In the eighth year of Chongzhen, on the fifteenth day of the first month, early in the morning, Fengyang!

The fog is thick, and the field of vision is less than three feet.

The King of Sweeping and the King of Taiping led the rebel army of the headquarters and quietly touched the city in front of them. The city in front of them is called Fengyang, and this city is very interesting, it has no walls. The reason is that this small city is the ancestral tomb of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and is also known as the emperor's hometown.

The Ming royal superstition feng shui said, so the emperor Fengyang did not set up a city wall in order to avoid destroying feng shui, but only set up a few drum towers around the city for alarm.

Although Fengyang is the emperor's hometown, it has not developed into a glorious big city, but is regarded by the common people as a hell on earth, because of its special political status. The ancestral tomb of Zhu Yuanzhang was built here, so since the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years, there have been various bloated institutions such as eunuchs guarding the tomb, town guarding officials, etc., which are crowded in a small city, which makes the local people unlucky.

Officials and eunuchs went into service to make the local people do chores for them, and instead of paying them, they encroached on the normal working hours of the people for farming and shaving. According to historical records, the people of this place "served as seven battles in one day and one family, and they were still not exempt from whipping." ”

It stands to reason that if you give all your time to the imperial court envoys, you should be exempted from paying some taxes, but in fact, the taxes are still heavy, and the people have no time to farm, and they have to pay taxes, how can they pay them? So they had to refuse to pay, and the local officials used various means to urge the payment of taxes, "if you don't get with them, you will tie them up by the neck, if you don't get with them, you will hang them upside down, and if you don't get with them, your wife will move to another room." The people are calling for nine days, and the hall is thousands of miles. How can you smell this little Donghu? ”

In November of the fourth year of Chongzhen, Qian Shisheng, the right attendant of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites, was ordered to pay tribute to the Fengyang Emperor's Mausoleum, and wrote a report on the decay of the Fengyang area: "Fengyang is known as the emperor's hometown...... When the minister entered the realm, he saw that the land was barren, the houses were scarce, and the tomb was reckless, and he looked bleak. After consulting it, it is said that the Fengtu is indeed barren, and the counties in Jiangbei are under the river, and the dwellings are all Tuci. In case of flooding and drought. Abandon like a piece of, take the burden of his wife and children, and beg to live in all directions. And the hukou is in exile, and the endowment is accumulated over the years. Urging the levy will never hesitate, and the solicitation is suspected to be empty talk. There is a division tied to the front. I had to use the grain of the household to levy the longevity of the food. So the more losses accumulate, and the one who sees it turns to others. This land is so scarce, the household account is consumed every day, the positive amount is lost, and the Suzhou is so accumulated...... I don't mean that the hometown of the ancestors is Tangmu, but there is an image of exhausting the roots, and the heart is hurt...... Today, the government is heavy, and the people are poor and wealthy...... And the minister is said to be benevolent, and it is advisable to be the emperor's hometown. That is, it is especially reduced. But Taicang's rice ear. ”

At the end of the seventh year of Chongzhen, after the Xingyang Conference decided to divide the troops, Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, the King of Sweeping the Ground, and the King of Taiping set out to the east to enter the territory of Anhui (South Zhili). During the siege of Yingzhou, they successively received contacts from the poor people of Fengyang, expressing their willingness to lead the way and lead the righteous army to capture Fengyang.

"The poor people of the phoenix. Hundreds of miles away to invite each other, with a book of thieves: a certain family is rich, and there are no soldiers somewhere. ”

In the early morning of the 15th day of the first month, the two departments of the Sweeping King and the Taiping King, under the leadership of a poor man in Fengyang, took advantage of the fog and quietly touched the drum tower outside Fengyang City. It wasn't until they got close that the sentry on the drum tower finally noticed that an enemy was in front of them, and quickly rang the alarm bar.

Fengyang stayed behind Zhu Xiangxiang to lead and fight, but he was not in a formation, and was embraced by the King of Sweeping and the King of Taiping, killing more than 4,000 officers and soldiers, and Fengyang was broken! ——

In the eighth year of Chongzhen, on the twenty-fifth day of the first month.

In the capital, Emperor Chongzhen Zhu sat in the main hall, and there were hundreds of civil and military officials in the hall, which were divided into left and right. Chongzhen is in a bad mood now, mourning his lost generals Hong Chengchou and Cao Wenzhao.

"Spread my will, on the 3rd of the dynasty, with the specifications of the prince to sacrifice 16 altars, 7 altars, I will personally sacrifice, the production of the 'Mourning Hong Sutra' to show the world."

A group of officials hurriedly patted their horses and said: "The emperor treats the courtiers like this, and the courtiers are willing to ...... for the emperor."

Chongzhen thought for a while, and then sighed: "Posthumously enshrine Cao Wenzhao as the crown prince Taibao, Zuo Du Governor, and Ling Yousi to build an ancestral hall, and pay tribute in the Spring and Autumn Period." ”

"Yes!"

After setting up such a score for a while, Emperor Chongzhen's mood was still not high, and he said melancholy: "Now that Hong Aiqing is dead, the position of the governor of the five provinces is vacant, and almost the entire territory of Shaanxi * West has fallen into the hands of thieves. ”

The martial arts members of the hall deliberately pretended to think for a while, and then said: "The minister recommended Lu Xiangsheng to Lord Lu. ”

Lu Xiangsheng, Jinshi in the second year of Ming Qi (1622), and later served as the prefect of the daimyo. When he was a teenager, he loved to read military books and liked to learn riding and shooting. In the second year of Chongzhen (1629), the Jiannu army entered the customs, and the soldiers forced the Beijing division, and he recruited 10,000 soldiers to guard. In the following year, he entered the right to participate in politics, and was ordered to rectify the military equipment of the three prefectures of Daimyo, Guangping and Shunde, and the department was called the "Tianxiong Army". Since six years, he has participated in the suppression of the peasant rebels of Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng and other departments, and has made great contributions.

At this time, he was in the palace, and when he heard the recommendation of the ministers, he hurriedly came out and said: "How can Weichen be virtuous, he dare not take on this important task." ”

When Chongzhen saw him, a flash of joy flashed on his face, and he hurriedly said: "I can trust Lu Aiqing's ability...... The decree was passed on, appointing Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of Huguang, as the prime minister of Zhili, Henan, Shandong, Sichuan, Huguang, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Shanxi, and leading the general Zu Kuan, Zu Dale, and the deputy general Li Chongzhen to command the Liao soldiers and the local garrison to suppress them, and give Shang Fang Jian to act cheaply. ”

This is really incredible, Hong Chengchou is only the military governor of the five provinces, but Lu Xiangsheng has been directly promoted to the military governor of the seven provinces...... This promotion is two points faster than riding a rocket.

Although Lu Xiangsheng was promoted, his face was not relaxed, he sighed lightly, feeling that the burden on his shoulders was extremely heavy.

Chongzhen asked, "Lu Aiqing, do you have a strategy to suppress bandits?" "He is also a dead horse as a live horse doctor, and when he asks the newly appointed governor for advice, it can be seen that he is really crazy and has no choice.

Lu Xiangsheng sighed lightly and said: "Your Majesty, although the thieves are divided into directions and bloom in all directions, the biggest disaster is the Baishui Zhuba in Shaanxi*, Weichen thinks that the imperial court should ignore other thieves for the time being, gather the soldiers of the whole country, and take Baishui Zhuba to show the world, otherwise the thieves all over the country will follow his example to attack the city and plunder the land, divide the land and rule, and the country will not be a country." ”

Chongzhenran.

At this time, a minister walked out of the hall and said seriously, "Your Majesty, the ministers have different opinions. The terrain of Guanzhong is extremely dangerous, and it is extremely far away from the capital, the army of Bajing and Liaodong must cross the land of the Central Plains to attack Guanzhong, but the Central Plains group of gangsters dance wildly, if you want to pull out the army safely, how difficult it is, the logistics supply drags on for a long time, and it is easy to be surrounded by the thieves who are wandering around the Central Plains...... Weichen thinks that it is the best policy to directly attack Shaanxi * Xi, and it is the best policy to hit the rogue in the near place first, and then hit the rogue in the distance. After cleaning up all the rogues in the vicinity, gather the troops of the whole country in Guanzhong, and fight to level Zhu Ba. ”

When Chongzhen heard it, this also made sense! The near ones haven't been cleaned up, so how can they be cleaned up the far ones first? Aren't you afraid of being copied from the supply line? He immediately hesitated.

Lu Xiangsheng frowned, glared at the minister who made the suggestion, and snorted coldly: "Since the emperor has appointed this official as the military governor of the seven provinces, please leave it to this official to decide." ”

The minister didn't flinch, and snorted: "Are you wrong and don't let others say it?" ”

The two quarreled wow-and-wah, and the officials in the court were naturally divided into three factions, one faction to help Lu Xiangsheng, one faction to help the minister, and one faction to watch the excitement, and the hall was full of quarrels.

This kind of thing should have been decided by Chongzhen, but Chongzhen was indecisive, and he didn't know which side to listen to for a while.

When they were arguing, they suddenly saw a eunuch running in in a panic, and as soon as he entered the hall, he knelt on the ground and cried loudly, and the ministers were shocked: "Why are you crying?" ”

The eunuch howled wildly: "Your Majesty, the big thing is not good, the big thing is not good...... Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum...... Burned by thieves! ”

"What?"

"Really?"

"Huh?"

The whole hall was shocked together, and when Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he only felt dizzy in his head.

All the officials were shocked, only he was panicked and deeply angry, Fengyang is the tomb of Zhu Wusi, the father of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the country, and the ancestral tomb of Emperor Chongzhen! In China's towering culture for thousands of years, digging up the ancestral grave is the most embarrassing event, and as a descendant, it can be said that there is no face to see the ancestors.

Chongzhen slapped the armrests of the dragon chair with both hands, and wanted to stand up and scold, but as soon as he stood up, he felt that the sky was spinning, and he fell to the ground with a pop, and the eunuch next to him hurriedly came up to help, and the scene was chaotic.

The ministers looked at it, oh my mother, it's so good, the emperor is so angry...... Yes, we don't need to say anything, we don't need to mention the thieves who hit Shaanxi * West or the Central Plains first, let's fight Fengyang first!

The caliber of the civil and military ministers was unified, and at the same time he said: "Your Majesty, it is the best policy to quickly send troops to Fengyang and break the corpses of the thieves who burned the emperor's tomb into ten thousand pieces!" ”

Chongzhen had just been helped up by the eunuchs, and waved his hand weakly: "Wash away the national shame and kill the thief with all your heart...... Mobilize troops, quickly transfer troops to me, don't care where the troops are, all of them will be transferred to Fengyang...... Send 1 million taels of Beijing, provincial and domestic funds as military salaries, and I want to wipe out all the thieves who are left! ”

Lu Xiangsheng opened his mouth slightly, wanting to ask for an order to fight Shaanxi * West first, and then Fengyang, but when he saw Emperor Chongzhen's blood-red eyes, he knew that it was useless to say anything at this time, so he had to say: "Minister...... Command! (To be continued.) )