Just after the Dragon Boat Festival, on the ninth day of the first month of May, Zhang Xianzhong suddenly attacked, easily captured Gucheng County, and raised the anti-flag again.

Ruan Zhitian, the magistrate of Gucheng County, committed suicide by poisoning.

"What about the old fellow?" Zhang Xianzhong entered the county office and asked.

Zhang Wenxiu replied: "It's dead, we took poison before we came in." ”

"Cheap him!" Zhang Xianzhong snorted coldly and said. When he entered the inner house, he found nothing of value, not even a concubine, only an old family member who served him.

"Dashuai!" , a soldier ran out and reported: "There are words on the wall of the study!" ”

After Zhang Xianzhong listened, he came to the study, which read, "Zhang Xianzhong must rebel again!" There is also a fateful poem: "Read all the books of the sages and become this heroic mind." Reluctantly, he is virtuous, and he is honest and honest. The latter inscription is "Gucheng Junior Minister Ruan Zhitian Bows to Que and Pays Respects". The writing is quite large, but the ink has long since dried, not just written.

Zhang Xianzhong sneered and said, "Hehe! It's quite interesting, I want to leave a good image of his emperor Lao'er. ”

Zhang Wenxiu said: "Shovel, right?" ”

Zhang Xianzhong waved his hand and said casually: "Don't worry, when we leave, the fire will be burned." You must control all the county treasury and not be burned. ”

"It's been let go, don't worry." Zhang Wenxiu's confident return.

Zhang Xianzhong continued to look at Ruan Zhitian's desperate poem on the wall. After waiting for a while, he laughed and said, "Let's do the same!" ”

Zhang Wenxiu was confused and asked puzzledly, "What to do?" ”

Zhang Xianzhong instructed: "You go to my mansion, go to the eighth lady, and ask her to take out the accounts I wrote." Also, go and find the prison guard Zhang Dajing, I want him to make a vote, hahaha! ”

Although Zhang Wenxiu didn't know what Zhang Xianzhong was going to do, he immediately went to carry out the order. When he came to the county government with the account books and Zhang Dajing, Zhang Xianzhong was directing his subordinates to clean up the eight-character wall of the county government and clean up the notices on it.

"Father-in-law, this is the account book." Zhang Wenxiu handed a ledger to Zhang Xianzhong with both hands and said.

Zhang Xianzhong took the account book, didn't look at it, and handed it directly to Zhang Dajing. said with a smile: "Prison Army, I'll bother you for a while, and give us Lao Zhang all the things on it to copy on these two walls." Let the people in Gucheng also see how many bribes these court officials asked for from my Lao Zhang! ”

Zhang Dajing took the account book tremblingly, and said in a trembling voice: "General, although the contemptible person is a prisoner, he is ordered to do it. And in the past few months, the contemptible people have not embarrassed the general in the slightest, please be merciful to the general and let the contemptible people go. ”

"If you were also sorry for me, you would have gone to see Hades with that Ruan Zhixian a long time ago!" Zhang Xianzhong said impatiently.

Zhang Dajing hurriedly bowed down and said, "General Xie is not killed." Please let the general show kindness and let the contemptible people go. ”

"You are an official, and you know the twists and turns of the government. Our old Zhang has taken a fancy to you, please stay and be a military advisor for us. Zhang Xianzhong said without any respect: "This is your vote." Just write it quickly! ”

Zhang Dajing did not have the courage to commit suicide, so he had to open the account tremblingly. At this time, a soldier had already prepared his pen and ink, and was waiting for him to write.

"The pen is steady!" Zhang Xianzhong reminded: "This is for the whole county to see, if you write the flowers, I will let you rewrite it!" ”

"Good, good, contemptible know." Zhang Dajing agreed. Then I stabilized my mind and began to copy it steadily.

Zhang Xianzhong watched a personal name, official position, and the number and date of bribes appear on the eight-character wall, and nodded with a smile. He also pointed out from time to time, saying, "Look, they are all turtle sons!" How many things did you ask for from our Lao Zhang in a year?! ”

Suddenly, Zhang Xianzhong stopped Zhang Dajing's writing, which made Zhang Dajing frightened.

Zhang Xianzhong took the account book in Zhang Dajing's hand, turned a page back, pointed to Zhang Dajing's name, and said: "You don't need to write your own, we are our own people, we must save some face." ”

Zhang Dajing only remembered that he had also accepted money and bribes from Zhang Xianzhong. But at that time, he took it with peace of mind, everyone took it, this is the rule. But now I learned that sometimes it's not always right to follow the rules.

"General Xie, General Xie." Zhang Dajing took the brush and said. He knew that now the emperor had been worried about the silver, and there were rumors of officials donating money and salaries. Once the bribery of these officials is exposed, it is certain that they will be raided.

Zhang Xianzhong handed over the account book to Zhang Dajing again and said, "Write it well." ”

It took Zhang Dajing an hour to finish copying everything in the account book, and at this time, the two eight-character walls were already full of writing.

Zhang Xianzhong nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile: "Our old Zhang's money is not so easy to take!" Let the world see what kind of things you are! After that, he felt as if something was missing, and after thinking for a while, he patted his head and said, "Oh, write Xiangyang Dao Wang Ruiqi, he is the only one who did not accept bribes from our Lao Zhang." Our Lao Zhang is not an unreasonable person, a corrupt official, let's show him to the public, a clean official, we also want to commend him. ”

Zhang Dajing hurriedly followed Zhang Xianzhong's meaning and wrote, "Those who are not subject to loyalty and bribery are only Xiangyang Daoist Wang Ruizheng." ”

Zhang Xianzhong was satisfied, nodded and said, "Yes, yes, let's make a payment." ”

"Huh?" Zhang Dajing cried out in horror and looked back at Zhang Xianzhong.

Zhang Xianzhong stroked his long beard and said with a smile: "This is your name, of course you have to pay for it." ”

Zhang Dajing had no choice but to write his name tremblingly.

When Gucheng Zhang Xianzhong rebelled, the imperial court was not unprepared. Yang Sichang and Xiong Wencan had already discussed a plan before, planning to use the troops of Henan, Xunyang, Shaanxi, and Sichuan, plus the troops of Gansu Town and Ningxia Town, which had joined the Beijing Division, to attack Zhang Xianzhong in Gucheng on all sides.

But this is just a plan on paper, and so many troop movements cannot be accomplished in a single sentence. More importantly, the food and salary of the imperial court are not enough, and the reinforcements from the towns that come to the aid must be rewarded, and the meritorious soldiers must be rewarded. It is also necessary to pay these reinforcements and issue a fee - that is, a promotion fee. If you don't have food, don't expect the army to go out to fight, so the important thing now is to raise money.

Fortunately, it took a long time for the transmission of information at this time, and Emperor Chongzhen in Beijing did not know that Zhang Xianzhong had rebelled again, which gave the thief prime minister Xiong Wencan time and opportunity to remedy his mistakes. Therefore, Xiong Wencan is very anxious, and he must completely defeat Zhang Xianzhong, who he personally surrendered, in the shortest possible time!