After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he elevated the status of his hometown Fengyang and turned it into the central capital of the Ming Dynasty.
The central capital of the Ming Dynasty was built in the second year of Hongwu and was completed in the eighth year of Hongwu. It took a total of six years to build.
It covers an area of more than 50 square kilometers and has three inner, middle and outer cities. Its inner palace city (imperial city) is 120,000 square meters larger than the Forbidden City in Beijing.
After that, from October of the eighth year of Hongwu, the auxiliary buildings of Zhongdu City were renovated and the imperial tombs were built. In the 26th year of Hongwu, the outer city gates of Zhongdu were built. By the 30th year of Hongwu, the construction of Zhongdu City was completed.
It can be said that the construction of Fengyang, the central capital, lasted almost throughout the entire Hongwu era.
However, after Zhu Di moved the capital of the Ming Dynasty to Beijing, it was far away from Fengyang, and it gradually became a place for punishing clan members and retiring eunuchs who lost power.
Before Wei Zhongxian's death, he was sent to Fengyang to guard the imperial mausoleum.
Despite this, Fengyang's status is still much higher than other cities. This is the place of Longxing in the Ming Dynasty.
Fengyang Mansion has heavy troops stationed in it, including the Zhongdu Remaining Department, the Eight Control Guards and a Thousand Household Office. There is also a governor's office and guarding eunuchs in the city.
Governor Fengyang is based in Huai'an, Jiangsu Province and has great power to supervise canal water transportation.
In fact, when Gao Yingxiang and other rebels had just entered Henan and besieged Luoyang, Lu Weiqi, the Minister of War in Nanjing, reported to Chongzhen, asking the court to take precautions.
Chongzhen did not realize the seriousness of the matter at all. He just issued an order and ordered Fengyang Governor Yang Yipeng to station troops at various key points for defense.
Yang Yipeng, who was old, sick and weak in energy, took it lightly when he saw that the rebels were far away in Henan, and did not take any effective defensive measures.
Originally, Zhang Xianzhong wanted to enter Huguang directly from the Xinyang area.
However, the rebel army found that the Ming army around Fengyang was very slack, so Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng and others decided to directly occupy Fengyang.
The rebels were actually being chased and beaten by Cao Wenzhao, and their morale was not very high.
That is to say, he gained the support of the people by attacking cities and plundering lands, distributing the food from the hands of the gentry and local tyrants to the people, and using the money as military expenses.
A large number of gentry and landowners were massacred wherever the rebels passed. Naturally, the rebels won the support of the local people, in addition to being able to continuously replenish their troops.
The common people also acted as informants for the rebels. Cao Wenzhao's several raids were all because local people informed the rebels in advance and failed to do their best.
They often set traps for the officers and soldiers and gave random directions, which made Cao Wenzhao simply stop asking the local people about the situation of the rebels.
This is also what Li Xianzhong hopes to see. It is best for him that the rebel armies from all walks of life are like locusts crossing the border and ravaging the gentry and landlords throughout the Ming Dynasty.
In this way, those gentry who were lucky enough to survive would not have much resistance to the "gentry and gentry receiving food from one body" implemented in Liaodong.
After all, Li Xianzhong only asked them to pay for food. The rebel army not only asked them to pay for food, but also for their lives, wives, and daughters.
Moreover, he did not let the scholars directly serve in corvées together like Yongzheng did in later generations. That is really not treating them as human beings.
Although Li Xianzhong took money from their pockets, he still retained some of their dignity.
Zhang Xianzhong said: "This Cao Wenzhao is really troublesome. He has been following him all the way from Shanxi to now. Many rebel brothers died tragically at his hands. We have to find a way to get rid of him."
The thirty-sixth battalion of rebels who had formed an alliance in southern Shanxi had only fourteen families left when the "Xingyang Conference" was held.
They are Zhonglao Huihui, Cao Cao, Ge Liyan, King Zuojin, King Gaishi, Shetaotian, King Hengtian, Hun Shiwan, Guotianxing, Jiutiaolong, King Shuntian and Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng.
However, the rebel army still numbers hundreds of thousands!
The rebel leaders present were naturally eager to cut Cao Wenzhao into pieces to vent their resentment!
Although "Lao Huihui" led Zuoge's fifth battalion back to Shanxi, he took away half of Cao Wenzhao's troops.
"Cao Cao" Luo Rucai successfully led Cao Wenzhao to western Henan, but it only took three or four days for his cavalry to catch up with the main force of Gao Yingxiang's rebel army.
They still have not completely escaped the entanglement of Cao Wenzhao.
Zhong Guangdao said: "It is unlikely that we can eliminate Cao Wenzhao on the battlefield, but we can use Emperor Chongzhen's hands to get rid of him."
Everyone was puzzled. King Chuang Gao Yingxiang said: "Even if the little emperor Chongzhen doesn't know how to fight, he won't 'destroy the Great Wall himself', right?"
Zhong Guangdao said with a smile: "Don't forget, Fengyang, the central capital of the Ming Dynasty, not only has the imperial palace, but also the imperial mausoleum built by Zhu Yuanzhang and the Longxing Temple where he was a monk."
"If we destroy this place, do you think Chongzhen will be angry with Cao Wenzhao for his ineffective suppression of the bandits?"
I have to say that Zhong Guangdao's "killing with a borrowed knife" trick is indeed vicious.
So the main force of the rebel army quickly marched from Henan towards Nanzhili in the southeast direction.
The rebel army used its force to break through the bamboos and even reached Kemi County, Shangcai, Runing and other places.
After the army left Runing, it divided into two groups, preparing to attack Fengyang, the central capital of the Ming Dynasty, where Longxing was the home of Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
King Chuang Gao Yingxiang led an army from Xincai and Shouzhou (today's Shouxian County, Anhui) to attack Fengyang;
The other group, led by the general Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, the Eighth King nicknamed "Yellow Tiger", marched eastward towards Yingzhou (today's Fuyang, Anhui), and then attacked Fengyang from Yingzhou eastward.
On the eleventh day of the first month of the third year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong led their troops to surround Yingzhou.
The governor Yin Mengyao and the general magistrate Zhao Shikuan led the defenders to defend to the death. Zhang Heming, the former Minister of the Ministry of War who was an official, also took the initiative to assist in the defense.
When they previously captured Runing and other places, the rebels captured a lot of artillery.
They set up artillery bombardment outside the city. The defenders on the city wall had few soldiers. Because they could not withstand the fierce artillery fire, the city was quickly captured by the rebels.
After Yingzhou City was destroyed, the Ming officials who defended the city behaved with integrity.
After the rebels entered the city, they still led the crowd to engage in brutal and bloody street battles. They either died in the battle or were seriously injured and then drowned themselves. No one survived.
Six of the seven members of Yin Meng'ao's family, the magistrate of Yingzhou, were killed, and only one infant son survived.
The general judge Zhao Shikuan refused to escape after the city fell. He used the gold and silver jewelry at home to recruit warriors and fought to the death. In the end, he was seriously injured and threw himself into the river. His wife hanged herself, and his two daughters also hung themselves from a beam with their mother.
The rebels were also angered by the resistance of the officers and soldiers, especially Zhang Xianzhong's men, who were extremely cruel!
The 78-year-old former Minister of War Zhang Heming was caught by the rebels and hung from a tree. He was then shot with a bow and arrow and turned into a "hedgehog". His death was extremely miserable.
His eldest son, Zhang Datong, cried bitterly while caressing the corpse and was then hacked to death by Zhang Xianzhong's men. His younger brother, 75-year-old Zhang Hesheng, was also killed because he cursed at the rebels.
Almost all the officials and gentry in Yingzhou City were killed by the rebels, and 77 of them were killed alone.
The troops under Li Zicheng have very strict military discipline, and they will not kill people at will even when they go to collect supplies.
Even if it is necessary to kill some people who "give up their lives rather than their wealth", they will not kill them cruelly.
Zhang Xianzhong was extremely indulgent to his subordinates, but fortunately they only targeted some gentry officials and their families, and did not attack ordinary people.
After opening warehouses to release grain, the rebels still gained support from the common people, and even young people who had little food to eat took the initiative to join the rebels.
These people not only helped the rebels arrest the gentry in the city and confiscated their property, but also helped the rebels sneak into Fengyang City.
You must know that Yingzhou is within the scope of Fengyang Mansion. It can be seen that the people of Fengyang were extremely disappointed with the Ming Dynasty at this time!
At this time, Fengyang City, not far from Yingzhou, was still in a state of confusion!
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, during the Lantern Festival, the officials and people in the city were busy celebrating the festival. Suddenly, large groups of peasant troops quietly came from all directions and surrounded the city without anyone noticing.
In the early morning of the next day, heavy fog fell from the sky, and the generals who defended the city were still sleeping soundly. Someone reported that there were "traitors" outside the city, and they were beaten up by the guards for lying about the military situation.
Suddenly there was a sound of cannon outside the city, and there were shouts and exclamations on the top of the city. The order was in chaos. Someone shouted "The thieves are attacking the city", and only then did the officials react.
Fengyang, the central capital, has a lot of troops, more than 8,000 people.
As long as we persist for a few days, reinforcements from Nanjing will arrive.
However, it was obvious that this group of veteran soldiers could compete with the three major battalions of the capital. It is estimated that they never thought that there were rebels in the Ming Dynasty who dared to attack Du Fengyang.
At this time, hundreds of thieves had already successfully sneaked into Fengyang City under the cover of local people.
As the rebel artillery fired outside the city, they knew it was time to take action.
Soon they took out the weapons they had smuggled into the city and rushed to the city gate.
Fengyang's defenders didn't have much will to fight. When they discovered that the bandits had entered the city, they immediately panicked.
The rebels outside the city took advantage of the situation to attack the city and quickly reached the top of the city.
The defenders of Fengyang, the central capital, were mostly guardsmen and were no match for these northern Shaanxi bandits. The outer city of Fengyang was quickly lost.
Zhu Guoxiang, who stayed behind in Fengyang, was a clan member of the Zhu family. He led Chen Hongzu and other generals from a thousand households to fight in panic, and fought hand-to-hand with the rebels in the city.
However, the Ming army was inferior to the rebel army in both quantity and combat power. Just an hour later, one of the three capitals of the Ming Dynasty, Fengyang, the central capital, was captured by the rebel army.
In the end, Zhu Guoxiang, who stayed behind in Fengyang, died in battle, and most of his soldiers surrendered to the rebels.
Fengyang City also became the first large city captured by the Northern Shaanxi Rebel Army in the past two years.
Its influence is far beyond that of ordinary provincial capital cities.
Fengyang was originally built in accordance with the standards of the capital. Faced with the prosperity of the palace, the rebels somewhat lost themselves.
Zhang Xianzhong first sent troops to plunder the gentry in the city.
Then they heard that this was where the dragon veins of the Ming Dynasty were located, so they started a series of sabotage activities in order to cut off the dragon veins of the Ming Dynasty.
The rebels first set fire to the Imperial Tomb Hall, and then set fire to Longxing Temple.
Longxing Temple is the Huangjue Temple where Zhu Yuanzhang became a monk.
They felt that burning this place would definitely damage the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty.
Not only Zhang Xianzhong, but also Li Zicheng, who had relatively strict military discipline, began to destroy the imperial tombs.
Because according to the news brought by fellow villagers in northern Shaanxi, the Ming court directly sent people to excavate the ancestral graves of Li Zicheng and Gao Yingxiang after learning that they rebelled.
How could they not take revenge at this time?
Soon Gao Yingxiang had his men robbed the Ming Emperor's mausoleum and obtained a large number of burial treasures. The remains of the Zhu family's ancestors in the tomb were randomly discarded by the roadside and trampled into powder by men and horses.
Moreover, he felt dissatisfied, so he ordered people to burn all the more than 300,000 mausoleum pines that were more than 200 years old planted in the mausoleum area. The fire burned for several days, "lighting for hundreds of miles."
Members of the Ming clan were killed without mercy, and almost all the Zhu family's clan members who stayed in Fengyang were killed.
Zhang Xianzhong captured a dozen little eunuchs who were playing music and forced them to play music and drink for him. They were so excited that they forgot everything they did.
The large amount of grain, grass and silver stored in Fengyang City made the rebels suddenly become a nouveau riche.
They started a new round of recruitment. Whether it was Zhang Xianzhong or Li Zicheng, they had a soft spot for cavalry.
The biggest difference between the Northern Shaanxi Rebels and the Central Plains and Jiangnan Rebels is that they were born in the northwest and knew how to ride and raise horses since they were young.
Moreover, many of them were from the army and some were from the frontier army. The Eighth King Zhang Xianzhong was from the frontier army.
For them, as long as they have good horses, they can quickly raise a cavalry team.
And with the cavalry team, your efficiency in attacking and escaping will be greatly improved.
When the news that Fengyang Mansion was captured by "rogue thieves" reached the capital, Emperor Chongzhen was shocked. He immediately dismissed the banquet and the female musicians Sizhu, wore plain clothes and avoided the palace, and sent officials to offer sacrifices to the world.
He himself went to the Ancestral Temple to cry and worship his ancestors. He knelt on the ground and howled loudly. He was so miserable that he said: "I am in an unruly position, but the sky has sent evil, causing all my ancestors to be ravaged by thieves. I will have no face after my death." To Emperor Taizu and Gao, I have no shame to face the sages and sages."
The more Chongzhen cried, the sadder he became. He was whimpering and had a strong tendency to die for his country and follow his ancestors. The ministers who accompanied him, such as Sun Chengzong, Han Xu, Zhou Yanru, Wang Chengen and other confidants, eunuchs and servants, were all affected by this and became very sad. In my heart, I cried bitterly.
When Emperor Chongzhen was weeping and offering sacrifices to his ancestors in the Ancestral Temple, a strong wind suddenly blew up outside the temple, blowing out all the red candles used for sacrifice, and all the icons of emperors displayed on the table were swept to the ground by the strong wind. The ministers were shocked.
Upon seeing this, Chongzhen lamented: "Heaven brings disasters many times, thieves and robbers are everywhere, and the country is afraid that it will be destroyed! The wind blows out the candles, which is obviously an ominous sign."
After saying that, he wiped away tears and returned to the palace.
The peasant army captured Zhongdu and destroyed Zhu Ming's ancestral mausoleum, which was like cutting off the dragon vein of the Ming Dynasty. This was a fatal spiritual blow to the powerful Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian.
Soon Emperor Chongzhen issued an edict to punish himself.
Zhongdu fell, the imperial mausoleum was destroyed, and almost all the Zhu family members who stayed in Fengyang were killed. Emperor Chongzhen could deal with it with a "sinful edict", but the ministers could not.
The angry Emperor Chongzhen was about to start killing people.
Otherwise, I will neither be able to explain to the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty nor calm my inner anger.
When the emperor was angry, his corpse floated thousands of miles away!
Although this is an exaggeration, someone must be found to take the blame for the fall of Fengyang this time.
If we don’t characterize the matter as a disaster, is it still the case that the Ming Dynasty has “exhausted its strength”?
He had already issued an imperial edict to Fengyang Governor Yang Yipeng to take strict precautions. However, Fengyang was still unprepared and the bandits broke into the city in less than an hour.
He promoted Yang Yipeng to the position of Shangshu of the Ministry of Revenue and Yushi of Youqiandu, Governor of Water Transport, and Governor of the Four Prefectures in Jiangbei. It can be said that he has great trust, and he actually repaid himself like this?
Except for Yang Yipeng, all the hundreds of soldiers and eunuchs who escaped from Fengyang were beheaded.
The reason is simple, they have no use coexisting with Fengyang, the capital of Zhongdu!
Cao Wenzhao, the commander-in-chief of the reinforcement and suppression campaign, fell into the bandit's plan to attack the east from the west, causing the bandits to escape repeatedly, leading to the tragedy of Fengyang's fall.
Cao Wen ordered to cut down positions for the sake of the people and never hire him!
In fact, Chongzhen was originally planning to exile Cao Wenzhao for three thousand miles. With Sun Chengzong's protection, Cao Wenzhao finally just reduced his position to serve the people.
Of course, for such a big thing as the fall of Fengyang, the Ministry of War and the Cabinet must also bear the responsibility.
As the chief assistant of the cabinet and the minister of war, Sun Chengzong naturally had unshirkable responsibilities. In the end, he submitted his resignation to Chongzhen.
After Chongzhen rejected it twice, he agreed the third time.
After all, Sun Chengzong was Zhu Youxiao's favorite, and Chongzhen always felt that it was not so easy to use.
Finally he decided to promote new people to the cabinet.
Zhou Yanru was smart since he was a child. In the 41st year of Wanli's reign, he served as the first scholar in the Imperial Academy and the number one scholar. He successively served as editor, right Zhongyun, Zuo Shuzi, Shao Zhan Shi, Zheng Zhan, right minister of the Ministry of Rites, etc. in the Hanlin Academy.
He was good at catering to Emperor Chongzhen's will. In December of the second year of Chongzhen, he entered the cabinet as Minister of Rites and Bachelor of Dongge.
Chongzhen felt that Zhou Yanru was very interested in him, so in February of the third year of Chongzhen's reign, Zhou Yanru, who had only been in the cabinet for three months, was appointed by Chongzhen as the bachelor of Wenyuan Pavilion and the chief assistant of the cabinet.
Although it is only the third year of Chongzhen's reign, many veterans of Emperor Chongzhen's employment are unacceptable.
When His Majesty comes in handy for you, he will hold you in the palm of his hand and promote you desperately, just like Yang He back then and Zhou Yanru now.
But once you are no longer needed, or you cannot satisfy His Majesty, then he will abandon you like a piece of grass!
Just look at the endings of Yang He, Yang Yipeng, Cao Wenzhao, Sun Chengzong and others!
So the frustrated cabinet minister Han Xu also submitted his resignation.
So Zhou Yanru took advantage of the situation and recommended Feng Quan, the former Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and cabinet scholar who was idle at home.
Feng Quan and Zhou Yanru have already made arrangements to marry their children.
Zhou Yanru was able to join the cabinet this time only because Feng Quan provided financial support and mobilized his connections to build momentum for Zhou Yanru!
Therefore, Zhou Yanru reciprocated the favor.
However, Chongzhen clearly remembered that Feng Quan was a member of the eunuch party.
Zhou Yanru quickly explained: "Feng Quan only joined the eunuch party out of gratitude because Wei Ni avenged his father. When he was in the cabinet, he petitioned for the people to be exempted from exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes. He was the first to propose the abolition of 'Liao pay', and later went to Jiangnan suppressed the rebellion and almost died in Taihu Lake."
"It was precisely because Feng Quan's various behaviors in petitioning for the people aroused the dissatisfaction of the eunuch party, so he was expelled from the cabinet by Wei Zhongxian, and in the end he could only serve as the Minister of Rites in Nanjing."
"To say that he is an eunuch is a great injustice!"
"The reason I recommend Feng Quan is because he has a complete strategy for suppressing bandits. I believe it will be useful to His Majesty."
Chongzhen thought for a moment and said: "Then I will give Feng Quan a chance. Let him come to me with his bandit-suppression strategy. Whether he can use it again depends on whether he has real ability!"
When Feng Quan heard that Chongzhen agreed to see him and listened to his statement on the strategy for suppressing the bandits, he knew that the basic problem in this matter was not big.
A few days later, Feng Quan met Emperor Chongzhen under the arrangement of Zhou Yanru.
Feng Quan's military level was much worse than that of Zhao Kuo. When he attacked Chongming and returned with a disastrous defeat, he certainly could not offer any strategy for suppressing bandits.
Everything he prepared was planned for him by the Intelligence Department.
In fact, to be precise, Li Xianzhong plagiarized Yang Sichang's strategy. In the original historical trajectory, Yang Sichang relied on this strategic concept to win the trust of Emperor Chongzhen.
Since Yang Sichang can use it, then Feng Quan can naturally use it.
After Feng Quan saluted Chongzhen, he said: "The main reason why 'liu bandits' are difficult to eradicate lies in the word 'liu'."
“They fled everywhere, and the military forces in the various provinces of the imperial court tended to work in their own way, making it difficult to effectively attack the rogue bandits. As a result, the scope of the rogue bandits’ activities has now become larger and larger, and has developed from the initial areas of northern Shaanxi and Shanxi to various places. "
"In view of this characteristic of rogue bandits, Xiaomin summarized his strategy for suppressing bandits as: "Four positives, six corners, and ten sides of the net!" "
Chongzhen was also very curious after hearing this. He said: "Feng Qing means to ask the court to lay down a dragnet so that the bandits have nowhere to escape?"
Now His Majesty has even changed his name. It seems that this strategy is indeed to His Majesty's liking.
He said: "The so-called four righteousnesses refer to the four frontal battlefields of Shaanxi, Henan, Huguang, and Fengyang. The governors of these four places focus on encirclement and suppression, supplemented by defense."
"The so-called Liuyu refers to the six flank battlefields of Yansui, Shanxi, Shandong, Yingtian, Jiangxi, and Sichuan. The governors of these six places focused on defense and supplemented by encirclement and suppression."
"Add the four rectangles and the six corners, and you get ten nets, so it's called a ten-sided net."
"In addition to this, two positions of "Prime Minister" and "Governor-General" should be set up. The Prime Minister is responsible for the outside of the customs, and the Governor is responsible for the internal customs. The two of them can mobilize and suppress the enemy at any time. The thieves and bandits will have nowhere to escape and no way to escape!"
"If the rogue bandits are in Shaanxi, then the governors of Shaanxi, Sichuan, Huguang, Henan, Yansui, and Shanxi must jointly set up a net and encircle them on six sides. The prime minister will enter the customs and the governor will jointly suppress them."
"If the rogue bandits are in Henan, then the governors of Huguang, Fengyang, Yingtian, Shanxi, Shandong, and Henan must jointly set up a net and encircle them on six sides. The governor will go out and the prime minister will jointly suppress them."
"If rogue bandits are in Huguang, then the governors of Henan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yingtian, Fengyang, and Jiangxi must jointly set up a net and encircle them on six sides. The governor and the prime minister will go to Huguang to jointly suppress them."
"In short, the governor-general and the prime minister will follow the enemy to kill, and the governors from various places will encircle them on all sides. No matter where the main battlefield is, they must form a net. This is the intention of spreading the net on ten sides."
After hearing this, Chongzhen said: "This method is very fast. I am so late to meet Feng Qing!"
Feng Quan said: "If the governors and governors of all provinces can work together, I believe they will be able to defeat the bandits in a short time and eliminate hidden dangers for the court!"
Now among the six departments, only the Minister of War is vacant. Feng Quan not only has strategies, but also led troops in Jiangnan and suppressed rebellions. Chongzhen appointed Feng Quan as Minister of War and Bachelor of Dongge on the spot.
Then he appointed Chen Qiyu as the "Prime Minister of the Five Provinces", the premiers of Yansui, Xuanda, Yingtian, Sichuan, and Jiangxi towns.
Hong Chengchou was the "Governor-General of the Five Provinces", overseeing the five provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, and Huguang.
In addition, the governors from various places must fully cooperate with the two men's actions to completely wipe out the bandits.
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(End of chapter)
