The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 191: The Day of Leaving the Temple

Qianlong, Zhao Hongli was not able to walk very well due to his old age.

Zhu Jianxuan was worried that he would die on the road, so he prepared a three-wheeled bicycle and let him sit inside to rest.

Four eunuchs from the Qing Dynasty's Ministry of Internal Affairs were arranged to guard him.

One led the way in front, one was responsible for pedaling the tricycle, and two were responsible for looking after Zhao Hongli from behind.

When they reached the threshold, four people carried the tricycle over together.

Zhao Hongli sat cross-legged in the carriage, looking at the surrounding streets with a confused and melancholy expression.

All the shops and homes in Shuntian Prefecture had their doors closed at this time.

This is the instinctive choice of the people in the occupied cities, as they are worried that the occupying forces will just break in and rob them.

This made it easier to manage the Northern Expedition Army.

The Northern Expedition soldiers entered the city in batches, divided into teams of different sizes, and patrolled at different time points.

The residents of the city were driven out in batches.

The first batch was the Five Guards of Jianzhou, which were the families of the former core high-ranking officials of the Qing Dynasty, and they had basically no interference with ordinary people.

Therefore, the Northern Expedition Army would prohibit ordinary people from going out at this time.

Zhao Hongli sat in the carriage and swayed back to the Forbidden City.

Four eunuchs carried the tricycle, crossed the threshold of the Forbidden City, and first arrived at the gate of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Zhao Hongli followed the instructions of the Northern Expedition officer escorting him and ordered all the guards to lay down their weapons and surrender, and accept the control of the Northern Expedition Army of the Ming Dynasty.

All the eunuchs returned to the harem and notified all the harem staff to prepare to leave the palace and take their bedding and clothes with them.

Then he asked the eunuch to ride a tricycle to carry Zhao Hongli all the way to the gate of the Qianqing Palace.

Zhao Hongli was placed in the square in front of the Qianqing Palace and waited.

The Northern Expedition soldiers each brought a eunuch and entered the various courtyards and rooms of the Forbidden City.

The eunuch shouted Zhao Hongli's order, and the Northern Expedition soldiers started to drive everyone out.

The eunuchs and maids in the palace were fine. When they knew that the Ming Dynasty had fought back and asked them to pack up and leave, they quickly packed up and left.

But Zhao Hongli's concubines, female relatives and children were in trouble.

Although they knew the reality and that the Qing Dynasty was finished, they didn't know what to do.

They are usually served in every move they do, and have a lot of things around them. They don't understand what it means to pack up their own things and go out, and don't know what that means.

If no one forces them to leave, they might just stay in their rooms in a daze, unable to take away the mess even if they try to put it together.

The military discipline of the Northern Expedition Army could be considered top-notch in that era, but they did not have much respect for the wives of the Qing invaders.

They were told to bring their own clothes and bedding, and if they didn't move after being told several times, they were kicked out.

Because Zhu Jianxuan ordered that they were not allowed to carry any gold, silver or other valuables, many Northern Expedition soldiers directly pulled off the jewelry of these women.

If they brought too many things with them, they would be snatched away by the Northern Expedition soldiers.

Some Northern Expedition soldiers simply threw these things on the table in the room, while others hesitated and secretly hid some of them.

However, no one acted alone, there were at least two people in a group, driving people into a room, so there were not many opportunities for them to hide privately.

In the eyes of these women, they were being robbed by the soldiers, but they did not dare to resist and could only cry intermittently.

They were driven to the Qianqing Palace Square, and when they saw Zhao Hongli squatting in a three-wheeled carriage, they could no longer control their emotions and burst into tears.

"Long live Lord——"

"What should we do?"

"Where are we going, my Lord?"

Zhao Hongli looked at these people and felt even more complicated. He inexplicably thought of an ancient poem.

In the past forty years, our country and our country have spread over three thousand miles of mountains and rivers. The phoenix pavilion and the dragon tower are connected to the sky, and the jade trees and their branches are used as smoke and radish. How many times have you ever seen war?

Once you become a captive, you will sink your waist and wear your temples to spend time. On the most hasty day of farewell to the temple, the temple still played a farewell song and cried to the palace maid.

This is probably the most sophisticated and most appropriate poem among all the poems that describe the mood of a king who has lost his country.

Because it was really written by Li Yu, the king who lost his country, and there are not many kings who lost their country with such level of ability.

At least Zhao Hongli himself does not have this ability.

Zhao Hongli stayed in the Forbidden City for half a morning. The soldiers of the Northern Expedition checked all the palaces and rooms and drove out a total of nearly 10,000 people one after another.

Zhao Hongli looked at the Northern Expedition soldiers around him. Although he didn't know whether they had anything hidden on them, at least they looked neat and tidy.

Each of them was extremely serious and looked very confident. None of them grabbed a bunch of things and hung them on their bodies, nor did they touch any of the women in the palace.

Zhao Hongli asked himself, if the soldiers of his Qing Dynasty were to do the same thing in the palace of another country, they would definitely not be able to do this. However, throughout the dynasties, soldiers who could do this were probably rare.

The Qing Dynasty’s defeat was not unfair.

But I lost unjustly, I definitely shouldn't be the king who lost my country.

The King Wu of the Ming Dynasty truly possesses the ability of an emperor. No matter which wise and virtuous monarch is in his place, he cannot defeat him.

Zhao Hongli, feeling extremely melancholy, continued to sit on his tricycle and left the Forbidden City with the palace people under the escort of the Northern Expedition Army.

At the same time as people in the palace left the city, groups of people were also driven out of the Western Garden and other royal gardens in the imperial city, and the princes' palaces and residences of high officials outside the imperial city.

Even if people knew each other, when they saw each other appear in their sight, they didn't dare to greet or speak to each other, and could only look at each other and sob in silence.

The people and families of the Five Guards of Jianzhou were gradually cleared out of their homes and driven out of the city.

They were sent to the military camp in Nanhaizi for a new round of inventory and reorganization.

Since they were all families with the highest status in the Qing Dynasty, the male owners basically had many wives and concubines and servants everywhere.

So there are less than 20,000 households in total, but the total population is over 200,000.

This is also the result of the existence of a large number of eunuchs without families, which lowers the average household population.

But they were immediately distinguished.

Because the masters of their families would be assigned to the Five Guards of Jianzhou, the servants would be assigned to the system of the Five Guards of Manzhou.

At the same time, all unmarried young women, regardless of whether they were masters or servants, were to be separated and sent to be wives for single immigrants in Australia.

When this large group of people gathered at the Nanhaizi camp, it was already afternoon, and it was evening when they were divided and counted.

The Northern Expedition Army did not starve them on purpose, but each of them only had a bowl of thin porridge, so there was no way they could have any strength.

The key point is that many people were not assigned to live in military barracks, and many people did not even have tents, and were directly thrown into the open space of Nanhai Zi.

Many of them were rich young men and elderly people who were spoiled with fine clothes and delicious food. Many of them caught a cold that night.

Coupled with the huge change in their status, the entire camp was filled with the sound of crying.

Occasionally, one could hear people howling and cursing, or someone trying to escape or attack the Northern Expedition Army, but immediately the unique gunshots of the Northern Expedition Army would be heard.

Anyone who was uneasy or had any other intentions would be killed immediately.

Then they were dragged out and buried in a large pit that had been dug in advance.

After all, Zhao Hongli had a special status, so he and his wife, concubines and children were assigned a room in an old military camp.

The problem is that when his wives, concubines and children left the Forbidden City, most of them didn't remember to take bedding with them.

It is autumn now. Although it is still relatively hot during the day in Shuntian Prefecture, it has obviously started to get cooler at night.

An officer prepared a set of bedding for Zhao Hongli, and Zhao Hongli was able to use a quilt by himself.

But his twenty or so family members huddled together under three quilts, shivering.

"It's only autumn now. What will we do in winter if we don't have a quilt..."

I don't know who muttered something, and the others were thinking about their past lives, present lives, and future lives, and a group of people also started crying.

"Ah... why didn't I think of bringing a blanket..."

"Originally, there should have been servants serving us, but they were all dismissed by the Southern Ming people."

"Your Majesty...what should we do in the future..."

Zhao Hongli wanted to curse them, but he didn't have the strength to open his mouth.

The next morning, everyone who was drowsy was awakened, drank another bowl of porridge, and then were driven on the road.

There were still cries everywhere in the team, with some people even crying out for their parents and children.

It seemed that someone had died in just one night.

I don’t know whether they died directly from the cold, or were beaten to death by the Northern Expedition Army’s night guard soldiers, or whether they could not accept such a gap in status and died of anger.

Zhao Hongli was still relatively lucky. The officer in charge of him allowed the four eunuchs to continue carrying him to Liaodong on a tricycle.

Zhao Hongli, however, was not in a happy mood at all, and the thought of just dying kept popping up in his mind.

But he was also worried that if he died abnormally, the King of Wu would retaliate by clearing out his family and children.

With this uncertainty, Zhao Hongli could only continue to try hard to stay alive.

But thinking about the distant Liaodong, if his group of people walked directly to Liaodong, he didn't know how many people would die along the way.

Zhao Hongli also felt that the King of Wu might have done this on purpose, wanting to make the frail elderly and people in poor health disappear on this long journey.

The remaining people who were in better health and those who could be considered young and strong could continue to work for him after arriving in Liaodong.

(End of this chapter)