(Great Literature.) Emperor Ming Fengyunlu

Volume 9 The Great Tribulation

Chapter 1 The Difficulties and Disasters of the State Arise

Section 4: Bandits in the Northwest (3)

Two days later, Wang Chengen personally rushed to Tongzhou City to announce the decree, announcing that Emperor Chongzhen had appointed Liu Yunwei as the general manager of the conquest and suppression, with full authority to coordinate the war against the army of thieves.

After Liu Yunwei received the order of thanksgiving, he said goodbye to Wang Chengen and the rest of the generals and governors on the same day, and led the Hanwei Army Pacesetter Battalion and the Yue Cavalry Battalion to set off from Tongzhou City, and more than 60,000 soldiers marched westward along the official road, covering the sun with flags and dust, and the army was like a bright red dragon, meandering on the official road, which was magnificent. The regimental dragon battle flag of the pacesetter battalion and the war horse spear battle flag of the Yue cavalry battalion fluttered in the wind, like a pair of huge eyes, looking into the distance with high fighting spirit, guiding the way forward for the soldiers of the army.

On this expedition, along with the soldiers of the Hanwei Army, there was also Wu Fu, the imperial historian who was ordered to go to Shaanxi and Shanxi to help the displaced people, and a team of brocade guards who escorted Wu Fu.

Along the way, Wu Fu mentioned to Liu Yunwei several times about pacifying the army of thieves. Wu Fu advocated that the focus of this counterinsurgency should be to provide relief to the displaced people, and that the counterinsurgency army should not take the initiative to attack first, but only hold the existing front, and after the relief of the displaced people and the dismissal of the thieves, the army of the thieves would not be able to occupy itself. In this way, the cost of the army can be saved, and the loss of soldiers can be reduced.

Liu Yunwei still has a lot of respect for Wu Fu, and thinks that a civil official of imperial history can go to the place of fierce war to help the displaced people, at least he has the people in his heart, which is far better than those mediocre talents who have low eyes and low skills and no practical work. But Liu Yunwei did not approve of Wu Fu's remarks, and said: "Lord Wu, this governor thinks that the combination of suppression and appeasement cannot be based on fu, but a two-pronged approach!" If the army of thieves is not defeated, and Gao Yingxiang and other thieves are not completely eradicated, there will be no peace in the northwest. In this way, even if the imperial court has mountains of gold and silver, it will not be able to provide relief, and the displaced people will never be able to give end! ”

Wu Fu shook his head slightly when he heard this, although he didn't agree with what Liu Yunwei said, it was undeniable that Liu Yunwei's proposition also made some sense. So, Wu Fu no longer mentioned these, but turned to discuss with Liu Yunwei the specific matters of helping the displaced people, along the way to talk about it, Wu Fu actually gained a lot, and instantly looked at Liu Yunwei with admiration, never expected that a warrior who led the army to fight was also so good at governing the government.

In this way, the soldiers of the Hanwei army rushed all the way to Shanxi, from the west of Lugou Bridge, all the way through Liangxiang and Fangshan into Baoding Mansion in Beizhili; Three days after the departure of the army, Liu Yunwei led the army along the Juma River in Baoding Province all the way west, from the Bauhinia Pass into Shanxi.

When Liu Yunwei saw that the army had arrived in Shanxi, he ordered a temporary garrison in Guangchang City, Datong Prefecture, Shanxi, and waited for the supplies of the army from Tongzhou and the relevant information collected by the Investigation Division.

Within a few days, the Exploration Division and Ye Bushu came back with news one after another:

"It is reported that half a month ago, Gao Yingxiang, the leader of the thieves, led the main army of the thieves Lao Huihui, Ba Jingang, Wang Zishun, and Shangtian Monkey to attack Pingyang Mansion in Shanxi. After the thieves' army captured Puxian County, Pingyang Prefecture, Gao Yingxiang divided his troops into two routes and attacked on all fronts, intending to sweep the entire Pingyang Province: the thieves' east road army attacked the city along the first line of Zhaocheng, Hongdong, Fencheng and Huozhou, and the thieves' west road army attacked along the first line of Shilou, Yonghe, Jizhou and Xixian. The officials and soldiers in various places gradually couldn't resist it, and they complained to the imperial court one after another. ”

It was reported that because of the abundance of displaced people in Shanxi, there were traitors sent by rogue armies in various places to respond, and the bandit Li Zicheng's unit even captured Hequ, an important town in the northwest of Shanxi Province, and controlled the crossing of the Yellow River into Shanxi. At present, Li Zicheng's department is gradually unable to resist under the continuous blows of the new Shaanxi trilateral governor Hong Chengchou's department, and has taken the initiative to abandon Hequ City, and go south to Pingyang Mansion and Gao Yingxiang's main army to join forces. ”

"It has been reported that Hong Chengchou, the current governor of the three sides of Shaanxi, has led an army of more than 30,000 troops to follow Li Zicheng's headquarters southward and is about to enter the territory of Pingyang Prefecture."

After Liu Yunwei received these news, he fell into deep thought. After a while, Liu Yunwei considered stopping, so he sent an order to Hong Chengchou at night, ordering him to lead his troops to stop the pursuit and go to Fenzhou to set up defenses to prevent the army of thieves from going north from Fenzhou. Then, Liu Yunwei ordered the soldiers of the Hanwei army to immediately go south to Taiyuan Mansion and take them to Taiyuan Mansion to rest and recuperate.

At this time, Wu Fu found Liu Yunwei and said: "Supervisor, the relief money and grain of the imperial court will be transported to Shanxi in a few days, and the old man will not go with the supervisor. ”

Liu Yunwei clenched his fists and said: "It's okay, then the governor wishes the boss all the best and success!" Wait for the scourge of the thieves to be pacified, let's drink and talk again! ”

After bidding farewell to Wu Fu, Liu Yunwei led the soldiers of the Hanwei army all the way south, starting from Guangchang City, passing through Lingqiu, Fanzhi, Zhenwuwei, Yuanping, Yizhou, and finally arrived at Taiyuan City ten days later.

Taiyuan was called Jincheng in ancient times, also known as Dragon City, the city is solid, the terrain is dangerous, "control the mountains and rivers, according to the shoulders of the world", "the four plugs of the four stoppers are rushed, and the capital of the five plains is controlled". At the time of the Taizu of this dynasty, the three princes Zhu Xuan were canonized as the king of Jin, and the fief was in Taiyuan City, and Taiyuan City was thus expanded and became the head of the nine border towns. As the capital of Shanxi, Taiyuan City can be described as very prosperous, known as the "splendid Taiyuan City" reputation.

Taiyuan city west, north and east are surrounded by mountains on three sides, Taihang Mountain is majestic on the left, Luliang Mountain stands majestically on the right, and the two mountains in the clouds and the boat are hugged in the back; The central and southern parts are plains, and the Fenshui runs through the whole territory from north to south, and the tall and strong city stands here, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Liu Yunwei looked at the majestic Taiyuan City and sighed with emotion in his heart, and after settling down the soldiers of the army, he sent Ye Bushui to Qixian, Jiexiu, Yuci, Taigu and other places to send news to the eight Jin merchants, and ordered the heads of the eight Jin merchants to rush to Taiyuan Mansion within five days to levy and suppress the army camp to listen to the announcement, and there was a court decree to be read in person.

"Now it's up to those traitors and merchants to react! When these traitors and Jin merchants are solved and the army is fully fed, the governor will immediately march into the army to exterminate Gao Yingxiang's department! ”

At the same time, after receiving Liu Yunwei's order, Hong Chengchou, the governor of the three sides, was leading his army to Fenzhou to set up defenses. On the way, Hong Chengchou received an urgent report that he would not collect at night, and learned that the thief king Jiayin, Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai and other troops had successfully joined forces with the main army led by Gao Yingxiang, and hundreds of thousands of homeless people everywhere the thief army went were coerced in and became cannon fodder for the thief army. Now the army of thieves has swept the entire territory of Pingyang Province, except for Linjin and Xia County in the south, all parts of Pingyang Province have fallen. Moreover, after absorbing the homeless people from all over the world, the army of thieves under Gao Yingxiang has also swelled to hundreds of thousands, and it has the potential to sweep the whole Jin.

"I hope that this time Ji Liao Governor can continue to be brilliant and be able to lead the Hanwei army to turn the tide!"

A few days later, Hong Chengchou led the army to Fenzhou, and his command Cao Wenzhao, the general soldier of Nanshan, Wang Chengen, the general soldier of Shaanxi (only the same name as the great eunuch Wang Chengen), and the general soldier of Gansu, Yang Jiamo, gathered in the big tent of the Chinese army.

At this time, Wang Jiayin, the leader of the thieves and thieves, led the crowd to Qinshui and Yangcheng in the southeast of Jin, Hong Chengchou was worried that Wang Jiayin's troops would flow to Hebei, Gyeonggi and other places, so he ordered Cao Wenzhao, the chief soldier of Nanshan, to lead the four thousand elites of his department to meet the attack, and he led the pacesetter battalion and Wang Chengen, the general soldier of Shaanxi, and Yang Jiamo, the general soldier of Gansu, to deploy in Fenzhou together.

Cao Wenzhao was really a tiger general, and the good news came in less than ten days: Cao Wenzhao used a plan to break through the camp of Wang Jiayin's department by taking advantage of the night, and tens of thousands of horses and 100,000 displaced people with the army were wiped out in a battle.

Hong Chengchou was overjoyed when he heard the news, and hurriedly sent someone to report to Liu Yunwei, the chief manager of the conquest and the governor of Jiliao.

After receiving the good news, Liu Yunwei laughed and said to Li Tianhao, Zhou Tianyi, and Hu Kun: "Haha, great! Today is a double happiness! ”

Li Tianhao looked at the good news and said: "Supervisor, it is indeed gratifying that Cao Wenzhao, the chief soldier of Nanshan, won the battle, but what is the other joy?" ”

Zhou Tianyi and Hu Kun glanced at each other, and then said with a smile: "The other joy that the Inspector said is not that none of the heads of the eight families of the Jin Shang Dynasty came, but just sent some children of the clan to come?" ”

Liu Yunwei nodded with a smile and said, "That's exactly what happened!" ”

"What kind of happy event is this?" Li Tianhao was a little confused, and said: "None of those traitor businessmen came, and they are scattered all over Taiyuan Mansion, how can we arrest them so that the news will not leak out?" ”

Liu Yunwei said confidently: "This matter is not difficult! As long as they don't obey the Governor's orders, only then the Governor will have a reason to act! Early tomorrow morning, the governor will order Guo Yi to lead the Longxiang Iron Cavalry to attack, and the cavalry battalion under the jurisdiction of the Yue Cavalry Battalion will also attack together, and divide the troops into eight routes to arrest the owners of the Eight Great Jin Merchants and confiscate all the property of the Eight Great Jin Merchants! ”

After finishing speaking, Liu Yunwei said with an angry face: "Dare to collude with the enemy country and betray the ancestors, this governor is impatient to see the lives of these traitors!" In this operation, in addition to the heads of the eight Jin merchants, none of the men, women and children of the eight Jin merchants were left, and they were all escorted to Taiyuan City, and the governor wanted to kill these filthy moths in public! Avenge the souls who died tragically under the butcher's knife of the Qing army because of the news of the Jin Shang's betrayal! ”

Li Tianhao, Zhou Tianyi, and Hu Kun were all shocked when they heard this.

Great Literature .