The White Lotus Sect is a kind of secret religious association that has been circulated among the people since the Tang and Song Dynasties, originating from the Pure Land Sect of Buddhism, the early White Lotus Sect worshiped Amitabha Buddha, advocated chanting Buddha and keeping precepts, and stipulated that believers should not kill, not steal, not commit adultery, not lie, and not drink alcohol. It called on believers to worship their ancestors, and was a kind of half-monk, half-lay secret society, which was easily accepted by the lower classes, so it was often used as a tool to organize the people to resist oppression.

In the Yuan Dynasty, the White Lotus sect organized peasant uprisings many times; Tang Sai'er during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty also started an incident from Shandong in the name of the White Lotus Sect, which made Chengzu very angry. After Tang Sai'er, several small-scale peasant uprisings broke out, such as the peasant uprising led by Ma Zushi in the Taihu Lake basin in the south of the Yangtze River during the Jiajing period, and the peasant uprisings in Shanxi and Inner Mongolia.

Because in the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, Han Shantong, Liu Futong and others, who were the first to raise the banner of resistance against the tyrannical Yuan, were the leaders of the White Lotus Sect; Including Zhu Yuanzhang himself also has an inseparable relationship with the White Lotus Sect, and the Ming army he led later was somewhat mixed with the White Lotus Sect, so the Ming Dynasty emperor was very sensitive to the White Lotus Sect. The old Zhu family relied on the peasant uprising to seize the world, and after becoming the master of the house, for the sake of the stability of the country, it was naturally strictly forbidden for others to follow suit. Since Yongle, the attitude of successive Ming Dynasty emperors towards the White Lotus Sect has been to exterminate it, and no descendant of the Zhu family dares to let it go.

"Rather kill the wrong than let go", this is the principle of the emperors of all dynasties and generations for the White Lotus Sect, and it is because this time the governor is still on the way back, let people screen whether the news is true. The day after returning to Jinan Mansion, the bad news came: the White Lotus Sect did move frequently in Shandong. Governor Wu is a head and two big, and he has only been in office for a few months, and such a bad event has happened, it is impossible to conceal it, not to mention that he has no courage to hide it. It's just that Governor Wu is worried that after reporting to the imperial court, will the emperor treat him for a crime of negligence?

Even if Governor Wu is worried about being punished, he must report the White Lotus Sect related matters in Shandong to the center, and a few days later, the holy decree will come down: Regarding the suppression of bandits in the territory of the governor and prime minister of Shandong, all the bandits of the White Lotus Sect must be arrested as soon as possible! The emperor didn't say a word about the other problems, but Governor Wu knew that if he didn't crack down on the bandits this time, he would definitely be "counted out". After receiving the order, Governor Wu thought in his heart: he is not the kind of feudal official who "manages the troops on the horse and manages the people on the horse", and this time the suppression of bandits is at most responsible for logistics and reporting and other affairs, and the war must also rely on the army, and the army in Shandong must also find the general soldier Gu Wanchang.

So Governor Wu found Gu Wanchang, both of them knew the urgency and seriousness of the matter, and after some consultations, a vigorous campaign to suppress bandits in Shandong was launched.

After investigation, Qingzhou, Dongchang, and Yanzhou in Shandong are all entrenched in the White Lotus Sect bandits on a large scale, so the first phase of the official action is that the three governments are each responsible for the task of suppressing bandits in their jurisdictions, which is limited to three months.

As the main person responsible for the task of suppressing bandits in Dongchang Mansion, Zhong Nan is unwilling to do this thing from the bottom of his heart, after all, they are all Chinese compatriots, and this kind of cannibalism is difficult to make people feel a sense of achievement. But he also knew that it was impossible not to go, and no matter how he obstructed it, he could only delay it for some time. However, Zhong Nan still pinned his hopes on delaying for two more days, maybe the White Lotus Sect in Dongchang Mansion would take the initiative to retreat.

After the bandit order arrived at Dongchang Mansion, Zhong Nan first used the excuse that the salary was not in place, and it was difficult for the soldiers below to pull out hungry. After the silver was allocated above, Zhong Nan said that the military training in Dongchang Mansion was not systematic, and the casualties would be relatively large if it was pulled out. After more than 10 days of training in the army, he said that it was only mid-February, and the weather was warm and cold, which was not suitable for suppressing bandits.

Zhong Nan's procrastination made the people of Qing and Yan'er Prefecture very dissatisfied: We have been suppressing bandits for more than half a month, and your guerrilla Zhong is still nesting in Dongchang Mansion, does it have anything to do with the White Lotus Sect! As soon as he heard this, Zhong Nan was deflated, and he couldn't delay any longer, so he could only pull the team to suppress the bandits.

Shandong this place, since ancient times, the people have been fierce, their ancestors are Dongyi people, Dongyi people are strong and very warlike, and I don't know why there are more natural and man-made disasters in this land, so it is not surprising that there are more rebels. Far away such as Fan Chong Chimei Army in the late Western Han Dynasty, Liu Bogen Wang Mi in the Western Jin Dynasty, Xing Gao in the Northern Wei Dynasty, Wang Bo in the late Sui Dynasty, Huangchao in the late Tang Dynasty, Chao Gai in Shuibo Liangshan in the Northern Song Dynasty, etc., the nearest is the famous Tang Sai'er.

Zhong Nan selected 500 soldiers from the Dongchang Mansion, and the main criteria were that they were young and strong, had a flexible mind, and could bear hardships and stand hard work, and were unmarried and not the only child in the family. He planned to use these 500 people as the basis for training in a modern way, and then slowly expand the scale after achieving results, and eventually form an elite division of 3,000 to 5,000 people.

The idea of creating a "Zhong Family Army" of his own was formed during Zhong Nan's stay in Beijing. Throughout the Wanli Dynasty, the most powerful combat effectiveness was the Qijia Army, the Liaodong Army and the Sichuan Army, the three armies had their own characteristics, and the number of each army was not much, about three or five thousand people. Zhong Nan hopes to build an army similar to or even surpassing the above, whether it is for meritorious service or to protect himself and his family, which is very necessary.

This time, Zhong Nan pulled these 500 people out, and before leaving, he gave the only request: all actions are under his command. In Zhong Nan's view, whether it is the Qi Army, the Liaodong Army or the Sichuan Army, they are all private armies, although they also obey the orders of the imperial court, but Qi Jiguang, Li Chengliang and Liu Ling are the souls of the three armies. Your own team not only has excellent combat effectiveness, but also has high requirements for loyalty to the main general, and it can even be said that the latter is more important than the former.

Now the prototype of this "Zhong Family Army" has begun to appear, and the five hundred men and horses belong to five sentinels, in addition to their brothers Chen and Cui, there are three sentinels Xiao Shiyou, Ma Guangyuan and Ouyang Shan, all of whom are twenty-five or six years old. After months of getting along, the five sentinels have become one piece, everyone is like brothers, and no matter what they do, they advance and retreat together, which is exactly what Zhong Nan wants.

The White Lotus Sect bandits in Dongchang, according to intelligence, were operating in the area of Phoenix Mountain outside the city, and after more than 500 people came to their destination, Zhong Nan first sent scouts up the mountain to check the situation, and after more than an hour, the scouts reported: There are indeed traces of people and horses gathering on the mountain, about one or two hundred people, Zhong Nan heard that he immediately asked all the officers and soldiers to camp on the spot.

Later, at lunchtime, Zhong Nan once again ordered to bury the pot to make rice, rested for a while after the meal, and ordered the soldiers to practice in the camp until the evening, and then returned to the Dongchang military camp with a large group of men. This wave of operations made the people below feel very strange, but fortunately, no one raised objections, and everyone carried out the implementation without discounting, who asked the guerrilla general to give these 500 people not only not a cent deducted, but also half higher than other soldiers, and the daily food was much better than that of other soldiers!

For the next three days, Zhong Nan pulled people to the foot of Phoenix Mountain in the morning, rested until noon to regenerate fire and cook, practiced in the afternoon, and returned to the camp in the evening. Several sentinels couldn't help it, and the five of them came to Zhong Nan's tent together, you push me, I push you, and finally Cui Dazheng opened his mouth first: "Second brother, what kind of medicine are you selling in the gourd?" ”

Looking at the other four people who were also puzzled, Zhong Nan knew that it was necessary to explain to them, "Do you think there are White Lotus Sect bandits on the mountain?" ”

All five said yes.

"Then who of you knows who these White Lotus Sect bandits are?" Zhong Nan asked again.

Five people, you look at me, I look at you, and finally Ma Guangyuan, who is most familiar with the situation in Dongchang, said: "It is said that this group of bandits from the White Lotus Sect is composed of our peasants and a group of people from the rivers and lakes here in Shandong!" ”

Ouyang Shan continued: "I heard that the White Lotus Sect in Dongchang, Qingzhou, and Yanzhou are all the same leader, I don't know what it's called, but everyone says that this leader is strong in kung fu and knows immortal methods!" ”

Seeing that no one answered, Zhong Nan said: "That's right, there are a group of people in the rivers and lakes among them, maybe they are still strong in martial arts, and the leader knows the immortal method, so what good results will we have when we attack it?" ”

When the five of them heard this, they understood that the guerrilla master could not figure out the truth of the White Lotus Sect, and he could not disobey the orders from above, so he had to take the method as a last resort. How did they know that Zhong Nan simply didn't want to fight these compatriots who were forced to rebel, which was no different from cannibalism; As for those kung fu masters, he is not afraid, "no matter how high the martial arts are, he is also afraid of kitchen knives"; In addition, he didn't believe in the leader's immortal method, and the good young people of the 21st century didn't know how much they had heard about this kind of strange power, and they had long been immune.

Not only did the five not oppose the boss's idea, but on the contrary, they agreed that there was no need to take risks when the situation was unclear. So more than 500 horses are equivalent to training in the field, coming on time every day to go on time, this action made the white lotus on the mountain confused, and thought that the Dongchang army had some big moves, and the leader tried his best to restrain everyone not to go out easily for a few days.

It is said that the nearly 200 centaurs on Phoenix Mountain are really from the White Lotus Sect, and it is a coincidence that the leading Zhong Nan has also seen it, it is the middle-aged man who kidnapped the little master of the Ma family in Suzhou. This person's name was Liao Chuanzhi, who was originally from a poor family on the outskirts of Jinan Prefecture, and later joined the White Lotus Sect, and a few years later became the head of the Shandong branch of the White Lotus Sect.