Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

As the governor of Shaanxi, Sun Chuanting, he had a pretty good record in the Northwest, but he was quite arrogant and arrogant.When Sun Chuanting led the Qin army into the Wei capital this time and was appointed as the governor in charge of the southern front, he kept accusing Yang Sichang of improper deployment and command, which made the relationship with the Ministry of War very tense.

Sun Chuanting's accusation is not wrong.Because Yang Sichang was indeed in charge of the overall command of resisting the Qing army.Although Yang Sichang was also full of bitterness, the generals of the Ming army fought against each other (such as the contradiction between Lu Xiangsheng and Gao Qiqian); the confidence of the Ming army was lost (such as Sun Chuanting himself's Qin army collapsed).But no matter what, Yang Sichang, as the commander-in-chief, could not escape his responsibility.

However, Yang Sichang was not very magnanimous, and there were too many quarrels. Coupled with the old hatred with Sun Chuanting, the relationship between the two became like fire and water, and they had already formed a deep hatred.

But when the Qing army left the customs and Emperor Chongzhen ordered Yang Sichang to preside over the evaluation of the merits and demerits of civil and military officials, everyone understood that Yang Sichang not only survived the loss of his family, but also received more favors, so Sun Chuanting did not dare to contradict again. Can't afford to provoke but can hide.

At this time, Sun Chuanting was deaf in one ear because of getting angry, and because of his dissatisfaction with Yang Sichang, he repeatedly asked to leave his job to recuperate from his illness.

But how could Yang Sichang let go of this opportunity?Now he can even lie about Lu Xiangsheng's death, and he will have no psychological pressure to frame Sun Chuanting again.So Yang Sichang took the opportunity to repeatedly attack Sun Chuanting for pretending to be sick and unwilling to take up the dangerous position of governor of Baoding.

So when he heard Yang Sichang's words again, Emperor Chongzhen immediately became furious. He shouted angrily: "You still want to coerce the court, and you have resentment in your heart? Say something to Luo Yangxing: You will be sent to jail and punished!"

Wang Chengen immediately signaled to the little eunuch who was accompanying him at the gate of the palace, asking him to convey the Emperor Chongzhen's oral order to Luo Yangxing, the commander of Jin Yiwei.With just a few words back and forth, Sun Chuanting was out of luck.

Another capable minister of the late Ming court was lost inexplicably.And this evil result came from Emperor Chongzhen's arbitrary.We have always said that Emperor Chongzhen was quite mean, which caused the officials to lose heart.But this is not the most important point.

As the son of heaven, it is best to be kind, of course, but in the face of national crisis at the end of the Ming Dynasty, it doesn't matter if you are a bit cruel as the emperor.But looking at the different ways that Emperor Chongzhen treated Yang Sichang and Sun Chuanting, he couldn't even achieve the minimum fairness when he was under his control.If there is no fairness, where will the officials return to their hearts?

On the ninth day of May in the 12th year of Chongzhen, Gucheng.

"Has everyone in the city been arranged to go in?" Zhang Xianzhong asked Li Dingguo.

"Hopeful and Nengqi have brought two hundred brothers into the city. They have spread the news: the city is unprepared, and it is agreed to attack the city at four o'clock. The boy is willing to issue a military order. Gucheng will be handed over to Godfather before dawn." Li Dingguo said.

For Li Dingguo's work, Zhang Xianzhong is still very relieved.He nodded with satisfaction, and said with a smile: "The official dog thought that we didn't know about their dispatch of troops, but they were already under our control. This time we will eat some more fat, and then we will go to Cao Cao in Fang County. Give the official dogs some color. But don’t be careless, there are more than 2000 official dogs in the city after all.”

"Yes! Godfather!" Li Dingguo immediately agreed. "But Godfather, don't worry. With the weapons you just gave to the boy, it's more certain to take down Gucheng. It's a pity, if we give us some more time, we can buy more of these weapons."

"Don't be too dark, you can't buy more when you have time." Zhang Xianzhong laughed, "The quality of the weapon is good, but it's expensive, we can't afford so much money!"

"Oh? Which one sold it? It made us unhappy, steal his mother." Li Dingguo raised his eyebrows immediately.

"Isn't it from Butcher Wu's family? For some reason, they sold us bits and pieces before. These days, they have become more generous, and the price has dropped by [-]%. I heard that they fought a battle with the Tartars in the north. There were a lot of casualties, and it may be necessary to raise more money for burning and burying money!" Zhang Xianzhong said with a smile.

"His family is rich, but Butcher Wu is also kind to his soldiers. The weapons made by his family are even better. To be honest, the children are also a little greedy." Li Dingguo also laughed.

The reason why the Runing Army sold weapons to the Peasant Army such as Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai these days was not only to make money, but also to support them in rebellion.Of course, the caravan of the Runing Army also blocked the situation, keeping Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai in the dark.

"Don't mess with Butcher Wu for the time being. He is a lunatic. If you touch his people, he will bite him to death. It is not worthwhile to buy his weapons. On the one hand, his weapons are really good. On the other hand, it is also a friendship. This mountain does not turn around, maybe there will be places to deal with in the future. You also restrain the brothers and let them be more polite to Butcher Wu's caravan." Zhang Xianzhong urged.

"Yes! Godfather!"

Just as the Ming court's strategy was finalized and was busy mobilizing troops to raise salaries, Zhang Xianzhong received a secret report, and felt the imminent danger from signs from the government and the Ming army.So he decisively decided to strike first, and led his troops to raise the anti-banner on the ninth day of May in the 12th year of Chongzhen.

However, the local government of the Ming Dynasty and the Ming army guarding the peasant army were defenseless.Although the order of the imperial court's encirclement and suppression had been conveyed long ago, the civil and military officials headed by the governor of the five provinces, Xiong Wencan, took bribes and were half-hearted about the imperial court's encirclement and suppression order.The Peasant Army also bought and wooed the soldiers of the Ming Army at the bottom, so the Ming Army lost the most basic vigilance against the Peasant Army, and some even tipped off the Peasant Army.

So under the cooperation of Zhang Xianzhong's troops, the peasant army easily occupied Gucheng County.Ruan Zhiyu, the county magistrate, committed suicide by taking poison, Lin Mingqiu, the censor of the patrol, was killed, and Zhang Dajing, Ma Tingbao, and Xu Qizuo, the supervisor of the army, were forced to surrender.The most pitiful one among them was Ruan Zhiyou, the county magistrate. He reported no less than dozens of memorials about Zhang Xianzhong's feigned surrender to the imperial court and governor Xiong Wencan, but nothing came of it all the time, and he was repeatedly reprimanded by Xiong Wencan and the others.It's really not reconciled to die.

After that, Zhang Xianzhong demolished the city walls, robbed treasuries and imprisoned them, and absorbed the poor into the army to expand his strength again, and then immediately led his troops west.When Zhang Xianzhong left Gucheng, he wrote down the list, numbers and time of bribes from him by officials from top to bottom in the government in detail on the walls inside and outside the city. of justice.

And the flames of the Central Plains Peasant Army ignited once again. (To be continued..)