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Li Laixiang replied: "Ten years ago, the miners were all Han Chinese. But now, [-]% are Han and [-]% are Korean. Most of those Han miners in the past... have died, and the Tartars can only kidnap North Koreans to mine."

When Lu Xiangsheng got the exact news, he immediately ordered his troops to cross the river and go to Mingshangou and Antgou to appease the miners.

Mingshangou has the most miners, and the iron-smelting furnace can illuminate the valley until it is bright at night, which is the source of the place name "Mingshangou".

Li Kun is a miner in Mingshangou. His father is a military officer in Baihu City, and he belongs to the permanent military household of the Kaiyuan [-] Guards dispatched to the Weining Battalion.After Li Kun's father was captured, he was thrown into Mingshangou to dig mines, and his family moved to nearby Mingshangou to farm.

His father, eldest brother and second brother died of exhaustion in the mine one after another. Li Kun took over the job at the age of 15 and has been mining for three years now.

"Brother Li, why are the Tazi supervisors gone?" Yan Hong asked early in the morning.

Li Kun was also very puzzled: "I'm afraid something serious happened."

There is no sun and moon in the mountains, and they don't even know that the Ming Dynasty has collapsed.

The whole family of these miners lived in the mine, and even the iron smelting plant in the valley was not allowed to come in contact with them.Escape attempts are made every year, but most are caught and left to dry on wooden poles in the mine.

"Why don't you go to the ravine to have a look?"

"Don't go, don't go, if the Tartars find out, at least they will be whipped."

"Last night, there seemed to be no fire in the ravine. The iron has not been smelted. Something must have happened. Could it be that the emperor (Chongzhen) sent troops to kill him?"

"If the imperial army could come, it would have already come, so is it still needed?"

"Calculating the year and month, it should be Chongzhen's 18th year, right?"

"It was Chongzhen's 18th year, and I started mining in Chongzhen's 16th year."

"..."

Inside the mine, there are also some hillsides that can be cultivated and allocated to the families of the earliest miners.The harvested food is definitely not enough to eat, so there is no need to pay food, and it is purely based on mining to make a living. Regularly, Tatars send supplies such as rice and salt.

The follow-up miners were even worse, all of them were captured from the customs and North Korea.

Frowning, Li Kun walked to the col and observed the situation of the Shangou iron smelter.There has been no smoke, and the iron smelting furnace is obviously turned off. What happened?

Their information about the outside world comes from North Korean miners who were supplemented two years ago.

What did they say that the Tartars were fighting with the Datong army.

If asked in detail, the North Korean miners could not understand.I only know that the Datong Army is a Han Chinese army, and there seems to be a Datong Emperor, but I don't know where it came from.

"I'll go down the mountain to have a look." Li Kun said to Yan Hong.

"You don't want to die?" Yan Hong said in surprise.

Li Kun showed a sad smile: "My father and brother both died in the mine, and my mother died of illness last winter. There is no one in the family. It doesn't matter if they are caught and killed, the whole family can still be reunited under the nine springs."

Yan Hong gritted his teeth and said, "I'll accompany you, anyway, if you don't worry about it, maybe you can take the opportunity to escape."

Both are children of local military households, and they weren't even born when the Tartars took over here.

Since they can remember, they have never seen the outside world, and they followed their mother to farm on the hillside when they were young.Once an adult, the male in the family will go to mine, and then wait for the day to die of exhaustion and illness.

Li Kun hated the Tartars very much, but he had no sense of belonging to Daming.

He only knew from his parents' words that he was a Han, and that there was a Han court in Beijing called Daming.Where is Beijing?Li Kun didn't know.

Some Han people in the pass were also captured by the Tartars to work as miners.

These miners told Li Kun that Beijing was the largest city in the world, and the city walls were so high and large that the Tartars would never be able to break through.

But in recent years, there have been no Han Chinese miners, all miners from North Korea, and the news about Daming has been completely cut off.

After walking down the hillside for about half an hour, Li Kun and Yan Hong finally came to the ravine.

There are iron smelting kilns everywhere, but there is no one there at the moment, and all the wrought iron has been transported away, leaving only a lot of unsmelted iron ore.

"Da da da da!"

There was a sound of horseshoes, and there were hundreds of majestic cavalrymen.

The two were so scared that they quickly hid.

Yan Hong looked at the horses' horses and asked curiously, "Are those animals horses?"

Li Kun guessed: "It must be a horse. My father said that a horse can be ridden to fight, and it is bigger than a mule in a mine."

At this moment, the cavalry began to shout: "Are there any Han Chinese? We are the Datong Army, and we are here to rescue you!"

Lin Zhidong rode his horse and raced through Mingshan Valley, frowning and said: "There are no ghosts in the valley, let's go to the mining area on the mountain to have a look."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw two savages rushing towards him.

What a savage, unkempt, ragged, and I don't know if I haven't washed my hair or face in months.

"Li Kun, a son of the [-] Guards, pays homage to General Daming!"

Li Kun knelt on the ground and shouted, this is what his mother taught him when he was alive.When the officers and soldiers came, they would kneel and kowtow to them, begging the officers and soldiers of Ming Dynasty to take them away.

Lin Zhidong reined in his horse and asked, "Are you all Han Chinese?"

Li Kun said: "I can recite the "Three Character Classics". My mother said that if I can recite the "Three Character Classics", I am a Han Chinese, and I will not be killed by mistake when encountering officers and soldiers."

Looking at the two savage-like Han people, Lin Zhidong couldn't help feeling pity, and said: "Lead the way to the mountain and rescue all the Han and Korean people in the mine. I went to the camp and boiled water for you to take a bath. If you are full, you will be healthy and healthy." Body."

There are more than 1000 miners in the mines near Mingshangou, and dozens of miners' families.

They didn't care whether the troops who came were Ming, Qing or Datong, they followed them very obediently anyway.The courageous ones either escaped successfully, or were caught and hanged, and the rest chose to live cowardly and humblely.

Li Kun followed the dragoons out of the ravine, and soon saw Baihu City, which was next to Weining Camp City.

Li Kun excitedly whispered to Yan Hong: "My mother said that there is a small town next to the big city, and the small town is our home. Yan Er, let's go home, let's go home!"

"Yes, I'm home." Yan Hong had tears in his eyes.His mother died early, dying of illness and starvation more than ten years ago, but he still remembers his mother's description of home.

The Datong Army has camps on both sides of the Taizi River.

The camp on the north bank is near Baihu City.The intention is obvious, that is to take Baihu City first, and then go to attack Weiningying City, which is high in the city and deep in the pond.

The miners like Li Kun were taken to the military camp on the north bank, and they were all placed in a corner.

A civilian husband came over to set up a pot to boil water for them, and each of them had to line up to take a bath.

To be honest, Lu Xiangsheng's military rations are almost running out.

Because the supply line was too long, food had to be transported from the Yalu River all the way from the mountains to Benxi.The food eaten by the civilian husbands along the way was more than what was actually transported to the barracks!

A traitorous family like Qiao Mali couldn't provide much food, because they had been confiscated by the Manchu Qing long ago.

Fortunately, they broke through fortresses along the pass and seized a lot of food and livestock, otherwise Lu Xiangsheng would have run out of food at this time.Even so, Lu Xiangsheng's military rations could only last for another two months.

If the city cannot be broken within two months, Lu Xiangsheng's army will have to go back hungry.

In the case of a shortage of military rations, Lu Xiangsheng still distributed food to the miners.Moreover, regardless of whether the Han miners or the North Korean miners, they will all be given food.

Li Kun washed his body and got another set of clothes, which I heard belonged to a Datong soldier.

He soon smelled the aroma of food, couldn't help swallowing, and then heard someone shouting: "Put on your clothes, and go to queue for porridge!"

The porridge is multigrain porridge, such as sorghum, which was seized in Phoenix.

There is some salt in the porridge, and it smells like oil.It was an animal carrying grain. It was killed after being injured in the mountain, and the fat was thrown into the pot to cook with the porridge.

No vegetables, but a bowl of pine needle tea.

It is to drink water boiled with pine needles, which can supplement vitamins and treat night blindness.

Li Kun ate the extremely simple food, but was moved to tears.There are clothes to wear and delicious food here. Unfortunately, my mother died of illness last winter, otherwise my mother could enjoy this kind of good life.

Those responsible for managing the miners are all peasant and soldier cadres accompanying the army.

After Li Kun finished his bowl of porridge, he ran over and knelt down to the peasant and soldier commander: "I want to be a soldier, and I want to fight with you!"

The peasant and soldier officer asked with a smile, "You've just had enough to eat, why do you want to go to war?"

"The Datong Army treats me well, but the Tartars treat me badly. I will follow the Datong Army to kill the Tartars!" Li Kun already knew the name of this army.

Chapter 559 [Submission]

The chief general of Weining Battalion is called Han Yun.

He is neither of Han origin nor Jurchen origin, but... Korean!

Let's put it this way, before the rise of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, there was no so-called Manchu at all.It is purely the product of the forcible fusion of various tribes and nationalities in Liaodong, including many Korean ethnic groups.

The No. 14 Zuoling, the first leader of the Zhenghong Banner of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, was founded by the Korean Han Yun, and most of the soldiers under his command were Koreans.

Historically, Han Yun participated in the Battle of Salhu, the Battle of Songjin, the Battle of Shanhaiguan, and the battle to conquer Korea.From the beginning of Huang Taiji's succession to the throne, Han Yun has been fighting.Especially in the several conquests against North Korea, Han Yun has always been a pioneer guide.This guy even pretended to be a North Korean official, sneaked into North Korea's Uiju City, and set fire to bring the Qing army in. .

Now Han Yun's title is the first-class light car captain (three grades).

Seeing that the moat was gradually being filled up by civilian husbands, and the Eight Banners soldiers in the city were panicked, Han Yun summoned the soldiers and said: "Among you, like me, most of you are Korean. But now there are no Koreans, only Manchurians. The emperor's grace is mighty, the great The emperors of the two dynasties of the Qing Dynasty all showed great kindness to us. Those southern barbarians outside the city did not know that they would submit to the Qing Dynasty, but they dared to lead their troops to kill here. All soldiers, our chance to make meritorious service has come. Even if we die, we must Guard the Weining camp for His Majesty, guard the Weining camp for Prince Li (Daishan)! Swear to defend the city to the death, long live the Qing Dynasty!"

"Swear to defend the city to the death, long live the Qing Dynasty!" The crowd followed suit.

These guys are completely brainwashed.

In other words, their life in Manchuria is far better than staying in North Korea.The Qing Dynasty was their benefactor, and the King of Korea was the villain who oppressed them.

In terms of treatment, they have been regarded as Manchurians, and all men are classified as bannermen.

They belong to Zhenghongqi Korean descent!

Among the Koreans in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, there were two major Korean families, one was the Jin family and the other was the Han family.

Especially Kim, who doesn't even have a surname, just a coat called Xindali.This guy has repeatedly made military exploits, and has already become the leader of the Zhenghuang Banner. He is also the head of the Three Banners Firearms Battalion of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

As for Han Yun, there is also a younger brother named Han Ni, who is also a first-class light car captain of the third rank, and is currently fighting with Dorgon.

"Father, there are many Han Chinese in Weiningying and Baihu City," Han Ji reminded, "Beware of Han Chinese acting as internal responders!"

Han Yun said with a headache: "We really have to guard against the Han people."

There are too many Han craftsmen in Weining Camp and Baihu City.

When the Datong army came to kill, Han Yun detected the news, so he made preparations in advance to defend the city.The blacksmiths in Mingshangou and Antgou were all quickly moved back to the city.In addition, most of the mountain products in the mountains in southern Liaoning will be transported here to be processed by Han artisans.

Han artisans, civilians, and merchants, together with their families, accounted for 40% of the population in the two cities-this is the data of the bannermen in the suburbs, after they all evacuated into the cities.

Han Ji said, "Why don't we... kill all the Han people?"

"No!"

Han Yun immediately dismissed it.

It's not that he treats the Han people kindly, but that these craftsmen are too important.He, father and son of the Han family, dared to kill all Han craftsmen, and Daishan dared to kill them all.

After careful consideration, Han Yun said: "The iron wares of the Han people in the city are confiscated, even the kitchen knives are not allowed to be kept. The hammers and stripping knives of those craftsmen, as long as they are with iron, will be handed in within two days. If there is any private collection, It's not too late to kill!"

"Boom boom boom!"

Cannons roared outside the city, and cannons fired at the top of the city.

In the city, all the Qing troops defending the city were mobilized to search for all iron objects from house to house.

These soldiers are not polite, of course they want to take the opportunity to blackmail and rob.I said if you have iron utensils in your home, you must still hide iron utensils. If you don’t give enough money, you will be killed!

"Master Jun, my family is really out of money. Food and salt prices have skyrocketed in the past two years, and it's hard to make ends meet with a small business. How can I get money?"

In Baihu City, the Han shopkeepers knelt down and begged.

A Qing soldier frowned and said: "Look around, look around, and you can always get some money together. If it doesn't work, ask your neighbors to borrow some. We are old acquaintances, and I don't want to embarrass you."

The shopkeeper hesitated and said, "Why don't you wipe out all the accounts that Mr. Jun has kept before?"

The Qing soldier was furious: "Bastard, when did I owe you money?"

"Yes, there is nothing owed, nothing owed!" The shopkeeper kowtowed again and again, and went back to the house to find out the broken silver, which looked like half a tael.

The Qing soldiers immediately took the money and left. They were stationed here and knew how much they could extort.

The shopkeeper collapsed on the ground, crying loudly: "How will I live in the future!"

Han Yun is also a man who has been on the battlefield for a long time. Doesn't he know that there will be trouble?

Of course I know, but confiscating the iron artifacts of the Han people can effectively reduce the chance of riots.Even if you don't do this, if you have an internal response, you should set the fire or you will set the fire.

As for the life and death of the Han people, it's none of Han Yun's business?

Facts have proved that the Han people who can still live in Liaodong have either become traitors or become obedient citizens.Being so blackmailed by the Qing army, and there is a Datong army outside the city, no one dared to rise up.

They were just crying, just sad, and just worried that they would not have money to buy food in the future.

On the seventh day, the ladder was built and the upper frame was built, and Lu Xiangsheng finally ordered to attack the city.