In fact, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were defeated countless times by the imperial army. Even in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, in the original history, the coalition forces led by Gezuo Fifth Battalion and Li Zicheng were defeated by Huang Degong and others.
However, the advantage of the wandering thieves is that they can come back very quickly, as if they had never been defeated. It even gets stronger the more you fight, why?
That is, local order cannot be restored, and refugees caused by defeats, military disasters, etc. cannot be resettled. Just killing some people will not work at all.
And if you want to change this situation, you need the court to have enough money and food to stabilize everything.
And if you want to get money quickly, the most convenient way is of course to confiscate your home and ask for execution. Who is the richest person here in the south, the salt merchant!
Zhang Mingwei's target is them!
Since Pan Ji's control of the river in the last year of Wanli, the Yellow River has been basically fixed in Kaifeng, Lankao, Shangqiu, Dangshan, Xuzhou, Suqian, and Huaiyin. It is now the old route of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and has been flowing for 300 years.
Going south along the Yellow River, you can reach Yangzhou directly.
It can be said that Zhang Mingwei's first stop was to go to the salt merchants for money.
For this reason, of course he had made a plan clear with Emperor Chongzhen, and before the army set off, he had already sent the Jin Yiwei to secretly go to Yangzhou Mansion.
Zhang Mingwei, who traveled through time in later generations, was not used to the ancient transportation. What can be reached by high-speed rail in one day takes a month to travel. It’s crazy!
The time consumed by this inconvenience also made him a little worried.
An important reason why there were constant military disasters in the late Ming Dynasty was that the bandits could not be killed. For example, this time in the Battle of Kaifeng, although it was a great victory on the surface, it was really thanks to Li Zicheng that Luo Rucai was destroyed. Otherwise, if Luo Rucai ran away, he would definitely make a comeback.
And with the strength of the imperial army at this time in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, it was almost impossible to fight a war of annihilation. Because the bandits are powerful and not dead, they will run away if they cannot be defeated.
Why is it said that traveling through the Ming Dynasty is so difficult as hell? In fact, it is a very difficult question. If the Liudong bandits cannot be annihilated quickly, Liaodong built-up barbarians will inevitably step in. The strength of the imperial army is limited. Is it better to defeat the bandit bandits or build-up barbarians?
Even this time, if Li Zicheng made up his mind and took advantage of Zhang Mingwei to go to Jiangnan to quell the chaos, he would invade Henan again. Although Du Yinxi was there, arrangements had been made for the bandits to come again. But whether we can use so many lowered soldiers to defend Li Zicheng's troops is also a question.
Just like in the original history, if the Yongwei camp is strong, it will win the battle against the bandit. However, there were too many stray thieves and they couldn't be defeated at all. In the end, they had to be separated and fought separately to fight the stray thieves. In the end, they were submerged in the sea of stray thieves, which did not play any role in reversing the situation.
Thinking of all this, Zhang Mingwei could only further influence the thieves through the battle of public opinion.
For this reason, he wrote a special narrative about Li Laiheng's abandonment of the dark side and turned to the bright side, and published it in "Ming Pao" to publicize it as much as possible.
Although he has been marching, Zhang Mingwei has already started preparations for the battle in Jiangnan. Many measures were implemented quickly and immediately before the army was dispatched.
Finally, in mid-September of the 15th year of Chongzhen, Zhang Mingwei led the army, advancing on both sides of the river and land, and was not far from Yangzhou, the most prosperous city in the south of the Yangtze River.
On the Jiangnan side, we naturally heard the news that a hundred thousand troops would arrive. Moreover, Duke Xingguo made it clear that the army would rest for a few days after arriving at Yangzhou Prefecture. Suddenly, both the officialdom and the people were shocked.
Today's Jiangnan bandits are mainly composed of Gezuo Wuying and Ba Dawang. They are mainly active in Fengyang Prefecture, Luzhou Prefecture and Anqing Prefecture under the jurisdiction of Southern Zhili. They are located upstream of Yingtian Prefecture, naturally away from Yangzhou. Just further. As for Yangzhou Mansion itself, there are only a few thieves.
Many people, especially those in the officialdom, including local squires, did not want Duke Xingguo to come to Yangzhou Prefecture. Because they know that the current Xingguo Duke is so powerful that there is currently no possibility of overthrowing him. The most important thing is that everything this Duke Xingguo did in the Central Plains was not very friendly to people like them.
For this reason, as the army gets closer and closer, there are more and more rumors in the streets.
"Our Yangzhou Prefecture is doing well. Why did Duke Xingguo come to Yangzhou? Isn't it because he is afraid of the bandits, so he doesn't dare to go to Fengyang and Luzhou to fight the bandits?"
"What, Duke Xingguo won a great victory and also destroyed Cao Cao? Let me tell you, no, that was the result of the bandits' own rebellion. I heard that in the Battle of Kaifeng, there was no hard-fought battle, it was all bandits. You did it yourself!”
"With the arrival of a hundred thousand troops, our prosperous Yangzhou Prefecture will suffer. Think about it. It is said that at least half of the troops in Duke Xingguo's army were recruited from bandits."
"Actually, it's not just rogue thieves, but also the officers and soldiers of the imperial court. As the saying goes, thieves are like combs and soldiers are like grates. Whether they are rogue thieves or imperial officers and soldiers, no one is harming the people nowadays!"
"..."
Under such rumors, especially when there are real cases to refer to, almost all the people in Yangzhou Prefecture are worried about the imminent arrival of the army. Not to mention the welcome along the way, the army has not arrived yet, and everyone has almost run away. Those who couldn't run away stayed at home and didn't dare to go out.
In short, Yangzhou Prefecture and other state capitals in the south of the Yangtze River did not dare to say explicitly that they did not welcome Duke Xingguo, but various signs showed that this was what they meant.
However, in a big city like Yangzhou, there is no way to escape. With the power of Duke Xingguo, no one dared to deny Duke Xingguo entry into the city.
Therefore, on this day, I heard that the Xingguo government headquarters was not far away. Under the leadership of the Yangzhou Prefecture magistrate and other local officials, they led a group of squires and led the people to go out to greet them cautiously.
While waiting, a squire asked the magistrate of Yangzhou Prefecture: "Sir, are Duke Xingguo's army going to enter the city?"
Hearing this question, the other squires became even more worried and quickly started talking too.
"Sir, if soldiers enter the city, the consequences will be disastrous!"
"Yes, your Excellency is the parent officer of our Yangzhou Prefecture, but for the sake of the people of Yangzhou Prefecture, we must not allow soldiers to enter the city!"
"..."
Not only them, but also the people were worried.
However, there are also people with different attitudes, that is, some of the Yingying Yanyan from various sex centers in Yangzhou who are joining in the fun among the crowd in the distance. What they say is completely different.
"Do you think that Wubai of Zhongyuan is really the Duke of Xingguo?"
"Ah, I really envy Chen Yuanyuan for getting such a blessing!"
"The same goes for Duke Xingguo. Let's finish the war quickly. The misunderstanding between Guo Jing and Huang Rong is really heart-wrenching. I really hope lovers will get married eventually!"
"The slave family has all the Ming Pao in their hands. I wonder if I can ask Duke Xingguo to write an inscription for it?"
"Have you heard that Duke Xingguo made another song? It seems to be "Defend the Yellow River". It's a very strange song!"
"..."
In addition, there is another group that is unique to Yangzhou Prefecture, which is the group of salt merchants.
The so-called squire, at this time, actually refers to those who have a good reputation and are not officials in the government. For example, there are those who are talented people, and those who have been officials but now no longer hold official positions.
The group of salt merchants, generally the group of people who made a fortune by selling salt with the backing of the imperial court, had the deepest relationship with the Salt Road Yamen, and were certainly the richest.
This group of people has the most wealth, so they live the most luxurious lives. Not to mention the size of the mansion, there were so many servants. It was normal to have a big banquet every three days and a small banquet every day. There are even salt merchants who throw gold or silver foil from the tower, and then watch in amusement as the people below grab it frantically. The romantic places and the thin horses in Yangzhou are famous all over the country. Why, because there are many rich people in them.
At this time, they were arranged according to their status, standing behind the group of squires, and they were also talking in low voices.
"Let me tell you, this Duke Xingguo came to our Yangzhou specifically, and he may have come here for the wealth of our Yangzhou. Oh, the person who came here is not evil!"
"So what, we don't have any prisoners, and we can't even be accused of being a liaison with thieves."
"Yes, if he dares to deal with us, what will happen to the salt administration of the court?"
"I think you are a bit unfounded. Let me tell you, this Xingguo Gong is also a romantic and talented man. Maybe he came here because he admires our Yangzhou romance!"
"It's really possible. Wasn't that Chen Yuanyuan accepted by him? He even became the editor-in-chief of that "Ming Pao" newspaper. Haha, it's a waste of time to be romantic!"
"Let me tell you, I have actually spent a lot of money to find some top-notch beauties. Duke Bao Xing is satisfied!"
"By the way, we can't imitate those Shanxi merchants. We need to have some discernment, collect a large gift to the Duke, and send him away."
"..."
While they were discussing, a horse came running wildly along the river, shouting: "Coming, coming..."
Upon hearing this shout, everyone who was talking, whether they were welcoming or not, stopped talking. One by one, they turned to look north, feeling either uneasy, uneasy, or looking forward to waiting for Duke Xingguo to lead the army.
However, before they saw the army, they heard a faint sound.
Suddenly, they were surprised.
"Why is it so noisy? Could it be that Duke Xingguo is leading the army himself and the military discipline of the army is so bad?"
"It's hard to say, unless most of the imperial army was recruited and expanded by rogue thieves, how good can the military discipline be?"
"Doesn't that mean we are in trouble in Yangzhou?"
"..."
Many people talked, worried, and thought about running away.
However, if they dare not welcome Duke Xingguo, what if Duke Xingguo becomes unhappy?
Suddenly, many people were in a dilemma.
Just like that, after a while, the shadow of the army finally turned out from the foot of the mountain in the distance, and the sound became clearer.
Precisely because they heard it more clearly, these Yangzhou people who heard it were immediately dumbfounded.
