The officers and soldiers led by Henan Governor Li Xianfeng, deputy general Chen Yongfu, guerrilla Gao Qian and others have been staying in the Mengjin area for several days.
When he first entered Henan, Li Xianfeng had actually received a lot of information and had a good understanding of Li Zicheng's activities in Xiong'er Mountain, Funiu Mountain and other areas of southwestern Henan.
However, he was accustomed to deceiving his superiors and hiding from his subordinates. He knew that no faults equal merit. Not only did he suppress the "treason" reported by the local authorities, but he also transferred most of Kaifeng's troops to northern Henan under the pretext of
Chasing and suppressing Yuan Shizhong, the leader of the famous local bandit "Xiaoyuanying" in Henan, he wandered around the states and counties in northern Henan.
It was not until Luoyang was conquered and the news of King Fu's murder shocked the world that Li Xianfeng realized how big a trap he had caused and how much anger he had caused. The emperor's anger was already coming like thunder, and the people in Henan who had always had a gap with him
The political enemy patrol officer Gao Mingheng was sharpening his sword even more, preparing to take advantage of the fall of Luoyang to snatch his hat and even his life.
"Alas! Alas! Alas! If I had known this, why did I do it in the first place?"
Li Xianfeng sighed three times a day in Mengjin and regretted it. He did not expect that the Chuang Army would be so powerful. They would conquer Luoyang as soon as they took action and carry out such a cause that turned Zhongzhou upside down.
The only hope now is that he can lead Chen Yongfu, Gao Qian and other officers and troops to regain Luoyang as soon as possible. However, Li Zicheng is a world-famous thief, and the intruders are all capable old thieves who have lived in hundreds of battles. With the help of these Henan soldiers who have lived in the mainland for a long time,
Officers and soldiers, is there really a way to do this?
Fortunately, Li Xianfeng soon received the news that the main force of the Chu army had left Nanyang and crossed Songshan Mountain to attack the Ruzhou area. He speculated that Li Zicheng wanted to conquer Ruzhou and then capture Nanyang Prefecture to connect the "thief-occupied areas" in southwest Henan.
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There is Songshan Mountain between Ruzhou and Luoyang. Li Xianfeng estimates that the main force of the invading army will not be able to rush back to Luoyang in a short time. Therefore, with the number of officers and soldiers he has on hand, it should not be a problem to regain an empty Luoyang.
The only problem is that the emperor is mean and ungrateful. Even if he regains Luoyang, is it really worth losing Luoyang and causing the feudal lord to fall into the hands of thieves?
"I regret it, I regret it! Now I only have to be a monk for one day and hit the clock. How many days can I last?"
For Li Xianfeng, who was in despair, he was willing to grab a handful at any cost, not to mention a straw, a hair or a spider silk.
"Gao Zhongping, Gao Zhongping, we all serve as officials in the same court. If you don't give me a hand, why bother pushing me into the sea of fire?"
The thing that Li Xianfeng is most worried about now is not how many troops are left in Luoyang, but whether Chen Yongfu, his general, is still obedient. He knows that the discord between Gao Qian and Gao Mingheng should not be a hidden worry.
Although Chen Yongfu was an honest man and rarely participated in official affairs in Henan, his contacts with Inspector Gao Mingheng increased a lot during this period.
If Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu colluded with each other and deliberately lost the battle, then he would really have no chance of acquitting himself. Moreover, not only would he lose his official position and his life, but even his family would be implicated in the emperor's wrath!
Li Xianfeng sighed again, beat his chest for a while, and then said to his staff Chen Xin: "Wang Chen, what is the situation over there with Chen Yongfu? I am not ready to recapture Luoyang with Gao Qian's troops and horses alone."
We must keep Chen Yongfu in check!"
Chen Xin's nickname is Wang Chen, which is taken from the meaning of "The king's ministers are Wu Nian Erzu" in "The Book of Songs". He is a native of Henan and a native of Luoyang. He served as the magistrate of Laiyang County after becoming a Jinshi in the seventh year of Chongzhen. But Chen Xin
After serving as a local official in Laiyang for three or four years, he became more and more disappointed with the traditional customs in Ming Dynasty officialdom, so he resigned in the eleventh year and returned to his hometown of Luoyang to give lectures.
After the fall of Luoyang, Chen Xin happened to be giving lectures in Zhengzhou, thus avoiding the danger of falling into the "den of thieves". Because he often lectured in various states and counties in Henan Province, he emphasized practical learning, had the reputation of being practical and knowledgeable in military strategy, so he was known everywhere.
Li Xianfeng, the governor of Henan Province, who was indiscriminately seeking medical treatment, appealed in every possible way to be included in the plot and temporarily served as a staff member to support the recovery of Luoyang.
Li Xianfeng asked Chen Xin to test Gao Qian's attitude because Chen Xin lectured in various states and counties in Henan and had extensive contacts. Chen Kexin, now an important lobbyist in Chen Yongfu's camp, was originally suspected of being a traffic thief when he was in his hometown in Huguang.
He was convicted. When he went to Henan to seek an official position, it was because of Chen Xin's appreciation and recommendation that he became an aide to Gao Mingheng.
Now that Gao Mingheng was ready to make a move, he sent Chen Kexin to Lieutenant General Chen Yongfu's camp to lobby. His intention was very clear.
The only thing Li Xianfeng can hope for is that Chen Xin can rely on his kindness to persuade Chen Kexin to let him go, at least not to interfere with the overall situation of regaining Luoyang!
This is the overall situation! To be an official of the Ming Dynasty, you must learn to see the overall situation!
Chen Xin also felt very helpless. He originally resigned from the official position of Laiyang County Magistrate because he was dissatisfied with the custom of following the same rules in the officialdom. After returning to his hometown in Henan, he concentrated on teaching and no longer interfered with political affairs, but things still came to him.
Later, I was forced to get involved in the struggle between the governor and the governor. I was really helpless!
"Futai, I am not sure about Wen Gu's tactful attitude. The current situation in Henan is critical, the drought is getting more serious, and the number of refugees is increasing day by day. The disaster is greater than the robbers, and it is better to control the disaster than to control the robbers. I heard that the robbers are too numerous to count.
Thousands, the so-called tens of thousands of people in the city, are mostly due to the people who are holding us hostage. Once the disaster subsides, the people who are holding us hostage are all natives of our Yu Province, and they will all return to their hometowns, and the thieves' power will be broken by themselves."
"Hey, Wang Chen, you are just a scholar's pedantic opinion! The problem right now is that there is no money and food. The emperor does not allocate money and food, how can I do what you said? I can't help the army without money, and I can't provide disaster relief without food.
If we cannot help the army, the bandits will become more and more rampant; if we cannot provide disaster relief, the hungry people will naturally continue to grow."
Chen Xin sighed and said: "Even if the emperor doesn't allocate money and food, doesn't Henan have money and food? If Fu Fan died at the hands of thieves, wouldn't the royal family's hundreds of millions of money go to the thieves? There are still several relatives in Henan. Any one of them can spend millions.
Money and food are not a problem, so why should Futai worry about being without money or food?"
Governor Li looked at Chen Xin helplessly and asked: "You are a native of Luoyang, don't you understand the temper and style of the feudal princes? In the 322nd year of Wanli, there was a robbery case of the Chu clan. Two royal clans rushed to rob it.
Helping workers pay tribute. When Zhao Kehuai, the governor of Huguang, interrogated these two clansmen, they took off the shackles in front of the court and beat them to death. These are not vassal kings, they are just clan members of the royal palace! Who dares to ask the vassal king for money?"
"Futai...that's all. Leave Chen Kexin's affairs to me. I will advise him carefully and never let Futai or dispute affect the overall situation of suppressing thieves."
In fact, Chen Xin knew in his heart that if he completely followed the laws of the Ming Dynasty, it would not be difficult to clean up these clans with hundreds of millions of money. Which of them did not interfere with the local area, plunder and even privately own servants and retainers? These practices were put into the hands of Chengzu and Xuanzong
At that time, which one was not a crime against the country?
It's just that most officials just muddle along, and no one dares to offend Emperor Chongzhen's rebellion.
Who doesn't know that not long ago, Xue Guoguan, the assistant minister, proposed to Emperor Chongzhen the idea of borrowing money from the noble officials because of financial difficulties?
Chongzhen promised Xue Guoguan that the borrowings from officials and officials would be handled by his assistant ministers, while the borrowings from clan members would be handled by the emperor himself. It happened that Li Guorui, the Marquis of Wuqing, treated his brother-in-law Li Guochen poorly, and Li Guochen was furious, so he
He secretly revealed to Chongzhen the small treasury of Marquis Wu Qing, saying that he would use the 400,000 taels that he deserved but had been seized by Marquis Wu Qing to support the country as military expenses.
Therefore, Chongzhen borrowed 400,000 taels from Marquis Wu Qing, but Marquis Wu Qing pretended to be a fake, desperately wanted to be poor, demolished his house, and sold furniture and utensils everywhere, which angered the emperor and finally died of fear.
However, after Wu Qinghou's death, Emperor Chongzhen could not be content with himself. He actually returned all the 400,000 taels he had received to Wu Qinghou's son, and even added a sum of money himself.
Poor Xue Guoguan was resented by the emperor because of this. He believed that it was his idea that caused the emperor to force his relatives to death (Marquis Wu Qing was a maternal relative), so he punished Xue Guoguan and ransacked his family.
This is the result of working diligently for Emperor Chongzhen!
Even if you have the brains and the means to get money from hundreds of officials, once Emperor Chongzhen feels that this affects his reputation as a "sage king", you will become the target of the emperor's anger.
People were unloading mills and killing donkeys, but the emperor wanted the horses to run and not eat grass, and finally he wanted the horses to contribute their own meat.
Chen Xin could only shake his head. When he was young, he once said that he would be sincere, but the court had no place to put what he had learned into practice.
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1 Chen Xin was a Jinshi in the seventh year of Chongzhen and a native of Luoyang. Many books record that he served as magistrate of Xingyang County. However, locals in the Ming Dynasty could not be magistrates in this province. According to the records of "Luoyang County Election Chronicle", Xingyang County Magistrate
It should be the mistake of the magistrate of Laiyang County.
He should have joined the Chuang Army fifteen years before Chongzhen, and was one of the earlier senior intellectuals to join the Chuang Army (he had the title of Jinshi, and had served as a county magistrate, and his social status was much higher than that of Niu Jinxing).
What is even more noteworthy is that when Li Zicheng proclaimed himself emperor and was awarded the title of earl, Chen Xin was the only civil servant who was awarded the title of earl. This was an honor that even Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance did not receive.
When Chen Xin was supposed to serve as the defense envoy of Yangwu Prefecture under the Dashun regime, he was awarded the title of Jingshan Bo for his meritorious service in suppressing the rebellion of the gentry.
However, it is generally believed that the Dashun regime adopts the "right military" system, and civilian officials are controlled by military attachés of the same level. As a civilian defense envoy to Yangwu Prefecture, how did Chen Xun achieve military exploits that were enough to make him a count? His title was not only higher than that of Niu Jinxing, but also Song Xiance's.
, and it is higher than many veterans from northern Shaanxi. Due to lack of information, the reason is not yet clear.
But he had outstanding talents in both civil and military affairs. He was a neglected figure in the Dashun regime in the late Ming Dynasty, so he should be good.