There is a space for passenger planes in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 271 The world is in chaos again

On the ninth day of May in the twelfth year of Chongzhen, in a courtyard in Gucheng, Hubei Province.

Zhang Xianzhong was drinking with several key members of his rebel gang.

"Your Majesty, those darlings from Fugu County Yamen came to us again asking for money, otherwise they will accuse us of treason." Zhang Xianzhong's adopted son and general Zhang Dingguo came in and said.

Zhang Dingguo fought bravely, had extraordinary strategies, and lived a simple life. He was deeply trusted by Zhang Xianzhong. After Zhang's death, he returned to his original surname of Li, and later joined the Southern Ming Dynasty, and was hailed as "the first general of the Southern Ming Dynasty" by later generations.

"These birdmen come to blackmail us from time to time, and they really think that we are easy to bully. Your Majesty, let's rebel." Another general, Bai Wenxuan, said.

"Your Majesty, we can't continue to waste like this. All the money we have accumulated in the past few years has been blackmailed by the officials of the Ming Dynasty. There is not much food left. If we don't take action, we will not be able to support these soldiers and horses. Come on." Zhang Kewang, another general of Zhang Xianzhong's department, followed.

"Have you contacted Cao Cao and Luo Rucai? What's his attitude?" Zhang Xianzhong asked.

"Go back to your Majesty, we have already contacted you. As long as we rebel, Luo Rucai will respond immediately." Zhang Dingguo continued.

"Where is Li Zicheng's department?"

"King Li Chuang's army has also left Shangluo Mountain and attacked several surrounding small cities. I heard that they also want to attack Luoyang." Zhang Dingguo replied.

Zhang Xianzhong and others turned around, and the most anxious person was naturally Xiong Wencan, the governor of Shaanxi and the three border areas. First, the notice must have Mr. Xiong’s name on it, and the amount must be quite large. Second, everyone can see that if Zhang Xianzhong turns the tables, he must be the first person responsible.

Before Zhang Xianzhong left Gucheng, he posted a notice, transcribing who he had given money to in the past two years, how much money he had given, and when he had given it. It should be as detailed as possible.

From this point of view, Zhang Xianzhong's life creed should be a lyric: spit it out for me when you eat it, send it back to me when you take it.

If the first point of accepting bribes is considered a trivial matter, then the second point is more serious. Therefore, the anxious Lord Xiong quickly ordered Zuo Liangyu to lead the troops to pursue Zhang Xianzhong.

Taking advantage of the unpreparedness of the county government, Zhang Xianzhong led his men to capture Fugu County, killed the county magistrate Ruan Zhidian, and embarked on the road of rebellion again.

Unable to stand the endless demands for bribes and blackmail from the corrupt officials of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Xianzhong led his men to rebel again in Fugu.

How miserable is it? Afterwards, statistics showed that the Ming army suffered casualties of more than 10,000 officers and soldiers, and suffered countless baggage losses.

Zhang Xianzhong was not in a hurry, and planned to take this opportunity to test the results of spending time in Fugu training and studying.

Governor Xiong had a very strange mind indeed. When Zhang Xianzhong was desperate, he hastily accepted the surrender and even refused to reorganize Zhang's troops, allowing him to concentrate on training in Fugu.

"Then go against him. I've had enough of this arrogance. For more than a year, we have been working hard in Fugu to train elite soldiers. We are not making wedding dresses for the court." Zhang Xianzhong made up his mind.

"What the king said is true. How can we be hawks and dogs for the imperial court." Several people replied at the same time.

He and Luo Rucai set up an ambush near Fang County, pretending to lose two battles in a row to lure the enemy deeper. The Ming army carried forward its usual brainless style very well, stupidly entered the ambush circle, and ushered in a disastrous defeat.

Of course, the main reason is that Zhang Xianzhong never had the thought of surrendering with peace of mind. He had tasted what it was like to be a gangster, drinking from a large bowl, eating large pieces of meat, and playing with women wantonly. How could he be at peace if he was allowed to just be a young general of the Ming army? .

Zuo Liangyu didn't like Master Xiong, but Zhang Xianzhong ran away, and he couldn't escape his involvement, so Zuo Liangyu started to pursue him without saying a word.

Zuo Liangyu was beaten so much that he abandoned his armor and fled back with only more than a thousand defeated soldiers. It is said that he even lost his official seal when he ran away.

Long before he launched another rebellion, Zhang Xianzhong secretly contacted Cao Cao and Luo Rucai, another leader of the peasant army who surrendered. So when Zhang Xianzhong rebelled, Luo Rucai followed suit.

Luo Rucai is good at mediating the relationship between various departments, so everyone is willing to cooperate with him. After the city was conquered, the children's property was divided equally among everyone, and thieves also behaved accordingly. Incorruptible officials will not be touched, but corrupt officials will be beaten. This is Luo Rucai's morality. After Zhang Xianzhong rebelled this time, Luo Rucai took his 20,000 to 30,000 troops to join Zhang Xianzhong and formed the Zhang and Luo coalition forces.

At the same time, Li Zicheng also set out from Luoyang and quickly raised a team of 20,000 to 30,000 people with the 50,000 taels of military pay and some ordnance and food funded by Lin Feng.

Li Zicheng's troops moved west from Henan, captured Yunyang, and also entered Hubei.

For a time, three major rebel kings, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, and Luo Rucai, gathered in Hubei, and a new round of turmoil began in the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen in the capital heard a series of bad news. Luoyang was captured by Li Zicheng, and the emperor's uncle King Fu was killed in public. Then Zhang Xianzhong rebelled again in Fugu, and Luo Rucai also rebelled immediately. What was initially assessed as civil unrest suddenly turned into flames. Again, the world was in turmoil again.

This also marked the complete bankruptcy of Yang Sichang's "Four Righteousness and Six Corners" strategy. Yang Dabutang could no longer sit still and immediately requested an order to personally go to encircle and suppress the enemy.

Originally, Luoyang City was occupied by Li Zicheng and should be the top priority of the encirclement and suppression. However, Luoyang City was quickly recaptured by the Zhenming Army. Although the Zhenming Army was a recruiting force, it was still considered obedient to the imperial court. Yang Sichang focused the encirclement and suppression campaign on Hubei.

When Emperor Chongzhen was in a panic, he saw Yang Sichang's request to go to suppress the bandits in person. He immediately agreed happily and gave him high courtesy.

Therefore, when Yang Sichang set out from the capital, his identity was the Minister of Rites and the Ministry of War, a bachelor of Dongge, and a supervisor. The emperor personally saw him off and gave him a Shangfang sword.

Yang Sichang was very moved and cried at the time, saying that he would work hard and strive to eliminate the thieves as soon as possible.

This was the last time the two of them saw each other. From then on, they were separated for eternity.

Yang Sichang designated Xiangyang as his base camp, and the first thing he did was to hold people accountable. From Xiong Wencan to officers at all levels, those who should be beheaded were beheaded, and those who should be dismissed were removed from their posts.

Zuo Liangyu, who was sitting below, was very nervous. He was also responsible for letting Zhang Xianzhong go. Moreover, he had just lost a battle and could not escape it no matter what.

Zuo Liangyu, who couldn't escape, finally escaped. Not only did Yang Sichang not deal with him, he also gave him something - the seal of the general who defeated thieves.

This is what Yang Sichang specially asked for from Emperor Chongzhen before setting off for Zuo Liangyu.

Yang Sichang was a sensible man. After all, he was a civil servant, so it was a bit reluctant to go into battle to kill the enemy.

Although Zuo Liangyu had just suffered a defeat, after counting the people under his control, he was the one who could beat him the most, so others could use sticks, but Zuo Liangyu could only give carrots.

Zuo Liangyu was very excited after eating the carrots and immediately expressed his willingness to follow Mr. Yang through fire and water without hesitation.

At this time, Zhang Xianzhong heard that Yang Sichang was coming, and immediately decided to organize his troops and run away. He knew very well that Lord Xiong was a bear, but Lord Yang was here to fight him desperately.

Zhang Xianzhong gave full play to his special skills as a rogue and was good at escaping. He relied on a pair of iron feet to drag Yang Sichang's bandit-suppressing army to death.

At this time, Zheng Chongjian, the newly appointed right minister of the Ministry of War and governor of Shaanxi Province, sent a message to deputy generals He Renlong, Li Guoqi and others to send troops from Xi'an to encircle and suppress Zhang Xianzhong's troops.

Unexpectedly, when Li Guoqi's team arrived in Lueyang, due to insufficient pay and silver, the soldiers made a fuss and robbed King Rui of his land rent. Li Guoqi had been promoted to the chief military officer of Shaanxi at that time, but he was dismissed from his new post because of this incident, and Zheng Chongjian was demoted to one rank as a result.

In any case, at this time, the troops that the court could still fight, except for the Guan Ning Army led by Hong Chengchou, and Chongzhen were all handed over to Yang Sichang. It depends on whether he can turn the tide.

This also fully exposed the character of Emperor Chongzhen. He had unconditional trust and gave everything to those he trusted. However, as long as Emperor Chongzhen's expectations were not met in the short term, he would immediately issue severe punishments, ranging from dismissal from office to death in severe cases.

(End of this chapter)