I have a cornucopia

Chapter 211 Wild Dogs

It doesn’t matter what choice He Tengjiao makes.

It's no use if he doesn't run away.

If Li Zicheng really led an army of 200,000 southwards, he would not be able to stop them with just that few people.

Li Zicheng, who went south this time, was not bringing any bandits with him. He had tens of millions of taels of silver in his hands. He had nearly a year to rest and recuperate, so he could be said to have a strong army and horses.

Especially after winning over the various tribes of Western Mongolia, he obtained a large number of horses through trade. Although he could not afford to raise too many real war horses, after all, they needed feed, and Li Zicheng, who was short of food, even beans and sorghum were important food. Therefore, the size of the regular cavalry remained at 30,000 to 40,000, but the number of infantry riding horses, camels and even mules increased significantly. The number of firearms also increased significantly. In the final analysis, the silver in his hands was really useful. A big money owner who could spend tens of millions of taels of silver was enough to make those profiteers ignore everything else.

Not to mention the merchants from the south, even the merchants from Shanxi traded frequently with him.

The Shanxi merchants didn't like him, but they also disliked his money.

What's more, he also controls the Hedong Salt Lake.

Moreover, he also controlled the Xiangmei District in southern Shanxi, and could use the already well-developed artillery foundry industry to forge a large number of iron cannons for himself...

Double-decker iron cannon.

The inner layer of the barrel is made of wrought iron, and the outer layer is made of pig iron. Since the end of the Tianqi period, southern Shanxi has been casting a large number of such cannons for the defense of the Great Wall. Although they are not as heavy as copper cannons, they are not a problem for defense or warships. Li Zicheng used a large number of such cannons for defense, and then used copper to cast light cannons for mobile warfare, and even began to mount ultra-light cannons on camels. The Ming army originally had the tactic of mounting Portuguese cannons on horseback, but it only developed camels that carried more weight and consumed less food, so the camel city tactic was inevitable. After all, after getting rid of the constraints of the civil service system, these guys who crawled out of the pile of dead people knew how to fight. As long as they were given enough stable time and financial resources, they would naturally be able to put their designs into practice.

The same applies to local governance.

Those old bandits have already started to adopt the military settlement model that combines farming and warfare.

At this time, the population in the northwest had already dropped sharply, so the land issue was weakened. The remaining population was concentrated on high-quality farmland, and the landlords who originally controlled these farmlands were basically killed or fled. The old bandits who took over the local power just took their men to play farming and fighting together.

Completely militarized.

Moreover, Li Zicheng will not collect taxes for the time being.

He has tens of millions of taels of silver. Apart from anything else, he will have no financial pressure even if he does not collect taxes for three years.

This will also lead to internal unity.

Including his mode of holding the emperor hostage to control the princes, it also solved the psychological burden of the original Ming army generals. Everyone did not betray the Ming Dynasty, and there was no problem of loyalty being affected. Everyone was still a Ming official and still loyal to the Ming emperor! It was just that the emperor asked us to listen to Li Zicheng's command. As for Li Zicheng holding the emperor hostage, don't talk nonsense!

What's the threat?

Why did not I see?
It is obvious that Your Majesty just doesn't like attending court just like Emperor Shenzong.

His grandfather didn't attend court for twenty years, so what does it matter if he only didn't attend court for a few months?
In fact, everyone knows that even if Cao Cao used the emperor to control the princes, wouldn't the Han officials who followed Cao Cao and pretended to be foolish continue to enjoy wealth and glory? As long as this layer of skin is not peeled off, then just make do with it. The northwest has been in chaos for nearly 20 years. Who is interested in continuing to toss for the Zhu family?

but……

I like to plunder foreign countries!

The old bandits under Li Zicheng liked it, the original Ming army generals liked it, and even the surviving northwestern gentry liked it.

The more Li Zicheng robbed from outside, the less pressure they had to face.

This is no different from the Northern Zhili gentry under Dorgon. The Qing army that went south this time had more than 80,000 troops. Of course, it was impossible that all of them were from the Eight Banners that entered the pass. The latter could only have 50,000 or 60,000 at most, and they had to fight in many battlefields. More than half of the Qing army that really went south were actually from the Northern Zhili gentry, or the original Ming army that had been transformed into the Eight Banners, including the original Ming army generals, such as Tang Tong and Bai Guangen, who were all in the Qing army that went south. Li Zicheng condensed the Northwest Group into a whole, and Dorgon condensed the North China Group into a whole, and then both set their sights on the most prosperous Jiangnan in the Ming Dynasty.

Such is the way of this era.

They all want to slaughter the fat sheep.

In essence, Yang Feng was the same, but he was relatively gentle and unlike these guys who would kill and burn people at every turn.

There is no technical content at all!

Yangzhou.

old city.

Hou Fangyu, who already had a rat tail on his head, held a silk-wrapped package in his arms, as if he was holding his most beloved. He lowered his head amid the chaos of people shouting and horses neighing, and walked forward hastily on the rotten corpses and bones on the ground.

Of course, in addition to the Golden Rat Tail, he also had a big scar on his head, which was the important reason why he, who prided himself on being a romantic and talented man, finally chose the Golden Rat Tail. Although the knife was not fatal, it cut off his scalp. Even if this scar could grow back, it would not grow hair again. It could only become a big scar that looked like a small cap of some humanoid creature. Instead of having such an image, it would be better to just go with the Golden Rat Tail.

This will also allow the Regent to see his loyalty to the Qing Dynasty.

For a man who could offer to dig the Yellow River for the same purpose, the choice was an easy one.

but……

He looked up at the Qing soldiers in front of him who were also fleeing in panic.

My Qing Dynasty lost!

Isn’t our Qing Dynasty invincible?
How come we can't even take Yangzhou? There's not even Yang Feng here. Why can't our Qing army of more than 100,000 people take Yangzhou? Where's the promise of being invincible?
More importantly, what should he do?

Because he was injured, he had been recuperating. Although Huang Shu said that he would find an opportunity to introduce him to the Regent after he recovered, the problem was that this bastard never kept his promise. So he actually had been mixed in the Qing army, relying on the officers he met when he was under Zuo Liangyu, and counting the loot for them. The latter originally followed Shi Kefa, but this time surrendered to Dorgon.

However, the Qing army retreated suddenly. Because Ajige did not tell these miscellaneous troops when he withdrew, by the time the latter knew about it, the real Eight Banners Army had almost withdrawn.

The miscellaneous brands collapsed instantly.

Then it turned into a disorderly escape in the entire old city of Yangzhou.

The miscellaneous cannon fodder were fleeing, the militia who had surrendered to the Qing army were fleeing, and even the gentry who had surrendered to the Qing army were fleeing. Hou Fangyu was lucky to have embezzled some gold, silver and jewelry when he was counting the numbers, so he had to pack them up and join the fleeing team.

"Get out of the way!"

There was a curse behind him.

Then the whip hit him on the back.

Hou Fangyu screamed and fell forward, then the package in his arms fell to the ground, revealing the gold and silver inside.

He was so frightened that he rushed forward.

But it's too late.

"It's gold!"

"Fat sheep!"

……

There was cheering all around.

Immediately afterwards, a dozen defeated soldiers rushed forward.

"This is mine, you bastards, this is my silver." Hou Fangyu screamed like crazy, desperately scratching the package, but then his ankles were grabbed at the same time, and the force of the dragging pulled him backwards, his chin plowing the ground. He even hit a skeleton next to him, and a broken rib pierced his face. The two fleeing soldiers who were dragging him threw him to the side, and one of them took the jade pendant from his waist.

"You are wearing jade pendants like others. Are you also a scholar?"

A fleeing soldier spat at him.

Maybe she suddenly realized that he was indeed good-looking, and out of jealousy, she kicked him in the face.

Hou Fangyu, who was already injured, now had blood all over his face.

As he wailed, the defeated soldiers divided up all his property, leaving him nothing even the package, and then dispersed, leaving him lying there like the protagonist in a tragedy, with his hands stretched out, howling in agony. Of course, this kind of thing is happening everywhere in the old city of Yangzhou.

The grayness of the times!
Hou Fangyu cried so hard that his heart was broken and he collapsed to the ground weakly.

then……

He suddenly spotted a strange figure.

In the fleeing crowd not far away, a fat woman who looked clean but bloated and wearing coarse cloth made him feel familiar. The woman was obviously a little alert, looking around in the fleeing crowd, holding her belly with both hands as if she was pregnant for seven months. Hou Fangyu struggled to crawl over and ambushed her on the road she had to pass, but it couldn't be called an ambush, because there were dead bodies and injured people like him everywhere.

Not far away, a group of defeated soldiers were robbing a few obviously wealthy women and stripping them of their silk clothes.

A beautiful young woman was being dragged away.

In this apocalyptic chaos, who would care about a seriously injured person!
The fat woman was obviously out of energy, and was out of breath when she ran to Hou Fangyu's side. She had to stop and lean on the ruins, not paying any attention to the bloody face with a rib stuck in it less than half a meter away. But Hou Fangyu was staring at her intently, because under the thick makeup on the woman's face, it was obvious that she had not shaved cleanly, and she was wearing a headscarf on her head, which was not the style of Yangzhou women...

She suddenly turned her head and met Hou Fangyu's gaze.

"Where did this dead ghost come from?"

She screamed.

Hou Fangyu seemed to be injected with something suddenly. He jumped up and pinched her neck with both hands.

"Huang Shu, you bastard, you've caused me so much trouble!"

he growled.

Well, this is Huang Shu.

But it is also normal. Huang Shu is just a dog in the Qing army after all. Who would care about him in such chaos? It is impossible that Ajige would think of taking him with him when he escaped.

"Who are you, you lunatic?"

The cross-dressing Huang Shu struggled hard, grabbed Hou Fangyu's hands to prevent him from strangling his neck, and at the same time raised his feet to try to kick him away.

But he forgot about his stomach. As he struggled with all his strength, the belt on his stomach suddenly broke free, and the gold and jewels hidden inside instantly fell out. Hou Fangyu was holding him and rolling, so as they rolled, the gold and jewels fell to the ground. When Huang Shu woke up, greedy cheers had already sounded around him. The fleeing soldiers swarmed over him, and the few fleeing soldiers at the back even chopped while moving forward.

"My gold, that's my gold, you bastards, I'm going to kill you!"

Huang Shu howled.

Hou Fangyu tried desperately to strangle him.

It was as if Huang Shu's neck was the only thing left in this world.

Huang Shu suddenly loosened his right hand, and at the same time that Hou Fangyu was pinching his neck, he pulled out a piece of rib from someone else's face. This piece of rib had a sharp point because it was broken, and he grabbed the rib and stabbed Hou Fangyu's ribs fiercely. But it was winter, and the latter was wearing a cotton robe, and the broken rib was not the tip of a knife. Although Hou Fangyu screamed, it did not penetrate. Hou Fangyu became ferocious, raised his hand to grab a skull next to him and smashed it on Huang Shu's head. Huang Shu screamed, and he lacked combat experience, so he only knew to stab with the rib. Hou Fangyu also did not understand fighting, so he just pressed on him and kept hitting his head with the skull. Soon the skull broke, and the broken bones also made Huang Shu's face covered with blood.

The fleeing soldiers nearby continued to happily snatch Huang Shu's gold, silver and jewelry.

They both stopped at the same time.

"Hou Chaozong?"

Huang Shu finally realized who this was.

"Huang Shu, you bastard, you have destroyed my Hou family. I will kill you!"

Hou Fangyu howled.

"You are stupid, what does it have to do with me? Don't bite people randomly, you mad dog."

Huang Shu said angrily.

"I kill you!"

Hou Fangyu didn't want to listen to his explanation. Now that he had lost everything, he just wanted to find someone to vent his anger. He swung the broken skull and smashed it on Huang Shu's head again. Huang Shu was of course unwilling to die here. After all, he was still the governor of the Qing Dynasty, but he was forgotten in the city because of the chaos. As long as he went out and caught up with the prince, he would still be the governor of the Qing Dynasty.

While cursing Hou Fangyu, he continued to stab his ribs randomly.

The two men were fighting with bone weapons like two goblins.

The defeated soldiers had already divided up the jewels and left. Similarly, no one cared about their fight and kept running past them. It was unknown how long it had been like this before the two men finally stopped fighting due to exhaustion and collapsed on the ground. They then stared at the blue sky and white clouds above their heads, as well as a few birds flying by with empty eyes...

"There are still two alive here."

A shout in Zhejiang dialect suddenly rang out.

Huang Shu tried his best to turn his head and looked at a team of soldiers wearing half armor.

This is Zhejiang militia.

"help me!"

He quickly shouted weakly in Shexian dialect.

The regiments came over immediately. Of course, they didn't recognize Huang Shu and Hou Fangyu. At that time, Yangzhou City was full of such injured people. Huang Shu was still wearing women's clothes and was covered in blood. Two regiments came forward and lifted him up, preparing to throw him on the carriage next to them. But at this moment, Hou Fangyu suddenly grabbed Huang Shu's arm as if he had resurrected from the dead...

"Catch him, he is Huang Shu, I am Hou Fangyu."

he said weakly.

A militiaman who understood Mandarin was stunned for a moment, then tore off the headscarf that was stuck to Huang Shu's head by blood and flesh.

Inside was a golden rat tail.

"Why do you want to hurt me!"

Huang Shu looked at Hou Fangyu lying on the ground with tears in his eyes.

(End of this chapter)