Chapter 448: Great Changes in the Central Plains

In September of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, the situation of the Central Plains was like a weed on the earth, the wildfire could not be burned, and the spring breeze blew and reborn. The inability to alleviate this ill has directly led to a continuous war against thieves, which can only treat the symptoms but not the root cause.

Supervisor Yang Sichang sat in Yiling and ordered Li Zicheng to surrender. Li Zicheng roughly replied, "Descend Nima!" (self-contained mantra). The consequences of a hard mouth were very strict, and Yang Sichang mobilized a large army and surrounded Li Zicheng in the belly of Brazil. With this encirclement, Li Zicheng's situation was very bad, and the angry Yang Sichang tried his best to kill him. Many of Li Zicheng's subordinates couldn't bear it anymore and surrendered out of the mountain. But Li Zicheng still gritted his teeth and insisted, but the people were panicked, and the team was not easy to lead.

Li Zicheng had no choice but to make a surprise move to solve the problem of unity of the team, otherwise it would be over. Because Liu Zhongmin, who is the most warlike and loyal, has said that he is going to surrender. At this time, Li Zicheng put a strange trick and a big move, he said to Liu Zhongmin and others: "Everyone says that I have a destiny, if you don't believe it, go to divination." If the result of the divination is not good, then kill me and take my head to surrender. "I don't know how he got it, anyway, these turtle generals went to find a place for divination.

There was a temple in the mountain, so Liu Zhongmin and the others went and swore to the sky first. It means, "God, the future of the big guy depends on what you mean." Now we swear that if we don't do what God says, there will be five thunderstorms in the sky. "That's probably it. (Set an oath to vote for God) and then throw this "god", I don't know how to do it. Anyway, I voted three times in a row, and they are all symbols of good luck. (Brother thinks there must be something wrong here, this thing is too easy to fake.) ）

After Liu Zhongmin finished divination, he went back, first went to see Li Zicheng, first went back to his residence, and killed his two wives. (Zhongmin also killed his two wives) This bastard is too fucking bastard, you have to show your loyalty, and you are determined to follow Li Zicheng to the end, and you won't kill your own mother-in-law first. But that's what he did, killed his wife and went to see Li Zicheng again: "I want to support you in life and death." ”

What's even more fucked up. There are many people like Liu Zhongmin. It's not one or two, but a lot of people who believe in the results of divination, in order to show their determination, go back and become their own women. Come back and tell Li Zicheng. Now the woman I'm done. No one will talk about surrendering in the future. Anyway, everyone has one heart and follows the boss to the end.

After playing such a heinous trick, Li Zicheng took fifty cavalry. After arriving in Henan via Yunyang and Junzhou, Li Zicheng, who was left with 50 people, pulled up the team in one breath. (The records in "Yu Change Chronicle" are not the same, saying that Li Zicheng should have hundreds of people.) ）

Li Zicheng arrived in Henan, what was the situation in Henan at this time? Rice and wheat are 3,000 yuan per bucket, and millet is 2,700 yuan per bucket. A bucket of rice is equivalent to 12.5 catties now, see clearly, it's not a kilogram. The price of a pound of rice has reached more than 700 yuan, and if it is changed to today's price, it will be calculated according to 700 yuan. It's also an eye-popping price. Such things have happened, which shows how bad Henan was at that time.

People eat each other, there is no way to walk alone, and there is no way between villages. There is even a tragedy of a father eating his son and a husband eating his wife. According to historical data, this is the first change in the Ming Dynasty in 200 years. This is a natural disaster, but at any time, a natural disaster is a force majeure. However, natural disasters may not be invincible, but Daming not only has natural disasters, but also man-made disasters.

With the famine came a popular uprising, either starving to death, or having breakfast, and the people who rose up on the land of Henan were everywhere. Li Jiyu was in Henan Mansion and Ruzhou Mansion, and the hungry people were attached to him, gathering 50,000 people. There were also Ai Yi, Hou Si, Meng San, and so on, all of whom had thousands of hungry people following. The hungry people broke through the new wilderness, fell into the river yin, and the urgent report documents were like snowflakes. Lao Dangdang, Yidougu, Pole Runner, Song Jiang, Yilong, Li Zhenhai, etc., gathered in the Taihang Mountains. There are too many bosses of all sizes to count. Either occupy the mountain as the king, or claim the king and hegemony in a certain earthen fence, anyway, in this year, the most worthless thing is human life. If you don't have food to eat, you eat people.

Yuan Shizhong in Kaifeng gathered tens of thousands, and Yuan Laoshan in Shouzhou also had tens of thousands of horses. Even Shandong has been greatly affected, Yanzhou Li Tingshi and Li Dingxuan conspired to rebel, and were detected by the "shadow", and the city guard led his troops to attack overnight and strangled them in the bud. These two goods don't know how powerful, they are doing things in Shandong, and they don't see thieves with a little strength, don't they dare to cross the Yellow River to Shandong? These two brothers, surnamed Li, were hung with street lamps in Yanzhou! There were more than 100 followers who served as foils.

The evil Shandong government, under Chen Xie's urgent deployment, urgently dispatched people and horses to patrol along the river. All refugees who escaped the Yellow River were taken in, and they were given "high-protein" fried noodles to others, and then slowly walked to Dengzhou, loaded on a ship and sent to Liaodong. By the end of September, 140,000 displaced people had been taken over by the Shandong government and transferred to Liaodong.

There are many people who die on the road and die of illness and exhaustion, but this proportion is very small. Because the Shandong government's measures were timely and effective, there was no civil uprising in Yanzhou and other places where the drought was severe. Individual restless factors were either suppressed by officers and soldiers early, or locked up by government officials. In just three months, Yanzhou prisons were overcrowded. Later, the army accepted it, and the prisoners in the prisons everywhere were bought by the mine owners who recruited far away to become mining slaves. What is a mine slave? It's for you to stutter, so you don't starve to death, and then you keep working in the mine until you die, which is called a mine slave.

Li Zicheng plunged into Henan, which can be regarded as a good time. The key is that at the moment, Zhang Xianzhong's goods entered Sichuan, and this time it was lively. The main force of the officers and soldiers was chasing and killing Zhang Xianzhong, and they couldn't take care of Li Zicheng, who was beaten into a cripple. At this time, Zhang Xianzhong was the most powerful among the thieves. Zhang Xianzhong, who rushed into Sichuan, pinned down the main force of officers and soldiers.

In December of the thirteenth year, Li Zicheng occupied Yongning, killed the king of Wan'an, and broke 48 villages west of Bear's Ears. Then lay down Yiyang and Yuncheng, and gathered 100,000 people. At this time, two important scholars defected to Li Zicheng, one was named Li Yan and the other was Niu Jinxing.

Historically, the defection of these two people changed Li Zicheng's fate. From the beginning of these two defections, Li Zicheng temporarily changed his strategy of killing and began to buy people's hearts.

In order to kill Zhang Xianzhong, Yang Sichang ordered: "Pardon the crimes of Luo Rucai, the general of the peasant army, and others, but Zhang Xianzhong will not be pardoned, and those who capture and behead Zhang Xianzhong will be rewarded with 10,000 taels of silver." Zhang Xianzhong declared: "Those who come from the Pavilion Department (Yang Sichang) will be rewarded with three silver coins." Si Chang wrote in a letter to Song Yihe, the governor of Huguang: "Strange disasters fell from the sky, and the servants vomited blood and were sad, and they were tied to death, and there was nothing to say. Why do you talk like that? It's very simple, Yang Sichang at this time is weak, the key is not that he doesn't want to fight, but because of the changes in the situation, He Renlong and Zuo Liangyu began to support their own troops, and they didn't listen to greetings anymore.

In other words, these two people have seen his essence clearly, Lao Tzu has an army to fight, and you can't help me. This was the current situation that Yang Sichang faced at that time.

When the Central Plains was in chaos, Chen Xie continued to farm in Shandong and Liaodong. For the next plan, Chen Xie faced Henan's emergency documents and the orders of the Ministry of War, and delayed again and again, but he refused to send troops into Henan. Chen Xie's excuse is very sufficient, at this time, the main force of the Dengzhou battalion is in Liaodong and the grassland, where did the soldiers and horses go to Henan?

In this regard, Zhu Youzhen could only write to his cheap son-in-law in person and ask him: "Virtuous son-in-law, can you transfer a group of people from Liaodong back to deal with the current situation in Henan?" Chen Xie replied: "Yes! He agreed to Zhu Youzhen's request again.

While agreeing to Zhu Youzhen's request, Chen Xie began to make large-scale preparations for war. This time, the preparation is not a question of how much army, but how much food. In the army, Chen Xie only prepared twenty A-shaped battalions. Within a year, he returned to Shandong by sea. The key to solving the problem is food. Chen Xie understands this very well.

Is Li Zicheng strong? In Chen Xie's opinion, it is not difficult to destroy him. There are only more than 40,000 people in the twenty A-shaped battalions, and it is enough to destroy him in Chen Xie's eyes. Only by solving the problem of eating the people will there be no recurrence. There is another problem, Chen Xie needs Li Zicheng to sweep Henan. During the entire thirteenth year of Chongzhen, Chen Xie didn't move his soldiers, and he continued to communicate with Changcheng and sold a large number of ordnance to Li Zicheng. Chain mail, steel knives, spearheads and the like, a lot of money to earn.

In Jiaozhou Bay, the sea is calm and calm, and on the clear blue sea, 30 2,000-ton warships are lined up in columns on the sea, with two-string artillery roaring and water columns soaring to the sky.

Chen Xie's flagship is a 2,000-ton warship, which is a gift from Fran Aranda. This warship, which has been in the water for less than two months, is actually only equipped with forty cannons, which is so wasteful that people want to kill this cargo.

The new breech gun, produced in Dengzhou, is made of steel. Although it is not a firing pin, it also greatly increases the rate of fire. The main artillery of the navy consisted of twelve-pounder, eighteen-pounder, and twenty-four-pounder guns. Chen Xie's flagship, the bad taste has flareed up again, and it was named "Liaoning". With a displacement of 2,500 tons and an extremely luxurious interior, this was a boat for Chen Xie's trip with his Korean women, and the ship was not expected to go to war. Necessary waste is necessary in Chen Xie's view.

The development of the Dengzhou Navy has entered a stage of rapid development. At present, the navy has a commander (commander), and this post can only be held by Chen Xie, and Xilao Jing is appointed as a deputy in charge of naval affairs. The headquarters of the Navy is located in Dengzhou, and there are two sub-fleets, the first fleet, which is Anthony Francis, and is stationed in Jiaozhou Bay. The second fleet, stationed in the Grand Officer, was pacified as the king's government. This gentleman was originally Jing Haiwei's pacification, but now he hugged Chen Xie's thigh and caught up with the trade at sea. (To be continued......)