***
Because Zheng Zhilong's fleet had not left Chongming Island, the situation on the Yangtze River waterway was still relatively tense. Apart from military ships, there were relatively few merchant ships on the originally busy Yangtze River waterway.
On the boat, Qin Mu received a memorial from the cabinet regarding donations from the people of Jiangxi and Huguang to build the imperial palace. In the cabinet's draft, the opinion on how to deal with this matter was to take one-third of the donations from the lower households, and to accept all donations from the middle households and above.
Qin Mu originally planned not to take any of the donations from the common people, but the cabinet's proposal of taking one out of three was also good. The donations from the common people were not much, and they mainly represented their kindness. Taking one out of three was equivalent to accepting their kindness, which would make those people who donated sincerely even happier.
Qin Mu approved the cabinet's solution.
It only takes one day to get to Yangzhou by boat from Jiangyin. Yangzhou is located at the north-south transportation hub, and has always benefited from the transportation of grain and salt, and has always been known as a prosperous area.
But after experiencing the inhumane massacre, the ten-mile Yangzhou Road that was once breezy in the spring breeze is now left with only broken mountains and rivers; on a moonlit night under the Twenty-Four Bridges, one can only hear the cold sound of the horn, the autumn grass and the broken walls, and the whole city is desolate.
Apart from the 8,000 defenders, there were only a handful of civilians left in the city. However, the city had taken in a lot of civilians who had fled from the enemy-occupied areas in Huaibei, numbering about 30,000 to 40,000 people, which finally added some popularity to Yangzhou.
There is no doubt that Yangzhou City is higher than Jiangyin, its walls are thicker than Jiangyin, it has more soldiers and civilians than Jiangyin, and Shi Kefa's equipment is better than Yan Yingyuan's.
Yan Yingyuan led a group of militiamen to defend Jiangyin for more than two months, causing nearly 100,000 casualties to the Qing army.
As for Shi Kefa's defense of Yangzhou, if we exclude the few days when the Qing army surrounded the city without fighting, Yangzhou City only held out for one day from the time when the Qing army actually launched the attack before it fell.
As for the claim that the city was captured when the ammunition and food ran out, it was all flattery. The Qing army arrived in Yangzhou on April 18 and began to besiege the city. After the cannons arrived on the 25th, Baiyintu, Tulai, Ashan and others officially launched the siege and captured the city in one day.
It took only seven days from the siege to the capture of the city; and the actual siege took only one day. How could they say they were "out of ammunition and food" in such a short time
This bloody fact proves that Shi Kefa was really just a scholar and was incompetent in military affairs. Using him to defend Yangzhou was a tragedy for Yangzhou.
But Shi Kefa was unable to defend Yangzhou because of his ability, not his character.
His noble character of refusing to yield even in death deserves everyone's respect.
Therefore, Qin Mu still wanted to erect a statue of Shi Kefa in front of the "Yangzhou Ten-Day Victims Memorial Hall" on Meihualing outside the city.
At the same time, he ordered people to carve kneeling statues of Hong Chengchou, Xu Dingguo, Li Chengdong, Liu Liangzuo and others.
A monument was erected in front of the statue with the famous couplet inscribed on it:
The history books have passed down the good deeds, but they have not been able to subdue the enemy and be loyal to the law;
The grace is so great that instead of thinking of repaying the country, one becomes an enemy.
Hong Chengchou is still alive and is imprisoned in Jinling. Qin Mu originally wanted to use his head to sacrifice to the people who were killed in Yangzhou, but considering that he had no direct connection with the massacre in Yangzhou and still had some surplus value, he kept him for the time being.
On the edge of Meihualing, more than 200,000 dead civilians were buried here, forming a huge hill.
The memorial hall is located on Meihualing. The foundation has just been laid, and thousands of craftsmen and laborers are working hard to build it, with Wei Guojiang, a member of the Ministry of Works, in charge of the planning and construction.
Qin Mu led tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians to the foot of Meihualing Mountain for a grand sacrifice. He invited monks and Taoists to chant sutras and perform rituals to liberate the souls of the dead, but the offerings were slightly different.
During the Jiangyin Grand Sacrifice, the main focus was on the unyielding spirit of the people of Jiangyin and their courage to not fear sacrifice.
In Yangzhou, Qin Mu wanted to use this grand sacrifice to show the world the suffering of the people and the cruelty of the enemy, so as to awaken the hearts of the people of the world to share the same hatred of the enemy. At the same time, it also showed the determination and ability of the Qin army to avenge the humiliation.
Therefore, Qin Mu brought a total of one thousand captives as sacrifices. Among these one thousand captives there were Jurchens and Han people. Regardless of their ethnicity, they all participated in the Yangzhou Massacre.
Blood debts must be repaid with blood. A thousand captives were taken by Qin soldiers to a hill-like mound, below which were buried more than 200,000 innocent people who had been massacred by them.
In that brutal massacre, countless women were raped, countless civilians were hacked to death, and even hungry babies were not spared. Corpses piled up like mountains and blood flowed like rivers. Compared with their crimes, killing them a thousand times would not be too much.
When the thousand captives were taken to the mound and realized that they were about to become sacrifices, they finally became afraid. They were so frightened that their legs went weak and they cried for mercy.
However, the Yangzhou residents who survived the disaster all shouted and yelled, "Kill them, kill the livestock."
"King Qin, it would be too easy for them to just kill these livestock. Even if you cut them into pieces, it would not satisfy your hatred."
"Kill these beasts! Avenge the people of Yangzhou!"
"... ... ... ... ... ... ... ."
Less than half a year had passed since the Yangzhou massacre, and the smell of blood had not yet completely dissipated. People still remembered the horrific massacre, and their hearts were filled with unintentional hatred, with cries of killing and tears of blood.
Drums roared, flags fluttered, and at Qin Mu's command, the Qin soldiers swung their swords together, and a thousand heads rolled down at the same time. The thick smell of blood once again filled the air outside Yangzhou City. The Qin army used the thousand heads to build a mausoleum in front of the mass grave.
The people watching the scene burst into tears, and many of them threw themselves on the huge mound and cried, "Daughter, Daddy can't find you. If you were down there, you would have seen that the King of Qin has avenged us, avenged us."
"Old woman, where are you and your children? The King of Qin has avenged us. Can you smell it? The blood of the livestock is all over the ground. Can you smell it?"
"Dad, Mom, rest in peace. The King of Qin has avenged us. Oh, God... Woo woo woo..."
Qin Mu couldn't help but burst into tears after seeing this sad scene. Among the hundreds of thousands of people in Yangzhou, only a few survived the massacre, and their eyes were covered with blood and tears.
Qin Mu shouted to the officials and soldiers present: "Did you see it? The country is weak. No matter you are officials, soldiers, or civilians, you will be slaughtered and plundered. No one will be spared. I built a memorial hall here not only to comfort the people who died in Yangzhou, but also to let the whole world remember this bloody and cruel massacre.
We need to make everyone understand that if we want to prevent such tragedies from happening again, we must fulfill our responsibilities as officials and soldiers. Officials must be honest and self-disciplined and benefit the people. Soldiers must fight bravely and defend the country. Only in this way can the people live and work in peace and not be slaughtered, and tragedies like Yangzhou will not happen again... "
Yang Shen, Du Yinxi, Gu Junen and a large group of other accompanying officials, as well as tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians listened silently. In front of the tall mass grave, amid the curses and complaints of the people who survived the disaster in Yangzhou, Qin Mu's words, without any embellishment, made everyone feel sad and deeply touched.
The news of Qin Mu's grand sacrifices in Jiangyin and Yangzhou spread far and wide, causing a huge response. People discussed it a lot, and the tragedy of Yangzhou and the integrity of Jiangyin became known to more people. It also aroused the people's hatred of the common enemy and further won more people's hearts for Qin.
After the grand sacrifice, Qin Mu was overwhelmed with things to do and could not stay in Yangzhou for long, so he took a boat back to Nanjing. As the boat had just left the mouth of the canal, Song Xiance, who had gone to Chongming Island to persuade Zheng Zhilong to surrender, happened to return.
As soon as he boarded the ship, he immediately bowed and said, "Your subject Song Xian Ce pays homage to the King of Qin."
"No need to be polite. How was the talk with Zheng Zhilong?" Qin Mu motioned for him to sit down and asked the maid to bring tea.
"Report to the King of Qin, Zheng Zhilong's attitude is quite arrogant. At the beginning, he insisted that Longwu was the orthodox one. After the ministers explained the pros and cons to him, he restrained himself and was willing to be a vassal of the King of Qin, but he still insisted that the King of Qin agree not to send troops into Fujian and not to embarrass Longwu..."
Before Song Xiance could finish, Qin Mu interrupted him and said, "If that's all, then there's no need to talk about it. Forget about the idea of staying in Fujian forever."
Gu Jun'en pondered and said, "Prince Qin, the battle of Jingjiang has actually torn the two sides apart. It is naturally impossible to promise him to stay in Fujian forever. But if we don't agree, Zheng Zhilong will definitely have many concerns and will never surrender easily. Our army should march into Guangdong as soon as possible."
At first, Qin Mu didn't hold out much hope for Zheng Zhilong's surrender. He thought for a while and said, "Marching into Guangdong is one thing. To truly destroy Zheng Zhilong, we have to increase the strength of the navy. Once Jiangnan is pacified, we will immediately restart the Longjiang Shipyard. Whether it's dealing with Zheng Zhilong or the future Northern Expedition, we need a strong navy."
*********************
ps: The weather is hot, and I feel dizzy after sitting in front of the computer for a long time. Brothers, it’s already the 20th, please give me some support.
Please give me a monthly ticket!
Please give me a monthly ticket!
Please give me a monthly ticket!
.(To be continued..)
...