When Deng Ming and Liu Tichun first met in Badong more than a year ago, the latter had 2,000 armor soldiers on hand; After a bumper harvest in Huguang last year, Liu Tichun already had 7,000 soldiers, and his armor was also completely new. However, when Deng Ming saw Liu Tichun in Yiling at this time, he learned that Yiling only had more than 1,000 soldiers. And unlike when he was in Badong, Liu Tichun could be dispatched almost at any time at that time, but now the Ming army in Yiling cannot be moved lightly, and must stay in Yiling to hold on.

Listening to Deng Ming's question about the shape of the surroundings, Liu Tichun was even more difficult to hide his worries, and now Jingzhou Mansion could not be called safe. The western part of Jingzhou Mansion is better because it borders Shizhou Wei - now Shizhou Wei is in the hands of the Ming general Wang Guangxing, Liu Tichun and Wang Guangxing are on the front, and it is difficult for the Qing army to peep; But the eastern form was much more tense, and more and more Hunan Qing troops entered the Yuezhou capital, forming a confrontation with the Ming army.

The so-called relatively good western defense line actually has a great hidden danger, because the relationship between Li Laiheng, Liu Tichun, and Wang Guangxing is not good. Wang Guangxing was originally a general of the Chu army, stationed in Yunyang and fought many times in the camp, after the Qing soldiers went south, Wang Guangxing's friends surrendered to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, he insisted on not surrendering, and retreated to Shizhouwei after defeat to continue to resist. Li Guoying, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, had always hoped to persuade him because he had an incense relationship with Wang Guangxing, but no matter how his old friends of the Chu army persuaded him, Wang Guangxing was always unmoved. After Wen'anzhi controlled the military affairs of Sichuan and Hubei, Wang Guangxing also responded positively, obeyed Wen'anzhi's deployment and dispatch, and could barely march with the generals under the banner of Wen'anzhi.

In Deng Ming's previous life, Wang Guangxing's loyalty to the Ming Dynasty was almost maintained until the last moment of this dynasty, and in that universe, Wen Anzhi died of grief and anger because of a series of blows such as the Ertan rebellion, the abandonment of Yongli, the fall of Yungui and the defeat of Nanjing; Wang Guangxing insisted on resisting for two years after the death of Wen Anzhi, when Yuan Zongdi was defeated by Li Guoying, and Daning and Dachang were lost successively, Wang Guangxing, who was under siege, finally completely despaired, stopped resisting and surrendered.

Whether it is in the past life or in this life, Wang Guangxing and the generals of the camp are also allies on the surface, if the Qing army really storms the western part of Jingzhou Mansion, Liu Tichun is not sure how quickly Wang Guangxing can come to support and how many troops can be dispatched to support him. Therefore, although he was surrounded by allies, Liu Tichun's military deployment was completely designed according to the premise that he was isolated and helpless.

"General Wang has 20,000 soldiers and horses," Deng Ming was a little dissatisfied with his plan after asking about Liu Tichun's deployment: "Such a large number of friendly troops are not far away, but General Liu doesn't want to use them, it's really too wasteful." ”

"It is known as 20,000 soldiers and horses," Liu Tichun hurriedly corrected, Wang Guangxing has been running Shizhou Wei for many years, and there is still some strength, but Liu Tichun thinks that it must not be overestimated, Wang Guangxing's 20,000 soldiers and horses He thinks that most of them are Tunding, and the number that can really go to the battlefield is three or four thousand, which is slightly stronger than Liu Tichun's previous strength in Badong: "It would be good to have two thousand soldiers, and General Wang did not have a lot of armor in his hands." ”

After seizing a large amount of equipment from Huguang, Liu Tichun and the other four were actively training recruits, and helping Yuan Zongdi restore his vitality was one of the purposes of their dispatch that time, but Liu Tichun could help Yuan Zongdi, but he would never take his own things to share with Wang Guangxing. And when Huguang was at its most lively, Wang Guangxing didn't mean to join in the fun, also because he saw that Deng Ming was surrounded by all the generals who broke into the camp, and he didn't want to come to ask for fun.

"It's better than nothing, if General Liu is willing to give some of the capture to General Wang, I think General Wang will be happy to share the pressure on Jingzhou Mansion." Deng Ming secretly scolded himself in his heart, he was running back and forth, so he had no time to go to Enshi, which was inconvenient, and he didn't allocate a batch of loot to Wang Guangxing, maybe Wang Guangxing would have any ideas.

"It's not that the Admiral doesn't know, and I'm not rich." Liu Tichun shook his head, if the target of the aid was Yuan Zongdi and Hao Shaoqi, he would be a very generous person, but since the target was Wang Guangxing, the old general of the Chu army, Liu Tichun would definitely not pull out a dime.

"Okay." Deng Ming saw that Liu Tichun was so resolute and not reluctant, so he pondered in his heart to write a letter back to Fengjie and ask Wen Anzhi to allocate some military salary to Wang Guangxing. Before the Southern Ming Dynasty did not give money and food, so Wen Anzhi did not have anything to give to the generals in the eastern part of the country, not only could not give it but also asked them to help pay for the Fengjie guards, and when they were fighting, they were also required to obey orders, although there was no way, it was not good; Last time, Deng Ming gave Wen'an a large amount of seizures from Huguang, and now the scale of Fengjie's standard camp has expanded several times, Deng Ming estimates that Wen'an still has some in his hands, so he plans to let Fengjie come forward to appease him first, and he doesn't need a lot, and he can also return it to Fengjie.

Seeing that Deng Ming did not continue this topic, Liu Tichun also secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately diverted the topic elsewhere, never mentioning Wang Guangxing's matter again.

For Liu Tichun, Wang Guangxing was more like an enemy than an ally, and like San Tan, the generals who broke into the camp never regarded the old generals of the Ming army as their own. After the rebellion of the two Tans, Liu Tichun was even more distrustful of the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty like Wang Guangxing, and felt that even Wen Anzhi's prestige could not guarantee that they would no longer stab them in the back.

Liu Tichun's explanation to Deng Ming just now was that he didn't know if Wang Guangxing could come to reinforcements in time, so he had to follow the worst-case plan as soon as he deployed. In fact, if Wang Guangxing didn't come to reinforce, it would not be the worst situation for Liu Tichun, if Wang Guangxing really led the army to come to aid in time, Liu Tichun would be even more distressed.

"If Wang Guangxing arrives with thousands of soldiers and horses, will I let him enter the country or not? Don't let it go, the Inspector and the Admiral can't talk about it, they will think that I am a person with a small amount of energy, but if Wang Guangxing is released, who dares to say what he has in mind? I heard that Li Guoying wrote many letters to Wang Guangxing, although Wang Guangxing handed over these letters to Inspector Wen, but I am not Inspector Wen, I don't know if Wang Guangxing is moved. Liu Tichun had these thoughts in his heart, but he didn't tell Deng Mingming: "It's best if you don't come, I will send an army to guard against him." Although the admiral is a clan, there is a saying that is right, twenty years ago, it was the Chuang, the West and the Ming army that fought, and now it is still the same, but the name has been changed, we have become the Ming army, and they have become the Qing army. ”

Liu Tichun felt that Wang Guangxing's actions on the flank were unpredictable, and the Qing army had similar views to him, and it was not clear what kind of actions Wang Guangxing would have if he fought with Liu Tichun. This uncertainty was also beneficial to Liu Tichun, making the Qing army reluctant to take risks in the area.

Yiling, Zhijiang, and Jiangling, a series of strongholds along the Yangtze River, were firmly in the hands of the Ming army, because the Huguang Water Division also suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Zhongxiang. After Deng Ming left, Zhang Changgeng's main jīng efforts were also focused on stabilizing the city defenses of Wuchang and Hanyang, and in addition, he was training recruits to recover the Hubei field troops that had been repeatedly attacked by annihilation, so the investment in the naval division was minimal.

"Zhang Changgeng didn't go all out to restore the water division, so it's okay, it saves me a headache of how to annihilate the Huguangqing army and water division." After hearing that the main attention of the Wuhan side was on the army, Deng Ming knew that most of Zhang Changgeng did not expect him to return so soon, so he asked Liu Tichun: "I intend to attack Wuhan again, does General Liu intend to go with him?" ”

In the war in Huangzhou and other places, Zhang Changgeng successfully eliminated most of the influence of his predecessor, and deployed his henchmen in key positions, among which Deng Ming contributed the most: a large number of purged officials were charged with losing land, which was the agreement between Deng Ming and Zhang Changgeng; And the funds for buying people's hearts are also kickbacks given by Deng Ming; The tension created also led the Qing court to delegate more and more powers to Zhang Changgeng, and as long as he could stabilize the situation in Hubei, it would allow him to make all kinds of personnel appointments.

Shut down

Although he does not have the title of a vassal king, Zhang Changgeng has almost become a vassal king in the past six months, and he is still a feudal feudal domain like King Pingxi, not Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao, who only have military power and no governing power. Although it was just half a year, Zhang Changgeng had already gained a lot of satisfaction, but he also knew that this situation could not be maintained forever, and the imperial court had always had more important things to do in the past six months, so he was relatively loose about Hu Guang's control.

When Jiangnan was restored to calm, Zhang Changgeng knew that the imperial court would pay attention to Huguang again, and he would always have to give the imperial court some political achievements to ensure that the governor's throne was as safe as a rock. And Zhang Changgeng thought about it, and this political achievement could only come from Li Laiheng. Although Governor Zhang managed Huguang officialdom well with the funds provided by Deng Ming, and made a group of friends in Běijīng, by the time he planned to rebuild the army, the empty warehouses became a big problem.

At present, Běijīng's requirements for Wuchang are not high, that is, on the basis of ensuring Wuchang, gradually recover the lost land in Hubei, and at the same time try to support some grain and grass in Guizhou. Zhang Changgeng didn't want to make the relationship with King Xixi too stiff, so he asked Wu Sangui and others to allocate some assistance after today's harvest. After advancing part of the revenue, Zhang Changgeng's funds to rebuild the army became even more tight, so he had to give up the long-lasting and slow-achieving naval division, intending to restore the number of Qing troops in Hubei to the battle of Zhongxiang first.

Recently, Zhang Changgeng has been in full swing on this matter, he has heard that Ma Fengzhi and Zhang Huangyan have fled to the sea, and Da Su has also begun to take Shandong and Henan Green Camp to Fujian. This made Zhang Changgeng realize that the stability of Jiangnan was imminent, and the focus of the imperial court might move westward to Wuhan at any time, and at that time, if he was too incompetent, he might lead the imperial court to send troops to Chu—for example, sending Dasu's reinforcements to recover the lost territory in Hubei, which would have a great impact on Zhang Changgeng's status, income, connections, and prestige.

Of course, Li Laiheng and Liu Tichun sensed the recovery of the strength of the Qing army, and Li Laiheng was now fully absorbed in the eastern part of Jingzhou Mansion, and the western part was all handed over to Liu Tichun to contribute.

After hearing Deng Ming's question, Liu Tichun shook his head, he had already introduced to Deng Ming just now, and now there are only more than 1,000 soldiers left in Yiling, and they can't be used. Although the number of Qing troops confronting Liu Tichun in Yuezhou Mansion is increasing, many of the other parties are new soldiers, and Liu Tichun is most worried not about them, but about internal instability.

"Many local gentry are secretly conspiring to betray x officers and soldiers to the Tartars." Liu Tichun told Deng Ming that the scholars had a strong resistance to the Ming army, and there were similar conspiracies everywhere, and the reason why Liu Tichun sent a large number of troops was to prevent the local gentry from colluding with the Qing army, and the Ming army that remained in Yiling City was always ready to set out to suppress the rebellion.

"How so?" Deng Ming couldn't help but be a little surprised when he heard this, when he was in Jiangnan, although the gentry were afraid of the revenge of the Manchus, they were not emotionally disgusted with the Ming army, and here in Huguang, the influence of the gentry on Deng Ming was also swaying at both ends, and they definitely did not give up on the Manchus. The low combat effectiveness of the Huguang Green Battalion has a lot to do with this nostalgia for the Ming Dynasty, so Deng Ming felt a little unbelievable when he saw Liu Tichun talking about the rebellion conspiracy.

"Because the gentry resist the grain." Liu Tichun said in one word, the area where the Ming army and the local gentry were most antagonistic was occupied by Hao Shaoqi and He Zhen, who confiscated a large amount of land on the Jianghan Plain to open up military camps, where the gentry and landlords were no longer conspiring, but many were already leading tenants and long-term workers to resist in armed force - in the choice of whether to be tenants or He Zhen's auxiliaries, the peasants resolutely stood on the side of the landlords.

"He Zhen is the most exploited." Even when talking about the allied army, Liu Tichun also used the word "exploitation", He Zhen wanted to implement a comprehensive military system in Yunyang and Gucheng generation, and implement the methods he had used in Hanzhong, Daning and other places in Hubei again, but the Hubei landlords refused to buy it, so the Yunyang people who had a neutral attitude began to resist. According to Liu Tichun, although He Zhen was able to suppress most of the rebellion by relying on the army, it held back most of He Zhen's strength, making it impossible for him to support Hao Shaoqi in Xiangyang.

And He Zhen's military construction may not be smooth either, now unlike when he was in Hanzhong, the scope of the Ming military control in Hubei is not large, and it is a newly occupied area, the people can easily flee, and many people would rather leave their hometowns than be incorporated into the military tun - although they may not be able to eat enough to be a tenant for the landlord, but at least they will not work under the whip, or worry about their lives.

Hao Shaoqi's policy was softer than He Zhen's, not because he didn't want to make a big deal out of the army, but because he took on the main pressure from Wuchang, and if he didn't care about it like He Zhen, then he would not be able to maintain the front against the Qing army.

"At the beginning, the admiral told General Hao and General He that if the Henan Green Battalion was reinforced, then they could abandon Zhong Xiang and gradually retreat to Xiangyang. Now the Henan Green Camp has not come, but the east of Zhongxiang has all given up, I estimate that after the harvest, General Hao will take the initiative to give up Zhongxiang and retreat to Xiangyang. Liu Tichun didn't see the shape of the Hanshui basin with his own eyes, but he didn't think it was optimistic. Endless rebellions and reports to the Qing army made Hao Shaoqi dare not spread the army over the vast territory, the land east of Zhongxiang was given up by Hao Shaoqi on his own initiative, and after retreating to Zhongxiang, Hao Shaoqi was like Li Laiheng asking for help - because He Zhen was busy dealing with his own burning backyard and was unable to send reinforcements - fortunately, Li Laiheng, who was sitting in Jiangling, was strong and sent reinforcements to Zhong Xiang's flank, plus the strength of the Qing army was not good, and the two armies formed a confrontation situation near Zhongxiang.

"Do you want to build a military camp all over the territory?" Deng Ming was taken aback when he heard this, he knew that the camp lacked administrative talents and experience, and Yuan Xiang and Liu Jinge's expressions made Deng Ming feel a headache more than once, but he didn't expect that their fathers were not better than them at all, and there was no second set of tricks except for Juntun.

"Of course we won't make it all into a military cantonment, we'll just confiscate some land for the dog officers who are desperate for the Tartars." Liu Tichun also proudly told Deng Ming that when he did business with the peasants, he not only bought and sold fairly, but also thoughtfully paid a little more silver.

"How do you know who's dead and who's not? Do you want to ask them one by one? Aren't you going to rely on the original officials? Don't say that you don't rely on these people, you can't tell who is wise and who is willing to be a lackey of an alien race, right? I'm afraid that this will give some people the opportunity to get their hands on it. Although Liu Tichun is much older than Deng Ming and is still an insurrectionist, his understanding of officials is actually very limited, and Deng Ming is used to seeing the faces of officials in the media: "As for giving more silver to farmers, it is not a fair deal, I don't think this is necessarily good, and such a small favor may not have much effect." Now we have the money so we can do it, what if we don't have the money in the future? When they find out that we are not stupid, the peasants who come with hope may be angry, or think that we look down on them, or that it would be better to trade fairly, and it would be good to do fair dealing. ”

After all, Liu Tichun is much older, Deng Ming clicked to the end, and immediately dragged the topic back: "Since you don't run a military camp, why do people still go to the Qing army to report the news?" ”

"There are always people who forget their ancestors." Liu Tichun said, paused and said: "There are many meritorious scholars who ask for tax exemption, saying that the Tartars don't collect their taxes, and of course we can't collect them." Little Tiger and I disagreed, so we quarreled. ”

"Well, I see." Although Liu Tichun didn't mention it, but he and Li Laiheng's temper Deng Ming also understand, some people have been beaten for this, and it is not uncommon for them to be confiscated from their family property, such a move may not be a big mistake in Deng Ming's eyes, but in the eyes of the gentry, it is undoubtedly a rogue style - just like Wang Fuzhi's friend Meng Zhengfa, this Mr. Meng, who was called the first person in the Southern Ming Dynasty by Wang Fuzhi, is a meritorious scholar, ran from Jiangnan to Huguang to participate in the righteous army, and then saw that the Ming army was repeatedly defeated, Meng Zhengfa left the army to find the Qing army generals, saying that he had not yet had a queen. I feel very unfilial, so I don't want to fight.

It is difficult to say whether the surrender of ordinary Ming officers and soldiers can save their lives, but Meng Zhengfa, as a meritorious scholar, surrendered a good meal, and the Qing army invited Meng Zhengfa to eat a good meal and sent him back to his hometown. After returning to Jiangnan, Meng Zhengfa did marry more than a dozen wives and concubines, and he was all filial; The soldiers who broke into the camp and died in battle by him for being a bad thing in the world, but his old man was able to enjoy his life in peace, and after his death, he could be praised by his friends as the first person to dare to fight in the Southern Ming Dynasty - preferential treatment of scholars is the rule of the game that both sides of the Ming and Qing dynasties abided by.

"How much tax does Yiling collect here?" Deng Ming asked.

"Here in Yiling, there is a meritorious tax exemption." Liu Tichun replied without thinking.

"But didn't General Liu just say that you don't agree to tax exemption for the gentry?" Deng Ming felt that this was too obvious and self-contradictory.

"But this is Yiling, the hometown of the overseer, how could I not agree to tax exemption for the scholars here?" Liu Tichun had a natural expression, and seemed to be very strange why Deng Ming asked this question: "I always want the villagers of the superintendent to be naked, and it is not bad to have such a little money here in Yiling, and it is inevitable that everything outside Yiling." ”