Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

"Brother Wuji, I want to spar with you."

"My dear, my father may not be able to beat my sister."

Ma Wannian and Ma Lingqi said in unison.

After they finished speaking, they looked at each other. Ma Wannian frowned, while Ma Lingqi raised her eyebrows.

It is obvious that Ma Wannian cannot really control his sister.

Zhang Shikang was a little confused for a moment.

He glanced at Ma Wannian and then at Ma Lingqi.

Ma Wannian frowned and hinted wildly, but Ma Lingqi still looked like an innocent and obedient girl.

Is this girl pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger?

No way? With this body?

Can you fight with Ma Xianglin?

He looked left and right twice and finally realized that Ma Wannian's statement seemed more reliable.

In view of his limited skills, Zhang Shikang immediately made up his mind:

"I am so busy that I don't have time to practice martial arts with you. Besides, how can I explain to your father and grandmother if I hurt you?

Inappropriate, inappropriate. "

After saying that, Zhang Shikang went into the guest room. The good thing about young people is that they fall asleep immediately.

Outside the door, as the brother and sister were walking back, Ma Lingqi was still complaining about her brother.

"It's all your fault. Why do you have to talk so much? I just want to have a discussion!" Ma Lingqi said with a pout.

“It also depends on the object of the competition!

You can spar with other generals in the barracks, and you can spar with your brother. We are all family, so it doesn't matter if you get hurt.

But what is the identity of the Grand Marshal?

Do you know that in just these ten days, my grandmother received eight or nine secret letters, from the Imperial Guards to the Tiger Guards, and even from the current emperor.

If anything happens to the Grand Marshal, even if all of our Ma family members are buried with him, we still can't afford the compensation!"

Ma Wannian spoke extremely sternly. In fact, he seldom spoke so seriously with his sister, but this matter was indeed not a trivial matter.

His sister was extremely obsessed with martial arts, especially in the past two years, her strength was almost as great as his.

The most outrageous thing is that his sister is not taking the strength route, but the agility route.

She is as strong as him and much more flexible than him. As early as the year before last, he was no match for his sister.

In the past two years, my sister often wore silver armor and held a spear to fight the White Rod Army from top to bottom. She was often beaten and limped before.

But last year, I heard from this sister that she had already passed the test.

At the beginning of this year, she defeated her cousin Qin Yiming, and it is said that she tied with her father last month.

After all, Ma Wannian was also skilled in martial arts, and based on his intuition, he did not think that the young marshal was a match for his father.

I'm afraid that Lingqi will not take things seriously and give the Grand Marshal...

Alas, we still have to take precautions!

"Since he is so powerful, he shouldn't be unable to defeat Lingqi." Ma Lingqi still pouted, but when she saw her brother was really angry, she immediately changed her words:

"Okay, okay, Lingqi will listen to my brother and not compete with him."

……

On the next day, under the chairmanship of Zhang Shikang and Qin Liangyu, senior generals of the Imperial Guards and the White Spear Soldiers sat together to formulate tactical strategies against the bandits.

Generally speaking, there were only two major groups of bandits in Sichuan, namely Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng, and Zhang Xianzhong's power was greater.

But in fact, both Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng had different factions within them.

For example, Li Zicheng had a direct line of troops of about 50,000. In addition, there were troops from the Thirteen Families of Kuidong and the Yaohuang tribes.

In addition to Zhang Xianzhong's direct subordinates, there were also troops from Ma Shouying, Luo Rucai, and troops from local chieftains who surrendered.

Although the Imperial Guards and Qin Liangyu's troops combined had 80,000 soldiers and horses, they were all elite troops with sufficient food and pay.

But after all, compared with the total strength of the bandits, it is still more than twice as much.

Therefore, the core of the problem is to avoid fighting on two fronts as much as possible.

Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were not on good terms. Before this, Li Zicheng took advantage of Zhang Xianzhong's army advancing eastward to launch a surprise attack on several of Zhang Xianzhong's cities.

Going back further, the two had a conflict when they were digging up the ancestral tomb of Chongzhen's brother in Fengyang.

The reason why people can live in peace in Sichuan nowadays is probably because of the close relationship between the two countries.

Zhang Shikang also set up many factories and guards in Sichuan. From the information collected previously, Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng had little contact and were even wary of each other.

But now that the imperial army is approaching, anyone who is not a fool should understand that this time the imperial court is definitely trying to catch them all in one fell swoop.

Therefore, Zhang Shikang had no idea whether Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng would eventually choose to unite.

However, before he left Beijing, he had informed the Shaanxi Governor Sun Chuanting and asked him to station troops in Ningqiang Prefecture and Qipan Pass in Hanzhong Prefecture by the end of August.

This forced Li Zicheng to send heavy troops to garrison the Chaotian Pass and Jianmen Pass defense lines, which greatly tied down Li Zicheng's military strength.

Among the senior generals present, some suggested attacking Li Zicheng first, who had fewer troops, while others suggested attacking Zhang Xianzhong, who was closest.

With Qin Liangyu and Zhang Shikang present, they were quite friendly. Qin Liangyu smiled and motioned Zhang Shikang to speak first. Zhang Shikang thought for a moment and said:

"Everyone, according to the military strategy, we should first attack Li Zicheng, who has fewer soldiers and fewer cities.

But the art of war is dead, but people are alive.

According to the information collected by the Imperial Household Department, although Li Zicheng was in a weak position, he had built a lot of solid defensive fortifications in the past two years.

Moreover, this man has become more cautious since his last disastrous defeat. Last year, he even worked with the imperial court to complete the land reform and won the hearts of the people under his rule.

In addition, Li Zicheng had strict military discipline, and his subordinates followed his example. Strictly speaking, it might not be appropriate to call them bandits.

This person is a typical separatist force and is not easy to deal with."

Zhang Shikang had a very high opinion of Li Zicheng. Before that, both Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng had done nothing but destruction during the ten years they had been wandering around the Ming Dynasty.

And now, Li Zicheng has actually learned to build and has completed his self-evolution.

Compared with Li Zicheng, although Zhang Xianzhong had more soldiers and cities, he had a perverse personality and often killed people.

Almost all the students under his rule were slaughtered by him, and all the big landlords were plundered by Zhang Xianzhong.

Li Zicheng would also use the money earned from fighting landlords to build defensive fortifications and give it to soldiers to boost morale.

Zhang Xianzhong plundered most of Sichuan's wealth, most of which was hidden in his so-called imperial palace.

However, according to news from the Imperial Censorate, although Zhang Xianzhong killed many students, gentry and landlords, he did not massacre the people under his rule.

Just think about it and you will understand. Since they have already planned to establish a country, if they kill all the people, who will grow food for them?

"What the commander-in-chief thinks is exactly what I think. I also think that we should concentrate our superior forces to deal with Zhang Xianzhong as soon as possible.

Although this bandit has a large number of soldiers, his elite troops are no more than the four generals under his command.

Yesterday, a scout reported that the bandits in Wulong and Pengshui counties had retreated to the south of Qianjiang.

I am worried that Zhang Xianzhong might want to wait for us to tire ourselves out on the other side of the river and stop us." Qin Liangyu said with some worry.

Since ancient times, crossing a river has always been extremely risky. When people are on a boat, they are almost sitting ducks for the enemy on the other side.

Zhang Shikang said casually:

"That's better. My dear is already thirsty and can't wait."

……