Winter is coming, and there has just been a heavy snowfall in the city of Beijing. The sky gradually darkened, Zhu Cijiong came to the downstairs of Tiananmen Gate alone, the weather was very cold, the streets were sparsely populated, and the footsteps were hurried. Zhu Cijiong looked up at the familiar vermilion bricks and tiles on the city tower, and his heart was full of mixed feelings for a while, and he looked up to the sky and sighed: "God, who can save my Daming!" ”

At this time, a guard came over and shouted, "Get out of here, call Hanako, do you know what kind of place this is?" ”

"Yes, yes. Master, I'm just standing here and taking a look. Zhu Cijiong hurriedly smiled.

"It's not okay to see, hurry up and get out, let the master see you again and smash your dog's head!" Qing Bing said, pushing Zhu Cijiong hard, he stumbled and fell into the snow.

"Haha!" At this time, a few people gathered around to watch the excitement, and when they saw Zhu Cijiong so embarrassed, they couldn't stop laughing.

It took a long time for Zhu Cijiong to get up from the ground. He flicked the snow stains off his body and glanced back at the Forbidden City, which haunted him. He decided he was going to find someone.

The mansion of the prince Wu Yingxiong is located in the original Zhou family compound in Shihu Hutong, Xuanwumen, Beijing. From the outside, it looks like an ordinary face. Zhu Cijiong knocked on the door, and a servant came out and asked, "Who are you looking for?" ”

Zhu Cijiong calmed down and said, "Below is Yang Qilong, a classmate of Wu Gongzi in the same year, who came to visit. ”

"Oh, then I'll give you a good message." The doorman said.

"No need, we've known each other for a long time." As he spoke, Zhu Cijiong strode in. I saw that it was long and tortuous, very narrow, and could only allow one person to pass; It was covered with moss, and it looked gloomy. After walking for a long time, I finally arrived at the inner courtyard, but it was suddenly enlightened: pavilions, pavilions, small bridges and flowing water, exquisite rockeries in the distance, and plum blossoms in the first bloom, there is a different world.

Zhu Cijiong saw from a distance that Wu Yingxiong was reading a book in the house, so he arched his fists and said with a smile on his face: "Great Shizi, the old master of this Guan Mansion is here to visit!" ”

Wu Yingxiong was not tall, slightly fat, with thin eyebrows and big eyes, and thick lips, he was taken aback by this uninvited guest.

"Who are you?" Wu Yingxiong was stunned for a while, looking at the person in front of him, and estimated that he was in his early thirties.

"I already said it just now," Zhu Cijiong said with a disdainful face, "Okay, let me introduce it again, in the descendant of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, the third prince of Emperor Chongzhen, Zhu Cijiong, alias Yang Qilong!" Seeing that Wu Yingxiong didn't react for a while, he continued: "Your father Wu Sangui was angry at the crown and led the Qing soldiers into the customs, are you guilty?" ”

"Zhu Cijiong", "Yang Qilong", Wu Yingxiong desperately searched for memories in his mind, but he didn't remember to know such a person, so he said: "Presumptuous! You know, this is my mansion! ”

"Your mansion? This Ming Chongzhen court's guest head Zhou Yanru's house, there is neither a deed of assignment nor a transaction document, when did it become your private residence? Zhu Cijiong said in a slightly mocking tone, "It is said that your eldest prince Wu is humble and polite, and when the guests come, are they all allowed to stand and talk?" ”

Wu Yingxiong heard that this person's tone was not small, and he claimed to be the third prince of the first emperor, so he instructed Hu Xinshui on the side: "Give this Mr. Zhu a seat!" ”

Hu Taiji, whose name is Xinshui, is Wu Sangui's confidant servant who stayed in the capital and took care of Wu Yingxiong.

Zhu Cijiong was also not polite, lifted his robe, and sat down with a buttocks, with the bearing of a dragon son and a phoenix.

"I'm going to correct you first," Wu Yingxiong took a sip of tea and said, "My father is not angry at the crown, but angry at the crown!" It is true that my father and Mrs. Ru (Chen Yuanyuan) have a good relationship, but it is by no means like folklore, just for a woman, he descended to this dynasty. That's too much to underestimate! ”

"Haha," Zhu Cijiong laughed loudly when he heard this, "You really will shame your father!" ”

Wu Yingxiong didn't want to argue any more on this issue, so he said: "Just now you said that you are the third prince of Emperor Chongzhen, I am in Beijing for more than 20 years, why have you never heard of it?" Look at Your Excellency's age of about early thirties, how old were you when Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself in the coal mountain thirty years ago? ”

"Three years old." Zhu Cijiong replied.

"I think Your Excellency is just a charlatan who deceives the world and steals his name, when did Emperor Chongzhen have a three-year-old son?"

Zhu Cijiong sighed and said: "My father has a total of seven sons, in addition to me, there are also the crown prince Zhu Cihong, the king of Huaiwen Zhu Ciheng, the king of eternal mourning Zhu Cizhao, the king of mourning Zhu Cihuan, the mourning king Zhu Cican, and the young mourning king who died young. People generally only know the adult Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cixuan, and it's normal that you don't know. ”

"There is no evidence for your words, you said that you are the third prince of Zhu, do you have a certificate?" Wu Yingxiong asked.

I saw Zhu Cijiong take out a folding fan from his arms and hand it to Wu Yingxiong: "Forgive me for not believing it, look at this." ”

Wu Yingxiong took it and weighed it, it was so weighty, it turned out to be a stainless steel bone fan, which could be used as a self-defense weapon, no wonder it was still carried in winter. There is a poem on the fan:

The river is blue, who blows the jade flute on the river? The boat is far away to send Xiaoxiang passengers. The reed flowers are thousands of miles of frost and moon white, and the color of the wounded line is clear, and the Ming Dynasty is separated by the mountains.

Wu Yingxiong had seen a lot of Emperor Chongzhen's handwriting from his father before, and this one was indeed not a fake at a glance. He returned the folding fan to Zhu Cijiong, but said: "This poem has neither a head-up, nor a payment, and it is a work made by predecessors, although it is indeed Chongzhen's handwriting, it can't explain anything." ”

Zhu Cijiong saw that he didn't believe it, so he carefully took out a hard-skin gold box from his arms, gently put it on the table, and pointed: "I really don't shed tears when I don't see officials, look at this again!" ”

It's jade! Wu Yingxiong hurriedly took it with both hands, examined it carefully, and saw that it was engraved:

Zhu Cijiong, the biological mother of Concubine Ci, was born in Chuxiu Palace in March of the 14th year of Chongzhen. Wen Po Liu Wang, deacons and eunuchs Li Zengyun and Guo An were present. Jiaodong Factory, Jinyiwei and Qinfei each keep one copy and file it according to the regulations. The same day of retirement.

This can't be faked, jade is equivalent to the Ming Dynasty royal household registration book, ID card. After so many years, the Chongzhen imperial seal on it is still bright red, as if it has been newly covered. In Wu Yingxiong's mind, many folk rumors about the third prince of Zhu suddenly appeared:

said that Emperor Chongzhen killed his daughter and queen with his own hands when Li Zicheng was about to enter the palace; It is said that the third prince was hidden in the arms of the nurse and escaped from the Forbidden City; It is also said that the nurse used the bag trick and replaced the third prince with her son, but her own flesh and blood were killed by the Qing soldiers who caught up.

Wu Yingxiong's eyes were a little moist. With trembling hands, he returned the jade to Zhu Cijiong. This person in front of him is the third prince of Zhu, who has been missing for thirty years, and he is really bright! He thought that he should give the third prince a big gift, but as soon as he got up, he suddenly thought of a question: Recently, I heard that the imperial court is looking for the descendants of the Ming family everywhere, this will not be Kangxi who sent someone to test him! Wu Yingxiong has been in Beijing for 20 years and knows how powerful it is.

"This jade is indeed real," Wu Yingxiong changed his words, "but Zhu Ming's descendants have already been driven out and killed, so it is possible that this object will fall into the hands of outsiders." ”

"Haha," Zhu Cijiong laughed loudly when he heard him say this, "Where will my Zhu Ming descendants be killed!" Take the living famous kings as an example, there are Zhu Shugui, King of Ningjing, King Zhu Lun of Zhou, Zhu Huan, the prince of Lu Jianguo, Zhu Cikuang, King of Luxi, Zhu Jiang, King of Dongba, Zhu Jun, King of Anle, Zhu Zhu, King of Shucheng, Zhu Xian, King of Fengnan, Zhu Ho of the Yiwang Clan, etc., and there are countless others scattered among the people. ”

Speaking of this, Zhu Cijiong let out a long sigh, "In this world, people who pretend to be asleep will never wake up!" ”

Wu Yingxiong knew that he was saying that he knew that the third prince in front of him was the third prince of Zhu, but he pretended to be stupid and refused to admit it, so he said: "Don't say that you don't know whether it's true or not, what if it's true?" Now that the Qing Dynasty has replaced the Ming Dynasty, and I am the prince of Pingxi, you, as a family of dead countries, should obey my governance! I am a very human minister, enjoy all the glory and precious, what can you do to me? ”

"Yo, the taste is extremely high, and the title is extremely heavy! When Kangxi has nowhere to show mercy, he can only engrave the names of your father and son (three feudatories) on the palace pillar, and bless day and night! Zhu Cijiong said sarcastically.

"Humph! You don't have to sow discord between us kings and ministers here. My father and I were both loyal ministers of the Qing Dynasty, and I missed your ungrateful father, and when it came to the most critical moment, I gave an earl to my father. And as soon as my father returned to this dynasty, he immediately made a prince! Wu Yingxiong said coldly, "You go, I don't welcome you here!" ”

"Okay!" Zhu Cijiong put a silver medal on the table as he spoke, "If the prince of the world figured it out one day, he could take this silver medal to Gulou West Street to find me." Leave! With that, he walked away.

"There won't be that day!" Wu Yingxiong wanted to catch up and throw the silver medal to him, but he couldn't move his footsteps, just froze in place.

The imperial court was deeply worried about Wu Sangui's self-respect for his troops in Yunnan, and repeatedly ordered Wu Sangui to disarm. However, Wu Sangui pursued the policy of his old boss Hong Chengchou that "Yunnan should not be left idle for a day", and used the Tusi rebellion and the Mongol invasion as an excuse to resist disarmament. The contradictions between the two sides gradually became public. When the Qing court saw that disarmament could not be achieved, it would lay off people. So he implemented the policy of dispersing the party and transferred Wu Sangui's henchmen out of Yunnan. Successively: Zhu Wannian, transferred to Weining, Guizhou; Wang Fuchen, transferred to the governor of Shaanxi; Zhao Liangdong, transferred to Datong, Shanxi; Zhao Tingchen, transferred to the Zhejiang General Army; Ma Ning, transferred to the governor of Shandong; Li Bensen, transferred to the governor of Guizhou; Wu Degong was transferred to the governor of Huguang; Yan Ziming was transferred to the governor of Guangdong; Liu Xinchen, transferred to the Chaozhou General Army; Wang Jingong was transferred to the governor of Fujian and so on. For a time, Wu Sangui became a loner.

In the first month of the twelfth year of Kangxi, Wu Sangui was sitting in the mansion gloomily, and suddenly Gao Dejie came in to report:

"Lord Wang, there is a Confucian student outside the door who asks to see you."

"Who is it?"

"He bluntly said that it was your old friend, and he hadn't seen you for a long time, so he came to visit."

Since Wu Sangui's Liaodong Expedition, he has a lot of old protégés, so he said: "Let him in." ”

"Go down to the river and visit the king of Pingxi." After the visitor came in, he was not polite and reported his name.

Wu Sangui looked at this person for a while, and couldn't remember where he had seen it, "What kind of person is Mr., this king doesn't seem to recognize." ”

"I'm the minister of the Nanjing Hongguang Dynasty."

When Wu Sangui heard Hongguang Chao, a stirring spirit, "Bold!" Do you dare to call yourself a puppet court, and you are impatient? What is the matter that you have come to this king without permission? ”

"For lobbyists."

"Lobbyist? Say what? Wu Sangui was a little uneasy.

"Say you're against the Qing Dynasty and regain your sight." Zha Rulong said with a grin.

"Bold fanatics, rebellious! Do you know who this king is? I am Prince Pingxi of the Qing Dynasty, are you crazy when you come to me to persuade the anti-Qing Dynasty to restore the Ming Dynasty? Who's coming......"

Wu Sangui was about to have a seizure, but was interrupted by Zha Rulong, "Lord Wang, don't worry, after reading my letter, it's not too late for you to kill me." ”

Zha Rulong was not in a hurry, and stepped forward, "Lord Wang, please take a look." ”

Wu Sangui hesitated, he didn't know what kind of detail this person was. The deputy general Gao Dejie took it and saw that it was a bloody letter!

"Lord, you said that you are the prince of the Great Qing Dynasty, so why did you bring heavy guards into Beijing to worship when Shunzhi died? And when the imperial court saw that you were bringing troops into Beijing, it was busy ordering you to set up a factory outside Beijing to worship, and you didn't need to enter Beijing. This shows that you and the Qing court are guarding each other, and they just tacitly understand each other. In fact, you don't want to work for the Qing court, but you are forced by the situation to do so. I can't hide it from others, but I can't hide it. ”

"These are just your personal guesses. This king hates blood books the most, so if you have anything to say, just say it. Wu Sangui said.

"The governor of the world, Fu Tizhen and the ministers of the court, all have the same heart, and treat the king as a meeting of the alliance. Wang, you are Chinese, and what happened back then was out of necessity. Today's opportunity, grasp in the hands of the king, if the king sends troops to the Central Plains, the world responds, this is a great opportunity for the ages! Zha Rulong made a generous statement.

Wu Sangui was very excited after hearing this, but on the surface, he said: "Rebellious words! Come on, blast this madman out of the air! ”

After that, Gao Dejie threw Zha Rulong and the blood book out together.

At this time, Wu Sangui was preparing for his 60th birthday, and in order not to make the Qing court suspicious, he ordered people to buy many singers, such as the four-faced Guanyin, the eight-sided Guanyin, etc., and made fun day and night. He didn't understand how these people in the rivers and lakes could see that he had an anti-Qing heart.

It didn't take long for people from Taiwan to arrive. Wu Sangui consulted with Fang Guangchen.

"Who will come from Taiwan?" Wu Sangui asked.

"Probably someone sent by Zheng Jing." Fang Guangchen replied.

"Zheng Jing?"

"Yes. After Zheng Chenggong conquered Taiwan, he died of illness not long after, and there are also rumors that he was killed. Zheng Jing is the eldest son of Zheng Chenggong and stayed in Jinxia. After Zheng Chenggong's death, he sent troops to Taiwan, defeated Zheng Zheng, and became the second generation of the Ming Zheng monarch. ”

"Lord Wang, Chen Yonghua asks to see." The next person will report it.

"Chen Yonghua? What is the origin of this person? Wu Sangui asked again.

"Chen Yonghua, also known as Chen Jinnan, is Zheng Chenggong's military advisor." Fang Guangchen said, "Lord Wang, it doesn't hurt if you see it, there are clouds among the people: if you don't know Chen Jinnan, it's in vain to know heroes." Zheng Jing sent him, and he must have a great trust. ”

"Okay. Mr. Xuan Chen went to the hall. ”

Chen Yonghua and adjutant Wu Hongji went to the hall and saluted Wu Sangui one after another. Wu Sangui returned the salute and ordered someone to give a seat.

"The two of you have come from far away, and I don't know what happened?" After the greetings, Wu Sangui asked.

"The prince entrusted us with the national letter to the prince." Wu Hongji said, handing over the national letter to Fang Guangchen, "Now the four seas are forgotten, only His Highness is one person." ”

"Sir is overrated." Wu Sangui's face was ashamed, "The deeds of the country surnamed Ye are also admired by this king, but now after all, as an enemy country, he may disappoint Mr." ”

"Your Majesty, you are a Chinese, why do you have to bend to Hu Lu for a long time? Although our country is small, there are thousands of ships and 100,000 soldiers, and it is made by His Royal Highness! ”

"Sir, what you said is very reasonable, but this matter is not trivial, let this king think twice, and after the old man makes a decision, he will send someone to contact the prince, okay?"

"Good! In a word, we are waiting for the king's good news. Chen Yonghua and Wu Hongji said, "Then let's leave first, so as not to make outsiders suspicious." ”

Wu Sangui bid farewell to the Taiwan envoy, and his heart was full of thoughts. It seems that raising an army against the Qing Dynasty is not only his wish, but also the hope of the people of the world. "It's time to make a decision." Wu Sangui thought of Chen Yuanyuan, and he wanted to confide his heart to her.