After Wu Sangui occupied Guiyang, he took a short rest and then waved his army north.

Ma Bao led his troops through Zhenyuan, arrived at Qingliangwei, and approached Yuanzhou. This is the important place for Guizhou to enter Hunan. Prior to this, Cai Yurong had led troops to support Xu Zhijun, the chief officer of Wen Yiling, and Li Zhilan, the chief soldier of Yongzhou, but the two soldiers and horses were shocked by the might of the Zhou army and did not move. In this way, the Qing army was defended by only Cui Shilu, the chief soldier, in Yuanzhou. Cai Yurong urgently instructed Sang to lead the troops to Yuanzhou to rescue and assist in the defense. Ma Bao marched quickly, and before the Sang soldiers arrived, he had captured Yuanzhou. Cui Shilu surrendered in Kaecheng, and the Zhou army successfully cut off the communication link between Lizhou and Chenzhou.

The Zhou army's offensive was fierce, frightened the Qing officers and soldiers in fear, and fled in fear, and Lu Zhen, the governor of Pianyuan stationed in Changsha, saved his life, and when the Zhou army was still in the Yuanzhou area, he abandoned Changsha and fled to Yuezhou. However, although Lu Zhen absconded, Changsha was still in the hands of the Qing army.

Wu Sangui ordered the soldiers to continue to march north, and ordered Yang Bao to attack Changde.

It just so happened that Yang Yuming, the father of Yang Baoying, was in the city. Yang Yuming is a native of Jinzhou and is an old friend of Wu Sangui. He was originally a garrison of the Ming Dynasty, and after the Qing Dynasty, he was aided by the guerrillas in Laizhou, Shandong, and later promoted to deputy general. In the twelfth year of Shunzhi, he was promoted to the commander-in-chief of Changde. During the first year of Kangxi, he served as Xin'an, Guangdong, and was soon promoted to the governor of Guangdong. Later, he retired to Changde for the elderly. Yang Baoying was under the account of Wu Sangui, once served as the prefect of Yunnan, and after the army, he was awarded the general military officer, and he wrote to his father to know the great righteousness of the nation. After Yang Yuming received the letter, he responded to the internal response, offered the city to revolt, the Zhou army captured Changde, and the prefect Weng Yingzhao surrendered.

At the same time, Xia led his troops to capture Lizhou, north of Changde. After no battle, when the Zhou army arrived, the Qing army in the city automatically surrendered the city and changed banners, and the Xia Guoxiang incorporated it. When the Qing general Commander Sang E and the chief military officer Zhou Bangning led the troops outside the city of Lizhou from Changde, they saw that the Zhou army was prosperous, so they fled to Jingzhou.

Following the capture of Lizhou, the Xia State Department did not stop, and captured Hengzhou, changed "Hengzhou" to "Ying Tianfu", and then marched under the city of Changsha. It turned out that after Lu Zhen fled, Huang Zhengqing, the deputy general of Changsha, and Dong Wuheng, the general of staff, stayed in the city. Under the persuasion of Xia Guoxiang, the guards Huang Zhengqing and Chen Wuheng surrendered anyway, together with troops, ships and cities.

Gao Dejie, since entering Hunan, day and night, suddenly appeared under the city of Chenzhou, the soldiers defending the city were defenseless, the Manchurian general Tulai and the governor Tian Fengji were holding their concubines to drink and watch the play.

Tian Fengji said: "I said brother, I recently heard that Wu Sangui rebelled, is this really fake?" ”

"You don't care if he's really fake, your!" Turai took a long sip of wine and replied.

"But Lord Cai called us here, saying that he was guarding the city!" Tian Fengji Road.

"Then Cai Yurong is a bullshit, when Lao Tzu led the troops to fight, he still wore open crotch pants. Hahaha! Turai smiled and trembled, "Besides, he Wu Sangui is in Yunnan, we are in Hunan, and there is a difference of 108,000 miles in between, are you stupid or am I stupid!" ”

Just as the two of them were drinking hard, there was a sudden shout of killing outside the city.

The soldier came in in a panic and reported: "Oh no! Two adults, Wu Sangui's rebels are coming! ”

"Huh?" Turai screamed, and sat down on the ground in an instant. The people hurried to help, but the Turai was like a dead pig, and he couldn't help him.

Looking at Natian Fengji again, his face was already like ashes, and he wanted to run away, but somehow, he tripped and fell and ate.

In this way, the Zhou army captured Chenzhou without much effort. Later, the common people called Turai "the general who can't lift it", and Tian Fengji as the "governor who fell to his feet", which was rumored to be a smile for a while.

Cai Yurong has been preoccupied with the rebellion of the three feudatories since he received the order from Beijing and went to the south to conquer the rebellion of the three feudatories. Didn't you mention earlier that Cai Yurong and Wu Sangui have a grudge? Isn't that just the opportunity to take this opportunity to declare a personal vendetta, the best of both worlds? In fact, it's not like that, Cai Yurong and Wu Sangui have a grudge, but he is also Han, Wu Sangui wants to brighten the Han family, you want to lead troops to suppress it, and being poked in the back is uncomfortable, and it is uncomfortable to be scolded as a traitor.

Cai Yurong went on the road in this way in the extreme contradiction in his heart. As soon as he walked to the border of Hebei, Wu Sangui's envoy Hu Shouliang arrived. Hu Shouliang had some friendship with Cai Yurong, so he came, and Cai Yurong had to see him. Let him enter the camp and retreat, Cai Yurong said: "Brother Hu, I heard that you are a strategist under Wu Sangui, what are you doing here?" ”

Hu Shouliang said: "Lord Cai, I am here to save you!" ”

"Help me?" Cai Yurong smiled, "Ben Shuai is now the governor of Huguang appointed by the emperor, with 200,000 troops in his hands, where does the word 'rescue' start?" ”

"Haha", Hu Shouliang laughed loudly, "200,000 troops? You ask yourself, can you beat Wu Sangui, the king of Zhou? ”

Cai Yurong was silent.

"Lord Cai, you are Han, not Manchu. The result of defeating the battle, you are clear, there is a dead end; Even if you are brave and can win, can the credit be yours? Kangxi sent Shuo Dai to lead the troops behind you, called support, what is the actual intention, don't you know? ”

"I know what you're talking about." Cai Yurong said embarrassedly, "But is Wu Sangui a good thing?" retaliated and framed, and almost didn't die in his hands. ”

"Hey, my lord's words are wrong, you and King Zhou are personal enemies, and you have a national hatred with the Qing Dynasty. Which is more important than personal enmity and national hatred? Hu Shouliang saw that Cai Yurong did not object, so he gave him Mizha. Cai Yurong opened it and saw that it was written:

King Zhou named Cai Yurong as the general of sweeping the north, and he retired on the same day, and the general reluctantly!

"It's... Cai Yurong closed the secret folder, repeatedly weighing whether to accept Wu Sangui's appointment, thinking about it, and after half an hour, he saw him pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back. Finally, he said, "Okay! I accept! ”

Hu Shouliang was just about to say hello, Cai Yurong poured cold water on him again, saying: "I accept this appointment, but I will not vote under his Wu Sangui account, that is a shame!" So I can only help you secretly. ”

"Secretly helping us?" Hu Shouliang was puzzled.

"Yes. I will not publicly surrender to you, I am still the governor of Huguang in the Qing Dynasty. I can only talk about this, and I ask Brother Hu for your forgiveness. Cai Yurong said solemnly, "It's not appropriate to stay here for a long time, please ask Brother Hu to leave early." ”

What kind of business is this! Hu Shouliang scolded in his heart: If you want to surrender, you will fall, or if you don't surrender, we will fight, how can I go back to pay the errand! But after thinking about it, anyway, Cai Yurong has already accepted the secret file, and he can be regarded as having completed the task, and it is useless to say more. So Hu Shouliang hugged his fists and said goodbye and left Cai Yurong's camp.

Cai Yurong said that he secretly helped, and he really did it, that is, passive defense! Didn't Kangxi order him to lead his troops to support Gan Wenkun earlier? Cai Yurong is one step and three breaks on the way to his post, he has a cold today, a fever tomorrow, and when he is appointed governor of Huguang, not to mention Gan Wenkun's Guizhou, most of Hunan has been lost, and Cai Yurong's reinforcements have not arrived.

Later, Cai Yurong's abnormal performance was noticed by the people of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Officials, so he wrote to impeach Cai Yurong for losing his land, and asked him to be dismissed and questioned. So he issued a decree and scolded him, but ordered him to remain in his original position and make meritorious contributions.

Since Wu Sangui's troops left Guiyang and headed north, by March, they had reached the territory of Songzi in the fields of Keyuanzhou, Changde, Hengzhou, Chenzhou, and Changsha. Along the way, the people along the way were welcomed, especially those relics of the Ming Dynasty, who were even more moved to tears. Wu Sangui's troops are like a snowball, from 200,000 at the beginning of the army, to 1 million people!

The 800,000 new soldiers, on the one hand, are the people along the way, who have enthusiastically joined the army. On the other hand, there are the green battalion soldiers who came over. The Green Battalion soldiers are Han soldiers, but they do not have a flag registration, which is almost equivalent to having no military registration in the army today, and there are no people in the unit. They were already full of hatred for the Qing government in their hearts, and now they heard that they were going to fight with Wu Sangui, okay! The opportunity for the big husband to make a contribution has come - hula, all run clean.

After Wu Sangui returned to the marching camp, it was getting late, he suddenly remembered something, so he summoned Liu Yingchu and Xia Guoxiang to discuss, after the two saluted, Wu Sangui asked: "Is there any news from Beijing?" ”

Xia Guoxiang said: "The spies came to report, and after the pseudo-Kangxi read the text brought back by Samuha, he was so angry that he lifted the dragon case!" ”

Wu Sangui smiled: "I didn't think about letting this kid Samuha run away." ”

"It's okay if he runs away, let him give a gift to the pseudo-Kangxi," Liu Xuanchu said: "During the Tang Dynasty, after Wu Zetian watched "Asking for Wu Caowen", he talked and laughed vigorously, not only was he not angry, but he also blamed the prime minister for why he didn't reuse Luo Bin Wang as a great talent earlier. ”

"Haha, look at it this way, that pseudo-Kangxi's bearing is not as good as a woman!" Xia Guoxiang said with a smile.

Liu Xuanchu said: "That's because the text poked him in the sore spot, can he not be angry?" ”

"He's angry with him, let's beat us." Wu Sangui said, "Anything else?"

Xia Guoxiang hesitated for a moment and said, "There is also bad news, the prince has been arrested. ”

"Huh? Didn't Ying Xiongdi escape? Wu Sangui couldn't believe it.

"Hmm. The whole city of Beijing was locked down, and the prince failed to withdraw in time in order to participate in the meeting arrangement of the third prince. Xia Guoxiang's expression was gloomy, and he replied, "The uprising leaked the news in advance, and Tuhai led the troops to suppress it, and all of them were surrounded. ”

"What about the third prince?"

"The life and death of the third prince are uncertain, and his whereabouts are unknown."

Wu Sangui was deeply blaming himself in his heart, why didn't he protect Ying Xiong and the third prince well, so that they were deeply trapped.

Seeing this, Liu Xuanchu had no choice but to convince him: "Things have not yet reached a desperate situation, the prince of Ji has his own natural appearance, please let King Zhou relax." ”

"Yes, I'm sending some henchmen over there in Beijing to see if I can bring the son back." Xia Guoxiang also said.

Under the persuasion of the two, Wu Sangui calmed down a little and asked, "Mr. Liu, did you say that there are many people here?" ”

Liu Xuanchu didn't understand what he meant, so he asked, "Where?" ”

"Hunan."

"Not much. Except for some troops and families stationed there, there were basically no people. ”

"Oh," Wu Sangui nodded thoughtfully, "Then why do I see that there are still people with braids?" As soon as most of the people saw us coming, they happily cut their braids early. ”

Liu Xuanchu replied: "This is the poison of the puppet Qing Dynasty's three strategies to control the people!" Our Han people used to be quite a martial nation, but since the Pseudo-Qing Dynasty came up with this policy of foolish, weak, and sick people, after a long time, some Han people have become numb, if you don't call him a slave, he will be uncomfortable. ”

"How can it be!" Wu Sangui slapped the table, "The old man must pull out the servility of these people!" Prime Minister, you go and draw up a notice to cut braids, let Mr. Liu read it, and hurry up and go out! ”

So, Xia Guoxiang and Liu Lichu wrote a notice according to Wu Sangui's meaning and posted it on the streets:

In order to restore the crown to the people, renew things. Shine on the clothes and clothes, the high and the low, and wait for the braid of authority. Now the town advocates the construction of the banner of righteousness, the sea is clear, the first to change the wind and tired, and the people to change the beginning, such as civil and military officials, gentlemen and residents, etc., are all the sons of China, long thinking about the prestige of the Han Dynasty. Today, it is advisable to cut braids and leave hair for a net. All official haters tie scarves and small hats, everything is in accordance with the old system of the Han people, do not be confused, the wind of China is a total of Dun, and the old article is reviewed. Respectfully! Therefore.

Sure enough, this braid-cutting order stopped, and the old and young remnants of the Qing Dynasty stopped. The whole Jiangnan set off a trend of cutting braids, and even in the areas ruled by the Qing government, some backbone intellectuals also secretly cut braids. The Qing government originally came from entering the customs and strictly implemented the shaving order. In order to make it easier for the boss to know his surname, he also made up a sentence called "Keep your head without hair, keep your hair without your head." It means that if the common people still want to keep their heads alive, they must shave their hair and keep braids, otherwise they will be killed.

From the founding of the Qing Dynasty to the last years of Qianlong, when Magerni visited the Qing Dynasty, there were strict regulations on the style of this braid, and it was not as beautiful as it was played in today's Qing court dramas. This kind of yin and yang head did not appear until the end of the Qing Dynasty. The shaved hairstyle during the Kangxi period was "money rat tail", that is, the braid was similar to the tail of a mouse. What a thin tail that rat has, yes! It must be so thin that it can pass through the hole in the middle of a copper coin, which is qualified, otherwise it will still be killed.

Before Wu Sangui's uprising, there was such a saying among the people, called "Men do not descend to women, the old do not descend to the young, and life and death do not descend." "What do you mean? I mean, isn't your Qing government forcing all men to shave the law? But you can't care about women, you can also wear Hanfu and keep the original hair accessories, so it is called "men and women do not descend"; You force adults to shave their heads, but you don't care what clothes children wear and what heads they keep, so it's called "the old and the young don't descend"; You force the Han people to shave their hair and change clothes when they are alive, but you can't care about the dead, I love to wear longevity clothes and longevity clothes, and I love to wear mourning clothes and mourning clothes, which is called "life and death do not fall".

During the rebellion of the three feudatories, the Qing government was forced to relax the shaving order, which was manifested in the acquiescence of a small number of cultural celebrities who did not surrender to Wu Sangui and could not shave their hair. Reasons: First, it is to win people's hearts and divide the Han people; Second, the violent regime that enforces the shaving order has been greatly weakened, and the heart is weak.