I

Outside the city of Huangzhou Prefecture, Zhang Xianzhong came on a tall horse.

It was a good horse, with a height of 1.4 meters at the shoulders, a smooth figure, and a vigorous physique. Zhang Xianzhong was wearing armor and a red cloak, and he looked majestic while sitting on the horseback.

In comparison, when Zhao Han entered Nanjing City last year, his attire seemed too shabby.

Because of the hot weather, he was only wearing a linen singlet.

It is summer now, Zhang Xianzhong is also hot, armor, helmet, cloak, everything is complete.

"Father!"

Sun Kewang prostrated himself on the ground, kneeling to welcome Zhang Xianzhong into the city.

Zhang Xianzhong didn't even bother to look at Yizi, and rode directly into the city. While beating, he saved enough face, at least he didn't have to be whipped and punished in public.

Seeing Zhang Xianzhong riding away on horseback, Sun Kewang hurriedly got up and chased after him to lead the horse for his adoptive father.

When he came to the official residence, Zhang Xianzhong immediately summoned all the generals.

"I heard that Guangji County is also lost?" Zhang Xianzhong asked.

Sun Kewang felt very uncomfortable, and replied in a low voice: "It's lost, and all the passages out of the mountain have also been occupied."

Originally, Zhao Han only needed two and a half counties. Now that he had fought one game, he might as well have three counties, occupy some mountainous areas, and completely kill the passage from Qizhou to Huangmei County.

"All the defenders of the three counties have been swallowed?" Zhang Xianzhong asked again.

Sun Kewang replied: "The generals under Hai'er's command were all released after surrendering, but the ordinary soldiers were swallowed by Zhao."

Zhang Xianzhong nodded and said: "Since he is willing to release your generals, Zhao Han has no intention of turning his face. You have done a good job in civil affairs. This time, your vitality has been seriously injured. Let's recover in Huangzhou Mansion."

"My son obeys." Sun Kewang could only obey.

Of the 20,000 soldiers and 30,000 civilian husbands brought out by Sun Kewang, only more than 6,000 people fled back one after another, all of whom had wives and children in Huangzhou Prefecture. The rest of them didn't want to come back at all, they wished to take refuge in Zhao Tianwang, maybe they could get the land directly.

What Sun Kewang lost was not only the land of the three counties, but also the tens of thousands of people he took with him!

After a moment of silence, Zhang Xianzhong asked: "The enemy army really only has a few thousand people this time? How did you lose?"

"The enemy army is about 5,000, all soldiers." Sun Kewang recalled the battle that day, and couldn't help but look fearful on his face. Same. Their firearms are extremely fierce, the cannons can hit very far, and the firecrackers can only fire at twenty or thirty paces. Their formation is also powerful, and the infantry with several times the strength of the charge can't move at all."

Zhang Xianzhong asked: "How does it compare with Tianxiong Army?"

Sun Kewang thought about it carefully, and said: "Tianxiong's army can't form such a tight formation, father can ask Feng Shuangli about the cavalry he led that day."

Feng Shuangli said: "Your Majesty, the Jiangxi soldiers are not afraid of the cavalry. At a distance of fifty or sixty steps, facing the cavalry charging, the Jiangxi soldiers did not move. They really did not move. They did not move their feet. The cavalry rushed to shoot arrows, but they just raised their shields. Block arrows without moving your legs. In fact, if you don’t raise your shield, you can’t shoot any results. Their soldiers have armor.”

"It's true that they all have armor, not leather armor," Guan Youcai, the general of the Ministry, interjected, "That day I led four thousand men to outflank the flanks, and there were at most seven or eight hundred Jiangxi soldiers in front of me. The kind with the lining inside, and wearing a rattan helmet with iron plates. I attacked seven or eight hundred with four thousand men, and I was blocked by wolf traps, and I couldn't stand it. Stabbed to death. The armor worn by those little soldiers is as good as our generals. It was not five thousand soldiers that day, but five thousand generals!"

hiss!

Zhang Xianzhong gasped, and five thousand generals lined up, the scene was terrifying even thinking about it.

Zhang Xianzhong confirmed: "The cavalry has rushed to twenty or thirty steps, and the formation on the opposite side is not in chaos?"

Feng Shuangli said: "It's not just chaos, it's not moving at all. The rattan players held up their shields to block the arrows, the firecrackers hid behind and fired in volley, and if they rushed close, there would be spears and wolf whisks. Those wolf whisks are too scary. I didn’t dare to rush when I got there, I was so scared that I ran to the side.”

Sun Kewang added: "Jiangxi soldiers are all trained like the general Jia Ding."

Zhang Xianzhong suddenly felt powerless, Zhao Han is really fucking rich!

Zhang Xianzhong's own direct troops can only reach the rank of servants, only one or two thousand. The other generals and adopted sons can have at most four or five hundred under their command.

The rest are elite if they can wear leather armor!

Zhang Xianzhong warned in a deep voice: "Don't provoke Zhao Han anymore, recruit more refugees to farm, recruit more craftsmen to make weapons and armor!"

"Remember, baby!" Sun Kewang responded quickly.

Just when Zhang Xianzhong was admonishing Sun Kewang, Ainengqi had conquered Xinye, Li Dingguo had conquered Tang County, and the Nanyang Basin would soon be named Zhang.

Further north, Li Zicheng swept half of Shanxi, claiming to have an army of 500,000.

Sun Chuanting was appointed governor of Xuanda, but in fact he had almost given up on Xuanda, and took Yang Guozhu, Wang Pu and other generals to block the passage from Shanxi to Beijing.

…

After defeating Sun Kewang, Jiangxi officials and peasant associations took over the land and immediately divided the fields in Susong, Huangmei, and Guangji counties.

Huang Shun and Fei Yinggong occupied Susong and tried to march towards Taihu County.

As a result, Taihu Lake, Qianshan, Tongcheng, and Shucheng all surrendered in anticipation of the wind, and they did not encounter resistance until they fought in Luzhou Fucheng.

Zhao Han just asked them to cross the river and occupy the cities along the river as military strongholds. Who knows that they almost wiped out the Jianghuai area... It's not considered a kill, because apart from the battle with Sun Kewang, the counties that will be occupied next are all bloodless.

The resistance of Luzhou Prefecture does not come from the army, but from the rogue Luo Rucai!

Luo Rucai fell out with Zhang Xianzhong first, and now with Li Zicheng, so he had to choose to go it alone.

Using Gwangju as his base camp, he went all the way east to occupy the counties of Lu'an, and finally got stuck in Luzhou Prefecture and could not conquer it.

Coincidentally, Huang Shun and Fei Yinggong also came to attack Luzhou, and the two sides faced each other several miles outside the city.

On the side of the Datong Army, they divided up their troops and occupied the county. At this moment, there are only 3,000 regular soldiers and 5,000 civilian husbands left. And Luo Rucai's army, with all the crooked melons and dates, totaled 60,000 to 70,000 people.

"There is an order from the general town, there is not enough food and grass, and the march is suspended!"

Huang Shun was planning to attack at night, the plan was proposed by Fei Yinggong, and he received a military order from Zhao Han before he started.

"Back to Shucheng." Fei Yinggong felt helpless.

"well!"

Huang Shun had no choice but to withdraw his army in desperation. He was also an old man who raised troops in Wuxing Town. To be honest, all abilities are very ordinary, purely relying on seniority and accumulated military exploits (mostly hard work), I was finally able to lead the army alone this year, but I didn't expect that I couldn't really fight at the critical moment.

Not only has this route been withdrawn, all armies from all walks of life have stopped, and they will be re-expanded.

East, West, South, North, Central, the army of the five courtyards were all expanded, from 5,000 to 7,500 people in each courtyard.

In addition, the number of Zhao Han's personal soldiers has increased from 1,000 to 2,000.

The Shanghai, Ningbo, and Fuzhou coast guards will each have 500 additional personnel, while the Guangzhou coast guard will remain unchanged at 1,000 personnel.

Coupled with the 2,000 cavalry being trained in Jeju Island, Zhao Han's army regulars reached 44,000!

Zhao Han can force his troops at any time. This time, the strength of each academy will be directly increased by one-third. The influx of a large number of "new recruits" will not reduce the combat effectiveness too much.

The total number of farmers and soldiers in all provinces has exceeded one million!

Farming when he is busy, training soldiers when he is free, in a real life-and-death battle, Zhao Han can have millions of troops.

This expansion is not only due to the expansion of the territory, but also the feedback from previous actual combats that the 5,000 troops are not allocated to all the troops.

Zhao Han, Pang Chunlai, Li Banghua, Mao Yuanyi, Xu Nianzu and others, after repeated discussions and referring to the opinions of the frontline generals, finally set the number of 7,500 soldiers in each academy.

Among the 7,500 people, there were 4,000 melee soldiers, 2,000 musketeers, 500 grenadiers, 500 artillerymen, and 500 civil servants, cooks, and doctors (the archers were eliminated).

The predetermined quota is 10,000, and there is a gap of 2,500, which will be reserved for the cavalry in the future!

With 10,000 people and one full division, Zhao Han felt that ten divisions would be able to unify the whole country.

Anqing.

7,500 recruits and veterans, including civilians, are practicing.

Lu Xiangsheng looked at the doctors with a strange expression. A group of monks, Taoist priests, nuns, and Taoist nuns, wearing monk clothes, stood alone in the corner to train the queue. This scene was indeed too weird.

There were also before, but the number was limited, and this time the expansion has brought a lot more.

The training subjects of doctors are very different from those of combat soldiers. Only the queue is the same, and the running is carrying a stretcher, and you have to practice tenting and the like.

Five hundred grenadiers are also interesting. They used to be equipped only sporadically, but now they have become standard arms.

"Hi!"

In groups of twenty, practice throwing medicine balls repeatedly.

Raise the ball high above the head with both arms, then throw it suddenly, and then draw out the waist knife and charge and chop.

These grenadiers are specially selected tall and strong people, all of whom have extraordinary arms. Even in close combat, they are all strong soldiers. Anyway, they will rush to kill people after throwing bombs.

As a mission officer, Lu Xiangsheng naturally wanted to understand the soldiers, and he also shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers when he led the Tianxiong Army.

While resting at the doctor's side, Lu Xiangsheng found a nun: "What's your name?"

"Huijing." The nun replied.

"What about the common name?" Lu Xiangsheng asked.

The nun shook her head: "I don't know. My family was poor when I was a child, and I was sent to a nunnery when I was a few years old. I have long forgotten who I am."

Lu Xiangsheng asked again: "Do you still believe in Buddhism?"

The nun took off her hat, showing her full head of hair, and said with a smile: "Now I only believe in Mr. Zhao. In fact, I have long since become vulgar. I only wear this outfit in the military camp. I am married..." She pointed to the distance The Taoist priest who was carrying something said, "My husband has also left the secular world, and he will be discharged from the army when I get pregnant."

Lu Xiangsheng looked at the nun in front of him and the Taoist priest in the distance, not knowing what to say.

"Split out two thousand people to come and carry things!"

The soldiers who were practicing immediately allocated two thousand and ran to the gate of the barracks to carry supplies.

The quartermaster shouted: "Medical doctor, come quickly and get your clothes and shoes, and firecrackers come and get your new weapons!"

Doctors no longer need to wear monks' clothes, but uniform canvas uniforms.

As for the new weapon of the firecrackers, Lu Xiangsheng's eyes lit up.

It was actually a pair of dagger-like things that could be inserted into the front of the gun barrel, and the musketeers instantly became spearmen.

Standing on the general platform, Liu Zhu summoned the firecrackers to give a lecture: "In the future, we will practice bayonet skills more. The town has sent some bayonet skill instructors over. In actual combat, if you understand any tricks, you can also report them to yourself." Shangguan, if the moves you comprehend are useful, they will be promoted throughout the army!"

Lu Xiangsheng got a firecracker with a bayonet, tried to stab it a few times, and was full of praise immediately: "This thing is very useful."