The victory of the rebels on the borders of the four provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang greatly shocked the imperial court. Emperor Jiajing was furious, and urgently ordered all the Daoists to join the divisions, and ordered the commander Zhang Zhen, the commander of Liangguang, and the general soldier Pingjiang Bo Chen Gui to mobilize troops. In February of the 41st year of Jiajing's reign, Zhang Zhenzuo asked for the secondment of 100,000 "wolf soldiers" from Guangxi, and joined forces with the officials and armies of Guangdong, Fujian, and Jiangxi, and mobilized a total of 300,000 troops.

In June, the famous anti-Japanese generals Liu Xian and Yu Dayou were respectively ordered by the edict to lead the officers and soldiers to encircle and suppress the rebels of the "Flying Dragon Country" in six ways. In July, Hu Zongxian concurrently controlled Jiangxi, and learned that the Flying Dragon Army had almost all its strength to fight, and the base camp of Baisongguan was empty, so he ordered Yu Dayou to attack urgently.

Yu Dayou agreed with this decision, saying: "It is advisable to use the submersible master to smash its nest and attack it to save it, but why should tens of thousands of people go away from Yifu Lang?" (See "History of the Ming Dynasty, Biography of Yu Dayou"). So Yu Dayou personally led the main force of 15,000 people, quickly rushed, and climbed the highest peak of Baisong Pass to observe the terrain, he saw that the rebel barracks were lined up by the mountains for several miles, and the grass and trees on the mountains were vigorous, so it was advisable to attack with fire.

Yu Dayou can be side by side with Qi Jiguang, and enjoy the reputation of "Yu Long Qi Hu", naturally it is not easy to be a person, he commanded the army to strangle the various intersections of the mountain, set fire to the mountain, and the fire raged in an instant, hundreds of military camps were engulfed in fire, and the yellow house of Zhucheng was also reduced to ashes. Then he waved his army up the mountain and killed the remaining rebel officers and soldiers and even the families of the thieves.

Zhang Lian had to report the loss of his lair and hurriedly returned to the division to rescue, but Yu Dayou had expected it, so he was ambushed by Yu Dayou on the way back and was greatly defeated. Subsequently, Feng Gaomo, the deputy envoy of the Imperial Inspectorate, adopted the tactic of attacking the hearts and sent officers and soldiers to various rebel camps to shake the morale of the soldiers by shouting words, shooting leaflets, and issuing pleas of sympathy (surrender certificates). After all, the orthodoxy of the Ming Dynasty was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, so this method was quite effective, and several middle-level officers (Jiang Manqing, Li Fengshi, Guo Yujing) quietly defected, and Yu Dayou ordered them to return to the camp as an internal line. Within a few days, Yu Dayou tricked Zhang Lian into battle, and the rebels suffered heavy losses again, and more than 1,200 main forces of Zhang Lian's army were killed on the spot.

In the forty-second year of Jiajing, Luo Pao once again led the rebels to attack Yongding County from Jianzhu Pass (Pass Gang), and the siege coincided with heavy rain, the river rose sharply, and could not be crossed, and was surrounded and attacked by the official army when withdrawing, which was another fiasco.

Lin Chaoxi saw that the main forces of the two roads were defeated, and the strength of the headquarters was lost more than half, so he asked Huang Jishan, the leader of another rebel army in Heyuan, to counterattack together, and the official army killed Huang Jishan, and later the rest of Lin Chaoxi was wiped out by the official army led by the Ming general Xu Fuzai in the area of Yinna Mountain.

So far, Zhang Lian's three rebels have been defeated under the powerful offensive of the Ming official army.

It stands to reason that once Zhang Lian is destroyed, his story should end here, but what Liu Wei said next made Gao pragmatic find that things seem to be really tricky.

The key trouble is whether Zhang Lian himself was killed or escaped.

I don't know if it's because Liu Wei is a person who is relatively defensive, or Gao Pragmatic looks really "harmless to humans and animals", he didn't even think about it, so he told Gao Pragmatic about a major incident that if he had to go online, he could even get involved in the "crime of bullying the king".

Liu Ling's face was gloomy, and said: "On that day, Zhang Lian's department was completely destroyed, my father and Yu Gong both had the intention of fighting for the capture of Lian, and both sides sent troops to search and count, but my father was a little far away from Zhang Lian's department at that time, and only caught a group of Zhang Lian's own soldiers, and Yu Gong claimed that the rebel general Jiang Manqing he recruited in advance captured Zhang Lian, and then Yu Gong 'locked it in the city'...... But there seems to be something hidden here. ”

Gao Shishi's brows also furrowed, and he asked, "What is the secret?" ”

Liu Wei sighed and said: "I heard that after Jiang Manqing took Zhang Lian at that time, he intended to take credit for himself, and Li Fengshi, another rebel general of the rebel army, informed Yu Gong of Zhang Lian's capture, so Yu Gong sent troops to Jiang Manqing's cottage to rob Zhang Lian. At the same time, the rebels surrendered and the Cantonese soldiers also fought because of this......"

Gao pragmatic held his forehead with his hands, looking like a "really day dog".

Liu Wei said again: "The problem here is that if you can capture Zhang Lian and reward him at that time, you can reward 10,000 gold and seal 10,000 households." After Jiang Manqing captured Zhang Lian, why didn't he immediately give it to the official army and stay in the cottage, causing robbery and even weapon fighting between our troops? Judging from the situation at that time, officers and soldiers from all walks of life reported victories in order to invite merit and receive rewards. Gao Gongzi, there were countless deaths in the war, and no one from the emperor and the ministers of the court had ever seen Zhang Lian, even if he caught a person who looked similar to Zhang Lian and killed him, and then reported it. So, my father always thought that this incident was largely a false report. ”

Gao Pragmatic frowned and asked, "Don't talk about that yet, Brother Zishou, let me ask you, what did Ling Zun say about Baojie?" What did Yu Gongbaojie say? ”

Liu Wei was slightly embarrassed, but he still said honestly: "My father's report only said that hundreds of Zhang Lian's personal soldiers were captured and killed, according to their statement, Zhang Lian has died in the chaos, and the head of the body is nowhere to be found; Yu Gong's retribution has already been said, that is, he was captured by a counter-plot, and then killed by Yu Gong's order. ”

Gao Pragmatic frowned and said: "Such an important prisoner, Duke Yu does not sacrifice prisoners to the imperial court, and is punished in Beijing?" Yu Gongwei has been in the past for many years, how could he make such a mistake? ”

Liu Wei spread his hands and said: "The problem is that at that time, because of the snatching of Zhang Lian, there was a fight between the officials and the army, and even internal strife, so Yu Gong's explanation was that he must be killed immediately, otherwise it may cause greater trouble, and later the imperial court seemed to accept this statement." ”

Oh, that's a good reason, but here's the problem...... The Zhang Lian that Jiang Manqing caught at that time, was it the real Zhang Lian?

Gao has always been a conspiracy theorist, and he feels that this matter may not be simple. For example, this rebel general Jiang Manqing, if he is a double agent and pretends to surrender to the official army, but in fact he is just a cover for Zhang Lian, claiming that he has arrested Zhang Lian, but in fact, he is fooling the official army with a fake, and no one in the official army has ever seen Zhang Lian's appearance, it is very likely to believe it is true. In addition, the official army later had internal strife among themselves, and in order to calm down the situation, Yu Dayou didn't care to carefully check whether this Zhang Lian was the other Zhang Lian, and killed him first, so the truth of this matter will disappear forever in history.

In this way, Liu Xian's report was "Zhang Lian died in the chaos", and Yu Dayou's report was "Zhang Lian has been executed", but no matter who was right or wrong in what the two of them said, it didn't matter to Emperor Jiajing, who was not in good health at that time - since this traitor was dead left and right, where did he die and who died at whom, what did it matter? What he wants is to exterminate the rebels, and what he wants is that Zhang Lian is dead!

However, as Liu Xian's eldest son, Liu Wei had obviously heard Liu Xian's statement about the battle, so he knew that this Zhang Lian might not be dead at all!

Gao Shi blinked his eyes and looked at Liu Ling: "Do you suspect that Cao Gan is Zhang Lian?" ”

"That's not it, although I don't know Zhang Lian's exact appearance, but the officials and soldiers all knew some characteristics of his appearance at that time, for example, he should be a triangular eye, but this Cao Gan is a pair of leopard eyes ringed eyes." Liu Wei said: "The reason why I feel wrong when he mentions Zhang Lian is because of Cao Gan's accent!" ”

"Accent?" Gao pragmatic recalled slightly.

Liu Wei was an anxious son, and immediately said: "Gao Gongzi knows that my father was originally from Nanchang, and I can also speak Jiangxi dialect, and although Cao Gan speaks a northern tone, he always has a little Jiangxi flavor, and others may not be able to hear it, but I am precisely my ancestral hometown in Nanchang." ”