One thing Emperor Chongzhen was right about was that these old thieves had rich battlefield experience.
When they saw that the mobilized troops began to form formations and surrounded them from all directions, especially when many gunmen and archers were mobilized, they felt that something was wrong. No, to be precise, they knew what fate they might face next.
Sun Kewang was a little desperate at first. Although there were about 10,000 of them in total, it looked like a large number of people. However, they could only eat a little porridge these days and barely survive. How could they have the strength to resist!
With a "pop" sound, he knelt down first and faced Emperor Chongzhen on the top of the city. With panic, he shouted loudly: "Your Majesty, the common people are going to fight against the invaders. The common people are willing to fight against the prisoners..."
Not only him, but other old thieves also knelt down and begged for mercy, asking to go to Liaodong to fight against the rebels.
The scene immediately became a mess.
Seeing this scene, the other two queues of thieves were a little dumbfounded: From just now, the emperor should be easy to talk to, and he could even consider their situation after returning and pay them a lot of money in advance. This kind of thing is not something that ordinary emperors can do!
Now, there are ten thousand people in front of us. Looking at them, does the emperor really want to kill them all? This...this is impossible!
They had time to think about this issue and wonder whether the emperor meant this. But as the person involved, Sun Kewang was so anxious that he was sweating profusely in such a short period of time. When he didn't see the emperor's reaction, he turned to the line of five thousand people and shouted loudly: "Dingguo, brothers, please help and beg for mercy, Dingguo..."
Speaking of which, when Li Dingguo chose to voluntarily go to Liaodong to fight against the rebels, he actually sneered secretly in his heart: Was it because his conscience couldn't bear it, so he went to Liaodong to die? Why have you been so stupid for so many years?
It’s no wonder that over the years, I have become able to read and write in fragments, and I am more than a bit smarter than Li Dingguo. Therefore, I am the eldest among all the adopted sons in my adoptive father’s name!
However, at this time, Sun Kewang had long forgotten that he had ever thought this way. Instead, he grabbed a possible straw and felt that the people with unyielding conscience mentioned by the emperor were probably referring to Li Dingguo and others. If he came forward to intercede, What if I could be merciful?
Therefore, for this possible straw, he shouted to Li Dingguo to seek his help. Other old thieves also asked Li Guo and others for help, or begged the emperor, and the scene became even more chaotic.
At this time, these people no longer have the arrogance and unscrupulousness they had when they were thieves. Most of them are just ordinary people who are afraid of death. Crying and begging for mercy, just to survive.
Emperor Chongzhen looked at all this but was indifferent. I just thought in my heart: When you people harmed other people, did you ever think that they cried and begged for mercy? They didn’t want to be thieves, they just wanted to live. But at that time, did you let go? Pass them? Compared to them, I finally gave you a chance, but it's a pity that you didn't choose it yourself!
"Fire the arrow!"
"shooting!"
"..."
Following the order, under the cover of the spear phalanx, the archers and firecrackers began to execute the military orders.
"Bang bang bang..."
"Bah, bah, bah..."
Amid the sounds of bowstrings and gunshots, the screams of the old thieves rang out.
On one side are the elite Ming troops, and on the other side are the old thieves who are unarmed, have had nothing to eat for many days, and have no strength at all. How can they resist?
These old thieves were desperate and rushed towards them like crazy. However, there was a phalanx of spears in front of the archers and musketry soldiers. The result of rushing forward was to stab them into bloody gourds. This is not an equal war at all, but a one-sided massacre. To be precise, it is the officers and soldiers who are carrying out the execution, representing the countless people who have been wronged and killed by this old thief and seeking repayment of their blood debt!
Tens of thousands of people continued to fall in a pool of blood, screaming and wailing. This scene deeply shocked everyone who saw it.
Li Dingguo naturally heard Sun Kewang's cry, but there was nothing he could do.
In fact, he also knew that Sun Kewang's not coming with him already showed that the two of them had different understandings of the past. This point has actually been reflected in normal times. The two people's views on handling things are very different.
Not to mention the far one, just the nearest one. In order to avenge his adoptive father, Li Dingguo decided to stay and escort Zuo Mengeng to surrender. However, Sun Kewang had no such idea at all.
In this regard, Li Dingguo did not force him, he just had requirements for himself.
But just now, the emperor had actually made it very clear. After being a gangster for so many years, whether intentional or not, he always harmed many people. The emperor gave him the opportunity to fight Jianlu and save the people of Liaodong from disaster. However, Sun Kewang still did not choose this path.
Thinking of this, Li Dingguo turned to look at Liu Wenxiu and Ai Nengqi beside him, feeling a little more relieved.
Although Liu Wenxiu and Ai Nengqi did not surrender with him for the sake of their adoptive father, after they heard about the emperor and what he said, they chose to go to Liaodong to fight against the rebels. Therefore, they can live!
Li Dingguo looked up at the place where blood was flowing on the ground, his eyes unmoved. In fact, he has seen many scenes like this, even worse than this one. At this time, he was just thinking in his heart, be a good person in the next life!
Then, he looked up at the figure on the top of the city, and gained another understanding of the current emperor: The emperor is not only kind, but also very iron-blooded!
People who have this idea account for the vast majority of the remaining bandits and Ming army soldiers.
However, they also recognized clearly: The emperor is kind to the people! The Emperor's iron-blooded attitude is towards those who refuse to change their teachings and are extremely evil!
Such an emperor is the true sage!
Half an hour later, nearly 10,000 old thieves were all lying in a pool of blood. The officers and soldiers checked them, and even if they were still alive, they would kill them with one last blow. Then, Cao Bianjiao, He Renlong, and Zhou Yuji went to the city to pay the order.
At this time, it became very quiet again at the foot of Nanyang City. Apart from the sound of the war horses, the only thing left was the roar of the banners! Even the city of Nanyang became very quiet, perhaps affected by the previous sounds.
Emperor Chongzhen glanced at everyone below, and judging from their expressions, he knew that his intention of doing so was approved by them.
Speaking of which, there is actually no one who doesn't hate these old thieves. At least the nearly 100,000 people in the queue hated these old thieves. It was these people who brought them to this end. If the emperor hadn't come, they would probably have become dead bones on the roadside before long.
On the top of the city, Emperor Chongzhen seemed not to have seen the corpses underneath, and just said loudly: "My wish is that all my people can live and work in peace and contentment! To this end, I am working hard and hope to achieve this goal as soon as possible."
After saying that, he drove back to Nanyang City. As for these matters outside, Chen Qiyu, the governor of the five provinces, was in charge.
It takes a lot of energy to register the information of all living bandits, issue banknotes from the Ming Emperor's Bank to those who can go home, and register those who went to Liaodong to build captives.
Of course, Emperor Chongzhen was not just the boss, but had his own affairs to be busy with.
So far, the rebellion of thieves in the Ming Dynasty has been temporarily subsided. As for whether the word "temporary" can be removed, it depends on the subsequent disaster relief situation. If there is no food and the people affected by the disaster cannot survive, even if there are no more Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, there will definitely still be people like Zhang Zicheng and Li Xianzhong.
And the disaster relief matter may last for several years.
This matter is much more difficult than defeating the stray thief. It involves all aspects, including tax system reform, development of production, rectification of officialdom, etc. Many things still affect the whole body and are not easy to do.
Of course, no matter how difficult it is, if you want to revive the Ming Dynasty, you must do it!
Fortunately, at this time, especially since the imperial commander's expedition, some conditions have matured. If you need to be tough when you need to be tough, it should be okay!
Putting aside this relatively distant issue, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but focus on the chieftain rebellion in southern Yunnan, also known as the Shapu Rebellion in history.
Starting from the fourth year of Chongzhen, the chieftain of Ami Prefecture, Pu Mingxing, began to rebel. Now it is the twelfth year of Chongzhen. But this time, although Pu Mingxing is dead, his mother-in-law, Wan Shi, continues to rebel and unites with other people. The signs of rebellion among the chieftains.
Compared with the Jianlu rebellion in Liaodong and the Tusi rebellion in southern Yunnan, the scope of influence was much smaller. However, in the end, they were never suppressed and continued to rebel, which had an immeasurable impact on the stability of the Ming Dynasty.
The Duke of Guizhou, Mu Tianbo, was in charge of Yunnan, but he was only in his twenties, and without the ability of his ancestor Mu Ying, he was unable to quell the chieftain rebellion, or even be able to intimidate other chieftains. It can be said that the situation in Yunnan is not optimistic.
This time the imperial commander went on an expedition, which was a rare opportunity. If possible, it would be better to continue going south to suppress the rebellion and kill all the rebel chieftains! Emperor Chongzhen thought this in his mind, but then sighed: The so-called ideal is full and the reality is skinny, this is the problem he is currently facing!
Nanyang Prefecture is located on the other side of Yunnan from Hubei and Guizhou provinces. With the transportation of this era, if we go to southern Yunnan for suppression, we don’t know how long it will take on the road.
If you just spend some time, it’s not that big of a deal!
However, when a large army marches, it costs money and food, and it is not a small amount. With the current financial capacity of the imperial court, the money borrowed from Shanxi merchants has a lot to spend, so it must be spent sparingly.
Another important reason is that the main force of the army he leads, whether it is the three major battalions or the Qin soldiers, are from the north. If he goes all the way south to Yunnan to quell the rebellion, can he adapt to the climate? Maybe, non-combat attrition will make you unable to bear it!
Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but sigh when he thought of this: The Ming Empire is indeed a bit big! Of course, if you want to never set the sun, you still have to keep working hard.
This is my first time away from Beijing, and it won’t be good if I stay out for a long time. If I go south, at least I will have to spend the New Year outside. But now the main enemy of Ming Dynasty is actually the Jianlu in Liaodong. As the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, it would not be good for him to be away for too long!
With this in mind, Emperor Chongzhen decided not to go south to lead the army to quell the rebellion.
However, we cannot ignore the Tusi rebellion. Otherwise, when the chieftains in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other places see the rebellious chieftains living well, they might imitate them.
The She'an Rebellion has already strained people and money in Sichuan and other provinces of the Ming Dynasty, draining financial and material resources; if another major Tusi Rebellion breaks out, it will be really unbearable!
With this in mind, Emperor Chongzhen thought of a countermeasure after thinking for a long time.
After feeling a little more relaxed, he looked at the feedback from the eavesdropping seeds and frowned again.
Over at Shanhaiguan, the conflicts between Sun Chuanting, the governor of Jiliao, and the local generals in Guanning, namely those headed by Zu Dashou, gradually came to light. The reason is that Sun Chuanting wants to clean up military farmland, and most of these fields are now occupied by local generals such as Zu Dashou.
Emperor Chongzhen was a little worried that if Sun Chuanting didn't handle it well, it would lead to serious consequences.
In the original history, Guan Ningjun actually had a tendency to be independent from the imperial court. Or to put it more bluntly, Zu Dashou has warlord tendencies and believes that Guan Ning is the territory of his ancestral family. For this reason, he was sandwiched between the Ming Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty, serving as his Caotou King.
Huang Taiji repeatedly recruited him to surrender, hoping to take Shanhaiguan as his own, pass through Shanhaiguan, and look inside the pass, but Zu Dashou did not agree. He pretended to surrender several times when he was in desperate situations, and then fled back to his own territory. In order to achieve this goal, he did not hesitate to kill the court generals as a sign of his sincerity in surrender, like He Kegang.
Emperor Chongzhen thought for a while and felt that the three major battalions should return to the capital to take charge. If something really happens at Shanhaiguan, the three major battalions can quickly rush to suppress it. And this is one of the reasons why he does not plan to go south to fight the rebellion again.
Thinking about the Shanhaiguan matter, Emperor Chongzhen naturally thought of the general Wu Sangui around him. He accompanied him on this expedition, and his performance was pretty good. At least he was a qualified Ming army general. After accumulating merit, it's time to be promoted to General Soldier.
However, Emperor Chongzhen did not intend to let him and the fifteen hundred cavalry troops he brought back to Shanhaiguan. It would be okay to make it part of the Jingying camp and use it as the next step to reform the Jingying camp. But based on the situation in Shanhaiguan, it's not possible right now. It is best to keep Wu Sangui somewhere far away from Shanhaiguan.
They are all northerners, so they are not very suitable for going south to fight the rebellion. Then where can we arrange him there without making him doubt the intention of the arrangement? Emperor Chongzhen thought about this problem for a while, and suddenly his eyes lit up.
