Hong Chengchou in Yangzhou City received a report from Gaoyou's fast horse army that he was scared to death, he was originally beaten by the Ming army into a frightened bird, and now seeing that the Ming army began to prepare to attack Huai'an, how can he not be frightened? Coupled with the exaggeration of Gaoyou's guards, the Ming army was numerous, the army was extremely strong, and the ships transporting troops on the canal were boundless, etc., Hong Chengchou regretted in his heart when he saw this military newspaper that it was better to withdraw to Jining a few months ago.

Next to Hong Chengchou sat Zhou Boda, the governor of Jiangning in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Zhou Boda was a ten-year jinshi of Chongzhen, and had been a servant of Pingliang Road in Shaanxi, and he was Hong Chengchou's former official, and Ma Degong, who led the army, was Hong Chengchou's henchman. Today, Zhou Boda frowned when he saw Hong Chengchou after receiving the military report, and hurriedly asked: "Lord Taiwan, there is an urgent military situation over there in Gaoyou?" ”

Hong Chengchou didn't say anything, and handed the general newspaper to Zhou Boda to watch. Zhou Boda was also taken aback when he saw it, his side had a firm foothold in Huai'an, and if the Ming army attacked him, he would not be able to hold it at all. Now that the entire army of the two Huai places has been lost in Yangzhou, there are only less than 10,000 old and weak soldiers in Huai'an City, do they really want to retreat to Shandong?

Zhou Boda himself is the governor of Jiangning, the head of the civil officials of Jiangnan Province, the Manchu Qing Dynasty has always paid attention to the responsibility of the local officials to guard the land, because he is the governor of Jiangning, he can still be regarded as guarding the land here in Huai'an, but it is troublesome to retreat to Shandong, and he is not the governor of Shandong.

In fact, Hong Chengchou also has this concern, he is the governor of the six provinces in the south of the Yangtze River, and now there is only one such a government as Huai'an in the six southern provinces, if he loses those political enemies in the DPRK and China, he must seize his own sore foot and make a big fuss, you must know that the struggle of various forces in the Manchu and Qing dynasties is no worse than the small court of Zhu Hongsan in Nanjing.

Because the Manchu Qing accepted Chongzhen's basic plate, the struggle between the eunuch party and the Donglin party that began in the Wanli year was also inherited, and it became a dispute between the southern party and the northern party here in the Manchu Qing Dynasty. The northern party was headed by Feng Quan, a cabinet scholar of Wei Zhongxian's godson, and the southern party was headed by Chen Mingxia, the secretary of the ministry.

Although Hong Chengchou is from Fujian, he is not a member of the Donglin Party, so he is naturally not treated by those "righteous people" of the Donglin Party, so Hong Chengchou is supported by Feng Quan. And the Donglin Party and others also regard Hong Chengchou as a mortal enemy, and they must overthrow him, Feng Quan's biggest foreign aid.

Zhou Boda looked at the military newspaper, which was vague and did not say how many people there were.

"Lord Taiwan, this military newspaper does not say how many people there are, maybe the Gaoyou guard is wrong and regards the small force as the main force of the Ming army!"

Hong Chengchou didn't dare to guarantee the ticket, what if it was the main force of the Ming army?

"Erru, now that we have retreated, if we retreat to Shandong, can those southern parties in the DPRK and China let us go?"

Hearing Hong Chengchou say this, Zhou Boda was also very anxious, he was not from the Donglin Party, and as Hong Chengchou's henchman, he was naturally very afraid that his master would be unlucky.

"My lord, if this is not the case, let's see what that Ming army is doing, and decide what to do when the time comes?"

Hong Chengchou couldn't nod, and now he can only do this!

The next day, Tong Tuchang's small fleet came to the outside of Huai'an. After receiving the news, Hong Chengchou came to the city with the only few generals under his command to see what the Ming army was going to do.

However, Hong Chengchou climbed to the top of the city and looked at it and put his mind at ease, the number of Ming troops outside the city was very small, there were only more than 500 soldiers, and most of the others were civilian officials wearing Ming Dynasty official uniforms, the most important thing was that the Ming army did not bring that kind of powerful cannon, Hong Chengchou was beaten out of phobia by the kind of cannon with an amazing range in Yangzhou.

Zhou Boda was also very happy, and pointed to the civil official holding the knot on the bow of the ship and said: "Lord of Taiwan, it seems that the Ming army came to negotiate peace!" ”

Hong Chengchou nodded, and sent a personal soldier down to the city to ask what was going on.

The Qing soldier trembled and sat down from the city with a bamboo basket, and was immediately caught by the Ming army when he came to the dock.

Tong Tuchang parted the crowd, came to the Qing soldier and asked, "Are you Hong Chengchou's person?" ”

The Qing soldier held the mentality of not eating the immediate loss, and quickly knelt down and said: "Lord Hui, the villain is Lord Hong's personal soldier!" Lord Hong sent a villain to ask what the adults were doing? ”

"You go back and tell Hong Chengchou that we are here to make peace with your little Manchu emperor by the holy decree of Emperor Shenwu! Let Hong Chengchou open the city gate, let us in, and send troops to protect us north! ”

The Qing soldier was relieved when he heard the senior official in front of him say this, and it seemed that he didn't have to die.

"This adult, the villain is clumsy, can you ask an adult to go back to the city with me to meet Lord Hong?"

Let yourself send someone? Tong Tuchang was a little scared in his heart, he hadn't spoken to the Manchu Qing yet, what if that Hong Chengchou was crazy and killed himself?

However, Tong Tuchang saw that Fang Fengnian beside him knew that this old man Fang was usually very proud, so it was better to let him die.

Tong Tuchang smiled and said to the other party: "Brother Shutian, can you go into the city to talk about it?" ”

Fang Fengnian knew what Tong Tuchang's idea was, but Fang Fengnian Jiang Gui's nature, old and strong, he could be frightened by Tong Tuchang.

Fang Fengnian sneered and said, "Since Lord Tong is afraid of death, the old man will naturally go!" After saying that, he didn't bring a single person, and came to Huai'an City alone with the Qing soldier.

Seeing Fang Fengnian's virtue, Tong Tuchang scolded in his heart: This old bastard, I wish you were cut by Hong Chengchou!

However, there is a gap between wishes and reality, and Tong Tuchang's wish has not been realized. Fang Fengnian was a jinshi in the second year of the apocalypse, and Hong Chengchou was still a member of the Xingbu when he was a jinshi, which can be regarded as a fate.

Hong Chengchou saw a little old man coming up from the bamboo basket, and when he looked closely, he recognized that it was Fang Fengnian.

Hong Chengchou arched his hand and said, "Shutian, why are you here?" ”

How do you know that Fang Fengnian did not catch up with Hong Chengchou, but arched his hand and said: "This is Lord Hong, the governor of the six provinces of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the official Daming Rite Lang Zhongfang is in the New Year!" This official was ordered by Emperor Shenwu of the Great Ming Dynasty to go north to reconcile with the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and asked Governor Hong to let us into the city and send guards to protect us to the north! ”

Hong Chengchou was robbed of a few words by Fang Fengnian, his face was flushed and he didn't know what to say.

Zhou Boda, who was on the side, saw that his master was deflated, and stood up and sneered: "Oh? Are you an envoy of the Ming Dynasty? I don't know if it's the Ming Dynasty, I heard that there were two emperors in the Ming Dynasty in the south, which one is orthodox! ”

Fang Fengnian looked at Zhou Boda and asked, "Who are you?" ”

"This official is the governor of Jiangning in the Qing Dynasty, and Chongzhen has been a jinshi for ten years!"

"Humph! Chongzhen has been a scholar for ten years, and the old man has been a Jishi in the second year of the Apocalypse, didn't your teacher teach you to respect teachers? ”

China has always been a seniority society, Fang Fengnian's Ji Shi is not simple, Zhou Boda is not good, he was only a top three jinshi, or he couldn't go to Shaanxi to be a magistrate, and now Zhou Boda is scolded by Fang Fengnian for a few words and has nothing to say.

Fang Fengnian saw that Zhou Boda didn't speak, and said loudly: "My Emperor Shenwu is the bloodline of Emperor Taizu Gao, and he has the great merit of regaining the old capital, and he worships Xiaoling in Nanjing, and he is naturally orthodox, where can King Gui compare?" ”

Zhou Boda saw Fang Fengnian making a lot of nonsense here, and he was not angry, who doesn't know that you Shenwu Emperor didn't know, he was a gangster in Wuchang City back then, and now it has become a matter of five people and six people who pretend to be here.

Zhou Boda was just about to ridicule Fang Fengnian, but Hong Chengchou stopped Zhou Boda and said: "Since you want to go north, then let your soldiers retreat, and your safety is protected by us!" ”

What Hong Chengchou was afraid of was that as soon as he opened the city gate, the five hundred Ming troops outside the city took advantage of the situation to attack him. Although the number of Ming troops is not large, Hong Chengchou knows that the Ming army is extremely strong in combat, and all the people in his city are old and weak, and it is really difficult to say whether he can win or not if he can fight with the 500 Ming army.

Fang Fengnian, as an old fritter, knew what was going on when he heard Hong Chengchou say this, and sneered: "Governor Hong, rest assured, my Ming army is a righteous army, and will not use that kind of dirty means!" ”

Zhou Boda scolded in his heart when he heard Fang Fengnian say this: Can your emperor still be considered benevolent? Who doesn't know that Emperor Shenwu will do anything!

But before Zhou Boda could speak, Fang Fengnian turned around and had already gotten down the city wall and returned to his team.

After a while, Hong Chengchou saw the Ming army leave Huai'an on a boat, and only when these Ming troops were far away did Hong Chengchou dare to let his men open the city gate and let the Ming envoy enter the city.

Huai'an City has not been ravaged by war, and there are still a lot of people in the city. These people obeyed the Manchu shaving order, and they had all shaved their hair into pigtails and changed their clothes into quiver-sleeved horse coats. Now the soldiers and civilians in the city see the clothes of the old country, many people secretly leave tears, but these people dare not come forward to ask long and short questions, there are many Manchu officials along the road to monitor, and they are caught in prison or killed.

Tong Tuchang didn't want to stay in Huai'an for long, and after entering the city, he spent half an hour visiting Hong Chengchou, took the passage documents and prepared to leave the city, this is really a place of right and wrong.

After the Ming Dynasty delegation left Huai'an, Fang Fengnian, who had left the city, looked at Hong Chengchou on the head of the city and said to Tong Tuchang: "Lord Tong, please wait a minute, the old man still has something to say to Hong Chengchou!" ”

Tong Tuchang scolded in his heart: What do you have to say to Hong Han traitor at this time? But there was no way, Fang Fengnian had already left the team, and he couldn't leave without waiting.

Fang Fengnian came to the city and shouted, "Brother Xiangjiu, can you come down and say a few words to the younger brother?" ”

Hong Chengchou knew what Fang Fengnian wanted to say, which was nothing more than to say something to let him see the situation clearly and not to go further and further on the road of anti-revolution. But Hong Chengchou dared to go down to the city and talk to Fang Fengnian alone, you must know that although he is the biggest official in the city, he can't cover the sky with one hand, there are still other generals of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the city, if the news of himself and the secret agents of the Ming Dynasty reaches the Jingshi, it is enough to drink a pot for himself!

Fang Fengnian saw that Hong Chengchou was not going down to the city, and knew that he had scruples in his heart, so he had no choice but to shout: "Xiangjiu, your mother and younger brother are in Nan'an's hometown, and Emperor Shenwu is not embarrassed for them!" ”

After Fang Fengnian finished speaking, he turned around and returned to his team to travel away, and Hong Chengchou stood at the head of the city and looked at the distant Ming Dynasty envoy thoughtfully.