Chapter 80: Lest the world be in chaos
Shortly after leaving the Fujian Governor's Yamen and returning to the inn where he was staying, Zhang Pu quietly changed his clothes and walked around Fuzhou City a few times. After confirming that no one was following him, he quietly left the street and sneaked into the alley. Finally, he made his way into a secluded house.
As soon as he walked into the door of the house, a strong man with dark skin and strong build came up to him, "... Mr. Zhang, how is the matter?"
"...Oh, it really doesn't work! That old man Zou Weilian is stubborn and cowardly. He only cares about his own wealth and wealth. He would rather live with it and tolerate adultery, but completely forgets about the justice of the country and the safety of the country! It is really shameful for us, a gentleman of our generation, to deal with this. Together!”
Zhang Pu shook his head and replied, his face full of disdain and disdain, "...If we want him to sacrifice his life for righteousness, punish the rebels at home, and fight against the thieves outside, it seems that it will not work. For the welfare of the people of the world, we will also We can only make a decisive decision and take decisive measures regardless of the reputation behind us..."
"...Haha, it should have been like this a long time ago, Mr. Zhang, I just said that Zou Weilian can't be counted on!"
The black-faced man replied with a sneer, and dozens of people gathered in the courtyard here also responded. If you look carefully, you can see that there are people dressed in various costumes from all three religions, but most of them are fierce-looking fighting men, and there are even many short Japanese samurai with strange buns...
——Previously, when the Zheng family in southern Fujian was attacked and destroyed by the "Australians", although Zheng Zhilong was defeated and crowned the leader, and his family members and heirs died unexpectedly, there were still many remnants of the Zheng family running around, waiting for opportunities to retaliate, including former members of the Zheng family's relatives and direct descendants , there are also many Japanese ronin recruited by the Zheng family.
Later, due to the vigorous suppression by the Funing Army and the naval blockade of the "Australians", these remnants of the Zheng family could no longer stand in southern Fujian, so they had to flee north and were successively taken in by the former Fujian governor Xiong Wencan, and later Zou Weilian, the new governor of Fujian, took over and organized these remnants of the Zheng family, who had a bloody feud with the Funing Army and the "Australians", into the two "Fu Biao" battalions, hoping to use them to deal with the Funing Army who might rebel at any time.
At first, the remnants of the Zheng family thought that with the governor's support, they would be able to take revenge, and they were extremely excited. But it didn't take long for them to see that Zou Weilian only wanted to maintain the status quo and did not dare to become an enemy of the fledgling Funing Army. He also had no intention of avenging the Zheng family, and they couldn't help but feel frustrated and angry.
Next, due to some coincidence, this group of former pirates who only thought about revenge and regaining their former wealth and glory, and did not care about anything else, later skipped Zou Weilian and directly connected with Fushe and Donglin bosses. Next, he met Zhang Pu, a leader who had friendships with all religions and was extremely daring... So the two quickly hit it off, and soon they colluded and began to plot "big things."
In addition, another group of Japanese present here have even more bizarre backgrounds. They are secret envoys sent to the Central Plains by the Tokugawa shogunate. It turns out that after the tragic failure of the expedition to Changzhou, the Tokugawa shogunate also gradually knew Changzhou What happened to the feudal clan's "foreign aid from the Ming Dynasty"? They began to try to cut off the foreign aid from the Choshu clan, so they sent people with a large sum of gold and silver and some good people to cross the sea to the Ming Dynasty to carry out activities. Deal with the Funing Army.
But the problem is that these shogunate envoys have a black eye in the Ming Dynasty. Even if they have gold and silver and want to pay bribes, they can't get in. Instead, they have been deceived several times in a row, making them very disgraced... Fortunately, these shogunate envoys In the end, he got lucky. On the one hand, he somehow managed to contact Zhang Pu, the leader of Fushe, and on the other hand, through the relationship of several Japanese ronin under the Zheng family, he connected with the remaining members of the Zheng family in Fuzhou.
However, although these two groups of people are sitting together now, there are actually quite a lot of conflicts - the shogunate envoy maintains his noble status and looks down on the Zheng family's bereaved dog; and the rough guys of the Zheng family also look down on this group of Japanese people in Fujian On the ground, they were gesticulating and gesticulating... Fortunately, there is still a common enemy. While shouldering the heavy responsibility of the shogunate, they are red-eyed and want revenge and a comeback, so they can barely continue to cooperate.
Zhang Pu, a well-known scholar in Fushe, seemed to regard himself as the leader of the alliance. He raised his hand in a stylish manner and gave them orders in a grand manner:
"...Everyone, since the governor is so unjust, don't blame me for being unkind! We have already discussed what to do specifically before, let's start now! In order to save the people of the world and protect the common people of the country, please Everyone, work hard to fight against the rebellion! ”
"...Fengtian to fight against rebellion! Drive out the bandits!" Everyone waved their fists together and shouted in agreement.
Of course, given the Donglin Party's habit of preying on its own people, the first blow of this "rebellion" was naturally to strike on the heads of its own people.
—— Late at night on the first day of June in the fifth year of Chongzhen, the sage Zhang Pu and his close servants placed a copper urn inside the gate of Fuzhou City. Firecrackers were burned inside the urn to simulate the sound of cannons, and dozens of people were sent to run through the streets with firecrackers. During this time, everyone was shouting "...Funing Army is in rebellion! The Kun bandits have entered the city!"
The city of Fuzhou was immediately frightened. The common people and gentry fled outside the city at night, trampling on each other and killing countless people. There were also Japanese pirates who robbed the market, killing people and stealing goods. Local rogues took advantage of the chaos to rob, set fire to and kill people, and the chaos in the city became more and more serious. Before he could reach it, a fire broke out at the governor's office, and some of the "defeated soldiers" from the governor's military camp were wounded and fled. Everyone along the way shouted, "... Disaster has arrived! The thieves and rebels have destroyed the governor's office. Governor Zou and his family died for the country." Also! ”
As a result, the whole city of Fuzhou was extremely frightened. The prefects, magistrates, and other officials abandoned their posts and ran away one after another. They were escorted by a group of strong people and government officials to escape from the city and traveled overnight to the surrounding counties. After everyone took a breather, they reported "Kun thieves broke into the city" one after another, and countless urgent documents flew into the northern and southern capitals like snowflakes.
At the same time, the first battalion of the Chinese Army's pacesetters, the governor of Fujian, raided Xiapu, the old camp of the Funing Army, set fire to the village market and killed local military households. Because there had been no fighting in Xiapu for several years, and most of the soldiers left behind were old and weak, the enemy was allowed to penetrate deep into the territory. Funing Military General He Dingyuan, who had just been transferred from Quanzhou to Xiapu, was furious when he heard the news. He hurriedly ordered hundreds of soldiers and horses to attack the camp. He immediately defeated the invading enemy and tortured the opponent's identity from the prisoners.
The next day, He Dingyuan sent two thousand troops, marching by land and water, to Fuzhou, the provincial capital, to prosecute and demonstrate. Unexpectedly, as soon as they arrived at Fuzhou City, they found that the city gates were wide open, the ground was in a mess, and all the government offices were empty. Only a few thieves who took advantage of the situation were caught. The relatively simple-minded He Dingyuan was confused for a while, so he settled in Fuzhou and began to gather the citizens and restore order. At the same time, he killed more than a hundred people in Xiaoxiao who were pretending to be thieves
But it was too late at this moment. The news that "Fu Ning's army conquered Fuzhou, killed officials and rebelled, and governor Zou Weilian committed suicide for his country" had already spread to the north and south of the country. The Nanjing Ministry of War also issued a crusade order to the Funing Army as quickly as possible due to the activities of a group of Donglin Party members.
——The beacon smoke on the battlefield in Fujian was ignited, adding a bit of apocalyptic atmosphere to the Ming Empire, which was already in flames...
What's even more terrible is that the flames of war ignited by Donglin gentlemen at the same time are not limited to this place...
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In the summer of the fifth year of Chongzhen, the Qian family's mansion was in Changshu County, Suzhou Prefecture, south of Zhili in the Ming Dynasty.
Qian Qianyi, the former right minister of the Ministry of Rites and a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, who was only fifty-two years old, was once a famous Donglin leader and literary figure. Since he was tricked by Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren in the first year of Chongzhen, he was completely defeated. It has been four years since I was forced to retire and return home.
In the past few years, apart from giving lectures in the academy, his main entertainment was writing poetry. The writing style of these poems is very unique. When you are in a good mood, you can become depressed. When you are in a bad mood, you can commit suicide. The main meanings of the poems are relatively similar: I regret it very much, I want to live in seclusion, my life has been in vain, I am meaningless, anyway, in one sentence, I have had bad luck in my life. After all, after wasting so many years at home, it's normal to feel a little resentful.
In this gloomy rural life that makes people want to commit suicide, the only bright color that makes him feel happy is the birth of his fourth son Qian Ruyi - Qian Ruyi has just turned four this year. After Qianyi's first three sons died young one after another, Qian Qianyi now really regards this young son as the jewel in his palm and the love of his heart. Besides lecturing and composing poems, he often personally teaches his young son how to walk, speak, and calligraphy. Enjoy family happiness.
However, on this morning, because he received the news from Fujian, Qian Qianyi was so frightened that he broke into a cold sweat and no longer even thought about playing with his youngest son: "... Zhang Pu... is so audacious?! Not only did he contact the foreign vassals, but he even dared to murder the governor! ”
——Although it was Qian Qianyi himself who suggested taking action against the Funing Army and the Australian Bandits, he only collected some intelligence and put forward a preliminary idea. When it came time to implement it, he had to stand aside. ——Because Qian Qianyi has been dismissed from office after all, his power and influence are not as good as before, and as he gets older, he is not as energetic as those young people. In addition, Zhang Pu, an activist who likes to seize power, came forward... Therefore, he never expected that Zhang Pu could actually make things so brutal and sensational!
"...Sigh, when the whole family of Zou Weilian in Fujian was wiped out, was it Zhang Pu, the murderer, who made his own decisions? Or did he really follow the pre-arrangements of the princes in the court? If the princes in Donglin really ordered this , then...haha, it’s really a bit chilling!”
Speaking of which, the reason why Qian Qianyi proposed to provoke the siege of Huangshi was not only for the sake of his own career, but also in an attempt to concoct a great achievement in order to accumulate reputation as quickly as possible, gain favor with the emperor, and finally return to Beijing. The purpose of the resumption is also to reverse the current political environment in which the Donglin Party is being suppressed in the imperial court, and to gain some time for the Donglin Party members to breathe and adjust, who are about to be killed by their old enemies.
——In March of the fifth year of Chongzhen, the Battle of Daling River, which lasted for more than half a year, ended. Huang Taiji, the second generation leader of the Later Jin Kingdom, very cleverly adopted the strategy of siege and reinforcements. He used Dalinghe City and Zu Dashou and other elite Guanning troops in the city as bait, and repeatedly defeated the Ming army coming from Jinzhou for reinforcements.
After many failed rescue operations, the total number of Ming Dynasty reinforcements that were defeated and annihilated was as high as 150,000! In the final decisive battle, several veteran generals including Liaodong Commander-in-Chief Wu Xiang, Yongping Commander-in-Chief Zhang Chun, Changping Deputy Commander-in-Chief Zuo Liangyu, and Tongzhou Deputy Commander-in-Chief Yang Yufan were captured. Ning Tieqi was almost completely wiped out. Although the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, Sun Chengzong, escaped from the battlefield by luck, he fled back to Shanhaiguan in a hurry, with only a few horses left as his own soldiers. From then on, he had to sit back and watch Zu Dashou fend for himself in Dalinghe City. The situation was simply unsightly.
As for Zu Dashou, who was trapped in Dalinghe City, after defending the city for more than half a year, he ran out of ammunition and food, and even ate human flesh as food. Soon he could no longer hold on and was unable to break out. Finally, he had to fight in March of the fifth year of Chongzhen. Open the city gate and surrender to Huang Taiji.
At this point, the Jin army had won a complete victory, while the Ming army had suffered a terrible defeat.
While a series of wars were going on inside and outside Dalinghe City, in order to contain the reinforcements from the Ming Dynasty, Huang Taiji also sent Abataibele to lead a number of Eight Banners and Mongolian soldiers and horses, as well as motley Han people who had been pieced together from here and there. The army, totaling more than 10,000 people, once again detoured to Jizhen, broke through the border wall and invaded in early January, and then moved to fight in various prefectures and counties in northern Zhili, defeating all the imperial officials and soldiers. The civil and military forces of the Ming Dynasty and the Manchu Dynasty were helpless. It was not until April that Abatai was "escorted" by the Ming army and returned home with a full load. When he left the Great Wall, his number had swelled to 40,000 due to plundering people along the way and recruiting surrendered troops.
Fortunately among the misfortunes, the Dengzhou Rebellion in this time and space did not happen as it happened in history. For the first time, Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, dispatched his close associates, the Liaodong Army (troops recruited from Dongjiang Town, to suppress the rebellion in Shandong area). Aboriginal) go When they rescued Daling River City by sea, these Liao soldiers, who had already been killed by the Jurchens, originally planned to go out to sea for a while, but then came back to report that there was a storm on the sea and they could not sail, so they used this as an excuse to escape from the Jurchen soldiers. Death by the sword. Unexpectedly, their fleet survived, and happened to run into the Far East Company's "Immigration Recruitment Fleet"... As a result, in front of the modern steel battleship, all two thousand Liao soldiers and the commander Kong Youde became prisoners. After entering the anti-epidemic isolation camp in Vladivostok, he was working hard as a lumberjack in the deep mountains and forests. For the time being, it was impossible to run back to Shandong to carry out a mutiny.
Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai who was staying in Dengzhou, really thought that they had all drowned in a storm because he had not received any news.
Later, under the strict orders of the Ministry of War, Sun Yuanhua assembled the remaining Liaodong Army, led by the rebellious Li Jiucheng, and took the overland route out of Shanhaiguan to rescue Liaoxi. Because the number of troops sent was small, military food and pay became relatively abundant, so this The Liaodong Army went further than in history, and only when it reached deep into Beizhili did a mutiny break out because of insufficient food and salary supplies. It happened that Abatai led the Jurchen Eight Banners' partial division to break through the pass and go south, and had already arrived near the Dengzhou reinforcements. So Li Jiu decided to defect to the Tartars, and followed the Eight Banners soldiers in North Zhili to ravage many prefectures and counties. Finally, he and the Hou Jin Army left the border and went to Liaodong. During this period, Li Jiucheng also persuaded Abatai to send his troops far away. By conquering Dengzhou, he could cooperate with the local Liao army inside and outside to defeat the city in one fell swoop... However, Abatai believed that the distance to Dengzhou was too far, and if he went deep alone, there might be mishaps. At the same time, he did not trust the newly defected Li Jiucheng, so he He rejected this proposal and left the country in April, leaving only a mess of ruins behind him.
On the other hand, although Abate had already retreated when the Battle of Daling River ended, and the war seemed to have come to an end, the Ming court in Beijing was still frightened - at this time, the people in Liaozhen and Beizhili All the elite soldiers have been wiped out, and the frontline troops are extremely empty. The only ones who can fight are the thousands of Sichuan troops in Shanhaiguan. The border soldiers and civilians in Jizhen and western Liaoning were in a state of turmoil. Everyone was worried that the slave slaves would soon invade again in large numbers. Even if only a few Mongolian herdsmen appeared by chance, the frightened border guards could be frightened and flee in hundreds.
And above the court, the mood was even more fierce - because of the poor performance during this military disaster, as well as the heavy losses in the Daling River battlefield and the counties and counties in North Zhili, the Donglin Party cabinet and local Donglin Important members of the party fell into the spotlight for a time, and courtiers from other factions took the opportunity to launch a movement to overthrow the government. The imperial censor of the capital had been in constant trouble since last autumn. Jumping up and down, the piles of memorials impeaching Sun Chengzong, Zhou Yanru and other important Donglin officials were taller than people... There was no way, since they gained power in the first year of Chongzhen, the Donglin Party's appearance in the officialdom became more and more ugly. The role they played was getting worse and worse. It seemed that this group was born to expand itself in the court and exclude others. For a time, the Donglin Party dominated the bureaucracy of the Ming Dynasty, making it almost impossible for scholars to get ahead unless they joined this illegal organization (the Donglin Party had never been legally recognized).
As for the achievements of this illegal organization in governing the country, well, it's really embarrassing to talk about it - wars, road construction, disaster relief, flood fighting, water conservancy... it seems that everything is done badly, especially many things that should have been invested every year. , maintenance and operation of the water conservancy system, under the management of all gentlemen, it is completely ruined, so that once a major natural disaster occurs, the consequences will be twice as serious as in the past. As for the war, it was one disastrous defeat after another. Such a grudge against the world, such harm to the country and the people... If such a cabinet can be as stable as Mount Tai, it will be damned!
As a result, the Donglin Party, which had been the dominant party in the court since the first year of Chongzhen, was finally no longer able to control the government. Under the joint siege of officials from other factions and the anger and disgust of Emperor Chongzhen, the chief minister Zhou Yanru was forced to resign. After returning home, the official positions of other important officials in Donglin were also in jeopardy.
Although such an end was obviously brought about by oneself, the Donglin Party members did not think so. Instead, they felt aggrieved that the current "evils and evil spirits" in the DPRK dared to drive gentlemen like them out of the stage. It was really intolerable. Unbearable... With the defeat in the political battle in the court already decided, the Donglin Party members who refused to admit defeat continued to mobilize their various connections and forces in an attempt to bring the situation back, at least they could not lose anymore.
——Specifically, it is to divert the attention of the government and the opposition by creating new wars, and temporarily relieve the Donglin Party members who are in a difficult situation in the DPRK. When the war becomes very urgent, the battle between the court and the cabinet will be overturned. Suppressing it temporarily will prevent the "traitor party in the court" and the "deceived Holy Emperor" from further counterattacks and calculations, thereby preventing the entire Donglin Party from being completely driven out of the court.
As a result, Huang Shi, who is far in the south, unfortunately became the first choice target - this is of course not because he colluded with the Australian bandits and repeatedly violated the court system, but because: First of all, I heard that Huang Shi, a vulgar warrior, came from the Australian bandits. I learned a lot of money-making techniques there and lived a very prosperous life, but I was unwilling to dedicate my wealth-making property to the Jiangnan gentry, and the money I earned was not shared with the upright and honest Donglin gentlemen;
Secondly, in order to raise money and support the troops, the Funing Army ignored the imperial court's tradition of collecting less and no commercial taxes, and brazenly levied the "Jinghai Tax" on every merchant ship in the Taiwan Strait. Merchant ships that refused to pay the tax usually included people and goods. Missing together... Funingjun's annual income from this is as high as five million taels of silver The above is tantamount to taking money from the pockets of the Donglin Party's behind-the-scenes financiers. It has already made the Jiangnan landlords, gentry and wealthy merchant groups gnash their teeth with hatred, just because not every gentry is engaged in maritime trade, and the power of the Funing Army He is not weak at all, so he has not made up his mind to deal with him for the time being.
Thirdly, it was Huang Shi who amassed land in southern Fujian, persecuted the gentry, and trampled the dignity and honor of scholars into the mud... Although this somewhat made the Donglin Party feel a little bit sad about the death of rabbits and the harm of others, the landlords in the world have never been one family. , unless it involves old relatives, the landlords in the south of the Yangtze River will not shed tears for the experiences of the landlords in the south of Fujian - what's more, they themselves have done similar things like seizing and annexing land.
In short, taking advantage of this opportunity, the Donglin Party plans to brand Huangshi and Funing troops as rebels. While shifting the focus of discussion between the government and the opposition, they will seize all the financial resources originally controlled by those lowly warriors and provide them with These noble scribes enjoyed it. As for how to clean up the Funing Army after the rebellion, and how to clean up the mess afterwards, it is all the responsibility of the imperial court. No matter how much manpower and material resources are lost, it is also the imperial court's responsibility. The Donglin Party only needs to use their foresight to gain more benefits - - I'll send you to death, I'll make you rich... Hasn't this been the rule for so many years?
Therefore, after the initial shock and horror, Qian Qianyi gradually became relaxed again - no matter how earth-shattering the process of provoking the incident was, how cruel and vicious Zhang Pu's methods were, and how aggrieved the death of Governor Zou Weilian as the instigator was, anyway, A dead Taoist friend will not die a poor Taoist. Perhaps this is what the princes in the court mean? It’s just that I think I have to be more careful in the future, and don’t accidentally get tricked by Zhang Pu, a mad dog...
——But what these optimistic and lawless Donglin Party members in Jiangnan don’t know is that because the Donglin Party and other wealthy gentry families across the country do not communicate well with each other, there are also people doing similar things in other parts of the Ming Empire at this time. The same thing...
Therefore, in the next few days, Qian Qianyi, who was living in seclusion in the countryside of Jiangnan, was dumbfounded to receive one piece of shocking bad news after another - although he retired at home, as a man who advertised as "family affairs, state affairs, world affairs, everything He is relatively well-informed about the Donglin Party.
Although at this moment, he would rather not be so well-informed:
——A mutiny broke out in Dengzhou, Shandong Province. Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, disappeared during the rebellion. Chen Xin, the former commander-in-chief of Dengzhou, led the rebels across the sea to attack Tianjin!
——Fighting for silver mines, fierce internal strife broke out between the roadside armies in Datong and Xuanfu, resulting in numerous casualties. They are still accusing each other of being rebels.
——More than 30 bandits in northern Shaanxi elected Gao Yingxiang as their leader, formed an alliance to cross the river into Shanxi, captured Taiyuan, the provincial capital, and killed the Jin king and his family!
——Shandong Wenxiang Sect once again caused chaos in southern Shandong. Now they have gathered hundreds of thousands of people to besiege Jining and cut off the lifeline of the canal!
……
——Finally, the "slave chief" Huang Taiji sent many Ming Dynasty generals who had surrendered in the Battle of Daling River to lobby the remnants of the Guanning Army in western Liaoning to persuade them to surrender. Rumors abounded in Jiliao border towns and people were in confusion. The civil servants and eunuchs of the Supervisory Division have repeatedly reported secretly, saying that the morale of the army is unstable and there is fear of unexpected disaster...
Although the geographical concept in his mind was very general, Qian Qianyi also vaguely judged that at this time, there was probably fire on all sides outside Beijing.
"...How come so many disasters like the collapse of the sky collided together? What are the gentlemen above the court doing?" Sitting in his small study room, he opened his mouth blankly, He whispered in disbelief.