On the third day of March, Pei Shaokuan sold Shi Dayong important information - Gao Qiqian already knew about the Jinzhou Army buying grain from Lin Jiantai, and also knew about Shi Dayong's borrowing troops from the Sichuan Army.
Against Shi Dayong, he was prepared to kill him quickly, but he did not take the lead and mobilize Jin Guochen's Jiliao troops to kill the Jinzhou army. Instead, he wrote a memorial about Shi Dayong's various crimes and ordered him to escort the rebel prisoners to the capital.
Bai Shangyi presented this document to the emperor.
He wanted to get rid of Shi Dayong with the help of the emperor in an honest and fair manner, but he still underestimated Shi Dayong's courage, his step-by-step plan, and his unwillingness to label his political opponents as harsh frontier soldiers and murderers of meritorious generals.
, but cost the lives of Bai Shangyi and more than 300 officers and soldiers of the Beijing camp.
The price Pei Shaokuan paid for selling this information was not small, a total of five thousand taels of silver.
Whether Zhao Xueqi tipped off Gao Qiqian or not, Shi Dayong no longer needed to know. Everyone was dead, so he still asked what the meaning was. He had to make a choice now and wait for the emperor to receive Gao Qiqian's black report.
He could either depose and escort him to Beijing for prosecution, or take a desperate risk, intercept and kill Bai Shangyi, and then fly away to do his own thing. He had no other choice, because strictly speaking, the crimes listed in Gao Qiqian's memorial were all Shi Dayong's.
Whatever he has actually done, any one of them can make him lose his official position and be punished.[
Instead of waiting to be dismissed from office, it is better to put all your efforts into quelling the rebellion alone and prove yourself to the emperor with practical actions.
In the end, Shi Dayong chose to take a desperate risk. He led the Wolf Cavalry and his own army to ambush Bai Shangyi.
Unexpectedly, this ambush had an unexpected harvest. The 60,000 taels of gold and silver that Lin Jiantai knocked from Shi Dayong turned out to be among Bai Shangyi's team. Unfortunately, Mr. Lin felt that the army was outside and it was not safe to carry so much gold and silver with him, so he sent
He was escorted back to Beijing but was too showy. When he finally learned that Bai Shangyi was going back to Beijing to run an errand, he was overjoyed and actually hid the gold and silver in the team returning to Beijing.
But I don’t know what Lin Jiantai’s face would look like after he found out that the team returning to Beijing was ambushed by unknown soldiers and all his money was stolen.
On the fourth day of March, the Jinzhou Army broke out of camp at night. Without the knowledge of most of the sergeants, the entire army turned towards Shahe, then detoured around Shandong and went straight to Pingdu County, which is forty miles away from Laizhou.
In Pingdu City, there were only a mob of more than a thousand rebels who knew nothing about the officers and soldiers who suddenly came from behind from the Shandong direction.
In order not to reveal their whereabouts, the Jinzhou army killed a prefect sent by Shandong to investigate, a guard and more than 600 Lu soldiers on the way in.
Shi Dayong was scrambling for time. He wanted to break Pingdu before Gao Qi sneaked to the court to report the defection of the Jinzhou Army and the court ordered an encirclement and suppression.
In the past few days when the Jinzhou Army made a major advance, the banditry situation in Henan became serious.
Several consecutive years of famine have made life difficult for the people of the Central Plains. People are confused and victims are everywhere. Therefore, when some bandits from Shanxi and Shaanxi broke through the natural barrier of the Yellow River and entered Henan, the people of Henan became a source of soldiers for the bandits. There were even cases of bandits.
A bandit army of more than a hundred people passed by, and in one day it turned into a spectacle of tens of thousands of people. The bandit army passed through the county, and the Henan officers and soldiers who were so few in the city did not dare to go out. Chen Qiyu was appointed as the fifth officer.
After becoming the governor of the province, Xuanmo, the governor of Henan, was ordered to focus mainly on the four prefectures in northern Henan north of the Yellow River. He did not make careful preparations for the defense of the areas south of the Yellow River, resulting in a serious shortage of troops in southern Henan. Therefore,
When the bandit army broke through the Yellow River, Yuan Daquan, the Chinese military officer in charge of defending the Yellow River in Henan, did not expect it at all. Even if he did, there was nothing he could do because he had no troops available, so he had no choice but to die fighting to serve the country.
Within a few days, the rebel army attacked the three counties of Mianchi, Yiyang, and Lushi in Henan. Although Xuanmo, the governor of Henan, reluctantly accepted the challenge, he was only chasing after him. Xuanmo knew that Henan's strength could not match the overwhelming number of people.
Like the rebel army in Yiyang County, when the rebel army arrived, the officials in charge of the city and the city walls were in ruins, so the rebel army easily entered the city without any effort. In the case of Lushi County, it was also because the seal official Jin Rushan escaped in advance and did not organize resistance.
, allowing the thieves to easily succeed. Therefore, Xuanmo had no choice but to quickly report to the court and ask for reinforcements.
Fortunately, the deputy general Zuo Liangyu who came from Changping quickly crossed the river in pursuit and filled the emptiness south of the Yellow River, so the situation was slightly contained. Later, under the strict orders of Emperor Chongzhen, generals such as Tang Jiuzhou and Li Bei also crossed the river.
Participate in a pincer attack.
In fact, after the rebels crossed the river, the only general who actually took the initiative to cross the river and pursue them quickly was Zuo Liangyu. Zuo Liangyu was originally transferred from Liaodong to defend Henan. Henan was under his jurisdiction south of the Yellow River when the rebels entered.
The bandits must be encircled and suppressed quickly, otherwise they will not be able to keep their official title.
Zuo Liangyu, who participated in the Battle of Xiaolinghe and the Battle of Jinzhou, worked very hard to suppress the bandits, and his Changping soldiers were also very brave and capable. Under his attack, the bandit army that entered Henan was forced to divide into several large groups.
Some stayed in Henan for activities, while others rushed out of Henan and advanced towards neighboring provinces. The bandits who stayed in Henan first attacked southward and entered Nanyang, Ruzhou and Runing Prefecture for activities. But soon they
They were defeated by officers and soldiers from all walks of life.
Guo Tianxing was defeated by General Tang Jiuzhou, who was dragged out of bed by Xuan Mo, the governor of Henan Province, and led his troops in a sneak attack all night in the snow and wind. Guo Tianxing was completely unprepared against the officers and soldiers who took advantage of the snowy night to attack Guo Tianxing, and was beaten by Tang Jiuzhou.
I was caught off guard and suffered a big loss.
Guo Tianxing fled at night, and Tang Jiuzhou led his troops to pursue him for 60 miles and killed more than 400 people. The next day, they pursued him to Hengshan Town in Suichuan County, Runing Prefecture, and killed 600 people.
Zuo Liangyu defeated a bandit army at Bao'an Post in Ye County and captured the leader Yilong, Shangshanhu, Zhangzhifei, Xiao Liguang and others. Taking advantage of the victory, Zuo Liangyu pursued the enemy and sent troops into Biyang and Runing Prefectures in Nanyang Prefecture.
After various Ming armies in Henan showed their power, the rebels were beaten and fled everywhere, triggering a chain of guilt. On the sixth day of March, even the Jingying camp, which had never been looked down upon, showed its power. Liu Lingyu's troops in the Jingying camp, which had always been looked down upon, were
Under the personal supervision of Commander Liu, they actually also fought a great victory in Niuti Village in Biyang, beheading thousands of people. General Zhang Yingchang's troops fought several battles in Lingbao and Pingshan, and defeated the remaining rebel forces in Henan.
was defeated, and its leader Zhang Youyi was captured. After these major battles, the bandit troops remaining in Henan, except for a few who escaped, were basically eliminated by the official army.[
At the same time, a large number of thieves took advantage of Henan and entered Huguang, Shaanxi, and even Sichuan. Chuang Wang Gao Yingxiang and other troops entered the mountainous area from Lushi. The Lushi mountainous area, with its high mountains and lofty mountains, has always been a gathering place for illegal miners.
Di. Gao Yingxiang's tribes, guided by miners, entered Neixiang and penetrated into Huguang from Neixiang, Dengzhou and Xichuan.
At the end of March, Gao Yingxiang and others led his troops disguised as pilgrims and entered Yunxi County, which belongs to Yunyang Prefecture in Huguang, and then attacked Shangjin, north of Yunxi. Soon, Fangxian and Baokang counties were also captured. For a time, Yunxi County
Within Yang Mansion, tens of thousands of thieves gathered.
The Yunyang area has been a headache for the government since ancient times. It is a relatively late-developed mountainous area. Its terrain is surrounded by peaks and mountains. There are dense forests on the sides of the mountains. There are only a few complicated trails and turbulent streams filling it with no end in sight.
When outsiders enter, such as local guides who are familiar with the terrain, there will be no distinction between east, west, north and south. For the rebels who want to avoid the officers and soldiers, this is really a good place to play hide and seek. Not only the mountainous terrain is conducive to the rebels, but also Yunyang
The geographical location also makes it easy to attack from all directions.
The northeast of Yunyang can lead to Xichuan and Neixiang in Henan; its northwest can lead to Pingli, Xing'an, Xunyang, and Shanyang in Shaanxi; its southwest can lead to Dachang and other places in Sichuan; and its south can lead to Dachang and other places in Sichuan.
It leads to Jingmen from Huguang, Yuan'an, and Yiling; in the southeast, it can also go directly to Xiangyang from the Han River.
In the fifth year of Hongwu, Emperor Taizu appointed Deng Yu as the general to conquer the south. He deployed troops against Yunyang and nearby areas for a year, killing almost all the ethnic minorities and Han refugees in the area who were dissatisfied with the rule of the new dynasty, and ordered the mountains to be banned.
Poor people from nearby prefectures and counties were not allowed to enter the mountains to reclaim wasteland and immigrate. However, the mountain ban policy did not prevent the immigration of a large number of refugees. Before Chenghua, the number had reached one million.
In the first year of Chenghua, Liu Tong and Shi Long from Henan led the refugees to rebel in Fang County. The imperial court sent troops to encircle and suppress them, and it took a lot of money to suppress them. As the officers and soldiers went into the mountains to hunt and kill indiscriminately, it is said that all men over 11 years old were beheaded.
, coupled with continuous droughts, the number of refugees increased greatly. In the sixth year of Chenghua, Liu Qianjin's subordinate Li Yuan from Henan rebelled again. The imperial court sent Xiang Zhong, the censor, to governor Henan, Huguang, Jing, and Xiang for military affairs, and sent troops to encircle and suppress the people, killing them brutally. Xiang Zhong returned
The refugees in the mountains were forcibly repatriated, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths due to persecution. Even with such high pressure, the refugees could not be prevented from entering the mountains. By the twelfth year of Chenghua, the number of refugees gathered in the Jingxiang area increased to hundreds of thousands.
In desperation, the imperial court had no choice but to change its strategy and separate the mountainous area at the junction of Huguang, Henan, and Shaanxi provinces, and set up Yunyang Prefecture, with 7 counties under the jurisdiction of Huguang.
The rebel army penetrated deep into the Yunyang Mountain area, and it was like a fish in water, like a human being. The imperial court also knew that the Yunyang Mountain area was a troublesome place. Therefore, when Xiong Mingyu, the Secretary of the Ministry of War, learned that the traitor army had gone to the inner township of Nanyang, Ye County
At that time, he had already foreseen the danger and possibility of the rebel army entering Yunyang Mountain in Huguang. He reported to Emperor Chongzhen and asked for early preparation. By the time Emperor Chongzhen read the report, the rebel army had already entered Yunyang.
However, they were severely attacked by Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of Xunyang. The rebels were unable to reach Huguang and were forced to turn around and flee to Henan.
Memorials reporting victory from various places flew to the capital like snow flakes. The young emperor was very satisfied with the fighting situation in various places. The only thing he was dissatisfied with was that the situation in Denglai was still not open. Liu Yulie, Zhang Guochen and Gao Qiqian gathered tens of thousands of elite soldiers, each
The first report to the court stated that the plan would be completed immediately, but after waiting and waiting, there was no news that the rebels had accepted the plan. Instead, news came that Jinzhou Counselor Shi Dayong led his army to intercept and kill the eunuchs, seize the military pay and lead his troops to defect.
This news shocked Chongzhen and he couldn't believe it. Because the factory minister Cao Huachun was in Gusu and the Jin Yiwei had already withdrawn from the army, Chongzhen didn't know the truth about Shi Dayong's defection.
Feeling depressed, he summoned Wang Chengen and asked directly: "Do you know about Shi Dayong?"
Wang Chengen nodded and said: "Dongchang got the news first, and I know it."
Chongzhen asked again: "Have you implemented what I told you?"
Wang Chengen hesitated and shook his head: "No."
"No?" Chongzhen was startled, and then got angry: "You are so courageous, my servant. You dare not do anything I tell you!"