Nanming Engineer

Chapter 236

The generals walked out of Hauge's huge golden-roofed tent, and while walking, they talked about He Zhen's rebellion. Everyone's expressions were solemn and their voices were low. Sichuan's strategy is not a small restraint. I am afraid that this war will drag on for some time.

No one noticed that on the side of the road in the camp, among a group of Nikan who were busy forking hay and feeding the horses, there was one person who was listening to their discussion carefully with his ears pricked up. Sensitively, he fell into his ears verbatim what everyone said, and remembered it in his heart.

When the crowd walked away, this Nikan dropped the pitchfork in his hand and yelled: "Oh, my stomach hurts, I want to take a shit!" After running away, the other Nikan laughed helplessly and said: "Lazy people shit shit!" Many, Zhang Lao Er is really worthy of this sentence."

Clutching his stomach, Zhang Laoer turned around in the camp, entered the Han army camp, and found Chen Xiang, whose head was wrapped in a towel and covered in mud, in a Han army camp that was digging a well.

When Chen Xiang saw Zhang Laoer's expression, he knew something was wrong, so he found a way to go aside and met Zhang Laoer. Zhang Laoer told him the news in a low voice, which surprised Chen Xiang.

"He Zhen rebelled again? Has this guy lost his conscience? How many times has he rebelled? Is it over?" Chen Xiang lowered his voice and said in surprise.

Zhang Laoer also said: "Who says it's not? It's not been a month since this guy took refuge in the Tartars, and the grass on the wall is not so fast. It's as good as offering thieves back then."

Chen Xiang groaned intently: "This news is very important, and you must let your lord know immediately."

Elder Zhang showed a sad face, shook his head and said: "But how to send it? Mr. Ma cut off the road. This move is too unique, but it blocked the Tartars, but we were also blocked here. A few days ago, the Tartars I still have the information about Zizi’s detour to Yinping, and I can’t send it over, so I’m so anxious.”

When Chen Xiang saw that he was worried, he laughed, and said loudly: "Don't worry, Mr. Wang is a teacher of a great sage, and he has the art of foresight. When I left him and went north, he already knew these two things. Told me."

"What?" Zhang Laoer's eyes bulged out, and he lost his voice in disbelief: "Master Wang had known for a long time that He Zhen would rebel, and also knew that the Qing soldiers were going to bypass Yinping?"

Chen Xiang hastily covered his mouth and looked around vigilantly. Fortunately, this place is located in a remote place where supplies are piled up. There are large carts on both sides, and no one is paying attention, so he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Silence! Do you think this is our Kuizhou territory?" Chen Xiang scolded in a low voice: "How can you be a spy if you are so careless?"

Zhang Laoer blushed and admitted his mistake repeatedly, Chen Xiangcai did not continue to scold, and said: "No wonder you were surprised. At that time, my lord said that, but I couldn't believe it. At that time, the Qing soldiers were still far in the north, and Zhang Xianzhong was still powerful. My lord As far as these two things are said, no one will believe it, but the adults are not sure that these two things will happen, they just say that if these two things happen, they will send a signal to He, when he sees the signal, he will take corresponding measures."

"Signal?" Zhang Er was even more confused, and his expression became more astonished: "What signal? My lord is far away in Chengdu, hundreds of miles away from us, what signal can he see?"

Chen Xiangbai glanced at him, and said: "I didn't say I wanted my lord to see it, but to let the guards of the Jiange see it. If Master Ma saw it in the Jiange, he could notify you."

Zhang Laoer was puzzled: "Even if this is the case, Mr. Ma's Jiange is ten miles away from us. The road is impassable. What signal?"

Chen Xiang looked around, and after confirming that no one was there, he took out a paper lantern from his arms, raised it, and said, "This is it, Kongming Lantern."

He unfolded the thinly stacked lanterns and erected them upright, and the hollow Kongming lantern appeared in front of Zhang Laoer's eyes, but the paper used for this lantern was black, which was different from others.

"Your Excellency said that if the Tartars really send troops to Yinping, they will release black lanterns. If He Zhen really turns against the Tartars, they will release white lanterns. If the two things happen at the same time, they will release the two kinds of lanterns together." Chen Xiang explained: "There are nearly a hundred of these two kinds of lanterns, and they are all hidden in my place. When the wind direction is right in the past two days, we will take advantage of the opportunity to release them on the mountain. Kongming lanterns are very light, and it is not a problem to float ten miles with the wind. With so many lanterns, Lord Ma must be able to see them."

Zhang Lao Er opened his mouth wide and stared blankly. He never imagined that he would use this method to transmit information over a long distance. Also, Wang Huan's miraculous ability to tell things like a god is comparable to fortune-telling in front of the Town God's Temple. The half-immortal, for the half-immortal, he couldn't find any other way to express his admiration and shock besides giving a thumbs up.

Zhang Laoer and Chen Xiang didn't know that Wang Huan was not a half-immortal, but only a descendant time traveler. Of course, he knew about the historical events of He Zhen's rebellion and Li Guohan's rebellion, but he was not sure whether his time travel would affect these events. History happened, so he handed it over to Chen Xiang to transmit information urgently when the road was cut off. Now it really comes in handy. It was covered with a layer of mysterious immortality.

So two days later in the afternoon, a southerly wind blew up in the sky, and the wind was very strong, which was very suitable for kite flying. On the top of a high mountain outside Guangyuan City, hundreds of black, white and white Kongming lanterns suddenly floated up. , but it is also extremely conspicuous. In clear and clear weather, this spectacular scene can be seen from a distance.

Of course the Qing soldiers saw it too, but the lantern was already elevated, and the arrows couldn't get close, so they could only look curiously at the lantern slowly drifting southward in the sky and talk about it.

Hauge and other generals either saw it with their own eyes or heard reports from their subordinates, and they all knew that many strange lanterns were lifted into the air and floated away. Although they knew that there must be fraud, they had no choice but to send troops to the mountain to arrest the person who released the lanterns. , The flag soldiers climbed the rugged and steep mountain for a long time, and when they reached the top of the mountain, they didn't even see a human hair, and they injured several people when they went down the mountain.

Ma Xintian, who closed the sword gate, saw the group of Kongming lanterns floating in the wind after half an hour. The black and white combination was particularly conspicuous. Ma Xintian had also been ordered by Wang Huan to immediately send the news of the black and white lanterns to the Chengdu.

At this time, Chengdu has been in the hands of Wang Huan for nearly a month, and the city has taken on a new look. The Kuizhou Army posted an Anmin notice on the second day, announcing a policy of exempting land tax for one year. All the yamen servants and officials who are willing to be attached can all be retained. Even officials, as long as their net worth is clean and their hands are not stained with blood, they can also go to the general army yamen to file a record. After verification, they can select the best and hire them.

Wang Huan transferred Meng Zhiyu from the Chongqing government. The magistrate of Ming Dynasty who hugged Wang Huan's thigh brought a large number of officials, and took over the rotten civil affairs in Chengdu. According to Wang Huan's According to the regulations, various yamen affairs were re-established, and the Sichuan Chief and Envoys were operated to restore the vitality of Sichuan in an orderly manner.

As for the remnants of thieves in various prefectures and counties, there are still not a few, and even some counties and prefectures are still in the hands of officials and generals loyal to Daxi. For these places, Wang Huan has limited troops and is temporarily unable to attack them vigorously. For example, Yuan Tao in Fucheng, This mighty general who used his isolated city to defeat Hauge in history has now become a powerful opponent to Wang Huan, but Wang Huan is still unable to conquer.

However, Wang Huan was not troubled. The treasures obtained by Li Yan were counted overnight, and the quantity really surprised Wang Huan, who was well-informed, rich and powerful. With trembling hands, he counted out all kinds of gold ingots, pearls and jade plus silver ingots and converted them into taels of silver, a total of 3000 million taels of silver, which was equal to the fiscal revenue of the four or five years of the Yongle period in the heyday of the Ming Dynasty!

Wang Huan, whose pockets were bursting, immediately gave out bonuses. As long as there are generals from the Western Army who surrendered to the city, the Kuizhou Army will not be blamed. As long as they surrender their troops and horses, they can be retained as officials. People who get it will be punished, and those who kill stubborn thieves will be given five taels of silver per head for ordinary soldiers, one tael for small leaders, and a hundred taels of silver for the leader and general. Those who kill can also join the Kuizhou army as soldiers.

This trick can be effective quickly. People in various states and counties see the generals of the Great Western Army with bright eyes, as if they saw walking ingots one by one. If a single soldier of the Great Western Army goes out, they may not be able to go back. The corner was cut off, and the head was beheaded and went to Chengdu to receive the reward.

As a result, powerful people from all over the world raised the flag of righteousness and wanted to be good ministers of the Ming Dynasty. Civilian riots occurred to varying degrees in the states and counties in various places that were still controlled by the remaining Daxi Army. The strength of the Daxi Army varied from place to place, with some places having more people than others. There are few people in the place, and the place with few people will be quickly killed and included in Wang Huan's territory. Even some Daxi troops will be frightened by the general trend of starting a prairie fire like wildfire on the grassland, and will voluntarily surrender. Master the speed of Sichuan.

After a period of bloody turmoil, the entire central Sichuan south of Jianmenguan, except for a few places controlled by diehards, fell into the control of Wang Huan. After asking Wang Huan for instructions, Meng Zhiyu quickly dispatched He sent a large number of officials to serve as officials in various places, established a local government office loyal to Wang Huan at an extremely fast speed, recruited regiments to practice self-defense, and laid the foundation for consolidating the rule of the Kuizhou army.

These officials were all familiar subordinates of Meng Zhiyu in the past. They were originally low-level scholars. In a hurry to employ people and downgrade talents, the officials changed their bodies and were promoted by rockets. They became prefects and counties one after another. Some of them with outstanding abilities even sat on the throne of fifth-rank prefects, and crows flew up the branches and became phoenixes.

In this way, more scholars were attracted to join the Kuizhou army, and although the Kuizhou army was a warlord, it was after all under the banner of the Ming Dynasty and occupied the orthodoxy. With connections, they wanted to join the Kuizhou Army one after another, and Wang Huan's men suddenly became richer.

Wang Huan set the rules. First, if you are an official in a different place, you are not allowed to be an official in the local prefecture or county;

These rules prevent to the greatest extent that in the early stage of Wang Huan's power expansion, the situation that a large number of officials were trained by the powerful family to control the actual execution level of the Kuizhou Army, and Wang Huan was overhead. The middle party fights like a nest.

These things made Wang Huan's mind dizzy, and when everything came to an end, Ma Xintian's urgent letter arrived, and there was only one sentence in the letter: A large number of black and white Kongming lanterns floated from the sky above Jianmenguan.

Wang Huan immediately threw everything to Meng Zhiyu, left Chengdu with [-] white-robed soldiers, and set off for Jiange.

(End of this chapter)