After the conquest of Xiangyang, there were serious strategic differences in the camp, and Xu Ping had no confidence in continuing southward, and he intended to occupy Wuchang to control the northern part of Huguang.

However, Sun Kewang thought that he had taken advantage of the victory to attack the south, in addition to the need for food from Huguang and Jiangxi, there was also an important reason for the ordnance, including artillery shells: "We have captured a lot of artillery of the Funing Army, which cannon is still a solid bullet, we can barely imitate it, but I don't have the ability to make the shells of the mortar cannon, we must attack Fujian." ”

"From here to Fujian, the mountains are high and the water is dangerous, we don't even have a water division, and the artillery shells are one less than one, what if we can't attack Fujian's military rations and gunpowder will run out?" Xu Ping still vehemently opposed this adventurous action, and he advocated that Henan should still be the center and that we should fight in a base area close to our geography and familiar with the people: "Eighty percent of our army are Henan disciples, and we cannot abandon Henan. ”

"It's good to take Henan, but we can't let Henan become a burden to us, it's a big deal to fight in Fujian and recruit a group of Fujian soldiers." Sun Kewang said disapprerovingly, most of the senior generals in Chuangying and Xiying are from Shaanxi, and they have developed like Henan, so they don't think there is anything difficult about this: "The court is so mediocre, the people of the world are not happy, are you afraid that no one will be a soldier in Fujian?" ”

"Everything you said is based on the premise of being able to enter Fujian, what if I can't enter Fujian?"

Seeing that Xu Ping and Sun Kewang's voices were getting higher and higher, Li Zicheng came out of the round: "You can take Wuchang first and then make plans." ”

"It's not difficult to take Wuchang," Li Dingguo interjected: "But the soldiers are fast, since the king has appointed me as the vanguard, can I see the opportunity to continue to advance south after taking Wuchang?" ”

"Of course."

"Then if I hit the border of Jiangxi, can I attack Jiangxi?" Li Dingguo asked.

"Nope." Without waiting for Li Zicheng to speak, Xu Ping preemptively objected: "The Funing army and the Zhaoqing army are now gathered in Jiangxi, it is best not to act recklessly." ”

"We already know very well what kind of goods the Funing Army is, I don't understand why you are so cowardly, General." In the past few days, Li Dingguo has collected some information about Jiangxi, all of which are newspapers issued by the Jiangxi Governor Yamen, and Li Dingguo said: "The Jiangxi Governor has recruited the people to train and is ready to resist us. It's a folk practice! Li Dingguo accentuated his tone: "The officers and soldiers in the interior are already vulnerable, but now Jiangxi is not even enough to rely on civilian training!" These people probably will flee with their tails between their legs when they see us, or simply drive for our army. ”

Li Dingguo's words are very convincing, when fighting in other provinces, the local militia is the most unreliable kind of force, and the local officials will not use the militia to fight unless absolutely necessary. For example, many of the militia in Henan are hungry people, and they have no good impression of the government, and it is common for them to defect in battle, and their greatest use may be to assist in the search and arrest of the rout soldiers who are hiding after the regular army defeats the intruding army.

After hearing that Jiangxi had summoned the militia, Ji Huisi hurriedly said: "King Chuang, the last general is willing to go south with General Li and seize Jiangxi to dedicate to the king." ”

After the other leaders of the rebel army learned of this good news, they also expressed their support for going south, but Li Zicheng did not speak but set his eyes on Xu Ping.

Now Xu Ping is also a little hesitant in his heart, since the governor of Jiangxi is recruiting militia, it can already be determined that the Ming army in Jiangxi has reached the point of exhaustion, and he has no reason to object.

"Okay." Seeing that Xu Ping was silent, Li Zicheng immediately ordered all his troops to prepare for the south, and if Wuchang was easily obtained and the southern part of Huguang was empty, they could continue to attack; If Jiangxi has an opportunity, it can also attack it. Since Ji Huisi was the first to take the initiative to ask Ying, Li Zicheng asked him to be the vanguard with Li Dingguo, and if he encountered the Jiangxi militia, he did not need to use Li Dingguo's Sanxi Battalion, but handed it over to Ji Huisi to be responsible for elimination. Li Dingguo's troops could recuperate and be ready to engage the main forces of the Funing Army and the Zhaoqing Army at any time.

After the meeting, Niu Jinxing sent someone to Xu Ping's camp and recruited him to Li Zicheng to talk privately, the more Xu Ping and Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo had differences recently, the more cordial Niu Jinxing became to Xu Ping: "Brother Xu, I know that Huang Hou is very kind to you, but since Jiangxi is so empty, then we still have to consider the tens of thousands of brothers who broke into the camp." ”

"What are you talking about?" Xu Ping felt that Niu Jinxing's words sounded a little harsh, as if implying that he was deliberately not thinking about breaking into the camp: "I just think that some brothers are underestimating Master Hou too much." ”

"I have discussed with the king, this time Brother Xu will not lead the troops when he goes south."

Xu Ping turned his head to look at Li Zicheng, who nodded.

"In that case, well." Xu Ping was too lazy to argue, and arched his hand to indicate that he received the order.

"Brother Xu, don't think about it." Niu Jinxing explained with a smile: "We are just afraid that Brother Xu will be difficult to do, anyway, a group of people in Jiangxi plus the newly defeated Funing Army, there is no need for a general like Brother Xu to come out." ”

"That's what the military advisor said." Xu Ping looked very calm: "The king, the military advisor, is there anything else?" ”

"Yes, something very important." Niu Jinxing handed Xu Ping a piece of information, which was only sent back from Henan today, and it was an urgent letter from the troops left behind in Henan.

Xu Ping took it and looked at it twice, and his face changed color: "Sun Chuanting is going to be out of the customs again?" ”

"Yes."

The camp left behind in Henan reported that after the fiasco of the Funing Army, Zhendonghe made a big fuss in the court, insisting on sending several battalions of the new army to the south. Of course, this proposal will not be agreed by the imperial court, so the Qin army was urgently ordered to go out of the customs and directly attack the base of the camp, this time Chongzhen Tianzi handed over all the military power of the entire seven northern provinces to Sun Chuanting, and Chen Yongfu, the general soldier of Henan, attacked Luoyang in the vanguard, and even the Hebei army guarding the Beijing division was led by Yang Wenyue to go to Sun Chuanting to round.

"Why didn't you tell everyone about such an important thing just now?" Xu Ping was immediately anxious, although his subordinates said that they were willing to follow him to leave their homeland and launch an expedition, but if they knew that their hometown was in danger, they would inevitably complain.

"I'm afraid of affecting the morale of the military." Niu Jinxing replied: "Is the general willing to lead the army back to Henan to face Sun Chuanting?" ”

"It's incumbent." Xu Ping immediately stated that now what he wanted to know most was which troops he could bring back.

"Although the general of the guards battalion can be brought back, the remaining troops in Henan are also under the unified command of the general. In any case, the Funing Army is the descendant of Huang Hou's family, and the king always needs more soldiers here to be insured. Although the armored battalion commanded by Li Laiheng is known as the small guard battalion, Niu Jinxing did not agree with Xu Ping to take it away: "This rescue is like fighting fire, when does the general plan to leave?" ”

"I'll go gather my men." Xu Ping bowed his hand to Li Zicheng: "The last general has left." ”

"The general has worked hard," Li Zicheng said with some apology on his face: "It's not idle to go back and forth." ”

"It's a matter of duty."

Xu Ping hurriedly left Li Zicheng's camp and returned to the camp of the guards camp to discuss the immediate return to Henan.

"This is the fourth time in three years that the Qin army has come out of the customs, right?" Yu Shenhe counted with his fingers: "The first time was Fu Zonglong, the second time was Wang Qiaonian, and then Sun Chuanting was beaten to the point that the whole army was wiped out and fled back to Tongguan alone, why did he dare to come out again?" ”

Sun Chuanting, the trilateral governor known as the March Ping Thief, had been guarding Tongguan before, and after hearing that the Qin army had come to Henan again, Yu Shenhe said disdainfully: "When did Sun Chuanting become so bold again?" ”

"I probably heard that we left Henan, and Sun Chuanting plans to come out to pick up the bargain, right? It must have been after learning that we were going south, Sun Chuanting knew that Henan was empty and felt that there was an opportunity. Besides, didn't he say that he would train for a year after Sun Chuanting's defeat last time, and then he could put down the thieves in March? He had been training as a soldier for more than a year, and it was estimated that Dusk Jun felt that Governor Sun should fulfill his promise. Xu Ping asked the Guards Battalion to leave all the heavy weapons to the armored battalion, and the soldiers set off lightly and set off tomorrow to return to Henan.

……

Since Sun Chuanting heard about the flood in Henan, he began to wait and see if he could get out of the customs, but he was still worried that the main force of the army had not been completely wiped out by the flood, so he always hesitated. Although Li Zicheng disbanded most of his troops last year, Sun Chuanting still felt uncertain.

Then the news of the infighting in the camp came, Li Zicheng killed Luo Rucai, Lao Huihui and others parted ways with him, and contacted the previous break into the camp to disband the troops, Sun Chuanting was sure that the camp was indeed seriously injured in the flood and began to annex itself. But despite the heavy damage to the camp, Sun Chuanting still felt that there was no chance of winning the attack on Li Zicheng, so he still stood still as always.

Although this time it was the imperial court that urged Sun Chuanting to send troops, but in fact it was not completely against his will, Li Zicheng waved his army south, and had already fought fiercely with the Chu army and the Funing army in Huguang, according to Sun Chuanting's reconnaissance, there were only a few left-behind troops left in Henan. Last year, I was not sure to fight 100,000 troops, and I was not sure to fight tens of thousands of troops at the beginning of the year, but now I am sure that I am still sure of fighting thousands of troops.

In order to ensure the smooth development of the offensive, Sun Chuanting tried his best to ask Emperor Chongzhen for troops, and the Bianjun army who was driven out of Henan, the Sichuan army that fled to Shaanxi from northern Sichuan, the Hebei army, and the Lu army...... As long as Sun Chuanting can collect the troops, he will not let go, and now he has 200,000 troops in his hands. Despite these military preparations, Emperor Chongzhen was still very worried about whether he would be able to succeed in suppressing the bandits, and under the persuasion of the cabinet, the emperor finally agreed to issue a decree to exempt Henan from taxes for three years, hoping to help Sun Chuanting win the hearts and minds of the people—this was the first time that Emperor Chongzhen agreed to tax exemption in Henan.

In the past three years, the Ming court has lost countless troops in Henan, and this army in the hands of Sun Chuanting has been the last property of the Ming court except for the new army. Some garrisons that should not have been used as mobile troops were also taken out of Tongguan by Sun Chuanting.

In late August, Sun Chuanting's vanguard troops arrived in Luoyang and occupied the depopulated town. After occupying Luoyang, Sun Chuanting's staff persuaded him to stick here, and the recovery of Luoyang was already possible to give an explanation to the imperial court, and Luoyang was surrounded by mountains and rivers, and 200,000 troops were held here.

But Sun Chuanting didn't see it that way, and the main force of the Chuang army still continued to move south and began to attack Xiangyang. Therefore, Sun Chuanting judged that the ambition of the army was in Jiangxi, Huguang, and Fujian, so the great achievement of recovering Henan could easily fall into the bag, so he hurriedly supervised the army to continue to march south.

After leaving Luoyang, the Ming army began to walk in the area where the people lived, and before arriving in Ruzhou County, Sun Chuanting had killed more than 100,000 people in Henan, and handed it over to Chongzhen as the head of the army.

There were no soldiers who broke into the camp along the way, Sun Chuanting was even more convinced that his judgment was not wrong, and at the same time handed over the heads of the people to the imperial court, Sun Chuanting boasted in the recital, telling Emperor Chongzhen: "The thieves heard that the names of the ministers were all defeated." ”

Chongzhen heard the great joy, and handed over Sun Chuanting's report to the courtiers on the same day, and the cabinet was of course a sycophant, all saying that Emperor Chongzhen's order to Sun Chuanting's exit was "a winning move to destroy thieves." After reading Sun Chuanting's letter, Emperor Chongzhen, who had agreed to tax exemption because he felt that he would not be able to collect taxes from Henan anyway, changed his mind again. After Sun Chuanting's victory made him feel that there was hope for tax collection, Emperor Chongzhen reversed course on the same day, strictly ordered the cabinet to select suitable local officials, and immediately rushed to the counties recovered in Henan to take office and collect the tax arrears. Of course, at this time, Emperor Chongzhen did not expect that it would not be long before he would issue a second edict to exempt Henan from taxes.

……

On September 5, the bandit army arrived in Ruzhou, and after entering the city, Sun Chuanting slaughtered all the people in the city.

Ruzhou is followed by Baofeng, there are 300 troops left in this city, and the people of Baofeng, who heard that the officers and soldiers slaughtered the city all the way, decided to surrender in exchange for Sun Chuanting's leniency. Sun Chuanting said kind words to appease the gentry who had surrendered, and the next day with the assistance of Nei Ying attacked Baofeng. After eliminating the remaining intruding army, Sun Chuanting still slaughtered the entire city of Baofeng, among which all the male heads were handed over to the imperial court to report their merits, and all the women were rewarded to the bandit army as military prostitutes. Even Baofeng Jinshen, who went out of the city to contact Sun Chuanting and acted as an internal response, was not spared.

After the Baofeng Massacre, only 260 people remained in the city, and these people were not spared death because of Sun Chuanting's kindness, but because they had relatives who were officials in the court. The Baofeng Massacre was by no means unable to control the army, but that Sun Chuanting killed all the people that Sun Chuanting thought it was okay to kill after screening and screening.

Baofeng was followed by Lushan, and there was no army left in Lushan City, because after learning of the Baofeng Massacre, the people of Lushan refused to allow Fang Qin's army to enter the city. Sun Chuanting ordered the bandit army to attack the city, and after breaking through Lushan, Sun Chuanting did not leave a single person alive, not a single old and young in the city, not even the women - the women here did not even have a chance to live as military prostitutes.

Leaving Lushan, the next county is Tang County, and the elders of Tang County follow Baofeng's example and send the gentry to negotiate with Sun Chuanting, hoping that the bandit army can show mercy. Sun Chuanting swore that he would never continue to kill people, and the gentry of Tang County believed Sun Chuanting's promise and returned to the city to persuade the people to agree to the bandit army to enter the city.

On the 12th, after Sun Chuanting's bandit army entered Tang County, Sun Chuanting immediately carried out the identification work like Baofeng, and singled out more than 100 people who had relatives who were officials in the court.

Sun Chuanting's logic is obviously that there is no need for anyone who does not have an absolute need to live. After the identification work was completed, the bandit army began to slaughter the city, and Tang County, which did not resist like Baofeng, received the same treatment as Baofeng, and Sun Chuanting pardoned all the women as military prostitutes of the bandit army.

The 260 people in Baofeng, plus more than 100 people in Tang County, totaled less than 400 people.

I don't know how many people fled their hometowns from Luoyang to Tang County in advance, but after Sun Chuanting's bandit army, these more than 300 people are the only survivors who are reliable in history.

Ruzhou, Baofeng, Lushan, and Tang counties, which have hundreds of thousands of registered population, were reduced to more than 300 people by Sun Chuanting in less than ten days. This is the work of Emperor Chongzhen's confidant, Sun Chuanting and Sun Inspector's work to recover Henan, a work under the banner of "raising living beings and suppressing thieves and reassuring the people".

China's land is a land of many disasters, and there have been many massacres of extermination of humanity against the Chinese people in this land, such as the recent massacres in Tieling, Shenyang, and Liaoyang in Nurhachi, and in the original history of Huangshi, there will be many Duoduo Yangzhou, Shang Ke Guangzhou, and in the previous life of Huangshi, there was also the Japanese army in Nanjing.

However, even Nurhachi, Duoduo and Shang Kexi, and even the Japanese army did not kill Sun Chuanting so cleanly.

Especially...... Sadly, Sun Chuanting is a Chinese official, and the army he leads is under the banner of the squadron.

At present, there are two roads in front of the people of Henan:

First, resist the Ming army, then the whole family, whether male or female, will die;

Second, if you don't resist, men, the elderly, and children will die, and women will be snatched away.

Every Henan citizen, whether it is a gentry or a farmer, whether it is a merchant or a peddler, whether it is an elderly person or a young child, whether it is a husband or a wife.

Here's the problem:

Sun Chuanting is coming, the Ming army is coming, are you resisting or not resisting?

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