Chapter 274: Rich Harvest (IV)
Wang Weichang inspected outside again, and when he returned to the central army, he saw Yu Qian quietly looking through the documents. Looking at this young man who looked like a little scholar, Wang Weichang didn't want to disturb Yu Qian's reading. After all, Yu Qian was arranged by Qian Qing, and he was also a young soldier who had followed Huo Chong. He didn't say he was polite to Yu Qian, but at least he didn't care about him.
But after sitting on the marching stool in silence for a while, Wang Weichang was so confused that he couldn't help but ask, "Yu Qian, did you see anything?"
Yu Qian put down the information in his hand and picked up a piece of paper to show Wang Weichang. After Wang Weichang took it and read it, he felt that it was somewhat familiar. Just as he was recalling where he had seen it, he heard Yu Qian say: "Battalion Commander, this is the rules for fighting."
Wang Weichang figured it out, "Oh, yes, yes. There is this."
Yu Qian explained to Wang Weichang the rules for reconnaissance and deployment of troops in the plains according to the rules for fighting. At the same time, he combined the information and intelligence he had seen in Kaifeng and wrote down the key points of the rules like a fill-in-the-blank question.
Wang Weichang was a little confused. He could only say, "Just tell me what to do?"
Yu Qian scratched his head, wrote for a while, and finally wrote out more than a dozen items, ranging from the content of the investigation, to the key points of the formation, and even the harassment test of Kaifeng City.
Wang Weichang was surprised and unhappy to see this ten-year-old kid come up with so many things. He couldn't help but say, "Little kid, you know how to order people around."
Yu Qian blushed, "If you can't do it, let me go out with the scouts to scout an area."
Seeing that Yu Qian did not just replace someone else like the young master did, Wang Weichang agreed to Yu Qian's request and sent him out with the reconnaissance team to carry out the reconnaissance mission listed by Yu Qian.
Wang Weichang went to the battle line closest to Kaifeng City and observed the movements in Kaifeng City. He saw that the city walls of Kaifeng were heavily guarded, but no troops were sent to attack Wang Weichang's camp. Wang Weichang was expecting the enemy to come out to fight, but he didn't want the enemies in Kaifeng City to come out.
After all, a battalion only has 500 people. If they are in a village, 500 people are enough to crush the village. If they are in a county town, they can also turn the county town upside down.
However, the largest city in Henan opposite was so magnificent that five hundred people seemed insignificant in front of such a city. Wang Weichang had not felt this way when he was with Qian Qing's team. Now that he had left with the team, the more he looked at Kaifeng City, the more insignificant he felt.
On the top of Kaifeng City Wall, Henan Governor Tian Wenjing was looking through a telescope at a group of Han soldiers under the city. Through the telescope, only a few Han soldiers were exposed, and more Han soldiers were hiding in various places that the Qing soldiers on the top of the city could not see.
Tian Wenjing had already sent out scouts to investigate, but he never dared to send troops out of the city to fight. These were the fierce bandits who had killed more than 100,000 government troops in Shandong. Many of the killed government troops were from Henan in Nanyang Town and other places. The strength of the Shandong bandits had long been exaggerated.
Now the gang of bandits completely ignored Ortai's men and marched to the outskirts of Kaifeng. Tian Wenjing did not dare to risk going out of the city to fight. Not only that, Tian Wenjing also had to rebuke the rumors in the city that Ortai and Yue Zhongqi had been completely wiped out in Jining.
If not, how could the rebel army dare to completely ignore their retreat and march to the city of Kaifeng?
Putting down the telescope, Tian Wenjing prepared to go down the city wall. Then he saw a scout running up the corridor. When he arrived in front of Tian Wenjing, he immediately knelt on one knee and saluted, "Governor, this is a letter from Lord Ortai."
Tian Wenjing quickly opened it and looked at it for a moment. There was already a look of surprise on his face. He raised his head and asked, "Is it really so?"
"That's right." The scout who came to deliver the letter responded loudly.
"Good! Good! Good!" Tian Wenjing praised loudly. He wanted to reward the scout, but suddenly he remembered something else. "I order you to take a team of people from Kaifeng to welcome Lord Ortai now. Let our people lead the way for Lord Ortai."
After hearing what Tian Wenjing said, the Kaifeng civil and military officials around him had roughly guessed what had happened, and they all looked happy.
In a letter, Henan Governor-General Ortai told Henan Governor Tian Wenjing that the Qing army in Jining had sent 40,000 troops, led by Ortai, to Kaifeng to work with Tian Wenjing to suppress the bandit troops that had invaded Henan.
There were several thousand soldiers and horses in Kaifeng City, plus the conscripted men, there were about 30,000 people guarding the city. Because most of them were not government troops, the civil and military officials in Kaifeng City were very uneasy. Now that 30,000 government troops had arrived, Kaifeng City no longer had to worry about the siege of the bandit army. How to describe this joy is not excessive.
Ortai knew that Tian Wenjing would be eager to see him, but Ortai, who knew how to use troops, did not order the army to hurry. He was cautious along the way, sending out a large number of scouts to gather very clear intelligence within a radius of 50 miles.
If possible, Ortai did not want to help Henan Governor Tian Wenjing. It was not because there was any grudge between the two. From a personal perspective, Ortai did not want to get to know Tian Wenjing, nor did he want to impeach Tian Wenjing. It can probably be described as not caring about Tian Wenjing at all.
Even now, Ortai had no intention of helping Tian Wenjing. Although Tian Wenjing was the governor of Henan, Ortai was the governor-general of Henan. In the 18th year of Shunzhi, the post of governor-general of Zhili, Shandong and Henan was divided into governor-general of Zhili and governor-general of Henan. In the 4th year of Kangxi, it was merged again into governor-general of Zhili, Shandong and Henan.
In the Yongzheng era, the Governor-General of Zhili was divided again. Huo Chong rebelled, and Shandong was not completely lost for a while. In order to form a line of defense, the Governor-General of Henan was re-established.
In theory, as the Governor-General of Henan, Ortai's status was higher than that of the Governor of Henan. However, both the imperial court and Ortai knew that this Governor-General of Henan was only for the sake of war, not for Ortai to dictate the political affairs of Henan.
Ortai had no intention of interfering in Henan affairs. Even if the Han army suddenly entered Henan, Ortai only considered fighting with the Han army in Jining. However, Hong Zhou's order arrived, and Ortai had no choice but to come.
Originally, Yue Zhongqi wanted to lead his troops, but Ortai stopped him. In terms of status, Ortai was above Yue Zhongqi, but in terms of fighting, Ortai thought he was not as good as Yue Zhongqi. Especially after reviewing the battle with the female bandit leader, Ortai realized how dangerous it was at that time.
With the strength of Huo Chong's subordinates, if they were given any chance to engage, the rebels would tear the formation of the government army head-on and disrupt the government army's command. Once that happened, the battle would be out of E'ertai's command and enter the scene that the rebels expected.
In Shandong, the rebel army engaged Yue Zhongqi in the most upright formation, and then defeated Yue Zhongqi's 100,000 elite troops with the most upright tactics.
Knowing this, Ortai chose to come to Kaifeng by himself. If Yue Zhongqi came to rescue, Ortai did not believe that he could command 90,000 troops without any flaws. In this regard, Yue Zhongqi's previous failure was the most valuable experience.
Since he was fully prepared for any accidents, Ortai marched no more than 40 miles a day, and he slowly headed towards Kaifeng City.
In the whole of Henan, Qian Qing's troops were probably the most relaxed. Manchu officials had a duty to defend their territory, and even if they knew they would die, the county magistrate or county magistrate could not leave. Since the county magistrate could not leave, the officials below him did not dare to leave either.
The Han army marched on the flat land of Henan, singing the "Three Disciplines and Eight Points for Attention". The troops were just as the song taught them, and they did not harm anyone. At most, they bought food from the people at a reasonable market price, without defaulting or issuing IOUs. They just honestly bought food and some supplies needed for the march.
When in Shandong, the military art troupe had more and more stage plays. One of them was about Yue Fei's army. The content was that Yue Fei's army "would rather starve to death than plunder, and would rather freeze to death than burn houses", and won the support of the people with iron discipline. In the Battle of Zhuxian Town, Yue Fei attacked the Jin soldiers and won the support and help of the people by relying on military discipline. In the end, he defeated the Jin soldiers whose numbers far exceeded Yue's army.
The Han army was originally from good families. In Shandong, if you become a thief, your whole family will be stabbed in the back. These soldiers don't know how to rob. At this time, there are military discipline and propaganda of role models, so everyone strictly abides by military discipline. They are polite to the people.
Although Qian Qing did not love the people very much, he fully supported the idea of treating the people as one family. In particular, the class consciousness of the Han army who adhered to this idea and did not treat officials as people made Qian Qing even more satisfied. The Manchus, from the emperor to the officials, were the murderers who killed Qian Qing's family on the grounds of literary inquisition. No matter how many Manchu officials were killed, Qian Qing just felt that they deserved it.
After killing all the officials in Zheng County, Qian Qing led his troops south and soon captured Changge County.
The officials here still did not flee, and were all captured. Seeing these people look ashen, Qian Qing was not surprised, and just ordered: "Shoot them all."
The troops were already used to the procedure, so they marched the group to the city wall and made them kneel against it. The executioners picked up their loaded rifles.
"Raise your guns!" the executioner ordered.
The firing squad raised their rifles and began to target the officials who had only recently been above the common people.
"Don't kill my father!" A scream suddenly came from the side.
When the troops heard the girl's voice, they were stunned. Even the executioner stopped giving orders and turned to look.
Then a girl about 13 or 14 years old came running towards them, shouting "Don't kill my dad." But the girl had bound feet, so she couldn't run fast. And after running for a while, her feet were in great pain, so she stumbled and fell to the ground.
The two people who followed Qian Qing couldn't bear to watch it anymore, so they ran to the girl and pulled her up.
However, the girl struggled to break free from the two men's hands and continued to run towards the official who was to be shot.
Not only did the soldiers not harm the people, they also emphasized in their military songs that women must be respected. Even though the girl was very thin and her ability to move was very limited because of her bound feet, the fearless soldiers on the battlefield did not take action and let the girl throw herself at an official.
The officials were tied up, and to prevent them from moving around before being shot, the troops used a very clever binding technique to tie their hands, feet, and legs together, leaving them with very little room to move. This way, at least they would not miss when being shot.
The rifle is very powerful. If you are shot at close range, even if you don't die immediately, you can only survive for a while.
The girl couldn't untie the rope around her father, so she stood up and blocked him. Such a thin girl faced dozens of soldiers, and the soldiers put down their weapons without any prior agreement. No one pointed a gun at the girl.
The executioner did not move. Faced with a situation he had never encountered before, he turned to look at Qian Qing.
Qian Qing's heart was also churning. After executing so many officials, killing Qing officials was just an absolute cognition. Qian Qing's mood had long been calm.
However, Qian Qing's heart began to beat faster. Somehow , Qian Qing's eyes became moist. She had tried so hard to protect her father, trying to help him escape from the Qing officials who came to arrest him.
However, Qian Qing was facing the Manchu officials, not the Han soldiers. The officials beat Qian Qing down without mercy and arrested Qian Qing's entire family.
Afterwards, Qian Qing was locked up in the county jail, where there was no light in the sky and no food to eat. Qian Qing spent countless days in such hunger and fear.
Afterwards, an official came to tell Qian Qing that her whole family had been killed. As a girl, Qian Qing was spared. However, the death penalty could be waived, but the living crime could not be forgiven. Qian Qing was sentenced to be a slave to the armored men outside the pass.
On the day of hearing the news, a prison clerk took advantage of his drunkenness to open the cell door and tried to molest Qian Qing. Qian Qing stabbed the two clerks to death with a dagger he had sharpened from a wooden stick and escaped from the cell.
Afterwards, Qian Qing took the knife that the jailer had left in the room, killed two jailers, took their keys, and escaped from the prison.
Wiping away the tears from the corners of his eyes, Qian Qing felt that the image of the fearless girl in front of him became blurry again. Qian Qing took out a handkerchief and wiped away his tears.
If I could have been spared, I probably wouldn't have started killing people at such a young age. But although Qian Qing cherished his misfortune, he didn't regret it. Qian Qing had learned one thing from Master Changxin, "This is fate!"
If we talk about regrets, Qian Qing would not have met Huo Chong if the disaster had not happened before. Meeting Huo Chong and losing relatives are causally related. If nothing happened at home, Qian Qing would not have met Huo Chong anyway. If you gain one thing, you will inevitably lose the other. Qian Qing knew that he could not make a choice.
Qian Qing walked forward and came in front of the girl. I don't know if she saw someone of the same sex, but the girl, who had not shown any fear at first when facing the men, finally showed a look of panic.
Looking at the trembling girl, Qian Qing asked, "Girl, tell me a story about how your father can survive."
Although Qian Qing had no intention of scaring the girl, she became even more panicked. However, the girl was able to suppress her panic and said tremblingly, "My father... my father is a good man."
"Good people? Haha!" Qian Qing suddenly lost his intention to let him go. Huo Chong had already made it clear that there could be no good people in the Qing Dynasty. As long as you stand on the side of the people, the Qing Dynasty is full of dog emperors, dog Tartars, dog officials, and dog things that are in cahoots with the dog emperors , dog Tartars, and dog officials.
If the girl knelt down and begged now, Qian Qing felt that he would let her father go. But if the girl described her father as a good man, Qian Qing felt that he had no reason to let the Qing officials go.
If the literary inquisition happened in Changge, Qian Qing did not believe that the local officials would let go of those implicated in the inquisition.
Thinking of this, Qian Qing's compassion quickly dissipated. Worried that he would pull out his gun and kill someone, Qian Qing quickly gave the girl a chance, "I don't care if your father is a good man or not. Apart from being a good man, do you have any other tricks?"
Perhaps women can best understand women’s emotions. The little girl was so scared that she screamed, “Auntie, please don’t kill my father. I beg you!”
After saying that, the girl knelt down in front of Qian Qing.
The killing intent instantly dissipated again. Qian Qing could not accept the argument that there were good people among the Qing officials, but he could accept the desperate plea of a little girl.
He turned around and called the executioner, "Don't kill this man, take them aside."
When the other officials heard this, they immediately started to yell, "Master, I have an 80-year-old mother and a newborn baby at home. If you kill me, who will take care of them?"
Qian Qing felt disgusted by these words. It was not that these people had no chance to escape, and Qian Qing had no intention of hunting down these officials whom he had never met before.
Now they were captured because they were loyal to the Qing Dynasty and obeyed the Qing Dynasty's order to defend the territory. They defended the city and were captured after a battle.
Now they remembered to tell the lie about having an eighty-year-old mother. Why didn’t they remember having an eighty-year-old mother before they were captured?
The executioner and the firing squad had already conducted education, and what Qian Qing was thinking about was also what they had learned and discussed long ago.
The head constable with the clever and brave daughter was taken aside. The executioner did not want to cause any more trouble, so he raised his hand and shouted, "Ready!"
The firing squad, no longer facing the girl, immediately raised their rifles without hesitation.
The executioner waved his arms vigorously, "Fire!"
Each official to be shot was assigned to a group of six people. Although Qian Qing had heard Huo Chong talk about a twelve-man shooting team, no one was willing to do the execution. Shooting one by one caused huge pressure.
The firing squad were all warriors who were not afraid of life and death on the battlefield, but they were very perfunctory about this matter. They just made do with it in the end.
There was a burst of gunfire, and the pleas suddenly stopped. The executioner stepped forward to take a look, and let the dying man go. He only shot the guy who obviously didn't hit the vital part. Then the executioner frowned and ordered the troops to retreat. The troops immediately turned around and left as if they had been pardoned.
Qian Qing looked at the father and daughter. The brave daughter buried her head in her father's arms, trembling with fear. The lucky father was also trembling, and at the same time he held his daughter tightly in his arms to prevent her from seeing such a bloody scene.
Feeling inexplicably relieved, Qian Qing silently blessed the girl: "Live well with your father." Then he led his men away.
Then, the captain who had managed to survive shouted from behind: "Master, female master. Thank you for your kindness. Thank you for not killing me!"
