Chapter 48 Section 1: Prisoners lined up to chop hands

In the 17th year of Chongzhen (1644 A.D.) on June 21st, 37,000 Ming troops gathered in the open space outside Tongyuan Gate in Chongqing.They were organized into a long line of a hundred, and they marched in single file, and went to the wooden case in front of the line, stretched out their right hands, and put them on the case. The soldier standing in front of the wooden case raised his knife and dropped it, but the hand snapped off and remained on the case with fingers still shaking.Blood spurted from the severed arm like a fountain.The soldier with the knife kicked him away and shouted: "Next, hurry up!"

This is Zhang Xianzhong, a peasant uprising army in the late Ming Dynasty, dealing with the captured Ming army.On June 20, Zhang Xianzhong broke through Chongqing City.This was his first big victory after entering Sichuan, and the whole army was elated.Zhang Xianzhong specifically instructed that although the Ming army had resisted stubbornly, the Eight Great Kings were lenient this time, and did not kill any of the prisoners, but chopped their hands as a warning. These captives had no reason to be unhappy.But there are those who seek to get away with it further.The Peasant Army clearly stretched out their right hand, but some people stretched out their left hand.With a knife, the left hand fell off, but was stopped by the blade again: "The right hand!"

So both hands are useless. Chopping hands is a customary practice of Zhang Xianzhong's department.It has three functions: one is to punish those who resist in the corner; the other is to prevent these people from holding weapons against the rebel army in the future, which is why they must chop off their right hands; Unconquered areas know the consequences of resisting the rebels, so as to spread terror and achieve the purpose of deterrence. These soldiers with severed hands were released from the city and fled to their respective hometowns.They spread terror to every corner of Sichuan like a plague.

The legendary "doom" seems to be really coming.