Chapter 668: Please make me emperor, Commander-in-Chief
The relationship between two people is not easy.
You can compare your feelings to others, you can confide in your heart, but there will always be something tacitly understood.
When two people become leaders of two forces, the situation becomes even more complicated.
In fact, it is the same for any person, organization, or force. When you are weak and disadvantaged, it is easiest to find good friends, stick together for warmth, and work hard to survive.
But when they are motivated, strong, and intend to break through the existing environment, they will more often choose to stay away from others and live alone.
When the relationship is good, they drift apart, but when the relationship is bad, there will be internal strife for power and gain.
This is human nature.
This is even more true when it extends to the exchanges between the two forces.
It’s not that Gao Yingxiang doesn’t understand geography. He loves reading and is a serious fan of the Three Kingdoms.
He was very aware of the importance of Hanzhong to his desire to enter Sichuan and establish his power.
Hanzhong is the handle of the Qinling Mountains. It is in Shaanxi, and the tip of the knife faces Chengdu; it is in Sichuan, and the tip of the knife points directly to Xi'an.
But the situation is not up to people.
In fact, according to Gao Yingxiang's original thinking, a Hanzhong Mansion was enough for him to meet his survival needs.
Sichuan will make progress if it can make progress, but it doesn't matter if it can't.
Unfortunately, the flood that trapped him in Hanbei destroyed the land in Hanzhong.
No leader of the peasant army knew more about farming than Gao Yingxiang.
Because of this, he knew best that this waterlogging disaster had deprived the Hanzhong Basin of its ability to recuperate.
Floods take away soil fertility and deposit silt, making it difficult for the submerged land to grow food in a short period of time.
It is necessary to drain the accumulated water, clean up the dead plants and weeds, loosen the soil and plow the ground, spread lime to disinfect, and repair the ditch stems. Any of these requires a lot of labor to restore the soil.
Gao Yingxiang had the ability to drive a large number of strong laborers to work hard and conquer cities and territories; but he did not have the ability to drive them to clear canals and build ditches.
This made life difficult for him in Hanbei, and he could no longer control the army.
There are traces to follow for the development of anything.
Among the first-generation leaders of the civilian army in Shaanxi, there were Wang Zuogao and Wang Jiayin who attracted firepower; there were also Gao Yingxiang who was tolerant and able to unite leaders from all walks of life.
His personality traits make him more like the leader of multiple leaders rather than the leader.
The opposite of this trait is naturally not that much restraint and control over his subordinates.
The most ambitious and fierce people around him, the older generation Bujimu, the younger generation Zhang Yichuan, and the rising star Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, all raised their own flags.
That's because the space environment at that time gave those who had the ability to fight out a chance to fight out.
Now, his direct subordinates have a large number of young people who grew up in the war and have become the mainstay of the King's Battalion.
Some of them are heroic generals, and some behave like bandits.
But the same thing is that their whole bodies are covered with sharp knives, and all of them are killing stars. When they rush out, they destroy the city and kill people everywhere.
Unable to rush out, they are like a group of hedgehogs gathered together in one place, only to hurt each other.
Sooner or later this will hurt Gao Yingxiang, so he needs Liu Chengzong's political support.
Besides, he really couldn't govern Hanzhong.
His men can govern an area, and there are many people who can guard one area, but none of them can afford to spend two years in Hanzhong, where no food can be grown, without food.
Therefore, Gao Yingxiang asked Gao Yingen to talk to Liu Chengzong, and what he found out at the beginning was the best situation in his mind.
Gao Yingxiang led his troops across the Han River, and Hanzhong was governed by officials dispatched from the Marshal's Office - this did not mean that Gao Yingxiang did not station troops in Hanzhong.
The bottom line for Gao Yingxiang is Chengdu Prefecture.
In fact, before Gao Yingxiang came up with the idea of cooperation, he considered not being able to enter Sichuan.
That's why he planned to enter Sichuan in the name of Liu Chengzong.
Gao Yingxiang was trapped in northern Han Dynasty by heavy rain for half a year and studied a lot of things.
I increasingly believe that Liu Chengzong is the most promising person to conquer the world today.
He started researching from this surname.
This surname has no meaning.
It does not understand other words, has no specific meaning, is not considered an ancient surname, and is not the name of a feudal country.
Very magical.
The reason why this surname appeared is that the first Xia Dynasty ancestor with this name had the Sichuan character pattern on his hand crooked when he was born. The family thought this hand pattern was auspicious, so they copied it and called it this, and the character came into being.
When our ancestor grew up, he learned how to raise dragons from the Chuanlong family, and was given the surname Yulong by the king of the Xia Dynasty.
After completing his studies, he came back and was fed to the dragon of the Xia Dynasty to death. He ran away in fear of crime, and his descendants took the surname Liu.
The only thing that makes this word meaningful is that people with this surname love to be emperor.
He is naturally passionate about power and is the most rebellious surname in the world.
Throughout the dynasties, they were either on the way to becoming emperors, or on the road to rebellion and becoming emperors.
With the bonus of the Prophecy of the Golden Sword, it seems that they should be emperors if they should not do other jobs.
The prophecy of the Golden Sword is not a prophecy.
It is not artificially created like a fox barking, a fish belly book, or a stone man.
It's the guy with this surname who is so passionate about entrepreneurship that he has succeeded time and time again.
As conditions are gradually relaxed, people believe that there are certain objective laws.
The law inspired more entrepreneurial enthusiasm in later generations. As long as the emperor was not named Liu, there must be someone named Liu who was doing something.
Even sometimes it is useless if the emperor's surname is Liu, and he should rebel when he should.
Gao Yingxiang felt that these people were like lunatics, capable of causing rebellion to the point of making people tremble with fear.
Because others have reasons for rebelling, it may be because of the current situation, the people are in dire straits, or they may be fighting for power and gain.
But for a long period of history, because this surname brought strong legitimacy, they started to rebel just because of this surname.
There are even people who don't want to rebel because of this surname and are considered to be planning to rebel.
The key is the evil nature of people with this surname.
The cost of their rebellion and the threshold for template replication are very low.
There were many more rebellious leaders like Li Yuan, Li Shimin, etc. Their families had no foundation and could not imitate them.
It's different for people named Liu.
It's good to be born rich, but it's also great to be poor.
It doesn't matter if you are rich in knowledge, but it is even worse if you don't know Chinese characters.
People who like dogs and horses and are keen on making friends are not the same people on the streets?
If there is a little more heroic atmosphere, then the sense of instant vision will come.
Even if this hero dies on the road of rebellion, there may be a younger brother who can summon meteorites to fill the gap.
Of course, what cannot be ignored is that Gao Yingxiang also found that more people with the surname Liu were actually embarrassed, and they did not dare to look up the genealogy and could not tell others who their ancestors were in an honest way.
Not to mention that in metaphysics, Liu Shishi was born with a vision from heaven, and the Heavenly Dog eclipsed the sun. In Shanxi, even hailstones avoided him, and he led an army to rampage through the smallpox plague, as if he was in an uninhabited land.
Gao Yingxiang was stunned for a moment.
Sichuan is even more closely related to people named Liu.
Some chieftains south of Chengdu are still listening to Master Zhuge and guarding the country for the Han Dynasty.
Objective strength cannot be increased in a short period of time, so for Gao Yingxiang, entering Sichuan, obviously using the banner of Liu can increase the chance of success.
This is a necessity.
Therefore, Gao Yingxiang believed that if he could not enter Sichuan as Liu's general, then he himself would not be able to enter.
He gave Gao Yingen a lot of room for negotiation.
A good situation would be to exchange official appointments in Hanzhong for political support.
The worst outcome is that you can give up everything except Chengdu Prefecture in order to get a chance to enter Sichuan.
When it comes to negotiation, you first present the most ideal situation, and then let others sit back and pay back the money.
In the end, it often ends up with both parties holding their noses and angrily admitting it.
Thanks to the large space for negotiation and the fact that the Marshal's Mansion has competent ministers and principals, everything went smoothly.
Zhang Xianzhong had special coercion and intimidation skills, and King Han was also very cowardly.
Gao Yingen was left torn between being a grandson and a grandfather, and he was confused about his family status.
After a few days of back and forth, the two sides finally concluded the surrender of Gao Yingxiang's ministry.
The conditions are that Hanzhong, Songpan, Long'an, Baoning, Kuizhou, and Chongqing have one guard in each of the four prefectures. Officials are selected and troops are stationed, all dispatched from the Marshal's Office.
However, before Gao Yingxiang's troops captured Chengdu, Mahu, Xuzhou, Zunyi, and Chongqing, they also stationed troops in northern Sichuan, and before they captured Chengdu, they needed military supplies from northern Sichuan.
On this basis, Gao Yingxiang will be given the post of Sichuan Chief Military Officer, and his old Eighth Battalion will be reorganized into the First Southern Sichuan Brigade and the Second Southern Sichuan Brigade.
At the same time, Liu Chengzong made a promise that on the day Gao Yingxiang captured Chengdu, officials would come to Sichuan and grant him the position of Prime Minister of Sichuan Military and Civil Affairs.
The Second Brigade in Southern Sichuan will be reorganized into the Zhenyuan Brigade, stationed in Pingyue, Zhenyuan and other places in Guizhou; another Zhennan Brigade will be established in Qujing, Wuding and other places in Yunnan.
Of course, Hanzhong has not been captured yet, and Sichuan is so far away that we can't even see it. Talking about Yunnan and Guizhou is undoubtedly trying to spread the pie.
Once the two sides reached an agreement, Gao Ying'en sent his followers to rush into Hanzhong on fast horses to tell Gao Yingxiang the news.
Gao Yingxiang’s reply is faster.
However, in just five days, he sent his subordinate Mi Jinshan to deliver the reply.
Mi Jinshan came over to deliver a letter, and after entering the Xi'an Mansion, he started asking around about Cao Yao, Yang Yao, Zhong Hu, Wang Wenxiu, and Gao Yingdeng, one by one, just like a groupie.
He is always cheerful when meeting people, and he can't say more than three sentences before he pats his chest: "We are also soldiers of the Lion Battalion!"
This is a junior among the juniors. Back then, he and his uncle were dependent on each other and entered the Lion Camp. The uncle was a soldier and Mi Jinshan was an auxiliary soldier. He was once a subordinate who carried heavy supplies.
During the Battle of Huanglong Mountain, his uncle broke his leg and was unable to go to Guyuan with the large army, so the uncle and nephew stayed in Yan'an and went to Shizigou. Because they were good at fighting and charging, they were called generals.
But later, Li Zicheng came along, and he was more aggressive, so he was called Mi Chuangjiang.
Mi Jinshan brought Gao Yingxiang's reply, which was more interesting to Liu Shizi.
Gao Yingxiang was very satisfied with the conditions and had only one request: Chongqing Prefecture did not want it.
Liu Chengzong wondered whether you love Chongqing or not. If not, just go and beat him. What do you say to me?
They also sent someone specially to tell them.
Mi Jinshan said: "Commander, what King Gao Chuang means is that the Chongqing Prefecture must be returned to the Commander-in-Chief, and the Commander-in-Chief must station troops there. Even if Chongqing Prefecture is not needed, the First Department of Generals must be stationed in Chongqing to assist in defense."
Liu Shishi was stunned.
Facing his doubts, Mi Jinshan explained again: "Commander, there is Zhongzhou in Chongqing Prefecture, and there is a place below Zhongzhou called Shili Xuanwei Division."
Shi Ling Xuanwei Department.
Liu Chengzong understood that it was Qin Liangyu's territory.
Zhang Xianzhong happened to be beside him, so he asked: "The white-pole soldiers are so powerful, no one dares to fight them?"
"White-armed soldier? Huh."
Zhang Xianzhong scoffed and explained: "The commander-in-chief moved to the northwest and never marched into Zhili, so he didn't know anything. The most powerful ones are not the white-armed soldiers."
"The white pole soldiers are no different from the Yongning seedlings of Ah Liu under the commander's command. Long poles and heavy armor are not a concern, not to mention that all the old white pole soldiers have died long ago."
"Zhang Fengyi, the daughter-in-law of chieftain Shi Ling, and his nephews Qin Yiming and Qin Gongming led the local soldiers. They were all beaten by us. Zhang Fengyi was also beaten to death by Huang Wazi and his gang at Linming Pass in Guangping Prefecture."
"Even Yaohuang's gang of gangsters from Northern Sichuan has a man named Qin. The leader named Ma is from Shili. He leads a group of thieves with white sticks to commit chaos and robbery. He is not very powerful."
After Zhang Xianzhong finished speaking, he said seriously to Liu Chengzong: "Qin Liangyu is the most powerful one."
Mentioning Qin Liangyu, the arrogant Zhang Xianzhong was particularly wary: "That old demon woman is different from others. Her second brother died in Hunhe, her younger brother died in Yongning, and her daughter-in-law died in Guangping. She holds the imperial edict of the late emperor, and the civil and military officials should not be suspicious of her courtesy.
"
"With this, everyone will be invincible, let alone the old demon woman who will strive for merit all her life. With military strategy, she will be invincible."
When Zhang Xianzhong explained this, Liu Chengzong understood.
A country as vast as the Ming Dynasty cannot be maintained by a single class and hierarchical system. It requires heavy supervision and multiple jurisdictions to keep most people in their place.
Everyone who benefits from it will inevitably suffer from it.
It is like a county magistrate who, when friendly troops approach the city during a war, requests to enter the city for repairs. It is his duty to never dare to put troops into the city.
Because the army has no influence on him outside the city, but once it enters the city and rebels, his responsibility will be greater.
People will always hold back. Where there are people, there will be people holding back.
Emperor Tianqi's edict to Qin Liangyu played this role, and the civil and military officials were not allowed to be suspicious.
Qin Liangyu can enter any city he leads his troops into. Anyway, the emperor has spoken, and even if her troops demolish the city, Tianqi will be fully responsible.
This means that Qin Liangyu, who has always been a talker in Shi Ding, can still get the green light to do things after leaving Shi Ding.
This is fighting power.
"If that's the case, you go back and tell Master Gao that I agree to the conditions."
Liu Chengzong smiled and said to Mi Jinshan: "Let him not worry about Shi Ding Tusi. When he enters Sichuan, I will deal with her."
Part of Qin Liangyu's combat effectiveness came from the emperor's prestige, which prevented civil and military bureaucrats from restraining him.
So for Liu Chengzong, Qin Liangyu's ability has weakened now.
Because Sichuan is surrounded by Shaanxi, Qinghai, and Huguang, it has been difficult to contact the imperial court.
As long as Sichuan's connection with the outside world is cut off, Sichuan officials will soon start to hinder Qin Liangyu.
But before Mi Jinshan could leave, Lang Yulin walked quickly outside the hall and whispered a few words in Liu Chengzong's ear, making him widen his eyes.
At the end of the twelfth lunar month, when the eighth year of Chongzhen was about to come to an end, Zhang Yichuan, the commander-in-chief of Henan Province who had been missing for more than a month, actually sent someone to deliver a letter to Xi'an Mansion.
Liu Shishi immediately grabbed the letter, opened the wax seal and unfolded the letter, but as soon as he read a sentence, he rolled his eyes.
On the letter's header, it was clearly written: Zhang Yichuan, a humble official, begs the commander-in-chief to confer a humble official as emperor.