Episode 55 The Old Man Meets

On the morning of the 28th, the Ming army built two other pontoon bridges on the Yellow River: Fenglingdu pontoon bridge, .

Fenglingdu is in Tongguan, where there was originally a permanent pontoon bridge, but it was blown up, but all kinds of infrastructure, such as the wharf and the embankment, the big iron ox and the big pile that fixed the steel cable of the pontoon bridge are still there, and they are repaired faster. Fenglingdu was repaired on the afternoon of the 27th. Sanmenxia is about 20 kilometers east of Hangu Pass, which is the place where the Sanmenxia Reservoir was later born.

In this section of the Yellow River, after crossing the river, the north bank is a Zhongtiao Mountain, which runs from east to west, about 60 kilometers long, and these two pontoon bridges are at the east and west ends of Zhongtiao Mountain respectively.

More importantly, the two pontoon bridges at Fenglingdu and Sanmenxia are on the side of the Qinqi Railway, and it is an exaggeration to say that the troops can get off the train and get on the pontoon bridge, and there is no need to take the Longmen pontoon bridge before, and the train will have to drive more than 100 kilometers north along the highway after getting off at Tongguan.

Therefore, although the number of pontoon bridges of the Ming army only increased by three times, the speed of transporting troops into Shanxi increased sharply to five times that of the previous one.

The secret envoy of the Northern Qing Dynasty strongly begged both sides to stop at the same time and negotiate first. But the Ming army didn't dump him, and with such a favorable situation, if he didn't seize it, his brain would be in water.

By the evening of the 28th, when the Ming army stopped marching and camped for the night, the Ming army had advanced to the front line of Lingshi County-Changzhi County in Shanxi. A third of Shanxi had already been occupied in the south, and the northernmost vanguard was only 130 kilometers away from Taiyuan.

Beijing can no longer tolerate such a rapid advance.

At noon on the 28th, an unmarked Junkers-52 took off from Beijing, first flew to the southwest, landed at Zhengzhou Airport, and then flew to the southeast, landing at Nanjing Airport at 5:00 p.m.

Two inconspicuous cars were waiting there, and the people who got off the plane were picked up immediately. He was followed by a truckload of guards. The car drove south from Xianlin Airport, bypassed half of the Purple Mountain, and came to Xiaolingwei on the south side of the Purple Mountain.

On a piece of bluestone at the entrance of this garden villa, the moss is covered with four powerful characters: Wuwang Villa. Signed: Zheng Chenggong.

……

This is an authentic "ancestral home" of the old Zheng family.

Wuwang Villa is a "monument-level" garden villa, it is a villa built outside Nanjing by Zheng Chenggong to recover the south of the Yangtze River and seal the queen of Yanping, the reason why it is called "Wuwang Villa" is because the front is the mausoleum of Sun Quan and his wife. Of course, in addition to Sun Quan's mausoleum, further up the mountain, is the filial piety mausoleum of Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty. This house is adjacent to the mausoleums of two great historical figures, which can be described as a treasure of feng shui.

Of course, when Zheng Chenggong took a fancy to this place and wanted to build a villa, many loyal ministers opposed it on the spot. Because after all, this is too close to the Taizu Mausoleum, and building a villa here is somewhat disrespectful. But as soon as Zheng Chenggong came to be too powerful at that time, he had the great merit of saving the country and the world, and married the Empress of Changping, and he was almost the number one person in the Ming Dynasty. Second, the Empress Changping herself at that time had an indifferent attitude. Empress Changping said on the spot:

"Oh, what are you all arguing about, isn't it just a broken mausoleum? Why can't we build a villa down there? What's so disrespectful, it's boring? ”

The ministers were so scorched on the spot that they almost vomited blood. Even Zheng Chenggong didn't expect Her Majesty the Empress to say such "avant-garde" words.

Some people also flattered Zheng Chenggong, saying that since this is the case, whether to move Sun Quan's tomb to another place. Zheng Chenggong laughed and said:

"Sun Quan is also a hero, so let him live here for the lonely town!"

So, the garden was built in this way. This is not Zheng Chenggong's mansion, just a villa, so it can't be called "Yanping Palace", it can only be named another. It is adjacent to the mausoleums of two great historical figures, and the name should be a bit distinctive. Although Zhu Yuanzhang's achievements and status are much higher than Sun Quan's, it can't be called "Taizu Villa", right? So it was called "Wuwang Villa", which is also atmospheric enough and in line with Zheng Chenggong's taste.

After more than 200 years, this Wuwang Villa changed hands several times among the Zheng clan, and in the second half of the 19th century, it was in the hands of one of Zheng Gongyin's cousins. At this time, the Ming Dynasty was already vigorously engaged in constitutional government. If they engage in constitutional government, then these vested interests of the emperor's relatives, relatives, and magnates are naturally the group of people whose interests have suffered the most. Not to mention being limited in power, not to mention being greatly reduced in the supply of imperial grain, and having to start paying taxes. As a result, many relatives of the emperor suddenly felt embarrassed, and they began to expand the scope of business and "subsidize their families". The business empire of the Nanming Zheng clan was the foundation laid at that time.

By the end of the 19th century, the Ming Dynasty began to build railways, and investing in the construction of railways was a lucrative business. However, because the investment in building railways is too large, few people can invest, and generally issue railway stocks and railway bonds to raise funds. At that time, Zheng Gongyin's cousin also wanted to do a vote, and it happened that the Wuwang Villa in his hand was idle and uninhabited, and it was quite valuable, so he mortgaged it to the bank, borrowed a huge amount of money, and partnered with others to open a railway company to build the railway. But then, somehow, the railroad company went bankrupt. Wuwang Villa was auctioned off by the bank, and since then it has been separated from the Zheng family for more than 30 years.

Until the end of last year, on the eve of the Manchu Qing Dynasty's southern invasion, the Yangtze River was covered with war clouds, and the real estate prices of cities along the Yangtze River plummeted. But at this time, everyone is selling real estate, and no matter how low the price is, it can't be sold.

During the defense of Nanjing, after Xiang Xiaoqiang foiled the conspiracy planned by Zheng Gongyin and Mrs. Li to kidnap Zhu Yourong and abandon Nanjing, Zheng Gongyin knew that he had to coexist and die with Nanjing, so he simply gambled a little bigger and began to buy real estate in Nanjing on a large scale. Because it was a bargain hunt, he successfully bought the bottom and bought a large number of them for only a fraction of the money. Among them is Wuwang Villa.

After the end of the war next year and the truce between the two sides, Nanjing's real estate prices gradually returned to the pre-war level in the past ten months. After the Northern Expedition began, the Ming army quickly occupied a large area of land in the north of the Yangtze River, and the cities along the Yangtze River were no longer in the border outposts, so they were not threatened by the war, and the price rose sharply, and the real estate in Zheng Gongyin's hands made a lot of money. Coupled with Xiang Xiaoqiang's cooperation with his minerals, Zheng Gongyin was crazy with happiness, and even felt that Xiang Xiaoqiang was the great nobleman in his life, and he couldn't wait to recruit him as a son-in-law immediately.

Now, Wuwang Villa is a mansion in the hands of Zheng Gongyin, which is currently idle, so Zhu Yourong took it as the residence of this secret negotiation and the arrangement of the envoy of the Northern Qing Dynasty.

The negotiation location was chosen here, in addition to the beautiful scenery, the convenience of secrecy outside the city, and the "requisition" of his uncle, but also because it was close to the Purple Mountain Fortress, and the top core of the Ming Dynasty was now in the fortress, so it was convenient to travel to and from the negotiation site.

……

Tonight, a company of Praetorian Guards was stationed in Wuwang Villa, as well as more than a dozen agents of Dongchang and the People's Guard. But apart from the dozen or so agents, none of the Praetorian Guards knew who was coming today.

At 7:00 p.m., in the small banquet hall of the villa, a small reception banquet was set up.

The last time Xiang Xiaoqiang went to the north to negotiate, the Beiqing people also received a banquet to entertain them, and when they arrived at the summer resort, Guangwu even put out a "condensed" Manchu and Han full reception. So, it's okay to come and not be rude.

This time, the secret envoy sent by Beijing to negotiate is of sufficient level. Knowing that he got off the plane in Nanjing, Xiang Xiaoqiang received a call and was told that it was actually Yonggui, the current right deputy director of the sticky pole!

So he was itchy and planned to meet the current big boss of this sticky pole in person. At least one of the two big bosses.

When Fourteen Gege heard about it, he was filled with emotion. Now she is familiar with the two deputy chiefs at the sticky pole, and they were both her subordinates at the beginning. She also planned to attend tonight's reception banquet to "catch up" with her old subordinates.

……

Before the banquet, Yonggui was in the lounge, drinking tea and chatting with a stomachache, and the two big spies of the hostile camp were chatting at this time, and they were like good brothers.

Suddenly, a familiar voice in the back of his head laughed:

"Yonggui, it's been a long time."

Yonggui's heart sank, and the back spine suddenly jumped up as if it had been electrified.