Go back to the end of the Ming Dynasty to be a soldier

Chapter 43 Kaicheng, let the people in!
"Lin Yi, there is no joke in the army, what if we can't defend the city?"

"Master Guard, don't worry, if something happens, you can take Ji Dong's head!"

Wang Cheng sneered: "What is a small head of Baizong? For the safety of Yongping City and the adults, even a hundred, a thousand, and ten thousand such heads will not help. Please tell Master Lin Let’s talk about how to defend the city!”

As soon as Wang Cheng said this, he immediately attracted a lot of praise.

"Master Defender is right, what is Master Lin's best strategy for defending the city?"

"That's right, let's talk about it, so that the magistrate and I can understand."

……

Lin Yi said: "To put it simply, it's just eight words, fortify the wall and clear the field, and go all out."

"I thought there was some brilliant idea, this, this..." There was a sound of shaking his head and sighing in disappointment.

It's not that these officials and gentlemen are rare and weird, but because they don't know that these eight words have too deep meaning, but they are commonplace.

Strong walls and clear fields have been used by many generals who lead troops. To put it bluntly, they hide in the city and dare not go out to fight.The Tartars couldn't attack the city and couldn't get supplies, so they retreated naturally. This tactic didn't work much against the Tartars.

Huang Taiji invaded Gyeonggi several times, and many officials in the imperial court fortified the walls and cleared the fields, and did not dare to fight the Tartars outside the city.The Tartars still entered the city, looted, and killed, but they could not enter the city. When they left, they still flaunted their loot with them, jokingly saying that they would not let the Ming court and officials complain. Disgrace to the General.

Go all out, these four words are more flexible.

At this time, Lin Yi said: "Master Zhifu, everyone, if we want to defend this city, we need everyone to take the lead. If you have money to contribute money, and if you are strong, you can only mobilize the people in the city and these more than 1000 old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers to work together and fight together. Only by defending the city can we succeed."

As soon as they were asked to pay, these officials and gentlemen were not happy, and looked at each other like cutting their flesh.

At this time, Zhang Shouye, the official who pushed the official, took the lead in expressing his opinion: "I am willing to spend all my family wealth and recruit warriors to defend the city. I ask Lord Lin to send someone to the mansion to collect it."

Lin Yi praised: "Thank you, Mr. Tuiguan, for your great help. Your Excellency is worthy of being the parent officer of the common people."

Li Qi, the magistrate, blushed and gritted his teeth, and decided to pay 1000 taels of silver. There are 800 taels, and 500 taels. Lin Yi is not too little, so write all the documents in duplicate, let all adults sign with their own hands, and then use the magistrate's big seal, and then send someone to get a list Immediately go to the master's house to collect the money.

The magistrate announced his resignation in this way, and the magistrate Li Qi returned to the inner house, sealed 1000 taels of silver, sent away the official who took the silver, and immediately ordered the housekeeper to pack things secretly, the big and small wives hurriedly packed up the gold and silver, ready to run away at any time... …

Coincidentally, when the chief envoy, the inspector and garrison Wang Cheng returned to their inner house, they also immediately gathered their own family members and generals, and asked their wives and children to pack up and prepare to flee for their lives...

Outside the yamen, many representatives of merchants and wealthy households gathered. They hoped that the magistrate would open the city quickly so that they could escape with their gold and silver treasures. They were sweating profusely, like ants on a hot pot, and some had already knelt down and kowtowed.

Lin Yi and Zhang Shouye, the pusher, came outside and gave a speech to these people: "I, Lin Yi, have the full power to defend the city thanks to the love of the magistrate. Lin knows that everyone is a successful person in Yongping. Please Don't worry, everyone, Lin will live up to the prefect's love and trust, and lead the soldiers in the city to fight bloody battles with the Tartars, and live and die with this city. Don't worry, as long as I, Lin Yi, are here, there will be Yongping Here, we can keep you safe and sound."

"But it's hard for a clever woman to cook without rice. A large number of Tartars have already approached the city. It is impossible to escape from the city. There is no other way but to defend the city. Surrender and escape are suicidal. The Tartars are brutal. The day the city is broken That is when we are waiting for the disaster to come. To defend this city, we need everyone’s support, money to give money, and someone to give people. I hope everyone will not be stingy. If the Tartars invade, don’t say how much gold and silver you have. Fate belongs to others. In order to recruit warriors to defend the city, Lord Tuiguan has already dissipated all his family wealth. Lord Zhifu, Chief Secretary, and Procuratorate have donated tens of thousands of taels of silver. This is the list of donations. Please take a look."

Ji Dong said, showing the prepared list in front of these people.

Lin Yi continued: "Please go back home quickly, take out your gold and silver treasures, and distribute them to the soldiers guarding the city. You must get someone, a young man is worth 100 taels of silver."

Seeing this situation, these merchants, wealthy households, local tyrants and evil gentry had no choice but to grit their teeth, and most of them decided to take out a bag of silver and give up their money to save their lives.

Lin Yi asked Zhang Shouye, the official pusher, to arrange for someone to receive the donated money...

Lin Yi led the soldiers to the top of the city to inspect the city defense.

There are more than 200 soldiers, and now all those who can go to the city have gone to the city. There are only 1050 people, and there are four gates. On average, there are only more than 200 people per gate.

Lin Yi gathered all the 1050 soldiers in the wide area of ​​the city to give an oath speech, or an inaugural speech.He adopted the method of iron and blood orders to increase gold rewards, and each soldier, regardless of his position, was given 20 taels of silver first.

20 taels of silver is not too much, but it is not too little either.The purchasing power of one tael of silver in the late Ming Dynasty was roughly equivalent to the 500 yuan of the red old man in later generations.

It would be good for these generals to pay five taels of silver a month, and the treasury of the Ming Dynasty was short of money, and the phenomenon of arrears of payment was serious.Some have been soldiers for several years, and they haven't seen what the salary is like, but they can make a living.

So when they got it in their hands at once, so much heavy silver, their blood boiled, and they felt like they got rich. They dared to think about buying land with 20 taels of silver, and marrying a wife.If you go to a brothel, you can be chic several times...

These generals were distracted and began to think wildly.

Lin Yi continued: "After repelling the Tartars, each person will be given an additional 50 taels. Those who have military exploits will be rewarded according to the size of their military exploits."

These generals were boiling when they heard this, whether they were young soldiers, old or weak soldiers, their eyes flashed blue. The opportunity to make a fortune has come, and they can't wait to call Lord Lin long live.

But then Lin Yi announced an iron-blooded military discipline: those who disobey orders will be killed without mercy, those who fail to fight will be killed without mercy, those who surrender to the enemy and treason will be killed without mercy, those who leave their posts without authorization will not be punished, and those who commit crimes and break into houses to bully the people will be killed without mercy. Kill without mercy.

This time the crowd was excited, Master Lin followed suit, fought bloody battle with the Tartars to the end, and the voices of living and dying with this city rose loudly.

With such a fighting spirit, Ji Dong is quite satisfied.

Next, Lin Yi inspected their firearms. There was no red-clothed cannon, not even a thousand-jin Flang machine. There were more than [-] guns, birds, and three-eyed guns in the city, some of which were already rusted. It hit loudly.

Gunpowder and ammunition were still relatively sufficient, so Lin Yi ordered people to take them all out, and then divided the firearms and ammunition evenly among the four city gates.

Wherever the Tartars passed by, they burned, killed, looted, and the people in these villages and towns outside the city were also unlucky.

But the four gates of Yongping City are closed like iron barrels, the suspension bridge hangs high, the wide moat, and the tall city wall are like two insurmountable gaps. A large number of refugees gather outside, wailing everywhere.

The soldiers on the top of the city will turn a blind eye.

Seeing this scene, Lin Yi frowned and said, "Kaicheng, let the people in!"

The general guarding the city said: "My lord can't open it, what if there are Tartars sneaking in?"

Xiaoying narrowed her eyes and said sharply: "What's so difficult about this? Strictly check and find out the identities of the people who entered the city. Can the heads of the Tartars be the same as those of the Han people? You are just making excuses and don't care about the people's identities." Live or die!"

The leader guarding the city gate is a hundred chief, he is the confidant of the garrison lord Wang Cheng, and he said disdainfully: "Please keep your morals in your mouth, the order is hard to disobey, and it is the order of the prefect and the garrison lord to close the city gate. We are also following orders.”

"You bastard! Lord Lin is now the lord of the city, and there is an order from the magistrate, and anyone who disobeys the order will be beheaded!" Zhang Hua said and pulled out half of the knife.

Unexpectedly, this Baizong didn't piss on his pot at all, rolled his eyes, "Why is Mr. Lin not Mr. Lin, this Baizong only knows Mr. Zhifu and Mr. Garrison!"

As soon as the Baizong finished speaking, the arc-shaped knife light flashed, and with a spurt of blood, the Baibo's head flew out, and then five corpses fell into the pool of blood.

The military order was like a mountain, killing one to warn a hundred, and now all the generals present were shocked.

Lin Yi held a blood-dripping steel knife, his eyes were like torches, and he said in a deep voice: "Thanks to the love of the magistrate, I, Lin Yi, is now the city guard and can call all the power and resources in the city. No one is allowed to block. All saboteurs will be beheaded, Lin now orders you to open the city and let the common people come in, if you go up to the peak to blame, Lin will bear all the consequences, it has nothing to do with you!"

"Follow Lord Lin's order, hurry up, open the city, open the city!"

The suspension bridge fell, the jack gate was stirred up, and the city gate opened wide.

When the people outside the city saw that the city gate was opened, they rushed to the city like a swarm of bees, as if they were robbing the city for treasure. Some lost their skulls, shoes, and other things.

At this time, Xiaoying, who was standing next to Lin Yi on the top of the city, shouted at the common people coming down like a tide: "Folks, don't worry, Mr. Lin is here, and I will ensure that you all enter the city before closing the city. "

"Master Lin is such a good official! Master Lin is so good! Thank you, Master Lin..." The common people really slowed down, shouting and rushing into the city.

"Your Excellency, it's not far away. It's about twenty or thirty miles away. They have ruined the people in many villages. These Tartars are really not human. Hurry up and close the city." The people who entered the city shouted.

Lin Yi immediately dispatched Zhang Hua, Erhu, He Tao and Wang Qi to order a hundred cavalrymen, and set off from the four gates with his command arrows. Those within a radius of ten miles will pick up the common people and bring them into the city. When you enter the city, you can't take it all and burn it, and you can't leave it to the Tartars. From now on, the city will be closed in half an hour.

These four people have now become Ji Dong's confidants, and they promised to go away.

(End of this chapter)