Historically, until they were driven out of Beijing, they did not complete the transformation from rogues to political power.

The most striking difference between the rogues and the regime is that they do not have a solid base and no sustainable source of tax revenue.

At present, Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai, and Yuan Shizhong are huge giants, with more than 100,000 people, so many people want to eat and drink, and they have no fixed income, so the only way for them to obtain money and food is the so-called "robbing the rich and helping the poor".

Because of this policy, every time the army breaks down, the gentry and rich will suffer, and even ordinary people will be ruined.

Since Li Zicheng's uprising, the traces of his activities are all over the north, which is naturally indispensable to slaughter the city, just recorded Chongzhen's seven years of slaughtering Shaanxi Qizhou County, Chongzhen's fourteenth year Tumi County, Xiangcheng, Shangshui, Fugou, and Huangchao, which are no different from Huangchao.

Now that Shangqiu is besieged, the officials and gentry in the city are terrified. Liang Yizhang fled back to Shangqiu in a hurry, and the army followed, although he organized the young and strong to defend the city, but the thieves were so strong that he expected that he could not hold it, so he came back to say goodbye to his family.

Liang Yizhang is a native of Qingyuan, Hebei, and is a famous family. It is said that when Chongzhen ordered to try riding and shooting, the same science and scholars were all scholars, and they could not open their bows and ride horses, but Liang bent his bow with a camphor prancing horse and fired three arrows in a row.

It's just that although he has some ability, he can't change the general trend of Henan's collapse.

Zhang listened to Liang Yizhang's words, and couldn't help but tearfully say: "Husband, isn't there any other way?" Liu Zongbing can go, can't we go? ”

Liang Yizhang shook his head, "Liu Liangzuo has soldiers in hand, the court does not dare to touch him, I am a local official, I have the responsibility of guarding the land, if I lose my land and flee, the court will definitely kill me." Moreover, the thieves have besieged the city, and I, as a parent in a land, how can I abandon the people? ”

After hearing this, Zhang already understood, so he immediately bowed, then retreated inside, called the old servant Yang Village, piled firewood outside the building, informed the city of the fall, and set fire to the building.

Outside Shangqiu City, flags were flying, and the camp was full of noise.

After Li Guo's troops came to Shangqiu, he did not rush to attack the city, but sent cavalry to continue southward, and drove Liu Liangzuo to Nanzhi before preparing to attack Shangqiu.

This time, the official army was defeated quickly and suddenly, and what the Shangqiu officials and gentry did not expect was that Liu Liangzuo, who had taken a lot of their money and grain, did not enter Shangqiu and ran directly to Nanzhi.

The officials and gentry in the city had no chance to escape, so they were surrounded in the city by the intruding army, and they were miserable by Liu Liangzuo.

In fact, this kind of thing has happened from time to time in recent years. Wu Sangui, Zuo Liangyu, and Liu Liangzuo all cheated people, and the governor alone killed a few people.

In recent years, most of these generals have nothing to do, but the civil officials of the superintendent have been killed one after another and imprisoned.

At present, the status of civil and military officials in the Ming Dynasty has slowly changed with the arrival of troubled times.

After the second brother led the people to Shangqiu City, he went down to the village at Fengchikou in the west of the city, and next to him were Li Guo's rear camp and Yuan Shizhong's small Yuan camp.

Because the cavalry of the invading army drove Liu Liangzuo out of Guide, Shangqiu was already an isolated city, and there were no men and horses in the city who could pose a threat to the camp, so the camps of the various departments of the invading army were relatively casual.

The second brother Gao's current 1,000 men and horses are very chaotic, the reorganization has not been completed, and the command is not convenient, so the camp is also very casual.

On the way from Suishui to Shangqiu, the second brother Gao had already thought about it, and after discussing it with Wu Shizhao and Zhao Daxian and others, he felt that it was still a little impossible to digest the thousand people, so the second brother decided to only go through three brigades, that is, expand to 337 people, and the rest of the people were temporarily organized into miscellaneous soldiers and logistics teams.

But even so, the second brother has expanded from 9 posts to 27 posts, and the number of soldiers has increased by about 3 times.

The new outpost needs officers, plus the officers needed by the miscellaneous soldiers and the logistics team, the talents under the second brother are still not enough.

That night, the second brother was sitting in the tent, and Zhao Zhuzi and a few other men were standing behind him with their knives.

After a short time, Wu Shizhao lifted the tent curtain and led more than a dozen captured officers and soldiers in.

"Captain, a total of thirteen people, all brought here." Wu Shizhao arched his hand.

The second brother's lieutenant has not yet been confirmed, but the brothers in the battalion have already begun to call him the lieutenant.

Gao Yihuan nodded, let Wu Shizhao go to the side first, and then glanced at the more than ten officers and soldiers who were brought in, all of them were strong men between twenty and thirty.

When they saw Gao Yihuan, they were not as cowering as Xiao Yuanying's gang, and their spirits and physique were different.

More than a dozen men glanced at Gao Yihuan, and then looked at Zhao Zhuzi and the others who were pressing the handle of the knife behind him, and several people looked at each other, and the first man led the people behind him to bow down on one knee, "See Captain." ”

Gao Yihuan observed for a while and was very satisfied with these people, but after all, they were official soldiers, and their families were all in the areas controlled by the government, and now the army had not swept the north, and they were just rogues, so they had no reason to be thieves.

At present, they are only forced by the situation to give in, and if they have the opportunity, they will definitely flee immediately, and even if they can't escape, they will not really do things for him.

Gao Yihuan didn't let these people get up, he looked at the more than ten Ming soldiers with their heads down, and after coughing lightly, he said: "I know that you are not really obedient, and you all want to be able to go back." ”

Gao Yihuan stopped as he spoke, and when he saw that the officers and soldiers below were all lower, he knew that he had said what they were thinking, so he changed his voice, "But if you want to go back, it's not impossible." ”

When the officers and soldiers below heard this, they couldn't help but be slightly stunned, the people in front looked at each other, and the first one shook his head slightly, and the officers and soldiers still bowed their heads and remained silent, afraid that Gao Yi would deceive them.

Gao Yihuan looked at their expressions and continued: "I will get straight to the point with you today, and you also know that I am now expanding my number of men and needs officers. As long as you help me train people for a period of time, meet my requirements, and be able to perform martial arts again and defeat my armor outpost, then I will let you go. ”

Hearing this, several officers and soldiers couldn't help but raise their heads, the man at the head should be an officer, he hesitated for a while, and finally asked, "What can the captain do with this?" ”

Gao Yihuan saw that he was willing to speak, that is, he was tempted, and immediately smiled: "Naturally, I will do the count, and during the training, I will pay you." Recently, I read Qi Shaobao's book and learned that when Qi Shaobao was in the south, he was paid 10 taels per pawn, and after he arrived in Jizhen in the north, the annual salary for the recruits guarding the border wall increased to 18 taels. You are considered an officer with me, and I will pay you 3 taels a month and 36 taels a year, what do you think? ”

The current situation is special, Gao Yihuan should be a mercenary, but if he pays these Ming soldiers, then his own people have to open it, and he roughly calculated, just an officer, it will cost him about 1,000 taels a year.

When the officers and soldiers below heard this, they couldn't help but raise their heads one after another, they were originally just prisoners, but now they can not only get the silver, but also have the opportunity to go back, and everyone is moved.

Several officers and soldiers couldn't help but look at the man at the head, and the man thought about it, although he had doubts about Gao Yihuan's words, but since it fell into the hands of the other party, he could only choose to believe Gao Yihuan.

"Captain, we are willing to serve!" Immediately, the man took the lead and saluted.

Gao Yihuan was satisfied with this, and nodded, "Okay, then you go to rest first, and wait for me to arrange the deployment for you." ”

After several officers and soldiers went out, Zhao Zhuzi was a little unhappy and said: "Second brother, 36 taels a year, isn't the silver in the car gone, how can we buy grain." ”

"You don't have to worry, the money has to be paid month by month, so the money can be supported for a while." Gao Yihuan said soothingly.

"Captain, there was no salary in the past, as long as you could get food, but if you pay now, the consumption will be great." Wu Shizhao was a little worried, "And as long as this silver is fired, it can't be stopped, so the car runs out of silver, what can I do?" ”

This is a problem, but the second brother has thought of a solution, which is to give land. But this goes back to it, he has to have territory, and if he has territory, he must first have strength, and if he has strength, he needs someone to train the army, and he is equivalent to entering a cycle.

"I've got a way to do this." The second brother of the high school comforted him, but he was actually a little anxious in his heart, he had to get a piece of land before the money ran out, or grab another one······

(Thanks to Wang Weidong's 999, book friend 160717185612140's 200, Liu shr, thief Aqi's reward, the update is late.) ）