I have a cornucopia

Chapter 244 The mob
Nanjing.

Big parade ground.

The princess regent was awarded the flag.

Now the Northern Expedition Army has been fully assembled.

The total number of troops reached 40,000.

The sources include all provinces of the Ming Dynasty except Shaanxi.

As for the Northern Expedition Army in Shaanxi, the King of Qin sent Li Laiheng to lead 5,000 cavalry, but they had to go to Henan to complete the meeting.

At that time, the final strength of the army reached 45,000.

At this time, the person who was accepting the flag from the Princess Regent was Feng Shuangli, who came on behalf of Zhang Xianzhong...

The Lich King is just there to make up the numbers, so of course he won't send out Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo and others to lead the team, but it's not good to have too low a level either, and Feng Shuangli is the most suitable person.

So at this moment, this former bandit, leading a thousand bandits lined up behind him, took the dragon flag from Her Royal Highness the Princess Regent. He looked very solemn. He had no idea that these guys had slaughtered countless members of her clan and even drove the King of Chu's family into the Yangtze River. Her Royal Highness also handed the flag to them very solemnly and encouraged them to be loyal to the country.

I have to say that this scene is still a bit abstract.

I don’t know how Zeng Ying felt when he was standing side by side with Feng Shuangli.

Of course, Zhang Xianzhong was not the only one in Sichuan. According to Yang Feng's request, Wang Yingxiong also sent Zeng Ying, whom he had always wanted to squeeze out. Although Zeng Ying was a Sichuan general, he was not from Sichuan. He was a Fujianese who stayed in Sichuan because his father was an official in Sichuan. However, he was too capable and was very popular in Chongqing. After Wang Yingxiong used him to get through the most difficult period, he wanted to get rid of him. He had always wanted to use Wang Xiang, who was a servant of his family, to squeeze him out. This time, he used the righteousness to pressure him and forced him to lead 3,000 soldiers to join the Northern Expedition.

Zeng Ying was also a little discouraged, so he simply left Sichuan.

After all, he has no future in Sichuan.

But his three thousand soldiers were also put together.

Ma Qian's Group and Yang Zhan's Group each contributed one thousand. After all, they were still nominally under the control of Wang Yingxiong. In addition, there were also several hundred of his own servants who he brought with him from Chongqing.

So Sichuan actually sent more than 4,000 troops, including Zhang Xianzhong's subordinates, who left Sichuan as a whole, under the name of Sichuan Aid Suppression General, and then General Zeng Ying and Deputy General Feng Shuangli.

Of course, at this point they had to be reorganized according to Yang Feng’s rules, and eventually they were reorganized into four camps, named Chengdu Camp, Chongqing Camp, Luzhou Camp, and Dazhou Camp.

The two provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou sent 2,000 troops each, Kunming Battalion, Dali Battalion, Guiyang Battalion, Zhenyuan Battalion. The names have nothing to do with the facts, they were purely given by Yang Feng. They all sent troops in the name of Yunnan and Guizhou Aid Suppression Generals, and even the soldiers were randomly recruited. It was just to fool him. Who would really send out the elite? It was nothing more than recruiting some cannon fodder who looked okay, throwing them over to him to play with, and he wouldn't feel bad if they all died. The Sichuan Army was actually the same, although they were not pure cannon fodder with no combat effectiveness...

It would be too obvious to fool people like that, and it would make everyone lose face. Most importantly, they were afraid that Yang Feng would get mad.

But it has nothing to do with the elite.

The troops sent by Guangdong and Guangxi are relatively elite.

There are only one thousand militiamen in Guangxi.

This is understandable, after all, their conditions are limited.

The one leading the troops was Bai Gui. Originally in history, he died in the battle of Guilin and several liters of arrows were burned out of his body.

Guangdong has more than 3,000 militiamen. Their combat effectiveness is hard to say, but their equipment is indeed excellent, even better than the best Suzhou militiamen. They are all wearing half-body plate armor, which is obviously Portuguese style. The turtledove gun is of course a must. What's more exaggerated is that there are even dozens of Portuguese mercenaries. Moreover, these 3,000 militiamen actually carry 50 red cannons, the largest of which is at least nine pounds. The tactics are obviously the square formation taught by the Portuguese, so these 3,000 are a square formation.

But Yang Feng insisted that they must be changed into three camps, and after calculations, they had to split into three.

"My lord, it's hard to command like this. Each battalion has different tactics and no one can understand what they are saying. When the battle starts, they will fight on their own. Don't expect them to cooperate with each other.

Even chaos and attacks on each other are inevitable."

Gao Jie looked at Her Royal Highness the Princess who was walking towards Zeng Ying's formation, and tried to persuade Yang Feng with some earnest words.

As for Prince Yang, he was wearing a red dragon robe at this time. Since he was a prince of a different surname, of course he was wearing a dragon robe. The style was the same as that of a prince's dragon robe.

And in his hand he held his huge scrap steel axe...

This thing is very domineering.

Those Northern Expedition soldiers couldn't help but watch.

"That's fine. I like it this way. As long as they don't run away, they can fight on their own!"

Yang Feng, who was also looking at Her Royal Highness the Princess, said calmly.

I really can't command...

Of course, command is not Prince Yang’s strong point.

This is actually the same as the battle of Dezhou, except that it is more chaotic. In the battle of Dezhou, most of the soldiers who fought in a defensive camp could understand each other's language, and the officers in charge were scholars who knew each other or were familiar with each other, so they could cooperate with each other to some extent. But this is really nothing. Not only do the soldiers speak different languages, but the generals have no relationship with each other. Even if they do, they are enemies...

Will Zeng Yinghui cooperate with Feng Shuangli?

Although the military talents of both of them are indeed worthy of recognition, it is nonsense to ask them to cooperate with each other.

They are already being very considerate by not stabbing each other in the back.

And there is no way to cooperate.

How can each unit cooperate when their tactics are completely different?

The militia training in Jiangsu and Zhejiang all adopted the tactics of the Qi family army, with chariots as the core and a small number of hand-to-hand combat soldiers as supplementary.

The troops in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan were cavalry, and the southwest was also dominated by cavalry. Although the horses were relatively short and suitable for mountain mobile warfare rather than battlefield assault, Feng Shuangli led standard northwestern cavalry. The Guangdong militia was a Spanish phalanx, and as for the northern Zhili and Shanxi provinces, which were composed of exiled northerners, they were a mess and did not even have tactics...

Can't say no.

After all, mindless charge is also a tactic.

In fact, their main purpose is to act as guides and do some intelligence work.

In short, this Northern Expedition was a mess.

As for the training in the past six months...

Prince Yang himself is not in Nanjing, so what can we expect from the training?
What’s more, some of the camps have only been here for no more than a month.

Gao Jie was very sensible and stopped talking nonsense. In fact, this Northern Expedition was not just Yang Feng. Yang Feng led only the main force. All the troops, including Gao Jie, had to cooperate. Zhu Dadian went along the Huai River to Fengyang. Gao Jie continued to attack Qingliu Pass and headed to Fengyang. Zhang Guowei led the division training to attack Hefei. Du Yinxi led the Huguang Army to attack Huangmei and advance eastward from Huangmei. As for Yang Feng, at least in the Huaixi battlefield, he served as a military supervisor, bringing his 40,000 Northern Expedition troops to reinforce, but they were not the main force in the Huaixi battlefield. Only after retaking Fengyang, it was their turn to truly start their Northern Expedition.

From Fengyang, they crossed the Huai River and marched north, aiming to attack the capital.

But the troops on the Huaixi battlefield would no longer follow them northward.

Because the logistics are not enough.

Forty thousand Northern Expedition troops were already the limit of what logistics could supply.

After all, it is winter, and even if it is not winter, the canal cannot be used. After Yang Feng dug up the Dezhou section, the canal is now only navigable south of Linqing.

"His Highness the Regent has grown up!"

Gao Jie said meaningfully.

Indeed, Her Royal Highness the Princess has obviously grown up a lot in this year, and has already shown some signs of being a grown-up daughter of the Zhu family.

"Ugh!"

Prince Yang sighed. Then Her Royal Highness the Princess glanced at him with understanding, and quickly took the dragon flag handed over by Marquis Huaiyuan from behind and handed it to Zeng Ying who was kneeling and waiting.

But the next moment she screamed unexpectedly.

"Who is this?"

She looked at the young woman next to Zeng Ying and said.

"Reporting to the Regent, this is my wife, who has always fought against the enemy with me."

Zeng Ying said.

"Your Highness is greeted by your servant Zeng Dong."

Dong Qiongying beside him then saluted the princess again.

The princess took her hand in surprise, then looked at the obvious female soldiers behind her.

"Are these all your subordinates?"

She said.

"Reporting to the Regent, that's right. These are the barbarian maids I have taken in. They are quite capable of fighting and are especially good at the mountains and forests."

Dong Qiongying said quickly.

"In that case, there is no need for you to join the Northern Expedition. If you and your wife both go to the battlefield, what if something unexpected happens? Your subordinates are all female soldiers, so they are just right for protecting me."

said the princess.

Zeng Ying and his wife quickly expressed their gratitude with a surprise.

"Be careful, someone has started to place people around the princess. They won't really take their wives to fight. At most, they'll raise some maids who can fight and keep them at home. They're clearly acting for the princess, waiting for her to take them in as bodyguards."

Gao Jie looked at the scene with a strange smile, and then said in a low voice.

"It started a long time ago, but this world requires strength. No matter how cunning you play, you can't stop this thing."

Yang Feng said calmly.

As he spoke, he mentioned his huge scrap steel axe.

"Having said that, we still have to be careful. These people are very cunning. Several of my men were bribed and wanted to poison me. Although I noticed it, it was hard to guard against. In fact, I still think that we should strike first. There is nothing to care about the Jianlu anymore. Even if we don't care about them now, Wu Sangui and his men will have to fight with them sooner or later. Now I don't know if we will let them go. If we promise Wu Sangui to let bygones be bygones, Shanxi will still belong to the Wu family in the future, and Wu Sangui will stab Dorgon in the back tomorrow.

Jiang Ge is the same kind of person.

The same goes for Li Zicheng. He had no future after he admitted defeat last time. Only those who can lead their brothers to fight are supported.

If he can't do this, he can only be a postman.

But those in the south are different. They have money, roots, and clans, and they can really accomplish things.

Now they are just afraid of the king, but they have many ways to do it, such as poisoning, arranging assassinations, burying gunpowder and explosions. If something happens to the king, won’t they be able to control the princess at will?"

Gao Jie said.

He had indeed been poisoned a long time ago.

After all, the profits from the salt industry are enough to drive many people crazy.

He is not the Emperor of the Zhu family. I, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, earn hundreds of thousands of taels of silver a year from the Yangzhou salt industry...

Really.

The total profit from the salt industry in the Ming Dynasty, including salt taxes, fines, etc., was 1.5 million taels of silver per year, but this included Changlu Salt Field, Hedong Salt Field, Sichuan Salt Field, etc., and the Huai Salt Field would never exceed 1 million taels. But Gao Jie's method was very simple, that is, he let his soldiers guard the salt field, and then he would buy it for one tael of silver for two small or one large tael, 400 kilograms, and then all those who bought salt went to him to buy, and then he just flipped the money casually.

The cook is satisfied.

Because Huai salt was as cheap as gravel in the past.

In some remote salt fields, one tael of silver could even buy two thousand kilograms.

Gao Jie bought the fish at 1240 kilograms, which made him a living Buddha to the kitchen owners.

Then he sold it to the purchasing salt merchants for double the price.

Salt merchants are not allowed to buy salt from stove owners.

If a private transaction was discovered, both parties would be beheaded, and in large cases, the entire family would be killed.

But he was not irresponsible. The salt bought from him was official salt, and other places were not allowed to collect taxes. If other places collected taxes, he would be responsible for resolving the issue.

In less than a year, he made five million taels.

Not only did he support his own 50,000-strong army, but he also deposited 2 million in Yang Feng's bank.

Of course, the price paid was that the salt merchants, the civil officials behind them, and even the local gentry, all of whom were gnashing their teeth in hatred.

Especially now that the salt industry is out of control, a large number of small vendors have joined the local market, which has seriously affected the profitability of the old salt merchants. After all, these small vendors are happy to make ten taels of silver per trip. They don't mind Gao Jie's higher prices, nor do they mind selling at a lower price, because the profit margin of the salt industry is too large. The price of Huai salt in some places in Huguang can be sixty times higher than that of the salt field. It doesn't matter if the small vendors make less money, but the big salt merchants have too many things to consider behind the scenes. Everyone has gardens to repair and beauties to raise, which is really incomparable to those who only make a living.

Small vendors would be satisfied if they could make ten times the profit, but big salt merchants really cannot survive if they don’t make sixty times the profit!

So now there is almost a long line of people who want to kill Gao Jie.

Poisoning is the cheapest and most effective method.

As long as they killed him and instigated his subordinates to fight for power and eventually kill each other, the militia would be responsible for suppressing the rebellion and slaughtering another group during the suppression process, and the group would be finished. However, Gao Jie knew that since he could control such a lucrative industry, he had to be prepared to be screwed. Fortune and wealth are sought in danger, and he had to bear the corresponding risks for easily making five or six million a year. He discovered several poisonings in advance, and as for his revenge, of course, several salt merchants were robbed and killed.

The world is in chaos.

There are many bandits.

There were so many bandits that even families in Yangzhou were wiped out.

Of course, he could also be a Jianlu spy. In short, everything is possible.

"Don't worry, this day will come, but we have to take it step by step!"

Yang Feng said.

"Then I will wait for the king's order!"

Gao Jie said with a smile.

At this time, Her Royal Highness the Princess, who had just finished presenting the flag to Zeng Ying, was already standing in front of the Guangdong militia formation, and was looking at Zhang Jiayu, the commander-in-chief of the Guangdong militia and former Hanlin Academy scholar.

Of course, the princess was not fascinated by his obviously handsome face. After all, there was still a big age gap between them. Instead, she was attracted by the Portuguese mercenaries standing behind him, and even a black slave among them. The latter's black face with a scar appeared abruptly in her field of vision. Moreover, the black slave was grinning, revealing a mouthful of rotten teeth, like a chimpanzee who had just walked out of the jungle...

"what……"

Her Royal Highness screamed instinctively.

(End of this chapter)