Chapter 303: The waves are gradually rising, and the words are striking and seeking talents

Li Zicheng and more than a thousand soldiers under his command were trapped in Yufu Mountain area and were not allowed to leave the mountain. Although the coalition forces of Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai who were outside the mountain recovered and became more and more troubled, he was extremely embarrassed.

Even his tenacious character, who was repeatedly defeated by the government army and repeatedly called on the troops to rise again, was a little desperate. It was rumored that he was about to jump off the cliff and commit suicide, but was stopped by his adopted son Li Shuangxi.

In the hidden area of ​​the rebel army, there is an abandoned shrine. Li Zicheng walked into the shrine and lamented:

"People say I have the luck of winning the world, but why did I end up in such a situation today?"

He threw the fortune sign in the temple three times, and the three times were all very auspicious signs. Could it be that there is really a so-called will in the dark? This has added some confidence to Li Zicheng?

However, after the incident of his suicide spread, more than a thousand trusted officers and soldiers who followed him used an unexpected method to show their loyalty.

Liu Zongmin, the leader of the military general, killed his wife, meaning that he did not care about the safety of his family and decided to share life and death with the King of Chuang. The other generals and soldiers also killed his family according to Liu Zongmin's way, indicating that they had no concern.

This method is indeed a bit cruel, but in despair, I don’t know life and death next step. When I want to make my last fight, I will give my family members a happy life and family. It is much better than letting them fall into the hands of officers and soldiers when they fail.

The governor of the army suppressed the bandits. Yang Sichang, who was in the military affairs of the five provinces, did not have the courage of Lu Xiangsheng, Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou, could only comfort the generals with gentle words. The responsibility for defeat and ineffective encirclement fell on the civil officials in the leading army. As for the generals, they only dared to kill those who had no soldiers under them.

But his way of mobilizing military generals was to sign an official and make a wish, but this official wish was a blank check. For example, he told He Renlong that if you make great contributions, Zuo Liangyu's position is yours. But this is simply impossible. For a warlord like Zuo Liangyu, the army is his lifeblood. Preserving and expanding his strength is his purpose.

The troops were still in hand, and the court certainly did not dare to do anything to him. Yang Sichang's wish for He Renlong was naturally just a big talk. However, when Zhang Xianzhong sent someone to express his interests, he mentioned the taboo of "the great achievements shocked the master and the entire bird was hidden all the bows. Because Yang Sichang did not fulfill his promise to him, He Renlong sent his confidants to tell Zuo Liangyu the whole story.

These generals can barely obey orders and fight in advance and retreat. Once they have conflicts with your commander, they will be disobedient and delay.

Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong accepted the order to the commander Yang Sichang, but used all reasons to delay. Among the five provinces, the troops led by Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong were the strongest.

In the past, the general of Sichuan, Zhang Ling, also led strong soldiers, but was defeated and killed in the fierce battle with Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai. Zuo and He did not obey the orders, which caused a huge gap on the long front. Yang Sichang's so-called plan to destroy the turtle in the jar was actually half bankrupt.

In November of the 13th year of Chongzhen, Yang Sichang ordered Zuo Liangyu to go to the eastern and northern Sichuan areas to prevent the coalition forces of Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai from fleeing.

Zuo Liangyuxu responded to the story and moved slightly towards Shaanxi for the sake of coping, but this movement revealed a small gap to Li Zicheng's troops. Li Zicheng led the light cavalry toward Huguang at night, taking advantage of the situation to highlight Sichuan, and then broke through Yunyang Prefecture and went straight into Henan. The back team followed.

Yang Sichang was so angry that he jumped into the air and held Zuo Liangyu accountable, but Zuo Liangyu replied indifferently: More than a thousand people, the bandits in the village, why bother with him? Let him go, the soldiers and horses in Henan will be easily suppressed.

But when Li Chuan entered Henan, there is a metaphor for anyone with a discerning eye in the world, which is called trapping the dragon into the sea and is about to soar to the sky.

After Shandong General Li Meng added the military affairs of supporting the two Huaihe Rivers, the Jiaozhou Camp was filled with joy. Although the order was filled with Chen Liu and Zhangjiang's permanent garrison in Lianghuai, in the eyes of these officers and soldiers of Jiaozhou Camp, this means that the general's guarding place had already expanded to Huai'an Prefecture in Nanzhili.

The word "residence" was the general for many years. Chen Liu and Zhang Jiang naturally understood what it meant. Both of them sent a quick horse to Jinan as soon as possible, saying that they had been trained by their personal guards, and requested to be transferred back to Shandong and re-appointed, and asked Li Meng to send personal guards to come down again.

This is very clear, and it shows that he has no unfair intentions and asks the general to send someone to monitor him. However, Li Meng returned the document and scolded him, saying that he should not consider such useless trivial matters and do his duty well.

The two troops stationed in Lianghuai, their families and relatives are in Shandong, and they are all equipped with food, fodder, and their weapons, clothes and armor must be allocated from the craftsmen in Shandong, and then transported to the canal.

Moreover, these two people, the troops they commanded, and the Jiaozhou Camp are already connected by flesh and blood. They have done so many secret things without hesitation. Wouldn't they betray Jiaozhou Camp and seek death?

Taking a step back, even if they want to do something, the Qianmai, who came from the old camp, would definitely not agree. Li Meng didn't care at all, but Chen Liu and Zhang Jiang were worried a lot.

Li Meng also found a problem. The things his military generals considered were much more complicated than before. The military generals should devote themselves to training troops and fighting. Considering such other things would be a bit unwilling to do their jobs. But now the Jiaozhou Camp is getting bigger and bigger, and it is definitely not as simple as when they were just founded.

With the title of military affairs of the two Huaihe Rivers, Li Meng had the right to inquire about the military affairs of Huai'an Prefecture and Yangzhou Prefecture. Although Chen Liu and Zhang Jiang were stationed in Jiangbei were a means of division, these two people did everything according to the rules and regulations. Whenever there was a major matter, they would ask Li Meng of Jinan for instructions, and the rest of the matter was kept for the rest.

The performance of the two of them made the people who supported Wu Jiawei, the right assistant minister of the Nanjing Ministry of War, stunned. They thought that this would not only not limit it, but instead made the existence of Shandong General Li Meng's power in Huai'an Prefecture recognize the legal principles. It was amazing.

Of course, most people think that perhaps these two generals can't make a turn for a while, and they are in a permanent place, and they will actually open up new worlds for them, and they will gradually taste the sweetness of making decisions. At that time, it would be difficult for Shandong General Li Meng to control it.

The guerrilla Chen Liu's army has been trying to enter Yangzhou Prefecture. The movement of his entire army is to move the garrison as much as possible to the south.

Even though the army of nearly 10,000 people was a garrison issued by the court, it was a weapon of killing after all. The closer it was to get, the more powerful it was to the people. Chen Liu's Yanzhou Army had become the Huainan Army in the Jiaozhou Camp. The closer his strength was to the hub of Nanzhili, the more it could play the role of Li Meng hope.

Only one-third of the city in Jinan City are residential houses, and the rest are military camps, Shandong generals and various yamen offices of Jiaozhou Camp.

The Tartars plundered the population in Jinan City, almost plundering all the civilians in this big city. According to conventional rules, after the officers and soldiers reoccupied the city, they had to refille the population from the surrounding area towards Jinan to maintain the size of the Shandong capital, but Li Meng did not do so.

Such a large city, and almost empty, is a place that is used as a military camp and a base. At present, the common people in the city, besides the military families of the Lingshanwei and Aoshanwei, are the officials of various yamen in Shandong Province and their families, their servants, as well as merchants and vendors necessary to serve these people, and the others are all staff from Jiaozhouying.

One-half or even larger cities are military restricted areas. The residences of Li Meng and the generals around him are in this restricted area. Of course, in order to avoid taboos, this military restricted area does not include the De Prince's Mansion in it.

The civil servants in the Governor's Office, the Governor's Office, and the civil servants of all sizes were of course angry when they saw the situation. The Tartars invaded and the subordinates of the Governor's Office followed them to Dezhou. The Governor's Office and the officials of the Governor's Office almost died in the battle between the Tartars invading Jinan City.

Later, most of the people were re-transferred from other provinces and from their subordinates. The officials transferred from their subordinates were fine, but the civil servants from other provinces were really angry when they saw that Jinan City was full of military forbidden zones.

Jinan City has become an empty city. Although it is a tragedy on earth, these new officials have set their sights on the housing industries in the city that have not been destroyed much. These are all ownerless property. Isn’t it a good thing for everyone to divide these property?

Of course, the governor, governor, general, and general take the big head, and the officials below should also be more profitable, but your Jiaozhou camp occupied half of the city at once, so what's going on?

For this reason, although the powerful officials such as Jinan Prefecture, Jinan Prefecture and Shandong Governor were polite to Li Mengke, the officials below were not very familiar with the details and were very resentful.

However, the military camp was set up in the city, and these civil servants with resentment looked at the soldiers who were fully armed and trained, as well as the horses patrolling the city. Seeing this majestic appearance, the resentment could only be suppressed in their hearts.

Li Meng set out the area of ​​this half of the city, and in addition to the large space required for military camps in the city, it is also because there are indeed some hidden things in Li Meng's private house that are inconvenient to be seen by outsiders. Although Mu Yunyao's identity is sensitive, she is in her inner house after all, with many guards, and ordinary people cannot see it at all.

But Sun Chuanting's family is indeed not allowed to be seen by outsiders.

The Lijia Manor in Fengmeng Town has similar nature, but the scale of this manor is much larger.

Li Meng was really a headache for taking time out every day to meet Sun Chuanting. He was a soldier in modern times and in this era. Li Meng had a clear rule on the appointment of his subordinates, except for those most trusted military generals, the rest were built on the system he established himself. In this system, there were clear regulations on the rewards and punishments of personnel.

Everything is carried out under the system. There are corresponding standards and reasons for who should be promoted and who should not be promoted. This system naturally cannot achieve complete fairness, but such "fairness" is enough in the eyes of people below.

Whether it is a soldier or a general, General Qian knows to fight to the death, move forward bravely and be loyal. As long as he makes military achievements, he will definitely be valued.

The local literati from Shandong also gained benefits or official positions. This system makes them feel that they have a bright future and have a future.

The scholars in Shandong may have a deeper feeling about this system. In recent years, the path of enrolling in imperial examinations has become increasingly narrower and narrower. The officialdom is almost monopolized by the Donglin Party. When no one below stands out, they are all disheartened.

The same is true for the landlords and powerful people. Only the Jiaozhou camp system established by Li Meng gave their children the hope of making a comeback, and they turned them from local rich men to real gentry homes.

Talents who come from this system must be loyal to this system, because they know that their glory and wealth come from this system. Once this system collapses, their glory and wealth will disappear, and they will work hard to protect him for their own selfish interests.

Only by considering one's own personal interests can one truly be loyal to you. Ideas and beliefs are of course useful, but they cannot be operated by people like Li Meng.

At present, most of the civil and military talents in Jiaozhou Camp are like this, but Li Meng also knows that the abilities and insights of these people are indeed not too high, and it is already amazing to have the ability to command a mansion.

As for the military generals, except for Ma Gang's slightly insightful experience, the rest of the people followed the rules. This is also the civil servants who worked as Zhou Yang and Ning Qiangui who wanted to meet the old eunuch every day after Liu Fulai came to Shandong. Why is it that Liu Fulai's knowledge and experience have already judged the handling of various matters, which is much higher than them.

Now the civil affairs system of Jiaozhouying has the transfer of government orders and the efficiency of copywriting processing is much higher than before. This is because Liu Fulai sorted out the government affairs procedures.

It can be seen how important a talent, especially a high-ranking talent, is to a grassroots organization like Jiaozhouying.

Sun Chuanting was a Jinshi, served as a county magistrate, chief of the Ministry of Personnel, governor of Shaanxi, and governor of Baoding were mostly civil affairs officials, but he led a large army to fight against Li Zicheng and made great contributions repeatedly. He can be said to be a talented person with both civil and military affairs.

If such a person can do something for Jiaozhou Camp like Liu Fulai, it will definitely be a huge improvement in Jiaozhou Camp in all aspects.

But if you say a thousand words, why should such a talent be inferior to you as a general? When Sun Chuanting was at its most prominent position, he had four or five generals under his command, but now he had to work under the command of Li Meng, the general. How could a person like Sun Chuanting be willing?

Fortunately, there was no trouble in the matter of robbing the Heavenly Prison and rescuing the imperial envoy. The prison guards guarding the imperial prison deliberately concealed this matter. Li Meng didn't know, but he could think of the mentality of the upper class in the capital.

Sun Chuanting was convicted and imprisoned, and his power was gone. Sun Chuanting had no power in the capital and the local area. If he was useless, people in the capital and the local area would probably not think of the use of saving such a person even if they knew that someone had robbed the prison.

If you have a wild idea and take such a great risk to rescue Sun Chuanting's power in the capital, after thinking about it, there is only Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai's troops, and the Jurchen Tartars outside the pass, who are gradually recovering their vitality in the Sichuan and Chu land. I am afraid that I will never think of it anymore.

No one would have thought that a general from Shandong would rescue a prisoner-in-chief, and both sides were incompatible in the past.

The house where Sun Chuanting lives now is different from the place where the third son of the Sun family lived in the past. The yard they lived was surrounded by a personal barracks. The barracks and schoolyards surrounded the yard layer by layer, and outsiders were not allowed to enter, and people inside could not come out.

However, this yard is quite large, and the Sun family doesn't seem frustrated when they are all in it. It has been more than a month since Sun Chuanting came to Jinan City, and this is the third time Li Meng has come to this yard.

Because when he first arrived in Shandong, Sun Chuanting was troubled by the capital and came to another place. He was rescued from the imperial prison again. He was in a state of great excitement and was not adapted to the local conditions. As a result, he fell ill again. However, in Shandong, it was not in the imperial prison. The doctors carefully diagnosed and treated the doctors and nourished their bodies in time, and soon recovered.

The body recovered because of recovery. The first two times when Li Meng came, Sun Chuanting was silent and said nothing, either walking around the yard with his hands behind his back, or looking at the sky blankly.

This is not a strong person to seek talent, you must be polite. This makes Li Meng very troubled, but it is also funny to think about it. Sun Hedou, Sun Hejing, and Sun Heding were also kidnapped by the Zheng family. Sun Chuanting also used similar methods. Both families have surnames Sun, so I don’t know if there is any coincidence.

Li Meng had a very good attitude towards Sun Hedou, and he was completely respectful to the wise and polite. This was related to Li Meng's modern ideas. He attached great importance to firearms, and Sun Hedou happened to be a technical talent in this field. Li Meng, who was born in the modern army, always had a kind of heartfelt respect for ordnance experts.

And then again, Sun Hedou is a juren, and Li Meng, as a high-ranking military officer in the court, had such a low attitude and was ashamed to ask questions. His attitude of sincerely inviting talents would definitely impress Sun Hedou.

However, the status and status of the same posture and means are used to treat Sun Hedou as a polite and a wise man, and it is a joke to use Sun Chuanting.

Almost one-fifth of the personal military camp is on duty every day, and the rest are practicing in this barracks. Seeing Li Meng coming over with Wang Hai, everyone who sees them greets respectfully.

Although the Sun Chuanting family's freedom of movement was restricted, the details were not so tight. Sun Chuanting's youngest son stood by the gate of the yard watching the soldiers' exercises.

Sun Chuanting's Mumu was dazed, but his family seemed much more relaxed. Since Sun Chuanting was inexplicably sent to prison, the whole family was worried and was waiting for trial. At that time, they would be exiled, and the death of the clan was exiled, and they might even be implicated. Not only did they have to be separated from Sun Chuanting from life and death, they might even be implicated.

But Sun Chuanting has not saved up any money over the years, and there is no way for him to make some money. The whole family cannot leave Sun Chuanting and leave like this. They can only live every day in the capital with fear.

As a result, a disaster came and the whole family was kidnapped by a forced man. When the whole family woke up, they found that they were outside the capital. They thought that the bandits Sun Chuanting attacked and killed came to take revenge. They were really desperate. Unexpectedly, these "strong men" sent them to Shandong quietly. But when they arrived in Shandong, they were under house arrest, and they were really nervous.

However, after a few days, I never expected that Sun Chuanting, who was in the imperial prison, was also sent to this house, and this sudden disaster suddenly turned into a blessing.

Although Sun Chuanting kept silent every day, the whole family felt safe and happy. No matter what would be waiting for them next, it would be enough for the whole family to live these days together.

Almost a month has passed, and the Sun family and others also knew that the outside army had no malice in addition to restricting their freedom of movement.

They had been traveling around each other, listening to the news that Sun Chuanting led the army to fight outside, the whole family was worried about life. Now it was so peaceful and worry-free. Sun Chuanting had a son only when he was almost forty years old. His youngest son was not old. Although he had lived in the army with Sun Chuanting and had seen the so-called elite soldiers, he was much worse than those soldiers outside the yard.

Watching the exercises every day makes people feel excited. The youngest son is not there every day. Sun Chuanting has also watched it several times, but after watching it, he will still return to the house and don’t know what he is thinking.

"My adults come to see Mr. Sun!!!"

Wang Hai reported loudly at the gate of the yard. The child standing at the door hurriedly ran in. Soon a young man walked out quickly.

The eyebrows and eyes of the young man were quite similar to the child just now. He seemed to be Sun Chuanting's eldest son. Judging from his appearance, he looked like a weak scholar, not the kind of literary and martial arts of his father. When he saw Li Meng, the young man didn't know what he called him.

The general on the other side was in his early thirties, probably because he was the mastermind who had plundered his whole family here. He looked like an official status, and when he came here, he could not be said to be a bad thing.

After hesitating, the eldest son of Sun Chuanting bowed and said:

"Student Sun Pu participated in the adults. My father was in the study and was inconvenient to greet him. I hope he would not blame him."

Li Meng nodded with a smile. Sun Chuanting relied on his identity, and everything is unclear at the moment, so he naturally would not come out to meet him. Looking at Sun Pu's face with an unnatural expression, I guess this "inconvenient to greet" polite words were made up by this young man himself.
To be continued...