Chaos of the Three Kingdoms Summons

Chapter 699 Unifying Yangzhou

Zhu Wenzheng took Lujiang County smoothly all the way, so Zhu Yuanzhang would naturally not be inferior to his nephew.

In just half a month, Zhu Yuanzhang had already reached the city of Hefei, planning to pull out the nail in Hefei first, and then attack Shouchun, where Hong Xiuquan personally sits.

The strong cities in Jiujiang County should be dominated by Hefei and Shouchun. If these two cities are taken down, there will be no obstacles in Jiujiang.

The guard of Hefei City was Hong Rengan, who was Hong Xiuquan's younger brother. Hong Rengan was not bad in other aspects, and he could even be said to be quite talented, but it was hard to say that he was more talented than a leader.At least, before that, Hong Rengan had no experience in leading troops.

Hong Rengan was one of the leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom who had extensive knowledge of the West. The "New Chapter of Senior Citizens" proposed by Hong Rengan was a political program with the idea of ​​developing capitalism, which was considered quite advanced in China at the time.

Zhao Liewen, an important aide of Zeng Guofan, had to admit in his diary after seeing the new printed version of Hong Rengan's "New Chapter of Senior Citizens": "The words in it are quite insightful. The law and law are all imitated by Westerners. , his imperial examinations abroad, he is almost convincing, and he is the most proficient in the barbarians;... Looking at this book, there is no one among the thieves."

However, over the years, Hong Xiuquan vigorously promoted his relatives and appointed cronies, so he sent his younger brother Hong Rengan to take charge of the military power in Hefei, while ignoring Hong Rengan's real talent, and did not send Chen Yucheng and other more suitable generals to guard Hefei.

As a result, although Hong Rengan tried his best, he was not capable of leading the army.Facing Zhu Yuanzhang's attack, Hong Rengan's defense was full of loopholes.Hefei is such a strong city that in the end Zhu Yuanzhang succeeded in taking it in less than seven days.

After the city was broken, Hong Rengan was also considered staunch, and he did not want to live on at all, so he swung his sword on the top of the city tower and committed suicide for Hong Xiuquan.

With the development of the matter to this stage, anyone with a discerning eye can see that Hong Xiuquan's defeat is a foregone conclusion.The big and small generals and courtiers in Hong Xiuquan's forces also began to think about their own future.For a monarch like Hong Xiuquan, how many people would really be willing to be buried with Hong Xiuquan.

Xiao Chaogui, Wei Changhui, and Zhang Lexing were naturally not willing to perish with Hong Xiuquan, but they had been enemies with Zhu Yuanzhang for many years, and they were also a little worried that Zhu Yuanzhang would not accept them.

Therefore, these three people simply made a plan, and wanted to go north to Xuzhou before Zhu Yuanzhang's army arrived in Shouchun, and went to join the new Xuzhou lord Zhao Kuangyin.

During the Grassland War, they also passed Zhao Kuangyin, and they had some impressions.As for Zhao Kuangyin, they knew in their hearts that he was a hero, and their future with Zhao Kuangyin was still higher than that of Hong Xiuquan.

However, these three people underestimated Hong Xiuquan's ability. Hong Xiuquan had already placed people beside these three people to monitor their every move.Therefore, the news that Xiao Chaogui, Wei Changhui, and Zhang Lexing wanted to escape reached Hong Xiuquan's ears early on.

That night, Xiao Chaogui, Wei Changhui, and Zhang Lexing's house was full of killing noises. Several people who used to hold great power in Hong Xiuquan's faction were killed overnight.

The death of Xiao Chaogui, Wei Changhui, and Zhang Lexing meant that Hong Xiuquan had no more useful talents around him, and he had completely become a loner.

As far as Hong Xiuquan is concerned, he has a way of engaging in religion and playing tricks on people, but let's forget about marching and fighting.After Zhu Yuanzhang's army came to Shouchun City, it only took two days to attack the city, and Hong Xiuquan was almost unable to support it.

And after two days of fighting, Hong Xiuquan completely lost hope for this battle.If you want to kill first, you must first make it crazy, and now, Hong Xiuquan is already crazy.

In desperation, Hong Xiuquan first ordered people to block the city gates with sand and stones, and then sent his cronies and loyal followers to fill the whole city with saltpeter and kerosene, intending to make the entire Shouchun Quanzheng perish with him. .

After discovering Hong Xiuquan's crazy behavior, Hong Xuanjiao, Hong Xiuquan's younger sister, wanted to stop her, but was brutally killed by the frenzied Hong Xiuquan.

In the end, the fire started from Hong Xiuquan's Heavenly King's Mansion, and spread to all parts of the city in just a few cups of tea.Amidst the raging fire, the entire Shouchun City has fallen into madness and panic.

"Hurry up, push the battering ram up!" Zhu Yuanzhang roared at the subordinates beside him.

Dozens of battering rams hit the Shouchun Wall, not only hitting the city gate, but also the city wall.At the same time, all the ladder carts in Zhu Yuanzhang's army were set up. If someone could escape to the city wall, they could use these ladder carts to find a way out.

Maybe doing so doesn't have much effect, but at this moment, everyone has only one goal in mind, to save one more person if they can, and to save one more innocent people if they can save one death.

The lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians are at hand, and how many people can really remain indifferent.

"My lord!" Zhu Sheng wiped off the hot sweat on his forehead, and saluted Zhu Yuanzhang.

"What's the matter?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked without raising his head.

"My lord, only less than 8000 people were saved!"

"Eight thousand!" Obviously, Zhu Yuanzhang was not satisfied with this number. Compared with 20, eight thousand is still too little.

"Pass down the order to behead Hong Quanquan, Hong Renzheng, and other captured relatives of Hong Xiuquan for public display." Zhu Yuanzhang slowly raised his head and said expressionlessly, but his eyes were full of coldness.

Regarding Hong Quanquan and Hong Renzheng, or Hong Xiuquan's relatives in the mainland, Zhu Yuanzhang did not intend to kill them. Keeping these people can help Zhu Yuanzhang regain Hong Xiuquan's heart of surrendering troops and generals, and even Generals such as Shi Dakai who recovered the captives through them.

After all, Hong Xiuquan was dead, even if these people were left behind, as long as the guards were stricter in the future, these people would definitely not be able to make any big waves.

But now, with the burning of Shouchun, the treatment of people like Hong Quanquan and Hong Renzheng will undergo some changes.

Zhu Yuanzhang has always been a very rational person, although he was indeed extremely angry when the incident of burning Shouchun happened, but now that it is a foregone conclusion, Zhu Yuanzhang has regained his rationality.

Once the news of Huo Fen Shouchun is reported, it will inevitably cause an uproar in the world, but the death of Hong Xiuquan is not enough to quell the matter, a city of innocent souls, Hong Daquan, Hong Renzheng and others must also be pushed out .

What's more, if Hong Quanquan, Hong Renzheng and others are pushed out, it can also help Zhu Yuanzhang win the hearts of the people in the newly won land.Only by regaining the hearts of the people can Zhu Yuanzhang break his own territory into a monolithic one and truly unify Yangzhou.

(End of this chapter)