On the evening of the second day of October in the eighth year of Chongzhen.
The city of Xi'an was eerily quiet. Since it was surrounded, martial law in the city has become increasingly severe.
When Chen Qihuang returned from outside the city, a layer of gloom settled over the city.
No one knew what happened, only that there seemed to be something in the air, brewing restless thunder.
until curfew.
Every house was closed, but they heard the long-lost sound of troops marching in the market, followed by curses, fights, and cries, and then the sound of wheels rolling over the stone slabs of the long street, repeated over and over until early morning.
By daybreak, the city had calmed down, but people discovered that more noise was coming from the direction of the royal city.
However, everything that happened in Xi'an Fucheng had nothing to do with Liu Chengzong outside the city.
The attention of the entire siege army of the Marshal's Mansion was focused on the construction of two large camps west of Xi'an and on the north and south plateaus of the Weihe River.
Winter has arrived, and it is not suitable for the army to continue camping in the wild, so Liu Chengzong planned two permanent camps on both sides of the Wei River and began to build barracks.
The construction of these two camps has nothing to do with the siege, but the organizational structure of Xi'an Prefecture is not based on the specifications for garrisoning a large army.
There are barracks here, and there are countless houses in the Four Guards of Xi'an, but they have long been transformed from barracks focusing on military operations to residential buildings focusing on farmland. A thousand households can be spread out over ten pieces of land the size of Yuhe Fort.
.
If the second brigade and second battalion of Liu Chengzong's headquarters were stationed separately according to that specification, they would have to travel for three days to deliver an order.
What's more, the permanent camps in the north and south of the Wei River can also provide venues for the winter training of the troops, making up for the lax military discipline caused by the protracted siege.
Therefore, the camp must be repaired.
However, Fucheng should still be surrounded, but not as tightly as before, but this made almost no difference to the defenders of Xi'an Fucheng.
After all, although no siege equipment was built outside the city from the beginning, the siege facilities were very sufficient, with trenches and fortification walls crisscrossing each other. Even if the number of men and horses dropped suddenly, they would still be unable to get out.
Not to mention the large camp planned by Liu Chengzong on the south bank of the Wei River. The east wall used the west wall of the earthen fortress that surrounded the city.
Just because he had said it again, the Fucheng defenders had no intention of rushing out at this moment.
The marshal's army outside the city is busy building barracks. When winter comes, who doesn't want to rest comfortably in the barracks?
The morale of the Ming army in the city was even stronger than theirs, because Governor Chen Qiyu finally thought of it and ordered the soldiers of the Four Guards to guard the four streets. The city was divided into four areas. During the curfew, the soldiers of the Four Guards asked for food from the wealthy households in the four cities.
If you ask for food, leave it. If you can't ask for food, leave immediately. After everyone has asked for food in the street, the homes of those who refuse to hand over the food they asked for will be searched together.
The city was in terrible chaos that night.
Chen Qiyu was not planning to ransack his home as soon as Chen Qihuang returned to the city.
He understood very well that Liu Chengzong was forcing him to do so.
It took several days from making up my mind to getting ready.
For example, the governor's headquarters was specially moved to the west gate, and pacesetters were assigned to guard the city defense. They were always ready to open the door and run to the marshal's barracks if the situation turned bad.
At the same time, during the day when the order was being prepared, Wang Qiaonian and others were specially found in the camp and ordered to be captured by the pacesetters and placed under house arrest.
Of course this is to protect them.
After all, this kind of order is not as easy to implement for the defenders of Xi'an Fucheng.
Orders must be executed, and many of the executors themselves are from rich families in Xi'an. The richer the family, the higher their status in the army and the more determined they will be to defend the city.
Fortunately, the raging fire did not burn his head. Many officers from wealthy families were killed by people around them before they could organize their forces to fight against the rebellion.
Under night in Xi'an Fucheng, Chen Qiyu apparently ordered the house to be ransacked, and the Four Guards troops executed it.
In fact, it's like an officer's battle royale. If any soldier draws a sword against an officer who comes from a wealthy family, God will automatically match him with teammates, and the one-on-one battle will directly turn into a team battle.
There was no way, because many officers from the guard station who had some wealth but not that much wealth calculated their accounts and found that instead of disobeying the governor's military order, it was better to confiscate their own homes as well.
After raiding one's own house and raiding other's houses, the money left behind can be better than what was accumulated in the previous twenty or thirty years.
What's more, when the chief officer is eliminated and the adjutant goes up, we can move up as well.
In the daytime, the generals of the Four Guards reported the harvest. In one night, they obtained more than 80,000 shi of food and grass in the city, more than 25,000 jins of gold and silver, and no amount of copper coins.
early morning.
Chen Qihuang stood beside Chen Qiyu and narrowed his eyes as he listened to the amount of money and food reported by the officers of the Fourth Guard.
But before he could speak, Chen Qiyu tugged on his sleeve, accepted the amount with a smile, and promoted the surviving officers of the guard station, and specially won over a few people.
After everyone retreated, Chen Qihuang said anxiously: "Brother, these soldiers are really crazy. Liu Chengzong is watching all the money they confiscated outside the city. How dare they take it without their heads?"
The Chen brothers knew very well that there was no need to guess at this number, as it was far from the actual amount copied.
The food supply may be 60 to 70%. After all, even the wealthy households in Xi'an Prefecture cannot save much food at home.
But the money is definitely just a fraction, not even half.
At most 30%.
Xi'an is a huge city. People ransacked the houses and screamed for execution. The traffic was noisy all night long. In the end, they got 400,000 taels. Who would believe this little money?
Even their hometown, Baodou City, has more than this amount of wealth.
Either someone buried the money underground, or the soldiers took too much.
Chen Qihuang said: "I don't believe it, but can Liu Chengzong believe it? The day we open the city is the day when we will exterminate our clan, brother!"
However, Chen Qiyu waved his hands feebly as his whole body looked like it was over.
After Chen Qihuang asked again and again, he sat upright and said: "Jin Xuan, Xi'an was closed for three months, and only one of the generals, Commander Cui Hu, died of illness. He was still a hereditary commander with no actual teaching."
"Last night, a total of nine commanders of the Four Guards died. According to reports, not one of them died of internal strife. Do you believe it?"
"Ah."
Chen Qiyu snorted and said to Chen Qihuang: "I know that the defenders are unreliable, how can Liu Chengzong think they are reliable? Since they are unreliable, why do you need me to do it?"
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Uh, this..."
It's not that Chen Qihuang doesn't know, he just talks about it.
He could feel Liu Chengzong's purpose for doing this in his heart, but he had so many thoughts at the same time that he couldn't describe it in words, so he could only open his mouth and talk.
Chen Qiyu obviously had a stronger ability to organize and speak on this matter. He just patted his chest: "Let me do it, just let me beat myself up."
"Yes, that's what that stupid thief meant!"
Chen Qiyu rolled his eyes: "That's it, he doesn't care how much money he gets, why do I care? I just beat myself up."
However, Chen Qiyu believes that the biggest problem with his half-brother's thinking is that it is not comprehensive.
This is not his fault, but his brothers all followed his advice and did not become officials.
To put it bluntly, it doesn't matter how much gold and silver we have stolen now.
Because before the city was opened, it didn’t matter whose hands the gold and silver goods were.
Silver doesn't have legs and can't run away.
No matter how much gold and silver the Xi'an garrison has now, it is just a temporary storage for their eyes. When the city opens, the marshal's army, which looks like wolves and tigers, will come in and sweep them all away.
Chen Qiyu had nothing to do about it. He was only responsible for issuing this order, but before this morning, he did not expect that the order would cause such a huge turmoil.
The killing of nine third-grade military attachés at the command level meant that the Xi'an garrison's inertia of resignation had been completely broken.
The new commanders who reported to the west city gate tower were no longer the military attaches who could obey orders, but unorganized and violent military leaders.
The inertia of power has always been strong. Even if the entire system falls apart, as long as there is still a fig leaf left, the power structure will still be able to run stumblingly on the basis of inertia until this piece of cloth is torn off.
Until the piece of cloth is torn off.
Chen Qiyu thought that it would be enough if he could save the life of his clan in this turmoil.
He said to Chen Qihuang: "Jin Xuan, when you leave the city, you and many of your brothers will become officials."
Chen Qihuang's eyes were as wide as copper bells: "Brother, you didn't let us become officials in the past, but now you want to surrender thieves, but you let us become officials instead?"
Chen Qiyu was extremely bitter and shook his head: "I was wrong."
He is not wrong.
Chen Qiyu does not think that his past suggestions were wrong at all.
In the past, clan brothers were not allowed to serve in official positions because of the national conditions of the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty is a machine that completely relies on inertia. Everyone hopes that it can be restored to its original state with a little oil, but all parts are aging and this cannot be done.
On the contrary, when this side is oiled, the running speed is increased, and the pressure is increased, the parts on that side will break.
It took a lot of effort to replace a usable old part there, but the parts elsewhere were broken again.
I kept tinkering with it and walked tremblingly.
In this situation, everyone can have problems.
The result is sure to be too much work and too many mistakes, and it is easy to make big mistakes before the sky falls.
Therefore, his decision was right. He tried his best not to become an official to reduce the cost of making a big mistake.
But this theory is useful for the Ming Dynasty, but not for the Marshal's Mansion.
Chen Qiyu now only knows Liu Chengzong in eight words: he is vicious and cruel, and he likes to sit together.
You can't guard against him even if you don't become an official.
However, the events of breaking down the family and exterminating the clan after surrendering to the Marshal's Mansion were too far away for Chen Qiyu. The only real problem he faced now was how to capture the Prince of Qin's Mansion.
In fact, it was much easier to capture the Qin vassal than to raid homes in Xi'an.
The main reason is that the name is not justified.
The defenders of Xi'an Prefecture were not rebels, and it was easy for them to raid the homes of wealthy families. Anyway, the soldiers were already suffering from hunger and cold and were about to make a noise.
But making noise is one thing, mutiny is one thing, and actually being a rebel is another level.
The intensity of these three events is not equal, but progressive.
The most important thing is that the house raid was an order given by Chen Qiyu, and the soldiers were only the executors. Even if they were held responsible afterwards, the court would not blame the soldiers.
Even though everyone vaguely knew that they would probably not be caught by the court.
We all know that having someone like Chen Qiyu take the blame can still alleviate the long-standing concepts in their hearts due to inertia.
But looting the vassal state is obviously a different matter. This is almost equivalent to showing that the chariots and horses are rebelling.
Even at this time, the officials could already see the signs and knew what was going on, but the soldiers at the grassroots level were still unwilling to believe that Chen Qiyu, the governor of the five provinces, planned to surrender.
Another reason is that the left guard in Xi'an's Four Guards Garrison is the Qin Fan guard, with a strength of 3,000, and an actual amount of more than 2,200.
During last night's house raid, they suffered the least loss, reported the least gain, and the commander was not dead. Not to mention being restrained and shrewd, they did manage to save a quarter of the city.
The reason lies in the special situation and status of the palace guards. Although they have the smallest number, their living standards are the highest among the guards in Xi'an, and they also have the highest proportion of high-ranking officials and noble families.
For example, the current commander Cui Erda, whose father once served as the magistrate of Taizhou, and his elder brother Cui Erjin also served as the Minister of Household Affairs and the governor of Tianjin, is currently recuperating at home.
The officers of the Zuo Guard and the noble officials of the Qin Dynasty have long formed an intricate network of relationships.
It is impossible to let them raid the house, let alone let the Qin guards raid the vassal state.
Chen Qiyu roped in some guards to deal with Trierda, but now that the matter was coming, after careful consideration, he really doubted whether those guards could kill Trierda.
What's more, this kind of thing must be done quickly, otherwise the night will be long and full of dreams.
If he blatantly instructs the guards to kill Trielda, if the matter is not thorough enough, the remaining flag troops of the left guard will withdraw into the royal city. By then, the three guard flag troops will not be united, and the development of the matter may exceed his imagination.
Thinking of this, Chen Qiyu couldn't help but curse in his heart.
The traitor Liu Chengzong is really vicious!
It would be easy for him to surrender to the Marshal's Mansion. I'm afraid the entire city of Xi'an would not have any objections at this time.
But let him first raid the wealthy households in the city, and then arrest the Qin vassal clan members. How could things be so simple, and how could he have such great prestige?
The most important thing is that Liu Chengzong's intention for Chen Qihuang to convey was too obvious.
It's not about money or food, it's not about people, it just wants him to defile himself.
Therefore, this must be done in his name.
Herein lies the difficulty.
Chen Qiyu missed General Ren Quan'er even more at this time.
At this time, he already knew that Ren Quan'er led his troops to surrender to Liu Chengzong, but knowing this only made him complain even more.
His commander-in-chief, the commander-in-chief, was still retained by Ren Quan'er.
Why are you so anxious to surrender to him? Why don't you serve as a general soldier with me? At this time, I don't even have anyone available.
Whenever Ren Quan'er's army is in the city, Chen Qiyu doesn't have to worry about Cui Erda, he can just kill them directly.
When the time comes, I, Chen Qiyu, will take you to join me. Can't I beat you, a young general with no feet, to defect to Liu Chengzong alone?
He thought to himself, what kind of official position can you get, Mr. Qian?
Follow me, the governors of the five provinces, to defect to the generals as supervisors, and you are not allowed to give a general to anyone high or low?
Ren Quan'er, you are confused!
Thinking of this, Chen Qiyu took a deep breath, looked at the defense map hanging on the west city gate, and focused his eyes on the south city wall that Trierda was responsible for defending. His eyes were fierce and firm.
"Jin Xuan, the matter has come to an end. You can write a letter for me and be more respectful. Please ask the generalissimo to send troops to attack the south gate tonight. It is best to kill the commander Cui Erda on the city so that I can capture the Qin vassal clan."
After that, Chen Qiyu ignored his brother's disbelieving look and just slumped on the chair helplessly.