Chapter Eighteen Method

  Lü Shiyí said that the solution to this dead end still relies on Zhao Dàhǎi. At that time, Zhao Dàhǎi looked at Lü Shiyí in surprise and said: "Me?" Then he slapped his thigh decisively, gritted his teeth and said: "Alright, I'll sacrifice this rotten life and accompany my brothers to charge into the Zhang family fortress. Even if we can't rescue Old Master Zhang and the villagers, it's still a way to repay the kindness and gratitude of Old Master Zhang. What's the worst that could happen even if I lose this rotten life?"

  Lü Shiwén heard this and burst out laughing: "Brother, you're too kind-hearted, thinking of accompanying me to the Zhang's house to fight to the death. But the Zhangs have over a hundred village braves, armed to the teeth; even if we each had three heads and six arms, we'd still be fish on their chopping board. If we go, it'll just be throwing our lives away for nothing."

  Zhao Dahai looked at Lü Shidao with a puzzled expression: "Isn't that so? Brother, you're being so mysterious, what's the good way to do it?"

  "There is a way, but if that's the case, then your brother won't be able to become an official." The teacher now understood a key point and felt greatly relieved, also becoming more relaxed, and began to tease Zhao Dahi.

  Zhao Dahi couldn't help but burst into a loud laughter upon hearing Lü Shi's words, yet amidst the laughter was an air of desolation.

  "Why is brother laughing?" he asked with a puzzled expression.

  "I'm laughing at you, brother, for underestimating me. Although I may be rough around the edges, I still have a sense of justice and loyalty. The Zhang family has taken care of my younger brother, providing him with food and shelter; this is what it means to show kindness and generosity. If I were to forget this, and watch as the Zhang family falls apart, would I still be human? Moreover, how could I bear to see my dear daughter lose her parents and be heartbroken? If I had to live with a daughter who cries all day, wouldn't that be the death of me? Besides, I'm a free-spirited person, and I couldn't bear to see my child suffer through thick and thin."

  Before he could finish, another long sigh followed: "Also, brother doesn't know, there's already rumors going around upstairs, our little emperor has listened to the words of those corrupt Confucian scholars and is about to abolish this relay station. Soon I'll be a homeless vagrant with no place to go, what's there to fear?"

  Reminded by Zhao Dahai, Lü Shidao really remembered this matter.

  Chongzhen ascended to the throne, taking over this mess of a Ming dynasty. The entire Ming was already riddled with holes, with income not covering expenses. The imperial court was also in shambles from years of eunuch and Donglin faction infighting. The eunuchs were only interested in embezzlement, while the Donglin faction was only interested in factional strife. Everything had already come to a standstill.

  In fact, if we carefully investigate the downfall of the Ming dynasty, it was not really destroyed by Li Zicheng, but by the Qing dynasty. However, it actually perished amidst the internal power struggles within the Qing imperial court.

  When Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian ascended to the throne, he first made great efforts to eliminate the eunuch party. This was the hope for the revival of the Ming Dynasty. At the beginning, Zhu Youjian seized the opportunity to cut off Wei Zhongxian's wings, making him isolated and helpless. Then, with a single imperial edict, Wei Zhongxian was demoted to guard the tomb in Fengyang. Soon after, an order was issued to arrest and prosecute him. After his death by hanging himself, an order was given to expose his corpse in Hejian. Thereafter, more than 260 members of the eunuch party were either executed, exiled, or imprisoned for life, dealing a fatal blow to the arrogant eunuch party.

  The Chongzhen Emperor eliminated the Wei Zhongxian clique, which once made it possible for the Ming dynasty to have a resurgence. However, he also lost control over the cliques in the court, and the imperial court became a place where only empty talk was allowed, with the result that Chongzhen's policies were manipulated by the scholar-officials group.

  For example, now the Qingliu are fighting to overthrow and opposing for the sake of opposition. There are also factional struggles among the Qingliu. For instance, if you say eating leads to shitting, I must say that not eating means I absolutely won't shit. Alright, in order to oppose, then I will resolutely not shit.

  When the party struggle has reached this point, what else can be done? From then on, there was no more opposition in the imperial court.

  But in terms of national economy, the Qing dynasty was actually worse than the eunuch party. In the late Ming dynasty, the financial revenue was not enough to cover expenses and was struggling to make ends meet.

  Because the whole court has become a one-man show, every day whispering in the ears of the young emperor - the severe drought in Shaanxi is just a fabrication by officials and local governors to resist the demand for repayment of accumulated debts.

  Collecting accumulated taxes and completing the grain supply, this is increasing revenue. Not providing relief, cutting off relay stations in various places, this is reducing expenditure. Now, tens of millions of dollars in national grain expenditures have been saved, but it has caused tens of millions of strong laborers to lose their jobs, and also gave rise to a historically significant figure - Li Zicheng.

  Knowing all this, Lü Shi could only sigh in despair. He didn't know where Li Zicheng was now, nor did he know the outcome of the great upheaval, but for himself, it seemed that under this imperial edict, the first to appear would be the reckless Zhao Dahai who didn't care about his own life.

  Nothing is certain except death, and now that things have come to this pass, Lü Shi's thoughts are even more firmly fixed.

  "Since big brother has made up his mind, I'll just speak directly."

  Zhao Dahai looked around and suddenly laughed: "I look at myself, I only have the clothes on my body and the iron spear in my hand, what else can I help you with? Are you teasing me, brother?"

  "Brother, apart from getting rid of this thing, there is one more very important thing. Have you forgotten, brother?"

  "What?"

  Friend.

  Lü Shiyí said, "Friend, it seems Zhao Dàhǎi has finally understood what Lü meant. His eyes suddenly lit up and he slapped his thigh again, saying: 'If brother hadn't reminded me, I would have really forgotten! Ah yes, I have a classmate who's there!' Thinking of this, he suddenly stood up, excitedly pacing back and forth in the room, thinking about who could be trusted to risk their life. But after some thought, he let out a dejected sigh and sat down again."

  "What's wrong, don't you have any reliable friends?" Lü Shi asked in confusion, also feeling a little disappointed.

  "That's not the case, Zhangjia Village is a small county town with high walls and deep moats. There are over 100 local militiamen inside, plus Zhang's family members and relatives, making it two or three hundred people in total. The Zhang family has been operating for many years and has connections with the nearby garrison, so they must have purchased a large number of military-grade firearms and equipment. Their defensive equipment is complete, and their weapons are also very sophisticated. Even if my brother is willing to sacrifice his life, it would be futile, and not only will he lose his men, but the villagers captured inside Zhangjia Village will also suffer."

  Lü Shi knew that in ancient times, attacking a city was like an ant trying to climb a wall, relying on cloud ladders and ropes, and now most of the sticks are using this hard-hitting method.

  The second was the use of explosives to blast open cities, but at that time gunpowder was not yet called an explosive, and in a strict sense it should be called propellant. The formula was also not pure, with many other substances added in superstition, making it even more impure. As a result, the power of blasting open cities was not great, and digging tunnels was just to try to get inside the city for an internal-external coordination attack. However, this method would take time, and the rebels were most afraid of wasting time, as that could lead to being surrounded by government troops and local militia.

  There is also the current popular method of attacking a city, which is to organize a group of dead soldiers, run under the city wall, use a big hammer to hit the bricks and stones of the city wall, and then dig out the rammed earth inside. However, this method also results in heavy casualties.

  So now the rods are not willing to attack the strong fort, but instead plunder those unprotected villages and towns, rob the people's food and property, then wrap up the looted people, expand themselves, and then rush away.

  At that time, the pole could gather three to five million people, but they were all from one family, with men, women, old and young, and the elderly accounted for about 60%. The noise was just a gathering of numbers. From a distance, the momentum shook the sky, and the people were like an ocean. However, there were hardly four out of ten able-bodied men, and they had no training at all. They were just farmers who put down their hoes and picked up clubs. Not to mention knives, guns, and armor. Only the trusted family generals at the head of each pole had iron swords, but even that was mostly for show.

  Such a team can only do some trivial tasks, and when there are many people, they also attack the scattered small strongholds in various places, fight against the wind, but once they encounter hard bones, with casualties of one or two percent, they will disperse like birds and beasts.

  This is the current situation of the peasant army at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Why Li Zicheng often claimed to have one million soldiers, but could only become a bandit sweeping through various villages, involving more civilians, and rarely capturing large cities. Even if they spent time and effort capturing big cities like Kaifeng and Luoyang, they would plunder them and then immediately abandon them. Although this is related to the narrow-minded ideology of the peasant army at that time, the bigger reason is related to the organization of the peasant army at that time. Each army had its own old camp, with families and children in tow, so it's not like they were fighting a war, but rather a large-scale migration of refugees. Once the government army counterattacked, it would be a disastrous defeat.

  To save his own family, he had to sacrifice his friend's life, which was a result that Zhao Dahai, a man of honor, did not want to see.

  "Now I just want to know, at this time, who else is willing to go through thick and thin with us." These are Lv Shi's words.

  Zhao Dahai looked at his brother, who was usually carefree and nonchalant, but now had a serious expression. He thought to himself that if someone he barely knew was willing to risk their life for Zhang Laoshi, then how could he, who had been close with the Zhang family for many years, back down? He let out a long sigh and said: "Actually, I have a good brother who is gathering a group on Wuyang Mountain, his name is Guo Tianxing. If I just say the word, he will come without hesitation."

  "What is he like?" Lü Shi hastily asked.

  "Righteousness, knowing how to repay kindness."

  "This is it!" Lü Shuang exclaimed with joy, clapping his hands together.

  "But..." Zhao Dahai was in a difficult position, for his own affairs but had to have his brother die, and he couldn't bear it.

  Lü Shi saw Zhao Dahan in a difficult situation and smiled lightly: "If I tell him that I have a way to get down to Zhangjiabao without climbing, and tell him that there is a large amount of grain and silver stored in Zhangjiabao, do you think your brother would dare not to take action?"

  "Is there such a good thing as an immortal battle at Zhangjiabao? If so, who wouldn't dare to do it? Not to mention saving people, just this grain is the most desired material for these poles, and they will fight to the death for it."

  "This is what became of it,"

  "You really have such means? Don't joke with the lives of my brothers." Zhao Dahai said, half-believing and half-doubting.

  "Brother, don't worry, how could I be so foolish as to sacrifice the lives of many brothers for one person?" Lü Shixin said with a full heart.

  "All right, I'll take my brother to Mount Wugou and listen to your clever plan."

  The two of them made their plans and didn't rest, settling Zhang's wife and Xiaoyu, then rushing overnight to Wuniu Mountain thirty miles away.