Great time travel

Chapter 80, lest the world be chaotic

Not long after leaving Fujian Governor's Yamen and returning to the inn where he was staying, Zhang Pu quietly changed his clothes and came out. After making a few circles in Fuzhou City, after confirming that no one was following him, he quietly left the street and sneaked into the alley. Finally, he turned around and got into a secluded house.

As soon as he entered the gate of the house, a strong man with dark skin and a strong figure greeted him, "...Mr. Zhang, what's the matter?"

"...Hey, it really doesn't work! That old man Zou Weilian is stubborn and cowardly. He only cares about his own wealth and honor. He would rather muddle along and tolerate adultery, but completely forget about the righteousness of the country and the safety of the country! It's really embarrassing for me to be honest and gentlemen. For the team!"

Zhang Pu shook his head and replied, with contempt and disdain on his face, "... If we want him to give up his life for righteousness, to punish the rebels internally, and to fight the thieves externally, it seems impossible. For the well-being of the people of the world, we will also We can only make up our minds and take decisive measures regardless of the reputation behind us..."

"...Hehe, it should have been like this long ago, Mr. Zhang, I said that old Zou Weilian can't be counted on!"

The black-faced burly man replied with a sneer, and dozens of people gathered in the courtyard also responded.If you look carefully, there are people of all kinds, all kinds of dresses, etc. among them, but most of them are fighting men with fierce faces, and there are even many short Japanese samurai with strange hair buns...

——Before, when the Zheng family in southern Fujian was attacked and destroyed by the "Australians", although Zheng Zhilong was defeated and appointed as the head, and his family and heirs died unexpectedly, there were still many remaining members of the Zheng family who fled outside, waiting for opportunities to retaliate. , There are also many Japanese ronin recruited by the Zheng family.

Later, due to the vigorous suppression by the Funing Army and the maritime blockade by the "Australians", these remnants of the Zheng family could not stand up in southern Fujian, so they had to flee to the north. He took over and organized the remnants of the Zheng family who had blood feuds with the Funing Army and the "Australians" into the two battalions of "Fubiao", hoping to use them to deal with the Funing Army who may raise the flag to rebel at any time.

At the beginning, the Zheng family's remnant party thought that with the support of the governor, there was hope for revenge, and they were extremely excited.But it didn't take long for them to see that Zou Weilian only wanted to maintain the status quo, and he didn't dare to be an enemy of the full-fledged Funing army, let alone avenge the Zheng family, so they couldn't help feeling very discouraged and resentful.

Next, due to some coincidences, this group of ex-pirates who only cared about revenge and regaining their former wealth and glory, and who didn't care about anything else, actually skipped Zou Weilian and hooked up with Fushe and Donglin bosses directly. Then I met Zhang Pu, a leader who has friendship with all kinds of religions and nine streams, and is extremely daring... So the two sides hit it off quickly, and soon hooked up, and began to plot "big things".

In addition, the other group of Japanese present here is actually even more strange. They are secret envoys sent by the Tokugawa shogunate to the Central Plains. It turns out that after the disastrous conquest of Changzhou, the Tokugawa shogunate gradually knew Knowing what happened to the "Ming foreign aid" of the Changzhou Fan, he began to try to cut off the foreign aid of the Changzhou Fan, so he sent people with a large sum of gold and silver and some good hands to cross the sea to the Ming country to carry out activities. We must deal with the Funing Army from within.

But the problem is that these envoys from the shogunate are blind in the Ming Dynasty. Even if there are gold and silver who want to bribe, they can't enter. In the end, he got lucky. On the one hand, he somehow got in touch with Zhang Pu, the leader of the Fushe, and on the other hand, through the relationship of a few Japanese ronin subordinates to the Zheng family, he was connected to the remaining members of the Zheng family in Fuzhou.

However, even though these two groups of people are sitting together right now, there are actually quite a lot of conflicts - the shogunate envoys, who maintain their noble status, look down on Zheng's bereaved dogs; On the ground, pointing fingers and gesticulating... Fortunately, there is still a common enemy today. While shouldering the heavy responsibility of the shogunate, they are red-eyed and want revenge and come back again, so they can barely cooperate.

Zhang Pu, a famous scholar of Fushe, pretended to be the leader of the alliance, and raised a hand in a very stylish manner, giving orders to them in a grand manner:
"...Everyone, since the governor is so unrighteous, don't blame me for being unkind! The specifics of what to do have been discussed before, and now let's do it! All of you, work hard and fight for rebellion! Drive out the Kun bandits!"

"...Bless the Heavens! Drive out the Kun bandits!" Everyone waved their fists together and shouted in unison.

Of course, the Yidonglin Party has always been in the habit of defrauding its own people, so the first cut of "rebellion" naturally fell on its own people.

——Late at night on the first day of June in the fifth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Pu, a concubine, together with his confidantes, set up a copper urn inside the city gate of Fuzhou at night. Firecrackers were lit in the urn to fake the sound of cannons, and dozens of people were sent to run around the streets with fire In the meantime, everyone was clamoring and shouting, "...the Funing army is in chaos! The Kun bandits have entered the city!"

The city of Fuzhou was shocked immediately, and the common people fled to the outside of the city at night, trampling each other and killing countless people.There are also Japanese pirates robbing the market, murdering people and stealing goods, and local rogues take advantage of the chaos to rob, set fire to and kill, and the chaos in the city is getting worse.Before it was too late, the governor's yamen was on fire, and some "defeated soldiers" of the governor's Chinese army standard battalion ran away wrapped up in wounds. Everyone along the way shouted "... disaster has arrived! The gangsters and rebels have broken the governor's yamen, and governor Zou's family died for the country also!"

As a result, the whole city of Fuzhou was terrified, and the magistrates and eunuchs abandoned their posts and fled one after another. They were escorted by a group of strong government servants to escape from the city, and rushed to the surrounding counties overnight.After everyone was breathing, they reported "the bandits broke the city" one after another, and countless emergency documents flew into the north and south capitals like snowflakes.

At the same time, the First Battalion of the Model Army of the Governor of Fujian Province raided Xiapu, the old camp of the Funing Army, set fire to the village market, and killed local military households.Because there has been no war in Xiapu for several years, most of the left behind soldiers are old and weak, which actually allowed the incoming enemy to penetrate into the territory for a time.General He Dingyuan of the Funing Army, who had just been transferred from Quanzhou to Xiapu, was furious when he heard the news. He hastily mobilized hundreds of soldiers and horses out of the camp to meet him.

The next day, He Dingyuan sent two thousand troops to Fuzhou, the provincial capital, to question and demonstrate.Unexpectedly, as soon as they entered the city of Fuzhou, they found that the city gate was wide open, the ground was in a mess, and the government offices everywhere were also empty, only a few thieves who took advantage of the fire to loot were caught.He Dingyuan, who was relatively simple-minded, couldn't figure it out for a while, so he settled in Fuzhou and began to gather the citizens and restore order.
But it was too late at this moment, the news that "the Funing army broke through Fuzhou, murdered officials and rebelled, and governor Zou Weilian committed suicide" had already spread to the north and south of the river.Under the activities of a group of Donglin Party members, the Nanjing Military Department issued a crusade order to the Funing Army as quickly as possible.

——The beacon smoke on the Fujian battlefield was ignited, adding a bit of apocalyptic atmosphere to the Ming Empire, which had already been littered with flames...

What's more terrible is that the flames of war that were ignited by the gentlemen of Donglin at the same time were not limited to this place...

sex

In the summer of the fifth year of Chongzhen, the Qian family mansion in Southern Zhili of the Ming Dynasty, Changshu County, Suzhou Prefecture.

Fifty-two-year-old Qian Qianyi, the former right servant of the Ministry of Rites and a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, who was once a famous Donglin giant and literary master, has been defeated by Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren in the first year of Chongzhen. It has been four years since he was forced to return to his hometown.

In the past few years, apart from giving lectures in the academy, his main entertainment is writing poems.The writing style of these poems is very distinctive. When you read them in a good mood, you can become depressed, and when you read them in a bad mood, you can commit suicide.The main meanings of the poems are relatively similar, I regret something, I want to retire, I have lived in vain, I am boring, anyway, in a word, my life has been bad luck.After all, after all these years wasted in vain at home, it is normal to feel a little resentful.

In this gloomy rural life that makes people want to commit suicide, the only bright color that makes him feel happy is the birth of his fourth son, Qian Ruyi. Qian Ruyi just turned four years old this year. After Qianyi's first three sons died early one after another, Qian Qianyi now really regards this single young son as the jewel in his palm and the flesh and blood of his heart. In addition to lecturing and composing poems, he often personally teaches the young son how to walk, learn language, and learn characters. Enjoy family fun.

However, on this morning, because of the news from Fujian, Qian Qianyi was so frightened that he was covered in cold sweats, and he didn't even have the mind to play with his youngest son: "... Zhang Pu... is so daring?! Not only did you contact foreign feudal clans, but you even dared to murder the dignified governor?!"

——Although it was Qian Qianyi who proposed to attack the Funing Army and the Australian thieves at the beginning, he only collected some information and put forward a preliminary idea. When it came time to implement it, he almost had to stand aside ——Because Qian Qianyi has been dismissed after all, his power and influence are not as good as before, and he is getting older, and he is not as energetic as those young people.In addition, Zhang Pu, an activist who likes to seize power, volunteered... So, he never expected that Zhang Pu could make things so cruel and sensational!

"... Sigh, with regard to the destruction of Zou Weilian's entire family in Fujian, did Zhang Pu make his own decision? Or did he really follow the pre-arranged arrangements of the princes of the court? If the princes of Donglin really ordered it like this , then...hehe, it really makes people feel a little bit chilled!"

Speaking of which, the reason why Qian Qianyi proposed to provoke the encirclement and suppression of Huangshi was not only for the sake of his own official career, but also an attempt to concoct a great contribution in order to accumulate reputation as soon as possible, gain the favor of the emperor, and finally return to Beijing Recovering, in addition, is to reverse the current political environment in which the Donglin Party is besieged by the court, and to buy a period of respite and adjustment for the Donglin Party members who are about to be murdered by old enemies from all walks of life.

——In March of the fifth year of Chongzhen, the Dalinghe Battle, which lasted more than half a year, came to an end.Huang Taiji, the second generation head of the Houjin Kingdom, wisely adopted the strategy of besieging the city and fighting for aid. Using Dalinghe City and Zu Dashou and other elite Guanning troops in the city as bait, he repeatedly defeated the Ming army who came to aid from Jinzhou.

After repeated failed siege operations, the total number of reinforcements from the Ming Dynasty who were defeated and annihilated was as high as 15!In the final decisive battle, Wu Xiang, the general soldier of Liaodong, Zhang Chun, the deputy general of Yongping, Zuo Liangyu, the deputy general of Changping, and Yang Yufan, the deputy general of Tongzhou, were captured. Ning Tieqi was almost wiped out.Although Sun Chengzong, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, escaped from the battlefield by chance, he fled back to Shanhaiguan in a hurry, with only a few horsemen left with him.

As for Zu Dashou, who was trapped in Dalinghe City, he ran out of ammunition and food after defending the city for more than half a year, and even used human flesh as food. Open the city gate and surrender to Huang Taiji.

So far, the Jin army has won a complete victory, while the Ming army has suffered a terrible defeat.

In the course of a series of battles inside and outside Dalinghe City, in order to contain the reinforcements from the Ming Dynasty, Huang Taiji also dispatched Aba Taibeile to lead a patchwork of Eight Banners and Mongolian soldiers and horses, as well as motley Han soldiers. The army, with a total of more than [-] people, made another detour to Jizhen, broke through the side wall in early January and invaded the invaders, and then moved to the prefectures and counties in Northern Zhili.It was not until April that Abatai returned with a full load under the "escort" of the Ming army. By the time they left the Great Wall, the number of people had swelled to as many as [-] due to the plundering of people along the way and the recruitment of surrendered troops.

Fortunately among the misfortunes, the Dengzhou Rebellion in this time and space did not happen as it did in history—Denglai Governor Sun Yuanhua dispatched his cronies for the first time, the Liaodong Army (troops recruited from Dongjiang Town, to suppress the When the aboriginals took the sea route to rescue Daling River City, these Liao soldiers who had already been killed by the Jurchens originally planned to go out to sea for a random turn, and then came back to report that there was a storm on the sea and they could not sail, using this as an excuse to escape Go to die under the knife of Jurchen soldiers.Unexpectedly, their fleet was so desperate that it happened to collide with the "immigration recruitment fleet" of the Far East Company... As a result, in front of the modern steel warship, two thousand Liao soldiers and the main general Kong Youde became prisoners. After leaving the epidemic prevention and isolation camp in Vladivostok, he is working hard as a logger in the deep mountains and old forests. It is temporarily impossible to go back to Shandong to engage in mutiny.

As for Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai who was staying in Dengzhou, because he had not received any news, he really thought that they were caught in a storm and all drowned.

Later, under the strict order of the Ministry of War, Sun Yuanhua assembled the remaining Liaodong Army, led by the rebellious Li Jiucheng, and went out of Shanhaiguan by land to rescue Liaoxi. Zhi Liaodong Army has gone further than in history, until it went deep into Beizhili, and the mutiny broke out because of the lack of food and wages.Just at this time, Abatai led the Jurchen Eight Banners to break through the pass and go south, and they had already reached the vicinity of the Dengzhou reinforcements. Therefore, Li Jiucheng resolutely turned to the Tartars, and followed the Eight Banners soldiers in North Zhili, ravaging many counties and counties. In the end, he went out to Liaodong together with the Hou Jin army. During this period, Li Jiucheng also persuaded Abate to send his troops to Dengzhou. At that time, he could cooperate with the local Liao army and break the city in one fell swoop... But Abate thinks that the distance of Dengzhou It was too far away, and if the solitary army went deep, there might be accidents. At the same time, he didn't trust the new Li Jiuzheng, so he rejected the proposal, and returned to the customs in April, leaving only a mess of ruins behind him.

On the other hand, although at the end of the Battle of Daling River, Abate had left the customs and retreated, and the flames of war seemed to have come to an end, but the Ming court in Beijing was still as frightened as a bird - at this time, Liaozhen and Beizhili All the elite soldiers have been wiped out, and the frontline troops are extremely empty. The only ones who can fight are the few thousand Sichuan troops in Shanhaiguan.The soldiers and civilians on the frontier in Jizhen and western Liaoning were in a panic. Everyone was worried that Jiannu would invade again soon. Even if only a few Mongolian herdsmen appeared by chance, it would scare the already frightened border guards into fleeing by the hundreds.

And above the court, the crowd is even more raging - because of the poor performance in this military disaster, as well as the heavy losses on the Dalinghe battlefield and the counties and counties in Beizhili, the Donglin Party cabinet and the local Donglin For a while, important members of the party became the target of criticism, and courtiers from other factions took the opportunity to launch a movement to overthrow the cabinet. The Kedao Yushi of the capital has been jumping up and down since last autumn, and the memorials to the impeachment of Sun Chengzong, Zhou Yanru and other important officials of the Eastern Forest were piled up He is taller than others... No way, ever since he gained power in the first year of Chongzhen, the Donglin Party has become more and more unsightly in officialdom, and its role has become worse and worse. It seems that this group was born to The imperial court expands itself and excludes others.For a while, the Donglin Party dominated the bureaucratic system of the Ming Dynasty, so that if scholars did not join this illegal organization (the Donglin Party had never been legally recognized), it was almost impossible to get ahead.

As for the achievements of this illegal organization in governing the country, uh, it’s really embarrassing to talk about it—wars, road construction, disaster relief, flood fighting, water conservancy...it seems that everything is doing badly, especially some things that should have been invested every year The water conservancy system that maintains and maintains the operation is completely ruined under the management of the gentlemen, so that once a major natural disaster occurs, the consequences will be twice as serious as in the past.As for the war, it was one fiasco after another fiasco.Such a grudge against the world, such a disaster for the country and the people... If such a cabinet can be as stable as Mount Tai, it will be a ghost!

As a result, the Donglin Party, which had dominated the court since the first year of Chongzhen, finally could no longer control the government. Under the joint siege of officials from other factions and the anger and disgust of Emperor Chongzhen, the chief assistant Zhou Yanru was forced to resign Returning home, the official positions of the other Donglin important officials are also in jeopardy.

Although such a fate is obviously brought on by oneself, the Donglin party members don't think so, but feel aggrieved that the current "evil and evil" in the court, dare to drive these honest gentlemen off the stage, it is really tolerable It's unbearable... With the court's political battle set to be defeated, the Donglin party members who refused to admit defeat continued to mobilize their various connections and forces in an attempt to bring the situation back, at least not to lose any more.

——Specifically, it is to divert the attention of the government and the public by creating new wars, and temporarily relieve the Donglin Party members who are in trouble in the middle of the court——When the war becomes very urgent, the battle between the court and the cabinet will be eliminated. Temporarily suppress it. In this way, the "traitorous party in the court" and the "blinded saint" will not be able to further counterattack and reckon, thus preventing the entire Donglin Party from being completely driven out of the court.

As a result, Huangshi, far in the south, unfortunately became the first choice target—of course not because he colluded with the Australian thieves and repeatedly violated the imperial system, but because: First, I heard that Huangshi, a vulgar warrior, got a lot of money from the Australian thieves. I have learned a lot of techniques for making money, and I live a very prosperous life, but I am unwilling to donate the rich property to the Jiangnan gentry, and the money I earned has not been shared with the honest and honest Donglin gentlemen;
Secondly, in order to raise money and raise troops, the Funing Army actually ignored the imperial court’s tradition of collecting little or no commercial tax, and blatantly levied the “Jinghai tax” on every merchant ship in the Taiwan Strait. Merchant ships that refused to pay the tax usually would not even carry their cargo. Missing together... The annual income of the Funing Army is as high as 500 million taels of silver, which is equivalent to forcibly taking money from the pockets of the behind-the-scenes gold masters of the Donglin Party. Because not every gentry is engaged in sea trade, and Funing Army's power is really not weak, so they haven't made up their minds to deal with him for the time being.

Again, it is Huangshi who amassed land in southern Fujian, persecuted gentry, and trampled the dignity and honor of scholars into the mud... Although this somewhat makes the Donglin Party feel a little sad and hurts other people, but the landlords of the world have never been a family The landlords and gentry in the south of the Yangtze River would not shed tears for the experience of the landlords in southern Fujian unless it was related to the old relatives.

In short, taking advantage of this opportunity, the Donglin Party plans to label Huangshi and the Funing Army as rebels. While diverting the focus of the government and the opposition, it will take away all the financial resources that were originally controlled by those lowly warriors and provide them with These noble scribes enjoyed it.As for how to clean up the Funing army after the rebellion, and how to clean up the mess afterwards, it is the responsibility of the court. No matter how much manpower and material resources are lost, it is also the court's responsibility. The Donglin Party only needs to rely on foresight to reap more benefits—— —I will send you to die, and I will come to make a fortune... Isn't it the same for so many years?

Therefore, after the initial shock and horror, Qian Qianyi gradually relaxed again—no matter how earth-shattering the process of instigating the incident was, how cruel Zhang Pu's methods were, and how aggrieved Governor Zou Weilian's death was as an introduction, anyway, A dead fellow is not a poor one, maybe this is what the princes of the court mean?It's just that I need to pay more attention in the future, don't be fooled by Zhang Pu, a mad dog...

——But what these optimistic and lawless Donglin Party members in Jiangnan don't know is that because the Donglin Party and the rest of the gentry and wealthy families across the country have not communicated with each other, there are people in other places in the Ming Empire who are doing similar things. the same trick...

Therefore, in the next few days, Qian Qianyi, who lived in seclusion in the Jiangnan countryside, was stunned to receive one after another shocking bad news-although he retired at home, but as a person who advertised "family affairs, state affairs, world affairs, everything The Donglin Party that cares about him is quite well informed about him.

Although at this moment, he would rather not be so well-informed:
——A mutiny broke out in Dengzhou, Shandong, and Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, disappeared in the chaos. Chen Xin, the former general of Dengzhou, led the rebels across the sea to attack Tianjin!
——The border armies of Datong and Xuanfu broke out fierce internal strife for the silver mine, resulting in countless casualties, and they are still accusing each other of being rebels.

——More than 30 rogue bandits in northern Shaanxi elected Gao Yingxiang as their leader, crossed the river into Shanxi in an alliance, captured Taiyuan, the provincial capital, and killed Jin Wanghefu!

——Shandong Wenxiangjiao rebelled in southern Shandong again, and has gathered hundreds of thousands of people to besiege Jining and cut off the lifeline of the canal!

……

——In the end, the "slave chieftain" Huang Taiji sent many Ming Dynasty generals who surrendered in the Battle of Dalinghe to lobby the remnants of the Guanning Army in western Liaoning to persuade them to surrender.The civil servants and eunuchs of the supervisor have repeatedly reported secretly, saying that the morale of the army is not stable, and there may be accidents...

Although the concept of geography in his mind is very general, Qian Qianyi can also vaguely judge that at this time, there may be fires on all sides outside the city of Beijing.

"...How did so many disasters collide together? All the gentlemen above the court, what are you doing?"

Sitting in his small study, he opened his mouth blankly and murmured in disbelief.