After Shang Yi returned to Guangzhou, the city was in jubilation again. Shang Yi ordered that while he sent people to inquire about the movement of the invading army, he suspended his troops in the city and at the same time sent people to report the victory to Wu Di in Luzhou.
When Xie Ke and Peng Rui learned that the Merchant Army had once again defeated the bandits, and the result was greater than the last time, they were so regretful that their intestines turned green. If they had known that this was the case, why did they run away at that time! They should have fought with
Shang Yi sent troops together to fight against the bandit army at Luochuankou. We can also get a share of the credit.
Now that I have done it well, although in terms of reputation, I sent troops to capture Guangzhou with Shang Yi, but Shang Yi won two battles in a row, and it was none of my business. It was simply a credit to him, but he gave it to me all by himself.
Pushed him out. And he also offended Shang Yi, because he was too afraid to fight twice, leaving Shang Jun to stand in front alone. Shang Yi would definitely have a problem with him.
After reaching this point, the two of them felt that they had no shame in meeting Shang Yi again, so they just pulled all the troops back and stationed themselves at the edge of Guangzhou City, but did not dare to enter the city. At the same time, the two of them also swore in their hearts that,
No matter what happens in the next battle, we must fight with Shang Yi. Even if Li Zicheng comes with a million troops, as long as Shang Yi says to fight, then we will fight.
Of course, Shang Yi doesn't care what the two of them think now. They don't dare to come to see him and are happy to take it easy. Anyway, he has won this battle again, and these two people are also guilty of escaping from battle. Now all the truth lies with him.
On this side, even if he killed these two people, Wu Di would probably still applaud and would never blame himself.
In fact, Shang Yi is currently worrying about another thing, which is how to deal with the war captives.
Before the war started, Shang Yi had thought about various outcomes, but he had forgotten one thing. What would happen if the war captives were captured? The fighting will of the Chuang army was much worse than that of the Qing army. The Qing army was in an unfavorable situation.
Under the Qing Dynasty, even if they knew they were defeated, they would still fight hard until they died in the battle. Very few people would surrender voluntarily. Therefore, after more than ten battles with the Qing army, Shang Yi captured less than a thousand prisoners, and most of them
Most of them were Han soldiers or Bao Yi soldiers. The real Eight Banners soldiers, even the auxiliary soldiers, totaled less than 200 people. When they went to Beijing to present prisoners to Chongzhen, they also selected ten or twenty Bao Yi soldiers to make up the number.
The Chuang army is different. Once they are defeated, they will be defeated immediately. If they cannot escape, they will immediately raise their hands and surrender. Now they have only fought three battles, and Shang Yi has captured more than 2,000 prisoners. Such an army can only fight
With a large number of people, it is okay to defeat the decayed Ming army, but once they encounter the real elite troops, they are no match for them. No wonder later, in the fierce battle of Yishi, Li Zicheng's 200,000 intruders still fought
However, the combined forces of the Qing army and Wu Sangui were less than 100,000.
But this is a question later. What to do with the prisoners captured now? Although the current food and grass are still sufficient, enough to support more than a month, but as long as the war with Li Zicheng continues, there will only be more and more prisoners, and this burden will only get bigger and bigger.
The bigger the back is. In the future, it is not impossible to capture ten thousand or eight thousand prisoners. This Yali will not be small at that time.
Although most of the captives are from poor backgrounds, it is very difficult to turn them back into common people again even if they are given fields and seeds to cultivate. Because before, these people were just subsistence people.
The lowest group of people in society, in the county, in the township, in the village, as long as they have some status, anyone can bully them and step on them.
But after joining the rebellion, everything changed. Every time the peasant army conquered a place, local rich people, officials, even relatives of the emperor, these big shots who used to be so superior that they would never look at the common people seriously.
, they will also kneel at the feet of the people they used to look down upon, cry bitterly, and beg for mercy. Life and death are all in their hands, and the people can enjoy the fine wine and food they never enjoyed before, and can rob the riches and corpses of the big shots, and rob the big shots.
women, wantonly revenge. And all this was brought to them by the rebellion.
After reaping the sweetness of rebellion, even if this sweetness comes at the cost of their lives, it still has a strong attraction. If they want to return to their hometowns to farm, it will be worse than suffering from hunger and cold.
That kind of life without death is probably even more difficult. To put it bluntly, it means that the mind has become wild, and it will be difficult to take it back. Unless Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong are killed immediately, or these prisoners are tortured for a period of time
Forced transformation can completely make them become farmers again. However, this will take a lot of time and energy. To be honest, killing them all is the only cost-effective option.
Only then could Shang Yi understand. No wonder Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting had massacred peasant army prisoners on a large scale during the suppression of the rebellion, and even surrendered them. Some of them were indeed forced to do so.
factor.
However, the education Shang Yi received since he was a child and the outlook on life he has formed since he grew up have determined that it is impossible for him to adopt such an extreme method of killing all the prisoners of war. If it were against the Manchu Army, maybe he could still do it
This is cruel, but the peasant army is different from Manqing after all. The vast majority of them embarked on the path of rebellion because they could no longer survive. It was this society and the Ming Dynasty that pushed them to this point.
At the same time, Shang Yi also had a plan, which was to recruit some of the prisoners to replenish the ranks of the merchant army and expand the source of troops. This approach was often seen in history. Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty Liu Xiu once recruited and surrendered the Red Eyebrow Army.
, and Tang Taizong Li Shimin also recruited the Wagang Army. Therefore, Shang Yi would rather take a more difficult road, which is forced transformation.
Forced reform must first have a deterrent effect on the prisoners. At the same time, it is not effective for everyone. There is a group of people who were unemployed, rogues, and even soldiers. No matter how they are reformed, they cannot be reformed.
Therefore, Shang Yi first ordered to treat the injured prisoners. This was also a gesture to the prisoners, indicating that the merchant army would not kill them all, otherwise there would be no need to treat them.
The next step is to find all the officers at all levels among the prisoners, because those who can serve as officers in the break-in army are basically the most rebellious people, and they also have a certain degree of recruiting power among the prisoners.
, are also the most unstable factors, so they must be eliminated, not only to remove the unstable factors, but also to kill one and respect a hundred. The way to find the officers is very simple, that is, let the prisoners report each other. And report
Those who are successful will be rewarded, and not only can they be held in solitary confinement without fear of retaliation from others, but the food per meal will also be increased from three taels to four taels.
Facts have proved that the Chinese people's fighting in the nest definitely has a historical tradition. Once this order was promulgated, five prisoners reported on it on the first day. A total of seven officers were reported, and one prisoner reported three people. Among them, actually
There is also a right-wing general who has been among the prisoners for a few days, but he is quite a fish.
On the same day, these five people were taken away and detained separately, but they still ate together, and other prisoners could also see that the food in the bowls of these five people was obviously more than their own. It was the one who reported it.
Shang Yi, the three captives, put a large piece of meat weighing three to four pounds in his bowl in front of all the prisoners. As a special reward. Although it was just a piece of horse meat, he could only eat it for several days.
For a half-full prisoner, it was no less than a delicacy. The prisoner also ate it with gusto. It also made the others salivate.
With the examples of these five people, the reporting activities suddenly became overwhelming. On the second day, twenty-seven people reported, and a total of forty-two generals were reported. One prisoner reported the most, and one person reported the most.
There were six of them. There were two more who were leaders themselves, and actually jumped out to report others. As a result, they were reported by others. And the generals who were reported also knew that they were in danger, so they also
Not being able to take advantage of others, we also uncovered some generals who had not yet been reported. As a result, it only took three days to report sixty-three generals.
On the fourth day, Shang Yi ordered that all sixty-three generals, big and small, be beheaded in front of all the prisoners. This also gave these prisoners a huge deterrent.
Subsequently, Shang Yi announced to the prisoners the discipline of the prisoners. There are four general principles: first, absolute obedience to orders and no disobedience is allowed; second, no escape, and honest acceptance of labor reform; third, prisoners are prohibited from fighting with each other.
If you perform well during the transformation period, you can get certain rewards, and you may even be released and assigned to fields for farming. There are a total of thirteen other detailed rules.
The specific method is a points system. Each prisoner will receive five points for participating in fixed labor every day, but meals will be deducted from the points. One point will be deducted for each meal. Of course, if you want to eat meat or drink alcohol, you can also
You can use points to exchange for some daily necessities, towels, cups, bowls, clothes, and beds. If the merchant army arranges not to participate in labor work, you can also get two points every day. However,
If you take leave due to illness or other reasons and fail to participate in labor, you will not have points. Once all the points are deducted, you will have no food and will starve to death.
In addition, if you violate the prescribed disciplines, various points will be deducted accordingly. And if the prisoner has special performance, he will also receive additional points as a reward. For example, if you report an officer this time, you will get ten points for each one you report.
As a reward, the prisoner who reported six officers in one breath received a sixty-point reward. At the same time, the prisoner's points were divided into five levels, and each level can enjoy some different preferential treatment, and
In the future team formation, the person with the highest points will be the team leader.
The last and most important point is that if someone accumulates three thousand points, they can be released and given ten acres of land for farming.