In fact, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong have been defeated countless times by the imperial court officials and troops, even in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, in the original history, the coalition army of the Fifth Battalion of the Revolutionary Left and Li Zicheng was defeated by Huang Degong.

However, the advantage of the Rogue is that he can make a comeback very quickly, as if he had never been defeated. Even the more you fight, why?

It is that local order cannot be restored, refugees caused by defeats and military disasters cannot be resettled, and just killing some people will not work at all.

And if you want to change this situation, you need the imperial court to have enough money and food to stabilize everything.

And if you want to get money quickly, the most convenient thing is, of course, to ask for money. Who is the richest man in the south, the salt merchant!

Zhang Mingwei's goal is them!

Since the end of Wanli Pan Ji tamed the river, the Yellow River has been basically fixed in Kaifeng, Lankao, Shangqiu, Dangshan, Xuzhou, Suqian, Huaiyin line, that is, the Ming and Qing dynasties, the water for 300 years.

Go south along the Yellow River, you can go directly to Yangzhou.

It can be said that Zhang Mingwei's first stop was to run for money and salt merchants.

For this reason, of course, he had a plan with Emperor Chongzhen, and before the army left, he had already sent Jinyi Wei to go to Yangzhou Mansion secretly.

The ancient traffic made Zhang Mingwei, who had crossed over in later generations, very unaccustomed to it. The trip that can be reached by high-speed rail in one day takes a month, what a hell!

The time consumed by this inconvenient transportation also made him a little worried.

An important reason why there have been continuous military disasters in the late Ming Dynasty is that the thieves cannot be killed. For example, this time in the Battle of Kaifeng, although it was a great victory on the surface, it was more because of Li Zicheng's blessing that Luo Rucai was destroyed. Otherwise, if Luo Rucai ran away, he would definitely be able to make a comeback.

And with the strength of the imperial court officials and troops at this time in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, it is almost impossible to fight a war of annihilation. Because the thieves are strong, and they are not dead people, they can't be beaten, they will run.

Why is it said that it will be a hellish level of difficulty to cross the end of the Ming Dynasty, but it is actually a very difficult question. If the thieves can't be quickly annihilated, the Liaodong Jianyu will inevitably intervene, and the strength of the imperial court officials and troops is limited, is it better to fight the thieves or the Jianyu?

Even this time, if Li Zicheng made up his mind, and took advantage of Zhang Mingwei's time to go to Jiangnan to quell the chaos, he would make a comeback into Henan, although there was a plug Yinxi there, and arrangements were made for the possibility of thieves coming over again. But whether they can use so many soldiers to prevent Li Zicheng's subordinates is also a question.

Just like in the original history, the brave defense camp is strong, and the battle against the thief is a victory. However, there were too many thieves to fight at all, and later, they could only be separated to fight the thieves, and in the end they were drowned in the sea of thieves, which did not play a role in reversing the situation at all.

Thinking of all this, Zhang Mingwei can only further influence the thieves from the perspective of public opinion warfare.

For this reason, he wrote a special commentary on Li Laiheng's abandonment of the secret and the opening of the light, and published it in the "Ming Pao" to publicize it as much as possible.

Although he has been marching, Zhang Mingwei has already started preparations for the battle of Jiangnan. Many measures were dispatched to implement them one step ahead of the army.

Finally, in the middle of September of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Mingwei led the army, advancing on both sides of the river and land, and was not far from Yangzhou, the most prosperous city in the south of the Yangtze River.

Here in Jiangnan, I naturally heard the news that the 100,000 army would arrive. Moreover, Xingguo Gong made it clear that the army would rest for a few days after arriving in Yangzhou Mansion. All of a sudden, both officialdom and the people were shaken.

Today's Jiangnan thieves, that is, the five battalions of Gezuo and the two kings of the two divisions, are mainly active in Fengyang Mansion and Luzhou Mansion and Anqing Mansion under the jurisdiction of Nanzhili, which are located in the upper reaches of Yingtianfu, and are naturally farther away from Yangzhou. And on the Yangzhou Mansion itself, there are only sporadic thieves.

Many people, especially those in the officialdom, including the local squires, did not want the Duke of Xingguo to come to Yangzhou Mansion. Because they know that this prince of the current dynasty is so powerful that there is no possibility of overthrowing him at present. The most important thing is that what this Xingguo Gong did in the Central Plains was not very friendly to people like them.

For this reason, as the army gets closer and closer, there are more and more rumors in the streets and alleys.

"Our Yangzhou Mansion is good, why did Xingguo Gong come to Yangzhou? It can't be that you are afraid of thieves, so you don't dare to go to Fengyang and Luzhou to fight thieves, right? ”

"What, Xingguo Gong won a big battle and destroyed Cao Cao? I tell you, no, it is the result of the thieves' own fire. I heard that the battle of Kaifeng did not fight any vicious battles, it was all caused by the thieves themselves! ”

"100,000 troops are coming, our prosperous Yangzhou Mansion is going to suffer, think about it, it is said that at least more than half of the troops in the army of Xingguo Gong are recruited by thieves."

"Actually, not only thieves, but also the officials and soldiers of the court, the so-called thieves are like combs, and soldiers are like grates, whether they are thieves or court officials and soldiers, which one does not harm the people now!"

“……”

Under this rumor, especially if there are real-life cases to refer to, almost all the people of Yangzhou are worried about the imminent arrival of the army. Don't say that the sandwich is welcome, the army hasn't arrived yet, and everyone is almost running. Those who can't run away hide at home and don't dare to go out.

In short, Yangzhou Mansion and other state capitals on the south side of the Yangtze River do not dare to explicitly say that Xingguo Gong is not welcome, but all kinds of signs show that this is what it means.

However, in a big city like Yangzhou, it can't run. With the power of Xingguo Gong, no one dared to refuse Xingguo Gong to enter the city.

Therefore, on this day, I heard that the Xingguo Gongshou Department was not far away, and under the leadership of the prefect of Yangzhou Prefecture and other local officials, a group of squires led the people and trembling to greet them.

While waiting, a squire asked the prefect of Yangzhou Prefecture: "My lord, should the army of Xingguo enter the city?" ”

Hearing this, the other squires were even more worried, and hurriedly spoke up.

"My lord, if the soldiers enter the city, the consequences will be unimaginable!"

"Yes, my lord is the parent official of our Yangzhou Mansion, but for the sake of the people of our Yangzhou Mansion, we must not let the soldiers enter the city!"

“……”

Not only them, but even the people are worried.

However, there are also people with different attitudes, that is, some warblers and Yanyan in Yangzhou's various wind and moon fields who are lively in the crowd in the distance, and they are talking completely differently.

"You say, then the Central Plains Wubai really has to be this Lord Xingguo?"

"Ah, I really envy Chen Yuanyuan, I actually got this blessing!"

"Xingguo Gong too, hurry up and finish the war, the misunderstanding between Guo Jing and Huang Rong is really worrying, I really hope that a lover will eventually become a family!"

"The slave family has all the "Ming Pao" in their hands, I wonder if I can ask Xingguo Gong to give an inscription?"

"Have you heard of it, Xingguo Gong made another tune, it seems to be some kind of "Defending the Yellow River", quite a strange tune!"

“……”

In addition, there is another group, which is unique to Yangzhou Prefecture, that is, the salt merchant group.

The so-called squire, at this time, actually mostly refers to those who have meritorious fame and are not officials in the court. For example, Xiucai is a person, and there are also people who have been officials, and now they have no official positions.

The group of salt merchants, generally the group of people who made a fortune by selling salt with the backing of the imperial court, has the deepest relationship with the salt road yamen, and of course is also the richest.

This group of people has the most wealth, which means that they live the most luxurious lives. The mansion is big, not to mention the number of servants, a big banquet in three days, and a small banquet a day is the norm. There were even salt merchants who threw gold or silver leaf from the tower, and then watched happily as the people below frantically grabbed it. Fengyue places, Yangzhou thin horses, are all famous in the country, why, because there are many rich people.

At this time, they were standing behind the squire group in order of identity, and they were also talking in a low voice.

"If you want me to say, this Xingguo Gong came to our Yangzhou on purpose, maybe he came to our Yangzhou's wealth. Ah, it's not good! ”

"So what, we don't have a prisoner, even the crime of being a thief, don't try to press our heads."

"Yes, if he dares to deal with us, what should the imperial court salt government do?"

"I see that you are a little unfounded, if you want me to say, this Xingguo Gong is also a merry and talented man, maybe he is from the admiration of our Yangzhou!"

"It's really possible, that Chen Yuanyuan, wasn't he accepted it? He even became the editor-in-chief of Ming Pao. Hehe, people are not romantic teenagers! ”

"I'll tell you, I've actually spent a lot of money on some of the best beauties. Bao Xingguo is satisfied! ”

"By the way, we can't learn from those Jin merchants, we have to have a little vision, make a big gift to the Duke of Guo, and send him away."

“……”

While they were talking, a horse came galloping along the river and shouted, "Coming, coming......"

Hearing this shout, all of a sudden, all those who were speaking, whether welcoming or unwelcoming, stopped talking. One by one, they turned their heads to look north, or they were worried, or uneasy, or expectant, etc., waiting for the leader of the Xingguo Gong to appear.

However, before they could see the figure of the army, they heard a faint voice.

Suddenly, they were strange.

"Why is it so noisy, could it be that the Duke of Xingguo personally led the army, and the military discipline of the officers and soldiers was so bad?"

"It's hard to say, doesn't it mean that most of the officers and soldiers of this court are recruited and expanded by thieves, how good can the military discipline be?"

"Doesn't that mean that we are in trouble in Yangzhou?"

“……”

Many people are talking, worrying, and thinking about running away.

However, if they dare not welcome Xingguogong, what if Xingguogong is unhappy?

Suddenly, many people are in a dilemma.

In this way, after a while, the shadow of the army finally turned out at the foot of the mountain in the distance, and the voice became clearer.

It was precisely because they heard it more clearly that these Yangzhou people who heard it were suddenly dumbfounded.