Three days later, Ma Shiying's Ming army all withdrew from Quarry Rock, went north along the river to Fengyang Mansion, and joined Huang Degong's 30,000 Ming troops and Zhu Yihai's 20,000 personal soldiers.

For a time, the number of Ming troops gathered in Fengyang Mansion reached nearly 80,000, and they already had the strength to fight with Jin Shenghuan and Li Guoying.

The two sides confronted each other in the area of Shouzhou, Fengyang Prefecture, and there was a stalemate.

On the one hand, Fang Yuan paid attention to the battle situation in the Jiangbei battlefield, and on the other hand, he ordered Shi Lang of the Zhoushan base to send fifty warships to Quarry Rock, and then sent 5,000 infantry battalion sergeants from the Taihu base to garrison Quarry Rock to guard the gateway to Nanjing City.

Quarry Rock fell into Fang Yuan's hands, and the connection between Nanjing City and the outside world was completely severed, and it had completely become Fang Yuan's bag, whether to take it or not, it was all between Fang Yuan's thoughts.

Fang Yuan did not send troops to occupy Nanjing City, but disbanded all the guards in Nanjing City. The sturdy 1,000 sergeants were incorporated into the Xuanjia Army Infantry Battalion, leaving only 2,000 weak soldiers who could barely become soldiers to stay at the guard post in Nanjing.

Fang Yuan led the army back to Suzhou City, and at the same time, sent a letter of 100,000 words to the court of Nanjing, along with the memo of Ma Shiying's crimes accusing him and Princess Kunxing. Moreover, he also expressed his attitude in the compromise, and the position of the governor of Nanjing was vacant, and he asked the imperial court to send eunuchs to garrison the city of Nanjing, as well as the governor of Nanjing.

When the imperial court received Fang Yuan's recital, Queen Zhou and the crown prince were shocked and angry, but they were also in a dilemma.

Reprimand Fang Yuan sternly! Fang Yuan's recital is justified and well-founded, and it is also based on the 10,000-word book of the gentry, wealthy merchants, and common people in Nanjing. These people are willing to offer the book of ten thousand words, whether it is true or not, it also shows the most basic attitude, that is, they are all on the side of Fang Yuan. If the imperial court condemns Fang Yuan again, it will be against the will of the people of Nanjing, and it will be useless except to roast the imperial court on the fire.

What's more, Fang Yuan had sent sailors to attack Liaodong again, forced back the blackmail of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and responded to Sun Chuanting's great victory in Shandong.

If you agree with Fang Yuan's attack on Nanjing City this time!

Originally, the imperial court sent Ma Shiying, the main battle faction, to replace Shi Kefa, a moderate, just to throw out the bait of Nanjing, so that Fang Yuan and Zuo Liangyu could compete for food. Regardless of whether either side occupies the city of Nanjing, it must bear tremendous political pressure, and the imperial court will pull a bias from it to strengthen the control of the two great warlords in the south of the Yangtze River, Yuan and Zuo Liangyu.

How do you know that as soon as Ma Shiying, the main battle faction, arrived in Nanjing City, it only lasted less than two months, and then lost Nanjing City, and even Ma Shiying himself fled to Fengyang Mansion. Such a personnel transfer, instead of making Fang Yuan and Zuo Liangyu bite each other, was grabbed by Fang Yuan, not only captured Nanjing City, but also wore a halo of hanging the people, which was simply more than worth the loss. If he knew it, he would continue to leave Shi Kefa in Nanjing City, and he could still hold Zhongming's righteousness and Fang Yuan to fight a dozen cannons.

What's even more infuriating is that Fang Yuan got cheap and behaved, and asked the court to severely punish Ma Shiying, and asked to send the governor of Nanjing City and the garrison eunuch to be stationed again.

Although the city of Nanjing was still nominally under the control of the Beijing court, it was actually in Fang Yuan's pocket. Although Fang Yuan was waiting for the position of the governor of Tianfu and the eunuch garrison, no matter who the imperial court sent to Nanjing City, he would only fall into Fang Yuan's trap, and he could not have real power, but also made people laugh.

Fang Yuan's move was to slap the court in the face!

After discussing with the cabinet, Empress Zhou and the crown prince decided to temporarily shelve Fang Yuan's performance. Neither severely punished Ma Shiying, nor did he send the governor of Nanjing, who was in charge, to continue to spend time with Fang Yuan.

Two months later, Fang Yuan's other paper fold was suddenly sent to the capital again.

Since the imperial court could not send someone to govern the city of Nanjing, Fang Yuan suggested that Zhu Cihuan, the king of Wuyue, be canonized as the prince stationed in Nanjing, and Wang Chengen, a close confidant of Emperor Chongzhen, as the garrison eunuch of Nanjing City. Along with the folds, there was also a thick box, a joint letter from the gentry, wealthy merchants, and 500,000 people of Nanjing, bluntly saying that Nanjing City was the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and it was not possible to leave people without rulers for a day, and asked the imperial court to immediately send someone to govern Nanjing City.

If Fang Yuan's twists and turns before were just slapping the face and sweeping the face of the court, this time the twists and turns were forcibly forcing the palace.

Empress Zhou and the crown prince immediately summoned Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting, and asked the two to come up with a countermeasure to deal with Fang Yuan's forced palace. Sun Chuanting was the superintendent in charge of the Ming military, and arranging for Sun Chuanting to come was not a solution that ruled out the use of force.

In the face of Fang Yuan's pressing step by step, relying on the influence of Huang Daozhou and Shi Kefa's loyalty, as well as Emperor Chongzhen's kindness to Fang Yuan, and the wooing of Princess Kunxing to marry him, he could barely suppress Fang Yuan's imminent ambition and support the situation in Jiangnan.

But after Ma Shiying came to power, he messed around and directly tore his face with Fang Yuan. Ling Fang Yuan no longer had any scruples, the situation in Jiangnan was inferior, and it could no longer be recovered.

The atmosphere present was extremely embarrassing, and it was not until Empress Zhou asked again that Hong Chengchou spoke, "Now there are only two ways for the imperial court, one is to envelop and soften Fang Yuan's ambitions, and agree to canonize King Wu Yue as the prince who governs Nanjing, and Wang Chengen is the eunuch who guards Nanjing City. As long as Fang Yuan pays taxes truthfully, his power is no more than Yangzhou Mansion, and he does not cross the bottom line of the imperial court, so he will let Fang Yuan toss in Jiangnan. ”

Hong Chengchou's suggestion is actually a return to the old path of Emperor Chongzhen's encirclement of Fang Yuan. Empress Zhou was silent when she heard this, she thought that she was more sophisticated than Chongzhen's methods, and changed the strategy of Emperor Chongzhen's favor and entrapment of Fang Yuan, and switched to the strategy of suppression.

After tossing around, not only did he not fight across Fang Yuan, but even Nanjing City was lost, and he had to return to the strategy of encircling Fang Yuan. It was only at this moment that she realized that Chongzhen had actually seen farther and more knowledgeable than her, and had already fully estimated the risk of going against Fang Yuan, and sighed softly in her heart, "Your Majesty is really discerning!" ”

Hong Chengchou saw that Empress Zhou was silent, and continued, "There is another way, that is, immediately call on Zuo Liangyu in Jiangxi, Li Zicheng in Huguang, Zheng Zhilong in Fujian, and the elite division of Inspector Sun, a total of one million troops from the four roads to fight a decisive battle with Fang Yuan!" ”

Zhu Cihong finally found an opportunity to vent, and immediately agreed, "Teacher, this method is good, I said a long time ago, I should fight Fang Yuan immediately!" ”

Sun Chuanting retorted in a deep voice, "Absolutely not! Fang Yuan didn't have any objections, all his actions were all within the Daming Ritual Law, how could he raise an unknown teacher?! ”

Empress Zhou said lightly, "Fang Yuan's performance is still against the palace?" ”

Sun Chuanting said bluntly, "Queen Mother, there has been a tradition of the prince sitting in Nanjing City in all dynasties, and King Wuyue is the son of His Majesty, the prince's own brother, and it is natural for him to sit in Nanjing City." Wang Chengen's father-in-law is a close confidant of His Majesty, he is loyal to His Majesty, and he is even more friendly with Fang Yuan, and he can continue to deal with Fang Yuan by being the garrison eunuch of Nanjing. ”

Moreover, the imperial court connived at other warlords and repeatedly targeted Fang Yuan. Could it be that Fang Yuan was a threat to the Ming Dynasty, and the warlords such as Li Zicheng, Zuo Liangyu, and Zheng Zhilong were not threats? At least Fang Yuan is still a concubine of the imperial court, and with the princess maneuvering around, the two sides can still sit down and talk. If those warlords are brought up, it will be a problem for the court's henchmen! The queen mother! ”

Sun Chuanting is the pillar of the Ming military, two-thirds of the elite of the Ming Dynasty is controlled by Sun Chuanting, and the remaining one-third is in the hands of Zhou Yuji. Even Sun Chuanting strongly opposed the expedition to Fang Yuan, and half of the battle was lost without fighting, how could he fight?

Hong Chengchou also said, "Queen Mother, now that Nanjing City is completely under Fang Yuan's control, the imperial court cannot change this fact whether it is canonized or not. The old minister has a strategy, and he has long heard that Fang Yuan has always liked King Wu Yue, but not King Yong. It is better to canonize according to Fang Yuan's recital, but not to canonize Zhu Cihuan, the king of Wuyue, and to canonize Zhu Cihuan, the king of Yong, to govern Nanjing City. ”

Empress Zhou suddenly said, "To canonize King Yong is to bury a nail for Fang Yuan in Jiangnan, which may be used by me at any time." Good! Mr. Hong really has a brilliant plan! ”

Sun Chuanting saw that Empress Zhou and Hong Chengchou's thoughts were still seeking confrontation with Fang Yuan, rather than entrapment, and he was also quite dissatisfied. But as a soldier, he was in charge of the battlefield, but he could not interfere in the government. Having said so many things this time is already a taboo of the imperial court, so I can only choose to remain silent.