The rebels' victories on the borders of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces shocked the imperial court. Emperor Jiajing was extremely furious and ordered all the Taoist forces to join forces, and ordered the Admiral Zhang Zhen, the Minister of Guangdong and Guangxi, and Chen Gui, the general of the army, to mobilize the army. In February of the 41st year of Jiajing, Zhang Zhen asked for the secondment of 100,000 "Wolf Soldiers" from Guangxi to join the official troops of Guangdong, Fujian, and Jiangxi, and mobilized a total of 300,000 troops.
In June, famous anti-Japanese generals Liu Xian and Yu Dayou were ordered by imperial edicts to lead officers and soldiers in six routes to encircle and suppress the "Feilong Kingdom" rebels. In July, Hu Zongxian took control of Jiangxi and learned that the Feilong Army had deployed almost all its troops to fight and that the Baisongguan base camp was empty of troops, so he ordered Yu Dayou to attack quickly.
Yu Dayou quite agreed with this decision, saying: "It is better to use hidden troops to break into his nest and attack him to save him. But why should tens of thousands of people wander away from one man?" (See "History of Ming Dynasty·Biography·Yu Dayou"). So Yu Dayou personally led the main force of 15,000 people, quickly attacked, and climbed to the highest peak of Baisong Pass to observe the terrain. He saw that the rebel barracks were surrounded by mountains for several miles. In addition, the mountains were lush with vegetation, so it was suitable to attack with fire.
Yu Dayou can be ranked alongside Qi Jiguang, and enjoys the reputation of "Yu Long Qi Hu", so he is naturally not an easy person. He commanded the army to strangle various intersections down the mountain and set fire to the mountain. In an instant, the fire raged and hundreds of military camps were burned. Swallowed, the Yellow House in Zhucheng was also reduced to ashes. Then he sent his troops up the mountain to kill the remaining rebel officers and soldiers and even the family members of the thieves.
Zhang Lian was informed that his lair was lost and he hurried back to the army for rescue. However, Yu Dayou had already predicted it, so he was ambushed by Yu Dayou on the way back and suffered a big setback. Afterwards, Feng Gaomo, deputy envoy of the Procuratorate, adopted psychological attack tactics and sent officers and soldiers to various rebel camps to shake the morale of the troops by making propaganda, shooting leaflets, and issuing condolences votes (vouchers of surrender). After all, the Ming Dynasty's orthodoxy was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, so this method was quite effective. Several mid-level officers (Jiang Manqing, Li Fengshi, Guo Yujing) quietly rebelled, and Yu Dayou ordered them to return to the camp to serve as insiders. Within a few days, Yu Dayou tricked Zhang Lian into fighting. The rebels suffered heavy losses again, and more than 1,200 of Zhang Lian's main forces were killed on the spot.
In the 42nd year of Jiajing's reign, Luo Pao once again led the rebels to attack Yongding County from Jianzhu Pass (on the pass). During the attack, there was heavy rain and the river swelled, making it impossible to cross. When they withdrew, they were surrounded and attacked by the official army. Another crushing defeat.
Lin Chaoxi saw that the main forces of the two groups had been defeated and that more than half of his own strength had been lost, so he asked Huang Jishan, the leader of another rebel army in Heyuan, to counterattack. Huang Jishan was killed by the army. Later, Lin Chaoxi's remaining troops were led by Ming general Xu Fuzai in the Yinna Mountain area. wipe out.
So far, Zhang Lian's three rebels have been defeated by the powerful offensive of the Ming Dynasty official army.
It stands to reason that since Zhang Lian was destroyed, his story should have ended here. However, what Liu Wei said next made Gao pragmatic realize that things seemed to be really tricky.
The key trouble lies in whether Zhang Lian himself was killed or escaped.
I don’t know whether it was Liu Wei who was less defensive about people, or whether Gao Jingshi seemed to be “harmless to humans and animals”, but without even thinking about it, he told Gao Jingshi what he would do if he had to go to court. When the gang goes online, it can even be involved in the serious matter of "crime of deceiving the emperor".
Liu Ling had a worried look on his face and said: "On that day, all Zhang Lian's troops were destroyed. My father and Yu Gong both wanted to fight for the victory of capturing Lian. Both sides sent troops to search and inventory, but my father was a little far away from Zhang Lian's troops at that time. , only a group of Zhang Lian's soldiers were captured, but Yu Gong claimed that Jiang Manqing, the rebel general he recruited in advance, captured Zhang Lian, and then Yu Gong "brought him to the market"... But there seemed to be something else involved. Hidden secrets.”
Gao Pragmatic also frowned and asked, "What's the secret?"
Liu Ling sighed and said: "I heard that after Jiang Manqing captured Zhang Lian, he intended to take credit for himself. Li Fengshi, another rebel general in the rebel army, informed Duke Yu of the capture of Zhang Lian, and Duke Yu then sent troops to Jiang Manqing's stronghold. Zhang Lian was kidnapped. At the same time, a fight broke out between the rebel troops and the Guangdong soldiers..."
Gao pragmatically put his hand on his forehead and looked like he was "really screwed".
Liu Wei added: "The question here is, if Zhang Lian can be captured, according to the reward at that time, he can be rewarded with ten thousand gold and ten thousand households. After Jiang Manqing captured Zhang Lian, why didn't he immediately offer it to the army and stay in the village? This caused Robbery or even fighting between our armies? Judging from the situation at that time, all the officers and soldiers reported victory one after another in order to claim credit and receive rewards. Mr. Gao, countless people died in the war. Besides, neither the late emperor nor the ministers of the court had ever seen Zhang Lian. Even if It is not impossible to catch a random person who looks similar to Zhang Lian, kill him, and then report it. Therefore, my father has always believed that this matter may be a false report of military exploits to a large extent."
Gao pragmatic frowned and asked: "Don't talk about that yet, brother Zishou, let me ask you, what does your father say when he reports victory? What does Yu Gong say when he reports victory?"
Liu Wei was slightly embarrassed, but he still said honestly: "My father's report of victory only said that he had captured and killed hundreds of Zhang Lian's soldiers. According to their statement, Zhang Lian had died in the rebellion, and his body and head were nowhere to be found; I have just said that Yu Gong's reward for victory was to capture him through counterintuitive tactics and then kill him on Yu Gong's order."
Gao pragmatic frowned and said: "For such an important imperial prisoner, Duke Yu did not surrender the prisoner to the imperial court, but punished him in a canonical manner in the capital? How could Duke Yu make such a mistake when he has been a general for many years?"
Liu Ling spread his hands and said: "The problem is that because of the robbery of Zhang Lian, there was a fight among the officers and soldiers, and even internal strife. Therefore, Yu Gong's explanation was that he must be killed immediately, otherwise it might cause greater trouble. Later, the court seemed to also Accept this statement.”
Oh, this is indeed a reason, but the question is... was the Zhang Lian captured by Jiang Manqing at that time the real Zhang Lian?
Gao Pragmatic has always been a conspiracy theorist, and he feels that this matter may not be simple. For example, if Jiang Manqing, the traitorous general, was a double agent, he pretended to surrender to the army, but in fact he only provided cover for Zhang Lian and claimed to have captured Zhang Lian, but in fact he used a fake to deceive the army. No one in the army or the army had ever seen Zhang Lian, so they probably believed it to be true. In addition, internal strife broke out between the government and the army. In order to calm the situation, Yu Dayou did not bother to carefully check whether this Zhang Lian was the other Zhang Lian and killed him first. Then the truth of this matter will be lost to history forever.
In this way, Liu Xian's report was "Zhang Lian died in the rebellion", and Yu Dayou's report was "Zhang Lian has been executed", but no matter who they said was right and who was wrong, for Jiajing who was already in poor health at the time It doesn't matter to the emperor - since the traitor is dead on both sides, where exactly and by whose hands does it matter? What he wants is to destroy the rebels, and what he wants is that Zhang Lian is dead!
However, as Liu Xian's eldest son, Liu Wei had obviously heard Liu Xian's version of the battle, so he knew that Zhang Lian might not be dead at all!
Gao pragmatic blinked and looked at Liu Wei: "Are you suspecting that Cao Gan is Zhang Lian?"
"That's not true. Although I don't know Zhang Lian's exact appearance, the officers and soldiers knew some of his characteristics at the time. For example, he should have triangular eyes, but Cao Gan has a pair of leopard eyes. Eyes." Liu Wei said: "The reason why I felt something was wrong when he mentioned Zhang Lian was because of Cao Gan's accent!"
"Accent?" Gao Pingshi recalled slightly.
Liu Wei was impatient, and immediately said: "You know, Mr. Gao, my father was originally from Nanchang, and I can also speak Jiangxi dialect. Although Cao Gan spoke with a northern accent, he always had a Jiangxi flavor. For someone else, maybe I can’t tell, but my ancestral home is Nanchang.”
