Chapter 77, Fujian Undercurrent (Part 1)
In the summer of the fifth year of Chongzhen, Fuzhou City, Fujian Governor’s Yamen
In the small study room of the back office where incense was lit, Zou Weilian, the governor of Fujian Province in the Ming Dynasty, was sleeping on a bamboo recliner with his eyes closed and resting with a tired face.
Zou Weilian, the governor of Fujian, who just celebrated his fiftieth birthday this year, could only be considered middle-aged among the officials of the Ming Dynasty. Sun Chengzong, the governor of Liaodong who has a similar status, is sixty-nine years old and is still fighting on the front line against the Jurchen soldiers... However, at this time, Governor Zou's complexion was dark, his face was haggard, and he was so full. The white hair on his head makes him look like an old man in his seventies at first glance.
——There is no way, his former governor Xiong Wencan really left Zou Weilian with a mess that could not get any worse. With Zou Weilian's knowledge and ability, he really didn't know how to deal with it, so he had no choice but to hold his nose and stay in a vegetarian position, being a monk for one day and clocking the clock.
Every time he thought of this section, Zou Weilian couldn't help but want to sigh: Why is my life so miserable?
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Since Xiong Wencan took office as the governor of Fujian in the first year of Chongzhen, in order to cooperate with the political mission of the central government to "wipe out the remnants of the eunuch party", he has been targeting the strongest military leader in Fujian Province, who single-handedly assassinated Nurhaci. The commander of the Funing Guards, who had swept across the invincible Liaodong division, and the general of Fujian North Road, General Huang Shi, carried out all-round suppression (because Huang Shi was once highly trusted by Emperor Tianqi and was relatively close to the nine-thousand-year-old Wei Zhongxian)—— Although in the court, the emperor's master Sun Chengzong and others tried their best to protest, claiming that the country was currently in constant war and generals could never be killed without reason, so Huang Shi was not allowed to fall into the same fate as Wei Zhongxian, but in the eyes of the entire Donglin Party Facing the wave of counterattacks and calculations, the Fujian government was not willing to lag behind. Not only did they completely stop paying the Funing Army's pay and rations, they even allowed the Jin gentry to seize the cultivated land of the Funing Guards in an attempt to destroy this "eunuch party's minions" step by step.
Unexpectedly, the Funing Army, which had repeatedly defeated slaves, was not a soft persimmon like the inland guards who could be manipulated by civilian officials at will, but a lawless and arrogant force. Faced with the blatant persecution by the governor's yamen, Funing's army quickly launched the most intense armed confrontation - the government's yamen servants, Jin gentry's servants, and Xiong Wencan's "Fu Biao" (guards directly under the governor) were all easily defeated by Huang Shi. . Xiong Wencan, who personally led the team to Xiapu to make trouble for Huangshi, even became a prisoner because of an informant. In the end, he was forced to sign a lot of paperwork before being released.
——Xiong Wencan can certainly report to the court that Huangshi is rebellious, but the problem is that the Funing Army is stationed in Xiapu, and the inside is impenetrable. Everyone hates the Fujian government and gnashes their teeth. They can break through Fuzhou at any time, so they can strike first. powerful. Not to mention that Huang Shi was the "best master in the world" who once went to Liaoyang alone to kill Nurhachi. Xiong Wencan really didn't dare to bet that his head would be more difficult to cut than Nurhaci's head...
After learning from the painful experience, Xiong Wencan believed that the reason why he suffered such a shame and humiliation was because he lacked armed forces, so he offered extremely generous treatment to those who had previously robbed Fu for a long time. Zheng Zhilong and other "sea lords" who built the coast awarded Zheng Zhilong as a "coastal defense guerrilla". The other sea lords also obtained official positions and designated southern Fujian as a defense zone for the Zheng family's army in an attempt to use the Zheng family's power to deal with Huangshi's tough soldiers.
At the same time, Xiong Wencan actively sent people to work in the court, impeaching Huang Shi and the Funing Army for a lot of crimes, and then claimed that in order to appease the pirates and pacify the Minhai, Huang Shi's head was needed to establish prestige and serve as a "sea lord" "They vented their anger ...According to Xiong Wencan's plan, he hopes to defeat Huang Shi as a traitor in one go, and then find a way to assassinate Huang Shi just like Yuan Chonghuan set up a trap to kill Mao Wenlong in Liaodong, leaving the Funing army leaderless and scattered. If the assassination fails, we will simply mobilize the southern troops and carry out a campaign to suppress the six provincial capitals, completely removing this thorn in the side in one fell swoop.
But the problem is that when Xiong Wencan's memorial was sent to Beijing, it was already three years since Chongzhen. At that time, Emperor Chongzhen had just experienced the tragedy of a slave siege, and it seemed that he would soon experience a second time. In the Xuanfu and Datong areas, the flames of war are already everywhere... When the Tatars went south last time, due to the mutiny and rebellion of Guan Ning's army, the city of Beijing almost fell. In the end, Emperor Chongzhen had no choice but to be killed by a thousand swords. Governor Yuan vented his anger. Facing the Tartars breaking through the border and heading south, Emperor Chongzhen didn't know how to deal with it. At this time, he was shocked when he saw that Xiong Wencan violated the system and killed a general without authorization - Yuan Chonghuan was known as the "Five Years of Ping Liao" and killed without authorization. Killed Mao Wenlong to establish his authority, and then put Jiannu under the city of Beijing. Xiong Wencan is now saying that in order to pacify Haijiang, he needs to kill the more famous Huangshi to unify power. God knows what trouble will be caused?
Moreover, the north is in such chaos, and you still want to start a war in the south - you actually dare to say that you are a loyal minister, who would believe it?
Emperor Chongzhen, who already had a psychological shadow, immediately dismissed Xiong Wencan's absurd suggestion. Looking back, he felt uneasy, fearing that Xiong Wencan would continue to do the same thing and follow Yuan Chonghuan's example and simply forge an imperial edict to kill people, and then rush to Fujian. A secret edict was issued, and Xiong Wencan was threatened in a stern voice, telling him not to forget that Yuan Chonghuan was cut to pieces with a thousand knives. Seeing that the emperor not only did not support him, but even sent a secret edict to threaten him, Xiong Wencan, who was confused for a moment, had no choice but to give up his thoughts on killing Huang Shi. However, he still kept making small moves, such as hinting that the local government would treat Zheng Zhilong preferentially. A group of pirates surrendered, incited the gentry and villagers in Fujian, and continued to insult and treat Huangshi's subordinates harshly.
This kind of all-round suppression and cold violence was really unbearable. It was only thanks to the secret blood transfusions from Taiwan's Zhang Wei and Lingao that Huang Shi was able to barely maintain the Funing Army from collapsing - so the annoyed Huang Shi turned to Ming Chao no longer had any nostalgia, and since then he has become the vanguard of Qiongzhou's "Kun thieves". The people in the Funing army who had been bullied were also filled with indignation towards the Fujian government and completely surrendered to the "Kun thieves". (Zou Weilian’s personal understanding)
In the autumn of the third year of Chongzhen's reign, the Qiongzhou "Kun Bandits", who had strong ships and powerful artillery, swept across the Pearl River, bombarded Guangzhou, and forced the Guangzhou government to sign a city-wide alliance. With the assistance of the Funing Army, they immediately took advantage of the victory and continued to surprise Xiamen and Quanzhou. In one fell swoop, he defeated the Zheng family's troops and horses in southern Fujian and killed Zheng Zhilong's entire family. Next, Huang Shi led the Funing Army to pretend to go south from Xiapu to rescue, but in fact it was to strangle the remnants of the Zheng Army and attempt to dominate Fujian.
Seeing that these tough pirates that he had worked so hard to raise were destroyed overnight, the furious Xiong Wencan immediately healed his scars and forgot about the pain. He once again brought the Fubiao Guards out to find trouble in Huangshi, but the result was that he was defeated again and became a prisoner for the second time. ...Facing Huangshi's invincible soldiers and Zheng Realizing that the family fleet had been destroyed, Xiong Wencan, who had lost all his bargaining chips, was finally forced to bow his head, reach a compromise with Huang Shi, and jointly deceive the court. Huang Shi was promoted to the Fujian Army Corps because of his "war merits." To clean up the mess after the invasion of the Kun thieves.
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By the time Zou Weilian, the new governor of Fujian who came to replace Xiong Wencan, finally took office, the situation in Fujian had deteriorated beyond control - Quanzhou, Anping, Xiamen and other wealthy commercial ports in southern Fujian had all become forbidden areas for the Funing Army. The local government in southern Fujian was completely ignored by the "work teams" of the thieves. The small government officials either defected to the thieves, or were forcibly dismissed or even arrested and imprisoned. Uncooperative county officials would even "die of illness"! The Fujian navy and the local guards in southern Fujian were also taken over by the Kun thieves. Apart from still wearing the skin of the Ming Dynasty, they already looked like foreign countries.
In northern Fujian, where the provincial capital Fuzhou is located, the Funing Army also left a big nail like the old camp in Xiapu, monitoring every move in Fuzhou, the provincial capital, and warning the governor's office in Fuzhou City not to talk nonsense or move around. It made it difficult for Zou Weilian to eat well and sleep peacefully...
As a traditional civil servant, Zou Weilian certainly could not tolerate these despicable warriors going against the grain and dominating the noble literati. The problem was that when a scholar encountered soldiers, it was hard to explain why. The other officers and soldiers in Fujian Province had been completely defeated, demobilized or integrated by the Funing Army. By the time he took office, the governor's Yamen had neither soldiers nor wealth, and could only control the areas centered on Fuzhou. A large area - the richest southern Fujian has naturally become the territory of Huangshi. As for the vast inland mountainous areas in western Fujian, it has been "unyielding to the king" for a long time...
——When historians study the peasant uprising in the late Ming Dynasty, they often only focus on Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others in the northwest Shanxi Province, but they do not know that in the southeastern provinces, which are known to be relatively prosperous, the same happened during the Chongzhen period in the late Ming Dynasty. Public dissatisfaction arose, uprisings continued, and wars occurred frequently: although it was not like in the north, where hundreds of thousands of armed marches often took place, it was still not uncommon for thousands or tens of thousands of people to besiege county towns.
As early as April 11th in the first year of Chongzhen, a Southern Jiangxi uprising army led a crowd to attack Anyuan County, robbed the treasury, released prisoners, and announced the founding of a dynasty and the establishment of a country (many peasant armies like to play house and establish a country in this way). After being defeated by the Jiangxi army, the remaining troops fled into Fujian, immediately setting off a prairie fire.
Although Fujian did not suffer very serious natural disasters at that time, the people were forced to live in dire straits by the imperial court's exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, especially the new "Liao rates" and "Suppression rates" - in fact, with the great prosperity of industry and commerce in the late Ming Dynasty, Such a small amount of tax is just a drop in the bucket, but the problem is that the court's tax collection falls entirely on the farmers, plunders their food and money, and drives them to do labor, and all the suffering will fall on them. On the contrary, the imperial court basically did not collect commercial taxes. The result was that the wealthy gentry and merchants did not pay taxes, and the farmers who paid taxes had no money. Moreover, due to the corruption of the officialdom in the late Ming Dynasty, the court set a tax of one tael of silver, and added it layer by layer, and in the end it would become a real income of ten taels of silver. How could the farmers who were already in a difficult situation be able to withstand such oppression? ? However, the land in Fujian is barren, and the rice produced in an acre of paddy field can only be sold for more than one tael of silver, but the government's taxes and taxes require as much as 2 taels or even 5 taels of silver per mu! Not counting the rent to the landlord!
As a result, farmers throughout Fujian lost their livelihood and abandoned their fields and fled. In the coastal areas of southern and northern Fujian, ordinary people can still make ends meet by fishing and boiling salt, or they can live with the Funing Army as military households - any official who dares to touch the Funing Army's territory will be cut off. . If that doesn't work, going to sea to explore the Southeast Asia or defecting to various "sea masters" or "Australian thieves" as far away as Qiongzhou is also a way to survive.
However, in the inland mountainous areas of western Fujian, the people do not have many other options besides farming, and they live together with ethnic minorities. The folk customs have always been tough, with martial arts as the first priority. The words work, and the group fights between Tujia and Hakka people usually happen one after another. Faced with such harsh exploitation that gave them no way to survive, the mountain people in western Fujian revolted one after another. They joined forces with heroes from southern Jiangxi and northern Guangdong, as well as copycat chieftains of the She ethnic group, crisscrossed the towering mountains, and repeatedly attacked Jin gentry manors and government tax houses. Card. When the Gannan uprising army retreated into Fujian, this powder keg was completely detonated. Most of Fujian was plunged into complete chaos amid endless anti-tax riots.
——There is no way. The Ming Dynasty was such a self-destructive dynasty. All the burdens of the entire country fell on the farmers. All the expenses of raising officials and soldiers, and the private benefits from the court to local officials also came from the farmers. head The people were squeezed one after another, and the people were overwhelmed and went bankrupt one after another. Their land was annexed by the gentry who did not pay taxes. There were fewer and fewer people who could pay taxes. The farmers who had not yet gone bankrupt had to bear more and more burdens. Heavy taxes and corvees. If this vicious cycle continues, on the one hand, the country will have no tax to collect and its finances will go bankrupt; on the other hand, farmers will rise up and wars will spread all over the country.
In the original history, because the southern provinces were relatively prosperous, and the landlords and gentry had relatively strong servants, they could withstand the consumption of long-term battles. In addition, the mountains in the south were undulating and the roads were bumpy, making it difficult for the rebels to maneuver for long distances. The development situation of the rebel army in the south is not as good as that in the north. Although it has not been completely wiped out, it has been basically suppressed to the extent of hiding in the mountains and forming strongholds to protect itself, without causing any big waves. Occasionally, there would be a big commotion, but it would just involve thousands of people marching in armed parade outside the city. As soon as the officers and soldiers arrived, these people would disperse.
But in this time and space, due to the repeated battles between Huang Shi and Xiong Wencan, most of the more combat-effective government troops and landlord regiments in Fujian Province were annihilated one after another in private fights with the Funing Army. The remaining armed forces also had to fight against the "Australian forces" represented by the Funing Army, and could not take care of the peasant uprisings in the inland mountainous areas, creating a military vacuum. The traveler forces represented by Huangshi also had the intention of supporting the invaders and self-respect. They once provided a lot of support to the peasant armies in western Fujian, and even directly intervened to support the forces. As a result, the peasant armies in western Fujian fought. Capacity has greatly improved. Starting from the second year of Chongzhen, Changting, Shaxian, Gucheng, Ninghua and other places in inland Fujian fell one after another. In February of the fourth year of Chongzhen, a Fujian rebel army even broke through Ruijin County in southern Jiangxi, and once again spread the flames of war outside the province.
By the fifth year of Chongzhen's reign in this time and space, the mountainous areas of southern Jiangxi, western Fujian, and northeastern Guangdong in the Ming Empire, from Shaxian in the east to Ganzhou in the west, were roughly equivalent to the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Base and Ruijin of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in the 1930s. An area as large as the Central Revolutionary Base Area has basically escaped the control of the Ming Dynasty officials, and has fallen into a state of complete chaos where "bandits have sprung up in droves, and each state and county has its own cottage." If these rebel armies were not blocked by mountains, not subordinate to each other, and scattered, then the entire south might have been within their attack range!
Faced with such a situation, the existence of the Funing Army has become a major support for the survival of the Fujian government - when its own force has been defeated, if the Funing Army had not deterred the "group of bandits in western Fujian", it would have The Funing Army was forced into mutiny, and by the way it offended the "Australians" who were powerful in the Fujian Sea. Faced with attacks from three sides by rebels, pirates and peasant armies, even the provincial capital Fuzhou might not be able to defend itself.
When the whole province of Fujian falls, it will surely shock the world. No matter how he, the governor of Fujian, thinks about it, he will probably be blamed for it. Zou Weilian himself died in a military disaster because it was a trivial matter. I am afraid that if he is held accountable afterwards, even his disciples and his hometown will be held accountable. Everyone in the clan will suffer the same fate!
What's even more terrible is that even if Zou Weilian risked his life to serve the imperial court and become an enemy of the domineering vassal town of Huangshi, he would not get any support from the imperial court at the moment - because the Battle of Daling River ended in a disastrous defeat at the beginning of the year, and the imperial court spent a huge amount of money. The tens of thousands of Guan Ning cavalry built with capital actually surrendered collectively to Hou Jin, which angered the emperor. Sun Chengzong, the governor of Liaodong, and Zhou Yanru, the chief minister of the cabinet, had both taken the blame and resigned. From then on, they fell out of office and retired home.
As a result, the Donglin Party's power in the court suffered an unprecedented heavy blow. It was also disliked by Emperor Chongzhen, and its momentum was not as strong as before. However, Wen Tiren, the Minister of Rites, who was born in another faction, took the opportunity to be promoted to the new chief minister, and saw that a counterattack against the Donglin Party was imminent - Wen Tiren has always been narrow-minded and treacherous. He had previously flattered Zhou Yanru on the surface, but secretly Seeking to seize his position as chief assistant. In the court at that time, anyone who had been around for a few years generally knew Wen Tiren's true nature. In other words, they all knew that he was an expert in manipulating people.
However, Zou Weilian was not only from the Donglin Party, he was a political enemy of Wen Tiren in the party struggle, and even had a personal vendetta against him... What's more, as far as Gong was concerned, with the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Daling River, the entire northern border defense was in trouble. On the verge of collapse, a partial army of Jiannu in Liaodong has broken through the pass and gone south, running rampant in Beizhili! In this situation where the imperial capital is in crisis, neither the emperor nor the cabinet would want to provoke a new war in the south.
In short, Zou Weilian knew very well that if he forcibly dealt with Huang Shi at this time, I am afraid that not only would he not receive help from the court, but he would be slapped down by the cabinet controlled by his old enemy Wen Tiren, and he would be slapped with a bunch of charges, and he might even be dismissed from office and imprisoned. , it is possible to vent your anger on Huangshi!
In this case, why is he, the governor of Fujian, whose father does not love his mother, still bothering? It’s a day if you can survive it!
At any rate, the situation can still be maintained, and the market in Fuzhou is basically stable. Moreover, although the Funing Army colludes with the pirates and is domineering, at least they have no plans to rebel. The annual official taxes can still be basically paid in full, but The gray income of officials at all levels has shrunk to a certain extent...but it is still much better than those poor thieves who broke into the provincial government and were forced to die in the city.
As for the various evil deeds of the Funing Army in bullying civil servants in various counties in southern Fujian, treating the gentry harshly, massacring scholars, burning tribute courtyards, imposing commercial taxes, making grudges against wealthy families, and opening schools to spread fallacies and heresies... Well, as long as they don't cause trouble in Fuzhou, He had no choice but to pretend not to know.
Therefore, three months ago, Zhang Dai, together with a group of Fushe scholars and Donglin juniors, visited Fuzhou to "expose" Huangshi's "conspiracy" to collude with the thieves and betray the imperial court to Zou Weilian, and asked Zou Weilian to mobilize the gentry and officials in Fujian. , when they cooperated with the Donglin Party members in the northern and southern courts to launch an attack on the Huangshi Group, Zou Weilian suddenly had a big head, and could only smile bitterly and secretly cursed - Zhang Dai, you, a rich and idle person, how can you know the pain I am suffering right now? At present, the governor's office can hardly even protect itself. How can it deal with the most arrogant generals in the world like Funing Army?
When it was discovered from the mouths of these juniors that the mastermind of the incident was actually Qian Qianyi, who was living in seclusion at home, Zou Weilian even praised him, but cursed in his heart, "... Qian Muzhai, you old man Slippery! Do you want to treat me like a meat bun and throw it to the vicious dog in Huangshi?”
——Unlike those younger members of the Donglin Party who only know how to sing high-pitched songs all day long, Zou Weilian, a veteran who has been immersed in officialdom for many years, saw through at a glance that Qian Qianyi incited the Donglin Party to launch a political trend and force the Huangshi and Funing Army to rebel. The sinister intentions: From the perspective of the Ming court, on this occasion The country is unstable and the world is troubled. Even if the Funing Army is determined to eradicate Huangshi, it should act secretly to minimize risks and turbulence and reduce the backlash and impact of the incident. For example, setting a trap and sending experts to Ambushing and assassinating Huangshi is the real best option.
However, for Qian Qianyi, who is currently idle at home and eager to make a big contribution to his recovery, this way of handling the situation that is most beneficial to the country is the worst way of handling it - as an incompetent person. As a low-level politician with no power or position, he has no way to intervene in this matter and gain political capital. Even if Huang Shi and his party members are successfully eradicated, all the credit and benefits will be divided between the local political groups in Fujian and the Donglin Party members who serve in the court. Therefore, relying on the Donglin Party's long-standing tradition of internal strife that makes people vomit blood, Qian Qianyi deliberately chose the most lively and world-shaking method, which is also the most harmful to the country: that is, to launch an attack between the government and the opposition. Public opinion trends and political criticism forced the Funing Army to rebel against Huangshi! Engage in a big battle that will wipe out several provincial capitals!
In Qian Qianyi's view, since Huang Shi's ambition has been revealed and he will definitely rebel next, he is now mobilizing all his power to impeach Huang Shi with great fanfare. After Huang Shi can't bear the pressure and sets off a rebellion, he can rely on his foresight. Re-enter the emperor's sight. As for Huangshi's rebellion in Fujian, killing corpses everywhere and displacing the people? So what does Qian Qianyi have to do with it? Is this all the responsibility of the governor of Fujian? Anyway, Qian Qianyi will be far away in the south of the Yangtze River at that time. As the saying goes, a dead Taoist friend will never die a poor Taoist - no matter whether it will force the generals to turn against the border and bring huge disasters to the country, as long as he can take the credit for the incident in his own hands. Well...this is the usual behavior of the Donglin Party, and Zou Weilian knows this very well.
Therefore, in the face of Zhang Dai's impassioned speeches for several days, Zou Weilian only responded vaguely. In the end, after much talk, he finally got rid of Zhang Dai and others with the excuse of "the time is not yet ripe". Then he treated them to delicious food and drinks, traveled around for a few days, and gave them many new "Australian and Song products" on the market as gifts. Finally, he sent back these guys who were just here to cause trouble. However, what Governor Zou Weilian didn’t know at this time was that this matter was far from over...