In fact, through eavesdropping on the seeds, Emperor Chongzhen already knew that the Huguang patrol officer named Huang Shu was indeed plucking the feathers of wild geese.
Liu Yue arrived in Yicheng secretly. After a little investigation, he could no longer hide this kind of thing. Revealing one's identity as a Jin Yiwei has the emperor's will. Not only is it a patrol officer, but it is also a governor.
Therefore, when Liu Yue came back this time, he escorted Huang Shu and his accomplices, a total of five officials, and came back with the fleet and vehicles transporting food. By the way, these people transporting food were also witnesses.
This news is not good news. If possible, Emperor Chongzhen certainly hopes that his officials will be honest and honest. Generally speaking, however, hope is nothing but hope.
But the other news is really good news.
The Class A eavesdropping seeds on Lu Xiangsheng reported that just yesterday, Zheng Zhilong personally led 300 large and small warships to Dengzhou Mansion and paid a visit to Lu Xiangsheng.
What surprised Emperor Chongzhen even more was that Zheng Zhilong actually brought twenty grain ships to the north. He treated them as a meeting gift and gave them to Lu Xiangsheng for free.
In the conversation between Lu Xiangsheng and Zheng Zhilong, Emperor Chongzhen also understood Zheng Zhilong's intentions.
Because he had already pointed out in his secret edict the matter of collecting protection fees at sea. In order to show his sincerity, he knew that there was a shortage of food in the north, so he collected twenty grain ships and headed north. Although it is said to be given to Lu Xiangsheng, in fact, it may not be given to myself.
Emperor Chongzhen thought so, and suddenly his heart moved.
Zheng Zhilong's fleet controlled the entire southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty, and his power even reached as far as Nanyang, where there was a lot of food. In this case, Zheng Zhilong can be allowed to transport grain from Nanyang to the north. Of course, Zheng Zhilong must not be allowed to work in vain, so that he can continue to transfuse blood for Daming.
In response to this matter, after Emperor Chongzhen considered it, he drafted an imperial edict and had it sent to Dengzhou.
Two days later, the bandits had been wiped out in pieces. The scattered ones fled deep into the mountains and forests, but it was not possible to capture them all. A general memorial about the bandits was presented to the emperor.
Before the war, the total number of bandits was nearly 200,000;
Now the remaining ones total less than 150,000.
Among them, there are about 15,000 bandits who are more than one year old; there are nearly 50,000 bandits who are less than one year old and more than one month old; and the rest are all those who are less than one month old. There are more than 90,000 people.
Now these bandits are all being detained outside Nanyang City.
The official troops in Nanyang now include the three major battalions brought out of Beijing by Emperor Chongzhen and more than a thousand Guanning cavalry; the Qin army led by the governor of the three sides Zheng Chongjian has more than 30,000 people; the Baigan Army led by Ma Xianglin There are more than 7,000 people; the other local troops mobilized by Chen Qiyu, the governor of the five provinces, have more than 30,000 people.
All in all, there are probably nearly 100,000 troops gathered in Nanyang. The most eye-catching thing is the cavalry of more than 20,000 people.
As all armies gathered together, communication was indispensable, and after a great victory, the generals did not impose particularly strict restrictions. Therefore, the story of Emperor Chongzhen spread quickly.
"What, you mean that the emperor first detoured to the grassland and then wiped out all the Tumut troops?"
"Is this true? Those Mongolian Tatars all have horses! And even the entire tribe has been killed. Don't they think they can run away?"
"The emperor is really so good at commanding battles? I'm afraid those famous generals in the past couldn't do this, right?"
"No, does Zhuge Liang know? By shaking his goose feather fan, you can figure out what the opponent is doing? Our emperor is similar. With a clever plan, he led us to the Jiu'anbian camp and blocked those Mongolian Tatars. Right on!"
"Come on, come on, let me tell you..."
"..."
Maybe these Ming soldiers didn't think much about encircling and suppressing the upper class bandits. After all, the officers and soldiers basically won more and lost less against the upper class bandits. However, grassland wars were rare. They just went on like the wind. The speed spread among the armies.
Of course, the officers and soldiers of the Qin army also talked about other things about the emperor, that is, the destruction of locusts in Jingyang. By the way, the army in Nanyang also told the Qin infantry and other subsequent troops that the emperor had saved the people of Nanyang. things.
When these two things were told to each other, it confirmed their point of view, that is, the emperor loves his people like his own children! This is not the kind of emperor who said he loved the people like his son, but he truly cared about the people and loved the people like his son! At least the people of Jingyang and Nanyang can testify to this.
Of course, while talking about these things, there are also some people who are talking about things that are not mainstream.
For example, the emperor used the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank's silver notes and food stamps to exchange a lot of money and food from the prince's palace; there are also things about King Rui, King Qin, etc.
This was the first time for most of the Ming Dynasty soldiers to have close contact with their own emperor. Therefore, they secretly spread and talked about all aspects of Emperor Chongzhen.
In this way, through them, these things about Emperor Chongzhen spread among the nearly 150,000 bandits.
While in custody, I was so idle that these things spread very quickly among the bandits.
In fact, Emperor Chongzhen knew about these things early on, and of course he was happy to let them spread them. No matter what, this personal expedition by the imperial commander can deepen the goodwill of the Ming army and people towards him. This is his biggest gain. If they spread the word, even if some writers with ulterior motives want to say bad things, not many people will believe it.
In other words, Emperor Chongzhen's prestige will be higher, which will also be of great help to him in subsequent reforms of government affairs!
Emperor Chongzhen felt that time was almost up, so he sent an order to deal with the bandits early tomorrow morning.
Otherwise, if it continues to be delayed, it will be a bit overwhelming with so many people concentrated in Nanyang.
Early the next morning, as the morning sun emerged from the eastern sky, the entire army was dispatched, escorting nearly 150,000 bandits. They were divided into three queues and stood outside the South Gate of Nanyang.
On the top of the city and everywhere under the city, there were Ming army soldiers in full formation. There were also cavalry on the outside of the city, but they were not on horseback. They were just holding the reins and scattered around the outside.
On top of the city, there were also officers and soldiers, looking down at them with eager eyes. The military flag rustled in the morning wind.
Seeing this scene, all the bandits knew that the time was coming to decide their fate.
They understood that the people in the three queues would definitely be treated differently by the court. Otherwise, there would be no need to spend so much effort to distinguish them in advance. Those who had been bandits for less than a month felt better because they felt that no matter what happened, their fate would not be worse than those of the other two queues.
Thinking about this, Wei Chao and Sun Hanqing, who were standing in the queue, looked at each other and encouraged each other with their eyes.
Among those who have been homeless for more than a year, they are the most worried. If the emperor wants to severely punish the thieves, they will definitely bear the brunt. They know this very well.
For this reason, Sun Kewang, who was unfortunately captured and returned, stared at Li Dingguo standing in front with anger.
He had complained before, blaming Li Dingguo for directly identifying him and putting him in this queue. This Li Dingguo, couldn't he pretend that he had just joined the ranks of bandits and put him in the queue with the largest number of people? Anyway, with so many people, the officers and soldiers may not know!
I don’t know what’s going on. Aren’t Li Dingguo and the four of them here to die? But it seemed before that they were working hard for the army. What's funny is that in the end, they still stayed in the queue, but they stood at the front. What's the difference between this and yourself?
Sun Kewang thought this way, and there were many people who thought similarly to him. While they worry about their own fate, they also secretly resent those who identified them.
Suddenly, a cry of "The Emperor has arrived" rang out from the top of the city, and officers and soldiers both above and below the city greeted the Emperor together, and at the same time they shouted in unison: "Long live my emperor, long live, long live my emperor!"
Regardless of whether it was voluntary or not, for the sake of their own fate, the bandits also shouted at this moment: "Long live my emperor, long live, long live!"
The imperial guards in gilded robes gathered at the top of the city to be alert. Emperor Chongzhen appeared at the top of the city wearing a dragon robe. Behind him were Zheng Chongjian, the governor of the three provinces, and Chen Qiyu, the governor of the five provinces, both of whom were wearing bright red robes. General of the army.
The vassal kings, officials and people in Nanyang City were all in the city, and they were not allowed to follow them out.
Emperor Chongzhen looked at the densely packed and boundless people, and he could decide their fate with just one word, and he felt a kind of pride rising from the bottom of his heart. After he was safe, he looked outside the city and spoke loudly: "The purpose of my personal expedition this time is to prevent my people from suffering from war. And to do this, not only will there be no more refugees from the Ming Dynasty, He is a thief, and he must also give the people something to eat. Therefore, when I left the capital, I sent an order to Huguang and other places in the south of the Yangtze River to deliver food to the disaster areas..."
His words were naturally passed on to people below, layer by layer.
With such a large audience, even the loudspeakers of later generations are not easy to use, so only this stupid method can be used to reach everyone's ears.
Most people didn't know that the emperor had issued a decree to transport food to various places, so they were a little surprised when they heard this. Especially the thieves were even more surprised. From this point, they can see the emperor's determination!
While they were thinking about it, suddenly, the emperor on the top of the city became a little more stern and shouted loudly: "But even though I am here, there are still officials who want to make a fortune from it. As long as they handle the grain, they want to make money." Got some benefits..."
Hearing this, most of the bandits, and even the soldiers of the Ming army, thought in their hearts, this is not what those officials in the Ming Dynasty were like!
They all feel the same way about this, and don’t see too many of them in their daily lives!
"...How can it be that for so many years, the thieves have been suppressed but still unable to be eliminated? Is this the so-called natural disaster and man-made disaster?" Emperor Chongzhen continued to shout sternly, "In my opinion, man-made disasters are far worse than natural disasters! If there is no love for natural disasters, no matter how big it is, Natural disasters, locust plagues? Earth dragons turn around? I have seen it all, it’s nothing, just fight against disasters and provide disaster relief! However, if there are man-made disasters in front of natural disasters, it is the reason why thieves can’t be wiped out!”
"This time, even if I wipe out the bandits, if the subsequent food is not delivered in time and people starve to death again, then I believe that as soon as I leave, there will be new bandits." Emperor Chongzhen At this point, he glanced at the faces in his line of sight and said loudly, "Therefore, I will never tolerate corrupt officials who still want to make a fortune and ignore the disaster in the face of a major disaster!"
After saying this, he waved his hand and saw a group of two royal guards escorting five officials to the top of the city and appeared in front of everyone below the city.
The commander of the Jinyi Guards, Li Ruolian, came forward and read out the charges against these five officials, that is, Huang Shu and others.
The bandits below and the Ming soldiers were listening to Li Ruolian's message while staring at the five officials, with anger in their eyes.
There were too many corrupt officials like this in Ming Dynasty, which made their lives difficult, or even impossible for them to survive at all.
At this time, the bandits and the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty had a rare encounter with the same enemy.
After Li Ruolian read out the charges, he handed over the decree to Emperor Chongzhen.
At this time, everyone looked at Emperor Chongzhen, wondering how the emperor would deal with these five corrupt officials?
Emperor Chongzhen looked coldly and shouted loudly: "Behead him, and his head will be spread all over the country, to all provincial yamen, so that other officials can take it as a warning and serve as a warning to others!"
As soon as this order was issued, the captain of the Imperial Guard immediately stepped forward to carry it out.
Seeing these five corrupt officials beheaded, the Ming soldiers showed some restraint because of military discipline. But among the nearly 150,000 bandits, many people cheered loudly.
"Okay, good kill!"
"It's better to kill them all!"
"..."
For a moment, they even forgot their identities as thieves, as if they were just watching the execution of damned prisoners at the execution ground.
However, the soldiers of the Ming army who were in custody nearby immediately began to shout and scold, and these cheering voices quickly disappeared.
In front of the bandits and soldiers, after punishing the corrupt officials, Emperor Chongzhen looked at the three queues of bandits. Obviously, since there is no explanation, the next step is to punish them.
As the emperor's supreme ruler, his punishment is the final punishment. What will be the fate of so many stray thieves? Except for a few who knew in advance, others were either worried or a little curious. However, there were no exceptions. They were all silent, ready to listen to what the emperor would say next.
With so many people and horses, apart from the sound of the war horses, the only sound was the flag blowing in the wind.
Emperor Chongzhen's face softened a little. He looked at the queue with the largest number of people and began to speak while they listened nervously.
