Li Ming suddenly remembered something, and said to Zhou Billy: "Old Zhou, we have destroyed the Houjin Tartars, and the Ming Dynasty has no pressure from Liaodong, can the exiled army in the north still become a climate?" ”

Zhou Billy smiled bitterly: "We destroyed the Tartars, and now the Ming Dynasty still maintains heavy troops in the direction of Guanning, and almost all the border troops in other border towns have gone south." Coupled with the purging of famous generals such as Lu Xiangsheng, Hong Chengchou, and Sun Chuanting. In the sixth year of Chongzhen, the exile army active in various places has been basically dispersed.

In history, the famous "Xingyang Conference" in which the leaders of the "Thirteen Families and Seventy-two Battalions", namely Lao Huihui, King Chuang, Ge Liyan, King Zuojian, Cao Cao, King of the World, Shooting the Heavens, Eight Kings, King Hengtian, Mixed 100,000, Guotianxing, Nine Dragons, and King Shuntian, participated in the famous "Xingyang Conference". The leaders of the thirteen families were either killed or surrendered to the Ming Dynasty under the pursuit of various armies of the Ming Dynasty.

Now only the thirteen families are left with Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, Zhang Xianzhong, the eight kings, Cao Cao, Luo Rucai, Ge Liyan, He Yilong, and Lao Hui Ma Shouying, and a few of them are still lingering in various places, but they are also chased by the officials and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty like lost dogs. Although the Ming Dynasty gradually pacified the exile armies in various places, this was only a symptom but not a cure, and the Ming army of the Ming Dynasty to suppress bandits could not be maintained for a long time, because the imperial court had no money.

Therefore, as soon as the officials and troops retreated, displaced people from all over the country sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, and many names that did not exist in history also appeared. In the eighth year of Chongzhen, the Ming court scraped together a sum of silver, and then ordered Hong Chengchou to be the prime minister of the five provinces to organize a new encirclement and suppression. However, Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, Zhang Xianzhong, the eight kings, Cao Cao, Luo Rucai, Ge Liyanhe Yilong, and Lao Hui Ma Shouying also took this opportunity to kill them from Shaanxi, Sichuan, Hubei, Ningxia and other places.

In just a few months, tens of thousands of displaced people were gathered, so that Chongzhen sent Lu Xiangsheng, Sun Chuanting and others to mobilize the border army to the south to encircle and suppress. The peasant army is a "rogue bandit" and does not establish a base area or political power. Everywhere mobile fighting, mobile does not live. All the personnel of the peasant army moved with the battalion, and the hungry people who belonged to the peasant army also joined the peasant army.

Many of the peasant armies, which claimed to have tens of thousands of people, were actually only a small percentage of them capable of fighting, and most of them were old and weak women. Those who are surrounded and dispersed by the officials and soldiers and captured and killed are often the latter. Genuine combatants are often on the lookout for an escape. Not very easy to capture. Although the Ming official army has repeatedly reported great victories, the elite of the peasant army has never been extinguished. ”

After listening to Billy Zhou's narration, Hu Wei hurriedly asked: "Then listen to what you mean, the exile army in all parts of the Ming Dynasty can no longer become a climate." ”

Zhou Billy shook his head and said: "Since the beginning of the previous year, our Central Plains Intelligence Station in Daming has begun to send people to contact the wandering army from all walks of life, and began to trade with the wandering army on both sides of the Yellow River, using all kinds of cold weapons, armor and military materials produced in our Far East in exchange for gold, silver, jewelry, porcelain, lacquerware, silk brocade and antique calligraphy and painting stolen from all over the country in the hands of the wandering army.

With the support of our Far East. At present, the combat effectiveness of the exiled army in various parts of the Ming Dynasty has been greatly improved. The Central Plains Intelligence Station also focused on supporting several groups of displaced people's troops, who not only received our intelligence support, but also provided them with a number of Japanese iron guns and European light artillery that had been eliminated by the company, and sent instructors to train them. At present, these wandering armies are developing rapidly, and their combat effectiveness is much stronger than that of other exiled armies. ”

Song Tao asked with a smile: "Don't tell me, you are supporting Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong." ”

Zhou Billy waved his hand and said: "These two guys are famous heroes in history, and they are not familiar with them. The exile army we have cultivated has names such as Cao Cao, Luo Rucai, and several roads that have not been heard of in history. They have the intelligence support of our intelligence department. He has evaded the encirclement and suppression of the imperial court officials and troops several times, and is now carrying out guerrilla warfare in Huguang and Henan. ”

Li Ming smiled bitterly: "I can see it." Da Ming is really exhausted. Even if there is no threat from Houjin, Daming will not be able to escape the end of destruction. The Chongzhen drought that began this year will last for another five or six years, and North China, Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Shandong, these areas have been drought for more than five consecutive years. Henan Province, where the center of the arid zone is located. The drought lasted for 7 years.

If the Ming Dynasty and the rich and grain gentry class, if they don't increase relief, the exiled army in various places can also cut down the country of his Zhu family. The next few years will also be the time when the number of displaced people in the Ming Dynasty will be the largest. We must make full use of the exile army to sweep away the gentry class in the Central Plains of the Ming Dynasty and create favorable conditions for us to enter the Central Plains in the future. ”

Zhou Billy nodded and said, "I have already called the intelligence officers in Shandong and asked Shandong Cai Huaze to raise the flag this autumn." Cai Huaze's ability is not bad, under the support of our Far East, in a few years, he has cultivated a large number of incense backbones in the incense sect in various parts of Shandong. All of them are trained by our Far East base in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other islands.

I don't think this is enough, and after the northbound group army launches the second phase of the campaign next year, it would be better to concentrate a large number of Mongolian militia brigades and go south to make a posture of entering the army. Let the major border towns in the north of the Ming Dynasty assemble, surround but not fight, and only send a small cavalry squadron to harass the border wall of the Ming Dynasty. Chongzhen will inevitably send elite northern aid, so that the exiled army in the Central Plains will get a chance to breathe and develop and grow. ”

Ma Qing also said with a smile: "When we develop the Hetao base area, we must also make full use of the opportunity of the great drought in Chongzhen and do our best to collect the displaced people in the Shanxi area. We should support the displaced people's armies in Shanxi and Ningxia, let them develop and grow as soon as possible, and clear Shanxi, Ningxia and other places. In this way, when we pacify the northwest in the future, we will save a lot of unnecessary trouble. ”

Song Tao frowned and said: "We vigorously support the Wandering People's Army, will it be too big in the future?" After the development of this group of outcasts, they will inevitably have the idea of self-reliance, and we will have to do our best to eliminate them when the time comes. ”

Li Ming sneered: "Although we will collect the hungry homeless people who are coerced by the homeless army, we have never thought of co-opting the elite of these homeless people's army, even if it is a simple common people, as long as they follow the homeless army to loot around for a few years, can they still honestly go home and farm." Their hearts have long been wild, and they have become black and hard, and when we enter the Central Plains, we will drive them to Jiangnan and let them go to plague Jiangnan.

We will gradually build Jiangbei, and when we have digested the Jiangbei Central Plains, we will cross the river and occupy the landlord and gentry class in Jiangnan. If these old bandits surrender to each other, we will spare their lives, but they must not be able to stay in the Central Plains any longer, send them to South America, North America, and Africa, and let them continue to plague other peoples. (To be continued......)