Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 410 Ma Zhongyi: Speed ​​up, collapse!
The Wu army entering the city lit bonfires at various important roads to provide lighting.

At the same time, the artillery on the city wall was redirected and aimed at the city.

The two battalions stayed quietly on the city wall for one night and received four gentry families and 2 civil and military officials who came to surrender.

The sun is rising,

Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The lieutenant rubbed his red eyes and drew his sword:
"One battalion will stay behind, and the other battalion will follow me down to the city to quickly take control of the government offices, treasury, and barracks, and hunt down the officials and gentry who have escaped."

The prefectural government office was in a mess.

Last night, the prefect of Linjiang took his concubine and children and committed suicide by taking poison.
before dying,
The government's official documents and case files were piled up and burned, and the yard was filled with ashes flying in the wind.

He also left a suicide poem on the white wall, cursing the Wu army and expressing his loyalty from afar.

……

The lieutenant cursed and was very unhappy.

But there is no way to punish the dead.

The military judge who was accompanying the army came with a wooden stick. After several days of continuous high-intensity marching, his physical strength was almost collapsed. Later, he sat on the back of a mule and let the soldiers lead him.

The physical fitness of the soldiers of the 5th Legion is impressive.

The military judge coughed violently for a while, then weakly asked the servant kneeling on the ground:

"Linjiang Prefecture, where is your hometown? Do you have any family?"

"General, my master's native place is Baoding, Zhili. Three generations of our family have been officials. They are a powerful family in the area. Six of our family members who are within the fifth degree of mourning have served as officials in the Qing court. The eldest young master passed the Zhili provincial examination on his first try in his hometown, and ranked sixth."

The military judge looked at the "talkative" servant with interest and asked:

"Have you been holding a grudge for a long time?"

"Yes. The master clearly knew that I liked a maid in the mansion, but he took her by force and made me look at her every day. I felt like I was being fried in oil."

The military judge found a stool and sat down, saying in a low voice:
“Want revenge?”

"Don't be afraid, tell the truth."

……

The servant hesitated for a long time, his eyes a little vicious:

"miss you!"

"Okay, I'll grant you your wish. I'll let you go later, and you go to Changsha Prefecture and tell the Qing court that your master wants to give up his dark ways and join the light, but the price he offered was too high, and in the end the two sides failed to reach an agreement. In anger, our army directly attacked the city, and your master had no choice but to commit suicide by jumping into the fire."

The military judge was obviously a thoughtful guy.

He also instigated:

"Go look in his study. I'm sure he'll have some wild poems there. Literary inquisition, can you understand that?"

The servant looked up, overjoyed:
"Thank you, sir. I understand. I personally saw him handle two cases of unjust imprisonment of poetry~"

The military judge seemed relieved and pointed inside:
"Why don't you go quickly?"

"Yes Yes."

……

The servant crawled and found a few books and a stack of papers from the study.

After bowing, he was allowed to leave.
Before leaving,
The military judge also said meaningfully:

"There is something I need to remind you of. If you can't bite this family to death, it will be easy for them to crush you to death."

The servant shuddered instantly and gritted his teeth and said:
"I understand, and I will not give up until I die."

Watching the villain's back disappear at the city gate, the military judge shook his head and went to find the lieutenant on crutches to discuss the next marching route.

……

On the busiest street in the city,

Dozens of prisoners were brought here, some with deathly pale faces, some crying bitterly, and some with dull eyes.

Among them were officials from the provincial capital, stubborn gentry, and key generals from the Green Camp.

"Aim~"

Ten feet away, a row of soldiers raised their flintlock rifles in unison.

"shooting."

When the smoke cleared, the scene was filled with a strong smell of blood.

The soldiers posted a large red paper near the body, which announced: "Wu's army entered the city to punish the most heinous criminals, and the people lived and worked in peace and were not affected."

After eating and drinking, the large group of people set out the next day and continued their journey south.

Only 50 soldiers and 5 civilian officials were left behind.

This time,
They confiscated all the large animals in the city to provide transportation for the soldiers.

Next stop - Ji'an Prefecture.

……

The Western Army's attack on Fuzhou Prefecture was not very successful. The city had been occupied by Ma Zhongyi, the general of Gannan, for a long time, and was not easy to steal.

finally,
After 4 days of delay, the city wall was finally blown up by blasting.

The commander's face turned black as more than a thousand kilograms of gunpowder were wasted.

The Green Camp soldiers' will to resist is like the water of Poyang Lake.

When the water rises, it floods hundreds of miles, which is quite scary.

When it fell, everything collapsed and became a mess.

After entering the city,
After resisting for less than two quarters of an hour, the defenders surrendered.

More than 2000 people and more than 40 local officials were captured.

"Lieutenant, what should we do?"

"Everyone gather in the city."

The construction of the barbican of Fuzhou Prefecture was supervised by Ma Zhongyi.

The captives were frightened when they saw the Wu soldiers looking down at them. Some cried and some begged for mercy.

This is the prelude to killing the prisoners~
……

"Listen up, fellow Green Camp prisoners. If you want to survive, you must have a knife in your hand, and there must be blood on the knife."

Saying,

Soldiers carried baskets and dumped swords down.

The captives in the city were stunned and silent.

bang~
A gunshot was heard, and a roar came from the battlements:
"I will count down to five. If you don't take action now, I will kill you all. Get ready~"

The black muzzles of the guns were all pointed down towards the city.

moment,

The captives rushed to the city wall and scrambled to pick up swords. The sounds of hacking and screaming were endless.

however,
The Wu army soldiers were very calm, and there was no pity in their eyes.

Because most of them came from southern Zhejiang, and most of them had worked in mines.

Whenever there was trouble in the mining area, the Green Camp soldiers hired by the mine owner would kill people in this way, killing anyone they saw without any discrimination.

Because the miners are strong and dare to risk their lives.

So the Green Camp soldiers tried their best to play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses, firing their guns and arrows from a distance~
Reducing the number of people was a common practice used by local government officials during the Qing Dynasty.

Firstly, it can scare the living with blood, and secondly, it can reduce the number of mouths to eat.

……

The topography of southern Zhejiang can be summarized in one sentence:

Seven mountains, one river and two parts of farmland.

The five prefectures of Taizhou, Wenzhou, Quzhou, Chuzhou and Jinhua were not self-sufficient in food.

Everyone thinks that Jiangsu and Zhejiang are prosperous.

In fact, southern Zhejiang and northern Jiangsu are a pair of brothers in distress. For a long period of history, their living environment was extremely harsh.

Until the mid-to-late 20th century,
Millions of laborers fought against nature and the earth, and used manpower to dig a 400-li northern Jiangsu irrigation canal, allowing the water of the Huaihe River and Hongze Lake to flow into the sea. Only then did northern Jiangsu truly realize its fertile land.

Southern Zhejiang is similar to Fujian, with many mountains.

Therefore, they are doomed to fail in the agricultural society.

Only when business flourishes can southern Zhejiang turn around.

……

18st century,

Yiwu has no small commodities, but it is rich in miners with strong martial virtues!

There are no leather factories in Wenzhou, but there are many "small-scale entrepreneurs" active in the mountains.

Anyway,

In Li Yu's eyes, this is a vibrant land with great potential.

Every time we recruit soldiers,

The notice was posted in the morning and the enrollment was full in the afternoon.

Li Yu has no hope for the adventurous spirit of Jiangsu people. Jiangsu people hate risks from the bottom of their hearts, especially.

The Zhejiang natives are handsome, adventurous and spirited.

Of course,
In fact, Fujianese are more adventurous. Their ideal in life is to "make a lot of money, build a big house, build an ancestral hall, marry a lot and have a lot of children."

However, Wu’s strategy does not include taking Fujian for the time being, so there is no hope for it.

……

The fighting in the city gradually came to an end.

The smell of blood was strong, and the number of people standing was less than 3% of the original number.

The remaining people kept their distance cautiously, holding blood-stained swords and standing with their backs against the city wall.

The city gate slowly opened again.

"Drop your weapons, hold your heads, and line up one by one and come out."

The wolves, tigers and leopards obeyed. "Count the number of people."

"511 people."

"You are all able to survive. I declare that you will all be incorporated into the 1st Expeditionary Force."

The prisoners felt relieved and began to eat voraciously.

A bowl of water and two steamed buns.

Not eating enough is also a defense.

Until they were taken in by the perverts of the 1st Expeditionary Force, trained, beaten, and insulted.

If you can endure it and fight a battle, you can join the ranks of veterans and repeat the classic saying "After many years of being a daughter-in-law, you become a mother-in-law".

……

Linjiang Prefecture, Xiajiang County.

The city gates were tightly closed and the defenders looked gloomy, as if they had lost their parents.

outside the city,

The Wu army was marching forward in a swaggering manner.

A soldier carried the flag, walked to a mile away from the city wall, and poked the flagpole into the soil with force.

He shouted loudly to the city wall:

"The royal army is attacking Jiangxi and will take the entire province in ten days. I'll give you some time to prepare. If you surrender, you can live. If you don't, you will die. I'm telling you, the whole of Jiangxi is ours. We're very busy now and will come back to deal with you."

"If this flag falls, the whole city will be killed."

The soldier arrogantly repeated the words three times, pressed a letter with a stone, and then left.

The magistrate leaned against the parapet with his neck stretched out.

I couldn't say a word for a long time.

"He, aren't they afraid of having their food supply cut off? How can they fight like this? By advancing around the city?"

……

The county magistrate had some knowledge of military affairs and said with a wry smile:

"Your Excellency, it's not that I don't understand, it's that I understand too much. I'm afraid there really isn't a single soldier from the imperial court left in Jiangxi."

"Don't Gannan Town have a lot of soldiers? There are also Mongolian Eight Banners Cavalry."

Seeing no one around, the county magistrate whispered:

"Let the county master know. Although General Ma is also the governor, he has no intention of defending the city. People in Ji'an and Ganzhou are desperately hiding in caves."

"He, what does he want to do?"

"I have a fellow villager who is a judge in Ganzhou. He wrote to me saying that General Ma doesn't want to defend the city at all. He has been busy moving gold, silver, copper, iron, grain, grass and cloth into the mountains since summer. He has built military camps in the mountains and stationed soldiers and grain. He hasn't dug a single inch of trench outside Ganzhou City. How can he defend the city?"

The magistrate's face turned green, and he pointed to the south, trembling:

"He, doesn't Ma Zhongyi know the Qing Dynasty's rule that anyone who loses a city must be executed?"

The judge's eyes wandered:

"The Jiangbei camp is gone, Yangzhou City has also fallen, the Sauron soldiers were unable to control the Wu bandits, and the commander-in-chief of Hailanchahai was also killed. I'm afraid, I'm afraid~"

……

The two stood on the top of the city wall, looking at each other in silence.

There were a total of 150 regular soldiers in the county town, and an additional 400 yamen runners and militiamen.

Who has the guts to leave the city?

What can they do after leaving the city? Rob the grain road? They don't have any grain road at all.

The pioneers sought food from the people along the way.

If you have money, buy it; if you don’t have money, just levy it directly.

You should know that in the absence of natural disasters, Jiangxi not only has no shortage of food, but even has enough capacity to supply Guangdong and Fujian.

In the era of pure agriculture, Jiangxi had excellent conditions.

There's really a lot of food~
Here is the most obvious example:
There is a 60-li-long road between the southern branch of the Ganjiang River and the northern branch of the Pearl River (from Dayu County to Nanxiong County): the Ganyue Ancient Road.

It is also known as the "Ancient Salt and Grain Road".

The people of Guangdong exchanged their surplus salt for the surplus grain of the people of Jiangxi.

……

There is a key checkpoint on the Guangdong-Jiangxi Ancient Road - Meiguan.

Liu Lu, the trusted servant of Ma Zhongyi, the governor of Jiangxi and the general of Gannan Town, who has already raised his flag, is inspecting Meiguan at this moment~
Although he is a servant, he is the master when he goes out.

In the Yunfeng Temple near Meiguan, the smoke of incense is lingering.

A group of Green Camp generals knelt on one knee to greet the arrogant steward Liu.

"Wake up, everyone, is there any urgent military information in Meiguan recently?"

"Reporting to Butler Liu, everything is normal. It's just that the number of caravans has decreased significantly this year, and the number of refugees has increased day by day."

Liu Lu was unhappy:

"When you are on duty, it is called a position. What is a butler?"

"Yes, Lord Liu."

"Well, that's right. Continue?"

"Our troops have reinforced the defenses of Meiguan Pass and deployed 15 red-coated cannons on the top of the mountain, making it impregnable."

Liu Lu looked at Youji with disgust and scolded him:
"What is so impregnable in this world? Shanhaiguan couldn't stop the men of our Eight Banners, so how dare a mere Meiguan claim to be so powerful?"

Guerrilla speechless,

I cursed this bastard a hundred times in my heart.

……

Liu Lu took out a piece of paper and threw it to the guerrilla:

"See for yourself."

"Ah? Give up Meiguan? No, absolutely not."

Bang! Liu Lu slammed the table and stood up.

A slap in the face~
"You are just a guerrilla fighter, and you dare to talk about strategy?"

The Green Camp soldiers around dared not speak out, as they were all filled with resentment.

Youji covered his mouth and said incoherently:

"I will obey your orders."

Therefore, the 1500-man garrison was ordered to abandon Mei Pass and report to Ganzhou Prefecture.

……

The large-scale evacuation of the defenders immediately caused anxiety among Meiguan Supervisor Gui Wuye.

Since Guangzhou implemented the maritime ban, Meiguan's customs duty revenue has plummeted.

7% of the silk, tea and porcelain originally exported overseas would enter Guangdong through this pass, and the caravans heading south were on a scale like a pilgrimage.

After being manipulated by Li Yu,
The caravan successfully dropped to the freezing point. It cannot be said that there was no drop at all, but only that there was really only a little bit.

"Butler Liu, why did you withdraw your troops? What about Meiguan?"

"According to the master's order, Jiangxi bandits are rampant and Wu bandits are coming aggressively. Judging the situation, we have decided to gather troops to defend Ganzhou. If Ganzhou is not lost, Meiguan will naturally be safe. If Ganzhou is lost, Meiguan will still not be able to be defended."

Supervisor Guan Gui Wuye was speechless for a moment, and after a long pause, he asked:
"But Meiguan is the most important pass in Lingnan after all. Are we just going to give up like this?"

Liu Lu pulled Gui Wu to the Buddhist temple and chatted with him in a low voice.

"Fifth Master, you and I are both servants, so we can speak frankly about some things."

"Old Liu, go ahead and tell me."

"Go and ask Guangdong to dispatch troops to take over the defense. If Meiguan is breached, the enemy troops will immediately march straight into Guangdong. Whoever gains will fight for his life. The people of Guangdong should take on the defense of this pass!"

Guiwu was stunned for a whole day, then he sighed, stomped his feet and left.

……

Liu Lu looked at Gui Wu's fat back and said sarcastically:
"We are all servants, and you are not even willing to call me Master Liu?"

That evening,

He stayed overnight at Yunfeng Temple and discussed philosophy with the monks.

He also donated 500 taels of silver to ask for a perpetual lamp.

The abbot was very moved.
Xu promised to perform a water and land ritual for Liu Lu's father who died of illness.

suddenly,

A follower came in and whispered:

"Master Liu, here I come."

"it is good."

Liu Lu left the main hall and quickly disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

Five strong men holding torches knelt on the ground in unison:

"Greetings, Master Liu."

"Get up, are you ready?"

"That's it."

"Be more clean and keep your mouth shut. You will get the benefits."

"Whoo."

……

2 quarters of an hour later,
Hundreds of men in red shirts and black pants, carrying a large flag with the word "Wu" on it, crossed Mei Pass and set foot on the territory of Guangdong.

That night, seven gentry families in the northern part of Nanxiong Prefecture were looted.

A warehouse located by the river, which contained more than 30 taels of customs duties, was also looted.
When the hundred or so soldiers guarding the treasury saw the "Wu" flag and the red and black uniforms, they fled without a fight.
Guangdong was shocked:

The Wu thief entered Guangdong?
(End of this chapter)