Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 366: There seems to be some progress

The battle of Chongqing was lost hastily, but its aftermath was extremely tragic.

Liu Jingbo of the Qing Dynasty said in "Shu Gui Jian": "They massacred Chongqing, killing all the civil and military officials, and then massacred the city. Those who deceived the officers and soldiers to surrender were not killed, totaling more than 37,000 people, but their ears and noses were cut off, their arms were cut off, and they were driven to various prefectures and counties."

Gu Shanzhen, who lived in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, wrote in his book Shu Ji: "Even if there are those who try to survive, their hands will be chopped off and their ears and noses will be cut off."

"Ming Ji Nan Lue" said: "There were millions of people in Chongqing, not a single one escaped...more than 300,000 hands were chopped off, and the blood flowed loudly."

Tan Qian, a historian in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, quoted the original text of a memorial from Zhang Yishen, the assistant censor of Sichuan in the Southern Ming Dynasty, in his book "National Authority", saying that Zhang Xianzhong not only killed officials, but also cut off the arms of more than 10,000 captives.

These data vary greatly, but there is no doubt that Zhang Xianzhong killed all the officials in Chongqing and harmed the civilians and surrendered soldiers in the city.

But this Chongqing Prefecture Tongpan
"Your Majesty! This fellow has a unclear relationship with the bandits. He should..."

"shut up!"

Just when Zhu Cilang was a little confused, he heard a burst of angry voices from behind him, followed by Fan Yiheng's scolding, so he also looked over.

At this time, a young military officer was staring fiercely at the Tongpan of Chongqing Prefecture, while Fan Yiheng kept moving between the two men with a somewhat panicked look.

This young man's name is Zeng Ying, and he is a leader among the young generation of military commanders in central Sichuan.

He originally had no military position and was only a subordinate of the emperor. However, after Zhang Xianzhong entered Sichuan, he repeatedly requested to lead troops to fight against the bandits.

Faced with such a request, no one agreed.

After all, he had no experience in leading troops and did not hold any military position. No one would take such a risk by risking the lives of their soldiers.

But at that time, Zhang Xianzhong had almost all his elite troops, and the Ming army in Sichuan was defeated several times. Even the Qiang-Han general who commanded all the troops in Sichuan was defeated in one battle.

At this point, Sichuan Governor Chen Shiqi was at a loss, so when he saw Zeng Ying asking for battle, he allocated a few hundred local soldiers to him as a trial.

In ordinary people's opinion, since so many government troops in Sichuan had been defeated, what could a few hundred local soldiers count for? But Zeng Ying was not picky. After receiving the soldiers, he stepped up their training while spending all his wealth to win the hearts of his subordinates.

With these two approaches in place, every member of his army was willing to fight to the death.

At this time, Zhang Xianzhong arrived at the entrance of Qutang Gorge. He was arrogant and underestimated the enemy. Zeng Ying set an ambush in Wushan to block Zhang Xianzhong, and held out for more than four months with his weak army. After seeing such a record, Chen Shiqi, the governor of Sichuan, dispelled his doubts and promoted Zeng Ying to the rank of lieutenant general.

What followed was the extremely brutal Battle of Chongqing.

During this battle, Zeng Ying was assigned to garrison Fuzhou. However, the bandits were powerful and Fuzhou was small, so he had to retreat to Wangjiang Pass before the city was breached in less than a month.

Chen Shiqi, who had promoted him, was brutally tortured to death by the rebels because he refused to surrender after the fall of Chongqing.

Afterwards, Zeng Ying repeatedly led his troops to fight against the Dashi Army until he switched to Fan Yiheng's army. During this process, he heard some rumors from somewhere. When he saw that the Tongpan of Chongqing Prefecture did not die in that battle, he immediately connected the two together.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. Zeng Ying lost his composure because he was thinking of the former Sichuan Governor Chen Gong. He did not intentionally misbehave in front of you."

Zhu Cilang was naturally not satisfied with such an explanation, but after all, he did not have much free time to judge the case, so he planned to let Fan Yiheng find out the situation before making a decision.

But today, I don’t know what happened. First, Qin Liangyu said, “His eyes and eyebrows are quite similar to those of the late emperor.” Then Zeng Yingjun said, “This guy has an unclear relationship with the thief.”

Each of them was suspected of being impolite in front of the emperor, but they all had their reasons. At this point, even the Chongqing Tongpan who was possessed by the ground began to explain himself.

"Your Majesty, please understand! I was lucky enough to escape before Chongqing was captured, but after several twists and turns, I was taken captive by the bandits as a civilian. If the bandits had not retreated this time, I would have been unable to escape!"

It is said that the butt determines the head.

What Fan Yiheng was most concerned about was whether His Majesty would investigate his beloved general;

Zeng Ying's main concern was to ensure that His Majesty would not let go of the Chongqing Tongpan who might betray the emperor.

However, the judge said that he was captured as an ordinary citizen, which was obviously to emphasize that he had not betrayed the country.

These people were all trying to prove themselves to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, but to Zhu Cilang, none of this mattered. His mind was already focused on "if the bandits had not retreated this time."

"Did you escape after Zhang Xianzhong retreated?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, I was captured by the rebel army and made into a clerk. Afterwards..."

"Speak the key."

"Yes, Your Majesty. More than ten days ago, the thieves from Chongqing escaped at night, giving me the chance to escape."

Go out at night
After hearing these words, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but think about it.

It is obvious that Zhang Xianzhong kept this action extremely secret, otherwise he would not have sneaked out at night.

But everyone knew that there was a war in the north. What was there that was worth making such a fuss about? And what was there that required them to mobilize troops from Chongqing?

"Do you know why the bandits abandoned Chongqing? Where did they go?"

"I am not quite sure about this, but it seems that a very important person came from the north, and then all the bandits stationed in Chongqing withdrew."

After hearing this, Zhu Cilang's doubts naturally grew, but the current occasion was not appropriate, so he did not ask any more questions.

At this point, the procedures outside the city were basically completed. Afterwards, he entered Qijiang County under the welcome of a group of ministers. After another round of procedures, the welcoming ceremony was finally completed.

"Old Zhuguo, Mr. Fan, please stay for a while."

Just as the ministers were leaving one after another, Zhu Cilang's voice was heard again. Then Fan Yiheng and Qin Liangyu stopped and waited quietly for the emperor's instructions.

In fact, they could also guess His Majesty's intention of keeping them.

Although the Chongqing Tongpan did not reveal much useful information, it could still play a role in judging the movements of the traitors. So when they heard the words, their minds were focused on this matter.

"Where do you think that important person will come from?"

As soon as the words came out, even though the two were prepared, they couldn't help but be stunned.

According to the Chongqing Tongpan's words, this very important person should be a member of the rebel group. But when His Majesty asked, it seemed that he was referring to something else. They changed their minds and felt a chill on their backs.

"Your Majesty, do you mean the Qing army is coming?"

As the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, Fan Yiheng was more proactive, but at the same time, Qin Liangyu also frowned and looked at His Majesty's expression, obviously attaching great importance to this speculation. According to His Majesty's intention, it is to wait for the two powers to fight and then reap the benefits, but if the Chongqing defenders took this action because of the Qing army's rebellion, then this strategy would have to change.

In the final analysis, the two armies are in a stalemate, but any changes will cause the situation to slide into unexpected directions.

Under such circumstances, if the rebels were simply defeated, the worst that could happen would be to order all the troops to rush into Sichuan.

But if the bandits surrendered to the enemy in large numbers during this defeat,
“This matter cannot be ignored.”

Zhu Cilang gave a definite answer to Fan Yiheng's question, but his tone was a little uncertain when he spoke.

He knew that Hauge was able to recognize Zhang Xianzhong among thousands of troops because of the guidance of the rebels, and he also knew that the appearance of the rebels forced him to retreat to Xichong to meet the enemy.

But no matter how hard you try, all this should have happened a year later.

Although the troops in Chongqing retreated at this time, he was not sure whether it was due to the Tartars' rebellion or Zhang Xianzhong's military order. If he just forced it, he would inevitably make a wrong judgment.

That's why this possibility was revealed to the two veteran ministers, in order to allow them to make some reliable judgments based on their experience.

"Your Majesty, I think there is no need to dwell on this matter too much. The bandits have already fought with the Tartars, so our army only needs to prepare."

After all, Qin Liangyu was an old general who had fought in wars for half her life, and she hit the nail on the head with just one word. However, her thinking was based on the overall situation, and she did not take other things into consideration. So when her words came out, Zhu Cilang began to explain with a wry smile.

"Old Zhuguo, you don't know that although the thief Xian is a cruel and bloodthirsty guy, his adopted sons and soldiers in the army are extremely rare."

"Your Majesty, do you want to recruit us?"

“Ah, that’s roughly what I mean.”

"Your Majesty, that bandit surrendered several times and rebelled again. It is obvious that he is a traitor. At this time, our Ming army is at its peak. We should take this opportunity to wipe him out in Sichuan. We must not let this bandit have a chance to catch his breath!"

In response to Zhu Cilang's explanation, Qin Liangyu launched a barrage of persuasion.

This is not surprising. The reason why Zhu Cilang had a good impression on Chuang Ze and Xian Ze was, on the one hand, because he knew that most of these bandits took this road of no return because they could not survive, and on the other hand, it was because generals such as Li Dingguo and Hao Yaoqi eventually died under the banner of the Ming Dynasty.

But for officials like Qin Liangyu, it was these people who turned the Ming Dynasty upside down when the court was concentrating on dealing with the Tartars outside the Great Wall, and then plunged the entire world into chaos.

In addition to the dark history of the bandits surrendering and then rebelling again, even if His Majesty wanted to recruit them because of his love for talent, she had to stand up and advise them.

"What the old pillar said is very true, but I didn't think it through. However, we can't force them too much. We have to be on guard against them surrendering to the Tartars."

At first glance, Zhu Cilang's answer seemed perfunctory, but he actually took Qin Liangyu's advice to heart.

Earlier, he only thought that Zhang Xianzhong's capable adopted sons could play a significant role in his process of balancing the various forces in the court, but he ignored Zhang Xianzhong's powerful influence on those people.

Judging from the current situation, the Great Western Emperor will not accompany the rebels for a while.

It would be fine if he was still restrained by this and delayed the military situation at the front, but if he really tried to recruit Zhang Xianzhong before his death because he loved his talent, wouldn't that leave an unstable factor?

"Send an order, ordering all troops in Zunyi to march north to Qijiang."

"According to the order."

As soon as Zhu Cilang finished speaking, Fan Yiheng took the order.

He did not find the change of His Majesty's mind so sudden.

Although they still didn't know the real reason why the bandits withdrew from Chongqing, the situation in Sichuan gradually became clear after reading various pieces of information.

The situation of a quarrel between the left and right sides has already occurred. As long as Your Majesty does not intend to attack Zhang Xianzhong from behind while the battle is going on in the north, no matter how many variables there are, they will not have any fundamental impact on the overall situation.

It’s strange to say, the king and two ministers in the hall had different ideas, but in the end they all agreed on the same point.

Zhu Cilang was naturally aware of this, but for some reason he did not point it out directly. After thinking about it for a while, he asked Qin Liangyu.

"Old Zhuguo, I wonder how many troops Chongqing can still provide?"

"Your Majesty, I have discussed with the various families before you came. I, the chieftain of Chongqing, can send out another 50,000 brave warriors."

When Qin Liangyu spoke, she seemed full of energy, as if she wanted to personally lead these 50,000 troops to serve as the king's vanguard.

But when Zhu Cilang heard this number, his expression became a little gloomy.

Although the Qing army had not yet entered central Sichuan at this time, the thirteen-year anti-Qing war had never taken place.

However, under Zhang Xianzhong's indiscriminate killing, the population of the entire Sichuan Province decreased sharply. Specifically, the chieftains in Chongqing suffered heavy losses in the process of resisting the bandit.

Under such circumstances, Qin Liangyu actually planned to withdraw 50,000 brave warriors. Zhu Cilang thought that this was probably the last assets of the entire Chongqing chieftain.

You know, the Yang family, which had been operating in Bozhou for more than 700 years, could only mobilize tens of thousands of local soldiers at the critical moment of life and death. The Ma family in Chongqing was not much different from the Yang family in terms of the establishment of their mansion, and many of them were killed in the years of fighting.

At this time, they are required to offer 50,000 troops. This may drain the last drop of blood from the chieftains of Chongqing.

"Old Zhuguo is truly a loyal minister of our Ming Dynasty," Zhu Cilang said with some emotion, and then he fell silent. After calming down a little, he continued, "The bandits have committed many murders in Sichuan, but we still have to leave some seeds for the future. This time, I have brought a lot of troops, plus the various Sichuan troops that retreated to Zunyi, the military strength is enough. Chongqing will send more than 10,000 elite soldiers."

Zhu Cilang's words were not simply out of sympathy for Chongqing. Needless to say, his imperial guards had already followed him to Zunyi.

However, five thousand heavily armored infantrymen sounded too daunting, so they stayed behind and did not follow the emperor.

In addition to this group of people, Zunyi also had Li Guo's 30,000 reorganized elite troops and tens of thousands of troops under Fan Yiheng.

If the situation changes again, Zhu Cilang can not only transfer He Tengjiao's troops from Hunan to Sichuan through the Yangtze River, but also send the front, left and right armies of the imperial guard to Sichuan for support.

In short, the Yangtze River waterway is now completely controlled by the Ming Dynasty. He can dispatch troops along the river, but there is no need to let Qin Liangyu overdraw too much.

Faced with His Majesty's polite refusal, Qin Liangyu wanted to argue a few more times, but before she could open her mouth, a guard ran in from outside.

"Your Majesty, an urgent report from Changsha."

Changsha?

How do they know I am in Sichuan?
(End of this chapter)