On the sixth day of March in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Rujing's wife Liu, holding her young son Li Puxing in her arms, walked tiredly to Luzhou City under the escort of the Ming army.

Although she did not expect to come here in such a way, after being imprisoned for many days and sleeping in the wild, the city undoubtedly gave Liu a sense of comfort.

However, as we got closer and closer to the city, more and more people began to watch, and an extremely uncomfortable smell gradually filled the air, and it became stronger and stronger.

The people's emotions became more and more agitated. Not only did they start to curse the Daxi Army constantly, but some angry people would also punch and kick the Daxi Army on the edge of the huge queue of prisoners or simply throw stones at the prisoners.

Although the Ming soldiers responsible for the escort also defended and sometimes even used violence against the people, the effect was not good because most of them turned a blind eye and muddle along.

The prisoners of the Daxi Army also walked away tremblingly one by one, desperately watching and listening in all directions.

Now they can only endure it silently.

Suddenly, a flying stone suddenly appeared in Mrs. Liu's eyes with a whistling sound. Seeing that she could not avoid it, Mrs. Liu was so frightened that she could only instinctively protect the child's head with her hands.

At this time, a big hand suddenly appeared, deflecting the flying stone, and then hit the sharp voice next to Liu.

The sharp voice let out a painful "ouch".

But after turning around to see clearly the owner of the hand that knocked the stone away, he immediately turned back timidly.

The eunuch Jianzizi sent by Zhang Xianzhong to convey the order to Zhang Rujing and the Liu family did not take the boat out of caution during the evacuation to Luzhou, and were captured together and detained together.

"Thank you, Platoon Commander Mi." Ms. Liu thanked her hurriedly.

"You're welcome, you have to be careful. Come on, let me hold the baby for a while. It's safer this way and you can also take a rest." Yonekura shook his aching hand and reached out to hold the baby.

"Thank you so much!" Mrs. Liu thanked her deeply while sending the child to Mi Cang with confidence.

It seems that she trusts Mi Cang very much.

Even when Yonekura picked up the child who didn't cry at all and turned around to leave, she didn't ask any more questions, and she didn't show any concern.

Of course, Mrs. Liu was also a little dazed when she saw Mi Cang running around with her child in her arms, urging the Ming soldiers to try their best to protect the prisoners, especially the female relatives, from harm.

Although he did not receive special preferential treatment, and even the horses and mules were taken away, Liu was grateful and had a deep affection for the rice warehouse and these Ming soldiers.

After being captured, when she saw that the Ming soldiers not only did not insult or abuse them, nor looted them, but instead tried their best to rescue every wounded person, Liu truly felt that the rumors about this Ming army were true, and it also made her

The fear and anxiety were quickly put to rest.

Even after being questioned repeatedly with the shrill voice, Liu did not become frightened again.

Having experienced countless wars and being a prisoner herself, Liu knew very well how prisoners were usually treated, or how miserable they would be.

But this Ming army subverted all her original perceptions, and its strict military discipline far exceeded her imagination.

Especially when Mi Cang, who was assigned to take custody of her, one day specifically told her not to worry about Zhang Rujing's safety. He got the news that Zhang Rujing had escaped safely to Hezhou.

Ms. Liu knew that this was definitely not Mi Cang's private behavior.

This also gave her a deeper understanding of the benevolence and righteousness of this Ming army.

And they, who call themselves rebels, are fighting against such an army, and then the people are becoming more and more opposed to them, and now they are almost like rats crossing the street.

How ridiculous this is!

Ms. Liu knew that not only herself, but many people around her also had such doubts.

While Mrs. Liu was still distracted, the sharp voice suddenly said in surprise: "Aren't we going to the city too?"

Mrs. Liu was stunned for a moment, and after looking around, she quickly discovered that the team in front was indeed turning a corner and deviating from the city gate that had come into view.

There were too many prisoners, so of course it was impossible for them all to enter the city.

But this group of prisoners is different after all, especially she and Squealer, shouldn't they be locked up outside the city?

In the middle of the strangeness, a stronger smell came to my face with a breeze, and the strong stench was finally confirmed.

All doubts were quickly solved.

When looking at thousands of highly decomposed and decaying corpses in a huge pit not far from the city gate, when listening to some Ming soldiers and people standing on the high platform using strange cylinders with one end small and the other big.

When they were briefly described to them, who were slowly walking around the pit with their noses covered, about the horrific killings committed by the Daxi Army in Luzhou, the deeply stimulated Liu family and most of the prisoners lowered their heads in shame.

Since Zhang Rujing's army has always maintained strict military discipline, most people still maintain the most basic conscience and have a sense of shame.

As for the situation outside Chongqing, Liu, who has access to a large amount of upper-level information, knows more, but this also makes her even more ashamed.

She now finally understood why the people of Luzhou were so angry, and why the powerful Ming soldiers who had defeated them were so weak and incompetent in defending them.

This time, when we walked to Luzhou City, especially after entering Luzhou City, facing the fiercer anger of the onlookers, the prisoners of the Daxi Army were all dejected and even more silent. Some of them even stopped avoiding the attacks and allowed themselves to be attacked.

harm.

And all of this was seen by Li Ping, who was standing on the city wall and watching quietly.

"The army is available." Li Ping said to himself.

"Yes!" Zhang Kuang, who was standing side by side with Li Ping, nodded first, then turned around and asked: "Have you thought about it, general?"

Zhang Kuang arrived at Luzhou just yesterday, which had just been recovered, and met Li Ping.

Li Ping captured Luzhou very quickly and unexpectedly.

Previously, Zhang Rujing led the remnant army of more than a thousand men, all equipped with horses and mules, to flee to Luzhou, but soon left for Hezhou in disappointment.

Since Zhang Rujing had 100,000 troops on the Chongqing defense line, Zhang Xianzhong did not leave many troops in Luzhou. The main strength of the Daxi Army in Luzhou was the Li soldiers.

The Libing were local armed forces organized by the Daxi regime in various states and counties after Zhang Xianzhong became emperor in order to maintain local security.

The soldiers were assigned according to their household registration, and one of the three men was selected to be responsible for guarding the city. They sat in parallel. If every family committed an offense, their neighbors would be executed one by one.

This kind of military organization fully reflects the backward nature of the Daxi Army in military construction. It will only follow the primitive and barbaric ruling methods and use township and ethnic relations to maintain its own political power.

In fact, it doesn't matter whether the soldiers are in the army. Apart from being inferior to the elite, they are no weaker than the army composed of ordinary people who were captured by force and accounted for the absolute majority of the Great Western Army. They may even be stronger.

Because they practice cruel conjoined sitting.

But the problem is that as the Great Western Army becomes more and more incompatible with the people of Sichuan, and even its main army, the original armed system, begins to kill and recruit Sichuan officers and soldiers, the army system has become very contradictory and ridiculous.

.

Especially since Libing has just been started, there are still many problems in terms of thinking, control and stability.

Zhang Rujing decisively did not recruit troops in Chongqing.

However, the main force of the Daxi Army in Luzhou was already an army soldier, but they continued to uphold Zhang Xianzhong's brutal style and continued to carry out Zhang Xianzhong's crazy instructions to the letter.

Maybe they want to carry out their fear to the end and use fear to control everything.

But this is undoubtedly very dangerous.

As a result, the soldiers in Luzhou finally counterattacked the Daxi Army under the pressure or encouragement of the Ming army approaching the city.

Li Ping's army, which was chasing Luzhou City, was still gathering, and at the same time it was detaching part of its troops to take out Jiangjin. However, the Daxi Army soldiers who had the numerical advantage in Luzhou City rioted first.

Li Ping seized the opportunity and Luzhou was captured immediately.

When the heads of the Luzhou Daxi Army garrison and its main backbone were thrown under Jiangjin City, the despairing Jiangjin Daxi Army garrison quickly chose to surrender.

But what should be done next, Li Ping fell into deep thought.

The unexpected success of the capture of Luzhou and the easy choice of the Jiangjin Daxi Army defenders to surrender made him fully aware that the Daxi Army was facing a serious crisis of governance and self-identity.

The interrogation of the eunuch Jianzi sent by Zhang Xianzhong to convey the order to Zhang Rujing and Zhang Rujing's wife Liu also allowed him to learn more about the current madness and chaos of the top brass of the Great Western Army, and he learned that Sichuan under the rule of the Great Western Army was already in a state of chaos.

Prelude to the storm.

At the same time, the unprecedentedly large number of prisoners in Li Ping's hands also urgently needs to be properly handled and carefully arranged.

Although more than 80,000 of Zhang Rujing's 100,000 troops were annihilated by Li Ping, nearly 70,000 were captured. Moreover, Zhang Rujing's more than 10,000 elite troops at Tongluo Gorge suffered only one-third casualties, while Zhang Rujing's men suffered even more casualties.

In fact, it occurred during the retreat to the west.

The various types of casualties caused by pursuits are often very large, and many people even die from trampling and panic.

So many prisoners, especially a huge number of enemy elites, were a big problem for Li Ping.

Moreover, after Zhang Rujing fled to Hezhou, he still had nearly 20,000 troops. Even though there were very few elites, they still had certain fighting ability and charisma.

But now there is no need or sense for Li Ping to attack Hezhou again.

After all, Zhang Rujing can keep running if he can't defeat him, but Li Ping can't chase him endlessly.

At this time, the exaggerated number of more than 70,000 prisoners of Zhang Rujing's army became a huge time bomb. Li Ping could not leave them in Chongqing, which had been run by Zhang Rujing for several months, nor could he leave them in Chongqing, which had few elite soldiers and most of them.

The troops are new recruits Zeng Ying and Qin Liangyu.

Luzhou, which generally hates the Daxi Army, and his own side are undoubtedly better choices.

But what to do next?

Li Ping took so many prisoners with him, so how to absorb them and ensure that there would be no problems was undoubtedly a huge challenge.

Li Ping realized that he must have new thinking, and some things could no longer remain unchanged forever.

The sin of not burying the Luzhou Daxi Army in time was the prelude to his entire plan.

"I've thought about it. Let's wait and see what happens for a while. At the same time, we will use this time to reorganize the army and try to absorb all the captured Zhang Rujing's subordinates." Li Ping said firmly.

What Li Ping said about waiting and watching the changes did not refer to the Ming Dynasty's northern war situation, but to Zhang Xianzhong's Daxi regime. He knew that Zhang Kuang understood what he meant.

Li Ping didn't seem worried about Zhang Kuang's attitude.
To be continued...