With Gou Xingwang's guarantee, Zhu Youdong said to Jiang Chao, Liu Zhen and Feng Shuangli: "Early tomorrow morning, you will go directly to Sanjiangkou and cross the Yangtze River from there." I will also go with you, and we will go directly through the Yinghuo Mountains to Tongcheng in Anqing Prefecture. ”

When everyone heard this, Zhu Youdong actually wanted to take the army to Nanjing in person, and instead of taking a safe waterway, he actually had to take a mountain road. Immediately, everyone began to object, and now Zhu Youdong's identity is different. If there is any accident in him, the great cause of resisting the Qing Dynasty, where should the Ming Dynasty go? What's more, Zhu Youdong has no heirs now, who will this Ming soldier hand over? .

While everyone was arguing, Lin Zhuang hurriedly walked in and said to Zhu Youdong: "Your Highness, news has come from the direction of Hanzhong, saying that Bai Rumei, the governor of Shaanxi in the Qing court, has summoned Wang Yizheng, the chief soldier of Xi'an, and the general soldier of Xing'an. He led an army of 30,000 to the south from Dasanguan and attacked Fengxian day and night. The party guards do not have many troops in their hands, so please send troops to rescue Your Highness as soon as possible. ”

Zhu Youdong said: "Qi Sansheng, who is already in Hanzhong, where is he now?" Lin Zhuang said: "In Qi Sansheng's hands, counting the captured prisoners, there are only about 8,000 people at most. It is necessary not only to defend Xing'an, but also to divide troops to prevent the Qing army from going south through the Meridian Valley. ”

Zhu Youdong said: "There are more than 10,000 troops in the Party Shousu Department, as well as Niu Qiushi's 6,000 troops, and they have more than enough to defend Hanzhong. It's just that the party has made the same mistake again, and he always wants to preserve his strength. What's more, there were 5,000 surrendered troops in Hanzhong at that time, and there were more than 5,000 people and 3,000 surrendered troops in Qi Sansheng's department. There were 25,000 troops in the whole of Hanzhong, which was enough for them to defend. ”

Zhou Chang said: "Your Highness is right, but if you don't send a letter to Hanzhong, it is estimated that they will not do their best." Zhu Youdong nodded and said, "It's okay, you go write a letter first, and I'll see how to get back to them later." Lin Zhuang said again: "There are also people sent by Song Gaoju to say that they have captured Changde Mansion." Now he is coming to Yuezhou with a large army, preparing to capture Yuezhou and Baling. ”

Zhu Youdong said: "What about the news over there in Chenzhou?" Lin Zhuang said: "Lin Guogong and Jing Guogong, after reorganizing the army, first entered Baoqing Mansion together. The Qing army stationed in Baoqing Mansion has no fighting spirit and will have no fighting spirit. Before the army arrived, all the Qing soldiers had already run out. Dong Xueli had no choice but to retreat to Hengzhou with the remnants of the defeated army. Zhang Weiyang, the prefect of Baoqing, surrendered to our army. ”

Zhu Youdong said: "And then? Lin Zhuang said: "After capturing Baoqing Mansion, Linguo Gong led his troops north to attack Anhua and other places in Changsha Mansion. At present, he has arrived in the Ningxiang area, and it is estimated that he will have to rest for a few days and then wait for an opportunity to attack Changsha. Jing Guogong led a large army to the south, and together with the Miao people in Jingzhou and other places, attacked Wugang Prefecture and other places. In Chengbu, he met the general army of Guilin in the northwest of Guangxi, Ma Xiongzhen, and defeated it in a battle, but the general soldier Wang Guangen and Ma Jinyu of Qianhu were killed. ”

When they heard that someone had died again, everyone was a little sad. Suo Yanlong said: "Is it really Wang Guangen? Did you hear it right? Lin Zhuang thought for a moment and said, "That's right, it's called Wang Guangen." Suo Yanlong said: "Then Jing Guogong is going to be sad, this Wang Guangen is Jing Guogong's younger brother." ”

Zhu Youdong said: "Why haven't you heard of it? Suo Yanlong said: "Jing Guogong's original name was Wang Guangtai, and later after returning to the Ming Dynasty anyway, he changed his name to Wang Guangxing. Wang Guangen is his younger brother and has always led soldiers in the army. He also has a third brother, who is said to be named Wang Chang, but I heard that he has a bad reputation. ”

Zhu Youdong said: "As long as he doesn't violate the law of the country, he doesn't have to be investigated." It's just that how is Jing Guogong's army now? Lin Zhuang said: "Jing Guogong's army is fine, although the Guangxi Qing soldiers beat Jing Guogong and they were caught off guard, but there are local Miao people to help, and they quickly defeated the Guangxi Qing army, and Ma Xiongzhen also returned to Guangxi with the Guangxi army." ”

Zhu Youdong said: "Well, since the army on the southern front is safe, then rest assured, we can still let the army go to Nanjing." At this time, Zhou Chang took the written letter and handed it to Zhu Youdong. Zhu Youdong took a look. The letter written by Zhou Chang is full of loyalty and patriotism, and the reputation of righteousness.

Zhu Youdong's head was big, and he said, "I don't have any problems reading your letter." But no matter how I look at it, I don't think I will let the party defend Hanzhong to the death. Zhou Chang said: "Please also ask Your Highness for guidance, I really can't write anything else." If loyalty, filial piety, and righteousness cannot make a person serve his life, then what can he do? ”

Zhu Youdong thought for a while and said, "Forget it, I'll tell you, you can write it." Needless to say. You just write, how Jiang Tong captured Jiangling City. Then write down the matter of Gou Xingwang guarding Hanyang, and it is important to explain at the end how many soldiers of the Restoration Army are left in Hanyang City. ”

Zhu Youdong thought about it again, and then said: "Also, write another sentence at the end, just say that I am waiting for his congratulatory gift to Li Xiao." Don't write anything else, it's useless to write. Zhou Chang covered his head a little and said, "That's all?" Can such a letter to the party be useful? There was not a single word on the page that made him cling. ”

The current Zhou Chang is not the famous Zhou Peigong, of course, he doesn't understand these things very well. But Zhu Youdong only asked him to write like this, and he had no choice but to write a letter anyway. Then, Zhu Youdong asked Lin Zhuang to send it to Dang Shousu quickly.

After the arrangements were made here, Zhu Youdong said to Zhang Changgeng: "Now I don't have the governor of Huguang in Daming, and you will temporarily serve as the governor of Hubei." Immediately start to restore the production of a good place, as long as you do a good job, I, Zhu Youdong, am not ignorant, and Daming still has your place. ”

Zhang Changgeng hurriedly said: "Thank you, Your Highness, but where is this Hubei governor in charge?" The minister is stupid, and I haven't heard that Daming has this official position. ”

Zhu Youdong said: "I now say that there is, Hubei refers to the north of Dongting Lake. In the past, the lake was too large for local management. I would like to separate the Yongshun Xuanwei Division, Yuezhou Mansion, Shizhou Mansion, Jingzhou Mansion, Xunyang Mansion, Xiangyang Mansion, Chengtian Mansion, De'an Mansion, Wuchang Mansion, and Huangzhou Mansion north of Dongting Lake. A Hubei province was established, which was under the jurisdiction of the Hubei political envoy and the governor of Hubei was established. ”

Zhang Changgeng understood what Hubei Zhu Youdong was talking about, and suddenly said: "The minister will definitely live up to His Highness's trust and will govern Hubei well." Zhu Youdong said again: "In order to prevent the previous Hanyang incident from happening again, Hanyang Mansion will be directly placed under the jurisdiction of Wuchang Mansion." ”

Zhang Changgeng said: "Your Highness's move is really wise, Hanyang and Wuchang are only separated by the Yangtze River, but they must be subordinate to the two state capitals. Even if it's close, we can't do our best to save it. Zhu Youdong said: "Okay, just govern it well in the future." Give you 3,000 people, and Mayang will set up a governor's standard battalion for you. ”

Then Zhu Youdong said to Li Rubi: "Li Rubi, you will be the commander of Hubei, and you will select 6,000 prisoners to form the Hubei garrison army." Li Rubi was immediately overjoyed and said: "The last general will obey the order." Zhu Youdong said: "You must form an army as soon as possible, clear out the remnants of the Qing army and bandits in various parts of Hubei, and restore peace to the localities as soon as possible." ”

After these arrangements were made, Zhu Youdong continued: "These things have been arranged, we will continue to discuss the matter of going to Nanjing, everyone must strictly follow the predetermined plan, and no one can make the slightest mistake." We are scheduled to arrive in Nanjing in seven days, and when the time comes, after we have captured Nanjing, I will get drunk and rest in the city of Nanjing. ”

Alcohol has always been forbidden in the Restoration Army, and it is really not easy to get Zhu Youdong to say something drunk and resting. Immediately, everyone laughed and wanted to ask Zhu Youdong for wine. Gou Xingwang said: "This can be regarded as a wedding wine made up by His Royal Highness." On the day of His Royal Highness's wedding, we didn't even drink the wedding wine, so they drove us out. ”

Zhou Dazhu said: "Yes, yes, His Royal Highness is too picky, the newlywed is happy, and he is reluctant to drink a glass of wine." Zhu Youdong said: "Don't worry, when you enter Nanjing City, I will let everyone drink enough." Ma Weixing also coaxed: "Your Highness, then you said it, we can all wait, if His Highness breaks his promise, we have to find someone to ask for an explanation." ”

didn't wait long for everyone to make trouble, Zhu Youdong kicked everyone out, and then asked them to prepare as soon as possible. I told them to let the soldiers rest as much as possible tonight, and they will set off early tomorrow morning.

After everyone left, Lin Zhuang said, "Your Highness, do you really ignore the southern route?" Looking at the information sent, although Jing Guogong did not say it, his younger brother was able to die in battle, and it is estimated that the army also suffered a lot of losses. ”

Zhu Youdong said: "We have no way now, now that all the movements of the Qing army are underway, we are competing for time with the Qing army." The King of Jin received news that the 30,000 Mongol Eight Banners of the Qing court were launching a fierce attack on the Jin King's army at Wuyang Pass. However, these Mongolian Eight Bannermen are not fools either, they will not spend too long in the same place. It is estimated that they will not wait for two days, and they will find ways to enter Huguang from other places, and then what will we do to stop these people? ”

Lin Chang was shocked: "The news from my side has not yet come to the specific situation, in this case, why does His Highness still resolutely attack Nanjing?" Why don't we mobilize a large army now to destroy these Mongol armies, and then let them go to Nanjing. ”

Zhu Youdong said: "Don't you want to be me?" But they are an army of 30,000 people, if we destroy them first, will we still have the strength to attack Nanjing? At that time, even if we destroy them, we will suffer heavy losses, and we will not be able to attack Nanking at all. And we have lost one, the best opportunity to attack Nanjing, after a long time, Nanjing must know that Huguang has been lost. If we want to pretend to be the Qing army to attack Nanjing, it will no longer be possible. ”

Lin Zhuang said: "But we are now leaving such a big hidden danger, what if the King of Jin and them did not block the Mongolian Eight Banners of the Qing Army?" 30,000 Mongolian Eight Banners, once they go south, Huguang will not have an army to intercept them. Moreover, Huguang is newly attached, and no city will stop them for the Ming Dynasty. ”

Zhu Youdong said: "Regarding this, I have also thought of a way, don't we have Yue Le in our hands now?" Listening to Zhang Changgeng, when Yue Le went south to Huguang, Shunzhi gave Yue Le the right to control the Mongolian Eight Banners. We can now use Yue Le's Great Seal to send an order to the Mongolian Eight Banners. ”

Then Zhu Youdong smiled evilly: "Let's just say that we did not attack Wuchang, but led the army directly through De'an Mansion and Huangzhou Mansion to Nanjing." Now it has been judged that we are going to attack Nanjing, so let the Mongolian Eight Banners immediately take it to the area of Luoshan and Gwangju. Enter Luzhou Mansion and go to Tongcheng to intercept us. ”

Lin Zhuang was shocked and said, "Your Highness, why is this, when we go to attack Nanjing, aren't we going to sneak attack?" Why do you still let us tell the Qing army. Zhu Youdong said: "Don't be afraid, the Mongolian Eight Banners are all cavalry, and every step they take now, the weight is much greater than ours." What's more, they will have to bypass the Dabie Mountains when they go east, so we will have a lot of time to set traps in Tongcheng. Then the army waited for the Mongolian Eight Banners at leisure, and when they came, they completely wiped out the Mongolian Eight Banners. ”

Lin Zhuang said: "To eat these 30,000 troops, are we enough to use only three armies?" Zhu Youdong said: "It's better for them not to come, I still want to fight Nanjing and fight them in turn." But if they insist on hitting us, we have no choice. Fortunately, we now have the help of Yang Maoxun and these Qing soldiers, which makes it much less difficult for us to attack Nanjing. ”

Zhu Youdong looked outside and said: "Also, you let the spies in Nanjing pay attention, and try to respond as much as possible if you can meet the army." If we can capture Nanjing this time, it will be of far-reaching significance to our Ming Dynasty, and the general trend of our resistance to the Qing Dynasty will also be much better. ”

Lin Zhuang said: "Then why don't you just wait for two more days, and when we want to enter the Yinghuo Mountains, we will send an order to the Mongolian Eight Banners?" Zhu Youdong's eyes lit up and said: "It's okay, let's go over first, and then we should be more prepared, so that our losses will be smaller." ”