In the hinterland of the Central Plains, at the southern foot of Mang Mountain at the junction of Henan Prefecture and Huaiqing Prefecture, there is a Wubi Fort built on the mountain. Such Wubi forts can be seen everywhere in today's northern mountainous areas.
The owners of these forts are often powerful local families. They used to dominate the countryside and were rich. When troubled times come, in order to protect their families and clans, most of them will go up to the mountains as a group and build a stronghold in a nearby dangerous place as a refuge for their clans.
If the state capital where they are located is ruled by a regime that can protect their interests to a certain extent, they will often choose to cooperate and leave the castle in the mountains. For example, the powerful people in the three prefectures of Qingzhou, Dengzhou and Laizhou in Shandong Province will choose to cooperate with the regime of Emperor Hongxing... Although Emperor Zhu wants to establish a system of sharing grain per mu and paying grain to all in Shandong, his regime It did not touch the bottom line of these powerful forces, which was the land, and Zhu Cixi's army also showed the ability to protect their interests.
But here in Henan Prefecture, because of Dorgon's policy of handing over farmland by dictation, many powerful landowners had to choose to continue to fight, entrenched in the mountain dangers, holding high the sign of resisting the Qing Dynasty.
The owner of this dock wall at the southern foot of Mang Mountain was named Wu. He claimed to be somewhat related to Wu Zetian. He had a long-expired Ming Dynasty imperial title and was known as Zhang Xiaolian. He was originally a big landowner in Yanshi County at the foot of Mang Mountain. When Li Zicheng conquered Luoyang and killed the old King Fu, Wu Xiaolian realized that chaos was inevitable. So he scattered some of his extravagant wealth, went up to Mang Mountain with his clan, built a Wujia fort, and hoarded 100,000 stones, rice and noodles, hoping to escape the troubled times in the mountains and preserve his clan.
But unexpectedly, Donglu, who defeated Li Zicheng, a rogue bandit, and took control of Zhongzhou, somehow took the wrong medicine and started doing what Li Zicheng had not done - to equalize land. This equalization of land has made the Mangshan Wu family suffer.
The tens of thousands of acres of land accumulated by his family for generations were all equalized. The farmers who had paid rent to his family for generations became landowners and no longer paid attention to the Wu family. Wu Xiaolian was unwilling to give in, so he led his troops down the mountain to grab food. As a result, he was beaten by the local bandits of the Qing army stationed in Luoyang. He threw away his helmet and armor and fled back to Mang Mountain. Then he gritted his teeth and stamped his feet and sent people to proclaim himself to the third prince of Luliang Mountain. , got the official position of Yanshi County Magistrate, and began to work on the great cause of resisting the Qing Dynasty and protecting the Ming Dynasty on Mang Mountain.
But in the 20th year of Chongzhen, something unexpected happened again. Nanming, who was getting better and better in the southeast, did not come to Henan, and the third prince of the Loan King in Luliang Mountain did not come, but he had disappeared long ago. Zhang Xianzhong, who was in everyone's sight, appeared out of nowhere and occupied Luoyang with overwhelming force.
This means that the two capitals of the East and West are in hand... Wasn't this the same situation after Li Shimin defeated Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong?
Wu Xiaolian believed very much in conquering the Central Plains and conquering the world, so he went to Luoyang to join Zhang Xianzhong and became the Yanshi County Magistrate of Emperor Daxi.
However, within a few days of sitting in the Yanshi County Yamen Hall, Zhang Xianzhong's adopted son Zhang Kewang was defeated in Gong County. Then Yanshi also refused to defend, so Wu Xiaolian had to reluctantly leave the county and go to Mang Mountain.
Just when he was about to resign from the Daxi Dynasty and go back to eat the spoils of the third prince Zhu, the Donglu fought again in Shandong with the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Southern Ming Dynasty.
Now Zhang Xianzhong, who originally planned to abandon Luoyang and flee back to Guanzhong, became more motivated and prepared for a life-and-death battle with the Qing army in Yanshi. According to the news Wu Xiaolian received, Zhang Xianzhong, a lunatic, also killed dozens of concubines in a row. To show that the cauldron sinks the boat, there is death but no life...
After killing the concubine, Zhang Xianzhong mobilized the army like crazy. Not only did he mobilize more than 80,000 elite Daxi soldiers, he also issued orders to recruit troops and food to the county magistrates such as Wu Xiaolian. Moreover, the Wujia Fort was requisitioned as the residence of the Daxi Emperor - Zhang Xianzhong planned to command the decisive battle with the Qing army at the Wujia Fort in Mangshan.
According to Zhang Xianzhong's plan, he would personally lead his elite troops to lurk on Mang Mountain, and then Zhang Kewang, Zhang Dingguo and others would surround the Yan division to attract reinforcements from the Qing army, and finally encircle the point for reinforcements, annihilating the Qing reinforcements in one fell swoop.
But what happened next was beyond Zhang Xianzhong's expectation. Zhang Kewang, Zhang Dingguo and others besieged Yanshi for many days, but the Qing army just ignored it. Zhang Xianzhong ordered them to attack by force, but the small Yanshi City seemed indestructible and could not be defeated no matter what.
Just when Zhang Xianzhong felt upset and depressed, reinforcements from the Qing army arrived again. Now Lao Wanzai felt better about himself, and he immediately led his troops to attack, hoping to give the Qing army a disincentive.
Who knew that Nikan, who was in charge of the war in Luoyang, had already joined forces with Mandahai, who had broken into Suining before? After Li Yan went south, Mandahai retreated all the way to the west and withdrew from Nanming's territory. When they arrived in Henan, they were captured again. Dorgon was sent to Nikan's command. As a result, Nikan had 20,000 Nine-Banner troops on hand, so the number of Qing troops reinforcing Yanshi exceeded 15,000, as well as 12 3-pound cannons.
You know the result even if you don’t say it, it’s naturally a disastrous defeat! Even Zhang Xianzhong himself was scratched by an iron bullet fired by the Qing army's 3-pound cannon during the battle. One arm was shattered and he fell off his horse. He was already dead when he was snatched to Wujiapu by his men. That's great.
Wu Xiaolian, who was familiar with the terrain, had no choice but to venture down the mountain to find the four adopted sons Zhang Kewang, Zhang Dingguo, Zhang Wenxiu and Zhang Nengqi.
It was dark at this time, and the worried Wu Xiaolian was walking on the mountain road of Mang Mountain with the four princes of Daxi who were even more worried.
The group of people just walked forward in silence, going straight to Wujiabao. No one said a word along the way.
Long live Zhang Xianzhong was already dying. The doctor who accompanied the army made a ginseng soup using thousand-year-old wild ginseng and barely managed to survive until Zhang Kewang, Zhang Dingguo, Zhang Wenxiu and Zhang Nengqi arrived.
In a dimly lit room with simple furnishings, Zhang Xianzhong, whose face was gloomy and his eyes had lost their sparkle, struggled to explain the funeral arrangements.
"... Damn it, it seems like I can't pass this level! But it doesn't matter, I even pretended to be the emperor, and did it twice. It's so worth it. ! But I didn’t expect the Dog Tartars to be so powerful. It seems that we lost our minds when we left Sichuan and went north. Now that I am dead, you four little bastards can take care of what little family property is left. "
Zhang Xianzhong spoke his last words slowly, his tone full of sadness. The adopted sons all looked at the emperor with tears in their eyes and complex expressions. By the time Zhang Xianzhong finished speaking slowly, Zhang Dingguo had already begun to cry, "Long live the old man, please stop talking and have a good rest. You will get better. If you are well, we will keep you to conquer the world!"
"Alas," Zhang Xianzhong waved his hand, "Now that things have happened, what's the point of resting? Just go down and see Li Zicheng... I'll tell you four first. You four can't let me pretend to be alive." . A true man will die when he dies. Why are you pretending to be alive? He appears to be greedy for life and afraid of death. He is not a good man..."
Zhang Kewang wiped away his tears: "Long live Ada, we can't live without Ada!"
Zhang Xianzhong's breathing suddenly became rapid, his face turned blue, and he looked like he was about to die.
"Fuck you," Zhang Xianzhong swore again and took a deep breath, "Let me tell you two more things. First, Daxi's team cannot be divided... If you four little bastards want to survive, , you can’t separate the family and work alone!
Second, you can’t surrender to the Tatars. I was beaten to death by the Tatars! The Tatars are the father-killing enemies of the four of you. We must live together until we die! "
"The children must avenge this!"
The four adopted sons said in unison.
At this time, Zhang Xianzhong was already breathing more out than in, and his voice was inaudible, "The Ming Dynasty is not good... The Ming Dynasty is not good either, they are all treacherous ministers and ignorant kings, not a thing!... ....I and the man named Zhu are incompatible with each other, so let's live together with Li Guo... No matter what, we are all rebels, they are all..."
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