On the morning of the 29th day of the twelfth month of the first year of Longwu, Yang Yinglong learned of an earth-shattering piece of news.
His son, the eldest son, Yang Chaodong, had led 30,000 elite soldiers on a punitive expedition against the commander-in-chief of Sichuan, Ma Qiancheng. In the end, the entire army was annihilated at Qijiang County, and he himself was defeated and captured. Ma Qiancheng had led the army straight to Songkan and had already taken it. He was advancing towards the Sanyuan Dam and was already a threat to Tongzi.
If he broke through Tongzi, there would be no defensive facilities in front of Loushan Pass that could stop him. He could only rely on the natural barriers of Loushan Pass to stop him.
Yang Yinglong turned pale with fright. At first, he didn't dare to believe this fact. It wasn't until a group of defeated soldiers, numbering less than a hundred in number, appeared in front of him and complained tearfully that he believed it. Then, he ordered them to be killed.
Since the commander-in-chief had been captured, they had no right to come back alive.
After this group of people was killed, even worse news came.
Yang Zhu's army had suffered a great defeat at Longquan County. Only about 2,000 people had escaped. The rest had either been captured or killed. Yang Zhu himself had been executed by the Qin Army and died a miserable death. Liu Dadao had already led his army aggressively towards Sangmu Pass.
On the 29th, only Yang Weidong's news had not arrived. After suffering two major blows in a row, Yang Yinglong still held on to a faint hope that he could win a victory in the south and reverse the current precarious situation.
The news of the two defeats, especially the death of Bozhou's number one bravest general, Yang Zhu, by Liu Dadao, was too shocking and greatly damaged the morale of the Bozhou army. If there was no victory in the south, Yang Yinglong could consider cleaning up Shanghai Long Quan like a turtle.
He didn't sleep all night, waiting for the news.
In the early morning of the 30th, the news came.
Yang Weidong had lost the battle, he had been captured, the entire army of 30,000 had been annihilated, and less than a thousand had escaped. The Flying Training Fort had fallen, and Tianbang was in a state of emergency.
Tian Xiufeng, who was accompanying Yang Yinglong and waiting for news, was also scared out of her wits. She looked at Yang Yinglong in panic, completely out of her wits.
At this time, she was also vulnerable. She needed Yang Yinglong to give her a sense of security and dependence.
But when Yang Yinglong heard the news, he didn't say anything for a long time. Suddenly, his face went pale, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood. He collapsed to the ground and fainted.
"Ah —!!!"
Tian Xiufeng's screams indicated that the future was not going to be good.
By the time Yang Yinglong woke up, it was already the 30th night. He found himself lying on the bed with the sound of crying beside his ears.
He turned his head with some difficulty and saw Tian Fengfeng crying on the edge of the bed.
The memories of the day flooded his mind, and he suddenly remembered the information that made him so angry that he fainted.
Although he felt a little uneasy when he sent out the troops, and he had been feeling uneasy ever since, he never thought that the three armies would be wiped out, and the resistance would be completely defeated.
At present, the number of troops he could use was less than 50,000. Facing the hundreds of thousands of aggressive Qin Army, defeat seemed to be a foregone conclusion.
He began to regret why he had taken the initiative to attack. If he could have firmly held the key checkpoints, the Qin Army would not have been able to so easily threaten the foundation of Bozhou.
He began to realize what a stupid thing he had done.
But there was no medicine for regret in this world. Even if there was, it could not save so many lives and such a miserable defeat.
Two of his sons were captured, and his relative Yang Zhu was killed. His strength suddenly fell to the bottom, plummeting a thousand feet.
Before, he might have had the capital to negotiate with the imperial court, but now, it was gone.
Tian Xiufeng was still sobbing softly, making Yang Yinglong very upset.
"Why are you crying? I'm not dead! "
He propped up his upper body and looked at Tian Xiufeng with dissatisfaction.
He, Yang Yinglong, was only defeated, but not dead. He still had the strength to fight. Why was she crying like this? Was she crying like a funeral?
"My husband … you're awake …"
Tian Xiufeng quickly wiped her tears and helped Yang Yinglong up.
"I'm not dead yet. Why are you crying? Do you think I'm dead? "
Yang Yinglong was still very dissatisfied.
Tian Xiufeng shook her head quickly.
"No, my husband. This morning, after the news of Weidong's defeat came, Luo's, Wang's, and He's immediately declared to fight for the imperial army. They all rebelled. The other families, Song's, and Luo's also rebelled.
They now occupy the three divisions of Wengshui, Yuqing, and Rongshan. They have gathered tens of thousands of troops, saying that they will wait for the imperial army to come and attack us together. My husband, what should we do? "
There was an unconcealable panic in Tian Xiufeng's tone.
The Yang family was the leader of Bozhou. Under them were the vassal groups of the Five Divisions and Seven Families. All of them had followed Yang Yinglong's ancestor, Yang Duan, into Bozhou in the third year of Emperor Xizong's Qianfu. After defeating Nanzhao and seizing Bozhou, they were rewarded with military merits and had coexisted with the Yang family's chieftain for hundreds of years.
The chieftain system of China was gradually perfected since the creation of the Meng Yuan Dynasty. The inheritance rules were strict, and there were rules to follow. As usual, the five divisions and seven surnames inherited the position of the chief judge. The inheritance report had to be printed with the seal of the chief judge. The benefits of this suzerainty were self-evident.
Therefore, the suzerain, the Yang clan, often took bribes endlessly and spent huge amounts of money. The inheritors could not bear it, and the friendship of establishing the foundation together was exhausted in the long years of mutual exploitation.
By the time of Yang Yinglong, with the corruption of the Ming court and the silver shortage caused by the destruction of the Spanish Invincible Fleet, the situation of Bozhou became more and more difficult.
The lives of the provinces in the mainland were not good, and everyone knew that Bozhou was rich and rich. The officials of Sichuan and Guizhou were envious and thought of all kinds of ways to get benefits. Yang Yinglong inherited the Xuan Wei clan, and also faced layers of bribery from the officials of Sichuan and Guizhou.
They could not stand being exploited and could only shift the pressure downwards. Therefore, Yang Yinglong deliberately exploited and made things difficult for the five divisions, asking for all kinds of bribes. The five divisions and seven surnames suffered unspeakably. Finally, with the incident of Yang Yinglong killing his wife as the fuse, the five divisions and seven surnames united to fall out with the suzerain, the Yang clan.
They relied on the governor of Guizhou to make things difficult for Yang Yinglong. The governor of Guizhou took the opportunity of the rebellion of the five divisions and seven surnames to greatly suppress Bozhou, in the name of reforming the land and returning to the stream, but in reality, he was filling his own pockets. The relationship between Bozhou and Sichuan and Guizhou deteriorated rapidly.
Faced with internal rebellion and corrupt officials like wolves and tigers, Yang Yinglong could not hold back his tyrannical temper, so he took action.
In the autumn of the 24th year of Wanli, Yang Yinglong sent troops to attack many of the small chieftains under his jurisdiction. Yuqing Commander, the Caotang Commander, the Huangping Commander, and the Heavy Peace Commander were all brutally massacred by him. The hundreds of years of relationship between them were completely severed.
He wanted to eliminate all evil, but on one hand, the timely intervention of the Ming court forced him to stop. On the other hand, he had indeed made too many enemies and had to face the pressure of the other three chieftains.
There were people from the five divisions and seven surnames who survived and hated him to the bone. They had always been looking for opportunities to take revenge on him, but the Yang clan's military was strong and Yang Zhu's bravery was a great deterrent. The survivors of the five divisions and seven surnames were very afraid of these troops.
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