At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, due to the decline of the imperial court's ability to control the locality, there were many organized civil forces such as local gentry, clans, local tyrants, bandits, and pirates in the two prefectures to form villages to protect themselves, resist grain and taxes, and the scale and number were so large that even the local government of the Ming and Qing dynasties did not dare to provoke.

In the third year of Yongli in history, that is, next year, Zheng Chenggong swept through the southern part of Zhangzhou, but due to an unexpected situation, the troops of the army to intercept the Chaoquan reinforcements of the Qing court were defeated in Pantuoling, causing it to be forced to enter Chaozhou. In the following year, Zheng Chenggong tried his best to suppress the Chaozhou thieves and restore order, but in the end, due to his own weakness and inconvenient timing, he had little success. After pacifying the thieves in the southern coastal counties such as Raoping, Chenghai, Chaoyang, Jieyang, Puning, and Huilai, they had to return to Fujian and continue to operate the Fujian battlefield.

This kind of chaos lasted for a long time, and Wu Liuqi, the chief soldier of Chaozhou appointed by the Qing court, and Xu Long, the chief soldier of the Chaozhou Naval Division, both worked hard to suppress it, but they also failed to achieve full effect.

With the arrival of Zheng Chenggong's troops, the control of the city finally stabilized. Back at the head town mansion, Zheng Chenggong and Chen Kai began to discuss the next strategy.

"In Chaozhou, there are rampant thieves among the people, and there are many fortresses. According to the investigation of the lower officials in the past few days, as well as the intelligence from Chen Houye, the relatively powerful ones include Wu Liuqi of Sanheba in Dapu County, Huang Hairu of Huanggangbao in Raoping County, Zhu Yao of Liyu Village on Haishan Island in Raoping County, Xu Long of Nanyang Village in Lianxia Town, Chenghai County, and Jieshi Wei Suli. ”

Wu Liuqi, Huang Hairu, Zhu Yao, Xu Long and Su Li, these five people were later known as the "Five Tigers Rebellion", and they were the five most famous civilian armed forces in Chaohui.

Among them, Wu Liuqi was born in a local regimental training, Huang Hairu was originally a Ming army, Zhu Yao was a local village warrior, Xu Longze was the patriarch of the clan, and Su Li was more directly a bandit. Among them, there are many die-hard loyalists of the Qing court, but there are also those who raise troops in anger just to resist food and taxes, and even more are just to live the addiction of the emperor.

In addition, these five people are also known as the "Seven Great Kou of Chaohai" together with Zhang Li of Dahaopu in Jieyang County and Yang Hu in Chenghai County. Even in addition to these people, the local counties of Chaozhou are also full of fortresses, and the number is simply innumerable, such as Chen Junge of Outing Village in Chenghai County, Liu Gongxian of Yuanyang Village in Jieyang County, Lan Yujing of Nanshan in Jieyang County, Cai Yuan of Xinheng Town in Jieyang County, Jianglong of Dapu County, and Lai Qixiao of Zhenping County, who raised troops during the heavy task of Chen Kaimou's assassination, are already relatively famous.

Chaozhou bandits are everywhere, and the strength is also very different, most of them have thousands of soldiers, and some of them are hundreds, all over the land of eastern Guangdong. If it is true that all these bandits are exterminated and pacified, it is also a big project.

"Xiaguan's investigation in the past few days shows that among the Chaozhou bandits, the strongest is Wu Liuqi, who was born wealthy, read poetry and books at a young age, and is widely involved in scripture and history. However, he was addicted to alcohol and gambling, lost all his family property, became a beggar, and lived in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Later, it is said that someone funded his return to his hometown, and then joined the army, formed a regimental training, and was appointed by the first emperor as the chief soldier of the Fengshun battalion. Later, he descended the Tartars, and he was stationed at Sanheba in Dapu County, and it was this person who had a heavy responsibility for the previous defeat. ”

Chen Kai's information is detailed, and if he interprets Wu Liuqi, he can be said to be literate and literate, has tasted the wealth and hardships of the world, has seen the warmth and warmth of human feelings, and the world is cold, and his mind is outstanding. To be able to defeat the morale of the car at that time, he must have some knowledge in the art of war, and the soldiers of the department are more elite in the future, and he is indeed a difficult opponent.

After listening to Chen Kai's analysis, Zheng Chenggong couldn't help but nodded, his temperament is resolute, but it is not impossible to convince, Chen Kai can always be reasonable, which is the best place to move Zheng Chenggong.

"This guy, in fact, can ignore him for the time being. The Sanhe Dam is in the upper reaches of the Han River, and as long as Wang Shi holds the Chaozhou City, it will be difficult for him to become a big trouble. In addition to him, Su Li's headquarters was located in Jieshiwei, which had entered the territory of Huizhou; If Huang Hairu is stationed in Huanggangbao and adjacent to Zhangzhou Mansion, he can ignore it for the time being. In the humble opinion of the following officials, the key for our army now is to open up the waterway of the Hanjiang River, as long as Nanao and Chaozhou City can be connected into one, this game of chess will be considered alive. ”

After taking Chaozhou, they managed to open up the Hanjiang River waterway, which Chen Kai and Zheng Chenggong had analyzed earlier. Now, Chaozhou has really been won, so next, the work of clearing out the bandits in the area of the Hanjiang River waterway will be put on the agenda.

Looking at the map, Zheng Chenggong's fingers were heavily pointed at two points, these two bandits, that is, Xu Long, who he came to avoid, and Yang Hu, who was guarding himself in the infant city, they are the two strongest existences along the Hanjiang River in the lower reaches of Chaozhou, and they will inevitably be Zheng Chenggong's primary targets.

"When I led the army upstream, Yang Hu didn't dare to provoke, but just closed the city gate, which was nothing more than a self-defending thief. Xu Longqi, listening to Chen Hou mentioned, is an ambitious figure, since the army, not only to build a village to protect themselves, but also to lead the troops to attack the surrounding villages and towns, and even Jieyang County's Ou Ting Village has also been attacked by his people. I am afraid that such characters may not be willing to belong to the command of Wang Shi. ”

What Zheng Chenggong saw was indeed what Chen Kai thought, but Zheng Chenggong's description, listening to his ears, he thought of something else: "In the past, Emperor Taizu Gao of the National Dynasty faced Zhang Shicheng in the east and Chen Youliang in the west, Zhang Shicheng was a self-defending thief, but Chen Youliang was ambitious, so Emperor Taizu Gao chose the strategy of Chen first and then Zhang, and west and then east. There are similarities today. ”

"It's true, but I don't dare to compare with Emperor Gao, the Taizu of the National Dynasty, Xu Long and Yang Hu, the two thieves, are definitely not the same as Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng."

Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng were behemoths with the qualifications to win the championship in the battle for hegemony at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the former sat on a large area of land in Huguang and Jiangxi, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and the latter was also a million-strong army that had resisted the violence, and occupied a large area of Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Huaidong. In comparison, Xu Long and Yang Hu are just the bandits of Chaozhou, and they can't dominate a county, and they can't compare with those tyrants.

However, Zheng Chenggong's strength is still weak now, and both of them also have thousands of people, and they are at war with two families at the same time, especially since the two are geographically horns of each other, which also seems a little unrealistic, so the order of order is naturally necessary.

"In that case, let's raise these two thieves."

"It's cheaper for them."

"It's done, don't be stingy."