Chapter 975: Is it Zhang Xianzhong or Sun Chuanting?

(0975)

【Today's first update is delivered!】

When Zhang Zhun was traveling west, Zhong Wuying also rushed west.

After receiving the mission from Zhang Zhun, Zhong Wuying took the Tiger Cavalry Camp and set off quickly. That night, they crossed the Lugou Bridge and came to Zhuozhou. After a brief rest, they continued to move forward.

Along the way, they traveled through the prefectures day and night, speeding up the marching as fast as possible. In addition to drinking water and feeding the war horses, they were basically rushing to the other time. Two days later, they arrived in Zhending Prefecture.

As I saw along the way, many areas in Northern Zhili were indeed very desolate and there was almost no population. Even if I occasionally saw a few farming farmers, their expressions were quite rude. Perhaps they were scared by the successive wars. These people were basically old people, and they had no hope and were not afraid of death.

Many of the villages on both sides of the road were charred. These villages were either burned by the Tartars, or they were burned by themselves when the villagers evacuated. After the fire broke out, it spread randomly and had already experienced all kinds of tragic situations. Now, the ruins of the village are still here, but the owner no longer knows where they go.

All of this made the soldiers of the Tiger Cavalry camp feel quite depressed. The Tartars' destruction on Northern Zhili was really too serious. I don't know when the Northern Zhili would recover. Some of the new soldiers in the Tiger Cavalry camp were from Northern Zhili, and their mood was naturally even heavier.

What makes people feel even more uncomfortable is that Zhong Wuying could hardly hear any roosters and dogs crowing along the way south. This was the most common thing in the village. As long as there are people living, there would be roosters and dogs crowing along the way. However, he didn't hear it along the way. It can be imagined how serious the desolation of Northern Zhili has reached.

After the court retreated, Baoding Prefecture and Zhending Prefecture were all included in the rule of the Hu Ben Army. However, the senior leaders of the Hu Ben Army had not had time to arrange officials from their headquarters. Therefore, the local old officials were still responsible for the order of various places, or local famous families, gentry, powerful families, and other families, with very mixed elements.

Most of the officials of Baoding Prefecture and Zhending Prefecture were unable to escape with Emperor Chongzhen, and only a small number of people stayed. These officials who stayed do not mean that they were the ones that the Hu Ben Army would use. And it does not mean that they sincerely welcomed the Hu Ben Army. In fact, their components are also very complicated.

Among the officials in Northern Zhili who stayed there, there were several situations. The first one was that they were disappointed with the court and did not want to serve the court. Such people were unwilling to serve the court and were also unwilling to serve the Hu Ben Army. This type of people were mainly local gentry and powerful people. They were still a little resistant to the Hu Ben Army's policies in their hearts.

The second type is that people who were unsuccessful in the past want to get the opportunity to display their talents when the Hu Ben Army arrives. There are good and bad people like this. The key is whether they want to do something for the people or to gain a reputation. Unfortunately, judging from the current situation of the Hu Ben Army, most of the latter are, and there are very few people who are willing to do something practical for the people.

The third type is speculators. There is no shortage of speculators at any time. Now, the power of the Hu Ben Army is at its peak and is about to sweep the world and settle the Central Plains. Naturally, some people start to dream about how to please the Hu Ben Army and how to get benefits from the Hu Ben Army. It would be great if they could get a fat man with good fortune in the Hu Ben Army.

The fourth type is the secret spies set up by the court. There is no need to explain in detail such a person. The secret spies in the court include the Jinyiwei, the Dongchang, and even the Xiaoling Guard. Except for Emperor Chongzhen himself, others may not be able to master them all.

As for how to identify these people, it is not Zhong Wuying's position, so there are naturally special personnel to deal with it. The Hu Ben Army's Government Affairs Department is formulating a plan to take over the entire Beizhili. Zhong Wuying and his troops have the only task at present to capture all the Shanxi merchants on the list and at the same time take out their property.

After rushing day and night, after arriving at Zhending Mansion, Zhong Wuying decided to rest here for a long time. From here, he would enter the ground of Shanxi. Once he entered the ground of Shanxi, the battle would be possible immediately and he would not even have time to rest.

The imperial army has been deployed west of Jingxing Pass. As long as the Huben cavalry arrives at Jingxing Pass, they will collide with the imperial army. The cavalry is also human and needs rest, especially before the war begins, the war horses must have enough rest time.

Zhending Mansion was the hometown of Zhao Zilong, Changshan, in Shijiazhuang. However, at that time, the Zhending Mansion's capital was still relatively dilapidated. After repeated harassment by the Tartars, Zhending City looked even more dilapidated. Standing outside the city, Zhong Wuying felt that Zhending City did not require cannons at all, and only a few dozen kilograms of black explosives could be completely opened. Even the broken city gate could be knocked open with a war horse.

In the chaotic times of the late Ming Dynasty, people were disregarded by human life. Ordinary officials were just living by their side. The only thing that interested them was to search for silver in their pockets. The original Zhending Mansion was Hong Chengchou's troops. When Hong Chengchou left Zhending Mansion, he was really rude and plundered all the valuable things.

The population in Zhending City is not large, and all of them may be less than 20,000. For a city, such a population is indeed too small. But there is no way. The original population of Zhending City was either killed by the Tartars and the rebels, or fled, and there was not many people who dared to stay in the city.

Similarly, the population is quite sparse around Zhending City. Originally, the number of satellite cities around Zhending City was quite large, such as Huolu, Lingshou, Gaocheng, Wuji and other counties, were all satellite cities of Zhending City. However, when the Tatars were left in the south, these county towns were severely damaged and their population dropped sharply.

It is certain that in the future when rebuilding Beizhili, the manpower, material and financial resources required by Zhending Mansion will be quite amazing. This is also the basic reason why Zhang Zhun postponed the reconstruction of Beizhili. Without sufficient funds, insufficient manpower, and insufficient material resources, it will be useless to say anything! The same manpower, material resources and financial resources will be thrown into other places, and the results will be much greater!

The soldiers of the Tiger Cavalry Camp rested in a village west of Zhending City. This village was originally quite large, with at least 200 houses, but the Tartars had successively invaded and all the people ran away. Most of them went to Shanxi, and a small number went to Shandong. When Dong Shuyan was selling humans, the results were still very rich.

There is a deep well in the village, and the water is quite clear. After a simple test, no poison was found, so everyone can feel at ease to fetch water and drink horses. The war horses consume much more water than people, and the water bags they carry with them cannot meet the needs of war horses. Therefore, it is very important to find water sources at any time and replenish the needs of war horses during the march.

The Han army always suffers losses in the Western Regions and northern Xinjiang. There are many reasons. One of the key reasons is that they cannot find suitable drinking water. If you don’t have a good guide in fighting in those areas, you may not even be able to find water. Besides, in water-deficient areas, there are only a few water sources. If you are poisoned or polluted, the people who will be miserable later will be miserable.

Without water, camels can last for several days, and war horses can only last for two days at most. Even the most powerful cavalry unit does not have enough water sources, they will all be killed in a very short time. Therefore, every time the Han cavalry goes out of the frontier, there must be a local effective guide. If the grassland nation can directly attack the vanguard, that would be even better.

"Well!"

Zhong Wuying took the initiative to drink water for his mount Dahei.

His black mount is a purebred Dayuan horse. Like Zhang Zhun's mount, he is a special mount for the senior management of the Great Jin Kingdom. He runs very fast and has a strong impact. The only disadvantage is that he is almost at stamina for long distances.

In order to cherish the power of Dahei, Zhong Wuying also equipped himself with two taller Mongolian horses, which are specially used to rush on the road. Each of the soldiers of the Tiger Cavalry Camp has two horses, and Zhong Wuying has three, which is very natural.

"Hours, there's something happening."

Suddenly, Liu Heizi hurried over.

“What’s the situation?”

Zhong Wuying asked casually.

"Someone pretends to be us!"

Liu Heizi said something stupidly.

"Um?"

Zhong Wuying didn't understand.

Liu Heizi swallowed, picked up the water scoop, poured himself a cold well water, and then spoke quickly. He reported in detail that someone cried to him that in the Gaocheng area, there were unidentified people who pretended to be the team of the Hu Ben Army, plundering supplies, bullying the people, and even looting women. The local people were half-believing and half-doubted, and their impression of the Hu Ben Army was greatly reduced. Some people saw the Hu Ben Army's flag and turned around and ran away.

"damn it!"

"Do you want to die?"

Zhong Wuying suddenly screamed in anger.

As an old minister when the Hu Ben Army started, Zhong Wuying's feelings for the Hu Ben Army were very good, and he could not tolerate any defilement from outsiders. Hearing that someone robbed wealth and forced the civilian daughter, he was immediately angry. Even the governor dared not rob the civilian daughter. Where did the bastard come from, dare to do such a thing?

After being angry, Zhong Wuying quickly calmed down and measured how to deal with this matter. He knew that the current Zhending Mansion was still relatively chaotic, and the high-level internal affairs of the Hu Ben Army had not yet arrived here. The local security was basically managed by locals. This gave some people the opportunity to take advantage of the situation. Maybe someone did it on purpose.

Since he encountered this kind of thing, he couldn't pretend not to see it. Zhong Wuying calculated the time and thought he could still interfere in this matter. He wanted to see who had such a courage to dare to be under the eyes of the Hu Benjun! He was really impatient to live! Do you think he had the ability to be stronger than Huang Taiji?

"Dispatch!"

"Catch people!"

Zhong Wuying shouted without hesitation.

The soldiers of the Tiger Cavalry Camp immediately packed their clothes, turned over their horses, and galloped towards Gaocheng.

There were not many people pretending to be the Hu Ben Army in Gaocheng, only fifty or sixty. The situation was indeed as Liu Heizi described. These guys were really lawless. In fact, they did not have any marks of the Hu Ben Army, they just called themselves the Hu Ben Army. They burned, killed, looted, and the local people were frightened.

"Liu Heizi, go and catch people!"

"Dong Huaxia, you are responsible for explaining the situation to the people!"

"Liu Zongchun, lead your troops around to check it out!"

Zhong Wuying quickly ordered.

More than a thousand war-torn Hu Ben cavalry dealt with dozens of *** elements. It was really a Thunder God who was fighting tofu. The deputy commander Chen Xingguo, together with Liu Heizi, took hundreds of cavalry to fight, and tied up the people and sent them to Zhong Wuying. There were a few people who tried to resist, and they were naturally shot to death.

"Who are you?"

Zhong Wuying's face was terrifyingly gloomy.

Those people all hung their heads and didn't dare to answer.

"Who are you?"

Zhong Wuying asked gloomyly.

Those people still refused to answer.

Zhong Wuying slapped Liu Heizi.

Liu Heizi immediately took his subordinates and dragged away several of the leaders. He was a horse thief before, and he was very skilled in torture and confession. He wanted to stop talking and felt good about you! Sure enough, after a moment, Liu Heizi came back and said that those people had confessed, and they were sent by Zhang Xianzhong, Shaanxi.

"Zhang Xianzhong?"

"Are they Zhang Xianzhong's subordinates?"

Zhong Wuying's face suddenly became gloomy.

Zhang Xianzhong's subordinates destroyed the reputation of the Hu Ben Army in Northern Zhili. Anyone with a normal mind can infer what they were going to do. In the past, the Shaanxi uprising army did not have an unfavorable action against the Hu Ben Army. Now, such a thing suddenly happened. It seems that these guys are going to be in harmony with the court.

The Tiger Army swept the world, which was actually not beneficial to Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong. They should understand that after the Tiger Army destroyed the court, its next goal was the Shaanxi bandits. At this time, it was not surprising that they thought about their future and did such a thing. To save themselves, they naturally used whatever method they could.

Li Zicheng is relatively calm in his work and leaves a little room for everything. He should not do such a sinister thing. Zhang Xianzhong is different. He belongs to the more radical category. As long as it is a way he can think of, he will do it no matter what the consequences. From a long-term perspective, it is not ruled out that the possibility of Zhang Xianzhong and the court united.

Rebels and rebels are all the definitions given to Zhang Xianzhong by the court. If one day the court said that Zhang Xianzhong had turned his back, he was not a rebel, but a royal army. In order to whitewash his identity, Zhang Xianzhong cooperated with the court, which was expected.

However, Zhang Xianzhong seemed a bit irrational in doing this. Could it be that Zhang Xianzhong had never thought of contacting the Hu Ben Army and cooperating with the Hu Ben Army? Cooperating with the Hu Ben Army is always more promising than cooperating with the imperial court?

"Liu Zongchun!"

Zhong Wuying shouted calmly.

"arrive!"

Liu Zongchun came immediately.

"You personally send their confessions to the capital."

Zhong Wuying calmly ordered.

This matter is related to the future relationship between the Hu Ben Army and the Shaanxi Uprising Army. Zhong Wuying felt that it was necessary to go to the sky and report it directly to Zhang Zhun. If the Shaanxi Uprising Army cooperated with the court in an all-round way, the future strategy of the Hu Ben Army would definitely be affected.

"These people..."

Liu Heizi asked meaningfully.

"Imagine our Hu Ben Army and destroy the reputation of the Hu Ben Army. I will be extremely guilty and kill me!"

Zhong Wuying said without hesitation.

Since Zhang Xianzhong dared to use such means, he would have to bear serious consequences. Since these people dared to rush to the territory of the Hu Ben Army, they would have to expect such consequences. When did the Hu Ben Army have been lenient in doing things?

"clear!"

Liu Heizi agreed and turned around and executed the order.

Soon, a short scream came. Liu Heizi probably killed someone with a sabre. If he used a musket, he would waste ammunition. Moreover, people like him always felt that killing someone with a musket was not safe enough, so it would be safer to use a sabre to cut off his head. If he cut off his body with one knife, the body would be separated, and there would be absolutely no possibility of resurrection.
To be continued...