Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 172: Drive the tiger to devour the wolf, and clean up together

He was arrogant at first and respectful later, which makes people laugh when they think about it.

Zhu Yuanzhang was very angry at first.

Although he is a god descending from heaven, it is indeed a fantasy story.

But Liu Xizuo said that he was an impostor without any further investigation, and he even cursed and swore at him, which made Zhu Yuanzhang very unhappy.

However, the initial annoyance has disappeared when I look at him again. He has suddenly become obedient and the anger in my heart has dissipated.

After all, the other party really didn't know his identity. Coupled with the saying "I am a minister of the Ming Dynasty when alive and a ghost of the Ming Dynasty when dead", this kind of loyalty without fear of death still sounds very comfortable.

So Lao Zhu generously forgave him and asked him to do what he should do immediately.

This includes writing letters to colleagues who are still resisting in the surrounding areas and comforting the people.

As the governor of Huguang, Liu Xizuo was not a high-ranking official and his rank was only seventh.

However, the inspectors were of low rank but had great power.

They were one of the Thirteen Censors, who had the power of supervision and impeachment, and held the power over the life and death of local officials.

Even the Governor of Huguang was within their impeachment scope.

Therefore, although Liu Xizuo was only a seventh-rank inspector of Huguang, he was able to lead troops to fight against Zhang Xianzhong.

Under such circumstances, Zhu Yuanzhang, in the name of Liu Xizuo, was able to quickly quell the rumors in Changsha City, allowing Changsha to quickly restore order and maintain peace for the people.

Liu Xizuo posted notices in the city and personally went to the streets to tell the people the news that Emperor Taizu was coming.

All of a sudden, the people of Changsha, who were originally skeptical, gradually became convinced.

Every household rushed to tell each other.

Changsha was flattened.

After all, the ancients still believed in ghosts and gods.

Not to mention the ancients, there are countless foreign officials in later generations who like to engage in feudal superstitions. General Yin Xiyue is a typical example.

We are now in the final stages of a turbulent dynasty. From the common people to the officials and even the emperor, everyone hopes that a group of heroes like the founding generals will emerge to save the world.

Therefore, many founding generals of the early Ming Dynasty were posthumously honored again in the late Ming Dynasty.

For example, Chongzhen posthumously conferred the title of King of Ningling on Feng Sheng, Hongguang posthumously conferred the title of King of Lijiang on Fu Youde, and Qiu Fu, a famous general in the Jingnan Rebellion, posthumously conferred the title of King of Shucheng, and so on.

This all has political significance.

Even the upper class dignitaries are like this, let alone the common people at the bottom.

When people first heard the news that Zhu Yuanzhang had descended to earth, they were shocked.

Except for a very small number of fools who believed it to be true, most people were speculating that this traitor was really bold.

As a result, with the endorsement of Liu Xizuo as the representative of government power, ordinary people began to believe it, except for a few scholars who thought that Liu Xizuo had rebelled.

After all, their knowledge is limited.

When rumors spread like wildfire, most ordinary people will gradually accept it.

Scholars know a little more, so some of them are skeptical.

But Lao Zhu didn't care about them.

The top priority now is to pacify Hunan as soon as possible.

Immediately, Zhu Yuanzhang asked Liu Xizuo to write a letter to summon Li Qiande, the governor of Huguang.

Li Qiande had previously resisted Ai Nengqi in Hengzhou, but was defeated. He then retreated to Yongzhou, where he was defeated again. Now he has retreated to Shaoyang, leading his generals Liu Chengyin, Huang Chaoxuan, Zhang Xianbi and others to continue fighting against the Dashi Army.

However, these military leaders and generals in the late Ming Dynasty had a strong atmosphere of warlords and fiefdoms. Although they were controlled by civil officials, they attacked each other, so they were not unified internally and could not cooperate to resist the enemy.

Zhu Yuanzhang was naturally aware of this, so he had to concentrate all of Hunan's forces in Changsha to establish a stable base first.

In addition to Li Qiande, those who are still resisting in Hunan include Zhou Ernan, the magistrate of Changsha Prefecture, and Wang Yongtu, a general under Liu Xizuo, who are at the border between Yongzhou and Guizhou to resist Zhang Xianzhong's attack on Guangxi.

The external force included Zuo Liangyu who captured Wuchang and approached Yuezhou.

Lu Daqi defeated Zhang Xianzhong's troops in Zhangshu City, and together with Zuo Liangyu, one from the east and one from the north, attacked Zhang Xianzhong from both sides.

Therefore, the situation in Hunan was that Zhu Yuanzhang captured Changsha.

Zuo Liangyu was attacking Yueyang, north of Changsha.

Zhang Xianzhong's troops were in Xiangtan, Hengzhou (Hengyang), Baoqing Prefecture (Loudi, Shaoyang), Yongzhou, Chenzhou and other places, and were attacking Jiangxi.

Lu Daqi and Zhang Xianzhong fought in Yuanzhou Prefecture, which is Yichun and other places.

There was sporadic resistance within Hunan.

But it was obvious that the internal resistance was very weak, and they basically just fought guerrilla warfare and were completely unable to stop Zhang Xianzhong.

Old Zhu wanted to concentrate the resistance forces within Hunan first.

Most of these internal forces were officials from Huguang, who had a righteous cause and were able to quickly dispel the people's doubts and help him consolidate his base.

soon.

On September 22, the 16th year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng in the north successfully cut off Sun Chuanting's food supply and defeated the Ming army in Ruzhou.

Sun Chuanting was forced to retreat to Shaanxi.

Young Zhu Di and Li Wenzhong traveled day and night, crossed the river from Hunan to Hubei, then went to Nanyang, and took Wuguan to Shaanxi.

At this time, Li Zicheng's main force was concentrated in Henan for a decisive battle with the government army. Although there were sporadic troops of the rebel army along the way, they posed no threat to them.

Zhu Yuanzhang's emerging power quickly spread throughout Hunan and its surrounding areas.

Wugang Prefecture, Baoqing Prefecture.

Li Qiande currently occupies Wugang in the southwestern corner of Hunan, as well as Jingzhou and Suining. Historically, he was forced to retreat by Zhang Xianzhong not long after and was forced to retreat to Guizhou to wait for reinforcements.

In the Wugang Prefecture Yamen, Li Qiande has been feeling troubled recently.

He raised a batch of food, fodder, and silver, ready to hand them over to Liu Chengyin, Huang Chaoxuan, Zhang Xianbi and others.

But Liu Chengyin wanted to take it all for himself, and was afraid of the two men's previous contributions in attacking Baoqing, so he spoke ill of Huang Chaoxuan and Zhang Xianbi in front of Li Qiande, and told Li Qiande that they were in collusion with Zhang Xianzhong.

From a God's perspective, this is a false accusation.

Since the two of them continued to resist until the Yongli period, there was obviously no collusion.

However, from Li Qiande's perspective, it is impossible to judge.

So he decided not to pay the salary for the time being.

of course.

Liu Chengyin and the other three were not good people either. They robbed the people and bullied the villagers, just like Zuo Liangyu. There was nothing wrong with what they did.

It will just cause internal conflicts, so Li Qiande is very worried.

Just as Li Qiande was hesitating in the government office of Wugang, Baoqing, a fast horse arrived and the guards outside the door came in to report: "Report, the Huguang Patrol Liu has an urgent report!"

"Let the messenger in."

Upon hearing the news, Li Qiande hurriedly said.

The messenger came in and said, "Your Excellency the Governor, His Majesty the Great Ancestor has come to the world and has recovered Changsha. He has ordered you to go to Changsha to see him. This is the Governor's handwritten letter."

'What the hell?'

Li Qiande was nervous at first, not knowing whether it was bad news or good news.

Then suddenly some strange news came, leaving him dumbfounded.

But fortunately, he quickly came to his senses and took the letter.

The content of the letter made him even more confused.

His Majesty Taizu has come down to earth with General Xu Da, Duke of Cao Li Wenzhong, Duke of Xin Tang He, Duke of Ying Fu Youde, and Duke of Song Feng Sheng?

real or fake?

Li Qiande frowned.

The staff member next to him said, "He is playing tricks on others. This must be another evil plot."

"Your Excellency the Inspector is a man of integrity, he would not do this."

"That's impossible to say."

"Why don't we send someone to investigate? I think the bandits' trick is a bit childish. They shouldn't treat us like fools."

"Who knows? But I think we should write back to reprimand him. This is too unbelievable. The old man Taizu has been dead for many years. If he could show his spirit, wouldn't he have shown his spirit long ago?"

"Governor, I also thought this was a treacherous plot."

Several staff members were discussing this.

Officials in the Ming Dynasty would summon their staff. Even Li Qiande himself was demoted because of the loss of Hunan and served as Wang Yingxiong's staff during the Longwu period of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

So right now Li Qiande urgently needs advice from his staff.

But apparently, after heated discussions among the staff, except for one person who thought Liu Xizuo was trustworthy and had upright character, the rest of them felt that Liu Xizuo had surrendered to the enemy and that this was a trap set by Zhang Xianzhong and that they must not go.

"Well, in that case, I'll write a letter!"

Li Qiande also thought so. After thinking for a long time, he wrote a letter of rejection with righteous words, scolding Liu Xizuo for a while, and asked the messenger to take it back.

This is also normal.

The chaos in the country at the end of the Ming Dynasty was not only due to uprisings among the people, but also due to the collapse of order.

Government offices across the country were affected by the rebels, officials were driven out and forced to wander around. In addition, information was not communicated smoothly. Sometimes, even when the local areas were clearly still resisting, the court thought that the areas had fallen and sent new officials over, causing this chaotic situation.

To some extent, the current Ming Dynasty has become a dark forest.

Officials do not trust each other, the emperor does not trust each other, generals do not trust each other, and the people do not trust each other, officials, generals, and emperor.

Therefore, before clarifying the situation, people often dare not act rashly, which often leads to situations where they have the opportunity to annihilate the enemy but wait and see, resulting in missed opportunities.

But after a while, Li Qiande finished writing the letter and still hesitated: "If it is a treacherous plot, it is really puzzling."

"Why not send someone to investigate?"

The aide who had previously said that Liu Xizuo had upright character suggested.

"Well"

Li Qiande hesitated for a moment, but he still held on to a glimmer of hope. What if?

What if it really is Taizu who has come?

So after hesitating for a long time, he nodded and said, "After the letter is sent back, we have to send someone to investigate. This is not to pin our hopes on Taizu, but I have also heard about the character of Liu Xun's conduct, and we must not wrongly accuse a good man."

Li Qiande wrote a letter to refuse openly, but secretly sent his confidants to Changsha disguised as refugees to find out the truth and understand the situation in Changsha.

In addition to Li Qiande, Lu Daqi, Zuo Liangyu, Zhou Ernan and Zhang Xianzhong also received Zhu Yuanzhang's letter and the news that Changsha had been captured.

The reason for writing a letter to Zhang Xianzhong was naturally because Zhu Yuanzhang was a man of great talent and was willing to provide an opportunity for united front work.

Before the massacre in Sichuan, Zhang Xianzhong still showed the qualities of a heroic leader.

Not only did he open the granaries to release grain and not harm the people in the slightest, but he also reduced taxes in all the places he conquered, so that people's hearts were won over and his army grew ever larger.

As a powerful ruler, Zhu Yuanzhang could give Zhang Xianzhong a chance.

It was just like during the late Yuan Dynasty, when countless defeated enemies surrendered to him.

of course.

You only get one chance.

If Zhang Xianzhong cannot be caught, then no one can be blamed.

For this reason, Zhu Yunfeng jokingly called this a sting operation.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang fought wars in the south and the north, and he treated the wise and the humble with respect. He defeated the enemy and everyone was convinced and surrendered.

But now Zhu had just captured Changsha and had only a few thousand troops, so Zhang Xianzhong would certainly not surrender.

If you want to force the other party to surrender, you must defeat him miserably.

How can you persuade others to surrender when you have few soldiers and the other side has strong forces?

Obviously, Lao Zhu was just pretending.

Firstly, Zhang Xianzhong was cunning and fickle, and would not really surrender even if he did. Secondly, he would kill Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong as soon as possible.

In fact, just as Zhu Yunfeng had expected, Zhang Xianzhong scoffed at the letter of surrender sent by Zhu.

Now I am in Yuanzhou, Jiangxi.

Zhang Xianzhong ordered Ai Nengqi to capture You County, and Zhou Ernan fled north.

He also ordered Liu Wenxiu to continue to threaten Baoqing and try to annihilate Li Qiande's troops entrenched there.

He himself led the main force in Yuanzhou, which is Yichun, Jiangxi in later generations, and had his eyes on Jiangxi.

According to Zhang Xianzhong's idea, he planned to use Hunan and Jiangxi as his base, then conquer Guangdong and Guangxi, and then advance to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to take over the entire south.

Li Zicheng was in the north and he was in the south. Firstly, they could divide the country by the river, and secondly, with the south as their base, they might be able to plan big things.

However, his plan to attack Jiangxi was blocked by Lu Daqi, and Zuo Liangyu was eyeing him in Yuezhou. In the end, Zhang Xianzhong was forced to withdraw from Hunan and go to Sichuan.

Now is the time when he is planning to take over Jiangxi.

In the Yuanzhou government office, Zhang Xianzhong looked down at Sun Kewang with a very disappointed expression on his face.

He let Sun Kewang stay in Changsha in order to use Changsha as a base to dominate the south.

In the end, Sun Kewang was lost, which made him very disappointed.

"Father, Brother Kewang is not careless. Who would have thought that there are still people in Changsha City? Besides, the enemy's weapons are really powerful."

Li Dingguo, who was standing by, felt sorry for Sun Kewang's miserable state and could not help but persuade him, "This is not Zhan's fault. We should do this for the sake of Brother Kewang's hard work and great contributions."

"Humph."

Zhang Xianzhong snorted coldly and did not speak immediately. Instead, he supported his right chin with his right hand and fell into thought.

The soldiers who retreated naturally told him the situation. The enemy had powerful firearms and cannons, and suddenly attacked the camp in the middle of the night. If he were there at that time, he might not be able to turn defeat into victory.

So Sun Kewang was indeed innocent of any crime that was not committed in battle.

But losing Changsha is also a big problem, and he must come up with a solution.

It is estimated that we will not be able to break into Jiangxi at the moment.

Zuo Liangyu was eyeing him covetously from the north, Lu Daqi was defending tightly from the east, and Changsha was lost again. If we attack Jiangxi again, we will be attacked from both sides.

If he does not consider a retreat, his troops will inevitably be in danger.

Therefore, we must find a way to solve the dilemma.

Zhang Xianzhong thought for a long time and asked Li Dingguo: "Dingguo, the rear has been lost, Changsha has been captured, Zuo Liangyu divided his troops to attack Yuezhou, and joined forces with Lu Daqi's troops to garrison Zhangshu. Our army cannot break through, what should we do?"

Li Dingguo, who was still surnamed Zhang, thought for a while and said, "Father, attacking Jiangxi is a desperate gamble. If we succeed, we can occupy the right side of the Yangtze River, but if we fail, we have no way to retreat. Moreover, the passage to the north to join forces with King Chuang has been cut off by the Ming army, which is very disadvantageous to our army. Although father is unwilling to join forces with King Chuang, the lips and teeth are cold, and the rebel army may not benefit both sides if they unite, but they will definitely suffer if they are divided. Therefore, our army must have a way to retreat, and Changsha must be recaptured."

"What should Zuo Liangyu do?"

Zhang Xianzhong asked again.

He was certainly aware of this.

He and Li Zicheng were just using each other.

However, they are the two largest rebel forces now.

Once they are defeated one by one by the Ming army, they will inevitably end up in a miserable situation.

Therefore, Zhang Xianzhong surrendered to Li Zicheng several times when he was in critical situation.

Although Li Zicheng always wanted to annex Zhang Xianzhong's troops, he failed every time and had to save him reluctantly. This is the reason.

Now the only channels going south are Guangxi and Guangdong.

It was easy to occupy Guangdong and Guangxi, but with the Ming army pursuing them, there was no room for maneuver.

Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng were actually well versed in guerrilla warfare tactics. They roamed around Shaanxi, Henan, Huguang and other places because they had enough space for strategic transfer.

When we went to Guangdong and Guangxi, there was the sea to the south and mountains all around. Once we were surrounded by heavy troops, we would be trapped in a jar, unable to escape.

Therefore, it was impossible to go south, but it was impossible to penetrate Jiangxi in the east, so they could only go west or north.

Going west means going to Guizhou, but the mountain roads there are too difficult to travel on and it is easy to be blocked by government troops.

If you want to go to Sichuan, you can only go north to capture Changsha first, and then go into Sichuan along the Yangtze River. This way you will have a way to retreat.

Therefore, Zhang Xianzhong was already considering this issue at this time.

However, Zuo Liangyu would certainly intercept him in Yuezhou and Wuchang, which would be a problem. Moreover, the Ming army in Changsha seemed to be very powerful, so it was also a question whether Changsha could be captured.

"Zuo Liangyu is arrogant and self-indulgent. He always keeps enemies to worry about him. I think if he comes to chase us, we can set an ambush. Besides, he may not dare to chase us."

Li Dingguo gave his own opinion.

Zhang Xianzhong thought for a moment, nodded and said, "Well, my son is right. Changsha must be taken back, otherwise there will be endless troubles."

At this moment, someone suddenly came in and said, "Report, Your Majesty! There are brothers outside who have escaped from Changsha. They said that after being captured, Changsha asked them to deliver a letter to Your Majesty."

"Oh?"

Zhang Xianzhong said: "Let them in."

A moment later, more than a dozen ragged Western Army soldiers entered the tent and immediately knelt down and said, "Greetings, Your Majesty."

"What message did they ask you to bring?"

Zhang Xianzhong asked immediately.

The leading soldier presented the letter with both hands and said, "Your Majesty, we swore to never surrender, but they let us go. This is the letter they asked us to give to Your Majesty."

Li Dingguo walked over, took the letter and handed it respectfully to Zhang Xianzhong.

Zhang Xianzhong took the letter and opened it. He had been to school when he was young, so he knew how to read. He saw that it was a letter of surrender written by Zhu Yuanzhang in his capacity as the Emperor Taizu.

After reading the letter, Zhang Xianzhong was dumbfounded.

This is not the Ming army.

Where did this rebel army come from?

He actually dared to impersonate Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

There is something.

"Dingguo, take a look."

Zhang Xianzhong gave the letter to Li Dingguo.

Li Dingguo had studied with him. After reading the letter, he couldn't help but say, "Father, this isn't the Ming army. If the Ming army is pretending to be Zhu Yuanzhang, isn't that a dead end?"

"Humph, where did this clown come from? He actually claimed to be the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He really doesn't know how to live or die. If this news is told to Zuo Liangyu and the government, I'm afraid they will attack Changsha immediately."

Zhang Xianzhong pondered for a moment, his eyes lit up and he said, "Perhaps we can drive the tiger to devour the wolf. We can find a way to get the letter to Lü Daqi, or have someone reveal it to that dog emperor. Given the character of that dog emperor, he will definitely let Zuo Liangyu and Lü Daqi break Changsha first. We can just sit back and watch the tigers fight, let the Ming army help us defeat this guy, and then we can benefit from the fight between the snipe and the clams."

This is a conspiracy.

Lu Daqi and Zuo Liangyu might not have failed to think of this.

However, impersonating Taizu is more serious than rebellion.

What's more, this person not only pretended to be Taizu, but also rebelled at the same time. Chongzhen certainly couldn't tolerate it.

Therefore, if Chongzhen really knew about this, Zuo Liangyu and Lu Daqi must attack Changsha and deal with the person who pretended to be Taizu.

Zhang Xianzhong already knew that the man in Changsha had powerful firearms, so he sent his officers and soldiers to attack Changsha. This was just like driving a tiger to devour a wolf, killing two birds with one stone.

Zhang Xianzhong immediately acted according to his own idea and sent someone to deliver the letter to Zuo Liangyu and Lu Daqi.

What he didn't know was that Old Zhu naturally knew this.

He even told them the news in advance.

There was no need for Zhang Xianzhong to sow discord.

after all.

There was actually no difference between the officers and soldiers and the rebels in the late Ming Dynasty.

It is necessary to deal with Zhang Xianzhong.

Dealing with Zuo Liangyu is the same as dealing with him.

Then let’s clean it up together.

(End of this chapter)