Even if the butterfly wings are disturbing the world more and more frequently, the shadow of Chongzhen's sixteenth year still pushes the Ming Empire to stumble towards the cliff.

The plague that ravaged the late Ming Dynasty reached its climax in the autumn of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, from Shanxi to Henan, from Beizhili to Shandong, the surging disease swept the northern land of the Ming Empire like a storm, and millions of people were reduced to nothing.

……

On September 5, 1643, July 23, the sixteenth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Empire, Ruzhou, Henan.

In the mottled and barren Henan Plain, the rolling wind and dust fill the heaven and earth, covering up the shade after autumn. Dead trees stripped of their bark lay crookedly like tombstones between the parched riverbed and the ruins of the village, the dust blowing and revealing dry bones.

Whether it is heaven or earth, it is a blurry gray-yellow, and almost everything is twisted into a broken and swaying shadow like a mirage, floating weakly between heaven and earth.

The dull sound rolled on the ground, interspersed with the characteristic vibrato of the gravel projectiles flying after the Furlong cannon was fired; The flying arrows flew aimlessly through the wind and dust, and from time to time they would bring a terrible scream at the moment of their fall; The sound of gunfire, the clash of metal and limbs, and the hysterical shouting and scolding are intertwined, and a chaotic mourning song is performed.

In this way, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty in Shaanxi and Henan fought with Li Zicheng's peasant army, which was several times their size, and such battles have lasted several times in the past month.

In one corner of the battlefield, another wave of hungry people of more than 10,000 people was driven out of the formation by a small group of peasant army cavalry, and rushed towards the large formation formed by thousands of Shaanxi officers and soldiers a few hundred meters away.

Several rows of three-eyed guns of smoke and fire gushed out. The blood-drenched bodies of the hungry people twisted and rolled in the rain of bullets, and the cries rang out. Patches of blood mist stained the wind and sand even more dirty. The wave of hungry people attacked by the fire suddenly stopped, and countless expressions distorted by hunger or excitement turned into fear and confusion. Then, ten seconds later, it turned backwards like a recovering wave.

After the firearms were fired, several heavy drums sounded in the large array of the opposing officers and soldiers, and thousands of Shaanxi officers and spears rushed out in unison, passing the fire camp chariots defending the formation and rushing towards the retreating peasant army on the opposite side, and rushed the rioters and hungry people with red cloth belts tied on their heads.

But within ten minutes, the sound of rolling horses' hooves sounded on the other side of the battlefield, and the peasant cavalry, which could not be seen at a glance, rushed into the front army brigade of the official army like a stream of sticky pus. At this time, the cavalry of another officer army, which was covering the flank of the main force of the front army of the official army, had already collapsed.

"Serve the court and kill thieves!"

On a chariot in the main formation of the Ming army, Sun Chuanting, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi in the Ming Dynasty, whose beard was white, was still brandishing his sword, shouting slogans hoarsely, and on his chest, it was wet red because of vomiting blood. Thousands of officers and soldiers of the Governor's Battalion were all gathered around Sun Chuanting's car, watching the battle in the distance with nervous expressions.

"Doge! Chen Yongfu was washed away. Bai Guangen's cavalry was also defeated! The front army and the left army are almost unable to support it, so let's withdraw! If you don't retreat, the back road will be broken! ”

A powerful general ran from the front with his hair scattered, almost rolled off his horse and knelt in front of Sun Chuanting's chariot. The head is buried deep in the ground.

"No refund...... Can't go back...... If this governor retires, what face will he have to meet the saint and the father of Shaanxi......"

Looking at the tired and weak young faces around him, a cloudy tear quietly flowed from the corner of Sun Chuanting's eyes. The sword in his hand was still stubbornly pointing at the melee battlefield in the distance.

"Take the Governor away!" The general gritted his teeth and jumped on his horse at the same time. He waved his hand fiercely at the officers and soldiers of the Supervisory Battalion, and then led his own brigade of personal soldiers to rush in the direction of the battlefield again.

The banner of the commander of the Ming army finally began to move. However, to the disappointment of the Ming officers and soldiers who fought in the bloody battle ahead, the banner was heading northwest, and no new force appeared behind them.

……

Sun Chuanting, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi of the Ming Empire, who went out earlier than history, commanded Niu Chenghu, Bai Guangen, Gao Jie and other Ming troops, and after recovering Luoyang and Ruzhou in succession and relieving the siege of Kaifeng, they fell into a crisis of strict zhòng.

Last year's four defeats at home and abroad, coupled with the haste of preparations, made Sun Chuanting's army out of the customs nearly half less than in history, but Henan, which was thousands of miles away, was still unable to guarantee the supply of grain and grass for the 60,000-strong army. However, Li Zicheng adopted the tactics of delaying and sneaking attacks on grain routes by clearing the wilderness, and led Sun Chuanting's army to advance and retreat near Jiaxian (about 100 kilometers southeast of Luoyang).

But perhaps the most terrifying thing is not the discouragement of the army from hunger and fatigue. When the officers and soldiers in the army suffered from coughing up blood, vomiting, diarrhea, high fever and other symptoms and died in large numbers, Sun Chuanting knew that he was surrounded by a plague of unprecedented scale. And what he didn't know was that at this time, the city of Beijing had already been covered with corpses in the plague, and more than half of the more than 100,000 officers and soldiers of the Beijing battalion died of illness.

Sun Chuanting, who planned to return to Ruzhou to open up the grain route, was seized by Li Zicheng, who was following and waiting for the opportunity like a wolf, and the bloody battle lasted all day, and a large number of sick soldiers weakened the combat effectiveness of the official army, and Li Zicheng's cunning tactics of driving the hungry people to attack the official army and the elite main force finally took effect.

Henan General Soldier Chen Yongfu fled, Jizhen General Soldier Bai Guangen abandoned the Chinese Army Car Battalion, nearly 60,000 officers and troops who were tossed half dead by the plague finally had a major rout.

The Battle of Jiaxian-Ruzhou, which broke out a month earlier than the original history, although it did not suffer from the sad and angry days of heavy rain due to time problems, it was still defeated by Li Zicheng, who was still trapped in the beast, starvation and plague, and Sun Chuanting's army was forced to retreat in the direction of Luoyang.

A few days later, after abandoning a large number of heavy baggage and some critically ill officers and soldiers, the exhausted Sun Chuanting's army finally got rid of Li Zicheng's pursuit, and when it reached the vicinity of Luoyang, there were only more than 30,000 of the 60,000 troops left in Tongguan. At this time, the villages around Luoyang City also showed signs of plague infection, and the peasant army active in the local area was so frightened that they disappeared, and the officials and people in the city closed the city gates. Dead or alive did not let Sun Chuanting enter the city.

In the camp of Sun Chuanting's army at night, the few grains and grasses were diluted in a cauldron. Then he was silently surrounded by poor Ming officers and soldiers. Some of the lightly wounded who survived the rout sighed and sighed, but anyone was found showing symptoms of the plague. There was another rush of chickens and dogs, and the entire army camp was enveloped in an eerie atmosphere of despair.

History again has a subtle bifurcation here, as Sun Chuanting also fell ill shortly after retreating to Luoyang. The news is still blocked, outside the main camp tent, dozens of officers and soldiers of the supervision battalion are knives out of the sheath, bows on the string, everyone is holding their breath to guard the tent door, a group of generals are scattered around the main camp tent with nervous and frightened expressions walking back and forth.

In the main camp tent that was isolated, except for Sun Chuanting, who was lying on the couch, only the deputy envoy of the supervising army, Qiao Qiangao, was on his side. In addition, there is a soldier Lang Zhong and a few personal soldiers waiting.

"Qiao Jian Jun, hasn't Luoyang opened the city to deliver food yet...... The food and grass in the army can last for a few days. Sun Chuanting was half-lying, looking at the top of the tent with empty eyes, and his face was sad and angry.

"If you are thrifty, you can spend it for seven or eight days. I heard that the thieves reoccupied Ruzhou, and the soldiers and horses were only forty miles south of Luoyang City. Why don't I wait and back off for a while? Housewarming tilted his head and his voice was inaudible.

"Tens of thousands of Qinchuan disciples lost their troops and retreated. There is a negative grace...... Sun Chuanting supported his body strongly, and the snow foam on the side of his mouth was clearly visible, "Pass on the order of the overseer, and the whole army will be full tomorrow." Fight to the death with the thief! ”

"Don't be a governor!" As soon as Qiao Qiangao heard that Sun Chuanting was going to have a decisive battle with Li Zicheng again, his face suddenly changed greatly, "Now the plague has not gone." The soldiers and horses were tired, and the food and grass were scarce. The soldiers and generals have no fighting spirit, and it is really difficult to fight again! ”

"Huh. It's hard to fight again. But what ...... But what ...... The Governor knew that it would be difficult to return, but how could the husband be able to deal with the jailers again! ”

Sun Chuanting staggered to his feet and let out a miserable laugh. As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, and then slowly fell down facing the tent door, so frightened that the military man on the side climbed up to check his pulse.

"Sun Du ...... Master Inspector went to ......" A minute later, Sui Junlang's trembling hand moved away from Sun Chuanting's head.

Several pro-soldiers surrounded him, and then knelt down and kowtowed to Sun Chuanting, who had stopped breathing. And Qiao Qiangao sat on the ground in a daze, unable to say a word for a long time.

A day later, while dispatching fast horses to the city of Beijing, he led the remnants of the army to quietly retreat in the direction of Tongguan in the west, leaving countless sick officers and soldiers along the way.

Sun Chuanting died with hatred, and the Ming army in Shaanxi ended gloomily, and Chen Yongfu, the general soldier who escaped and stayed in Henan, was forced to surrender to Li Zicheng soon after. The northern provinces of the Ming Dynasty east of Tongguan completely lost their control, and it was also announced that the last main card in the hands of Emperor Chongzhen that still had combat power was knocked out.

……

In Huayin County, Shaanxi Province, a few hundred miles away from Luoyang, in the inn chartered by Hanzhong Lancheng firm, a dusty young man ran in.

"Stationmaster Feng, the guards of the Northwest Intelligence Station have sent a domestic emergency!"

Soon, a letter with advanced encryption was placed in Feng Liang's room, and at the same time, several agents of the intelligence station who accompanied him this time were all present, and they all held their breath and looked carefully at Feng Liang who was deciphering the code.

An hour later, Feng Liang lit the deciphered letter with a candle, and then slowly gave an order: "Director Jin has an order, when the news from Luoyang is in hand, we will withdraw from Daming." ”

"Why?" An agent showed a surprised expression and hurriedly took a few steps, "Didn't the stationmaster just receive instructions to prepare a batch of arms for Sun Chuanting?" ”

In order to obtain information on the battle between the Ming army and the peasant army, Feng Liang did his best. He has provided a lot of help to Sun Chuanting's army in the past year, and he has provided nearly 10,000 stones of grain and grass alone. This contains his rising respect for Sun Chuanting and the trace of affection he has for Daming. But he didn't know that his proactive intelligence work had only ushered in a worse outcome than the original history.

The Northwest Intelligence Station in charge of Feng Liang was a Huamei intelligence unit that penetrated deep into the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty, and almost every material delivered to Hanzhong was spent a lot of energy and money by the Asian Intelligence Division. In order to hope for a reversal of history, Jin Xiaohan, head of the Asian Intelligence Department, even agreed to urgently send thousands of 21B flintlock pistols to Hanzhong.

"This battle of the Ming Dynasty can't be fought...... There is news from the northern station that now the plague in the south and north of Daming has broken out, and it is impossible to clean up. Several brothers who went out at the northern station were infected and died in Shandong. Director Jin ordered all the men north of the Yangtze River to be withdrawn. ”

After Feng Liang smiled bitterly a few times, he waved his hand helplessly. At the mention of the plague, several agents in the room looked terrified.

Only a year ago, the Huamei state-owned pharmaceutical group initially obtained the strain culture and extraction process of streptomycin, a treatment that can resolve the terminal disease of ancient plague, and now there is only a very small amount of domestic reserves and clinical trials of tuberculosis, and it is simply impossible to produce it on a large scale, let alone distribute it to the distant Asian Intelligence Division.

The order was clear, and the Huamei agents immediately began to act, burning something that might reveal their identity, and then drove out of Huayin County with a group of Lan Cheng firm's men and guards who had not yet figured it out, heading west.

……

A few days after the evacuation of the northwest intelligence station of the Asian Intelligence Department presided over by Feng Liang began, the southeast intelligence station in charge of Sun Erxi received bad news.

After killing the king of Chu and making a windfall, Zhang Xianzhong's peasant army was strong and rampant in Jiangxi. Although the number of troops has grown to more than 200,000, it is still under the threat of Zuo Liangyu, the general army of the Ming Dynasty, who moved from Jiangxi to Huguang (under the jurisdiction of all Hubei and Hunan). Now that Yuezhou (Yueyang) has been captured, the front of the army is directed at Changsha, and the two Ming commanders stationed in Huguang, Yin Xianmin and He Yide, are almost immediately defeated, and then quickly surrender.

The land of the two lakes belongs to the core interests of the south of the Ming Empire, and in the past few years, peasant armies from all walks of life have swam around in the two lakes, which has become a pain point in the heart of Emperor Chongzhen, who has long been unable to open the pot. Looking at Zhang Xianzhong's current activity, he has the posture of sweeping the entire Huguang, which frightened local officials from all over the country to ask for help from the surrounding areas.

It was not easy to send Zhang Xianzhong, the plague god, away from the governor of Jiangxi, Lu Daqi, although he had Zuo Liangyu's army in his hands, but he still played Taijiquan as in history. It's not that Lu Daqi wants to protect himself, but that Zuo Liangyu's army is more difficult to serve than Zhang Xianzhong. In order to recover Wuchang, Zuo Liangyu had already squeezed out all the food and salary that Lu Daqi could find, and his ability to raid places was not much worse than Zhang Xianzhong's.

But in order to give an explanation, Lu Daqi still urged Zuo Liangyu's troops to move towards the border between Jiangxi and Huguang. In his eyes, even if he couldn't scare Zhang Xianzhong away, he resolutely couldn't let Zhang Xianzhong return to Jiangxi again, otherwise his previous efforts would be in vain. As for the situation in Huguang, which is rapidly eroding, Lu Daqi can only help it.

Jiangxi Governor Lu Daqi was extremely unkind to sweep the snow in front of the door, which frightened Shen Youlong, the governor of Liangguang. Once Huguang allowed Zhang Xianzhong to mess around, the chrysanthemums of Liangguang next to Huguang would bloom. Liangguang has finally made some improvements over the years, if he is accidentally stabbed in by Zhang Xianzhong, then Shen Youlong can basically only choose to hang himself.

And historically, Zhang Xianzhong did go south to occupy almost half of Liangguang after this march into Huguang, if it weren't for Zhang Xianzhong's desire to let Li Zicheng become a monopoly and change the strategic direction, I am afraid that the entire Liangguang is just something that Zhang Xianzhong took away.

But it's a pity that the current Liangguang also doesn't have enough troops to resist the man who stands at the top of the food chain. (To be continued......)