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

Chapter 84: Hitting the wall at every turn
Wang Chengen led his army from Yanchang County all the way to Yan'an Prefecture. They arrived at the city wall, covered in dust, without encountering any resistance along the way.

He was somewhat surprised:
"Could it be that Jiang Han was so terrified that he abandoned the city and fled?"

When he led his troops into Yan'an Prefecture for a closer look, he discovered that the prefecture was already in complete chaos.

Thick smoke billowed from the street, shops along the street were smashed to pieces, and ordinary people fled in panic. One after another, thugs roamed the streets.

After Jiang Han and his group left, no one in the city maintained order anymore. All sorts of lurking monsters and demons came out and started smashing, looting, and burning everywhere, creating chaos and disorder.

Seeing the chaotic scene, Wang Chengen's face turned ashen, and he immediately gave the order:
"Aimu, take some men and quell the riots in the streets!"

"Leave no one alive! Chop them all up!"

Without saying a word, Aimu mustered his troops, divided them into several teams, and charged into the street with murderous intent.

Aimu personally led a squad of his personal guards straight to the most chaotic section of East Street.

As soon as I walked over, I saw a group of thugs looting a grain store.

Aimu personally led his team forward, surrounded the group of thugs, and gave them a severe beating.

He grabbed a ringleader of the thugs with his knife, kicked him to the ground, and demanded an explanation in a stern voice:

"Tell me, who ordered you to cause trouble here?"

The scoundrel was so frightened that his soul almost left his body, and he kowtowed repeatedly.

"No one ordered us to do this. We just saw the city was in chaos and wanted to skim some profits..."

Aimu snorted coldly and waved his hand:
"Chop him up! Parade his head through the streets!"

In less than half an hour, the riots on the streets of Yan'an Prefecture were suppressed, the cries and shouts gradually subsided, and order was restored.

Seeing that the riot had subsided, Wang Chengen led his men to the prefectural government office.

But as soon as he stepped into the lobby, he was almost furious at the sight before him.

Inside the hall, several minor officials were gambling loudly and swearing around a table, completely disrespectful!
This infuriated Wang Chengen. The streets were in such a mess, yet these petty officials still had the mind to gamble!

He stepped forward and kicked over the card table, ordering his men to tie up all the minor officials, saying he would find out what was going on first.

Wang Chengen thought all the officials and clerks in Yan'an Prefecture had been killed by the rebels, but after asking around, he realized that Jiang Han had only beheaded Prefect Zhang Nian, and the others were still alive.

Without a chief official, the government's administrative system had long been paralyzed.

The magistrate and the vice-prefect stayed at home all day, never even showing their faces;
These petty officials were happy to be left unrestrained and spent their days loitering around the yamen.

Wang Chengen, unable to bear it any longer, ordered his men to drag the group of petty officials out and give each of them a sound beating, making them howl in pain.

After finishing, he coldly gave the order:

"Go! Summon all the other officials from Yan'an Prefecture!"

The minor officials, clutching their backsides and with long faces, ran off to deliver the message.

After waiting for quite a while, Magistrate Zhao and Prefect Wang finally arrived at the government office to pay their respects to Wang Chengen.

Upon seeing the two men, Wang Chengen flew into a rage and launched into a tirade of questions:
What are you all doing holed up at home?

"Didn't you see how chaotic this mansion is?"

Zhao Tongzhi shrugged and spread his hands innocently, saying:
"General Wang, you are wise to see that we are truly powerless to help."

"That bandit leader surnamed Jiang slaughtered all the yamen runners and jailers in the prefecture. We don't even have a single person under our command. What can we do?"

Wang Chengen narrowed his eyes, his tone unfriendly:
"Then why didn't he kill you? Could it be that you betrayed us and joined the rebels?"

Upon hearing this, Magistrate Zhao jumped up and down in a panic, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"Wang Chengen! I'm warning you, don't make false accusations!"

"We endured humiliation and hardship to protect the people of Yan'an! How dare you spout such nonsense and accuse us of defecting to the enemy!" "I'm going to report you to the authorities!"

Wang Chengen was stunned. He had led his troops all the way from Yulin to Yan'an Prefecture and rescued these officials from the rebels.

Instead of being grateful, they threatened to sue him.
What the hell is this!

Little did he know that Zhao Tongzhi and his group were secretly cursing him for meddling in other people's business!

They didn't want to be rescued by Wang Chengen.

The group of mid-level officials in Yan'an Prefecture, led by Zhao Tongzhi, have been living a very comfortable life lately.

Originally, when news came that Yan'an Prefecture had just been captured and Prefect Zhang Nian had been killed, Zhao Tongzhi thought he was doomed as well.

But to everyone's surprise, Jiang Han didn't kill him and even let him continue to handle the affairs of the government office.

But what serious business could there be in this government office?
With Prefect Zhang Nian dead, Zhao Tongzhi had absolutely no work to do, except for occasionally helping Jiang Han collect some supplies.

He couldn't get a word in edgewise about management matters, as Jiang Han took care of them; the work of maintaining order was also done by the rebels, making them, these mid-level officials, the most idle people in Yan'an Prefecture.

Since there was no danger to his life and no official business to attend to, he simply skipped even his roll call.

He spends all his time at home, enjoying tea and reciting poetry, living a carefree and leisurely life.

As a result, this leisurely life was disrupted by Wang Chengen after only a few months, so naturally he didn't have a good attitude towards him.

But Wang Chengen was unaware of all this. He had traveled a long and arduous journey, and his soldiers hadn't even had a hot meal yet.

He suppressed his anger and asked Zhao Tongzhi:
"Is there any food supply in Yan'an Prefecture? My soldiers haven't eaten yet."

Zhao Tongzhi rolled his eyes at him and said lazily:

"No! That little thief surnamed Jiang took all the grain."

Wang Chengen gritted his teeth and continued:

"I would like to ask Magistrate Zhao to go and borrow some grain from the local gentry."

"Only then can I send troops to annihilate Jiang Han."

Magistrate Zhao quickly shook his head and refused:
"Don't go!"

He didn't want to make a fool of himself; he knew very well that the local gentry in Yan'an Prefecture had been nearly emptied out by Jiang Han's family fortune.

Ask them to lend you grain? Dream on!

Having no other option, Wang Chengen had to send a minor official to invite the local gentry of Yan'an Prefecture to the government office, hoping they would donate money to suppress the bandits.

Those local gentry all spoke sweet words, begging the general to send troops to suppress the bandits and avenge us!

But when it came to borrowing grain, they all fell silent, like mutes.

Wang Chengen was rebuffed and had no choice but to send the group of gentry away. He then turned to Zhao Tongzhi, who was watching the play from the sidelines, for help.
"Zhao Tongzhi, could you please step forward and discuss with the people in the prefecture about having each family contribute some grain to supply the army?"

But when Zhao Tongzhi heard this, he shook his head even more vigorously: "I won't go!"
These days, ordinary people can't even feed themselves, let alone provide grain? That's utterly absurd!

Wang Chengen was furious, his face turning ashen. He had come all this way to suppress the bandits, expecting Yan'an Prefecture to welcome his army with open arms.

However, after entering Yan'an Prefecture, he encountered setbacks at every turn.

They had just been snubbed by the local gentry, and now even the local officials were refusing to cooperate.

Wang Chengen, unable to contain himself any longer, slammed his hand on the table and glared at Zhao Tongzhi:
"You are so brave!"

"You're shirking your military duties and missing a crucial opportunity!"

"Believe it or not, I'll chop off your head!"

(End of this chapter)