The turmoil in Hanzhong did not escape Hong Chengchou's eyes. Hong Chengchou had spies throughout Shaanxi Prefecture in order to wipe out all bandits as soon as possible.
On the second day after Chen Wang led his troops to Hanzhong City, an urgent military order of 800 miles was delivered to his hands.
"This banditry in Hanzhong has affected a lot of people... Hanzhong City cannot be lost. The safety of King Rui is the first priority. When the situation stabilizes, we will cooperate with Hanzhong guerrillas to eliminate the Golden Winged Peng, Black Killing Tiger, Sky-Drilling Harrier and others..."
Hong Chengchou, who was in charge of overall command in Sanyuan, had already received news from Hanzhong Mansion, and the news he received was more detailed and clear than Chen Wang.
"Junmen Nobushige..."
Chen Wang took the military order from the messenger's hand with both hands, then raised it and placed it in front of his forehead, saying solemnly.
"You will not be blamed!"
Chen Wang looked solemn and held up the military order in his hands respectfully, but he was thinking about something else.
At this moment, Chen Wang's heart was completely settled, because now, he could finally stay in Hanzhong legitimately.
The first shackles on him had been removed, and by staying in Hanzhong Mansion, he actually gained the right to act expediently.
Chen Wang knew very well that Hong Chengchou had no trust in him at all. All Hong Chengchou thought about was his career, his status and identity.
In Hong Chengchou's eyes, these generals were just chess pieces that could be discarded at will to help him ascend to the throne.
The civil servants who looked up to military commanders probably couldn't even get ten fingers together in the entire court today.
Even if there is true trust, then he must bear the responsibility.
"You take people to Hanzhong City and report to Magistrate Lin. Tell me that I have received the military order from the military sect and will do your best to ensure the safety of Hanzhong City."
Chen Wang looked at the messenger's retreating back, turned his head, and gave instructions to Chen Gong who was sitting beside him.
"But at that time, we followed the urgent order from the military gate and rushed all the way to Xi'an Prefecture. We didn't carry much baggage. There was not enough food and grass in the army. If we fight for a long time, we have to ask Hanzhong City to prepare food and grass for us."
Although the army still has enough rations for half a month, it would be better to be prepared and have more rations.
"Also, in the previous battle with the bandits Li Yangchun and Lin Shengquan in Ningqiang Prefecture, the loss of ordnance was quite serious. If possible, please allocate some ordnance as a supplement."
Chen Gong responded cleanly, turned around and walked out of the tent.
Ever since Chen Wang revealed most of the plan and made the decision, Chen Gong no longer hesitated. He followed Chen Wang's lead in everything and regained his former ability.
Watching Chen Gong leave, Tang Shiping was the only one left in the tent.
Zhao Huailiang and Hu Zhiyi are reorganizing their troops in the camp, and Hu Zhili is currently busy preparing for the establishment of a supervision office.
"How much money is left in the army?"
Chen Wang's eyes moved to Tang Shiping.
Hu Zhiyi was in charge of ordnance and grain and grass in the army, while Tang Shiping was in charge of money.
Internal affairs in the military must be decentralized, and no matter how trustworthy they are, they cannot be handed over to one person at the same time.
"After checking the accounts yesterday, there are still 4,600 taels of gold and 69,365 taels of silver in the army."
At first, more than 7,000 taels of gold were seized in Chunhua, and some were exchanged in the prefectures along the way. Later, they were exchanged for a lot of silver in Mian County. Now there is not much left.
At first, more than 64,000 taels of silver were seized, and later the gold was exchanged for more than 36,000 taels, for a total of one hundred thousand taels.
Liao cavalry requires nearly three taels per person for a month, ordinary soldiers need one and a half taels, and newly recruited soldiers need one tael. Among them, military pay varies according to the level of training.
The monthly expenditure is about 6,000 taels. It has been more than three months since August. Counting the preparation of military rations, the total expenditure on military pay is nearly 20,000 taels.
Although ordinary battalion soldiers and Liao cavalry are all soldiers within the establishment, the court is supposed to pay military salaries.
However, after traveling all the way and being far away from Xi'an, the salary he actually received was only one month, and it was not in full. The shortfall was paid by Chen Wang with the captured military funds.
Not to mention the reported military merits. Many achievements have not yet been completed, and the reward of silver is far away.
Delay in payment arrears has become the norm. When military pay and food are allocated from the central government to the local government, 30% of them have already been exploited.
A lot of it was lost when it was distributed from the Shangguan to each battalion. If only half of it was left in the hands of the battalion general, it was considered a good conscience.
The servant system of the Ming Dynasty was a deformed product produced by this greedy situation.
After settling the refugees, managing the officialdom, and delivering some silver to Cao Wenzhao, etc., Chen Wang's treasury was now lacking a lot of money.
For the past few months, I have been sitting on nothing. The only profit was the more than 20,000 taels of gold and silver looted from them after killing Li Yangchun and Lin Shengquan.
However, the remaining silver money is still a huge sum of money. After all, this is an asset that Li Zicheng obtained after plundering several states and counties.
"I will only keep one thousand taels of gold. The rest can be exchanged for silver in Hanzhong City as much as possible, but I can't exchange for less, at least the price in Xi'an Prefecture."
Chen Wang gently knocked on the armrest of the seat and whispered.
In this era, silver is the universal currency. Although gold is more valuable and important than silver, it rarely appears in direct transactions. Gold is mostly used as jewelry, private collections, sacrificial vessels, etc.
Now what Chen Wang needs is silver to exchange for food and military pay, so gold is naturally not suitable.
Leaving one thousand taels of gold is only for future needs such as welcoming and sending, opening up joints and other needs.
"correct……"
Chen Wang raised his head, looked at Tang Shiping and said.
"This month's military pay will be released in advance, and all ministries will be notified of this news..."
Tang Shiping's body trembled slightly and his expression was startled. Although he was mentally prepared, his mood was still disturbed when he heard Chen Wang talk about it.
According to the military regulations formulated by Chen Wang, military pay is generally distributed on the first day of each month.
The situation of early release of military pay only occurs when the war approaches.
Chen Wang waved his hand and had no intention of leaving Tang Shiping.
Tang Shiping respectfully responded to his orders, and then slowly exited the tent.
Tang Shiping left the military tent, the tent was empty again, and Chen Wang no longer maintained his normal expression.
Chen Wang stood up and slowly unfolded the rolled map on the table.
Since coming to this era, Chen Wang's memory has always been very good, and he clearly remembers the contents of the history books he has read.
It is already December 23rd of the eighth year of Chongzhen, and in less than ten days, it will be the ninth year of Chongzhen.
The first half of the ninth year of Chongzhen was not easy for the Ming Empire. The rogue bandits were so powerful inside that it was difficult to contain them. Later Jin Dynasty proclaimed himself emperor and changed his title outside.
Hong Chengchou would have no energy to take charge of the chaos in Hanzhong at that time. All his attention would be drawn by Li Zicheng and the bandits in Shangluo.
The map on the desktop was unfolded, and Chen Wang looked at Hanzhong Mansion on the map. Combining these days of exploration and intelligence from various channels, he had gradually sorted out the situation in Hanzhong Mansion.
Today, the three largest groups of thieves in Hanzhong Mansion are the Golden-winged Peng, the Black Killing Tiger, and the Sky-Diamond Harrier. The rest of the bandits, as long as they are slightly more powerful, are basically subordinate to the three of them.
The Golden-winged Peng has the largest number of subordinates, with more than 60,000 people.
The bandits in the northern part of Hanzhong Prefecture all joined Jin Chi Peng's troops after seeing his winning streak. Now Jin Chi Peng can be said to be the leader of the bandits in the northern part of Hanzhong Prefecture.
Black Killing Tiger Zhang Yuan was slightly weaker. He originally only had more than 20,000 men under his command, but after successive victories, his team quickly expanded and now has more than 50,000 troops.
A group of bandits from the central part of Hanzhong Prefecture also swarmed in and joined Zhang Yuan's command, and the entire southern bandits were led by him.
Nowadays, the number of people associated with Jin Chi Peng and Zhang Yuan has exceeded 100,000, and these more than 100,000 people are now concentrated between Chenggu County and Bao County.
There are more than 30,000 people under the command of King Zhuan Tianyao. They were originally based in the Ziyang area. He had long unified the bandits in the eastern part of Hanzhong Prefecture.
When formulating the invasion plan, Hong Chengchou ordered the Hanzhong Guards to be responsible for attacking the relatively weak Black Killer Tiger Division, while the Hanzhong Battalion was responsible for attacking the relatively powerful Zhuantian Harrier Division.
According to the information from Hong Chengchou, the Hanzhong battalion is currently fighting fiercely with him near Xing'an.
The Hanzhong guerrillas were named Zhou Yumao, who came from Shandong. He was a Jinshi during the Tianqi period. He originally served as a garrison in Shandong, and later went to Shaanxi for suppression. In the seventh year of Chongzhen, he set up camp in Hanzhong and was promoted to Hanzhong guerrillas due to his merits.
Zhou Yumao is still fighting fiercely with the Sky Harrier in the Xing'an area. The Sky Harrier has no way to get past Zhou Yumao and rush to Hanzhong, so there will be no intersection between them for the time being.
Jin Chipeng, Zhang Yuan, and Wang Cheng now command the bandits in the north, south, and east of Hanzhong Prefecture respectively.
The power of the three groups has now expanded, and the total number of bandits, big and small, has exceeded 150,000.
Chen Wang looked at the map on the table with a solemn expression. From the historical data he had read in his memory, the turmoil in Hanzhong Mansion lasted for a very long time. Until the eleventh year of Chongzhen, most of Hanzhong was still in turmoil.
It is recorded in Volume 4 of "Hanzhong Fuzhi":
"During the Chongzhen period, Ruifan changed its tactics to guerrilla warfare."
"In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, he changed his position to guerrilla and was appointed deputy general."
Hanzhong originally only had a garrison, then guerrillas and deputy generals were set up. Finally, in the 14th year of Chongzhen, a town was officially established and he was appointed as the commander-in-chief. The biggest reason for its continuous promotion was precisely because the situation in Hanzhong continued to deteriorate.
"Hanzhong Guerrilla..."
Chen Wang was thinking about his future plan in his mind. If he could become a guerrilla in Hanzhong, then he could completely get rid of Hong Chengchou's constraints.
Hong Chengchou was wary of him before, but because of Cao Wenzhao's reminder, Hong Chengchou is now much less suspicious of him.
After meeting Hong Chengchou last time, Hong Chengchou's attitude towards him changed a lot.
Hong Chengchou is not an obstacle that prevents him from becoming a guerrilla in Hanzhong.
Chen Wang's eyes continued to move to the right, until they finally stopped near Xing'an.
The person who is preventing him from becoming a guerrilla in Hanzhong now is Zhou Yumao...
