"107 villages were washed away in Changyuan County overnight, and 195 villages were washed away in Lanyang County."
"There is a copper-tiled booth near the breach. The imperial court set up a river management hall here, and the Tatars also set up a river branch here. It was still a quite prosperous Yellow River crossing and market town, but now it has been directly destroyed by the flood. The entire
Even if the water recedes, the market town will probably be completely buried under the sand!"
"It is estimated that this massacre will affect more than 40 prefectures and counties in three provinces, ten prefectures, and tens of millions of people will be affected. Tens of millions of acres of land will be submerged, and the canals will also be affected..."
At the urgent imperial meeting, Chen Qianfu made a report.
Everyone's heart is heavy.
By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Yellow River had become a dangerous river. It burst its banks almost every year, causing many people to drown and starve to death each time, causing famine.
Some are natural disasters and some are man-made disasters.
For example, Li Zicheng flooded Kaifeng, drowning hundreds of thousands of people, and countless others were affected by the disaster.
"One more thing, Liu Zeqing was arrested!"
"what happened?"
Liu Zeqing had secretly contacted Ming Dynasty before. If he wanted to revolt anyway, Zhu Yihai would naturally welcome him.
"Because of this flood."
Chen Qianfu told the emperor that Liu Zeqing was appointed as the admiral of Shandong by the Tatars. He sent his cronies to various places to recruit troops and serve as regimental training commanders or assistant town deputy generals and generals, etc., to contact the old troops, recruit heroes, and prepare for uprisings in various places.
The plan was not bad. Li Huajing raised an army in Caozhou Prefecture. It went smoothly at first. However, when it gained momentum, it suffered from a sudden flood. Li Huajing's troops suffered serious losses.
Then Caozhou Zhang Yutian and others urgently reported to Jinan that Li Huajing had rebelled and that Liu Zeqing was behind the rebellion. It happened that after the defeat of the Boluo army, he arrived in Jinan from the north. After hearing the report, he immediately sent troops to capture Liu Zeqing.
The rebellion was quickly discovered.
Liu Zeqing, his brothers, nephews, and a group of confidants, more than 300 people, were all killed by Bolo. Bolo even hired an old craftsman to peel off Liu Zeqing's skin completely, and then filled it with straw and put it on display.
In the city gate tower of Jinan.
After the remaining three hundred people were beheaded, their heads were hung all over the walls on both sides of the city gate.
Tu Lai of Xuzhou also sent troops to arrest Liu Zeqing's confidants Yao Wenchang, Zheng Longfang and others after receiving Boluo's urgent order.
Liu Zeqing's plan completely failed.
Generals Boluo, Tu Lai, and Tan Tai all began to search and suppress Liu Zeqing's remnant parties in various places.
"Do they still have the energy to do this?" Zheng Zhilong shook his head. The Yellow River burst and more than 40 counties in three provinces and ten prefectures were affected. They were not busy blocking the dam and providing disaster relief, but they were still busy suppressing the rebellion?
"Tatars are so unkind, it's nothing unusual." Zhu Yihai didn't take it seriously. If he expected the Tatars to be responsible at this time, it would be better to expect a sow to climb a tree.
He knocked on the desk.
Liu Zeqing's failure was not worth mentioning to Zhu Yihai. It was a good thing that he surrendered anyway, but Zhu Yihai had nothing to lose if he failed.
Zheng Zhilong said, "I think the Yellow River breach may be a good thing for us. From Kaifeng to Jinan, which is eight hundred miles away, the Yellow River surges and overflows, and it is out of control. It is estimated that it may not be able to survive in ten or twenty years."
If it is properly cured, it will inevitably overflow and form a huge yellow flood area in the future.
We currently occupy Denglai, and the Tatars occupy Henan, Beizhi, and Shandong. However, when the water comes out, Shandong and Hebei will be separated, and even the canal will be blocked.
This will definitely make things worse for the Tatars who have just abandoned Huainan, but for us, it will help us to secure Denglai."
Zheng Zhilong's words received a lot of approval.
From a purely military perspective, this is indeed the case.
After the Yellow River burst its banks, it took several months for the water to subside. In the end, it did not disappear all at once. Without re-drainage, the Yellow River could not be obedient and honest. It would have to be blocked again, allowing the Yellow River to return to its old course in the south, and then flow through the Huaihe River.
Enter the sea.
Or we can only build a new one among the old Yellow River routes in the north. This is a huge project and we need to build embankments to restrain the Yellow River in a new embankment and lead it out to Shandong to the sea, which is eight hundred miles long.
Where did the current Tatars get this ability?
Then we can only let it flood. In the dry season, it may be divided into several streams. In the rainy season, it may flood again and cause disasters.
This large yellow flood area will become a disaster area, even barren land, and will become a natural buffer area. Roads, bridges, and canals will be greatly affected, and even many cities will have to be relocated.
Such yellow flood areas will pose great obstacles to the use of troops.
More importantly, with such a huge disaster, coupled with the two policies of abandoning the Huaihe River and moving to the sea, as well as the military threat from Denglai, the Tatars were unable to obtain supplies in the disaster area, making it difficult to persist in this war.
"We can take the opportunity to annihilate the Qing army in Shandong one by one!"
Zhu Yihai looked at the map and drew a yellow flood area on it. It was a very wide yellow flood belt. There were ten prefectures and more than forty prefectures and counties in this area, all of which had become disaster areas. Countless people were now displaced.
The flood had little impact on the Ming army, because the flooded areas were all within the control of the Qing army. Zhu Yihai only lost Liu Zeqing, a surrendered general.
This flood will actually reduce the pressure on Denglai.
But he couldn't be happy either.
This huge flood will directly drown hundreds of thousands of people, but what is even more terrifying is the subsequent epidemic and famine. It is possible that millions may die, and the Central Plains may really become a ghost land.
As the Yellow River reaches its north, the pressure on the south bank and downstream has been reduced, and the embankments of Xu Yanyi and Taigui Deji Prefecture will not be in danger.
But even if they are not affected by floods, people in so many states and counties in the north are affected by the disaster, and they will definitely come south, and they will also have to face a large number of hungry people.
When there are many hungry people, they will inevitably become bandits. This is inevitable. No one wants to die, and the court cannot provide relief, so they can only band together to rob.
Henan and Shandong are already full of native villages, but this situation may become even more serious.
Such a situation is beneficial to the Ming Dynasty. If we can take advantage of this opportunity to gather hungry people from all over the country to revolt, it will be difficult for the Tatars to defend western Henan and Shandong.
However, even if the Ming army could take down such a serious disaster, it would be difficult to defend it.
Xu Zhongyi's attack on Heilou Village went smoothly, even better than expected. Zhao Heihu was killed by the gate of the village, and the village immediately collapsed.
The Red Spear Association moved the materials in the village, and it took three days to complete the move.
The people did not waste anything and even took away a chair.
Grain, cattle, seeds, farm tools, and furniture and kitchen utensils were not left behind.
Finally, the prisoners were taken away.
The people who were originally attached to Heilou Village were now called to the front of the village. Xu Zhongyi announced to them that there would be no more Heilou Village and no one from the Zhao family.
From now on, the Red Spear Club will have the final say here.
Xu Zhongyi opened a new forum in the original Heilou Village, appointed several senior brothers and instructors, and stationed a battalion of red gunmen.
The people nearby were originally tenants of Heilou Village, but now they are members of the Red Spear Society.
Xu Zhongyi gave those lands directly to the people to continue farming, and they also had to pay rent, but they were divided into 30%, 70% for the common people, and 30% for the Red Spear Association. The Red Spear Association charged them 30% of the rent and had to shoulder the responsibility of protecting them so that they would not be exempted from the crime.
They were not subject to plunder by other fortresses, thieves, or even taxes and labor from the government.
He even held an opening meeting directly in the village, directly selected a thousand young men from among the common people to join the meeting, granted them the status of Red Spear members, organized two battalions for them, and gave them to the senior brothers who stayed behind to lead them.
When you are busy, you farm, when you are free, you practice shooting, and when you are called into battle, you are called upon.
Fatty Wang is indifferent to these things, or he can't care if he wants to. Although he is also a general in the bidding process, he is not only his adopted brother, but also Admiral Xu's newly adopted adopted son. He is so favored by the red gun.
He is still so fierce, how dare he care too much.
Wouldn't it be nice to set up a stove under a big tree, roast a lamb, and have a pot of wine?
Why do you care about that?
When he conquered Heilou Village and reported victory, his name was also added, so he could share the credit with him. As for other things, it would be better to take less care of them.
Brother Xu Zhongyi did not treat him badly.
for this operation.
The members of Yongcheng Red Gun were very happy. Everyone got some things. The people who came with them to move things were also very happy, and they also got some things.
After all, Heilou Village is a large village. In the past, tens of thousands of refugees were recruited to work and farm for them. While collecting rent, they also robbed homes and houses, and even sold salt, grain, cloth, etc. There was indeed a lot of good stuff in the village.
.
Everyone who comes has a share can get a little.
Anyway, there was basically no effort this time, and there were no casualties.
The people in the village are also quite satisfied. They have not been affected by the disappearance of Heilou Village. They should continue to farm. The rent has even been reduced. In the past, it was 70% to 30%, but 70% of the rent is paid and 30% is kept for themselves.
You also have to do some extra labor for free.
But the Red Gun Club is much more generous.
After defeating Heilou Village, everyone's morale was high.
Some people in Heilou Village were even willing to provide information about other villages, so after a brief rest, Xu Zhongyi led his troops to pursue the victory and launch attacks on several other villages in Mangdang Mountain.
These villages are much smaller than Heilou Village. The larger ones have two to three thousand people, while the smaller ones only have one or two hundred people. Moreover, these two to three thousand people are actually similar to Heilou Village. There are only a few brothers in the real village.
Ten or one to two hundred, and the rest are refugees and ordinary people who rely on farming at the foot of the mountain.
After capturing several more villages in succession, other small villages in the mountains either fled upon hearing the news or surrendered in anticipation of the wind.
Anyway, no one dares to challenge Senior Brother Xu of the Red Spear Club anymore.
Every time Xu Zhongyi captured a stronghold, he would first kill a few recalcitrant leaders, then plunder the stronghold and divide the spoils, open a separate altar, reassign tenants, recruit some young men to join the guild, and leave some brothers to garrison.
Come down in a circle.
Mangdang Mountain in Yongcheng has gone from being home to dozens of large and small villages to being the territory of the Red Spear Club.
The homeless people attached to each village have all become members and tenants of the Red Spear Society, and the surrounding land has naturally come under the name of the Red Spear Society.
The Red Spear Club suddenly increased its dependent population by nearly 30,000 and recruited six new battalions of members.