Of course, among Liu Lin and Lin Qingye, Yang Zhen valued Lin Qingye more, so he very much hoped that Lin Qingye could stay voluntarily.

As for Liu Lin, although Yang Zhen respects him very much, he does not have many troops under his command. Even if he adds the few troops that his son Liu Zhiman later brought from Pingluo, the total number is only more than a thousand. , less than two thousand people.

This small number of people is like useless to Yang Zhen nowadays. One more person is not more, and one less him is not a lot. Therefore, if they are unwilling to stay and serve, but insist on returning to Hening Country, then let him go.

In fact, the reason why Yang Zhen dared to ask this question and leave the autonomy of staying or leaving to Liu Lin and Lin Qingye was because Yang Zhen had already seen that they would not leave easily.

After all, He Ningguo had already shaved off his hair and changed his clothes in accordance with the orders of the Qinglu, and made clear his attitude towards eradicating the anti-Qinglu faction. If they go back at this time, doesn't it mean that they are throwing themselves into a trap?

What's more, their families and relatives have all been sent out by Shen Qiyuan and followed Lin Qingye's fleet to Jinhai Town. There is no point in them going back to Ningguo at this time.

Sure enough, Yang Zhen's judgment was correct. As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Lin stood up, clasped his fists and bowed towards Yang Zhen and said:

"In this humble position, I hope to lead my troops, merge them into the Zhongyi Gui Ming Army, and continue to serve the Governor. Please grant me your permission!"

"Very good. Since Liu Bingshi voluntarily joined and served voluntarily, then the governor will approve it! From now on, Liu Bingshi's troops will be merged into the Zhongyi Guiming Army into one battalion, and Liu Bingshi will Ren Zhongyi's Guiming Army soldiers and horses Du Yuhou, in charge of the fifth battalion of the Zhongyi Gui Ming Army and the military law of Xingming!"

"In this humble position, I will obey the orders of the Governor!"

After Liu Lin heard Yang Zhen's arrangements for him, he immediately lifted his robe and knelt down, worshiping Yang Zhen.

This is the first time Liu Lin has done this.

After joining Yang Zhen's camp, Yang Zhen respected him very much, and he also regarded himself as a "guest" in front of Yang Zhen.

Although he has long since changed his claim to be a humble official, he rarely kneels down in public to show his allegiance.

When Yang Zhen saw this, his face was full of joy, and he quickly helped him up and asked him to sit back down.

After solving the problem of retaining and appointing Liu Lin, Yang Zhen immediately turned to Lin Qingye, whom he valued most.

Just when he was about to ask but before he could ask, Lin Qingye stood up, came to the middle of the hall, lifted his robe and knelt in front of Yang Zhen, cupped his fists and cupped his hands and said:

"In this humble position, I also hope to lead the troops, ships and navy officers of my headquarters, and from then on merge into the Zhongyi Gui Ming Army, and continue to serve the Governor. Please grant me the Governor's permission!"

"That's fine, let's merge into the Zhongyi Guiming Army together!"

Yang Zhen originally wanted to classify Lin Qingye separately. After all, the navy warships under his command were what Yang Zhen really valued.

But now listening to his thoughts, he actually asked to be merged into the Zhongyi Gui Ming Army. Yang Zhen thought about it and made no other arrangements for the time being.

"That's it, after Lin Tongyu leads his troops to join the Loyalty and Gui Ming Army, Lin Tongyu will serve as the navy commander of the Zhongyi and Gui Ming Army, responsible for the command and command of the navy!"

"In this humble position, I will obey the orders of the Governor!"

The Loyalty Gui Ming Army was regarded as an outlying imperial army under the jurisdiction of Jinhai Town. Although the name Yang Zhen gave them previously sounded like a big name, their actual strength was very limited. At most, they only had three to two thousand people.

But now, after absorbing a large number of troops brought by Shen Qicheng from Pingyi City, as well as Liu Lin's troops and the Korean navy fleet commanded by Lin Qingye, it suddenly became a quite large force. Strength.

Correspondingly, after Yang Zhen solved the problem of reorganizing the troops of Shen Qicheng, Liu Lin and Lin Qingye, he also clarified on the spot the ownership of each battalion head of the newly formed loyal Ming army.

An Yingchang led the two commanders and horses he originally belonged to into one battalion, that is, the Zhongyi Gui Ming Army led by the capital commander envoy.

At the same time, in order to reward An Yingchang's troops for their contribution in previous battles, Yang Zhen approved him to train two more commanders from the captured Qingzhuang of the imperial court, and asked him to gather a battalion of four commanders, a total of 2,000 people.

In addition, Liu Lin's own troops and the troops brought by his son Liu Zhiman from Pinghe, totaling a small number of 2,000 people, also formed a battalion of their own, which was the left camp of the Zhongyi Gui Ming Army.

As for the front camp and the rear camp, they were composed of other men and horses brought by brothers Shen Qicheng, Shen Qi and Zhou from Pingluo City. All the horsemen were the front camp, and all the infantry and civilians were the rear camp.

The remaining right water battalion number of the Loyalty Gui Ming Army was naturally assigned to Lin Qingye, which was composed of the former Li Chaonan Third Fleet Fleet led by Lin Qingye.

The results of this adaptation are somewhat different from Yang Zhen's previous expectations. For example, incorporating Lin Qingye's navy into it was not part of Yang Zhen's original plan.

However, some such discrepancies are within the range that Yang Zhen can accept.

In fact, this can be seen from Yang Zhen’s appointment of Lin Qingye.

Yang Zhen's appointment to Lin Qingye was still the navy commander, but he was no longer the navy commander of Li Chaonan's three roads, but a navy commander loyal to the Ming army.

It can be said that Yang Zhen's appointment of Lin Qingye is full of mysteries. Anyone present will carefully ponder what it means.

For example, compared with the commander-in-chief and the commander-in-chief, who is bigger and who is smaller?

The title of Commander-in-Chief seems to be able to command all the troops under the Zhongyi Gui Ming Army, but the appointment of the Navy Commander gave Lin Qingye the power to independently handle all the affairs of the Zhongyi Gui Ming Army and Navy.

As for the dispute between them, there will only be one arbiter in the future, and that is Yang Zhen.

This is also the case with Shen Qicheng, the commander-in-chief of the fifth battalion, and Liu Lin, the military commander in charge of all military discipline and law affairs of the Zhongyi Army.

All in all, if any dispute arises between the four leaders of the Zhongyi Gui Ming Army, Yang Zhen can only make the final decision.

In this way, if each of them wants to establish his own authority, he can only rely on Yang Zhen's support.

On the 15th day of the first lunar month of the 14th year of Chongzhen's reign, the military discussion in the general's camp at Zhenjiang Fort lasted from noon until the evening of that day.

In addition to setting up the Andong regiment camp and incorporating Shi Mingxiong's prison camp and Song Guofu's heavy artillery team into it, he also reorganized the Zhongyi Gui Ming Army to include Shen Qicheng, Liu Lin and Lin Qingye's troops, Yang Zhen also Some soldiers and horse sentries belonging to the East Expeditionary Army and some soldiers and horses sentry belonging to Jinhai East Road have been adjusted.

One was Pan Xi, the left battalion officer of the grenadier regiment battalion. Yang Zhen named him and asked him to choose a grenadier sentry to stay in Zhenjiang Fort. He was also appointed as the general battalion officer of the city garrison. , assisted Qiu Zhenhai in setting up the city defense camp.

Secondly, Ma Keqing, the commander-in-chief of the personal soldiers who had been following Yang Zhen for a long time, was also promoted by Yang Zhen to the rank of Qian-general. He was assigned to the Zhenjiang Castle garrison and took over the command of a sentry of musketeers selected from the musketry regiment camp.

Gunner.

Thirdly, Xu Tingxuan and the first sentry troops he led also came into Yang Zhen's sight. They were personally ordered by Yang Zhen to be transferred to the Andong Regiment Camp and used as first sentry scout light cavalry in the newly established Zhenjiang Castle garrison.

.

The sortie to clear the camp on the night of the seventh day of the first lunar month not only captured a large number of people, grain, grass, property, military supplies for Yang Zhen's troops, but also captured a large number of horses and Qing captives for the defenders in Zhenjiang Fort.

and the cattle and sheep stolen from Ningguo.

In particular, among the thousands of captured horses of all kinds, there were three to four thousand war horses that were fat, strong and in good condition.

With nearly 4,000 rideable horses, the Anton regiment can form an appropriate number of cavalry teams on the spot.

After all, the sentinel team sent out from Zhenjiang Fort cannot go deep behind enemy lines on foot, or wait until the ice and snow melt until the day when the Yajiang River can be sailed.

However, there are specialties in martial arts, and Yang Zhen does not expect the various troops left behind to guard Zhenjiang Fort to train a powerful cavalry.

Because this is unrealistic.

After all, Qiu Zhenhai was from the navy, Pan Xi led mainly grenadiers, and Song Guofu and Shi Mingxiong were newcomers. Most of the other troops who assisted in the defense of Zhenjiang Fort were An Yingchang and Liu Lin.

.

Therefore, Yang Zhen did not intend to leave all the captured war horses in Zhenjiang Castle. In fact, only a few hundred selected horses were left.

At the same time, in order to compensate Xu Tingxuan for the loss of his men and horses being transferred from Zhuanghe Fort, and also to reward Zu Keyong for leading his troops to capture Xiuyan Fort, Yang Zhen transferred one thousand of the horses captured outside Zhenjiang Fort to

It was given to the Zhuanghe Regiment and Battalion and asked them to further expand the size of the light and heavy cavalry battalion attached to the East Road.

As for the remaining riding horses and a large number of draft horses and pack horses, they were all allocated to the various regiments and camps of the Eastern Conquest Army that had captured the most in several battles.

Most of the war horses that could be used were allocated to the musketeer regiment battalion commanded by Zhang Chen, while the other draft horses and pack horses were allocated to the grenadier regiment battalion and the artillery regiment battalion that were preparing to carry the heavy baggage division southward.

With the addition of these war horses and a large number of draft horses and pack horses, Yang Zhen did not have to worry much about the distance even if he carried a large number of heavy artillery and captured troops southward.

In this way, after the military meeting on the 15th day of the first month of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, all the people around Zhenjiang Fort immediately entered a stage of major adjustments.

Under the direct command of Qiu Zhenhai, the various people who were named to stay at Zhenjiang Fort began the process of reorganizing into an Andong regiment camp and various defense changes and replacements.

The other people who were asked by Yang Zhen to evacuate with him began to make preparations to take overland routes before the end of the month, counting the various people and materials to be taken away, and packing various ordnance and military supplies to be taken away.

As for Zu Keyong and Yu Liangtai, on the morning after the Zhenjiang Fort military meeting ended, they led their team to rush back to their bases with some of the horses and wages that Yang Zhen had ordered to deliver.

Only Shen Qicheng and Lin Qingye, accompanied by Shen Qiyuan's confidant An Wulun, stayed in Zhenjiang Fort and did not resign to Yang Zhen.

Especially An Wulun, a confidant sent by Shen Qiyuan, has always seen more and said less, listened more and said less since arriving at Zhenjiang Castle. He has not yet come to see Yang Zhen alone.

Yang Zhen knew that he was sent by Shen Qiyuan not just to congratulate him, but for other reasons.

It's just that Yang Zhen has been busy dealing with various military affairs before leaving, and he didn't have time to summon him alone.

In the early morning of the 18th day of the first lunar month, Yang Zhen's side had just sorted out the tedious military affairs for the army's march south, and was about to send people to invite An Wulun. As a result, Qiu Biyong, who went to invite people, had just left the camp and met him. Qiu Zhenhai, Shen Qicheng, Lin Qingye, Liu Lin and An Yingchang came to see Yang Zhen together.

When he learned that these people had come to see him, Yang Zhen originally thought that they were here to discuss the loyalty of the Ming Army to assist in the defense of Zhenjiang Fort City.

As a result, they never expected that when these people came to Yang Zhen's signing room, the matter they discussed was to work together as lobbyists for An Wulun and ask Yang Zhen to agree to Li Chao's military judge and the Northern Second Army Marshal Shen Qi. A far request.

An Wulun was ordered to come to Zhenjiang Castle to meet Yang Zhen this time. As expected, it was not just a matter of congratulations, but he had other important responsibilities.

And the so-called important task that Shen Qiyuan entrusted to An Wulun actually required Yang Zhen to marry into their Shen Qiyuan family.
Chapter completed!