Late Ming Dynasty capitalists
After Gao Yingxiang's death, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong completely split. Li Zicheng and his men retreated into the Taiping Mountains, while Zhang Xianzhong surrendered to the government troops. The rebels' activities reached a low ebb. However, unlike in history, the rebels suffered relatively few casualties. Of the 300,000 troops, only about 100,000 remained. Most of the dead were the elderly, the weak, women, and children.
Gao Yingxiang's remaining troops did not join Li Zicheng's forces as in history. This was because Tang Tong's undercover agents were numerous. These small-time leaders exerted their influence and led their men to join Li Yan. With this alliance, Li Yan's power increased dramatically, becoming the third largest force in the rebellion. This changed Tang Tong's original plan.
Li Yan had such a powerful force under his command. If he still defected to Li Zicheng, even a fool would know what the outcome would be. Li Yan would not only fail to gain Li Zicheng's support, but would also give Li Zicheng a chance to kill him out of suspicion. Tang Tong didn't know if Li Yan would do such a foolish thing. But he himself would never make such a mistake.
To avoid a siege by the government troops, Li Yan led his men into the Taishan Mountains, on the border between Hebei and Shanxi. Following Tang Tong's instructions, they established a base. Because Li Yan's reputation was relatively unknown, the government troops' attention was focused on Li Zicheng. As for Zhang Xianzhong, he had already surrendered. Because Li Zicheng hadn't been defeated, and the White Lotus Sect in Shandong had grown stronger, the government troops naturally had no interest in the surrendered Zhang Xianzhong.
Zhang Xianzhong didn't have much money to bribe those officials, but he was incredibly ambitious and wouldn't be content to remain inactive. He sent people everywhere to buy muskets. One day, Tang Tong happened to remember Zhang Xianzhong's military genius, Li Dingguo. He ordered his men to buy Li Dingguo from Zhang Xianzhong with a thousand muskets.
Li Dingguo was still a teenager at the time, his military prowess undiscovered. Tang Tong initially considered kidnapping Li Dingguo, but later realized that this would ensure Li Dingguo's continued loyalty. So, he offered Zhang Xianzhong a musket to trick him into selling him out.
Although Zhang Xianzhong liked Li Dingguo, he only thought he was a clever kid. He didn't realize he was a treasure. For a musket, Zhang Xianzhong simply sold Li Dingguo. But for Tang Tong, even a hundred thousand muskets would be worth it. Because this historically unknown Li Dingguo was undoubtedly the greatest military genius of his time.
Historically, Li Dingguo's military prowess blossomed after the fall of the Ming Dynasty. Following Zhang Xianzhong's death, the remnants of the Dashi Rebellion split into several factions. After Li Dingguo defected, he achieved a series of military victories, including killing the Qing general Jingjinqin Nikan and forcing Prince Ding Kong Youde to self-immolate. He established a firm foothold in Yunnan, eventually leading to Sun Kewang's surrender to the Qing army. Despite this disadvantage, Li Dingguo still inflicted heavy losses on Wu Sangui, inflicting 20,000 casualties on the Qing army.
After Tang Tong arrived at Li Dingguo's house, he took him in as his apprentice and personally taught him military knowledge. In that era, the strongest relationship, besides that between father and son, was that between master and apprentice. Zhang Xianzhong favored adopting sons, but Tang Tong was only a dozen years older than Li Dingguo. Tang Tong simply accepted him as his apprentice. He planned to teach Li Dingguo military knowledge for two years before sending him to the battlefield.
Li Zicheng retreated to Mount Taishan, making it difficult for the officers and soldiers to completely wipe him out in such a vast area. Even more difficult was the fact that Li Zicheng's military prowess was superior to Gao Yingxiang's. He even managed to completely defeat Zuo Liangyu's troops in an ambush. Had Zhou Linfeng not led his local militia to rescue him, Zuo Liangyu would have likely vanished from history. From then on, the officers and soldiers remained in a stalemate with Li Zicheng's forces, neither able to defeat the other.
After Sun Chuanting's decisive defeat of Gao Yingxiang's forces, Emperor Chongzhen dispatched him to Shandong to oversee the suppression of the White Lotus Sect. During the period during which the White Lotus troops were encircling Gao Yingxiang, their forces rapidly expanded. They not only occupied the entirety of Shandong, posing a serious threat to the capital, but also occupied areas bordering the mountainous regions of Jiangsu, Anhui, and Henan. Their ranks grew to 200,000. Although these White Lotus followers had no military training, they were brainwashed by the teachings of the White Lotus. Their bravery and fearlessness in battle intensified, frightening not only the soldiers but even Tang Tong himself.
The White Lotus sect's successive leaders were mostly ambitious individuals. Ten years ago, the sect had rebelled. That rebellion resulted in the deaths of nearly all of its leaders and key members, severely damaging the sect's vitality. The current leader, Xu Hongfei, claimed to be the son of the previous leader. After Tang Tong killed Kong Youde, he incorporated some of Kong's followers. However, Mao Wenlong still had many other followers. Because Tang Tong controlled the sea, these were scattered across Shandong.
Because the court ignored these people's livelihoods, most of them became bandits throughout Shandong. Xu Hongfei befriended one of their leaders and brought them into the White Lotus Sect, which quickly revived their rebellious spirit.
Without Tang Tong's strong support, the White Lotus Sect wouldn't have been able to make any waves. Xu Hongfei was well aware of this. However, he never quite understood the true nature of the faction supporting him. This often left him with the feeling that there was no such thing as a free lunch. He understood this principle. Furthermore, the weapons provided by the other party were not ordinary items. They were muskets, deadly weapons used on the battlefield. The sheer number of these muskets gave him an idea of how powerful this force would be.
Such a powerful force supporting him like this. Hong Fei would never believe it was out of ulterior motive. But no matter how he speculated, he still couldn't understand their motives. This was the most terrifying situation. However, Xu Hong's heart had calmed down somewhat recently. The power he controlled had grown rapidly, and it seemed he had the potential to conquer the world. With such a powerful force at his disposal, even if the mysterious supporting force didn't want to harm him, Xu Hong Fei believed he had the leverage to negotiate with them.
People in different positions approach problems from different perspectives. Xu Hongfei only sees the small patch of territory he occupies. Tang Tong, however, sees the entire world of his era. Tang Tong merely helps Xu Hongfei create more rivals for Emperor Chongzhen. If Emperor Chongzhen loses his opponents, the unfortunate ones will undoubtedly be those like Tang Tong, who cling to the imperial court yet remain too powerful. For someone like Chongzhen, if the rebels and the Jiannu were gone, forces like the Tang Clan Army would undoubtedly persist.
But if Tang Tongru had developed his own power in the past, it would have been impossible for the court to deal with the Jiannu.
To a certain extent, it helped the court to strike down the Jianke Tangtong forces. When the forces developed to this extent, they also became a thorn in the eyes of the court and Emperor Chongzhen.
Therefore, it was not Tang Tong's fault to oppose the court and Emperor Zhen. Tang Tong did not want to be unjustly killed like Yue Fei. Tang Tong did not have that kind of awareness nor that kind of blind loyalty. Tang Tong only had a deep affection for the Han people.
After defeating Gao Yingxiang, the court freed up its forces to target the now-powerful White Lotus. However, the White Lotus's current strength was extraordinary. They possessed not only eight thousand muskets, but also numerous weapons seized from officers and soldiers, rivaling their own in equipment. Furthermore, the followers were no match for Gao Yingxiang's men; they were brainwashed and fearless. Consequently, Sun Chuanting suffered defeat in several small-scale encounters with the White Lotus.
After several consecutive victories against the imperial army, Xu Hongfei grew complacent. He felt that the soldiers were no match for him. He began to imagine himself conquering the Ming Empire and becoming emperor.
Of course, the emperor wasn't that powerful. But it was still easy to establish a title and claim the throne. Xu Hongfei spread his heroic message throughout the country. He proclaimed himself king in Laizhou Banner, calling himself King Zhou. Among the Baijiao followers, he was also known as the Immortal King Yuande Jile.
Upon hearing the intelligence about Xu Hongfei's actions, Emperor Chongzhen was naturally furious. Tang Tong, upon reading his subordinates' report, simply sighed softly and said to Dayu'er, Liu Rushi, and the others beside him, "This leader has become somewhat complacent. I'm afraid his own death and the extinction of his clan are not far away."
Dayu'er was a master of politics and intrigue. Hearing Tang Tong's words, she understood what he was referring to. She now had some understanding of why Tang Tong, despite possessing such immense power, remained so low-key and patient. As the old saying goes, the first bird to stick its head out gets hammered down. The Ming Dynasty seemed precarious, but even a massive imperial warship like this, no matter how dilapidated it was, still had three pounds of nails. Whoever stepped forward first would face the retaliation of the Ming Dynasty's million-strong army.
If the Jiannu had never existed in history, Li Zicheng and his men would have been unable to launch a rebellion. Consider that over a million of the Ming Dynasty's most elite troops were expended at Shanhaiguan. Had they been able to suppress the rebellion, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong would have been powerless. Huang Taiji, weakened by the Tang army, was unable to invade the Ming. This allowed Chongzhen to draw troops from the border to suppress the rebellion. Therefore, despite Gao Yingxiang's temporary strength, he was ultimately crushed by the imperial court. Now, Xu Hongfei, a member of the White Lotus Sect, has recklessly resurfaced. Naturally, Emperor Chongzhen would not let him go.
Xu Hongfei's declaration of kingship boosted the morale of the White Lotus Sect to a certain extent. Within a short period of time, they even defeated Sun Chuanting. Furious, Emperor Chongzhen transferred the 20,000 Guanning Iron Cavalry troops who had been suppressing the rebellion in Shanxi and Henan to Shandong. Along with the Guanning Iron Cavalry, the rural cavalry from Shanxi and Hebei were also transferred to Shandong.
The unexpectedly rapid growth of the rural militias caused concern among Emperor Chongzhen. He resorted to conciliatory tactics, incorporating the militia into various armies. A large number of cavalry units were incorporated into the Guanning Iron Cavalry. The leaders of the various rural militias were given titles of "hundred-household" and "thousand-household" respectively. Among them, Zhou Linfeng, who performed exceptionally well, was appointed a householder in the Guanning Iron Cavalry, earning him the admiration of Hong Chengchou.
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