In the fourth year of Zhaowu in the Great Zhou Dynasty, on the first day of the second month, the southern capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty was Wuchang Mansion.

In a blink of an eye, it has been more than a month since this Wu Sangui became the master of Wuchang!

In the past month or so, Wu Sangui has been mainly busy with two things, one is to promote Wuchang Mansion to the status of the southern capital of the Great Zhou. So the Great Zhou Kingdom is now the west and the south, and this seems to be a bit asymmetrical? There is no west but no east, there is south and no north, it is clearly a pattern of four missing two, and I don't know when the missing one will be filled.

This promotion of Wuchang to the south is not something that can be done with a single edict, and it has to be done with many edicts.

One is to move the team of the Chang'an court to Wuchang Mansion to work; The second is to set up the Western Capital Left-behind Division, and at the same time to seal Wu Yingqi as the left-behind guard in Chang'an - Wu Sangui now has to play a balance between two own sons and one adopted son, and he has to serve these three bowls of water well, and he can't bring out a change in Xuanwumen or the Battle of Jingjing, and he can't let Wu Yingxiong monopolize the power, it's really not easy.

In addition to this matter, the second major thing that Wu Sangui was busy with in Wuchang was, of course, to fight with Li Zicheng's henchmen. Originally, Wu Sangui thought that as soon as his army arrived, he would take Hankou, Hanyang, and Jiangxia, and the territory of the five prefectures under the jurisdiction of the Ming Zhong Mansion must have been annexed one after another. Do you think that when Wu Sangui followed the Qing soldiers to fight Li Zicheng, it wasn't like this? As soon as Lao Li ran away, he was a surrender faction everywhere.

This time it's completely different!

After Wu Sangui arrived at the city of Wuchangfu, he suddenly found that there seemed to be only six cities, including Jiangxia, Hanyang, Hankou, Suizhou, Zhongxiang, the capital county of Anlu Prefecture, and Anlu, the capital county of De'an Prefecture, in the hands of Wu Zhou's army. There are dozens of counties in Wuchang, Hanyang, Anlu, De'an, Huangzhou and other five prefectures controlled by the Daming Zhong Palace, only six of which are in the hands of Wu Sangui, and the rest are still in the hands of Li Zicheng and Li Laishun, which is a bit strange!

What's even more strange is that none of the prefects of the five prefectures under the Zhongwang Mansion and the prefects of the six counties of Wu Sangui surrendered to Da Zhou, and they either died in battle or ran away.

How is this going on? Now the courtiers of the Ming Dynasty are not the second ministers and the third minister?

Back then, they wanted to shave their hair and become barbarians, and they surrendered in batches! Why doesn't it come down now?

Could it be that they are all the second generation of the camp? Particularly loyal to Li Zicheng? But there are still a lot of "Chuang Generation" under Wu Sangui's hands, should they surrender or not?

There is something even more unexpected than Wu Sangui expected, that is, the four prefectures of Wuchang, Hanyang, Anlu, and De'an, which are currently nominally controlled by him (Huanggang, the capital county of Huangzhou Prefecture, have not yet been taken), have now also become hornet's nests, and under the leadership of the magistrates sent by the Daming Zhongwang Palace, they are armed to resist the rule of Wu Sangui, the son of Zhou Tianzi. All the officials sent out by Wu Sangui to appease were killed by them. This made Wu Sangui angry!

He, Wu Sangui, is a man who wants to dominate the world, and now he is sending people to recruit Li Zicheng's remnants, so to save face, not only did they not surrender, but they actually killed people!

So Wu Sangui immediately ordered the newly opened prefectures to send a small group of "homecoming regiments" to attack, but the result was not an opponent at all, and he was killed and ran back with his armor off.

Wu Sangui was angry again, and in a fit of rage, he wanted to kill a few leaders of the "homecoming group" to correct military law. It was Fang Guangchen's hard persuasion that he didn't kill him. Then Wu Sangui sent Liu Xuanchu to investigate.

After a check, I found out that I really wronged those people, not that they didn't work hard, but that there were too many enemies!

It turned out that it was not Li Zicheng's old battalion soldiers who killed and defeated those regiments who returned to their hometowns, but those Hubei soldiers who were in the township and the strong men of poor peasant families who were allocated land according to the "Heavenly Dynasty Tianmu System" and formed a people's strong!

In other words, Wu Sangui suddenly found himself fighting against the people under the rule of the Daming Zhong Palace!

How many people there are, thousands of them!

And the people are well organized, equipped, trained, and have many strong castles to rely on.

In addition, there seems to be the existence of "Xingzhong Wangfu", "Xingwuchang Mansion", "Xing'an Lu Mansion", and "Xingde'an Mansion" that can command and support these local armed forces in Mubu Mountain, Dahong Mountain, and Tongbai Mountain, that is to say, although Li Zicheng was driven into the mountains, his regime still ruled most of the three prefectures of De'an, Anlu, and Wuchang!

Only the situation in Hanyang was slightly different, there was no big mountain for the "Xingfu" personnel sent by the Daming Zhongwang Mansion to hide, so they hid in the Honghu Lake, where the waves of the Honghu Lake were blowing

After listening to Liu Xuanchu's report, Wu Sangui immediately realized that the Daming Zhong Mansion had long been carefully preparing for a war against the Great Zhou Heavenly Soldiers!

Knowing this, Li Fuchen should not have been allowed to succeed in "unraveling the fight" at that time.

This Li Fuchen is really not a thing!

After sulking for a long time, Wu Sangui still stabilized his mood and began to adjust his deployment, sending troops to firmly control Jiangxia, Hanyang, Hankou, Suizhou, Zhongxiang, Anlu and other big cities. At the same time, he controlled the forts and beacon towers along the Yangtze River and the Han River, and maintained two smooth water communication lines for his army.

As long as the logistics and transportation can be stabilized, it will not affect Wu Sangui's army to march to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and it is not a big problem to leave them aside for the time being

And just when Wu Sangui was thinking about how to take Jiujiang next, occupy safety, go down to Taiping, and go straight to Nanjing City, Wuchang came to Wuchang with three waves of congratulatory envoys who might be a little embarrassed when they met each other.

These three waves of envoys were Du Lide, a scholar of Baohedian University in the Qing Dynasty, Ma Hu of Qixingge University in the Great Jing Dynasty, and Lang Tingxiang, the alternate governor of Jiangxi in the Qing Dynasty.

These three, one represents Kangxi, one represents Geng Jingzhong, the son of Dongxing, and the other represents Kang Wangjieshu, who is about to betray Kangxi. It's going to be a piece, can it not be embarrassing?

These envoys all came in the name of He Wu Sangui to capture and set the capital of Wuchang Mansion, among which Du Yide and Ma Hu seem to have come together.

And Lang Ting came a few days earlier than them, and came from Jiujiang Mansion, Wu Sangui knew that his real purpose was to ask for surrender and help, and he also knew that Jiujiang would not be lost for a while, so he was not in a hurry to see him. It wasn't until Du Little and Ma Hu arrived that they met the three envoys at the same time in the Ziwei Palace in the imperial city of Wuchang Mansion.

However, when Wu Sangui saw the three envoys, the Great Zhou Emperor felt a little confused because of the dress of the three.

These three are all elderly old men, the oldest of them is about the same as Wu Sangui, they are all over sixty years old, they should be the elders of the Ming Dynasty, Dashun, and Qing Dynasty, and Du Lide, a scholar of Baohedian University, but he is a bachelor of the Qing Dynasty, but now he is wearing a red official robe in the style of a Han person, and he is wearing a black gauze hat on his head.

There are also two younger ones, who look like they are in their fifties, both wearing the official uniforms of the Qing Dynasty, and they are of the same grade, both of them are complements of Wen Erpin.

That's not quite right!

How did Doolittle put on Han costumes? In addition, among those two younger people, there should be a Dajing Seven Star Pavilion University Shi Ma Hu!

Thinking of this, Wu Sangui didn't wait for the three to kneel down and kowtow to roll call, but directly pointed to the oldest old man and asked, "Is the one in the middle Dulittle?" ”

The old man hurriedly put off his official robe, knelt down for Wu Sangui first, and then lay on the ground, pouting his buttocks, with a good attitude of being ready to be beaten, and replied respectfully: "Back to the emperor, the foreign minister is Du Lide." ”

"You are. That emperor's courtier? ”

"The minister is a courtier of the Qing Emperor, who came to Wuchang as an envoy on the order of my lord."

"Then why are you wearing the official uniform of the Han people?" Wu Sangui asked.

"Back to the emperor, the minister is now the southern official of the Qing Dynasty." Du Lide replied, "The southern officials of the Qing Dynasty wore Han clothes, and they could also grow their hair without braids. ”

It turns out that Kangxi's "north and south official system" is not just talking about it - this is passed by the Council of Ministers of the Qing Dynasty, so it is natural to come to the truth!

However, the reason why Kangxi advocated the implementation of the official system in the north and south was not the equality of the Manchus and Hans, but the posture of being ready to give up the territory of the Guanxi at any time and retreat to become the son of the grassland.

This gesture, of course, is for Wu Sangui to see!

Wu Sangui nodded, then looked at two men in their fifties dressed in Manchurian costumes, and asked, "Who among you is Mahu?" ”

"The foreign minister is Mahu." A second-class member of the Qing Dynasty who was wearing a Manchu mending uniform and a coral top immediately knelt for Wu Sangui. This person is the former governor of Jiangsu in the Qing Dynasty and the current scholar Zhebai of the University of Dajing Qixingge. Mahu.

"Ma Hu, aren't you an official of the Jiangnan Lord? Why is he dressed in a Manchu official uniform? ”

"Back to the emperor, the minister is now not only the official of the lord of Jiangnan, but also the official of the emperor of the Qing Dynasty." Ma Hu explained, "Because the emperor of the Qing Dynasty knew that his ministers had to assist his brother emperor in Jiangnan to establish the country, he did not remove the ministers from their official positions. He was sent to Beijing by Emperor Jiangnan Jing as an envoy, and then stayed in Beijing to be in charge of diplomacy between the Qing Dynasty and Jiangnan. ”

He is the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Dajing to the Qing Dynasty!

Du Little on the side also gave him a certificate, "Your Majesty, Master Ma is right, he has been in Beijing these days. Because he had an official position as a northern official in the Qing Dynasty, he could wear Manchurian clothes. ”

"I see." Wu Sangui looked at another Qing official in his fifties with a dark face, "You are Lang Tingxiang, the governor of Jiangxi over there in the Qing Dynasty, right?" ”

"Back to the emperor, the minister was originally the governor of Jiangxi. But before the minister took office in Jiangxi, Prince Kang had already expressed Cai Yurong as the governor of Jiangxi. The regent felt that Cai Yurong had some soldiers in his hands and was quite useful, so he asked him to be the governor first and the minister to be the alternate governor. Results."

Speaking of which, this Lang Tingxiang is gritting his back molars.

500,000 taels!

He should have taken it!

Now it's all Cai Yurong!

And he still spent a lot of savings to be the governor of Jiangxi, and now it's good that Cai Yurong robbed the big business of "selling Jiangxi". And even if he makes up for the governor of Jiangxi, he has no territory to divide, in fact, he is a light pole, and it is better to be inappropriate.

Wu Sangui said: That Fuquan is really good at business! The alternate governor doesn't want to return the money, does he?

Thinking of this, Wu Sangui smiled and said, "Lang Tingxiang, I'm afraid that your alternate governor has no chance of becoming a regular, right?" Jieshu sent you this time to ask for surrender, right? ”

The governor of Jiangxi in the Great Zhou Dynasty couldn't take Lang Tingxiang's turn, not only Lang Tingxiang's turn, but also Jieshu himself.

What Jie Shu can get from Wu Sangui is that he will not lose his title, and then raise a famous and powerful idle man.

Real power is impossible!

The army, the territory, all have to be handed over!

And before handing over the army and territory, Jieshu had to help Wu Sangui fight in exchange for his future glory and wealth in the Great Zhou.

"Your Majesty, the minister is indeed helping Prince Kang to ask for surrender, but this is not the only mission of the minister, because Prince Kang also wants to promote a big plan for the three emperors to join forces to defeat Ming."

"The Three Emperors join forces?" Wu Sangui glanced at Du Lide, "Master Du, what do you think?" ”

"Returning to the throne, the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty is your grandson, and the Emperor of Dajing is your nephew. You, your grandson, and your nephew are all emperors of the family, and it is only natural for you to join forces to deal with Zhu Cijiong, an outsider. Du Little promised, "As long as you have a will, the Qing Dynasty can immediately send troops!" Not only the Qing Dynasty can send troops, but the Qing vassal country Korea can also send troops! ”

Yang Qilong's "Inchon landing" was, of course, a complete victory!

His landing "landed" the monarchs and ministers of the Korean Kingdom by surprise, and before the troops stationed on the northern border could be transferred back, Yang Qilong had already arrived in Seoul. Moreover, because the road to Ganghwa Island and Namhansan Fortress was cut off by Yang Qilong's army, the Korean monarchs and ministers could only accept Yang Qilong, the prison state, and also handed over Ganghwa Island and Namhansan Fortress to Yang Qilong's garrison, and also handed over the two ports of Haeju and Busan to Yang Qilong's Korean prison government.

As a result of this easy victory, Kangxi's prestige in the Qing Dynasty has increased, and he is currently planning to sweep away the Khalkha Mongols and at the same time meet the newly popped Rakshasa Kingdom in the north to explore their reality and reality.

At this moment, Wu Sangui suddenly attacked Daming!

Since this matter has caught up, of course Kangxi wants to take advantage of it, and at the same time, it is not wise to curry favor with Wu Sangui before he develops Liaodong outside the Guanwai, and he turns his face with Da Zhou.

And Kangxi's idea coincides with Geng Jingzhong's idea - Geng Jingzhong hopes to use the power of the Qing Dynasty to help him grow, so as to maintain the balance of the Three Kingdoms for hegemony after the Ming Dynasty is destroyed.

So Kangxi immediately asked Du Yide and Ma Hu to come to Wuchang to meet Wu Sangui.

How clever is Wu Sangui?

immediately understood the thoughts of Kangxi and Geng Jingzhong, and also knew why Du Lide and Ma Hu came to Wuchang together to be what envoys?

Thinking of this, Wu Sangui smiled and said, "Of course it's good to join forces. I don't know what Xuan Ye and Jing Zhong want? ”

"Return to the emperor," Du Lide said, "the Qing Dynasty does not dare to covet more land in the Central Plains, but only wants to get more children's property, if the emperor feels that the Qing Dynasty still needs to send troops to help, then please allow the people of Xuzhou, Haizhou, and Huai'an to be handed over to your Emperor Sun after victory." ”

Kangxi's mind is sober, and the last thing he lacks now is territory!

And what is most lacking is the population!

There are tens of thousands of miles of wilderness outside the pass, but there are not many people to develop it. Even if he came up with a policy that was extremely conducive to the development of the frontier, the progress of developing the northeast was still slow.

In addition, the harder Wu Sangui and Li Yat-sen fought, the happier he, Emperor Sun, became. If he can lose both, he may be able to come back as a Qing Emperor!

Wu Sangui nodded: "Okay!" It's easy to do! If Xuan Ye can stop the army, give some pressure to Xuan Ming. What is it to give a little population? However, the people of Xuzhou, Haizhou, and Yangzhou can't, and the population of Fengyang, Sizhou, and Yingzhou is at their disposal. ”

Wu Sangui was not at ease, he has now understood the power of the Hubei people, and naturally he can also think of how the Huaixi people will resist him, the son of the Great Zhou.

Since this is the case, let Kangxi go and consume with them!

"It's a deal!" Du Yide said with a smile, "Your Majesty, I can mobilize 100,000 troops from the four provinces of mountains and rivers this time, and listen to your dispatch from the emperor!" ”

Wu Sangui nodded, 100,000 troops. You can always contain Li Yat-sen, right?

"Your Majesty," Ma Hu said immediately, "the lord of Jiangnan can also send an army of 100,000!" ”

Geng Jingzhong actually can't take out an army of 100,000, but he still wants to save face, and he can't be too much worse than the "younger emperor" Kangxi, right? So Mahu helped him report an "army of 100,000".

"That's 200,000!" Wu Sangui was overjoyed, "How many are there in Jiangxi?" ”

"There are fifty thousand!" Lang Tingxiang said, "Among them, there are 30,000 land divisions and 20,000 water divisions. ”

"That's an army of 250,000!" Wu Sangui said with a smile, "The old man also has an army of 250,000 under his account, and our three emperors work together to send 500,000 troops, known as the million Ming army!" How? ”

Du Little looked full of confidence and provoked a thumbs up, "Okay!" This is a million-strong army going down to Jiangnan! Since ancient times, millions of troops have entered the river from the Han Dynasty, and there have been few defeats along the river to the south of the Yangtze River! ”

Ma Hu also said: "There is a million troops going east, and Nanjing will definitely be able to go down. The foreign minister congratulates the emperor! ”

Lang Tingxiang said to Wu Sangui: "Your Majesty. Now Li Fuchen and Li Laishun are in a hurry to attack Jiujiang together! If the troops are sent late, Jiujiang and Anqing will be owned by the Ming Dynasty, and the waterways of the army in Jiangnan will be completely blocked, and Jiangnan will not be big at that time. Therefore, King Kang suggested that the emperor march into the army as soon as possible and fight a decisive battle with the Li Shogunate in Jiangxi! ”

Wu Sangui nodded and said, "I also have this intention!" Governor Lang, I order you to return to Jiujiang immediately, and tell King Kang to hold on to the end, and I will immediately lead an army of 500,000 to support Jiangxi by land and water! ”

In fact, the army he brought to Wuchang did not even have 250,000, only about 200,000, and it would be good to have 150,000 if he could go to Jiangxi. Even if you add the army of Jieshu and others, it is at most 200,000.

However, the 200,000 army is not small, and the territories of Jiujiang and Hukou are still firmly in the hands of Jieshu, and on the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake, there are also Wu Sangui and Jieshu's sailors.

In this battle, the grasp is still very large!

Thinking of this, Wu Sangui's face froze, and he said loudly: "Please go back and tell your lord that this time the million-strong army going down to Jiangnan is a battle of life and death, and you must go all out!" ”

(End of chapter)