Chapter 076
If it were another time and another Denglai governor, such as Chen Yingyuan who took office only in August of the fifth year of Chongzhen, or Xie Lian, then Cheng Shijie might really make the mistake and rebel directly.
Cheng Shijie consulted relevant information in later generations. When Kong Youde surrendered to Huang Taiji, Huang Taiji attached great importance to their surrender. He personally led Zhubeile out of Shengjing ten miles to greet them, and treated them with the most solemn "embrace ceremony" of the Jurchens. Still, He was made the capital marshal, settled in Tokyo (Liaoyang), formed his own army, and was called the "God Blessed Soldier" and was given special treatment.
Some people say that it was Kong Youde who brought a large number of soldiers and artillery, which gave Huang Taiji the ability to attack fortresses and made up for Jiannu's last shortcoming. At first, Cheng Shijie also thought that this statement should be valid.
However, Cheng Shijie found a Zhihu post in which the author was criticized for being autistic, and then he saw the truth from the fog. Huang Taiji won the Battle of Daling River, successfully conquered Khalkha and Chahar Mongolia, and drove Lin Dan Khan to Qinghai. It can be said that he achieved great military success.
However, the nomadic people did not engage in production and relied on war capture. Although there was no doubt that they won this battle, the problem was that the capture was not enough to make up for the consumption of more than 50,000 men and horses in the Daling River siege war for more than three months. At that time, Huang Taiji was a sick tiger.
He looks strong, but is actually very weak.
Until the seventh year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji's troops were divided into four groups, with Datong and Xuanhua areas as the main attack directions. They broke through the pass and entered respectively. "They did not attack the city, but only looted the villages and fortresses." The strategic purpose of this battle was to make up for losses, mainly by seizing supplies.
Therefore, the real reason why Huang Taiji valued Kong Youde was not because of his artillery and craftsmen. As early as the second year of Chongzhen, when Huang Taiji led the slaves to enter the customs, the real reason why Huang Taiji valued Kong Youde was in Shuntian Mansion and Yongping Mansion for more than ten years. He burned, killed, looted, and even captured the Tongzhou camp. Whether it was artillery, craftsmen, or talents, he had already obtained everything he wanted.
In the Battle of Daling River in the fourth year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji used artillery to break through Zhang Chun's camp. However, Zhang Chun set fire to it, and the wind went smoothly, and he killed Zhuo, the leader of the slave army. Na, Guanwu Beiyuan Shi Damubu, second-class light vehicle captain Zhu San, Zuoling Baisangwu, cavalry captain Nimachan, guard military school Aisai, cloud cavalry captain Warka, etc.
After defeating Zhang Chun's 40,000 Ming army, Huang Taiji failed to obtain the food, ordnance and various materials he wanted. They were all burned. More than 50,000 troops were waiting for food. Huang Taiji had no choice but to dismiss his subordinates. In Shenyang, the capital, only a few thousand men and horses were left, with no means and no food to feed them.
At this most critical moment, Kong Youde rebelled, not only restraining more than 200,000 Ming troops for more than a year, but also beating Shandong, the rear forward base of Ming Dynasty Liaodong, to the ground with their bones exposed for thousands of miles.
There was no mutiny caused by Kong Youde. Huang Taiji was afraid that the Ming army would take advantage of his illness and kill him. He walked around the gate of hell before he treated Kong Youde with great courtesy.
Cheng Shijie couldn't rebel, at least not now. Instead, he wanted to take advantage of Huang Taiji's weakness to seize southern Liaoning, which was a fertile land and more fertile than Shandong.
The most important thing is that it is different from Shandong, where the sky is high and the emperor is far away. Even if you want to deal with Cheng Shijie, the navy is in the hands of Cheng Shijie. How can you cross the sea without a ship?
With the financial resources of the Ming Dynasty, it was powerless to build a navy with more than 300 warships. As for the cavalry of Jiannu...
Let's wait for Huang Taiji to raise enough food and grass first. He can't even take care of Jinzhou City, which is within easy reach. He can also take care of the four states far away in southern Liaoning.
As for Ning Haijun now, he has a larger number of Thunder Guns. When the time comes, Cheng Shijie will want to see whether they are more powerful because of technology or barbarism. Is technology defeating barbarism, or barbarism defeating technology?
Whatever you say is false, you can only know the result after fighting.
Sun Yuanhua could only smile bitterly at this time. He was cut to the left and right by Cheng Shijie, and he was reduced to nothing. Without Cheng Shijie to put down Kong Youde's rebellion, what else could he do?
"Does this constitution still have the right to refuse?"
"Master Futai, you will definitely be glad of your choice in the future."
Cheng Shijie watched Sun Yuanhua pick up the pen, write down the order ordering Cheng Shijie to suppress Kong Youde's rebellion, and then used the seal.
After getting this order, preparations for relocation began.
In just four days, the treasury of the governor's office in Dengzhou City was completely empty, the grain depot was completely empty, the arsenal was completely empty, and the army was also empty. The Denglai New Army is now left with an empty frame and a small army that was eliminated after Cheng Shijie's reorganization. Two or three cats.
Sun Yuanhua really didn't expect Cheng Shijie to have such ruthless methods. He knew that Cheng Shijie had no background. In his opinion, it didn't take much time for Cheng Shijie to suddenly rise from a thousand households to Ning Haijun garrison. Now he has mastered Dengzhou City, Suddenly taking over the power of life and death for tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Penglai Water City, it was inevitable to get carried away.
In fact, Sun Yuanhua was most worried about the discovery of this kind of thing. Once it happened, it would also be the end of Sun Yuanhua's political career, and he would need to be buried with Cheng Shijie. Because the Ming Dynasty court is still powerful, it may not be able to deal with Cheng Shijie in a short period of time, but as long as the court reacts, it can still encircle and suppress Cheng Shijie.
Now Cheng Shijie did not do this, but slowly handed back Sun Yuanhua's military and political power. At least now, Sun Yuanhua has taken control of the governor's office. The Ning Navy soldiers in Dengzhou City are retreating, and the soldiers of Dengzhou Guard have also taken over. Ning Haijun’s defense mission.
Sun Yuanhua has been an official for ten years and has seen all kinds of officials, some ruthless, poisonous, cunning, and some unscrupulous. On the contrary, he has never seen anyone like Cheng Shijie who stood up decisively and showed no hesitation.
Sun Yuanhua also vaguely guessed Cheng Shijie's intention. He wanted to abandon the foundation of Ninghai City and Ninghai Prefecture and go to Liaonan to pull out teeth from the tiger's mouth.
This also means that because of Cheng Shijie's withdrawal, even if Sun Yuanhua wanted to retaliate against him, he would have no chance.
Sun Yuanhua already knew that although Cheng Shijie did not burn, kill and loot in Dengzhou City, he dug up Sun Yuanhua's roots, hundreds of various machines, more than 4,000 superior craftsmen, hundreds of top technicians, and The gun factory that Sun Yuanhua is proud of.
On the surface, Cheng Shijie did not touch Dengzhou City, but he dug up Sun Yuanhua's roots... It was too cruel.
All Cheng Shijie's actions require legalization. It is legal to accept the Denglai New Army, it is legal to accept the Dengzhou Navy, it is legal to accept the gun factory, and it is legal to go to Liaonan. Cheng Shijie has no interest in occupying the mountains and becoming the king, but he wants to be the governor of Denglai. A vassal town within a warlord's territory, a warlord on a warlord's territory.
This person's scheming is terrible, and he does things flawlessly.
After Cheng Shijie got the military order written by Sun Yuanhua to suppress the rebellion of Kong Youde's tribe, Cheng Shijie went directly to Penglai Water City and Ning Haijun Camp outside the city.
"Meet the Marshal!"
From October 28, the fourth year of Chongzhen, Cheng Shijie was no longer a general, but a commander-in-chief.
As long as the imperial court approves, Cheng Shijie will enjoy the title of Commander-in-Chief Zuo, the second-grade chief military officer.
Cheng Shijie looked at Cheng Hu and said, "Is Mr. Song back?"
"Just came back!"
Cheng Shijie said: "Ask all officers above the 100th General to gather at the commander's tent!"
Cheng Shijie walked into the commander's tent, and Song Xiance quickly bowed and saluted the people: "I pay my respects to my lord!"
"How is it going!"
"More than 80% of Ninghai merchants and craftsmen, and more than 70% of Dengzhou craftsmen are willing to follow the lord!"
Song Xiance pointed to the account book and said: "Those who are willing to follow the master have already started to move, but..."
"What?"
"We can't move those iron mines and factories!"
"This is easy to handle. Find Gu Shizhang and tell him that I will sell the hot spring salt factory, iron factory, and those blast furnaces to him!"
Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "As long as the price is right, Gu Shizhang will not refuse, but I don't want money, I want food. The best rice from Jiangnan costs 300,000 shi. I only want 300,000 shi!"
Three hundred thousand shi in the middle of the year only cost 150,000 taels of silver. However, as the weather became colder and water transportation was interrupted, the price of food in Dengzhou City has approached eight qian silver per shi. This food requires 240,000 taels. Two silver coins.
"With Gu Shizhang's financial resources, he can't afford these properties!"
"He can't eat it, but Hui merchants can!"
Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "Hui merchants are the same as Shanxi merchants. Each of the five major Hui merchant families has countless small families, and the Gu family is one of them. This business is something Hui merchants are happy to take over. Even if Gu Shizhang wants to take it, he can't keep these industries. , but Huizhou merchants are different, they are very capable!"
Once money reaches a certain level, God will kill God if it stands in its way, and Buddha will be destroyed if Buddha stands in its way.
"Tell my adoptive father that they are all here!"
"Mr. Song, let's go together!"
"yes!"
Song Xiance followed Cheng Shijie.
"Meet the Marshal!"
Cheng Shijie took a large stack of blank petitions. These petitions were from military attachés of the fourth rank and below who had the power to be directly appointed by Sun Yuanhua. Cheng Shijie took seven petitions from the fourth rank, as well as twenty-five of his five Grade, you should report yourself to those who have followed the fifth grade.
"Now, as everyone wants, promotion begins!"
After hearing Cheng Shijie's words, the officers seemed very excited.
Cheng Shijie looked at the officers and said, "Now, I want to ask you a question. Tell me, what is military rank?"
"Report!"
"Shen Mingyu, tell me!"
"Military rank is the rank, the upper and lower ranks. The military rank in the army is like the rank in the court. It shows the size of the official position, the level, the order of orders and official documents, the answer is complete!"
"Very correct!"
Cheng Shijie presented himself with a fourth-grade military attache card, wrote down Shen Mingyu's name, and then said: "Shen Mingyu, was awarded the fourth-grade military attaché, General Guangwei, and serves as the left commander of the Ning Navy!"
"Thank you, Marshal!"
"Changyu!"
"The humble position is here!"
"Promoted to the fourth rank, General Guangwei, with the actual post of Right Commander of the Ning Navy."
"Thank you, Marshal!"
"Li Zhixiang!"
"The humble position is here!"
"Promoted to the fourth rank, General Guangwei, serving as former commander of the Ning Navy Navy!"
"Thank you, Marshal!"
"Liu Qingsong!"
"The humble position is here!"
"Promoted to the fifth rank of General of Military Virtue, with the actual position of Ning Haijun, Right Front Chief Qian!"
"Thank you, Marshal!"
"Zhou Ning!"
"The humble position is here!"
"Promoted to the fifth rank of General of Military Virtue, with the actual post of Commander-in-Chief Ning Haijun Zuoqian!"
…
When Cheng Shijie spent half an hour to complete the awarding of officers above the 100th General of the Ning Navy and promulgated their actual duties, Cheng Shijie looked at the generals and said: "This time, what you guys have done has already eliminated the road. I don’t want to be settled by someone else, do you understand?”
"Then kill the person named Sun!"
"Kill, kill, kill, just know how to kill!"
Cheng Shijie asked: "Can killing people solve the problem?"
"this……"
"We can't stay with Ning Haijun any longer. If we offend Mr. Futai, who among you can still sleep?"
Cheng Shijie's words forced everyone to ponder their own mistakes.
Having said this, Cheng Shijie continued: "The only way for us is to go on bravely. Now we need to survive in death!"
"May I ask, Marshal, how to survive in death?"
"Liaonan!"
Cheng Shijie pointed to the map behind him and said: "The four states in southern Liaoning are now beyond the control of the slaves. They are a land without an owner. Let's go to southern Liaoning. The sky is high in southern Liaoning and the emperor is far away. Even if Mr. Futai wants to settle accounts after the fall, it will be a wasteland." You have to have this ability!”
Shen Mingyu frowned and said, "But Liaonan is too close to Jiannu!"
"If anyone is afraid, you can choose not to go!"
Cheng Shijie said calmly: "If we have to settle accounts in the future, don't worry that I didn't remind you!"
"But……"
"unwilling?"
"yes!"
Zhang Yu smiled bitterly and said: "We finally found a place to stay, but now..."
"If you weren't reckless, we would have been able to survive in Ning Haijun. It's too late now!"
Cheng Shijie pointed to the four states in southern Liaoning on the map and said: "These four states in southern Liaoning can cultivate more than 15 million acres of land. They are all sacred lands. In fact, it is a blessing among misfortunes. The reclamation work in Ninghai City It hasn’t unfolded yet, why are you feeling distressed?”
"But it's bitterly cold in southern Liaoning..."
"We have no choice!"
Cheng Shijie's words dispelled the last chance of all the officers. They occupied Dengzhou City and robbed Governor Sun Yuanhua's money warehouse, grain warehouse and factories. Not to mention Sun Yuanhua, even they themselves would not be generous. Said to be open-minded.
"Except for the right front commander, all other departments are preparing to move immediately!"
Cheng Shijie said: "The migration requires the full cooperation of the navy. We took a boat from Dengzhou and went straight to Jinzhou Acropolis. We occupied Jinzhou Acropolis first. Based on Jinzhou Acropolis, we were the first batch to meet Shen Ming!"
"arrive!"
"Whether we can establish ourselves in Jinzhou in the future depends on you!"
Cheng Shijie pointed to the map of the Jinzhou Guard and said: "It has been more than three years since the Jiannu abandoned the four states in southern Liaoning. Now Lushun is in the hands of the Dongjiang Army. There is no Dongjiang Army garrison in Jinzhou Acropolis. This is just the situation in the governor's office. , it may be accurate, it may not be accurate, this requires you to send people to conduct reconnaissance, obtain reliable intelligence, and capture the Jinzhou Guard with confidence!"
"yes!"
"Li Zhixiang!"
"arrive!"
"If more than 6,700 soldiers from Zuodu Division of Ning Navy cross the sea, can the navy complete the one-time delivery!"
"Yes, I promise to complete the mission!"
Cheng Shijie said: "Mr. Song!"
"Here we are!"
"You follow Shen Mingyu and are among the first to go to Jinzhou Acropolis. You will accompany the army as counselor of military affairs!"
"I'll take your orders!"
"Louis!"
"exist!"
Luis is a bearded man in his forties. Before retiring, he was an army major in the Spanish Empire and the musketeer of the Juan Legion of the Mexican colonial army.
"Your staff and the army need you to fulfill your responsibilities. I hope you can be worthy of the salary I pay you!"
Sun Yuanhua spent a lot of money on this mercenary army composed of twenty-seven officers. Each of them received an average annual salary of eighty taels of silver. Of course, this was only for junior officers at the second lieutenant level, and the highest one was the commander Gongsha.
Gongsha was a Portuguese who led more than 140 mercenaries in the first year of Chongzhen, including six artillery experts, four firearms craftsmen, two translators, 25 officers, and 23 assistants. Carrying ten artillery pieces, he headed for the capital. And in the second year of Chongzhen, he arrived in Zhuozhou and opened fire on Jiannu from Zhuozhou City.
At that time, Jiannu saw that there was an army defending Zhuozhou, so he immediately retreated to Gu'an and massacred more than 20,000 soldiers and civilians in Gu'an and Liangxiang. Sun Yuanhua's ability to become the governor of Denglai also meant that the Ming Dynasty would carry out military reforms.
Xu Guangqi was writing to Emperor Chongzhen, requesting that "all Western techniques be used". Xu Guangqi planned to train 15 Western-style battalions, each with 4,000 men, equipped with 16 cannons, 80 medium cannons, and 100 turtledove blunderbuss (longer and more powerful than the general bird blunderbuss equipped by the Ming army, and similar to today's anti-material sniper rifles) 1,200 standard gunshots.
This matter was abandoned due to the financial shortage of the Ming Dynasty, but small-scale reforms began in Dengzhou, which is now the Denglai New Army. During Kong Youde's rebellion, this Western mercenary army participated in the battle of Dengzhou City. Twelve people, including Gongsha, were killed and the rest were wounded.
It can be seen that this Western mercenary still has some professional ethics.
"Promise to complete the mission!"
Even though it was very important to cross the sea to attack the Jinzhou Guards, Cheng Shijie did not participate in their expedition to see them off, but directly led Ning Haijun's old department, which is now the Youdu Division.
Because the movement of Kong Youde's rebellion was too great, Kong Youde accepted Li Jiucheng's bewitchment and launched the Zhaoyuan Rebellion that did not exist in history.
His first step was to attack the Zhaoyuan Gold Mine and rescued more than two thousand workers from the mine. Then he used these local Shandong miners to pretend to be ordinary people entering the city and successfully sneaked into Zhaoyuan County.
When Dongjiang Army soldiers led by Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng arrived at Zhaoyuan City, the miners immediately launched an attack, killed the defenders, and successfully captured Zhaoyuan County.
After capturing Zhaoyuan County, Kong Youde's troops captured a large amount of grain. These soldiers of the Dongjiang Army had enough to eat for the first time since they defected to Sun Yuanhua.
The soldiers of the Dongjiang Army who were full and with high morale began to attack the Deng family compound of the gentry nearest Zhaoyuan County.
The folk customs in Shandong are relatively fierce. There were no other options. There were too many refugees coming from Henan and Dongjiang Town, and there were so many bandits. In order to protect themselves, many wealthy landowners spent a lot of money to build strong watchtowers and forts, purchased a large number of bows, arrows, and muskets, and even made Earth cannon.
Once a large group of bandits came down the mountain, all the relatives and children would form a rope to resist desperately. These small number of landlords were often more powerful than the officers and soldiers. The officers and soldiers can still escape if they can't win, but they have no place to escape. If they can't win, their families will be ruined!
Therefore, no matter whether they are rogue bandits or officers and soldiers who are more ruthless than rogue bandits, they are not willing to attack these strong forts and extort some money and food. If they really spend their money to fight, I am afraid that the gains will outweigh the losses.
However, these Dongjiang Army soldiers and miners were not afraid of death and charged one after another. After a night and half a day of bloody fighting, Kong Youde's troops suffered more than 600 casualties among the miners and more than 100 casualties among the Dongjiang Army soldiers. At a price, the Deng family compound was captured with a tragic victory.
Kong Youde's Ministry seized far more grain in the Deng Family Courtyard than in the county town. The total in the county town was less than 3,000 shi of grain. Because the autumn grain had been escorted to Beijing, these more than 3,000 shi of grain were taken from the mouths of the people by Zhaoyuan County officials. food.
But in the Deng family compound, they seized a total of more than 40,000 taels of silver, more than 1 million copper coins, more than 800 shi of rice, more than 5,000 shi of wheat, and 300 more oxen, mules, donkeys, and horses. Many animals.
Kong Youde was killing cattle and donkeys to give all the soldiers a feast. Kong Youde was surprised to find that he could not carry all the captured supplies.
In order to advance lightly or gain the speed advantage of the cavalry, Kong Youde distributed the food that could not be taken away to the people, and burned all the land deeds and IOUs of the Deng family.
At this time, Kong Youde found the password to wealth. Although more than 700 people died during the attack on the Deng family compound, this loss was quite heavy for a team of more than 3,000 people.
As a result, countless people around were vying to take refuge with Kong Youde. Kong Youde found that he seemed to be able to use Shandong people to fight Shandong people.
Therefore, these local Shandong people who took refuge acted as the leading party. They knew very well which big households had food and which big households had money, and they specialized in picking fat sheep to attack.
After taking down the Deng family compound, nearly two thousand people joined him. Kong Youde's strength increased instead of declining. He led his men to attack frequently. The morale of their group of rebels was high and they were not afraid of death.
There was a Wubao with a thick wall and a large number of people, which repelled several attacks by Kong Youde's army. However, Kong Youde had several cast iron cannons captured in the Deng family compound brought in. The cannons blasted the surrounding area and fired ten rounds. A few shells were fired, and a gap was created in the wall. Before Kong Youde's troops could rush to attack, all the people inside peed and opened the door obediently to surrender.
Kong Youde followed suit and distributed the captured grain to the people who could not take it away, and burned the landowners' land deeds and IOUs. People who could not survive continued to join Kong Youde's rebels.
In just two days, Kong Youde's rebels captured more than a dozen forts in Zhaoyuan County. He continued to distribute large amounts of money and food from the captured areas to attract people to join the rebels.
In this way, more and more rebels joined Kong Youde's tribe. In just three days, Kong Youde's tribe grew from more than 1,000 people to more than 14,000 people.
The more Kong Youde fought, the stronger he became, and the more troops he fought with, the more soldiers and horses he fought. At this time, he was no longer satisfied with relying on Cheng Shijie and acting as a soldier. He wanted to become his own king and the boss.
It is true that no one is willing to find a father for himself, and he is not willing to be Cheng Shijie's son.
At the same time that Cheng Shijie handed over Dengzhou City to Sun Yuanhua, Kong Youde actually led a cobbled-together force of 15,000 troops, falsely claiming to have 50,000 troops, and attacked Ye County, the capital city of Laizhou.
When Cheng Shijie received the news, he could no longer wait. If he waited any longer, Kong Youde's department would be like a snowball, getting bigger and bigger. Ning Haijun's Right Dusi eliminated the naval forces under its jurisdiction, more than a hundred veterans who were in charge of serving as instructors in the Left Dusi, and more than a thousand of Chen Guodong's former commander-in-chief, and now only 3,000 men are left.
In this case, Cheng Shijie could only attack in advance, otherwise Kong Youde would become a spirit.
PS: There are two updates today, with more than 13,000 words. Lao Cheng continues to write, and the next chapter will be published as soon as possible. It will probably take two or three o'clock. Happy New Year to everyone! !
(End of chapter)
