Huanglong was defeated in Lushun and committed suicide. The imperial court sent Shandong deputy general Shen Shikui to take over as the commander-in-chief of Pidao. Dayong didn't know about these things. Even if he knew about it, there was nothing he could do about it. Things had already happened and he couldn't change them even if he wanted to. The top priority was how to quickly and safely general The remaining personnel were evacuated to Liaoyang. The rest would be none of their business even if the sky fell.
On the pontoon bridge over the Hun River, a convoy of 300 horse-drawn carriages and snowmobiles were crossing the river. In addition to the gold, silver, jewelery and grain stolen from Fuling, these vehicles were carrying food.
The ice on the Hun River was so thick that some carriages did not even have to cross the pontoon bridge and ran directly across the ice. A few young Jinzhou soldiers even enjoyed themselves gliding on the ice, falling over and causing trouble from time to time. The veterans on the carriage couldn't stop laughing.
Most carriages are loaded with food, which is more important than gold, silver and jewelry. Without food, no matter how much jewelry is used, what's the use?
In fact, the harvests outside the Pass have not been good in recent years, and are even worse than the disasters inside the Pass. Starting from the second year of Chongzhen, several consecutive years of severe drought have brought the crops outside the Pass to near failure. This is why Tai Hong took the risk to lead the Eight Banners into the Pass to plunder. The reason is because they need food too much. If there is no food, there is no need for the Ming Dynasty to attack them, they will starve to death themselves.
In addition to looting food from the pass, the Jin army also grabbed food from the Mongols and Koreans. In the first year of Tiancong, Hong Tai ordered Amin, Jierharang, Yue Tuo and others to lead the army to the east and force North Korea to surrender. And the whole country searched for money to supply food.
In the following years, hundreds of thousands of kilograms of grain were transported from the Yalu River to Houjin every year. In addition, the Jin army invaded Mongolian tribes from time to time to collect grain and rob Mongolian cattle and sheep. It was this bandit-like behavior that ensured Houjin has survived natural disasters in recent years.
Fortunately, the entire population of Houjin is less than one million. Otherwise, if there were 200 million people like the Ming Dynasty, even the Eight Banners would have to rise up under such natural disasters.
Most of the looted grain was stored in Shenyang City, not only because Shenyang was the center of Hou Jin's political power, but also because Shenyang was the largest city in Liaodong. Xu was a bandit himself, and the Eight Banners were also afraid that someone would come to rob them. Their food, so it was very safe for them to store the food in Shenyang City with tall walls.
Last year, in the battle between Xiaolinghe and Jinzhou, the entire country was mobilized to defeat the Ming Dynasty. The amount of soldiers, horses, food and grass mobilized was beyond what Houjin could bear. In addition, the Ming army resisted strongly and was defeated at the gate of Jinzhou City. The harvest was meager, and Houjin suffered from a severe food shortage. If Hong Tai had not ordered North Korea to scrape together another batch of food and slaughter a large number of cattle and sheep, no one would know how many people would have died of cold and starvation in one winter.
In order to seize the imperial seal, Hong Tai once again organized an expeditionary force. This time, he exhausted the food and grass he had accumulated since the beginning of spring. The food left in Shenyang was barely enough for more than three months. On that day, the Jinzhou army attacked the city and Daishan All the bannermen in the outer city were moved into the inner city, resulting in food shortages. Daishan even prepared for the worst. Once Hong Tai's main force could not rush back and the Ming army besieged the city for a long time, he was ready to kill a group of old and weak people to act as traitors. rations.
After the Jinzhou Army entered the city, they only had more than 20,000 shi of grain left. Tens of thousands more shi of grain were destroyed by fire. The more than 20,000 shi of grain had been transported in advance in two batches. What was shipped this time was looted from the outer city. Most of the thousands of kilograms of food provided were contributed by the Han people who voluntarily retreated with the Ming army, and a small part was directly forcibly recruited by the Ming army.
The food supply for the Han people in the outer city is rationed. Except for a few merchants who do business for the Eight Banners' powerful people, most of the Han people's rations are distributed regularly, neither too much nor too little, just to ensure that no one will starve to death. If If you want to live a better life, you can find other ways out on your own. As long as you complete the errands of the banner masters, the masters will not care how the Han people earn food for their own children.
When the carriage crossed the river, the Ming army in the city was still persuading the Han people to evacuate, but the effect was minimal. After more than an hour of persuasion, only more than 4,000 young and strong Han people were willing to take the risk of walking in this ice and snow. The rest were basically ironclad. My heart stays in Shenyang City.
As soon as Chen hour passed, all the Ming troops left the city.
More than 8,000 Han people and more than 10,000 women and children who voluntarily left the city also left the city one after another. Outside the city, nearly a thousand large and small carriages and snowmobiles were prepared.
The Ming army transported these Han people in teams of one hundred people. Among the hundred people, five elders were selected to be responsible for social relations along the way. In addition to managing the personnel in the team, these five people were also responsible for liaising with the Jinzhou Army in order to obtain as much information as possible. In addition, they are also responsible for the food, housing, clothing and food of the team members. The Ming army left enough food for each hundred people to last to Liaoyang. These food were kept by themselves and the Ming army would not ask for them. The Han people brought their own warm clothes and home The Ming army would not take anything by force, even if it was picked up softly.
It was hundreds of miles away in ice and snow. Without unified management, it is unimaginable what would happen on this road. Although the Ming army could not provide much help, it was better to let the Han people evacuate in an organized way than to leave them in disarray. The chaos and bombardment are good. The Ming army tried their best to help those who could. Whether they can reach Liaoyang alive depends on their luck.
The carriages and snowmobiles were all arranged for women and children to ride on. After groups of people set off one after another, in the end there were still more than 6,000 young and strong men left without cars.
Dayong ordered these more than 6,000 young and strong men to be organized into three battalions, with more than 2,000 men in each battalion. 150 old soldiers were transferred from the army to manage them, and were issued with spears, swords and other weapons, and ordered them to set off with the women and children.
Once the Eight Banners soldiers are encountered on the road, these young and strong men will fight side by side with the Jinzhou Army at any time. Many of the young and strong men's wives and children are on the carriage. In order to protect the family and children, they can still come in handy at critical times, at least It can contain part of the Jin army.
After the first response arrangement was completed, it was already noon. At this time, the remaining Jinzhou army included 1,500 light cavalry, 2,000 infantry left camp, 1,500 newly surrendered Han troops, and 800 Dayong's soldiers, with a total strength of more than 5,300. , in addition to more than 600 war horses.
The remaining generals all knew what to do next, so they all felt heavy. They arranged for their subordinates to light a fire outside the city and cook some mutton soup to satisfy their hunger, and then came to ask for Dayong's orders.
Dayong didn't say much. When he left the city, he saw many Han people hiding on both sides of the street, peeking behind the houses to watch the Jinzhou Army leaving the city. When Dayong looked at them, most of them had flashing eyes, and many of them were sneaking around like thieves. Go. Such behavior will naturally make Dayong even less fond of him.
There was no time to delay any longer, so Dayong made a determined decision. Immediately, 4,000 Jinzhou troops returned to the city, drove the Han people together along the streets, demolished the houses, and lit kerosene.
Amid the sparks that filled the sky in Shenyang, Dayong galloped across the Hun River and never looked back.