"Master, it's a letter from the foreign affairs." Zhao Wu came to the signing room with the bamboo tube.
Zhao Yutu, who was in the security room, said, "Is this the news from the grassland?"
"No, it's news from Datong." Zhao Wu said and put the bamboo tube on the table in front of Liu Heng.
Liu Heng picked up the bamboo tube, unplugged the plug, took out the letter inside, read it again, and said, "It's a good thing. Our troops in Daliang Mountain defeated the officers sent by Xu Tong to suppress the bandits in Daliang Mountain." army, and also killed the staff Xu Tong relied on most."
With that said, he handed the letter in his hand to Zhao Yutu.
After receiving the letter, Zhao Yutu read it in front of his eyes and said: "It says that the day after the army was defeated, they robbed the Guo family in Guojiazhuang, stole a lot of gold and silver, and killed Guo Juren."
"The Guo family can barely be regarded as a scholarly family." Liu Heng said, "The death of a Guo Juren will definitely put everyone in Datong in danger. Just wait and see, there will soon be many memorials to impeach Xu Tong. Capital City.”
"I'm afraid the memorials from these people alone may not be effective." Zhao Yutu frowned and said, "There were many memorials to impeach Xu Tong last time. In the end, Xu Tong only got a few words of reprimand, but he still firmly holds the position of governor of Datong."
"This time is different," Liu Heng said. "Taking action against the local gentry in Datong is only the first step. Next, we have to add fuel to the fire."
Zhao Yutu looked puzzled.
Liu Heng said: "If a clan member dies in Datong, do you think the seat under Xu Tong's butt can still be secure?"
"Kill the king?" Zhao Yutu said hesitantly.
Liu Heng shook his head and said: "I am going to let the people from the Foreign Intelligence Agency cooperate with the military brigade in Daliang Mountain to kill a general who governs the country, which will anger the court. Xu Tong, as the governor of Datong, cannot even protect the clan. I am sure He will be blamed by the court, plus he is unpopular in Datong, and there is a memorial to impeach him. I believe that neither the cabinet nor the staff will let him stay in Datong."
"The status of the general who governs the country is neither high nor low, and he has the status of a clan. It is indeed suitable." Zhao Yutu nodded, and then said, "But if we kill the clan, our brigade in Daliang Mountain will be in danger. The court will definitely let us General Zhang sent troops to Daliang Mountain to suppress the bandits."
"It doesn't matter." Liu Heng said, "When the time comes, we will withdraw the troops from Daliang Mountain and send them to the grassland."
"Leave it to Zhang Hong's 3,000-man team?" Zhao Yutu said doubtfully.
Liu Heng nodded and said: "Now that our trade routes in the grassland are getting farther and farther, a 3,000-man team is no longer available. Not only does the team from Daliang Mountain have to go to the grassland, but the baggage team also has to detach part of the baggage troops, respectively. Go to the grassland with the other two thousand troops.”
"Do the baggage soldiers who join the Thousand-Man Corps maintain their status as baggage soldiers, or are they considered combat soldiers?" Zhao Yutu asked.
"Counted as combat soldiers." Liu Heng said: "The baggage trains were originally meant to serve several battle groups. Now the trains of the baggage soldiers are almost the same. I plan to expand the three thousand-man teams into large camps. Each large camp will control three A troop of a thousand men and a large army of baggage troops.”
"In this way, Zhang Sancha's baggage team has become an empty frame." Zhao Yutu said, "Even if the four thousand people's baggage team is fully supplemented by three thousand people teams, it will not be able to fully staff the three camps."
Liu Heng said: "It doesn't matter if you are not satisfied with the establishment for the time being. You can continue to train heavy troops and strive to form six large battalions within a year."
"The total number of soldiers and horses in the six camps is probably no less than 20,000." Zhao Yutu looked at Liu Heng in confusion.
I don’t understand why there are so many soldiers and horses.
Liu Heng said: "In addition to the six large camps, there are also three transport teams, each with 4,000 people. In this way, in addition to the six large camps, there are more than 10,000 reserve soldiers who can prepare troops at any time. Several large camps can be replenished.”
"Are there too many soldiers and horses?" Zhao Yutu said with a worried look on his face, "With so many soldiers and horses in Datong, it will be difficult to hide them from the court."
Liu Heng said with a smile: "Don't worry, only one camp will be left in Datong, and the remaining camps will be sent to the grasslands."
"It's not that easy." Zhao Yutu shook his head and said, "The northern captives on the grassland are not fools. It is impossible for us to send so many soldiers and horses to station in the grassland."
Liu Heng smiled lightly and said, "I don't plan to get Beilu's consent either."
"Do you mean to take action against Tumut?" Zhao Yutu looked shocked.
Hu Ziqi has always been smuggling grasslands to make profits. He never thought that one day he would have to fight against Beilu.
Liu Heng said solemnly: "The tiger-character flag is not as stable on the grassland as we thought. Previously, Tumote had Taiji prepare to cooperate with other businessmen from the Ming Dynasty to replace our tiger-character flag."
"Is it what happened at Xu Ji's last time?" Zhao Yutu said.
Liu Heng nodded and said: "The last time the matter about Xu Ji's company has been found out, it was the Fan family who contacted Tumote's Kankantada Taiji, and now this Taiji has contacted multiple Taijis to rob him. Loot our convoy carrying the tiger flag."
"After cooperating for so long, how could these northern pirates suddenly want to take advantage of our convoy?" Zhao Yutu frowned and said, "Our tiger-character flag is smuggled on the grassland. This is a win-win situation. How could they think of targeting us?" Let’s take action with the Tiger Flag!”
There was a look of disbelief on his face.
Liu Heng smiled and said: "Don't think too much of the Beibei. Although our Tiger Flag has always cooperated with them, it is because it is beneficial to them and can earn a lot of benefits from us, but these Beibei have always looked down upon them. For our Tiger Flag, the burning of the warehouse was a lesson."
"So we are expanding the military camp this time to deal with the grassland?" Zhao Yutu asked.
"Not entirely." Liu Heng said, "Datong will ultimately limit the development of our Tiger Flag. Unless we rebel, we can only find a new way out for the Tiger Flag, and there are large fertile areas on the grassland. Once the land is cleared, it can be turned into fertile farmland, and in the future we can build border forts like Xinping Fort on the grassland."
There was one more thing he didn't say.
In the future, natural disasters will become more and more serious, especially natural disasters, which will lead to reduced food production and rising food prices. By the Chongzhen Dynasty, one stone of rice cost several taels of silver.
Now there is not enough land in Datong for Tiger Flag to farm, so he has set his sights on the grassland.
More importantly, he knew that the grasslands would not be peaceful in the next few years. The Hou Jin Dynasty would use troops against the five Khalkha tribes, and the fried flowers would die in the hands of Lin Dan Khan. Then Lin Dan Khan would move westward and seize the territory. In Merte's ranch, if the Tiger Character Banner does not send troops in advance at this time, it will become more difficult to capture Tumut in the future.
"So next year we will use troops on the grassland?" Zhao Yutu asked.
Liu Heng nodded and said: "Tumote's Su Nang, Kankan Tada and some other Taiji are already ready to take action against our Tiger Flag. Even if we don't take action at this time, sooner or later they will."
"How did things develop to this point?" Zhao Yutu sighed.
Liu Heng said with a smile: "Actually, this is not a bad thing. If we can occupy a piece of territory on the grassland, it will be considered a foothold for our Tiger Flag. We don't have to worry about being wiped out by the imperial army."
"That's true." Zhao Yutu nodded in agreement.
Liu Heng said: "So everything we do this year and the first half of next year is to prepare for our Tiger Flag to go north."
