When the weather clears after the rain, the scenery is extra clear and clear. The morning sun rises in the eastern sky, as if the whole world is enveloped in a new stream of light. But wonderful scenery is not necessarily a good thing. Once the weather clears, it means the march of the army.
Less resistance and faster speed.
In the custody room of Cili County, Zhang Ning's cousin Yao Erlang was patting his chest and making an impassioned speech: "It is my lifelong wish to follow my cousin in the war. Whether to fight or to retreat, Erlang will listen to you without hesitation."
"
"Although you and I are cousins, we are closer than real brothers." Zhang Ning said almost without hesitation. Now he very much needs the generals to support his decision. Yao Erlang was the first to express his stance. Why not move him?
?But what he said was not against his will. When it comes to brothers, Crown Prince Wen Kui is one of them. Both mother and son dreamed that Zhang Ning died unexpectedly, so there was nothing to be close to; the second prince had been imprisoned in Fengyang for more than 20 years.
, I guess I have been locked up stupid for a long time, I have never met him in person, and I have no feelings for him.
The second person to speak was Zhang Chengzong, "Brothers have read the speech written by His Highness himself. We don't have much ink in our stomachs, so we can only recognize the words and can't make any sense. But since Your Highness said this, it must be reasonable."
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In Zhang Ning's mind, Zhang Chengzong actually has more ideas than other generals. He usually doesn't show off his talents, but he is still very reliable in his work... The other generals are only thinking about this battle, but Zhang Chengzong may think that this time he has determined his "position."
"when.
In any case, since Zhang Chengzong expressed his stance, Zhang Ning was still very satisfied. He immediately turned his attention to Wei Bin, who was the most prestigious general in the army; because his status was not as close as that of Yao Erlang, Lao Xu and others, Zhang Ning
Ning actually didn't want him to have too high military power, but no one could match him in terms of qualifications and abilities, and Lao Xu was too old.
Wei Bin had a Chinese character face with two vertical lines between his eyebrows. This face made him look very serious, so the soldiers below were a little afraid of him. When he saw Zhang Ning looking at him, he asked: "What do you mean by your highness?"
, are you going to challenge Zhu Yongjun?"
Zhang Ning wrote a special speech internally, which obviously meant that. At this time, he didn't say much, and simply nodded and said: "I want to give it a try."
Wei Bin said: "His Royal Highness said that we must fight. The general will not be able to disobey, so we must obey."
Zhang Ning said: "I am not giving an order now. If you have anything to say, it doesn't matter. I will forgive you."
Everyone looked sideways, and Wei Bin said: "Recently, when I saw the officials from Cili County at the gate of our county government office, they all looked frustrated and anxious. The general thought to himself: The officials concluded that we will not be able to defend the city, let alone that we can stop Zhu.
The brave six thousand soldiers and horses were worried that they would be punished after the army regained Cili County, so they were uneasy. Not only that, when the officers and soldiers heard the news, they were all ready to pack up and leave, and the soldiers had no desire to fight. In this situation, the general will eventually
I have to say more."
At this moment, Old Xu said coldly: "General Wei's implication is that he does not agree with His Highness?"
Wei Bin said: "That's not what I meant..."
Zhang Ning immediately said kindly: "General Wei is just discussing the matter and bringing up the unfavorable factors of this battle. His advice is offensive to the ears. Please don't misunderstand him."
After hearing this, Wei Bin was ashamed and said: "The last general must obey your highness's military orders."
Zhang Ning looked back and saw that none of the civil and military officials showed any obvious resistance, and Chen Gai and other middle-level generals also expressed their stance. Zhang Ning's strength has been growing, and with his special status, his prestige is still convincing everyone at this time. But he understands,
If this battle suffers a setback, it is difficult to say what will happen in the future. People within a group are complicated, and there must either be a person with enough weight to subdue everyone, or there must be a balance, otherwise there will be chaos.
Zhang Ning was under a lot of pressure. At this point, he could only win but not lose, otherwise he would lose everything; but he insisted that his decision was correct and doing so was the only answer.
"Senior Wang, you are here to do something. Clean up the prisoner files in Cili, Shimen, and Lizhou prisons, and select a group of prisoners to replenish the army. You need to formulate a rule about what crimes can be sent to the army and what crimes cannot.
You must be quick, select the person within three days, and then hand it over to General Wei, who will be given weapons to prove his guilt and meritorious service."
Wang Yu cupped his fists and said, "I will take care of this matter later."
Zhang Ning frowned and pondered for a while, then raised his head and looked at the people present and said: "You all go down and prepare. We are strictly ordered not to talk about cowardly fighting and running away, and not to shake the morale of the army!" Everyone bowed and left, and Zhang Ning left Chen Maocai behind.
To this day, he is planning to do whatever it takes and leave no stone unturned.
An almost impossible-to-win war with unequal strength must be won. Time to prepare is running out. Even releasing prisoners is a helpless act. A group of untrained prisoners will have little effect;
He believes that the only way he can think of at present is to try to win foreign aid.
Chen Maocai and Zhang Ning walked into the lounge inside the custody room, clasped his fists and saluted, saying: "What are your orders from Your Highness?" He was still calm and did not interfere with military decisions. Anyway, he was just a scholar. No matter what the enemy was, we were outnumbered.
It's impossible to go into battle to kill the enemy. Even if Zhang Ning's army is defeated, he can easily escape alone if he takes some risks.
Zhang Ning was still deep in thought. Distant waters did not help nearby fires. In Huguang, the only allies who could possibly support him were the Miao people.
The Miao and Zhang Ning's troops were both rebels against the imperial court, and they were only more than 200 miles apart. However, the longest distance in the world was probably only these 200 miles. At first, the Miao people wanted Zhang Ning's troops to attack Longtou Temple to help them, but Zhang Ning
Although I haven't had time to refuse clearly, I have made up my mind that I can't go through. This is a reasonable thing. Now that Zhu Yong has come to his side, I am afraid that he wants the Miao people to help... They only care about self-protection and do nothing.
It stands to reason that there is no chivalrous spirit among power groups.
"Mr. Chen, will you talk to that Bai...Bai girl as soon as possible?" Zhang Ning said, "Go back to the Miao people immediately and do your best to persuade the Miao King to send his troops north to attack Zhu Yongjun with us."
Chen Maocai looked embarrassed: "This..."
This was an impossible task. Chen Maocai also knew that Zhang Ning did not deliberately force others to make things difficult. For example, when he was sent as an envoy last time, it was very reasonable and reasonable to only ask him to establish contact with the Miao people; but now Zhang Ning had no choice but to do so.
Zhang Ning said seriously: "Zhu Yong gathered a large army in Luxi to cut off the Miao people's retreat. It was obvious that he had planned to deal with the Miao people. Why did he suddenly give up his long-term arrangements and march north in a hurry recently? This matter is not very clear.
Weird?"
"Didn't the superiors find out the information and the imperial court interfered with Zhu Yong's military affairs and ordered him to do this?" Chen Maocai said.
Zhang Ning said: "That's not right. Our spy in the capital secretly assassinated Zhu Yong's concubine and youngest son in the capital. He was very angry after getting the news, so he avenged his private revenge and came to seek revenge from us at all costs."
Chen Maocai was stunned at first, and then suddenly said: "I understand what you mean. By saying this, we are indeed loyal to the Miao people. Zhu Yong was attracted to come over, evacuated the siege from Luxi, and saved thousands of people."
Miao people."
"That's right." Zhang Ning said, "So now it's not too much to ask them to send troops for assistance. As long as they move less than a hundred miles to the northeast, occupy Gaodu County, and threaten Zhu Yongjun's food routes; if Zhu Yongjun
Instead, we will attack Gaodu first to save its food routes, and we will promise to attack from the rear flank of the official army."
Chen Maocai said: "But the Miao people probably don't believe that we killed Zhu Yong's son, let alone that Zhu Yong would change his combat deployment because of the death of a son. This statement is really...unconvincing." He originally wanted to say, "It's too
It's just a child's play." Fearing that he would disobey Zhang Ning, he immediately changed his tune.
Zhang Ning said seriously: "The Miao people don't know much about the politics of the Ming Dynasty, and they don't understand why the central court ordered local military commanders to abandon the suppression of large-scale Miao rebellions and deal with small-scale rebellions. It may be difficult for them to understand.
Zhu Yong's actions, and the explanation we gave makes sense... Of course, if Mr. Chen can think of a more convincing reason for the Miao people, he can also give it."
"Your Highness is right. If we tell the truth to the Miao people about the reason why Zhu Yong changed the direction of his troops, maybe they won't believe it. We might as well kill Zhu Yong's youngest son." Chen Maocai said helplessly, "However, because of this, we have to
It may still be very difficult to persuade the Miao people to march."
Zhang Ning said: "You have to do your best."
"Subordinates should only try their best." Chen Maocai said hurriedly.
"Without further delay, you can meet Bai Kui and go to Miao territory with her," Zhang Ning said.
Just as Chen Maocai left, Ma Dapeng came to sign the mortgage room again. Zhang Ning sent a message for him to come in, and saw Ma Dapeng holding a stack of Zou Baba's papers in his hand.
"When I just came from the Ordnance Bureau, I heard that His Highness was going to fight against the army. Fortunately, our Ordnance Bureau made the cannon in time." Ma Dapeng looked like he was asking for credit. "Please take a look at Your Highness. As long as you are sure, you can try it this afternoon."
It is estimated that there will be no problems with the guns. There are a total of twelve guns in the early stage. The barrels of the guns are polished smoothly and there are no blisters..."
Zhang Ning flipped through the things he handed over and suddenly said, "No, these cannons are not usable yet and can easily explode."
"Why? What's the problem?" Ma Dapeng asked in shock.
Zhang Ning's eyes widened and he stared at him and said: "If I say it can't be used, it can't be used. As for what's wrong, Director Ma has to think about it, come up with a reasonable problem, and then make them unusable for ten days. Do you understand?
?”
Ma Dapeng was stunned, first nodded, then shook his head, looking innocent.
This guy has a very quick mind when making weapons, and can often come up with many ways to solve problems, but he is too slow on this kind of thing. If it were another Fan Laosi in the weapons bureau, he would have understood it.
Zhang Ning couldn't explain to him, so he just said: "I asked you to build a cannon, but you can't turn a deaf ear and go ahead and build a gun, right?"
Ma Dapeng nodded hurriedly in agreement.
Zhang Ning added: "Now I ask you to say that those mortars are temporarily unusable, and you can't disobey me. You have to say that they can be used, right?"
"Yes, since His Highness gave the order, then I will say that those artillery can't be tested yet and need to be re-calibrated." Ma Dapeng's mind finally turned around.