In December of the fourth year of Chongzhen, the officials and soldiers jointly attacked the thief Yu Baoan and beheaded more than 400 people. The thieves Li Zai, Zhang Yide, Yao Feilong, Gu Long, Zhang Hu, Yang Cai and others all died, and the remaining thieves rushed to the water.

After Cai Xiaozi led the people of Artemisia and Jinding Mountain, he finally defeated the thieves in front of him. When chasing towards the old camp of the thieves, I learned that the officers and soldiers who were chasing from the south also broke through the interception and arrived quickly. Seeing that they couldn't do anything, the other thieves fled to Heshui with hundreds of thieves. The converging officers and troops directly captured the bandits' abandoned baggage and coerced residents.

Cai Xiaozi, who failed to take the credit alone, saw Zhang Yingchang who came with his army, and behaved very coldly. Later, on the grounds that his side was unable to fight again, he refused the invitation of Cao Wenzhao and Zhang Yingchang to pursue together. Later, when the news came that Cao and Zhang had failed to catch up with the leader of the thieves, Cai Xiaozi opened a jar of wine and celebrated with his leaders.

Zhang Mengcheng did not make any comments on Cai Xiaozi's behavior. He simply returned to the previous battle site and cleaned up the battlefield with his men.

Since Zhang Mengjin and Cai Xiaozi settled in Ningsai, they have fought against thieves on several occasions. All of them defeated the enemy at a very small cost, and the battle damage ratio showed that it was easy, and there were even examples of one to one hundred. (Note 1)

But whether it is Ansai City to kill Tan Xiong, or Anding County to pursue without mud. They all took advantage of the other party's unpreparedness and launched a surprise attack to achieve the results.

This time the ambush of the thief brigade failed, and was discovered in advance by the thief's sentry. Cai Xiaozi took more than 300 cavalry from Artemisia Peak and Jinding Mountain, and took the initiative to attack the 500 cavalry thieves who were responsible for intercepting the opponent, which was a real head-to-head confrontation.

Although the thieves were outnumbered and prepared, Cai Xiaozi and the others still defeated the other party, beheaded one hundred and eighty-nine levels, and captured forty-seven people alive. Forty-three pairs of iron armor and seventy-one pairs of cotton armor were captured. In addition, 268 heads of horses and mules, as well as many knives, guns, bows and arrows, and other equipment were also seized.

And the price they paid was only seven killed, nine seriously wounded, five lightly wounded, and more than thirty war horses killed or wounded. The battle loss ratio was almost 1 to 10. can play this result, Zhang Mengcheng is very satisfied. Because in this battle, they won with less, and they won with the other side waiting for work.

So in the days to come, they can show more offensive spirit without being intimidated by the number of thieves. Just looking at the infantry team cleaning the battlefield around, Zhang Mengcheng couldn't help but feel that he had a serious deviation. The cavalry grew stronger and stronger through continuous combat training and post-war experience. However, due to the lack of opportunities for the infantry, the combat power has not been tested.

Now, many infantrymen, including the chief, want to be promoted to cavalry. The best talents were concentrated in the cavalry units, and the infantry, instead of being trained, became somewhat slack. If you encounter a complex combat environment and an enemy with a more sound system in the future. The weakness of the infantry link may become the fatal wound of Jin Dingshan and others.

Zhang Mengcheng couldn't think of any good way for a while, so he could only plan to have the opportunity to discuss this matter in detail with the other leaders of the cottage in the future. After that, Cai Xiaozi returned to Ningsai with the team, while Zhang Mengcheng and Cai Zhongguang each took their subordinates and returned to Jinding Mountain and Artemisia Peak respectively. Zhang Mengcheng began to be a teacher in the cottage again, and from time to time organized the children in the cottage to practice the waist drum and the newly produced military horn.

In the following period, the official army in various parts of Shaanxi continued to kill the thieves in various places. Wuzi (20th), the general soldier Wang Chengen and the former guerrilla Zhao Guangyuan defeated the Huai'anbao thieves and beheaded more than 400 people. On the 21st, Zhang Fuzhen, the governor of Yansui, defeated the people who attacked Suide. Hong Chengchou also dispatched Cao Wenzhao, Zuo Guangxian and others to start a crackdown on Yijun, Suide, Qingjian, Mizhi and other thieves.

However, the thieves in Shaanxi still rose one after another, leaving the officials and soldiers without skills. Among them, the biggest movement was Huang Youcai, Liu Wu, Ke Tianfei and others, who had been quiet for a while, who directly attacked Huanxian County in Qingyang Prefecture, and Zhao Yinglan, who was the same as Zhao Yinglan, died of despair because of their actions.

For the thieves entrenched in the Dongchuan and Xichuan, the trilateral governor Hong Chengchou has planned to carry out a large-scale sweep. But such a big operation requires 200,000 taels of silver for military expenses.

For Shaanxi, which has just gone through the Ganquan silver robbery incident, this amount of silver is a considerable problem. For such a large sum of money, Hong Chengchou could only ask Emperor Chongzhen for allocation. As long as military spending is in place, a plan to attack thieves from the north and south will begin to be implemented.

And Zhang Mengcheng, who stayed in Jinding Mountain, kept writing Spring Festival couplets for the residents of the cottage. He felt that this could practice calligraphy and had a better atmosphere, so Zhang Mengcheng didn't let Liu Ting go to a special engraving plate for Spring Festival couplets. When one after another took away the Spring Festival couplets from Zhang Mengcheng, the time gradually came to the end of Chongzhen's fourth year.

"Uncle Fifteen, this is the flat food that the third uncle asked me to send, dare to eat it quickly." Zhang Yalian came to the cottage cottage with a large plate of flat food (dumplings), and at this time, Zhang Mengcheng and the students who stayed in the cottage also wrapped a lot together. In a large pot on the side, lamb is still being stewed.

Most of the leaders of the cottage were on errands in Ningsai Fort, and their families also followed. Originally, the eldest brother Zhang Mengjin also planned to let his third brother stay in Ningsai for a few days, but Zhang Mengcheng, who was packing his baggage, saw a bunch of orphaned students in the dormitory of the school who had no one to take care of. simply complained to his eldest brother and chose to stay in the cottage to celebrate the New Year with his students.

And Zhang Yalian was supposed to go to Ningsai for the New Year, but a female elder with a high rank in the Zhang clan was unwell. And Zhang Yalian is quite favored by the other party, so Zhang Mengcheng, the niece, also stayed in Jinding Mountain and celebrated the New Year with the rest of the Zhang family.

"Let it go, and this is the New Year's money that my uncle gave you, hide it yourself, don't be stolen by your brother to buy wine and drink when the time comes." On the festive day, Zhang Mengcheng didn't want to be too serious. So she didn't correct Zhang Yalian's title, and acquiesced to her calling herself uncle in the grass hall today.

Zhang Yalian didn't do those hypocritical politenesses, and took the red envelope handed over by her uncle with a smile. Then I found a no-man's corner and looked at how much money my uncle, who was bold and incomparable during the Chinese New Year, gave me this year. This year, her brother (Zhang Zhaoen), who has no interest, is in Ningsai for the New Year, so Zhang Yalian can rest assured that she can save money to buy jewelry for herself.

When Zhang Yalian first took out more than a dozen copper plates and a penny of broken silver from the red envelope, Zhang Yalian finally breathed a sigh of relief, and secretly said that Uncle Fifteen really did not disappoint herself. But later, when Zhang Yalian wanted to pour the silver money back into the red envelope, she suddenly felt that something was wrong, and carefully looked at the red envelope in her hand, and took out a pair of silver earrings from it.

Looking at the brand-new jewelry in her hand, Zhang Yalian screamed excitedly, and then ignored the surprised eyes of the people around her. After shouting a word of thanks to the fifteenth uncle, Zhang Yalian quickly ran over to the gathering place of the Zhang clan.

The other students were curious to know how many copper plates their teacher had given to his well-read niece, which had made this usually quiet student so excited.

Some bold students kept asking Zhang Mengcheng how much money Zhang Yalian gave in her red envelope. The other curious students also looked at their usually stern gentleman with their wide eyes.

Zhang Mengcheng looked at the students around him, and couldn't help but secretly scold himself for being confused, why didn't he secretly give his niece in private.

However, Zhang Mengcheng still pretended to be very frank, and made up some nonsense to fool his students. At the same time, after making up her mind, she instructed Zhang Yalian again, and if anyone else asked, she would only say that she had received dozens of copper plates.

In order to give red envelopes to the students in the cottage and the children of other relatives, Zhang Mengcheng's wife had already shrunk a lot. If it weren't for Zhang Yalian, who had also reached the age when a girl in northern Shaanxi should get married, Zhang Mengcheng would not have paid for a pair of silver earrings.

"Master Xianggong is here, this is the flat food that my mother asked me to send, Xianggong has taken a lot of care of my family, my mother must let me personally send this to you."

"Master, this is what I did with the women of the Xigui family, and the Xigui injury is not healed yet, so I came to congratulate me alone."

"Master Xiucai, I am hungry here to give you a New Year's greeting, and I want to ask you for a favor, the baby of the hungry relatives tore up the hungry couplets, you can help you write another one for the hungry." ……

Not only relatives like Zhang Yalian, but also subordinates such as Ma Jinzhong, Su He, and Wu Dayong also came to the cottage cottage to send flat food to Zhang Mengcheng for the New Year. Other people in the cottage who are usually taken care of by Zhang Mengcheng have come to pay New Year's greetings one after another. They all knew that Zhang Mengcheng was celebrating the New Year with dozens of orphans in the cottage, and at the same time, they thought that Zhang Mengcheng didn't have a family, and they were afraid that no one would give them good food, so they all sent food over one by one.

Looking at the more and more food in front of him, Zhang Mengcheng finally beckoned his students and began to eat flat food together. At the same time, the students were organized to play games, and Zhang Mengcheng asked his students to test the school one by one. Some people ask him to write a newly learned word, others make a simple arithmetic problem, or memorize a text.

Even if he didn't answer, it didn't matter, Zhang Mengcheng just laughed and scolded the other party, and everyone gave a red envelope containing thirty copper plates. Although Jin Dingshan still insists on the rationing system for his armed personnel. But with the increase in population, there was a bumper harvest of food production.

Therefore, Jindingshan itself has set up some shops, coupled with the arrival of foreign merchants, Jindingshan has some places for commodity trading. Every once in a while, not only the reclamation points set up in the surrounding areas of Jinding Mountain, but even people outside will go to Jinding Mountain to catch up with the market.

Not only Jinding Mountain has had a bumper harvest, but Artemisia has also harvested a lot of grain because of the organization of production. Due to the presence of two big Buddhas in Jinding Mountain and Artemisia Peak in the entire Baoan County, there is no need to worry about the plundering of thieves. Therefore, the residents of the security guards have organized production with peace of mind, and they are all preparing a full meal at the end of this year.

It's just a bumper harvest in Baoan County, after all, it's just a pretty special case in Shaanxi. In the Shangshu to the imperial court, Wu Fu, the inspector, made the following evaluation of Chongzhen's four years of turmoil in thieves: "Four years ago, thieves were famine. Four years later, the famine was caused by thieves. (Note 2)

The fourth year of Chongzhen was a node, and more and more thieves destroyed the production order of the entire Shaanxi. Even if God does not do evil, Shaanxi will not be able to produce as much grain as before, and Shaanxi will be even more turbulent in the future.

PS: Note 1: It is not an exaggeration by the author, in the second volume of "Sun Chuanting Shu" in the "Baocheng Jiegong Shu", it is recorded that the Houzuo Battalion guerrilla attacked the officers and soldiers of Li Guozheng's office, beheaded 208, captured 80 live thieves and 10 women; And only two people were killed in their own injuries.

Note 2: Although this book is a study of "Huailing Liukou Always Recorded", Wu Fu's Shangshu is used as a summary of Chongzhen's four years. But the author does not know the specific time of this. In the ninth volume of "Chai An Shuji", "Frequent Thieves and Frequent Relief and Limited Sparseness", the author found "Four years ago, the theft was caused by famine. Four years later, the famine was caused by thieves. These words are recorded, but there is no clear time for recording them. In the "Chongzhen Long Edition" five years of March Gengzi, there is also a record of Wu Fu's words. So maybe it's Chongzhen's fifth year in March.