Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

However, Fengyang's lack of defense did not fail to attract the attention of some knowledgeable Ming officials in the past, but after these opinions were reported to the court, they were ignored by the Ming court!

Since the peasant rebel army first entered Henan, the safety of Fengyang has actually attracted the attention of some officials.Lu Weiqi, Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, had a premonition of a bad prospect, and asked the imperial court to increase troops to fortify Fengyang.He said: Nanjing, Fengyang, and Chengtian are all the places where the emperor's mausoleum is located. I beg the imperial governor Yang Yipeng to be prepared to prevent thieves from committing crimes.

Zhang Fengyi, Minister of the Ministry of War, also realized this, and asked Emperor Chongzhen to order Fengyang governor and Dongfu Caojiang to strengthen the defense of key areas.

But at this time, the Ming Dynasty had already reached the point where headaches and feet were treated. If it was not an imminent matter, it would be difficult to get the absolute attention of Emperor Chongzhen and the six cabinets of the court.So after issuing an official document asking Fengyang to strengthen its defenses, the Ming court did nothing.

But even if the imperial court doesn't pay much attention to it, if Fengyang locality pays attention to it, it's fine to do what it can by self-reliance!You can see how it is done here in Fengyang.

The eunuch Yang Ze and the commander of the guard Hou Dingguo were cruel and cruel to the soldiers, which caused strong dissatisfaction among the soldiers.In December of the seventh year of Chongzhen, when Wu Shigong led the Runing Army to put out fires everywhere in southern Henan, the defenders here unexpectedly staged a mutiny.The rebellious soldiers killed their superior guard commander Hou Dingguo in one fell swoop.For a while, the Fengyang Army had no leader, and the soldiers were distracted, and they had no intention of defending at all.

On the [-]th day of the first lunar month in the eighth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong, King Sweeping Di, and King Taiping led their troops to appear outside Yingzhou City by surprise.Caught off guard, Yingzhou fell.Yingzhou Zhizhou Yin Mengjiao was seriously injured in the battle and fell into the water and died.

In this battle of defending the city, Zhang Heming, a native of Yingzhou, 85-year-old former minister of the Ministry of War, Zhang Heteng, his second brother, and Zhang Heling, his third brother, organized the squires.They recruited soldiers and resisted desperately, but they were eventually outnumbered and the city was broken and captured.

So the peasant rebel army hung Zhang Heming upside down on a tree and shot him to death with random arrows. Zhang Heming's son Zhang Datong couldn't bear to see his father die tragically, so he was killed on Zhang Heming's body. Zhang Heteng, Zhang Heling and more than 100 squires were killed at the same time.

This is the first high-ranking official of the six ministries of the Ming Dynasty killed by the peasant rebel army after the rebellion.Zhang Heming was also a man of the day in the early days of Tianqi. During the dispute between Xiong and Wang, he supported Wang Huazhen and suspected that Xiong Tingbi was collaborating with the enemy.He fought hard with Xiong Tingbi, and was later impeached and resigned due to the defeat of Guangning.

When Wei Zhongxian was in power, Zhang Heming came back as Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing.When dealing with the eunuchs in the early years of Chongzhen, Zhang Heming was regarded as a member of Wei Zhongxian's group and was eliminated.So hard to line up from the political affiliation.Wu Shigong should be a party member with Zhang Heming.Of course, even now.Wu Shigong still doesn't understand what the eunuch party and Donglin party are.Otherwise, he wouldn't have had a heated fight with Hou Xun's family, the backbone of the Donglin Party.

But although Zhang Heming was liquidated by Emperor Chongzhen, he was still very loyal to the Ming Dynasty.It was the former minister of the Ministry of War who organized Min Zhuang to defend the city for a long time. This is somewhat suspected of talking about military affairs on paper.

The fall of Yingzhou caused a strong shock in northern Anhui.Neighboring states and counties have taken measures to strengthen their defenses.You must know that the Lantern Festival has just passed, and there are still aftermaths of the festival.Therefore, in order to prevent the spies of the peasant rebel army from sneaking into the city, Taihe and other counties made a decision: it is strictly forbidden to travel in the city.A curfew was reinstated across the city.

But what about the situation in Fengyang?Because Fengyang is 440 miles away from Yingzhou.Yang Ze, the eunuch stationed in Fengyang, thought that the peasant rebel army was still far away.As in previous years, he celebrated the Lantern Festival as usual, and the streets were still full of music and music.Zhu Guoxiang and the magistrate Yan Rongxuan who stayed behind were also busy with festival entertainment.He didn't care about Fengyang's defense at all.

And what is the local sentiment in Fengyang?Although Fengyang is the hometown of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, there is a Fengyang flower drum that has been handed down to the present. It is the song "Say Fengyang, Tao Fengyang, Fengyang is a good place. Nine years of famine."

This was indeed true at the time.In addition to the reason why the Yellow River seized the Huaihe River, the main reason is that this is the hometown of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty and many nobles.

Needless to say, those Huangzhuang and Xunguizhuangzi merged the land.Also because of the need to repair the royal buildings and work for those nobles, the local people in Fengyang have to pay several times more corvee than other areas.Of course, the Fengyang local government also took the opportunity to collect money and levied several times the amount of corvee and money, which made the local people really live in dire straits.It can also be seen from this that the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were indeed not very kind to the people in their hometown.

Therefore, in November of the fourth year of Chongzhen, Qian Shisheng, the right servant of the Ministry of Rites in Nanjing, was ordered to pay homage to the Fengyang Emperor's Mausoleum, and reported the decline of the Fengyang area.In the end, Qian Shisheng's request was not too high, and he asked for some tax relief in Fengyang.

However, Emperor Chongzhen was afraid that Fengyang would set a precedent and other places would follow suit, so he did not give a positive answer, but only criticized that "there have been repeated orders for Zhou's sympathy for the people", and he used empty words to prevaricate.

So when Zhang Xianzhong's troops besieged Yingzhou, the poor people in Fengyang invited peasant rebels to enter Fengyang.And they are very familiar with the local conditions.The drawings and books were given to those leaders. Where is the Ming army?Which one is rich?They were all clearly explained to Zhang Xianzhong and others.

It will be even better if you have an internal response!So after capturing Yingzhou, Zhang Xianzhong and other leaders prepared to adopt the combat method of long-range surprise attack to take Fengyang by chance.After that, it became a common tactic used by Zhang Xianzhong's troops to attack cities.

These leaders secretly dispatched 300 strong men, disguised as merchants, coachmen, monks, Taoist priests, beggars, etc., and under the cover of those insiders, they entered Fengyang City respectively and lived separately.He also ordered the troops to march fast day and night in a very concealed manner, bypassing the prefectures and counties along the way, and driving directly to Fengyang, the central capital.

The basis for this decision is that the peasant rebel army has fully understood the strength of Fengyang.Knowing that the Fengyang garrison is weak, the left-behind division has only four guards.At the same time, here is the central capital of the Ming Dynasty, which has a great influence on politics.

On the [-]th day of the first lunar month in the eighth year of Chongzhen, under the stunned view of Fengyang officials and defenders, [-] elite peasant rebels suddenly appeared under Fengyang City.Fengyang, the central capital of the Ming Dynasty, was in a hurry.

It wasn't until this time that Fengyang officials and the defenders began to prepare for battle, and sent messengers for help to various places. (To be continued..)