Two days later, Kaifeng Fucheng.
Within two days, the New Army cavalry battalion and Chen Yongfu's cavalry continued to attack, searching for traces of the bandit remnants around Kaifeng City. The New Army battalions were out at night, mainly looking for intelligence east and south. Even Wu Guojin , Wang Yang also left Kaifeng City with people from the Intelligence Department, hoping to search for information on the bandit army.
In the past two days, all kinds of news gathered in front of Liu Yan: the defenders left by the bandit army in various cities had been defeated one after another, and there was still no trace of the remnants of Li Zicheng, Li Guo, Li Laiheng and other troops.
Liu Yan sighed, this was the shortcoming of the late Ming Dynasty. At present, the Ming court's control over local areas has been weakened to a very terrible situation. Even in the hinterland of the Central Plains, it is still difficult to control local control forces.
Today, Henan and other places have been sieved by the bandit army, which has aggravated the situation and made it difficult for the New Army units to move forward in Henan and other places. Even if they defeated Li Zicheng's hundreds of thousands of troops, they were still like blind men. For The dormant remnants of Li Zicheng could not find even the slightest clue.
"The situation is worse than I imagined!"
Liu Yan looked at the intelligence gathered in his hands and realized deeply that Henan at this time had actually become a "power vacuum" zone. The bandit army had withdrawn, and the court was unable to stop the troops from entering in a short period of time. , this is very dangerous. As long as Li Zicheng corrects himself a little, he can make a comeback!
In the capital commander's office, Xun Jingyun, Miao Shao, Xu Ming, Shen Tuo and other battalion commanders and commanders were all worried. No one expected that the two
After the battle, Li Zicheng and other remaining troops "disappeared".
Miao Shao took a memorial and asked: "Headquarters, now that the victory report has been written, should it be sent to the capital immediately?"
Liu Yan thought for a while and said: "Send it away. With this good news, the imperial court can stop the troops in the Central Plains and transfer us away."
Everyone was speechless.
Xun Jingyun said dissatisfied: "At present, Li Chuang is nowhere to be found, and the bandits still have tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops. The imperial court should send more money, food and reinforcements to continue the siege with the main town. Why at this time?" Transfer us?"
Liu Yan smiled bitterly. It was normal for Xun Jingyun not to understand, because it was a long story.
"Withdrawal is inevitable, because both the imperial court and the Henan government hope that our new troops will be transferred as soon as possible."
"Why!"
Everyone asked almost in unison.
Liu Yan said: "The imperial court wants to transfer us because it wants to go all out to support the Liaodong battlefield. In the eyes of Chen Xinjia and the emperor, Li Zicheng has been defeated. Even if he makes a comeback, it will not be a matter of time. The most important thing right now is We still have to win the Battle of Jinzhou, so the consumption of money and food in Henan is best to stop immediately, and our New Army officers and soldiers are best to return to the battlefield in Liaodong immediately."
"As for Chen Yongfu and Gao Mingheng..."
Liu Yan picked up the victory report and said: "The great contribution to defeating Li Zicheng is ours. Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu are also the servants. Maybe because of the deaths of Lu Duchen and Fu Duchen, the two of them will make a mistake to offset their merits." , all the work was in vain. So they must hope that we will be transferred as soon as possible, and then the two of them will organize their troops and continue to pursue Li Zicheng, and sit back and collect this song
The power of the tail. "
Everyone was stunned when they heard this, and Xu Ming said coldly: "The two of them have a good idea, but what are they going to use to continue to encircle and suppress Li Zicheng's defeated troops? Just Chen Yongfu's thousands of soldiers?"
Liu Yan waved his hand. These were no longer things he needed to consider. Based on his own considerations, the days of the New Army soldiers staying in Henan were numbered.
So Liu Yan said: "Each battalion should be ready to leave. The ashes of the fallen soldiers of each battalion and the wounded of each battalion must be taken away. No one can be left behind! In addition, we must also take the money and food in the Kaifeng City treasury. Fifty percent of the way, Deputy Xun will ask about this matter, and we will load the vehicle and register it as soon as possible in the next few days."
Everyone suddenly accepted the order.
Xu Ming asked again: "Headquarters, what should I do with Sun Kewang, who was captured by my subordinates? Will he be sent to the capital together with the good news?"
Liu Yan then remembered that there was still Sun Kewang in prison. He had been so busy these two days that he had forgotten about it.
For Sun Kewang, Liu Yan did not have the same favorable impression as he did for Li Dingguo. Li Dingguo persisted in resisting the Qing Dynasty from beginning to end. Even when he was at an extreme disadvantage, he led his army to fight hard. As a result, the two factions became kings and the world was shocked. He was recognized as a national hero.
And what about Sun Kewang? Although this man was brave and was called "a wall" by the army, he was also very cunning, extremely selfish, and greedy for power.
Historically, after Zhang Xianzhong died in the battle in northern Sichuan, Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo and others led the remaining troops of the Western Army south to capture the Yunnan-Guizhou area. Sun Kewang was able to persist in resisting the Qing Dynasty at first. But later, for the sake of power, after Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo and others took refuge in the Yongli court, they used force to hijack the Yongli court and gain promotion for themselves.
very
In order to seek the title of King of Qin, Sun Kewang killed thirty Nanming scholars. Later, internal strife broke out with Li Dingguo, which greatly damaged the anti-Qing forces.
During this internal strife, Sun Kewang led troops from Guizhou into Yunnan to attack Li Dingguo. Because his generals defected, he was defeated by Li Dingguo's troops. Sun Kewang shamelessly surrendered to the Qing army and was integrated into the Zhengbai Banner of the Han army.
Later, Sun Kewang followed Wu Sangui's example and took the initiative to lead Qing troops into Sichuan and Guizhou. As a result, the people of Sichuan were massacred by the Qing army. In the future, the Qing government had to fill Sichuan with Huguang to make up for the missing population in Sichuan.
For a traitor like Sun Kewang, Liu Yan would naturally not let him stay, so he said: "This person does not need to be a prisoner to the court. Just behead him outside Kaifeng City early tomorrow morning, and then send his head to the capital."
Although everyone was puzzled, they had no objections. Anyway, there were many bandit prisoners who would be beheaded tomorrow morning.
As early as the day the battle ended, Liu Yan informed Chen Yongfu and Gao Mingheng that among the many captives, ordinary soldiers could cut off the thumbs of both hands and leave them with a way to live. However, among the prisoners, the bandit captains, commanders, and The commander-in-chief, the commander-in-chief, and other officers are all guilty of heinous crimes and must not be retained. They must be beheaded on the spot.
Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu had no objection to this. After all, no one wanted to leave trouble for themselves.
In the blink of an eye, on the morning of the next day, more than 300 prisoners, including Sun Kewang, were escorted out of the city. At the battlefield west of Kaifeng City, these prisoners were tied up and gathered in one place, surrounded by the guards of the New Army Guards Battalion.
Around him, tens of thousands of people from Kaifeng City swarmed in, facing Sun Kewang and other prisoners.
They yelled and cursed angrily and kept throwing clods of earth, tiles and other objects, causing Sun Kewang and other prisoners to suffer bruises and bloody heads. Even some New Army soldiers were implicated and found shields to "protect themselves."
Chen Yongfu and Gao Mingheng led the civil and military officials in Kaifeng City to the top of the urn at the West Gate. Even Zhou King Zhu Gongzhen came to the top of the tower surrounded by a group of Zhou vassal clan members.
A group of officials immediately saluted the King of Zhou, and then exchanged greetings with the Zhou vassal clan.
Then Liu Yan, surrounded by Xun Jingyun, Xu Ming, Miao Shao, Zhang Yi, Wang Bo, Wang Yue and others, wore armor and climbed onto the tower. Whether they were civil or military officials or Zhou vassal clan, they all moved towards Liu Yan To salute, even Zhou Wang Zhu Gongzhen, Gao Mingheng, and Chen Yongfu also took the initiative to come forward.
At this time, Liu Yan not only had the status of a count, commanded tens of thousands of elite troops, but was also the number one hero in defeating Li Zicheng's hundreds of thousands of troops, so he naturally had this ability.
However, Liu Yan also took the initiative to salute Zhou Wang Zhu Gongxu and greeted everyone with fists in his arms. He did not take any credit and was arrogant, which immediately attracted everyone's praise.
"Haha, has General Liu's good news been sent out?"
After some pleasantries, Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu came over, and Gao Mingheng asked in a low voice.
"Sent him out early in the morning. Didn't Gao Futai report anything to the court?"
Gao Mingheng smiled awkwardly and said: "I and General Chen jointly wrote a memorial, praising the merits of General Liu and the New Army officers. In addition, he also suggested that the imperial court send General Liu back to rest for a while. After all, The army fought bloody battles, and the soldiers were very tired."
Liu Yan sneered in his heart, this is an order to expel guests.
, and then said: "This actually reminds me of this town. In the victory report, our town also mentioned to the Ministry of War that our New Army soldiers first fought hard in Liaodong, and then fought a bloody battle with hundreds of thousands of bandits in Kaifeng. Now Our soldiers are exhausted. This town has officially requested in the victory report to return to Qinglai Town to rest for a while."
Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu couldn't believe it when they heard this. Liu Yan actually gave up on pursuing the remnants of Li Zicheng and asked to withdraw?
The two of them thought that Liu Yan was testing them and wanted to continue asking, but Liu Yan walked to the arrow stack with a smile and looked out: "Huh, when Li Zicheng comes back, don't think about asking for help." I."
When Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu saw this, they didn't know much about it anymore, and they looked outside the city with everyone.
It's not that Liu Yan doesn't want to continue to pursue Li Zicheng, but the money and food shipped by the Ministry of War is getting less and less, obviously forcing a quick victory on the battlefield in Henan. Even if Liu Yan continues to stay to pursue Li Zicheng's remnants, how to solve the problem of money and food?
Liu Yan is not noble enough to spend his own money and food to do things for others. Moreover, according to the style of the imperial court, just encirclement and suppression and ignoring people's livelihood could not completely solve the problem of bandits, so Liu Yan did not want to stay in Henan and waste time.
"The top priority now is to rush back to Qinglai Town to reorganize and replenish troops, and then decide whether to support Liaodong again depending on the situation."
Liu Yan was thinking, and all the New Army officers and soldiers responsible for the execution outside the city were already in place. When Liu Yan saw a guard battalion commander raising his flag, he asked Zhou Wang Zhu Gongzhen, Henan Governor Gao Mingheng, and deputy general Chen Yongfu.
, all three of them nodded and asked Liu Yan to give the order.
So Liu Yan stopped giving in and said loudly: "Execution!"
More than two dozen guards from the guard camp nearby roared in unison: "There is an order from the main town: Execution!"
Outside the city, Sun Kewang never expected that he had already surrendered, so why did Liu Yan insist on killing him? Wouldn't it be better to leave him to charge into the battle?
"ah!"
Sun Kewang was escorted forward by two New Army officers, accompanied by dozens of prisoners. Sun Kewang suddenly screamed in despair and roared: "I am Sun Kewang, I surrendered, why do you want to kill me! Why... "
Before he could finish speaking, Sun Kewang and a group of prisoners were pushed to their knees on the ground. Then the swords and axes were raised and dropped, and the heads of Sun Kewang and dozens of prisoners rolled to the ground.
Then, dozens of people formed a team, and more than 300 prisoners were killed. A piece of scarlet land appeared outside the city. The tens of thousands of people watching suddenly burst into cheers, venting for the fear and fear they had experienced these days, and for The family members who died in their own family shouted, and the headless corpses of those captured by the bandits suddenly became the target of everyone. As the New Army soldiers withdrew, countless onlookers swarmed forward and cut into pieces the more than 300 corpses of the bandits...
