The Fourth Battalion Head of General Yan Luo was a well-known anti-Qing rebel army active in Jiangxi. Its leader, Luo Rong, the Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army who promoted the Fourth Battalion Headquarters of General Yan Luo to President, was a very capable officer in the Jiangxi Anti-Qing Rebel Army.

Historically, Luo Rong was defeated and captured and killed by the Qing army. The Qing court also declared with great excitement that "if we get this leader, we can win and kill hundreds of thousands of people." This is something that the more famous "Four Major Bandits of Jiangxi" have never achieved.

Pay attention to.

Since the combat effectiveness of the fourth battalion of General Yan Luo was relatively strong among the Jiangxi rebels, Chen Kai chose to come to Shaowu Mansion to discuss with Luo Rong as the first stop of his trip, trying to lure him closer to Tingzhou Mansion, so that the Ming army would

The strength of southern Fujian can be further strengthened, which will also be of better help to Zheng Chenggong's upcoming series of counter-offensive operations in southern Fujian.

This is true for public affairs and for private affairs. The head of the fourth battalion of General Yan Luo is the Jiangxi Ming Army and is under the control of Jiangxi Governor Jie Chongxi. Luo Rong's troops fight in Tingzhou to support the Fujian Ming Army, but they are not part of the Fujian Ming Army. In this way, Chen Kai

It can better operate in it and accumulate more foundations for countermeasures before Zheng Jing has stronger political power.

However, according to Tao Qian, Luo Rong's troops and Ning Wenlong from Jiulong Camp had left Taining County. Some said they went to Tingzhou Prefecture, some said they entered Yanping Prefecture, and some said they were returning to Taining County.

After arriving in Jiangxi, the specific situation is still unknown. Perhaps if we go after those who invaded the Qing army to suppress the Qing Dynasty, the chance of finding them will be higher.

"This should be the three-provincial massacre in history aimed at wiping out the anti-Qing movement in Jiangxi."

The so-called "Three Provincial Suppression" was a joint operation launched by the Qing army from the three governorates of Jiangxi, Fujian and Southern Jiangxi provinces after re-occupying Guangdong in the south. It targeted the Qing troops stationed in Jianning, Tai and

The fourth camp head of Yan Luo in Ning, Nanfeng, and Guangchang and the Jiulong camp of Ning Wenlong, as well as Jiangxi Governor Jie Chongxi and other honorable ministers stationed in the Wuyi Mountain area in the south of Guangxin Prefecture, set up camps and raised troops in the fields for a long-term plan.

Jiangxi anti-Qing armed forces.

The three provincial capital campaigns were huge in scale, with Qing troops such as Jiangxi Tibiao, Nangan Zhenbiao, Fujian Tibiao and Fujian Zuolu Zhenbiao all participating in it. Chen Kai asked himself that with these dozens of people, they could not make any waves.

However, due to the expansion of Zheng Chenggong's troops in southern Fujian and eastern Guangdong, Wang Zhigang's troops were firmly tied to Zhangzhou Prefecture. Even Yang Minggao's Fujian Tibiao was killed because of Ma Degong, and Fujian Youlu Zhenbiao

The entire army was wiped out, and they had to rush back from the battlefield in Jiangxi to help defend Quanzhou Prefecture. The name of the three provincial capitals was not worthy of the name. Without the interception and attack by the Fujian Qing army, it seems that the situation of the Jiangxi Ming army was not as bad as it was in history.

Thinking about this, Chen Kai is not in a hurry to make a decision. On the one hand, he needs the confession obtained from Cai Qiao as evidence. On the other hand, he does not want to leak too much information to cause greater harm.

of unchanged.

"By the way, Tao Juren, you said you are from Jiangxi, how come you came to Fujian to take the provincial examination?"

Logically speaking, the rural examination should be taken in the provincial capital of the province where the household registration is located, which generally refers to the northern and southern capitals and the location of the chief envoys and yamen of each province. In Jiangxi, it should be in Nanchang. There are exceptions, such as those with Wei registration.

In the Ming Dynasty, some people returned to their ancestral homes to take the imperial examination, but Chen Kai did not remember that there was any health center in the county mentioned by Tao Qian.

Chen Kai brought the topic back, and Tao Qian was not surprised. He just replied silently, "In the second year of Longwu, the late emperor issued a decree that all candidates from Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Huguang and other provinces should go to Fujing to take part in the provincial examination."

If so, I won’t explain further.

In the second year of Longwu, the late emperor was naturally referring to Emperor Longwu. Chen Kai vaguely remembered that it was Zheng Chenggong or someone who seemed to have mentioned it, saying that in the first year of Longwu and the second year of Longwu, the Ming court held three imperial examinations.

.

"I have heard about this matter. It is said that in November of the first year of Longwu, the late emperor ordered his cabinet ministers Zhu Jizuo and Su Guansheng to supervise the examination. There seemed to be only five candidates, who were selected."

Kuang Lu had some impression. Chen Kai glanced at Tao Qian while listening. It seemed that there was no panic in him, but only surprise, relief and a feeling of nostalgia. However, Kuang Lu did not finish his words.

In fact, the background of that exam was that Emperor Longwu set up a talent reserve hall to recruit and reserve administrative talents. However, Su Guansheng, a Hanlin scholar who was in charge of the subsequent talent reserve hall, failed to manage it well. As a result, "it recruited many narrow-minded and evil people, and the superiors were disgusted."

Let it go.”

This time, the effect of recruiting talents was not achieved, so in May of the next year, Emperor Longwu held a court examination and selected 12 talents including Li Ehui and Wan Jing from among 105 tribute students, and handed them over to Shao Zhan.

Zhu Tianlin supervised and taught him, and finally recruited a group of "emperor's disciples".

"This Young Master, Zhu Tianlin, has been in the cabinet a few years ago..."

Kuang Lu came with the ear canal, and Chen Kai vaguely remembered that it was mentioned in an imperial edict or heard it from someone when he was in Guangzhou. But when he thought about it carefully, it was normal. After all, the Ming court's control area was getting smaller and smaller.

Famous and capable officials in the court are more likely to become prime ministers. As Zeng Ying mentioned some time ago, even non-common people can join the cabinet. It seems that cabinet ministers who have always been in the imperial court

Wen Anzhi was the only one here who was born as a serious scholar.

Putting aside the first two, the third one, that is, the one Tao Qian participated in, was a routine provincial examination held every three years by the Ming court. Although it was a little late, Longwu was different from those of Hongguang, Lu Jianguo and Yongli.

The brilliance lies here - that is, it is better to be late than to be late. Because as long as the imperial examination is held and the scholars have a way to enter the system, they will be able to serve the Ming court better and be more devoted to the Ming Dynasty.

, even those who failed the examination will still be thinking about it, so that they can better compete with the Qing court for the help of scholar-bureaucrats, instead of relying solely on so-called loyalty to compete with the Qing court, which is busy holding the imperial examination.

"This time, I heard that Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou held the provincial examination first, and then the late emperor ordered that the provincial examination be held in Fujing. Since the provincial capitals of Huguang, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang have all fallen into the hands of the Tatars, the students in the three provinces are in great danger.

Beijing Reference... Well, it seems that there is a separate test for candidates in Zhejiang..."

Following Kuang Lu's words, Tao Qian recounted the scientific examination he participated in. It was not a secret that separate questions were set for Zhejiang candidates. At that time, Emperor Longwu was still competing with Lu Jianguo for legitimacy. This move was nothing more than to win over Zhejiang.

It was understandable that the scholar-bureaucrats were just using him for his own purposes. However, later on, Tao Qian actually revealed some secrets about the fraud in the imperial examinations. The disdain and anger on his face seemed to have not faded at all in the past four years.

"...Four out of four, Wang Sanjun, the official who was responsible for the examination and promotion, was arrested and imprisoned, and the stolen 10,000 taels of silver were recovered to help pay for the navy."

Chen Kai can understand these feelings. Those who pass the township examination can already be elected as local officials. It is basically equivalent to the civil service examination, and it is still an examination that can jump to county-level cadres. It can be obtained from thousands of students.

The more than 100 candidates and the more than 60 deputy candidates who passed the imperial examination have studied poetry and books for who knows how many years. It is natural that they hate bribery and fraud.

This exam took place in June, and Emperor Longwu died in August. It was probably around that time that Tao Qian returned to his hometown. As a result, he encountered an accident on the road and had to temporarily live in another country.

"I see."

After a long conversation, Chen Kai also figured out that these people were just poor people who were forced to take risks by hunger. Later, Chen Kai's understanding was confirmed by Cai Qiao. Regardless of the identity of these people,

It is also the matter that Tao Qian just mentioned that the head of the fourth camp of General Yama is no longer here.

In this regard, Chen Kai did not intend to make things difficult for them. He just warned them, raised them high, and lowered them gently. But before leaving, he still couldn't help but ask Tao Qian about the robbery.

"It's like this. We have discussed it long ago. If we encounter business travelers and stop them to ask for some extravagant money, we will let them go as tolls. If we encounter Tatars, we will kill them all."

"Have you ever killed a Tartar?"

"No, that's just the plan."

"..."

After confirming that the answer that left him speechless was correct, Chen Kai and his party left. But this time, they did not continue to move forward, but returned the same way. At least, from Chen Kai's point of view,
Chapter completed!