A majestic Yellow River cuts off the land of North China. To the north and to the south, these huge remains that originally belonged to the Ming Dynasty now belong to two new forces.
To the north is Manchuria, which swept in from outside the customs, and to the south is Dashun, which flourished in the Central Plains. According to the perspective of the Ming Dynasty survivors, this should be said to be "the deer was clearly lost, and the border thieves and outlaw thieves chased it away." As for the remoteness,
Zhang Xianzhong, who lived in Bashu, and the small imperial court of Nanming, which was based in the south of the Yangtze River, could not have more influence on the general trend of the world because of the gap in their military strength.
However, among them, Zhang Tianwang, who occupied Chengdu, falsely called Xi Ming, and used the title of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom as the orthodox king, was different from those Jiangnan scholars.
He is more ambitious and decisive. Of course, he is also more capable of action.
When Dorgon led an unprecedented and mighty Manchu army to the south for a decisive battle, when Li Laiheng tried his best to mobilize and mobilize the Central Plains, and when Jingchu's supplies were prepared to withstand the Donglu's southern expedition, Zhang Xianzhong had already calmly licked his preparations.
Wounded by the defeat of Hanzhong, the army was reorganized and prepared for the second Northern Expedition.
Since the Great Western Army entered Chengdu in May of the 16th year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong has controlled most of Sichuan for about half a year. Because Zhang Xianzhong was influenced by missionaries and converted to Catholicism, his strange and solemn destiny
Thoughts, combined with Catholic religious beliefs, played the role of fighting fire with fire, making the Daxi Army's governance in Shu more relaxed.
Of course, there is another point worth noting. Unlike the original history, Pan Duao and Xu Yixian, the early counselors who had always shared difficulties with Zhang Xianzhong, did not sacrifice themselves in the early stages of victory as in later history. The civilian government organization of the Western Ming Dynasty was always controlled by Zhang Xianzhong's right-hand man.
, and did not fall into the hands of speculative writers like Wang Zhaoling.
Zhang Xianzhong was in Sichuan. Regarding the remnants of the Ming Dynasty, the local officials, gentry, and chieftain armed forces, he adopted Pan Duao's suggestions, using both hard and soft tactics, and defeated Zeng Ying, Yang Zhan, and Zhu Hualong one by one.
As well as the Yaohuang Thirteen Families and other local armed forces from the Ming army or local bandits.
Originally, in name only, Zhang Xianzhong also appointed Fan Yiheng, an old official from the Ming Dynasty who was very prestigious in Sichuan and Shaanxi, as the first assistant bachelor of the Western Ming regime, but in reality it was just an empty title.
Especially when Fan Yiheng and Wang Guangen's Northern Expedition to Hanzhong failed, he gave Zhang Xianzhong a good excuse to cut his official position. Not long after Fan Yiheng and Wang Guangen returned to Chengdu, they were attacked by the Western Ming generals and ministers and were cut off by King Zhang Tian.
After being deposed, Fan Yiheng was dismissed from his official positions as the First Assistant Scholar and the Minister of Rites, while Wang Guangen was demoted from King Yi to Duke of Ji, and both of them were reduced to sinecures.
The defeat of Hanzhong completely extinguished Wang Guangen, the largest dissident faction in the Western Ming regime. Others such as Zeng Ying, Yang Zhan, Zhu Hualong, and Yuan Tao were successively weakened and incorporated by Pan Duao and Xu Yixian.
By the end of the 16th year of Chongzhen—or the end of the first year of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the Western Ming Dynasty—Zhang Xianzhong had basically completed the integration of the various factions within Sichuan.
Compared with Dashun in history, Ximing's integration of Sichuan was obviously many times faster, and the results were much more visible to the naked eye. This was mainly due to Zhang Xianzhong's policy of supporting Zhu Youlang and weakening the resistance of the officials and gentry.
In addition, Pan Duao and Xu Yixian both adopted the correct and gentle policy with great insight.
As a result, Sichuan was fortunate to avoid a tragic massacre of innocent people in history. Although Wang Zhaoling still served as a senior official in the Xi Ming regime as the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs, he had no right to interfere in personnel affairs, and his qualifications and prestige were not the same as those who had shared hardships with King Zhang Tian.
Compared with Xu Yixian, the former Minister of Civil Affairs.
Therefore, the imperial examination in Sichuan was still carried out in a gentle manner under the auspices of Xu Yixian. The Western Ming army did not massacre those scholars who wrote articles ridiculing Zhang Xianzhong.
This policy of "stopping killings with kindness, promulgating new policies, reforming with the people, sending generals out in all directions, and conquering without any effort" not only conforms to Zhang Xianzhong's eagerness to enjoy peace and happiness after taking over the Shu Palace, but also gives people who suffered from the late Ming Dynasty
The people of Bashu, who shared the suffering, rested and recuperated.
After more than half a year of rest and management, although Fan Yiheng and Wang Guangen suffered an unfavorable defeat in the Northern Expedition to Hanzhong, most of the soldiers in this Northern Expedition were Wang Guangen's "Guanying" soldiers and Ming soldiers who were not very obedient to Zhang Xianzhong.
The army surrendered, so in fact the defeat of Hanzhong did not have a very adverse impact on the Ximing regime.
By the second year of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Wu Yuying, a member of the Sichuan Guangyuan Judicial Committee, who had served as a household minister in the Ming Dynasty, had been following Sun Kewang, the Eastern Prince, out of the town of Baoning for several months in the name of governor of northern Sichuan in the Western Ming Dynasty.
He got along well with the King of the East, and was deeply impressed by Sun Kewang's vision and insight. After several months of treatment, he wrote to his old friend Gao Doushu, who was unemployed as a bachelor of Dongge University in the Ming Dynasty in Chengdu and a minister of the Ministry of Punishment, saying:
"...The King of the East was also a wise man. He controlled Baoning and sent spies north to the Han Dynasty to gain a glimpse of Chuang Nie's politics... Chuang Nie is a crime that will inevitably lead to death, but his politics are also quite impressive.
Where... The King of the East accepted the gentry of Baoding, paid tribute, supervised students, talented children, and even farmers, divination, medicine, monks, Taoists, and handsome folk, went to the city to take exams, promoted sages, and tried to govern the countryside... Despite the defeat of Hanzhong, Bao Bao
Ning Yu has a prosperous future..."
Wu Yuying admired Sun Kewang very much, and his admiration was condensed in the letter. After Gao Doushu, who was idle at home in Chengdu, received the letter, he still dismissed it. He had struggled with the peasant army for many years and really looked down upon these traitors.
.
Even now that people have to bow their heads under the eaves, Gao Doushu would not admire the thief as sincerely as Wu Yuying.
He and his old subordinate Wang Guangen were drinking together and said while drinking:
"Your Majesty...does the Duke regret it today? When Chengdu was founded, the Duke did not understand the humiliation today? Who is Zhang Xianzhong? It is ridiculous that the Duke thought he could seek skin from a tiger."
Gao Doushu continued to ridicule Wang Guangen, who had just been stripped of his title of King of Wings. Wang Guangen, who had lost most of his troops and horses, was just drinking wine and could not say anything.
Gao Doushu pretended to be mysterious and said: "Did you know that the messenger of evil has come to Chengdu?"
Wang Guangen was shocked when he heard this. He had a grudge with Chuang Jun when he was in Yiling, not to mention that the little tiger who was betrayed by him was now the king of the Jin Dynasty in Dashun.
"How did Gao Gong know that he was busy at home every day? What did the envoys of the Chu army do when they came to Chengdu? Did they want to negotiate peace with Zhang Xianzhong?"
Gao Doushu snorted coldly and said: "The Dong soldiers are marching south in large numbers. The intruders cannot hold on, so they are looking for help from the eight thieves."
Wang Guangen said in a panic: "Gong Gao must be careful. Now that Zhang Xianzhong holds the title of Emperor, who dares to talk about the Eight Thieves?"
Gao Doushu said coldly: "A thief is a thief after all. Can Zhang Xianzhong really succeed in trying to win people's hearts by pretending to be benevolent and righteous in Sichuan? Now that the Eastern Army is moving south in large numbers, Li Zicheng has died in the north, and it will not be long before all the remaining thieves are destroyed."
As soon as Chuang Ni is eliminated, he will attack the Western thief, Wang Guangen, did Zhang Xianzhong really win over you with his reputation as a duke? Think about how he humiliated you!"
Wang Guangen said helplessly: "It doesn't matter if Zhang Xianzhong insults me. All the soldiers and horses of the Guan camp were lost in Hanzhong. Even if I have two ambitions, there is no other way. Gao Gong, you provoke me like this, just because you want me to raise troops to fight against him."
Thief, but I really have no soldiers."
Gao Doushu laughed and said:
"No soldiers? Aren't your two brothers still serving as generals in the Western Camp? Although they asked Zhang Xianzhong to be on guard, they still had a lot of soldiers in their hands, and they were all in Chengdu. Outside Chengdu, Zeng Ying was in other places.
, Yang Zhan, as far as I know, has secretly accepted the titles awarded by Jiangnan recently, and things will soon turn around."
Wang Guangen was shocked and said: "Huguang was occupied by the invaders and the Yangtze River waterway was cut off. Where did the news from Jiangnan come from?"
Gao Doushu replied: "Isn't Zhang Xianzhong sending troops to suppress Guiyang recently? Wang Yingxiong is in Zunyi, Guizhou. He and He Tengjiao have received the secret decree from Jiangnan and are preparing to restore Badong with one army and sweep Dongting with one army, and then two armies are in
After Chongqing joins forces, Sichuan will be recovered... The eight thieves are about to die soon, does the Duke still want to die for them?"