Chapter 222 First cut Zhang Xianzhong, then Chen Xinjia, and Sun Chuanting
Zhang Xianzhong was finally arrested, and Zhu Shuren was of course also thinking that whether he was sent to Beijing alive or not, he should be tortured first, and then let the local people in Sichuan vent their anger.
However, as soon as he saw Zhang Xianzhong, Zhu Shuren realized that something was wrong before even asking him a few words, and his interest waned.
"What's going on?" Zhu Shuren was not angry at all and asked Ma Xianglin with a pleasant look.
Ma Xianglin explained with a smile on his face: "This inverse is extremely fierce. Liu Wenxiu beat it unconscious and tied it to surrender. After getting it, our people tied it up again to prevent it from resisting, and also stuffed lake into its mouth."
Mud linen.
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Unexpectedly, this guy seemed to know that he would die badly if he was sent to Beijing. After waking up on the way to Beijing the day before yesterday, he even tried to commit suicide. He secretly tried to spit out the stuff in his mouth. When the guard noticed, he tried to stop him, but he had already committed suicide by chewing his tongue.
The general quickly had his mouth filled with salt water, and all his teeth were smashed out by the roots, and gauze was stuffed in his mouth again. Now he has managed to stop the bleeding, but if he is sent to the capital, he may not survive that long."
Zhu Shuren asked people to pry open Zhang Xianzhong's mouth, and looked at the broken tongue and the knocked out teeth from a distance. He was helpless. It seemed that he had to try him in Chengdu, otherwise this guy would die before reaching Beijing.
, wouldn’t it mean that he had escaped trial and sanction?
Zhang Xianzhong stared angrily the whole time and uttered vague curses in his throat, but not a single word could be understood.
Chewing one's tongue to commit suicide is a saying in martial arts novels. In reality, people who bite their tongues may not necessarily die. Even if they die, they will die from excessive blood loss due to difficulty in stopping bleeding in the mouth.
Zhu Shuren's troops now have absorbent cotton hemostatic gauze. Of course Ma Xianglin would not hesitate to treat such an important prisoner. Filling it with gauze can help him live ten days and a half longer. But his body will definitely not be able to withstand the fatigue of traveling to Beijing.
But Zhu Shuren only regretted it for a few seconds, and then he thought about it and it seemed good. If Zhang Xianzhong was sent to Beijing, the delay would definitely be longer, which would not be conducive to Zhu Shuren's ability to integrate Zhang Xianzhong's troops and stabilize people's hearts as soon as possible.
If Zhang Xianzhong wanted to recruit a few more accomplices and talk nonsense, then the generals he confessed were also captured rather than surrendered, and they might also be sent to Beijing at the request of Chongzhen.
This is just like after the death of Chu Overlord Xiang Yu, if Han Xin secretly took in Zhong Lihuan, he might be tricked by Liu Bang.
Chongzhen's paranoia was definitely more ruthless than Liu Bang's. Zhu Shuren could take care of things by himself, so why create more complications.
If Zhang Xianzhong is executed in Chengdu, the only regret for Zhu Shuren is that he doesn’t know if Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang can be used again in the future without leaving any cracks. After all, their former adoptive father died at the hands of Zhu Shuren, even if
It's the law of the country, and they may be a little afraid.
But this is easy to solve. Zhu Shuren thought for a moment and realized that this matter could be left to the Sichuan Governor Fang Kongzhen to judge. He would not question a word. In this way, even if Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang had distance in their hearts, they were distanced against Fang Kongzhen.
, has nothing to do with him.
Previously, the trial of Li Dingguo required Zhu Shuren to personally participate in the three-party trial. This was because he wanted to save Li Dingguo and find ways to reduce the crime. There was no such consideration in sentencing Zhang Xianzhong. It was a completely business-like matter.
After figuring out all the details, Zhu Shuren made a final decision and said: "In this case, we have no choice. We will definitely not be able to send him to Beijing like this. Let's just hand him over to Governor Fang and let him judge him according to law.
Zhang Ni's injuries are visible to all and are witnesses! Whether the governor is a military or political officer or from another province, it doesn't matter."
After finishing his beautiful words, Zhu Shuren threw the blame away. After hearing this, Ma Xianglin and others secretly praised the governor for his high moral integrity and never domineering power.
…
After Zhu Shuren put the matter aside, only three days later, Fang Kongzheng completed the judicial process on his own and sentenced Zhang Xianzhong to Lingchi in accordance with the law.
Originally, Fang Kongzhen wanted to do what Yuan Chonghuan did, but later he asked the relevant technicians such as Wu Zuo, and he also considered that he lost too much blood in the few days after chewing the tongue, and he might not be able to withstand so many cuts.
In the end, I made a compromise and compared the number of knives used by Gao Yingxiang, but shortened the time and finished the beheading as soon as possible.
The execution time is scheduled for May 17th, and will continue until the 19th, at Beijiaochang in Chengdu, which is near Qingyang Palace——
As an aside, in history, when Zhang Xianzhong massacred Chengdu, he set fire to the whole city several times, and the ancient Qingyang Palace building from the Tang to the Ming Dynasty was completely burned. Therefore, the Qingyang Palace that Chengdu people see in the 21st century was rebuilt from scratch by the Qing Dynasty
of.
Now Zhu Shuren killed Zhang Xianzhong in advance, so the Qingyang Palace left behind is still a patched-up version of the Tang Dynasty. Having Zhang Xianzhong tied up outside Qingyang Palace for execution can be regarded as a cycle of cause and effect.
As long as the people of Chengdu survived, they would naturally be filled with hatred for the previous massacres. Of course, thousands of people would watch the executions.
Three days later, Zhu Shuren had almost everything he had to do in Chengdu, so he left a force to continue to keep an eye on Sun Kewang, who had fled to the Daliang Mountains in western Sichuan. Then he took his staff and confidants and returned to Chongqing temporarily to deal with some matters.
Among other things, I can also take care of the continued farming and technological advancement in Huguang, and wait for changes in the Central Plains.
If Sun Kewang understands the situation and will not make trouble for the time being, then Zhu Shuren can take his time and do not rush to deal with him within a few months and a half, leaving this chess piece and excuse to continue to delay Chongzhen's deployment in the future.
Anyway, Sun Kewang no longer harms the Han-occupied areas. Whether he is looking for a way out in the Yi inhabited areas of Daliang Mountain, or crossing the Jinsha River from Huichuanwei (Panzhihua) south to join the Yunnan-Guizhou chieftains and return to their native land, Zhushu people can do it.
accepted.
Before leaving, of course Zhu Shuren also brought Zhang Xianzhong's head that had just been pickled with lime and salt, and even the severed tongue that Zhang Xianzhong had chewed and pickled, plus one thousand four hundred and sixty pickled pieces.
The meat will be sent back to Chongqing first.
In Chengdu, Zhu Shuren only left a hundred pieces of meat, and also built a memorial tomb for the victims of the massacre in Chengdu, and burned the meat in front of the memorial tomb as a memorial.
In this time and space, the worst city that Zhang Xianzhong slaughtered was Chongqing. Almost all of them were killed, so there will be sixty more slices left. Other places like Changde, Changsha, and Hengzhou will also leave hundreds of slices of meat, and in the end only one will be left.
A total of one thousand pieces were sent to Beijing together with the head.
After Zhu Shuren arrived in Chongqing, he only lingered for a while. Everyone thought he would settle down, but he said he would go back to Huguang first and personally see off the courier who was sending his head back to Beijing.
It turned out that Zhu Shuren was going to Yiling along the Yangtze River, and then to Changde to personally commemorate the late Yang Sichang, who was buried in his hometown. He drank three glasses of wine in front of his tomb, told him that Zhang Xianzhong had been executed, and brought him hundreds of slices of Zhang Xianzhong's meat.
, the hundreds of thousands of people who were killed in Changde Prefecture can rest in peace.
Historically, Zhang Xianzhong massacred Changde after the death of Yang Sichang, because he hated Yang Sichang the most and must kill all the people named Yang in Changde and those who were related to Yang Sichang. In this life, because of the butterfly effect of Zhu Shuren, Yang Sichang
He lived for more than a year, and before he died, he heard that his hometown was massacred in revenge by Zhang Xianzhong, and he died of grief and anger in the end.
Of course Zhu Shuren no longer needs to give face to the deceased, but everyone knows that he was promoted by Mr. Yang Ge when he first entered the officialdom.
Now I bring a hundred slices of bacon to pay homage to him, telling him that he can rest in peace. When outsiders see it, they will definitely think that Mr. Guo is a man who knows his grudges clearly and knows how to repay his kindness. Only the staff who follow him will feel more and more
Such leadership is reliable.
Not to mention, his performance in Changde Mansion really moved many people, and the internal cohesion became stronger for a while.
Zhu Shuren's personal running around stopped when he arrived in Changde. He did not need to travel personally in other places and could calm down for a period of time to deal with farm affairs.
The envoys he sent naturally had to continue eastward and northward, and they were not in a hurry all the way. Counting from leaving Sichuan, they walked for more than twenty days before arriving in the capital.
The day we arrived in Beijing was already mid-June.
During the more than three months when Zhu Shuren was immersed in suppressing bandits in Sichuan, dealing the final blow to Zhang Xianzhong, and pacifying the place and restoring production order, the outside world once again experienced earth-shaking changes.
…
The eunuch who passed on Zhu Shuren's promotion arrived in Sichuan in early April. But judging from the departure date from the capital, he set off as early as mid-March.
Therefore, all the orders given by Chongzhen to Zhu Shuren were based on the general trend of the world as of mid-March.
Zhu Shuren didn't know that less than ten days after Chongzhen's messenger left Beijing, the first big change happened. Counting the days, Chongzhen's messenger was still in Hefei at that time conferring a marriage to Zhu Shuren in Prince Lu's palace. It should be
It was the days when Shen Tingyang went to Hefei to serve wine and give gifts.
This change was due to the fact that Chen Xinjia, the Secretary of the Ministry of War, who was responsible for secretly negotiating peace with Huang Taiji. After all, due to repeated pulls and frequent exchanges of secret letters, he finally acted in a non-secret manner. One of Chen Xinjia's staff leaked the news of the peace negotiation.
It is known to many censors and officials in the capital.
As soon as this news spread, of course, it immediately exploded. Countless censors and officials wanted to impeach Chen Xinjia that day - this was a great achievement! When the impeachment was late, his head was snatched away by other colleagues!
In the beginning, Chen Xinjia was not certain to die. However, a friend beside him who was on the same front as him helped him at the critical moment, adding fuel to the fire.
The friend's name was Xie Sheng, who was also one of the cabinet bachelors. Liu Zongzhou, who belonged to the Yushi Yanguan faction. When Huang Daozhou was about to impeach, he stopped him and said privately to Liu Huang and others, "Don't be too troublesome, Chen Xinjia."
Your Majesty also acquiesces to the matter of negotiating peace with the Tatars. Please don't make a big fuss and embarrass Your Majesty."
But when the officials heard this, they became even more excited: At first, they thought it was Chen Xinjia who was treasonous and collaborating with the enemy, but now the emperor has agreed to surrender to the Tatars. Is it true that the emperor is guarding the country? How can the emperor admit his cowardice and cede territory?
reason!
So a group of people pretended to be "remonstrating with the dead" and rushed directly into the palace, asking Chongzhen not to do such a thing that insulted his ancestors. When Chongzhen saw this posture, he was still willing to admit that he had actually instructed Chen Xinjia to negotiate the peace, and he quickly
It means he doesn't know anything.
Now, Chen Xinjia not only betrayed the country and collaborated with the enemy, betrayed the country and sought glory, but also added a false accusation against the emperor's father, although the specific act of this frame-up was done by Xie Sheng.
The specific process was slightly different from the same period in history. Under the butterfly effect, the final result was that Chen Xinjia and Xie Sheng were both questioned and executed!
(Note: Historically, Xie Sheng’s act of peacemaking came out earlier and he escaped the limelight, so he was not dead but was dismissed from office. Four months after Chongzhen’s death, he demoted to the Qing Dynasty, and five months later he was demoted to the Qing Dynasty.
Death from the disease of aging.)
Zhou Yanru, the chief minister of the cabinet, also wanted to save Chen Xinjia. During the period when Chen Xinjia was appointed minister, there was no large-scale loss of troops and land, and the crime should not be punished. However, the rescue was ineffective.
was killed.
Chongzhen originally thought that killing Chen Xinjia would at most shake up the personnel affairs of the DPRK, but he soon discovered that the problem was not that simple.
Only half a month later, Chongzhen paid a heavy price for his indiscriminate killing of ministers in other areas——
Huang Taiji, who originally suspended the attack because of the peace talks, learned that Chen Xinjia had been killed and realized that people in the Ming Dynasty were definitely divided and everyone was in danger, so he stepped up the attack frantically.
Of course, Huang Taiji's attack was not to avenge Chen Xinjia, but to gain benefits for himself. And the official reason for his attack was naturally "Chongzhen's treachery. He originally told me secretly through Chen Xinjia that he wanted to negotiate a peace, but he didn't expect it."
They are just delaying time and defrauding me."
Huang Taiji got this excuse to punish the fraudsters, and there was no opposition within the Eight Banners, and everyone followed him wholeheartedly.
Originally, when they were just for murder and robbery, the Qing army's combat effectiveness was terrifying enough. Now that they had an excuse, the offensive was naturally even faster.
Chongzhen's move to kill Chen Xinjia made generals and civilian officials feel disheartened. In exchange, he only won the support of a group of loud-mouthed censors.
But when Huang Taiji's knife came over, these censors could not help Chongzhen fight the enemy.
When Huang Taiji's Qing army broke through Jimen again, Chongzhen quickly issued an order to all towns to go to the capital. However, Wu Sangui of Shanhaiguan procrastinated and said that Liaodong was in an emergency, so he came very slowly.
Even Tangtong in Miyun and Bai Guangen in Kaiping (Tangshan) ignored Chongzhen at all. They only said that their defense areas were also heavily invaded by the Tatars and had fallen into fierce fighting and were unable to escape. Chongzhen had nothing to do with them.
.
In the end, it turned out that after Cao Bianjiao was transferred, Zhou Yuji, who had just replaced Cao Bianjiao as the commander-in-chief of Taiyuan, was somewhat loyal. He traveled hundreds of miles from Pingxing Pass in the east of Daizhou and entered Qinwang in Hebei Plain.
However, when Zhou Yuji arrived, Huang Taiji had massacred and looted a large area around the capital, killing and taking away hundreds of thousands of people, and was preparing to withdraw his troops. Zhou Yuji was outnumbered, and was attacked by the rear troops of the Qing army. He suffered serious losses and could only retreat from the Qing army.
Pingxingguan returned to Shanxi.
When Zhou met King Ji Qin, he suffered heavy losses, which triggered a series of chain reactions.
First of all, the Ming army in Shanxi became extremely empty. Cao Bianjiao left and Zhou Yuji suffered heavy losses. Li Zicheng's partial division immediately developed in southern Shanxi and almost occupied the Fenshui Basin south of Taiyuan.
More importantly, the Shanxi region will no longer be able to send troops to Shaanxi to help Sun Chuanting in the war this year. The Henan region was completely destroyed last year, and Kaifeng was flooded for so long. During the spring famine, the people who had no food had to rely on transshipments to flee south to survive.
, it is even more impossible to recruit new soldiers from Henan to serve as reinforcements for Sun Chuanting.
When the thieves learned that Huang Taiji had massacred and plundered the area around Beijing again, everyone from Li Zicheng to Li Zicheng was very excited. They all felt that they should seize this golden opportunity and take advantage of Huang Taiji's cooperation to attack them immediately.
Sun Chuanting launches a general offensive!
If Ming Dynasty recovers from the loss caused by Huang Taiji's invasion, and wants to deal with Sun Chuanting again, it will not only face tens of thousands of people!
The number of veterans under Sun Chuanting's command is only 20,000 at most. Sun Chuanting has been working hard to expand the army since he took office last year, but the quality of the newly recruited young men is really not good enough.
By the 16th year of Chongzhen's reign, Shaanxi was completely unfit for human habitation. The combat effectiveness of the soldiers recruited in Shaanxi was second only to poor morale and loyalty. Sun Chuanting could not pay military pay, and could not even provide food.
Don't let the new recruits eat enough.
Huang Taiji entered the Pass to massacre and plunder in April. On the sixth day of May, Li Zicheng launched an attack on Shaanxi from Henan and Shaanxi.
History has changed slightly here. Originally, Sun Chuanting should have taken the initiative to leave Tongguan to attack Li Zicheng. This time, Sun Chuanting had a little self-awareness and defended near Xi'an. Li Zicheng crossed the Yellow River from Pubanjin and entered Guanzhong to fight.
But after all, Sun Chuanting knew that he did not have enough food and pay to fight a protracted war. When Li Zicheng crossed the Yellow River, he thought of taking a gamble by attacking halfway across the river, so he did not defend the city of Xi'an.
The bandits poured down the Yellow River and drowned.
As a result, the two sides finally broke out in an extremely brutal field battle.
Sun Chuanting was worthy of being a man who knew soldiers. His opportunity to attack half-crossed was not too bad. When they arrived at Pubanjin, Li Zicheng's entire army had not yet crossed the Yellow River.
However, Li Zicheng's troops were extremely resilient. Motivated by the fear of being driven down the Yellow River and drowned, they showed the courage to fight to the bitter end and actually endured for a while.
Sun Chuanting's army on the opposite side listened to Sun Chuanting's encouragement at first, saying that the enemy army would be defeated quickly if they were attacked halfway across the river, so the half-starved Ming army recruits reluctantly fought, just thinking about fighting.
If you fight with the wind, you can get some rewards and a full meal.
Seeing that the bandits refused to retreat, and the battle lasted for half a day, the hungry recruits of the Ming army took the lead in making a fuss, and the battle line collapsed.
Sun Chuanting personally supervised the battle and acted clumsily on the left and right, but it did not prevent the new army he had just recruited for half a year from collapsing and rebelling, and followed the bandits to attack his own formation. Sun Chuanting was eventually defeated and died among the rebel army.
The conscience of heaven and earth, until the moment of his death, Sun Chuanting was not incompetent in leading troops, but actually died of poverty. Historically, many of the troops in the Qing army that later became extremely powerful were actually surrendered by the Ming army. Including Wu Sangui, who surrendered
After the Qing Dynasty, the combat effectiveness suddenly rose to a higher level.
In the final analysis, the Ming army was still too poor, but the thieves could burn, kill, and loot large scales at will, share the gold with large pieces, eat meat, and drink from large bowls, and the will to fight was suddenly raised.
People are still the same people. If they have money, they will have fighting ability. If they don't pay wages and food, they won't have fighting ability.
When the news of Sun Chuanting's death and the fall of Xi'an reached the capital, Chongzhen fell down on the throne in shock. He endured it for a long time. Finally, he dismissed the palace maids and eunuchs and asked Wang Chengen to close the door and cry secretly alone.
"God will not bless me Daming!"
!”
——
PS: The NPC world other than the protagonist will be covered in half a chapter without going into detail.