Daming: I, the emperor who trains the carpenter

As the destined gravedigger of the Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng is still on the path arranged by heaven for him.

Perhaps Li Zicheng himself could not have imagined that he, a postman who was forced to revolt against Emperor Chongzhen to ask for salary due to the drought in Gansu and Shaanxi and the loss of his job, would destroy the Ming Dynasty for 300 years.

Just like Zhu Chongba, a cowherd boy who was born in poverty back then, would not have thought that the great Qianyuan Mengyuan Dynasty would be overthrown by him, a Haoyou commoner.

When Li Zicheng led his postmen brothers into the county town and killed the county magistrate who deceived them honest people, Li Zicheng, who took advantage of the situation, quickly attracted thousands of people to join him, and the number expanded to 3000 in a short time. The team has taken root deeply in the local area.

And this incident also represents that the uprising of the people in Gansu and Shaanxi has intensified and has reached the point where it cannot be contained.

When the news reached the capital, Zhu Youjian still didn't care much.

A group of rebellious peasants really thought they could overthrow the Ming Dynasty with hoes and plows?

joke!

The 28 imperial troops in the capital can easily be wiped out by dispatching [-] to [-] troops!

The peasant uprising army with no organizational discipline, no military experience, and no knowledge of military strategy and tactics is purely powerful, but it cannot shake any foundation.

Zhu Youjian is very confident. He doesn't take the Ganshan uprising seriously. After all, Ganshan is just a place, and his Ming Dynasty is booming now!

After Zhang Haogu heard the news of Li Zicheng's uprising, he pondered for a moment: "Mr. Ning, let's call everyone and have a meeting."

In the Hall of Qinzheng, everyone was holding cups of tea and drinking hot tea.

The five-year winter in Chongzhen was extremely cold, the Little Ice Age officially showed its power, the severe drought in the Central Plains, and the bitter cold at the border. All these signs indicate that the Ming Dynasty will still have difficult days in the future.

Huang Zongxi distributed the information on Gan and Shanxi to the people. Zhang Haogu waited for everyone to look at it first, and then said: "The disaster in Gansu and Shanxi, the imperial court was fatuous, the government took the opportunity to collect money, and the people were forced to rise up. This shows that the people are against The imperial court's patience has reached a limit."

"I called the big guys here today, not to denounce the governor of Ganshan and those prefects and county magistrates, nor to talk about the court. Let's discuss what we can do when the people of Gansu and Shanxi revolted."

Lu Xiangsheng said: "The common people's uprising is certainly gratifying, but throughout the ages, how many cases have been achieved by simple common people's uprisings? The common people's uprisings have impure minds, different thoughts, and many internal problems. The biggest problem with small farmers' thinking is that they are not far-sighted and comprehensive enough to think , easily fall into the ditch."

Zhou Yuji took over the words: "That's right, and after all, the people are only farming, and have not received formal and comprehensive military training. They don't have military literacy and tactical thinking. When they meet soldiers and horses from the imperial court, they don't even use the Beijing camp. All can fight more with less, and it is not too much to say that there is a mob."

Zhang Haogu nodded: "What you said is not bad, this is what I am worried about."

"This peasant uprising, in my opinion, is a cluster of flames, which can form a prairie fire and ignite the flames of the world. It can make the world realize that facing corrupt officials, facing the injustice of the court, and facing the All kinds of oppression, the people can stand up to resist and oppose. Since the court in this world cannot guarantee that the people have no worries about food and clothing, cannot guarantee that the people live and work in peace and contentment, and even wants to force the people to ruin their families, when the people are desperate, there is still a way to go .”

"So, this Ganshan uprising must not be easily extinguished by the court."

"And what I am worried about is the small peasant mentality of the common people. They tend to be greedy for small profits, have a lack of long-term vision, do not have a sense of the overall situation, and are easy to get rich when they are small, etc. In addition, the uprisings in Gansu and Shanxi are not controlled by each other, and it is easy to happen. There is bloodshed inside. And it is inevitable that there will be bandits and bandits taking advantage of the chaos to profit, and ordinary people will suffer."

Fang Yun said, "Yuanfu, what do you mean, we intervene?"

Zhang Haogu said with a smile: "That's right, since Ganshan has such a good form now, we can't justify it if we don't want to reconcile."

"Isn't there a large number of officers in the army clamoring for war and panicking all day long? I will give them this opportunity now, let them go to Ganshan, to set up the shelf of our Datong Society, go to those insurgents, and guide them. They go straight and lead them to victory."

Zhou Yuji added: "In my opinion, we can make more noise."

"Tell me what you think." Zhang Haogu is very supportive of these generals expressing their opinions at this time. After all, the meeting is to discuss with each other. As long as it has not been finalized, they can speak freely, but once they are finalized, they must work hard to the end.

Zhou Yuji said: "Yuanfu, we are in the land of Gansu and Shanxi, but we still have a large army."

During the Tianqi Dynasty, Shi Kefa was the governor of the three sides, commanding [-] elite new troops in Gansu and Shanxi.

Even now, this elite team is still nailed to the three sides to defend the northwest.

In the final analysis, where Daming will go is its own problem, there is no need for outsiders to get involved, not to mention the Northwest, Western countries, Southeast Asian countries, no one is qualified to get involved in the affairs of the Central Plains, this is Zhang Hao Paleo bottom line.

That's why Shi Kefa, Huang Degong, and Zhao Yuqi led the army to guard one side to prevent unnecessary troubles from people with good intentions.

Now that Zhou Yuji mentioned the three-sided elite led by Shi Kefa, Zhang Haogu really fell in love with it. Naturally, it is impossible to mobilize all the three-sided elite, but if some of these elites are put in the rebel army, they will be proper mid-level officers.

Zhou Yuji's idea is also clear to Zhang Haogu, it is nothing more than to make it bigger and go directly to capture Ganshan.

"How many people support and oppose Zhou Yuji's idea? Let's vote with a show of hands." Zhang Haogu said.

Twelve chiefs, three generals, and 15 of the 12 people supported it. Obviously, everyone has long wanted to get involved in the affairs of the Central Plains.

Wang Dashan said: "Yuanfu, we have been hiding our strengths and bide our time here in Liaodong for three years. Now the world is in turmoil, the people are displaced, and people everywhere are full of grievances. It's time for us to come out."

Zhang Ruitu said: "Yes, the emperor and those Donglin party members have been singing this big show for five years, and it's our turn to take the stage."

Zhang Haogu looked at the excited faces of the crowd, felt the almost unbearable flames of the crowd, and smiled slowly: "Okay, since everyone agrees, let's show our hand and let the emperor and the court princes see it." Look, our Datong Party has cultivated so much ability in the past few years of hard training in Liaodong."

During this period of time, several powerful forces have emerged in the Ganshan rebel army, such as Li Zicheng who was born as a postman, Zhang Xianzhong who was born as a frontier soldier, and Gao Yingxiang who was born as a horse dealer.

These rebel leaders, old or young, with different origins, all have one thing in common. They were all forced to rebel by the world, oppressed by local landlords and gentry, and lost their way of life, corrupted by corrupt officials. Those who were oppressed by officials lost hope, and then embarked on the road of rebellion.

As for the road of rebellion, it seemed to them that this was the profession chosen by God for them, and each of them performed extremely well. At the beginning of the sixth year of Chongzhen, various rebel armies gave Emperor Chongzhen a big surprise.

Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Gao Yingxiang and other thirteen anti-kings jointly conquered Xi'an, an important city in Shaanxi. The governor of Gansu and Shaanxi, as well as the honorable and wealthy households in Xi'an, did not escape, and all of them fell into the hands of the rebels.

Most of the corrupt officials in Ganshan and Shaanxi did not escape, and their corrupt money and food became the rapidly expanding supply package for the rebel army.

All of a sudden, the thirteen clans became more and more powerful against the king, playing the banner of millions of troops sweeping the world!
Xi'an!

An important town in Shaanxi and even the entire Northwest!
It connects Shanxi, Henan, and Huguang, and is a first-class important town in the northwest and even in the world.

Such an important town was conquered by the rebel army, and the momentum it caused was extremely huge. This made the people of the world see the power of the rebel army for the first time, and saw how earth-shattering the ordinary people who could not survive would explode.

The people of Gansu and Shaanxi revolted, millions of troops rebelled, and the important city of Xi'an fell!
For a while, the Central Plains was shaken, and even now it is still extravagant. The feasting Jiangnan knows that there have been thirteen anti-kings in Ganshan. , smashed out a group of stinky fish in the rotten mud.

When the news reached the capital, Zhu You kicked the table in a fit of anger, and didn't even attend the court meeting that day!

Zhu Youjian, such a hardworking emperor, will not attend the court meeting anymore!
This is not only because Zhu Youjian is angry, but also because Zhu Youjian found that the court meeting seems to be really useless, and it is easier to solve the problem than holding a small cabinet meeting.

The noisy court meeting is more like a vegetable market, and people who are disturbed by your words are upset, and the cabinet meeting is like a few people sitting at the table, which is much quieter and more convenient for communication.

So in the Hall of Martial Arts, the cabinet elders gathered together, and Zhu Youjian looked at these cabinet ministers with a gloomy face: "The rebels have captured Xi'an, what can you elders teach me?"

Sun Chengzong said very directly: "Your Majesty, the anti-thieves are powerful now, and their momentum has shaken the world. They must be wiped out by means of thunder, so as to win the hearts of the world. Otherwise, not only Gansan and Shanxi will be difficult to calm down, but people all over the world will also lose their minds." Different."

Zhu Youjian looked at the veteran who had been in Liaodong for many years: "Then what can Old Sun Ge do?"

Sun Chengzong said: "You can't rely on the guards for this matter. You must use the elite frontier army and the main force of the Beijing camp to suppress the rebellion, and another general will be in charge to lead the battle. There should be no constraints to suppress the rebellion. The court also needs to provide enough money and food. Difficult but easy, first attack the most powerful rebels such as Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Gao Yingxiang, etc., and finally deal with those rogues."

Listening to Sun Chengzong's clear solution, Zhu Youjian couldn't help applauding: "As expected of a pillar of the imperial court, Sun Ge's words won my heart. Who can be the leader in countering the rebellion?"

Looking at Zhu Youjian's expectant eyes, Sun Chengzong is determined but powerless. At his age, it is really difficult to suppress the rebellion.

Zhu Youjian also seemed to be aware of this, and he comforted Sun Chengzong a few words, and then appointed Xungui to go out of the town of Ganshan, and asked General Xungui to bring [-] elites from the Beijing camp to quell the chaos in Ganshan.

At the same time, the command of the Ganshan-Shanxi Frontier Army was also handed over to the noble generals, hoping that these nobles could quickly put down the chaos in Gansu-Shaanxi.

But mobilizing soldiers and horses requires money. If you don’t give money to mobilize soldiers and horses, you still expect these soldiers and horses who haven’t seen money all year round to move?
Originally, Zhu Youjian planned to copy the homes of the governor of Gansu and Shaanxi and those corrupt officials to solve the deficit. After all, if these bastards hadn't embezzled disaster relief funds and food, the people might not necessarily rebel.

But now, Xi’an is gone, most of Gansu and Shanxi are gone, and those corrupt officials even brought their money into the hands of the rebels. Now the rebels are not short of money or food, and there are still a large number of people coming Take refuge, but the imperial court has completely lost control of Ganshan. How long can the remaining half of Ganshan last?

Is it possible that these rebels can still break into Shanxi and Henan?
In order to curb the arrogance of the Thirteenth Route against the king, and to prevent the rebellious people from affecting Shanxi and Henan, Zhu Youjian became cruel and asked the cabinet to find a way to solve the army's mobilization costs so that the army could counter the rebellion.

Qian Qianyi took the lead, Wen Tiren, Yang Changsi, Shi Fenglai, Liu Hongxun, and Qiao Yunsheng came up with ideas, and the six tried their best to move around, and first came up with a starting fee of 50 taels of silver.

Then it was ordered to collect the thief tax and the security tax, and the merchants and gentry were required to pay to solve the shortage of funds in the court.

But in the end, whether it is the anti-thief tax or the Anmin tax, it still falls on the ordinary people.

Zhu Youjian knew a thing or two about this, but he only "knew it".

After all, the imperial court has encountered difficulties and the people have worked so hard. Let the people be patient, and life will get better and better in the future.

After Zhu Youjian pieced together the starting fee, the nobles finally led the army to the expedition.

The Beijing camp dispatched 3 former elite new troops, plus [-] Gansu-Shaanxi frontier troops, and made up [-] troops to suppress the rebellion.

The [-] court regular field army is enough to show that Zhu Youjian and the cabinet attach great importance to the Ganshan uprising army.

After all, a group of peasant rogues, the [-] imperial regular army can be said to have given these mud legs a lot of face. In the eyes of those high-ranking big shots, there is no reason why the elite of the imperial court has been dispatched?
But they didn't realize at all that these mud legs that could lay down the important city of Xi'an, could they be ordinary mud legs?
Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were pleasantly surprised to find that more and more rebels came to join them, and many of them were very capable people. Some were good at training troops, some were good at leading troops in battle, and some were good at arranging Strategy, someone is good at governing one side.

After these people came to Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong's subordinates, they were not proud of their abilities. On the contrary, they were very low-key and harmonious. Everyone gathered around Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong to advise them, check for gaps, and help them take root in the local area. , Try not to harass the people, and don't rob those victims who can't survive.

On the contrary, they also persuaded Zhang Xianzhong and other anti-kings to focus on major events, and asked them to provide food relief to the victims to gain the foundation of prestige development, and planned a series of strategies in detail.

Only then did the thirteen anti-kings unite to conquer Xi'an.

With these capable men and strangers, the Thirteenth Road Anti-King can be said to be smooth sailing, righteous men, food, weapons, money, everything is not lacking.

Obviously, what awaits the nobles of the Ming Dynasty is not an easy battle to fight.

And these nobles haven't realized this at all. In their view, using the elite troops of the imperial court to deal with a group of mud legs is simply hanging up and beating. It is a 360-degree all-round crush without dead ends. How can there be failure reason?
At that time, the army will be pressing up, three thousand will fight ten thousand, ten thousand will fight eighty thousand, won't it be easy?
So after the army entered Ganshan, these nobles quickly divided into three groups. According to the strategy arranged by Sun Chengzong in the capital, they ignored other anti-kings and went straight to Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and Gao Yingxiang, the biggest anti-kings of the three groups.

On March [-]th of the sixth year of Chongzhen, the imperial counter-insurgency army encountered troops from Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, and Gao Yingxiang successively in Huayin, Luonan, and Heyang.

The imperial army set up a formation to face the enemy head-on. During the fight, the nobles were shocked to find that the combat power of the mud-legged people on the opposite side was almost the same as that of the imperial elite on their side!
Whether it is the military accomplishment or the ability to respond to the enemy, these mud legs don't look like a peasant rebel army at all, but a regular army of the imperial court.

For the sake of similar military literacy and even equipment on both sides, the number of people and command determine everything.

The imperial government's anti-insurgency army, which added up to less than 10, was divided into three groups and encountered nearly [-] troops from three anti-kings. .

Even if these elites of the imperial court had good military qualities and could persist in fighting, the nobles commanded by Naihe didn't want to fight anymore, and they all called for money to withdraw their troops and retreat.

This battle reduced the imperial court's anti-insurgency army by nearly 7%, leaving only [-] nobles who did not dare to be arrogant, let alone divide their troops. The number of [-] people, and then retreated to Tongguan to wait for the imperial court's ordnance support.

A few days later, the ordnance supported by the imperial court arrived, including the arrival of a batch of heavy equipment such as artillery and firearms. What can I do?

As the saying goes, long hands beat short hands, firearms beat cold weapons, I don't believe it can't beat this time!
And this time the nobles have learned their skills, and no longer target the three anti-kings at the same time, but first capture Gao Yingxiang's family and beat them up.

On March 22, the sixth year of Chongzhen, the imperial court's anti-insurgency army and 7 people from the Gansu-Shaanxi border army fought against Gao Yingxiang's main force in Huayin. During the fierce battle between the two sides, something happened that the nobles never expected.

The Ganshan frontier army turned against it!

When the [-] frontier troops from Gansu and Shaanxi turned against each other, the imperial court's anti-insurgency army was defeated, and the defeated army retreated all the way east and ran out of Tongguan directly!

As a result, the entire Ganshan no longer had the imperial court's organized troops, and only five days later, all the remaining prefectures and counties in Ganshan were occupied by the rebel army.

At the end of March in the sixth year of Chongzhen, the Ganshan uprising army completely occupied the whole territory of Ganshan and Shanxi, and thirteen anti-kings spied on Shanxi.

All the land in a province was occupied by rebels, and even Shanxi was in danger. Such a bad situation had never happened in the Ming Dynasty for a hundred years.

Eight hundred miles away in Shanxi, the urgent military information was reported to the capital, and Emperor Chongzhen was shocked three times a day.

The hearts of the people in the world are completely chaotic!