Zhang Chu got the materials and wanted to build some factories quietly to produce some guns and gunpowder. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info but the rebels could not allow Zhang Chu to live a quiet life, so they led their troops to occupy Zhaoyuan before Zhang Chu. Originally, Zhang Chu used the Dafa of the Turret to expand his sphere of influence step by step, and Zhaoyuan was also one of his goals.

The rebels were frightened by Zhang Chu and did not dare to approach Zhang Chu's territory easily. Zhaoyuan is a little far away from Yantai, and Zhaoyuan is too attractive to the rebels. What attracted the rebels was gold, something that would make people's eyes shine.

Shandong Peninsula has always produced gold, there are gold mines all over the place, and the most gold mines are near the left of Jinhua Mountain in Zhaoyuan County, there are Linglong, Wang'er Mountain, Silkworm Village, Huangbuling, Lingshan, Hedong, Qiansunjia and so on gold mines, each mountain is thousands of potholes, there are thousands of people panning for gold there every year, most of these gold diggers are employed by Haoqiang in Laizhou. The annual output of gold exceeded 20,000 taels and thousands of taels of silver, most of which were privately divided between the gentry and officials. Now, after the rebels occupied Dengzhou and other places, the mining of gold mines has been affected, and those wealthy gentry officials have taken refuge in the county seat of Zhaoyuan. Those people are like fat sheep in the eyes of the rebels, and they are really unwilling to slaughter and eat.

So the rebels risked their troops, their target was the rich in Zhaoyuan City, the isolated Zhaoyuan City was completely vulnerable in front of the rebels' artillery, after a round of artillery fire, the rebels rushed into Zhaoyuan City, the whole city immediately became a hell on earth, the purpose of the rebels was very clear is to rob the gold, the object of robbery not only began with the rich households, gentry, officials. As long as it is human, it will be extorted by the rebels, as long as it is valuable, it will be robbed, and the slightest resistance of the people will be killed. The rebels' goal is clear, and the city's population buildings don't mean anything to them, so they can kill people and set fires to the whole city.

The tragic situation of Zhaoyuan City was immediately reported to Zhang Chu by the security army. After reading the report, Zhang Chu silently handed it to Wang Chengen next to him.

"How can this be, how can this be." Wang Chengen saw it, trembling with anger, and said to Zhang Chu: "General Zhang, let's immediately send troops to exterminate these rebels, these rebels burned, killed and looted innocent people, and committed such a crime, and the court even fantasized about appeasing them." What is the use of appeasement of such criminals, we will immediately send troops to kill them. ”

"This dispatch is to be fully prepared." Zhang Chu really didn't expect that a simple report would make Wang Chengen have such a big reaction. This is only a small part of the tragedy at the end of the Ming Dynasty, if Wang Chengen can know the tragedy of the entire Ming Dynasty in the end, I don't know how he feels.

"Don't mention the money again, send troops first, and after the rebellion is quelled, I will definitely ask the emperor to pay you." Wang Chengen was really anxious. In the past few days, Wang Chengen has followed Zhang Chu all the way and seen the tragic situation of starvation and death all over the country due to natural disasters, and today's report has made him see that man-made disasters are ten times more powerful than natural disasters, and they are coming even faster.

Zhang Chu looked at Wang Chengen's anxious appearance and felt very interesting, this little eunuch was still full of sympathy, he was used to living a life of eating and drinking in the palace, and he was still very concerned about the suffering of the people. Even if Wang Chengen doesn't say it, Zhang Chu will send troops. However, Zhang Chu wanted to take this opportunity to see if he could draw Wang Chengen into his camp, so he said: "I can't count on the emperor's money, but if your prince can earn money for me, I will also send troops." ”

"I'll make you money?" Wang Chengen thinks that he is not a person who can make money.

"You don't have anything to do as a prison officer, you give me a part-time job, there are many local tyrants and bullies in Zhaoyuan, who mine gold mines in violation of national regulations, I want to rectify the mining industry in Shandong, how about you be a mine supervisor, there are many fathers-in-law who do this work." If you agree, I'll send troops immediately. Zhang Chu thought of the eunuch and mine supervisor who left a bad name in history, and this job made Wang Chengen come to do it more justly.

"I am the emperor's servant, how can I work for you, the mine supervisor is appointed by the emperor, how can you have the final say." Wang Chengen was very angry, it was not difficult to be a mine supervisor or something, but Zhang Chu's statement was really unacceptable, the eunuchs were all for the emperor, and Zhang Chu, a small general, actually let the eunuchs work for him, and he also had to send himself to be the mine supervisor, which was not in line with the law at all.

"If you don't agree, forget it, I'll wait for the emperor to send the silver over and then send troops, in fact, you have to be able to use your brains, you can be a mine supervisor or something, and then you can ask the emperor for orders, aren't you working for the emperor." Zhang Chu didn't look in a hurry.

"Okay, you send troops immediately, and I ask the emperor to order the matter of the mine to be rectified. But thou shalt not do anything that transgresses the testimonies. Wang Chengen knew that Zhang Chu's rectification of the mine would definitely not be for the emperor's good, maybe he himself took a fancy to the gold there. However, the top priority is to eliminate the rebels, Zhaoyuan is still in the hands of the rebels, and not only is the court out of gold, but even the people there are suffering.

Zhang Chu didn't say much anymore, and immediately gathered the team and went straight to Zhaoyuan County. The movement of the security forces was swift. Before the rebels could react, they were already approaching the city, and the rebels had no choice but to close the gate of Zhaoyuan City. Zhang Chu was not in a hurry to attack the city, but surrounded Sanque and one in strict accordance with the words of the military book, surrounded three sides of Zhaoyuan City, and left a way for the rebels to escape.

The rebels were certainly not stupid enough to flee from the gate that was not fenced. Everyone knows that it is called a false way to live, and what seems to be a way to survive is actually more dangerous than guarding the city, as long as you leave the protection of the city wall, the chance of being killed outside the city will greatly increase. The rebels are still calculating whether there is a chance to escape back to Dengzhou.

Zhang Chu led the security army to sweep away the rebels who had not had time to escape into the city, and then returned to the security camp besieging Zhaoyuan City, and ordered the whole army to set up camp. Let the soldiers begin to prepare the siege equipment.

Wang Chengen and Zhang Chu came to the outside of Zhaoyuan City together, observing the surrounding terrain, although Zhaoyuan City is not big, but it also has a complete defense system, the tall city wall forms a powerful barrier in the city, and the figures on the city wall can be seen shaking from a distance, it must be the rebels in the city preparing to defend the city.

The security army surrounded the west, south and north of Zhaoyuan, leaving only the east side without army garrison, the east side directly faced the direction of Dengzhou, the rebels wanted to escape from here to run directly to Dengzhou, but the rebels knew that the terrain outside the east gate was flat, although it was conducive to escape, it was also suitable for cavalry combat, if you ran from the east gate, it would inevitably cause the formation to be scattered, and if there was a cavalry of the security army chasing after you, let alone escaping, even your life will be gone. Therefore, the rebels chose to stick to Zhaoyuan and wait for Dengzhou to respond to them.

Wang Chengen looked at the city in front of him and didn't know what to do, so he asked Zhang Chudao: "How can you capture such a city?" ”

"It's simple, you can use shelling, it's expensive. Either let the soldiers rush up, dead people. Zhang Chu said nonchalantly.

"What are you going to do?" Wang Chengen felt that neither of these was a good idea.

"What I'm missing most right now is money." Zhang Chu maintained his usual nature of being a money obsesser.

"Don't be heartbroken about money, spend more, it's much better than the dead." Wang Chengen hurriedly stopped Zhang Chu, he still couldn't accept this method of fighting by letting soldiers die in batches.

"I don't spend much money, and I won't die to drive the rebels out of Zhaoyuan City." Zhang Chu said proudly. (To be continued.) )