Griffin Commander in the Late Ming Dynasty

Zhang Jinyan said righteously: "Chongzhen went against the will of heaven, and we despise him. Your Majesty is the ruler of the world and deserves our loyalty!"

Li Zicheng was not happy but angry, and shouted: "How can there be such a shameless, disloyal, and fickle person like you in this world? Lock him up and put him in jail!"

Li Zicheng looked at this group of timid old men and felt more and more disgusted. He immediately ordered: "Lock up all these former criminal officials and put them in jail!"

The officials were so frightened that their souls left their bodies, and many of them even burst into tears on the spot.

Li Zicheng said to Liu Zongmin: "Jiexuan, these people are left to you to interrogate."

Liu Zongmin was somewhat puzzled and asked, "What are you trying to find out?"

Li Zicheng waved to him and whispered in his ear: "Silver!"

Liu Zongmin immediately understood that wherever the Dashun Army passed through, they would confiscate and torture the property of some local corrupt officials, and obtain a lot of gold and silver. These corrupt officials in the capital must have even more wealth. If they were tortured again, wouldn’t they become rich?

On that day, the Dashun Bixiang Zhenfu Division was formally established, with Liu Zongmin in charge and Li Guo, Li Mou, Tian Hu and others as deputies. They began to recover stolen goods from surrendered officials and determine the amount of pay according to the rank of their officials.

The regulations stipulated that all property of nobles and relatives of the nobility would be confiscated; cabinet ministers would receive 100,000 taels, the six ministries would receive 70,000 taels, senior officials of the Censorate, the Ministry of Public Security and other institutions would receive 50,000 taels, officials of the Embroidered Uniform Guard would receive 30,000 taels, officials of the Imperial Academy would receive 50,000 taels, and Hanlin would receive 30,000 taels.

Only a few thousand taels are needed for those below the six ministries, and local officials are also among those who are being pursued for the stolen money. If anyone resists or cannot pay the full amount, they will all be tortured and beaten to death!

The city of Beijing was in turmoil, with soldiers on every street arresting people. All former Ming officials, including scholars and literati, were arrested.

Even nobles and eunuchs were driven to the prison. Li Guozhen, the Earl of Xiangcheng, who surrendered with the Shenjiying, and others did not have a good end and were locked up on the same day.

In the end, Prime Minister Niu Jinxing only selected 92 officials of low rank below the third grade to serve in the Personnel Government (equivalent to the Ministry of Personnel), and all the rest began to be plundered.

Two soldiers were escorting a surrendered official, one was pushing and shoving, the other was shouting with a knife, and they formed a long line. Officials such as Wei Dezhao and Zhang Jinyan were pale and terrified.

"Come on!"

General Li Guo rode his horse and whipped the officials to drive them away with an arrogant look, as if he was driving a group of sheep. When he encountered someone who was slow to move, he would whip him, making him spin like a top, and the surrendered officials screamed and cried.

Some people tried to run away, but were soon caught up by the Chuang army's cavalry, shot to the ground, and trampled on by the cavalry until they were reduced to meat paste.

All officials were taken to Tianlao, Imperial Prison and other places, where they were dressed in the latest prison uniforms and wore distinctive chains.

What made Wei Zaode and others depressed was that Feng Ying, the former Minister of Punishments who was imprisoned in the imperial prison, was actually released by the Chuang army. Not only Feng Ying, but also former Minister of Revenue Hou Xun and others were released by the Chuang army.

In the imperial prison, Liu Zongmin and his entourage came with their hands behind their backs to inspect the situation of roasting salaries.

"what!"

From a torture room not far away, there was a burst of extremely shrill screams. The screams came one after another, some like tenor, baritone, male cracked voice, male coloratura soprano, and so on.

Liu Zongmin was very happy to hear this. He went to the torture room where the screams were the loudest.

The former Minister of War Zhang Jinyan had been tortured beyond recognition, with blood all over his body. His fingers, toes and other places that could be clamped had been clamped by clamps, and all the bones in his body had been hit.

Zhang Jinyan's limp limbs were nailed to the wooden frame, and he wailed in pain: "Please spare me, gentlemen. I am the newly appointed Minister of War, and I really can't raise 70,000 taels of silver..."

In front of a huge pot of boiling water, Liu Zongmin said calmly: "If you can't make it, you can pay with your life."

After saying that, he ordered his men to pour boiling water on Zhang Jinyan, and while the water was still hot, they used the iron brush in their hands to brush his body vigorously.

A pig-killing-like howling sound shook the area a hundred meters away. Zhang Jinyan's entire body was covered in blood, with blood gushing out from his wounds, covering his entire body.

Several jailers kept moving. They were all experienced chefs and were very skilled in cooking human flesh. They scrubbed the flesh slowly and steadily until the bones beneath the flesh were brushed out...

Zhang Jinyan fainted from the pain, but a basin of cold water poured over him woke him up.

He wished he could die on the spot, but this was just a luxury. Zhang Jinyan felt pain all over his body and trembled as he said, "I'll pay 70,000 taels, I'll pay..."

Really? Liu Zongmin slowly said, "One hundred thousand taels."

Zhang Jinyan fainted again, and no one knew whether he fainted from the pain or from fear.

This time, it took three basins of water to wake him up, and the second basin was boiling water...

Zhang Jinyan, who was tortured to the point of being half human and half ghost, weakly promised 100,000 taels of silver. Only then did Liu Zongmin call a halt and order his men to look for the silver where he had hidden it.

Liu Zongmin snorted and said, "These corrupt officials are so treacherous that they won't cry until they see the coffin. They deserve to be roasted!"

"Keep torturing him and make him pay another 100,000 taels! This old bastard must have something else!"

Liu Zongmin looked at it for a while and thought that he was now a high-ranking official, and it was not good to see too much of this, so he turned around and prepared to leave and said, "Everyone, step up your efforts. Don't just focus on him, you have to serve the number one scholar well as well."

In the imperial prison, in the private room where Wei Zaode was, "Wenquxing" let out a miserable scream.

He was stripped naked and pressed on a red-hot iron bed, enjoying the treatment of a Ming Dynasty version of an electric blanket. The iron bed was covered with oil, and with a sizzling sound, Wei Zaode's skin was torn apart, and he was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

I have to say that when it comes to torture and forced confessions, the ancients were really imaginative.

A soldier hit his calf with an iron rod and shouted, "Can you give me 100,000 taels of silver?"

There was another shrill howl, and Wei Zaode wished he could die on the spot. He said in a trembling voice, "Didn't we agree on 70,000 taels?"

"You lowly ungrateful bastard, how dare you be so stubborn?"

The soldier slapped him dozens of times with an iron plate, and even broke ten of his fingers.

Wei Zaode shouted: "I'll pay one hundred thousand taels!"

"You're so straightforward? Add another 100,000 taels!"

Wei Zaode cried, "I have only been an official for a short time, where can I get so much silver? The most I can get together is 100,000 taels..."

Chuang Bing chuckled: "You are still young as an official, right? No problem, let's go ahead and let him try the power of the tight hoop curse!"

Wei Zaode was in tears. He never dreamed that surrendering to the enemy would lead to such an end.

Think about it, three years ago, Emperor Chongzhen selected me as the top scholar, and in the past three years I was promoted all the way and directly entered the cabinet. With such good treatment, why should I defect to the enemy!

The tight hoop was put on and the torture continued. Wei Zaode cried loudly in prison: "I did not serve the Lord faithfully. Today, it is too late to regret!"

After five days and five nights of torture, Wei Zaode died of brain hemorrhage in prison. His son was executed immediately and his entire family was ransacked.

.......

In the private room of Li Guozhen, the Earl of Xiangcheng, a copper pillar was burning red. He was being tortured by burning with fire. After handing over 500,000 taels of silver, he was still being burned and forced to hand over 1,000,000 taels of silver.

Li Guozhen's body was covered with wounds and he was filled with remorse. He regretted surrendering and letting the bandits enter the city so easily.

Thinking about his ancestor Li Jun, who followed Emperor Chengzu in raising an army to quell the rebellion, seized the nine gates of Beiping, and then moved to Shandong. He was a vanguard general, risking his life and overcoming difficulties to ensure the prosperity of the Xiangcheng Earl lineage for more than 200 years. However, he betrayed his master and surrendered to the enemy, ending up like this...

With a "snap" sound, Li Guozhen's legs were broken by the rebels with a sledgehammer. He opened his eyes wide in pain and died immediately. His death was extremely miserable.

Under the rule of torture, many nobles and officials were burned to death. Xue Lian, Marquis of Yangwu, was tortured to death in the most severe way while pursuing stolen goods. Guo Zhenming, Marquis of Boping, Wu Zunzhou, Earl of Qingping, Chen Zhian, Earl of Pingjiang, and others were all burned to pieces, their entire families were searched, and their wives and daughters were humiliated.

Grand Secretary Li Jiantai, Grand Secretary Fang Yuegong, Minister of Personnel Li Yuzhi, Minister of Works Chen Biqian and others were all burned to death after paying their silver. Even Grand Secretary Feng Quan, who had been retired at home for more than ten years, was captured by the rebels from Zhuozhou and taken to Beijing to extort silver.

There were also some officials who honestly handed over silver, but ran away immediately after being released, leaving behind their wives and children, and fled overnight.

Thousands of people were targeted in this strike, with a scope rarely seen in history. Most of the nobles and relatives in the capital were wiped out, and people from the five prefectures were beheaded collectively.

After half a month of hard work, the Bixiang Zhenfu Division had achieved fruitful results, with a total of 20 million taels of silver! ! However, during this period, some incidents occurred. That is, many officials reported that the places where the silver was hidden were clean and there was no silver at all. The soldiers who had made a wasted trip were angry and used more harsh means to deal with these dishonest thieves.

Looking at these astonishing wealth, Li Zicheng and others were all shocked. He naturally knew that the people in charge of collecting salaries and confiscating property must have hidden some valuables.

But he didn't care. With these 20 million taels of silver, isn't this just a reward? Can't he just place a large army there?

At Niu Jinxing's suggestion, Li Zicheng ascended the throne again in Beijing, conferred titles on civil and military officials, and bestowed titles of the fifth rank on meritorious officials.

Nine people were conferred the title of marquis including Liu Zongmin, seventy-two people were conferred the title of earl including Liu Tichun, thirty people were conferred the title of viscount including Li Laiheng, and fifty-five people were conferred the title of baron including Gao Yigong.

In addition, Li Zicheng also ordered the Dashun court to hold imperial examinations to select officials to stabilize the local area.

"You mean, when we were searching for Chongzhen and his mother and son and confiscating their property, we often saw some people acting sneakily? Their behavior was suspicious?" Liu Zongmin frowned as he listened to his subordinates' report.

"Yes, when I was torturing these Ming officials, I learned that when our army attacked the inner city, a convoy followed Chongzhen's order and quietly left the city. I suspect that Chongzhen's family members are among these people. Also, in recent days, many of the places where the Ming officials hid silver have no silver, and some places have just been stolen. This matter must be investigated."

"Damn it! How dare someone touch our money?" Liu Zongmin got furious! He immediately rushed to the palace to complain to Li Zicheng.

At this moment, in a mountain outside Beijing

"I just received news that the salary increase over there has basically ended, and the city of Beijing should have been cleared out."

Scarecrow nodded and said, "Notify our people to evacuate. They should have noticed something is wrong. I will ask the Iron Blood Unit to provide cover and have them evacuate as soon as possible to ensure their safety."

"After they evacuate, we will set off and go to Tianjin first. There is a fleet waiting for us there." Fifty million taels of silver is not a small number. Such a quantity of silver is almost enough to pile up into a mountain of silver. It is almost impossible to rely entirely on land transportation. It must be achieved with the help of water transportation. Fortunately, they have a shipping trading company in Tianjin, and they can use this shell to quietly transport the silver away.

However, the road to Tianjin may not be easy to travel.

"We need you to make some noise, the bigger the better, to cover up our real actions." Jiang Han gave the executioner a task that was very suitable for her.

"The follow-up support troops should be here soon. You just need to bring the carriage of Chongzhen's family and show off a bit. It would be best if you could attract the attention of the Dashun Army. The rest will be left to the scarecrow."

"I wish you good luck in martial arts"

Jiang Han laughed happily. This time in Beijing, he really made a lot of money! That person's teaching was really right. Making a fortune in silence is the right way!

A full 60 million taels of silver! This wave! This wave is taking off! !

Volume 400: Chapter Chapter : Storm in the Capital

Sixty million taels of silver and a huge amount of stored grain. Transporting such a huge amount of materials is a very arduous task. Even if you use a train, it would be difficult to transport it all in one trip.

Before setting off again, Jiang Han thought of this problem and specially customized transportation equipment for these military units: Optimus Prime, Brother Pillar's standard accessory: a large cargo compartment with a rear hanger!

This large container trailer modified from a large iron sheet, when fully loaded, weighs at least 20 tons. Only a military doll with great strength and horsepower can support such a heavy load. This wave, this wave is a mecha pulling a carriage! It's a punk.

Even so, it was obviously a fantasy to transport so much goods at one time, so it could only be transported in batches. The first transport team would go to the Tianjin Port first to hand over to the fleet there, and at the same time escort Chongzhen's family members on board the ship to Suzhou.

Such a large team would inevitably attract the enemy's attention when it takes action, and they would inevitably face endless encirclement and suppression by the Dashun army. In this regard, the executioner and the scarecrow proposed a homo tactic: if you fart in the elevator, the entire society will die, so it is better to cover it up with a louder noise.

The executioners and iron-blooded units carried out a series of military activities against the Dashun army to cover up their original purpose, openly repairing the plank road while secretly marching through Chencang.

"So when will the reinforcements arrive?" The executioner poked the ants on the ground out of boredom. She liked this game recently, mainly because when an ant was poked to death, a large group of them would gather around it, which the executioner saw as a challenge to herself. The two sides fought back and forth and it was hard to tell who was going to win. The executioner could be heard laughing as if he was evading taxes.

"According to the agreed time, there should be about half an hour left." The scarecrow squinted at the executioner and doubted more than once in his heart why he wanted to team up with such a fool.

"Walk in the mouth"

After waiting for a long time, a cloud of dust appeared in the sky, and M16's communication dialogue came from the communicator: "We are here"

"Tsk, it's that woman"

"Rather, it can only be that woman. The relationship between Griffin and us is not that close. There will always be a gap between us if we want to cooperate. Only M16 can serve as a bridge between the two sides."

"Why have you been acting so reasonable from the beginning, woman? Don't forget that you've been beaten up before!"

"It's so lively... Guys, did I miss anything?" M16 came over with a few humanoids and saw this tense scene.

"No, now that you're here, let's get started. I feel like my body is getting rusty after staying here for so long. Who will be moving with me?"

"Then it has to be me. My companions are responsible for protecting the safety of the personnel. They are professionals in this regard."

The purpose of the reinforcements is also for this. The Iron Blood and military units are very skilled in frontal combat, but now that they have hostages, they must bring humanoids to carry out the work of protecting important personnel, which they are completely unable to do.

Several humanoids came to the Chongzhen family members who were recuperating and took over the security work. You should know that when these family members came out, they only had a few eunuchs under their command, and the security work had to be almost entirely handed over to the humanoids.

"Everyone, hurry up and pack your bags, we are ready to go"

"Okay, thank you all for your help." Queen Zhou wiped the tears from her eyes. She had been crying these days and wanted to follow her husband, but when she thought about how the emperor risked his life to save her, if she died, she would be letting the emperor down. So she thought about trying her best to raise the child.

In fact, Chongzhen's family was extremely surprised by the "Jiang thief" army in front of them, but their grief was concealed. The most important point was that the style of these people seemed completely different from their own. These people looked a little bit normal, but not completely normal.

Especially these new guards, they looked like Jinyiwei armor, but the strange weapons on their bodies were completely different from those of Jinyiwei. In a word, they looked very elite and difficult to approach.

Image url: "Images/1668809112-100274913-109601300.jpg

Image information: "The new outfits of the dolls",

Image url: "Images/1668809136-100274913-109601300.jpg

Image information: "The new outfits of the dolls",

Image url: "Images/1668809149-100274913-109601300.jpg

Image information: "The new outfits of the dolls",

"Then we'll go ahead, and when there's news in the city, you can set off." M16 nodded to several people, and headed towards Beijing with the executioner. They wanted to cause chaos in this city.

The Dashun court's activities to recover stolen goods and support military expenditures were not only carried out in the capital, but also in various parts of the country, where people began to learn from advanced experiences.

The Dashun Army conquered cities along the way and stationed troops in various prefectures and counties. The comrades in the capital made a fortune. We can't just watch, right? Let's practice together!

For a time, the Shun troops in Tianjin, Daming, Hejian, Shunde and other counties all went wild, and they used all kinds of criminal laws on the gentry and scholars as if they were doing scientific research, and the methods were so varied.

The officials and gentry who were pursued for stolen goods and money to help with military expenses were both disappointed and frightened of the new Dashun Dynasty. They had wanted to get a job as an official in the new dynasty, but who would have thought that this bunch of damn bandits not only refused to employ them, but also robbed all their property. They were pure inhumane people.

The top-down pursuit of stolen goods to support military expenditures in the Dashun Dynasty gradually got out of control and evolved into looting by officers and soldiers. They not only robbed the land and property of the gentry and landlords, but also robbed the shops and money of the merchants. Even some ordinary people fell victim to their murderous hands. They also broke into every house and took away all the food such as grain, rice and flour. The gold, silver and jade articles in the landlords' houses were used to honor their superiors.

Every time the Shun army passed through a place, the wealth and land were swept away. The slogan of the Chuang army before was very good: "The government is unjust, the common people are crying, the kings and nobles are cruel and exploit the poor, and are unwilling to help the people. Now there is the King of Chuang who advocates justice, fights tyranny, and follows the law of nature. He does not serve, does not pay taxes, comforts exiles, and allows business..."

"Kill cattle and sheep, prepare wine and oars, open the city gates to welcome the rebel king, and don't pay grain when the rebel king comes..." Now, after seeing the behavior of the rebel army, the common people found something wrong. Why did they open the city gates to welcome such a thing? This is not a righteous army, but simply robbers! Those bastard officers and soldiers didn't dare to rob so blatantly! Regret, in short, very regretful. Now, when the common people see the Shun army, they run away faster than rabbits.