Although Zhang Xianzhong only proclaimed himself a king, not an emperor, he established the six ministries and the five military governor's offices, and even opened courses to recruit scholars. Needless to say, what he will do next!
This situation, no matter which dynasty it is, will never be allowed.
The local authorities did not dare to conceal the report, and they all reported it urgently.
Even with Duke Xingguo's current power, it was impossible to suppress the news.
Of course, Zhang Mingwei didn't want to pressure him. He just let the process go as it should, and he didn't mind.
Generally speaking, in this case, the imperial court must strictly urge the relevant people to eliminate such thieves who want to become emperor as soon as possible. The pressure on the local government will definitely be very great.
However, it is Xingguo Gong Zhang Mingwei who is now responsible for leading the attack on Zhang Xianzhong's bandits.
The decree given by Emperor Chongzhen was that Duke Xingguo would be solely responsible for everything, and Duke Xingguo would decide on specific matters.
As for Zhang Mingwei, it is still the same as before, as if Zhang Xianzhong became king never happened, and it remains the same as before.
Every time the army recaptured a place, they were not in a hurry to march. Instead, Zhang Mingwei personally took care of local affairs and resettled the people.
During this period, it is the busiest time for the art soldiers in the army. Songs, skits, performances take turns.
Zhang Mingwei even went on stage personally and composed several new sketches.
For example, there is a sketch that mainly depicts a family living well at first, but when a thief comes, the family is destroyed;
For another example, there is a sketch about a family living a very hard life. Even though they are very hard-working, they often have too much to eat. As a result, the court exempted half of the tax. Then, the government promoted the cultivation of sweet potatoes and potatoes. The kind that does not take up farmland, and then the whole family can eat well.
…
Many times, when the imperial court issued a decree, the original intention may have been good, but when implemented at the local level, it completely changed and harmed the people.
In this process, there were problems of understanding, problems of local officials deliberately misinterpreting the imperial will based on their own selfish interests, and obstruction by local tyrants and evil gentry, etc.
As a result, when some good policies were implemented at the local level, not only were they not implemented, but bad ones were implemented.
One of the simplest and most common ones is actually that local officials often add taxes privately in addition to the taxes stipulated by the court!
For ordinary people, they don't even know the words, let alone understand the imperial decree. Anyway, they can only believe what the local officials and local squires say.
But this time, the army is stationed, and the female soldiers in the army have to perform a show. Don't say that there are no entertainment programs in this era. Even if there are, this gimmick alone can attract people to watch them.
And after the performance of easy-to-understand songs and very immersive skits, these people who are far away from the capital all know: Oh, so this is it!
The content that Zhang Mingwei wanted to convey was conveyed very quickly through this very novel method.
In addition to this kind of publicity, Zhang Mingwei is of course also doing practical things.
For example, it will be difficult to quickly resettle the people in places that have just been ravaged by bandits, or even those places where bandits and the army have been fighting back and forth before, and have suffered military disasters again and again. After all, under the war, Everything was ruined.
Therefore, Zhang Mingwei organized the refugees and used the disabled soldiers in the army who could no longer fight to carry out military management. He led these refugees to either open up wasteland, build water conservancy projects, or even rebuild houses on the ruins.
At the same time, a cement factory was also set up, which could be used for these things.
In short, when Zhang Mingwei led the army and set off, what was left to the local area was full of vitality.
Regarding this, Zhu Ailao couldn't help but said: "Sir, it would be a pity if the bandit comes again!"
She followed Zhang Mingwei on his expeditions to the north and south, and she naturally saw all kinds of tragic scenes along the way. Now that the ruins are being rebuilt, it is of course very emotional.
"So we have to solve the problem of stray thieves and give the people an environment to live and work in peace and contentment!" After hearing this, Zhang Mingwei replied with a smile, "With our steady and steady attack, it is impossible for large groups of thieves to go around to the rear. Small groups of thieves If so, I believe they don’t want their current life to be ruined by bandits, and they will definitely rise up to resist. I keep some veterans in the local area and use military means to manage it, which is actually the purpose. Not to mention, there are local officials here. "
After hearing this, Zhu Aao nodded immediately, and couldn't help but sigh: "If I had done this earlier, maybe there wouldn't be... nothing like that!"
Because she was surrounded by people, she originally wanted to subjugate her country, but she changed her tune in time.
Of course Zhang Mingwei understood what she was going to say, but he didn't agree. He said to Zhu Yura: "It was impossible to do it before. Think about it, how much food does it cost to do this? The reason why we can do it , we got a large sum of money from Yangzhou Mansion, and the prince is doing his best to support us behind the scenes, otherwise, it will be difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without straw!"
After hearing this, Zhu Yuyao thought for a while, and finally nodded convinced and said: "What you said is absolutely true!"
After finishing speaking, she looked at Zhang Mingwei and suddenly added: "Thanks to Mr. coming, Ming Dynasty is what it is today!"
After hearing this, Zhang Mingwei just smiled and was not modest.
But those people around them couldn't understand this last sentence. What's the meaning of luckily Mr. came?
To be honest, what is the most mysterious thing about the Ming Dynasty today?
The origin of Duke Xingguo is definitely one of them!
So far, they don’t know where Xingguo Gong comes from!
………………
In this way, Zhang Mingwei led the army to advance slowly and arrived not far from Huangzhou Prefecture, which is where Huanggang was in later generations. It was surrounded by the Yangtze River to the south and the Ba River to the east. Zhang Xianzhong accumulated heavy troops here as a barrier to Wuchang. .
The leading general is Li Dingguo, who is not the most outstanding but the most stable among Zhang Xianzhong's adopted sons. Of course, at this time, his name was still Zhang Dingguo, taking the surname Zhang Xianzhong.
After Zhang Mingwei learned about this situation, he did not rush to attack. Instead, the army stationed down and rested while starting a public opinion offensive again.
But this time, the bandits also had a way to deal with it, that is, they also started a public opinion war, publicizing the incompetence of the imperial court, the stupidity of the emperor, the rule of treacherous ministers, the rampant corruption of corrupt officials, and the brutality of the officers and soldiers, etc.
Relatively speaking, this is definitely an improvement over what Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai did back then. If they had used it earlier to deal with the imperial officers and soldiers, they might have become even more powerful now.
However, what they were facing now was the imperial army led by Zhang Mingwei. Not only did they have the best military discipline, but they also set an example wherever they went.
The so-called truth is far less true than what you see!
Zhang Mingwei is happy to engage in this public opinion war, because he knows that the traitors are just repeating the same old tune, and that today's court is no longer the same court as before.
Ordinary people have eyes, and they can tell for themselves which side is right.
He has every reason to believe that as long as this public opinion battle continues, Zhang Xianzhong's army will not be any better than Li Zicheng in the end!
However, after all, the thief was prepared. For example, after Zhang Xianzhong became king, he also announced a three-year tax exemption. It must be said that this was very popular.
In this regard, Zhang Mingwei took action and publicized it by asking questions.
The bandits said they would not collect taxes for three years, so what would they eat and drink during these three years? The army is fighting, not playing house. Even if some money is confiscated, can it support the bandits for three years?
If the war goes well for the bandits, and they capture every place they attack, then maybe they can solve the problem by continuously ransacking homes, which, according to the bandits, is to recover stolen goods and pay them.
However, the reality today is that the bandits are surrounded in Huguang. With the imperial army gathering, can the thieves continue to pursue stolen goods and pay them?
Also, since the incident with the King of Chu, the imperial court once again issued strict orders, and the city defenses in various places have been significantly strengthened. If a bandit wants to conquer a city, the price he has to pay will be even greater.
All these factors have tilted the balance of victory in the public opinion war towards the court officials and soldiers.
However, Zhang Mingwei was not happy because at this time, he finally received the news from Xichuan.
What people didn't expect was that Zuo Liangyu's troops, who had been defeated before and almost forgotten, had already advanced westward along the Yangtze River and captured Kuizhou, the gateway to Sichuan, in a sneak attack.
Just when Zuo Liangyu was getting carried away and sent troops to the hinterland of Sichuan, Li Zicheng followed up and captured Kuizhou, which was occupied by Zuo Liangyu.
In Sichuan today, the imperial army, the rebels led by Zuo Liangyu and Hou Xun, and the bandits led by Li Zicheng are at war.
Although Qin Liangyu, the commander-in-chief of Sichuan, was sixty-eight years old, she was still in good health. In addition, she had rich war experience. Although the incident happened suddenly, she still took immediate measures and advised Sichuan Governor Chen Shiqi to send troops to guard thirteen passes. . to block the rebel attack.
As a result, Chen Shiqi had no military skills and looked down upon female generals, so he didn't agree at all, which wasted a lot of time.
But at this time, the eight hundred miles urgent messenger Zhang Mingwei had sent to warn Sichuan arrived, saying that Li Zicheng would lead troops to attack Sichuan, and Zhang Mingwei also stated clearly in the letter that Qin Liangyu would be reused.
At this time, Chen Shiqi started to do business and entrusted Qin Liangyu with important tasks. However, it was a little late after all, and Zuo Liangyu broke into Sichuan.
Later, on Hou Xun's suggestion, Zuo Liangyu went around to form alliances with Sichuan chieftains and win over those chieftains. While the two sides were fighting, Li Zicheng arrived.
But at this time, Wu Sangui led the army and arrived.
Therefore, the current situation in Sichuan is a situation where the three parties are at war with each other.
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