Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 174 Lord, please accept this old blind man’s greeting

"Your Majesty, the Minister of War Yang Sichang is also worried that Zhang Xianzhong is not really surrendering, and he advocates that Zhang Xianzhong should first pledge his allegiance and kill the rebel general Li Zicheng and the old Hui people Ma Shouying before he is allowed to surrender." Wang Chengen said truthfully.

"Then why did he... I so frivolously appease him?"

"Your Majesty said: How can we think that he should be killed just because he surrenders?" Wang Chengen paused and said, "Your Majesty personally presided over the decision to recruit Zhang Xianzhong's troops."

"Have you ever told me where the surrendered thief was?"

"Report to the Emperor, Gucheng."

The veins on Chongzhen's forehead bulged out. "Stupid... stupid beyond belief? Go and call Ma Shiwei over and ask him to bring the man back to me."

"Your Majesty... I'm afraid he can't be called back. The Jinyiwei are rushing 800 miles. They have been on the march for three hours and are probably already hundreds of miles away."

Ever since Zhu Changgan and Wang Chengen opened up to each other, the eunuch has been more dedicated than ever before.

In his mind, the emperor's illness was recurring. He was better during the day, but he would suffer from hysteria at night. Not to mention that he couldn't get him back, even if he could, he would try his best to prevent this from happening.

How can the government's decrees be changed every day?

Chongzhen sat down on the throne and angrily cursed: "Xiong Wencan, you have brought misfortune to the country and the people, you deserve to be skinned and stuffed with straw!"

Others may not know, but he knew clearly that Zhang Xianzhong sent Sun Kewang to give Xiong Wencan two pieces of jade one foot long and two pearls as big as eyes.

But when Chongzhen's anger reached its peak, he suddenly began to wonder, "Isn't this right, my uncle? Does he have a backup plan?"

He himself didn't know why he had such an idea.

What's more, Zhu Changgan had just led the "Tianyou Army" incidents in southern Mongolia and Shengjing. It was just a simple intuition... Zhu Changgan would not be so stupid?

"Who is the supervisor sent this time?"

"Your Majesty, it's Tian Yizhong."

"Who?" Chongzhen had never heard of this name.

"Replying to the Emperor, a young eunuch who used to work under Gao Yushun has now been promoted by His Majesty."

Chongzhen certainly had never heard of this person that Zhu Changgan mentioned. This was the eunuch who, when Li Zicheng attacked the capital and the city was broken, crawled into the coffin and ordered his men to light the firewood.

The other eunuchs did not dare to take action, but one eunuch named Tian lit the fire and hanged himself to die for his country.

The little eunuch now is Tian Yi Zhong.

He had been working under Gao Yushun before but had never been put to use. Now he has finally been promoted by Zhu Changgan.

"So, there are really other arrangements?" Chongzhen frowned and waved his hand doubtfully to let Wang Chengen retreat.

……

Outside Gucheng, there is Baishazhou.

The moonlight shines through the treetops, casting a faint silver glow. The cool northern wind drives away the day's heat, and the mist casts a veil over the night.

The sky is dotted with stars, and the quiet countryside seems to hide some mysterious power.

Zhu Changgan, Prince Xiang, and Han Qianhu of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, followed Sun Kewang's large army and finally arrived at their destination, Gucheng.

Looking at the surrounding terrain, I have to sigh that Zhang Xianzhong was really wise in choosing this place.

In this magnificent historical section of the late Ming Dynasty, Gucheng is bound to be mentioned as long as you open the military map of the time when "King of Rebellion" Li Zicheng led the peasant army to fight in Hubei, Henan, Shaanxi and other places.

Gucheng is a key point on the ancient mountain road leading to the Central Plains in the west of the Ming Dynasty. It controls Sichuan and Shaanxi, strangles Xiang and Jing, and overlooks the Central Plains. It has always been an important military location. Since ancient times, wars have been raging for years, and the people have suffered from the disasters of war.

But at the same time, Gucheng is also a natural camp. It is backed by Wudang Mountain and connected to Shangluo Mountain where Li Zicheng was active. There is the Han River in front of it, which serves as a natural barrier and can be advanced by both land and water.

It is only a hundred miles away from Xiangyang, and the area has not been affected by famine, so there is plenty of food and grass.

Stationing in Gucheng is the most suitable place to expand the military.

In Zhang Xianzhong's camp, there was drinking and laughter.

An official from the Ming Dynasty was welcomed, and this person was Dai Dongmin, the governor of Yunyang in the Ming Dynasty.

The ostensible purpose of his visit this time was to prepare three lists of names to recruit Zhang Xianzhong's troops.

But in fact, he came to accept gold, silver and jewelry. He heard that Zhang Xianzhong had given things to Xiong Wencan, and as the local chief official, he should also get some recognition.

"Kewang, go call Yihong up and ask him to have a drink with Lord Dai." Zhang Xianzhong invited Dai Dongmin to drink with a smile, but there was a flash of coldness in his eyes.

Just wait and see... After we get through this hurdle, I will tear the heads off you bunch of crooked officials.

How could he not see what Dai Dongmin was here for? He was here to ask for treasure, but if he wanted to get through this difficult time, he could only resort to this expedient measure.

Dai Dongmin's face flushed from drinking, but he was in high spirits. "Brother Zhang, let me tell you the truth... Lord Xiong means that 18,135 peasants will be dismissed and 11,000 elite soldiers will be recruited..."

What this means is that Zhang Xianzhong should disband the 18,000 soldiers and horses in his hands, especially the 11,000 combat soldiers. This is the bottom line.

"Master Dai, let's not talk about this for now. I want to show you something..."

The soldiers are his only support. "With swords and guns in hand, and all the beauties at his disposal", everything depends on the swords and guns in his hand. Therefore, asking him to disband the soldiers is almost as bad as asking him to commit suicide.

How could he agree to that? So Zhang Xianzhong changed the subject and pushed a box over.

"Oh, this is a good thing..." Dai Dongmin's eyes widened suddenly, looking at the sparkling beads in the box, "Could this be...?"

"We are lucky to have obtained two night-shining pearls. We hope that Master Dai will say a few good words for us."

"Okay, okay!" Dai Dongmin accepted the things and stopped talking about what happened just now. Instead, he talked about the benefits that the court could give them.

"We built hundreds of houses, bought land to grow wheat, and traded with the locals on an equal footing..."

It was not until very late in the evening when Dai Dongmin got drunk and was arranged by Zhang Xianzhong to stay in a tent that he gradually calmed down.

"Foster father, the Ming court is insatiable, and we don't have much gold and jewels. I'm afraid it's not a good idea to give them away like this."

Sun Kewang had sharp eyes and knew that unless the rebels joined forces with them, he would not be able to satisfy the endless desires of Xiong Wencan and others.

Zhang Xianzhong gritted his teeth and sneered, "Do you think I'm Zheng Zhilong?"

When Prime Minister Xiong Wencan was the Governor of Fujian and the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, he demanded a large amount of treasure by surrendering "pirates".

Now that Zhang Xianzhong has surrendered, will he repeat his old tricks?

But people cannot be compared. Zheng Zhilong has countless money and grain. After being surrendered by Xiong Wencan, he is now in charge of the Fujian Navy.

He was a powerful figure in the southeast, his business on the sea route was more prosperous than ever before, and his daily income from gold and silver was countless.

Giving Zheng Zhilong some of it would only be a drop in the bucket. But Zhang Xianzhong was different. The soldiers were too poor. Not only did they not have enough food, but the only gold, silver and jewelry they had were snatched from the rich. Now they were all donated. How could he swallow this?

Zhang Xianzhong's back teeth bulged, "Don't say so much, take a breath first, and we'll talk about it after we get through this."

Sun Kewang could only nod.

……

A few days later, Xiong Wencan and Dai Dongmin, who had received the emperor's order, could finally preside over the surrender ceremony of Zhang Xianzhong's troops with confidence.

What surprised Xiong Wencan was that the eunuch who came to supervise the army was not Wang Dajing, whom he had been in contact with before, but a stranger, Tian Yizhong.

This made him feel a little embarrassed, as Wang Dajing was an acquaintance he had met when he was in Fujian.

Naturally, they were wary of the sudden arrival of someone from the palace, because Xiong Wencan had heard that the emperor had zero tolerance for corrupt officials.

But he soon relaxed.

Because this eunuch Tian was even greedier than him, he had been asking for gold directly for thousands of years, pearls by the basket, and other magnificent treasures, he would just ask for them.

Zhang Xianzhong was so angry that his eyes turned red. In the end, it was Xiong Wencan who mediated the peace. After taking the silver, the eunuch lay in his room every day, eating, drinking and having fun, and ignored everything else.

In the end, Zhang Xianzhong only dismissed a few thousand refugees and refused to dismiss the rest, saying that if they continued to force him, he would not surrender!
Xiong Wencan was helpless, as his achievements had already been reported, and he was pushing Zhang Xianzhong too hard. He was also afraid that Zhang Xianzhong would fight like a trapped beast, and if he failed, he would rebel again, and he would have no way to report to the emperor.

However, this was the first time he had recruited such a large peasant army since he came to Huguang from the capital. Seeing the credit in his hands, he naturally could not let it go.

They could only secretly plan how to suppress Zhang Xianzhong or eliminate the opponent's military strategy, but where to get the troops from was a big problem.

……

After Zhang Xianzhong stopped pursuing Chongzhen's guilt, Sun Kewang came more frequently than before.

The relationship between the two became even closer than before, and Sun Kewang would also discuss some matters in the camp with Chongzhen.

Chongzhen, who was always very savvy about details, naturally knew all this very quickly. He was so angry that his face turned purple. As soon as Sun Kewang left, he asked, "You only dispersed more than 2,000 refugees, and didn't move any of his 11,000 soldiers?"

"We also built hundreds of houses for them, bought them land to grow wheat, and traded with the people. Isn't this just nurturing a tiger to cause trouble?"

"Only a few soldiers were posted at each gate of Gucheng to monitor their comings and goings? What were they monitoring? Li Zicheng?"

In the seventh year of Chongzhen, Chen Qiuyu had an opportunity to annihilate part of the main force of the peasant army.

At that time, a coalition of several peasant armies led by Zhang Xianzhong, numbering about 4, was surrounded by Chen Qiuyu's troops in the valley area east of Hanzhong City. Due to the narrow terrain, it was very likely that this group of peasant armies would be annihilated.

As a result, Zhang Xianzhong and others once again used the strategy of surrender, and proposed to Chen Qiuyu that they were willing to accept the amnesty, disband and return home to farm.

Chongzhen, who was always considered shrewd, approved the offer of amnesty in a hurry and instructed all the tribes not to intercept.

As expected, Zhang Xianzhong and his troops pretended to surrender, and as soon as they were out of danger, they killed or tied up the so-called appeasement officials who led the troops, successively conquered Fengxian and other places, and destroyed the Ming Dynasty Mausoleum, which made him regret it.

"The emperor is careless, and the Ministry of War is also careless?"

The failure of the last appeasement attempt caused great shock to the emperor and literati of the Ming Dynasty.

Chongzhen also learned a lesson from his failure.

From then on, he no longer overestimated the victory achieved by the Ming army in the battles against the peasant uprising army, and even regarded the loss of results caused by the wrong appeasement as a great act that harmed the country.

Now, watching Xiong Wencan and others making the same mistakes, the heart-wrenching feeling was like a boning knife, cutting his heart with every stroke.

Although Chongzhen shouted these few times from behind, he still fell into someone's sight.

Han Qianhu of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

He looked at Chongzhen's expression and his angry look, and was stunned in his place, greatly shocked, "It's similar, it's too similar."

At this time, King Xiang came over from outside and asked, "What's so similar?"

"Don't you think he looks a bit like His Majesty..." Han Qianhu swallowed the second half of his sentence when he saw that it was Prince Xiang, "You are not in Kyoto, so I can't tell you about it."

"But if you don't tell me, how would I know?"

Captain Han was about to speak when his eyes turned outside. King Xiang also saw the two of them almost at the same time.

"Old blind man? Why are you back again?"

The people who came were the old blind man and his apprentice. "I have to come back. My heart of Taoism is broken. I came back to make up for it."

"What do you mean by Taoism or not?"

The old blind man panted and said, "Is there anything to eat? Give me some. I am starving."

It turned out that the old blind man had been very angry since the last time they parted, and had been lying on the ground for two days. If it hadn't been for his apprentice's persistence, he would have been taken away by a wild wolf.

It was his apprentice who enlightened him with a word, "What if the skills passed down by the master are correct? Maybe there really is an emperor. I think Emperor Jiajing probably didn't expect that he would become an emperor..."

Yes, what if the skills passed down by the ancestors are correct?

Wouldn't that be...

So, when the old blind man came, they hurried all the way, wearing out two pairs of straw sandals, but they did not dare to stop, and finally caught up with him.

King Xiang quickly prepared two bowls of thin rice soup for the two of them.

Don't ask why there is no porridge, the answer is no.

I don’t know if it was because they had just been surrendered or if Xiong Wencan did it on purpose, but the food the court gave to the peasant army was only enough for them to have some watery soup.

They were not starving to death, but they were not full either. They did not have much energy to work throughout the day, let alone charge into battle.

At this moment, Chongzhen walked out of the house with an ugly face. Seeing the old blind man, he was stunned, "You..."

When the old blind man heard Chongzhen's voice, he immediately put down the bowl he had just picked up and put his hand on Chongzhen's face. Chongzhen did not expect him to do this and was subconsciously stunned for a moment.

Then he stepped back, but hit the door and was grabbed hard on the face by the old blind man.

When Chongzhen dodged again, he saw the old blind man trembling with excitement, "That's right, that's right... This is clearly the appearance of the emperor! How could the master be wrong? Even if he was wrong, it's my fault for not being able to see clearly."

Then the old blind man knelt on the ground with a thud, "My lord, please accept my greetings!"

hum~
Not only Chongzhen, but everyone present was stunned.

King Xiang's face turned green. He looked around and suddenly grabbed the old blind man's neck:
"What do you mean by emperor? What do you mean by lord? Are you jealous of me and want to kill my son Qilin?"

……

(End of this chapter)