However, three million able-bodied laborers alone were not enough for Zhu Jinsong.
While three million sounds like a lot, it was merely a drop in the bucket for the sheer number of people required by the Menglianggu rebel group.
Just to build roads and establish academies would necessitate hundreds of thousands, if not more, young men, while textile workshops required a large number of female workers.
Three million?
On a national scale, even three million more might not be sufficient.
Furthermore, the Menglianggu rebel group, despite its current imposing facade, controlled only a single province.
Compared to the nearly ten million refugees who had fled from Zhili to Shandong, the territory of just one Shandong province was indeed rather small.
Therefore, Zhu Jinsong naturally turned his gaze towards Zhu Zhongtao in Henan.
Besides coveting Zhu Zhongtao's territory and the population under his rule, another crucial reason was that Henan had historically been a major grain-producing region.
Unlike the overwhelming victories against the Manchu Qing, Zhu Jinsong encountered extremely fierce resistance when he led his troops into Henan.
Ultimately, the reason for this was Zhu Jinsong's policy of "attacking the local tyrants and distributing land" wherever his army went.
The policy of attacking local tyrants and distributing land was bound to win the support of ordinary people and tenant farmers who owned no land themselves. They welcomed Zhu Jinsong's army to be their master, and Zhu Jinsong, the paramount rebel leader, thus swept across the entire Shandong.
However, those who owned vast tracts of land and profited by oppressing the populace would naturally not welcome Zhu Jinsong's army.
Because Zhu Jinsong's army and the local tyrants and gentry were inherently opposed, there was no possibility of finding a balance point; the idea of them coexisting harmoniously was pure fantasy.
Based on this premise, the local tyrants and gentry in Henan naturally chose to support Zhu Zhongtao, a fifth-generation descendant of Emperor Chongzhen.
Zhu Zhongtao was a typical "if I were there, I could do it" kind of person. Upon seeing Zhu Jinsong's sweeping conquest of Shandong and how Qianlong, the old dog, was so frightened that he retreated to Zhili, Zhu Zhongtao immediately rallied some close relatives and raised the banner of rebellion.
Coincidentally, the local gentry and scholars in Henan needed such a "fifth-generation descendant of Emperor Chongzhen" who wasn't overly clever to be their emperor. Thus, Zhu Zhongtao became the "fifth-generation descendant of Emperor Chongzhen" and was crowned "Emperor" in Luoyang.
As the saying goes, "When you eat from someone's hand, your own hand becomes short," and "When you take from someone's hand, your own hand becomes short." Zhu Zhongtao, relying on these local tyrants and gentry to become "emperor," naturally had to show them considerable care.
The best way to care for them was to allow these local tyrants and gentry to establish their own local militias.
After all, this was something that the Manchu Qing had permitted before their retreat. When Zhu Zhongtao raised the banner of rebellion, Henan was already rife with local militias. Zhu Zhongtao, being somewhat cunning, could not change this situation himself and thus chose to go with the flow, turning to win over those local gentry and scholars.
Therefore, Zhu Zhongtao's actions as the "fifth-generation descendant of Emperor Chongzhen" were essentially similar to Chen Tailai's previous actions, primarily focusing on winning over these local gentry and scholars and relying on their support to strengthen his power.
With their own militias, the local tyrants and gentry naturally gained the confidence to confront Zhu Jinsong.
More importantly, these local gentry and scholars were now fighting to preserve their wealth and status, a concept entirely different from fighting for the Qing dynasty.
Consequently, while Zhu Jinsong's army swept through Shandong with overwhelming momentum when fighting the Qing officials, his advance into Henan against Zhu Zhongtao was met with the desperate resistance of these well-prepared local gentry and scholars.
Zhu Jinsong, the paramount rebel leader, was fully aware of this situation and understood its root cause.
If Zhu Jinsong had initially only distributed money, grain, and land, the resistance from these local gentry and scholars might have been less intense. However, the critical issue was that Zhu Jinsong had executed Scholar Liu when he started his campaign, and during the crackdown on local tyrants throughout Shandong, he had led the populace in public trials of these local tyrants and gentry, dealing with them according to the trial results.
Many local gentry and scholars had lost their heads as a result.
With the example of the local gentry and scholars in Shandong, those in Henan naturally were unwilling to sit idly by and await their fate.
After all, handing over money, grain, and land was a different matter from handing over one's life.
As the saying goes, "A thousand cups are not enough for a bosom friend, but half a word is too much for those who don't hit it off." Both sides had their own core interests, and both were fighting for their own core interests. Therefore, it was impossible for them to find a common ground, let alone any room for compromise.
To resist Zhu Jinsong's army, the local gentry and scholars in Henan organized a "joint village mutual defense" initiative. In simple terms, several villages formed alliances to act together. If one village was attacked, the local tyrants and gentry of other villages would lead their militias to provide support.
Then the problem returned to the initial point.
How did Zhu Jinsong's army start? What was its rallying cry?
Zhu Jinsong's rise to power was built on attacking local tyrants and distributing land, creating an irreconcilable conflict with the local gentry and scholars in Henan.
Should these resisting local gentry and scholars be put to death?
Naturally, they deserved death, but before they deserved death, they also held another identity: they were the people of the Central Plains Hall, especially the militias and local braves under their command. These people were both the populace of the Central Plains Hall and excellent young men.
If Zhu Jinsong had simply pushed through without regard, the matter would have been simple. After all, the militias and local braves organized by such local gentry and scholars were no match for Zhu Jinsong's army, which was trained based on the model of rabbits.
However, Zhu Jinsong's declared aims were to expel the Tartars, restore China, establish righteous principles, and save the common people, which meant Zhu Jinsong could not choose a simple push-through strategy.
This was different from fighting the Eight Banners soldiers. No matter how many Eight Banners soldiers there were, Zhu Jinsong could calmly send them all to labor camps, or even use them to build display mounds, and it would be nothing. However, for these militias and local braves, Zhu Jinsong could not be as ruthless and heartless as he was towards the Manchu Eight Banners soldiers.
Therefore, the situation became very tricky, and Zhu Jinsong, the paramount rebel leader, was so angry he swore.
However, compared to Zhu Jinsong's cursing, Zhu Zhongtao, who styled himself as the fifth-generation descendant of Emperor Chongzhen and sat on the dragon throne in Luoyang, was terrified, trembling like a quail.
If other rebel leaders were attacking him, Zhu Zhongtao believed his army could still fight. Even if they couldn't win, they wouldn't lose too disgracefully; at least they should be able to fight to a draw.
But now, Zhu Jinsong, the paramount rebel leader, was attacking him, and Zhu Zhongtao had no confidence.
After all, Zhu Jinsong's fame was forged on the battlefield against the Eight Banners and Green Standard armies, earned through actual combat, unlike Zhu Zhongtao, who had seized an opportunity to rise.
Therefore, upon receiving news of Zhu Jinsong's rebellion, Zhu Zhongtao hastily summoned the cabinet ministers and grand generals of the Five Military Commissions of the "Great Ming" to discuss countermeasures.
Then, these cabinet ministers and grand generals of the Five Military Commissions of the "Great Ming" reached a common conclusion.
The hearts of the people are usable.
And then?
And then there was nothing more.
Zhu Zhongtao had only become "emperor" with the support of the local gentry and scholars. The territory truly under the control of Zhu Zhongtao, the "Emperor of the Great Ming," was only the capital city of Luoyang. In other regions, the local governments essentially acted independently, and no one took Zhu Zhongtao, the emperor, seriously.
Even more critically, Zhu Zhongtao knew nothing about governing a country or cultivating talent. The local gentry and scholars who had propped him up on the dragon throne naturally looked down upon the lowly born Zhu Zhongtao, and thus no one taught him these things.
This resulted in Zhu Zhongtao's court having no truly talented individuals. His so-called trusted ministers were all his old brothers from when he first started his campaign.
In terms of loyalty, these people were certainly loyal.
In terms of ability, however, they truly had none.
They were incapable of governing the populace.
They were also incapable of fighting battles.
Upon seeing the active resistance of the local gentry and scholars in various parts of Henan against Zhu Jinsong, they could only come up with the conclusion that "the hearts of the people are usable."
"The hearts of the people are usable"?
Zhu Zhongtao, who had at least a modicum of intelligence, was also so enraged that he cursed: "Whoever dares to tell me again that the hearts of the people are usable will be personally punished with the rod!"
"If the hearts of the people were truly usable, would the Manchu Qing have lost the entire Shandong? Would Qianlong, that old dog, have been forced to retreat to Zhili?"
"If it were just the local gentry and scholars of Shandong, they would have been able to quell that rebel Zhu Jinsong!"
"Open your eyes and look carefully! A good half of Guide Prefecture has already fallen into the hands of that traitor Zhu Jinsong. Today a village is lost, tomorrow a county, and the day after tomorrow the entire Shunde Prefecture will be lost!"
"How much territory do we have left to lose? Tell me, will you still tell me that the hearts of the people are usable when Zhu Jinsong reaches the gates of Luoyang? Hmm?"
Zhu Zhongtao's cabinet ministers and grand generals of the Five Military Commissions were so berated they couldn't raise their heads, but in reality, they merely couldn't raise their heads.
In truth, these people didn't take Zhu Zhongtao's reprimands to heart at all.
In their eyes, His Majesty was an old brother with whom they had played in the mud naked since childhood. Now that he was in a bad mood and cursing, they would let him curse. When he calmed down, everything would be fine.
Things indeed turned out as they had thought. Zhu Zhongtao merely cursed a few times, and then there was nothing more.
Because Zhu Zhongtao understood in his heart that the reason he could sit on this dragon throne in Luoyang, besides the support of the local gentry and scholars, was also entirely due to the support of these old brothers under him.
If he were to truly fly into a rage and execute a few of these old brothers, who knew what these old brothers might do? What if someone were to perform a "cleansing of the court from the emperor's side" for him...
Shaking his head, he tried to drive the thought from his mind. Zhu Zhongtao then looked at his old brothers with a mixture of disappointment and anger, saying: "After you go back, discuss properly how to deal with the attack of that traitor Zhu Jinsong. Don't just spout 'the hearts of the people are usable' all day long."
Just as Zhu Zhongtao was reprimanding his old brothers, Zhu Jinsong, the paramount rebel leader, was also reprimanding the generals of the Menglianggu rebel group.
"Stop just talking about killing, killing, killing all day. We all know those local tyrants and gentry deserve to die, but as we've said, the people and local braves they have coerced do not deserve to die."
"Anyone who continues to clamor about killing, killing, killing will be sent to dig latrines!"
Having said this, Zhu Jinsong changed his tone and said, "However, this war is truly frustrating, and we can't continue fighting like this."
ps: Third update, another day of hitting ten thousand words, will continue tomorrow!