Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Prisoners of War

It was mid-winter in December when the prisoners of Bozhou were sent to the capital, and the atmosphere was so cold that these prisoners who grew up in the hot and humid southwest could not bear it, and almost half of them died without execution. In fact, from the time the deportation team walked halfway, some people fell ill and died one after another due to not adapting to the climate, water and soil, and intolerance to the deportation, which made the officials in charge of the deportation feel dizzy and worried every day. Zhan's repeated assumptions: "Long Live Lord will be captured personally. If these dead prisoners die before they reach the capital, we will definitely be convicted—"

And Li Hualong, who knew the preferences of Emperor Wanli, was even more disturbed, and repeatedly explained: "All prisoners of war must be taken care of properly, and no mistakes must be made--we must make Long live happy when he is captured-- Otherwise, all the blood and sweat of my tens of thousands of brothers on the battlefield will be in vain!" He knew that what Emperor Wanli wanted was the pleasure of the captives kneeling before him, kowtowing to him, and begging for his pardon—as long as Emperor Wanli got this pleasure, the next thing would be easy; The rewards of the soldiers who have made military exploits on the battlefield, the pensions of the fallen soldiers, or their personal promotion to the ranks will all be "responsive to requests"; In a blink of an eye, he will forget about the Battle of Banzhou, and no awards or awards will be given.

The emperor who grew up in the deep palace, how can he experience the situation of "the first half of the warrior army is dead" and "the bones of the battlefield are wrapped around the grass roots"? What the emperor wants is always just the appearance—— Therefore, the task of escorting the prisoners of war to the north is far more important and more arduous than the war itself. Li Hualong specially allocated a generous sum of escort fees from the already tight military expenses, and sent a large number of escort officers and soldiers, and after careful selection, all of them were filled with the most careful and outstanding personnel—— But this has suffered from this group of outstanding personnel.

Since the death of the first prisoner of war, a shadow has been cast over these people's hearts, and they carry out their tasks cautiously every day; especially for the two most important criminals, Yang Zhaohan and Yang Chaodong, because they are more afraid of the death of these two, they will They were even more careful, and they became "served in every possible way". Except that they had to wear handcuffs and shackles, and had to sit in a prison car, the treatment of these two people was no less than that of officials patrolling various states and counties. However, due to the unfavorable weather, the two fell ill several times along the way, and the escort officers had to find a doctor along the way; and the prisoners who died along the way caused even more trouble.

Due to the excessive number, a numerical situation has been formed; moreover, it is estimated that the number of prisoners of war who arrived at the capital may only be one-tenth or two, and the escort officers became more and more panicked: "This journey, Bai Don't talk about hard work, I'm afraid—at least you will be dismissed!" The few people who took the lead especially knew in their hearts that if they were dismissed from their posts, they could be changed to a death penalty if they were said to have gained benefits, released prisoners privately, or lied about death due to illness, the crime would be serious enough to be sentenced to death.

Several people complained unknowingly. However, when things got urgent, they came up with a solution. On this day, someone had a sudden impulse: "Why don't you ask the local states and counties for some death row prisoners?" Anyway, they are all death row prisoners—— This suggestion was quickly accepted by everyone, so they began to use various relationships or exert pressure to ask for death row prisoners from the states and counties they passed along the way, and mixed into the team of broadcast prisoners to make up for the number of deaths ——When it was time to approach Beijing, there were not enough people, so they simply arrested some civilians at night, fed dumb drugs, and rushed into the team to fill up.

Therefore, when Emperor Wanli went to the morning gate to be captured in person, the number of prisoners kneeling before him was exactly the same as before departure. There were hundreds of them in total, kneeling in front of the Meridian Gate, and it was so dark—Emperor Wanli looked down, and a smile appeared on his face immediately. It was snowing in the sky, and the weather was extremely cold; however, he felt warm all over his body in the mink fur robe, and only occasionally felt the wind blowing on his face, which made it a bit chilly. My heart became hot, and the little bit of coolness was driven away without a trace.

His emotions rose in an instant, his heart was pounding with excitement, and he almost clapped his hands and shouted—the captives under the command of Captain Jin Yi began to kowtow to him, begging to be saved from death, and hundreds of them lined up neatly The kneeling procession looked spectacular. Snowflakes fluttered on the kneeling people together. Of course, he couldn't tell which of these people were real prisoners of war from Bozhou, which were prisoners from other places, and which were basically peaceful people-he was just confused by the sense of victory of the "Bozhou Great Victory" symbolized by these people Get excited, intoxicated, and relieved, and everything else is unimportant.

Under the clear command, the prisoners kowtowed to him in accordance with the established procedures, and then stood up under the call of Jin Yiwei, and exited the Meridian Gate. The iron chains on their feet made a loud noise as they walked, as if they were When they walked through the last journey of their lives, they mourned for them: but Emperor Wanli couldn't hear these mournful screams one after another. He had already left surrounded by eunuchs—the scheduled time for the "capture" ceremony was originally only half an hour, and since he had been excited and satisfied, of course it was considered "great success"; Yang Zhaohan and Yang Chaodong were sentenced With Ling Chi's death sentence, he just said it casually and declared it, and everything was naturally carried out by the Ministry of Punishment—he didn't even look at it anymore.

Along the way, he nodded to the eunuchs and said, "Well, Li Hualong fought a good battle!" Of course the eunuchs knew how to immediately go on to say: "This is all the blessings of the Long Live God. Our Ming Dynasty can be blessed by God, and the generals won such a great victory!" Therefore, Emperor Wanli was even happier. He raised his head and laughed for a while. After laughing enough, he didn't forget to explain: "Look back, find Li Hualong's memorabilia, and read what he said. When fighting, Whoever works the hardest, whoever makes the greatest contribution—all will be rewarded according to his performance!"

After a pause, he added: "Let the cabinet draw up a purpose!" As soon as these words came out, the eunuchs were all a little surprised - such words, Emperor Wanli has not said anything to explain for a long time; for many days, he either has no purpose at all, or just ordered to call the eunuch Bingbi Come to write, now, it is so special that it can't be more special to actually ask the cabinet to draft a policy! Everyone was thinking in their hearts: "It seems that Long Live Lord really looked at the Bozhou war differently!" However, even Emperor Wanli himself never thought about the relationship between the original political system of the Ming Dynasty and the cabinet's draft edicts—these eunuchs even thought: "That Mr. Li, from now on, he will be on the rise!" The one who reacted quickly was even thinking: "How about going to give him a breath first--'Annunciation Silver' always accept him a little bit!" And Emperor Wanli's thoughts are of course different from those of the eunuchs—— In fact, he didn't just talk casually, but he thought: "Let the cabinet show its hands on this matter, so that the people in the court will not talk about it again after being idle for a long time!" Recently, he has indeed been irritated several times. The ministers are always on the alert, saying that the Ciqing Palace has been completed, and that a prince should be established early to reassure the people of the world. Going to the mine tax, even if he ignored it completely, he still felt annoyed; now, he happened to use this matter of Banzhou to divert the attention of the ministers. "It's best, teach them all to do the thing of rewarding meritorious soldiers, so they won't keep talking to me about other things!" And when he thought of "other things", he couldn't help yawning, and his addiction to "fushou ointment" came up. what year!" It's the end of the year again, he thought, the ministers are busy with "reward proposals", and everyone must be happy—— However, Nurhachi, who is facing the end of the season, is racking his brains thinking about the development of Jianzhou. On this day, he first rode his horse and ran in a large circle alone in the field, ran in the face of the strong wind and snow, and his body was hot. After returning, he paced the house alone. Finally, he stood still and stood at the window watching sky. At first he was lost in thought without saying a word, his face was serene; then, his expression gradually changed, his eyes became deeper and sharper, his face became redder and redder, and his fists were slowly clenched. stand up. Then, he punched the window sill—— "Hata must be completely wiped out!" A voice burst out in his heart, followed by a cold snort: "It's too outrageous!" There was anger in my heart, and because of this, I made up my mind; that was because not many days ago, Zhao Ji, the newly appointed governor of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty, sent someone to put pressure on him, asking him to send Meng Gebulu and Wu Ergu's father and son back home. Hada Ministry. Zhao Ji was appointed in July, and it was already August when he came to Liaodong; three months after he took office, he thought he was familiar with the situation in Liaodong, and he also heard about his annexation of the Hada tribe. "Disputes", he sent someone to say to him: "Menggebulu is the head of the Hada tribe after all, and he has lived in Jianzhou for a long time. After all, it is not a solution. We should send Menggebulu and his son Wu Ergu back to Hada as soon as possible." Let's go!" Of course he didn't accept it, and he sneered in his heart: "What kind of donkey officer is this, he set up the 'three fires for the new official' before he figured out everything? All the descendants of the Hada tribe have been incorporated into the establishment The household registration of the state has become a citizen of my state, and he is still talking nonsense?" However, on the surface, he said to the visitor, "Okay, okay, I will deal with it as soon as possible!" He didn't want to tear himself apart with the Ming Dynasty at this time, have disputes, and cause unnecessary problems, so he behaved very obediently and agreed to return Meng Gebulu and his son. As soon as the people sent by Zhao Ji left Jianzhou, he immediately began to make careful calculations in his heart. Two days later, he simply sent someone to put medicine in Menggebulu's diet, which caused Menggebulu to have diarrhea for two days; then, he asked a doctor to treat Menggebulu, but Menggebulu Taking the medicine with the opposite property - Menggebulu will of course become "iller" more seriously. This disease is not good after ten days of illness; and news of Menggebulu's illness has spread throughout Liaodong. On the fifteenth day, Menggebulu died. So he sent someone to report to Zhao Ji, saying that Menggebulu was sick, but he would send Menggebulu's son back to Hada to fulfill his promise to the Ming Dynasty. Of course, Zhao Ji had to accept his report, but he refused to believe it completely. Not only did he repeatedly question the people he sent, but he also sent people to Jianzhou to urge him to send him back to Wuer Gugu as soon as possible. The person sent by Zhao Ji even said: "The governor failed to believe in the sincerity of Jianzhou, it is best to show it—" When he heard this, he was so angry that he almost turned his face on the spot; but, he finally endured it. After sending the visitor away, he thought again and again—— The conclusion is still the same: "Destroy Hada completely—kill Wu Er Gu Gu!" The annexation of the four tribes of Hulun and the unification of the Jurchens' divided tribes was originally his goal many years ago - he has never forgotten his mission, his inherent mission, to lead all the Jurchens on the broad road ; Over the past few years, he has been working hard step by step with his feet on the ground, and every step he takes is one step closer to his ideal; now, a new opportunity has arrived. "Just think of a way to deal with the Ming Dynasty—" he told himself very clearly: "As long as this matter is done well and deal with the Ming Dynasty's interference, Hada will be completely mine!" So, he fell into deep thought, thinking carefully over and over again—— This time, as before, he did not take things lightly. After spending a whole day and night, he made a decision from repeated deduction. The difference is that this time, he neither consulted with his subordinates, nor revealed the decision; it was not until the third day that he made a clear public announcement: "I will marry Mang Guji to Wu Er Ancient!" Mang Guji is his third adult daughter - when the daughter is grown up, marriage is a matter of course, but the object of his marriage is actually Wu Erguji, which immediately aroused a burst of surprise and asked questions one after another. Especially Mang Guji's biological mother, the Fucha family, came to him immediately after hearing this and asked, "Isn't Wu Ergu a member of the Hada tribe? Why do you want to marry Mang Guji to him?" However, he didn't want to answer anything, didn't explain anything, and ignored Fucha's reaction; he just called someone, prepared the documents for him, and then sent someone to Zhao Ji to invite him Attend the wedding between Mang Guji and Wu Ergu. Of course Zhao Ji didn't come to watch the ceremony in person, but he prepared gifts and sent several subordinates to attend the whole wedding ceremony from beginning to end. Nurhachi personally received the two officials of the Ming Dynasty graciously, and not only arranged their seats on both sides of him at the wedding banquet, but also persuaded them to drink and persuade food from time to time, while laughing from time to time, with a hearty and hearty heart. He said with a smile: "Han people always say: the son-in-law is the son-in-law--you two look, my son-in-law looks very good!" The two officials of the Ming Dynasty who had become "guests of honor" naturally followed his tone and praised him full of praise: "Yes! Yes! You really are the son-in-law of Chenglong Kuai!" What's more, because of the influence of the joyful atmosphere of the audience, the mood rose, and both of them said in unison: "It is the most sensible thing for Jianzhou and Hada to get married--we can repay the Governor, and we can do it." not worried!" Nurhachi laughed and said: "When I have a grandson, I will definitely take him to the governor's yamen to see the governor!" As he spoke, he immediately raised his wine glass to toast, and he drank it first, and the two distinguished guests followed suit, drinking all the wine in the glass in one gulp—after several rounds, the wedding banquet was not over yet, and the two of them were already very drunk , collapsed like mud. Nurhachi made a gesture, and several guards immediately came up to help the two of them. "Good service, and you can't leave even one step, and keep guarding until they sober up!" He explained it carefully, and as soon as he finished speaking, he put down his wine glass, stood up, and withdrew from the wedding banquet; The horse galloped off into the wild. His emotions were ups and downs, and his hidden thoughts and alcohol were ups and downs together, and after a jolt on the horse's back, the agitation became even stronger. Finally, he got off the horse and vomited. After vomiting out everything in his stomach, he started to walk back; his emotions had calmed down a lot, and the many unspeakable things hidden in his heart were slowly pressed to the deepest part—he was calm, Tell yourself rationally: It is worth sacrificing a daughter, and the price you pay will eventually be paid back ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times! Wu Ergu became his son-in-law, of course it gave the Ming Dynasty a big "explainment", and it was also the best reason for him not to let Wu Ergu go back to Hada—— "In this way, Ming Dynasty has nothing to say—" And he will also take advantage of this buffer to step up his plan to fully control Hada; he is sure that it is "reasonable" for Wu Ergu to die like Meng Gebulu, and he is also sure that the people of Hada will be convinced and integrated with him. The people of Chengjianzhou—with this buffer time, he is absolutely sure. The new year has arrived, and what he is doing is such a significant event - the annexation of Hada is the beginning of his great cause of unifying Jurchen.It worked out, and a new page was opened in his life's career. His spirit was lifted, and all the unhappy emotions disappeared; he encouraged himself: "What an important year this year is--I must go all out for this great cause of unification; except for Hada, Huifa , Yehe, and Ula have to be solved step by step, and I own them one by one!" His eyes became brighter and brighter.

---

Notes: