After the news of the Huai'an army being attacked by Wang Lanping reached Nanjing, the court was panicked, especially Ma Shiying, the Huai'an army was the pillar of his invincible position in the imperial court, and now Nanjing City is under the threat of the Huai'an army and the champion army fifty miles outside Nanjing.

Therefore, he had to do everything he could to prevent Wang Lanping from returning to Nanjing.

Just because of the 'fake prince' case made Ma Shiying very busy, in fact, this is also to blame himself, Emperor Hongguang from the day he became the emperor, almost all the political situation in Nanjing City is in the hands of Ma Shiying, he looted the people's wealth for his own self, on the other hand, he inserted his cronies all over the court, sold the official beard, and colluded up and down, both the officials and the people in Nanjing City hated him to the core, and some people even arranged a limerick poem in order to satirize him: the governor is as cheap as a dog, the staff walks everywhere, the prince only loves money, and the emperor eats wine. The scolding minister here is Ma Shiying.

Therefore, when the Donglin Party carried out the fake prince and spread rumors in the city, saying how Emperor Hongguang was incompetent and immoral, and how the first assistant of the court disregarded the law of the country and used his position for personal gain, etc., the people of the city were full of righteous indignation and wanted to drive Ma Shiying and Emperor Hongguang out of Nanjing.

At this time, Emperor Hongguang was imprisoned in the dilapidated small palace in Nanjing, and all political affairs were decided by Ma Shiying.

And with the emperor's will, he ordered that more than 50 Donglin party elements, including Qian Qianyi, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, be imprisoned, and many officials who had escaped from Beijing were also sent to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment.

Not only that, Ma Shiying also used the people to slander the monarch's father as the reason, and ordered his son Ma Ming, the deputy general of the Nanjing garrison, to hunt down and kill the people in the city.

Donglin Party's move is really lifting a stone and shooting itself in the foot, just with one mouth, where can he fight Ma Shiying, who is in power, in vain to harm himself and the people in the city, it is really a stinky move, disaster to the country and the people.

Ma Shiying took this opportunity to completely eradicate all his hostile forces in the DPRK, and the wealth he amassed was enough to make the country rich, but he understood that the garrison of Nanjing City was empty, and the biggest threat to him was not the Donglin Party like a rice bucket, but Wang Lanping, who was stationed outside.

For this reason, on the bright side, Ma Shiying changed his face, and after receiving Liu Zeqing's family members sent by Wang Lanping to escort him, he immediately beheaded Liu's family, announced that Liu Zeqing conspiracy and rebellion, and issued an order in the name of the emperor to reward Wang Lanping, saying that he had a clear understanding of everything and had insight into Liu Zeqing's disobedience in advance, and eliminated a major harm for the Ming Dynasty, etc.

Ma Shiying did this, it was nothing more than a helpless move, the Huai'an army returned to Wang Lanping, Gao Jie, the villain, actually stopped, who else can stop Wang Lanping from returning to Nanjing, yes, that is money, Ma Shiying, who has just made a fortune through the 'fake prince' case, can't even count the money he has saved in his hand, of course, he will not be stupid enough to take money to buy Wang Lanping, but someone can buy it, that is Wang Lanping's general.

For example, the former 14th battalion commander stationed in Xiangshan, and then the general soldiers of the town guarding various places, the general soldiers of Taiping Mansion, the general soldiers of Changzhou Mansion, the general soldiers of Guangde Mansion, the general soldiers of Suzhou Mansion, Songjiang Mansion, etc., although these people have less than 10,000 soldiers, some even have no real name, a general of the light pole, but these people have weight in their words, as long as they raise their arms and shout, it must be a crowd of responders.

As long as these people are all on Ma Shiying's side, what are they afraid of Wang Lanping.

Therefore, secretly, Ma Shiying divided the gold and silver obtained these days into dozens of parts, and secretly sent people to send the general soldiers to various places, saying that the emperor lived in Nanjing City like a year, and was oppressed by Wang Lanping, a military bandit, and now he is even more bold and reckless, taking the opportunity of training soldiers and horses, taking the imperial court soldiers and horses as his own, and encircling the pressure of Nanjing City, forcing the emperor to become his puppet, which is for the contemporary 'traitorous male Cao Cao', and now, the emperor entrusted Ma Shoufu to secretly call on the world's kings, enter the king of Beijing, and eradicate Wang Lanping.

Ma Shiying not only bought the small chief military officers from all over the country, but also specially sent people to take a fast boat, along the river, with 800,000 taels of silver, to Jiujiang, to find the Wuchang general stationed in Jiujiang Zuo Liangyu, is also the Ming army at this time second only to the Fujian general Zheng Zhilong's general, known as 300,000 soldiers and horses, in fact, there are 150,000 troops, this is the person Ma Shiying most wants to pull the cage, in addition to 800,000 taels of silver, he also in the name of the emperor, Zuo Liangyu's Ningnan Marquis Jin Jue as the Duke of Dingnan, awarded the seal of the general of the thief, hoping that he can lead troops into the court, Assist Ma Shiying in eliminating Wang Lanping.

The general soldiers have not seen the silver for more than half a year, and the military salary has been broken for a long time, this time I saw the silver sent by Ma Shiying, it was really closer than seeing my father and mother, and there was no silver, and the soldiers under their hands would have to occupy the mountain as the king, and the grass would be the king, so they should even promise the messenger sent by Ma Shiying, and agree that after a month, that is, on the first day of the seventh month, the soldiers under their command will enter the king of Beijing Qin, and even the general soldiers of Jiujiang Zuo also agree.

Of course, it is not excluded that there is duplicity, and the lord who does not contribute to the money, and wait-and-see is the best rule of life at present.

Not only the general army from other places, but also the battalion of the champion army of Wang Lanping of Xiangshan, there were also many generals who were afraid of Wang Lanping in the past and had to bow their heads, but also secretly accepted Ma Shiying's gold and silver, and agreed that when the division of the king of Qin entered the army, they would make internal responses in the champion army.

And Wang Lanping, who was far away in Yangzhou City, knew nothing, a disaster was quietly coming, it could be a fratricidal battle that pushed the Ming army to the brink of death, no matter who wins, the overall strength of the Ming army will be greatly damaged.

In the Yangzhou Governor's Mansion, Shi Kefa led all the Yangzhou officials and accompanied Wang Lanping to gather together to discuss the current predicament of Yangzhou City.

Shi Kefa was in the first seat of the lobby, with a righteous face, first counted the troubles caused by Gao Jie's army, and then made a brief introduction to Yangzhou's military deployment, and immediately expressed his position, saying that he would never let Gao Jie's troops enter the city.

After Wang Lanping heard this, he suddenly felt ridiculous, Yangzhou City soldiers were less than 10,000, and he could convince Gao Jie with a loyal and patriotic heart? Besides, Gao Jie's department is famous for being able to fight well, defending the soldiers, forcing him to be anxious, Yangzhou City can not wait for the Qing army to slaughter Gao Jie first, the best way at present is to appease, he thought about it, got up and said, "Shi Inspector, according to the younger generation, Gao Jie gave up the Fengyang garrison this time, and the soldiers came to Yangzhou City, it was really forced to be helpless, in order to relieve the lack of food for the army, if there is a stalemate here, it will make the Fengyang garrison empty for a long time, and it is not good for the country and the people, in my opinion, it is better to agree to his request"

Shi Kefa suddenly lost his color when he heard this, he thought that Wang Lanping was here to help Yangzhou, but he didn't expect to be helping Gao Jie speak, which made him angry, and the generals in Yangzhou City were also angry on the spot, and their admiration for Wang Lanping quickly turned into a sneer.

Shi Kefa said, "Dingnanhou, can't you see why Gao Jie's true purpose is to go south? You're a smart person, you don't need me to break this, do you? ”

Wang Lanping said with a smile, "Of course I understand this, it is Lord Shoufu Ma who thinks that we are not good for the imperial court and does something drastic, so that Gao Jie will go south to contain me, but now everyone has also seen that I, Wang Lanping, have nothing to do, and I will go to Nanjing in person in the near future, meet with the saint, and explain clearly the restructuring of the champion army and the chaos of the Huai'an army."

Shi Kefa said, "That being the case, why did you excuse Gao Jie, and what was your purpose in entering Yangzhou?" ”

Wang Lanping said, "Inspector Shi misunderstood, I have no intention of excusing Gao Jie and others, the reason why I entered Yangzhou is actually for the fate of hundreds of thousands of people in Yangzhou and Inspector Shi."

In a few months, the Qing army will go south to extinguish the Ming, the first place to bear the brunt, is the peripheral town of Nanjing, Yangzhou City, and now Yangzhou City is less than 10,000 soldiers, how to defend the city in the future, since Gao Jie has given up the Huai River, want him to go back, it is unlikely, it is better to leave him in Yangzhou, so that in the future Yangzhou bloody battle, and these, Shi Kefa and other Yangzhou generals are completely unaware.

Shi Kefa and the generals looked at each other and said, "Oh? Then please give Dingnanhou some advice."

Wang Lanping smiled slightly, glanced at the suspicious eyes of everyone, left his seat directly, and came to the sand table of the Yangzhou Defense Zone in the left room of the lobby, pointed to it and said, "Inspector Shi, generals, please see, Yangzhou City is only three hundred miles away from Nanjing, and it is the most important military town in the east of Nanjing. Geng Zhongming has led his troops south along the canal, crossed the Yellow River, and is currently gathering troops in Xuzhou City, if the report is correct, at this time should have gathered 200,000 soldiers and horses, and its soldiers pointed directly to Sizhou (now Xuyi, Jiangsu), intended to seize the Huai River, threatening Yangzhou, but now the Huai River defenders are all withdrawn, Yangzhou has directly become the first place for the two thieves, at this time Yangzhou City should not be against Gao Jie, but to introduce his army into the city, in order to solve the danger of insufficient troops in Yangzhou"

Everyone was shocked when they heard this, they didn't hear that the Manchus were going south, Kong and Geng were fighting in Shandong, and didn't they say that they were going to exterminate Li Zicheng when they crossed the Yellow River in the south? How could it be possible to invade the Ming Dynasty in the south, besides, didn't the imperial court also send Zuo Maodi, the governor of Yingtian, to the north to negotiate peace? No, Shi Kefa agrees with Wang Lanping's opinion, he always thinks that he is full of wolf ambition and will never give up the idea of entering the Central Plains, but he is too afraid that Gao Jie's group of soldiers and ruffians will enter Yangzhou, which will refuse thieves and recruit wolves.

Shi Kefa said, "Well, yes, I have also received such a military report, Yangzhou City is indeed in danger of exhaustion, and I also asked the imperial court to send Yangzhou defenders, but Gao Jie is definitely not the person I want, he will only add chaos to the chaos"

Wang Lanping laughed, "Inspector Shi, you also think highly of him, speaking of which, he Gao Jie is still a subordinate of your Yangzhou Governor's Mansion, and you don't need to put the troops in front of you, why do you bother to find the court to ask for soldiers, not to mention whether the court can send troops to you, you don't know?" Even if the imperial court wants to send it, who will it send? Who would be stupid enough to run to Yangzhou to be beaten this head-on"

Shi Kefa smiled bitterly, Wang Lanping said to the root, there is Ma Shoufu in the court, where will there be reinforcements, Ma Shoufu is bent on negotiating peace, greedy for temporary peace, and will not start a war with Manchu at all.

Shi Kefa bypassed the sand table behind his back, came to Wang Lanping's side and said softly, "Then if Gao Jie enters the city, what should I do with the whole city, I only have eight thousand old and weak, and I can't hold it down at all."

Wang Lanping also said in a low voice, "No defense, I have a plan, I will ensure that Yangzhou will increase the number of troops by 30,000 within a month, and Gao Jie, a fool who abandons guarding the Huaihe River, let him accompany the first emperor."

Shi Kefa was taken aback, pulled Wang Lanping aside, and said, "Master Hou, please speak, I would like to hear the details!" ”