Chapter 267 Bozhou

On the sixth day of the second month of the 28th year of Wanli, March 20, 1600 AD.

It is the spring equinox. In the south of the Yangtze River, it is a peach blossom flood season with green willows on the shore, flying birds and grasses, and rainy rain. However, in this thousand-mile area in the north, spring rain is still as precious as oil, and farmers hope that spring rain will be bitter. Drought is still the main threat to the northern area.

As spring comes, it has never rained in the entire Shanxi area. In previous years, after summer, there must be refugees all over the ground. The Shanxi people who have experienced it must have been prepared to escape from famine again.

However, this year's situation is different. Since last year, the Governor Huang Laifu of the two towns started a large-scale military camp, large-scale water conservancy construction, large-scale mining, and large-scale road construction, requiring massive employment opportunities, which also gave many people in Shanxi a place to live.

So although the year looks very bad this year, the people are much more at ease than before, and there are many fewer people preparing to flee the famine. Countless people flock to the construction sites everywhere, bustling, making the entire Shanxi a large construction site.

With the sound of horse hooves, a team of knights whistled into the streets and alleys of Shuiquanying Fortress, looking at the wheat ear flags of the flag bearers in the cavalry team, and the thick iron armored equipment on the knights, the tunnel-firing guns flashing with black light on their backs, and the high-spirited spirit on their tall bodies. Needless to say, these are the servants and heroes of the model camp under the command of the Governor.

Seeing these knights galloping towards them, the soldiers and civilians on the street naturally dodged quickly and gathered to discuss. Seeing that these Lai Fu camp model soldiers were so urgent, was something happened?

The knights passed by like the wind, and soon they arrived at the office of Shuiquanying Fort, and soon, an emergency document from the Ministry of War was sent to Huang Laifu, who was checking the topographic map outside the border in the office.

After the five-year plan of the two towns was released, construction in various places was also vigorously carried out. Over the past few months, Huang Laifu led his personal soldiers to conduct non-stop inspections. From Shanxi Town to Datong Town, he was left everywhere. Especially the re-guards of the three guards outside the frontier, he devoted a lot of Huang Laifu's energy.

A few days ago, with a large number of Laifu Camp's personal guards accompanying him, he personally inspected the three guards' places and solved many problems personally, especially dispatching the military farms from various farms outside the Great Wall to support the food and salary of the three guards.

The three guards are far away from the mainland and have difficulty in replenishing supplies. Without the food support from the farms outside the border, it is difficult to survive outside the border. Moreover, the three guards have nearly 30,000 civilians stationed in the army. Their future military farms, their food, salary and military supplies are all huge problems.

Fortunately, over the years, there have been more and more Ming refugees immigrated to the Great Wall. From Qingshui River to Huangpu Chuan River, countless farms and villages were established. The grain they produced can completely solve the food and salary problems of the soldiers of the Three Guards. In addition, there are a large number of wasteland near the Three Guards. In the future, the soldiers of the Three Guards can also greatly solve their food problems.

However, after the reinstatement of the Three Guards, Huang Laifu was most concerned about the reactions of the tribes outside the Great Wall. However, unexpectedly, the reinstatement of the Three Guards outside the Great Wall did not seem to have caused much reactions from the Mongolian tribes such as the Three Lady of the Great Wall.

Huang Laifu's aides analyzed that the failure of the tribes in Outer Mongolia in the Frontier was, perhaps because they accepted their fate from the facts. Now the military power of the two towns is extremely great, especially the Governor Huang Laifuwei is in control of the world. No one dares to be an enemy of him. The rest of the defenses in various places outside the Frontier are not something they can stop.

Second, over the years, after various trades such as wool, they have had huge interest relations with the mainland of Shanxi Town. Their tribes have made profits from it from top to bottom, and then launched wars, which is not in line with their interests. Therefore, living peacefully with Huang Laifu and even tolerate and retreat is the mainstream idea of ​​the Sanniangzi tribe.

The reactions of the outer Mongolian tribes of the Great Wall naturally made Huang Laifu feel a little more relaxed. After returning from the inspection of the Three Guards, he stayed at Shuiquanying Fort, intending to repair the rest of the days before returning to the Governor's Office of Wuzhai Fort to continue his next inspection.

At this time, when Huang Laifu received an emergency document from the Ministry of War, several relatives from Laifu camp and aides from the Governor's Office were surrounding him. These days, after several months of running around, Huang Laifu has lost weight, but his eyes are even sharper and his spirit is very good.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, not knowing what the Ministry of War came, Huang Laifu unveiled the Ministry of War’s official documents.

The letter: "I told the Governor General Huang Laifu that the military affairs, food and money officer of the two towns in Datong, Shanxi that Yang Yinglong, the barbarian thief of Bozhou, killed the subordinates of the local officials, and planned to seize the official positions. The enemy killed the official army. He was very vicious. Now he ordered me to go to the military affairs, and to go to the expedition in accordance with the Ministry of War, to learn from the public opinion, to discuss the strategies, to calculate the distance and the distance of the local government, to determine the number of officers and soldiers, to recruit and suppress the attack. The towns, patrol officials and other officials were all controlled, and they all came from the cheap area. You must personally dispatch, issue strict orders, and kill the thieves. The thieves and property obtained by each soldier will give the soldiers. The number of achievements will be sent to the inspector and the censors will be proved to be given to the rewards..."

Below is the timetable for the expedition of the Keqi period, the official seals and seals of the Ministry of War, etc.

It turned out to be a document appointing himself to fight against Bozhou, governor of military affairs of the three provinces, and Yang Yinglong, a barbarian thief in Bozhou... Looking at the official documents in his hand, Huang Laifu's eyes flashed: "This war has indeed come. It seems that he is going to lead his troops to fight again, but isn't this what he is looking forward to?"

In fact, since a few years ago, Huang Laifu has been paying attention to the famous historical war in the southwest, which is the Battle of Bozhou, the last three major expeditions of Wanli. Therefore, Huang Laifu is not surprised at all with this document of the Ministry of War appointed to the expedition.

The Bozhou incident has been going on for several years and is huge in scale, covering a thousand miles of provinces and regions. The protagonist is Yang Yinglong, the chieftain of Bozhou.

Speaking of Bozhou, in order to control the barbarians in the southwest provinces, the Ming Dynasty established many chieftains in various places. Bozhou was one of the chieftains in the southwest. At this time, Bozhou was the Zunyi area in later generations, located between Sichuan, Gui and Lake, far from Wanghua, with deep mountains and rivers and dangerous terrain, with a radius of 2,000 miles. It was the largest of the barbarians in the southwest, and the people were strong and wealthy. Since Yang Duan entered Bozhou during the Ganfu period of the Tang Dynasty, the Yang family has not changed for eight hundred years in the 29th century of the Tang Dynasty, Song, Yuan, and Ming Dynasty, and has been an official here for many lifetimes.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Yang Jian led his support to the Ming Dynasty and was named the Bozhou Xuanwei Office. In the fifth year of Longqing, Yang Yinglong's father Yang Lie died, and in the sixth year of Longqing, Yang Yinglong attacked the Xuanwei Office envoy. The Yang family ruled Bozhou for all dynasties and had a wrong power. Especially Yang Yinglong was a heroic person, cruel and bloody murderous person, and had long been unjust. Because he participated in the war many times, he knew the fragility of the Sichuan army, so he wanted to occupy Shu.

In the 14th year of Wanli, Yang Yinglong was promoted to commander-in-chief for his merits and was granted the title of General of the Gazing Cavalry. Soon, he was given a flying fish suit because he presented 70 large wood and beautiful trees to the court. This made him even more arrogant and despised the etiquette system. He carved dragons and phoenixes in his residence, and was good at using eunuchs, like a local emperor.

Yang Yinglong was cunning and suspicious, and liked to establish his authority by killing and made deep grudges. The five corpses under his jurisdiction were unable to withstand his abuse and rebelled one after another. Yang Yinglong believed in the slander of his favored concubines and killed his wife and mother-in-law. His wife's uncle Zhang Shizhao sued him for his rebellion to the Ming court.

In the 18th year of Wanli, the governor of Guizhou Ye Mengxiong also reported to Yang Yinglong for illegal matters and insisted on investigation. In the 20th year of Wanli, Yang Yinglong went to Chongqing for trial and was executed according to law. At that time, the Japanese invaded Korea, and Yang Yinglong asked for donations of money to atone for his sins and led troops to conquer the Japanese, and the court approved it.

However, Wang Jiguang, the successor of Sichuan Governor, insisted on strictly enquiring and concluding. Yang Yinglong refused to leave. The court ordered an order to fight. In May of the 23rd year of Wanli, the court removed Yang Yinglong's envoy of Xuanwei Office, and his son Yang Chaodong was responsible for the Xuanwei Office. Later, Yang Yinglong gathered his troops, captured cities and land in Sichuan and Guizhou, looted, harmed the people, and killed the official army, which was very rampant.

In the 24th year of Wanli, Yang Yinglong sent troops to attack Yuqing, shouted, Duba, burned and robbed Caotang and Xinglong, Duyun guards, besieged Huangping, and killed the chief officials of Chong'an. In the 25th year of Wanli, Yang Yinglong robbed Jiangjin and Nanchuan, attacked Hongtou, Gaoping and Xincun in Guizhou, and invaded the 48 gates of Huguang, blocking the post station.

In November of the 26th year of Wanli, Yang Yinglong plundered Hongtou, Gaoping and Xincuns in Guizhou. He soon invaded the Pianqiaowei City of Huguang, and captured and commanded Chen Tianchong, Luo Chengen and his children. Yang Yinglong was very beastly and was in the Dasuo City, and ordered his subordinates to rape women in the city, or to sit naked in the woods. The soldiers laughed and cried, or burned snakes from the yin into the belly, and both people and snakes died. They dug tombs and burned corpses, and ashes flew across the sky, and the court was furious.

In February of the 27th year of Wanli, Guizhou Governor Jiang Dongzhi and others led 3,000 troops to fight. Yang Yinglong ordered his younger brother Yang Zhaolong and his son Yang Chaodong to Feilian Fort to fight. No official army survived, and Jiang Dongzhi was dismissed.

At this point, Emperor Wanli was determined to quell the rebellion of Yang Yinglong. At this time, the Ming Dynasty's war to fight against Japanese devils had ended. Emperor Wanli ordered former Sichuan Governor Li Hualong to be the chief censor and minister of the Ministry of War, governor of the three provinces of Sichuan, and decided to advance to suppress the troops. At the same time, he continued to dispatch troops from all over the country. In addition to the forces of the three provinces, soldiers from Yunnan, Shaanxi, Shandong, Henan, Ningxia and Tianjin were all among the recruits.

After Li Hualong was ordered to govern the military affairs of Sichuan, Huguang and Guizhou in March of the 27th year of Wanli, he entered Sichuan in May and immediately appointed a model soldier. He also sent a letter to General Wan Jia to move from Songpan to Chongqing, and mobilized the Han hans and local soldiers to set up defenses in Zhenxiong and Yongning.

In June of the 27th year of Wanli, Yang Yinglong took advantage of the Ming army that had not gathered, and led a large army to invade Qijiang. He besieged the city several times. After climbing the city, he ordered prisoners to burn and loot, and to obtain all the money and children. The elderly and weak killed them, threw themselves into corpses and blocked the river, and the water was red.

In the first month of the 28th year of Wanli, Yang Yinglong led 80,000 troops, captured Longquan chieftain from five routes, and led troops to slaughter Qinjiang City, which shocked the whole country.

At this time, the court held a large number of thieves and the government forces were unsupported. Li Hualong, the governor of the three provinces, did not make any contributions and was afraid that it would be difficult to be competent. At this time, he was appointed as the Minister of War. Xing Jie, the Minister of War who had fought side by side with Huang Laifu in North Korea, proposed that Huang Laifu, who was known as the first general of the Ming Dynasty, lead the army to fight and quell the rebellion of the bandits.

Although there were many famous generals in the Ming Dynasty at that time, Liu Ying, Dong Yiyuan, Ma Gui, Chen Zi and others were all heroes of the times, they seemed to have no ability to stand alone, nor did they replace the talent and prestige of governors in military affairs in several provinces.

Therefore, although the proposal of the Minister of War Xing Jie made many ministers criticized him, it seemed that there was no better choice. Emperor Wanli immediately supported him. After all, Huang Lai Fu's successful example in North Korea was there.

Due to the urgent military situation, the court quickly decided to negotiate. In early February of the 28th year of Wanli, the Ministry of War issued an emergency document, appointing Huang Laifu to replace Li Hualong as the new governor of Pingbo, commanding officers and soldiers from Sichuan, Huguang, Guizhou and other places, and to purge Yang Yinglong's rebellion in Bozhou in one fell swoop.

After the Ministry of War issued an emergency document to the Governor's Office of Wuzhai Fort, Huang Laifu inspected the outside, the left-behind officials naturally sent people to notify Huang Laifu, and the scene of Huang Laifu in Shuiquanying Fort is now happening.

...

After reading Huang Laifu's official documents, he was silent. Yang Xiaolu beside him tentatively said: "Governor, why is the Ministry of War writing for?"

Huang Laifu raised the official document in his hand, smiled at him, and said, "Little Donkey, we are going to fight again!"

All the subordinates were overjoyed and said, "Where are you going?"

"Bozhou!"

Yang Xiaolu, Gu Dadao and others were all happy. The incident of Bozhou in the southwest has caused a lot of controversy over the years. Even in the northwest of Shanxi, they have heard of it. A few years have passed. It seems that this rebellion in the southwest still depends on their Shanxi army to pacify, which makes them even more heroic.

Unlike the soldiers in other towns who were afraid of going to war, the army of Shanxi Town has always been the representative of the Ming army who wanted to fight and dared to fight. Over the years, every time the Shanxi army went to fight, they have gained a lot of benefits from top to bottom, which makes them more eager to fight.

Especially Yang Xiaolu was eager to gain military merits. He and Jiang Dazhong were both Huang Laifu's servants, but now Jiang Dazhong is a deputy general and he is still a guerrilla, so he naturally has a lot of ideas in his heart. When this opportunity comes, he naturally hopes to follow Huang Laifu again and become a marquis and general again when he comes back.

Gu Dadao took Huang Laifu as an example and was even more ambitious. Although he is currently the title of Qian Zong, he is of course far from satisfying. At the end of last year, under the pressure of his father Gu Shiyin and others, he finally married his wife. Soon his wife was pregnant with Liujia. After getting married, she had no worries and was eager to kill the enemy and make contributions so that she could come back to glorify her ancestors.

...

Huang Laifu led his followers to return to the Governor's Office of Wuzhai Fort. Officials of the Ministry of War and the envoys and eunuchs from the palace had been waiting in the Governor's Office.

The two were very happy to see Huang Laifu come back, but they both urged him very quickly, hoping that Huang Laifu would mobilize his troops and set off as soon as possible and would send troops at the end of February at the latest.

The envoy and eunuch also took out the imperial edict from Emperor Wanli and read it: "The rebel thief Yang Yinglong and others gathered the public to the danger, killed the wardens and the officials of the three departments, and damaged the official army. I think that the living beings are poisoned, and the thief is full of evil, so I must exterminate it. The soldiers will be sent to the end, and I should carefully dispatch them, declare their kindness and power, express rewards and punishments, and let them work bravely, and join forces to suppress the rebels. The purpose is to give the rebels the head, and the local area will be awarded the deputy commissioner. I will be appointed by this."

Huang Laifuqin obeyed the imperial edict, and due to the urgent military affairs, Huang Laifu did not have to go to Beijing to thank him for his gratitude.

In order to facilitate the conduct and govern the army with a clear and elegant military service, the eunuch who was envoy of this mission also brought the Shangfang sword given to Huang Laifu by Emperor Wanli: "If the subordinates are not destined to be punished, civil and military personnel are not big or small but small but only deployed, and only dispatched soldiers, horses, money, grain and equipment."

This privilege provided convenience for Huang Laifu's military leadership, which made Huang Laifu very happy. Nearly 200,000 officers and soldiers in several southwest provinces that quelled the rebellion this time, many of them were arrogant soldiers and generals from various provinces. With this Shangfang sword, it would be much more convenient for him to quell the rebellion of Yang Yinglong in Bozhou in the future.

The messenger eunuch was the confidant eunuch of Emperor Wanli. He had known that Huang Laifu was doting Emperor Wanli, so he did not put on any airs. He was also heartbroken when speaking. He said: "The emperor is willing to fight, and I hope Governor Huang can kill the enemy and serve the country and live up to his will!"

Huang Laifu said: "I would like to inform the emperor that he will do his loyalty to the country and pacify the thieves. How dare the subordinates not do their best to do their best? The emperor just sits in the capital and hears the good news."

The Ministry of War and the envoys of the internal officials stayed in Wuzhai Fort for several days, and before leaving, they brought a large amount of money and went back with satisfaction.

Huang Laifu mobilized in the two towns. In this battle of Bozhou, he planned to lead 15,000 troops from Datong Town, Shanxi Town to quell the rebellion. This was a huge plan. Huang Laifu sent troops over the years, and this was the best.

Soon, the intelligence department in the army sent information from Yang Yinglong in Bozhou continuously. The General Staff also urgently formulated relevant combat plans based on various intelligence information.

The news that the two towns generals sent troops to the southwest was also circulating in the territory. Not to mention that the soldiers and generals of Shanxi Town wanted to go on an expedition, even the officers and soldiers of Datong Town were also very moved.

Over the years, Huang Laifu has led his troops to fight, and he has been invincible in every battle. The soldiers who fought with the army have gained a lot of benefits and paid a very small price. The generals and officials in the foreign town saw it and were also tempted.

At this time, the third-class assessment of the entire army of the two towns had not been completed. However, at the end of last year, Huang Laifu distributed the full food and salary of the soldiers from the two towns, and the morale of the soldiers of the two towns was high.

Moreover, Datong Town has selected more than 10,000 A-level troops at this time. There is nothing wrong with the outside world and the war is not booming. Therefore, Datong Town General Ma Jin hopes that Huang Laifu can lead a group of Datong Town troops to go out with him.

Huang Laifu agreed to Ma Jin's request and asked him to select 5,000 Datong soldiers to fight. The relevant list of soldiers and generals will be drafted by him and Wei Yunzhen, the governor of Datong Town.

In Shanxi Town, the generals of each battalion and fortress also stole the heads. Everyone hoped that Governor Huang could lead him to kill the enemy and make meritorious contributions. Even Huang Laifu's eldest brother-in-law Xu Xueshi, second brother-in-law Li Yingchun, and third brother-in-law Tian Dafu also hoped that he could fight with the army this time.

Seeing his brother-in-law climbing from a garrison to the current high position of the governor of the two towns, it was impossible for several brother-in-law to have no idea in their hearts.

Although they have gained a lot of benefits in property because of Huang Laifu in recent years, of course they will not be satisfied with their current situation, especially their eldest brother-in-law and second brother-in-law. At present, they are just garrison positions, and of course they hope that they can go further in their official position.

Anyway, following his brother-in-law, there is little danger and a great opportunity to make contributions. The good opportunity is right in front of him, so how can you not go? With the entourage of several sisters, Huang Laifu finally agreed to his brother-in-law to lead some of his servants to fight with him. For their safety, let them follow behind his model camp.

The final result was that, including some of his Laifu Camp's servants, Shanxi Town sent a total of 10,000 troops, and the soldiers of Datong Town, the two towns sent a total of 15,000 troops.

For a time, from early February to the end of February, soldiers and horses from all over the two towns were frequently mobilized, and many soldiers and horses continued to gather in the Wuzhai Fort in the Governor's Mansion. The sky above the Wuzhai Fort was filled with a strange and fiery atmosphere.

By the way, before the troops move, food and grass take the lead, and the war is all about money and food. Huang Laifuji deeply understands this.

Although he was the governor of several provinces to suppress the rebels, the food and grass he mobilized was also his prime minister. However, Huang Laifu was well aware of the virtues of the civil servants in charge of food and grass in various provinces. Not only was he slow and rigid, these people were also full of malicious intentions towards him. Especially his new policy in the two towns made many civil servants hate him deeply.

If they make grain and grass, they may bring many variables to their task of countering the rebellion. Therefore, Huang Laifu decided to solve the problem by himself. The time of saving is called "don't respond every day," and "the land is not effective."

Over the years, after several wars, merchants from Wuzhai Fort and all over Shanxi have cooperated with Huang Laifu well. Huang Laifu has established a complete logistics system for merchants to supply grain and grass. As soon as the news that Huang Laifu is about to lead the army to fight in the southwest came, merchants came to the door, hoping to supply grain and grass to the army.

In this regard, Huang Laifu handed over all of this to Qu Yuanrui, and I believe he could do a good job. Of course, this means that the battle in Bozhou will be the one who fights his own money and grain. In addition, nearly 20,000 soldiers in the two towns may even be the army of 200,000. Their money and grain will be funded by themselves at that time. Of course, Huang Laifu cannot agree, and he must pass the debts away.

So he sacrificed his magic weapon and issued Pingbo bonds to the public. The first period was 2 million taels of silver, which was mortgaged with Huang Laifu's credit and resources from Bozhou and other places.

In this regard, Huang Laifuji was very good at doing it, and he had excellent credit. Sure enough, as soon as Huang Laifu's first flat-broad bond was issued, it attracted widespread attention and interest from the Ming Dynasty merchants, and even Emperor Wanli was very concerned. Of course, Chen Qi, the Minister of Revenue, was naturally angry that Huang Laifu was provoked to issue bonds with his authority.

According to what Huang Laifu told Qu Yuanrui, don’t watch Bozhou, this place seems to be poor and bad people, but in fact it has very rich resources. Bozhou is the Zunyi area in later generations. There are more than 60 types of minerals discovered in later generations, including manganese, pyrote, silica, nickel, and molybdenum and barium.

Moreover, the natural resources such as agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry in this place are very abundant. Zunyi City was known as the granary in northern Guizhou in later generations. In later generations, the tobacco leaves in this place were of excellent quality, and bamboo was also one of the seven major production areas in the country. Big wood, nanmu, eucommia ulmoides, brown slices, and tung oil seeds are all one-third of the province. It is also rich in precious Chinese medicinal materials, including Eucommia ulmoides, Coptis chinensis, Gastrodia eucommia, and Wuyu are the five famous medicinal materials in Guizhou.

Later Guizhou Province had large areas of forests and grass slopes for grass grass slopes, which had good conditions for developing forests and pastures. In Zunyi, that is, in Bozhou area, the grass slopes used for forests and livestock are larger in area, and can completely achieve good benefits when used. With Bozhou as the point, the southwest region will be laid at that time, and when these places are developed, there is no need to worry that their investment will not be rewarded.

Under Huang Laifu's golden signboard, the sale of Pingbo bonds was very smooth, and the continuous exchange of silver for food and money was provided with solid guarantees for Huang Laifu's future quelling chaos. Moreover, Huang Laifu's successful practice has not been once or twice, and naturally attracted the attention and learning of those who are interested. However, although they also wanted to learn Huang Laifu's practice, they were just a tiger but a dog.

With sufficient food and salary, the vanguard of the two towns' quelling rebellion troops set out in advance. By the end of February, the two towns' brigades had all gathered at Wuzhai Fort and, under the leadership of Huang Laifu, swore to fight to the expedition.

...
Chapter completed!