Chapter 155, the turbulent Jiangnan (II)

There was also an even more serious rebellion, breaking out on the shores of Taihu Lake. This is the main grain-producing area in the south of the Yangtze River, and the additional taxes in kind urgently imposed by the Nanjing Imperial Court are also extremely heavy, coupled with the increase in the layers of tax officials at all levels and the rural gentry, the local peasants cannot afford to pay the official taxes even if they buy and sell their daughters.

Under the frenzied pressure of the government, some farmers and fishermen in the vicinity of the lake first began a tax evasion campaign, hiding their latest harvest and fleeing in small boats to several islands in the middle of the lake, refusing to make contact with the tax-collecting officials and rent-collecting landlords.

In this regard, the angry officials immediately organized the officials and strong men, rowing small boats over to clean up, but when the problem developed into an armed conflict, things became more and more out of control, after several small-scale battles, such as the remnants of the Cao Gang, the Taihu Lake bandits, the remnants of the Wenxiang Sect, and even the rout of the Zhejiang army, and other three-sect and nine-rate people joined the riot. By the middle of August, these Taihu rebels not only defeated the government's pursuit, but even gathered thousands of people to attack Yixing County on the west bank of Taihu Lake by relying on internal and external cooperation, and then wantonly looted Huzhou Mansion on the south bank of Taihu Lake!

Prior to this, in order to prevent internal fires, the twelve leaders of the water village along the Taihu Lake had already held an alliance on West Dongting Mountain Island and elected a leader surnamed Su, or "Chief Scoop Leader". It is said that the envoy of the Australian bandits participated in the alliance and gave the Taihu bandit army the name "Twelve Serial Docks". Out of consideration for foreign aid, the leader of the Soviet League gladly accepted the above name, and the Taihu bandits became more and more popular for a while.

It was not until this time that the Nanjing Imperial Court, which had just woken up from a dream, began to dispatch troops and generals to the Taihu Lake bandit area and arrange for the suppression, but due to the exchange of instructions and documents, by the time the Yangtze River sailors entered Taihu Lake and began to suppress it, it had been three months since the incident. In fact, when these peasants launched an anti-tax rebellion and united with various figures to repel the officials and troops, the landlords and rich peasants in the surrounding areas were terrified, and many people even packed up their soft preparations to flee in advance, after all, the peasants in the southern Hangzhou area had already been instigated by Australian thieves to wantonly kill the gentry and divide the land. Because they did not receive the guidance of the task force, these peasants' spontaneous land reform actions were extremely bloody, and at every turn they were a tragedy in which their families were wiped out.

Therefore, when the Yangtze River sailors drove into Taihu Lake, they actually enjoyed the feeling of a pot of pulp food, and the landlord gentry who had the backbone not only took out a large amount of grain and silver money to reward the sergeants, but also organized a large militia group to come to help the war. So before the battle began, in addition to receiving a lot of provisions, the imperial court officers and soldiers also had a full 3,000 soldiers and horses out of thin air.

Unfortunately, the ensuing battle did not go well. Although the Yangtze River Navy Division performed very hard this time, not only recovering the lost Yixing County in only one day, but also making persistent efforts to continue to attack the island private harbor where the "Twelve Docks" water bandits were entrenched. However, the sailors of the "12 Docks" were by no means mediocre; they not only bravely drove a sampan to launch a suicide attack on the officers and sailors, but also carried out a night attack on a "fireboat" with considerable technical content, burning down hundreds of officers and ships in one go. Although the local gentry recruited the village warriors to practice, although the will to fight was quite good, but in terms of more technical water warfare, they were really not the opponents of "professionals" like the Cao Gang. As a result, due to repeated defeats in water battles, they were unable to land on the island where the "Twelve Docks" were entrenched by water bandits, and the numerical superiority of the official and military camps could not be brought into play, so they could only stand on the shore and look at the water and sigh.

What's even worse is that after learning of the military situation in the Taihu Theater, although the thieves in Hangzhou did not send their own troops to respond, they drove the rebels of Hainingwei to attack Huzhou from the southeast, and made a gesture to attack the capital city of Huzhou, so it completely disrupted the plan of the official army. The Xiangyong of Huzhou and Jiaxing had to hurriedly return to their respective hometowns to defend against the enemy, and the Yangtze River sailors had to be satisfied with the exploits of recovering Yixing, and hung a string of human heads on the mast to "triumphantly".

As a result, the officials and soldiers who conquered Taihu Lake retreated, and the water bandits of the "Twelve Docks" made a comeback, not only attacking the dilapidated Yixing County again, but also capturing Changxing County in Zhejiang, and plundering Suzhou Mansion, which can be said to be a severe slap in the face of the imperial court.

Fortunately, the face of the small court of Emperor Yonghe in Nanjing has long been beaten to the same level as Zhu Bajie, so he doesn't care about these slaps.

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In any case, although this land south of the Yangtze River has been on fire from all sides, relying on the deployment of troops to tear down the east wall to make up for the west wall, and the bloody massacre with the consequences, Zhou Yanru, the first assistant to the cabinet, finally reluctantly suppressed this chaos.

However, those worthless grass people can certainly be killed at will. can take the lead in instigating the people to change, especially the talented people with their merits, once the court slaughters them with their hot hands, it is as if they have stabbed a hornet's nest. At this moment, the snowflakes of impeachment have been piled up in the cabinet room, and all of them are scolding Zhou Yanru, the first assistant of the cabinet. Some people scolded him for "harming scholars and insulting Swen", "stifling the style of writing, and being cruel and unkind", and some people admonished him and said, "Since ancient times, the punishment of doctors is not good, and even if scholars have minor mistakes, they should be lenient." How can you condone the vulgar martial arts to kill the pillars of the country, how is it different from burning books and pit Confucianism? "The words are all about the same meaning: Zhou Yanru, you are already such a heinous crime, why don't you step down quickly?

In this regard, Zhou Yanru was really angry and funny, depressed and sad: What kind of mess is this court now, you imperial historians don't know it, and you still want to set off a new trend of overthrowing the cabinet? Aren't you really afraid of the nest and no eggs?! However, after some communication, the other party's attitude seems to be really "life is endless, and the cabinet is not stopped"! Because that's what their lives are all about!!

“…… What is the crime of this generation of scholars? Fallacies confuse the public, violate the laws of the country, gather traitors, and mislead the people. Raise the light of rice beads, seize the sun and moon in vain, act with the axe of the praying mantis, and dare to go against the sky! In today's situation, it is advisable to kill one policeman and one hundred, hang the head of the traitor, deter the ugly people in the south of the Yangtze River, and those who offend the court will not be punished! ”

He snorted angrily and gave instructions, and then all the more than 100 rice robbers who were reported to the criminal department for punishment were executed, and he was ready to be beheaded as soon as possible, and then stretched his waist, and was about to rest for a while, but suddenly heard a commotion outside, and then a cronie ran over panting, holding a dirty list in his hand, and kept shouting: "...... Woe to you! Woe to you! Emperor Chongzhen abolished the emperor and sent a letter to crusade against Nanjing! ”

Zhou Yanru was completely tired for a moment, jumped up with a "whoosh", snatched the list with his hand and took a look, and suddenly his eyes turned black. I saw that it was written: "...... I looked up and looked down, just when the riots were cut down to save the people, and the day was also the day when the sky responded to the people. On September 11, the sixth year of Chongzhen, the suburbs sacrificed to the world, showed the cloth, told the temple to build the teacher, and marched in the period. Mobilize 800,000 officers and soldiers on land and water, drive the expedition in person, go down the river from Wuchang, go straight to Jinling, and stay in the capital to do a traitor and puppet emperor will hunt in the south of the Yangtze River! Out of the bronze ostrich in the thorns, lay the jade in the golden soup, the banner of righteousness, respond to all directions, the hearts of the subjects, and the anger of the snow heaven and people. Revitalize my martial arts, cut the hustle and bustle, macro the strategy of Zhongxing, enthusiastically wind and thunder, build a perfect strategy, roaring song and rain dew, if you can understand the time appropriately, look at the wind and return to the smooth, then the grass and trees will not be damaged, and the chickens and dogs will not be surprised; Dare to have a back to obey and rebel, love the current selfish favor, forget the old master of the world, according to the danger of suffocation, resist my king's teacher, I am the commander of the army, personally conquer the nest, the old and childish do not stay, both men and women are punished!

If there are civil and military students, who have studied the art of war and are familiar with geography, they may wish to offer advice before the army, so as to support the humerus, and the equivalent material is excellent, and they do not hesitate to be thickly sealed. Officials in various prefectures and counties, if they are clean and love the people, honest and honest, still hold their original posts. The grain and grain urged are sealed and stored in the warehouse, and the letters and books are printed before the army. If there is something unfinished, it is advisable to issue another treaty, and everyone should obey the warning, so as not to stain the knife with blood, then the widow is very fortunate, and the world is very fortunate! ”

Looking at the rows of murderous words, the thin piece of paper in his hand seemed to weigh a thousand catties in Zhou Yanru's feelings...... After standing like this for a while, the left and right attendants felt that something was wrong with Zhou Yanru and wanted to come up to check, but they saw that Lord Shoufu vomited a mouthful of blood "wow", and the whole person collapsed on the table, "...... Finished! Finished! I really shouldn't be this Shousuke! I really regret that I shouldn't have done it in the first place! ”

It's just that Zhou Yanru also knew that he had committed the crime of treason after all, and there was no way to retreat at all, and after crying and venting for a while, he finally raised his spirit again and began to arrange countermeasures: "...... Quickly draft an official document and urge Lu Weiqi to return to Nanjing and prepare for the westward expedition against the enemy! Then gather the ministers and start a court meeting! No matter what, they have to get the money and food! Whether everyone lives or dies, it's up to everyone! ”

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On September 11, the sixth year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen brought the civil and military ministers to set up an altar in Wuchang, to pay tribute to the ancestral spirits of heaven and earth, and then issued an edict to crusade against the rebels of the puppet emperor in Nanjing, and prepared to drive the emperor to conquer the south of the Yangtze River. An old minister admonished: The dignified son of heaven, how can you move lightly? The responsibility of the Son of Heaven lies in self-cultivation and morality, and to educate all people with benevolence and righteousness. It's not about the bloody battlefield, and the company of the warriors. What kind of system does it become to rashly levy in person? The emperor replied: If it falls apart today, the two capitals have fallen, the ancestral tombs have fallen into the hands of thieves, and there are many rebels in the honorable, civil and military, is it the time for self-cultivation and virtue? If I don't go to the expedition again, I'm afraid I'll be able to add a sword and axe to my body in the near future! So the army of Huguang was 80,000, known as 800,000, advancing by land and water, marching eastward together, and the southeast half of the wall shook for a time.

On the 25th, the emperor drove into Jiujiang, and the whole province of Jiangxi was terrified, and officials from the governor of Jiangxi, political envoys and below, all rushed to Jiujiang to meet and swore allegiance. Emperor Chongzhen then set up a camp in Jiujiang, sat in Jiujiang to appease the people, and collected grain, as the backing for the conquest of the Jiangnan army. At the same time, Lu Xiang, the secretary of the Ministry of Worship, was promoted to the chief general, and led the whole army to continue to march into Nanzhili. On the 26th, the Nanjing Imperial Court also ordered to stay in the capital under martial law, and at the same time mobilized all the troops in the south of the Yangtze River, led by Lu Weiqi, the secretary of the military department, and rushed upstream to meet the incoming enemy, seeing that a decisive battle between the eastern and western armies was imminent.

On the third day of October, Wang Dou, the vanguard of the Western Army, advanced by land and water, attacked the boundary of Nanzhili, and was invincible all the way. Intimidated by the orthodox authority of Emperor Chongzhen, the prefect of Anqing and its subordinate counties and counties all defected, and the western army soldiers went down to Anqing without blood. The counties of Chizhou and Luzhou are also trembling.

When Lu Xiangsheng, the commander of the Western Army, heard the news, he also launched a large army and rushed to Anqing to supervise the battle. The generals of the Western Army were jealous of Wang Dou's repeated victories and were deeply favored by the emperor, and Lu Xiangsheng also wanted to take the credit of recovering Jinling alone. On the grounds that there were several battalions of Zhejiang soldiers stationed in Huizhou and fearing that the rear route of the army might be threatened, Wang Dou's troops were sent to abandon the ship and land, stay away from the Yangtze River, and go south over the mountains to attack Huizhou. Wang Dou received the order in a foolish manner, and ordered 3,000 troops to land and go to Huizhou.

At this time, the commander of the Eastern Army, Lu Weiqi, the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, sent all the troops in the south of the Yangtze River and gathered more than 70,000 people in the Eastern Army. Lü Weiqi then stopped his troops in Wuhu and did not dare to enter again, but camped on the spot and prepared to block the enemy upstream.

On October 12, Lu Xiangsheng led the main force of the Western Army to break through Chizhou and enter Wuhu, but was blocked by the Eastern Army barracks, and the decisive battle between the two armies was about to break out......