stubborn thief

You Muya put the entire Changhexi Propaganda Commissioner on Liu Chengzong's body, and the chieftains and nobles of Kangning Mansion had a full understanding of Liu Chengzong's strength.

Well, it’s a bit funny to say, that is, the chieftains of the Marshal’s Mansion under the Kangning Mansion, most of them don’t know enough about the Marshal’s Mansion, and Chang Hexi guards a crucial trade node, and they raise many Sichuan in Guozhuang. Health workers, even though they are in the southwest, also have some understanding of the situation in the north.

However, there was no news about the chieftains under the Kangning Mansion. They basically paid tribute out of courtesy during the Marshal’s Mansion’s southern expedition, and they did not experience any fierce battles.

But after the annexation, they still guarded their own one-acre three-point land. Even if the Marshal's Mansion issued an edict, it was just a trivial matter such as asking them to build roads and bridges at the door of their house. It did not touch their core interests, but secretly There is a misunderstanding on both sides.

It is no secret that Liu Chengzong has always been full of malice towards the chieftains.

The chieftains were naturally wary of him. This kind of malice and precaution came naturally. He was malicious and allowed the chieftain to exist, which meant that he had nothing to do with the chieftain at this stage.

This kind of malice and vigilance did not only exist under Liu Chengzong's rule.

The chieftains under the Ming Dynasty also thought the same way, because everyone was hostile to the chieftains, and it had nothing to do with personal grievances, but the chieftain system was naturally on the opposite side of centralized power. .

In fact, Liu Chengzong's malice towards the chieftain is not harsh.

Take the chieftain of Shizhu as an example. Qin Liangyu's role as a female general in charge of the chieftain is actually not an exception, it is intentional.

In the 22nd year of Wanli, the chieftain of Shizhu was still Qin Liangyu's father-in-law Ma Douhu. Master Wanli opened the mine, and Ma Douhu opened the mine in Shizhu. Later, he was found to be losing money and was demoted to the mouth. The heir Ma Qiancheng was imprisoned. Ma Dou Hu's wife Qin Shi.

Later, people from the Ma clan besieged the Qin clan in order to seize the seal, and the Xuan Fusi collected the ransom, and then released Ma Qiancheng to inherit the chieftain. Not two years after he was released, Ma Qiancheng and Qin Liangyu were ordered to fight against the Japanese. Only by winning the first place in Nanchuan Road's military exploits can he win a little living space for himself.

In the end, Ma Qiancheng was thrown into prison because he offended the eunuch Qiu Chengyun, who was in charge of taxation.

After his death, the imperial court felt that Ma Qiancheng didn't seem to have made any mistakes, so he still retained the hereditary position of Xuanfu envoy. Because the heir was still young, his wife Qin Liangyu was in charge of chieftain affairs.

Whenever Qin Liangyu went a little too far when her husband died in unjust imprisonment, she was another Yang Yinglong.

The imperial court wanted the chieftain to rebel, and it was waiting for the chieftain to rebel.

The same is true for Liu Chengzong, but this time he will be disappointed.

In just three days, Liu Guoneng beamed and reported to Guanzhai: "Master, great joy!"

"Why, the money and grain that can be lent by various chieftains have been counted?"

Liu Chengzong raised his eyebrows, and when he saw the joyful look on his face, he suddenly had an ominous premonition in his heart: "How many of the hereditary native officials in Kangning's three propaganda departments and more than a dozen recruiting departments are willing to lend their family property, half ?”

The Department of Propaganda and Recruitment are old names that have been discarded. With the Tumot Mongols entering Qinghai during the Jiajing period and cutting off the main communication routes with the imperial court, the Ming Dynasty lost the ability to rule the chieftains in all parts of Qinghai-Tibet. As a result, when Liu Chengzong went to the south, the Kangning area was already full of earth kings.

Until now, there are still more than 200 hereditary native officials in Kangning Prefecture. Liu Chengzong's idea is to take the opportunity to borrow 200 to 8 stone grains and [-] to [-] taels of silver from these more than [-] native officials.

This amount of property is not much to them, even quite small, because in his expectation, he did not intend to borrow money and food from everyone, as long as half of the people are willing to borrow, even Liu Chengzong expected, Preferably no more than half.

Because of the remaining half, he has to use the property of these chieftains to pay back the debt, and complete the feat of empty-handed white wolf and cutting off half of the chieftains.

So seeing Liu Guoneng's happy appearance, Liu Shizi thought it was bad, and the loan might be smoother than expected.

Sure enough, Liu Guoneng flipped through the document and happily said: "It's all because of the great prestige of the Marshal in Kangning Mansion. 220 seven native officials actively lent their property. Currently, 17 taels of silver and 300 barley noodles have been signed out." The huge sum of hundreds of stones can be transported to Kangning Mansion before the year!"

After all, Liu Guoneng presented the documents and said: "This is not counting the 10 taels of silver and 12 shi rice grains that the Mu Xuanwei envoy took out. The chief executive donated his family wealth, and with such wealth, the commander-in-chief will rest assured that next year's disaster relief will be arranged by the humble job!"

Just kidding, with this huge sum of money, the Kangning Mansion has received four years of income at once, which is richer than the Xining Mansion in the north, and disaster relief is nothing more than a trivial matter.

With the resources Muya provided alone, 10 taels of silver, Lord Chongzhen dared to help the whole of Shaanxi. Isn't it the same for him to help a Kangning mansion?
What is the concept of raising this money in Kangning Mansion?Take the Battle of Daming Pingbo as an example. They mobilized 27 troops from three provinces and fought for half a year. They spent more than 63 million taels on military expenses, and they raised [-] taels worth of funds in one Kangning mansion. Not counting the in-kind value other than the money and grain lent by the chieftains.

But unexpectedly, Liu Guoneng found that Liu Chengzong was not as happy as he had imagined when he heard the news, and was even a little... a little worried?
"Master, isn't this good?"

Liu Chengzong shook his head slowly and did not elaborate on this matter.

It was hard for him to describe his state of mind at this time. This amount of money was equivalent to the military expenditure of the entire Marshal's Mansion for one year. No one could stand in front of this huge amount of wealth with peace of mind.

But this is not the same as his plan!

It's not surprising that one Muya would do this, but more than 200 hereditary native officials did this, and some even donated their entire family property. Are they crazy?
Liu Chengzong is already thinking about how to repay the debt. From now until the 17th year of Chongzhen, the Kangning Mansion will spend 9 taels of silver every year to pay the chieftains to repay the debt... This number is almost as high as the total financial balance of the Kangning Mansion every year. .

All of a sudden, the psychological pressure on Liu Shizi is not bad, after all, he didn't plan to pay back the money by himself at first.

Taking it from the chieftain and returning it to the chieftain is the normal direction for things to develop.

As the matter has come to this point, he doesn't want to say cheap and obedient nonsense, so he just sighed and said: "Since the money and food are sufficient, preparations should be made for the disaster relief in the government and the military outside the government in the coming year. Eliminating the hazards of the locust plague is always a great thing, as for the next ten years, we will look at it slowly."

Liu Guoneng, who was belatedly aware of it, realized that the Generalissimo was under pressure to repay the debt because he had borrowed too much money and grain.

Liu Guoneng immediately clasped his fists and responded, "Don't worry, Commander. With this money and food in hand, I will know the fortunes of the chieftains in Shenbian Lengbian and Lhasa River. This month, I will express my condolences to Uszang, Dong Buhanhu and others The Secretary sent spies to collect intelligence for the next year’s troop.”

"Well, the borrowed money and food have to be repaid, and the heirs of the chieftain have to be sent to Xining to receive excellent arrangements in the army. I guess after you finish this battle..."

Liu Chengzong thought for a while, and said to Liu Guoneng, "We should be able to go home."

Liu Guoneng originally just stood by his side wholeheartedly, writing down Liu Chengzong's request, but the moment he heard this sentence, he raised his head suddenly, widened his eyes and said in disbelief: "Go back, go home?"

"Yes, some time ago, the Ming court sent a letter asking Marshal Fu Bingfeng what he meant by pointing at Jingning Prefecture. He dared to ask me if he couldn't hold the land."

Liu Chengzong turned his head with a disdainful smile, and then said sternly: "But I really don't know what's going on. I wrote to Wang Wenxiu, and the reply should be coming soon. If our army has arrived at Jingning and collected all of Longxi, then what is the matter?" It's just around the corner to cross Longshan Mountain."

Liu Guoneng nodded heavily, did not speak, but just clenched his fists.

In fact, going home is the wish of those soldiers who followed Liu Chengzong. For Liu Guoneng, it doesn't matter whether he goes home or not.

His whole family was pulled out and followed Liu Shizi into Qinghai. Now they live in Haixi, Haibei, Heka, and even Nangqian. They have served in the government and the army. Where is their power? Where is their home.

People are not happy to cut everyone into ordinary people and send them back to Yan'an Mansion.

But the fact that the Marshal's Mansion can fight back to his hometown means many things to Liu Guoneng. For example, the Marshal's Mansion completely controls Longxi and is no longer a small separatist regime that easily falls apart. It also means that the Marshal's Mansion will have the ability to seize the world. The Generalissimo... is about to become a real dragon.

As soon as Liu Chengzong set foot on the road to Beishan, Wang Wenxiu's letter was delivered from Gongchang Mansion.

The progress of the matter once again exceeded Liu Shizi's imagination.

Before that, he had always thought that Wang Wenxiu, who was in charge of guarding Lintao, sent troops to the east, and only then did he capture Gongchang Mansion, where the imperial court stationed a heavy army.

According to Liu Shizi's thoughts, he was unwilling to expand his territory at this time, so he had no enthusiasm for capturing Gongchang Mansion in the letter sent to Gongchang Mansion for inquiry.

Because the imperial court was fighting against Houjin, it would not be righteous for him to stab a knife in the back; the people were fighting against the locust plague, and it would not be righteous to cause a military disaster at this time-of course, righteousness and righteousness are only second, and the most important thing is that at this moment, the Marshal's Mansion has a An army took advantage of the fact that Ningxia was in Monan, causing Daming to panic, and Yang Qi was alone.

I never expected that Wang Wenxiu sent a reply letter outside Gongchang City, and he was not enthusiastic about expanding the territory to Gongchang Mansion. On the contrary, he was very distressed.

The cause of the incident had something to do with the army of the Marshal's Mansion.

Not long after the locust plague broke out, Wang Wenxiu received an order from Liu Chengzong to guard against the Ming army, that is, he sent General Yang Chengzu as a vanguard officer to Weiyuan County, and captured Shouyang Pass on the south bank of the Weishui River with a small number of vanguards, and captured Gongchang Mansion. west gate.

General Wei Qian'er also marched on the same day and led his battalion to enter Jin County in the east of Lanzhou. And the county's offensive posture.

Jiekou in the northwest of Gongchang Mansion, Neiguanying in the west, and Shouyangguan in the south are three important places.

Among them, the north and south are along the two important official roads from Lintao to Gongchang, which are also narrow and dangerous passes.

Neiguanying was an important node of the Silk Road during the Hongwu period, directly connected to the four counties and eight townships. It not only has the most flat and fertile valley farmland in Gongchang Prefecture, but also is an important commercial center and dry land wharf in Longzhong area. Because Su Wang Zhuying is here It got its name from the establishment of the internal official camp.

Of course, in this era of locust plagues everywhere, the 20 mu of arable land in Neiguanying has become irrelevant, and the important commercial towns on the front lines of the battlefield are not worth mentioning. The most important thing is still its strategy of reaching Anding County in the northeast and Longxi County in the southeast. status.

The north-south dangerous pass and an important place are connected in a line, which means that the power of the Marshal's Mansion occupies one-third of Gongchang Mansion, which can be advanced, attacked, retreated and defended, and successfully seized the initiative in the entire Longxi battlefield.

In this way, it is they who have the final say whether to fight or not... Of course Liu Chengzong does not want to fight with the court at this time.

It's not that I'm worried that I won't be able to fight. Anyway, the Ming court's army in Longxi is still those old friends, Zhang Yingchang, He Renlong, and Yang Yanchang.

What's more, with Yang Yanchang and Ren Quan'er around, the officers and troops over there are almost clear, and there is no war problem for the Marshal's Mansion.

But after all, the Marshal's Mansion is mainly focused on exterminating locusts in Hexi. In Liu Shizi's view, although it is easy to conquer Longxi at this time, it is troublesome and risky.

Conquering land is meaningless, what is meaningful is population and land, but both population and land need to be managed and mobilized before they can be turned into strength. Gongchang Mansion in Longxi and more than a dozen counties in Qinzhou have a population of over one million. Cities, just to send officials and officials to share the land and manage the places, need to consume a large part of the talent reserve.

Not to mention the current situation, taking over the city requires directly mobilizing the population to exterminate the locusts, otherwise the more land is occupied, the greater the risk of the Marshal's Mansion being exploded due to locust plagues.

It's a pity that heaven failed to fulfill people's wishes. Liu Chengzong was able to control the Marshal's Mansion, but he couldn't control Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng and Daming's official army.

Because of the sudden outbreak of the locust plague, the alliance envisaged by the Marshal's Mansion was not completed, and the anti-kings of all roads could not be trapped in the mountains. They attacked Qinzhou from the east one after another and directly threatened Guanzhong. Their goal was Xi'an Prefecture—the Xi'an Prefecture without the prefect. .

In the past, the shortage of officials in Ming Dynasty was a problem left over from the Wanli era, but now there is a shortage of officials in Shaanxi, but no one dares to come, so the post of prefect of Xi'an has always been vacant.

However, as Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng and other [-] battalions of militiamen attacked Qinzhou, the Ming army also made mobilization deployments, mobilizing Zuo Liangyu and Tang Jiuzhou under the Henan governor Xuanmo's mark, and Deng Qi's three divisions stationed in Xunyang to enter Guanzhong.

These three generals were well-known, and when they were stationed in Xi'an Mansion, they immediately seized Fengxiang Mansion and blocked the main road to Guanzhong. Then, under the leadership of Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng, the militiamen turned to Beishan and entered Jingning Prefecture, capturing Qinzhou, In the counties of Jingning, Zhuanglang, and Longde, soldiers front threatened the city of Pingliang.

Now there are not only two princes in the city of Pingliang, but also Cao Bianjiao who was left in the mansion by Master Han to give birth.

King Han, who interrupted Tianhuang Guihua's genetic improvement plan, was terrified by the approach of the peasant army to Jingning Prefecture. He immediately summoned the troops of Zuo Liangyu, Tang Jiuzhou, and Deng Qi to expel the peasant army who entered Jingning Prefecture.

Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng didn't fight with them, they attacked the city and seized territory, and turned back to Qinzhou and Gongchang's mansion. The meaning was very clear: If you want to beat us, you should first challenge the Marshal's mansion.

At this juncture, Deng Qi's troops went out of Sichuan for five years and five years without months without fighting and not being allowed to return home. From the 2000 troops when Ji Sizhi became the king of Qin, the Sichuan army camp with more than [-] people mutinied, and Jingning Prefecture was robbed again. suffer.

The officers and soldiers also withdrew from Jingning Prefecture, returned to Fengxiang Mansion to guard the key areas, and reorganized the army.

Such a change occurred in a short period of time, and successive wars turned Jingning Prefecture into a wasteland. The county magistrate and Daizhi county changed three times a month. Then draw a conclusion:
The only person around them who has the ability to protect the place, appease the place, avoid the disaster of the peasant army and deter the officers and soldiers from entering the country is Liu Chengzong.

Wang Wenxiu did not attack Jingning Prefecture, but on the tops of the three cities of Jingning Prefecture and every village that survived the war, there were banners with red background, black border and black characters, with three large characters clearly written on it. : Marshal's Mansion.

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