The twelfth year of Chongzhen, October.

Zhao Han ordered the troops to divide into two routes, one by boat to receive Fuzhou, and the other south to receive Tingzhou. Those who resisted, all the officials were exterminated, and the number of officials who surrendered or fled was almost half of the total.

In recent years, more than a dozen uprisings broke out in Fujian, and there were also repeated droughts, and neither the gentry, the government nor the people wanted to fight.

Four words: people's minds are determined.

A lot of the autumn grain that has just been harvested in Jiangxi has been transported to Fujian for disaster relief. A large amount of grain from Hunan was transported to Jiangsu and Zhejiang for sale. The territory of several provinces under Zhao Han's rule was finally able to recuperate this time.

In the north, however, it is even more chaotic.

The officers and men of Xunyang and Xiangyang have been without pay for half a year, and they usually rely on looting the people for food and drink.

Governor Wang Aoyong requested the allocation of military salaries, totaling more than 100,000 taels of silver. If the imperial court has no money, it asks for the issuance of salt quotations, and merchants sell salt to deduct military expenses.

Chongzhen agreed.

The rest of the officers and soldiers also used salt to deduct and let them find their own ways to cash in.

For a time, salt led to over-issuance and rapid depreciation.

The Hui merchants, the Qin merchants and the Jin merchants suffered heavy losses, and in order to appease the resentment of the merchants, the two Huai patrols the salt imperial history to strengthen the management of the salt farms.

In this way, the merchants were pleased, but they forced the salt lords and stove households to rebel.

In particular, if the salt-burning stove households do not rebel, they will only be left with a dead end, because they all rely on selling illicit salt to survive.

Zheng Guofeng, the salt lord, gathered a crowd to raise troops, and the two Huaizao households echoed each other, killing the field supervisors of each salt field, and more than 30,000 troops were supported in October, occupying Rugao, Haimen, Taixing, and Tongzhou (Nantong) four counties.

The salt merchants blew up.

The salt merchants of Huizhou and Shanxi used to fight each other's brains, but this time they united to raise troops to assist the magistrates in suppressing the salt lord uprising.

Hui Shang kept writing letters, asking Zhao Tianwang to send troops and quickly take the Lianghuai region.

Zhao Han turned a deaf ear and kept his troops moving, waiting for next year's summer harvest to talk about it.

The two Huai fought lively, and Hubei was occupied by Zhang Xianzhong in the land of the four prefectures.

"Cao Cao" Luo Rucai originally followed Zhang Xianzhong, but the two fell out some time ago. The reason was that Zhang Xianzhong was favoritist and gave all the territory to his godson and generals, and Luo Rucai was busy for half a day and only had two counties.

Luo Rucai led his army west to Dabie Mountain and took Mall, Gushi, Gwangju, Guangshan, Xixian, Luoshan and other counties.

This move frightened the officers and soldiers of Henan, they were encircling and suppressing Li Zicheng, and Luo Rucai suddenly developed wildly behind him.

……

Xinzheng.

"Ahem, ahem!"

Yang Sichang coughed repeatedly, coughing so hard that he couldn't straighten his waist, as if he wanted to cough out his lungs.

This is the most powerful civil official in the Ming Dynasty, and he has to be white at this moment. Compared with last year's energetic life, it seems that he has aged 20 years, and his face is full of wrinkles at some point.

Luoyang City is high and deep, Li Zicheng can't beat it, and as the Xuanda border army goes south, King Chuang is once again driven away.

No matter what tuntian, what kind of establishment, these policies can't be implemented, he can only continue to be a rogue.

Li Zicheng is difficult, Yang Sichang is also difficult, and all armies are making trouble.

"Report!"

"Tiger Dawei, fierce as a tiger, Zuo Liangyu, teamed up to attack the thief camp, beheaded more than 5,000 enemies, and the thief fled to Yanling!"

Yang Sichang stood up excitedly, his face flushed with a sickly flush, and said again and again: "Good, good, fight well, let all the generals report their merits." ”

"Ahem, cough, ahem!"

Yang Sichang coughed again, coughed up a hand of blood, he secretly wiped off the blood, and did not dare to let anyone see it.

The next day, on the report of the military exploits of all parties, Yang Sichang drew up a document for the success, and immediately sent someone to Beijing.

The imperial court had no money to reward his merits, so Yang Sichang could only ask for a knight, requesting that Hu Dawei, Fierce Tiger, and Zuo Liangyu all be named earls, and the rest of the generals were also named wives and sons.

If he didn't, he wouldn't be able to command the army, and the court was too heavily in arrears.

"Inspector, a eunuch is here!"

As soon as the document was delivered, a eunuch suddenly came to Xinzheng to announce the decree.

This decree was not formal, and the eunuch retreated left and right, and said to Yang Sichang: "Elder Yang Ge, Your Majesty asks you, when will you be able to exterminate the thieves?" ”

"I just won a big game the other day." Yang Sichang replied.

The eunuch sighed and said, "Your Majesty ordered you to quickly kill the thief and dispatch the elite to rescue Jinzhou!" If...... If the thief cannot be pacified within half a year, His Majesty will have to change someone to supervise the teacher. ”

Yang Sichang didn't bother to argue, and said weakly: "I will definitely do my best." ”

There were not many goods in the army, so Yang Sichang took five hundred taels and gave them to the eunuch as filial piety silver, and repeatedly explained that he had no money.

The eunuch sneered when he left the barracks: "This Yang Ge is stingy, and he is called Huazi for five hundred taels?" ”

Yang Sichang was physically and mentally exhausted, and because of the emperor's order, he could only let the various departments accelerate the encirclement of Li Zicheng.

Li Zicheng continued to move south, intending to join forces with Luo Rucai.

By November, Li and Luo had joined forces in the county, with nearly 200,000 people.

The two sides confronted each other in a small town called Tongzhongdian, and tested each other on a small scale, and neither dared to launch an attack without authorization.

After half a month of confrontation, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai suddenly left the camp at night.

Yang Guozhu, Wang Pu, and Zuo Liangyu thought it was a ploy to lure the enemy, and ordered not to pursue. As fierce as a tiger, the tiger is mighty but leads the troops to chase after him, thinking that this is a good opportunity to break the enemy.

Yang Sichang sat in the tent of the commander, and it was difficult to stop the pursuit of the enemy. He was afraid that the two tiger generals would be ambushed, so he asked Yang Guozhu, Wang Pu, and Zuo Liangyu to chase the enemy together, and they could take care of each other.

The three did not dare to disobey the order, but they did not want to chase them into the mountains, so they stopped their march for several miles and sent out sentry to inquire about the situation.

As fierce as a tiger, Tiger Dawei has already gone crazy, chasing headlong into the mountains, more than 100,000 rogues scattered and fled, collapsing all over the mountains.

Zuo Liangyu got the news of victory in the middle of the night, where did he give up this opportunity? immediately led the troops to chase after him, intending to take the opportunity to make a fortune.

"Kill the left thief!"

When Zuo Liangyu entered the mountain, it was already slightly dark, and a team of cavalry suddenly appeared behind his buttocks.

However, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai were ruthless, using their more than 100,000 infantry as bait, allowing the officers and soldiers to chase and drive them away, and each of them took the elite old battalion to ambush from afar.

More than 4,000 cavalry of the old battalion rushed out in the morning light and killed Zuo Liangyu, who had been marching for half a night.

"Retreat!"

Zuo Liangyu was frightened inexplicably, thinking that the fierce tiger and tiger Dawei who entered the mountain had been defeated, and before he could meet the enemy, he took his family to ride away on horseback.

In this raid, the infantry under Zuo Liangyu was completely lost.

Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai chased and killed for a while, and soon entered the mountains to continue the battle.

More than 100,000 rogues scattered and fled, as fierce as a tiger, and the tiger was already chasing mad. The chase couldn't be contained at all, and the soldiers under his command killed thieves everywhere and robbed the goods, and only the Jiading cavalry was still around the two.

After Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai entered the mountain, they led more than 4,000 cavalry from the old battalion and rushed to kill the scattered officers and soldiers when they saw them.

Killed all the way, followed the officers and soldiers who fled, and soon found Hu Dawei's family guards.

It was another cavalry duel, more than 4,000 against more than 1,000, and the former still came out suddenly.

Where does Hu Dawei dare to fight? Immediately chose to escape.

The pursuit lasted until noon, and both sides were sleepy. Hu Dawei's horse stumbled, fell to the ground suddenly, and was hacked to death by Luo Rucai.

As for the fierce army, it was transporting goods in the mountains and escorting more than a thousand prisoners.

"Tiger Dawei is dead!"

Luo Rucai held the head of Hu Dawei with a spear, and Li Zicheng asked people to hold high the banner of Hu Dawei, and ordered the cavalry to shout together.

As fierce as a tiger looked back, the head was not seen clearly, but the flag was the flag of the tiger.

"Withdraw!"

Fierce as a tiger, he didn't dare to fight, so he threw down his foot soldiers and ran away with his family cavalry.

In this battle, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai's foot soldiers probably scattered sixty or seventy thousand people, and thousands were killed by officers and soldiers.

But on the side of the officers and soldiers, Zuo Liangyu and the fierce tiger's foot soldiers were all lost, and Hu Dawei was directly annihilated.

In terms of the number of troops lost, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai definitely lost, but they actually won a big victory.

Don't look at the more than 100,000 rogues, but most of the foot soldiers are consumables. The elite troops of the two add up to more than 4,000 cavalry, and there are thousands of old battalion foot soldiers, with their families, defending the county seat of Xixian County.

Handsome tent.

Yang Sichang, who received the military report, sat down dejectedly, looking ahead with blank eyes.

Judging only by the combat strength of both sides, it is impossible for officers and men to lose.

"How can you lose?" Yang Sichang couldn't figure it out.

Several successive Tang newspapers were sent, and the generals of all walks of life accused each other, which was nothing more than the rhetoric of underestimating the enemy and fearing the enemy.

Yang Guozhu and Wang Pu's soldiers and horses have not fought until now, and they guessed that there was a problem, so they chose to stay put.

The tiger is mighty and fierce as a tiger is the first to chase the enemy, and the pursuit is completely lost.

Zuo Liangyu didn't dare to chase at first, but when he heard the big victory, he chased after him again, and was caught off guard.

The officers and soldiers were fighting on their own, and they were not twisted into a rope at all.

"Poof!"

Yang Sichang spurted out a mouthful of old blood and fainted in the barracks on the spot.

……

Beijing.

Chongzhen was struck by lightning and said in disbelief: "Yang Ge died of illness? ”

"Your Majesty, this is Elder Yang Ge's last letter."

Chongzhen's hands trembled, and he read the suicide note carefully.

Yang Sichang first blamed himself, saying that he had failed the emperor's grace. He also explained that the reason for this defeat was that the generals did not obey military orders, and if they chased them together or did not pursue them, there would not have been such a big defeat.

In the end, Yang Sichang recommended Chen Xinjia to be the secretary of the military department.

Chongzhen put down Yang Sichang's suicide note and forcibly didn't cry, he knew that Da Ming was completely hopeless.

Zhao Han's occupation of Jiangnan was a fatal blow, and the imperial court only had two Huai salt taxes available.

Now, the salt lord and the stove household have revolted, resulting in the imperial court not even being able to collect the salt tax, and the salt guide has become a piece of waste paper.

The imperial court has run out of money, and the capital is experiencing a rice shortage, and the price of rice has risen to five taels of silver and one stone.

Even in the city of Beijing, people began to starve to death due to lack of food!

The Tatars were besieging Jinzhou, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai were ravaging Henan, and Zhang Xianzhong was expanding wildly in Hubei. As soon as the Shandong Caojun uprising was pressed, the two Huai salt owl stove households were rebelling again.

By the way, there are also rebel armies in Sichuan, and more than ten units have appeared, and Qin Liangyu is running in Sichuan to quell the rebellion.

Due to the severe famine, the people of Beizhili revolted, and the officers and soldiers of Jizhen were suppressing it.

Chongzhen was already in a desperate situation, and there was no rescue on the Liaodong side, and he couldn't even make up the opening fee for the army.

Zu Dashou, those Liaodong generals, could only defend the city slowly by themselves, and they would definitely surrender on the day when they ran out of food. The reinforcements can't wait, at most let Hong Chengchou take the Jizhen soldiers to rescue, and he has to level the Beizhili rebels first.

Chongzhen called all his children here, and it was rare to have a good meal.

He looked at these children, he couldn't bear it, and suddenly remembered Wang Tiaoding's words.

Sending children to the South?

Chongzhen sent several groups of Jinyi guards to the south before and after, knowing that Zhao Han had the name of "benevolence". Whether it is true benevolence or false benevolence, after all, it is necessary to take into account the reputation, and may not be a killer to the royal family.

After thinking things through, Chongzhen hesitated, if he sent his children to the south, how would the face of the Ming royal family remain?

(Sorry, I missed an alliance leader, thanks to Readerk's alliance leader for the tip.) ）

(Slow down first, there are only two shifts today.) ）