If someone could look down from a high altitude, he would definitely be able to find that the Hehuang Valley is burning.
From the source of the Huangshui River to the mouth of the Yellow River, in this catastrophe caused by the marshal's government's grain grab and the Shaanxi blockade, the anger of the people turned every manor into a smoking ruin.
But the initiator of the catastrophe never seemed to care about their anger and just marched into the army.
On one side, the Marshal's Mansion was advancing rapidly from west to east, collecting the looting people from all over the country. The only way to resist was to die, and people could only flee eastward in order to survive.
On the other side, the deputy commander of Xining, Mo Yujing, marched from east to west. The veteran generals under his command who were marching eastward and westward were about to kill all the thieves to eliminate the trouble for the people. However, the soldiers under his command in Hehuang fired their artillery towards the sky rather than towards the enemy. , and drove the rebels westward.
The peasant army in the entire Hehuang Valley was squeezed by both sides. Except for those who were willing to surrender to the Marshal's Mansion, the remaining rebellious people fled to Nianbo and other places, inciting the Nianbo garrison to cause rebellion, and formed a large force. .
Huang Cheng, who had joined the army in Gaodianziying, was among them, and his actions went smoothly.
With the help of twenty veterans from the Marshal's Mansion, and with equipment support through Li Wanqing, he easily captured several manor enclosures and gathered hundreds of experts.
Within a few days, the free-range chicken flew onto the branches and turned into a phoenix. .
But Huang Cheng was very dissatisfied with this result. If it weren't for the advice of the 'advisor' placed by the Marshal's Office, he would have joined forces with other leaders to form a rebel army of tens of thousands of people.
Doesn't that mean you can rob whoever you want?
However, the veterans around him unanimously suggested that he should not annex others, but only recruit battalion soldiers, flag soldiers or post soldiers with military experience, as well as able-bodied heroes among the people.
This group of people from the Marshal's Mansion ate and slept with him all day long. They wanted to refute but did not dare to resist, so they could only be led around.
But the opportunity to join forces with others came in an instant.
Originally, he wanted to attack Tusi Lu near the West Datong River Fort. He was a descendant of Tuohuan from the Yuan Dynasty. The Tusi Mansion should have a lot of wealth. However, before he could go east, the bandits in the east were defeated one after another. came running over.
People said that the Xining general of the imperial court marched towards Huangshui, and the bandits who were driven away from both sides were backlogged in Nianbo. Leaders from all walks of life three hundred miles away from Huangshui gathered together and elected a man named Ma Anbang. The leader came to the conclusion to join forces and run south.
Because Qi Guoping and Liu Chengzu competed for power in the Zhenhai Camp and bribed the vaccination doctors, more than a hundred soldiers died from vaccination in the Zhenhai Camp. Although Liu Chengzu beheaded the vaccination doctor afterwards, many soldiers and junior officers left the army.
Ma Anbang was one of the officers who left the Zhenhai Camp at that time. He was a corps officer. Before food prices soared, he led his troops to take advantage of the unstable situation in the east of Xining and west of Lanzhou to gather people and loot their homes.
When the chaos was settled, he seized the opportunity to capture Nianbo and became known as the King of Manan. He became the leader of the Han and Fan forces in the Hehuang rebellion.
Huang Cheng wanted to persuade him to defect to Liu Chengzong, but Ma Anbang had his own ambitions.
"The imperial court is in the east and the Marshal's Mansion is in the west. Who doesn't want to occupy Hehuang? If we defect to the Marshal's Mansion, what will happen to us? Will the Marshal give up here, or will he put us somewhere else? Are we the vanguard of the war between Mo and Jing? .”
"There are Lu chieftains and Gansu frontier troops in the north who cannot go, but thousands of us can go south to Shenjia Gorge, and if we retreat, we can cross the Yellow River and enter Huangnan. The Hezhou guards dare not march westward, and the commander's office is also weak there; further, We sit back and watch the success or failure of the two armies. If the commander-in-chief wins, we will surrender to the commander-in-chief and attack the imperial court. If the imperial court wins, we will be recruited to attack the commander-in-chief. Isn’t it better to surrender now?"
Huang Cheng was dumbfounded: Can it still be like this?
After careful consideration, even Huang Cheng agreed with Ma Anbang's plan, not to mention other people in the rebellion. A team of thousands of soldiers, flag soldiers, peasants and craftsmen rolled up the dust and rushed to the Shenjia Gorge Valley in the south, but this road , and it’s not that easy to walk.
Because in the Shenjia Gorge valley with mountains on the back and water on the side, there is a grand building complex similar to the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City, called Qutan Temple.
This is the largest and most powerful temple among the people at the junction of the three places. It was built in the 20th year of Hongwu.
At that time, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty decided to settle in the Central Plains. The Ming army drove the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty to flee in Qinghai, and the Fan tribe who did not know the truth also ran around. The monk Sandan Luochui built a small Buddhist temple here, relying on it to establish a strong presence among the Fan tribe. He wrote letters to appease various ministries and made great contributions to Taizu of the Ming Dynasty.
After that, Sandan Luo went to Beijing to pay tribute and asked Emperor Taizu to name and protect this small Buddhist temple. He decided on the grand name of Qutan Temple and copied it according to the regulations of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. It took thirty years to make it. In the past six years, the temple owner has been one of the leaders of Xining Seng Gangsi and the leader of the Fan tribe.
The owner of Qutan Temple, Ban Zhuo'erlingzhen, was a great national master conferred by the imperial court and the most powerful person among the people in this land.
He himself is the leader of the Xina tribe among the thirteen tribes of Zongkha. Zongkha means Hehuang. This tribe was called Zongkha Chiben in the Yuan Dynasty and commanded the tribes of Hehuang.
King Manan led his army into the Shenjia Canyon, which inevitably made Banzuo'er Lingzhen feel threatened. He immediately mobilized hundreds of monk soldiers from the temple and summoned soldiers from various divisions. He led the troops to set up an ambush and caught King Manan by surprise. The soldiers were defeated.
Immediately, Ban Zuo'er Lingzhen led his troops north again, intending to cut off the rebellion for the imperial court, and recruited and surrendered the rebels in Nianbo and other places. With the monk soldiers in front, the Fan soldiers surrounding them, and the Fan people passing on information, the scattered and organized rebels could be defeated. Scattered again.
When Liu Chengzong saw Huang Cheng again, this guy finally understood the reason why the "Advisor of the Commander's Office" did not allow him to join forces with others, and he was convinced by the veterans who had been killed in the northern Shaanxi rebellion.
When King Manan's team was defeated, it was difficult to assemble, and it was hard to know where the people were running. However, even though Huang Cheng participated in three battles that were defeated, he could successfully command the team to withdraw from the battlefield every time.
After hearing the battle, Liu Chengzong couldn't help but wonder: "The monk soldiers are so good at fighting?"
"It's not like they can fight." Huang Cheng was actually puzzled as to how he lost the battle: "They always knew we were there, launched attacks during rest, and even dared to attack at night without even taking action."
At this moment, one of the chieftains who was accompanying the army stood up, clasped his fists and said to Liu Chengzong: "Commander, I am very familiar with Banzhuoer, the real national master."
The speaker was Ye Bingqian, the younger brother of Chief Ye, one of the fourteen chieftains.
The ancestor of the Ye family came from the Western Regions and returned to Xuedu Erding. He made outstanding achievements in the battle with the Red Scarf Army and became a fourth-grade military attaché in Gansu. Later, Ming Taizu took over the world and sent people to Gansu to surrender. He was captured by Emperor Taizu. Awarded as chieftain, official worship... small flag.
The kind of small flag officer who oversees ten people in the guard station.
From then on, Xue Xiaoqi lived in Mira Valley for generations, and governed two mountain passes, Qingshiliu Gorge and Yehou Mountain. It was passed down to the fifth Xiaoqi, named Yexiang. He was a fierce man with both civil and military skills who fought for the imperial court.
He led troops to camp in Changmu Gorge, beheaded bandits in Rentou Dun, and retreated sea invaders to Ganzhou. He made outstanding achievements and was promoted to command the Qianshi. His surname was also officially changed to Ye.
According to this generation, Tusi Ye Guoqi was transferred to Changping as a deputy general in the 48th year of Wanli. After returning home due to injury, he stopped taking care of things.
The Ye family has more than 100 households, more than 300 men and women, and according to the imperial regulations, they pay 48 dan of grain, 250 bundles of grass, and 25 native soldiers every year.
But Ye Guoqi vaguely gave forty-eight stones of grain and two hundred and fifty bunches of grass to Liu Chengzu in Xining every year. His official position was not high and he was old. He pretended to be in a daze and did nothing in Xining Wei. He took leave to study at every turn. Feeling very weak.
However, this younger brother Ye Bingqian was a civil leader and very prestigious in the local area, so Liu Chengzong invited the chieftain, and Ye Bingqian came.
He introduced to Liu Chengzong: "Commander, it's not that the monks and soldiers of Qutan Temple can fight this. It's just that Banzhuo'er's true national division has a wide reputation among the people. All the people are the eyes and ears of the army. The army and the people are united and the geographical location is favorable. It is difficult for ordinary people to do so." If you want to win, why don't you ask me to write him a letter, maybe I can persuade him to teach the people to live a healthy life."
After Ye Bingqian finished speaking, he glanced at Huang Cheng again and said to Liu Chengzong again: "But General Huang's soldiers had better not march towards Shenjiaxia again, otherwise they will inevitably have to fight again."
Ye Bingqian really understood the leader of Qutan Temple, not because they were all civil leaders, but because Ye Bingqian could look down on Seng Gangsi from the perspective of a court official.
In the Tang Dynasty, Hui Hui was an outsider who was arrogant because of his wealth. In the Yuan Dynasty, he was the master of the ruling class. In the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty prohibited intermarriage among the common people and had the same power as the common people in the imperial examination.
Therefore, the leader of the Fan people would be awarded the ninth-rank official position of Seng Gangsi. In fact, he was still an outsider, but Hui Hui would become a common man and interpret the scriptures with Confucianism, or even not recite the scriptures at all, and become a general and take the imperial examination.
Liu Chengzong did not agree with Ye Bingqian's words and asked: "Who is stronger between them and my hunting camp?"
Upon hearing this, Ye Bingqian knew that Liu Chengzong had misunderstood what he meant. He shook his head and said: "Commander, General Huang is not allowed to march because he is worried about looting. Marshal does not need to march, just recruit him. There are about five hundred people in Qutan Temple." There are only a hundred monks and monk soldiers, so they are not a threat."
"Would he be willing to surrender?"
Ye Bingqian didn't know how to explain it for a while, so he had to say: "The commander-in-chief asked me to write a letter and ask him to surrender. If Banchuerling can really be used by the commander-in-chief, it will be easier to occupy Hehuang."
He found that Liu Chengzong regarded the temple as an independent force. This may be related to Liu Chengzong's understanding of Xiao Lazun. However, Ye Bingqian had never been to the west and southwest, and only knew the details of the Qutan Temple in Xining.
There are actually dozens of monk soldiers in Qutan Temple. The so-called more than a hundred monk soldiers are because Liu Shishi specially increased the manpower after he stationed in Xining.
Monk soldiers are not the main force to protect temples in wars. For temples that recruit a large number of believers, it has always been the feudal lords and the imperial court among the believers who provide military protection for the temple.
Peace and stability are most beneficial to the temple. When the temple needs monk soldiers to protect itself in war, the temple will be destroyed.
In Ye Bingqian's view, Qu Tan Temple should have come to Liu Chengzong for protection, rather than Liu Chengzong going to conquer Qu Tan Temple... It was not necessary at all.
Monk soldiers are just one of the channels through which monasteries select monks’ ambitions and talents.
In places where Uzang or Fan people live together, monks can account for 10 to 20% of the population, which means that 30 to 40% of men are monks. The monastery is a society, and the existence of monk soldiers is the same as the postmen in civil society. , in order to maintain stability.
Fanmin sent seven or eight-year-old children to the temple. The boring life lasted throughout the young novice's childhood. Most monks had no choice and would not be dissatisfied.
They abide by the temple rules, read not too difficult scriptures, and do various chores in the temple. Many people spend their lives peacefully like this, even if they use a knife to carve scriptures on a wooden board, a moment is a lifetime.
But there will always be people who think that all this is a source of pain and suffering. Some young monks are more likely to provoke and fight than others, yearning for worldly happiness, but cannot give up the financial and prestige support that the monastery brings.
As the temple owner, he wishes that everyone would be a monk and would not let such people leave the temple. They would become monk soldiers.
Most of the time, monk soldiers are responsible for building new houses, making tea and doing business in various places. They serve as the maintainers of order in Dharma gatherings and are responsible for pushing away crowded crowds and clearing the way.
More often than not, monk soldiers will serve as teachers for children who have just entered the monastery, using their identity as a guide between the secular world and the temple. This kind of life will continue until the age of forty, ending their status as monk soldiers.
There is indeed some force, but at best it is somewhere between a good fighter and a master of martial arts. Even in Uzang, no feudal lord wants to see a bunch of armor and guns in the temple.
Therefore, the main job of monk soldiers is to prevent thieves and collect debts in peacetime, or to make people 'believe' that the temple has force.
As the proverb goes, they are people who have no loyalty even if the Buddha appears in the sky, and who have no sympathy for all sentient beings even if their intestines fall.
Not long after Ye Bingqian wrote the letter on his behalf, Banzuol Lingzhen sent the Tiebang monk from Qutan Temple with a few monk soldiers to reply and presented a seven-pound gold Buddha statue. Liu Chengzong saw these people who were neither loyal nor sympathetic. people.
The attire of the monk soldiers is similar. They have their hair braided behind their ears, they wear black eye shadow with teapot ashes and butter, and they wear cassocks, but they are different from the monks.
Monks wear cassocks like a belt, while monk soldiers wear cassocks like a scarf. Their bodies are covered in folds. There are long knives hidden in their robes, and fake keys and a few stones hidden in their sleeves. They are strong and well-nourished, and they look like they have it. A person with outstanding fighting ability.
Liu Chengzong's evaluation of these monk soldiers was... good soldiers.
But that's all.
Banchuerling's real reply was similar to what Ye Bingqian said. In fact, when he read the letter, Huang Cheng, who was standing aside, stared at him. He even suspected that Banchuerling had really captured King Manan.
Because the letter said that Qu Tan Temple did not want to see a war, let alone participate in the war. They hoped that the Generalissimo would understand Qu Tan Temple's difficulties and present a golden Buddha statue. When the war is over, there will be more substantial gifts to the Marshal's Mansion. .
Ye Bingqian had a satisfied smile on his face. He thought Ban Zhuoer was really practical and his reply did not live up to his expectations. He said to Liu Chengzong: "Commander, there is no need to beat him. There will be more after the war is over." Much gold.”
Unexpectedly, Liu Chengzong shook his head, looked at Basang and asked: "Basang, there are all your brothers over there, what do you think?"
Basang shook his head coldly: "Commander, give the order. My slave boys and I are of a different race from the noble monks, and my people are suffering for them."
"The Great Imperial Master is sensible, Basang. When the war is over and the temple is closed, you send someone to send them to Uzang."
Liu Chengzong shook his head and said: "What I lack is not gold, what I lack is Hehuang without them... capture Nianbo, Mo Yujing is waiting for me in front."
