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Azig in Jinan City was also tormented by the plague.A quarter of the Eight Banners soldiers under his command have been infected with the disease, and there is no treatment plan, and the death rate is much higher than that of the Datong Army.

To be honest, even if the city wall is destroyed, two groups of plague carriers will fight each other, and more soldiers will be infected by then.

Inside and outside the city, there is no interest in fighting, and the plague is the biggest enemy.

Gao Jie, who abducted Li Zicheng's concubine, and Li Chengdong, who participated in Yangzhou Ten Days and Jiading Three Massacres, are also trapped in Jinan at the moment.

Due to the rapid collapse of Ming Dynasty, Gao Jie and Li Chengdong have not yet made it big.

Li Chengdong was Gao Jie's general, Gao Jie was He Renlong's general, and He Renlong was at the same level as Zuo Liangyu.

After He Renlong was killed by Li Zicheng in Henan, Gao Jie and Li Chengdong both defected to Zuo Liangyu and went to Shandong, and then joined the Qing Dynasty together.

"Kite, I can't fight anymore," Li Chengdong persuaded, "If this goes on, if we don't get killed by the Datong army outside, we will die of the plague. We must quietly send people out of the city to contact the Datong army, and we should finish the battle as soon as possible. .”

Gao Jie sighed: "Tartars keep an eye on it, otherwise I would have sent people out of the city long ago."

Li Chengdong said: "More and more Tazi soldiers are infected with the disease, and more and more city walls are handed over to us Han soldiers to guard. Within a day or two, we will definitely find opportunities."

Gao Jie clenched his fists, smacked his palms and said, "The other Han generals in the city probably thought of defecting a long time ago, but they can join forces secretly. At that time, let's fight in the city first, and if we can kill a few Tartars Officer, didn't he make a great contribution?"

"It's the best way to do this. Emperor Zhao will definitely rule the world, and you can't go wrong with him." Li Chengdong said.

The two discussed the details again, and agreed on the goals of their respective series.

Li Chengdong got up and went back to eat, and climbed up the city wall after nightfall, using the night watch as an excuse to check the situation.As I was walking, I suddenly felt hot all over, and my head was dizzy and painful.

Sitting down against the female wall, Li Chengdong was so frightened that he trembled all over. He knew that he was also infected.

Gao Jie, who has been in contact with him for a long time, may not be able to escape this plague.

Chapter 429 [Plague and Flood]

Being surrounded by the city and contracting the plague is completely different from squatting outside the city to face the plague.

People in the city will think that if I just rush out of the city, I can escape from the center of the plague.If I don't rush out, I will die sooner or later if I stay in the city!

On the sixth day of the siege of Jinan, Azige, the coach of the Qing army, took the initiative to leave the city.

Not to mention that the soldiers couldn't bear the psychological pressure, even Azig himself was going crazy.When he led troops to exterminate the rebel army, a plague broke out in the army. Facing the outflanking of Fei Ruhe and Zhang Tieniu, he could only temporarily retreat into Jinan City for defense.

As a result, more and more people were infected, and the Eight Banners Army lost nearly one-third of its non-combat personnel.

Azig didn't know the purpose of the masks until three days ago, so he searched the whole city for cloth and ordered the whole army to wear masks.

But he didn't know that the mask had to be boiled every day, otherwise the mask would become a breeding ground for germs after wearing it for a long time.

Moreover, Azig has a noble status and specially wears a pair of silk masks.

Azig was very frightened, because five of the generals he had contacted recently had been infected with the plague and died, including Gao Jie and Li Chengdong.

Thousands of Eight Banners troops and tens of thousands of soldiers and generals surrendered. Before the Datong Army could pull out its artillery, the whole army went out of the city early in the morning for a decisive battle.

"Run!"

I saw that those surrendered soldiers and generals did not line up after leaving the city, but chose to flee in all directions.

Not to mention taking up weapons and fighting bloody battles, they didn't even surrender to be next to friendly soldiers, and everyone who went out looked like a plague-infected body.

Azig stood on the tower, he didn't dare to be next to the soldiers, he planned to wait for the whole army to go out of the city, and then lead the Chinese army out of the city to command the battle.In the end, the fight hadn't started yet, and the soldiers under his command were scrambling to escape. What the hell kind of fight is this?

"Come on!"

Azig knew he was going to be defeated, so he didn't even want the Eight Banners infantry, and fled with only the Eight Banners Xiao cavalry.

Fei Ruhe, Zhang Tieniu and the others were also dumbfounded when they saw the situation on the other side.Thousands of dragoons went out immediately, and even a missionary officer rode a horse and took out a tin horn and shouted: "Surrender without killing, don't run around! Surrender without killing, don't run around!"

If these tens of thousands of deserters break up and disperse to various counties, the plague will wreak havoc everywhere they pass!

There were too many routs, and the dragoons couldn't care about leaving the city from all directions.The north was blocked, and the south was mountainous. Azig fled westward with the Manchu cavalry.

When the Datong Army discovered the situation, Azig had already escaped for a mile, and Ma Wannian hurriedly led his dragoons to chase him.

You chased me for more than ten miles, Azig suddenly fell off his horse, and his whole body was hot.

"Eight Princes are infected!"

Seeing Azig's symptoms, the Manchu cavalry shouted in horror.They didn't dare to come over to help him onto the horse, and they didn't even dare to get too close, so they all abandoned Azig and left.

When Ma Wannian caught up and saw this situation, he was also terrified, and quickly ordered: "Don't stand next to this person, wait for the civilian husband to come and set fire to him. Continue to pursue!"

These Manchu cavalry had nowhere to escape.

To the north of Jinan City, hundreds of years later was the Yellow River, which is now called the Daqing River.To the east is the Wuhe River (also known as Xiujiang), a tributary of the Daqing River, to the west is the Shahe River, a tributary of the Daqing River, and to the south is a large area of ​​mountainous areas.

The Manchu and Qing cavalry fled to the banks of the Shahe River, so they could only follow the river to the south and plunge into the mountainous valley.

This river valley is eighty miles long and goes straight to Mount Tai. After leaving the valley, it is Tai'an.

Ye Chen rode to Yide's side and shouted: "It's not an option to escape like this. There are not many enemy horses chasing, so we can turn around and wipe them out first!"

Ild fought with Dodo before, and finally fled with more than a thousand cavalry. He is very experienced: "These cavalry are very difficult to deal with. Let's fight back and they will run away!"

"Go back and try!" Ye Chen was still unwilling.

Ye Chen's full name is Wanyan Ye Chen, he is over 50 years old, and is a first-class hereditary viscount.

There were [-] Manchu cavalry, and Ma Wannian only brought [-] cavalry to chase them.Seeing the Manchu cavalry turn around and attack, Ma Wannian ordered the dragoons to fire their guns, and then immediately ran away on horseback. Anyway, the armored enemy cavalry would definitely not be able to catch up.

Due to the distance, only a dozen enemies were hit by a salvo.

Ye Chen roared furiously: "Bastard!"

Yild sighed, "I told you, those gunfire cavalrymen will definitely flee."

Seeing that the Manchu and Qing cavalry stopped, Ma Wannian also ordered the dragoons to stop, and took the opportunity to dismount the whole army to load ammunition.

Erde said: "It's better to order the soldiers to take off their armor. Our horses are better, and we will definitely be able to escape out of the valley."

Ye Chen shook his head and said, "How can the elite of the Eight Banners lose their armor before the battle?"

Yild pointed to the opposite side: "They loaded the ammunition and came again."

Ye Chen gritted his teeth and said, "Rush again, wait for the enemy to release their guns, and take off their armor while they are reloading!"

The Manchu and Qing cavalry charged again, and the dragoons fired their guns from a long distance away. This time, they hit more than 20 enemies, and rode their horses very quickly to cover the distance.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, all the Manchu and Qing cavalry took off their armor, and then rode their fast horses straight to Mount Tai.

Once the dozens of catties of armor were taken off, the dragoons really couldn't catch up!

The war horses of the Eight Banners of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties belong to the Mongolian horse breed, and they are produced in the Maolian Grassland of the Muling River (Maolian River). The Wanda Mountain Ranch of later generations is located there, which is the Wanda Mountain of "Wanda Mountain Milk Powder".As early as the Tang Dynasty, it was used by the Bohai State to herd war horses, and later generations of Liao and Jin also obtained horse sources from here.

The shoulder height of Mongolian horses varies greatly, with the short ones being only 1 meters and the tall ones reaching 20 meters.

In any case, the Maolian horse selected by the Qing Dynasty must be stronger than the Jeju horse of the dragoons as a whole.Generally speaking, when marching fast, the armor is carried by inferior horses, and no one will ride on a horse wearing armor.

The real Manchu and Qing cavalry fought, and if they faced large-scale infantry, they would also choose to dismount and fight on foot.

Except for the Yehe tribe, the cavalry of other tribes in the Manchu and Qing Dynasties are all scumbags, and dismounting and fighting on foot is their real specialty.

But it is said that Ye Chen and Yide took the unarmored Manchu cavalry to Mount Tai and left the valley passage, throwing the Datong dragoons far away.Although they escaped to death, everyone was terrified, because another person had a fever on the way.

It belongs to the early stage of outbreak, mostly light and glandular.

The epidemic in Shandong has already reached its peak and has developed into pneumonic plague.A few hours after the onset, there will be high fever, chest pain, cough, and then cough up bloody sputum. If not treated in time, he will die of heart failure in two or three days.

Europe called this thing the Black Death, and it reduced the population of Europe in the Middle Ages by one-fifth.Individual regions, such as Genoa, directly lost 60% of their population.

Historically, in Beijing in the last years of Chongzhen, a quarter of the people died due to the plague.The situation in Jiangnan was equally tragic. Wu Youke's "On Epidemic Epidemic" is the result of his experience in treating plague in Jiangnan.The worst of these was Tongxiang County, where the plague infection rate exceeded 90%.The population of nearby Huzhou Prefecture has dropped by 30%.

Fortunately, because Zhao Han occupied Jiangnan in time, there was no famine in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and there were no more corpses left unattended.

Jiangnan in this time and space has escaped!

More than 2000 Manchu and Qing cavalry robbed food all the way, detouring from Tai'an to Dongping.When crossing the river, they were intercepted by the local rebels. Because they had already taken off their armor, they did not dare to fight a large number of rebels, leaving hundreds of corpses and fleeing in a hurry.

Until they escaped from Shandong from Qiu County, there were only more than 2300 cavalrymen left, and the cloud of plague was still hanging over them.

So far, the entire territory of Shandong and Henan has been recovered.

The Daming Mansion and Guangping Mansion in Northern Zhili also changed their flags and became the territories under Zhao Han's jurisdiction.

There is no way to fight anymore, firstly, there is not enough food, secondly, the plague is prevalent, and thirdly... the flood broke out.

Kaifeng.

Zhao Han stood on the city tower, watching the flood in the north without saying a word.

Henan, which has been in drought for several years, finally stopped the severe drought this year, but it rained continuously in early summer.Huanglinggang in Guide Mansion (later subordinate to Cao County, Shandong Province) broke through again, and Cao County and Shan County were submerged into a swamp country.

The epidemic over there was already serious, and this flood almost drove the newly appointed county magistrate crazy.

Floods in the south and droughts in the north a few years ago have now turned into floods in the north and droughts in the south. Many areas in the south have experienced severe droughts and no rain this year.

"Your Majesty, it's time to eat." Li Xiangjun came to remind him.

Zhao Han didn't know that Li Xiangjun had become an official in the palace until before his personal conquest.This is a "number of people", Zhao Han didn't think much about it, and directly transferred Li Xiangjun to be a servant.

At this moment, the epidemic situation in Henan has also become serious, mainly due to the large population movement caused by the war.

Zhao Han has ordered that all people in Shandong and Henan must wear masks.

Those who do not have the ability to make masks can cover their mouth and nose with a piece of cloth, and they must be sterilized by boiling water every day.

Zhao Han and Li Xiangjun also wore cotton masks, and they tried not to come into close contact.

Zhao Han had to return to Nanjing quickly. If he died of the plague, he would really become a laughing stock in the world.

"How difficult it is to rejuvenate a country, what kind of country is this rejuvenating?" Zhao Han couldn't help sighing.

Li Xiangjun said: "The prosperity of the world is a state of great harmony."

Zhao Han smiled helplessly, and said to himself: "The Yellow River needs to be harnessed, but there is not enough food, and there is no way to mobilize manpower. The puppet Qing who fled back to Beizhili can't pursue it anymore. Everything is blocked by this flood." Living."

Li Xiangjun said flatteringly: "Your Majesty's government will definitely be cleared up in Haiyan and Heqing within ten years. The puppet Qing and remnant bandits will not have much time for grasshoppers after autumn."

"Haha," Zhao Han said with a smile, "you're really good at flattering horses."

Zhao Han was devastated by the plague and floods, and Dorgon was dumbfounded when he returned to Beijing.

The inner and outer cities of Beijing, whether Manchu or Han Chinese, began to be infected with the plague on a large scale.Many Manchu nobles clamored to leave Beijing, not only because of the crisis in Liaodong, but also because of the terrible plague in Beijing.

This plague in Beijing should have been faced by Chongzhen, and the time for the Manchus to enter the customs was too early!

And Hauge, who was fighting against Li Zicheng in Shaanxi, also had his cronies inform him of the news.Hauge left Li Zicheng alone and took the initiative to lead his troops back to Beijing. Li Zicheng took advantage of the situation and took the whole of Shaanxi, and went all the way to the border of Shanxi.

King Chuang is back!

Chapter 430 [Retreat to Liaodong]

On June 24th of the new calendar, the flood in Henan gradually subsided, and the Datong Emperor Zhao Han returned triumphantly.

To be precise, I only brought back the pro-army, and stopped at Dangshan by boat.Including Zhao Han himself, all camped and quarantined outside Dangshan City, and confirmed that no one was infected with the plague before continuing their journey.

As for the armies from all walks of life, they have their own arrangements.

The first division and the second division, the former was stationed in Dezhou, and the latter was stationed in Linqing. They were isolated and rested in Shandong, and at the same time, they were guarding against the Manchus going south.The food and salaries of the army were supplied north along the Grand Canal.

The third division was stationed in Guangping Mansion, the fourth division was stationed in Zhangde Mansion, and the fifth division was stationed in Huaiqing Mansion to guard against enemies in Shanxi and Northern Zhili.The food and salaries of the army go north along the Grand Canal, and then go to the Yellow River for transportation.

The Sixth Division was transferred to Yunyang, Hubei to guard against Li Zicheng in Shaanxi.

The Seventh Division is responsible for the suppression of bandits in Henan.

The Eighth Division stayed in Luoyang and was supplied with food from Hubei.

Huang Fei, Ma Jinzhong and others in Shandong made meritorious deeds and surrendered to generals, temporarily retaining 1500 young and strong soldiers each to assist Shandong local officials in suppressing bandits, and the remaining troops were all disbanded as civilians.

To tell the truth, tens of thousands of people piled up in the north, and the local area was temporarily unable to support itself in food, so all the military food had to be transported from the south.Manpower has to be mobilized along the way, and the peasants have to consume a lot of food, which is not much different from fighting alone - it happens to use work instead of food, so that a large number of hungry people can transport food.

It is easy to fight, but difficult to manage.

For civil and military officials in Shandong and Henan provinces, Zhao Han set goals for them: in the first year, eliminate bandits, control the epidemic, and divide households and land; in the second year, accept immigrants, and the local people will be self-sufficient in food; , can provide part of the food and grass for the garrison.

Zhao Han plans to use ten years to restore Shandong and Henan to normal.

This speed is astonishingly fast. Historically, Sichuan was killed and the tigers who liked to live alone actually appeared in groups. The Qing Dynasty has been immigrating to Sichuan for hundreds of years.

The immigration work of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was purely blind. Many early immigrants died.Either be eaten by wild beasts, or freeze to death and starve to death, it depends on God's will whether he can survive.

……

Taiyuan Shanxi.