Daming kill

Chapter 165

"The Ming Dynasty was a ruthless master; favored eunuchs, valued juniors, collected taxes, imposed heavy punishments, and could not save the people from fire and water; exhausted teachers and troops, plundered people's wealth, raped wives and daughters, sucked the marrow and peeled off the skin.

The tenth generation of this camp is good at farming.The teacher of benevolence and righteousness is eager to save the people from misery.

Today, Xuanxiang, Jing, and Chengtian are left with a tablet to inform: the scholars and the people should not be panicked, and everyone should be safe.In each battalion, those who killed good civilians without permission were killed by the whole team.Ermin has the victorious and long-sounding voice to welcome my master Wang, and he will use it more heavily.This call. "

This is Li Zicheng's latest "Suppression of Soldiers and Peace of the People".

Li Ping had been reading for a long time in a tent by the East Lake (near the East and West Lakes in Hankou) on the south side of Weishui (now Fuhe River in Wuhan) in his hand, especially the sentence "Every camp has people who kill good people without authorization. The team is cut" and I read it several times.

He has just arrived here, but the call for action has arrived, and his head is completely muddled.

It stands to reason that Li Ping led his entire army eastward along the Han River on the morning of the tenth day of the first lunar month, and arrived at the place where the Han River enters the Yangtze River today, that is, on the twelfth day.

It's not slow.

But he soon found out depressingly that he had ignored another army of peasants who had been killed all the way from De'an Mansion.

He Yilong and He Jinbu.

Among them, He Yilong's vanguard has already approached Huangpi County in Huangzhou Prefecture, and Huangpi County is just to the north of Weishui, only forty or fifty miles away from Li Ping.

Both He Yilong and He Jin were not Li Zicheng's direct subordinates, but belonged to another important part of the Peasant Army coalition, the Fifth Gezuo Battalion.

The Fifth Gezuo Battalion was composed of He Yilong, He Jin, Ma Shouying, Liu Xiyao, and Lin Chengyang, five completely independent peasant armies, soldiers and horses. Each unit formed its own system, but they also acted together.

After joining forces with Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai, they basically adopted this model.Although he manages himself, he obeys Li Zicheng's unified arrangements and orders in terms of overall military strategy.

What's more ruthless is that He Yilong's vanguard not only approached Huangpi County, but also spread the new call of the peasant army everywhere, and it was said that the call was issued by Li Zicheng.

And worse!

Zuo Liangyu's attitude towards him was also unpredictable.

Although Li Ping passed Hanchuan County, Zuo Liangyu sent someone to contact him, and provided Li Ping with a lot of food and grass when he was stationed on the bank of the East Lake, which was very desolate and surrounded by lake waters.

But this garrison area was designated by Zuo Liangyu.

Moreover, the East Lake is almost on the edge of the Weishui River entering the Yangtze River, and it is an important defense node for Hanyang facing Huangpi.

Weishui was the dividing line between Huangpi County and Hanyang County in the Ming Dynasty. Due to the frequent flooding of Hanshui and Weishui, the West Lake on the west side of East Lake and the area to the west are all large puddles and swamps and are almost completely connected. There are few people except fishermen. Residence is a natural barrier to block the army.

Although the geographical conditions of East Lake are not bad in terms of defense, there are few and very difficult land passages except for the must-pass water, and the pressure is not very high.

But Zuo Liangyu's army was basically in the south of the Han River or the south side of the Yangtze River, but Li Ping, who had just arrived, was placed in an awkward place surrounded by water on three sides, such as the north of the Han River, the south side of the Wei River, and the west of the Yangtze River. If you don't have the heart, you can only deceive children.

This is simply an outpost and a place to plug holes, and then there is no way to retreat.

Since it was impossible for Li Ping to detain or kill all the defeated soldiers, merchants, and officials who passed along the Han River, he naturally couldn't hide Zuo Liangyu when he stopped by the Shenhu Lake.

Looking at it now, Zuo Liangyu should have thought about it.

But Li Ping couldn't explain this kind of thing too much, nor could he explain it rashly.

The two Li Zicheng's captives and the two women rescued by Ma Lan in the early morning of the ninth day made Li Ping, who was disappointed with the nature and control ability of the peasant army, finally decide to continue to invest in Zuo Liangyu.

He realized that the prosperity shown by Li Zicheng's peasant army was probably just an appearance.

It is not easy to turn a group of people who are accustomed to robbery into monks, and it is impossible for a truly disciplined army to completely rot within a few dozen days of entering Beijing.

Slogans are mostly what they lack, so don't take them seriously.

It was also because of the easy surprise attack on the ninth day of the ninth day that Li Ping's combat capability against the peasant army was directly lowered by several gears.

After receiving the order to garrison East Lake and roughly understanding the geographical characteristics of East Lake, Li Ping even prepared to ask for orders to cross the river and go straight to Huangpi County to garrison.

He wants to put a David satellite by guarding Huangpi.

Not only can he show his ambition to Zuo Liangyu, but he can also claim credit for the entire Ming government.

In this way, even if Zuo Liangyu loses trust in him, he doesn't have to worry about being liquidated, instead he can run out to become independent in a logical way.

But Zhou Wen unexpectedly dissuaded him.

Zhou Wen once traveled and studied in Huangzhou Prefecture and Wuchang Prefecture, and he is quite familiar with the geography and folk customs of these two prefectures.

He bluntly said that the confrontation between the government and the people in the entire Huangzhou prefecture is more severe than that of Xiangyang and Chengtian prefectures, and it can even be called the most in Huguang.

Macheng County, north of Huangpi County, is known as "the prosperity of servants and servants", and the folk resentment is great. Various Taoist organizations formed by the bottom villagers spread all over the territory. Absolutely.

Zhou Wen was not worried that Li Ping would not be able to defend the city, but worried that the city would be full of spies and die in the end without knowing why.

Although the peasant army has not yet arrived, its message of peace to the people and the nursery rhyme "Open the city gate to welcome the king of Chuang, and he will not pay food when the king of Chuang comes" have begun to spread throughout Huangzhou and Hanyang.

Zhou Wen also concluded that the unsafe land north of the Weishui River and the Yangtze River could no longer be defended.

Li Ping was extremely surprised by Zhou Wen's persuasion, and he found that he could not understand this scholar who should be a loyal fan of Daming.

But no matter what, Zhou Wen's persuasion made Li Ping decide to take it easy.

On the second day, No. 13, Li Ping, who was planning to take a boat to meet Zuo Menggeng and Zuo Liangyu, began to feel lucky that he didn't have a momentary fever.

He received an urgent order from Zuo Liangyu.

On the night of NO.12, the county magistrate of Huangpi County ran away with the abandoned city of Great Seal, and then the defenders also ran away. Huangpi County should have been lost by now.

It can be said that the peasant army only came with a light vanguard, and the large army that attacked from De'an Mansion was far away from Xiaogan.Moreover, Li Zicheng's troops have not yet entered Hanchuan County and may still be in Jingling County.

This is totally startling.

However, Li Ping couldn't go to see Zuo Menggeng and Zuo Liangyu for a while.

Zuo Liangyu urgently ordered Li Ping to strictly guard the East Lake area, and no soldier was allowed to cross the Han River and the Yangtze River without order.

"We need to fight a battle as soon as possible, before the main force of the bandit army arrives." Li Ping said standing on the bank of East Lake and looking at the hazy city of Wuchang in the distance.

Ma Yong, Duan Qiang, Hu Zhongshan, Zhou Wen and others were all standing by his side, they needed to know Li Ping's next move.

"Fight a war? Are you kidding me!"

Song Baolai, who was the only one who was swaying left and right beside Li Ping, yelled out directly. Of course, he is indispensable when making big plans.

"What's wrong?" Li Ping's rhetorical question was very flat.

"Brother! It's fine if they don't come to beat us, but you still want to beat them? Shouldn't you clean up all the civilian boats around here now! I heard that there are boats wherever there is water. How big is it? Hidden danger!" Song Baolai asked back.

"What Chief Song said is true. We urgently need to clear the civilian ships around here to prevent them from being used by bandits. The bandits lack ships and are not good at water warfare. If they want to go south, they can only go here instead of entering the Yangtze River. But we have enough You can also use boats to resist the enemy, so that they cannot cross the river." Ma Yong was the first to express his support for Song Baolai.

Ma Yongping has spent the longest time with Li Ping, knowing that Li Ping is not only not self-willed, but also willing to listen to opinions from all sides, so he has the least worries when expressing personal opinions.

"That's right! We got too few boats in Hanshui and Shenhu Lake. Once we have enough boats, we will have the initiative. And we can also take the whole army by boat when we retreat in the future. The rivers and swamps will be destroyed. It is no longer our obstacle." Song Baolai added eagerly again.

He was most concerned with his ability to escape.

And without a ship, it is indeed quite troublesome for their current garrison.

"It's reasonable." Hu Zhongshan followed suit to express his attitude.

Li Ping took a deep breath, probably not satisfied with the discussion.

He glanced left and right, Duan Qiang didn't know what to say, and finally set his sights on Zhou Wen.

"Zhou Wen, do you understand what I mean?"

Zhou Wen, who was lowering his head in thought, raised his head, looked at Li Ping without hesitation and said, "I agree with the general, we need to fight immediately."

"why?"

"why?"

The two voices came out almost in unison.

"Because of Marshal Zuo."

Another voice blurted out.

Everyone immediately looked at Du Sanjiang, the new training staff officer who had no presence, in surprise, and their expressions became more colorful.

Although Li Ping didn't talk to anyone about his current distress in order not to affect the morale of the army, anyone who cares about their situation can feel it to some extent.

Zhou Wen froze for a moment, but when he realized it, he widened his eyes fiercely and shouted, "What nonsense are you talking about?"

Realizing that he had caused trouble, Du Sanjiang's expression quickly became awkward and unnatural.

But Li Ping didn't show any signs of getting angry. On the contrary, he stared at Zhou Wen again with great playfulness and said, "Sanjiang is right. We need to give Marshal Zuo a reassurance to prove that I don't have the intention of turning into a thief. Otherwise, We'll be in trouble later on."

Du Sanjiang accidentally broke something, and Li Ping realized that this was a good time to see Zhou Wen's attitude. Anyway, some things were already guessable secrets among the people around him.

Sometimes it is better to break through than to continue to pretend to be confused.

This time, everyone looked at Li Ping in astonishment, and Song Baolai even had an expression that you couldn't tell.

"Therefore, this battle must not only be fought, but must be fought early, and it must be finished before the main force of the bandit army arrives. If it is too late, there will be no chance." Zhou Wen just continued in a very flat and natural manner.

He didn't make a further reaction to Li Ping's explanation.

The attitude is actually ambiguous.

"Then how do we fight this battle? Shall we attack it? The bandit army has already occupied Huangpi County, and their troops should guard the city and not fight me lightly because of the small number of soldiers. But we are not strong enough to attack the city!" Ma Yong said directly Introduced the conversation to military issues.

Li Ping knew that Mayong did it on purpose.

Ma Yong understands him, he also understands Ma Yong, and Ma Yong's strengths are also obvious.

"Counselor Du, do you have an idea?" Li Ping turned to Du Sanjiang and asked kindly.

Du Sanjiang looked at Li Ping unexpectedly, and then shyly said cautiously: "There is a saying in the proclamation that 'Ermin has a suppressed victory and a long cry to welcome my master, and I will use it more'. We can use this to mix in and look for opportunities. If If the bandits really underestimated their divisions, it is not impossible to conquer Huangpi."

Du Sanjiang's words made everyone dumbfounded again, and Song Baolai muttered directly in a trembling voice: "You, you are playing too big!".

Others lost their voices collectively, including Li Ping.

Because of the bizarre story of Li Zhensheng and the chief soldier Qian Zhongxuan who were inspected by the Chengtian Mansion, Li Ping thought of making a fake surrender and made a similar plan.It's just that his nature is more cautious, and his plan is bold but not too radical.

His own plan is just to take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness to find and annihilate a large or small part of the peasant army's conquest outside the city by feigning surrender. It is very satisfying to have one or two hundred or two or three hundred enemies annihilated. up.

But now, he suddenly found that he was a little too timid and not enterprising.

Du Sanjiang's thought made him feel his heart throbbing.

Be bold, dare to think, and it seems that it is not impossible.

The training level of the peasant army has always been no better than that of the official army, and it is even weaker due to the small number of professional officers.They are powerful now, but it's just that they have a stronger will to fight and the officers and soldiers are too useless.

This point can be learned a little bit from the captured soldiers of Luo Rucai's department.

From the perspective of training level, Li Ping believes that his soldiers are stronger than the peasant army.All his troops lacked was combat experience.

As long as he does not attack, he can concentrate 1.5 times or 2 times the force to fight with the peasant army. Victory is not impossible, and even very large.

"I like your plan." Li Ping expressed his sincere appreciation after a moment of contemplation.

"You can give it a try." Zhou Wen also followed closely to express his support.

He was visibly moved too.

"But the vanguard of the Peasant Army must be the elite of all battles, and our troops do not have an absolute advantage, and the troops have just suffered heavy casualties in Changhu, so they are only fighting bandits. Can you be more realistic?" Song Baolai want to object.

He's not interested in risk or gambling, preferring safer plans like going straight for the run.

Song Baolai's words obviously affected Ma Yong and the others. They didn't speak again for a while, but just watched Li Ping's reaction.

Li Ping understands Song Baolai's worries, but now is an extraordinary time, and he is really moved.

Once successful, it will fundamentally change his current embarrassing situation.

As for his own original plan, it was actually a little too conservative, and probably only played a scratching role.No matter how well done, keep walking the tightrope.

Thinking of this, Li Ping patted Song Baolai on the shoulder and said, "Baolai, I have decided on this matter."

Song Baolai stared at Li Ping in astonishment for a long time, and finally resigned: "Alright then! What do I need to do?"

Li Ping laughed, and then announced loudly: "We need to draw up a plan immediately, the sooner the battle can be launched, the better, we can't waste this precious opportunity.

If we can sneak into the city smoothly, we will play the big game; if it is not easy to sneak into the city or the situation is unfavorable, we will not force it, and we can destroy part of the bandit troops outside the city.

Insufficient troops, the recruit battalion was temporarily disbanded, and recruits were immediately replenished into the army.

The clearing of civilian ships and the blockade of the water surface must be carried out at the same time. We need to paralyze the enemy.

......"

Notes:

The water system in Wuhan in the Ming Dynasty was very different from today’s. The large number of lakes was a major feature at that time. For example, Wuhu Lake and Zhangdu Lake were places where water troops could be organized and trained, and the area was very large.

Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to look at that time with today's topography and landforms.

East Lake and West Lake were two independent large lakes at that time, and they were flooded areas. It is not an exaggeration to say that there are water swamps everywhere.Across the river from them is Houhu, another huge shallow lake.

The Houhu Lake began to disappear after Zhang Zhidong's waterway improvement in the late Qing Dynasty. The East Lake and West Lake also underwent major changes in the reclamation and development after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and only a new small water area called Dongxi Lake remained.

The contiguous lakes and swamps between Huangpi and Hanyang made it extremely difficult to travel, which was also the main reason why Huangpi belonged to Huangzhou Prefecture and not Hanyang Prefecture before the Qing Dynasty.

As for the Weishui, which is the Fuhe River, the course of the river in the Ming Dynasty is also inconsistent with today's. Some say that the Weishui enters the Keshui and then enters the Yangtze River, and some say that it enters the Yangtze River alone.This article is based on the "Hubei Province Jianghan Embankment Map" of the Qing Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)