He Tengjiao, the right of the Imperial History of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, was born in Nanyang Zhixian County, when he formed a township Yongda to run a regimental training, and set up 24 battalions to defend the realm of thieves, and became famous. Shaanxi fell, the news of Sun Chuanting's death also spread to Beijing, Sichuan and the war was difficult to settle, the imperial court looked left and right, only to see that Hu Guangshang said that Wufu was strong, although he intended to focus on management, as a fulcrum to save the defeat.

After the death of Song Yihe, the court originally wanted to use the river as the boundary, and planned to divide the lake into two war zones of Hubei and Hunan, with Wang Jukui as the governor of Hubei and Wang Yangji as the governor of Hunan. But Zhao Dangshi then stood out and showed the ability to coordinate the whole province of Huguang, and the matter was over.

However, in the first battle of Ruzhou in Henan, the Ming armies in Shaanxi and Henan provinces basically lost their ability to resist the invading army, and Shanxi, Shandong, Jinan, and other places that sent troops to help were also affected, such as Xu Dingguo, the chief military officer of Shanxi Taiyuan, Liu Zeqing, the chief military officer of Shandong Zhenjiao, and Bu Congshan, the chief military officer of Baoding Zhenshu in southern Jinan. It was because Huguang's strategic position became the primary priority, and the discussion of "governing Huguang in an attempt to counterattack" surfaced from the private views of some officials in the past and even became very loud, and finally even the imperial court could not ignore it, and officially brought this discussion to the table.

Even though Emperor Chongzhen was once optimistic about Zhao Dangshi, but now, his attitude has changed subtly.

One reason is naturally to stick to the idea of inheriting the ancestors and passing on the martial arts. It is true that Emperor Chongzhen admired Zhao Dangshi very much, and even regarded him as his own Chang Yuchun in his heart, but after three minutes of heat, Emperor Chongzhen's worries about the military generals unconsciously showed their heads again. Although he disdained the warnings that some officials and ministers had tirelessly put forward for Zhao Dangshi's possible support of the army, it was imperceptible to breed other ideas.

Emperor Chongzhen, who has always been bold, began to vomit bitterness with people like Wang Chengen around him at this time, intentionally or unintentionally, repeatedly emphasizing the truth that managing state affairs is like walking a tightrope, Wang Chengen has served Emperor Chongzhen for a long time, where will he not know what his master thinks. You don't have to guess to know that the fickle Emperor Chongzhen drunkard doesn't mean to drink, he must want to regret it again, and all his words and deeds are just to pave the way for his change.

As a lieutenant official, Wang Chengen, who adheres to the principle of self-preservation with wisdom, is reluctant to directly intervene in political affairs. Originally, in addition to him, there was also the first assistant Zhou Yanru in the court who could speak for Zhao Dangshi, but unfortunately, it was difficult for Zhou Yanru to cross the river when the Bodhisattva crossed the river, which was another important reason for Emperor Chongzhen's attitude towards Zhao Dangshi.

The root cause of Zhou Yanru's incident was actually buried two years ago. At that time, Hong Chengchou of the governor Jiliao was captured in the battle of Songshan Fort, and Emperor Chongzhen transferred Yang Shenwu, the governor of Shuntian, to replace him. Unexpectedly, Yang Shenwu died in office, and no one filled the temporary vacancy, so Zhou Yanru took the opportunity to recommend his protégé, Fan Zhiwan, who was the governor of Shanxi, so that he could supervise Ji Liao, with the same intention as the subsequent promotion of Ma Shiying, intending to consolidate him into foreign aid.

Jiliao and Fengyang, one in the north of the town and the other in the south of Dingnan, all hold real power and can be called first-class feudal officials. Zhou Yanru called for wind and rain in the cabinet, and he was more fan and Ma Yao echoed outside, and his power was unmatched for a while.

However, his good situation did not last long, last year the Qing soldiers were in the border and entered the prison, Fan Zhiwan's performance was a big surprise, he did not understand military affairs and was timid by nature, and the planning and scheduling were completely disorderly, resulting in the loss of many states and counties in his defense, and the court was very pessimistic about him. Fortunately, Zhou Yanru then took the initiative to ask the superintendent to go out of Beijing to fight against the Qing soldiers, and repeatedly passed on his victories. After the Qing soldiers retreated, Zhou Yanru was added as a master on merit, and Emperor Chongzhen loved him very much, listened to his guarantee for Fan Zhiwan, and was convinced, so in the end he did not hold Fan Zhiwan accountable for his ineffective command.

Who knew that in May of this year, the imperial court was in full swing for the military disaster of the Qing army, and first Lei Yanzuo, the commander of the Shandong army, impeached Fan Zhiwan for sending soldiers and horses to rescue Shandong, and even dared to go to Beijing to confront him, full of confidence. Emperor Chongzhen was furious, so he suspected Zhou Yanru of deceiving himself. Then Jin Yiwei commanded Luo Yangxing to get the holy will, and took the lead in impeaching Zhou Yanru, saying that he supervised the anti-Qing period during the "daily curtain gathering, and opened the door in the afternoon to collect documents, and should tell stories", lied about the military situation and forged war exploits, which exploded the pot, and the ministers saw this opportunity, and impeached Zhou Yanru one after another, and counted his crimes, Emperor Chongzhen was very disappointed in Zhou Yanru, and scolded "I hate Zhou Yanru the most for being obedient to my envoys", so he summoned the ministers at the Zhongzuo Gate, personally interrogated Fan Zhiwan, and convicted him of the death penalty. In order to gain office, Fan Zhiwan secretly gifted Dong Ting with money and goods, and Dong Tingxian was also arrested and imprisoned.

Zhou Yanru has two henchmen who are well known, one is Wu Changshi in the Ministry of Officials, and the other is Dong Tingxian, a staff member. After Fan Zhiwan and Dong Tingxian successively confessed, Emperor Chongzhen continued to follow the vine and learned that these two people were Zhou Yanru's eagle dog minions who accepted bribes to form a party for personal gain, and his disgust for Zhou Yanru was incomprehensible. Because Zhou Yanru's status in the court not only plummeted, but also inevitably was investigated by Emperor Chongzhen, although it has not yet been determined, it can be said that it is difficult to extricate itself from the quagmire.

Although there is no clear evidence that Zhou Yanru and Zhao Dangshi are colluded, it is a real thing that Zhou Yanru once recommended Zhao Dangshi, and Emperor Chongzhen forgot that he was the main promoter of promoting Zhao Dangshi, and he hated Zhou Yanru and hated Yu Xu, and it is not difficult to understand that Zhao Dangshi's favor has suddenly decreased.

He Tengjiao was outside the county of Nanyang, and he had excellent results in Huailai and Huaixu, and was considered by Emperor Chongzhen to be a military and political all-rounder. On the occasion of employing people, he made every effort to promote it to stabilize Huguang, which was highly expected by the imperial court. Some relatives and friends around He Tengjiao cited the examples of Wu Fu and Yu Yinggui and persuaded him not to go to Huguang to wade into troubled waters, after all, Huguang is sandwiched between the two major forces of Chuang and Xian, and Zhao Dangshi has been in charge for many years, the situation is very complicated, and a careless move may be a catastrophe. However, He Tengjiao was not afraid of difficulties, thinking that he knew the situation in Huguang and even Henan, and resolutely accepted the appointment of the imperial court, and arrived in Wuchang Mansion at the end of November.

At the same time, there were two other appointments in the imperial court. One dismisses Guo Duxian, the governor of Jiangxi who had previously faced Zhang Xianzhong's defeat and loss of land, and replaced Kuang Zhao, the deputy envoy of Chuhe and military garrison who performed well. The other dismissed Xu Shiyin, the governor of Anlu, who was a vegetarian meal, and promoted Zhang Liang, the deputy envoy of Anlu's military reserves.

Kuang Zhao and Zhang Liang were both untrustworthy officials who had reported to Zhao Dangshi, and Jiangxi and Anlu were adjacent to Huguang. The imperial court continuously adjusted personnel in a short period of time, and placed He Tengjiao, Kuang Zhao, and Zhang Liang in the periphery of Zhao Dangshi.

When Zhao Dangshi learned the news, he was already on the way to lead the army to the river, although he had been mentally prepared, but the speed of the change of Emperor Chongzhen's likes and dislikes still shocked him.

After weighing it, Zhao Dangshi felt that the Sichuan matter was a higher priority, so he immediately sent three people to three places to deal with the changes in Huguang for the time being. One person went to Xiangyang, and ordered Bai Wang, Chang Zeyu and others, who were in charge of Huguang, to maintain the stability of Huguang; went to Wuchang alone, and saw Rao Liubo asking her to pay close attention to Zuo Mengeng's movements; One person went to Jiujiang to visit Yuan Jixian, the governor of Jiangxi and other places, and continued to get closer.

He Tengjiao and the three of them were all ministers appointed by the imperial court, and Zhao Dangshi was able to secretly send people to intercept and kill Li Qiande, who took office in Yunyang, but it was not good to kill He Tengjiao categorically. It is okay to do this kind of thing once, but if you do too much, it is easy to arouse suspicion, especially in the current sensitive season, rashly attacking is bound to set yourself on fire, so Zhao Dangshi's plan is to let He Tengjiao come to Huguang, goodbye moves, and static braking.

When Zhao was in the world, Bai Wang was in charge of the Huguang military affairs, and Chang Zeyu was in charge of political affairs, and they needed to work together to ensure the basic foundation of Zhao Ying's in Huguang. He Tengjiao knew that the strongest faction in Huguang was Zhao Dangshi, but he deliberately changed his route and avoided Xiangyang Trail and went to Wuchang Mansion. Even though Wuchang Mansion was originally the location of Chu Fu's station, it was reasonable for He Tengjiao to go to Xiangyang and other places that could be regarded as the military frontier of Huguang to inspect and comfort them. Wuchang Mansion has Zuo Mengeng's army stationed, and its general Xu Yong once served as a battalion general in the 24th Battalion of Nanyang set up by He Tengjiao, so that Rao Liubo stared at Zuo Mengeng, just to prevent Zuo Mengeng, who was still immature, from being bewitched by He Tengjiao. Yuan Jixian has always been good friends with Zhao Dangshi, he was the governor of Jiangxi, Anlu, Yingtian and other places of military affairs, Kuang Zhao and Zhang Liang are supposed to be controlled by him, and there is no disadvantage in strengthening the connection with him.

There were waves in the rear, and Zhao Dangshi's heart to calm down Sichuan as soon as possible was more keen.

At the beginning of December, Zhao Dangshi's army arrived in Kuizhou Mansion, and at this time there was still a battalion of troops from Daning General Liu Gui in the mansion. Even if the other party only had 1,000 people, Zhao Dangshi was not verbose, and directly dragged his troops into the army. Then the army traveled along the river road, and after arriving at Chongqing Mansion, Zhao Dangshi first visited Shi Yan Xuanwei Division on a light horse to visit Qin Liangyu, and then transferred to Chongqing Fucheng, where he met with Deng Longye, Sun Weizheng and others who stayed here, explained some work and replenished food and materials for the army. A few days later, we went northwest to Chengdu Fucheng and met Wang Laixing, which was already mid-December.

The military situation was urgent, Zhao Dangshi refused Wang Laixing's reception banquet, and the next day he convened all the generals to discuss the Sichuan matter.

According to Wang Laixing's report on the war situation in the past month, the Sichuan incident was mainly divided into two parts: the north and the south.

In the south, Zhang Xianzhong's western army is southwest of Chaochuan. Beginning in mid-to-late November, the Western Army, which had recovered a little, was divided into several groups and wandered in Jiading Prefecture, Xuzhou Prefecture, Yazhou, Meizhou, and other places. It was difficult for them to surpass the Luzhou Mansion defended by 5,000 stone soldiers to the east, and they did not dare to come to the suburbs of Chengdu to seek a decisive battle to the north, so they could only go back and forth. From the perspective of strategic significance, Wang Laixing successfully fulfilled the requirement of encircling the western army in a corner to wait for Zhao Dangshi's army. However, this can suffer the military and civilians in Jiading Prefecture and other places, and was ravaged by the Western Army, especially Jiading Prefecture, Qianwei, Rongxian, and Weiyuan fell one after another, and Hongya, Jiajiang, and Emei were also repeatedly plundered. Wang Laixing was really patient and could sit on the stool, but he didn't move. It was not until the eve of Zhao Dangshi's army that he sent Zeng Ying's army to Xinjin County in the south of Chengdu to wait and see.

In the north, the military towns in northern Sichuan frequently dispatched troops to control the main pass. Wang Laixing had long known about the situation of Rui Fan's house arrest and reported it to Zhao Dangshi, and the generals in northern Sichuan also learned of Zhao Dangshi's action of leading troops into Sichuan. Around December, they mobilized one after another, and each entered the important area. The sphere of influence in northern Sichuan extended to the south to Mianzhou in the northeast of Chengdu Prefecture, and Shehong County in Tongchuan Prefecture in the east was also under their control, and these two places respectively controlled the land and water passages into the north, and were now guarded by Deng Ruoyu, the general of Long'an, and Hou Tianxi, the general of Yongning Town, Deng Ruoyu had 2,000 people in Mianzhou and Hou Tianxi had 1,500 people in Shehong County. The deployment of the rest of the northern Sichuan departments is not yet clear, but it is roughly estimated that the strength of the entire northern Sichuan plus Zhao Guangyuan should be around 17,000 people.

Zhao Dangshi's ultimate goal is to open up the Sichuan-Shaanxi passage and enter Hanzhong Mansion, even if Rui Fan is not in the hands of the generals of northern Sichuan, this area in northern Sichuan still has to be taken, and Rui Fan is in northern Sichuan, which gives him a better reason to send troops. Time was running out, and Zhao Dangshi presided over a three-day series of emergency army discussions in Chengdu's Fucheng, and the conclusion was that the troops were divided into two routes and the north-south problem was solved separately.

Wang Laixing's army assigned 2,000 people from Zhao 'Ronggui's army to Zhao Dangshi's army, and Zhao Dangshi led 14,000 people to attack northern Sichuan; Wang Laixing's army guarded Chengdu Mansion with 2,000 people from Zeng Ying's army, and led the rest of the soldiers and horses to join the 21,000 soldiers of Luzhou Mansion to go south to crusade against the Western Army.