"The prince forgives the sin, the lower official has no way to teach the son, the dog broke into such a big disaster on the first errand, and broke the prince's gentle plan, and the lower official and the dog deserve death! Please punish the prince severely, and the lower officials and dogs are willing to accept the guilt! ”

Not to mention, when Yao Qisheng knelt in front of Lu Fatzi and kowtowed again and again to say this, Lu Fatzi, who was recalling what other big iron mines and alum mines in Yanjing and Hebei were really startled, and almost suspected that Yao Qisheng's son Yao Yi had run away with his army and surrendered to his enemy's side. Zhu Fangdan, Mu Tianyan, Huang Yanbo, Zhang Fengyi, Jin Zhen and others, who were acting in charge of official business, were also taken aback, thinking that Yao Yi would not fight for Yao Qisheng, and would lose the Fengyang granary as soon as he arrived in Anhui.

"What the hell is going on?" Fat Lu hurriedly left the table and sat down, and went to pick up Yao Qisheng in person, "Master Yao, please get up quickly, if you have anything to say slowly, there is no need for this." ”

"The crime of the lower official deserves death, the dog is young and impulsive, he can't hold his breath, and he has a conflict with General Ma Bao as soon as he arrives in Anhui." Yao Qisheng refused to get up, but just raised the six-hundred-mile urgent military intelligence report he had just received above his head with his hands, and said with a sad face: "Although there is a reason for the incident, and our army has not suffered a loss, but after all, the dog still broke the prince's Huairou plan, please ask the prince to punish the dog severely, and the lower officials dare not be partial." ”

"What the hell is Yao Yi doing?" Confused, he opened the Tang newspaper and took a closer look at its contents, Lu Fatzi immediately breathed a sigh of relief, it turned out that Yao Yi was because the soldiers and civilians of Yingzhou insisted on only lowering the fat army, and could not bear to live up to the expectations of the soldiers and civilians of Yingzhou, and was afraid of the hearts of those who wanted to surrender, so he was forced to send troops to Yingzhou on his own initiative, and Wang San's team under Ma Bao's command fought a battle under the city of Yingzhou, losing more than 600 people, killing more than 1,100 Ma Baojun soldiers, and driving Wang San out of Yingzhou, and then Yao Yi also knew that he might have caused trouble, so he hurriedly asked for guilt. Sent together with the Military Intelligence Tang News, there was also a piece of music defended by Wu Xingqi, the governor of Anhui Province of the Fat Army, and a blood letter from the military and civilian officials of Yingzhou asking for surrender.

After reading the military intelligence report sent by Yao Yi and Wu Xingqi, Zhu Fangdan, Mu Tianyan and Huang Yanbo were silent, and they all felt that it was extremely tricky, because this matter was too complicated, originally the military and civilians of Yingzhou were determined to only surrender the fat army, and it was natural for Yao Yi to send troops to take over Yingzhou, and at the same time, if the fat army did not accept the blood letter of the soldiers and civilians of Yingzhou, and watched Yingzhou be captured and ravaged by Ma Baojun, the news spread, chilling the hearts of those who want to surrender in the world, and the fat army will inevitably increase a lot of difficulty if they want to surrender hostile forces in the future. Therefore, Yao Yi took it upon himself to send troops to Yingzhou, which should be regarded as meritorious and innocent.

The complexity is complicated in the fact that the fat army and the Ma Baojun are fighting, Yingzhou, Lu'an and Anqing, the three Anhui prefectures, have always been the buffer of the fat army and the Wu army, the situation was complicated and chaotic before, the fat army and the Wu army were unwilling to take the three state capitals directly bordered, and countless incidents and dangers were born out of thin air, so both sides have not started on these three state capitals, and the remnants of the Qing army are temporarily entrenched in these three state capitals, and for the Great Zhou court, these three state capitals are a blank space.

Since it is a blank area, of course, who arrives first and who gets it first, Ma Bao's dispatch of troops to attack Yingzhou is legal and reasonable, as Ma Bao's honorary friendly companions, unless the fat army receives a request for help from Ma Bao's army, it stands to reason that it can no longer reach into Yingzhou and grab territory with friendly troops, and Yao Yi is now not only putting his hand into Yingzhou, but also directly merging with Ma Bao's army for the city of Yingzhou, it is reasonable to say, provoking the infamy of the Honghua Civil War, naturally let the fat army carry a solid back, and the fat army won the battle. but lost morality.

These are all light, what is more troublesome is the possible consequences of this matter, Ma Bao, the general of the Wu army who is married to the fat man, is not only the favorite general of the old man of Pingxi Wangfu and Wu Laohan, but also the most powerful neutral in the civil war of the Wu army, impartial and impartial, even Fang Guangchen, who has always hated Ma Bao, the only remaining fruit of the first generation of Pingxi Wangfu, admitted that he looked away, but he didn't expect Ma Bao to be able to stay calm at this time, not to get involved in the civil war with the Wu army, and have an excellent reputation within the Wu army. At the same time, because Ma Bao is not from the Wu clan and has heavy troops, he has always been the focus of the Fat Army's efforts to appease him, if he can pull Ma Bao to the side of the Fat Army and get Ma Bao's support and support, it will naturally be of infinite benefit to Lu Fat and the Fat Army as a whole. And now the first shot of the civil war fired by Yao Yi for the Fat Army was hit on Ma Bao, or when the main force of the Fat Army leaned north and had an unstable foothold, what the consequences would be, and what might lead to those variables, no one can say.

Yao Qisheng, Zhu Fangdan and the others waited for a long time, and Lu Fatzi, who had been thinking about it for a long time with his eyes closed, finally opened his eyes, smiled and put his hands around Yao Qisheng, and said with a relaxed smile: "Yao Junshi is too petty, isn't it just a little skirmish with friendly troops, what's the big deal, to kowtow like this?" Get up, sit down and talk. ”

As he spoke, Fat Lu pulled Yao Qisheng up and pressed him to the seat next to him, while Yao Qisheng said worriedly: "Lord Wang, but in this case, your plan to Huairou to General Ma Bao will be in vain, and our Yue Wangfu may also be forced to get involved in the civil war in advance due to lack of preparation." ”

"If the king was in Fengyang at that time, this king would definitely fight this battle." Lu Fatzi replied that the donkey's head was not in the horse's mouth, and he waved his hand and said: "The king is the boat, the people are the water, the water can carry the boat, and it can also overturn the boat." The military and civilian people of Yingzhou would rather fight to the bloody river than surrender to Ma Bao, and they also have to write a bloody letter to ask our army to surrender hundreds of miles away, which is enough to prove that our Yuewangfu was properly governed before the pasture, and the military and civilian people of Yingzhou voluntarily accepted our jurisdiction and rule. We can only support and encourage such things, not fight and refuse, otherwise, all our previous efforts and painstaking efforts will be in vain. ”

"The king's golden and jade words are remembered by the ministers, and they don't want to look forward to it at any time." A few of Lu Fatzi's lackeys hurriedly patted their ass, making a solemn look of listening to the teaching.

"So be it." Lu Fatzi instructed: "Proposed Jun Decree, Anhui Governor Yao Yi disregarded the brotherhood of the friendly army, brazenly sent troops to attack the friendly army, killed the friendly soldiers, and should be held accountable, but there is a reason for the incident, saving thousands of Li people in Yingzhou from fire and water, the merits and demerits are offset, and the crime of harming the friendly army will not be investigated, and the merit of recovering Yingzhou will not be rewarded." The prefect of Yingzhou, Lu Youyou, surrendered sincerely, surrendered to sincerity, invested in sincerity, rewarded five hundred taels of silver, promoted to three levels, and was crowned as an envoy in Anhui. ”

"The lower official thanked the prince for his great kindness." Yao Qisheng breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly saluted again. And after the internal adjustment of the Fat Army, now it has become a matter of officials to draft the decree for Lu Fatzi, and Huang Yanbo, a member of the Fat Army Rite Cao, also agreed, and hurriedly went to the side to write the decree.

"Father-in-law, this decree must be made clear to the world, and the specific details must also be written." Lu Fatzi instructed Huang Yanbo again: "We must intensify propaganda so that more people know the causes and consequences of this incident and the benefits of surrendering our army in good faith." Also, you can ask your eldest son-in-law Hong Sheng to make up this incident into a play, and the plot will be as tortuous as possible, so that it can be performed on the stage, and show the positive side of our Yue Wangfu's Wei Guang who is not favoritistic or partial. ”

Huang Yanbo agreed again, while Zhu Fangdan said cautiously: "Lord, isn't this too much?" This incident was originally Ma Bao's loss and we took advantage, and we still want to grab the reputation and moral superiority, will it further provoke General Ma Bao? ”

"Yes, Xia Guan also thinks that this move should be carefully considered." Mu Tianyan also echoed: "General Yao went to war for the people of Yingzhou and friendly troops, although he did nothing wrong, but after all, the impact of the friendly arms with friendly troops is too bad, we took advantage of it and hyped it up, and slapped General Ma Bao, which completely angered Ma Bao, and the consequences may be serious." ”

"It's okay." Fat Lu shook his head and said in a deep voice: "Ma Bao attacked Yingzhou to test the tolerance limit of our army's expansion of him, and this king should also test his attitude of surrendering." He followed the old prince Wu in the sixteenth year of Mangou Shunzhi, and also served as the former Ming Huaiguo Duke in Li Dingguo's team, his age and seniority are much older than me, I want to recruit him for my use, I really can't open this mouth, take this opportunity, I also want to test whether he has any plans to work for me. It doesn't matter if the test fails, it will be fought sooner or later anyway, and our army can formulate countermeasures after finding out his specific attitude first. ”

"Lord Wang, how can you tempt it?" Zhu Fangdan asked again.

Lu Fatzi thought about it carefully again, and ordered: "Give Wang Shaobo an order to send an eloquent envoy from Nanjing, carrying 50,000 taels of silver to Jiujiang to meet Ma Bao, and apologize to Ma Bao for the matter of Yingzhou, 50,000 taels of silver is regarded as the first batch of compensation for him by our army, and in order to apologize, this king will also compensate each soldier in his team for one month's military salary - but the premise is that he must allow the people sent by this king to verify the actual strength of his troops." ”

"Verify General Mabao's actual troop numbers?" Zhu Fangdan was taken aback, and hurriedly asked, "Lord Wang, how is this possible?" If the actual strength of General Ma Bao's team is verified, it is necessary to go deep into his army and get in touch with the many secrets in his team, how can General Ma Bao agree? Also, General Ma Bao's temper is not unaware, you don't know, I like to hide dirt and dirt and expand the army wildly, the main soldiers in the team are not even 30%, we are for a Yingzhou that was half flooded by the Yellow River, and we don't count 50,000 taels of silver to Ma Bao, and we have to pay a month's military salary to so many people, it's too much of a loss, right? ”

"Divine Doctor Zhu, don't feel sorry for this bit of silver, the lower officials think that the prince's move is feasible." Mu Tianyan opened his mouth and said: "The prince took the initiative to compensate Ma Bao with a huge sum of 50,000 taels of silver, unless Ma Bao is determined to turn his face with our army, he will definitely accept our army's apology, and our army can also avoid joining the civil war in advance with insufficient preparation, and can also win the reputation of respecting friendly troops." ”

"As for sending someone to verify the actual strength of Ma Bao's team, the prince holds the edict of Emperor Gao of the Great Zhou Dynasty to control the Great Zhou army in the world, verify the real number of Ma Bao's troops, and compensate the soldiers of Ma Bao's team. At the same time, we can also take the opportunity to test General Ma Bao's attitude, if he agrees to our request and allows us to find out his details, or just politely refuses, he would rather not have this military salary than let us find out his strength, so as to prove that he is not deeply hostile to us and can win and win him over. If he is furious and drives away our messenger or even kills our messenger, then needless to say, we will have to prepare for war with him. ”

"In that case, it's worth a try." Zhu Fangdan finally understood.

"In fact, there is another benefit, which the Mulberry people may not have paid attention to." Lu Fatzi smiled and said: "If I am not wrong, there are not many soldiers in Ma Bao's team who can normally receive salaries, I am afraid there are not many of them, this king pays for Ma Bao, those soldiers who have not received military salaries for several months or even have never received military salaries, the grateful person is this king, and when they come to the battlefield in the future, it will be much easier to win these people over." ”

"It's possible." Mu Tianyan hurriedly nodded and agreed, "Although General Ma Bao's expansion is fast, the territory that can be grabbed is all poor places, and he can't get much oil and water, and Nanchang and Jiujiang, which have the best situation in his hands, have been scraped once by the prince and Xia Guoxiang, and they can't grab much if they want to." Now that the civil war in the Honghua Imperial Court is raging again, General Ma Bao can't find someone to lead the army, and the arrears in the team must be very serious. ”

Several upstarts of the Fat Boy Army echoed each other, all thinking that they could give it a try, and if they failed, they would lose up to 50,000 taels of silver - only equivalent to one-third of the Fat Army's tax revenue this year, and they could also earn a reputation for respecting friendly troops. But if it succeeds, and then use this opportunity to pull Ma Bao over, the fat army will not be tens of millions of taels of silver in the military budget alone. Only Yao Qisheng repeatedly pleaded guilty and put the responsibility on his son, causing Lu Fatzi to pay so much silver for nothing.

"Immediately draw up an order for Uncle Wang, and let him follow the order." Fat Lu waved his hand to make up his mind, and added: "Anyway, it's a favor, just do enough with the surname Suo, and the third Wang who was cleaned up by Yao Yi will also send him five thousand taels of silver." There are also those useless so-called rare treasures, which can't be eaten or worn and kept for nothing, so you can also send some to Mabao. ”

"Also, let Li Maozhu and Li Jiyang prepare for war, if Ma Bao doesn't want to receive the king's kindness, he plans to speak by force, and give me a resolute counterattack! In addition, those new troops in Shandong sent another 20,000 to Taiping Mansion and placed them under the direct command of Nanjing. ”

…………………… After Lu Fatzi's order was sent to Nanjing, Wang Shaobo and Xie Dong, who stayed in Nanjing for Lu Fatzi, did not dare to slack off, and hurried together to discuss the details, and then immediately sent Chen Renjie, the chief of the fat man's military ceremony, as an envoy, and asked him to carry 55,000 taels of silver and a batch of jewelry that Lu Fatzi could not eat or wear, and carried Lu Fatzi's handwritten letters, took the Yangtze River waterway all the way upstream, and rushed to Jiujiang to see Ma Bao at night, and arrived at the destination on the 26th day of the first month of the second year of Honghua.

Because he had just fought with Ma Baojun in Yingzhou, Chen Renjie naturally didn't get a good look after coming to Xiaogushan and entering the Mabao military defense area, and the defenders stationed in Xiaogushan even refused Chen Renjie's entry for a time, but after Chen Renjie sent one hundred taels of silver, ten jars of daughter red and ten Jinhua hams, and explained that he was going to issue military salaries to the soldiers of Ma Baojun, Deng Guiping, the guard of Ma Baojun's Xiaogushan Mountain, also immediately changed his face, not only immediately waved his army to let him go, also sent two Ma Baojun warships to escort Chen Renjie to Jiujiang, and his expression was so affectionate that Chen Renjie felt a little goosebumps falling all over the place.

When he entered the city smoothly from the Jiujiang Water Gate and came to the gate of General Ma Bao's mansion, Chen Renjie encountered a little accident, General Ma Bao was meeting guests and did not want to meet the envoy of the Fat Army for the time being. Chen Renjie, who was born under Xie Dong's door, took another ten taels of silver to open the way, and General Ma Bao's personal soldiers told Chen Renjie in a low voice, saying that it was General Ma Bao's guest and the confidant of Xia Wangye, Guo Zhuangtu, Guo Xiangye's younger brother - Guo Zhuangmou!

"Oops!" Chen Renjie, who was originally full of confidence in this mission, changed his face, and secretly complained in his heart, "Trouble, why did you just run into this guy?" Could it be that Xia Guoxiang also heard the news of our merger with Ma Baohuo, so he specially sent Guo Zhuangmou to prepare to pull Ma Bao to Guo Zhuangtu's side? If that's the case, Uncle Chen, my little life, if I don't do it today, I have to explain it in Jiujiang City. ”

After waiting for a long time, a general with gauze wrapped around his head finally came out of Ma Bao's marshal's mansion, leading a few pro-soldiers to shake the wind step by step, walked up to Chen Renjie in a big way, and asked with a hideous smile: "You are the messenger sent by Lu Yifeng?" ”

"General Hui, the little envoy is the envoy sent by Prince Lu." Chen Renjie respectfully agreed, and said cautiously: "Under Chen Renjie, he is the head of the Great Zhou Yue Palace, and he dares to ask the general ......?" ”

"Lao Tzu's name is Wang San." The general of the Ma Baojun agreed in a big way, pointed to the gauze on his forehead again, and said with a cruel smile: "Do you see it?" This is the memorial you left for Lao Tzu! When I was in Yingzhou, if that shot was an inch further to the left, Lao Tzu's life would be reimbursed! ”

"! Uncle Chen, I must have not looked at the imperial calendar when I went out today! Chen Renjie muttered in his heart, hurriedly clasped his fists and bowed, and said with a respectful expression: "General Wang, about the incident in Yingzhou, our army is very sorry, and my family Lu Wangye's special envoy ...... to the general." ”

"Alright, alright, don't fucking talk nonsense!" Wang San interrupted rudely and said with a sneer: "Let's go, our Generalissimo Ma is waiting for you, and Guo Shangshu is also waiting for you, I have something to say in front of the two of them!" After that, Wang Sanyi waved his hand, and several Ma Bao soldiers next to him rushed up, and without saying a word, they put Chen Renjie up rudely and walked inside.

(To be continued)