In the blink of an eye, it was already the seventh month of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen.
Inside the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the heat wave of midsummer swept across the place. A young eunuch was holding a large fan to fan Zhu Youjian to dispel the heat. However, Zhu Youjian's face was ashen as if it was covered in ice.
Zhu Youjian held the Tang newspaper from Xiangyang in his hand. Although Yang Sichang defended himself in every possible way, he still couldn't hide his repeated defeats.
After Zhang Xianzhong lost two rounds, he lay dormant in Xinggui Mountain and gradually gathered the defeated soldiers to recover his strength. In the few months when Zhang Xianzhong was at his weakest, Zuo Liangyu, He Renlong, and the other generals of the Ming army raised the bandits and only sat outside the mountain. No official army really went deep into the mountains to annihilate Zhang Xianzhong.
In June, after Zhang Xianzhong rested in the mountains for two months, he charged out and attacked Sichuan. At the same time, the government troops surrounding Zhang Xianzhong outside the mountain were inexplicably demoralized and the plague was rampant. Zhang Xianzhong's rebel army was like a ferocious tiger that had descended from the mountain, killing in all directions at the junction of the two provinces in eastern Sichuan and western Chu.
On the ninth day of the sixth month, Zhang Xianzhong defeated Zhang Yingyuan, the commander of the Beijing camp, and Wang Yunfeng, the deputy general, in Tudi Ridge in eastern Sichuan. He wiped out more than five thousand officers and soldiers and killed Wang Yunfeng, the deputy general.
On June 17th, Zhang Xianzhong took advantage of the victory to attack the Sichuan commander Qin Liangyu and the Sichuan deputy general Zhang Ling who were stationed at Huangniai and Zhujunping. Zhang Ling, who had a long reputation for bravery, was shot dead by crossbows on the battlefield, and the 30,000 government troops were defeated. Qin Liangyu gathered the defeated soldiers to fight again, and the soldiers were defeated again. Qin Liangyu fled to Chongqing alone.
On June 26, Zhang Xianzhong pretended to be short of food and pay and lured Shao Jiechun, the governor of Sichuan Province, into the mountains. The moment Shao Jiechun entered the mountain, an ambush was set up. The 20,000 new recruits he had recruited were surrounded by tens of thousands of raiders and were almost wiped out. Shao Jiechun was defeated and died in the army.
In just a month, the situation that Yang Sichang had boasted about had turned into a mess. In the blink of an eye, 50,000 of the 100,000 soldiers were wiped out by Zhang Xianzhong. The army killed one governor and two deputy generals. Yang Sichang's plan to annihilate Zhang Xianzhong and Yuan Pan at the border of Chu and Shu was dashed.
Last month, Zhu Youjian, the emperor of Ming Dynasty, was still immersed in the fantasy that the bandits had been wiped out and the Central Plains was at peace. He gave Yang Sichang and the generals who were fighting against the bandits official titles and rewards. At this moment, his fantasy was shattered by the cruel reality. He could not help but feel a little angry.
Zhu Youjian took a deep breath and tried to suppress the anger in his heart. He raised his head and stared blankly at the roof of the Palace of Heavenly Purity.
After a long silence, Zhu Youjian said coldly,"
"Yang Sichang's so-called ten-sided net is to increase taxes and send more troops. The so-called personal supervision was to send more troops to encircle and suppress. Now, the 100,000-strong army had surrounded Zhang Xianzhong, who had tens of thousands of people, but they could not take him down no matter what! Instead, they were defeated by Zhang Xianzhong one by one. In the blink of an eye, more than 50,000 of the 100,000 people had died.”
"To think that I trusted him so much at that time and invited him into the cabinet to be conferred the title of Prime Minister…"
"Now that Qin Liangyu has been defeated, Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong are not listening to him. They are watching the Xian bandits attack the government troops and are not helping each other. How is Yang Sichang going to exterminate the bandits?"
"This Yang Sichang is truly a fool!”
After Zhu Youjian said this, he slammed his hand on the imperial table and closed his eyes helplessly.
Wang Chengen carefully looked at Zhu Youjian's face and said,""Your Majesty, Zhang Xianzhong is entering Shu! Once Zhang Xianzhong entered Shu, he would probably become even more powerful, and no soldiers would be able to stop him.”
Zhu Youjian closed his eyes and did not speak.
。
Wang Chengen said,"Your Majesty, we can mobilize the Divine Armament New Army and Lin Feng's army to test the strength of the new army."。Zhu Youjian immediately nodded. On September 3, Lin Feng organized his army and went out to help suppress the bandits.
This time, he led 16,000 troops to the south, with Zheng Kaicheng, Li Laosi, Zhong Feng, and Li Zhi under him. Li Xing was still guarding the Fan manor. He took 1,000 soldiers from each of the four regiments and led a total of 4,000 soldiers to guard the rear of the Fan manor.
The army needed food supplies. According to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, a portion of the grain was usually provided by the expedition site, and a portion was provided by the provinces and counties that passed through the interior. However, he had no confidence in the bureaucrats of the six provinces in the Ming Dynasty. He was worried that the officials of the Ming Dynasty would refuse to supply the army when they reached the mainland.
At that time, it would not look good if they attacked the counties for food.
He hired 6,000 civilian workers to carry supplies, bringing enough food for the army to last for five months.
Each of these farmers managed a two-horse carriage, which could carry a few hundred catties of grain. Over the years, they had seized tens of thousands of military horses and had enough pack horses. It was more than enough to equip six thousand two horse carriages. Apart from food, the wagons were also equipped with iron pots, tents, and other necessities for the march. The supply wagons were lined up inside the army formation and were protected. The soldiers 'armor, weapons, bedding, and other items could also be placed on the supply wagons.
For this expedition, they would give the civilian laborers 25 taels of silver a month. The supply wagons did not need to go into battle, and there had never been a loss of supply wagons. Hearing that such a high monthly salary was being offered, the number of applicants was like clouds. From the tens of thousands of recruits, six thousand strong men were selected to serve as civilian workers.
On the same day, sixteen thousand Eternal Army soldiers and six thousand civilian workers stood in the south of Fan Manor, waiting for the Governor's arrival. The families of the soldiers had come to watch the soldiers set out. Tens of thousands of people near the Fan manor had crowded to the south of the Fan manor to send the army off. However, everyone was confident in the Eternal Army's combat power and felt that they could definitely defeat the bandits. They were all very relaxed.
In Tianjin City, Li Zhi was wearing white lacquer scales.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。