Zhang Dapeng came from the prosperous eastern Zhejiang Province.
Although the country collapsed at the end of the Chongzhen Dynasty, Emperor Shao Tian came to the rescue and saved eastern Zhejiang. East Zhejiang was relatively stable, but drought and military chaos caused food prices to rise sharply.
But he did not expect that Shu, known as the land of abundance, would turn out to be such a scene of purgatory on earth.
The Yellow thieves, local thieves, Western thieves, and even the rebellious Ming army, landlord armed forces, chieftain forces and other forces turned the entire Shu region into a purgatory.
"These beasts!" Zhang Dapeng couldn't help but cursed.
The old man with a broken arm sighed, "Only we Sichuan people know the chaos in Sichuan and the suffering of the Sichuan people. There are many people killed in Sichuan, and the most miserable person is to sacrifice the thief. However, there are many people who kill people, and the people who do it for entertainment are even worse than Shake."
Yellow thief.
Western thieves kill according to their leader, but in the yellow thieves' camp, even teenagers of 2 or 3 feet tall are dedicated to killing themselves and kill everyone they meet.
The old man said that after his arm was cut off from the Western Bandit Camp and he was released, he was captured by the Yellow Shake Bandit into the stronghold. He saw with his own eyes that the bandit threw the child into the air and then caught it with the tip of a spear. He saw the child being stabbed in pain.
They screamed, but they laughed loudly. They also saw them tying the person to a tree, cutting a hole in the stomach, taking out the intestines and wrapping them around it for fun.
There are also cases where children are held up by their hands and feet, and their heads are used to hit clocks. Their brains are knocked out, but they applaud..."
"Beasts, worse than beasts!" Zhang Dapeng cursed, "More cruel than the Manchu Tatars!"
The old man with a broken arm sighed, "Those people can no longer be called human beings. The yellow thieves all eat human flesh, and even force the captives to eat human flesh. I was once forced to eat human flesh in the bandit camp for a year. Later, due to old age and physical health, I was forced to eat human flesh."
Weak and lacking an arm, they drove us away."
Speaking of this, the old man's eyes also showed pain.
There are thirteen families of thieves, but there are many large and small forces. They basically focus on robbery and almost no production.
At present, in Shu, due to disasters, military disasters and other effects, a large number of fields are deserted. The landlords and gentry can still form villages to protect themselves, but the ordinary people are no longer able to resist.
Soldiers, thieves and bandits came over again and again. Farm cattle were plundered and people were used for farming. The food that could be grown was still not preserved. A large number of people began to flee. Those thieves who made a living by looting generally did not dare to attack the city and could not plunder the countryside.
After obtaining food, they simply robbed people for food.
They were very cunning enough to climb high at night and look into the distance. Where the beacon smoke was rising, there must be someone living there, so they sneaked in to plunder and slaughter people to satisfy their hunger.
In contrast, although Zhang Xianzhong also killed many people after entering Shu for the third time, Zhang Xianzhong's Western Camp did not directly feed on people. They usually attacked the city and focused on collecting food from the wealthy officials and gentry.
As long as they do not resist but submit, he will not kill them indiscriminately, but will brutally kill those who resist fiercely to intimidate and retaliate.
"How come the officers and soldiers didn't kill all these inhumane thieves?" Zhang Dapeng said bitterly.
"The officers and soldiers in Sichuan have too much time to take care of themselves, so how can they have the energy to surround and suppress these thieves?"
Since Chongzhen, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and other rebel armies have invaded the center of Shu several times. Although the government troops encircled and suppressed them in every possible way, they only made the Shu area more devastated.
As for yellow bandits and other thieves who are bent on occupying remote mountainous areas and mainly plundering in the countryside, although the officers and soldiers can also suppress them, these people are not easy to suppress.
What's more, the main targets of the government and army are people like Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng, etc.
"I heard that the imperial court seems to be intending to appease the Thirteen Huangs. It is said that the contending king Yuan Tao is about to be appointed as the chief military officer of the regiment." An old man with a missing nose said.
"How do you still appease such thieves who are worse than animals? Impossible!" Zhang Dapeng shouted angrily.
"I've also heard that this is the case. It seems that the governor of Sichuan, Wang Yingxiong, is sending people to appease him, hoping to borrow soldiers and horses from the Thirteen Families to deal with the traitors!"
Zhang Dapeng was so angry that he wanted to curse.
"How can we appease such a thief who eats people and takes pleasure in killing people? Lord Long Live will never agree to this!"
A group of disabled old men were silent. To be honest, they had no good impression of the imperial court. They had been in hell these past years, but how could the imperial court come to rescue them again?
The officers and soldiers in Sichuan are no better than those Western thieves, yellow thieves, and local bullies.
The various Sichuan armies were unable to receive food and salary supplies from the imperial court, and could not effectively raise funds locally. The generals had to find their own solutions, but there was no other way besides apportioning and persuading donations.
In the end, these officers and soldiers, who were short of pay and food, had no choice but to plunder and conscript.
For example, Wang Yingxiong's most important general, Wang Xiang, was originally a servant of Wang Yingxiong. With his bravery and ability in fighting, and with Wang Yingxiong's support, he became a general. He gathered some defeated soldiers from central Sichuan and gathered in Zunyi to support Wang Yingxiong.
Governor of Sichuan.
In order to maintain the supply of the army, he also forced money and food from the people.
For example, each family is given a death-free card and needs to pay a certain amount of silver. Then, each cow is given a cow ticket and needs to pay a certain amount of silver.
If you don't hand over the dead money-free silver and the bull-vote silver, you'll just tie someone up to get the bull.
Even the free silver and bullion silver are rising again and again.
People who owned land had to pay a donation per acre, and the amount was not fixed. Additional contributions were often made, or even collected in advance. Those who did not have land had to pay a donation per head.
Anyway, they are trying to find ways to expropriate money and food from the people to support the army.
Some officers and soldiers, due to lack of food and pay, even ate the prisoners they captured during the final battle, or even sold them to traffickers for slaughter and meat.
Even these officers and soldiers sometimes fight for territory and engage in civil war with each other for money and food.
In short, Shuzhong has actually been in chaos for a long time.
The so-called governor-general, governor-general, commander-in-chief, etc., there is no real court system at all. They all speak according to their own territory.
Those governors, governors, and Taoist officials all had to win over some of the generals who led the troops, so that they could speak effectively. For example, Governor Ma Gan and Zeng Ying were in the same group, Wang Yingxiong relied on Wang Xiang, etc.
The governors and governors are wooing those military generals, and even in order to gain more military support, they are also vigorously appeasing the thieves and bandits. They are willing to appease even thieves like the Yellow Thief.
Although the officials and generals of the Ming Dynasty in Bashu are willing to respect Zhu Yihai, they are still essentially in a state of separatism. The managers, governors, governors, etc. appointed by Zhu Yihai basically recognized the status of the various separatist forces in central Sichuan.
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Before the imperial camp of Shaanxi-Gansu was truly established and could truly fully respect the emperor's edict, Bashu was still a place beyond the actual control of the imperial court.
At present, the major military leaders in central Sichuan are Qin Liangyu, Zeng Ying, Yang Zhan, Wang Xiang, Hou Yongxi, Ma Yingqi generals, and San Tan, Tan Wen, Tan Hong, and Tan Yi from the Zhongzhou area.
The various warlords ruled the roost, and Zhu Yihai could only serve as an appointed governor, governor, admiral and other high-ranking officials for the time being. In fact, they all recognized the status of all forces in Sichuan.
We hope that we can first unite with the outside world and unite the front.
However, he also sent Wen Anzhi to manage, re-employed Qin Liangyu, and began to form the Sichuan-Shaanxi imperial camp. However, it was obvious that it was still a long way from actually controlling central Sichuan.
Nowadays, powerful local factions such as Ma Gan, Wang Yingxiong, and Fan Yiheng are still recruiting troops and wooing them.
As the governor of Sichuan, Wang Yingxiong wanted to appease the Huang Shisan family. Naturally, he wanted to further enhance his own strength so that he could truly secure his position as governor of Sichuan and be able to give orders to the generals Yang Zhan and Zeng Ying.
In this case, he didn't care about the brutal past of the Yaohuang thieves, but he was interested in the fact that the Thirteen Yaohuang clan claimed to have 100,000 soldiers.
Zhang Dapeng was an officer in the imperial camp and came to Sichuan on orders. There were also many officers who came with him, all of whom were capable officers drawn from the armies of the imperial camp.
The emperor was also aware of the current situation of warlord separatism in central Sichuan. He had learned from the experience of the Five Loyalists in Huguang. The emperor obviously did not trust the military leaders in central Sichuan, but after all, they still respected the imperial court. Therefore, under the threat of Zhang Xianzhong and the Qing army, Zhu Yihai also I can only figure it out slowly.
The Sichuan-Shaanxi marching camp was the key. Elite soldiers were drawn from the Sichuan army, plus officers sent by the imperial camp, and some simple and young men from central Sichuan were recruited. This marching camp was the key to the emperor's step-by-step control of Sichuan.
But the road is still long.
Before coming, Zhang Dapeng also knew that this trip would not be easy.
But now that he heard this, he had a better understanding of the complexity of the situation in Sichuan.
It is not easy to establish the Sichuan-Shaanxi camp and be completely loyal to the emperor.
"There's movement!"
Yang Wei quietly approached Zhang Dapeng and reported.
A group of people who were fleeing to Hanzhong were startled when they saw the sudden appearance of Yang Wei. They didn't even notice him. Yang Wei was the captain of Zhang Dapeng's soldiers and was an Orion.
This time, Zhang Dapeng was transferred from the imperial camp together with Zhang Dapeng. Zhang Dapeng was the battalion officer, and Yang Wei was the direct captain of Zhang Dapeng's battalion, which can also be called the personal captain.
This time heading north to Hanzhong, in addition to Shizhu Baigan Sichuan soldier Liu Chengzu who served as guide, they were Yang Wei and another Baigan soldier Ma Liang.
"What did you find?"
Yang Wei and Ma Liang were arranged by Zhang Dapeng in a dark place to investigate the situation.
"About two miles away, over the ridge, there is a small stream, and the camp is right next to it. There are fifty people in total, both men and women. They have set up several tents. When we found them, they were boiling water,"
"What else?" Zhang Dapeng asked, "Can you confirm their identities?"
"They must be local thugs, most likely yellow thieves," the reason Yang Wei dared to say this was because they found several people tied up in the camp. "There were eight people, men, women, old and young. They looked like a family."
Zhang Dapeng stood up in a hurry, "You mean these people are boiling water and preparing to kill people for meat?"
"That's how it should be."
Zhang Dapeng's face was ashen.
"Are these fifty people the only ones?"
"No one else has been found nearby."
"Damn it, I just said you were a prostitute, and you've actually encountered one. We can't just ignore him."
Yang Wei reminded him, "There are fifty people on the other side, and there are only four of us."
"Since we have encountered each other, there is no reason to ignore them. Who are we?" Zhang Dapeng reminded them, "We are from the Sichuan-Shaanxi Expeditionary Camp of the Ming Dynasty, and are the emperor's guards. We have encountered these thugs and thieves. If you want to eat people, how can you turn a blind eye?"
"But there are only four of us?"
"So what if there are four of us? We, the royal guards of the Emperor, are still afraid of a bunch of beasts?"
Zhang Dapeng gritted his teeth and said, "Yang Wei, please tell me carefully, how many men and women do they have, and what weapons do they have? Are they prepared? Have they sent anyone to look out?"