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

Chapter 805 To kill or not
The memorial in Zhu Shenzhui's hand was sent by Sun Chuanting, and its content was about Zhang Xianzhong's surrender.

Li Dingguo's prediction was correct. When he went to Dangzikou to meet Gao Jie in person and proposed that Zhang Xianzhong surrender to Gao Jie's troops, Gao Jie was immediately tempted.

Since he was transferred from Shaanxi to Henan and led troops to encircle and suppress various bandits, he fought several battles. However, as an external force, he was not directly under Chen Qiuyu's command. In addition, because of Gao Jie's own background, he was unable to participate in the real war, and the battles he fought were only auxiliary.

As the Ming army was closing in on them from all sides, the bandits had lost the initiative. It could be said that Chen Qiuyu was sure of victory. As long as there were no unexpected events, the bandits would be wiped out. How could Chen Qiuyu let others take credit for the victory at this time?

You have to know that Chen Qiyu is the Governor-General of Five Provinces, and his position is considered the top in the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, as Zhu Shenzhu has now been promoted to the King of Wu, it won't be long before he can finally ascend the throne of the emperor. Once Chen Qiyu wipes out the bandits, his current position will definitely be readjusted. After all, the so-called Governor-General of Five Provinces is not a permanent position but a temporary position. Then how the court will place and reward him depends on his merits.

With Chen Qiuyu's status and merits, he would surely be appointed as at least a minister after defeating the bandits. But the problem was that Chen Qiuyu was not satisfied with being a minister. His goal was to serve in the cabinet, and what he wanted was to become a cabinet elder or even the prime minister.

So in this case, how could Chen Qiyu let others take credit? Gao Jie was not his subordinate, and he was also a bandit. Although he had merits and a backer, Chen Qiyu put Gao Jie's troops behind to ensure that they would be safe. He stationed Gao Jie's troops at Dangzikou to prevent the bandits from escaping Henan from this direction.

The original plan was good, but no one expected that Zhang Xianzhong would run to Dangzikou when he was desperate and surrender to Gao Jie.

Gao Jie was overjoyed when he learned that Zhang Xianzhong was going to surrender to him. You know, the three largest gangs of bandits were Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai and Li Zicheng. Among them, Zhang Xianzhong, known as the Eight Kings, was the oldest and strongest gang after Gao Yingxiang. Once Zhang Xianzhong was dealt with, the task of eliminating the bandits would be almost half completed.

Gao Jie immediately asked someone to invite Li Dingguo to discuss Zhang Xianzhong's surrender. Li Dingguo explained Zhang Xianzhong's demands to Gao Jie. As long as Gao Jie ensured Zhang Xianzhong's life, properly resettled Zhang Xianzhong and his subordinates, and gave them official positions, then Zhang Xianzhong's troops would lay down their arms and surrender to Gao Jie.

After hearing what Li Dingguo said, Gao Jie was immediately moved. In his opinion, the conditions proposed by Li Dingguo were not too excessive. If it were just ordinary bandits, it would be fine, but this was Zhang Xianzhong!
Although Zhang Xianzhong was greatly weakened after the defeat and had few people around him, it was still not easy to capture him. Once Zhang Xianzhong escaped, it would take a lot of effort to completely eliminate him with his cunning and cruelty. And if he really escaped, wouldn't all the efforts be in vain?

Even if Zhang Xianzhong was eventually destroyed by the Ming army, it was not guaranteed that he would get the credit. Don't forget that Henan now has not only Chen Qiyu's troops, but also Lu Xiangsheng and Qin Liangyu. Wasn't it the latter who defeated Zhang Xianzhong in the two battles? If Zhang Xianzhong fell into the hands of others, would the credit he had already obtained be lost in vain?
Besides, Zhang Xianzhong's request was not excessive. He just wanted to save his life and give him an official position. Besides, Li Dingguo also promised Gao Jie a lot of benefits. The gold, silver and jewelry he brought alone blinded Gao Jie's eyes. Although Gao Jie was now a general, he didn't have much wealth. Compared with other people, he was very poor. How could he have seen so many properties?

After careful consideration, Gao Jie decided to agree. After all, this credit must not fall into the hands of others. Moreover, he was not without a backer. His wife was Wang Rong's goddaughter. In this way, not only was Sun Chuanting his relative, but also Wang Jinwu and even Zhu Shenzhui. Chen Qiyu could not give him face, but he could not give Sun Chuanting face, right? Not to mention Wang Jinwu and Zhu Shenzhui.

In this way, Gao Jie agreed to Zhang Xianzhong's request and quickly reported the matter to Sun Chuanting. When Sun Chuanting learned about this, Zhang Xianzhong had led his troops to surrender to Gao Jie. After receiving Zhang Xianzhong's "generous gift", Gao Jie was not stingy. He gave part of it to Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou, and also spoke well of Zhang Xianzhong and guaranteed him. He even temporarily appointed Zhang Xianzhong to a military position of a thousand households as a general. In this way, Zhang Xianzhong transformed himself from a bandit into an officer soldier.

After Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou knew about this, it had already become a fact. Zhang Xianzhong officially joined the Ming army, and Gao Jie also kept his promise to settle Zhang Xianzhong and his subordinates. Although it was a pity that they failed to destroy Zhang Xianzhong, it might be good to force Zhang Xianzhong to surrender. Besides, Gao Jie was their subordinate, not Chen Qiyu's subordinate. It was better for Gao Jie to get this credit than for Chen Qiyu to take it away. In addition, Zhang Xianzhong was also tactful and took out a lot of gold and silver. Both Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou were worried about money. This money could alleviate the shortage of money and food, which could be regarded as a solution to the urgent need.

As for Chen Qiyu's attitude, Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou didn't care. No matter how high your position was, you couldn't control them. No matter how anxious you were, you couldn't take away the credit you had. But Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou still had some concerns about how true Zhang Xianzhong's surrender was. They knew that it was best to kill such bandits to eliminate future troubles, but the problem was that Gao Jie had guaranteed it, and Gao Jie's face had to be given. Moreover, if the court turned against Zhang Xianzhong at this time, it would be untrustworthy. Who would dare to lay down their arms and surrender in the encirclement and suppression of the remaining bandits? Now that not surrendering meant death, and surrendering was also death, how could the other party not fight to the death? In desperation, Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou discussed and decided to report the matter to Zhu Shenzhui to decide Zhang Xianzhong's fate. This was also the reason why Zhu Shenzhui received the memorial. After reading the contents of the memorial, Zhu Shenzhui felt a headache. He stretched out his hand and pinched his sore eyebrows, feeling a little dilemma.

Zhu Shenzhu was well-known for Zhang Xianzhong. Apart from Li Zicheng, the most famous rebel in the late Ming Dynasty was Zhang Xianzhong. Gao Yingxiang, who was captured and skinned alive, was less famous. After all, one of them was a gravedigger of the Ming Dynasty. It was because of Li Zicheng that Emperor Chongzhen was hanged on the crooked tree.

Zhang Xianzhong was no worse than Li Zicheng. He not only destroyed the imperial tombs of the Zhu family of the Ming Dynasty in Zhongdu and burned Fengyang, but also later became equal to Li Zicheng. After Li Zicheng attacked the capital, established the Dashun dynasty and proclaimed himself emperor, Zhang Xianzhong also established the Dashi regime in Chengdu and named the era "Dashun".

From this point, we can see that Zhang Xianzhong was dissatisfied with Li Zicheng. You should know that the name of the country founded by Li Zicheng was Dashun, but you, Zhang Xianzhong, chose to give your own Great Western Kingdom the reign title of Dashun. Isn't this a tit-for-tat?
After Li Zicheng was defeated, Zhang Xianzhong resisted in Sichuan for three years before being destroyed by the Qing army that entered the pass. However, after Zhang Xianzhong's death, his subordinates continued to resist the Qing, and this lasted for nearly twenty years.

From this point of view, Zhang Xianzhong is stronger than Li Zicheng. Moreover, Zhang Xianzhong has been criticized more than praised in history. Because he fought against the Qing Dynasty for nearly twenty years, Zhang Xianzhong was slandered in Qing history books and was portrayed as a murderous devil who committed all kinds of evil.

The so-called Seven Killings Monument and the rumor that Zhang Xianzhong massacred Sichuan were spread during the Qing Dynasty, but the truth is not true at all. Although Zhang Xianzhong had a bad temper, he was definitely not a mindless killer. Otherwise, Zhang Xianzhong would not have become the strongest among the bandits, and it would be impossible for him to have so many loyal subordinates following him.

Moreover, Zhang Xianzhong established the Dashi regime in Sichuan, and the whole of Sichuan was under his rule. Facing a powerful enemy, he did not resist but took up the butcher knife to kill his own people? This is totally unreasonable. Even a psychopath would not do this? In addition, after Zhang Xianzhong's death, the people of Sichuan followed Zhang Xianzhong's subordinates to continue to resist the Qing Dynasty for twenty years. This also proves that Zhang Xianzhong was still very popular. The real massacre in Sichuan was definitely not Zhang Xianzhong, but those who threw dirty water on Zhang Xianzhong. Their purpose was nothing more than to use Zhang Xianzhong's name to cover up their crimes.

There have always been legends about Zhang Xianzhong in later generations. The most famous one is Zhang Xianzhong's treasure. These rumors still popped up from time to time until the 21st century, and some people even fished out the so-called treasure in the river.

Zhu Shenzui had heard of Zhang Xianzhong for a long time. Although he knew that Zhang Xianzhong was definitely not the murderous demon rumored to be, as a great hero, Zhang Xianzhong was definitely not an ordinary person.

It is true that Zhang Xianzhong was cunning, cruel, and fickle. In the original history, Zhang Xianzhong was surrounded by the Ming army and finally surrendered to the court. However, his surrender to the court was not sincere, but just a stopgap measure. In fact, not long after surrendering to the court, Zhang Xianzhong soon rebelled again as the situation changed. With his rebellion, the bandits who had been almost pacified revived, which gave Li Zicheng an opportunity to take advantage of, and eventually caused a disaster.

Zhu Shenzui's attitude towards Zhang Xianzhong was to kill him to eliminate future troubles. It was far better for such a hero to die than to live, because there was no guarantee that he would not turn against the court again. If he surrendered and then rebelled again, it would bring serious consequences.

But now it is somewhat difficult to directly order the killing of Zhang Xianzhong. It is not that Zhu Shenzui cannot do it, but that he cannot do it.

The imperial court must be trustworthy. If the imperial court goes back on its word and kills Zhang Xianzhong at this time, then the imperial court will lose face and will be despised by the world. He has already surrendered, Gao Jie and others have made promises and guarantees, so what is the point of killing him? Zhu Shenzhui must not do such a thing. If he does, his reputation will be ruined, not to mention that he is at a critical moment and has not yet ascended the throne of the emperor.

(End of this chapter)