Before Zhang Xianzhong had time to raise the flag of rebellion, he was bribed by a mere cavalry job and 500 acres of land, and "betrayed the rebels" and became a lackey of the Ming Dynasty. In a hidden ravine in the Baiyu Mountains not far from his home, a group of rebels who ran out of Fugu City and were determined to confront the Ming Dynasty finally got rid of their pursuers and could breathe a sigh of relief for the time being. .
After the Battle of Fugu that day, Zhu Youjian sent the soldiers of four faint officials, including Zhang Honggong, Wu Zimian, Geng Ruqi and Zhang Mengjing, to hunt down and kill him. In fact, the relationship between the rebels and the rebels was uneven. The "hard-pressed rebels" who escaped on two legs were chased and killed by the soldiers of the four faint officials. However, most of the "high-level rebels" who fled for their lives on horseback ran away... It was not that the horses of these high-level rebels were fast, but that they ran faster than the minions who walked on two legs. The officers and soldiers have killed enough small minions, so of course they won't have to bother with the big thieves.
The big leader of the Fugu rebels and those heroes who had horses to ride on, after being chased for two or three days, dived into the vast Baiyu Mountains and completely got rid of their pursuers. And he didn't enter the mountain empty-handed, but he carried large and small bags of belongings that came from Fugu City. It was not a wasted trip.
Although Baiyu Mountain is a very large mountain range, it is not inaccessible. There are many villages in the ravines. Because it is far away from the prefecture and county guards of the Ming Dynasty, it is a place where feudal power is very weak. The rebels who were in trouble hid here, which was perfect. You can rest and recuperate, waiting for the opportunity.
The refuge that Gao Yingxiang and his brothers occupied was a rather remote mountain village. The village is located in a ravine, and the villagers built many cave dwellings on the mountainside as a place to live. Below the cave dwelling is a large area of loess terraces, which look barren. Of course, there was a drought this year and there was not much harvest.
Fortunately, Gao Yingxiang was a "good king" who robbed the rich and gave to the poor. He asked his men to distribute some property to the villagers here so that they could go outside the mountains to buy some food to survive.
The villagers got the property and saw the bravery of Gao Yingxiang and others, so they had no choice but to allow them to stay temporarily, and sent a guide to lead Gao Yingxiang's confidant Liu Zhe out of the mountain to pick up Gao Yingxiang's family members - among the ordinary brothers Gao Yingxiang brought to Fugu. Several of them have disappeared, and it is not known whether they were captured by the army or simply rebelled. Therefore, Gao Yingxiang was afraid of involving his family, so he sent people to Ansai County to bring his mother-in-law, nephews Gao Yigong, Gao Yidao, and niece Gao Guiying to join him in Baiyu Mountain.
I don’t know whether it was the Ming court’s slow response or Liu Zhe’s ability to do things. Finally, before the winter of the second year of Chongzhen came, he brought several people from the Gao family, several relatives of Liu Zhe’s own family, and Gao Yingxiang’s other brother Huang Long. Relatives returned to Baiyu Mountain together.
And he also brought back an imperial list for recruiting knights in front of the tent!
"Brother, this imperial list was secretly revealed outside the city gate of Ansai County. It is the imperial list used by the Ming Dynasty's Xiaohunjun to recruit knights in front of the tent. Take a look..."
"Eh, don't look at it, just talk to me."
In a newly dug cave dwelling, Gao Yingxiang waved his hand and dismissed the imperial notice delivered to him - he didn't know much about literacy, how could he understand the imperial notice? Those things are all written in a very elegant way, and none of them are written in human language.
Liu Zhe has read books and is the only intellectual under Gao Yingxiang who can understand the imperial list.
"Brother, let's just say that," Liu Zhe said with a smile, "The little Hunjun of the Ming Dynasty offered 500 acres of Yanshan land plus an annual salary of 30 taels of silver to recruit Shaanxi warriors who were proficient in riding and archery to serve as his front army. Warriors. Anyone who is willing to serve the imperial court and is capable can apply for the examination at the Prince of Qin's Mansion in Xi'an after the Spring Festival in the third year of Chongzhen.
Do you think our brothers are going to Xi'an Mansion..."
"Brother, it sounds good!" Huang Long and Huang Laosan beside him were already a little reluctant to sign up as a former military warrior.
"Hmph! Trap!" Gao Yingxiang snorted heavily, interrupting the thoughts of the two good brothers.
Liu Zhe and Huang Long both looked at Gao Yingxiang and frowned slightly.
Gao Yingxiang said: "This is the dog emperor's trap, just to trick heroes like us into throwing ourselves into the trap!"
After listening to Gao Yingxiang's words, Liu Zhe nodded: "What my brother said makes sense... This foolish king is indeed cunning and cruel. We must deal with him carefully."
Huang Long also said: "Brother was so thoughtful, we were almost fooled by the Dog Emperor!"
Gao Yingxiang asked again: "Besides this imperial list, does the Dog Emperor have any other means?"
"Other means? What my brother is talking about is..."
"Of course we are exempt from food and military service!" Gao Yingxiang said, "We also open warehouses to release grain and provide relief to the victims. If Shaanxi is suffering from a drought like this, the court can't just ignore it, right?"
Liu Zhe shook his head, "No... I haven't heard of it."
Gao Yingxiang snorted coldly: "He is indeed a dog emperor. He has no common people in his heart. What can he do even if he has the courage of Lu Bu? The severe drought in Shaanxi continues year after year. I don't know when it will end. If the imperial court cannot help but Without food relief, how can the people of Shaanxi live? There is no way for the people of Shaanxi to survive, and sooner or later there will be a big riot!"
Zhu Youjian indeed does not give much benefit to the starving working people of Shaanxi now. He only exempted more than 200,000 taels of Liao pay starting from the third year of Chongzhen. As for democracy movement grain, democracy movement grain discount silver, democracy movement folding cloth, democracy movement grass, etc., they are all inevitable.
However, the grain, land and grass cultivation, etc. in the five towns of Yulin, Ningxia, Guyuan, Lintao, and Gansu are all unavoidable and collected as usual.
Of course, Zhu Youjian did this not because of stupidity, but because he knew that these civilian rations and military rations maintained the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and family members in the five towns.
Therefore, before drastically reducing the number of troops in the five towns, Zhu Youjian could not give the people free food.
Moreover, even if he exempts the people of Shaanxi from grain, it will not change the situation of a huge gap in Shaanxi's total grain supply.
In addition, the food exemption has little to do with the bottom farmers. Because there aren’t many homesteaders here in Shaanxi... Landlords won’t charge less rent just because the court exempts them from grain, right?
As for disaster relief, it is even more difficult. What Shaanxi is lacking now is food. It is useless to send money to Shaanxi, and more money will make food more expensive! As for transporting grain to Shaanxi...that's a no-brainer.
Gao Yingxiang hummed a few times, and then said: "Now there are natural disasters and man-made disasters here in Shaanxi, no less! Natural disasters are droughts for many years, and they are going to turn into deserts! Man-made disasters are official corruption, ruthless officials, and vassal kings." Too many, shameless scholar-bureaucrats... They really don't regard the people below as human beings! I don't believe that the dog emperor can have any magical means to save this great tomorrow!"
It seems that Gao Yingxiang still knows the major events in the world. How else could he have become a king in his previous life?
He smiled and added: "Let's just squint in the Baiyu Mountain and bet our destiny with Zhu! If the sky wants to spare him, it will naturally rain and relieve the drought of the Shaanxi people. By then, we will They broke up, went into hiding and traveled far away.
If God doesn't forgive him, haha... next year will be the time for us to go out and show off our talents! "
"Okay!" Liu Zhe nodded, "Well, listen to big brother."
Huang Long also said: "Well, I will listen to my brother and stay in Baiyu Mountain until next year."
...
"Long live Long live Long live......"
When the cry of long live the mountain sounded, Zhu Youjian's ferry finally arrived at Tongguan Pier. Zhu Youjian, who was wearing a neat arrow jacket, was attracted by the sound of the mountain shouting "Long Live the Mountain". He looked up and saw that 10 square formations of about a thousand people had been set up on the beach near Tongguan Pier... .... A full 10,000 infantry soldiers were placed in front of Zhu Youjian.
These thousand-man troops were made up of 600 spearmen, 300 fire musketeers and 100 swordsmen... What they set up was the so-called Spanish phalanx, now of course called Taizu Fang. Formed.
The 10,000 infantry soldiers here are part of the tent-front infantry that Sun Chuanting trained for Zhu Youjian's tent-front army at Tongguan Guard in Shaanxi.
