Fang Yuan had been trapped in the Yongwang Mansion for six days, and there were five hundred mouths to eat in the palace, and in less than five days, the food stored in the palace had been eaten cleanly.

Zhu Cizhi had no way to find food again, so he opened the door to ask for food from the thousands of households besieged outside King Yong's Mansion, but he was treated with blank eyes and no one paid attention to it at all.

Fang Yuan saw Zhu Cijiong, who was disappointed, smiled, and personally took Qin Zhan and Zhu Cizhi to ask for food outside the palace.

When the besieged Qianhu saw Fang Yuan coming out, he immediately changed his face and greeted him with a smile, "Fang Junmen, I am Hu Qi of Yangzhou Wei Qianhu, and I am the commander who ordered you to be imprisoned in the palace, please don't embarrass the official." ”

Fang Yuan didn't bother to bother with him, scolding him for a few words was a waste of saliva, and patted Hu Qi's strong shoulder and said, "Hu Qianhu, right!" The army and the five hundred people in the palace had been hungry all day, so they immediately brought something to eat. ”

His faction is not like a prisoner, but like a high-spirited official, Hu Qi, who is in charge of the detention, is not only not annoyed, but nods his head very usefully, as if Fang Yuan said a word to him, it is a great honor, "Yes, from today onwards, I will provide all the rations for five hundred people." ”

He didn't forget to ask flatteringly, "Fang Junmen, if you need to order any delicacies separately, you can report it to me directly, and I will prepare it immediately." ”

Fang Yuan thought for a while and said, "There is no need for delicacies, the daily supply cannot be less than three hundred catties of meat." ”

Hu Qi promised again and again, and immediately ordered the sergeant to prepare.

Zhu Cizhi was stunned when he saw Hu Qi looking down at Fang Yuan, Fang Yuan was not able to leave the palace, where was he imprisoned, but it seemed that he was on vacation.

Everyone turned back to the palace, and Fang Yuan saw Zhu Cizhi's face full of incredulity, and said with a smile, "King Yong, what are the thousands and hundreds of households in these guards for?" It's not for the wife and children to heat the kang head, right? This kind of sudden rebellion, even if it succeeds, how much benefit can Hu Qi share with a small thousand households, and can he be promoted to commander and chief soldier? But if he fails, he will atone for the sins of his whole family. No one is a fool, if they are not forced to be helpless, who wants to carry their heads to do this kind of loss-making business? ”

Fang Yuan was constantly analyzing people's hearts and interests, and Zhu Cizhi could already hear it, "Teacher, Hu Qi, is he afraid of the teacher?" ”

Fang Yuan smiled and patiently explained, "When anyone is faced with this kind of life and death choice, they will repeatedly think about how to deal with it, so that the benefits will be raised to the highest and the risks will be minimized. ”

"Hu Qi doesn't give you face, that's because your capital is too small, and if you don't please you, what good can he do him? And teacher, I, the capital is too big, in the face of the prestige of the Xuanjia Army, who dares to put all his wealth on the side of the rebels? Hu Qi came to curry favor in advance, just to leave a way out, at least after the failure of the rebellion, maybe he can save his life, right! ”

He looked at Zhu Cizhi and said slowly, "King Yong, the book of sages and sages is about loyalty and treachery; And the reality is about interests. The emperor who is as high as the emperor and as small as any ordinary person is a living person, and he has a small abacus in his heart. Never use the words in books to set reality, that is bound to fail. ”

Zhu Cizhi asked again, "Then why did the teacher conclude that the Xuanjia Army would obey the teacher, in case the Xuanjia Army was unwilling to go north to rescue?" ”

Fang Yuan smiled and said, "Because of my Fang Yuan, we can bring supreme glory to the Xuanjia Army, as well as great benefits." With our original, the Xuanjia Army is the strongest army in the world, and only then can it have a great future, glorifying its ancestors; If there is no Yuan, the Xuanjia Army is nothing, it is just a group of horse bandits, rogues, homeless people, and soldiers of the grassland! Can replace the hereditary commander of the guard, or even the general soldiers from all over the country who rely on the management of officialdom?! You say that the Xuanjia Army is faced with this choice, will it go north to rescue? ”

Qin Zhan said, "The boss is right, for example, my fourth brother can be a Jinyi Wei Qianhu, and even Jinyi Wei Tongzhi, it is not because my fourth child's talent is enough to be in this position, but just because I am the boss's brother." King Yong, do you understand? ”

Zhu Cizhi was convinced when he heard it, and then he knew that people's hearts were as simple as he thought, everyone has their own interests, and it is by no means what the so-called sages say in the book, loyalty is loyalty, and adultery is adultery. Who said that Qianhu must listen to the command, if the interests are there, Qianhu will not frown if he directly copies the ancestral tomb of the eighteenth generation of the commander.

But he knew too late, the big mistake had already been made, how could he undo it? Zhu Cizhi's nose was sour, and tears couldn't help but cross his cheeks and drip on the brocade robe.

Prince Zhu Cihuan's name is still quite good.

As soon as the news came out that Zhu Cihuan was going to personally conquer Yangzhou Prefecture, it immediately disrupted the deployment of Ma Shiying, Liu Zeqing, and the rebels in Yangzhou Prefecture.

If it is just a confrontation with the Xuanjia Army, and the trouble reaches the court, it can be inferred that the Xuanjia Army is causing chaos, or exterminating the Liukou.

But as soon as Zhu Cihuan appeared like this, who would dare to fight the Prince of Daming head-on?

Unless Emperor Chongzhen personally ordered the rebellion, this was absolutely impossible, and Ma Shiying and Liu Zeqing did not dare to bring this matter to the court.

Or maybe Ma Shiying and Liu Zeqing are planning to rebel.

A year ago, when the Ming Songjin had just been defeated, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty could enter the customs at any time, and people were panicking, maybe they still had the courage.

At present, with the assistance of Fang Yuan, not only defeated the Manchu invasion, but also gathered Sun Chuanting and Zhou Yuji for Chongzhen to defend Gyeonggi and Shanxi, and Fang Yuan also expanded his territory in the south of the Yangtze River, repelled Zheng Zhilong's northward momentum and won Sanfu. The situation in the Ming Dynasty has stabilized compared with before, and if you rebel at this time, you will be a dead end.

When Ma Shiying was hesitating whether to withdraw or not, Shi Lang's twenty warships had already entered from the Yangtze River.

Shi Lang had already received instructions from Jing Jie, where the battleships passed, there was no need to judge who was loyal and who was traitorous, and the battleships encountered along the way, whether they belonged to the Yangzhou Guard, the Nanjing Yangtze River Naval Division, or those sent by Ma Shiying to prepare to ambush the Xuanjia Army, all those who were willing to surrender were captured, and those who were unwilling to surrender were sunk.

Although Shi Lang commanded not many warships, only twenty, while the Yangzhou Navy Division, as well as the Fengyang Prefecture Navy Division, together had thirty or forty warships, plus at least seventy or eighty warships temporarily converted from large merchant ships.

However, Shi Lang, nicknamed Thunderbolt, is famous for not wanting to die in battle, coupled with the artillery battalion's artillery support, a battleship has at least twenty guns, and the firepower is overwhelming.

The fleet traveled all the way, like an autumn wind sweeping away the leaves.

At the mouth of the Yangtze River in Jiangyin, he defeated the 20 Fengyang Naval Divisions that were ambushed at the mouth of the Jiangkou and were preparing to take the opportunity to raid the Xuanjia Army in the north, sinking 13 ships and capturing 7 battleships.

Advancing west along the river, under the city of Yangzhou, he defeated 25 battleships of the Yangzhou Naval Division, sank 20 ships, and captured 5 ships.

When they arrived at the city of Yangzhou, they went north along the Grand Canal, and near Gaoyou, they defeated 30 warships of the combined forces of the Fengyang Naval Division and the Yangzhou Naval Division, sank 22 ships, and captured 8 ships.

Shi Lang fought all the way through Gao Youwei, and demolished all the stone bridges and wooden bridges on the Grand Canal, and the civilian ships were not allowed to leave the port, otherwise they would be sunk.

Until there was no longer a shadow of warships on the Grand Canal, Shi Lang waved his army south, went straight to the city of Yangzhou, and was stationed at the Jingkou of Zhenjiang Mansion. Jingkou is the intersection of the Yangtze River and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, cutting off the Jingkou is to cut off the route of the Yangtze River and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and any reinforcements from the water cannot reach Yangzhou City.

Zhu Cihuan and Jing Jie led the elite cavalry of the Xuanjia Army with 5,000 cavalry and 5,000 infantry, and landed directly across the Yangtze River from Jiangyin County, attacked and destroyed Yizhenwei on the third day, and arrived at Yangzhou Wei outside Yangzhou City on the fifth day.

Ma Shiying saw that the canal channel had been cut off, and the Xuanjia army was approaching Yangzhou City, and the 10,000 soldiers who were attacking Yangzhou Wei did not retreat, and there was a danger that the whole army would be wiped out, so he immediately ordered to relieve the siege of Yangzhou Wei and retreat to the northwest.

Because all the naval warships were annihilated by Shi Lang, and the bridges on the Grand Canal were all demolished, they could only rob civilian boats, build a pontoon bridge overnight, and all withdrew to Fengyang Mansion.

Liu Zeqing is a typical wall-head grass, rushing when there is a benefit, and flashing if there is no benefit. After Zhu Cihuan issued the message, he knew that the general trend had gone, and the 20,000 troops who had gone south from Huai'an Mansion immediately withdrew to Huai'an Mansion, and then went north through Huai'an Mansion and returned to Qingzhou Mansion.

At this point, all the reinforcements of the Yangzhou rebellion have been withdrawn, and Yangzhou City has become an isolated and isolated city. The 10,000 Xuanjia Army of the Northern Expedition and the 1,000 sergeants of Yangzhou Wei converged and drove directly to the city of Yangzhou.

The prefect Ma Minglu and others closed the gate of Yangzhou City and began to send envoys to negotiate with Zhu Cihuan, demanding that Zhu Cihuan order pardon the rebellious officials for capital crimes, and order them to resign and return to their hometowns, otherwise they will be destroyed and burned with the besieged Fang Yuan in the city.

Zhu Cihuan once again reiterated the conditions for surrender, that is, the main culprit Ma Minglu, the commanders of Yangzhou Wei, Gaoyou Wei, and Yizhenwei must be beheaded to show the public, but the family members are not guilty; An accomplice may atone for his sins with silver. But there is only one premise, Fang Yuan must be safe and sound, otherwise, no matter the main culprit or the accomplice, all the nine clans will be destroyed, and no one will be forgiven.

The officials in Yangzhou discussed behind closed doors for a whole day, although Ma Minglu still wanted to negotiate for a few more days to obtain more generous surrender conditions, in order to save his life. However, other officials led by Yangzhou Tongzhiqu and in the range of life-saving, as well as the thousands of households in the guard, did not want to dream more at night, and directly detained the prefect Ma Minglu and the commander of the three guards.