Wendeng County was a large county. It used to be the seat of the Dengzhou Prefecture, so the county was very large. Later on, the Dengzhou Prefecture moved to Penglai County, and Wendeng County gradually declined.
Even so, Wendeng was still the center of Jiaodong. It could be said that occupying Wendeng was equivalent to taking down Jiaodong.
Wendeng County was very close to Weihaiwei, only 30 kilometers away. In the future, it was almost as easy as stepping on the accelerator.
Even in this era, a distance of less than 70 miles could be reached very quickly by walking.
Moreover, Lin Feng had built a large transportation network in Weihaiwei. In addition, he had occupied many territories that belonged to Wendeng County. From the end of Weihaiwei Avenue to Wendeng County, it was less than 30 miles away.
The four-wheeled carriage carrying the thousand-some troops of the First Guard's First Thousand-Household Bureau arrived at the border of the two places at an extremely fast speed, where a small stronghold was set up.
Then, they all got off the carriage and walked forward. He also sent out a group of light cavalry to scout the enemy.
More than fifty light cavalrymen rode on their warhorses, galloping like lightning on the dirt path, quickly rushing towards Wendeng.
At this moment, in Wendeng County, the county magistrate and the squires were singing and dancing in their mansions as they held a banquet.
They didn't even notice that Weihai Wei had mobilized their forces to attack them.
There were no guards in the entire Wendeng County. There were only yamen runners and some soldiers recruited by the local rich merchants.
The Ming Dynasty had already implemented the recruitment system after the Tumu Fortress Rebellion. At that time, the soldiers of the Wei Suo were really useless, so they implemented the recruitment system. The military system implemented was also different from the Wei Suo soldiers, but implemented the battalion officer system.
The emergence of this recruitment system directly led to the collapse of the guard station system. This was because the people recruited by the recruitment system were recruited by the local officials, and what if the local officials did not have money?
Find the local squires and rich businessmen to help out!
This directly led to the local prefectures and counties of the Ming Dynasty being filled with all kinds of strong people and brave people formed by the squires, and the soldiers funded by the squires.
It could be said that this move gradually gave the local military power of the Ming Dynasty to the local aristocrats and rich merchants.
In addition to the long-term corruption of the various Wei Commanders, Thousand Households, Hundred Households, etc., they forcefully occupied the land of the Wei Station military households. If the military families did not even have the land to survive on, how could they have the strength to fight?
The collapse of the Ming Dynasty's guard system was directly related to these local squires.
Even the local armed forces of the Ming court had been occupied by others. Naturally, the military power under their control had fallen.
Government affairs, local affairs, and military affairs were all controlled by the squires. Naturally, the local prefectures and counties of the Ming Dynasty had their own opinions.
Starting from Jiajing, the Japanese pirates swept across the entire southeast coast. As the Qi Family Army led by Qi Jiguang moved to the north, almost all of the military power in the south of Ming Dynasty was controlled by the rich merchants.
By the Wanli period, there was no way to reverse the situation.
They could only let the various parties pushed by these rich businessmen compete for power!
How did the parties appear?
It was all because of these squires.
With the local military and economy under control, these squires naturally had ambitions and began to reach out to the center of the court.
Various parties were established one after another, and with the help of the rich merchants, the conflict between the parties became more and more intense.
In the end, the Donglin Party, represented by the wealthy merchants of the southeast, won a complete victory.
First, they defeated the various factions, and then they defeated the royalist faction that they slandered as the eunuch faction, occupying the entire Ming court.
Those who obey me will prosper and those who oppose me will perish. The Donglin Party is the only one that is powerful.
Later, Emperor Chongzhen reacted and wanted to change. He picked up the Embroidered Uniform Guards and the East Chamber again and started a massacre in the court, but it was already too late.
Because after killing the person on the stage, the person on top was still a member of the Donglin Party.
They couldn't even kill them all!
The squires were so powerful, but it did not mean that the militia and battalion they led were powerful. However, they controlled the fishing boats and had a large amount of resources, so they corrupted the guards.
The appearance of the recruitment system made the soldiers only know the commander and not the court, which also led to extreme chaos. Those who could afford it, a battalion of soldiers would have thousands, tens of thousands, or even tens of thousands.
As for those who could not afford it, there were only a few hundred people in a battalion.
By the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were countless warlords of all sizes, and the organization was unimaginably chaotic.
Wendeng County had a battalion of soldiers, but it only had a few hundred people. Moreover, discipline was broken, and there was almost no training.
Although it was called an army, it was actually just some local ruffians and hooligans. They could bully the commoners, but in terms of fighting, they were simply trash. In fact, the soldiers in many places could not even defeat the bandits.
Because of Lin Feng's rise in Weihai Wei, there were undercurrents in the middle and lower levels of Wendeng County. As for the upper echelons, they were like ostriches and did not care about external affairs at all.
They had heard about Weihai Wei, but they didn't care. Because Weihai Wei was not under the jurisdiction of Wendeng County, they were too lazy to care.
It was just that the squires who had land in Weihai Wei were heartbroken when their land was taken away, but they had to fight?
What kind of joke was this? Didn't war need money?
Even the Weihai Guards had been wiped out. With just the few hundred battalions of Wendeng County soldiers, it would be difficult for them to protect themselves. How could they fight?
In addition, Weihai Wei had not made any movements for three months. They had only blocked the roads. Everyone in Wendeng County heaved a sigh of relief and relaxed their vigilance against Weihai Wei.
When the 1,000 troops of the Weihai Guards 'First Thousand-Household Bureau appeared outside Wendeng County, everyone was shocked and panicked!
What was even more unexpected was that the soldiers of Wendeng County didn't even bother to close the city gates. As soon as they saw the Weihai Guards, they surrendered.
They would directly sell off the rich merchants who supported them!
Thousands of soldiers from the Weihai Guards 'First Thousand-Household Bureau took down the city gate of Wendeng County in a daze. They didn't react for a long time. However, even though they were shocked, they were not satisfied with their actions. They took down the four gates of Wendeng County as quickly as possible and then charged into the county government. They killed all the officials in Wendeng County. Not a single one of them escaped.
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