Chapter 131: Bloodless Kaicheng of Hangzhou Ordinarily, things like escaping from battle should be done in secret. yznn But the problem is, just like Gou Xunli did not dare to leave Zhang Dai and flee back to Nanjing, Zhang Dai did not dare to trick a large group of scholars into death, and then fled alone.
This would definitely ruin his reputation as a scholar.
If Zhang Dai is left with a reputation as a professional deceiver, he will no longer have to hang out in the circle of scholars.
Therefore, while ordering the housekeeper to pack up his belongings and prepare to leave the city, Zhang Dai also ordered his people to quickly inform the passionate scholars who had come with him to Hangzhou to "defend the enemy and fight against the enemy", telling them that Hangzhou could no longer be defended and that the road south was impassable.
Therefore, we have to go back to Jinling and make plans again.
In addition, Zhang Dai has lived in Hangzhou for many years and has many friends and family friends in the city.
At this moment, both emotionally and rationally, it was time to inform and warn them before leaving.
Anyway, the news has been leaked to so many people, so a few more probably won’t matter.
Unexpectedly, the result of this was that one stone stirred up a thousand waves, and in an instant, a vigorous wave of escape was launched in the city of Hangzhou.
The level of confidentiality of the Ming Dynasty officials has always been comparable to that of a sieve and a funnel.
As early as yesterday, when the prefect Liu Mengqian entertained Zhang Dai and other "righteous men" to drink wine, he said that "the Nanjing court cannot send reinforcements.
When the court The bad news that "the princes have decided to let the city of Hangzhou fend for itself, and it is best to fight until death" has spread throughout the entire city of Hangzhou like a wildfire, causing all the rich gentry and wealthy households in the city to suffer. sleep soundly.
Although Zhang Dai only notified a dozen or so family members before leaving, he couldn't help but those who were notified also had relatives and friends.
In addition, the atmosphere in Hangzhou is tense now, and everyone is paying attention to this matter, so relevant news Spread at the speed of light.
Before Zhang Dai and others had time to leave the city, the news that they thought there was nothing they could do when they first arrived in Hangzhou and were scared away by the crisis had spread throughout every street and alley in Hangzhou.
To make matters worse, it seems that because of the heightened atmosphere of war, some people even casually said that the Nanjing court planned to beggar its neighbors and sacrifice the property of the Hangzhou gentry to bribe the thieves in exchange for the peace of those prefectures and counties in Southern Zhili.
And Zhang Dai came to secretly communicate with the magistrate, preparing to collude with the Kun thieves to massacre the city, so that he could use the blood of the Jin gentry of Zhejiang to ensure the peace and happiness of the official family of Nanzhili.
Under the spread of false rumors, various increasingly terrifying rumors, just like this.
The word spread in the market, and eventually the whole city was in commotion.
Everyone felt that it would be too late if they didn't leave.
Therefore, when Zhang Dai and other "righteous men" had just opened the city gate with the prefect's token, dragging countless suitcases and cages onto the awning boat in the Grand Canal, they were about to set off northward.
Hundreds of local Hangzhou gentry families also swarmed in, effortlessly overcoming the obstruction of the Ming army defending the city, and followed them to the pier of the canal in a chaotic manner.
Then, they showed their special skills and brought many different kinds of boats, carrying the whole family and their gold and silver treasures and rowing oars north.
As the war situation became increasingly unfavorable, many people had already made plans to escape at any time, but I haven't made up my mind yet.
Those who really couldn't get a boat would push a wheelbarrow or pull a large cart and stagger northward along the snow-covered official road.
Regarding this sudden doomsday escape, the Ming army defending the city did not dare to stop it.
The Ming army now guarding the city gates in Hangzhou is very complex.
It includes hereditary military households from the local guard station, subordinate officials from various yamen, and There are local people who are temporarily recruited.
But they have one thing in common, that is, they are basically locals from Hangzhou, and they are inextricably related to the wealthy gentry households in the city who are the de facto ruling class.
Many of the Hangzhou Minzhuang people who were temporarily requisitioned were still working as servants in the house of a certain Jin gentry a few days ago, and their sons and daughters might still be serving as servants and maids in the master's house.
Seeing that their master is about to leave the city, how dare they stop the subordinate officials and servants who are also locals.
Their positions are basically secured by the support of the wealthy gentry, and their loyalty to their benefactors is far greater than that of other provinces.
The prefect came.
Moreover, they were more aware of the dangers of the war than ordinary people, and were also not optimistic about the prospects of Hangzhou City, so they all went home to pack up their belongings and prepare to flee.
Not to mention those military households.
The basic atmosphere of society in the late Ming Dynasty was that of the noble and the lowly.
As for Jiangnan, a place with outstanding literary style and few wars, the status of warriors was even lowered to a desperate level.
A mere scholar dared to quarrel with a third-grade commander in the street.
As for the status of those low-level soldiers, they are almost the same as the untouchables in later generations of India.
Their members are mainly composed of beggars and slaves.
They have to sell their sons and daughters to survive.
Even because of their status, they even join the beggar gang to beg for food.
If they were to be discriminated against by other beggars, under normal circumstances, even if they were beaten to death by the noble servants of the gentry in the street, they would have to consider themselves unlucky.
How dare they embarrass the noble gentry just for a mere military order now?
Therefore, once the city gates in the north of Hangzhou are opened, they can no longer be closed.
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All kinds of chaotic traffic and people completely blocked the streets.
Thousands of people of all kinds rushed out like crazy.
As a large number of wealthy wealthy families fled with their families, the common people who got the news were also moved by the news: Liu Mengqian, the former prefect In order to strengthen the determination of the soldiers and civilians in the city to resist, a considerable degree of demonizing propaganda was carried out against the Kun thieves.
But now, it has turned into shooting oneself in the foot.
Due to excessive fear, more Hangzhou people have been raped.
Scared away.
All of a sudden, everyone from nobles and nobles, to scholars and wealthy merchants, to traders and foot soldiers, as long as they could raise money and food, all started to follow the trend and fled north of the city.
In the end, even the soldiers and horses guarding the city were also in large numbers.
The ground ran away.
Little did he know that although the city of Hangzhou today is crumbling and in danger, the suburbs of northern Zhejiang are also infested with bandits and the roads are unstable.
Many bandit road bullies heard about the war situation in Zhejiang and thought that the situation in Jiangnan was about to change.
So they used various banners to imitate the bandit soldiers and horses, shaved their heads on their own, and set up cards on the official roads to collect the money to pay for the road. , In addition to these mountain kings on land, the heroes on the water were not willing to be lonely.
They began to use the canal to draw water and rob the wealthy people who fled with a lot of gold and silver.
Especially those Caoding, boatmen and trackers who had lost their livelihood since the fall of Beijing and the cutoff of water transportation.
On the one hand, their lives were really difficult, and on the other hand, they took advantage of their familiarity with the waterways to engage in the business of killing people and stealing goods.
For a while, they were really comfortable.
Various horrifying legends about cannibal restaurants and black boats that rip off customers have spread all over the south of the Yangtze River, causing rumors and panic in all prefectures and counties.
In short, Zhejiang Province is now out of control.
Even in those counties that are far away from the coastline and have not been directly attacked by thieves and horses, the security situation outside the city is in chaos.
The officials firmly grasped the only troops at hand and did not dare to go out of the city to enforce the law.
It is conceivable that in the eyes of the strong men on land and in the water, so many wealthy Jin gentry who fled Hangzhou in a hurry were definitely the same.
The finest fat sheep waiting for you It can be seen from this that during the journey of these Hangzhou people fleeing northward in the wind and snow, no one knows how many bones they will fall.
However, no matter what the future fate of these gentry who escaped from Hangzhou was, at least those who remained in the city were anxious.
Poor prefect Liu Mengqian, who is good at cursive calligraphy, had just gotten drunk in a luxurious high-class brothel, and found a woman to satisfy his physiological needs that he had been holding back for many days.
He was hugging two naked red girls in the hibiscus tent.
Guo Ren, doing "Yiyi people from all over the world gathered in Hangzhou to defeat the thieves and rescue them."
I have a sweet dream of the Ming Dynasty.
Over there, my close family members hurriedly came to report: Zhang Dai and others, the righteous men who just arrived yesterday, actually incited the entire city's gentry to abandon Hangzhou and flee north.
Now the rich households in the city are rushing out of the city gate.
There was already a huge chaos, and even the city's defense troops and horses were completely overwhelmed.
Well, is this a particularly alternative way of saying "Every fortress is breached from within?"
So, as soon as poor Magistrate Liu was woken up, he immediately fell down with anger: He originally thought that Zhang Dai, a helpless "righteous man", was at most a useless stimulant.
Of course, the ancients were not excited. agent.
Now it has become a heartbreaking poison that kills people.
Although these damn bastards did not directly offer the city to the thieves, if all the wealthy Jin gentry families fled, how could the city of Hangzhou be defended?
Without these large gentry households to provide labor, maintain law and order, and provide money and food every day, should he be allowed to lead a group of government officials to defend the city?
But it's useless to be angry.
Hangzhou's wealthy gentry families are still pouring out of the city like a dam bursting.
Magistrate Liu had no choice but to go to the north of the city to stop the escape and close the city gates, regardless of his weak kidneys and body.
Of course, he also knew that if he wanted to solve this kind of thing, just like suppressing the anti-rent riots in the countryside, he must have force to deter them.
Just fine.
Otherwise, even if he, the prefect, comes forward, he will still be pushed down and trampled by the violent crowd.
Therefore, as soon as he left the brothel, he summoned his subordinate officials everywhere, and went to other city gates, hoping to mobilize a force of troops to come over.
Although the defenders of Wulin Gate have been blown away by the Kun bandits, and the officers and soldiers of the two northern gates have probably been washed away, there should still be some people at the other gates.
However, what made Magistrate Liu feel desperate was that after all this trouble, not only were all the subordinates and officers missing, but even the defenders of several other city gates seemed to have basically escaped.
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He, the magistrate, had almost disappeared.
Became a polished commander
In general, except for not opening the city gate to welcome the thieves, the Hangzhou defenders had done everything that could ruin the battle.
Although Magistrate Liu's war preparation policy was messed up before, at any rate, many military households and young men were recruited from the city to defend various sections of the city wall.
Faced with the call from the government, first of all, ordinary ordinary people did not dare not to come.
Secondly, the prefect's yamen set up subsidies and rewards that looked very good.
It happened that all industries in Hangzhou were withered due to the war, and many unemployed local men thought of it.
Work hard on the city wall to earn some money Some brave scoundrels even received an old livery from the prefect's Yamen and prepared to throw bricks and stones outside the city with the defenders.
This way they could not only earn more money, but also dream of being appointed officials.
In the picture, earn yourself a soldier or even a small officer.
Obviously, under the bombardment of Kun thieves like a meteor shower, the illusions of these guys were quickly shattered.
Houchao Gate, which was the first to be bombarded, and Wulin Gate, which became the main battlefield next, all the strong men on the city walls quickly fled.
But in the remaining city gates, there are still some people who are struggling to survive.
When the whole city fled, the last straw that broke the camel's back was put.
So the strong men who wanted to make money immediately left in a hurry, and the scoundrels who wanted to earn military glory also threw away the numbers they had just received. clothes, ran home and hid under the bed.
As a result, Magistrate Liu stared at bloodshot eyes and ran from one city gate to another, only to find that the military households, government officials and the people who had been recruited to guard each gate had all dispersed in a hurry, and there was no more Any way to shout them out from behind the closed door.
When Magistrate Liu dejectedly returned to his private residence as a temporary government office, he was met with another bolt from the blue.
Just when he was running around the city of Hangzhou, a group of defeated soldiers maliciously demanding wages raided the magistrate's private residence.
Not only did he Burning and killing wantonly, and looting all the eunuch bags that the prefect had worked hard to accumulate for so many years.
What happened now that if he didn't have the money to go to Nanjing to engage in court activities, the crime of defeating the city would be enough to confiscate his family and exterminate his family.
At this point, Magistrate Liu Mengqian, who was completely mad, immediately his eyes darkened, his body softened, and he fell down with a ferocious expression and a crooked mouth.
His trusted butler was so panicked that he didn't know what to do for a moment.
I ran out to ask for a doctor, or stayed to take care of the master.
Fortunately, probably because of the fact that Prefect Liu had worked conscientiously to support the Ming Dynasty for so many years, the Lord of Hell sent Prefect Liu back to the sun with a stroke of his pen.
And when Magistrate Liu woke up, he no longer had the energy to continue to fight to the end, nor did he have any thoughts of committing suicide in order to save his name.
Instead, a sudden flash of inspiration came to his mind: "I am blessed to be a Jinshi".
Scholars should be loyal to the imperial orthodoxy, so why should they care about the punishment of the puppet emperor in Nanjing?
At present, the real emperor is still wandering in the Central Plains, and he must be thinking about how to pacify the puppet emperor, occupy the southern capital, and restore his throne.
If I, the prefect of Hangzhou, went to seek refuge with Emperor Chongzhen, it might be a better way out than staying in Hangzhou to join the bandits or going to Nanjing to die.
Therefore, Magistrate Liu Mengqian, who had regained his energy, immediately ordered the servants to take action.
First, he packed up some utensils needed for the trip from the messy mansion, and then dug out a box of silver from a secret cellar.
As a means of transportation.
Then he also dispersed a group of beggars and military households who came to ask for pay, and then followed the fleeing wave of wealthy gentry households in Hangzhou, quietly left the city, and headed for southern Anhui.
At this point, with the final shutdown of the prefecture's Yamen, the city of Hangzhou officially entered a state of anarchy where demons danced wildly.
At the same time, the bandits outside the city remained calm and did not move, but continued to shoot Hale rockets into the city oshow7: