Dashun Yongchang

Li Zicheng was disappointed, so he hastily ended his inspection of Li Guojian, and he didn't go to Tongshan Island to appreciate the remains of Bronze Mountain.He was also careless before, or he had too many things and forgot to send someone to inquire about the current situation of Li Guojian, so he came in a hurry but turned back disappointed.

But after returning to Canalkou Town from Liguojian, Li Zicheng cheered up again, and called Tang Ruowang, Wei Xuelian, Fang Yizhi, Wu Erxun, Wang Zichao, Xu Zhijian and others who had studied Western science to his resting yard During the meeting, he first asked Tang Ruowang and Wei Xuelian: "I remember that among the books brought from Europe, there is a book called Mining and Metallurgy Quanshu? How many times has this book been translated?"

Tang Ruowang and Wei Xuelian recalled it for a while and said, "It's only about 10 pages, and I'm afraid it will take at least a year or two to read them all."

Li Zicheng thought for a while, and then said: "It is not necessary to finish all the translations. The translation can be done slowly, but for the part we need, we can first translate the main points and then print them out, and then find some literate people to learn them, or let them read them." While collecting ore specimens first, while studying from the booklet, I thought it would speed up the exploration of local mineral deposits.

As for those we need to focus on, I think there are four: iron ore, copper ore, coal and limestone.As long as you figure out where these things are?Is the reserve large?We have solved part of the problem. "

Fang Yizhi finally couldn't help asking: "But didn't the local squire say that the local groundwater level is too high to dig coal? I'm afraid it would be a waste of effort to find other mines without coal? And if these mines are separated by From tens to hundreds of miles, is it really profitable to transport them together?"

Wei Xuelian thought for a while and said that it is still possible to pump water if the groundwater level is high, it just depends on whether there is a steady stream of water seeping in, otherwise we will not pump it dry, and it will be a waste of effort.

After Tang Ruowang listened, he looked at the people around him and the emperor of Dashun respectively, and finally opened his mouth and said: "Animal-powered machines can be used, and the efficiency must be much higher than that of humans."

Li Zicheng thought for a while and decided: "You are divided into two groups. One group will follow Tang Ruowang to study the animal-powered machine, and the lack of manpower will be transferred to the craftsman camp; the other group will be in charge of Wei Xuelian and Fang Yizhi. The parts related to the iron smelting industry and the search for iron-making raw materials have been selected and assembled into a book..."

Staying in Hekou Town for one night, Li Zicheng left behind thousands of officers and soldiers including Zhou Fengwu and dozens of scholars including Wei Xuelian.These soldiers who have not been selected for the new army will settle down in the Liguojian and become the security forces to guard the Liguojian and the town.

The next day, Li Zicheng gave Zhou Fengwu and Wei Xuelian a few words, and turned to Xi Benzhen, who was arrested in Linqing, and said seriously: "You businessmen fund Linqing gentry to rebel against the prince. This is a serious crime of treason. Even if you escape Go to Jiang, I can also ask the local officials to arrest you, do you understand?"

Xi Benzhen pondered for a few seconds, then cupped his hands to Li Zicheng and said: "How dare a sinner run away privately, His Majesty's grace in the law is enough to make the sinner feel grateful. But whatever your Majesty orders, the sinner will do his best."

Li Zicheng nodded, but shook his head and said, "I don't like the idea of ​​doing my best. You are atoning for your sins. Even if you try your best, you should still let me handle things well.

What I ask you to do is two things: "First, buy as much land as you can from the local gentry. However, I don't have so much money to pay them, so I plan to issue a 99-year interest repayment The annuity pays them 3% of the principal and interest of the land price every year, and they can recover at least three times the principal after 99 years..."

Xi Benzhen began to feel a little restless. It is uncertain whether Dashun can last until next year. Now that the 99-year annuity is issued, isn't this a scam?

Chapter 106

However, Li Zicheng didn't give him a chance to refuse. He just said to himself: "Secondly, I heard that your Taihu merchants are quite influential in the Yangtze River area. Today, there are only two famous iron smelting places in the world. , Foshan, Guangdong, and Wuhu, South Zhili. Guangdong is too far away, you can help me find some excellent blacksmiths from Wuhu. Third, um, after you have finished these two things, I will consider whether to talk to you about the third thing."

Xi Benzhen gritted his teeth, knowing that if he didn't speak out, he would have no chance to speak out. Before Li Zicheng finished his conversation, he said: "The second thing can be done by sinners, but the first thing, if the local squires don't Willing to accept the 99-year annuity to buy land, sinners really don't know what to do..."

Li Zicheng glanced at him, then raised the corners of his mouth and said with a smile: "You opened a pawn shop, don't you have some means? It's not like I haven't seen usury before. Well, I will give you an idea, if you don't agree Accepted, it's fine if you scare them.

At the beginning, Taizu moved the rich households in the world to Shibian, and Chengzu moved the wealthy households in the south to enrich Beijing. Could it be that I just moved them?Don't say that you can go to the north, but you can also go to the south. The world is so big, there is no land there to bury people? "

Xi Benzhen's heart sank, and he suddenly felt that the other party might as well arrest people and plunder them. Taking away the land of those squires was simply digging their roots.But he didn't dare to say any more, because he knew in his heart that if the other party really wanted to do this, no one would be able to stop him.

It's just that Li Zicheng said to him in a more relaxed tone at this time: "Do you know why I let you do this instead of letting others do it?"

Xi Benzhen felt at a loss in his heart. He really didn't know why Li Zicheng named himself. After all, he was not the only one who funded the uprising of officials and gentry in Linqing City, but he replied respectfully: "I think it is His Majesty who is kind and wants to give An opportunity for sinners to make meritorious deeds."

Li Zicheng was stunned for a moment, blinked his eyes and said: "This is just one aspect. I think that as a businessman, you should understand the principle of making money with harmony. So I think you should know what I'm thinking. I just want to resettle the land. The people who went south did not want the lives of these gentry, do you understand?"

Xi Benzhen smiled wryly in his heart, but bowed to Li Zicheng meticulously on his face and said, "Follow Your Majesty's will..."

After talking with the few people who stayed at Liguo Station, Li Zicheng took a regiment of cavalry guards and headed towards Xuzhou City in the southwest direction.It was about 80 miles from Liguo Station to Xuzhou City. Li Zicheng and his guards finally saw the city wall of Xuzhou City when the sun was setting.

Only by walking in this way can someone understand why Xiang Yu wanted to build a capital in Pengcheng. There are mountains on three sides and a plain on one side, and there are rivers in between. It is indeed a key point that is easy to defend but difficult to attack.However, the city looks a little small.

In the fourth year of Tianqi, the Yellow River broke its embankment, and the southeast of the city was breached, and the whole city was submerged. When the flood receded in 1628, the silt in the city was said to have buried the whole city.Because of Tang Huan's insistence, Xuzhou City finally decided to rebuild on the original site. The scale and shape of the city were similar to and coincided with those of the underground Hongwu City.The east gate and north gate of the city followed the old name, the west gate was renamed Wu'an gate, and the south gate was renamed Kuiguang gate.

Although the city looked new, it was still built according to the old rules in terms of shape and structure. When he walked to the north gate, Li Zicheng saw Liu Zongmin, Zhu Cihong and the officials of the city had already greeted him outside the city.He immediately got off his horse and walked towards the crowd, returning the salute while saying: "Okay, let's all go to the city, it's getting late, go to the city and let me wash up, and I'll chat with you when I'm full..."

Xuhuai defense envoy Wu Su and Fang Yunchang, who was in charge of the Xuncao household government, hurriedly led the way for Li Zicheng to enter the city. It was wrong to say that he entered the city, but entered through the north gate and exited through the south gate.Although it was just a glance, Li Zicheng could tell that the Chongzhen Dynasty had struggled to build this small city, so the city could only be seen from the outside, but the inside was still a mess.

Let's put it this way, Xuzhou City is actually about the same size as Tianjin Acropolis, except that Tianjin Acropolis is wide from east to west, while Xuzhou City is long from north to south. The problem with Tianjin Acropolis is that it has been in disrepair for a long time, and it is a military fortress, so the city is not very popular. , and Xuzhou City is not considered an acropolis, it's just that the terrain here is too low-lying and there are frequent floods, which makes it seem unpopular.

However, as a transportation hub, merchants are always indispensable, so the Nanguan area near the Yellow River Ferry is very lively.As for the local dignitaries, they simply moved to Nanshan outside the south gate.

Nanshan is also known as Hubu Mountain. The reason why it was given this name is that when the Yellow River broke its embankment in the fourth year of Tianqi, the Department of Hubu was the first to move to Nanshan, so the families of officials and wealthy businessmen moved there one after another. Mountains, one is to avoid floods, and the other is to make friends with officials.

Nanshan is very close to Xuzhou City. After Li Zicheng followed the crowd to the top of the mountain, he saw the scenes in Xuzhou City unfolded in front of his eyes one by one. He looked to the southwest, but there was a large lake at the foot of the mountain and Close to the west wall of Xuzhou City.

Li Zicheng subconsciously said to Liu Zongmin next to him: "It seems that this mountain is the key to the struggle for Xuzhou. We must pull up all the cannons. As long as Nanshan is not lost, we will bombard it with cannons from a condescending height, and Xuzhou will not fall. What is this lake called? ? How big a boat can it handle?”

Wu Su on the side immediately replied: "This lake is called Shigou Lake. Although it looks like a large area, many places are actually extremely shallow. If fishermen who are not familiar with this lake lead the way, boats will easily run aground. Only the center of the lake And several waterways can carry 300-500 stone boats."

Li Zicheng thought for a while, and then said to Bai Bangzheng, "General Bai, I heard that there are 2 guards here?"

Bai Bangzheng replied with a serious expression: "Yes, there are Xuzhou Guards and Xuzhou Zuo Guards in the local area. However, there was a flood every four years in Tianqi, and both guards suffered heavy losses. After the flood subsided, the imperial court had no money to relieve them. It fell into the grass.

In the eighth year of Chongzhen, Cheng Jikong, Wang Daoshan, and Zhang Fangzao led the rebellion. They contacted local bandits and guard officers and soldiers to destroy Xiao County, burned Xuzhou Beiguan, and commanded Cai, garrison Jia and other guard generals were all killed.The three of them entrenched around Xuzhou. It was not until last year that Huaixu Daoyou Counselor He Tengjiao joined forces from Shandong, Henan, and Huai'an to send troops. The Xuzhou rebels failed. Except for Cheng Jikong who was captured and sent to Nandu, the other leaders of the rebel army died.

So now although there are two guards in Xuzhou, they are all old, weak, sick and disabled. Although there are many thieves in the mountains, these people may not be used by us.They are used to being thieves, and they don't want to leave their lair to fight.I am afraid that the fishermen in this lake are not good people. "

When Li Zicheng was pondering, Fang Yunchang stood up and said: "Things may not be as General Bai said, I think there may indeed be some old bandits who would rather hide in the mountains than listen to His Majesty's call.

But those people who are in the guards don't think so. Their families are all in the guards. The reason why they stay in Xuzhou and refuse to go out is that many people just don't want to leave their families.They didn't want to come to see His Majesty at the first time, probably because Emperor Lie and the Crown Prince were here, I thought they were worried that Your Majesty would maintain the old style of Ming Dynasty.Maybe it would be miraculous for the commander of the guards to order every household to call back the children from the mountain. "

Li Zicheng thought for a while and said: "The group of bandits in the mountains and forests must be wiped out, otherwise when the Qing army goes south and they who are familiar with the geography run to lead the Qing army, wouldn't we suffer a big loss?

Of course, it is also a good idea to divide the group of thieves first and let them make their own choices.I think it should be a three-pronged approach. First, set the time for the thieves to surrender, with a period of 20 days. Those who do not surrender after 20 days will be regarded as thieves and punished;

The second is to notify the households of the two guards that if they do not return to the guard to report within 20 days, their military registration will be removed and they will no longer be eligible for land grants; , each army was awarded 50 acres of land, no, 25 acres.Then select the elite to build a new army..."

Li Zicheng and others stood on the top of the mountain and discussed until it was completely dark before going to Li's mansion halfway up the mountain.When walking down the mountain road made of stone, Li Zicheng was surprised to find that the mountain road was covered with red lanterns, and the road pointed by the lanterns happened to be the goal they were going to.Li Zicheng shook his head secretly, and couldn't help thinking, "It's indeed the imposing aura of wealth."

Wu Su, who led the way for Li Zicheng, said: "This is the house of Li Jian, a salt merchant. He heard that His Majesty is going to visit Xuzhou, so he donated his house, and he himself moved to his younger brother's house..."

Li Zicheng smiled and said: "This is also a wonderful person. It seems that tomorrow I can meet a local gentleman. Is there any outstanding person in Xuzhou City?"

Wu Su hesitated for a while and then said: "There are two poets who are more famous in this city, one is called Wan Shouqi and the other is called Yan Ermei, but..."

Li Zicheng asked curiously, "Just what?"

Wu Su replied: "It's just that Yan Ermei resisted Master Wang and tore up the notice posted by my Dashun. I have already ordered him to be arrested. There are many gentlemen in the city who want to rescue this person from prison, and with Wanshou Qi most positive."

Li Zicheng thought for a while, then continued to walk down the mountain, and said in his mouth: "Then let him meet with other gentlemen in the city tomorrow, I also want to see what kind of person this is..."

At this time, on an official ship parked at the mouth of the Qingjiang River, Lu Zhenfei, the ex-Governor of Water Transport who was dismissed from his post, was sitting with Shandong Governor Wang Xie and Shandong Chief Soldier Qiu Lei, having a drink.If it were not at this time, it would be impossible for the two civil servants to sit and drink with this warrior.

He was released from prison just now with the help of his good brother Zuo Liangyu, and he was awarded the title of General Soldier of Shandong Province. As a result, he ran to Huai'an excitedly, only to find out that Shandong is a fire pit at all, because Emperor Dashun walked along the Grand Canal He has gone south, and now he is looking for death when he runs to Shandong.What's more, Emperor Dashun came down with the prince and Emperor Daxing's Zigong, which made people even more at a loss.

Wang Xie drank the wine in the glass in one gulp, and suddenly smashed the glass in his hand against the window, and said in a full of resentment: "The villains in Nanzhong will only crowd out dissidents, and the good Huai'an defense line has become a mess now. Liu Zeqing first followed Gao Jie and Huang Degong to fight for Yangzhou, and then ran back to Huai'an to build a mansion, and here Liu Liangzuo supported Huang Degong and Gao Jie to fight, don't these birds know that Li Zicheng's army has gone south?"

Qiu Lei answered sullenly from the side: "But Li Zicheng has a prince in his hands, and the Nandu is probably too busy to take care of himself right now."

Wang Xie widened his eyes and said: "Li Zicheng is a Cao thief, he is coercing the prince to command the princes, now that the title of King Fu has been determined, even the prince can't do anything..."

Lu Zhenfei put down his wine glass, sighed and said, "It's getting late, Wang Fu and Qiu Zongbing, let's come here today."

Wang Xie woke up suddenly, and asked Lu Zhenfei seriously: "Lord Lu, are you going to see the prince?"

Lu Zhenfei stood in front of the cabin door, looked at the sky covered by dark clouds, and said after a long time: "I'm going to pay homage to Emperor Daxing. I call myself a loyal minister of Ming Dynasty, but I dare not even go to the coffin of Emperor Daxing Worshiping, is it necessary to use swords on the coffin of Emperor Daxing? Emperor Yongchang has grasped the key point, Fufan is still too anxious, so now there is no excuse to block the mouth of the world, plus The fierce fight between Donglin and Ma Shiying, the fierce fight between the four towns, this Ming Dynasty is about to end..."

Chapter 107 Unknown History Part One

Jin Shenghuan's troops stationed in Suqian were triumphant when they repelled the Shun army at the beginning, and tried to take advantage of the trend to take Xuzhou. Now the whole army is frustrated and at a loss, and it only took a month.

To be honest, who is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, King Fu or the prince, actually has little to do with Xiaobing. Although the soldiers think that it is more reasonable for the prince to sit, it is Nandu who is sending money to them now, so even if they comment in private A few words, but no one would stand up and raise their arms, saying that they would turn against Nandu and vote for the prince.

But now the chaos in the Huaiyang area is really demoralizing. Everyone thought that since King Fu became the new emperor, the next step is to gather the southern army to recover the lost land in the north. Isn't the world peaceful?As a result, there was a new emperor, but the towns that had been able to maintain peace suddenly turned their faces.

When there was no emperor before, although no one was in charge, Ma Shiying and Lu Zhenfei from Jiangbei were still able to suppress the situation.The local army did not dare to fight openly. Even if they plundered the place, when the local officials went to the army to question, the general would give an explanation. The order issued by the Southern Metropolis, everyone still obeyed. After Beijing cut off the news , the backup government in Nandu will automatically operate.

Therefore, when the Shun army wanted to surrender Huai'an with a notice, it was rejected, because the provinces from Huai'an to the south still had a head, no matter how efficient this head could be, but the Huai'an people didn't feel that they were in the middle of the war. Facing the attack of the Shun army alone, they thought that the rear would support them.

However, after the Shun army entered Beijing, the policy of recovering stolen goods and subsidizing wages still adopted greatly offended the local gentry, causing these local gentry who had originally planned to join the new dynasty to fall to Ming Dynasty again, so Lu Zhenfei joined forces with Henan officials and people to counterattack Actions in Xuzhou.This military operation to counterattack Xuzhou can be said to be the most organized military operation of the Ming army after the Battle of Ruzhou. The Shun army who was dazzled by the victory and the half-hearted surrender of the Ming army immediately ushered in a big defeat.

It's just that at this time Li Zicheng issued a death order to the general of the Shun Army in Xuzhou, asking to shrink his troops to protect Xuzhou to the death, which made the Ming army's military operation to capture Xuzhou fall short.Lu Zhenfei mobilized various Ming armies and local regiments, relying on prestige rather than real central authorization, so when the Shun army and the Ming army were out of contact, his orders were not easy to use.

After the Henan officers and soldiers took back the Henan area, they stopped their actions because Xuzhou was not their jurisdiction; and Ma Shiying was eager to make a decision, so the troops in Suzhou also stopped their actions; so the only ones who attacked Xuzhou were Of course, it is impossible for Suqian Jin Shenghuan to defeat Xuzhou.

Jin Shenghuan, who was stationed in Suqian, could only wait for the new emperor to restart his plan to seize Xuzhou after he ascended the throne. He felt that the battle of Xuzhou could only continue if the Southern Capital authorized Lu Zhenfei to supervise all the troops.As a general, Jin Shenghuan believed that the relationship between Xuzhou and the north-south dispute had changed. As long as the new emperor wanted to keep the Ming Dynasty, it was impossible not to order Xuzhou to be taken back.

Then what he waited for was not to restart the battle of Xuzhou, but the news that Li Zicheng led the army to the south and Nanduge to Lu Zhenfei, the governor of water transportation.Not to mention, when they were shedding blood and sweat for Daming in Suqian, the four towns in Jiangbei newly appointed by the imperial court fought over who would guard Yangzhou.

Gao Jie's department drove away Huang Degong's department and began to loot the suburbs of Yangzhou.The first thing Liu Zeqing did when he returned to Huai'an was to forcibly occupy the mansion of the salt merchants to build his own mansion, and began to blackmail the salt merchants in Huai'an.After Liu Liangzuo's garrison in Linhuai was rejected by Linhuai County, he also broke through the city and looted.

When the news spread to Suqian, Jin Shenghuan couldn't suppress the dissatisfaction of his subordinates. The loyal officers and soldiers believed that the behavior of the four towns was worse than that of the peasant army. Most of them live in the Huaiyang area.Other officers and soldiers in the Henan and Huguang areas felt that the four towns had no great merit other than helping the king of Fuli, and they fought hard to capture Suqian for the Ming Dynasty without any rewards.

When the news of the prince's arrival in Xuzhou came, Jin Shenghuan's subordinates finally gathered two mainstream opinions. Either go north to vote for the prince, or give up Suqian and return to Huai'an. Anyway, they can't defeat Xuzhou, and they don't want to defend Liu Zeqing's troops against the soldiers of the Shun army. front.

On July 7, Jin Shenghuan finally accepted the persuasion of the envoy from Xuzhou, and decided to change his banner and join Dashun.At this time, Lu Zhenfei's boat had not yet arrived in Suqian. Regarding the arrival of Lu Zhenfei and his party, Shandong Governor Wang Xie, Shandong General Soldier Qiu Lei and others finally decided to follow Lu Zhenfei to the north to pay homage to the Emperor Daxing. Not a small fleet.

Jin Shenghuan also had no intention of meeting this former boss. After he had someone ask Lu Zhenfei and the others clearly about their intention to go north, he released the canal control and let them go north to Xuzhou.It was at this time that Jin Shenghuan received a notice signed by Huang Degong, but it was issued not in the name of the Marquis conferred by Emperor Hongguang, but in the name of Jingnan Bo, conferred by Chongzhen.

In fact, Huang Degong’s thoughts can be seen from this signature. The content of the announcement is roughly that the so-called four towns in Jiangbei support King Fu’s ascension to the throne is not a fact. Accepting the kindness of the Emperor Daxing, he must not betray the Emperor Daxing, so from now on he decided to obey the order of the prince and no longer accept the false edict of Nandu.

When Jin Shenghuan saw this notice, he knew that Nandu was in trouble.Because Huang Degong is stationed in Chuzhou and Hezhou, guarding the upper reaches of Nanjing, and further upstream is his old boss Zuo Liangyu. The old boss who was excluded from making a decision will definitely not support Nandu. The old boss led his men and horses down the Yangtze River to help the crown prince Jingnan, what would Nandu do to stop him?

Just when Jin Shenghuan was rejoicing that he had made the right choice, a statement from Huang Degong caused confusion across the country again.Gao Jie, who was surrounding Yangzhou City and trying to let the Yangzhou people open the city, was in chaos after hearing Huang Degong's announcement. Gao Jie and his subordinates were very worried that Huang Degong would attack Yangzhou when they attacked Yangzhou, so Gao Jie went out of the city with the help of Yangzhou gentry Zheng Yuanxun Given the opportunity of mediation, he offered to withdraw the troops but asked Yangzhou to reward the army with 20 taels of silver.

Zheng Yuanxun agreed to Gao Jie's request. After returning to the city, he announced that Gao Jie was ready to withdraw from the siege, but he would give 20 taels of reward money.Zheng Yuanxun is the largest salt merchant in Yangzhou. The salt merchants represented by him all advocate peaceful coexistence with Gao Jie, because the closure of the city will damage their business; there is also a wave of local gentry who do not operate the salt industry and are extremely disgusted. These outsiders occupied Yangzhou's salt industry, so they advocated protecting the city and did not agree with Gao Jiebing's entry into Yangzhou.

The two parties had argued many times over the issue of peace and the preservation of the city. Some even deliberately led troops outside the city to attack the Gao Jie soldiers who had given up, trying to sabotage the peace negotiations.But this time Gao Jie announced that he would give up his tough idea of ​​entering the city, so that the peace faction won the support of most of the people in Yangzhou, and the Baocheng faction could hardly persuade the people in the city to support them to go out of the city to pursue Gao Jie's army.As a result, the infighting between officials and gentry in Yangzhou City was temporarily eased.

As for Nanjing, Ma Shiying immediately recalled Shi Kefa who had crossed the river after receiving the news that Li Zicheng was going south with the coffins of the crown prince, emperor and empress. Instead, he was worried that the Donglin party members who had been squeezed out of the center by him and Xun Jiu in Nandu would go to the prince.

It's just that the Ming officials in the north support the prince, so Ma Shiying is not afraid.But if even the Donglin party members in the south also voted for the prince, then the Hongguang Dynasty would really collapse.In fact, after Shi Kefa left Beijing, Ma Shiying and Liu Kongzhao immediately launched a political attack on the Donglin Party members. Liu Kongzhao joined forces with Tang Guozuo, Marquis of Lingbi, and Zhao Zhilong, Uncle Xincheng, to attack Zhang Shenyan of the Ministry of Officials at the court meeting.

Liu Kongzhao accused Zhang Shen of saying: "Avenging shame and eradicating evil, guarding against rivers and rivers, all the courtiers should focus on this. Today we talk about promoting officials, tomorrow we talk about promoting officials, excluding military officials, selecting civil servants exclusively, and forming cliques for selfishness..."

The sudden attack of the nobles caused the Qing School to lose ground for a while. Zhang Shenyan could only keep silent until Gao Hongtu, a senior scholar, came out to stop him, trying to say that officials have their own rules for employing people, but Liu Kongzhao ignored this. At the court meeting where the emperor was present, he suddenly took out a knife from his pocket and chased Zhang Shenyan, claiming that he wanted to eradicate adultery for the country.

Naturally, such a chaotic court meeting could not go on. Emperor Hongguang had no choice but to leave. The eunuch Han Zanzhou reprimanded Liu Kongzhao and other dignitaries on behalf of the emperor, and the farce ended.However, the Qing School, which was originally wrong, took this opportunity to launch a public opinion counterattack against the Honored School. Ministers such as Gao Hongtu, Jiang Riguang, Zhang Shenyan, etc. resigned one after another, and the newly established Hongguang court suddenly fell into a state of stagnation.

Then there is no more, because the crown prince helped the emperor, and the empress coffin went south, and sent someone to send a letter to the minister of Nandu. Nandu sent ministers to the north to meet him.

When this letter spread in Nandu, the Donglin Party members who had been dismissed refused to reinstate their posts. Then Ma Shiying and the nobles soon heard many rumors that Qingliu just supported King Fu to supervise the stability of the country The situation in the south, but Ma Shiying, the four towns and the nobles used force to force the ministers of Nandu to accept King Fu's ascension in order to seek the merits of making a decision.

Then Ma Shiying had to stop further liquidation actions against the Donglin party members, and instead began to use force to force them not to resign and not to leave Nanjing.Because Ma Shiying realized that if all the Donglin party members in the court were cleared out, he would be the only one who supported Emperor Hongguang.How can he support a court by himself?

Ma Shiying refused to let the Donglin Party and Hongguangchao break away, so he urgently recalled Shi Kefa who had already fled to Jiangbei.But because of this move, no one can mediate the four towns anymore.Huang Degong couldn't compete with Gao Jie and Liu Zeqing. After he had to retreat from Yizheng, the prince sent someone to persuade him. Most of Huang Degong's subordinates came from the Beijing camp, and their loyalty to the prince was much higher than that of King Fu. Immediately fell to the prince, Huang Degong could only accept the request of his subordinates, and issued a notice declaring his allegiance to the prince.

Ma Shiying was still playing a difficult game with Shi Kefa and others, but Huang Degong turned his back on Huang Degong. Gao Jie was frightened and retreated to Yizheng, and then appealed to Nanjing to move his family members to the Jiangnan area.Of course, this aroused the opposition of Nanjing officials, and even the collective opposition of the gentry on the south bank of the Yangtze River. Everyone knew that Gao Jie's army was looting near Yangzhou, so how dare they let them cross the Yangtze River.

Liu Kongzhao personally led Zheng Hongkui's troops to inspect the Yangtze River and strictly prohibited Jiangbei ships from crossing the river without authorization. This action naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of Gao Jiejun.That is to say, Gao Jie has nowhere to go now, so he can only bite the bullet and stay in Yizheng to guard against Huang Degong's attack.

Chapter 108 Unknown History II

When Huang Degong made the announcement, Zuo Liangyu, who lived in Wuchang, also saw Hou Xun.After the First World War on Manau Mountain, Zuo Liangyu began to support himself. The consequence of this action was that before Beijing was breached, he had already been promoted to Ning Nan Bo.

Although Zuo Liangyu is famous for his love in the army, he also received Hou Xun's arrival in every possible way, but when he heard Hou Xun persuade himself to surrender to the prince at the banquet, he immediately put down his wine glass and said displeasedly: " Could it be that my lord has forgotten that the whole family of my Zuo family has died in the hands of the intruder, how can I surrender to the intruder?"

Hou Xun immediately said: "It's not to persuade uncle to vote for Zicheng, but to persuade uncle to vote for the prince."

Zuo Liangyu looked at Hou Xun for a long time, then shook his head and said: "My lord, is this trying to deceive me? Could it be true that the thief will let the prince cross the river? If the thief sends the prince to our army, we will Naturally, I support the prince. But if the intruder wants to do the Han Xian, I am not Ma Teng..."

Before the banquet was over, Zuo Liangyu left because he felt unwell.The governor He Tengjiao who accompanied the guests also got up and said goodbye. Before leaving, he said to Hou Xun: "The position of heaven has been determined. Even if the prince appears, he should be patient for the sake of the community. What Hou Ye said is right, how can we honor a thief?" The prince controlled by the army is the emperor? How can the enmity of the monarch and father be washed away by a few clever words? Please think again, old Shangshu."

But Hou Xun persisted and said: "If Fu Fan is really worthy of being the master of ZTE, I will not come to Wuchang. But can the current court really rejuvenate Daming? Since King Fu ascended the throne, our Daming army has fought against Shun. Can the army add up with one arrow?

The righteousness of "Spring and Autumn" is that if there are thieves who are not punished, the old king will not be buried with books, and the new king will not be able to ascend the throne with books, so it is also necessary to guard against chaos and thieves.Before the Emperor Daxing was buried, Nandu was impatient to elect a new emperor. After the new emperor ascended the throne, he was not in a hurry to take revenge, but created chaos in order to fight for power.This is why Fufan's improper position made the rebellious officials and thieves arrogant. "

He Tengjiao was speechless by Hou Xun, but he still shook his head and left, not accepting Hou Xun's proposition.After the two left, Huang Shu, the censor of Huguang who accompanied the guest, suddenly became active. He poured a glass of wine for Hou Xun and said: "Old Shangshu, I think your proposition is correct. The position is not correct, so Ma Shiying and the four towns caused chaos in the court, and made the court hall into a mess. For the present plan, the only way to save me is to set things right."

For this junior of the Donglin Party member, Hou Xun naturally knew why he attacked Ma Shiying and Sizhen in front of him.Because Zuo Liangyu was very dissatisfied with Ma Shiying and the four towns bypassing him to support Dai Fufan. He felt that his military strength was far stronger than the four towns, but he was excluded from the policy, which was obviously ignoring him.

When Zhu Yousong ascended the pole and issued the imperial edict to Wuchang, he was reluctant to admit it at first. Only after the persuasion of He Tengjiao, the governor of Huguang, and his subordinates, he agreed to read it and expressed his support.However, as Zuo Liangyu's representative, Huang Shu, who came to Beijing to meet Emperor Hongguang, gave ten lectures to Emperor Hongguang in succession, including many scholars and heroes.

Emperor Hongguang also had nothing to do with this official who threatened the court with Zuo Liangyu's army, so he could only order him to return to Wuchang as soon as possible several times.But the matter did not end there. Zuo Liangyu's dissatisfaction with Ma Shiying and the four towns, and Ma Shiying's rejection of the Donglin party members, were quickly linked by Huang Shu, forming a civil and military alliance against horses.

Zuo Liangyu had an enmity with Li Zicheng, but Zuoying had no enmity with Li Zicheng. In order to bring down Ma Shiying, Huang Shu obviously did not object to borrowing Li Zicheng's influence.To be honest, if the prince really went south alone, everyone would not be so active in getting closer to the prince.Just because Li Zicheng is behind the prince, and the northern officials and gentry have gathered around the prince, everyone has to think about the future for themselves.

It wasn't once or twice that Zuo Ying and Li Zicheng fought against each other. In fact, everyone was in awe of this rebel leader who was getting stronger and stronger.Especially after Li Zicheng ascended the throne in Xi'an, he broke the city of Beijing in one expedition. This kind of power is really awe-inspiring.

As for losing to Jiannu, this is really a very normal thing.The backbone of Zuoying is all from Liaodong, so they are very aware of Jiannu's combat effectiveness. The Dashun army was able to face the Qing army in the field, and it was able to bring the prince, emperor, empress coffin, and a large number of officials and people to the south. This shows that Dashun The army did not suffer too much in the field battle.Such a defeat can be regarded as a victory in the Chongzhen Dynasty.

Although Zuo Liangyu was full of hatred for Li Zicheng, but facing the pressure of Li Zicheng's main force going south, he was unwilling to turn against him now.Therefore, although he withdrew from the meeting, the Huang Shu who remained behind also represented him, and it was nothing more than a condition.

Faced with Zuo Liangyu, who was well versed in tactics, Hou Xun could only sigh in his heart. The warrior who dared to charge in the past was gone, and only a civil servant in armor survived.In contrast, the military government founded by Li Zicheng is forcing the generals to compete for the right to speak with their performance on the battlefield.If this continues, Zuo Liangyu's team may not be enough to rely on the prince in the future.

He drank the wine in the glass, and said with a dull expression: "I don't know if Huang Xunyan has any advice?"

One day later, Zuo Liangyu, who was sitting in front of the waterfront window in the Xiaoxuan in the back garden of the Hou Mansion, looked at the results of the conversation between Huang Shu and Hou Xun, and asked with some doubts, "How did you come to a conclusion so quickly?" ?”

Huang Shu stood aside and replied submissively: "The old minister didn't ask much, he just asked us to issue an announcement, asking Fufan to return to the position of supervisor of the state, and didn't ask us to send troops to the east, so we can't say too much. request."

After reading the thin page in his hand, Zuo Liangyu's expression turned pale. He slapped the paper heavily on the table, and said angrily, "Didn't Li Zicheng look down on me too much? Asked me to send Jiangbei soldiers Withdrawing to the south of the Yangtze River does not prevent the merchants of Dashun from entering the south of the Yangtze River for trade, and he recognizes my Zuoying's control over the Jiangnan area of ​​Huguang. Looking at it this way, it is not much better than this dynasty treats me. Does he think that, Can't I support Fu Fan?"

After hesitating for a while, Huang Shu said, "Master Hou, please think again. Among the four towns, apart from one of Gao Jie, the officials think that the other three towns may not resist the Shun army to the death. If the three towns surrendered to Li Zicheng, Gao Jie would definitely not be able to defend him." The Huaiyang gate, then the southern capital will be in danger. We reject Li Zicheng at this time, and then we will go to Nanjing to help defend, but Ma Shiying may not let us enter Nanjing."