nanming man

Chapter 499 The Messenger Arrives

In order to blackmail the court and guarantee his own interests, Zuo Liangyu expanded his troops to hundreds of thousands so that the court would not dare to touch him.

His actions really made the imperial court cast a taboo, even if Zuo Liangyu lost many battles and did many bad things, the imperial court would not dare to do anything to him.

After all, tens of 10 people can't handle it well, and they rebel every minute, and the court is afraid that it won't be easy to control.

However, with so many soldiers and horses, it is impossible for the imperial court to be stupid enough to support Zuo Liangyu, and Zuo Liangyu needs to maintain the troops, so he has to allow the soldiers to harm the people of Wuchang and Huangzhou.

The situation of the people in the two prefectures was almost exactly the same as that of the people in Northwest Hubei when Zuo Liangyu was stationed in Xiangyang.

In Wuchang Mansion, not to mention the small people had difficulty in surviving, even the big households were ruined by Zuo Zhen.

In Wuchang and Huangzhou, Zuo Liangyu had no popular support at all. Not only the common people hated him, but even the gentry wished for his early death, but Zuo Liangyu didn't take it seriously.

The total population of the two prefectures is less than 150 million, and one-third of them are either Zuozhen soldiers or Zuozhen family members.

With such a huge body and an army in hand, compared to Zuo Zhen, the people are like a mess, so Zuo Liangyu is naturally not afraid of the public opinion.

When Wei Wujun entered Hunan, the common people responded indifferently, but as soon as they entered Wuchang Mansion, no matter the poor or the gentry, they all greeted them with food and milk.

The land of Wuchang is like the rain after a long drought, and the counties and counties along the way are watching the wind and falling.

In addition to the gentry and common people who welcomed Wei Wujun's entry into Wuchang Mansion, even many Zuozhen soldiers and horses in Wuchang Mansion also came to surrender on their own initiative. Gao Yihuan entered Wuchang without fighting a battle.

The ratio of the number of troops in Wuchang Mansion to the people has far exceeded the normal level. Even if Zuo Liangyu allowed them to plunder the people, there would not be so many people to plunder.

Because there are too many troops, Zuo Liangyu can't hold a bowl of water, so among the tens of 10 people, only a few tens of thousands of core people can eat enough, while the peripheral people are in great difficulty, and they can even farm by themselves.

This made many soldiers and horses in the periphery, hungry and full, live similarly to the common people, and had no centripetal force for Zuo Liangyu.

In late February, when Gao Yihuan went to Jiayu County with his troops, more than [-] people from Wuchang Mansion gathered around him, and even a few people from Zuozhen came to join him.

Of course, apart from Zuo Liangyu's unpopularity, the main reason for this is Gao Yihuan's generous spending.

After losing Li Zicheng, a big buyer, the grain in Gao Yihuan's hands was out of market. In addition, this time he conquered Hunan and controlled the grain-producing North Hunan area. food.

Outside Jiayu County, Gao Yihuan rode a horse and came to a camp under the guard of a group of cavalry.

A skinny old man with a sallow complexion and a rumpled and patched official robe next to him introduced, "Duke, here are all the people who defected from nearby, and there are more than 1 people."

Gao Yihuan looked at the camp, and it was in a mess. The camp was full of yellow-faced and emaciated people, men, women, and children. The adults were all disheveled, and the children were even more pitiful. They all had big heads but small bodies. normal proportions.

Seeing this was the result of long-term starvation, Gao Yihuan couldn't help weeping when he saw this, "The people are suffering! This commander is late."

The skinny old man thought that Duke Han is really a good person, "Mr. Han, I hope that the Lord can distribute some more grain to the people! In addition, spring plowing is coming soon, and the official also wants to ask the Lord to lend a batch of seeds to the county. Let the people plant the seedlings."

Gao Yihuan said solemnly: "Magistrate Zhou, don't worry, I will allocate five thousand shi of grain immediately, and another batch of cloth will be distributed to the people!"

The old man was almost moved to tears, saluted repeatedly on the donkey's back, and thanked Gao Yihuan for his kindness on behalf of the people.

Gao Yihuan was going to pull up a group of people to build up momentum so that he could negotiate with Nanjing, but the quality of this group of people was worrying, so Gao Yihuan didn't plan to take them away.

He ordered Zhou county magistrate to appease the people, and then led his subordinates to the next camp.

At noon, dinner was being served in the camp. Gao Yihuan and others rode over and saw the soldiers in the camp like wolves and beasts squatting on the ground with hot white rice and broth, eating and drinking.

In the entire camp, soldiers were sitting or squatting everywhere. No one spoke, only the sound of their mouths clicking like pigs eating.

Gao Yihuan reined in his horse, pointed to the soldiers in the camp, and said to the left and right: "I don't think there is any need to go to war. As long as we prepare enough food, Zuo Liangyu's Zuo Town can be disintegrated."

Just as they were talking and laughing, several generals in the camp were wearing armor and ran out in a hurry.

After the Nanjing imperial court appointed Wang Yan and Chen Zilong as the chief and deputy envoys, they worried that the situation in Huguang would deteriorate further, so they discussed together and decided that Wang Yan would go west quickly, while Chen Zilong and Jiang Shuishi would come later.

Gao Jingzhong was a mighty general who defeated the Qing army. Compared with him, Zuo Liangyu couldn't beat him at all.

This made Wang Yan very worried that Zuo Zhen would not be able to defeat Gao Jingzhong and gave up Wuchang.If Wuchang falls into the hands of Gao Jingzhong and wants him to spit it out again, the court will definitely pay a huge price.

In addition, if Zuozhen gave up Wuchang, he would definitely occupy another place, which would also be a great harm to the court.

The navy went up against the river, relying on the sails with the wind, and the laborers pulling the fibers against the wind. The speed was relatively slow. Wang Yan was afraid that Zuo Liangyu would lose Wuchang, so he traveled by land and rushed to Wuchang on horseback. He was going to give Zuo Liangyu some food first. A reassurance.

This time it was Zuo Liangyu who was dishonest, but at the moment when the imperial court is employing people, he is still needed to block Gao Jingzhong in Wuchang.

Therefore, the court's attitude towards Zuo Liangyu was much gentler than that of the Donglin Party.

It was not easy for Ming Dynasty to train a general. The court wanted Zuo Liangyu to punish himself with three cups, to accompany Gao Jingzhong, and to suppress this matter.

Wang Yan drove all the way, and within a few days, he entered the Huangzhou territory controlled by Zuozhen.

As soon as they entered the area controlled by the left army, the situation was completely different from that of Nanzhili. The fields along the way were abandoned, which looked like the world's granary.

Under the escort of a team of guards, Wang Yan entered a small village, and saw ruins, and every house was closed, desolate and bleak, and he couldn't help but feel a little heavy.

Wang Yan rode on the horse and looked around, feeling sad in his heart, shocked by Zuo Zhen's rule, it turned out to be like this.

At this moment, a few soldiers in front came out of the courtyard, everyone was talking and laughing, their clothes were disheveled, their helmets were crooked, and they came out of the courtyard with large bags on their backs.

Wang Yan frowned. Looking at the appearance of the soldiers, he knew that they had done nothing good.

"Take it down for me!" Wang Yan shouted angrily.

The guards and Jin Yiwei swarmed up and controlled several left soldiers.

The leading hundred households entered the yard, closed the door and retreated after a while, and said to Wang Yan who came over on horseback: "My lord, don't go in."

But Wang Yan frowned, got off his horse, separated the hundreds of households who stopped him, pushed open the courtyard door, and immediately smelled a bloody smell.

He walked into the yard, and saw two male corpses lying in the yard, one old and one young, the youngest was only seven or eight years old, his stomach was ripped open and his internal organs flowed all over the place, the old man's eyes were wide open and he had been cut off. Two arms, and in the main room was a naked female corpse with a distorted face.

Wang Yan's face was gloomy, and he was silent for a while, when suddenly he heard the begging of the left army outside the courtyard, he immediately waved his hand, and shouted angrily, "Kill it!"

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(End of this chapter)