On the fifteenth day of the leap month, Li Chengdong, the governor of Guangdong in the Qing Dynasty, announced that it was anyway, and the two provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi immediately announced that they would change their banners and change their names to Emperor Yongli of the Ming Dynasty. Such a happy event, for the Yongli Imperial Court, was also after repeated inquiries and confirmations before daring to dispel doubts.

Anyway, Li Chengdong's congratulatory table and concert sent to Nanning Mansion, even if Emperor Yongli canonized Li Chengdong as the Marquis of Guangchang, Tong Yangjia as Xiangpingbo, and promoted Geng Xianzhong to the secretary of the military department, and the latter also sent a messenger to welcome Emperor Yongli to move to Guangzhou Mansion in Guangdong, coordinate the overall situation in the most influential city in South China, and dispatch the monarchs to restore the Jiangshan Sheji.

However, Li Chengdong's proposal was met with opposition from a large number of civil and military officials, including the university scholar Qu Shiyun. The reason for this is nothing more than the fear that the imperial court will move to Guangzhou, and Li Chengdong's lair will be manipulated by officials anyway. But Li Chengdong was full of ambition, and Emperor Yongli could not always nest in Nanning Mansion, so he always wanted to go east to appease and deter Jin Shenghuan and Li Chengdong with the emperor's prestige, so he simply chose a compromise location, Zhaoqing Mansion - where Emperor Yongli ascended the throne that year, which was not only within the boundaries of Guangdong, but also not within Li Chengdong's core sphere of influence, finally achieved the best of both worlds, and it was justified.

On the tenth day of the sixth month, the Yongli Imperial Court set off from Nanning, and Li Chengdong sent his adopted son Li Yuanyin to Wuzhou to meet the holy driver. On the first day of the first month of August, the holy car arrived in Zhaoqing Fucheng, and Li Chengdong greeted the court in the suburbs, and prepared 10,000 taels of silver in the palace for the reward of Emperor Yongli.

When he first saw Yongli, Li Chengdong was very excited, and when he returned home, he said to his adopted son Li Yuanyin: "Honesty is not what Yuan Fantai said, the dragon watch is like a divine ancestor, and this is an auspicious omen of God's blessing!" ”

Emperor Yongli has an extraordinary appearance, quite the appearance of a gentleman, which makes people look at him and be in awe. This is a good thing, at least his appearance and temperament have added points to the loyalty of some courtiers. However, with the official operation of the Yongli Imperial Court in Zhaoqing Mansion, Li Chengdong soon discovered that this imperial court was not the same thing as he originally imagined.

Jin Shenghuan of Jiangxi was mainly in accordance with Emperor Longwu at the beginning anyway, but soon learned of Longwu's death, so he changed to Emperor Yongli as Emperor Ming orthodoxy. However, Jin Shenghuan had already proclaimed himself the Duke of Yuguo anyway, and the Yongli Imperial Court originally named him the Duke of Changguo, but in the end he had to recognize his title of Duke of Yuguo.

Jin Shenghuan raised a province anyway, and Li Chengdong's impact was even greater, so the Yongli Imperial Court simply promoted Li Chengdong's Marquis Guangchang to the Duke of Huiguo, so as not to cause dissatisfaction among others. Li Chengdong was very grateful for this, and he had a more respectful attitude towards the decrees of the imperial court, and even the personnel rights of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces were transferred.

However, with Jin Shenghuan and Li Chengdong being canonized as the Duke of Guo, the Guangxi warlord Chen Bangfu used his protection to blackmail the imperial court to seal it, and the Yongli Imperial Court really agreed to canonize him as the Duke of Qingguo.

After the court, Li Chengdong returned to Guangzhou to continue to arrange military affairs, and within a few days, the commander of the Jinyi Guard, who was quite trusted by Yongli, Wen'an Hou Ma Jixiang, came to visit and said to Li Chengdong: "The towns of Shangnian Guibiao will be from the public right, and the merit is indispensable, and the knighthood has not yet been awarded." Annoyance names so that they can be heard. ”

Ma Jixiang's words, to put it bluntly, are to let Li Chengdong issue a list of knights, and he will operate it. The first is to win over Li Chengdong to fight against other courtiers, and the other is to prove his own strength and influence to Li Chengdong.

Bestow the knight, this is a good thing after all, even if he is already the prince of the country, all the generals under his command are old subordinates who have followed him for many years, and he must always be decent. Seeing this, Li Chengdong thought about it for a while, and simply mentioned to Ma Jixiang face-to-face the rank of the generals under his command in the Qing court and their achievements over the years, especially in the matter of Anyway and the hard work since Anyway.

In this regard, Ma Jixiang listened silently, and in the end, he simply took out a blank recital that had been prepared, asked Li Chengdong for pen and ink, and began to write.

"Du Yonghe - Jiang Ningbo, Yan Keyi - Wu Zhibo, Zhang Yue - Bo Xingbo, Dong Fangce - Xuan Pingbo, Luo Chengyao - Bao Fengbo, Hao Shangjiu - Xin Taibo, Huang Yingjie - Fenghuabo, Yang Dafu - Le Anbo, Zhang Daoying - Zhen Anbo, Fan Chengen, Yang Youguang, Ye Chengen, Ma Bao are the same knowledge of the governor."

Ma Jixiang wrote, and Li Chengdong watched all this happen in amazement. If it is only recommended that the imperial court canonize the title, it should never be written in this way, especially not even the rank and name of the title should be written in detail, but should explain the merits, admonish the canonization, the title level is determined by the Son of Heaven, that is, the title, the Son of Heaven does not decide, it can also be drafted by the Hanlin Academy, and the cabinet will approve it on behalf of the Cabinet. Ma Jixiang acted so blatantly in front of him, which made him even more frightened.

After writing the recital, Ma Jixiang and Li Chengdong talked for a while, had a feast, and then set off to return to Zhaoqing. A few days later, the Yongli Imperial Court issued a decree to canonize a series of Li Chengdong's subordinates with the title of earl, in order to highlight and reward the merits of the Anyway.

“…… Canonized the head town of Du Yonghe as the ...... of Jiang Ningbo"

“…… Canonized the general town of Yan Keyi as the ...... of Wuzhibo"

“…… Canonized the head town Zhang Yue as Boxingbo ......"

“…… Canonized Dong Fangce as Xuanping Bo......"

“…… Canonized the head town of Luo Chengyao as the ...... of Baofengbo"

“…… Canonized the head town of Hao Shangjiu as the new Taibo ......"

“…… Canonized the head town of Huang Yingjie as the ...... of Fenghua"

“…… Canonized the town of Yang Dafu as the ...... of Le'anbo"

“…… Canonized the head town of Zhang Daoying as the town of Amber ......"

“…… Jin Qigu Fan Chengen, Yang Youguang, Ye Chengen, and Ma Bao are the governors of the same ......"

The eunuch in charge of the edict read out in the voice of a male duck, Li Chengdong was different from the excitement of those generals, recalling what he said to Ma Jixiang a few days ago, and his heart was cold.

After the edict ended, Li Chengdong returned to his residence and said to Li Yuanyin: "People say Emperor Ma, Emperor Ma or something, I didn't believe it at first, but I saw such a show today, and I really knew it-the court is a famous man, a fifth-class rank, and a military general with a knighthood can go hand in hand with high-ranking officials in the court, and fight against the court." But Ma Jixiang, a Marquis of Wen'an, is as easy as breathing to seek a title for others, how godly? ”

Speaking of which, Li Chengdong couldn't help but be a little discouraged: "Yuan Yin, I abandon my mother and young son, I just want to be able to prosper the Ming Dynasty and live up to the spirit of our ancestors and ancestors in the sky." Seeing this power traitor today, how can this great thing be accomplished? ”

The chaos of the Yongli Imperial Court really disappointed Li Chengdong very much, but he had already descended too many times, even if he was not much better than Lu Bu, how could he dare to think about it again. The more he thought of this, the more unhappy Li Chengdong became, so he simply poured himself a glass of water and wine, and poured it down with his neck tilted.

"Father-in-law, things are already like this, and it is useless to drink too much. Now we need to consider how to stand firm, since the situation is like this, we have to hold the authority even more, just in case. ”

"Yuan Yin, you're right, that's exactly how it should be."

Li Chengdong nodded, in recent days, he has also heard some rumors, it is said that those ministers who had been displaced with Yongli, especially the group of people led by the university scholar Qu Shiyun, were very disdainful of the characters who had returned anyway and had shaved their hair. The matter of party strife within the imperial court, he has not seen it in the Hongguang Dynasty, it is nothing more than Donglin and the eunuch party back then, and now it is the festival and anyway, there is no big difference.

"In the affairs of the court, let's join forces with Ma Jixiang, and let Yuan Pengnian and them go to compete with Qu Shiyun and those people. We are warriors, and in the final analysis, we still have to make contributions to the war in order to gain a firm foothold and gain the trust of the emperor. However, this Guangdong is no longer just our family, we must drive those Fujian Yankees away as soon as possible, we are very deceitful, and we must not let those guys have the opportunity to change their doors and deal with us together with Qu Shiyun. ”

"What my father-in-law said is very true, Guangdong, we must have the final say in order to control the situation."

"That's right, anyway, now Shi Fu, Shi Lang, and Huang Ting have been divided into two waterways by us. Since Ma Jixiang has energy, let him persuade the emperor to let these Fujian Yankees go back to Fujian. ”

"But father-in-law, the Zheng family has already entered Chaozhou, isn't this a return to the mountain?"

Chen Kai outwitted the capital city of Chaozhou, and the news that Zheng Chenggong swept the southern coast of Chaozhou had already reached Guangzhou, and Li Chengdong personally asked the staff of the Guangdong governor's yamen, and he was inevitably a little jealous of Chen Kai's cunning and Zheng Chenggong's anger.

At this moment, Li Yuanyin asked, and couldn't help frowning, but Li Chengdong explained confidently: "It's okay, Shi Fu is a water master, and we can't stop him when he goes back." However, Shi Lang and Huang Ting's gang are Lu Shi, and they want to walk back to Fujian from Shaozhou Mansion, and I have prepared a generous gift for them on the way, just waiting for them to sign for it. ”