Seeing that Zhu Cihong had adopted Jing Muqing's clever plan, Li Yan smiled and said to Prince Zhu: "Master Chitose, we couldn't find Li Zicheng's weakness, so we had to fight steadily and push over step by step. Although we can fight Hanyang and Hankou, it is indispensable for a month or two. And even if he broke through Hanyang and Hankou, Li Zicheng was not necessarily passive. After all, Hanyang and Hankou are not his lair!

It's good now, we don't have to storm Hanyang and Hankou anymore, we just need to bypass all the important places along the Hanshui River and go straight to the lair of Liukou. Not only can you enter Xiangyang, but you can also enter Nanyang from Runing. Nanyang is the hometown of Tang Fan, and there are still many old Nanyang under the command of the Tang Wang brothers. If you can also play the banner of Jikou Juntian, you will definitely be able to turn over the sky of Liukou in Nanyang. ”

Li Zicheng's remaining troops in Xiangyang and Nanyang will not be too many, but they are enough to defend the city. In the case of not opening up the Hanshui channel, the infantry and cavalry of the Ming army can also pass, and the three-pounder regimental cannon and the twenty-four-pounder mortar cannon (the mortar cannon is powerful, but the range is limited, and it is more difficult for the fortified city with a wide moat, and the mortar cannon cannot destroy the city wall) can also be transported a little, but the twelve-pound and twenty-four-pounder Hongyi cannons will definitely not be able to pull up.

Therefore, it is not easy to break through the fortified cities like Nanyang and Xiangyang, especially Xiangyang City, which has the strength of Daxian Mountain and the danger of Hanshui. Without the support of a strong naval army, it is not easy for foreign enemies to touch under the city walls, let alone siege the city.

And it is not easy to let the navy break through the layers of dangers and drive to the city of Xiangyang!

Jing Muqing interjected: "What the military advisor said is extremely true, the minister is a native of Jingxiang, and he knows the terrain on both sides of the Han River well, and knows that there are many dangers to defend along the Han River.

It is also known that Li Yi built forts in Qianjiang, Neifang Mountain, Zhongxiang, Yicheng, Lumen Mountain, Da Xian Mountain and other places to prepare for resistance. If the officers and troops want to advance step by step, they may not be able to take Xiangyang in a year. ”

Li Yan nodded: "Li Zicheng's plan must be to deploy defenses along the Han River in the east to delay the progress of the official army." At the same time, it will take Jingzhou, Yuezhou, and Shizhou in the west, and then peep into Hunan in the south and force Bashu in the west, so that it will be undefeated! ”

Zhu Cihong smiled, "The palace also received a report from Ma Shiying that Zhang Xianzhong was gathering troops and horses in Chengdu to prepare for a counterattack on Chongqing, and the Battle of Bashu was about to break out...... If Li Zicheng is allowed to succeed in Jingzhou, Shizhou, and Yuezhou, I am afraid that he will enter Kuizhou westward and coerce Chongqing, and then the situation in Bashu will be out of control. Maybe Li Zicheng still wants to learn from Liu Bei during the Three Kingdoms, and wants to enter Bashu from Jingchu and lay the momentum of the world in one fell swoop. ”

Li Zicheng's plan is not very clever, so naturally he can't hide it from Zhu Cihong, Li Yan, and Jing Muqing.

Li Yan smiled: "No matter how good Li Zicheng's abacus is, it still leaks the hearts of the people in the nest...... Who let him make a small profit, and don't use the land and people of Xiangyang and Nanyang to reward the soldiers, who will follow?

Those old battalion soldiers are all poor and crazy, how can they not scrape a vote once they turn over? Besides, Li Zicheng didn't have the financial resources to subsidize the old battalion soldiers below, so he pointed to them to scrape oil and water from the land and tenants to serve in the military, and he had to be sorry for the people.

Therefore, as long as the banner of Jikou Juntian enters Xiangyang and Nanyang with the official army, Li Zicheng will not be able to stabilize the backyard 100%! ”

In feudal society, it is impossible for Li Zicheng to break away from the social foundation and turn all the old battalion soldiers under his command into revolutionary soldiers.

Even if they are revolutionary soldiers, they still want the fruits of victory, but their vision is different......

In the eyes of Li Zicheng's veteran soldiers, isn't the best fruit of victory a grange of dozens of acres, hundreds of acres, or even hundreds of acres? What else could it be?

This is the most typical feudal land military service!

Moreover, under the feudal land military service system, soldiers who received land from feudal lords not only did not have military pay (sometimes they could also get a little money), but also had to bring their own equipment, horses, retinues and even part of the military rations.

For them, military service is not only an obligation, but also a major expense.

Therefore, the grange located in Xiangyang and Nanyang is the lifeblood of the old battalion soldiers under Li Zicheng!

Once Zhu Cihong used Jikou Juntian to incite the peasants in Xiangyang and Nanyang, Li Zicheng could calm down, and the old battalion soldiers under him couldn't help it!

The family business is gone, how can you bear it?

And Zhu Cihong is very clear about this, because the guards of the New Army under his command who are in Shandong, Runing, and Fengyang have also implemented a similar system - only when the land is granted, the guards will be desperate!

However, this was not the case with his divisions, and only veterans who had made meritorious service or had served for a certain number of years could get land.

But this land is not used to cover the cost of military service, but only a reward - the division army is the backbone of the new army to overcome difficulties, and it is also the foundation of Zhu Cihong's regime. Therefore, he was unwilling to let the officers and men of the divisions put their families in places that he could not control, but let them settle in Nanjing, and Wuhan, the capital of Jiang, would also become a concentration of the families of the new army of the divisions in the future.

This approach is somewhat similar to the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty, but Zhu Cihong does not want his new army to be "the children of the Eight Banners" in the future.

He knows that hereditary armies are inherently easy to corrupt, and the first generation of hereditary soldiers is very powerful, but the second and third generations tend to gradually become corrupt, and the hereditary soldiers who settle in big cities rot faster!

Therefore, Zhu Cihong did not link the land reward with the hereditary military service, so the main divisions of the New Army are still state mercenaries from the institutional point of view. Officers can only be trained and trained through the martial arts system to ensure the combat effectiveness of the troops.

......

"We must now divide our troops into three routes, the army division along the way, command the left division of the new army and the guards of Runing to enter Xiangyang and Nanyang, and also play the signboard of counting the land and exempting debts and interest.

Sanfu, you are here in Wuchang Mansion to command! The artillery from the downstream, as well as the Chinese divisions, are all for you. Continue to attack Hankow and Hanyang!

Liheng, you take the guard battalion and a cavalry regiment to protect the palace to the public security! ”

Zhu Cihong tapped his finger on the desk and assigned tasks to his henchmen and generals.

He is in a pretty good mood now, and the initiative on the Huguang battlefield has been reached! Li Yan was originally born in a rogue, can he be wrong to play the tricks of the peasant uprising? It won't take two months to turn Xiangyang and Nanyang upside down!

Xiangyang and Nanyang were in chaos, and the Dashun army on the Hanyang side could not be stabilized, and with Wu Sanfu's ability and the strength of the artillery of the new army, it would not be a problem to take Hanyang and Hankou.

Zhu Cihong looked triumphant, "As long as Xiangyang and Nanyang are in chaos, and Hanyang and Hankou are lost, Li Zicheng will be completely passive!"

Military advisor, Sanfu, how is the layout of the main palace? ”

After listening to Prince Zhu's arrangement, Li Yan smiled: "Master Chitose, Jingzhou Mansion is most likely the burial place of Li Zicheng!" The minister made two suggestions, one is not to rush into a decisive battle; The second is to defend Kuizhou, and we must beware of Li Zicheng's westward trip to Bashu. ”

Wu Sanfu nodded: "Master Chitose, you and other ministers have conquered Hanyang and Hankou, come to Jingzhou by land and water to meet the division, and then go to Li Zicheng for a decisive battle, you will be foolproof!" ”

Zhu Cihong smiled and nodded. The decisive battle is in a hurry, so I'm not in a hurry! Even if the confrontation across the river lasts for three or five months, it is not a big deal.

At the same time, Li Zicheng, who was far away in Jiangling, was in no hurry to fight a decisive battle with the Ming army on the south bank of the Yangtze River. He is busy with two things now, one is to count the land in the Jianghan Plain, after seizing Jingmen Prefecture City and Jiangling City, the plain between the Yangtze River and the Han River has been completely controlled by the Dashun regime, and he can let go of his hands and feet to divide the land and land.

The second is to prepare for the westward expansion into Sichuan - because in recent times, Zhang Xianzhong has also been trying to reverse his decline. While inviting Li Zicheng into Sichuan, he also gathered heavy troops and launched a counterattack against Xuzhou, Luzhou, and Chongqing. It is hoped that the Ming army in Sichuan can be defeated in one fell swoop, and at least Chongqing Prefecture must be recaptured, which is the largest tax paying prefecture in Sichuan Province (one more than Chengdu). For this reason, Zhang Xianzhong also sent his right minister Yan Ximing to make a detour out of Sichuan to urge Li Zicheng to send troops to attack Kuizhou as soon as possible, for Li Zicheng, this opportunity is also extremely rare!