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

Chapter 228 Battle of the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum

The Guanzhong Plain, formerly known as the "Eight Hundred Li Qin Chuan" or the Wei River Plain, is the largest tributary of the Yellow River. The Wei River stretches from Baoji in the west to Tongguan in the east, traversing the entire Guanzhong Plain. Even during the most severe droughts, the Wei River never completely dried up.

This mother river of Guanzhong, along with the fertile soil of the region, has nurtured over six million people from the Qin people and witnessed the rise and fall of Han civilization over thousands of years. To the north of the Guanzhong Plain, from west to east, lie the Longdong Plateau and the Shaanbei Plateau.

The Beiluo River, the second largest tributary of the Wei River, meanders down the Shaanxi Plateau, forming the basic "two vertical and one horizontal" water system framework of the Guanzhong Plain together with the Jing River to the west and the Wei River itself.

The watershed between the two vertical lines is called Ziwu Ridge. The world-famous Qin Straight Road lies on the ridge of Ziwu Ridge, which served as the main military passage for the Qin and Han empires to attack the Xiongnu in the north.

After leaving Luochuan, Wang Jiayin led his troops south along the Beiluo River, where they encountered a fierce attack from the defending army at Huangling.

A few miles north of Huangling County lies Qiaoshan Mountain. Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian states, "When the Yellow Emperor died, he was buried at Qiaoshan Mountain!" This is the origin of the name Huangling.

On the plateau, Wang Jiayin looked extremely haggard.

The yellow sand blowing in northern Shaanxi stained his cheeks with an unhealthy yellow hue; the pounding of the sand made his skin rough; and long-term anxiety and insomnia left his eyes bloodshot.

Whether due to emotional distress or simply dehydration, my lips were peeling and cracked, with dark red blood oozing from the liver-colored scabs.

If he hadn't been wearing armor and had his personal guards protecting him, no one would have recognized him; he would have been mistaken for an ordinary old farmer.

Wang Jiayin has already felt various discomforts in his body. He hasn't fallen ill yet, but he's just holding on by sheer willpower.

During the Fugu Uprising, he promised to lead his brothers to find a way to survive, but now he has reached a dead end.

Even though he was mentally prepared, he still hoped to make a final stand, just in case! Throughout history, countless heroes have found a way out of seemingly hopeless situations; and many have fallen on the eve of victory. Even if a dead end lay before him, he still longed for a chance to turn things around.

He gazed greedily down the plateau, where an endless plain stretched out beneath the low, gray clouds—a sight he had never seen before in northern Shaanxi.

They foraged for food in the loess gullies, lived in earthen cave dwellings, and ate food baked in the loess soil.

Before the rebellion, perhaps their greatest wish in life was simply to own a few acres of land, so that they wouldn't have to pay 80-90% of their grain to the landlords.

The people of Guanzhong must be living like gods, right? So many fields, the best land with great rivers flowing through it, it wouldn't be surprising if you dug up a gold nugget from such land!

"If we can get through this, we'll survive!" Wang Jiayin told himself.

He resolutely turned back to the army and led his old camp in Fugu to launch the thirteenth campaign!

Down on the plateau, three armies that were not under each other's command were forced to unite under the orders of their respective commanders.

They were: the royal guards of Prince Zhu Cunshu of Qin, numbering only eight hundred, but well-equipped, with everyone wearing armor;
Hong Chengchou's Qin army consisted of Hong Chengchou's own standard battalion, elite troops from various guards in Guanzhong, and border soldiers whom Hong Chengchou "begged" from various border towns.

The various towns were happy to lend troops to Hong Chengchou, since in Shaanxi at that time, only Hong Chengchou was wealthy enough to support an army of over 100,000.

Because Hong Chengchou diverted troops to kill Chuang Wang, only seven or eight thousand Qin soldiers remained to guard the area. However, these men were enough to overwhelm Wang Jiayin's tens of thousands of troops. The only difficulty was that the number of soldiers was too small to encircle Wang Jiayin's forces. They were also worried that if they attacked too fiercely, they would drive him away and he would become another Chuang Wang who would wander thousands of miles away.

The third force consisted of local militias. They were poorly equipped and weak-willed. They might be able to display some courage when defending their hometowns, but they were only gathered here because they were "inspired" by Hong Chengchou's tax exemption policy!
At this time, Hong Chengchou's popularity in the imperial court and Guanzhong was by no means good. Not only did the peasant rebels hate him to the bone, but the local powerful gentry also wished him dead.

Shaanxi had effectively become the "vanguard" of the Ming Dynasty, unilaterally initiating the collection of "tribute" and "contribution" from landlords.

The three taxes were added to the land tax: Liaodong tax, 1.2 fen per mu; anti-suppression tax, about 4 li per mu; training tax, 1 fen per mu, totaling an additional six jin of grain per mu.

In Hong Chengchou's view, this amount of tax was not much; it could generate an extra 800,000 shi of grain annually, barely enough to keep his Qin army, at its current size, from starving. However, in the eyes of the powerful clans, his actions were somewhat "against the will of Heaven."

The earliest peasant uprising in Shaanxi began with the Wang Er uprising in Chengcheng. The trigger for the uprising was the county magistrate's torture of the people to force them to pay taxes.

Chengcheng is not located in northern Shaanxi, but in the area of ​​Beiluo River in Guanzhong, only two hundred li away from Huangling.

Compared to northern Shaanxi, the disaster here was not the most severe, yet it was here that the uprising broke out first. This was not a natural disaster, but a man-made one!

In years of great disaster, the common people may face a life-or-death crisis, but for the gentry, it is a good opportunity to snatch chestnuts from the fire, annex land, recruit slaves, and expand their families! The impeachment that Hong Chengchou faced may well have been the result of the instigation of this group of gentry.

In their view, refugees were common, but the Ming army was invincible; sending anyone would yield the same result. So why not send their own people? That way, they could cooperate and further plunder. Hong Chengchou was definitely not one of their own!
……

The successive defeats, coupled with the bad news from distant allies, have greatly damaged the morale of the rebel army. The soldiers have shown obvious fear of battle, and even Wang Jiayin's old camp in Fugu has seen many deserters.

If it were anyone else who left, they would have simply left, but Wang Jiayin could not tolerate the betrayal of his own loyal troops. Therefore, he had no choice but to order the public execution of the captured brothers.

The strict military law slightly improved the discipline of the rebel army, but the damage to morale was irreparable: everyone recognized you as their leader because you were loyal; now you even kill your own brothers, where is your loyalty?!

If it were cavalry, charging down from the high ground, the government troops would absolutely not dare to intercept them here.

However, the scene is now reversed: densely packed rebel soldiers are huddled together, slowly making their way down the slope.

The rebel leaders were well aware that such a dense formation, without sufficient armor coverage, would make them easy targets for the government troops. However, they had no other choice; otherwise, their men would all flee. The rebel soldiers could only huddle together for a meager sense of security.

The rebel army had virtually no long-range attack capabilities; their limited number of bows and arrows were all in the hands of their leaders. From selecting materials to crafting a single bow, it would take at least three years. Even if they had enough time, they couldn't find craftsmen skilled in this craft. The Ming Dynasty's household registration system effectively created a government monopoly on civilian technology.

The rebel army, lacking bows and crossbows, had a considerable number of firearms. A well-made Kaiyuan bow was definitely more expensive than an equally good musket, and the process was complicated, time-consuming, and labor-intensive.

The ordnance bureau or army preferred to resell firearms. Even if you were an old farmer with no background, as long as you were willing to pay, you could buy a Ming army standard musket from the government's ordnance bureau without worrying about being questioned. Just pay the money, and the other party would not care about your identity, even if you were a comprador of the Jurchens!

The seller would even thoughtfully include some bullets and gunpowder, and the muskets might be of better quality than those actually supplied to the army, because they also valued their reputation and credibility.

Northern Shaanxi was frequently raided by the Manchus, so the civilian population possessed an "elite" level of firearms. Every time the rebel army captured a county town or a landlord's estate, they could pull out bundles of firearms from the treasury and cellars. These firearms then became their best weapons for conquering more cities and territories.

Unfortunately, the rebels have almost run out of ammunition and propellant, and they also lack the ability to control their own.

Rumble!
The scorching hot shells flew out of the cannon muzzle, whipping up a strong wind near Tang Tong's ear and leaving an indelible smell of gunpowder on his temples.

Shells rained down, limbs flew everywhere within the rebel positions, and screams could still be faintly heard even two miles away. The rebel ranks began to descend into chaos.

At that moment, a strange whistle sounded behind the rebels, three long and one short.

Under the pressure of the supervising officers wielding broadswords, the three thousand vanguard of the rebel army had no choice but to charge forward despite the fierce artillery fire from the government troops.

However, the ground beneath their feet was uneven, and in their panic, their legs easily gave way, and many people lost their footing. Large numbers of the rebels fell to the ground and tumbled down the slope like gourds. By the time they hit the boulders or came to a stop at the bottom of the slope, they were already bleeding from their mouths and noses and had multiple fractures.

Tang Tong pulled out a monocular telescope from his waist, zoomed in, and coldly observed the scene before him through its two lenses, one concave and one convex. The mountains of corpses and seas of blood did not even make him frown; he was already used to such sights.

However, when he saw his friendly cavalry disobeying orders and charging against the rebels, he couldn't help but swear!
"Cease fire!" Tang Tong raised his right arm and ordered through gritted teeth.

(End of this chapter)