Recruiting soldiers and horses privately is a death sentence, and you want to behead your head.

However, in Liaodong, where he asked for leave to return to his hometown to recuperate, Zhang Shan, the general of Zhenjiang Town, Denglai Military Region, was blatantly recruiting troops. A large camp had already been set up outside Huangzhou City, and under the banner of the Jiutou Bird, a team arrived every day.

In a blink of an eye, more than 30,000 people had gathered in the camp outside Huangzhou City.

But facing Zhang Shan's bold behavior, the two lakes seemed to be blind all over the two lakes. As the highest commander of the two lakes' official army, Ma Xianglin, the general of the two lakes, did not care at all that anyone in his garrison area dared to set up another banner. Yuan Jixian, the governor of the two lakes, also turned a blind eye to the new army outside the Huangzhou city, which was separated by a river in Wuchang City.

I don't see any other director, inspector, deputy envoy of the army, military preparation, prefect, etc.

In the silence between the two lakes, the camp outside Huangzhou City took the formal banner, and the two lakes were trained. Seeing this banner, many people felt it hurt. There were 30,000 people in your family. Although you don’t need to be a general, you also used the military brigade battalion company to make a seemingly misleading organization with the official army, but you are still more than 30,000 people in one army.

Your 1st Army 2nd Division 6th Brigade, and your infantry, cavalry, artillery, and supplies are complete. Are you equipped with such regiment training?

Especially if you go to the regiment training camp outside Huangzhou City to take a look, it will make people speechless. This regiment training not only has complete infantry, cavalry and cannons, but also has a navy. Each unit is equipped with neatly equipped with cotton armored steel helmets. Everyone is equipped with flintlock mullers, and all are equipped with hand guns, not to mention mountain howitzers at the level of the company. Each brigade also has a field gun battalion and each division has a heavy gun battalion.

The equipment of this regiment trained the army was completely standard Nine-headed bird equipment, with more than 30,000 people in the army, horses equipped with infantry, and horses that pulled cannons and baggage chariots. There were a lot of them, and I don’t know where they got so many horses and mules, not to mention many new sailing and gunboats.

But the banner they raised was the training army of the Two Lakes. They were under the jurisdiction of Hubei and Hunan. There were also Yunyang training brigades, Xiangyang training brigades, Jingzhou training brigades, Huangzhou training brigades, Wuchang training brigades, Changsha training brigades, and then there were Qizhou training brigades, Kuizhou training brigades, and then there were Macheng training camps and Hutoubao training companies.

The most important thing is that they do not need a penny from the local government.

Of course, the most important thing is that before Zhangshan Shuqi set up the camp, he personally visited the officials of the Two Lakes, from the Governor to the Prefect, and from the Army to the Prefect, and from the Army to prepare for the road. He sent Liu Jun's greetings, and at the same time, Liu Jun's gifts were indispensable.

In his letter to the governor of the Lianghu Lake, Liu Jun said it very clearly that the nine-headed bird entered Liaoning. He could not come back for the time being, but now the bandits are getting more and more serious, and there is a possibility of making a comeback or even attacking the Lianghu Lakes. Therefore, Liu Jun asked Zhang Shan, who was recuperating in the village, to join the original militias of the two lakes to defend against the bandits and defend the hometown.

The establishment of the Lianghu regiment and the training of the army was the Duke of Chu. On the surface, it only integrated the original village militia groups of the two provinces and prefectures. In the current situation of resurgence of bandits, it seems normal to integrate bandits in the two provinces and prefectures. Moreover, this group does not require the government to pay or raise funds from the gentry, but can also protect the country and protect the people and prevent bandits from the bandits. No one is happy.

Anyway, from the Governor-General, to the Governor-General, to the Landlords and Squire, to the Vendors and Barracks, everyone is not surprised by the regiment camp outside Huangzhou City.

Everyone doesn't think it is rare for a soldier to be equipped with so many as 30,000 people. They are equipped with hundreds of light and heavy cannons, tens of thousands of horses and mules, as well as warships and gunboats. They don't think it's rare for all soldiers to be equipped with Mian Armored Muskets. Even if they are trained in the group, it should be like this.

The thirteenth year of Chongzhen finally passed, and when the thirteenth year of Chongzhen arrived, the regiment training army outside Huangzhou City finally had a stir. They drove the camp westward, and 30,000 troops entered Xiangyang, Yunyang and Nanyang respectively, guarding the Han River line.

Immediately afterwards, the Tenth Town, which had been telling the court that there was no food and salary, could not drive northward, also added a group of troops after the New Year. After Ma Xianglin led the migrant army west to Kuizhou, Yiling and Jingzhou, guarding the Yangtze River line.

In the first month of the year, it is raining and snowing in southern Shaanxi, which is extremely cold.

When Li Zicheng failed to attack Chang'an, he led his troops back to Wuguan. Attacking Chang'an caused him to lose a lot of troops, causing the rebel army, which was originally in good condition to suffer a great setback.

"We'll go to Huguang. Over the past year, I heard that business and tourism are booming, which is much better than Shaanxi, which is famine and short of food. There are also many armour workshops of the government army, and even artillery factories and salt factories. If we can capture it, we will immediately obtain a large number of equipment." The person who spoke was Liu Zongmin, the general under Li Zicheng, who was on the right hand.

The rebel army was unable to attack Xi'an, and now it was in a dilemma. Especially as the number of people joining the rebel army continued to increase, the rebel army now has more than 30,000 troops, and consumes a lot of food and grass every day. But now there is no food to take away in southern Shaanxi, and if you can't take Chang'an, you will not get supplies. Even if you fight north, you will only be poorer there.

The rebel army has four directions: Sichuan, Huguang, Henan, and Shanxi.

Liu Zongmin chose Huguang first. Huguang was rich and had food, as well as many armoured houses and artillery shops of the Chu army, and even shipyards. If it could be captured, the rebels could immediately change their guns and cannons, and even take a boat along the Yangtze River to directly fight to the richer southeastern region.

"Brother, don't hesitate. Let's fight Huguang, Sichuan, Henan, and Shanxi. It's also very chaotic, and it's also famine. We can't stand it even if we go."

Li Zicheng was very calm at this time. He joined the rebel army for so many years, and moved to the north and south, and experienced high dynasties and low troughs. At the peak, he once led more than 100,000 troops, fought against Shaanxi and defeated Jiangbei, and moved to Huguang and Sichuan. However, at the trough, only eighteen cavalry were beaten by the government army and fled into Shangluo Mountain.

He also knew that Huguang is rich now, and there are also the Chu army's armory, shipyard artillery and salt factory. If he can really take it, the rebel army's strength will rise immediately. However, what he was worried about was the power of the Chu army. Although he had never fought with the Chu army, Liu Jun took over the heads of the Eight Kings Zhang Xianzhong. Even the Tartars outside the pass were beaten by Liu Jun and the Chu army was abandoned. The Tartars were killed by him. That was not easy.

"I heard that although Liu Jiye went to Liaodong, he still left a town of soldiers in the two lakes to guard his house."

"Qin Liangyu's son Xiao Ma Chao is guarding his house for him, so don't worry, Qin Liangyu's son is just, we are afraid of what he does."

"Where are you shaking the flag? Let him go and inquire about the news, are you back?" Li Zicheng asked.

Yuan Zongdi replied, "I just came back and was having a meal now."

"Call him over right now."

After a while, Hao Yaoqi came in.

"Well the flag, how is the situation in Huguang?"

"If you go back to the King of Chuang, the tenth town of Ma's one-eyed horse has not left Chu. He just led his troops to Jingzhou. In addition, Xiangyang in the Han River has also entered a new army and horse. The banner of the two lakes is the training camp, with tens of thousands of people. Yunyang and Nanyang are also guarded by this army."

Li Zicheng was very surprised, "The tenth town of the officers and soldiers went to Jingzhou without leaving Chu, but Xiangyang was trained to garrison?"

"Yes, King of Chuang. I heard that the group was led by a general under Liu Jiye. I heard that he had just returned to Hubei from Liaodong to recuperate."

After hearing this reward, Li Zicheng felt very worried. He thought that the Tenth Town had been transferred to the capital under the order, but now not only the Tenth Town continues to stay in the two lakes, but Huguang has also set up a new army of troops to train.

"The ninth town guarded Jingzhou and the regiment trained troops to guard Xiangyang. These two troops guarded the Yangtze River and the Han River, obviously coming to our rebel army in Shaanxi. It seems that they were prepared for it."

"Brother, what are you afraid of? One-eyed and a sick man, why should you be afraid?" Liu Zongmin shouted loudly. He was Li Zicheng's fellow villager and was also from a poor family. In his early years, his father forced himself to rent and hang himself by the government. His mother became a beggar and begged for food. Later, his mother died of cold and hunger. He was adopted by his uncle. Because of this experience, he always hated the government and the powerful. Later, at the age of twelve or twelve, he became a very famous blacksmith. In the seventh year of Chongzhen, when Li Zicheng passed by Lantian, Liu Zongmin joined the army. Because of his heroic battles, he made great contributions and gained Li Zicheng's trust and respect.

Especially after the great defeat in Tongguan and almost disappeared, the rebel army has risen again and he has become the most capable general under Li Zicheng.

"If Yunyang is guarded by a single-eyed horse, we can still consider it, but now that we are a group of soldiers guarding the Yunxiang area, what else can we hesitate? Just kill us, break Yunxiang, get food and grass, change our equipment, and we will fight all the way to Wuchang City." Liu Zongmin continued to stick to his opinion.

Li Zicheng turned his eyes and pondered for a moment, and finally waved his right hand violently, "Okay, that's it."

He immediately said, "Well the flag, thank you for your hard work. Find a way to find out the guard arrangements of Yunyang. If possible, arrange for some brothers to sneak into the city and think that they are in-house."

This is also the old routine of the rebels fighting. They sneak into the city, kill people and set fires in the city to create chaos, and even take the opportunity to seize the city and lead the army into the city.

"Zongmin, Jianxiu, you two are each leading a unit, for the left and right wings, and someone personally leads the central army. Let's attack Huguang!"

The movements of the rebel army were not secret. The news that they came to Yunzheng quickly reached Zhang Shan's desk, and then the governor of Huguang, Yuan Jixian, and others also quickly learned about it.

Yuan Jixian was very worried when he heard that the thieves were leading tens of thousands of people. He hurried to Xiangyang by boat. When he saw Zhang Shan, Yuan Jixian immediately said, "The army of thieves is about to attack. Should we transfer the tenth town to resist first?"

Zhang Shan replied casually, "Please don't worry about the supervisor. It's just a mere thief. With my two lakes training, I will definitely protect the two lakes. It's okay if they don't come, but if they dare to step into Hubei, they will definitely teach him how to take advantage of it!" (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!