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

Chapter 227 Gao Yingxiang: That damned Wei Yan!
Zhu Youjian sensed the world's malice, as if history had suddenly returned to its starting point. Even though he had foreseen this and made arrangements in advance, no matter how convoluted the process, the result was still the same as the beginning of history. Zhu Youjian was genuinely frightened when he learned that Gao Yingxiang had almost fled to Sichuan.

It's important to understand that although the peasant uprisings at the end of the Ming Dynasty originated in northern Shaanxi, they were unable to achieve anything significant until they entered Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, Henan, and other places, at which point they truly began to grow and become unstoppable.

Zhu Youjian began to consider whether to transfer the Beijing garrison to Shaanxi. However, if the Beijing garrison was transferred out, it would not be able to return in a short period of time, which would inevitably create a vacuum in the capital and lead to the same fate as in history, where the court's elite troops were exhausted from suppressing the rebels.

Not to mention, if the news were leaked by a traitor, attracting the Jurchens to attack, although the Jurchens would indeed suffer heavy casualties, their main force would still survive. Moreover, Huang Taiji also had the ability to mobilize the youth in the country. Who knows if they would go crazy and invade the pass again?!
However, just as Zhu Youjian was worrying, Hong Chengchou's good news arrived. He had actually captured Gao Yingxiang, the rebel leader, and said that he was on his way to the capital!

Your subject Hong Chengchou respectfully reports: I am pleased to report the great victory in capturing the rebel leader and pacifying the bandits.

In October of the third year of the Chongzhen reign, the rebel Gao Yingxiang led tens of thousands of his remaining troops to raid from the southern mountains, intending to attack Xi'an and seize control of Guanzhong.

I predicted that they would pass through Heishuiyu in Zhouzhi, so I set up an ambush: I ordered the adjutant Zheng Jiadong and Zuo Guangxian to lie in ambush at the east and west of the valley entrance, Ma Shilong to cut off the return route behind the valley, and I personally led the central army to guard the valley waist.

On October 13th, Gao Yingxiang entered the valley. After the enemy had passed more than halfway through, I waved the flag and gave the order: the firearms behind the barricades opened fire simultaneously, followed by arrows and rolling stones from the ambush troops. The enemy thronged into the valley, with men and horses trampling each other.

Gao Yingxiang personally led his elite troops in a counterattack, engaging in three battles from dawn to noon. Due to the narrowness of the valley, the enemy suffered increasing casualties.

At noon, Ma Shilong's troops suddenly arrived from behind the valley. Seeing that their retreat route was cut off, the enemy's morale collapsed. Gao Yingxiang tried to escape by climbing the cliff, but was captured by He Renlong, a general under Zuo Guangxian.

In this battle, over 23,000 rebel leaders were killed, more than 20 bandit chiefs were captured, and countless horses, mules, and weapons were seized. The rebel leader Gao Yingxiang has been sent to the capital in prison to await the emperor's judgment.

I have ordered all generals to guard key passes and search for the remaining enemy forces, and they dare not slacken their efforts.

Your subject, Hong Chengchou, bows his head.

October 16th, the third year of Chongzhen

……

The rebel leader Li Zicheng is dead, but he is nowhere to be found. Zhu Youjian did not abolish the post stations, and it is unknown whether Li Zicheng actually rebelled. Before becoming the rebel leader, he was a general under Gao Yingxiang, serving as Gao Yingxiang's right-hand man. After Gao Yingxiang's death, he inherited Gao Yingxiang's power and gradually rose to prominence.

The peasant uprisings during the Ming Dynasty were far from smooth sailing from the very beginning. The Ming Dynasty fell nearly half a century later during the Wanli Emperor's reign, a grueling and unsatisfying end!
……

On that day, Gao Yingxiang was badly defeated by the Sichuan soldiers. The tenacity of these lean men from the southwest in their fighting spirit and the strictness of their military discipline were something they had never seen in other government troops.

When faced with the government cavalry, their infantry could only scatter and flee. They had never imagined that infantry could actually deal with cavalry! No wonder they hadn't seen the Tartars for so long; the rumors that they had been driven away by the government army were true!
Unable to enter Sichuan and pursued by enemy troops, Gao Yingxiang had no choice but to lead his army into the Qinling Mountains. While the mountains offered easy cover, tens of thousands of men needed food and drink, and hunting alone could not sustain such a large population.

Gao Yingxiang made a tough decision, recalling the Ziwu Valley plot from the opera. So he turned back along the Ziwu Valley road, preparing to launch a surprise attack on Xijing and fight Hong the Madman to the death!

However, he knew about the Ziwu Valley strategy. Hong Chengchou was well-versed in military strategy, so how could he not know it? The reason why no one had used this strategy before was because it was too dangerous to take this route! Hong Chengchou was also determined to wipe out this band of bandits. So he began to call for reinforcements, borrowed several thousand soldiers from Tongguan, and asked Sun Chengzong to send troops to support him.

In fact, in Shaanxi, the Governor-General of the Three Border Regions was the highest military commander, while Hong Chengchou was merely a civil official. However, Sun Chengzong seemed to have intentionally given up the stage for Hong Chengchou to perform.

Shaanxi may seem dangerous, but it's actually as stable as a rock. The three legendary figures, Sun Chengzong, Sun Chuanting, and Hong Chengchou, are all in Shaanxi. Does the rebel army have Han Xin or Bai Qi?! The common people are too fragile. Even if they rise up in resistance, it's just like an ant trying to shake a tree.

Zhu Youjian's strategy was effective. Without the addition of a large number of border troops, the rebels were simply no match for him. The reason they were not wiped out for so long was only because the court still regarded them as ordinary people and was too embarrassed to take the initiative to send troops to slaughter them.

Gao Yingxiang knew to take a detour and not completely exit the Ziwu Valley, but unfortunately Hong Chengchou was fully aware of his movements. Even though he detoured through Heishuiyu, he was still caught red-handed.

Gao Yingxiang had just come out of the Ziwu Valley when he encountered the government troops lined up in formation. If he returned by the same route, he would surely suffer a great defeat. Moreover, their food supplies could not support them to take the same route again. Who knew if there was another group of government troops waiting for them on the other side?
So he had no choice but to lead his men and charge forward, a desperate battle. This time, they couldn't escape; if they made it through, they would live; if they didn't, they would die. Gao Yingxiang led from the front, his peasant army crashing against the government troops like a tidal wave, but for every man who went, there was a man who died.

After fighting for half a day, they not only failed to break through the government troops' ranks, but were instead pushed back several hundred paces by the government forces. The government troops advanced over the corpses of the rebels, leaving behind mountains of corpses and seas of blood, while creating new mountains of corpses and seas of blood in front of them. This time, the peasant army did not collapse at the first encounter, but held out for a full three days, because they were facing Hong the Madman, a complete madman who would continue to kill prisoners even after surrendering. Moreover, they had touched Hong the Madman's backside, and he had already declared that he would exterminate them!
Three days later, they were still defeated! The crushing defeat of the rebel king was undoubtedly a huge blow to the rebel army. At this time, Wang Jiayin's troops had not even broken through Hong Chengchou's Beishan defense line!

……

At the end of the year, Gao Yingxiang was escorted to the capital in a prison cart. Zhang Weixian suggested presenting the prisoner to the Imperial Ancestral Temple, but Zhu Youjian couldn't bear the humiliation. The crime of rebellion warranted the execution of nine generations of his family, but unfortunately, Gao Yingxiang's entire family had likely already been exterminated. Someone else suggested executing him by slow slicing, but Zhu Youjian refused and ordered him to be strangled, leaving him with a complete corpse.

Before Gao Yingxiang was executed, Zhu Youjian made a special trip to the imperial prison to see him. Inside the highest-ranking prison cell, a burly, bearded man from the Northwest was huddled in a corner, but even so, his imposing figure was impossible to ignore.

He had multiple wounds on his body, including broken arrows that hadn't been pulled out. At this point, his wounds had begun to ooze a large amount of pus. In this state, even if he wasn't killed, he probably wouldn't last much longer.

Hearing the noise from the cell, Gao Yingxiang slightly raised his head. He squinted and shielded his forehead with his hand; the candlelight from the lantern in broad daylight was too bright for him. Finally, his eyes adjusted to the change in light, and he saw the dragon pattern on the newcomer's robe. He struggled to brush his hair aside and dragged the chains on his shackles, making them clink.

He stared at Zhu Youjian for a long while, then suddenly burst into loud, cacophony laughter, tears streaming down his face: "You're the emperor of the Ming Dynasty?! You look like a little chick! I could take on ten, a hundred of you! How could the emperor of the Ming Dynasty be like this? What makes you think you're worthy of being emperor?!"

"Do you have any last words?! I sentence you to hanging, but I'll leave you with a whole corpse," Zhu Youjian said softly.

Gao Yingxiang suddenly froze. He lowered his head and said viciously, "Damn Wei Yan!"

Zhu Youjian was speechless. Gao Yingxiang whispered "thank you," his voice so soft that Zhu Youjian would have missed it if he hadn't been paying close attention.

“Arrange a last meal for him, with fine wine and food,” Zhu Youjian said. “You’ve been starving for a long time, haven’t you?”

No one answered the question. After a while, Zhu Youjian heard soft sobbing coming from the corner.

"Shouldn't you be asking me why I'm rebelling?!" Gao Yingxiang said, his voice trembling with tears.

"I know why you rebelled."

"We were right!"

“Yes, you are right.” Zhu Youjian nodded.

Gao Yingxiang opened his mouth, then choked out, "You don't seem to be so incompetent, so why are you ignoring us? Why isn't the government providing disaster relief?!"

"When you rebelled, the Jurchens were besieging the capital." Zhu Youjian told a lie made up of the truth, which silenced Gao Yingxiang.

"Do you have any subordinates named Li Zicheng or Li Hongji?!" This was Zhu Youjian's last question.

Gao Yingxiang thought for a moment, then shook his head blankly. But then he was enlightened: "Emperor, I beg you for a favor. Can you please not kill my brothers? I remember many of them surrendered when I was captured. Even if they are exiled to the army to fight the Jurchen Tartars, it would be worth it if they died!"

"You are too weak. You are no better than chicks when fighting the Jurchens," Zhu Youjian said ruthlessly. These words struck Gao Yingxiang's heart again, but he was powerless to refute them.

"My order is only to execute the ringleaders; the common people you have coerced can be appeased," Zhu Youjian added, before turning and leaving.

After a while, the jailer brought him a sumptuous last meal. Gao Yingxiang ate and cried, finishing a large vat of rice, four dishes and a soup, until his belly was round and full.

The next day, Gao Yingxiang was taken to the West Market and executed, marking the end of an era for the first rebel leader! The whereabouts of the second rebel leader remain unknown…

(End of this chapter)