Beijing at the end of the lunar month was bone-chilling, the sky was gloomy, and there was no ray of sunshine. The Qing government has posted a notice to appease the people, reassuring the people that Yang Qilong pretended to be the third prince of Zhu and the rebellion has been quelled, and exhorted everyone to be good citizens who keep to themselves. However, many residents of the capital still fled. Burned houses, corpses in the streets, patrolling guards, all tell the horrors of last night's fighting.

Since this month, many ministers in the court have begun to take leave, some of the fathers died, some of the mothers died, and the parents could not die for a while, so they said that the nurse who fed them when they were three months old died, and as a filial son, they wanted to go home to worry.

In the Qianqing Palace, Kangxi had dark circles under his eyes and continued to listen to the ministers' reports. Suddenly, there was a rapid running sound outside the palace, and a person staggered across the threshold, hugged the nearest palace pillar, stuck out his tongue, panting, and half of the huge red crown on his head was left, the braid was coiled around his neck indiscriminately, and his pants were half rotten, like a man named Hanako. Through his face covered with black mud, everyone looked intently, and it turned out that it was Samuha, a member of the household capital, who had returned!

Kangxi saw it, woke up, and asked: "Samuha, Lian asked you to go to Yunnan to assist Zhu Guozhi and Xierken in handling the withdrawal of the feudal domain, why did you run back in such a mess?" ”

Samuha just hugged the pillar and could not answer.

"Fill him with water!"

Like dogs, the two eunuchs brought a large ladle of water and poured it into Samuha's mouth. Samuha choked on water, threw himself on the ground, and finally spoke: "Wu ...... Sangui ...... It's the other way around! ”

Samuha burst into tears: "The slave does not dare to speak wildly. On the first day of the lunar month, Wu Sangui paid homage to the Yongli Mausoleum in Kunming, killed Zhu Guozhi, and rebelled, the emperor! As he spoke, Samuha took out a sticky and crumpled piece of paper from his sleeve, handed it to Suo Etu beside him, and said: "Your Majesty, this is Wu Sangui's anti-Qing text, and the slave risked his life to get one, and now I'm afraid the rebels have spread the word to all directions!" Suo Etu stretched out his hand to take it, unfolded it, leveled it, glanced at it, and presented it to Kangxi, Kangxi quickly took it and took a closer look, it didn't matter if he looked at it, he saw that Kangxi's face turned from white to red, from red to purple, his eyes were bloodshot, and his lips and hands were shaking. Suddenly, Kangxi roared wildly: "Wu dog! I want you not to die! After saying that, he tore the text to shreds.

Kangxi stood up and kicked over the imperial case in front of him, and the pen, ink, paper, and inkstone rose into the air and fell to the ground. "Wu Sangui, I'm going to dig your ancestral grave!" Kangxi roared, spitting everywhere, like he wanted to eat people. A few eunuchs who didn't know what to do were busy picking up the scattered objects, Kangxi stepped up, kicked one over one, and scolded: "Han dog! Give the shameless dog minion! ”

Wei Dongting and his group of Hanchen were all frightened, lying on the ground and trembling, not daring to squeak, and after practicing their fists and kicks, Kangxi sat back on the chair weakly and calmed down.

"Holy Lord, please calm your anger!"

Kangxi looked at Samuha, who was still kneeling on the ground, and asked, "Samuha, why are you only sending a message to Lianbao now?" Why didn't you reply to the secret fold that I sent you before? ”

"The minions are all back! It was only later that I learned that Wu Sangui had already made preparations, and a month ago he had ordered all border gates in Yunnan to 'only enter, not leave'. Therefore, the secret folds that the minions, Lord Zhu, and Lord Zhe gave back to the emperor were all detained! Samuha replied.

"That's right! So how did you escape back? ”

The slave and the party servant dressed up as a farmer, took a detour, escaped from Yunnan, and went straight to Li Benchen, the governor of Guizhou. But Benchen estimated that he had received Wu Sangui's instructions in advance, and deduced that there were no horses at the post station. The slave asked the party to stay and entangle with him, and he ran to the governor Gan Wenkun overnight, only to get the horse, and he didn't dare to stop, and reported all the way to the capital. Samuha finished in one breath, relieved.

Kangxi nodded and said, "Samuha, you have also made a contribution, let's retreat and rest first." ”

"Your Majesty."

Kangxi looked around at the ministers and said, "Everyone, Aiqing, let's all be even." Now that Wu Sangui has rebelled, how do you think you should deal with it? ”

Suo Etu is the son of the minister of Gu Ming, Sony, and he took the lead in saying: "The cause of Wu Sangui's rebellion this time is the withdrawal of the feudal domain, according to the minister's opinion——"

"Say, the one who speaks is not guilty."

"Those who plan to withdraw the feudal domain should be killed!" Suo Etu said.

Tu Hai went out and said: "Wu Sangui has been guarding Yunnan for many years, and there is nothing to do, the last time Wei Dongting, Mingzhu and others, on the grounds that the three feudatories were huge and the treasury was empty, strongly advocated the withdrawal of the feudal domain, bewitching the saint, and the ministers also agreed with Suo Xiang's opinion, and punished this person, etc., in order to correct the public. ”

Kangxi bowed his head and was silent. When the other ministers saw that Suo Etu and Tuhai had asked the lord to withdraw the feudal lord, they were also indignant, pointing at Wei Dongting's nose and scolding him, Wei Dongting knew that he was at a loss, and he didn't dare to respond in panic, so he only looked at Kangxi pitifully.

Seeing this, Kangxi said: "The withdrawal of the feudal domain is my proposition, what is the crime of others?" Moreover, Wu Sangui has been accumulating different ambitions for a long time, and he is also opposed. Now, let's stop dwelling on whether or not we should withdraw the feudal domain at that time, and we should discuss and come up with a countermeasure as soon as possible. ”

When the ministers saw that Kangxi had taken care of everything, they all stopped talking.

Mingzhu knew that he was a member of the main withdrawal faction, so he said: "According to the minister's opinion, there is nothing wrong with withdrawing the feudal domain, and it is not terrible, what is terrible is that in order to divide the pressure of Wu Sangui's henchmen, we implemented the policy of dispersing the party, but now we have made Wu Sangui's henchmen all over the world." It is imperative that all these persons be arrested before they have been heard. Wu Sangui lost these wings and would inevitably become a loner and would soon be wiped out by the imperial court. ”

As soon as Mingzhu said this, several ministers nodded frequently in approval.

Kangxi asked, "What do you think?" ”

"I can't do it!" Tuhai played.

"Oh! Why? ”

"Wu Sangui has a lot of old departments, plus the officials of the Western Election, I am afraid that there are more than thousands. If these people are arrested, it will put everyone in the Han Palace in danger, which is equivalent to forcing them to take refuge in Wu Sangui. The minister thought that he should be kind to these people, and even added officials to the knighthood to show that the emperor of the Qing Dynasty was magnanimous. In this way, they are separated from Wu Sangui and kill each other, and I can enjoy the benefits of fishermen in the Qing Dynasty. ”

Kangxi finally showed a smile on his face and said, "Tu Junmen's words are exactly what I wanted. ”

So, Kangxi passed the decree:

All Wu Sangui's old subordinates, whether they are in office, idle, or have fathers, sons, and brothers who are now in Yunnan, will not be punished for crimes. From now on, everyone should perform their duties with peace of mind and no doubts.

Shaanxi's Wang Fuchen and Daniel Zhang should pay close attention to discovering that Wu Wei was spreading false and false documents, and blind the local officials and people, expose the report, and report it to the imperial court.

Cut off the title of Prince Wu Sangui Pingxi. At the same time, the two feudal domains of Pingnan and Jingnan were stopped, and the Qincha Liang Qingbiao and Chen Yishan were recalled.

"My Emperor Shengming!"

Kangxi asked: "Tujunmen, according to your more than 30 years of experience in commanding troops, how should Wu Sangui be exterminated in this rebellion?" ”

Tu Hai said: "Although Wu Sangui is very old, many of his subordinates are capable of fighting and are not comparable to Zheng Chenggong and Li Dingguo, so they cannot be underestimated. The imperial court should be able to suppress the rebellion only if it is forceful. ”

Kangxi subconsciously touched the pockmarks on his face with his hand, and muttered: "Tu Junmen's words are extremely true!" Where is Cai Yurong? ”

"The minions are here!"

"Order you to quickly lead 100,000 green battalion soldiers and rush to Guizhou, and don't let Wu Sangui take a step out of the southwest!"

Cai Yurong knelt down and commanded: "Chick! ”

Cai Yurong, the word Ren'an, the Han Army is a white flag person. Although he is a Han Chinese, he has an enmity with Wu Sangui, so Kangxi dares to use him with confidence.

"Varka!" Kangxi continued to order.

"In!"

"Order you to lead 10,000 Manchurian soldiers, enter Yunnan from Sichuan, and copy Wu Yi's back road!"

"Whew!"

"Shuo Dai!"

"Order you to lead 50,000 Han Eight Banners and go to Jingzhou to support Cai Yurong's rear!"

"Whew!"

After the appointment, Kangxi still felt uneasy, considering that Guangxi and Guizhou were neighbors, they must be fortified in advance, so he awarded Sun Yanling, the late son-in-law of Confucius Youde in Guangxi, as the "Fuman General", and ordered the line of national security to be the superintendent, and strictly ordered them to command the army and hold it.

Wei Dongting remembered that Samuha said that Zhu Guozhi had been killed just now, so he asked: "Your Majesty, Zhu Guozhi, the governor of Yunnan, is loyal to the country, and I don't know if he should be rewarded to set an example of my Hanchen being loyal to the monarch and patriotic?" ”

When Kangxi heard this, he wanted to laugh in his heart: Zhu Guozhi is just a greedy and dirty little official who eats inside and crawls outside, everyone knows it, and he is still loyal and patriotic? Is this Han people's cheap bones so cheap? So he said: "Xiao Weizi, what you played is very good." Governor Zhu Guozhi is diligent and loves the people, conscientious, loyal to the Qing Dynasty, unyielding, scolded the thief to death, and was nicknamed 'Wenzhong' to show Jiayue! ”

"The Emperor Shengming!"

Kangxi said: "Wu Zhi spreads pseudo-confessions, demagogues, and disrupts our country. In the future, anyone who hides and falsely conceals will be killed! Wei Dongting, I'll leave the work of collecting the counterfeits to you. ”

"Whew!"

Why does Kangxi want to be obsessed with a broken article and never forget it? This is the wisdom of the Emperor of the Ages! Wu Zaigui's anti-Qing essay pointed directly at the crux of the Qing government's rule: the illegality of the regime and the oppression of the nation. If something like this is allowed to spread in society, will it still be good? Therefore, a word is also published in the official history books of the Qing Dynasty, see that you Wu Sangui still wants to overturn the case!

After dispersing the dynasty, Kangxi thought about it and decided to go to the Empress Dowager of Xiaozhuang in the Yangxin Palace. As soon as he came, he swore at that time: Wu Sangui would rebel, and he would abdicate. Now Wu Sangui is really reversed, and he can't get over his face. Second, I also have to ask Xiaozhuang how to deal with the current situation.

When he arrived at the Heart Nourishing Palace, Kangxi knelt down and cried: "Imperial grandmother, it's not good for your grandson." Now that Wu Sangui is reversed, his grandson asks to abdicate and asks the imperial grandmother to choose another virtuous monarch. ”

Xiaozhuang was so angry that he didn't look at him squarely: "Xuan Ye, you have only been in power for a few days, and you have caused such a big mess!" The mourning family warned you before, is Wu Sangui so easy to deal with? Back then, your imperial grandfather tried his best to take advantage of the chaos to destroy him when he was in Shanhaishan, but he let him run away. Now you are good, you have caused an accident, there is a rebellion in the three feudatories outside, and there are rebels and thieves inside, so you come to pretend to be pitiful and ask to abdicate. The mourning family looks at you, this is frightened! You are the six gods and no masters, and you want to evade responsibility! ”

Kangxi was so ashamed that his face was flushed: "My grandson knows that I am wrong." ”

Xiaozhuang sighed and said, "You, you're still young!" There's so much to learn! Do you think that if you abdicate, he, Wu Yigui, will let you go? If he really achieves hegemony, you will be a dead end wherever you go! ”

"My grandson got it. It's just that now it's better to do that! ”

"Hey, now, it's useless to complain, the mourning family thinks, we don't have to panic, how to deal with it, how to deal with it! How did you discuss with the ministers in the court today? ”

Kangxi reported to Xiaozhuang what he had just said to the minister in the court and his own arrangements. Xiaozhuang nodded with satisfaction: "Fang'er, you have arranged it well!" We just got the letter today, more than half a month has passed, what progress has been made on Wu Sangui's side, and there is further news, according to common sense, it should not be a big problem to exterminate Wu Yi. ”

When Kangxi heard the word "common sense", he didn't know what the meaning was, so he asked: "Grandmother Huang, why do you say that it is according to common sense?" Wu Sangui, he was the one who destroyed the Ming, and now he is the one who has regained his sight, the Han people have long hated him, who will follow him to rebel? If no one follows him, won't he be alone? When the time comes, he won't be captured yet! ”

"That being said, the mourning family originally thought so," Xiaozhuang motioned for Kangxi to get up and sit beside her, "But after the mourning family saw the pseudo-smug just now, they heard Samuha say that Wu Sangui went to cry Yongli Mausoleum, and I felt that this matter was not so simple. ”

"Ahem, what's wrong with crying? Who doesn't pay tribute to their ancestors? Can this be turned on the ground? ”

"The key is not in the weeping tomb itself, but in the hearts of people! In the past, we also knew about Wu Sangui's mausoleum, but we didn't pay much attention to it. I didn't expect the old thief to come in handy today! In the past, the Han people hated Wu Sangui the most, and they hated not being able to eat his flesh and swallow his bones alive. But now that he is crying and making trouble, the mourning family is worried that people's hearts will change! ”

Kangxi was still confused when he heard this, and asked, "Imperial grandmother, how can you determine that people's hearts will change?" Our three strategies to control the people are so successful, and the Han people are all cheap bones, so it won't be so serious, right? ”

"You're right. The mourning family is just guessing, but there is a sentence on the pseudo-skewer, which is frightening. ”

"Which word?"

"Recruit the general and the president's son Zheng!"

"Taiwan's Zheng family? cough, what does Sun Er think, Zheng Jing is a rice bucket, if you can't beat us, you will run to the sea and hide. I was trying to clean them up, but I didn't expect him to come to the door by himself! Kangxi said disappreciatively.

Zheng Jing himself, the mourning family is not worried at all. This man is too far behind his father! The key is that the Zheng family has been serving the former Ming Zhengshuo for so many years, using the Yongli era name, and claiming to be orthodox, so it stands to reason that it should be inseparable from Wu Sangui, at least it will not be mixed with it. But now the pseudo-label names those who want to rebel, except for Geng Jingzhong, it is him Zheng Jing! I can't imagine when they colluded together! Xiaozhuang said.

When Kangxi heard this, his heart was also shocked, he really didn't expect this layer before! He groaned and said, "Maybe they're just bluffing, not necessarily true." ”

Xiaozhuang shook his head: "No." The mourning family knows Wu Sangui too well, either he doesn't write, or he can't write it. ”

"That's nothing. According to the grandson's year, what are we afraid of, whether he is a real (Zheng) scripture or a false (Zheng) scripture? As long as the Manchurian soldiers come out, it will be a tiger and wolf army that will travel thousands of miles in a day! Didn't Zheng Chenggong and Li Dingguo also make a lot of trouble back then? Haven't you been beaten by us? Kangxi said confidently.

"Xuan'er, do you really want to use Qing soldiers to recruit and suppress?" Hyo-joon asked with some uneasiness.

"Needless to say! In the hearts of the Han people, our Manchurian Eight Banners is an invincible myth! Just scaring them to death. ”

Xiaozhuang hurriedly waved his hand and said, "You won't mention any Manchurian soldiers to me in the future!" How many people can we have, and the addition is not more than a fraction of his Wu Sangui troops! The Eight Banners are invincible, that is used to bluff the Han people, how can you believe it? ”

Kangxi was very puzzled and asked: "Isn't the Eight Banners Soldier said by Sun Er, invincible?" ”

Xiaozhuang replied angrily: "What is it! The Eight Banners are invincible, that's because they are all hiding behind waving their flags and shouting, and those who really charge into battle are traitor troops! With them as cannon fodder in front, can we Eight Banners defeat the battle? ”

When Kangxi heard this, he suddenly said, "Oh! So that's it! Then our Eight Banners can't work, who should we use to quell the rebellion? I hope that the emperor's grandmother will teach you! ”

Xiaozhuang smiled mysteriously, lowered his voice and said, "Send you eight words, grandson, you have to keep it in mind!" ”

"Which eight words?"

"To make China Chinese, to make Han Han!"

"To make China Chinese, to make Han Han!" Kangxi repeated, "Oh, grandson understands! This is the foundation of my Qing Dynasty! Hahaha! ”

After that, the ancestors and grandchildren held hands and laughed, and the entire Heart Cultivation Hall was filled with a peaceful atmosphere.

After Wu Sangui raised troops from Kunming, he detained Zheerzhi and Fu Lida and put them under house arrest in the army. The Zhou (Wang) army opened the road in the mountains, built bridges when encountering water, and the queue was strictly organized, and the front army started the camp every day, then the middle army, then the left army, and finally the right army. At dawn they set up camp and set up camp in the evening. When they set up camp, they were all surrounded by mountains and rivers, and marched about 50 miles a day. Wu Sangui ordered: The troops were not allowed to stay in civilian houses along the way, and they were allowed to enter the city without permission. The marching troops were orderly and had the bearing of a king, and Zhang Guozhu, the governor of Yunnan, Du Hui, the chief military officer of Yongbei, Ke Ze, the chief soldier of Heqing, Cui Zhiying, the political envoy of Buxue, and the first Guochang of Tixue came to vote, and Wu Sangui accepted them one by one and appointed them.

Hu Guozhu's 30,000 vanguard troops rushed straight to Guiyang. The governor of Guizhou, Gan Wenkun, was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, and he had just received a letter from Admiral Li Benchen, suggesting that he had surrendered to Wu Sangui. At this time, the entire Guiyang City was in chaos, and the guards heard that the Zhou army was coming, and they fled in all directions, and Gan Wenkun even killed a few deserters, but to no avail. After he first forced his wife and concubine to hang herself, he fled to Zhenyuan with only his fourth son Gan besieged the city and more than ten cavalrymen. Zhenyuan is located at the junction of Guizhou and Hunan provinces, and the terrain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Gan Wenkun planned to accumulate strength here to fight back and prevent Wu Sangui from going north.

Gan Wenkun came to the city of Zhenyuan and shouted at the guards on the city tower: "I am the governor Gan Wenkun, open the city gate quickly!" He shouted three times, but the defenders of the city remained motionless.

It turned out that Jiang Yi, the general soldier of Zhenyuan, had been kept secret, and Wu Sangui ordered him to hold on and wait for the arrival of the army. Jiang Yi came to the top of the city tower with a smile, dressed in military uniform, and said, "Lord Gan, haven't you done enough to be a lackey of the Qing people?" ”

"What?" Gan Wenkun was stunned for a while, he didn't know what he was talking about, and said hurriedly, "Brother Jiang, open the city gate quickly, Tiansangui is reversed, we have to stop him here!" ”

"Haha!" Jiang Yi laughed and said, "Master Gan, let me tell you straight, Wu Sangui is my old boss, and I will not oppose him." ”

Only then did Gan Wenkun understand that Jiang Yi had reversed, and he was so angry that he scolded: "You... You all want to rebel! I'm mad at me! With that, he crossed the river and fled to Kichijoji. Jiang Yi saw that Gan Wenkun had run away, and hurriedly beckoned Cao Jishen, the governor of Guizhou beside him, and led his men and horses to kill Jixiang Temple. Soon the Kichijoji Temple will be surrounded by water. Seeing that there was no way out, Gan Wenkun's father and son bowed three times to the north and killed themselves.

After Wu Sangui's army arrived in Guiyang, he took a short rest. Li Benchen, Jiang Yi, Cao Jishen, and Wang Yongqing, the general soldier, also came to report and join the Zhou army.

Ma Bao, the general of Fushuo, suggested to Wu Sangui: "King Zhou, you only let Wang Ping Fan take 40,000 horses to Sichuan, will it be too few?" Sichuan, the country of abundance, has a lot of Qing soldiers on the territory. ”

Wu Sangui smiled and swept his beard and said, "Wang Pingfan went to Sichuan, just like I went." Ma Bao said: "Guangxi is our rear, you lead the army to the north, and the last general is willing to lead a partial division to Guangxi!" ”

"Rest for a while! When you arrive in Hunan, there are battles for you! Guangxi only needs one lobbyist to suffice. Wu Sangui knew that Ma Bao's addiction to war had been committed again, and along the way, a resisting Qing soldier didn't see him, but he was in a hurry.

Wu Sangui called Wang Shirong and said: "Ren Rong, you have to work hard, bring the letter of this king, first go to Guangxi to say that Sun Yanling will be surrendered, and then go to Shaanxi to let Ma Harrier raise troops to respond." ”

When Wang Shirong heard this, this is really a capable person who works hard, and hurriedly said: "The minister must live up to his mission." After that, he pulled his feet and left. Wu Sangui remembered something again and stopped him: "Ren Rong, over there, you have to be more careful." Recently, I heard that the pseudo-Kangxi was very close to him. ”

"Yes." Wang Shirong Xinyue: "You are too worried, as long as my little Zhang Liang comes out, when will I lose my hand?" I underestimate me. ”

Wang Shirong had a hard life when he was a child, his mother died early, and his father married another woman, so his mind was all on this woman, and he rarely asked about Wang Shirong. He also has a sister, who is very beautiful and virtuous, but also hard-working, married to a man who treats her very ordinarily, and then the man, that is, Wang Shirong's brother-in-law, went to Nanjing to do business, and asked for a little wife in the local area, so far Wang Shirong's sister was left at home alone, ignoring it.

Wang Shirong has talents and great ambitions, but no one in the family looks up to him, except for his sister. Wang Shirong followed Su Qin and Zhang Yi to travel all over the world, and he didn't make any reputation.

Once, Wang Shirong came back from a study tour and suffered a lot. His sister was also aggrieved, so the two hugged each other and cried loudly. In addition to family affection, it is inevitable that there is a little affection between men and women, but this scene was unfortunately bumped into by their stepmother, seeing the two of them disheveled and panicked, the stepmother sarcastically said: "Ouch, Wang Shirong, I heard that you are a great talent, and the great talents are all suave." Like what Tang Bohu points to Qiuxiang, you are your own sister, hahaha. ”

Wang Shirong's face turned red all of a sudden, and he hurriedly knelt down and pleaded: "The child knows that he is wrong!" I beg my mother not to publicize this matter! ”

When the stepmother heard this, Lang smiled and said: "It's okay if the old lady doesn't say it, but you can't just cheapen your sister, we want the rain and dew to be ......."

This scene is like a nightmare in Wang Shirong's mind, always lingering, Wang Shirong is grateful to Wu Sangui from the bottom of his heart, it can be said that Wu Sangui is the noble person in his life, without Wu Sangui, there would be no him today. Therefore, although this trip is hard and dangerous, Wang Shirong is also unremitted.