Section 6 Prisoners of War
Regarding the procedure for exchanging prisoners, Lang Tingzuo and Liang Huafeng had differences. Lang Tingzuo hoped to complete it secretly, while Liang Huafeng advocated conducting it publicly.
In the script that Lang Tingzuo and Deng Ming discussed, the Governor of Liangjiang was definitely not exchanged back - this made Lang Tingzuo feel too humiliated, but was "robbed" by Liang Huafeng from the Ming military camp. Therefore, Lang Tingzuo hoped that all transactions would not be known, so as not to cause his future magical escape to be thought of as "transaction". Liang Huafeng benefited from this script, so he also supported secret transactions at the beginning, but soon Liang Huafeng discovered that this was impossible. He had no way to release a large number of Fujian army prisoners from the city without knowing it.
Liang Huafeng absorbed Guan Yi's experience and lessons and flattered the Manchu soldiers. Not only did he never let the Manchu soldiers take the lead, but he also warned his subordinates to give the best mount to the Manchu soldiers. After hearing that Deng Ming had dozens of Manchu soldiers in his hands, Liang Huafeng had been thinking about how to exchange them back well and gain greater favor from the children of the Eight Banners of the Manchus - if the exchange was carried out secretly, how could Liang Huafeng take the opportunity to brag about his achievements? Moreover, after these Manchus came back alive, it was impossible for them to keep the secret.
According to the original script, Liang Huafeng won a reputation of heroism. Compared with showing loyalty to the Manchu soldiers, Liang Huafeng felt that the latter was more valuable. Therefore, Liang Huafeng not only publicly announced that he would conduct a prisoner exchange, but also caused storms throughout the city, which made everyone in Nanjing known.
There are only more than 2,000 Manchurian families in the city of Nanjing. After the Battle of Zhenjiang, the Eight Banners of Nanjing lost thousands of bannermen. Many families died in this way, and many other families only had one male family. The circle of Nanjing City is not big. Banners are usually not looking up and not looking down. Although there are not many Manchurians caught by Deng Ming, all the Manchurians in the city know them. If they cannot come back, dozens of other families will die.
It is precisely because of this that when Liang Huafeng started to exchange prisoners, a large number of Manchus came to visit. This situation was not unusual at all in the late Qing Dynasty, but in the early Qing Dynasty, Liang Huafeng suddenly felt ashamed of face as a mountain. The first ones came to visit were wives who were concerned about her husband or the old mother who came for her last son. However, soon a male bannerman could not bear the favor and also came to Liang Huafeng camp to ask for an exchange place for his seventh aunt and eighth aunt's younger son.
Of course, Liang Huafeng was so happy that he could not help but be happy. Not long ago, when he personally led his best mount to the Manchu soldiers, the other party would not thank him, but took the reins with a proper expression and rolled his nostrils to the sky and the earth. However, there was joy and sorrow. More than 50 Manchus captured by Deng Ming had relatives and friends to ask for quotas. Liang Huafeng could not afford to offend him. He wrote a short list of ten people and tores and wrote them again. After two days of hard work, he still couldn't confirm.
Liang Huafeng did not dare to designate the list of personnel himself, but he could not find a suitable person to help him out. Originally, Jiangning governors were loyal to the Eight Banners Governors, but now this person is a rat crossing the street in Nanjing. Everyone wants to bite him two pieces of meat. Liang Huafeng would never give him this opportunity to win favors. Another suitable candidate is Lang Tingzuo, the governor of Liangjiang. He is also a Han army bannerman and has a high status. However, Lang Tingzuo is currently living in the Ming army camp and communicating hard, and the governor of Liangjiang is not willing to wade into muddy waters when his identity is subtle, so he flatly rejected Liang Huafeng's request and only wrote the seven big words "Admiral Liang acts cheaply" as a reply.
Liang Huafeng hesitated for a day. Deng Ming outside the city was so unbearable that he sent an envoy to ask what he intended.
Liang Huafeng helplessly told the messenger that he had respectfully asked the city to give him the first batch of exchange personnel, and five people have been identified. Because the city has no leader and it is related to the lives of relatives, there are endless quarrels in the city, and optimistically, it is estimated that it will take another day to see the difference.
After listening to the messenger's return, Deng Ming immediately ordered all fifty Manchu prisoners to be pulled out, five people gathered lots in groups, and ten minutes later prepared a list of exchange personnel to send them to Nanjing, telling the city that there is no need to discuss it again, and the list will be the basis for exchange of prisoners tomorrow morning.
After confirming the timetable, Deng Ming notified Lang Tingzuo about the matter and invited the other party to visit the Ming army tomorrow to supervise the exchange of prisoners, so as to prove to Lang Tingzuo that he would do his best.
Lang Tingzuo happily accepted Deng Ming's invitation and asked Deng Ming to provide various cosmetics. Finally, he specifically instructed: "I must be rescued by Liang Huafeng."
"As long as the Fujian officers and soldiers come back safely, Governor Lang's wish will definitely come true." Deng Ming assured him again.
The next day, Deng Ming first released 200 Green Camp soldiers. He did not intend to kill these soldiers. Releasing them in exchange could save 200 taels of silver, but these soldiers were not allowed to enter the city by Nanjing because the Qing army was worried that there would be people from the Ming army to get mixed up. At this time, Liang Huafeng had already taken more than 100 thin Fujian soldiers out of the city gate, unbuttoned the ropes on their bodies, and asked them to return to the Ming army camp by themselves.
Today, hundreds of flag soldiers stood densely on the city tower nearest to the exchange of prisoners, all of whom were watching the movements of the Ming army, fearing that Deng Ming would break his promise and repent. However, Deng Ming had no intention of breaking the contract. When he saw the Qing soldiers in the distance began to untie the ropes for the Ming army, he ordered the ten flag men to be released.
When these ten bannermen walked back to the gate of Nanjing silently, the tribesmen on the city looked at them with complex mood: they were the first batch of bannermen who were released alive since the battle between the Later Jin and the Ming Dynasty. In the past, no matter any Ming army, they would behead without hesitation as long as they were caught. Just as they knew that there was no way to surrender, the Manchurian bannermen would resist to the death on the battlefield. The captured bannermen were either suddenly or captured for all their might, and none of them surrendered voluntarily. But Deng Ming did not abuse them, but gave them the same food as other prisoners.
Liang Huafeng, who had been waiting in front of the city gate early in the morning, came up with a smile on his face and asked these prisoners about his well-being. Unfortunately, Deng Ming was no longer close to him and had no chance to witness Liang Huafeng's attentiveness, otherwise he would definitely think that the other party was a good material for playing the puppet army in anti-Japanese movies. If Liang Huafeng knew how to shout "Taijun", it would be even more perfect.
The released Fujian prisoners of war trembled and rushed to the Ming army's position. They didn't know what kind of treatment they would be treated. Deng Ming saw many Fujian soldiers looking at him, and his eyes were filled with anxiety and fear.
"The heroes have suffered," Deng Ming strode forward and bowed to them with his fists: "I am the admiral of the Jiangnan region, Deng Ming."
Almost everyone in Nanjing City will talk about Deng Ming outside the city these days. Even if these Fujian soldiers didn't know about it before, they now know Deng Ming's identity. After seeing Deng Ming salute them, the Fujian army, who were originally ordinary soldiers, kowtowed one after another. Several shouted in a remorseful tone: "A villain is greedy for life and fears death, and he deserves to die."
"Where are the heroes saying this?" Although some people had very strange accents, Deng Ming still understood the words of one or two people. He hurriedly helped a soldier who was lying in front of him and cried.
Immediately, a large number of Ming army auxiliary soldiers rushed out from behind Deng Ming, helping all the tortured Ming army prisoners. They also brought stretchers to let the Fujian soldiers who were obviously exhausted lie on them, and then carried them back to the camp.
Most of the auxiliary soldiers of the Ming army were nearby men who recently joined the army. Since the Ming army camped under the city of Nanjing, not only did a large number of people around us come to join the army, but Anqing reported that many strong men recommended themselves to join the army and wanted to join the Ming army to eat food. Deng Ming asked Li Laiheng to conduct a serious screening and try to pick the bachelors to stay. In addition, some of them were destroyed by the Qing army. These soldiers were not so nostalgic about their hometowns, and they could take them away even if the Ming army retreated to Huguang.
Deng Ming had already ordered the entire army to welcome these prisoners with the greatest enthusiasm. When the auxiliary soldiers brought these released prisoners back to the camp to change clothes and eat, the Ming army on both sides cheered them one after another. This was completely different from the previous practice. Generally, the captured soldiers were despised and thought they were corrupt and cowards who lived a life of silence. However, Deng Ming thought this was not a good habit. Before exchanging the prisoners, he explained to Li Laiheng and Zhang Huangyan: "Victory and defeat are common in military affairs, and when the situation is critical
At that time, should we encourage soldiers to escape or to resist firmly? Obviously, we cannot encourage them to escape, otherwise we can miss a lot of opportunities to turn defeat into victory. If soldiers resist firmly, the possibility of them being captured will be much greater. I think we should make soldiers not ashamed of being captured, but ashamed of escaping at the last minute; and we should also let the soldiers understand that we will do our best to save those comrades who fell into the enemy and try every means to make them return safely."
Deng Ming's grand gift obviously made the soldiers of Yanping's vassal very uncomfortable. They all felt guilty and tried their best to stop the respect from the people around them. However, their attempts failed. When the soldiers entered the barracks and lay down to rest, the doctor who had been waiting for a long time began to check their injuries. Deng Ming also brought the guards to express his condolences again.
After the condolences, Deng Ming gave a brief speech to the Ming soldiers outside the camp: "I have always believed that when facing a strong enemy, the most important thing is the weapons in my hands, because this can win for us; but when failure is inevitable, the most important thing is the lives of the kings. Now that the Tartars have occupied most of China, the vast majority of people have been forced to surrender, and only a few passionate men are still fighting endlessly. You are one of the few heroes. People cannot be resurrected. If, I mean, if you encounter failure, I hope you will fight bravely in the end, and your struggle may allow more comrades to escape danger. Then, you should do your best to save your life, and not abandon it rashly, and not be ashamed of survival, because you have fought hard and should live with confidence. As long as you are still alive, we will have a chance to meet again."
After saying that, Deng Ming disappeared from everyone. The soldiers saluted Deng Ming's back. The veterans felt that this seemed to be a completely different commander, while the new recruits were talking. Today's scene and Deng Ming's speech just now were a huge subversion for them. Even Lang Tingzuo, who came to watch with makeup, felt that what happened was quite incredible. After he learned about Deng Ming's speech from the Ming army, Lang Tingzuo couldn't help but ask in his heart: "Will I be welcomed such a warm welcome when I return to Nanjing?"
The act of exchanging prisoners also gave the Qing army in Nanjing a new idea. In the past, they believed that the Ming army might launch an attack at any time, but since Deng Ming was willing to exchange prisoners, it means that his strength was limited and it was unlikely that he would capture Nanjing. Otherwise, why would Deng Ming do this forever?
Not only did the Qing army have such an idea, but Emperor Shunzhi, who was far away in Beijing, also felt that he was increasingly unable to understand the situation in the southeast. Not long ago, when Zheng Chenggong invaded the Yangtze River, Nanjing sent several quick letters to Beijing a day, repeatedly begging the Qing court to launch reinforcements quickly, and repeatedly claimed that the Nanjing Dynasty was in danger. However, after Deng Ming came to Nanjing more than ten days ago, although he had received several urgent letters at the beginning, whether it was Guan Yiquan or Jiang Guozhu, he said that the court did not have to rush to send reinforcements, nor did it require urging Commander Dasu's first batch of reinforcements to travel day and night.
Then Dasu also sent a memorial back, saying that he had received news from Nanjing that the Qing army of the Yangtze River was destroyed and that he could not guarantee that he would cross the Yangtze River safely, so that he would not go south at full speed but instead tried to collect ships by himself. Although what Nanjing said seemed to make sense, it was obvious that they did not expect reinforcements to arrive early, which made Shunzhi puzzled.
As time goes by, the situation in the southeast became worse day by day. Three days ago, Beijing received the latest report that Ma Fengzhi fled back to the army and incited his subordinates to rebel. Now Wusong Prefecture has fallen into Ma Fengzhi's hands, as if he has signs of advancing to Changzhou Prefecture. Although Deng Ming's military strength is not as strong as Zheng Chenggong, the Qing army in the southeast is far weaker than before. Shunzhi's view of the situation is even more critical than before Zheng Chenggong retreated. However, the judgment of Nanjing City seems to be completely different from Shunzhi. Guan Qizhong and Jiang Guozhu are still singing high-profile, saying that they have absolute confidence to keep Nanjing. After seeing the memorial, Shunzhi was anxious and angry, and slapped and shouted: "Where did they get the confidence?"
The day before yesterday, Liang Huafeng's memorial also arrived in front of the imperial court, claiming that he had led elite soldiers into Nanjing defense. He also joined the chorus of Jiang Guozhu and Guan Xiaozhong, claiming that Nanjing is as solid as a rock, Deng Ming, the clown who jumped the beam, would definitely not do anything to them. He also claimed that Dasu's reinforcements did not need to hurry and could go slowly. If he really had to cross the Yangtze River, he might as well go to reinforce Changzhou first and suppress Ma Fengzhi's rebellion - Liang Huafeng also claimed that he had absolute confidence to defend Nanjing.
After seeing this memorial, Shunzhi was completely confused. He calculated the troops over and over again, and could not understand anything: the situation was so dangerous, why were the people in Nanjing more confident?
On this issue, Oboi was also unable to help. He sent reinforcements, who were going to help the Nanjing defenders instead of causing trouble. Why did they all push out desperately? Shunzhi had issued an order saying that as long as Nanjing was preserved, he would not blame Guan Yizhong and Jiang Guozhu for the past. Oboi felt that they should be able to understand the importance and should also be clear that the court would definitely not let Dasu cause trouble for them before the Ming army retreated... But forget it, Oboi could think that these two people suddenly became idiots and were scared out, so he was unwilling to Dasu to go to Nanjing; but Liang Huafeng, he should have nothing to worry about, why did he have such "confidence"? Is the situation in Nanjing really great?
Today, Guan Qizhong sent another memorial, saying that he planned to play Deng Ming like he was playing Zheng Chenggong, and then play another fraudulent surrender. At the end of the memorial, Guan Qizhong continued to show confidence, saying that everything is fine in Nanjing and the court does not have to worry. Shunzhi became popular: Don’t you have confidence? Why do you have confidence to surrender? Isn’t it to delay time? But you said you don’t want reinforcements to hurry up, so what’s the use of delaying time?
At the same time, Liang Huafeng's memorial was also sent. He first boasted about Nanjing's strong defense, and then began to sing praises for Guan Feizhen's plan to surrender. He also said that he had made a plan to exchange prisoners with Deng Ming and use this to paralyze Deng Ming.
"Are they all crazy?" Shunzhi threw the memorial to Oboi: "Liang Huafeng said that the prisoners of Fujian Army and silver could be exchanged for the captured people, saying that Deng Ming did not kill the bannermen - would he not kill? Even if he did not kill, could the replacement of prisoners make the other party believe that Jiang Ning wanted to surrender?"
"Do they want to pay for the city redemption fee? They are making excuses at this time." Sony guessed: "If they can use money to buy the thief, delaying time is also a good way."
"But if the thieves can conquer Nanjing, they will not have to redeem the city expenses. Isn't it theirs to conquer Jiangning? If the thieves can't defeat Jiangning, why should they redeem the city expenses?" Oboi looked puzzled and scratched his light head with his hands a few times, but he could not scratch his thoughts and inspiration: "And if it was to delay time, why didn't they urge reinforcements?"
While in Beijing, Liang Huafeng was actively preparing for the second prisoner exchange. After the first exchange was successful, many Nanjing officials also got involved. They also had relatives or confidants captured, hoping to come back together. Although there were not many ten people released, after seeing them safely entering the city, the remaining forty prisoners also had hope and worked hard in the city to promote the next prisoner exchange operation.
But now there are not many prisoners of the Fujian army in Nanjing. Most of the ordinary soldiers of the Yanping vassal were beheaded by the Qing army. In addition to the particularly lucky ones, dozens of Fujian officers were left. Because the Qing army felt that it might have obtained some information from Zheng Chenggong from them, they did not execute them, and were imprisoned with Gan Hui, Yu Xin and others.
"Deng Ming said that these people can be replaced by twenty bannermen, plus one hundred green camp officers and soldiers designated by us." Liang Huafeng came to the door with a group of bannermen today, slapped the table and shouted to Jiang Guozhu: "Does the governor agree?"
"These are all leaders of the Haigang Rebels, and maybe they can dig out some things." Jiang Guozhu felt that this transaction was not cost-effective, and the officers were not worth much different from soldiers.
But the bannermen do not do it. For them, these people, both officers and soldiers are Fujian men far away thousands of miles away. If they cannot save the bannermen outside the city, several families will be defeated. The crying families make the bannermen in the whole city feel sad: "This is all captured by Admiral Liang, and Admiral Liang agrees to release them. Admiral Liang has already said that the court blamed him alone, so why did Governor Jiang have to interfere?"
After finally sending Liang Huafeng away, Jiang Guozhu complained to Guan Xiaozhong after hearing the news: "Liang Huafeng has already gained the upper hand. He just shouted that he would release Yu Xin and the others together, and the Manchu soldiers also applauded. He said that if Deng Ming disagreed, he could add more money to redeem people. It would be impossible to give him ten thousand taels per person. Don't he know that if he gave the money to the thief, the thief would use silver to recruit soldiers and horses to create greater trouble for the court?"
Guan Qizhong was silent for a long time and said slowly: "In order to deal with us, Lang Tingzuo and Liang Huafeng are already desperate, but if they let them continue to treason in this way, sooner or later Deng Ming will completely ignore us and fall on us with them all the charges."
...
Eating the rice sent from Nanjing, Zhang Huangyan suddenly said to Mu Tan, who was headed by Deng, "Is this what you taught the admiral?"
Mu Tan waved his hand quickly and said, "What does this have to do with humble duties?"
"This is obviously Yanping's trick." Zhang Huangyan snorted. He was not very used to Deng Ming's extortion of Nanjing. He felt that it was absent from the court and acted similarly to kidnappers. However, he also knew that it was difficult to capture Nanjing and there was no better way to rescue the prisoners of the Fujian army, so he had to let it go.
"Has the Prince of Yanping done this too?" Deng Ming asked curiously after hearing this.
"Yes." Zhang Huangyan said that after Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, although Zheng Chenggong refused to surrender, the army was filled with people, and many people were flirting with the Qing Dynasty. Many generals led their subordinates and supplies to surrender to the Qing court. That was the most dangerous period for Zheng Chenggong.
In order to gain time to rectify the army, Zheng Chenggong actively negotiated with the Qing Dynasty. During the negotiations, he gave the Qing Dynasty responsibility for the military pay of the Zheng army on the pretext of surrender and took the opportunity to lead the army to collect food and grass in the Qing army controlled area and recruit soldiers. As soon as the Qing court agreed to the conditions for recruitment proposed by Zheng Chenggong, he immediately turned against him and fought with the Qing army again. After winning, Zheng Chenggong would immediately re-establish the conditions for negotiation and hold a new round of recruitment talks with the Qing court, and at the same time entered the Qing government territory again to recruit soldiers and collect grain. Once the local officials of the Qing court made the Qing court miserable, and wrote letters to ask the Qing court to immediately meet Zheng Chenggong's requirements and recruit Zheng Chenggong as soon as possible to reduce the burden on the local area.
With repeated reunion negotiations, Zheng Chenggong survived the most dangerous period and rebuilt the army that was about to disintegrate due to his father's surrender.
"So Prince Yanping still has such a past event." Deng Ming laughed after hearing this.
"Finally, it will lose the court's integrity." Zhang Huangyan shook his head and sighed.
While everyone was laughing, a messenger entered the camp and whispered a few words in Deng Ming's ear.
After confirming the news, Deng Ming called Zhang Huangyan and Li Laiheng a small camp without a man and said to the two: "A messenger from Yanping's vassal just came to the camp. He brought a message from the Prince of Yanping - the Prince of Yanping himself is rushing to Nanjing."
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Chapter completed!