September.

A vast land outside the border of Liaodong.

In the "West Liaoning Corridor" that stretches for thousands of miles from Shenyang (Shengjing) and Liaoyang, to Jinzhou, Songshan, Xingshan, and then to Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan, there are countless men, women and children, wearing the unique horse coat costumes of Houjin, and even the clothes worn by the clothed slaves.

This crowd is very long.

At least hundreds of thousands.

And almost all of them are thin, vegetable, or swollen, and I don't know if I can go south.

Even so, it couldn't stop their determination to flee to the south and return to Guannai, even if they died halfway through.

Because there is no food.

There is no grain left, and to continue to stay in Liaodong is to wait for death, so it is better to break away from Houjin and return to the south to find a way to live.

Famine.

An unprecedented famine!

Due to the abnormal climate this year, the rainfall in the north has decreased, and if there is only a sharp reduction in grain production in the Guan, Liaodong outside the Guanxi will simply have no harvest, and not a single grain will grow in the field, and it will either freeze to death or die of drought.

Production was reduced by 100 percent.

In fact, in previous years, the grain output and self-sufficiency rate of Liaodong were not high, mainly to be supported by animal husbandry, and most of the grain was transported through the merchants of Shanxi, and then purchased at a high price.

If the money is not enough, they will go into the customs to rob, and by the way, they can also replenish some grain and livestock.

But now that the eight Jin merchants are gone, other Shanxi merchants do not dare to sell grain to Liaodong.

The Houjin army did not dare to enter the customs to rob again, and if they dared to go again, the end would definitely be annihilated, and the Houjin would perish.

That is, all channels for obtaining food from the outside are blocked.

The crisis can only ferment and erupt internally.

As early as June, people began to starve to death.

In July, many people starved to death in the city of Shengjing.

In August, there were many tragedies of cannibalism, and many grain riots broke out, killing and injuring thousands of people.

In desperation, the Houjin high-level had to allow these Hanmin to leave and allow them to find a way to survive.

So the Han farmers who farmed and grazed for them left.

The coated minions who were waiting around him were gone.

Even the generals and soldiers of the Eight Banners of the Han Army were gone, and they abandoned the leaky and broken ship of Houjin.

On the way to escape at this moment.

A little boy who looked like he was seven or eight years old sitting on a chicken bus, when the car stopped to rest, weakly asked an old and thin man, "Amma, can we go back to the south?" ”

"I don't know, don't call me Amma, call me Dad, we are Han, we have to use the name of Han." The old thin man said.

"Okay Dad, since we are Han people, and the people in the south are also Han people, they should accept us and give us a little food, right?" The child asked innocently.

"I don't know, I don't know!" The old man scratched at the few strands of hair on the top of his head (the braids had been cut), and suddenly became a little hideous and irritable.

"Dad, are we going to die? Mother, where the hell did she go, and why didn't she come with us? ”

"Your mother has actually been with us all along, she will support us to the south, no matter what, we will survive this time." The old man said with a strange smile, and his eyes looked at the bag oozing red from the chicken bus.

"Oh~" The boy nodded as if he didn't understand.

……

The rear of the refugee ranks.

Yue Tuo, the owner of the Red Banner Banner, was leading about 10,000 elite members of the Eight Banners to follow behind these refugees, driving and killing several people from time to time, with the intention of deliberately driving these hungry refugees to the south.

"We should exterminate these Han people!"

Shuotuo next to him said with a murderous and angry face: "When they arrive in the south, there is no one to plant our land, no one to take care of cattle and horses, and they may still join the Ming army, turn around, point knives and guns at us, and want to cut off our heads to make meritorious contributions, and it will be a disaster to keep them." ”

"Will it work to kill them?"

Yue Tuo shook his head and said: "We don't have food to feed them, and even our own people are starting to starve, if we don't let them go, they will rebel, and they will fight with us to lose both, although we will win, but the Jurchen people are young and strong, there are only 30,000 people left, plus the old and weak women and children are only 100,000, how many more times can we fight with the Han people?" Letting them go is a last resort. ”

"But what if the Guanning army takes in these hundreds of thousands of Han people, and next year they will use these Han people as guides and send them to attack us? Can we resist it? ”

Shuo Tuo raised his biggest concern, these Han people are too familiar with Liaodong, if these people rebel against the water, it will be a very great threat.

"Even if we kill them all, after a year or two, the Ming army will still kill back to Liaodong, we can't grow food, the cattle, sheep and horses supported by the pasture are limited, and the Eight Banners Mongolia also betrayed us immediately after the death of the Great Khan, and now the biggest problem in front of us is not whether to kill these Han people, but how to feed ourselves."

Yue Tuo said worriedly.

"Then keep grabbing!"

Shuotuo shook his horsewhip and shouted with a fierce face: "If you can't rob the Ming Dynasty, then rob Mongolia, if you can't rob Mongolia, then rob North Korea, if you can't even rob North Korea, then go and rob those savage Jurchens, as long as you keep robbing and killing!" There is always a way to survive. ”

For his younger brother's words, if it was before, Yue Tuo would definitely raise his hands in favor, looting and killing is the way of survival of the Jurchen Eight Banners, they are the clan of tigers and wolves, and the others are all clans of cattle, sheep and horses, so they should be plundered, killed and enslaved by them, this is a matter of course.

But the Great Khan died, and the Great Khan Emperor Taiji, who had always been wise and martial, died not long after returning to the north.

Before he died, he gave up the position of Khan to his brother Daishan, and asked Abatai, Dolgon, Duoduo and other brothers to do their best to assist Zuo, and there must be no internal discord, and the brothers must not be torn apart.

The other is to tell not to attack the Ming Dynasty again, but to call the ministers, cut the land and seek peace, and remove the Houjin State number, reduce it to a vassal state, and even reduce it to the Eight Banners tribe, as long as it does not attract the Ming army to come, how to obey the soft.

In the end, it is to recuperate and increase the population, at least 20 years of lying on the salary, and the youth of the clan has increased to more than 100,000, before it can be said to fight, and can only take advantage of the weakness to enter, if the Ming Dynasty is strong again, it will always be a vassal state, and must not move the slightest delusion......

For these exhortations of the Great Khan.

Dai Shan and the others nodded again and again, indicating that they would listen to it, and let the Great Khan Emperor Taiji pass away suddenly.

But this year's drought proves that it is not feasible for the Jurchen Eight Banners to recuperate, not a single grain can grow in the field, and people will starve to death, so what can they do to recuperate?

"Invincible Begins with Sacrificing to the Ancestors"

So this time, the two brothers Yue Tuo and Shuo Tuo, with 10,000 elites of the Eight Banners, followed behind hundreds of thousands of refugees, just to see if they could find an opportunity to see how the Ming army stationed in Songshan, Jinzhou and other places would deal with these hundreds of thousands of refugees from Liaodong?

If the door is closed, you can fan and drive these refugees to attack the city, and when the attack is almost complete, they, the elite of the Eight Banners, can inflict the final blow, take Jinzhou and Songshan, and then seize some food and materials to solve the problem of lack of food in Houjin.

If the door is opened and mixed into the ranks of the refugees, it can play a huge role, it will be launched suddenly, the inside and the outside should be combined, or it can capture the two cities, seize more supplies, and then drive the refugees to continue south, until they are all consumed and all the value is squeezed out.

Anyway, regardless of whether the Ming army on the Guanningjin defense line accepts or does not accept these refugees, they Jurchen Eight Banners are all winners.

Therefore, the thorny problem fell on the side of the Guan Ning army.

……

Under the city of Jinzhou.

Tens of thousands of refugees from Liaodong have gathered, and they have made a sad cry:

"Help us!"

"We are all members of the Han family."

"Give me a way to live, give me something to eat."

"We are just ordinary people who farm the land, and we have never done anything that hurts nature and reason."

But these wails were not exchanged for any sympathy or relief.

The city gate suddenly opened, countless horses' hooves sounded, and more than 3,000 elite cavalry came out, led by the general, who had always liked to ride on two walls, but now there was no second heart.

With a murderous face, he ordered: "All young and strong people who have shaved their hair will be killed!" Don't leave a single one, these are the real Tartars of Jianzhou, kill one and reward five taels of silver, and then ask the court for merit and reward! ”

"The woman with a decent posture stays, and the rest are all killed!"

Puff puff~

The horrific slaughter began.

Zu Dashou frantically waved the alloy knife in his hand, personally cut off no less than thirty heads, and said fiercely while killing: "Who let you surrender Houjin, who let you be the Shunmin of the Tartars?" Who told you to shave your hair? Damn, you all deserve to die, don't even think about alive! ”

It didn't take long.

Except for a few female refugees, the tens of thousands of refugees under the city of Jinzhou have all turned into corpses, and the refugees behind are frightened and turn around and run, or go to Songshan by another road.

……

At this moment, under the Matsuyama defense line.

There are more refugees, perhaps 100,000 in number, and it's even more lively.

But these refugees were not slaughtered, but were treated with great hospitality, all of them were accepted, for some high-value refugees (such as craftsmen), Wu Xiang, Cao Wenzhao, Wang Yinghui, the three general soldiers were fighting fiercely, their faces were red, and they almost rolled up their sleeves and dried up.

By the way, what's going on?

A bunch of hungry refugees are just burdens, why are they fighting so fiercely?

"The Tangshan iron mine I contracted needs at least 200,000 young miners, how about giving me all the young and strong? What's more, in my mine, the two of you also have forty percent of the shares, why do you want to compete with me? Cao Wenzhao said.

"No, my Ningyuan Livestock Farm needs to contract millions of acres of land to raise cattle and sheep, and it needs tens of thousands of farmers and herdsmen, tens of thousands of young and strong people to cut down trees, and craftsmen to build ships, and then set up a fishing fleet to fish in the sea...... More manpower is needed, not to mention the old man's industry, you also own shares, giving people to the old man is for yourself, there is no need to compete so much. Chief soldier Wu Xiang said.

"My Zunhua gold mine and lime mine also need countless manpower, so it's better to give me all the women, girls, children and old people, anyway, I just need to take care of them one meal a day, and pull them down when they die." Deputy Chief Soldier Wang Yinghui said.

"It's okay to do this, but you have to pick out all the beauties, there are many singles in the army, if you reward them with a beautiful woman, they will definitely be demoralized and more loyal." Wu Xiang said.

"Then give me five hundred, no, eight hundred, and the rest of the old and weak women and children, whatever you want." Cao Wenzhao thought for a while.

All in all.

No matter how many refugees come to Liaodong, even if it is a million, they can all be arranged, and no one will be wasted.

After all, Cao Wenzhao, Wu Xiang, and Wang Yinghui have more than a dozen mines, livestock farms, workshops and other industries, which can accommodate a large number of labor resources.

Even if you can't digest it, you can resell it to Yang Yufan, the general soldier of Tongzhou, Wang Hong, the general soldier of Tianjin, or even sell it to the mines in Shandong, and you don't have to worry about not being able to deal with it at all.

This made Yue Tuo and Shuo Tuo, who had been waiting outside the Songshan defense line for several days with tens of thousands of Eight Banner elites, feel extremely puzzled and puzzled.

You must know that the Songshan defense line has absorbed more than 200,000 refugees from Liaodong, and there are more than 500 internal responses.

The brothers Yue Tuo and Shuo Tuo, who felt that something was wrong, had to take the army and get closer to the Songshan defense line, wanting to know more about the situation.

But they were still twenty miles away from Matsuyama Castle, and the vigilant sentries spotted them through binoculars and immediately lit a beacon smoke to warn them.

The defenders on the Songshan defense line no longer chose to shrink this time, but sent 30,000 elite Guanning troops out of the city to fight.

"Withdraw, withdraw quickly, don't fight hard!"

Yue Tuo immediately ordered the withdrawal of the army, but the Guan Ning army was in hot pursuit behind, and it was difficult to get rid of it, and Shuo Tuo, who felt extremely aggrieved, suddenly ordered to turn around and face the battle, ignoring Yue Tuo's order, and led three thousand subordinates to charge.

Needless to say, in the end.

The elite of the 3,000 Eight Banners was annihilated, and Shuoto was knocked off his horse and taken prisoner.

Yue Tuo's eyes were shattered when he saw this scene, but he couldn't do anything but order a faster retreat.