Daming: I, the emperor who trains the carpenter

Chapter 886 Stop working for the dog court and live with the Datong Society

Shanxi, in the city of Pingyang.

Today's Pingyang Mansion seems a bit depressed, young and strong young men and women are rarely seen, only a few old people and a few beggars are there.

Almost all the street shops have been closed, and the few remaining are just grain and rice shops and pawn shops.

Originally, Pingyang Mansion was located at the junction of Shanxi and Shanxi, and it was considered a wealthy place. There were many merchants coming and going, and there were also merchants from the grasslands. The streets were very prosperous.

However, with the policy changes of the Chongzhen Dynasty, the grassland merchants disappeared, and then with the uprising of the people in Sanshan, the merchants from Sanshaan also disappeared completely.

Even so, it should not affect the lives of local people in Pingyang.

Now even the capital city of Pingyang Mansion is beginning to become depressed, and the common people and merchants keep leaving, all because of a piece of news: Sanshan has been pacified by Datong, Datong’s general Shi Kefa in Sanshaan will send troops to Pingyang to conquer the imperial army of Pingyang Mansion .

The war is coming, the so-called soldiers are like a comb, whether it is the imperial army, the local guards, or those rogues, which one is easy to deal with, and which one has the so-called military discipline?

The common people are familiar with the nature of these so-called soldiers, how can they not escape?
In such a desolate street, the sound of horseshoes from far to near, several generals of the Ming army rode horses, wearing iron armor, followed by dozens of guards of the same basic level, along the way, the few pedestrians on the street hurriedly gave way, for fear of being affected .

When these people arrived at the magistrate's yamen in Pingyang Prefecture, they immediately got off their horses when they saw the group of wild gooses standing guard at the gate of the magistrate's yamen.

The leader asked: "Is the governor in the mansion?"

"General Ma, the governor is waiting for you." The captain of the guard at the door said hastily.

These generals immediately handed over the horses to the guards behind them, and then quickly entered the government office.

Entering the mansion, these people found that the guards and servants in the mansion seemed a little impatient in their footsteps, and they all had a little panic on their faces. Seeing that the mansion was like this, they also sighed sadly.

When they arrived at the main hall, after the servants served hot tea, they sat down for a while, Hong Chengchou walked slowly from the backyard to the main hall, and they got up quickly: "Governor!"

Hong Chengchou waved his hand: "Don't worry about these things, let's talk about the current situation of the barracks first."

Several people looked at each other, and the general surnamed Ma said: "Governor, the people in the barracks are not stable now. His Majesty has issued a series of imperial edicts to force us to fight with the Datong army. Brothers can't get paid now. Kill the enemy. The court has not given out the rewards it deserves."

He hadn't finished speaking, but Hong Chengchou knew what General Ma meant: the reward for killing the enemy promised by the court could not be paid, and the military salary was also missing. The soldiers had lost confidence in the court, and now they no longer had the will to fight.

Hong Chengchou sighed and rubbed his brows: "Is this the same in every battalion?"

The rest of the generals nodded, and then one of them couldn't help but said: "Governor, I haven't seen a tael of money promised by the court, and the food and grass promised by the court have not been delivered. The soldiers fought several bloody battles without a penny reward." Forget it, the rations have been reduced again and again. Now the atmosphere in the barracks is not right."

Hong Chengchou nodded: "I have already discussed with the wealthy businessmen and gentry in Pingyang Mansion, and asked them to raise money to raise wine and meat to reward the army. The generals must calm down the soldiers."

"Governor, those merchant gentry, are you willing to pay?" A general hesitated, obviously having a clear understanding of those gentry.

Hong Chengchou sneered: "The great battle is imminent. I am waiting for the court officers and soldiers to fight here to protect them. If they don't want the Datong Society to come and share their fields and money, they have to pay for the army. What's more, they Even if we don’t give it, can’t we take it ourselves?”

"With an army of [-], are those gentlemen really not afraid of death?"

General Ma reminded: "Governor, the relations of those gentry in the court."

"It is because of this concern that he is timid and unable to govern the place well. The governor is too lazy to care about those messy relationships. Now the governor only pays attention to the war in front of him. As long as he wins, no one can say anything." Hong Chengchou was very happy. To put it bluntly, it was obvious that he was also disgusted by the connections and the messy things in the imperial court.

"But." The generals still hesitated.

After all, these gentry are not weak in the court. The gentry and merchants in Shanxi have big trees in the court. Who confiscated the filial piety of these gentry and merchants in Shanxi?
If the persecution is too harsh, and Chao Li's remarks are all together, it will be too bad for them.

It's not that Hong Chengchou doesn't know this. He knows very well that the imperial court is not only not a help to him now, but the imperial court has become a constraint for the army, which makes the army fearful and unsatisfactory.

Sometimes Hong Chengchou is very envious of Shi Kefa. Shi Kefa can display his talents as he likes without worrying about the constraints behind him. Shi Kefa has an army of 10,000+ and has sufficient money and food supply.
It's not that Hong Chengchou didn't know that the Datong Society's system was superior to the imperial court, but it was the first time he discovered that the Datong Society's advantage was so great compared to the imperial court.

For a major event, when the princes of the court were still arguing and weighing repeatedly, the Datong Society had already unified their thinking and started to do it.

But to do one thing, the Datong Society can concentrate on doing it, but the imperial court has serious internal friction and procrastination.

Are the court princes really fools?
Obviously not, they just sat on the side of self-interest, not the court.

In their family, country, and world, they pay more attention to their own family's self-interest. They are full of princes and dogs, and they do everything for the family's self-interest. With these people, can they really govern Daming well?
Hong Chengchou fell into deep thought, but the reality would not give him so many opportunities to think.

At this time, a large army was marching from Yan'an Mansion in Shaanxi to Pingyang Mansion in Shanxi with high morale.

The army spread for dozens of miles from the beginning to the end, and the sentinels were released hundreds of miles away. There were rangers patrolling around, and red flags were flying in the air. The soldiers only wore battle robes and carried weapons. superior.

As the army was marching, the soldiers sang war songs with relaxed expressions, as if they were marching victoriously.

Shi Kefa rode a war horse and stood on a bare hill, with a calm expression: "Don't march too fast, let the soldiers ensure their strength. We have entered the territory of Pingyang Mansion, and we may encounter the Ming army at any time. The army will march six days a day starting today. Set up camp within ten miles, set up the camp, spread out 150 miles, and arrange at least three waves of wandering horses within a hundred miles."

Shi Kefa gave orders, and the staff officers at the side kept recording, and as he spoke, Shi Kefa looked at the plain in front of him, the army marched out, with momentum like a rainbow, banners hunting, and guns blades like forests.

Shi Kefa mobilized half of the troops from the eight towns in the Sanshan area. The soldiers from the four towns went to Shanxi to fight Hong Chengchou without giving him any chance. At the same time, the troops from the two towns approached Henan, opening up the situation in the Central Plains.

Here in Shanxi, Shi Kefa went out of the town himself, while in Henan, Qi Yuangong was in charge. As for this old subordinate, a brave and strategic young general, Shi Kefa is willing to reuse him. The approved successor is Qi Yuangong.

Qi Yuangong marched ahead of Shi Kefa, and now he has entered Henan and worked with Zhang Xianzhong for a while. Zhang Xianzhong was beaten and fled in embarrassment, and the Datong Society once again raised its banner in Henan.

Now, it was Shi Kefa's turn to act.

"It's almost the end of the year. Speaking of which, our Datong Society has been officially established for five years."

"This year is the fifth year since our Datong Society was established, and it is also the year when our Datong Society has returned to the Central Plains."

"At the end of this year, I will always give Shoufu a New Year's gift. I, Shi Kefa, am not only interested in Shanxi, hahahahaha."

Shi Kefa smiled and waved his horsewhip: "Go, go ahead and see if Hong Chengchou is ready. I can't wait to meet him!"

When the Datong army entered Shanxi, the soldiers pointed directly at Pingyang Fucheng, and the counties along the way opened their cities to surrender.

After Hong Chengchou heard about it, he looked at the empty mansion. Those passers-by who were in awe of the officers and soldiers suddenly sighed: "The weather, people and things are in Shi Kefa. This battle is difficult."

Not only was it difficult, but Hong Chengchou didn't want to fight this battle at all. According to his idea, the army should retreat to Taiyuan. Relying on Taiyuan's strong city and Shi Kefa's see-saw, relying on the terrain and strong city in central Shanxi, he continued to consume Shi Kefa's supplies and morale. It's time to counterattack.

Fighting the elite of Datong and fighting bandits must not be confused.

However, the imperial edicts of the imperial court were one after another, forcing Hong Chengchou to hurry up and start the war. Some news from the imperial court also told Hong Chengchou that there were too many voices in the imperial court and that Emperor Chongzhen was short of money and food. With Hong Chengchou going to war, it is not only to revive the prestige of the court, but also because the court can't support it anymore, and the court urgently needs to open up the situation.

But now the morale of the army is fluctuating, the soldiers are thinking about their families, and no one wants to fight to the death for the hopeless future. There are even rumors in the army that they want to join Datong, which makes Hong Chengchou extremely headache.

When Shi Kefa led the army to advance triumphantly, Hong Chengchou was distressed by the restlessness in the barracks.

Fortunately, only a few days later, Hong Chengchou didn't need to worry about the restlessness in the barracks, because Shi Kefa's army had already arrived outside Pingyang Fucheng, and Datong's sentry cavalry even reached ten miles away from Pingyang Fucheng.

This is an extremely dangerous distance, so Hong Chengchou has to pay attention to it.

On that day, Hong Chengchou wanted to send someone to investigate the reality of the Datong Army, but none of the sentry cavalry who spilled out came back. Obviously, he completely lost to the Datong Army in the duel between the sentry cavalry and the sentry cavalry in the wild.

Hundreds of sentry cavalry were scattered, and none of them came back. This means that they were all besieged or caught in a trap, and it also shows that the Datong army is so elite. Hundreds of sentry cavalry are scattered in the wild. It stands to reason that a few of them will always come back. But none of them came back, and it seemed pitch black outside Pingyang Mansion, and no movement could be found.

The entire Pingyang City is like an isolated island, surrounded by a dark sea, and its depth cannot be detected. Hong Chengchou feels that he has been surrounded, and the surrounding area is like a huge vacuum, and nothing can get out.

Being unilaterally cut off the news channel, Hong Chengchou was restless and didn't sleep well all night.

The next day, Shi Kefa led the army to set up a posture outside the city of Pingyang Prefecture. The soldiers and horses of the four towns were lined up in battalions.

Hong Chengchou saw that Shi Kefa only brought 6 to [-] people, and suddenly felt that it was still possible. After all, he still had [-] troops in his hand.

Leading the army out of the city to face Shi Kefa, this is an opportunity to restore morale and turn defeat into victory!

Hong Chengchou resolutely ordered the army to go out, and the two armies faced each other several miles away. Shi Kefa looked at Hong Chengchou on the opposite side, and immediately stepped forward: "Governor Hong, seeing a hundred things is worth seeing once. It is not easy to meet today."

Hong Chengchou seemed very calm: "Governor Shi, I have heard of your name for a long time. The famous three-sided governor of the former dynasty, who was in Ganshan and Shanxi, deterred the northwest, but I didn't expect that you also betrayed the court."

Shi Kefa laughed and said, "Betrayed the imperial court? Which imperial court? Now this imperial court doesn't treat the common people as human beings?"

"The Datong Society has always been on the side of the people of the world. This is the truth recognized by all Datong members. The truth of the world is the truth of the people of the world, not the truth of his Zhu family's words."

"The reason why I want to meet with you today is because I think you are a talent, Governor Hong. Among the world's heroes, there are few who can manage the army and the people like you. If you are willing to come to Datong Society, Shi will definitely visit you." The couch welcomes you, and the chief assistant will definitely entrust you with important tasks."

Hong Chengchou couldn't help laughing and said, "Oh? You also want to win me over?"

Shi Kefa is very calm: "All the people with lofty ideals and talents in the world are willing to be accepted by our Datong society. Everything we do is for the sake of the world. Since it is for justice and for the world, why can't we abandon each other? Prejudice, mutual cooperation?"

Hong Chengchou was silent for a moment, then slowly said: "It's useless to talk more, let's start a war, no matter what happens next, this battle is always inevitable."

Shi Kefa said with a smile: "It's fine if you don't give up until you reach the Yellow River. I still say the same thing. Governor Hong is welcome to abandon the darkness and turn to the light. Datong Society absolutely welcomes you."

After the two sides finished talking, Shi Kefa who returned to the army asked, "How is the preparation of the heavy artillery battalion?"

The staff officer said: "All the heavy artillery of the two battalions are in place, and the first round of shelling can cover the Chinese army."

Shi Kefa laughed and said, "It's not in vain that Hong Chengchou and I have talked so much. Send an order to start the war."

After saying that, the faint sound of the horn sounded, the sound of the horn was desolate and far away, with a trace of iron-blooded slaughter, and upon hearing the sound of the horn, a battalion of soldiers came out and marched in a standard three-segment shooting formation.

At the same time, one after another, the drums of war were beating, and with the sound of the drums, the military orders were passed on continuously, and the artillery began to shoot.

Hong Chengchou looked at the army formation coming out of the Datong army on the opposite side, and began to command his own soldiers and horses.

Amidst the constant sounding of horns and drums, the armies of both sides began to approach, and at the same time artillery began to fire at each other.

A series of general guns fired continuously, hitting the enemy's army formation with flowering bullets. Every time a flowering bullet fell, a large crater would be blown out of the ground while the fireworks rose. Hot air, obviously extremely hot.

It took less than a quarter of an hour for the armies of both sides to advance against the artillery fire, and the heavy artillery battalion of the Datong Army began to roar.

The roar of nearly [-] heavy artillery from the two battalions was like a thunderclap, or like a mountain collapsing. For a while, thick smoke billowed and the ground shook. far away.

The two heavy artillery battalions covered Hong Chengchou's central army with one shot. The artillery fire passed over the top of the Datong army formation and smashed into the opposite army formation, opening the way for the soldiers.

The sergeants followed behind the artillery fire, advancing a little bit, and the infantry coordination was obviously very proficient.

As for Hong Chengchou's army, which was bombarded by heavy artillery, the atmosphere was obviously panicked.

The sergeants who were unwilling to fight this battle in the first place, now their morale is even lower, they can't get paid, and they can't get rewards if they win the battle, so why are you risking your life to fight here?

Just so that the big shots behind can drink and eat meat, recite poems and have fun, and be romantic and unrestrained?
Just because my family members can't eat enough, don't wear warm clothes, work all day long but can't feed themselves?

Just for the sake of desperate fighting and death, the family is ruined, and the family members can't even get a penny of an acre of land, and even have to be bullied by the government's hooligans?

Is such a court really worth their death?

Hong Chengchou's military spirit, in constant disappointment with the imperial court, was obviously not shaken by its control.

At this time, the formation of the Datong Army had also advanced to a suitable position. Under the command of the captains, the soldiers of the first battalion stopped and began to prepare, and then the gunshots continued to crackle.

Gunpowder smoke rose, and more than a dozen battalions of soldiers fired bullets in turn. Hong Chengchou's former army obviously couldn't support such a steady stream of musket fire.

How could Hong Chengchou tolerate the defeat of this army that came into contact with him?

Strictly ordered the supervising team to step forward to stop the defeated army, but found that the defeated army was not only in the front army, but also the left wing, right wing, and even the central army that had not yet begun to contact were starting to feel wrong.

"We won't fight anymore, we don't want to fight anymore!"

"The imperial court has taken back the land that originally belonged to us, so why should we sacrifice our lives for the imperial court?"

"The emperor looked down on us at all, he just thought that we would all die here, so he couldn't give us a penny!"

"After fighting for so long, fighting to the death, I didn't even have a tael of silver or a bag of grain. Now you have to fight hard?"

"Don't fight anymore, Datong Society is not a bandit, nor is it a barbarian, Datong Society is my brother, you can't fight each other!"

"That's right, the Datong Society is here, and it can still divide the fields and food, and what can we get by working for the court? Those big shots think of us as human beings!"

"Brothers, don't forget the good old days of the previous court. Don't forget what everyone was like. At that time, we were heroes respected by the court. We had military achievements, medals, and full monthly salary. What a beautiful day, but now we are here as cattle and horses, what have we changed?"

In the central army, the left and right wings, and even the rear army, all kinds of speeches kept appearing, and the soldiers of the Ming army were obviously moved. Thinking about the situation of everyone in the previous dynasty, and looking at the desolation now, who is willing?Who would?

Hong Chengchou was surprised and angrily looked at the army with fluctuating hearts. Before he had time to send people to arrest those who spread rumors, he heard someone shouting in front: "Defeated! Defeated! The cavalry of the Datong Army came out, ran away ah!"

In astonishment, Hong Chengchou watched his [-] army really disintegrate into a cloud of sand in an instant, and his whole body froze for a moment:

Lost this battle?
(End of this chapter)