There were landlords and evil gentry who supported the Qing army, and naturally there were also gentry who supported the Ming army.

The cultural land of Xiangshan has been established in the Shaoxing period of the Southern Song Dynasty. In the past 500 years, there have been 36 Jinshi, more than 200 Juren, and countless scholars. According to Liao Ruixiang's statistics, there are currently more than 70 rural schools and private schools in Xiangshan, including 2 Jinshi, 16 Juren, and 79 scholars. This number is the best in Guangzhou prefectures and counties. All Xiangshan teachers have been commended by the court for their outstanding academic achievements under their rule, so most of them have been promoted.

Scholars can become officials when they have fame and fortune, and they can become gentry when they retreat. They can exert great influence both in the court and in the wilderness. However, the majority of these scholars enjoyed the privileges given to them by the court in peacetime, but in order to preserve the privileges in the national crisis, they shook their heads and tails to the Hu people of the alien race and acted as their lackeys. Meng Dayuan and Liu Guodao, a native of Xiangshan, were such people. When the Qing army came, they did not organize resistance, but spared no effort to help the Qing army attack the Ming army. It was these two who indirectly killed the former crown prince Zhang Jiayu and Chen Zizhuang, the Grand Secretary of the East Pavilion of the Yongli Dynasty, who directly led the Qing army to capture and kill Chen Bangyan, the head of the Ministry of War of the Yongli Dynasty.

It’s a pity that Meng Dayuan and Liu Guodao fled before the Taiping Army arrived, which made Zhou Shixiang always feel resentful and regretted that they could not kill the two thieves to avenge the three national heroes Zhang Jiayu, Chen Zizhuang and Chen Bangyan.

Zhang Jiayu, Chen Zizhuang and Chen Bangyan are undoubtedly the most famous scholars in Xiangshan area. After seizing Renhoufang, Zhou Shixiang specially asked Liao Ruixiang to get historical materials about the three for him to check. After reading the three people's deeds, Zhou Shixiang could not calm down his feelings for a long time.

Unlike Chen Zizhuang and Chen Bangyan, who was loyal to the Ming Dynasty throughout his life, Zhang Jiayu had a betrayal act. In the 16th year of Chongzhen, Zhang Jiayu passed the Jinshi and was awarded the title of the Hanlin Academy Shujishi. In March of the following year, Li Zicheng invaded Beijing. As a Ming minister, Zhang Jiayu took the initiative to submit a letter to Li Zicheng and was willing to be the new minister of Dashun. As a result, Li Zicheng entered the capital only a few dozen days before he entered Beijing. Seeing that Li Zicheng could not accomplish great things, Zhang Jiayu changed to Emperor Hongguang who ascended the throne in Nanjing. However, after he arrived in Nanjing, he was arrested and imprisoned by Shi Kefa on the charge of his betrayal surrender to Li Zicheng.

In the first year of Hongguang, due to Shi Kefa's incompetent actions in the four towns of Jiangbei, the Qing soldiers easily broke through the Huaihe defense line garrisoned by the four towns of the Ming army and attacked Nanjing in one fell swoop. Zhang Jiayu did not rebel again this time. And≧style_txt; the Emperor Longwu who fled to Fuzhou and succeeded to the throne was appointed as the military supervisory supervisor to rescue the Nanming army surrounded in Fuzhou, Jiangxi. After the Qing army captured Fuzhou, Zhang Jiayu was injured and defeated, and led his troops back to Fuzhou, and was immediately appointed as the right assistant censor Guangxin.

In the first month of the second year of Longwu, in the battle to defend Fuzhou City, Zhang Jiayu fell off his horse and broke his arm. Fortunately, Dusi Linxiong risked his life to rescue him. Later, he was ordered to go to Chao, Guangdong, to raise funds and recruit soldiers, and was appointed as the "Prime Minister of Supervision" of the New Army. He recruited more than 100,000 peasant soldiers in Chaohui, and selected 10,000 of them to form five battalions. Soon, Emperor Longwu was killed in Tingzhou. The newly established new army was hopeless and short of food and salary. Zhang Jiayu had no choice but to disband the new army and returned to her hometown in Xiangshan in August.

After the Qing army captured Guangzhou, Tong Yangjia, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi of the Qing Dynasty, sent people to Zhang Jiayu's house to persuade him to surrender many times, but he refused sternly. Not only that, Zhang Jiayu also made an appointment with Chen Bangyan, Chen Zizhuang and others to gather troops near Guangzhou to resist the Qing army. He first led the rebel army to attack Xiangshan County and captured the Qing magistrate Zheng Jing alive. He appointed Zhang Yan, the former Confucian scholar in Dongguan in the Ming Dynasty, as the magistrate. Li Chengdong, the governor of Guangdong in the Qing Dynasty, heard that Zhang Jiayu was against the Qing Dynasty in Xiangshan, so he led a large army to attack. Zhang Jiayu led the rebel army to fight with him one after another in Zuo and Daojiao in Wanjiang, but was defeated and left Xixiang. His grandmother Chen, his mother Li and his sister Shi Bao all committed suicide by jumping into the water; his wife Peng was arrested and died unyieldingly. He was really a loyal and martyr in the family, and the woman was also a hero!

In October, Li Chengdong concentrated his army and rushed towards Zengcheng, the garrison of Zhang Jiayu. The two sides fought for ten days. Zhang Jiayu was seriously injured and was unwilling to be a prisoner, so he threw himself into the pond and died. He died heroically at the age of 33.

After Zhang Jiayu's death, the Yongli court posthumously awarded him the title of Prince Taibao, the Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace, the Marquis of Zengcheng, and the posthumously named "Wenlie".

Whether it is accomplished or not is heaven; if the enemy is defeated, it is momentum.

Knowing that he would die when he would rise up, but he would rather die when he would rise up. In Zhou Shixiang's view, this is a manifestation of Zhang Jiayu's loyalty and national integrity.

In Zhou Shixiang's view, Zhang Jiayu's betrayal behavior was even more manifestation of his insistence on national justice. Li Zicheng's great Shun was a Han regime, while Manzhou's great Qing was a Hu regime. Since ancient times, Hu and Han were incompatible. Zhang Jiayu could surrender the Shun of the Han people, but did not surrender the Qing Dynasty of the Hu people. He adhered to the bottom line of the Chinese Han civilization, the Great Defense of China.

The roots are there, the home is there;

The country is there, and the nation is there;

Zhang Family Jade will last forever!

Chen Zizhuang, who rose up with Zhang Jiayu, was also a tragic national hero. In the battle with the Qing army, he sacrificed his eldest son Chen Shangyong. After Zhang Jiayu's death, he and his second son Chen Shangtu led the remaining 500 rebels and the Qing army to continue fighting bloody battles, and in the end all 500 rebels were killed. Chen Zizhuang and his second son Chen Shangtu were captured and taken back to Guangzhou by the Qing army.

Faced with the Qing court's surrender, Chen Zizhuang, like Zhang Jiayu, chose to refuse to surrender. After being taken to the execution ground, he still laughed and scolded him freely, and was then sawed by the Qing army to death with a large saw. It is said that after the Qing army saw Chen Zizhuang's body in half, Chen was not dead yet, but he did not cry and moan, but he still couldn't help but scold Li Chengdong for betraying his ancestors. This incident greatly stimulated Li Chengdong and would have an impact on his future return to the Ming Dynasty.

Chen Bangyan was from Longshan Capital of Xiangshan. In the Jiashen National Incident, Chen Bangyan, who was 40 years old, wrote a ten thousand words to "On the Politics of the Restoration of Politics" and participated in the Guangdong Provincial Examination of the Southern Ming Dynasty. He was promoted to the head of the Ministry of War. He was sent to Ganzhou by the Yongli court to participate in the military. Later, he returned home to join Zhang Jiayu and Chen Zizhuang to organize a righteous army to fight against the Qing Dynasty. Tong Yangjia, the governor of Guangdong appointed by the Qing court, used despicable means to raid Shunde and captured Chen Bangyan's two sons and Chen's concubines who were seeking refuge in Longshan, and wanted to take them as hostages to surrender Chen Bangyan. As a result, Chen Bangyan replied in a stern manner: "I am humiliating him, and my son killed him, all of them are on the order. As a loyal minister, he is righteous and does not care about his wife."

After Zhang Jiayu and Chen Zizhuang were defeated, Chen Bangyan led the remaining troops to continue to fight against the Qing Dynasty in Qingyuan. Unfortunately, they failed and were caught by the Qing army and killed by death by cutting them into Guangzhou.

Before his death, Chen Bangyan wrote "The Song of Not Eating in Prison for Five Days":

The song says: The heaven is made of many difficulties, and the river is the marsh of my memory. The scholar talks about war, but the time is not me. What is behind me? I bow and suffer alone. There are many loyal souls on the Yashan Mountain, which shine through the ages!

After the death of Zhang Jiayu, Chen Zizhuang and Chen Bangyan, the Yongli court rewarded them with great rewards. People from all over Guangdong, especially the people in their hometown of Xiangshan, praised their deeds, which made Zhou Shixiang decide to use the deeds of the three heroes to call on the people of Xiangshan to support the Taiping Army.

The plaque of "San Zhong in Lingnan" was written by Zhou Shiying himself and hung it on the gatehouse of the east gate of the Zhengzheng District, Xiangshan County.

In addition to writing the plaque "Three Loyals in Lingnan", Zhou Shixiang asked Liao Ruixiang to organize people to write the story of the Three Dukes' anti-Qing deeds into a storybook, and ordered the opera troupes in Xiangshan to tour various places in the territory. At the same time, Zhou Shixiang asked the Taiping Army stationed in Sangong's hometown to mourn for the Three Dukes for seven days to express condolences. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!