In July, Pingliang Province, Guyuan Prefecture, Trilateral Governor's Palace.

With the arrival of a report from the state capitals of Shaanxi, the governor's palace was filled with a tense atmosphere, a busy scene, and every day there were generals and soldiers entering or leaving, all of which looked hurried.

On this day, Yang He, the governor of the three sides, paced back and forth in the study, his brows furrowed, his left hand behind his back, his right hand in front, and a few pieces of paper in his hand, muttering to himself: "It's really strange, these thieves are really not simple, taking advantage of the imperial court to the north of Houjin, at this time, they are wantonly rioting and attacking various state capitals and counties in Shaanxi." ”

After saying that, Yang He's eyes flickered twice, and then returned to normal, turned his head to look at an official not far away, who looked in his thirties, and asked: "Lord Hong, about the thieves in Shaanxi, do you have any good countermeasures to quell the rebellion." ”

This official is none other than the famous Hong Chengchou, who made great contributions to the Qing army's entry into the Central Plains.

Hong Chengchou pondered slightly, and then said: "My lord, most of the troops in Shaanxi went north to enter King Qin, so far, less than two percent have returned, and the rest are either in the capital to assist in defense, or go to Shanhaiguan with Lord Sun to strengthen the Ningjin defense line and repair the city wall to prevent the Qing army from invading Guanzhong again." Now if you want to quell the rebellion in Shaanxi, you can only adopt your strategy of 'appeasement first, encirclement and suppression supplemented'. If you want to completely solve the banditry problem, you can only wait until the army returns, ask the imperial court to allocate troops, and then send good generals. ”

"So, my lord, the lower officials think that our current countermeasure is to brake with quiet, to respond to all changes with unchanged, and to patiently wait for the arrival of reinforcements from the imperial court to enter Shaanxi. At that time, it was we who took the initiative to eliminate all the thieves in one fell swoop. ”

Yang He's brows furrowed, he was very unhappy in his heart, and he was not satisfied with such a method. However, Yang He is still very satisfied with his deputy. led a few thousand people, killed Wang Zuogui and Miao Mei and other anti-thief armies, relieved the siege of Hancheng, and surrendered Wang Zuogui's anti-thief department.

Thinking that Gao Yingxiang, Wang Ziyong, Wang Jiayin and other anti-thief leaders were becoming more and more active and rampant, Yang He was unwilling in his heart, and couldn't help but ask again: "Can we only wait like this, there is no other way?" ”

"No, my lord" Hong Chengchou shook his head, and then added: "Now it is best to defend the city and keep the granary and treasury of the imperial court. As long as the medium-sized and large cities are kept and not breached, the arrogance of the rogues will become weaker and weaker. ”

"Well, that's a good point. Today, Shanxi has been in a severe drought for several years, and as long as the medium-sized and large cities are kept, it is equivalent to cutting off the source of food and silver for the thieves. Without food supplies, no money to purchase food, clothing, and weapons, the momentum of those anti-thieves will only get weaker and weaker. Yang He nodded, looking much better.

At this time, as if thinking of something, Yang He suddenly asked: "Lord Hong, according to other generals, you often surrender and do not accept the surrender of the rebels. Even if you accept the surrender of those anti-thief leaders, after the incident, you will always find some reason to solve it, is there such a thing? ”

Hearing this, Hong Chengchou's expression changed several times, and he muttered in his heart, if he denies it, it is tantamount to concealing his boss, and he is suspected of trespassing, once he finds out, it is not beautiful, and it is easy to be suppressed by his direct boss in the future.

If you admit it, it will be tantamount to making it clear that you are in opposition to the governor, and the boss in front of you is advocating "appeasement first".

In the end, after weighing the pros and cons, these thoughts quickly flashed through his mind, Hong Chengchou secretly gritted his teeth, made up his mind, and said stubbornly: "Yes, my lord, there is indeed such a thing. ”

"Hong Chou... Hong Chou, you have only been promoted to the governor of Yansui for only a month, and you are working against this governor, even if this official does not investigate and blame you, once you return to the capital, you will be worried about your career once you are discordant with the chief official......"

Hearing Yang He say this, Hong Chengchou suddenly became anxious, and without waiting for him to finish speaking, he couldn't help but say: "My lord, the lower officials have to do that because of their last resort." ”

Yang He's eyebrows raised, and he looked at Hong Chengchou carefully, seeing his nervous expression, it seemed that there was really some last resort, and his tone eased a lot: "Oh... What's the pain? Instead, you say, if it is really a last resort, the official will treat it as if nothing happened, and will intercede with the court for you. ”

Hearing this, Hong Chengchou's nervous mood eased a lot, swallowed his saliva, relaxed his tense emotions, took a deep breath, calmed himself down completely, and quickly sorted out his thoughts, then said in an orderly manner: "My lord, among the anti-thieves, although there are mostly some chaotic people, there are also many mutinous soldiers. If you easily accept their demotion and entrust them with important tasks, you will either be appointed as a general soldier or a general. In this way, it is equivalent to releasing a message, as long as there is a mutiny or rebellion, you can ascend to the sky in one step.

"Moreover, Lord Governor, the lower officials still think that the leaders of these rebels are not trustworthy and have no integrity to speak of. Those who surrendered were mostly in a difficult situation, and they were almost surrounded and suppressed by the army, so they would disarm and surrender. After the surrender, once they regained their strength, equipped with the weapons and food supplies issued by the imperial court, and survived the difficulties, these people were likely to rebel again. The best way to eradicate the root causes of the rebellion once and for all is to deal with those people once and for all. ”

I have to say that Yang He is worthy of being a veteran, he will not be rash, look at the problem, and be able to see its essence. From the bottom of my heart, I agree with Hong Chengchou's point of view. However, he repeatedly insisted on "soothing while suppressing", and Yang He also had his considerations.

"Chengchou, I understand what you mean, and I approve of this approach. However, you should know that once you go all out to encircle and suppress the rogues and not give them a way to live, it is tantamount to forcing them to resist and fight back wildly. If this is the case, not only will the casualties of the army increase dramatically, but if the thieves cannot be quickly encircled and eliminated, the army will fall into a quagmire and be in a stalemate with the thieves. ”

Hong Chengchou showed a hint of abruptness, and then said apologetically: "I'm sorry, my lord, my subordinates didn't think about it well, and they thought about the problem too one-sidedly. Encircling and suppressing the Liukou is not a confrontation between the two armies, they cannot fight us to the death, they can flee in all directions. Once they escape to Shanxi or Henan, we will have no power to encircle and suppress them, so we can only watch them escape. ”

Soon after, Hong Chengchou left, and Yang He was still standing in the study, frowning. At this time, a middle-aged man who looked like a housekeeper walked in, and said in an eager voice: "Master, Gongzi sent a secret letter from the capital to send a secret letter from the capital for eight hundred miles. ”

Immediately, Yang He suddenly came to his senses, his heart was very shaken, and while receiving the secret letter, he secretly said in his heart: "It seems that something big must have happened." Otherwise, Si Chang would not be in such a hurry to let people deliver the letter, and he actually used eight hundred miles to expedit. ”

The housekeeper left with interest, after opening the secret letter, he slowly unfolded the letter, and as the content of the browsing deepened, Yang He's wrinkled forehead was sometimes wrinkled, sometimes stretched, his lips squirmed, and he didn't know what he was muttering to himself, and his expression was very ugly.

After reading the secret letter, Yang He turned his back on his hands and looked at the direction where Hong Chengchou had just left with a complicated expression. For a long time, with a long sigh, he walked out of the study with a little rickety, and his back looked very helpless.