Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 309
Weishan lakeside, canal town.

At the pier of Xia Town, a group of flag soldiers of the Qing army and the Han army with rat tails behind their heads were whipping people with whips, "Hurry up!" Then he carried the rope on his back to tow the cannon for the Qing army.

One scholar was standing in the water, holding on to a thick wooden stake, while the other was driving the pile with a sledgehammer.

Looking at the now dilapidated Xia Town, he couldn't help sighing, "On a day when Xia Yang is in full bloom, the city gates are half-closed to the river, buildings and boats are full on a moonlit night, and the spring breeze surrounds many buildings."

The scholar who swung the hammer couldn't help but stop, and echoed the poem, "The sails are windy and the setting sun hangs, a town is divided into northern and southern borders, the color of the flowers is dark and white in Si Teng County, and the sound of the bell sends the coolness of Peicheng! "

"Good poems, good poems." A few students beside him also praised.

An old man stood in the water and supported another wooden stake, and sighed, "Today's Xia Town is just like Qicheng in the past. Qicheng was reborn because of our Great Ming Water Transport, but I don't know if there will be another Xia Town. The day of revival."

Although Xia Town came from Xia Village, it was actually the ancient city of Qi.

Qicheng is the seat of Qixian County established by Qin Dynasty. Liu Bang once passed here at the end of Qin Dynasty. With the abolition of Qi County, the prosperity of this area gradually faded.

It wasn't until the Ming Dynasty that the canal was diverted and moved eastward, which brought rebirth to this place.

The current Bucheng was originally called Xiacun, a remote village. Because the new canal for water transport from Xiacun to Nanyang (Yutai) was opened during the Jiajing period, it was also called Xiazhen Xinhe, which made Xiacun a canal wharf, which is suitable for business and industry. flourish.

This canal new city was built by Daming, but it was also destroyed by Daming.

A young student said, "I think the day of revival is not far away." Lu Jianguo led the Northern Expeditionary Army all the way to Xia Town, so is it still far from revitalizing Daming?
On the contrary, the faces of a few old scholars are full of worry. They are in their dying years. All these years, they have experienced all kinds of natural disasters and military chaos. It gets colder every year.

It was only the beginning of September, but they had only soaked in the canal for a while, and they felt cold and their feet were numb.

"Winter is coming, and it's going to be very cold this year."

The old man sighed, his eyes full of despair, all of this is a doomsday scene, especially this winter, which is getting colder every year.

I heard from the elders that there were 18 consecutive years of extremely cold winters at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. How cold was it?That is, the canals are frozen three feet, the Yangtze River has no flow, the ice on Taihu Lake and Dongting Lake can pass a horse-drawn carriage, even Chaozhou in Guangdong has a foot of snow, and Hainan Island has sleet.

After Hongwu founded the country, the weather gradually warmed up and experienced a century-long warming period.

Then, almost from Wanli, the severe cold continued, getting colder every year.

Those old people who know the weather say that the coldness of Tianqi Chongzhen is not the coldest. The current celestial phenomenon may enter a colder period. They said that it will be the same as the end of the Yuan Dynasty. It is estimated that it will be colder from now on. Lasts about 50 years.

Even now there are rumors in many places that the canal will be frozen for three feet, the Yangtze River will be frozen and the Taihu Lake will be ice-thick.

"Snapped!"

The whip was slammed on an old scholar who was distracted, "The old man dares to be lazy, the sun is going to go down the mountain before it is dark, and it is still dawdling here, hurry up and repair the pier, it can't be done well I'll just soak in the water tonight and don't come up here!" A Qing soldier cursed and beat him with a whip.

The once high-ranking scholars can only grit their teeth and bow their heads to continue repairing the pier.

A young scholar couldn't help but said, "If I had known earlier, I should have followed Master Wang to Xuzhou."

"Master Wang didn't want to guard Xuzhou, so what if he went there? In this prosperity, the people suffer, and when they die, the people also suffer. Self-suffering people are like weeds, and life is the worst in troubled times."

When the Ming army demolished Xia Town and left, they also mobilized the people to leave, but many people were still reluctant to leave their homeland, especially those with land, shops and other industries, as well as those gentry with fame, they did not want to give up the relationship here , connections, status, wealth, etc.

It is difficult to leave the homeland these days, not only because of the plot of the hometown, but also because it is too difficult to survive outside the home.

No one wants to leave their hometown unless it is absolutely necessary.

It's just that everyone didn't expect that those Tartars would treat them so harshly. The dignified scholars went to the river to drive pilings to repair the pier, and they pulled people to pull the cannons. The women at home were forced to cook for them. It was also searched.

There were screams in the distance.

It was a group of cavalry who drove a group of people over.

Everyone looked up and found that it was some common people who followed the Ming army before. Some of them regretted it halfway, so they left the team and stayed in the countryside, only to be discovered by the Qing army.

Because these people had cut their braids, they were considered to be affiliated with the rebel party and were driven back.

city ​​gate.

Kong Youde looked at the more than 100 men, women and children who rushed back, his eyes were full of merciless coldness.

"It's kind of positive to have a braid cut."

"In that case, let's cut it all off."

"Hang their heads on the city wall as a public example!"

······
Hearing that Kong Youde pronounced the fate of everyone in this way, many people knelt down and begged for mercy on the spot.

"Xiaomin was confused for a while, please forgive me, please spare my life."

A middle-aged man knelt down in panic and begged, but the wife next to him pulled him up, "The meat is all sent to the tiger's mouth and you want to beg for life. How is this possible? Kneeling becomes a slave!"

But the man still struggled and knelt down to beg for mercy, and his wife slapped him in the face angrily, "A dignified husband, even if he dies, he must look like a man, wouldn't he become a woman crying and crying, stand up, don't throw us Xia Zhenzhang The face of the family!"

This movement startled Kong Youde.

A Qing soldier raised a knife and wanted to kill the woman, but Kong Youde stopped him.

"Your husband is cowardly and afraid of death. I didn't expect you, a woman, to be so courageous. Your husband deserves to be executed, which is unforgivable. But if you are willing to beg for mercy, this king can spare your life. Even as long as you serve this king well, in the future And live a rich life.”

The woman just sneered twice, "The little girl has also been educated and enlightened, and she also knows loyalty and righteousness. Marry a chicken as a chicken and marry a dog as a dog."

"Your husband will be executed!"

"That little girl is willing to be executed together!"

"Beheading is not just for fun. You have to cut twice and three times after one cut. If you die, you will be a headless dog. Even before execution, you have to strip your clothes and behead. Are you not afraid of pain or humiliation? Not afraid of it." Go down to hell and become a headless ghost?"

"It was you who wanted to kill us innocently, but now you are saying this, don't be hypocritical, I know you, Kong Youde, the big traitor who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, even if I were a headless ghost, I would never follow you."

"Pooh!"

The woman spat at Kong Youde.

Kong Youde looked at the woman in front of him, she was 30 years old, she was pretty, not considered heavenly, but this fiery temper made him very interested, he wanted to subdue her, but who would want to spit it out and embarrass him.

"Fool, since you want to die, then I will do it for you." He stood up and said to Qing Bing, "It's all cut off."

More than 100 people were beheaded in front of the city gate, and the last one killed the woman.

Kong Youde came to her again, "I will give you another chance, will you follow me?"

"Hey, cut off my head quickly and let me follow my husband."

"What's your name?"

"It's the Zhangmen Jin family, you big traitor is not qualified to hear the name."

Kong Youde was furious, and ordered Jin to be beheaded, first strip her clothes, cut off her tongue, then amputate her breasts, stab the female with a knife, and then decapitate her.

When the Qing soldiers stepped forward, the Jin family had already committed suicide by biting his tongue first.

Kong Youde still didn't let him go, he still ordered the stripping of the clothes, amputation of the breasts and beheading of the female. The scene was bloody, and countless people in Xia Town around watched silently and wept.

When the Qing soldiers stabbed the female, it was stuck and could not be pulled out.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pull out the knife. At this time, among the people in Xia Town who were forced to watch the execution, some people knelt down and shouted that the Jin family had appeared.

Ever since, more and more people knelt down and chanted Buddha's name in their mouths.

The Qing soldier pulled hard, but couldn't get the knife out. Amidst the sound of the Buddha's trumpets, he suddenly slipped his hand and fell to the ground. The soldier looked at Jin who was standing still, and suddenly showed fear, and shouted, "You If you want to kill, then kill, why insult me?"

He yelled several times, and Kong Youde next to him slapped him several times when he saw this, but he still yelled like a demon, and someone shouted that Jin was possessed.

Kong Youde looked at this subordinate with a cloudy expression, and finally drew his knife and chopped off his neck.

The executioner fell down, but Jin's body was still standing there with the knife between his arms.

Countless people in Xia Town knelt on the ground, weeping and praising Buddha.

"unlucky!"

Kong Youde didn't expect this kind of shit to happen, he wanted to scare the chickens to scare the monkeys, but he did it like this.He has fought for half his life, and he doesn't believe in ghosts and gods, but believes that the soldier just lost his mind in this scene. A state of insanity, but generally short-lived.

But this guy's situation on this occasion made him unable to step down, so he had to behead him himself.

But looking at the people kneeling all over the ground, he also knew that something went wrong today.

"unlucky,"

Kong Youde called him unlucky, threw the knife and left.

night.

In Xiazhen City, a thunderbolt suddenly broke out, and a huge flame shot into the sky, and the whole Xiazhen seemed to be shaking violently.

Another loud bang.

"It's not good, the Jin family is angry." Someone shouted in panic.

Kong Youde put on his clothes and stood up, "There must be thieves who attacked the gunpowder cart carried by the army, hurry up and investigate."

There was another shock, and Kong Youde couldn't stand still, and the house behind him also cracked a big crack.

The night sky in Xia Town was completely illuminated.

The elite bannermen of the Han army under Kong Youde's command were also shocked.

That night, the gunpowder carried by Kong Youde's army exploded. Tens of thousands of catties of gunpowder were blown up, and hundreds of artillery pieces of various types were also blown up.

Kong Youde's two artillery battalions were also bombed out. Hundreds were killed and thousands were injured. Kong Youde's 2000 cavalry carried [-] horses, and more than [-] horse mules in the artillery battalion were also killed. Hundreds of horses were killed, and thousands of horses were frightened and broke free.

The urban area where the gunpowder was located was immediately flattened, and several sections of the adjacent city wall collapsed.

At dawn, Kong Youde inspected the whole city, seeing the result, his eyes were red and he couldn't believe it.

However, the people in Xia Town all said that it was the Jin family who borrowed Yin soldiers and thunder from the underworld to take revenge from King Yan Luo last night.

(End of this chapter)