At first, Du Yan and the Liu brothers didn't care much about this matter. They felt that sneaking away could happen at any time and it wasn't important. Just run away. One or two of them weren't worth a big fight.
It was not until their cronies reported with some surprise that more than a thousand people had deserted that they realized that the problem was a bit serious.
Then they get angry.
I can deny you food, but you can't deny me your life. I can abuse you arbitrarily, but you can't resist me.
Forget one or two, a thousand?
You want me to die!
Then I will let you die first!
This very strong sense of ownership made even the Liu brothers, who started out as rebels, decide to use harsh and brutal methods to deal with deserters in order to maintain their status.
Methods such as being hung up and whipped, grilled on one side, stabbing one person with a knife, and beating to death with sticks were also used.
Du Ren is actually used to it.
There is a clear distinction between superiors and subordinates, and the superior officers can beat and scold the soldiers at will. In fact, everyone is used to it.
However, the Liu brothers still have some past friendship. Some of their old brothers from the same village were also arrested and sentenced to death, as if they were possessed by a demon and didn't care what the old brothers thought. He killed many people and completely tore apart the last vestige of tenderness.
This ferocity and determination temporarily affected people's decision to escape, but when basic physiological requirements cannot be met, no matter how ferocious it is, it is useless.
While the deserters were being dealt with fiercely, people were still escaping. Even the guards who were responsible for guarding and preventing the soldiers from escaping were secretly assisting the soldiers in escaping. Escape from this devil's cave as fast as possible.
Not to mention the lower-level soldiers, even some middle-level commanders and officers felt that the Liu brothers were infatuated and would be over sooner or later, so they quickly opened up relationships with their cronies and smoothed things over.
Seeing the increasing number of escapees, the Liu brothers became furious, so they treated the deserters more harshly, which further irritated their original team members.
So we fell into a vicious cycle.
In just half a month when the Ming army reorganized their troops and prepared for the next stage of the offensive, six to seven hundred people on Du Yan's side fled, and more than two thousand people on the Liu brothers' side fled, and they could not control it at all.
So on the fifth day of the first lunar month of the eighth year of Hongwu, when the Ming army, which had been well fed and recharged during the New Year holiday, divided into two groups and marched southward, both Du Yan and the Liu brothers faced the Ming army's The sharp edge of the army is in a state where there is no way to do anything.
Du Yan still put up some resistance. After the failure in the field battle, he defended the city and committed suicide after being captured by the Ming army.
The Liu brothers were completely defeated.
They personally led what they considered to be strong soldiers to the battlefield to supervise the battle, but failed to win. When they encountered some setbacks, the entire army collapsed instantly and fled in all directions. The Ming army could not catch up, so they could only surround the Liu brothers and attack them fiercely. .
Both Liu brothers were captured, and the entire Shu army was annihilated. After the war, when Su Haisheng interrogated the Liu brothers and some officers, he accidentally learned about the transformation process of the Liu brothers, and felt very hateful about it.
"As farmers, you led the peasant uprising, but in the end you killed the peasants in the most cruel way. You are really guilty and hopeless!"
Su Haisheng then ordered a public trial of the two men and finally hanged them.
Before the thick rope was put around their necks, the two people were still talking harshly. Each of them cursed the Ming army and political cadres who interrogated them. When the rope was put around their necks and they were about to be hung, the two people finally collapsed and shouted. A spare life.
Of course, they were still hanged, after struggling feebly and in boundless fear.
The soldiers of the Bashu Army who could not escape saw this scene and cried bitterly. They didn't know whether to miss the past days or to celebrate that these two humanoid devils were finally dead.
Subsequently, bankrupt landowners and gentry who had infiltrated the original rebel army were also executed in public trials.
They and the high-ranking officials of the rebel army were all put on public trial, and then all were executed. They were hung on southeastern branches and fluttered in the wind. No one survived, and they were all dealt with cleanly.
Compared with Du Yan's straightforward and thorough solution, the rebel army's handling made Su Haisheng feel even more heartbroken.
He said a lot to his old partner Han Wei.
"When I saw the peasant uprising, I couldn't help but think of ourselves at that time. Aren't we just a peasant uprising at that time? We also led a group of peasant uprisings who couldn't read a lot of Chinese characters. We also attacked the local tyrants and divided the fields. We also We must equalize the wealth and the poor, and punish the powerful landlords.
So when I looked at them, I felt like I saw us back then. I remembered that we were transforming the countryside while fighting bloody battles with the Jin soldiers despite huge disadvantages. How dangerous was it then? How many people died at that time? Didn’t you make it through? How come they..."
Seeing the frustration on Su Haisheng's face, Han Wei also sighed.
"Now that I think about it, our success back then may not have been due to how hard we were and how much we wanted to make the landlords pay the price. Isn't it the same for them? And the real reason why we are able to get to where we are today is not because of our poor background. It’s not bitter, it depends on our chairman and our revival meeting.
I have also thought about what kind of country the Ming Dynasty would be if there was no chairman, or if there was no Renaissance Association. I think that maybe the Ming Dynasty is no different from any other dynasty in the past. The reason why we are able to get to where we are today At this point, revival meetings are really important. "
Su Haisheng was silent for a moment and let out a long sigh.
"Think about it. During the Shandong Uprising, many people rebelled, but in the end, we were the only ones left, and I don't know how many of them rebelled.
Later, they themselves became people who oppressed others, just like Zhao Kaishan and his group of tribesmen. It is really not easy for us to get to where we are today. "
Su Haisheng was deeply moved, so he reorganized his army and sent his troops south again.
In Longyou County, Jiading Prefecture, Su Haisheng personally commanded the army to defeat the main force of more than 20,000 Lu? troops.
Lu Yue escaped on horseback alone and was chased fiercely by the cavalry general Chen Qixian. Finally, his horse was shot by an arrow. He fell off the horse, broke his neck and died.
After Lu Yu's death, Su Haisheng's military operation was declared a success. The three warlords were easily wiped out by him, and Longzhou, Meizhou, and Jiading Prefecture were declared pacified.
The powerful group of landlords who followed Lu and resisted the Ming army in the Sanzhou Prefecture were subsequently completely liquidated by the Ming army.
The Ming army launched a massive liquidation and land reform movement in the three prefectures. Their property was confiscated, their families were questioned, all land contracts were burned, and the land was redistributed.
Through the thorough liquidation of the powerful landlords. The Ming army tore apart the original local social relationship network and rebuilt the Ming Dynasty's own order.
It was at this time that Su Haisheng received the news that Xu Tong had also completed the task he was supposed to complete.
The two original rebel armies and current enemy armies in Fushunjian and Xuzhou were eliminated by him.
Although the revolutionary army led by Xu Tong was small in number and not that strong in combat effectiveness, Xu Tong also had an advantage - the firearms force.
Speaking of which, the Shenji Battalion has gone through many wars since its establishment.
From the earliest quelling the rebellion in Guanzhong, to the Battle of Hexi, to the Battle of Xiangfan and the second Ming-Song war, and now to the current Sichuan-Shu Battle, the Shenji Battalion has never missed any major battle of the Ming army since it was formed. Military action.
The outstanding performance of the Shenji Battalion in previous battles has basically been trusted and recognized by the entire Ming army. More and more senior officers are reporting to the Privy Council, hoping to equip their own troops with a combat-effective Shenji Battalion. .
However, firearms manufacturing is still an absolutely cutting-edge technology in the Ming Dynasty, and it is difficult to fully roll out and achieve mass production in a short period of time.
Now we are still slowly cultivating talents, accumulating technical experience, and overcoming technical problems, with a view to achieving mass production in the future.
Now we can only increase production by stacking manpower and scale.
On this basis, less than half of the second Shenji Battalion of the Ming Army has been formed. It will take some time before it is fully formed into an army and has combat effectiveness. The current idea of equipping each regiment with a Shenji Battalion is still unclear. Relatively difficult to implement.
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