Wuchang, on the shore of East Lake.

Gu Shidao, the commander of the Xinghan Army, sat in the lakeside pavilion, looking at his grandson who was playing with his mother not far away, and the kind smile on his face never stopped.

It's family fun.

When people get older, they will always cherish the happiness brought by this kind of family affection.

Therefore, when her daughter proposed to take Keqing back not long ago, Gu Shidao asked her mother and son to stay by her side for a while.

He is really reluctant to be separated from his daughter and grandson again.

These two people are the only flesh and blood left in his bloodline in this world.

His eldest son's family and eldest daughter's family both died in the anti-Qing struggle in Jinchuan;

His eldest brother and younger brother were martyred in the sweep of the Qing army;

His wife even jumped off the cliff with two concubines;

His pregnant sister was unfortunately captured alive by the Qing army and died by disembowelment

For more than 100 years, the remnants of the Jinchuan Ming Dynasty, including the Gu family, went forward one after another in order to resist the Manchurian invaders, composing a bloody hymn in the mountains and mountains, insisting on the last hope of the Han nation, but they were slandered as traitors by the Manchurian monarchs and ministers.

What a sorrow!

Heaven is pitiful, and when the struggle against the Qing Dynasty in Jinchuan was about to fail, God gave these Han people who insisted on dressing up the last chance.

I have to say that this is the hope of the Gu family, the hope of the more than 2,000 remnants of the Ming Dynasty who broke through Jinchuan at the beginning, and the hope of the whole of China.

Now, however, that hope looks slim again.

There are also two people in the pavilion, one is Chen Huizu, the governor of Huguang, and the other is Wang Ang, the governor of Hubei.

The two have one thing in common, that is, they were both officials of the Qing Dynasty, that is, demoted officials.

Both are demoted, but the two are completely different in terms of political positions.

It can be said that it is a-for-tat existence.

The reason is that Chen Huizu is the main peace faction, and Wang Ang is the most determined main battle faction.

Originally, there was no such thing as a lord and a main war within the Xinghan regime, and almost all forces, including the demoted officials, wanted to kill Huguang and the Central Plains in one go, so as to completely bury the Manchu Dynasty.

Among them, the two high-ranking Manchu officials, Chen Huizu, the governor of Huguang, and Bayansan, the governor of Hunan, who surrendered, were the most intense.

The two of them were about to eat Hulu meat in public, laughing and drinking the blood of the Huns.

However, with the appointment of the Qing court as the general of the prince of Heshuorui, Shikai, and the southern expedition led by Wang, many advantages achieved by the Xinghan regime in the early stage were continuously diminished by Shikai through various means.

Even a few years ago, there was a large-scale wave of surrender of the Xinghan army, which caused half of Hubei Fuzhou and counties to be occupied by the Qing army again.

Although the Xinghan army still had full control of the provinces of Hunan and Jiangxi (except Ganzhou), and concentrated a large number of troops to conquer Anqing, intending to go down the river to occupy Nanjing.

A defensive ring was also formed in Hubei, with Jingzhou, Wuchang, and Hanyang as the core, but anyone with a discerning eye knew that the Xinghan regime was actually facing a major crisis.

Unless the downstream can break through Anqing and come to Nanjing to gain the territory of the two rivers, it will fall into the heavy encirclement of the Qing army and finally face the end of defeat.

After all, whether it is money, food, manpower, or equipment, the Xinghan army cannot compete with the Qing army with absolute superiority for a long time.

In particular, the Xinghan Army has many internal problems, and it is not monolithic at all.

At the beginning, the development of the Xinghan Army itself was deformed, and more than 2,000 people snowballed to more than 100,000 people.

The problem is, now this snowball suddenly can't go down!

Not only did it not roll down, but many small snowballs began to break away from the parent body.

As a result, various arguments emerged after the year.

First of all, Chen Huizu, the governor of Huguang, who originally proposed to support the Zhu Ming clan, never mentioned the matter of supporting the Ming dynasty, and repeatedly made remarks in public that he could negotiate peace with the Qing court, saying that judging from the current situation, "the war will be defeated, and peace may not be chaos."

He advocated an immediate cessation of the fighting with the Qing army and sent an envoy to Xiangyang to negotiate with Prince He Shuorui, who represented the Qing court, so as to achieve early peace in the three provinces of Huguang and Jiangxi, so that the people of the three provinces, who had suffered greatly from military disasters, could enjoy peace as soon as possible, live and work in peace, and multiply.

For this reason, it was even believed that as long as the Qing court allowed the military and civilian autonomy of the three provinces and implemented a different system from the rest of the region, then the Xinghan regime could formally obey the Qing court.

This statement is actually very favorable, because it is further than Wu Sangui and them back then.

If you can really do this, it may be the best result for the remnants of the Ming Dynasty.

Wang Wenyuan, the prefect of Wuchang, Shi Chaoxuan, the right political counselor of Hubei, and other officials also advocated that peace talks with the Qing court could be held, and at the same time slandered Wang Ang, the leader of the main battle faction who insisted on "expelling the Tartars and restoring China" and wanted to fight the Qing court to the end, was nothing more than a fantasy and a high-profile kind of sacrifice of countless lives for the sake of personal reputation.

Wang Wenyuan even ridiculed Wang Ang in public, saying that if Lord Futai fights all day long, then he can personally put on his armor and go into battle, and he doesn't have to hide behind him and sing a high note.

After the beginning of the spring, the conflict between the main peace and the main battle faction became more and more intense, which has affected the stability of the Wuchang regime.

There were also some generals in the army who participated in the discussion of whether to fight or peace.

If the situation continues to spread, the other main force of Xinghan that is on the eastern crusade will definitely be affected.

At this time, news came that Qianlong was actually the son of the Han people, and Wang Shikai, the general of the Qing court, was going to convene a meeting of the hundred officials and clans in Xiangyang to jointly crusade against the thief Qianlong.

This news shocked the officials of the Xinghan regime, and then they all realized that this was undoubtedly a major turning point for the Xinghan regime.

Wang Ang was the first to go to the governor's mansion to ask to see Gu Shuai, and actually asked Gu Shuai to send someone to secretly send an envoy to Beijing to contact the Han Qianlong, and the two sides joined forces to deal with Manchuria.

That is to say, everyone is Han Chinese, even if they were the enemies of life and death in the past, but in the face of the common enemy of Manchuria, the past grievances can be put aside first, and "restoring China" is the first priority.

Not to mention, Wang Futai's idea has really been recognized by many people.

When Chen Huizu, the governor of Huguang, learned that Wang Ang had the idea of joining forces with Qianlong, he laughed angrily and scolded Wang Ang for being a nerd, and he was dizzy before he thought of such a bad idea.

After that, he asked to see Gu Shuai and put forward his own opinions.

It was to take advantage of the major crisis within the Qing court to cooperate with the Xiangyang side, so as to obtain many conditions favorable to the Xinghan regime.

For example, in the name of cooperation, the Qing troops in Hubei were demanded to withdraw unconditionally.

After that, we can take advantage of the internal strife in the Qing army to make drastic reforms and integrate forces, so that in the future, whether it is talking or fighting, there will be a chance to fight each other.

is not like now, trapped by the Qing army, pressed, and panicked.

teamed up with Qianlong to deal with his son-in-law, Gu Shidao definitely disagreed.

But to listen to Chen Huizu's cooperation with his son-in-law, he was unwilling in his heart.

Because, he will never surrender to the Tartars.

Even if this person is his son-in-law, the father of his grandson.

The quarrel between the two adults in the pavilion in the distance did not make Yuan Yuan take a second look, she didn't care about these things, she was just encouraging her son to move forward boldly.

Xiao Keqing is learning to walk, but his pace is unsteady, and he will either refuse to walk or fall after walking a few steps.

At first, Yuanyuan was still distressed, but gradually she didn't help her son, let him get up and continue walking.

Keqing was unwilling, coquettish and pretended to cry, but was ignored by his mother.

Even, my mother broke a wicker stick from the side of the road and put it in her hand, and there was a big posture that you would smoke if you didn't leave.

Helpless, Xiao Keqing had no choice but to pout his mouth and cry while taking small steps forward.

It's like exploring life.

"How old is Dabao? Are you forcing him like this, a mother? ”

The one who spoke was Gu Mingyuan, who had just returned from Jingzhou, who was Yuanyuan's cousin, and his father was Yuanyuan's uncle Gu Shiwen.

More than 20 years ago, Gu Shiwen and his younger brother Gu Shiwu stayed behind the broken queen together, and both were martyred.

"When I was a child, didn't my eldest brother force me to be a toddler like this."

Looking at her eldest brother, who was ten years older than herself, Yuanyuan laughed.

When she was a child, her father and mother were often not at home, and she and her sister grew up with Mingyuan's brother.

"In a flash, you all have children."

Looking at his toddler nephew and his sister, who was already a wife, Gu Mingyuan was also embarrassed, glanced at his uncle in the pavilion, and his eyes fell back on his sister's face: "There is news from Xiangyang, saying that my brother-in-law is going to be the emperor." ”

Yuanyuan let out an "oh", but there was no emotional reaction on her face.

"What? Are you unhappy? ”

My sister's reaction made Gu Mingyuan a little strange.

Even if the brother-in-law is a Manchurian Tartar, or Aixin Jueluo, the sworn enemy of the Ming Dynasty, after all, my sister married someone else, and gave birth to a son for someone else, and now that Tartar brother-in-law wants to be the emperor, my sister has no reason to be unhappy.

"Why should I be happy?"

Yuanyuan shook her head, "On one side is my father and brother, and on the other side is my husband, and my husband and my father and brother can't be a family, what should my brother say?" ”

(End of chapter)