On July 9, the twelfth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, the sky was overcast and the breeze was blowing. It was no longer hot and hot as in the past. It was especially cool in the valley area between Dushikou and the mountains.
For several days, Zhang Cheng inspected all the forts on Xiabei Road, including Dishuiya Fort, Ningyuan Fort, Changshen Bunker, Yangtian Fort, Muma Fort, and Longmen Station.
Almost the same as on the Shangbei Road, all the fortresses were in extremely dilapidated condition. Not only did the garrison troops have no morale, they were also in low spirits. There were so many people who were only filling in the numbers, and the actual strength of the garrison troops was basically less than half of the number of garrison troops.
Only Xu Jinyong from the Thousand Households in Dishuiya Fort impressed Zhang Cheng the most. Among all the forts on Xiabei Road, there was only Dishuiya Fort. There were actually more than 780 garrison troops, and most of them were young and strong.
There are more than 200 military horses.
Xu Jinyong lives up to his name. Not only is he tall and mighty, but he is also brave. He also loves his soldiers very much. However, like other castles, although his soldiers are more brave, their clothes and armor are in tatters.
The utensils are also old.
Thirty-seven craftsmen were dispatched from various fortresses on Xiabei Road, and 21 of them could drill and sharpen blunderbuss. This made Zhang Cheng very happy. In this way, 112 blunderbuss could be drilled and sharpened every month.
Roots, even if some defective products cannot be used, at least we can guarantee more than 100 sticks per month.
In addition, Zhang Cheng also selected and deployed 500 troops from the forts on Xiabei Road, including 400 infantry and 100 cavalry, and they were all young and strong old sergeants. Although there were some reluctances in each fort, there was no one
Dare to object.
Only Xu Jinyong, a member of the Dishuiya Fort Thousand Households, expressed strong opposition to Zhang Cheng's move. He alone was selected by Zhang Cheng to deploy 100 infantry and 50 cavalry.
He saw that his well-trained soldiers were transferred by Zhang Cheng to enrich his military camp. He felt resentful in his heart. He went to Zhang Cheng directly to argue and firmly opposed the transfer of his sergeants.
However, he was persuaded by Zhang Cheng's righteous words. Previously, officers and generals at all levels were skinned layer by layer. In the end, the money and food sent to the castles were no longer able to support the army. This resulted in the army garrisoning in each castle declining year by year.
Even though Dishuiya Fort still maintains an effective military strength, although its combat power is still there, the officers and soldiers live a hard life. They can't support their families with the pitiful salary alone. They all have tattered clothes and old armor and can barely survive.
Live hand to mouth.
Zhang Cheng told Xu Jinyong that it was impossible to feed so many soldiers with Dishuiya Fort alone, and that the entire North Road was a collective, and the overall interests must be considered comprehensively.
Now, we can mobilize the outstanding garrison troops from each fort to form a strong mobile force, open up wasteland for cultivation in the forts on the North Road, and recruit military households from other places to farm. Only in this way can we increase the grain output of the North Road.
Finally, the right way is to transport grain, grain, and money to various forts to support the army. Only in this way can each fort be able to replenish the number of troops in the future and truly have enough troops.
Xu Jinyong also saw that the soldiers brought by Zhang Cheng were all brightly armored and well-armed, which really made him envious. Therefore, although he finally agreed to Zhang Cheng's deployment of sergeants, he also asked for a batch of armored soldiers.
and weapons.
At the banquet in Longmen Castle, Zhang Cheng announced that he would allocate a batch of armor and weapons from the North Road arsenal to the forts, but the premise is that the forts on the Lower North Road must accept the verification of the Kaiping Guards like the Shangbei Road.
, get rid of the old and weak, first build up the troops and then distribute the armor and weapons.
Everyone had no objections to this, especially Gao Jingong, who was guarding Longmen Station, who expressed a more positive attitude. This person gave Zhang Cheng the impression that he was not suitable for leading troops.
Although Gao Jin Gong is tall and tall, he is also fat and has big ears. He looks very greasy. He always smiles at people and has a naive appearance, but Zhang Cheng always feels that this person's appearance
Although it is gentle, like a spring breeze, its heart must be extremely sinister.
Through conversation, we learned that this man was good at eating, drinking, and having fun. Although he was not a talent in leading an army, the thousands of households in the fortresses on Xiabei Road respected him very much. It was obvious that he was very good at doing things and was very popular.
On the one hand, it is his all-round and exquisite style of doing things, on the other hand, he must have some skills.
Fortunately, he respected Zhang Cheng, and took the initiative to request Zhang Cheng to send people to re-verify the fields and military households on Xiabei Road, inspect the warehouses, and register the number of troops in each fort. He would definitely cooperate to the best of his ability.
Seeing that Gao Jin Gong was so good at doing things, Zhang Cheng gave up the idea of touching him and temporarily let him continue to serve as the guard of Longmen Station and take charge of everything on Xiabei Road.
…………
Zhang Cheng also felt a little tired after running around various castles in the past few days, so he returned to the inner room in the backyard of the General's Office to rest in the afternoon.
Zhang Cheng was lying on the couch, recalling his experiences in the past year, and vivid characters flashed before his eyes: Lu Xiangsheng, Zhang Yan, Yang Guozhu, Hu Dawei, Wang Pu, Emperor Chongzhen, Yang Sichang, Chen Xinjia, Hong Chengchou,
Sun Chuanting, Cao Bianjiao, He Renlong and so on.
Among them, Lu Xiangsheng and Zhang Yan were both killed in battle, but they were the ones who helped him the most. They used their lives to support Zhang Cheng's achievements today.
There is also the case that although Emperor Chongzhen tried his best to govern the country, the more he did, the more mistakes he made. Zhang Cheng knew that sooner or later, he would push this panic-stricken Ming Dynasty to destruction. What should he do?
Thinking of Yang Sichang, according to his own memory, he should be about to go to Xiangyang to personally supervise Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai. In the end, Zhang Xianzhong unexpectedly attacked Xiangyang and committed suicide by drinking poison because he lost the feudal title.
I even thought of Chen Xinjia and Zhang Ruoqi, who worked in tandem to urge Hong Chengchou to attack quickly in the Songjin Battle shortly after, but they were defeated and lost, leading to the death of Yang Guozhu, Cao Bianjiao and other famous generals in the world.
Therefore, Hong Chengchou surrendered to the Eastern Barbarians and became the vanguard of the Tartar Barbarians' final conquest of the Han Dynasty in the Central Plains. I don't know how many officials of the Ming Dynasty were recruited and surrendered by him, especially those in the south of the Yangtze River. This man can be said to have played the most important role.
In the eyes of the world at this time, Hong Chengchou was a man of great talent and knowledge, a humble and courteous person, who could also judge the situation, had an overall plan in mind, and knew how to advance and retreat. He was an extremely rare talent in the court of the late Ming Dynasty.
Especially not long ago, Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting defeated the rebellious Li Zicheng, leaving only eighteen of his cavalry to run through Shangluo Mountain, which made them even more famous and praised.
The world called him a wonderful talent and a pillar of the Ming Dynasty, but they never expected that he would become a famous traitor in history.
"The Duke of Zhou was afraid of the day of rumors, and when Wang Mang paid homage to the virtuous corporal, if he had died at that time, who would have known the loyalty and sycophancy throughout the ages."
The result is a wise saying.
As for Sun Chuanting, the last savior of the Ming Dynasty, he is still imprisoned in the capital's prison. Unless something unexpected happens, he may not be released by Emperor Chongzhen for several years.
Thinking of this, Zhang Cheng couldn't help but feel that his current strength was still a little smaller. He thought that Li Zicheng would move to Henan next year and his strength would grow geometrically. How could he compete with him?