stubborn thief

Ningxia Town.

In the endless yellow sand and smoke, hundreds of infantry and cavalry threw away their armor and helmets, without even a flag, and fled southward from the border of Weizhou Pastoral Thousand Households.

"Fuck your ancestor Hong Chengchou!"

Ningxia guerrilla Liu Fangming was surrounded by more than a dozen officers. He fled so hard that he didn't even have the energy to curse and just ran south.

Two or three miles behind them, the foreign cavalry from Changping were chasing closely.

Liu Fangming was one of the participants in the Ningxia mutiny.

Originally he knew that a mutiny was about to happen, but he just restrained the soldiers and didn't want to get involved.

The reason for the mutiny in Ningxia should be very simple, that is, there is no food and no pay for the soldiers.

Last year, there was a rat plague on the Yinchuan Plain. Hundreds of thousands of rats were connected head to tail with their mouths holding each other, and they were eating seedlings in the farmland in a mighty manner. They were not afraid of contact with people.

People say that mice are no longer afraid of people, and that they are rat demons.

Last year, most of the seedlings were eaten by rats, and this year there is no support from other places. There is neither food nor pay, so of course the Ningxia garrison troops will make some trouble.

But it's just a joke.

Because Ningxia was a military town with close connections between the upper and lower levels, it had always been in turmoil. The underlying reason was that the generals were dissatisfied and drove the soldiers to kill outsiders who displeased them.

The reason is that the generals in Ningxia generally reaped the greatest benefits in the process of converting military settlements into civilian farmland. Their families all had vast fields, and when the soldiers were hungry, they would immediately seek help from their superiors, either by borrowing money or food.

The superiors would generally lend money. There was no reason not to lend money. Those who borrowed money and food were soldiers, not tenants.

Agriculture depends on the weather, and the upper limit is set and the lower limit is even lower.

If a tenant who owned fifty acres of land asked the landlord to borrow forty taels of silver, or if a farmer who owned fifty acres asked the landlord to borrow one hundred taels of silver, the landlord would know at a glance that the farmer had no intention of paying it back.

Because even if I wanted to pay it back, I couldn't.

However, the relationship between soldiers and generals is different. Generals have always regarded this as an opportunity, a chance to get people to fight to their death.

However, Hong Chengchou's move to seize civilian land and rebuild military settlements actually shook the roots of the Ningxia generals.

So much so that some middle and senior military officers like Liu Fangming also considered joining the mutiny.

They didn't think they could succeed. After all, the more than 10,000 foreign troops around Hong Chengchou, although they were remnants of defeated soldiers, were also elite troops who had fought in the north.

So many smart people appeared and simply instructed their subordinates to join the mutiny and use their influence to add fuel to the flames.

Liu Fangming is one of them. His family and relatives own 170 hectares of land in Ningxia.

There are not many of them, but they are all irrigated paddy fields next to the Han and Tang Canals in the Ningxia Plain, planted with rice, and are Hong Chengchou's main targets.

Therefore, he was happy with the mutiny, not because he thought the mutiny had a hope of killing Hong Chengchou. After all, Hong Chengchou had too many foreign generals and soldiers around him, including the governors-general of three borders and several generals of the imperial court. This force could not be eliminated by a single mutiny.

Like him, many guards were extremely disgusted with Hong Chengchou's Qing army deployment.

To put it bluntly, Hong Chengchou cleared out the military settlements in Ningxia not for the Ningxia army, but because the Five Battalions of Ningxia had lost many men in the battle in Guanzhong, bullied the orphans and widows at home, took away the people's land, and made room for the guest troops under his Hong army.

It was just blatant robbery, and this way of robbery was even worse than Liu Chengzong's Marshal's Mansion.

The Ningxia army is very familiar with the policies of the Marshal's Office. After all, the soldiers and generals on both sides are very familiar with each other.

Especially after the fighting broke out last year, the Zhao brothers of Jinglu Guard had all their men under their command from Ningxia, and many of them even wrote and sent letters across the border wall.

When the Qing army from the Marshal's Office distributed land, as long as the local people did not rise up in rebellion, the land of the rich families would be distributed to the local poor families, so that the extremely wealthy and the extremely poor could get by by mixing in the land.

These soldiers who came from other places were only responsible for suppressing the stubborn landlords and would not interfere with the local land.

Because that’s how it’s divided in their hometown.

The earliest group of vagrant border troops ran to the pirates' homes, drove the pirates into U-Tsang, divided up the pastures on the sea, and the vagrants became ranchers.

Because of this, wherever the Marshal's army went, although there were people who rose up in resistance, there were also people who were willing to sell or divide the land first.

After all, it is difficult for individuals or clans to fight against the army. If they divide the land among themselves, at least they have the final say on who to give it to. They can give it to distant relatives, friends, or even to their tenants. At least they can gain a good reputation.

Hong Chengchou's Qing army settlements were private properties that had been designated as civilian land by the imperial court and had land deeds, and they were turned into public land to support the foreign troops.

  Would the Ningxia soldiers be willing to do that?

Liu Fangming did not expect the mutiny to be successful. Like him, many other guards hoped that the mutiny would scare Hong Chengchou and stop him from plotting to take over the land.

But they underestimated Hong Chengchou's determination. He didn't care about mutiny and refused to negotiate with the border soldiers who took to the streets to mutiny.

Hong Chengchou led the Yansui general Yu Chongxiao directly into the camp and closed the gate.

Even several generals from Ningxia and Ding Qirui, the military governor, who went to the camp to ask for the bottom line for negotiating terms with the mutineers, were rejected by Hong Chengchou.

Everyone knows that mutiny, rebellion and sedition are three different situations.

"What are you talking about? This is rebellion!"

Hong Chengchou directly characterized the mutiny as a rebellion, and immediately ordered Zuo Liangyu, Zhang Yingchang, Cao Wenzhao and other guest generals to enter the city to suppress the rebellion.

The second order was given to the Lieutenant General of Ningxia, asking them to restrain their troops and send people into the city to announce that the soldiers should return to the camp and that martial law was in place and that no one was allowed to go out on the streets.

The order was extremely strict, ordering Generals Zuo and Zhang to lead the troops to seize the city's defenses. If they were not allowed to enter the city, they would fire cannons to attack the city. After one hour of taking back the defenses, whoever was found on the street would be killed.

Not only did Hong Chengchou not change his will because of this mutiny, he was even more determined to take advantage of the opportunity to suppress the rebellion and vigorously promote the cleanup of military settlements. Anyone who resisted would be considered participating in the rebellion.

Just two words: suppression.

When Liu Fangming saw this situation, he realized that things had obviously changed in Ningxia. Hong Chengchou had no intention of being the governor of Ningxia at all. He was just imitating Liu Chengzong and trying to become a local emperor. So he quickly took his men and fled.

It's not too late to run now. The land is definitely gone, but at least you can keep your fame and fortune.

As a result, just as they gathered a group of hereditary guards to escape, they were reported, and Xu Yong, the commander of the Zuoying Battalion, led the infantry and cavalry in pursuit, running from Ningxia across the Yellow River, all the way past Weizhou, and approaching the border wall.

"Quick, Xiantu, lead the cavalry to the gate first. The commander guarding the border wall is Yang Yanchang, who once fought under your father. Ask him to come out and rescue people, or let us in!" Liu Fangming shouted as he ran, with a young general and his servants riding out on horseback and galloping towards the border wall.

The man who ran away was called Ma Xiantu, the assistant commander of Ningxia. His father was Ma Shilong, the former general of Ningxia. During the Ji Si Rebellion, he held the imperial sword and controlled all the troops. Yang Yanchang, Wang Ziyong and others all served under his command at that time.

Yang Yanchang is currently the lieutenant general of the reinforcement battalion under the command of Wang Wenxiu, the general commander of Longxi Road. The second border wall in the north of Guyuan Town is exactly his defense zone.

However, when Ma Xiantu ran to halfway through the city and knocked on the gate, Yang Yanchang was not at the side wall. Only his subordinate, Captain Xiao Guangdou, led 200 men to garrison in the castle.

When Ma Xiantu heard the soldiers say that they were reporting to Captain Xiao Guangdou, his heart sank, because he didn't know this person.

Who would have known that in just a moment, half of the city gates were opened, and a heroic officer rode in on horseback.

It was still hard to see clearly from a distance, but when he got closer, Ma Xiantu narrowed his eyes and said, "Aren't you dead?"

The man who came was not called Xiao Guangdou. He knew him. He was obviously Xiao Guandou, the grandson of Xiao Rulan, the deputy general and governor of Shaanxi, and the co-director of the Yan'an Guard.

Xiao Guandou also knew Ma Xiantu, so he dismounted and asked, "It's hard to explain, brother, why are you here?"

It was bad luck that when Liu Chengzong was making trouble in Yan'an Prefecture, Xiao Guandou's grandfather Xiao Rulan passed away. Xiao Guandou was at home to mourn for his father Xiao Zhuo. During this time, because Liu Chengzong was nicknamed the Tiger General, the prefect called him over for a check.

During this process, Yang Yanchang went to Fushi County and Yan'an Wei and changed his surname to Liu when he returned.

Like Yang Yanchang, Xiao Guandou was controlled by Ren Quaner, the mastermind behind the Yan'an Guard. Xiao Guandou was also managed separately from his father Xiao Zhuo and uncle Xiao Pei. Xiao Zhuo was sent to the Saimen Thousand Households Suo, while Xiao Pei and Xiao Guandou were sent to the Yan'an Guard to accompany Yang Yanchang fishing.

This was originally fine, until last year, when Ren Quaner and Yang Yanchang successively led their armies to surrender to Liu Chengzong, and Xiao Guandou's life became unsustainable.

He also has two uncles, Xiao Si is the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and Xiao Yi is the deputy commander of the Embroidered Uniform Left Guard, both of them are in Beijing.

As for the three of them who stayed in their hometown of Yan'an, their father Xiao Zhuo originally held the position of a military officer, but was dismissed in the third year of the Tianqi reign. Then their uncle Xiao Pei, who had been playing at home all his life, was suddenly appointed by the court as a centurion of the Yan'an Guard.

In short, these three people in their family are the kind of people who live their lives relying on the merits of their ancestors. They have some abilities, but they are not great, and they don’t have much ambition.

After the three of us talked it over, we decided that it might not be possible to expect the three of us to drive Liu Chengzong out of Shaanxi. We were not willing to die for our country, so we decided to just give ourselves a half-funeral and change our names. We could fool people as long as we could.

The last letter of news sent by Yan'an Prefecture to the court last year stated that Ren Quaner, Yang Yanchang, Liu Xiangshan, Liu Chengguang and others had launched a rebellion. Xiao Guandou, Xiao Pei, Xiao Zhuo and thirteen other military officers with hereditary honors tried to suppress the rebellion but were defeated and killed.

Ma Xiantu didn't have time to ask Xiao Guandou at this moment, he just said: "Where is General Yang? We have come to seek refuge with him. There are guerrilla generals, commanders, more than a dozen garrisons, and more than 400 soldiers and horses behind us. Can you let us hide in the city? Zuo Liangyu's soldiers are chasing us from behind!"

Xiao Guandou was confused: "Zuo Liangyu rebelled?"

At this moment, Liu Chengzong of Xi'an Prefecture had already received the news of the mutiny in Ningxia, but Longxi Dao did not know about it yet, and everything was normal on their side.

"Why would I run away if Zuo Liangyu rebelled? It was me who rebelled!"

Xiao Guandou was not very smart and was stunned for a moment, then he sniffed twice, and then nodded with great satisfaction: "You rebelled well!"

After saying that, he rubbed his hands together and said, "Follow me into the city!"

Don't mention how excited Xiao Guandou was. Ma Xiantu's father Ma Shilong's status was almost the same as his fourth grandfather Xiao Ruxun. This guy rebelled. Doesn't this prove that he was forced to rebel and was not wrong!

However, the more this happened, the more cautious Xiao Guandou became.

He lingered outside the city for a while until he saw half of the soldiers on the city raising their flags, and then he led Ma Xiantu into the city.

This was his arrangement before leaving the city. He was worried that the enemy would deceive the city, so he asked his uncle Xiao Pei to gather soldiers in the city and tell the Red Castle south of the border wall the news, asking Yang Yanchang to quickly occupy the border wall.

There was no way. Under Yang Yanchang's command, Xiao Guandou had no intention of rebelling at all.

First of all, the three of them had been living a lazy life in the Ming Dynasty, but they had the opportunity to display their talents in the Marshal's Office.

Xiao Guandou served as the general defending the city outside the border wall, Xiao Pei led the troops on the front line, and Xiao Zhuo cultivated land in Liwangbao and Heishuiyuan areas in the rear. Everyone got what they wanted.

Secondly, although Yang Yanchang’s other abilities may not be that great, he is very good at controlling generals.

Because he himself had been the one who was restrained in the past, and based on his personal experience, he knew how to do the most disgusting thing.

Ma Xiantu had just entered a city and drunk two buckets of water when Liu Fangming and others came running over, exhausted.

Xiao Guandou originally wanted to put them into a city, but he didn't expect that Yang Yanchang's order would come from the side wall in such a short time.

"General Xiao Qian, General Yang has ordered that they are not allowed to enter half of the city, and that they continue to advance southwards to the second wall. The general has already climbed the second wall."

Just as Xiao Guandou was conveying the news of Ma Xiantu to the Red Castle on the other side of the border wall, Yang Yanchang also received an order from Wang Wenxiu that a mutiny had occurred in Ningxia, and he was ordered to go up to the city to patrol and defend.

Not long after Yang Yanchang left the city, he received news from Xiao Guandou, and learned that there was also a group of Zuo Liangyu's troops following him. He basically confirmed the authenticity of the Ningxia mutiny, and immediately assembled his troops, and at the same time reported the news to Pingliang Prefecture and asked for help.

While leading 700 soldiers to the second border wall, Yang Yanchang sent a series of orders to Xiao Guandou to the north. The first one was to let Xiao Guandou defend half of the city by himself and put Liu Fangming and others into the second border wall.

Just a moment later, the second order arrived, ordering Xiao Guandou to pack up all the items in the city and immediately evacuate half of the city when the Ming army arrived.

Bancheng was once a city. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the Qingshui River flooded and changed its course, destroying half of the city wall on the waterside. Only half of the city remained, hence the name.

Although only half of the city wall remains, the other half is protected by a river. Between the two side walls, it is still considered a large fortification with defensive capabilities.

The reason why Yang Yanchang changed the military order and asked Xiao Guandou to abandon the city defense after only a moment was that he had reunited with his trusted general Liu Xiangshan.

The father and son, Captain Liu Xiangshan and Captain Liu Chengguang, were the main fighting force of Yang Yanchang's battalion.

Before the two of them came, Yang Yanchang only planned to let Xiao Guandou defend half of the city and put Liu Fangming and others behind the side wall to prevent the Ming army from catching up and retreat on their own when they saw the tight defense.

But Liu Xiangshan and Liu Chengguang couldn't stand Yang Yanchang's cowardly look.

The father and son were relatives of the Grand Marshal and were also speculators in troubled times.

Because he followed Yang Yanchang in fighting for the emperor and won fame by killing the heads of the Eastern Tartars, he served the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and was not very enthusiastic about submitting to Liu Chengzong.

Also because they followed Yang Yanchang and were forced to return to the army in an unpleasant manner, the father and son are still only the rank of captain, and they are eager to do something big.

Liu Chengguang met Yang Yanchang. The two sides had more than a thousand soldiers. While marching, he asked Xiao Guandou and found out that the pursuing troops were only more than a thousand infantry and cavalry. He immediately clasped his fists and said, "The battle is imminent. We should take the credit first."

"General, why don't you order Xiao Guandou to abandon the city and leave the Ming army behind? The Qingshui River to the west of the city can defend against infantry, cavalry and bows, but it can't defend against artillery. They are chasing us and can't bring heavy weapons. I have six generals. We can pull out the border wall to bombard his Changping Zuozhen!" (End of this chapter)