Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 652 Gentlemen

"Please, spare me! Little one, I'm willing to dedicate all of my family property to the Qing Dynasty, and to the masters!"

Kneeling on the ground, his obese body has already shivered into a ball. Bao Lu, the once glorious general merchant in Yangzhou, begged for mercy like a plague chicken. Looking at him now, who would have thought that a month ago, he would still be complacent , high-spirited and tight, relying on their wrists and money, these salt merchants finally squeezed away the thief Song Qingshu who had been fighting with them for several years, and defended the greedy interests of Huizhou landlords and Yangzhou salt merchants.

But now going back and forth, Bao Lu would rather give Song Qingshu all his property in exchange for the lives of his whole family!

What is a small loss?He Baolu is like this, so is the Yangzhou gentry, and even the entire Jiangnan shilin is like this. The enemy is now reluctant to part with his own petty gains. Now, Yangzhou has to pay the price first.

For this noble person who is under one person and over ten thousand people kneeling down to beg for mercy, in the eyes of those Qing soldiers, there is no mercy in exchange for Taoism. Anyway, the Han people are pigs and sheep. Kill them all, and then take all their property. There is no need to show mercy. Amidst Baolu's wailing, he watched his proud third son beheaded and his beloved concubine pressed down on the table by several Qing soldiers with grim smiles. , just before he was about to collapse, a Qing soldier came over benevolently and slashed him.

What is fate that hurts people? Sometimes, he is too fat to die. When Baolu opened his eyes again, he had been carried out of the city. The astonishing smell of blood was earth-shattering. Looking down, thousands Wan's body was randomly thrown into a mountain by the impatient Nanming soldiers!
It's really piled up into a mountain, a mountain of corpses!
Pillowing under Bao Lu's body was Meng Zhen, the great salt merchant of Yangzhou. His old, dim eyes were protruding, and his desperate expression made people mad. , the intestines were clattering out of the old man, exuding an unpleasant rotten smell. Nearby, the daughter of the Liu Family Salt Merchant was plucked bare, covered with various scars, especially on the chest, only a pair of clothes that used to be like that were left. With big eyes like autumn water, he looked at the sky blankly.

The Yangzhou salt merchants of the Ming Dynasty have now become a historical term and no longer exist. Thinking about the salt merchant group that Song Qingshu tried his best to uproot, it was so fragile in front of these barbarians.Everyone I knew died!Baolu's tense nerve finally broke, and after searching around, he finally knelt down on the pile of sticky corpses, holding his maggot-soaked stomach wound, and raised his head to the sky, screaming in mourning. .

"Oh my god!"

When Shi Kefa was guarding the empty city in Yangzhou, Ying Tian was also in a mess.

In fact, Yingtian has soldiers. Since Song Qingshu was expelled, the Donglin princes who have no sense of security have continuously transferred Zhejiang soldiers, Jiangxi soldiers and coastal guards into Beijing. In the eight towns, Yingtian mercenaries amounted to 12.

However, in response to the words of the old treacherous official Zhou Yanru, what is lost in Jiangnan today is the hearts of the people!In history, Zhang Xun's 5000 troops dared to resist the hundreds of thousands of Anshi rebels for more than a year. However, Yingtian City, which has an army of 12, has no sense of security at all, and people are panic everywhere.

Not to mention sending troops to support Yangzhou, as soon as the news that Yangzhou was surrounded by the Qing army came, the soldiers of the towns themselves had already started to break up and flee on a small scale.

The extreme turmoil of people's hearts has even been expressed in the court hall. The densely packed court of hundreds of officials, which was originally crowded with people, is now half empty. Everyone has seen how the officials were tortured after the fall of the capital. Now the building In the near future, many people have abandoned their officials and fled from Yingtian City.

"Where is Gao Hongtu, Gao Dashi? Where is Liu Zongzhou, Mr. Liu? Zhang Shenyan and Zhang Yushi!"

Now that he is no longer in the mood for pleasure, Zhu Yousong's fat face trembled into a big steamed bun, his eyes were red, like ants on a hot pot, standing on the alchemy hall and roaring unceasingly with.

In the face of the national crisis, more than half of the dignified Donglin gentleman ran away, and even the existing government agencies were not complete. Zhu Yousong was furious in panic.

This can be regarded as a common method used by bureaucrats in power. They use retreat as an advance, and leave with a crown on the cusp of the storm, with an aggrieved appearance. So, at this juncture, Qian Qianyi still felt extremely embarrassed and embarrassing, so he reluctantly stood up and clasped his fists and asked to play.

"Returning to Your Majesty, several senior scholars, the cabinet department has been feeling unwell recently, senior senior scholar Gao is retiring, and Mr. Liu Zongzhou has a recurrence of back sores, so he asked the Ministry of Rites for leave!"

Go ahead and lie to ghosts, more than 170 senior officials are on sick leave together!Flu?Also flushed with anger by this perfunctory explanation, Zhu Yousong was about to continue roaring furiously, but suddenly, like a deflated balloon, he sat back on the dragon chair weakly, limp Spread your hands to the ministers.

"Nowadays, the Jiannu army is pressing down on the border and is approaching Nanjing. If you have any countermeasures, please submit them quickly!"

Deadly, silent.

History is repeating itself astonishingly. Just like when Li Zicheng's army came to the capital, the remaining officials in Nanjing can't wait to tuck their heads in their crotches. They have all reached this point. What do they think?
Moreover, Zhu Yousong is too stupid. Before the fall of Chongzhen City in history, even Li Jiantai was willing to supervise the army for a battle, and Wu Sangui rushed to the rescue three hundred miles away. Nobody wants to die for him!

"Your Majesty, no, we, surrender, surrender, surrender!"

Trembling like a sieve, the great scholar Wang Duo begged in a barely audible voice, but before he could finish speaking, he was kicked hard, and his legs softened and he knelt on the ground directly.

"As a grand scholar, you actually asked your majesty to surrender to the slave chieftain? Aren't you afraid of eternal infamy?"

In the end, there was still a minister who kicked Wang Duo down. Chen Zilong clasped his fists in disbelief and said, "Your Majesty, Yingtian still has more than a hundred thousand soldiers, and the world still thinks that this is the world of Ming Dynasty. We should fight against Jiannu! Another minister please Quickly recall the Marquis of Jingnan, recall the great scholar Ma Shiying, and defend the city of Nanjing!"

This remark aroused a buzz of discussion among the officials. At this juncture, many people still showed reluctance when thinking about Song Qingshu's land policy. Already in a rage, he stood out of the court holding his wat.

"Your Majesty Chen's words are a big deal! The thief of the Song Dynasty extorted violently and used his own will. How can I call him back? I should have returned to heaven, but once he comes back, the hearts of those who don't will be scattered? It is a great disaster for the country! Your servant please get rid of this thief immediately. Noble title, to show the world!"

"Then Mr. Zhao is willing to supervise Yangzhou?"

When Zhu Yousong asked a word full of hope, Zhao Zhilong suddenly got stuck and couldn't speak for a long time. Zhu Yousong immediately waved his sleeve angrily.

"Scrap!"

"At such a time when the country is in peril, Mr. Zhao, you are still caring about your own party's self-interest. You, how detrimental to the country and the people!"

"Master Qian, tell me!"

Feeling anxious, Chen Zilong turned his attention to Qian Qianyi, who is now the highest status in Donglin.

"If the Marquis of Jingnan and Ma Shangshu are not recalled, once Yangzhou is lost, it will be over!"

In an instant, everyone's eyes were focused on Qian Qianyi again. Beads of sweat were already rolling out on his forehead, and Qian Qianyi shook his head with difficulty just after he had settled for a few seconds.

"This matter should be discussed by the cabinet and come up with a perfect plan before it can be implemented!"

"The perfect strategy! The perfect strategy! It will be too late to come up with the perfect strategy!"

Furiously stomping his feet, Chen Zilong was full of indignation, and he flicked his sleeves heavily.

This grand court meeting, which decided the fate of the imperial court, broke up unhappily amidst such a delay.

On the 25th and 26th, for two days in a row, more than half of the cabinet lacked a perfect plan as Qian Qianyi said. However, the news of the fall of Yangzhou came to Nanjing. Zuo Liangyu, who had not returned to Wuchang in Jiujiang, also died of a sudden illness, and Zuo Menggeng, who succeeded the throne, led Chu Zhen to surrender to Hauge.

In particular, the horrific massacre in Yangzhou caused great panic in the south of the Yangtze River. Before the Qing army could cross the river, the Nanming court was on the verge of disintegration.

Some of them, such as Chen Zilong and Xia Yunyi, were completely disappointed with the imperial court, and they were going to hide in their places to fight against the Qing Dynasty. However, more people were frightened and fled back to their hometowns to avoid disaster. It might be that he is waiting and watching the new dynasty with his fancy, to see if he can get an official to do it.

The chaos reached its climax on the second day of May, but unlike his cousin Emperor Chongzhen who was full of worries, Zhu Yousong didn't have so much burden in his heart. Emperor Hongguang, who was unwilling to sit still and waited for death, cleaned up the people's fat and anointing from the palace, and then At dawn on the second day of May, under the protection of more than 2000 imperial guards from Tian Cheng, he escaped from Yingtian City. An emperor actually fled the country.

It was less than a full year since he ascended the throne as emperor last year.

The entire south of the Yangtze River fell into collapse, and all the original regimes and all orders collapsed accordingly. The atmosphere of the end of the world enveloped the entire Chinese civilization.

On the eighth day of May, taking advantage of the heavy fog in the Yangtze River, the Qing army, which had just massacred 80 people in Yangzhou, crossed the river wearing blood-stained uniforms and armor!

(End of this chapter)