I have a cornucopia

Chapter 201 Very stupid and naive

Canal bank.

"I still don't quite understand, why is Dorgon doing this?"

Yang Feng was riding a camel and talking as he walked.

Behind him was a migrating group that stretched as far as the eye could see.

In total, he took more than 100,000 people away from Tongzhou.

Of course, it was not just people from Tongzhou. In fact, a large number of people around the capital went directly to him.

After all, before this, many people in the capital, including those in northern Zhili, were trying to flee their homes and go south to seek refuge with him. Even local gentry or new slave owners brought their servants to patrol the roads and checkpoints to catch escapees. Now that Yang Feng came in person, those who were afraid to flee joined him, and eventually more than 100,000 people followed him south.

Both men and women, old and young.

Protecting them were the several thousand knights and followers led by Yang Feng, plus about 20,000 armed young and strong men.

Such a team could not go too far, especially it would be difficult to break through the interception of the main force of the Qing army.

I can only go to Tianjin first.

Although Man Dahai was counterattacking Tianjin, he actually only pulled out less than 7,000 Qing troops. Although his total force exceeded 30,000, they were scattered in various strongholds along the Water Great Wall. Opposite them was the main force of the Shandong official army, led by Shandong General Yang Dahun, Deputy General Yang Wei, and Lieutenant General Yu Qi.

There are 10,000 troops stationed in the Texas Fortress alone, not to mention the Confucius and Mencius knights from all over the country.

He didn't dare smoke too much.

Now his military strength is not as strong as Yang Daxun's.

If too many troops are withdrawn, they will take the initiative to attack the Qing army’s strongholds.

The 7,000 Qing troops had not been able to capture Tianjin. Not to mention the young men and strong men in Tianjin, even the women had gone up to the city walls to fight. After all, they knew that once the Qing troops captured Tianjin, they would definitely massacre the city. Even if they didn't massacre the city, they would still starve to death if they took away the food they were given. They had to fight to survive. As long as they could withstand the Qing army's attack, even if they were always fighting, it was better than being captured by the Qing army. At least they could eat enough and live one day at a time.

The Ming army in Gegu New City also began to provide them with support.

In short, the two sides are in a stalemate.

In this situation, as long as Yang Feng attacked, Man Dahai would have no choice but to retreat.

Then these accompanying people can temporarily wait in Tianjin to go south in batches.

After his clearance, there would probably not be many people left along the canal from Tongzhou to Tianjin. Even if this area would not be recovered for the time being, it was actually completely ruined.

Sister Dayuer next to him was still walking...

Most of the people walked, so of course she, a slave, had to walk too. Although she was served by the Song Knights for a day and a night, the Song Knights' fighting power was obviously not enough to affect her. She was born in a nomadic tribe and walked very easily. Besides her, there were actually many women from hardcore farmers. After all, Yang Feng had captured more than 10,000 people. These wives and princesses also followed her, but in order to prevent them from escaping, they could only be strung together with ropes.

The Holy Mother Empress Dowager of the Qing Dynasty, together with a group of concubines and princesses, walked along the canal after the snow.

As for Yang Feng’s doubts, the fact is that Dorgon has not shown up yet.

He is still in hiding.

Because of his hiding, the Huguang Army led by He Tengjiao did not dare to reinforce the downstream...

There is also a possibility that he will attack Wuchang again!
However, to Yang Feng's surprise, Yang Tinglin actually managed to hold Chao County. Because Chao Lake was frozen, the Qing army could not attack by water for the time being and could only bypass Chao Lake to attack Chao County. The Jiangxi group headed by Yang Tinglin also knew that once the Qing army opened the Chao Lake channel to the Yangtze River, Jiangxi would be in danger. Just like defending Ganzhou in history, he continued to fight with the Qing army headed by Bolo in Chao County, Hanshan and other places. Although the losses were heavy, with the full support of the Jiangxi gentry behind him, he actually managed to hold on, although the defense was shaky.

Of course, the key is that the focus of the Qing army's attack has shifted to Yangzhou.

Another battlefield was Anqing.

The Qing army marched along the west bank of Chaohu Lake from Hefei, using Gong Dingzi's persuasion to surrender as a prelude, and captured Shu, Lu, Tong and other places unimpeded. However, when marching towards Anqing, they were overtaken by Wan Yuanji, who came from Jiangxi to reinforce Yang Tinglin. The latter brought a group of Dong bandits who had surrendered before...

They were the bandits from Tingzhou and Ganzhou, led by Zhang An, who rushed into Anqing first.

Then the Anqing Elders Association, who were preparing to welcome the king's army, hastily killed the prefect...

He did it all.

We are loyal and righteous, but he insisted on surrendering.

In short, amid the wailing of the prefect, they continued to be loyal and righteous, and the vanguard of the Qing army was repelled by Zhang An. Wan Yuanji took over as the prefect of Anqing and temporarily held on to Anqing.

In fact, the key point is that even the area around Chaohu Lake and even Taihu Lake was frozen in this season. Therefore, although the Qing army seized countless cannons in Fengyang, they were unable to transport them to the battlefield. Only Yangzhou was doing its best to transport them, while the other battlefields were where the Qing cavalry carried the surrendered miscellaneous troops, and they lacked the ability to attack strong fortresses.

Hefei and other places were happy to welcome the royal army. With the help of Gong Dingzi, a famous official from Hefei, they persuaded them to surrender. As the Qing army promised not to shave their heads or change their clothes, the gentry in this area did not have the courage to resist.

As for the consequences of surrender...

The Qing army has already reached the city, so why bother about what happens next?

Can you fight without surrendering?

but……

Dorgon could have released his famous officials who had surrendered, such as Hong Chengchou, Wang Yongji, Song Quan, etc., and continued to persuade them to surrender. In particular, Wang Yongji could have persuaded Yangzhou to surrender instead of attacking. Moreover, he had Zhu Cilang in his hands, so he could have used this signboard to openly persuade the gentry in Jiangnan to surrender.

You are not surrendering, you are just welcoming the Ming Emperor to Nanjing. You are all still loyal subjects of the Ming. Now the Qing and Ming are brothers. The Qing Regent Dorgon specially escorted his brother, the Ming Emperor Zhu Cilang, to Nanjing to be the emperor. Your loyalty has not been affected in any way.

He could totally do that.

As long as he uses Zhu Cilang's name and promises that the Ming and Qing dynasties will remain divided according to the previous divisions.

If it was the Huai River line that divided the Song and Jin dynasties, then I'm afraid that most of the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River would welcome the royal army, including the gentry in Jiangxi and even He Tengjiao.

This is what they have always dreamed of.

In this way, the Ming and Qing dynasties joined forces and turned westward to destroy the scourge of Li Zicheng. After all, for the gentry, Li Zicheng was the real enemy, not Dorgon. They had been calling for an alliance with the Liberation Army to suppress the bandits for a year, but because of Yang Feng's obstruction and various other reasons, they ultimately failed.

Now Dorgon brought this long-desired thing directly to his doorstep.

Why not continue?

That is to say, Yang Feng was still blocking them. Without Yang Feng's obstruction, they would really not hesitate.

Then why is Dorgon still hiding?
"He went south to unify Jiangnan and establish a lasting foundation for the Qing Dynasty. Why did those soldiers follow him? The capital was robbed by you once, Wu Sangui robbed it once, and Li Zicheng almost dug three feet into the ground. Nanjing was robbed by Zuo Liangyu once, and you robbed it again. It is estimated that it is empty now. In order to win over the gentry in Jiangnan, he can't let go of Jiangnan, but his men will not follow him to fight in vain. Is there any other rich place to rob besides Yangzhou?

If Zhu Cilang were to come forward at this time and massacre Yangzhou again, how could he pretend to be the royal army?
Of course, hide it first.

First, we should massacre the people of Yangzhou, and kill a chicken to scare the monkeys, and scare the gentry in Jiangnan. Then, we can let Zhu Cilang show up, and then everyone will be satisfied."

Sister Da Yuer said.

"So he had actually prepared to massacre Yangzhou before he went south. No matter whether he conquered Yangzhou or Yangzhou surrendered, he would inevitably massacre them in the end?" Yang Feng said.

Sister Dayuer just smiled sweetly.

"Damn it, you slaves are only interested in my wealth!"

Yang Feng said angrily.

But think about it, it is true. Dorgon took over a fourth-hand product when he robbed the capital. What else can he have left? There are not many scumbags. If you want to believe Liu Zongmin's clamp, it was done by Yang Feng. Although he can rob Nanjing this time, the problem is that Nanjing is also a second-hand product. And if he wants to win over the gentry in Jiangnan, he certainly can't rob Suzhou. Isn't Yangzhou the only place left with money? Those Eight Banners, from princes to soldiers, didn't they follow the south just to rob?

He had to come up with enough silver to satisfy these guys.

It’s Yangzhou.

The Yangzhou salt merchants had assets of 30 million and annual profits of 9 million.

It can be said that no matter whether Yangzhou was captured or voluntarily surrendered to welcome the royal army, it would inevitably be massacred. The only option to escape was to defend it to the death.

Fight to the bitter end.

"I hope they're not that stupid."

Yang Feng said with emotion.

Yangzhou.

Qing army camp.

Ajige looked at the person kneeling in front of him with great interest.

"How much, three hundred thousand taels?"

He said.

"No, no, in reply to your Highness, the three hundred thousand is only our tribute to you. As for the reward for the Royal Master, there is another one million taels."

The latter said in fear and trepidation while lying on the ground.

"Wu Sangui made eight million in Beijing, Li Zicheng made tens of millions in Beijing, and Yang Feng made twenty million in Nanjing. But when I came to Yangzhou, you only gave me this little money to get rid of me? Do you think I'm a beggar?"

Ajige was so amused that he didn't get angry but laughed instead.

"Your Highness, how dare I? I and the salt merchants in Yangzhou City have been looking forward to the arrival of the Qing army day and night, but we really have no money. That evil man Yang has been extorting us again and again since the 16th year of Chongzhen. Last time, we took out all the money and gave it to Zhang Guowei as military pay. Now there is not much left. Although we are rumored to be rich, we are actually businessmen. Even if we have cash, we have bought salt on the way. The money stored in Yangzhou is just for turnover.

Please, Your Majesty, please look into this matter!"

The man cried and said.

This salt merchant named Wang came out of the city. At that time, Yangzhou was only attacked from the west, and there were no Qing troops on the east. Moreover, there were a large number of warehouses outside the city, and some salt merchants could still enter and exit freely by bribing the defenders.

In fact, Ajige could not surround the city for the time being, because the Yangtze River was open for shipping. Once he divided his troops to surround Yangzhou, he would inevitably disperse his forces, and the Ming army in Jingkou and other directions could completely counterattack him. So he concentrated his forces in the west and then attacked by force, but the attack was not smooth, and in fact it could even be said that he suffered heavy losses, especially because there were too many firearms in the hands of the militia in the city, and they used the banjiu guns and other guns to kill the Qing army from a high position. So Ajige now mainly bombarded, using the cannons seized in Fengyang and dragged here, and continuously bombarded. A gap had long been blasted out of the city wall, but the Qing army attacking the gap was still killed by Gao Jie's servants.

Of course, Ajige had never thought that it would go smoothly...

My Qing Dynasty has not had a smooth life in the past two years.

Besides, those who died among his men were just cannon fodder.

Worthless.

"So you are still poor?"

Ajige said with a smile.

"Your Majesty, we are just trying to make a living."

Salt merchant Wang said with a flattering smile.

Then Ajige stood up and kicked him in the chin, and the latter fell backwards with a scream.

"A poor man who has hundreds of sheep for a banquet?

Before, you said that the gentry in Yangzhou dared not resist the royal army, and that as long as my army arrived here, you would open the gates to surrender. But now that I am here, you say that the city is heavily guarded and you cannot surrender.

I believed it too.

You are businessmen after all.

But since you broke your promise to me, you should give me some compensation. If not 10 million taels, 5 million taels is the norm. But you just want to use this to fool me, and say that you are just businessmen who make a living? Do you think I don’t know your background? Governor Huang, come out and tell them how much silver they should pay to avoid death. "

Ajige said as he stepped on him.

Well, they had actually already contacted each other a long time ago, but these salt merchants had originally promised that once they arrived in Yangzhou, they would find a way to open the door for them.

Of course, they had to promise not to massacre the city, and they had to sign a written agreement...

So silly and cute!
But the problem is that we can’t do that now.

Of course Ajige didn't know that this was because the descendants of these salt merchants had been imprisoned in Wenchang Pavilion by Gao Jie waiting to be set on fire, so they wanted to bribe Ajige with silver not to kill them after he opened up Yangzhou.

Of course, don't rob them.

Still very silly and naive!

After Ajige finished speaking, Huang Shu came in from behind and squatted in front of Wang the salt merchant...

"Brother Wang, although you and I are from the same hometown, I still have to say something fair. This time you are really wrong. You broke your promise to the prince. Now that the prince is magnanimous and understanding of your difficulties, your ancestors are already grateful. You can't be ignorant. Five million is indeed a bit too much. So, I will ask the prince for mercy on your behalf. How about two million taels? Two million silver to reward the army, and another 500,000 taels to pay tribute to the prince. After entering the city, the prince can restrain the royal army and will not harm you in the slightest.

We are from the same hometown, I am doing this favor."

He said.

"Humph, wouldn't that be too easy for them? Moreover, they have done nothing. Even if I want to pardon them, how can I explain to the Regent?"

Ajige sneered.

"That's true. It's hard to justify yourself to the Regent King if you haven't done anything. You can't open the city gates, but you know where the gunpowder is stored in the city, right? You can draw a map of Yangzhou City, right? You should also know where the city walls are in disrepair or damaged in the last battle.
Just pick up some merits so that the prince can speak well of you in front of the regent.

We are from the same hometown, how can I harm you?"

Huang Shu said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)