stubborn thief

Regarding Liu Chengzong's command of his troops to enter Guanzhong, the most shocked person was the governor of Shaanxi to practice state affairs.

The mental shock suffered because of Lian Guoshi was not a shock, but a double shock.

At first, the governor of Shaanxi did a good job in practicing state affairs. He traveled between Qinzhou and Xi'an for this battle, and persuaded the gentry in the countryside, generals in Liju, and clan kings to donate troops, which achieved great results.

Firstly, in the past four years, Liu Chengzong's Marshal's Office has gained great momentum in the northwest. When the news of the Eastern Expedition first spread to Guanzhong, it had already frightened Shaanxi far and near; secondly, with Liupan Mountain as the front line of the battle, the Guanzhong Plain is equivalent to the size of Shaanxi. On the home front, the threat of war was just right.

Lian Guoshi also had strong confidence in the battle. Although news came from Sichuan that the Marshal's Mansion was advancing, they were quickly defeated by the Yunnan reinforcements Long Zaitianbe's partial division and fled to the plateau. This was considered a victory in the first battle - Feng Shuangli was probably only dreaming. Unexpectedly, just by going down the mountain and grabbing two county towns, Ming Dynasty achieved its first huge victory at the battle level against the Marshal's Mansion.

The key point is that Mingting's battle report was not deceiving. Feng Shuangli only brought 2000 people down the mountain, but who knew?He broke through the Feixian Pass and in a few days broke through the fortresses, circumnavigated Yazhou, trapped famous mountains, and plundered Lushan. He opened warehouses and stocked grain and recruited troops and horses wherever he went. When Long Zaitian received the news, his team had already expanded to 7000 people.

More than 7000 people ran away when they saw the dragon in the field. In the end, more than 3000 people transported money, grain, tea and silk and ran back to Kangning Mansion under the rule of the generalissimo. Their military strength did not decrease but increased.

In addition, more than 3000 people did not run over. Some were attached to looting for a while and disbanded and went home. The army chased and blocked him, and his head was in trouble.

This itself was the normal battle process of Xiying and even most of the peasant armies in the past. I broke into the county town and opened warehouses to release grain. You had no choice but to rely on the rebels. Each of them had his own master and was ordered to kill the thieves. Everyone is seeking wealth and wealth from danger, and their lives are naturally different. Rely on ability.

Those who have the ability wear satin and sleep with women and aunts and work as thieves, and live happily every day; those who have no ability fill trenches and have their heads tied to other people's waists have nothing to complain about.

However, in the battle report of the Ming court, it was Long Zaitian who defeated the three battalions of the Marshal's Army and achieved a brilliant victory, which was the first major blow to Liu Chengzong since he initiated the rebellion.

At least from Lian Guoshi's point of view, the battle that took place in western Sichuan greatly boosted the morale of his colleagues in the Ming army.

Due to the high morale and the dangerous terrain along Liupan Mountain, any line of defense can withstand the fierce attack of the Marshal's army and have the right location to resist the fierce attack of several of his battalions.

But the encouragement only ended here, and then Deng Qi was thrown to death by the city wall.

But at that time, no one expected that Deng Qi would be thrown to death by the city wall.

Lian Guoshi suffered a cerebral hemorrhage when he received the news in Xi'an.

It was a real cerebral hemorrhage. I had a headache and couldn't stand it, so I lay down.

No one's death would have a greater impact on state affairs than Deng Qi's death, because the reason why Deng Qi was stationed to the west of Longzhou was specially arranged by him and Chen Qiyu - they felt that Liu Chengzong would not break through from Longzhou.

Because the Liupan Mountain Road to the west of Longzhou is too winding and narrow, it is not suitable for large armies to cross. On the contrary, Pingliang in the north and Qinzhou in the south are likely to be broken through by the Marshal's Office. Only in Longzhou, Liu Chengzong will almost never Choose the direction of attack.

Both he and Chen Qiyu were well aware of the pressure Deng Qi and his Sichuan troops were under from years of fighting. It was impossible to withdraw the troops before the war, so they were worried that the Sichuan troops would be under too much pressure and wanted to give them a holiday.

After all, the enjoyment of life lies in relaxation.

Unexpectedly, all the generals and soldiers in the Sichuan Army Camp had been defeated by Zhang - Deng Qi died suddenly and the defense line collapsed.

Lian Guoshi stayed in bed for seven days. Fortunately, he had no bad habits except being tired from work, so he was not taken away by Deng Qi. When he opened his eyes again, his mind was still stuck on the situation of Deng Qi's sudden death. The first thing he said was : "Tiao Tangshuai enters Longzhou quickly and must stop Liu Thief!"

Next to him was Shaanxi Senator Duan Fuxing. He almost vomited blood after hearing these words: "Master Futai, Longzhou has fallen long ago, as well as Qianyang, Fengxiang County and Baoji. The thieves are almost here in Xi'an!"

Lian Guoshi, who was lying on the couch, had raised himself halfway up, but after hearing these words, he looked back and lay down again.

"Futai, Futai!"

Duan Fuxing was left silently opening his mouth to curse: Damn it, he fell asleep again.

The person under the greatest pressure during this period was Duan Fuxing, because he was an official with rich combat experience but extremely little work experience.

He is 34 years old this year and is from Yanggu, Shandong. The Yanggu where Wu Dalang sells cooking cakes is nearby. Dongping Prefecture, Dongchang Prefecture, and Gaotang Prefecture are all famous places in the world since the publication of "Water Margin". land.

The local folk customs are fierce and they are rich in excellent men who abide by the rules. As long as there are rules and what kind of men the rules require, they can and are good at becoming what kind of men they want.

However, this rule does not have to be set by officials, it can also be set by Song Jiang.

Because the rules themselves are rules that everyone can accept in the end, whether it is the court or Song Jiang, it is a process of gaming.

There is only one situation in which people will willingly follow the rules - when there are benefits to following the rules.

Rules are man-made dreams. Everyone can dream, but only a few are destined to realize their dreams.

Duan Fuxing is a standard practitioner of the Ming Dynasty dream. He lost his father in his early years and was raised by his widowed mother Tian. His family background is not bad but not very good. He has been farming and studying since he was a child. He studied hard for 20 years while living in poverty. Zhongxiu married his wife, Yang, and Zhongjuren took concubines, Niu and Zong, to take care of his widowed mother and family until high school last year.

No. 40, No. [-], No. [-] of the Jiaxu Branch.

The Jinshi in the Jiaxu Division are all very powerful, because this year's palace examination questions were eight questions personally raised by Emperor Chongzhen.

It's just that these people's destinations are high or low, mainly depends on their guts. It's not surprising that a third-class Jinshi came from the south to become a seventh-rank magistrate. It's also normal for a first-class Jinshi and a seventh-rank editor in Beijing. It's amazing. His first official position was the fifth-rank Shaanxi Councilor.

The imperial court had this vacancy, and others were unwilling or afraid to come. Duan Fuxing was scrambling to come to Shaanxi. With his native place of Yanggu, Shandong, he was the only one to hold the position of counselor in Shaanxi on his resume.

To be honest, as a long-tested and steadfast landlord class fighter, Duan Fuxing had already figured out where he should go when he answered the questions in the palace examination.

He is not afraid of death and is very rule-abiding, because the rule is that if he succeeds in studying, he can live like a human being, so he will study, and he will fight anyone who creates obstacles for him to study.

When Duan Fuxing was a scholar, Xu Hongru started an uprising in Shandong in the name of the Wenxiang Sect. He led his classmates to fight against the White Lotus Sect. After he passed the exam, the Wuqiao Mutiny happened, and he was called by the local government to lead the villagers to fight Kong Youde, and he took more than 30 lives. .Nowadays, high school Jinshi... Shaanxi.

This is God's arrangement and his destiny.

He has seen many difficult situations, but before arriving in Shaanxi, Duan Fuxing never thought that the situation would be so difficult.

He just arrived in Shaanxi this year and took office. His official position is Chief Secretary and Zuo Counselor, who is responsible for guarding Hexi Road. Hexi means west of the Yellow River at the junction of Shaanxi and Shanxi. He is mainly responsible for the military supplies and storage supervision of Yan'an, Qingyang and Ningxia guards.

The official position itself is normal, but it is too difficult to carry out the work.

Duan Fuxing, who was in Xi'an, was beyond the reach of the Ningxia guards. The Yan'an and Qingyang mansions were in such dilapidated condition that they had no spare capacity for military supplies and warehousing.

The last magistrate of Yan'an was named Zhang Nian. Master Chongzhen suspected that he was a traitor, but he couldn't find any evidence, so he asked the Jin Yiwei to send him to prison as a reserve minister.

The current magistrate of Yan'an is named Zhang Yungong. He has been out of touch in the past few years since he took office. He has never left Yan'an since he entered the city. The chief secretary of Shaanxi only knows that this person is still alive, but he doesn't know much about other things. up.

Anyway, the orders sent to him by the imperial court were ignored, and the official documents he wrote to the imperial court were also weighed down. What he saw on both sides was unreadable, but who read it was unknown.

His government decrees could not even go out of the gate of Yan'an Prefecture, or even out of the gate of the magistrate's office. Once they left the lobby, the bunch of subordinate officials would not recognize them.

Up to now, the Chief Secretary of Shaanxi Province has no idea what is going on in Yan'an Prefecture. He has also sent people to the prefecture to practice state affairs. What they saw and heard along the way was much normal compared to other prefectures and counties without officials, but they just couldn't collect taxes. .

The men sent also met the prefect Zhang Yungong. Prefect Zhang said that he felt that everything in Yan'an Prefecture was normal. If the emperor or the court felt that something was abnormal, he could give two solutions: send Jin Yiwei to take him to the imperial edict; People moved Yan'an Mansion to Zhao Prison.

Of course Lian Guoshi didn't listen to his nonsense, so he sent someone over and just asked: "Will Yan'an Mansion be in chaos?"

Zhang Yungong said it was not possible, so he only asked someone to reply: "If you don't move, there will be no chaos in Yan'an Mansion."

He really doesn't care about Yan'an Mansion when he is practicing state affairs. Liu Chengzong really doesn't care about Yan'an Mansion when he is having so much fun in Qinghai and Gansu.

However, the situation in Qingyang Prefecture is much better. The prefect there is Ju Sirang, a Shaanxi official with a reputation for being a benevolent and righteous man.

He and Duan Fuxing were fellow Shandong fellows, but Duan Fuxing was born in western Shandong and Ju Sirang was born in eastern Shandong. They were from Wendeng County in Dengzhou Prefecture, but they had been working as officials in Shaanxi.

As early as the beginning of the Great Rebellion, when Baishui Wang Er first started to rebel, Ju Sirang was serving as the magistrate of Zhen'an County in Xi'an Prefecture. Thousands of peasant troops passed through the territory, and Shangluo troops were preparing to attack Liu Yingyu, so Ju Sirang took his place. The peasant army pleaded for mercy, saying that the peasant army were poor people who were hungry and cold, evading taxes, and living in the wilderness. In order to avoid fighting with each other, they volunteered to persuade them to surrender.

He rode a horse and brought four respected old men from the countryside with him. He entered the camp of the peasant army with extraordinary courage. He even dared to stay in the tent of the camp for a night and learned to reason. With love and words, he persuaded thousands of people to put down their weapons and follow him back to Zhen'an County to farm.

Moreover, Ju Sirang was not only able to persuade people to farm, but because of this, he was promoted to a robber catcher in Xi'an Prefecture and was transferred to the army by Hong Chengchou. However, it was he who caused the internal strife in Tiejiao City occupied by Feitian He Chongwei and Hao Lin'an for Hong Chengchou. idea, and also used a trick to take down the head of the leader, the big red wolf.

Later, he was promoted to the prefect of Qingyang and returned to his old profession. He settled refugees in Huanmaling, Fengchuan and other places in Qingyang Prefecture to subjugate thieves, distributed cattle seeds, and taught the people to farm and weave. Northern Shaanxi has created a peach blossom land without war disasters.

But while his work was going well, Duan Fuxing's was not. As soon as the troops were provided with food and military supplies, Ju Sirang would curse.

Neither of the two magistrates had the energy to provide food for the army, and the warehouses were all empty. Qingyang could still collect some money and food, and could barely provide Chen Qiyu with three melons and two dates; If there is a disaster, no food will be paid. When there is no disaster, the food will be paid and the food will be robbed. Anyway, the court will not expect to see a grain of food.

At this juncture, Liu Chengzong launched a large-scale eastern expedition. The governor of Shaanxi Province, Lian Guoshi, was still paralyzed in bed. The huge mental pressure almost drove Duan Fuxing crazy.

Fortunately, at this time, he received news that Chen Qiyu had arrived from Qingyang Mansion!
When Chen Qiyu entered Xi'an, he did not watch the state affairs and did not find Duan Fuxing. He directly sent people to banquet the old generals of the gentry in the city, hoping to call them to become monks and provide food for the army, so as to save Guanzhong from falling.

It wasn't until that night that Duan Fuxing was summoned. In the study of the back house of the prefect's Yamen, he saw Chen Qiyu, who was nearly drunk.

The first time Chen Qiyu saw him, he raised his hand to stop the salute, and then pointed to the desk: "No, let's take a look at the battle report of the governors of the three sides."

Duan Fuxing said yes, picked up the battle report and looked at it, only to find that the results were all caused by the Ningxia border troops going south. He said happily: "Junmen, Jinglu, Zhongwei, Fengjiabao, Guyuanwei, Sanying, Xiaohebao, Hui Ning County, this is a series of battles and victories!"

Chen Qiyu's nose smelled heavily of alcohol, but his expression was not as good as described in the battle report. He waved his hands and said heavily: "You are deceiving yourself!"

The Ningxia frontier army did win consecutive battles under the command of Hong Chengchou, but it did not help the battle situation. The commander of the northern route of the Marshal's Army was Brigade Marshal Cao Yao. His troops and horses were not as elite as the main force, but they had the convenience of Gansu horses coming and going like the wind. The tactics used were to abandon the city. After capturing a city, they would empty out the population and wealth, and then abandon the city and leave.

Some of the captured fortresses were even demolished because they were built at key points. The belated Ming army could just plant a flag on the ground and regain the city.

Chen Qiyu was very clear about Cao Yao's tactics, because Cao Yao's offensive slogans came back through Ai Wannian, who had just arrived in Pingliang Mansion: "Xiang Party, the commander-in-chief has divided the land in Gansu, each household has fifty acres, just waiting for you to use it. Woolen cloth!"

Even the people in Pingliang Prefecture packed up their food and embarked on a migration journey after hearing this, let alone the situation west of Liupan Mountain.

"Xi'an is an important town. When the Liu thief comes to attack, he must take Xi'an first. Xi'an is strong and deep, easy to defend and difficult to attack. However, it is only a matter of time before the isolated city falls. You are on the Hexi Road. In this critical moment, someone needs to guide you alone. An army is stationed in Qianzhou. If we advance, we can provide foreign aid to the Xi'an government. If we retreat, we can disperse the enemy's forces. However, it will only lead to a narrow escape from death. Can Counselor Duan dare?"

Duan Fuxing was happy when he heard this: "There is no need to excite generals in the army. Duan is a scholar. He was awarded the fifth rank of counselor by God's grace. He married a wife and three concubines. He is proud of his wealth and wealth. Today is the time to serve his life. If you keep It's just a matter of death if the city fails. Although this life is short, there are no regrets."

After saying that, Duan Fuxing saluted and said, "I'll say goodbye to my mother, and I'll go to Qianzhou tomorrow."

Unexpectedly, Chen Qiyu waved his hand and said: "Take your mother, your wife, concubines and children, and take them to Qianzhou - Xi'an is used as bait for this battle, and the four passes are locked to lure Liu Thief's tens of thousands of capable thieves into the Qin Dynasty. Central encirclement and annihilation, Xi'an is more dangerous than Ganzhou."

"Don't worry, military men. I will do my best to protect Qianzhou and keep the people in the city!"

After Duan Fuxing left, Chen Qiyu looked at his straight back with drunken eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly clenched his fists: "Liu Chengzong, I want to see whether your army is stronger or my imperial army's. Great ability!" (End of Chapter)