The Red Banquet Building in the capital is still full of guests as in the past. But the shopkeeper still went out of the building after the luncheon, and this afternoon he was going to receive two merchants from other provinces in his shop.

The shopkeeper Zhang made wood, and the Red Banquet Building was a place for several major guilds in the capital to exchange news. Every morning, a group of businessmen drink morning tea in the Red Banquet Building, talk about the news of the north and the south, seek business opportunities by the way, and even reach a few large businesses. Therefore, sitting in the Red Banquet Building every day until lunch is run out is also one of the compulsory homework of the shopkeeper.

And today accompanied the shopkeeper Zhang out of the shopkeeper Song shopkeeper as a tea merchant, the two are not close friends, but the relationship is also good, so after leaving the building, the two chatted all the way.

"Brother Zhang, today's little brother looks at the golden shopkeeper who is a mule and horse, his face is wrong, can't he be sick?" Shopkeeper Song asked.

"Maybe! The gold shopkeeper has been working tirelessly, and he always refuses to rest for a few days all year round, and he can survive when he is young, but now that he is older, he should also pay attention to maintenance. Brother Wei also persuaded him several times, but he always didn't listen. Hey——! O hard work! Shopkeeper Zhang sighed.

"It's also helpless! I heard that this time the Imperial Forest Army of the Beijing camp has been dispatched, and the bandits have been cornered by the Henan official army, and they themselves have internal bars, and when the king arrives, the bandits will also disappear! And the army went out to requisition and buy civilian mules and horses, which made the price of mules and horses in Beijing soar again, so how could the golden shopkeeper not work hard? Shopkeeper Song said.

"It's really a matter of asking for money!" Shopkeeper Zhang couldn't help but shake his head and sighed.

At this moment, the two shopkeepers, Zhang and Song, suddenly saw a group of people running towards them, and the two people in the lead knew each other, and they were the stewards of an earl's mansion in the capital. Both Zhang and Song had done business with the Earl's Palace, and the steward had also received a lot of benefits from the two of them.

So Zhang and Song immediately stopped and bowed. The steward hurriedly returned the salute. Then the steward stopped, hesitated, and then ran to the two, and whispered, "Tell you two, the Tartar is in the customs again." The 30,000 troops that the imperial court had just sent out to suppress the thieves were also wiped out. The news had just reached the military department, and it had not yet spread in the capital. If you have a business outside the city, you should also prepare in advance. In the next place, I have to go out of the city first to clean up the property in the house. Neglect! Neglect! See you later! ”

After saying this, the steward did not care about the two shopkeepers who were still in a sluggish state, and immediately ran towards the city gate with the people in the earl's palace.

"This ——!" Shopkeeper Zhang and Shopkeeper Song have not yet woken up from this shocking news. They're still looking at each other.

Suddenly, another man came running in the direction of the two men. Shopkeeper Zhang saw that this person was a guy in his shop.

As soon as the guy saw the shopkeeper, he immediately said to the shopkeeper with a crying voice: "Shopkeeper! Before noon, the third lady and the sixth prince felt unwell, and the third shopkeeper immediately invited Lang Zhong. As soon as Langzhong came, he said that the third lady and the sixth prince were about to die. 3. Shopkeeper, please go home quickly! ”

"Ahh The shopkeeper was immediately shocked. "Isn't it good in the morning?"

Lang Zhong said: The number of patients in the capital has increased these days. It seems that the plague is infected, and most of the people who get sick can't survive for half a day. ”

……

When the Qing army broke through the Great Wall again and threatened the city of Beijing, the 30,000 troops who went out of the camp in Beijing walked for four or five days and came to a place about 150 miles away from the city.

After learning that the Qing army entered the customs, the civil and military leaders who led the army immediately had disagreements. Someone wants to return to Beijing immediately to protect the Beijing division. Some people were afraid that the Qing army would descend from the sky, so they wanted to flee to the nearest city nearby to protect themselves. Only a tiny fraction of them offered to fight the Qing army. However, it was proposed to maintain the original plan, and there was no one who went to Shanxi to encircle and suppress the camp. The civilian commander-in-chief who led the army was hesitant and did not dare to make any decisions on his own.

But the civil and military men had time to argue. The soldiers of the Beijing camp couldn't wait. When the news of the Qing army's entry spread in the barracks, the 30,000 troops dispersed, and each soldier fled for his life.

The soldiers of the Beijing camp are all natives, and they are familiar with the escape routes. In addition, these people all grew up at the foot of the imperial city, their vision is also high, and their social relations are also related to the officials, nobles and eunuchs in the capital, so they are not very afraid of the imperial court coming to settle accounts. Especially now that the law is not responsible, and if you don't hurry up and escape, aren't you still the gentlemen of the capital who have a living heart?

However, the roof leak happened to rain overnight.

Since the winter of the 15th year of Chongzhen, acute infectious diseases have appeared in Beijing one after another. At that time, it was called "pimple", and the symptoms were headache and body pain, cold and heat, redness and swelling of the head, face and neck, sore throat, and faintness. Patients often precede the interfemoral nucleus in the armpit, or vomit light blood and die, without the bait. And the incubation period of this acute infectious disease is quite short, only 1-3 days, or even only a few hours. According to the analysis of symptoms, it should be pneumonic plague.

What's more unfortunate is that if it is in normal times, it is difficult for the plague to spread in the cold winter, and the Ming Dynasty also had some means to prevent the spread of the plague at that time, and the fragmentary plague disease in the capital can still be controlled.

However, when the Qing army entered the customs, people near the capital came to the capital for refuge, and the sick and dead in the city could not be sent to the city at all. This disease fermented in the capital, and after the beginning of spring, the weather became warmer, and the plague suddenly appeared uncontrollable, making the plague spread wantonly in the capital. The details of this will be explained later.

On the ninth day of the first month of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, Tianjin Acropolis.

"Brethren! How does my veteran treat you on weekdays? The brethren patted their chests and thought about it. This has been raising soldiers for a thousand days, and we have nothing to say about it. My veteran will say: If there are brothers who want to leave, go quickly, and I will not stop the veterans, but the rest of the brothers will follow me to kill the Tartars! ”

Facing tens of thousands of Qing troops outside the city, General Jiang, who was responsible for guarding Tianjin, took hundreds of his own soldiers out of the city to meet the battle. Although there are soldiers and guards in Tianjin, after eating the empty salary, there are less than 4,000 soldiers who can be raised.

Originally, relying on these 4,000 soldiers, plus the requisitioned people in the city, they could barely resist the siege of the Qing army, but when they saw that the Qing army had placed sixteen general cannons and general cannons, the officials in the city knew that the city of Tianjin would definitely not be able to be saved.

The city walls of Tianjin City have been in disrepair for many years, and there are few artillery pieces at the head of the city, as long as the Qing army comes with one or two volleys, they can break through Tianjin City.

It is ridiculous that Tianjin Wei was originally the gateway to the city of Beijing, and its strategic position was very important, and the imperial court also allocated several military funds for the construction of city walls and the purchase of artillery. However, these expenses have disappeared inexplicably, and some have not even been allocated to Tianjin.

What's even more ridiculous is that the Ming Dynasty had five major firearms manufacturing bases, in addition to the north and south capitals, there are also Tianjin, Datong and Guangzhou. Of course, there was also a manufacturing base in Macau, but the artillery and firearms workshops there were controlled by the Portuguese. In addition, each border town, especially the Nine Sides, has its own small workshops. And this is not counting the firearms workshop of the Runing Army.

However, after the explosion occurred at the Wang Gong factory in Beijing, most of the firearms workshops in the capital were moved to Tianjin, making the firearms workshops in Tianjin even larger. But with such a firearms manufacturing base, how many cannons can't be taken out of the city? This shows how greedy and derelict the bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty and the eunuchs in charge of the supervision of firearms were.

But the Ming Dynasty didn't pay attention to it, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty could salivate. After entering the customs, the Qing army generally walked around the city in addition to attacking the necessary cities along the way, and did not waste time in the battle. They had to march all the way to Shandong, and then plundered all the way through. After that, a small army will be left to guard the captured property and population, concentrate the main force, cross the canal, and enter Guide and Runing, and destroy the last threatening army of the Ming Dynasty.

When this main strategic objective was accomplished, the Qing army would return all the way north and plunder city by city with determination.

But Tianjin is different. There were a large number of artisans and apprentices in the manufacture of firearms, which was a great asset to the Manchus. Because he was afraid that after the Qing army passed, the craftsmen in Tianjin City would abandon the city and flee, so Huang Taiji first concentrated the main force to attack Tianjin City.

Seeing that he was unable to defend the city, Jiang Counselor, who was defending Tianjin, simply took his family and his own soldiers out of the city to fight and engage in a suicidal battle.

So after a shout, General Chiang took the lead in riding a horse and rushed to the camp of the Qing army. But in front of the huge Qing army, it stirred up a few small waves, and then disappeared.

"Your Majesty! Such a bright dog is rare! Ao Bai smiled at Huang Taiji.

"There are always brave people. However, there are too few of these people among the Han people, and the others are all pigs and sheep. Huang Taiji's mood was also extremely happy, "Let's attack the city with artillery!" Be careful: the craftsmen and their families in the city are not to be disturbed, and be kind! Violators will be punished by military law! Others, let's make the athletes happy for three days! ”

With the deafening sound of artillery bombardment, several sections of the city wall of Tianjin City collapsed with a bang, and thousands of Qing troops took the lead in charging towards the gap. In a few moments, the screams and screams of women were heard in the city.

Huang Taiji and the others all shook their heads, this battle was too easy!

On the ninth day of the first month, the Qing army captured the city of Tianjin without much effort, especially in the city, without encountering any resistance. In Tianjin, except for the whole family of craftsmen and a small number of young women, all of them were slaughtered by the Qing army. In order not to affect the speed of their march south, the Qing army created a massacre in Tianjin. (To be continued......)