No matter from what point of view, the tumbler Wang Xu in the early days of the Mazi Dynasty is definitely a rare good person, honest and upright, selfless, not afraid of power, punishing evil and promoting good, justice and honesty and other words, it is really not an exaggeration to use on him. Even Kangxi Kang Mazi, who is vicious, cunning, greedy and shameless to the extreme, can only take advantage of the opportunity of Wang Xu's mother who passed away and had to ask for Ding Wei to drive this troublesome hedgehog full of poisonous stingers out of the Mite Qing Imperial Court, and completely remove this thorn in the eye and a thorn in the flesh!

Of course, such a good and honest person, for Lu Fatzi, also belongs to the kind of character who loves and hates, of course, he loves his honesty and integrity, and enforces the law like a mountain, and what he hates is his helper and abuse, and he is willing to act as a lackey for the alien barbarians, so his attitude towards Wang Xu is also both respectful and guarded, both heart-to-heart and use, rarely considering Wang Xu's personal position and situation, everything is all for his own consideration.

Unfortunately with such a master and such a friend, poor Wang Xu was unaware of it, but treated each other more and more sincerely, no, after ending the night talk with Lu Fatzi, although Wang Xu could send a messenger or use 800 miles to expedite to Kang Mazi to report the situation, but considering the importance of the matter, as well as the impact of Lu Fatzi's four killings and the difficulty of expressing the specific situation in the letter, Wang Xu still ignored the hard work of the journey, and also ignored the persuasion and opposition of Suo Mintai and Wu Dan, and resolutely embarked on the road back to the capital the next day. Returning to the capital by boat to prepare to show Kang Mazi the process of surrendering Lu Fatzi, he was ready to try his best to persuade Kang Mazi to accept the three not harsh conditions proposed by Lu Fatzi, so that his only confidant and friend would return anyway.

Although there is a waterway from Nanjing to Yanjing that the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal can go, the speed is much faster than the land route, but it is not possible to arrive overnight, at least it will take ten days, but when Wang Xu and his entourage are rushing towards the capital day and night, another major event that shakes the world spreads rapidly on the land of China, the seriousness of the situation, the huge impact, and the bad consequences caused by it are no less than Lu Fatzi jumping thousands of miles into Nanjing City and cutting Kang Mazi's throat!

It happened on May 16, the thirteenth year of Kang Mazi, the Wu Army's North Route Army Ma Bao all the way into the hinterland of Henan, and the Henan prefectures and prefectures, which had almost no soldiers to defend, were powerless to resist, and could only watch the Ma Bao army, which was good at wandering operations, grow stronger and stronger day by day, and go deeper into the hinterland of the Central Plains day by day, and when Ma Bao waved his army to break through Xinzheng and was about to come to the city of Zhengzhou, when the two major towns of Kaifeng and Luoyang were in an emergency at the same time, a team of refugees who came out of nowhere came out, But he frantically dug up the Yellow River embankment in the Heyin area northwest of Zhengzhou!

In an instant, the torrent surged, countless villages and farms on the south bank of the Yellow River were wiped out, hundreds of thousands of Han people were killed, and millions of people were homeless and became refugees. The Northern Expeditionary Army of the Wu Army, which was rapidly advancing towards Zhengzhou, was also caught off guard, including the general of the Wu Army, Fan Qihan, and tens of thousands of Wu Army pioneers were wiped out and swept away by the flood. At the same time, because of the flooding of the Yellow River, the Central Plains became a Ze country, blocking the advance of the Wu Army's Northern Route Army, and the Wu Army's dream of attacking the capital from the belly of the Central Plains was also completely shattered.

When the news spread, Wu Laohan and Lu Fatzi and others scolded, glad that they had already taken precautions and did not dare to put the main force into the Central Plains battlefield, so they luckily avoided the doom of the destruction of the main force. Kang Mazi was also furious after hearing the news, and immediately instructed the local officials in Henan and Zhou Yimin, the Luoyang guard general of the Qing army, to investigate the matter, and the new Luoyang commander-in-chief Zhou Yimin after some open and secret visits, careful investigation, and really caught the culprit -- it was a good thing done by a Han landlord named Chen Zhihong in Huaiqing Mansion, Henan, just because his field on the south bank of the Yellow River was occupied by the Han people on the south bank of the Yellow River, Chen Zhihong commanded his tenants to dig up the embankment and flood the fields, never thought that the river would rise and completely wash away the embankment, which caused a tragedy. After Kang Mazi heard the report, he immediately ordered Zhou Yimin to behead Chen Zhihong's entire family.

"Oh no, when this news reaches the capital, I'm afraid the emperor will be even more unable to hold on!"

Receiving this news, Wang Xu's first reaction was that Kang Mazi was afraid that he would vomit blood and faint again, in order to prevent accidents, Wang Xu had to order the boat to go north with all his strength and rush back to the capital to visit Kang Mazi as soon as possible. And on the first day of the sixth lunar month, after rushing back to the capital in a hurry, Wang Xu didn't even have time to return home, and immediately led Suo Mintai and Wu Dan to Donghua Gate to hand over the card to ask for a meeting, and was quickly approved to summon, but when Wang Xu entered the south study where Kang Mazi was, he was stunned to see that Kang Mazi was talking and laughing with a few henchmen, and he looked very happy, and he didn't wait for Wang Xu to kowtow, Kang Mazi immediately asked with a split head and a face: "Why did you come back so quickly?" Did you get the errand done? ”

"Your Majesty, Weichen heard on the road that the Yellow River embankment was dug up, and the Central Plains is already a Ze country, I wonder if the emperor has received this news?" Wang Xu asked with a kowtow in response to the question.

"How could I not know about such a big thing?" Kang Mazi showed some dissatisfaction, and said very reluctantly: "After receiving the local emergency report, I was also so anxious that I didn't close my eyes for a day and two nights, and it was difficult to sleep and eat, and I have ordered the major monasteries in the capital to chant sutras for my people. ”

"Then the emperor can allocate money and food for disaster relief and repair the embankment?" Wang Xu asked more anxiously: "Wechen heard that the situation of the Yellow River bursting this time is very serious, the people of the Central Plains have suffered countless deaths, and the flood is flooding, Anhui and northern Jiangsu are bound to be affected, whether it is another time to seize the Huai into the sea, and the people in the lower reaches of the Huai River will also be affected, I don't know what the emperor can do to deal with this?" ”

Kang Mazi refused to answer, but his numb face became more and more gloomy, and Suo Etu next to him saw that the situation was not good, so he hurriedly said while secretly handing over his eyes to Wang Xu: "Lord Wang, don't embarrass the emperor, now that the four mansions in Jiangnan have fallen, Caoyun has been cut off by Lu Yifeng's dog thief, no matter how anxious the emperor is, what should I do if I have no money and no money?" Okay, I'll talk about this later, Lord Wang, you should quickly talk about the situation of appeasing Lu Yifeng, the sooner the Cao Yun is opened, and the refugees on the south bank of the Yellow River will be able to get the master's money and food relief one day earlier. ”

"Is there really no money at all? Then how did I see so many Great Fresh Expeditionary troops in Shandong? Wang Xu was puzzled in his heart, but Suo Etu had already said it to this point, and he had been killing chickens and wiping his neck, Wang Xu was not good at continuing this problem, so he had to try to calm down his anxious mood, sort out his thoughts, and carefully explain the before and after his journey to the south to appease Fat Lu this time, without missing anything, and forwarded the three conditions put forward by Fat Lu, and forwarded the handwritten notes of Fat Lu.

"Bold dog thief! Dare to shamelessly divide my Manchurian Eight Banners! When he heard about the four killings order implemented by Lu Fatzi in Nanjing City and its consequences, Kang Mazi was immediately furious, and shouted at the pseudo-dragon case: "Such a big thing, why do I know nothing about it so far?" Those magistrates in Jiangsu, as well as the Manchurian soldiers who escaped from Jiangning City, why hasn't anyone played to me until now? ”

Mingzhu and Suo Etu and the others glanced at each other, vaguely guessing the reason, but they didn't dare to make it clear, but Wang Xu replied truthfully: "Your Majesty, this matter is not surprising, that time in Jiangning Mancheng, it was these Manchurian soldiers who identified the four surnamed bannermen and handed them over to the Wu rebel army to slaughter, in exchange for the Wu rebel army to allow them to carry weapons out of the city to escape, these people, naturally did not dare to tell the master about this matter. As for the local officials in Jiangsu, it is likely that because Lu Yifeng did not write this order in writing and make it public, they did not have clear evidence and did not witness what happened in Jiangning City, so they naturally did not dare to play it indiscriminately. ”

"Bang!" Kang Mazi slapped his palm on the pseudo-dragon case again, his numb face became more and more iron-blue, and at the same time, he was secretly afraid in his heart - this hand happened to hit the most important point of the Mites Qing Eight Banners, once the rebels from all walks of life rushed to follow suit, it would be difficult for the Mite Qing Eight Banners not to split.

"Your Majesty, Lu Yifeng also regrets it now." Wang Xu cautiously defended Lu Fatzi and said: "At that time, he broke through Jiangning Mancheng, if he didn't kill the soldiers of the Eight Banners who defended the city, he couldn't explain to the soldiers, he couldn't explain to Wu Sangui's old thief, and he couldn't ...... to Jiangnan." As a last resort, he casually issued this order, intending to recruit the soldiers of the Eight Banners first, and then release them ...... leave. ”

"Casually promulgated? I'm afraid he's been planning for a long time, right? Kang Mazi shouted angrily.

"The emperor misunderstood, Lu Yifeng never meant this." Wang Xu hurriedly kowtowed and said: "And after Lu Yifeng heard that no one reported to the emperor, he also took the initiative to confess this crime to Weichen, and did not hide the fraud at all, which is enough to prove that Lu Yifeng has repented, and he regrets his great rebellion, please ask the emperor to investigate." ”

"Will he repent, too?" Kang Mazi snorted coldly again, picked up Lu Fatzi's crooked and crooked recital, first scolded a sentence worthy of being a poor showman, and then settled down to watch it carefully. Wang Xu peeked at Kang Mazi's expression, and at the same time carefully defended Lu Fatzi, explaining the reason why Lu Fatzi put forward three conditions, first, Kang Mazi did not know about Nanjing Mites City in advance, so he had to ask Kang Mazi for forgiveness; The second is that the relationship between Lu Fatzi and Jieshu is bad, so Lu Fatzi must not surrender to the Qing Army's Jieshu Department; The third is that Lu Fatzi was worried that the Qing court was using his friendship with Wang Xu, and he didn't believe in Kang Mazi's sincerity in surrendering, so he asked Kang Mazi to send another important minister of the court to the south to appease him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, tell me, Lu Yifeng's dog thief proposed these three conditions for surrender, is there any sincerity?" Kang Mazi asked with a deep groan.

"Back to the master, judging from the three conditions put forward by Lu Yifeng's dog thief, the conditions are not very harsh, if he does have the sincerity to surrender, the slave thinks that he can agree." Suo Etu hesitated and replied: "But this thief has always been known for his deceit, and it cannot be ruled out that he is playing tricks again, deceiving the master and the court. ”

"The good and the bad are all for you to say to Master Suo, so whether Lu Yifeng's dog thief intends to surrender sincerely, you can tell me." Kang Mazi asked dissatisfiedly.

"This ......." Suo Etu was not stupid, and he didn't dare to speak casually on such a matter, so he had to answer honestly: "The slave is only shallow in learning, and the master is a saint and a martial artist. ”

"Rubbish!" Kang Mazi scolded angrily, then turned to Mingzhu, Zhang Ying and Gao Shiqi and asked, "What about you?" What do you think of Lu Yifeng's sincerity as a dog thief anyway? ”

"Servants and others are shallow in their studies, and they are stupid when they see things, and they also ask the master to judge." Mingzhu and Gao Shiqi replied respectfully in unison.

"Your Majesty, Weichen has the audacity to say bluntly, no matter whether the emperor asks anyone such as his subordinates, I'm afraid no one dares to make a conclusion." It was rare for Zhang Ying to say a few more words, first kowtowed, and then said very seriously: "There is no other reason, just because this Lu Yifeng dog thief is too cunning, since Kangxi entered the office in the sixth year, he has deceived the master, deceived his colleagues, deceived the people, and deceived everyone in the world to know that he is a loyal and capable minister, and even won the reputation of saying good things and doing good deeds with good intentions!" However, after the Wu Fan incident, this thief immediately turned into a thief and became the most powerful accomplice lackey of Wu Sangui's traitors, trapping and killing hundreds of thousands of my Qing Dynasty soldiers! For such a person, Weichen and others really dare not make a conclusion. ”

"Then you still instigated the surrender of this shameless traitor before?" Kang Mazi asked angrily.

"The emperor forgave the sin, and Weichen and the others were also anxious to reopen the Cao Yun at that time, so they suggested that the emperor take the most convenient and fastest strategy to appease him." Zhang Ying replied helplessly: "Weichen thought to himself at the time, after Lu Yifeng's dog thieves ran thousands of miles to attack Jiangning City, he must have been exhausted, suffered heavy casualties, and it was still difficult to protect himself, let alone gain a foothold in Jiangnan? It's just that Weichen didn't expect anything at the time, Lu Yifeng's dog thief not only stood in Jiangnan, but also blocked the counterattack of King Kang's army, and now that Lord Wang is going south to appease him, he agreed without making any excuses, and only put forward three conditions that are not harsh, so Weichen didn't dare to draw conclusions lightly. ”

"Yes, master, Lu Yifeng, this dog thief is too cunning, and he promised so quickly, it's a little unbelievable." Suo Etu echoed.

"So what now?" Kang Mazi said angrily: "I listened to your suggestion, and I have already issued an order to appease you, and Lu Yifeng also agreed, and now you say that Lu Yifeng is a dog thief who can't be trusted, do you want me to break my word and lose my trust in the world?" ”

"Wait for death!" Mingzhu, Suo Etu, Zhang Ying and others kowtowed together, and their faces were sad together. Wang Xu kowtowed and said: "Your Majesty, Weichen talked with Lu Yifeng all night, and found that his surrender was very sincere. ”

Kang Mazi stopped talking, and the triangular eyes on Ma's face were white and black, and he was nervously calculating whether to agree to Lu Fatzi's three conditions. At this time, Gao Shiqi said cautiously: "Master, the minister has a plan, or he can solve the problems for the master." ”

"Say." Kang Mazi said casually.

"The master can be prepared with both hands." Gao Shiqi said respectfully: "The master can contact Geng Jingzhong and Lu Yifeng at the same time, negotiate a truce with Geng Jingzhong, and negotiate with Lu Yifeng to surrender, and at the same time take advantage of the opportunity that Geng Jingzhong has ordered Zeng Yang to stop going north, leaving part of the army to stick to the major towns in Zhejiang, and transfer part of Zhejiang's main force to the north to attack Suzhou together." In addition, Prince Kang's side must not withdraw troops, and must continue to attack the Taiping Mansion, threatening the safety of Jiangning at all times, and putting pressure on Lu Yifeng's dog thieves at all times. ”

Then, the master can agree to the first and third conditions of Lu Yifeng's dog thief, while the faction continues to exert pressure on Lu Yifeng's dog thief and try to recover the four prefectures in Jiangnan by force, and at the same time send a large number of soldiers to the south, Enwei and recruit Lu Yifeng dog thief. If Lu Yifeng's dog thief is really willing to surrender, of course, it is best, if not, the master can also take the opportunity to transfer troops and generals, gather a large army, or temporarily cease war with Geng Jingzhong, and urge the Zhejiang army to go north with all its strength to recover the entire territory south of the Yangtze River. ”

Kang Mazi's little black and white eyes continued to turn, and after muttering for a long time, Kang Mazi slapped the table and shouted: "Quasi-play, immediately pass on the decree and let him attack the Taiping Mansion with all his might!" Then he sent an edict to Lai Ta and Li Zhifang, ordering them to send 30,000 troops north to attack Suzhou! ”

"Your Majesty, what about sending that important minister south to appease you?" Wang Xu asked with a sad face.

Kang Mazi's small eyes turned around Suo Etu, Mingzhu and Zhang Ying, and found that the three of them were cringinge, so they had no choice but to say casually: "Then let the official department Shangshu Huang Ji go, if I remember correctly, Lu Yifeng's dog thief also received Huang Ji's kindness, and the opening ceremony of that year was ......, hum!" ”

……………………

Wang Xu's prophecy about the bursting of the embankment of the Yellow River was unfortunately a prophecy, and the second said, Henan and Anhui came at the same time to report that after the water of the Yellow River had flooded southeastern Henan, it had indeed rushed into the Huai River to seize the Huai River into the sea, and the prefectures and governments in the lower reaches of the Huai He were in an emergency, and dozens of county governments in Henan, Anhui, and Jiangsu provinces were affected by the disaster, and nearly 10 million mu of fertile land was swallowed up by the flood, and more than 2 million people were affected. In this regard, Kang Mazi not only did not feel ashamed, but was a little complacent - this time, there was finally no need to worry about the problem of the source of soldiers, and those young and strong men among the affected people, even if they were only given a mouthful of food, they would be killed by the Qing court.

However, Kang Mazi was obviously happy too early, after the news of the Yellow River burst reached Nanjing, Lu Fatzi scolded Kang Mazi for being inferior to the birds and beasts of the Qing Dynasty, but he was even happier than Kang Mazi behind his back, because Lu Fatzi was very aware of the flow habits of those disaster--they must go to places where there was food, and now the capitals of the most abundant grain production in Jiangnan are in the hands of Lu Fatzi, and they are bound to have the most advantage in absorbing refugees and manpower, and the expansion of the Fat Army is not only easier, but the quality and fighting spirit of the soldiers are also guaranteed. In order to survive, refugees from poor places are naturally more able to fight than the people of Suzhou and Hangzhou Paradise, and are more willing to work for survival.

After the Yellow River burst its banks, it was also beneficial for Lu Fatzi to have another advantage, that is, he didn't have to worry about the threat from the north, no matter how many Mongolian soldiers and mite soldiers Kang Mazi recruited from outside the Guan, if he wanted to go south to beat Lu Fatzi, he first had to cross the Huai River Valley, which was also full of dangers, which was very beneficial to the Fat Army's defense against the enemy and long-term hold, and could concentrate on preventing threats from the south and west, providing valuable time for Lu Fatzi's farming.

Nanjing may really be a blessed land for Lu Fatzi, because he can't believe that Lu Fatzi is a person, Kang Mazi retreated and was already trying to negotiate a truce with Geng Jingzhong, and another earth-shattering news came into Nanjing City and was sent to Lu Fatzi. After reading the emergency report sent by Xizuo, Lu Fatzi jumped up excitedly, hugged Xiao Erlang and shouted, "Erlang, this time we are safe, we are really safe, we are in Jiangnan, we can finally have time to stand firm!" ”

"Young Master, what makes you happy like this?" Xiao Erlang asked confusedly.

"My eldest brother, Shang Zhixin, has finally reversed!" Lu Fatzi laughed wildly: "He successfully launched a mutiny in Guangzhou, took control of Guangzhou City, arrested my unlucky old man Shang Kexi, played the banner of opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty, and bombarded Guangzhou Mite City!" Leerjin Xiaoer has been forced to give up Guangdong and break through to southern Jiangnan! ”

"Da Shizi is so guts?" Xiao Erlang was taken aback, and hurriedly asked: "Young master, the eldest prince launched a mutiny in Guangzhou, what does it matter to us?" Why are we safe? ”

"Stupid!" Lu Fatzi scolded with a smile: "My eldest brother is also the opposite, Kang Mazi is half of Zhejiang and half of Jiangxi south of the Yangtze River, and it is difficult for the full dogs in Zhejiang and Jiangxi to protect themselves, what spare strength do you have to besiege us?" Kang Mazi had to sit back at the negotiating table obediently this time to please us! ”

(To be continued)