Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

"What a joke! We've finished all the battles here, and I was asked to go to Fengyang for military discussions. What the hell is the military discussion? Wouldn't it be good to just follow the Shaanxi bandits to Luzhou?" Wu Shigong threw the letter in his hand on the table. superior.

When setting up camp at night, Wu Shigong received a letter from Shandong Governor Zhu Dadian from Fengyang, ordering Wu Shigong to lead his Runing Army to Fengyang at high speed, and discuss military affairs with other civil and military personnel.Of course, the focus of this military meeting is not how to wipe out the peasant rebel army, but how to ensure that Fengyang, the central capital, will no longer be disturbed by the peasant rebel army.

On the 26th of the first lunar month, Zhu Dadian and Zuo Liangyu's troops entered Fengyang, which was already unguarded.And the one who made the first contribution was the highest military officer who led the troops——Zuo Liangyu, the commander-in-chief.He also won the honorary title of "Fengyang Recoverer".

After entering Fengyang, while doing various trivial things to restore the imperial rule, Zhu Dadian issued a summons to the Ming army who came to help from all sides, asking them to rush to Fengyang as soon as possible.

On the 27th, a Caobing army of more than 4000 soldiers entered Fengyang. The Ming army was led by Wu Shigong's old acquaintance, Deputy Caobing General Yan Dingshan.

In addition, in this Cao Bing army, there is another old acquaintance of Wu Shigong - Tang Liu from the Cao Gang.This time Tang Liu also led more than 300 children of the Cao Gang to join Yan Dingshan's army.

Yan Dingshan and Tang Liu used to be from Fengyang Guard. Although they both left their hometown later, most of their families and ancestral graves stayed in Fengyang, so this time they both came to the rescue in a hurry up.

On the 27th, the vanguard of the reinforcements sent by Nanjing also arrived under the leadership of a general Zhang Shen.But what puzzled Zhu Dadian was that the Runing Army who informed them did not arrive.

The envoy sent by Zhu Dadian rushed to Yingzhou first, but when they were in Yingzhou, they learned that the Runing Army had gone to fight in the Huainan section of the Huaihe River, so it was only now that the summoning order was sent to Wu Shigong.

Although it is a convening order.But this order has no binding force on Wu Shigong.Because Wu Shigong is a military officer in Henan, and Zhu Dadian is the governor of Shandong, no matter how he uses literature to drive martial arts, Zhu Dadian can't control Wu Shigong.

It’s just that Zhu Dadian now has great righteousness. No matter how you say it, ensuring the safety of the central capital is always the top priority. Therefore, in this case, for Zhu Dadian, the highest-ranking civil servant at this stage, all military officers should respect him. of the order.

But there is no danger at all in Fengyang now, and the peasant rebel army has already crossed the Huai River and headed towards Luzhou.It was even more because of the great victory of the Runing Army on the banks of the Huaihe River.The Ming army should pursue it in time to completely defeat Zhang Xianzhong, the peasant rebel army.

Zhu Dadian, who issued the summoning order in Fengyang, might not know all of this, but Wu Shigong, who had just finished fighting the peasant rebel army, knew it very well.So in his heart, Wu Shigong never thought of Fengyang participating in such useless military discussions.

And now Wu Shigong couldn't leave.There are a lot of prisoners here.The seizures are piled up even more.

This half-cross attack left most of the captured peasant rebels.Gold and silver jewelry and other things that are expensive and easy to carry around.Basically, they were all taken across the river by Zhang Xianzhong's troops.Therefore, the Runing Army did not obtain much, and only captured more than 3 taels.

But those things that are bulky and inconvenient to transport basically fell into the hands of the Runing Army.More than 900 mules and horses were seized, more than 200 cattle, more than 300 pigs and sheep and other livestock, and a huge amount of poultry such as chickens and ducks.

There are more than 3000 carts, carts and wheelbarrows.Basically all the vehicles of Zhang Xianzhong's troops were left behind by the Runing Army.The property carried on these vehicles, after rough statistics, exceeded 50 taels of silver, in addition to more than 26 shi of grain.Most of the property looted by the peasant rebel army in Yingzhou and Fengyang was at the expense of the Runing army.

The Runing Army also made a fortune from the war.But this can also be seen.Although the common people are in dire straits due to successive years of catastrophes, how rich are those official and gentry families.It can also be seen that although the treasury of the Ming court was quite empty, and even the "suppression of salaries" had to be levied and the Emperor Chongzhen took out the silver from the internal treasury, how rich the people of the Ming Dynasty were.

The other is the seizure of armor and weapons.Although most of the excellent armor and weapons obtained by the peasant rebel army in Fengyang were taken across the river by Zhang Xianzhong and other old battalion troops, the number left over is also extremely large.

There are 31 cannons such as Frang machine guns and tiger squatting guns; more than 220 fire guns such as three-eyed guns, eagle guns and bird guns; more than 400 bows and arrows, more than 2000 spare bowstrings, and more than [-] arrows.

Thirteen pairs of iron armor and seven pairs of vests; however, with the addition of old and damaged ones, there are more than 2000 pieces of leather armor and cotton armor; more than 3000 Ming army weapons such as knives and guns; more than 1000 weapons made by the people; There are countless agricultural tools and wooden guns used in weapons.

Although due to the different standards, except for artillery and firearms, which can be used for city defense, the rest of the weapons are not available for the Runing Army.But Wu Shigong is still going to choose a batch of excellent weapons and armor from them, and first arm his village guards, road guards, and mine guards to prevent the embarrassment of the Runing Army appearing this time. There are reserve soldiers but no weapons and equipment. shape.

But the biggest problem now is to take all these things home.Because the peasant rebel army took most of the mules and horses pulling the cart across the river when they crossed the river, so now this huge amount of property is scattered on this vast river beach.

Therefore, the current Runing Army can't leave this place at all, otherwise, let alone the local people would loot it, even the rest of the Ming Army would rush over with jealousy when they knew about it.

So Wu Shigong ordered: "Give Governor Zhu a word and say that the Runing Army has already fought the Shan bandits here and is about to win a big victory, so they can't escape. But the remaining Shan bandits fled towards Luzhou. Let Governor Zhu rush over with the main force, and pursue the bandit army as quickly as possible."

"No!" Tao Xin responded and was about to go out of the big tent to deliver the order.

"Wait!" Wu Shigong immediately stopped Tao Xin.He rubbed his temples with his fingers.I'm in a bad state today, and I'm really confused.Calling Zhu Dadian's main force over, isn't that leading wolves into the house?How much of these seizures will be left behind?So Wu Shigong ordered Tao Xin again: "Call Vice Commander Zhou first."

After Zhou Xun came over, Wu Shigong ordered: "Governor Zhu of Fengyang told me to go to the military meeting. I will take a regiment of personal soldiers and cavalry over there, and try to hold them back for a few days."

"Take the rest of the people and hurry up to move the seized goods. You must move them all within five days. If you don't have mules, horses and carts, ask those prisoners to pull them. If there are people nearby who are willing to help, don't be stingy with the rewards. If necessary It can be compulsorily confiscated when the time comes, and we will first bring these seizures to Yingzhou."

"Don't worry about the heads of those corpses. Our Runing Army doesn't need so many military achievements. Let the other officers and soldiers get the honor. We only need profit. It's best not to leave even a nail. Also, those who do The ships that were not burned on the pontoon bridge were pulled to Xinyang as much as possible, which also saved us the cost of building a navy and building ships.”

"Be careful! If other officers and soldiers dare to come and snatch them, don't be lenient and beat them to death! I will take care of everything."

On the 29th of the first month of the eighth year of Chongzhen, Wu Shigong led [-] cavalry from the Runing Army to Fengyang.Hearing of Wu Shigong's arrival, Cao Bing's deputy general Yan Dingshan took his generals to visit the Runing Army's camp outside the city in person.

After saluting, Yan Dingshan said to Wu Shigong: "It's a coincidence that Brother Wu came today. Eunuch Luo, the guardian of Nanjing, has arrived with the main force of the Nanjing Jingying. Today, he and Governor Zhu are going to the imperial mausoleum to pay homage. It will be evening will come back."

"Oh? The Beijing camp in Nanjing has also arrived?" Wu Shigong asked in surprise.

"It's time to arrive, but the only thing left is to throw away the helmet and armor!" Yan Dingshan said with a disdainful "hum", "It was 1 when we set off, but there are only more than [-] here, and the rest of the people are left behind."

"Then why are they fighting after they arrive?" Wu Shigong asked again.

"Then why is Eunuch Luo thinking about fighting? His soul is gone, so he wants to rush to Fengyang earlier. In fact, all of this is for the emperor to see. This time Fengyang fell, then Eunuch Luo is the best The end result is to be dismissed from the official position, and in serious cases, he may even lose his head, so he doesn't care about fighting at all, and just wants to show his loyalty more."

Wu Shigong was not in the mood to talk about other people's affairs, so he asked Yan Dingshan, "Then why don't you go to sacrifice together today?"

"Aren't you waiting for you, brother?" Yan Dingshan said a beautiful sentence first, and then explained the reason for staying, "Most of my family and ancestral graves are in Fengyang, and they are all here these days As for the resettlement, I don’t have the heart to be busy with other things at all. It’s also Governor Zhu En’en who arranged for me to guard in the city today, so it’s just in time for Brother Wu’s arrival?”

"Oh? How about Brother Yan's family and ancestral graves?" Wu Shigong asked with concern.

"It can only be said that it's okay! Those bandits have no interest in the ancestral graves in our guards." Yan Dingshan replied, "However, there are very few people in my family who stay in Fengyang, and some brothers stay in Fengyang. There are too many people, and they all suffered heavy losses!"

"Ah! Then I have to burn some incense sticks to brother Yan's ancestors!" Wu Shigong immediately expressed his opinion.

"Brother, thank you in advance!" Yan Dingshan immediately saluted Wu Shigong, "Let's talk about it later! Now that the army is in chaos, it is not convenient to go out of the city. If you use too many soldiers, it will disturb people's hearts. Let's wait for a while. !"

Wu Shigong just said politely, but of course he wouldn't insist.Then he saw Tang Liu who was sitting with him, and asked in surprise: "Brother Tang is here too?" (To be continued...)