In the late Ming Dynasty, Puzhou and Fan County in Shandong suffered repeated natural disasters.
Coupled with the rampant man-made disasters, people were displaced and the land was abandoned.
There are elm trees in the local area.
The elm tree is a deciduous tree native to China that blooms before it grows leaves.
The flowers look like copper coins, hence the name elm tree.
Since the elm tree can reproduce through seeds, elm forests will form where there are elm trees over time.
The thirteenth year of Chongzhen.
The peasants, led by Ma Yingshi, launched an uprising and used the dense Yulin forest to fight against the Ming court.
Whenever the government troops came to suppress them, they would hide in the dense elm forest.
Because the local elm forest was dense and large in area, the government troops did not dare to enter rashly and could only search on the periphery.
As soon as the government troops left, they sneaked out of Yulin and continued to fight.
These people were called the Yuyuan Thieves by the Ming Dynasty court.
Historical books call it the Yuyuan Army.
In order to deal with the encirclement and suppression by government troops, the Yuyuan Army also dug tunnels hundreds of miles long in Yulin.
The tunnels are crisscrossed and dotted everywhere.
If you rush in rashly, you will not only get lost, but you will also be killed by the Imperial Guards hiding in the tunnel.
Very difficult.
After the Manchus entered the Pass, the Yuyuan Army began to fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty.
In the fifth year of Shunzhi, Liu Zeqing, who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, contacted the Yuyuan Army and launched an uprising.
After the failure.
Liu Zeqing himself, his younger brother and three nephews were executed by the Qing Dynasty.
The Yuyuan Army continued to rely on the dense Yulin to deal with the Qing Dynasty.
In order to completely eliminate the Yuyuan Army, the Qing Dynasty appointed Zhang Cunren as the governor-general of Zhili, Shandong and Henan provinces to carry out encirclement and suppression.
Zhang Cunren was originally a fortress guard in the Ming Dynasty, with one or two hundred soldiers under his command.
In addition to this identity, he has another identity: a super spy.
The reason why he is described as a super spy is because he hides very deeply and plays a very important role.
(When Jianzhou captured Liaoyang, it was the clue. It was used the longest and most powerfully, so its response was extremely effective.)
In the first year of Chongzhen, Yuan Chonghuan took control of the military and political power of Liaodong.
At this time, Zhang Cunren had already become a spy for the Jiannu.
Yuan Chonghuan first quickly promoted the fort guard to the rank of guerrilla general of the standard camp, and then promoted him to lieutenant general seven months later, becoming his right-hand man and confidant.
Let’s not talk about whether Yuan Chonghuan was aware of his identity as a spy.
He was able to lurk beside the Governor of Ji-Liao and become his confidant, which meant that he must have provided a lot of useful intelligence to the Jiannu.
Otherwise, it would have been impossible for the Jiannu to know the movements of the various Ming armies during the Ji Si Rebellion!
After the Battle of Dalinghhe in the fourth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Cunren and Zu Dashou opened the city and surrendered together.
He immediately pointed out that Zu Dashou's surrender was false.
Although Huang Taiji did not believe it, the fact was as Zhang Cunren said, Zu Dashou did not serve the Jiannu after returning to Jinzhou.
After Zhang Cunren became the governor-general of three provinces, he launched a siege on the Yuyuan Army.
He first set fire to Yulin several times in the autumn and winter when the grass and trees were flammable, then dug a tunnel in the Yellow River embankment to flood Yulin, and finally launched an indiscriminate massacre of the local people.
People in Shandong, Henan and even Zhili were massacred, with millions killed.
The members of the Yuyuan Army were all local people, and Zhang Cunren's method of cutting off the source of the problem did work.
As the number of civilians decreased, the number of members of the Yuyuan Army also decreased.
The leaders of the Yuyuan Army were either killed or surrendered.
The Yuyuan Army ultimately ended in failure.
In history, the Yuyuan Army was a rebel army, and its end was very tragic.
As a time traveler, Chongzhen would certainly not use Zhang Cunren's method to deal with them, nor would he let them end up in a miserable way.
Instead, handle the matter with a merciful tone.
Just as Chongzhen was thinking about how to quell the rebellion, Gao Shiming, the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, took the lead and said, "Your Majesty! There has been a civil uprising in Shandong. I think we should send troops to suppress it immediately."
"Gao Jie's 30,000 troops are currently farming and preparing for war in the Qingzhou area, less than 800 miles away from Puzhou! If they travel light, they can reach Puzhou in ten days, drive out the rebels and lift the siege of Puzhou!"
"Or we can dispatch Li Dingguo who is farming in Henan. His 20,000 troops are in Guide Prefecture, 400 miles away from Puzhou. Counting the time it takes to transmit the message, they can reach Puzhou in about eight days."
Chongzhen neither expressed his agreement nor showed any sign of disagreement, but instead looked at the chief minister of the cabinet, Fan Jingwen.
Fan Jingwen frowned and said, "Your Majesty, I think that using troops to suppress rebellion can only solve the problem temporarily, but cannot achieve long-term peace and stability."
"What does Lord Fan mean by this?" Gao Shiming asked somewhat unhappily.
"The Yuyuan thieves did not appear suddenly, but have existed for a long time." Fan Jingwen began to explain, "From the 14th year of my dynasty to this year, the Yuyuan thieves have never stopped. Every time the government troops went to encircle and suppress them, they fled into the elm forest for refuge. As soon as the government troops left, they came out of the elm forest and continued to do their old business."
"Some of them were forced to rebel due to their lives, while others were specifically against the imperial court."
"So what does Lord Fan mean?" Gao Shiming asked with a blink.
"Zhao'an!" Fan Jingwen answered neatly and clearly.
Hearing the word "Zhao'an", Chongzhen finally smiled with satisfaction.
Fan Jingwen's idea was consistent with his.
Using the Zhao'an Yuyuan Army for one's own use is the best option at the moment.
Gao Shiming thought for a moment and asked, "What happens after the pacification?"
"Liaodong is in great need of men right now. We can select some strong men to go to Liaodong to support the battle."
"Isn't it inappropriate?" Gao Shiming shook his head. "No matter what, these people are just ordinary people who are rebelling. Although they can defeat the local garrison, they can only defeat the garrison! It may be difficult to deal with the Jiannu. If they are not careful, they may even desert the battlefield."
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