There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 42: One Out of Ten Is Useful
All the Manchus in the city of Jingzhou were detained in one place, and there were not many Manchus left.

First, a group of people were killed during the siege. Then, when the city was broken and the whole city was in chaos, another group of people were killed. In addition, they burned, killed, looted and created chaos, and many people died. Now it is considered good if half of them are left.

Cheng De was tied up tightly and squatted in a separate cell, where his wife and children were also.

His wife and children were already tired and asleep, but Cheng De was the only one staring at the prison door. He had been locked up for a whole day and night. The rebels didn't kill him, nor did they torture him. Not even any of their high-ranking officials came over. It was truly excruciating.

"Squeak~ah~!"

Suddenly, the door opened.

Cheng De looked up in surprise: "Hui Ling! Why is it you?"

Hui Ling, who came in, was still wearing the governor's official robe that had not been washed for several days. He looked a little disheveled. When he heard it, he just smiled bitterly and did not answer.

The bald legal advisor who seemed to be accompanying him stepped forward and said, "My name is Feng Xiuyong, and I'm honored to meet Cheng De, the Right Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Jingzhou Mancheng!"

Hearing the other party's self-introduction, Cheng De seemed to understand instantly: "I remember you, you are Hui Ling's chief advisor. You actually cut off your braids. Are you two following the bandits? Good! You actually brought the rebels into Jingzhou. Aren't you afraid that the emperor will send troops to chop off your heads?"

Feng Xiuyong smiled nonchalantly, saying, "Instead of worrying about me getting beheaded, you should worry about yourself first. Do you want your whole family to survive and continue enjoying the prosperity of the Qing Dynasty, or do you want to take your wife and children and die for the Qing Dynasty, perhaps even receiving a posthumous honor?"

Cheng De's pupils shrank instantly: "What do you mean?"

His wife and children had already been awakened by this time, and they looked at Feng Xiuyong and others who came in in panic and at a loss. The two children were also frightened by the strangers who came in and burst into tears.

Feng Xiuyong didn't mind the noise and continued, "It's very simple. My general has already ordered that you, your wife and children, as well as some of the captured Manchus here, can be released. All it takes is for you and the Governor Huiling next to me to cooperate with each other. I don't ask for anything else. You just need to try your best to shift the blame and put it all on the Governor of Huguang. Say that the Governor of Huguang missed the opportunity to fight and nurtured the enemy for his own benefit, and that the Jingzhou prefect was short-sighted and a corrupt scholar who watched Jingzhou fall. It was only by the two of you risking your lives to break through that you saved these Manchus and escaped back to Wuchang Prefecture!"

Cheng De hesitated and was almost speechless: "You...you actually want me to frame Governor Bi?"

Feng Xiuyong shook his head. "How could it be a frame-up? Right Vice-General and Governor, you two fought bloody battles, even suffering serious injuries, and only just managed to lead some of the Manchus in the city out of the siege. This is a great achievement. But that Huguang Governor-General Bi Yuan and Jingzhou General Xing Zhao, on the other hand, have been nurturing the enemy in Hunan and making no progress after a year of fighting. As a result, the provincial capital was left empty and felled by the rebels. These treacherous villains of our dynasty are no less treacherous than Zhang Guangsi of the past!"

When talking about Zhang Guangsi, Cheng Decai suddenly realized that what he said was indeed correct. Even Zhang Guangsi could be accused of "nurturing the enemy" and was killed by the Emperor, let alone a Han governor.

From the beginning to the end, Cheng De did not think about whether this was right or wrong, but whether this would work.
Feng Xiuyong had been Hui Ling's aide for so many years and had dealt with so many Manchu officials that he knew their minds better than they knew themselves.

As long as these people are given an excuse, they can frame the governor without any burden, because the governor is Han Chinese, while they are Manchus, descendants of the Eight Banners with wrinkles on their foreheads.

Manchus and Han are one family, haha!

(To be honest, this is the brilliance of Yongzheng. He knew very well that the Manchus needed the Han people to rule the world, so he firmly implemented the idea that the Manchus and the Han were one family, blurring the dividing line between the two.)

Cheng De was silent for a long while before he asked with a firm look, "What should I do?"

Feng Xiuyong smiled.

Seeing this, Hui Ling also hurriedly smiled apologetically.

Cheng De pursed his lips for a moment, then couldn't help but burst into a smile, which was very ugly.

Not long after...

There was a military training ground in the city, and the few Manchu captives were kneeling here.

Nie Yu stood on the high platform: "Let's draw one out of ten!" One out of ten?

Cheng De was shocked: "Master Feng, didn't we agree to let these Manchus leave with me? How could you..."

Before he finished speaking, Huiling stepped forward and grabbed the other person.

Feng Xiuyong also said at the right time: "My two, my general is also helping you. This breakout is bound to have some casualties! Moreover, if we don't take one out of ten, how can the remaining Manchus be united with you? How can they be grateful to you?"

This was true, and Huiling agreed with it. After all, he was the only Mongolian present, so he turned around and went back to Wuchang with Chengde.

If they didn't share a secret, there was no guarantee that the other party would sell them out one day. Therefore, Huiling was very happy with the ten-to-one lottery offered by these rebels. If he didn't do this, he would be a little worried.

The process of drawing one out of ten was very quick. No matter how scared the Manchus were, they still had to go up and draw.

The probability of one in ten is not high, but it is not small either.

Those who drew the living lottery all collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath, as if they had been reborn.

Those who drew the death lottery simply fainted, no matter whether they were real or fake, they were all woken up and tied up on the ground.

then……

Of course, the execution was to be carried out. The nine people with the living signatures were put in charge. Each of them would take a dagger and stab the person with the dead signature to death.

Cheng De didn't have to draw one out of ten, but he was forced to take his wife and children, pick up a dagger, and stab his deputy general to death one by one.

Looking at the other party's resentment before his death, Cheng De knew that he had no way out. He could only follow the rebels' words and put the blame on the Governor of Huguang and the General of Jingzhou.

Tricks? Not happening.

Because every Manchu present was covered in Manchu blood, in the physical sense, and once this guilt was exposed, they would never be able to wash it off.

As the sky gradually darkened, the Nanji Gate in the south of Jingzhou City opened wide.

Huiling and Chengde led the way out of the city, flanked by dozens of Manchu soldiers in cotton-padded armor, specially given to them by the Han soldiers. To facilitate the performance, they were each given a variety of weapons, including wooden sticks and broadswords.

The Han soldiers monitored and escorted these guys out of the city, put them on a big ship at the dock, and gave them some food, fearing that they would starve to death and could not reach Wuchang.

As the large ship gradually sailed away from the dock, Cheng De took the initiative to find Hui Ling, of course not to exchange experiences of being a thief, but to come with a knife.

To make the play more realistic, the two of them agreed to swear an oath of blood: "Although we were defeated in this battle, it was all because of the Huguang Governor Bi Yuan's nurturing of the enemy and the Jingzhou General Xing Zhao's incompetence in military affairs. You and I fought bloody battles, suffered serious injuries, and finally escaped with the Manchus in the city."

This is a unified statement. Later, we will have to write a joint memorial to severely impeach the governor and impeach the general of Jingzhou in a less serious way.

There is no way. Even if you want to pass the buck, you have to look at the background. The governor is a Han Chinese, and the general of Jingzhou is surnamed Aisin Gioro, so he cannot be impeached easily.

"I almost forgot, give me another knife in the arm. You're the governor, so it's easy, but I'm the right vice-captain. How can I break through the siege without getting hurt?"

"That's true. I'll have to take a stab too."

(End of this chapter)