Chapter 33 Tour She County

The reason why the regent Dorgon suddenly canceled the scheduled interview was not because he deliberately neglected these Nanming surrenders, but because of the unexpected chaos and deterioration of the Jiangnan war situation, he had to temporarily decide to hold an urgent imperial meeting to discuss Countermeasures.In fact, since the hair-shaving order was issued in early June, they have never expected such widespread and fierce resistance among the people.At first, they tried to quickly suppress the resistance with strong force. As a result, five months passed. , and finally fell one after another, but even if the cruel method of massacring the city was used afterwards, it failed to play the role of killing chickens and monkeys.On the contrary, the momentum of resistance in various places intensified. Not only did the army of the King of Lu regime defeat the Qing soldiers on the Qiantang River, which was unheard of, but also another rebel army led by the former Ming gentry Jin Sheng was also in Huizhou, Ningguo, Chizhou, and Taiping. , Relying on the dangers of the mountains and forests to deal with the Qing army, forming a great momentum.In addition, what surprised Dorgon in particular was that although the peasant army that had moved south from Shaanxi was dispersed by the Qing army in Jiugongshan, Hubei, and its leaders Li Zicheng and Liu Zhongmin were reported to have been killed by the villagers, the rest of them did not know. Out of what kind of thinking, he changed course and joined forces with his former rival, Governor He Tengjiao of the Southern Ming Dynasty, re-entered Huguang, and destroyed prefectures and counties one after another, forcing the local Qing officials to complain to the Beijing court again and again.It was such a situation that made Dorgon busy.After repeated discussions with the ministers, he finally made a decision: he dispatched Pingnan General Luck Dehun and his deputy Ye Chen to lead troops to Huguang to deal with the nightmare joint counterattack of the peasant army and the Nanming army; , Hong Chengchou was ordered to temporarily switch from offense to defense, return to Nanjing, and try his best to stabilize the situation in Jiangnan.

The Qing court was undoubtedly understandably concerned about a possible reversal of the situation.However, Dorgon didn't know that the situation in the south of the Yangtze River had undergone new changes just as he was expediting the imperial edict issued in the name of Emperor Shunzhi to Nanjing.Due to the full force of Hong Chengchou and others, the rebel army that had been "rampant" in Huizhou a while ago was completely defeated recently, and its leaders Jin Sheng, Jiang Tianyi, Wu Yingji and others were all captured.At present, Hong Chengchou, who is stationed in Ningguo Mansion, on the one hand, sent someone to report to Le Ke Dehun, who was in Nanjing, and on the other hand, led his staff and generals to the front line to inspect the situation after the "bandit chaos" was put down.

Speaking of it, this is also Hong Chengchou's sophistication and brilliance.Originally, since the rebellion in Jiading and Jiangyin was quelled, many people advocated sending troops to the south to give a severe lesson to the Lu Wang regime, which was growing in strength in eastern Zhejiang and had become a huge obstacle to the Qing army's southward advance.However, after Hong Chengchou weighed the situation, he decided to still stick to the established strategy of "promoting appeasement with suppression, first easy and then difficult".Facts have proved that this decision is correct. As Jin Sheng and others were defeated in a short period of time, Nanjing completely eliminated the threat from the flanks; .However, despite this, Hong Chengchou did not dare to be careless, because with his years of experience in suppressing "bandits", he knew that as long as the hostility of the common people was not eliminated, the rebellion would happen again anytime and anywhere.Because of this, he decided to go to Shexian County, where Huizhou Fucheng is located, in person.

Now, Hong Chengchou and his party have passed Jixi and are on the way to Huizhou Fucheng.This area and the adjacent Ningguo Mansion are an area with many mountains.The Huangshan Mountain in the west and the Tianmu Mountain in the east extend here, with many cliffs and dangerous passes along the way.The line from Jixi to Huizhou Prefecture is between these two mountains.Hong Chengchou especially noticed that the terrain here is twists and turns, with interlaced cliffs and valleys.A stream named Yangzhishui meanders from south to north.On both sides of the stream, sometimes there are small rice fields, sometimes there are towering cliffs, and villages are scattered among the rocks.All of this makes this passage like a well-protected throat, which is not easy to be attacked.A while ago, if the Qing army hadn't tricked and opened the gate of Jixi City, I'm afraid they might not have been able to enter here so smoothly, let alone capture Huizhou Fucheng.Today, although the war has ended for several days, under the sunshine of early winter, the bodies of the war dead who were too late to be buried can still be seen everywhere; As for the villages by the road, among the scorched and ruined walls, there will be strange croaking suddenly, and flocks of crows will fly up, making it easy to imagine how fierce the battle was at that time.It was this kind of situation, coupled with the natural situation in this area that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, that made Hong Chengchou, who was riding slowly on a horse, look around, and could not help but silently calculate again.

"Mr. Huang!" He turned his head and greeted an accompanying staff member who was walking behind.When the man answered and followed, he pointed with his horsewhip at the river beach where vehicles and boats converged and merchants came and went, but now it became strangely empty and silent, and asked: "This time, thanks to the old man's strength, a drum Take down the thief's nest. But the students still have one thing to worry about. The folk customs in this place are strong. If you can't control it, it is impossible to guarantee that you will not be pacified today and will rebel tomorrow. The old man is from his hometown. I don't know what good strategies to do. I hope I can teach you!"

The staff member who followed him was Huang Shu, who had served as the supervisor of Zuo Liangyu's army.Just over a year ago, he went to Nanjing as a supervisory censor, asked Emperor Hongguang to play the right role, impeached and beat Ma Shiying severely in the court, and was warmly praised by the ruling and opposition parties at that time.However, when Zuo Liangyu raised his troops "on the side of the Qing emperor", he died of illness halfway, and he fled to Jiangbei with Zuo Liangyu's son Zuo Menggeng, and quickly surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.Huang Shu was originally from Huizhou, and he had always been quite speculative with Jin Sheng, the leader of the rebel army.This time when the Qing army attacked Huizhou, he was ordered by Hong Chengchou to bring dozens of people with him. Using his old friendship, he pretended to lead troops to help, and tricked Jin Sheng to open the door to accept him.With this modest contribution, Huang Shu immediately gained face among his new colleagues.Yesterday when he was appointed by the former admiral of the army, when he rushed to the Governor Xingyuan in Xuancheng to report his victory, Hong Chengchou not only praised him, but also decided to come to Huizhou Fucheng to take a look in person.Huang Shu was naturally very excited about this "attention" from his boss. Along the way, he kept introducing the various situations of his advance from the past few days, and was extremely attentive.Hearing Hong Chengchou's call, he hurriedly urged his horse forward.After hearing clearly that it was such a question, he arched his hands and answered loudly without thinking:

"Master Zhongtang is far-sighted! This place is really strong, and the situation is dangerous. It is easy to defend and difficult to attack. However, after this battle, your lord's ingenuity and invincibility in our soldiers have made the stubborn and unyielding people frightened. From now on, we only need to suppress them with heavy troops, threaten them with severe punishments, and then spread them widely and conduct secret investigations. If anyone who dares to initiate chaos again, as soon as he is discovered, he will be wiped out immediately, and he will never be lenient! In this way, the foolish people will know Fear, and the bandits have nothing to do with their instigating skills. After time, the people's hearts will be settled, and this place is expected to be cleansed and converted. I don't know what you think?"

Hong Chengchou shook his whip, and said unhurriedly: "Suppressing the town with heavy troops - that's not easy! Now that the south of the Yangtze River has just fallen, the turmoil has not stopped, and the two lakes, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan and Guizhou provinces have yet to be pacified. How can we be empty?" Put a heavy army here!" Huang Shu blinked, and couldn't help restraining his previous enthusiasm. "Or," after walking a few steps, he tentatively said, "appoint an officer who is familiar with the local situation to act as a shepherd. Based on his feelings and situation, guide his heart to be obedient with sincerity, and eliminate his heart with kindness." The ambition of being rebellious makes him feel happy to come to him, and it seems to be a feasible strategy."

"From the student's point of view," another staff member who followed Hong Chengchou interrupted after realizing that Hong Chengchou was silent, "Why don't you destroy the city, burn the residence, and relocate the people, so that those who fail to succeed have no place to rely on? Get rid of the chaos!" Hong Chengchou glanced at the man sideways, and said coldly: "My soldiers are the benevolent and righteous teachers of the Qing Dynasty, not rogues! The people of this side will be the people of my Qing Dynasty in the future. You burn their houses , Drive people away, and where do you let them make a living? If you can’t make a living, don’t you have to join the rebels? Well, driving fish for the deep, driving birds for the bushes, how stupid is it!”

After the staff member blushed and closed his mouth, he paused and asked Huang Shu again: "Then, based on the old gentleman's aptitude, who is responsible?" "This..." Huang Shu became more cautious, "I don't have such a candidate in my heart, please ask the Zhongtang Master to make a decision!" "Hmm..." Hong Chengchou looked at his subordinates, then turned around and stopped talking. Near the evening, a group of people arrived in Huizhou Fucheng.When they were still half a mile away from the city gate, they found something unusual: crowds of ordinary people, for some unknown reason, were dragging men and women, shoulder bags and cages, scattered in the twilight. In the field, everyone looked downcast and miserable.At first, Hong Chengchou and others thought they were fleeing, but gradually they didn't think so.Because these ordinary people were not so much fleeing as they were waiting and watching, and they huddled together in groups of three or four hesitantly.The closer you get to the edge of the city, the more people gather.At a glance, it was dark and chaotic.Moreover, there was an endless stream of people coming out from the city gate.Of course, these ordinary people are not free to come and go as they please.Surrounding them, there are a large number of military schools of the Qing army, bows stringed, swords unsheathed, watching murderously.They immediately rushed over to anyone who disliked them a little bit, cursing and beating them to suppress them.Then bursts of painful groans sounded again...

"Well, what's going on here?" Hong Chengchou asked the generals who had heard the news and got off their horses one after another while watching the scene in front of him. "Master Zhongtang, this is in 'Qingcheng'." The leading general replied with a bow.Under the light of the fire, Hong Chengchou recognized that it was the former admiral Zhang Tianlu who was in charge of commanding this attack. After reporting in this way, he probably saw Hong Chengchou holding his beard and saying nothing. Zhang Tianlu explained again: "Because the city of Huizhou Prefecture is small and we have a large number of soldiers and horses, we have to clear all these people before we can settle down." Hong Chengchou let out a "huh" and turned his attention to the city gate area again.He found that the layout of this Huizhou capital city is not small, at least it is larger than ordinary county towns, and the city walls are also taller.Due to the numerous mountains in Huizhou area and the sparse land and thin land, people have been accustomed to go out to make a living for a long time, and a group of wealthy businessmen have emerged from it.Therefore, it is said that there are quite a lot of wealthy families in Huizhou city.Judging from the situation outside the city, there should have been many houses, but because of the war, all of them were demolished.Even the nearby trees were cut down, leaving only an empty and bare piece.The ordinary people who were driven out are now gathered in the open field.The sky was about to get dark, and it was already early October winter, so the cold and hunger would definitely become more unbearable at night.Now, from the constant crying and shouting, it is not difficult to guess that sick and weak women and children have begun to faint or even die on the spot.As Hong Chengchou is old in the army, he naturally knows that, considering the military needs of resting soldiers and ensuring safety, it is undoubtedly the safest way to station troops in the city.As for driving the people out of the city to make room for the army, this is also common in wars.In fact, Dorgon entered Beijing last year and Duoduo entered Nanjing this year, both did so.What's more, these are the "troublemakers" who once rebelled!Therefore, it should be said that there is nothing wrong with Zhang Tianlu's handling.only…… "Oh, everyone has worked hard!" Finding himself pondering so much, the group of generals in front of the horse probably bowed and waited for too long, and some people have begun to tentatively raise their heads, or turn around quietly, so Hong Chengchou restrained his mind and made a gesture. Gesture, "Please forgive me, and go to the tent to talk." "Qi--Qi, my lord, the humble official has heard that your lord is coming, and has ordered people to clean up the government office in Huizhou. Dare to ask your lord to condescend to stay here temporarily." Zhang Tianlu, who is tall, with a fat round face and two broom eyebrows, hastily Say. Hong Chengchou had already urged the horse to sit up. Hearing what he said, he reined in the reins again and shook his head: "The governor will not enter the city right now. If there is no time to set up a tent outside the city, he will go to the general's tent first." Already!" "This……" "Well, could it be that the general's big tent has also moved into the city?" "Ah! No. Half of the soldiers are still stationed outside the city, how dare you enter the city first and live in the city?" Zhang Tianlu replied hastily. Hong Chengchou nodded: "Well, that's good! Then, let the general lead the way for me—go!" Zhang Tianlu seemed to want to make a statement, but seeing his boss's attitude was very firm, he finally crossed his hands and said "I accept the order!", then turned and walked towards the horse in a hurry.