In the early morning of the second day of the prison robbery, after learning that Gu Yanwu and others had been rescued, the donkey lying on the hospital bed fainted with a miserable howl, and the first thing he did after waking up was to tie him up from someone and put him in a prison car and take him to Beijing to plead guilty. And Zhu Guozhi, Han Shiqi and other Jiangsu officials also fainted after listening to the reports of various losses in Yangzhou City—since the outbreak of the plague, Yangzhou City has suffered from more than 7,000 plague patients, and the death toll is conservatively estimated to be more than half, and the number of Yangzhou gentry and common people who have fled Yangzhou City to escape the plague has exceeded 50,000 people—and a large number of salt merchants are willing to give up the huge profits of salt transportation to flee with the people in order to survive, but the salt tax, the pillar of the Manchu Dynasty's finances, cannot be collected.

The bad is still to come, because of the plague rampant and the arson of Yangzhou City, a large number of hooligans, unemployed vagrants and poor people, and even many Qing soldiers took advantage of the opportunity to hunt down the Qin criminals to join the ranks of taking advantage of the fire to rob, while openly breaking into the house, robbing property and raping ** women, while participating in arson to create more opportunities for chaos and profit, so that the prosperous Yangzhou City was completely burned by the fire overnight as many as more than ten streets, hundreds of large and small streets were damaged to varying degrees, and brought a new chain reaction, Countless residents were homeless, or joined the ranks of robbery, or fled the city shrouded in plague and turmoil with their wives and children. In addition, there is also a news that makes Wu Yuanming smile and crooked his mouth and makes Kangxi angry, the millions of quintals of rice hoarded in Yangzhou wharves and warehouses were snatched and burned in the turmoil, and most of these rice are the living food in the mouths of those full people in Beijing.

"Mom, it's over, this time I can't keep not only my head, but also my head." After waking up, the first thing Zhu Guozhi, the governor of Jiangsu, did was to tear open his throat and cry, crying bitterly for his bleak future. And Yangzhou Governor Han Shiqi is a magistrate in Yangzhou, Yangzhou has such a big mess and he can't escape, but after waking up, he didn't cry or make trouble - but directly found a rope around his neck, kicked over the chair and hanged himself, and was rescued by the frightened next maid, Han Shiqi cried: "Let me die, let me die!" Cao Mi is finished! The salt tax is over! If I die and apologize, my nine clans will be finished! ”

"Let me die!" "I can't save my head!" Han Shiqi and Zhu Guozhi are begging for death, the other is afraid of death, and the other is crying and shouting to put himself into the prisoner car. Nan Huairen, another big celebrity in front of Kangxi, was walking back and forth in his room, looking anxious and hesitant, and the reason for Nan Huairen's anxiety was nothing else - it was the machine gun that Wu Yuanming used to intimidate the Qing army.

Unlike the superstitious Qing army who believed in ghosts and gods, although Nan Huairen believed in God, he knew more about firearms and muskets, so after Wu Ciyou and other survivors from the prison scene introduced him to the pipa that could continuously breathe fire and kill people, Nan Huairen immediately concluded that the pipa was not a magic weapon, but a new type of musket that could be fired continuously! This conclusion is undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for Nan Huairen, because it means that Chinese has far surpassed Europe in the development of firearms, if it is allowed to develop and improve, when the Chinese army is equipped with a large number of such muskets, then the European army will become vulnerable in front of the Chinese army, and all European colonies in the world will be surrendered to China! This is absolutely unacceptable to Nan Huairen, who is a European.

After thinking about it, Nan Huairen decided to take two ways to strangle and seize this musket, the first was to give Kangxi a harshly worded note, calling that new musket the devil's masterpiece and a cursed weapon, and saying that once this musket fell into the hands of the Han anti-thieves who opposed the imperial court, the archery and horse advantage of the Manchu Eight Banners would no longer exist, and the Manchu rule over China could not only not be maintained, but it was a big question whether all the Manchus could return to the Northeast to continue to divide and stand on their own! Therefore, please Kangxi issued an order to trace down the source of this musket, and exterminate all the people who invented and used this musket, so as to prevent this musket from circulating and copying among the Han people - Nan Huairen knew Kangxi's character very well, and he would not be soft on all people and things that threatened the rule of the Manchu Dynasty, so Nan Huairen had absolute confidence that Kangxi would approve this performance.

Because of the hand injury caused by the cannon explosion, Nan Huairen's memo to Kangxi was written by the master and then he used the seal, and after the fold was sealed and sent to Beijing in an expedited manner of 600 li, Nan Huairen drove away the master, personally lifted the quill with his injured hand, and crookedly wrote a letter in Latin to the Dutchman Raumo (Note: 1), one of the managers of the Dutch East India Company, and Raumo was temporarily living in Macao because of business, and Nan Huairen had contact with him when he went to Guangzhou to buy a new red-coated cannon, knowing that he would not leave Macao for the time being. In the letter, Nan Huairen focused on the magic of the repeating musket, analyzed the terrible consequences of this musket being equipped by the Chinese army, and asked Raumo to use his manpower and financial resources to find this musket and bring it back to Europe, so that European musket experts can study and imitate and improve it, and absolutely not allow the Chinese to use this to seize the interests and territory of European countries in the world. And this Latin letter was also sent to Macao by Nan Huairen in an expedited 600 miles......

……

Jiangnan is the most important financial base of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, post transportation is very developed, Nan Huairen's 600 miles of expedited music was sent to Beijing in less than three days - this day is definitely an unhappy day for Kangxi, because the defeat of the Chani army in Luoma Lake, the turmoil in Yangzhou, the robbery of the Qin prisoners, the killing of the Gaoyou County Order and the explosion of the red-clothed cannon bought with a lot of money, etc., were sent to Kangxi in this day or two, and the defeated general Weng Wotu in Suqian was also taken to Beijing by Kong Sizhen, Zhou Peigong and others on the first day, was also received by Kangxi on this day.

"Zhu Guozhi, Han Shiqi, I want to break your corpses into ten thousand pieces!" In the upper study, Kangxi, who had watched the turmoil in Yangzhou, was so angry that he smashed a Junyao teacup, and was so frightened that Suo Etu, Mingzhu, Xiong Cixu, Prince Kang Jieshu and Ji Bilong, who were in the upper study, fell to their knees and shouted together, "The ministers are waiting for ten thousand deaths". And Kong Sizhen and Zhou Peigong, the two heroes of the Suqian Waterway victory, were also so frightened that they knelt behind Suo Etu and the others, sweating all over their bodies. Kangxi was the only one left in the study room of Nuo University, and he roared, "Cao Mi can't enter Beijing, what can I do to support the Eight Banners?" If the salt tax can't come up, what will I do to repair the Qianqing Palace and the Chengde Summer Resort? What do I pay for the 350,000 troops I newly conquered in Rehe, Liaodong, and Inner Mongolia? What to raise an army? Zhu Guozhi, Han Shiqi, even if I kill you 10,000 times, I can't get rid of the hatred in my heart! ”

"Your Majesty, according to Mr. Wu Ciyou's report, the main responsibility for the Yangzhou turmoil and the robbery of the Qin prisoners should lie with Han Shiqi, the prefect of Yangzhou." Shang Shumingzhu, the new military department, said cautiously: "Han Shiqi, as the head of a government, has lax supervision over the local government and is powerless to control thieves, and he should be responsible for the assassination of the imperial court officials by the anti-thieves and the turmoil in Yangzhou. However, Zhu Guozhi was in charge of hundreds of prefectures and counties in the eleven prefectures of Jiangsu, but he only went to Yangzhou to greet the Qincha, and did not interfere in local government affairs. What's more, Zhu Guozhi is loyal to the emperor, and asks the emperor to spare him from death. ”

Don't think that Mingzhu said good things to Zhu Guozhi out of good intentions, mainly because Zhu Guozhi used the three pairs of Wu Daozi's true deeds to honor Wu Ciyou, Wu Ciyou instructed Zhu Guozhi to bribe Mingzhu with 50,000 taels of silver, and Mingzhu said words to intercede for Zhu Guozhi. And Kangxi actually knew this matter between Mingzhu and Zhu Guozhi, and after glancing at Mingzhu, Kangxi gritted his teeth and ordered: "Pass the decree, capture the Yangzhou prefect Han Shiqi's family and enter Beijing, and hand over Dali Temple to try and convict." Zhu Guozhi was demoted to five levels, temporarily belonging to the government affairs of Jiangsu, and cooperated with Qin Cha to re-collect rice and raise silver salaries to the north, and if there was another accident, he was asked to come to me! ”

Kangxi announced the holy decree here, and Xiong Cixu drafted and polished it, and when Kangxi finished speaking, Xiong Cixu had already written the will, Kangxi was satisfied but was not in a hurry to use the seal, and turned to everyone and said: "Zhuqing, Yangzhou is in turmoil and the rice has been destroyed, and the salt tax cannot be collected by half, and the internal affairs government is stretched. ”

"The slave is willing to go." Suo Etu was the first to kowtow and replied. And Prince Kang Jieshu and Ji Bilong also scrambled to kowtow and said: "The slave is willing to serve the emperor as a dog and horse." "Since Aobai lost power and was killed, Jieshu and Kubilong, who have a good relationship with Aobai, have become frightened birds, and they both want to escape from Beijing's nest of right and wrong as soon as possible, not to mention that the grain and salary are a fat difference, and the two are even more willing to go. And Suo Etu knew that his beloved daughter went to Jiangnan and wanted to go to Jiangnan to see if he could have the opportunity to meet his daughter. These three people are fighting for me, Wei Dongting, the head of the imperial guard standing behind Kangxi, was anxious, killed the chicken and wiped his neck to make a look at Mingzhu, and pointed his index finger at himself, signaling that he also wanted to go, and asked Mingzhu to recommend himself.

"Your Majesty, the servant will be able to hold one person." Mingzhu knew that Kangxi had long wanted to release his henchman Wei Dongting as an official, and he was also happy to be a favor, so he kowtowed and said: "Wei Dongting, a first-class guard in front of the emperor, is both civil and military, both good at civil affairs and military strategy, loyal to the country and cautious, and will definitely be able to complete the great task of raising food and salary, and broadcast the emperor's favor to Jiangnan." ”

"Very good, it's time for Xiao Weizi to go out and practice." In fact, Kangxi also wanted to hand over this fat difference to his henchmen, so he immediately nodded and agreed. Wei Dongting was overjoyed and hurriedly kowtowed to Kangxi to thank him. Kangxi instructed again: "Xiao Weizi, in addition to preparing for food and salary, I have three other things for you to do. First, you should bring more good doctors from the Tai Hospital, and let them consult with the plague patients after arriving in Yangzhou, and prescribe medicines to raise medicines for distribution, and you must not let the plague spread like this again. Jiangnan is an important place for me to pay for grain and pay in the Qing Dynasty, and there is no room for error. ”

"Minions remember." Wei Dongting replied respectfully. Kangxi nodded, and said: "The second is the incident of Nan Huairen, Nan Huairen said that there is a kind of musket in Jiangnan that may shake the foundation of my Qing Dynasty, and that musket is in the hands of those thieves who robbed the prisoner and rescued the Qin prisoners at this moment, you bring more good hands, try to find and kill all those people, and the origin and maker of that musket are also checked, find out who made the kind of musket, whether he is the prince Baylor or the official of the court, all of them will be killed!" ”

"Slaves obey!" Wei Dongting had a headache, and said in his heart that those anti-thieves came and went without a trace, and this matter was not easy to handle. Kangxi saw Wei Dongting's difficulty, and added: "Mr. Wu is in Jiangnan at the moment, you can ask him to help you come up with ideas, Mr. Wu is resourceful, and he has seen those thieves with his own eyes, there must be a way to help you do this." Wei Dongting nodded happily, kowtowed again and said, "Thank you for your master's advice, the slave must ask Mr. Wu for advice." I just don't know what the third thing the master wants the slave to do? ”

"This third thing is the most important, and it is related to the fortune of my Qing Dynasty." Kangxi said very seriously: "After the death of Wu Yingxiong's dog thief, Wu Fan not only did not send protons into Beijing, but aggressively established contact with Tibet, exchanged Yunnan salt tea for Tibetan horses, and also wantonly introduced sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn and other food products suitable for growing in Yunnan and Guizhou, and there is a tendency to get rid of the grain control of the Central Plains, and the signs of rebellion are becoming more and more obvious. Although I have recruited 350,000 troops in the north for training, we are short of food and salary, and the training equipment is half the effort. Therefore, I want you to escort the Jiangnan tax silver into Beijing with the Jiangnan Eight Banners Army after raising food and salary, and there must be no accidents on the way. ”

"Your Majesty, the slave will be guaranteed by the head, and the treasury will be safely escorted back to Beijing with silver and the food and salary required by the Internal Affairs Office. Wei Dongting kowtowed and replied loudly. Kangxi said gloomily: "Jiangnan tax silver is the foundation of my Qing Dynasty, if there is an accident, what is the use of killing your head?" There was really an accident, your Nine Clans are waiting for Ling Chi to be executed. ”

Kangxi's words were extremely cold, which made Wei Dongting shudder involuntarily, but the area through which the Jiangnan tax and silver were escorted back to Beijing was all in the area controlled by the imperial court, and there were no large bandits along the way, and there were also Jiangnan Eight Banner Army involved in the escort, Wei Dongting was not too worried about this, and respectfully agreed to Kangxi's request. And Suo Etu raised his eyebrows, and secretly decided to secretly inform Wu Sangui of this matter tonight - Suo Etu did not want Wu Sangui to send someone to make trouble and rob the silver, but because Wei Dongting and most of his subordinates knew Wu Yingxiong and Hui'er, and they might meet by chance. So Suo Etu wanted Wu Sangui to get in touch with Wu Yingxiong as soon as possible, and let Wu Yingxiong leave Jiangnan with his beloved daughter. Of course, Suo Etu later regretted this decision too......

After making a decision to deal with the turmoil in Yangzhou and its sequelae, Kangxi finally suppressed his anger to deal with the merits and punishments of the Luoma Lake bandit war, the battle of Luoma Lake was full of twists and turns, the Qing army first suffered three heavy defeats and then had a big victory, Kong Sizhen and Zhou Peigong were the commanders who won the battle, Kangxi naturally rewarded him heavily, Kong Sizhen rewarded the princess of Shuangheshuo, and although the reward was light, Kong Sizhen was not angry - Kangxi did not hold her accountable for letting the Qing soldiers of the four big ships die in vain, but just smiled and thanked the reward. And Zhou Peigong was named the head of the military department and the counselor of the Yamen of the infantry army commander by Kangxi because of the strong recommendation and praise of Kong Sizhen and Wu Ciyou. The head of the military department is from the third-rank official, Zhou Peigong got this position from a small person, and he was so excited that he cried bitterly and swore allegiance to Kangxi, and Kangxi also accepted it calmly.

rewarded the meritorious ministers, and now it is time to defeat the battle Chani and Weng Wotu are unlucky, and the verdict that the two fell on is also a world of difference, Chani is the imperial prince, Kangxi will definitely not kill him, and Chani is a rich official, and there is a lot of silver to bribe Kong Sizhen and Mingzhu and other Kangxi ministers, they will naturally say good things for Chani. Kong Sizhen also reported to Kangxi in a righteous and stern manner: "Emperor Qi, although General Chani was defeated, he was defeated because the sergeants were not accustomed to water, and the lack of ships and weapons were not in order to send the troops to fail, and after the defeat of the army, he commanded Ruoding, so that the losses of our army were reduced to a minimum, although the defeat was still glorious." And the Suqian River Defense Battalion garrison Weng Wotu, as a general who was demoted from his post, did not govern the army strictly, and most of the soldiers were lazy and lazy, which made the water thieves calmly burn the warships and rob a large number of grain, grass and weapons, and also forced General Chani to fight with temporarily requisitioned civilian ships, which were far inferior to the water thieves in terms of speed and hull! It is no exaggeration to say that seventy percent of the responsibility for General Chani's defeat at Llama Lake lies with Weng Wotu. ”

The Manchu Qing Dynasty was not established for a long time, and the corruption in the army was far less serious than that of later generations, so Kangxi knew that most of Kong Sizhen's words were helping Chani shirk his responsibilities and rectify Weng Wotu to death - nonsense, Weng Wotu annihilated the Luoma Lake water thieves with hundreds of people, and destroyed more enemies than Chani's 6,000 troops, and it is clear who is superior and who is inferior. But Kangxi also knew that Chani was surnamed Aixin Jueluo, and Weng Wotu's surname was Guerjia, and after hesitating for a moment, Kangxi asked Mingzhu: "Mingzhu, you said in the song that Weng Wotu was a person who was demoted by a crime, what crime did he commit?" What was your previous position? ”

"Your Majesty." Mingzhu raised his eyebrows, and replied loudly: "That Weng Wotu was originally a guerrilla general from Sanpin in Xuzhou, and was also in charge of the canal and river defense in Xuzhou, in early June this year, he connived at his subordinates and soldiers under the command of General Chani to fire and fight, killing one of the sentry chiefs, three captains, and more than ten soldiers under General Chani. The matter was reported to the minion, and the minion asked him to be demoted to three levels to defend the Suqian River, not wanting him to be unrepentant and poke such a big leak. ”

"Early June? Hmph, no wonder! Since Weng Wotu's surname is Guerjia, Kangxi immediately remembered that on May 23, he personally led the army to besiege Aobai - Aobai is also surnamed Guerjia, and in early June, it was the day when the news of Aobai's fall reached Xuzhou. Angry, Kangxi shouted angrily: "Conniving at subordinates and friendly armies, privately conniving against the law soldiers, such a person can still be a general to lead the army?" What a joke! The decree was issued, summoning Chani back to Beijing to report on his work, demoting him to another position, and fining him for one year. As for that Weng Wotu, immediately launch the noon gate and ask for a cut! After that, Kangxi sat back on the couch weakly, waved his hand, and said, "You go out and do your own thing, I'm tired and want to rest for a while." ”

"Hooray, hooray, hooray!" Three shouts of long live sounded in the upper study hall, Suo Etu, Mingzhu and Xiong Cixu and other ministers of the study went to the outer hall to work, Kong Sizhen and Zhou Peigong and other ministers could leave the Forbidden City and go home to rest, Kong Sizhen swayed her willow waist and was about to leave the back hall of the upper study, Kangxi suddenly beckoned to her and said: "Sigege, you stay, and tell me about interesting things on the rivers and lakes alone." Kong Sizhen smiled, and sure enough, he stopped and turned his head and smiled charmingly at Kangxi.

"Let's all go out, and I'll be alone with Si Gege for a while." Kangxi stole a glance at Kong Sizhen's bewitching posture, forcibly suppressed the evil fire in his heart, and drove out the eunuchs and palace maids who were waiting on the side with a calm voice. After only Kong Sizhen and Kangxi were left in the back hall, Kong Sizhen walked up to Kangxi in a curling manner, and said with a coquettish smile: "Your Majesty, what do you want the slave to tell you interesting...... Not. Before Kong Sizhen's words were finished, Kangxi couldn't wait to pull her into his arms, and his hand wearing a jasper wrench skillfully slid into the belly pocket of Kong Sizhen's underwear, and rubbed it vigorously on Kong Sizhen's snow jade meat peak......