After crossing over, he has no taboos among the zombies.

An old man who refuses to die is a thief. This sentence is absolutely appropriate for Hui Mi Qiu, who has lived for hundreds of years.

No matter how mediocre one's talent is, as long as one lives for a few hundred years and does not suffer from Alzheimer's disease, anyone can become a thief.

Nothing else, just well-informed.

What’s more, there is a rat fairy who can stand out from the rat clan.

Its predictions are very accurate.

When Wei Zhongliang was assassinated, the news of the food and salary cut-off reached the front lines of the Shaanxi-Gansu battlefield and the border troops.

Urgent official documents from eight hundred miles away were presented to Chongzheng's desk like snowflakes.

In a nutshell, it all comes down to one sentence: provide money and food. Without money and food, you can't fight a war.

Chongzheng, immersed in the endless flattery of the "Holy King of Restoration", felt a little strange. He had certainly seen the documents demanding food and wages, and there would be one or two every few days.

But there were only one or two such letters. Usually, the cabinet's proposals were to supplement the military pay after the autumn harvest. Wei Zhongliang would write a reply in red on their behalf, and then the matter would basically be over.

How come all of a sudden, it's like snow, and the desk is piled up with things?

Chongzheng hurriedly summoned the cabinet ministers to discuss the matter. The cabinet ministers unanimously agreed that the military pay should be paid in the autumn, as this was the way it had been done before.

So Chongzheng wrote a letter in red with his own hand, speaking earnestly, asking the border generals to be patient for a while and wait for the food and money to be transported north, which would be sent to the front line as soon as possible.

At the same time, an order was issued to governors and governors-general in various places to speed up the collection of autumn grain. Those who failed to collect the grain effectively would be investigated and punished according to the law.

The result, wow.

It would be fine if there is no reply, but once the reply is sent urgently, it will not be snowing, but a blizzard.

The generals at the border and on the front lines were even more anxious to get food and wages, as if if you didn't provide them, the soldiers under you would rebel, let alone fight.

Chongzheng was so angry that his face turned green.

The red robe written by the emperor himself is not as effective as the one written by Wei Zhongliang?

But Chongzheng finally realized something was wrong at this time.

So he hurriedly summoned the Minister of Revenue and asked when the autumn grain and military pay from the south would be transported north.

As a result, the Minister of Revenue hesitated and said that the food and money were gone.

Gone!

Chongzheng was suddenly struck by lightning. Even though he had no experience in governing, he understood the importance of food and wages.

Previously, Wei Zhongliang had raised a large amount of food and money in Jiangnan, but due to the low water level of the canal, he was unable to start transporting it north early.

Suddenly, it's gone?

When questioned, the Minister of Revenue insisted that it was the dismissed factory supervisors and grain inspectors who set fire to the grain and robbed the silver warehouse to vent their personal anger.

When Chongzheng heard this, his eyes went dark and he almost fainted.

How could I not know about this kind of thing?

The generals on the front lines and at the borders must have heard the news, which is why they are demanding food and wages.

Immediately, Chongzheng scolded the Minister of Revenue.

But no matter how much people curse, the top priority at the moment is to raise food.

So Chongzheng asked the Minister of Revenue again when the officials of the Grain Supervision Office would arrive in Jiangnan and when they would be able to raise the first batch of grain and wages.

The Minister of Revenue stretched out a trembling finger.

Chongzheng thought it would take a month, but the Minister of Revenue said it would take a year.

This time, there was no need to be almost there, Chongzheng was really fainted.

A group of eunuchs pinched Chongzheng's Ren Zhong and fed him cold tea before he woke him up.

At this moment, Chongzheng finally realized how stupid he had been.

One year!

The day lilies are cold.

Feeling deeply deceived, Chongzheng angrily threw the Minister of Revenue into the Zhaoyu Prison of Feiyu Guard, demanding that Feiyu Guard be punished for deceiving the emperor.

However, dealing with the Minister of Revenue did not solve the problem.

Chongzheng was like an ant on the hot pan, and hurriedly summoned all the ministers to discuss the matter. As a result, the issue of raising grain was not resolved, but the calls for Chongzheng to pardon the Minister of Revenue became louder and louder.

Except for a very small number of officials who were cautious and attentive, the vast majority of officials in the court were of the same opinion and seemed to be forcing the emperor to abdicate.

Chong Zhengqi was furious and left in anger.

If large-scale discussions are not feasible, then cabinet ministers should be convened to discuss the matter.

As a result, the seven cabinet ministers discussed the matter over and over again and only gave one suggestion: let the generals on the front line and border areas temporarily collect food on the spot.

My goodness, in the past five thousand years, if any dynasty dared to order its generals to collect grain locally, that dynasty was actually dead, but it just hadn't been buried yet.

When the imperial edict of "raising grain locally" reached the Shaanxi-Gansu front, the 300,000 government troops who were fighting against the rebel army collapsed immediately.

A total of 100,000 troops from the two routes directly surrendered to the rebel army, and the remaining 200,000 troops fled in panic.

And this is not the most serious thing. The most serious thing is that although the 200,000 retreating troops were defeated, they were allowed to "raise food locally."

Raise food locally?

No, let’s put it another way, it’s called “robbery with orders.”

Two hundred thousand defeated soldiers turned into bandits in an instant, killing people and looting, invading cities and slaughtering villages.

As a result, the entire area west of Tongguan became a living hell.

But they did not dare to rob the landlords, powerful people, princes and nobles. After all, the power of the Great Li was still there, so they only dared to pick on the weak and rob ordinary people.

Led by 200,000 defeated soldiers, all the government troops who could wield swords joined in.

The generals did not dare to suppress the rebellion, for fear of bringing disaster upon themselves.

Li Chuang, who was almost unable to bear the beating from the government troops, saw this big gift package and thought, wow, it would be a waste not to pick it up.

Under the guidance of an expert, Li Chuang immediately raised the banner of "equal distribution of land and exemption of taxes" and composed the ballad "Welcome King Chuang, King Chuang is here and we don't have to pay taxes" and spread it everywhere.

The people who had been severely harmed by the government troops voted with their feet and responded one after another.

Li Chuang's army grew like a snowball.

As for Li Chuang, he naturally felt embarrassed to rob the common people after raising the banner. Moreover, he was now more powerful, so he concentrated his firepower on robbing princes, nobles, and landlords.

Is Dali really short of food?

A little lacking, but actually alright.

Then why is it missing?

Because food and wealth were concentrated in the hands of princes, nobles, landlords and powerful people, the people were exploited to the point of bleeding.

During this robbery, Li Chuang discovered that compared to the poor common people, these tycoons were still richer.

Killing one prince is enough to support an army of 300,000 for half a year.

And west of Tongguan, there are eighteen princes alone.

Get rich!

So Li Chuang, who had soldiers and food and transformed himself into the "savior" of the people, soared to the sky.

In just three months, he had gathered an army of 800,000 and controlled the three provinces west of Tongguan.

When the hungry government troops saw that the rebel army was enjoying themselves with delicious food and drinks, while they had to find food for themselves, they surrendered one after another, including some elite border soldiers from the frontier.

At the beginning of December of that year, after a short rest, Li Zicheng's army was divided into three groups. One group stationed 300,000 troops at Tongguan to prepare for the attack, one group went east from Shangluo to attack the Central Plains and cut off the canal, and one group went south through Jingxiang to attack Huguang and Jiangnan.

The three armies had a total of one million soldiers. Wherever they passed, the government troops surrendered.