Zhu Shunshui came soon and took charge of the civil affairs in the Xihe area.
If the Datong Army can capture Shaanxi, Zhu Shunshui will be the governor of Shaanxi. He is an old friend of Zhao Han. He defected when he marched to Jiangnan and worked his way up from the county magistrate level.
On the other side of Henan, Hu Mengtai is also waiting. When the Datong Army takes over Shanxi, he will immediately become Shanxi's chief envoy. This is Fei Yinghuan's cousin-in-law, and he is also an old acquaintance of Zhao Han. He came to join him after regaining Guangdong.
.
"The farmers in Xihe are not very motivated, and the gentry and landlords are also resistant," said missionary officer Ding Ruzhen.
Zhu Shunshui sighed: "It seems that Li Zicheng has governed Shaanxi well..." (The Xihe area is actually under the jurisdiction of Shanxi, but it was temporarily placed under the jurisdiction of Shaanxi during the war.)
The so-called good is compared with the Ming Dynasty.
Shaanxi suffered from wars and droughts for more than ten years, and the people suffered a lot. Li Zicheng asked them to cultivate the land without owners, and the taxes were not very heavy, so the farmers naturally supported him.
And when the Datong Army came, they divided the fields and reduced taxes for the farmers. These were all things Li Zicheng had done.
The Datong Army wanted to divide the landlord's land again, and the landlord was also unhappy. But that was all, and there was no fierce resistance. In fact, the population of Shanxi and Shaanxi has dropped sharply. No matter how much land the landlord has, without tenants to help cultivate it, he has no choice but to
Abandon.
The policy of dividing farmland, which has always been effective, is difficult to achieve in the northwest.
This place is different from Henan and Shandong. Although both provinces have experienced long-term wars, sharp population decline, and drought for many years, the Datong Army ended the troubled times in the two provinces of Lu and Yu, and all levels of society are grateful for this. In the two provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi, it was Li Zicheng
To end the troubled times, the Datong Army was the invader who started the war.
Zhu Shunshui came to Xihe to establish a register to allocate fields, but he did not get the support of the people at all and was unable to gain a mass base here!
It is even difficult to establish grassroots farmers' associations, and farmers have no enthusiasm to join them.
"What can we bring to local farmers?" Zhu Shunshui asked.
Ding Ruzhen replied: "We brought war, but nothing else."
Zhu Shunshui was speechless.
Ding Ruzhen added: "In fact, if you pretend to be submissive to the court, the civilian officials and military generals will also exploit the people very seriously. Li Zicheng said that the grain tax will be halved in three years, but the civilian officials and military generals will collect many miscellaneous taxes, and will also impose corvee service on the people.
We said right from the start that there would be no miscellaneous taxes or corvee, but the people didn’t believe it at all.”
Zhu Shunshui nodded and said: "I understand. Farmers in the south believe that they are exempted from corvee and miscellaneous taxes because they have actually divided their fields. Dividing the fields is the biggest benefit. With this benefit, other benefits are worthy of trust. And here
For farmers, dividing their fields is not a real benefit to them, so they don’t believe in other benefits.”
"That's the truth." Ding Ruzhen said.
Zhu Shunshui said: "We must establish trust and make the people trust the imperial court. There is still more than a month to harvest wheat. Tell all the farmers in Xihe that as long as the Datong Army is still there, they will not have to pay grain, no miscellaneous taxes, and no corvee this year. Wait for them.
When the wheat comes into the warehouse, if we really don’t collect grain, the farmers will naturally believe it.”
"This is the only way." Ding Ruzhen sighed.
The Xihe area is currently occupied by the Datong Army. Officials are not yet fully in place, and the people do not obey the Datong court.
It was impossible to mobilize the masses. The Datong Army could only stand firm on its own and defeat the encircling enemy forces on its own.
Puzhou.
Liu Zhu was analyzing the situation. He pointed at the map and said: "Cao Bianjiao ran so fast. He even attacked Xi'an and defeated him. But it was useless. He went deep alone and was of no help to the Tongguan battlefield."
Lin Ruzhao said: "It is also useful. Xi'an is the provincial capital after all. If this city is captured by our army, the civil and military forces of the Shaanxi puppet dynasty will definitely be panicked. Moreover, most of Shaanxi's grain must pass through Xi'an if it wants to be transported to Tongguan for supplies.
That's right. Even if Cao Bianjiao captures Xi'an, the enemy's food supply at Tongguan won't be able to get much replenishment. That's a nail that will definitely make the enemy's throat choke."
"In a month at most, Cao Bianjiao will be surrounded and trapped in Xi'an, unable to advance or retreat," Liu Zhu said. "Should he stick to Xi'an, or should he abandon Xi'an and go elsewhere?"
"It's better to hold on," Lin Ruzhao said. "A month later, our follow-up troops will arrive near Tongguan. By then, it will be another big war, and the enemy will not be able to devote too many troops to attack Xi'an."
The Datong Army was trying to advance at Nan Sanxing at the Eighth Route of Taihang. Including the two divisions attacking Tongguan, no one knew where the breakthrough would be.
Now that Tongguan has achieved a breakthrough, the Datong Army from Henan will continue to follow.
Li Zicheng's Shanxi garrison and Hanzhong garrison will also be mobilized accordingly. By then, both sides will have more and more troops in Tongguan, and a decisive battle will eventually brew.
Even the Dashun troops from Yulin and Ningxia were rushing towards Tongguan and could no longer care about the Mongolian troops in Ordos.
Anyway, the Ordos tribe is not very strong. At most, they can pass through the gap in the Great Wall, plunder and then go back.
…
Qinshui County.
The two brothers Ren Jirong and Ren Guangrong are leading their troops to the Xihe area. Their mission is to recapture Yicheng from the Datong Army and garrison it.
After marching for a day in the Luliang Mountains and setting up camp in the evening, Ren Jirong quietly said to his elder brother: "Brother, do you want to lead troops to Xihe to join the Datong Army?"
"Who are you listening to?" Ren Guangrong asked angrily.
Ren Jirong said: "The news has spread in the army. Just now, a soldier of mine came to ask if he could return to his hometown in Henan if he joined the Datong Army."
"Fart," Ren Guangrong said angrily, "There must be spies in our army! Go and find out from which bastard the rumor came from!"
Flies specialize in eggs with cracks. Although Xu Ying sent Xiao Zuo, he was not a fly, but he also understood this truth.
Brothers Ren Guangrong and Ren Jirong were originally low-level military officers in Henan.
The army they were in had not been paid for a long time and even had no food rations. A bunch of soldiers were hungry and were forced to defend the city, so they simply turned against Li Zicheng.
The brothers fought with Li Zicheng for several years and remained loyal without any sign of betrayal.
However, most of the soldiers under their command were from Henan, which provided basis for spreading rumors.
Even the soldiers believed it and thought that the Lord General really wanted to take them back to their hometown.
The next day.
Ren Guangrong did not continue the march, but traced the source of the rumors on the spot.
As a result, nothing was found.
In desperation, we had to continue marching.
In the middle of the afternoon, a messenger suddenly caught up with him: "Two generals, stay behind! Cihou (Liu Fangliang) has issued an order to cancel the previous military order. Please lead your troops back to Qinshui immediately. After joining forces in Qinshui, go to Xihe."
Ren Guangrong was dubious: "Is this really the order from Marquis Ci?"
The messenger handed over the document: "Please take a look at it, general."
The Ren brothers gathered together and read Liu Fangliang's military order. They couldn't help but look at each other in surprise.
In desperation, the two led their troops back.
at night.
Ren Jirong said: "Brother, it seems that rumors have spread widely, and Cihou has already doubted us."
Ren Guangrong said: "If you are upright, you are not afraid of the shadow. We are loyal to His Majesty."
"Brother, if the yellow mud falls off your crotch, it's either shit or shit!" Ren Jirong said anxiously, "Not to mention Cihou, even our own soldiers think that the rumor is true. Among these five thousand people, more than three thousand are
Every one of the fellows from Henan want to go back to Henan, they still have many family members in Henan!"
Ren Guangrong asked: "Do you really want to defect?"
Ren Jirong said: "Brother, this is a divorce plan, a conspiracy in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Believe it or not, when we return to Qinshui, as soon as Cihou arrives, we will be relieved of our military power. Cihou is also afraid,
Hao Yaoqi is His Majesty’s confidant. Didn’t he also lead his troops to rebel last year? We are not from the old camp, we are officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty who joined us halfway!"
Ren Guangrong remained silent, unable to refute.
Ren Jirong advised: "Brother, let's take advantage of the situation and surrender. To be honest, our parents are staying in Henan, and I also want to go back and have a look. My father said in the letter that the Datong court is very good, and all the military households in the past were divided into fields.
Now. My little sister is also married and has given birth to a big fat boy. Don’t you want to go back and see your nephew?"
In the past two years, Datong and Dashun had a good relationship, and officials from both sides communicated with their families in remote places.
"But our wives and children are in Shanxi!" Ren Guangrong said.
Ren Jirong said: "Your Majesty is kind and righteous, we can promise that even if we join the Datong Army, we will not fight with the Datong Army. We ask your Majesty and Cihou to treat our wives and children well."
Both brothers married in Shanxi. Their previous wives were lost when Li Zicheng fled.
Ren Guangrong thought about it and felt that he could not return to Qinshui. If he went back, he would definitely lose his military power and might even be imprisoned for interrogation. Even if he was acquitted later, he would have a very serious dispute with Liu Fangliang. Liu Fangliang was worried that they would still ask for it in the future.
Okay?
The next day, the brothers screened out the old soldiers from Henan and grouped all the fellow villagers from Henan together.
Then he called the messenger, and Ren Guangrong said: "Please go back and tell your majesty and Cihou that my two brothers have no intention of rebellion. But the enemy tried to alienate each other, and Cihou had doubts, so my brother did not dare to go back."
Qinyang.”
"You...really want to rebel?" The messenger was shocked.
Ren Guangrong pointed to the soldiers and said: "These more than a thousand soldiers were recruited in Shanxi. The envoys can take them back to Cihou. We will bring more than three thousand Henan soldiers back to Henan. Don't worry, we will go straight back to Henan and never stay here."
When fighting between Shanxi and Shaanxi, we will not wield a sword against our former compatriots. Please be kind to my wife and children!"
More than 3,000 soldiers from Henan Province have been fighting all year round, but they have taken a break for one or two years.
There are few people in Shanxi, and there are also few women. Most of these Henan soldiers have not remarried. They really want to return home as soon as possible.
The two sides parted ways without fighting. The Ren brothers led the Henan soldiers and left with some food.
A few days later, Liu Fangliang led the army to Qinshui. When he learned the news, he immediately regretted that he should not have ordered the Ren brothers to return to the army.
But if time goes back, Liu Fangliang will still do that, because if he is not afraid of ten thousand, he is afraid of the worst!
Not only that, many rumors spread one after another, and the generals in Henan were said to be surrendering to the enemy.
For a time, the soldiers from Henan were panicked.
Tian Hu even abandoned his troops and came to see Liu Fangliang alone: "Ci Hou, I have no second thoughts. It is true that I am from Henan, but I have been fighting with your Majesty for many years. How has it ever been that I have not fought to the death?"
Liu Fangliang quickly comforted him: "General Tian, don't say any more. These are all the Southern thieves' tricks to alienate you."
There were quite a few generals from Henan in the Dashun Army, because Li Zicheng made his comeback in Henan.