Chapter 81: The Upheaval in Shandong (I)

Shandong Peninsula, the capital city of Dengzhou

The streets that were once bustling with shops are now filled with billowing black smoke, and the wide streets are littered with corpses, broken swords, firearms, spears, and flags burned to ashes.

Chen Xin, the chief soldier of Dengzhou, was wearing heavy armor, surrounded by his henchmen and guards, and walked through the ruined streets with a gloomy face, and the Yamen of the governor of Denglai in front of him had been reduced to rubble after a fierce battle, but in front of and around him, intermittent shouts of killing, gunshots, moans and all kinds of other noises were still floating in this chaotic battlefield.

And Liu Minyou, who is also a hardcore old partner of Chen Xin, who is in charge of civil affairs, was still lying unconscious on the hospital bed wrapped in bandages at this time.

In short, from now on, Chen Xin's Dengzhou Town is no longer an official army of the imperial court, but a rebel! It's really a bad year!

Speaking of which, how did things come to be like this?

Rubbing his temples, Chen Xin couldn't help but let out a long sigh and began to recall the experiences of the previous months.

In general, since entering Chongzhen for five years, the transportation of Dengzhou Town has not been very smooth.

-- Due to the rebellion in Dengzhou caused by the mutiny of the Liao soldiers, it was stirred up by the traversers of the Vladivostok Far East Company, and did not break out as scheduled in history, and the plans of the two traversers, Chen Xin and Liu Minyou, all came to naught (some of the Liao soldiers were kidnapped by the landing ships of the Vladivostok traverser group to serve as laborers when they went to sea by boat, and the remaining Liao soldiers encountered the Jurchen soldiers entering the customs and plundering on the way to the front line, so the mutinous Dengzhou Liao soldiers directly threw themselves into the Tartars and went to plunder the prefectures and counties of Beizhili, and did not return to Dengzhou). In the face of the dispatch of the imperial army and the urging of Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, Chen Xin had to gather 2,500 soldiers and horses and go to Beijing to prepare for reinforcements on the Dalinghe battlefield. The original culprit of the Dengzhou Rebellion in history, the more than 2,000 Liao soldiers of the Zhongjun Standard Battalion led by Li Jiucheng started more than half a month earlier than Chen Xin, and marched north to Zhili in the wind and snow.

After leaving Dengzhou, Chen Xin's Qinwang army did not have any good treatment along the way, and the prefectures and counties along the way did not say that they provided food and wages, and when the soldiers and horses crossed the border, the cities and even the city gates were closed, and they were not allowed to enter the city to purchase, which can be called a person hated dogs, although the march in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, it was no different from going to a foreign country -- but the prefectures and counties of Shandong were also helpless, and the discipline of the imperial court officials and troops had always been corrupted, and the so-called "thieves came like combs, and officials came like gowns", which is not an exaggeration. In this year, there were many disasters and famines, and life was difficult everywhere, and people were dying of hunger everywhere in Shandong Province. The hungry people are even more infested all over the mountains and wilderness, and there is no surplus grain in all counties and prefectures, and if they are looted by the soldiers and horses crossing the border a few times, even the landlord's small rich family will not be able to survive.

Thanks to Chen Xinyou's own Sihai Trading Company, which purchased grain and straw on his behalf, and the military salaries they brought were quite sufficient, they could barely hold on. The Liao soldiers under Li Jiucheng's command, who were walking in front of Chen Xin, were already hungry and full, and they were complaining all the way, and as for the journey of thousands of miles behind, they were even more daunted -- in Dengzhou, these troops who withdrew from Liaodong not only did not have the preferential treatment of the Guanning Army that allocated four or five million taels of silver every year, but they had to endure the common problems of the late Ming Dynasty's government despising martial artists and deducting military salaries, and they also had to endure the hostility of Shandong locals to foreign immigrants, and they were inferior everywhere. was bullied by the civil officials and gentry in Shandong to the extreme. Now that they are going to go into battle, the treatment is even more miserable than when they were in Dengzhou, and they may even starve to death on the way, which naturally makes the anger in their chests more and more intense, and they are about to reach the critical point of patience.

In short, the soldiers and horses of both roads are looking forward to the ancestral birthday in Dalinghe City hanging up as soon as possible, so that they can avoid the drudgery this time. Unfortunately, although the reinforcements from both routes were advancing at the slowest pace, they still did not wait for the news that Zu Dashou had hung up, but instead ordered them to speed up one after another from the Dengzhou side and the imperial military department, and the cities that passed behind were still as wary of them as ever.

Next, Chen Xin finally walked to Dezhou with a stomach full of breath, but received an edict ordering the world's officials and troops to enter King Jingqin - it turned out that Huang Taiji was besieging Dalinghe City, and after repeated fierce battles with the Guanning Army in Liaoxi and the rest of the Ming army, he also sent Abbateybele to lead a partial division, detour through Jizhen, break the border wall and enter Beizhili, so as to contain the Ming Dynasty reinforcements. On the other hand, when he learned that the Tartars had broken through the pass and gone south again, there was a panic in the city of Beijing, and the chaotic imperial court closed the city and imposed martial law on the one hand, and at the same time transferred troops everywhere to reinforce the Beijing division, as for the war in Dalinghe, he couldn't take care of it.

At the same time, Li Jiucheng, who was walking in the front, had already led more than 2,000 Liao soldiers to mutiniate and defect, and joined the Jurchen soldiers of Abatai's subordinates who broke through the Great Wall and went south to sweep the counties of Gyeonggi. On the other hand, after learning the news that Abatai had entered Koubei Zhili and Li Jiucheng had rebelled and surrendered to the Tartars, Chen Xin's general soldier was not angry but happy after hearing the news - now he finally has a serious reason, and he doesn't have to fill in the dead place of Da Ling River!

It's not that the Jurchen Tartars are really that difficult to fight, but it's that the boss of the pit daddy and the pig teammates around him are really desperate.

As a result, Chen Xin immediately ordered the whole army to fight, advanced into the North Zhili Theater, and fought several times with the small group of Tartars who "fought in the grass valley" and the Tartar Ming army who fought for the tiger, and made small gains. However, the grain and straw in the army were also greatly consumed, but all the counties and towns refused to provide supplies, as if they were not in the same system as the official army. At the same time, after all, the two sides are outnumbered, and just relying on this little bit of men and horses in Chen Xin's hand, he is really powerless to fight a decisive battle with Abatai. So he turned to Tianjin, planning to arrange supplies through the local port of Guò, and at the same time preparing to continue to Beijing while reporting to the imperial court.

Who knew that before the grain and straw were ready, the text of the military department came: it was actually an order for them not to come to King Qin! Leave Gyeonggi and get back to Dengju!

It turned out that since the edict of King Qin was issued, soldiers and horses from all walks of life have been drawn to the Beijing Division, but the imperial court does not seem to have thought of providing logistical support for these troops at all. First of all, there was a road to Shanxi Qinwang's army to Beijing, clinker court was busy with party disputes - state chaos, impeachment of the elder, this is the Ming tradition, the first assistant Zhou Yanru is because of the defeat in Liaodong and was impeached by the officials, in order to keep the power and Wen Tiren fierce fighting, the Manchu Dynasty civil and military are divided into camps to bite each other, there is no intention of government affairs...... As a result, the military department turned a blind eye to the reinforcements from other provinces and ordered them to sleep outside Andingmen. The angry generals of the Qin Wang Army went to reprimand the household department, and the household department, which was still controlled by the Donglin Party at that time, actually replied: "The people can stay in the house"; Another Qinwang army from Henan was short of food and wages, so they asked the household department for food, and the household department even issued an official document and replied: "The people have food, how can they all rely on the household department?" ”

These reinforcements from other provinces rushed all the way to Beijing to prepare their own grain and rice to rush to King Qin, and they felt that they were already loyal to the Zhu Ming Dynasty, but they didn't expect the imperial court to treat the Qin Wang army so coldly, which made them more and more angry and disappointed the more they thought about it: since the imperial court didn't care about food or accommodation, eating and dressing were all problems, and military discipline naturally could not be maintained-since the household department of the imperial court had already said that we should go and rob the house to live in and grab something to eat, what else should we settle down?

As a result, officials and soldiers from all walks of life ran rampant in the suburbs of Beijing, seized people's houses as military camps, robbed the people's food to fill their stomachs, the timid stole chickens and dogs, and the bold killed people and goods, at first they only dared to rob the small people, and then gradually began to rob the gentry and big households, and finally even the grange villas of the emperor's relatives were robbed, and when those rich servants came to stop them, the generals glared at them: "...... This is an edict of the imperial court! Teach me to rob you as a reward! ”

Knowing that the imperial court actually acted so absurdly - encouraging King Qin's soldiers and horses to loot the people at will! The residents of Jingshi were immediately full of grief and indignation, cursing that the officers and soldiers were more harmful than the thieves and soldiers, and the suburbs of Jingshi had suffered repeated military disasters in recent years, and most of the residents had fled, and they had long since lost their former prosperity. Because of the uneven distribution of spoils, conflicts broke out between officers and soldiers from all walks of life, and before the Liaodong Tatars arrived, Beijing became a battlefield -- outside Gyeonggi, there were Jiannu burning, killing and looting, and under the city of Jingshi, officers and soldiers were fighting and causing trouble, and the land of all good things in Beijing turned into a fire and hell for a while, the city gates were closed tightly during the day, and the wealthy officials and gentry fled to Tianjin overnight, in an attempt to take a boat to the south by sea to "escape the hustle and bustle."

It was not until the whole situation was about to be cleaned up that Emperor Chongzhen in the deep palace finally learned of the incident, and immediately became furious, scolding the generals of the Qinwang Army in other provinces, "There is no way to govern the army, disturb the people, Moken uses his life, what is the use of setting up officials in peacetime?" He also ordered the military department to strictly reorganize the armies of all stripes. It's a pity that at this point, even the emperor's order didn't work, after the court forced the generals to be anxious, they encouraged the soldiers to set up a fortress to block the city gate, and made a noise to threaten the court, shouting again and again: "My generation will die to the enemy, and the food is not full, can An can refuse the white blade with a small life?" ”

-- When Chen Xin sent a letter from Tianjin to report his merits, the chaos caused by the Qinwang army from all walks of life in Beijing had not yet been dealt with, and the military department and the household department were all lawsuits in one head. Looking at Abatai's Houjin army has turned around and returned north, it is expected to leave the territory of Daming soon, so he simply sent Chen Xin back, and everyone was quieter.

So, Chen Xin took his Dengzhou army and returned to the Weihaiwei garrison by boat in a gloomy way, thinking that he had finally escaped.

Not long after, Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, sent someone to inform him, saying that he wanted to commend Chen Xin's military exploits in the previous entry into Beijing, and at the same time discuss the takeover of the Liao army left behind by Li Jiucheng after the rebellion of his remaining garrison and defense area......

Chen Xin and Liu Minyou didn't feel anything wrong at first, so they went to Dengzhou Capital City...... Unexpectedly, this is actually a Hongmen feast!

It turned out that Chen Xin needed to obtain a large amount of arable land in order to establish a military cantonment, resettle military dependents, and create a reliable base area, so he had constant conflicts with the landlords and gentry in Dengzhou.

Not long ago, according to the guidance of Chen Xin, a traverser, his cronies and subordinates explored the Zhaoyuan gold mine according to the map, and prepared to develop it as a new source of income for raising soldiers. However, in the process of recruiting miners and making preparations, the relevant responsible personnel did not do a good job of keeping secrets, allowing outsiders to find out the details, which attracted the attention of many forces for a while -- although the local officials and gentry in Dengzhou had been killed by Chen Xin, the temptation of gold was really amazing. After heavyweight local tyrants such as the Lu Wangfu in Ziyang and the Yansheng Mansion in Qufu also joined in and sought to seize Chen Xin's industry, driven by hatred and lured by gold mines, a powerful alliance against Chen Xin's general army and Dengzhou Town soon appeared.

At this time, the Donglin Party was under attack and in danger in the court, and it was urgent to drum up a major event to divert the focus...... Therefore, under the joint pressure of many forces from the center of the imperial court to the Shandong region, Sun Yuanhua, a member of the Donglin Party who saw that his official position was in jeopardy, finally made up his mind to conspire with many forces to set up a killing situation against Chen Xin, preparing to "seize his soldiers, exterminate his people, punish his henchmen, and return Dengzhou to a prosperous world"......

Although the idea seems to be very good, but Sun Yuanhua, a weak scholar, is really not very good at shady things such as political murder, so he is almost arranged according to the routine of "smashing the cup and pouring out five hundred knives and axes" in the commentary. In addition, this loose cabal also did not do a good job of secrecy, and as a result, before Chen Xin and Liu Minyou arrived in Dengzhou Capital, rumors were already flying in the market.

And Chen Xin arranged a lot of spies in Dengzhou City in advance to detect the movement in advance. So before the ambush was launched, some people rushed out of the city at the risk of death and reported to Chen Xin and Liu Minyou, which frightened them into quickly turning around at the city gate and retreating in a hurry...... But Rao is like this, and on the way back to Weihaiwei, Chen Xin and Liu Minyou were still pursued and blocked by unknown forces. Chen Xinshuai, who has been in a hundred battles, is fine, but Liu Minyou, a civil official, was hit by two arrows first, fell off his horse, and was finally carried back covered in blood.

At this point, both sides have already torn their faces, and there is no room for relaxation. The furious Chen Xin Marshal knew the essence of the blitzkrieg, and immediately mobilized the most reliable descendant of the Wendeng battalion to launch a surprise attack on the capital city of Dengzhou. And the people in Dengzhou Mansion were still complaining and abusing each other, shirking the responsibility for the failure of the ambush, and they never expected Chen Xin's counterattack to be so fast, and he was caught off guard for a while.

Almost instantly, the Wendeng battalion, determined to take revenge, broke through the city defense of Dengzhou, and it only took more than an hour to thwart the defenders' dying counterattack in the street battle. At present, the attacking troops are already launching surprise attacks on various key points in the city, such as the treasury and yamen, and good news is frequently reported everywhere.

Although it seems that victory is in sight, Chen Xin knows that this qiē is just the beginning.

Next, he will have to face the crazy counterattack of the entire Ming Empire, and the continuous brutal battles do not know how long it will last.

However, now that he has been forced to take this step, there is no other choice.

Just as he was standing outside the burnt rubble of the Governor of Denglai's yamen, looking thoughtfully at the curling smoke, a bloodied soldier suddenly rushed to him and reported, "...... Handsome! Denglai Water City has been breached, but our army's naval division came from Weihai a little late and failed to block the port! Governor Sun and the other officials, as well as the people from the Lu Wangfu and the Yansheng Mansion, all took the lead and fled in the water camp boat! ”

“…… Fled? How long did their ship escape? Chen Xin frowned and asked.

“…… I didn't escape far, and I could still see the sails faintly from the pier of Suiying! ”

“…… Don't let the sailor hurry up and chase after it! Chen Xin snorted angrily and threw the horsewhip to the ground, and scolded angrily, "...... turned Lao Tzu into a rebel, and injured Lao Liu like this, but now he wants to leave, how can there be such a cheap thing in the world! ”

However, the sailors sent by Chen Xin to pursue still failed to catch up with the fugitive fleet of Sun Yuanhua and others after all, but lost them halfway. As a result, as soon as the officers and subordinates of the navy division were combined, they changed their route and sailed to the mouth of Dagukou in Tianjin, first withdrew the personnel of their own Sihai trading company stationed in Tianjin, and then fired a few indiscriminate demonstrations on the shore, then lifted anchor and hoisted the sails, and went home......

But in spite of this, it has already frightened the local government gentry, and many wealthy businessmen and gentry who had just escaped from Beijing and came to Tianjin for refuge have fled farther away again, and the emergency documents flew into the imperial military headquarters like snowflakes, causing a thunderous earthquake.

At the same time, in the southern part of Shandong, another even more massive chaos has also spread rapidly in the form of a prairie fire.