Chapter 12 Chapter 12 is purely accidental

The Shandong rebellion is a troublesome matter, but it is not a big deal if you compare it with the Northwest. It is said that when Zhu Yuanzhang established the capital, he once asked someone to make a fortune teller. The general content is similar to that of doing business now, such as how many years the business can last, what are the taboos, and so on. It is said that the fortune-telling half-immortal thought for a long time and said eight words: Beginning in the southeast and ending in the northwest. Zhu Yuanzhang established his capital in Nanjing, which is in the southeast. According to the instructions of this sentence, the person who finally took care of him came from the northwest.

This sentence seems very mysterious, but in fact it may not be.I don’t know if this half-immortal understands fortune-telling, but he definitely understands history. Since ancient times, the regime in the Central Plains has been ruined, except for those who tossed themselves to death. Most of the outsiders, such as Huns and Mongolia, are all in the northwest. But as far as Chongzhen is concerned, he must not believe it.Because the biggest threat to the Ming Dynasty was Hou Jin.Then Jin's position is in the northeast, even if it is destroyed, it starts from the southeast and ends in the northeast.

But the facts tell us that fortune-telling is sometimes very accurate. There have been troubles in the Northwest for a long time, but it was not big at first, at most dozens of people robbed a shop, took a few kitchen knives, went up to the mountain to become a bandit after the trouble was over, and killed the highest official, that is, a county magistrate. Well, maybe in the future, he can be recruited and become a regular army. In the first year of Chongzhen, things became serious. Throughout Shaanxi and Gansu, there were frequent civil upheavals, and killing the county magistrate was only the beginning.In some places, the governor was killed, and the gang was not disbanded after the killing and looting, and they often ran around, robbing wherever they went.

This kind of gang is called a bandit in history books. The characteristic of the thieves is that they run around, leave after grabbing, and change places with one shot.Not very organized.If you finished robbing yesterday, you can leave today. If you were robbed yesterday, you can join in robbing others today.Membership is highly mobile, but there is a fixed leadership team. In Northwest China at that time, there were many teams like this, and there were also many excellent team managers.But over time, problems emerged. Due to the high mobility of members and no fixed office space, the culture of gang members is low, and they hang out with each other every day. After a long time, it is difficult to distinguish who is who.

In order to properly solve this problem, the team leaders came up with a trick - nicknames. Therefore, in the first year of Chongzhen, the governor of Shaanxi submitted the report to the emperor with the following titles: Feitianhu, Feishanhu, Huntianwang, Monk Wang, Black Killing God, Big Red Wolf, Little Red Wolf, Yizhangqing, Shangtianlong, Guotianxing. It's all nicknames. Taking such a nickname is very in line with actual needs.After all, the culture of the team members is relatively low. If you want to take titles like Left General and Right Commander, he doesn't know what that means. Moreover, most of these nicknames are gods, ghosts, and monsters, and they sound quite majestic.

As for who the gods and demons mentioned above are, don't ask me, I don't know. Given that this industry is very risky and there are many practitioners, if you are unlucky and just enter the industry, it is normal to get killed after getting a good nickname.Moreover, many nicknames are too loud and have a high usage rate. Often several people share the same nickname. It is really difficult to figure out who is who. It doesn't matter what the name is or what the last name is. You just need to know that the Northwest at that time was beyond control. According to general history books, the reason for this situation is that in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, the court was corrupt, the economy was depressed, corrupt officials and officials were levied countless miscellaneous taxes, and the people were destitute, so they took risks.

This kind of statement is a cliché in the legend, although it is not nonsense, it is similar. Because it is not. Many people don't know that the private economy in the late Ming Dynasty was not depressed. For example, the economy in the southeast coast was really good, and business was booming. Everyone was working together to start the budding of capitalism. Why is it depressed? There are not many taxes. In the past two hundred years, the tax on official land was only 10%, and the tax on private landlords was at most 20%.Later, when the three rates were levied, it was only 40%.Of course, landlords and bullies are excluded.

The reason why there are so many heroes in the Northwest is because Chongzhen was unlucky and encountered something. There is a saying in the golden mean: when a country is about to prosper, there must be auspicious auspiciousness, and when a country is about to perish, there must be evildoers. In fact, it’s nothing to encounter a monster, after all, there is still an entity, if it’s really not good, find someone to destroy it. What Chongzhen encountered was called a famine. Turning over the history books, you can't help but sigh that Comrade Chongzhen's luck is really bad: In the first year of Chongzhen, there was a drought in Shaanxi.In the second year of Chongzhen, there was a drought in Shaanxi, in the third year of Chongzhen, there was a drought in Shaanxi, in the fourth year of Chongzhen, there was a drought in Shaanxi...

After a famine, if there is no food to eat, it is a famine. If there is no food to eat, they cannibalize people. For those affected by the disaster, cannibalism is not a fairy tale. It is said that at that time, children from all over the Northwest were not allowed to run around. If they were not watched and ran out, they would basically be gone. Note, it's not missing, it's gone. Missing means being abducted, and missing means being eaten. It is said that there was still a human flesh market at that time, and you can know the specific business by looking at the name. Having said so much, I just want to say that this is not a fairy tale, nor a myth, but the truth.

Since there is a famine, why doesn't the court provide relief? The answer is simple, no money. An economist told me earlier that the real reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty was lack of money. I agree, the budget deficit is too much, earning less than spending, and finally collapsed. But he looked at me and said: I said no money, not no income, but no money. is there any difference? Then, he talked for an hour, and then, I flipped through economics for a month and understood the difference. I would like to tell you from the beginning to the end what I understand.But if I do, I will be tired, and you will be tired too, so I decided, in a few words, to make this problem clear.

The demise of the Ming Dynasty was not a simple political issue. In fact, it was an important case in the history of the world economy. The so-called no money means no silver. The Ming Dynasty was one of the most advanced countries in the world at that time. When Chongzhen took over, the commodity economy was already very developed, and the symbol of a very developed commodity economy was currency. The currency of the Ming Dynasty was silver. Simply put, no money means no silver, no silver, no matter how many economic plans and financial statements you have, it is all nonsense. For example, when Shaanxi was hit by a disaster, the court estimated that one million taels of silver was needed for disaster relief, but even if you took the emperor's imperial decree to Shaanxi, you would not be able to exchange one tael of silver, because there was no silver, so disaster relief was impossible. Well, the next question, why is there no silver. Let me correct it first, it's not that there is no silver, but that there is not enough silver. Why is there not enough silver? This is a very complicated economic issue. I don't really want to talk about it, and I guess people don't want to hear it either.But it doesn't seem to work if I don't talk about it, just say a few words. In words that everyone can understand, silver is limited, and the imperial court may not be able to earn back a tael after spending one tael of silver. In addition, the people of our country have always been known for their diligence and thrift. Many people get real money and don’t like to spend it. Either keep it at home, or dissolve it, make some incense burners, portraits, etc., and beautify the environment, so there is less and less silver in the market. More importantly, the commodity economy of the Ming Dynasty was too developed. The more developed the economy, the more silver was needed, but there was only so much silver, so in the end, there was not enough silver.This phenomenon, in economics, has a common name - deflation. I know that some people will ask this question - why not use paper money? Very well, if you ask this question, you are very smart. But I want to tell you that this question was asked more than six hundred years before you.This person's name is Zhu Yuanzhang. More than 600 years ago, he thought of this problem, so he began to issue banknotes. In economics, there is a saying: A stick can't beat an economic theory. The popular meaning of this sentence is that no matter how good you are, you must follow the rules. Zhu Yuanzhang is a great man, so he has to follow the rules.Although he issued banknotes, one thousand and ten thousand were printed, it is a pity that for hundreds of years, people still recognize silver and not banknotes, no matter how good they are, it is useless. That's the end of this question, so I won't say anything superfluous. You just need to know that Comrade Chongzhen wanted to provide disaster relief. The reason why disaster relief failed was because there was no money. The reason why there was no money was because there was no silver. The reason why there was no silver... Of course, apart from natural disasters and silver disasters, the reason why the Northwest rioted first was because of some local characteristics. The northwest area has always been relatively short of water, relatively poor, and relatively neglected. In addition, the local officials are relatively nonsense, so the people in this place live a relatively miserable life. Life is hard, there is no place to eat, so naturally there is no condition to study. If you don't have the conditions to study, you will naturally not be able to get a good name, and if you can't get a good name, you will naturally have no official job. If you don't have an official job, you have to find something to do. As for the people in the northwest, the most important job is to serve as soldiers. Life is hard, and the people's customs are naturally tough. Being a soldier is the most suitable job. In addition to serving as a soldier, there is a more suitable job-post station. Although the post station is relatively small, it is government-run anyway, and it can be regarded as eating the emperor's food. Moreover, all provinces have allocated funds, and if there are some unspoken rules, it is not a problem to earn some money and support themselves. According to statistics, in Gansu and Shaanxi alone, there are tens of thousands of people living in post stations. In the second year of Chongzhen (1629), the post station disappeared. As I said before, it was laid off, and it was a good man named Liu Mao who fired him. Comrade Chongzhen's luck is really bad. Famine, money shortage, and taking away other people's jobs, if there is no trouble, it will be abnormal. he did not do it on purpose. Everything is accidental.An accidental famine, an accidental cut-off of an inn, an accidental location. If any one of these had not happened by chance, perhaps there would have been no final demise. Unfortunately, it was all by chance. I used to be puzzled, so I decided that behind these accidents, there was a necessity, a real and decisive reason. It was this reason that led to the demise of the Ming Dynasty. I thought about it for a long time, and finally came up with the final reason, four words - my life is exhausted. Everything in this world has a time limit.If a person can be popular for two years, it is likely to be accidental. If he can be popular for ten years, he is a man of virtue. If he can be popular for twenty years, that is Andy Lau. The same is true for a company. It is normal to be able to operate for two years. It is not normal to be able to operate for 20 years. If it can be operated for 200 years, you can count it yourself. Feudal dynasties are similar to companies, and there are quite a few of them that have been rolled up after only a few years of operation.At most, it is only three hundred years, and the Ming Dynasty has been in existence for more than two hundred years, which is interesting enough. Of course, Chongzhen didn't think so. No matter what, he had to hold on, otherwise he would go underground and have no face to see Zhu Yuanzhang who opened the shop. So he sent out Yang He. Yang He, a native of Wuling, Huguang (Changde, Hunan), served as the left deputy capital censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate at that time.Unanimously recommended by the imperial court, Yang He was appointed Minister of the Ministry of War and Governor of the three sides, succeeding the previous Governor Wu Zhiwang. Work handover is very simple.It should be said that there is basically no need for a handover, because when Yang He took office, Wu Zhiwang was already dead. It wasn't homicide, it was suicide. Governor Wu is a very responsible person. In view of the many civil upheavals in the Northwest, it is estimated that there will be no good fruit to eat when he goes back, so he simply committed suicide. The reason why Yang He took over this position was because of an accidental conversation. Yang He is a person who has made relatively slow progress. He has been in the court for more than 30 years before he became the censor of the capital. It is all due to his mouth. The emperor liked Wei Zhongxian, and he scolded Wei Zhongxian; the emperor hated Xiong Tingbi, and he defended Xiong Tingbi.Say what you think, ups and downs, how to come and go. In the first year of Chongzhen, he was re-appointed as the censor. At that time, there were frequent civil upheavals, and everyone was discussing countermeasures. Once, several people got together and chatted.This is what they were talking about, and Yang He was among them. Yang He is from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and this matter has nothing to do with him. The reason why he got involved is still two words - owe. Anyway, it's just bragging, don't use the real thing, just talk nonsense.This one said to fight, then said to kill, so lively, Yang He finally couldn't help it, he said, neither can fight nor kill. Then he put forward his own theory - Yuan Qi theory. In his view, the rebels are, after all, ordinary people.If you kill too many people, you will damage your vitality. The country is now in a difficult situation, so you should cultivate your vitality instead of killing people indiscriminately. With a few words, everyone was completely dumbfounded. Regarding his point of view, everyone had the same evaluation-nonsense. If you don't kill people, how can you quell the chaos? This is a theory that is not accepted by the vast majority of people, it does not matter, as long as only one person accepts it. Not long after, Chongzhen learned of this theory, was very happy, and summoned Yang He. One good thing after another.Soon the Ministry of Officials took the initiative to propose that, in view of the practical value of Comrade Yang He's theory, it happened that Wu Zhiwang, the former governor of the three sides, died, and officially nominated Comrade Yang He for promotion to this post. Yang He didn't want to go.The reason is simple, it was just bragging, and you don't know how to fight at all, so what did you go to do?Being beaten? But the bulls are blown, plus the support of the officials and the emperor, with such a heavy responsibility on his shoulders, he gritted his teeth and went. But Comrade Yang didn't know that the reason why the Ministry of Officials supported him was because they hated him.The reason why the emperor supported him was to save trouble. Unlike Yang He, the comrades in the Ministry of Officials have all seen the world, and know that in order to suppress chaos, people must be killed, and killing people will lead to death, and death will lead to bloodshed.Yang He's tricks can only fool people. In order to achieve the effect of not forgetting the past and being a teacher of the future, so that countless idiots and nerds will understand that talking indiscriminately will be bad luck, so I recommend him to go. It's best to die there, even if you don't die, you can still lose layers of human skin. In comparison, Chongzhen's intentions were kinder.The reason why he likes Yang He is because Yang He put forward a good theory-the theory of saving money. It is too economical to quell the rebellion without spending money, without killing people, without military pay, and without dispatching troops. Even if it's a fool, at most he can pull Yang He back and cut it down, which saves costs. Such a business is worthless. In this way, the confused Yang He went to Shaanxi to take office. At least at the time, he felt good about himself. Among Yang He's theories, the core one is harmony. In his own words, killing is hurtful.So if one can be saved, it is one. After all, the people who participated in the civil uprising were originally the people. This theory, a year ago, should have been true. After Comrade Yang He took office, he realized something was wrong. Once, the peasant army attacked the county seat, was repelled, captured several prisoners, and was interrogated by Yang He. But before asking, Yang He discovered a very strange thing - he seemed to have seen these people. I did see it, I saw it during the military parade. That's right, these people used to stand in the military parade and used to be his subordinates. Is the peasant army's combat effectiveness strong? For this question, the best answer should be a rhetorical question-how can the combat effectiveness of the peasant army be so strong? In Chinese history, such activities as rebellion have always been passive.If you have nothing to do, as long as you have something to eat, no one will rebel, the cost is high, and the threshold is high. But unfortunately, the job of rebellion, in addition to the high cost and high threshold, is also high in technical content. You must know that in the Ming Dynasty, it was mainly farmers who participated in this activity.The basic work of a farmer is farming, and the basic tool is a hoe. It was Ming soldiers who prevented them from participating in this activity.The basic job of a soldier is to kill, and the basic tool is a sword. Therefore, in most cases in the late Ming Dynasty, it was unlikely that hundreds of peasant troops would fight hundreds of Ming troops.According to historical records, in most cases, tens of thousands of peasant troops defeated hundreds of Ming troops, or hundreds of peasant troops, and took care of a dozen or so yamen arresters. In most cases, thousands of Ming troops chased tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of peasant troops. There is no way, after all, fighting is a technical job.The sages have said that to give arms to untrained people, to fight, is to send them to death. Without training, without weapons, without the art of war, without command, there can be no victory. But Mr. Yang He was surprised to find that the situation he faced was completely different. In the civilian army in the northwest, in addition to amateur rebels, there are also many professional rebels—the Ming army, and there are many of them. They are proficient in tactics, cunning in combat, and understand the weaknesses of the Ming army. They are very difficult to deal with, and their numbers are increasing, and the people's upheaval is getting bigger and bigger. In the final analysis, the reason for such a situation is just two words-no money. As I said before, the court has no money.As a result of having no money, in addition to having no money for disaster relief, there is no money for military pay. According to statistics, there were approximately one million troops in the country at that time, and only more than 100,000 people in the Liaodong Military Region were able to receive their salaries on time. Moreover, even the Liaodong Army cannot guarantee that wages will be paid on time, and delays for several months are common.Comrade Yuan Chonghuan has dealt with related matters. Liaodong is the front line, and if this is the case, let alone other places.Since the northwest area is not the front line, it naturally has no money.Some people haven't been paid for several years, and they are so poor that they even sold their weapons, just looking for a meal. If there is no money for disaster relief, the common people will suffer, but there will be no way. If there is no money to pay, the soldiers will suffer. I have no money in my pocket and a knife in my hand, what should I do? Cold salad, grab it! This is the case, with fewer and fewer officers and soldiers, more and more militias, and the situation is becoming more and more unsustainable. The situation Yang He is facing is roughly the same. Everyone understands it, but he doesn't understand it. When he understands it, he won't be able to run away. If someone who can fight and use soldiers is replaced, he can survive for a few days at least, but Comrade Yang He's main specialty is the theory of recruiting, which is more troublesome.It is said that some people in the court joked that if Yang He could survive for a year, he would climb out backwards. Judging from the situation at the time, the possibility of this man climbing out was roughly zero.Comrade Yang He's layoff date is just around the corner. A year later, Yang He submitted a list to Chongzhen. On this list, there are more than a dozen names: Shen Yikui, Wang Zuogui, Wang Jiayin, Red Wolf, Little Red Wolf, Dian Dengzi, Guotian Xing, One-headed Tiger... (XX will be omitted below) The above people, etc., all surrendered. You can guess what these people are doing by looking at their names, but you probably don't know what weight these people have. Among the insurgents at that time, Shen Yikui was the most able to fight.The specific situation of this person is unknown, but he should have received military training, and he is very strong in combat. He belongs to the leader-level figure. Wang Zuogui, Wang Jiayin, if you don't know, it's not your fault.To these two brothers, just a few words are enough: At that time, under Wang Zuogui's subordinates, there was a small leader named Li Zicheng.The guard at the gate of Wang Jiayin's camp was called Zhang Xianzhong. As for the latter few, I won’t talk about it, and no one will know about it. You just need to understand that they were all first-class talents at the time, and if they were put on the scene, they would turn the world upside down. All surrendered. Except for these people, almost all the peasant armies in Shaanxi and Gansu surrendered at that time. The target of their surrender was Yang He, who was confused, didn't understand anything, and couldn't fight. A miracle happened like this, in front of everyone's eyes. Yang He doesn't know the art of war and is not familiar with military affairs, but he has one weapon that others don't have - sincerity. As an out-and-out good man, Mr. Yang sincerely sought out the rebels, negotiated with him, and persuaded them to surrender. In the end, his sincerity was rewarded. Facts have proved that the reason why the peasant army rebelled was not because they were full, but because they were not full.Now that the imperial court is willing to forgive them and give them food, they are naturally willing to surrender. After all, rebellion requires frequent business trips, and it is too risky to run around. As for Governor Yang, they were also very polite, as if Song Jiang was welcoming Zhaoan. For example, Shen Yikui surrendered and made an appointment at the location. Yang He opened the gate of the city and sent representatives of the masses to welcome him warmly.Most of the leaders of the militia were present, and under the leadership of Governor Yang, they went to the Temple of Emperor Guan and swore to surrender in front of Master Guan (Master Guan is reliable). Although the two sides had never met before (maybe they had seen it a few times while shooting arrows down the city), both sides showed considerable enthusiasm.In particular, Governor Yang was unanimously praised by the militia. They drove away Yang He's bearer and insisted on carrying him to the Governor's Mansion in person, and they were proud of it. All of a sudden, the Northwest received good news one after another, and the imperial court rushed to tell each other. The relationship between Yang He and the leaders of the militias was also very good. During the festivals, they even gave each other gifts to extend their holiday greetings. The situation is very good, very good.Validity period, half a year. Comrade Yang He has read a lot of books, done a lot of work, and understands a lot of truths, but he doesn't know that he has failed since the first day of recruiting. Because there is a problem, he has never figured it out. It was this problem that destined his tragic ending. The question is, why did they rebel? The answer is: to survive. How can we survive? There is money and food. To illustrate this problem, a syllogism can be used: They rebelled because they had no money and food; they surrendered because they had money and food. Yang He has money, does he have food? No. So stop surrendering and keep rebelling. Before the surrender, Yang He thought that as long as the militiamen were willing to surrender, the matter would be over, but after the surrender, he realized that the matter had just begun. There are more than 30,000 people in Shen Yikui's army alone. How can we arrange for so many people? Don't talk about recruiting soldiers, you can't even solve the military salary of your own people, recruit these people, drink the northwest wind? Rushing back home to farm seems to be a waste of time. There are famines every year. If you can go home and farm, who will rebel? Comrade Chongzhen knew about this paradox, and he also thought of a solution. He found tens of thousands of taels of silver first and arranged for the distribution.Then he took out 100,000 taels from his private money (internal treasury) and gave it to Yang He to spend it. It should be said that this trick is still very effective. The militiamen did stop for quite a long time after they got the money. How long is it? As I said before, half a year. After half a year, after spending all the money, I will naturally stop surrendering, so what to do, continue to rebel! To survive. In the fourth year of Chongzhen (1631), after receiving half a year's salary, Shen Yikui rebelled again, and the northwest responded, and this time the formation was even bigger, with a total of more than 300,000 people. At this point, the court was extremely dissatisfied, and many ministers appealed one after another. Yang He was very wronged, he was not a general in the first place.The reason why you came here to do this matter was really brought in by someone. It turned out to be just bragging, and you are serious.After I came here, I haven't been idle. I have been busy with this matter every day. After I ran out of money, they turned back again. What can I do? Chongzhen was even more wronged. Originally, he saw that you played well and thought you could do things, so he sent you there.Trust you so much, if you recruit someone, I will give you more than a hundred thousand taels of silver right away, and I even took out my private money. After you spent all the money, these people turned against each other again, and the hundred thousand taels were all taken away. Gone with the wind, what do you eat? Yang He was wronged, so he wrote to Chongzhen, saying that I didn't want to do it at first, but you insisted on me doing it, and I wanted to appease him, but there was nothing I could do. Chongzhen was wronged, so he wrote an order: Jin Yiwei, arrest Yang He. In September of the fourth year of Chongzhen (1631), Yang He was arrested and sent to Yuanzhou. In view of Yang He's scapegoat is too serious, from the beginning to the end, no one in the court spoke for him. There are always exceptions. After the order came out, a political participant in Shanhaiguan took the initiative to write a letter, demanding to bear the punishment for Yang He. It is not normal for such a scapegoat to dare to take the blame, but it is normal for this person to help Yang He take the blame. This politician is the son of Yang He, named Yang Sichang. Chongzhen ignored him, and Mr. Yang He's fate did not change, and he still went to Yuanzhou. Helping his father take the blame may seem like a trivial matter, but it led to two major consequences. From this memorial, Chongzhen saw a man who was loyal to his father.According to the logic at the time, a loyal minister must be a filial son, so he remembered Yang Sichang's name.He believes that this person will be of great use in the future. But Yang Sichang failed to take the blame, and his father was assigned. For him, there is nothing more shameful.From then on, he firmly remembered those who surrendered and rebelled. This enmity is irreconcilable. Yang He left, but this drama has just opened, and the real fierce man is about to appear. A year ago, after the failed appeasement, the militia leader Wang Zuogui sent a rebel army to attack Hancheng, an important military town, and Hancheng sent someone to find Yang He for emergency. Yang He was in a hurry, because his policy was to appease, and he really didn't have any soldiers in his hands, but at this juncture, even if he took the kitchen knife himself, he had to go. But after all, he didn't master the skill of kitchen knife, helpless, he thought of a person. This person has no soldiers, but Yang He believes that this person has a way. The first fierce man appeared on the stage, his name was Hong Chengchou. Hong Chengchou received an order to ask for help. To some extent, this is a rather nonsensical order. Even if you are the governor, there is nothing you can do. What should I do? But he didn't complain, he summoned his servants and personal soldiers, recruited some people on the spot, and set foot on the road to Hancheng. This was the first expedition of Hong Chengchou, a civil servant and Shaanxi political attendant. He was thirty-seven years old this year. Hong Chengchou, courtesy name Yanyan, nicknamed Hengjiu.People from Nan'an, Fujian. According to records, this person's family background can be described as prominent for a time: Great-grandfather Hong Yishen, whose name is Deqian, was a doctor of Zhongxian, Taifu and Prince Taishi, and a scholar of Wuyangdian University. Great-grandmother Lin, Mrs. Yipin. His grandfather, Hong Youzhi, was a senior official, Minister of the Ministry of War, and the right deputy capital censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Grandmother Dai, Mrs. With such a resume, you can basically eat and drink. It's a pity that Hong Chengchou didn't have time to eat. In fact, he couldn't even eat. Because all these resumes were sealed later, in other words, he earned them back. When Hong Chengchou was born, his father went out to work because of his poor family. Although his mother was poor, she was more educated and taught him to read and write since he was a child. Hong Chengchou is very smart. It is said that he can recite the Three Character Classic at the age of 7, which is very remarkable.For example, when I was 27, I could only recite the beginning of a person, and my nature is good. In the 43rd year of Wanli (1615), Hong Chengchou was 23 years old. He participated in the provincial unified examination (township examination), and his grades were very good, ranking 19th in the province. In the second year, he went to Beijing to participate in the national unified examination, and his grades were even better, ranking 17th in the country, the second best. Then he was assigned work, and he was assigned to the Ministry of Punishment. This result was rather unlucky for him. The reason, as I said before, is that in the Ming Dynasty, if you want to enter the cabinet and become a university scholar in the future, you must be a good scholar and enter the Imperial Academy.With Hong Chengchou's grades, he should be able to enter, but he just didn't. In the next ten years, Hong Chengchou got along well, became a doctor of the Ministry of punishment, and was sent to another place to participate in politics. The official who participates in politics, whether he is big or small, usually stays in the end and retires with honor. From a Jinshi who was not admitted to the Imperial Academy, to a small politician who made a living, to a big man who left his name in history, and the scolding was endless, and the lingering sound was just because the place where he was released was Shaanxi. When he first went to Shaanxi, Hong Chengchou brought a lot of books. So when Hong Chengchou led troops to rescue Hancheng, he was just a scholar. He had never fought or killed anyone. It is said that in the world, there is such a kind of people, they are born to fight, and they are born to kill. This is a fact, not a rumor. Hong Chengchou was a real genius, a military genius, and he went to the battlefield with his impromptu servants, servants, and cooks, but he didn't have the slightest timidity. Facing the superior enemy army, with his excellent command, he easily defeated the rebel army, beheaded more than 500 people, and rescued Hancheng. In Hong Chengchou's life, there have been countless battles and countless powerful opponents. The most important thing is this time. This insignificant victory made Hong Chengchou understand how powerful he is, so powerful that he can turn the tide and change the fate of countless people. He wants to rely on his own efforts to save this declining dynasty and create a prosperous and peaceful world. Ironically, he finally did, but in a way he never dreamed possible. Hong Chengchou is a pragmatic person, specifically in that he correctly realizes that Yang He is a fool. Appeasement is useless, money is not enough, the only way that works is suppression. Before he came to Shaanxi to take office, Hong Chengchou brought a lot of books.For thirty years, books have been his only sustenance. After the war, he threw away the book and made a new choice—to go to war. This is how the miracle happened. In the next two months, Hong Chengchou led this purely miscellaneous army to win consecutive battles. In history, his army had a special title - "Hong Bing". Hong Chengchou is a civil servant, and Yang He is also a civil servant. This is what the two have in common, and the only thing they have in common. Yang He was very polite to the militiamen. Before surrendering, he greeted them well with nice words. After surrendering, he entertained them with delicious food and drinks. But Hong Chengchou's attitude is a little different.Before surrendering, he said, if you do not surrender, you will be killed; after surrendering, he said, you have surrendered, so you will be killed. Regarding this matter, I have always been puzzled. Reading the books of sages and sages, is there such a realization? Since ancient times, things like murder and arson have never stopped, but it is generally recognized that the most shameless thing is "killing and surrendering". If someone surrenders, you still have to kill him, which is too wicked. But what puzzles me even more is that not only did Comrade Hong Chengchou do this kind of immoral thing, but he often did it. For example, Wang Zuogui, who once besieged Hancheng and was beaten away by Hong Chengchou, also surrendered later.After Hong Chengchou heard about it, he decided to invite him to dinner. Before they finished eating, a group of people rushed in and chopped up Wang Zuogui. I always feel that this is a very nasty thing to do. Even if I do it, at least I have to wait for others to finish their meal. The leader of the militia who fell into his hands was either resisted to the end and killed, or he did not resist and surrendered and was killed.In short, whether you resist to the end or not, you will be killed. But the facts tell us that some of the time, this approach works, at least for some people. This certain person refers to people like Zhang Xianzhong. I won’t talk about the specific situation of Zhang Xianzhong here; I won’t talk about whether he did those things in Sichuan later; I will only talk about one issue—the number of surrenders. I once looked through historical materials in the library for half a month, and inquired about Mr. Zhang Xianzhong's surrender. I knew that he often surrendered, but I didn't know that he could often come to this part. Simply put, the number of times he surrendered cannot be counted with one hand, not necessarily with both hands, and the frequency of his surrender is also very high.Once, it took only ten days from surrender to rebellion. This is commendable.Generally speaking, after surrendering, one has to go through a procedure, eat a meal, take a bath, and find a place to settle down. It will take at least a month to finish all the above tasks.But Mr. Zhang's high efficiency and fast speed are really astounding. In comparison, Li Zicheng is much better.Although he also surrendered, he was still quite tough. If he said he would not surrender, he would not surrender. He was a tough guy. Generally speaking, the behavioral procedure of many militiamen at that time was to raise troops, fight, be surrounded by officers and soldiers, surrender, walk out of the encirclement, take up arms, and continue fighting. Such performances are basically fixed programs and there are countless.Soon, you'll see two typical cases. Hong Chengchou is different from Yang He, he is a realist.In his view, there is only one way to completely reverse the situation without appeasement or surrender—to kill them all. The effect of this method is quite obvious. In just a few months, the situation in the northwest began to stabilize, and various militias suffered setbacks one after another, and their leaders were killed. His outstanding performance has attracted the attention of many people, including Chongzhen.For him, promotion is a matter of time. But after all, he is too young and has too little qualifications, so he still has to wait. Two months later, something happened that shortened Hong Chengchou's waiting time. In the fourth year of Chongzhen (1631), it was estimated that he had heart disease or cholecystitis. When the rebel army attacked the governor of Yansui to guard the city, the governor was frightened to death. When the brave man dies, let the brave man go, and Hong Chengchou takes his place. There is no limit to progress, and after another two months, his immediate boss, Yang He, was arrested, and the position of governor was vacated.No one can replace, and no one is willing to replace, except Hong Chengchou. In October of the fourth year of Chongzhen (1631), Hong Chengchou officially took over as the governor of the three sides. The nightmare begins. At that time, the rebel army had spread all over the northwest, with hundreds of thousands of people.Although many of them were recruited together, and some troops even brought their families, such as eighty-year-old mothers and children of several years old, but it looked really scary. For example, He Huchen, the commander-in-chief of Ningxia, once heard that the rebel army was going sightseeing in the territory, and immediately brought two thousand elite soldiers to prepare for the battle.When he got there, he saw the vanguard of the rebel army. However, he didn't do anything, just watched there, watched quietly, watched for a while, and then left. Because he never saw the tail of this team. This is a long line, tens of miles long from front to back. For such an insurgent army, just take a look, if you really want to do it, you will be stupid. The problem is that in the Northwest at that time, there were such teams everywhere, passing through the streets and alleys, which was more spectacular than a parade, and they were frightened when they saw it. Then, Hong Chengchou came. In this world, there are not many things that Hong Chengchou is afraid of. In his report to the court, he solved this problem ingeniously: 西北民变，人数虽多，但大都是胁从，且老幼俱在，并无战力，真正精壮之人，十之一二而已，击其首，即可大破之。 这意思是，虽然闹事的人多，但真正能打仗的，十个人里面，最多也就一两个，把这几个人干掉，事情就结了。 实践证明，他的理论非常正确，所谓几十万义军，真正能打仗的，也就几万人而已。 而这几万人中，最强悍的，是三个人：王左桂、王嘉胤、神一魁。 只要除掉这三个人，大局必定。 这三个人中，王左桂已经被杀掉了，所以下一个目标，是王嘉胤。 然而就在此时，洪承畴得知了一个惊人的消息——王嘉胤死了。 王嘉胤是被杀的，杀掉他的人，是他的部下。 他的部下之所以要杀他，实在是被人逼得没办法。 逼他们的人，叫做曹文诏。