Chapter 73 2. Accept the recruitment, and go to Fugu City

Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng turned against Fengyang City, Li Zicheng and Gao Yingxiang went west, Zhang Xianzhong continued eastward, surrounded Luzhou, Shucheng, attacked Tongcheng, fell into Lujiang, Tuchao, Wuwei, Qianshan, Taihu, Susong and other cities.After being intercepted by the Ming army, he turned west and entered Guanzhong, and once again joined forces with Gao Yingxiang. Before long, Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong went east to the Central Plains, while Li Zicheng went west, winning successive victories in killing Ai Wannian and Cao Wenzhao. But Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong, who went eastward to the Central Plains again, were not so lucky.They were attacked by Ming generals Zuo Liangyu and Zu Kuan, and suffered heavy losses. The two moved separately.Zhang Xianzhong's activities also fell into a trough.

Immediately, Lu Xiangsheng, governor of Huguang, was transferred northward by Chongzhen. The Ming army's pressure in the Huguang area dropped sharply, and Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai and other ministries became active again. At the beginning of the tenth year of Chongzhen, Yang Sichang was appointed Minister of the Ministry of War by Chongzhen, and formulated the combat plan of "four positives and six corners, ten sides to spread the net". In October, the plan was officially launched, and various Ming armies began to coordinate the encirclement and suppression. Zhang Xianzhong also suffered major setbacks between Henan and Huguang.He pretended to be his old enemy Zuo Liangyu's tribe and rushed to Nanyang, stationed in Nanguan.It happened that Zuo Liangyu led his troops to pass by. He heard that there was a "Zuo Liangyu army" nearby that he didn't even know about. He knew that he had run into Li Gui.Zuo Liangyu "suspected and recruited him urgently", Zhang Xianzhong knew that he couldn't hide it, so he fled hurriedly, but the Zuo army had already besieged him.

As a result of the battle, Zhang Xianzhong's army was severely injured, and he was wounded, and was almost captured by Zuo Liangyu.Some said that he was shot in the forehead by an arrow from the Ming general Luo Dai, and some said that he was hit by two arrows and was wounded by a knife on his forehead—in any case, Zhang Xianzhong had an extra scar on his forehead. At that time, most of the peasant armies suffered heavy blows and were either wiped out or surrendered.After Zhang Xianzhong retreated to Huguang, he knew that Chen Hongfan, the great benefactor of the year, had been promoted to the commander-in-chief and was in Huguang, under the command of Xiong Wencan, the prime minister of the military affairs of the six provinces.Zhang Xianzhong then sent someone to beg Chen Hongfan to surrender, asking "kill the thief and do it yourself".Chen Hongfan had a good impression of Zhang Xianzhong, and since he had made another extraordinary achievement, he was naturally willing to help Xiong Wencan for him.

This Prime Minister Xiong Wencan started his career by appeasing pirates.Who has he courted?The most famous is Zheng Zhilong, the father of the famous national hero Zheng Chenggong in Chinese history. Zheng Zhilong devoted himself to pirates in his early years and once smuggled into Japan.At that time, the Chinese were willing to go to Japan, but it was too late for them to welcome them, and it was not illegal to talk about it—they even married wives and had children. Yes, it was the famous national hero Zheng Chenggong.Later, he was recruited by Xiong Wencan, then governor of Fujian, and became a general of the Ming Dynasty.Later, due to commercial disputes, he won with Liu Xianghuo, who was also a pirate. Of course, these have become Xiong Wencan's "political achievements".

Although he has the guerrilla brand of coastal defense of the Ming Dynasty, Mr. Zheng Zhilong is really a multi-faceted role integrating pirates, smuggling predators, Taiwan's protector, international trader and Northeast Asian maritime law and order defender. ".In order to obtain official acquiescence, he sent a steady stream of protection fee income to Mr. Xiong Wencan's treasury, so Mr. Xiong is quite rich, and he further believes that "recruiting" is a very mutually beneficial measure to suppress bandits. Of course, Mr. Xiong himself can't run out of these money, so he formed a good relationship between the court and China, and by the way sold his experience in "suppressing bandits".Even Emperor Chongzhen heard about his good reputation from the eunuchs. As soon as Yang Sichang recommended him to be prime minister, the emperor agreed.

Since Zhang Xianzhong wanted to "seek care", of course he had to follow Zheng Zhilong's precedent.But even so, it is not easy to dispel the emperor's anger - after all, Zhang Xianzhong dug Chongzhen's ancestral grave! But there is room for change. First of all, when the Fengyang imperial mausoleum was excavated, the local officials were afraid of taking greater responsibility, so they only vaguely told the emperor that only the auxiliary buildings of the imperial mausoleum were burned, but did not report that the mausoleum had been excavated. Secondly, Zhang Xianzhong happened to have an old man named Xue, and even more coincidentally, Xue Guoguan, the chief assistant of the cabinet, was also named Xue.Coincidentally, the two are fellow villagers, and Zhang Xianzhong's General Xue is also Xue Shoufu's son and nephew.Therefore, as long as he is willing to spend money, he can buy Xue Shoufu to speak for Zhang Xianzhong.

Zhang Xianzhong did spend a lot of money, and it is estimated that the resentment will not be small.So much so that after more than three hundred years, he borrowed Mr. Yao Xueyin's handwriting and scolded: "Mom, I almost squeezed out my savings for several years!" However, the "recommendation" was finally negotiated, and Zhang Xianzhong easily occupied the territory near Gucheng, claiming to be a good man. But not all Ming officials believed that Zhang Xianzhong really surrendered. The inspector censor Lin Mingqiu, Xiangyang branch inspector Wang Ruizhan and Zuo Liangyu discussed with each other and planned to take advantage of the opportunity of surrender to arrest Zhang Xianzhong. Xiong Wencan was afraid that these guys would ruin his reputation, so he did not agree.More importantly, he was afraid of upsetting the other peasant troops who had been recruited.

Xiong Wencan was only willing to pay Zhang Xianzhong 20,000 people, but Zhang Xianzhong insisted that he had 100,000 "strong men", so he asked for 100,000 people's salary - no wonder Zuo Liangyu was not happy: I am a regular army who has made military exploits, and I have not yet Pay so much money!He Zhang Xianzhong, a "rogue" who lost the battle, why should he? So Zhang Xianzhong refused to assist the Ming army in the crusade against other "rogues" on the pretext that the troops were not full.But he is fairly well-behaved in Gucheng. He married the younger sister of a raw worker as his wife, and the army does not disturb the people. It seems that he lives in peace and contentment.

But some people are still worried. Huguang governor Yu Yinggui wrote to Xiong Wencan, saying that Zhang Xianzhong would rebel and should be eliminated as soon as possible—unfortunately, this letter was intercepted by Zhang Xianzhong.So Zhang Xianzhong cried and made a fuss to the court, saying that he sincerely surrendered, but now he has been treated unfairly and his heart has been traumatized. It just so happened that this Mr. Yu Yinggui had impeached Yang He, the father of the current celebrity Yang Sichang, the former governor of the three sides.So Yang Sichang must have made trouble.As a result, Mr. Yu was dismissed from his post and exiled into the army. From then on, no one dared to easily criticize Zhang Xianzhong.

Zhang Xianzhong became more and more courageous, and some Gucheng residents even reported that they saw him and the famous rogue Li Zicheng drinking together furtively, and seemed to be discussing some illegal activities. It is said that some military supplies were also sent to Li Zicheng. Anyway, in May of the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong, who had regained his vitality, rebelled again.He killed Ruan Zhichuan, the magistrate of Gucheng, and kidnapped two generals sent by his benefactor Chen Hongfan to monitor him. Even more wicked, he actually wrote a book of accounts on the wall.Whoever collected his money, what year, month, and day, and how much was collected, never left a single item.It is said that only Wang Ruizhan, who conspired with Zuo Liangyu to assassinate him, never received a penny from him.

In Zhang Xianzhong's life, he has done this with the most courage.