As soon as Luo Xiujin and the others heard that Ji'er Harang asked them to contact the Ming army and prepare for peace talks. Luo Xiujin and Lin Tianqing glanced at each other, they didn't know if this was Zilharang's own idea or Dorgon's order.

Luo Xiujin asked cautiously: "Lord Zheng, don't you know that the matter of peace talks with the Ming army was also agreed by the regent?" ”

"This is natural, the matter of peace talks was agreed by the Queen Mother and the Regent! The two adults don't know that the envoys of the imperial court and the Shenwu imperial court have signed a contract in Beijing, otherwise how can the unknown army hand over Prince Yu's old ministry to me? ”

Luo Xiujin was relieved when she heard Zilharang say this, as long as the regent agreed.

"In that case, what should we say to Ming Jun?"

"Lord Luo, the king doesn't know much about the treaty, but the queen mother explained to me that the army is going to give Wuchang to our army, and then let our army go to Hunan to fight with the soldiers and horses of the Yongli court! So you just need to discuss with the Ming army when they will give up Wuchang! ”

Luo Xiujin was overjoyed when he heard Ji'er Harang say this, he had been confronting the Ming army on the other side for a year, because the water division on the opposite side was too strong, and they didn't even touch the city wall of Wuchang. Now that I heard that Zilharang explained that the army had reached a contract with the imperial court, Wuchang could get it without spending a single soldier, and of course I was very happy in my heart.

After Luo Xiujin and Lin Tianqing discussed some details with Zierharang, they took people back to Hanyang Mansion and prepared manpower to contact the Ming army on the other side.

Now the governor of Huguang in Wuchang City has been replaced by Liu Siyi, and the original governor of Huguang, Yu Yinggui, was transferred to Yangzhou by the emperor to become the governor of Yangzhou after Ma Jiyuan returned to the central government as the first assistant, which is regarded as leaving the bitter place of Huguang. The original governor of Jiangxi, Liu Siyi, was now promoted to the governor of Huguang and the governor of Hubei, and the governor of Jiangxi was succeeded by Zhang Jiayu, the original envoy.

Of course, Liu Siyi, who was promoted to governor, was happy, this was a high-ranking official from Yipin, and the same level as the cabinet elder, but after learning about the actual situation in Wuchang, Liu Sicheng had grasshopper eyes and grew long.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Huguang covered a large area, including the two provinces of Hunan and Hubei in later generations, with 16 prefectures under its jurisdiction and a population of more than 20 million. And the strategic location of Huguang is very important, Huguang is Jingzhou in the Three Kingdoms era, here north of Henan, Shaanxi, west of Sichuan, Guizhou, south of Liangguang, east of Jiangxi, from here, you can go down the river to attack Zhu Hongsan's hinterland Nanzhili, so Huguang is the heart of China.

If in peacetime, such an important direction can only be guarded by the emperor's cronies, but now this governor of Huguang is a complete chore.

Now Huguang is occupied by three parties, with the Yangtze River as the boundary, the south of Jiayu is occupied by the Yongli Emperor, Wuchang and several surrounding counties are occupied by the Shenwu Emperor, and the north of the Yangtze River is occupied by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, so that Huguang is divided into three, and it also forms the strange thing that the entire Huguang Cheng announced that the political envoy has three Huguang governors.

After the Chu Wangfu in the city of Wuchang was burned down by Zhang Xianzhong, the remaining ruins became the office of the Yamen of the Governor of Huguang and the Yamen of the Navy's inland river fleet. After receiving the letter from the Qing army on the other side, Liu Siyun immediately found two other big figures in the city, one was Ma Kun, the commander of the Wuchang Theater, and the other was Ding Hai, the commander of the navy's inland river fleet.

Although Ma Kun and Ding Hai are both admirals, army admirals and navy admirals are not the same thing. The army commander has a heavy army, and the official residence is from the first grade, and he is a real party member. However, the admiral of the navy can be served as long as he is the leader of the detachment, such as Ding Hai, who is only the commander of a small fleet of more than a dozen river gunboats, and he is also an admiral, but the grade is only from the third grade.

Liu Siyun was born in Hanlin, and he didn't look down on these Qiu Ba in the first place, so according to his intentions, he wanted to beat these guys a few times, and then let them work. However, Liu Siyun knew that it was different from before, this group of Qiu Ba was very trusted by the emperor, and I heard that this Ma Kun was still a proper protégé of the Son of Heaven, and he was a rootless Hanlin, so it was better to be careful with him.

Therefore, the new governor of Huguang, Liu Siyi, said in a rare tone: "The two generals are here, and there is just one thing to discuss with the two generals!" ”

Liu Siyun took out the handwritten letter from the Manchu Governor of Huguang and said: "Two generals, please see, at this time, the news from the Manchu Tartars, they want us to give up Wuchang according to the contract, what should you do?" ”

Ma Kun could read some words, but he could read the letters. Ding Hai was born as a pirate, and he was even more illiterate who didn't know a word.

Ma Kun smiled and said: "Lord Maker, we are all rough people, I don't recognize the letters, and I ask Lord Maker to explain it!" ”

Liu Siyun despised it in his heart, but he couldn't help it, so he explained the letter in the vernacular.

The meaning of the letter is very simple, that is, to ask Wuchang if the two imperial courts have signed a contract, Emperor Shenwu has ceded Wuchang to the Manchu Qing, and now the Qing army on the other side wants to cross the river to attack He Tengjiao in Yueyang, and ask Liu Siyun when he can make way.

Although Ma Kun doesn't study, he is not stupid, although the emperor has promised to give up Wuchang, but it is difficult to ensure that the emperor will turn over the accounts, what if the emperor does not admit the accounts at that time?

"Lord Taiwan, we are all military generals, and we are subject to the control of Lord Taiwan, we can just follow the arrangement of Lord Taiwan!"

Ding Hai is not the little pirate he was back then, and he has been immersed in officialdom for many years, so Ma Kun must know what he means when he says this, and he also echoed on the side: "Lord Taiwan, we all listen to adults!" ”

Liu Siyun secretly scolded these Qiu Ba for being cunning in his heart, but he couldn't help it, as the governor of Huguang, he was the highest governor of the entire Huguang Province in the legal sense. However, Liu Siyun is not afraid of these people throwing the pot, he also has a follow-up move, that is, the text just sent by the Military Aircraft Department, the emperor has decided to suspend the contract and is not ready to give up Wuchang.

Liu Siyun took out the text of the Military Aircraft Department and said: "Two generals, you see, this is the text just sent by the Military Aircraft Department yesterday, and the emperor is ready to suspend the contract with the Manchu Qing!" Now, two generals, how do you answer the Manchus? ”

Although Ding Hai is not stupid, but after all, he is a martial artist, and he is straightforward and fast-talking, and he heard Liu Siyun say this and said loudly: "Lord Taiwan, General Ma, since there is an order from His Majesty, then I will discuss with the Manchu Qing and a bird, kill the messenger directly, and then get old. . . Then the last general will go to Hanyang with a gunboat to demonstrate! ”

Liu Siyun frowned slightly when he heard Ding Hai's rudeness, but he couldn't help it, he couldn't care about these Qiu Ba directly under the emperor.

"It's easy to do what General Ding wants, but what if there is another conflict with the Manchus? According to Jinyiwei's intelligence, the Manchus gathered another 200,000 soldiers and horses in Xiangyang for this attack. However, there are only 20,000 people in our city, and there are only 15,000 musketeers in a division of Admiral, and the defense of the city is almost the same, but it is really not enough to fight with the Manchu Qing Dynasty! ”

Liu Siyi's words really went to Ma Kun's heart, two years ago, the emperor cleaned up Wang Deren, who was guarding Jiujiang, but no one was stationed in the entire Jiujiang, so there was a big hole in the Yangtze River defense line. In the end, there was really no way but to transfer Ma Rufeng's department from Wuchang to Jiujiang to plug the hole, so that there was only one division of Ma Kun left in Wuchang City, with 15,000 people.

"Lord Taiwan, what you said is so right, Wuchang is the land of His Majesty's Longxing, and the tombs of the first emperor are outside Wuchang City, if there is no special reason, it is really not appropriate to use troops! The last general thought that he could reply to the Manchus and let them go to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River to cross the river, didn't they go to fight He Tengjiao? Wouldn't it be good to go directly to Yueyang to cross the river? ”

What Liu Siyun was waiting for was Ma Kun's words, so that if something happened in the future, he would be able to put the blame on Ma Kun.

"Okay, since General Ma thinks so, then the governor will do it! However, General Ding is still needed to inspect the Yangtze River, and we must find out the movements of the Qing army to avoid our backs from being attacked by the enemy! ”

"Lord Zhangtai, the river can be handed over to the last general, but the Qing army has no choice when the last general goes ashore, after all, the last general's gunboat can't go ashore!"

Liu Siyi smiled and said: "Please rest assured General Ding, this governor is the governor of Huguang, and he can still order his subordinates Jinyi Guard!" Liu Siyi made a little sarcasm about these new army masters, and now in addition to the 5,000 inspection department in the city, these brocade guards can listen to the orders of the old man Liu.

The news of the Ming army's disagreement soon spread to Hanyang, which was across the river, and Luo Xiujin angrily scolded Zhu Hongsan for not being trustworthy when he heard the news, and he knew that he could not abide by the contract written in black and paper. But he Luo Xiujin can't help it, now the situation is stronger than people, and people can't help it if they don't let you cross the river. Luo Xiujin had no choice but to pass the news to Zierharang in Xiangyang and let him make up his mind.

Jierharang was also very angry when he received the news from Luo Xiujin, but what could he do, he could only accept this reality and cross the river from Yueyang in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

Jierharang is in Xiangyang, five or six hundred miles away from Yueyang. With 200,000 troops, Jilharang crossed the Han River from Xiangyang and then south to Jingzhou, from where he traveled along the north bank of the Yangtze River to Yueyang. And the naval gunboats of the Shenwu Imperial Court were also cruising on the Yangtze River to prevent any sudden movements of the Qing army.

The Qing army marched on the north bank of the Yangtze River but frightened the Guangxi Ming army on the south bank, just two years ago He Tengjiao was pressed and beaten by the army led by Tan Tai, and now seeing that the Qing army is back, the frightened He Tengjiao hurriedly handed over the defense of Yueyang to the Hunan governor Yinduxi, and ran back to Changsha on the grounds of central coordination.

Yin Duxi was also afraid that the Qing army would suddenly come back and attack him across the Yangtze River, so he ordered Hao Yongzhong, who was stationed in Gong'an, to follow the Qing army on the south bank of the Yangtze River with 20,000 horses. For a time, the three forces of Huguang formed a tacit understanding, the Qing army marched on the north bank, the Guangxi Ming army marched on the south bank, and in the middle of the Yangtze River were the twelve gunboats of the Guangdong Navy monitoring the Qing army.

After more than a month of marching, the Qing army finally came to Bailuoji opposite Yueyang, that is, the place where Jierharang was preparing to cross the river.