From the end of the eighth year of Chongzhen to February of the ninth year of Chongzhen.
The Ming army continued to deploy troops and generals to suppress the invasion in the mainland. The rogue bandits were almost defeated repeatedly along the way. However, the bandit power not only did not weaken, but became stronger.
A large number of rogue bandits are active in Henan, Shaanxi, and Huguang provinces, and only some of them are stranded in the southern Zhili area.
The rogue bandits were actually divided into two major forces.
The first major force was the Shaanxi Peasant Army headed by Li Zicheng and Prime Minister Hui Deng, which mainly operated in Yan'an Prefecture and Xi'an Prefecture.
Although they briefly joined forces with the peasant army in Henan to attack, they all returned to Shaanxi soon after.
The Ming army commander in charge of the campaign was Hong Chengchou.
The second force was the peasant armies with Chuang Wang Gao Yingxiang as the main force, who moved to Henan, South Zhili, Huguang and other places.
The Ming army commander in charge of the campaign was Lu Xiangsheng.
After returning to Henan from Nanzhili, Gao Yingxiang still had hundreds of thousands of bandits under his control. When they met in Henan, they often camped hundreds of miles apart.
In the three regions of Henan, Nanzhili, and Huguang, among the bandits affiliated with Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong was the most powerful.
Zhang Xianzhong now had 100,000 troops, and as a pioneer, he entered Nanyang Mansion in Henan Province.
The terrain of Nanyang is flat and stretches in all directions. Facing hundreds of thousands of rogue bandits, the defenders from various places in Nanyang Prefecture did not dare to go out of the city to fight.
Zhang Xianzhong just killed all the way south without any hindrance. To the south of Nanyang Mansion are Xiangyang Mansion and Xunyang Mansion in Huguang.
Gao Yingxiang's plan was to invade the Huguang area via Nanyang, meet with the bandits in the Huguang area, and eat in Huguang.
"Chu's old country was a land of great plough. When he was one year old and he got firewood and mulberry trees, Wu Yue paid tribute to him."
"As the saying goes, 'if Hu Guang is familiar with it, the world is sufficient."
Shaanxi has been out of food due to frequent natural disasters in recent years, while Henan, Shanxi and other places have been unable to produce much oil and water after years of plunder.
Nowadays, wealthy squires in places like Henan and Shanxi either band together to build strongholds to protect themselves. Many strongholds are even more difficult to attack than some towns, and the gains from defeating them far outweigh the losses.
Either they stay in the city without leaving the gate, or some even directly leave their homes and flee further south.
Although South Zhili is rich, it is still the Zhili area. Every time it enters South Zhili, the Ming court gathers troops from all directions to encircle and suppress it like crazy.
Compared with Henan and other places, Huguang is now much richer and has much more food. Moreover, due to the various terrains, there are not so many soldiers.
So Huguang naturally became the best place to go.
Zhang Xianzhong went south first, and Gao Yingxiang divided his troops into several groups and also went south.
At this time, Lu Xiangsheng also encountered the same problem that Hong Chengchou encountered - his troops were stretched thin.
There are only 11,000 soldiers in Huguang. Excluding those soldiers who are conducting suppression campaigns in various places, there are only more than 5,000 soldiers who can be sent out to stop Zhang Xianzhong.
How can more than 5,000 people stop hundreds of thousands of bandits? If they all go out to fight, will Xiangyang City not want them?
Once Xiangyang is defeated, the entire weak central and southern parts of Huguang will be exposed to the front of the rogue bandits. If the rogue bandits enter the south, the entire south will be riddled with holes like Shaanxi. Then it will really be Everything is over.
Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of Xiangyang City, more than 5,000 battalions were basically concentrated in the Xiangyang area to defend Xiangyang City.
And in doing so, it is undoubtedly an announcement to directly abandon the Xunyang Mansion to the west.
Hearing that the bandits were coming, people in Xunyang Mansion were panicked for a while.
There were countless people fleeing overnight, and the fleeing convoy was packed with people for more than ten miles, and it was even difficult to move.
The rogues were not good at attacking the city, so most of the people in Xunyang Mansion swarmed towards the city.
However, the number of people a city can accommodate is always limited, and those who cannot enter the city can only embark on the road of escape.
There are mountains in the north and south. Although there are people hiding in the deep mountains and old forests, most of them take their wives and children to the Hanzhong Mansion in the west to escape.
It's not like the bandits have never been to Xunyang Mansion. Everyone remembers clearly what they did last time they came to Xunyang Mansion.
Because of this, they wanted to escape to Hanzhong Mansion.
Escape to Hanzhong Prefecture, Xunyang, or Xing'ansuo. As long as they escape into the big city, the bandits will be unable to defeat them and they will be able to save their lives. This is how many people survived before.
only……
These people on the run didn't know one thing.
That is, the current Hanzhong Mansion is actually not peaceful.
…
Hanyin County is located in the hinterland of Qin and Ba, with Qinling Mountains in the north and Bashan Mountain in the south.
Fenghuang Mountain stretches from east to west, with the Han River and Yue River flowing in between. Except for the flat terrain on both sides of the Yue River channel, most of them are shallow hills and rather rugged areas, making it difficult to walk.
The name of Hanyin County began in the second year of Zhide in the Tang Dynasty. At that time, the county was located on the south bank of the Han River. The south of the mountain was yang and the south of the water was yin, so it was named Hanyin.
During the Song Dynasty, Hanyin County was moved to the north bank of the Yue River. Although it was located in a Yang place, it was still called Hanyin, implying the harmony of Yin and Yang.
Hanyin City is located in the middle section of the river between two mountains. There is Fenghuang Mountain in the south, Wollongong in the north, Qilin Valley in the east, and Guanyin River in the west.
It has a moral meaning: "Looking at the phoenix flying for nine days in front, leaning against Longgang behind as a backer, the unicorn on the left arm is auspicious, and the Guanyin on the right arm protects peace."
It just means that no matter how beautiful the meaning is, it cannot withstand the invasion of natural and man-made disasters.
Not long ago, a large number of rogue bandits passed through Hanyin, and the surrounding towns and villages were robbed to varying degrees.
Although there were advance warnings, except for a few towns that were breached, most of the villagers escaped and saved their lives.
But there was no way to preserve their houses and farmland. After the bandits crossed the border, they burned everything they could destroy and took away everything they could.
Seventeen miles east of Hanyin City, on the south side of the official road, Chen Wang stood on his horse in front of a small town that had been burned into ruins.
The air was filled with the stench of corruption, the low town walls were completely destroyed, and most of the land inside and outside the town was scorched black.
A group of soldiers stood on the official road, their eyes looking in the direction of the town like Chen Wang.
No one spoke, no one moved, everyone was silent and stood quietly.
Not far in front of them, on the big trees outside the town, there were decaying corpses hanging one after another, like willow branches hanging down from a willow tree.
Chen Wang turned around and his eyes flashed across the faces of everyone around him.
Most of the armored cavalry following him were young men from the Chen and Hu clans, and some were former experts from the Liao cavalry.
Whether it was the former or the latter, there was no emotion at all in their eyes.
These things could not stir up any waves in their hearts. In Liaodong and on the battlefield, they had seen scenes that were ten times, or even a hundred times crueler than this.
Chen Wang's eyes passed over the armored knights beside him and looked towards Guandao.
All the soldiers on the official road had stopped under his order.
Chen Wang's eyes slowly swept across the faces of the soldiers on the official road, carefully observing the expressions on each person's face.
Time passed quietly, Chen Wang withdrew his gaze and turned his head again.
The soldiers above the official level had different expressions on their faces, including fear, disgust, intolerance, and sympathy.
But more of it is indifference and numbness...
All living beings have various expressions and emotions, but no one has resentment or sadness on their face.
Their faces should have been filled with indignation.
Seeing these scenes, they should be indignant and angry.
Chen Wang was speechless, he knew exactly why.
If it has nothing to do with oneself, it will naturally be ignored. The pain of others will only be the pain of others after all.
Most of the soldiers under his command are hungry people among the bandits, that is, villagers who have been held hostage.
They actually don't want to be soldiers or fight.
They want to go home, to their hometowns, to continue farming, or to continue working.
Most of them don't have much ambition. They just want to pay less taxes, have more harvests, support their families in Hukou, and reunite with their families.
The reason why they are still serving as soldiers is simply because they have no choice.
Because even if they go back, their houses have been burned down, their fields can't grow crops, and they can't think of a way to pay off the owed taxes to the government.
Soldiers fight not for the lofty goals of protecting their country and rescuing the people of Sri Lanka. They just do it because they can't survive, for military pay, and to have a good meal.
The ideals of protecting the country, rescuing the people, and self-cultivation and governing the country are too far away from them. Those are things that people in another world should think about.
Chen Wang turned his attention again to the corpses one after another outside the town, and his heart became hardened little by little.
Many things in the army now need to be changed. In essence, the army under his command is still an army from the old era, a completely feudal army.
If he keeps going like this, after constant tempering, the army under his command can become a strong army, enough to support one side after the world is in turmoil.
If it can continue to expand and grow.
Using the prophet of the history of future generations and the familiarity with the weapons and tactics of future generations.
Even unifying the world is not an illusory thing.
But if he just keeps going like this, then even if he wins in the end, the army under his command will still be a feudal army in essence.
Chen Wang raised his head and looked into the distance. In the distance were rolling mountains that stretched towards the sky, like a sleeping dragon.
There is the subjugation of the country, and there is the subjugation of the world.
Is there a difference between subjugating the country and subjugating the world?
Said: Changing the surname and changing the name is called the subjugation of the country.
When people are full of benevolence and righteousness, they will lead animals to eat people, and people will eat each other, which is called the destruction of the world.
Now, the world will perish...
Chen Wang's eyes were deep and he spoke slowly.
"I'll teach you a song."
It is still the ninth year of Chongzhen, and there are still eight years to go before the seventeenth year of Chongzhen. Everything is still too late, everything is still too late.
Hearing Chen Wang's sudden words, all the armored knights following Chen Wang turned their attention to Chen Wang.
They were all a little surprised why Chen Wang suddenly wanted to teach them singing at this time.
However, Chen Wang is their general, their general, and as servants, they should obey orders unconditionally.
Chen Wang raised his hand, clenched his fist, and sang the first line of the song.
"When we unite as one, the mountains... can be shaken!"
In the 41st year of Jiajing reign in the Ming Dynasty, the Qi army conquered Hengyu and returned to the army in triumph.
There was no alcohol in the army at that time, so Qi Jiguang impromptuly dictated a song called "Triumph Song" and taught the entire army to sing together, using songs instead of wine to boost morale.
"Triumph" was adapted in later generations, but the adapted tune made it lose its original flavor.
The people he wanted to teach sang the original tune of the song.
It was a tune sung by the Qi Army after their victory in the fight against the Japanese pirates in the southeast.
It was also the tune sung by the Qi Jiajun when they fought against the Mongols in Jizhou Town.
It was also the tune sung by the Zhejiang soldiers at the last moments of the Battle of Hunhe River.
"All the people... are united, and the mountains... can be shaken."
All the armored cavalry looked at each other. Most of them actually knew something about this song. It was the military song of the Qi family army.
Although there were conflicts between the Southern Army and the Liao Army, all conflicts and prejudices disappeared after the Battle of Hunhe.
In the battle of Hunhe River, the Sichuan and Zhejiang troops surrendered and the Hunhe River was stained with blood.
"Only loyalty and righteousness, angry...fighting!"
Chen Wang didn't pay attention to everyone's expressions and continued singing.
After the initial discomfort, everyone came to their senses and continued singing.
"Only loyalty and righteousness, bullfighting in anger..."
"The Lord will kiss me better than a parent."
Chen Wang raised his voice and sang loudly.
Changes in attitudes and ideas do not happen overnight, nor can they happen overnight.
The initial complaint brought everyone together gradually, and the same miserable experience united everyone.
When they were in Chunhua City, Chen Wang had already told them something and planted a seed in their hearts.
Only by holding a sword in hand can one defeat the wolf and avoid being bullied...
When facing injustice, we should fight and raise our weapons instead of lowering our heads and bending our knees...
"The Lord will kiss me better than...my parents!"
"
…
The wind blows and the flags flutter, and the spring breeze blowing from the southeast blows over the mountains and through the forest sea.
The trees swayed and the leaves swayed, bringing countless rustling sounds.
"Woo——————"
The sound of the marching horn spread throughout the official road, and all the soldiers on the official road turned to the east.
They stared ahead, shouldered spears, straightened their backs, held their heads high, and strode forward.
Only this time, what sounded on the official road was not only the sound of heavy footsteps, but also a high-pitched singing voice.
The high-pitched singing voice spread from the official road to all directions, echoing continuously among the mountains.
"When we unite as one, the mountains can be shaken."
"Loyalty and righteousness are the only things that make a bullfight angry."
"The Lord will kiss me better than a parent."
"If you violate military law, you will not be free."
"The orders are clear and the rewards and punishments are given."
"You're going through fire and water, don't you dare to stay later!"
"Report to the emperor, come down to save the head of Guizhou."
"Kill all the thieves and find a prince!"
