Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 300

Due to the sudden turn of the officers and troops, the rogues from various ministries finally recovered. After a short rest, the rogues resumed their old profession and began to harass the place continuously. Many cities were captured by them one after another, including Shaanxi, Henan, and Hubei. There are rogues raging everywhere.

At the same time, Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng, and Gao Yingxiang's three tribes began to head south after resting in Fengyang for several days. They drove directly to Luzhou Prefecture (Hefei) via Dingyuan County, and then bypassed Chaohu Lake and went straight to Anqing.

Seeing that once the bandits capture Anqing, there will be no obstacles no matter whether they go east to Zhejiang or south to Jiangxi.

At this moment, Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng led their troops to suddenly kill a carbine, head west along the foothills of the Dabie Mountains, then suddenly head north, and re-enter Henan.After merging with Cao Cao, Luo Rucai, and passing Tianxing and other ministries, he returned to Shaanxi.

In fact, Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong's separate actions are not only an established strategy, but also personal grievances.

The cause was the uneven distribution of spoils after occupying the imperial mausoleum and palace in Fengyang.

Although Fengyang is not an official capital city, there are still many good things in it, especially here is the imperial mausoleum, where the emperor wants to sacrifice to his ancestors. There are many musicians (court band), eunuchs and maid of honor.

Although Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others have seen many things in the world in the past few years, they can't get rid of the turkey spirit in their bones.Seeing the royal ostentation, his eyeballs almost fell out, and immediately began to fight for these musicians, eunuchs and court ladies.

It's not that they don't know that the officers and soldiers are about to catch up, but in line with the idea that Lord Yan is fucking the kid, it's a while to be comfortable, so why care about these people?Enjoy it first.

Of course, Gao Yingxiang is the boss, so he must take the lead. Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong naturally have nothing to say about this, but disputes arose about how to allocate the remaining two.

Zhang Xianzhong believed that Fengyang was brought down by his troops, so more points should be given. Li Zicheng believed that everyone acted together, and the spoils should be added to five.

Contradictions thus arise.

Fortunately, there was Gao Yingxiang, the leader of the town, and Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong also knew that the situation was not very good, so although there were conflicts, they did not dare to divide the troops. It was not until the time of attacking Anqing that the two clashed again.

At that time, all the ministries of the government and army had been mobilized, and the hinterland of the Central Plains was empty. Li Zicheng believed that he should return to Henan and then Shaanxi, while Zhang Xianzhong believed that he should break through Anqing and drive directly to Jianghuai.

These two suggestions have their own advantages, and both of them insist on their own opinions, and neither can convince the other.

In desperation, the three finally decided to divide their troops. Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng returned to Henan, while Zhang Xianzhong continued to attack Anqing.

Since Cao Wenzhao has never done anything unfavorable to them, these three people actually forgot that Cao Wenzhao was hanging behind them all the time.

Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng didn't realize that there was such a formidable enemy behind them until they brushed against Cao Wenzhao's troops when they turned around.

Fortunately, Cao Wenzhao ignored the two men, and after Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng left, he ordered the troops to speed up and chase Zhang Xianzhong in the direction of Anqing.

Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng, who were covered in cold sweat, did not dare to stay longer, and urged their subordinates to run to Henan.

Anqing is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. It is the gateway to Nanjing and the main throat leading to Jiangxi.

Zhang Xianzhong did not attack here because he wanted to go down the river and occupy Nanjing. Attacking Nanjing with his troops is tantamount to courting death.

The purpose of Zhang Xianzhong's attack on Anqing was to go up the river and enter Jiangxi.

If Zhang Xianzhong attacked Anqing from the south to the north, due to the natural danger of the Yangtze River, Zhang Xianzhong had no boats in his hands, and even his greatest ability would not be able to defeat Anqing.However, Anqing City was built on the north bank of the Yangtze River, and Zhang Xianzhong attacked from the north, so there was no need to prepare ships.

Zhang Xianzhong's army is strong and strong, and it was really difficult to resist Zhang Xianzhong with Anqing's defense at that time, but Anqing was not powerless to fight back, especially after Anqing's soldiers and people learned of the atrocities committed by Zhang Xianzhong's troops in Fengyang and other places, they were united and relied on For the benefit of the city wall, he fought desperately with Zhang Xianzhong's troops. After fighting for a day and a night, the city was not lost.

However, by this time, Anqing's defense materials were basically exhausted. Seeing that the next day was absolutely impossible to defend, Cao Wenzhao came when Anqing's army and civilians began to despair.

The main reason why Cao Wenzhao came so slowly was the terrain.

To the south of Luzhou Prefecture (Hefei) is the foothills of the Dabie Mountains, and the terrain here is extremely unsuitable for cavalry.

However, because the Anqing army and civilians dragged Zhang Xianzhong under the city for a day, Cao Wenzhao finally led his troops to arrive.

Arriving at the foot of Anqing City, Cao Wenzhao immediately ordered Zhang Xianzhong's troops to be surrounded regardless of the exhaustion of the soldiers.

Zhang Xianzhong's luck is really bad. Cao Wenzhao's troops only have 5000 people, and he has more than 5000 people. Normally, it is impossible for 2 people to surround [-] people. But this time, the terrain of Anqing helped Cao Wen Zhao do me a favor.

To the south of Anqing is the Yangtze River. In addition, Anqing is in front of Zhang Xianzhong's troops. Cao Wenzhao only needs to place his troops in the north, and Zhang Xianzhong will have nowhere to escape.

ended.

Zhang Xianzhong finally ended his rebellious career.

Not only Zhang Xianzhong, including his subordinates, did not run away.

Before the war, Cao Wenzhao issued a military order, a lore order: Zhang Xianzhong and his soldiers should be killed without leaving any one behind.

Is Cao Wenzhao a bloodthirsty person?

The answer is yes.

Counting the battles between Cao Wenzhao and the bandits, the number of people who died in Cao Wenzhao's hands ranged from [-] to [-].

However, Cao Wenzhao never gave an order not to stay before the war, and most of the people who died in his hands were wiped out during the battle.

On the battlefield, either you die or I live, no one will show mercy.Showing mercy to the enemy is tantamount to playing with one's own life.

But this time Cao Wenzhao issued a lore order.

No one questioned Cao Wenzhao's order.

Of the [-] cavalry that Cao Wenzhao led this time, except for the [-] Guanning cavalry, the rest were carefully selected by Li Jing from the army. These people have been following Li Jing for more than a year or two.

These people all knew that Li Jing was very sympathetic to the common people. Li Jing wanted to destroy Zhang Xianzhong because he couldn't bear the atrocities committed by Zhang Xianzhong and his subordinates.

In addition, most of these soldiers were from ordinary people, and they hated what Zhang Xianzhong did.

Therefore, no one thought it was wrong to hear that Cao Wenzhao issued a lore order.

But the soldiers didn't know that Cao Wenzhao's order had another hidden meaning.

This order issued by Cao Wenzhao was actually issued for Li Jing.

Cao Wenzhao knew very well that if these people were taken back, they would definitely order them all to be killed in the way Li Jing handled things, and it would leave everyone with the impression that Li Jing was bloodthirsty.

Li Jing will definitely be in charge of the center in the future. If he has such a reputation, it will be very detrimental to Li Jing's governance.

Cao Wenzhao ordered to kill all Zhang Xianzhong's troops, so Cao Wenzhao himself would recite all the infamy, so that Li Jing's reputation would not be damaged.

Cao Wenzhao's order was faithfully carried out, so the result was very simple.

Facing the powerful firepower of the Jishi Army, Zhang Xianzhong's troops had no room to fight back, they couldn't even escape.Occasionally, those who ran out of the battlefield were quickly overtaken by the cavalry of the Jishi Army, and then killed. This battle was completely one-sided.

Zhang Xianzhong: Born in the 34th year of Wanli, joined the Peasant Army in the third year of Chongzhen, struggled for five years, and died in the rebellion in February of the eighth year of Chongzhen, at the age of 30.

This battle came and went quickly, and the battle ended in less than two hours.The Anqing soldiers and civilians watching the battle on the city wall were stunned for a moment, and they really couldn't believe that those scarecrow-like rogues were the powerful army that attacked Anqing City the day before yesterday.

It wasn't until Cao Wenzhao began to clean up the battlefield that the officials in Anqing City woke up like a dream, hurriedly opened the city gate, and respectfully invited Cao Wenzhao to enter the city to rest.

Cao Wenzhao declined the kindness of Anqing City officials.

Cao Wenzhao knew very well that in the battle the day before yesterday, countless soldiers and civilians were killed and injured in Anqing City, especially those wounded who were still waiting for the officials to arrange doctors to treat them. Once he entered the city, these officials would have to deal with themselves, and the treatment might be delayed. wounded.

Civil officials in Ming Dynasty always looked down on generals, but at this moment, they were moved by Cao Wenzhao. They didn't expect Cao Wenzhao to be so reasonable.

What moved them even more was Cao Wenzhao's next move.

After cleaning the battlefield, Cao Wenzhao left some of the seized grain and handed it over to officials in Anqing, asking them to distribute it to soldiers and civilians who died or were injured in the battle.

Cao Wenzhao's move made his prestige in the hearts of the Anqing people reach its peak.

The common people took out good things from themselves and sent them to Cao Wenzhao's army.

After declining the kindness of the people in Anqing, Cao Wenzhao led his troops back.

Of course, Cao Wenzhao did not forget one thing during this period, and that was to send Zhang Xianzhong's head to the capital.

Although Li Jing told him that he wanted Zhang Xianzhong's head, Cao Wenzhao knew that what Li Jing said was just to kill Zhang Xianzhong, not really want to see Zhang Xianzhong's head.

A veteran on the battlefield like Cao Wenzhao, who is used to seeing dead people, is unwilling to look at a dead head. He believes that Li Jing will never have such a hobby.

But now there is a person who really wants to see Zhang Xianzhong's head, and this person is Zhu Youjian.

Zhu Youjian's ancestral grave was dug up by Zhang Xianzhong. Needless to say, he must hate Zhang Xianzhong to the bone. Now that he has killed Zhang Xianzhong, he naturally wants to go to the capital to let Zhu Youjian take a look.

Of course, Cao Wenzhao sent Zhang Xianzhong's head to the capital without any intention of showing merit.

Because although Cao Wenzhao voted for Li Jing, he was still the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty in name. As the chief general of the party who commanded the army to suppress the thieves, the emperor's ancestral grave was dug up, and he could not escape the responsibility no matter what.

Although after voting for Li Jing, Cao Wenzhao could not care about Zhu Youjian's punishment, but he had to consider the feelings of his colleagues.The so-called death of the rabbit and the sorrow of the fox, if he was in the position of a colleague, I am afraid that he would also be worried, not knowing how the emperor would deal with him.

As far as Cao Wenzhao knew, Zuo Liangyu, the general soldier in Henan, even wrote his suicide note after hearing that the Fengyang Imperial Tomb had been dug up by Zhang Xianzhong, and he was rushing here with all his might!

Now that Cao Wenzhao sent Zhang Xianzhong's head to the capital, after Zhu Youjian checked it, the anger pent up in his heart could be released more or less, and the punishment for the generals below would be lighter.

But Cao Wenzhao obviously underestimated Zhu Youjian.

For the digging of the ancestral grave, Zhu Youjian didn't blame anyone, but issued an edict of guilt.

As soon as Cao Wenzhao sent Zhang Xianzhong's head out, Zhu Youjian's edict came out from the capital.

(End of this chapter)