Chapter 81, Shandong's sudden change (Part 1)
Shandong Peninsula, Dengzhou Fucheng
The streets and alleys that were once bustling with shops were now filled with billowing black smoke. The spacious streets were littered with corpses, broken swords, blunderbuss, and spears, as well as those burned to ashes. flag.
Chen Xin, the commander-in-chief of Dengzhou, was wearing heavy armor. Surrounded by his close guards, he walked gloomily through the dilapidated streets with lingering smoke. The Denglai Governor's Office in front of him had been reduced to rubble after a fierce battle. , but around him, intermittent shouts of death, gunshots, groans and various other noises were still floating in this chaotic battlefield.
Liu Minyou, who was in charge of civil affairs and was an old time traveler with Chen Xin, was still wrapped in bandages and lying unconscious on the hospital bed.
In short, from now on, Chen Xin's Dengzhou Town is no longer an official army of the imperial court, but a rebel! What a bad time!
Speaking of which, how did things end up like this?
Rubbing his temples with throbbing veins, Chen Xin couldn't help but let out a long sigh and began to recall the scenes of his experiences in the past few months.
Generally speaking, the fortunes of Dengzhou Town have not been very smooth since entering Chongzhen five years ago.
——The Dengzhou Rebellion caused by the mutiny of the Liao soldiers was disrupted by the travelers from the Vladivostok Far East Company. It did not break out as planned in history. The two travelers, Chen Xin and Liu Minyou, had all planned this matter. It all came to nothing (some Liao soldiers went out by boat) While at sea, they were kidnapped by the landing ship of the Vladivostok Traverser Group and used as laborers. On the way to the front line, the remaining Liao soldiers encountered Jurchen soldiers entering the customs and looting, so the mutinous Dengzhou Liao soldiers directly surrendered to the Tatars and went to plunder They plundered the prefectures and counties in northern Zhili and did not return to Dengzhou.) Faced with the transfer order from the Imperial Ministry of War and the urging of Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, Chen Xin had no choice but to mobilize 2,500 troops and march to Beijing to prepare for reinforcements on the Daling River battlefield. The original culprit of the Dengzhou Rebellion in history, the more than 2,000 Liao soldiers from the Governor's Biao Battalion led by Li Jiucheng, set out more than half a month earlier than Chen Xin, marching north to Zhili in the wind and snow.
After leaving Dengzhou, Chen Xin's King Qin army did not receive good treatment along the way. The prefectures and counties along the way not to mention providing food and wages. When the soldiers and horses passed through, the cities and even city gates were closed, and they were not allowed to enter the city to purchase. , can be called abhorrent Gou Suan, although marching within the Ming Dynasty, is no different from marching to foreign countries - but the prefectures and counties in Shandong are helpless. The discipline of the imperial officers and soldiers has always been corrupted. The saying "thieves come like combs, officials come like grizzards" is not an exaggeration. statement. These days there are constant famines, and life is miserable everywhere. People are starving to death everywhere in Shandong Province. Hungry people and bandits are roaming all over the mountains and plains, and there is little surplus food in every county and government. If they are looted several times by soldiers and horses passing through the border, even a wealthy landlord's family will not be able to survive.
Fortunately, Chen Xinyou's own Sihai Trading Co. purchased grain and fodder on his behalf, and the military pay they brought was quite sufficient, so they could barely survive. The Liao soldiers led by Li Jiucheng, who were walking in front of Chen Xin, were already hungry and full, complaining all the way. As for the thousands of miles of journey ahead, they were even more daunted - before in Dengzhou, they who had withdrawn from Liaodong Not only are there no troops like Guan Ningjun, With the generous treatment of four to five million taels of silver each year, he had to endure the common problem of the late Ming Dynasty government despising warriors and withholding military pay. He also had to bear the hostility of Shandong locals towards immigrants from other places. He was always inferior to others and was bullied by Shandong's civil servants and gentry. Extremely uncomfortable. Now that they were about to go into battle, the treatment was even worse than when they were in Dengzhou, and they might even starve to death on the way. Naturally, the anger in their chests became even hotter, and they were about to reach the critical point of endurance.
In short, both groups of soldiers were hoping that Zu Dashou in Dalinghe City would die soon so that they could avoid the hard work this time. Regrettably, although both reinforcements moved forward at the slowest pace, they still did not wait for the news of Zu Dashou's death. Instead, Dengzhou and the imperial military department issued orders one after another urging them to speed up, and The cities they passed behind were still wary of them as always.
Next, Chen Xin finally walked to Dezhou with a lot of suffocation, but received an edict ordering the army from all over the world to march to Beijing to Qinwang. It turned out that Huang Taiji was besieging Dalinghe City and was fighting with the Guanning Army in western Liaoning. After the other Ming armies fought fiercely, they sent Abataibele to lead a partial division to bypass Jizhen and break through the border wall into North Zhili to contain the Ming Dynasty reinforcements. On the other side, when it was learned that the Tartars had once again broken through the border and marched south, the city of Beijing suddenly became panic-stricken. The confused imperial court sealed the city under martial law while deploying troops to reinforce the capital. As for the war at Daling River, it could no longer take care of it.
At the same time, Li Jiucheng, who was walking in the front, had already mutinied with more than 2,000 Liao soldiers and surrendered to the Jurchen soldiers under Abatai who broke through the Great Wall and went south to sweep various counties in the capital. On the other side, after learning about Abatai's entry into the Koubei Zhili and Li Jiucheng's rebellion and surrender to the Tartars, Commander-in-Chief Chen Xin was not angry but happy after hearing the news - now he finally had a clear path and no longer had to fill the gap. Linghe is a dead place!
——It's not that the Jurchen Tartars are really that difficult to defeat, but the cheating boss above them and the pig teammates around them are really disappointing.
Therefore, Chen Xin immediately ordered the entire army to prepare for war, and advanced into the North Zhili Theater. He fought several times with the small group of Tatars in the "Grass Valley" and the Ming Army who surrendered to the Tatars as collaborators, and achieved small gains. However, the food and fodder in the army were also greatly depleted, but all the counties and cities in various places refused to provide supplies, as if they were not in the same system as the official army. At the same time, after all, there is a huge disparity in the strength of the two sides. With just the few troops in Chen Xin's hands, it is really impossible to fight Abatai in a decisive battle. So he turned to Tianjin, planning to collect supplies through the local port. At the same time, he reported his merits to the court and prepared to continue to Beijing.
Unexpectedly, before the food and fodder were fully prepared, a message from the Ministry of War came: actually ordering them not to come to King Qin! Leave Gyeonggi and go back to Dengzhou!
It turned out that since King Qin's edict was issued, soldiers and horses from all walks of life have set off towards the capital, but the court seemed not to have thought of providing logistical support for these troops. First, an army of King Qin from Shanxi arrived in the capital. The clinker court was busy with party disputes - national affairs were in turmoil, and it was a tradition of the Ming Dynasty to impeach the elders. The chief minister, Zhou Yanru, was being impeached by officials because of the tragic defeat in Liaodong, and he was trying to keep his position. After a fierce battle with Wen Tiren, the civil and military forces of the entire dynasty divided into camps and fought against each other, with no interest in government affairs... As a result, the Ministry of War actually ignored the reinforcements from other provinces and ordered them to camp outside Andingmen. The angry general of King Qin's army went to question the Ministry of Household Affairs. The Ministry of Household Affairs, which was still controlled by the Donglin Party at that time, actually replied: "People's residences can be accommodated." Regarding food, the Ministry of Revenue even issued an official document saying: "If the people have food, why should they rely entirely on the Ministry of Household Affairs?"
These reinforcements from other provinces prepared their own supplies and traveled thousands of miles to the capital to reach King Qin. They felt that they were completely loyal to the Zhu Ming Dynasty. Unexpectedly, the imperial court treated King Qin's army so coldly. The more they thought about it, the more angry and disappointed they became: since this is so stupid The imperial court does not care about food or accommodation. Food and clothing are a problem, and military discipline cannot be maintained. Since the Ministry of Household Affairs of the imperial court has said that we are required to grab a house to live in and food to eat, why should we be content?
As a result, officers and soldiers from all walks of life ran rampant in the suburbs of Beijing, seizing people's houses to serve as military camps, and robbing people's food to satisfy their hunger. The timid ones stole chickens and dogs, while the brave ones killed people and bought goods. At first, they only dared to rob small people, but later they gradually began to rob large gentry households. most Later, even the farms and villas of the emperor's relatives were robbed. When the powerful servants and servants came to stop them, the generals glared: "...This is the imperial decree! Teach us to rob you and other works." Reward! ”
I learned that the imperial court was acting so absurdly - encouraging King Qin's soldiers and horses to loot the people at will! The residents of the capital were suddenly filled with grief and anger, cursing the officers and soldiers for causing more harm than the banditry. However, the suburbs of the capital had been repeatedly hit by military disasters in recent years, and most of the households had fled. They were no longer as prosperous as they once were. Even though King Qin's army was looting everywhere, they could not raise enough food and wages. , each other is full of anger. Because of the uneven distribution of the spoils, conflicts gradually broke out between officers and soldiers from all walks of life. Before the Liaodong Tartars arrived, Beijing had already become a battlefield. Outside the capital, there were slaves burning, killing and looting, and under the capital city, officers and soldiers were fighting with each other and causing trouble. The land of hundreds of good deeds suddenly turned into a fiery hell, the city gates were tightly closed during the day, and the wealthy officials and gentry fled to Tianjin overnight, trying to take a sea route and take a boat to the south to "escape the hustle and bustle".
It was not until the whole situation was almost out of control that Emperor Chongzhen, who was deep in the palace, finally learned of the incident. He suddenly became furious and scolded the generals of Qin Wang's army from other provinces for "ignoring the troops and disturbing the people." "If you have orders, what's the use of having officials in peacetime?" and ordered the Ministry of War to strictly organize all armies. Unfortunately, at this time, even the emperor's order had no effect. After the imperial court forced the generals to panic, they encouraged the soldiers to set up a stronghold to block the city gates, made noise and threatened the imperial court, and kept shouting: "We will die. If you are an enemy and you are not full, how can you resist defeating the enemy with a small life? ”
——When Chen Xin sent a letter from Tianjin to report his merits, the troubles caused by the various Qin Wang troops in Beijing had not yet been resolved. The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household were both involved in lawsuits. I heard that there were new Qin Wang troops. When it comes to coming, the first reaction is "it's causing trouble again"! Looking at Abatai's Hou Jin army, they had already turned around and returned north, and were expected to leave the Ming Dynasty soon, so they simply sent Chen Xin back, so that everyone was quieter.
So, Chen Xin took his Dengzhou Army and returned to the Weihaiwei garrison by boat in despair, thinking that he had finally escaped.
Unexpectedly, he could escape on the first day of the lunar month but not on the 15th day. Not long after, Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, sent someone to inform him that he wanted to commend Chen Xin for his military exploits during his previous visit to Beijing and to discuss the remaining garrison of Li Jiucheng's Liao army after the rebellion. and defense zone takeover issues...
Chen Xin and Liu Minyou didn't think anything was wrong at first, so they went to Dengzhou Fucheng... Who would have expected that this would be a Hongmen Banquet!
It turned out that in order to establish a military camp, settle military dependents, and create a reliable base area, Chen Xin needed to obtain a large area of cultivated land. Therefore, he had constant conflicts with the landlords and gentry in Dengzhou. He used ruthless tactics to kill some guys who were ignorant of current affairs. In the local area, There are many grudges.
Not long ago, his close subordinates followed the instructions of Chen Xin, a time traveler, and explored the Zhaoyuan gold mine according to the map, preparing to develop it as a new source of revenue for raising soldiers. However, during the process of recruiting miners and making preparations, the relevant responsible personnel failed to keep confidentiality, allowing outsiders to find out the details. For a time, it attracted the jealousy of many forces - although the local officials and gentry in Dengzhou, They were all scared to death by Chen Xin, but the temptation of gold was really amazing. After heavyweight local tyrants such as Prince Lu's Mansion in Ziyang and Duke Yansheng's Mansion in Qufu joined in and attempted to seize Chen Xin's property, an opposition soon emerged, driven by hatred and lured by gold mines. The powerful alliance between General Chen Xin and Dengzhou Town.
At this time, the Donglin Party was under heavy criticism in the court and was in a critical situation. It urgently needed to instigate a major event to shift the focus... Therefore, under the joint pressure of many forces from the court center to Shandong Province, they saw that their official position was in danger. precarious Sun Yuanhua, a member of the Donglin Party who was in danger, finally made up his mind and conspired with various forces to set up a killing plan against Chen Xin, preparing to "seize his soldiers, annihilate his people, kill his party members, and restore a peaceful world to Dengzhou"...< br>
Although the idea seems to be very good, but Sun Yuanhua, a weak scholar, is really not very good at engaging in dark things such as political murder, so he almost follows the example of "breaking a cup as a sign, a man with five hundred swords and an axe" as described in the novels and commentaries. The routine of "gushing out" is being laid out. In addition, this loose conspiracy group also did not do a good job in keeping secrets. As a result, even before Chen Xin and Liu Min arrived in Dengzhou, rumors were already flying in the market.
And Chen Xin arranged a lot of spies in Dengzhou City in advance to detect the movement in advance. So before the ambush was launched, some people risked their lives and rushed out of the city to inform Chen Xin and Liu Min. They were so frightened that they quickly reined in their horses at the gate of the city and retreated hastily... But even so, on the way back to Weihaiwei Among them, Chen Xin and Liu Minyou were still pursued and blocked by unknown forces. Marshal Chen Xin, who had experienced many battles, was fine, but Liu Minyou, a civil servant, was hit by two arrows first, fell off his horse, and was finally carried back covered in blood.
At this point, both sides have been torn apart, and there is no room for relaxation. The furious Marshal Chen Xin knew the essence of blitzkrieg, and immediately mobilized the Wendeng Battalion, the most reliable direct force, to launch a surprise attack on Dengzhou Fucheng. But everyone in Dengzhou City was still complaining and cursing each other, shirking responsibility for the failure of the ambush. They never expected that Chen Xin's counterattack would be so fast, and they were caught off guard.
Almost instantly, the Wendeng Battalion, determined to take revenge, broke through the Dengzhou city defenses, and in just over an hour, it defeated the defenders' desperate counterattack in street fighting. Now, the attacking troops are already launching assaults on key points such as the treasury offices and government offices in the city, and good news is being reported everywhere.
Although victory seems to be in sight, Chen Xin knows that all this is just the beginning.
Next, he will face the crazy counterattack of the entire Ming Empire. It is not known how long the continuous brutal battle will last.
However, now that he has been forced to take this step, there is no other choice.
Just as he was standing outside the Denglai Governor's Office that had been burned to rubble, looking thoughtfully at the lingering smoke, a soldier covered in blood suddenly rushed over and reported to him, "...Commander... ! Denglai Water City has been attacked It was broken, but our navy arrived from Weihai too late and failed to block the port! Governor Sun and other officials, as well as people from Prince Lu's Mansion and Duke Yansheng's Mansion, all took the lead and escaped on Shuiying ships! ”
"...Escaped? How long did their ship escape?" Chen Xin asked with a frown.
"...We haven't escaped very far, and the sails can still be vaguely seen from Shuiying Pier!"
"...Then why don't we let the navy chase after us!" Chen Xin angrily slammed his riding crop to the ground and yelled angrily, "...they tricked me into a rebel, and then made Lao Liu I was injured like this, but now I want to walk away. How can anything be so cheap in the world?”
However, the navy sent by Chen Xin to pursue them failed to catch up with the fleeing fleet of Sun Yuanhua and others, and lost them halfway. Therefore, the navy officers and subordinates combined their efforts and changed the route and sailed to Dagukou, Tianjin. They first withdrew their own Sihai Trading Company personnel stationed in Tianjin, then fired a few random shots on the shore to demonstrate, then raised anchor and sail, and returned home. ……
But despite this, the local officials and gentry were frightened. Many wealthy merchants and gentry who had just escaped from the capital and took refuge in Tianjin were once again fleeing further afield in a chaotic manner, and urgent documents flew into the court like snowflakes. The Ministry of War triggered a violent earthquake. At the same time, in the south of Shandong, another more massive chaos spread rapidly like a prairie fire.