In fact, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong and others were both defeated by the imperial government countless times. Even in the 15th year of Chongzhen, in the original history, the coalition forces of the Fifth Battalion of the Gells and Li Zicheng were defeated by Huang Degong and others.

However, the advantage of the thief is that he can make a comeback at a very fast speed, just like he has never defeated it. He even gets stronger and stronger as he fights. Why?

It means that local order cannot be restored, refugees caused by defeated soldiers, military disasters, etc. cannot be resettled, and killing some people alone will not work.

If you want to change this situation, the court needs to have enough money and food to stabilize everything.

And if you want to make money quickly, the most convenient thing is of course to search the house and ask for it. Who is the richest person in the south, the salt merchant!

Zhang Mingwei’s goal is them!

Since Pan Jixuang ruled the river in the late Wanli period, the Yellow River has been basically fixed on Kaifeng, Lankao, Shangqiu, Dangshan, Xuzhou, Suqian and Huaiyin. It is the former path of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and it has been running water for 300 years.

Go south along the Yellow River and you can reach Yangzhou directly.

It can be said that Zhang Mingwei's first stop was for money and salt merchants.

For this reason, he certainly reported a plan with Emperor Chongzhen, and before the army set off, he had already sent the Jinyiwei to Yangzhou Prefecture secretly.

The ancient transportation made Zhang Mingwei, who had traveled through time in later generations, very uncomfortable. It took one month to go to the itinerary for a high-speed rail to reach.

The time consumed by this inconvenience of transportation also made him a little worried.

One important reason why there were constant war disasters in the late Ming Dynasty was that the bandits could not be killed. For example, this Battle of Kaifeng, although it was a great victory on the surface, it was indeed more due to Li Zicheng's blessing to destroy Luo Rucai. Otherwise, if Luo Rucai ran away, he would definitely make a comeback.

With the strength of the imperial government army at this time in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, it was almost impossible to fight an annihilation battle. Because the thieves are strong and not dead, they will run away if they can't beat them.

Why is it really a very difficult problem to say that traveling through time to the late Ming Dynasty would be at the hell level? If the bandits cannot be eliminated quickly, the Jianlu of Liaodong will inevitably intervene. The strength of the imperial government army is limited. Is it better to fight the bandits or Jianlu?

Even this time, if Li Zicheng made up his mind and took advantage of Zhang Mingwei's visit to Jiangnan to quell the rebellion, he would make arrangements for the bandits to come again. However, it is also a question whether he could use so many surrendered soldiers to defend Li Zicheng's troops.

Just like in the original history, the Yongwei Camp is strong, fighting the thief will win battles. However, there are too many thiefs and they cannot win at all. Later, they can only break up and fight the thiefs separately, and eventually they are submerged in the thiefs and have no effect of turning the situation around.

Thinking of all this, Zhang Mingwei had no choice but to further influence the thieves from the perspective of public opinion war.

For this reason, he wrote a storytelling about Li Laiheng's secret intent and turned to light, and published it in Ming Pao to promote it as much as possible.

Although he had been marching, Zhang Mingwei had already started preparing for the battle in Jiangnan. Many measures were sent out to implement them in one step.

Finally, in mid-September, the 15th year of Chongzhen, Zhang Mingwei led a large army and advanced along the river and land, not far from Yangzhou, the most prosperous in Jiangnan.

In Jiangnan, I naturally heard about the arrival of a 100,000 army. Moreover, Duke Xingguo clearly stated that the army would rest for a few days after arriving in Yangzhou Prefecture. For a moment, the officialdom and the people were shocked.

Today, the Jiangnan bandits are mainly composed of the Fifth Camp of the Gate and the Eight Kings. They are mainly Fengyang Prefecture, Luzhou Prefecture and Anqing Prefecture, which are active under the jurisdiction of Nanzhi. They are located upstream of Yingtian Prefecture, and are naturally further away from Yangzhou. And there are only scattered thieves on the Yangzhou Prefecture itself.

Many people, especially those in the officialdom, including local gentry, did not want Duke Xingguo to come to Yangzhou Prefecture. Because they knew that the Duke Xingguo was so powerful that there was no possibility of defeating him at present. The most important thing is that everything this Duke Xingguo did in the Central Plains was not very friendly to people like them.

For this reason, as the army got closer, there were more and more rumors on the streets and alleys.

"Our Yangzhou Prefecture is fine. Why did Duke Xingguo come to Yangzhou? It's because he was afraid of thieves, so he didn't dare to go to Fengyang and Luzhou to fight thieves, right?"

"What? Duke Xingguo won a great victory and destroyed Cao Cao? I tell you, it's not, that's the result of the thieves' own fire. I heard that there was no fierce battle in the Battle of Kaifeng, it was all caused by the thieves themselves!"

"A hundred thousand troops are coming, our prosperous Yangzhou Prefecture is about to suffer. Think about it, it is said that at least more than half of the troops in Duke Xingguo's army were recruited by bandits."

"In fact, it is not just a bandit, but also a court official army. The so-called bandits are like combs and soldiers are like combs. Whether it is a bandit or a court official army, who does not harm the people now?"

“…”

Under such rumors, especially with real cases to refer to, almost all the people in Yangzhou Prefecture are worried about the coming of the army. Not to mention the welcome, the army has not arrived yet, and people have almost run away. Those who cannot run away hide at home and dare not go out.

In short, Yangzhou Prefecture and other prefectures in Jiangnan dare not explicitly say that they do not welcome Duke Xingguo, but all the signs show that this is what it means.

However, a big city like Yangzhou cannot escape. With Duke Xingguo’s power, no one dared to refuse Duke Xingguo’s entry into the city.

Therefore, on this day, I heard that the troops of Duke Xingguo were not far away. Under the leadership of local officials such as the prefect of Yangzhou Prefecture, they led a group of gentry and led the people out to welcome them tremblely.

While waiting, a gentry asked the prefect of Yangzhou Prefecture: "Sir, will Duke Xingguo's army enter the city?"

Hearing this question, the other squire became even more worried and quickly started talking.

"Sir, if the soldiers enter the city, the consequences will be unimaginable!"

"Yes, sir is the parent official of our Yangzhou Prefecture. But we must consider the people of our Yangzhou Prefecture and must not let the soldiers enter the city!"

“…”

Not only them, but even the people were worried.

However, there are also some different attitudes, that is, some of the bells and swallows in various romantic scenes in Yangzhou who are gathering in the distance among the crowds. Their words are completely different.

"You guys say that Wubai of the Central Plains is really this Duke Xingguo?"

"Oh, I really envy Chen Yuanyuan, I actually got this blessing!"

"The same is true for Duke Xingguo. Come and finish the war quickly. The misunderstanding between Guo Jing and Huang Rong is really heartbreaking. I really hope that lovers will finally get married!"

"I have all the Ming Pao in my hand. I wonder if I can ask Duke Xingguo to give me a lyrics?"

"Have you heard that? Duke Xingguo made another song, which seemed to be "Defend the Yellow River", a very strange song!"

“…”

In addition, there is another group, unique to Yangzhou Prefecture, which is the group of salt merchants.

The so-called gentry at this time actually refers to those who have fame and fortune, who have not been in the court, such as scholars, scholars, and those who have served as officials and now have no official positions.

The salt merchant group is generally the group of people who rely on the court to make a fortune by selling salt and selling salt. They have the deepest relationship with the salt yamen and of course the richest ones.

This group of people has the most wealth, and they live the most luxurious life. Not to mention the size of the mansion and the number of servants, it is even more normal for a big banquet every three days and a small banquet every day. There are even salt merchants who throw gold or silver foil down from the tower, and then happily watch the people below snatch crazy. The place of romance and feathers in Yangzhou are all famous in the country. Why? Because there are many rich people.

At this time, they were arranged in their identities, standing behind the squire group, and whispering.

"If I ask me, this Duke Xingguo came to our Yangzhou specifically, and maybe he would be for the wealthy people from Yangzhou. Oh, the people who came were not kind!"

"So what? We don't have any conscriptions, and we don't even think of the charges of conscriptions on our heads."

"Yes, he dares to deal with us, what should the court's salt administration do?"

"I think you are a little worried. I want me to tell you that this Duke Xingguo is also a romantic and talented man. Maybe he admires the romantic people of our Yangzhou!"

"It's really possible. Didn't that Chen Yuanyuan be taken away by him? He even became the editor-in-chief of Ming Pao. Haha, it's a teenager who is not romantic!"

"I tell you, I have actually found a few top beauties with a lot of money. Duke Bao Xingguo is satisfied!"

"By the way, we can't learn from those Shanxi merchants. We need to have some vision and get a gift to the Duke and let him go."

“…”

While they were talking, a horse rushed along the river and shouted loudly: "Here, come..."

Hearing this shout, everyone who was talking, whether they were welcome or unwelcome, stopped talking. They turned their heads north, looking north, either nervous, uneasy, or expectant, and waited for the Duke Xingguo to appear.

However, before they could see the army, they heard a faint sound.

Suddenly, they became surprised.

"Why is it so noisy? Is Duke Xingguo personally leading the army and the military discipline of the official army so bad?"

"It's hard to say that most of this imperial official army was expanded by recruiting bandits. How good can the military discipline be?"

"Doesn't that mean that we are in trouble in Yangzhou?"

“…”

Many people are talking and worried, and they are thinking about running away.

However, if they dare not welcome Duke Xingguo, what if Duke Xingguo is unhappy?

For a moment, many people were in a dilemma.

Just like that, after a while, the shadow of the army finally turned out at the foot of the mountain in the distance, and the voice became clearer.
Chapter completed!