Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 60 Knowing the crisis, Liu Shun enters Beijing
"In the seventh and eighth years of Chongzhen, thieves in Xingxian County killed and wounded the people, and they became more and more serious every year. Plague plagued the sky, and people died in the morning. In one night, all the family members died, the people fled, and the city was empty."?
"Tongzhou County Chronicles", "the 16th year of Chongzhen's reign in the seventh month of Guiwei was a major epidemic, and it was more contagious than the house. Some families lost their lives, but there were no restraints."

"Wujiang County Chronicle", "Chongzhen 15 years of great epidemic, there are more than a hundred houses in one lane, no one is exempted, and one family has dozens of families, and no one survives."

"Small plan of meditation", "summer and autumn in the year of Kuiwei, the capital was plagued by a severe epidemic, and the puppet had a bulge of fat, and died immediately, which is called pimple plague. Everyone suffers from this in the [-]th to [-]th year. In spring, there is hematemesis , also died in half a day, or several members of the family died at the same time."

During the reign of Chongzhen, the plague was rampant in Ming Dynasty, and nine out of ten families died.

Sixty percent of the population in the capital died of the plague, and there were 23 households in Suzhou, Jiangnan. After a major epidemic, only [-] households survived.

In the Jiashen year, Li Zicheng was able to capture the capital in just a few months, and the plague also contributed to it.

The damage caused by a great epidemic to a family, a village, a city, or a country is unimaginable, and its horror is beyond words.

The plague spread in the city, making Yangzhou city filled with despair. Every day around the soldiers and civilians, there are people who are quarantined due to infection, and their relatives continue to die every day.

The old man just died, and the new man died again, so that the survivors had no time to grieve, but became numb and lifeless in the face of constant death.

The sky in Yangzhou seemed to be darkened by the burning smoke and despair, but in this dead silence, there was a bright color that illuminated the people around him. Wherever he went, there was a moment of light.

The desperate soldiers and civilians of Yangzhou regard Wang Yan as their hope, and he has become the spiritual pillar of the whole Yangzhou.

Although the plague has been brought under control, the new infected people every day still terrify the soldiers and civilians in the city, and the corpses burned every day still give them a sluggish look of death.

The people of Yangzhou were immersed in grief and seemed dead silent. Only when Wang Yan came to visit, there would be a bright light in their eyes, and they stood up and said: "General!"

Wang Yan also always waved his hands, so that the soldiers and civilians don't have to be polite, take a good rest, and say some words of encouragement, so that the soldiers and civilians can feel at ease.

In Zhenjiang City, Hu Weizong woke up leisurely, feeling weak and dizzy.

At this time, he was lying on a big bed. This sleeping position made him a little uncomfortable, so he wanted to change his position, but when he moved slightly, a huge pain came from his back.

He couldn't help recalling that night, he and a hundred brothers jumped into the canal, swam across the Yangtze River, and came to the south bank to ask for help, but they were robbed and killed by Qing army ships on the canal and the Yangtze River. The brothers died or scattered, and he was also shot several times , Gritting his teeth, swam across the Yangtze River, and finally passed out on the south bank.

Hundreds of brothers, how many survive?
Hu Weizong felt sad, but at the same time remembered his mission, so he struggled to sit up.

At this moment, the door of the room opened, and a man of short stature walked into the room. Seeing that Hu Weizong was awake, his face was overjoyed. If you move, you may tear the wound."

The man was Liu Shun. When he was patrolling the river bank, he found Hu Weizong unconscious. He hurriedly took him back to the camp for treatment. Later, he found a letter of help wrapped in oilcloth paper from his underwear. Knowing that the situation in Yangzhou was already critical, he went to Stay around Hu Weizong, hoping that he will wake up soon.

"I'm Hu Weizong, thank you General for saving your life." Hu Weizong lay down again and thanked him. Seeing that Liu Shun was wearing a suit of Ming army mail armor, he immediately asked, "I don't know if Yu is in Zhenjiang City?"

"Exactly!" Seeing him asking, Liu Shun nodded quickly, and then asked eagerly, "You stand out in the city, do you know that my commander is good?"

"General Wang is the great benefactor of Yangzhou who rescued the people of Yangzhou from the butcher knife of the Qing army. Now he is leading the army and the people to fight against the Qing Dynasty. He is the pillar of Yangzhou. All the people in Yangzhou love him. Naturally, he will fight to the death to protect each other. The general does not need to worry." Hu Weizong heard Liu Shunzhi's words and knew that the general in front of him might be an officer under Wang Yan's command, so he spoke casually.

"It's so good!" Liu Shun was overjoyed when he heard that, but when he thought about the situation in Yangzhou, he worried and asked: "Yangzhou has been besieged for many days, how long can it last?"

Hu Weizong couldn't help feeling sad when he thought about the tragic situation in Yangzhou before he left the city. "Duoduo threw dead bodies into the city, causing the epidemic in the city to spread. Yangzhou was besieged on all sides. There was a shortage of medicinal materials in the city. The mild ones could still be cured, and the severe ones had to wait for death. When I left the city, there were as many as a thousand people who died every day. People, I'm afraid it won't last long."

When Liu Shun heard this, his face turned pale with shock. Only then did he realize that these days, the smoke column rising from the city of Yangzhou was burning corpses, and his heart tightened immediately.

"General, do you know who else came to the south bank to ask for help?" Hu Weizong asked casually, remembering the hundred warriors who entered the river with him.

"You are the only one in Zhenjiang City, I don't know where it is!" Liu Shun replied.

Hu Weizong thought about this kind of result, but he couldn't believe it. Hearing Liu Shunzhi's words now, his heart ached and he was silent for a while.

Seeing this, Liu Shun said, "Rest now, I'll report what you said to Mr. Zheng face to face!"

When Liu Shun came out of his room, he went all the way out of Zhenjiang City to bring the riverside water fortress. When he saw the general town of Jiangshuishi, Zhenhai General Zheng Hongkui reported his love for Yangzhou that Hu Weizong said one by one.

Hearing the words, Zheng Hongkui was also terrified. He got up and came to the riverside, and saw that there were as many as ten pillars of smoke in the city of Yangzhou on the other side. Call for help, report to Nanjing urgently.

Liu Shun left Zheng Hongkui's water army camp, and before he had time to say goodbye to Wang Wei and others, he took a few knights and headed straight for Nanjing.

The distance between Zhenjiang and Nanjing was 150 li. Liu Shun and the other knights carried small flags on their backs and changed horses along the way without changing people.

The guards at the east gate of Nanjing hurriedly reported to the gatekeepers, checked the documents, and saw that it was an urgent report from Zhenjiang, so they opened the city immediately and let Liu Shun into the city.

On the streets of Nanjing at night, there was a sound of horseshoes, and Liu Shun went straight to the Ministry of War.

In the early morning of the next day, Ruan Dacheng, Minister of the Ministry of War, presented Wang Yan's request for help to the emperor, and the emperor watched it personally.

Wang Yan, the commander of Chen Zhongyi Battalion, said: "The northern captives besieged the city and attacked it for more than a month. To save the country and protect the people, I fought against the Qing Dynasty. I knew that it was my responsibility to defend the land. There was no grass in the world, so I dared not give up. There are many captives, and the long-term attack will not be enough." The strategy of destroying officials and throwing corpses along with them caused a great epidemic in the city. There was no medicine in the city. , Your Majesty, please send reinforcements to rescue Yang."

(End of this chapter)