New Year's Day is the most important festival of the year, although it is still a lively scene inside and outside the Kyoto Division.

But this New Year, Zhu Youzhen is really troublesome.

At the end of last year, Xiangyang was breached, and Zhu Yiming, the king of Xiang, was beheaded in public by Zhang Xianzhong.

In terms of generation, Zhu Yiming is the same generation as Wanli and his grandparents.

He was also the first vassal king of the Ming Dynasty to be killed by the peasant army.

Although many members of the Zhu Ming royal family were killed in Fengyang before, they were already far branches of the royal family and could not be compared with King Xiang.

So the angry Emperor Chongzhen ordered Xiong Wencan, who had just been promoted to the governor of Huguang, to be escorted to Jingshi for questioning.

According to the "Da Ming Law", those who lose their feudal domains die!

However, Xiong Wencan, an unlucky man, was not reconciled, and he had accumulated a lot of wealth over the years in Liangguang.

So his family members gave "New Year's greetings" to the important ministers of the court one by one!

As the saying goes, money can make ghosts grind, and many bigwigs, including Shoufu Zhou Yanru, have received Xiong Wencan's silver.

However, only Wen Tiren, the second assistant of the Ministry of Rites and the Cabinet, rejected Xiong Wencan's silver.

Wen Tiren was born in a family of eunuchs, and his ancestors were officials in the military department as early as the Hongwu period.

He is very good at figuring out Chongzhen's thoughts, and knows that Emperor Chongzhen himself is very thrifty, and hates officials who are corrupt and bribery and form parties for personal gain.

Therefore, Wen Tiren's way of being an official is mainly to cater to Chongzhen, isolate himself from taking the initiative to form a party, and maintain honesty and not corruption and bribery.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, where party strife was serious, "not forming a party" can be described as a clear stream!

Of course, the fact that Wen Tiren does not form a party does not mean that he does not have any help in the DPRK.

On the contrary, he is very good at taking advantage of the contradictions between the parties, and because he has no party behind him, he does not become the main target of other parties.

In the second year of Chongzhen, Wen Tiren's name was not included in the original list of cabinets.

The highest voice was Qian Qianyi, a member of the Donglin Party at the beginning of the Ministry of Rites.

And Emperor Chongzhen, who has always been very suspicious, suspected him of forming a party because Qian Qianyi's voice was too high.

It just so happened that there were two elders surnamed Qian Longxi and Qian Xiangkun in the cabinet at that time, and the cunning Wen Tiren asked people to let the wind out, saying that the "Sanqian Auxiliary Government" was comparable to the "Sanyang Cabinet" during the Renxuan period, which was a great blessing for this dynasty.

In this way, not to mention Emperor Chongzhen, even the first assistant Zhou Yanru also felt the threat of Qian Qianyi.

Qian Qianyi is a Changshu from Suzhou, Qian Longxi is from Jiashan, Zhejiang, and Qian Xiangkun is from Shaoxing, Zhejiang.

Of course, you have to go back to 700 years ago, and the three of them are indeed the descendants of Qian Hao, the king of Wuyue.

Wen Tiren cleverly used Zhou Yanru to prevent Qian Qianyi from entering the cabinet.

At the same time, Chongzhen promoted Wen Tiren, who was not a party member and was an honest official, to the cabinet.

Chongzhen had a very good impression of Wen Tiren, and not only promoted him to the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, but also promoted him to the position of deputy assistant to the cabinet.

In fact, Wen Tiren has long been eyeing Zhou Yanru's position as the first assistant of the cabinet.

However, Zhou Yanru is still relatively favored, and Feng Quan is in the cabinet to help him, so Wen Tiren can only endure it, he is waiting for a suitable opportunity.

But the military department of the Chongzhen Dynasty is not so easy to do, and it is difficult for Sun Chengzong to do it for a long time as the first assistant, let alone Feng Quan, who is a soldier on paper.

Wen Tiren was keenly aware that this Xiong Wencan incident was likely to be a golden opportunity to bring down Feng Quan and even Zhou Yanru.

So when all the ministers exonerated Xiong Wencan, only Wen Tiren kept silent!

However, soon came the news that Zhang Xianzhong was proclaimed emperor in Xiangyang and Li Zicheng was approaching Luoyang.

Now even fools know that Xiong Wencan is dead this time!

If you die, you can still excuse you, saying that you have just taken office and don't understand the situation, and this pot can't be all carried by you.

As a result, now that an emperor has come out, who dares to excuse you?

Soon Xiong Wencan was sentenced to an autumn decision.

The ministers who pleaded for him before came to the table to plead guilty.

But the main question at the moment is how to counter the rebellion!

Denglai's pirates have not yet been resolved, and the rogues who were finally quelled before have taken the opportunity to make trouble again.

Moreover, it is said that the Liukou used methods such as dividing the fields to buy people's hearts, and in just a few months, hundreds of thousands of horses were raised, and the two places in Henan, Huguang and Guangzhou were even more turbulent.

This made Emperor Chongzhen very dissatisfied with Zhou Yanru, the first assistant of the cabinet, and Feng Quan, the secretary of the military department.

At the instigation of Wen Tiren, many ministers impeached Zhou Yanru and Feng Quan, the secretary of the military department, believing that they should be held responsible for the matter.

When Fengyang was attacked last year, Chongzhen had already issued a guilty edict to carry it for Zhou Yanru.

I can't condemn myself twice in three days.

Zhou Yanru also saw Wen Tiren's true face at this time, this "lonely minister" who usually seems to never participate in party struggles, is taking the opportunity to attack himself at this moment.

After thinking about it again and again, Zhou Yanru decided to throw away his pawn and protect the handsome.

even instructed his own henchmen to impeach Feng Quan, the secretary of the military department, and believed that Feng Quan should also be responsible for this matter.

It stands to reason that the imperial court has failed one after another to suppress bandits, and Feng Quan, the secretary of the military department, cannot escape the blame.

However, Shoufu Zhou Yanru did this at this time, but no one thought that he was killing his relatives in righteousness.

Because he and Feng Quan are not only sons and daughters, but also a strong political alliance, which is well known throughout the dynasty.

Lian Chongzhen felt that there was something wrong with Zhou Yanru's character.

In addition, Zhou Yanru had reminded Chongzhen many times before to be wary of Wei Zhongxian's eunuch rebellion, so that he should not be too fond of Wang Chengen.

Wang Chengen naturally didn't have a good impression of Zhou Yanru at this time.

He took the opportunity to say: "Zhou Shoufu is too irresponsible, not only does he not share his worries for His Majesty, but he always expects others to blame him!" ”

So Chongzhen quickly made the decision to remove the first assistant Zhou Yanru and promoted the second assistant Wen Tiren to be the first assistant.

Feng Quan saw that Wen Tiren had come to power, and he would definitely not be able to get along in Beijing, so he simply took the initiative to resign from Chongzhen as the secretary of the military department and the cabinet scholar.

However, he didn't think that there was a problem with the "four-square, six-corner, ten-sided net" he proposed, and it was only the conquest of the pirates that relaxed the sweeping of the rogue bandits, which led to the resurgence of the rogues!

He admitted that this was his dereliction of duty, and did not remind the court to appoint and dismiss the new governor in time to continue to deal with the rogue.

And expressed his willingness to go to the front line to exterminate Zhang Xianzhong and share his Majesty's worries!

Feng Quan took the initiative to admit his mistakes and resigned from his position, which made Chongzhen feel a little unhappy!

After all, it was himself who transferred Hong Chengchou back to Beijing from Dabie Mountain.

Feng Quan's heart to serve the imperial court is still good, but he can't let Feng Quan chase down Zhang Xianzhong, so he decided to let Feng Quan go to Nanjing to be the secretary of the military department, so as to continue to contribute to the imperial court.

Feng Quan couldn't wait to leave the capital at this time, so he hurriedly thanked him!

Wen Tiren knew that his next life would not be easy.

The top priority at the moment must first solve the two scourges of Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng.

Wen Tiren discussed with Zhang Fengyi, the newly appointed secretary of the Ministry of War, and decided to let Chen Qiyu, the previously appointed premier of the five provinces to suppress bandits, lead the border army south to exterminate Zhang Xianzhong.

However, at this time, Chen Qiyu could mobilize tens of thousands of people, although there were many elite border troops, but after all, the troops were insufficient.

In the end, it was decided that Yuan Chonghuan would send 20,000 people from the Shandong battlefield to Huguang to form an army on the East Road, and cooperate with Chen Qiyu's army on the West Road to flank Zhang Xianzhong.

Although the pressure of Shandong Haikou was also very great, but considering that King Xiang was killed and Zhang Xianzhong had already proclaimed emperor, Yuan Chonghuan still sent Cao Wenzhao to lead 10,000 Yulin battalions and 10,000 Nanzhili Ming troops to Wuchang to form the East Route Army with 30,000 Huguang soldiers.

Chen Qiyu also requisitioned 60,000 troops from Xuanda, Taiyuan, Yulin, Ningxia towns, and various parts of Shaanxi to form the Western Route Army.

In fact, according to Chen Qiyu's own opinion, he felt that he should lead the army out of Tongguan first, solve the Henan Li Zicheng department, and then go south from Henan to capture Xiangyang and kill Zhang Xianzhong!

After all, Li Zicheng has already approached Luoyang, if he goes south to attack Zhang Xianzhong first, it is likely that Li Zicheng will take the opportunity to attack Luoyang, or even kill back to Shaanxi!

However, Chongzhen and Wen Tiren ordered him to kill Zhang Xianzhong, who had already been proclaimed emperor, first.

In desperation, Chen Qiyu had to leave 10,000 horses in Tongguan to prevent Li Zicheng from returning to the pass and interrupting his back road.

In fact, there are already a lot of 100,000 horses prepared by the imperial court for Zhang Xianzhong's expedition this time, and there are many elites of the Yulin Battalion and the Nine Sides.

However, since it is divided into east and west, it is still difficult to coordinate operations.

Chen Qiyu could only give Cao Wenzhao of the Eastern Route Army a general strategy for marching.

Since the road to the east was relatively easy to walk, he decided to let Cao Wenzhao attack first and attract Zhang Xianzhong's main force to the east; Then he led the army by surprise and went straight to Huguang to catch the enemy by surprise.

On the tenth day of the second month, Cao Wenzhao's Eastern Route Army took the lead in attacking Zhang Xianzhong's De'an Mansion from Wuchang.

To be honest, this move of the official army was somewhat unexpected by him.

Zhang Xianzhong always felt that with Li Zicheng in his north, the imperial court should at least take Runing or Nanyang before it threatened him.

Unexpectedly, they actually sent troops directly from Wuchang.

But at this moment, he is Zhang Xianzhong, the emperor of Daxi who has an army of 250,000, can he still be afraid of the imperial court?

What's more, De'an has his own Yizi Town, Donghou Zhang Kewang led an army of 80,000 to garrison.

Originally, Zhang Xianzhong was going to send troops on a large scale after the spring to open up territory for Daxi, but he didn't expect the imperial court to call so soon.

So he ordered Zhang Kewang to keep the enemy out of the country.

However, the Emperor of Onishi obviously looked down on his own improvised Onishi Army.

After all, the Yulin Battalion is also an elite division created by the Ming Dynasty with the strength of the country, although there are only 10,000 people, but it is definitely a rogue.

Cao Wenzhao's nephew Cao Bianjiao personally served as the vanguard, and within five days, he broke through the three counties of Xiaogan, Yunmeng, and Yingcheng, killing the Great Western Army is losing its armor.

Zhang Kewang had no choice but to retreat to Anlu, the capital of De'an, and ask his father Zhang Xianzhong for help!

This was the first battle after the founding of the country, and Zhang Xianzhong naturally could not be defeated.

Although Zhang Dingguo and others advised him not to move lightly, he finally decided to drive the expedition in person!

On February 20, Zhang Xianzhong personally led 60,000 main forces to Suizhou.

Cao Wenzhao saw that Zhang Xianzhong had been fooled, and retreated to Xiaogan.

When the Great Western Army saw the defeat of the officers and troops, their morale was instantly high.

After Zhang Xianzhong joined forces with Zhang Longing, he pursued all the way south, not only recovering the three counties such as Xiaogan that had been lost before, but also conquering Hanchuan, the gateway to Wuchang.

On the first day of March, it hit the Yangtze River, looking at Wuchang City.

The time agreed between Cao Wenzhao and Chen Qiyu was the first day of the first month of March.

On this day, Chen Qiyu sent his generals to fight like a tiger and a tiger in two ways, from Hanzhong to Yunyang Mansion in Huguang.

Three days later, the two joined forces to conquer Yunxian, the capital city of Yunyang.

Then Chen Qiyu ordered the army to move south along the Han River, capturing Junzhou and Gucheng all the way, and approaching the city of Xiangyang.

When Zhang Xianzhong got the news, it was already March 13, and he hurriedly withdrew after getting the news.

Cao Wenzhao was waiting for this time.

He personally led 5,000 cavalry to cover all the way, and the 3,000 cavalry of Zhang Xianzhong's old battalion could not resist the cavalry of the Yulin battalion.

Then the 100,000 army was killed by Cao Wenzhao all the way.

When they retreated to Anlu, there were more than 30,000 people left.

At this time, Zhang longed and said: "Father, it was already ten days ago that Xiangyang was besieged, and even if we can rush back at this time, I am afraid we will not be able to relieve the siege of Xiangyang." ”

Looking at Zhang Kewang's anxious appearance, Zhang Xianzhong was thoughtful.

After all, he is a generation of heroes, and there is nothing he can't let go.

Soon after, he said: "Hopefully, my father needs someone to attract officials and troops for him!" ”

Zhang Kewang clasped his hands into fists and said: "Father, rest assured, the child will definitely hold Anlu and prevent the official army from catching up with his father!" ”

Zhang Xianzhong shook his head and said, "Cao Wenzhao is not an ordinary mediocre general, he will definitely not waste time under Anlu City. ”

It was not the first time Zhang Xianzhong had dealt with Cao Wenzhao, and he knew that Cao Wenzhao had always pursued the righteous army.

So he asked Zhang Kewang to lead thousands of men and horses to suggest that they return to Xiangyang, and he took the opportunity to enter Chengtianfu westward.

He couldn't stay in Huguang anymore, and "Cao Cao" Luo Rucai had told him before that the Ming army did not have many troops in Sichuan, and it was very suitable as his foundation.

Xiangyang originally had Chen Qiyu's army besieging the city, and Zhang Kewang would inevitably be a dead end if Cao Wenzhao's army was led over again.

But he didn't hesitate, he was about to starve to death, it was his father-in-law Zhang Xianzhong who saved his life and took him as his son, and now it's time for him to repay his father.

He said: "Father, rest assured, the child will definitely return to Xiangyang to rescue the second brother." ”

Zhang Kewang left behind 2,000 people and spread banners on Anlu City, asking the people to defend the city to confuse Cao Wenzhao!

He led 3,000 men and horses to Suizhou.

After converging with the 5,000 defenders of Suizhou.

He did not march to Xiangyang as Zhang Xianzhong said.

In fact, going to Xiangyang can't delay the officers and soldiers for long, and he is a dead end.

He chose to go north and enter Henan directly from Tongbai Mountain.

After Cao Wenzhao heard that the thief did not go to Xiangyang but went north to Henan, he had a premonition that the situation was not good.

Zhang Xianzhong was too cunning, and at this time, he actually wanted to bring trouble to the north and let himself go north to fight Li Zicheng.

The location of Tongbai Mountain is very dangerous, it is impossible for Li Zicheng not to send heavy troops to guard it, and he only has a few thousand cavalry at this time, and even if he goes, he can't catch up with Zhang Xianzhong.

For the sake of safety, it is better to occupy Anlu, Suizhou and other places to recover De'an Mansion first, and then attack Xiangyang together with Chen Qiyu.

If the three mansions of Xiangyang are recovered, it is also a great achievement, although the emperor Zhang Xianzhong of Daxi is gone, it can be regarded as the destruction of Daxi Kingdom.

After Zhang Kewang entered Henan, he found that Cao Wenzhao did not chase him, so he knew that the official army was not fooled.

He understood that at this time, only 8,000 men and horses in his hands could not solve the siege of Xiangyang.

Unless King Li Zicheng is willing to lead a large army south to help.

Only when Li Zicheng's 300,000-strong army went south could it be possible to relieve the siege of Xiangyang.

Just as he was about to persuade Li Zicheng, he heard that the Chuang army had conquered Shaanzhou, Yanshi, Dengfeng and other places.

Zhang Kewang suddenly felt that something was wrong, and now that all the important towns around Luoyang were lost, it was impossible for Li Zicheng to let Luoyang not attack, but he went south to save Xiangyang.

But at this point, he had no other choice but to try his luck.

Zhang Kewang was not bad, when he saw Li Zicheng, he was leading 200,000 troops to besiege Luoyang.

Zhang Kewang knelt under Li Zicheng's account and said: "Chen Qiyu, the prime minister of the five provinces, and 100,000 Ming troops of Cao Wenzhao's army are besieging Xiangyang. ”

Li Zicheng personally helped up Zhang Kewang, who was kneeling on the ground, and said: "How can this king not know the truth of the cold lips and teeth, now our army has surrounded Luoyang like an iron bucket, as long as Luoyang is broken, this king will immediately send troops south!" ”

Zhang Kewang also knew that at this time, if he wanted to ask Li Zicheng to give up Luoyang, it was indeed difficult for some strong people to go south to Xiangyang, he said: "I don't know how many days King Chuang can break Luoyang City?" ”

Li Zicheng and Li Yan glanced at each other, and he quickly said with understanding: "I don't know how many troops are in Xiangyang City now, and how much grain and grass there is?" ”

Zhang Kewang said: "When my father went south, he took away most of the main forces of the old battalion, but there were still 60,000 soldiers and horses in Xiangyang City; As for food, most of the military rations in Daxi are hoarded in Xiangyang, with 400,000 stones. ”

Good guy, it seems that King Xiang is fat enough, Zhang Xianzhong has been the emperor for several months, and his 250,000 troops have eaten for so long, and there are still 400,000 stone of grain.

Li Yan said: "There are less than 20,000 officers and troops in this Luoyang city, and my 200,000 army will definitely be able to break through Luoyang within a month." ”

Hearing that it had been a month, Zhang Kewang's heart suddenly cooled down, and he said: "There are 100,000 main forces of officers and troops under Xiangyang City, and I am afraid that Xiangyang will be lost in a month." ”

Li Yan said with a smile: "Emperor Zhang Xianzhong of the Great West has won the hearts of the people by dividing land and tax exemption in Xiangyang, Xiangfan has been a strong city since ancient times, with a large number of troops and sufficient grain and grass, it is not a problem to hold it for three or five months, and the major general does not need to worry too much!" ”

"The Ming court is unpopular, Luoyang may not be able to hold it for a long time, a month is just our conservative estimate, maybe it will be won in a few days, and it is unknown!"

Zhang Kewang was young at this time, and he was eager to save his father, so he said: "The last general's eight thousand soldiers and horses are willing to take Luoyang first and help King Chuang break through Luoyang!" ”

Li Zicheng and Li Yan looked at each other and smiled, what he was waiting for was Zhang Kewang's words.

So he said: "The order to go down and add food to the brothers of the Western Army must have wine and meat!" ”

After Zhang Kewang left, Li Zicheng sighed: "I didn't expect Zhang Xianzhong's 250,000 army to be beaten by the official army in just one month, and only one Xiangyang City remained." If we go south to fight the official army, what are the chances of victory? ”

Li Yan shook his head and said: "In addition to having more firearms than Zhang Xianzhong, the combat strength of the two sides is basically the same, and there is no chance of winning a head-to-head battle with 100,000 officers and troops in the south!" ”

Li Zicheng was obviously a little panicked, and he said: "Then just now Mr. Li promised Zhang Kewang to relieve the siege of Xiangyang, this king is not the kind of person who does not believe in his words!" ”

Li Yan said with a smile: "If you want to save Xiangyang, you don't have to go south to fight with the official army, King Chuang might as well think about it, if we defeat Luoyang and kill King Fu." Can Emperor Chongzhen still sit still? ”

"I don't believe they don't withdraw their troops from Xiangyang."

Li Zicheng said: "In the end, it is Mr. Li's clever calculation, in this case, we will have a decisive battle with the official army in Henan." ”

Li Yan shook his head and said: "Henan has no danger to defend, and it is not where our foundation lies. The army division and General Liu's men and horses have already laid an ambush outside Tongguan, and they are waiting for the official army to go out of Tongguan to rescue Luoyang! ”

Li Yan knew very well that their goal was only the money and food of King Fu in Luoyang City, and Luoyang was not suitable for holding on to this place for the time being, and the foundation in his mind was Guanzhong.

However, he did not know why the Light Dao was so sure that the Ming army in Tongguan would go out to support Luoyang.

The confidence of the Light Path of Cultivation certainly comes from the Intelligence Division.

Chongzhen shot quickly this time, Li Xianzhong naturally couldn't sit idly by, he ordered Mao Wenlong to send troops to Qingzhou and occupy Anqiu County.

Contain Yuan Chonghuan's main force.

On the other hand, it was arranged for Chongzhen to order the rescue of King Fu.

Because King Fu's biological mother, Empress Dowager Zheng, is still in the palace.

Soon the eunuch of the Intelligence Department told the news to the Empress Dowager Zheng, and the Empress Dowager Zheng was eager to save her son.

But she knew that she was not treated well by Chongzhen, so she could only beg the Queen Mother Zhang Yan.

After all, King Fu is also Chongzhen's own uncle, so he can't help but save it, and soon Zhang Yan interceded with Chongzhen.

Chongzhen still has a lot of respect for Zhang Yan, the imperial sister-in-law, after all, Luoyang and King Fu are related to the face of the Ming Dynasty, and he has not experienced the past between Zheng Guifei and Emperor Taichang.

But at this time, Chen Qiyu's main force was besieging Xiangyang, and he couldn't fall short.

At this time, Haikou entered Qingzhou, and Yuan Chonghuan's men were dragged in Shandong.

The people and horses in Kaifeng and other places were blocked by thieves in the Xingyang area.

Thinking about it, only the people of Shaanxi are out of Tongguan closely.

Chen Qiyu should still keep 10,000 elites in Tongguan, and it should be no problem to add 30,000 soldiers and horses from all over Guanzhong.

So Chongzhen ordered Qiao Yingjia, the governor of Shaanxi, to go out of Tongguan to reinforce Luoyang.

On the fourth day of the fourth month of April in the fourth year of Wanli, Qiao Yingjia led an army of 30,000 to the east of Tongguan, and the army encountered an ambush of nearly 100,000 troops near Lingbao.

For a while, arrows rained down, and the sound of firecrackers rang out.

The general soldier Wang Zhenyu was beheaded by Liu Zongmin, the general of the invading army, in the chaos of the army, and Qiao Yingjia left the soldiers and retreated in a hurry.

And Li Guo, Liu Zongmin and others led the army to quickly encircle and annihilate the main force of the 30,000 Ming army.

At this time, there were almost no available troops in the entire Guanzhong area, and the rebels conquered Tongguan a day later.

Liu Zongmin, the general of the army, is even more connected to Huayin, Huazhou, Weinan, Lintong and other places.

On the ninth day of the fourth month of the fourth year of Chongzhen, the people shouted: "Kill cattle and sheep, prepare wine and pulp, open the city gate to welcome the king, and the king will not pay for the grain!" ”

Welcomed Li Zicheng's army into Xi'an!

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(End of chapter)