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The war in Jiangnan had not yet completely ended, and Bolo, Durde, Yilduqi, and Feiyanggu were still on the run;
Qian Qianyi selected more than 300 people to serve as officials in various places. Some of them abandoned the city and fled; some requested to submit to the Qin State; some claimed that the Prince of Lu in eastern Zhejiang was the orthodox regent; and some simply established themselves in the city, intending to wait for a price.
In short, more than half of the prefectures and counties were not yet truly under the control of the Qin State. At this time, Qin Mu entrusted the military and political affairs to his civil and military officials, and rushed to Jiangyin with officials from the Ministry of Rites and some ministers at the level of assistant ministers to personally preside over the grand sacrifice.
An old stonemason named Huang Xi in Jiangyin City was carving life-like statues of Yuan Biwu and 300 other warriors on Huangshan Mountain outside the city. After receiving donations from the people in the city, hundreds of stonemasons joined in and the progress was very fast.
After Qin Mu went up the mountain to check it out personally, he was filled with emotion and tears filled his eyes.
The Battle of Jiangyin was not only touching for Qin soldiers like Yuan Biwu. For example, the old scholar Fan, knowing that he would die, still insisted on requesting to use a bucket filled with gunpowder and covered with silver to go to the enemy camp to pretend to surrender and die with the enemy.
The girl named Jing Niang was hit by three arrows, but she held her breath and struggled to move her body to the top of the city wall. When a soldier of the rebel army turned back and took a stone from her hand, she left the world with a smile.
The old woman surnamed Lu had her two sons killed in the battle on the city wall. She herself was shot in the face by an enemy arrow. She hugged the enemy who had just climbed up the city wall and rolled down to the foot of the city wall, dying together with the enemy.
During the 60-day defense of Jiangyin, there were countless tear-jerking events like this.
Qin Mu decided to recruit 500 stonemasons and 3,000 strong men to express these earth-shaking deeds with stone carvings, accompanied by inscriptions to tell their stories so that future generations would remember them forever.
At the same time, he ordered the Ministry of Revenue to allocate money to build a martyrs' shrine on the mountain to honor all the heroes who died in the battle. He also moved the Yangguang Temple in the south of the city to Huangshan Mountain. It was renamed Zhongling Temple, and monks were responsible for daily incense offerings.
He personally wrote the eight characters "The heroic spirit is immortal, and the noble spirit lasts forever" and carved them into a huge monument which was erected in front of each group of statues.
An altar was built in front of the giant stele for every future successor to the throne of the Qin Dynasty and every batch of civil and military scholars to come and pay homage.
He also reiterated his decision to allocate one million taels of silver to provide relief to the families of those who died in the battle in Jiangyin and to reduce Jiangyin's taxes for ten years.
At the same time as in Jiangyin, Qin Mu ordered the Ministry of Revenue to allocate another 500,000 taels of silver to build a memorial hall for the victims of the "Ten Days of Yangzhou" in Yangzhou.
He also wrote eight characters in large letters: "Pity the people of this world, who have many worries" and sent them to Yangzhou. A stele was erected in front of the memorial hall.
These actions of Qin Mu not only moved the people of Jiangyin to tears, but also caused a strong response in the south of the Yangtze River. Huang Fei of Taihu, Wu Shengjia of Wusong, Tian Huaifu of Zhejiang and others led their troops to return to Qin.
There was a famous scholar named Jin Cai, also known as Shengtan, in Wu County. He was drunk in the market and shouted wildly: "During the Ming Dynasty, scholars had no sense of shame. Those who held high positions and enjoyed great reputations were proud of begging for surrender with masks on. And all the generals in frontier areas turned against the enemy. Only the two Dianshi Yan and Chen stood up for justice in one city. If the defenders of Jingkou had been like this, Jiangnan would not have been surrendered. The King of Qin is offering a grand sacrifice to the heroes of Jiangyin today. It is great that the heroic spirits are comforted! Great! I will go to Jiangyin to offer sacrifices together..."
Someone laughed at him: "What's your name? Wasn't it your uncle Qian Qianyi who took the lead in surrendering to the Qing Dynasty?"
Jin Cai was furious after hearing this and snatched the paper and pen from others. He wrote a couplet cursing his uncle Qian Qianyi:
A civil servant with a painted face;
A treacherous minister who served in three dynasties.
After writing the couplet, Jin Cai threw his pen to the ground, went home and rode on his donkey. He ignored his family's dissuasion and staggered to Jiangyin, half drunk and half awake. When the scholars in the county heard about it, they packed their bags and as many as 200 people went to Jiangyin together.
In contrast to these people, people who were picking up the fruits of victory also emerged one after another. Seeing that the Qing army was defeated, the descendants of the Zhu family all over the country felt that there was an opportunity to take advantage of it, and they emerged one after another to share the fruits of victory.
Within a short period of time, news came that Prince Zhao rose up in Taihu Lake, Prince Gui rose up in Guangxi (named Xinglong), Prince Jingjiang named himself Regent, Prince Baoning rose up in Jiangbei, Prince Luochuan and Prince Yongning also rose up in Hudong, Prince Yi gathered 2,000 troops and raised an army, and Prince Hui, Prince Rui, Prince Anren, Prince Yongming, Prince Dehua, Prince Andong and Prince Jinping also became restless.
Qin Muren was still in Jiangyin when he received the news from Ye Bushu from various places. He could not help but get furious:
Damn it, when the Tartars marched south, you all acted like cowards but ran faster than rabbits. Why didn't you raise the banner to resist the Qing at that time
I sacrificed nearly 100,000 soldiers before I achieved a phased victory, and you guys can't wait to jump out and reap the benefits.
"I'll let you pick them!" Qin Mu said coldly, and then said to Huang Lianshan who was following him: "It's up to you. Anyone who dares to show up will be killed by me!"
“Yes!”
Huang Lianshan did not dare to delay, turned around and walked out, almost knocking down Yun Qiaoer who happened to walk in.
As Yun Qiao'er dodged Huang Lianshan, she keenly sensed the anger Qin Mu was holding back. She patted her chest and stepped forward to say, "Brother Qin, I know I was wrong."
"Hmm? What did you do wrong again?"
"Hey, you are not angry with me, then I won't say anything." Yun Qiaoer's face changed, and her originally cautious look suddenly turned into a complacent one.
No matter how angry Qin Mu was, he couldn't resist her funny look and all his anger disappeared.
When Yun Qiaoer saw him smile, a cunning light flashed in her bright eyes.
"Girl, if you don't get punished for three days, you'll tear off the tiles on the roof. Come here."
"No!"
Yun Qiao'er retreated back to the door in an instant, like a vigilant goose slave. Qin Mu couldn't help but laugh and said, "Okay, I won't beat you anymore. Come here. I'm in a good mood today. Let me tell you a story."
"Really? What's the story? Tell me, Brother Qin."
Qin Mu has always been trustworthy. After getting his promise of "not fighting", Yun Qiaoer immediately ran to him, pulled his sleeves, and begged him eagerly.
"Sit down, sit down. Oh, pour me a cup of tea first."
"Oh oh..." Yun Qiaoer poured the tea at least three times faster than usual, without spilling a drop. After pouring the tea and serving it, she looked at Qin Mu dryly.
After sipping tea, someone habitually ate a lot of rice and then began to talk: "Today, I will tell you two interesting stories about animals. The first animal is called Yan Nu."
"Yan Nu? Is it a slave of the wild geese?"
"You can understand it this way, because the goose slave is the smallest species among wild geese, but it is very alert by nature. When the geese roost at night, they are worried that someone will come to hunt them, so they let the goose slaves to keep watch for them. The goose slaves are alert by nature and very responsible. They patrol around the geese and call when someone comes. With it on guard, the geese can sleep peacefully.
Later, the hunter learned that there was a goose slave on guard in the flock, so he lit a fire to shine on it. When the goose slave saw the fire, it hooted, and the hunter immediately extinguished the fire. The geese woke up and did not find any danger. This happened three or four times, and the geese thought the goose slave had deceived them, so they pecked at it together. Not long after, the hunter came forward with a torch, and the goose slave dared not to honk again. The geese had just fallen asleep, and they were caught in one net, without missing a single one. "
"Yeah, that's interesting. Brother Qin, please tell me what the second story is."
"This is relatively simple. It's about a kind of crane, called a crane matchmaker, because they are used by hunters to lure cranes. Hunters put the crane matchmaker by the lake and let it sing to attract the cranes, and then catch them all in one net. Lu You, a poet in the Southern Song Dynasty, wrote a five-character poem, which goes like this: I moored at Wuchang City at night, and the river was a thousand feet clear. I would rather die as a goose slave than live as a crane matchmaker!"
Yun Qiao'er's eyes flickered, and finally she said with a red face: "Brother Qin, I know I was wrong, and I will never be a traitor again. Brother Qin, please forgive me this time."
"Haha, have you become a traitor?"
"Ah, you clearly knew it, but you still asked me. I will protect you, and can't I just never agree to plead for others again?" Yun Qiao'er looked pitiful again and shook Qin Mu's sleeves.
“You, were just preparing to rebel, but haven’t had the chance to do so. As you were able to turn back and wake up, I will forgive you this time. Hahaha…” Qin Mu was overjoyed and raised his hand to make another loud noise.
Qiao Er covered her forehead and said innocently, "Actually, I don't want to get involved in this matter. I am your personal confidential secretary, um... I am your Yan Nu, how can I side with others? Although Mr. Xu is pitiful, he almost made me a traitor. Brother Qin must punish him severely."
"Oh? Is he pitiful?"
"Of course, Brother Qin, don't you know?"
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ps: It’s no good anymore, the ranking that I’ve been relying on for monthly tickets has been falling, brothers, please support me with monthly tickets!
Please give me a monthly ticket!
.(To be continued..)
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