Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 224 Blood-Handed Butcher Hong Chengchou
The peasant uprising in Shaanxi began in the seventh year of the Tianqi reign (1627). The imperial court took measures to deal with it, but the uprising continued to spread like wildfire.

In just three years, the bandits gradually grew from a few hundred or a thousand scattered soldiers into a large force, with their numbers expanding rapidly.

Even though the drought-stricken areas have shifted northward and the drought situation in Shanxi has been somewhat alleviated, the areas swept away by migrants no longer have the social conditions for cultivation.

The refugees, having witnessed bloodshed, killed the officials and gentry who had once groveled at their feet, and were unwilling to return to being submissive subjects and suffer the exploitation of corrupt officials. It was no longer possible for them to go back to farming.

They would ask, "Why are we born to be bullied? What makes these rich people better than us? Are kings and generals born with a special destiny?!"

Judging from the battle reports, Hong Chengchou was constantly winning victories, and the number of kills he had achieved had even surpassed the number of casualties on both sides in the Battle of Beijing, reaching an alarming level. He also earned the nicknames "Butcher Hong" and "Madman Hong".

However, from the perspective of the battlefront, his performance was somewhat forced. The geographical boundary between northern Shaanxi and Guanzhong is the Beishan Mountains. The Beishan Mountains are not a single mountain range; they consist of the Huanglong Mountains, the Ziwuling Mountains, and the Longshan Mountains from east to west.

To its north lies the Loess Plateau, and to its south lies the Guanzhong Plain, a place that starving people from northern Shaanxi dreamed of entering—it's the capital of Shaanxi, after all, how could there be no food there?!

Therefore, Hong Chengchou's defensive line, stretching over a thousand miles, could not completely block the rebels. He could only rely on his superior military strength, the high mobility of his cavalry, and the relative mobility of his light chariot battalion to continuously encircle and intercept them, either annihilating or driving the rebels out.

However, it was inevitable that some areas would be overlooked during this period, and as a result, more and more towns fell, and the number of rebels increased with each suppression. At present, it is roughly estimated that the total number of the dozen or so rebel groups in Shaanxi has reached more than 200,000, which is more than the combined number of government troops in the four garrisons of Shaanxi.

Hong Chengchou initially had a good temper and implemented the strategy of "killing the evil leaders and pacifying the people". However, even after killing the leaders, the rebels would still put forward new leaders. There were even cases where the leaders went into hiding, someone died in their place, and then they were "reborn"!

As a result, Hong Chengchou lost patience and became increasingly extreme in his actions, even refusing to release surrendered peasant soldiers! This made the peasant uprising army in northern Shaanxi hate him to the bone. Even his own people couldn't stand his behavior, and he was impeached for his poor performance in battle.

Hong Chengchou did not sit idly by and wait for his death, but actively submitted memorials to defend himself, even submitting two or three memorials to the emperor within a month.

He defended himself by saying that the reason he couldn't hold the line was because the defense line was too long and the troops were insufficient, and he hoped that the court would send troops to support him; he said that killing prisoners was because of food shortages and that the unruly people did not appreciate the emperor's grace, surrendering and then rebelling again, and that they deserved to die.

As for poor performance in battle, that was utter nonsense. He requested that the Ministry of War send someone to verify his battle achievements, but the Ministry of War was unwilling to go, saying that even if he had made some gains, who knew if he had killed innocent people and claimed credit for them?
These rebels weren't Mongols or Jurchens; most were Han Chinese, and there was no obvious difference between them and ordinary people. How could they tell them apart? Actually, the main reason they didn't want to go was that they didn't want to give Hong Chengchou credit for his military achievements.

Although the heads of bandits are worthless, only five taels of silver each, there are so many of them! The Ministry of Revenue won't cover it all, so the reward money will still have to come from the Ministry of War. Their Ministry of War is very poor. Last year, when the emperor rewarded the Guan Ning Army for their "massacre of Liaodong," they were quite dissatisfied.

But Hong Chengchou was politically astute, far surpassing Sun Chuanting by a factor of three. He used a feigned retreat to advance, claiming his abilities were limited and offering his resignation. Before the emperor could even say anything, the ministers began to panic!

Impeaching Hong Chengchou was a matter of habit; which high-ranking official in charge of a region wasn't impeached? Sun Chengzong, Yuan Keli, Yuan Chonghuan, and even Zhu Xieyuan were impeached quite often when they were in local positions.

They disliked Hong Chengchou for constantly demanding troops, money, and military merits. Their impeachment was merely an excuse to refuse him, but they were unhappy if he were actually removed. Even if someone were sent to manage Liaodong, they would clamor to go, but Shaanxi was a massive mess, potentially costing them their lives and ruining their reputations! Therefore, those who impeached him began to actively try to salvage the situation for him.

For some reason, seeing Hong Chengchou reminded Zhu Youjian of Zeng Shaotou. Both were lackeys of the Manchus, killing civilians without batting an eye, but now they were still the sword in the hands of the Ming Dynasty.

Peasant uprisings are like cannibalistic animals. From the animal's perspective, cannibalism is a natural law and there is nothing wrong with it. From their own perspective, peasant uprisings are also not wrong in their rebellion.

But man-eating animals, even national treasures, must be killed to prevent them from eating more people; rebellious people, even if they are known to be innocent, must be suppressed, otherwise rebellions will spread everywhere.

Hong Chengchou did a great job as the governor of Shaanxi. Zhu Youjian had no one who could replace him. Even according to the original history, if Sun Chuanting had been appointed as the governor of Shaanxi or the commander-in-chief of Guanzhong, he might not have done a better job.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian chose not to issue a statement regarding Hong Chengchou's impeachment; as for providing assistance, he temporarily provided 200,000 taels of silver and tens of thousands of shi of grain, and also instructed him to kill fewer people and be mindful of the impact!
To avoid a situation like in history where one side is overwhelmed by another, large-scale reinforcements could not be dispatched. Instead, a "General Commander-in-Chief" was appointed to lead three to four thousand cavalrymen to provide support.

The main reliance was on the reinforcements from Shaanxi's own four military garrisons: Yansui, Ningxia, Guyuan, and Gansu, and on the coordinated efforts of Hong Chengchou, Sun Chuanting, and Sun Chengzong.

Besides Hong Chengchou's report, Zhu Youjian also received a memorial from Shaanxi that surprised him. It turned out to be from his poor relative, the Prince of Han, from Pingliang Prefecture. This fellow had been terrified by the rebels and wanted to leave his fiefdom to seek protection in the capital.

According to King Han, in July, the rebels plotted to attack the city in collusion with the constables of Pingliang Prefecture. Although the plan was leaked due to a lack of secrecy, and Pingliang Prefecture was successfully defended, he still felt very uneasy.

Even the peasant army deduced that the emperor had abandoned northern Shaanxi; as a prince, he certainly possessed some level of education.
Of the four prefectures in northern Shaanxi, Yan'an, Qingyang, and Suide were completely occupied by the rebels. Yulin was still under the control of the imperial court because of the presence of the Yulin Army, but it had also fallen to the enemy.

I heard that they even ended up being attacked from both sides by the northern barbarians and the rebels. Of course, in the official narrative, it was these bandits who were attacked from both sides by government troops, which is understandable.

Generally speaking, the common people were pessimistic about the imperial court, and Pingliang Prefecture was right next to Qingyang Prefecture, blocking the westward advance of the Shaanxi peasant army.

The area directly north of Pingliang Prefecture is Ningxia Town, which has three garrisons: Ningxia Guard, Ningxia Rear Guard, and Ningxia Central Guard. It can also support Yulin Guard. The rebels won't go looking for their own deaths, and it's already good that the government troops don't come looking for them. If they want to go south, it's Xi'an Prefecture, which is the core area of ​​Hong Chengchou's defense, but this route is also blocked.

Thus, Pingliang Prefecture became the only passage, and the rebels had to capture it to survive. King Han was extremely distressed! The reason Pingliang Prefecture was able to hold out was because the troops of Sun Chengzong, the governor of the three border regions and four towns, were holding it off, but Sun Chengzong's forces were limited.

The name "Four Garrisons" sounds impressive, but in reality, apart from Yansui Garrison, the combined forces of Ningxia, Gansu, and Guyuan Garrisons couldn't even muster 10,000 elite troops. Sun Chengzong was already being quite lenient with him, only assigning 2,000 troops to defend Pingliang Prefecture. 2,000 against 200,000? Just hearing that makes you want to wet your pants!
“That’s right, when it’s time to run away, run away!” Zhu Youjian greatly admired this Prince of Pingliang whom he had never met before. With a stroke of his pen, he approved his application and promised that after he entered the capital, he would be allocated a house and given a salary, with his treatment remaining unchanged. However, his original princely residence and land would be handed over to the court for safekeeping and would be returned after the situation stabilized.

(End of this chapter)