The east of Hezhou is the Jialing River, the south of the city is the Fujiang River, and the Jialing River is less than ten miles up, which is the confluence of the Qujiang River and the Jialing River. The three rivers converge, and the basin covers Shunqing, Baoning, Chongqing, Mianzhou, Tongchuan. The strategic defensive fulcrum chosen by Zhu Pingjin and Liao Daheng to secure northern Sichuan, or the starting point of the strategic counteroffensive, was Hezhou.

Zhu Pingjin led the cavalry to the Jialing River wharf in the north of Hezhou City, and Liao Daheng had already led a group of officials from Chongqing Prefecture to cross the river to meet him. Behind Liao Tycoon is Wang Xingjian, the prefect of Chongqing.

Wang Xingjian was born in Chongzhen for ten years. Although he has not been in office for a few years, he is not young, and he always looks like he is in his early forties. In the past few years since he came out, his official position is like a rocket engine, and in a blink of an eye, he was promoted to the prefect of Sipin, and was able to take charge of Chongqing Mansion, a large mansion alongside Chengdu Mansion. During the more than half a year that he was in charge of Chongqing, the overall security situation in Chongqing was better than that of Shunqing and Baoning.

Of course, Wang Xingjian was able to achieve such results, in addition to the terrain far away from the Lao Woba Mountain of the local tyrants, he mainly had two huge advantages that Shunqing and Baoning could not match: soldiers and money.

In terms of troops, in addition to the Chongqing Guard, Chongqing Prefecture also has three relatively powerful battalions:

Zhao Ronggui, a staff general who was fighting in various directions; was newly transferred to Ba County to serve as a defense, and took the opportunity to repair and replenish the deputy general Ding Xianjue's department; Zeng Yingbu, a naval officer stationed in Fuzhou and Zhongzhou to guard the waterways of the Yangtze River.

Zhao Ronggui's unit is a reinforcement battalion with about 3,000 soldiers. However, intelligence shows that because the Zhao Department has not fought a major battle recently, and has captured troops like the Chu army, its number of troops has been greatly overnumbered, at least 5,000 people.

Ding Xianjue was originally the deputy general of Tongjiang, and his troops were originally stationed in Baizhang Pass, Baoning Prefecture, and served as the main force in several bloody battles with the local tyrants, and most of the troops were lost, and the remaining was less than 800. Liao Daheng reappointed him to the deputy general of Chongqing, which was to allow him to repair and restore his vitality in Chongqing Mansion at his request.

Zeng Ying was originally from Fujian, but somehow transferred the Sichuan Navy from Fujian. Intelligence speculates that this may be related to the transfer of Xiong Wencan, a native of Luzhou, from the governor of Fujian to the military premier of six provinces a few years ago. Zeng Ying had two capable subordinates, both guerrillas, one Yu Dajiang (Note 1) and the other Li Zhanchun. The three of them have a very good relationship, and they are like fathers and sons.

At present, the entire army of Zhao Ronggui's army is assembled near Hezhou. Ding Xianjue's department guarded Ba County and the passes around Chongqing such as Qingmu Pass, Futu Pass, and Tongluo Pass. And Zeng Ying guarded Fuzhou and Zhongzhou. Part of the troops, under the leadership of Dajiang, were stationed in Hezhou and controlled the lower waterways of the Qujiang and Jialing rivers.

In terms of financial resources, Chongqing is the largest taxpayer in Sichuan.

Chongqing Mansion and Kuizhou Mansion both belong to eastern Sichuan. Chongqing Prefecture has 20 prefectures and counties (Note 2), with a total of 350,000 stone of grain tax (Note 3), which is more than double that of Chengdu Prefecture located in the western Sichuan Plain, and equal to the sum of the grain of Chengdu, Shunqing and Xuzhou. Even if the reasons such as Zhu Pingjin's family evading taxes and resisting taxes and the establishment of six guards in Chengdu (including the left guard of Shu Mansion) are excluded, the overall economic strength of Chongqing Prefecture and the heavy burden of taxes borne by ordinary people can still be seen.

However, although the place was rich, the money was generally concentrated in the hands of the local gentry. The fact that the Chongqing government was able to scavenge money from the pockets of the Chongqing gentry to raise soldiers was inseparable from the good relationship between Wang Xingjian and the Chongqing gentry.

In Chongqing Prefecture, the most powerful gentry were undoubtedly the family of Wang Yingxiong, the former cabinet assistant. As soon as Wang Xingjian arrived in Chongqing Mansion, he first went to the palace to meet him, and through Zhou Yanru's signboard, he quickly got into contact with Wang Yingxiong and Wang Yingxi's brothers. The Chongqing gentry headed by the Wang brothers and the local government headed by Wang Xingjian colluded deeply, which not only maximized the interests of the Chongqing gentry, but also enabled the local government to obtain strong executive power. The security situation in Chongqing Prefecture is precisely the result of the joint efforts of these two forces. Once Zhu Pingjin wants to break this pattern of combining interests, then in addition to facing the joint counterattack of the Chongqing gentry and the local government, he will also have to take responsibility for the security situation of Chongqing Prefecture!

"A strong dragon is difficult to suppress the head snake", this is the problem that Zhu Pingjin faced when he first arrived in Chongqing.

The political and economic power of the Chongqing gentry and the government was far beyond the strength of the gentry of Qiongmei and Qiongmei. If Zhu Pingjin wanted to obtain a stable rear supply base under the grim situation of the local riots and soldiers, he could not do without the support of the Chongqing gentry and the government. Due to their own interests, the support from the Chongqing gentry and the government in Chongqing must be very limited, at least very different from Zhu Pingjin's expectations. Zhu Pingjin had to win their greatest political and economic support, but he could not let them get stuck around his neck, and even had to dig out the flesh from them, which was difficult to imagine.

Fortunately, Zhu Pingjin has an accomplice, Liao Daheng. Zhu Pingjin wants to take Chongqing Mansion, and Liao Daheng wants to use Chongqing Mansion in exchange for Zhu Pingjian's support. The two conspired for a long time, and finally adopted Master Qian's advice on the official ship.

Qian Weihan's strategy is actually very simple: draw salary from the bottom of the kettle.

Qian Weihan believes that the reason why the Chongqing government represented by Wang Xingjian and the Chongqing gentry represented by Wang Yingxiong were able to collude closely was that Wang Xingjian and Wang Yingxiong were both from the door of Zhou Yanru was only a secondary factor. The real reason is that Wang Xingjian was able to use the silver of Chongqing Mansion to raise and use soldiers to protect the interests of the gentry. Once this alliance based on military power was broken by an outside force, and Wang Xingjian was unable to keep the situation in Chongqing, then the gentry would inevitably kick out Wang Xingjian for their own interests and re-ally with the new military forces.

As the governor of Sichuan, Liao Daheng was in charge of leading the troops, so Liao Daheng could take advantage of the current opportunity to exterminate the local tyrants and transfer Zhao Ronggui and Ding Xianjue from Chongqing to the front. The Chongqing gentry were uneasy so that they would reconsider their alliance with Wang Xingjian, and possibly their attitude toward Zhu Pingjin and Liao Daheng.

Qian Weihan, who was eager to contribute to the pursuit of progress, did not know that he had used the trick of drawing wages from the bottom of the kettle when dealing with the gentry of Qiongzhou.

Liao Tycoon's master's advice naturally has the meaning of Liao Tycoon, at least that's how Zhu Pingjin understands it. With the support of Liao Tycoon, Zhao and Ding can be transferred away smoothly. After the transfer of Zhao and Ding, Chongqing Fucheng is an empty city that is guarded by the guards. The battalions of all units of the Sichuan Army and the battalions transferred to other provinces were all drawn from the Chongqing Guard and other guard posts. In particular, Ding Xianjue's department, which has recently been stationed in Chongqing Prefecture for rectification, has transferred Chongqing Wei to the fullest.

Only Chongqing Wei was left to defend Chongqing Mansion, and it is estimated that Wang Yingxiong and other gentry will not be able to sleep at night. In this way, Zhu Pingjin will have the opportunity to take the lead in deploying heavy troops in Chongqing Mansion and seize the opportunity!

It's just that both Zhu Pingjin and Liao Daheng have a very limited understanding of Chongqing's civil and military affairs. It was difficult for them to conclude that Wang Xingjian and Wang Yingxiong would obediently hand over the army under their control; It is also difficult to conclude that generals such as Zhao Ronggui and Ding Xianjue will obediently drive their troops to the front line and fight to the death with the local tyrants.

……

Liao Daheng led Chongqing Wenwu out of the city and crossed the river to greet Zhu Pingjin, the son of Shu. Seeing that Liao Daheng came out of the queue, stood in the middle of the road, and put on a respectful posture of a deputy magistrate to meet the vassal king, Zhu Pingjin jumped off the horse after more than a dozen steps from the greeting team, and stepped out a few steps forward to support Liao Daheng and did not let him kneel.

"Liao Gong sits in Hezhou, like a rock, suppressing the way of the local tyrants to the south!" Zhu Pingjin praised loudly in front of the waiting team: "Liao Gong is the pillar of the true country!" ”

Liao Daheng took advantage of the situation to get up and muttered in a low voice by the way: "I heard that the prince took advantage of the absence of the lower official to win another battle in Dingyuan?" ”

"The victory of Dingyuan depends on Liao Gong's strategy, strategizing, and winning a hundred miles!" Zhu Pingjin's voice was a thousand times and ten thousand times louder than that of Liao Tycoon, "Fubiao Iron Cavalry, according to Liao Fu's plan, caught the Guang'an Sect bandits who went out of the city to loot by surprise!" It's just a pity! The thieves are powerful, and the cavalry is small, so they don't dare to dismount and cut off their heads, otherwise there will be thousands! However, Lai Liao Gong's divine might, Guang'an White Lotus Sect Bandit Left Protector, Guang'an Guarding the Thousand Households Rebel General Ge Junci has been captured by Fu Biaosheng! ”

As soon as the prince dismounted, there was such amazing good news, and the waiting official team suddenly became agitated. Yesterday in the north of Hezhou, Zhao Ronggui's troops learned sporadic news from a captured White Lotus bandit, but they could not judge whether it was true or false. Now the son of the world has personally confirmed that that is of course true. The civil and military personnel of Chongqing Prefecture quickly extracted the main points from Shizi's words, and then secretly pondered in their hearts.

"Liao Gong's clever calculation, there is a big victory!" Zhu Pingjin was still speaking loudly, "The life of the people of Shu is all thanks to Liao Gongye!" ”

As he spoke, Zhu Pingjin bent his knees, and immediately kowtowed to Liao Daheng: "The descendants of this world are all the people of Shu, thank Liao Gong for his life!" ”

Liao Daheng didn't expect Zhu Pingjin to kneel on him in public, and he was a little caught off guard. By the time he reacted, Zhu Pingjin had already knelt down solidly.

"Oh, Shizi! In the imperial court system, how can there be a governor of a province who kneels down in the Heavenly Family? ”

Liao Daheng knew that this was Zhu Pingjin acting in public, in order to shirk the suspicion of Zong Fan leading the troops, but this scene was also too much! Wang Xingjian saw it with his own eyes, if he was accused of bullying the vassal king, it would inevitably not touch the emperor's scales. It must be known that the emperor is from Zongfan, and he hates the minister's slaves the most to bully the heavenly family!

Liao Daheng, who was not slow to react, immediately supported Zhu Pingjian, and at the same time announced to everyone: "This official will definitely go to this court!" Your Majesty, please punish the sin of disrespect! ”

"Liao Gonggong is in the country, and he should be worshiped by the son of this world!" Zhu Pingjin couldn't get up.

"Shizi, how can this make the old man unbearable! ……”

Liao Daheng couldn't help Zhu Pingjian, and he was so anxious that he was about to cry.

"The prince worships the Duke of Liao, not the prince worships the governor, but the people of Shu worship Shufu!"

A voice sounded behind Liao Daheng: "Our hundreds of officials visit the prince, which is also the etiquette of the imperial court!" I have long heard that the son of the world has unborn talents, wisdom is shown in Shilin, benevolence is up to the common people, and the power of God is small. Wang Xingjian, the prefect of Chongqing, was fortunate to have three lives, and finally saw His Royal Highness the Prince! His Royal Highness, Chitose Chitose Chitose! ”

Hey, it's another thousand-year-old, thousand-year-old, thousand-year-old, and there is one more "Your Highness", could it be that this Wang Xingjian and Wu Jishan are both in Donglin and in Shu?

didn't wait for Zhu Pingjian's taste to come out, and the civil and military forces of Chongqing Mansion reacted. As soon as they lifted their official robes, they all knelt down:

"Xiaguan Chongqing Mansion Tongzhi ......"

"Xiaguan Chongqing Government General Judgment ......"

"Xiaguan Chongqing Prefecture Hezhou Zhizhou ......"

"Xiaguan Chongqing Fuba County Zhixian Wang Xi......"

"Xiaguan Chongqing Staff General Zhao Ronggui ......"

In the end, Liao Daheng, who was finally freed from the dispute over etiquette and law, also knelt down.

One person overturned a group of people, and Zhu Pingjin felt that he did not suffer a loss.

NOTE 1: YU DAJIANG, I.E., THE EASTERN SICHUAN WATER DIVISION, FOUGHT GUERRILLA IN HAI (HAI, SEA). YU DA (HAI, HAI) WAS A VERY IMPORTANT GENERAL IN THE HISTORY OF SICHUAN IN THE SOUTHERN MING DYNASTY. HIBIKI CHANGED THE NAME OF HAI, BUT ONLY BECAUSE THE THREE CHARACTERS OF HAI, HAI, WERE CONSIDERED FORBIDDEN WORDS, AND SPACES AND EVEN PUNCTUATION MARKS WERE USELESS.

Note 2: Fuzhou has no dependence. Some historical materials include the Xuanfu Division, the Xuanfu Division, and the Changguan Division as included in the Chongqing Prefecture, which is incorrect. Because these Tusi belong to the Sichuan Metropolitan Command and Envoy Division, they belong to the military system, not the civil affairs system. However, the civil affairs part of these Tusi has intersections with local governments and county officials.

The issues of civil affairs and tax rights of Tusi in eastern Sichuan, western Hubei and western Hunan have always been the focus of disputes between the military and the people and the Tusi and the people in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and they have not been fully clarified until the middle of the Qing Dynasty.

Note 3: The figures are from "A Little History of the Ming Dynasty". The amount of grain in Chengdu is 166,000 stones; 72,000 stone in Shunqing Mansion; 100,000 stone in Xuzhou Mansion.

Another: I saw a strange article on the Internet, using the amount of food in the place to argue the population of the place. Doesn't the author know that there were many people in the Ming Dynasty who did not have to pay taxes?