Dashun Yongchang

Although the battle in Cao County is over, the people of Cao County can no longer return to their previous life.Although the Qing army's attack was not yet successful, it was thwarted by the Shun army reinforcements who arrived in time, but the Qing army that entered the city also caused huge damage to Cao County.

In order to attack the county government, they demolished many houses to make temporary bridges or shield vehicles.Although the Qing army had not had time to carry out large-scale massacres, small-scale massacres have never stopped. Robbery of property and rape of women can be regarded as minor crimes.

After receiving Li Zicheng's order, Zhang Xiu and Hu Dan, the staff officer sent by Li Zicheng, screened and interrogated the surrendered Qing troops.Although Li Zicheng said he wanted to let the soldiers go home, his release was not to give these surrendered soldiers a few taels of silver and then let them go home, but to let the surrendered officers and soldiers return to their hometowns after an ideological education. To promote Dashun's political ideas.

Of course, in Hu Dan's view, the so-called ideological education is nothing more than dividing up these Han officers and soldiers who surrendered to Manchuria.It is impossible for the Han people who steadfastly followed the Manchus to go back. Those who can go back are almost all grassroots officers and soldiers who cannot let go of their families. Shun.

However, these officers and soldiers who have returned to their hometowns, will the Manchus rest assured that they will stay at home and farm?According to common sense, a small number of people will be questioned, and most people will be re-conscripted into the army, so as to warn other descendants not to surrender to Dashun easily.And what happened to those who returned would become a warning to those who stayed behind, making them give up their half-hearted thoughts.

Therefore, Hu Dan was very serious about the screening work, and easily took the initiative from Zhang Xiu.Zhang Xiu's mind was not here at all, he wanted to avenge Brother Zhou Hu, so he was looking forward to the public trial meeting.The two get what they need, and they are happy to cooperate.

That night, at the suggestion of Zhang Xiu, the two arraigned the application of the third grandson of the Han army with the red flag and the fourth Niulu Erzhen.For Sun Yingpin who was brought up, Zhang Xiu was still very polite, because the other party had defected before the battle anyway.

After Sun Yingpin sat down, Zhang Xiu said to him: "I have heard about your public accusation against Bahana today. The day after tomorrow we will have a public trial of the Manchus headed by Bahana. Then, Can you provide some more information about the atrocities committed by the Manchus inside and outside the Pass?"

Sun Yingpin sat in the chair and was silent at first. During the day, he was enraged by Bahana's words after he got into trouble, and then he started to speak out.At night, he thought it over again. What he did now could only save the Niulu tribe and relatives who were captured by the Shun army, but the tribe and relatives at home would probably be destroyed.

As defectors in front of the battle, he and his fellow Niulu people are no longer in danger of their lives. Sun Yingpin naturally hopes to keep a low profile in the future and stop providing the Shun Army with any information about the Eight Banners' internal struggle.There is no benefit to doing such a thing, but it is easy for the Manchu nobles to point their finger directly at their family, and then he will become a sinner in the clan.

Hu Dan, who was on the side, looked at Zhang Xiu's inquisitive question, but was prevaricated by Sun Yingying Gu Zuoyun's rhetoric. He finally put down the brush in his hand and said, "Actually, whether you say it or not, the result will be the same." Yes, Aixinjueluo Bahana must be responsible for the massacre of soldiers and civilians in Cao County. But whether you cooperate or not is of great significance to you and your clansmen. You don’t think that we don’t move you, Manchu won't touch you, will he?"

Sun Yingpin immediately pleaded in a low voice: "The villain still knows what the lord said. But the villain can't think about it now, he can only live one day at a time. The villain's family is all in the north, so I can't insist on it." Are you going to send them to die? In fact, there are so many people who have been captured, and the villain has served Dashun anyway, why did the two adults insist that I be the villain..."

Zhang Xiu frowned and reprimanded: "What does it mean to be a villain? Let me tell you the truth. Is this doing evil?"

Sun Yingpin fell silent again, and Hu Dan waved his hand at Zhang Xiu, signaling him to calm down, before continuing to say to Sun Yingpin: "I think you may have misunderstood us, we just asked you to be the first one. The object of questioning is not just looking for you. Do you know why you are the first one?"

Sun Yingpin raised his head and glanced at the two of them. This is the study of a certain rich family. Although the place is not big, it is well decorated, but now it has been changed into a place for questioning. Sun Yingpin sat with his back to the door. Xiu and Hu Tan sat opposite each other, and there was a long desk between them, which was used to record texts for Zhang Xiu and Hu Tan.

Sun Yingpin looked at Hu Tan in the light, looking like a scholar. He didn't think the other party could do anything to him, so he shook his head and said, "How can a villain guess what two adults are thinking."

Hu Tan then said unhurriedly: "According to Your Majesty's wishes, the public trial of Bahana and others will be published in the newspaper. The purpose of our questioning is to select a few who will actively expose the crimes of the Manchus. People from the North side published their confessions in the newspaper. It is said that the north side is also very interested in our newspaper, so would you like to set an example?"

Sun Yingpin stared at the other party with wide eyes, feeling the hairs on his back stand on end, he hurriedly said: "This can't be done, can't be done..."

Hu Dan suddenly slapped the table and yelled at Sun Yingpin: "Why can't you do it? You really take yourself seriously? You are still working in the Marshal's Mansion, and you still need to guide me? If you want to continue to be uncooperative like this, get out. Do you really think our patience is unlimited?"

Seeing Hu Dan with a downcast face, Sun Yingpin naturally didn't dare to just get out, he knew that the other party could do what he said, after all, this time he was captured so many Mongolian Han people, no one can guarantee everyone They are all heroes who regard death as home.Even if it is himself, he just thinks that he should be of some use to Li Zicheng, so he is unwilling to do anything wrong.

But now it seems that Li Zicheng doesn't pay much attention to the Han army flags they surrendered. If he persists, the other party may really provoke the Manchus to attack their families.Based on his understanding of the Manchus, there may be an explanation for the Manchus killing the Manchus, but even if the Manchus killed the Han people by mistake, the Manchus don't care.

For example, his elder brother Sun Yingshi, everyone knew that his death was wronged. Zhu Shichang, who officially submitted the memorial, was just sent to the frontier, but Sun Yingshi, who polished the memorial and revised the text, was beheaded by Huang Taiji.After this knife was cut, the Han officials in Liaodong finally retreated, and did not dare to collectively second a certain policy.Therefore, in private, everyone believes that Sun Yingshi should not have died at all, but the Great Khan needs to deter the Han officials who want to unite and speak out, so he has to die.

Naturally, Sun Yingpin didn't dare to blame Huang Taiji, and the Sun family didn't even dare to publicly bury Sun Yingshi's body in the ancestral grave.Even though he has to surrender with Tu Guobao now, he still fears the Nine Kings more than Yongchang Emperor, because the latter, as the emperor of the Han Dynasty, seems to be able to be reasonable, offending reasonable people will not die, offending unreasonable people But will die.

Based on this logic, Sun Yingpin dared to deal with the two Shun Army officers boldly.But now it seems that this road is not going to work, because Li Zicheng doesn't seem to be so reasonable.When Sun Yingpin was at a loss, Zhang Xiu, who was supposed to be a white face, gave Sun Yingpin a step and said, "If you really have such a hard time making a decision, then go back and rest for a night, and we can talk about it tomorrow morning." .”

Sun Yingpin almost agreed to come down, but after watching the two of them flip through the roster to find the next person to interrogate, he finally sat back and said dryly: "Actually, I still remember some old news. I would like to share these old news with the two adults..."

Zhang Xiu and Hu Dan looked at each other and smiled, and Hu Dan opened the notebook at hand, and then said to Sun Yingpin: "Tell me, try to be as detailed as possible..."

On the morning of the third day when Cao County was recovered, Feng Yangzhu finally arrived at the west gate of Cao County with 2500 German reinforcements.Facing Ma Bao who was welcoming him at the gate of the city, Feng Yangzhu hurriedly got off his horse and greeted him: "It's late, it's late, Yuan Shuai ordered the recruitment of troops after receiving the messenger from Cao County for help. It was only a few days ago that the expedition army was properly formed, so it was delayed..."

After the lesson of the Battle of Cao County, Ma Bao finally restrained himself a bit, and he was no longer the same as before with his eyes above his head.Previously, Ma Bao relied on his own bravery to get promoted all the way up, so naturally he didn't think much of those peasant army veterans who rely on their seniority to sell their veterans in the army.

But this battle made Ma Bao finally realize that his own bravery alone cannot change a battle.The experience and lessons summary meeting after the war also brought him considerable gains. For the first time, Ma Bao felt that he really didn't know much about how to command a cavalry to fight.

This post-war summary meeting not only reviewed the reasons for the fall of Cao County and the reasons for the initial failure of the reinforcements, but the most important thing was that a considerable revision was made to the original cavalry combat regulations. Everyone felt that such changes were necessary.Li Zicheng also sent a copy to the General Staff of the Marshal's Mansion in his own name, asking the General Staff to revise the cavalry training and establishment based on the meeting minutes.

Realizing that he was only a mere man, Ma Bao finally lowered his head and began to ask the veterans for their combat experience.Although Feng Yangzhu was Yuan Zongdi's subordinate, but his seniority in the rebel army was not shallow, so Ma Bao still respected him as an old senior, which also made Feng Yangzhu look at Ma Bao highly.

And Feng Yangzhu was also very curious about how Emperor Yongchang regained Cao County so quickly, so the two had a good chat on the way to the county government.When they saw the stone bridge in front of the county government office, Feng Yangzhu also had a preliminary understanding of the battle from Ma Bao, and he couldn't help admiring: "After all, it is Your Majesty. If it were different, we would not dare to take such a risky attack." Yes. What is the court on the stone bridge for? Trial cases?"

Ma Bao turned his gaze to the stone bridge, looked at the wooden cage at the head of the bridge, and said, "It's a public trial. Your Majesty requires this county to file a complaint against Jian Nu for the civilians killed and injured in this battle, and execute the main responsible person..."

Bahana, who was locked in a cage, felt that he had never suffered such a great humiliation in his life. Before the public trial, he was locked in a cage and paraded through the streets. As a result, the people on the side of the road picked up mud and small stones and threw him. The cage secretly swears that as long as he has the opportunity to leave here, he will definitely take revenge on these Cao County people.

Chapter 349 Arrangement Three

During the parade, Bahana, who was trapped in a wooden cage, still looked aloof. This naturally made the people in Cao County who had lost their relatives even more dissatisfied. They once rushed to dig a piece of meat from Bahana's body and used He came to offer sacrifices to his family members who died in the war, but in the end Zhang Xiu stopped him.

And Zhang Xiu was able to stop the people in the county not only because he was the local who persisted in resisting until the end, but also because his words of persuasion were very pleasant to everyone's ears.This is what Zhang Xiu said to the people of Cao County, "You all killed this slave chief just like this. Didn't you fall into his hands? You see, there is no trace of remorse on his face. He still doesn't feel that he has done anything wrong. What. If you just killed him like this, I am afraid that Jiannu will praise him and say that he died unyielding. Is this the result everyone wants to see?"

Of course the people were unwilling to let such a murderer become a martyr, so after Zhang Xiu promised to give them a fair promise, the people blocking the way finally retreated to both sides of the street.

When Zhang Xiu passed by the wooden cage, Bahana yelled at him: "It's interesting that you are a Han. If Grandpa can survive today, he will definitely leave you with a whole body in the future."

Zhang Xiu stopped and swept the wooden cage, then sneered, "Do you think you can still live today?"

Bahana, whose face was filthy and bloodstained, laughed and said, "Didn't you say just now that even if I die, I will be rewarded by the court. Of course it would be better if I don't die. I have hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the Qing Dynasty here, and Li Zicheng will be rewarded by the court." What else can be done? The defeat of Cao County was nothing more than an accident."

Zhang Xiu didn't pay attention to him, but continued to press the prison cart and turned around the main street in the city to the gate of the county government office. At this time, the two ends of the stone bridge in front of the county government office had been sealed off by soldiers, and there were public cases and chairs on the stone bridge. Li Zicheng sat in front of the gate of the county government and watched, while the street on the other side of the stone bridge was full of people.

Zhang Xiu commanded the soldiers to park the prison cars of more than a dozen people including Bahana on the side of Linhe Street in front of the stone bridge, and then everyone stood up and bowed to Li Zicheng in front of the gate of the county government, and then began today's public trial ceremony .

When Feng Yangzhu and Ma Bao arrived, the public trial was almost coming to an end.It’s just that at this time, Bahana no longer had the calm expression he had at the beginning. Now he grabbed the wooden pillars of the cage and roared loudly: “Lies, lies, all lies. You Han people are all cunning liars. I can't die..."

What made Bahana feel so angry was the testimonies of several Manchus, Mongols and Han people. They unanimously testified that it was Aixinjueluo Bahana who created the tragedy in Cao County.The testimonies paint Bahana as a greedy, incompetent and violent Aisin Gioro.If these testimonies are passed back to Beijing, then Bahana will never be praised.

Because these testimonies put together, it is tantamount to explaining that the defeat in the battle of Cao County was all on his shoulders.Bahana was not afraid of death. As one of the few progressive people in the clan, he felt that if he could die for Manchuria, he would just follow Tianming Khan and Tiancong Khan. What's so terrible about it?

But Bahana didn't want to die in obscurity, let alone die with so many crimes on his back. Such a death is simply worthless.However, when Bahana desperately refuted, the surrounding people cheered, because after discussing with the representatives of the people in the city, Duan Zhuxin decided to sentence Bahana to death and execute it immediately.

Bahana was quickly dragged out of the cage by the soldiers, and then sent to the gallows erected by the river.Li Zicheng thought that the way of beheading was too bloody and too few people saw it. It would be better to use a Western-style gallows. The corpse hung high enough for most people to see.

The last few minutes of Bahana's life were embarrassing, because no one wanted to hear him tell the truth, everyone just wanted to see him hanged.Two soldiers pushed him onto the wooden platform below the gallows, and then roughly put a hemp rope around Bahana's neck.

Just when Bahana made his final request, hoping to see Li Zicheng, a soldier shook his head at him and said, "We are not in charge of passing on the message, we are just in charge of sending you down. Huang Quan, then you can go on your way."

Another soldier took a plate of food, a bowl of pig's claws, a jug of water wine, and a bowl of old rice, then picked up the food and stuffed it into his mouth, muttering: "You have done so many bad things, why are you still doing this?" You can leave a whole body and be a full ghost, what else are you dissatisfied with? Eat quickly, and go on the road after eating, everyone is waiting..."

Because he was feeding too fast, Bahana choked out all the food in his mouth, and the soldier who was feeding quickly stepped aside, and then said to his companion: "It seems that this Mandarin has already eaten and drank enough. Let him go."

"Wait, wait..." Bahana was trying to say something while spitting out the food in his mouth. The wooden board under his feet suddenly opened, and his whole body sank suddenly. The weight of his body and the stone locks tied to his feet quickly With a broken neck bone, Bahana became the first Aisin Gioro to be sentenced to death by civilian jurors.

Afterwards, the Cao County court sentenced eight more to death, and eventually hanged nine Manchu and Han officers who were found guilty of war crimes.However, Ker Kun escaped unharmed, because Li Zicheng felt that this man was still useful.

Li Zicheng was very happy about Feng Yangzhu's arrival. He summoned Feng Yangzhu after the public trial and sacrifice, and gave him a brief introduction to the current situation around Cao County. Fucheng, however, we still have to put on a show to attract the attention of Jiannu from Dingtao, so as to create opportunities for the Ministry of Land and National Treasures.

You came at the right time, just in time to pretend to join Dingtao Niu Wancai's tribe and try to annihilate the siege of Dingtao Jiannu.Force this Jian slave to switch from offense to defense, buying time for us to march to the northwest Kaocheng. "

Feng Yangzhu looked at the sand table and said with some puzzlement: "Your Majesty is here with an army of tens of thousands, why didn't you first kill Dingtao and Chengwujiannu who are right in front of you, and then go to Kaocheng?"

Li Zicheng shook his head and said: "Because they defeated the Jiannu of Dingtao and Chengwu, Duoduo will soon be able to replenish their troops. What Duduo's army lacks is not troops but food and supplies. We are entangled with each other here , It cannot change the situation of the battle, but it is helping the opponent to reduce the burden of logistics transfer.

Azig's journey was different. They not only lacked food and fodder, but also lacked enough troops.Although they forced down many local tyrants when they crossed the Yellow River, the local tyrants in Henan who survived the war for more than ten years were all those who rode the fence to see the wind and the wind.

When the Qing army moved south aggressively, these local tyrants would naturally join the past without hesitation, but if we had the upper hand, they would also separate from the Qing army without hesitation.Therefore, as much as Azig's Qing army was wiped out, it would disperse as much as possible, and the number of fights would decrease. If it really came to a critical juncture, even Wu Sangui would not be willing to die with Azig. "

As soon as the doubts in Feng Yangzhu's heart were gone, he immediately assured Li Zicheng: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, I, Lao Feng, don't dare to boast about anything else, but it's okay to hold Jiannu with Lao Niu for half a month to a month..."

On the second day after the death of Bahana, Nikan and Tong Tulai finally got the exact battle report of the failure of the Cao County attack. Although some deserters brought back the news that the [-] Mongolian cavalry that Kerkun attacked out of the city were annihilated, But the two felt that it was too fantastical, thinking that this was a lie fabricated by deserters to shirk responsibility.

But this time the spies brought back the news that they finally knew that the surprise attack on Cao County had indeed failed.Although there were two charcoal basins burning in front of Nikan and Tong Tulai sitting in the big tent, neither of them could feel any heat at this moment, only their hands and feet were cold.

After being silent for a long time, Nikan first asked Tong Tulai: "Since Tianming Khan raised his troops, is there any precedent for someone from my Aixinjueluo family to be captured and executed?"

Tong Tulai really didn't want to answer this question, but seeing that there was no one else in the big tent, he could only reply vaguely: "I'm afraid not."

Nikan continued with a puzzled look on his face, "I still don't understand how Kerkun was defeated, how Bahana was captured alive, as Aixinjueluo, how could he be captured alive by the Han people?"

Sweat was dripping from Tong Tulai's forehead, he didn't want to discuss such an issue with Nikan, so he changed the subject and said: "The slave thinks that the most important thing right now is to block the news, so as not to let the soldiers know about it, Otherwise, I’m afraid the city will be impossible to attack.”

Nikan pondered for a long time, and asked Tong Tulai: "Can this matter be hidden?"

Tong Tulai could only grit his teeth and replied, "Hide it for as long as you can, at least until the ten kings get our report, we can't let the army be confused."

Nikan did not disagree with Tong Tulai's suggestion, but he asked with a wry smile: "Then how should we report? The news we have now is just hearsay. Is Bahana dead? Did he also die? We don’t have any evidence. The ten kings don’t rub the sand in their eyes, if we report the rumors, we will be reprimanded by the ten kings.”

Tong Tulai was about to speak, but he heard several generals outside the big tent requesting to come in. These people are their confidantes, so the two had no choice but to stop talking and summon these subordinates.After these generals entered the big tent, they looked at each other, and then invariably took out a piece of paper from their pockets and presented it to the two of them.

After reading the papers handed over by the generals, Nikan and Tong Tulai couldn't help saying in unison: "It seems that we can't hide it anymore. We need to send this leaflet to the ten kings as soon as possible..."

Chapter 350 Spreading One

On the evening of January [-]nd, the second year of Yongchang, the Xuzhou branch of Dashun Times received the urgently sent document from Cao County. After watching the contents of the document, Song Zhengyu, the branch director, immediately called back the colleagues in the branch and revised the preparation for the next day overnight. Published Times draft.

So on the afternoon of the second day, when the people in the Xuzhou area got the latest issue of Dashun Times, they were shocked to find that the newspaper had published three good news for the first time, contrary to the bad news about land loss.

The first one is a detailed report on the great victory in front of Qiaoling. Although the news that the Shun army defeated the Qing army's attack in front of Qiaoling had been published before, it was just a one-sentence news. I realized that the battle in front of Qiaoling was not as simple as defeating the enemy's sneak attack, but greatly killing the enemy.

The second news came from the east of Taishan Mountain. Although there was only one sentence "Part of our army successfully attacked Qingzhou City", this was at least the first counterattack against the Qing army, so no matter how big or small the result is, it is worth everyone's attention. Congratulations.

And the third news is that the emotions of the people in Xuzhou really boiled up. The soldiers and civilians of Cao County were killed in a surprise attack by the Qing army. One of the army.

The information of this battle is very detailed, not only specifying the composition of the Qing army, but also pointing out the number and number of enemy generals who were killed by Cao County soldiers and reinforcements. The most important thing is that Aixinjueluo was captured alive. He was sentenced to hang by military and civilian trials in Cao County, which made the people of Xuzhou feel that Aixinjueluo was too cheap.

Some people think that the living Aixinjueluo should be sent back so that everyone can take a good look at what it is before execution, while others think that these barbarians should be executed by Ling Chi instead of a benevolent punishment like hanging.But no matter what the people think about the execution of Aixinjueluo, the people of Xuzhou, who were originally full of anxiety about the war, have almost relaxed because of the content of this issue of the newspaper.

Whether it is a person of insight or an illiterate people at the bottom, after seeing or hearing the news of these three victories, the first feeling is that Xuzhou is safe and the front line has finally stabilized.With this understanding, the voices of the people who supported the Marshal's Mansion's war against the Manchu Qing suddenly became louder. Before that, news of the loss of teachers and land was everywhere, and the people in the Xuzhou area were silent for a while, thinking that this day would change again. Therefore, the response to the War of Resistance Against North Korea promoted by the Marshal's Mansion was not positive, for fear that it would cause trouble to the upper body when the Qing army arrived in the future.

But after the front line stabilized, the people of Xuzhou who felt that they had become the rear of the battlefield immediately dared to denounce the Manchu invasion.As long as the Marshal's Mansion can maintain the front line outside Xuzhou, then everyone is naturally willing to support the Marshal's Mansion.

Being in the middle of the battlefield and being outside the battlefield are two different concepts. Before that, the peasant army raged in the west and central part of Henan for many years. Because Xuzhou was outside the guerrilla area of ​​the peasant army, it still lived a peaceful life for a few years, but it was 15 years in Chongzhen Later, because of the defeat of the officers and soldiers in the battle, Xuzhou was also involved in the battlefield, and the local people suffered.

Before, everyone didn't dare to let go and support the Marshal's Mansion, because they were also worried that the thieves' habits in the Marshal's Mansion would not change, and they would flee after hunting. Then wouldn't those local families who had families and houses be doomed, so naturally everyone would not Actively respond to the call of the Marshal's Mansion, but only passively obey.In this way, even if the Mansion of Marshal Du escaped, after the Manchu Qing army went south, everyone could escape the punishment of the Qing army in the name of being forced to support Marshal Du's Mansion.

But now that the Marshal's Mansion has gained a firm foothold, the psychology of the people has changed.Some of the previous policies of the Marshal's Mansion were actually friendly to the lower-level people. Since the Marshal's Mansion has the ability to maintain these policies, these people at the bottom will naturally become bolder. and hostile gentry and landowners, so as to ensure that the benefits given to them by the Marshal's Mansion will not be taken back by these gentry and landowners.

A newspaper can arouse so many people's support for the Marshal's Mansion. This is something the officials of the Marshal's Mansion did not expect. This is a good thing, but most of their ideas are that they can use newspapers to compete for scholarly reviews, and use newspapers to improve the status of literati in the Dashun government...but no one takes the task of calling and educating ordinary people seriously , because from ancient times to the present, public opinion is in the hands of scholar-bureaucrats, what knowledge do common people have?Can it set off a public opinion war?

But nearly half a year after Dashun Times was opened, they finally realized that the public opinion propaganda caused by the newspaper was by no means something that a few scholars gathered in private could compete with.The opinions of one or two ordinary people may be insignificant, but when tens of thousands of people reach a consensus, the storm of public opinion will be far stronger than that of the so-called scholars.

Although those country gentry and landlords lost their apparent power and part of their land under the attack of the Marshal's Mansion before, they were still respected gentry in the countryside. Not to appeal to the government.Those who dare to go directly to the government instead of the gentry will be isolated by the villagers, because this is breaking the rules and asking the government to participate in the internal affairs of the village.

From the perspective of the villagers, unless the conflicts between villagers in the village reach the point of murder, it is not considered a violation of the king's law, and the conflicts that do not violate the king's law should be entrusted to the mediation and resolution of the village's respected figures.For conflicts in the family, please ask the elders to come forward, for conflicts within the clan, please ask the patriarch to come forward, and for conflicts between villages, please ask the gentry and the head of the village to come forward, otherwise it will ruin the reputation of the village. Innocent people.

This kind of township contract and folk regulations has always been very supported by the gentry and officials, because the gentry can take the opportunity to control the village and protect their own family business. This is also the reason why Ming officials like to resign and return to their hometown. For local officials, litigation The reduction in lawsuits can be counted as a political achievement. If you can get filial piety by building a good relationship with these rural gentry, why not do it.

However, this method of quelling the lawsuit did not solve the disputes in the countryside, but only suppressed the contradictions forcibly.Just like in later generations, in order to reduce the divorce rate, the bureaucrats decided not to allow ordinary people to divorce. As a result, the divorce rate dropped, and the willingness of ordinary people to marry was even lower, and the crime cases caused by the intensification of family conflicts increased.Of course, as long as they can be promoted, this sequelae are nothing to officials.

However, this kind of influence of the gentry was formed on the basis of having gained power. After losing the power, the villagers may still wait and see for a while, thus giving these gentry the illusion that they can still control the situation.When the villagers realized that the current regime could indeed win, they naturally began to fight back against the gentry and landlords who oppressed them in the past.

The news of Cao County's big victory just ignited a fire in the villagers' mood, which was already ready to stir.For the grassroots officials in the Marshal's Mansion, the changes in the villagers' positions are of course very desirable. After all, the current Marshal's Mansion is not for the purpose of stabilizing the country, but for serving the war. The support of the villagers has greatly reduced their pressure. Burden, and found the key to prevent them from controlling the village.

However, some people also expressed dissatisfaction with the report of Cao County's victory.For example, officials such as Gong Dingzi came to Song Zhengyu, and Gong Dingzi took the newspaper and said dissatisfied with Song Zhengyu: "Cao County's victory is indeed good news, but why are these reports advocating the achievements of Cao County's soldiers and civilians? Where is your majesty's achievements? ? Without His Majesty leading troops northward to rescue Cao County, we would have won this war? You are concealing His Majesty's achievements by reporting like this, isn't that unreasonable?"

Song Zhengyu was only a juren in the Ming Dynasty, but as a member of several societies, his literary name was already well-known in the south of the Yangtze River, especially for his ancient prose.However, he is most famous for his affair with Liu Rushi, but because Fang Yuegong, the magistrate of Songjiang at that time, ordered the expulsion of "traveling prostitutes" from other places, Liu Rushi was from Suzhou and belonged to the object of deportation, so he approached Song Zheng. However, Song Zhengyu, who was only sixteen or seventeen years old at the time, could not bear the pressure of confronting the magistrate, and suggested that his lover "stay away from the front", and Liu Rushi was furious, so he severed ties with her.

Because of this incident, Song Zhengyu's reputation was bad, and he himself reduced the number of times he went to Huajie and Liuxiang.This time, under the recommendation of Shen Tingyang, Song Zhengyu crossed the river and entered the Wenhua Palace, and because of the ancient prose, he was favored by Li Zicheng, so he became one of the deputy editors of Dashun Times.Due to the backwardness of transportation, Dashun Times has set up three branches in Xuzhou, Huai'an and Yangzhou. In addition to the main commentary articles, the supplement uses local literati writing and local news, thus ensuring the timeliness of newspaper news. Attraction to local people.

As the influence of the Dashun Times continued to expand, some literati noticed the difference between the newspaper and the previous Dibao, and the importance of the newspaper in elevating the literati's reputation.In this era, if you want to become a famous person, besides the upper-middle level of writing, the most important thing is to be praised. If you can write articles and no one praises you, you can’t become a famous person. After all, people who really write good articles don’t need literary skills to be famous. The world is over, and most of the people who need to be famous for their literary skills are literati who are not good at writing.

However, it costs at least a few hundred gold to hold a literary meeting, and thousands of gold for high-end ones, but the influence of a literary meeting is not as good as that of a newspaper, which naturally makes literati begin to seek to gain influence in newspapers.So the editor-in-chief and deputy editor-in-chief of Dashun Times became the objects of pursuit of some literati, quite like the leaders of the literary world in the past.

This is indeed a pretty good job for those officials who are up and down in the Marshal's Mansion, just like the collection of Ming Dynasty's Imperial Academy and science and Taoism officials.Therefore, they all want to find a position in the newspaper office, but this position that they looked down upon before is now very difficult to find.

This time, Dashun Times' report on Cao County's great victory gave some officials an opportunity to oust Song Zhengyu, who had offended Emperor Yongchang, so that his seat would be vacated.Therefore, some people urged Gong Dingzi to come over to Xingshi to inquire about the crime.

After hearing these words of questioning, Song Zhengyu calmly took out a manuscript, gave Gong Dingzi a look and said, "I'm just following orders."

Gong Dingzi looked intently and found that there were a few lines of comments from Li Zicheng at the bottom of the manuscript, which read: "The victory of Cao County is first and foremost the victory of Cao County's soldiers and civilians. It is necessary to highlight the heroic and unyielding spirit of Cao County's soldiers and people. The army and civilians of Cao County held back most of the Qing army and created a fighting opportunity for our army. This is not a purely military victory, but a political victory, which represents that the people have finally begun to wake up. Newspapers should emphasize and publicize This point...if our soldiers and civilians are united as one, let's see who in the world can fight against us!"

After reading it, Gong Dingzi finally put away the momentum of provoking teachers and inquiring about crimes, and instead praised Song Zhengyu: "I am very pleased to see that you can understand His Majesty's intentions so well..."

Chapter 351 Propagation II

The leaflets about the great victory in Cao County and the trial of war criminals were printed in Feng County and sent not only to Chengwu and Dingtao, but also to the Jining front.Tao Baihu, who was ordered to transport the leaflets, transported the leaflets to Wenshang County in only three days.

Of course, this is also due to the convenience of the Northland sled. The colder winter makes the river more and more frozen.This makes the sleds that can only be used outside the customs can also be used in the customs, and all rivers with thick ice have become ice sleds in winter.

When Tao Baihu and his men arrived at the Dawen River line, it was almost as if they were passing through the jungle of fortresses. Large and small irregular fortresses were like plum blossoms scattered all over the ground, and people could hardly see where the edge was. .And the place they passed was the closest to the Qing army, and they could see the Qing army's camp when they looked up, but it was only five or six miles away.

Most of these forts were built in the south of the Dawen River. Only Wenshang County was located in the north of the Dawen River. The Dawen River water was also introduced into the north side of Shangxian County, forming a huge lake, which made it almost difficult for the Qing army to approach before freezing.

And when the river began to freeze, Wenshang County was connected with the fortress area behind, completely becoming a military fortress. Although the artillery of the Qing army once smashed down the tens of feet of the city wall in the northwest corner of the city, they broke into the city. The Qing army soon discovered that Wenshang County had already built a fortress area divided into blocks. The Qing army who rushed into the city not only did not take advantage of it, but was used by the Shun army because they were not familiar with the geography of the city. After the fort was divided, strangled.

Neither the Manchus nor the former Ming army had experienced this kind of urban alleyway war, because in the past, defending the city meant defending the outer walls, moats, and walls outside the city.The offensive and defensive battle for cities is to compete for the defensive facilities of these cities. Once the defensive facilities of these cities are lost, the defenders will have no meaning to hold on, and the people in the city will persuade the garrison to surrender to avoid massacres.

However, the fortress tactics adopted by the Shun Army were not to defend anything, but to kill and injure the attacking enemies as much as possible. In order to prevent the civilians from obstructing the defense of the defenders, the Shun Army even evacuated all the civilians in Wenshang County.Almost all of these forts were equipped with gunpowder weapons and even mines.

Therefore, when the Qing army attacked Wenshang County, they soon found that they were not attacking a hive flowing with honey, but trapped in an ant nest, and they would be bitten no matter where they went.At the beginning, the Qing army said angrily that they would slaughter all the living things in the county, but their companions who kept disappearing in the alleys in the city quickly dispelled this anger.

After realizing that the premise of slaughtering all living things in the city is to contribute their own lives, few Qing soldiers made similar remarks, and even some Qing soldiers would rather attack the fort outside the city than attack the blocks inside the city , because the view of the blocks in the city is too narrow, when you see someone shooting at you, it is almost impossible to avoid it.

So the city wall collapsed in the northwest corner for nearly ten days, and most of Wenshang County was still under the control of the Shun Army.When Tao Baihu crossed the Dawen River and arrived at the south gate of Wenshang County, he found that there was actually a stage set up near the south gate in the city, providing entertainment services for the soldiers who had been evacuated from the city to rest. The wooden shed built above was crowded with people.