Vultures circled over the Yanshan Mountains, occasionally casting huge shadows onto the grasslands.
Camping in the wild, Fu Renxi, dressed in a crimson round-collar official uniform, stood outside the camp gate surrounded by more than ten servants and officials.
Not far away, Fu Renxi looked at Generalissimo Liu Chengzong who was walking out of the camp gate to greet him. Fu Renxi was scratched all over, and the hands in his sleeves were holding a pair of black scarves.
He didn't know why, but mentally he always felt that he should wear a face covering when meeting Liu Chengzong.
However, this meeting was a public one and was sent by Governor Liang Tingdong, so there was no need to hide and dodge.
When Liu Chengzong came out of the camp to greet him, he didn't appear very enthusiastic. He was just doing business and asked people to keep the gifts that Fu Renxi had brought.
Jiao Fu Renxi was still a little surprised, thinking that this was not about reminiscing about the past?
Within a moment, Liu Chengzong sent someone to bring him into the account.
After entering the commander's tent, the expression on Liu Shizi's face became lively. He patted Fu Renxi and said with a smile: "These official clothes are good, they are all wearing scarlet robes. It was not like they were living outside just now. The servants behind you,
I don’t know how many of them are from the Governor’s staff, and I’m worried that it might cause trouble to you.”
"That's it..."
Fu Renxi didn't take it seriously at first. He thought to himself, which of the Ming generals these days doesn't have anything wrong with it?
He, Fu Renxi, has elite men in the three Shanxi towns on the middle and third sides. It is foreseeable that he will be the number one general in the next year.
Not to mention that he was just familiar with Liu Chengzong, even Liu Chengzong's old subordinates, the court, and especially the governor Liang Tingdong would not do anything to him.
However, when the big words came to his lips, Fu Renxi still did not say them out. He smiled sheepishly, cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Generalissimo, for your consideration."
He smiled and said: "Governor Liang thinks too much, but it doesn't cause any trouble to me. It's just that all the servants are Lao Taishan's soldiers. He doesn't understand the commander-in-chief."
Liu Chengzong had already heard from Gao Xian that Fu Renxi was marrying Sun's daughter. He nodded and said with a smile: "Why, instead of practicing firearms now, you have to practice with the landlord regiment? You Marshal Fu is so versatile."
The two of them chatted and joked for a while, and the anger that had not been seen for many years was eliminated, and Fu Renxi became more at ease.
He looked like you don't understand the commander, and said seriously: "I came here to obey the orders of Governor Liang. I hope the commander will tell the truth. Tens of thousands of troops are stationed outside the Great Wall to attack Shanxi?"
"Shall I fight Shanxi?"
Liu Chengzong looked at Fu Renxi as if he were a fool: "If you want to fight early, the border wall can't even stop Donglu, is it possible that you can stop me?"
Fu Renxi was completely relieved after hearing this.
He actually believed this sentence more than Liu Chengzong.
What Liu Shizi thought in his mind was that he had specializations in the art, and the border wall could not stop Donglu, but it might really be able to stop him.
The Eight Banners Army specializes in attacking city walls, and each of them carries a mountain knife and axe, an iron hook, four steel drills, and forty ropes for climbing and wall-climbing equipment. Our Marshal's Army is really not prepared for this.
What we practiced was to mount a horse and cross mountains and rivers as if we were walking on flat ground. The Great Wall was completely out of the consideration range of the imaginary enemy.
Even when Liu Chengzong was in Shaanxi, the two border walls built by the Ming Dynasty helped him hinder the movement of the border troops.
Who is a good man who spends all his time digging at the city walls built by his ancestors? Why, I want to go out?
Even though Liu Shizi is outside the Great Wall now, he doesn't feel that the Great Wall is stopping him from the bottom of his heart. Even after staying in the wild for a long time, seeing the Great Wall from a distance still gives him a sense of security.
Home is over there.
When you see the Great Wall, you know you are not far from home.
As for Renxi, his visit this time was actually Liu Chengzong's previous letter to Liang Tingdong, asking for the Dibaotang newspaper in the name of Shunyi King Yang Qi.
Liang Tingdong knew that it was Liu Chengzong who sent the message, and Liu Chengzong also knew that Liang Tingdong would know that it was him.
Using Yang Qi's name is an excuse to make both parties comfortable.
But Liang Tingdong not only prepared a pile of newspapers from Tangbaodi to provide supplementary lessons for Liu Chengzong who had stopped reporting, but he also sent Fu Renxi here.
Just to see if Liu Chengzong can be trusted and if he has any thoughts of attacking Shanxi.
There is no best.
If there is, let him bring food, money, and medicinal materials. Don't do anything, just come in to provide disaster relief.
"The commander-in-chief doesn't know something. Not to mention the immovable border wall, even the movable border troops cannot stop him."
Fu Renxi's words sounded a bit flattering, but his tone was more sad in Liu Shizi's ears: "The pimple plague has caused misery to Zhongsan Town and Shanxi."
At present, Xuanfu, Datong, and Yunzhou have a total of twenty-four battalions of mobile troops. Fu Renxi's Superintendent Battalion ranks among the top three in terms of military strength. Because of its large number of soldiers, it is called the "big camp".
And his 'big camp' actually only has a full strength of 2,440 troops.
When it comes to combat power, he obtained the Supervisory Biao Battalion trained by the landlords from his father-in-law and other Daizhou gentry, and it is the leader of the three towns. It is because he has eaten enough in the past year and has enough strength.
As for the rest of the battalions, nearly twenty battalions have been reduced to 1,500 men due to shortages. There are still more than a dozen battalions that cannot be gathered together, ranging from a shortfall of forty or fifty to a shortfall of three to four hundred men.
The mounts must include mules and camels to make up the number of seven steps and three rides.
Compared with those battalions, Fu Renxi's Supervisor Battalion not only has veterans who have followed him for a long time, but also has Daizhou gentry regiments to train troops. It has a staff of more than 2,400 people, more than 1,000 long muskets, and war horses alone.
There are fourteen hundred horses, including mules, which can be spread out to one person.
Just based on this, of course the three towns are the best.
This is not because he is strong, but because others do not have the support of the landowners and gentry. With such troubles, the supplies cannot be kept up, and everything is in chaos.
In fact, according to his estimation, let alone Liu Chengzong, even if someone randomly recruits 3,000 people, he can dominate Shanxi.
Fu Renxi got sick in advance and sighed: "It's chaos in the north, it's going to be ruined in the south, and the White Lotus Sect is causing trouble in Pingyang and Lu'an again..."
White Lotus Sect?
Liu Chengzong unconsciously raised his eyelids slightly. It sounded like he was responsible for the chaos in Shanxi.
Upon hearing this, he asked with a complicated expression: "Is the pimple epidemic in Shanxi not over yet?"
He thought that shouldn't be the case. Tongguan is a pass and should be more serious than other places. But even so, around the Chinese New Year, the pimple plague inside and outside the pass gradually stopped.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! According to Zhang Tianlin’s observation, the disappearance of the plague on the plateau east of Tongguan is not because the plague is afraid of spring, but because of the infected fleas, rats, and humans.
Basically it didn't move before and after the Chinese New Year.
If you don't move all the time, you are dead. If you are not dead, you will not run around during the Chinese New Year. It is very cold outside, and there are bandits and bandits running around, so you stay in the fort. If the source of the disease is gone, the disease will disappear.
The situation in Shanxi should be similar.
"It's over, but last year's land was deserted."
Fu Renxi spread his hands and said: "Landlords, gentry and even tenants are all in Zhuangzibaozi. It all depends on the management in the past years. If the management is good in the past, we can still live now; if the management is not good, we will not be able to survive."
"But farmers who own land..."
Fu Renxi shook his head: "Last month, Governor Wu reported to the court that people from many counties were eating each other, hoping that the emperor would allocate funds for disaster relief. The emperor just allocated 35,000 taels, but it still hasn't been delivered. Donglu Tatar
The child has crossed the line."
Listening to his narration, Liu Chengzong frowned tightly and asked, "Is the governor Wu Zong?"
Fu Renxi nodded.
"It's difficult. Back then, he invited 100,000 taels of silver to go to Shaanxi for disaster relief, but it was divided up as soon as it was distributed... But it was a drop in the bucket, and it was a good thing if a kilogram of food fell into the mouths of the hungry people."
Liu Chengzong was quite aware of Wu Di's disaster relief work in Shaanxi five years ago and knew that he was a capable official.
But the disaster in Shaanxi that year could not be solved with one hundred thousand taels of silver.
To put it bluntly, although the drought is serious, it is something that can be solved by humans.
What really made Shaanxi's situation worse back then was that they, the mutinous and hungry troops, smashed Shaanxi to pieces.
Wu Zong even allocated 4,000 taels of his 100,000 liang to repair the inn that Liu Chengzong had torn to pieces. As a result, although Liu Chengzong left, Gao Yingxiang came out of Shishizigou and destroyed the inn again.
Fu Renxi was about to say something when Liu Chengzong asked: "What's the price of grain in Shanxi?"
"Taiyuan City, a dou of millet is seven coins of silver."
One stone is seven taels.
Five thousand stones of grain, three dou for a large mouth and five liters for a small one, is almost enough for 20,000 hungry people to consume for one month.
Fu Renxi didn't take these words seriously, but just shook his head and said: "Originally, it was five cents per dou, but as soon as the news of Donglu's breach of the border came out, the price of food skyrocketed, and they didn't even look at what good things Shanxi has now.
The Donglu were not shy about robbing anyone, and they even raised the price of food."
"From what you're saying, Azig didn't plunder Shanxi after the breach?"
He remembered Azig.
This guy gave him harsh words outside and then ran into the side. Liu Shishi wanted to catch him so much.
"They looted. From Yunzhou to the border, the countryside along the way was ruined. They didn't get much harvest."
"When he attacked Yunzhou, Chicheng, Yiangtian, and Changzhong, he failed to capture all the forts, except Diaoyou Fort."
Fu Renxi shook his head: "Many people were killed by the cannons. The Donglu were angry, and the three groups attacked together. They set fire to the city tower, searched for the refugees, used barrel trucks to cut through the walls, and took the opportunity to board the city and massacre the fort."
"Owl Castle?"
Liu Chengzong had never heard of this name. He turned around and looked for it on the map in the tent. He lined up the fortresses listed by Fu Renxi and asked, "Does the Donglu want to invade?"
Diaoyou Fort is located to the west of Longmen River, guarding the northeast gate of Huailai and the only way to go to Xuanfu from Yanqing.
"Perhaps he wanted to enter Yuzhou, Shanxi Province through Xuanfu, but he was hurt by the beating. After capturing the Diaoyu Fort, he burned the body under the city, put the ashes in his pocket, and turned east to Yanqing."
"A bag for ashes?"
Liu Shixin said that this robbery bag is quite versatile.
Fu Renxi nodded. He didn't know why Liu Chengzong was so surprised about this. He only said: "They died and didn't want the officers and soldiers to get their heads, so they burned the bodies on the spot and divided the ashes into bags and took them back."
"I heard that if the war situation is urgent and there is no time to set fire to the corpses, the Donglu will cut off the heads of the dead soldiers and take them away."
Fu Renxi shook his head, with a complicated expression on his face that wanted to laugh but couldn't bear to laugh, and said: "Wang Pu told me that there was a small victory before, and Donglu took the body away and ran away.
When we arrived at the camp, only dozens of headless corpses were left. When the Ministry of War recorded the merits, they saw that they had no clothes and no heads, so they said he had done a good job but was taking credit."
"Whether he killed a good person and took credit for it, or Donglu cut off his own head. Anyway, those brainless people can't speak. Only Wang Pu himself knows."
Saying that, General Fu sighed and suddenly asked: "I heard that the commander-in-chief does not care about the merit of the head, so how do you evaluate the merit of the general?"
"It's different. I've been expanding my roster, and recording my merits mainly depends on... making do." Liu Shishi thought for a while, carefully choosing his words, but he didn't think of anything good: "As long as I can win."
The Marshal's Mansion records generals' achievements in victory, while for the grassroots soldiers, three chief officers of their squads are responsible.
This relatively crude method of recording merit is actually not as scientific as first-level merit.
There is a word like "killing good people and claiming merit", which itself means that there is a system, there are laws, there are investigations and there are punishments.
The Marshal's Mansion is different. They have a system to ensure the efficiency of military robbery.
After all, the environment and situation were different. If Ming used their method, they would fall apart immediately, and if they used Ming's method, they would be destroyed immediately.
Fu Renxi seemed very touched by this incident and asked, "What if we can't win?"
"If you can't win a battle, why fight it? Then don't fight it, run away. If it doesn't work, just flee."
Liu Chengzong took this matter lightly. In the final analysis, he still had the confidence to control the army. This confidence came not only from his own physical strength and prestige, but also from the constant threats from outside the Marshal's Army.
Fu Renxi was overjoyed when he heard the words, and he cupped his hands and said: "Haha, the commander is quick to talk and won't fight hard-to-win battles. His tactics are similar to those of General Wang Pu of Datong."
Liu Chengzong was taking off the map to speculate on the direction of the Jin army's march, and casually said: "Are you familiar with Wang Pu?"
"To be honest, he was the commander I wanted to serve most in the past."
"oh?"
Liu Chengzong said curiously: "I haven't heard that there is anything special about Wang Pu. It seems that he has not made any great achievements."
Fu Renxi did not agree with this and explained: "He was also a member of the Suide Guards of the township party. His father was Wang Wei, the general of Datong during the Wanli period. He joined the army to fight against the northern invaders when he was young. In the year of Tianqi, he was already stationed in the main army camp of Shanxi.
Later, he went to Liaodong and Beijing camp, but did not fight in Shaanxi. It is normal that the commander-in-chief is not familiar with him."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "This man is very good at fighting, and he is hardworking and will go wherever the court directs him."
Liu Shishi smiled and said: "Isn't this Cao Wenzhao?"
"no the same."
Fu Renxi was also happy, shook his head and said: "Both of them were on the road and deliberately wasted time, but Cao Wenzhao was to fight wherever he went, and Wang Pu was to check the place first, and only fight the battles that could be fought. If the chance of victory was not high,
, he took responsibility for his crime and avoided the war, withdrew when he had the opportunity, and waited for an opportunity to fight again."
What he didn't say was that this problem was actually developed after Wang Pu took charge of Jingying.
Because there were so many nobles and nobles in the camp, even if those soldiers escaped and retreated even if they were not dead, there would still be 10,000 aunts and uncles to intercede for mercy.
If half of them died in the war, would they be able to return to the capital?
"So let his soldiers feel comfortable and endure the hardships of marching, without fear of losing their lives in vain."
Of course, Fu Renxi's relationship with Wang Pu is now that of colleagues, and he no longer likes Wang Pu that much.
He prefers ruthless characters like Cao Wenzhao, Deng Qi, and Zuo Liangyu to be his colleagues, who will hit them if they pounce and die if they fail to hit them.
Liu Chengzong marked on the map, raised his head and said: "If he does this, he will be chopped up alive sooner or later. It is not him who has the final say on how to fight. This is courting death... Don't imitate him."
After that, he pointed to the map and said: "If the Donglu invaders enter Yanqing, they will attack Juyongguan and enter the capital. Most of them will not exit through Xuanda. I will also move to the east."
"You Shanxi troops should all be transferred to King Qin of the capital. Go back and tell Governor Liang that I have no intention of attacking Shanxi and let him concentrate on fending off the prisoners. In addition."
Liu Shizi tapped the table with his hand: "Go back and send someone for me to find Shanxi Governor Wu Gang. He is an official capable of disaster relief. Ask him to give me a charter for Shanxi disaster relief, or compile a departmental book on disaster relief affairs.
Send it to Hancheng and ask Zuo Maodi to bring it to me."
"In exchange, if Shanxi needs disaster relief, he can ask him to send a fleet to Hancheng to buy food. Disaster relief is a good deed. Although my food and grass are not much, 350,000 to 50,000 stones can be divided evenly. Three...forget it, just two taels.