Chapter 69 3.old brothers

After Li Zicheng led a group of people to withdraw, Chang'an City suddenly became deserted. The people in the city, who had some strength or had relatives and friends outside, fled one after another to seek refuge with relatives and friends. Almost all the people who stayed in the city It's the old, the weak, the sick, and some paupers who have nothing to worry about and die when they die.These people also understand that as soon as the Dashun army leaves, the Mantars will come immediately. If they come, they will kill and set fire. They have nowhere to escape, and they are doomed. However, people like them, who leave The Palace of the King of Hades is only one step away, so what is so terrible about death?Now that so many people have left, leaving behind a large number of empty houses and belongings, and a large amount of food that has not been transported away, what if the Manchus come and don't kill people?So, don't these things belong to me?Those who remained held such a hope, so it was a massive robbery.

At this time, Tian Jianxiu, the second-rank general of the Dashun Army, was still in charge of staying in the city.The task entrusted to him by the emperor is to be in charge of the security of Chang'an City temporarily. After the imperial camp is withdrawn, it will be like burning Beijing. All supplies were also burned. After Tian Jianxiu took the order, he hesitated all the time and did not carry it out. Tian Jianxiu was nicknamed "Suotian Yaozi". People who got such mixed names were mostly fierce, but Tian Jianxiu was merciful.Shaanxi is his hometown. To him, every plant and tree here exudes a strong local flavor. Just hearing their local accent, Tian Jianxiu can't help but burst into tears.Bitter, my fathers and brothers, wars have been frequent these years, how many of the soldiers have really thought of you?In order for you to send your children to serve as soldiers, to feed them with food, to feed them, to send your mother-in-law to make them happy, they said very nicely, what about respecting the sky and loving the people, and doing justice for the sky. In fact, what they want most in their hearts is the emperor's dragon chair in the Forbidden City , Right now they can't beat them, so they slapped their asses and left, leaving you to face the severe cold and hunger, and to face the coming Manchus. Thinking of this, Tian Jianxiu, one of the generals of the Dashun Army, can No remorse?At this time, Tian Hua came to remind him. Tian Hua bowed and saluted, and then said:

"Master Tian, ​​when will you do it?" At this time, Tian Jianxiu was standing in front of the palace immediately, watching a group of people moving things outside the palace.There are still a lot of valuable things in the palace, but most of them are some bronze wares or heavy wooden utensils. This group of old people can't carry it, so several people carry one. Tian Jianxiu thought, why are you so stupid? What is the use of furniture? There is a saying that people are iron, rice is steel, and only those that can store a little food are serious.He was about to persuade this group of people to move food quickly, but he couldn't help being surprised when he heard Tian Hua's words, and immediately wiped away the tears that flowed unconsciously from his face with his hands, and turned around and said to Tian Hua:

"What hand are you moving?" Tian Hua thought that the general had forgotten, so he reminded: "Isn't it the emperor's order to burn the palace and the food?" Tian Jianxiu waved his head and said: "A good palace, golden food, why burn it? What if the palace is burned and the houses are burned? What will these people eat if the food is burned?" Tian Hua was startled, and said: "This—what if the emperor blames me?" Tian Jianxiu said: "The emperor has left, can he come back to check? If you want to burn it, you can go and set the gate of Dongguan on fire. The emperor has not gone far, as long as he looks back, As long as you can see the fire in Chang'an City."

Tian Hua actually couldn't bear to burn his own hometown. Seeing what the general said, he happily agreed and carried it out. Here, Tian Jianxiu jumped off the horse to persuade everyone not to move these useless things, but to move life-saving food. After two full days of busy work, I received a report from the east - the mandarins who came all the way from Tongguan passed Huazhou long ago, and now the forward has reached the front line of Weinan, and another Qingqi has gone directly south to Lantian. It is to chase the imperial camp. Tian Jianxiu got the report and immediately ordered to retreat.I thought to myself, the Manchus went straight down to Lantian to chase after the emperor, but I don't know if the emperor knows, does Ruhou Liu Zongmin have any arrangements?

Thinking of this, he ordered his troops to rush away from Lantian, trying to intercept this Qing army so that the imperial camp could retreat safely.The next day, a group of people rushed to Lantian, but there was no trace of the imperial camp, and they chased for another fifty miles, when they suddenly heard shouts of killing coming from ahead.Tian Jianxiu hurriedly rode his horse forward, came to a high hill, put on the awning and looked ahead, and saw not far away at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain, beside a stream, a cavalry of the Dashun Army was fighting with the brigade. The soldiers were entangled together, and the killing was inextricably linked.Although the number of this team is small, they are very tenacious. They seem to want to hold back the Qing soldiers, because depending on the situation, they can completely break away from contact and retreat calmly, but they blocked a wooden bridge, guarding against the danger, and letting the Qing soldiers shoot arrows Ru Yu, many of them were hit by arrows, but they refused to take half a step back.

When Tian Jianxiu saw this situation, he understood everything, so with a wave of his hand, he immediately divided the troops into several teams, shouted, and suddenly rushed from behind. The Qing army here is the team of Huaishun King Geng Zhongming.They went out with Duoduo. After crossing the river from Mengjin, they went straight to Tongguan. The journey went smoothly. To stop Li Zicheng, he had calculated that even if Li Zicheng could not be captured alive, at least a large amount of supplies could be intercepted, or senior civil and military officials of the Dashun Dynasty could be captured alive.

Sure enough, they chased after Lantian, and learned from the captured family members of the Dashun Army that Li Zicheng was ahead.It was a great achievement to catch Li Zicheng, so he speeded up, not expecting that the Dashun Army, the rear army, was so tenacious that it would block a bridge and would not retreat, let alone that there was another very capable army, who would never retreat. They came from behind. Right now, Tian Jianxiu's charge immediately threw Geng Zhongming's team into disarray. They didn't know how many people were behind them, and they were afraid of being surrounded, so they immediately retreated...

Tian Jianxiu didn't know that the emperor had already safely evacuated to Shangzhou until he met Zhang Nai. This place was only the family members of the soldiers led by Empress Gao. Most of them walked on foot, so they were overtaken by the Qing soldiers.As soon as he heard that Empress Gao was ahead, he immediately asked Zhang Nai to bring him to see the empress.At this time, Empress Gao knew that the Qing soldiers had retreated, so she sent an order to stop the team on the spot, and she met Tian Jianxiu at a small shop in a deserted village by the roadside.Tian Jianxiu walked in, immediately knelt down on the spot, and said:

"I came late to rescue you, and almost missed a major event. Please forgive me, Your Majesty." When Empress Gao saw Tian Jianxiu, she liked it very much, and immediately said: "Jianxiu, get up, get up, it's cold in the ground, when did you start to evacuate, are there any of us behind?" Tian Jianxiu paid several obeisances in a row, then got up, bowed and crossed his hands, and said, "My lord, I only started to withdraw after I got the news that the Man Tartars were about to arrive in Lintong yesterday. Liu Fangliang, Hao Yaoqi and other ministries, Danchen reckons they may have taken another path."

When Empress Gao heard that her nephew Gao Yigong was still behind, she immediately asked, "Which way do you think Yigong and the others will go?" Tian Jianxiu said: "After the fall of Yan'an Mansion, a group of Manchu soldiers came across from Pingyang Mansion in Shanxi Province, and immediately occupied Fuzhou and cut off our army's retreat. Therefore, they were forced to retreat to Qingyang. Now they It should be from Binzhou to Qianzhou, and then from Huxian to Zhen'an." When Empress Gao heard the word Zhen'an, her eyes lit up immediately, and she said: "It seems that the emperor already knew that they would go this way, so he told us to go to Zhen'an and Xunyang as well, then let's go there quickly and wait a while." When they come, they will join together and go down to Huguang." When Tian Jianxiu heard that it was the emperor's arrangement, he couldn't help but nodded in agreement.After discussing the way forward, Empress Gao then asked about the situation of the evacuation. She said: "Jianxiu, when you left, how many people were there in Chang'an City?" Seeing the question, Tian Jianxiu felt guilty, and said bravely, "Most of the people in the city left the city when the army withdrew, and fled everywhere." Empress Gao came from a bitter background, and she has gained a lot of experience with her husband over the years. Tian Jianxiu couldn't dismiss her with a single word. She thought about it, and then asked: "So, there is only an empty city left. What about the old, sick, disabled people who can't walk, and some people who have nowhere to go?" Tian Jianxiu said: "Of course these people can only stay." Empress Gao asked again: "When the emperor left, how did he explain to you, did he have the intention to let you set fire?" Tian Jianxiu said: "Your Majesty is sagely wise, the emperor has indeed made a decree, and he cannot leave anything useful for the Tartars." Empress Gao sneered and said, "Then, you must be obeying the imperial edict again." Tian Jianxiu saw the empress sneering, she was so frightened that she fell to her knees with a "plop", and said: "I report to my empress that I have committed a crime, please forgive me." Empress Gao sighed and said, "Jianxiu, I didn't mean you. You followed the emperor not for a year or two, but for a full sixteen years. He came to serve you as a king. That's because you are being polite and recommending him." Come up, in fact, everyone is equally qualified. All these years, who has been living in a grass nest and sleeping in a stable has suffered the same? Therefore, you are called monarchs and ministers, but you are actually brothers. Listen to what he says, and listen to what you don’t. It doesn't matter if you don't listen." Tian Jianxiu repeatedly kowtowed and said: "Your Majesty, don't say that. If you say this, even if you let me die a thousand times, it's not enough to atone for your sins." Empress Gao said: "Jianxiu, don't do this, get up quickly, I don't mean to blame, I just ask you, did you set fire this time?" Tian Jianxiu knelt down and couldn't get up, and said with tears: "Mother, I deserve to die, I really can't bear it." Upon hearing this, Empress Gao breathed a sigh of relief and said, "So, you didn't set fire?" Tian Jianxiu said: "I'm guilty, I didn't listen to the emperor this time." Empress Gao hurriedly got down from her seat, helped Tian Jianxiu up, and said, "Jianxiu, if you follow the order and burn Chang'an down, then I don't want to see you. What kind of reckless fate is that? Knowing that we don’t eat grass by the side of the nest, and Chang’an is our hometown, we say that we may not come again in this life, and our ghosts will also come to leave the hometown! If it is a piece of white land, wouldn’t we become wild ghosts? ? Besides, good Chang’an, why burn it, good millet, can’t the common people have a full meal?” When Tian Jianxiu saw what his mother said, a stone was finally put down. He knelt down again, kowtowed several times, and said: "Your Majesty is really a reasonable person. I thank you on behalf of the people of Chang'an." The next day, they continued their journey, mostly on foot, at a very slow pace. They did not reach Zhen'an until mid-February.On the third day after arriving in Zhen'an, Gao Yigong, Liu Fangliang, Hao Yaoqi and other generals really came, and several groups of troops joined together, with a total number of more than 200,000. They came to Xunyang in Hanzhong Prefecture in early March.At this time, I also got the news from the front - the Manchu soldiers who fought from outside the mouth, led by the British king Azig, did not enter Chang'an until the end of the first month, and the soldiers who fought from Tongguan are now heading for Henan, went to fight against the small court of Nanming; but there are different opinions about the emperor, and there is no consensus.Some said that King Li Chuang stayed in Longjuzhai until the beginning of February before going to Wuguan and entered Henan at the end of February; but some also said that King Li Chuang and his troops had already arrived in Huguang, but the Manchus followed them, and now they are fighting with The Manchus fought in Xiangyang.