Chapter 188 The ignorant are fearless [EDG wins the first chapter]
The party's experience can be said to be a typical case of political corruption in the late Ming Dynasty.
When the Hou Jin Dynasty was raging in Gyeonggi Province, Dang Huanchun, who was the magistrate of Liangxiang County, had just taken office, but he also felt the crisis, so he actively called for preparations for war.
Unfortunately, the gentry in Liangxiang are not keen on it.
Later he came to ask for help, but no one saw him.
Seeing the army of the Hou Jin Dynasty gradually approaching the capital, the party was still worried.
But what can he do as a civil servant?
Later, Sun Chengzong's order and Hou Ke's document made him feel that there was hope, and he welcomed Geng Ruqi's army into the city with joy.
But when Hou Jin began to attack Liangxiang, a heinous scene happened.
All the gentry in the city...all ran away!
When the gentry ran away, the ignorant people also ran away, resulting in a serious lack of defensive power in the city.
Hou Jin attacked violently for several days, and the Liangxiang was in danger. The party was still in trouble and couldn't care anymore, so they ordered the houses of the people who had escaped to be demolished. All the wood and stone obtained were transported to the city wall for use.
After nearly escaping death, he finally saved his hometown. It stands to reason that this is a great achievement, right?
But the gentry who came back were dissatisfied.
Looking at the demolished houses, the gentry hated the party.
Since he is a gentry, he naturally has a backer.
Immediately, letters of complaint were sent to the capital for free, and soon there were officials impeaching the party and causing harm to the countryside and lining their own pockets.
Fortunately, he has the great merit of guarding the good hometown, otherwise the party would not be as simple as being transferred.
But even so, this blow still caused Dang Huanchun to explode completely. When he went to the capital to meet Hou Xun and Hou Ke, after some inducement by Hou Xun, his position turned out to be even firmer than that of Huang Daozhou.
"When I took office, my mentor once said that I hope all gentlemen will be good people, and I don't want all gentlemen to be good officials. At that time, I didn't know why, and now it really hurts my heart. This Ming Dynasty is hopeless! From now on
From now on, if you have any assignments, please give me any orders."
Zuo Mengeng was overjoyed.
Now that his military strength has begun to take shape, the next thing to consider is naturally his administrative strength.
It is said that it is easy to conquer a country, but difficult to sit on it.
If we want to manage such huge rivers and mountains well, we need countless talents.
You can't just use the old bureaucracy, right?
How is that different from the Ming Dynasty?
How to train your own cadres and how to accept new ideas is a much more troublesome process than marching to fight.
Young officials like Dang Huanchun, who are completely disappointed with the old dynasty, are exactly what Zuo Menggen needs here.
"It will be of great benefit to you to go to Mengyin. My brother-in-law once told me that Yimeng is superior in appearance and has great potential. My next plan is to conquer Yimeng. With you here, all matters can be carried out smoothly."
Dang still laughed after hearing this.
"So, I'm not too far behind?"
Liu Yiyuan followed with a smile and said: "Let me see, the position of Dang County Magistrate is probably the most stable in the world. As long as you don't deliberately act, I guarantee that no one will take your position as County Magistrate."
Everyone laughed and thought what he said made sense.
Which official would be willing to go to a remote and desolate place like Mengyin?
Is that to become an official?
It's almost like exile.
Otherwise, the former magistrate would not have been able to take office even though he was over 70 years old.
Only this kind of place can avoid the eyes of the court and give Zuo Menggeng the opportunity to continue to develop.
Mao Yuanyi's arrival has killed two birds with one stone.
"I have been recommended by Mr. Sun Ge to take over as the Assistant General of Linqing. In addition, I also brought you the appointment of the imperial court. Congratulations, my Lord, the Assistant General of Dongchang."
Mao Yuanyi took out the seal of the appointment document and handed it to Zuo Mengeng, which made everyone happy.
"Qianzao is now promoted to the rank of senior general?"
"I'm just saying, for such a great achievement, the imperial court can't go without a reward."
Everyone is very happy. Zuo Menggeng has been promoted, and they will naturally follow suit.
Zuo Menggeng was the most surprised to learn that Mao Yuanyi had taken over as Linqing's assistant general.
"Originally, I thought I would be transferred to nowhere this time, but unexpectedly, he is still in Dongchang Mansion. Especially since Brother Zhisheng has become Linqing General, we will have even more room to stretch."
Zuo Menggeng still had some predictions about his promotion.
After all, for such great achievements, no matter how mean Chongzhen was, he still had to express himself. Even if he was not a general, he was at least a guerrilla.
I just didn't expect that Hou Xun's operation was so good and he actually made an extra penny.
With two titles in hand, Zuo Mengeng would be sorry for this god-given opportunity if he didn't make good use of it.
When he said this, the others became even more eager.
One more association means many more official positions. What was originally a promotion will become a big promotion.
But these are all things for later. The most urgent task is to deal with Xu Yaqing first.
Hou Qingchun is back.
"Thousands of people. Xu Shenggu of the White Lotus Sect led more than 12,000 people to the north and headed straight for us."
"What did you say?"
Zuo Mengeng felt that his self-restraint skills were pretty good. At least he could do it without changing his appearance even if the mountain collapsed. But after hearing this, he was still confused for a long time.
Forget him, the other officers were also stunned.
"Hou Datou, did you see it wrong?"
"You actually learned to lie about military information?"
Faced with doubts and ridicule, Hou Qingchun twisted his mouth in anger.
"Go, go, go, can I be wrong alone, or can the entire reconnaissance team be wrong? There are so many people coming all the way to Dezhou. Is there anyone else on this road besides us?"
Of course Zuo Mengeng knew that Hou Qingchun would not be wrong, but it was precisely because of this that he was puzzled.
"It doesn't make sense. Why would Xu Yaqing come to us?"
A group of people murmured, but like him, they couldn't guess what the mystery was.
Seeing everyone thinking hard, does Huang Daozhou think this is difficult?
"Everyone, what's so difficult about this? There are over ten thousand White Lotus Sect thieves. They are so numerous that they are invincible."
Huang Zongxi, who came to hold his wound, couldn't help but laugh and said: "Brother Youxuan, don't you think that fighting requires more people?"
Even the party members laughed along.
"Although there are more than ten thousand thieves in this area, they are nothing more than a mob. If they encounter Zhongheng's iron-blooded army, they will definitely fall apart."
This is the difference between those who have fought in the war and those who have not.
Although Dang Huanchun was also a civil servant, when he defended the city in Liangxiang for seven days, he faced the main force of Hou Jin, so his experience was naturally extraordinary.
Liu Yiyuan was also among those who laughed, but his face became brighter as he smiled.
"Does Xu Yaqing have the same idea as Brother Youxuan?"
It really kept him guessing.
Xu Yaqing has the same idea as Huang Daozhou.
I have many people, and I am the biggest!
"Hmph, Zuo Menggeng has just over a thousand remnant soldiers and they have left their hometown again. This is a God-given opportunity."
Xu Yaqing sat high in her handsome chair, looking at the "clouds of generals" and "endless retinue" under her command. She was really ambitious. She just felt that the world is so big, where can't she go?
Although she had been defeated once before in Linqing, she unilaterally believed that it was because the rebel army was just formed at that time and its combat power was not strong.
Now the rebel army has defeated three cities in a row and fought hundreds of miles away. It has become a strong army.
With more than 10,000 troops to deal with Zuo Menggeng's thousands of people, he naturally had an advantage.
Ironically, the White Lotus's intelligence work is better than that of Houjin.
There is no way to estimate how many White Lotus cultists there are in Shandong. Anyway, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the White Lotus cult has been causing trouble here one after another, and it has never stopped.
Therefore, when Zuo Menggeng returned to the army, Xu Yaqing learned the news when he arrived at Hexi Wu.
In the past several confrontations, except for the first one, which was destroyed by a sneak attack, Zuo Mengeng made the rest of them miserable.
Xu Yaqing had long hated him and couldn't wait to take revenge.
Now that she has more than ten thousand troops in her hands, she can finally take action openly.
Hearing that Zuo Mengeng was about to enter Shandong, Xu Yaqing simply sent her troops northward, intending to annihilate the enemy.
Xu Yaqing is ruthless and scheming, but when it comes to military matters, she is a pure novice. Like Huang Daozhou, she has no idea what a strong army is.
She felt that she had more people, so she could just go over with A, and she was guaranteed to beat Zuo Mengeng.
She was already imagining how she would torture Zuo Mengeng after catching him.
Zuo Mengeng waited an extra day in Dongguang and sent out rangers to scout around, fearing that Xu Yaqing might have some conspiracy.
But the North China Plain is a smooth road, and various reconnaissance reports have been reported, but nothing has been found.
Seeing that Xu Yaqing really planned to have a decisive battle with him, Zuo Mengeng was really dumbfounded.
"Zuo Rong, you take charge of this battle."
Zuo Mengeng was not interested in the massacre, which had no merit and no sense of achievement, so he simply delegated the command authority.
Turning around, he joined Huang Zongxi, Huang Daozhou, Dang Huanchun, and Mao Yuanyi in the heated discussion.
They are all like-minded people. On the way south, everyone expressed a lot of opinions on political ideas.
Zuo Mengeng was not idle either. Combining his own memories and insights, he also came up with concepts such as people-centeredness, class, and economy, which quickly ignited the flames in everyone's minds.
Who would have thought that what a few people on a small boat in the canal were discussing was the future of a nation!