Chapter 71 The wind blows in Zhejiang

Author: Scholar Wu

Chapter 71 The wind blows in Zhejiang

In the first year of Qin II (209 BC), Xiang Yu stationed his army in Bian Mountain and built King Xiang City in Huzhou.

King Xiang's city is rectangular in shape, with 367 steps from east to west, 237 steps from east to west, and 136 steps from north to south. It has three gates in the middle, east and west. It is the earliest record of city construction in Huzhou.

In the Jin Dynasty, Guo Pu built an outer city around King Xiang City, and then called King Xiang City an inner city.

In the third year of the Taiping and Xingguo reign of the Song Dynasty (AD 978), the Wuyue Kingdom accepted its territory and returned it to the Song Dynasty. The establishment of an inner city within the outer city was inconsistent with the regulations of the Song Dynasty. The imperial court immediately ordered the demolition of the inner city wall.

In the 17th year of Yuan Zhizheng (AD 1357), the outer city was rebuilt by Zhang Shicheng's general Pan Yuanming. The city perimeter was 13 miles and 138 steps, with 6 gates, including 4 land gates and 2 water gates.

Today's Huzhou City was renovated on the basis of the late Yuan Dynasty, and has not changed much.

Outside the west gate, I saw Ma Li, the governor of Anji, leading hundreds of officers and soldiers and escorting hundreds of "rebels" slowly advancing towards Huzhou.

It was almost dusk. Although news had been received that Anji County would take the captured rebels to Fucheng today. However, the gatekeeper, Mr. Zhou, was still shocked by the team of several hundred people.

Zhou brought the general to the city and asked: "Good fellow, how many rebels have you captured?"

Mr. Hu Ba said with a smile: "This time we finally wiped out all the rebels in Moganshan, and captured the bandit leader 'Uncle Ma' and more than a hundred rebels!"

"Why don't we, Ma Zhizhou, personally escort the rebels to report to the magistrate?"

Upon hearing that the wanted criminal "Uncle Ma" had been captured, the sergeants in the city immediately cast envious glances.

Boss Zhou shouted: "You have made great achievements this time, and you will be rewarded a lot!"

Mr. Hu Bao said: "We, Ma Zhizhou, know that our brothers have worked hard to defend the city, so we specially brought a cart of fine wine to reward our brothers, so that everyone can be happy together."

Hearing that there was wine to drink, the sergeants guarding the city immediately became energetic and rushed President Hu Ba and others to the top of the city.

After General Hu walked up to the top of the city, he shouted to his subordinates: "Why are you so dazed? Why don't you quickly give a share of the wine to your brothers?"

So a group of soldiers holding wine jars rushed to the city wall and enthusiastically distributed wine to the soldiers on the city.

Mr. Hu Ba said: "Mr. Zhou has worked hard too. Why don't you guys take a sip too?"

So he quickly poured wine for Mr. Zhou, and the two of them drank several bowls in a row.

Seeing that he was almost drunk, Mr. Hu put a knife on Mr. Zhou's neck and shouted "do it"!

At this time, most of the soldiers who wanted to resist on the top of the city collapsed on the ground, and some who were still conscious and wanted to resist in time were directly killed.

Having been kidnapped, President Zhou ordered the remaining soldiers not to resist.

After occupying Xicheng, more than 3,000 people from Chongming Camp and Jingnan Camp quickly took control of several other city gates in Huzhou.

At this time, other major facilities in Huzhou City, such as granaries, banks, prisons, armories, etc., were also effectively controlled by the Ming army.

Now only the Huzhou Prefecture's Yamen is still resisting. Huzhou Counselor Wang Renyi is a close confidant of Feng Rujin. When he learned that the Ming army had entered Huzhou City, Wang Renyi immediately led nearly two hundred of his men to retreat into the Huzhou Prefecture's Yamen to protect Feng Rujin.

And Feng Rujin also knew that he usually did many evil things. If he surrendered directly like this, his head would be chopped off by the Ming army to calm people's hearts.

At this time, his last struggle was just to negotiate a decent surrender condition.

Outside the Yamen, Ma Li shouted: "Prefect Feng, now all the six counties under the jurisdiction of Huzhou Prefecture have returned to the Ming Dynasty. You, the prefect's Yamen, are the only one who is still resisting. You should surrender as soon as possible?"

"Otherwise I will set fire to the Yamen. Don't you want the brothers inside to be buried with you?"

In this attack on Huzhou, the one who worked hardest was the newly surrendered Ma Li.

Even this plan to seize the west city of Huzhou under the pretense of escorting "Uncle Ma" was personally arranged and executed by Ma Zhizhou.

Because he was about to become Magistrate Ma, he was fighting for himself, so how could he not contribute.

To say that he set a fire was just to scare Feng Rujin. All the information and atlases of Huzhou Prefecture were in the government office. If it really burned down, where would he, the prefect, go to work?

Feng Rujin also shouted: "It's okay if I surrender, but you must ensure the safety of everyone in the government office. After surrender, you can't settle the score later!"

Now Ma Li was in a dilemma. Feng Rujin was the one Qian Mo named to kill, and wanted to use his head to frighten the traitors in Huzhou Prefecture.

As far as his authority was concerned, the most he could do was to keep Feng Rujin's body intact, but if he gave the words "keep the whole body" back, Feng Rujin would definitely break the pot.

So Ma Li said: "Prefect Feng, I advise you to surrender unconditionally, otherwise I will bring the cannon over and blast it directly, and not even the whole body of the people inside will be left alive."

Feng Rujin was not a fool. When he heard this, he knew that the Ming army still refused to let him go, so he said with a heart: "I don't need you to leave me the whole body. If you don't agree to save my life, I will kill him."

The prefect's yamen was burned down by fire."

As the saying goes, "Those who are bold are afraid of being stunned, and those who are stunned are afraid of losing their lives." Now Ma Li really had no choice but to send someone to ask Qian Mo for instructions.

When Qian Mo heard that Feng Rujin was also a "knife meat", he was afraid that it would be difficult to fool him, so he had to take action himself.

Ma Zhanyuan shouted: "People inside, listen, Qian Mo, the governor of Suhu in the Ming Dynasty, is here to solemnly make a promise to everyone: 'As long as Feng Rujin comes out and surrenders immediately, and turns over his family property, he will not die, and he will never break his promise.'" You still have to wait.

Why don’t you come out and surrender quickly?”

The people in the yamen had long wanted to surrender, but because of Feng Rujin's butcher's knife, they were afraid that he would hold back when he was about to die. As soon as they heard this, they quickly came out and surrendered.

After Feng Rujin came out to surrender, he said: "I am willing to donate one hundred thousand taels of silver and the land deeds to all the acres of land. I hope that the governor will abide by his promise and stay for the next life."

Qian Mo said: "Three years to clear the magistrate and one hundred thousand snowflakes of silver. It seems that Magistrate Feng is really an upright official."

Liu Yichen, who was beside Qian Mo, stood up and read: "Feng Rujin and his family own 72,000 acres of fertile land in Huzhou, more than 300,000 taels of silver, three restaurants, five silk and satin shops, and two pawnshops."

Hearing this, Feng Rujin's face turned pale. It turned out that he had been targeted for a long time, and it seemed that he was destined to die.

Qian Mo said: "Don't worry, I will never break my promise not to kill you. Not only will I not kill you, I will also reward you."

"I will stamp four big characters on your face, 'Reverse the Qing Dynasty and Revive the Ming Dynasty'. Tomorrow you will be branded in front of everyone, and then you can go to work in the mines in the mountains to atone for your sins.

"No one in your family who has committed any crime can work in the workshop to make a living. Others will be severely punished. Those who commit the most heinous crimes will be beheaded in public tomorrow, and the others will be distributed to mine together."

"I promised to spare your life, but I didn't promise to spare your evil-doing family members."

After dealing with Feng Rujin, Qian Mo was in a good mood.

He, the Governor of Suhu, could finally raise the banner of the Ming Dynasty and occupy the territory of a government in an upright manner.

With the help of the Intelligence Department, the news that Qian Mo, the governor of Suhu in the Ming Dynasty, had 50,000 troops to capture Huzhou spread wildly around.

Next we have to look at the reaction of the Qing troops in Suzhou and Hangzhou.

It's a pity that Qian Mo's troops don't have a lot of artillery. Otherwise, Hangzhou would be so empty. Qian Mo would really want to make a desperate move and capture Hangzhou directly.

Although the battalions under the governor's government are now well-equipped and have high morale.

But after all, Qian Mo's troops had never directly attacked any small county town and lacked experience in attacking difficult situations.

Xiao Qiyuan, the governor of Zhejiang, is no ordinary person. Although Hangzhou has a small number of troops, the defense is very tight. The Intelligence Department has not made much progress in developing internal lines in Hangzhou, so there is little chance of a sneak attack on the city.

If you want to capture a strong city like Hangzhou, you can't do it without a large number of heavy artillery and sufficient troops.

A fat man who can't eat anything in one bite should first defend Huzhou and make peace with his fortune.

Theoretically speaking, Huzhou may now face Qing attacks from four directions.

The first direction is Yixing, directly north of Changxing County.

However, at this time, the Qing army in Nanjing was empty, and there was also the threat of the Jiangxi Ming army moving north to Nanjing. The possibility that Ma Guozhu could detach his troops to attack Huzhou was almost zero.

During the insurance period, the Jingnan Battalion still sent 500 people to station in Changxing County to prevent sneak attacks by the Qing army from the north.

The second direction is from Anhui to the west, especially Guangde, which is close to Huzhou.

At this time, the Qing army in southern Anhui was facing an attack by the Ming army. It would be good to be able to defend Huizhou. The Qing army near Guangde had already moved south to support Huizhou, so it was basically impossible to spare troops to attack Huzhou.

At least it was impossible until Jiang Riguang's Northern Expeditionary Army was defeated. This is why Qian Mo sent people to contact them. As long as this Northern Expeditionary Army did not fail, the direction of Anhui was safe for the time being.

Moreover, Anji Prefecture and Xiaofeng County entering Huzhou from the direction of Guangde have to cross the Tianmu Mountains, which is more difficult.

Only Si'an Town in the north of Anji Prefecture is not in the mountainous area.

500 people from the Jingnan Battalion were stationed in Si'an Town to monitor Guangzhou across the street.

Anji Prefecture was garrisoned by 500 Qing troops who had surrendered, led by General Hu Ba.

The remaining 600 people of the Jingnan Battalion are stationed at the Tianmu Mountain passes on both sides of the center with Xiaofeng County, including Dusong Pass in the south.

The third direction is to the east of Huzhou. Tian Xiong's troops stationed in Songjiang may go south to attack Huzhou.

Although the Qing army's troops in the Songjiang area are now quite empty, and the Jinshan Guards' defenders are still threatened by the Chongming Navy, there is no guarantee that Tian Xiong's troops will not come over.

However, Taihu Lake in the north and Jiaxing in the south were actually under the control of the Ming army. When Tian Xiong attacked, he had to go to Nanxun Town in the east of Huzhou.

Considering that Tian Xiong's troops were the elite of the Zhejiang Green Battalion and had relatively strong combat power, with a strength of 5,000, Qian Mo only sent 100 men from the Shenji Battalion to investigate the enemy's situation in the Nanxun area.

It is impossible to stop Tian Xiongbu. Nanxun will definitely give up when the time comes. It just serves as a warning.

The remaining 1,500 main forces of the Shenji Battalion are stationed in Huzhou Fucheng. Even if the main force of Tian Xiong's troops invades, it can be guaranteed that Huzhou Fucheng will not fall in the short term.

The fourth direction is from the south to Hangzhou.

This direction is also the most likely route for the Qing army to take.

If Xiao Qiyuan wants to take back Huzhou, he must send troops from Hangzhou.

Qian Mo deployed all 1,600 men of the Chongming Battalion in Wukang and Deqing counties on the southern line, and tried his best to block the Qing army in the direction of Hangzhou.

It is unlikely that the Qing army would choose to cross Tianmu Mountain to attack Anji Prefecture, and the Jingnan Camp also had troops stationed at Dusong Pass, so they were not afraid of the Qing army crossing the mountain.
To be continued...