"I won't say much other nonsense! Originally, this king also planned to make some concessions, but based on the attitude and sincerity shown by your imperial court, this king decided not to let a single step! ”

"It's not that this king is unreasonable, it's that you are shameless and despicable first!"

"Within three months of the signing of the peace treaty, the ransom of 24,500,000 taels of silver and 3,500,000 stone of grain must be delivered to the king as promised!"

The remainder, within a year, must be paid! Before the 35 million taels of silver and 5 million stone of military rations are paid, I don't want this king to release a prisoner of war! “

"By the way, don't think that the old man really doesn't dare to kill the prisoner! Provoke the old man, your bannermen prisoners of war, don't think that one of them will go home alive! ”

"You are responsible for all the consequences! This king is benevolent and righteous, and magnanimous! It's you, shameless first! ”

In the hysterical roar of Wu Laohan, Wang Xu, Ji Bilong and other mite Qing envoys left the temporary line in a gloomy manner, left Wuchang City, and escorted Xiong Cixu, who was almost crippled by the Wu army's soldiers, and returned to Hanyang City on the north bank of the Yangtze River with a disgraced face, and used 600 miles of expedited horses to report the dismal outcome of the second negotiation to Xiao Mazi who was far away in the capital. On the same day, the Wu army once again began to exert its might on the Yangtze River Fort, and fired 100 artillery shots in a row to sink two Mites Qing warships.

The distance between the Mites and the Qing capital is relatively far, and the reaction will not be talked about for the time being, but on the side of Wu Jun, at the same time as the Mites Qing Mission is driven away, the eleven former Wu Laohan henchmen who appeared on Wu Yingqi's list were all temporarily deprived of all rights by Wu Laohan and went down to the prison to wait for questioning, and the bribe money they received from Xiong Cixu was also rewarded by Wu Laohan as a reward to Wu Yingqi, who had a rare conscience discovery, at the suggestion of Hu Guozhu, Lu Fatzi and Wang Shirong.

At the same time, several important civil and military officials of the Wu army who were exposed by Wu Yingqi in public because of accepting bribes from Xiong Cixu also fell into bad luck, all the civilian officials were dismissed from their official positions and went home to study behind closed doors, and the military generals, including Xia Guoxiang, were tragically cut in power, and the descendant army was angrily dispersed by Wu Laohan, and half of it was taken out after reorganization, and distributed to several important cronies who showed loyalty in this matter, and the descendant army directly under Lu Fatzi also reached 8,000 at once! -- Don't underestimate this number, the total strength of Wu Laohan's annihilation is only about 200,000, and it is not easy for Lu Fatzi, who has just completed five years under Wu Laohan's command, to get such a big share of the cake in the star-studded Pingxi Palace.

On the same day, he put forward a suggestion that the original text of the peace treaty between the Wu army and the Mites Qing army, as well as what Xiong Ci did in Wuchang City, was written into a leaflet, distributed through various channels, and written into a clear text, through the regular post station of the Qing court, let everyone in the world take a look, take a look at what Xiao Mazi did and did shamelessly! In a rage, Wu Laohan agreed and did according to the plan!

The big problem was finally kicked back to Kang Mazi's side. And when things have come to this point, even the most stupid people can see that Wu Lao Han has been completely angered by the Qing Dynasty, and the more than 30 million taels of silver and 5 million stone military rations required by the armistice for the time being are not so much to compensate Wu Lao Han for the military salaries and grain and grass of the old thief, but to ask for a ransom of more than 50,000 mite soldiers and more than 20,000 mite people! Even if Kang Mazi pays as promised, the resumption of the war between the Wu army and the Qing army in the future is a foregone conclusion!

By the way, if the Mite Qing Imperial Court tore up the peace treaty and betrayed its promise, then the Mite Qing Imperial Court would lose not only 50,000 backbone elite troops and more than 20,000 Eight Banner parasites on which the Mite Qing Imperial Court relied on to rule, but also the prestige, authority, credibility and credibility of the Mites Qing Imperial Court and Kang Mazi! Such a loss, for Kang Mazi, who has just overthrown Ao Bai Chu and lost face, can he bear it?

"Useless waste! Idiot! Shameless, incompetent, useless! Waste to the extreme! My first fame has been affected by you, a dog minion! ”

After slapping the pseudo-dragon case hysterically roaring for a long time, Kang Mazi, who was furious, picked up Wang Xu's six-hundred-mile express report again, slammed it on the ground, and yelled: "Proposed order, six-hundred-mile expedited to Wang Xu, let him not bring Xiong Cilu back, and directly tell Xiong Cilu to go back to his hometown in Nanchang, and never use it!" ”

"Master, ......, forgive the slave for his courage." Suo Etu kowtowed, and said tremblingly: "The slave thinks that the treatment of Xiong Cixu does not seem to be appropriate. ”

"What, do you think I've treated him too harshly?" Kang Mazi knew that Suo Etu had a good relationship with Xiong Cixu, and said that Suo Etu was planning to intercede for Xiong Cixu, so he couldn't help but squint and ask angrily.

"The master misunderstood, the slave would never dare to mean this." Suo Etu was taken aback, and quickly kowtowed and said: "The slave wants to say that if you just expel Xiong Cixu back to his hometown and never use it, it is equivalent to acquiescing in Xiong Cilu's bribing of Wu Thief's lackeys at the behest of his own son, so the slave feels that for the sake of the master's face and prestige, Xiong Cixu should be dealt with more heavily!" It is best to let everyone in the world know that the bribing of Wu thief's lackeys was done privately by Xiong Cixu behind his master's back, and the master did not know in advance. ”

Emperor Tartar likes to entrust his subordinates with a well-known temper, although Suo Etu's behavior of betraying his close friends is shameful, but Kang Mazi was very moved when he heard it, but there was still some hesitation, and he hesitated: "The words are not bad, but as the Son of Heaven, it is a bit ...... to entrust the ministers to let the ministers take responsibility." ”

"Your Majesty, please rest assured, Weichen believes that this move is definitely not entrusted by the emperor to his subordinates." Kang Mazi's new minister of study, Zhang Ying, knelt down, kowtowed and said: "As a courtier, it is natural to sacrifice oneself to protect the lord. In the Battle of Xingyang that year, if it weren't for Ji Xin pretending to be Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, who went out of the city to surrender, how could Gaozu break Xiang Yu in the next battle and lay the foundation of the two Han Dynasty for four hundred years? ”

"Now that the emperor is forced by the situation, he is forced to follow the example of the sages and bribe the important ministers of the thief army, and he is accidentally exposed, and the authority of the Son of Heaven is shaken. I believe that even if the emperor doesn't do this, Xiong Cixu will definitely volunteer to take the initiative to take responsibility for his loyalty to the king, how can the emperor be holy and stop his subordinates from being loyal and filial? ”

"Aiqing is reasonable, I can't live up to Xiong Aiqing's hard work." Kang Mazi had steps to go down, and immediately nodded and ordered: "Zhang Ying drafted the decree, Xiong Cixu betrayed the lord to steal, bribed the vassals of the Pingxi Wangfu without permission, and greatly damaged the face of the Heavenly Empire, and deserved to be executed, but his loyalty was commendable, and the death penalty was pardoned, and Wang Xu escorted Xiong Cixu back to the capital and handed over to the Criminal Department for discussion." ”

"Wechen obeys." Zhang Ying kowtowed and agreed, and quickly got up to draft the will. But as soon as Zhang Ying was halfway up, Kang Mazi casually ordered: "Draft again, the waiter in the south study said that since Zhang Ying was on an errand with me, he has been loyal and diligent, and talents are rare, so he will be crowned as a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, a waiter of the Ministry of Rites, the eldest son Zhang Tingzan and the second son Zhang Tingyu, and a third-class car lieutenant. ”

Zhang Ying was ecstatic, but his face was shocked, and he quickly kowtowed and said: "Your Majesty, Weichen has no merit in size, so he really doesn't dare to receive the order." Over there, Suo Etu, Mingzhu and Gao Shiqi, the waiter in the south study, were also very jealous, and they all envied Zhang Ying's fast climb.

"If I'm not running out of people, can I still make this will cheap you?" Kang Mazi snorted coldly in his heart, and shouted: "I have made up my mind, and Aiqing must not refuse." Zhang Ying had no choice but to kowtow and thank you.

The scandal of bribing Wu Jun's important ministers was barely covered up - with Xiong Ci's cleverness and personality, even if he borrowed a hundred courages, he did not dare to shout injustice in the criminal department, and put the responsibility back on Kang Mazi. However, a more difficult and more difficult problem to choose was put in front of Kang Mazi, that is, whether to fulfill the peace agreement or not, and send the silver and food to Wu Laohan according to the peace agreement? After hesitating and hesitating for a long time, Kang Mazi finally asked Suo Etu, the current head of the imperial court: "Suo Etu, how did you do the errand of letting the prince Baylor in Beijing and Jia Le, a wealthy businessman in the country, lose money and grain?" How much did you collect? ”

"Back to the master, although the slave has done his best, the situation is still not optimistic." Suo Etu replied dejectedly: "During this period of time, the princes and civil and military officials in the capital only lost less than 600,000 taels of silver, and the figure in Jiangnan was six days ago, only one hundred and twenty thousand taels. ”

"Why? There are so many princes in Beijing, how can they lose so much money? Kang Mazi was shocked, and the last bit of hope in his heart was completely shattered.

"Back to the master, they are reluctant to take the silver out, and the slaves are really powerless." Suo Etu replied with a sad face: "Among the kings of Beijing, only Prince An's Mansion sold some enclosures and collected 10,000 taels of silver, and the other princes and county kings only coped with 2,000 taels or 3,000 taels, and only the king of Doluo County, Eza, donated 5,000 taels. Most of the civil and military officials are also like this, and the ones who donated the most were the minions and Ming Zhongtang, and the minions sold some of the jewelry left by Ama and made up 20,000 taels. ”

"A group of dog minions, they don't even understand the truth that the skin will be attached without hair?" Kang Mazi scolded angrily, and quietly glanced at Suo Etu, secretly scolding the dog slave for still wanting to be lost? Sold the jewelry left by Sony's old slave to make up 20,000 taels, do you think I really don't know? The door salute given to your family by foreign officials alone is 100 taels per person - this is not counting the door salute of entering the second gate!

After thinking about it for a long time with a blue face, Kang Mazi asked again: "Then you say, before the fourth day of the first lunar month, can we gather enough 24.5 million taels of silver and 3.5 million stone grain?" ”

"If you count the silver deposits in the inner treasury, plus the donations that the master issued in the second half of the year to rebuild the Qing army, it may be barely enough." Suo Etu said tremblingly: "Even if it is still a little short, there will not be a lot of it, and there should be some hope for getting it together." However, there is no money or food to carry out the master's plan to expand armaments and warfare, and if there are any big expenses during the period, the state treasury and the inner treasury will not be able to bear it. ”

Kang Mazi's numb face was even more ugly, and he gritted his burnt yellow teeth and said nothing. However, Mingzhu, the representative of Kang Mazi's think tank, climbed out, kneeled in front of Kang Mazi, kowtowed and said: "Master, according to the opinion of the slave, this money and food must not be given!" If it is given, my plan to rebuild the army of the Qing Dynasty will inevitably run aground, but the old thief of Wu Sangui can use this money and grain to further expand the military strength, and the enemy will become stronger and stronger, and my army of the Qing Dynasty will become weaker and weaker, and the old thief of Wu Sangui will suddenly attack, how can the court resist? ”

Kang Mazi's yellow teeth almost bit his lips, but he still refused to speak, and he regretted in his heart that he did not listen to the bitter advice of the old witch of Xiaozhuang, and now he did not eat the rice, but completely angered Wu Lao Han Annihilation, and the resumption of the war in the future is almost a foregone conclusion, and even the hope of paying tribute coins to temporarily stabilize Wu Lao Han Annihilation is also very small.

"Master, the slave knows that you are a rat trapper, and I am worried about the safety of the Eight Banners soldiers who were captured by Wu thieves." Mingzhu kowtowed and said solemnly: "But the current situation is critical, if the master fulfills the contract, then our Qing court will also lose the power to rebuild the army for self-preservation, so the slave thinks that for the sake of the Qing Dynasty's thousands of generations, they can only be wronged." Moreover, Wu Sangui's old thief may not really dare to slaughter these prisoners. ”

"I can lose my trust in the world." Kang Mazi hoarsely asked, "But regardless of the responsibility of the captured flag men and soldiers, who will carry it?" Do you Mingzhu have the courage to give up this group of bannermen prisoners of war and start a new war with Wu Sangui's old thieves? If you dare, I will approve it in court. ”

Mingzhu didn't dare to speak, and at the same time offended the entire mite Qing ruling class, Mingzhu didn't dare to do it no matter how bold he was. Kang Mazi waited for a long time, and saw that Mingzhu never spoke, so he smiled bitterly: "Dog minion, you don't have the courage to do it, do you?" But I don't blame you, don't say that you are so daring, even I, I don't dare to take such a responsibility! Alas! ”

After a long sigh, Kang Mazi sat down weakly, and commanded weakly: "Taking advantage of the fact that there is still some time now, six hundred miles will urgently send a message to Wang Xu, ordering him to negotiate with Wu Sangui old thief again, and tell Wu Sangui old thief that I have promised to pay seventy percent of the promised military salary and grain before the fourth day of the first lunar month, but Wu Sangui old thief must immediately release all the captured banner soldiers after receiving this seventy percent." ”

"Also." Kang Mazi added in a voice so low that he couldn't even hear clearly: "Load the silver money and grain that you are going to pay onto the ship, and escort Tong Guogang to Hanyang Hou Ming." In addition, increase the intensity of donations, and order the ministers to contribute their efforts to see if there is a way to solve ......the current money and food crisis. ”

………………

After the Wu army advanced to the Yangtze River defense line of the Mite Qing court, the biggest advantage for the Mite Qing court was that it was much more convenient and faster to contact the front line. After listening to the holy decree, Wang Xu first wailed and cried, and then crossed the river again to negotiate and report the situation to Wu Lao Han.

This time, Lu Fatzi never showed mercy to Wang Xu's subordinates, and in front of Wang Xu, Lu Fatzi directly proposed a response plan to Wu Lao Hanjian - since Kang Mazi only paid seventy percent in advance within three months, then Wu Jun only released seventy percent of the prisoners of war after receiving the seventy percent of the money and grain, and the remaining thirty percent of the mites were paid off by the Qing Imperial Court and when Wu Jun was released! As for the first release of the seventy percent, it is up to the prisoners of war to draw lots! Wu Laohan, who had no trust in Kang Mazi, was overjoyed when he heard this, applauded, and immediately approved. Wang Xu had no choice but to write Wu Laohan's reply into a recital, and sent someone to the capital for instructions.

The former Aichen Lu Fatzi was ruthless and vicious to this point, and it was useless for Kang Mazi to scold him, but fortunately, Wu Jun did not completely insist on releasing the prisoners of war after all the military salaries and food were paid, and also made quite a lot of concessions. Kang Mazi had no choice but to agree to Wu Jun's conditions with tears of humiliation, and ordered Tong Guogang to transport the money and grain to Wuchang before the fourth day of the first lunar month, and hand over the money with one hand and the other hand!

On the third day of the first month of the twelfth year of Kang Mazi in the Tatar Qing Dynasty, the armistice negotiations between the Qing court and the Pingxi palace were finally reached, and Tong Guogang, the brother-in-law of Kang Mazi, transported the 24.5 million taels of silver and 3.5 million stone grain delivered by the Qing court to Wuchang to redeem the prisoners of war of the Qicheng banner people who were captured by the Wu army. Although the three most important captives in the Qing court, Jieshu and Le Erjin monk Kexi, were extremely lucky to be released early, what surprised Tong Guogang and made him extremely angry was that these prisoners of war did not even have a right thumb!

"Prince Pingxi, what do you mean by this?" At the handover scene, Tong Guogang yelled at Wu Laohan and asked, "Why are their thumbs missing?" ”

"No way, you can't really blame this king." Wu Laohan spread his hands and said helplessly: "Who told your captives to riot several times, kill the king's guards, and kill ordinary people and forcibly annihilated the people's daughters on the way to escape, and this king didn't want to bear the infamy of killing prisoners, so he had to cut off their right thumbs as punishment." ”

"Father-in-law, please forgive my son-in-law for correcting it." Hu Guozhu added with a smile: "A large part of the thumbs of the right hands of these prisoners of war were cut off on the battlefield, and a large part of them were cut off because they harassed the people, and were cut by the people of Yungui who were fierce and fierce. ”

"Sophistry!" Tong Guogang said angrily: "You are treacherous, you are breaking your word and fattening, when they surrendered to you, didn't you say that you would guarantee their personal safety?" ”

"The king has ensured their personal safety." Wu Lao Han said with a smile: "If Lord Tong doesn't believe it, you can go to the prisoner of war camp and ask, did this king kill a prisoner at will?" Even those prisoners who participated in the riots and killed the guards, this king showed mercy to his subordinates and did not ask for their lives, benevolence and righteousness, what do you want this king to do? ”

"Even if there is a prisoner of war riot and kills the guards, it is impossible for all prisoners of war to participate in the riot, right?" Tong Guogang shouted with red eyes, "No, stop the handover immediately, this official wants to play the emperor, please do it." ”

"No problem." Hu Guozhu agreed, and said with a smile: "Lord Tong is a messenger, and he will pass on the decree on behalf of the heavens, since Lord Tong asks to stop the handover immediately, as long as Lord Tong is willing to bear all the consequences caused by this, then we naturally respect Lord Tong's opinion." However, on the side of the prisoners of your army, please ask Lord Tong to explain. ”

Tong Guogang was dumbfounded, looked at the flag-man prisoners of war who were densely packed on the dock in the distance, and couldn't help but shudder - he would run to these 50,000 prisoners of war and say that he didn't want to take them home now, and when he asked for a new order, then these 50,000 prisoners of war who had finally escaped from the sea of suffering didn't need to do anything, and one person could drown himself on the spot with a mouthful of phlegm! There are other consequences caused by this, once Kang Mazi is investigated, his Tong family will not want to sell the pants that he has accumulated in the past hundred years, but he will be ruined in his own hands!

"No thumbs up, no thumbs! Without a thumb, you can still draw a bow and arrows, pick up a knife and cut people, this blood debt will have a chance to settle in the future! Tong Guogang thought in his heart, gritted his teeth and stomped his feet, and said no more,

"Lord Tong, if you have no other opinions, then how about we continue to deliver?" Wu Lao Hanjian asked with a smile. Seeing that Tong Guogang lowered his head and refused to speak, Wu Laohan smiled proudly and ordered: "Pass on this Wang Jun's decree and continue to deliver." ”

"Kang Xiao Mazi, wait." Wu Lao Han also swore in his heart, "The revenge of killing the son, this king will not forget, with this military salary, money and food, the remaining thirty percent does not matter whether you give it or not, at the latest a year later, the old man will set up a banner again and settle this blood debt with you!" ”

"Lord Wang, Lord Tong, something is wrong!" At this time, a new change occurred, and a Qing army herald hurriedly rushed over, knelt down on one knee and said: "Curb Zhongtang, he just got on the warship, and he committed suicide by taking poison!" ”

Tong Guogang's body was shocked, Tie Qing refused to speak, and Wu Lao Han sighed and ordered: "Guozhu, send someone to prepare three animal sacrifices, and pay respects in front of the spirit of the Containment Hall, if there is no coffin on the ship, send the best coffin in Wuchang City to the Containment Hall." Anyway, he was also an old friend of this king, and he couldn't be wronged. ”

"The son-in-law obeys." Hu Guozhu agreed, and reminded: "Father-in-law, you still have an old friend who is also leaving, does your father-in-law plan to see him off and see him off?" ”

"You mean Prince Pingnan, right?" Wu Laohan smiled and said: "No need, he and your father-in-law will not deal with each other for the rest of his life, and your father-in-law will send him off, not only will he not appreciate it, but he will be even more embarrassed if he doesn't do it - so, the old man has already sent your niece and son-in-law to see him off." ”

"Yifeng is going to see him off?" Hu Guozhu smiled dumbly and said, "Yifeng went to send him, I'm afraid that the prince of Pingnan will be even more self-conscious, right?" ”

Before the words fell, the crazy roaring voice of Shang Lao Han Jian had already been heard on the dock, and he could hear it clearly even if he was two or three miles away, "Get out!" Lao Tzu doesn't have you as a son-in-law! Get lost! One day, Lao Tzu will chop up you, a dog mongrel, with his own hands! Chopped! Crush the bones and scatter ashes! Ling Chi Wan ......! ”

Shouting this, Shang Lao's roaring voice suddenly stopped, and after a while, another horse rushed over and reported: "Lord Qiqi, Prince Pingnan spit blood from his mouth and has fainted." ”

"Send Lang Zhong to rescue immediately." Wu Lao Han laughed, "He is the last old friend of the old man in the Qing Dynasty, if there are any three long and two short, this king will be lonely!" Hahahaha-haha! ”

In the wild laughter of Wu Laohan's annihilation, one team after another of the mite Qing prisoners of war boarded the boat and sailed to the north bank of the Yangtze River, where boxes of real money and silver and bags of rice and wheat were lifted out of the boat and piled up in the open area heavily guarded by the soldiers of the Wu army, gradually piling up into mountains and converging into a sea.

Every officer and soldier of the Wu army and every citizen of the southwest were beaming, because they knew that they could rest assured and be comfortable this year. Every soldier of the Qing army and the men of the Qing army were depressed, because they knew that this year's day, they were having a hard time, and whether they could have a full meal in the army was probably also a big problem.

The snow dispersed, and the winter sun shone on the face of the fat man Lu, and the red light on the fat face full of happy smiles seemed to be a little brighter than the sun. Carried away, Fat Lu said an unbearable and bullshit sentence, "The wheel of history has finally turned to a different track and turned a new page." ”

(To be continued)