stubborn thief

Chapter 670 Registration

Liu Chengzong was stunned.

He had heard from Cao Yao that when the news of his enthronement as Khan reached the Snow Mountains, the three Huo Luochi brothers had the bizarre idea of ​​having him revive the Yuan Dynasty and become emperor.

Now this broom spirit has become even more crazy. He actually sent people to Xi'an with great difficulty to ask him to be crowned emperor.

Liu Shizi thought, if you are worried that I will curse in the streets because of the defeat and loss of my army, there is no need to do such abstract work.

But you ask me to make you emperor...it's hard to say.

If you are crowned as the emperor, then what should I be? The emperor emeritus?

Victory and defeat are common in the military. If you have no soldiers, being beaten half to death is not a big deal.

Even if I wanted to escape back to Shaanxi and make a comeback, I wouldn't have to come up with such an abstract thing.

However, after his outburst, Liu Chengzong read the letter carefully again and his expression gradually became serious.

Zhang Yichuan was not really desperate after the defeat.

He made a fortune.

In the letter, he said that his tens of thousands of troops had fallen apart in Henan, and he only led a thousand elite soldiers to station in Yingzhou.

Yingzhou was one of the nine states and eighteen counties of Fengyang Prefecture, and was very poor.

Zhang Yichuan even regretted coming to Zhongdu. He planned to seize a city in Yingzhou, recruit some able-bodied men, skip Fengyang Prefecture, and turn around to lead his troops to the south of the Yangtze River.

However, he never expected that within less than ten days after he stationed his troops in Yingzhou, poor people from various counties in Fengyang traveled more than a hundred miles to come to him and bring him books.

The booklet contained detailed information about each county in Fengyang Prefecture, recording in detail which family was rich, where their families were located, which area had no soldiers, and where troops were stationed, inviting them to lead their troops to attack.

In order to distinguish between friends and foes, the people of Fengyang left him a book that told Zhang Yichuan to march into Fengyang under the banner of "Ancient Yuan True Dragon Emperor".

It was agreed that on the day he would march into the counties, troops from all places would rise up together.

Zhang Yichuan was not an unknown militia leader. He was the commander-in-chief of Henan Province in the Marshal's Office, so naturally he did not dare to raise such a banner without authorization.

This led to a letter being sent to Xi'an, asking Liu Chengzong to confer the title.

Liu Chengzong thought to himself that this broom spirit was really lucky. As soon as he arrived in Fengyang Prefecture, the local anti-Ming armed forces came to find him.

  However, although Zhang Yichuan said it as if it were true, the situation still made Liu Shizi a little puzzled. Why did the anti-Ming enthusiasm in Zhongdu of the Ming Dynasty sound even stronger than that in Shaanxi?

Besides, the title of 'Ancient Yuan True Dragon Emperor' doesn't sound very serious.

Liu Chengzong had many doubts.

However, we still have talented people in the Marshal's Office.

As soon as Wang Ziyong and Liu Shiliu, who were exhausted from the journey, arrived in Xi'an Prefecture, they were called to the military government office by Liu Chengzong.

"This Ancient Yuan True Dragon that the Marshal mentioned..."

Wang Ziyong muttered to himself: "The White Lotus Sect's scriptures are mostly named after ancient Buddhas and Hunyuan. These names are probably related to the White Lotus Sect."

"Marshal, let me think about it carefully."

Wang Ziyong walked slowly in the hall with his hands behind his back, head lowered and brows frowned.

Related to the White Lotus Sect?

Liu Shizi looked helpless. Although he was born a scholar and had a deep cultural foundation, he was, after all, specialized in his own field.

What he was most familiar with was the violent northern rebellion caused by border soldiers.

They were completely clueless about the White Lotus Sect's treacherous southern rebellion and could only wait quietly for what would happen next.

Fortunately, Wang Ziyong was very familiar with this thing, and he quickly raised his head and clapped his hands, saying, "Marshal, I remember now, it's Zhao Guyuan!"

"This man's real name is Zhao Yiping, a native of Shanyin, Zhejiang. During the Wanli period, he was active in the Jianghuai area and wrote the Compass Sutra. Later, he was hunted down by the government and changed his name to Gu Yuan. He was revered as Gu Yuan Zhenren by believers."

The Jianghuai area was exactly the direction Zhang Yichuan was advancing at this time.

2. The so-called Compass Sutra, in Liu Shizi's opinion, is a book punishable by death according to the law that misleads the people and creates prophecies, evil books and evil words.

I think this so-called Ancient Yuan True Dragon Emperor is related to Zhao Yiping.

Liu Shizi asked: "What happened next?"

"He prepared for several years, created the Tui Bei Tu and the Zhen Fa Tu, and was awarded the titles of general and commander. Later, he changed his name to Zhao Gan Zhu again. Less than a year after he started the rebellion, he was taken to Beijing's Xishi and beheaded. However, these things about burning incense and chanting sutras had already spread along the canal."

"He's not the first, nor will he be the last."

"There was Zhao Quan from Yanbei who came earlier than him and fled to Mongolia to join Altan Khan. There was Xu Hongru from the Wenxiang Sect in Shandong who came later than him. The Caobang Luo Sect, Huangtian Dao, Wenxiang Sect and so on all asked me to cooperate with them once when we were fighting the Later Jin in Tongzhou during the Jisi Rebellion."

After Wang Ziyong explained the origins of the Ancient Yuan True Dragon Emperor, he talked about Fengyang Prefecture again.

"Fengyang Prefecture is a poor place. I have heard about it in Tongzhou. Although it is the capital, the custom of begging among the people has long existed."

Liu Chengzong nodded slowly.

He thought that Fengyang Prefecture could not possibly be a good place.

  If that place really had good weather every year, would Emperor Taizu have starved to death and become an orphan with nowhere to go?

The natural environment there is not very good because of the Yellow River.

During this period, the Yellow River flowed southward for a long time, but it did not follow the same route as it later took to flow into the sea at Lijin, Shandong.

Instead, they headed southeast from Kaifeng, seized various waterways north of the Huai River, and tried every possible way to reach the sea.

During the Ming Dynasty alone, it changed its course six times, each time turning the coast into a swamp.

The river channel at this time runs from Kaifeng through Xuzhou to Huaiyin. Any rise in water level can cause the canal to collapse.

This is also the reason why the ancient Huaiyin was renamed Huai'an in the Ming Dynasty.

Huai'an Huai'an, the Huai River better be calm, otherwise it will flood this whole area.

With Wang Ziyong's explanation, Liu Chengzong had a clearer understanding of Zhang Yichuan's request for him to be crowned emperor.

This is not a ridiculous request.

Instead, Zhang Yichuan entered Fengyang and quickly hit it off with the local secret societies in Fengyang. The two sides joined forces and used the name of Zhao Guyuan to unite believers and increase their power.

After clarifying this issue, Liu Chengzong no longer had any confusion about this matter.

Because in the final analysis, Zhang Yichuan didn't want to become emperor on impulse, but used this method to achieve his goal.

In other words, Emperor Gu Yuan Zhenlong has extremely high "legitimacy" in Fengyang Prefecture.

The so-called orthodoxy is actually the recognition of the target group.

At this time in Shaanxi, more than half of the people in prefectures, counties and cities other than Xi'an Prefecture rebelled, and even more people experienced begging for food on the move.

The Marshal's Office, which was born out of the rebel group, had considerable legitimacy to operate and rule in Shaanxi.

Of course, the Ming army's activities here were quite legitimate.

Common people who had been bandits would not ambush the soldiers of the Marshal's Mansion on the road, and would even join them; the guards in the gentry's homes would not fire cannons at the Ming army soldiers, but would compete to lead the way.

Because they are supposed to be here.

On the contrary, if a Later Jin army or a Mongolian army invaded Shaanxi, both the bandits and the guards would take up weapons and give them a head-on blow.

In fact, they never fought and were defeated. It was just a dormancy after being conquered for a short period of time, and it was by no means recognition.

When someone raises the flag of the Ming Dynasty or the Marshal's Office, they will still respond in unison.

The same principle also applies to Zhang Yichuan, the military commander-in-chief of Henan Province.

He did not rely on orthodoxy when he marched into Henan. In the entire Henan Province, no one recognized him, not even the Marshal's Office behind him. They were outsiders.

The desperate people joined him or were coerced by him for the purpose of speculation, but the opportunities they pursued were relatively inferior, just for a meal and rescue in the plague. If someone integrated into the process, his living conditions changed, he became rich or got a better social status, and was awarded an official title, he would be accepted in his heart.

It seems that the Marshal's Office has already ruled Shaanxi, and their Henan General is also quite regular, which can also make people see the hope of a better life.

Then in Henan, there will be fewer people opposing them, and they will gain a little legitimacy.

In Fengyang Prefecture of Southern Zhili, Zhang Yichuan has no legitimacy at all, and all the symbols on his body are negative.

People knew very little about the Marshal's Office, and what they heard more was that they were accustomed to looting, committing evil, rebelling, and massacring the city.

And the official position of "pseudo-general" was from Henan.

These identities were of no help to him in doing things in Fengyang Prefecture. Only by using Zhao Guyuan's name could he gain the poor people of Fengyang Prefecture's quick acceptance.

People grew up listening to the story of Gu Yuan Zhenren Zhao Gan Zhu and are familiar with this title. Once someone raises this flag, all dissatisfaction with the status quo will be projected onto this familiar flag, and they will be driven to join in it.

Therefore, this matter is not something Liu Chengzong can decide at all.

Zhang Yichuan sent someone back to deliver this message, not for him to be crowned emperor.

But I don’t want him to hear this news from somewhere else and create resentment in the future.

So tell him in advance, after all, your loyal subordinates have told you, so you can't slap me in the face.

In fact, Liu Chengzong guessed that speed is of the essence in war. By the time Zhang Yichuan's envoys set out on their journey, the flag of Emperor Gu Yuan Zhenlong should have been raised in Fengyang Prefecture.

Whether he is blocked or not is actually irrelevant.

For Liu Chengzong, all he needed to consider was the chain reaction caused by this incident.

He was thinking about the complete map of the Ming Dynasty obtained from the Xi'an government office when Liu Xiangyu and Yang Dingrui came together.

The two elders excitedly told him: "There are already rules for establishing titles and titles, and the titles for conferring twelve ranks of military honors have also been compiled. Two ranks of Zhongwu Wei and Jianzhang Xiaowei have been specially established to specifically confer honors on meritorious officials."

The Twelve-turn Military Merit was an honorary title in the Tang Dynasty, ranging from level one to level twelve, and enjoyed treatment from rank seven to rank two.

The requirement for obtaining the Honor of Arms is to achieve victory as a battlefield commander, and different levels of honors will be obtained based on the number of enemy and friendly forces and the number of enemies killed and captured.

The number of troops is divided into three levels. When the enemy has more troops than us, it is called the upper battle; when the troops are equal, it is called the middle battle; when we have more troops than the enemy, it is called the lower battle.

According to the proportion of the total number of enemy troops killed or captured, it is also divided into three levels: killing 40% is called upper capture; killing 20% ​​is called middle capture; and killing 10% is called lower capture.

At the same time, according to the battlefield situation and the degree of eliteness of the enemy troops, they can be divided into three levels. The first level is the most difficult, and the third level is the easiest.

Based on the level of the battle formation, the number of troops and the level of gains, you can get honorary rewards.

If you win on the battlefield, the first class will get a five-turn reward; the second class will get four turns; the third class will get three turns.

Winning in the upper battle or in the middle battle is the first class, and the fourth class reward; the second and third classes are decreasing in order.

The first prize is to win the upper battle, the second prize is to win the lower battle, the third prize is to win the lower battle, and the second and third prizes are to be reduced in sequence.

In other words, only by defeating the majority with the minority and the strong with the weak, and killing or capturing more than 40% of the enemy, can one obtain the fifth level of military honor.

This is the most common reward for merit. Of course, there are also special merits such as rushing forward to defeat the enemy before the army formation is formed, rushing forward as a vanguard to surrender the enemy, beheading the generals and capturing the flags, etc., which will also have different weights.

The titles of Zhongwu Wei and Jianzhang Xiaowei specially created by the old master were honors and qualifications for the veteran soldiers and generals who had ascended the throne and established the system.

The former, as the first level of military honor, will generally be awarded to veterans who have followed Liu Chengzong from the Lion Camp period to the present but have not become generals, and will be given the official salary and treatment of the seventh rank.

The latter was awarded the title of Deputy Chief Military Officer of the Army as a fifth-level military honor. It was both an honorary title and an additional salary of the fifth rank as a reward for his support for the king.

"Big, are there many veterans like this in the army?"

Liu Chengzong looked curious and asked, "There weren't many old people at the beginning, even if we count the officers, right?"

For six years, they fought in the northwest, southwest and northwestern regions, challenging powerful enemies on all sides and fighting almost every month. Some of them deserted, were wounded, died in battle, and some were transferred to other places.

There are probably not many people with such seniority in the entire Marshal's Army.

"There are fifty-eight people who should have been awarded the title of Zhongwuwei. There should have been four more, but they were not found."

Liu Xiangyu was full of emotion when he mentioned this number: "One of them was a student I taught before, and he may have left the army to do something else."

Yang Dingrui added: "There should be more officers and soldiers under the title of Lieutenant General. There are 137 officers and soldiers, and the expenditure is less than 30,000 dan per year."

Liu Chengzong had no objection to this and nodded, "As it should be. Their support is much greater than that of a battalion. It costs more to support a battalion than this."

The Marshal's Office in Shaanxi Province became wealthy after taking over the province. The income from taxes and military farms in Xi'an Prefecture alone, which was over 900,000 shi per year, was enough to make Liu Shizi wealthy.

Liu Chengzong accepted the list of honorary officials brought by his father and put it on the table without looking at it. Instead, he turned around and said, "Zhang Yichuan sent a letter asking me to give him the title of Gu Yuan Zhenlong so that he can be active in Fengyang Prefecture."

As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Dingrui's eyes lit up: "Good news!"

"Good thing?"

Liu Xiangyu narrowed his eyes and said, "What kind of good thing is this? Going to Fengyang Prefecture to establish a title and proclaim yourself emperor? This title doesn't sound serious. What's more, it's ridiculous that you conferred it upon him. If you spread it to the world, people will think that our Grand Marshal's Office is not a serious person either, which will make people laugh at us."

"No, it's just the title of emperor. It's hard to establish a title system for the talent pool of the Marshal's Office. Zhang Yichuan doesn't have that ability."

Liu Chengzong smiled and explained, "It's just that there was a Zhao Guyuan who started a rebellion over there, and we just used his name to act."

"Um……"

Liu Xiangyu pondered for a moment in silence, still seeming to think this was outrageous.

After a while, he asked Yang Dingrui: "Why do you say this is a good thing?"

"Taigong is concerned about chaos, and the Marshal is called the king in order to enfeoff meritorious officials, rally people's hearts, and rectify the external vassal lords and followers. It is a last resort."

Yang Dingrui said, spreading his hands and said: "Calling the king and establishing a system will not benefit our country. The Ming court will definitely dispatch troops to deploy along the Shanxi and Henan lines, and there will be no more obstacles in the east."

"Although we have moved to Xi'an, there is no business here yet. We can only provide food and wages. However, weapons, armor, equipment, horses, donkeys and mules must be transferred from Hexi, and cattle and sheep must be transported from Weiwuerte and Qinghai."

"Without a year or two of hard work, the entire Shaanxi Province would be difficult to digest."

Yang Dingrui pushed up his tortoise-shell glasses and looked at the map hanging behind Liu Chengzong. "Once the war starts, if we win quickly, our troops will march north and south of the Yellow River. With thousands of miles of fertile land for our army to fight, where will we get supplies for our troops and equipment?"

“Where do the talents for governing counties come from?”

"Who will guard the thousands of miles of land behind us?"

"By then, the frontline generals will be stationed in various places, and the main forces will be scattered everywhere. If they are defeated, it will be too late to gather the troops. With only some untrustworthy surrendered generals and weak troops, it will be a problem whether they can retreat to Shaanxi."

"If we don't win quickly, Henan's great land will inevitably be torn apart by war, which is also not a good thing."

After Yang Dingrui finished asking this series of questions, he pointed to the southeast direction of the map and said, "Now Zhang Yichuan wants to act as an emperor and threaten the Ming Dynasty's ancestral mausoleum. The Ming court will definitely dispatch troops to encircle Fengyang."

"The Marshal can write a letter to allow him to act according to his discretion under the name of Gu Yuan Zhen Long. When the Ming court troops form an encirclement, the Marshal can build a name to offer sacrifices to the heavens, send troops out of Tongguan, break the encirclement from the northwest, and have Zhang Yichuan make a feint to the north to show that the troops are joining forces, and wait for the situation to change."

Yang Dingrui became more and more excited as he spoke, clapping his hands and saying, "If we break out to the south and advance to Yingtian, our army will take over Henan. The northern route will cross the river and advance into the hinterland of Shanxi. The southern route will push the battle line to the Yellow River and form a counter-encirclement of the government troops..."

Liu Chengzong understood that Yang Dingrui's focus was on rhythm.

With Zhang Yichuan acting in the southeast with the title of emperor and attracting the main force of the Ming court to encircle and suppress, even if the Marshal's Army wins a great victory, it will inevitably focus on the heavy troops in the south, and will not rush around in northern Zhili, causing the strategic collapse due to too long a front line.

From this perspective, Zhang Yichuan's actions as an emperor at this time did attract attention to Liu Chengzong, causing the Ming court to lose sight of the big picture.

But no one expected that there were more than two emperors at this moment.

The Minister of Rites rushed into the hall with a hurried look, holding a letter in his hand and saying as he walked: "General, the Southern Desert Governor's Office has an urgent report that the Later Jin Dynasty has joined the Mongolian tribes in requesting Huang Taiji to take the title of emperor. The Later Jin Dynasty has decided to abolish the old ideas of the Jurchens and call them Manchuria. They have usurped the title of emperor, changed the era name to Chongde, and named the country Daiqing Gulun."

Zhang Xianzhong raised his left hand and pointed, his expression as if he had lost his parents, wailing: "This yellow Tartar is worthy of death. He stole the name of our country, Daqing, which was founded in Qinghai!"

good afternoon!