Since the Wanli Years, the world has gradually slipped into the abyss.
Human life is worthless, which is the main theme of this era.
So far, only Liu Chengzong is qualified and able to take human life seriously in the north.
Zhang Yichuan doesn't have Liu Chengzong's ability, but the Sweeping King has the ideals of a Sweeping King, and he is saving people in his own way.
Henan is the Central Plains with endless plains, but in the western Henan region transitioning from the Loess Plateau to the North China Plain, the landscape is still dominated by mountains and hills.
The old saying here is that there are five mountains, four mausoleums and one river.
There is no flat ground.
The deserters who were infected with the plague were defeated, and the exiled peasants who had no food to satisfy their hunger pushed their wheelbarrows up and down the mountain roads, spreading the plague to every place they passed because no one would take them in.
The forts that stand all over Henan are not just for defense against invaders.
The origin of Baozhai is the two major floods that Henan experienced in the fifth and sixth years of Chongzhen.
The people who survived the flood rebuilt their homes in the highlands, and just in time to catch up with the peasant army that was marching into the North China Plain, they were pushed back to Shaanxi and passed through Henan.
People built high walls in their villages and took up arms for self-protection. During the lean season, they followed the strongest people in the village to protect their families and food rations, hoping to survive the difficult years.
However, it became more and more difficult every year. The external environment deteriorated sharply with the end of the floods. Plagues and bandits were everywhere. The temporary clan and neighborhood self-protection forts gradually became the standing army of self-government in the mountains and wild areas.
Then, it was divided into gentry fortresses and powerful fortresses with distinct distinctions.
But no matter what kind of village it is, outsiders will not be accepted.
Hungry people, bandits, rogues, rebels, government troops, no matter who comes, if they want to enter the fort, they have only one way to capture it.
Because in this era, people in Henan are not as lucky as people in Shaanxi.
In the birthplace of the drought, Lao Shaanxi can hardly be said to be lucky.
Flood disasters are no less terrible than droughts, and even vaguely worse than droughts.
Because the threat posed by large-scale drought is both profound and chronic, it will take time for beautiful mountains and clear waters to turn into barren mountains and barren hills.
Drought is like a dull knife that stabs at the gentle society established by mankind in peaceful times until it completely collapses.
When the tender skin and flesh are gone, only a cruel skeleton of the weak and the strong is left.
Shaanxi society was forced to downgrade, and people turned back into beasts like pets.
Being kind, courteous, thrifty, and temperamental, those qualities that come from being well-fed as a pet are no longer needed.
Fierceness, cunning, cruelty, and the wildness hidden in the bones emerge to help people survive.
Then re-establish order.
The damage caused by waterlogging is instantaneous and short-term.
The celestial phenomena suddenly changed, heavy rains poured down, floods overflowed, mountains and gorges were washed away, strong winds uprooted trees, sudden rains killed seedlings, roof tiles blew away, and villages were destroyed by floating houses.
Between day and night, when I open my eyes, I am in the land of Ze, with nothing left.
People do not need to be like wild beasts, because wild beasts will also die in floods. It is completely luck, and it all depends on whether people are in the highlands or lowlands when the floods occur.
Standing low, even if you have unparalleled bravery, unparalleled wisdom, and leadership that rivals the gods, you cannot escape death.
A short period of plague followed.
After a severe drought there will be a plague of locusts, and after a severe flood there will be a plague.
The former is because locusts will lay eggs in saline-alkali lands. Droughts aggravate the salinization of the land. Humans no longer care for dry lands, and locusts have an excellent living environment.
The latter is because after the flood, the surviving insects, scales, hairs, feathers, and insects all ran to the high ground and came into contact with each other; the dead things floated on the water, gathered into piles of corpses, and rotted and exploded.
Therefore, plague has become very common in Henan in recent years.
Regardless of whether the fortresses built by bad guys or good guys, a common consensus can be reached: outsiders may be infected with the plague, or they may be spies of the official army or rogue thieves.
In short, it is safest to stop them outside the fortress and kill them with shotguns or bows and arrows when they get close.
But Zhang Yichuan can take them in.
Others are afraid of bandits, officers and soldiers...Zhang Yichuan is not afraid.
Rogue bandits, officers and soldiers, he could see them just by taking a photo of them.
Zhang Yichuan is one of the most powerful bandit leaders in Shaanxi, and now he has received the post of Chief Military Officer of Henan in the Generalissimo's Palace. Among those things that others are afraid of, he is the most terrifying one.
The only thing that can make him fearful is the invisible and intangible plague.
This thing is indeed scary, but for Zhang Yichuan, who is always on the move, it is only a little scary.
Because you can't see, touch, kill, defend, or hide, you can only force your way in.
Breaking through the plague-ridden area was a process he had to go through.
In the process, thanks to the organizational form of the Henan Fifth Battalion accustomed to the peasant army, he was able to gather as much as possible and coerce all the defeated soldiers, refugees, bandits, robbers and even the old, weak, women and children he saw, and organized them according to clan, occupation
, geographical and other characteristics, quickly form a new bandit unit and act together.
The organization of the peasant army is also very strict. Zhang Yichuan is the leader, with the Henan Fifth Battalion as the headquarters, and then the subordinates organize 20 or 30 brigades according to the recruitment.
In addition to a battalion in his headquarters, each general also has several brigades with as few as two to three hundred people and as many as five or six hundred people. The headquarters sends a dozen old bandits as the main brigade, recruits strong people and issues them with bows, sabers, swords and guns.
, forming the backbone of each brigade.
Seven or eight small teams were divided under the brigade to coerce all kinds of people they met. All orders were obeyed by the big management team, and all the big management teams listened to their own generals, and the five generals listened to Zhang Yichuan.
.
Therefore, this kind of command will not hit the bottleneck of command ability like Liu Chengzong commanding tens of thousands of troops.
Because Zhang Yichuan doesn't have that much in charge, he doesn't need to manage the garrison or military rations, because they have enough logistics personnel.
No one wanted to stop, as stopping would mean death, so they had no choice but to follow the brigade and climb over the mountains and ridges in western Henan.
Teams at each level only know the exact location of the superior team. They send people to report once in the morning and evening every day. They can leave as soon as possible and stop as soon as possible.
When leaving, just march. When stopping, each brigade and even each small team should mind their own business and set up camp wherever they go. Those who need to fetch horse grass will fetch horse grass, and those who should fetch food will fetch food.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! The infected people form a small team under each brigade. If they can keep up, they will find a way out. If they can't keep up, they will fall behind, reduce their numbers, and lie on the ground waiting to die.
Suddenly, under the banner of the fifth battalion general, dozens of brigades spread over the mountains and fields, covering a radius of dozens of miles. The entire team swelled like a snowball, roaring past rural villages and mountain fortresses.
There were beacon fires everywhere they passed, like a mobile fortress with four legs. They captured the fortresses that had once shut them out, killed and robbed the rich, kidnapped the poor, and then rushed to the next county.
If you can capture the city, do so.
If you can't take it down, you'll stop briefly. If you need to retreat, retreat and continue walking.
One of the characteristics of the peasant army's organizational form is that it must be mobile.
It is better to walk when there are fewer people, and it is not safe to stop anywhere; it is even more important to walk when there are many people, because if you stop, your heart will wander.
If they cannot capture a city, they have to leave, and they will have no food to eat if they stop; if they capture a city, they have to leave because there is not enough food in one place.
Of course, Zhang Yichuan was not idle on the way. He frantically browsed the Generalissimo's "Book of Relief from Famines and Epidemics" and ordered his troops to attack forts and cities along the way. He focused on searching for doctors and medicinal materials, and left the peasant troops infected with the plague in the captured forts.
Give the doctor medicine and teach him to help himself.
As for the attack on Luoyang, it was because King Fu's reputation as a wealthy man had long been known throughout the world. Zhang Yichuan expected that Fu Fan would arouse the jealousy of heaven and earth, so it would be easy to attack.
Zhang Yichuan's troops first attacked Yongning County in Henan Prefecture, trying to raise military resources for the attack on Luoyang City, and establish a stable rear food route, so that they could seek talent support from Liu Chengzong of Shaanxi after the plague was over.
There was a squire named Zhang Lun in Yongning City who was particularly good at military affairs.
This man served as the governor of Sichuan from the first year to the fourth year of Tianqi. During this period, the She'an Rebellion broke out. He defended Chengdu Fucheng together with the governor Biaoying. In the second year of Chongzhen, he served as the governor of Sichuan and won the title of Yin Guan, the hereditary commander of the Jinyi Guards, for his merits in countering the rebellion.
He built several fortresses outside the city and placed a group of veterans of the old Bashu tribe who were injured and disabled in the war. When he first heard the news of the arrival of the thieves outside the city, he took the veterans into the city.
At the same time, he discussed the battle and defense with the county magistrate Wu Dalie and the military officer Ma Youyi. In addition, he donated his wealth to recruit troops to defend the country.
As a result, although there is a Wan'an Prince's Palace in this small town, the palace just does not provide any money or effort, and it has no counter-effect.
In fact, the princes of the Ming Dynasty, the first class of virtuous kings, were naturally the type of Su Fan. They did not do bad things in the local area, dared to contribute money and help when encountering problems, and did some good deeds on a daily basis.
But that's hard to come by.
Normal princes are like King Qin, King Han, King Fu, and King Lu. There are a lot of traitors in the prince's palace. They are ignorant and indifferent to management. They have no understanding of human nature. They don't take responsibility when big things happen. They don't contribute money or effort.
Whether there is such a prince or not, there is no difference.
No positive effects.
The most inferior prince is the current Tang Prince, Zhu Yujian.
Although the Tang Dynasty was the most active in donating money to the court, and would donate three thousand taels at every turn, Zhu Yujian could not stand him. He was almost the feudal king's version of Chongzhen, and he was dogmatic.
Ai Yuchu, the magistrate of Neixiang County, had done great service in defending the city when the bandits were robbing the city. Because he did not pay him a visit in the morning and evening, he was impeached with the ancestral system and was thrown into prison.
There is also Chen Zhenhao, the prefect of Nanyang Prefecture.
In the fifth year of Chongzhen, the king of Tang sent a thousand taels of silver to the prefect to build the city wall.
Chen Zhenhao was very dissatisfied with this matter and believed that it was not the vassal king's duty, so he did not send corvees or workers to provide support.
When the bandits came in the sixth year of Chongzhen's reign, Chen Zhenhao transferred the ceremonial guards of the Tang Dynasty to Nanyang City Wall to guard the female wall in order to defend the city. After the war, he was sued by the King of Tang, saying that he took the ceremonial guards to guard Pi without permission.
Now Chen Zhenhao, the prefect of Nanyang, is lying in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment.
The vassal king interfered in the government affairs, causing local officials to be punished. This was the only Tang king since Chongzhen, which can be said to shock the government and the public.
Among the many ingenious impeachments of the Tang king, the only survivor was Lu Xiangsheng.
Lu Xiangsheng led his troops to suppress the rebellion and passed through Nanyang Prefecture. He did not enter the city to pay a visit. The king of Tang complained to him and accused him of losing the courtesy of a minister.
Chongzhen had already realized at this time that the King of Tang was imprisoned in the Flattery Department and was made stupid.
He was imprisoned by his grandfather in the Flattery Department for sixteen years. The source of his understanding of all the rules in the world is not actual life, but the clan management methods in the Ming Dynasty law.
So much so that after he succeeded to the throne, all his actions to gain a sense of presence had a real counter-effect on the local area.
All the local officials were defeated by him, and he himself could not take over the work as a vassal king. If there was a war, he could only complain, so what else could he do?
So in fact, in the whole of Henan, the best place to fight now is not Henan Mansion where King Fu is located, but Nanyang Mansion where King Tang is located.
And just when Zhang Yichuan attacked Yongning County, the government in Luoyang, the capital city of Henan Province, had already taken action.
The governor stationed here, Chen Biqian, the Prince of Fu Fan, Shen Zheng, Shen General and other officials jointly issued a notice to the entire government, ordering all counties to be on guard, requesting reinforcements from the imperial court, and asking Kaifeng to take precautions.
At the same time, thousands of wealthy households and refugees from outside Luoyang County and even Henan Prefecture, as well as fortress forces and local armed forces, poured into Luoyang City. The temples and Taoist temples in the city were filled with refugees.
The government and merchants began to set up porridge shacks in the city to provide porridge, issue number plates to the refugees and people in the city, and arrange for soldiers to patrol the city to guard against petty thieves and robbers, and to maintain law and order.
The government officials escorted hundreds of prisoners to haul stones from Luohe Beach outside the city to the city, and guns and ammunition were also transported up the city wall.
Zhang Yichuan received the news on the fourth day of the siege of Yongning and sent a small team to pretend to be refugees and sneak into Luoyang.
But the window for Luoyang City to open has passed. The spies he sent only managed to sneak in a few people, and Luoyang has closed four gates.
A notice was also posted stating that all men and women above fifteen and below fifty in the city must participate in the defense of the city. The men would go up to the city wall and the women would cook. If anyone disobeyed, they would be punished on the spot.
Then Luoyang City completed its defensive deployment. The men conducted defense drills on the city, while the women set up tents and stoves in the streets, grinding flour and picking vegetables.
On the seventh day of the Yongning siege, Zhang Yichuan also ushered in a turning point.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! For seven days, he fought step by step, taking turns to attack the city with his small battalions every day, including attacking in sequence with his own troops, even at night, using artillery
They bombarded and disturbed them from time to time, hoping not to give the defenders a chance to rotate and correct themselves, so that they would have no food in the morning and no sleep at night.
But the defenders in Yongning County are also extremely tenacious. After all, Henan is not like Shaanxi, which is extremely short of food. The government opens warehouses, the defenders are well fed, and it is easier to defend a small city with elite troops than to defend a big city.
But no one expected that Zhang Lun, who was in charge of the defense of the city, contracted the plague on the way from the stockade outside the city to the city, and was overworked in the defense of the city, so he fell ill at this juncture.
As soon as he died, the defensive will of the city's defenders immediately wavered.
Zhang Yichuan, who was outside the city, also noticed this change, immediately stopped the attack, and sent people to shout outside the city to persuade them to surrender for half a day.
The purpose of persuading surrender is not to make people surrender, but to aggravate the will waver and make the defenders relax.
On the evening of the eighth day, Ma Youyi, an officer in the city, abandoned the city and escaped, but was captured by the Ke Tianhu troops surrounding the city.
Zhang Yichuan immediately ordered a general attack on the east and west sides. A group of peasant troops newly recruited from Henan attacked the west city wall. Chaos ensued in the city. People rushed to flee from the south of the city to Luohe, and Yongning City fell immediately.
On the ninth day, Yongning fell and the news that Prince Wan'an was killed first reached Yiyang. Groups of Yiyang people fled to Luoyang. Zhang Yichuan's army followed them and arrived in Luoyang in the evening, setting up camp outside the city.
People shouting and horses neighing, and the stream continues for more than ten miles.
Luoyang was shaken for a while, and the defenders on the city became increasingly nervous.
Even Zhu Yousong, the crown prince of the Fu clan and King of Dechang, sent the prince's captain to the city to buy a large amount of wine, livestock, cloth, clothing and other items to prepare for the war.
Outside the city, bonfires were set up in numerous tents stretching to the sky, reflecting the night blood red.