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Volume 13: Reviving the Ming Dynasty Chapter 619 Battle of Shanxi (3)

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    While Taiyuan City was taken down by Tang Feng's trick, the war in Shouyang also came to an end.  After sending out the pigeons that reported the news, Sun Chuanting and others began to attack fiercely early the next morning.  However, in order to leave a backup force and prevent the rebels from being prepared in the future, they did not use artillery, the most powerful siege weapon, but only the most formal siege methods.

    Even so, the Liaodong Army, which is good at offensive and defensive warfare, cannot be dealt with by the rebels who have only picked up weapons for two days and have very limited knowledge of city defense.  In the past two days, the Liaodong Army only feigned an attack and frightened the defenders on the city into confusion. Now that it was time to launch a massive attack, they even beat Guo Tianxing and others to the point of losing their temper.  [bsp; The weapons in the city that can be used to defeat the enemy have been exhausted, and the officers and soldiers below the city are even more powerful. At this time, the rebel generals realize how insignificant they are.  When the officers and soldiers kept climbing up the city and forcing them with swords, the rebel soldiers immediately lost the courage to fight anymore and quickly surrendered.

    As the sun turned to the west, Sun and Zuo led their army into Shouyang City through the wide open city gate.  In fact, it only took half a day to actually attack the city. This is enough to show the strong combat power of the official army.  They ordered people to seal off all the property of the rebels, and the two people ordered people to send good news to Taiyuan.  For being able to take down this city so easily, the two of them were satisfied.

    But the next afternoon, another group of anti-military and civilian groups came outside the city. They were the Mao Chang tribe sent by Taiyuan to rescue Shouyang.  He was completely unaware of what was going on in Taiyuan when he was out in the field, but when he saw Shouyang City, which had been replaced by the Ming flag, he was greatly surprised, and for a while he didn't know what to do.

    When receiving the general's order, Mao Chang patted his chest and promised to defend Shouyang, but who would have thought that Tianxing and others would be so incompetent and lose Shouyang in just a few days?  This made him feel ashamed to go back to see his king. After thinking about it, he decided to lead troops to attack Shouyang. Maybe the army could not defend the city and he took it back. That would be a great achievement.  .  Having made up his mind, he immediately ordered an attack on Shouyang.

    Zuo Liangyu and others didn't take it to heart at all about the sudden attack of the rebels.  When you have a city to rely on, you can easily defeat the enemy. What threat can these enemies who have traveled long distances pose to the Liaodong Army?  Therefore, they had no intention of sticking to the city and went out to fight the enemy.

    Seeing that the officers and soldiers were not guarding the city, Mao Chang and others felt a little puzzled, but they got what they wanted and immediately led their troops to kill them.  Naturally, the officers and soldiers were no longer afraid. After giving the order, more than 10,000 people pressed forward in formation and rushed forward.

    Once the two parties took over, the rebels realized what a huge mistake they had made.  These officers and soldiers were completely different from the Shanxi guards officers and soldiers they had encountered. Their cooperation and the ruthlessness of their fighting were completely beyond their expectations.  In just half an hour, the rebels were killed, and the forward troops were almost completely wiped out.  However, the casualties among the officers and soldiers were almost negligible, and only a small number of people died due to carelessness.

    Mao Chang was quite wise. In this situation, he no longer persisted and ordered the army to retreat.  Fortunately, their military strength was better than that of the official army, so even under very unfavorable circumstances, they were still able to escape, but they also suffered nearly 5,000 casualties.  Sun Chuanting and the others did not pursue it with all their strength because they were worried about the Shouyang they had just obtained. When they saw the enemy retreating, they returned to the city.  They had already received orders from Tang Feng when they came, not to kill the rebels too much. We were all from the Ming Dynasty, so there was no need to do so.

    The whole battle was witnessed by Guo Tianxing, and his last remaining thoughts of resistance were gone. Only now did he realize how ridiculous he was for even thinking of fighting such an army that was good at fighting.  Be an enemy.

    But he said that Mao Chang retreated with his men and horses. Afterwards, he was frightened when he found out that so many men and horses had been lost.  This time, not only did I fail to defend Shouyang as mentioned before, but I lost so many men. How could I go back and explain to my king?  Just when he was in a dilemma, someone came to report: "General, someone from Taiyuan has arrived."

    "General Mao, Taiyuan City was destroyed by the army. Both kingsare" The visitor said in a sad tone as soon as he saw Mao Chang, and at the end he was even speechless.

    "What!" Mao Chang and the people around him stood up in shock, and everyone's faces turned pale. This news was harder for them to accept than their defeat at the hands of the Shouyang army.  After a long while, Mao Chang said: "Please tell me in detail, what exactly happened? Why was Taiyuan City captured by the army, and what happened to the two kings."

    The person who came to report the news took advantage of the moment when the army was taking Taiyuan and saw the opportunity to slip away. In order to report the news to the remaining troops of Luo and Liu who still had certain troops, he carried out the report in detail.  How was Taiyuan deceived by the army and the city gates were opened? How was Taiyuan captured? How did Luo Rucai and Liu Guoneng commit suicide?I said everything before.

    This made the faces of the rebel soldiers even more ugly. Only then did they realize that everything was a plot.  It turns out that the purpose of attacking Shouyang was to lure him and others out of Taiyuan, so that the officers and soldiers could take advantage of it. It turned out that the officers and soldiers had already been prepared there.  After a long silence, someone looked at Mao Chang and asked, "General, what should we do?"

    Yes, they are now alone, and even Taiyuan is gone. Where should they go?  Mao Chang has the highest status among these people now, so everyone naturally looks up to him.  After thinking for a while, Mao Chang said: "Judging from the situation of the Shouyang army, we cannot handle the army that captured Taiyuan, so it is impossible for us to go there to recapture Taiyuan and avenge the two kings.  Now we have only two ways to go, one is to disperse, the other is to quickly find a place to stay, gather the original brothers, and then deal with the officers and soldiers. Of course, if you want to surrender, it is not impossible."

    "We will not surrender! If we surrender to the imperial court, there will be no good fruits to eat. We are willing to follow General Mao to make another career!" Most of the people said loudly.

    "Okay, since everyone thinks so, we still have a chance." Mao Chang said happily.  In fact, he felt that although the fall of Taiyuan and the death of the two kings was a blow to everyone, it was also an opportunity.  As long as I can lead everyone to take over a territory in this unfavorable situation, then I might be able to replace Luo and Liu.

    After opening the marching map, Mao Chang pointed to the many cities south of Taiyuan and said: "We still have some troops in these places. As long as we can return here and mobilize the troops, we may not be unable to fight the enemy.  However, our current position is very unfavorable. Once the officers and soldiers from Taiyuan and Shouyang use troops against Yuci, we will not be able to protect ourselves, so we must leave here as soon as possible."

    ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????OUT out of mind to rest, they took their troops and turned southward overnight, leaving the area where the army was now the most powerful.  However, they forgot to remind the defenders in Yuci who were also rebels. The people there had no idea that they had become a dish in front of the officers and soldiers.

    In Taiyuan City, after calming the people in the city and allowing the troops to rest, Tang Feng's eyes fell on Yuci City.  As far as he knew, there were only a few thousand rebels in the city, and their combat power was similar to that of Shouyang, making them extremely easy to capture.  So after thinking for a moment, he ordered Wu Sangui to lead troops to attack the city. At the same time, he also ordered Shang Zai, Sun and Zuo to leave some people to defend the city, then rush to Taiyuan to meet him, and then take the next step.  .

    Now that the largest anti-military force in Shanxi is close to collapse, the next thing Tang Feng has to do is to completely pacify Shanxi with lightning speed, and then use the victory to attack Shaanxi.  Although he only has tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in his hands now, as long as he has confidence, both the imperial court and the original guards in Shanxi and Shaanxi will give him help.

    Two days later, Yuci City was also broken. At this time, news came that the remaining troops of Luo Rucai and Liu Guoneng were united again.  Tang Feng did not make any further adjustments and ordered several generals under his command to send troops to those cities.  In fact, for Tang Feng, such an enemy was actually easier to deal with. Those rebels defended one city, which saved the official army a lot of trouble, as they no longer had to hunt for enemies and annihilate them.  As long as they reach a city, the enemy will be there. When it comes to offense and defense, the Liaodong Army is an expert. It can take down the city in a short time, seize the rebels, take them into custody, and either lock them up or attack them.  All are decided by the court.

    Just half a month passed. When April entered the second half of April, the government troops had wiped out many cities. Most of Shanxi Province was again under the control of the imperial court. At the same time, those officials who fled when the chaos broke out  They all returned to their original yamen, but under the supervision of Tang Feng's generals, they no longer dared to make any mistakes.

    News of the victory came back to the capital one after another, making Chongzhen very happy. He quickly issued an order to reward the Liaodong officers and soldiers, and also gave clear regulations to those officials who were re-appointed. They must not make any more mistakes, otherwise even if the rebels come,  If you can't kill them, the imperial court won't betray them lightly.

    Many people in the court were uneasy about Tang Feng's consecutive victories. They always felt that if this continued, Tang Feng's reputation would become bigger and bigger, and it would be difficult to see whether the court could control him by then.  It¡¯s hard to say.  Although the Ming Dynasty has never had a military general take over power for hundreds of years, it was just that there was no chance. Tang Feng now has the possibility of doing so, both in terms of his prestige in the military and his own identity.

    Regarding this statement, although Chongzhen directly denounced it in front of everyone, saying that Tang Feng was loyal to the country and would not have any evil intentions, but he was not without worries about it in his heart.

    The reasons for Chongzhen¡¯s first half of his life?As a result of his brother's inaction, he saw the various crimes committed by the eunuchs against the Ming Dynasty when they were in power, so he valued power extremely, which also led to his distrust of people.  Even if someone like Tang Feng helped him a lot and made many contributions to the Ming Dynasty, he would not completely trust him to hand over power.  The previous estrangement between the Jin people had already taken root in his heart. Now it was because he had to use Tang Feng to lead the army that he asked him to lead the troops to Shanxi and Shaanxi to quell the rebellion. But at the same time, he also sent eunuchs to supervise the army.  This was to prevent Tang Feng from disobeying orders.

    Now Tang Feng has won consecutive battles and has recovered most of Shanxi. While he is happy, Chongzhen is also more worried.  With only 20,000 to 30,000 troops, Tang Feng was able to defeat the more than 100,000 rebels entrenched in Shanxi. In addition to his proper use of troops, his ability to make the army completely obey orders was also the key.  The Liaodong Army was the most elite of all the guards in the Ming Dynasty, and now that these troops were so loyal to Tang Feng, how could they not make Chongzhen fearful?

    What makes Chongzhen even more uneasy is that there is no news from Tang Wenzheng.  A month has passed, and there have been several wars, but Tang Wenzheng, the supervisor, has not sent a memorial. This is obviously abnormal.  Could it be that Tang Feng did something to this supervisor?  After having such thoughts, Chongzhen's heart became even more uneasy, but now he had no reason to say anything wrong about Tang Feng. Everything he did was for the Ming Dynasty, without any omissions, so Chongzhen could only speak for him in front of others.  .  But this deepened Chongzhen's suspicion of Tang Feng.

    Tang Feng distributed the rewards from the capital to the soldiers below without looking at them. This made the soldiers even more convinced of him, and they were much more motivated to attack other rebels.  It's just that now the rebels have learned their lesson. After being easily defeated by the government troops many times, they no longer defend some cities. Instead, they move around. Once they have the opportunity, they will raid the government troops again, which slows down the speed of clearing out the rebels.  Quite a few.

    However, in this way, the political situation in Shanxi has been stabilized. Either the original officials are back in charge, or people selected by Tang Feng are temporarily in charge. The situation in the prefectures and counties has also improved a lot.  Because Tang Feng distributed all kinds of property obtained from the rebels to his officers and soldiers, or gave it to the people who were already living in distress, so both the army and the people were grateful to him, and the people naturally would not be reborn.  It's over.

    In this way, for Tang Feng, he has further consolidated his position in the hearts of the people in the world. This is also part of his entire plan to change the current situation of the Ming Dynasty.  After knowing that the rebels were no longer defending, Tang Feng began to take the second step. He ordered the officers and soldiers to only drive away the rebels, and did not intend to drive them all out.

    Regarding the reason for this arrangement, Tang Feng only said: "We are born from the same roots, so why rush to fight with each other?" This made other soldiers and people look at Tang Feng in a different light, thinking that he was indeed extraordinary.  Originally, everyone had no enthusiasm for killing those rebels who were the same people of the Ming Dynasty but had to rebel because of their livelihood. Now that Tang Feng said this, they were naturally happy to give up.

    However, this does not mean that Tang Feng will no longer send troops to suppress. He still continues to attack several important places where the rebels gather. His purpose is to force those rebels to flee Shanxi and flee into other provinces. This is also  Tang Feng had made up his mind before he won the coach to calm the chaos.

    After the Ming Dynasty experienced two hundred years of peace, even though there were still Jin people watching from the outside, the officials and nobles in the country had already fallen.  The most important reason why the Ming Dynasty was destroyed in history by farmers like Li Zicheng who led some rebels who also had no fighting ability. This is the most important reason.  The people lost confidence in the court, but the court did not learn these lessons. Officials only acted for their own interests.

    What Tang Feng has to do now is to get rid of all those corrupt officials who are harmful to the people.  He knew that it was impossible for him to do such a thing with his current status and ability, and the court and the emperor would not allow such a thing to happen, because the bureaucracy had already taken shape and could not change due to his intervention. In the end, only those who sacrificed  he himself.

    Tang Feng didn¡¯t want to sacrifice, but it was urgent to change all this, so he had to use some extraordinary means, that is, to use external forces to break all this.  Since local officials and clan members scattered throughout the country could not be changed, they were eliminated using the most direct means.

    Judging from a series of situations in Shanxi, after those officials were driven away by the rebels and allowed to come back, no one dared to come back even though they lost a lot of property.  If the same thing happened in other places, wouldn't the officials and clans there be the same?  He could even use the hands of those rebels to get rid of all the clans that had only been squandering money from the Ming Dynasty's treasury and occupying people's farmland, but had made no contribution to the Ming Dynasty.  By that time, Ming Dynasty's expenditure will be reduced sharply, which will have no impact on the further development of the country.is extremely beneficial.

    Tang Feng did not dare to mention this idea to anyone.  In the eyes of people of this era, this idea is actually treasonous, and no one can agree with him.  But Tang Feng resolutely decided to take this step, just like when he sent Jieyuan to kill the Hakka family in order to eradicate the eunuchs, thus indirectly killing Tianqi.  Even though everyone knew that their death would be of great benefit to Ming Dynasty, people with deep roots still couldn't accept it.

    Just when Tang Feng's plan was realized step by step, Tang Wenzheng, who had stayed in Pingding, rushed to Taiyuan City.  He had learned everything Tang Feng had done along the way, including the distribution of property to the rebels and the handling of the now weakening rebels. This made the supervisor very excited. He felt that he was again  Found an excuse to impeach Tang Feng.  But before that, he still had to come to Taiyuan and find out everything before he could use enough evidence to force Tang Feng to plead guilty.

    When he learned that Tang Wenzheng had arrived, Tang Feng just responded lightly but had no intention of welcoming him.  He knew that this person came to Taiyuan this time just to cause trouble, and it was time to remove this thorn in his side!
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