Chapter 554: The White Turtle Appears, The Saint Comes Out
When Jinyi's personal guards sent reliable information and confirmed the identities of Zhang Yanqing and Zhang Xiong, Zhang Zhao suddenly discovered.
In this era, once he really has a certain strength, it is not difficult to dominate the world.
It can be said that among the founding fathers before and after, he is the most relaxed.
Because Zhang Shengren doesn't need to do too many things, he just needs to compete with others.
Looking around, Meng Chang of Meng Shu was a typical second-generation playboy. He treated his harem as a brothel, used gold and jade as his weapon, had no knowledge of military affairs, and doted on villains.
In other words, government affairs is not bad, but it is the kind that can score around 45 to 50 out of 100 points.
Gao Congjie of Nanping was about to die, and the successor Gao Baorong was weak and incompetent. He couldn't even handle family affairs, let alone state affairs, and couldn't hold on to the power in his hands.
In the Southern Tang Dynasty, Li Jingze and Meng Chang were in love for a while. They were two young masters who both loved literature, fancy clothes and delicious food, were extravagant and doted on villains.
Let alone Ma Chu. When Ma Xifan was alive, Ma Chu was in chaos. As soon as Ma Xifan died, the country was immediately in chaos. After that, Ma Xihe was simply a typical shameless person of the Five Generations.
Wang Minze is now playing with himself.
As for Nanhan, it is the heavyweight among the heavyweights, and there are basically no normal people.
Only Qian Yue among the Ten Kingdoms, the monarchs of all dynasties have been pretty good.
However, Qian Yue's country was weak, and its geographical location was too remote. Since the founding of Qian Mu, he had set the tone of being a vassal of the Central Plains, and he had never been a member of the world hegemony.
Looking at it this way, Zhang Zhao has only one and a half opponents.
In this one, Yelu Deguang underestimated the enemy too much and put himself on the road to death.
Half of Liu Zhiyuan probably doesn't need Zhang Zhao to fight him because his life is almost over.
Thinking about it this way, Han Gaozu, Tang Taizong, and Ming Taizu were really powerful.
Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty overthrew the Overlord of Chu, and at the same time played tricks with outstanding figures like Han Xin, Peng Yue, and Yingbu.
It was also difficult for Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. None of Dou Jiande, Wang Shichong, Xue Ju, Du Fuwei, and Liu Heitai were easy to deal with.
Ming Taizu's opponents were even more powerful. Not only did he want to restore the Central Plains to the north, Chen Youliang was a hero with the talents of a founding king.
Zhang Zhao scratched his head. Compared with these people, where did Meng Chang and Li Jing come from?
With this somewhat arrogant disappointment, on the second day of April, Zhang Zhao left Gao Xingzhou as the military envoy to the German army in Songzhou and returned to Songzhou. He left Ma Yaozi as the military envoy to the Wuning army in Xuzhou and stayed in Xuzhou to coordinate everything.
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Zhang Zhao selected 3,000 Wuning troops from Xuzhou and handed them over to Commander Hu Guang to go south as part of the vanguard.
On the spot, he appointed Zhang Yanqing as the governor of Chuzhou, appointed Zhang Xiong as the training envoy of the Chuzhou regiment, gave him a military number of Huai'an Town, and allowed him to recruit 2,000 people.
This seems to be a bit of a violation of the rules, because Zhang Zhao no longer established military envoys south of the Yellow River.
However, Zhang Xiong, the state defense envoy and the commander-in-chief of the town army, still recruited his own soldiers and was no different from the Jiedushi envoy.
However, analyzing the specific matters, Zhang Zhao's main goal now is to extend one hand into Huainan, and then continuously capture the four states of Hao, Si, Chu, and Hai in Huainan except Shouzhou.
But now Zhang Zhou has almost no foundation in Huainan. If he doesn't provide some benefits to the locals, how can he mobilize their enthusiasm?
Before the army set off, Zhang Zhao took out 300 soldiers from the Hanshan Mountain in his hand and gave them to Zhang Liecheng. Together with the more than 200 bandits and pirates who guarded him in Jinyi, a total of 570 people headed for Chuzhou as the vanguard.
When Zhang Zhao attacked Chuzhou this time, he did not plan to attack by force. He planned to suddenly rise up and capture Chuzhou directly in the city under the cover of local tycoons like Zhang Yanqing and Zhang Wei.
Therefore, there is no need to send out a large army. It is suitable for the royal guards to do such a thing.
On the fifth day of April, before Zhang Zhao's army arrived in Suzhou, a news began to spread in the countryside from Chuzhou to Haizhou.
To say that Emperor Jiangning was not a descendant of the Miao Dynasty of the Tang Dynasty is to pretend to be so.
The Emperor of the Zhou Kingdom in the Northern Central Plains was precisely the loyal minister of the Tang Dynasty. After the Tang Dynasty declined, it was the Zhou Dynasty that took over the Tang Dynasty.
Don't underestimate such rumors, and don't think that the people don't pay attention to the king's family background and whether he is virtuous or something.
On the contrary, people quite like these and prefer to discuss them.
Just when this news was spreading everywhere, some salesmen walking around the streets mysteriously said that Zhang Sanlang, who was traveling across the Huai River, was drunk and fell into the water a few days ago. As a result, he was killed by a turtle with a silver-white shell.
The huge white turtle humped.
The white turtle's carapace was like a silver ingot, and it could speak human words. He asked if a saint had appeared? Zhang Sanlang shook his head.
Bai Gui told him to go north quickly to look for him. There must be a saint like Emperor Zhou who appeared. Zhang Sanlang set out that night.
Everyone was doubtful, but soon news came that Zhang Sanlang, a wealthy businessman, and Zhang Guanren from Haizhou were drinking at a riverside restaurant and admitted the matter in public.
At this moment, the entire Chuzhou territory was shaken. This actually happened!
Then the saint Bai Gui talks about is definitely not the Emperor Tang of Jiangning. People in Huainan will never think that the Emperor of Jiangning is some kind of saint.
If you go north to look for a saint like Emperor Zhou, who are you talking about? No need to ask?
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When the rumor spread, Zhang Yanqing was chatting with the prefectural and county soldiers who guarded the east gate of Chuzhou. This captain was also his nephew.
Zhang Yanqing's family has been serving as military generals in Chuzhou for generations, and his great-grandfather also served as the general of Gao Pian, the military governor of Huainan in the past.
Although the Zhang family has always had a low status, their old relatives are all over Chuzhou and they are senior local snakes in the army.
Not surprisingly, his nephew was also talking to him about the appearance of the white turtle that could talk to people in Huai River, with a strange light shining in his eyes.
People's minds have changed! Zhang Yanqing knew that this was all because the Emperor of Tang in Jiangning oppressed Huainan too much.
It was precisely because of this that he decided to go to Xuzhou, because he wanted to see for himself the quality of the Emperor of Zhou.
The result made him very satisfied. The Zhou army was well-disciplined and powerful in combat. Emperor Shao Ming's courtesy to Xian Corporal was like the Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty. The world would belong to Zhou sooner or later, as long as Emperor Shao Ming did not die violently.
Zhang Yanqing pretended to be mysterious and said he would keep half of the pork, and he talked to all four families in Chuzhou. Then when he passed by a wine shop, he bought a pound of pork for one liang and one yuan. This was a code, and he could start the next step.
So that night, rumors began to spread everywhere that the reason why Zhou Guo attacked the imperial court (Southern Tang Dynasty) was not because the imperial court had won Xuzhou.
But the Emperor of Zhou knew that the people of Huainan were being mistreated by the harsh government, so he wrote to the Jiangning court, requesting that the conquest and military land be cancelled, and that he be considerate of the people.
However, the imperial court was not only unappreciative, but also scolded the Emperor of Zhou for meddling in other people's affairs. That's why the Emperor of Zhou raised a large army and defeated the entire imperial army.
At this time, someone around you will immediately ask, 'Does it mean that next year's Bo expedition can be skipped, and military fields can be skipped?'
The person spreading the news will immediately sigh and roll his eyes.
"How is that possible? Emperor Zhou is a benevolent and righteous ruler and will not take over other countries' lands casually. We are still Tang people, and next year's expedition and military fields will remain the same."
At this time, the people around who came to watch the excitement would become extremely anxious.
These are troubled times! Why does the Emperor of Zhou obey the rules so much? If you don't occupy other countries' lands, it will be in vain! You should send troops to attack them quickly.
Zhang Yanqing continued to wait in Chuzhou City, and when everyone in Chuzhou was lamenting why Emperor Zhou didn't come to attack Chuzhou, the last step could be carried out.
However, this step is not to continue to agitate the people of Chuzhou, because if we continue to agitate, there will be no results.
These people at the lowest level would not easily risk their lives as their wives, children, and children unless they were pushed to the last cliff.
And even if they risk their lives, Zhang Yanqing doesn't have the manpower to completely stir them up.
His next step was to mobilize the state and county soldiers who were in charge of the four gates of Chuzhou, as well as the powerful leaders among the rural soldiers who united in the countryside. Only these people had the real ability and courage to come out and cause trouble.
When Zhang Yanqing encouraged the people, he did not expect them to come out and break up their families to follow him, but through the ups and downs of the people, he conveyed the dissatisfaction at the bottom to these "capable people" who had certain abilities but were also suppressed.
This can create a form of coercion.
You are a rich man from Village A, and I am a rich man from Village B. I heard about Emperor Zhou's reputation for benevolence and righteousness, and decided to take the villagers to join Zhou State, but you are still hesitant or don't want to take risks.
Then I can raise my arms and directly encourage the villagers of Village A to cause trouble together. Of course, the name and property of the rich man in Village A will be mine.
Therefore, once the local tycoons in the countryside are coerced by this kind of public sentiment, they will start an uprising even if they can't afford it. This is the power of following the scenery, and it is also the effect Zhang Yanqing wants to achieve.
Public opinion continued to develop, and on the eighth day of April, various auspicious signs began to appear in various places in Chuzhou.
In the Tile Temple, someone saw a white fox bowing to the north.
Whose cow in Sanzhuang gave birth to a pure white calf?
Someone in Xumazhuang discovered a nest of pure white voles while hoeing the fields. He was about to kill them, but the voles uttered human words, saying that the saint was coming and that he was here to bring news and to beg for his life.
Someone was fishing by the canal, and to their surprise, they saw a big white fish moving through the water like a dragon, covering half a mile in one breath.
Finally, a mysterious person came out and concluded that the Zhou Dynasty inherited Tang De, Tang De was earth, earth was gold, and Zhou was Jin De.
Gold is in the west, which coincides with the fact that the Emperor of Zhou originated from Hexi, and Jin is still white, so these white auspicious beasts really came out to welcome the Emperor of Zhou.
Emperor Zhou is the saint who ended the troubled times!
At this step, Tu Qiong saw that not only Chuzhou, but also the three nearby states of Hao, Si and Hai, and even Yancheng further south, the Jianwu Army (Tianchang) had people's hearts and minds, and rumors spread like a warm spring breeze.
It's everywhere.
On the tenth day of April, seeing that the fire was approaching, Zhang Xiong summoned his brothers in the countryside, as well as wealthy people from all over the world, bandits, bandits, and country tycoons to help Zhang Liecheng hide the more than 500 soldiers who had sneaked into Huai'an.
Zhang Liecheng also made a big move, and immediately gave away twenty places for Jinyi's personal guards, and the highest number was given to deputy Qianhu, so these capable people in the countryside rushed to serve the Zhou army.
Zhang Yanqing, who was in Chuzhou City, summoned the whole clan, used paper as armor, took out the swords and guns from the storehouse, and went to his home to ambush. Then he invited the officers above the military and fire chiefs of the four counties of Chuzhou to have a banquet at his home.
After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Zhang Yanqing threw a cup to signal that more than a hundred tribesmen wearing armor and holding knives barged in.
Zhang Yanqing violently tore open the coarse linen clothes on his body, revealing the silver-white brocade robe embroidered with flying fish given by Zhang Zhao, and jumped on the big table to drink.
"The emperor is benevolent and has appointed a certain family as the governor of Chuzhou. The army has arrived outside the city. Those who are willing to follow will have their right arms open, and those who are not willing to follow will be chopped into pulp!"
The officers of these prefecture and county soldiers did the hardest work, but all the benefits were taken away by the imperial army stationed in Chuzhou. They had long been dissatisfied, and after hearing this, they all bared their right arms to express their willingness to start an uprising.
Even the infantrymen hesitated for a moment, and Zhang Yanqing's nephew immediately flew out and stabbed him to death.
Zhang Yanqing shouted again, "The emperor has ordered me to control Chuzhou, and all the officials of the fake Tang Dynasty, big and small, will be killed."
This sentence contains a lot of information, because officials always have to be filled by someone. If the current Chuzhou officials disappear, of course they will have to be replaced. But with too many people and few officials, who can fill this vacancy?
The soldiers understood instantly and immediately changed from uneasiness to enthusiasm. Zhang Yanqing asked the tribesmen to carry out three large boxes of brocade, and the soldiers immediately became scrambling.
On the 11th day of April, the three gates of Chuzhou, southeast and north were opened at the same time in the early morning. The governor of Chuzhou in the Southern Tang Dynasty, the defense envoy, and the commander of the imperial army were still sleeping, so Zhang Liecheng and others entered the city.
At the beginning of the Ji Dynasty, Zhang Liecheng led his troops to capture the governor's office in Chuzhou of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Dozens of generals, including the governor of Chuzhou in the Southern Tang Dynasty and below, were either killed or captured.
Chuzhou, the gateway to Huainan, fell into the hands of the Zhou army.