Zhang Mengjin, Shaanxi security guard. At the beginning of Chongzhen, he fell into Ningsai from the great thief god Yiyuan, and the thief called the monkey who mixed the sky is also. Among the group of thieves, there are also the Heavenly Monkeys, the Heavenly Monkeys, and the King of Chaotian, and there are other thieves, not Meng Jinye.

The officers and soldiers killed Yiyuan to the security guards, and the thieves pushed Yiyuan's brother Yikui to succeed him. Yang He, the governor of the meeting, was in charge, and Meng Jin strongly persuaded Yikui to lead a group of thieves to surrender. The crane was overjoyed, comforted, and signed Meng Jin as an ethics and stationed in the Duhe.

Meng Jin is good at raising soldiers, and his subordinates are happy to die. Taste the thieves who attacked Huanxian County from Ningxia General Army He Huchen, and there were many gains. One kui was cared for, and he won three times on the side, and he also relied on the power of Meng Jin.

Ru, the leader of the party, became famous and fierce, quite troublesome, and the crane was beheaded in September of the fourth year. Huang Youcai and others were all suspicious, and secretly invited Meng Jin to rise together. Meng Jinxu and the snake secretly sent his brother to urgently tell the Jingbian soldiers to Dai Junen, and Junen wanted to summon friends to get rid of him. If you are not careful, you will be detected by the thieves, and you will be an ugly thief who will rebel against Ningsai, and gather more than 5,000 people from the party.

Wu Hongqi, the appropriate general, went to him, and the thief Fan Li, the officer in charge, and Yin Hongji, the conduct, burned and plundered. The generals were cowardly, but Meng Jin told the soldiers, out of the fort to resist the thieves, and repeatedly captured, and the thieves did not want to surrender from the traitors. and Dingbian deputy general Zhang Yingchang led the army, the thief retreated, and stuck to Ningsai to wait for the trap.

———— from the notes of a literati at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

In the middle of October of the fourth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Mengcheng followed behind his eldest brother Zhang Mengjin and his future brother-in-law Cai Xiaozi, and was waiting in Dai Junen's military tent together. Li Ruozi, the deputy envoy of the Jingbian military garrison who had defeated Guan Zhiqing, Zhang Mengcheng and others, had been replaced by Dai Junen in March of the fourth year of Chongzhen. (Note 1)

At this time, Dai Junen was talking with the reinforcement generals who came from all over the country, including Zhang Yingchang, who arrived before. Zhang Mengcheng looked at the deputy chief soldier of Dingbian in front of him, although he had already met, he still couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

Zhang Yingchang is regarded as the old opponent of Zhang Mengjin and other Genshin Gods, and the original big palm God Yiyuan was killed by him. And Zhang Mengjin and Cai Xiaozi were also attacked by him and almost lost their lives.

However, Yu Baocheng lost two fingers of his left hand because of him, and Cai Xiaozi lost his two younger brothers and an uncle. Seeing him appear in front of him, Zhang Mengcheng was very worried that the eldest brother and Cai Xiaozi in front of him would draw a knife and kill people.

Now the thieves, who have suffered heavy losses, can only stick to the military fort of Ninsai. Relying on Zhang Mengjin and others' understanding of the rebellion plan of the Ningsai Dings, eighty percent of the rebels in Ningsai Fort were waiting for the support of the Outer Mongolians.

Dai Junen smiled at the reinforcements who came from all over the country to quell the rebellion, and after comparison, Zhang Yingchang was the best in Dingbian. With these soldiers and horses, his certainty of quelling the rebellion has greatly increased, and at the same time, he does not have to worry about changes to Zhang Mengjin and others.

Although Zhang Mengjin and his subordinate Cai Zhongming (Cai Xiaozi) took the initiative to report to him the rebellion plan of Huang Youcai and others, they themselves were indeed relatively brave and good at fighting. But after all, they were thieves, and even if they were loyal to the imperial court, it was difficult to ensure that their subordinates had any connection with the rebels.

"Shunzhi (Zhang Yingchang's words), do you think the thieves in Ningsai Fort can attract the insertion?" Dai Junen asked what he was more concerned about, in fact, Zhang Mengcheng and others had made a judgment to him before, but he also wanted to hear Zhang Yingchang, who was from the regular army of the imperial court, to analyze the situation. (Note 2)

"Lord Qiqi Bingxian, although it is the autumn harvest now, after all, it is not far from winter, and the insert will have a lot of scruples if he wants to act. Moreover, some time ago, the autumn defense, the insertion has spent a lot of effort in Ningxia Town, and now the imperial army is gathered on the west road, and the last general thinks that the insertion department should not take any action. However, we should not be careless, we should send more sentry horses far away from the wall, and the best way to investigate Dazi's actions is to be sure. Zhang Yingchang's view of the Mongols is really similar to what Zhang Mengcheng said.

Dai Junen saw that the other party's speech was similar to that of Zhang Mengcheng and others, so he grabbed his beard and stroked it gently. Just as he was about to speak, he heard someone report that the new governor of Yansui had arrived with troops. And Zhang Mengcheng, who hadn't paid attention to the imperial court newspaper for a while, only then did he know that the original governor of Yansui had been replaced.

After a tedious welcome ceremony, everyone welcomed the new governor of Yansui, Zhang Fuzhen, into the barracks. During this period, Zhang Mengcheng asked about the situation. It turned out that the imperial court had promoted Zhang Fuzhen, the former Yansui Middle Road Bingbei Road (Yulin Road), to the governor of Yansui on September Bingshen (25th).

And the original governor of Yansui, Hong Chengchou, according to his outstanding performance during this time, will definitely continue to be promoted. If Hong Chengchou wants to rise, he can only move the butt of Yang He, the governor of the three sides. (Note 3)

In fact, before that, Zhang Fuzhen and Cao Wenzhao, who came back from Shanxi, each led their troops to the central part to support other officers and troops to attack the city, and Yang He finally succeeded in recovering the central county on the tenth day of October and captured Li Laochai and other three leaders. But Yang He was only happy for one night, and the next day he found that what greeted him was not a reward from the imperial court, but a holy decree to send him to prison.

Yang He, who had never experienced side affairs, should have been his noble Beijing official in the capital. But under various emergencies, he actually became the governor of Shaanxi in a hurry. Yang He was also conscientious, and in two and a half years, he successfully intercepted the Mongols three times and beheaded more than 3,700 people; In the six months since he took office, he has also successfully leveled the Hannan thieves in the mainland. Compared to his predecessors, this is a good result. (Note 4)

However, there were unforeseen circumstances, and during the extermination of the thieves, Yang He first encountered the Houjin raid on the pass. Shaanxi's elite troops have successively left the customs and Qinwang, resulting in an emptiness of troops in various defense areas. As a result, the power of thieves in various places grew, and Yang He had to work hard to stabilize the situation in Shaanxi. Originally, Yang He was going to eliminate the thieves, but then the Mongols in the north invaded at this time, and Yang He had to take the troops to Fangqiu, causing the thieves in Shaanxi to get a chance to breathe and become bigger again. Coupled with the bankruptcy of the master's work that he has always been proud of, Yang He can only sigh at the impermanence of the world.

Yang He does have many problems to find fault with, but none of these can be blamed on him alone. At the beginning, Shen Yikui broke out from the security guard, if he joined Wang Jiayin in the east. Or take advantage of the emptiness of the official army and march all the way south to Xi'an, then the situation in Shaanxi is absolutely difficult to control.

At that time, it was indeed a great achievement to be able to appease Shen Yikui, but the failure to restrain Ding's heart after that was the biggest failure of Yang He's series of measures. But Yang He can't be blamed for this, he can't send the money because the court has no money. It's just that the imperial court won't care about these things, they will only think that the reason for this result is mainly Yang He's policy problem.

People in Shaanxi officialdom were also dissatisfied with Yang He's appeasement, and even made up a joke to frame him. It is claimed that Yang He said that if he killed a bewitched thief, he would kill two ordinary citizens to pay for his life.

Others said that Yang He did not allow the army to send sentinels to monitor, and did not allow the fortification of cities in Shaanxi. These rumors, which are almost believed by idiots, were actually reported to the imperial court as Yang He's guilt. In the end, Yang He fell to the rumors of thieves and officialdom in the mainland, and what happened to him couldn't help but make people feel embarrassed. (Note 5)

However, Yang He's unlucky encounter is not important to Zhang Mengcheng. The fall of Yang He only made Zhang Mengcheng feel that his hope of restoring Xiucai's fame was afraid that there was no way to achieve it. The most important thing Zhang Mengcheng should think about now is how to find a strong thigh for Jin Dingshan's gang.

The newly arrived governor of Yansui, Zhang Fuzhen, has now officially become the supreme commander of the officers and troops under the city of Ningsai. Zhang Fuzhen, who had been mentally prepared, was very calm about the compliments of the people around him. And the surrounding Daming civil and military officials still stepped forward one after another to salute. Although they also know that this kind of thing has no effect, but this is a necessary form of officialdom, and if the etiquette is not complete, it will only be them who are unlucky.

Looking at Zhang Fuzhen, who was constantly complimented by the civil and military forces around him, Zhang Mengcheng also tried hard to turn his brain, thinking about how to become the other party's right-hand man.

After accepting everyone's compliments, Zhang Fuzhen finally entered the big tent and began to communicate with Dai Junen, the soldier of Yansui West Road, about the latest situation. Although everyone had the same status, Dai Junen did not forget the dignity of his identity and behaved very politely. However, Zhang Fuzhen smiled and excused him from being polite, and talked with Dai Junen like friends.

Later, Zhang Mengcheng learned that Zhang Fuzhen and Dai Junen were both Jinshi in the 41st year of Wanli, and the two belonged to the same year. Although Zhang Fuzhen is from Shandong, Dai Junen is from Hunan. However, before Dai Junen took office in Shaanxi, he held a political position in Shandong. As two people in the same year, they must have had quite a few interactions before. Not to mention that after that, there were three military garrisons in the east, middle and west of Yansui Town, and Zhang Fuzhen and Dai Junen were on an errand in the middle road, and the other was in the west road. By helping each other at work, the relationship between the two will definitely go further.

Secretly looked at the two high-ranking officials in Yansui Town, who had a good relationship, Zhang Mengcheng had a little plan in his heart.

ps: Note 1: In the third volume of the "Yansui Town Chronicles" in the Kangxi period and the second volume of the "Dingbian County Chronicles" in the Guangxu period, it is recorded that Li Ruozi was followed by Dai Junen, but no specific date was written. In the "Dai Junen Chronology Manuscript" compiled by the Compilation Committee of the Guli Literature Series in Chadeli County, there is a "Chronology of Dai Junen's Tenure", which records that in March of the fourth year of Chongzhen, Wuxu was transferred to Jingbian Bingbeidao.

Note 2: Zhang Yingchang's characters are not made up by the author, but from the "Yansui Town Chronicles" of the Kangxi period.

Note 3: The time of issuance of Zhang Fuzhen's appointment will is from the "Chronology of Ming Dynasty Officials". In addition, it was found that Hong Chengchou was promoted two days earlier, that is, on September 23 (Jia Wu). It will take time to rush to the war zone in Shaanxi from Beijing, and Yang He's decree to leave office should also be issued at about the same time. And it was actually on October 11 that Yang He from Shaanxi received it. However, in the chronology of the governor in the "Chronology of Ming Dynasty Officials", there is a saying of "seventh, Guiwei, eleventh, and prison", but then there is a record of "nine, first, twenty-three, and arrested to Beijing", if he is ordered to be imprisoned in July, Yang He will not be able to kill Ru in September and become famous, so the author thinks that the statement that he was imprisoned in July is not correct.

Note 4: The time of Yang He's arrest is from the "Yang He's confession to the edict" in the "Historical Materials of the Peasant Uprising in the Late Ming Dynasty". According to the record in the book, "Yang He, the former governor of Shaanxi Province, entitled "Tianyan Bound Up for Crimes", in the three interceptions presided over by Yang He, a total of more than 3,500 levels were beheaded, and the number in this book increased to more than 3,700 levels because of the impact of Zhang Mengjin's gang's hard work.

Note 5: From the "Yang He's Confession to the Imperial Prison" in the "Historical Materials of the Peasant Uprising in the Late Ming Dynasty", in fact, in other historical materials, such as "Huailing Liukou Always Record", it is also recorded that Yang He posted a notice saying that the person who killed the thief without permission would be killed. But in reality, these are rumors with no evidence.