The failure of the rebellion was a foregone conclusion.
There were thirteen main generals and thirty-eight secondary officers in the rebel army. None of them were captured alive. They were killed in the most brutal way by the Ming Army, whose eyes were bloodshot and filled with murderous intent. Of the fifty thousand Ming Army, only a few reserve troops maintained vigilance under Ye Mengxiong's suppression and hunted down the rebel soldiers who escaped from the city. The main force of more than thirty thousand people entered the city to participate in the battle. Every street and every house in the city could become a battlefield for the two armies to kill each other.
The rebel army did not have enough people and morale. They could only be defeated by the Ming Army. For example, the more than a hundred rebel soldiers who were trapped in the military headquarters were bombarded by Xiao Ruhui. The entire military headquarters was almost destroyed. Only a few of them managed to escape. Immediately, they were swarmed by the Ming Army and chopped into minced meat. The rest of the rebel soldiers in the government offices were also killed one after another.
In the killing, the brutality of people was undoubtedly revealed. Many innocent people and innocent low-ranking officials were treated as rebel soldiers and killed. After the statistics, the total number of people in the rebel army was no more than twenty-three thousand, but the number of people killed was no less than thirty-six thousand.
Thirteen thousand people of unknown identity died tragically under the knife of the Ming Army. It was because they did not hide in their houses or hid in houses that they should not hide in. As a result, their heads were counted as the heads of the rebel army and recorded for merit. No one expressed dissatisfaction and no one stopped them, including Ye Mengxiong and Mei Guozhen. Everyone tacitly claimed that these people were all rebel soldiers.
Therefore, the Ming Army would not take any responsibility for the deaths of these people. At most, they would be given some compensation according to the standard because they had just quelled a major rebellion that could shake the court. They were all meritorious officials.
Xiao Ruxun led the troops to attack the Prince of Qing's Mansion. The Prince of Qing's Mansion was entrenched by a group of rebel soldiers. They were only willing to surrender if Xiao Ruxun guaranteed their lives. Xiao Ruxun, who was more or less affected by the brutal murderous intent, directly ordered the bombardment of the Prince of Qing's Mansion. He blasted open the gate of the Prince of Qing's Mansion and killed the deputy general of the rebel army, Gong Zhi, as well as all two hundred and three rebel soldiers.
After that, Xiao Ruxun rescued the officials and palace maids of the Prince of Qing's Mansion who were controlled by the rebel army. However, the soldiers, who were about to go crazy from killing, began to become restless because they had been suppressed for too long. As a result, when they saw the fair bodies of the palace maids, they began to become restless. Wei Xuezeng and Ye Mengxiong ran the army strictly and forbade the use of military techniques.
As a result, the strong soldiers, who had been holding back for more than two months, urgently needed to vent. At that moment, the cries of the palace maids made Xiao Ruxun regain his senses in time. He rushed forward and kicked over the soldier who wanted to rape the palace maids and angrily rebuked the group of soldiers. Only then did he manage to control the brutal murderous intent of the soldiers.
Then, in the process of rescuing them, Xiao Ruxun obtained an unexpected piece of news from the elders of the Prince of Qing's Mansion. Although Princess Qing had committed suicide, the Heir of Prince of Qing was not dead. He had been hidden in the cellar by Princess Qing. Later, he was secretly rescued at night and hidden in a secret chamber to be supported by everyone. They were only waiting for the imperial court's reinforcements to rescue the Heir of Prince of Qing and preserve the only bloodline of the late Prince of Qing.
This credit fell from the sky and fell on Xiao Ruxun's head. Xiao Ruxun immediately led the soldiers to find the secret chamber and protected the seven-year-old Heir of Prince of Qing, Zhu Shuaixin. He protected him until he was brought back to the camp and handed over to Ye Mengxiong.
They killed their way into the city in the early morning. By the afternoon, the resistance of the rebel army in the city had been completely suppressed. By the evening, when the setting sun was as red as blood, Bo Bai's rebellion had been completely quelled. The Ningxia campaign, one of the three major expeditions of the Wanli Dynasty, ended with the Ming Army's complete victory. According to the statistics a few days later, in this battle, the Ming Army had lost more than 5,400 men and injured more than 20,000 men. Most of them survived. In the end, the death toll was about 6,000.
In total, more than 50,000 rebel soldiers had been killed. Their heads were piled up as high as several mountains. One of them was built by the Ming Army into a temple. As for the outside of the Great Wall, it was more than 10 meters high. It was a show of force to the Mongols beyond the Great Wall and deterred the thieves and thieves from invading.
This strategy was quite effective. For a long time afterwards, the cavalry on the grasslands did not dare to approach that section of the Great Wall. The temple was said by the Mongols to be a ghost, the kind that would kill anyone who saw it. It could even stop the children on the grasslands from crying at night.
The blood-like sunset spilled over the city of Ningxia. The sporadic battles had completely ended. On the evening of the 22nd, there was not a single rebel army left in the city of Ningxia.
About one-third of the Ningxia town was destroyed. It was a scene of desolation. Blood was everywhere. There were dead people everywhere. Cries could be heard everywhere. Some women were crying as they hugged the corpses of their men. Some men were crying as they hugged the women whose clothes were in disarray. There were also children crying as they hugged the corpses of their parents. The whole city of Ningxia was crying.
In the end, only about 300 of the rebel army surrendered. They were sent to the mines as slaves. The rest died. None of the leaders of the rebellion survived. This was the most thorough suppression of the rebellion by the Ming Army since the founding of the country. The next day, at noon on the 23rd of April, the internal official who arrived at the city of Ningxia to announce the latest imperial edict was dumbfounded.
The internal official saw the blood-soaked and murderous generals and the mountains of heads. He even peed his pants and could not say a word. He was looked down upon by Mei Guozhen. It was said that the internal official died of a sudden illness not long after he returned to the capital. Many internal officials were so scared that they did not dare to go to the border to announce the imperial edict.
Xiao Ruxun, who had completely recovered his rationality, led the troops to patrol the city wall and reorganize the order. He could not help but sigh. He then ordered that all the residents were not allowed to leave their houses without prior notice. Every day, food would be distributed by the government at a designated location. Only one person was allowed to collect it. After collecting it, they were to immediately return home and close the door.
At the same time, Xiao Ruxun was afraid that after the city was breached, the soldiers would act like animals. He ordered all the soldiers who participated in the battle to withdraw from the city and return to the barracks. The soldiers who were originally guarding outside the city were transferred into the city to maintain order. Anyone who disturbed the people would be killed without mercy. He also sent out patrolling knights to patrol around the main road of the city to check the illegal soldiers.
That day, in the morning, Xiao Ruxun ordered the execution of 24 soldiers who broke the law. He finally controlled the situation that was almost out of control. He did his best to protect the order of the city and the safety of the people. This kind of action was seen by Mei Guozhen. His evaluation of Xiao Ruxun went up a level.
The Emperor's new imperial edict was issued more than ten days ago. He ordered Ye Mengxiong to take over the position of the Governor-General of the three borders. Wei Xuezeng was dismissed from his post and investigated. He was to be escorted back to the capital by the internal official and the Imperial Bodyguard for investigation. The others were not changed. They were given three months to breach the city, which was the end of July. Otherwise, they would all be punished.
When the imperial edict arrived, everyone had already exceeded the quota. Therefore, the report of merit and Mei Guozhen's memorial were rushed to the capital.
After the battle, the exhausted soldiers began to rest. Logically speaking, after the victory of the war, the commander-in-chief should reward the soldiers. However, this time, the soldiers who had exhausted a lot of energy even slept for two days and two nights before waking up. They were still sore all over and dispirited, so they had to postpone the reward.
During the interval between the end of the battle and the arrival of the Emperor's imperial edict, the soldiers were all resting. This was also a rare rest day. They didn't need to go out for exercises or training. About a few days, the soldiers gathered in twos and threes to wander around, chat, and bask in the sun. Everyone said that this battle was really crazy. They killed people until their hands were tired, and their hands were also tired when they were chopped off heads.
After cleaning up the remaining bricks and stones of the exploded city wall, they saw a horrible deep pit. They shuddered and looked at Xiao Ruxun with more awe.
After the battle, Xiao Ruxun became the most authoritative general in the whole army. Not only did the soldiers fear him, but also the generals admired him. Even the superiors seemed to pay more attention to Xiao Ruxun. Basically, they would ask for Xiao Ruxun's opinion on military issues and post-war reconstruction. For this, some generals, such as Ma Gui, were very dissatisfied.
Ma Gui expressed his dissatisfaction that he was never accepted and treated well by the literati.
Xiao Ruxun, who was in a good mood, analyzed it for Ma Gui.
You see, first of all, I contributed strategies to the victory of the army. I am a great hero, so I naturally have the conditions to be valued. Second, I am the son-in-law of the former Minister of War, so I am one of their own in the eyes of the literati. Third, I am young, so they see me as a promising talent. Moreover, I have a literary reputation. I am not illiterate, nor am I uncouth, and I can write well. Finally, I am handsome and have the demeanor of a scholarly general, which is also the most important point.
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