Just a few days after Emperor Zhu Youjian of the Ming Dynasty bid farewell to his wife and children, he led two regiments of cavalry and two companies of artillery to embark on an expedition to Shaanxi. On a miserable autumn night, in Ansai County, Yan'an Prefecture, Shaanxi Province In the ravine to the north, on a bare loess slope, a group of Makou thieves, about one or two hundred people, arrived at some unknown time. A burly man with thick eyebrows, big mouth, and messy sideburns seemed to be the leader of this group of people. Everyone was surrounding him, and he was looking at the dark night with a few lights flickering. Ansai County.
He was wearing a white robe and a white felt hat often worn by farmers in northern Shaanxi, which made him particularly eye-catching in the dark night. If you look closer, you can see that there is a chain mail collar under his white robe, and the polished iron edges are exposed at the collar and cuffs. A cowhide belt tied his white robe and iron clothes, and a lancet hung on the belt. He also carried a small bow and a cowhide quiver slung across his back, with a dozen eagle-feather arrows inserted in the quiver.
This man in a white robe and iron clothes seemed to be waiting for someone, looking intently towards the county seat to the south. That was the county seat of his hometown, and it was also the treasure land he wanted to possess most. Ever since he led a group of horse-trafficking good brothers to start a rebellion in the mountains outside his hometown of Ansai County a few months ago, he has always wanted to break into Ansai County and take revenge on the gang who oppressed this kind-hearted person like him. The dog officials and gentry can also strengthen the strength and prestige of their own rebel army.
It's a pity that Ansai has been a frontier fortress since ancient times. It goes without saying that the people are tough and tough, and there are also many generals who have made their fortune by joining the army. Several large families living in Ansai County have people who are junior officers in Yulin Town next door, and their children can also fight. So the white-robed man and his brothers fought several times but failed to capture Ansai.
However, the officers and soldiers here in Yan'an could not do anything to the rebels, because since the seventh year of the Apocalypse, farmers Wang Er, Zhong Guangdao and others in Baishui County were forced by the government to revolt in the year of severe drought. Shaanxi Province has been There are constant uprisings. By now, in the second year of Chongzhen, wars were already everywhere. If you want to do a detailed calculation, there are dozens or hundreds of famous rebels alone.
Moreover, it was not only the hungry people who suffered natural disasters who revolted. Among the officers and soldiers in the five towns of Shaanxi, there were also many soldiers who could not bear the arrears of pay and the oppression of their superiors. They broke out in pay, mutiny, and military chaos. From time to time, officers and soldiers from the lower ranks betrayed the Ming Dynasty and went up the mountains and down the ditch to join various rebel armies.
The officers and soldiers of Shaanxi cannot survive and are about to revolt. How can they have any spare power to suppress dozens of rebels?
Moreover, God did not want to extinguish the vitality of the rebel kings. In the sixth year of Apocalypse, the seventh year of Apocalypse, the eighth year of Apocalypse, the first year of Chongzhen, the second year of Chongzhen... there were droughts and little rain for five consecutive years, not only under the rule of Shaanxi Province The state capital is suffering from drought, and large areas of military farmland in five military towns including Yulin, Ningxia, Guyuan, Lintao, and Gansu have also died of drought! As a result, the military households could not survive and the soldiers did not have enough to eat. In other words, only a few officials and servants could survive.
But how many talents are these? It took a lot of effort to barely suppress the Ministry of Housing and prevent rebellion.
Therefore, Ansai's rebel army has always been quite carefree, and it is still growing. Their leader, the man in white clothes and white hat, is a burly man named Gao Yingxiang. Sometimes when talking about the future with his subordinates, he can even declare that he will "advance to conquer the world and upset the Ming Dynasty; retreat if he retreats." Roaring in the mountains and forests, having a happy and carefree life!"
But just when the situation seemed to be good, a piece of news suddenly came that made Gao Yingxiang, who had not yet become a king, a little frightened - Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty already knew that there was a rebellion in northern Shaanxi, so he wanted to take control of it. Personally conquer and lead 100,000 Beijing soldiers to Shaanxi to suppress the bandits!
This is really a bit scary, the emperor is going to conquer it himself! There are still 100,000 Beijing troops... There are only a few rebels in Shaanxi. Oh, they are rebels. Do they need an emperor to lead the troops to fight?
How about living well in the palace and being served by the three palaces and six courtyards? How hard is it to lead troops to fight?
Gao Yingxiang is different from those rebel leaders who live day by day. He has some brains and knows how to be prepared for danger in times of peace.
After hearing the rumors that the Emperor of Heaven was going to conquer the country himself, he immediately asked his brother Liu Zhe to go to Ansai County to find out the news.
And tonight is the day when Liu Zhelai and Gao Yingxiang meet.
In this tranquility shrouded in night, the sound of horse hooves came from the ravine to the south. A strong man next to Gao Yingxiang stepped forward and whispered: "Brother, why don't you go take a look?"
This strong man's name is Huang Long, and he is also Gao Yingxiang's brother.
Gao Yingxiang nodded, "Third brother, be careful!"
The strong man responded and ran down the loess slope like flying. After a while, the man's voice came from the ditch at the foot of the mountain.
"Brother, it's Brother Liu, Brother Liu is back!"
Gao Yingxiang breathed a sigh of relief and shouted: "Second brother, third brother, come up quickly!"
He greeted with enthusiasm, but the guard in his hands did not drop. He had already drawn a willow-leaf waist knife in his hand, and the strong men on his left and right were also holding their own swords, ready to fight. Of course, they didn't want to kill Liu Zhe who came back from Ansai County to inquire about information, but they wanted to prevent Liu Zhe from being unloyal and betraying the big guy to the court.
When they saw in the moonlight that there were really only two people and a horse going up the hill, they felt relieved and prepared their weapons. Someone also lit a torch to give Gao Yingxiang some light.
A lanky man wearing obviously ill-fitting Confucian clothes followed the strong man named Huang Long up the slope, crossed his hands and saluted Gao Yingxiang.
"Second brother, third brother, come here, let's sit and talk." Gao Yingxiang called the two brothers aside, and then the three of them sat on the floor. The men who had lit the torches piled their torches together to form a bonfire around the three brothers.
"Brother, I've already inquired clearly," a man named Liu Zhe took a gourd filled with wine from Gao Yingxiang, took a sip and said, "The Dog Emperor is really coming... Ting County Zhang Juren inside said, this dog emperor is even more ridiculous than the previous carpenter emperor!"
"How ridiculous?" When Gao Yingxiang heard that the little emperor was ridiculous, he immediately became energetic.
"This little emperor likes to play war," Liu Zhe said, "and he also likes to charge into battle. It is said that when fighting the Northern Lu in Datong Town, the formation killed a Mongolian warrior. When fighting the Eastern Lu in Yanshan, he also killed a Manchurian. The first warrior..."
"Uh..." Upon hearing this, Gao Yingxiang's expression turned gloomy, "Is this ridiculous?"
"Yes, all the officials and scholars in the county say so." Liu Zhe said, "Well, thinking about it, I think this statement is quite strange..."
Huang Long, the third child next to him, said: "Brother, maybe this little emperor is brave and foolhardy? As the king of a country, how can he personally go into battle and kill people? If someone else kills him, it would be a mess. "
Gao Yingxiang said: "That's not easy to deal with! No matter how brave and foolhardy the little emperor is, he is still a good fighter. If he comes with a large army, how can we resist it if we are weak?"
Liu Zhe asked: "Brother, what should we do?"
Huang Long and Huang Laosan said: "How about... let's break up first..."
"Let's break up!" Gao Yingxiang said, "If we break up, a policeman can catch us! We've all been sued for our lives, how can we still survive if we let others take them away?"
When he said this, he deliberately raised his voice, just to let everyone under his command know that everyone had received the certificate of surrender, and there would be no way to survive if they didn't follow suit.
He paused and then said: "But Ansai can't stay any longer... The little emperor has brought in an army to suppress the heroes from all walks of life, and the heroes from all walks of life have to work together to fight him. Oh, I want to take everyone out to explore. Chuang, go and join forces with King Fugu, and let’s all unite to fight against Ming Dynasty!”
