Outside Chengtian Prefecture.
Li Yan and Ma Bao met Jin Shenghuan, Xu Guodong and Wu Xueli who came to surrender in the tent.
"How many soldiers do you have under your command now?" Ma Bao asked.
In history, Ma Bao first served under Li Zicheng, and after Li Zicheng's death, he surrendered to King Gui Zhu Youlang.
After the defeat at the Lancang River, he surrendered to Wu Sangui, and later joined Wu Sangui in the rebellion.
He had no chance to become famous in his life, but Wu Sangui's rebellion gave him the opportunity.
After the rebellion.
Because of his ability to fight and defeat the Qing Dynasty, he was known as the most powerful general under Wu Sangui.
Especially the Battle of Yongxing.
Ma Bao not only killed more than 10,000 Eight Banners soldiers, but also killed in battle 41 Eight Banners officers including Yilibu, the first-rank commander of the Plain White Banner, and Hakshan, the second-rank commander of the Plain Blue Banner guard.
It almost forced Kangxi to divide the country by the river.
Although Ma Bao was not famous at this time, he was deeply trusted by Li Zicheng, who appointed him as the deputy commander of the old camp.
Jin Shenghuan, Xu Guodong and Wu Xueli looked at each other and then stood up and said, "Three thousand soldiers and horses, all are elite."
"Mr. Li, look at this..." Ma Bao looked at Li Yan.
He had no idea whether Jin Shenghuan and his men were truly willing to surrender, so to be on the safe side, it would be wiser to consult the strategist Li Yan.
Li Yan thought for a moment and asked, "Victory and defeat are common in the military, why did you choose to surrender? And why did you choose to surrender to the Dashun army?"
Jin Shenghuan did not dare to hide his concerns and expressed them: "After Zuo Gong (Zuo Liangyu) died, Yuan Jixian wanted to annex us, but he never had the chance."
"This defeat has given him an excuse. If he continues to follow Yuan Jixian, he will be dismissed from office at best, or even lose his head at worst."
"So the three of us decided to go all out and come to Dashun for surrender."
"I see!" Li Yan smiled and nodded, looking at Ma Bao: "General Ma, the emperor (Li Zicheng) is famous, and the Ming army has abandoned the dark and joined the light. We should accept him."
"Okay!" Ma Bao agreed immediately.
Before he finished speaking, a scout came to report: "There are dozens of cavalrymen outside the camp who want to see Mr. Li. The leader calls himself Feng Shuangli."
Ma Bao knew who Feng Shuangli was. He looked at Li Yan in surprise: "What is he doing here?"
Li Yan showed a happy expression: "Please come in."
Not long.
Feng Shuangli appeared in the military tent with a tired look on his face.
When he saw Jin Shenghuan and others, he was stunned at first, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.
"General Feng, how are you?"
"How are you? I'm Feng's friend to Mr. Li and General Ma." Feng Shuangli expressed his goodwill to Li Yan and Ma Bao in turn.
After learning that Feng Shuangli only came to seek refuge and not surrender, Ma Bao looked embarrassed.
Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong had many conflicts. If he rashly took in Feng Shuangli, it would easily anger Li Zicheng, and he would most likely be implicated afterwards.
"General Feng, there is a rift between the Emperor and the King of Qin. I'm afraid..." (After Li Zicheng proclaimed himself emperor in Xi'an, he named Zhang Xianzhong the King of Qin. Zhang Xianzhong accepted the title on the surface.)
Without waiting for Ma Bao to finish his words, Li Yan took the initiative to invite him: "General Ma, if you don't mind, you can take refuge in my camp first and make plans after the war in Jingzhou subsides. How about that?"
Feng Shuangli was worried about having nowhere to go, and when he saw that Li Yan was willing to take him in, he immediately thanked him: "Thank you, Mr. Li. Feng is very grateful."
After settling Feng Shuangli, Li Yan returned to the central military tent again.
After obtaining troops from Jin Shenghuan and others, the total force of him and Ma Bao had reached more than 10,000 people.
Previously, he only wanted to defend Chengtian Prefecture, but now his ambitions are beginning to expand.
"General Ma, do you have the courage to fight the Ming army?" Li Yan looked at Ma Bao.
Ma Baoteng stood up and said, "Why should I be afraid?"
"Okay! Since General Ma is not afraid, I feel relieved. Yuan Jixian has many soldiers and generals, so we should avoid him if we can."
Ma Bao narrowed his eyes: "What does Mr. Li mean?"
Li Yan said with a smile: "Xiang Huideng is in Mianyang, and Ma Jinzhong is in Qianjiang. If we send troops to pretend to attack Jingzhou, Xiang Huideng and Ma Jinzhong will definitely not sit idly by when they find out!"
"As long as they leave the city, the rest will be easy."
......
Jingzhou City.
"I want to ask you why the food and grass were not delivered on time? I was about to march west to retake Zhijiang County, and you told me that we would run out of food?" Yuan Jixian pointed at the quartermaster's nose and questioned.
The quartermaster was sweating profusely and knelt on the ground to explain: "To reply to the Governor, the food supply is not out. The army still has enough food for ten days."
"Is there any difference?" Yuan Jixian stood up angrily.
He wanted to attack, not retreat.
The further forward you go, the longer the supply line becomes, and the longer it takes to transport food and fodder.
Once the army's food reserves fall below ten days' worth, the army will have to consider whether it has enough food and fodder when advancing.
If the food reserves are less than seven days, we must consider whether to withdraw the troops, after all, the return journey will take time.
The quartermaster kowtowed and continued to explain: "The Nanjing Military Department's Grain Storage Department did prepare half a month's worth of food and fodder for us, but it was retrieved by the Military Department as soon as it left Nanjing and sent to Fengyang."
(The Grain Storage Department is a subordinate department of the Ministry of War, responsible for military grain storage, allocation, transportation, etc.)
"Fengyang? Which bastard in Fengyang dares to intercept my military rations?"
The quartermaster hesitated for a moment and then said, "I heard that Fengyang Governor Ma Shiying has recruited tens of thousands of new soldiers and is preparing to retake Yingzhou after less than a month of training."
"He asked the court for food and fodder for this. When the Crown Prince found out, he gave the food and fodder to Ma Shiying."
As soon as the quartermaster finished speaking, the generals started cursing.
"Who the hell is Ma Shiying? He actually stole our food supplies. This is really too much."
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