It had been several days since the news of Pingyang Mansion being captured by unknown rebels reached the capital, and the report was followed by the local prefect's mobilization of the garrison of the guard station to quell the rebellion and almost wiped out the entire army. The continuous bad news made Emperor Chongzhen, who was already anxious because of the eunuch party, feel angry.

Above the court.

The young Emperor Chongzhen's face was gloomy, and he had just sat on the throne of the emperor, only then did he realize that the Ming Dynasty had already been riddled with holes.

In May and June, the northern Nu chieftains besieged Jinzhou and attacked Ningyuan.

In August, his elder brother Xizong died of illness and succeeded to the throne himself.

Later, it was reported that disasters occurred frequently in the southern provinces, and the grain tax could not be sustained.

And here he wanted to concentrate his energy and support Shilin's strength to defeat Wei Zhongxian...... As a result, this matter is only half done, but there is a thief in Pingyang Mansion in the northwest! He also broke through the city, coerced the people, and even defeated the garrison of the local guard!

At this time, where can Emperor Chongzhen, who is trying to make a difference, be patient? So he immediately convened the cabinet to discuss the matter of quelling the anti-thieves.

At this time, the center of the Ming Dynasty, the new emperor ascended the throne, and almost all the energy of the princes of the court was put into political struggle.

Everyone knows that at the critical point of this iteration of power, whoever holds the initiative means that he will control the main rights and interests of this huge country in the next few years, if not a decade.

Whether it was the Donglin Party who had been defeated by the Eunuch Party before, or the ministers of other parties representing the interests of the provinces, where did they have the heart to care about a small place of rebellion in the far northwest?

is different from Emperor Chongzhen, who has been a royal nobleman since he was a child and does not understand the situation.

Which of the princes of the Manchu Dynasty did not enter the official career from the local government through the imperial examination, and it took years of beating and climbing to get to where it is today?

In their opinion, not to mention a small Pingyang Mansion, even the entire northwest is not as important as what they are doing now!

Anything that rebels, without the support of these big families, what can they do with just those mud legs?

Since ancient times, the world has known the sentence of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang at the end of the Qin Dynasty, "The prince will have a kind of Xiangning?" But how many people know that all the peasant uprisings did not end in a fiasco?

Those illiterate mud legs can only be forced to survive for a while, if it really becomes a big thing, it still has to be a big family like them who control the real economy, politics, and talent lifeblood of a country to make it happen!

Therefore.

Regarding the matter of Pingyang Mansion, in fact, the entire power organ of the Ming Dynasty is not very concerned.

Except for a few civil and military officials who really believe in "loyalty to the monarch and the country", most of the court bigwigs did not share their energy with Pingyang at all.

In this case.

Chongzhen's attention has only turned into a very good-looking edict, the so-called mobilization of the army, thunder suppression and the like...... In the end, it only stopped at the clerical order.

The matter dragged on until October, when the state capitals near Pingyang slowly organized more than 30,000 Ming troops to Pingyang to suppress it under the orders of Jingshilai.

However, the state capitals here have just mobilized their garrisons, and over there, Luo Shen, who has already sent people to infiltrate and lurk in various places with the 'white worm' for more than a month, has also completely opened the hole cards!

A large number of 'dependents' who had been lurking in various state capitals and villages for a long time launched a rebellion from within the local government overnight, just like Pingyang.

With the help of the 'white worm', which can turn a person into a companion overnight, Shunde, Dongchang, Kaifeng, Guide, Lu'an, and Fenzhou in the territory of the Shanxi Buzheng Envoy ...... Large-scale rebellions were launched everywhere.

When the Ming army in various places was seriously hungry for salaries, it was an empty period when troops were sent from all over the country to besiege Pingyang...... These lurking dependents have formed a situation of more fighting less in various places.

They have successfully controlled a large number of cities.

Followed by.

When the government came to its senses, the major cities had already implanted white worms on most of the people in the city under the control of the first batch of dependents!

When the few remaining Ming troops reacted, many local court officials such as Tongzhi, county commanders, thousand households, and commanders had been controlled by the white worm, and a large number of troops were sold by their own commanders in the unknown situation! After laying down the weapon, it was parasitized in batches.

And the transformation of these soldiers, who still have some combat skills, in large numbers has also led to the further deterioration of the situation.

A large number of young and middle-aged people were replenished into these Ming armies, which were seriously vacant.

Under Luo Shen's control, all corruption and procrastination have no room for survival, a large number of useful talents do their duty, and the massive resources hoarded in various places are concentrated and converted into military supplies.

Almost in just half a month, a huge army began to sweep across Shanxi.

A large number of cities that had not been infiltrated by dependents had fallen, and large areas of the countryside were almost defenseless in the face of the army, and villages were transformed into absolutely loyal dependents.

When the Ming court came back to his senses, the princes of the court were shocked to find that the entire territory of the huge Shanxi had fallen, and even the nearby cities with political divisions had begun to fall!

It was only at this time that the high-level officials of the Ming Court, who were above the top and thought they were high, remembered to seriously investigate the details of this group of rebels who suddenly rose.

……

November.

Wei Zhongxian, the head of the eunuch party, was sent to Fengyang for resettlement, but the people were still on the way, so Chongzhen, who was not at ease, sent Jinyi Wei to pursue and arrest him.

Clear-eyed people knew that this matter might involve too many secrets between high-level officials, so they were careful to avoid it, and only the three brothers Lu Jianxing, Shen Lian, and Jin Yichuan, who were out of place in Jinyiwei, were sent by the great eunuch Zhao Jingzhong to carry out this matter.

Late at night.

Rain cats and dogs.

A large number of people and horses dressed in cloaks and hats on their heads, whose faces could not be seen clearly, galloped in the rain, only to see that these people were all carrying long knives at their waists, and horses and bags with strange shapes on their backs, obviously they were all equipped with bows and crossbows.

"My lord! It's Fucheng County in front! One of them said loudly.

The leader of the crowd is Lu Jianxing, although he is calm and sophisticated, although his career is not smooth, even the 100 household positions vacated by his father have been occupied by others, and he has not been promoted for many years.

But in terms of this experience, Lu Jianxing is a first-class figure in Jinyiwei.

He immediately ordered: "After entering the city, immediately guard the four gates, and no one is allowed to enter or leave!" ”

The brocade guards still galloped on their horses.

At this time, Shen Lian spoke again: "Divided into ten teams, you can't let go of the big and small inns!" ”

The brocade guards rushed into Fucheng County......

……

And when the three Shen Lian brothers were fighting with Wei Zhongxian's disciples at the Fucheng County Inn, the Jinyi guards, who had extremely strong control over the entire Beizhili, had no energy at all to notice that a caravan from Shanxi had already entered the Beijing Division.

As soon as these wealthy Shanxi merchants settled down, they bought a large mansion in the capital and bought many inns, restaurants and other industries.

However, all of these behaviors that would have been carefully investigated by the brocade guards on weekdays have been ignored because of the current investigation of the eunuchs.

Only a few people in the market circulated rumors that there seemed to be a strange child with white hair and blue eyes among the group of Shanxi merchants......