The snowy night raid launched by Wu Shijue and Lin Xingzhu did catch Li Zicheng off guard, but Li Zicheng was forced to kill Emperor Chongzhen after all, and now he is in the Ming camp, of course he must master a combatable elite at any time, otherwise his head will be put in a wooden box and sent to Nanjing for exhibition.

So Li Zicheng is not exactly bragging when he says that he wants to avenge his dead old brothers!

The elite army in his personal control is called the "old battalion", with the word "battalion" in the name, but in fact it has a large establishment of 3,000 people, all of whom are old veterans, the youngest of whom are in their thirties, and the older ones are all running for five. All of these veterans participated in the last Ming and Qing Shun melees, and most of them also joined the loyal battalion adapted from the Dashun Army. In the process of the defeat of the Loyal Battalion and the Thirteen Families of Kuidong, some people left the team and lived in seclusion, and some followed Shangguan to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, but they must still be thinking of Long Live the Great Shun in their hearts.

Therefore, after Li Zicheng and Li Laishun made a comeback, these Dashun veterans of the previous era returned to the team one after another. Li Zicheng personally selected 3,000 strong veterans from them and organized them as his own personal soldiers, responsible for protecting him and guarding the Zhongwang Mansion in Jiangxia City.

Because the Zhongwang Mansion (formerly the Chu Palace, also known as the Imperial City) in Jiangxia City covers a large area, it is actually a city, so Li Zicheng's old camp does not have much contact with the people in Jiangxia City, and the spies sent by Wu Sangui only know that Li Zicheng has some bearded soldiers around him, but the specific situation is not very clear.

"The order of the passenger, the left battalion of the old battalion will stay in the imperial city, and the second battalion on the center and right will assemble at the school ground!"

Li Zicheng loudly gave orders to the left and right, and was about to call the servants to change his clothes for him, Hu Yigun, who was also the chief Sima of the marching army of the Zhongwang Mansion, hurriedly took out a large envelope made of brown paper, and handed it over with both hands: "Emperor, this is the 'trick plan' issued by the Shogunate's Military Division, let them open it when Wu Sangui's soldiers are in Jiangxia City, you see."

"Tricks? Hey, this Li Datou still thinks he's Zhuge Liang? Li Zicheng snorted and laughed, "Then open it and take a look, the forehead is not good, you read it to the forehead, and the forehead wants to know, what is this Li Zhongshan's clever plan?" ”

"Yes!"

And just when Li Zicheng was busy gathering the old battalion soldiers and studying the tricks at the same time, Wu Zhou's elite under the command of Wu Shijue, Lin Xingzhu and Gao Dejie had already made a breakthrough on the side of Hanyang Gate!

Although the guards at the Hanyang gate were brave enough, they were too few in number and poorly equipped, with only spears and broadswords and arquebuses. Moreover, they are just local government soldiers in Wuchang Prefecture, they have not been in the army for a long time, and they have not trained them well with high-level officers, so they are not proficient in martial arts, and they fell into chaos directly after encountering a surprise attack, and they don't know how to use the terrain and landforms to cooperate with each other.

And the rattan soldiers, musketeers and archers led by Lin Xingzhu, Wu Shijue, and Gao Dejie are all elites selected from Wu Guogui's group!

Taking advantage of the chaos of the Hanyang Gate guards, they had already cooperated with each other to rush into the door hole of the Hanyang Gate and slaughtered into the chaotic defenders of the Zhongwang Mansion!

Wu Shijue held a rifled flintlock pistol in his hand and took the lead in the killing. In front of his body was a skilled rattan soldier, holding a rattan card and wielding a machete, opening the way for Wu Shijue, and behind Wu Shijue there was an archer with an arrow bag on his back and a foot bow.

The three of them formed a battle group, the rattan soldiers were responsible for covering and resisting the enemy's melee soldiers, Wu Shijue used a flintlock pistol to aim at the officers and tall armor soldiers of the Zhongwang Army to shoot cold guns, and the archer who followed Wu Shijue was a capable shooter, although there was only one bow, but the output was very fast, and more than a dozen sharp arrows were shot out in the blink of an eye!

There is not just one, but hundreds!

After Lin Xingzhu led dozens of sword soldiers to break through the defense of the Zhongwangfu soldiers at the gate of Hanyang, the follow-up ones who rushed in were all such a three-person team. Before today's raid, these three-person teams had been training hard in the military camp in Yuezhou for at least three months, and they had already cooperated extremely skillfully, and now they were even more slaughtered as soon as they made a move, and the screams of the Daming Zhong Wang Army in the Hanyang Gate were all in one piece, and they didn't have the slightest power to parry! Some of the officers and soldiers of the loyal king still wanted to move out of the horse rejecting guns that had been prepared long ago to block the city gates that could no longer be closed.

But the repulsors were very strong, large and heavy, ready to withstand the onslaught of the enemy's guns, and where could they be moved in the midst of the chaos?

There are also some defenders of the Zhongwangfu behind the battlements of the city wall at this time, most of them are gunners on duty - Li Zicheng suffered a lot of losses from the red-clothed cannons of the Qing soldiers back then, so after entering Wuchang, he attached great importance to the construction of artillery, specially hired gunsmiths from Foshan, and instructed the local coppersmiths in Wuchang to cast a large number of bronze artillery, which were deployed on the forts along the Yangtze River and Hanshui and the city walls of important cities such as Jiangxia, Hankou and Hanyang.

However, the cannons placed on the city wall on this side of Hanyangmen are all used to shoot at targets on the Yangtze River, and even the pier of Hanyangmen is in the dead angle of the cannons, so they can't hit at all, let alone turn the muzzles of the cannons into the city - the artillery mounts of those cannons are not the kind of field artillery artillery mounts with two large wheels, but the naval artillery artillery mounts with four small wheels, which is difficult to turn around. And even if you turn your head too much, you can't use it to shoot at the enemy at the base of the wall.

Therefore, these gunners had no choice but to pick up bows and arrows and waist knives to resist the elite of the Zhou army rushing up along the stairs and sabers of the upper city. However, the rest of the people did not hesitate to rush up, and in the blink of an eye, they rushed to the city wall and scattered the soldiers of the loyal king who were guarding there.

Lin Xingzhu has always been the one who rushes to the front, and several sharp arrows have been inserted in his rattan card, but his body without armor is still unscathed, and the machete in his hand is waved, and wherever he passes, there is a splash of blood in the sky, as if he is a killing god. An elderly veteran of the Zhongwang Mansion copied his waist knife, scolded and rushed at him, and shouted: "Negative country and traitor, look at the knife!" ”

Lin Xingzhu hurriedly used a shield to block the knife, and then a backhand was a knife, slashing at the man's cloth armor, without seeing through, but he still forced the man back a few steps, and probably beat him very painfully. The elderly officer scolded even more fiercely, but because the accent was too heavy, Lin Xingzhu couldn't hear it clearly, and could only vaguely hear "Wu Dog", "Carry Me Dashun", "Bear Daming Again", "Four Slaves" and the like.

Lin Xingzhu wanted to scold him back, but he couldn't find any good words for a while - although this veteran is not good at martial arts, he doesn't seem to have any morals, but he scolds really well Wu Sangui is a fourth-surnamed house slave, and now he is a villain, and he is rampant, and he actually declares that he wants to kill Li Zicheng Chongzhen to avenge it!

But Li Zicheng was also his king!

As soon as Lin Xingzhu thought of this, there was a crisp gunshot in his ears, and the veteran of the Zhongwang Mansion trembled in his chest, and the whole person fell straight down Lin Xingzhu looked back, only to see Wu Shijue rushing up with a flintlock pistol with a bayonet on it, shouting while rushing: "Brother Lin, rush quickly, rush up, and snatch down the Hanyang Gate Tower!" This Jiangxia City is ours! ”

The soldiers of the Wu Zhou army, who followed Wu Shijue, roared and rushed towards the city, and the few defenders were either killed or expelled.

The Hanyang Gate of Jiangxia City was snatched down by Wu Zhoujun in this way!

However, the battle for Jiangxia City has just begun, the old battalion soldiers wearing iron armor and holding swords, spears and muskets have been completed, and they are driving out of Jiangxia Imperial City one by one, and on a beacon tower on the top of Snake Mountain in the north of the imperial city, there are even more fireworks!

In the early morning of the second day when Jiangxia City was suddenly ambushed by Wu Zhou's soldiers, outside the Desheng Gate, the north gate of Nanchang Mansion City, which was six hundred miles away from Jiangxia, Cai Yurong, the governor of Jiangxi appointed by Jieshu, was wearing a red Ming official uniform, revealing a shaved head, standing on the outside of the moat, looking at the large boxes with hundreds of mouths opening the lid and revealing a seductive silver light, and he was already smiling from ear to ear. also laughed and muttered to himself: "Your Majesty, King Kang, Cai is sorry for you!" It's not that Cai is disloyal and unfilial to be a second minister, but that Da Ming gave too much."

A dozen or so people who looked like bookkeepers counted and recorded there.

Li Fuchen's tall figure was riding on a horse, standing ten steps away from Governor Cai, just letting the white snowflakes flutter and fall on him, not caring at all, just watching Cai Yurong's people count the silver box there.

Tens of thousands of armor soldiers, neatly draped, carrying muskets, carrying spears, and pushing cannons, lined up two or three hundred paces away, just waiting quietly.

This scene, if Li Yat-sen sees it, he will definitely think of the word "demolition" that can bring happiness and joy to people!

Li Fuchen really gave up his blood this time, he took a total of 800,000 taels of silver with Li Zhongshan, and now what is in front of Cai Yurong is a full 500,000 taels!

500,000!

Buying land is also a science!

Li Fuchen won't buy them one by one! How wasteful is that? And it's not necessarily enough, so he only plans to buy a city, which is the capital of Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi Province!

In his opinion, as long as Nanchang is bought, in Jiangxi, except for the Jiujiang Mansion City guarded by Jieshu himself and Hukou and Nankang guarded by several Manchurian generals who are Jieshu's most confidants, who will dare to fight against the Ming Dynasty's heavenly soldiers?

Those officials who borrowed Beijing debts to take office in vain really planned to die for the Qing Dynasty? Sick, right?

Besides, Li Fuchen didn't want them to hand over the city immediately, he was just passing by, and those local guards just had to pay a table. It's okay if you don't accept the table, just don't get in the way. Li Fuchen commanded 30,000 Guangdong township soldiers, what kind of combat effectiveness is that? The fortified cities of Anqing, Taiping, and Chizhou were all uprooted by him one by one in a short period of time, and those magistrates in Jiangxi who did not have heavy troops in hand still wanted to block him? Looking for death?

However, he must buy Nanchang, not that Cai Yurong stationed in Nanchang will stand in his way, but that Li Zhongshan sent Li Zhongzheng to bring the general's gold medal warrant, strictly ordering Li Fuchen to take Nanchang and set aside at least half of the army to garrison Nanchang!

In other words, this is the first time Li Fuchen has seen a gold medal warrant - the boss has a gold medal, and he has already put it in his pocket, so of course this warrant must be followed.

So he joined forces with Li Laishun, who drove from Wuchang, under Nanchang City, surrounded Nanchang City with an army of 50,000 troops, and then began to negotiate with Cai Yurong on the issue of "demolition compensation".

Cai Yurong is actually quite loyal to the Qing Dynasty. His loyalty was worth half a million taels of silver! At first, he wanted 800,000, but Li Fuchen only promised 300,000, and the two sides bargained, and finally Li Fuchen raised the compensation to 400,000, while Cai Yurong said that he would never betray the Qing Dynasty if it was less than 500,000 taels!

As a result, Li Fuchen was moved by his loyalty, and last night he saw the beacon fire coming from Jiangxia all the way over the mountains and mountains, so he agreed to Cai Yurong's asking price.

And Cai Yurong is also a true gentleman who is true to his word, so he immediately cut his braids, changed into the official uniform sent by Li Fuchen, and accepted the idle post of deputy envoy of Nanyang Commerce, and went out of the city to collect silver.

As long as the number is right and the condition is good, he will immediately hand over Nanchang City, and then take a large family and three hundred soldiers to Guangzhou to take up his post - in fact, there is no errand for him to take care of, the ambassador of Nanyang trade is Li Jizhen is doing it, and there is no deputy envoy Isn't it still doing it?

At this time, Cai Yurong's general ledger room had already counted, and he took the account book and said to the master with a smile: "Master, it has been ordered, a total of 500,000 taels." The fineness of the silver is also good, although it is not one or two silver, but it is also the customs inventory of fifty taels of silver ingots, a total of 10,000 ingots, which can be directly deposited into the four major banks! ”

As soon as Cai Yurong heard this, his chubby, fluffy bearded face immediately burst into laughter, and he smiled at Li Fuchen while laughing: "His Royal Highness King Nan, you are really the king of your word, and your majesty admires it!" As he spoke, he pointed to the Nanchang Xiongcheng behind him, and said with a smile, "The Nanchang Xiongcheng built by Zhu Wenzheng of the Ming Dynasty will all be handed over to you now, and there are two thousand Jiangxi governors in the city, eight hundred garrisons, three thousand two hundred regimental training, and food that can be eaten by the soldiers and civilians of the city for six months, all of which have been handed over to you, the prince!" ”

Not to mention, the "demolition compensation" of 500,000 taels is still worth it. The grain stock in Nanchang City alone is worth 500,000. There are still 6,000 defenders, and it is estimated that the weapons and equipment are worth a lot.

Li Fuchen also smiled with satisfaction, and then said to Cai Yurong: "Ren'an, if you can persist in Nanchang until now, you can be regarded as worthy of Kangxi's trust, and you also received 500,000 taels, which shows that Kangxi is still worth two dollars in your heart!" ”

Li Fuchen's words were somewhat sarcastic, but Cai Yurong was also a former governor, and he had the bearing of a prime minister, so he didn't care at all and nodded with a smile - he could sell his loyalty to Kangxi for 500,000 taels of silver, and he could be regarded as the first loyal among the traitors of the Qing Dynasty, right? Kangxi will also be relieved to know it.

Li Fuchen saw that Cai Yurong had a lot of thick skin, and he also thought that this person was good, so he nodded with a smile: "Then I will arrange for my third child to lead the troops to escort you to Guangzhou!"

By the way, there are many cities along the way, and there may be one that can't open your eyes."

Cai Yurong patted his chest and said with a smile: "Wrap it up on the little brother. The younger brother was the governor of Huguang, and he was born in the Han Army of the White Banner, and King Kang also made me a governor of Jiangxi, and he was the boss of those people, I surrendered, why are they still nervous?

All of them borrowed a butt of Beijing debts to take office, and now that they have surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, the Beijing debts can at least be forgiven, what is not cost-effective? ”

This Cai Yurong's analysis is quite good, he is deeply favored by the Qing Dynasty, and now he has received 500,000 taels of Li Fuchen and sold them loyally, why are the prefects and counties still holding up?

Chung Dae Qing?

They're just "temporary officials", loyal fart!

As for the Beijing debt owed in order to buy officials. Whether it is avoidable or not, it depends on who owes it? If the creditor is Swiss Bank, then they don't want to forgive. The spirit of this contract must be there! When the Qing Dynasty owed debts, they didn't pay them back when they regained their sight? How can it be so cheap? It was not their work to oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty.

They are in debt, and there will be a Swiss bank to take over!

Of course, Li Fuchen will not tell Cai Yurong about this truth, and probably no one in the Jiangxi officialdom knows it now, so maybe he won't surrender!

Thinking of this, Li Fuchen turned back to Li Lai, who was frowning and seemed a little worried, and said, "King Zhong, let's go into the city. Don't worry about Wuchang, with the tricks of King Wu'er, even if Wu Sangui comes, it will be a dead end! ”

Li Laishun nodded and said, "With the king's clever plan, Wu Shun will naturally not succeed." Nanwang, what should we do next? ”

Li Fuchen said with a smile: "Of course, I entered Nanchang Mansion City first!" ”

(End of chapter)