At this time, the second officer of the Liao army, Geng Zhongming, who was also known as the "Three Mining Disciples of Shandong" together with Kong Youde, was being held in isolation in Dengzhou City for examination because his younger brother participated in the second Pidao Mutiny not long ago.
Since it was the time to employ people, Sun Yuanhua asked Geng Zhongming to perform meritorious service. But what Sun Yuanhua did not expect was that Kong Youde had already ordered the Liao soldiers in Dengzhou to surrender, and sneaked back to Dengzhou with Zhang Keda's defeated troops to instigate a rebellion against Geng Zhongming.
On the Spring Festival night of the fifth year of Chongzhen's reign, Liao army officers Geng Zhongming and Chen Guangfu responded from inside to open the city gate. The rebels swarmed in from the east gate of Dengzhou, and Dengzhou City fell.
There is a saying that a strong fortress can always be breached from within, and this statement is indeed true. After the fall of Dengzhou, the commander-in-chief Zhang Keda committed suicide and died for his country.
But Sun Yuanhua was caught in a dilemma. On the one hand, he was a Confucian scholar, and Confucian education required him to sacrifice his life for righteousness. At the same time, he was a Catholic, and Catholic teaching required him to cherish himself and not harm himself. So Sun Yuanhua chose to commit suicide but did not die. He was saved.
Came over.
In addition, a large number of officials including the Penglai County magistrate, counselors, commander-in-chief, and staff generals were also captured. The army in the city also joined the rebels, and the total number of rebels suddenly reached more than 30,000
people.
It is worth mentioning the Portuguese officer corps. After the rebels entered the city, they put up a fierce resistance. Twelve Portuguese officers including Chief Instructor Xi Teixeira Correa were killed in the battle, and the rest were all captured.
But unfortunately, most of the firearms units trained by the Portuguese officer corps surrendered and joined the rebels. This greatly increased the firepower of the entire rebel army.
In Dengzhou City, which is the logistics base of the Liaodong front line, supplies are piled up. Kong Youde's rebels seized a total of 3,000 horses, more than 100,000 taels of pay, more than 20 Hongyi cannons, 300 Western cannons, and other firearms.
The wars and battles are innumerable.
In Shuicheng, a large number of warships fell into the hands of the rebels. Especially not long ago, the forty warships presented to Sun Yuanhua by the King of North Korea were also moored in the harbor at this time, and all of them happened to be accepted by the rebels.
The next step was the purge of the residents in Dengzhou City. All the residents' belongings were plundered by the rebels. Then, the rebels drove the residents of the city outside the east gate and massacred tens of thousands of people.
Time flows like a river of blood and all life is in ruins.
Except for some scum in Dengzhou City who joined the rebels, all residents in Dengzhou City have been wiped out except for thousands of young women who were used as military prostitutes and some distinguished prisoners.
This rebellion was so successful that the ambitions of Kong Youde and other generals in Dongjiang Town immediately expanded to the point of no return.
Kong Youde and other Dongjiang Town generals were still grateful to Sun Yuanhua for taking him in and supporting him at that time. However, it is unknown how much of this grateful heart there is.
So Kong Youde first asked Sun Yuanhua to be the leader, leading them to rebel and establish their own political power. Of course, this request was sternly rejected by Sun Yuanhua. However, thinking of Sun Yuanhua's previous support and support, the rebels finally released Sun Yuanhua.
At this time, the two most powerful forces among the rebels were Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming. In order to prevent internal conflicts, the rebels immediately began to establish a puppet regime.
At this time, they were not too brave to call themselves kings and emperors, so they established a military government. They first elected Li Jiucheng, the eldest and most influential figure in the rebellion, to be the marshal of the capital, followed by Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming.
Ranked third. And they actually used the captured seal of Denglai governor to order the states and counties in Denglai. Of course, no local states or counties would obey their orders.
The Wuqiao Mutiny completely disrupted the Ming Dynasty's military plan to rescue Daling River City. All the Ming troops who rescued and the Ming troops in the Beijing camp were mobilized to eliminate this group of people who were among the Ming Dynasty's closest confidants.
rebels in.
In Dalinghe City, the Zu Dashou Liao army, which was eating human flesh, burning human bones, and eagerly awaiting the arrival of reinforcements, was helplessly abandoned by the Ming Dynasty court.
And the cause of all this turned out to be a chicken in Wuqiao. These butterfly wings should be renamed chicken wings. This chaotic scene in the late Ming Dynasty was really crazy!
However, the rebels who captured Dengzhou City did not stop. The rebels have begun to implement new military operations and marched towards Denglai prefectures and counties. The rebels relied on their powerful offensive capabilities formed by advanced artillery to conquer Huang County.
Then, the rebels gathered their forces and marched towards Laizhou City, the gateway to the Jiaodong Peninsula.
Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing, who received the order from Yu Dacheng, the governor of Shandong, immediately prepared their troops to set off and assemble in Jinan City in accordance with the governor's order.
But in the past few days, not only Shandong, but also Denglai officials were made to relax their vigilance by Kong Youde's fake surrender. Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing's troops were also made very relaxed by the good news.
But if the string is loosened and tightened, it will definitely not work. If they march in such a hurry to fight, the troops are likely to mutiny or flee. For this reason, Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing discussed letting the troops rest and recuperate in Ningyang County.
Depart again in five days.
Liu Zeqing also issued an order for other officers under him to lead the troops to assemble. The troops Liu Zeqing brought to rescue Qufu County this time were all generals and soldiers from his direct lineage.
Most of the other subordinate generals were assigned to Liu Zeqing by the court for the purpose of maintaining the rank of prime minister. So since there was going to be a war, the troops of those subordinate generals were also needed as cannon fodder.
Wu Shigong also asked his fifth brother Wu Shiwen to make proper arrangements and send the domestic slaves he had accepted and supplies that were not needed for the war to Jining Prefecture.
Anyway, it is already the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and the branch of Sihai Commercial Bank in Jining Prefecture has also opened its doors. Through the shopkeeper and clerk of that branch, it is completely possible to transport these people and materials back to Runing Prefecture.
Wu Shigong only brought the more than 800 auxiliary soldiers with him. In this way, Wu Shigong's troops reached more than 2,000.
Five days later, the coalition forces of Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing began to advance toward the canal. We already know that to the north of Ningyang County is Liangshanbo. Without ships, the army would not be able to pass. Therefore, the march route of the coalition forces this time was still along the Grand Canal.
canal.
And according to the plan, the coalition forces will take a rest after arriving at the Grand Canal. They will wait for the arrival of Liu Zeqing's subordinate troops, and then head north to Jinan City together.
Three days later, the coalition forces arrived at a small town on the edge of the Grand Canal. Coincidentally, Yan Dingshan, a guerrilla of the Cao soldiers, also led more than 1,300 Cao soldiers passing by northward.
So the three armies joined forces again. From the messenger sent by Liu Zeqing, we learned that his officers had also assembled an army of more than 3,000 people, and they were currently marching behind the coalition forces, a distance ranging from seven days to half a month.
But while the coalition forces were waiting for the arrival of the rear army, Yu Dacheng, the governor of Shandong Province, sent another urgent report, requiring the coalition forces to immediately turn to Laizhou City to fight the rebels and relieve the siege of Laizhou City.
After spending a huge price of fifty taels of silver, Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing learned from the messenger that in order to keep their official positions, Shandong Governor Yu Dacheng must try his best to protect Laizhou City now.
However, the army of Shandong General Qiu Lei stationed in Jinan City cannot be used to defend Jinan City. The other Ming armies in Shandong also have little combat effectiveness and cannot be reused. Now the strong army that Yu Dacheng can think of and mobilize is the one that was just deployed
The coalition forces of Liu Zeqing and Wu Shigong, who appeared in the historical military novel Shang Zuo, and beheaded more than 600 rebels.
Knowing this reason, Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing almost vomited blood. How damn unlucky, who would have thought that just by showing their faces like this, they would be forced to fight with the rebels!
But Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing are not the most unlucky. Guerrilla Yan Dingshan, who joined forces for no reason, can't even vomit blood!
There was no way to send out military orders, and they did not wait for the rear troops to join up. The coalition forces immediately turned towards Laizhou City. But after walking for two days, a fast horse from Jinan City sent a letter to Liu Zeqing. It was arranged by Liu Zeqing.
Jinan City, a spy who worked for Liu Zeqing to find out about officialdom trends in Shandong.
Liu Zeqing was illiterate. He handed the letter to one of his staff. After reading it, the staff immediately couldn't suppress his excitement and shouted: "General, the governor has been dismissed from office."
The political system of the Ming Dynasty was rule by people, that is, people were in power and people were in power. So it was not like modern times. After Yu Dacheng, the governor of Shandong, was dismissed from office, you could not obey the orders issued by him at all.
As a result, the coalition forces immediately stopped moving forward and stationed themselves on the spot, waiting for the arrival of the new governor of Shandong and waiting for him to issue the next order to the coalition forces.