Li Guodong followed Lu Xiangsheng into the Yangfang Fort. When he was outside the city, he saw a unique Ming army. It was not the Xuanda border army, but the Guanning army, but the Tianxiong army formed by Lu Xiangsheng himself! This army's spirit is far better than other Ming army. Although the equipment is not particularly good, the soldiers are highly motivated and energetic.

The ordinary Tianxiong Army soldiers each had a red cotton-packed iron armor and wore a six-petal steep red tassel-iron helmet. Such equipment was much better than the ordinary Ming army's border troops. This was a private army formed by Lu Xiangsheng himself. Li Guodong knew some of the history of the Tianxiong Army. This army was a bit like the Hunan Army in the late Qing Dynasty. They were all composed of brothers, childhood friends, and relatives. They were often killed in battle, which would arouse the anger of most people. The Tianxiong Army's main long-range weapon was crossbows, but firearms were relatively short.

Many of Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong Army soldiers were recruited by the soldiers who were trapped after defeating the bandit army. Lu Xiangsheng carefully selected from the refugees, and selected people with relatives and friends from strong men to join the Tianxiong Army. The rest of them settled wasteland and let them farm. This was somewhat similar to Sun Chuanting's Qin army's approach. There was no grass growing wherever the bandits passed, and the land was deserted. The large amount of homeless land was just used to garrison the army. The refugees who had a bite of food were trained and had high morale.

The Han people are just for a bite of food. If they are about to starve to death, they will definitely rise up. Anyway, they will starve to death without rebellion. Instead of starving to death, there is a way to rebel. Who would risk the risk of beheading?

While Li Guodong was looking at the Tianxiong Army, the soldiers of the Tianxiong Army were also looking at the elite Ming army returning from the frontier.

After Lu Xiangsheng brought Li Guodong and a group of generals in, the soldiers of the Tianxiong Army were talking.

"Everyone was wearing heavy armor, and the cavalry were all on war horses, and they were still one and two horses. They were really elite!"

"They are also very powerful in firearms. Everyone rides such a big animal. What is that?"

"I don't know, that's called camels. There are many animals in the Western Regions!"

"Camel? It's much bigger than a war horse. Launching a charge will definitely destroy all the cavalry!"

"I heard that most of their armor was seized from Jiannu."

"It's so amazing! I heard that they have never lost a battle against Jiannu!"

"With such a strong military cooperation, can Jiannu be expelled?"

After walking into Lu Xiangsheng's central army tent, Lu Xiangsheng ordered the soldiers to prepare a banquet.

"Left and right, let's retreat for the time being. I have something to say with General Li." Lu Xiangsheng waved his hand, and the soldiers around him retreated one after another.

Li Guodong's people also tactfully retreated, and Lu Xiangsheng and Li Guodong were left in the huge central army tent.

"I will meet with Commander Lu at the end." Li Guodong knelt on one knee again to salute.

"Get up," Lu Xiangsheng reached out and helped Li Guodong up, "Now it's just you and me, I want to ask General Li for some things."

"I wonder what the supervisor wants to ask?"

"General Li was born outside the border since he was a child, and it was not that the soldiers and civilians in Shaanxi who were affected by disasters fled from the Ming Dynasty to the Tatars. Since he was born outside the border, he became a horse thief and plundered the caravan, this matter was understandable. Besides, the soldiers and civilians who fled outside the border were forced to make a living. General Li was able to recruit and serve the country, which was a good deed. Jiannu repeatedly invaded, and General Li sent troops to attack him, which was a loyal service to the country!"

"Although the last general was born outside the border, the last general always remembers that Li was born in the Ming Dynasty and died in the Ming Dynasty ghost! Li's actions are all for the Ming Dynasty, and his heart is a reference to the Han people!" Li Guodong said passionately and passionately.

Lu Xiangsheng smiled slightly: "General Li, there is something you can hide from others, but I can't hide from me! I heard that General Li has many connections with the thief. Back then, the thief was trapped in Hequ, and many of the thief army were starved to death. Later, someone provided food in exchange for the gold and silver plundered by the thief. This matter seemed to be related to General Li!"

Li Guodong was shocked. He didn't expect that he did this matter so secretly that even the Jinyiwei did not find it out. Lu Xiangsheng actually knew it! How could he know that Lu Xiangsheng had noticed himself since he took office at Xuan Da. It was just that the thieves were raging. Lu Xiangsheng had no time to come to find him, but Lu Xiangsheng found out that he provided food to the thief army in Hequ that year. Although the grain was sold by Dadewang Store, how could Lu Xiangsheng not know that Dadewang Store was Li Guodong's industry?

"The people rebelled for a meal. Although the thief was the culprit, most of his people were innocent, but were only enslaved by the thief army. God has the virtue of living, and the last general needs gold and silver to build a strong army. This is how the two matches are done, and a little food and grass is provided at a high price to regain the thief's plundered property for the court, which is also necessary to build a strong army that destroys the thief and resists the enemy."

"This governor will no longer pursue this matter because General Li repeatedly defeated Jiannu, killed many captive chiefs, led his army to attack the thief and killed the thief's head king himself! General Li must remember that he should not be kind to the thief's bandits! Although the thief is innocent, if you give them food, it is tantamount to giving them food!"

"Thank you, General Lu!" Li Guodong saluted again. He knew that Lu Xiangsheng was the King of Yan Lu in the mouth of the thieves. He was decisive in killing and suppressing the bandits without any mercy. But Li Guodong's current real thoughts certainly could not tell Lu Xiangsheng that the last ones who fought against the Qing army on the road were those peasant soldiers who were regarded as bandits by the court.

In fact, if the court had not had the money to provide disaster relief, why would those thieves rebel after being recruited?

As long as there is money, all problems can be solved. Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others can be recruited to deal with the Qing army, but can Chongzhen afford the money?

Although Emperor Chongzhen was diligent and frugal, he was really not a good emperor. Of course Wei Zhongxian was not a good person, and the eunuch party was not a good thing, but the Donglin party was just fine? The Donglin party ruled out dissidents and controlled the court. The more the emperor disliked, the more they wanted to do it. This led to the failure of Wanli to attend court for 30 years because he was too lazy to listen to the nagging of civil officials. Later, Tianqi simply used Wei Zhongxian to deal with the Donglin party, which was forced by those civil officials. Although Wei Zhongxian was not a good person, he suppressed the Donglin party's arrogance, allowing the court to barely collect taxes, and the situation would not be completely collapsed.

If those Donglin Qingliu, who are known as gentlemen, continue to investigate, how many innocent people will be there? The salt tax will be held in their hands. A piece of salt tax will make at least tens of millions of taels of silver every year, but the court can get only more than two million taels, or even only one million taels, and most of the silver has been greedy.

Lu Xiangsheng said slowly again: "General Li is dedicated to serving the country. Although he has been outside the border for a long time, he has resisted the enemy for the Ming Dynasty. He was ordered by the court to contact various Mongolian tribes and repeatedly defeated Jiannu. In theory, staying outside the border should be more useful for our Ming Dynasty."

"The Mongolians are no longer in harmony. After Jiannu was defeated on the grassland, the Khalkhas only ran away. The Tumots dared not pursue Jiannu, so only Ezhe came to help the war. If Jiannu went to Mongolia again in half a year, the Mongols would be defeated. The last general felt that he was unable to integrate the Mongols anymore, so he would return to the Ming Dynasty to serve the Ming court, serve His Majesty the Emperor, and serve the supervisor!"

"Okay! Since that's the case, then you can go back to the Ming Dynasty first. The Xiangling Military Farm Camp is set up by General Li. You can stay in Xiangling for the time being. Go south to suppress the thieves, and you can resist Jiannu on your back!"

Li Guodong asked again: "Mr. Lu, I wonder if Ezhe took Jiannu's head to the capital and could he be rewarded by the Ming Dynasty court?"

"I can't make the decision, but the Chahars serve me, the Ming Dynasty, so I will naturally try my best to win the benefits they deserve. Also, I will do my best to help you with the business routes of killing Hukou. Remember, after returning to the Ming Dynasty, I will do my best to be loyal to the court!"
Chapter completed!