Four hundred and sixtieth chapters Fengyang emergency
However, Fengyang's lack of defense did not attract the attention of some knowledgeable Ming Dynasty officials in the past. However, after these opinions were reported to the court, they were ignored by the Ming Dynasty court!
Since the peasant rebel army first entered Henan, the safety of Fengyang has actually attracted the attention of some officials. Lu Weiqi, the Minister of War in Nanjing, had a premonition of the bad prospects and asked the imperial court to increase troops to defend Fengyang. He said: Nanjing,
Fengyang and Chengtian are both the places where the emperor's mausoleum is located. Please ask Huaifu Yang Yipeng to be prepared to be on guard to prevent bandits from eastward.
Zhang Fengyi, the Minister of War, also realized this and asked Emperor Chongzhen to order Fengyang to be the governor of Caojiang in the east to strengthen the defense of key areas.
But at this time, the Ming Dynasty had reached the point where it was necessary to treat headaches and foot pains. If it was not an urgent matter, it would be difficult to get the absolute attention of Emperor Chongzhen and the six departments of the imperial cabinet. Therefore, an official document was issued to Fengyang.
After strengthening the defense, the Ming court did nothing.
But even if the court doesn't take it seriously, if Fengyang takes it seriously and does what it can on its own, that's fine! Let's see how Fengyang does it.
The eunuch Yang Ze and the guard commander Hou Dingguo were cruel and mistreated the soldiers, which aroused strong dissatisfaction among the soldiers. In December of the seventh year of Chongzhen, when Wu Shigong led the Runing army to put out fires everywhere in southern Henan, the defenders here actually held a
Mutiny. The soldiers who rebelled killed their superior guard commander Hou Dingguo in one fell swoop. For a time, the Fengyang army had no leader, was disorganized, and had no intention of defending.
On the 16th day of the first lunar month in the eighth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong, the Sweeping King, and the Taiping King unexpectedly appeared outside Yingzhou City with their troops. Caught off guard, Yingzhou fell. Yin Menghao, the magistrate of Yingzhou, was seriously injured in the battle and fell into the water and died.
During this battle to defend the city, the 85-year-old native of Yingzhou, Zhang Heming, the former Minister of War, and his second brother Zhang Heteng and third brother Zhang Heling organized squires to recruit soldiers and resisted desperately. However, due to being outnumbered, the city was broken and captured.
So the peasant rebels hung Zhang Heming upside down on a tree and shot him to death with random arrows. Zhang Heming's son Zhang Datong couldn't bear to see his father's tragic death, so he lay on Zhang Heming's body and was killed. Zhang Heteng, Zhang Heling and more than a hundred squires were killed at the same time.
This was the first high-ranking official of the Six Ministries of the Ming Dynasty killed by the peasant rebel army after the rebellion. Zhang Heming was also a man of the hour in the early years of the Apocalypse. During the dispute between Xiong and Wang, he supported Wang Huazhen and suspected that Xiong Tingbi was a collaborator. He was at loggerheads with Xiong Tingbi.
, was later impeached and resigned due to the defeat of Guangning.
When Wei Zhongxian was in power, Zhang Heming returned as Minister of War in Nanjing. When dealing with the eunuch party in the early years of Chongzhen, Zhang Heming was regarded as a member of Wei Zhongxian's group and was eliminated. Therefore, he was forced to line up according to political faction. Wu Shigong and Zhang Heming should be in the same party.
Member. Of course, even now, Wu Shigong still doesn't understand what the Eunuch Party and the Donglin Party are. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had a heated relationship with the Hou Xun family, the backbone of the Donglin Party.
Although Zhang Heming was liquidated by Emperor Chongzhen, he was still very loyal to the Ming Dynasty. Even the former Minister of War organized Minzhuang to defend the city for only half a day, which is somewhat suspicious of armies on paper.
The fall of Yingzhou caused a strong shock in northern Anhui. Neighboring prefectures and counties have taken measures to strengthen their defense. You must know that the Yuanxiao Festival has just passed, and the festive celebrations still have aftermath. Therefore, in order to prevent the spies of the peasant rebel army from sneaking in
The city, Taihe and other counties made a decision: no more sightseeing tours in the city were strictly prohibited, and the city-wide curfew was restored.
But what is the situation in Fengyang? Because Fengyang is 440 miles away from Yingzhou. Yang Ze, the eunuch stationed in Fengyang, thought that the peasant rebel army was still far away. He celebrated the Lantern Festival as usual, as in previous years.
The streets were still full of music and singing. The left-behind prime minister Zhu Guoxiang and the prefect Yan Rongxuan were also busy with festive activities and had no intention of Fengyang's defense.
And what are the local sentiments like in Fengyang? Although Fengyang is the hometown of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, there is a Fengyang Flower Drum song that has been passed down to this day. It is the song "Speak of Fengyang, Dao Fengyang, Fengyang was originally
It's a good place, but since Emperor Zhu came out, it has been in drought for nine out of ten years."
This was indeed a real situation at that time. In addition to the reason that the Yellow River took over the Huaihe River, the main reason was that this was the hometown of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty and many nobles.
Needless to say, the annexation of land by Huangzhuang and Xungui Zhuangzi. Also because of the need to repair royal buildings and work for those nobles, the local people in Fengyang have to do corvee work several times more than in other areas. Of course, the local government of Fengyang also has to do so.
Taking advantage of the opportunity to make money, they levied several times the amount of corvee and levied silver, which made the local people really live in dire straits. It can also be seen from this that the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were indeed not very kind to the people in their hometown.
Therefore, in November of the fourth year of Chongzhen, Qian Shisheng, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites in Nanjing, wrote a memorial after being ordered to pay tribute to the Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum. He reported the decline of Fengyang area. In the end, Qian Shisheng's request was not high.
Ask for some tax exemptions in Fengyang.
However, Emperor Chongzhen was afraid that Fengyang would set a precedent and that other places would follow suit, so he did not give a direct reply. He only commented that "he has made repeated decisions to care for the people's distress" and then used empty words to explain it away.
So when Zhang Xianzhong's troops besieged Yingzhou, the poor people of Fengyang invited the peasant rebel army to enter Fengyang. And they were all familiar with the local situation. They drew pictures and made books for the leaders. Where are the Ming troops? Where are they?
Is the family wealthy? They all made it clear to Zhang Xianzhong and others.
With internal support, it would be easier! So after capturing Yingzhou, Zhang Xianzhong and other leaders prepared to use a long-range surprise attack to capture Fengyang. After that, it became a common method used by Zhang Xianzhong's troops to attack cities.
trick.
These leaders secretly dispatched 300 strong men, disguised as merchants, coachmen, monks, Taoist priests, beggars, etc., and under the cover of the internal agents, they entered Fengyang City and stayed in various places. They also ordered the troops to use a very covert method.
They marched quickly day and night, bypassing Fuzhou and counties along the way, and drove directly to Fengyang, the central capital.
The basis for this decision is that the peasant rebels have fully understood Fengyang's military strength. They know that Fengyang's garrison is weak and the left-behind department only has four guard posts. At the same time, this is the central capital of the Ming Dynasty and has political significance.
Great impact.
On the 19th day of the first lunar month in the eighth year of Chongzhen's reign, under the stunned Fengyang officials and defenders, 30,000 elite peasant rebels suddenly appeared under Fengyang City. Fengyang, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, was in emergency.
It was only at this time that Fengyang officials and defenders began to prepare for battle and sent messengers asking for help everywhere. (To be continued...)