1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2380
Why did Shandong fall into war again and again, and why Ming Dynasty, whose territory, population, and national strength were far superior to its opponents, would be driven straight into the hinterland by the Qing army without any power to fight back? Sun Zhen actually never thought about it. The reason for this can only be simply attributed to the incompetence of the Ming court.

Of course he also wants to do something to change this situation, not for Daming, but for the hometown he has lived in for 20 years. He doesn’t want to see everything here being destroyed by burning, killing and looting by barbarians from outside the pass .However, although the Haihan army is powerful in combat, it is always limited by its strength, combat methods, and the complicated relationship between the two countries, so it is difficult for him to fight with the Qing army freely in the territory of Ming Dynasty as he hoped.

This time he was ordered to be stationed in Shandong. Sun Zhen understood that the reason why his boss chose him was that he was from Denglai.It's just that the task he received was not to fight the Qing army, but to deal with refugees. This somewhat disappointed Sun Zhen, who came with a strong fighting spirit.

But the military order is like a mountain, and Sun Zhen naturally knows that such an order not only cannot be disobeyed, but also must try his best to complete the mission goal.When he went to meet Chen Yixin before leaving, he heard a sentence that he took for granted: "If you want to save Shandong, you must first save the refugees."

If the situation is allowed to deteriorate, even if the Qing army evacuates and returns to the outside of the customs, tens of thousands of refugees who have left their homes and wandered around will continue to cause trouble in a wider area, making Fukuyama County, which has not been directly affected by the war The region is also in chaos.This war is more serious than the Denglai Rebellion that Sun Zhen experienced personally, and the affected area is larger. He does not believe that the Shandong government is capable of resettling such a large-scale refugee group.

After leaving Fushan County in the west, there is a large area of ​​hills. There is no so-called official road here, and the troops led by Sun Zhen can only slow down their progress and try to find a gentle route to advance.Fortunately, preparations were made before departure, and Chen Yixin asked the Ma family to find someone who was familiar with the environment here as a guide, which also saved the troops the trouble of exploring the way by themselves.

But even though there is no official way here, they still encountered more and more foreign refugees on the way.However, when these refugees saw the Haihan Army with all cavalry, most of them avoided it early, lest they would cause trouble.

Sun Zhen also understands the cautious behavior of refugees. He also had the same mentality when he fled from his hometown. When he saw an army appearing nearby, he would stay away from it.In times of war and chaos, the most unbelievable thing for the people is the army with force. They will take away the few money and food in the hands of the people at any time, and even cut off the heads of innocent people to wipe out the bandits. Ask the court for credit in name.Before setting off, Sun Zhen specially reminded his men and horses not to plunder property, kill good men and pretend meritorious deeds, just because he didn't want those evil deeds to appear in the Haihan army.

Of course, at the same time, Sun Zhen’s army also had to be wary of these unidentified refugees. In troubled times, there would always be rogues who took advantage of the troubled waters to fish for fish. Although not many people dared to attack the army, they brought a lot of supplies and Food is used as a guarantee, which is something that makes people jealous in Shandong right now.It's hard to say whether someone will be bold enough to move their minds about the dozens of vehicles accompanying them.

Considering that this army may need to be active outside for a period of time, and the food and grass needed during the period may be difficult to raise outside or transported from Fushan County, first of all, it is necessary to ensure its own consumption needs, so Sun Zhen did not intend to send these precious materials. It was used to relieve refugees encountered on the way, and an order was issued to strictly prohibit the distribution of supplies to the people.Although such an approach is a bit cruel, but the situation forced it to be carried out accordingly.

Due to the slow march, the troops led by Sun Zhen arrived in Zhaoyuan a full day later than expected.The local situation in Zhaoyuan was more serious than Sun Zhen expected.

On the way, he learned that a group of refugees had gathered in Zhaoyuan. When he arrived here, he saw that there were at least a thousand refugees outside the county seat. These people had no place to live, so they built various simple tents and shacks on the spot. .In order to prevent a large number of refugees from pouring into the city, several city gates in the county seat have been closed. It is said that they are only opened at noon every day, and the government will bring a few pots of porridge out to relieve the refugees.

The food that a small county like Zhaoyuan can provide is naturally difficult to cope with the increasing number of refugees. In the current season, whether it is going down the river to fish and go up the mountain to hunt birds, or dig wild vegetables to pick wild fruits, it is extremely difficult to operate.The relief food released from the official storehouse was getting less and less day by day, so some refugees left Zhaoyuan decisively and continued eastward.Not necessarily because they knew that Fushan County had an agency for taking in refugees, but they made a judgment based on a very simple idea-since the battlefield is in the west, it is safer to go east and the number of refugees will be smaller. The chances of being rescued and finding a livelihood are greater.

This kind of thinking is indeed effective in expanding the chances of survival in troubled times. When Sun Zhen fled from Denglai, it was with the idea of ​​staying away from the war-torn areas, and he fled all the way south to Haizhou, hundreds of miles away, and only met local rescuers. The migrant traffickers of the refugees were then sent to Penghu, where they joined the army and ate their food.If he hadn't fled, he would have died in that war long ago.

Zhaoyuan also has a lot of trade with Fushan. It is not difficult to know that Fushan County is the most affluent area in Denglai, and this is a life-saving straw for the refugees who urgently need to survive.So recently, refugees have been leaving Zhaoyuan for Fushan County, hoping to get real help there.

The sudden appearance of the Haihan army made the people outside the county unavoidably nervous. In order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, Chen Yixin ordered to station at a small river about two or three miles away from the county after a general look at the situation outside the county.

The appearance of the Haihan army obviously also attracted the attention of the officials in the city. Not long after they set up camp, the city sent a man who looked like a master to visit and wanted to know their purpose.

"I am Sun Zhen, the commander of the first battalion of the Haihan Army Special Operations Regiment. I don't know how to address you?" Out of caution, Sun Zhen personally approached the middle-aged scribe who claimed to represent the county government.

The scribe clasped his hands and replied: "I am Lou Bin, who is the master of Gu Zhi County in this county. I hope Mr. Sun will forgive Lou for coming uninvited."

Sun Zhen nodded and said: "Master Lou, you are being polite, you are my guest, I should be the one who came uninvited."

Lou Bin laughed dryly, knowing that Sun Zhen had heard the subtext of his words, so he stopped covering up and asked, "I don't know what your army is doing in Zhaoyuan County? Is there any need for assistance from this county?" place?"

Sun Zhen understood the worries hidden behind the other party's question, and immediately responded calmly: "To tell the truth, our army has no other intention in coming to Zhaoyuan this time, just to help more and more war refugees in the local area. Don't be too nervous, everyone, we don't plan to enter the county either."

"Oh? Then I don't know how Master Sun plans to help the people?" Lou Bin's expression relaxed a little when he heard this answer.

Sun Zhendao: "Fushan County has raised a large amount of food and built a temporary shelter for refugees to accommodate a large number of refugees who will flood into Dengzhou in the near future. I will lead the team to Zhaoyuan to guide the refugees here. Go to Fushan County to escape the war. If the local government can come forward to help, it should be more effective."

Zhaoyuan County is not too far from Fushan County, so even if you have never been to Fushan County, you will have heard about the situation in Fushan County. Lou Bin generally knows that Haihan people have a continuous demand for population. Measures, of course, are not just for doing good deeds.However, Zhaoyuan County now has no better way to face the influx of refugees. It is only a matter of time before the food in the official warehouse runs out. The more refugees gather in Zhaoyuan County, the higher the probability of chaos.If these refugees can choose to leave Zhaoyuan County voluntarily, it will reduce a heavy burden on the county government.

When Lou Bin heard Sun Zhen's explanation, he was naturally overjoyed, but he still tried his best to control his expression, and said to Sun Zhen: "These refugees are all citizens of Ming Dynasty, how can we let your country come forward to help? Master Sun's move Is something wrong?"

Sun Zhen said: "Human life is at stake. If no one cares about these refugees, many people may not be able to make it to the beginning of spring! Besides, if these refugees make trouble here in order to survive, the adults in your county will bear it." Have such consequences?"

Sun Zhen knew a thing or two about how fearful local officials were about the refugee tide. The adults in the Fushan County Government didn't even want their official hats, and they dragged their families to Zhifu Island to seek refuge overnight. problem.This Zhaoyuan County is one of the main routes from the war-torn areas in the west to Fushan County, and the number of refugees it will welcome will only be more than Fushan County. As long as the local officials here are not stupid, they should be able to think of the local social order because The situation collapsed due to the inability to accommodate refugees.

Usually in areas where refugees flood in, if sufficient living conditions cannot be provided, a small group of refugees will soon turn into mobs, looting food to meet their survival needs.When these mobs find that the government is unable to stop their atrocities, they will quickly escalate into rogues, grow stronger by snowballing, and may even organize to attack the county to obtain more resources and wealth.Many of the peasant armies that have been raging in the Central Plains for many years are people who lost their livelihoods after natural disasters.

In a small place like Zhaoyuan County, the defense force of the county seat is very limited, and there is no way to deal with the riots of thousands of mobs.And once a peasant army organization similar to that in the Central Plains appears in Zhaoyuan, the end that local officials here will have to face is not just as simple as not being able to keep the black hat.

Lou Bin looked distressed, and lowered his voice, "Your Majesty Sun doesn't know something. The Terengganu government has already issued an official document to ask the counties to try their best to resettle the refugees on the spot, and not to allow a large number of refugees to go to Fushan County."

Sun Zhen was naturally very upset when he heard this, which was almost in line with what Chen Yixin expected. The Terengganu government, which has been not very good with Haihan, really did not want Haihan to profit from this chaos, even if he knew the risk of a large number of refugees gathering. , and is still trying to prevent refugees from entering areas controlled by Haihan.

However, since this Master Lou said it clearly, Sun Zhen thinks that this should mean that Zhaoyuan County does not want to take the blame for this matter. After all, this place is still a hundred miles away from Dengzhou City, and if there is any chaos, it will be Zhaoyuan. Chaos first, Master Lou's master should not be willing to bear such a result.

Sun Zhen thought for a while before answering: "If the magistrate of Gu County finds it inconvenient, you don't need to come forward, just pretend to be ignorant of the matter. Other matters will be handled by our army. I will not enter the city, and you will not leave the city. , We didn’t have any negotiations, we just did our own thing.”

Under the current situation, this may be the most beneficial approach for the local government.As long as you stand on the sidelines and let the Haihan army lure the refugees into the county, there are so many refugees, and the county government can't stop them wherever they go.Besides, although Dengzhou Prefecture ordered to stop the refugees, it never said that it wanted to stop the Haihan army. Zhaoyuan County has no army invincible, so what can be used to drive away the Haihan army in the county?As long as the county government wants to shirk responsibility, it is easy to find many reasons.

Lou Bin figured out the cause and effect in a very short period of time, and he believed that the method proposed by Sun Zhen did have relatively strong feasibility.As long as the refugees don't cause trouble and the Haihan army doesn't attack the city, everything else can be discussed.However, he can't decide on the decision, he has to go back to the city to report the situation and let the county magistrate make up his mind.

Lou Bin took his leave and left. Sun Zhen took the time to issue several orders. One was to let the publicity officer immediately carry out guidance and publicity to the refugees outside the county seat, so that the refugees knew that they still had the best choice of going to Fushan County; Several large signboards were erected on the side of the official road outside the county seat, on which a rough map to Fushan County was drawn, in order to deal with the large number of refugees who would flood into Zhaoyuan County in the future; Investigate, familiarize yourself with the local environment, and at the same time see if the nearby area can spend money to purchase food and other supplies to prolong the time the troops are active outside.

When Lou Bin returned to the city and told the news he had inquired about from the Haihan Army, Gu Zhixian hardly hesitated, and immediately agreed to the plan proposed by Sun Zhen.At the same time, he also instructed Lou Bin to mention the arrangements for going to Fushan County to the refugees when he went out of the city to give porridge from the next day.

"My lord, if Dengzhou government finds out about this, will there be any trouble?" Lou Bin was still a little worried about his boss's decision.

The magistrate of Gu County said impatiently: "Dengzhou government is in charge of the sky and the land, but it can't control the Haihan people. If someone pursues it after the incident, they will presume that it was caused by the Haihan people's persecution. If you want to settle the score, go to Fushan County to find Haihan people." Han people count!"

Lou Bin thought that the county magistrate was so hard-headed. If he had known earlier, he would have directly agreed to the Haihan officer, saving him the trouble of running around to deliver the message.

(End of this chapter)