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

With an order.

Zhang Shikang's mission was accomplished.

Yes, sometimes, being a generalissimo is just that simple.

Sun Dasheng led the cavalry to charge into the city first. Those guys who were chasing Wu Gang and Xu Huaiming immediately turned around and ran back when they saw the scene outside.

Sun Weifan and Huang Degong also led their infantry to rush in one after another. These two seemed to be competing with each other recently, reportedly because of Sun Dasheng.

Even though it was pitch black outside, the artillery on the top of the South City wall still opened fire. Most of the shells fell on the open ground, and only a few hit people.

Hong Xiucheng immediately protected Zhang Shikang to a safe place. He understood that Zhang Shikang was carrying everyone's expectations.

This is also why, even though Zhang Shikang did not do much in the military camp, everyone still respected him.

Sometimes it is like this, you don't have to do everything yourself. A qualified hands-off manager only needs to know how to use people.

A quarter of an hour later, after their weapons were confiscated, Wu Gang and Xu Huaiming finally saw the Marshal they had been longing for.

In this uprising, in addition to Wu Gang's more than 4,000 people, Xu Huaiming also brought more than 3,000 people from his own headquarters, but of those who had fought their way out with them, only about 1,000 people are left.

The casualties were very high, and Wu Gang and Xu Huaiming himself were also injured.

But the two of them still knelt on the ground, enduring the pain, because they all knew that the young man in front of them was the current controller of military power in the Ming Dynasty.

"Wu Gang and Xu Huaiming, right? If I remember correctly, both of you surrendered and rebelled, rebelled and surrendered. This is the third time, right?" Zhang Shikang said calmly.

After all, both of them had already been promoted to lieutenant general, and the factory guards had already verified their situations.

First he rebelled against Li Zicheng and surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, then he rebelled against the Ming Dynasty again and joined the Southern Army, and now he is rebelling and surrendering again.

The two men were unaware of their fear and thought that Zhang Shikang was going to punish them, so they immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly.

"But no matter what, you have made a contribution by taking the initiative to open the city gate this time," Zhang Shikang said again.

Wu Gang and Xu Huaiming immediately showed joy on their faces.

"But I just don't know if one day you two will take the initiative to open the gates of my Ming Dynasty again."

The joy that Wu Gang and Xu Huaiming had just shown disappeared again.

"But I can't just judge him with one stroke. His merits and demerits offset each other, and his merits even exceeded his expectations by a little bit."

So the two of them didn't know what expression to show. They were so shocked. They had never been so excited in their lives.

That one sentence can cost them their lives.

"Don't even think about military positions. I will recommend you two for merit in front of His Majesty, and you will be given the rank of Light Cavalry Captain of the third rank.

How?" Zhang Shikang asked.

The lieutenant general with real power was demoted to a third-rank military officer, and his military power was taken back. In fact, the two of them did not have many soldiers left.

At first glance, it is indeed not cost-effective, but if you think about it carefully, it is not as good as you think at first glance.

But the two had no intention of refutation at all. He was scared half to death by Zhang Shikang's words. Now that he was alive and had a salary, what else did he want?

"Thank you, Marshal." The two men bowed down one after another, with indescribable respect on their faces.

Sometimes it's like this, if you appear to be too easy to talk to, it may make some people feel dissatisfied.

But as long as Zhang Shikang gives these people a warning first, they will be grateful instead.

He couldn't tolerate the existence of such people in the army. Don't tell him what the difficulties were for surrendering, rebelling, or escaping.

Pointless.

He won't take the risk.

A third-rank official position is not low. Only by being content can one be happy.

The battle continued until dawn. Sporadic resistance still existed, but most of the garrison soldiers knelt down and surrendered when they saw that the situation was hopeless.

Gao Jie was stabbed in the back by Huang Degong, and Liu Zeqing had his head chopped off by Sun Weifan.

The soldiers of the Beijing camp began to arrest the rebels throughout the city, as many Jinyiwei and Tiqi had already been lurking in Nanjing.

They arrested people very quickly, just according to the list provided by the Jinyiwei.

When the soldiers arrived at the mansion of Xu Hongji, Duke of Wei, the gate was wide open and many servants were running out with the stolen gold, silver and other valuables.

Of course the soldiers would not let them take the property away, and they beheaded the thieves on the spot in just a few moves.

They searched the Duke of Wei's mansion back and forth, and finally found Xu Hongji in the Xu family ancestral hall.

The Southern Army commander Xu Hongji, who had been struggling for half a year, had fallen in a pool of blood.

He was half holding a knife in his hand, and there was a piece of rice paper on the altar in front of the Xu family tablet.

There were a few bright red words written on the rice paper, which must have been written by Xu Hongji with his finger dipped in blood before he committed suicide.

"Hongji is ashamed of his ancestors. The one who harmed me was Donglin."

Regarding participating in this so-called action to purge the court, Xu Hongji admitted that he was reluctant to give up his family wealth, but in fact, this desire was not strong at the beginning.

Although Nanjing is also the capital of the Ming Dynasty, he actually knows that everything here is fake.

He also knew that it would be difficult for the Southern Army to complete the so-called Northern Expedition. So many military geniuses in history had failed to accomplish it, so what ability did Xu Hongji have?

However, the Donglin Party magnified his greed, making him reluctant to give up his family's land, money and grain.

The Donglin Party magnified its own advantages and blinded his eyes.

The title of Duke of Wei was inherited from the founding hero Xu Da, King of Zhongshan, and ended with Xu Hongji, in a very despicable way.

However, the soldiers of the Beijing camp didn't care about that. Some of them were afraid that Xu Hongji was not dead yet, so they stabbed him a few more times with their swords and then dragged his body to report.

After all, if he's alive, you want to see him in person; if he's dead, you want to see his body.

After daybreak, a large-scale arrest operation was underway throughout the city.

But the only one missing is the Qian Mansion, which is Qian Qianyi's home.

The mansions of officials and gentry who had participated in the treason were almost all guarded and arrested by soldiers, but there was no one at the door of Qian Qianyi's house.

However, at the entrance of the alley on both sides of the house, there were a few guys selling candied haws, who were staring at it.

Qian Qianyi was sitting upright in the study. There was a piece of white silk on the desk in front of him. Qian Qianyi was staring at the silk.

Even though he had known that the Southern Army would never be able to defeat the Northern Army, the city of Nanjing could not be defended forever and would be breached one day.

Maybe from the outside, maybe from the inside.

But he didn't expect that this day would come so soon.

It is time for him to be martyred. Even the Duke of Wei has been martyred. As a great scholar of Donglin and the leader of the movement to purge the court, how can he live in disgrace?

He has always thought so, and has always believed that if this day really comes, he will definitely hang himself without hesitation to preserve his reputation.

but……

Now the white silk is right in front of him. He just needs to stand on the chair and hang the white silk on the beam.

Then hang his neck on the white silk and kick the chair over, and everything will be over once and for all, and his reputation can be preserved.

He knew it was so simple.

But he just couldn't do it.

……