Throughout July, the Ming army's attacks on Jingxi South Road, Jinghu North Road, Jinghu South Road and Jiangnan West Road went very smoothly without any resistance from the organized Song army.
Wherever the Ming army went, most Southern Song officials, wealthy households, and powerful people chose to flee, except for a few who chose to surrender with "Hongwu Political Treatise" in their hands, and a very few who chose to resist with arms.
They dragged their families and all the belongings they could carry with them, and fled eastward toward Lin'an, trying to escape to Lin'an and obtain royal protection.
When "Hongwu Political Treatise" spread throughout the Southern Song Dynasty, basically all the literate people in the upper class of Southern Song society had read this book and were very familiar with Su Yonglin's policies towards the Southern Song Dynasty, as well as Su Yonglin's revolutionary theory and liquidation policy.
Therefore, at this moment when the Ming army moved south, they generally speculated that they would not be able to survive under the rule of the Ming Dynasty.
They are all powerful landowners, their families own thousands of acres of land, and there are hundreds or even thousands of tenant households. In terms of identity and attributes, they clearly belong to the "high-class people" who must be attacked in the Ming Dynasty's policies.
In fact, if you are just a superior person, you do not necessarily have to run away, because in the land policy of the Ming Dynasty, the superior people also have to be divided into grades. .
Those who will have their homes confiscated and exterminated belong to the extremely evil upper class, the kind of scum of the world who bully men, dominate women, and misbehave as human beings.
As for those who still have a little bit of conscience, as long as they don't do anything harmful to nature, hand over the land and tenants honestly, and then become farmers, live by labor, and be good citizens who pay taxes according to law, the Ming government will not Physics wipes them out.
But the problem is that under the highly internally oppressive and exploitative system of the Southern Song Dynasty, people with conscience are as rare and rare as national first-level protected animals.
Generally speaking, the actual situation of tenants is infinitely close to that of slaves, even worse than the lower-class workers in the Victorian era.
Don't dare to fight back when beaten or scolded. Not to mention personal residual value, the remaining life of the entire family can be exploited by you. Even the husband, wife and children work as cattle and horses for the landlords. How lucky is that? Every generation has been a tenant farmer, and the capitalists will cry when they hear this.
When it comes to not being a good person, the veteran capitalists who have the most skills in leading the British have to shout that they are experts when they meet them, and they are eager to come to study abroad immediately and learn the advanced experience of exploitation and oppression.
Because they knew that they would be punished by the Ming Dynasty for not being a good person, they fled one after another.
This is completely different from the power changes in the form of changing the king's flag at the top of the city during the changes in the past dynasties.
Most of the iron-clad men were frightened to death by the Ming government and Su Yonglin's liquidation policy. They even heard about the Ming Dynasty's comprehensive liquidation policy in Jiangbei. They thought they would not be able to survive, so they were frightened and hurried to Lin'an.
There were also a handful of iron-headed boys who thought they were brave and capable of fighting, so they dragged the tenants into armed resistance. As a result, their families were destroyed under the fierce attack of the Ming army, leaving nothing behind. Got the seedlings.
In addition, there are a very small number of unconventional people who hold "Hongwu Political Treatise" which was banned in the Southern Song Dynasty and claim that they admire Su Yonglin's policies very much and feel that they should not enjoy so much wealth and are willing to Hand over your wealth and let the Ming government handle it, just to live under the rule of the Ming Dynasty.
There are very few such families, very few. There may not even be one in a county, but they do exist. So when the information was collected to Zhang Yuejing, he was surprised. He felt that in the Southern Song Dynasty, where the oppression system was so sophisticated, there was actually such a family. Can such a person exist?
Really strange.
Regardless of this, with the overwhelming defeat of the Song army and the rapid advance of the Ming army, it is only a matter of time before the distance between the four roads is completely conquered, and it is not a real problem at all.
At this moment, the small court of the Southern Song Dynasty in Lin'an was really like sitting on the crater of a volcano watching the eruption of a volcano. Not to say it was as stable as Mount Tai, at least it was astonishing.
In April, after learning that the Ming army was marching south to encircle the second city of Xiangfan, the Southern Song Dynasty court was already very panicked. Zhao Xun was so angry that he became a bedridden emperor. It relied on a six-person group headed by Chen Kangbo to take charge of daily government and military affairs, and pulled up the A support force of 80,000 people rushed to support Xiangfan.
Originally, Chen Kangbo felt that although the Song army was not as powerful as the Ming army, it was at least 80,000 strong, and there were 30,000 reinforcements from Sichuan and Shu, plus the 40,000 defenders in the Second City of Xiangfan. With the strength of Xiangfan, Li Xianzhong would definitely be able to complete the task. This rescue mission.
Not to mention a big victory, at least they could repel the Ming army and restore the situation to what it was before the Ming army went south. Valley
Then, while the Ming army was resting, they could free up their hands to deal with the peasant army and relieve internal worries. In this way, they could almost stabilize the situation and live up to Zhao Yu's trust.
But the situation did not develop as he expected.
In May, just over a month after Li Xianzhong sent troops to fight, he learned the news of Li Xianzhong's defeat.
In a confrontation with the Ming army, Li Xianzhong was severely defeated in Zaoyang. Li Xianzhong himself died in the battle, and the entire 80,000-strong army was wiped out, with only a few of them escaping the battlefield.
The only group of cavalry who escaped from the battlefield was specifically ordered by Li Xianzhong. They galloped wildly, killed their horses, and almost broke their legs. Finally, they escaped the pursuit of the Ming army and fled back to Lin'an, and then brought them with them. received the news of the annihilation of the entire army and Li Xianzhong's final words.
The Ming army was equipped with new firearms, which were in the shape of large iron cans. They were thick and long in shape and could fire huge projectiles. When fired, the sound was like thunder, and the bombardment of the projectiles was as powerful as the earth shattering. The military formation could not resist. Once hit by the projectiles, it could be destroyed in one go. A military formation.
The Ming army also had small iron cans that they held in their hands. They were slender and looked like ordinary individual weapons. They could also fire small projectiles, which were quite powerful and could kill people or break their limbs. , can also penetrate armor and shields. The Song army's tight military formation was overturned in one encounter and could not compete with it.
Li Xianzhong's soldiers who escaped were in tears. They finished Li Xianzhong's last words to Chen Kangbo who met them, and then committed suicide collectively to repay Li Xianzhong's kindness.
After Chen Kangbo learned about this, his mind went blank and he fell to the ground at a loss.
Subsequently, the news that Li Xianzhong's entire army was wiped out spread throughout the court. A considerable number of military officials from both the government and the public broke through the defense and rushed into the Privy Council like crazy, asking Chen Kangbo for specific information and whether this matter was true.
Chen Kangbo's mind was blank, he was sluggish, and he was unable to manage affairs. Yu Yunwen, the deputy privy envoy who could barely maintain his sanity, confirmed the authenticity of the matter to the ministers, but also stated that they would immediately come up with strategies to continue to assist Xiangfan.
"Xiangfan is not lost yet! Xiangfan is still in the hands of our army! The Ming army must not cross Xiangfan and directly attack Jiangnan. Don't panic! This is the time for you to work together to overcome the difficulties! You must calm down! You must... …”
Yu Yunwen was interrupted before he finished speaking. He was interrupted by physics.
I don’t know who gave Yu Yunwen a big mouth, angrily complained about the incompetence of the Privy Council, and then punched and kicked Yu Yunwen, knocking Yu Yunwen to the ground and rolling to the side, unable to get up.
Then they broke into the Privy Council collectively, smashed everything in the Privy Council, and even beat the deputy Privy Councilor Hu Quan who tried to dissuade him.
Finally, they found Chen Kangbo, who looked dull. They grabbed Chen Kangbo by his collar and demanded an explanation from Chen Kangbo. Otherwise, they would drag him to see the emperor and ask him to kill him.
Everyone is not a fool.
The failure of this military operation completely penetrated the bottom line of psychological safety of the officials of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Li Xianzhong's 80,000 troops supporting Xiangfan were completely wiped out. What this meant to the Southern Song Dynasty, everyone actually knew it like a mirror.
Who is Yu Yunwen talking about in clichés and Mandarin here for?
We are all thousand-year-old foxes, what kind of chat are you doing?
Chen Kangbo couldn't say a word, and his head was buzzing. He didn't know how this matter could reach this point, he didn't know why Li Xianzhong was defeated so miserably, and he didn't know how to deal with the intimidation of the officials.
His inaction angered the officials, who immediately carried Chen Kangbo into the palace, ignoring Ye Yiwen, Wang Dabao, Chen Junqing and others who came to dissuade him, and entered the palace in groups to pay homage to the newly recovered body who had not yet had time to go to court. Zhao Xin, who handles government affairs.
