Xu Ruolin helped Zuo Mengeng pack her luggage and fiddled with it, her eyes suddenly turned red.
Zuo Mengeng was very nervous.
"What's wrong?"
Xu Ruolin sat down slowly, but raised her head and always looked at the person in front of her.
"The poor bones by the Wuding River are like those in a spring boudoir's dream. In the past, when I read poems, I just sighed. But today I know the torment of caring about this heart."
Zuo Mengeng finally understood and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
"My sister, it's not as serious as you think. There's no danger in this expedition, it's just like traveling."
Xu Ruolin only thought that he was coaxing her.
"Nonsense. On the battlefield, a sword or a gun has no eyesight. You... you have to be careful, don't..."
When you travel far away, it feels really heartwarming to have someone caring about you.
Zuo Mengeng didn't explain any more, he just said softly: "Wait until I come back."
Xu Ruolin couldn't bear it any longer, so she fiercely protected his head and offered her lips to him.
This kiss almost ended forever.
The girl didn't let go until Zuo Mengeng's lips hurt from the kiss.
Zuo Mengeng touched her hair, turned around and walked out.
In the military camp, more than 3,000 soldiers had already been fully equipped. When Zuo Mengeng appeared, the entire army set off.
The atmosphere of this expedition was completely different from the past.
The White Lotus cult bandits who wreaked havoc in Shandong gave the imperial court a huge headache. But in the eyes of the new army, they were nothing.
Zuo Mengeng told Xu Ruolin that this was a trip, which was actually true.
Sun Yuanhua was also in the starting team. Watching the neatly arranged line of four people meandering forward, deep in his heart, there was another wave of turmoil.
This kind of army has never been seen in the imperial court.
Even the powerful Guan Ning army he saw in Liaodong was a far cry from it.
The reality is so cruel.
Just by looking at a marching column, you can tell how strong an army is.
In the past few days, Sun Yuanhua had been struggling with whether or not to tell the court everything about this place.
If you don't tell me, as a minister of the Ming Dynasty, you are tantamount to deceiving the sage, protecting and plotting rebellion. What is the difference between it and rebellion?
But if he were to report him, under the thunder of the court, not only Zuo Menggeng would be unlucky, but so many of his friends would also be killed.
In particular, the respected teacher Xu Guangqi will also be implicated, and his blood will flow like a river.
However, after seeing the power of "Dongchang Association" today, Sun Yuanhua's thoughts were immediately wiped out.
How many imperial soldiers and horses are needed to defeat such a powerful army?
If Zuo Mengeng is angered and chooses to join forces with the White Lotus Sect and the Shanxi bandits, the northern land will fall immediately and there will be no peace.
Isn't it ironic?
The reason why I didn't dare to report someone when I saw someone committing rebellion was that I was afraid that the court would not be able to defeat him.
In this state of mind, Sun Yuanhua had no choice but to turn a blind eye.
Just let it go and wait and see what happens next.
What Zuo Mengeng didn't know was that Sun Yuanhua had this idea because he was actually trying to find a way out for himself.
Because Sun Yuanhua did not want to be the governor of Denglai.
When he was appointed by the imperial court, he submitted his resignation. The excuse he used was very simple: he was in poor health.
In the memorial, Sun Yuanhua also elaborated on Denglai's problem.
However, Chongzhen refused, so Sun Yuanhua had no choice but to take office.
When the army went out for battle, intelligence came in a steady stream.
While resting in Gaotang that night, Zuo Menggeng held the first combat meeting.
Sun Yuanhua, as the governor of Denglai, attended the meeting.
This was also intentional by Zuo Mengeng, to let him experience the difference of the New Army.
"This time, we will go through Yucheng, along the Tuhe River to Qingcheng, and via Le'an to Denglai. It is expected to take about five days. If we encounter the White Lotus bandits at various places along the way, we will eliminate them on the spot."
After receiving the order, each officer immediately marked it on the map.
The map of Shandong has never stopped surveying and mapping before and after the Houying moved north to Gyeongsang Province. Now it is mostly completed, and it can be regarded as a relatively complete regional map mastered by the New Army.
Sun Yuanhua stood aside and watched for a while, but found that he couldn't understand it at all.
However, he questioned Zuo Mengeng's marching route.
"We can go to Jinan first to relieve the siege of the provincial capital."
Zuo Mengeng shook his head and informed him of a situation.
"We have received intelligence that more than 30,000 people under the bandit leader Li Mengming are already besieging Laiyang. Laiyang currently has no county magistrate, and only one county magistrate and a squire are guarding the city. If the delay continues, Laiyang will be defeated. If Laiyang is lost, Laixi will
, Zhaoyuan, and Huang County are all difficult to survive. Once the connection between Deng and Laizhou is cut off, Dengzhou will become an isolated city and cannot protect itself."
Sun Yuanhua was shocked. He did not expect that Dengzhou Prefecture would be lost before he, the governor, took office.
He originally had good intentions and felt that by borrowing Shandong's soldiers and horses, it was better to go to resolve the crisis in Jinan Mansion first and repay the favor of Shen Xun, the governor of Shandong.
But now I have no choice, my hometown is going to be gone, so I can’t care about this anymore.
At noon the next day, the army arrived at Yucheng.
This place was previously attacked by the White Lotus Sect, but when they heard that the Ming army from Dongchang Prefecture was coming, the White Lotus Sect fled.
Zuo Menggeng summoned some people to discuss matters.
"The purpose of bringing you out this time is to let you practice your administrative skills. Starting from Yucheng, you will take over. I will leave a hundred soldiers for each of you. Your task is to ensure that the recovered county is stable. At the same time,
Take this opportunity to learn about the local population, land conditions, rich and poor distinctions, mineral resources and hydrology, do you understand?"
The difference between the New Army's expedition this time and this time is that it brought more than 20 administrative personnel.
These people were all drawn from Zuozhuang and various factories.
These people had received preliminary administrative training from Li Banghua before, and at least they understood what they needed to pay attention to when controlling a place.
In ancient times, it was not difficult to be a local official. You only needed to master two things.
One is for yellow books and the other is for tax collection.
It’s not certain whether the county magistrate’s orders can go beyond the county seat. After all, the imperial power does not go to the countryside.
The yellow list is the population, and the tax collection is the money and food.
If you do these two things well, according to the standards of the imperial court, you will obviously be a good official.
According to Zuo Mengeng's standards, these people are certainly not qualified to govern the local area. But this time they did not really occupy the territory. They just took advantage of the opportunity of suppressing bandits to understand the actual situation in various places, so it didn't matter.
"You ensure the safety of all counties and cities, and you can evacuate when the imperial officials arrive."
It's not yet time for the new army to attack the city, and Zuo Mengeng doesn't want to arouse the imperial court's nerves. But it's okay to maintain local security before the newly appointed local officials from the imperial court arrive, right?
Basically, in the county towns that were captured by the Bailian bandits, the officials were either killed or ran away.
After the New Army regained control, the local area was in a mess with no one in charge, which was perfect for these administrative staff to practice their skills on.
"Yin Rongkang, you are in charge of Yucheng."
Zuo Mengeng started to point generals.
Yin Rongkang was also one of the first batch of scholars. Later, he assisted in the management of Zuozhuang under Chen Zhi. His abilities were recognized by Zuo Menggeng. He was diligent and down-to-earth and was good at mediating disputes, so he was brought out for training this time.
Yin Rongkang was very happy and quickly accepted the order.
He was originally a scholar, but after his family was destroyed, he wandered around. Not to mention fame and wealth, he didn't even know whether he could survive.
I didn’t expect that now I can manage an entire county.
Although it is only temporary, since Zuo Mengeng has made this arrangement, I am afraid that it may not become a reality in the future.
Looking at the more than 100 New Army soldiers left for him, Yin Rongkang was full of courage.
"Let's go and check the pornographic books first, and then punish the criminals who committed crimes."
The new army marched and fought in this mode.
When they arrived in Qingcheng County, the bandits entrenched here did not escape. When they saw the government troops, they immediately closed the city gates and prepared to defend.
After Zuo Mengeng learned about it, he realized that the bandits here were not from the White Lotus Sect, but habitual bandits from the nearby mountains.
When the White Lotus Sect was in rebellion, they followed them and waved their flags and shouted. Later, when the White Lotus Sect went to attack other places, this group of people stayed behind, wreaking havoc in the county and preying on the common people.
For such a person, Zuo Mengeng didn't have any good impressions at all, so he directly ordered an attack on the city.
The army blocked the four city gates and directly besieged them without prioritizing them.
Sun Yuanhua originally felt that Zuo Menggeng was underestimating the enemy by doing this, but when he saw the New Army soldiers beating to death the bandits who were about to shoot arrows at the top of the city a hundred steps away, his eyes almost popped out.
During these days, he had been in a confused mood, so he did not notice any difference in the weapons of the new army.
A fire gun that can accurately kill enemies from a hundred steps away...
Sun Yuanhua couldn't help but feel lucky that he suppressed the idea of reporting.
"Uncle, please look, this is my new army gun."
Zuo Menggeng took the musket from a soldier and handed it to Sun Yuanhua for appreciation.
As for siege warfare...
Well, the new army has entered the city.
It only took more than half an hour to capture Qingcheng County. More than 500 bandits entrenched in the city were all wiped out, not even taking prisoners.
Anyway, if you look at the tragic situation in the city, you will know that none of these people are innocent.
outside the city.
Sun Yuanhua, however, couldn't calm down while looking at the New Army's muskets for a long time.
Especially after seeing Zuo Mengeng demonstrate it to him, he felt more and more that the Ming Dynasty seemed to be really drifting away.