The generals originally thought that there would be a fierce battle in Kuandian Fort, but they did not expect that Azig led 10,000 people to surrender directly!
After all, only Li Sanshun and a few close associates know Abahai's identity!
Fan Wencai is even more secretive. Except for Li Xianzhong and Fan Wencheng in the entire Liaodong, only a few people in the Intelligence Department who have access to this line know! In fact, they didn't know it was Fan Wencai. They only knew that the Intelligence Department had a person named "Sparrow" within the Tatars.
Now that Azig's mother and the most relied-upon advisers are all Li Xianzhong's people, they can naturally control him firmly.
If Azig was just a Jianzhou Baylor, Li Xianzhong could just add these people to the "Imperial Association Army".
However, Azig called himself the "Khan" of Dajin before surrendering, so the nature of the surrender was completely different.
It became the Jianzhou Jurchens who asked to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, and the person who requested the surrender also changed from Li Xianzhong, the Liaodong administrator, to Zhu Youxiao, the Apocalypse Emperor of the Ming Dynasty!
Therefore, Li Xianzhong did not directly agree to Azig's surrender.
However, he allowed Sumianbao's two thousand blue banners to retreat to Kuandianbao to join Azig.
And announced a temporary truce between the two sides to wait for the court's final reply!
However, before the capital received the good news from Liaodong, news came that the White Lotus Sect in Shandong had rebelled, captured the state capital, cut off water transportation, and proclaimed themselves emperor in rebellion.
Beginning in the first year of Tianqi, severe drought occurred throughout the northern part of the Ming Dynasty. Severe droughts occurred in Zhili, Shandong, Henan and other places, and even locust plagues occurred in some areas.
In the second year of Tianqi, the drought in Liaodong improved slightly, but it became more severe in other places. Shaanxi began to suffer from continuous drought, and even the crops in the fertile Guanzhong Plain began to fail.
Heavy rains occurred in the south, and huge floods broke out in Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Tongnan Zhili.
A rare heavy snowfall occurred in the Lingnan region of Guangdong!
The entire Ming Dynasty fell into an unprecedented crisis.
As disasters from various places were reported one by one, Ming Dynasty became even more chaotic.
This year's disaster is more serious than last year. Even Shaanxi areas that were not affected last year have experienced a grain harvest failure.
At present, even taking into account the grain reserves in South Zhili and the grain warehouses of various prefectures, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi and other places still need at least 2 million shi in food relief; while Jiangnan Zhejiang, Jiangxi and South Zhili need to allocate 1.5 million in silver Two embankments!
However, Wei Liangqing's previous grain reserves in the capital had long been transported to Liaodong. Where could there be excess grain for disaster relief?
If the imperial court had not confiscated the home of the corrupt official Li Sancai not long ago, Emperor Tianqi would have used his own internal funds again.
In desperation, the cabinet could only decide to purchase grain from grain merchants in Jiangnan, and then these grain merchants would deliver the grain to various disaster areas.
This will delay the time for food to reach the disaster area.
This also allowed those officials and powerful people to see opportunities to make a fortune.
Officials first withheld relief supplies and reduced food distribution, making the disaster worse and causing food prices to rise.
After a while, the people naturally couldn't hold on any longer.
When the money in their hands was spent, they could only buy these sky-high prices by selling off their property.
And the powerful people who have food in their hands will use this food in exchange for people's fields.
Originally, grain cost 6 taels of silver per shi, but one acre of good farmland could be sold for 18 taels, which could be exchanged for almost 30 shi of grain.
But now the price of food has risen to 4 taels of silver and one stone, and the price of fields will definitely plummet in such a famine year.
Because the victims of the disaster are all selling, an acre of land that used to cost 18 taels of silver is now considered a good deed if someone is willing to use it for 6 taels of silver.
According to the grain price of 4 taels per shi, he only needs 1 and a half shi of grain in exchange for one acre of fertile land.
Thanks to the collusion between officials and businessmen, a large amount of land soon fell into the hands of these powerful men.
And these common people can only become tenants.
These powerful methods were exactly the same as when Li Xianzhong purchased land at low prices in Liaodong.
But the difference is that the conditions they set for the tenants are extremely harsh, and those people simply can't survive!
In desperation, under the instigation of the White Lotus Sect, they could only rise up!
The White Lotus Sect originated in the third year of Shaoxing, Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty, and was founded by Mao Ziyuan, a Buddhist monk.
In the third year of Shaoxing reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty, Mao Ziyuan built the White Lotus Confession Hall in Dianshan Lake in Qingpu, Shanghai, and called himself "White Lotus Master". From this, a new Buddhist sect, the White Lotus Sect, was born.
Compared with other Buddhist sects, the White Lotus Sect can be described as very "open".
The White Lotus Sect asked its disciples to spread the word at home and call for the establishment of temples. This makes China's White Lotus Sect opposed to Buddhist cultural traditions, not accepted by social orthodoxy, and criticized by the Buddhist community.
The imperial court also considered the White Lotus Sect to be a cult and banned it. So Mao Ziyuan was also labeled as a cult leader and exiled. Mao Ziyuan was not pardoned until Song Xiaozong, the adopted son of Song Gaozong, ascended the throne.
In the early Yuan Dynasty, the White Lotus Sect had new developments.
They began to absorb some Manichaean ideas, as well as some Maitreya teachings. A mixed religion formed. It promotes the idea that "Maitreya Buddha replaces Sakyamuni Buddha and comes down the mountain to save the world."
Gradually, the White Lotus believers became dissatisfied with the Mongolian rule, and they called on the developing believers to rebel.
Peng Yingyu, one of the founders of the Southern Red Scarf Army, is a White Lotus sect. It can be said that the Southern Red Scarf Army was established on the basis of the White Lotus sect.
However, the Red Turban Army in the south never developed and grew.
After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was a former Red Scarf Army member, must have been very aware of the threat the White Lotus Sect posed to the court.
So the imperial court ordered the banning of the White Lotus Sect. The "Da Ming Law" stipulated that the leader of the White Lotus Sect was hanged, and the followers each had a hundred sticks and traveled three thousand miles.
But the missionary work of the White Lotus Sect has never stopped.
During the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, the White Lotus Sect experienced a "reform" that had a great influence on later generations.
Luo Sifu, a Shandong native, founded a new religion "Luo Jiao" in the capital area, advocating the doctrine of "empty hometown, no biological parents", believing that people will eventually return to "no biological parents", and "no biological parents" are The highest god in heaven and earth.
Perhaps Buddhism, Maitreya and Manichaeism no longer satisfied the followers of the White Lotus Sect and they decided to introduce "new ideas".
Therefore, the spirit of "Luo Jiao" doctrine was absorbed as part of White Lotus Sect.
They gradually evolved the basic concept of "inanimate parents" into "inanimate old mother", and demoted Maitreya, the highest god revered by the White Lotus Sect, to become the messenger of "inanimate old mother".
In the late Ming Dynasty, folk religions such as Nirvana, Hongfeng, Laozi, Luozu, Nanwu, and Guoguan all claimed to be branches of Bailian.
For a time, the White Lotus Sect grew rapidly. This time they took advantage of the continuous drought in the Central Plains to encourage the people to rise up against the imperial court!
Originally, the leaders of the White Lotus Sect, Xu Hongru, Wang Haoxian, and Yu Hongzhi, made an appointment to revolt at the same time in Jingzhou, Jizhou, Hebei, and Yuncheng, Shandong.
Because the disaster in Shandong became increasingly serious, Xu Hongru decided to lead an uprising alone in advance.
In the early morning of June 21, the second year of Tianqi, the White Lotus believers in Caozhou Prefecture, together with the peasants who could not bear the oppression, gathered in Liujiatun, Yuncheng.
Xu Hongru led the crowd to swear a blood oath. For a moment, flags were fluttering, swords and guns were like a forest, the shouts were loud, and the crowd was excited.
The uprising soldiers wore red scarves as headbands, armed with broadswords and spears. They first sent troops to surround Weijiazhuang, then captured Liangjiazhuang, and successively occupied four villages. They were both famous and powerful, and the responders gathered. They raised the flag of the uprising high in southwestern Shandong. Big flag.
The rebels had many heads wrapped in red scarves and numbered more than 10,000 people.
Xu Hongru claimed to be the Fulie Emperor of Zhongxing, changed the title to the first year of Dacheng Xingsheng, named Chen Canyu the Prime Minister of the Right, and his younger brother Xu Heyu the King of Heroes. In addition, he also had official positions such as governor and general soldier, established an initial organizational system, and formulated a careful plan. Battle plan.
In order to alleviate the worries of the soldiers, Xu Hongru resettled the families of the rebels in Shuibo Liangshan, the base of the peasant uprising in the late Song Dynasty. The mountains here are high and the water is wide, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.
In the early morning of June 23, Xu Hongru led his army to attack Yuncheng. Yu Ziyi, the magistrate of Yuncheng, was frightened and fled in panic.
The rebels quickly occupied Yuncheng and launched an attack on Juye. They were invincible with their sharp edges. Wherever the rebels went, they opened warehouses to release grain and provide relief to the people. Farmers and common people began to "avenge their fathers with their sons, and their husbands with their wives."
The rebel army committed no crimes in autumn and was strictly disciplined. In just a few days, it grew to tens of thousands. Bureaucrats and landlords everywhere were frightened and fled one after another.
At the same time, other leaders of the White Lotus Sect, Shen Zhi, Xia Zhongjin, Zhang Jianbai, Hou Wu, Zhou Nian'an, Meng Xianhan, etc. also captured Tengxian, Zouxian, Yixian and other county towns as well as Xia Town, an important water transportation road.
They also attacked Yanzhou, Qufu, Tancheng and other places, and soon controlled the vast areas on both sides of the canal in Shandong, blocking water transportation.
At this time, the main force in the mainland of the Ming Dynasty had long been transferred to Liaodong. The officers and soldiers in Shandong were seriously "empty of pay" and their combat power was weak. They were actually helpless against these rebels and were defeated one after another.
In early July, Xu Hongru sent his troops eastward, crossed the canal, and captured Zouxian County. Zheng Yijie fled with his family.
Then, the rebel army marched to Teng County, and the county magistrate Yao Zhiyin fled in the face of the wind. The rebel army gained great prestige and its ranks grew to hundreds of thousands.
Zou and Teng counties are adjacent to Jining to the north and Xuzhou to the south. They are important areas for canal water transportation. Once water transportation is cut off, the capital will be short of food.
Xiong Tingbi, Secretary of the Ministry of War, urgently ordered Zhao Yan, the governor of Shandong, to be the commander-in-chief. At the same time, he appointed Yang Zhaoji, a Yizhou native and former Datong general-in-chief who had resigned and returned home, as the chief military officer of Shandong. He tried his best to suppress Xu Hongru's uprising army in an attempt to regain Zouxian County.
Meng Chengguang, the sixty-sixth generation descendant of Mencius, also led the local warriors to assist the official army in attacking the city, but was repulsed by the rebels.
The rebel army broke through the Meng Mansion and killed Meng Chengguang and his eldest son Meng Honglue.
Xu Hongru took this opportunity to use Zouxian as the center to defend the city with his main force, and using it as a base city, he sent troops to attack Yanzhou and Qufu in the east, Juye in the west, and also expeditions to Peixian, Rizhao, Tancheng, and Hengge Canal. , galloping across the vast area in southern Shandong.
The news that Xu Hongru proclaimed himself emperor in Lunan shocked the capital.
Since Shandong's official army did not wipe out the rebels at the first time, the current situation is very unfavorable.
The successive defeats of the government and the army not only greatly boosted the morale of Xu Hongru's rebel army, but there were even uprisings by the White Lotus Cult in Hebei, Henan and other places. If they were not careful, it might lead to the fall of the entire Central Plains.
At this time, the good news from Liaodong had not yet reached Beijing. Everyone only thought that Li Xianzhong was still besieging Hetuala, so the frontier troops in Liaodong were not mobilized.
On the one hand, Xiong Tingbi urgently ordered the troops from South Zhili to go north to ensure the safety of Fengyang, the central capital, and the canal towns of Huai'an and Xuzhou.
On the other hand, the three major battalions of the capital were ordered to send 30,000 troops south to quell the rebellion.
This made the nobles extremely anxious.
In the past, there were wars in Liaodong. Although men and horses from the three major battalions were mobilized, they all followed the frontier troops to provide support.
If we ask them to go out as the main force this time, doesn't this mean they are going to die?
However, the emperor's order was difficult to deal with, and the British Duke Zhang Weixian and the Duke Zhu Chunchen had to reorganize their troops and go south.
Although the three major battalions of the capital were seriously short of pay, they were still able to gather 30,000 troops.
Soon the fifth military camp sent 20,000 troops, the Shenshu Camp (formerly the 3,000 Battalion) and the Shenji Camp each sent 5,000 troops, and 30,000 troops left the capital in a mighty manner.
However, their progress has been slow since leaving Beijing, and they can only march more than twenty miles in one day.
Zhu Chunchen knew very well what kind of combat power the Beijing camp had. He had already sent a messenger to ask Li Xianzhong for help!
The Donglin Party members seized this opportunity and took the opportunity to point the finger at Wei Zhongxian!
Soon the song "Shaobing Song" said to be composed by Liu Bowen was spread in the capital:
“There is something strange about hunger and cold in the world, and the pillars of dragon virtue ride on babies;
The Forbidden Palace is vast and full of responsibilities, and the golden dragon grows up in peace;
The old gold-picking spirit is particularly strong and prosperous. According to legend, Kunyu follows Longtang;
The eunuchs were appointed to protect the country, and eight thousand female ghosts disrupted the court. "
Eunuch Wei didn't know a few Chinese characters, but he still knew his own name.
Under Feng Quan's explanation, he quickly understood that "eight thousand female ghosts" combined together were the word Wei.
The Donglin Party is alluding to Wei Zhongxian to disrupt the court!
Naturally, Eunuch Wei was not used to them either. Dongchang and Jinyiwei soon went to the capital to arrest those who sang the "Shaobing Song".
However, after a long time of investigation, in the end, only the heads of a group of beggars were found, but the mastermind behind the scenes was not found.
Unlike Eunuch Wei who is in dire straits, the Donglin Party is currently very comfortable.
This uprising came at the right time. If it hadn't been for this uprising, I'm afraid Wei Zhongxian would have imposed commercial taxes on Jiangnan again.
Han Xu said: "I have informed Yuan Keli, the Minister of War in Nanjing, that the troops in Southern Zhili only need to defend Xuzhou and Fengyang, and there is no need to go north to attack Zouxian."
Sun Ruyou said: "I didn't expect that in just over ten days, the number of thieves would grow to hundreds of thousands. Now Wei Zhongxian will have a harder time!"
Zhao Nanxing, the boss of Donglin, said: "Even God can't stand the eunuchs' chaos in government, so they have punished them. Everyone knows the strength of the Jingying camp. Once the Jingying camp is defeated, the thieves will continue to grow. We will wait for them." We must take the opportunity to expel this Wei eunuch who is causing trouble to the country and the government from the court!"
After Wei Liangqing left Hetuala, he took Huang Taiji's head and Nurhaci's ashes all the way back to the capital.
Naturally, he would not miss this opportunity to show his face. He directly asked Yan Mingtai, the governor of Jiliao, for a band to play all the way, for fear that people would not know his achievements.
The people along the way were extremely excited after learning that Jianzhou had been pacified.
Now that Liaodong has been pacified, the "Liao rates" imposed by the imperial court should be cancelled, right?
If the "Liao pay" is not abolished, I'm afraid they will also rebel.
When the news came that Li Xianzhong had captured Hetuala, nine thousand year old Wei Zhongxian was extremely happy.
Not only because his nephew Wei Liangqing had made a great contribution this time and brought face to his family, Old Wei, but also because the rumor of "eight thousand female ghosts disrupting the imperial court" was self-defeating.
Now that the Tatars, the biggest troublemaker in the Ming Dynasty, have been put down, why do you think that I, Wei Zhongxian, disturbed the imperial court?
What's more important is that the elite of Liaodong can go south to suppress the rebellion. They can even eliminate the Tatars, let alone the mere rogues?
However, Wei Liangqing didn't seem to notice his uncle's thoughts. Instead, he pretended to cry and said, "Uncle, do you have to make the decision for your nephew?"
Wei Zhongxian asked in confusion: "With Uncle Ning Yuan here, can you still be bullied?"
Wei Liangqing said: "Uncle Ning Yuan's servants are so arrogant that they actually asked my nephew's grain transport team to give way to them. If my nephew doesn't obey, they will beat us."
"Uncle Ning Yuan defended his shortcomings. Instead of punishing his servants, he also gave his nephew twenty military sticks in public. What did he hit on his nephew's butt? It was clearly a slap on your nine thousand-year-old face? "
After Wei Liangqing said this, Tian Ergeng and Feng Quan also frowned.
Uncle Ning Yuan is really tough, and he actually uses Wei Liangqing to establish his power!
Wei Zhongxian understood Li Xianzhong's character, and there was absolutely no way he would use Wei Liangqing to establish his authority for no reason.
So he said sternly: "My family has warned you a long time ago not to cause trouble when going to Liaodong. To be honest, what did you do to offend Uncle Ning Yuan?"
Seeing that Wei Liangqing lowered his head and remained silent, Wei Zhongxian angrily shouted: "Why did Xu Xianchun protect Wei Jianjun and why didn't you tell us the truth soon?"
Xu Xianchun was helpless at this time and could only tell the story exactly.
But he emphasized at the end: "Uncle Ning Yuan's servants are indeed arrogant and unreasonable. Wei Jianjun didn't do anything to Hailanzhu. They came up and beat him up!"
After hearing this, Wei Zhongxian laughed and said: "You teased Uncle Ning Yuan's woman in Liaodong territory, and he only hit you with 20 military sticks. Just be satisfied. If it had been anyone else, you would have lost your head and body!" It wouldn't be a waste to change my title to another one, but you don't care about Uncle Ning Yuan's good deeds, but you also criticize others for his bad deeds!"
At this time, Eunuch Wei wanted to ask Li Xianzhong for help, so naturally he would not take this trivial matter to heart!
However, he still didn't know Li Xianzhong's true thoughts, so he quickly communicated with Mao Yuanyi again.
Li Xianzhong knew how difficult it was for the Li family to "forever control Liaodong". It was difficult for Mao Yuanyi to communicate about this kind of thing.
Therefore, Mao Yuanyi said that Ning Yuanbo would personally return to Beijing to communicate with Wei Zhongxian regarding this matter.
From Wei Zhongxian's perspective, the most he could do was to win a duke for Li Xianzhong.
He really couldn't think of anything else that Li Xianzhong could ask for. After all, he was already the manager of Liaodong. As for those false titles such as "grand master", Ning Yuanbo must not be interested.
But he also had selfish motives. After all, only Li Xianzhong's title could be higher, and his nephew Wei Liangqing's title could be higher.
You can't have a military supervisor with a higher title than the coach, right?
Soon Wei Zhongxian, together with Xiong Tingbi, sent the Ming army to conquer Hetuala and told Emperor Tianqi Zhu Youxiao!
Although Zhu Youxiao was not too concerned about government affairs at this time, he also knew the importance of this matter.
This means that Liaodong has basically been pacified.
And I heard that Uncle Ning Yuan has continued to send troops to attack Kuandian. I believe that news of Ding's success will come soon!
After all, the pacification of Liaodong was the legacy of the two former emperors Wanli and Taichang.
Although Nurhachi has died, the ashes of the old slave have been brought back, which can be regarded as comforting the late emperor's spirit in heaven.
Soon Zhu Youxiao went to the Ancestral Temple to report the great news to his ancestors.
The next important thing is naturally the rewards for meritorious soldiers.
For a victory like this, the Ministry of War, the Cabinet, and even the Supervisor of Ceremonies will receive corresponding rewards.
But the most important thing at present is the reward given by Ning Yuanbo Li Xianzhong and his supervisor Wei Liangqing.
Under the instruction of Wei Zhongxian, the plan proposed by the Ministry of War was that Ning Yuanbo Li Xianzhong was granted the title of Duke of Liao during the Jin Dynasty, and Wei Liangqing, the supervisor of the army, was granted the title of Marquis of Suning. Both of them were hereditary.
However, Han Xu, the chief minister of the cabinet, still believed that the title of Duke should not be taken lightly. The cabinet believed that Ning Yuanbo Li Xianzhong should be promoted to Marquis of Ningyuan. Originally, he felt that Wei Liangqing should not be knighted, but after thinking about it, he would definitely not give up if Wei Zhongxian was not knighted. In the end, he was still Agree to confer Wei Liangqing the title of Suning Bo.
Just when they were still arguing, news came that the Ming army had captured Changdian and other five forts and surrounded Kuandian Fort, as well as the "letter of surrender" from Azig, the "Khan of the Great Jin".
Azig is willing to cancel his throne, accept the canonization of the Ming Dynasty, and surrender to the Ming Dynasty from then on!
Li Xianzhong obviously made two preparations. The imperial court was about to surrender, so he took over Azig's men.
The court refused to surrender, so he continued to waste time in Kuandian Fort.
The uprising launched by the White Lotus Sect was really sudden. Although the Intelligence Department has already laid out intelligence points in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, it is more common in some important big cities and has not yet spread to rural areas and small cities.
Although the White Lotus Sect activities had been mentioned in intelligence before, no one expected that it would directly evolve into such a massive uprising!
Moreover, Li Xianzhong had no impression of this uprising in his previous life, so he was also caught off guard.
However, at this time, the imperial government's army in Shandong was defeated, and the expansion of the bandits was just in their favor.
He also took advantage of the birth of his second son Li Shizu to return to Uncle Ningyuan's Mansion in the capital.
I have to say that Haqia's belly is still very promising. She gave birth to two legitimate sons for Li Xianzhong in succession, and her position in the palace is as secure as a mountain!
Li Xianzhong knew that Wei Zhongxian wanted something from him at this time, so he went straight to the point.
Li Xianzhong said: "For the long-term peace and stability of Liaodong, I hope that Prime Minister Wei can persuade your Majesty to follow the example of Duke Mu Jiashi of Guizhou in Yunnan and grant me Li Jiayong to control Liaodong."
Wei Zhongxian didn't expect that Li Xianzhong's appetite was so big!
He frowned and said, "This matter is quite difficult to deal with. Our request for the title of Duke of Liao for Uncle Ning Yuan was met with full opposition from the cabinet, let alone Yongzhen Liaodong?"
Li Xianzhong took out two stacks of land deeds and said with a smile: "This is 200,000 acres of fertile land in Liaodong. Prime Minister Wei doesn't have to worry about it. These farms will naturally be taken care of, and the silver earned from the operations will be sent to Suning every year." .”
Wei Zhongxian thought that Li Xianzhong was so generous. Even if the acres in Liaodong were cheaper, the 200,000 acres would probably be worth about 2 million taels.
Now that the border troubles in Liaodong have been resolved, the value of these lands is expected to increase.
He smiled and said: "Uncle Ning Yuan is too polite, then we will try our best!"
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(End of chapter)
