The Soul of the Han Dynasty in the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 613 Chongzhen Crying Bitterly
It was already the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, and more than a dozen bandits and 20 million refugees all swarmed towards Fengyang.

Those who were still looting along the way were not old bandits from Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan, but small bandits formed by local hungry people who robbed spontaneously.

Even if there are hundreds of rogue bandits without an organizational system, they can't bear a charge of 360 "Red Banner Army" cavalry.

Ma Fulin led less than 1000 people on horseback and galloped into Huoqiu County that afternoon, killing hundreds of rogues who were still looting their homes.

Zhang Youjun, Ni Keda, Zhang Dezheng, etc. posted Anmin notices all over the streets and led their servants to organize the surviving people to clean up the corpses.

Zhang Xianzhong's department was hit, which directly caused more than half of the cowarded people to flee, and lost [-]-[-]% of the looted items. Many people in Huoqiu County fled back to their hometowns.

After noon the next day, two thousand young adults led by Zhang Dayu and others also rushed to Huoqiu County. Soon, under the concerted efforts of everyone, seven or eight thousand enlightened people began to repair the city and carry bricks to the bow of the ship. Stone and wood are prepared to be strictly guarded.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month in the eighth year of Chongzhen, it was the Shangyuan Festival, and every household in the capital hung up lanterns. The city that never sleeps was even more beautiful with tens of thousands of lanterns, and the pedestrian street was full of laughter and fragrance.

All the military and civilian officials in the capital were celebrating the festive season, only Huang Han sighed at the moon.

Because he knows the major events in history, and knows that Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and other thieves will take advantage of the time when the soldiers and civilians of Fengyang, the central capital, put up lanterns to kill them today.

According to historical records, on the sixth day of the first lunar month in the eighth year of Chongzhen, after the 72nd Battalion of Thirteen Families completed their gathering in Xingyang and divided the work, Chuang Wang Gao Yingxiang, Eight Great Kings Zhang Xianzhong, Chuang General Li Zicheng and Wang Cao Wei, who swept the floor, led their troops to advance eastward and lay down on the night of Lantern Festival on the 15th of the first month. Fengyang.

It's incredible, and I don't know if the historical records are wrong?
Because Xingyang is more than 130 miles away from Fengyang, how could the rogues have the ability to march [-] miles for nine days in a row?
What's more, the rogues didn't march to Fengyang in a hurry. They had been attacking villages and towns and county capitals along the way. According to historical records, the rogues engulfed 10,000+ refugees to attack Gushi, Huoqiu, Shouzhou and Yingzhou.

In nine days, four or five cities were lost. Tens of thousands of vagrants engulfed 10,000+ refugees and went straight to Fengyang. Millions of people in Zhongdu, South Zhili, were displaced. papery?

Fengyang is the hometown of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. Because it is related to Fengshui, no city was built. Thousands of defenders were killed by bandits almost without effective resistance.

The thief is the worst. After he captured Fengyang, he not only burned, killed, looted, but also wantonly burned down the palace of the imperial mausoleum, and deliberately burned the Longxing Temple where Zhu Yuanzhang once became a monk and became a monk.

More than 100 eunuchs including one principal, two deputy and three left-behind officials in the Central Capital of the Ming Dynasty, Yan Rongxuan, the prefect, Dai Wenying and other eunuchs were all slaughtered by the bandits. Rape, rape, robbery celebrate victory.

Four days later, that is, in the early morning of the 21st of the first lunar month, Liubaili urgently sent the sad news that Fengyang, the central capital, had been breached by bandits, to the capital.

After receiving the defeat report, Zhang Fengyi, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, was shocked and fainted to the ground. Chongzhen, who was in the early court, couldn't help crying bitterly.

In the next few days, Liu Baili hurriedly reported the loss of Fengyang. After learning that the ancestral grave of the old Zhu's family had been dug up by Zhang Xianzhong, Emperor Chongzhen fainted on the spot from grief.

On the 25th day of the first lunar month, the tenth day after the Fengyang Incident, Emperor Chongzhen refused to use Huang Han to lead the army again. Hong Chengchou was promoted to Minister of the Ministry of War and Governor of Henan, Shan, Shan, Sichuan, and Lake military affairs, and gave Shang Fangjian.

The emperor ordered Hong Chengchou to gather all the troops to station in the middle of Chu and Henan, and kill as many thieves as possible while guarding the land.

Chongzhen knew that it would be impossible to use troops without money and food, so he gritted his teeth and took out 20 taels of silver from the already stretched House of Internal Affairs as a salary.

Chongzhen also squeezed out 10 taels of money for chariots and horses from Taipu Temple, and cashed it in the city of Xi'an. Shaanxi itself raised 10 taels of money, and all the money was handed over to Hong Chengchou, who was about to lead troops out of Shaanxi.

At the same time, Huguang raised 19 taels of salary to expand the recruitment of township soldiers and other chieftain soldiers, and Sichuan left 4 taels of taxes that should be handed over to the court, and then raised 10 taels to collect [-] taels to recruit [-] taels The soldiers who came out of Sichuan started to draw silver.

The household department withheld 20 taels from the Lianghuai salt tax and stored it in the Huai'an mansion. At this time, the money was given to the soldiers, of course, in the hope that they would curb the trend of the bandits spreading to the south of Zhili.

The ancestral graves of the emperor's family have been dug up by bandits, of course some people can't eat and walk around!

More than a dozen officials including Wu Zhenying, the inspector censor, and Yang Ze, the eunuch who guarded the mausoleum, were questioned. It is estimated that there is a dead end.

The spring of Chongzhen's eighth year was a disaster. Many civil servants and military generals recommended Dongping Hou to lead Ma to suppress the rebellion.

At the beginning of February, Hong Chengchou, who was added to the title of Prince Taibao and Minister of the Ministry of War, and the governor of Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Huguang, and Sichuan, led the Shaanxi troops out of Tongguan, almost in full force.

Cao Wenzhao, Cao Bianjiao, Wang Cheng'en, You Shiwei, You Shilu, He Renlong, Deng Qi, Zuo Liangyu, Zuo Guangxian, Ai Wannian, Liu Guozhen and other Ming army generals all knew that the emperor was furious at this time. Yanguan Shenyi must not be able to eat and walk around, everyone is working hard.

But there are also some generals who participated in the suppression of bandits, and their people are still the most capable part of the Ming army that participated in the suppression of bandits.

These troops are of course the former Guanning Army cavalry led by Zu Dabi, Zu Dacheng and Zu Kuan.

At the end of last year, Zu Dabi received a letter from Patriarch Zu Dashou, learning that Jinzhou had secretly surrendered to Jiannu, reminding them to pay attention to safety and not to let their subordinates suffer losses, and choose a good time to return to Liaodong.

The situation in the West Liao Corridor was well known to all the Ancestral Army, and Zu Dabi and Zu Dacheng who had ghosts in their hearts would definitely not dare to enter Shanhaiguan and go to Jinzhou through the West Liao Corridor.

However, detours from Xuanda or Yulin to Jinzhou faced the big problem of insufficient supplies. The guest soldiers of the Ming army basically could only obtain the food and grass supplied by the local state capital when they arrived at the land.

Zu Dabi and the others were left with less than 4000 troops due to continuous war losses. They have been fighting in the mainland for more than two years.
However, Jiannu and traitors were really lucky. Lin Danhan, who was only in his forties, died of smallpox virus in Dacaotan, Qinghai.

I don't know if it's because the tartar came into contact with the wine jars and bottles that were tampered with and carried the smallpox virus while drinking.

(End of this chapter)