It was almost dawn when Zhao Jin left, and the two communicated a lot that night.

Li Ping learned about the thrilling battle between Zhao Jin and Shi Ming at Baima Crossing, the chaos in Xiangyang City that night, and the terrifying scorched-earth policy of the Left Army as it moved eastward along the Han River, etc.

At the same time, he also figured out what happened in Wuchang and Hanyang during this period, and many of the doubts that he had not quite understood were finally solved one by one.

The Huangpi defenders, who had excellent city defense conditions, fled without a fight in the face of the peasant army's light attack. This was by no means a simple cowardice and accident. Before the Battle of Huangpi, Li Ping unexpectedly escaped in the vast swamp area north of Jinshui where conditions were difficult and difficult.

It is no accident that the Qing Dynasty collected a large number of ships and people with their families.

Li Ping finally got the answer to why Wuchang and Hanyang were so dark and silent when he went up the river to attend a night banquet the night before yesterday.

Before Zuo Liangyu's army moved down the Han River to Wuchang, most of the residents of Hanyang, Wuchang, who had heard a lot of horrific rumors, had already fled.

The officials in Wuchang City obeyed Zuo Liangyu when he arrived in Hanyang and had not yet crossed the Yangtze River. It was not because they were very conscious, but because they were so frightened that they had no choice but to do anything.

No one wants to be burned, killed, looted, and not many people still believe that Zuo Liangyu has a bottom line.

Facts have also proved that the officials and people of Hanyang, Wuchang, were not wrong. Both the officials and the people who did not escape outside the city, as well as the clan, all regretted it, and everything they had was ruined, leaving only the survivors in the city trembling.

Although Zhao Jin did not describe too many details, Li Ping completely plundered countless prosperous cities outside Wuchang and Hanyang with only Zuo Liangyu's army. Zhao Jin could no longer restrain his madness because of what he had heard and seen.

The fires burning under the troops and on both sides of the Yangtze River continued for no less than ten days, which is enough to judge the tragic situation at that time.

Even when Zhao Jin set up his military camp far away from civilian residences, he had to come up with the excuse of being on guard to appease his subordinates. This was also the last effort he could make to prevent his army from completely turning into beasts.

It is a fool's errand to think of being completely alone among a group of wild beasts.

"The troops were plundering heavily, and the fire was shining in the river." This is the Ming Dynasty's description of the miserable scene in Hanyang, Wuchang at that time.

According to the records of an eyewitness named Feng at that time (Volume 18 of "Northern Strategy of the Ming Dynasty").

When he took a boat to Lanxi (now Huanggang, Hubei Province), he saw many people fleeing from Wuchang upstream. They spread rumors that Zuo Liangyu had led hundreds of thousands of troops to press the border and was attacking Wuchang. Wuchang City

The interior has completely lost order and is in chaos, and the people are fleeing in panic.

After Zuo Liangyu arrived in Hanyang County, he sent troops to seize boats to cross the river, causing all the residents outside Hanyang County to flee and there were no boats running on the river.

On December 18, the witness took a boat that was lucky enough not to be robbed. In the dark night, taking advantage of the strong wind, he successfully arrived in Wuchang. The boat stopped at Jinshazhou.

It was already dawn at that time, and there were as many refugees as ants inside and outside Wuchang. They fled to the south one after another. It is said that Wuchang has become an empty city.

However, this statement is probably more of an exaggeration.

It is possible to escape some areas in the city, but it is impossible to escape all or most of them. After all, ordinary people and young and old can just leave, but those with a lot of wealth and dependents cannot do that.

Leave as soon as you say leave.

Not to mention that the King of Chu, who lived half way through the city, remained unmoved in the city. The subsequent series of evil deeds of the Left Army seen and heard by those who witnessed it also showed that many people still chose to stay.

Zuo Liangyu's soldiers crossed the river and looted everywhere. They stuffed the captured children and women into the cabins and took them away. They forced the men to do hard labor on the shore or serve as soldiers. Once the soldiers found someone disobedient, they immediately beheaded them.

Rape and robbery were commonplace, and most families were scattered, intercepted, and killed. Some families were even buried at the bottom of the river or died at the sword of the rebels.

On the second day, Zuo Liangyu's army lost control even further. Without any scruples, they began to swarm over Jinshazhou, which was responsible for delivering grain, and plundered it.

At this point, no place outside the cities of Wuchang and Hanyang was spared, and everywhere was a hell on earth.

But the officials and people who ran away were not lucky.

There is another sentence in the history of the Ming Dynasty: "The clan members and the people rushed to the valley, and most of them were killed by the local bandits." This cruelly describes the predicament that the people cannot avoid the disaster even if they are lucky enough to escape.

Starting from Wuchang, both sides of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River begin to enter mountainous areas, and mountainous areas are a paradise for bandits in troubled times. Bandits are almost as numerous as cows, and most of the bandits are not half as kind as the rebels.

Li Ping's previous knowledge of these situations was very limited.

Because Zuo Liangyu's army plundered almost all the ships in the Han River and the Yangtze River, it actually caused the basic isolation of the north and south banks of the Han River and the east and west banks of the Yangtze River. It also made it impossible for most of these news to reach Li Li on the north bank of the Han River.

Flat ears.

After arriving, Li Ping has been focusing all his attention on the north of Jianshui and Huangpi County. He really does not have the energy and manpower to go south to explore matters unrelated to military affairs. Of course, he is not willing to take the risk of disobeying Zuo Liangyu.

The military order was just to see what was going on south of the Han River.

However, every loss must have its gain.

If Zuo Liangyu's army had not been stimulated by the evil deeds of burning, killing and looting along the Han River, many people in Hanyang and Hankou would not have fled in a hurry to the harsh swamp area north of the Jishui River before the Zuo army arrived (most of them

The officials and people in Wuchang and Hanyang have fled to the south where the natural conditions are much better), and Li Ping may not be able to get enough ships, even if most of these ships are small boats.

And without enough ships, Li Ping's future march will definitely be a disaster.

Moreover, due to Zuo Liangyu's crazy looting along the Han River and Wuchang, many trackers who made a living on the Han River had to run to the Jianshui and Sheshui rivers to escape and find food. This made Li Ping unexpectedly gain a large amount of money.

boat tracker.

It was these trackers who ultimately helped Li Ping a lot.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were a large number of trackers on the Han River. They mainly did the work of going up the river during the seasons when there was no favorable wind.

According to the Records of the Imperial Construction of Dayue Taihe Mountain, when the main building complex on Wudang Mountain was built in the 10th year of Yongle, a large amount of building materials were first transported from the Yangtze River to Wuchang for assembly, and then hauled up the Han River by trackers and transported to Wudang via Xiangyang.

Mountain.

In Wuchang in January, the wind is mostly from the northeast and very windy.

Li Ping's few large boats needed to take shelter in the Jishui River. Without trackers, they would not be able to go up the north-south flow of the Jishui River. Although Houhu Lake is large, it is a closed shallow lake connected to the Jianshui River in the south.

An ideal place to escape in times of crisis.

But when talking about Zuo Liangyu's plunder of Wuchang and Hanyang, Zhao Jin also remembered something.

This incident also caused Zhao Jin to lose hope in the relationship between Li Ping and Zuo Liangyu.

During this period, Zuo Liangjun's troops were having a great time robbing and having fun. Almost all the generals in each military camp stayed up all night and were accompanied by singing girls and dancers, but Zuo Liangyu himself always stayed alone.

Once, he held a banquet for his subordinates at night and summoned more than a dozen military prostitutes to serve wine. They walked around the room. After a while, Zuo Liangyu suddenly turned to the left and coughed several times. The soldiers

The prostitutes immediately hurriedly exited one by one.

Seeing this scene, all the guests were quiet and respectful. No one dared to talk nonsense, no one even dared to look up at Zuo Liangyu.

This incident seems to be Zuo Liangyu's self-discipline, and it seems that Zuo Liangyu is still effectively controlling the army, but it also shows that Zuo Liangyu is always looking for various opportunities to show his authority, and does not want anyone to

Question his authority.

In the early morning of the 18th day of the first lunar month of the 16th year of Chongzhen's reign, the Yangtze River outside Wuchang became extremely noisy early for the first time in a month, and there was a rare scene of thousands of ships gathering to set sail.

Zuo Liangyu's more than 200,000 troops began to prepare to march eastward along the river.

Suddenly, a fire broke out on a dock in Hankou Town on the west bank of the Yangtze River and thick smoke billowed out. Soon all the docks in Hankou Town began to burn, and then countless docks on the entire west bank of the Yangtze River also burned.

But no one was putting out the fire, and no one was watching. Even on the entire west bank of the long Yangtze River, there was no sound or sight of anyone. There were only a few small boats with torches in the river, looking at each other coldly.

However, accompanied by the blazing fire, there was a different scene on the east bank of the Yangtze River opposite.

There was a roar of people everywhere, chaos everywhere, and crying everywhere.

Countless soldiers are boarding countless boats of different sizes and shapes in the Yangtze River along the long shore, and countless women and strong male civilians are also being carried aboard.

Groups of old people, the sick, older women and children knelt on the east bank of the Yangtze River and kept begging, hoping that the cold-blooded and cruel army would return their daughters and wives in the face of the fact that they had served them wholeheartedly for a month.

, son or husband.

But all the rebels gave them was laughter, indifference and curses.

Zuo Liangyu's army is taking away all the young women, girls and mature men they have captured. Countless families cannot avoid being torn apart after a month of humiliation.

But all this turned a deaf ear to Zuo Liangyu, who was boarding a large boat on the Xunsi River surrounded by generals.

The Xunsi River flows from east to west along the south side of Wuchang City and flows into the Yangtze River. It is the separation river between Jinshazhou and the east bank of the Yangtze River. The northern edge of Jinshazhou is just outside Wangshanmen in the southwest of Wuchang City.

The Xunsi River is not big and the water flow is very stable. There are usually many pontoons built on it to connect Jinshazhou and Wuchang City.

Therefore, Jinshazhou is relatively convenient in terms of transportation. This favorable location is also an important reason why water transportation is located on Jinshazhou. It is also very convenient for Zuo Liangyu to set up his account here to contact officials in Wuchang City and the King of Chu.

Zuo Liangyu boarded the boat from the Xunsi River probably because the wind, waves and currents here are the calmest.

But after boarding the ship, Zuo Liangyu did not enter the cabin to rest. Instead, he stood on the deck and looked up at the nearby Wuchang City in the northeast and became stunned.

Although Zuo Liangyu has been looking at the top of Wuchang City from a distance and staring at the Wangshan Gate, the top of Wuchang City is terrifyingly deserted. Except for flags, there is not a single person in sight, and even the guards do not know where to hide.

, and the city gates were closed as always.

No one knows what the Wuchang officials were doing or thinking at this time. They were probably hiding in some corner and peeking with dark faces.

Of course, no one knew what Zuo Liangyu was thinking, but his face was dark but he did not run away.

Zuo Liangyu didn't say a word, and the generals didn't dare to say a word either. The entire fleet also stopped steadily.

Finally, an increasingly violent cry in the distance caught Zuo Liangyu's attention. It was the people on Jinsha Island who had been tortured for a month and were grieving for their relatives who were about to be separated.

There were several boats behind Zuo Liangyu's boat that were full of young women. They were all holding on to the side of the boat and looking at their relatives in the distance with all their strength to endure their sorrow.

Zuo Liangyu's soldiers did not allow them to cry. Anyone who dared to cry would have their heads chopped off. Just now, several women couldn't bear it anymore and had their heads chopped off with a knife. This is what caused the people on Jinshazhou to cry suddenly.

Strong reasons.

When Zuo Liangyu looked towards the stern of the boat, there happened to be a headless woman on a boat in sight because of the curved river channel behind it. She was kicked into the river, and then the people on Jinsha Island suddenly started crying.

Another high profile.

Under the nervous gaze of the generals, Zuo Liangyu just looked at it expressionlessly for a while, and then moved his gaze back to the top of Wuchang City.

After an unknown amount of time, Zuo Liangyu glanced sideways at the sun and suddenly said "Sail the ship" and then walked into the cabin.

But when the fleet passed by Jianshui, Zuo Liangyu came out of the cabin again.

With a complex expression on his face, he continued to stare at a camp surrounded by carriages and horses in the distance on the land to the west under the guidance of a private soldier.

The camp was filled with smoke and seemed peaceful, as if all the chaos in the Yangtze River had nothing to do with them.

illustrate:

Zuo Liangyu used military prostitutes to show his majesty when entertaining guests, and his subordinates beheaded the woman on the spot after discovering her crying during the retreat. These were historical facts at the time and are not fabricated.
Chapter completed!