When Mr. Shunshui arrived at the Ming North King Xingyuan in Suzhou Humble Administrator's Garden with Chen Yonghua's handwritten letter, it was already the fifteenth day of the first month of the forty-eighth year of Chongzhen.

Liu Jinzhong's army was stationed in the Suzhou Mansion abandoned by Yue Le on the third day of the first month of the 48th year of Chongzhen, and then put his own line into the Humble Administrator's Garden, and at the same time let his military advisor Zha Zuoyin act as the prefect of Suzhou, and ordered his henchman Zhang Jishan to serve as the chief soldier of Susong, and also ordered Deng Guangming, the deputy commander of the Xushun Mansion, to lead troops to take Songjiang. It has the meaning of turning the land of Susong into his own territory!

Of course, Liu Jinzhong's self-talking behavior is also taken for granted in his opinion.

This time to quell the Nanjing Rebellion, his contribution is great!

The Imperial City of Nanjing was broken by him!

Geng Jingzhong's Dongwang Mansion was captured by him!

Geng Jingzhong and Yue Le's troops were also chased by him and fled, fled, fled all the way from Nanjing to Zhejiang!

Because he chased hard, the cold day against the humid cold wind in the south of the Yangtze River chased all the way, and he couldn't eat a mouthful of hot food on Chinese New Year's Eve, so he grabbed these two mansions before Yue Le's bastard destroyed Suzhou and Songjiang into white land—this is Suzhou and Songjiang!

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there was a saying that Su Song was half the world, to the effect that the taxes of Suzhou and Songjiang accounted for half of the world.

Of course, this is an exaggeration. After Zhang Juzheng's reform in the Wanli year of the Ming Dynasty, the tax grain of Suzhou Prefecture reached more than 2.5 million stone a year, and Songjiang next door was more than 900,000 stone. Two mansions plus one is 3.45 million stones!

The rated land tax of the entire Nanzhili is only more than 6 million stones, and the two prefectures of Susong account for more than half.

In addition, in addition to Nanzhili, the rated field tax of any province in Daming is not as much as the sum of these two provinces, in fact, the provinces that exceed the Suzhou province are only Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Shandong, and even five provinces are not as good as the rated field tax of Songjiang Province.

Moreover, the second house of Susong, which had paid so much field tax, was already peaceful at the time of the chaos at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and it was even more prosperous because of the large export of silk and the inflow of overseas silver (at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the field tax was all folded into silver, and the amount of silver in one stone was fixed, so the inflation caused by the inflow of silver was beneficial to the second house of Susong). By the time Liu Jinzhong occupied Suzhou, the prosperity of this southeastern metropolis was even higher than that of Nanjing!

As for the taxes of Xuzhou that Liu Jinzhong received from Li Zhongshan before and Haizhou, which he won (bloodless), not to mention comparing it with Suzhou, it is compared with Suzhou Mansion, and it is impossible to compare Xu and Haizhou with Kunshan County!

Such a good territory, who is not impressed by it? So Liu Jin was loyal and wanted to get a Su Songjie to make a dang. As for what Shandong and Henan governors. What is the great cause of the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, let the younger generations do it.

He is an old general, his merits have long been enough, and the title has also been done to the king of the north, he doesn't want to progress anymore, he can't make any more progress, he just wants to lie down and enjoy happiness, there's nothing wrong with this, right?

Therefore, when Liu Jinzhong heard that the visiting Zhu Shunshui said that the "Sanzhongtang" wanted him to hand over Suzhou and Songjiang Prefectures, and asked him to rob Zhejiang, which was currently controlled by Geng Jingzhong and Yue Le, he was immediately angry.

"Why me again? The Ming Dynasty is not just me, can I fight? Now I'm in Suzhou and Songjiang very well, I don't want Zhejiang to be content and happy, I have two prefectures to be satisfied, Xuzhou, Haizhou, Chaozhou I don't want anymore, I want Suzhou, Songjiang.

Mr. Dongshan, you give a comment, this time in the battle of supervising the country and destroying Geng and rebel, my Liu Jinzhong's credit is big enough, right? It's not too much for me to seal Susong Town, right? And this Susong Town is Yue Le's territory, and I also grabbed it myself, why can't I be the envoy of Susong Town? ”

Liu Jinzhong said that it was a resounding word, and after he finished speaking, it was the turn of his military advisor, Mr. Dongshan, to check the old man Zuo Yin Cha to give advice.

This old man Cha's original name was Zha Jizuo, the word Yihuang, and in his early years, he also fought against the Qing Dynasty with Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu, and Huang Zongxi and Zhu Shunshui were officials in the same dynasty, resisted the Qing Dynasty together, defeated the battle together, and fled together, which can be regarded as having a period of eventful years. But later, this Zha Jizuo did a disgraceful thing, that is, he participated in the report of Zhuang Ting's historical case - not that he reported alone, but at least four whistleblowers.

Of course, if he didn't report it, then he would be Ling Chi because when Zhuang Tingyan's father, Zhuang Yuncheng, engraved the names of eighteen Jiangnan celebrities, including Zha Jizuo, when he published the "Ming History Compilation" compiled by his son, in order to show the authority of the book, claiming that they participated in the editing.

Among these eighteen people, except for Fan Xiang, Zha Jizuo, and Lu Qi, who were accused, acquitted, and a few who died of illness or were not caught, the rest were all executed at Ling Chi, and their families were sent to Ningguta as slaves!

This matter, even if Wu Liuqi pleads, it is useless, then Wu Liuqi is a "county chief soldier", and the official is not as big as Liu Jinzhong!

So Wu Liuqi didn't catch him when Zha Jizuo was caught in the Ming History case - Wu Sangui had to get people out of a big case like the Ming History case, Wu Liuqi was not that capable, but the friendship between Zha Jizuo and Wu Liuqi still brought him unexpected benefits. Wu Liuqi's son Wu Qifeng recommended him to his boss Liu Jinzhong (Wu Liuqi is the county chief soldier of Chaozhou), and Liu Jinzhong has never had any scribes around him, and it is quite rare to get a Zha Jizuo (now called Zha Zuoyin), and he has been named a military advisor.

This military division is seventy-six years old this year, and he is already dying of old age, but since he became a military division, this spirit has risen suddenly!

Mr. Dongshan has made a comeback, how can he be willing to die of old age? At once, he was full of energy, and he took a feather fan all day long to follow Liu Jinzhong, who pretended to be Zhuge Liang.

Now that I hear Liu Jinzhong, I don't seem to have much motivation, of course I have to cheer him up.

"The prince is bad!"

Liu Jinzhong was stunned, why am I bad? Shouldn't it be Mr. Shunshui's fault? Who is this old man of yours?

"Lord Wang," said the old man Cha, shaking his feather fan, "Do you know the real purpose of King Li Ying's invitation to send troops to Zhejiang?" ”

"You know, doesn't he want to take back the two rich mansions of Suzhou and Songjiang?"

"No, no, Suzhou, Songjiang are not important to him." The old man Cha waved his hand, "Although Suzhou and Songjiang are fertile, they have never been a place to use, in the past, Zhang Shicheng sat here, although he was rich in the world, but there was no elite who was good at fighting, and he was finally suppressed by Ming Taizu who was entrenched in the land of Western Wu and Huaixi.

Now the source of Huaixi soldiers has been controlled by King Li Ying, and the rich hometown of Guangdong is the root land of the Li family, which is now controlled by his brother Ji Zhen, so King Li Ying has neither shortage of soldiers nor money.

And King Li Zhong, who is entrenched in Wuchang, Hanyang, Huangzhou and other places, is the nephew of King Li Ying, and if King Li Nan's nephew and grandson King Li join forces and then collude with Lu Sanhao, who controls Ying Tianfu, the proverb of the eighteen sons of the world may not come true! ”

"What?" Liu Jinzhong was shocked when he heard this, "Mr. Dongshan, are you saying that Li Zhongshan also wants to learn from Geng Jingzhong to rebel and become the emperor?" Mr. Shunshui, what do you say? ”

Zhu Shunshui hurriedly shook his head and said, "King Bei, don't worry, King Li Ying doesn't have such plans now!" At present, he just wants to be a general, record Shangshu affairs, and supervise all Chinese and foreign military. ”

The old man said without yin or yang: "You haven't added nine tins yet, right?" ”

"Not yet," Zhu Shunshui followed the old man's words, "At the moment, he can't cover the sky with one hand. After all, Daming still has the North King and the Wing King!

However, the king of the north, you are now disobeying the decree of the prison state, refusing to send troops to fight against Geng Jingzhong, and occupying the imperial court and state capital, isn't this a confession to the king of England? Take a good measure, with your strength of occupying the second mansion of Susong and having 20,000 troops, if Li Zhongshan takes the order of the prison country to crusade against you, can you beat him? ”

"I, I" Liu Jinzhong was frightened, and felt wrong when he thought about it, "It's not, right?" He hasn't even beaten down Anqing now! After fighting Anqing, there are still Taiping, Chizhou, Ningguo, Huizhou, Guangde and other places to recover, and then they will go west to fight Jiujiang and Jiangxi. He's so busy! ”

"Lord Wang," Old Man Cha shook his head and said, "Don't make such wishful thinking!" Anqing can't stand up for many days, maybe it has been beaten down now. After he finished fighting Anqing, can't he beat you first? How much can it cost him to fight? Can we top it for a month? ”

"Hit me first?" Cold sweat came out of Liu Jinzhong's forehead, "Could it be that he asked me to hand over the Su and Song Mansions and go to Zhejiang again, just to find fault?" No, if I do what I am told, what good is it to him? Zhejiang's territory is much better than Susong! The decree of the prison state can be said to have sealed Zhejiang to me! ”

"The prison country also gave Fujian to the Wing King!" Zhu Shunshui added.

"Why did King Li Ying do this?" Liu Jinzhong didn't understand.

"There are two reasons," Zhu Shun said, "The first is of course to defeat Geng Jingzhong, a traitor, as soon as possible, whether it is eastern Fujian, Zhejiang, or several state capitals in the south of Anhui, they are still in the hands of Geng Jingzhong and his gang. If these territories cannot be conquered as soon as possible, King Li Ying, King Li Nan, and King Li Zhong will not be able to concentrate on fighting Jiangxi. Only by laying down Jiangxi, can the territory of the three Li kings be truly connected!

The second reason is to show favor to the North King and the Wing King in exchange for the support of the two of you to successfully become the general Lu Shangshu, so that he can lead the government. ”

Old man Cha saw that Zhu Shunshui had finished speaking, and added: "There is a third reason, which is to use the stubborn resistance of Geng Jingzhong and Yue Le to consume the strength of you and the Wing King." Geng Jingzhong and Yue Le are now trapped beasts, and they really have to fight for their lives, and they are not so easy to deal with! ”

"That makes sense" Liu Jinzhong nodded, "I'm worried about this too. Although more than 20,000 Geng Jingzhong and Yue Le were defeated in the Battle of Nanjing, Zeng Yangxing and Xu Wenhuan, who were the most capable of fighting under Geng Jingzhong, did not participate in the Battle of Nanjing, and they still had at least 30,000 troops on hand.

In addition, the Eight Banners garrisoned in Hangzhou did not participate in the Battle of Nanjing, and they also had thousands of people! ”

The emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, this Geng Jingzhong was so angry that he wanted to be the emperor before, of course he had some capital! Even if there is a lot of losses in Nanjing, there are still tens of thousands of available soldiers.

Zhu Shunshui said with a solemn face: "King Bei, no matter how difficult the battle between Zhejiang and Fujian is, you and the Yiwang must also work hard to win!" Only when the two of you win a big victory, and then take Fujian and Zhejiang, and become each other's horns, can you deter Sanli and make him dare not do usurpation. The rule of our Ming Dynasty can be maintained for a long time. ”

Liu Jinzhong nodded heavily and said in a low voice: "That's right. No matter how hard it is, I have to take down Zhejiang, otherwise this big tomorrow may really be usurped by the surnamed Li! ”

He really believed it!

Zhu Shunshui and Zha Zuoyin glanced at each other, and they both snickered - the relationship between these two old men is still good, of course they are colluding.

Huang Zongxi, Gu Yanwu, and Wang Fuzhi all despised him as a person because of the investigation of the old man's first report on the historical case, and did not associate with the old man.

But Zhu Shunshui is not qualified to despise Cha Zuoyin, who himself is free in Japan, and then despises people who live under the high-pressure rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty every day, and wants them to have the same integrity as himself, which is not the work of a real Confucian.

Of course, Zhu Shunshui can have integrity, he just writes anti-books every day, and then sends them to Beijing through North Korea after he writes them, and he has nothing to do with him!

It is impossible to let the Great Qing expedition to Japan, and extradition should not be considered. The shogunate superintendent, Mito Mitsukuni, one of the three royal families, is his student, how can he be extradited?

Therefore, Huang Zongxi, Gu Yanwu and others, who live under the butcher's knife of the Qing Dynasty like Cha Zuoyin, can despise the old man Cha - Huang Zongxi's anti-book "Ming Yi to be Visited" is much more powerful than any Ming history, and none of Huang Zongxi's disciples have come out to sue, and the old man is a scum in the eyes of these people! But living in Japan, Zhu Shunshui, who has Mito Mitsukuni as the backstage, can't despise Old Man Cha. He exchanged with the old man Cha, and the old man Cha was not afraid of the Qing Dynasty literary prison. But he is afraid that the butcher's knife of the Manchu Qing has not been tested, and no one can guarantee it.

But now, Cha Zuoyin is neither afraid of the Manchu Qing nor Geng Jingzhong!

"Lord Wang, the old man has a plan that can make the prince easily take down Geng Jingzhong!" Old man Cha shook a feather fan and offered a plan.

"What ploy? Come on. ”

"The king can repair a letter and send it to Hangzhou to Geng Jingzhong, persuade him to apologize for his crimes, ask the prison state to forgive him for his mistakes, allow him to cede the land, and make meritorious contributions to his crimes."

"What?" Liu Jinzhong was stunned, "Geng Jingzhong, a thief, can still ask for forgiveness, and can he still make meritorious contributions?" ”

Zhu Shunshui said with a smile: "Lord Wang, if Geng Jingzhong can really repent, then you and the Wing King can win without a fight." If he refuses to apologize, his retainers and allies will know that the court is magnanimous. ”

Old man Cha shook his feather fan and said: "Lord Wang, this Geng Jingzhong ghost is confused, and he wants to be the emperor, he will not repent!" So the prince's letter will only shake his military heart! ”

"That's right!" Liu Jinzhong slapped his face, "If he hadn't been thinking about being an emperor all day long, I wouldn't have objected to him!" Mr. Dongshan, who do you think can be an envoy to Geng Jingzhong to lobby? ”

Cha Zuoyin shook the feather fan and said with a smile: "Lord Wang, you are old and unqualified, I am willing to go to Hangzhou!" ”

Zha Zuoyin returned to Hangzhou, but he had returned to his hometown, and no one dared to look down on him anymore.

Originally, the people in Zhejiang Shilin despised him as a person and disdained to be with him. But now he is the envoy of Liu Jinzhong, the king of the northern Ming Dynasty who represents the righteousness, and came to Hangzhou to persuade Geng Jingzhong, the anti-king, to plead guilty.

And among the Zhejiang Shilin, there are now many people who are confused about Geng Jingzhong's thief ship, and they don't know how to get down?

These people were originally engaged in the Ming East Palace, but why did they become anti-king henchmen in a blink of an eye? And what is even more exaggerated is that after this anti-king army was defeated in Hangzhou, there was auspicious trouble in Hangzhou every day. For a while, someone found the stone tablet of "the Mandate of Heaven is in Jing", and after a while, something was sent to the Book of Heaven, which said "King Geng should be the Son of Heaven", and for a while, there was a white elephant that the Japanese Kingdom of Dongying paid tribute to

After a bunch of auspicious luck, of course, it is persuaded to go in - immediately, immediately!

Who knows when the living Lu Bu family will be killed in Hangzhou City?

They are coming, how is Geng Jingzhong still going to be the emperor?

Therefore, those Zhejiang scholars who got on Geng Jingzhong's thief ship were instructed that everyone should write a persuasion form, and who did not write it. Whoever is going to be killed!

Everyone is afraid of killing heads!

Therefore, Geng Jingzhong has received a lot of persuasion tables these days, this auspicious rui has it, public opinion has it, and the territory and army are also available, and this emperor can seize the time to become a leader.

In Geng Jingzhong's temporary palace, Geng Jingzhong, who had changed into a dragon robe, was sitting on the throne, and dozens of ministers wearing Ming Dynasty-style official uniforms stood in front of him, all watching the alternate emperor take out a small paper ball from a tea bowl, and then saw him open it gently, looked at the words on it, and said with a smile: "Jingzhen's country name is Dajing!" From now on, the world will be four points instead of three. ”

"The ministers congratulate the emperor, and the ministers congratulate me for a thousand years!"

The ministers below also knew that Geng Jingzhong couldn't last long, but they still had to play with him!

Everyone knows that Geng Jingzhong is obsessed with this, if he doesn't let him be a fool, he won't close his eyes even if he dies!

"Ministers, if you have something to do, you have nothing to retreat from!" Geng Jingzhong said with taste.

"Your Majesty," Yin Mutianyan, the former Jiangsu Domain, who was brought by Geng Jingzhong from Suzhou, and now the Lin'an Mansion, came out to play at this time, "Liu Jinzhong, the northern king of the Ming Kingdom, sent an envoy to meet the emperor. ”

"What? Liu Jinzhong's envoy? Geng Jingzhong was furious on the spot, "What is he, the envoy of the Green M King, doing?" Could it be because his wife was molested by Lu Bu, so he wanted to me? ”

"Return to the Emperor," Mu Tianyan said, "According to this envoy, the Northern King has been ordered to fight against Your Majesty together with the Winged King, so this Northern King hopes that you can take the initiative to apologize, and both he and the Winged King will exonerate you." At that time, at most, cut a little land, demote a knighthood, and you will still be a courtier of the Ming Dynasty. ”

Hearing these words, the eyes of the Dajing courtiers present lit up - now that Dajing has not been officially established, it is not too late to surrender!

"Shut up!" Geng Jingzhong shouted, "If I don't ask for guilt, I will be the emperor and push that Liu Jinzhong's envoy out and behead him!" ”

(End of chapter)