Chapter 84: Rise of rogue bandits
July of the fifth year of Chongzhen, Taiyuan, Shanxi
The ground was in shambles, black smoke curled up, corpses littered the streets, and blood flowed into rivers.
Three days and three nights have passed since this city was captured by the Shaanxi refugee army.
The last resistance of the remaining imperial officers and soldiers in Taiyuan City has been crushed one by one by the red-eyed refugee army, but peace has still not been restored in the streets and alleys of Taiyuan - killing, looting, raping, arson, prostitution... ...All kinds of war atrocities are being staged in every corner of this city, but the residents of the city can only huddle in their houses uneasily, waiting for the judgment of fate with infinite fear.
Fortunately, most of the atrocities that occurred after the fall of this city did not happen to the poor people who could not squeeze out any profit. When they finally plucked up the courage to peep out through the crack in the door, they were only slightly excited and panicked when they saw groups of eager bandits rushing towards Prince Jin's Mansion. The governor's yamen, the general's yamen, the prefect's yamen, as well as the deep mansions and courtyards with rich and exquisite decorations. Soldiers were constantly moving large and small boxes and cages and all kinds of property out of these places, loading them on horses, mules and camels, and transporting them out of the city in an endless stream. All the big shots who used to be majestic and arrogant were yoked like cats and dogs. The rope was pulled out dejectedly.
At the same time, another small group of rogue leader soldiers with brighter and neater armors passed through the empty street. They were led by a big man with a loud voice, beating a gong in his hand and shouting "Chuang Wang Gao Yingxiang" loudly. Announcement of Anmin - At this point, after being repeatedly hit hard by Hong Chengchou, the governor of the three sides and forced to flee Shaanxi, the northwest refugee army, which was once in a difficult situation, finally won a significant turnaround.
——Because the earth entered the Little Ice Age and the global climate was disordered, northern Shaanxi suffered from frequent droughts and floods throughout the late Ming Dynasty. The food harvests were not harvested year after year. Coupled with the greed and corruption of officials and the stingy government's stingy in providing relief, Shaanxi suffered from droughts and floods. Northern civil uprisings came one after another, and eventually perished together with the Ming Empire.
How severe were the natural disasters in northern Shaanxi at that time? As early as the Wanli period, there were 25 famines in Shaanxi in the 48th year. By the Tianqi and Chongzhen eras, famines were almost continuous every year, and good years without famines became a rarity.
During the Wanli Years, by taking advantage of the gap between disaster years, the common people might be able to take a breather. But when famines follow in the Apocalypse Year, they will not be able to take a breath even if they want to. Such continuous super natural disasters happened to encounter the fierce and chaotic Chongzhen Dynasty, which was like adding fuel to the fire. In the first year of Chongzhen, when the civil uprising in northern Shaanxi began, the court The Central Committee's campaign to purge the eunuchs is in full swing. Emperor Chongzhen was suspicious by nature, and the Donglin Party added fuel to the flames and was heavily involved in the process of dealing with the Wei Zhongxian Group.
This purge campaign lasted for more than two years, causing everyone to feel insecure and no one to care about political affairs. The chaos in the northwest became more and more severe, and eventually a mutiny was added to the civil uprising-due to long-term arrears of military pay and rations, as well as the Donglin Party's personnel earthquake to wipe out the remnants of the Eunuch Party, causing the border troops in Guyuan, Lintao, and Yansui towns to mutiny one after another, and a large number of Shaanxi soldiers separated from the army in groups. Then, these deserters with military experience returned to their hometowns one after another to form teams, each occupying a poor rural area to open up land, and they quickly turned into bandits, and soon showed the potential of starting a prairie fire.
Faced with the rapidly eroding situation in the northwest, the Ming court finally began to react. It first sent people to appease in an attempt to peacefully solve the Shaanxi problem. The refugees in Shaanxi initially obeyed and accepted the appeasement. Although these Guanzhong men were occasionally brave and fierce, But he is not a very evil person. It is just that there have been droughts for many years, and it is difficult to get half a harvest from the fields. However, the landlords and government officials still have to collect rents and taxes. With no food to eat, everyone had to rely on their instinct to survive and attack and kill everywhere in order to stay alive. Now that the imperial court has come to appease them, it seems that they have a way to survive. Naturally, the hungry people have put down their weapons and are preparing to become good citizens again.
But the problem is that the stingy Beijing court can't come up with enough money and food to deal with the aftermath. It's called appeasing but there is no food for disaster relief, and the natural disasters show no sign of slowing down. After the hungry people are appeased, how should they go hungry? , so they all felt that they had been deceived.
At the same time, because Yuan Chonghuan opened the door to the thieves, the defense line of the Great Wall collapsed, and the capital was besieged. In order to cope with the advance of the Hou Jin Army, the imperial court panicked and issued the Order of the King of the World, forcibly transferring tens of thousands of elite northwest frontier troops from Shanxi and Shaanxi to the capital. Liu Guangsheng, the governor of Shaanxi, had no choice but to suspend the suppression of bandits and hurriedly led the The pro-troops went to Beijing to help the king, which resulted in a lack of military strength in Shaanxi.
As a result, countless hungry bandits who had "surrendered" took the opportunity to raise their flags to rebel again. Small groups of bandits took over the mountains and ravines openly or covertly. Once the government troops came to suppress them, they moved around, like mercury leaking out of the ground, leaving no trace. Because there was no food to rob in Shaanxi, large groups of thieves began to cross the Yellow River and enter Shanxi. Then they continued to penetrate into Henan, North Zhili and even Shandong, while avoiding head-on confrontation with the government and the army, while launching mobile warfare that avoided the real situation and replaced the weak one.
At this point, the policy of appeasement could no longer proceed, and the imperial court switched to a strategy of killing and suppressing civil unrest everywhere. At this time, the refugee army was still very weak and the organization was even more disorganized. The official army easily defeated these ragtag groups, and the war was one-sided. However, due to the wide distribution, large number and high mobility of the refugee army, these victories of the official army did not solve the problem. The failure of any battle or any refugee army will not affect the overall situation and cannot change the deteriorating war situation. The subsequent abolition of the post station incident and a new round of border army mutiny caused a large number of unemployed postmen (such as Li Zicheng) and frontier deserters to join the ranks of the rogue bandits, further strengthening the ranks of the northwest refugee army.
But after all, the Ming Dynasty is a big tree with deep roots and cannot be easily brought down. The new trilateral governor Hong Chengchou ran the army with an iron-blooded approach and massacred the hungry people with extreme cruelty, finally turning the chaos in Shaanxi around. This man was a complete pragmatist, ruthless and evil-hearted, and he had something in common with Genghis Khan. In the corrupt situation in the northwest, where the people are in chaos, his solution is just one word: kill! Kill everyone and everything will be fine in the world!
In the first half of the fourth year of Chongzhen, Hong Chengchou won the Battle of Hequ and killed Wang Jiayin, the leader of the general alliance of northern Shaanxi pirates. After that, he gradually liquidated the rest of the refugee armies in northern Shaanxi. Regardless of the strong men, women, children, old and weak, they were all killed and forced. They had nowhere to stay in Shaanxi, so they crossed the river and fled into Shanxi.
As a result, while the "bandit trouble" in Shaanxi gradually subsided, the situation in Shanxi became increasingly chaotic. In the spring of the fifth year of Chongzhen's reign, there were at least 200,000 rogue bandits active in the Luliang and Taihang Mountains. Many prefectures and counties in Shanxi, Henan, and Beizhili provinces were all suffering from nuisance.
However, at this time, the Beijing court was busy dealing with the Battle of Daling River in western Liaoning, and the Tartar army that broke through the border and went south again. Later, it had to deal with the Dengzhou Rebellion and the Wenxiang Rebellion in Shandong. Not only was it unable to organize reinforcements from elsewhere, To strengthen Shanxi's military strength, it is necessary to mobilize troops from Shanxi to serve the king and assist other battlefields...and most of these troops will never return, causing Shanxi's defense to become extremely empty.
As a result, dozens of groups of Shaanxi bandits gathered in remote mountainous areas of Shanxi Province gathered to form an alliance and discuss the next direction of attack. However, they refused to give in to each other, and in the end they had to divide into two groups and each launched a major operation. One of them, led by Wang Ziyong, the new alliance leader after Wang Jiayin's death, traveled south from Luliang Mountain to Henan, recruiting victims from the Yellow River Flood Area to strengthen their momentum and prepare to sweep the Central Plains in one fell swoop. Another bandit group elected Gao Yingxiang, who called himself "Chuang King", as its leader and prepared to use all its strength to attack Taiyuan, the provincial capital, and seize a large amount of food and supplies stored in the city.
On the other side, Xu Dingchen, the governor of Shanxi at the time, was much worse than Hong Chengchou, the governor of the three sides. In general, he was a parallel importer who claimed to be a genius in military arts. In order to put down the rogue bandits, he tried his best to recruit people from Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia. They brought some soldiers and horses, and there were three general soldiers alone, but they did not consider how these unrelated troops would cooperate with each other, and they did not prepare logistical supplies. It was as if these provincial officers and soldiers could fight the war just by drinking the northwest wind.
What's worse is that because Governor Xu Dingchen has read several volumes of military books, like Comrade Li De, who was later sent by the Soviet Union as an adviser to the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, he likes to sit in the Shaanxi governor's office thousands of miles away and talk about He arranged his troops according to ancient maps that were full of mistakes, moved the troops here and there all day long, and commanded them in a mess. Often, before he could make a formation, the officers and soldiers were already exhausted from walking, and the rogue bandits also came to kill them. Coming.
The most terrible thing is that at this time, the Taiyuan garrison mutinied due to lack of pay, and then internal strife broke out, killing people from the city to the outside. However, Gao Yingxiang led 50,000 rogue bandits to suddenly attack, and the chaotic army suddenly collapsed. Even though Taiyuan had a high city and fortification, it was of no avail...
On the eighth day of July in the fifth year of Chongzhen, the Shaanxi bandits captured Taiyuan. Xu Dingchen, the governor of Shanxi, committed suicide by hanging on a beam. The king of Jin, Zhu Qiugui, was killed while his family was fleeing.
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Accompanied by the cheers of a crowd of minions, Chuang Wang Gao Yingxiang, as usual, wore a green cloth arrow jacket, a gray cloak, a half-worn white felt hat that northern farmers like to wear, and rode a black horse. The horse, escorted by dozens of armored old battalion soldiers, slowly walked into Taiyuan City.
In July of the fifth year of Chongzhen, Gao Yingxiang's life as the so-called King of Chongzhen was far from good. He was often hunted down by the army and had no way to go to the sky or the earth. He didn't even have a stable mountain stronghold. He spent all day fighting in the ravines, and often had to rush to the front in person. Naturally, he couldn't pay attention to food, clothing, ostentation, let alone setting up a guard of honor - so much so that when he entered the city, many people in the city were completely indifferent. Know.
Of course, Gao Yingxiang would not care about this kind of idle work at the moment, but would focus entirely on the loot captured in Taiyuan City.
——The refugee army broke through the city very quickly this time. Most of the Jin gentry in Taiyuan City had not had time to transfer their property. Although some wealthy gentry and landlords took advantage of the chaos before and after the city was broken to escape with their families with gold, silver, and valuables, but Gao Yingxiang A cavalry patrol had been arranged outside the city. As a result, the men of these wealthy families lost their lives and the women became playthings. The gold, silver and jewels were all packed up and given to King Chuang to be used as military supplies.
The gains in the city were even more impressive. During the period after Taiyuan was conquered, groups of cavalry were constantly seizing money and grain from the homes of the Prince of Jin, the governor's yamen, the prefect's yamen, and other officials and gentry. Transported outside Taiyuan City, according to rough statistics, the food alone can feed 100,000 people for a year! As for the amount of silver seized, it amounted to more than six million taels. In addition, there were 300,000 taels of gold and countless copper coins. In the late Ming Dynasty, China, in addition to using the Donglin Party as its political spokesperson and relying on maritime trade to make a fortune In addition to the Jiangnan Jingentry wealthy merchant group, there is also a Shanxi merchant group that made its fortune in frontier trade. Although its political influence is slightly lower, its financial resources are almost the same as those of the Shanxi merchant group. Of course, the core base camp of Shanxi merchants is not in Taiyuan, but as the provincial capital of Shanxi, various Shanxi merchants also have a lot of money deposited in Taiyuan, which gives the Shaanxi refugee army an advantage.
Then, an unknown number of silks, agates and corals, antique calligraphy and paintings, rare books, out-of-print inscriptions, ancient tripods, jade and jade, porcelain and lacquerware collected by various wealthy gentry were seized. Unfortunately, it is not easy in troubled times. If it's cashed out, I'm afraid it won't fetch a high price. But even counting only the harvest of food and cash, Gao Yingxiang and others, who had suffered from poverty and starvation for many years, were so happy that they almost couldn't find their way around.
"...Hahahahaha! This time the little boys are really prosperous! They can even pack gold and silver in their robes... I just don't know if they have arranged for me to have some beautiful young ladies from the official and gentry families to relieve my fatigue. It must be thin-skinned and tender, so it feels comfortable to touch..."
King Chuang Gao Yingxiang thought so proudly as he rode towards the most luxurious trophy of the conquest of Taiyuan - Prince Jin's Mansion. This place has become a large tent for the Chinese army to break into the camp. Generals and leaders from all walks of life are gathering inside, taking this opportunity to enjoy the prince's glory and wealth.
Before entering the palace, Gao Yingxiang saw two bonfires being lit in the square outside the palace gate. From time to time, soldiers who broke into the camp used spears to pick flying papers into the fire. The papers were immediately rolled up by tongues of flames. It swallowed it up and turned into a group of flying black butterflies in an instant. There were a huge crowd of poor people watching, and from time to time they gave out thunderous shouts and applause. Many people even burst into tears while cheering.
Seeing that King Chuang seemed a little confused, Li Zicheng who was accompanying him quickly explained that this was to burn down the land account books, usury contracts, slave sales contracts, etc. of the Jin Palace and various landowners and gentry, so as to relieve the heavy burden on the people. , in order to do justice for heaven and enjoy happiness with the people...
However, to be honest, this is just to make the people happy and refreshed temporarily. When the government troops regain Taiyuan, the gentry and landlords want to exploit the common people, and they don’t need any contracts at all - as long as those wealthy families say you If you are a slave of his family, you become a slave; if you say your land belongs to his family, It can be confiscated directly; if you say you owe his family money, you have to repay it in full. As for whether you have actually borrowed the money or whether you have an IOU, it is not important at all... This world has never said that It makes sense that the Chinese at that time had no spirit of contract...
Therefore, Gao Yingxiang nodded and acknowledged this, then turned around and entered Prince Jin's Mansion. Along the way, there were countless pavilions, pavilions, carved beams and painted buildings. As far as he could see, everything was splendid and luxurious, which made Gao Yingxiang The country bumpkin looked at it in amazement.
However, at this time, this originally solemn, dignified and decent place was turned into a mess by the leaders of the peasant armies. Although the total number of war horses owned by the Shaanxi Peasant Army was not too many, the servants and soldiers of the rogue bandit leaders But everyone rides a horse, and even has two or three horses. So after a swarm of swarms crowded into the Prince of Jin's Mansion, the stables in the Prince's Mansion couldn't be accommodated at all, so they could only put them around in the courtyard and main room, causing a lot of noise in the yard. There were more horses than people in the courtyard. These horses were not tied up and gnawed freely. He walked into the lobby with flowers, trees... and even horses, and watched curiously as the rogue soldiers chopped up plaques, couplets and book racks, and lit a fire on the bluestone floor tiles to grill meat and drink wine.
Gao Yingxiang was a little dissatisfied with this, "...Look, look, what does this look like? Raising horses in the main hall, cooking in the second hall, and using the garden as a pasture? You even have a fire in the house! You're not afraid of being burned down. The whole house? You tell me to go down and tell the leaders to restrain their subordinates and stop making a mess here. Look, there is horse manure everywhere. We have to rest here for a few days. Look at this situation, I'm afraid it won't be there tomorrow. The law is here! ”
A big man next to him carrying a ghost-headed sword said yes, turned around and hurried away. "Chuang Jiang" Li Zicheng continued to follow Gao Yingxiang and muttered casually, "... King Chuang, you see, there are so many pavilions and pavilions in this place. Just to build a house and the furnishings inside, it would cost a lot of money. Hundreds of ordinary people have lost their money. How much money should be spent on just such a palace? How many people have been ruined? How many craftsmen and civilians have worked to death? I heard that the old Zhu family has dozens of palaces all over the world. This Jin Palace is not the most luxurious. If the money and food are used to help the victims, we will We won’t come out to be thieves. If we use it as military pay, it will be difficult for us to break into Taiyuan City..."
"...So they are too stupid. They have plundered so much money from the people and caused a lot of complaints. In the end, they still got an advantage for us!"
Gao Yingxiang laughed and dismounted in front of a hanging flower door, "...This place is really nice, but it's a pity that I have to leave after only a few days!"
"...King Chuang, are we leaving Taiyuan soon? It's rare for brothers to come to this colorful world..." Li Zicheng frowned.
"...It's impossible to leave! That butcher Hong Chengchou has led tens of thousands of Qin troops out of Xi'an and is slowly pressing in from the west and south! Just two days ago, Cao Wenzhao, a killer, was sent to Luoyang City. They beat Alliance Leader Wang (Wang Ziyong of the bandit "Purple Golden Liang") so badly..."
Gao Yingxiang sighed, "...but we won't shrink into a poor ravine this time! We are ready to play a big game!"
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Walking further in from the Weeping Flower Gate is the back house of Prince Jin's Mansion. There is a tall waterside pavilion built on the lotus pond, which is beautifully decorated and extremely luxurious. This is the summer when lotus flowers are in full bloom. As the saying goes, the lotus flowers are particularly red in the sun, which is particularly pleasing to the eye.
More than a dozen peasant army leaders were sitting around this luxurious waterside pavilion, hugging the beautiful concubines and singer beauties snatched from the Jin Palace. In front of them were a variety of fine wines and delicacies, and they were toasting together. Push the lamp, eat and drink, drink and have fun. In addition, there were several musicians, dancers and entertainers captured in the palace. They forced smiles under the threat of the knife, played music, danced and performed juggling for them...
Listening to the pure singing of the palace singers, and looking at the property accounts sent by the old camp accountants from various palaces, government offices, treasuries, and officials' homes, the leaders all laughed. Eye They all narrowed into a thin line... Seeing King Chuang Gao Yingxiang come in, everyone quickly dropped their wine glasses and beauties, hurriedly got up and offered their seats to him, and ordered the maids to come over to pour wine and dishes, looking happy and happy. However, when they learned from Gao Yingxiang that the notorious trilateral governor Hong Chengchou was about to lead the Qin army from Shaanxi, their expressions changed.
"...Oh, it seems that we can't stay in Taiyuan City for a few days!" A leader took a sip of wine in frustration, "...then we have to go into the ravine again..."
"...No, although I can't stay in Taiyuan any longer, now that I've seen the world, let's just make a big move and go east for a walk outside Beijing. How about the land under the feet of that day, the women of Liaodong If real people can go, why can’t we Kansai guys go?”
Gao Yingxiang said loudly and confidently, "...Brothers, are you willing to join me in our great cause and create a peaceful world for the people of the world?!"
——In early July of the fifth year of Chongzhen, Hong Chengchou, the governor of the three frontiers, ordered his 40,000 troops to go out of Tongguan and defeated the 100,000 soldiers of the Shaanxi bandit king at the foot of Luoyang City. He built a capital temple with human heads to frighten the hungry people, and then crossed the river north and entered Shanxi. Collect the remaining officers and soldiers in Shanxi Province and prepare to regain Taiyuan, the provincial capital.
When Gao Yingxiang, the king of Chuang who was entrenched in Taiyuan, heard the news, he immediately moved the baggage and treasures, opened warehouses and released the grain that could not be taken away to help the people. At the same time, the entire army abandoned Taiyuan and left, splitting more than ten troops and crossing the Taihang Mountains to march eastward. Wang Ziyong also led the remaining troops to escape the Qin army's pursuit, fled from Henan into Beizhili, and joined forces with the local Wenxiang believers to start an army to rebel. Suddenly, from Xuanfu in the north to Daming in the south, half of the chief secretaries of Northern Zhili were in panic. At this point, water transportation to the capital was cut off, Shandong, Henan, and Shanxi were in chaos. They were besieged on all sides, and the government and the public were even more terrified...