Nurhachi sent out his troops in Hetuala, offering sacrifices to the heavens and burning the earth to tell them about the 'Seven Great Regrets'. After capturing Fushun, he captured all the people in the city as slaves and plundered their provisions, wealth and goods. But this was not enough to satisfy him.
The Jurchen army continued to attack the forts around Fushun. Those who surrendered were spared, those who resisted were massacred. First they attacked Qinghe, then Tieling, faintly threatening Kaiyuan in the north and Shenyang in the west. The Ming Army was defeated in every battle, losing their troops and land. Liaodong was shocked several times a day.
After capturing Fushun, they slaughtered more than ten thousand Ming Army soldiers and killed hundreds of Ming Army officers including the Liaodong Army Commander. The loot was more than what Jianzhou had accumulated over the past decades. Daming's affluence made Nurhachi and all the other Jurchen barbarians, including the four Beilei, forget themselves and regain their confidence. The anger they originally suffered from Zhou Qingfeng was cleared at once and even returned a hundredfold.
Only people like Mangurtai were convinced that the Ming Army was still the original Ming Army. The generals were greedy, the soldiers weak, they were completely vulnerable. A guy like Zhou Qingfeng was definitely an anomaly. It was definitely not normal. After interrogating the captives, they learned that Zhou Qingfeng had different ideas and was not tolerated by the Liaodong officialdom. All the strange things that happened before were all Zhou Qingfeng's doing.
Nurhachi's original manuscript of the 'Seven Great Regrets' in Hetuala had been burned. After learning about all the incidents related to Zhou Qingfeng in Fushun, he was angry and annoyed. It was a great victory but there was such a stain, it really made him unhappy. He picked the noses and ears of the captured merchants and put them back. When he delivered the letter of challenge to Daming, he specially changed his' Seven Great Regrets'.
"Our country has always been respectful and loyal to Daming, our hearts are like gold and stone. But the Fushun Baihu Zhou Qingfeng bullied our women, attacked our camps and showed off his power. I sent my son to negotiate, but he actually used foul language and used his power to bully and humiliate us. The poison of his words was unbearable. There are seven who are angry. "
Thus, the Seven Great Hates were spread everywhere.
The inspector-general of Liaodong, Li Weihan, was still waiting in Shenyang for Zhang Chengyin to deal with Zhou Qingfeng. He was dreaming of how to swallow the wealth and goods that Zhang Chengyin had amassed. In the end, the news he received was that Fushun had fallen, more than ten thousand of Zhang Chengyin's men had all died in battle, and only a few had managed to escape. This news scared him so much that he fell ill on the same day and almost committed suicide. If the border was lost, he, the Liaodong Inspector-General, would be sentenced to death.
When the letter from the Seven Great Grudges arrived, Li Weihan read it carefully and immediately felt as if he had obtained a priceless treasure. He summoned a few officers who escaped from Fushun for questioning. One of them, a baihu named Tan Feng, led a few dozen men and chopped off more than ten Kennu heads on the battlefield. He didn't care about the stench and personally examined the severed heads to confirm that they were real slaves and that they weren't killed to take credit.
"God has opened his eyes!"
The heads belonged to the remnants of the Jurchen who were searching for food and slaves everywhere. They were not the elites of Jianzhou. However, in the context of the complete defeat, it was extremely rare to have this kind of military achievement. Li Weihan was overjoyed. With a wave of his pen, he listed Tan Feng as one of his men and counted the credit of these more than ten Kennu heads as part of his own planning.
In addition to Tan Feng, there were also the 'righteous people' Yang Wei and Yang Bang brothers from the countryside. Under the guidance of Fushun's scholar Ximen Ai, they gathered the villagers to protect themselves and actually chopped off seven or eight Jurchen heads and sent them to Shenyang. Li Weihan was so happy that a flower bloomed. He proudly incorporated this group of villagers into the official army.
When the few 'bright spots' in the battle were gathered, Li Weihan took out the letter from Nurhachi's Seven Great Grudges and showed it to everyone. He pointed to the seventh letter and said, "The first six have nothing to do with us, but the seventh letter is about Zhou Qingfeng. You all know him, right?"
They knew him, they knew him too well!
The people who were gathered were more or less related to Zhou Qingfeng, some of them could even be considered his enemies. Li Weihan pointed to Zhou Qingfeng's name on the letter and said, "This time the battle at Fushun is rotten, it is all this Zhou Qingfeng's fault. This man swindled my Liaodong officials, swindled countless silver, and fled without a trace as soon as the battle began. Therefore, the general has no fighting spirit, the soldiers have no provisions, how can we not be defeated?
I will immediately write to the imperial court, listing everyone's contributions. All of you also write a few pieces of paper, I will quickly send them to the capital. I, Daming, have never been stingy with rewards to meritorious officials, but I will never let off this evil thief who has brought disaster to the country and the people. Do you understand what I mean? "
Tan Feng was still in a daze. He had listened to Zhou Qingfeng's words and left Fushun before the battle began, avoiding the calamity of the city being destroyed. When Nurhachi dispatched his troops everywhere, he led his men to attack the scattered opponents. Sure enough, the harvest was huge.
Meanwhile, the Yang brothers and Ximen Ai had been hiding in the countryside. When Nurhachi captured Fushun, Ximen Ai was keenly aware that Zhou Qingfeng had escaped even if he did not die, so the opportunity to clear his name was right in front of him. They had also beheaded a few Jurchen slaves they had plundered from the countryside and ran to Shenyang to seek a better future.
Ximen Ai reacted the fastest to Li Weihan's intention. He immediately prostrated on the ground and said, "This student understands, I will do it immediately." Waiting for Li Weihan to serve tea to send the guests off, he explained the key point: "Someone must take the blame for Fushun's defeat. Lord Li wants to protect himself. The little thief Zhou has offended the whole of Liaodong, there is no better scapegoat than him. "
The news of the battle at Fushun reached the capital at the fastest speed, but Emperor Wanli, who was hiding deep in the palace, did not take it seriously. The Minister of War Xue Sancai asked the Ministry of Revenue to allocate five hundred thousand taels to send six thousand five hundred troops from Jizhen, Baoding, and Tianjin to Liaodong to deal with the emergency. The Ministry of Revenue directly said they had no money. Xue Sancai went to ask the Emperor for money. Unexpectedly, Wanli cried poor and kicked the ball back to the Ministry of Revenue.
When the news was confirmed, he learned that Zhang Chengyin's army was completely annihilated, and that Nurhachi had not only conquered Fushun, but also conquered Qinghe, Tieling, and even threatened Shenyang. Only then did Wanli know the seriousness of the matter. But in such a big place like Liaodong, excluding the soldiers stationed at the forts and relay stations, there were only twenty thousand that could be pulled out to fight. Ten thousand of them had already been reimbursed by Zhang Chengyin.
Moreover, the letter about the 'Seven Great Hates' had also been sent to Wanli's desk. At the same time, it was accompanied by the self-defense of Liaodong's Inspector-General Li Weihan, as well as the military reports of several meritorious people — the spearhead was pointed at Fushun's Baihu Zhou Qingfeng, accusing him of betraying the emperor's kindness, not thinking of serving the country, being greedy and despicable, corrupting the border defense, and being the main culprit of the war.
In addition to Li Weihan, the memorials to impeach Zhou Qingfeng from all over Liaodong could be counted in baskets. Everyone selectively did not mention the 'money-making treasure', but focused on the destruction of the important border towns and the suppression of the imperial court's officials. Emperor Wanli was in a fit of anger and did not think that a mere baihu could be so powerful. He immediately ordered the East Faction Guards and the Brocade Guards to arrest this person and bring him back to the capital as soon as possible and punish him severely.
This matter spread to the East Faction Guards. Because he had been to Liaodong, Eunuch Ma Keshi, the attendant eunuch in charge of the affairs of the East Faction Guards, took up this responsibility. At first glance, it seemed that they were just going to arrest a small border army baihu, but when all kinds of documents were placed in front of Eunuch Ma, he could not help but be stunned — the name Zhou Qingfeng was very familiar.
The Brocade Guards were all over the world, and naturally, there were some in Liaodong. In the past six months, Zhou Qingfeng had caused such a big commotion in Fushun, it was impossible for the Brocade Guards not to know. The relevant investigation work had long been written into a large number of documents. Even Eunuch Ma had heard of the 'money-making treasure', and he clicked his tongue in wonder.
However, as he continued to investigate the various documents, Eunuch Ma saw a familiar name appear — Gu Yuanwei. This was a former colleague of the East Faction Guards, an elite sent to the East Faction Guards by the Brocade Guards, and held the position of Head of the East Faction Guards. In the end, because of a strange case, he became a criminal of the imperial court. Wasn't Zhou Qingfeng the disciple he suddenly took in when he was fleeing to Liaodong?
Hiss … things were getting interesting now.
Eunuch Ma organized the information obtained by the Brocade Guards one by one, and singled out the information related to Zhou Qingfeng. In the end, he found that this youth had done a lot of big things in the past year. Especially after he returned from the Jurchen's territory at the beginning of this year, he became even more awe-inspiring. Step by step, he took control of Fushun, and even played a large number of smart people in the Liaodong officialdom.
"Recruiting refugees and managing the residences, this person is quite capable."
"Breaking the earth with one punch and claiming to be 'the best in the world'? What big words. "
"Overthrowing Li Yongfang and using Li Yongfang's name to control Fushun. Not only is his method strange, but he's also extremely daring. "
"Now he's stirring up trouble in Liaodong, causing even the Jurchen slave chief Nurhachi to denounce him. Which force does this kid belong to? It feels like he doesn't belong to any side. "
The key was, where was Zhou Qingfeng now?
Did he have to go to Liaodong again?
It was useless to arrest Zhou Qingfeng just by ordering the local authorities. The imperial court had to send a few officials to Liaodong to investigate. Eunuch Ma, with his shrewdness, couldn't help but feel his scalp tingle. The current Liaodong was dangerous, and it wasn't just the Jurchen who gave him headaches. Next, a large number of guest troops were going to help Liaodong, and that was the beginning of the trouble.
The guest troops of the Daming Dynasty had always been known as' soldiers and bandits'. They didn't have the ability to fight a war, but they were very good at attacking and harassing places.
Moreover, Zhou Qingfeng was too different and definitely not a good person.
Eunuch Ma, who was used to playing with power, scheming, and relying on power to arrest criminals, was in a dilemma when he thought about the uncontrollable war. The authority of the East Faction Guards could scare people in this peaceful time, but who would care about you when there was a war? This Zhou Qingfeng seemed to be a man who didn't fear anything — he was not a fierce bandit, but a traitor!
Eunuch Ma didn't want to go to the border himself. He rang a bell in front of his table, and after a while, a little eunuch came in. "Go to the Brocade Uniform Guard and ask them to send some capable people to us. They must be young people who can do things and are not afraid of hardships. This time there's work for them. "
Waiting for the little eunuch to leave, Eunuch Ma sighed again. He remembered that he had personally led a team to arrest Gu Yuanwei last year, and remembered that there was a woman who seemed to have some connection with Zhou Qingfeng. He couldn't help but close his eyes slightly, thinking repeatedly in his mind.
Now the war had begun, and the end of the world had begun … Zhou Qingfeng's name had spread to the Daming Dynasty's imperial court, but what was he doing?
On the coast of Yingkou, north of Liaodong Bay, in the camp of the transmigrator team.
At night, there was an open class as usual. Zhou Qingfeng released the 'Road Hog' in the open-air class. This war machine couldn't be used for a long time, but its high-power headlights could provide illumination, and the car's high-pitched loudspeaker covered the whole area.
Hundreds of people were sitting on small benches in the wilderness, enjoying the sea breeze, listening to the class. Although the conditions were simple, the content of the class was very fresh. Zhou Qingfeng didn't talk about how to fight a war or shout slogans. He talked about history.
"I know that many of you are illiterate and can't read. But I still want to set up a correct view of history for you. You can't be blind. I'll start from the pre-Qin period and talk about who our ancestors were. Tell me about how our people came to be. Tell me about how our culture, writing, etiquette, and language came into being. "
In the whole of Northeast Asia, other people were fighting wars, shirking responsibilities, seizing power, working hard for fame and fortune, and doing everything they could to protect themselves.
But Zhou Qingfeng was doing something that seemed useless, and he was doing it happily. His voice spread along with the sea breeze. "Only by understanding history can we understand our people. Only by understanding history can we know what the hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of us have in common. Only then can we unite together.
Only by understanding history can we transcend the present and see a wider world. Absorbing nutrients from the long river of time can strengthen our will and reduce detours. So … war isn't something that happens every day, but learning is a must. "
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