Chapter 12: The General Has Finally Arrived

  The equipment was finally ready, and Zhou Huchen took on this heavy responsibility without hesitation. The new recruit training in his mind began.

  People who often go hungry are very weak, Zhou Huchen has a way, it's a cyclical and progressive process, running two laps around the school field is not possible, one lap will do! Conduct training in formation, simple weapon exercises can be done. The history that Zhou Huchen knows is already close, anyway, time cannot be wasted, now Zhou Huchen is trying his best to train these soldiers into some shape, put simply, it's strict, no room for retreat on the battlefield.

  As time went by, soldiers were well-fed and warmly dressed, but now it's too hot!

  Soldiers who have undergone training will quickly adapt, even if the future is more arduous, Zhou Huchen doesn't need to worry about these soldiers running away. The reason is actually very simple, all of these soldiers have signed contracts and they all have family members in Baoding Prefecture, this is why Zhou Huchen does not want refugees, apart from working hard in the army, these soldiers basically have nowhere to run, unless he no longer wants his own family.

  No one knew, of course, and no one noticed. Zhou Huchen had made some minor adjustments to the contract. In fact, there was nothing, Zhou Huchen just used a common trick. He changed the soldier's service in Jingying into a small modification, changing it to follow, which for others, actually didn't make any difference, following Zhou Yuji wasn't serving in Jingying? What's the difference?!

  However, Zhou Huchen knew that Zhou Yuji was about to leave.

  What's the point of training and raising soldiers for others for nothing? Zhou Huchen doesn't have such a noble character, he will take these soldiers away in the future, that's the reason. As for whether it can be achieved or not, Zhou Huchen said he couldn't guarantee it, success is up to heaven, planning is up to man, anyway Zhou Huchen has made preparations, if all else fails, he will also take a part of them away.

  Zhou Yuji has been running to the Ministry of War all the time, while Zhou Huchen rarely leaves the military camp, except for occasional visits home to see his grandmother and mother. Zhou Huchen has now become an indispensable person in the army.

  Exceptionally rigorous training is always in progress here; there's no backing down unless you're ordered to by an officer.

  What surprised Zhou Huchen was that the soldiers of this era were too obedient, and these harsh trainings did not bring about much resistance. With full food and a generous salary, these soldiers were already content. What delighted Zhou Huchen the most was that he discovered a problem, which was an unexpectedly pleasant discovery. As they slowly adapted, these strong young men actually started competing with each other, comparing who had better physical strength, who was stronger, and whose military skills were more solid.

  This is an exciting discovery, Zhou Huchen considered whether to take advantage of the situation and hold a military competition, after considering it for a while, with many things coming up, Zhou Huchen gave up, because, entering July, Zhou Yuji's appointment seemed to have a clear direction.

  In May, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai joined forces to attack Kaifeng for the third time. Due to the city wall of Kaifeng being strong and tall, coupled with the tenacious resistance of the defending army, Li Zicheng's coalition forces repeatedly failed to capture the city. In the end, Li Zicheng could only leave a portion of his troops to besiege but not attack, thus beginning the "siege".

  This is obviously an oil-adding tactic, Li Zicheng's intention is to attack the Ming army's reinforcements, his goal is to weaken the Ming army's strength in the Central Plains. However, the court has no way out, this is a struggle for the initiative of the Central Plains, and it cannot be abandoned in Kaifeng, so the reinforcements from all over the country who received the order began to rush to Henan one after another.

  In June, Deputy Minister Hou Xun and Governor Sun Chuanting led their troops across the Yellow River to launch a major reinforcement of Kaifeng.

  Shanxi General Xu Dingguo also received the reinforcement order. Xu Dingguo was not young anymore and had been through many battles, having followed former Minister of War Yuan Kelie in defending against the Later Jin at Dengzhou. He could be said to be a veteran warrior. People often say that ginger gets spicier with age, but unfortunately, as Xu Dingguo got older, he became less capable and lost his edge. His army had not even entered Henan when it completely collapsed overnight.

  Thus, Shanxi General Xu Dingguo was tragically imprisoned and sentenced to death.

  History is still history, just as Zhou Huichen knew, the matter of Zhou Yuji being promoted to general has come to an end, now Zhou Yuji only needs to wait.

  This is already a done deal, Zhou Huichen suddenly realized that there was a problem with the exact news of Zhou Yuji's delayed promotion in the past. Is this Chongzhen Emperor's intention? Doesn't he want Zhou Yuji to get just an ordinary general position? Zhou Yuji is too daring, Chongzhen Emperor should be well aware of this, it seems that there is a deliberate or unintentional wait for opportunity, this promotion seems to have been delayed all the time, is Chongzhen Emperor waiting for an opportunity to give Zhou Yuji a real name general?

  Zhou Huchen did not dare to confirm whether his conjecture was correct, but the correctness of this conjecture should be very high. Only in this way can Zhou Yuji's egg-stone battle at Ningwu Pass be explained, he would rather die in battle or be slaughtered than surrender to Li Zicheng, which should be closest to historical fact. Zhou Yuji should have been fighting for time for the imperial court, actually, Li Zicheng could bypass Ningwu Pass, in fact, Zhou Yuji had already succeeded, he knew that Li Zicheng would not let Ningwu Pass go so easily, although Ningwu did not pose a great threat. However, Zhou Yuji's tenacity was a serious challenge to Li Zicheng, and he was challenging the morale of Li Zicheng's army.

  Therefore, the Battle of Ningwu Pass was a military symbol that Li Zicheng had to take down.

  Is this Father Zhou Yuji's gratitude? It is also his fate!

  The great Ming dynasty is really no longer viable, the national treasury is exhausted, and it is threatened from within and without. The fighting strength of the soldiers is getting weaker and weaker, and those officials and generals who dare to fight are constantly disappearing in the long river of history. And yet those mediocre people remain high up in the temple, even if the dynasty changes, these people are still doing their jobs. This is some historical truth that Zhou Huachen knows. When those brave men leave this world, these mediocre people will bring greater harm to this country, it is they who help alien tribes rule China.

  In the 15th year of Chongzhen, in July, Zuo Liangyu and Yang Wenyue, Hu Dawei, Yang Dezheng, and Fang Guoan's four town troops stationed in Zhuxiantown to aid Kaifeng. Seeing the enemy's strong momentum, Zuo Liangyu retreated and escaped, and all the troops in Xiangyang collapsed. Zuo Liangyu's army fled halfway and encountered Li Zicheng's ambush, causing great chaos, abandoning 10,000 horses and mules, and Ren Dong, the supervising officer, died in battle. Zuo Liangyu then escaped to Xiangyang. Later, due to the defeat at Zhuxiantown, Commander-in-Chief Yang Wenyue was dismissed, and Commander-in-Chief Ding Qirui was imprisoned.

  In September of the 15th year of Chongzhen (1642), Kaifeng fell.

  It is no longer important who dug the dike and flooded Kaifeng, what is important is that this ancient city has disappeared, leaving only a vast expanse of water. As for Li Zicheng, his losses were not heavy, and he gained the initiative.

  In October, Zhou Yuji's appointment was finally issued, and he was naturally appointed as the General of Shanxi. Excitingly, this General of Shanxi was not all, Zhou Yuji was also promoted to Taizi Shaobao, concurrently serving as Left Dudu. Taizi Shaobao and Left Dudu were nominal positions, but nominal titles had their significance in this era, it was a kind of ranking, for Zhou Yuji, this was not only glorious, its significant meaning lay in being able to control more military formations.

  At the same time as Zhou Yuji was promoted to General, his friend Zhang Guowei, the Minister of War, also received a rapid promotion and was appointed as the new Minister of War.

  Just as Zhou Xiang was hastily preparing to hand over his Beijing camp, news of Sun Chuanting's defeat in Henan arrived in the capital. Now, almost all the elite troops of the Ming army within the pass have been lost, and there is no longer an army in Guanzhong that can pose a threat to Li Zicheng. It can be said that Li Zicheng has already gained control of Guanzhong with ease, and the vast territory of Zhongyuan is no longer defensible.

  Zhang Guowei took office on time, but as the situation became increasingly severe, in order to give himself more confidence, Zhang Guowei intentionally or unintentionally delayed Zhou Yuji's inauguration. As a result, Zhou Yuji began to serve concurrently as the Shanxi General and also took charge of the Deputy Commander of the Imperial Guard.