Ancestors, please don't crawl out again.

Chapter 193 Mortals Must Die

The Southern Xinjiang Allied Army, which fled in panic to the Iron Gate Pass, could not stop the pursuing troops with overwhelming momentum. Xiao Tseringdundobu, whose pastoral area was located in Karashar, led the Dzungar vanguard to break through the Iron Gate Pass in one battle, and led the more than 100,000 Qing-Dzungar Allied Army into Southern Xinjiang, beginning their bloody sweep.

Of course, this sweep was a long process.

After all, what Yinzhi wants now is not the submission of the cities in the southern border regions.

Whether it was the Eight Banners who followed him or the newly joined Dzungar Khanate, what they all wanted was fertile land, slaves, and wealth in the cities of southern Xinjiang...

What they want is to expand their territory rapidly.

What we want is to shave our heads and change our clothes; what we want is for the Buddha's light to shine upon us.

The Buddha, still standing tall in the Tianshan Mountains, is gazing down upon them from behind.

Those colossal statues, over three hundred meters tall and as majestic as mountains, demanded that they continue forward, relentlessly moving forward.

What Yinzhi wanted was to fulfill his promise to the Eight Banners' loyal farmers, to establish a new kingdom here where the Eight Banners' loyal farmers were the masters, and the captured slaves would cultivate one banner estate after another for them, using their blood and sweat to support them for generations to come, so that they could enjoy wealth and honor just like in the capital. They followed him for thousands of miles to the Western Regions with the dream of returning to such a life, and he also wanted to fulfill his promise to them.

However, this is not enough for southern Xinjiang alone, since the current population of southern Xinjiang is really not enough to support 400,000 loyal farmers.

Moreover, Yinzhi had to provide the Dzungar Khanate and even the Mongol tribes and the masters of the plateau with grain and gold and silver every year to maintain the alliance between the two sides. In the end, if he took over southern Xinjiang, he would have to give the Dzungar Khanate sufficient compensation.

There is only one solution to all of these problems.

expansion.

They burned, killed, and looted.

Just like the Eight Banners carried on a wild boar's skin.

They used external aggression—burning, killing, and looting—to resolve internal conflicts and to make up for internal deficiencies through plunder.

Fortunately, they had vast open spaces ahead of them for burning, killing, and looting. The Khanate of Bukhara and the Three Juzes of Kazakhstan were all defeated by the Dzungar Khanate. Now, with the addition of the Qing army, they had a significant advantage.

Of course, Yang Xianzun had lost interest in these people. He had only helped them because he worried that even if Yinzhi defeated the Dzungar Khanate, his strength wouldn't be enough to sweep through southern Xinjiang. But now, with the alliance between the Qing Dynasty and the Dzungars, plus the blessing of that giant Buddha statue, this group already possessed the strength to sweep through Central Asia. The rest was up to them. Next, the militia would stop at Jiayuguan, waiting for Yinzhi to finish what he needed to do. Then, the heavenly army would march west to reap the rewards and conduct a final cleanup, just like they were doing now.

In the future, the Heavenly Army will maintain this pace, watching the Qing Dynasty expand in the Western Regions from behind, and may even provide them with appropriate assistance through trade.

Once the Qing dynasty had finished clearing one area, they would go and reap the rewards, while simultaneously driving them to clear more areas.

Anyway, they have plenty of places to escape to.

Even if they cleared out Central Asia, they could still head south to India to face the pursuing heavenly army!

At this time, although Afghanistan theoretically belonged to Safavids, it was actually in the midst of a local rebellion, and the Qing-Dzungar alliance was strong enough to open up this route.

Once they enter India, they will find themselves in a paradise.

The peacefulness of the Indians would make them feel like they were in a perfect colonial paradise, since the Indians would greet them as Kshatriyas.

The caste society they failed to establish in the Central Plains would be directly realized in India, as for the present-day Mughal Empire...

It's no longer usable.

Aurangzeb was already in disarray even before he died.

The future of the Qing Dynasty can be described as bright, with vast and boundless land awaiting their iron cavalry to trample upon.

However, the Fourth Prince's future seems rather bleak.

The Fourth Prince, unaware that his son was dead, stood amidst the mountains of corpses and seas of blood in Kurume. The Qing army had just massacred the city, and before that, they had already slaughtered Fukuoka. In fact, they had slaughtered every city and village along their path, leaving no one alive, killing indiscriminately. Meanwhile, strings of Japanese women, strung together with ropes, were being whipped by the Eight Banners of Korea, weeping as they walked towards Hakata, where British slave ships were already waiting for them. The first batch of Japanese women had already been transported by the British to the distant South Seas, and where they would be sold was anyone's guess.

The entertainment venues in Southeast Asian commercial ports, the slave markets in India, and even the Middle East, after all, were more aesthetically pleasing than the black women transported from Africa.

In fact, the British East India Company was considering using this to expand into the American market, where they believed they would be more popular.

The market prospects are very promising!

"Your Majesty, a man claiming to be from the Satsuma Domain requests an audience with you."

The censor Tian Wenjing, who was also with him, reported to His Majesty the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty.

"bring it here."

The Fourth Prince said.

Immediately afterwards, a Japanese man who had been beaten black and blue was dragged over and thrown directly into the corpses. He struggled on the ground to avoid the corpses, then knelt down before the Fourth Prince, kowtowing desperately in terror until his head bled.

"Go back and tell the Shimazu clan that I can allow them to submit, but they must shave their heads and change their clothes. I will grant the Shimazu clan a title and retain their territory, but they will need to send troops to fight alongside me."

The Fourth Prince said.

The Shimazu family had long been trying to welcome the victorious army.

In fact, it wasn't just the Shimazu clan; several major daimyo on Kyushu had secretly sent envoys to make contact. For them, as long as the Fourth Prince recognized their territories and guaranteed their status as feudal lords, they wouldn't mind changing masters. Ultimately, they had no loyalty to the Tokugawa shogunate; they had simply lost and were forced to acknowledge Tokugawa rule. But if another power, clearly stronger than the Tokugawa, could guarantee their interests, why wouldn't they choose a different ruler?

However, since the Fourth Prince landed, his style has been too brutal, which frightened them a bit, since they still had some understanding of the massacres that the Qing Dynasty carried out when it marched south.

Of course, for the same reason, they were also somewhat afraid of resistance.

Therefore, the Shimazu clan did not actually participate in the war. Although they sent troops, for various reasons, they did not arrive at the battlefield until Kurume was massacred.

"Your Majesty, my lord desires an imperial edict from Your Majesty."

The man spoke in a trembling, Jianghuai-accented Mandarin.

"Imperial decree, then I will write one for him. I will continue to advance, and all those who dare to resist will be slaughtered. The Shimazu clan had better think carefully. If when I arrive there I do not see them kneeling before me to greet me, then they will be slaughtered just the same."

The Fourth Prince sneered.

Tian Wenjing quickly brought over a brush and ink.

The Fourth Prince wrote the imperial edict directly, then took out the jade seal and stamped it on. Of course, he had carved the jade seal himself. As for the set of jade seals in the capital, it was still in Yinzhi's hands at this time.

After he finished writing the imperial edict, Tian Wenjing quickly took it with both hands, turned around and walked to the man. The man took it with trembling hands, then kowtowed and quickly crawled backwards for a while. Because his legs were weak, he fell down again among the corpses, screaming in terror, which caused the surrounding Qing soldiers to laugh. He quickly got up amidst the laughter and stumbled away among the corpses.

"Your Majesty, the Shimazu clan is fickle," Zhang Tingyu reminded the Fourth Prince.

"I was just joking with you."

The Fourth Prince said.

"Your Majesty is holy."

Zhang Tingyu quickly said.

The Shimazu family was indeed fickle, but His Majesty the Emperor can be fickle too!

"Issue the order to march on Nagasaki."

The Fourth Prince then spoke.

Not far from him, Arima Noriyuki, the lord of the Kurume Domain, was being dragged behind his horse by a Qing officer. As his horse galloped wildly, Arima screamed in agony from the friction against the ground, while the surrounding Qing soldiers laughed gleefully. Soon, however, Arima fell silent. Meanwhile, the Qing army, which had left virtually no survivors along the way, continued forward under the personal command of their emperor. Meanwhile, the allied forces of the Satsuma and Kumamoto domains, located fifty miles to the southeast in the mountainous region, remained on the sidelines, observing the situation.

Amidst the pleas and pleas of the Nabeshima family's envoy, they silently watched as the Qing army surrounded Saga and swiftly blasted the castle to smithereens with cannons. Nabeshima Yoshishige, amidst the ruins of the castle tower, cursed Shimazu Yoshitaka before setting the tower ablaze and reducing his entire family to ashes. In the glow of the burning tower, the Qing army carried out a frenzied massacre; the Japanese, with nowhere to escape, howled in agony as their horses trampled them, their women dragged away, their children crushed beneath the hooves.

Of course, it's the same everywhere.

The Chikugo River basin, arguably the largest agricultural area on Kyushu Island, definitely needs to be thoroughly cleansed, since the subjects who migrated from Korea are waiting for it.

These are the foundation for the Fourth Prince's future.

They were all poor people in North Korea, who didn't even own a piece of land in their hometowns. You could say that eating a meal of rice was like celebrating the New Year.

Here, they could obtain the best rice paddies and whip the Japanese to serve as their slaves. Their only obligation, of course, was loyalty to the Qing Emperor. After all, if the Japanese reclaimed this land, they would certainly be driven out or even killed in retaliation. Therefore, they would swear to follow the Fourth Prince to the death, providing him with food and serving as cannon fodder, even knowing they were just cannon fodder. Their families, however, were waiting for them to be sacrificed to protect the fertile land they had already acquired.

Therefore, the Koreans were the most enthusiastic in terms of killing. All the Eight Banners Koreans frantically searched for every place where they could hide, dragging out the hiding Japanese and killing them.

The Chikugo River was covered in blood.

This army, which could be described as a natural disaster, swept forward and eventually reached Nagasaki.

Here they encountered fierce defense from the Japanese, led by the Nagasaki magistrate, which inflicted considerable losses on the Qing army.

Of course, the majority of the losses were suffered by the Eight Banners Korea.

However, Nagasaki was eventually captured because the Dutch claimed neutrality and refused to provide assistance to the Nagasaki magistrate.

but……

The Dutch claimed they were neutral, but the Qing Dynasty didn't say that.

Leave the island.

"There is a kind of destructive beauty."

Yang Xianzun strolled among the countless wailing and screaming refugees.

There are not only Japanese people here, but also Dutch people, and there should even be smugglers from the southeast coast.

The British had given the Fourth Prince the task of capturing the island and eliminating the Dutch. Although keeping the Dutch alive would allow him to negotiate with the British, the Fourth Prince dared not do so now. He relied entirely on the British for weapons. In order to eliminate the Dutch here, the British offered him fifty cannons and five thousand flintlock muskets. Once the Dutch on the island were eliminated, East Asian maritime trade would belong to the British.

For the Fourth Prince, it remains to be seen what will happen if the Dutch are allowed to remain, but angering the British could allow them to cut off his sea route with Korea.

Because this was Dutch territory, the Japanese refugees also crowded onto this small island. Although the Dutch did not allow them to land on the island, they could easily swim across the small expanse of sea, and eventually tens of thousands of people were crammed onto this tiny island.

Their delusion was that the Qing army would not attack the island.

In fact, the Dutch had already contacted the Fourth Prince, since the two sides had been allies since the time when they were fighting against Zheng Chenggong, and the Fourth Prince had promised not to attack Chu Island.

however……

Just for fun.

The Fourth Prince has gone astray; he often does these kinds of things.

Ultimately, amidst the Dutch curses, the Qing army that had captured Nagasaki marched directly to Dejima.

"Why run away? Is there anywhere else to run to? All mortals must die eventually, so let's face it bravely!"

Yang Feng shouted.

A Dutchman next to him, who was also fleeing in terror, stopped.

Watching the Qing soldiers slaughtering everyone they encountered, whether Dutch or Japanese, with the ease of chopping vegetables, the man smiled bitterly, looked back at the sea, shook his head helplessly, and then drew a flintlock pistol.

"You are right, all mortals must die eventually. Even if we try to escape now, where can we go?"

He said it in Hokkien.

He clearly thought Yang Feng was a smuggler who had been stranded there.

Although the Heavenly Army that captured the southeastern coast did not prohibit overseas trade, and even encouraged it, trade with Japan was still temporarily prohibited. This was the order of the Celestial Venerable. Therefore, those who came here were all smugglers, and the kind who disregarded the Celestial Venerable. After all, those who truly revered the Celestial Venerable would unconditionally obey his orders. If he said that trade with Japan was not allowed, then they certainly could not come.

The two stood side by side on the street, watching the dense crowd of refugees in front of them quickly turn into layers of corpses, and the street become a flowing river of blood. Some Qing soldiers, out of curiosity, even pressed captured Dutch women onto the corpses for scientific research.

Soon, the mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood that spread at a visible speed reached their feet, and the Qing soldiers who rushed in front of them did not hesitate to cut them down.

The Dutchman swiftly fired a shot into the chest of a Qing officer, who immediately fell with a scream. But then more Qing soldiers swarmed in. He had just drawn his sword when he was slashed down. Lying on the ground, amidst the Qing soldiers' hacking and slashing, he stared in astonishment at Yang Feng, for the Qing soldiers' blades were bouncing off his body...

"I'm not an ordinary person."

Yang Feng shrugged at him and said calmly.

The Dutchman raised his hand in grief and indignation to point at him, but a Qing soldier's sword fell and severed his hand.

Yang Feng, however, simply vanished into thin air with a smile. The Qing soldiers stared blankly at the air that should have been his, all looking utterly bewildered.

(End of this chapter)