry divisions to attack on August 8, and first went to Suzhou to join Cao Ying's troops. Then go south to Linhuai.Li Zicheng also decided to deploy about 4 troops from Xu Dingguo's Liu Fangxing and Guide Yongcheng's Ding Qiguang as the rear team to support Zuo Guang's first troops.

Li Zicheng asked Zuo Guang to surrender Liu Liangzuo first, and then continue eastward to capture Sihong and Xuyi counties, then turn south to capture Tianchang, and then advance to Yangzhou to watch the confrontation between Huang Degong's army and Gao Jie's army.And soon, he will also lead an army from Suqian to Huai'an, and then go south to Yangzhou along the canal.The next step is to look at the choices of the people of Yangzhou and Gao Jiejun, and then decide whether it is peace or war.

With the conclusion of the previous military discussion, the generals also understand the importance of going south to capture Huaiyang this time, and what Dashun needs is a basically intact Huaiyang, not a white land destroyed by the war.

When the moon was at its zenith, the long-time military council meeting finally came to an end.Li Zicheng was too lazy to go out of the city to return to Hubushan's mansion, so he planned to stay in the bedroom in the second hall for one night.However, the weather was still a bit stuffy, so Li Zicheng took Liu Zongmin, Yuan Zongdi, and Li Guo to enjoy the coolness in the courtyard while making some wine and vegetables for a drink.

In the environment of only four people, everyone also took off a lot of disguise, and the conversation became much easier after a few glasses of wine.Yuan Zongdi talked about the changes in Xiangyang from last year to this year, and what he saw and heard along the way.Although Li Zicheng had already received Yuan Zongdi's letter, it was obviously not as detailed as Yuan Zongdi's personal account.

Yuan Zongdi became a little sentimental as he spoke, "When I passed by Nanyang this time, the city had already turned into a ghost town. Except for bones, ruins, and weeds, there were no signs of living people, and There are hundreds of thousands of wild dogs wandering in the wilderness outside the city. These wild dogs have become wild by eating human flesh. They don’t run away when they see living people, but instead gather around to prey. I finally ordered the army to shoot After killing a group of wild dogs, they knew how to flee in fear...Your Majesty, we have fought for so many years, when will the world be peaceful and the common people can live and work in peace and contentment?"

Both Liu Zongmin and Li Guo held their wine glasses and said nothing, but looking at their expressions, they were not indifferent.Li Zicheng thought in his heart that this kind of war will last for a long time, and the troubled times will end when everything that happened in the north is repeated in the south, and the population of the world is too small to support the army.

However, after thinking for a long time, he said: "It depends on whether we can establish a new social order. The old dynasty that ruled the people by etiquette and law is not suitable for ruling such a large population. In the old order of etiquette and law, The aristocratic family occupied too much land and wealth, and the people at the bottom either chose to rebel or die silently at home. As long as the land and wealth left to the people at the bottom could not support them, the war would not end.

What we are doing now is to use a knife to make the gentry spit out part of their land and wealth, so that the people at the bottom can survive, but this is just a time-saving strategy.Without a new order, etiquette will allow the gentry to steal more wealth from the common people, eventually bringing to naught all that we have done..."

Chapter 118 Prisoner One

Amidst the sound of suona, Li Anlan woke up leisurely.He couldn't help slandering secretly in his heart, it wasn't because the sound of the suona woke him up, but because the sound was a bit noisy.

The use of advocacy in the army to convey some military orders has existed since ancient times, but the use of suona in the army began in the Yuan Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty inherited this habit. Qi Jiguang of the Jiajing Dynasty said: "Whoever holds the flute in his hand is blowing the suona."

For an eunuch who entered the palace since he was a child, he didn't like the excitement in the morning at all.Anyone in the palace who dared to play the suona early in the morning would have been dragged out and beaten to death by the eunuch.

But when Li Anlan got dressed and walked out of his room, the soldiers outside immediately greeted him respectfully: "Good morning, Doctor Li."

As he nodded and smiled back, his mood began to improve.Remembering that when he was forced to leave the Forbidden City, he still cried bitterly and refused to leave, and was dragged out by the soldiers. At that time, he really thought that he would lie down on the edge of that ditch at some point.

He was sold into the palace at the age of eight or nine, and never left the Forbidden City, so all he could see was the sky inside the walls.At that time, he really felt that there was a terrifying world outside the fence. Although the rules inside the fence were strict, he could still eat his stomach.Therefore, when Shun Jun wanted to take away all relevant personnel from the Tai Hospital, he really didn't want to leave the palace.

When Emperor Yongchang left the capital, he did not take any eunuchs and maids with him, but he did take the imperial hospital and the people in charge of the palace classics with him.Li Anlan worked in the Imperial Hospital and was proficient in human anatomy, so he was soon appointed as a military doctor.Along the way, he also saved hundreds of lives through surgery, which is why the soldiers respect him so much.

After staying outside for a long time, Li Anlan suddenly felt that the world outside the fence was not as scary as the legends in the palace said, and the sky without the shield of the fence really opened one's heart.He began to gradually get used to the life of relying on his own craftsmanship instead of relying on serving others.Even in order not to let people know that she is different from them, Li Anlan changed many of her past habits and became more and more like a doctor who was born as a scholar.

Just when Li Anlan finished washing up and went to the canteen in the camp to get her breakfast, Li Zhen, the deputy general of the camp, walked over with Fei Yun from the Statistics Department.Seeing Li Anlan, Fei Yun, who was talking to Li Zhen, greeted him with a smile: "Mr. Li, I'm afraid I will trouble you to treat some wounded people today. But those who died today can be given to you as teaching materials."

Fei Yun was born in Jinyiwei, the capital city. When Emperor Yongchang withdrew from Beijing, Fei Yun decided to continue his allegiance to Emperor Yongchang, so he joined the Statistics Department.He is highly valued in this institution similar to Jinyiwei. He knows Li Anlan's background, perhaps because of this background, Fei Yun is quite enthusiastic about Li Anlan, as if he regards him as a township party member.

Li Anlan was used to all kinds of personnel struggles in the palace, so he naturally didn't feel that Fei Yun's overtures to him were pure, but he also wouldn't reject his friendliness, after all, there was no direct conflict of interest between the two.He responded to Fei Yun with a smile: "Are you going out to kill the thieves today? Do you need us to send someone with you?"

Fei Yun waved his hands and said casually: "No, I'm staying in the camp today and I won't go out. After you have breakfast, just take the people from the Military Medical Office to the shooting range in the northeast of the camp..."

Although a little puzzled, Li Anlan nodded in agreement.After breakfast, he went to the Military Medical Office to order six disciples, and asked them to follow him to the shooting range in the northeast of the camp.

Li Anlan's camp is at the foot of Zifang Mountain in the northeast of Xuzhou City, across the Yellow River from Xuzhou City, less than 2 miles away.Zifang Mountain is actually not very high, about less than 600 feet high, but such a hill protruding from the low-lying rice fields beside the Yellow River makes people feel quite imposing.

Of course, in terms of military affairs, both Zifang Mountain and Hubu Mountain have become the main points outside the city. Occupying these two highlands can control the surrounding flat land.Setting up a fort on the mountain and defending it with a large camp below, the attacker is equivalent to attacking a mountain city.

In addition to guarding the high ground of Zifang Mountain, the Northeast Camp also has another function, that is, the Shun Army's firearms manufacturing and testing ground is also here.After all, with the shipping of the canal and the Yellow River, it is more convenient to send iron and charcoal here.In addition, Zifang Mountain itself is also a hill with lush forests, so felling trees and burning charcoal on the spot can also be urgent.

When Li Anlan brought his disciples to the shooting range at the foot of the mountain, he saw Fei Yun standing under a wooden shed saying something to a group of people surrounded by soldiers. A group of Manchurians.

Standing in the shadow, Fei Yun said to E Shuo, Daola and other Manchu captives with a smile on his face: "... I have already said all the good things. I think you have seen it along the way. Those who are willing to tell the truth Prisoners, we, Dashun, did not embarrass them.

Only you, the 52 people, are unwilling to cooperate with this dynasty, and this dynasty has been kind enough to support you for so many days.The Military Council has made a resolution yesterday, ruling that you all committed war crimes.

Your Majesty has a will, and I will give you one last chance today. If you are willing to confess your crimes and sign your signature, I will forgive you once.Those who do not want to be sentenced to death today.Do you understand? "

Not all of the 52 Manchurians could understand Chinese, but there was an interpreter from the bannerman of the Han army who had surrendered to the Shun army, and he completely conveyed Fei Yun's meaning to every Manchurian.

Among the Manchu captives, the highest status was the Zhengbai banner man Baya Lajia Lazhang Jing'e Shuo. He did not take the threat of Fei Yun seriously for many years. There is a reason to let him go, especially after the Tianjin battle, he became more aware of this.

Before the Battle of Tianjin, Li Zicheng intended to keep them or planned to exchange them for the captured generals of the Shun Army, but after the Battle of Tianjin, Li Zicheng probably didn't have this idea.The fire in Tianjin burned so many Manchurians to death. Even if Li Zicheng wanted to replace them, the Nine Kings, who had captured the important generals of the Shun Army, would not agree.

As the confidant of the Nine Kings, he knows the Nine Kings' ability and ruthlessness better than anyone else.What's more, through the captured Manchurian population after the Tianjin War, he knew that the Nine Kings believed that he had died in battle, and he had taken responsibility for the setback in Huangtuzhuang.This also means that it is impossible for him to go back to Shenyang alive, otherwise he would be slapping the faces of the Nine Kings and the Ten Kings, and his family would be punished together with him.

So for the current E Shuo, the best result is to be executed by the Shun army, so that the face of the Nine Kings can be saved, and his family members can live in peace.Now that Shunjun threatened him with death, E Shuo naturally dismissed him, and he didn't even want to scold Li Zicheng aloud.

However, E Shuo was able to hold his breath, and the person next to him in status next to him, Zhenghongqi Gushan Erzhen Ye Keshuzi Daola, became a little impetuous and cursed at Fei Yun: "You barbarians, don't come here. With the trick of seven captures and seven attacks, we Manchurians are all good men. If you cut off your head, it will only be a scar the size of a bowl. After 20 years, I will kill you when I come back..."

Fei Yun took a deep look at Daola, then sighed and said, "Your Majesty is merciful, but you are so ignorant. Well, let's start with the five people here."

The five Manchu captives who were dragged out glanced at Daola and Eshuo, but they didn't cry out for mercy after all.At more than 5 steps in front of the wooden shed, there are more than a dozen wooden pillars driven into the ground. After the five Manchu captives were untied from their anklets, they were not immediately tied to the wooden pillars. A layer of cotton armor, and then tied to the wooden post.