Zhao Han ordered his troops to be divided into two groups, one to take over Fuzhou by boat, and the other to go south to take over Tingzhou. Those who resisted were all killed, and the number of officials who surrendered or escaped was almost half.
In recent years, more than ten uprisings have broken out in Fujian, and there have been repeated droughts. No matter whether the gentry, officials or the people want to fight, they no longer want to fight.
Four words: People's minds are calm.
A lot of the autumn grain that had just been harvested in Jiangxi was shipped to Fujian for disaster relief. A large amount of grain from Hunan was shipped to Jiangsu and Zhejiang for sale. Several provinces under Zhao Han were finally able to recuperate this time.
The north is even more chaotic.
The officers and soldiers in Xunyang and Xiangyang have been without pay for half a year. They usually rely on looting the people to eat and drink.
Governor Wang Aoyong requested the disbursement of military pay, totaling more than 100,000 taels of silver. If the court had no money, he requested the distribution of salt bait and solicited merchants to sell the salt bait to deduct military funds.
Chongzhen agreed.
The other officers and soldiers also used salt to offset the deductions, leaving them to find ways to cash in on their own.
For a time, salt was extremely popular and depreciated rapidly.
Hui merchants, Qin merchants and Shanxi merchants suffered heavy losses. In order to quell the grievances of the merchants, the Lianghuai Salt Patrol Supervisor strengthened the management of the salt field.
The merchant was happy with this approach, but forced Yan Xiao and Zao Hu to rebel.
Especially the salt-burning kitchen households, if they did not rebel, they would be dead, because they relied on selling private salt to survive.
The salt lord Zheng Guofeng gathered a crowd and raised an army. The two Huai Zao households responded and killed the supervisors of each salt field. In ten months, he gathered more than 30,000 soldiers and occupied four counties: Rugao, Haimen, Taixing, and Tongzhou (Nantong).
The salt merchants exploded.
Huizhou salt merchants and Shanshan salt merchants used to fight each other's wits, but this time they joined forces to recruit troops to assist local officials in suppressing the salt owl uprising.
Hui merchants continued to write letters, requesting King Zhao to send troops to quickly capture the Huaihe and Huaihe areas.
Zhao Han turned a deaf ear and stayed put until next summer's harvest.
The war between the Huaihe River and Huaihe River was fierce, and Hubei was occupied by Zhang Xianzhong.
"Cao Cao" Luo Rucai originally followed Zhang Xianzhong, but they had a falling out some time ago. The reason was that Zhang Xianzhong showed favoritism and gave all the land to his godson and generals. Luo Rucai was busy for a long time and only had the land of two counties.
Luo Rucai led his army to the west of the Dabie Mountains and captured Shangcheng, Gushi, Guangzhou, Guangshan, Xixian, Luoshan and other counties.
This move frightened the Henan officers and soldiers. They were encircling and suppressing Li Zicheng, and Luo Rucai suddenly grew crazily behind them.
…
Xinzheng.
"Cough cough cough!"
Yang Sichang coughed so hard that he couldn't stand up straight, as if he wanted to cough out his lungs.
The most powerful civil servant in the Ming Dynasty, his beard and hair are all white now. Compared to last year, he seemed to be twenty years older than he was energetic, and his face was covered with wrinkles from unknown time.
The city of Luoyang was high and deep, and Li Zicheng could not defeat it. As Xuanda's frontier army moved south, King Chuang was driven away again.
There is no way to implement policies such as farming or establishing an organization. He can only continue to be a rogue bandit.
Li Zicheng was in a difficult situation, and Yang Sichang was also in a difficult situation. All armies were in trouble for pay.
"Report!"
"The tiger is as powerful and fierce as a tiger. Zuo Liangyu joined forces to attack the bandit camp, killing more than five thousand enemies, and the bandits escaped to Yanling!"
Yang Sichang stood up in excitement, with a sickly blush on his face, and said repeatedly: "Okay, okay, good fight, let all the generals come up to report their merits."
"Cough cough cough cough!"
Yang Sichang coughed again and coughed up a hand full of blood. He wiped away the blood secretly, not daring to let anyone see it.
The next day, the battle achievements of all parties were reported. Yang Sichang drafted a report of victory and immediately sent someone to Beijing.
The imperial court had no money to reward meritorious deeds, so Yang Sichang could only ask for a title, requesting that the tiger be as powerful and as fierce as a tiger. Zuo Liangyu was all made count, and the other generals were also made wives and sons.
If he didn't do this, he wouldn't be able to command the army, and the court would be seriously in debt.
"Supervisor, a eunuch is here!"
Just as the documents reporting the victory were sent out, a eunuch suddenly came to Xinzheng to announce the decree.
This imperial edict was not formal. The eunuch stood aside and said to Yang Sichang: "Mr. Yang Ge, your Majesty asks you, when will the intruders be exterminated?"
"I just won a big victory a few days ago." Yang Sichang replied.
The eunuch sighed and said, "Your Majesty orders you to quickly exterminate the bandits and deploy elite troops to rescue Jinzhou! If... the thieves cannot be defeated within half a year, Your Majesty will replace someone to supervise the division."
Yang Sichang was too lazy to argue and said feebly: "I will definitely try my best."
There was not much wealth in the army, so Yang Sichang took 500 taels and gave them to the eunuchs as filial piety, but he repeatedly explained that he had no money.
With the spring breeze blowing on his face, the eunuch sneered when he left the military camp: "This old Yang Ge is so stingy, how can he give away five hundred taels to a beggar?"
Yang Sichang was exhausted physically and mentally. Due to the emperor's order, he could only let his ministries speed up the encirclement of Li Zicheng.
Li Zicheng kept moving south, intending to join forces with Luo Rucai.
In November, Li and Luo joined forces to retreat to the county, with a support of nearly 200,000 people.
The two sides faced off in a small town called Tongzhongdian and conducted small-scale tests on each other. No one dared to launch an attack without authorization.
After half a month of confrontation, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai suddenly broke camp and left at night.
Yang Guozhu, Wang Pu and Zuo Liangyu thought it was a ploy to lure the enemy and ordered not to pursue them. The tiger was as fierce as a tiger, but the tiger was so powerful but they led their troops to pursue them, thinking this was a good opportunity to defeat the enemy.
Yang Sichang was sitting in command and could not stop the pursuit of the enemy. He was afraid that the Tiger Generals would be ambushed, so he asked Yang Guozhu, Wang Pu, and Zuo Liangyu to pursue the enemy together, so that they could take care of each other.
The three of them did not dare to disobey the order, but they did not want to pursue them into the mountains. After marching a few miles, they stopped and sent out sentries to inquire about the situation.
As fierce as a tiger, the tiger was so powerful that it went crazy and chased him into the mountains. More than 100,000 bandits fled in all directions, collapsing all over the mountains and plains.
Zuo Liangyu received news of the victory in the middle of the night, so how could he give up this opportunity? He immediately led his troops to pursue him, intending to take the opportunity to gain some military exploits.
"Kill the left thief!"
When Zuo Liangyu entered the mountain, it was already getting light, and a group of cavalry suddenly came out from behind.
But it was Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai who were so ruthless that they used more than 100,000 of their own infantry as bait, allowing the officers and soldiers to chase them and drive them away, and each led their elite old battalions to ambush them at a distance.
More than four thousand cavalry from the old camp of rogues rushed out in the morning light and killed Zuo Liangyu, who had been marching for half a night.
"Quickly retreat!"
Zuo Liangyu was inexplicably frightened. He thought that the tiger that entered the mountain was as fierce as a tiger, and the tiger was defeated. Before he could engage the enemy, he took his servants and fled on horseback.
In this raid, Zuo Liangyu's infantry was completely wiped out.
Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai pursued and killed them for a while, and then quickly entered the mountains to continue fighting.
More than 100,000 bandits fled in all directions. They were as fierce as tigers, and the tigers were already chasing them like crazy. They couldn't stop them at all. Their soldiers went everywhere killing thieves and grabbing property. Only the servants and cavalry were still around them.
After Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai entered the mountain, they led more than 4,000 old battalion cavalry and rushed to kill the scattered officers and soldiers when they saw them.
Killing all the way and following the fleeing officers and soldiers, they soon found Hu Dawei's servants and bodyguards.
It was another cavalry duel, more than four thousand versus more than one thousand, but the former suddenly came out.
How could Hu Dawei dare to fight? He immediately chose to run away.
The pursuit lasted until noon, when both sides were trapped and exhausted. The majestic tiger lost its front hoof and suddenly fell to the ground. Luo Rucai rushed in and hacked him to death.
As for the tiger-like army, they were transporting goods in the mountains and escorting more than a thousand prisoners.
"Hu Dawei is dead!"
Luo Rucai held up Hu Dawei's head with a spear. Li Zicheng asked people to hold up the banner of Hu Dawei and ordered the cavalry to shout together.
When Feng Ruhu looked back, he couldn't see his head clearly, but the flag was actually the general's flag of Hu Dawei.
"withdraw!"
As fierce as a tiger, he did not dare to fight, so he abandoned his infantry and ran away with his servants and cavalry.
In this battle, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai's infantry dispersed approximately 60,000 to 70,000 people, and thousands more were killed by the officers and soldiers.
But on the officers and soldiers side, Zuo Liangyu and the tiger-like infantry were all lost, and Hu Dawei was directly annihilated.
In terms of the number of troops lost, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai definitely lost, but they actually won a great victory.
Although there are more than 100,000 rogue bandits, most of the infantry are consumables. The two elite troops add up to more than 4,000 cavalry, and there are several thousand old infantry soldiers who are defending the county town of Xixian with their families.
Handsome tent.
After receiving the military report, Yang Sichang sat down slumped and looked ahead blankly.
Just looking at the combat effectiveness of both sides, it is impossible for the officers and soldiers to lose.
"How could it be defeated?" Yang Sichang couldn't figure it out.
Several newspapers were sent in succession, and the generals from all walks of life accused each other. They were nothing more than underestimating the enemy's rash advance and refusing to advance in fear of the enemy.
Yang Guozhu and Wang Pu's troops have not fought until now. They guessed that there was a problem, so they chose to stay put.
The tiger is as powerful as a tiger and is as fierce as a tiger. It is the first to chase the enemy, and the enemy is completely lost in pursuit.
Zuo Liangyu did not dare to pursue him at first, but when he heard about the great victory, he pursued him again and was caught off guard.
Several groups of officers and soldiers were fighting independently and were not working together as a team at all.
"puff!"
Yang Sichang spurted out a mouthful of blood and passed out in the military camp on the spot.
…
Beijing.
Chongzhen felt as if he was struck by lightning and said in disbelief: "Did Yang Ge die of illness?"
"Your Majesty, this is Mr. Yang Ge's legacy."
Chongzhen read the suicide note carefully with trembling hands.
Yang Sichang first blamed himself and said that he had failed the emperor. He also explained that the reason for the defeat was that the generals did not obey military orders. If they pursued together or did not pursue at all, there would not have been such a huge defeat.
Finally, Yang Sichang recommended Chen Xinjia to be Minister of the Ministry of War.
Chongzhen put down Yang Sichang's suicide note and tried not to cry. He knew that Ming Dynasty was completely hopeless.
Zhao Han occupied Jiangnan, which was a fatal blow. The court only had two Huai salt taxes left to use.
Now, due to the uprising of Yan Xiao and Zao Hu, the imperial court was unable to even collect the salt tax, and Yan Yin has become a piece of waste paper.
The imperial court is out of money, and there is a rice shortage in the capital. The price of rice has risen to five taels of silver per stone.
Even in the city of Beijing, people began to starve to death due to lack of food!
The Tatars were besieging Jinzhou, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai were wreaking havoc in Henan, and Zhang Xianzhong was expanding crazily in Hubei. The Cao Army uprising in Shandong had just been suppressed, and the salt owl households in Lianghuai and Huaihe rebelled again.
By the way, there are also rebels in Sichuan, and more than ten groups have appeared. Qin Liangyu is running around Sichuan to quell the rebellion.
Due to severe famine, the people of Beizhili revolted, and the officers and soldiers of Jizhen were suppressing them.
Chongzhen was in dire straits. There was no way for Liaodong to rescue him, and he couldn't even pay for the departure of his army.
Zu Dashou and other Liaodong generals could only defend the city slowly by themselves, and they would definitely surrender when the food supply ran out. Reinforcements could not wait. At most, Hong Chengchou could lead the Jizhen troops to rescue them, and the Northern Zhili uprising army had to be defeated first.
Let’s talk about it later.
Chongzhen called all his children here, and it was rare for them to have a good meal.
He couldn't bear to look at these children, and suddenly remembered Wang Tiaoding's message.
Send your children to the south?
Chongzhen sent several groups of royal guards to the south, knowing that Zhao Han had a reputation of "benevolence". Whether he was truly benevolent or fake, he had to take his reputation into consideration, and he might not kill the royal family.
After figuring the matter out, Chongzhen was still hesitant. If he sent his children to the south, how would the Ming royal family lose their dignity?
(Sorry, I missed one leader, thank you Readerk leader for the reward.)