The King of Jin carefully asked the details of the recovery of the Southern Capital, and Bai Wenxuan took out the letter from Feng Shuangli, the king of Qingyang, and showed it to the King of Jin. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

After King Jin saw it, he didn't speak for a long time.

Feng Shuangli's letter said that since the Son of Heaven abandoned the country, the Taiping army supported the Tang King Zhu Yu in Guangdong to supervise the country, and then the Duke of Yue Zhou Shixiang waved the Northern Expedition, first to Jiangxi, and then to the southern capital, and at this moment is facing off with the Qing Shunzhi army across the river. At the same time, the three provinces of Guangxi, Hunan, and Hubei were all recovered, and Zhang Changgeng, the governor of Qinghuguang, surrendered in Kaicheng.

Feng Shuangli is also known as the Southern Capital, and the Tang Prison State will go to the Southern Capital to worship the filial piety tomb and ascend to the throne. Although Feng Shuangli's letter did not indicate that he would support Tang, he said that he had made contact with the loyal battalion occupying Huguang and sent an envoy to the southern capital. This attitude undoubtedly shows that Feng Shuangli has fallen to the Tang Dynasty between Tang and Gui.

Bai Wenxuan did not have any objection to Feng Shuangli's choice, and if it were him, he would do the same. After all, the Tang Dynasty now has half of the wall, but the Son of Heaven has abandoned the country and fled, and now he has become a prisoner of the Qing army. It's just that he knows that the King of Jin has always been loyal to the Son of Heaven, so he guesses that the King of Jin will definitely not abandon Yongli, and instead chooses to respond to the support of the Tang Dynasty and lead his troops to Guangxi, so he does not dare to inquire.

Wu Sanxing hesitated and asked the King of Jin: "Now that the southern capital has recovered, the Son of Heaven has fallen into the hands of Wu Sangui, I don't know what His Highness's plans are?" ”

King Jin didn't think much about it, and after putting down the letter, he looked at Bai Wenxuan and Wu Sanxing: "The top priority is to save the Son of Heaven." ”

"How to save it?"

Bai Wenxuan was a little embarrassed, "We have more than 10,000 soldiers and horses together, and the sergeants are injured and sick, and several important roads in southern Yunnan are occupied by the Qing army, so it may be difficult to rescue the Son of Heaven." ”

Bai Wenxuan told the truth, he only had more than 4,000 people, including 499 officials, more than 3,800 soldiers, 3,260 horses, and 12 elephants. The king of Jin had 469 officials, more than 4,520 soldiers, 2,954 horses, and 32 elephants. Coupled with the 2,630 officers and soldiers brought by Wu San Province from Mengding, the Ming army added only more than 10,000 soldiers, of which nearly half were wounded and sick, and the number of soldiers who could fight was less than 5,000. The Qing army in Yunnan and Guizhou, Wu Sangui alone has more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, and its strength is more than ten times that of the Ming army, and it controls the large and small cities and key roads in southern Yunnan, so theoretically the Ming army is simply unable to fight back to Yunnan, let alone save the Son of Heaven. If the king of Jin insists on going to Yunnan, he will have no chance of winning, and there will even be a danger of annihilation.

The king of Jin immediately spread the news of the recovery of the southern capital to Tusi in various places, inviting them to come and attack Yunnan. In addition, the king of Jin said that although Wu Sangui had many soldiers and horses, most of them were surrendered by the Ming army, and most of those surrendered troops by the Ming army were from the old department of the Great Western Army, and they may not fight to the death with their old comrades.

"In the past, Ma Bao and they descended to the Qing Dynasty, because the situation collapsed, and they chose a way to live in despair, but now the Tartars have lost the southern capital, and only Yungui is in the hands of the Qing army in the south half of the Yangtze River, and there are Qingyang King and Wen Inspector in Sichuan, this Wu Sangui and Doni are like birds in a cage. Therefore, I think Wu Sangui's worries at the moment should be even greater than ours, if we move north, not to mention that the followers are like clouds, and if it is not good, it will also make Wu Sangui like a daze... The same is true of those toasts, who are always tempted by the current situation. In short, no matter what, the Son of Heaven is covered with dust, and even if those of us who are courtiers give up our lives, we must save him, otherwise, how can we be ministers? ”

King Jin insisted on saving the Son of Heaven, although Bai Wenxuan and Wu Sanxing were reluctant, they couldn't persuade him, and they couldn't bear to see King Jin sad, so they all responded. But they all persuaded the king of Jin to recuperate first, and then go north when his body was completely healed. King Jin also knew that his body was related to the fate of the whole army, so he agreed. As long as the sick body is a little better, the cavalry can lead the army to the north.

A few days later, Siam (i.e., Thailand) sent more than 60 envoys to contact, asking the Jin king to move the army to the scenery for a temporary rest, and then Siam provided elephants and horses to help the Ming army recover Yunnan. In addition to bringing rich gifts, the Siamese envoys also took out the edicts and surveys given by Emperor Shenzong to express their affection for the Ming Dynasty.

The Siamese envoy informed the king of Jin: "The former eighty-two people were accompanied by a family and were exiled in our country, and the prince treated them favorably, with two liters of rice and three coins of silver per person per day. ”

The king of Jin was moved, and was very grateful for the kindness of the Siamese monarchs, and warmly entertained the envoys, and sent more than ten people including Zhang Xinhe, the director of the military department, to Siam to liaise. If Siam can send troops to help, there is no doubt that the restoration of the country will be more powerful.

King Jin recuperation this half a month, Tusi around the country have received the news of the recovery of the southern capital of the Ming Dynasty, sure enough, many Tusi thought that the Ming Dynasty was expected to recover, no longer take a wait-and-see or hostile attitude to the Ming army, or bring people to meet with the Ming army, or provide food and grass, which made the Ming army's plight have been alleviated.

On October 27, the king of Jin decided to lead the army north to rescue the Son of Heaven, with more than 6,000 Ming troops, more than 5,000 Tusi soldiers, and more than 2,000 Ming troops who came from western Yunnan one after another.

After the news came from the border that Li Dingguo had returned north to rescue Zhu Youlang, Wu Sangui suddenly felt that it was tricky.

Regarding the news of the Taiping Army's recovery of the Southern Capital, Wu Sangui knew that it would definitely not be blocked for long, not to mention that Li Dingguo learned the news from other channels, even if someone in his own army would leak the news. What he felt was troublesome was that the news that Li Dingguo had come to save Zhu Youlang with great fanfare would reach Doni in Guiyang. Although he is not afraid of Dhoni, the yellow-haired child, it is always a big trouble, after all, he has not decided to return to the Ming anyway.

Wu Sangui thought about it and decided to send his second son-in-law Guo Zhuangtu and Ma Bao to lead 20,000 troops to resist Li Dingguo's soldiers, not to defeat Li Dingguo, but to block him outside the country. As for Doni's side, biting to death is a rumor.

The Ming and Qing dynasties met in Mengyang. Li Dingguo's ministry set up camp in the mountains and remained vigilant. The next day there was a battle, and both sides won and lost each other. Because Ma Bao didn't want to fight with the King of Jin, he saw that the victory was not divided and the losses on both sides were not large, so he persuaded Guo Zhuangtu to withdraw his troops and asked King Pingxi to make another plan.

Guo Zhuangtu knew that his father-in-law wanted to support Zhu Youlang and Yizhi anyway, so he didn't want to fight with Li Dingguo, so he led the army to withdraw, leaving only the elite soldiers to guard the main road and prevent the Ming army from going deep into Yunnan.

Wu Sangui didn't blame Guo Zhuangtu and Ma Bao for retreating, because he didn't want to fight with Li Dingguo, which would deplete his strength. But Li Dingguo will not retreat, and in the end there will be a bloody battle, no matter whether he wins or loses, there will be losses. For this reason, he asked Hong Chengchou for advice, Hong Chengchou said with a smile: "I heard a while ago that Li Dingguo and Bai Wen chose them to go to Burma to rescue Zhu Youlang, but Zhu Youlang ordered them to retreat, and said to the Burmese people, but there are Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers who came to save him, and they can be killed and eliminated. You have this treasure in your hands, why don't you take advantage of it? ”

Wu Sangui was right when he thought about it, and hurriedly forced Zhu Youlang to write a holy decree for Li Dingguo to surrender.

Zhu Youlang really wrote honestly, and the holy decree not only wanted Li Dingguo to surrender to Wu Sangui, but also wrote: "I am at the king of Pingxi, everything is safe." Today, the country only seeks a private name, and does not think about the danger, who is the loyal minister? ! ”

Not only that, Zhu Youlang also sent a decree to the local toasts, which said: "Dingguo only cares about loyalty and righteousness, and does not think about the safety of the king." In the future, if there are battalions of soldiers from Dingguo, they cannot be fed with food and salary, but they can be suppressed as a merit! ”

After Li Dingguo saw the holy decree, he was so angry that he vomited blood and cried: "If you don't lose the country, you will lose the country!" (To be continued.) )