Chapter 382 Earth and National Treasures Falling Down
It has been a long time since the beginning of spring, but there is still no sign of spring.
There are snowflakes in the sky, the sky and the earth are completely white, the canal outside Suzhou is still covered with thick ice, and horse racing can still be done on Taihu Lake.
In the city of Suzhou, Tu Guobao is roasting over a fire, and a pot of Shaoxing rice wine is warming on the charcoal stove.
"Is Zhumala really defeated?"
"Well, his head was now made into a gold-inlaid skull bowl by Zhang Mingbin. His corpses and those of his 1,400 riders were all taken to Jiangning City for display, and then to Zhongshan Xiaoling Mausoleum, where they were collected on both sides of the corridor.
He was nailed to a sharp stake and knelt down. Zhumala was the worst. Not only were the skulls taken and made into wine vessels, but the human skin was also peeled off, stuffed with grass inside, sewn up and stored at the foot of Xiaoling Mountain...
"
"Hiss!" Tu Guobao couldn't help but gasped, "This is too cruel."
"The winner is the king and the loser is the enemy." Yang Guohai thought it was unusual, "Fortunately, we saw the opportunity quickly."
Tu Guobao couldn't help but pick up the jug and pour himself a glass of rice wine. The warm rice wine went into his throat, making his whole body feel hot.
The tide is turning, even very quickly.
In Zhenjiang, he saw with his own eyes how Bashan and his two thousand and five Jiangning Eight Banners were annihilated. In that battle, it was Ma Degong who tricked Chen Jin and the others, and it was Yan Wogong who was behind it, but now Zhuma La
Another two thousand men were completely wiped out, one thousand fourteen men died in battle, and six hundred Mongolian cavalry surrendered.
Further ahead, Kangkara was ambushed and beaten in Changzhou, resulting in a loss of eight hundred.
Then Li Yuchun lost 500 yuan in Jiaxing, and Li Shutai died under Tu Guobao's assassination.
"Who would have thought that Duke Chao Yong would actually be a loyal general of the Emperor of Heaven? Hahaha, it's so damn funny." Tu Guobao burst into tears with laughter, "Why is there something wrong with this charcoal fire? There's too much smoke.
, Smoky eyes." He covered up his gaffe.
Yang Guohai looked indifferent, "Tatars are nothing more than that. Uncle, I have received the latest news. Zhang Xianzhong of Sichuan has announced his abdication and accepted the title of Prince of Yunnan from the Emperor of Heaven.
I am preparing to lead my army to leave Sichuan and go to Yunnan, to quell the rebellion of the Sha Dingzhou chieftain for the imperial court, and then to guard Yunnan."
Tu Guobao has just heard about this news, but he doesn’t quite believe it yet.
Who is Zhang Xianzhong?
This Huang Hu was one of the Eight Great Kings, and he founded the Western Dynasty and proclaimed himself emperor. Would he be so happy to surrender to the Ming Dynasty? Shunying surrendered because Li Zicheng suddenly died in Jiugong Mountain, and Shunjun was defeated by the Qing army.
Thousands of miles away, there was no leader, so he accepted the offer.
And Zhang Xianzhong is a ruthless person.
He was more ruthless than Li Zicheng. Tu Guobao had fought with Zhang Xianzhong before. This guy looted and killed, and was very cruel. I heard that he entered Sichuan three times and killed many Sichuan people.
Although some propaganda in the Ming Dynasty said that he massacred the city after entering Sichuan, it was a bit exaggerated, but this guy really liked killing people. Especially after he became the Emperor of Daxi, he took the initiative to win over the gentry and officials in Sichuan, but many people did not buy it. This angered Zhang Xianzhong
He was furious, and under the instigation of his even more bloodthirsty son-in-law Zuo Prime Minister Wang Zhaolin, he went on a killing spree. He also liked to engage in torture, such as torture, skinning, etc.
However, some gentry in Sichuan who knew the inside story told the truth, saying that three people died in Sichuan due to the massacre of thieves, two died in the plundering of the Yellow Emperor, two more died in the chaos and killed each other, and two died in starvation.
Then he died of illness.
Of those who died in central Sichuan in recent years, three-tenths were killed by Zhang Xianzhong's army, and another two-tenths were killed by yellow bandits. The rest were committed suicide due to war, famine and other chaos. 20% died of famine and starvation, and 10% died of epidemics.
wait.
This is relatively reliable.
The Huanghuang bandits, second only to Zhang Xianzhong, are the largest bandit army in central Sichuan. They can't get food, so they just eat people. They are called local bullies by the Sichuan people. They not only eat people but also eat them.
, such as making soup for the sheep, setting fire to the fire, breaking the bones and so on.
Wherever these people passed, there was absolutely no human habitation. The people in Sichuan were afraid that the local rioters would surpass Zhang Xianzhong.
However, the Qing army has not yet entered Sichuan, and the Western army has not yet been defeated, so the situation is relatively better. In the past few years, Zhang Xianzhong first defeated the Ming army in central Sichuan, the landlords' armed forces, etc., and then the Qing army defeated the Western army.
, killed Zhang Xianzhong, the Western Army was defeated and fled all the way south. On the way to escape, they repeatedly defeated the Ming Army, and the three armies fought in chaos in the middle of Sichuan.
As a result, the fields in central Sichuan were barren, the people's food rations were taken away, and the long-term chaos caused even the Qing troops who later entered Sichuan to resort to cannibalism.
Commander-in-Chief Ma Huabao made it very clear in his report to the Qing court: If a thief is captured and is not ordered to be brought to justice, the three armies will fight to kill each other.
As an occupying force, the Qing army still had difficulty guaranteeing food for its officers and soldiers. Every time they captured prisoners in a battle, they would directly kill them to share the food. The generals did not dare to stop them. If they dared to stop them, they might eat them first.
.
It can be seen that the famine at that time was so severe that food was scarce, and the people were even more insecure. The order in central Sichuan was completely out of control, and the people were fleeing. Even the sons of dignified bachelors were captured and eaten.
Even in the early Shunzhi period, the population in central Sichuan continued to plummet. Most of them died in the war, and many others were eaten, starved to death, and died of diseases. Special human flesh markets appeared in various places, and even rice was expensive and people were cheap.
The price of food is more expensive than that of human meat. In some places, a bushel of rice costs thirty taels of silver. Men's meat costs seven taels of silver per catty, and women's meat costs eight taels of silver per catty.
The history of this time and space has changed slightly.
Because the Ming army in Sichuan was controlled by Zhu Yihai, the Ming army in Sichuan gathered together earlier than originally and recovered many of the lands occupied by Zhang Xianzhong earlier and faster than originally.
Zhang Xianzhong only had the land of the Five Prefectures at this time. Even because of Zhu Yihai's reputation, Zhang Xianzhong started a truce with the Ming army and negotiated peace. Even the Ming army in central Sichuan had fewer internal strife and wars than before, and its military discipline was much better.
In addition, the yellow thieves and others were also targeted and attacked by the Ming army, and the damage caused was also much less.
In addition, He Zhen also fought several battles with the Western Army, the Qing Army had not yet entered Sichuan, and the Ming Army had not been greatly defeated. The overall situation in central Sichuan was relatively good, and it was not as bad as the worst five or six years during the Shunzhi period in history.
day.
But even so, Zhang Xianzhong is still the Eight Great Kings and the Emperor of Daxi. Although this man has not killed millions of people, many people have died at his hands.
For example, after he blasted the Chongqing city wall with gunpowder and captured Chongqing, he cut off one arm of the tens of thousands of captured Ming Dynasty soldiers and civilians, and then released them. As a result, tens of thousands of one-armed men appeared in Sichuan.
Later, after the capture of Chengdu, I saw a collection of blue jade human skins in the Chengdu city gate tower, so I began to resume this skin-picking torture in Chengdu.
In his later years, Li Zicheng was at least more restrained, but Zhang Xianzhong was still killing people like crazy.
Will he take the initiative to abdicate his throne?
Are you willing to go to a barbaric place like Yunnan and become king?
Moreover, would the Emperor of Heaven really be willing to accept the surrender of such a person and let him go to Yunnan?
Tu Guobao expressed serious doubts.
However, regardless of whether it was a real surrender or a fake surrender, the fact that Zhang Xianzhong was favored still showed that Zhu Yihai was indeed very powerful now, and the Daxi Emperor who was far away in Sichuan had to give in three points.
"The sky has changed!"
"Uncle, when are we going to take action against Kangkara?" Yang Guohai approached and asked, "As long as you give the order, uncle, I can take it down immediately."
He chuckled, "I have recently quietly dug several tunnels leading to Mancheng, and I know the layout inside."
Tu Guobao took a sip of wine and said, "Waiting for the order."
The defeat and death of Zhumala in Hangzhou eliminated Tu Guobao's last chance of luck and made him understand that Jiangnan was about to completely change.
He doesn't know where he will go in the future.
Now in Suzhou city, things have actually changed a long time ago.
His 10,000 troops guarded the outer city. During this period, one hundred today and two hundred tomorrow had already unknowingly mixed in with several battalions of the Ming army. They were deployed in several key places, not only the city gates, but also the warehouses.
, even the gunpowder depot and his governor's office were stationed with Ming troops.
There is a Ming army sent out in his servant camp, and there is a Shi Ming army always accompanying him.
The Ming army really wanted to take over Suzhou, or even the whole city, and wipe out Kangkara's thousand and eight people at any time. But they have been silent. Tu Guobao knew that they were waiting for several other places.
Now that Zhumala in Hangzhou was defeated and died, it is estimated that Hetuo in Songjiang should be about the same.
This is where it comes next.
"Calculating the time, Hetuo should be arriving soon. It is estimated that he will never reach Suzhou City." Tu Guobao sighed.
Zhumala was only one step away from Jiangning and was defeated and died at the hands of Zhejiang Admiral Chaoyong Gong Zheng Jiwu. So Hetuo from Songjiang probably died in the same way.
The prefect of Songjiang is the son of Duke Yan. He was promoted not long ago to the rank of sub-inspector of Susongtai Road and Military Preparation Road. Several green battalions stationed in Songjiang are also men who were recruited by Duke Yan.
In addition, Zhu Gang, the commander-in-chief of Hangzhou, also led an army to Songjiang.
Since Yan Wo Gong and Zheng Jiwu are both members of the Ming Emperor, let alone Yan Wo Gong's son and Zheng Jiwu's brother-in-law Zhu Gang.
"Even now, I still can't believe these facts. Who would have thought that Duke Yan was a member of King Lu from the beginning, and Li Yuchun was probably on his way to suppress the Haining rebellion when he left Hangzhou.
It became clear.
This Emperor Ming is really unfathomable, and his threads are as thin as a thread and can be traced for thousands of miles."
"Report!"
"Report to the military gate, military situation in the south."
The commander-in-chief, Cao Hu, rushed in and said, "He Tuo was defeated in Jiading."
Tu Guobao was not surprised at all, "Do you know the details?"
He Tuo set off from Songjiang and led his headquarters of 2,500 troops to garrison the Eight Banners of Songjiang. In addition, he led 2,500 troops from Songjiang Road Sign and Xie Town, as well as 5,000 troops from Hangzhou Commander-in-Chief Zhu Gang, making a total of 10,000 troops heading north to Suzhou.
They encountered constant attacks along the way. Zhu Gang and other green camp generals showed bravery and repelled the incoming soldiers time and time again. However, when they arrived in Jiading, they entered the city for the night. However, in the middle of the night, Zhu Gang and others closed the city gates and began to attack.
Raid on the Eight Banners.
Beat the dog with the door closed and catch the turtle in the jar.
Moreover, they were attacked by far more than just the 7,500 accompanying green battalions. A steady stream of Ming troops came from all directions, and there were even elite soldiers and horses from the right wing of the Ming imperial battalion that was supposed to besieging the city in Suzhou.
Although Hetuo led his troops to resist stubbornly, they fought fiercely for three days but were still outnumbered. They were finally wiped out in Jiading City. In the end, all the wounded soldiers who surrendered were all slaughtered.
"No one left?"
"He Tuo and his 2,500 soldiers stationed at Songjiang Eight Banners were all killed."
Tu Guobao stood up and said, "Let's go and tell Marquis Jingnan and Deputy Shen the good news!"