Just a few days ago, Zhang Ning, who was on the battlefield on the Eastern Front, received a secret report about Prince Zhu Wenkui. The Ministry of Internal Affairs sent someone from Wuchang. Previously, Zhu Wenkui had asked for a batch of arms and food, and more than a dozen
He was a weapons craftsman. Yao Ji knew that she would not let go of the opportunity. She just sent a few craftsmen to the craftsman. Then she specially arranged spies to follow Zhu Wenkui's people and hide in the vicinity, looking for opportunities to interact with the craftsmen.
The secret agent communicated with the secret code and sent the information to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Therefore, the Ministry of Internal Affairs knew almost everything about Zhu Wenkui.
Zhu Wenkui's preliminary preparations were quite complete, and the first target he chose was Anfu County, Ji'an Prefecture. At this time, it was difficult for the Chief Secretary of Jiangxi Province to contact the capital; and Jiangxi and other provinces had always had more contacts with the Six Ministries of Nanjing, and now
Nanjing is no longer owned by the imperial court. Therefore, the rule of Jiangxi's three divisions and various government officials is already very unstable, and the time is right to raise troops.
Wen Kui gathered some "stalls" from all over the place, including those engaged in smuggling sea trade, armed escorts of smuggled salt, those who organized business gangs to traffic mountain goods, and even people who fell into bandits. Various leaders, most of whom were related to
The Jianwen Yu Party had connections. These leaders gathered their own servants and spent money to recruit soldiers and horses to take in some homeless beggars and homeless fugitives. After gathering one after another, there were suddenly over a thousand people.
Such a group of armed people, roaring in the mountains and forests, the local government has long been aware of it, but there is nothing they can do for a while. The number of quick-handed archers and patrols in each county is far inferior to this group of "grass bandits". On the contrary, it is the patrols on the road.
To avoid them, the Ji'an government office had no choice but to report to the Third Division of Shangfeng and at the same time give a warning to the military households in the government to prepare to quell the chaos.
Soon after, Zhu Wenkui got the arms escorted from Changsha Prefecture, and sent people to sneak into Anfu County to buy some local gangsters, and got a clear picture of the situation in the county. Yang Jing was named "General Conquering the South" by the prince.
Then he led his troops to attack the city and conquered Anfu County at a great cost. Yang Jing was a man who served as a city gate captain in Nanjing more than 20 years ago. Later, after the city was broken and Nanjing was bloody, he escaped.
Fu fled to Jiangxi and hid. Now he is over sixty years old, but Wen Kui found him.
The grassroots rule of the Ming Dynasty was really fragile. Although there were Baojia and Lizheng under the county government, the real management role was the local prestigious village elders, who were basically in a state of autonomy; even the county government had few officials.
The county magistrate is responsible for taxation, armed forces, public security, justice, administration and other matters. Sometimes a villager's goose is stolen, which will cause trouble in the county government office. When Anfu County is attacked, the county government office does not have an army at all.
Yes, armor is a regulated item and there is no such thing. We can only rely on serving government officials and temporary government tickets to sign strong men from the countryside to garrison quickly. In addition, the gentry organizes people to go to the city.
However, as long as the county government in the mainland manages the government properly, there is usually no trouble. If there is a rebellion, it is a big deal. If there are too many rebels, the only choice is to rely on the superior prefect, who usually has soldiers. So there is nothing in Anfu County.
Suspensefully unable to withstand Wen Kui's thousands of armed forces, it soon fell.
The Anfu magistrate, county magistrate, Dianshi and other officials had no choice but to face the reality after the city was destroyed. They gave away all the county's tax books, warehouse keys, files and other items, begging for their lives.
But at this time, "General Zhengnan" Yang Jing was furious, because his eldest son and third son were both shot to death by bows and arrows during the attack on the city, and his nephew's leg was also broken by a piece of wood thrown from the city. The white-haired man
After sending the black-haired man away, Yang Jing was filled with grief and anger. He called on his subordinates to tie up a group of officials and wanted to take them to the market and behead them to avenge his son.
There is also a civil servant under Wen Kui as the most important staff. This person is called Song He. He is in his fifties, but he is not an ordinary talent.
The person who passed the exam has been in the officialdom for more than twenty years, and now he is at least a minister in charge of decision-making affairs of the empire at the ministry level. However, people's fate is determined, and now he can only work as an aide in a group of rebels.
After Song He heard the news, he rushed to the market execution ground to stop the execution. He also urged "General Yang" to postpone it, and then went to the prince himself to advise him. Song He tried his best to advise the prince not to kill these officials, otherwise he would occupy
Fu'an County is useless.
Wen Kui hesitated: "General Yang's two sons were killed by the criminals. If he is not allowed to take revenge, it will probably chill the hearts of the soldiers."
Song He said: "Your Highness can pursue the title of hero of the Yang family, or grant a title to General Yang to appease him, but he must not kill indiscriminately for personal gain."
While they were persuading, Song He's long entourage suddenly rushed to the county government office to report that General Yang had chopped off the heads of all the officials in the county government office. After hearing this, Song He looked up to the sky and sighed, pacing and regretful.
Unexpectedly, the matter was not over yet. More than an hour later, some students (scholars) went to the market to collect the corpses with great fanfare. Some people read memorial inscriptions in public, consecrating the dead civil servants as loyal martyrs, and said that Wang Jiaoyu from the county school taught everyone
With knowledge and principles, a teacher is like a father. Wen Kui was furious and cursed at his left and right: "You are rebelling! I don't think this prince can cure these vicious scholars!"
As the victor who had just conquered the county by force, he encountered a group of nerds who openly provoked him. How could a hot-blooded young man in his thirties not be angry? How could someone point at his nose, curse, or make insinuations?
Can't you greet me with a smile? I'm a bitch!
At this time, another stall said: "The people we bribed are high-density. Among the students, some of them were running around the city a few days ago, recruiting strong men to defend the city against us. These gentry have always pretended to be noble to gain prestige and popularity.
, it is very easy to confuse the people who trust them whenever something happens."
Wen Kui was furious and immediately ordered people to arrest a group of gentry who had gone to the market to collect corpses, ransacked their homes, seized their property and sent them to the army.
Song He saw that the prince was angry and knew that his words would fall on deaf ears, so he changed his strategy and said: "Those officials have been killed, so they can only declare that the officials and gentry in the county are colluding and accepting bribes at the expense of human lives. They are all corrupt officials."
Destroy the officials; then go down to calm the people and restrain the soldiers."
Zhu Wenkui heard that it made sense, so he agreed with Song He's suggestion and asked him to write an article and post it to the county government office Xiaoqiang and various city gates.
Song He was well prepared and immediately took out the document from his sleeve pocket: "The old minister has already written it. In addition to the Anmin List, there is also a decree here. Please read it. The state has national laws and the army has military regulations. We need to establish
These rules make it clear what officials and soldiers can do and what they cannot do, and what punishment they will receive if they do something they cannot do..."
The prince said: "Mr. Song is so talented that I still can't trust you? I don't trust the people I employ, and I don't use the people I doubt. Since the law comes from the hands of Mr. Song, I will announce it to the whole army and implement it today."
Song He hurriedly said: "These words are not just words. If you commit a crime, you must act according to the rules. There must be no ambiguity. Only in this way can rewards and punishments be clearly defined so that military discipline can gradually be formed. Only by following rules can your Highness be able to restrain his subordinates. General Yang will lead the army in the future."
It’s also easier to fight soldiers.”
Zhu Wenkui had other things to do, so he took a casual look and asked Song He to post a notice.
Unexpectedly, many things happened to the prince the next day. One of them was that a wounded soldier with an injured arm was forcibly placed in a house, and the people of that house were asked to find a doctor for treatment and to take care of their meals and daily life. Unexpectedly, the injured soldier was
When the soldiers saw that the owner's daughter-in-law was pretty, they went to the side room last night, injured the owner's son, and raped the woman in the room. The family did not publicize it, in line with the principle that family scandals should not be publicized and they were afraid of being exposed.
He swallowed the thought of revenge; but unexpectedly, the next morning, a small boss went to visit the wounded soldier. Because the yard was small, he accidentally saw his daughter-in-law, who was wearing pear blossoms and raining rain. So the small boss raped the woman again.
Then the two soldiers got into a fight and fought over the young daughter-in-law before the prince for arbitration. Song He happened to be in the yamen. After hearing this, he became extremely angry and threatened that the two soldiers had committed adultery and that they would be beheaded together.
Serve as a warning to others.
Zhu Wenkui was also surprised after hearing this. He glanced at Song He angrily and thought: You put it lightly. These soldiers all have their own "stalls", or they are servants of the leaders, or fellow villagers.
An acquaintance, or someone you hired with money; why are you guys working so hard for your prince, killing them just for the slightest thing?
Wenkui immediately cursed the two soldiers and told them to get out.
Then General Yang came to the Yamen and said one thing. The matchlock gun sent by King Xiang was very difficult to use. It took a lot of time to load and was not easy to fire. It was useless when charging. It was worse than a wooden stick. If the prince wanted to
Call out those craftsmen and organize them to make swords and weapons.
Wenkui wondered: "So those firearms are not as effective as knives?"
General Yang said: "Something is better than nothing. Almost none of our soldiers have ever used bows and arrows. Firearms can only be used in place of bows and arrows, but they cannot charge into battle; we must also build a batch of long weapons to use in battle formations."
Song He couldn't help but said: "Then the King of Xiang relied on this kind of firearm to defeat the large number with a small number several times, defeating tens of thousands of officers and soldiers. Firearms must have their own merits. His Highness the Prince thought so at the beginning, so he asked the King of Xiang
I want this batch of arms."
General Yang said: "Mr. Song not only knows poetry and calligraphy, but also knows how to march and form formations. Why do you want to be an old man?"
Wen Kui hurriedly comforted him for a few words, and then said: "There must be a training mechanism to use that thing. Among the craftsmen sent by King Xiang, they must be able to make firearms and know how to use them. General Yang sent someone to ask and select a few people.
Teaching firearms...Of course you are right in saying that we need weapons in the battle formation, I will arrange for people to make them right now."
But making weapons is not that easy. There was a stall owner who was asked to do this, but there was no progress. When Wen Kui asked, he found out that first of all, he couldn't find iron materials and enough blacksmiths.
Someone came up with an idea and ordered that iron tools be collected from every household. Pots, hoes, and plows could be smelted and forged into weapons and spear heads. However, Song He and others objected to disturbing the people, saying that it would be best to go directly to the iron mines in the county, but no one could
I don't know where there is iron ore.
It is even more difficult to find a blacksmith. Everywhere is closed and closed. Who knows who among the common people are blacksmiths? The records of the blacksmiths in the county government files recorded some information, but where are the people? I finally found the place where the records were recorded, but no one knew.
Where did they go? There were also leaders of the Prince's Army who violently kicked open the door of their homes and arrested people to force them to confess. However, they couldn't find out much about the situation. The people were so frightened when they saw the rebels that they couldn't speak clearly. It was very difficult for the soldiers to communicate directly with the people.
Difficult.
There are also very serious problems such as the private embezzlement of property and food by various ministries... Zhu Wenkui faced many more troubles, not just these. He felt that the matter seemed very complicated for a while, and he was very worried.