Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 221
In the blink of an eye, ten days passed.

The time came to the 1645th day of February in the eighteenth year of Chongzhen ([-]).

At this time, the Duoduo army had arrived at Qinghe County in the north-central part of Huai'an Prefecture.

And just an hour ago, Xiangbai Banner launched a strong attack on a blunderbuss platform outside Qinghe County. Although he took down the blunderbuss platform, he paid a high price.

These country braves are really not afraid of death.

Nearly a hundred people, none of them escaped!
Looking at the more than twenty corpses lined up in front of him, Duoduo was very depressed.

More than [-] people will be killed or injured if one gun platform is taken down, and more than [-] people will be killed in battle alone. How many casualties will be needed to clean up more than [-] gun platforms outside the city?

Casualties of up to [-] people are required, and more than [-] of them will be killed in battle!
This is just a blunderbuss outside the city, and the cost of attacking the county will be even greater.

Is it worth paying such a high price just for such a county?

Of course, a county seat is not worth the price they paid!

However, the problem is, they can't stop fighting in every county, can they?
The army needs food and salaries, the war horses need fodder, the nobles of the Eight Banners need women and coats, as well as cattle, sheep and livestock, as well as various goods. Isn't that what they went south this time for?

"Mother thief!" Duoduo scolded, "When did Minggou become so tough?"

The nobles of the Eight Banners who followed Duoduo were also in a daze, feeling unbelievable.

Xiangyong in Suining County has the determination to fight to the last, but they don't feel much yet.

Because the Ming Dynasty is so big, it is hard to guarantee that there will not be a few powerful civil servants and military generals who can inspire the courage of the officers and soldiers in the city and the courage of the villagers. It is not like they have not encountered similar situations when they entered the customs six times before.

When they found out that Xiangyong in Taoyuan County was also determined to fight to the last, they felt that things were a little unusual. Once was an accident, but twice could not be said to be an accident.

When I arrived at Qinghe County, I found that the Xiangyong here also had the courage to fight to the last. All the nobles of the Eight Banners felt the first-class chill. As the saying goes, everything can be done, but Suining, Taoyuan and Qinghe The township braves in the three counties actually have the courage to fight to the last, and there must be problems in the process.

If this problem is not clarified, who would dare to go south easily?

What if all the big and small towns in Jiangnan are like this, why go south to loot?

After a while, Duoduo's eyes fell on Hou Fangyu again, and he said in a deep voice, "I ask you, are the folk customs in Huai'an Mansion particularly tough?"

"Huai'an Mansion? The folk customs are tough?" Hou Fangyu looked confused.

He traveled between Nanjing and Shangqiu, and passed through Huai'an Mansion no less than twenty times. He had never heard of the saying that the people of Huai'an Mansion were tough, but he had heard that the people of West Zhejiang were tough.

At that moment Hou Fangyu shook his head and said, "Xiaosheng has never heard of the words of Prince Yu."

"Never heard of it?" Duoduo began to doubt Hou Fangyu's words, and said with a dark face, "Hou Fangyu, if you dare to deceive this king, not only you will die, but your entire Hou family will also die!"

"My lord, how dare Xiaosheng lie to you." Hou Fangyu was so frightened that he fell to his knees.

"Everything Xiaosheng said is the truth, if there is a false statement, it will be thundered."

Duoduo said: "Then this matter is strange. You told me earlier that Shanyang, Huai'an's prefecture city, and the counties under its jurisdiction are not guarded by officers and soldiers, but only temporarily recruited township warriors."

"But these brave men are even tougher than the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty."

"Since the decline of the Zhejiang soldiers and the Baigan soldiers in the Ming Dynasty, no army has been able to fight to the last."

"However, these brave men from Suining County, Taoyuan County, and Qinghe County have the courage to fight to the last. They are more sturdy than the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers in Xuzhou."

"Xiangyong is more powerful than the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers. Isn't this a strange thing?"

After a pause, Duoduo continued: "Then you told me that the folk customs of Huai'an Mansion are not tough, so I asked you, what happened to the bravery of these three counties? Oh?"

"This..." Hou Fangyu was speechless.

"So, this can only explain one thing." Duoduo's eyes turned cold, "You are lying!"

Duduo, who had already fallen into conspiracy theories and couldn't extricate himself, began to make up his mind automatically: "You know that the people of Huai'an Mansion are tough, and you know that the townspeople in Huai'an Mansion have the courage to fight to the last in order to defend the place, but you deliberately don't mention this to the king. Just say that Huai’an Mansion is far richer than Fengyang Mansion, so you want to lure my army to Huai’an Mansion on purpose, right?”

After a pause, Duoduo said sadly again: "Hou Fangyu, you are also a son of King Qin of Chongzhen. This is a death plan designed by Chongzhen, right?"

"You're wronged, my lord is wronged."

Hou Fangyu was frightened out of his wits, and said repeatedly: "Prince Yu, Xiaosheng is not dead, no, Xiaosheng and the whole Hou family sincerely want to surrender to the Qing Dynasty."

"Then what happened to the Xiangyong of these three counties?" Duoduo was furious.

When Duoduo got angry, Hou Fangyu's eyes suddenly became clear, and he thought of a possibility.

"My lord, Xiaosheng understands!" Hou Fangyu said excitedly, "Xiaosheng knows what's going on!"

"Really? Have you finally figured out what's going on?" Duoduo snorted, and said, "Hurry up!"

"Hey." Hou Fangyu kowtowed, straightened up and said, "My lord, it must be because of the National Disaster Troupe, yes, it must be because of the drama of the National Disaster Troupe."

"Theatrical text? The troupe in national crisis?" Duoduo was confused.

The Eight Banners nobles behind Duoduo also looked at each other in blank dismay.

Hou Fangyu went on to say: "Your Majesty doesn't know something. In order to satisfy his desires, the dog Emperor Chongzhen sent a confidant to set up many theater troupes. The actors in this troupe are all handsome, and all the actresses are even more beautiful. Among them is Li Xiangjun, who was originally a famous prostitute by the Qinhuai River, and she is particularly beautiful."

"Hmm." Dodo suddenly became interested, "Is this Li Xiangjun beautiful?"

"Beautiful, she looks like a fairy descending from the earth." Hou Fangyu also went all out.

The woman that I, Hou Fangyu, can't get, Chongzhen, you dog emperor can't even imagine getting it, at worst, it will be cheaper.

Hou Fangyu then went on to say: "Not only Li Xiangjun, but also the actors in several troupes are all handsome and beautiful, and they are called to sleep by the dog emperor Chongzhen every night."

"Huh?" He Luohui said in amazement, "Chongzhen man is sleeping too?"

"Sleep." Hou Fangyu said in a serious manner, "Chongzhen, the dog emperor, eats both men and women."

"Dog Emperor actually likes this?" He Luohui's eyes lit up immediately, and he also tasted it when he turned around.

"What are you talking about?" Duduo obviously had no problem with his orientation, and said with a dark face, "Stop talking about such useless things, and let's get to the point, why are these brave men so tough?"

"Because they are afraid." Hou Fangyu said solemnly.

"What? Because of fear?" Doduo's eyes showed murderous eyes again.

The complexions of He Luohui, Ashan, Tunqi and other nobles of the Eight Banners also collapsed in an instant. Those township braves became tough and heroic because they were afraid?Even at the risk of fighting to the last?
Bullying us Jurchens who don't read much, it's easy to be fooled, isn't it?

"Keng Keng Keng!" Several white armored soldiers with white flags even pulled out their sabers with their backhands.

One of the white armored soldiers even compared the saber to Hou Fangyu's neck, and said angrily: "Master, please allow this servant to wipe the neck of this Han dog with a knife."

"Hey, hey." Hou Fangyu finally realized that he hadn't said clearly just now, and shouted in a hurry, "My lord, you have misunderstood. When I said fear, I didn't mean that those Xiangyong were afraid of the Qing soldiers, but They were afraid that their parents, wives and children would be killed by the Qing soldiers, so they did not hesitate to fight to the last to prevent the Qing soldiers from entering the county."

"Well, that's what you're talking about." Duoduo was stunned when he heard this, and several white armored soldiers also put away their sabers.

Hou Fangyu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and said: "The reason why these brave men are afraid that their parents, wives and children will be killed by our Qing soldiers is because Chongzhen, the dog emperor, sent several of his theater troupes to Huai'an Mansion. Singing operas everywhere, they sang operas that slandered my soldiers in the Qing Dynasty, such as Kaiyuan Ten Days, Liaodong Three Massacres, oh, and the Qing Dynasty Tujing, there are several operas, and they are sung in one county after another, making everyone Everyone knows."

"Well, I understand." Duoduo nodded and said, "So that's what happened, and that makes sense."

After figuring out what happened, Duoduo's mood became even worse. I really didn't expect that Chongzhen, the dog emperor, would do such a trick. Now the whole Huai'an Mansion's bravery was incited, and they did not hesitate to fight with the Qing soldiers. Even in a desperate battle, they vowed to protect their parents, wives and children, so what can they do?

"Master, otherwise, why don't you attack Huai'an Mansion."

He Luohui also had the same worry, and said, "Go directly to Yangzhou Mansion or Nanjing?"

"Go directly to fight Yangzhou?" Duoduo was moved. Yangzhou Mansion is the richest mansion, and its oil and water must be several times more than Huai'an Mansion, so it seems pretty good to bypass Huai'an Mansion and directly attack Yangzhou.

After thinking about it, Duoduo asked Hou Fangyu again: "Has Chongzhen's theater troupe ever sung in Yangzhou Mansion?"

"Yes." Hou Fangyu replied truthfully, "The Dog Emperor's troupe sang all the way from Nanjing. They sang in Yangzhou for several months before coming to Huai'an Mansion."

"Damn it!" Doduo's face fell down again.

Xiang Yong, who co-authored Yangzhou, was also incited, so what the hell?
After all, Yangzhou is so far away. If Yangzhou is not captured in the end, and even the army rations for the return journey cannot be raised, when the two white flags and Xianglan flags return to Xuzhou hungry, they will have to be killed by Luo Luohun and Luck Dehun. A fool killed by a joke?He Duoduo will lose his prestige from now on, and he will no longer be able to raise his head in front of others.

At this time, Gushan Ezhentunqi of the Xianglan Banner said angrily: "Give Qinghe County to us Zhenglan Banner. The servant promises to take it within three days, but you have to promise us, Prince Yu, three days after the city is broken." Don't seal the sword inside, let the sons and daughters live happily in Qinghe City!"

(End of this chapter)