The matter was soon settled, and the Qin king Sun Kewang held a special banquet to entertain Yao Zhizhuo and Zhu Quangu, and expressed a positive attitude towards the cooperation between the Ming army in the southwest and the righteous soldiers in the south of the Yangtze River. In this regard, Yao and Zhu naturally praised Sun Kewang's foresight according to Lei Yuelong's statement.

During the banquet, Yao Zhizhuo and Zhu Quangu put forward a request to meet Emperor Yongli. This is something that Qian Qianyi, He Wangsheng, Li Zhichun and others specially mentioned before they came, and they must win the approval of Emperor Yongli for what they have done. In this regard, Sun Kewang had no intention of stopping him at all, so he responded in one bite, and said that he would send someone to escort the two of them to Anlong Mansion.

Sun Kewang has no reason to stop this matter, especially at the moment, when he still has to count on the southeast Ming army and the anti-Qing people in the southeast to help him gain a firm foothold in Nanzhili, it is impossible to stop Yao Zhizhuo's audience. So Sun Kewang did what he said, and quickly arranged someone to escort the two of them to Xingzai.

Anlong Mansion, that is, the Anlong Thousand Households in the Ming Dynasty, is located in the south of Pu'an Prefecture in the southwest of Guizhou Chengxuan Political Envoy Division. Starting from Guiyang Fucheng in central Guizhou, all the way over the mountains and mountains, relying on the convenience of the guide, the two rushed there as fast as possible to meet the Son of Yongli.

When I came to the outside of the city, I saw a city of a thousand households that was so small that it might not be as big as a town in the interior. The two of them walked into it, and saw that the scale of the people in the city was only a place where the number of households was not more than 100, and the number of people was less than 1,000, and it was probably just a larger village.

The officers who led the escort first waited for them to meet Fan Yingxu, the prefect of Anlong Prefecture, and Zhang Yingke, the prime minister of Titang, these two were Sun Kewang's henchmen, and when they saw Yao Zhizhuo and Zhu Quangu coming to meet them, they especially knew that Sun Kewang had no intention of stopping them, and they also looked up and down with suspicious eyes, and they couldn't feel at ease.

After passing the level of these two, Yao Zhizhuo and Zhu Quangu were able to meet Emperor Yongli. When the Son of Heaven heard that the righteous people from Jiangnan had come to meet him, he also set up a banquet to entertain him. During the banquet, the two reported to Yongli Tianzi about the anti-Qing movement in Jiangnan, and also mentioned a lot of things about Fujian. Speaking of which, there is basically no way for the Son of Yongli to know. At the end of the banquet, the Emperor of Yongli also issued an edict endorsing their plans and actions, and the two took their leave.

The things they wanted were obtained, and the purpose of this came was achieved, and the two were satisfied, and embarked on the journey back to Jiangnan, but they had to go back to Guiyang first to return to Sun Kewang and say goodbye to Lei Yuelong.

On the road, the two tacitly agreed not to talk about anything, until a few days later, when the entourage no longer paid attention to them, after entering the post house, it was determined that no one dared to spit out what he thought in his heart.

"The Qin Palaces in Guiyang are magnificent, and even if you don't understand some things, you can see some possibilities for overstepping the system. Look at the line again, it is in tatters, even a little squire may not be able to get used to it. ”

"Hey, I heard that Xing was in the palace, and it was originally the yamen of a thousand households......

The two of them couldn't help but shake their heads as they spoke. In such a comparison, Sun Kewang obviously did not take the Son of Yongli in his eyes, but he was afraid that he might not be able to sit back and watch the banner of the Ming Dynasty hang above his head in the future.

"That prefect and that Titang official, I'm afraid they are used to spy on the Son of Heaven."

"There is also the eunuch surnamed Pang, I didn't see him with the right look at him at the banquet, and if he didn't get it, he was also a seller seeking glory."

The voice was extremely low, as thin as a mosquito, and it was only when the two of them were very close to each other that they could hear it clearly. The relationship between monarchs and ministers in the southwest turned out to be like this, which was really unexpected for them. Looking back, when he was leaving, Qian Qianyi asked them to face the king, and asked for the edict of the Son of Heaven to be justified, which now seems to be the wisest choice.

"Uncle Yao, you said that if the King of Qin really took Jiangnan with a large army, the emperor would ...... at that time."

Zhu Quangu's voice became smaller and smaller, but Yao Zhizhuo still understood it, just because he was afraid that Sun Ke would be able to gain the wealth of Jiangnan, and then his ambitions would swell and usurp the throne. In this way, didn't they become the sinners who gave away the emperor's country and society to the rogues?

This kind of worry also exists for Yao Zhizhuo, but after worrying, he had to tell Zhu Quangu that he didn't need to worry about it. As for why, Yao Zhizhuo didn't say it too clearly, but the general meaning is nothing more than that those Jiangnan gentry are not fuel-efficient lamps, and the political struggle in the court, Sun Kewang, a prince born in a rogue, may not have played those old fritters of the Donglin Party.

"Perhaps, the shepherd has thought of this a long time ago. Besides, aren't there still Duke Zhangguo and Governor Chen? ”

………………

Yao Zhizhuo and Zhu Quangu returned to Guiyang City, and Fan Ying, the secretary of the Qin Palace, immediately appointed Zhu Quangu as the head of the Ritual Department, and at the same time granted Yao Zhizhuo five replies from Sun Kewang's Confession, Zhu Wen, and Lei Yuelong, a scholar, and Sun Kewang's edict appointing He Wangsheng as the squire of the military department. With these, coupled with the edict of the Son of Yongli, they were justified, and they immediately set off to return and embarked on the road back to Jiangnan.

Here, the people who entered Guiyang to contact left Guiyang City. The Anlong Mansion was over there, and it stopped for a few days, and Sun Kewang's cronies who were here to monitor the Yongli monarch and ministers also relaxed their vigilance a little.

At the home of Wu Zhenyu, the first assistant minister of the cabinet, Wu Zhenyu was explaining some last things to the Confucius Zhou official of the Hanlin Academy.

As Yao Zhizhuo and Zhu Quangu saw, Sun Kewang's cronies in Guiyang have already begun to build momentum for the "Yongli Tianzi Zen Sun Kewang". Therefore, at the end of last year, Yongli Junchen secretly sent Lin Qingyang, a member of the Military Election Division of the Ministry of War, to set off to Guangxi to see Li Dingguo, hoping to use Li Dingguo's hand to free the Yongli Imperial Court from Sun Kewang's control.

After half a year, Lin Qingyang was gone, and the courtiers led by Yongli Tianzi and Wu Zhenyu, the first assistant minister of the cabinet, could no longer sit still, so they had to use the excuse of "Nanning has recently recovered, and important ministers are needed to sit in charge" as an excuse to support the Jinyi Wei commander Wen'an Hou Ma Jixiang who had thrown himself to Sun Kewang, and at this time, with Sun Kewang's cronies to relax their vigilance, they decided to let Zhou Guan secretly set off to Li Dingguo.

"The edict must be put away, and it must not be made known. Be sure to ask the king of Xining to return to his teacher to relieve the pain of overhang. ”

Zhou Guan sneaked away from Anlong as scheduled and rushed to Li Dingguo's army to find a way out for the Yongli monarch and ministers. sent off Zhou Guan, but Wu Zhenyu was summoned to the palace for another matter.

"In March of this year, the right attendant of the military department and the right servant of the Imperial Court of the Imperial Palace, the governor of the four prefectures of Zhangquan Chaohui, the commander of military affairs and the management of food and salary Chen Kai, led the auxiliary Ming Hou Lin Cha, An Subo Li Jianjie and the chief military officer Du Hui and deputy general Cai Yuan under the command of Zhangguo Gong to attack Qiongzhou Mansion in the sea, and beheaded Liu Bolu, the chief soldier of Qiongzhou, Peng Sanyi of Hainan Province, etc., and has now recovered a mansion in Qiongzhou. His Royal Highness the King of Qin thought that when the governor of Jin Chen was the governor of the Imperial Palace, he gave his great-grandfather, grandfather, and father three generations as officials, in return for the work of recovering the land. ”

At this moment, Sun Kewang's envoy stood proudly on the main hall, talking eloquently, except for the salute when he met, but the Yongli Son of Heaven was more like a minister, and the Qin King Sun Kewang represented by the envoy was more like a king.

It's just that the Yongli monarchs and ministers present did not show half of their surprise or dissatisfaction, even if they were thinking about it, they didn't dare to put it into their mouths, except for secretly sending Lin Qingyang and Zhou Guan out to ask for help, they had to endure for half a minute, in fact, they had seen a lot of such scenes, and they had already been accustomed to it.

On the dragon chair, the Son of Yongli silently listened to Sun Kewang and Sun Kewang's promotion and gift to Chen Kai, as for what he thought, it was just the last layer of window paper between Sun Kewang and Yongli, the least politeness. Sun Kewang did not stab because Li Dingguo was still alive, and his prestige in the Ming army in the southwest plummeted due to the battle at the fork in the road, but this was only a matter of time; And on Yongli's side, his life is controlled by others, Sun Kewang is still a guy from a rogue background, there is nothing he can't do, and of course he doesn't dare to do anything.

"What does Your Majesty think, can you still say that I don't agree?"

At this point, if you change to a resolute son of heaven, you may still fight, but Yongli is not a strong character, no matter how much grievances in your heart, you will only return to the harem and the Queen Mother and Queen Wang to cry. What's more, this time it is indeed a meritorious work to restore the land, and if it is not for the reason why Sun Kewang killed Chen Bangfu's father and son in the past, he will naturally only reply with "I have no objection" and keep silent again.

Sun Kewang's envoy reported the matter, saluted, and left the dilapidated Anlong Thousand Households, which only changed the signboard and became a dilapidated house in the palace, and set off to return to Guiyang to resume his life.

After the envoy left, Zhang Fulu, a close official of the Son of Yongli, nodded, and went out to guard outside. Speaking of which, they were not only guarding against Fan and Zhang in the city, but also the great eunuch Pang Tianshou of the Admiral's Warrior Battalion, who was in collusion with Ma Jixiang, the commander of the Jinyi Guard, and threw himself into Sun Kewang, the new master, who has been monitoring every move of the Yongli monarch and ministers in the palace in recent years.

At this moment, Pang Tianshou was not there, and Ma Jixiang was even sent to Nanning. There was Zhang Fulu guarding outside, and after thinking about it for a while, Yongli Tianzi asked Wu Zhenyu about the promotion and gift.

"Back to His Majesty's words, the old minister thought that the work of recovering the land was not much, but he gave a large gift, obviously because the Qin clan did not want Governor Chen to be promoted too quickly. Thinking about it, it was Qin Fan who promoted Chen Kai to the governor of the four prefectures, and now he has to suppress the speed of Chen Kai's official promotion, perhaps, the key to the problem is not Chen Kai's body, but Zhang Xiaoqi's place. ”

When the envoy spoke, Wu Zhenyu had been pondering this question, and when the Son of Yongli asked, Wu Zhenyu had already thought of the crux of the question, and even gave an answer. And for this answer, the Son of Yongli Tianzi also suddenly realized when he heard this, and even understood the key inside.

"Qin Fan intends to instigate the discord between Governor Chen and Governor Zhang, so that Qiongzhou Mansion?"

"Exactly."

If it weren't for this idea, as long as Chen Kai was added as the governor of Guangdong, Chen Kai would have the authority to govern Qiongzhou Mansion. But now, Chen Kai occupies the prefecture and county, but lacks a name; Zhang Xiaoqi has the official position of the governor of the four prefectures of Lei Qiong, but the recovery of the Qiongzhou Mansion has nothing to do with him, let alone the administration of the island, which is exactly where the contradiction lies. And the official positions of these two people are similar, so there is no possibility that either side will overpower the opponent.

"Governor Chen uses all the soldiers and horses of the Duke of Zhang, even if he is willing to give Governor Zhang or even the Governor a face, I am afraid that the Duke of Zhangguo may not give it."

Speaking of which, Chen Kai had the old thing of letting the Chaozhou prefect and Ye Yiyun back then, which was a virtuous name that was not corrupt for official positions and power, and during the Yongli court in Guangdong, there were many praises among the government and the opposition.

This praise, Wu Zhenyu also said back then, naturally he would not slap himself in the face at this moment, only said that the soldiers and horses were Zheng Chenggong. And Zhang Xiaoqi has the official position of the governor of the four prefectures, and the Yongli court is not easy to let him "tolerate", and even if he has this intention, it is too late. Speaking of which, Sun Kewang's plan will inevitably come to fruition, and the key is due to the asymmetry in intelligence.

This matter can only be like this for the time being, and there is no way between the monarch and the minister. Therefore, the matter was quickly put down, and soon turned to the matter of Zhou Guan.

"Shousuke, is this already done?"

"Back to Your Majesty, Zhou Kongmu is the most meticulous and cautious, and he will not miss a big thing if he thinks about it."

"That's good, that's good."

If it's not good, although he has the sentence "The two dragons can't see each other" and he hasn't been able to see Sun Kewang himself, Yongli can still imagine what it would mean if this matter was known by that guy.

"I hope that this Li Dingguo is not like his brother-in-law, two famous kings, such a fierce general, I really hope that God sent down to help me Zhongxing Daming, supplemented by Fujian's water masters, the world's righteous people, Zhongxing is not impossible. If this is not the case, then I am afraid that God really does not want the Ming Dynasty to be able to flourish. ”

………………

In August of the seventh year of Yongli, after a lapse of four months, Li Dingguo had already returned from Zhaoqing to Liuzhou Mansion in Guangxi, and stored grain and grass according to the plan for the next year's war.

However, Li Dingguo has just returned. In April, when he was retreating, Hu Yiqing, the Wei Gong of the Ming army in Guangxi, led an army to attack Guilin, but failed to recapture the city from the hands of Xian Guoan and Ma Xiong. Last month, Li Dingguo led his army to fight Guilin again, but the result was unsuccessful, so he had to return to Liuzhou to continue to rest.

didn't think about it, as soon as the front foot came back, the back foot received the news that Feng Shuangli led the army to attack and kill on the order of Sun Kewang. So, Li Dingguo set up an ambush at the mouth of the river and caught Feng Shuangli off guard. Then he persuaded him with kind words and put it back, but seeing Feng Shuangli's slight remorse, it was also a kind of gain.

Back in Liuzhou City, the army returned to the camp, and within a few days, the Confucius Zhou officer of the Hanlin Academy arrived in the army.

Speaking of which, the Anlong Mansion is on the side of Liuzhou Mansion, which is nothing more than all the way to the east, passing through Anlongsi, Sicheng Prefecture and Qingyuan Mansion to Liuzhou City, and there may be waterways in the middle, which can reduce the cost on the road, so Zhou Guan soon came to the destination of this trip.

After reading the edict of "words and sorrows", Li Dingguo turned to the west and bowed down, and after a few knocks, there was blood spilled all over the ground.

Fuming and self-reliance are not only manifested in the contradiction between Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang, but it can even be said that this itself is the source of the contradiction between the two of them.

Over the years, there have been contradictions between Sun and Li, and after entering Yunnan, there were two instigations from Yang Weizhi. Subsequently, Sun Kewang's Ren Shu, Ma Zhaoxi, Fang Yuxuan and others wantonly instigated him, and created a Zen position for Sun Kewang. On Li Dingguo's side, civil officials from the Yongli court, such as Jin Gongdi, constantly instilled in him the traditional moral concept of loyalty to the monarch and serving the country. For example, every time the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is annotated, Liu Bei and Guan Yu are praised every time, and Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao and the like are lashed. Over time, Li Dingguo formed a deep-rooted concept of loyalty to the monarch.

"The minister has not died for a day, and he would rather let His Majesty be humiliated for a long time, and fortunately endure it for a while. The ministers and brothers are expected to have years, and they would rather lose their friends than live up to the king. ”

After writing this reply, Li Dingguo wrote in a letter to Wu Zhenyu, a scholar of the first auxiliary university of the cabinet: "Guangdong is undecided, it is difficult to advance and retreat, everything must be secret, and the responsibility lies with the old gentleman. ”