Daming kill

On the sixth day of March in the 17th year of Chongzhen, Zhang Rujing's wife, Liu Shi, carried her young son Li Puxing in her arms, and walked towards Luzhou city exhausted under the escort of the Ming army.

Although he did not expect to come here in such a way, after being imprisoned for many days in the wild, the city undoubtedly gave Liu some comfort.

However, as it got closer to the city, more and more people began to watch, and an extremely uncomfortable smell gradually filled the air, and it became more and more intense.

The emotions of the people also became more and more agitated. Not only did the voices of cursing the Great West Army begin to be heard endlessly, some angry people would also punch and kick the Great West Army at the edge of the huge captive queue or simply throw stones directly into the group of prisoners.

Although the soldiers of the Ming army who were in charge of escorting were also defending and even sometimes resorting to violence against the common people, but the effect was not good because most of them just turned a blind eye and closed their eyes and muddled through.

Because of this, the prisoners of the Great Western Army walked tremblingly one by one, watching and listening to all directions desperately.

They can only suffer in silence now.

Suddenly, a flying stone suddenly appeared in Liu's pupils with a whistling sound. Seeing that he couldn't avoid it, Liu had no choice but to instinctively protect the child's head with his hands desperately in panic.

At this time, a big hand suddenly appeared, knocked the flying stone away, and then hit Squealer next to Liu.

There was a painful "ouch" in a high-pitched voice.

But after turning his head to see clearly the owner of the hand that knocked the stone away, he immediately turned back cowardly.

The eunuch Squealer and Liu Shi, the eunuch sent by Zhang Xianzhong to deliver the decree to Zhang Rujing, did not take the boat out of caution when they withdrew to Luzhou at that time, and were captured together and held together.

"Thank you, Platoon Leader Mi." Mrs. Liu hurriedly thanked.

"You're welcome, you have to be careful. Come on, give me a hug for a while, it's safer, and you can take a rest." Mi Cang shook his aching hand and reached out to hug the baby.

"Thank you so much!" Mrs. Liu expressed her gratitude while sending the child to Mi Cang with confidence.

It seems that she trusts Yicang very much.

Even when Yicang turned around and left after hugging the child who was not crying at all, she didn't ask any more questions, nor did she show any worry.

Of course, seeing Mi Cang running around with the child in his arms and urging the soldiers of the Ming army to try their best to protect the captives, especially the female relatives, from harm, Liu was also a little dazed.

Although he did not receive special preferential treatment, even the horses and mules were taken away, but for Mi Cang, for these Ming troops, Liu was grateful and had a deep affection.

After being captured, Liu saw that the soldiers of the Ming army not only did not insult and abuse them, nor looted them, but tried their best to rescue every wounded of them, Liu really felt that the rumors about this Ming army were true, and made her The fear and uneasiness was quickly let go.

Even after being interrogated continuously with Squealer, Mrs. Liu did not feel panicked again.

Having experienced countless wars and being a prisoner himself, Liu knows very well how prisoners are usually treated, or how miserable they will be.

But this Ming army overturned all her original cognition, and its military discipline was far beyond her imagination.

In particular, Mi Cang, who was assigned to guard her, actually told her one day that she didn't have to worry about Zhang Rujing's safety. He got the news that Zhang Rujing had escaped to Hezhou safely.

Mrs. Liu knew that this was definitely not Micang's private behavior.

This also gave her a deeper understanding of the benevolence and righteousness of this Ming army.

And they, who call themselves rebels, are fighting against such an army, and then the people are becoming more and more against them, and even now they are almost like street rats.

How absurd this is!
Liu knows that not only herself, but also many people around her have such doubts.

When Mrs. Liu continued to be distracted, the high-pitched voice suddenly asked in surprise, "Aren't we going to the city?"

Liu Shi was taken aback, and after looking around, he soon found that the team in front was indeed turning a corner, and was departing from the city gate that had come into view.

There are too many captives, and of course it is impossible for all of them to enter the city.

But their group of prisoners is different after all, especially she and Squealer, shouldn't be locked up outside the city, right?
In the midst of the strangeness, a more intense smell rushed towards the face with a gust of breeze, and it was finally confirmed that it was a strong stench.

All doubts were quickly resolved.

When looking at thousands of highly decomposed and decomposing corpses in a super large pit not far from the city gate, when listening to some Ming soldiers and people standing on the high platform using strange cylinders with one small end and a large end When they briefly stated the horrific killings created by the Luzhou Daxi Army to them who were slowly walking around the big pit with their noses covered, the deeply stimulated Liu and most of the prisoners bowed their heads in shame.

Since Zhang Rujing's army has always maintained strict military discipline, most people still maintain the most basic conscience and have a sense of shame.

As for the situation outside Chongqing, Liu, who has access to a lot of information from the upper class, knows more, but this also makes her even more ashamed.

Now she finally understands why the people of Luzhou are so angry, and also understands why these powerful soldiers of the Ming army who defeated them are so weak and incompetent when defending them.

Going to Luzhou City this time, especially after entering Luzhou City, facing the more violent anger of the onlookers, the prisoners of the Daxi Army were all downcast and more silent. harm.

And all of this was seen by Li Ping, who was standing on the city wall and watching quietly.

"Its army is available." Li Ping said to himself.

"Yeah!" Zhang Kuang, standing side by side with Li Ping, nodded first, then turned his head and asked, "Have you thought about it, General?"

Zhang Kuang arrived in Luzhou, which had just been conquered, only yesterday, and then met Li Ping.

Li Ping captured Luzhou very quickly and unexpectedly.

Previously, Zhang Rujing fled to Luzhou with the remaining 1000 remnants, all of whom had horses and mules, but soon left for Hezhou in disappointment.

Since there were Zhang Rujing's [-] troops on the Chongqing defense line, Zhang Xianzhong did not leave many troops in Luzhou. The main force of the Luzhou Daxi Army was Libing.

Libing is a local armed force organized by the Daxi regime in various states and counties after Zhang Xianzhong proclaimed himself emperor in order to maintain local law and order.

Libing is assigned according to household registration, and one out of three members is selected to be responsible for guarding the city.

This method of military organization fully reflects the backwardness of the Great Western Army in military construction. It will only follow the primitive and barbaric rule, and use the relationship between the village and the clan to maintain its own political power.

In fact, it doesn't matter if the troops are in the army, except that they are not as good as the elite, and they are not weaker than the army composed of ordinary people who were taken into captivity by the Great Western Army.

Because they have practiced cruel sittings.

But the problem is that as the Daxi Army and the Sichuan people become more and more incompatible, even the Sichuan officials and Sichuan soldiers who were recruited and supplemented by its main army, the original armed system, have become very contradictory and ridiculous. .

In particular, Libing is just a start-up, and there are still many problems in thinking, control and stability.

Zhang Rujing resolutely did not engage in Libing in Chongqing.

However, the main force of the Great West Army in Luzhou is already a Libing, but they continue to uphold Zhang Xianzhong's brutal style, and continue to carry out Zhang Xianzhong's crazy instructions to the letter.

Perhaps they are trying to run fear through, to use fear to control everything.

But it is undoubtedly very dangerous.

As a result, under the pressure or encouragement of the Ming army approaching the city, the soldiers in Luzhou finally turned back the Daxi army.

Li Ping's army, which had been chasing down to the city of Luzhou, was still gathering, and at the same time had to allocate part of its troops to pull out Jiangjin, the soldiers of the Daxi Army, which had a numerical advantage in Luzhou City, rioted first.

Li Ping seized the opportunity and Luzhou was captured immediately.

When Luzhou's Daxi Army defender and the heads of its main backbone were thrown under Jiangjin City, the desperate Jiangjin Daxi Army defender quickly chose to surrender.

But what should be done next, Li Ping fell into deep thought.

The unexpected smooth capture of Luzhou and the easy surrender of the defenders of the Jiangjin Daxi Army made him fully aware that the Daxi Army was facing a serious crisis of governance and self-identity.

The interrogation of the eunuch Squealer and Zhang Rujing's wife Liu Shi sent by Zhang Xianzhong to deliver orders to Zhang Rujing also allowed him to grasp more about the current madness and chaos of the top level of the Western Army. Prelude to the storm.

At the same time, the unprecedentedly large number of captives in Li Ping's hands urgently needed to be properly handled and carefully arranged.

Although more than 10 of Zhang Rujing's 1 troops were wiped out by Li Ping, nearly [-] were captured.Moreover, Zhang Rujing's more than [-] most elite troops on Tongluo Gorge were killed or injured only one-third, and more casualties of Zhang Rujing's men actually occurred on the way to retreat westward.

All kinds of casualties caused by chasing and killing are often very large, and many people even die from trampling and panic.

With so many prisoners, especially including a huge number of elite enemy troops, this was a big problem for Li Ping.

And after Zhang Rujing fled to Hezhou, there were still nearly 2 horses. Even though there were few elites, they still had certain combat capabilities and appeal.

But Li Ping has no need or meaning to attack Hezhou now.

After all, Zhang Rujing can keep running if he can't beat him, but Li Ping can't keep chasing him endlessly.

At this time, the exaggerated [-] prisoners of Zhang Rujing's army became a huge time bomb.Li Ping could neither leave them in Chongqing, which had been run by Zhang Rujing for several months, nor could he leave them to Zeng Ying and Qin Liangyu, who had few elite troops and most of them were recruits.

Luzhou, who generally hates the Great Western Army, and his side are undoubtedly better choices.

But what to do next?
Li Ping himself took so many captives, how to absorb and ensure that no problems are undoubtedly a huge challenge.

Li Ping realized that he had to have a new way of thinking, and some things could no longer remain the same forever.

The crime of not burying the Luzhou Daxi Army in time was the prelude to his whole plan.

"I've made up my mind. Let's wait and see what happens for a while, and at the same time use this time to reorganize the army and try to absorb all the captured Zhang Rujing's subordinates." Li Ping said firmly.

What Li Ping said was not referring to the war situation in the north of Ming Dynasty, but Zhang Xianzhong's Daxi regime. He knew that Zhang Kuang understood what he meant.

Li Ping didn't seem worried about Zhang Kuang's attitude.

Even yesterday, Li Ping extended a warm welcome to Zhang Kuang's arrival.And not long after, he confided to Zhang Kuang his plan and thinking to continue to attack Zhang Xianzhong.

Of course, Li Ping did not completely ignore Yuan Jixian's military order that Zhang Kuang had faithfully conveyed.

"The capital is strong, and there are many elites around. The Jianyi who have repeatedly entered the pass are still looking forward to it, but what can the burglars do? Besides, I have already arrived in Sichuan, not to mention that the number of troops is not enough for the capital. This is thousands of miles away from the capital. , It's beyond the reach of the whip!
Besides, Zhang Xianzhong has proclaimed himself emperor, not only is he no longer as simple as a giant thief, but he is also massacring Sichuan soldiers and civilians, how can I leave it alone. "

This is Li Ping's defense.

Li Ping didn't know whether Zhang Kuang believed it or not, and he wasn't sure he would believe it all.But no matter what, Zhang Kuang quickly expressed his understanding, and then never mentioned the matter again.

Li Ping knew that Zhang Kuang was very smart, and he liked Zhang Kuang very much.

Many officials Zhang Kuang and Li Ping met in this era are different. His official voice is not very good, but he is not corrupt or incompetent.But when he was in power, he had vigorously attacked the local tyrants and the gentry class for the benefit of the people.

The local tyrants and the gentry class hold the right to speak in this era.

But Zhang Kuang did not flinch because of this. He believed that the lawlessness and robbery of local tyrants and gentry were the current evils of Ming Dynasty.

This kind of thinking is what Li Ping likes.

And this time when he came to Li Ping's army, Zhang Kuang brought Zhao Jin's letter.

Zhao Jin's letter was not sealed at the time, but Zhang Kuang sealed it in front of Zhao Jin, and told Li Ping that it was an unsealed letter.

It is difficult for Li Ping to like Zhang Kuang like this, and there is no one more suitable for Li Ping than Zhang Kuang as the supervisor of the army!

Of course, Li Ping would not take it for granted that Zhang Kuang was submitting to him because that was not Zhang Kuang's character.

Li Ping's defense is indeed justified.

Even knowing the history in advance, Li Ping didn't want to understand how Beijing, which has an astonishing number of troops around, was easily defeated by Li Zicheng.

This is really an incredible thing.

Li Ping couldn't even figure it out, Zhang Kuang is not a god, so naturally he couldn't think of it.

Coupled with the serious lag of the battle report caused by the long distance between the north and the south, for Zhang Kuang, Beijing may be facing huge troubles, but it is not at the point of danger.

What's more, after Li Ping came out of Sichuan, how to coordinate with Zuo Liangyu's hundreds of thousands of troops is also a very headache, and maybe one plus one will be less than one.

"What are you going to do with Zhang Rujing?" Zhang Kuang asked.Although he is not good at military affairs, he can still see that this is their biggest hidden danger at present.

"Attack the heart first." Li Ping said looking at Liu's back in the distance.

"Attack the heart first? Will Zhang Rujing be threatened like this?" Zhang Kuang followed Li Ping's gaze and asked in confusion.

Li Ping smiled and said: "Why do you threaten him! Ask Mrs. Liu to write a letter to Zhang Rujing saying that she is safe. We don't care about the content of the letter. Then let Liu's close people go away and deliver the letter. Definitely. How many should be let go, not just one.”

Zhang Kuang looked at Li Ping in surprise, then nodded in agreement.