Since Chongzhen succeeded to the throne, peasant uprisings within the Ming Dynasty have never stopped and become more serious. It has gradually developed from attacking county towns to attacking big cities.
Several provinces in the Central Plains were in a mess, and the imperial court could not collect taxes at all.
Even Fengyang, the central capital, was captured twice by bandits.
After overthrowing Wei Zhongxian, the White Lotus Sect, peasant army, and sea pirates joined forces to wreak havoc, making Chongzhen unable to breathe at all.
He has never slacked off since he succeeded to the throne. He only sleeps for 2 hours a day and has never missed a morning court. However, the Ming Dynasty is getting worse and worse.
Now, thanks to the blessing of his ancestors, Hong Chengchou captured the bandit leader Gao Yingxiang alive and wiped out the main force of the bandits!
Chongzhen hurriedly went to the Ancestral Temple to worship the previous emperors of the Ming Dynasty and told them the good news!
Afterwards, Chongzhen granted Hong Chengchou the title of Taibao of the Crown Prince and Minister of the Ministry of War, and rewarded him with 30,000 taels of silver, 10,000 bolts of silk, a palace in the capital, and a thousand households of hereditary royal guards (Yinxi descendants).
It can be said that apart from not being knighted, Hong Chengchou was given great honor.
Many generals who participated in the Chuzhou War also received awards. He Renlong was awarded the title of Left Governor of the Central Army Governor's Mansion and commanded the Yulin Camp, and was rewarded with 10,000 taels of silver and 3,000 pieces of silk.
Yang Wenyue, Liu Zhaoji, Lu Weiqi and others also received corresponding titles, and Chen Yongfu was promoted to Kaifeng Commander-in-Chief.
Liu Taigong, the magistrate of Chuzhou who sacrificed his life for his country by sticking to Chuzhou City, was posthumously named Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Emperor Chongzhen personally drafted the posthumous title "Wenzhong" for him, and adopted a son from his brother, named Liu Taigong, hereditary imperial guard Bai. household.
And ordered the Ministry of Household Affairs to implement the pensions for the fallen soldiers as soon as possible.
For the first time, Chongzhen also allocated 200,000 taels of silver from his own funds to pay double monthly salaries to the soldiers participating in the Chuzhou War!
It can be seen that Chongzhen is really happy.
Zhou Yanru, the chief assistant of the cabinet, added Shaofu and Taifu to the crown prince, changed the official position to the minister of official affairs, and became a bachelor of Jidian.
Feng Quan, Minister of the Ministry of War, was granted the title of Taibao of the Crown Prince and a Bachelor of Science in the Clerk's Pavilion.
On April 23, the intruder Gao Yingxiang was escorted to the capital, and Emperor Chongzhen sentenced him to Lingchi!
Chen Qiyu, the premier of the five provinces, was stimulated by Hong Chengchou and began to actively annihilate the peasant army in Shaanxi and Shanxi.
He set up an ambush in Huayin and defeated "Cao Cao" Luo Rucai, who fled to Hanzhong with only a few dozen cavalry.
Then Chen Qiyu ordered Xuanda's frontier troops to go south and defeat the fifth Zuoge Battalion led by "Lao Huihui" Ma Shouying in the Gujishan area northwest of Fenzhou, Shanxi.
Ma Shouying died in the battle, most of his troops were annihilated, and only a few fled to Mopan Mountain in the north.
So far, the main force of the peasant army, which had been causing trouble in the north for three years, had been wiped out by the imperial court.
At this time, Li Zicheng also led his troops to abandon Fengyang. After looting Huoqiu County, he retreated into the Dabie Mountains to join Zhang Xianzhong's remaining troops.
Dabie Mountain is located at the junction of South Zhili, Hubei and Henan provinces. It borders Tongbai Mountain to the west, Huo Mountain (also known as Wan Mountain) and Zhangbaling Mountain to the east. It stretches for about 750 miles from east to west and is about 350 miles wide from north to south.
This is a famous "Three No Matters" zone, where bandits have always been rampant.
Although Hong Chengchou was unwilling to let go of these bandits, facing the vast mountains, his small force was not enough to carry out an encirclement and suppression campaign.
And they couldn't find any trace of the thieves at all.
After his main force entered the mountainous area, except for encounters with small-scale bandits, they could not encounter the main force of bandits at all.
Just as Hong Chengchou was preparing to continue dispatching troops to raid the Dabie Mountains, His Majesty's imperial decree came.
Let Hong Chengchou quickly lead the Yulin camp to return to the capital within the 30th day.
The Dabie Mountains where Hong Chengchou was located was 1,700 miles away from the capital, and he had to travel sixty miles every day. This was a lot of pressure.
The imperial edict did not say it clearly, but major changes must have occurred in the capital.
In desperation, Hong Chengchou had no choice but to lead the cavalry back to Beijing first, letting He Renlong lead the infantry to follow, and stipulated that the daily march should not be less than 60 miles.
Hong Chengchou was worried that something would happen to the capital, so he ordered 10,000 Yulin battalion cavalry to travel day and night, and arrived in the capital in only ten days.
Seeing that there was no martial law in the capital, Hong Chengchou's heart finally settled.
Although he can be regarded as a powerful man with a large number of troops now, he had always been struggling in the local area before, and Hong Chengchou had no connections in the capital at all.
If Chongzhen hadn't rewarded him with a mansion in the capital, he wouldn't even have a place to stay.
However, this does not mean that no one cares about him. As soon as Hong Chengchou stepped into the mansion, Zhou Yanru, the chief minister of the cabinet, invited him to the cabinet.
In addition to Zhou Yanru, the first assistant, Feng Quan, Minister of War, was also there.
Hong Chengchou said: "I have met the two pavilion elders. I wonder if your majesty is so anxious to ask Hong to return to the army, but there has been a major change in the capital?"
Zhou Yanru said helplessly: "A big event has indeed happened in Beijing. According to His Majesty's temperament, I am afraid that you will be summoned directly tomorrow, so I think it is better to let you know the situation in advance to avoid being caught off guard tomorrow!"
Then he glanced at Feng Quan and said, "Let Mr. Feng Ge from our headquarters come and talk to you."
Feng Quan said: "The commander of the Nurgan capital, Yuan Chonghuan, went to the capital to report that Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liao, was planning a rebellion. His Majesty was furious. He summoned Governor Hong back to the capital this time. I'm afraid he wanted to hear your opinion?"
This matter is so big that in fact, Li Xianzhong's Liaodong Town is now similar to a feudal town.
The Liaodong court couldn't get involved at all. Everyone had known it for a long time, but after all, the two sides did not have a bad relationship!
This Yuan Chonghuan is looking for trouble!
He said: "The Duke of Liao always speaks the truth in Liaodong. It is inevitable that he will be misunderstood and acted arrogantly. The imperial censor in the court has not impeached him once or twice. What did Yuan Chonghuan say this time to make His Majesty behave like this? Angry?"
Feng Quan said: "This Yuan Chonghuan really dares to say that he said that the Duke of Liao colluded with the pirate Zheng Zhilong, and that Zheng Zhilong's Eastern Ryukyu Company was a partnership between the two."
Feng Quan's words really scared Hong Chengchou. If what he said was true, wouldn't it mean that Li Xianzhong sent troops to occupy the two mansions of Denglai?
That’s really a complete rebellion!
However, there is no way to prove this kind of thing. After all, neither Li Xianzhong nor Zheng Zhilong will admit it unless an important figure in the attack on Denglai rebels.
Hong Chengchou said: "I wonder if the two elders think this matter is true or false?"
Feng Quan thought carefully about you Hong Chengchou, we will let you know the situation, and you will trick us in turn.
Those who can get into the cabinet are all smart people, so how could he express his position so easily?
Although Feng Quan was from the Intelligence Department, he was unaware of this matter.
But based on his understanding of Li Xianzhong, this matter is probably true.
Who else in the world besides Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liao, has the financial resources to build such a huge fleet?
The last time pirates occupied the state capital was when Japanese pirates were rampant, but at that time the Japanese pirates only grabbed a handful and ran away, and never occupied the state capital for a long time.
There was no shortage of smart people in the court of the Ming Dynasty, and it didn't mean that Li Xianzhong was so secretive, but no one was willing to pierce this layer of paper.
Before Li Xianzhong did not become big in Liaodong, there were people in the court joining him every day.
But now that Liaodong has really become a vassal town, no one talks about it.
The emperor has already acquiesced. Wouldn't it be unpleasant for you to raise this issue again?
If the imperial court had the ability to support Liaodong, would it still allow Li Xianzhong to support Liao with Liao?
As long as Li Xianzhong did not openly rebel, basically no one would make trouble against Liaodong.
Only a political speculator like Yuan Chonghuan, who is far away from the center of the imperial court and is eager to rise to power, would bring such a matter directly to His Majesty.
He was happy, but now this problem was put before the cabinet.
Feng Quan said: "Yuan Chonghuan reported to His Majesty alone. Mr. Zhou Ge and I only knew a rough idea."
"But His Majesty is likely to use troops next, but I don't know whether to use troops to Shandong or Liaodong?"
"Originally, these things should not be disclosed to Governor Hong in advance, but Elder Zhou and I still hope that Governor Hong can be prepared!"
Hong Chengchou thanked them immediately and returned to his mansion.
Feng Quan seemed not to state his position, but in fact he and Zhou Yanru had clearly informed Hong Chengchou that the cabinet did not want to use troops against Liaodong.
I hope Hong Chengchou can give His Majesty some advice.
If they don't want to prevent this from happening, there's no need to bother telling them about it.
Sure enough, Chongzhen summoned Hong Chengchou to Qianqing Palace the next day.
Yuan Chonghuan was already here at this time.
Yuan Chonghuan originally served as a soldier in Ningyuan. Although he belonged to Liaodong, he was not a direct descendant of Li Xianzhong. After all, Ningyuan belonged to western Liaoning.
And since the Tatars had been wiped out by Li Xianzhong, Yuan Chonghuan had no chance of promotion at all.
It happened that the imperial court was afraid of Liaodong at that time, so Li Xianzhong took the initiative to ask for the abolition of Ningyuan.
It seemed that he was reducing his strength to reassure the court; in fact, he was taking the opportunity to eliminate dissidents and drive his affiliates out of Liaodong.
Yuan Chonghuan became such a victim.
Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liao, was extremely powerful in Liaodong, so Yuan Chonghuan naturally wanted to curry favor with him.
At that time, Li Xianzhong petitioned the court to reinstate the Nurgan Dusi, so Yuan Chonghuan took the initiative to apply to take up the post.
Although he got his wish and was promoted to the position of commander and commander of Nurgan Dusidu.
In the next few years, Yuan Chonghuan also worked hard to do his job well.
They first built a port, and then built the city of Vladivostok near the port as the seat of Nurgan Dusi.
Then he canonized the leaders of some surrounding tribes in the name of the Ming Dynasty and asked them to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty. Although it was only a few deer skins and bear skins, it also demonstrated the Ming Dynasty's rule over the Heilongjiang River Basin!
In the past few years, they went north along the Ussuri River and built Temple Street at its intersection with the Heilongjiang River; and then continued north to build Khabarovsk near the northern outlet of the Ussuri River.
Next, they landed on Sakhalin Island and built the city of Sakhalin in its south.
Finally, they advanced westward from Heilongjiang and built Aihui City and Yakesa City respectively, completely controlling the vast areas of Heilongjiang and the Ussuri River Basin south of the Outer Xing'an Mountains.
Although the location and names of these strongholds were finally finalized by Li Xianzhong.
However, it can be imagined how difficult it is to complete the construction of these six strongholds and garrison troops in this ice and snow.
After doing all this, Yuan Chonghuan thought that he would finally be appreciated by Li Xianzhong, but in the end he only received a few words of indifferent praise, and he was not even promoted to an official position.
Later, Yuan Chonghuan proposed that Nurgan Dusi was too remote and cold, and hoped to rotate the soldiers there.
As a result, Li Xianzhong rotated all the people in Nuergandusi, except Yuan Chonghuan.
He stayed in this ice and snow for nearly 4 years.
"I originally set my heart toward the bright moon, but why does the bright moon shine in the ditch?"
Once, the commander of Nurgandusi, Mr. Qian, accidentally said after being drunk: "The Duke of Liao ordered them to watch over him and not allow him to run out of the scope of Nurgandusi, let alone return to the Ming Dynasty."
It turns out that he was treated as a prisoner by Li Xianzhong and exiled here.
He is just a prisoner wearing a third-grade official uniform, and he has to work hard for him, Li Xianzhong.
Vladivostok's only communication with the outside world is a supply ship that comes every three months.
Yuan Chonghuan began to chat with the sailors on the ship intentionally or unintentionally.
It turned out that they had been to many places, including Incheon in North Korea, Nagasaki and Kagoshima in Japan, Naha Port in Ryukyu, and Keelung and Tainan in Taiwan.
Then he learned about the East Ryukyu Company and the big pirate named Zheng Zhilong.
What's even more frightening is that the real boss behind the East Ryukyu Company is actually Li Xianzhong. His annual income through Zheng Zhilong and this group of pirates actually exceeds 5 million taels.
Today's North Korean King Kim Jijidian is actually Li Xianzhong's puppet. Li Xianzhong actually controls the port of Incheon in Hwanghae Province.
The Ming Dynasty's vassal Ryukyu had long been occupied by Li Xianzhong. Not only that, he also occupied Taiwan Island.
Originally, he couldn't figure out why Li Xianzhong imprisoned him here.
Now he finally had the answer. It turned out that he, Li Xianzhong, wanted to rebel.
Naturally, Li Xianzhong would not use a loyal man like himself. He would only use those rebels like him.
Finally, the hard work paid off. Yuan Chonghuan used the gold and pearls he had accumulated over the years to bribe the captain, and then used his sharp tongue to persuade them to come together to expose Li Xianzhong's conspiracy.
He did not know at the time that Li Xianzhong had already occupied the Second House of Denglai in the name of Zheng Zhilong.
After hearing about this, he knew his chance had come.
Not only did he report all this to Chongzhen, he also vividly told Chongzhen the rumor that Li Xianzhong secretly hid the Yuan Yu Seal, the "treasure of making Hao".
Li Xianzhong had a disobedient heart, and Chongzhen had known it for a long time.
Li Xianzhong's desire to rebel may not necessarily be groundless.
But Chongzhen could endure these things. After all, Li Xianzhong had not yet broken up with the court.
But he used Zheng Zhilong's name to directly occupy the second mansion of Denglai, and Chongzhen could no longer sit idly by.
Originally, he thought that Li Xianzhong could fight against the imperial court with only the power of Liaodong, which was a fool's errand.
As time goes by, the imperial court will gradually reverse its disadvantage against Liaodong.
But if what Yuan Chonghuan said is true, then Li Xianzhong's territory is not just one Liaodong.
He used the imperial court's forbidden sea to completely monopolize trade with North Korea and Japan.
Liaodong's annual income in money even exceeded that of the imperial court.
Chongzhen decided that he could no longer tolerate it, and he had to curb Li Xianzhong's development.
Apart from Yuan Chonghuan, only the first assistant Zhou Yanru, the Minister of War Feng Quan and Wang Chengen knew these things.
However, the two assistant ministers believed that these things were mostly rumors, which may not be true and were probably exaggerated.
It is well known that Li Xianzhong is good at doing business. It is possible that he only cooperated with Zheng Zhilong in business.
The imperial court is currently financially strapped, and the rogue bandits have just been subdued. At this time, it would be difficult to maintain large-scale military and food supplies directly in Liaodong.
Chongzhen knew that there was another reason they did not mention, that is, the imperial court could not defeat Liaodong.
The original 80,000 Yulin camp has lost nearly 20,000 people after successive battles.
Sun Chengzong also told himself that if he wanted to fall out with Li Xianzhong, the imperial court would have to train a new army like the Yulin Battalion with at least 150,000 soldiers.
Even Wang Chengen advised himself to be cautious and not to start the war lightly!
But Yuan Chonghuan didn't see it that way. He believed that although it was difficult for the court, it would be even more difficult to fight Liaodong.
Although the Liaodong Army is elite, there are not many truly elite soldiers. Once these people are consumed, it will be difficult for Liaodong to replenish reliable soldiers in the future.
But the Ming Dynasty court was different. His Majesty could order elites from all over the country to participate in the war against Liaodong. In this way, Li Xianzhong would be exhausted and Liaodong would no longer be able to develop.
But the imperial court was still able to continue to train new armies.
He also proposed a strategic concept of "pacifying Liao in five years" to Chongzhen.
According to Yuan Chonghuan's inference, the Liaodong elite under Li Xianzhong may indeed have the upper hand in the first year. After all, they are elites who have fought for many years.
But as long as the imperial court continues to invest troops, the two sides will enter a stalemate stage in the second and third years, and start to win or lose each other.
By the fourth or fifth year, Liaodong will be unable to support it in terms of money, food, and soldiers. By then, the imperial court will be able to pacify Liaodong!
Chongzhen quite appreciated Yuan Chonghuan's "Five Years of Ping Liao".
He saw the strength of Liaodong, but he did not blindly look down on the imperial court, and pointed out that Liaodong could be consumed through a protracted war.
However, although Yuan Chonghuan had served as a soldier and commanded troops to open up Nurgan City, he had never led troops to fight in a battle!
So he still wanted to hear Hong Chengchou's opinion.
After all, he had just commanded the imperial army to "defeat more with less" and achieved the "Great Victory in Chuzhou", and he was even more loyal to himself.
Although Zhou Yanru and the others had already greeted him in advance yesterday.
But when Hong Chengchou heard Li Xianzhong's lies, he was still shocked. He never expected that Liaodong's strength had become so strong.
In fact, it is not difficult to confirm Denglai's situation. The cabinet did not accuse Yuan Chonghuan of talking nonsense. It seems that many things should have been confirmed.
However, Yuan Chonghuan's "Five Years of Ping Liao" is a scholar's opinion, and it does make some sense from a strategic perspective.
But fighting a war is not just a matter of words.
Now that Shanhaiguan and other passes are under the control of the Liaodong Army, how could the imperial court resist the Liaodong cavalry in the first year?
Should we start the "Battle of the Capital" directly?
If the capital is not defended and His Majesty is unfortunately captured, the Ming Dynasty will be completely destroyed. How can I give you 5 years?
However, he also saw His Majesty's thoughts. This battle must be fought.
No wonder Feng Quan said, "Either conquering Liaodong or conquering Shandong."
He said: "Wei Chen believes that Liaodong is now so powerful that the imperial court must impose restrictions!"
"However, I think that since the Duke of Liao did not directly send troops to Lai, it means that he still has some scruples."
"Now the imperial court is not ready to launch a large-scale expedition against Liaodong, so it is not appropriate to fall out with Li Xianzhong directly."
"After all, Shanhaiguan is in the hands of Li Xianzhong. If the imperial court directly attacks Liaodong, it will face pressure from both Shandong and Liaodong. The capital will face enemies from both sides, and water transportation will inevitably be cut off by the enemy."
"So Wei Chen suggested that we concentrate our troops to recover Denglai first. On the one hand, the court can avoid a two-front battle in the future. On the other hand, we can test the strength of the Liaodong Army."
Chongzhen was thoughtful after listening to Hong Chengchou's words.
Finally, he said: "According to Aiqing's wishes, since you are the governor-general of suppressing bandits in the five provinces of the Central Plains, it is your natural responsibility to suppress bandits in Shandong."
"The troops and horses of the Central Plains provinces and the Yulin camp are at your disposal!"
Hong Chengchou knew that he could not escape this time, so he said: "I will definitely live up to your majesty's favor and regain Denglai for the imperial court!"
Chongzhen showed a satisfied smile, and then added: "Yuan Chonghuan came from Liaodong. He is very familiar with the situation of the bandits and he also knows the military affairs. I appointed Yuan Chonghuan as the supervisor of the army and followed Hong Qing to conquer Denglai! "
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