On the twenty-third day of the first month of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, that is, when Zhu Pingjian, the son of Shu, hurried to Shunqing Mansion with his cavalry, the sudden catastrophe had enveloped Baoning City for five days.

In fact, this catastrophe was not without warning.

Before the Lantern Festival passed, there were sporadic Wang Ying's soldiers who made trouble in front of the Baoning Mansion and demanded that the arrears be repaid. It's just that the civil officials and gentry of Baoning, headed by Zhang Jimeng, where would they care about the thoughts of a group of Qiu Ba.

In their minds, only their high-ranking scholarly elite are qualified to comment on national affairs, and those ordinary soldiers who are hungry and cold in the cold wind and howling winter are just rude and reckless people who are born lowly, and they are insignificant consumables. Therefore, their solution was to reprimand Wang Chaoyang, the guerrilla general who was the external standard of the general town, and ordered him to bring back the soldiers and soldiers.

……

Since the first year of the Chongzhen Dynasty, the officials and troops of the Ming Dynasty have mutinied.

On July 25 of the first year of Chongzhen, Jizhen mutinied. The Jimen garrison made a noise and burned gunpowder. Later, the first arrears were paid for March, and Zhao was transferred to the general army, and the mutiny began to be peaceful.

Only two days later, in Ningyuancheng, an important town on the front line against the Tartars, the soldiers of Sichuan and Huguang mutinied again due to lack of pay in April, and the remaining thirteen battalions responded. Governor Bi Zisu committed suicide, and Yuan Chonghuan used both the trapping of the chief and the anti-GM to make up the arrears to quell the mutiny.

In December, the Guyuan Mutiny in Shaanxi Province was also due to lack of pay. The mutinous army not only robbed the treasury, but also a considerable number of people joined the peasant war that had just broken out, which directly contributed to the growth of the peasant army. Two months later, the desperate famous (gynecologist) doctor, the imperial historian of the right capital and the squire of the military department, and the governor of the trilateral military affairs of Shaanxi, Wu Zhiwang, committed suicide in despair in his own governor's palace in Guyuan City.

In the second year of Chongzhen's rebellion, Xingchong rushed to the Shanxi reinforcements of King Qinwang in Beijing, and without receiving any provisions, "the army was scattered", and many people returned to the province to join the peasant army. Geng Ruqi, the governor of Shanxi Province, and Zhang Honggong, the general soldier, became the scapegoats for the mutiny, and both lost their heads.

The most famous mutiny was the Wuqiao Mutiny in Shandong Province in August of the fourth year of Chongzhen.

Kong Youde's 800 subordinates were ordered to aid Liao, and they ran out of food at Wuqiao halfway. The people of the county hated the Liao soldiers and boycotted the city behind closed doors. A soldier took a chicken from the servant of Wang Xiangchun of the Wang clan in Shandong, and as a result, he was "pierced through the arrow camp". The soldier was so humiliated that he killed Wang's servant.

For the sake of a chicken, a human life was killed. Wang Xiangchun's son stepped forward to escalate the situation.

Under the threat of his old comrade-in-arms Li Jiucheng and his subordinates, Kong Youde had to pull up the anti-flag and lead his troops back to Jiaodong.

The rebellion began to spread like a plague, and more troops were involved. Deng and Lai fell to the two prefectures, the governor Sun Yuanhua was captured, and the chief soldier Zhang Keda committed suicide. It was not until the imperial court transferred the Liaodong Iron Cavalry to suppress it that the mutiny, which lasted for nearly two years, came to an end.

Kong Youde and more than 10,000 other old troops of the Dongjiang Army, who had a deep blood feud with the pigtails, crossed the sea by boat and surrendered the pigtails with artillery and other advanced weapons.

As a result of the mutiny, not only did the weapons and equipment of the pigtail soldiers quickly enter the age of firearms, but also subdued the hearts of the Liao people from then on.

Later, this group of Dongjiang troops became the vanguard of the pigtail soldiers to unify the world, and when suppressing the rebellion in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, its cruelty even exceeded that of the pigtail Eight Banners!

Zhu Pingjin was the one who led the troops, and once asked his courtiers to explain in detail the reasons for the Wuqiao mutiny. He concluded that the Ming Mutiny was nothing more than two triggers: no food and no clothing; He was bullied by the gentry.

Qian Weihan guessed that Wang Chaoyang's ministry was making trouble, and He Zengshan also guessed that Wang Chaoyang's ministry was a mutiny, not a rebellion in the real sense. But both of them are speculations, and there is no evidence to back them up. In any case, the Boryeong mutiny is already a fact. The content of He Yongnian's urgent letter was very simple, just saying that the rebels had occupied the Baoning Pass at the beginning and blocked the four gates, so they were slow to find out. It wasn't until someone discovered that the rebels were freely entering and leaving the Daofu Yamen that they realized that the situation was wrong.

So is Wang Chaoyang's rebellion also a mutiny caused by these reasons?

Zhu Pingjin's intuition told him that it should be.

But he was confused.

Because before sending troops to Bazhou, Liao Daheng, Liu Zhibo and Chen Qichi played in front of Duanli Gate and borrowed money and grain from the Shu Palace. Before Zhu Pingjin left, he arranged for Zheng Anmin and Hong Qihui to lend 100,000 yuan in salaries and 50,000 yuan in grain.

In this Bazhou offensive, the total number of troops involved in the Bazhou offensive were: Gan Liangchen of the North Road, Deputy General Liu Zhenfan, Guerrilla Yang Zhan, and Hou Tianxi's Zheng, Qi, and You battalions, totaling 4,200 people; 4,000 people in the middle lane; 6,000 men in the South Road Jaden Company; The reserve Wang Chaoyang had 1,500 people, and the four roads totaled about 16,000 people.

Therefore, the silver and grain lent by Zhu Pingjin were enough to support the official army for half a year. Even if you add 15,000 people who also have to eat, there is no problem to carry it for three months.

However, it was only on 3 December last year that the official army officially launched the offensive, and it has only been a month and a half now. How could they have eaten all the 50,000 stone grains or spent all the 100,000 taels of silver in a month and a half?

Could it really be the old grudge in Wang Chaoyang's heart?

Zhu Pingjin instinctively denied it.

There is only one reason: although Wang Chaoyang has old grudges, he will not accompany himself and 1,500 subordinates to the lives of the Nine Clans for this!

……

On the evening of the 23rd day of the first lunar month, Zhu Pingjin rushed to the Jialing River outside Shunqing Mansion. News of the Boryeong mutiny had spread throughout the neighboring province of Thuan Khanh. The Nanchong County Huzhuang Brigade, which had received orders in advance, collected a large number of ships and waited for the arrival of the counterinsurgency army at the wharf on the left bank of the Jialing River outside the east gate of Shunqing Prefecture. Half an hour later, Zhu Pingjin and two battalions of cavalry crossed the river.

The lanterns at the east gate of Shunqing Mansion were hung high, and Du Zhifu was dressed in bright court clothes, and he and Wang Zhuang Zhuangtou Jiang Ding Town led officials and gentry to greet them outside the east gate.

When Zhu Pingjin jumped from the trestle bridge to the dock, the salute official shouted, and more than 200 Shunqing officials and gentry kowtowed in unison, which was much more respectful than when Zhu Pingjin and Liao Daheng first arrived in Shunqing Mansion.

In addition to Dingyuan County, which belongs to the territory of Hezhou, Chongqing, Guang'an and Pengzhou, the two prefectures and six counties are all under the jurisdiction of Shunqing Prefecture. Zhu Pingjin's great victory in the battle at the end of the year not only saved the lives of the people of Shunqing, but also saved the lives and careers of the official gentry of Shunqing.

Wang Chaoyang Baoning mutinied, if the rebels robbed Baoning City and chose to go south, Shunqing Mansion in the two counties on the west bank of the Jialing River, Nanchong and Xichong, will bear the brunt, and it will inevitably be affected by the disaster of pond fish. Now that Zhu Pingjin led the army to quell the rebellion and came to Shunqing, those officials and gentry naturally breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhu Pingjin, who felt at ease, did not pretend to be humble, and rode on a horse to accept their gifts.

After paying homage to the ceremony, Zhu Pingjin told this group of officials and gentry in high spirits:

He and Liao Fu would never sit idly by and watch the important town of Boryeong Province in northern Sichuan be occupied by rebels, so they decided to mobilize a large army to quell the rebellion. He led the cavalry first, and Liao Fu led the infantry artillery army behind. In addition, the guards in the southern part of Shuwangfu, Yilong County and Tongchuan Prefecture were all assembling in Baoning Mansion, so Shunqing Mansion was safe. A few days later, the Protector Army Brigade gathered at the foot of Boryeong City, and it was sure to put down the rebels in one fell swoop.

Zhu Pingjin's confident speech made Du Zhifu, an old comrade who was about to retire, cry for a long time. On the spot, he presented a list of the Shunqing gentry's salaries, ranging from 1,000 taels to 30 taels, and the number of people was densely packed with more than 200 numbers. He also said on the spot that if the prince wanted to levy strong men and raise grain and grass in Shunqing Mansion, he would do everything, but ......

The military situation was urgent, and Zhu Pingjin had no time to accompany Du Zhifu to play dumb riddles.

"It's just what, please speak quickly!"

"Yesterday, the lowly official received a document on the collection of autumn grain from Chen Shenzheng, and the Shunqing government actually wanted to collect a total of more than 190,000 taxes and silver. plus more than 160,000 tax arrears last year, a total of 360,000 yuan! ”

Du Zhifu burst into tears as he spoke: "Now Shunqing Mansion, except for the one county in Nanchong, the other two states and seven counties are all dilapidated. Guang'an ...... Quxian ...... Yuechi ...... Xichong, Shizi, you personally led the troops to take these states and counties back, and you know the truth. How can those states and counties still levy money and grain! ”

Du Zhifu cried and crawled forward, hugging Zhu Pingjian's legs and crying.

"The Son of the World is merciful! The scriptures say that saving a person's life is better than creating a seventh-level Buddha! ”

As soon as Du Zhifu cried, the gentry behind him were all his common interests, and of course the crying was louder, turning the good welcome ceremony into a mourning ceremony.

This is clearly crying and shouting for the palace to collect taxes in advance.

Because Shunqing Mansion took refuge too late, the autumn harvest of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen had already passed, so the negotiated package time began from the summer grain collection of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, that is, August of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen. However, the local rioters suddenly moved south to Guang'an, Pengzhou, and Hezhou, disrupting everyone's plans, including Zhu Pingjin and Du Zhifu. Now Governor Du is facing a large limit on the collection of autumn grain, so he took this opportunity to hug Zhu Pingjian's thigh, hoping to pull him.

"What does Governor Du want this son to do?"

"Please pass on the decree of the prince to the feudal division, and exempt the Shunqing Mansion from taxes!"

"The feudal secretary is the emperor's official, not the prince's palace official. The vassal king does not anticipate the affairs of foreign officials, but the law of the court. ”

Zhu Pingjin sneered as he spoke: "Besides, you don't want to pay taxes and silver, so what do you want the soldiers in front of you to eat?" When the soldiers had nothing to eat, they would come to the door with knives and guns to ask for it. The lessons of the previous car in Boryeong Mansion, are you still not a lesson? ”

"The minister didn't dare...... It's just that this year it's really ......."

Du Zhifu was so anxious that his eyes were watery, and he began to stutter when he spoke.

Zhu Pingjin ignored Governor Du's mansion, but turned his cold face to Jiang Dingzhen: "Mr. Jiang, you can talk about the autumn grain of Shunqing Mansion!" ”

Since Jiang Dingzhen is also kneeling here, Zhu Pingjin wants to take this opportunity to try this person he has never trusted: Is your position Party A or Party B?

"The amount of autumn grain is too large, and Shunqing Mansion really can't make it up this year. If you want to impose a hard apportionment, the minister is worried that the officials will force the people to rebel! With the will of the minister, it is better to ......"

Jiang Ding Town's meaning is to first seek relief from the province. If it really can't be reduced, then Shunqing Mansion can use nearly 200 hectares of Guantian Yongtenant right as collateral, and ask the Shu Wangfu to advance most of it.

Jiang Ding Town's proposal has some feasibility, but Zhu Pingjin cannot agree to it, because the 200 hectares of land are too small, and at present, Shunqing Mansion is full of wasteland, and it is enough to occupy it with a knife and gun. Using the unified policy launched by the Sichuan Reclamation Bureau to include all wasteland in the bag, the cost is much lower.

"In Guang'an, Pengzhou and other places, officials are dead and people have fled, and wasteland is everywhere. For example, the Guang'an Thousand Households, the soldiers of the imperial court, were confused by the demons......"

As soon as Zhu Pingjin said his words, Du Zhifu's reaction was extremely fast: "Since Guang'an, Pengzhou and other places were recaptured by the prince of the world, the ownerless wasteland and barren mountains will naturally belong to the palace!" The rebellion of the thousands of households in Guang'an should have been confiscated into the palace! ”

It's just that the simple local lord can no longer attract Zhu Pingjian's appetite. The urgency of the military situation prevented him from staying here for long.

Zhu Pingjin pondered for a moment and said, "Mr. Jiang, since the Du Governor's Mansion intends to be covered by the royal government's taxes in advance, then the prince of this world will accept it." But ......"

When all the gentry pricked up their ears, Zhu Pingjin slowly announced: "This prince has discussed with Liao Fu and the prefect of Wang, and wants to gather the strength of the Shu people to build a bureau, and build a bureau to revitalize all industries in Sichuan." This bureau is called Sichuan Development Bureau! ”