Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

On the New Year's Day of the first year of Qiongyuan, after participating in the military parade of the founding ceremony, Feima Town immediately reorganized its army and left Juyongguan to escort a group of reinforcements, food supplies and other materials to the two cities of Ningyuan and Zhenyuan in Liaodong.

Because the operation was unexpected, there were no enemies along the way, but the extreme cold and snow in the north caused a large number of camels and horses to die, and quite a few soldiers suffered from frostbite.

When returning, Feima Town even brought back nearly ten thousand Liaodong soldiers and civilians who had fled.This made the two cities of Ningyuan and Zhenyuan basically eliminate the threat of internal chaos, allowing Yu Ji and others in Liaodong to concentrate all their troops to guard against the attack of the Qing army.

This escort operation also greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers and civilians in Zhenyuan and Ningyuan.This made them believe that Wu Shigong would never abandon them.It also gave the soldiers and civilians of the two cities the courage to persevere.

But it was also this escort operation that immediately made the Manchus vigilant, and they will also mobilize a large army to eradicate the two cities of Ningyuan and Zhenyuan as soon as possible.

So far, the battle of two cities and one pass around Shanhaiguan, Ningyuan and Zhenyuan has officially kicked off.And this battle that concentrated the main forces of the Qing army and the Daping army lasted throughout the first year of Qiongyuan.

In order to win this war, the Daping Army transferred most of the elite.Moreover, in terms of manpower replenishment, food supply, ordnance supply, etc., it was completely tilted to this front, and even sacrificed the logistical supplies of the other Daping armies.

Let alone this battle.Because what completely surprised Wu Shigong and others was the other Daping armies that had hardly received any support and were insufficient in strength.First, the main force of the Dashun Army in Shanxi collapsed, and then the Daxi Army in Sichuan was annihilated. Even Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, two great heroes, were awarded the leadership one after another.

And this was an unexpected victory.It completely surprised Wu Shigong and others.Unexpectedly, in the end, even Nanming fell apart very quickly.No one expected that the enemy army on the main battlefield has not been resolved, but the enemy army on the secondary battlefield has been wiped out one after another.Life is full of surprises!

Finally, let’s talk about the Nanming battlefield!

When Wu Shigong ascended the throne on New Year's Day of the first year of Qiongyuan, the law and order in the territory he controlled could be said to be quite chaotic.Bandits are rampant in the territory.In most areas of Northern Zhili, Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, and Huguang, except for some important cities, the countryside is in a state of anarchy.There are so many small bandits.There are a few powerful bandits who even dared to attack the county seat. They were not afraid of the majesty of the Daping court and the iron fist of the Daping army. They really took the nickname "Wu Butcher" as a deaf ear.

However, there are various reasons for this state of affairs.Among them: the Dashun Army and the Qing Army ravaged the entire north-central Ming Dynasty.As a result, the grassroots government of the original Ming Dynasty was destroyed and paralyzed; successive wars affected farming.It caused a famine in the central and northern parts; a large number of defeated soldiers scattered among the people and turned into bandits; some officials and gentry loyal to the former Ming organized a resistance army; evil religions ran rampant; The rise of the Ning army was so fast that many non-Henan officials and gentry people didn't even know Wu Shigong's prestige; they had great doubts about whether the Daping Dynasty could continue.

Therefore, the Daping army at this time, they were fighting with the Dashun, Daxi, Nanming and Qing armies at the same time, and they also wanted to suppress bandits internally.There is a feeling of fighting the world alone.

In this dilemma, the Daping Dynasty could only adopt a method of gradually eliminating it.Because the military discipline of the miscellaneous army that surrendered is too poor.Letting them suppress bandits is actually forcing people to become bandits.So the Daping Dynasty adopted the method of training one and releasing another, so there were not many troops invested in suppressing bandits at the beginning.

However, with the promulgation of "Amnesty Order", "Recruitment Order" and other decrees, coupled with the establishment of the official system of the Daping Dynasty, Wu Shigong allocated a part of the relief money, and the rampant bandits were quickly brought under control.

But in May and June of the first year of Qiongyuan, after the news spread that the Zhengxi army wiped out Dashun and Daxi, and killed Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong successively, the bandits in many areas suddenly disappeared.Many bandits hid their weapons and hid among the people, and their banners died down and they rose up, making people feel like a god descending.

Subsequently, the three laws and regulations such as the "Forbidden Wasteland Order" were strictly implemented, and a large number of villages were established in the central and northern regions, and all the refugees were resettled and managed. Nearly one million Zhuangzhuang team was formed.Under such circumstances, the internal security of the Daping Dynasty was finally basically stabilized.

But even under such circumstances, there is still a region full of bandits, and that region is Shandong.

In the past dynasties, Shandong has always been the "hardest hit area" of rebellion.In the Song Dynasty, there was water mooring Liangshan, in the Jin Dynasty, there was anti-Gold, in the Yuan Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, and in the Ming Dynasty, Ming Dynasty. Anyway, whoever was in power, the people of Shandong rebelled against him.

This is because the rulers of previous dynasties really squeezed Shandong too hard. For example, the Ming Dynasty implemented horse administration in Shandong.There is also the rampant cult of the White Lotus Sect and its variants.Even today, there are still people who want a phone number.

Since the end of the Ming Dynasty, local peasant rebellions in Shandong Province have continued continuously, and the rule of the Ming Dynasty government has actually been very unstable.After the Qing army entered Shandong, many local people began to resist with arms.And after the Qing army withdrew, these armed peasants confronted the forces of officials and gentry again.Many areas were effectively controlled by these rebel groups.

At this time, Shandong governor Yan Jizu and Shandong general Liu Zeqing were eager to surrender to the Daping Dynasty, and they had no intention of governing the region.After they entered Beijing and surrendered to the Daping Dynasty, the local government in Shandong was in a state of leaderless.

But what is even more puzzling is that the Nanming Hongguang government and the public were busy with the "inheritance" incident and had no time to pay attention to taking over the Shandong area. Therefore, the bandit chaos here also tended to intensify.Moreover, the forces in it are mixed and fighting with each other, temporarily forming a power vacuum.

Around the new year in the first year of Qiongyuan, after the county magistrate of Dashun escaped in Guanxian County, which is close to North Zhili, local thieves Pei Shouzheng, Ma Ruiheng, and Liu Tong flocked; Part of the force, entrenched in the place;

During the first month, Zhang Daya, Zhang Qianchu, Han Jiben, Shan Zhishang and Zhang Yu of the Gaomi County Rebel Army besieged Jiaozhou;

In February, Xiong Zhengen and other command troops (a town of 5000 people) repelled the bandit army and lifted the siege of Jiaozhou.Li Haoxian, a local tyrant in Changyi County, led the crowd to surrender to Zeng Hualong, and Zhang Daya and Zhang Qianchu were captured and killed.However, after Zeng Hualong learned that the Daping Army occupied Gyeonggi, he left the defensive area and fled southward with Guo Wenxiang, the magistrate of Jiaozhou.The Jiaodong area is in a state of anarchy.The Taiping Army easily took over the area in late February. (To be continued..)