GBP Chapter 701 Immigration "Green Channel"
Chapter 701 Immigration "Green Channel"
The wheels of history rolled into the ninth year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign (1636), demonstrating their powerful inertia. Even with Liu Ye's butterfly effect, what was destined to happen eventually did, and major historical events occurred one after another.
In May of that year, Huang Taiji proclaimed himself emperor in Shengjing (present-day Shenyang), establishing the Qing Dynasty, changing the era name to Chongde, and renaming the Jurchen people as Manchu. He also forced Joseon (Korea) to submit to the Qing Dynasty. Joseon's relationship with the Qing Dynasty changed from that of brothers to that of vassal states. At the end of the same year, Ajige, who had suffered a defeat in the interior, redeemed himself by leading troops by land and sea to attack Kepi Island, killing Ming general Shen Shikui and others, thus completely eliminating any worries the Qing Dynasty might have about advancing into the interior.
After escaping Liu Ye's remonstrance under Emperor Chongzhen's protection, Yang Sichang successfully succeeded Zhang Fengyi, who died suddenly from consuming rhubarb, as Minister of War. He vigorously promoted his "four cardinal and six intermediate, ten-sided net" strategy. To implement his political views, he suggested that Emperor Chongzhen increase the military training tax by 7.3 million taels and the suppression tax by 2.8 million taels. He also replaced Wang Jiazhen, the governor of five provinces, whom he considered mediocre, incompetent, and unfit for important positions, and recommended Xiong Wencan, the governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi, to succeed him, so that they could jointly shoulder the heavy responsibility of suppressing the bandits with Hong Chengchou, the governor-general of five provinces.
The strategy of focusing efforts on dealing with the bandits quickly proved effective. Zhang Xianzhong suffered a defeat at the hands of Zuo Liangyu and retreated to Gucheng (now in Hubei). The following year, under the powerful offensive of the government army, in order to preserve their strength, Zhang Xianzhong in Gucheng and Luo Rucai in Yunyang respectively accepted the "pacification" offers from Xiong Wencan, the Minister of War. Of course, both of them feigned surrender, refusing to accept reorganization or reassignment. Two years later, they rebelled after their initial surrender—but that's another story.
The only one affected by the butterfly effect was Li Zicheng. In the original history, his life was no better than Zhang Xianzhong's. He was ambushed and defeated by Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting at Tongguan South Plain, and with 17 survivors including Liu Zongmin, he hid in the Shangluo Mountains in southeastern Shaanxi, beginning a three-year period of hiding. However, after accepting supplies and cannons from the Qionghai Army, and on the "enthusiastic" advice of Liu Heizi, Li Zicheng bypassed Tongguan via Shangluo, escaping the encirclement of government troops and changing his fate. After entering Henan, he took in starving people and opened granaries to relieve them. "Starving people from far and near came with hoes, and those who responded were like flowing water, day and night. With one call, a million people joined him, and his momentum was like a wildfire that could not be extinguished." His army swelled to nearly 100,000.
To demonstrate his sincerity in forming an alliance and to express his gratitude for the supplies and armaments provided by the Qionghai Navy, Li Zicheng adopted Liu Heizi's suggestion to send some refugees to Shandong. He already had countless refugees under his control in Shaanxi and Henan; he couldn't feed them all, let alone arm them with enough weapons. Shedding some of these cannon fodder would secure a steady stream of support from the Qionghai Navy—a win-win situation. Aside from other supplies, he couldn't manufacture the artillery shells used in battles against government troops, nor could he produce the frequently exploding cannon barrels. He had to rely on the Qionghai Navy to replenish his supplies. Trading lives for cannons—it seemed like a worthwhile trade.
For the Qionghai Army, this deal was even more profitable. Exchanging relatively inexpensive iron cannons and solid shot for a continuous flow of people was an incredibly lucrative proposition. Although Li Zicheng employed some tricks, selecting only the strongest men and sending many elderly, weak, women, and children to Shandong, and even the able-bodied were often thin and frail, suffering from varying degrees of malnutrition and other diseases, this didn't matter to Qionghai. The weak could recover gradually; there was plenty of food. Older refugees couldn't serve in the army, but they could cultivate the land. Women could work, and the gender imbalance could be addressed by providing marriage opportunities for the soldiers and the army. Young men, depending on their age, could first serve as soldiers or be sent to the Hundred Herbs Academy to be trained as technicians.
To ensure the smooth migration of refugees, Su Hongtu, following instructions from Lingao, established a "green channel" along the border of Shandong and Henan, heavily guarded by troops. Li Zicheng's men transported the refugees via Luohe to Guide Prefecture (present-day Shangqiu City), located at the border of the two provinces. Soldiers from the Independent Regiment, waiting nearby, escorted the refugees along the route through Teng County (present-day Zaozhuang) and Lanshan County (present-day Linyi), before they sailed out to sea from Rizhao Port. This route was the shortest to the sea, saving the trouble of a long journey to Dengzhou. Shandong was now essentially under the control of the Qionghai Navy. Organized armed forces had been reorganized or incorporated into Su Hongtu's forces, indirectly or directly controlled by him. Neither the government nor the soldiers dared to interfere with the Qionghai Navy's affairs, allowing for unimpeded passage. The only concern came from Henan.
Fearing something might go wrong and affect Liu Ye's immigration plan, Su Hongtu personally led troops to be stationed near Guide Prefecture for every batch of tens of thousands of people, monitoring the entire handover process to ensure that the refugees safely reached the hands of the Qionghai Army.
One afternoon in March of the tenth year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, the fifth batch of refugees was escorted to Guide Prefecture. According to prior information from Liu Heizi and others, this batch numbered nearly 20,000. Su Hongtu dared not be careless and led two battalions of the Independent Regiment to the border early to wait.
After noon, large numbers of staggering figures appeared on the horizon, alongside the cavalry of the rebel army moving back and forth. Henan was still very cold at this time; in the biting wind, the refugees, ragged and barely clothed, shivered and struggled forward. Regardless of age or gender, they were all linked together by long ropes, like exiled prisoners.
The rebel soldiers showed no mercy to these abandoned "cannon fodder," whipping them relentlessly while shouting curses: "You motherfuckers, hurry up and get out of here! It's so cold, I'd rather stay inside and have a drink, instead of suffering like this with you idiots..."
The refugees, being whipped, tried to quicken their pace to avoid being beaten less, but some of the older people became unsteady on their feet, stumbled and fell to the ground, and then the ropes that were tied together pulled down others, and dozens of people fell to the ground one after another like dominoes.
The rebel soldier flew into a rage, drew his knife, and slashed at the fallen man, cursing, "You coward, so useless! You've wasted my time. I'm in a hurry to get back and drink with my brothers!"
The refugees who were slashed by the knife screamed in agony. Those around them were terrified and tried to escape, but they were tied together with ropes and could only watch helplessly.
Su Hongtu frowned and said to his subordinates, "Go and try to persuade them. Why kill someone over such a trivial matter? What will we do to explain to the general if we kill them all?"
The rebel soldier who was stopped glanced at the Qionghai naval soldiers who came to dissuade him and asked provocatively, "What? The people haven't been handed over yet, and these idiots are still under our control. Aren't you overstepping your bounds?"