Chongzhen eight years, early September, Dengzhou Prefecture.
The governor Zhou Zheng issued an order. Few Shandong officials came to see him. Most of them were'busy on official business' and sent subordinate representatives.
Sun Chuanting followed Zhou Zheng to inspect the army and looked at the morale of the army. Sun Chuanting and Zhou Zhengdao: "My lord, judging from the news from various places, it should be connected, and King Lu is also in it."
Zhou Zheng snorted coldly and said, "Let them be proud first. How is Fengyang Mansion going?"
Sun Chuanting looked worried, and said: "Governor Lu is still in Fengyang. It is said that there is no doubt that he will win, but the Northwest turmoil is already in full swing, and the officers and soldiers are not enough to deal with it. I am worried that there will be other variables."
The variables Sun Chuanting said refer to the defeat of the official army.
If the northwestern army is defeated, the gangsters' aura will inevitably rise to the next level, and the Ming Dynasty will inevitably suffer damages. The consequences will be unpredictable.
Zhou Zheng nodded slightly and said: "The Ministry of War and Governor Lu both wrote to me asking me to enter Henan as soon as possible and block the road for the gangsters to go north into Gyeonggi."
Sun Chuanting followed Zhou Zheng's side and said: "I also heard that the court allocated two million taels of silver to various provinces to suppress bandits, and the provinces complained a lot."
Zhou Zheng had heard about it a long time ago, and said nonchalantly: "Our money and food, and the army are all mobilized. The situation in Shandong has been approximated, and it is time to take action."
Sun Chuanting looked at Zhou Zheng's profile and said, "My lord, once we enter Henan, the governors of the five provinces will inevitably ask us to follow their orders. If we don't enter the northwest, we can enter."
Zhou Zheng stopped and looked at the soldiers shouting and running in the training ground. His expression suddenly became cold and cold, and he said, "Come in, as I expected, I also want to see if these rogues are like Jianli. solid!"
Sun Chuanting moved slightly in his heart and said, "Yes, I will arrange and plan the route now."
Zhou Zhengdao: "If we want to go in, we can't just sweep the bandits, stare at Gao Yingxiang, I want to take him to the knife!"
Sun Chuanting was taken aback, he understood immediately, and said with a solemn tone: "Yes!"
Following Zhou Zheng's preparations, an order was given, and 20,000 troops gathered and divided into five groups, starting to clean up all bandits in Shandong.
In just five days, more than 20 hills were wiped out, and dozens of powerful and corrupt officials were arrested at the same time, including the prefect of Qingzhou Prefecture!
The Qingzhou prefect was arrested and immediately moved the officialdom of Shandong. Those three divisions and prefects at all levels who were hiding from Zhou Zheng wrote letters asking for an audience, and at the same time quickly began to cut various relationships.
Naturally, many people even submitted a letter to impeach Zhou Zheng, accusing him of'running soldiers like bandits, looting the people, and insulting officials'.
Zhou Zheng had been prepared early, and he was the first step to submit a letter to the court. The evidence of various crimes was a detailed statement, and he asked the court to hold officials at all levels in Shandong accountable.
I don't know if it was because Zhou Zheng was eagerly required to enter Henan to suppress bandits, or Zhou Zheng had conclusive evidence. The court was on Zhou Zheng's side. Emperor Chongzhen made an order and severely reprimanded the Shandong chief envoy.
Zhou Zheng reluctantly suppressed Shandong officialdom, but he still had difficulty intervening in various livelihood matters, and he did not have time to take care of it.
He took Jin Guoqi and Zhang Cunren in a dragnet style to suppress bandits in Shandong, and dealt a heavy blow to several big forces, including the White Lotus Sect.
The banditry in Shandong is relatively not as serious as in the northwest. After all, the Kong Youde rebellion hasn’t been long since the rebellion of Kong Youde has just passed. The mountain bandits are mostly tyrannical, and the officers and soldiers fled before they arrived.
On the contrary, the White Lotus Sect was so powerful that it resisted the officers and the army under the agitation of some strange slogans.
The White Lotus Sect is not a gangster in the true sense. Most gangsters are gangsters who rush to looting. The White Lotus Sect is a scam and has little combat effectiveness.
In less than December, Zhou Zheng had completed the cleanup of banditry in Shandong. While the army was reorganizing in Jinan, while watching the movement in Henan, it resettled the victims and refugees.
Zhou Zheng’s campaign against banditry put great pressure on the local government. Unlike other governor-generals, Zhou Zheng only focused on banditry problems. He wanted to solve the problem fundamentally, so he always did not take into account that many corrupt officials. Take it and rectify people's livelihood smoothly.
Perhaps it was Zhou Zheng who killed the chicken and the monkey in front of him. The officialdom in Shandong was full of rumors. They all looked forward to Zhou Zheng's departure. They didn't insist on impeaching him. Instead, they thanked Zhou Zheng with a smile for sending money and food, hoping that he would leave soon.
Zhou Zheng stationed troops in Jinan, and ordered the Military Intelligence Department to investigate and collect the situation in Henan, and asked the court for instructions on what to do next.
At this time, Lu Xiangsheng reluctantly gathered the generals outside Fengyang, halfway through the grain, and was about to make a big attack, but was forced to stop.
Because General Yansui was defeated by Li Zicheng in Anding, the bandits from all walks of life were victorious, and they were all in a hurry.
After a series of disputes, the imperial court finally decreed the army from all walks of life in mid-December.
Lu Xiangsheng sent troops to Fengyang, defeated Gao Yingxiang, regained the capital, Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong and others retreated to Huguang.
Hong Chengchou defeated the Huntian King at the junction of Qin and Yu. Others, such as the sky full of stars and other fearful officers, fled to Yansui and joined Li Zicheng.
The official army broke out with great combat power and momentum. Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng coordinated their pace to carry out a rhythmic elimination of bandits in the five provinces.
With the orderly reorganization of the official army, the chaos and bandits are under strong pressure and cannot continue to fight alone. They are consciously or unconsciously integrating, annexing, and growing stronger.
Zhou Zheng was also asked to lead his army into Henan to clean up the banditry in Henan.
Perhaps because of the strong pressure of Lu Xiangsheng, various bandits are fleeing to the five northwestern provinces. The situation in Henan is a little better, but there are more than 100,000 bandits, large and small.
Zhou Zheng went to the Ministry of War and transferred Cao Bianjiao to his subordinates.
Cao Bianjiao has five thousand men and two thousand cavalry.
With the cooperation of Cao Bianjiao's cavalry, Zhou Zheng used the strategy of "blitzkrieg" to march quickly, sweeping through the territory of Henan.
January 20th in the ninth year of Chongzhen.
Zhang Xianzhong led an army of fifty thousand and besieged Xiangyang, Huguang, and the court urgently ordered Zhou Zheng to help.
Zhou Zheng's army at the moment was in Nanyang Mansion, Henan Province, chasing King Sheta, and had to turn around and turn to Xiangyang.
In January of the ninth year of Chongzhen, Zhou Zheng fought with Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, Laohui, Xie Yukuai and others outside Xiangyang.
The bandits have more than 100,000 people, many people, and great momentum.
Zhou Zheng pretended to be defeated and retreated, set up a fall in Taoshan Town, Zhang Xianzhong fell in the middle, defeated and left, and Xiangyang was resolved.
Zhou Zheng led his army to pursue, forcing Zhang Xianzhong to escape into Sichuan, but was attacked by Qin Liangyu and turned to Fengxiang Mansion in Shaanxi.
Just as Zhou Zheng was about to pursue it, the court once again hurriedly ordered Zhou Zheng to go north, and bandits flew into Henan from Shanxi and threatened Kaifeng Mansion.
Zhou Zheng had to turn around again and rushed to go.
On the way, Sun Chuanting, Cao Bianjiao, Jin Guoqi and others frowned, their faces dignified, and they stopped talking.
Their battlefield has always been in Liaodong, and this is the first time they have been involved in countering the rebellion. Only then did they find that the bandits are much more serious than they thought.
Especially for them, they have only been in a short period of just a few months. They have moved to six provinces and sixteen governments non-stop, extremely exhausted, and there is no time to rest for a while!
While resting during the march and eating, Sun Chuanting came to Zhou Zheng and said in a deep color: "My lord, this is no way to go on like this." (End of this chapter)