Chapter 474: Phi Island Changes Owners, Zhongdu Falls
After Huang Long's death, Shen Shikui, who took over as the commander-in-chief of the Dongjiang River, had not had an easy life in the past two years. Originally, when Mao Wenlong was there, the towns in Dongjiang had hundreds of thousands of soldiers, the navy stretched across the sea, and there was an endless stream of businessmen and travelers. Not only could they be self-sufficient, but they could also
They also went ashore to attack the Jin army and cut off the heads of the Tatars to report their merits. Separated by the sea, the Jin army had no way to take advantage of the Dongjiang River. They could make a fortune and perform meritorious deeds, so their life was naturally extremely nourishing.
But since Mao Wenlong's death, the former strong town of Dongjiang has fallen apart. First, Liu Xingzuo and Liu Xingzhi brothers helped Yuan Chonghuan suppress the resistance of Mao Wenlong's old troops, and attacked and killed Mao Wenlong's general Chen Jisheng. As a result, Mao Wenlong's old troops Zhang Tao and Shen Shikui were still hot.
Launched a mutiny and attacked and killed Liu Xingzhi and the Jurchen soldiers he led. In the end, the Dongjiang general army fell into the hands of the outsider Huang Long. Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming and other old Mao generals crossed the sea and defected to Sun Yuanhua. After Kong Youde made a rebellion in Dengzhou, Mao Wenlong's adopted son
Mao Chenglu also led 7,000 Dongjiang soldiers to participate in the rebellion, and eventually died.
The Dongjiang River has been in turmoil for several years, and Mao Wenlong left behind very few elite soldiers and generals. In order to open up the situation, Huang Long agreed with Shi Dayong to attack Lushun together, with the intention of gaining a foothold in Lushun and hoping to gain more support from the court.
Unexpectedly, Huanglong underestimated the enemy and committed suicide. The few remaining Dongjiang generals Xiang Zuolin, Zhang Dalu, Shang Keyi, Shang Kejin and others were all killed in battle. More than half of the 14,000 Dongjiang troops brought to Lushun were killed.
Only General Fan Dalong fled to Nanguan with more than 3,000 people, finally leaving some seeds for Dongjiang.
Who would have thought that these more than 3,000 seeds would cause the relationship between Dongjiang Town and Jinzhou Army to become troubled.
Shandong's soldiers and horses were not strong at all. The only soldiers in the hands of Governor Zhu Dadian were the last 2,000 Qi family troops in the Ming Dynasty, and the remaining more than 5,000 guard troops were of no use at all.
Shen Shikui went to Dongjiang to take over as the commander-in-chief of the army. As his superior, Zhu Dadian naturally wanted to give him some troops to help him, but Zhu Dadian was reluctant to give it to the Qi family army, and Shandong could not lose these two thousand Qi family army to those guard soldiers.
Shen Shikui himself didn't want it. In the end, Shen Shikui could only take over the sea with more than 80 soldiers and servants to take over.
I thought that Dongjiang was a big town after all, not much worse than Jiubian. Back then, Mao Wenlong had 100,000 men under his command. No matter how hard he worked in the past few years, he could still retain 20,000 to 30,000 men. However, when he got there, even
Adding in the old, weak and disabled soldiers, the total number of combatable soldiers in Dongjiang is just over 4,000.
As the commander-in-chief of a town, it is impossible not to have soldiers under his command. These days, the leader of the army is as panicked as he is without food. After learning that Huanglong was defeated, General Fan Dalong led 3,000 people and fled to Nanguan. Shen Shikui immediately ordered
He went to recall them. But the people he sent came back and told him that Fan Dalong and his more than 3,000 soldiers had long been taken in and reorganized by the Jinzhou Army.
Why do you, Shi Dayong, occupy my Dongjiang troops?
Shen Shikui was furious and took a boat to Lushun to find Shi Dayong's important person. Who would have thought that Shi Dayong would not see him at all? Today he said he was in Liaonan and had not returned yet, tomorrow he said he had crossed the sea and returned to Dengzhou, and the next day he said it was by chance.
It's hard to see people because of the cold. There are ten thousand reasons why Shen Shikui can't see people.
He was the Dongjiang Commander-in-Chief ordered by the imperial court, and Shi Dayong was only a Jinzhou general, so how dare he be so arrogant!
The clay figurine still has a three-part nature! Shi Dayong despised himself so much that Shen Shikui couldn't bear it anymore. In anger, he went back and ordered his troops to settle the score with Shi Dayong. Fortunately, his master's staff was not blind and grabbed him.
Tell him in a low voice that there are at least 20,000 to 30,000 Jinzhou troops in Lushun.
Twenty or thirty thousand people?
This number calmed Shen Shikui down. He only had 4,000 men at best, so how could he defeat others' 20,000 to 30,000 men?
He will definitely not come back. I heard that Shi Dayong can eat people without spitting out the bones. It would be even harder for him to swallow what he swallowed than to reach the sky.
But I really can’t swallow this breath. There is no way to fight, and I don’t have the shame to report this matter to the court. If the court knows that he will not even return his own soldiers, will he be able to carry on as a general? Maybe that Shi
Dayong also complained to the villain first, saying that he coveted his soldiers and horses.
There was no other way. After sending countless groups of people to Lushun to ask for people but to no avail, Shen Shikui decided to target the merchant ship sent by the Jinzhou Army to North Korea - he decided to seize the ship and people to see if Shi Dayong would let them go!
Since the Jinzhou Army occupied Lushun, the navy has basically changed its occupation to a caravan, running to North Korea every other month. I don’t know how the Koreans scraped together the food and business with the Jinzhou Army. Anyway, the Jinzhou Navy
When the division sailed back, Shen Shikui could see that the naval warships were half-drafted.
After devouring his own soldiers and making a fortune under his own nose, one can imagine the anger in Shen Shigui's heart. After making the decision to detain people and ships, he really felt like letting out the breath he had been holding in for a long time.
I thought that Shi Dayong would definitely send someone to contact him after knowing that his ship was impounded. However, it has been almost two months since the ship was impounded, and no one from Lushun has been here. Instead, Dongjiang has to support hundreds of sailors every day. It is really a loss.
Big.
Just when Shen Shikui's patience was about to run out, the Jinzhou Army from Lushun finally sent someone, and what came with them was an autographed letter from Lord Hou Xun, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue.
Hou Xun's letter asked Shen Shikui to put the overall situation first and release the seized ships immediately to avoid any conflict with the Jinzhou Army.
After reading the letter, Shen Shikui's face suddenly sank. After the master on the side read the letter, he also frowned and tentatively asked the owner: "Master, should we release this ship or not?"
"If we let it go like this, where will the town's reputation go?" Shen Shikui snorted, feeling extremely unhappy in his heart. He didn't expect that Shi Dayong would shamelessly go to the head of the Minister of the Ministry of Finance for his request. If he didn't agree to this matter, I'm afraid the household would
There is no more money and food from Dongjiang Town on the department's books.
"If you don't let me go, I'm afraid it won't be easy for Mr. Hou to explain." The master is very considerate of his master's family. Since his master took office, he has gone to Beijing twice to ask for money and food. There is no way, who will let Dongjiang's foundation be completely ruined?
It’s all gone. If the Ministry of Household Affairs doesn’t provide money and food, Dongjiang will really not be able to survive.
Shen Shikui hesitated for a long time and then said: "Let's hold on for a while. Shi Dayong dares to send troops to attack me? Go and tell the people who come, saying that the commander has also contracted the cold and cannot see guests for the time being. The ship will wait for a while."
Let’s talk about it next month.” Shen Shikui is trying to repay others with his own treatment.
The master nodded and said: "The little man will go and send a message to Shi Dayong's people now."
The people over there from Lushun heard that the master said that Shen Shikui was ill, and they had no good words to say, so they clasped their fists and left.
The other party came in a hurry and left in a hurry. From beginning to end, he didn't say a word except Hou Xun's letter. This made the master confused. He told Shen Shikui that Shen Shikui was also speechless. With a headache, he simply went back to his room to sleep.
I slept until midnight when I heard the soldiers shouting from outside: "Sir, something bad has happened. The Jinzhou Army from Lushun is coming!"
"What?!" Shen Shikui woke up and jumped out of bed. He didn't even bother to put on his clothes and rushed outside the house barefoot, only to hear the loud shouting of killing outside.
On the fourth day of the eleventh month of the seventh year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, the first guard of the newly formed army in Liaodong, led by the commander Shang Kexi, landed on Pidao, ending the Dongjiang Town founded by Mao Wenlong himself.
Shen Shikui, the commander-in-chief of the Dongjiang River, was sent out of the country with courtesy. Pi Island was renamed Zhenlu Island, and Shang Kexi led the first guard to garrison it.
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Fengyang was the land of Huaiyi in ancient times. It was called Zhongli Kingdom in the Spring and Autumn Period and Haozhou in the Sui Dynasty. It was the land of Longxing in the Ming Dynasty. One year after Emperor Taizu ascended the throne, he issued an edict to build the Imperial City of Zhongdu here.
In the seventh year of Hongwu's reign, he was named Fengyang.
After the lot was drawn in Rongyang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Yichuan, and Liu Guoneng led 8,000 thieves as the vanguard and approached Fengyang.
On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Li Zicheng sent his nephew Li Guo to sneak into Fengyang for reconnaissance. Li Guo brought back the news that Fengyang had three inner and outer cities with high and thick walls. The southern city wall was built on the slope of the north bank of the east-west large stream.
The west city wall is located at the western foot of the ups and downs of Ma'an Mountain, relying on the mountain; the north city wall is located on the shore of the lake, relying on the water as a barrier; the east city wall has Dushan, Fenghuangzui Mountain is high and can be relied on. The imperial city in the middle
It is all built of bricks and stones. There is a moat of more than 30 feet wide outside and two or three feet deep, which is difficult to cross. There are also 10,000 defenders in the city and 40,000 officers and soldiers stationed outside the city. It is really a city that is easy to defend but difficult to attack.
It's a fortified city and an iron fortress. If you attack it in the dark, it will be difficult, so it's better to defeat it wisely.
Li Zicheng adopted Li Guo's advice and decided to outwit Fengyang after discussing with Zhang Yichuan and Liu Guoneng. He ordered Li Guo to lead a hundred elite soldiers, disguised as beggars, monks, Taoist priests, traffickers and pawns, and sneaked into the city, waiting for the arrival of the army of King Gao Yingxiang and the Eighth King Zhang Xianzhong.
, scheduled for the third watch of the Lantern Festival, we should cooperate inside and outside to seize the city together.
The Fengyang Governor's Office is not in Fengyang but in Huai'an. All matters in the city are handled by the patrol censor Wu Zhenying. After hearing about the approaching rogue bandits, he summoned the prefect Yan Rongxuan for discussion and said: "According to the annual rules, the city will be brightly lit.
Celebrate the Lantern Festival on the fifth and sixteenth days and have fun with the people. Now the Shaanxi bandits have been stationed 200 miles away. If they take the opportunity to break in, the disaster will be great. It is better to temporarily suspend the lighting of lanterns this year and close the city gates to strictly guard against thieves.
Sneaking into the city to cause trouble."
Yan Rongxuan had just given birth to a son, and had decided to hold a lantern banquet in the mansion. The invitations had been scattered everywhere. Unwilling to change them, he hurriedly dissuaded him: "Sir, don't worry too much. Those who are just rogue bandits are plundering everywhere, and they are attacked by few people."
How can this small town be compared with the imperial city of Zhongdu? Carefully check the people who come and go into the city, close the city gates tightly at night, and don't let anyone in. Send more soldiers to patrol along the streets, so that those grass bandits can still fly in and disturb the residents.
?In previous years, from the 13th to the 17th of the first lunar month, it has been a common practice to light lanterns for five nights and stay up all night. If this year a ban on lanterns is due to a few bandits coming out, wouldn't it show weakness to the enemy and make people laugh? The people have already prepared for it.
Good lights, if you continue to ban them, you will inevitably feel resentful and speak dirty words, which may damage your reputation. If the news is spread and Lord Futai knows about it, how can you excuse yourself? The performance appraisal is about to take place in three years, and your future will be ruined.
It’s important, don’t let this matter slip up.”
After hearing these words, Wu Zhenying thought for a long time, nodded and said: "If it hadn't been reminded by your government, it would have almost made a big mistake. However, we still need to be on guard against those rogue bandits, so we will reduce the five-day period to three days and take care of both sides."
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Fengyang is not only Anhui, but also one of the few famous cities and counties in the south of the Yangtze River. It has been the central capital for more than 200 years. The city, palaces and palaces are like those of the capital, Zhongshu Province, the Governor's Office, the Censor's Platform, the Imperial Ancestral Temple, the Grand Shrine, and the Circle Qiu.
, Fangqiu, Sun and Moon Sheji, Shanchuan Altar, Million Granary, Observation Deck, Prince's House, Sergeant Barracks, City God's Temple, Heroes' Temple, Temple of Emperors of the Past Dynasties, Huitong Pavilion, Zhongdu Guozixue, Drum Tower, Bell Tower, etc.
The Lantern Festival lights are second only to Nanjing, the capital of China, and also famous in the south of the Yangtze River. Just after noon on the 14th, the city's 28th Street and 94th Street were decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations. Light grids were put up in front of every house and various kinds of decorations were hung.
Lanterns. Rich families tied up a shed in the courtyard, placed five-color screens and cannon lanterns, and hung famous calligraphy and paintings as well as exotic antiques and toys on all sides. The Remaining Secretary of Zhongdu built two Aoshan beside the Jinshui Bridge south of the Meridian Gate of the Imperial City.
, there are two red and yellow dragons on each plate, and a lantern is lit on each piece of linjia, spraying clean water from the mouth. Hongwu Street and Xuanwu Street are filled with countless lanterns of various colors, competing for beauty. It is time to light up the lanterns the next day.
, the most lively. Men, women and children went out to watch the lanterns, play dragon lanterns, floats, run land boats, play flower sticks, and walk on stilts... Teams went back and forth, walking in the streets to celebrate the Lantern Festival, with music and singing filling the ears.
During the first watch, Li Guo and a few of his soldiers mingled with the crowd and wandered on the street. From time to time, he saw groups of beggars, randomly wearing sheepskin rags, holding wooden sticks and holding broken bowls, pickling and begging.
He looked around begging for help, and found out that most of them were soldiers disguised as soldiers. When he got closer, he whispered to the people in the city to patrol closely and be careful not to be seen through.
I was watching the lanterns and fireworks for fun when I walked in front of the City God's Temple. There was a huge crowd of people and the sound of gongs and drums. Just as I was about to turn around and retreat, someone shouted to get out of the way. I saw a group of men and women singing and dancing, meandering towards me.
After watching the crowd for a long time, the second watch drum sounded upstairs. Li Guo and others squeezed out of the crowd, went back to their residence, took their weapons and hid them, and headed towards Hongwu Gate in the south of the city.
At this time, a bright moon rose close to the sky, illuminating the streets and lanes with silvery white. Li Guo saw from a distance a group of Ming army cavalry in full armor, patrolling along the city, and hurriedly hid in a secluded place to wait.
Gu Junen pretended to be a wandering doctor, and two young soldiers pretended to be boys. One was carrying a medicine box on his back, and the other was carrying a medicine basket, which contained sulfur, flame, and saltpeter, which should be used to ignite fire. They were wandering in front of the City God's Temple.
When the time came, the three people went to the back door of the temple and set a fire. Suddenly the flames were rising and the smoke covered the moon. The three people rushed to the front of the temple and shouted: "It's a fire, it's a fire!"
Everyone outside was in the mood for fun and did not pay attention to this incident. They panicked and fled in all directions, causing chaos. Gu Junen and others took advantage of the chaos and set fires everywhere. After a while, the fire turned half of the city red. Li Guo and others saw the fire starting.
, with a cry, they seized the city gate and let the ambush troops outside the city come in. Along Hongwu Street, they rushed and slashed at the Daming Gate.
Wu Zhenying had just fallen asleep when he heard that the thieves had taken over the outer city. He hurriedly led his family members to escape into the imperial city. He raised the wooden bridge over the moat and supervised the battle in the turret. The city gate was open, the moonlight was like day, and a group of cavalry surrounded him.
A black horse galloped over. The majestic general on the horse was none other than Li Zicheng. He waved his whip and ordered: "Capture the palace and welcome King Chuang into the city!"
Wu Zhenying was a Confucian scholar who had been wandering around in writing. He had never seen such a powerful and powerful man. He was so frightened that he sweated profusely and ordered arrows to be fired to drive back the thieves. Li Zicheng also ordered arrows to be fired at the city. Both sides suffered casualties and were in a stalemate. They were suffering.
Thinking of a strategy to break the city, he suddenly saw a huge fire rising from the southwest, turning half of the sky red and turning the bright moon into golden color. Wu Zhenying, who was in the corner tower at the head of the city, even looked up and suddenly realized: "This is a big disaster.
The thieves must have burned down the imperial mausoleum." Just as he was beating his chest and stamping his feet, countless defeated officers and soldiers poured in from outside the city. They were rushed and killed by Li Zicheng and others, and fled away.
Li Zicheng was afraid that the officers and soldiers stationed outside the city had come to rescue him. He was being attacked from both sides. He was about to withdraw his troops when a sudden sound of horse hooves came. As he approached, the tall and powerful man on the horse shouted: "Don't panic, let's come." help you!"
Li Zicheng took a closer look and saw who it was if it wasn't Zhang Xianzhong, the Eight Great Kings!