stubborn thief

Chapter 669: Ask the Marshal to make me the Emperor

It is not easy for two people to get along.

We can empathize with others and be open-hearted, but there will always be some things that are tacitly understood.

When two people become leaders of two forces, the situation becomes more complicated.

In fact, it is the same for any person, organization, or force. When they are weak and disadvantaged, it is easiest to find good friends, huddle together for warmth, and strive to survive.

However, when they are ambitious, strong-willed, and intend to break through the existing environment, they are more likely to choose to stay away from others and be alone.

In a good situation, the two parties will drift apart; in a bad situation, internal strife for power and profit will occur.

This is human nature.

This is even more true when it comes to the interactions between the two forces.

Gao Yingxiang is not ignorant of geographical advantages. He loves reading and is a big fan of the Three Kingdoms.

He was very clear about the importance of Hanzhong to his plan to enter Sichuan and establish power.

Hanzhong is the knife handle of Qinling Mountains. It is in Shaanxi, with the tip of the knife facing Chengdu; it is in Sichuan, with the tip of the knife pointing directly at Xi'an.

But the situation is beyond our control.

In fact, according to Gao Yingxiang's original idea, Hanzhong Prefecture was enough for him to meet his survival needs.

Sichuan can advance if it can, but it doesn’t matter if it can’t.

Unfortunately, this flood trapped him in Hanbei and destroyed the land of Hanzhong.

No peasant army leader knew more about farming than Gao Yingxiang.

It is for this reason that he knows best that this flood has deprived the Hanzhong Basin of its opportunity to recuperate.

Floods took away soil fertility and deposited silt, making it difficult to grow food on the flooded land in a short period of time.

It is necessary to drain the stagnant water, clear the dead plants and weeds, loosen the soil and turn the land, spread lime for disinfection, and repair the ditches. Any of these tasks requires a lot of labor to restore the soil.

Gao Yingxiang had the ability to mobilize a large number of strong laborers to fight hard and capture cities, but he did not have the ability to mobilize them to clear canals and repair ditches.

This made his life difficult in Hanbei, and he could hardly control the army.

There are traces to follow for the development of any matter.

Among the first generation of Shaanxi militia leaders, there were those like Wang Zuogua and Wang Jiayin who attracted firepower; there was also those like Gao Yingxiang who was tolerant and able to unite leaders from all factions.

His personality traits make him more like a leader of multiple leaders rather than a leader.

The downside of this trait is, of course, that there is not much control over subordinates.

The most ambitious and ferocious people around him, the older generation's Bu Zhanni, the younger generation's Zhang Yichuan, and the rising stars Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, all raised their own flags.

That’s because the spatial environment at the time gave those who were capable of fighting out the opportunity to do so.

Now, his direct subordinates include a large number of young people who grew up in the war and have become the backbone of the Chuangwangba Camp.

Some of them are brave and heroic generals, while others behave like bandits.

But the similarity is that their bodies are covered with sharp knives, and each of them is a killer who will destroy the earth, ruin the city and kill people when they rush out.

Unable to break out, like a group of hedgehogs gathered together, they can only hurt each other.

This will hurt Gao Yingxiang sooner or later, so he needs Liu Chengzong's political support.

Besides, he really couldn't govern Hanzhong.

He had many talented people under his command who were capable of governing and guarding a region, but none of them could afford to stay in Hanzhong for two years where no food could be grown.

Therefore, Gao Yingxiang asked Gao Yingen to talk to Liu Chengzong, and what he found out at the beginning was the best situation in his mind.

Gao Yingxiang led his troops across the Han River, and Hanzhong was governed by officials sent by the Marshal's Office - this does not mean that Gao Yingxiang did not station troops in Hanzhong.

Gao Yingxiang’s bottom line is Chengdu Prefecture.

In fact, before Gao Yingxiang came up with the idea of ​​cooperation, he considered the situation of not being able to enter Sichuan.

That's why he planned to enter Sichuan under the name of Liu Chengzong.

Gao Yingxiang was trapped in northern Han due to heavy rain for half a year and did a lot of research.

I increasingly believe that Liu Chengzong is the person with the greatest hope of conquering the world.

He started his research with this surname.

This last name has no meaning.

It has no other characters, no specific meaning, is not considered an ancient surname, and is not the name of a feudal state or place.

It's amazing.

The reason for the appearance of this surname is that the first ancestor of the Xia Dynasty with this name had a crooked "川" pattern on his hand when he was born. His family members thought this pattern was auspicious, so they copied it down and named him this, and thus this character came into being.

After our ancestor grew up, he went to learn how to raise dragons from the Huanlong clan, and was given the surname Yulong by the king of the Xia Dynasty.

After completing his studies, he returned and was fed to the dragon of the Xia Dynasty and died. He fled out of fear of punishment, and his descendants took the surname Liu.

The only thing that makes this word meaningful is that the person with this surname loves to be an emperor.

Tianran has a huge passion for power and is the number one rebellious family in the world.

Throughout the dynasties, they were either emperors or on their way to becoming emperors by rebelling.

With the addition of the Golden Sword Prophecy, it seemed that they should do nothing else but become emperors.

But the prophecy of the golden knife is not a prophecy.

It is not an artificial creation like the fox's howl, the book in the fish's belly, or the stone man.

But the guy with this surname was so passionate about entrepreneurship that he succeeded again and again.

As a result, conditions have been gradually relaxed and people believe that there are certain objective laws.

This rule has aroused more entrepreneurial enthusiasm among future generations. As long as the emperor's surname is not Liu, there must be someone with the surname Liu causing trouble.

Sometimes it doesn’t matter even if the emperor’s surname is Liu, because rebellion will still occur.

Gao Yingxiang felt that this group of people were like lunatics, and they were able to make people terrified.

Because other people have reasons to rebel, maybe they are forced by the current situation, the people are living in poverty, or they are fighting for power and profit.

But for a long period of history, because this surname brought strong legitimacy, they began to rebel just because of this surname.

There are even people who, because of this surname, do not want to rebel but are thought to be planning to rebel.

The key point is that people with this surname have evil nature.

The cost of their rebellion and the threshold for template copying are very low.

Like Li Yuan, Li Shimin, and many other rebellious leaders, it is impossible to imitate them if you don't have the foundation.

But it’s different for those with the surname Liu.

It is good to be born rich, but it is also very good to be poor.

It doesn't matter if you are well-read, it's worse if you can't read.

Aren’t there so many street urchins who like dogs and horses and are keen on making friends?

If there is a little more heroic spirit, then the sense of déjà vu will come.

Even if this hero died on the road of rebellion, he might have a younger brother who could summon meteorites to fill the gap. Of course, it cannot be ignored that Gao Yingxiang also found that more people with the surname Liu were actually embarrassed. They did not dare to look up the family tree and could not openly tell others who their ancestors were.

Not to mention the metaphysics. When Liu Shizi was born, strange phenomena occurred in the sky: the sun was eclipsed by a heavenly dog. Even hail avoided him in Shanxi. He led his army through the smallpox plague as if he was in an empty land.

Gao Yingxiang was frightened.

Sichuan has a closer connection with the Liu surname.

Some chieftains south of Chengdu are still listening to Master Zhuge and guarding the border for the Han Dynasty.

Objective strength cannot be increased in a short period of time, so for Gao Yingxiang, entering Sichuan and using the banner of the surname Liu can obviously increase the chances of success.

This is a necessity.

Therefore, Gao Yingxiang thought that if he could not enter Sichuan as a general of the Liu family, then he himself would not be able to enter either.

He gave Gao Yingen a lot of room for negotiation.

The best case scenario is to exchange official appointments in Hanzhong for political support.

The worst outcome is to give up everything except Chengdu Prefecture in order to gain an opportunity to enter Sichuan.

In negotiations, you always present the most ideal situation first, and then let others pay back the money.

In the end, both parties often end up with a result that they have to accept with a pinch of their nose and a belly full of anger.

Thanks to the large room for negotiation and the fact that the Marshal's Office had competent Minister of Rites and Chief of Staff, everything went smoothly.

Zhang Xianzhong had special skills in intimidation and coercion, and the King of Han was also very cowardly.

Gao Yingen was caught in a dilemma between being a grandson and being a grandfather, and he was unsure of his position in the family.

After a few days of negotiation, the two sides finally reached an agreement on Gao Yingxiang's troops' surrender.

The conditions were that the selection of officials and the stationing of troops in the four prefectures and one guard post of Hanzhong, Songpan, Long'an, Baoning, Kuizhou and Chongqing would all be dispatched by the Marshal's Office.

However, Gao Yingxiang's troops were also stationed in northern Sichuan before they captured the five prefectures of Chengdu, Mahu, Xuzhou, Zunyi, and Chongqing, and they needed northern Sichuan to provide them with military supplies before they could capture Chengdu.

On this basis, Gao Yingxiang will be appointed as the commander-in-chief of Sichuan, and will reorganize his old eight battalions into the First Brigade of Southern Sichuan and the Second Brigade of Southern Sichuan.

At the same time, Liu Chengzong made a promise that when Gao Yingxiang captured Chengdu, officials from the Li Ya would go to Sichuan and grant him the position of Prime Minister of Sichuan’s military and civil affairs.

The Second Brigade of Southern Sichuan will be reorganized into the Zhenyuan Brigade, stationed in Pingyue, Zhenyuan and other places in Guizhou; and the Zhennan Brigade will be established, stationed in Qujing, Wuding and other places in Yunnan.

Of course, Hanzhong has not been captured yet, and Sichuan is so far away that the border is not even visible. Talking about Yunnan and Guizhou is undoubtedly an empty promise.

Once the two sides reached an agreement, Gao Yingen sent his personal attendant on horseback to Hanzhong to tell Gao Yingxiang the news.

Gao Yingxiang's reply was even faster.

However, within just five days, he sent his subordinate General Mi Jinshan to deliver a reply.

Mi Jinshan came to deliver a letter, and when he entered Xi'an Prefecture he started asking around, asking about Cao Yao, Yang Yao, Zhong Hu, Wang Wenxiu, Gao Yingdeng, one by one, like a star-chaser.

He was cheerful when meeting people, and he would pat his chest after just three sentences: "I am also a soldier of the Lion Battalion!"

This is a youngster among the youngsters. He joined the Lion Camp with his uncle. His uncle was a combat soldier and Mi Jinshan was an auxiliary soldier. He was once a subordinate of the baggage transport sentry.

In the Battle of Huanglong Mountain, his uncle broke his leg and could not go to Guyuan with the main force, so the uncle and nephew stayed in Yan'an Prefecture and went to Shizigou. Because they were good at fighting and charging, they were called Chuangjiang.

But later on, Li Zicheng came along, and he was even more aggressive, so people called him "Mi Chuangjiang".

Mi Jinshan brought Gao Yingxiang's reply, which was more interesting to Liu Shizi.

Gao Yingxiang was very satisfied with the conditions and had only one request: he did not want the Chongqing Prefecture.

  Liu Chengzong was thinking, whether you love Chongqing or not, if you don’t want it then just don’t go there, what are you telling me?

They even sent someone to tell him about it.

Mi Jinshan said, "General, King Gao Chuang's intention is that Chongqing Prefecture should belong to you, and you should station troops there. Even if you don't want Chongqing Prefecture, you still need to station a lieutenant general in Chongqing to assist in the defense."

Liu Shizi was confused.

Facing his doubts, Mi Jinshan explained again: "General, there is a Zhongzhou in Chongqing Prefecture, and under Zhongzhou there is a place called Shiqian Xuanweisi."

Shiqu Xuanwei Office.

Liu Chengzong understood that it was Qin Liangyu's territory.

Zhang Xianzhong happened to be beside him, so he asked, "The White Spear Soldiers are so powerful, why doesn't anyone dare to fight them?"

"White-pole soldiers? Tsk."

Zhang Xianzhong scoffed and explained, "The commander-in-chief has been fighting in the northwest and has never marched into Zhili, so he doesn't know that the powerful ones are not the white-pole soldiers."

"The white-pole soldiers are no different from the Yongning soldiers under the Marshal's command. Their long poles and heavy armor are nothing to worry about. Besides, the old white-pole soldiers have all died a long time ago."

"Shiqian Tusi's daughter-in-law Zhang Fengyi, nephew Qin Yiming, Qin Gongming led the local soldiers, and we beat them all. Zhang Fengyi was even beaten to death by Huang Wazi's gang at Linming Pass in Guangping Prefecture."

"Even the second-in-command of the Northern Sichuan gang, Yao Huang, had leaders named Qin and Ma, who were from Shiqu. They led a group of white-pole thieves to cause chaos and robbery, but they were not that powerful."

After Zhang Xianzhong finished speaking, he said to Liu Chengzong in a serious tone: "The powerful one is Qin Liangyu."

Speaking of Qin Liangyu, the arrogant Zhang Xianzhong was particularly wary: "That old witch is different from others. Her second brother died in Hunhe, her younger brother died in Yongning, and her daughter-in-law died in Guangping. She holds the imperial edict of the previous emperor, and all civil and military officials treat her with courtesy and are not allowed to be suspicious of her."

"With this, anyone can be invincible, let alone the old witch who has been fighting for merit all her life. With martial arts skills, she will naturally be invincible."

After Zhang Xianzhong’s explanation, Liu Chengzong understood.

A country as vast as the Ming Dynasty cannot be maintained by a single class and hierarchy system. It requires multiple supervisions and multiple jurisdictions to keep most people in their places.

Everyone who profits from it will inevitably suffer from it.

It is like a county magistrate who, during wartime, sees friendly troops approaching a city and requesting to enter for repairs. As part of his duty, he dares not allow the troops into the city.

Because the army outside the city has no influence on him, but once they enter the city and mutiniate, he will be held responsible.

People will always hold others back. Wherever there are people, there will be others holding you back.

The edict that Emperor Tianqi sent to Qin Liangyu served this purpose, prohibiting civil and military officials from being suspicious of each other.

Qin Liangyu could lead her troops into any city they wanted. Since the emperor had given the order, even if her troops demolished the city, the responsibility would all be on Tianqi.

This means that Qin Liangyu, who had the final say in Shiqu, could still get the green light in everything she did outside Shiqu.

This is combat effectiveness.

"If that's the case, go back and tell Master Gao that I agree to the conditions."

Liu Chengzong smiled and said to Mi Jinshan: "Tell him not to worry about Shiqu Tusi. I will deal with her when we enter Sichuan."

Part of Qin Liangyu's fighting power came from the emperor's prestige, which made it impossible for civil and military bureaucrats to hinder her.

So for Liu Chengzong, Qin Liangyu's ability has now weakened.

Because Sichuan was surrounded by Shaanxi, Qinghai, and Huguang, it was difficult to contact the imperial court.

As long as Sichuan's connection with the outside world is cut off, Sichuan officials will soon begin to hinder Qin Liangyu.

However, before Mi Jinshan could leave, a Yulin Lang came quickly outside the hall and whispered something in Liu Chengzong's ear, making him open his eyes wide.

At the end of December in the eighth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Yichuan, the general of Henan who had been missing for more than a month, actually sent someone to deliver a letter to Xi'an Prefecture.

Liu Shizi immediately snatched the letter, opened the wax seal and unfolded it, but after reading just one sentence, he rolled his eyes.

The letterhead clearly read: I, Zhang Yichuan, beg the Marshal to enthrone me as the emperor.

good afternoon!