sent away Li Dingguo's envoy, and the next day, Chaozhou sent the news that Zheng Xiyuan was about to give birth this month.

Conceived in October and delivered in one day. A woman giving birth to a child is not only the birth of life, but also takes a great risk, which is tantamount to going to the Yama Temple. Therefore, in ancient times, birthdays were also said to be the day when the father was worried about the mother.

The due date, Chen Kai knows, but he is busy with official business, and in August, it is the beginning of the army sweeping through Fujian, and many years of preparation will break out at this moment, so he can't help but leave Chaozhou temporarily. In the past month, the army has swept through Fujian, and the Qing army has been squeezed into some corners and corners in the north and west, and there are still some hard bones to gnaw, but the overall situation is basically decided.

There is a big event in Fujian, but Chen Kai still wants to rush to Guangzhou as soon as possible. His mind was full of this year's big outbreak, and he was busy with these things, so that when the news from Chaozhou arrived, Chen Kai suddenly remembered, and he couldn't help but feel guilty in his heart, and filled his entire heart for a while.

"Tell Madame, I will be raised, and I will go back after this incident."

"Back to the master's words, the lady said that the master should focus on military affairs and don't be distracted."

"Well, tell Madame that I'm in the rear, well-fed and warmly dressed, don't worry. The big thing in Fujian is about to be decided, and the rest is just time. ”

The family who reported the news returned, but Chen Kai had difficulty concentrating for a while. According to his earlier agreement with Zheng Chenggong in Jianning Mansion, central Fujian and southern Fujian were all in the hands of the Ming army, and now the difference is nothing more than the three prefectures in western Fujian and northern Fujian. Zheng Chenggong's main attack on Jianning Mansion did not need Chen Kai's assistance, as long as Huang Ting's troops arrived, Zheng Chenggong had 20,000 troops in his hands, and he could try to fight a decisive battle with the Qing army; And on the side of Shao Wufu, it is also necessary to wait, waiting for Wang Xiuqi's troops to arrive, as long as the force suppression is formed, Gan Hui and Wang Xiuqi are both generals, and there is nothing left of the tricks that the defenders can play.

As long as Shao Wu's matter is over, and Gan Hui goes south to achieve cooperation with Huangshan, the defenders of Tingzhou Mansion will not have to worry. At that time, Chen Kai can set off to finish the last major event of the year.

The time of September is passing day by day, and the battle reports on all fronts are constantly being gathered. First, Huang Ting rushed to Jianning Mansion with his headquarters soldiers and horses, and then Lin Xishan's Louchuan Town arrived, followed by Renwu Town and Yiwu Town.

At the same time, Wang Xiuqi's troops galloped to Shaowu Mansion by virtue of the water transportation of the Min River, and the army quickly converged with Gan Hui.

The Qing army still had a lot of troops in Shaowu Mansion, but according to Gan Hui's report, most of the green battalions that Yang Minggao fled from Xinghua and other mansions were dragging their families and carrying a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry, and even ordinary soldiers carried the military salaries they could only accumulate for several years or even more than ten years. These troops were fattened by Chen Kai, and the officers and non-commissioned officers were full of ideas to protect their belongings, and when they broke through the Qing army in Yukou, they were the hands under the right town mark, and their performance was even far inferior to the ordinary green battalion soldiers in Shao Wufu.

This is obviously not the level of blessing, but the soldiers have no ambition to fall into battle, and no matter how strong their ability is, it is useless. What's more, Shi Fu has always been a general of the navy, and he is not very good at fighting land battles.

There is no news about Shao Wu's progress, on the ninth day of the ninth month of September, the Double Ninth Festival, on this day when there is one less person in Zhuyi, Guo Tai and Yu Kuan, the general of the Sanheba co-guard, will take 2,000 soldiers and horses from his headquarters to attack Yongding County, the capital of Tingzhou, in the north of Dapu County, and send the Fujian Green Battalion to flee north and westward under the situation that the 200 Green Battalion soldiers who are still in Yongding County have returned to their hometowns, reflecting the humanistic care of feudal society.

The Tingjiang waterway was opened, and on September 15, the grain and grass from the north of Sanheba replaced the land transportation in Zhangzhou, and the Ming army of the Huangshan Institute had more grain and grass supplies and quickly launched an action, quickly recovering Wuping County west of Shanghang County, Wuping Qianhusuo and Yunmenling Pass at the junction of Fujian and Jiangxi provinces. Moreover, the battle line was pushed north through the line of Huanggongling, which further compressed the living space of the Qing army in Tingzhou Prefecture.

The good news here is frequent, and Shao Wu's side will soon spread the good news again. After Gan Hui and Wang Xiuqi arrived at Shaowufu City, they quickly launched an offensive and quickly broke through the city defense of Shaowufu City.

After the army entered the city, Gan Hui's subordinates dug out a draft of a report written by Yang Minggao to Liu Qingtai in the area where Fujian had been stationed earlier. The general content is to say that the Qing army in Shaowu and the Ming army fought many fierce battles, more victories and fewer defeats, but the Ming army was strong, and the standard and other departments have been fighting and leaving from Xinghua Mansion, and now the sergeants are tired and have no strength to fight again, so they have to temporarily retreat into the Jiangxi territory. He asked Liu Qingtai to go to the Yamen of the Governor of Jiangnan and Jiangxi and the Yamen of the Governor of Jiangxi, and let the Jiangxi government raise grain and grass for them.

In the territory of Shaowu Prefecture, the checkpoints between Fujian and Jiangxi provinces include Yunji Pass, Shantou Pass, Tieniu Pass, Shanguan Pass, Loess Pass and Ganjia Pass. This Qing army retreated in an orderly and planned manner, and they did not abandon these passes, so that they could also justify themselves by holding the counteroffensive channel when facing the Qing court. However, as the city of Shaowufu was recovered by the Ming army, Gan Hui's troops moved south according to the plan, and Wang Xiuqi did not rush to storm these dangerous passes, but divided his troops to collect the gloss, Taining, Jianning and other counties of the province, and prepared to pull out these nails one by one after gaining a firm foothold.

Shao Wu's matter was settled, and Chen Kai set off for Jianning Mansion again. After meeting Zheng Chenggong, he hurried back to Quanzhou. Subsequently, a series of personnel orders were issued, such as Zhongjing Bolin Xishan in charge of Funing Prefecture local affairs, Zhangquan Dao Ye Yiyun stationed in Yanping Prefecture to support all fronts of the battlefield, Jianping Hou Zhengtai in charge of Zhongzuo and Zhangquan Prefecture, and Zhongzhen Bo Hongxu in charge of Fuzhou Prefecture to assist various places.

In fact, these people are already working in various places. In the meantime, it is nothing more than delegating autonomy and leaving him to continue to be in charge of local affairs.

After giving the order, Chen Kai set off to return to Chaozhou. The boat, which soon sent him back there. Back in the house, Zheng Xiyuan is still raising the fetus, but the baby is about to give birth, and it is only a few days. However, Zheng Xiyuan was still a little strange why Chen Kai was in a hurry to come back, lest she had delayed Chen Kai's military affairs.

"The concubine naturally hopes that the husband can be by her side every day, but the state affairs are like this, and the talent of the husband has been looked up to by the world, and too many people have watched the husband save the sky, whether it is the concubine body or the child in the belly of the concubine, they can't be too selfish."

The more he spoke, the smaller Zheng Xiyuan's voice became, as if it had taken a huge amount of physical strength to speak, as if he was about to be exhausted.

Chen Kai sighed, and his heart was filled with guilt again. stretched out his arms, hugged Zheng Xiyuan, and gently stroked her hair, but he didn't know what to say for a while.

His coming back this time was indeed not for Zheng Xiyuan's production. The Chaozhou side has already begun to prepare, the assembly of the army, the transportation of grain and grass, the dispatch of ships, the preparation of weapons, many things are busy day and night, in order to be able to prepare everything as quickly as possible, and rush to Xinhui before the arrival of Qing reinforcements.

Because there, a terrible tragedy is about to unfold!

Everything is already in the process of being mobilized, and it should be completed in about ten days. During this period, Chen Kai still had one more important thing to do, a trip back to his home, and he set off again on the second day. This time, it was the north to Sanheba, and in the small village where they had last met, Hao Shangjiu had been waiting for a long time.

"Hao Shuai has already thought it out when he thinks about it."

Sitting there, Chen Kai looked at Hao Shangjiu with a smile - in fact, when Hao Shangjiu heard that Li Dingguo sent troops, he had already begun to have a lot of emotions about what Chen Kai had said to him last time, and opening up trade restrictions was a statement. And now, although Li Dingguo is slow to march, he has advanced step by step, has entered the Guangzhou area, and besieged Xinhui, the southern gateway of Guangzhou. According to Chen Kai's estimate, Hao Shangjiu couldn't sleep well these days, until the letter sent by someone arrived a few days ago, and it is estimated that Hao Shangjiu's sleep problem was even more serious.

didn't have a pair of panda eyes, which made Chen Kaigao glance at Hao Shangjiu. However, since Chen Kai entered the room, Hao Shangjiu has always maintained a calm expression, if others are okay, but Chen Kai has also dealt with customers a lot, and this look in front of him, no matter how he looks at it, he is a vulture, and he is helpless from his bones.

"Hey."

With a sigh, he couldn't wrap it anymore, and poured out along the tearing hole.

Last time, it was here, Chen Kai frankly admitted that he sent people to Guangzhou to spread rumors. At that time, Chen Kai clearly pointed out the chaos in Guangdong this year. Thinking about it now, it should be because Li Dingguo had already sent someone to mention the alliance with Chen Kai or Zheng Chenggong at that time.

Guangdong was in turmoil as scheduled, and Li Dingguo's devastating march in western Guangdong really shocked Hao Shangjiu and made his mind more lively. At the same time, he did not know much about Chen Kai and Zheng Chenggong's activities in Fujian, and it was only in August that the Qing court's rule in Fujian was kicked down by the Ming army like a crumbling house, and the news obtained showed that the Ming army had nearly recovered the entire land of Fujian in only one month.

Such momentum is like a rainbow, which is even more frightening than Li Dingguo's performance in Guangdong. During this time, Hao Shangjiu hadn't slept well, and his mind was full of things that should be weighed. That's it, until Chen Kai's letter arrived, he had to come as promised after reading it, and even arrived one in advance, lest he find fault with the cunning and wise guy in front of him.

"The last general has been made by Chen Fujun and is about to be unable to mix with the Tartars, what else can I do."

In this regard, Hao Shangjiu has no way at all - he is Li Chengdong's old department, and he followed Li Chengdong to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, anyway, and then he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty again when the Qing army in Guangdong was strong. This plan was capricious, if it weren't for the fact that he took Chengxiang County, the Qing court would have planned to replace him with a deputy general. But later, Chen Kai gained a firm foothold in Chaozhou, and he hooked up with Chen Kai again, Shang Kexi's side of many things was already afraid that he would know, even if he did not betray the Qing court in the Guangdong Chaos this time, the Qing court was afraid that he would also deal with him afterwards.

This meeting, to put it bluntly, Hao Shangjiu just wanted to get a condition that was relatively in line with his thoughts. As for whether it should be done anyway, in fact, it is already a matter of needless words.

"Then make a condition."

I don't talk about the places next to it, but I only talk about the two provinces of Fujian and Guangdong, and now it is the general trend for me. Chen Kai just sat there, looked at Hao Shangjiu with a smile on his face, and laid out the transaction simply and clearly.

Chen Kai was so straightforward, it really made Hao Shangjiu stunned. But after thinking about it, although the person in front of him was a civil official, he was completely different from ordinary civil officials. When he started to do things, he was more like a cunning businessman than those Confucian scholars who were going around and around, but he didn't seem like himself at the moment.

Looking at Chen Kai, Hao Shangjiu's gaze kept hitting Chen Kai's body, but in fact, this was just to cover up the entanglement and impetuousness in his heart.

The conditions had already been thought of, but when it was time to put it forward, Hao Shangjiu still hesitated for a while before saying it. At this moment, his eyes were bloodshot, as if he was a gambler, and put the last of his belongings on the gambling table.

"To restore the title of Marquis of Xintai, I want the territory and establishment of a prefecture to raise soldiers. In addition, I have the final say in the affairs of the jurisdiction, and I appoint the officials and generals, and I do not pay taxes. Sending troops to fight can be discussed, but whether to send troops or not, as well as the on-site command of the troops and horses of the headquarters, are all my own responsibility, and others have no right to interfere. ”

Hao Shangjiu's condition is nothing more than to be a soil emperor. After hearing these words, Chen Kai raised his eyebrows, but he shook his head directly, and replied without doubt: "The new Taihou can, this official can apply to the imperial court, and the imperial court has no reason not to agree." As for the rest, the dispatch of the general army of Huizhou, I will give you the establishment of a Huizhou town and a Huizhou city garrison association, with a number of 5,000 soldiers. However, Huizhou Mansion can't give it all to you, the six counties of Guishan, Boluo, Changning, Heyuan, Heping, and Longchuan in the west are divided into the six counties of Guishan, Boluo, Changning, Heping, and Longchuan in the west, and you will give you the three counties you are now in Zhongkuangbo. You have to apply to me for the appointment of a general, and you have no right to appoint a military general. Taxes must be paid, and I will pay them to you every month. As for the requisition, you have to listen to me. ”

"No way!"

Saying that, Hao Shangjiu subconsciously stood up, pressed his arms on the table, and leaned forward. In this regard, Chen Kai just looked at him coldly and didn't say a word, but later Hao Shangjiu sat back without embarrassment.

"You know, I now have an army of twenty or thirty thousand gathered in the territory of Chaozhou Mansion, ready to attack at any time; You also know that Fujian is now about to be recovered, and the army surnamed Guo Ye can also enter Guangdong to fight at any time; You know that you only have one way anyway, otherwise next year, the Tartars will move you first, because they don't dare to hit my twin bastions again. ”

Chen Kai said eloquently, the corners of Hao Shangjiu's mouth couldn't help twitching a few times, only to feel chills all over his body, as if he was standing naked in front of Chen Kai without clothes, letting him look up and down.

This is the trend of the times, and it is also a dangerous dilemma that he will almost certainly face. He put himself in his shoes and naturally saw it clearly, but Chen Kai could see it equally clearly, even more clearly than him. Once it is placed on the table at this moment, his sky-high asking price is bound to shrink by a few points.

"Well, I can give you the right to appoint a civil official, but ......"

"Nothing, Hao Shangjiu, you heard clearly, I'm not bargaining with you. Now, you have only one way out, and that is to listen to me in a proper manner, and I will naturally not hesitate to give you the benefits. If you don't obey, even if I don't send troops to attack you now, you won't have to come to my door again next year, it's that simple! ”

Chen Kai's attitude was very tough, and he pinched Hao Shangjiu's weakness. At this time, Chen Kai no longer paid attention to Hao Shangjiu's movements, but only focused on his micro-expressions. What he saw was sometimes a vicious wolf pounced fiercely on a poor rabbit not far away, and sometimes it was a rabbit fleeing in a hurry to avoid the wolf's pursuit. Cruelty and cowardice repeatedly appeared in Hao Shangjiu's expression, and it wasn't until after a long time that it seemed that there was too much inner drama and he was tired of acting, and he regained his helplessness.

"What good can you give me?"

Hearing this, Chen Kai showed a smile, and then said solemnly to Hao Shangjiu: "Your jurisdiction is in Huizhou Mansion, where there is a coast. Your goods can be shipped by Guangdong Trading Company, so you can avoid the license. Moreover, with the banner of the Zheng family, it is safer at sea, at least in the coastal and South Seas, there are few people who dare to brush the tiger's whiskers. ”

"However, you have to remember that from today onwards, you are my Chen Kai's person, just like Li Jianjie, the righteous son of your old master." Speaking of this, Chen Kai sneered, and then continued: "To be honest, I like subordinates like Li Jianjie very much, because he is an upright and loyal man. As for you, I also hope to be able to see something to appreciate from you. Even, don't say anything about appreciating it or not, as long as you are willing to be obedient, I, Chen Kai, will naturally not be stingy. ”

………………

The negotiations soon ended, and when Chen Kai returned to Chaozhou by boat, he deliberately discussed with Zhang Jin, who was not at all surprised that he had taken out the unrecovered areas of Huizhou as bargaining chips. As for the reason, they know each other.

The boat travels on the Hanjiang River, down the river, the scenery on both sides of the river, Chen Kai has seen it countless times over the years, but each time the mood is different, and it is inevitable that there is a big or small difference.

Soon, Chen Kai and his entourage returned to the capital city of Chaozhou. Who knows, after getting off the boat, there are already family members waiting at the pier. When he saw Chen Kai, the first thing he did was to bow to the ground and congratulate Cheng Kai: "Congratulations to the master, congratulations to the master, Mrs. has just given birth to a pair of dragon and phoenix fetuses, great joy, great joy." ”