Back to the end of the Ming Dynasty when the emperor

Chapter 419 What I Killed Wasn't a General

Zhu Yousong strategized, and the three-way army finally pointed at the capital of the Qing court. The 10,000+ soldiers will be excited.

The two armies, with 8 horses, set off the next day.

Zhu Yousong's troops are undoubtedly the main force of the Chinese army, and there are more than [-] people, including the two ace divisions of the Imperial Camp and the Zhongzhen Camp.

Two days later, news came from Huang Degong and his group that Tang Tong led his troops to surrender and was willing to sacrifice Cangzhou City.

Zhu Yousong sneered and said: "This big traitor with no integrity, surrendered one today and surrendered the other tomorrow, and came to play surrender with me again. How can I tolerate him!"

Lu Jiude, the chief eunuch who supervised the East Factory, wrote a secret decree and sent it to Huang Degong.

Lu Jiude saluted and said: "Tang Tong's death is more than justified, but after all, he led his troops to surrender voluntarily and was willing to sacrifice the city, not a prisoner. Is it appropriate for Your Majesty to do so?"

What Lu Jiude meant was that killing and surrendering generals is a taboo for military strategists, especially now that the Ming Dynasty has won several victories and regained a large area of ​​lost ground, but the situation of internal and external troubles has not been completely eliminated, and the Tartars still have strength. There are thieves everywhere, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong are the most important, and they still focus on recruiting generals, supplemented by killing.

Zhu Yousong is now a little more domineering than an emperor. Of course he understands what Lu Jiude means, and he said with emotion: "What is inappropriate, what I killed was not a surrendered general, but a traitor who betrayed his ancestors and servilely, because He led the people to surrender and sacrificed the city, so I allowed his tribe to surrender, but only Han people, not a single Tartar. In addition, I only punished him for the crime, and did not implicate his small family. God's grace. For what he did, he should be sentenced to death. It would not be an exaggeration to implicate the nine clans. If today I am merciful and forgive him, today he can surrender to me, tomorrow he can surrender to the Tartars, and the day after tomorrow he can surrender to the bandits. , my employing people first promote their virtues, and will never forgive the heinous traitors."

The governor of the factory and guards now feels more and more that his master, the emperor, is more and more majestic. He is no longer the timid Hongguang Emperor who had just ascended the throne as the supervisor of the country.

Therefore, the great eunuch with power over the government and the public is also growing in awe of the emperor.

Therefore, after hearing Zhu Yousong's words, he hurriedly said submissively: "Your Majesty is wise, it's slaves who have the benevolence of women."

Zhu Yousong waved his hand and let him go out.After the eunuch finished writing the decree, he asked Zhu Yousong to have a look, and then used the jade seal. Zhu Yousong asked him to see Huang Degong in person to deliver the decree.

"Servant accepts the decree, and servant will leave." Lu Jiu held the imperial decree in his arms, and retreated respectfully.

His eyes turned to Huang Degong's camp.

Although Tang Tong has no integrity, he can be regarded as a famous general.Huang Degong thinks this is a tough battle, because they have dealt with each other many times.Although Huang Degong beat Tang Tong in every battle, it was not easy to win.

But what Huang Degong didn't expect was that the two armies had just met and before the battle started, the Cangzhou general raised the white flag, threw away his equipment and led the crowd to surrender, and expressed his willingness to sacrifice Cangzhou City.

At the beginning, Huang Degong couldn't believe it, and thought they were playing tricks, but when he confirmed that Tang Tong surrendered with full sincerity, even he, the Marquis, didn't dare to call the shots.

I can only ask His Majesty Zhu Yousong for instructions.

Soon the imperial decree arrived, and the messenger of the decree was of course Lu Jiude, the eunuch of Dongchang.

Huang Degong knelt down to accept the decree. After reading the secret decree, Huang Degong also understood what His Majesty meant.

After exchanging greetings with Lu Jiude, Huang Degong began to accept Tang Tong's surrender and dedicating the city.Tang Tong was very happy, thinking that Zhu Yousong had accepted him, and was grateful for the mighty kindness of the emperor in his heart, and then handed over 5000 soldiers under his command to Huang Degong and Lu Jiude for adaptation.

Then, he returned to Cangzhou with his personal guards. In the name of Cangzhou General Soldier, he took the remaining [-] generals and brought Huang Degong and Lu Jiude's [-] troops into the city.

After Huang Degong and Lu Jiude entered the city, they gathered all the [-] Qing soldiers who surrendered at the Jiaojun Field. Of course, they had all been disarmed, and now they were unarmed and unarmed.

Tang Tong came to his team, nodded and bowed to Huang Degong and Lu Jiude, respectful, thinking that he was going to teach these Qing soldiers and adapt them, and he, a meritorious minister, must continue to be his official.

Unexpectedly, Huang Degong suddenly shouted an order: "Come here, take down the heinous traitor Tang Tong!"

Tang Tong was taken aback when he heard the words, several of Huang Degong's soldiers came over, and they knocked off their helmets, twisted their arms and tied Tang Tong up.

"Master Hou, what's the meaning of this?" Tang Tong was shocked, feeling that something was wrong.

These Qing soldiers were also shocked. They were originally Ming soldiers, so of course they were willing to surrender and submit to the imperial court. Now they saw that following the Tartars was a dead end, but how did they tie up their chief lord? Isn’t it allowed to surrender?
"Hmph, what do you mean, you'll know in a while." Huang Degong sneered twice, and said to Lu Jiude, "Grandpa, pass on the decree."

"The holy decree!" Lu Jiude yelled with his unique male duck voice, and then took out His Majesty's imperial decree from his bosom, his sharp eyes fell from Tang Tong's face to the faces of the two thousand Qing soldiers Go up and scan everyone.

From Tang Tong to the [-] Qing troops, all of them knelt down because they knew now that since they surrendered, they must of course listen to others. look.

Lu Jiude waited for them all to kneel down, knelt down, knelt upright, and began to use his unique voice to read out the will, roughly meaning:
Blessed by heaven, the emperor said that Tang Tong was originally an official of the imperial court, but he lived on the king's salary and did not repay the king's favor. He is lowly, acts as a pawn of the Tartars, slaughters the people, tramples on the Central Plains, commits many crimes and heinous crimes.It is not easy to deal with such a traitor and national thief, so I specially ordered Huang Degong to kill this thief on the spot.

Even though Tang Tong deserves to die, I have the virtue of loving life, thinking that he offered the city on his own initiative and led the people to surrender.Only punish one of them, avoid the death penalty, do not punish the small clan of the Lian family, and all the members are innocent Han people. Even though they have done a lot of bad things with Tang Tong before, they just followed orders, and all the crimes are attributed to the traitor Tang Tong. If it passes, I will not pursue it.

Fate of the nation, everyone is responsible.I hope that Er and others will change their past mistakes and serve the country. If there are any more traitors who join the enemy, they will be punished by the family and will not be tolerated.This!
After Lu Jiude read out the imperial decree, the [-] Qing troops also believed that Tang Tong had committed a heinous crime, and he deserved to be beheaded. They let them go and let them serve as soldiers. They all breathed a sigh of relief. , Being a traitor does not end well, and in the future no matter what, you can't go this way again.

However, Tang Tong was dumbfounded, and then he jumped as high as he wanted to speak impolitely, scolding Huang Degong for being a treacherous villain, and scolding the court for turning his back on what he said.

Huang Degong glared, "Your surname Tang, please be content. Your Majesty's will clearly stated that what I killed was a traitor, not a surrendered general. You deserve to die for what you have done. Your Majesty will only let you suffer with a single knife. Zhu Lian, your small family and family, has already opened the grace of heaven, remember not to be a traitor in the next life, come here, and execute!"

A few soldiers came over to hold Tang Tong down, and the other hand raised the knife and fell, and the head fell to the ground.

(End of this chapter)