Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 316 Behind the scenes
After communicating with Chen Zilong and Xu Tiaoyuan, Yang Chao also took the opportunity to go downhill and said that he would help guard Jinhua.

Anyway, the feigning anger last time had some other purpose, but the methods of the prefect of Jinhua made Yang Chao lose his reason to go crazy. He insisted that he only left because the other party would not let him enter the city. Into the city.

So let's just stay first, and the White-headed Army really should be flattened, not because they are worse than Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong's army, and cause more damage, but because Zhejiang is the hinterland of Jiangnan. If Yang Chao cannot keep Beijing in the future, Li Zicheng will still After breaking through the city of Beijing, Yang Chao still needs to use Jiangnan as his base camp to resist foreign enemies.

Because Li Zicheng could conquer Beijing, but he couldn’t stop the Eight Banners of the Manchus. Don’t mention that Wu Sangui joined the Manchus. Even without Wu Sangui, the Manchus really wanted to move. Li Zicheng couldn’t stop him. Wu Sangui was in Ningyuan, and the Manchus were still the same last year. Entry.

Since Jiangnan may become the last center of resistance, Jiangnan cannot be chaotic, so Yang Chao can only adjust his mentality and grit his teeth to be an unrighteous person.

But if you want to use force against the White-headed Army, you can't delay it for too long. You must return to Nanjing after a month, and it can be delayed until April at the latest, otherwise you will not be able to reach Beijing before April 25.

Yang Chao set off from Nanjing in mid-February, and it is now the 25th. If he wants to fight, Yang Chao hopes to resolve the battle within ten days, and then set off with the whole army to return to Nanjing in mid-March. Immediately raise supplies, and at the same time arm Now these more than 2 strong people are undergoing preliminary training, and then they will go north to rescue Beijing.

If there is a delay of more than 20 days, major events will be delayed, so whether or not the Whitehead Army can be wiped out, Yang Chao will return in fifteen days.

It is better to be able to exterminate nature, because at least the stability of the Zhejiang area is guaranteed. The people here are not like those in the northwest. Yes, not against it?

However, Zhejiang's climate and economy are very good, and the Suhu area is still one of the richest places in the world. Although Dongyang and other mountainous areas in eastern Zhejiang are poorer, it is not impossible to have food. How many refugees have been added?

Stabilize as soon as possible, and it will be good for the common people.

It's just that they don't even know where the White-headed Army is now, Yang Chao is a guest army, and these information can only be turned to local snakes like Wang Xiong, so since they want to stay, they have to deal with them.

Sure enough, the news came on the third day. As expected, the White-headed Army fled back to Dongyang County, but did not enter Dongyang County. The news was very accurate, because the news was sent by Yao Sunpei, the magistrate of Dongyang County.

The magistrate of Dongyang County has a very bad reputation and is corrupt. Although no people in Zhejiang have rebelled these years, the mountain people in Tingzhou, at the junction of Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi in the southeast of Zhejiang, rebelled the year before last. Soldiers can be sent, but they can only recruit troops by themselves. This requires Yao Sunyi to take the opportunity to amass a lot of money.

In the past few days, Yang Chao asked his subordinates to inquire about the situation in Xudu in the eyes of the common people. As a result, it was said that Yao Sunyi must oppose it, but the opinions were very inconsistent. Some people said that Yao Sunyi took the opportunity to blackmail Xu. Du, asked Xu Du to donate 1 taels, but Xu refused, and ended up with a feud. Afterwards, Xu Du sent his mother to a funeral. Thousands of people attended the funeral. Yao Sunyi insulted Xu Du for rebellion, and reported it to the Jinhua Mansion, the garrison king of the Jinhua Mansion. Xiong led troops to arrest Xu Du, and Xu Du rebelled because of helplessness.

Some people also said that Xu Du made friends with righteous men in the rivers and lakes for self-defense. Yao County magistrate denounced him as illegal.Xu Du was afraid of being convicted, so he brought his acquaintances to the county government office to intercede.The order still reprimanded him angrily, but also to imprison him immediately.

These two statements are inconsistent, but everyone says it was spread by Xu Duyi's own army, so there are many people who said that Xu Du was forced to rebel. It is even more disgusting that this Yao Sunfen is a corrupt official and cannot be wronged, so he must have turned against Xu Du and his subordinates.

Moreover, Yang Chao also heard that Xudu's rebel army has a good military discipline, and they don't do much to plunder the people. Of course, they broke up several county towns, and the materials they got from the official treasury alone were enough to support their consumption. The Xu family is also a local wealthy family, and can also supply the Whitehead Army.

It is precisely because the armed forces of the powerful clan are equivalent to the regiment training of the landlords, and the military discipline is better than that of the real peasant army. Moreover, the Xu family has a great career and a high reputation in the local area, so they can't do the kind of thing that robs the people and robs other families.

Of course, the more important reason is probably that Xu Du was forced to rebel temporarily, otherwise how could he rebel on the day his mother was buried? With filial piety wrapped around his head, he immediately drew his knife.

But he calmed down afterward. After all, he was a big family, and the risk of rebellion was too great.

Therefore, not plundering the people is actually leaving him a way out, and then releasing the news of being forced to rebel, which is tantamount to hoping that the imperial court will order peace.

After receiving these news, Yang Chao immediately judged the plan of Xu Du or the family behind him.

But if it was said that Xu Du was loyal to the imperial court and was completely wronged, Yang Chao didn't believe it at all. It would be strange if he had nothing to recruit tens of thousands of people from the world without ambition.

The information sent from Jinhua City also proved this point. Today, someone in the city sent someone to quietly tell Yang Chao that Xu Du had sent someone to secretly participate in the Kuocang Mountain Uprising a few years ago.

So obviously, this is an ambitious person, or an ambitious family, who wants to take advantage of the troubled times to gain more power. To be honest, the peasant army has been making trouble for so many years. The Ming Dynasty, which believes in the destiny, like this There is definitely more than one family. I am afraid that many wealthy families are secretly preparing for it.

The plan of the Xu family is obvious. If they can succeed, they will participate in it and gain power in the end. After all, there are many such families in history. Qianzidibing, Li Shimin's Tang family, every time the dynasty changes, it is indispensable for these families to wrestle behind their backs.

Therefore, the Xu family probably also had this kind of speculative mentality, and they might not want to be emperor, because the risk of taking the lead is too great, but being able to participate in advance means that they can get a share of the pie afterwards, so they quietly participated in the uprising, but they did not Taking the lead, he was forced to do nothing this time, but after being defeated, he immediately released the news and wanted to make peace.

Yang Chao believes that if the world cannot be calmed down soon, the Xu family will make trouble again, that's for sure.

It's just that the Xu family didn't have the courage to break the boat, so they fought with other mentalities, and even captured Dongyang County, but didn't kill Yao Sunfu, they just locked him up, and after the attack on Jinhua failed, the army even more It was withdrew and occupied the county seat.

According to the latest news brought by Yao Sunfen, Xu Du assembled his troops and deployed them at Ziwei Mountain at the junction of Dongyang and Yiwu, and this is where the Xu family's house is located.

"I'm afraid I'm going to Zhao'an?"

After Yang Chao got the news, he couldn't help sighing.

The Xu family is also a family of officials and eunuchs, and it has already started to operate. Soon someone will speak up for them and ask the imperial court for peace.

Yang Chao probably didn't even need to do anything.

Sure enough, just when he got the news that Yang Chao proposed to the Jinhua Mansion to march to Dongyang, someone suggested Zhaoan Xu's family.

This time, Jinhua City opened the door to invite Yang Chao to discuss, and did not stop the soldiers brought by Yang Chao.

It was suggested by a small official in Jinhua Mansion that Xu Du was guarding Ziwei Mountain. He had a powerful army and a lot of money and food. A forcible attack would only hurt both sides.

Wang Xiong, military officer of Jinhua Mansion, asked everyone to discuss it.

The timing of Xu Du's rebellion was very suspicious. It was the prefect of Jinhua Prefecture who went home to observe the funeral, and the new prefect had not yet arrived.

At this time, the most powerful people in Jinhua Mansion are the garrison Wang Xiong, the Tongzhi of Jinhua Mansion, the county magistrate of Jinhua County, and the foreign manager Chen Zilong.

"Surrender as if you were an enemy!"

Chen Zilong said, in fact, Xu Du and Chen Zilong have a very good relationship. After Chen Zilong became the manager, he recommended Xu Du many times, but unfortunately he was not accepted by the higher-ups. Probably the Xu family did not pay enough money and the operation was not successful.

But the friendship between Chen Zilong and Xu Du was irresistible. Xu Du wanted Zhao'an, and he was afraid that he would be the first to think of Chen Zilong. He didn't expect Chen Zilong to say such words.

Yang Chao's understanding of Chen Zilong deepened immediately, and he felt that he was a man of strong principles and capable of destroying relatives righteously, that is to say, he was loyal to the Ming Dynasty. In history, it seemed that this man was also a martyr in the end, the one who sacrificed himself against the Qing Dynasty. .

Then other people expressed their opinions one after another, some said they were surrendered, and some said they were exterminated, but there were more people who said they were surrendered.

Wang Xiong finally stroked his beard and smiled, looked at Yang Chao and said, "What do you think, General Yang?"

Yang Chao knew that the water was deep here, and an agreement had probably been reached between the wealthy Xu family and the local government.

So Yang Chao shook his head and said with a smile: "I am a guest general, and I don't know much about Jinhua's affairs. Everything is ordered by the guard."

As a guest general, Yang Chao should accept the command of Jinhua's most senior military officer when he arrives in Jinhua, but Yang Chao's rank is too high and his reputation is too high, so Jinhua's defense has to give him some face.

Yang Chao's opinion was obviously very useful to Wang Xiong, he obviously had an idea long ago, the only worry was that Yang Chao, an outsider, would suddenly raise objections.

After clearing his throat, Wang Xiong said: "The matter of Xu Du has been delayed for a long time since last year and this year, and our army's rations are really insufficient. If the delay continues, it will only make the people unable to live in peace. This official thinks that we can send someone to talk to Xu Du Let's talk."

Yao Sunfei lost Dongyang before him, so he didn't dare to disobey Wang Xiong's intentions at this time, he frowned and said, "Who should we send to talk?"

Wang Xiong said: "Manager Chen and Xu Du have some friendship, how about taking a trip with Manager Chen?"

Chen Zilong frowned: "How to talk?"

Wang Xiong sighed: "Hey, God has the virtue of loving life. My son of heaven has always been kind-hearted. He once made a promise that if the thief is willing to surrender, he will still be my son. Since the son of heaven has promised, we as ministers should also understand His love for the people." Heart. If Xu is bound to come down, he should wait for death."

Chen Zilong sighed and said, "Since that's the case, I'll go there as an officer."

At this time, Yang Chao had a new view. This Chen Zilong didn't seem to be simple. A few words and a few words cooperated with Wang Xiong to avoid Xu Du's death penalty, and he also brought out the emperor. Chongzhen did say such a thing, but Yang Chao didn't believe Chongzhen. He is a kind-hearted person, he even killed more than one of the chief assistants, and the minister of the Ministry of War killed seven or eight people, is he kind-hearted?These officials don't believe it!

The reason why Chongzhen proposed to appease the bandits is that as long as the peasant army is willing to surrender, they will still be the emperor's children and the emperor's people. There is no way. Who will let the rebels have too many people? Millions of people can't be killed. , but this also gave Zhang Xianzhong a chance. This guy surrendered again and again, and every time the civil servants agreed, he would surrender soon.

Moreover, when civil servants accepted Zhang Xianzhong's surrender, they often took a lot of bribes to help him speak well. When Zhang Xianzhong finally rebelled, he posted notices on all the high officials who accepted his money and finances. A group of civil servants of the Ming Dynasty made these guys who were so courageous that they dared to accept money from the rebellious peasant army very uncomfortable, but they escaped, because there were too many civil servants involved in the case, and the emperor dared not to the point of killing.

No wonder Xu Du dared to rebel. He probably thought that as long as he had soldiers in his hands, killing and arson and being recruited was a shortcut to becoming an official.

Then this Wang Xiong, as soon as he played a double play with Chen Zilong, immediately set his path.

Just now Yang Chao thought that Chen Zilong was a loyal minister, but suddenly he felt that this loyal minister was not that simple.

But Yang Chao didn't say anything, it would be better if they could make peace, Yang Chao could go back earlier, Yang Chao hoped that they could make peace sooner, but his trip was wasted in vain, it seems a little unreasonable, you guys in Zhejiang are making a fuss , In the end, the government and the wealthy family made peace, and the emperor, who did not know the details, ordered Yang Chao to suppress the bandits, but in the end it was nothing but delaying the preparation time for going north.

Thinking that this was a drama that had been choreographed long ago, Yang Chao felt that he was the buffoon being played, and his heart moved, thinking that these guys should not be so smooth.

So he stood up and said: "Master Chen is going to be very dangerous, I originally escorted Master Chen to go."

Yang Chao's words were so high-sounding that Wang Xiong and the others couldn't say anything. Their faces were strange and wonderful, as if they had eaten a rotten egg that was hard to swallow.

It took a long time before Wang Xiong smiled: "Master Chen is going to accept the surrender, so there is no need for a strong general like Master Yang, it would be bad for Master Yang to go, not to mention the food and pay, if the bandit army is suspicious, it will be disadvantageous to Master Chen. "

But Yang Chao insisted: "My lord Wang is surprised by what he said. If lord Chen goes alone and gets caught in the bandit army, what should we do? With the escort of [-] elite soldiers from the official, we should be able to keep lord Chen safe."

Wang Xiong continued: "It's just that the Jinhua Mansion is really short of food, and it's hard for Mr. Yang to come to help, but he can't allocate the army food. The army is mobilized, and people eat horses to feed them. How can we afford it?"

Yang Chao made up his mind: "Don't worry, my lord. I always bring my own army rations when I go out to war, which is enough for three months!"

Wang Xiong opened his mouth, it's too exaggerated, how much does it cost for tens of thousands of people to eat and drink with the army's March military rations?
But he still didn't give up: "But Ziwei Mountain is the Xu family's old house. It has been in business for a long time, and it is guarded against danger. I am afraid that it will not be able to be defeated in three months."

Yang Chao said to himself: "Your Excellency, don't worry. I have been in Haizhou for less than a month, and killed [-] captives. Although I think that the white-headed army is strong, I can also destroy the bandits in three months."

Wang Xiong hummed, showing displeasure, which was to imply that Yang Chao should stop meddling, but he couldn't say it clearly, because it was too factual. After all, he also knew from Shi Kefa's private letter that Yang Chao actually obeyed the emperor's order. Although this kind of imperial edict can be dismissed by civil officials, it proves that the emperor knew about it. The emperor is staring at Jinhua, so there is no reasonable reason. He can't stop Yang Chao at all, and he dare not stop Yang Chao forcibly.

"Even if the thieves are defeated within three months, what will Master Yang do afterward? You will still need food and grass for the return journey."

Just after Wang Xiong finished speaking, Yang Chao burst out laughing.

"I heard that the Xu family is a noble family in Dongyang, and it is also a first-class family in Jinhua Mansion. It is said that there are [-] white-headed troops. If I kill the white-headed army, I will eat their food!"

Yang Chao's words were so fierce that these people didn't know what to say.

What the hell, if you want to kill everyone else and eat their food, then needless to say, you will definitely not let go of the property of the Xu family.

But after Yang Chao said this, Wang Xiong suddenly understood. It turned out that Yang Chao had already seen through their behind-the-scenes transactions.

That is: You can't eat alone!
Moreover, Yang Chao had a big appetite and asked for a high price, that is: the Xu family's property.

In other words, the Xu family had to come up with something equivalent to their family property in order to bribe Yang Chao.

Wang Xiong and the others couldn't help sweating, and sighed secretly, this is the predator.

(End of this chapter)