Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 897
At dusk, the weather was a bit cooler, and the shouts of killing spreading throughout the city gradually stopped, and the entire Yangzhou battle came to an end.

On the street, a string of Qing army captives was tied to a rope. Passing through the city gate, they were escorted by Ming soldiers to the camp outside the city for guarding. There are still Ming soldiers in various places in the city, searching from house to house to prevent fish slipping through the net. hiding in residents' homes.

When it was getting dark, the Ming army basically controlled the situation in the city, and Liu Shun immediately asked Chen Bangyan to move to Yangzhou.

Surrounded by hundreds of Ming army generals, Chen Bangyan entered Yangzhou from the west city. He first lined up an incense table at the city gate to commemorate Shi Kefa and the hundreds of thousands of Yangzhou soldiers and civilians who died guarding Yangzhou before entering the city.

During the memorial ceremony, many Yangzhou military officers could not control their emotions and wept loudly. After entering the city, they saw that the scenery had completely changed, and each of them was full of sorrows. A stone that had been in their hearts for many years was unloaded.

The Yangzhou offensive and defensive battle was the fiercest battle on the west city. As soon as the Ming army attacked the west city, the Qing army's will to resist immediately dissipated. The Qing Dynasty fought desperately, so the street fighting was not fierce.

The only place that fought for a while was near Guandong Street, but after the Ming army in charge of blocking killed Bashan, the commander of Jiangfang of the Qing army, the battle ended immediately.

Although the street fighting was not encouraging, a large number of residents in the city were still massacred. The Qing army took advantage of the fire to loot, and even many Ming troops joined them. Many shops in the city were looted, more than a dozen large households were wiped out, and everything was burned. The fire, billowing thick smoke straight into the sky.

It's useless to just take down the city and there are no people in the city.

Although Liu Shun ordered to maintain order in Yangzhou and protect Yangzhou's vitality, firstly, there were too many chaotic soldiers in the Qing army, and secondly, the Ming army besieging Yangzhou was complex and full of factions, many of which were just compiled from the green camp. It's really hard to control. In the end, some people wanted to attack the treasury controlled by the Five Loyalty Army, which made Liu Shun ruthless. Anyone who caught the most rebellious soldiers with robbery, arson, rape, etc., even the Ming army, would be killed. After the earth rectified the law and killed nearly a thousand people, Yangzhou City regained its stability.

At this time, Chen Bangyan and the others entered the city, and the peasants on the street were carrying the corpses onto carts and cleaning the blood on the street with water.

Chen Bangyan stopped to watch, and Liu Shun next to him said: "Gebu, there are more than 4 Qing troops in the city. Duoduo led more than 7000 remnants from the north gate, and the remaining [-] green battalions in the city died [-] people. All were captured and sent outside the city to be guarded.”

"Wang Yi sent back the news that he ambushed Duoduo [-] miles north of the city and killed hundreds of Qing cavalry, but Duduo escaped." Chen Bangyan nodded.

Duoduo had four thousand cavalry, and the Ming army in Jiangbei had almost no war horses. It was really not easy to encircle Duduo, but hearing that Duduo had escaped, Liu Shun and the others felt a little regretful and discouraged.

Seeing this, Chen Bangyan smiled and glanced at everyone, "Although Duoduo escaped, the more than ten thousand green battalion soldiers who escaped did not escape. The [-] green battalion in Yangzhou were all annihilated or captured. The goal of the battle has been achieved, as for Duduo Yiyi King, if he escapes, he will escape, you don’t need to be discouraged, if you meet him on the battlefield in the future, you will be able to capture him.”

There are not many bannermen in Yangzhou, and the main force is more than 4 green battalions. The goal of the Ming army's Yangzhou campaign was to keep these more than 4 green battalions in Yangzhou, so that these Qing soldiers would not retreat to Huaibei and cooperate with the Qing cavalry to build A line of defense would be a huge obstacle to the Ming army's Northern Expedition.

According to the original goal of the Ming army, Duoduo is indeed not the focus, the focus is more than 4 green battalion soldiers. In this way, the Ming army has indeed completed the task assigned by Wang Yan.

Liu Shun and others listened to what Chen Bangyan said, calmed down, and then asked: "Ministry, if Wang Yi also captures more than ten thousand green camps who escaped from the city, then there will be more than thirty thousand prisoners in Yangzhou in World War I, so many What should be done with the prisoners?"

In terms of the current revenue of the Ming Dynasty, the current number of the Ming army is sufficient, and it is a bit unbearable to support them if there are too many. Moreover, these green battalion soldiers have been in the army for a long time and have acquired many bad habits. Most of them are soldiers. Chen Bangyan does not It is recommended that the imperial court continue to incorporate.

After the Nanjing War, the three sides of the Ming Dynasty fought internally, and each side robbed the fruits of victory. The three sides recruited the Qing army and Manchu officials to join their own camp, which caused the quality of the bureaucratic team of the Ming Dynasty to decline significantly, and the green camp army incorporated was also very bad. Many, the corruption of military discipline has become a hidden danger of the Ming Dynasty.

The bureaucratic system of the Ming Dynasty was basically rotten during the reign of Chongzhen. However, the Chongzhen Dynasty collapsed and the Hongguang Dynasty in Nanjing collapsed. The Wu court suffered another change in Fujing in Fujian. By the time they fled to Guangjing, those who were not strong-willed had basically surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, or returned to their hometowns to live in seclusion.

After these changes, the ministers who followed the imperial court to Guangjing and insisted on resisting the Qing Dynasty, no matter how capable they were, were mostly people with ideals and aspirations, and the imperial court formed by these people had actually completed a transformation. Compared with the Chongzhen Dynasty, the bureaucrats had a greater sense of responsibility for the world.

This can be seen from their poems in exile. For example, Xu Fuyuan, a literati who escaped from the south, wrote after he learned that Longwu had ascended the throne, "The general situation in the south of the Yangtze River is long, and I suddenly heard that the imperial edict came to Xin'an. Ande's two armpits grew feathers and flew away from the wind." Serving Long Luan."

With the expansion of the territory of the Ming Dynasty, the expansion of the bureaucratic team, especially the joining of a large number of demoted officials without examination, made the bureaucratic system, which was already in danger of corruption after the capture of Nanjing, even more problematic.

There have been several serious corruption incidents within the Chu Party, including members of Wang Yan's clan, and the person who pulled him into the water was a demoted official, which aroused the vigilance of Wang Yan and the top leaders of the Chu Party, and Chen As an official of the Ministry of War, Bangyan is not only worried about the problems of officials, but also worried about the blind expansion of the army and the absorption of various problems caused by the green battalion.

These more than 3 green battalion soldiers, Chen Bangyan does not suggest that the Chu Party faction incorporate them, but if they do not incorporate them, Tang and Lu may not want to. Chen Bangyan pondered for a while, and said: "These green battalion soldiers should all be imprisoned first. Some time ago, Zong The vassal moved to Taiwan, but Taiwan was barren, and there was a country established by a few people on the island who refused to accept the king. They are used to open up wasteland and farmland to enrich the population of Taiwan Island, and secondly, they are from the army after all, so they can be used to deter the small people and help the Taiwan Governor to stabilize Taiwan."

Hearing what he said, Liu Shun didn't have any objections. The green battalion indeed had too many bad habits, and most of them were soldiers. These people were well used, and they were still very powerful and capable of fighting. If they were not used well, it would be easy for them to Bring down the atmosphere of the Ming army.

The Five Loyalty Army needs to recruit soldiers from the town army below, including the selection from the Wu Yi Army adapted from the Green Camp. However, the generals of the Five Loyalty Army undoubtedly don't like the cunning in the Wu Yi Army very much, and prefer to choose from the Shence and other troops. Soldiers added.

After talking about the captives, Chen Bangyan walked a few steps, and suddenly asked with a smile: "Yangzhou is the key place for Shanxi merchants to operate in the south of the Yangtze River. How much will you gain from the shops and warehouses that this pavilion has sealed up for you?"

When Liu Shun mentioned this matter, annoyed expression immediately appeared on his face, "Minister, I am about to report this matter to you, those profiteers are really cunning, the goods and money have already been transferred, more than a dozen warehouses are basically empty. "

(End of this chapter)