Chapter 169 People need to wake up

"How did you get away so quickly?" Li Ping was very curious about Zhou Wen's arrival.

As soon as the battle ended, Zhou Wen was assigned by Li Ping to deal with the swarms of excited officials, gentry and people in the city who wanted to claim credit and get close to them, and he also used his identity as a scholar to appease them.

But Zhou Wen’s work was done too fast this time!

Normally, Kung Fu probably hasn't even identified the heads at this moment.

Facing Li Ping's doubts, Zhou Wen smiled bitterly and said: "Although I am a scholar, after all, I am only a subordinate of the general and have no power to decide on major issues. What people want to see is you, the general."

"Why, they troubled you so quickly? Tell me, I can give you an answer. As for meeting them, just forget it! Tell them that the general is very busy." Li Ping's answer was very simple.

Since he had no intention of guarding Huangpi from the beginning, Li Ping was naturally very reluctant to meet the local officials and people. He didn't want to waste his energy, let alone embarrass himself who wanted to save face. This was why he pushed Zhou Wen out.

Seeing Li Ping's resolute attitude, Zhou Wen looked a little disappointed, but he didn't seem surprised, and just asked respectfully:

"General, shall we defend Huangpi?"

Li Ping was a little surprised and asked casually: "What do you mean?"

Only attacking but not defending is their established strategy, and Zhou Wen, the head of the training section, should know it better than anyone else. Although the situation is somewhat different, Zhou Wen's judgment should not be inferior to that of Ma Yong.

Unless he has other ideas.

"The old officials and people in Huangpi City hope that the general can lead them to defend Huangpi, and hope that the general will order the execution of the pseudo magistrate and all those who have taken refuge in the rebel army to strengthen the city's defense."

When he said these words, Zhou Wen's expression was very serious, and his eyes were a little strange.

Calling officials appointed by the peasant army pseudo-officials was a relatively unified term used by the government in the late Ming Dynasty.

As for the pseudo-magistrate of Huangpi County, he has not officially taken office yet, so he has not yet lived in the county government office.

This is a scholar who has just joined the peasant army in De'an Prefecture. He hurried to Huangpi County under the escort of several peasant soldiers last night and was preparing to take office. However, he was captured before his butt even touched the official chair.

.

"You clearly know our planned plan, why do you still ask this question?" Li Ping's tone was a little cold.

But Zhou Wen remained calm and continued to say seriously: "I made a mistake in my judgment before. I didn't expect that the people in the city hate thieves so much. Now that the situation is different, the general may have different ideas. Zhou Wen dare not take advantage of this matter."

Yes, you have to ask clearly."

"Then do you think we should keep it or not?" Li Ping's tone became strangely calm.

Looking at Li Ping who was expressionless, and then at Ma Yong who was already very serious, Zhou Wen sighed slightly and said, "It seems that the general has already made plans in his mind. There is no need for Zhou Wen to say anything. I will obey the general's orders."

"

"Then you're still asking me?" Li Ping replied rudely.

"Forehead…"

Zhou Wen had a black line on his face and didn't know how to answer for a long time.

But Li Ping said with a smile: "What! Do you dare not say it or don't want to say it? My idea is not necessarily right. Maybe you can convince me."

Zhou Wen looked left and right again, and finally said helplessly: "Although we sympathize with the gentry and people here, we still do not have the conditions to defend Huangpi. Because General Zuo will not support us. And without his support, we are completely

It’s hard to support a tree alone.”

Li Ping finally nodded, his expression softened and he said, "That's the case, then we just have no differences."

Zhou Wen nodded sadly.

"Sir, there are many aspects of this battle that I haven't figured out yet, why don't we discuss it together." Ma Yong suddenly interjected at this moment.

"This is a good suggestion!" Li Ping praised.

Immediately afterwards, he said without hesitation: "There are many accidental elements in our great victory. We must not be arrogant because of the victory, especially our command team must stay awake. Staff Du, please tell me first."

This is very obvious that I don’t want to continue the previous topic.

"yes!"

Du Sanjiang, who was suddenly called upon, gave an excited and instinctive reply.

Then, under the gaze of Li Ping and Ma Yong, he added his lips and said hurriedly: "The people who helped us in the city suffered heavy casualties, estimated to be more than 200. The combat effectiveness of He Yilong's tribe is still very strong..."

"So many?" Ma Yong couldn't help but exclaimed.

It is not difficult to guess that civilians suffered casualties, and the casualties were quite large. After all, most of them had no military training, and they also participated extensively in attacks on the peasant army.

But to what extent they were involved and how severe the casualties were, even Li Ping, who has the most information, still doesn't know much about it, but this plays an important role in understanding their incredible victory.

However, Du Sanjiang obviously already knew a lot about it.

It turned out that Du Sanjiang went off to act alone after the battle, inspecting every battlefield, understanding the entire battle, and doing what a combat officer should really do, and was just met and captured by Zhou Wen.

In Du Sanjiang's eloquent talk, more information was revealed.

Hundreds of officials and gentry in Huangpi City, including the families and servants of many merchants, quickly and spontaneously launched a siege on the peasant armies stationed in various places as soon as the chaos broke out in the city, and killed many of the peasant armies who had just woken up.

The soldiers killed him directly in his own yard.

And the peasant army is not given for nothing.

Although they were blinded, most of them still put up a desperate resistance and caused heavy casualties to the people who attacked them.

In the end, out of more than a thousand new and old peasant troops, less than 300 were captured, and most of them were new recruits or surrendered soldiers.

This is a very shocking phenomenon.

It is obvious that the peasant army did not receive as widespread support in Huangpi City as they did in the vast countryside of Huangpi.

The peasant army's unbelievable over-indulgence in the city must have aroused a lot of resistance and dissatisfaction, and rebellion has been brewing in the city.

Although Du Sanjiang was still very confused about the abnormal phenomenon of the peasant army.

But what he is certain now is that without the strong help of the people in the city, they would not have been able to seize the city so smoothly, nor would they have been able to almost completely annihilate the peasant army, let alone have so few casualties.

Moreover, Du Sanjiang also believed that although Fang had won a great victory, there were too many unrepeatable features in this battle.

Du Sanjiang's narration made Zhou Wen, who had always been a little absent-minded, slowly gather his attention and seem to be a little enlightened. It seemed that he had not understood this at all before, and he did not know what the two of them had exchanged on the way here.

However, after Du Sanjiang finished speaking, Zhou Wen spoke immediately.

Zhou Wen probably believed that the over-indulgent behavior of the peasant army in Huangpi City may be related to the fact that He Yilong's tribe has always had a close relationship with Luo Rucai's tribe, who enjoyed the most enjoyment among the peasant army.

It is likely that He Yilong's entire army was generally contaminated with a lot of bad habits and refused to strictly implement Li Zicheng's new requirements for military discipline in the entire peasant army.

Although He Yilong's vanguard army did not bully the lower-class people in Huangpi City, it was very unfriendly to those who were even slightly richer, and completely ignored Li Zicheng's strict order that the troops should not live in private houses.

Treat it as a piece of paper.

Coupled with their unconcealed open and large-scale bullying of the wealthy class, it eventually led to seeing being believed and ordinary people in Huangpi City who had not been harmed no longer believing in other promises made by the peasant army.

But in the end, Zhou Wen used this to raise a serious concern.

He was very worried that the peasant army would carry out bloody revenge on the gentry and people in Huangpi City who had given strong support to the official army attacking the city, and this was also in line with the tradition of the peasant army.

Li Ping was suddenly startled. He couldn't help but look at the city, looking at the clearly discernible jubilation everywhere in the city. He found that he seemed to have ignored this problem.

But he didn't say anything or express his position.

Ma Yong also chose to filter, and he just continued to talk about some purely military spectatorship.

Ma Yong believed that the favorable geographical location between Huangpi and Wuchang and Hanyang and the peasant army's mentality of arrogance and underestimation of the enemy brought about by the peasant army's consecutive victories ultimately led to the peasant army's serious paralysis and carelessness in Huangpi.

Therefore, urging the troops to remain alert and guard against arrogance and impetuosity must become an important task for officers at all levels, especially after a major victory, like they are now.

I am afraid of everything you say and I brainstorm, and the truth often comes from this.

The Battle of Huangpi actually opened Li Ping's eyes and amazed him. Although there was some drama, history is often so complicated.

The famous Huangpi specialty dish "Huangpi Three Fresh Foods" is said to come from this period of history.

After the peasant army captured Huangpi City, the local people took out the fish balls, meatballs and meat cakes that were only used during the festival and cooked them together to warmly entertain the peasant army. It became famous because of the delicious taste of three delicacies in one dish.

But at the same time, in real history, shortly after the peasant army captured Huangpi, the officials, gentlemen and people in the city actually took advantage of the peasant army's unpreparedness to start an uprising, drove the peasant army out of Huangpi City, and killed the fake magistrate.

That's right, in real history, the people of Huangpi did this on their own without any external help.

As a result, the peasant army was furious, attacked Huangpi again, massacred the city in revenge, and completely demolished the entire Huangpi city wall. Only then did the Qing Dynasty rebuild Huangpi County.

Li Ping did not know much about these histories.

Of course, if he knew, his heart would be at peace, because his raid might have saved the people in Huangpi City.

There is always a difference between being captured by the official army and being conquered by the people on their own. The peasant army will most likely only resent the official army and will no longer anger the people of Huangpi. They may not massacre the city and tear down the city wall.

Although he did not understand the true history of this period, during this battle, Li Ping gained a deeper understanding of the complex diversity and constant change of social conflicts in the late Ming Dynasty, and also gained a more intuitive feel for the peasant army.

The vast number of poor people outside the city were enthusiastic and blindly obedient to the peasant army. The citizens in the city, including merchants and some gentry, welcomed the peasant army with caution at the beginning, but quickly became disgusted and turned into opposition.

All this profoundly depicts the huge social gap and violent swings in social understanding in the late Ming Dynasty, as well as the huge consequences caused by the conquerors' policy mistakes.

Li Ping believed that the problems of He Yilong's troops may have a lot to do with the fact that before joining forces with Li Zicheng in Henan, they had to fight for a long time in the impoverished Dabie Mountains (commonly known as the Yinghuo Mountains in the late Ming Dynasty) to survive.

Enough tenacity and courage to fight, but relatively low resistance to the colorful world and decadent life.

In addition, most of his key officers came from Shaanxi, which was plagued by disasters, and many of his key soldiers came from the difficult Dabie Mountains. He Yilong's troops had an excessive hatred for officials, gentry and merchants from top to bottom.

In the end, they let themselves go wild in Huangpi City, which they thought was safe, and then triggered a strong backlash from all walks of life in Huangpi City.
To be continued...