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Yangzhou, as the most important city in South China, suffered from war at the end of the Ming Dynasty. The Qing army slaughtered the city here for ten days, and then the Ming army came to slaughter again, although after several governors of Liangjiang, but now Yangzhou no longer has the grand occasion of ten years ago.

Now there are less than 100,000 people in Yangzhou City, and a large area of land is empty, but this has poured out the garrison for Zhu Hongsan's Northern Expeditionary Army.

Zhu Hongsan set out from Nanjing on 15 March and arrived in Yangzhou on 18 March, where Yu Yinggui, the governor of Liangjiang, accompanied the governors of Anhui and Jiangsu, as well as officials from the two provincial capitals and above, to greet him outside the city.

Yu Yinggui saw that the emperor's dragon boat had docked, stepped forward and bowed, and said loudly: "Yu Yinggui, the right capital of the Imperial Palace, the governor of Jiangsu, Anhui and other places, the commander of military affairs, and the management of food and salary, the management of the river, and the supervision of Henan affairs Yu Yinggui, lead his subordinate colleagues to meet my emperor Long live!" "Yu Yinggui is talking about his full official title, and the governor of Liangjiang is just a common name among the people. Chinese people have always had a good face, and they like to put any glorious thing on the surface, and Yu Yinggui is the same, and it is natural to say the full name of the official position on this formal occasion.

Yu Yinggui's hometown of Jiangxi, served as the governor of Huguang and suppressed the peasant army. In the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, he served as the governor of Shaanxi. However, Yu Yinggui is not a member of the Donglin Party, but belongs to the Eunuch Party, so his career in this life is not smooth. He originally thought that he was waiting to die in his hometown in Jiangxi, but he didn't expect to meet Jin Shenghuan anyway. As a relatively famous scholar in Jiangxi, Yu Yinggui was invited by Jiang Yueguang to become the governor of Jiangxi.

It was also participating in Zhu Hongsan Group that allowed Yu Yinggui to usher in the second spring of his career. Lao Yu is 67 years old this year, three years before the statutory retirement age, but Lao Yu has been full of energy in recent years and has devoted himself to the anti-Qing cause with great enthusiasm. Of course, Zhu Hongsan, a courtier who is so willing to work hard, has to be reused, so three years ago, Yu Yinggui succeeded Ma Jiyuan as the governor of Liangjiang and became the fattest feudal official.

Zhu Hongsan stepped down from the springboard, stepped forward to help Yu Yinggui, and said with a smile: "Yu Aiqing and all Aiqing, please get up!" ”

Yu Yinggui got up and introduced the governors of the three provinces and the deputy provincial high-ranking officials behind Zhu Hongsan for Zhu Hongsan, as for the other prefecture-level officials, they were all soy sauce goods, and they didn't even have the qualifications to meet the emperor, so they could only stand at the end and watch from afar.

Zhu Hongsan only knew Yu Yinggui, and the governors of the three provinces had not seen it, but he had only seen it once at that time, and he had forgotten it in the past few years.

The Governor of Liangjiang originally governed Jiangxi, but Yu Yinggui was a native of Jiangxi, so the imperial court assigned Jiangxi to the Governor of Huguang for management, and Henan was assigned to Liangjiang. At this time, Henan was still in the hands of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and only the governor and political envoys were appointed, and they were to follow the Middle Route Army into Henan to accept the lost territory.

Zhu Hongsan saw Zhang Jiayu standing behind the governor of Henan, and couldn't help but be a little funny, this guy provoked Ma Mingyuan, and was secretly demoted to Henan by Mingsheng as a political envoy, I don't know if I regret it?

"Zhang Yuanzi, how is it? Have fun doing your new job? ”

Zhang Jiayu heard the emperor laugh at himself, and said with a bitter face: "Under the leadership of Lord Wu, the minister will definitely be able to recover the lost land!" Your Majesty, please rest assured! ”

This Lord Wu's name is Wu Peichang, who is the governor of Henan, and Ma Mingyuan's classmate, who is the core figure in Chongzhen's ten-year alumni association.

Wu Peichang used to be Langzhong of the Ministry of Finance, and knew that Zhang Jiayu was close to the emperor before, so he quickly bowed down and said: "Your Majesty, Lord Zhang has been working late every day for more than half a year, and it is very hard!" ”

Zhu Hongsan listened to Wu Peichang say good things for Zhang Jiayu, and knew that Zhang Jiayu was a good guy, no matter how high your level is, it will be finished if you don't get along well with your superiors, Zhang Jiayu probably figured it out after suffering a loss in Huguang.

After meeting with the magistrate, Yu Yinggui bowed down and said, "Your Majesty, please enter the city!" The minister has vacated a salt merchant's house in the city and used it as His Majesty's temporary residence! ”

"There's no hurry, did I ask you to find someone last month?"

Zhu Hongsan's subordinates were full of administrative talents, but there was a lack of senior bureaucrats, and now that the Northern Expedition had been launched, there would be a shortage of a large number of senior officials with administrative capabilities in the north. At least there are three governors missing, namely the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, the governor of Beizhili, and the governor of Liaodong. These are all senior members of one party, and they must be officials with both qualifications and abilities.

The candidate for the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu has been selected, that is, Qu Shiyun, who has just surrendered, and he has gone to Wuchang with the Middle Route Army. Liaodong is still far away, and now it can be put aside, and the most difficult thing is the selection of this governor of Beizhili.

Zhu Hongsan picked and chose no good candidates, and in the end, Jiang Yueguang recommended one person, that is, the former Chongzhen Dynasty Household Department Shangshu and the Governor of Baoding Seven Towns, who were idle at home, that is, Zhu Hongsan's father-in-law Hou Fangyu.

Hou Sui was a magistrate, but also a minister of the court, the most important thing is that he led the army to fight against the rebel army, and also served as a governor in Baoding for a long time, and was very familiar with the affairs of Beizhili. At the same time, Hou Sui and Ma Mingyuan's dead ghost uncle Ma Guoan had a bad relationship, if it wasn't for Zhu Hongsan to make trouble, the two families would have become a family of children. Therefore, after Ma Mingyuan heard Jiang Yueguang Bao's promotion of Hou Sui, he also agreed to this candidate.

After Hou Sui was occupied by Li Zicheng in Beijing, he did not take refuge in Liukou, but resigned and went home, and did not respond to the call of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and built the "Hou Mansion South Garden" in his hometown of Shangqiu Nanshili, where he hid and hid here to farm and read. It's not that Hou Sui is so clean, it's just that the old guy doesn't understand current affairs. When he was in Beijing, he felt that Li Zicheng could not become a big deal, so he resigned and returned to his hometown, and his actions allowed him to avoid the Shun case in Nanjing.

Then the Manchu Qing came, and Hou Sui was also not optimistic about the Manchus, because after all, the population of the Manchus was too small, and how could a population of only more than 200,000 rule hundreds of millions of Han people? In fact, what Hou Sui thought was also what most intellectuals thought at that time, they thought that the Manchu Qing Dynasty was the same as the Jin Dynasty back then, occupying the north for less than a hundred years at most, but who would have thought that the Nanming side made a stupid move, coupled with a group of pig teammates, and lost the great country.

After Hou Sui returned home, history developed according to the original trajectory, and the small court of Hongguang lasted exactly one year before it was destroyed, and then Emperor Longwu and Lu Jianguo became a mess. Seeing this, Hou Sui had no hope for the Ming Dynasty in his heart. Just when Hou Sui wanted his son Hou Fangyu to participate in the Henan Township Examination organized by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Zhu Hongsan, the king of Chu in Guangdong, suddenly rose up, and took advantage of the opportunity of Jin Shenghuan and Li Chengdong to quickly regain the lost ground and fight back to Nanjing.

After Hou Sui collected Zhu Hongsan's black materials, he found that this King of Chu was very unusual, and he fully possessed the characteristics of the Zhongxing Emperor, that is, he was black-hearted and shameless. Hou Sui may have average administrative ability, but he has a very good set of people, and it was he who discovered Zuo Liangyu in the army and promoted Zuo Liangyu to general.

When he was in Beijing, it was Hou Sui who found out that Li Zicheng was not a person who made great achievements, so he returned to his hometown to farm. Hou Sui felt that he must not be mistaken, so he invested all his capital in Zhu Hongsan, that is, to let his son Hou Fangyu go to Nanjing to participate in the imperial examination, and at the same time write a letter to his old friend Jiang Yueguang in Zhu Hongsan's camp to exchange friendship.

Hou Fangyu went to Nanjing, and soon passed the township examination and the general examination, and was transferred to Zhu Hongsan to take up important positions. Although Hou Fangyu was very dissatisfied with Zhu Hongsan in his letter to Hou Sui, Hou Sui saw a decisive emperor in the letter. Hou Fangyu's letter also strengthened Hou Sui's judgment, that is, Zhu Hongsan was the master of Zhongxing that Hou Sui was looking for.

Facts have also proved that Hou Sui is right, on the first day of the second month of the sixth year of Shenwu, just after the Spring Festival, Hou Mansion South Park ushered in fifty tall and tall brocade guards.

Of course, in the Manchu ruling area, Jinyiwei could not act openly, but Henan is now similar to the sieve, except for Luoyang, Kaifeng and other big cities are still in the hands of the Manchus, other cities belong to any force. As for the Guide Mansion, which is next to Nanzhili, there are even more secret agents and bandits rampant everywhere, so it didn't take much effort for these brocade guards to come to Shangqiu.

The news brought by Jinyiwei lifted Hou Sui's spirits, and Emperor Shenwu was to swear in the Northern Expedition on March 15, so that Hou Sui could rush to Yangzhou before March.

Hou Sui was overjoyed when he heard the news, and the layout of many years finally bore fruit. If Hou Sui's estimation is good, he will definitely be reinstated after meeting the monarch this time, and the position is estimated to be the governor and the waiter.

Hou Sui rested at home for a few days, and when he was ready, he followed Jinyiwei to Yangzhou.

Yu Yinggui heard the emperor ask about Hou Sui, and quickly replied: "Your Majesty, Hou Sui is now clothed and did not come with the officials, he is waiting in the city!" ”

Zhu Hongsan nodded, stopped talking, and walked into Yangzhou City under the escort of Jinyiwei.

Came to a big mansion in Nancheng, which was originally owned by a big salt merchant in Yangzhou. However, this salt merchant has already fled to other places, and now he does not know his life and death, and this place has become Zhu Hongsan's temporary palace.

Zhu Hong was tired of three carriages, and after a short rest, he immediately met with Hou Sui.

When Hou Sui entered the house, he saw a tall middle-aged man sitting in the middle, with a chest-length beard, a black sarong hat, and a bright red five-grabbing golden dragon robe. Hou Sui knew that this was the Shenwu Emperor, so he hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down to salute, and shouted three times!

"Mr. Hou, please get up, the new dynasty stipulates that those who have meritorious names do not need to kneel!"

Hou Sui got up and bowed down and replied, "The grass people remember!" ”

Zhu Hongsan looked at the handsome old man in front of him, who was somewhat similar to his son Hou Fangyu. He wore an indigo linen robe and a Confucian turban on his head.

Hou Xun's first impression of Zhu Hongsan was good, after all, everyone likes good-looking, and Zhu Hongsan is not surprised. Zhu Hongsan was very curious about Hou Sui, Zhu Hongsan knew that Hou Sui promoted Zuo Liangyu, and it was rumored in the rivers and lakes that Zuo Liangyu was on the throne by selling fart * stocks, but he didn't believe it when he saw Hou Sui's appearance. After all, Hou Sui is so handsome, and the picture of pushing each other's butt * shares with Zuo Liangyu is really unimaginable.