Xingping County, Daying in the east of the city.
Hong Chengchou held a riding whip and walked slowly into the military tent surrounded by a group of personal guards.
He had just finished inspecting the defense lines around the military camp and went to the wounded barracks to express condolences to the sergeant.
Du Si Tian Yinglong died in the battle, and almost all his servants died in the battle. The combat power of his camp was greatly damaged. Now most of the soldiers left in the camp are just ordinary soldiers.
The morale of the soldiers under He Renlong and Zhang Quanchang has been sluggish due to successive defeats.
Even after repelling the army led by Gao Yingxiang a few days ago, the morale of the army still has not recovered much.
Fortunately, Gao Yingxiang's desire to advance eastward was not too strong, and he was only making a tentative attack.
Relying on the pacesetter battalion under his command and He Renlong's desperate efforts, Gao Yingxiang was able to retreat temporarily.
Hong Chengchou had already received news from Pizhou and Sanshui before, and the bandits from Pingliang and Qingyang Prefectures were heading towards the Guanzhong area.
Hong Chengchou understood why Gao Yingxiang divided his troops, and why Gao Yingxiang only made a tentative attack and then retreated.
Gao Yingxiang did not let him attack Guanzhong and advance into Xi'an.
The purpose of dividing the troops and plundering was to continue to expand the scale, replenish the number of people, and increase the combat power.
Gao Yingxiang advanced in three directions, hoping to coerce the hungry people and refugees in the three prefectures into Guanzhong and capture Xi'an.
The reason why he left after testing it out was just to find out how many troops he had available, and to wait for the two groups of troops from the direction of Pingliang Mansion and Qingyang Mansion to encircle him.
"Zhang Waijia..."
There was a fierce light in Hong Chengchou's eyes. He clenched the riding crop in his hand and resisted the urge to throw it to the ground.
Ai Wannian, Liu Chenggong and others were all good generals in the army. They all suffered defeats. Even Cao Wenzhao suffered a big loss and almost fell into Qiutou Town and was trapped between Li Zicheng and Hui. In the hands of the prime minister.
The band of thieves in Qingyang Mansion in the north has the smallest number of soldiers and is also the most wrong.
Therefore, he repeatedly reminded Zhang Waijia not to underestimate the enemy and to defend Sanshui City.
After he received the news of Cao Wenzhao's victory from Pizhou, he was not happy for a few days when he received the news of the fall of Sanshui City.
These soldiers and horses from Liao Town are indeed capable of fighting, but the generals who lead the troops are hardly obedient, and they are all arrogant, thinking that the current bandits are just a bunch of chickens and dogs.
In other words, You Shiwei and Cao Wenzhao knew how to advance and retreat and obeyed his orders.
Hong Chengchou pressed his hands on his temples, and his head was throbbing, which made him feel excruciating pain.
Since entering Tongguan, he has rarely heard good news.
Many places in Fengxiang Mansion were occupied, and urgent documents filled his desk like snowflakes.
The prefect of Fengxiang Prefecture has written a letter to impeach him for allowing the bandits to wreak havoc and fleeing without a fight.
There was a mess inside and out, waiting for him to deal with it.
There were so many things to do, he had never had a peaceful sleep these days.
Hong Chengchou raised his head, opened his bloodshot eyes, and asked.
"What's the situation with Liu Chenggong now?"
In the Battle of Xiangle in Ningzhou, the Ming army was ambushed, and Ai Wannian and Liu Guozhen died in the battle.
Liu Chenggong and Wang Ximing led the remaining soldiers to break out of the siege, but they were both seriously injured.
The two of them have been recovering from their injuries. Liu Chenggong is almost recovered, but Wang Ximing has suffered injuries to his thighs and arms. Although he has recovered from his injuries, he will never be able to go to the battlefield again.
Liu Chenggong originally needed to recover from his injuries for a while, but the soldiers under Tian Yinglong had no choice but to take care of them.
Now Liu Chenggong still serves as deputy general, temporarily in charge of the troops under the command of Tian Yinglong, the commander of the capital.
Upon hearing Hong Chengchou's question, Sun Shoufa stood up and reported.
"Everything in the camp has been properly arranged. Vice General Liu has replaced several generals and has stabilized the camp."
"It's just that the morale of the army is still quite low now. I'm afraid it will take about half a month to recover."
Hong Chengchou frowned slightly, half a month or so was really too long.
Sun Shoufa saw Hong Chengchou looking unhappy. He and Liu Chenggong were on good terms, so he could only bite the bullet and speak.
"Tian Dusi died for his country, and there were many casualties in the camp. The food and salary for the pension have not been paid yet, even last month..."
Hong Chengchou's face froze slightly, and he could no longer say what he was planning to say.
Military pay, military pay, every camp in every place needs military pay.
Although the emperor distributed more than one million taels of gold from Beijing, the province, and the country as military pay, a lot of the one million taels of silver had been withheld before it left the capital. When it was sent to Shaanxi, Huguang, and Henan, there was not much left. .
"There is no need to worry about pensions and military pay. Tomorrow I will arrange for people to go and distribute them. I will inform Liu Chenggong to rectify military affairs as soon as possible. The situation is becoming more and more urgent and there is no room for any neglect."
"I thanked the wounded and fallen soldiers for my humble duty. When everyone in the army hears this news, their morale will be greatly boosted!"
Sun Shoufa knelt on the ground and said in a sincere tone.
Hong Chengchou sighed inwardly, showing a hint of fatigue, but he soon regained his composure.
In May, Lu Xiangsheng succeeded Tang Hui and served as the right deputy censor of the capital and governor of Huguang. He is now stationed in Xiangfan.
The suppression of rogue bandits became more intense, and civil unrest continued.
Now that the civil unrest has spread to Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Huguang, South Zhili, Sichuan, Shandong and other provinces, he alone can no longer spare his energy to govern.
Rumors have spread from above that it seems that there is an intention to set up the "Premier of the Five Provinces" mission, which will be concurrently held by Lu Xiangsheng and oversee the military affairs of the five provinces of Nanzhili, Henan, Shandong, Sichuan and Huguang.
"By the way, who did Cao Wenzhao send to take over the Liao soldiers under Zhang Waijia?"
Hong Chengchou stood up, and while asking, he stood up and asked left and right to take off the armor he was wearing.
The military of this era was extremely regional.
Zhang Waijia led the Liao soldiers, Zuo Liangyu led the Changping soldiers, He Renlong, and Zhang Quanchang led the Shaanxi soldiers.
No matter who is in charge of the three of them, it will be difficult for them to manage these 900 Liao soldiers. Naturally, Hong Chengchou will not assign them to any one of the three of them.
The only candidate was naturally Cao Wenzhao.
Although Hong Chengchou had a quarrel with Cao Wenzhao before, this time Cao Wenzhao's attitude was extremely respectful, and he put aside the grudge, and the two of them had settled their differences.
Let Cao Wenzhao control these Liao soldiers this time, which also means to compensate for the loss of their military exploits before.
"Is it Cao Bianjiao or Cao Dingjiao?"
Cao Wenzhao was dismissed from his post and sent to the army because of the defeat of Datong, but he was transferred again to quell the rebellion before he left office.
There are not many people available under Cao Wenzhao's command now. There are only two nephews, Cao Bianjiao and Cao Dingjiao, and a few others, whose names he can all remember.
Only Cao Bianjiao and Cao Dingjiao were able to lead a battalion, so Hong Chengchou directly asked their names.
"What's wrong?"
Hong Chengchou waited for a while, but still didn't hear Sun Shoufa's answer.
He turned to look at Sun Shoufa, but saw that Sun Shoufa had a strange look on his face.
Hong Chengchou raised his eyebrows, flicked the python robe he was wearing, and sat on the chair again.
"Is it possible that besides his two nephews, there is a third person under his command who can control those Liao soldiers?"
