In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 303 The intruder enters Jiangnan

Naturally, Namuzhong didn't know that since ancient times, there has been a saying that chaos in the Central Plains will lead to chaos in the world, and peace in the Central Plains will lead to peace in the world.

Because Henan is located in the center and connected in all directions, it can be said to be the real land of the Sixth War. In addition, the territory is vast and has a large population, with the most densely populated towns and villages.

Whenever there are troubles, the Central Plains region suffers the most serious losses. Often the people are left alone, and the land is spread thousands of miles apart.

Tens of millions of refugees will be fleeing in all directions to avoid natural and man-made disasters, and the surrounding provinces will not be able to live in peace. This is why the Central Plains is in chaos, and the world is in chaos.

However, although every few hundred years, the Central Plains region will suffer a devastating blow, leaving no one in the population. But as long as there is peace in the world, surrounding provinces will flock to the Central Plains to repopulate and reproduce, so the recovery is also the fastest. .

It often takes two to three hundred years for other places to completely recover, but it only takes two or three decades at most for the Central Plains region. After dozens or hundreds of years, it will be the province with the most population and the most cultivated land.

Since the fifth or sixth year of Chongzhen, the northwest rebels began to enter the Central Plains, and various places in Henan began to be affected. In addition, natural disasters continued, and the rebels and the Ming army fought back and forth. It can be said that the situation in Henan is worse every year.

But what really completely destroyed the order of the Central Plains was the severe drought in the 12th year of Chongzhen. Yes, the entire Henan Province almost had no harvest, and King Chuang became powerful as a result.

Although the Chu army had nominally surrendered to the King of Zhou in the past six months, due to slow discipline, the area around Kaifeng was almost in a mess, so Li Yan was busy organizing spring plowing for the people.

But after half a year of hard work, it was destroyed by the unscrupulous intruders in almost ten days, and the Kaifeng Mansion, the most dignified mansion in the world, was made like a purgatory on earth.

This allowed the army to travel for twenty or thirty miles without even finding a single person, making Namuzhong feel like she was back on the grassland.

In fact, it was not that everyone near Kaifeng died, but that the remaining people were gathered into the city by Li Yan and Hong Niangzi. As for the other counties, there was indeed no one left.

When the intruders left, they basically looted all the large merchants in Kaifeng City and nearby counties, taking away most of their women and property. When the landowners and gentry resisted, they were all directly slaughtered. The city was set on fire.

"Report, please report to your Majesty, all the nearby counties are deserted, like dead cities. Only Kaifeng City still has people, and the city gates are closed and heavily guarded."

"Hiss, isn't this Chuangjun too cruel? There's no one left in the city."

Namuzhong also took a breath. At this moment, she felt that the Han people seemed to be more brutal when killing their own people than the Mongols.

However, the generals at all levels who were born in the Lin family army beside them, because they had been influenced by Lin Rui for a long time, they all gritted their teeth, widened their eyes with anger, and asked for battle one after another.

"I'm afraid that the intruder has already fled to Jianghuai, or even Jiangnan. It's better to capture Kaifeng City first, and then wait until Wu Sangui captures the northwest!"

After thinking about it, Na Muzhong decided to play it safe, so she waved her hand and no longer called Chuangjun, but a thief.

The generals had no choice but to temporarily suppress their strong desire for war, and the army continued to march towards Kaifeng City.

Li Yan did not wait for the Chinese army to arrive at the city before negotiating terms, but directly sent the Red Lady to negotiate, because there was not much food left in the city, and almost all of it was taken away by the invading army.Therefore, Li Yan's only request was that the Chinese army should ensure that the hundreds of thousands of people in the city would not starve to death. It can be said that the couple had long been looking forward to the arrival of the Chinese army as soon as possible.

Naturally, Na Muzhong would not refuse and agreed directly. After all, Rui Lang had promised when he came that he should protect the people everywhere as much as possible.

As the city of Kaifeng surrendered without a fight, the Chinese cavalry attacked everywhere. In just half a month, almost all the prefectures and counties in Henan surrendered to the Chinese, and envoys seeking help came in droves.

Jeanna Muzhong was also overwhelmed for a while, so she had to rush to the capital to report the current situation in various places in Henan.

In fact, Lin Rui was already prepared for the situation in Henan, and immediately dispatched more than 200 disaster relief messengers to Henan to take care of the rescue.

It can be said that Namu Zhong was busy rescuing people and restoring order in Henan throughout the summer. The 400 million stones of grain stored in the Wuyuan area were also transported to Luoyang via small boats via the Yellow River. They were also transferred several times during the period, and then Henan was barely The situation is stable.

After Wu Sangui crossed the Yellow River, he also fought hard all the way to Chang'an City.

Chen Xinjia, He Renlong, Meng Ruhu and other Ming Dynasty civil and military officials also had to choose to submit to Kaicheng.

Although the situation in the northwest is better than that in the Central Plains, it is not much better and also needs help.

It can be said that these two places have seriously slowed down the speed of the Chinese army's march south, but they cannot be ignored, otherwise there will definitely be turmoil in the two places after the Chinese army moves south.

In order to relieve the people in the two places, Lin Rui had to divert the military rations he had prepared. The army led by Na Muzhong could only stop near Kaifeng Mansion and wait for the autumn harvest before continuing to march.

After the intruders entered Jianghuai, they were like locusts passing by. Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo were unable to stop them. They were defeated again and again, and finally had to retreat to Jiangnan.

The Donglin Party members were also anxious and had to send envoys to negotiate with the Chuang army. As long as King Chuang promised to hand over King Zhou and was willing to stay in Jiangbei to resist the Chinese army, the Nanjing Ming court could recognize King Chuang as the Protector of the Ming Dynasty and provide some Food and weapons.

Although King Chuang wanted to fight directly to Nanjing and replace him, most of his men were northerners, and the Yangtze River could not be crossed casually. In addition, the threat from the Chinese army was real, so he finally agreed to hand over Zhou. Wang, who stayed in Fengyang Mansion and Luzhou Mansion, all the civil and military officials in Nanjing were relieved.

The Chuang army also stopped continuing to burn, kill and loot, and began to restrain their men. In fact, they had almost robbed. The wealth in Jiangnan far exceeded King Chuang's imagination. After more than two months, Guangfengyang and Luzhou Prefectures had robbed Their food amounted to tens of millions of dan, their gold and silver treasures were countless, and the wealthy families had more than [-] female dependents and maids.

Each of the old brothers had almost hundreds of concubines, and the middle and high-level generals also had dozens of concubines each. Even the lowest leaders each had one, and the number of troops was expanded to one million.

It can be said that all the landowners, gentry, and wealthy merchants in Fengyang Mansion were completely killed by the invading army. The ordinary people did not suffer much impact, but joined the invading army to fight against the local tyrants.

The situation in Luzhou Prefecture was better, but the northern states and counties were hit. In Yangzhou Prefecture, only a few states and counties in the west were looted.

Most of the Chuang army were born into lower-class civilians. They originally hated the rich. For more than ten years, they had been fighting against local tyrants and coercing the common people. It was only after the capture of Luoyang that Song Xiance, Niu Jinxing, Li Yan and others joined in. Chuang Wangcai He began to change his style, and when he left, he showed his true colors again in Kaifeng Mansion and became a bandit.

(End of this chapter)