prosperous age

Chapter 503 Chapter 502 The Fall of Xinghua
In November of the 41st year of Jiajing’s reign in Xinghua, the four gates were open, and there was an endless stream of people and vehicles entering and leaving.

Fujian is known as the Land of Bamin. In fact, it refers to the eight prefectures under the jurisdiction of Fujian. As one of the eight prefectures in Fujian, Xinghua Prefecture has a prosperous economy. Although the land area is the smallest among the eight prefectures, the population of Xinghua Prefecture has been constant since the early Ming Dynasty. The root cause of the exodus is that most of the people here are unwilling to plan food in the land, but are willing to do business.

The so-called "no business, no wealth", naturally Xinghua Prefecture is one of the most affluent places in Fujian despite its small size and few people.

Three months ago, Japanese pirates landed in Xinghua Prefecture and ransacked Caizhai, Hangtou and other villages. Japanese ships filled the moats and planned to besiege the city.

In order to protect themselves, a fierce battle broke out between the local boat people, the Orion and the Japanese pirates. Both sides won and lost. When the war fell into a stalemate, the Zhejiang reinforcements Qi Jiguang was ordered to help Fuzhou after defeating Zhang Lian's rebels. In Lindun.

Qi Jiguang led his army to pursue this point, raided the Japanese pirates again, and won a big victory. More than [-] Japanese pirates were beheaded, captured alive, and burned. Then he returned to Zhejiang in October.

It was only a month or so before the war to suppress the Japanese, and with this great victory, the people of Xinghua Mansion naturally thought that they could live in peace for a period of time, at least that there would be no problem in living a peaceful year. The door opened, and surrounding farmers and merchants poured out of Fucheng to work as merchants.

The north gate of Xinghua Mansion, the city gate was open, several city gate soldiers huddled together and gossiped boredly at the moment, ignoring the crowds coming and going.

Although the sun was high at this time, it was still a bit cold as the Chinese New Year was approaching.

At this moment, the pipeline in the distance was suddenly crowded with people, and a large stream of people rushed towards Fucheng desperately, and there were continuous screams during the period.

Seeing the chaos in the crowd in the distance, the city gate army naturally couldn't stay still, so they had to stand up and prepare to suppress, so that these people could maintain order when they entered and exited the city gate.

But soon, they realized that something was wrong.

The crowd used was very chaotic, and everyone looked panic-stricken. Some farmers even carried or carried large bags and small bags, dragging their families and running towards the city gate.

It wasn't until the chaotic crowd approached that the city gate army heard clearly what they were shouting.

"The Japanese pirates, the Japanese pirates are here again, run away."

The voices of the Japanese pirates coming one after another made all the pedestrians in front turn pale and panic.

The team leader guarding the gate looked at the crowd, grabbed a younger student and asked, "Where are the Japanese pirates? Did you see it?"

"Back, a lot"

The young queen replied angrily.

"Where? How many people?"

Hearing his ambiguous answer, the team leader wanted to slap him across the face, but at this moment, asking about the situation was the right thing to do, so he couldn't help but continue to ask.

"In the back, there are Japanese pirates in those towns. There are many of them. I'm afraid there are tens of thousands of people."

This time, the young man's words were a little clearer, allowing the team leader to roughly understand the situation.

A large number of Japanese pirates appeared in the villages and towns outside Fucheng. Thinking of this, the team leader felt his scalp tingle, and hurriedly asked again: "Did you see it with your own eyes?"

"I see, they rob things and kill people."

The later generations may have been frightened by the cruelty of the Japanese pirates, so they could only answer his questions with simple sentences.

However, this is enough for the team leader to understand the situation in front of him. Although there is no trace of the Japanese invasion, he does not doubt anything else under such a scene.

Let go of your hand, let the later generations rush into the city gate in a panic, turned around and called two small soldiers, and told one of them: "You, go to the city immediately and inform the general that the Japanese bandits are coming."

Then I called another person to order: "And you, immediately notify the other city gates that Japanese pirates are coming, close the gates."

After finishing the order, before the little soldier left to pass the order, he cursed and beckoned his subordinates to close the city gate, even though people kept rushing from afar.

The people near the city gate were undoubtedly lucky for the time being. They ran into the Fucheng before the city gate closed, while the people behind could only beat on the thick city gate desperately. They are locked outside the city.

Not long after, a hundred households went up to the city tower, and seeing that they became more and more people gathered, they could only tell them to find a place to hide from the Japanese pirates, and advised them to leave here as soon as possible and go to the direction of Xianyou County.

The news of the Japanese pirates' attack was passed on by the soldiers at the city gate, and soon reached the ears of several people in power in Xinghua Mansion.

At this time, the highest official positions in Xinghua Mansion were of course Weng Shiqi, deputy envoy of Xingquan Dao, Bi Gao and general judge Xi Shiliang.

Soon, the three of them gathered to discuss the matter.

In fact, in the face of the Japanese pirates' attack, the coastal prefectures and counties already had established strategies at this time, that is, to close the city gates and call for emergency help.

Naturally, the discussion this time was also arranged according to this. Xi Shiliang was responsible for recruiting the strong men in the city to help defend the city and provide food for the soldiers.

The Baojia system formed after the founding of the Ming Dynasty had a huge advantage at this time. It was easy to screen the people in the city, and those who could not confirm their identities would naturally be temporarily detained.

General Bi Gao was in charge of defending the city, and at the same time sent sentries out of the city with hanging baskets to investigate the actuality of the Japanese pirates.

On the other hand, Weng Shiqi hurriedly wrote official documents, and reported to You Zhende, governor of Fujian, and Zhang Nie, governor of Fujian and Guangdong, asking for reinforcements.

The entire city of Xinghua City was quickly turned into a state of combat readiness, because from time to time there were Japanese pirates who harassed them, and both civilians and soldiers completed their work step by step.

When the officers and soldiers guarding the city saw the Japanese pirates, it was already late, and the Japanese pirates did not attack Fucheng that day.

Just kidding, after all, the prefecture governs the city, and the city wall is significantly higher than the county seat, so it is not easy to attack rashly.

In fact, there were quite a few Daming cities captured by Japanese pirates, but not many were actually captured in siege battles. Even Japanese pirates who can fight well can't get well.

In the next few days, the Japanese pirates chose to besiege the city while looting surrounding villages and towns.

Although sneak attacks on Fucheng were launched from time to time, they were all discovered and repelled by the Ming army defending the city.

Seeing this situation, Weng Shiqi, Bi Gao, Xi Shiliang and others naturally relaxed their vigilance. The current situation is very good, and they only need to wait for reinforcements to expel the Japanese pirates.

At this time, after receiving the news of Japanese pirates attacking Xinghua Fucheng, Governor You Zhende of Fujian thought that he had received an official document from Weng Zhang Nie, Governor of Fujian and Guangdong two days ago, knowing that the Governor had sent Liu Xian to lead his troops to rescue Xinghua Mansion, so naturally he also There was no panic, just sending someone to send official documents to Liu Xian, asking him to speed up his march and arrive at Xinghua Mansion as soon as possible to relieve the siege.

After receiving the official document from Zhang Nie, he has already sent official documents to the prefectures and counties along the way. Naturally, he informed Liu Xian's army's marching route and asked the government along the way to provide food and grass supplies.

However, both Zhang Nie and You Zhende overestimated the number of troops around Liu Xian at the moment, and the sentry sent by Xinghua Fucheng also underestimated the number of Japanese pirates.

According to the Xinghua Mansion's emergency document, more than 2000 Japanese pirates attacked the city, but at this time Liu Xian led only 700 soldiers to Xinghua Mansion.

On the way, Liu Xian received official documents from Zhang Nie and You Zhende, which gave him a general understanding of the situation of Japanese pirates around Xinghua Mansion.

Xinghua Fucheng has been besieged, and it is impossible for him to lead his troops into the city.

A simple comparison of the hundreds of people around him and the more than 2000 Japanese pirates showed that he could not go straight to Xinghua Mansion, and because of the plague in Quanzhou, Liu Xian had to lead his troops to take a detour.

When Liu Xian led his troops to Yingxian Village, forty miles away from Xinghua Fucheng, Liu Xian's troops encountered a large number of people who had fled from Xinghua Fu.

Seeing the officers and soldiers, the people naturally rushed for help.

Facing these fleeing civilians, Liu Xian chose to temporarily station and recuperate after hearing them tell about the atrocities committed by the Japanese pirates and the tragedy in the village. At the same time, he began to recruit soldiers to supplement the shortage of troops.

However, what he didn't know was that among the fleeing crowd, there were also a large number of spies of the Japanese pirates.

In fact, the vast majority of Japanese pirates are Ming people, and there are not many real Japanese pirates.

At this time, these Japanese pirates from the Ming Dynasty pretended to be fleeing civilians. For Liu Xian, it was naturally impossible to distinguish the authenticity from the fake.

And he stayed in Yingxianzhai to recruit soldiers, which naturally made the Japanese pirates understand the reality of their soldiers and horses, and that there were not enough troops.

In fact, the Japanese pirates who invaded Xinghua Mansion this time were divided into two groups. The goal of one route was naturally to loot Xinghua Mansion and seize the city. It is Fuqing, who wants to stop the rescue sent by the Ming army in Fuzhou.

The Japanese pirates also knew that Quanzhou Prefecture to the south of Xinghua Prefecture was suffering from a plague, so they naturally avoided it. Correspondingly, the Ming army would never come to support from this direction.

At this time, Liu Xian's order to recruit soldiers made the Japanese pirates calm down, and also allowed the Japanese pirates to send many spies to take this opportunity to sneak into Liu Xian's army, all of which Liu Xian was unprepared for.

After these people mixed into Liu Xian's army, they only took on the task of spying on the military situation, so the details of Liu Xian's army were completely detected by Japanese pirates.

At this time, Weng Shiqi, the deputy envoy in Xinghua Fucheng, also received the news that Liu Xian's army was close at hand, and hurriedly sent a message urging Liu Xian's troops to rescue Fucheng.

After Liu Xian received the official document, due to insufficient troops, he had to send 200 people to Xinghua Fucheng to support, and spy on the Japanese pirates along the way.

However, as soon as the reinforcements left the camp, the news was discovered by the spies of Japanese pirates.

The Japanese pirates set up an ambush in the middle of the road and almost wiped out the Ming army. Only a few dozen people fled back to Yingxianzhai.

Facing the dominance of the Japanese pirates, Liu Xian did not dare to act rashly, so he had to recruit and train soldiers, and at the same time issued documents to summon the surrounding people, hoping to strengthen his forces as soon as possible, and then rescue Xinghua Mansion.

However, Liu Xian was also well aware of the urgency of civil servants in the Ming Dynasty, and was worried that the deputy envoy Weng Shiqi would use this to impeach him, so he sent eight soldiers with documents to pass on to Weng Shiqi to describe the actual situation, hoping to make them calm down. , just wait for rescue in peace.

However, the eight messengers were all killed by Japanese pirates on the way, and the documents were also robbed by Japanese pirates.

It was the documents they carried that were used by Japanese pirates as a weapon to destroy the city.

On November 29, eight sergeants in uniform of the Ming army appeared outside the north gate of Xinghua City, claiming to be messengers sent by General Liu Xian.

Weng Shiqi led Xi Shiliang and Futong judge Li Bangguang to check the official documents, and then ordered them to be sent to the city.

Although both Xi Shiliang and Li Bangguang felt that these soldiers were acting suspiciously and asked Weng Shiqi to detain them temporarily, but at this time Weng Shiqi was annoyed because Liu Xian’s few soldiers dared not come to help, and angrily reprimanded Xi Shiliang and Li Bangguang for being cowardly and Arrange for these soldiers to join the soldiers defending the north gate to supplement the shortage of city defense troops.

And all of this is in the middle of the treacherous tricks of Japanese pirates.

That night, a few Japanese spies killed other Ming soldiers around them, led the Japanese pirates to enter the city with a ladder on the wall of the North Gate, and quickly captured the North Gate. When the gate opened, the fall of Xinghua Mansion was inevitable.

After thousands of Japanese pirates entered the city, they quickly defeated and rescued the Ming army. The deputy envoy Weng Shiqi, the general Bi Gao, and the general judge Li Bangguang fled across the city after hearing that the city had fallen.

After occupying Fucheng of Xinghua, Japanese pirates burned, killed and looted, and the people of Fucheng were mourned.

After Liu Xian received the report from the sentry, he had no choice but to raise troops to rescue Xinghua Mansion in a hurry, but they were still late when they arrived. After leaving the officials and the people, they retreated impatiently.

After the city of Xinghua was destroyed, the Japanese pirates slaughtered the people, "the thieves guarded the city gates, and the officials and the people had no way out", and "burned the whole city to the ground". Flatten the sea".

Xi Shiliang, the prefect of the department, Ye Shilan, the magistrate of Putian County, Lu Yaozuo, the county school instructor, Zhang Yuan, Lu Shiliang, and Zhang Yingwang of thousands of households were all killed by Japanese pirates. 17 Jinshi died, dozens of Juren, hundreds of scholars, There are countless civilians. Lin Zhaoen alone collected and buried more than [-] dead bodies, and more than [-] people were cremated.

Yi Daotan, the new magistrate of Xinghua Prefecture, "saw that the corpses were piled up in the fields, but he was parked in Fuqing and dared not come to the post." He did not dare to enter the city until Lin Zhaoen collected the corpses and sprinkled them on the road.

The news of the fall of Xinghua Mansion was reported by Liu Xian and the escaped Weng Shiqi to Fujian Governor You Zhende and Governor Zhang Nie respectively.

After learning of the fall of Fucheng, Governor You Zhende hastily mobilized the Fuzhou Ming Army to rescue Xinghua Mansion. Governor Zhang Nie was also shocked and had to hastily order Yu Dayou, who had just returned to Southern Jiangxi, to lead his troops to rescue Xinghua Mansion. .

The news that You Zhende mobilized the army from Fuzhou to go south naturally cannot be concealed from the official circles in Fujian. Even if he deliberately concealed the news, he hoped that after taking over the Fuxing Mansion, he could use the spring and autumn style of writing to cover up his mistakes.

In any case, You Zhende, the governor of Fujian, who was on the side of Mushou, lost the Xinghua Mansion, and it was hard to absolve himself of the blame.

It's just that Li Bangzhen, the censor of Fujian Province, wrote a memorial to the capital immediately after hearing the news about such a big move.

A few days later, the memorial was sent to the capital, shaking the government and the public.

For the first time, the city of Fuzhi fell. After seeing Li Bangzhen’s memorabilia in Xiyuan, Emperor Jiajing was furious. He did not summon the cabinet ministers to discuss, and directly decreed to remove You Zhende. Take over the post of governor of Fujian.

"Thousands of Japanese pirates captured the Xinghua Mansion, and Liu Xian was too weak to fight. In the south of the Yangtze River, hundreds of thousands of soldiers were defeated by a mere few thousand Japanese pirates."

In Prince Yu's mansion, the people in the palace were also overwhelmed by the news from Fujian, and King Yu was also very angry.

"Your Highness, judging from Mr. Li's memorandum, Governor Zhang actually predicted that the Japanese pirates might attack Xinghua, but..."

Wei Guangde didn't know what to say anymore, he had already guessed the movements of the Japanese pirates, and the result was like this.

(End of this chapter)