When Lu Fatzi was in Hangzhou as a shopkeeper to observe whether the battlefield on the southern front could be handed over to the old lackey Li Tianzhi alone, the opponents of the Fat People's Army, the Honghua Imperial Court and the Mites Qing Imperial Court, were not idle, and one after another earth-shattering and far-reaching major and minor events occurred in the controlled areas, resulting in earth-shaking and tremendous changes -- but it is a pity that no one in the world is fat, and these things are basically very beneficial to Lu Fatzi and the Fat Army. 【】

First of all, let's look at the side of the Qing court, although relying on the arrival of the autumn harvest and the gradual large-scale cultivation of potatoes and sweet potatoes in the northern people, the Zhili Shandong area has alleviated part of the food shortage crisis, but after September, the situation in the north began to get out of control again - because the time for the return of the military coins issued by Kang Mazi has arrived. The huge debt of 23.4 million taels of silver, including the principal and interest, was undoubtedly an astronomical amount for the Qing Dynasty, which could not even afford military salaries, official salaries, and mite grain and rice, and it was also a difficult hurdle that could never be crossed without recovering Jiangnan.

In desperation, the old witch of Xiaozhuang could only stubbornly promulgate a decree, telling the people of Zhili and Shandong, and decided to extend the period for the return of military coins for one year, and return the principal with interest in the second year. As a result, as soon as this edict was promulgated, Zhili Shandong immediately exploded, and the Han people, who were overwhelmed by the excesses of taxes and famine, rioted one after another, and in less than a month, they cut off the heads of more than 20 mite Qing magistrates, robbed the official warehouses of two prefectures and six county towns, and countless people who fell into the grass and raised troops against the Qing Dynasty, but the mite Qing court, whose troops were basically swept away, could only stare dryly, barely maintaining order in the area of Beijing, and helpless against these Han mobs who did not know the truth.

Cai Lu, the chief military officer of Hebei stationed in Huaiqing, Henan, took advantage of the opportunity of Henan Governor Lang Tingxiang to order him to send troops to quell the rebellion, and suddenly launched a mutiny to control Huaiqing City, killed all the Mites Qing civil and military officials and their families who refused to surrender in the city, led the people of the city to cut their braids and grow their hair, and swore allegiance to the Great Zhou court.

Although similar general army mutinies were common in the rebellion of the three feudatories, after the news of the Huaiqing mutiny was transmitted back to Yanjing, the old witch of Xiaozhuang couldn't cry, because Huaiqing's position was close to Taihang in the north and the Yellow River in the south, which happened to cut off the connection between the Qing court and the Qing army in Tongguan, Kang Mazi dug up the south bank of the Yellow River before, and blocked the road for Tongguan to return to Yanjing from the hinterland of Henan and rescue Shandong and Zhili, if you don't pull out the nail of Huaiqing, Even if the old demon woman of Xiaozhuang wants to send the last elite army of the Qing Dynasty back to Shandong and Zhili, she has to make a detour from Niangziguan in the middle of Taihang Mountain.

As a last resort, in order to prevent accidents, the old witch of Xiaozhuang had to make a major military adjustment, that is, to order Tong Guoyao, the governor of Huguang stationed in Xunyang, to go north, take over the important place of Tongguan, and replace the Baoyi army led by Tong Guogang to return to Huaiqing, to pull out the nail of Huaiqing, and open up the road to return to Zhili and Shandong. As for the area of Xunyang and Xiangyang, which Tong Guoyao originally guarded, it can only be resigned to fate. Abandoning the retreat plan west of Taihang Mountain, and even the entire south of Shanhaiguan, has also appeared in the consideration of the old witch of Xiaozhuang.

Of course, giving up the west of Taihang Mountain and giving up the entire south of Shanhaiguan can only be the last choice, until the last moment, the old witch of Xiaozhuang will not give up easily, and the old witch of Xiaozhuang still has a little hope and fantasy, that is, the contradiction between the fat army and the Honghua court has been made public, and the contradiction within the Wu army has also been made public. Especially after receiving the news that Wu Guogui led the Wu clan to raise troops to crusade against Guo Zhuangtu, the old witch of Xiaozhuang seemed to see a ray of light, and immediately sent an envoy to Yunnan to contact Guo Zhuangtu, expressing his willingness to pay tribute to the Honghua court, and draw the Yellow River with the Honghua court as the boundary, so as to help the Honghua court quell Wu Guogui's rebellion.

After thinking about it again, the old demon woman of Xiaozhuang sent a secret envoy to sneak into the southwest to contact Wu Guogui, expressing his willingness to provide assistance to the Wu clan in crusading against Honghuaquan and destroying Guo Zhuangtu, but the precondition was that after the Wu clan succeeded in pacifying Guo Zhuangtu, it must agree to a truce with the Qing court and draw the Yellow River as the boundary.

As for the most dangerous Lu Fatzi, the old witch of Xiaozhuang said that she would not dare to provoke this little fat man who had a bitter hatred for the Mites Qing Court, and the only thing she could do was to hope that Geng Jingzhong in the south of the Fat Man Army could contain Lu Fatzi for a while longer, and also pray to the ancestors of the Mites Qing Dynasty, begging them to bless Lu Fatzi to fight the civil war first, and then consider the Northern Expedition, so as to give the Mite Qing Court a little more respite.

The chaos of the situation within the Wu army is actually no better than that of the Qing court, and after receiving the news that Wang Shirong and Wu Laohan ordered Lu Fatzi to raise troops to recruit himself, Guo Zhuangtu, the first minister of the Honghua court, was of course furious, and almost wanted to chop Lu Bangjing, the eldest son of Lu Fatzi, into dumpling stuffing and feed it to the dog! But after thinking about it again, Guo Zhuangtu, who was good at playing with power, suddenly had his eyes lit up again, and shouted God help me, and then immediately issued an edict in the honor of Wu Shifan, crowning his brother-in-law Xia Guoxiang as the king of Chu, and Hu Guozhu as Hu Guozhu as the king of Jiangxi, and ordering these two brothers-in-law to send troops to quell Wu Guogui's rebellion.

A dry will and two empty princes want Xia Guoxiang and Hu Guozhu to send troops, the difficulty is naturally extraordinarily high, but Guo Zhuangtu is not only this trick, he sent a letter to Xia Guoxiang and Hu Guozhu each, first insisted that the edict of Wu Laohan in the hands of Lu Fatzi was a false edict, and then vaguely pointed out that if the edict is not false, then Wu Laohan's sons-in-law may be even more dangerous, because once Lu Fatzi takes power, he will definitely not be able to tolerate Xia Guoxiang who secretly withheld Wu Laohan's edict, and the Wu clan will not be able to tolerate Guo Zhuangtu, Xia Guoxiang and Hu Guozhu's three relatives continue to be in power, basically Lu Fatzi and the Wu clan are in power, that is, the Wu family's relatives are destroyed! I, Xia Guoxiang, and Hu Guozhu are three grasshoppers tied to the straw, and I can't run away from you if I can't fly!

In fact, when Guo Zhuangtu's letter was still on the way, Wu Guogui's army had already started a fire with Hu Guozhu's team, not that Hu Guozhu and Guo Zhuangtu thought of a piece and prepared to join forces to seize the Wu family, but because Hu Guozhu understood that once Wu Guogui's army returned to Yungui, then the internal strife of the Wu army would not be able to reconcile, and countless elites of the Wu army would also die under their own swords, which would cheapen the Qing court and other enemies in vain. Therefore, after persuading Wu Guogui to withdraw his troops and use negotiation to solve internal problems, Hu Guozhu, who had a strong view of the overall situation, resolutely ordered his army to strictly guard the danger and prevent Wu Guogui's army from returning to Yungui.

The first internal fire of the Wu army occurred in Chenlong Pass in Chenzhou, this pass was guarded by Hu Guozhu's deputy Gao Qilong who was sent in advance in case of prevention, the terrain was extremely dangerous, known as the horse is difficult to stretch his feet, the birds are difficult to cross, the narrow road of the pass only allows two cars to go in parallel, after determining Wu Guogui's troops, Hu Guozhu ordered Gao Qilong to defend the pass, while ordering Fu Zulu and Yang Baoyin of Chenzhou Mansion to send troops to reinforcements, and then Hu Guozhu personally led the army from Yuezhou to the south, all the way to chase Wu Guogui's army, Prepare to use both grace and power to prompt Wu Guogui to withdraw his troops. And when Wu Guogui's soldiers were useless in negotiating at the pass, they also resolutely launched a war to tackle key problems.

The battle of Chenlong Pass was very fierce, both the offensive and defensive sides suffered heavy casualties, relying on the dangerous terrain and Guo Zhuangtu's endless stream of new firearms from the rear of Yunnan and Guizhou, Gao Qilong successfully blocked Wu Guogui's footsteps for more than half a month, and at the same time Hu Guozhu's army has also arrived at Zhengjiadian behind Wu Guogui's army, just to avoid further stimulating Wu Guogui and the Wu clan, Hu Guozhu did not let the army attack the Ji Ji Mountain Firearms Battalion and Changde City controlled by Wu Guogui's army, but just kept sending envoys to contact Wu Guogui to express goodwill, asked to negotiate with Wu Guogui in person, but Wu Guogui, who had been attacked before and after, hesitated again and again, and finally agreed to negotiate with Hu Guozhu face-to-face.

The meeting place was set in the Xindian town between Chenlongguan and Zhengjiadian, the Wu clan came forward to negotiate with Wu Guogui, Wu Yingjing and Liu Zhifu, and Hu Guozhujun was only Hu Guozhu on his side, after the meeting, Hu Guozhu first apologized to the Wu clan on behalf of his brother-in-law Guo Zhuangtu, admitting that Guo Zhuangtu did kill Wu Yingqi without permission, but soon showed ironclad evidence that Wu Yingqi tried to rebel and usurp the throne, and brought the personal soldier who accompanied Wu Yingqi back to Kunming before, and asked this personal soldier to state Wu Yingqi's 205 remarks in Guizhou in person, explained Guo Zhuangtu's bitterness of having to kill Wu Yingqi's father and son.

After introducing the truth of the matter, Hu Guozhu, who was loyal to Wu Laohan, begged the Wu clan to collect the troops with tears in his eyes, and not to fight among themselves, cheap full of dogs and other enemies, Wu Guogui and Wu Yingjing and others were finally moved by Hu Guozhu's sincerity, and after consultation, they proposed two armistice conditions to Hu Guozhu, one is that Guo Zhuangtu handed over the Wu clan family members who were detained in Yungui, and the other is that Guo Zhuangtu sent Wu Shifan to Wuchang and built a capital in Wuchang, with the Wu clan and Hu Guozhu as auxiliaries. Only in this way can the Wu clan spare Guo Zhuangtu and no longer pursue him for the crime of killing Wu Yingqi's father and son.

For the sake of the overall situation, Hu Guozhu agreed to the two conditions of the Wu clan, saying that as long as Wu Guogui collected his troops, he immediately rushed to Yungui to negotiate with Guo Zhuangtu, so that Guo Zhuangtu could release the detained Wu clan family members and welcome Wu Shifan back to Wuchang Dingdu, Wu Guogui and others knew that Hu Guozhu was very reliable in terms of right and wrong, and repeatedly agreed to Hu Guozhu's conditions, and agreed to return to Changde to station, after Hu Guozhu said goodbye to Wu Guogui and others, he also immediately rushed to Kunming to negotiate with Guo Zhuangtu, and the civil strife of the Wu army temporarily subsided. At the same time, Hu Guozhu asked Wu Guogui to come forward to write to Lu Fatzi, asking his son-in-law to stand still, not to provoke infighting, and wait for the results of his negotiations with Guo Zhuangtu, and Wu Guogui also agreed.

Hu Guozhu, who finally temporarily quelled the civil strife of the Wu army, was self-defeating, not to mention that it was difficult for Guo Zhuangtu, who was hungry for power, to agree to the conditions proposed by the Wu clan, Hu Guozhu counted on Lu Fatzi to hold his troops and not move, it was even more of a dream, how could the ambitious Fat Lu tolerate the Wu army to stop the civil war? How could it be possible to tolerate the Wu army, whose comprehensive strength was still above the fat army, to reunite into a group and fight for the world with himself under the banner of the Honghua Imperial Court? Therefore, after Wu Guogui's letter was sent to Nanjing, it was .................................... On November 12, Lu Fatzi's royal ship returned to the Nanjing dock, almost at the same time, Wu Guogui's letter also passed through the water blockade of the Anqing Qing army, and was sent to the city of Nanjing.

"The prince doesn't have to worry, the civil strife in the Honghua court will not end." After reading Hu Guozhu's letter, Wang Shaobo said with great ease: "Hu Guozhu is dreaming in vain, Guo Zhuangtu will never agree to the conditions put forward by General Wu Guogui, and he will not agree to any of them!" handed over the family members of the Wu clan and handed over Emperor Honghua, there was no restraint on the Wu clan, and there was no power to coerce the Son of Heaven to order the princes, for a powerful minister like Guo Zhuangtu, it was more uncomfortable than killing him, and he could not agree. ”

"The young man has a point." Yao Qisheng also thought so, and said with a smile: "General Wu Guogui and the Wu clan promised that as long as Guo Zhuangtu handed over Emperor Honghua and his family, he would not blame Guo Zhuangtu for the past, although Hu Guozhu can believe it, and he can also guarantee General Wu Guogui and the Wu clan, but Guo Zhuangtu absolutely can't believe it, because once he hands over the power, life and death, honor and disgrace, and the family name is full of life, but it is all in the thought of the Wu clan, Guo Zhuangtu will not take this risk, and he will not dare to take this risk, and the internal strife and fire of the Honghua court will continue." ”

Xie Dong, Huang Ji, Zhu Fangdan, Mu Tianyan and others nodded in agreement, all thinking that Hu Guozhu was too wishful thinking, and wanted to resolve the sharp contradictions within the Wu army by means of negotiation, which was simply whimsical. Only the fat man Lu dangled Erlang's legs and refused to speak, and the small eyeballs in his triangular eyes were like thieves, and he refused to make up his mind easily.

After a long time, Fat Lu finally spoke, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he was categorical, "I don't think so!" According to this king's opinion, Hu Guozhu may not be able to convince Guo Zhuangtu, and Guo Zhuangtu may not agree to the conditions proposed by my father-in-law! ”

"Why?" Yao Qisheng asked in surprise with Wang Shaobo and the others.

"Because the military situation is very unfavorable to Guo Zhuangtu!" Lu Fatzi jumped up, walked to the sand table of the national map left by Li Ji, beckoned all the six henchmen and lackeys to the front, pointed to the map sand table with a bamboo pole and said: "You see, if Guo Zhuangtu resolutely refuses the conditions put forward by the Wu clan and decides to confront the Wu clan by force, then his military situation is very unfavorable, due north is Wu Zhimao and Wang Pingfan, the northeast is my father-in-law Wu Guogui, and the east is Wu Shicong's old department, now although Wu Shicong is dead, Guo Zhuangtu also appointed Dong Chongmin as the governor of Liangguang, But Wu Shicong's old ministry may not be obedient, at least Emperor Zhaowu's cousin Zu Zeqing will never be able to reconcile with Guo Zhuangtu, even if it is Dong Chongmin, he may not necessarily obey Guo Zhuangtu's orders! ”

"In this way, if the two armies start a war, Guo Zhuangtu will immediately be attacked on three sides!" Lu Fatzi analyzed: "Guo Zhuangtu only has more than 20,000 soldiers and horses in Yunnan, and the biggest military reliance is the team of Li Benshen, the president of Guizhou, but Li Benshen is the old department of Emperor Zhaowu, even if he temporarily obeys Guo Zhuangtu's orders, once the situation is unfavorable, it is very likely to turn against him!" In this case, Guo Zhuangtu and the Wu clan fought by force, which was simply self-defeating, and at most some of the Wu clan's family members were buried together, but in the end, Huang Quan was ruined. ”

Speaking of this, Lu Fatzi put down the bamboo pole in his hand, clasped his hands to his chest and said in a deep voice: "If Guo Zhuangtu wants to fight against the Wu clan by force, in fact, the biggest reliance is his two brothers-in-law Hu Guozhu and Xia Guoxiang, as well as Ma Bao, who is not from the Wu clan but has heavy troops, these three people, as long as one of them falls to him, Guo Zhuangtu has the power to fight, and can greatly contain the army of the Wu clan." If two people fall to him, Guo Zhuangtu will be able to share the same level with the Wu clan. If Hu Guozhu, Xia Guoxiang, and Ma Bao all fell to him, then he had hope of quelling the rebellion of the Wu clan. ”

"Originally, there was also a Wang Fuchen, which was also a weight that could affect the balance of the scales, but Wang Fuchen, like us, was too far apart, and at most he could only play a role in support, even if he sent troops, it would be the Year of the Monkey when he hit Yunnan." Lu Fatzi continued: "So in this case, Guo Zhuangtu will definitely not dare to offend Hu Guozhu, Xia Guoxiang and Ma Bao. Also, now Xia Guoxiang and Ma Bao have ambiguous attitudes, do not express support for Guo Zhuangtu or oppose it, and have the idea of sitting on the mountain to watch the tiger fight, only Hu Guozhu is running around, desperately mediating, and sending troops to prevent my father-in-law Wu Guogui from entering Yunnan. You say, what Hu Guozhu said, does Guo Zhuangtu dare to turn a deaf ear? ”

Lu Fatzi's henchmen and lackeys were silent together, and after a while, Wang Shaobo took the lead in applauding, patting his ass and saying: "It's still the king's holy candlelight, which has insight into people's hearts and is very exciting." Yes, if Hu Guozhu threatens Guo Zhuangtu and says that Guo Zhuangtu does not agree to the conditions of the Wu clan, then he will stand by and ignore Guo Zhuangtu's life or death, Guo Zhuangtu must consider giving in. ”

"No wonder Hu Guozhu dared to go back to Yunnan to negotiate with Guo Zhuangtu." Yao Qisheng also woke up, "Hu Guozhu must have seen through Guo Zhuangtu and didn't dare to touch him, so he went back to persuade Guo Zhuangtu to submit to the Wu clan, and at the same time didn't have to worry about Guo Zhuangtu poisoning him or detaining him." ”

"They can't be reconciled." Zhu Fangdan shouted, "The more chaotic the internal fighting of the Pingxi Palace, the best Pingxi Mansion for us." ”

Several of Lu Fatzi's henchmen and lackeys nodded together, all thinking that Zhu Fangdan was extremely right, and only if Wu Jun continued to fight among themselves, it would be in the fundamental interests of the Fat Army. Although Lu Fatzi himself did not speak or express his position, his little eyes were rolling wildly, but he had already begun to think about how to smash Hu Guozhu's yellow sorghum dream, how to cheer Guo Zhuangtu up, and fight with the Wu clan to the death, both defeated, including using the fat army lurking in Yungui to assassinate Hu Guozhu and other despicable thoughts, all of which continued to float in Lu Fatzi's heart one after another.

Despicable villains are usually easy to think of, and after thinking about it for a long time, Fat Lu opened his mouth and ordered: "Young uncle, make an order for this king, and this king will issue a decree." ”

"Understood." Uncle Wang quickly walked to the desk next to the Yinluan Hall and sat down, unfolded the paper and pen, and asked, "Lord Wang, who is the decree for?" ”

"Give an edict to Prime Minister Xia." Lu Fatzi replied with a name that surprised all the lackeys, and Lu Fatzi ordered: "You look at the polish, and try to be as arrogant and rude as possible, and the content is mainly three, first, ask him why he withheld the edict issued by the previous emperor to this king, and ask him to explain. Second, I asked him why he didn't send troops to help my father-in-law Wu Guogui put down the rebellion, and asked him if he colluded with Guo Zhuangtu's traitors. Third, order him to hand over his military power and hand over the army to my father-in-law, Wu Guogui......, no, to General Ma Bao, and let General Ma Bao lead the army to assist my father-in-law Wu Guogui in quelling Guo Zhuangtu's rebellion! ”

"The prince is so ruthless! I was afraid that Guo Zhuangtu would not be able to defeat the Wu clan, so I simply pushed Xia Guoxiang to Guo Zhuangtu to strengthen Guo Zhuangtu and enhance his strength! Several of Fat Lu's henchmen and lackeys all gasped and muttered in their hearts together. Then Wang Shaobo asked tentatively: "Lord Wang, wouldn't it be better to let Prime Minister Xia transfer the military power to General Wu Guogui?" ”

"No." Lu Fatzi sighed and said compassionately: "My father-in-law, General Wu Guogui, has openly raised troops against Guo, if General Xia Guoxiang is allowed to transfer the military power to him, it will inevitably cause greater civil strife and affect the people." However, General Ma Bao is reasonable, and has not expressed who he supports, only by letting General Xia Guoxiang hand over the military power to General Ma Bao, can General Ma Bao control the situation and not cause harm to the people. ”

"! became a bitch and set up an archway! Do you want to take the opportunity to drive a wedge between Xia Guoxiang, Guo Zhuangtu and Ma Bao, don't say it so nicely! Lu Fatzi's several big lackeys scolded together in their hearts, and at the same time sympathized with Xia Guoxiang in their hearts, "Poor guy, if you don't listen to our prince's words, you are violating the edict of Emperor Gao of the Great Zhou Dynasty. ”

"By the way, by the way, General Ma Bao will also go to a jun." Lu Fatzi added: "Let him be ready to take over Xia Guoxiang's army, and by the way, give him some gold, silver and jewelry, and give him more." ”

(To be continued)