Chapter 68 How to deal with it
"Father!"
"I see Hun Shiwan is messing around like this. He must be trying to do whatever it takes to create an army of 100,000 in one go!"
"Only in this way can the number of soldiers under the command of Ma Jinzhong, the "hundred thousand idiot", be worthy of his nickname."
Zhang Kewang was a general who was both civil and military. With just a little thought, he knew what Ma Jinzhong, the "hundred thousand men", was planning when he made such a big fuss and ordered his soldiers to plunder everywhere.
"An army of one hundred thousand?"
"Ha ha……"
Zhang Xianzhong sneered, "Let alone a hundred thousand troops, with the way he's doing things, what can he do even if he has a million men under his command?"
"Can they stop Cao Wenzhao's 3,000 elite cavalry? Or a charge by You Shilu's elite troops?"
"Besides, even if he gathered a hundred thousand refugees and common people, wouldn't that mob need food and drink?"
"If there are too many ordinary rebel soldiers who have no fighting power, can Ma Jinzhong lead them to fight in all directions?"
"It won't take too long, a few months at most. Without the government troops coming to encircle and suppress them, even with the huge consumption of money, food and supplies, we can still drag down his so-called 100,000-man army!"
"It's a pity that this guy is also a veteran of the frontier army, and he doesn't have any strategic vision at all!"
"If we let this guy mess around and cause too much chaos, the 'living devil' Hong Chengchou will most likely move his troops forward!"
Zhang Xianzhong's eyes flashed coldly, and he said grimly, "The time we have left to rest is getting shorter and shorter. The government troops may arrive in a month and a half at most."
"What the hell!"
Zhang Xianzhong was so angry that he cursed loudly, "Shenmu Town is to our northeast, that is, in our rear area. The first target of the government troops is not that idiot Hun Shiwan, but us!"
"This time, we have to take the blame for this guy Ma Jinzhong!"
Zhang Xianzhong was plotted against for no reason, and the person in the same industry was involved. It was impossible for him not to be furious.
"Father!"
Zhang Kewang was also furious, and said with gritted teeth, "In the future, if we have the chance, we must severely retaliate against this bastard Shiwan! I can't swallow this!"
Originally their plan was going well, and they planned to expand their strength in an orderly manner before the arrival of the government troops.
Then, they evacuated Dingbian City first, went south for hundreds of miles, crossed the Wuding River, avoided Hong Chengchou's army, and then detoured to Hequ in northwest Shanxi to participate in the alliance of the two provinces' rebel armies.
Yesterday, when the envoy sent by Wang Jiayin met with Zhang Xianzhong, Zhang Kewang was also present and was well aware of his adoptive father Zhang Xianzhong's plan.
Unexpectedly, just yesterday when we finalized the retreat plan, we learned today the unfavorable news that Ma Jinzhong, the "hundred-thousand man", was messing around in Shenmu.
There is no doubt that this will inevitably bring forward the company's plans, and to a large extent, has disrupted the already tightly scheduled implementation schedule.
“Yes.”
Zhang Xianzhong vented for a while, then regained his composure. After thinking for a while, he said to Zhang Kewang, "We have been implicated by that 'hundred thousand idiot' Ma Jinzhong. The time we have to stay in Dingbian City to rest and grow stronger will be reduced by at least half a month!"
"Since we don't have that much time, we must act as soon as possible!"
"I have decided that in ten days, our army will go out to attack Tianjiazhuang, northwest of Dingbian City!"
"First, we need to destroy this tycoon who is determined to oppose our army, and get rid of the bad temper in my heart. At the same time, we need to replenish the cultivation resources, supplies and food that our army is consuming at an increasingly fast rate." "Within half a month, we need to capture Wangjiazhuang in the southeast of the county, and completely open up the southward passage that our army must evacuate soon."
"I believe that with the cultivation resources and money and food supplies from these two wealthy families, we can expand our army and train our soldiers to be more elite."
"We should try to have the old camp soldiers and the orphan camp train at least one qualified military formation before the government troops arrive at Dingbian City."
"Only in this way, if we cannot avoid a direct battle with the government troops, we will have the strength to fight against the elite troops of the imperial court, and avoid being entangled by them and being slaughtered one-sidedly!"
"By then, even if we encounter the government troops unexpectedly and cannot defeat them, we can retreat calmly!"
Zhang Xianzhong had a very clear understanding of his future plans.
He knew that with his newly formed rebel army, it would be impossible for them to accomplish anything great in the short term.
Only by playing hide-and-seek with the government troops and through repeated life-and-death battles can you truly expand the old camp to what you want and finally succeed.
The rebel army under his command is too weak now, and the first priority is to ensure its survival.
No matter what plans Zhang Xianzhong had in mind, he had to first train a strong army before he was qualified to talk about other things.
This was also the fundamental reason why he knew he could not do it alone, and after the two provinces' leader Wang Jiayin sent a liaison envoy, he thought for a moment and agreed to accept the other party's invitation and detour to Hequ in northwest Shanxi for the meeting, hoping to take shelter under the big tree of Wang Jiayin and develop.
Otherwise, with Zhang Xianzhong's arrogance, how could he allow an emperor emeritus to appear above him?
Isn't there a solution?
"Okay, foster father!"
Zhang Kewang immediately bowed and accepted the order, saying, "Our Dingbian City is already overcrowded. We don't have to worry about the source of soldiers. There are a lot of refugees who want to serve as soldiers and eat food!"
"I estimated earlier that there are at least 80,000 refugees in Dingbian City, if not 100,000!"
"I will recruit another 5,000 men to increase the number of soldiers in our logistics battalion to 10,000."
"With our current stockpile of supplies, I'm afraid it will be used up in less than a month, especially in terms of cultivation resources, which are only enough for a thousand soldiers to consume for eight or ten days."
"This is because the orphan camp, which has basically become an army, often goes out of the city to hunt monsters and eat monster meat every day, which greatly reduces the consumption of training resources."
He was extremely wary of the battalion of orphan boys that Zhang Xianzhong valued very much and devoted all his efforts to training.
Zhang Kewang is good in other aspects, his only shortcoming is his excessive desire for power.
He knew very well the importance of that battalion of orphan boys in Zhang Xianzhong's heart.
If things go as expected, the core generals who will control this rebel army in the future, apart from the Eighth King Zhang Xianzhong, will be Zhang Kewang and the talented young men in that orphan camp.
Therefore, although there was a good opportunity to collect a large number of orphans from among the refugees and expand the youth camp through selection, Zhang Kewang did not mention this matter to Zhang Xianzhong.
If that camp of orphans expanded too quickly, not to mention the huge consumption of resources, it would definitely be a potential long-term threat to Zhang Kewang!
Before he actually gained control of part of the rebel army's military power, Zhang Kewang would not agree to expand the orphan camp.
He discussed with his adoptive father Zhang Xianzhong for a while before taking his leave and leaving in a hurry to carry out the various tasks that had just been assigned.
(End of this chapter)
