The Soul of the Han Dynasty in the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 518
When the city might be destroyed and died, these officials thought of the "Red Banner Army" who took the initiative to come to Houjiazhuang to meet them. Thieves gathered by thieves.

According to the news from Lu'an Mansion, there are boundless and countless bandits, spreading in three directions: east, south, and north. When a group of eastward troops passed through the south of the prefecture, it took a whole day without finishing. There are as many as 10,000+.

The rogues did not choose to attack the Fucheng, but the Lu'an defender had been frightened by the large number of bandits and refused to lead troops to attack no matter what.

The state capital and a group of civil officials were not too intimidating, because they were also worried that if the generals led two to three thousand people out and were eaten by bandits, the city might not be able to hold on.

They immediately asked for help everywhere, and the farthest messenger was to find Governor Hong Chengchou of Shaanxi, followed by Xuanmo, governor of Henan, and Xu Dingchen, governor of Shanxi.

Too many cities in Henan were destroyed by bandits, which frightened many gentry and scholar-bureaucrats.

They jointly requested the emperor to give Hong Chengchou, governor of Shaanxi, concurrent jurisdiction over Henan, and Xiong Mingyu, the minister of the Ministry of War who was reactivated, asked the emperor to transfer Hong Chengchou to stay in Tongguan, the border of the three provinces, for the convenience of command.

The Minister of the Ministry of War suggested that Hong Chengchou be given more power, and the two governors of Shanxi and Henan should be controlled by Hong Chengchou, and all the troops under the jurisdiction of the four general officers Cao Wenzhao, Deng Qi, Zhang Yingchang, and Wu Xiang should be handed over to Hong Chengchou's command.

After thinking about it, Chongzhen rejected the proposal for some reason.

Therefore, at this time, Hong Chengchou was not the governor of Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Huguang, and Sichuan. His position was the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi. Of course, he had to focus on dealing with the rogues in Shaanxi.

Heroes emerge in troubled times, and many outstanding people in the late Ming Dynasty appeared on the stage of history.

Governor Liu Zhilun of Shuntian had both military and political achievements. Many ministers proposed that he lead Fubiao Battalion and Jizhen Youbing Battalion into Shanxi to suppress bandits. Chongzhen also rejected these proposals.

He considered that the Zudashou Department of Liaozhen could not reassure the imperial court, Dongping Hou brought a part of the "Red Banner Army" into Henan, and Liu Zhilun, who was capable of fighting, left Jizhen and left the border defense empty. .

In the fourth year of Chongzhen, the governor of Shanyong was added. Last summer, Yang Sichang was appointed as the governor of Shanhaiguan, Yongpingfu and other local admirals for military affairs.

This person is quite capable of reorganizing the defense during his term of office and building the two wing cities of Shanhaiguan, but it is a pity that Huang Han has been involved in this site for a long time, and Yang Sichang does not have an army as his confidant.

Last year, Chen Qiyu, the censor of Youqian capital who took over the position of governor of Yansui, gradually emerged. He adopted a strategy of both political and military affairs to stabilize the area and kill the thieves.

Chen Qiyu wrote a letter about the famine and thieves' current situation in the towns and cities of Yanda, and asked the imperial court to issue an edict to exempt Yan'an and Qingyang from renting land, and at the same time send deputy general Lu Wenshan to crusade against the bandits, and gained a lot.

Relatively speaking, Shanxi Governor Xu Dingchen and Henan Governor Xuanmo are not as capable as Yansui Governor Chen Qiyu, and their power and strength are definitely not as good as Hong Chengchou who owns the Guanning Army.

The two governors knew the combat effectiveness of the "Red Banner Army". Now that this group of troops has entered the junction of Henan, Shanxi, and North Zhili, they ordered the officials of Zhangde Mansion and Lu'an Mansion to Ask Dongping Hou to break the thief nearby.

The civil servants and generals who came to Houjiazhuang to meet Huang Han can be described as flattery.

They not only accompanied the smiling faces, but also took the initiative to send a thousand shi of wheat and a dozen pigs and sheep, and vowed that as long as Dongpinghou was willing to send troops in time, two thousand shi of grain would be delivered within three to five days.

Time is running out, Huang Han can't cause rogues to lay down more cities and coerce more people just to get angry with these officials.

It would be very difficult to identify, resettle, and provide food if it took over more than a dozen or 20 people at once. It's not that the "Red Banner Army" doesn't have such capabilities, but it's that it can't use all its manpower on the matter of population.

The main task is to eliminate the rogue bandits and reduce their destructiveness as much as possible. If Henan is completely smashed and millions of refugees appear, the "Red Banner Army" will not be able to cope with it, nor will there be so much food to consume.

According to the collected intelligence analysis, the rogue bandits gave up attacking Lu'an Prefecture and went to Pingshun County together. The intention of taking down the county is obvious.

The distance from Houjiazhuang to Pingshun County is less than [-] miles, but [-]% of them are mountain roads, which will affect the speed of the troops. Huang Han decided to leave the artillery, a total of cavalry, and two engineers to defend Houjiazhuang. Autumn harvest.

There are now more than [-] people in the remnant of the Baigan soldiers who can fight, but Huang Han is not going to take them with him, so he persuades Zhang Fengyi to stay in Houjiazhuang and tell her that if the military stockpiles suffer losses, it will directly affect the livelihood of too many people.

Zhang Fengyi is a real person, Huang Han is the commander-in-chief with the seal of a general, according to the Ming system, she should obey orders during the war as a general, she did not raise any objections, but just took Qin Yuyi's hand and told her to pay attention to safety.

The dispatched troops, including the Guards Army, carried half a load of [-] wheelbarrows to march towards the Taihang Mountains, trying to keep marching fifty miles a day, and arrive at Pingshun County within six days. down here.

The "Red Banner Army" carried a half-loaded wheelbarrow and carried two thousand shi of food and could march fifty miles a day. The rogues dragged their families and carried the looted supplies and money on their shoulders and carried their looted supplies and money on their shoulders.

Wherever they passed, there was basically no grass left. This is not alarmist. The horses and large livestock that the rogues robbed not only ate green grass, but also the wheat seedlings in the farmland were wiped out.

In the Ming Dynasty, Pingshun County was more than twice as large as later generations. It was a poor place, with a total population of no more than [-], and the population of the county town was only over [-].

This is due to the fact that Xu Mingyang, the county magistrate of the seventh rank, is not a wimp, not a so-called gentleman who chooses to hang himself on the county government when he discovers that the bandits are overwhelming.

He actively organized the defense, accepted tens of thousands of squires who had fled into the county and nearby mountain people who knew everything, and took the lead in using his private money as military pay to organize the young and strong to actively prepare for the war.

The subordinate officials, yamen servants, and regiment trainers in the county took up arms and went door-to-door to investigate the spies. Sure enough, they found more than 100 young and middle-aged men who could not explain their origins and had no local guarantees.

It is obvious that these people are very likely to be rogues who are preparing to cooperate with the outside world. At this time, they cannot be merciful. Xu Zhixian knows that there must be people who have been wronged among them, but they all sentenced them to death.

More than a hundred heads were hung on the high pole, which immediately made the whole county panic, and everyone felt the danger.

(End of this chapter)