Daming kill

Chapter 219
The bombardment should have had a huge effect!

During two consecutive days of continuous reconnaissance on May [-]th and [-]th, the reconnaissance clippers of the Li Ping Naval Battalion found that Zhang Xianzhong's troops had not resumed the shipbuilding operation on the northwest shore of Guanjia Lake, and all personnel originally stationed on the lake shore had also been evacuated. Three miles away from the shore.

Even some of the fishing boats on the shore that were not destroyed were abandoned.

At the same time, Zhang Xianzhong's army stationed near the Qi River also adjusted accordingly, and all camps within three miles of the river were demolished and bulldozed.

Although these made Li Ping's tense nerves slightly relaxed, his pressure still did not change in the slightest.

You can dismantle tricks when you see them, but more invisible tricks and Zhang Xianzhong's strategic determination are the most terrifying.

Li Ping still had trouble sleeping and eating.

However, at this moment, on May [-]th, the visit of a scholar and an old servant who traveled a huge circle from Wuchang City further intensified his pressure.

The scholar was sent by He Fengsheng, the former minister of the Ministry of Rites and a scholar of Dongge University in Wuchang City, and he had a letter written by He Fengsheng, while the old servant was He Fengsheng's regular follower, and he carried He Fengsheng's token.

This weight and attention is estimated to be a little worse than visiting in person.

The purpose of the people is very simple, it is to hope that Li Ping can lead the army west to Wuchang to defend the city.

This made Li Ping very difficult!

Li Ping knew very well that if he refused again, the image he had built up with great difficulty in the official circles of the Ming Dynasty might be in vain.

He Fengsheng, he can't afford to offend, and he can't lose face.

But it's impossible for him to have any other choice. After all, his brain hasn't flooded yet!
Before that, Yanji, the supervising army and participating in politics in Wuchang City, had already sent a small official to deliver the message on behalf of the government.

Wang Yangji didn't dare to make a big show, and couldn't bear to lose face, and set many rules and regulations.

It is estimated that he was scared by Zuo Liangyu at the beginning, and at the same time he still cared a little about his feathers.

However, this also gave the officials of Xingguo Prefecture a chance to resist. They almost joined the battle, both public and private, big and small, and privately encouraged Li Ping to resolutely refuse, and expressed their willingness to further increase their support and cooperation.

Although Xingguo Prefecture belongs to Wuchang Prefecture, the officials in Xingguo Prefecture are not confused at all when it comes to life and death.

Even Xu Wenqi remained silent and pretended to be completely ignorant.

Since Wang Yangji was not following a bright and upright path, and he had no letters to keep evidence, and he sent officials instead of officials, Li Ping naturally pretended to be confused.

But He Fengsheng is different after all!
This is a person who makes Zuo Liangyu have to give face, and his influence is the kind of person who can go directly to the court, and even to the holy hearing.

Such a person now condescends to send people to beg Li Ping. One of the people sent is a young celebrity in Wuchang City, and the other is his own old servant. He also has both a letter and a token, and the tone of the letter is very sincere. It can be seen what the hell is going on in Wuchang City now.

The officials in Xingguo Prefecture were all dumb this time, and everyone had to pretend to be deaf and dumb. In this case, the nature of the objection would be different, and they were also a little unaware of the current situation in Wuchang City Make complaints.

Li Ping was also speechless about the current situation in Wuchang City.

When you really stand in the history, you will find that there are all kinds of weird things in history, don't use common sense to infer anything!
Li Zicheng's retreat and letting go of Hanyang allowed Wuchang City to escape, but after Zhang Xianzhong captured Huangzhou Fucheng at the end of March, Wuchang City became jittery again.

And on April [-], Zhang Xianzhong defeated Macheng and once again brought Wuchang City to the brink of war.

At this time, even the vast majority of people in the city also deduced that Zhang Xianzhong might attack Wuchang next.

But the performance in the city is surprising.

Our King Zhu Huakui of Chu is still a god as always, which is almost completely inconsistent with his 73-year-old age, 63-year career as King of Chu, and his fatal experience of successfully settling the case of the true and false King of Chu.

It's more appropriate to describe it as old and fatuous.

The King of Chu was probably one of the two richest vassal kings in the Ming Dynasty (the other was Emperor Wanli’s precious son and Emperor Chongzhen’s uncle Fu Wang Zhu Changxun). items, there are more than 2 taels of silver.

This has not counted the huge wealth brought by the monopoly of many stores.

Since Wuchang City was basically robbed by Zuo Liangyu, the government basically had no money or food. At this time, the king of Chu, who had money and food, should normally stand up, whether it was for the public or for himself.

Just like when Li Zicheng besieged Kaifeng, it was Zhou Wang Zhu Gongyun who sent out the funding army, and Kaifeng was successfully defended twice in a row.Even the third time, if it were not for the flood, it would not necessarily be lost.

But our great master Zhu Huakui, king of Chu, just pretended that nothing happened, he still felt that it had nothing to do with him, and he would not listen to anyone's persuasion.

Even if all the officials from the Huguang chief, the inspector, and the commander all came to the Chu palace and knelt in front of the Chu king Zhu Huakui, it didn't work.

The anxious Huguang officials had no choice but to push He Fengsheng out again, hoping that he could play a miraculous role again.

But despite He Fengsheng's lip service, the King of Chu remained unmoved, saying that he had no money.

In the end, being forced into a hurry, Zhu Huakui, king of Chu, simply took out the gold-covered chair that Ming Taizu rewarded Zhu Zhen, the first king of Chu, and said that he was very poor, and only this chair could be sold for money to work for the army ("This can be used as an army, he has nothing" ).

Not to mention how much this chair can sell for, it is a gift from Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, and it is used by the vassal king, who dares to buy or sell it!
Seeing the indifferent attitude of the King of Chu, He Fengsheng almost left the Chu Palace in tears.

What's even more amazing is that Zhu Huakui, the king of Chu, didn't care about the Wuchang city defense at all, but he was very concerned about his daughter's marriage.

At this time, Zhu Fengde, the Princess of the Chu Mansion, was already 15 years old, and had reached the age of marriage according to the regulations. Although it was not a good time to get married, Chu King Zhu Huakui didn't care about it.

He gave an order to Gao Shitai, the son of Gao Panlong, the leader of the Donglin Party, who learned from Huguang, to choose a son-in-law for him among the people.Because at this time, thousands of students happened to be participating in the rural examination in Wuchang Prefecture.

Don't miss out!

And Gao Xuedao quickly selected the 17-year-old Jiangxia student Wang Guozi.

This Wang Guozi is not only handsome and educated, but also has only one old mother in his family. The family is very poor and has no complicated social relations, which is very suitable for Yibin (the title of the clan prince and the son-in-law of the county king in the Ming Dynasty).

Zhu Huakui, king of Chu, was very satisfied.

As a result, on April [-]th Wang Guozi followed Gao Shitai into the Chu Palace to meet the King of Chu in a sedan chair, and on April [-]th he held a grand wedding with Zhu Fengde.

And on the day of the wedding, from Wuchang city to the governor of Huguang and down to the magistrate and county magistrate, they had to follow the float that welcomed Wang Guozi into the Chu palace, and they couldn't do anything serious.

And it's not over yet!
The whole wedding will be celebrated for five days from April [-]th to [-]th.

It wasn't until No. 18 after the wedding was completely over that King Zhu Huakui of Chu was finally willing to pay a small amount of money to recruit Chengtian, De'an's rout soldiers and the young and strong people to form the "Chu Fu Bing", with Zhang Qizai from Huangzhou as the commander. Hand over to the governor of Chu Prefecture, Shi Xu Xueyan, to lead him.

But the combat effectiveness of such a hastily built force can be imagined.

And it's not that Zhu Huakui, king of Chu, is in a good mood, but that he is really impatient.

Because just the day before, a light army of Zhang Xianzhong arrived in Hanyang, which shocked the officials and people in Wuchang.

The gods in Wuchang City are not just Zhu Huakui, the king of Chu, but all the officials, gentry, rich and nobles in Wuchang City are actually gods.

Due to its unique geographical features, Wuchang City faces the Yangtze River to the north and east, but is full of lakes and rivers to the south and west. In particular, there are many large lakes that can be connected to the Yangtze River in various ways.

Even today, when the water area has been greatly reduced, the water area is not much less than the land on this piece of land that is about [-] miles long from east to west and from north to south near the bend of the Yangtze River.

So these waters are almost a natural place to hide things.

It is almost an open secret that many officials, gentry and wealthy people in Wuchang used boats to carry a large amount of wealth and food to hide in rivers, ponds and lakes from time to time, and it is said that there were at least a thousand ships.

It is precisely because of this that many officials, gentry, rich and nobles escaped the looting when Zuo Liangyu occupied Wuchang, and still kept a lot of money and food after Zuo Liangyu left.

But they also didn't pull out a dime, all pretending to be poor.

So, don't just talk about Zhu Huakui, king of Chu.

Zhu Huakui, king of Chu, was stingy and abnormal, and he was probably also angered by these officials.

Zhu Huakui, king of Chu, knew very well that he was not the only one with money and food in the city, and it was impossible for many people to hide money and food in boats in rivers, lakes and rivers.

But the officials don't go to the officials, gentry and rich families to raise food and pay, but they only find him a vassal, and beat him a big family, and until Zhang Xianzhong is under their noses, they still only want to rely on him. What do you think he will do? think?
Of course, this does not negate Chu Huakui's stupidity.After all, the city was broken, and he was the king of Chu who finished playing first.

It is very puzzling that the collective brains of the officials, gentry, rich and nobles in Wuchang city are flooded, which is in stark contrast to the state support of Li Ping in Xingguo Prefecture.

Li Ping could only laugh and cry at this.

But there is something even better!

Zhang Xianzhong entered Hanyang lightly, and the people in Wuchang were naturally flustered.

At this time, the officials and generals in Wuchang discussed the defense strategy. The mainstream view was to withdraw the defenders on the Yangtze River and concentrate on defending the city.

Only one general named Cui Wenrong put forward a different point of view: "It is better to guard the city than to guard the river, and it is better to guard the Han than to guard the river. The millstones and coal islands are not as shallow as the belly of a horse. If you fly across them, and the Yingcheng is trapped, it is not a policy."

This was also the successful approach that made Li Zicheng give up crossing the river.

But Cui Wenrong's point of view was not adopted.

And Cui Wenrong was also ruthless enough. He brought a group of warriors across the river to Hanyang, and fought with Zhang Xianzhong's troops, beheading more than [-] ranks, but after all, he was weak and had to return to Wuchang.

So Wuchang is not without ruthless people at present!
But no matter what, Hanyang County, which was extremely empty and had almost no soldiers to defend, fell on the [-]th, and Wuchang City completely became the front line.

However, at this moment, Zhu Fengde, the newlywed princess Zhu Fengde, who was in a panic, committed suicide because she was afraid of being humiliated by the destruction of the city. It was only nine days before she got married.However, Yibin Wang Guozi ran out of the palace and took refuge with his cousin in Jiayu County.

However, Li Zicheng failed to cross the river, and Zhang Xianzhong did not cross the river from Hanyang after the Wuchang defenders withdrew from the river, and even a light soldier occupied Hanyang from beginning to end.

This made Wuchang City feel relieved for a while, thinking that Zhang Xianzhong would also stop his army in the Yangtze River.

However, Zhang Xianzhong and Li Rujing's troops crossed the river from Tuanfeng and captured Wuchang County, breaking the illusions of Wuchang officials and people, and worsening the safety of Wuchang City.

He Fengsheng was completely anxious because of this, not only stepped up to the stage again, but also put down all his posture.

He really showed all his face this time, and he was unwilling to give up any possible efforts.

But Li Ping can only do Tai Chi.

Li Ping's troops were insufficient, and choosing to take the risk in Wuchang would mean giving up the defense of Xingguo Prefecture and Qizhou. This is really a pity for the officials and people of Xingguo Prefecture who fully supported him, and it also means that Xu Wenqi was saved in vain.

Moreover, what Wuchang lacked was not generals or soldiers at all, but the determination of the whole city to share the same hatred and disregard personal gains and losses.

After the city of Wuchang County was broken, Li Ping quickly established a line of defense in Daye County and Yuanhu Lake. Cui Wenrong also stood up again and immediately stationed troops at Hongshan Temple (now Baotong Temple) on Hongshan Mountain outside the city to guard Wuchang City. The ability and sensitivity to war are not bad.

In particular, Cui Wenrong was originally a general, and his military rank was higher than that of Li Ping.

But Cui Wenrong is not easy to use, and Li Ping is of no use as a guerrilla general.

Moreover, even if He Fengsheng wanted to pull him over, it would be impossible for Li Ping to skip so many rules and traditions and take over the highest military command in Wuchang.

Then most of his superiors and teammates are mentally retarded.

What's the difference between this and courting death?
Li Ping was out of his mind, so no matter how difficult he felt, he could only do Tai Chi for He Fengsheng's request.

Notes:

Wang Guozi lived until the age of 73, and wrote "A Dream" to record the story of him and Zhu Fengde in detail.

However, the historical nodes and the names of some characters in "Yimengyuan" are quite different from the historical facts. Some scholars believe that it was written by a literati.However, more scholars believe it is credible, because this recollection was written in the 38th year of Kangxi (1699), and it is normal to have unclear recollections and memory errors.

A few more digressions, Wang Guozi returned to Wuchang a few months after escaping from Wuchang, buried the princess Zhu Fengde, and then married Zhu Fengde's personal maid Yu Yueying as his wife, gave birth to a son, who was named as the successor, and respected the princess as his aunt .

The greatest contribution of "Yimengyuan" to Chinese history is that it records in detail the wedding ceremony of the first-class princess in the Ming Dynasty, which makes up for the lack of records in "Daming Huidian" and "Ming Shilu" that have no notes on the wedding ceremony of the princess.At the same time, the article also records the funeral ceremony of the princess in detail.

(End of this chapter)