The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 606 Jinling's domineering attitude is humiliating

"Emperor Hongguang once said, 'If the general can change his ways, abandon the dark and join the light, cooperate with the inside and outside, and annihilate the Qi army in Jiangyou in one fell swoop, then a true man will achieve great success, be appointed a marquis and prime minister, and be recorded in history for eternity!'"

"This is what I have always wanted! However, you must leave one ear to avoid Liu Zhaosun's suspicion."

"Marshal Hui, no, don't...ah!"

As early as the spring of the 15th year of Hongguang, on the eve of the Western Expedition led by General Ruan Dacheng, he sent secret envoys to Nanchang many times to persuade Prime Minister Hui Deng to change his ways and "achieve unprecedented achievements."

However, at that time, Hui Dengxiang was leading the surrendered Ming army to capture cities and territories, and naturally he had no response to the Southern Ming's persuasion to surrender.

Oh, the only reaction was to cut off the ears and nose of the envoy sent by Zhu Changying, but not to execute him.

Hui Dengxiang's good deed of not silencing the witness made the Southern Ming emperor and his ministers imagine a lot, and made them see the possibility of betrayal in this "loyal minister".

The last presence of the Hongguang court in Jiangxi - Wan Yuanji, the Ming governor of Ganzhou - sent a secret envoy to persuade Hui Deng to defect and also sent a box of oriental pearls and corals.

In the end, Hui Dengxiang was deeply moved by the sincerity of the Southern Ming court. Of course, the most crucial factor that moved this surrendered general was not the Dongzhu coral.

"Emperor Hongguang issued many imperial edicts, proposing that anyone who could bring Jiangxi back to the Ming Dynasty be granted the title of Duke. Has anyone ever done so?"

Such a reward of dividing the land and granting a title of nobility was something that Da Qi and Liu Zhaosun could not give.

In short, Hui Dengxiang was moved.

The two most critical factors that led to Huidenxiang's second betrayal were:

First, the governor and inspector of Jiangxi abolished the private property of Hui Dengxiang's hometown. Of course, in the eyes of the parties involved, this was equivalent to a house search.

The wealth accumulated by Hui Dengxiang in Jiangxi and Huguang over the years was "cleaned up and registered" by civil officials and packed and shipped to the government treasuries in Nanchang, Wuchang and other places.

The second factor was the raging movement against the "ban on foot binding" in various parts of Jiangxi and Jiangnan.

The "Anti-Footbinding Order" issued by Qi State caused a strong backlash across Jiangxi Province. From prefects and county magistrates to elders and gentry, and down to peddlers, village hands, and artisans, everyone was furious at this "tyranny." Some influential and powerful people declared:

The food can be eaten, the head can be cut off, the blood can be shed, but the feet must be bound!

The integrity of scholars and officials must not be lost!

Starving to death is a small matter, but foot binding is a big matter!
Some former Ming loyalists who had previously lived in seclusion in the countryside and were unwilling to cooperate with the Great Qi suddenly came back and visited Hui Dengxiang's residence one after another. People like Jiang Yueguang persuaded Hui Dengxiang day and night to take action and "not to disappoint the people of Jiangyou."

With the repeated persuasion of the Southern Ming general He Tengjiao, Hui Dengxiang finally made up her mind to make a big move in Jiangxi.

The location of the uprising was not chosen in a major city like Nanchang or Jiujiang, because the Qi army had a large number of troops stationed in these important cities. Hui Dengxiang was well aware of the strength of the Qi army and he did not dare to offend them.

Finally, the place for the rebellion was chosen to be Linchuan, and the time was set on April 18th.

There are three reasons why I chose this place:
First, Linchuan is located in southern Jiangxi, relatively close to Fujian. Once an uprising breaks out, it will be convenient for the Fujian Ming army to provide support.

Second, the Ming army in Linchuan City was weak, with less than 100 Qi troops stationed there, and half of them were auxiliary troops;

Third, Linchuan adhered to the teachings of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, and the people knew the words of the sages. They were indignant about the tyranny of the ban on foot binding and had deep resentment towards the State of Qi.

At this time, the governor and inspector of Jiangxi, as well as the Suoyi Guards stationed in Jiangxi, had already noticed that Hui Dengxiang was secretly contacting the Hongguang court.

Master Jing'an of Donglin Temple—yes, the old monk Wu Xiao had contacted—had complete evidence of Hui Deng's betrayal. They reported this evidence to Nanchang, but the Qi court remained silent. Zhang Dong urged everyone to "stay calm."

Realizing that his plan had been exposed, Prime Minister Hui Deng launched the attack ahead of schedule on April 15th of the first year of Guangde.

Xiang Hui Deng held a banquet to capture and kill Cheng Xuedong, the Jiangxi provincial governor, Bian Longchi, the provincial governor, and Ye Dacheng, the Jiangxi censor, who went to supervise the implementation of the "foot binding order", and announced the anti-Qi and restoration of the Ming Dynasty (Cheng Xuedong had noticed it early and did not attend the banquet, so he escaped death, while the other two died for their country).

Former Ming officials who surrendered to the Great Qi in Linchuan City "threw away their black robes and changed into hats and robes." A few officials who were unwilling to follow the anti-Qi movement were executed.

At the critical moment, Liu Tongchun, the commander of Jiangxi Province, abandoned his wife and children and family members, escaped from the city wall, disguised himself as a Taoist priest in Pojiao, and fled to Nanchang overnight to report the Linchuan Incident.

Far away in Nanjing, the precarious Hongguang court heard the news and immediately issued an imperial decree to confer the title of Duke of Yu on Hui Dengxiang, and also appointed him as the Prince's Guardian, allowing him to take charge of the military and political power of Jiangxi.

The Ming troops who had surrendered in the other three prefectures and counties in southern Jiangxi also responded, either occupying the city to rebel against Qi or destroying the city and fleeing to join the Ming army in Linchuan.

Deng Changxiong's Second Corps, which had been waiting for a long time, immediately took countermeasures and deployed troops.

On March 18, Deng Changxiong sent the first, second and third battalions as the main force to attack Linchuan. Together with 3,000 troops of Ma Jinzhong of the surrendered Huguang Ming army, 2,000 Mongolian cavalry and 2,000 Korean soldiers, they formed an army of 10,000 and marched towards Linchuan.

At the same time, the surrendered Jianzhou general Zhumala and the surrendered Ming general Ma Guozhu were dispatched to lead troops to temporarily suspend the offensive against Nanjing City and meet up with the main army in Anqing. The three armies of Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming and Shang Kexi, who had already advanced to Hunan, temporarily stopped their southward advance and turned eastward.

Three groups of troops formed a pincer attack on the rebels from the north, center and east.

~~~~
Just as the Qi army was about to lay siege to Linchuan, the Ming army was already in chaos.

Hui Dengxiang summoned a group of old subordinates to discuss the "Northern Expedition Plan".

The old subordinates all agreed that the best strategy was to take advantage of the fact that the main force of the Qi army was in Zhenjiang and Nanjing, and the troops in Huguang were weak, to send troops across Dongting Lake and attack Jiangxia and Wuchang directly, cutting the Qi army along the Yangtze River in two, severing its food supply, and then attacking the Nanjing defenders from both east and west to annihilate the Qi army.
Before Kong Youde and the other three bandits could enter Jiangxi, they would advance westward, capture Yueyang, and join forces with He Tengjiao and his troops, thus cutting off Qi's communication with Hunan and Jiangxi. This would be the middle strategy.
Leading the troops northward, burning, killing and looting, and driving the Qi army out of Jiangxi is a bad strategy.

In this way, the various Qi armies could gather together calmly, and the Ming army could only defend the city and be completely inactive.

Like most decision makers in history, Prime Minister Huiden ultimately chose the worst of the worst options.

He took a unique approach, fully learning from the lesson of not taking Ganzhou in time during the Ning Wang Rebellion, and decided to abandon the three strategies proposed by his subordinates, continue to move south, first take Ganzhou, and then concentrate troops to advance north...
This breathtaking operation destroyed the Southern Ming Dynasty's last hope of a comeback...
On March 16, Xiang Huideng led an army of more than 100,000 troops both by land and sea, going up the river, and arrived at the city of Ganzhou on the 19th.

The Ming army besieged Ganzhou with heavy troops. Xu Qiren, deputy general of the right wing of the Second Corps stationed in Ganzhou, fought fiercely with the Ming army that was ten times larger than his own in the north of the city. He was outnumbered and died heroically for his country.

Hu Yousheng, the general of Ganzhou, took advantage of the strategic location to hold the position and stopped fighting with the Ming army.

At this time, for the Qi army in Ganzhou, even the nearest reinforcements were thousands of miles away, and Ganzhou had become a completely isolated city.

Ganzhou City was surrounded by water on three sides, with a strategic location and strong walls, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. The defending generals Liu Wuyuan and Hu Yousheng urged their subordinates Gao Jinku, Liu Bolu, Yang Yuming, Jia Xiong and others to put up a fierce resistance.

As the war progressed, the two sides were at a stalemate. Hui Dengxiang began to doubt his "unique approach" and became increasingly hesitant.

In the intercalary fourth month, Ganzhou was out of food and grass, and had no reinforcements from outside. Hu Yousheng saw that the soldiers were starving, so he ordered the war horses to be slaughtered to provide food. Ganzhou was in imminent danger.

Because Hui Dengxiang wasted more than a month of precious time under the city of Ganzhou, Wang Deren's retreat to Incheon left southern Jiangxi almost without defense.

As a result, the main force of the Qi Army's Second Corps made smooth progress, and the reinforcements from various units arrived at the outskirts of the Ganzhou battlefield with almost no resistance.

In the early part of the intercalary fourth month, the vanguard of the Qi army reached Dongliu County. You Gao, the Ming general who was ordered by Prime Minister Hui Deng to guard Dongliu, abandoned the city and fled.

On May 1, Kong Youde and Shang Kexi raided the rebels' lair, Linchuan, the gateway to southern Jiangxi. The defenders fought desperately and the people in the city shared a common hatred of the enemy. Kong and Shang made slow progress, and the two sides were like weak chickens pecking at each other, and fell into a tug-of-war.

However, when the news reached the front lines in southern Jiangxi, the Ming army was horrified because their families were in Linchuan. For a moment, the morale of the Ming army was shaken, and Prime Minister Hui Deng had no choice but to order the entire army to retreat and return to Linchuan.

When Hu Yousheng learned the news, he opened the city and pursued the Ming army. The Ming army was eager to retreat and lost countless soldiers, horses and supplies along the way. They retreated hastily to Linchuan and launched a fierce attack on Kong Youde and Shang Kexi.

On May 19th, Hui Dengxiang's main force arrived at the outskirts of Linchuan, defeated Kong Youde's troops, and quickly entered the city. The Ming army urgently strengthened the city defenses and prepared to hold it for a long time.

The three armies of the Qi army, totaling 40,000 troops, completed the second siege of Linchuan City.

Deng Changxiong commanded three groups of troops to first clear the periphery and cut off the connection between the provincial capital and other prefectures and counties.

Shang Kexi recruited tens of thousands of civilians to dig moats and build earthen cities from Wangjiadu in the east to Jilong Mountain in the west.

At the same time, Kong Youde built three floating bridges in the section of Ganjiang River from Wenjiafang to Yangzizhou.

Those who participated in digging trenches and building bridges could receive fifty coins per day, two meals of rice, and meat if there was no wine.

The Ming History records: "Under the heavy reward, the unruly people from all over Jiangyou rushed to join the bandits in besieging the city, and Linchuan was unable to resist..."

By early June, the trench digging and bridge building work was basically completed.

Ma Jinzhong camped at Puzitang and built a high platform two miles east of Yonghe Gate. The platform was over ten feet high, offering a clear view of the city.

Outside Huimin Gate, there was a gap of more than ten feet in the moat, allowing civilians in Linchuan to enter and exit freely, further undermining the morale of the defenders.

In Linchuan City, the morale of the Ming army had already collapsed. Generals such as Wu Zunzhou used the excuse of seeking help to leave the city and surrender to the Qi army.

By early July, the remaining Ming troops in the city, together with the Ming loyalists who gathered from Jiangxi, Jiangnan, and Hunan, the rebel Qi army, the Three-Inch Golden Lotus sect believers, the White Lotus sect members, the remnants of Fujian pirates... a total of more than 80,000 monsters and demons were guarding the isolated city, fighting desperately, preparing for a final battle with the Qi army outside the city.

On July 10, the Qi army set up a thousand cannons outside the city and "attacked day and night, almost breaking down two gates."

The Ming army concentrated sophisticated firearms from all over Jiangxi in Linchuan and fought to the death, making the siege quite difficult.

On July 12, Hui Dengxiang, fully armed, personally went out of the city to attack Shang Kexi's troops, who were the most dedicated to the siege. He killed General Shang in one battle, defeated the Qi army, and killed more than a thousand soldiers from various troops.

Deng Changxiong, who was stationed in Nanchang, was furious when he heard this and ordered three armies to capture Linchuan City within a time limit.

Seeing that the attack on the city was fruitless, the Qi army decided to lay siege for a long time.

Linchuan had sufficient supplies, but it could not withstand the long siege, and after a month, a food shortage was imminent.

The price of rice in the city rose to ten taels of silver per stone, and then to one hundred taels.

The defenders ate up all the poultry, rats, grass roots, leaves, and tree bark in the city one after another, and then they started cannibalism.

Men were called "drakes"; women were called "crouching chickens"; those who carried knives were called "hairy"; those without knives were called "hairless"; once people encountered a "crouching chicken" or "hairless" person, they would gather together and eat him.

Every day, civilians from Linchuan would flee through the gap outside Huimin Gate. Most of those who wanted to escape from this hell were killed by the defenders with bows, arrows, and muskets.

~~~~~
On October 18th of the first year of Guangde, the Qi army transported a large number of siege field artillery, the Divine Fire Flying Crow, and the two main battleships sent by the navy to reinforce entered the river, ready to use giant naval guns for a fierce bombardment.

On the 19th, thousands of cannons fired at the same time, "the sound was heard over a hundred miles away, and all the valleys and mountains shook."

At 3 p.m., Korean and Mongolian soldiers climbed up the city wall using ladders. Under the supervision of the Second Corps, the vanguard finally broke into Linchuan City.

Hui Dengxiang failed to hang himself and was captured.

Grand Secretary Jiang Yueguang failed to jump into the water at Qiejia Pond and was captured.

Song Kuiguang was captured in the west of the city and was killed for refusing to surrender.

Generals such as Chen Fang and Huang Renlong died in the chaos, and the remaining generals were nowhere to be found, "most of them were eaten by others."

Kong Shang led his troops into the city and announced a ban on foot binding. Anyone who violated the order would be executed!

The city was massacred for three days, with all the wealthy, gentry, and students executed. Those who supported foot binding were also killed. Linchuan and its surroundings originally had a population of 40,000, including gentry, common people, monks, and Taoists. Adding the White Lotus sect members who had retreated to the area, the total number exceeded 150,000.

When Geng Jingzhong and Kong Youde finally evacuated, there were less than 20,000 people alive in the city...
~~~~~
At the beginning of May in the first year of Guangde, Emperor Hongguang Zhu Changling lost contact with Zheng Sen, was abandoned by Zuo Liangyu, and learned that Linchuan was under siege. He was trapped in Nanjing with no way out. Finally, he mustered up his courage and decided to make a final desperate move. He gathered the remaining troops from all over Nanzhili and marched west with all his strength to fight against the Qi army that was coming down the river.

Emperor Hongguang was worthy of being a descendant of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, and the courage of fighting on the battlefield still flowed in his blood.

However, that’s all.

On the eighth day of the fifth lunar month, Zhu Changling cried in front of the Taimiao in Nanjing, holding the ancestral tablet.

Moscow does not believe in tears, and neither does the city of Nanjing.

After crying, Emperor Hongguang returned to the main hall and announced in front of a group of civil and military officials that he would lead the army in person to fight against the Qi invaders and Liu Zhaosun.

Given Emperor Hongguang's cowardly character, it was of course impossible for him to actually go into battle and kill the enemy.

After all, the emperor who called me a pig rode on me with pearls and jade before me.

Against the backdrop of Hui Dengxiang's disastrous defeat, Zuo Liangyu's escape to the east, and Zheng Chenggong's life and death unknown, the only troops the emperor could still command were the remnants of the defeated army.

Compared with the Ming army at Tumu Fort, the remaining soldiers of the Southern Ming Dynasty were incomparable.

The Qi army was obviously much stronger than the Oirat.

Anyone who goes on the Western Expedition is a fool.

The Southern Ming officials were not stupid. They knew that the emperor was just the leader, and they would have to take the blame for the real western expedition to fight the enemy.

Officials from the six ministries came forward one after another, expressing their willingness to lead the army out of the city, pursue the Qi army, and give the Qi invaders a head-on blow.

Zhu Changling did not express any opinion on these ministers who volunteered.

Finally, the cabinet chief, Ruan Dacheng, had to stand up and follow the others, echoing:

"I am willing to fight on your majesty's behalf and destroy the Qi army in one fell swoop! I will relieve the emperor's worries!"

"Good! Loyalty is revealed in the face of adversity, and true gold is revealed in the flames! My dear Ruan, you are a true man!"

To everyone's surprise, Zhu Changling agreed to Ruan Dacheng's request without hesitation and ordered Ruan Dacheng, the Grand Secretary of Wenyuan Pavilion and the Prime Minister, to lead the royal army to "advance north and west" to fight against the Qi bandits.

(End of this chapter)