Chapter 101: Great Battle in the Capital (Part 1)
Ever since Emperor Chongzhen's imperial chariot escaped from the capital and headed north to Changping and Xuanfu, Beijing has fallen into unprecedented chaos.
——When the emperor left, the newly-minted scholar He Wuzou who stayed in Beijing was a scholar from the Qing Dynasty. He had always despised warriors, hated war, and had no experience in leading troops. Another Duke of Cheng, Zhu Chunchen, who was appointed to stay in Beijing, claimed to be the descendant of a famous general in the country. In fact, he was a dandy who had not touched a sword or a gun for several generations. He was just like the Jia family in "A Dream of Red Mansions", drinking and listening. He is good at drama, but how can he prepare a marching formation?
As a result, after the emperor left the city, the great scholar He Wuzou immediately retreated to his mansion, stayed behind closed doors, and stopped caring about worldly affairs from then on. Cheng Guo Gong Zhu Chunchen still had some sense of responsibility at first. He bit the bullet and took charge of the Five Cities Military and Horse Division. After long discussions with a group of military attachés in the capital, he finally came up with some regulations and ordered all soldiers and horses from the capital to go to the city. Tight defense. A notice was also posted, ordering the servants and handymen from all the yamen in the capital to go to the city together. He also sent the watchman to announce: All the bandits from the East and the West and the rebels from Guan Ning have entered the capital. It is extremely urgent to defend the city. When the city is broken, the people and officials will be unavoidable. Now, all the strong men in the city are ordered to go to the city and coordinate the defense. No one is allowed to do so. delay! Lanterns are hung at the door of every house to guard against spies; no one is allowed to walk around freely on the streets, and any offenders will be questioned immediately!
But by this time, as the emperor abandoned the city and ran away, the dignity of the imperial court was gone in the capital. At least seven or eight out of ten stops were made by all the armies in the capital and the petty officials of various government offices. They turned a deaf ear to Zhu Chunchen's orders, dragging their weapons and armours, and fled in all directions. Some of the common people in the capital were young and strong, but they were summoned by the policemen, and were driven to the city to guard the city. However, they had no food and salary, and no weapons to use. They could only shout and shout with their bare hands. But at home, the wife and children were waiting for food, and no one was looking after them... As a result, only half a day later, they all fled.
Seeing that the situation was completely out of control, Zhu Chunchen was also disheartened and ordered the officials in the yamen to disperse, go home and resign themselves to fate.
And because of the emperor's decree, all the gates in Beijing were left open all day long, with no one to guard them. Seeing this, countless gentry and common people in the city dragged their sons and daughters, luggage and suitcases, and poured out of Beijing like a flood that had burst a dike. Escape. At the same time, scoundrels and thieves took advantage of the opportunity to rob, leaving corpses strewn in the streets and alleys, black smoke rising everywhere in the city, and women and children crying incessantly. What's even worse is that the prison inmates in Beijing also took advantage of the chaos to riot, and nearly a thousand of them escaped at once, committing evil everywhere in the capital, causing panic for a while.
However, for the common people in Beijing, their various tragedies and tragedies have only just begun to be staged...
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Suburbs of Beijing, Xishan (Shijingshan), Shaanxi Bandit Camp
A Shaanxi man wearing armor was looking quietly in the direction of Beijing. His face was stern, but his eyes were slightly excited.
He is the now famous King Chuang, Gao Yingxiang.
Although Gao Yingxiang had just received a sap not long ago and was completely defeated by Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong army at the Marco Polo Bridge, and most of his followers dispersed, he still insisted on continuing to nail himself to the Xishan Mountain on the outskirts of Beijing, refusing to Give up peeking at the capital, the city of the emperor.
Now, he finally had the perfect opportunity.
After a while, a general hurried over, dusted himself off a few times, knelt down on one knee, and said very respectfully to Gao Yingxiang: "... King Chuang, according to the spies' report, the gates of Beijing are wide open. Then Emperor Zhu’s dog really abandoned the capital and fled to Changping with Lu Xiangsheng!”
After listening to the general's report, Gao Yingxiang's expression did not seem to change, but the other leaders standing beside him were all beaming with joy - according to legend, the city of Beijing, where gold and silver are everywhere and the streets are full of wealthy households, is like a naked man. The beauty in the clothes was lying in front of them with her legs spread apart!
"...King Chuang! What a great joy!" Li Zicheng, who was still just "General Chuang" at this time, immediately stepped forward and clasped his fists to congratulate, "...Wang Chuang, may I ask what we should do next? Is to go to Changping to pursue Chongzhen? Dog Emperor? Or go see the colorful world in the capital?”
"...Of course I'm going to Beijing to see the world! So what's there to chase after Chongzhen's son?" a bandit leader quickly choked.
"...Yes! Chongzhen's son is running away this time. How much gold and silver can he take with him? How can he compare with the capital city, where gold, silver, grain and rice are everywhere! Just open a house of a royal relative, That harvest is equivalent to the victory we took over a county in Shaanxi! ”
"...I heard that there is the ancestral tomb of the Zhu family emperor in Changping, which should be somewhat interesting..."
"... If you want to get the treasures buried in the imperial mausoleum, you have to dig the grave first. How hard is it? Besides, how can that little oil and water compare with that in Beijing?"
"...and beside Chongzhen's son, there is also the evil star Lu Xiangsheng. We have dealt with him several times in the past few days, and we have never gotten any advantage... How can we ignore the fat in front of us and run away specially? Why go all the way to chew hard bones?”
The leaders were all talking about the next step of action. Most of them were thinking about rushing into Beijing to make a fortune, and were reluctant to go to Changping to chase people. Gao Yingxiang naturally followed the good example, "...In this case, let's let the Chongzhen boy go for the time being and go to the capital to see the world first!"
"...obey King Chuang's order!" The leaders sang their promises in unison and bowed respectfully. However, they could not restrain their excitement. As soon as they took a few steps, they all shouted to their respective tribesmen, "...Boys. ! Cheer up, let’s go to the capital together today to grab money, food, and women!”
——On October 24, the fifth year of Chongzhen, the emperor abandoned the capital and headed north. There was great chaos in the capital. All the gates were open and no one was guarding them. Gao Yingxiang, the king of Chuang, was leading 50,000 thieves stationed in Xishan. After hearing the news, he broke camp and went down the mountain. On the afternoon of the 26th, he led the Shaanxi bandits directly into the capital and immediately launched a large-scale plunder...
Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the city of Beijing, which had not been attacked by foreign enemies, finally fell into the bloody fire and smoke this time.
So, on the night of October 26th, the whole city of Beijing was like a purgatory. Thick smoke was rising everywhere in the city, and screams and cries filled the streets for a while. The tall and grand red-lacquered doors were violently kicked and smashed open by the Shaanxi bandits. Then, amid the shrill cries of the servants and maids, the old and young men in these mansions were pulled out and immediately beheaded or killed. , causing sticky blood to flow everywhere on the stone steps.
If these ladies from wealthy families are pretty and fail to hide in time, then their future lives will only be inseparable from two things: the hanging of Bai Ling or the eyes of everyone - provided that their physique is strong enough , was not raped to death on the spot...
It can be said that once the Shaanxi rogue soldiers passed by, it was like a plague of locusts passing through the country, making the forty-nine cities immediately look "white and really clean." And the rogues in Beijing, taking advantage of their familiarity with the local area, joined the gang one after another to help rob, and their attacks were a hundred times more ruthless than the gangsters, with no humanity at all. Even the poor beggars living in thatched huts and dilapidated temples were captured by the Shaanxi bandits and used as coolies to help the "kings" carry their belongings.
All this heinous bloodshed and chaos did not subside until late at night. The sky-high fire raging in the streets and alleys illuminated the roads and courtyards littered with corpses as bright as day. And sporadic shouts of death and begging continued until dawn. Many anxious bandits didn't even bother to drag away the corpses. Amidst the pungent smell of blood, they moved into the deep mansions and courtyards with carved beams and columns, and slept on soft beds embroidered with satin and fragrant quilts. Some people were holding gold and silver jewelry and laughing in their dreams, while some were holding the stolen ladies and were so excited that they were shaking all night long...
In the Forbidden City with red walls and yellow tiles, Gao Yingxiang and the bandit leaders also gathered in the Golden Palace of Emperor Chongzhen, hugging the tearful palace maids, concubines and official ladies, and carrying various kinds of food that they had found from the palace. They drank the precious tribute wine very freely and got drunk... Only the "Invading General" Li Zicheng was a little more cautious. After burning, killing and looting for most of the day, he withdrew from the city of Beijing and set up camp outside Xizhimen. However, what these bandit leaders never thought was that just as they were plundering, another army was also rushing towards the capital at starry night...