After the rebel army captured Xi'an without any blood, the entire Guanzhong almost fell into despair.
The main force of the imperial court in Shaanxi followed Chen Qiyu in the southward expedition to Xiangyang, and the remaining fresh troops were lost outside Tongguan.
They had no other choice but to "open the city gates to welcome King Chuang"!
However, troubles ensued for Li Zicheng, the king of intruders.
Since the second year of Tianqi, there has been a severe drought in Shaanxi for nine consecutive years. Due to the Wei River in the Guanzhong area, the drought situation is slightly better. Many places in northern Shaanxi are almost bare and the grain harvest has been cut off.
This is also the reason why peasant uprisings are happening one after another in northern Shaanxi. People really can't live without rebellion!
As soon as Li Zicheng entered Guanzhong, a large number of people immediately joined the rebel army.
Although they had increased their recruitment requirements and tried to control the number of rebels, the army still grew to 450,000.
The huge food pressure made Li Zicheng a little breathless.
All the money and food for the invading army depended on killing the gentry to rob them.
Of course, compared to the gentry, the Ming vassal kings were their main targets.
Almost all of those vassal kings were extremely wealthy. They basically took the money, food and land from each vassal prince's mansion, which was enough for the rebels to squander for a while.
Li Zicheng relied on his previous killings of Tang Wang Zhu Yudao in Nanyang and Chong Wang Zhu Youfan in Runing, and obtained hundreds of thousands of stones of grain and a large amount of silver.
Originally the king of the Tang Dynasty was Zhu Yujian, but when Zhu Yujian heard that the bandits had entered the vicinity of the Dabie Mountains, he recruited troops in Nanyang on the pretext of guarding against the bandits. In the end, he was reported by the Nanyang prefect that he had evil intentions.
Emperor Chongzhen was furious. If he acquiesced to Zhu Yujian's behavior, then dozens of vassal kings would follow suit and recruit troops on their fiefdoms, wouldn't the Ming Dynasty be in chaos?
In the end, he dismissed Zhu Yujian as the king of Tang and sent him to Fengyang to repent.
Then his younger brother Zhu Yudao succeeded him as king of Tang Dynasty.
Zhu Yujian also escaped disaster, but the unlucky Zhu Yudiao was beheaded by Li Zicheng within a few days of being the king of the Tang Dynasty!
Now it is the turn of Qin King Zhu Cunshu.
The first generation of King Qin was Zhu Yuanzhang's second son, Zhu Xi. King Qin can be said to be the oldest vassal king in the entire Ming Dynasty. After more than two hundred years of development, the Palace of King Qin is definitely a "fat pig".
The King of Qin owned 890,000 acres of farms, 432 various industries, and 3 mulberry gardens in Xi'an.
There are also various gold, silver and jewelry worth more than 2.2 million taels, but there is not much food, only 350,000 taels.
Most of Li Zicheng's generals and the old camp are from Shaanxi. No matter how much land you give them in Henan, they still lack a sense of belonging.
The fields in Xi'an are different. They are almost the best fields in Shaanxi and can definitely be passed on to future generations.
This is also the reason why Zhong Guangdao insisted that Li Zicheng must win Xi'an before proclaiming himself emperor.
Only by taking Guanzhong can the people of the rebel army completely surrender.
Therefore, Li Zicheng did not kill Zhu Cunshu directly. He followed Li Yan's suggestion and made Zhu Cunshu the Marquis of Guiyi.
He wanted to use the influence of King Qin to make the gentry in Guanzhong work for him.
However, Zhu Cunshu refused. As the vassal king of the Ming Dynasty, he still had his own dignity.
So Li Zicheng officially executed Qin King Zhu Cunshu and started the land distribution movement in Guanzhong.
Only in this way can we calm people's hearts as soon as possible and prepare for ourselves to become emperor.
The food in Prince Qin's palace was not as much as expected, so Li Zicheng could only pin his hopes on Prince Fu.
After all, Fu Fan is known as the "First Fan of the Ming Dynasty", and Prince Fu Zhu Changxun is the favorite son of Emperor Wanli. Prince Fu's Mansion should not disappoint him.
At this time, Wang Yinchang, the commander of the Ming army's Luoyang garrison, and Wang Shaoyu, the commander-in-chief of the army, were at Prince Fu's Mansion.
Wang Yinchang said: "Your Majesty, the intruders have stepped up their attacks in the past two days, especially the new group of 'Western thieves' who are very powerful and have attacked the city several times. There are only 15,000 soldiers and horses in the city now." Well, if we don’t organize young men to come to the city to help in the battle, I’m afraid Luoyang City won’t be able to defend it!”
A fat man wearing a black gauze winged benevolent crown and four regiments of dragon uniforms said, "Since the war situation is urgent, the king will only recruit young people to participate in politics. What are you doing here?"
This 300-pound fat man is naturally the King of Fortune Zhu Changxun. Since the defeat of the "Battle of the Country", the King of Fortune has turned his grief into appetite, eating and drinking endlessly, and finally transformed himself from a normal handsome boy. Turned into a "big fat pig".
Wang Yinchang cursed secretly: "Damn fat man, you're still not getting a cent at this time!"
However, on the surface he still said in a pleasant manner: "Your Majesty is the backbone of Luoyang City. If you don't come forward, how can I mobilize the people of Luoyang?"
Unexpectedly, as soon as he said this, King Fu said angrily: "Please don't harm me when you participate in politics. At the time, King Zhu Yujian of the Tang Dynasty was removed from the position of vassal king because he raised troops to fight against thieves. Now he is still repenting in Fengyang!" "
Seeing that King Fu still had no intention of paying, Wang Shaoyu, the commander-in-chief on the side, said: "Now the people in the city are thinking of opening their doors to welcome the intruders. When the intruders come, they will divide the fields. When the intruders come, they will not pay for the food! At this time, the prince has no money." , who is willing to go to the city and work hard?"
"Your Majesty, you'd better think about it, otherwise Prince Xiang, Prince Tang, and Prince Chong would have companions underground!"
"Be bold!"
The angry King Fu Zhu Changxun staggered to his feet!
In the impression of the crown prince Zhu Yousong, his father had not stood up without support for many years!
He knew that his father was really angry this time!
Looking at the commander-in-chief, Wang Shaoyu, he had a fierce look in his eyes and his hand was already on the handle of the knife.
Maybe they will draw their swords at any time.
Zhu Yousong wiped the sweat from his forehead and said quickly: "General Wang is also worried about the war, so his words are a bit conflicting. Please calm down my father!"
Wang Yinchang on the side also saw that something was wrong, so he pulled Wang Shaoyu and left quickly.
When the two were about to walk out of the palace, the crown prince Zhu Yousong chased them out.
Soon he asked his servants to bring up some boxes and said, "Here are 30,000 taels of silver. Please give the brothers in Luoyang City a month's salary first!"
Wang Shaoyu said anxiously: "Your Highness, this money is simply not enough!"
Zhu Yousong said: "I know the situation, but my father can't change his mind at the moment. I would like to trouble you two to use this money to stabilize the brothers first. Give me a few days, and I will definitely convince my father."
The two of them saw that they had no choice. In fact, this was the fourth time they came to ask for silver. Except for the first time when King Fu gave them 5,000 taels to send them away, they got nothing for the next two times.
This thirty thousand taels is already unprecedented!
The two of them could only raise their hands and say: "The safety of the city of Luoyang belongs to His Royal Highness!"
The two of them didn't know that the thirty thousand taels were actually Zhu Yousong's own private money, and some of it was sponsored by his mother and concubine.
My father is known as the "Iron Rooster"!
Just as Zhu Yousong was sighing, Chang Yun, the eunuch in charge of the palace, suddenly stopped him and said, "Your Highness, the prince has invited you!"
Zhu Changxun had already driven away all the maids around him.
Due to his unusual obesity, Zhu Changxun sweated whenever he moved, and there was almost always a maid around to fan him.
When he fell asleep, there was an exhaust fan on top of the bed that needed to be pulled manually. Even in winter, there was a charcoal stove burning in the room, and someone was fanning him!
At this moment, he asked these maids to retreat. It seemed that something big was going to happen!
Zhu Changxun said: "Treason, did you secretly give money to those two traitors again?"
Zhu Yousong felt very aggrieved at this time. His father was so stingy. He was already on the verge of death, but he was still reluctant to give up money?
Perhaps the most indispensable thing in Prince Fu's Mansion is money.
However, he did not dare to disobey his father and could only say: "Father, my son is also thinking about our safety."
Before Zhu Yousong finished speaking, Zhu Changxun said impatiently: "Prince, it seems that you still don't know the dangers of the human heart. Eunuch Chang, come and tell the prince."
Chang Yun said: "His Royal Highness, you have been deceived by the two of them. Wang Shaoyu is already contacting the bandits about offering the city. Wang Yinchang's family is not in Luoyang. He is planning to break out and run away tonight."
"They come here to ask for money just to make another profit before Xiancheng and the others run away. Once the thieves enter the city, it won't be their turn!"
Chang Yun's words were like a bolt from the blue, directly shattering Zhu Yousong's outlook on life!
Zhu Yousong shouted: "Since my father knows their conspiracy, why didn't he take them down just now?"
"The palace has both money and food. As long as two traitors are captured, and my father raises his arms, the people of Luoyang City will definitely fight with the same enemy and fight to the bitter end with the traitors?"
Zhu Changluo glanced at the excited Zhu Yousong and thought that this child was still too young!
He said: "The bandits' "Field Dividing Policy" is too powerful. Can my father give them all the more than 2 million acres of land in Prince Fu's Mansion? People in Luoyang City have long been against it, even if you and I, father and son, are separated. Family wealth, in the end, is just an advantage for those idiots."
"The King of Tang spent all his wealth and desperately recruited troops to defend Nanyang, but in the end, was Nanyang saved?"
"It's just that he lost his vassal title. Of course, he was a blessing in disguise. At least he repented in Fengyang and saved his life!"
Chongzhen's treatment of the Tang Dynasty indeed chilled the hearts of the vassal kings all over the world.
In this way, which vassal king would dare to recruit troops to defend his fiefdom?
The ancestral vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty could not leave their fiefdoms. Shandong pirates were approaching Qingzhou. It is said that King Heng of Qingzhou once wrote a letter requesting to leave Qingzhou to temporarily avoid the bandits. Chongzhen still refused.
When thieves come, the vassal king can only wait for death!
Then Zhu Changluo said: "His Majesty is very harsh on the vassal king today. Maybe in his heart he is wishing that I would be cut into pieces by the bandits so as to save him money!"
His father's words clearly sounded like he was being rebelled. Zhu Yousong quickly said, "Father, please be careful with what you say!"
"Be careful!"
Zhu Changxun suddenly laughed and said: "Son, your father, I have been careful about my words all my life. Now that my death is not far away, you can let your father say a few words happily to vent the resentment in your heart for many years!" "
"Otherwise, this resentment will accumulate more and more in my father's body, and my father will almost be unable to contain it anymore!"
Good guy, it turns out that my father’s more than three hundred kilograms were not gained from eating, but from resentment.
Zhu Changxun cursed: "Chongzhen's son refused to save him and used me to attract the main force of the intruders; but he took the opportunity to attack Zhang Xianzhong."
"His father, Emperor Zhu Changluo, was not in the right position to begin with. He coerced your grandfather into taking the position!"
Zhu Yousong had heard of the "Battle of the Country" that year, but his father was ultimately defeated, and his grandfather Wanli still made Emperor Taichang the crown prince.
Although this was not the emperor's original intention, it cannot be said that Emperor Taichang's position was unfair, right?
Zhu Changxun saw his son's doubts, so he said to Chang Yun: "Eunuch Chang, you are a person close to my father, so you should tell the prince!"
Chang Yun was the eunuch in charge of Wanli at the time, so he told in detail how Zhu Changluo used Concubine Zheng's conferment to encourage civil servants to force the emperor to force the emperor to make him the prince. .
Fortunately, Emperor Taichang Zhu Changluo fell seriously ill a few days after he succeeded to the throne. Otherwise, how would Chang Yun have the chance to leave the palace alive?
Zhu Changxun asked again: "Do you know who your grandpa's most trusted minister is?"
Although Zhu Yousong has never left Luoyang, he still knows about the affairs of the Wanli Dynasty.
He said: "The most favored minister by the emperor in his later years was none other than the current Duke of Liao, Li Xianzhong!"
Zhu Changxun nodded with satisfaction and asked: "Do you know why Taichang Emperor Zhu Changluo rushed to send Li Xianzhong to the imperial prison in Dongchang as soon as he became the prince of the prison?"
Zhu Yousong said: "There are rumors that the emperor's grandfather gave the Duke of Liao a 'clothing edict' on his deathbed. Emperor Taichang was afraid of this edict, so he took it from the Duke of Liao!"
Zhu Changxun said coldly: "Actually, it's similar to what the rumors said, but to be precise, what Li Xianzhong got in his hand was not the so-called 'clothes edict', but just the key to unlock the clothes edict!"
"At that time, your imperial grandfather's every move, word and deed had long been under Zhu Changluo's surveillance. If he really handed over the clothing and belt edict to Li Xianzhong, wouldn't he have harmed him?"
"Fortunately, your grandpa is alive in heaven. Zhu Changluo has done many unjust things. This usurped throne will not last long after all!"
Zhu Yousong asked curiously: "Where is this 'clothing edict' and what is its content?"
Zhu Changxun said with a smile: "This edict on clothes and belts has always been by your side, Wang Er!"
"Do you still remember that before your grandfather passed away ten years ago, he gave you a longevity lock?"
Zhu Yousong was deeply impressed by this incident, because he was already ten years old at the time, and Grandpa Huang actually secretly gave himself a longevity lock that only a child would wear!
At this time Chang Yun said: "This longevity lock was originally a pair, and His Majesty gave the other to Li Xianzhong's eldest son Li Shengzu!"
"But the one in the hand of Duke Liao is actually just the key to unlock the longevity lock in the prince's hand!"
"The real secret edict is hidden in His Royal Highness's longevity lock!"
"Of course, the Duke of Liao himself doesn't know about this, so no matter how Emperor Taichang checks the longevity lock or questions the Duke of Liao, he can't find any clues!"
Zhu Yousong also had to sigh: "Grandpa Huang really took great pains. I don't know how much better this edict is than the 'Belt Edict' of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty."
"Does Eunuch Chang know the contents of the imperial edict?"
Chang Yun shook his head and said: "I don't know the content of the imperial edict!"
"But His Majesty once said that if anyone dares to harm King Fu, he will find Li Xianzhong with the imperial edict and ensure that King Fu's life is safe!"
Zhu Changxun said: "So my father made a bold guess that this should be an edict authorizing Duke Li Xianzhong of the Liao Kingdom to raise troops to attack the current majesty and support my father as king."
Chang Xun glanced at his fat body and said helplessly: "Son, my father, I can't leave! But you must fight your way out of Luoyang and find Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liao!"
"My father, over the years, has been reselling salt, lending money at usury, and even participating in smuggling to continuously accumulate wealth, all for today."
Then Zhu Changxun took out a box and said: "If this thing in the Luoyang Prince's Palace is lost, just throw it away, and I will reward it to these traitors as a reward to these traitors; the wealth hidden here is enough for the prince to achieve great things or become a rich man." !”
"Now my father will teach you how to use money."
Soon Zhu Changxun gathered together the elite generals and servants in the palace.
There are about three hundred people in these people. Although the number is not large, they are all people with martial arts skills, and many of them have served as border troops.
Zhu Changxun opened the palace's treasury and gave each person 50 taels of gold.
His request is very simple: these dead men will escort the crown prince out of the city tonight. After that, each of them can get another 50 taels of gold!
The official exchange ratio of gold to silver during the Wanli period was 1:8, but now the actual exchange rate on the market is basically 1:10.
Although this transaction is risky, the result is one thousand taels of silver. Many of them have never seen what 100 taels of silver looks like, let alone 100 taels of gold.
Moreover, the main force of the bandits had already entered Guanzhong at this time. It was said that there were 200,000 people around Luoyang, but in fact it was only 100,000 people at most.
Of course, if Zhu Yousong breaks out alone, no matter how well-equipped these three hundred dead soldiers are, it will be difficult to succeed.
But they weren't the only ones trying to break out tonight.
On April 21, the fourth year of Chongzhen, Wang Shaoyu, the commander-in-chief of Henan, led nearly ten thousand Ming troops to surrender to Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, and opened the south gate of Luoyang.
However, King Yinchang, who participated in politics, did not want to surrender to the traitors, because many of his family members had died at the hands of the rebels before, and he had an sworn hatred with them.
He had known for a long time that Wang Shaoyu was secretly colluding with the bandits and was preparing to dedicate the city tonight, so Wang Yinchang took advantage of Wang Shaoyu's dedication to the city and led 5,000 men to kill the east city of Luoyang.
His move worked as expected. The rebels outside Luoyang City were all focused on Luoyang at this time. As soon as they entered the city, they went straight to Prince Fu's Mansion.
So they never expected that Wang Yinchang would lead his army to break through, and soon they rushed out of Luoyang City.
However, the rebel army had a large number of troops in Luoyang after all, and soon they mobilized troops and generals to surround Wang Yinchang's five thousand Ming army.
In the melee, most of the Ming infantry was annihilated by the rebels. In the end, Wang Yinchang only led a few hundred cavalry to break out of the encirclement.
While there was a melee in the east city of Luoyang, Zhu Yousong and other three hundred cavalry also took the opportunity to stay out from the north gate.
They were all riding good horses, and the rebels' attention had been drawn to the east of the city, so they didn't encounter much resistance.
Soon they arrived at Mengjin, north of Luoyang.
However, the ferry had long been burned by the rebels, and they could not cross the Yellow River north from here.
In the end, they had to go eastward along Yanshi and Gongxian, and finally fled near Zhengzhou.
However, it is not easy to go to Liaodong at this time. There is a war in Denglai, so traveling by water is definitely not feasible.
In the Jizhou area of the capital in the north, the imperial court blocked the access to Shanhaiguan.
It is also very difficult to leave Xuan University.
In the end, Chang Yun had experience, and they quickly found Shanxi merchants and lied about going to Mongolia to do business.
After spending a lot of money, finally a businessman was willing to take them to Guihua City to "buy goods."
After Wang Shaoyu surrendered Luoyang, the only battle took place in Prince Fu's Mansion.
In fact, King Fu knew that resistance was useless, but in order to attract the attention of the bandits for his son, he still asked thousands of servants in the palace to resist desperately.
In the end, the intruders brought in cannons and blasted away the palace.
The capture of Luoyang was of great significance.
Li Zicheng also rushed to Luoyang from Xi'an in person.
King Fu once sent people to set fire to the palace's granary, but fortunately, it was quickly extinguished by the rebels.
In the end, Li Zicheng received a total of almost 3.5 million taels of silver in Luoyang, together with 1 million stones of grain and grass, most of which were contributed by King Fu.
At this time, Zhang Kewang said: "Now that King Chuang has captured Xi'an and Luoyang, please also ask King Chuang to go south to Xiangyang quickly to break the siege of Xiangyang."
Li Zicheng smiled and said: "Why go south to relieve the siege of Xiangyang!"
King Fu resolutely resisted in Luoyang and refused to surrender, which angered Li Zicheng.
So he directly beheaded King Fu in public.
King Fu was doing great things in Luoyang, and the people of Henan suffered from it. When Zhu Changxun was beheaded, everyone cheered and applauded King Chuang.
When Li Zicheng heard about what King Fu had done, he was even more furious.
So he found two more sika deer from the city, set up a large pot in Luoyang, and cooked King Fu's meat with the deer.
Call it the "Fulu Banquet"!
And give it to the people of Luoyang!
The people of Luoyang, who were oppressed by King Fu, scrambled for food!
Li Zicheng smiled and said to Zhang Kewang: "With this 'Fulu Banquet', are you still worried that Chen Qiyu will not withdraw his troops from Xiangyang?"
Zhang Kewang also expressed his admiration!
Soon Li Zicheng transferred the grain and silver from Luoyang to Xi'an, leaving his nephew Li Guo to garrison with 50,000 troops.
At this time, Luoyang and Xi'an had been captured, and a large amount of wealth and food had been obtained.
Li Zicheng controlled most of Henan and the Guanzhong area of Shaanxi, and had an army of 450,000. Many soldiers asked Li Zicheng to proclaim himself emperor.
But he didn't let the victory get to his head.
Because he knew that Chen Qiyu still had nearly 100,000 troops in Xiangyang. If he did not eliminate the main force of this Ming army, even if he proclaimed himself emperor, the throne would still be unstable.
Zhang Xianzhong is a good example!
Sure enough, news came not long after that Chen Qiyu had led 50,000 men to the north, and his vanguard had entered Yunyang Mansion.
It seems that Chen Qiyu still wants to enter Shaanxi through Shangluo.
Previously, he had led Liu Zongmin to lead an army of 50,000 to Zhulin Pass near Shangluo Mountain, so Li Zicheng personally led an army of 150,000 to go south to support Liu Zongmin.
He wants to solve the last obstacle before he can become emperor!
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(End of chapter)
