Guangdong, Guangzhou. March 15 of the twelfth year of Kangxi.

As the thirteen gongs of "Bang Bang" sounded again, the shouts of the officials rose again: "Respect things and believe, use sparingly and love people, and make the people"

Gongs and shouts were part of the guard of honor for Qing officials, and according to the size of the official position, the sound of gongs could be increased from seven to thirteen. And the words of the Tao are not "quiet", "avoidance", "get out", "blind your dog's eyes" or anything, but an excerpt from the "Analects", so that the accompanying officials and soldiers are familiar with it and shout it out loudly. This shows that the officials are literate and know the Analects.

Today, I took a big eight sedan chair, with a large number of retinues, official errands, personal soldiers, aunts and maids, and came to the outside of Guangzhou in a mighty way, that is, a very cultured official who can memorize the "Analects" upside down, named Nalan Mingzhu.

He was sent by Kangxi to mediate the dispute between Wang Shang in Guangdong - the purpose of this errand really made him speechless.

Shang Kexi, the vassal king of the Qing Dynasty who guarded Guangdong, and Wang Fuchen, the governor of Liangguang of the Qing Dynasty, actually started a civil war when the national crisis was at the head!

The Qing Dynasty is now being beaten by Wu Sangui and Li Zicheng, two anti-thieves, Huguang is about to be lost, Wang Fuchen and Shang Kexi, the two of the Qing Dynasty. Loyal ministers, there is no intention to send troops to the king, but also in Guangdong to fight a civil war, if such loyal ministers come a little more, the Qing Dynasty did not kill Wu Sangui and Li Zicheng, but also gave this loyal minister angry to death.

Probably because he was too angry, Nalan Mingzhu also put up a shelf when he went south this time, and stopped there after arriving at Ganxian County, the capital county of Ganzhou Prefecture, and wanted to wait for Wang Fuchen and Shang Kexi to send someone to greet him with gifts.

He is so big a university scholar, and he is Wang Zhongxiao's teacher, or Shang Zhixin's old friend, so he came all the way to Guangdong to make peace for the two of them, and it is not too much to receive a little gift, right?

But I didn't expect to wait for a long time and no one came to give gifts, not only did no one come to give gifts, but there was not even a letter. Some are just news that the Wang family and the Shang family continue to tear apart in Guangzhou Mansion. First of all, Wang Zhongxiao claimed to have defeated the "Shenao Bai" and Xin'an Wu Sanwei and recovered Xin'an County. Of course, it was recovered into his pocket and not returned to the old Shang family.

Then Wang Zhongxiao hid in Dongguan under the pretext that Ao Bai might be again, and sent 10,000 soldiers to surround Dongguan City, asking to enter the city to search. After the search, Ao Bai was not caught, but the treasure of Dongguan was surnamed Wang.

After Wang Zhongxiao took Dongguan, the Guangdong township army controlled by the Wang family began to sweep the strongholds on the periphery of Guangzhou under the pretext of killing Shang Kexi and the anger of the people, first taking Sanshui County, and then Huangpu, Haizhu, Lubu, Tantang, Xinzao and other twenty or thirty township capitals, and had almost taken the townships and towns on the east, south, and west periphery of Guangzhou Fucheng, leaving only the north of Guangzhou Fucheng untouched.

Shang Zhixin, the head of the Pingnan Palace, was of course unwilling to let his territory be eaten away by Wang Zhongxiao piece by piece, and struggled to organize the warriors of the domain to pull out the points. As a result, he ran headlong into the fortress that the Guangdong township soldiers had built up with sandbags and logs, and gave people heavy casualties to their flintlock guns!

And after Wang Zhongxiao completed the deployment of the townships and towns near the Fucheng of Guangzhou, he mercilessly began to equalize the land and the township soldiers, and the forces of the township soldiers are getting bigger and bigger!

In mid-February, seeing that the Shang family's Guangzhou Mansion was about to be seized by Wang Zhongxiao, the Shang family finally came with reinforcements!

The reinforcements were not sent by the imperial court, but Shang Shuying, the wife of the Duke of Xushun, finally said (Nian Sleep) that she had subdued Liu Jinzhong, the chief soldier of Chaozhen, and the two of them pulled Wu Liuqi's son Rao Ping Xietai Wu Qifeng together, and together led 3,000 troops to Guangzhou Mansion for armed mediation.

At the same time, Wang Shirong, the mediation ambassador sent by Wu Sangui, also arrived in Guangzhou Mansion and received a high-standard reception from Shang Zhixin!

In addition, he entered Guangzhou through Wang Fuchen's territory!

At this time, Mingzhu no longer dared to put on a shelf, and hurriedly asked the Southern Jiangxi General Army to send troops to escort him into Guangdong to mediate the "Wang Shang dispute" on behalf of Emperor Kangxi, but before he arrived in Guangzhou, the bad news on the Huguang battlefield drifted towards him like snowflakes.

Hearing the news of the successive thunderstorms in the Daqing Huguang Theater, Mingzhu was really a little anxious, if he didn't hurry up a little more, maybe the mediation of the "Wang Shang dispute" would not be successful, but that Li Zicheng went down the Yangtze River to Nanjing! When the time comes, he will have no way to go back to Beijing.

So Mingzhu urged his men to hurry all the way, and finally arrived outside Guangzhou before the bad news of Li Zicheng's entry into Jiangxi came.

When he arrived outside the city of Guangzhou, he, the minister of the Imperial Mission, still had to put out the score. No matter how anxious you are, you don't care about this little bit of time! At most, you can rush when you go back.

Therefore, Mingzhu asked his subordinates to put out the honor guard of the minister, and while knocking and beating, while reciting the Analects, he entered the city mightily!

But I don't know what's wrong at this time, "Drink Dao" is only half drunk, why is it stuck? Forgot the word?

Nalan Mingzhu, who was sitting in the stuffy eight-lift sedan chair, suddenly stopped feeling strange because of the sound of "shouting", and he found that the eight-lift sedan he was riding in also fell to the ground.

Is this to the ground?

Mingzhu hurriedly opened the curtain of the sedan chair, and when she looked out, the hot sunshine of Guangdong was sprinkled down, and she was blind! He quickly squinted his eyes and asked, "Have you arrived at the Great North Gate of Guangzhou?" ”

"No, it's not there yet."

One of Mingzhu's domestic servants stammered back.

"The people from the Pingnan Palace, the Governor of Liangguang, and the Yamen have come to greet you?" Mingzhu asked again.

He has been a "Shangguan" for so many years, when did he go out of Beijing on an errand and didn't treat him as a bodhisattva? This time, they are all about to enter Guangzhou, and Shang Zhixin and Wang Fuchen's people should also come to greet them.

"It doesn't seem like they're them."

"Who's that?" Mingzhu is still rubbing her eyes there!

"It seems to be a group of Ming Dynasty people!"

"What? Ming Dynasty people." As soon as Mingzhu heard this, she immediately felt a chill down her spine!

Ming Dynasty people. That's the one who came to oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the sight!

Thinking of this, he couldn't understand the dazzling sunlight, so he quickly stared at the balls and looked forward, and saw that there were many people standing in front of and on both sides of the official road, looking at their hairstyles and clothes, all of them were a bit like the members of the Korean mission!

Among them, standing in front of the official road was a group of men with buns on their heads, wearing cloth clothes with a right collar and a long sword on their belts. The two leaders are both in their forties and look quite elegant. One of them was a thin man with high cheekbones and a long goatee. The other was a fat man with a round face and a beard.

"You guys. . . Where are you from? Why don't you shave your head! ”

At this time, one of Mingzhu's attachés saw that the person who came was not very fierce, so he had the courage to question.

"Below is Guangdong Panyu Qu Dajun, a member of the Guangdong Restoration Society," the thin man rubbed his beard and reported to his home, "Please Mingzhu Ming to come out and meet." ”

The round-faced fat man smiled and said, "Down there is Luofu cloth clothes Chen Gongyin, who is also a member of the Restoration Society, and he also came to see Master Ming today." ”

"Then why don't you shave your heads?" The attaché was not conscious at all, he didn't go to ask Mingzhu, and asked about other people's hairstyles, "Do you know the rules of the Qing Dynasty?" Keep your hair without your head! Aren't you afraid of death? ”

"Yes, yes," the thin man named Qu Dajun nodded with a smile, and with a kind face, he took out a flintlock pistol and pointed it at the attaché, "but we have guns!" ”

"You, you. Do you dare to point a gun at the court officials, do you dare to rebel? "That attaché is quite fierce, and he doesn't feel scared of that little pistol at all.

The middle-aged scholar named Chen Gongyin also took out his gun at this time, and said casually: "Why don't you, the commander, know what Qu Jiezi's 'we have guns' means?" We. All the people here have guns! Hurry up, take out your guns, and aim them at the court officials who are going to kill us! ”

Then there was the sound of the bolt being broken!

It turned out that the people wearing Han costumes on both sides of the road were all soldiers of the Guangdong Township Army, and now they are under the leadership of the officers to reason with the ministers of the Qing Dynasty.

Hundreds or thousands of flintlock pistols were immediately raised and aimed at the attachés of the ministers of the Great Qing Dynasty and the ministers of the Great Qing Dynasty, as well as the ministers of the Qin Cha themselves!

A small pistol is not afraid to point at it, and a thousand flintlock pistols are pointed at that who is not afraid!

"If you have something to say, don't shoot. Don't shoot! ”

Before the attaché of Mingzhu knelt down for Chen Gongyin and Qu Dajun, Mingzhu had already roared, and while roaring, he lifted his robe and rushed to the front of the team, and hurriedly hugged his fists at the two Guangdong Confucians, "This official is Mingzhu, the name of the two gentlemen, and this official has heard of it when he was in Beijing!"

Mr. Banfeng (Chen Gongyin)'s official book is the first in Guangdong!

Mr. Caipu's "Emperor Ming Four Dynasties Chengren Lu" has also been read by the official."

It turned out that Nalan Mingzhu also knew Chen Gongyin and Qu Dajun - he knew that there was Chen Gongyin because Chen Gongyin had good calligraphy and was very famous among Guangdong Shilin. And he knew that Qu Dajun didn't know where to get a hand-copied copy of "Chengren Lu of the Four Dynasties of the Emperor and Ming Dynasty" because of the sticky pole in Dongtangzi Hutong, and the signature on it was Qu Dajun. Therefore, Mingzhu suggested that Kangxi order to try to arrest the sticky pole, but he has not been caught.

Now it seems that it is normal not to be caught. Nalan Mingzhu thought that Qu Dajun was a person who wrote anti-books, but he didn't expect people to play with flintlock pistols!

"Got something to say? So what else do you say about keeping your hair and not your head? Qu Dajun now has a gun in his hand, and he has a reason in his mouth, and the gun can't be put down, but the truth can still be explained, "This must be changed!" We also want to have a head and a bachelor, do you have any truth in what you say about me? ”

"Yes, yes, it makes sense" Mingzhu looked at Qu Dajun's gun, where did he dare to say that the other party was unreasonable, "After the official goes back, he will immediately play the emperor, and ask the emperor to allow the people of Guangdong to grow their hair and keep their heads." ”

"Kangxi doesn't need to agree to this," Qu Dajun said, "but I wait for the scholars and villagers in Guangdong to stop the official sedan chair of Master Ming today, and I do have something to discuss with you." ”

"Negotiable. But can you put the gun down first, in case it goes off?"

Mingzhu saw the hundreds of flintlock pistols and felt furious in his heart! If you want to have fire, you have to be full of holes?

"The truth has to be spoken, but the gun must not be put down!" Qu Dajun said, "This is the truth of our Guangdong Restoration Society!" ”

Chen Gongyin nodded: "Master Ming, you Eight Banners are all soldiers, if we scholars put down our guns, we will meet you as a soldier, and it is unreasonable to say." So we have to hold the gun in our hands firmly! ”

"So, what do you want to say?" Mingzhu was speechless, but there was no way, the gun was in someone else's hand!

"We're going to kill Shang Kexi!" Qu Dajun said loudly, "Shang Kexi slaughtered Guangzhou first and killed hundreds of thousands!" Later, he forcibly moved the border and forbade the sea, forcing no less than one million people to die! If this person is not killed, it is not enough for the people to be angry! So we want to ask the imperial court to hand over Shang Kexi to us Cantonese people! ”

As soon as his words fell, the Guangdong villagers with guns around them began to make a noise.

"That's right! We Cantonese people are the most ruthless! ”

"You Qin cha listen well, ask Kangxi to hand over Shang Kexi to us with a thousand cuts!"

"We're going to kill Shang Kexi! If Kangxi doesn't agree, we're going to rebel! ”

"Yes, whoever helps us kill Shang Kexi is the lord of Guangdong!"

"Mr. Banfeng, Mr. Caipu, are you happy that Wu Sangui's people agreed with you to kill you?" Nalan Mingzhu saw that the crowd around her was angry, so she had to ask Chen Gongyin and Qu Dajun about the price of Wu Sangui.

"Not yet." Qu Dajun said, "Bachelor Ming, if Wu Sangui's people agree, can we still let you go to Guangzhou City?" When you enter the city, you can talk to Zhu Guozhi, the governor of Guangdong, Shang Zhixin, the prince of Pingxi, and Shang Shuying, the wife of the Duke of Xushun. Now the people of Guangdong Province want to kill Shang Kexi, they can't save the old thief! ”

OK!

Mingzhu breathed a sigh of relief and can still enter Guangzhou City!

But then again, although the whole of Guangdong is going to kill Shang Kexi now, it seems that Shang Kexi hasn't died until now, right?

Nalan Mingzhu was not shot in the end. In fact, most of those flintlock pistols did not have bullets in them, and only a few flintlock pistols held by the officers of the Guangdong Township Army who were responsible for controlling the situation had bullets in them.

The reason why this is so, of course, is because Wang Zhongxiao, who is hiding behind the scenes and does not come forward, does not want to kill Mingzhu at all, he is not even happy to kill Shang Keqing.

Wang Zhongxiao is not from Guangdong, and the monk is happy to talk about any hatred. And if Shang Kexi dies, who will he use to pull hatred?

Therefore, it is better for Shang Kexi to escape from Guangfu and flee to Shaozhou.

In this way, Wang Zhongxiao integrated Guangfu, and then he could march into Shaozhou, and then Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, and Jiangsu!

However, this is just Wang Zhongxiao's beautiful idea, and the actual situation is that Shang Kexi, an old stubborn, just refuses to run away, and is still dead in Pingnan Wangfu.

These days, after merging the two thousand Wenzhou soldiers in Wang Zhongxiao's camp that He Tianran received, and pulling many strong men who are bitter and bitter when they talk about Shang Kexi, the number of his Guangdong Township Army has exceeded 40,000!

Although Wang Zhongxiao did not have so many officers and non-commissioned officers to support so many troops, and he did not have so many flintlock pistols and artillery to equip them for a while, there were still a lot of people!

If you add the armies of Wang Fuchen, Wang Jizhen, and Sun Jiqing, the army of the entire Guangdong Wang Group does not have 100,000, and 80,000 is definitely not far behind.

And on Shang Zhixin's side, no matter how his feudal army and green battalion soldiers mobilized, they made up 20,000 so-so, Zhu Guozhi and Li Luo, who had returned, plus the army of Chen Shikai, Liu Jinzhong, Shang Shuying and others, when Mingzhu entered Guangzhou, the total number of troops on the Shang family's side was only 30,000, less than half of the Wang family's army. And only half of the total number can be concentrated in Guangzhou, that is, 10,000, and 20,000 is certainly less.

Relying on this little force to hold Guangzhou is tantamount to a fool's dream. However, Wang Shirong, the envoy sent by Wu Sangui, was quite confident, and he fooled Shang Kexi and Shang Zhixin to surrender to Wu Sangui, and said that as long as the Shang family accepted Wu Sangui's official position and tied the pearl to Wu Guogui's army in Hunan, His Royal Highness the President of the Western King of the Ming Dynasty would let Wu Guogui send troops to Guangdong for "armed mediation", and the Shang Kexi family would definitely be able to be kept at that time.

Of course, Wu Sangui will not harm Mingzhu's life. Wang Shirongdu's letter to the monk made it clear that Wu Guogui wanted Mingzhu, in fact, it was to help Wu Shifan get back his wife and children, which is a great achievement!

Regarding the kidnapping of Mingzhu, the minister of mediation in the Qing Dynasty, Shang Kexi definitely did not agree, but Shang Zhixin and his brothers were still quite tempted.

Anyway, it doesn't seem to be too difficult to catch a pearl, but this pearl was sent to the door by yourself, if you don't catch it, you won't catch it!

(End of chapter)