The Red Banquet Building in the capital was still full of guests as usual. However, shopkeeper Zhang still left the building after the luncheon. This afternoon, he had to receive two merchants from other provinces in his shop.
Shopkeeper Zhang's business is lumber, and the Red Banquet Building is a place where several major guilds in the capital exchange news. Every morning, a group of businessmen drink morning tea in the Red Banquet Building, talk about news from all over the world, and seek business opportunities.
, and even achieved several large-scale business deals. Therefore, sitting in the Hongyan Building until lunch is over every day is one of the must-do homework for shopkeeper Zhang.
Today, Shopkeeper Zhang was accompanied by Shopkeeper Song, who was a tea merchant. The two were not close friends, but they had a good relationship, so after leaving the building, they started chatting all the way.
"Brother Zhang, today I looked at Shopkeeper Jin who was working as a mule and his horse, and his face looked wrong. Could it be that he is ill?" Shopkeeper Song asked.
"Maybe! Shopkeeper Jin has been working tirelessly and never takes a few days off all year round. When he was young, he was in good health and could endure it, but now that he is older, he should also pay attention to his health. My brother has also advised him several times, but he always
You don’t listen. Hey! It’s hard work!” Shopkeeper Zhang sighed.
"It's also helpless! I heard that the Imperial Guards from the Beijing camp have been dispatched this time. The bandits have been forced into desperation by the Henan army. They themselves have internal conflicts. When the king's division arrives, the bandits will disappear! And the army is dispatched.
, the purchase of private mules and horses has caused the price of mules and horses in the capital to rise sharply, so how can Shopkeeper Jin not work hard?" Shopkeeper Song said.
"You really need money rather than your life!" Shopkeeper Zhang couldn't help but shook his head and sighed.
At this moment, the two shopkeepers Zhang and Song suddenly saw a group of people running towards them, and the leader was an acquaintance of the two. He was the steward of an earl's palace in the capital. Both Zhang and Song had worked with this family.
The Earl's Mansion had done business, and the steward had received a lot of benefits from the two of them.
So Zhang and Song immediately stopped and bowed their hands in salute. The steward also hurriedly returned the salute. Then the steward stopped, hesitated for a moment, then ran to the two men, turned around and whispered: "Follow me
You said something, and the Tatars entered the pass again. The 30,000 troops that the imperial court had just sent out to suppress the thieves were also wiped out. The news had just reached the Ministry of War and had not yet spread in the capital. If you two have business outside the city,
We also need to make preparations in advance. I have to go out of the city first to clean up the property in the mansion. Ignore! Ignore! See you later!"
After saying that, the manager no longer cared about the two shopkeepers who were still in a dazed state, and immediately led the people in the Earl's Mansion and ran towards the city gate.
"This——!" Shopkeepers Zhang and Song have not yet woken up from this shocking news. They are still looking at each other.
Suddenly, another person rushed towards the direction of the two men. Shopkeeper Zhang saw that this person was a clerk in his shop.
When the waiter saw Shopkeeper Zhang, he immediately said to Shopkeeper Zhang with a crying voice: "Shopkeeper! Before noon, the third lady and the sixth young master felt unwell. The third shopkeeper immediately invited the doctor. But when the doctor came, he said that the third lady and the sixth young master were about to die.
No way. Third shopkeeper, please go home quickly!"
"Ah!" Shopkeeper Zhang was immediately shocked. "Isn't it still fine in the morning?"
"The doctor said: There are more and more patients in the capital these days. It seems that a plague has spread. Most people who get sick can't survive more than half a day."
…
When the Qing army broke through the Great Wall again and threatened the city of Beijing, the 30,000 troops from the Beijing camp walked for four or five days and arrived about 150 miles away from the city of Beijing.
However, after learning that the Qing army had entered the customs, the civil and military leaders immediately had disagreements. Some people wanted to return to the capital immediately to protect the capital. Some people were afraid that the Qing army's divine soldiers would descend from the sky and wanted to flee to the nearest city to defend themselves. Only
A very small number of people proposed to fight the Qing army. However, they proposed to maintain the original plan, and no one went to Shanxi to encircle and suppress the camp. However, the civilian commander leading the army was hesitant and did not dare to make any decision independently.
But those civil and military officials had time to argue. The soldiers in the Beijing camp couldn't wait any longer. When the news of the Qing army's entry spread in the military camp, the 30,000-strong army dispersed, and each soldier fled for his own life.
Went.
The soldiers in the capital camp were all locals who were familiar with escape routes. In addition, these people grew up at the foot of the imperial city. They also had high horizons and social connections with the officials, nobles and eunuchs in the capital.
They are involved, so they are not too afraid of the imperial court coming to settle the accounts. Especially now that the law is still not punishable, if they don't seize the time to escape, then won't they still be the clever men in the capital?
But the house leaked and it rained all night.
Since the winter of the 15th year of Chongzhen, acute infectious diseases have appeared one after another in Beijing. At that time, it was called "jaundice disease". The symptoms were - headache and body pain, aversion to cold and strong heat, red and swollen head, face and neck, sore throat, and coma.
etc. The patient often develops nucleation between the armpits and thighs first, or vomits light blood and dies immediately, and is not susceptible to drug bait. The incubation period of this acute infectious disease is very short, only 1-3 days, or even only a few hours. According to the symptoms
According to analysis, it should be pneumonic plague.
What is even more unfortunate is that in normal times, it would be difficult for the plague to spread in the cold winter. In addition, the Ming Dynasty also had some means to prevent the spread of plague, so the sporadic plague in the capital could still be controlled.
However, when the Qing army entered the customs, people near the capital came to seek refuge in the capital, and the patients and dead in the city could not be sent out at all. The disease was fermenting in the capital, and after the beginning of spring, the weather became warmer, and this great plague suddenly appeared.
The situation became uncontrollable, causing the plague to spread wantonly in the capital. The details of this situation will be described in detail later.
On the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, Tianjin Acropolis.
"Brothers! How does my veteran treat you on weekdays? Brothers, please pat your chests and think about it. We have been raising soldiers for thousands of days, and we have to pay our lives, and there is nothing to say. My veteran will just say this: if there are brothers who want to leave quickly,
I won’t stop you, veteran general, but the remaining brothers will follow me to kill the Tatars!”
Facing the tens of thousands of Qing troops outside the city, General Jiang Shen, who was responsible for guarding Tianjin, took hundreds of his own soldiers out of the city to fight. Although Tianjin had soldiers and guards, after eating the free money, what could be collected
There were less than four thousand soldiers.
Originally, relying on these four thousand soldiers and the requisitioned civilians in the city, we could barely resist the Qing army's siege. However, when the Qing army deployed sixteen general cannons and general cannons, the officials in the city
I knew that the city of Tianjin could never be saved.
The walls of Tianjin City have been in disrepair for many years, and there are only a few cannons at the top of the city. As long as the Qing army fires one or two volleys, they can break through Tianjin City.
What is very funny is that Tianjin Wei was originally the gateway to Beijing and had a very important strategic position. The imperial court had allocated military expenditures for building city walls and purchasing artillery several times. However, these expenditures disappeared inexplicably, and some were not even allocated.
Come to Tianjin City.
What’s even more ridiculous is that the Ming Dynasty had five major firearms manufacturing bases. In addition to South Beijing, there were also three places: Tianjin, Datong and Guangzhou. Of course, there was also a manufacturing base in Macau, but the artillery and firearms manufacturing workshops there were imported from Portugal.
In addition, each border town, especially Jiubian, has its own small workshop. And this does not include Runing Army's firearms workshop.
But after the big explosion occurred in the Wang Gong Factory in Beijing, most of the firearms workshops in Beijing were moved to Tianjin, making Tianjin's firearms workshops even larger. But for such a firearms manufacturing base, Chengtou could not produce any.
How many artillery pieces? This shows how corrupt and derelict the Ming Dynasty’s bureaucrats and the eunuchs responsible for supervising the manufacture of firearms were.
But the Ming Dynasty did not pay attention to it, and the Manchus and Qing Dynasties could covet it. After entering the pass, in addition to attacking the necessary cities along the way, the Qing army usually walked around the city and did not waste time in the battle. They had to march all the way to Shandong.
, and then plunder all the way. After that, a small number of troops will be left to guard the captured property and population, and the main force will be concentrated to cross the canal and advance to Guide and Runing to eliminate the last threatening army of the Ming Dynasty.
After completing this main strategic goal, the Qing army would return all the way north and plunder city after city with determination.
But Tianjin City is different. There are a large number of craftsmen and apprentices who make firearms, which is a great wealth for the Qing Dynasty. Because they were afraid that after the Qing army passed, the craftsmen in Tianjin City abandoned the city and fled, so
Huang Taiji first concentrated his main force to attack Tianjin City.
General Jiang Shen, who was guarding Tianjin, saw that he was unable to defend the city. In despair, he simply took his servants and soldiers out of the city to fight in a suicidal battle.
So after shouting, General Jiang Shen took the lead in riding towards the Qing army's camp. However, in front of the huge Qing army, he only stirred up a few small waves, and then disappeared.
"Your Majesty! Such bright dogs are rare!" Oboi smiled at Huang Taiji.
"There are always some brave people. But there are too few of them among the Han people. The others are just pigs and sheep." Huang Taiji was also in a very happy mood, "Let's attack the city with artillery! Be careful: the craftsmen and their families in the city
No intrusion, please treat them kindly! Violators will be punished by military law! Others, let the athletes have fun for three days!"
With the deafening sound of shelling, several sections of Tianjin city walls collapsed, and thousands of Qing troops took the lead in charging towards the gap. After a while, women's screams and screams rang out in the city.
Huang Taiji and others all shook their heads, this battle was too easy!
On the ninth day of the Lunar New Year, the Qing army captured the city of Tianjin effortlessly, especially without encountering any resistance in the city. In Tianjin city, except for the craftsmen’s family and a few young women, all were massacred by the Qing army. In order not to affect the speed of their march south
, the Qing army caused a massacre in Tianjin. (To be continued...)