prosperous age

Chapter 421 Chapter 420
A single spark can start a prairie fire.

At this time, Jiangnan is like a powder keg. The people at the bottom have been bullied and exploited by local gentry families and the government for a long time. It is not an exaggeration to describe the current situation in the south of the Yangtze River in terms of people's deprivation for paying the additional taxes and labor required by Hu Zongxian to suppress the Japanese.

The impoverished people were forced to become refugees to live a life of ups and downs, and the people were full of mourning and complaints.

There is no shortage of ambitious people in any era. The chaos in the south of the Yangtze River has long been in their sights, but they are just waiting to move.

When the people in the entire coastal prefectures and counties were forced to rise up because they could not pay the heavy taxes and labors, and became righteous citizens, large or small, the government naturally would not stand idly by, and they decisively took action to encircle and suppress.

When Yi Lu Yi Min's team was suppressed by the government, the news spread, and the grief of the death of the rabbit and the fox affected all the rioters in Fujian and Guangdong, large and small.

Under the background of the end of the road, they were easily persuaded by the bandits led by Zhang Lian. Whether they were willing or not, in order to survive, they could only join Zhang Lian's gang.

Whether it's to show off their ambitions, or just to keep warm, when the number of rioters snowballs to 100,000 people, their courage gradually grows.

When they easily defeated the government army advancing all the way under Zhang Lian's command, they became more courageous.

The official office in the center of Baisongguan Guancheng has been transformed into a temporary imperial palace of the Feilong Kingdom.

The reason why it is said to be a temporary palace is naturally affected by the size of the Guancheng, so the palace cannot be expanded, so this is not where Zhang Lian intends to stay for a long time.

He has built the imperial city in the nearby Wushipu as his base camp, and even found someone to look at Fengshui to build the "Zhucheng Yellow House" in Zhangxiangtian as a palace.

Now that there are so many people under his command, if he doesn't find something for them to do, he still doesn't demolish his own territory.

After that, hundreds of small villages were built around the surrounding mountains, and they opened up wasteland in the adjacent hills of the three counties of Raoping, Pinghe and Dapu, and planted potato grains to pay for the army.

100,000 people are [-] mouths, and the consumption of people eating horse chews is not small, and the looted goods alone can no longer meet such a huge demand.

After Zhang Lian commanded the Feilong National Army to defeat the Ming Army, he did not take advantage of the victory to pursue and directly hit the mountainous area of ​​southern Fujian. Instead, he gave the whole army a holiday so that his subordinates could have a happy New Year.

But today, Zhang Lian feels that the new year has passed, and it is time to consider the goals for this year.

At this time, the hall of the official office was full of people, all of whom were the leaders of the various volunteer armies he had summoned.

Among these people, there are quite a few people who are as ambitious as him, because they just recruited them before, and their own prestige was not enough. big difference.

However, this view is quietly changing after they defeated and suppressed the Ming army.

Zhang Lian had made careful calculations for this. It was not enough to defeat the Ming army once. He needed more victories. After establishing a high enough prestige in Feilong Kingdom, he would start to organize and train the rebel army.

At that time, for those who are loyal to him, of course, it will be the Great Gattiber, and they will expand their strength as soon as possible, while for those who are ambitious, Zhang Lian intends to depend on their ability.

These people are attached to themselves, but it is also to strengthen their own strength. Although there is a sense of seeking skin from a tiger, everyone is actually using each other.

Zhang Lian valued the strength accumulated in their hands, and they also hoped to grow and grow under his wings before their strength was not strong enough.

Looking at all the leaders sitting there, most of these people will definitely disappear in the future.

However, today is not the time to deal with these people, but a new action that he has planned for a long time. In the first year of Feilong, he plans to do a big job.

The current situation in Jiangnan is really in his favor.

The people are being squeezed too badly, and the army of refugees from all over the place is an inexhaustible source of soldiers. As long as your army arrives and you give them a bite to eat, they will follow you.

"Put out the map."

Zhang Lian, who was wearing a yellow dragon robe, was sitting in the center of the upper head. He waved his hands to give instructions to the people around him, and soon two guards hung up a huge map of the southeast. It is unknown where Zhang Lian got it.

Maps, this thing has always been a military weapon, even in the Ming court, ordinary officials can't see it at all, but it's strange that there is one here.

The southeast map was hung up, and it immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the lobby.

Although many people can't understand it, it doesn't affect their eyesight scanning back and forth on the map.

Maybe they are looking for their current location, or searching for their hometown.

In fact, the entire map does not cover a very large area. It only draws the locations of most prefectures and counties in Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi, and outlines rivers and mountains. With these intuitive graphics, even if most of the people sitting in the house are Rough people can even guess and see some tricks.

Zhang Lian got up, walked slowly to the map, waited for everyone's eyes to turn to him, and then slowly said: "I called you here today to discuss our next move in Feilong Kingdom."

Although they have won an emperor and established a country name, it is undeniable that their so-called Feilong Kingdom is just a small and safe place compared to Ming Dynasty, and what they control is only a few counties in the southwest of Fujian. There are no prefectures or county towns in the mountains and fields.

Even in the city of Baisongguan where they are now, the Ming army stationed here at the beginning was only one inspection department and dozens of soldiers.

This is the reason why they were able to successfully occupy this place in the first place, because the opponent was too weak.

Of course, the Zhangzhou government in Fujian will not sit idly by. After they occupied this place, they sent troops to encircle and suppress them twice but failed. The Chaozhou government in Guangdong will also send spies to collect intelligence from time to time.

When the time entered September, the pressure from Japanese pirates on the sea increased sharply, and the Ming army stopped attacking them. During this period, they even sent people to try to recruit them, but they were all rejected by Zhang Lian.

Are you kidding me, at this time, through his own personal experience, Zhang Lian has already felt the difficulty of the people's life, and he has also seen that the Ming Dynasty is riddled with holes.

Although he never wanted to be a Japanese pirate in the past, Zhang Lian still believes that the Japanese pirates are his natural allies, and they can be used by each other in many cases.

Just like the Ming army's attack on Baisong Pass, as long as it withstands the pressure, once the northeast wind season enters and Japanese pirate ships arrive with the wind, the Ming army's combat power can only turn to deal with Japanese pirates and relax its offensive against itself, and this is his The best time to seek development.

And before the Japanese pirates attacked on a large scale, he also grasped the information that the Ming army wiped out many righteous people. While feeling frightened and sad, he also keenly realized that other righteous people should have the same mentality. It is a move to spread hero posts widely and call the surrounding righteous people to join them.

Calling more volunteers to gather together was to strengthen their strength at the beginning, in order to hold together for warmth and make the government even more afraid.

As for ascending the throne and proclaiming emperor later, he just followed the trend, because before he knew it, Zhang Lian discovered that there were actually 100,000 people under his command, and his ambition inevitably exploded.

In Zhang Lian's view, the current Ming Dynasty seems to have come to an end, and perhaps God's will is to let him end it and rebuild a new dynasty.

According to legend, Liu Bowen, who once assisted Zhu Yuanzhang in proclaiming himself emperor, once uttered a prophecy, "Fujian will produce an emperor, and the three mountains will be the battlefield."

Although I was born in Raoping County, Chaozhou Prefecture, my ancestors also came from Fujian, but later moved to Guangdong.

Who is Liu Bowen?
That is the person who assisted Zhu Yuanzhang to achieve hegemony, and he is no less than Zhuge Liang in "Three Kingdoms".

Zhuge Liang had clever calculations, the Seven Star Lantern borrowed his life from the sky, and Liu Bowen cut the dragon's veins with his sword in order to stabilize the Ming Dynasty. They all exist like "gods".

As the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang was known as Emperor Hongwu in history. In all dynasties, Zhu Yuanzhang was born in the most humble background. From a beggar to the ruler of a huge empire, he overthrew the rule of the Yuan Dynasty. Even more powerful.

What about yourself?
It seems that compared with Zhu Yuanzhang, he is almost the same, he can succeed, there is no reason why he can't.

It is precisely because of this comparison that Zhang Lian believes that he also has the possibility of success.

I didn't hear those scholars say that the Ming Dynasty is in danger, the emperor only knows to indulge in Taoist cultivation all day long, the government is controlled by traitors, and the common people can't survive.

Zhang Lian felt that if he became the emperor himself, at least he would not hand over power to those treacherous officials, and he would definitely manage the country well by himself.

Now that you have ambitions, you will naturally strive to further strengthen your own strength, and outward expansion becomes inevitable. This time the leaders of various ministries were called here for this purpose.

Standing in front of the map, Zhang Lian pointed to a place on the map that was crossed by a solid line, outlining mountains and ravines, and said: "This is the Baisong Pass where we are now. Look at the surrounding mountains. Is it enough to stay in the mountains?"

"His mother doesn't want to continue living on the mountain anymore"

When Zhang Lian finished speaking, someone shouted cursing in the hall.

Indeed, although most of the people here are from Fujian, and some are from Guangdong, many of them used to live near the coast to make a living, and are not used to the mountainous environment here.

When Zhang Lian said this, some people below realized that the purpose of their being recruited to the palace today, is this the king's taking them out?
"It seems that many people have had enough of staying in the mountains and want to go out to the colorful world outside, haha"

Zhang Lian said, laughing too.

He is different from most of the following people. He has studied for a few days, so he was able to sneak into the Yamen to do errands. Although he has never been there, he has heard people talk about it.

The Jingxiu River and Mountains of the Ming Dynasty, and the red, fat, swallows and thin, not to mention, even the neighboring Suzhou and Hangzhou are also praised by many people, as well as the thin horses in Yangzhou, and the ten-mile Qinhuai River.

Lin Chaoxi, Luo Pao and the others were all bandit leaders who had followed Zhang Lian earlier, and they were also loyal to him. Now that they heard Zhang Lian's idea of ​​expanding and conquering territory, their eyes showed enthusiasm.

They used to be brave and ruthless people, and they bullied the market and the village on weekdays, otherwise they would not be famous.

It was also because they were forced by the government to make troubles. They really couldn't survive. Because of their vicious reputation, the people who had no way to survive were willing to follow them.

In fact, few people who can become leaders of righteous people are so-called heroes. Most of the subordinates who rely on virtue to win people are gathered because of their previous reputation and the relationship with neighbors.

This was at the very beginning of their uprising. As for the people who followed, most of them passed word of mouth and packaged the leader as a person who was oppressed by the government. Like them, they were all forced to take this road The role of the victim.

They didn't think so when they were short-handed, but with more and more people following them, they felt that their level was not enough. At this time, they found Zhang Lian, a person who could control big guys.

Zhang Lian's abilities naturally surpassed theirs by a lot, otherwise they would not be willing to hand over their strengths to him.

The rights were handed over, and they found that their lives seemed to be easier.

Let Zhang Lian worry about big and small things, and they just happily do what bandits should do.

Now, all the fun things around here have been played. Emperor Zhang wants to fight out and grab more territory. That is not only the expansion of strength, but also means more gold and silver treasures. The charming beauties are waiting for them to loot.

At this time, Luo Pao said loudly: "My lord, you can just tell me what to do. Brothers are rough people and don't understand these things."

"Your Majesty, just give orders. Brothers will go through fire and water, and they will do whatever they want."

Lin Chaoxi on the side also followed Luo Pao's voice.

"Lord."

"His Majesty."

Immediately, the leaders who were close to Zhang Lian spoke up one after another, and the others more or less had the same thoughts. After all, they were afraid of the Ming army earlier.

However, after defeating the Ming army under the leadership of Zhang Lian, many leaders found that the Ming army was nothing more than that, as if they could defeat them as long as Zhang Lian was around.

Zhang Lian saw that the atmosphere was about the same, pointed to the map and said, "To the east is the sea, so naturally we can't go there."

"Haha." There was a roar of laughter in the hall.

Then he pointed to other directions and said: "If you penetrate Fujian in the north, you can enter Zhejiang, you can reach Jiangxi in the west, and you can reach Guangdong in the south."

On the second day after the solar eclipse, Emperor Jiajing saw Wu Shan playing a petition in Xiyuan. The Ministry of Rites and Etiquette immediately organized a rescue when the solar eclipse happened, but it was rushed. Thanks to the help of His Majesty's drumming, the rescue was successfully completed. This first rescue, and later it was a cliché, reminded Emperor Jiajing what to do after a solar eclipse.

First, he praised Emperor Jiajing a little, and then he seemed to be teaching him what to do. Seeing this, Emperor Jiajing frowned very displeased.

When the solar eclipse happened yesterday, he had doubts whether it was a hint from the heavens. He didn't dispel his worries until he saw the memorial of Qin Tianjian and what the alchemists said, and then he was overjoyed.

(End of this chapter)