"Queen Mother, the concubines don't know what happened, but you must have clashed with the emperor again." Yuan Xi looked at the Queen Mother sincerely, "After the matter is over, are you willing to have a long talk with the emperor?" Please forgive the concubine for being disrespectful, the queen mother, you often don't want to listen to the emperor's words, and the emperor doesn't dare to say it anymore. ”

"Yuan Xi, am I pushing Fu Lin very hard?" Yu'er asked, "He's scared of me, isn't he?" ”

Yuan Xi nodded, knelt down and said: "The concubine is not partial to the emperor, nor is she unwilling to listen to you, she has to be entangled in the affection with the emperor, the queen mother has the life of the queen mother, and the emperor and the concubine also have our life." ”

Yu'er closed her eyes: "What else do you want to say, say it." ”

Yuan Xi was heartbroken, and said solemnly: "The first emperor lost his mother when he was young, had many brothers, and had no one to support him, so he was destined to grow up with self-improvement, but the emperor grew up with the stars, and then he had to be wronged by the power of the regent with you. If you do your best to overcome obstacles for the emperor and make the emperor's future smooth, it is bound to make the emperor less tempered and frustrated. It's not your fault, and it's not all the emperor's fault, the emperor has never handled anything independently, because if anything goes wrong, you and the ministers are in a hurry to push the emperor aside, and again and again, the emperor's confidence and ambition will be worn out, and he is afraid of you, and he is afraid of the courtiers. ”

Yu'er said: "So he can only make some arbitrary decisions on women and children, right?" ”

Yuan Xi had nothing to say and looked at the Queen Mother uneasily.

"Yuan Xi, didn't I tolerate it, didn't encourage it, didn't let it go?" Yu'er said, "You said that he was a little bad, and the ministers and I were in a hurry to push him away, why?" Because it is about the society and tens of thousands of heads, can the major national events be slightly worse? If you have a few more mistakes, you won't be able to live here to talk to me, and we'll all be prisoners, and we're going to be companions on the Huangquan Road. ”

"The Queen Mother's ......"

"Yuan Xi, don't blame me for being ruthless, I didn't do anything to hurt him." Yu'er said, "Don't be afraid, the sky can't fall, no matter what happens, I'm still here." ”

"Queen Mother, you also have to take care." Yuan Xi didn't dare to say it anymore, she could say all she could.

On this day, leaving Cining Palace, on the way back, passing outside the Chengqian Palace, Yuan Xi stopped to look at each other across the palace wall, the Chengqian Palace was quiet and silent, the emperor probably slept, he must be very tired and tired.

"Miss." Pomegranate said softly on the side, "Let's go, the emperor must not want anyone to see his current appearance." ”

"Pomegranate, I'm still being compared to each other." Yuan Xi said, "The Queen Mother is right, I did let it go a long time ago, but I couldn't help it, I would care about him and feel sorry for him." ”

"After all, the emperor is your husband, the third elder brother's Amma." Pomegranate said, "Who doesn't want a family to be safe and happy?" ”

"The family ......" Yuan Xi smiled bitterly and left with the pomegranate.

The next morning, as Jiayin wished, the Empress Dowager did not put the emperor under house arrest, did not block his way to the Qianqing Palace, Fu Lin told the courtiers that he had a fever yesterday and said foolish words, this battle will be won, and he will never return to Shengjing.

However, the battle situation on the front line was not optimistic, and on the seventh day of the seventh month, Zheng Chenggong and his soldiers and horses successfully joined forces, and camped outside the gates of Guanyin, Jinchuan, Zhongfu, and Yifeng in the inner and outer cities of Jiangning, and set up a total of 83 camps. Cannons were installed in various camps, and siege equipment such as ladders, rattan cards, bamboo baskets, shovels, and chisels were prepared to prepare for the siege at any time.

But the strange thing is that Zheng Chenggong did not take the initiative to attack the city under such a favorable battle situation, and Lang Tingzuo, the governor of Liangjiang, took this opportunity to calm the people in the city, strengthen the defense of the city, step up the reserve of grain and grass, purchase weapons, and collect and repair ships.

In mid-July, Liang Huafeng, the commander-in-chief of the Suzhou Naval Division, led 4,000 soldiers from Chongming Island and arrived in Jiangning to support first, followed by soldiers and horses from Jiangxi and Ningxia.

The Qing army's garrison of Jiangning has been greatly strengthened, and Zheng Chenggong's troops will not attack or fight under the siege of the city, and morale will inevitably be low.

On the evening of 22 July, the Manchu and Han soldiers in Jiangning City thought that the time had come, and sent the Green Battalion to take the lead, led by Liang Huafeng, with more than 500 cavalry under his command to leave Yifengmen and Guan Xiaozhong to lead troops out of Zhongfumen, and raided the Zheng army's camp at dawn the next day.

The soldiers of the Zheng army stationed here did not even have time to put on their armor and equipment in a hurry, and were quickly defeated by the Qing army.

After the victory in the first battle, the morale of the army was greatly boosted, and then the Eight Banners Army cooperated with the Green Battalion, changed to passively defend the city, and attacked the Zheng army again and again in order to take the initiative to attack, so the tide of the battle was reversed, forcing the Zheng army to retreat.

In early August, a military report came from Jiangnan that Zheng Chenggong had been forced to retreat to the area of Chongming Island and was preparing to land and seize the island.

In the midst of the frequent good news, Fulin gradually regained his self-confidence, and when he got the news on this day, he issued an order in public that Zheng Chenggong would never be allowed to seize Chongming Island.

Half a month later, I got the news that the 3,000 green-battalion troops on Chongming Island swore to defend the island to the death, and Zheng Chenggong failed to land on the island and suffered heavy losses, so he had to retreat south from the sea and return to Xiamen.

This battle, fought from spring to autumn, entangled for half a year, the Qing army was once forced to be unable to fight back, but the weakness of Zheng Chenggong's army was not good at land warfare, coupled with the unity of the Qing court soldiers and the chaos of the people who did not defect, finally turned the tide of the war.

After analyzing the whole battle later, it was learned that when Zheng Chenggong besieged Jiangning, the Eight Banners general Kaqam was worried that the Han people would defect, lest someone would cooperate with Zheng Chenggong and want to slaughter the city and kill the Han people.

Fortunately, thanks to the persuasion of Lang Tingzuo, the governor of Liangjiang, there was no massacre, which stabilized the people's hearts and was conducive to the subsequent war.

And this Lang Tingzuo is Haoge's subordinate in the past, after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, he once attacked Sichuan with Haoge to pacify Zhang Xianzhong.

However, with the removal of Hauge by Dolgon, he was also once downcast, and in recent years, he was recommended by several important ministers in the court, and together with some other former Hauge and Dolgon's subordinates, he was scattered throughout the south to serve against the forces against the Qing Dynasty and the restoration of the Ming Dynasty.

This time, he held Jiangning, forced Zheng Chenggong to retreat, rewarded him for his meritorious deeds, Lang Tingzuo was the first to make meritorious contributions, and Fulin personally met with several generals and held a banquet for them in the Taihe Hall to celebrate their military exploits.

I don't know how long the palace has not heard joy, the concubines in the harem, have walked out of the palace, listening to the faint music from the previous dynasty, have joined together to pray, this catastrophe, finally passed.

Concubine Chen led Chang Ning, who was already able to walk, to Cining Palace to greet the Queen Mother, but the palace maid in front of the door said that the Queen Mother was busy and asked her to come back later.

I saw Yuan Xi come out of the door, picked up the fifth elder brother and said, "The imperial grandmother is busy, wait a while, Tong Niangniang will come to pick you up, okay?" Let's go to the study first, and the fifth elder brother will go to see if the brothers are obediently studying. ”

Concubine Chen said: "I don't dare to go to the study, please be sure when you want, and I don't dare to delay the affairs of the Queen Mother." ”

In the study, Yu'er was talking to Fan Wencheng, and the matter of beating Zheng Chenggong came to an end, and Yu'er was not complacent.

The Qing army's army did not have the ability to chase him to Xiamen to completely wipe him out, which was Zheng Chenggong's territory, and he would suffer a loss, so he could only wait for the future, when the Qing Dynasty had a more powerful naval division and military strength, and then find a way.

At this time, she was more concerned about what the performance of the feudal kings in various places was when the court and Zheng Chenggong were in a fierce battle, which was also something that Yu'er had asked Fan Wencheng to closely monitor in the past few months.

"Although the imperial court ordered them to hold their troops and defend the various domains, they still gathered men and horses and were ready to fight at any time." Fan Wencheng said worriedly, "But the ministers thought that they were definitely not going to Jiangning to support, or to go north to King Qin, they ......"

Yu'er's eyes were cold: "Are they waiting for Zheng Chenggong to come over and reap the benefits of the fisherman?" ”

Fan Wencheng bowed: "The trend of the three feudatories will become a big trouble for the imperial court sooner or later, but now for the stability of the four seas, I have to hold them." Queen Mother, you and the emperor must prepare early. ”

Yu'er said: "If you use the Han people to fight the Han people, you are destined to have this result, but my Manchurian Eight Banners Army, as soon as it reaches the south, its combat effectiveness will decline, which is fatal." In the next few years, the team will be pulled to the south to experience, and every year it will be replaced, so that all the soldiers of the Eight Banners will step on the land in the south. When they first came from the north, they were not used to fighting in the south, and they couldn't do it after more than ten years of entering the customs, so it was impossible to say. ”

When the words fell, Su Mala brought someone to come, saying that it was the wine that the generals paid tribute to the Queen Mother, Yu'er drank it, and ordered Su Mala to take the cellar in the palace to reward everyone, and said to Fan Wencheng: "You go, I have nothing to do here." ”

After Fan Wencheng retreated, Su Mala said: "Gege, the emperor is happy today, in fact, he has sent people to invite him several times, and I want to invite you to a banquet together." ”

Yu'er said: "I'm not going, what does the war have to do with our woman's family?" ”

Su Mala read softly: "Why be hypocritical. ”

Yu'er glared at her, and Su Mala hurriedly smiled: "It's been several months, and the mother and son haven't said a word, do you want to scare us to death?" Take a closer look, up to the queen, down to the palace maids and eunuchs, who in the palace is not trembling, they are all about to suffocate to death, and they are looking forward to the reconciliation of your mother and son. ”