In the first month of the second year of Longwu in the Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng, the bandit in Shaanxi, Zhang Xianzhong, the bandit in Sichuan, and Wu Sangui, the traitor in Sichuan, finally settled their past grudges and formed a strategic alliance under the strong pressure of the Central Army. The three parties agreed that either side would be attacked by the Central Army, and both sides would send troops to rescue them.

In the same month, in order to alleviate the famine in Guanzhong, Shaanxi thief Li Zicheng, with his nephew Li Shuangxi as the main general, Liu Zongmin and Tian Jianxiu as the deputy general, raised an army of 180,000 to go south. In order to cooperate with Li Zicheng's Dashun army, Zhang Xianzhong also regarded his adopted descendants Kewang as the main general, and Li Dingguo as the deputy general, raised an army of 80,000 to the east. The two armies met at Qingtong Pass, Xunyang Prefecture.

Due to the invasion of the bandits, Wang Pu was forced to cancel the plan to attack Shanxi, and instead ordered Hong Niangzi to lead 20,000 cavalry to go south to Huguang to cooperate with Zhao Xin to resist the invasion of the bandits. At the same time, Wang Pu temporarily established a front-line headquarters and appointed Liu Rushi as the commander, unified command of Zhao Xin, Hong Niangzi, Zhang Monk's troops and the Central Army battalions temporarily stationed in Henan.

After arranging all this, Wang Pu secretly returned to Nanjing.

For Wang Pu, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong's invasion were nothing. Liu Rushi had three musket battalions and artillery battalions under his command, Zhao Xin had three mixed battalions under his command, and Hongniangzi and Zhang Monk had six cavalry battalions under his command. Since the logistics supply of the Central Army was not guaranteed, the active attack was indeed not strong, but it was more than enough for defense.

And now it is time to let Liu Rushi block the situation alone. No matter how powerful Wang Pu can, the family cannot solve all the problems alone. It is time to find someone to share the pressure. Moreover, Liu Rushi is already his woman, and there is no problem with loyalty. If you hand over the main force of the Central Army to Liu Rushi, Wang Pu doesn’t have to worry about her becoming a separatist warlord.

Of course, there is another more important reason why Wang Pu is in a hurry to return to Nanjing, that is, the steam engine!

The iron machine tool of Jiande Arsenal has been built, and the processing accuracy has been substantially improved compared with the wooden machine tool. Wang Pu was eager to know whether the boring machine of Jiande Arsenal can bore cylinders with sufficient finish?

The original quantity of the steam engine is very simple, and its key part is the cylinder. If the accuracy of the boring machine cannot be guaranteed and the cylinder with high finish cannot be bored, the steam engine is a tower in the air. Only when the accuracy of the boring machine is good enough to bore a cylinder with sufficient precision can the appearance of the steam engine be possible.

There is no need to say much about the importance of steam engines, this is a sign of the industrial revolution!

With the steam engine, the Ming Empire will undergo earth-shaking changes. At that time, trains will appear on land, ironclad ships will appear on the ocean, large cities will appear in large numbers, and roaring machinery. If the Ming Empire can spare no effort to support the Academy of Military Sciences, and with Wang Pu's guidance, the Ming Empire may even enter the electric-vehicle era in a very short time!

All this made Wang Pu so excited that he couldn't sleep. He wanted to put on his wings and flew to Zhejiang immediately. Therefore, he hurriedly explained the main tasks of the front enemy headquarters, and Wang Pu hurriedly set off with two brigades of personal soldiers.

Taiyuan, Shanxi, Wu Sangui's mansion.

Wu Sanfeng hurried into the warm pavilion and said to Wu Sangui: "Second brother, I heard that Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong have already taken action?"

"Yes." Wu Sangui nodded slightly and said, "I've already taken action."

"Oh?" Wu Sanfeng said, "Li Zicheng, how many troops did Zhang Xianzhong dispatch?"

Wu Sangui said: "This time Li Zicheng dispatched nearly 200,000 troops. Yan'an Prefecture was originally used to guard against our Wu family's army. The eight kings Zhang Xianzhong also mobilized nearly 100,000 troops, and nearly 300,000 troops gathered in Xunyang. They are now confronting Zhao Xin at Qingtong Pass."

"Be good, the army of 300,000?" Wu Sanfeng said astonished, "It's enough for Zhao Xin to drink a pot."

Wu Sangui said coldly: "Hmph, the 300,000 army sounds like a lot, but can it be called an army?"

Wu Sanfeng said: "No matter what, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and the court fought with the imperial court only benefited our Wu family."

"That's true." Wu Sangui said, "Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong raised an army of 300,000 to attack Huguang. This incident has disrupted Wang Pu's overall plan and made a detailed return. At least 20,000 Henan cavalry have gone south to Huguang and cooperated with Zhao Xin to fight. In addition, Wang Pu's main force in the Central Army has also moved to Nanyang and is ready to support Zhao Xin at any time."

Wu Sanfeng said: "In other words, it is impossible for the Central Army to attack Shanxi again in a short period of time?"

Wu Sangui said: "I have said a long time ago that at least before the beginning of next spring, the Central Army will not be able to attack Shanxi."

A trace of sinister flashed through Wu Sanfeng's eyes and said in a calm voice: "Second brother, why not take advantage of the Ming army, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong's fierce fighting opportunity to attack Henan and make ruthless efforts to Wang Pu and the Ming court? First, we can practice troops, second, we can collect some food and supplies, and also avenge the dead third brother."

Wu Sangui frowned and said, "Brother, are you confused?"

Wu Sanfeng said in surprise: "What do you say in the second brother?"

Wu Sangui asked back: "Our Guanning Army needs to train troops, but is the Central Army of the Ming Dynasty an ideal training target?"

Wu Sanfeng shook her head and said, "Of course not."

Wu Sangui said again: "Is our Guanning Army short of food and grass?"

Wu Sanfeng said: "It's not very short."

Wu Sangui said again: "Then can we kill Hong Niangzi and Wang Pu when we attack Henan?"

Wu Sanfeng said: "Of course this is impossible."

Wu Sangui said: "Since this is the case, we will not get any benefits when we send troops to attack Henan. Instead, we may lose valuable troops in vain. How can we do such a business that is stable and unprofitable?"

Wu Sanfeng said in shame: "Brother I don't think about it."

Wu Sangui sighed and said sadly: "Brother, no one feels good about the third brother being killed, but avenging the third brother is a little bit small, and our Wu family's life and death are big. At present, the Guanning Army in Shanxi is the foundation of our Wu family. We must not use them to get along with the Ming arms."

Nanyang, Front Enemy Command.

Liu Qingyan took the information compiled from the entrances of the Bailian Church in various places into Liu Rushi's room and said, "The information from the entrances of Rushi, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Sichuan has been compiled."

Liu Rushi raised his head from the map and asked happily: "Oh, what information is there?"

Liu Qingyan said: "Wu Sangui from Shanxi has remained unmoved, and it seems that he does not intend to take this opportunity to send troops."

"This is also expected." Liu Rushi nodded slightly and said, "Compared with the two bandits Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, Wu Sangui was from a general family and was more cunning and difficult to deal with. After all, this guy was once the general of the court. When he was guarding western Liaoning, he was an insurmountable obstacle for Jiannu."

Liu Qingyan said: "Let's talk about Li Zicheng, this time Li Zicheng dispatched about 200,000 troops. The leading general is Li Zicheng's nephew Li Shuangxi, as well as the general Liu Zongmin, and Tian Jianxiu also went to the expedition with the army."

"Twenty-hundred thousand?" Liu Rushi said, "Li Zicheng's total thief force is only about 300,000. It seems that the famine in Shaanxi is already very serious, otherwise Li Zicheng would not have been able to make such a desperate bet."

"There is also Zhang Xianzhong." Liu Qingyan said again, "In addition to Qin Liangyu who was trapped in the stone pillars, the official troops of various departments in Sichuan Province were basically defeated by Zhang Xianzhong. During this Eastern Expedition, Zhang Xianzhong sent his adopted descendants Kewang, Li Dingguo as a general, leading about 80,000 troops. In this way, with Li Zicheng's men and horses, the total strength of the bandits was nearly 300,000. General Zhao Xin and Qingtong Pass were under great pressure."

Liu Rushi pondered for a moment, nodded gently and said, "Not necessarily."

Liu Qingyan said: "What do you say about Rushi's sister?"

Liu Rushi said: "Although the bandits are nearly 300,000, most of them are mobs. The only ones who are truly capable of combat will not exceed 100,000. Moreover, the bandits have a fatal weakness."

Liu Qingyan said: "What weakness?"

Liu Rushi said: "The bandits lack unified command! Because there is no unified command, the two bandits will inevitably be in harmony and have their own plans. The Shaanxi bandits hope that Sichuan bandits will take the lead, and Sichuan bandits also hope that Shaanxi bandits will take the lead. Both sides want to take advantage, but the result is that they are suspicious and argue with each other. The situation in Qingtong Pass seems dangerous, but in fact it is not enough to worry."

Liu Qingyan breathed a sigh of relief and said with relief: "So that's how it is."

Xunyang County, Qingtong Pass.

Zhao Xin personally led a mixed battalion of the Central Army to station at Qingtong Pass, firmly blocking the road to the east of Shaanxi and Sichuan bandits. Before they captured Qingtong Pass, the bandits did not dare to fight eastward. After all, the bandits are no longer the bandits of the past, and they already have food and supplies, unlike before, wherever they fought.

However, small groups of bandit soldiers detoured behind Qingtong Pass often, which brought disaster to the people of Xunyang Prefecture.

The situation did not change until Hongniangzi led the three cavalry battalions of the Central Army arrived. The arrival of these three cavalry battalions posed a fatal threat to the bandits. The bandits were forced to be carried into a group and dared not go out to rob them everywhere, otherwise they would be easily surrounded and annihilated by the cavalry battalions of the Central Army.

This made the situation of the bandits worse.

Originally, due to the distrust of each other, the Shaanxi bandits and Sichuan bandits were unwilling to attack Qingtong Pass for desperate efforts. Therefore, the army stationed under Qingtong Pass for more than half a month, but did not launch a decent offensive! However, nearly 300,000 troops were stationed at Qingtong Pass, and the daily food and grass consumed was not a small amount!

Originally, relying on the small groups of bandits sent to loot everywhere, it could barely maintain the cost of the army. After all, the people of Xunyang County also introduced sweet potatoes, and every household had hundreds or even thousands of kilograms of storage. But now, as soon as the cavalry battalion of the Central Army arrived, the small groups of bandits did not dare to rob everywhere, and the bandits' food immediately began to get anxious.

Outside Qingtong Pass, a large camp of bandits.

Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo were invited to Li Shuangxi's tent to attend the military meeting. Li Shuangxi sat high on the commander's chair, and the military advisor Niu Jinxing and general Liu Zongmin and Tian Jianxiu stood on the left, Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo stood on the right.

Li Shuangxi's eyes flashed over the faces of everyone and said in a deep voice: "Everyone, it has been more than half a month since the army has been stationed outside Qingtong Pass, but the war has made no progress. Long live the condemnation envoy has sent an edict to ask why the general has not taken action for a long time? I wonder what you think about this?"

"The last general is still the same." After Li Shuangxi finished speaking, Liu Zongmin said loudly, "If the problem of unified command is not solved, this battle cannot be fought."

A sneer immediately appeared on the corner of Sun Kewang's mouth, unified command? To put it nicely, isn't he trying to take the opportunity to annex the army of Daxi? Why should Daxi let the generals of Dashun Kingdom command? In terms of qualifications and ability, what is Sun Kewang inferior to Li Shuangxi?

Li Shuangxi's cold eyes fell on Sun Kewang's face like a knife, and asked in a narrow voice: "What do General Sun thinks about this?"

Sun Kewang said coldly: "I am still saying the same thing. The army of Daxi Country can only be commanded by the generals of Daxi Country, and it is absolutely impossible to hand it over to the generals of other countries for command."

Tian Jianxiu said sarcastically: "When is it now still so petty? It's just that you are commanding in a unified manner and you are not going to take the opportunity to annex your army in Daxi! Do you have to wait until the camp's food and grass are exhausted and then the two families are forced to withdraw their troops? Sun Kewang, what are your intentions?"

"Are you a small family?" Sun Kewang said hungrily, "Since you are generous in the Dashun country, it is better to hand over the Dashun army to our general command."

"Fuck!" Liu Zongmin shouted, "Our Dashun Army has a total of 200,000, but your Daxi Army has only 80,000. How can there be 80,000 people command 200,000 people?"

"Hehe." Sun Kewang sneered, "The combat effectiveness of an army cannot be determined by the number of troops! If I remember correctly, General Liu led 100,000 troops to invade Hanzhong last year, but was repelled by my second brother with less than 20,000 troops. General Liu himself was also seriously injured. Is this true?"

"you!?"

Liu Zongmin was furious, and jumped up like a puppy being stepped on to his tail and said sternly, "Sun Kewang, there is a kind of single fight!"

"If you fight alone, you will fight alone." Sun Kewang groaned and said coldly, "I am still afraid of you?"

Seeing that Sun Kewang and Liu Zongmin were at odds and the fight could break out at any time, Li Dingguo on the side had already frowned.

Seeing that the situation was about to lose control, Niu Jinxing had to come forward and shout and said, "Enough, General Liu, General Sun, you don't think about how to kill the enemy at the moment, but you want to attack each other. What's the matter?"

"Military Niu, generals." Li Dingguo couldn't help but leave the line and clasped his fists and said, "The last general and his brother led the army to assist in the war, but not to quarrel. Since Dashun and the two armies of Daxi were unable to reach an agreement due to the unified command, the last general had a compromise suggestion. I wonder if it should be said?"

Sun Kewang's brows frowned in an instant, and turned around and glared at Li Dingguo fiercely, obviously a little bit strange.
Chapter completed!