Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 548 Wuqiao Mutiny
The Liao generals that Sun Yuanhua took in were not alone. They came with their subordinates when they crossed the sea. These subordinates were the family servants and veterans of the Liao generals, and they could even be said to be their confidants. To put it bluntly, Sun Yuanhua could not command these troops at all. Without the nods of these Liao generals, how could these Liao soldiers take Sun Yuanhua seriously?

Moreover, Sun Yuanhua has selected young and strong people from the fleeing Liao people to join the Liao army and handed them over to these Liao generals to lead. Isn't this equivalent to helping the other side to further strengthen its strength in disguise? Sun Yuanhua's behavior is really unwise, and even more trusting, with many hidden dangers.

In view of this situation, Xu Xiancheng thought that he should proceed in two steps. The first step was to separate these Liao generals and never use them together. He could keep a few honest and reliable Liao generals and find another place to place the rest of them.

For example, they can be placed in Zhili, or in Henan, Huguang and other places, or even sent to Shaanxi to be responsible for suppressing bandits. In a word, they cannot be allowed to gather together, and they cannot be placed in one place, so as to disperse the risks.

Even the Liao generals who stayed behind had to be rearranged, not only the generals, but also the soldiers under them. The generals and soldiers were directly disbanded and mixed with the Shandong army, and the generals' positions and the troops they led were readjusted.

Simply put, it was equivalent to mixing the Liao army into the Shandong army, and using the Shandong army as the main force to eliminate the influence of the Liao army as a whole. As for the generals, they could no longer lead the soldiers they had before, except for a small number of family servants, such as 100 or 200 people at most. The rest of the soldiers were mainly Shandong army. This directly eliminated the direct control of the Liao generals over the troops, and also strengthened Sun Yuanhua's control and influence over the troops.

If these two steps are taken well, the key to Sun Yuanhua's problem can be solved, and the current complicated situation in Denglai can be changed. Xu Xiancheng wrote the memorial in a fluent manner, and then showed it to Li Xin, asking for his opinion on what was said in the memorial. After reading it, Li Xin agreed and signed the memorial with a pen at the bottom of the memorial. Then the two of them did not delay and sent someone to send the memorial to the capital at an express speed of 500 miles, and then waited for the court's reply.

But what they didn't know was that just when they sent the memorial, the thing they were most worried about had already happened. Kong Youde, who was highly valued by Sun Yuanhua and entrusted with important tasks, rebelled halfway on the way to Shanhaiguan. The reason for the rebellion was quite dramatic, almost exactly the same as the mutiny of the Shanxi army when he was defending the king.

Kong Youde was a miner from Tieling. After the Battle of Sarhu, the Jiannu burned, killed and looted in Liaodong. Kong Youde and his brother Kong Youxing defected to Mao Wenlong and became his subordinates.

Because Kong Youde fought bravely, was the first to climb the ladder in every battle, and made many military achievements, he was valued by Mao Wenlong, who finally adopted Kong Youde as his grandson. From then on, Kong Youde changed his name to Mao Yongshi, and was grateful to Mao Wenlong for his kindness and was loyal to him.

After Mao Wenlong was unjustly killed by Yuan Chonghuan, the people of Dongjiang Town were in a state of turmoil, and Kong Youde was suppressed for constantly speaking out for Mao Wenlong. Later, Kong Youde changed back to his original name, and offended his superiors because of a mutiny. After discussing with his sworn brother Geng Zhongming and several other old brothers, he fled from Pi Island to Leiden to join Sun Yuanhua.

To be honest, Sun Yuanhua was very good to these Pi Island rebel generals. He not only accepted them, but also entrusted them with important positions. Not only was Kong Youde appointed as a cavalry lieutenant general by Sun Yuanhua, but Geng Zhongming was also appointed a lieutenant general to garrison Dengzhou. In addition, young and strong people were selected from the Liao people to supplement the army, which greatly increased their strength and made their lives much better.

When in Leiden, Kong Youde and others still respected Sun Yuanhua very much. After all, Sun Yuanhua had done nothing wrong to them, and it was a great favor for them to be able to do this given his status and position. Unfortunately, Sun Yuanhua was not capable enough, especially he was not able to completely solve the problem of military pay and food for the army, which led to a serious shortage of military pay and food for the Liao army. Many times, they were hungry and had a hard life.

Even so, Kong Youde did not have too many complaints, because he also knew how difficult it was for Sun Yuanhua. But all this changed when Sun Yuanhua asked Kong Youde to lead troops to reinforce Liaodong. The original plan was to take a boat from Leiden to the north, directly attack the rear of the Jiannu from the sea, and support the Guanning Army.

However, they did not expect the Guanning Army to be defeated so quickly at Dalingh River, which made the sea attack plan impossible. If they continued to implement this plan, not only would the attack not be effective, but they would even be surrounded after landing. So Sun Yuanhua adjusted the plan for safety reasons and decided to send reinforcements from the north by land instead.

If you take the sea route, the distance is short and the speed is fast. If you take the land route, you have to go west from Shandong Peninsula and then north to enter Northern Zhili, and then go around Bohai Bay from Northern Zhili to reach Shanhaiguan.

Although this route is all within the territory of the Ming Dynasty, the road is not easy to travel, and it will take at least half a month for an army to march all the way to arrive. How can it be compared to the convenient sea route?

Moreover, due to the serious situation in Liaodong, Sun Yuanhua was worried that the military situation in Liaodong would deteriorate, so he asked Kong Youde to hurry up and arrive as soon as possible. Therefore, Kong Youde's troops were almost lightly equipped and did not bring much logistical baggage.

In fact, the logistics and baggage were partly due to the need to hurry on the journey, and partly because Sun Yuanhua simply could not provide much food for Kong Youde. Sun Yuanhua did not have much food to begin with, and he had to support not only the army but also hundreds of thousands of Liao people, so the daily consumption was a considerable amount.

Therefore, Sun Yuanhua only prepared five days of food for Kong Youde. Of course, he also made other preparations. Before Kong Youde set out, Sun Yuanhua specially gave him a sum of money for departure. On the one hand, this money was used to make up for the military pay of Kong Youde's troops, and on the other hand, it allowed Kong Youde to use this money to buy food for military use on the way.

In Sun Yuanhua's view, although he did not provide enough food, he did provide silver. Moreover, all the way north was through the territory of the Ming Dynasty. As long as Kong Youde had silver in his hand, he could use the silver to buy food, which not only ensured the food supply of the troops, but also ensured that the troops were lightly equipped and rushed to Shanhaiguan, which was a two-birds-with-one-stone approach. However, a problem that Sun Yuanhua never expected occurred shortly after Kong Youde set out. It was precisely because Sun Yuanhua took in so many Liao people and reused Liao generals such as Kong Youde that the contradictions between Shandong and the Liao army and Liao people intensified in the past few months. Moreover, this intensification extended from Leiden to the hinterland of Shandong. The entire Shandong region was dissatisfied with the Liao army and Liao people, and even had strong hostility.

Just five days after setting out, Kong Youde had eaten all the food he brought with him. Just when Kong Youde was planning to use silver to buy food from the locals, he discovered that people in Shandong were extremely hostile to the Liao army. When they passed by, the local people actually closed their doors and refused to sell anything to them. This situation made Kong Youde extremely dissatisfied.

Seeing this, Kong Youde felt uncomfortable but didn't think much about it. At this time, he was still thinking about getting to Shanhaiguan as soon as possible. Since this place didn't sell their products, then they would just go to another place. Anyway, they wouldn't starve to death if they didn't eat a meal. Kong Youde ordered to continue moving forward and prepare to make plans in a county ahead.

Unexpectedly, when they arrived at the second county town, the situation was still the same. When the Shandong people heard that the Liao army came from Denglai, they gave them a cold look. Not only did they close their doors and stop selling things, but they also mocked these Liao soldiers as beggars who fled for their lives. They had cheated the Shandong fellows in Leiden, and now they came to their side to make trouble?

Kong Youde was very angry about this situation, but he could do nothing about it. When he was in Leiden, Kong Youde also heard about the many problems that the Liao people who fled here brought to Shandong, and he also knew why these people were not liked by the people of Shandong.

However, as a future leader of the Ming Dynasty, Kong Youde was angry but he still had his reason. He decided to negotiate with local officials, explain the situation of his troops, and tell them that he was going to Shanhaiguan to reinforce the Liaodong battlefield. He also said that he had money and would never harass the local area. He hoped that the government would help him buy some food for the march.

But just when Kong Youde found the local official and had not had time to explain the situation, something happened. Kong Youde's men had been hungry for two consecutive meals and had traveled dozens of miles, and they were already dizzy and dizzy from hunger.

In order to solve the problem of food, Kong Youde's subordinates found a wealthy family when they could not buy any food, broke into the family's house and stole a chicken.

This wealthy family has a great origin. It was the residence of Wang Xiangchun, a backbone of the Donglin Party at that time. Although Wang Xiangchun's official position was not high, he was only a Langzhong in the Examination Office of the Ministry of Personnel in Nanjing, but he had a high status in the Donglin Party. At that time, Wei Zhongxian's henchman, the Left Deputy Censor-in-Chief Wang Shaohui, imitated the method of "Water Margin" and compiled the "Donglin Dianjianglu" of 108 Donglin Party members. Among them, Wang Xiangchun was on the list, with a nickname: Langli Baitiao, and he was one of the six leaders guarding the Nanjing garrison.

Kong Youde's men stole the chickens from Wang Xiangchun's house. How could Wang Xiangchun's housekeeper let it go? Relying on Wang Xiangchun's background, the soldiers who claimed to have stolen the chickens not only had to pay compensation for the losses, but also had to be shot with arrows.

How could the Liao soldiers bear such humiliation? In a rage, they drew their swords and killed the steward. This caused a big uproar. When Wang Xiangchun's son learned about the situation, he was furious and went directly to Kong Youde to ask for an explanation.

Kong Youde was extremely troubled by this matter, especially since Wang Xiangchun's son was relentless and not only wanted him to execute the soldier, but also wanted Kong Youde to kneel down and apologize to the Wang family.

Kong Youde was originally a military man. Although the Ming Dynasty valued civil officials over military officials, Kong Youde had been under the protection of Mao Wenlong for so many years. Even though he was forced to surrender to Sun Yuanhua, Sun Yuanhua treated people like him with courtesy.

Wang Xiangchun was just a doctor in the Ministry of Personnel in Nanjing, and his son was a commoner. How could Kong Youde bow his head to apologize? At this time, Li Jiucheng and Li Yingyuan, who were traveling with him, found Kong Youde and told him that if this matter was not handled properly, it would be a big deal. Don't forget how the Shanxi army in the capital mutinied? And what happened to the governor and the general of Shanxi after the Shanxi army incident?
This sentence immediately shocked Kong Youde. How could he compare with the governor of Shanxi and the general of Shanxi in terms of status? He was just a lieutenant general, and a rebel general of Pidao. Didn't the Shanxi army mutinied because they were humiliated for stealing chickens, and the governor of Shanxi and the general of Shanxi lost their heads? This matter is exactly the same as the situation of the Shanxi army at that time. If he handles it improperly, his head will be gone.

The more he thought about it, the more scared he became. Kong Youde was not sure whether the Wang family would settle accounts with him later. What if he bowed his head and the Wang family continued to be unyielding? Wouldn't he die unjustly? Under the persuasion of Li Jiucheng and Li Yingyuan, Kong Youde finally made up his mind and thought that since you Shandong people and the Wang family would not give him a way out, then he might as well rebel! Kong Youde rebelled immediately, led his troops to raise the banner of rebellion, plundered the houses of Wang Xiangchun and other wealthy families, and then emptied the entire county. Then he did not go to Shanhaiguan, but turned back to Dengzhou.

The place where Kong Youde rebelled was Wuqiao in Shandong, so this incident is also called the Wuqiao Mutiny.

After Kong Youde and his gang rebelled, they were unstoppable. The Shandong local government never thought that Kong Youde would rebel and was completely unprepared. They were caught off guard. In just a few days, they captured Linyi, Lingxian, Shanghe, Qingcheng and other cities, and led their troops straight to Dengzhou. When the news came, Sun Yuanhua was stunned. He could never have imagined that such a thing would happen.

(End of this chapter)