The night in Zhuxi County is getting dark, but the lights are still bright in the county government office. The county magistrate Li Kongxiao is trying his best to entertain a visitor from the Chu army. The visitor is a staff member of Zuo Liangyu’s camp, the chief military officer of the aid and suppression, named Dong Yuan. Soon
Former Zuo Liangyu and the commander-in-chief Chen Hongfan defeated the bandits in the west of Yunxi, and their military power shone among Shang and Yunnan. As a result, Zuo Liangyu became more arrogant and lawless, and regarded all civil servants as nothing more than playthings.
This time Zuo Liangyu's close confidant Dong Yuan came to Zhuxi County to urge Li Kongxiao, the magistrate of Zhuxi County, to transport the allocated bundles of rice and wheat straw to Baitu Pass where Zuo Liangyu was stationed as soon as possible. Zhuxi County has experienced repeated droughts and locusts.
It has reached the bleak stage of exchanging children for food, but the military supplies from Zuozhen are still as urgent as sparks of fire.
Dong Yuan's real name is Tong Yangjia, and he was originally a descendant of the Tong family of the Liaoyang family. When the old Manchu Khan Nurhaci attacked Fushun, his brother Tong Yangzheng rebelled and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. The Ming court then took the remaining Tong family children into Shanhaiguan and detained them. Tong Yangjia tried to escape in order to escape
If the Manchus entered the country in the future, he would resume his name as Tong Yangjia and serve as the Manchurian governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.
Li Kongxiao, on the other hand, was a native of Liaoyang. He had been the magistrate of Zhuxi County since the 11th year of Chongzhen's reign and had been serving for more than a year. He was not a hard-hearted person. He saw everywhere that the people in the county were suffering, fathers and sons cannibalizing each other, and three hundred Qin soldiers.
The people stationed in the county town are already suffering so much, how can they still have the energy to prepare military supplies for Zuozhen!
"Sir, what I'm saying is that I hope you can be accommodating to the general, and also say a few words for the students in front of the ministers." Li Kongxiao suppressed the displeasure in his heart, reluctantly lowered his head, and asked the Zuozhen envoy to accommodate the military situation, "This county
Just the month before last, two thousand bundles of grass were transported to Zuozhen. I was given a penny to get thousands of kilograms of beans and rice, and thousands of bundles of grass were transported to Zuoying for payment. I also had to buy some healthy mules and some cloth bags. I was really exhausted and unable to raise money.
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Dong Yuan picked up the seabass on the table with chopsticks and said: "Zuo Zhen assisted the bandits and went deep into the barren mountainous area. The soldiers scrimped on food and clothing and worked hard without caring about their own lives. In addition to sharing the worries of the Lord, they also wanted to keep the black gauze hat of the Lord. Nowadays, everyone
Sima is very urgent in urging Zuozhen to suppress the bandits. If your Majesty fails to raise military supplies on time and misses the military situation, then Sima will be blamed, and who can handle it?"
The assistant minister mentioned by Li Kongxiao and the great Sima mentioned by Dong Yuan, the Zuozhen envoy, both refer to the same person, that is, Yang Sichang, who was concurrently serving as a scholar, soldier, and minister of rites at this time.
In the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, it was customary to address the great scholars with the honorific titles of Yuan Fu, Fu Chen, and Shou Kui, and to address the ministers of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War with the honorific titles of Da Zongbo and Da Sima in the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Yang Sichang's father, Yang He, served as the governor of the three borders of Shaanxi Province and was the first to propose a policy of appeasement to resettle the refugees. From a longer-term perspective, he tried to use appeasement and relief methods to eliminate banditry. However, Chongzhen cherished wealth and was narrow-minded, and was only willing to give out 100,000 yuan.
On the other hand, he was unwilling to use more internal funds to help the refugees, and allowed Li Yingqi, the governor of Shaanxi, Hong Chengchou, the governor of Yansui, and Du Wenhuan, the commander-in-chief, to kill and surrender indiscriminately, which resulted in the complete failure of Yang He's plan to pacify the bureau. He was even dismissed from office, and soon died of illness.
.(Chongzhen had no money, so did his relatives? After King Fu was killed, Chongzhen, who had no money for disaster relief, had money to subsidize the little King Fu with 30,000 taels. It seems that the living conditions of the little King Fu are much more important than those of the victims)
In March of the 10th year of Chongzhen, Yang Sichang, with the ambition of clearing his father's reputation, went to Beijing to confront Emperor Chongzhen and proposed the so-called "net of ten faces" and "four righteousnesses and six corners" military strategy.
He proposed that the governors of the four places of Shaanxi, Henan, Huguang, and Fengyang should be "divided for suppression and dedicated for defense", that is, they should focus on suppression and defense as a supplement;
These six provinces are called Liuyu, and the six governors of these places are instructed to "defend at the same time and cooperate and suppress at the same time", that is, they should mainly block the peasant army from entering the areas under their jurisdiction, and also participate in the joint suppression when necessary. In addition, the governors of the three border areas of Shaanxi
He commanded the northwest frontier troops and used the mobile forces under the direct jurisdiction of the military prime ministers of the five provinces in the Central Plains as the main force to "follow the thieves' direction and kill them exclusively."
Although Yang Sichang's "Net on Ten Sides" and "Four Positives and Six Corners" plans achieved certain success, they once defeated Li Zicheng's main force in Shaanxi and Gansu and drove Li Zicheng to Shangzhou. In the barren mountains and forests around Yunyang, he successfully forced Li Zicheng to
The two main forces of the peasant army, Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai, were pacified.
However, in the middle of this year, Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai re-organized their troops in Gucheng and Fang County. As a last resort, Yang Sichang had no choice but to compromise step by step with Zuo Liangyu. Not only did he acquiesce in Zuo Zhen's domineering lawlessness, but he also allowed Zuo Liangyu to surrender.
Liangyu signed the seal of general, and clearly granted President Zuo Liangyu authority over the military.
This is why a mere envoy from Zuo Town can be so arrogant in front of Li Kongxiao, who is the magistrate of a county. Now even Yang Sichang, who is the governor of the Pavilion Department, has to look at Zuo Liangyu's face to act, let alone a small boy like him.
What about the small magistrate?
After Li Kongxiao sent Zuo Zhen's guests out, he looked at the delicacies on the table and was not in the mood to eat at all. Zuo Zhen urged Ke to catch up, as anxious as a spark. For the sake of his black hat, he could only find ways to raise some food and grass.
Sent to Zuoying.
"Well, now that the people are in ruins and it is difficult for the people in Guizhou to find a full meal, how can I sit back and watch and eat this precious delicacy?" Li Kongxiao shook his head, thinking of the tragic scene of everyone eating each other in Zhuxi County,
Thinking that he had to further squeeze the county people, he could not help but feel a little compassion in his heart, "Put away all the food on the table and feed it to the dogs. This county will have a breeze, and the people will change their children to eat."
Now, where can I get something to eat?"
"Oh! I really can't bear to look at the poor hungry people. You guys go to the county government office and have a look. Don't let me see even a shadow of the hungry people within half a mile of the county government office!"
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Knock, knock.
When Bai Wang heard the knock on the door, he immediately threw his weapon and sword into the weeds very alertly.
"who?"
Ever since the camp was pursued by the Qin army, and when they were crossing the Han River in Chenggu County, Shaanxi Province, they were attacked by Zuo Guangxian's troops halfway across the river. The situation seemed to be disintegrating, with only less than 300 soldiers and horses left.
From then on, Chuangying had no choice but to hide in the mountains and forests, fighting and escaping everywhere. In order to avoid the pursuit of the main force of the army, Li Zicheng even gave up using the nicknames such as Chuangjiang and Chuangwang that had become famous all over the world, and changed his name to the Laoba Brigade.
This time Li Zicheng made a plan to attack Zhuxi County together with the inside and outside. On the one hand, three hundred Qin soldiers stationed in the county and brought a large number of civilians with different accents, so that the people who broke into the camp could sneak into the city calmly and create good fighting opportunities; on the other hand,
On the other hand, it is also because the conditions in the camp are so bad that the troops of less than 300 people have reached the point where they have no food for three days. If they don't gain anything, and there is no need for the army to search the mountains, the camp will starve to death on its own.
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Therefore, Bai Wang was even more vigilant. He knew that his group of people sneaking into the county was the key to the success of the siege, and there must be no mistakes.
"Boy, it's me, can't you realize how rich your second brother is?"
The ones who knocked on the door of Bai Wang's house were Li Chonger and Bai Youcai. Li Chonger was holding the homemade weapon in his hand, while Bai Youcai had a ball-shaped object wrapped in a ball of thatch.
Bai Youcai and Bai Wang were both from Mizhi. Not only did they know each other, but they were also distant uncles and nephews, so Bai Youcai had the courage to think of defecting to the bandits and killing officials and rebelling.
But for Bai Wang, this was like thunder. He thought that he had managed to sneak into the city without anyone noticing, but he didn't expect that he would meet an old acquaintance in a foreign country and be recognized by his fellow villager Bai Youcai.
It would be unforgivable if Bai Youcai went out to complain to the officials and he was captured and killed by the officers and soldiers for a minor matter, ruining the plan of the Eighth Army and killing hundreds of his brothers.
Bai Wang made a quick decision and looked at the other people in the room. Everyone understood and hid their swords behind their backs and opened the door carefully, "Second eldest brother? We haven't seen each other in two years. How come you were arrested by the officers and soldiers too?"
Are you doing hard labor?"
When Bai Youcai saw Bai Wang opening the door, he was unsuspecting and took a step forward. Fortunately, Li Chonger was cautious. He was already very surprised when he saw Bai Wang opening the door so quickly. He immediately saw the door open again.
At that moment, two people jumped out of the room, each holding a sword and slashing at Bai Youcai, and he knew that something was wrong.
Li Zhong held the weapon tightly in his hands, and the Han water soaked the thatch wrapping the handle. The moment the person in the room made a move, his whole body, which had been tense for a long time, was stimulated like a spring and rushed out.
With a clang, he blocked the thief's knife from attacking Bai Youcai, but the thief's hand was extremely powerful. With this sudden blow, Li Chonger's weapon was knocked to the ground.
"Misunderstanding, misunderstanding, we also killed officials and rebelled!" Li Chonger saw several people in the room about to swing their swords again, so he quickly explained, "Gai Lao, show them the heads quickly!"
Bai Youcai, who was stunned, reacted and hurriedly shook the human head wrapped in thatch in his hand to the ground. There was still a stream of blood dripping from the head and neck. It was surprisingly during the day when the man was killed.
The officers and soldiers who were captured and tortured by the bandits.
When Bai Wang saw the heads of the officers and soldiers, and then looked at the second big brother Bai Youcai who was stunned by him, he gradually felt relieved. He waved his hand and asked everyone to enter the small shabby house of the City God's Temple.
In addition to Bai Wang, there were four other people in the room. One of them was the muscular man who had extremely strong hands and easily knocked down Li Chong's second weapon. He was burly and looked about twenty years old. He had a slit between his eyebrows.
The scar was not easy to detect. The man looked at Li Chonger and said with a little admiration: "What a good boy. If you can block my sword, you are a good man."
"Shh, Brother Shuangxi, keep your voice down." Bai Wang put his finger to his mouth to signal everyone to stop talking. But when Li Chonger heard Bai Wang call him Brother Shuangxi, he immediately regarded the strong and burly man in front of him as the same as the one in history.
Li Zicheng's adopted son Li Shuangxi was contacted.
Over there, Bai Youcai held the officers and soldiers' heads, collapsed on the ground, and almost cried: "Don't you recognize your second brother? I can't live anymore, so I came up with this strategy and wanted to follow you to kill him."
It’s a deal to exchange your head for rice and food.”
Bai Wang shook his head and said: "Are you crazy? You actually killed Ming officers and soldiers, so there is no way out."
"If there is no way out, there is no way out. Who cares?" Li Chong'er replied while rubbing his wrists that were numb from the shock of Li Shuangxi, "I will starve to death in Zhuxi and die from exhaustion. Killing officials for rebellion
Being chopped up alive by Emperor Chongzhen is still death. Since they are all deaths, why don’t I choose a way to die where I can have enough to eat?"
"Are you also from Mizhi? At such a young age, you dare to follow my second brother to kill officials?" Bai Wang looked at Li Chonger in front of him and was a little surprised. The young boy in front of him has been ruthless for a year and his eyes are bright.
, there is no dull and numb temperament like that of farmers who have been tortured crazy by hard labor.
"I didn't follow Mr. Gai to kill officials, it was Mr. Gai who followed me to kill officials." Li Chonger showed the blood on the dagger in his hand. He and Bai Youcai took advantage of the night to stab the drunk and defenseless officer and soldier.
After his head was cut off, he didn't even feel sick in his heart. Perhaps as Li Chonger told Bai Youcai, people in troubled times are no longer human. This officer and soldier is just a jackal. He can't even imagine the hellish scene of eating people.
They were all numb from seeing it, so why would their hearts fluctuate just because they killed a jackal?
Bai Wang and Li Shuangxi looked at each other, a little surprised. They both thought that the person in charge of this matter should be Bai Youcai, who was related to Bai Wang, but they did not expect that it was this very young young man.
Li Shuangxi rubbed Li Chonger's head and said with a hearty smile: "Good skills. You have such good skills. You really shouldn't starve to death here. Bai Wang asked the two of them to follow us to do big things, and there are
Why not?"
"This... you explain to the old boss afterwards, don't say that I am covering up my second big poop." Bai Wang nodded, stretched out his hand to help Bai Youcai up, which was regarded as acquiescence to Bai Youcai and Li
Chong Er and the other two joined the team, "First of all, we, the Eighth Team, cannot afford to be idle. No matter whether they are old or young, they must be able to work hard before they can follow us."
Li Chonger and Bai Youcai nodded at the same time, the bandits... no, they should be called Chuangying or the Eighth Army now. They fought thousands of miles under the encirclement and suppression of the army, and it was hard. But compared to the hopeless life of civilian labor,