0p0 Chapter 162: The Wenxiang Rebellion
Chapter 162: The Wenxiang Rebellion
12
In the blink of an eye, winter passed and spring came, and all things revived. The first year of Tianqi (1621) passed, and the farmers in Liaodong began a new year of farming.
Unlike previous years, this year there is more hope and vitality on the faces of people in southern Liaoning.
Since Lu Cheng took charge of the four guards in southern Liaoning, he has paid great attention to the development of people's livelihood. Not only has he ensured that the people in southern Liaoning have land to farm and food to eat, he has also provided them with a variety of jobs, allowing them to engage in various processing and production work and obtain extra remuneration, so that the whole family can have enough food and clothing.
Life has become more hopeful, and people are more energetic and their spirits are different.
During the slack season, Lu Cheng would send soldiers from the four guards of southern Liaoning to various villages to organize simple military training for the villagers, call on each village to form its own militia, and formulate various strategies to deal with the Tartar's sneak attacks.
A simple beacon tower and a lookout post would be set up in each village. Once a small group of Tatar cavalry was found coming to harass, the beacon would be lit immediately to inform each other.
Once the nearby patrolling reconnaissance brigade and stationed cavalry troops detected the signal, they would immediately rush to the rescue and would never give the Later Jin cavalry the opportunity to launch a sneak attack and sabotage.
If the Later Jin cavalry dared to attack, the cavalry under Lu Cheng's command would intercept and kill them as quickly as possible, leaving them with no chance of return.
After suffering many casualties, the Later Jin no longer dared to invade Liaodong, and the people of Liaodong were able to focus on farming and development.
In addition, craftsmen from the logistics department also built water conservancy facilities on large tracts of land in southern Liaoning, and let some experienced farmers guide the people in scientific farming, etc.
One day, Lu Cheng had just finished his work and was about to accompany Ding Baiying for a walk to relax when he saw Old Bao from the Intelligence Department walk in.
"Sir, news has come back from Shandong that our people have infiltrated the Wenxiang Sect and have been highly valued by Xu Hongru due to their abilities. Recently, Xu Hongru has been actively recruiting followers and preparing weapons. He should be planning a rebellion."
Lu Cheng nodded after hearing this, and after thinking for a moment, he said, "How about this, let the logistics department prepare a batch of swords, guns, sticks and clubs that we have eliminated, and send them to Xu Hongru by sea. In addition, let Ding Chong and Ding Tai's pirate groups cooperate with the work.
At the same time, find more islands suitable for survival overseas, build some houses, and store some food. Prepare to receive refugees."
"Yes, sir. I will do it right away."
"Wait, don't leave in a hurry. Write a letter to the people in Shandong and tell them to delay as much as possible and not let Xu Hongru start the uprising too early. Ask them to check if there are any traitors to the court among them..."
After Lu Cheng gave some instructions, he let Lao Bao leave.
The Wen Xiang Sect mentioned by Lao Bao is the famous White Lotus Sect.
In the history of the Ming Dynasty, the White Lotus Sect had been banned repeatedly but never eradicated. As for Xu Hongru, he was an important leader of the White Lotus Sect.
As early as last year, Shandong suffered a severe drought. In February this year, Jinan, Dongchang, Yanzhou and other places in Shandong suffered a once-in-a-century earthquake.
The successive natural disasters had put the people on the brink of life and death. However, the imperial court not only did not organize disaster relief, but continued to increase the Liao tribute under the pretext of pacifying the Liao. Local officials took the opportunity to extort the people in the name of the imperial court, causing many people to lose their homes.
Under such circumstances, the only option left for the people who could not survive was to rebel.
According to information from secret sources, Xu Hongru, the leader of the Wen Xiang Sect, has developed nearly 100,000 followers in Shandong and Hebei, and often organizes secret meetings, and is already preparing for a rebellion.
Historically, this uprising had to be carried out ahead of schedule because of a traitor's betrayal. At the beginning, the uprising was indeed fierce and swept across many provinces. The number of rebels reached 10 at its peak, and they defeated the government troops many times, causing a shock to the Ming Dynasty.
It’s a pity that although the Ming Dynasty was already on the decline at that time, it still had some financial resources and was able to deal with the rebels.
In the end, the uprising lasted less than half a year and ended in failure.
However, this uprising also officially kicked off the peasant uprisings in the late Ming Dynasty. After that, during the Tianqi period and the Chongzhen period, a peasant uprising would break out almost every once in a while.
It was not until the reign of Emperor Kangxi that the wave of peasant uprisings was completely quelled.
In fact, even if the imperial court repeatedly increased food and salaries, it would be difficult to squeeze much money out of ordinary people.
Of the food and wages collected in the end, only a very small amount could actually be transported to Liaodong.
If the entire Liaodong had not been engaged in farming and reclaiming wasteland, the hundreds of thousands of troops in Liaodong would probably have starved to death long ago.
Even with Lu Cheng secretly supporting this peasant uprising with some weapons and supplies, it still couldn't escape the fate of failure.
Therefore, Lu Cheng also made some arrangements in the coastal areas in advance, so that when the rebel army was defeated, he could gather as many civilians as possible.
According to the original history, after the uprising failed, the governor of Shandong massacred the insurgents and innocent civilians, dug several mass graves, chopped off the heads of the insurgents and innocent civilians, and cast them into Jingguan in an attempt to intimidate the people.
If possible, Lu Cheng still hopes that fewer people can die.
Those rebels, after all, were just a group of ordinary people who couldn't survive.
Of course, even if Lu Cheng made thorough preparations, it would be impossible to save everyone. The best he could do was to save as many as he could.
In Lu Cheng's view, population is the most important resource. Whether it is farming, mining minerals, or developing technology, it is inseparable from the population base.
After arranging everything, Lu Cheng took Ding Baiying out for a walk around.
At this time, Ding Baiying was already seven or eight months pregnant. It was becoming increasingly inconvenient for her to move around and she needed someone to take care of her at all times.
Zhang Yan would also come over every day to help look after her and chat with Ding Baiying.
No matter how the outside world changes, the land of southern Liaoning always remains stable and peaceful.
This was a turbulent era, but the soldiers in southern Liaoning used the swords in their hands to win peace for the people in southern Liaoning.
At the end of May in the second year of the Tianqi reign, Xu Hongru, the leader of the Wenxiang Sect, gathered a group of insurgents in Yuncheng. They swore an oath of blood to start a rebellion. Overnight, they captured four or five villages, and the surrounding people flocked to them.
Afterwards, the rebels gathered tens of thousands of troops and began to attack the county town.
Although Xu Hongru had some military talent and appeal, he was mediocre in other aspects.
When the uprising just started, before even a county town was captured, Xu Hongru directly proclaimed himself emperor.
Soon after, White Lotus leaders in Shandong and Hebei provinces rose up in response, captured county towns, and soon controlled most of the areas on both sides of the Shandong Grand Canal. They cut off the water transport and confronted the government troops.
Afterwards, in order to settle the families of the rebels and let the soldiers have no worries, Xu Hongru directly led his men to occupy Liangshan Marsh and settled the families of the rebels on Liangshan.
For a period of time thereafter, the rebel army swept across Shandong and was invincible. Wherever they went, they opened warehouses to distribute grain. They also maintained strict discipline and did not harm the people in the slightest. They soon gained the support of the people.
By early June, the rebel army continued to advance eastward, capturing cities everywhere and absorbing civilians from all over the country. At one point, the army even grew to hundreds of thousands.
When the news reached the capital, the whole government was shocked. Emperor Tianqi immediately ordered the garrisons near Shandong to recruit soldiers and besiege the rebels from multiple directions. He resolutely trapped the rebels in Shandong and annihilated them completely.
Xu Hongru, however, adopted flexible and varied tactics, avoiding the strong and attacking the weak, waged guerrilla warfare against the officers and soldiers, and mobilized the masses to launch surprise attacks on the officers and soldiers, making those Ming generals run around in circles.
Soon, waves of uprisings broke out in various parts of the country, and it seemed that the sky would be filled with flames and sweep across the world.
However, after the initial rapid development, the rebels soon exposed various problems.
Due to rapid development and the absorption of too many refugees, the rebels soon faced a food crisis.
To this end, Xu Hongru set his sights on the Grand Canal leading to the capital, preparing to cut off the imperial court's grain supply.
However, this move undoubtedly made Emperor Tianqi even more furious, and he immediately ordered the mobilization of troops from all over the country to quickly put down the rebellion...