Chapter 18 6.scared Han Lin

Just when Li Zicheng still used Liu Zongmin as the general and decided to continue going northward, on this day, a few horses rode from the direction of Datong, and a piece of good news fell from the sky... This is the messenger sent by Jiang Guan, the commander-in-chief of Datong Town. His name is Han Lin, and he is a famous official in Datong.Hearing that the banner of the Dashun Army pointed to the north, and that Ningwuguan was killed for refusing to surrender, Han Lin couldn't help but panic. Jiang Guan agreed to surrender to Dashun. So they secretly invited their confidantes, Chen Ming is powerful, to report the situation, and at the same time they secretly repaired the descending letter, and Han Lin personally paid the money.

When Li Zicheng heard the news, he still didn't believe it at first-this place is more than two hundred miles away from Datong, how could the 100,000 troops be disarmed after hearing the news?Hearing that this person was old with Lu Zhiqi, a descended official from the Ming Dynasty, he brought Lu Zhiqi here and asked him to talk about Han Lin's situation.According to Lu Zhiqi, Han Lin was a Jinshi in the forty-fourth year of Wanli. He once participated in the administration of Shaanxi and served as Sun Chuanting's staff. He had a certain understanding of the Dashun Army. He proposed impeachment and was dismissed from office and returned to his hometown.

"This man is self-respecting for his seniority, and Jiang Yu is his son-in-law, so even though he has been laid off, he has retired endlessly. He often claims to have the ability to understand people, and he can give advice on military and state affairs. Therefore, there is a 'earth' Zhuge's name." When Li Zicheng heard this, he immediately understood that Han Lin was not only here to surrender the form, he recruited Liu Zongmin, Song Xiance and Li Yan to discuss how to deal with Han Lin.Both Song Xiance and Li Yan advocated accepting the surrender, in order to strengthen their hearts, and when Han Lin came, they would force Chen Jun to submit.Liu Zongmin also thought it was a good idea, and when he went back, he arranged it according to the idea of ​​the chief and deputy military advisers.

Sure enough, Han Lin came here with the purpose of watching while walking.Jiang Guan of Datong has 100,000 troops, 200,000 in Yanghe and Xuanfu, and 200,000 in Juyongguan.An army of 500,000 troops was arranged in a long snake array, led by two governors and several generals. All of them clenched into one fist, and a big hole can be punched out on flat ground. Didn't Zhou Yuji fight Liu Zongmin's more than 10,000 people with 5,000 people?What's more, there is an imperial court behind them. This level is powerful, and Han Lin and Jiang Yu can still see it. Therefore, he nominally carries a surrender table, and also has cattle, wine and silver silk for the army, but he also carries A narrow-minded person who pays close attention to everything sent someone to inform him that he was still fifty miles away from the Dashun army camp.

The people who didn’t want to report the letter walked for a long time, but Han Lin and the others were so frightened that they broke out in cold sweat——when they were walking on the official road from Datong to Taiyuan, people around them suddenly told him: "In the woods on the left and right hills, there are horses and horses peeping at us." Han Lin was also someone who had seen big battles. After hearing this, he just smiled casually and said, "This must be a scout of rogues. It seems that we are very close to them." Suddenly, a long whistle came from the dense forest, and then, a loud arrow screamed "Woo", almost flying over their heads, and his entourage, Ma Liu, was so frightened that his legs went limp. , almost fell off the horse's back, and everyone couldn't help but rein in the horse's head together, looking at him.

"This is a group of unscrupulous bandits. Ningwu City has been completely killed by them. We have killed many of them in order to suppress thieves. If we surrender now, I am afraid they will not Tolerance." Han Lin remembered that this was said by his hesitant son-in-law Jiang Yu before leaving. Jiang Yu said this, representing the psychology of most people who are willing to surrender.But since he came up with the idea and he has already come, at this moment, there is no way to go back, because this group of people has already entered the control of the rogues, and they will be hunted down if they turn back. It is a dead end, so, He stopped his panic-stricken attendants and walked forward as if nothing had happened, but another squire Liu Changying who was following him whispered in his ear:

"Didn't they send someone to the front station? Why are they still like this?" He glanced back at Liu Changying and said, "Maybe we haven't contacted him yet, but if we did, these pawns on the road may not necessarily have received orders." Liu Changying thought it was good, but he still followed him very carefully. He looked up at the sky, then looked back at his followers, and tried his best to pretend that nothing happened. These people drove the loaders on foot The ox cart, driving the cattle and sheep of the army, moves slowly.The cool breeze was blowing and the weather was pleasant, but he could clearly feel that there were bugs crawling on his back—after walking for tens of miles, he was so nervous that he was sweating all over.

At this moment, Lu Zhiqi had been ordered by Li Zicheng, dressed in the uniform of a second-rank civil servant, led a few attendants, rode a fine horse, and waited ten miles away to the left of the road. "Peizhi, you're finally here." Lu Zhiqi greeted him with a smile on his face while cupping his fists. He recognized it as Lu Zhiqi and couldn't help being overjoyed. Before that, when he was participating in politics in Shaanxi, he had acquaintance with Lu Zhiqi. He resigned from office three years ago, and he heard that Xi'an was captured by Li Zicheng. Many civil and military officials in Xi'an surrendered. There are rogues.It seems that Lu Zhiqi also failed to observe the rules. If he saw the rebellious officials who surrendered the bandits on weekdays, he would definitely scold them loudly, but there is nothing to say now. Didn't he say: "Don't say that the old man is black", since they are all "each other" Well, don't say anything, but I thought, I was worried that after entering the bandit camp, no one would introduce me, and Lu Zhiqi's appearance was really a great thing, so I got off the saddle and returned the salute with fists in both hands, pretending to be surprised. Qi's table said:

"Ah, isn't this brother Hongtu? It's such a coincidence to meet an old friend at this time and this place." Lu Zhiqi also got off his horse immediately, stepped forward and took his hand and said: "Xin Si has been farewell for three years, and we are friendly and longing." Naturally, Han Lin also had some politeness with him, and talked about his intention to welcome the surrender. Lu Zhiqi immediately gave a thumbs up and praised, "Peizhi, your son-in-law Jiang Zongshu is an act of knowing the current affairs. If there is abolishment, Zhu Ming loses virtue, the sky is angry and people complain, and the courtiers only engage in useless disputes, and they can only suffer for themselves and the people suffer."

Upon hearing this, Han Lin nodded repeatedly.But at this time, he couldn't fully reveal his thoughts, so he just asked him to introduce King Chuang on his behalf, and Lu Zhiqi naturally agreed, so the two mounted their horses again, with Lu Zhiqi in front and Han Lin following, and they walked along the way to see Ning Wucheng is already in sight. Han Lin immediately paid attention, and he noticed that there were more floating sentries on both sides at this time, riding in groups of three or five, and riding in a group of eighteen. Both sides of the road are full of Juma and Zhaiyan. The soldiers held swords and seriously questioned the passers-by. Because they were led by Lu Zhiqi, although they were not questioned, they looked at the soldiers with a cold light on their hands. I can't help feeling jealous of the swords and guns.

Turning around a hillside, the North Pass of Ningwu City is clearly in sight. As a native of the province, Han Lin is naturally very familiar with this area.He was riding on the horse, looking around, the former Sanjin Pass was almost unrecognizable - the tall and mighty city wall was thrown there like a tattered cloth towel. The big hole is missing several openings; half of the city tower collapsed and half was burned by the fire; the large field in front of the pass is full of broken bowstrings, arrowheads, and broken swords; especially the beach of the Sanggan River, which is like steamed buns The arched new tomb is a large area, and Han Lin understands that it is the place where Zhou Yuji and his soldiers are buried. After entering Beiguan, Lu Zhiqi asked them to hand over the ox wine to the men of the Dashun Army, and then led them into the city. There was no pedestrian at the crossroads, but there were bloodstains everywhere, and the sprayed ones turned black. Spots, the beach has not yet dried up; a few wild dogs, because they gnawed too many dead people, their eyes were blood red, and they grinned when they saw the living. Han Lin and others couldn't help avoiding this. Feeling the gloomy wind, as if hearing a ghost crying in the sky, after walking half a street, I felt numbness on my back, as if I was traveling in the underworld, thinking, Zhou Yuji's refusal to surrender unexpectedly brought such revenge, who would Without parents, who has no brothers?They are all flesh and blood! But Lu Zhiqi on one side didn't seem to see it, he just sped up a little bit. Depending on the situation, Li Zicheng's camp will never be stationed in the city, Han Lin thought, no one would dare to come to such a ghost town in three to five years.Lu Zhiqi had already seen Han Lin's situation, and couldn't help but say: "At that time, this bloody battle could have been avoided, but Zhou Cui'an was too ignorant of current affairs." Cui'an is Zhou Yuji's word. Han Lin hurriedly said: "Yes, knowing the current affairs is also knowing the destiny. How can human beings resist what the destiny belongs to?" Lu Zhiqi added: "He thought that Ningwu was strong, and he could dig out the rats and birds and defend the city, but he didn't know that since the Hongyi Cannon was born, such a city wall was nothing." When Han Lin heard that the rogues also had Hongyi cannons, he couldn't help being secretly surprised, thinking, Ningwu City couldn't withstand the "Hongyi Cannons", how could Datong and Xuanfu survive? After walking not far, he saw rows of cannons in the large school grounds, with their black muzzles open, facing them. Han Lin counted them, and there were as many as 30 cannons. There were quite a few people, and a person who looked like an official was explaining and practicing to them, and the people who listened were very serious.Han Lin thought to himself, no wonder Sun Chuanting's tens of thousands of "trains" were also defeated by the bandits. How could such wooden cars wrapped in iron sheets be able to defeat the "Red Barbarian Cannons"? Across the school grounds is the original location of the Liangtai of the Ming Army.Ningwu was originally the residence of Shanxi Town, where a David was stationed on the Nine Sides. It has stationed a large number of troops for a long time, and divided them into various places around the flood season. Therefore, the storage here is quite large. Rows of barns are divided into filial piety, brotherhood, loyalty, and trustworthiness. There are eight districts of rites, righteousness, integrity, and shame, each with ten rooms, which can hold five hundred tans of accumulated grain.When Han Lin was in the household department, he visited Ningwu to inspect the warehouse and was very familiar with the situation here.Right now, when he saw the rows of warehouses, not only were all the warehouses very full and sealed, but also outside the warehouses, there were round earth warehouses surrounded by bamboo mats, which also stored grain inside. The golden grains, that's not counted - after they passed through several warehouses, they saw that on the road leading to the grain platform, rows of grain trucks were still dumping grain here. Han Lin couldn't help admiring in his heart, the rogues can have such a climate, which is inseparable from their ability to stockpile grain and fodder, and now Datong and Xuanfu are suffering from grain shortage due to the cut off of the southern waterway. At this time, they finally passed through the dead Ningwu City.As soon as he got out of Nanguan, Han Lin's eyes lit up, and he saw that the river beach in front of him and the valleys on both sides were covered with large and small white tents, some square and some round, like throwing sand and beans. They are connected into one piece, the drums and watchtowers are heard, and the horns are whimpering; the flags are unfurled in an orderly manner, and stretch across, directly to the sky.Han Lin is someone who has seen the world, Hong Chengchou's Guan Ning Army, Sun Chuanting's Five Provinces Allied Forces to Suppress Thieves, he has witnessed it with his own eyes, but he has never seen such a powerful army, and he really can't estimate how many troops there are here. I can only secretly rejoice in my heart, this is thanks to my own opportunity, thanks to Jiang Guan's ability to follow my advice, otherwise, Datong City might not be the second place in Ningwu. After walking for another seven or eight miles, I arrived at a very spacious grassy beach. Looking around, the grass was full of green grass. It was a natural racecourse. I saw a high platform built at one end of the grassland, and several generals sat on it. , someone held a small red flag and waved it to the front and left; in the pasture, a brigade of cavalry was practicing equestrianism. On the way they came, Han Lin noticed that many infantrymen were practicing.They are probably based on battalion posts, with hundreds or thousands of people, or form formations, or practice formations. Whether it is the musketeers, long spears, daggers, or rattans, they are all serious.But here is the cavalry drill, the scene is much bigger than what he saw before, he roughly estimated that there are always thousands of horses, but although there are many people, they are quiet and orderly, and they seem to be able to hear even a needle dropped on the ground. Seeing this, he couldn't help but glanced at the commander on the stage in admiration, and couldn't help but be surprised when he saw this - the man sitting firmly on the stage was clearly an acquaintance of his, who was it? "Isn't that Chen Xiangzhi and Chen Yongfu?" Han Lin almost cried out. In the Ming army, there were two generals whom Li Zicheng hated to the bone, because they had personal enmity with Li Zicheng. Li Zicheng's caring Douban, but Gao Jie later had an affair with Li Zicheng's wife, Xing Shi. Li Zicheng found out that Gao Jie ran away with Xing Shi and joined the army. I swear, I will kill Gao Jie alive. The other is Chen Yongfu.Chen Yongfu is a good archer, who was a member of the Ming army. He used to assist in the defense of Kaifeng. When Li Zicheng attacked Kaifeng, he called for battle from the city. It was just an arrow, which hit Li Zicheng's left eye neither deviated nor slanted, but unfortunately it was too far away to penetrate through it, but Li Zicheng became a one-eyed dragon from then on, and Chen Yongfu was promoted two ranks because of this. Arrived at the Second Rank General Soldier. After Kaifeng was captured, Chen Yongfu broke out, and together with Gao Jie, he was restrained by Sun Chuanting.Han Lin once thought that all the court officials in Xi'an Prefecture might surrender to Li Zicheng, but people like Gao Jie and Chen Yongfu would not surrender, because they had formed a blood feud with Li Zicheng. If you don't go out, you will only have a dead end, but who is not Chen Yongfu who is directing on the high platform right now? "Yes, that is exactly Chen Xiangzhi." Lu Zhiqi on the side quietly confirmed his suspicion, Xiangzhi was written by Chen Yongfu. Han Lin hurriedly said: "He, he, didn't he have a feud with Emperor Dashun? Maybe—" Lu Zhiqi smiled lightly, and said: "Yes, in Kaifeng, he did commit crimes, disfiguring my emperor, and later, he followed Sun Boya and fought against our army. When he broke down in Chang'an, he and Gao Jie died. If Gao Jie didn’t surrender, Gao Jie broke through and went to Yan’an, but he was holding on to a mountain, and he was unable to attack again and again. It was my emperor who swore an arrow in public, saying that each was his own master, and you can’t blame you. Now the situation is gone. I still remember the vengeance with one arrow, with such an arrow, Chen Yongfu was finally moved, so he led the crowd back, my majesty did not repair the old grievances, but made new favors, and immediately made him a third-rank general with five thousand cavalry." When Han Lin heard this, he was greatly moved.I thought to myself, even Li Zicheng, a person like Chen Yongfu, would not be killed, and he would be reused, so why would Jiang Yu hesitate? When Jiang Guan sent Han Lin to Ningwu to pay the money, the city of Datong was already buzzing, and the governor Wei Jingyuan felt like he was sitting on pins and needles every day. On the first day of the first lunar month, there were frequent alarms from the west, saying that the rogue Li Zicheng led a million-strong army from Qin to Jin, all the way to Taiyuan, and slaughtered Ningwu. In less than three months, Datong will be killed. When Wei Jingyuan heard the news, he hurried to find Jiang Guan. In fact, as early as when Ningwu was besieged, Wei Jingyuan received a letter from Zhou Yuji asking for help, and urged Jiang Guan to send troops, saying that if Ningwu did not defend, Datong would be in danger.But Jiang Guan said that although there were 100,000 soldiers in Datong, they had been in arrears for half a year.Although these words sound convincing, Wei Jingyuan has no answer.Although I am a governor, I have no food and no salary in my hands. As the saying goes, the emperor does not send hungry soldiers, and he can't close the payment owed. How can he drive soldiers to work for you? Wei Jingyuan had nothing to say.Right now, the rogues are about to kill Datong. Could it be that even Datong is not guarded if they don't pay off their debts?Helpless, Wei Jingyuan had no choice but to go to the Zongbing Yamen to meet Jiang Guan in person.This time, Jiang Yan was very enthusiastic when he saw Wei Jingyuan. Wei Jingyuan's legs and feet were not flexible, so he personally went to the gate to help Wei Jingyuan in, and said: "Wei Futai, why did you come here in person? Isn't it because of Li Chuang? The thief claimed to be one million, but according to the general's estimate, it was only between two and three hundred thousand, but I have one hundred thousand soldiers in Datong. With 100,000 soldiers and 200,000 in Xuanfu, it is said that the morale is not good, although the attack is insufficient, the defense is more than enough." When Wei Jingyuan heard this, he couldn't believe it.At that time, he had already heard that Jiang Guan sent someone to transfer money to Li Zicheng, so he tentatively said: "After hearing what the general said, the students can rest assured. The imperial court raises soldiers for use once. If they fail to defend the frontier, they will die." I don't want Jiang Guan to sneer when he heard this, and said with a sneer: "Wei Futai, when it comes to this point, the last general also made it clear. You keep saying that the imperial court raises soldiers, but the payment is almost half a year. If the horse runs, do you want the horse not to eat grass?" Wei Jingyuan also expected what he would say, so he sighed and said: "Students have only one way to think about this matter - the imperial court is out of financial resources, even if the emperor has paid for it, it is difficult to save the near fire." Now, if you want to boost morale, you can only speak to the king." When Jiang Yu heard this, he couldn't help grinning widely - this is what he wanted.So he nodded again and again and said: "Wei Futai really has a way, the last general can be said to be with you, isn't it? , Can the gold and silver treasures of the palace belong to him, I'm afraid I can't even save my life? Why don't you take a little out and save it?" After speaking, he proposed to ask Wei Jingyuan to speak to Dai Wang.Wei Jingyuan said: "General Jiang, it is okay for the students to discuss the matter of donating on behalf of the king, but there is one condition for the students." Jiang Yu hurriedly said, "What conditions?" Wei Jingyuan said: "If the acting king is willing to send troops to the treasury, then the general must inspire the soldiers, swear allegiance to the emperor to the death, fight to the death with the bandits, and live and die with the city of Datong." Jiang Yujian said that he repeatedly patted his chest and promised that Lord Futai is a loyal minister and filial son, and that the last general will also be a loyal minister and filial son. Jiang Guan agreed with blood, so the two of them burned incense and held candles, folded arrows to make an oath, and swore blood to make an alliance. Next, Wei Jingyuan went to pay a visit to the acting king.Wei Jingyuan persuaded the Dai Wang to donate, and it went very smoothly.It’s not that Dai Wang is reasonable, anxious to be righteous, but that interests are in front of him—the previous Kings of Zhou, King Xiang, and King Fu, and the current Kings of Qin and Jin not only don’t protect their family wealth, but also don’t protect their leaders. Datong can't keep it, isn't he going to follow in the footsteps of the kings?Therefore, Wei Jingyuan just opened his mouth, and he promised to give out 20,000 silver and 30,000 hu rice grains. Seeing that Wei Jingyuan looked distressed, he immediately added 30,000 silver and 50,000 hu rice grains. Seeing this, Wei Jingyuan said: "The virtuous king is so generous, if all the soldiers don't go all out to kill the thieves, the world will not tolerate it." After finishing speaking, he bowed to the top and said goodbye, and rushed to report to Jiang Guan excitedly, cashing the money and rice on the same day, all the soldiers will leave happily.I didn't want to spend one night, and someone came to report that the son of Dai Wang brought more than a hundred guards from Dai Wang's mansion and surrounded Fu Yuan. One of Wei Jingyuan's servants went in without knowing it. He was shot down by Wang Shizi with an arrow.Wei Jingyuan was taken aback, hurriedly came out to meet Wang Shizi in person, and asked what was the matter?Wang Shizi pointed at the tip of his nose and cursed: "Wei, your conscience is eaten by dogs. You are also a scholar. My Zhu family treats you well. Why did you secretly make money with the bandits and betray Datong?" Wei Jingyuan couldn't help being taken aback, and hurriedly asked: "Where did you start talking about this?" Wang Shizi said: "Don't pretend, you are originally from Shaanxi, and you are from the same hometown as Li Zicheng. Now everyone in Datong City knows that you have secretly communicated with the robbers, and you want to dedicate Datong City to the robbers!" It turned out that Jiang Guan did it.He clearly made a blood alliance with Wei Jingyuan, but secretly spread the news everywhere, saying that Wei Jingyuan had already communicated with the rogues secretly, and he would open the door and pay the money just waiting for the rogues in Bocheng.Wei Jingyuan had no choice but to point to Tian Shiri, and patted his chest to promise that although he was from Hancheng, Shaanxi, not all Shaanxi people were thieves, and he was the king's salary. Complicity. But let him swear to the sky, or slap his chest to guarantee, Wang Shizi just doesn't believe it.They also appointed servants to trap Wei Jingyuan in the Fuyuan and not allow him to leave even half a step. Wei Jingyuan was full of passion right now, and he had nowhere to spill it. On the first day of March, the soldiers of Dashun Bo Datong.Hundreds of thousands of troops surrounded Datong tightly at once. On behalf of the king, he led his sons and family members to the city to assist in the defense. Jiang Yu also went to the city with his younger brother Jiang Xuan, the former general of Changping. In the early morning, before the Dashun army attacked the city, Jiang Guan saw Wang Shizi coming to the city, so he took advantage of Dai Wang's unpreparedness and shot Wang Shizi to death with an arrow. A big white flag was erected at the head, and the city gate was opened wide to let the Shun army enter the city.It's a pity that the king of this era woke up like a dream, but when he looked around, he was full of Jiang Guan's people. He was not reconciled, struggling and swearing, and Jiang Guan immediately ordered his subordinates to tie him up tightly and present him to Li Zicheng. Wei Jingyuan didn't know the news in Fuyuan, but hearing the rumble of guns outside the city, he guessed that the enemy had fallen to Bocheng, so he took advantage of the slack in the surveillance of Dai Wang's family, slipped out from the back door quietly, and walked on the street, only to see people on the street Running around, the shops closed their doors one after another. He stopped a person to ask for news. This person recognized him as the governor, and said while running: "Jiang Zongbing opened the city to welcome the surrender, you should surrender too." Wei Jingyuan couldn't help being stunned, at this moment, a large group of Dashun troops came running over on tall horses, and the two leaders were none other than Brother Jiang Yan.When Jiang Guan saw him, he hurriedly introduced to Liu Tichun, the striker general of the Dashun Army: "He is Wei Jingyuan." When Liu Tichun saw Wei Jingyuan, he quickly pointed his horsewhip at the tip of his nose and said, "Wei Jingyuan, why don't you surrender?" Wei Jingyuan couldn't help but fell to the ground, crying bitterly: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, why do you use a shameless person like Jiang Yan to lead the army!" Pointing at Jiang Yu, he cursed: "Jiang Yu, evil thief, you have made an alliance with me with blood, and you want to be a loyal minister and filial son. Now you betray the country and accept a thief as your father. You will be punished by heaven, and you will die a bad life!" When Liu Tichun's subordinates saw his rude words, they drew out their knives and wanted to cut off the dog official, but Liu Tichun stopped him with his winks, so everyone rushed Wei Jingyuan to Daiwang's mansion. At this time, Li Zicheng's rear army was still hundreds of miles away, and the army was dominated by Liu Fangliang and Liu Tichun. The two of them stood high in the Yin'an Hall of the acting king. Everyone pushed Wei Jingyuan up, and Wei Jingyuan just mourned. Crying bitterly, but standing still and not kneeling, all the soldiers wanted to force him to kneel down, but Liu Tichun waved his hand and said: "This is a loyal minister. His official reputation is good on weekdays, so don't embarrass him." So, he ordered his subordinates to lock Wei Jingyuan into a ruined temple next to Dai Wang's mansion. In the dead of night, Wei Jingyuan wept alone in the temple.An old monk came to persuade him, Wei Jingyuan sighed and said: "The ministers in Jiangxi couldn't fulfill their responsibilities, and they will die with more than culpability. It is a pity that they can't scold the rebels because of their mother. It's really difficult to have both loyalty and filial piety." The old monk hesitated for a long time before he said in a low voice, "Tai, Mrs. Tai has already committed suicide when she heard the news that your lord has been captured. Even the honored lady and noble son have not been spared." When he heard that his family was martyred, he could only let out a long sigh. After dawn, the old monk found that he had been hanging on the beam in the corridor with a belt.