Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 154 Chen Erfa: Am I really the governor of Chengdu?

"You, come here."

Just when Chongzhen and others were hesitating whether to fight or escape, they were stopped by a man, who was Zhang Xianzhong's adopted son, Sun Kewang.

In the third year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, he followed Zhang Xianzhong in the uprising. Because of his bravery and fighting skills, he was awarded the title of General Pingdong. He and Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu, and Ai Nengqi were all Zhang Xianzhong's adopted sons. Zhang Xianzhong gave him the surname Zhang Kewang.

"What should we do? Otherwise, we will fight him..."

"Don't!" The captain of the Imperial Guards grabbed the Prince of Xiang's arm fiercely. "It looks like they don't want to kill us, but to recruit us."

"Recruit them?" King Xiang looked at the people who were taken away by the bandits and stood among the bandits. His expression changed again.

As the captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard said, Xianze's men are recruiting young and strong men to supplement their troops.

The battle lasted for more than two days. Most of the casualties were starving people and refugees, but many of Zhang Xianzhong's subordinates also died, and they also needed reinforcements.

Zhang Xianzhong's troops were also divided into levels.

The best were his direct line of soldiers, the next best were his fellow townsmen, the next best were the soldiers who joined the army later and made some contributions, and the lowest were the hungry people who had recently gathered here.

For example, people like Chongzhen.

"It is not advisable to turn against the bandits now. It is better to join them and wait for a chance to escape." The captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard took advantage of the fact that Sun Kewang was not paying attention to him and whispered to Prince Xiang and Chongzhen.

Anyway, this is not the first time. Isn’t that how Chongzhen and his men were able to escape from Siwang Mountain last time?

Chongzhen did not speak, but Prince Xiang gritted his teeth and whispered, "How come we just left the household registration and entered a wolf's den?... I really regret that before I left, why didn't I go to the ancestral hall to burn a stick of incense for our ancestors to bless us?"

He grabbed Chongzhen and said, "My son, how about removing you from our family tree?"

"Ok?"

Before Chongzhen could react, a bandit suddenly pulled him over and said, "Don't block the road here, stand over there quickly."

The action of various departments to select young people did not last long and came to an abrupt halt.

Following Zhang Xianzhong's order, Sun Kewang, holding a big knife, shouted: "Retreat, burn all the supplies that cannot be taken away... Let the hungry people drive over and block those dog soldiers."

"Crack~"

Li Dingguo, another adopted son of Zhang Xianzhong, also wielded a whip and hit the hungry people, saying, "Run, run... Anyone who stands still will die!"

A bandit stabbed a starving man who was standing there in a daze with his gun, then carried the body into the water and cursed in dialect: "Fuck you, don't move, right? If you don't move, you will all die."

The bodies of these bandits were already stained with bright red, most of which were from starving people. They wanted to use the lives of these starving people to stop the government troops so that they could withdraw calmly.

At this time, the sound of the government troops approaching could be heard faintly, and Chongzhen and others fled into the distance under the pursuit of the bandits.

The few remaining bandits continued to drive the old, weak, sick and disabled refugees to clash with the government troops.

An hour later, the earth shook like spring thunder, colliding with the refugees.

"Damn it! He got away again!" Zuo Liangyu's warhorse frowned as he looked at the noisy bandits. He angrily chopped a refugee who was blocking his way on the head with his sword. Blood suddenly exploded and the refugee fell to the ground instantly.

Hot blood flowed out and filled a small hole in the ground. A few dying grass roots greedily absorbed the moisture in it.

"We can't come here in vain. We have to cut off their bodies and ask the court for money."

Killing innocent people to claim credit, taking credit for rewards, and demanding rewards for merit were all very common in the Chongzhen Dynasty, and there were countless cases of deception at all levels.

Local officials of the Ming Dynasty were corrupt and committed illegal acts to make money, so the Ming Dynasty's official army could only get money through food and salaries. However, the Ming Dynasty's treasury was empty, and the soldiers in the border towns had long been unable to receive full salaries.

Wasn't it the same with the Beijing troops before? What about the local government troops?

Soon, the shouts and screams, like a rain curtain, conveyed the heavy shock and depression to the ears of Chongzhen who had already escaped far away.

He looked behind him a few times and was shocked, "What is this?"

The captain of the Imperial Guards also frowned and cursed with gritted teeth, "Damn it..."

……

"Father!"

"It's promising. I heard that you robbed the most troops this time. Not bad, not bad!"

"Thanks to my foster father, I was able to gather quite a few young and strong men this time."

"That's good. We've already contacted the 5th Battalion of Zuoge..."

The destination of Zhang Xianzhong's trip was to join forces with the "Hui Zuoge Five Camps" and use the power of the Zuoge Five Camps to strengthen himself.

In the eighth year of Chongzhen, which was the year before last, the rebel army gathered in Xingyang, Henan, and called themselves the Thirteen Families, each of which marched in all directions.

Among them, Ma Shouying, He Yilong, He Jin, Liu Xiyao and Lin Yangcheng were combined together and called the Zuoge Five Camps. Their military power was at its peak in the tenth year of Chongzhen.

He traveled across Anhui, Henan, and northern Huguang, and his power and reputation were not much inferior to those of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong.

The leader, Ma Shouying, was from Suide, Shaanxi, nicknamed Lao Huihui.

The second person in charge, Zhu Yilong, nicknamed Geliyan.

The third person, He Jin, is nicknamed Zuo Jin Wang.

The remaining No. 4 figure Liu Xiyao is nicknamed the King of Gaining the World, and the No. 5 figure Lin Yangcheng is nicknamed the King of Fighting for the World, but their reputations are not as prominent as the first three.

This is why the five groups of people are generally referred to as the "Hui Ge Zuo Wuying" in the underworld.

Zhang Xianzhong hoped to persuade them to join his team.

"Godfather, are they willing?" Sun Kewang couldn't help but ask.

"Why are they unwilling? Although we don't have as many troops as them, we are the elite soldiers who have survived the bloody battles of tens of thousands of troops for many years. They are all combat soldiers."

"What about them? They look like there are tens of thousands of them, but how many of them are combat soldiers? Aren't they just starving people like ants?"

Sun Kewang nodded. Even those hungry civilians who had almost starved to death in the past, as long as they did not die in battle, would have become elite troops after experiencing so many wars.

It can be seen from these battles that although there are fewer talented people, their fighting power has not weakened. On the contrary, they have become more flexible, and the Ming court’s army has not been able to catch up with them several times.

Zhang Xianzhong, who had already escaped, was in a good mood at this time. Sun Kewang rode his horse a few steps behind him. The two chatted and discussed their next plan.

After the discussion, Zhang Xianzhong prepared to ride away. He turned to Chongzhen and the others who had just joined and said, "From now on, you are my, Zhang Xianzhong's men. Work hard. If I eat, you will drink. Then we can conquer the world." "Even if you don't follow me in the future, you can still be a mountain king if you become a bandit." After saying that, Zhang Xianzhong laughed with his head raised.

The people around originally lowered their heads, and some even had fear on their faces, but when they heard the word "mountain king", they all raised their heads, clenched their fingers, and seemed to have courage in their eyes.

"Yes, even if you become a bandit, you can still be a mountain king... These days, being an ordinary person is hard to survive, so you might as well be a mountain king."

"Hahahaha~~" Sun Kewang also laughed.

Chongzhen looked at the approving eyes of everyone around him, his eyes widened as big as a cow, his heart pounding wildly. Why did they all want to be the king of the mountain?

……

In southern Mongolia, after the four major camps fought fiercely with Tumed Left Banner, the neighboring Tumed, Asut and Yongshebu also quickly received the news.

In a short period of time, they gathered tens of thousands of troops and surrounded the Ming army.

Huang Degong, who received the intelligence from the Jinyiwei, was not worried at first, but excited. He ran to Cao Huachun's central army camp and said, "Commander-in-chief, commander-in-chief, can you let our Yongwei Battalion go?"

"I've waited so long for this opportunity, why should I let you eat it all?" Zhang Shize became unwilling upon hearing this.

Ma Xianglin stood up suddenly and said, "We, the White-Pole Soldiers, are not bad either, Commander-in-Chief. We are willing to lead the charge."

"Commander-in-chief, this is the first battle of our Qi family army. How can we retreat?" Qi Zhenzong's face turned red with excitement, and he was also unwilling to fall behind.

"Give us!"

"Give us……"

He had studied the last battle between the three camps and the Manchu Tartars a lot. As Zhang Shize said, this was an excellent opportunity.

The best combat force of the Mongols south of the desert is in Liaodong. It is not easy to gather a team of tens of thousands of people at once. After this battle, it is not known when the next opportunity will come.

If he fails to win the victory, when he returns, the soldiers will definitely think that he is an incompetent general.

Cao Huachun's ears were buzzing, and he stretched out his hand to stop them: "Stop arguing, this battle is worth fighting, it's not what you think. We will return to the court after just this one battle. His Majesty has ordered that we will not be allowed to return to the court until the desert south of Mo is pacified."

"This is only the first battle. I estimate that by the end of this battle, the troops of the Later Jin will have arrived."

Qin Liangyu looked at everyone with a burning gaze, "We have to fight some battles, but we have to fight this one beautifully. For the sake of victory, we'd better show weakness to the enemy first... and try to eliminate more of their manpower."

Li Banghua nodded, "The commander has already drawn up a battle plan. The four divisions have their own tasks. If they each perform their duties, we should be able to achieve a great victory."

……

A hundred miles away from here, there are more than 20,000 soldiers and horses. It is Ezhe, the son of Ligdan Khan, who leads various troops to stop the Ming court.

There were 16 tribes and 49 banners in Mongolia south of the desert, but now there are only six tribes and 23 banners.

The leaders of each flag gathered together to discuss how to deal with the Ming army.

Ezhe was also among them, with a scimitar hanging from his waist. He was puffing out his belly and said, "In my opinion, since the Qing Emperor has sent a message that the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia have already dispatched troops and will arrive soon, all we have to do is to delay the Ming court. I think it shouldn't be difficult."

"Not difficult? Prince Chahar, you put it nicely. How many people will you send this time?" Jin Shitai, the leader of Tumed Left Banner, was angry because he had just been defeated by the Ming army and suffered heavy casualties. When he heard Ezhe speak so easily, he could not help but sneer.

"You... do you still have respect for superiors and subordinates?" Ezhe scolded angrily: "Let alone the past, even now I am a prince, right?"

"Hmph~" Jin Shitai snorted coldly.

Ezhe was so angry that he drew his sword and wanted to kill Jin Shitai, but was stopped. After his father died, his mother Su Tai was abducted by the Qing Dynasty and married to Jirgalang, the Prince Zheng of the Qing Dynasty.

But he was able to be crowned king, and with the support of his mother, he married the daughter of Huang Taiji and lived a very free and easy life.

But the Qing Dynasty defined him as a useless king and treated him like a pig. The original Chahar troops were divided into many tribes and the troops were also distributed.

So he had not been in charge of the army for many years. When he suddenly heard that the Ming court was attacking Mongolia south of the desert, Ezhe had to unite the various tribes and gather these people.

But he didn't have many soldiers under his command, which made things a bit awkward.

"In fact, what Prince Chahar said is correct. The Ming army is coming with great force this time, but as long as we can delay their pace and wait for the troops of the Eight Banners of Manchu and Mongolia to arrive, it will be a great achievement." The leader of the Kalaqin Banner stood up and said.

The leaders of several other tribes finally nodded and said, "Let's do it."

……

In the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Changgan was also looking at the regional map of Mongolia south of the desert.

"Where are Cao Huachun and the others?"

The so-called South of the Desert, Western Mongolia, and Northern Mongolia are separated by the Gobi Desert. The reason there is no East of the Desert is because the east is the Later Jin Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, the news reported by the Jinyiwei this morning is that they have already entered the depths of Chahar." Wang Chengen unfolded a piece of intelligence from the Jinyiwei and placed it on the desk for the emperor to review.

In Zhu Changgan's mind, the importance of Mongolia south of the desert was like the Hexi Corridor to the Han court.

Although during the reign of Ligdan Khan, the various Mongolian tribes south of the desert constantly engaged in large and small frictions and battles with the Ming Dynasty in order to compete for the Central Court.

But overall, the Mongolians south of the Gobi Desert were not unified, the various forces could not be united, and there were constant conflicts between the various regimes. The Ming Dynasty could suppress all these tribes outside the Great Wall.

Later, when Ligdan Khan rose to power, he sought to unify the southern part of the desert and continued to attack other tribes, so he did not pose much threat to the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, even before the Battle of Sarhu, no one in the Ming Dynasty court, from the emperor to the ministers, felt that the empire was about to collapse. But within just a few years, the Mongols south of the desert were swept away by the Later Jin.

Immediately after Ligdan Khan's death, the Chahar tribe was completely annexed by the Later Jin, and its subordinate Kharchin, Tumed and Ordos tribes all submitted to the Later Jin.

Since then, the Ming Dynasty lost its northern barrier, and border affairs became increasingly out of control.

Originally, it was only Guan Jining's line that was confronting the Later Jin, and they could still fight back to some extent. However, the entire northern line fell into the hands of the Later Jin, which was equivalent to thousands of miles of defense line being surrounded, which was embarrassing.

The history books record: "The Ming Dynasty was not overthrown, but Cha died first, and all the tribes were annexed by Jianzhou; the national economy became more difficult, border affairs became more thorny, and the court became more confused, and the Ming Dynasty was doomed to fail."

Therefore, whether from a political or military perspective, Mongolia south of the Gobi Desert is an indispensable strategic location for the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Changgan put down the battle report in his hand and said, "Let the Arms Department work at full capacity. As for the logistics..."

He thought about it and said, "We can tell this matter to Chen Erfa, the deputy governor of Wucheng Bingmasi. He is one of us and can do things very reliably. Let's promote him to governor!"

"Ah?" Wang Chengen raised his head abruptly, his eyes filled with surprise, caution, and wonder, "Give him another promotion?"

……

Thank you all for your support. If you have tickets, please vote!
(End of this chapter)