Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

Throughout August of the twelfth year of Chongzhen, the Beijing camp army was unstoppable. First, Zhang Shikang broke through the city of Suzhou and wiped out Liu Liangzuo's 52,000 troops.

Then Zhang Shikang and Huang Degong joined forces to besiege the city of Nanjing.

On the other hand, Cao Bianjiao was unstoppable in Huguang, and Qi Dazhu was invincible in Jiangxi.

The Southern Army's defense focus has always been along the Yangtze River, so after the Yangtze River defense line was broken, the rear had no ability to resist except for a few tens of thousands of extremely incompetent garrison soldiers.

Wherever Cao Bianjiao and Qi Dazhu's troops went, the garrison soldiers there would flee without a trace.

Also fleeing were corrupt officials, gentry, landlords, and members of the Donglin Party who knew they were doomed to die.

The biggest difficulty encountered by Cao Bianjiao and Qi Dazhu was to temporarily maintain the basic order in the prefectures, cities and counties they had captured.

The situation in Huguang is relatively better, but the closer you get to the southeast, the more serious it becomes.

Most of the officials had fled, leaving only yamen runners in each government office, and each prefecture and county had a pile of countless cases that no one had to deal with.

Qi Dazhu usually stayed in the captured prefecture or county for one day. In addition to selecting a temporary acting county magistrate, he also handled these cases.

These were all military orders given by Zhang Shikang. Zhang Shikang knew the general situation in the south through the factory guards.

After the officials, gentry, landlords, and Donglin Party members fled, they left behind a mess. Ruffians and hooligans were rampant in various prefectures and cities, committing many illegal acts, and no one was responsible for them.

Qi Dazhu was very happy to serve as a county magistrate and even a prefect.

For example, on this day, Qi Dazhu was admitted to Nanfeng County, Jiangxi Province in the morning, and in the afternoon he began to handle cases that had not been handled recently in Nanfeng County.

Of course, the most important thing is still to arrest and punish the hooligans who committed the crimes during this period.

Killing people is easy. Zhang Shikang gave him the power to handle special matters and beheaded the person in front of the people of the whole city. It could be regarded as a warning to others.

Those who steal, smash things, or bully others will simply return the stolen goods, be beaten with a stick, or be thrown into jail.

There is nothing much to say about criminal cases, as they can be cut with a quick sword. What gives him the most headaches are some civil cases, like the one he is facing right now.

The plaintiff, Wang Datou, sued the owner of Xiepu, Mei Lianchi, for seducing his wife.

Wang Datou looked like an honest former tenant, while his wife was posing coquettishly in brocade clothes and standing with the defendant Mei Lianchi.

"Who is this person in the hall, and why are you suing Mei Lianchi?" Qi Dazhu slammed the gavel, making it seem like that was the real deal.

Wang Datou replied honestly:

"I, Wang Datou, am suing Mei Lianchi for kidnapping my wife."

Mei Lianchi was dressed in silk brocade, and there was no trace of nervousness on her face. Instead, she pointed at Wang Datou and said:

"General, I didn't kidnap his wife. She wanted to follow me."

Qi Dazhu scratched his head and looked at Wang Han.

"Which of these two would you rather follow?"

Wang Han took a look at Wang Datou's poor appearance, then looked at Mei Lianchi who was dressed in fancy clothes, then she tightened Mei Lianchi's collar with her hands and said shyly:

"I'd like to follow him."

"Hmm..." Qi Dazhui let out a long sound as if he suddenly realized something.

"You two are in love with each other." Qi Dazhu suddenly felt that he was very talented and could even use idioms.

But he doesn't even know how to write these two words.

"Yes, General, we are both willing." Mei Lianchi and Wang Han showed joy on their faces and said at the same time.

"But General, I don't want to.

What are you talking about, my dear wife, you are willing, but I am not." Wang Datou cried.

So Qi Dazhu began to scratch his head again. On one side was his original wife, and on the other side was the consensual one. He had never had such a difficult choice even when he was on the battlefield killing enemies.

"How about this, Mei Lianchi? You look so well dressed. Why don't you give him fifty taels of silver and let Wang Datou marry another one? Is that okay?"

Qi Dazhu frowned and came up with a plan.

Mei Lianchi was delighted when he heard this. Although fifty taels of silver was not a small amount, it was only his profit for one or two months. He immediately took out a silver note of fifty taels from his pocket.

But Wang Datou still turned his head and refused to answer.

"General, is this appropriate?"

Qi Dazhu advised:

"Don't be so stubborn, Wang Datou.

She hanged herself on a tree. She has already run away with someone. How can you still live with her if you force her back?

All right, all right, take the money and go home to marry a wife."

Seeing Qi Dazhu's impatient look, Wang Datou, who was honest and cowardly to begin with, quickly took the banknote, checked it, and left in a hurry.

"Mei Lianchi, don't steal other people's wives anymore." Qi Dazhu said again.

"Yes, yes, yes." Mei Lianchi quickly agreed.

“However, I remember that there is a law in the Ming Dynasty that merchants are not allowed to wear silk and satin.

Qian is unemployed, is that true?" Qi Dazhu turned around and asked the county magistrate.

Mei Lianchi's face immediately fell.

The lawyer surnamed Qian thought about it and nodded, as if there was indeed such a law.

"Then do you remember what the punishment for violating this order is?"

"My Lord General, I really can't remember this clearly."

The Ming Dynasty law does have this rule, but since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, as the court's finances became increasingly difficult and the landlords and gentry became increasingly wealthy, no one cared about landlords and merchants wearing silk and satin anymore.

"Well... if you are guilty, you must be punished. Then give him forty lashes!"

As he said that, he ordered his men to start the torture. Mei Lianchi felt completely confused.

"General, please spare me! General, please spare me!" Mei Lianchi knelt on the ground and begged for mercy.

"If you are guilty, you must be punished. We don't want to kill you. Start the torture immediately." Qi Dazhu grabbed a warrant that he didn't know what it meant and threw it on the ground.

The people who beat him with forty boards were not yamen runners, but Qi Dazhu's subordinates. Not everyone can bear the military stick.

After only a dozen or so blows, Mei Lianchi fainted from the pain. After a few more blows, he woke up again.

After more than thirty blows, Mei Lianchi was no longer moving.

"Since you follow Mei Lianchi, you are also from a merchant family. You also wear silk and satin, so you have to be beaten too."

Wang Han was so scared that she pissed herself.

A quarter of an hour later, both of them died. Qi Dazhu scratched his head and asked someone to drag the bodies of the adulterer out.

"next."

Qi Dazhu was extremely efficient in handling cases. He finished handling all the cases that had been piled up in the county government for a month in just one afternoon.

On the other hand, by the first day of September, Zhang Shikang and Huang Degong had been besieging Nanjing for nearly twenty days.

The city wall of Suzhou could not compare with that of Nanjing. Just by blowing up the city wall of Suzhou, all the gunpowder in several prefectures and counties such as Zhenjiang and Changzhou was used up.

If you want to blast open the city wall of Nanjing, it would probably take at least ten days or half a month.

Moreover, Zhang Shikang couldn't get so much gunpowder and artillery shells at once.

For a moment, there was a stalemate.

……