The key point of the so-called political struggle is nothing more than five words - who is who!

Guo Zhiqi was a jinshi in the first year of Chongzhen, but when he entered the officialdom at the beginning of that year, he also heard some old things mentioned. For example, since the Liao incident, Liaoyang and Shenyang fell one after another, and the Ming court appointed Xiong Tingbi, who was recommended by Fang Congzhe, the first and auxiliary minister of the cabinet at the time, as the Liaodong Economic Strategy, while the Donglin Party elected Wang Huazhen as the governor of Liaodong, which caused the subsequent economic discord.

The reason why Donglin did this is because Wang Huazhen is a disciple of Donglin boss Ye Xianggao and a member of the Donglin Party, while Xiong Tingbi is a figure of the Chu Party, and Fang Congzhe of the Zhejiang Party recommended this person to join forces with the Chu Party to suppress Donglin's influence in Liao affairs. In this matter, neither side can pick it up, it is nothing more than the same party and the other. The biggest difference is that Xiong Tingbi is at least capable of something, while Wang Huazhen is simply a waste.

Subsequently, Guangning fell, Donglin in turn wanted to protect his former political enemy Xiong Tingbi, while the Zhejiang Party, Qi Party, Chu Party and other parties united under the banner of Wei Zhongxian to form the so-called "Eunuch Party" turned around to protect Wang Huazhen, because after the defeat, Xiong Tingbi saw that Donglin was strong, so he fell to Donglin, and Wang Huazhen foresaw the future of Donglin's imminent collapse, so he chose the Eunuch Party.

As a result, with the fall of Donglin, Xiong Tingbi, who was secondarily responsible for the fall of Guangning, was killed in the fifth year of the Apocalypse, and Wang Huazhen, the culprit, was postponed to Chongzhen for five years, that is, seven years later before he was executed - if it weren't for the fact that he really couldn't get away with it, God knows if it would be like the Donglin sages who tried to protect him when the accident first happened, as they said.

In the same way, Chen Kai is Zheng Chenggong's staff and the number two person in the Zheng group today, which is completely different from these officials from the orthodox imperial examination. Therefore, when Chen Kai encountered Lianchengbi, it was actually a struggle between the Zheng group and the civil official group in western Guangdong. And Jin Weixin, similar to Chen Kai's background, is Li Dingguo's staff.

Of course, if that's all it takes, it stands to reason that they shouldn't make any more enemies while facing an opponent like Chen Kai. But the problem is that Jin Weixin and Chen Kai are on good terms, and the vacancies of officials in one government and two counties in Guangzhou have also been installed by Jin Weixin Chen Kai's people, obviously betting on Chen Kai's side in the battle for control in Guangzhou, which will affect Li Dingguo's final decision, so this time simply kill two birds with one stone.

"If you fight a snake, you will hit him seven inches!"

As far as the eye could see, Jin Weixin got into the carriage and let the horse listlessly pull the cart out of the camp. The smile on the corner of Guo Zhiqi's mouth flashed, unlike the civil officials of the imperial court, as long as the civil official group behind him is strong enough, there is not no chance in his career, but if the owner can't trust the staff, then the future of that staff member is finished. Unless, that staff member can regain trust.

"This time it's involving outsiders, how can it be so easy."

Thinking of this, Guo Zhiqi turned his head, and no longer looked at Jin Weixin's carriage driving bumpily towards Guangzhou City, but tidied up the official mansion by himself, and then strode towards Li Dingguo's Chinese army tent.

"Your Highness, the lower official is late, please forgive me."

"The superintendent is serious, the matter over there in Zhaoqing Mansion has been resolved?"

"It's been resolved, please don't worry, Your Highness." Bowing his hand, Guo Zhiqi further explained: "In fact, it is not a big deal, the government has just resumed governance, and the local government and those military generals have unclear responsibilities, as long as they are sorted out, there will be nothing to do." ”

The reason why Guo Zhiqi did not rush back at the first time was that he wanted to avoid suspicion in the matter of Jin Weixin, and second, there was indeed an incident in Zhaoqing Mansion, a problem about the Ming army in western Guangdong occupying people's land to build a military camp. If it's just ordinary people, the problem is that those Qiu Ba occupy the property of a gentry, and it is inevitable that some civil and military disputes will be involved, so Guo Zhiqi will rush there in person.

The problem is easy to solve, the easiest way, and the most effective way, is to approve another piece of ownerless wasteland for the generals, so that you can have the best of both worlds. However, some problems have also been exposed, that is, Guo Zhiqi's administrative experience in the group of officials appointed after the Battle of Guangzhou is indeed inadequate.

Guo Zhiqi naturally would not put such a problem in front of Li Dingguo, anyway, the problem has been solved, and he has to understate it, and he can pass it over.

"Your Highness made a move this time, dare to ask what is the matter?"

After chatting about what he had seen and heard during his inspection of various prefectures and counties, Guo Zhiqi directly asked Li Dingguo about the reason for recruiting him back to Guangzhou. In this regard, Li Dingguo was also blunt, and mentioned the matter of the petition of the people in Guangzhou, some of which were inconvenient to speak out, so he simply took out the petition, the report, and some things that the people below had heard and let Guo Zhiqi understand it for himself.

"It seems that these people have a misunderstanding of the old man."

sighed, Guo Zhiqi couldn't help laughing, then shook his head, and the smile was mixed with a few traces of bitterness in an instant, as if there was also a trace of disappointment in a rising star during this period, all of which were clearly presented in front of Li Dingguo's eyes.

Here, there is no need to say anything more, a misunderstanding, coupled with that series of expressions, has already made Li Dingguo feel a lot of emotion. Speaking of which, the cooperation between Guo Zhiqi and him still came quietly from Lin Qingyang and Zhou Guan, and he invited the latter to rush back to Anlong to reply, thus starting Cheng Bangjun's trip to Guangdong.

Prior to this, he led a large army to attack Zhaoqing, but some Ming troops and rebels in the Liangguang region spontaneously responded to his prestige, such as Wang Xing, Chen Qice, Li Changrong, and other Ming troops in the south of Guangzhou and Zhaoqing Mansion, who ignored it completely. But after that, with the authorization of the imperial court, under the vigorous campaign of officials such as Guo Zhiqi, Lian Chengbi, Zhang Xiaoqi, and Zhou Tengfeng, the Ming army and the righteous army of all walks of life in western Guangdong. Whether it was the army leaders with thousands of troops or the volunteer brigades with only a few hundred people, one by one they walked out of the mountains and crossed the sea, rushed to join them, and helped them sweep through a large area of western Guangdong in just a few months, reaching the city of Xinhui.

The appeal of Guo Zhiqi and others actually originated from the Ming Court, from the Yongli Court who was under house arrest in Anlong and could not do anything. Today, the power of the Ming court is gone, but at least as a banner of resistance to the Qing Dynasty, it still has a strong appeal, which is indeed beyond doubt.

Thinking of this, Li Dingguo couldn't help but recall the reasons he thought of when he decided to support Ming - Zhang Xianzhong was killed by the Qing army, and he, as a righteous son, naturally wanted to avenge Ganda; The Qing army is a Tartar, a barbarian, as a son of the Han family, he can't be a tiger; It may be self-reliant as Sun Kewang is, but in this way, it is extremely difficult for them to have a strong appeal in the local area like carrying the banner of the Ming Dynasty, and it will only be twice the result with half the effort, and the reason that the force is weak is there, and sooner or later it will be broken by the Qing army; And if he helps Daming, Daming will be able to prosper in the future, and he can also use this to wash away the thief's name......

All these things finally made him decide to embark on the road of Fuming, and this is also the most difficult contradiction between him and Sun Kewang.

Brothers for decades, the rupture has reached this point, and Li Dingguo has never doubted that his idea is wrong, because he has his own perception of the strength of the Manchu Dynasty. He knew very well that only by relying on the Ming Dynasty could he defeat the Manchus, which was the best choice for both public and private purposes.

Guo Zhiqi, these civil officials in western Guangdong, do have unsatisfactory places, but at least they are all officials directly appointed by the Ming court, representing the authority of the Ming court, and they are also doing their best to assist him during this time, even in the face of Chen Kai's aggressiveness, they can also endure each other for the country.

In comparison, Chen Kai's ability is beyond doubt, at least in terms of Li Dingguo's past few years, there is no civil official in the current Ming Court who can be compared with him. For example, these civil officials in western Guangdong, I am afraid that together they are not enough for Chen Kai's ability alone, his in-laws can have today's weather, Chen Kai has contributed a lot in it, even if it is to recover Guangdong this time, if there is no Chen Kai's help, once Li Dingguo thinks of Xinhuidun City, and then is attacked by the Qing army, the result can be imagined.

In this battle, siege, field battle, volley, siege, Chen Kai helped him too much, especially when Chen Kai had just arrived from Fujian, which showed his talent was unparalleled.

It's just that now it seems that Chen Kai's temperament still seems to be a little eager for quick success, and he is too superstitious about his own ability, so he will use various means to hold the situation in his hands as much as possible when the situation is unclear, and even from the beginning, he has already laid out and unfolded it step by step. With such a strong ability, it is naturally a good thing to be an ally, but acting like this is very inconsiderate in the matter of unity.

With such a thought in his heart, the Libra that belonged to Guangzhou after leaving quietly deviated. The scale rod was pressed down, but Li Dingguo still couldn't do it to suppress the petition of the people in the city. As for this matter, Li Dingguo simply handed it over to Guo Zhiqi, and Guo Zhiqi entered the city to explain to the people in the city, explaining those rumors about "sharing land" and "dividing houses".

At this time, it was already late May, and Li Dingguo's letter was sent to Hong Kong, and the reply was only a letter from Chen Kai, which mentioned that Huizhou had some troubles to deal with, and he could not go back for the time being, and there was no news after that. Originally, Li Dingguo also planned to listen to Chen Kai's opinion, but now that this is the case, he simply doesn't think about anything else, and the affairs in the city are left to Guo Zhiqi to appease, and he is at ease with the army's upcoming westward march.

According to the detailed report he sent to Wuzhou Mansion earlier, it was said that the Qing court had just transferred the remnants of the feudal troops of Pingnan and Jingnan from Wuzhou Mansion, and it was not clear where they were transferred, but only the left wing of Ma Xiong's Ding Domain and those green battalion soldiers were left in the city. The opponent has weakened, which is always a good thing, Li Dingguo quietly prepared, and slowly dispatched all the troops under his command, striving to have the fullest morale when he went out.

As for the suddenness of the attack, he had no intention of doing so, because the news of Li Dingguo's army was about to leave the city had already spread throughout the city of Guangzhou. Fortunately, the people are okay, there is inevitably no fine work of the Qing court among those merchants, it is nothing more than the Yamen sent by the governor of Southern Jiangxi, the generals of Guangxi Dingfan, or the subordinates of Hong Chengchou, who persuaded him to surrender to the Qing Dynasty the year before last, and the difference is probably so big.

The army is still being mobilized in an orderly manner, and in the city, Guo Zhiqi's pacification work has gradually been effective. Explain, reassure, persuade – explain that the unfounded rumors do not come from others; He promised that as a scholar of the Inspectorate and a scholar representing the Ming Dynasty, he would definitely ensure the interests of the local people in Guangzhou; In the end, he persuaded the people to return to their homes and wait for news.

"You say, will what Inspector Guo said be true?"

"People don't say that they are also locals in Guangdong, my home is in Jieyang County, Chaozhou Mansion, and I went there when I was serving in forced labor the year before last."

"Who knows if it's the storyteller's mouth that delays the war, anyway, if you want me to say, I still believe in Chen Fujun, but if everyone doesn't go to petition, I won't be the first bird."

"That is, in case it is under the control of someone else in the future, at this time, the leader must not be taken to death. Even if the superintendent doesn't take the eyelid clip on us, the villains below have never been less. ”

“……”

The tide of petitions began to subside day after day under Guo Zhiqi's assurances, and the grain from Annan and the weapons produced in Foshan were also constantly being transported into Li Dingguo's treasury.

During this period, there was no movement on Chen Kai's side, not only Chen Kai was not heard from at all, but even Zhou Hezhi and Ke Chenshu, the commanders of the Zheng Group's land and water armies who stayed in the east of Guangzhou, did not make any changes, but only trained the soldiers there, and it seemed that there were some recruits transported from Fujian.

Speaking of which, there have been several confrontations between the Yuexi Civil Official Group and Chen Kai, and each time Chen Kai has taken the lead and taken the initiative back, but now there is no movement, compared to-for-tat, it makes Guo Zhiqi feel incredible. However, after disappearing for a long time, the bias on Li Dingguo's side already exists, and it is getting bigger and bigger, which is what Guo Zhiqi can feel.

Time went on, and the whole month of May passed silently in this rhythm. By the beginning of June, Li Dingguo's army had been prepared, and he also had a certain amount of savings in terms of grain, grass, and weapons, which was nothing more than what Chen Kai had promised earlier that had not yet been put in place, but with Guo Zhiqi's preparation of grain, grass and weapons, it was enough to support it for a period of time.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the day the army sets out is the time when the battle for dominance in Guangdong is revealed. Li Dingguo already had a bias in his heart, so he simply transferred Jin Weixin out of Guangzhou City and returned to work behind the scenes. And the city of Guangzhou, on the side of the civil officials in western Guangdong, is nothing more than a mistake to ask the imperial court for an edict.

"Historically, the national dynasty has been the governor of Guangzhou and Guangzhou, and the army has pacified the people and controlled the generals in Zhaoqing, and it has done a good job.

The older people get, the more they understand the importance of waiting for the best time, and the years have given them better resilience. did not directly ask Li Dingguo if he agreed, Guo Zhiqi smoked the words in place, as long as Li Dingguo did not say anything against it, he could write the recital step by step, and then ask Li Dingguo to sign it, so that he could do the most perfect four words that are right.

In the meantime, Guo Zhiqi just said that, looked at Li Dingguo, and although he did not directly give a positive answer, he did not say anything against it. This was enough, but before he got up to say goodbye and went back to write the note, there was an urgent military information sent by a fast horse outside the big tent, which was directly named and sent to Li Dingguo's case.

"It's Chen Fujun's."

After receiving the military intelligence report, Li Dingguo tore open the letter and said casually, but Guo Zhiqi's heart skipped a beat. Next, everywhere he saw, Li Dingguo's eyes were blazing, and he read the words word by word, without a pause in between, and he didn't even seem to be breathing.

It wasn't until he read the letter that Li Dingguo slapped the letter on the table, and then shouted loudly: "What a Chen Jingcheng!" ”

If these words are only described in words, they should be filled with righteous indignation. However, in Guo Zhiqi's eyes, Li Dingguo's expression was not half annoyed, but some were excited, and he couldn't help himself.

"Your Highness?"

"Haha, such good news, it just so happens that the superintendent is also there."

With that, Li Dingguo handed the letter to Guo Zhiqi's hand. The latter took the letter, and with the hard work of reading it in the cold window of the year, a pair of eyes quickly swept over the words, the process, the excuses, the water, and so on, and so on, leaving only one sentence.

"In the past half a month, Xia Guan led Huizhou Town and other troops to conquer Changning, Wengyuan, and Yingde counties, and the army is tracing the Zhenshui to the north, striving to go down to Shaozhou in one battle!"