Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 531 Battle in the Central Plains

"There are a lot of earthen villages in Henan, and the ministers of the foreign court have different opinions on this, and they can't agree on what to do. You come from Henan. From your point of view, how should we make a decision?"

Zhu Yihai dragged the newly adopted third adopted son, who was actually not a few years younger than him, out of the hall and strolled towards Xiaohai.

Xiaohai was originally the core of Dengzhou Water City. There is a sea gate connected to the sea, which encloses a sea in the city, and Dengzhou navy ships can berth in it, but now it is like a royal lake in the garden of a royal palace.

Hearing the emperor's question, Zhu Zhongyi boldly said, "Your Majesty, I think it's time for a battle."

The earthen villages in Henan and other places have their historical reasons. In the final analysis, it was the political turmoil in the late Ming Dynasty, especially in the process of the peasant army’s repeated rampages across the Central Plains. The Ming court’s rule in the Central Plains collapsed. , local aborigines, under the leadership of clan surnames, or even famous squires, etc., established fortresses, cottages, etc. to protect themselves, forming a state of local autonomy.

This is not unique to the late Ming Dynasty. For example, during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Wubiwubao, which was prevalent in the north, is actually the same thing as Tuzhai.

Of course, it is inevitable that some thieves and local bandits also ceded land to stand on their own in troubled times, occupying mountains and becoming kings.

"Tell me about it specifically."

"I just take Guide Mansion and its surroundings as an example. There are many earthen villages of all kinds. There are gentry and celebrities, famous villages and big villages built by powerful families. They are also famous for their large scale. The clans and refugees they recruited are also Many, powerful.

There are also more earthen villages, which were established by many tyrants, or some people from the bottom class gathered refugees. They set up villages to farm, but they also attacked each other, robbed money and food, and even had a hostile attitude towards the government. "

"There are even some that are strongholds of thieves. Nian thieves, Lao Tang, thieves, swordsmen, and water thieves are all kinds. These people mainly plunder, and they also do kidnapping and other things."

Zhu Zhongyi came from Henan, so he knew the situation of various local villages very well.

He explained to the emperor in detail that regardless of the status of the leaders of these villages, they all have a common characteristic, that is, armed self-government, and after the fortification, they also have the purpose of fortifying the countryside and gathering all the people and materials. In the fort, whether it is the Chuang army, the Ming army, the Qing army, or the bandits, it is often difficult to obtain supplies.

Even when they occupy one side of the land, they have replaced the original government power in the county government and township.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the leaders of three major villages emerged in Henan, Li Jiyu in Luoyang, Liu Hongqi in Nanyang, and Shen Wandeng in Runing. These three forces were not even a simple village, but an alliance of hundreds of villages.

Each has tens of thousands of people, and Xiaozhai belongs to them all.

Liu Hongqi once had actual control over the five prefectures in Henan.

Natural disasters, famine, and wars have made the land of the Central Plains dilapidated, and the only remaining people can only form villages to protect themselves.

The villages attacked each other again, and gradually some people formed alliances with each other, and gradually the big fish ate the small fish, and the small fish ate dried shrimps. At one time, several large village alliances emerged.

However, after the death of Chongzhen, Hong Guangli, the Qing army entered the customs, and the Shun army collapsed. The Central Plains once again became a battlefield for several parties, such as Liu Hongqi and Shen Wandeng were also defeated one after another, and the Tuzhai forces were also hit hard.

But after the disintegration of the big alliance, some of the original big village owners took advantage of the situation to replace them.

As a result, many new great villages appeared in the Central Plains, and many people openly established themselves as kings, built camps and villages, and conquered cities and land. This is a re-merger and reorganization after the collapse of the big alliance.

Because the chaos has lasted for too long, Zhu Zhongyi believes that it is not enough to appease them. After these years of turmoil, these villages have been vacillating between the Ming Dynasty, the Shun Army, the Qing Dynasty, and even Liu Hongqi. It didn't work either.

Therefore, it is necessary to suppress first in a targeted manner, use troops to suppress some, kill chickens to scare monkeys, and after establishing prestige, show kindness and appeasement.

Otherwise it won't work at all.

"I suggest that dealing with the native villages can be divided into several steps. The first step is to focus on recruiting the famous villages established by the former imperial court civil servants and generals based on clans in the township. Officials, restore prefectural and county yamen, and even organize their local soldiers directly into the township valor regiment for training, "

These people are originally court officials, some have retired, some have returned home from the war, and there are many Jinshi, Juren, Xiucai, etc. who were originally famous in the court. They are often well-known in the local area, and even have a large clan. Forces, and during the war, the villages they built are generally relatively orderly, so they are given priority to appease them.

For the other kinds of native villages, such as those built by tyrants, refugees, and bandits, you must show them your prestige.

They were ordered to disband the villages, hand over their weapons, and even their camps within a time limit. Those who refused to obey the order would be dispatched to destroy them one by one.

"After conquering the bandits' villages, they can send troops to garrison or directly demolish them, confiscate their weapons, horses, money and food, etc., and order the villagers to return to their hometowns for employment, or directly build new villages and cultivate land on the spot."

"Your Majesty, as long as there are still villages, it will be difficult for the imperial government to enforce its authority effectively, and it will be difficult for government orders to come out of the yamen, let alone tax collection, so it must be smoothed out in order."

Zhu Yihai looked at Zhu Zhongyi, and could see that he was a little nervous, but he still spoke in a very orderly manner.

He was not mistaken about this young man, he was indeed trained below.

This reminded him of the famous generals and ministers who founded the country in the past. Many of them came from ordinary backgrounds, but they were able to achieve fame in the end.

Isn't there a saying that names must pass through prefectures and counties, and fierce generals must be sent to the ranks of soldiers?

"If I let you go and deal with the local village in Guide Mansion, what plan do you have?"

"Your Majesty just promised to give me two thousand soldiers from the imperial battalion to strengthen the training of the Guide regiment, and another three thousand armors, one thousand blunderbusses, and hundreds of cannons. The village is more than sufficient. As long as the suppression and appeasement are used together, it won't be long before they will be leveled." Zhu Zhongyi said confidently.

"Very well, I will give you full authority. In addition, I know that you have a good relationship with Old Master Zhao? Then I will give Old Master Zhao the sub-patrol of Chen Xudao in Henan Province. You will continue to partner with each other. You, the leader of the Guide Regiment, will not only Administer Guide Mansion."

Zhu Yihai directly divided Kaifeng Mansion into three, and separated a Chenzhou Mansion and a Xuzhou Mansion in the south, so Zhu Zhongyi and his father governed the three mansions.

Old Master Zhao is a sub-inspector, this is a small governor, and he is in charge of military administration, money and food, so he is naturally on a higher level than the previous prefect of Guide.

Zhu Zhongyi's Guided Regiment trains the general soldiers, and also adds the title of deputy admiral of Henan Province. The defense area is these three prefectures.

The entire Henan province is divided into four patrol roads, which belong to Chen Xu Road, Heshan Kairu Road, Hebei Road and Nanru Guang Road.

Although this division is based on the traditional division of lanes, Xu Dingguo is now besieging Kaifeng, Li Jiyu is besieging Luoyang, the Yuyuan Army has invaded the four prefectures north of the Yellow River in Henan, and Nanyang and Runing are still under the control of the Qing army. .

At this time, Heshan Kairu Si Mansion was divided into one road, and Kaifeng was divided into two prefectures for Guide. Li Jiyu and Xu Dingguo joined together, which was deliberately creating conflicts.

Not to mention, Xu Li was besieging Kaifeng in Luoyang, but Zhu Yihai wanted Zhu Zhongyi to sweep up the villages in the territory at this time, and also transferred him to his regiment to train soldiers from the imperial battalion instead of reinforcing Luoyang in Kaifeng. It is also very clear.

"You don't have to worry about the Qing troops in Xuzhou, Yingzhou, and Runing. The imperial battalion in Huainan will watch them. You can go ahead and do it. I also remind you that the ultimate goal of encircling and suppressing the Tuzhai is to restore the order of the court. The four peoples all return to their own occupations."

"So there must be good military discipline."

"When Henan is pacified in the future, Guide Tuanlian can also be promoted to the imperial camp in Henan. Work hard, and then you will be the admiral of the camp."

The emperor admired this young man who joined the army in Jiangyin. After all, he was also from the imperial camp, but he did not trust him completely. This time the imperial camp was reorganized, the emperor directly transferred 2000 people from the imperial camp to return. Of course, not only [-] soldiers were transferred to Defu, but also many officers, including generals at the town level.

Even according to the military system of the battalion, the Guide regiment has to train and equip the five departments of military order, staff, supervision, logistics, and equipment.

Zhu Zhongyi is still the chief general of the Guide Regiment, and even Mrs. Zhao will become a small governor, but with the sudden increase of two thousand imperial soldiers and a large number of imperial officers, this army will definitely no longer be the original one. The Red Gun will be the core team.

It can not only increase the combat effectiveness of the Guide regiment, but also completely control this team. The imperial camp goes north, and it can also strengthen the ability to check and balance Xu Dingguo, Li Jiyu, Li Huajing, Liang Min, etc.

"Success and victory are both adopted sons of mine. Now one is in Huguang and the other is in Fujian. The camps they lead are very good. I have always had a good eye. You are no worse than the two of them. Work hard!"

The emperor patted Zhu Zhongyi on the shoulder, and encouraged him with Zhu Chenggong and Zhu Shengli, which made him secretly cheer for himself. Those two were the envy of many soldiers in the imperial camp. They were young, and they were favored by the emperor and adopted as adopted sons. , He has done a lot of meritorious service, and the official has been promoted quickly. He has been alone in the town for a long time, and he has even been promoted to the earl.

He didn't expect that he used to be a tenant who often carried bags and worked part-time at the port wharf. He was once said by Mr. Zhao that he was not worthy of the same surname as him, but now he was given the surname of the country and became the emperor's righteous son.

"My son will definitely not disappoint His Majesty's trust," Zhu Zhongyi kowtowed to the emperor when he left, and he would honor this oath with his life.

Use your life to protect Daming.

"I will write you a letter, please keep it!"

The emperor dipped his pen into the ink and wrote on the rice paper the four big characters that penetrated the back of the paper, loyalty, filial piety and righteousness.

Zhu Zhongyi took it with both hands, holding it high above his head, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"I have already ordered the internal treasury to prepare 20 taels of silver for you. Take it with you when you leave. Do it well, and do as you say. Come from one place to another, first pacify Guide, and then Chen Xu Erzhou. I am waiting for you good news!"

(End of this chapter)