The time soon came to the New Year's Day on December 24th. All soldiers in the South Zhili region stopped training, and all battalions and departments had received orders. As soon as the New Year was over, they would immediately leave for the north.

Not only did the soldiers have a rare rest, but the Nanjing court, which was noisy all day long, finally calmed down. After all, for the people in this land, almost nothing is more important than spending the New Year peacefully.

Yes, and the quarrel is not really important.

But Zhou Shixian still can't spend the New Year with peace of mind. The Tongguan War has entered a critical moment. Li Zicheng failed and fled south. It is only a matter of time before Duduo leads his troops south. Zhou Shixian must be fully prepared for the next fierce battle, which is also his true foothold.

Prepare.

On the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, Zhou Shixian was still inspecting the "Nanjing Ordnance Bureau" to inspect weapons production. On the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, he went to inspect the Nanjing Water Camp and met with Zheng Chenggong.

Not as good as him, but even better than him in terms of military discipline.

The Nanjing Water Camp will be an important force against the Qing army. It is also the most important force that continuously transports weapons and ammunition, food and horse materials from Nanjing to ensure the supply of the army. Now Zheng Chenggong is in charge of a large part of it, and he is someone Zhu Cixi can trust.

During the period when the army moves north, and even before the decisive battle, the Nanjing Weapons Bureau can produce at least four to five thousand muskets, as well as tens of thousands of armor, crossbows, swords, guns and shields, which must be continuously replenished into the army.

, the damage caused by small-scale combat cannot be underestimated.

On the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhou Shixian finally returned to his mansion. He first went to greet Emperor Chongzhen and Queen Zhou, and then went to meet the two princesses. Xiao Zhaoren's snacks were indispensable. This little girl has been in the film since

After leaving the palace, I felt that the palace was too boring. I even wanted to take advantage of the New Year to sneak out with Zhou Shixian to watch the lanterns and fireworks, and find a restaurant to have a big meal.

However, even on the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhou Shixian still had a lot of things to deal with, so he could only drive this snack guy back. Otherwise, he also wanted to see the New Year lanterns in Nanjing City.

When Zhou Shixian returned to the mansion, Xue Laoer, Lu Jiude, and Wang Chaodong had been waiting in the mansion for a long time. Now that Nanjing's intelligence system was under his control, Zhou Shixian was not worried about the news of his secret meeting with the three of them.

Spread the word.

"Prince-in-law, Duduo's Tatar army has been fighting fiercely with the Shun bandits in Tongguan for more than ten days. It seems that they are waiting for the Hongyi artillery to be used for the attack. The informant sent to North Zhili by the imperial court reported back. How many days will it take for the artillery to arrive?

The day is coming. The Shun thieves failed in their field battles and Tongguan was captured. I'm afraid it will happen in these ten days." Lu Jiude said with his waist hunched and his hands cupped.

After hearing this, Zhou Shixian looked at the expressions on Wang Chaodong and Xue Laoer's faces, and then asked: "How is Azig's offensive in northern Shaanxi? It's probably difficult to compete with the troops of Li Guo and Gao Yigong alone."

To counterbalance.”

"The prince-in-law is wise. Azig's army is 60,000 to 70,000 strong, while Li and Gao's bandits are estimated to only have 30,000 to 40,000 troops. Originally, Li Chuang planned to lead the main force northward to attack Azig's Tatar army, and then

And then cut off the retreat route of Duduo's southern attack, but in the end Dorgon changed the strategy of advancing in two directions, and the Shun army fell into strategic passivity."

Zhou Shixian nodded. This is basically the same situation in history. After Li Zicheng withdrew from the capital, he lost the support of the Ming army. There were originally 70,000 to 80,000 Qin troops in Shaanxi, but they were all waiting and watching. This made the army

The Shun army, which was filled with a large number of new soldiers, suffered repeated defeats in front of the Qing army, which held hundreds of thousands of Shanxi Ming troops.

"Is there any news from Sichuan?" Zhou Shixian asked again. Although Zhang Xianzhong was far less powerful than Li Zicheng, he could still fight the Qing army.

"Not yet. Even Azig's actions in northern Shaanxi are not known yet," Lu Jiude replied.

"Prince-in-law, if both the Qing army and the Shun thieves are harmed, I am afraid that in a few months, the Qing army will not be able to fight. Should we continue to mobilize the main army to go north?" Xue Laoer listened on the sidelines and immediately had doubts.

, he still wants to train as a soldier for a few more months.

"Li Zicheng will not fight to the death with the Qing army in Shaanxi. His rogue nature will be exposed again. The whole of Shaanxi may be surrendered to the Qing army in vain. Just like Shanxi, he did not hold on personally and actually ran back to Shaanxi, so that

This natural danger has been lost."

Zhou Shixian paused and continued: "The main force of the Qing army may still be intact by then, but they still have to divide their forces to wipe out the rebels in Shaanxi, deal with Zhang Xianzhong in Sichuan, and pursue Li Zicheng. On the Nanjing side, the Manchu Qing may not

The entire main force will be sent, the Eight Banners soldiers may number less than 20,000, and the Green Camp soldiers, Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming and others should only have 20,000 to 30,000 troops."

"Why is the prince-in-law so sure?"

Lu Jiude was surprised and said that he had always suspected that Zhou Shixian was behind his back and had another intelligence network. Now these news that he had no idea about came out bit by bit, making people like Lu Jiude a little unstable.

Lived.

"You guessed it, the Tatars only have those soldiers and horses, and the Shaanxi frontier troops who have been recruited should not dare to use them. Moreover, Shaanxi has insufficient money and food, but there are many soldiers and horses, and Nanjing has enough money and food. The Qing army may still feel that we do not have a strong army, so they will definitely relax their vigilance.

.”

week

That’s big.”

Although Lu Jiude didn't believe Zhou Shixian's guess, he couldn't ask any more questions. There was no problem with Zhou Shixian's plan. After all, they had less than 40,000 actual capable soldiers in Nanzhili, and most of them were

They are still new soldiers. If the main force of the Qing army attacks, it may be difficult to win.

Taking a step back, Zhou Shixian's strategy of using Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing and others to show weakness and then luring the enemy deep in to find fighter planes is the current optimal solution. Xue Laoer also thought of this, and felt even more for Zhou Shixian

I admire that such strategic vision is far better than that of a veteran like him.

"Old Wang, during the period when my consort leads his troops to the north, Nanjing depends on you. We must stabilize the court and prevent accidents from happening. If necessary, a showdown is not a bad idea." Zhou Shixian turned his head and looked towards Wang Chaodong.

said.

Wang Chaodong nodded, immediately clasped his hands and said: "Don't worry, Prince Consort, the garrison department in Nanjing City, the Imperial Guards in the palace, and the generals have all been connected. As long as the Prince Consort gives the order, every fly will fly in Nanjing City."

Don’t go out.”

In the past six months, Wang Chaodong has not only focused on training troops. With his identity as the commander-in-chief of the Jinyiwei, he has opened up all the Nanjing City garrison forces that should have been Emperor Chongzhen's last resort.

own people.

Zhou Shixian raised his brows when he heard this. Xue Laoer performed well in the army, Lu Jiude was also good in intelligence, Wang Chaodong was considered his own age and was also a talented person, plus Zhang Huangyan, Zheng Chenggong, and Li Banghua

, Ni Yuanlu, Zhang Minzhen and others, his subordinates are a gathering of heroes.

"Okay, I have you all here in the Ming Dynasty, and the ZTE is in sight. We will drive out the Tartars and restore the rivers and mountains, and it will be just around the corner!"

At this moment, as soon as Zhou Shixian finished speaking, a burst of firecrackers suddenly sounded throughout the city of Nanjing. Inside Zhou Shixian's mansion, there was also a roar of joy, and there was also a lot of noise outside the door.

Xue Laoer, Lu Jiude and Wang Chaodong quickly raised their hands to Zhou Shixian and said, "Happy Year Yiyou, Prince-in-law!"

Zhou Shixian laughed loudly, and for a moment did not care about the difference between the emperor and his ministers. He returned to his three confidants and said: "Changfu, Chaodong, save the country, and have a happy New Year Yiyou!"

In the nine military camps of Yingtian Prefecture, Zhenjiang Prefecture, and Yangzhou Prefecture, countless soldiers are also celebrating the New Year. This is the happiest New Year they have ever spent in their lives. They don’t have to worry about food and clothing, and they don’t have to worry about shelter.

The cotton-padded clothes I wore were very warm.

Those who have wives and children at home naturally have a New Year's Eve dinner as a family in their own small home. The bachelors gather together to celebrate the New Year's Eve dinner, but everyone buys incense and candles and worships at a designated place in the camp.

Ancestors, respect heaven and earth.

The children were gathering together to play with the fireworks sent by Zhou Shixian, and they were having a great time. The soldiers also pooled their money together, bought many firecrackers, and set them off.

Amidst the crackling of artillery, the laughter of soldiers and their families was everywhere. Children, carrying lanterns bought by their parents, chased each other in the small open space in front of their homes.

The soldiers' military pay was paid on time, and their food, clothing, housing and transportation didn't cost much. After saving money for more than half a year, almost every household had some money left over, so they were willing to spend it.

Moreover, those with families still spent less. Those without families, the bachelors, knew that they would go north to fight after the new year, so when they took leave before, they went to the Yaozi Restaurant and squandered all their money.

.

After all, the Tatars were still terrifying, and no one knew whether they could come back alive. Most of them were even prepared to die on the battlefield because of their strict military discipline and their gratitude to Zhou Shixian.

Zhou Shixian knew that these recruits were still afraid, so he went out to spend some time to vent their anger, and also paid attention to the comfort work in the military camp.

Although there are safety risks in setting off firecrackers and fireworks, Zhou Shixian did not ban it just because of the trouble. He hoped that these soldiers could have a good year before the decisive battle. If this is the source of fighting consciousness, they are doing it for their own better life.

And fight.

The huge consumption generated in the military camp also made nearby farmers and small businessmen see business opportunities, and many squires even wanted to come and open shops. However, Zhou Shixian did not allow it in the important military camp area.
Chapter completed!