Chapter 278: Qi Yanming
Rizhao is in the northeast of Jinling, belongs to Qingzhou Prefecture, and is a small county seat. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoHowever, there has been a big celebrity here, and Lu Shang, who assisted King Wen in his war, is a native of Rizhao, which is what later generations call Jiang Taigong.
In September of last year, this place had been attacked by the rebels and occupied by the troops led by Qi Yanming. Qi Yan is known as a cunning and resourceful person, and he likes to wear white robes, so he has the support of a white fox. Although he is a literati, he has a strong wrist and a somewhat handsome appearance.
"Qi Shuai, this is news from Li Qingyuan, saying that there is something wrong in Jinling City, and the time for the outbreak of poison has been advanced. "A staff member told Qi Yanming about Jinling City.
Qi Yanming is in his thirties, his appearance is not at all, and his eyes are not sharp, if you don't say that he is one of the leaders of the rebels, you still think that he is an ordinary scholar.
"I have long said that these Jianghu people are unreliable, and Liu Liu wants to keep him. Qi Yanming sneered, he was a scholar, and he had always looked down on the people of the rivers and lakes, and he didn't look down on the demon Taoist priests.
The staff member stood aside and did not speak, the most important thing now is not these things, but how to solve the problem? If the poison breaks out in advance, then they will not send troops in advance?
"Since things are already like this, what do you think?" Qi Yanming reached out and knocked on the table, asking the staff beside him.
"In my opinion, it is freezing at this time, and it is absolutely impossible to send troops, and since ancient times, it has been taboo to send troops in winter. In addition, our cotton clothes are insufficient, and it has become difficult for our soldiers to protect themselves from the cold. "The staff felt that it was absolutely inappropriate to send troops at this time, and the risk was too great.
"The imperial court ordered the right attendant of the military department, Lu Wan, to supervise the military affairs, and led the border army and the officers and soldiers of the Beijing camp to be stationed in our north. If it weren't for the freezing weather, we might have been surrounded. "The reason why it is not appropriate to send troops in winter, how Qi Yanming doesn't understand, but now there is only one way left for them.
They originally planned to poison Jinling City first, and attack with all their might as soon as spring began, but who expected that things would change abruptly and completely disrupt their plan, and if they were re-arranged, it would not be too late.
"Then I will order people to collect cotton and warm utensils throughout the city, so that the army will have no worries. The staff can recognize his identity very well, and he also knows Qi Yanming's temper, since Qi Shuai has made a decision, he only needs to be responsible for implementing it.
"Okay, give you five days, and after five days, the army will be marching out. Qi Yanming was very satisfied with the attitude of the staff, and after giving the order, he waved his hand to let him retreat.
The military discipline of the rebels is not very good, because most of the people they recruit are some homeless people and bandits and bandits, how much can you expect them to be conscious? And the superiors don't care about these things, their plan is to cross the Yangtze River and capture the south of the Ming Dynasty, and this northern boundary is just a place for them to go over.
They claimed to be against the brutal rule of the Ming Dynasty, but in reality, they had no less blood under their hands than the exploiting officials.
After Qi Yanming gave the order, all the soldiers went door to door to collect cotton, cloth, grain and coal, and even some forage. Without these things, it would be extremely difficult for the people to survive the winter.
Five days later, the vast number of soldiers left from Rizhao County, and the soldiers under the command of Qi Yanming were about 30,000 people. However, a few days earlier, they had also searched for supplies in some nearby cities, and finally managed to get the army to go.
When Qi Yanming sent troops, Zhao Sui led 50,000 people to march from Henan, while Liu Liu set out from Jinan Mansion, and he had the largest number of people under him, with 70,000 people. The three parties agreed to meet in Yanzhou Mansion so that they could cross the Yangtze River together and attack Jinling City.
With so many people, it is not very difficult to conquer Jinling City. Although Xu Li holds the Governor's Mansion of the Chinese Army in his hands, and there is an army of 500,000 under his hands, these people are actually distributed all over the south, and it is very difficult to mobilize them. Because Xu Li only has the right to command troops, but not the right to transfer troops.
In other words, you can only bring troops if you are asked by the imperial court, and if you don't have an order from the imperial court, you can only stare dryly. The emperors of the Ming Dynasty were very taboo about military power, and they all held it tightly in their hands. Therefore, no matter how fierce the civil officials and eunuchs fight, the emperor can still hold the power steadily.
To tell the truth, as long as you, the emperor, are shameless, you will have a lot of power. For example, the late Emperor Xiaozong, who was extremely tolerant of his ministers and had an extremely good attitude towards Confucianism, had a very good reputation, and many people called his reign "Hongzhi Zhongxing."
But in fact, this also makes those literati accustomed to their nostrils facing the sky, and they like to find the emperor to pick thorns to show their sense of existence. Emperor Xiaozong has a good temper, and he can accept it if others provoke him. But the current emperor is different, Zhengde is not a peaceful master, he is most constrained by others, and when a minister comes to find trouble, he will go back, which also leads to Zhengde having a reputation of "ridiculous and frolic".
But don't look at people's bad reputations, but he can make those ministers under his hands want to die. Let's just say that a few years ago, he let Liu Jin out, forcing the first assistant and second assistant of the cabinet to return to his hometown, but he beat Wenchen a beating.
When Liu Jin sat down, he killed him with his backhand, whether it was a eunuch or a civil official, he wanted to rectify it, but it was just a matter of one sentence.
Therefore, without the order of the imperial court, Xu Li would never dare to transfer troops. The defenders near Jinling City were no more than 50,000 people, and the outbreak of illness in the city made people even more panicked, and in general, the rebels still had the advantage.
However, this weather is really a toss-up, Qingzhou Mansion and Yanzhou Mansion where Rizhao are located are adjacent to each other, but they were stunned for half a month. Fortunately, they went all the way and grabbed all the way, otherwise there would have been a problem with the supply.
Qi Yanming and they are quite good, and the troops led by Zhao Sui and Liu Liu are numerous, and the pressure on the baggage is even greater, and it is even more difficult to walk. By the time they arrived in Yanzhou, the number of deserters and the dead and wounded was almost 10,000, which was an extremely alarming number and a huge blow to morale.
In order to boost morale, after arriving in Yanzhou Mansion, they relaxed the restrictions and allowed the soldiers to burn, kill and loot, which stabilized the morale of the army.
As for the Ming army, they were still stationed in their own territory and did not take advantage of the chaos to attack. On the one hand, there is no order from above, and on the other hand, it is too easy to have an accident when sending troops in winter, and in case of an accident, it is easy to be attacked by officials.
Thanks to the 500 coin reward from Calorie Maniac and Ebony Tianyu, touch it big