I

  Chapter 431 429【Plague and Flood】

  Being surrounded by the city and contracting the plague is completely different from squatting outside the city to face the plague.

  People in the city will think that as long as I rush out of the city, I can escape from the center of the plague. If I don't rush out, I will die sooner or later if I stay in the city!

   On the sixth day of the siege of Jinan, the coach of the Qing army, Azig, took the initiative to leave the city.

   Not to mention that the soldiers couldn't bear the psychological pressure, even Azig himself was going crazy. When he led troops to exterminate the rebel army, a plague broke out in the army. Facing the outflanking of Fei Ruhe and Zhang Tieniu, he could only temporarily retreat into Jinan City for defense.

  As a result, more and more people were infected with the epidemic, and the non-combat attrition of the Eight Banners Army has reached nearly one-third.

  Azig didn’t know the purpose of masks until three days ago, so he searched the whole city for cloth and ordered the whole army to wear masks.

  But he didn't know that the mask had to be boiled every day, otherwise the mask would become a breeding ground for germs after wearing it for a long time.

  Besides, Azig has a noble status and specially wears a pair of silk masks.

  Azig was very frightened, because five of the generals he had contacted recently had been infected with the plague and died, including Gao Jie and Li Chengdong.

  Thousands of the Eight Banners Army, tens of thousands of surrendered soldiers and generals, did not wait for the Datong Army to pull out the artillery, and the whole army went out of the city early in the morning for a decisive battle.

   "Run!"

   I saw those surrendered soldiers and generals who did not line up after leaving the city, but chose to flee in all directions.

   Not to mention taking up weapons and fighting **** battles, they don't even want to be next to friendly soldiers. Everyone who goes out looks like a plague-infected body.

   Azig stood on the tower, and he didn't dare to be next to the soldiers. He planned to wait for the whole army to leave the city, and then lead the Chinese army out of the city to command the battle. In the end, the fight hadn't started yet, and the soldiers under his command were scrambling to escape. What the **** kind of fight is this?

   "Go!"

   Azig knew he would be defeated, so he didn't even want the Eight Banners infantry, and fled with only the Eight Banners Xiao cavalry.

  Fei Ruhe, Zhang Tieniu and others were also dumbfounded when they saw the situation on the opposite side. Thousands of dragoons went out immediately, and even a missionary officer rode a horse and took out a tin horn and shouted: "Surrender without killing, don't run around! Surrender without killing, don't run around!"

  If these tens of thousands of deserters break up and disperse to various counties, the plague will wreak havoc everywhere they pass!

   There are too many defeated soldiers, and the dragoons can't take care of them when they leave the city from all directions. The north was blocked, and the south was mountainous. Azig fled westward with the Manchu cavalry.

  When the Datong Army discovered the situation, Azig had already escaped for a mile, and Ma Wannian hurriedly led his dragoons to chase him.

   You were chasing me for more than ten miles, when Azig suddenly fell off his horse, his whole body was burning with fever.

   "The Eight Kings are infected!"

   Seeing Azig's symptoms, the Manchu cavalry shouted in horror. They didn't dare to come over to help him onto the horse, and they didn't even dare to get too close, so they all abandoned Azig and left.

   Waiting for Ma Wannian to catch up, seeing this situation, he was also terrified, and quickly ordered: "Don't stand next to this person, wait for the civilian husband to come and set fire to him. Continue to pursue!"

  These Manchu cavalry had nowhere to escape.

   To the north of Jinan City, hundreds of years later was the Yellow River, which is now called the Daqing River. To the east is the Wuhe River (also known as Xiujiang), a tributary of the Daqing River, to the west is the Shahe River, a tributary of the Daqing River, and to the south is a large area of ​​mountainous areas.

  The Manchu and Qing cavalry fled to the banks of the Shahe River, so they could only follow the river to the south and plunge into the mountainous valley.

  This river valley is eighty miles long and goes straight to Mount Tai. After leaving the valley, it is Tai'an.

  Ye Chen rode to Yide's side and shouted: "This is not the way to escape. There are not many enemy cavalry chasing, so turn around and annihilate them first!"

  Elder fought with Dodor before, and finally fled with more than a thousand cavalry. He is very experienced: "These gunfire cavalry are very difficult to deal with. Let's fight back and they will run away!"

   "Go back and try!" Ye Chen was still unwilling.

  Ye Chen's full name is Wanyan Yechen. He is already in his fifties and is a first-class hereditary viscount.

   There were three thousand Manchu cavalry, and Ma Wannian only brought two thousand cavalry to chase them. Seeing the Manchu cavalry turn around and attack, Ma Wannian ordered the dragoons to fire their guns, and then immediately ran away on horseback. Anyway, the armored enemy cavalry would definitely not be able to catch up.

  Because the distance was too far, a salvo only hit a dozen enemies.

  Ye Chen roared furiously: "Bastard!"

  Yilde sighed: "I told you, those gunfire cavalry will definitely flee."

  Seeing that the Manchu and Qing cavalry stopped, Ma Wannian also ordered the dragoons to stop, and took the opportunity to dismount the whole army to load ammunition.

  Elder said: "It's better to order the soldiers to take off their armor. Our horses are better, and we will definitely be able to escape out of the valley."

  Ye Chen shook his head and said, "How can the elite of the Eight Banners lose their armor before the battle?"

  Yilde pointed to the opposite side: "They loaded the ammunition and came again."

  Ye Chen gritted his teeth and said, "Rush again, wait for the enemy to release their guns, and take off their armor while they are reloading!"

  The Manchu and Qing cavalry charged again, and the dragoons fired their guns from a long distance away. This time they hit more than 20 enemies, and they rode horses very quickly to cover the distance.

   Taking advantage of this opportunity, all the Manchu and Qing cavalry took off their armor, and then rode fast horses straight to Mount Tai.

   Once the armor weighing dozens of kilograms was taken off, the dragoons really couldn't catch up!

  The war horses of the Eight Banners of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties belong to the Mongolian horse breed, and they are produced in the Maolian Grassland of the Muling River (Maolian River). The Wanda Mountain Ranch of later generations is located there, which is the Wanda Mountain of "Wanda Mountain Milk Powder". As early as the Tang Dynasty, it was used by the Bohai State to herd war horses, and later generations of Liao and Jin also obtained horse sources from here.

  The shoulder heights of Mongolian horses vary enormously. The short ones are only 1.20 meters, while the tall ones can reach 1.35 meters.

  In any case, the Mao Lian horse selected by the Qing Dynasty must be stronger than the Jeju horse of the Dragoons as a whole. Generally speaking, when marching fast, the armor is carried by inferior horses, and no one will ride on a horse wearing armor.

  The real Manchu cavalry fought in battle. If they faced large-scale infantry, they would also choose to dismount and fight on foot.

   Except for the Yehe tribe, the cavalry of other tribes in the Manchu and Qing Dynasties are scumbags, and dismounting and fighting on foot is their real specialty.

   But Ye Chen and Yide took the unarmored Manchu cavalry to Mount Tai and left the valley passage, throwing the Datong dragoons far away. Although they escaped to death, everyone was terrified, because another person had a fever on the way.

  In the initial stage of the plague outbreak, most of them were mild and glandular.

  The epidemic in Shandong has already reached its peak and has developed into pneumonic plague. A few hours after the onset, there will be high fever, chest pain, cough, and then cough up **** sputum. If not treated in time, he will die of heart failure in two or three days.

  Europe called this thing the Black Death, which reduced the population of Europe in the Middle Ages by one-fifth. Individual regions, such as Genoa, directly lost 60% of their population.

  Historically, in Beijing in the last years of Chongzhen, a quarter of the people died due to the plague. The situation in Jiangnan was equally tragic. Wu Youke's "On Epidemic Epidemic" is the result of his experience in treating plague in Jiangnan. The worst of these was Tongxiang County, where the plague infection rate exceeded 90%. The population of nearby Huzhou Prefecture has dropped by 30%.

   Fortunately, because Zhao Han occupied Jiangnan in time, there was no more famine in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and there were no more corpses left unattended.

  Jiangnan in this time and space escaped unharmed!

  More than 2,000 Manchu cavalrymen robbed food all the way, and went around from Tai'an to Dongping. When crossing the river, they were intercepted by the local rebels. Because they had already taken off their armor, they did not dare to fight a large number of rebels, leaving hundreds of corpses and fleeing in a hurry.

  Until they escaped from Shandong from Qiu County, there were only more than 2,300 cavalrymen left, and the cloud of plague was always hanging over them.

   So far, the entire territory of Shandong and Henan has been recovered.

  The Daming Mansion and Guangping Mansion in Northern Zhili also changed their flags and became the territories under Zhao Han's jurisdiction.

   There is no way to fight anymore. Firstly, there is not enough food, secondly, the plague is prevalent, and thirdly,...the flood broke out.

   Kaifeng.

  Zhao Han stood on the city tower, watching the flood in the north and remained silent.

   Henan, which has been in drought for several years, finally stopped the severe drought this year, but it rained continuously in early summer. Huanglinggang in Guide Mansion (later subordinate to Cao County, Shandong Province) broke through again, and Cao County and Shan County were submerged into a swamp country.

  The epidemic over there is already serious, and this flood will almost drive the newly appointed county magistrate crazy.

  A few years ago, there was a flood in the south and a drought in the north, but now it has become a flood in the north and a drought in the south. Many areas in the south have experienced severe drought and no rain this year.

   "Your Majesty, it's time to eat." Li Xiangjun came to remind him.

  Zhao Han didn't know that Li Xiangjun had become an official in the palace until before his personal conquest. This is a "number of people", Zhao Han didn't think much about it, and directly transferred Li Xiangjun to be a servant.

  At this moment, the epidemic situation in Henan has also become serious, mainly due to the large population movement caused by the war.

  Zhao Han has ordered that all people in Shandong and Henan must wear masks.

   Those who do not have the ability to make masks can cover their mouth and nose with a piece of cloth, and they must be sterilized by boiling water every day.

  Zhao Han and Li Xiangjun also wore cotton masks, and everyone tried not to come into close contact.

  Zhao Han has to return to Nanjing quickly. If he dies from the plague, he will really become the laughing stock of the world.

   "How difficult it is to make a country, what kind of country is it?" Zhao Han couldn't help sighing.

  Li Xiangjun said: "The prosperity of the world is a state of great harmony."

Zhao Han smiled helplessly, and said to himself: "The Yellow River needs to be harnessed, but there is not enough food, so it is impossible to mobilize manpower. The puppet Qing who fled back to Beizhili can't pursue it anymore. Everything is blocked by this flood." Living."

  Li Xiangjun said flatteringly: "Your Majesty's government will definitely be cleared up in Haiyan and Hebei within ten years. The puppet Qing remnants, the grasshopper's time is numbered after autumn."

   "Haha," Zhao Han said with a smile, "You really know how to flatter horses."

  Zhao Han was devastated by the plague and floods, and Dorgon was dumbfounded when he returned to Beijing.

  The inner city and outer city of Beijing, whether Manchu or Han, began to be infected with the plague on a large scale. Many Manchu nobles clamored to leave Beijing, not only because of the crisis in Liaodong, but also because of the terrible plague in Beijing.

   This plague in Beijing should have been faced by Chongzhen, and the time for the Manchus to enter the customs was too early!

   And Hauge, who was fighting against Li Zicheng in Shaanxi, also had cronies to inform him of the news. Hauge left Li Zicheng alone and took the initiative to lead his troops back to Beijing. Li Zicheng took advantage of the situation and took the whole of Shaanxi, and went all the way to the border of Shanxi.

   King Chuang is back!

  (end of this chapter)