March 2, Xinzheng.

Recently, the atmosphere in the county town has been a little tense, and the Henan Political Department has reported that there is a small group of robbers who are flowing here, and the number is about 50,000 or 60,000, and according to consistent experience, this means that the actual number of thieves is about 7 or 8,000. With such a small group of rogues, the Xinzheng government did not consider them an actual threat, and in terms of numbers, it was very unlikely that they belonged to the fighting troops of Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, and they were probably just a team of exiles who had just left Luoyang.

However, the Xinzheng County Order still called on the gentry to donate money, and organized more grain collection teams and conscription teams, although this team of thieves will not have any combat effectiveness, but Xinzheng officials know that they are now on fire. After last year's rampant conquest, the people have reached the critical point of rebellion, so even the rumors of breaking into the king's eastward march may bring unpredictable consequences.

Lao Li, the doorman of the night watch, was bored and looked at the torch at the door, and the cold wind forced these night watchmen into the doorway. Lao Li was already very sleepy, he only pricked up his ears, looking forward to the sound of the husband's time, Lao Li looked at his sleeping companion enviously, and relieved in his heart: "Soon it will be my turn." ”

Suddenly, a hand covered Lao Li's mouth without warning, and at the same time, a bright dagger strangled Lao Li's neck, and a stern whisper came from his ears: "I don't want to kill, don't toss." As if to reinforce the persuasiveness of the sentence, the voice paused for a moment and added, "We are not bandits, we are thieves." ”

The deterrent power and meaning contained in this sentence made Lao Li give up resistance, and he saw several people tiptoeing into the doorway, subduing Lao Li's disciples and companions into their sleep one by one.

After several Ming army gatekeepers were captured, Lao Li's hand behind his back was released, and the dagger on his neck disappeared, and then Lao Li felt someone gently push him on his shoulder to his companions who were shrinking in the corner: "Brother, don't be a hero, don't die for the dog officer." ”

Lao Li walked to the other Ming soldiers without saying a word and squatted down, turned around, and then the light of the torch, he recognized that the person who attacked him was the dart master who escorted several carts into the city two days ago, and now around these captives are the guys who followed him into the city, and Lao Li and they also knocked this dart master five taels of silver fiercely. At that time, the expression of distress and helplessness on the face of this dart master is still fresh in Lao Li's memory, which makes him a little nervous, and a "guy" behind him tied Lao Li up three times and divided five by two.

Xu Ping was very satisfied with the actions so far, the people in the city were not alarmed, and the next step was to open the city gate unconsciously and unnoticed. Xinzheng was the first county town to be attacked by the army that had just jumped out of Dazhou Mountain, and Xu Ping thought that there was no need to attack it at all, so he set a plan to use the government to paralyze and carelessly open the city gate.

At that time, Xu Ping looked around and found that he did not have a competent subordinate who could undertake the task of infiltrating the city, Hei Baoyi did not need to mention it, whether it was Yu Shenhe, Shen Yunchong, or Gu Mengliu, the ability to adapt immediately had not been tested. Xu Ping was worried that if they showed their feet, they would not only lose their capable men in vain, but also affect their own strategies. As for Xu Ping personally taking ten people into the city, of course, his subordinates strongly opposed it, but after several exercises in advance, Xu Ping was full of confidence and finally decided to enter the city in person.

Leaving a few people to watch the captives, Xu Ping asked the rest of the people to open the city gate, when he heard a whisper: "Good man." ”

Xu Ping turned his head to look, and the Ming army who was restrained by him just now was squatting on the ground and raised his head, looked at himself, and whispered: "This good man, the door can't be opened like this, there will be a lot of commotion." ”

"There is a lot of work." Xu Ping said with a smile, at this time his subordinates had already begun to lower the latch, and these specially selected intruders barely made any noise during the entire process of opening the door.

The heavy city gate was silently opened, Xu Ping drew his sword in his hand, and his gaze swept over the ten subordinates around him one by one - they were all ready for battle. Xu Ping nodded, and immediately a person jumped to the door and shot the arrow that had been prepared long ago into the dark night.

At the same time, Lao Li saw that the "dart master" turned around and smiled at the Ming army prisoners, "Don't worry about it, I don't want to kill more." "There is a lot of confidence in the words.

As the arrow sounded, Lao Li immediately heard a sound above his head, followed by a stern question.

Lao Li saw that the young dart master and his men stood apart without saying a word, and had already set up a small defensive formation, and the cold light on their weapons pierced Lao Li's heart palpitations.

The shouting and questioning on the city tower became more severe, Lao Li saw that several enemies still had no intention of answering, and made a posture of guarding the doorway, he suddenly turned his heart sideways and shouted: "My own people's business!" ”

After hearing this shout, Xu Ping glanced at the Ming soldier who shouted, still holding the sword in his hand steadily, ready to meet the counterattack of the defenders.

There was another question from above, and the Ming army let out a loud curse.

"It's an interesting change." Xu Ping thought in his heart that he didn't block the mouths of those Ming soldiers, but wanted to rely on their mouths to shout words like "The thieves have entered the city", Xu Ping felt that hearing this news from an acquaintance would have a more shocking effect on the defenders than loudly reporting out of the house himself; He also wanted to use the captives to persuade the defenders to lay down their arms for their lives; As for his own hypocrisy, Xu Ping felt that even if the prisoner shouted, the other party might not care about it in a panic, and his group was all hiding in this small doorway, and if the defenders had a heart, they couldn't hide it.

At this time, the sound of hurried horses' hooves had sounded in the dark night, and the tone from the city tower became more and more unkind, and the Ming army prisoner who answered simply sat down on the ground, leaned against the wall and scolded and shouted and replied: "The people outside are all the brothers of the Cheng adults, and if you have a kind of surname Wang, you can stop one and try!" ”

Xu Ping didn't know who the captive was about Master Cheng, nor did he know who the officer who was scolding upstairs was, but it was obvious that the officer had a much higher status than the captive, and now his tone was no longer as flustered as at the beginning, but mixed with anger and surprise. While scolding the gatekeeper for daring to open the city gate for smuggling night, the officer threatened that he would definitely report the matter, and when the officer ordered his subordinates to go down to the city to stop people and catch stolen goods, Chi Shude had already rushed to Xu Ping first: "How is the general?" ”

Because the loss was smaller than expected, Xu Ping, who was very happy, first shouted at Chi Shude: "What are you doing around me?" Don't hurry up and catch the dog officer. ”

Then, Xu Ping smiled encouragingly at the Ming captive, and the Ming army who flocked downstairs to get people were all stunned when they saw the cavalry pouring into the city gate, and a big chaos finally broke out on the city tower: "Thief! ”

"Those who sit are spared death!"

As soon as Xu Ping began, several Ming army prisoners—not just that one—shouted in unison with the other intruding soldiers.

……

Chi Shude captured Li Chaolin alive in Xinzheng County, and the officers and soldiers in the city surrendered without rebellion.

Seeing this, Xu Ping ordered the main force of the guard battalion not to enter the city, and to rest outside the city. After seeing Chi Shude in the county hall, Xu Ping asked in the first sentence: "Brother Chi, how are the casualties?" ”

"I injured two brothers," Chi Shude said, "When I rushed into the county office, one brother was bitten by a dog official's dog, and another broke his leg when he jumped over the wall. ”

Several soldiers guarding the gate were brought to see Xu Ping, and they were all loosened, claiming that they had been in arrears for ten months, so when they heard that the army of the camp was coming, they did not want to die for the imperial court, and the regiment organized by the county order did not put up any resistance, and when they saw the army entering the city, they went home on their own or simply joined Xu Ping's side. In the past few days, Sixiang coaxed a million troops to come, and the soldiers hoped that Xu Ping would not wash the city if Xinzheng did not resist, and Xu Ping heard the news and ordered the confiscation of the county order's family wealth to pay the soldiers, and then hung a banner on Xinzheng County: "Killing one person is like killing my father, and lewd one person is like lewd my mother".

The consistent policy of breaking into the camp is to recover stolen goods and help pay money, and Xu Ping naturally still follows this order. The rules of the invasion of the army: All the official eunuchs in the city and those who have made meritorious contributions will have their family wealth confiscated.

"Judging from the household registration, there should be 20,000 men in Xinzheng County," the staff officer reported to Xu Ping, "but when the harvest was last autumn, there were only 267 men left in the county." ”

According to the latest examination law, the Xinzheng County Decree needs to ensure that ninety percent of the tax is paid, so he set a tax of 170 taels of silver for everyone who left behind and did not flee the famine, and if he could not pay the tax, he would demolish his house, dig up his ancestral grave, and sell his wife and children...... In the end, only 22 of the 267 people who did not flee because they thought they could pay the usual amount because of their relatively wealthy families did not flee the famine.

Now, there are still rows of standing cages outside the county office, and after those who fled the famine go home for the Chinese New Year, the Xinzheng County Order reverses the tradition of not counting the old New Year's account in the previous year, and arrests all these people to force taxes - because he also knows that next year's famine escape will inevitably be more serious than this year, and I am afraid that no family will be left.

"Let their families recognize the dead, and each family will be given five taels of silver to burn." Copied 10,000 taels of silver from the county commander's house, Xu Ping was afraid that his subordinates would forget, and added: "Those who are out of business, let the guard battalion do it, build graves for them, and those ancestral graves are dug up, we will cover them up and re-erect monuments." ”

The ability of the camp to attack the city with the displaced people as the main force was very poor, and every time the officers and soldiers held the city, they would cause heavy casualties to the city, and according to the convention, the next step was to demolish the city wall of Xinzheng. In addition, the policy of breaking into the camp included removing all the silver from the treasury, and distributing half of the stored grain to the people, and the other half to provide sufficient military rations.

But Xu Ping had a different plan this time, he did not order the demolition of the city or the movement of grain. Hei Baoyi was quite suspicious of this, worried that as soon as the army left Xinzheng, he would return to the rule of the Ming court. Xu Ping disagreed: "My tens of thousands of troops are not far away, where do they have the courage?" ”

"But wait until the imperial army comes......"

"Brother Hei, I entered the Kaifeng Mansion this time, just to defend the territory without losing, if the imperial army comes, we will also fight with it." Xu Ping did not plan to tear down the city wall, but also to calm people's hearts. In the past, after the city wall was demolished, the caravan did not dare to stay in the city for fear of thieves, and the merchants in the city would leave the county town for safer places. Li Zicheng's order was not to levy grain from the peasants, but it was not forbidden to levy taxes. At present, Henan is in turmoil, and many caravans are giving bandit protection money for peace. Xu Ping brought in a few leaders who opened the city gates, and did not let them join the invasion army, but stayed in the county to protect the city wall, and if there was a caravan that wanted to stay within the wall, he would collect some silver money.

When Xu Ping gave the order, Chi Shude didn't argue with him, but after a few leaders left, they began to express their dissatisfaction again, in short, let outsiders control the county, and break into the camp may not get much benefit. But if they do bad things, it will bring shame on the camp. The last one is that the camp has always been to distribute food to the hungry people around it.

"I've thought about what you said, so I'm going to keep someone to be the Xinzheng County Order."

Xu Ping asked the wounded soldier who had broken his leg to remain as the Xinzheng County Commander, who was responsible for supervising that the soldiers in Xinzheng did not plunder the merchants, and also ensured that at least part of the taxes received would go into the pockets of the breaking camp. As for the distribution of grain, Xu Ping decided to set up a porridge factory, if there were hungry people coming, they could get some porridge, but they were not allowed to take the rice away by themselves, Luoyang's way of distributing food was too wasteful in Xu Ping's opinion: "The city wall was left to protect the people of Xinzheng from thieves, otherwise if this happened, they would remember that we demolished the city wall; The establishment of a porridge factory, so that more hungry people can eat, that time Luoyang opened a warehouse, a large amount of grain was thrown on the road in vain, it is a pity, and once the rice is received, let go of the belly to eat, no plan. Open a porridge factory in Xinzheng, hungry people will not starve to death when they come here, a large number of fields in Xinzheng are abandoned, they can help the local people to settle fields, so that next year will no longer be a burden on our army; Or help the county magistrates here scare away small groups of thieves, and it would be nice if they could do that. ”

Chi Shude had to do this only way, and Hei Bao was worried that if he didn't leave a team of soldiers, he would not be able to suppress the local local snakes, and if Xin Zheng decided to surrender to the Ming court, he would also take the people left by Xu Ping as a gift to get rid of his crimes.

Xu Ping has also made a calculation in this regard: "We have swept away the scholars in Xinzheng City, and our army is nearby, they will fear us, unless another army from the imperial court comes." If the imperial court really sends a large army, we must gather all the soldiers together to fight them, and it is pointless to leave a group of soldiers here, it will only make the locals more uneasy, after all, we are famous for being thieves. Now, if there is a dispute, it is their own business, and they will not resent us for breaking into the camp, as long as we strictly abide by the king's orders and severely punish the soldiers who disturb the people, the people will sooner or later return to their hearts. ”

After the attack on Xinzheng, Xu Ping believed that the counties of Kaifeng Prefecture would inevitably be more vigilant, and it would not be easy to get to the city so easily.

Xu Ping ordered the Xinzheng County Ding and the militia to be summoned to the county government and addressed them in front of the people in the county:

"I am Xu Ping, the general of the camp, and I used to serve in the Changqing Battalion of the Huanghou New Army." Xu Ping looked at the large number of people in front of him, and said: "Thousands of people in Xinzheng City, I took the city gate with ten people, ten people!" Xu Ping shook his head: "If we are not thieves, but officers and soldiers sent by the imperial court to suppress bandits, what will happen to you Xinzheng, and how many people in the city can survive?" Brothers, you are shouldering the lives and safety of Xinzheng's father, and this kind of thing must not happen again in the future. ”

Looking at the Xinzheng militia that looked a little depressed, Xu Ping raised his voice and said: "If you want to defend Xinzheng's father, you must first train diligently, I will leave someone to train you well, and you must also remember: This is Xinzheng, your hometown, not Kaifeng, Jingshi, if you are tired, Xinzheng will turn to ashes, and your family will be ruined!" ”

After finishing speaking, Xu Ping asked the lame county commander who was still recuperating from his injuries to come up and meet with the militia of the county, and after the meeting, Xu Ping once again explained to the Xinzheng county commander appointed by him: "On weekdays, you eat and live with the soldiers in the barracks, and you are not allowed to live in the county office, and you are not allowed to take the people's daughters or people's property...... You don't have to hide your selfishness when you train, give them what I taught you, most people are not stupid, whether you treat people with sincerity, whether you are wary of them, whether you treat them as fools, they can feel it. Xu Ping told the county commander not to be afraid of trouble, and if there were any problems or confusions, he would report to himself: "Train the army well, and one day, I will need these subordinates of yours to serve me on the battlefield...... Well, if someone wants to marry their daughter to you, they must tell me first, and if there is no big problem, I can witness the marriage for you. ”

"Obey the order," the former veteran of the camp and the new Xinzheng County Commander respectfully saluted Xu Parallel: "General." ”

After this army of less than 10,000 people entered the boundary of Kaifeng Prefecture, the Ming army's reaction was very slow, but it was said that there was almost no response. The people in Henan fled timidly, and the bold ones formed villages to protect themselves, and the Ming court had lost control beyond the county seat. At this time, the Ming army did not go out to assist in the task of collecting grain, so since Kaifeng Prefecture did not send any field troops to meet the battle, the only choice for the magistrates of each county was to close the city gates, hoping that this team would break into the city and not attack.

After making sure that there was no interference from the field troops, Xu Ping began to attack the nearby county town in a big way. Before March 10, Changge and Yuzhou were easily captured, and the county commanders Xia Zhongqian and Chen Ming were captured by the guard battalion. The tactics adopted by the Guards Battalion were completely different from those used in the previous invasion of the army, they did not encourage the displaced people to attack the city and preserve the elite of their headquarters, but sent musket troops to the bottom of the city tower to shoot at the city, suppress the defenders, and then ram the city gate with a rushing car.

The hatred of the rural people in Henan against the Ming court undoubtedly affected the people in the county, and the regimental training organized by the county commander had little fighting spirit to resist, and he was not willing to die for the county commander, a foreigner. As for the local taxis, some have fled to the big cities, although the stolen goods campaign has made officials eager to resist. However, Xu Ping pursued a policy of preferential treatment of small officials, and after seeing that Xinzheng's small officials were continued to be reused, these local snakes also tended to cooperate with the camp when the army was strong, and basically every time they hit the city gate, it meant that the battle was over.

As several county towns were breached one after another, more and more homeless people came to the guard battalion who signed up to join the army, but Xu Ping always appeased them to return to their hometowns to farm. The intrusion into the army-controlled areas strictly pursues the policy of not paying for food. In the past, another major source of strength for breaking into the camp was the liberation of prisoners, but Xu Ping had little interest in this, and the murderers and robbers in the three county prisons were still locked up, and only those peasants who resisted grain were identified and released.

"Chuang Wang rebelled and begged for soldiers and people. So how can you let these murderous robbers out? How can we take them into the camp? Xu Ping commented unceremoniously in front of a large group of subordinates: "Maybe these bandits are a little brave, just now someone persuaded me to say that Huang Hou also used robbers as generals back then, but this is only one of them, not the other!" Xu Ping believes that his situation is very different from that of officers and soldiers. In the final analysis, officers and soldiers still have the right to do so, and even if criminals become new people after joining the officers and soldiers, they are easily bound by military law. The current image of the camp is very close to that of bandits, and after joining the camp, soldiers are more likely to become lawless rather than law-abiding, so Xu Ping insisted: "Our battalion only uses honest homeless people as a source of replenishment for soldiers. ”

On 15 March, the Guards Battalion arrived at the city of Xuzhou and began to attack the city, and it was not long before Xu Ping found himself in the first trouble of sending troops.

"Fang Dog Officer blocked the south gate!" Soldier reports.

Wei Wei, the official of Xuzhou, learned from the experience of several other county towns and blocked the city gate with a large stone, which made Xu Ping's unfavorable door-smashing tactics since his division ineffective. Moreover, there are still a few good artillery pieces in the city, which have caused a lot of losses to the guards, and at the end of the day, half of the more than 30 soldiers who were killed and wounded were wounded under the artillery, which was also the heaviest day for the guards battalion since entering Henan Province.

Fortunately, the defenders in the city also had little experience, and they scattered several cannons in four, otherwise the casualties of Xu Ping's main attack on the south gate would be even greater. The defenders of the other three gates opened fire as soon as they saw the intruding army from afar, perhaps this action did play a role in emboldening the city, but not only did they not cause losses to the guards, but also allowed Xu Ping to find out the defense capabilities of the city.

After hearing the news of the failure of the siege, Xu Ping ordered to retreat and camp. He judged that the other three gates had also been blocked, and there was no need to confirm them with human lives.

In the next few days, Xu Ping devoted himself to analyzing and collecting intelligence, and soon a relatively clear outline of the city defense appeared in front of Xu Ping's eyes. As a disciple of Wang Yangming, his administrative ability was much stronger than that of ordinary officials. The Changge County Order, which was taken by the Guards Battalion in two hours, is a good negative example: the Changge City Gate was breached, and the county officials burned themselves and died for the country. The county official was originally a believer in science, and he had always scolded Wang Yangming, except for the Confucian classics, he knew nothing about money and grain. Last year, Kaifeng Prefecture temporarily collected cotton clothes, and the task was assigned to Changge County, and the county magistrate was so anxious that he almost hanged himself - because he couldn't think of how to collect cotton clothes, whether it was to buy finished products, collect raw materials to make them himself, or ask merchants to provide tax deductions, he couldn't think of any of them. At that time, Fang Wei ridiculed Changge County and said: "It's just that the cotton clothes are going to be hanged, so what if King Ning makes a mess?" Don't scold you in the future, just learn from your heart, as for the cotton clothes, I'll find a way for you. ”

After the smoke of Henan was everywhere, the actions of other local officials can basically be called "sitting and waiting for death", closing the city gate when the army came, and letting the officials out when the army left, and continuing to urge the taxes needed by the imperial court. But this Fang Wei is different, he has organized several fundraising activities called the Poetry Club, and each time he can come up with ideas to make the rich more or less spit out some silver. The few artillery pieces encountered by the Guards Battalion were purchased from the south by Fang Wei with these silvers.

"Collecting silver taels, sending people to the south to buy weapons on their own, and transporting them back safely has not caused the dissatisfaction of the Henan Prefecture." Xu Ping couldn't help but admire: "This county official is not simple. ”

Zhou Dongtian has been leading the staff to observe the city defense, he echoed Xu Pingdao: "Every night there are patrols at the four gates, and all sections of the city wall are replaced by patrols. ”

Xu Ping had no interest in putting the troops into the city to fight, and it was not easy for the soldiers of the Guards Battalion to be trained to this level, and he was unwilling to take out such a local troop to consume. If you want to keep the casualties below 200, the only feasible thing seems to be to try to break down the walls. These days, Xu Ping has captured a lot of artillery from several surrounding counties, but most of them are small cannons such as tiger squat cannons, which do not pose any threat to the city wall.

"The engineer team of the Guards Battalion has also been formed for a long time, and it is time for them to practice."

Now the engineer corps of the Guards battalion did not have large blowing equipment, so they could only dig trenches on the surface, and because of the threat of artillery, the trenches were dug at night and not during the day. After discovering the trenches in the city, the Ming army also had a clear goal, and from the next day they moved the four guns to the opposite side of the trench and began to shoot, and in the indiscriminate shooting of the whole night, there were two successive Mengmen into the trench, causing seven casualties to the engineer team.

After discovering the problem, Xu Ping studied it with his staff officers for a day during the day, and decided to change the trench leading straight to the city wall into a zigzag shape, so that the subsequent blind shooting of the Ming army did not achieve any results.

While the engineering team was carrying out civil engineering operations, Xu Ping received three good news in a row. The first is the reaction of Kaifeng Prefecture, the Bianjun army has no intention of sending troops to reinforce Xuzhou, Kaifeng Mansion has confirmed that this is a small force, they do not think that the 10,000 people have too strong siege capabilities, and the county towns that were previously breached are all attributed to the incompetence of the defenders.

The second news was sent by Zhong Guinian's caravan, and there was also bad news - Xu Ping's uncle was not heard from, and he proved Xu Ping's concern that the new army had begun a new round of redressing. The good news, however, was that the change of outfit was somewhat slower than Xu Ping had expected, and it was widely believed that the primary target of the new army should be Shandong—the controversy over the dispatch of troops in the temples was no secret at all, as no one intended to keep it secret, and the various factions regarded the quarrels as weapons against their political opponents.

"Good." Xu Ping breathed a sigh of relief, time, is what he urgently needs, when the Guards Battalion attacked the city and plundered the land, expanded the territory and influence, and trained the troops, Xu Ping hoped that the imperial court would continue to quarrel over the use of the new army, and it was best to quarrel until the sky was old.

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