Great time travel

Chapter 155, The Chaos of Jiangnan

An even more serious rebellion broke out along the shores of Lake Tai.This is the main grain-producing area in the south of the Yangtze River, and the additional in-kind tax urgently apportioned by the Nanjing court is also extremely heavy. Coupled with the tax collectors at all levels and the rural gentry, the local farmers cannot afford to pay the official tax even if they buy their sons and daughters.

Therefore, under the frantic urging of the government, some farmers and fishermen near the lake area first started a tax evasion campaign. This group of people hid the latest harvested grains, rowed boats and fled to several islands in the middle of Taihu Lake, refusing to pay taxes. The yamen servants of the tax and the landlords who collect the rent contacted each other.

In response to this, the furious officials immediately organized yamen servants and strong men, and rowed boats to clean up the situation. As a result, when the problem developed into an armed conflict, things became more and more out of hand. After several small-scale battles, such as The remnants of the Cao Gang, the Taihu Water Bandits, the remnants of the Wenxiang Sect, and even the defeated Zhejiang Army, all of them joined the riots.By mid-August, these Taihu rebels not only defeated the government's pursuit, but even gathered thousands of people to attack Yixing County on the west bank of Taihu Lake, and plundered Huzhou Capital on the south bank of Taihu Lake!
Prior to this, in order to prevent internal conflicts, the leaders of the twelve water villages along the Taihu Lake had already held an alliance on the West Dongting Island, and elected a leader named Su, or "the chief executive".It is said that the special envoy of the Australian bandits participated in the meeting, and gave the bandit army of Taihu Lake the name "Twelve Links".Out of the consideration of winning foreign aid, the leader of the Soviet Union readily accepted the above-mentioned name, and the bandits in Taihu Lake became more and more powerful for a while.

It wasn't until this time that the Nanjing imperial court, who had just woken up from a dream, began to dispatch troops and generals to deal with the Taihu bandit area, but due to the layers of requests for instructions and documents, when the Yangtze River Navy entered Taihu Lake and began to suppress it, the incident was far away. Three full months have passed.However, the Nanjing imperial court's action of strangling the peasants' riot this time has won the strong support of the landowners in the Taihu Lake area. The landlords and rich peasants were terrified, and many even packed up their belongings and prepared to flee in advance. After all, the farmers in the southern Hangzhou area had been instigated by Australian bandits to kill gentry and divide their land.Without the guidance of the work team, these peasants' spontaneous land reform actions were extremely bloody, and the whole family was wiped out at every turn.

Therefore, when the Yangtze River navy entered Taihu Lake, they actually enjoyed the feeling of eating a pot of rice. With the backbone of the landowners and gentry, they not only reluctantly took out large sums of food, fodder and money to reward the sergeants, but also organized a A large militia group came to help.So before the battle started, apart from receiving a lot of supplies, the court officers and soldiers also had a total of [-] extra soldiers out of thin air.

Unfortunately, the ensuing battle did not go well.Although the Yangtze River Navy performed very hard this time, it not only took only one day to recover the lost Yixing County, but also made persistent efforts to continue to attack the private port of the island occupied by the "Twelve Serial Docks" water bandits.However, the water bandits in the "Twelve Serial Docks" are by no means mediocre. Not only did they bravely drive a sampan to launch a suicidal attack on the navy navy, but they also carried out a night attack with a rather technical "fire boat". Hundreds of government and military ships were burned.The local gentry recruited the village brave group to practice. Although the fighting will is quite good, but in the more technical water warfare, they are really not the opponents of "professionals" such as the Cao Gang.As a result, due to repeated defeats in water battles, they have been unable to land on the island occupied by water bandits in the "Twelve Serial Docks".

What's more terrible is that after learning about the military situation in the Taihu theater, although the Kun bandits in Hangzhou did not send their own troops to respond, they drove the rebels of Hainingwei to attack Huzhou from the southeast, posing as if they wanted to attack the capital city of Huzhou, which completely disrupted the army. eradication plan.The Xiangyongs of Huzhou and Jiaxing had to rush back to their hometowns to fend off the enemy, and the Yangtze River Navy had no choice but to be content with recovering Yixing, and returned "triumphantly" with a string of human heads hanging from the mast.

As a result, just after the official army who conquered Taihu Lake retreated, the water bandits from the "Twelve Links" made a comeback. They not only invaded the dilapidated Yixing County again, but also captured Changxing County in Zhejiang Province and looted Suzhou Prefecture. It is said that he slapped the court in the face severely.

Fortunately, the face of this Nanjing Yonghe Emperor's boss has already been beaten to the point that it is almost the same as Zhu Bajie, so he doesn't care about these slaps.

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In any case, even though this land in the south of the Yangtze River is full of smoke and fire from all directions, relying on the deployment of troops and generals who demolished the east wall to make up for the west wall, as well as reckless bloody massacres, the chief minister of the cabinet, Zhou Yanru, finally reluctantly put this The chaos was suppressed.

However, those worthless grassroots can of course be killed at will.But the Confucian scholars who took the lead in instigating the civil uprising, especially the scholars with fame, once the court ruthlessly massacred them, it would be like stabbing a hornet's nest.Now at this moment, a snowflake of impeachment memorials has filled the cabinet squad, and all of them are yelling at Zhou Yanru, the chief assistant of the cabinet.Some people scolded him for "harming scholars and insulting gentlemen", "killing the style of writing, cruel and inhumane", and some people remonstrated that "since ancient times, the punishment of doctors has not been punished, and scholars should be forgiven even if they have minor faults. How can we allow vulgar warriors to kill the country? Dongliang, how is it different from burning books and burying Confucian scholars?"——The meaning inside and outside the words is the same: Zhou Yanru, you are already such a heinous crime, why don't you step down soon?
Regarding this, Zhou Yanru was really angry and funny, depressed and sad: What kind of mess is the imperial court now? You censors are not ignorant of it, and there is a new wave of downturning the court?Isn't it true that you are not afraid that the nest will be overturned and there will be no eggs? !However, after some communication, the attitude of the other party seems to be really "life is endless, and the house will not stop"!Because that's what they're all about! ! !

"...What is the crime of this generation of scholars? Bewitching the public, violating the laws of the country, gathering traitors, and misleading the common people. Hold up the light of rice beads, seize the sun and the moon, use the ax of the mantis, dare to go against the sky! The current situation , it is better to kill a hundred policemen, hang the head of the traitor, and frighten the ugliness in the south of the Yangtze River, and those who openly violate the court, although everyone will not forgive them!"

Angrily, he drew up a pen to instruct him, and then hooked up and executed more than a hundred traitors who had reported to the Ministry of Criminal Justice for stealing rice, and planned to be executed as soon as possible. Then he stretched himself, and was about to rest for a while, when suddenly There was a commotion outside, and then a trusted aide ran over panting, holding a dirty notice in his hand, and kept yelling: "... a disaster! a disaster! Chongzhen abolished the emperor Call for a crusade against Nanjing!"

Zhou Yanru lost all fatigue for a moment, jumped up with a "whoosh", grabbed the list with his hands and unfolded it, his eyes turned black immediately.I saw that it was written impressively: "... I look up and look down. It is just the day to attack the violent and save the people, and it is the day to respond to the people. I lead the civil and military officials and workers to join in the charitable deeds. On September 80th, the sixth year of Chongzhen, Worship the heaven and the earth in the suburbs, announce the cloth room, tell the temple to revitalize the division, and march in a timely manner. Mobilize [-] officers and soldiers on land and water, and drive them personally to conquer. They will go down the river from Wuchang and go straight to Jinling. Bronze ostriches are raised from thorns, jade is burnt in golden soup, and the banner of righteousness responds to all directions. , build a perfect strategy, singing and raining dew, if you can understand the time and look at the wind, the grass and trees will not be damaged, and the chickens and dogs will not be shocked; dare to be obedient and obedient, love the current personal favor, forget the old master of the world, and take advantage of the danger. To fight against my king's teacher, I will immediately supervise the army, and I will personally conquer the nest and cover the hole.
If there are civil and military students who are proficient in the art of war and geography, they may wish to offer advice to the army, use their thighs and brawns, and be promoted by their equivalent talents, and they will not hesitate to be awarded high titles.Officials in various prefectures and counties, if they are clean and honest, they will still hold their original posts.The grains and grains that were urged to be requisitioned were all sealed and stored in warehouses, and printed letters and books could be released before the army.If there are unfinished business, another treaty should be promulgated, everyone should follow the warning carefully, so as not to stain the knife head with blood, then the widow will be lucky, and the world will be lucky! "

Looking at the rows of murderous words, Zhou Yanru felt that the thin piece of paper in his hand weighed a thousand catties... After standing there for a while, the attendants on the left and right felt something was wrong with Zhou Yanru, He wanted to come up to check, but he saw the chief assistant spit out a mouthful of blood and collapsed on the table, "...It's over! It's over! You really shouldn't be the chief assistant! I really regret it back then!"

However, after all, Zhou Yanru also knew that he had committed the crime of conspiracy and treason, so he had no way out. After weeping and venting for a while, he finally raised his spirits again and began to arrange countermeasures: "...quickly draft official documents, urge Lu Weiqi returned to Nanjing to prepare for the western expedition to defend against the enemy! Then he summoned all the ministers and held a court meeting! No matter what, let them collect money and food! Whether everyone lives or dies, it all depends on this one!"

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On September 80th of the sixth year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen, together with his civil and military officials, set up an altar in the Wuchang camp to worship the ancestors of heaven and earth.An old minister came to remonstrate and said: "Son of heaven, how can you move lightly?"The duty of the Son of Heaven lies in self-cultivation and morality, and to educate the people with benevolence and righteousness.It does not lie in the bloody battlefield, but in the company of warriors.How decent is it to rashly enlist in person?The emperor replied: Now that the world is falling apart, the two capitals have fallen, the ancestral mausoleums have fallen into the hands of thieves, and there are many nobles, civil and military, who are attached to rebels, is it time to cultivate morality?If I don't fight in person again, I'm afraid I will add a knife and ax to myself soon!So all [-] troops from Huguang, known as [-], marched on land and water, marching eastward at once, and the southeast half of the wall trembled for a while.

On the 25th, the emperor drove into Jiujiang, and the whole province of Jiangxi was terrified. From the governor of Jiangxi to the chief envoy, all officials, big and small, rushed to Jiujiang to meet and swear allegiance.Emperor Chongzhen then set up a camp in Jiujiang to appease the people and collect food and fodder as the backing for the army to conquer the south of the Yangtze River.At the same time, he worshiped Lu Xiangsheng, Minister of the Ministry of War, as the main general, leading the whole army to continue to march into South Zhili. On the 26th, the Nanjing imperial court also ordered martial law to remain in the capital. At the same time, all troops in the south of the Yangtze River were mobilized. Under the command of Lu Weiqi, Minister of the Ministry of War, they rushed to the upper reaches to meet the incoming enemy. A decisive battle between the eastern and western armies was imminent.

On the third day of October, Wang Dou, the vanguard of the Western Army, marched by land and water, and invaded the border of Southern Zhili, invincible all the way.Frightened by the orthodoxy of Emperor Chongzhen, the prefect of Anqing and the magistrates of all the subordinate counties turned their backs and changed banners, and the Western Army soldiers went down to Anqing without bloodshed.The counties of Chizhou and Luzhou were also trembling with fear.

After hearing the news, Lu Xiangsheng, the head coach of the Western Army, also mobilized a large army to Anqing to supervise the battle.All the generals of the Western Army were jealous of Wang Dou's repeated victories and were deeply favored by the emperor. Lu Xiangsheng also wanted to monopolize the victory over Jinling.Therefore, a joint discussion was held at the Yamen of Anqing, and Wang Dou's troops were sent to abandon the ship and land, away from the Yangtze River, and go south over the mountains to attack Huizhou on the grounds that there were several battalions of Zhejiang troops stationed in Huizhou, fearing that they would threaten the rear of the army.Wang Dou accepted the order angrily, ordered three thousand troops to land in Huizhou and left.

At this time, the commander of the Eastern Army, Lu Weiqi, Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, dispatched all the soldiers in the south of the Yangtze River and gathered more than [-] soldiers from the Eastern Army. Anqing's prefecture has already surrendered to the enemy, and the counties of Chizhou prefecture in the south of the Yangtze River are also very suspicious, and there are many rumors of defection to the enemy.Lu Weiqi then stationed his troops in Wuhu, not daring to enter again, but camped and deployed defenses on the spot, preparing to block the enemy upstream.

On October [-]th, Lu Xiangsheng led the main force of the Western Army to break through Chizhou and arrived in Wuhu. He was blocked by the Eastern Army camp, and a decisive battle between the two armies was imminent...