national surname chiming
Chapter 277 Forming Cliques Is Not My Intention
Chapter 277 Forming Cliques Is Not My Intention
November nineteenth, early morning.
The entire city of Kaifeng was shrouded in a mass of lifelessness, sorrow and despair.
Since the afternoon of yesterday, the pervasive torrent suddenly surged out from the breach of the Yellow River, and within an hour, it completely submerged the surrounding area of Kaifeng City.
The water outside the city is more than ten feet deep, and there is a city wall blocking it at least inside the city, which can temporarily block most of the accumulated water, but the amount of water seeping in is enough to pile up several feet on the ground.
Even if adults cannot be directly drowned at this depth, the common people cannot sleep on the bed at night.But for any bungalow with only one floor in the city, the height of the bed would definitely be submerged.
Cooking food has also become a luxury, and it can only be "cooking while hanging the cauldron". Most of the surplus food that is too late to rescue will be soaked in water, and the firewood and straw will basically be exhausted and destroyed.
In the early months of bloody siege of the city, the corpses that starved to death in the battle, or the corpses that were only buried shallowly, were soaked in big water for a few days, and the plague would break out.
Gao Mingheng, the governor of Henan Province, climbed up and stood on the city tower, looking at the vast ocean, and stayed up all night.
Throughout the night, he walked around the city wall several times, and finally collapsed from exhaustion, but his eyes were still wide open, his muscles were exhausted, and his brain could not fall asleep.
"I, Gao Mingheng, would end up here starving to death, catching a plague, and so on. If I had known this, I would have been happier going up the wall myself and being shot to death by Li Zicheng's thieves.
Could it be that I also have the heart of digging rivers and flooding the thieves to die together, and God wants retribution, but why should it only be on our heads!Why didn't Li Gou suffer this punishment together! "
In a daze, Gao Mingheng leaned against the parapet of the female wall and started talking nonsense.
It turned out that after being surrounded for so long, he also had the idea of digging the river and drowning the thieves.It's just that the last step of desperation has not yet been reached, and the defenders in the city dare not organize death squads to break out and dig embankments, so this has not been implemented.
This is not to blame him, nor Li Zicheng. In history, he and Li Zicheng have done things to destroy the embankment of the Yellow River.
It's really the battle that has come to this point, and I'm already red-eyed, I just want to kill the opponent completely at any cost, no matter how much the price is.After all, everyone knows that if the Yellow River is dug up, as long as Li Zicheng still wants to open Feng, it will be a lose-lose situation for both sides, and if he kills one thousand enemies, he will lose at least eight hundred.
However, because of the butterfly effect in this life, Li Zicheng gave up on taking Kaifeng, and he didn't have the ability to take it, so he chose to completely destroy it.
Therefore, although Gao Mingheng also had the intention of digging the river, he had no chance to implement it, not because he had a good conscience. (Let’s explain again, lest the Peasant Army fans say that I only hate Li Zicheng. My bowl of water is flat, and there are people on the government and army side who want to dig the river. It is not only the Peasant Army who thinks so.)
Gao Mingheng was in despair, and soon another news of despair came over him.
"Gaofutai, Gaofutai! Why are you here? The last general sent people to the Governor's Yamen to look for them. They said that you have not returned from patrolling the city all night, so it is easy to find."
Gao Mingheng looked in the direction of the voice blankly, and saw a general with a tall and strong frame, but thin muscles and protruding meridians, without armor, only holding a saber, panting heavily, climbing up the steps of the tower. It is Chen Yongfu, the commander-in-chief of Kaifeng.
Chen Yongfu was not like this originally, he was also a very burly and strong man, but now there are only skeletons and meridians left, the skin and flesh are attached to the muscles and bones, all of which are hungry.
As the commander-in-chief, Chen Yongfu still has enough food to eat in the past few months, but he basically has nothing to eat. He spends a lot of time supervising battles and fighting every day. After a long time, even part of his muscles have decomposed to supply energy——
On this point, all those who have ever exercised in later generations basically know that if you only eat carbohydrates and no protein, you will lose muscle after practicing for a long time.Although people in the late Ming Dynasty did not know the scientific principles, they could still understand the common sense of life.
Gao Mingheng flapped his dry lips: "Didn't the thieves all retreat? What could be worse?"
Chen Yongfu took a few breaths and sighed: "It's the news from Prince Zhou's Mansion. I'm afraid it's not good for His Highness. After all, His Highness is old and has been under siege for a long time. I'm afraid I can't bear it. Why don't you go to Futai?" Let's see."
Gao Mingheng's mood sank, and another sense of powerlessness came to his heart.
Zhou Wang Zhu Gongyun is considered a virtuous king among many vassal kings today. After all, he does not spare his family wealth and has already used all his savings to reward the army to defend the city.
But Zhu Gongyou was born in the eighth year of Wanli (1580) after all, and he is 62 years old this year. Compared with other Henan vassal kings who were displaced by war disasters, such an old man obviously cannot bear the hardships for too long.
After Gao Mingheng accepted this reality, he sighed together: "Your Highness is a virtuous king. It's a pity, what else can we do now? But fortunately, he died of an illness, and it can be regarded as the end of life. will blame me for waiting."
Chen Yongfu also sighed: "My lord, do you still have the heart to think about what the court thinks of us? We can only resist ten days and a half months longer than the King of Zhou. Sooner or later, we will starve to death or contract the epidemic. What crimes are we afraid of?
If your lord thinks that there is still hope of survival, why not send someone to demolish some houses and build some temporary rafts to see if they can fall from the city wall and cross the water to break through.
When we go outside, there is always a way to survive and find something to eat. I am afraid that if the Yellow River bursts, the population will be wiped out for at least a hundred miles, or even hundreds of miles, and food will not be easy to find.And if he really abandoned the city and fled across the water, leaving the soldiers and civilians behind, then the court would really be able to convict him.How many people can the raft carry? "
After Gao Mingheng was reminded by Chen Yongfu, his mood went up and down again.
He was desperate at first, and never thought about surviving.Chen Yongfu mentioned that the demolition of the house to make a raft to cross the water gave him hope of life, and then he was thrown a basin of cold water by giving up the crime of fleeing alone by the military and civilian vassal king.
According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty and the temper of Emperor Chongzhen, if the city is flooded, it is not completely forbidden to escape, but you must not only escape from officials, you have the responsibility to organize the people to survive.
Gao Mingheng thought for a while and became more irritable, so he tried to cut the mess quickly and asked:
"Then let's see if it is possible to rescue the King of Zhou. Your Highness, if you can escape all the way to Shou County along the Bian River, and ask the doctor for medicine, we will have an explanation. I wonder if the doctor in the palace has seen it. Your Highness is What kind of illness? How long can it last? Is there still hope for salvation?"
Chen Yongfu: "Actually, there is no serious illness. It is nothing more than the exhaustion of Qi and blood, and the entry of dampness and wind evils into the body. If you take good care of yourself, and you have a warm diet, it is possible to delay it for a year or a half. As for the cure, after all, you are old. , the doctor said that it is impossible to cure it."
Gao Mingheng heard that the prince is saved, at least temporarily prolonging his life, and he has more desires to survive, after all, who wants to wait for death if there is a way to survive.
"Let's go, let's go to the palace first." Gao Mingheng's eyes recovered a little, and he was about to check the situation.
But at this moment, a battalion garrison in charge of the defense of the east gate tower at the head of the city suddenly shouted to Futai and the general soldier: "My lord, general town, look! Another bandit army is approaching! There is a string of flames in the sky approaching!"
Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu looked at each other with disbelief.
Chen Yongfu: "How is it possible? The intruders can flood the city before attacking the city? Even if they have to wait for the city wall to collapse, it can't be so fast."
Gao Mingheng: "Where did the intruder take out so many boats all at once? It's impossible. He thinks he is Zhao Xiangzi, Wang Ben, or Guan Yu!"
But unbelievable is unbelievable, the facts are in front of them, the two of them and the soldiers were still nervous for a long time.
Because it was still dark and the vision was not clear, until the fleet sailed for more than a quarter of an hour, and only two or three hundred steps remained close to the city wall, it seemed that it was a big ship.
Some nervous soldiers were about to shoot arrows, and even ignited the remaining two Franglers. Fortunately, Chen Yongfu had the insight to stop them quickly: "Don't shoot arrows! It's impossible for thieves to have such a big ship! Could it be the imperial court's reinforcements? "
The incoming ship finally approached within a stone's throw away, and a group of scolders on the ship began to yell, "Listen up, the guards on the city, we are the sailors under the command of Huguang Shenfutai. We defeated the intruders and chased them here a few days ago. Open the city gate quickly." , our Zhang Zongzhen transported reinforcements from Shenfutai!"
"It's reinforcements!"
"There is food!"
Many officers and soldiers who were already dizzy from hunger suddenly regained their spirits.
Some officers were about to order the city gates to be opened, but then they remembered that the city gates had been blocked long ago. After the water rose yesterday, Mr. Chen even sent people to reinforce the blockages of the gates and filled them tightly with earthwork. It's true.
If the gate were really opened, the water level outside the city would still be seven or eight feet higher than inside the city, and most of the people would be drowned.
After a lot of tossing, Chen Yongfu called the shots and asked someone to prepare a hanging basket to hoist up the officers and some grain bags from the ship outside the city, negotiate and confirm their identities.
If it is confirmed that it is a friendly army, organize people to remove some earthwork at the position where the gap was smashed in the city wall, and pile the soil inside and outside the gap to form a slope reinforcement.If the height of the slope top is only a few feet higher than the water surface, it will be convenient for grain ships to berth directly.
After about a stick of incense, Zhang Mingzhen, the chief of coastal defense, finally went to the city in person and met Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu.
Before Zhang Mingzhen came, Shen Shuren didn't tell him that he wanted to poach people.
After all, Shen Shuren couldn't predict that "Li Zicheng will definitely dig the Yellow River, and Kaifeng will be temporarily unsuitable for human existence", so he couldn't say more requirements.
However, after all, Zhang Mingzhen has followed Shen Shuren for several years, and at the beginning of the year, he and Zheng Chenggong personally participated in the task of transporting grain by sea to Shanhaiguan, and then went to Bijia Mountain to rescue Tashan and Xingshan from the besieged Ming army. There was a bloody battle.
Since then, Zhang Mingzhen has also thought about the taste, knowing that his immediate boss Shen Shangshu and the eldest son Shen Futai seem to like to win people's hearts and expand the power of his direct line in this troubled world.
So Zhang Mingzhen also had this idea, and whenever he had the opportunity, he wondered if he could help win over some more people.Although he was a bit self-assertive, he believed that if Master Futai was around, he would rescue more loyal soldiers.
The two sides met briefly, and Zhang Mingzhen took the initiative to throw out an olive branch: "Gaofutai, Mr. Chen, you are all righteous men who defended the isolated city, and I naturally admire you.
My family, Shen Futai, was also ordered by His Majesty. After Yang Ge's old Zuo Liangyu and Sun Chuanting were defeated, they still rescued Kaifeng alone, and finally repelled Li Zicheng by luck.
Kaifeng is already in such a state now, and the people in the surrounding hundreds of miles have no harvest this year. I think that even if Shenfutai uses Jiangnan grain transfer as reinforcements, it will not be able to save hundreds of thousands of people for half a year——
At least until next year's autumn harvest, it is impossible for Kaifeng to get food from the surrounding areas.Even if it is harvested in autumn, there may not be food. Now that the flood has not receded, there is no manpower to block the mouth of the Yellow River. After more than two months of spring plowing, will the water be completely receded?Otherwise, how to plow in spring?
In the long run, you can still remove as many people as you can. "
Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu had been shaken before, but now that there is a way to survive and people are transporting food, Gao Mingheng inevitably wants to have the best of both worlds.
He thought for a while, and said: "I have the responsibility to guard the land, and I can't abandon the people for the time being. Mr. Chen, why don't you lead a group of troops to escort the King of Zhou out of the city first, and go south along the Bian River, and find a suitable place for medical treatment."
Chen Yongfu also wanted face, afraid of being said to be a deserter, he quickly humbled: "The last general is the chief soldier, how can he escape first, or send a guard to escort the prince first, and then transport away some wounded brothers.
Now that General Zhang has brought in the rations, the city of Kaifeng can hold on for a while at least, and we have to beware of intruders who come and go..."
When Zhang Mingzhen heard that they had been planning to provide food support from Huaihe and Yingchuan for a long time, he couldn't help being disgusted, and reminded:
"Gaofutai, Chen Zongzhen, Shou County and other places' food was originally prepared by Shenfutai for the decisive battle with the bandits. Now there is still leftovers, all thanks to Shenfutai's ingenious calculations, and the quick decision to win ahead of time I caught the intruder and forced him to retreat.
If these grains are transported back to the south, it will take more trouble and loss, so they are used to reinforce Kaifeng nearby.But if the stored grain in Shou County is exhausted, Shenfutai will never waste manpower to transport the grain to Kaifeng.
Kaifeng has a population of 10. Instead of staying in this lonely place where food is scarce and unable to engage in production, it is better to transport the young and strong and soldiers out, and get food on the spot where there is plenty of food!The last general also said bluntly that the food in Shou County will definitely not be able to feed 10 people until next year!It can only be a temporary rescue of the urgent need! "
Gao Mingheng blushed, and he also knew that he was begging for food now, and he couldn't ask too much.It is true that so many people cannot be saved, and being able to save some of them is already an outpouring of kindness.
So after an urgent negotiation between the two parties, a condition was finally reached: Zhang Mingzhen continued to transport food to Kaifeng to prevent too many people from starving to death.And every time the food is unloaded and returned, as many people can be taken away and moved to a safe place.
As for who to pull and who not to pull, Zhang Mingzhen has the final say, Gao Mingheng doesn't interfere.
From the nearly [-] Kaifeng defenders under Chen Yongfu's command, veterans were first selected and transferred, and then it was the turn of the young and middle-aged people.
All people over the age of 40, men and women, will not be able to transport for the time being. If children cannot walk, run and jump by themselves, or are too young to die on the road, they will not be transported. Others that are easy to survive will be transported.
Zhang Mingzhen also agreed that next time he came to transport grain, he would also transport some lime in addition to the grain. The defenders in the city could also find ways to raise it to see if there was any lime that had not been flooded.
When the hungry soldiers and refugees retreated, they had to be sprayed with lime to prevent the outbreak of the plague.These are also tricks that Zhang Mingzhen learned from Shen Futai, which is very useful for preventing epidemics when sailing intensively to transport troops.
In the afternoon of the same day, Zhou Wang Zhu Gongyun, who was seriously ill, was first rescued by Zhang Mingzhen, which also set up a fig leaf for the great retreat. It was not the officials and soldiers who wanted to escape, but the escort of Zhou Wang to escape.
Zhu Gongyun was lying on the sickbed and was carried away by the whole bed. When he saw Zhang Mingzhen, he also burst into tears: "This king is already at this age, what else can I save? Why don't I let the fallen leaves return to the roots and have a safe life right here?" .”
Zhang Mingzhen said expressionlessly: "My lord wants to live in peace in Kaifeng, but I'm afraid it's impossible. Kaifeng is full of floods, and the dead soldiers and people are all thrown into the water. Let's go and join King Lu and King Fu with peace of mind. The rest of Henan All kings, as long as they are still alive, they were all rescued by Shen Futai."
Zhu Gongyun has been separated from the world for a long time, and he doesn't know what happened outside, so he was very moved after hearing this.
"Da Ming finally relied on these young people to save him. When I leave my watch on my deathbed, I will definitely try my best to speak well to His Majesty about the great virtues of Futai."
(End of this chapter)
November nineteenth, early morning.
The entire city of Kaifeng was shrouded in a mass of lifelessness, sorrow and despair.
Since the afternoon of yesterday, the pervasive torrent suddenly surged out from the breach of the Yellow River, and within an hour, it completely submerged the surrounding area of Kaifeng City.
The water outside the city is more than ten feet deep, and there is a city wall blocking it at least inside the city, which can temporarily block most of the accumulated water, but the amount of water seeping in is enough to pile up several feet on the ground.
Even if adults cannot be directly drowned at this depth, the common people cannot sleep on the bed at night.But for any bungalow with only one floor in the city, the height of the bed would definitely be submerged.
Cooking food has also become a luxury, and it can only be "cooking while hanging the cauldron". Most of the surplus food that is too late to rescue will be soaked in water, and the firewood and straw will basically be exhausted and destroyed.
In the early months of bloody siege of the city, the corpses that starved to death in the battle, or the corpses that were only buried shallowly, were soaked in big water for a few days, and the plague would break out.
Gao Mingheng, the governor of Henan Province, climbed up and stood on the city tower, looking at the vast ocean, and stayed up all night.
Throughout the night, he walked around the city wall several times, and finally collapsed from exhaustion, but his eyes were still wide open, his muscles were exhausted, and his brain could not fall asleep.
"I, Gao Mingheng, would end up here starving to death, catching a plague, and so on. If I had known this, I would have been happier going up the wall myself and being shot to death by Li Zicheng's thieves.
Could it be that I also have the heart of digging rivers and flooding the thieves to die together, and God wants retribution, but why should it only be on our heads!Why didn't Li Gou suffer this punishment together! "
In a daze, Gao Mingheng leaned against the parapet of the female wall and started talking nonsense.
It turned out that after being surrounded for so long, he also had the idea of digging the river and drowning the thieves.It's just that the last step of desperation has not yet been reached, and the defenders in the city dare not organize death squads to break out and dig embankments, so this has not been implemented.
This is not to blame him, nor Li Zicheng. In history, he and Li Zicheng have done things to destroy the embankment of the Yellow River.
It's really the battle that has come to this point, and I'm already red-eyed, I just want to kill the opponent completely at any cost, no matter how much the price is.After all, everyone knows that if the Yellow River is dug up, as long as Li Zicheng still wants to open Feng, it will be a lose-lose situation for both sides, and if he kills one thousand enemies, he will lose at least eight hundred.
However, because of the butterfly effect in this life, Li Zicheng gave up on taking Kaifeng, and he didn't have the ability to take it, so he chose to completely destroy it.
Therefore, although Gao Mingheng also had the intention of digging the river, he had no chance to implement it, not because he had a good conscience. (Let’s explain again, lest the Peasant Army fans say that I only hate Li Zicheng. My bowl of water is flat, and there are people on the government and army side who want to dig the river. It is not only the Peasant Army who thinks so.)
Gao Mingheng was in despair, and soon another news of despair came over him.
"Gaofutai, Gaofutai! Why are you here? The last general sent people to the Governor's Yamen to look for them. They said that you have not returned from patrolling the city all night, so it is easy to find."
Gao Mingheng looked in the direction of the voice blankly, and saw a general with a tall and strong frame, but thin muscles and protruding meridians, without armor, only holding a saber, panting heavily, climbing up the steps of the tower. It is Chen Yongfu, the commander-in-chief of Kaifeng.
Chen Yongfu was not like this originally, he was also a very burly and strong man, but now there are only skeletons and meridians left, the skin and flesh are attached to the muscles and bones, all of which are hungry.
As the commander-in-chief, Chen Yongfu still has enough food to eat in the past few months, but he basically has nothing to eat. He spends a lot of time supervising battles and fighting every day. After a long time, even part of his muscles have decomposed to supply energy——
On this point, all those who have ever exercised in later generations basically know that if you only eat carbohydrates and no protein, you will lose muscle after practicing for a long time.Although people in the late Ming Dynasty did not know the scientific principles, they could still understand the common sense of life.
Gao Mingheng flapped his dry lips: "Didn't the thieves all retreat? What could be worse?"
Chen Yongfu took a few breaths and sighed: "It's the news from Prince Zhou's Mansion. I'm afraid it's not good for His Highness. After all, His Highness is old and has been under siege for a long time. I'm afraid I can't bear it. Why don't you go to Futai?" Let's see."
Gao Mingheng's mood sank, and another sense of powerlessness came to his heart.
Zhou Wang Zhu Gongyun is considered a virtuous king among many vassal kings today. After all, he does not spare his family wealth and has already used all his savings to reward the army to defend the city.
But Zhu Gongyou was born in the eighth year of Wanli (1580) after all, and he is 62 years old this year. Compared with other Henan vassal kings who were displaced by war disasters, such an old man obviously cannot bear the hardships for too long.
After Gao Mingheng accepted this reality, he sighed together: "Your Highness is a virtuous king. It's a pity, what else can we do now? But fortunately, he died of an illness, and it can be regarded as the end of life. will blame me for waiting."
Chen Yongfu also sighed: "My lord, do you still have the heart to think about what the court thinks of us? We can only resist ten days and a half months longer than the King of Zhou. Sooner or later, we will starve to death or contract the epidemic. What crimes are we afraid of?
If your lord thinks that there is still hope of survival, why not send someone to demolish some houses and build some temporary rafts to see if they can fall from the city wall and cross the water to break through.
When we go outside, there is always a way to survive and find something to eat. I am afraid that if the Yellow River bursts, the population will be wiped out for at least a hundred miles, or even hundreds of miles, and food will not be easy to find.And if he really abandoned the city and fled across the water, leaving the soldiers and civilians behind, then the court would really be able to convict him.How many people can the raft carry? "
After Gao Mingheng was reminded by Chen Yongfu, his mood went up and down again.
He was desperate at first, and never thought about surviving.Chen Yongfu mentioned that the demolition of the house to make a raft to cross the water gave him hope of life, and then he was thrown a basin of cold water by giving up the crime of fleeing alone by the military and civilian vassal king.
According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty and the temper of Emperor Chongzhen, if the city is flooded, it is not completely forbidden to escape, but you must not only escape from officials, you have the responsibility to organize the people to survive.
Gao Mingheng thought for a while and became more irritable, so he tried to cut the mess quickly and asked:
"Then let's see if it is possible to rescue the King of Zhou. Your Highness, if you can escape all the way to Shou County along the Bian River, and ask the doctor for medicine, we will have an explanation. I wonder if the doctor in the palace has seen it. Your Highness is What kind of illness? How long can it last? Is there still hope for salvation?"
Chen Yongfu: "Actually, there is no serious illness. It is nothing more than the exhaustion of Qi and blood, and the entry of dampness and wind evils into the body. If you take good care of yourself, and you have a warm diet, it is possible to delay it for a year or a half. As for the cure, after all, you are old. , the doctor said that it is impossible to cure it."
Gao Mingheng heard that the prince is saved, at least temporarily prolonging his life, and he has more desires to survive, after all, who wants to wait for death if there is a way to survive.
"Let's go, let's go to the palace first." Gao Mingheng's eyes recovered a little, and he was about to check the situation.
But at this moment, a battalion garrison in charge of the defense of the east gate tower at the head of the city suddenly shouted to Futai and the general soldier: "My lord, general town, look! Another bandit army is approaching! There is a string of flames in the sky approaching!"
Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu looked at each other with disbelief.
Chen Yongfu: "How is it possible? The intruders can flood the city before attacking the city? Even if they have to wait for the city wall to collapse, it can't be so fast."
Gao Mingheng: "Where did the intruder take out so many boats all at once? It's impossible. He thinks he is Zhao Xiangzi, Wang Ben, or Guan Yu!"
But unbelievable is unbelievable, the facts are in front of them, the two of them and the soldiers were still nervous for a long time.
Because it was still dark and the vision was not clear, until the fleet sailed for more than a quarter of an hour, and only two or three hundred steps remained close to the city wall, it seemed that it was a big ship.
Some nervous soldiers were about to shoot arrows, and even ignited the remaining two Franglers. Fortunately, Chen Yongfu had the insight to stop them quickly: "Don't shoot arrows! It's impossible for thieves to have such a big ship! Could it be the imperial court's reinforcements? "
The incoming ship finally approached within a stone's throw away, and a group of scolders on the ship began to yell, "Listen up, the guards on the city, we are the sailors under the command of Huguang Shenfutai. We defeated the intruders and chased them here a few days ago. Open the city gate quickly." , our Zhang Zongzhen transported reinforcements from Shenfutai!"
"It's reinforcements!"
"There is food!"
Many officers and soldiers who were already dizzy from hunger suddenly regained their spirits.
Some officers were about to order the city gates to be opened, but then they remembered that the city gates had been blocked long ago. After the water rose yesterday, Mr. Chen even sent people to reinforce the blockages of the gates and filled them tightly with earthwork. It's true.
If the gate were really opened, the water level outside the city would still be seven or eight feet higher than inside the city, and most of the people would be drowned.
After a lot of tossing, Chen Yongfu called the shots and asked someone to prepare a hanging basket to hoist up the officers and some grain bags from the ship outside the city, negotiate and confirm their identities.
If it is confirmed that it is a friendly army, organize people to remove some earthwork at the position where the gap was smashed in the city wall, and pile the soil inside and outside the gap to form a slope reinforcement.If the height of the slope top is only a few feet higher than the water surface, it will be convenient for grain ships to berth directly.
After about a stick of incense, Zhang Mingzhen, the chief of coastal defense, finally went to the city in person and met Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu.
Before Zhang Mingzhen came, Shen Shuren didn't tell him that he wanted to poach people.
After all, Shen Shuren couldn't predict that "Li Zicheng will definitely dig the Yellow River, and Kaifeng will be temporarily unsuitable for human existence", so he couldn't say more requirements.
However, after all, Zhang Mingzhen has followed Shen Shuren for several years, and at the beginning of the year, he and Zheng Chenggong personally participated in the task of transporting grain by sea to Shanhaiguan, and then went to Bijia Mountain to rescue Tashan and Xingshan from the besieged Ming army. There was a bloody battle.
Since then, Zhang Mingzhen has also thought about the taste, knowing that his immediate boss Shen Shangshu and the eldest son Shen Futai seem to like to win people's hearts and expand the power of his direct line in this troubled world.
So Zhang Mingzhen also had this idea, and whenever he had the opportunity, he wondered if he could help win over some more people.Although he was a bit self-assertive, he believed that if Master Futai was around, he would rescue more loyal soldiers.
The two sides met briefly, and Zhang Mingzhen took the initiative to throw out an olive branch: "Gaofutai, Mr. Chen, you are all righteous men who defended the isolated city, and I naturally admire you.
My family, Shen Futai, was also ordered by His Majesty. After Yang Ge's old Zuo Liangyu and Sun Chuanting were defeated, they still rescued Kaifeng alone, and finally repelled Li Zicheng by luck.
Kaifeng is already in such a state now, and the people in the surrounding hundreds of miles have no harvest this year. I think that even if Shenfutai uses Jiangnan grain transfer as reinforcements, it will not be able to save hundreds of thousands of people for half a year——
At least until next year's autumn harvest, it is impossible for Kaifeng to get food from the surrounding areas.Even if it is harvested in autumn, there may not be food. Now that the flood has not receded, there is no manpower to block the mouth of the Yellow River. After more than two months of spring plowing, will the water be completely receded?Otherwise, how to plow in spring?
In the long run, you can still remove as many people as you can. "
Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu had been shaken before, but now that there is a way to survive and people are transporting food, Gao Mingheng inevitably wants to have the best of both worlds.
He thought for a while, and said: "I have the responsibility to guard the land, and I can't abandon the people for the time being. Mr. Chen, why don't you lead a group of troops to escort the King of Zhou out of the city first, and go south along the Bian River, and find a suitable place for medical treatment."
Chen Yongfu also wanted face, afraid of being said to be a deserter, he quickly humbled: "The last general is the chief soldier, how can he escape first, or send a guard to escort the prince first, and then transport away some wounded brothers.
Now that General Zhang has brought in the rations, the city of Kaifeng can hold on for a while at least, and we have to beware of intruders who come and go..."
When Zhang Mingzhen heard that they had been planning to provide food support from Huaihe and Yingchuan for a long time, he couldn't help being disgusted, and reminded:
"Gaofutai, Chen Zongzhen, Shou County and other places' food was originally prepared by Shenfutai for the decisive battle with the bandits. Now there is still leftovers, all thanks to Shenfutai's ingenious calculations, and the quick decision to win ahead of time I caught the intruder and forced him to retreat.
If these grains are transported back to the south, it will take more trouble and loss, so they are used to reinforce Kaifeng nearby.But if the stored grain in Shou County is exhausted, Shenfutai will never waste manpower to transport the grain to Kaifeng.
Kaifeng has a population of 10. Instead of staying in this lonely place where food is scarce and unable to engage in production, it is better to transport the young and strong and soldiers out, and get food on the spot where there is plenty of food!The last general also said bluntly that the food in Shou County will definitely not be able to feed 10 people until next year!It can only be a temporary rescue of the urgent need! "
Gao Mingheng blushed, and he also knew that he was begging for food now, and he couldn't ask too much.It is true that so many people cannot be saved, and being able to save some of them is already an outpouring of kindness.
So after an urgent negotiation between the two parties, a condition was finally reached: Zhang Mingzhen continued to transport food to Kaifeng to prevent too many people from starving to death.And every time the food is unloaded and returned, as many people can be taken away and moved to a safe place.
As for who to pull and who not to pull, Zhang Mingzhen has the final say, Gao Mingheng doesn't interfere.
From the nearly [-] Kaifeng defenders under Chen Yongfu's command, veterans were first selected and transferred, and then it was the turn of the young and middle-aged people.
All people over the age of 40, men and women, will not be able to transport for the time being. If children cannot walk, run and jump by themselves, or are too young to die on the road, they will not be transported. Others that are easy to survive will be transported.
Zhang Mingzhen also agreed that next time he came to transport grain, he would also transport some lime in addition to the grain. The defenders in the city could also find ways to raise it to see if there was any lime that had not been flooded.
When the hungry soldiers and refugees retreated, they had to be sprayed with lime to prevent the outbreak of the plague.These are also tricks that Zhang Mingzhen learned from Shen Futai, which is very useful for preventing epidemics when sailing intensively to transport troops.
In the afternoon of the same day, Zhou Wang Zhu Gongyun, who was seriously ill, was first rescued by Zhang Mingzhen, which also set up a fig leaf for the great retreat. It was not the officials and soldiers who wanted to escape, but the escort of Zhou Wang to escape.
Zhu Gongyun was lying on the sickbed and was carried away by the whole bed. When he saw Zhang Mingzhen, he also burst into tears: "This king is already at this age, what else can I save? Why don't I let the fallen leaves return to the roots and have a safe life right here?" .”
Zhang Mingzhen said expressionlessly: "My lord wants to live in peace in Kaifeng, but I'm afraid it's impossible. Kaifeng is full of floods, and the dead soldiers and people are all thrown into the water. Let's go and join King Lu and King Fu with peace of mind. The rest of Henan All kings, as long as they are still alive, they were all rescued by Shen Futai."
Zhu Gongyun has been separated from the world for a long time, and he doesn't know what happened outside, so he was very moved after hearing this.
"Da Ming finally relied on these young people to save him. When I leave my watch on my deathbed, I will definitely try my best to speak well to His Majesty about the great virtues of Futai."
(End of this chapter)
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