stubborn thief

Xingan Prefecture.

It is located at the junction of Shaanxi, Sichuan, Hubei and Hunan provinces, and administers three passes, six counties and four patrol stations.

It is a 300-mile-long mountain valley bisected by the Han River.

In the ninth year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, this place had two prefects, thirteen county magistrates, and four armies deployed to defend it, making it one of the most chaotic places in the land.

The Marshal's Mansion was located in a directly governed prefecture in Shaanxi, and the prefect was named Yuan Tao.

In the Ming Dynasty, it was an enclave wedged into Shaanxi, and the prefect was named Jin Zhichun.

Lu Xiang-sheng's Ming army in Yunyang advanced westward, with its vanguard already defending Baihe County, the easternmost part of Xing'an Prefecture, as a salient to bypass Tongguan and recover Shaanxi.

However, the Ming army's move to occupy Baihe County was also discovered by Zhao Zhirui, the deputy general of the Guanzhong Brigade of the Marshal's Office. He immediately dispatched the guerrilla battalion led by Ying Shanhong to attack Xialu Pass before the Ming army could continue its advance, and stationed them at Sancha to block their northward route and threaten the Xunhe River basin.

The Dabashan Mountains and Yanchang Pass in the southwest of Xing'an Prefecture were occupied by Yao Zhangru, who was a group of bandits who had tried to join the Marshal's Mansion but failed and later joined forces with Gao Yingxiang.

Meanwhile, Fangshan Pass and Shiquan County, which border Hanzhong to the west, have been occupied by several groups of garrison troops, officials of the Ruifan clan, and local people from Hanzhong Prefecture who fled from Hanzhong. If the time is right, new bandit gangs will emerge from among them.

From all directions, scouts and vanguards from various factions moved back and forth in this narrow river valley, creating a frighteningly chaotic situation.

Yuan Tao, the prefect registered in the Marshal's Office, was an opportunist.

Yuan Tao, nicknamed "King of Contention," was originally from Mian County, Hanzhong. He joined the bandits in his early years after a dispute with his uncle over his aunt's hand in marriage, and he was indeed very capable of fighting for power.

Later, he joined Hu Jiusi's gang to rebel. Although he was a junior member of the bandits, he was ruthless, brave and good at fighting. Even among the Yaohuang bandits, he was a first-rate arrogant figure.

As early as when Yao Zhangru sent his adopted son Qin Keduo to Hehuang to present the head of the Ming army's garrison commander, Yuan Tao was already among the fifteen major leaders who jointly wrote the letter.

However, the joint submission attempt back then failed. Not only did it fail to leave a good impression on Liu Chengzong, but because thirteen of the fifteen people were kings, Liu Chengzong postponed his plan to become king.

Later, they didn't try to win him over and stopped contacting the Marshal's Mansion.

It wasn't until Liu Chengzong captured Xi'an Prefecture and took control of most of Shaanxi that he truly gained dominance in the Northwest and sent troops into Hanzhong to issue proclamations to various regions.

When Liu Chengzong's envoy arrived in Xing'an Prefecture, he happened to find Hu Jiusi, the commander of the 100,000-strong army, leading six teams of Ma Chao and Yuan Tao besieging the city.

Although Prefect Jin Zhichun brought a sword to the city and recruited strong men to set up weapons, he was ultimately outnumbered and outgunned. As long as the moat was filled in and the city wall was breached, it would be easy to break through in a matter of days.

Hu Jiusi's attitude towards the envoy from the Marshal's Mansion was outwardly warm but inwardly cold. He only entertained the envoy with wine and meat, but did not mention a word about surrendering.

Yuan Tao disagreed. That night, he launched an internal attack and killed Hu Jiusi, who commanded 100,000 troops, and annexed his forces. He then received a proclamation from the Marshal's Office and, as the Prefect of Xing'an, wrote back to Liu Chengzong, presenting a map, offering tribute, recording the number of troops, and submitting a petition to surrender.

When Ma Chao, who had stationed his troops east of Xing'an Prefecture, arrived with his army, the die was cast. The two armies treated the prefectural troops as nothing and stood facing each other across the city for four days.

The messenger brought the news of Yuan Tao's surrender of Xing'an Prefecture back to Xi'an, and Lord Liu, who was in charge of Xi'an, was still a little conflicted.

Because of Yuan Tao's character... even in the Marshal's Mansion, where villains abound, it would be considered outrageous if he were not human.

Gao Jie, who stole his sister-in-law, was already a morally bankrupt figure among the bandits, but Yuan Tao was even more extreme, as he stole his aunt.

Hu Jiusi took in and accepted the aunt who had stolen from him, but now, due to a disagreement over who should join the Marshal's Mansion, he repaid kindness with enmity and killed her.

If Liu Chengzong were in Guanzhong, he would certainly look down on Yuan Tao, but he would also disdain using Yuan Tao's troops for this reason, and would likely not accept his surrender.

However, when Yuan Tao surrendered, Liu Chengzong was leading a large army outside, his father Liu Xiangyu was in charge of the official affairs, and the general Zhang Tianlin controlled the military forces in Guanzhong.

In Liu Xiangyu's view, the trouble that accepting Yuan Tao would bring to the little lion is greater than having another enemy like him.

After all, you can just kill multiple enemies like that, but having multiple subordinates like that requires constant effort to guard against.

But Zhang Tianlin suggested accepting Yuan Tao.

At this critical juncture, with Liu Chengzong yet to return, Zhang Tianlin's main defensive focus was on Henan. He couldn't spare many men to fight the Ming army in Yunyang, and preferred to use Yuan Tao to contain Lu Xiangshan's Ming army.

In short, let's not worry about who Yuan Tao is for now. Let's take Xing'an Prefecture first, and have more troops to defend the flanks, which will relieve the garrison pressure on his Guanzhong Brigade.

Zhang Tianlin has been doing this all along.

After Liu Chengzong entrusted him with the defense of Guanzhong, he dared not relax. He went out of the pass many times to fight against Zhang Renxue, the Ming general in Henan. After winning the battle, he focused on infiltrating Lingbao, Shanzhou and other places east of Tongguan. He even opened the gates to allow caravans to trade with the local strongmen and bandits in the fortified villages.

This is to reduce the pressure on the frontal defenses.

When Liu Chengzong stationed his troops in Guanzhong, two field brigades from the central command were stationed there. The Guanzhong brigade had the easiest job, only responsible for defending the Tongwu Pass, eating grain and herding horses, and living a very comfortable life.

However, as soon as Liu Chengzong left, the Guanzhong Brigade faced immediate pressure in its defense, and even its troop strength seemed stretched thin.

Zhang Tianlin himself had to move to Xi'an, and Zhao Zhirui was to lead two battalions to take charge of the Tongwu Pass. In case there was trouble in the northwest and there was no time to mobilize troops, a battalion also had to be stationed in Qianzhou on the north bank of the Wei River.

The city of Xi'an, though vast, had only a little over 5,000 troops stationed there, yet it was responsible for controlling five counties within a hundred li radius south of the Wei River. The military pressure was not great, but the hardship of mobilizing troops to respond to alarms was immense.

Liu Xiangyu was well aware of the hardships the Guanzhong Brigade had endured this spring and summer. After discussing it with Zhang Tianlin for a long time, he finally issued the appointment letter from the yamen, ordering the officials under his command to carry the official seal and robes, and appoint Yuan Tao as the prefect of Xing'an.

However, Yuan Tao was no saint, and the Marshal's Mansion was no pushover either.

Liu Xiangyu asked the messenger who had gone to Xing'an earlier about Ma Chao's real name, but no one knew. So, along with Yuan Tao's letter of appointment as the prefect of Xing'an, he issued a letter of appointment appointing Ma Chao of the Sixth Team as the Assistant Commander of the Xing'an Camp.

Compared to appointing Yuan Tao as the prefect of Xing'an, Liu Xiangyu was more comfortable with appointing the relatively unknown Ma Chao as a military officer.

Firstly, Ma Chao was a righteous man. When Yuan Tao attacked and killed Hu Jiusi, he at least showed that he would fight him with his troops.

Secondly, Ma Chao's resume is clean. He was from Yan'an Prefecture and joined the Great Leader's mud-free team in his early years. He was assigned to the sixth captain, Guo Yingpin, the King of Chaos.

After dying in Shanxi without getting his hands dirty, several groups of people were led by the rebel general Li Zicheng across the Yellow River through Henan back to Shaanxi. Ma Chao broke away from the group in Yunyang and joined Yao Zhangru and Huang Long's Yaohuang Army.

Now that Li Zicheng, Guo Yingpin, and others have already taken up official positions in the commander's office, it would be easier for Liu Xiangyu to appoint a junior like Ma Chao. He could also use the rift between Ma Chao and Yuan Tao to restrain Yuan Tao's power.

To be honest, Liu Xiangyu also felt that this matter was not entirely appropriate.

Because the old sixth captain, Guo Yingpin, surrendered to Li Zicheng, his official rank was only a centurion in the rebel army.

When Li Zicheng surrendered, he had more generals than soldiers, with only about a thousand men in his entire camp. In contrast, both Yuan Tao and Ma Chao commanded a force of three to five thousand men in Xing'an Prefecture.

Of course, in Zhang Tianlin's opinion, it's hard to say who would win if they fought between one thousand and five thousand.

After eliminating the old and weak, the Xing'an Camp might not even have as many soldiers as the Chuang Jiang Camp. But at this point, without appointing a lieutenant general, it would be difficult to make good use of Ma Chao's forces.

Four days had passed since the official from the Marshal's Office returned to Xing'an Prefecture with his letter of appointment, official seal, and official robes, and Yuan Tao and Ma Chao were still facing off across the city.

Only after they met with the officials of the yamen and received their official documents and robes did they cease hostilities, but they remained stationed in the city, each attacking their own side and filling in the moats.

It was this incident that caused them to miss a golden opportunity. Just as they were about to succeed, a sudden drought brought rain overnight, causing the Han River to swell and the city moat to expand, making Yuan Tao's attempt to take control of Xing'an Prefecture a pipe dream.

Left with no other choice, Yuan Tao led his troops in retreat, then turned around and, under the banner of the Marshal's Office and the Prefect of Xing'an, entered Pingli County in the south without bloodshed.

Ma Chao then led his army westward and stationed his troops in the suburbs of Hanyin County.

In fact, Ma Chao originally wanted to station troops in Xunyang County in the east. He felt closer to the Marshal's Mansion and planned to use the opportunity of stationing troops to get the Marshal's Mansion to allocate a batch of soldiers, armor, and provisions.

While the two were facing off outside Xing'an City, the Ming army was not idle either. Zu Dale's infantry and cavalry had already advanced westward along the mountain ridges and valleys.

Before Ma Chao even reached Xunyang, his scouts saw the Ming army stationed in the valley desperately running up the mountain in the face of rising water. So they simply abandoned Xunyang and led their troops westward until the floodwaters receded, at which point they finally set up camp in Hanyin.

It was also because of this sudden downpour that Jin Zhichun, the official prefect of Xing'an under the Ming Dynasty, was spared from death.

Jin Zhichun was from Huguang. He was a Juren (a successful candidate in the imperial examinations) and served as an instructor in Henan. He did a good job and was promoted to the position of prefect of Xing'an just two years ago.

He was a rigid and upright man. After being promoted to prefect, he also wanted to serve the people and bring benefits to the region.

When he first took office, the officials of the six counties under his jurisdiction lined the road to welcome him and offered him their customary silver, but he rebuked them, saying, "If the prefecture takes from the counties and the counties take from the villages, the people will suffer terribly."

He then went on to investigate and crack down on powerful and corrupt officials who committed crimes. His lifestyle was impeccable. He attended court every day at sunrise and ate only at sunset, which ensured that there were no backlogged cases in the state and that education and culture flourished.

However, it was not a good year for him to become the prefect of Xing'an.

Li Zicheng and Yuan Tao attacked Xing'an Prefecture one after another. The prefecture lacked troops, and Shaanxi was attacked by Liu Chengzong. The arrogant Ming army marched north in waves, but after being beaten and turned into a rout, they fled across the border in waves.

The large groups of bandits and rebels were too much to handle, while the smaller groups of brigands and rabble were just one problem after another.

Jin Zhichun, a prefectural official who came from a teaching background, faced the enemy's siege amidst such turmoil, and climbed the wall with his sword, seeking only to die for his country.

He survived twice from the clutches of Li Zicheng and Yuan Tao, thanks to the sudden storm, and held out until Lu Xiangshan of Yunyang sent reinforcements to relieve the siege.

For a long time, Jin Zhichun maintained extensive contact with the Ming army in Yunyang and even the entire Huguang region.

Until this year's floods.

After the heavy rains receded, Xing'an Prefecture was busy with many affairs. Outside the city, there were still ponds to be repaired, famine victims to be relieved, and the bodies of those who died of disease, in battle, or drowning to be collected.

In the vicinity of Xing'an Prefecture alone, a massive mass grave, twenty zhang in length and width, was specially dug to bury the corpses.

During the scorching heat and constant anxiety, Jin Zhichun contracted the plague and fell seriously ill.

At this critical juncture, the brothers Wang Guangchang and Wang Guangxing, who had started an uprising in Huguang a few years earlier, led their troops to Xing'an Prefecture and besieged the city once again.

Jin Zhichun was unable to defend the city; he was going to die.

But the more than 200,000 people of Xing'an Prefecture still need to survive.

According to Jin Zhichun's idea, he would naturally ask Lu Xiangsheng, the prime minister of Huguang, for troops to come to his aid, and the people in the prefecture were also willing to listen to his idea.

But now that he is nearing the end of his life, the leaders of the able-bodied men and the hereditary military officers in the city have their own ideas.

People advised that although the Ming army's reinforcements from Huguang were effective, they were ultimately guest troops and could not stay for long. They would often scare away the rebels, and at the slightest sign of trouble on the northern slopes of the Qinling Mountains, they would retreat back to Huguang, never intending to stay for long.

Moreover, they are all visiting troops, and their army is undisciplined in Shaanxi. If Jin Zhichun is not present, Xing'an Prefecture will likely become a stalemate.

Most people advocated surrendering to Yuan Tao, the prefect of Xing'an, who was located outside the city.

There was no point in surrendering to the Wang Guangchang and Wang Guangxing brothers outside the city.

From what they saw from the city walls, during the few days that the Wang brothers had besieged the city, messengers had repeatedly entered the camp from Hanyin in the west and Pingli in the south. Clearly, Ma Chao and Yuan Tao were offering them terms to surrender.

Between Yuan Tao and Ma Chao, Yuan Tao had slightly more power.

By surrendering the city to Yuan Tao, at least we won't have to worry about further chaos.

Only Luo Dehong, the head of the local militia in the city, disagreed.

Luo Dehong's father, Luo Shiji, was a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) from Pingli County, Xing'an Prefecture. He once served as an instructor in Mianchi. Three years ago, when Li Zicheng and his men crossed the Yellow River from Shanxi, they captured Mianchi and took Luo Shiji prisoner, intending to coerce him into surrendering.

But Luo Shiji refused to comply and was eventually killed.

Therefore, Luo Dehong had always looked down on the bandits, and since he started training local militia, he had repeatedly relied on muskets to attack Yuan Tao outside the city.

However, his local militia was small, and although they achieved some successes in their raids, they were never able to establish a great achievement in driving out the bandits.

But at this point, those who could speak up in Xing'an Prefecture had no other choice.

They either surrender to Yuan Tao, the prefect of the Marshal's Office outside the city, or surrender to the Wang brothers, the bandits from Huguang outside the city, or send the Ming army from Huguang to fly over. They absolutely cannot defend this city on their own.

Luo Dehong tried his best to stop it, but found it difficult to come up with a solution to the crisis.

In the end, the gentry of Xing'an Prefecture pooled their wisdom and decided to take advantage of the time difference. While Yuan Tao had just made contact with the Marshal's Mansion and the prefecture was pretending not to know about it, they sought help from Luo Rucai, who had just captured Hanzhong Prefecture, to bring the Marshal's Mansion's elite troops into Xing'an.

As for whether this elite force would fight or make peace with the various chaotic armies in Xing'an Prefecture after entering the prefecture, that was not their concern.

Anyway, Xing'an Prefecture is already chaotic enough, no one is afraid of it getting even more chaotic.

Moreover, Luo Rucai had a good reputation—this guy was different from Zhang Xianzhong. Before Zhang Xianzhong submitted to Liu Chengzong, he had already dug through all the county towns in northern Sichuan and southern Shaanxi.

Luo Rucai used a false name when he captured Han Fan, and the capture of Rui Fan was a recent event. His fame had not spread that far yet. People only knew that he had suddenly become a brigade commander, and they had no idea about his expertise in large-scale engineering projects.

Even so, things did not go as smoothly as the rulers of Xing'an Prefecture had hoped.

Luo Rucai was indeed like a cat that had smelled blood, gathering his troops and rushing into Xing'an, but on the other side, the Ming army was not idle either.

Zu Dale has gone into the mountains. (End of Chapter)