The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 265 On the Night of the Lantern Festival, the Righteous Army Breaks Through Fengyang

And so, Marco stayed at the Jianzhou camp with peace of mind, living a regular and fulfilling life.

During the day, he followed Dong Erzhu to inspect the drill ground and watch the soldiers practice military formations;

In the evenings, he would immerse himself in the classroom run by Wang Wu, holding the outline and listening to him carefully explain the rules and regulations.

Marco looked carefully and listened attentively, afraid of missing anything, and his anxiety gradually disappeared.

While he was leisurely "studying," Hong Chengchou, far away in Hanzhong, was not in such a good mood.

Time flies, and almost half a month has passed.

Ma Ke's group, which was sent out to contact the Ming army in Yunnan and Guizhou, disappeared without a trace, and no message was sent back.

Hong Chengchou sat upright in the government office, his fingers unconsciously tapping the table, his brows furrowed in a frown.

He looked sharply at Deng Yang beside him:
"Deng Yang!"

"Still no news from Marco?"

Upon hearing him speak, Deng Yang, who was standing guard to the side, immediately bowed and replied:

"Reporting to the Commander-in-Chief, there has been no news yet."

His face was filled with innocence and worry.

"The several groups of capable men I sent to meet them and gather intelligence have all lost contact."

"I'm also a little puzzled. In the past, when caravans traveled to and from northern Sichuan, although the journey was arduous, they always managed to return and send a message."

"But this time it's strange, they went in and never heard from them again."

He carefully observed Hong Chengchou's expression and continued his analysis:

"Do you think it's possible that the bandits knew our army was gathering in Hanzhong, so they completely blocked the trade routes, allowing entry but not exit?"

"The Shu region is now in complete chaos, with bandits attacking everywhere and unruly people taking advantage of the situation to cause trouble."

"Since Ma Youji and his men weren't armed, and were dozens of strong men, in the eyes of the bandits, they were all excellent laborers, or even ready-made soldiers!"

"What if, by some chance, Ma Youji gets taken hostage by the bandits, or..."

Deng Yang didn't say "arrest" or "kill" aloud, but the meaning was already quite clear.

Hong Chengchou felt a surge of irritation rush to his head.

He had planned everything meticulously, but he never expected things to turn out this way!
Where exactly did things go wrong? Marco is always meticulous in his work, how could he have left no trace at all?
Seeing this, Deng Yang tentatively asked:
"Commander, should we continue to wait, or launch a full-scale attack?"

Hong Chengchou fell silent; he dared not launch a direct attack on the Shu Road.

The more than 30,000 people he has are his biggest asset right now. It's easy to put them in, but it will be difficult to pull them out later.

After pondering for a long time, he wearily waved his hand:
"Let's wait and see, let's wait another month."

"Perhaps the journey to Yunnan and Guizhou is long, and General Ma has just arrived and is still in contact with them."

His words seemed to be trying to persuade Deng Yang, but even more so, they were a way of persuading himself.

Since Hong Chengchou decided to hold back for the time being, Lu Xiang-sheng of Huguang could only wait as well.

While the two of them remained inactive, someone else took the initiative.

In the deep mountains and forests of western Hunan, the rebel leaders, who had been chased like stray dogs by Lu Xiang-sheng, keenly sensed the changing situation of the battle.

"Something's not right! It seems like King Lu's troops have become lax?"

Luo Rucai's mind raced, and he analyzed the situation logically and clearly.

"The Ming army used to chase us like mad dogs, but now they're all cowering outside the mountain pass like turtles, just surrounding us without attacking!"

"I reckon something big must have happened outside that drew away the main force of the Ming army!"

Everyone's eyes lit up, and they all felt that what he said made sense.

Besides, they've had enough of being confined to the mountains and eating wild vegetables!
"Fuck you!"

"rush out!"

Zhang Xianzhong slapped his thigh, his eyes flashing with murderous intent.

"I don't want to starve to death in this godforsaken place!"

After some discussion, the leaders decided to split into three groups, break through the mountains, and re-enter the territory of Henan and Shaanxi.

Luo Rucai, Zhang Tianlin, Scorpion, and others had a clear objective: to travel through Mianchi, pass through Shanzhou, cross Tongguan, and fight their way back to their hometown in Shaanxi.

Gao Yingxiang, Liu Guoneng, He Yilong, and others chose to travel along the Junzhou and Xiangyang route.

Their target was the Huguang region, such as the relatively wealthy De'an Prefecture and Huangzhou Prefecture. Gao Yingxiang even planned to travel to Southern Zhili!
Zhang Xianzhong, Ma Shouying, Zhang Yichuan, and others planned to travel eastward along Dengzhou and Nanyang, heading straight for Kaifeng and Guide Prefecture in Henan.

The group also set their sights on the lucrative territory of Southern Zhili.

Thus, in the winter of the seventh year of Chongzhen's reign, three armies simultaneously set out in three different directions, breaking through the Ming army's blockade.

At this time, the governors in charge of intercepting the rebel soldiers were Xuan Mo, the governor of Henan, and Li Qiao, the governor of Shaanxi.

Faced with the rebel army's three-pronged breakout, the two of them were in a state of utter chaos, wishing they could split themselves into eight pieces to use.

Hong Chengchou transferred the main forces of the three border regions of Shaanxi to Hanzhong, leaving only about 10,000 men under the command of Li Qiao, the governor of Shaanxi.

Most of the troops had to remain in Guyuan, constantly on guard against the menacing Mongol tribes in Qinghai.

The vast Guanzhong Plain was almost completely undefended.

Luo Rucai, Zhang Tianlin and their team entered the empty pass with almost no effort.

However, Guanzhong is no longer the fertile land it once was.

Years of natural disasters, endless levies imposed by the imperial court, and repeated ravages by various government troops and bandits had left the land desolate and the fields littered with corpses of the starving.

The granary that Luo Rucai and others had envisioned is now just a blank expanse of land.

Seeing that they couldn't make any money in Shaanxi, Luo Rucai and Zhang Tianlin led tens of thousands of starving people to turn around and march towards neighboring Shanxi.

The situation was even worse for Xuanmo, the governor of Henan. He had only 5,000 soldiers and had to face the combined forces of Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong.

Xuanmo risked his life, mobilizing all available troops to pursue and intercept them.

However, Gao Yingxiang, as the nominal "leader" of various rebel armies, still had many veteran elites under his command who were good at fighting.

Faced with Xuan Mo's hastily organized defenses, Gao Yingxiang and his men easily broke through and swept through the entire Xiangyang Prefecture.

However, Xiangyang was a formidable city with high walls and thick ramparts, and they couldn't break through it in a short time. So they had to bypass this tough nut and, by taking advantage of the Daode'an Prefecture, plunged headlong into Runing Prefecture in Henan.

The Henan region had previously been thoroughly "sweeped up" by Zuo Liangyu and his government troops, and the banditry had been basically quelled.

Upon hearing that Zhang Xianzhong, Ma Shouying, and others had returned to Henan, people from all over the country rose up in rebellion and joined the rebel army.

After a brief rendezvous in Henan, Zhang Xianzhong, Gao Yingxiang, and others easily captured Mengcheng, the northwestern gateway to Fengyang Prefecture.

With the fall of Mengcheng, Fengyang, the "birthplace of the Ming Dynasty," was exposed to the onslaught of the rebel army.

Just as the two rebel armies were discussing how to capture Fengyang, the Fengyang governor Yang Yipeng and the eunuch guarding the imperial tombs Yang Ze provided timely assistance.

They actually drove the guards of the imperial tombs to rebellion!
Fengyang, as the birthplace of Zhu Chongba, held a very special position in the Ming Dynasty. It is the burial place of Zhu Chongba's parents, Zhu Wusi and Chen.

What was once a humble grave has been transformed into the Ming Emperor's Mausoleum, a vast complex with imposing palaces.

The Huangjue Temple, where Zhu Yuanzhang had become a monk in his early years to make a living, was also expanded and made into a magnificent royal temple.

Since Zhu Yuanzhang founded the country, Fengyang has been designated as the central capital and enjoys a special political status.

Here are countless palaces and pavilions, lush and majestic mountains and forests, pampered officials, imprisoned criminals and eunuchs guarding the imperial tombs, and countless Fengyang people struggling on the brink of life and death.

For the people of Fengyang, this so-called land of dragons is truly a living hell.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang conscripted a million laborers to build Zhongdu, incurring incalculable costs.

Countless people died from exhaustion and starvation on the construction site, but in the end, the capital city was never completed.

By the late Ming Dynasty, the country was beset by internal and external troubles, and the imperial treasury collapsed.

As the hometown of the emperor, Zhongdu was burdened with heavy taxes, with numerous "mausoleum maintenance donations" and "Zhongdu relief silver" weighing heavily on the people, making it difficult for them to breathe.

In addition, land was highly concentrated, with most of the fertile land in the hands of nobles, members of the royal family, and temples, leaving ordinary people as tenant farmers or vagrants, living a precarious existence.

"Speaking of Fengyang, talking about Fengyang, Fengyang was originally a good place, but ever since Emperor Zhu came, it has been barren for nine out of ten years!"

This widely circulated folk song can be said to have fully expressed the blood and tears of the people of Fengyang.

During the Chongzhen era, the perverse actions of Yang Ze, the eunuch in charge of the imperial tombs, drove the people to the brink of despair.

Relying on his status as an eunuch, he monopolized military and political power in Fengyang, using "mausoleum maintenance" as a powerful tool to plunder the local area.

Yang Ze instructed his subordinates to continuously levy so-called "mausoleum tax" on merchants and people in Fengyang. The tax amount was so high that it was astonishing.

He even embezzled the meager pay of the soldiers guarding the tomb, causing "merchants and civilians to suffer, and soldiers to freeze and starve."

Yang Ze's close associates and henchmen, such as Commander Hou Dingguo, were even more ruthless.

This man would often torture or even beat innocent civilians to death for failing to pay taxes or for resisting. The people hated him to the core.

When pressured, this bastard even came up with some experience.

“If he is not given the first time, his neck will be tied; if he is not given the second time, his body will be hung upside down; if he is not given the third time, his wife and children will be moved to another room.”

However, even if the cries of the people from the ancestral graves reached the ears of the emperor, they rarely received the sympathy of the Ming emperor, let alone Zhu Youjian.

In the fourth year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, Qian Shisheng, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites in Nanjing, was ordered to offer sacrifices at the imperial mausoleum and witnessed the tragic state of Fengyang.

This official, who still possessed some conscience, submitted a memorial to Emperor Chongzhen, meticulously describing the situation in Fengyang:
"...When the people of Fengyang encounter floods or droughts, they abandon their worn-out shoes, carry their wives and children, and beg for a living in all directions. As the population has already fled, the arrears of taxes accumulate year after year. When they are urged to pay, they refuse to return, and when they are summoned, they are doubted as empty words..."

He pleaded with the emperor to reduce taxes in Fengyang for the sake of the ancestral tombs, so that the people could have a way to survive.

However, Emperor Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian, a filial son, coldly wrote only a few words in response to this tearful memorial:

"understood."

"He has repeatedly issued decrees to alleviate the people's suffering."

He actually brushed it off so easily.

The emperor did allocate funds to Fengyang; Zhu Youjian allocated no less than ten thousand taels of silver to Fengyang every year.

But all that silver was used to support those royal criminals imprisoned behind high walls. How could it possibly be spent on a bunch of peasants?

The final straw that broke the camel's back came at the end of the seventh year of the Chongzhen reign.

At the end of the year, the imperial court dispatched an imperial inspector to Fengyang to investigate the situation and listen to the people's voices. Upon learning this, the merchants and people of Fengyang, driven to desperation, collectively went to the office of the imperial inspector Wu Zhenying to file a complaint and accuse the eunuch guarding the imperial tombs, Yang Ze, of his heinous crimes.

However, Wu Zhenying, being a spineless coward, feared Yang Ze's eunuch power and actually became a coward.

He chose to close his door for three days and refused to listen to the people's complaints.

This action instantly ignited the long-suppressed anger and despair of the people.

Just then, news came from the vicinity of Fengyang Prefecture that the rebel army was attacking!
Right here in Montreal!

Upon hearing the news that the rebel army planned to attack Fengyang Prefecture, the Ming soldiers guarding the tomb took the lead in resisting.

They decided to go all the way and killed Hou Dingguo, the commander of the imperial mausoleum.

The group carried Hou Dingguo's head and ran straight to Zhang Xianzhong's camp.

Leading the group were several tomb guards dressed in tattered coats. They carried Hou Dingguo's head and knelt down in front of Zhang Xianzhong and his men with a thud.

"Your Majesties!"

"We are the guards of the Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum. Today, we have specially killed our superior and come to pledge our allegiance!"

"We only beg Your Majesty to quickly send troops to Fengyang, slaughter those corrupt officials who suck the marrow from the bones, and seek justice for our brothers and for the people of Fengyang!"

The leaders of the various rebel armies were greatly encouraged upon hearing the news.

The days when they were driven to hide in ravines and eat tree bark by Lu Xiang-sheng were not long ago, and they were all harboring resentment and ready to take revenge on the court at any time.

What kind of place is Fengyang?
The ancestral home of Emperor Zhu! The birthplace of the Ming Dynasty, the location of its ancestral tombs!
If we could take this place, it would relieve their hatred even more than taking ten Kaifeng cities.

The major rebel leaders reached a consensus instantly and devised a plan to attack the city overnight, preparing to give the emperor a good whack in the back.

Tens of thousands of troops split into two routes. One route, led by Gao Yingxiang and Ma Shouying, continued eastward to attack the Runing and Gushi areas.

Meanwhile, another force, led by Zhang Xianzhong and Zhang Yichuan, immediately crossed the river at Huaiqing and captured Guide, Chenzhou, Xuzhou and other places.

Thus, the two rebel armies, like a raging flood, attacked cities and seized territories, conquering more than ten prefectures and counties within half a month.

Among them, Zhang Yichuan's troops were the first to capture Yingzhou City, seizing a large amount of grain, fodder and military equipment.

When the local people of Fengyang heard that the righteous army had arrived, they felt as if they had seen a savior.

For hundreds of miles along the way, countless ragged and emaciated people from Fengyang flocked to the rebel army's camp as if on a pilgrimage, disregarding the perilous journey.

They knelt in the military camp, tears streaming down their faces, and begged the rebel army to attack their hometown.

They gave the rebel soldiers a complete account of which families and wealthy individuals were rich.

After receiving a tip from the people of Fengyang, Zhang Xianzhong and Zhang Yichuan were overjoyed and decided to take over the capital city of Fengyang by working together from the inside and outside.

Zhang Xianzhong first secretly dispatched his adopted son Sun Kewang with 300 elite soldiers, disguised as merchants, monks, Taoists, beggars, etc., to infiltrate the city and take the opportunity to contact the people in the city to act as guides.

On the night of the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, the main force of the rebel army arrived at the city of Fengyang and took advantage of the bright lights of the Lantern Festival and the laxity of the defending troops to lie in ambush outside the city.

At this moment, Fengyang City was immersed in the joyful atmosphere of the festival, with colorful lanterns hanging high and the sounds of string and wind instruments faintly wafting through the air.

The governor, the eunuchs guarding the tombs, and even the nobles were still living in a life of debauchery and revelry, completely unaware that disaster was imminent.

When scouts outside the city reported discovering traces of a large band of bandits, Yang Ze, the half-drunk eunuch guarding the imperial tombs, flew into a rage, pointing at the messenger and cursing:
"Bullshit! Nonsense!"

"Our Zhongdu Imperial Mausoleum is protected by the dragon aura of our founding emperor! Which blind traitor would dare to come here to die?"

"It must be you who got drunk and messed things up, giving false military intelligence!"

"Guards, drag him away and give him fifty lashes!"

The poor soldier was loyal and devoted, but was falsely accused of being a drunkard by this damned eunuch.

He could only be dragged away by the ravenous servants beside him with a look of resentment, his screams drowned out by the music and singing.

No one believed that the end of the world was just around the corner.

At this moment, a thick fog blanketed the city, completely enveloping it.

In the mist, Zhang Yichuan's main force lay quietly beneath the city walls, awaiting the dawn.

"Ugh——!"

A muffled horn blast sounded, and Zhang Yichuan drew his sword, roaring:
"Execute the tyrannical Ming! Kill the treacherous officials!"

"Open the city gates! Welcome the righteous army!"

Shortly after the horn sounded, towering flames suddenly rose from all directions within Fengyang City.

Upon hearing the signal, Sun Kewang's 300 inside agents launched a simultaneous attack at key locations throughout the city, such as granaries, armories, government offices, and noble residences!

A large number of poor people and laborers who had been waiting for a long time rushed towards the city gate, carrying kitchen knives and wooden sticks and shouting slogans.

"General Sun has succeeded!"

"Men, charge!"

Zhang Yichuan, leading his personal guards and brandishing his long sword, charged ahead towards the Fengyang city gate.

Meanwhile, Ma Shouying responded to the call and led his elite troops to rush toward the city gate.

Tens of thousands of rebels surged forward like a bursting dam, roaring like a tsunami, and charged toward Fengyang, the capital that symbolized the glory of the Ming Dynasty.

Only now did the gentry in the city finally wake up from their dream!

The ear-piercing sound of gongs, terrified screams, and frantic running instantly replaced the revelry of the previous night.

However, it was too late.

Fengyang City, the central capital on which Zhu Yuanzhang placed high hopes, had a fatal flaw in its defense system.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the construction of Zhongdu was a massive project with heavy labor.

Unable to endure the suffering, the craftsmen dared not resist due to Zhu Yuanzhang's brutality. They could only secretly use talismans and talismans to perform exorcisms and vent their resentment.

Upon learning of this, Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and ordered the massacre of thousands of artisans to vent his anger.

After this incident, Old Zhu has been worried that the feng shui of his family's ancestral graves may have been damaged.

Furthermore, due to his fear of the powerful Huaixi nobles, Zhu Yuanzhang ultimately abandoned his plan to build Fengyang into a true capital.

This also resulted in the absence of tall and sturdy city walls around Fengyang, making its defenses far inferior to those of Nanjing and Beijing.

With the overwhelming onslaught of the rebel army and the cooperation of insiders within the city, the outer city was breached in less than half an hour.

In haste, Zhu Guo, the garrison commander of Zhongdu, assembled three thousand soldiers in an attempt to resist the rebel army.

But faced with the combined attack of the rebels from both inside and outside, he was defeated and forced to retreat, and could only organize resistance in the streets and alleys.

In an instant, shouts of battle, the clash of swords, the roar of muskets, and the screams of the dying echoed throughout the city.

Zhu Guoxiang was covered in blood, and his broadsword was dulled from hacking away. He had killed twenty-seven volunteer soldiers in succession.

But the crowds were so large that it seemed impossible to kill them all.

The number of soldiers around him dwindled with each battle, until he was finally surrounded in a street corner in the south of the city.

Zhu Guoxiang looked at the densely packed rebel army with fierce eyes all around him, then glanced in the direction of the capital city, and sighed deeply.

The fall of Fengyang was inevitable; even if he managed to escape alive, he would still face certain death.

Finally, Zhu Guoxiang let out a roar and committed suicide by cutting his own throat.

Most of the more than 3,000 soldiers he led were killed on the spot. The remaining Ming soldiers, seeing that the situation was hopeless, knelt down and shouted "Long live the Emperor!" to surrender.

When the city fell, Yan Rongxuan, the prefect of Fengyang, was terrified.

This fellow usually loved to drag those who couldn't pay their grain taxes into the jail, wrap them in water-soaked burlap, and beat them to death. His methods were extremely cruel.

He knew his sins were grave and that surrendering would certainly mean certain death.

At this critical moment of life and death, Yan Rongxuan had a flash of inspiration and changed into a prison uniform, taking the opportunity to sneak into the stinking government jail, attempting to disguise herself as a prisoner and escape.

However, justice prevails and retribution is inevitable.

When the rebel army stormed the government office and opened the prison gates to release the prisoners, some of the people who had been personally ordered to be imprisoned by Yan Rongxuan recognized him at a glance.

The angry crowd immediately dragged Yan Rongxuan out of the pile of prisoners and carried him to the main hall of the government office like a dead dog.

At that time, Zhang Yichuan was in the city clearing out the remaining enemies. When he heard the news, he immediately rushed over and held a trial.

Zhang Yichuan sat imposingly inside the government office, recounting, in front of the countless onlookers, Yan Rongxuan's heinous crimes of extortion and disregard for human life.

He was even more furious when he learned about Yan Rongxuan's "hobby".

"You corrupt official! You've finally met your match!"

"Don't you like spanking the most?"

Zhang Yichuan grinned maliciously and slammed the gavel down suddenly.

"Somebody come!"

"Press this corrupt official down in the hall and beat him with the board he loves most!"

"Beat them to death! Beat them until they stop breathing!"

Yan Rongxuan knelt on the ground, begging for mercy, but Zhang Yichuan had already turned and left.

The people who had been waiting for a long time rushed into the yamen, grabbed the fire sticks in the yamen, and smashed them down on him again and again.

And so, this prefect, who had a penchant for killing people with a board, was beaten to death in the courtroom by the instrument of torture he was most familiar with.

With the complete fall of Fengyang City, the rebel leaders Gao Yingxiang, Ma Shouying, Zhang Yichuan, and others, guided by the surrendered guards of the imperial tombs and the local people, launched a massive search and arrest operation in the city for officials, wealthy gentry, and noble sons who were unable to escape.

The once high and mighty men were now like stray dogs, dragged out of their hiding places, crying and begging for mercy, before being mercilessly hacked to pieces.

Mansions and warehouses were smashed open, and chests of gold, silver, grain, and cloth were continuously transported out.

The entire city of Fengyang was engulfed in a frenzy of revenge.

Amidst this chaos, only one person remained remarkably clear-headed: Zhang Xianzhong.

Zhang Xianzhong didn't even glance at the officials, gentry, and wealthy families in the city who were crying and begging for mercy, or the mountains of gold and silver treasures piled up there.

"Boys!"

He mounted his horse, his long sword pointing directly at the imperial tombs to the south, his tone frenzied.
"Come with me!"

"Go and wish Zhu Chongba's parents a belated Happy New Year!"

(End of this chapter)