In the eighth year of Chongzhen, in early September, Dengzhou Mansion.

Zhou Zheng, the governor, issued an order, and very few Shandong officials came to meet him, most of whom were 'busy with official business' and sent subordinate representatives.

Sun Chuanting followed Zhou Zheng to inspect the army, looking at the morale of the army, Sun Chuanting and Zhou Zheng said: "My lord, judging from the news from all over the place, it should be in tandem, and King Lu is also inside." ”

Zhou Zheng snorted coldly and said, "Let them be proud first." What's going on in Fengyang Mansion? ”

Sun Chuanting looked worried, and said: "Governor Lu is still in Fengyang, and it is said that the chance of victory is undoubted, but the rebellion in the northwest is in full swing, and the official army is not enough to deal with it, and I am worried that there will be other variables." ”

The variable that Sun Chuanting said refers to the defeat of the official army.

If the officials and troops in the northwest are defeated, the momentum of the Liukou will inevitably rise to a higher level, and the Ming Dynasty will inevitably suffer.

Zhou Zheng nodded lightly and said, "The Ministry of War and Governor Lu have sent me a letter, asking me to enter Henan as soon as possible and block the way for Liukou to go north into Gyeonggi. ”

Sun Chuanting followed Zhou Zheng's side and said, "I also heard that the imperial court apportioned two million taels of silver to the provinces to suppress bandits, and the provinces complained a lot. ”

Zhou Zheng had heard about it a long time ago, and said indifferently: "Our money, food, and army are almost mobilized, and the situation in Shandong has been roughly touched, so it's time to make a move." ”

Sun Chuanting looked at Zhou Zheng's side face and said, "My lord, once we enter Henan, the governors of the five provinces will inevitably require us to obey their orders, and the northwest will have to enter if we don't enter." ”

Zhou Zheng stopped, looked at the soldiers who were shouting and running loudly in the training ground, his expression suddenly became a little colder, and said: "Come in, as I expected, I also want to see if these rogues are as strong as Jianyu!" ”

Sun Chuanting's heart moved slightly, and said, "Yes, I'll arrange and plan the route." ”

Zhou Zhengdao: "If we want to go in, we can't just sweep the bandits, keep an eye on Gao Yingxiang, I want to use him!" ”

Sun Chuanting was stunned, and immediately understood, and said with a deep color: "Yes!" ”

As Zhou Zheng was fully prepared, with an order, 20,000 troops gathered, divided into five routes, and began to sweep up all the bandits in Shandong.

In just five days, more than 20 mountains were exterminated, and dozens of Haoqiang and corrupt officials involved were arrested at the same time, including the prefect of Qingzhou Mansion!

The Qingzhou prefect was arrested, and the Shandong officialdom was immediately leveraged, and the three divisions and prefects at all levels who were hiding from Zhou Zheng wrote letters one after another, asking for an audience, and at the same time quickly began to cut off various relationships.

Naturally, many people even wrote to impeach Zhou Zheng, accusing him of 'arsoning the army like bandits, robbing the people, and insulting officials'.

Zhou Zheng had already prepared, and took the lead in writing to the imperial court, and the evidence of various crimes was laid out in detail, and asked the imperial court to investigate the responsibility of officials at all levels in Shandong.

I don't know if it was because of the urgent request for Zhou Zheng to enter Henan to suppress bandits, or because Zhou Zheng's evidence was conclusive, the imperial court sided with Zhou Zheng, and Emperor Chongzhen issued an order and severely reprimanded the political envoy of Shandong.

Zhou Zheng reluctantly suppressed the Shandong officialdom, but it was still difficult to interfere in various livelihood matters, and he had no time to take care of it.

He took Jin Guoqi and Zhang Cunren to suppress bandits in Shandong, and dealt a heavy blow to several major forces, including the White Lotus Sect.

The bandit problem in Shandong is relatively not as serious as in the northwest, after all, not long after Kong Youde's rebellion, most of the mountain bandits are strong and powerful, and the officials and soldiers fled before they arrived.

On the contrary, the White Lotus Sect was very powerful, and under the encouragement of some strange slogans, it resisted the officials and troops.

The White Lotus Sect is not a bandit in the true sense, the bandits are mostly rogues and go directly to loot, while the White Lotus Sect is a fraud and does not have much combat effectiveness.

In less than December, Zhou Zheng completed the clean-up of bandits in Shandong, and the army was rectifying in Jinan Prefecture on the one hand, watching the movements in Henan on the other, and relocating the victims and refugees on the other.

Zhou Zheng's anti-bandit action gave the local huge pressure, Zhou Zheng was different from other governors and governors, only staring at the bandits, he wanted to solve the problem fundamentally, so he always didn't take care of so much, all corrupt officials and corrupt officials, take them down, and rectify the people's livelihood.

Maybe Zhou Zheng was killing chickens and monkeys in front, and the Shandong officialdom was full of rumors, and they all looked forward to Zhou Zheng leaving early, and did not insist on impeaching him, but thanked Zhou Zheng with a smile, sent money and food, and hoped that he would leave early.

Zhou Zhengtun's troops were in Jinan, and he ordered the Military Intelligence Department to investigate and collect the situation in Henan, and asked the imperial court for the next move.

At this time, Lu Xiangsheng reluctantly gathered the generals outside Fengyang, halfway through the grain and grass, and was about to attack in a big way, but was forced to stop again.

Because the general army of Yansui was defeated by Li Zicheng in Anding, the bandits from all walks of life won a great victory, and they were in a hurry everywhere.

After a series of debates, in mid-December, the imperial court finally issued an order to the armies and set out a strategy.

Lu Xiangsheng sent troops to Fengyang, defeated Gao Yingxiang, recovered Zhongdu, Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong and others retreated to Huguang.

Hong Chengchou defeated the King of Chaotian at the junction of Qin and Henan, and others, such as Mantianxing, were afraid of the official army and fled to Yansui to join Li Zicheng.

The official army broke out with strong combat power and momentum, and Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng coordinated their pace to carry out a rhythmic elimination of bandits in the five provinces.

With the reorganization of the official army and the orderly order, the bandits have come under strong pressure and cannot continue to fight alone, but are consciously or unconsciously integrating, annexing, and growing stronger day by day.

Zhou Zheng was also asked to lead the army into Henan to clean up the bandits in Henan.

Perhaps it was because of Lu Xiangsheng's strong pressure that bandits from all walks of life were fleeing to the five northwestern provinces, and the situation in Henan was slightly better, but there were also more than 100,000 bandits of all sizes.

Zhou Zheng went to the military department and transferred Cao Bianjiao to his command.

Cao Bianjiao had 5,000 men and 2,000 cavalry.

With the cooperation of Cao Bianjiao's cavalry, Zhou Zheng used the strategy of 'blitzkrieg' to march rapidly and sweep through the wind and rain in Henan.

On the twentieth day of the first month of the ninth year of Chongzhen.

Zhang Xianzhong led an army of 50,000 to besiege Huguang Xiangyang, and the imperial court urgently ordered Zhou Zheng to help.

Zhou Zheng's army at this moment was in Nanyang Mansion, Henan, pursuing the King of Collapse, and had to turn back and turn to Xiangyang.

In January of the ninth year of Chongzhen, Zhou Zheng and Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, Lao Hui, Scorpion Yu Block and other battles were outside Xiangyang.

The bandits have more than 100,000 people, and the momentum is huge.

Zhou Zheng feinted defeat and retreated, set up an ambush in Taoshan Town, Zhang Xianzhong was ambushed, defeated and left, and Xiangyang was relieved.

Zhou Zheng led the army in pursuit, forcing Zhang Xianzhong to flee into Sichuan, where he was sniped by Qin Liangyu and turned to Fengxiang Mansion in Shaanxi.

Zhou Zheng was just about to pursue, and the imperial court once again urgently ordered Zhou Zheng to go north, and bandits escaped from Shanxi into Henan, threatening Kaifeng Mansion.

Zhou Zheng had to turn around again and rush to go.

On the way, Sun Chuanting, Cao Bianjiao, Jin Guoqi and others wrinkled their brows, their faces were solemn, and they stopped talking.

Their battlefield has been in Liaodong, and it was the first time they were involved in counterinsurgency, only to find that the bandits were much more serious than they thought.

Especially them, in just a few months, they have been fighting non-stop in six provinces and sixteen prefectures, and they are extremely tired, and they don't have time to rest for a while!

In the interval between marching and resting and eating, Sun Chuanting came to Zhou Zheng and said in a deep voice: "My lord, it is not a way to go on like this. ”

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