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Haiyan County is located on the north side of Hangzhou Bay. It was established in the 25th year of Emperor Qin Shihuang's reign. It was named because of its "wide seashore and salt fields facing each other".
This is one of the main salt producing areas throughout the dynasties. In the first year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, the "Lulichang Salt Tax Ambassador's Office" was built in Haiyan County, 39 miles east of the county seat. The Salt Office had one ambassador, who was in charge of twelve groups, 1,805 kitchen households and 5,707 kitchen workers.
Salt has always been an important source of income for the imperial court. When Niu Wanchuan went south to conquer Haiyan County, he left 500 men and horses there to take over the salt fields.
Bolo, Yilduqi, Durde, and Fei Yanggu, who escaped from Hangzhou, took their remaining troops and wanted to head east to find Zheng Zhilong, but they were chased by Huo Sheng and Ning Yuan and became dizzy and in a miserable state.
Jinling is sending officials to take over the governance of Jiangnan, hoping that Jiangnan can be stabilized quickly. They are impatient with Bolo and others who are still on the run, and the Ministry of War has sent a strict order, asking Huo Sheng to wipe out Bolo and his gang as soon as possible.
Under pressure, Huo Sheng, in addition to his old ally Ning Yuan, also transferred 3,000 cavalry from Liu Fangliang's troops in Hangzhou, and ordered Hui Dengxiang who was stationed in Songjiang Prefecture to squeeze from the northeast, eventually forcing Bolo and his gang to Haiyan.
With pursuers approaching, Bolo was unable to attack Haiyan County, so he passed through the south of the county and continued to flee eastward.
Huo Sheng, Ning Yuan and the lieutenant general Chang Ping who came from Hangzhou divided their troops into three groups. Their horses neighed and their hooves thundered as they caught the enemy tightly and did not let go.
Twenty miles east of Haiyan County, Yierduqi, who had just rushed over a slope, suddenly screamed, and Bolo, who was rushing over, could not help but rein in his horse. Looking ahead, there was an endless reed marsh. The sea breeze blew, and the white reed flowers rose and fell like waves.
Once upon a time, by the Tao Lake in Jintan County, a prince who was left behind in the battlefield suffered a lot in the reed marshes and still has lingering fears.
Compared with the endless reed marshes in front of us, the reed marshes of Tao Lake are not worth mentioning at all.
The Luli Salt Field is nearby, and local salt farmers have adapted to local conditions, expanding salt fields, drawing in tides to make brine, and cutting reeds to boil salt.
In order to meet the needs of salt boiling, at least 200,000 to 300,000 mu of reed fields were preserved nearby. Bo Luo stood on his horse and looked around. He saw reed flowers all over the ground and all over the sky. Countless seagulls were startled and flew up. It was like flying clouds. Beautiful! Really beautiful! But beautiful things can often cost lives.
"Lord Beile. What should we do?"
"What else can we do? Turn back, turn back, and fight the Qin army!"
Bolo yelled hysterically. He had no choice but to fight. He didn't dare to go into the endless reed marsh. The pursuers were approaching, less than ten miles behind him. The sky was filled with smoke and dust, and he could already hear the faint sound of iron hooves.
"My Lord, why don't we split up and reunite in Shanghai County?" Durde suggested carefully.
There were still 1,600 remnants around him. After fleeing for so many days, everyone was already scared out of their wits. Every day they were in a state of panic and had never had a good night's sleep. Now everyone was weak in their limbs and looked terrified. Even their bows and arrows had been used up. If they turned back to fight the Qin army, they would only be wiped out. At least that was what Durd thought.
Furious, Bolo raised his hand and whipped him, shouting, "If you dare to talk nonsense again, I'll kill you! Brothers, there is no way forward, there are pursuers behind us, we can only turn back and kill the pursuers, only then can we survive, turn back, turn back, follow this prince to kill the enemy!"
Bolo roared and turned his horse around first. He knew very well that the people in the south of the Yangtze River hated the invaders. If they huddled together, there might be a glimmer of hope. Once they were dispersed, the Qin army would not need to encircle and suppress them, as the people in the south of the Yangtze River alone would be able to kill them without a burial place.
Facts have proved that Durd's worries were correct. After fleeing for so many days, how could Bolo's morale be restored with just a few words
The three armies of the Qin army, Huosheng, Ningyuan and Changping, appeared one after another, with flags fluttering and hooves thundering. Without stopping, they charged from three sides, raising a cloud of dust.
The Qing army, which turned around in a hurry, was attacked from three sides and could not take care of its head but its buttocks. Durde was unwilling to die here, so he took the lead in fleeing into the reed marsh. When the Qing army saw him leading the escape, they immediately broke down and fled.
At the right moment, the sound of gongs and drums rang out in the endless reed marsh, and the Qing army that fled into the reed marsh were frightened out of their wits.
Under the leadership of the Qin army stationed at the salt fields, nearly 10,000 salt workers became experienced hunters, moving swiftly through the familiar reed marshes, setting fires, digging trenches, tripwires, fishing nets, and salt shovels, all of which could kill the Qing troops.
The sounds of gongs and drums, shouts of killing, cheers and screams stirred up a frenzy in the vast reed beds.
A phoenix without feathers is no better than a chicken. The once invincible Qing army was no better when it was at the end of its rope. Yierduqi was shot to death by arrows, and Bolo and Feiyanggu were captured after being exhausted.
Durd, who was the first to escape into the reed marsh, lay in the mud and pretended to be a frogman. He used the reed stems to breathe and lay motionless in the muddy water, thus avoiding the search of many saltmen.
Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long. There were many leeches in the reed marsh, which got all over his body. Especially those that got into his crotch seriously challenged Durd's nerves.
Durd endured it with difficulty until his anus was attacked... Durd clenched his buttocks and screamed, "Ah!" He climbed up. Before he could wipe the mud and sand off his face, he heard Yan Ding's cheers in his ears: "There is one here, here, here..."
Splash! A large net was thrown from the boat, and then two saltmen pulled it together. Durde, who had just stood up, was dragged down into the muddy water again.
Poor General Durde had no time to resist, but was busy trying to pick his asshole, but the fishing net quickly tightened, rolling him up like a seed, making it impossible to pick his asshole... ... ... .
*******
The good news from Haiyan soon reached Jinling, and Qin Mu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. With Bolo's troops in Jiangnan, it had always been difficult for Jiangnan to be truly stable. Now, this serious threat had finally been eliminated.
According to the advice of the Ministry of War, Qin Mu quickly adjusted the military forces in Jiangnan, allowing Huo Sheng to temporarily stay in Suzhou for rest and recuperation, and ordered Yuan Zongde's troops to march south from Ningbo to suppress Zhu Yihai, the Prince of Lu who occupied Taizhou Prefecture.
Another 2,000 troops were transferred from Hangzhou to the south via Zhuji, Yiwu, Jinhua and Chuzhou to reinforce Li Changyi in Wenzhou. On the one hand, he and Yuan Zongde put pressure on Zhu Yihai from both sides, and on the other hand, he marched to Fenshui Pass to put pressure on Fujian.
Then he transferred Liu Fangliang's 4,000 troops back to Quzhou in western Zhejiang, and then went south from Quzhou via the Xianxia Ancient Road and headed straight for Xianxia Pass.
Han Xiu was transferred again with 5,000 troops from Quzhou to Ganzhou, where they rested and recuperated. He ordered the governor of southern Jiangxi, Tian Yimu, to be responsible for pacifying Guangdong. If Guangdong did not accept the pacification, Han Xiu would then join forces with the Ganzhou garrison to send troops to Guangdong.
Lu Daqi was transferred back to Huguang to organize the defense of western Hunan to prevent Liu Wenxiu from advancing into Xianghu, and to pacify Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou. At the same time, Ma Liuliang was ordered to lead 3,000 troops to the south and march into Guilin Prefecture.
In this round of troop deployment, only 20,000 to 30,000 troops were actually mobilized. It was impossible to pacify the five provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan with such a small number of troops.
The purpose of doing this is mainly to create a situation where the enemy is at the gates of the city, so as to provide assistance to Lu Zhenfei, Tian Yimu and Lu Daqi in their work of appeasing the enemy.
The Qing army still occupies the Central Plains, so the civil war should be fought as little as possible.
Therefore, the strategy adopted by Qin Mu and his ministers towards the southwestern provinces was to appease them mainly and suppress them as a supplement. It would be best if they could take over a few provinces without resorting to force. If anyone refused to accept the appeasement, it would not be too late to send troops to attack them.
The biggest obstacle to pacifying the southwestern provinces is undoubtedly Longwu in Fujian. The officials in these provinces are all old ministers of the Ming Dynasty. With the banner of Longwu flying in Fujian, it will be very difficult to pacify them, as there are still many officials who are loyal to the Ming Dynasty.
In order to cooperate with Lu Zhenfei, Tian Yimu and Lu Daqi in their appeasement work, Qin Mu also began to take action in Jinling. Since Longwu is the biggest obstacle, he will start by attacking Longwu.
This attack is not a military one, but a moral one.
Previously, Ma Shiying claimed that he was following the Empress Dowager (Hongguang's mother) to raise the flag against the Qing Dynasty in eastern Zhejiang. Yuan Zongde took Ningbo, and Lu Zhenfei sent people to persuade him to surrender. Ma Shiying saw that the Qin State was doomed to fail, so he obediently accepted the surrender.
Regardless of whether the empress dowager he served was real or fake, Qin Mu decided to use this banner first, so he asked Lu Zhenfei to send troops to escort the empress dowager back to Beijing as soon as possible for "honorary retirement."
At the same time, Qin Mu asked the three judicial officials, Bai Tie, the Minister of Justice, Shao Hua, the Left Censor-in-Chief, and Chen Kaiji, the Junior Secretary of the Dali Temple, to hold a "public trial" outside the Taiping Gate and encouraged the scholars and people to go and watch the trial.
The first to be tried were Hong Chengchou, his son Hong Xizhe, and the old slave Hong Yingfu who came to Nanjing with Hong Xizhe.
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ps: On the 31st, the last day of May, brothers, please check if there are any monthly tickets in your ticket folders. Haoyuan is begging for support and monthly tickets!
.(To be continued..)
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