In the early spring of March 1684, Chengdu already had some warmth. In a heavily guarded side hall somewhere in the shogunate of the Sichuan Jiedu Envoy of the Great Shun Kingdom, Liu Qi, the secretary of the Jiedu, was reviewing some documents.

He is now the most relied on civil official of the benefactor Liu Zhonggui, and the main operator of the entire shogunate to send and distribute and deal with foreign affairs, so his ability naturally does not need to be repeated, which can be seen from the requirements of his official position: "The appointment of secretary is also difficult!" Yuan Rong neatly organized the soldiers of the three armies, commanded the ministry of the department, guarded the country, praised the Son of Heaven for education, and outside the guests and neighbors, its pilgrimage, appointment, consolation, sacrifice, prayer text, and the government of the department, the order of the three armies was deposed, and all the things of the text were issued by the secretary. If you are not a person who is sensitive and sensitive, you will not be able to live it. ”

In other words, most of Sichuan's military, cultural, educational, diplomatic, pilgrimage, personnel, sacrificial and other policies and official documents were written by him. This not only required him to be proficient in his rhetoric, but also required him to correctly understand the meaning of Liu Zhonggui, the supreme governor of the shogunate, that is, Liu Zhonggui, the envoy of the Sichuan Jiedu, who was undoubtedly a civil official in Liu Zhonggui's inner circle, and also one of his most relied on confidants.

And when talking about this, we can't fail to mention the special status of Liu Zhonggui's shogunate (that is, the former Dashun Zuoying), that is, they have great autonomy in military power, financial power, and personnel power. According to the Changsha court, the Sichuan shogunate was: "...... Professionals are invited to support the curtain, and the posts are in accordance with the system. There are those who move and stop within the number, or they must be replaced, and they are allowed to play. If you use other officials, you can get it if you don't play. ”

From here, it can be seen that what officials Liu Zhonggui wants to appoint, he only needs to report to the imperial court afterwards, and there is no need to obtain prior approval. Although the number of these officials is strictly regulated, and the diplomatic power still belongs to the imperial court, it is really already a great independence, which is not only the abuse left over from the five-battalion military system in history, but also the left battalion fought bravely, and the surprise troops entered Sichuan alone - well, this is a bit exaggerated, but it is not too much - for the sake of laying down a piece of heaven and earth, it is a miracle and has to be rewarded, so it has the privilege of opening alone.

Compared with Liu Zhonggui, Guo Sheng, the former Jiangxi Jiedu envoy who also laid down Jiangxi alone, did not have this kind of good luck. Born in the middle battalion, he was deeply controlled by Li Guo, and Changsha participated in all aspects such as personnel transfer, money and grain distribution, and army reorganization, so his independence was far less than that of Liu Zhonggui. This has nothing to do with anything else, only related to the background and resources at his disposal, who made your father not a veteran of Li Zicheng's era - when Li Zicheng led 200,000 soldiers and horses through Shanxi to attack Beijing, Liu Fangliang alone led a detachment of 100,000 people to detour south and north, blocking the road to the south of Chongzhen's monarchs.

Therefore, Guo Sheng did not get the privilege of opening and building a government until his death, and a lot of power in Jiangxi was controlled by the Changsha court, especially after the reorganization of the army in the later period. Of course, Guo Sheng himself has no intention of separating himself, and he is also very deferential to Li Guo, so he is very powerful on the surface in Jiangxi, and he has maintained a so-called "monarch and minister" drama with Changsha to the end of his life. And Guo Sheng is like this, Guo Shi'an, the nephew who inherited his throne and is also his confidant, is even less powerful than him, only smaller. Now Guo Shi'an is also sixty or seventy years old, with the average life expectancy of this era, I believe that he will not live too long, and when he goes, I am afraid that Jiangxi Jiedu will make this position can also be revoked, or just become a beautiful official who gives important ministers titles, which no longer has practical significance.

Understanding this, we can know more clearly how difficult it is for Liu Zhonggui to have the current situation! Sitting in the land of half a province, the elite soldiers under his command gathered, opened and built the mansion alone, Weifu used it for his own use, I don't know how many people are envious! At least, the right battalion Yuan Bao and Shangluo Mountain He Daoning Department of the Dashun Army, which still retain a certain degree of independence, are very envious, and faintly take it as an example, and want to fight the world, and then also open a shogunate and make a marshal, how free and easy, and it is also justified, how good!

However, judging from the current situation of Shun and Qing, it is very difficult to do this. Yuan Bao's right battalion (handed down by his father Yuan Zongdi) was trapped on the front line in Hubei, like a dragon swimming in shallow water, unable to move, and had to consume each other with the Qing army every day, although the supplies were sufficient, but the old brothers who had been fighting for many years suffered many casualties, which was not a good thing. But Yuan Bao can't say anything about this matter, he can only break his teeth and swallow blood, who let you stand on the front line and there is no land around you that can be developed? Looking around, in addition to the Qing army fortress, it is still a Qing army fortress, and it is impossible to seize the opportunity of Wu Sangui's old thief to fall ill and enter Sichuan as blatantly, this is bad luck, no wonder.

And He Daoning, who inherited the inheritance from his father He Zhen, is a little unbearable compared to Yuan Bao. Because his father He Zhen had a black history of surrendering to the Qing army for a short time, and guarded the northwest many times, he was quite unfamiliar with the rule of the Changsha court. Later, Li Zicheng went to Huguang, and He Zhen's father and son also killed the Qing court supervisors, resolutely went south to rebuild, and finally joined the Dashun system. It's just that for various reasons, they have never been able to integrate into Li Guo's inner circle, and they have been stationed in Shangluo Mountain to harass the Qing army in Shaanxi, so the connection with Changsha is not very close.

Now He Daoning is cramped in the Shangluo Mountains, the territory is narrow and barren, and most of his daily needs depend on the outside world. In the past, there was still Zuoying to help some money and goods, but now that Zuoying has entered Sichuan, most of Yunyang Mansion has been taken back by the Changsha Imperial Court, and they are even more completely dependent on the Changsha Imperial Court, so it is also expected that they will be completely controlled and subdued in the end, not to mention the fact that it is self-contained and engaged in the affairs of an independent kingdom, which is simply impossible.

Therefore, there is a tendency for the current mountains in the Dashun system to slowly melt. In this way, Zuoying, who occupies the essence of Sichuan and opens and builds a government alone, is more eye-catching, which means that most of the pressure has to be borne by them. At this point, Liu Qi, as the secretary of Liu Zhonggui's shogunate, has already felt it, and the tree is a big move!

Liu Qi finished reviewing some of the documents and comprehended some of the meanings, and then put them aside, planning to hand them over to the officials for sorting and filing later. And he himself, let a servant make a pot of coffee, intending to taste this novelty given by a friend on the east coast, I heard that it was quite delicious, and I don't know if it is true or not.

While the next person went to make coffee, Liu Qi leaned back in the chair, squinted his eyes slightly, and thought about the news he heard from the marshal Liu Zhonggui in the morning, that is, Li Dingguo of the small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty had withdrawn from southern Sichuan, the reason is unknown, it is reported that he probably had different views with Sun Kewang on some matters, and the contradictions deepened, so he became ill. Liu Qi thinks that this is actually very possible, because Li Dingguo is now quite old, over sixty, he was lying on the ice and eating snow when he was young, and his body was very depleted. Later, he was uncertain, fighting in the south and the north, working hard, and there must be a lot of dark diseases in this body, and I don't know if I can get up after falling ill this time. And if he can't get up, then he can persuade the commander to send a force of troops and horses south to recover some prefectures and counties in the south that were occupied by Li Dingguo taking advantage of the chaos, although in fact, they were occupied from Wu Sangui's rule and did not confront Dashun head-on.

This army of soldiers and horses is not much more expensive, only 5,000 people are enough. After all, after Li Dingguo's elite main force withdrew, those second-line troops guarding the place should not be able to form a climate, but they can be pacified one by one. However, some people believe that this move may be bad with Nanming, and Liu Zhonggui should be cautious and not make the enemy suffer from it. They felt that instead of sending troops to recruit those people and horses in Xiying, who were already destined to become climate, it was better to clean up the many Tusi leaders in the jurisdiction.

These local snakes, taking advantage of the great changes in the situation in Sichuan, have raised troops to create Wu Sangui's rebellion, and they have seized some territory. Later, with the end of the Sichuan War, the situation became clearer and clearer, and these people quietly retreated, but it was an indisputable fact that they did not listen to orders, so how could Liu Zhonggui endure it? What's more, many of them are unclear with the Qing court, and when the more than 100,000 troops on both sides fought in Sichuan, many people even sided with the Qing army.

In addition, recently some orders have been sent from Changsha, asking Sichuan Town to send troops to the east to assist the troops in Hunan to clear out the Tusi forces in the territory and liberate the population. After all, now that the war on the front line in Hubei has no match, the meaning of dying down is very strong, and it is time to free up his hands to clean up the independent kingdom in the territory.

Liu Qi thinks that this matter is actually quite important. Some of these toast heads are quite good, with a relatively respectful attitude, and they are willing to maintain a good relationship with the outside world; Some are very closed, conservative, and unfriendly, but they also occupy some land transportation arteries leading to Guizhou and Sichuan, and rob and kill business travelers at every turn, which is very hateful. Whether it is friendly or unfriendly, there is no doubt that Tusi has a lot of manpower and resources at hand, but it cannot be properly integrated into the governance of the imperial court, on the contrary, it has to waste a lot of management costs, which is simply unreasonable.

In the past, there was no time to take care of them, but this time Li Laiheng planned to take out some of his men to clean up the Tusi forces in the territory, open up trade routes, promote commerce, and increase the income of the imperial treasury, so he planned to do it thoroughly. Therefore, the Changsha side also issued a letter to the Liu Zhonggui shogunate in Chengdu, asking it to send some soldiers and horses - there are no certain rules for how many to send, but it is not less than 10,000 people, otherwise it is to despise the imperial court, and this is not to think about living a good life - to assist the Changsha court in the clean-up operation. For this reason, Zhang Neng, a veteran of the Zhongying camp who had not left Chongqing Mansion, had also led his troops eastward and took the lead in starting the war to clean up the Tusi forces, which could be regarded as showing the sincerity of the imperial court.

"There is a division of toast in western Sichuan, and the king is the hegemon; There is also a toast in southern Sichuan, and there are also people and horses in Xiying; There are also a large number of Tusi forces at the junction of eastern Sichuan, Guizhou and Hunan. These bastards were quite obedient when the previous dynasty was at its peak, but once the Central Plains was in turmoil and the war was endless, these people showed their true faces again, divided one side, and claimed to be the king. The imperial court has ruled Hunan for so many years, and some familiar vassals are more respectful, but many things have to be discussed with them, which is a great shame. Liu Qi thought secretly: "But now that the Tartar court is in trouble, and the situation in the country and dynasty has greatly improved, it is time to recruit a large army to eliminate them." Otherwise, those grass-headed kings may still feel that the court is weak and can be bullied. ”

The "Tartars are in trouble" that Liu Qi just mentioned was naturally the news revealed to them by the merchants on the east coast in Chengdu. Under Zuo Ying's many confirmations, he already believed a little, so his emotions became agitated again, wondering if he would take the opportunity to expand his territory again. However, after thinking about it for a long time, Liu Zhonggui finally decided to stabilize the internal situation, and after recuperation, he would go on a large-scale northern expedition to attack many prefectures and counties and passes controlled by the Qing army in northern Sichuan.

And since it is not going north, then what is the next strategic choice of Zuoying or Sichuan Town, it is actually obvious, that is, to go south, but this is limited by the overall national policy of the Dashun court. In other words, it is very simple for Liu Zhonggui to send troops south, but whether it will damage the major affairs of the Changsha Imperial Court, and then cause the collapse of the overall situation, is something that needs to be carefully considered. Liu Qi has been in the scene for many years, has been involved in secrets, and knows the stakes well, so he feels that it is harmless to send thousands of soldiers and horses to take advantage of Li Dingguo's illness to retreat to Yunnan, and to take advantage of some advantages in southern Sichuan.

But if you go south with all your army and start a war with Nanming to destroy the country, then the problem is big! First of all, regardless of whether you can quickly defeat those men and horses in Xiying, as far as the Qing side is concerned, will they watch you do this? How can it be! Do you think that the Qing troops in northern Sichuan and Hanzhong are all dead? It's true that people are in trouble now, but this doesn't mean that when you take most of the elite men and horses to attack Yunnan, Zhao Liangdong of the Hanzhong battalion can't create enough obstacles for you, and that kind of self-confidence Zuo Battalion doesn't have it yet.

Therefore, when the time is not ripe for going north and south, sorting out internal affairs and clearing the toast probably becomes the only choice. And this, in fact, is also a microcosm of the overall strategic situation of the Dashun court today, the north can't, the south and the rat bogey, it's so embarrassing, it seems that for the time being, you can only clean the portal, and then take the opportunity to carefully test the reaction of a wave of forces, including the people on the east coast, to the possible south of Dashun, and prepare for the large-scale southern expedition in the future - of course, if you feel that the resistance will be great, the southern expedition will still be suspended, no way, the strategic situation of Dashun is too embarrassing, you have to be careful.