On the sixth day of the first month of the eighth year of Chongzhen, "the thief fell into Rongyang Tu flooding, and then fell into the beginning." When there were hundreds of thousands of thieves in Qin, there were 36 ways out of the customs, plundering the counties. ”

The Ministry of War often said to Ziyu in the matter: The Central Plains, the safety of the world is in danger, and now the group of thieves is full, but only Zuo Liangyu's brigade is plugged into Xinmi, Chen Bangzhi and other battalions strangle Ruzhou, Chen Yongfu is alone in the army to block Nanyang, the thief camp is in the thousands, the official army is blocked, why is the thief afraid and not driven for a long time? Beg to select the border soldiers, unify the honest and brave generals, and select the important ministers to see the division, so that the heart will not break.

The Ministry of War discussed the transfer of the northwest border soldiers and the southern soldiers, issued 200,000 yuan of silver and more than 900,000 household salaries, and ordered Hong Chengchou to lead the customs to control Zhulu Fuzhen, and work together to suppress the thieves, with a deadline of six months.

The thieves in Henan are uncertain, especially in Henan, it is called to rush, east of Guanshan, south of the Yellow River, north of Xiangyang, stretching for thousands of miles, where it is rushing

Zuo Liangyu, Chen Yongfu, Zhao Guozhu, etc., successively beheaded the king of Xingshi in Jiaxian, the king of Chuangshi in Baisha, the king of neatness in Yiyang, and the king of sweeping the floor in Jiayu.

However, the war in Henan seems to have been ignored by the civil and military forces of the DPRK and China, and compared with the war in Henan, the war in the other direction is more worrying to them.

According to the discussion of the Lushan Conference, taking advantage of the fact that the Ming army had few soldiers in Jiangbei and weak combat effectiveness and empty defense, the troops of Gao Yingxiang, the general Li Zicheng, and Zhang Xianzhong, the eighth king, attacked the territory of Nanzhili with lightning speed. Capture Gushi, Huoqiu, and Shouzhou. On the tenth day of the first month, Zhang Xianzhong's troops conquered Yingzhou. The peasant army marched straight to Fengyang, the land of Ming Longxing.

"So, the thief came from Runing, secretly sent 300 strong men, pretended to be a merchant and charioteer, and entered Fengyang first. Or brocade and pepper dates, or for monks and beggars, etc., divided into each house, followed by heavy soldiers. ”

When the peasant army arrived in Fengyang after a long-distance raid, it happened to be the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. The street scholars and girls in Fengyang are like clouds, the lights are brilliant, the sheng songs are ear-catching, and the splendid scenery is everywhere. Suddenly, there was a fire, and the exclamations continued: "The thieves have arrived!" The thieves are coming! ”

The people who were still enjoying the lights and riddles on the streets, and the people who enjoyed the fun of the peaceful and prosperous world immediately ran wildly. But in front of the Xiying horse team galloping wildly. It's like a chicken in a kettle and a fish swimming in a net.

Because of the reason for ensuring the feng shui dragon vein, Fengyang City has no city walls, and there is no city wall to defend. It gave the peasant army, which was dominated by horse teams, an opportunity. And. Only the soldiers and horses under the command of Yang Yipeng, the governor of Caoyun, were stationed here. However, there are more than 2,000 people, all of whom are gangsters and hooligans on the streets, and it is okay to bully the common people on weekdays. In the face of the peasant army that came from the battle like a wolf and a tiger, none of these Ming officers and soldiers dared to raise their guns to meet the enemy, but threw down their swords, guns and armor and turned around and ran.

This is not the most bizarre thing, Fengyang prefect Yan Rongxuan is. This prefect is also quite anxious, changed into a prison uniform and hid in the prison, but unexpectedly, he was found in the group of criminals by the peasant army who opened the prison to release the prisoners, and was captured by the two leaders of the peasant army, King Sweeping and King Taiping.

These two guys, who were active in the area of Yingshan and Huoshan and returned to Zhang Xianzhong on the way to the east, hated these parents and officials even more. With the ritual etiquette of the eldest lord's promotion of the case, Zhang Gai preached, shouted might, and killed Yan Rongxuan under the Yamen Hall of the Fengyang Prefect.

It was a service, "thieves burned the emperor's mausoleum, burned the palace of enjoyment, burned 300,000 pine trees, killed more than 60 eunuchs guarding the mausoleum, more than 100 people in the high wall crime sect, and left behind in the Zhuguo Alley to fight and behead 27 thieves, and died of exhaustion." Killed six people, including Wan Wenying, a military attaché, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians were killed, dissected pregnant women, injected babies into the lance, burned more than 20,000 public and private mansions, 100 miles of light and candles, thieves and canals, self-labeled Gu Yuan Zhenlong Emperor, and plundered for three days. ”

In the sound of drums, Li Zicheng took several generals, Yuan Zongdi, Liu Fangliang, Li Guo, Li Shuangxi, Zhang Nai, and others to dismount in front of Huangjue Temple.

This is now the old camp of Zhang Xianzhong's Xiying.

As the ordination of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang Taizu, after he ascended the throne as emperor, he became famous overnight from a small temple with no door to the original dilapidated temple, with a noble status and incomparably prominent. Also because of the experience of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty to become a monk and worship the Buddha, the sixteenth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1383) moved from Ganying, which is 6 kilometers southwest of Fengyang County, to the site for reconstruction, and gave the name "Da Longxing Temple", Zhu Yuanzhang personally wrote the text of "Longxing Temple Tablet", set up the monk record official abbot, and awarded the seal of Longxing Temple. According to the record of "Daming Hongwu Record": "(Longxing Temple) Buddha hall, Dharma hall, monk's house belong to 381 people. ”

However, from the Tianwang Hall, the Daxiong Treasure Hall, the Meditation Hall, the Garan Hall, the Patriarch's Hall and the Imperial Tablet Pavilion, all kinds of goods and materials were piled up, and the chaos was full of high-minded peasant soldiers and small leaders, and groups of mules and horses were casually chained to the pillars of various trees and buildings. On the spotless ground, which was originally cleaned, a lot of mule and horse manure can be seen everywhere.

"I didn't expect this Huangjue Temple to be so big!"

Under the escort of a group of soldiers and generals, Li Zicheng, who entered in high spirits, expressed his sincere admiration for the architectural scale of the entire Huangjue Temple.

"Chuang Jiang didn't know, after Zhu Hongwu won the country, this place was expanded, covering an area of more than 1,000 acres, and sent a letter to the monk official, mother, a monk leader is actually a grade! It occupies such a large area, there was once a Fengyang folk song that this is a monk riding a horse to close the mountain gate, you can imagine! ”

"If that's the case, if the Eight Kings win the country in the future, will they also expand the previous barracks?"

Li Zicheng and Ma Yuanli, the general of the Xiying camp who came to greet him, came all the way to the front of the Daxiong Treasure Hall with a haha.

In the four copper pots outside the hall, meat and rice were boiling, and from time to time, peasant soldiers stirred a few times in the pot with their swords to see if the chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep were cooked.

At the foot of the steps of the Daxiong Treasure Hall, more than 30 little eunuchs were holding various musical instruments and playing vigorously there.

In the hall, Zhang Xianzhong was drinking happily with several of his generals and adopted sons.

"Brothers, come, drink! This is the best wine in Fengyang Mansion! ”

Zhang Xianzhong greeted Li Zicheng with a wine bowl in a drunken eye.

"Jing Xuan, I have good news, I have come to sue you!"

"You guys go out first!"

In the blink of an eye, Zhang Xianzhong, who was still full of alcohol just now. Immediately regained his shrewd and capable expression, waved his hand and motioned for the soldiers to withdraw from the main hall, and cleaned up the leftovers by the way.

"Brother Li, what's the good thing to take care of our Lao Zhang?"

"Let me ask you, how many armored soldiers are there in your western camp along the way? Like Maotang, Shuangxi, and Ning Yu, how many of these Nanban armors are there? ”

Seeing that Li Zicheng had the intention of inquiring about his strength, he couldn't help but Zhang Xianzhong stroked his beard and started fighting.

"I met a few fellow Shanxi villagers in Fengyang Mansion and from their mouths. I know something about this Nanban armor weapon! ”

Li Zicheng's words are amazing. couldn't help but let Zhang Xianzhong tear off a few beards.

Shanxi and Shaanxi, separated by a river, have a good story of Qin and Jin since ancient times. At that time, the merchants of Shanxi and Shaanxi were fighting against the needs of the Hui merchants and other merchants. Always take advantage of the advantages of neighboring provinces. Combine with each other. They are often referred to collectively as "Western merchants". Therefore, Li Zicheng called Shanxi merchants his fellow villagers.

"What? They know? Can you buy it for money?! ”

Zhang Kewang, the eldest son of Zhang Xianzhong's adopted son, was born with an irritable personality. Anxious to know where those well-armored weapons came from.

"What's the panic, listen to your father Li honestly!" Zhang Xianzhong reprimanded his son, and looked at Li Zicheng with a smile on his face, "Brother Li, you go on." ”

"I originally planned to make cotton armor from the Lushan silk we got in Lushan and let the people in the city make cotton armor, but when I bought cotton cloth, the Qin shopkeeper of the silk cloth village in the city inadvertently said that since the second year of Chongzhen, there have been fine iron and artillery from Guangdong to the capital. And in the battle of Zhuozhou, he repelled Liaodong Jiannu! ”

"The shopkeeper of Qin said that among the merchants in the capital, it is said that it was the shopkeeper of Long Shengxing outside the Chaoyang Gate in Beijing who gave these armor, swords and guns to King Hongyan! And the proprietor of this long and popular seems to have a business in Nanjing! ”

Speaking of this, Li Zicheng stopped talking, his eyes were fixed, and he looked at Zhang Xianzhong.

"Li Shuai, where did this Qin shopkeeper come from? How can you be so clear about these things? Zhang Xianzhong's subordinate general Bai Wenxuan was a little puzzled, how could the shopkeeper of a silk cloth shop care about the origin of those swords, guns and weapons?

"Brother Bai, you don't know, this silk shop is the business of Shanxi businessman Wang Dengku, several of them have been privately doing business with Mongolian Tartars and Liaodong Jiannu, this is what he confessed to telling him, Jiannu suffered a loss in the second year of Chongzhen, and he is also inquiring about the origin of those weapons and iron, this news is that they have spent countless efforts and manpower over the years to find out, if it weren't for the fact that the shopkeeper of Longsheng gave so many good things to King Hongyan at one time, they couldn't find out!" Li Zicheng's subordinate Liu Fangliang told Bai Wenxuan the ins and outs of this matter.

"Nanjing?!"

Hearing such news, Zhang Kewang, Zhang Wenxiu, Zhang Dingguo and others immediately pressed their swords and stood up, "Father, let's take our brothers into Nanjing City and snatch out those swords, guns and armor!" ”

"Bastard! Eight of the king's lambs! ”

After listening to the invitation of several adopted sons, Zhang Xianzhong was not happy and angry, and scolded loudly. However, his unscrupulous words made several generals under Zicheng endure and dare not laugh, Zhang Kewang and others are the eight lambs of the king, what is Zhang Xianzhong?

"Will you be able to fly across the Yangtze River? Will you be able to storm the city of Nanjing? Heart-wrenching! ”

Zhang Xianzhong arched his hand towards Li Zicheng, "Brother Li, you must have already made up your mind, you said, do you want our old Zhang to contribute money or strength?" ”

"Eight kings, let's go to your camp against the wind, Da Zhengyue, do you want us a bowl of noodles to eat?"

Li Zicheng's subordinate Yuan Zongdi, a fierce general, slapped Zhang Xianzhong haha and made a grimace.

"Yes, yes! Let's drink and talk about it! ”

For a while, the banquet was re-arranged in the Daxiong Treasure Hall, and the two groups of people drank and talked together.

"Brother Li, we have to persuade you, there are some things that you have to open your eyes and close your eyes. When the water is clear, you can't raise fish, you rectify military discipline, don't let your brothers rob, don't let you drink and gamble and sleep with women, don't let this and don't let that, who will fight for you? They all say that we are thieves, but even now we are like this, and we are much better than the official army! Aren't those officials and soldiers doing more than us? Let's not cut off the heads of the common people anyway, and say that it is the official army! Zhang Xianzhong's eyes were red, and he was holding Li Zicheng's hand and chattering.

"Jing Xuan, I thought about it this before I came, and there are not a few gold, silver and jewels in my camp right now, but in the eyes of those of us who are begging for a living in the bush of swords and guns, these things are far inferior to those fine armor and weapons. And the life-saving bag that saved your life is worth it! ”

"That's right! With the elite old camp here, those exquisite swords, guns and armor, no matter how much gold, silver and jewelry we can grab! Zhang Xianzhong slapped his thigh and agreed with Li Zicheng's words.

"Those good things before, we had to exchange our lives, but now if we can exchange them for money, it will be much cheaper!"

"So, I plan to let that shopkeeper Qin accompany Mingyuan and quietly go to Nanjing City to see how much I can get back. Who is the right person to send to your western camp? ”

Li Zicheng's side is Liu Fangliang. Zhang Xianzhong raised his eyes and glanced at his subordinates. "Brother Li, I'll send Lao Bai here! However, how can our money be transported, the amount is too large! ”

"It's okay! The Eight Kings. Liu Fangliang bowed to Zhang Xianzhong. I discussed it with the shopkeeper Qin before. You can put gold and silver in his trumpet. He came forward to pay the money to the Southern Barbarian Merchants for us, and Wang Dengku's business also has a number in Nanjing City! ”

At this point, the two families have nothing to say. Just a big bowl of wine and a big piece of meat beckoned.

After eating and drinking, Li Zicheng got up to say goodbye, Zhang Xianzhong sent it to the door of the hall, and suddenly blinked his eyes with a sly smile, "Brother Li, you come to our old Zhang, does King Gao Chuang know?" Will he blame you if he finds out?! ”

Listening to Zhang Xianzhong's words, Li Zicheng stopped, what kind of heart his uncle and boss was, he knew much better than Zhang Xianzhong, if he knew that he and Zhang Xianzhong were discussing the purchase of ordnance and armor in private, I was afraid that the armor would not be on the body, and the head would be moved.

"So what do you say?"

Zhang Xianzhong's eyes looked around, stopped his eyes on the group of little eunuchs who were playing hard, and couldn't help but put his hand on a big beard on his chest again.

Li Zicheng and others all know this habit of his, whenever he has something in his heart, or when he can't make up his mind before killing, he will have this action, once he makes up his mind, he will subconsciously pull his beard down, and then the head will fall to the ground.

Sure enough, after a while, Zhang Xianzhong pulled his hand down on his beard. A sinister smile appeared on his face.

"Brother Li, you came to our Lao Zhang today to ask our Lao Zhang for this group of eggless geldings, but our Lao Zhang didn't give it to you, you left in a rage, our Lao Zhang! Nature doesn't make it easy for you. ”

"Someone!"

With a loud shout, more than a dozen soldiers from the Western Camp drew their long swords in unison, "Obey the order!" ”

"Cut off this group of eggless ones for our old man!"

Under the leadership of Zhang Kewang, more than a dozen personal soldiers waved the weapons in their hands and cut down the more than 30 little eunuchs who were responsible for playing music during the sacrifice to their ancestors.

"Not bad! Brother Jingxuan is really a decision to kill! In this way, you and I will be jerky, and others will no longer doubt it! Li Zicheng took his subordinates and crossed the horse and whipped away!

In the first month, after Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng and other troops captured Fengyang, Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng did not agree, but divided the army to the east. The initial attack on Luzhou (now Hefei) was not overcome, and the transfer to Shucheng was not overcome. On the 23rd, Xianzhong led the army to capture Chao County. On the fourth day of Yue, he attacked the Lujiang River again. Tomorrow, he will go down to Wuwei Prefecture and kill Zhang Huashu of Zhizhou. On the first day of February, Zhang Xianzhong led the army to besiege Qianshan and conquer it. Kill Zhao Shiyan of Zhixian County.

Afterwards, Yang Yipeng, the governor of Caoyun, was imprisoned by Chongzhen and beheaded Xishi because of the loss of Fengyang and the shaking of the mausoleum.

For a time, Emperor Chongzhen's sackcloth and shoes went to the Fengxian Hall and Taimiao to cry and worship, and the Chinese Wu ministers also looked like dead Lao Tzu Niang.

Such news, in two places thousands of miles away from Beijing and Fengyang, did not even make a splash. When such news was sent to Kinmen by the newspaper and the official document, Zheng Zhilong put down the dishes and chopsticks in his hand in shock, "I'm a dry Yi Niang!" I just said that, I didn't expect that the ancestral grave of the old Zhu family was really dug up?! ”

After speaking, Zheng Zhilong picked up his rice bowl and continued to eat.

"Huh? Anything else? ”

He saw that his subordinates who were still standing there were guarding Zheng Yun, and they still seemed to have something to say.

"Marshal, there is also a military intelligence report. It's about the Dutch red-haired people of the big guys. ”

"Something like this?! Then why didn't you just say that? Take those useless ones to annoy Lao Tzu?! Zheng Zhilong's face showed a look of anger, and Mrs. Tagawa, who was eating with him on the side, gently pulled the belt of his robe, and he eased his feelings.

"It's just right to see that the big guy is eating, of course, you have to report the big things to the big guy first." Seeing this, Zheng Yun also defended himself, and the angry Zheng Zhilong was about to fight.

"If you have something to say, say it quickly!"

After the Dutch drove Zheng Zhilong's troops into the sea, they knew that this Jade Jiaolong was definitely not a figure who would not fight back, and since the Battle of Liuluo Bay, whether in terms of troops, financial resources, vitality, and morale, they far exceeded the Dutch forces in this area.

Therefore, as soon as Putsman came to purge the island's reclamation forces that might be unfavorable to him, he confiscated all the swords and guns in the hands of the reclamation people and registered them, and stipulated that six out of ten weapons must be handed over as the most basic weapons for self-defense. In addition, under the leadership of the conquered tribes, with the backing of force, they will set their footprints almost all over the entire Dayuan Island. The Dutch priests who came with the army were even more active in missionary work to the indigenous tribes, and even counted that there were more than 300 Shengfan villages on the whole island, as far as Tamsui and Yilan, and even in Taitung and Xiaoliuqiu, and even wrote the Bible in Roman pinyin in the language of Shengfan on the island! The intention is to turn these young people on the island into allies and cannon fodder of the Dutch in the shortest possible time. (To be continued......)