Chapter 421 420 Wu Shan’s petition

A single spark can start a prairie fire.

At this time, Jiangnan was like a powder keg. The people at the bottom had been oppressed and exploited by the local gentry families and the government for a long time. After the Japanese pirate rebellion, the people were living a precarious life. Even in such an environment, they were forced to

To pay the extra taxes and levies required by Hu Zongxian to suppress the Japanese, it is not an exaggeration to describe the current situation in Jiangnan that the people are in dire straits.

The impoverished people were forced to become refugees and live a homeless life, causing grief and complaints among the people.

There is no shortage of ambitious people in any era. The chaos in Jiangnan has long been seen by them, and they are just waiting to take action.

When the people in the entire coastal prefectures and counties were forced to rise up and become large or small volunteers because they could not afford to pay the heavy taxes and services, the government naturally would not just sit idly by and they decisively launched an encirclement and suppression campaign.

When a group of volunteers were suppressed by the government, the news spread, and the grief of the rabbit and the fox affected the entire Fujian and Guangdong, large and small.

In the context of desperation, they were easily persuaded by the bandits led by Zhang Lian. Regardless of whether they were willing or not, in order to survive, they could only join Zhang Lian's group.

Whether it was to show their ambitions or just to stay together for warmth, when the number of rioters snowballed to 100,000, their courage gradually grew.

When they easily defeated the advancing army under Zhang Lian's command, their courage became even greater.

The official office in the center of Baisongguan City has been transformed into the temporary palace of Feilong Kingdom.

The reason why it is said to be a temporary palace is naturally affected by the size of Guancheng. The palace cannot be expanded, so this is not a place where Zhang Lian plans to stay for a long time.

He had already built an imperial city in nearby Wushipu as his base camp, and even found someone to build the "Zhucheng Yellow House" in Zhangxiangtian as a palace after studying Feng Shui.

Now I have so many people under my command, if I don't find something for them to do, I won't tear down my own territory.

After that, hundreds of small villages were built around the mountains, and wasteland was opened up in the adjacent hills of Raoping, Pinghe and Dabu counties to cultivate potato grains to pay for the army.

One hundred thousand people means one hundred thousand mouths, and eating horse chews consumes a lot of money. The looted goods alone can no longer meet such a huge demand.

After Zhang Lian commanded the Feilong Army to defeat the Ming Army, he did not pursue the victory and directly attack the mountainous areas of southern Fujian. Instead, he gave the entire army a holiday so that his men could have a happy New Year.

Today, Zhang Lian feels that the New Year has passed and it’s time to consider this year’s goals.

At this time, the hall of the official office was full of people, including the leaders of the various rebel armies he had summoned.

Among these people, there are many people who are as ambitious as him. Because they were just recruited before, they did not have enough prestige. Even if they become emperor here, in the eyes of most people, it is not too big to play house with children.

Big difference.

However, this view was quietly changing after they defeated the Ming Dynasty army.

Zhang Lian had a careful plan for this. Defeating the Ming army once was not enough. He needed more victories. After establishing a high enough prestige in the Feilong Kingdom, he would start to reorganize and train the rebel army.

At that time, for those who are loyal to him, of course Dajiatibo, he will expand their strength as soon as possible, and for those who are ambitious, Zhang Lian plans to depend on their abilities.

These people are attached to themselves only to increase their own strength. Although there is some intention of seeking skin from the tiger, everyone is actually using each other.

Zhang Lian valued the strength they had accumulated, and they also hoped to develop and grow under his wings before they were not strong enough.

Looking at the hall full of leaders, most of these people will definitely disappear in the future.

However, today is not the time to deal with these people, but a new action that he has been planning for a long time. In the first year of Feilong, he plans to do something big.

The current situation in Jiangnan is really very beneficial to him.

The people are being oppressed so miserably that the army of refugees from various places is an inexhaustible source of troops. As long as your army arrives and you give them a bite to eat, they will follow you.

"Hang out the map."

Zhang Lian, who was wearing a yellow dragon robe, sat in the middle of the room. He waved his hand and gave instructions to the people around him. Soon, two guards hung up a huge map of the southeast. It was not known where Zhang Lian got it.

Maps have always been an important military weapon. Even in the Ming Dynasty, ordinary officials could not see them at all, but it is strange that there is one here.

The southeast map was hung up and immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the lobby.

Although many people cannot understand it, it does not affect their eyes from scanning back and forth on the map.

Perhaps they are looking for their current location, or searching for their hometown.

In fact, the entire map is not very large. It only depicts the locations of most prefectures and counties in Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi, and outlines rivers and mountains. With these intuitive graphics, even if most of the people sitting in the room are

A rough person can even guess and figure out some tricks.

Zhang Lian stood up and walked slowly to the map. After everyone's eyes turned to him, he slowly said: "I have called you here today to discuss the next move of our Feilong Kingdom."

Although they have proclaimed an emperor and established a country, it is undeniable that their so-called Feilong Kingdom is just a corner of the country compared to the Ming Dynasty, and it only controls a few prefectures and counties in southwestern Fujian.

There is not a single prefecture or county seat in the mountains and wilderness.

Even in the Baisong Pass where they are now, the Ming army originally stationed here only had an inspection department and dozens of soldiers.

This is the reason why they were able to successfully occupy this place in the first place. The opponent was simply too weak.

Of course, the Zhangzhou Prefecture in Fujian Province would not sit idly by. After they occupied this place, they launched two military encirclement and suppression campaigns but failed. The Chaozhou Prefecture in Guangdong Province would also send spies to collect intelligence from time to time.

When the time entered September, the pressure from the Japanese pirates on the sea increased sharply, and the Ming army stopped attacking them. During this period, they also sent people to try to recruit people, but they were all rejected by Zhang Lian.

Are you kidding me? Through his own personal experience, Zhang Lian had already felt how difficult life was for the common people, and he also saw that the Ming Dynasty was riddled with holes.

Although he had never thought about becoming a Japanese pirate, Zhang Lian still believed that the Japanese pirates were his natural allies and they could often use each other.

Just like the Ming army's attack on Baisong Pass, as long as it withstands the pressure, once the northeast wind season enters and the Japanese pirate ships arrive with the wind, the Ming army's combat power can only turn to deal with the Japanese pirates and relax its own offensive. And this is what he

The best time to seek development.

Before the large-scale Japanese pirates attacked, he also had the information about the Ming army's elimination of many groups of volunteers. While feeling frightened and sad, he was also keenly aware that other volunteers should have the same mentality, and that's why he came to him

The act of posting hero posts widely to call on nearby volunteers to seek refuge.

The purpose of calling more volunteers together was to strengthen their strength at the beginning, hoping to stay together and make the government more fearful.

As for ascending the throne and proclaiming himself emperor later, he just followed the trend, because before he knew it, Zhang Lian discovered that he had a few hundred thousand people under his command, and his ambition inevitably burst out.

In Zhang Lian's view, the Ming Dynasty seems to have reached the end of its rope. Perhaps God's will is to let him end it and create a new dynasty.

Legend has it that Liu Bowen, who once assisted Zhu Yuanzhang in proclaiming himself emperor, once made a prophecy: "The emperor will be born in Fujian, and the Three Mountains will be the battlefield."

Although I was born in Raoping County, Chaozhou Prefecture, my ancestors also came from Fujian, but later moved to Guangdong.

Who is Liu Bowen?

That was the person who assisted Zhu Yuanzhang to achieve hegemony, and he was as good as Zhuge Liang in "Three Kingdoms".

Zhuge Liang made clever calculations and borrowed life from the sky with the Seven-Star Lantern, while Liu Bowen even cut the dragon's veins with his sword in order to stabilize the Ming Dynasty. They are both "god"-like existences.

As the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang was known as the Hongwu Emperor in history. Among all the dynasties, Zhu Yuanzhang had the lowest origin. He transformed from a beggar to the ruler of a huge empire. He overthrew the rule of the Yuan Dynasty and counterattacked all the way. He lived a life of cheating.

Even more powerful.

What about yourself?

It seems that compared with Zhu Yuanzhang, they are almost the same. He can succeed. There is no reason why I can't.

It is precisely because of this comparison that Zhang Lian believes even more that he has the possibility of success.

Didn't I hear those scholars say that the Ming Dynasty is in danger, the emperor only indulges in Taoist practice all day long, the government is controlled by traitors, and the people can't survive.

Zhang Lian felt that if he became emperor, at least he would not hand over power to those treacherous ministers and would definitely manage the country well personally.

Now that we have ambitions, we naturally have to strive to further strengthen our own strength, and outward expansion has become inevitable. This is why we have summoned the leaders of various ministries here for this purpose.

Standing in front of the map, Zhang Lian pointed to a place on the map that was crossed by a solid line, outlining the mountains and ravines, and said: "This is Baisong Pass where we are now. Look at the mountains around here. Do you have any?"

Have you had enough of being in the mountains?”

"I don't want to continue living in the mountains anymore."

When Zhang Lian finished speaking, someone in the hall yelled and cursed.

Indeed, although most of the people here are from Fujian, and some are from Guangdong, many people used to live near the coast and make a living, and are not used to the mountainous environment here.

Zhang Lian said this, and some people below also realized that the purpose of recruiting them to the palace today was that the king wanted to take them out?

"It seems that many people have had enough of staying in the mountains and want to go out to the colorful world outside, haha."

Zhang Lian said and laughed himself.

He is different from most of the people below. He has only studied for a few days, so he was able to sneak into the yamen to do errands. Although he has never been there, he has heard people talk about it.

The beautiful scenery of the Ming Dynasty, as well as the red fat swallows and thin swallows, not to mention the Suzhou and Hangzhou next door are also praised by many people as magical, and there are also Yangzhou Shou Ma and Qinhuai, which are ten miles away.

Lin Chaoxi, Luo Pao and others were all bandit leaders who had followed Zhang Lian earlier and were loyal to him. When they heard that Zhang Lian had the idea of ​​expanding outward to gain territory, their eyes showed eagerness.

They used to be brave and aggressive people who bullied the market and roamed the countryside, otherwise they would not have gained a reputation.

It was also because they were forced hard by the government that they started to revolt. They really had no way to survive. They relied on their evil reputation and the people who had no way to survive were willing to follow them.

In fact, few people who can be regarded as leaders of the righteous people are so-called heroes. Those who rely on their virtue to win over others are mostly able to gather their followers because of their previous reputation and their relationship with their neighbors.

This was at the very beginning of their uprising. As for the people who followed, most of them passed word of mouth and packaged the leader as someone who was oppressed by the government. Like them, they were all forced to embark on this road.

The role of the victim.

At first, when the manpower was small, they didn't feel it. Later, as more and more people followed, they felt that their level was no longer enough. At this time, they discovered Zhang Lian, a person who could control the big guys.

Zhang Lian's ability is naturally much greater than theirs, otherwise they would not be willing to hand over their strength to him.

After handing over their rights, they found that their lives seemed to be easier.

Let Zhang Lian take care of the big and small things, and they can happily do what bandits should do.
To be continued...