On the third day of his arrival in Kunming, Wang Zhongxiao, who had come all the way from Baoning Prefecture in Sichuan Province, finally saw a fake Wu Sangui who looked 70% or 80% similar to Wu Sangui in the magnificent Yin'an Palace on Wuhua Mountain.
This counterfeit is obviously younger than Wu Sangui, in his forties at most. Although he pretends to be old, his makeup skills are limited these days. At most, he can only dye his hair and beard, and then put on a photo that still looks young. There are a few age spots on the face. It's okay to look at it from a distance, but you can't look close up, otherwise the secret will definitely be revealed. But what does Wang Zhongxiao look like? Even standing at the gate of Yin'an Palace, you can tell something is wrong.
But even Li Tianyu and Lu Yifeng, who have poor eyesight, know that the one sitting on the throne is definitely not Wu Sangui, because there are too many doubts!
First of all, Wu Sangui is at the top, surrounded by Wu Yingqi, Fang Guangchen, Guo Zhuangtu, Hu Guozhu, and Xia Guoxiang, the core members of the Pingxi Wang Group. Everyone else stood far away and refused to come near.
Secondly, Wu Sangui rarely spoke. Li Tianyu, Wang Zhongxiao, and Lu Yifeng would often talk for a long time, and he would just say "I know", which was not painful or unpleasant, and he was not sure of his credibility.
Even if Wang Zhongxiao took out Kangxi's letter and decree and read it out, Wu Sangui still sat motionless, with a blank face, and finally said "I know". This attitude can no longer be described as "disrespectful", it is completely out of fear of being exposed. Well!
The civil servants and generals of the Pingxi Palace who were standing in the Yin'an Palace seemed to have long been used to it. They heard that Kangxi's edict included an invitation to Wu Sangui and Wu Yingqi to go north to retire and ensure their safety. No one made any suggestions to Wu Sangui. On the contrary, He turned his attention to Wu Yingqi.
But Wu Yingqi's reaction was "very Yingqi". He snorted and strode out of the shift. Instead of bowing to Wu Sangui and giving his opinion, he swaggered up to Wang Zhongxiao, Li Tianyu and Lu Yifeng. He glared at Wang Zhongxiao fiercely, gritted his teeth and said: "Just a court post, just to protect my father and son's wealth and safety, you want to get my father and son to enter the capital? Kangxi's thinking is too simple, right?"
Excellent acting skills! Wang Zhongxiao, like Ming Jing'er, knew that Wu Yingqi was performing. But the acting is really good. I wonder if I can deceive Li Tianyu? Thinking of this, he turned back to look at the Yunnan governor.
Li Tianyu had a look of surprise on his face, although he didn't believe that Wu Yingqi really dared to go to Beijing for retirement - where could Obai learn from the past! But he also heard that Wu Yingqi still wanted to lie! And he also wanted to use himself to deceive Kangxi. This was how Li Tianyu survived!
Thinking of this, he quickly said to Wu Yingqi: "Du Tong, don't get me wrong. The emperor has no intention of deceiving or harming you or Prince Pingxi. The emperor is just acting in accordance with the agreement between the late emperor and the prince. After all, the prince has suffered a stroke. Although God has blessed the prince and allowed him to recover, it is time for his body and bones to take care of themselves. And the prince has been the prince for more than 20 years. He is already old, so it is his turn to do what he wants. Once you become a prince.
The reason why the emperor used imperial mail instead of Mingfa is mainly to express his position first, and then hear what you want to say. You have been guarding the border for the country and performing filial piety for the prince over the years. It can be said that you have both loyalty and filial piety, and you have taken credit. Greatest. If you can still be upright and upright, send the old prince to the north and hand over Yunnan to the prince. The emperor will definitely reward you with many rewards, and a first-class prince is also expected.
If you are still not at ease, Commander-in-Chief, I can go north to ask for a title from the Emperor on your behalf. When the news comes out, the whole world will know about it, so Commander-in-Chief will be relieved, right? "
"A first-class male is not enough!" Wu Yingqi said coldly, "Isn't Ao Bai a first-class male?"
Li Tianyu was stunned and didn't know how to explain it. The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became a bit awkward.
When Wu Yingqi saw that Li Tianyu was mute, he had no choice but to turn his attention to Wang Zhongxiao.
Wang Zhongxiao thought for a moment and said with a smile: "How about adding a pill book and an iron scroll to avoid death, and giving him a hereditary substitute?"
"It's not enough!" Wu Yingqi shook his head and his tone softened a little, "I still have so many brothers under my command. Yunnan is too small and can't be crowded anymore. We need to arrange them properly!"
"How about letting them go back to Liaodong?" Li Tianyu asked, "This can be regarded as Ye Luo's return to his roots."
"Hmph," Wu Yingqi said, "Liaodong is thousands of miles away from Yunnan, and the weather is freezing cold and the people are not rich. Are we going to force our brothers to travel thousands of miles to endure hardships?"
Of course it is impossible to endure hardship. Most of them will be ambushed and eliminated along the way! Wang Zhongxiao, who has been around Sichuan, already knows what would have happened if Wu Sangui had not rebelled in history?
Because the withdrawal of Pingxi Fan to Liaodong for resettlement is a scam at all! Sichuan, which is next door to Yunnan, is abandoned there. Why send hundreds of thousands of people back to Liaodong? Wouldn't it be enough to divide the territory nearby in Sichuan? How tired are you from running so far? Even if we are really worried that King Pingxi's people will rebel in Sichuan in the future, wouldn't it be more dangerous if they rebel in Liaodong?
"What does Dutong want?" Li Tianyu asked again.
Wu Yingqi said: "Give the land of Xuzhou Prefecture, Ningyuan Prefecture and Luzhou Prefecture to my subordinates!"
Li Tianyu looked embarrassed: "Well, although there are quite a lot of wastelands in Xuzhou Prefecture, Ningyuan Prefecture and Luzhou, this matter still requires the emperor's nod, and the lower official cannot promise it!"
Wu Yingqi sneered and said: "The emperor will nod. I will keep my father going north to Xuzhou and live in Yibin County, waiting for the emperor's announcement! Li Futai, please go with Wang Shikai and Lu Sanhao." Let’s go to Beijing!”
Is this the reason for sending my father north to occupy the two prefectures and one state in Sichuan? Li Tianyu breathed a sigh of relief and said to Wu Yingqi: "Du Tong, how about you write a memorial and write down everything you want clearly. How about the lower official, Wang Guard, and Magistrate Lu send the memorial to the emperor for you?" "
"Okay!" Wu Yingqi said "Okay", but suddenly realized something was wrong. He quickly turned around and said to the fake Wu Sangui who was sitting on the throne, "Father, do you think this is okay?"
That "Wu Sangui" was obviously a little distracted. When he heard Wu Yingqi ask this question, he blurted out: "hit!"
It turns out that this is Wu Sangui from Henan!
Shunqing Mansion, Nanchong County, the residence of Prince An, the President and Minister.
During the period when Wang Zhongxiao and Lu Sanhao went south to Kunming, the New Army of the Three Towns commanded by Yue Le, the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Camp, and the local Qing army in Sichuan also followed Kangxi's edict and spread out in Sichuan Province.
King Leerjin of Shuncheng County took a town of the Eight Banners New Army to Chongqing. Sun Sike, who was originally stationed in Chengdu, took the main force of the Green Camp New Army from the back town and left Chengdu and went south along the Zhongjiang River to Zizhou. Governor Moro of Sichuan and Shaanxi Then he led the Gansu and Shaanxi Green Camps to occupy Baoning and Tongchuan Prefectures. Yue Le himself led the Chinese army of the Eight Banners New Army to station in Shunqing Mansion, which is close to Chongqing.
As for the armies of Sichuan Admiral Zheng Jiaolin, Baoning General Wu Zhimao, Chongqing Deputy General Chen Fu and others, they pressed south again. Zheng Jiaolin garrisoned Jiading Prefecture, Wu Zhimao advanced to Luzhou, and Chen Fu went south to Guizhou. Zunyi.
A Sichuan green battalion is at the front, the new green battalion is in the front, the Eight Banners new army is occupying the middle road, and the Shaanxi-Gansu green battalion controls the rear road. This is how the layout is basically formed.
However, Wu Yingqi's road from the north to Sichuan was not completely blocked. There was a gap in the southwest corner of the Sichuan Basin that allowed Wu Yingqi to stop. This gap was the Xuzhou Prefecture where the Ziliujing Salt Mine was located.
Because Wu Shicong and Wu Shijue started to reach into Xuzhou Prefecture two or three years ago. They first occupied artesian wells, and then began to build villages around Yibin, the capital county of Xuzhou Prefecture. After two or three years, they had already built villages in Xuzhou Prefecture. The state has placed nearly a thousand households of "Yunnan immigrants". These are not ordinary Yunnanese, but Yunnanese who speak with a Shaanxi accent, are "elegant, easy-going, and have friendly faces."
Moreover, "nearly a thousand" refers to the number of households. Each of them has three or five burly men. They also settled in groups according to the camp organization. First, they built a dock outside the county seat and occupied key areas. Then, because there were black and white bears outside the city, and tigers, they had to carry shotguns, spears, and knives used for hunting black and white bears and tigers, and dragged "hunting cannons" (artillery specially used for hunting tigers and pandas) into Yibin County.
The Yibin County Magistrate and the Xuzhou Magistrate also let this behavior of "entering the city to hunt tigers and pandas" go unchecked. Although these two people are not Xixuan officials, the county magistrates, chief registrars, masters, scribes, and squad leaders below them, They are all from Yunnan.
So now the situation in Sichuan is very clear, that is, the imperial army occupies most of the Sichuan Basin, but has not sealed the southwest mouth, and the army of the Prince of Pingxi may rush into the Sichuan Basin from that mouth at any time to seize the territory.
Of course, the situation is still favorable to the Qing Dynasty!
Apart from the fact that the local military leaders in Sichuan are unreliable, the people of Sichuan are unreliable, the Land of Abundance has suffered too much, and the logistics supplies are not very reliable, the other advantages are all on Yue Le's side!
"Is the Wu Sangui you saw really a stand-in?"
In the camp in Nanchong County, Yue Le, who was a little worried because of too many "unreliable people", finally waited for Wang Zhongxiao, Lu Sanhao and Li Tianyu, who had "escaped death", and got four from them Very critical information.
First, Kunming has launched a general mobilization of rebellion! He also shouted the slogan "Qing Tian is dead, Zhou Tian should be established, equalize the land and divide the land, and the world will be safe"!
Second, there were indeed many conflicts between Wu Yingqi and Wu Guogui, but Wang Zhongxiao and Lu Sanhao were watched by Wu Yingqi's people and could not go to Qujing to see Wu Guogui. Although Wang Zhongxiao had found an opportunity to give Wu Yingxiong's autographed letter "Let Yunnan and Wu Guogui" and Kangxi's edict to Wu Shicong, only God knows whether this alienation plan will succeed.
Third, Wu Sangui is likely to have passed away. At least there is no way to appear in public!
Fourth, Wu Yingqi is about to advance north to Xuzhou Prefecture!
Among these four key pieces of information, the one that interests Yue Le the most is Wu Sangui’s situation.
"Yes, that Wu Sangui is indeed a stand-in!" Li Tianyu gave a very positive answer.
Wang Zhongxiao also said: "Bi Zhi's eyesight is good. Even though he was far away, Bei Zhi could tell at a glance that the person was not Wu Sangui at all."
Lu Sanhao also said: "If it is true that King Pingxi is sitting in the Yin'an Palace, why would Wu Yingqi have the right to talk so much?"
Yue Le nodded and picked up the memorial drafted in Wu Sangui's name that he had just read - this was a secret document. Logically Yue Le could not read it, but now that Yue Le had the power to act expediently, he still had to read it!
Yue Le opened the memorial again. It was filled with the words of Rou Zhong with a steel needle, and he also sent an army to the imperial court on the issue of withdrawing the feudal vassal and returning it to Liao. Prince An thought about it and asked again: "If the emperor agrees, If the land of Xuzhou and Ningyuan is awarded to the soldiers of King Pingxi, will Wu Yingqi rebel?"
"meeting!"
"Will!"
"Your Majesty, Wu Yingqi is on the verge of firing and has to take action!"
Li Tianyu, Wang Zhongxiao, and Lu Sanhao all gave very positive answers!
In fact, Yue Le didn't believe that Wu Yingqi could turn back, and Yue Le didn't believe that Kangxi could let Wu Sangui, Wu Yingqi, Wu Yingxiong, and Wu Guogui go. No matter what, these people must be eliminated!
As for the millions of people under King Pingxi's vassal, not to mention killing them all, then most of them would have to be killed. The remaining few would have to take away their privileges and become ordinary people or ordinary green camp soldiers.
Almost all of these are already known. Those under Wu Sangui will be fools if they don't understand.
When Yue Le was about to let Li Tianyu, Wang Zhongxiao and Lu Sanhao leave, the voice of one of his palace guards suddenly sounded outside the door: "Your Majesty, Luzhou military information is being delivered by air!"
Luzhou?
Wu Yingqi has arrived in Xuzhou Mansion? Fast enough!
Yue Le was taken aback and said loudly: "Bring it to me and show it to the king!"
"嗻!"
"Luzhou, Zizhou, Jiading, Tuojiang, Minjiang, Shujiang (Sichuan Section of the Yangtze River)"
Emperor Xiao Mazi got up early in the morning, and after greeting the old empress Bumbutai and the empress dowager (Bumbutai's grand-niece), he immediately went into his "General Suppression of the Qing Dynasty" - the south study room of Qianqing Palace. , I looked at the map in the south study room.
Of course, there is no high-precision map of southwestern Sichuan for him to see now, so he still looks at the less accurate map of the eight provinces of "Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Chu, Hunan, Guangxi, Guangdong and Fujian".
In the southwest corner of Sichuan in the picture, there have been placed some figures and flags made by carpenters from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. These figures and flags represent Qing soldiers and "Wu soldiers". They are placed on the picture. Very clear battle lines.
Among them, the Qing soldiers formed an arc for a month and a half, starting from Jiading Prefecture in the west, Zizhou in the middle, and Luzhou in the east. If we want to use rivers and mountains to divide the battle line, it would start from the Minjiang River in the west, rely on the Tuojiang River in the middle, and pillow the Shujiang River in the east.
The Wu soldiers were stationed in the Yibin, Nanxi, Pingshan, Qingfu, and Gaoxian areas of Xuzhou Prefecture, confronting the Qing army. In addition, a "blank area" was left between the two armies, mainly Fushun County and Longchang County in Xuzhou Prefecture, and Weiyuan County and Rong County in Jiading Prefecture.
"Looking at this posture, does Wu Yingqi want to fight a protracted war with me? With the financial and material resources of Yunnan Province, can he fight with me for a long time?" Kangxi turned his head and looked at several bachelors, Hanlin bachelors and quilts who were kneeling aside. Asked those who came to the south study room to discuss matters.
"Your Majesty, the imperial court and Wu Yingqi haven't started a war yet!" Suo'etu, a bachelor of Baohe Palace, reminded: "Wu Yingqi's request can still be considered."
"Consider it?" Kangxi sneered, "Just him? What qualifications does he have to negotiate terms with me?"
"Your Majesty, what this servant wants is that we can use a strategy to pretend to agree, then trick him out of Yibin, set up an ambush halfway, and annihilate him in one fell swoop!"
"Isn't it going to last long?" Kangxi asked, "Wu Sangui is probably gone now, and Wu Guogui and Wu Yingqi are not of the same mind. It seems that dragging it out will be more detrimental to Wu Yingqi, right?"
"That's not necessarily the case," Suo'etu said, "Now that the imperial army has penetrated deep into Sichuan, the supply depends entirely on Shaanxi and Gansu. Shaanxi and Gansu are not wealthy places to begin with, and now they have to transport grain into Sichuan. I'm afraid it will take a long time."
"Isn't Sichuan a land of abundance?" Kangxi asked, "Why can't it even supply tens of thousands of troops?"
"Your Majesty," Mi Sihan, the Minister of Household Affairs, replied, "Sichuan was originally a land of abundance, but it was later massacred by Zhang Xianzhong, and the population suffered heavy losses. Not even one in a hundred was left alive."
"Nonsense!" Kangxi's pockmarked face sank, "Zhang Xianzhong did not occupy all of Sichuan, and his army did not hold many places for long. How could he massacre everyone?"
"This, this" Mi Sihan couldn't answer. He had to go to Shunzhi to answer this question!
Kangxi probably thought of the answer, so he didn't ask any more questions, but changed the subject: "We have difficulty in supply, but Wu Yingqi doesn't have difficulty?"
"Your Majesty," replied Mingzhu, a bachelor in charge of the Ministry of War, "according to the investigation by the Ministry of War, Wu Shicong, the son of Wu Yingqi, and Wu Shijue, the son of Wu Guogui, have been building villages in Xuzhou Prefecture since the seventh year of Kangxi. They have surrounded dozens of villages. Zhuangzi, there are always 100,000 acres of fertile farmland. Those are good paddy fields. Although they have been abandoned for ten or eight years, the water conservancy ditches are not abandoned. As long as you spend some effort, they can be restored."
Mi Sihan also said: "The paddy fields in Xuzhou are ripe twice a year, and the weather in that area is good and there are no floods or droughts. A harvest of 100,000 acres of land can produce 3.5 million shi of rice in a year. Wu Yingqi even garrisoned three Ten thousand is enough to support two years of military use. And the imperial court has sent as many as 60,000 to 70,000 troops to Sichuan this time, and there are also a large number of livestock that need to be eaten. I'm afraid it won't be possible to rely solely on transportation from Shaanxi to Gansu."
Kangxi was speechless. He had always thought that he was "a lot of money" and "a lot of rice", and he was not afraid of longevity at all! As a result, it was only when things came to pass that I realized that the one who had "nothing to eat" was me!
In addition, Wu Shicong and Wu Shijue were able to support 30,000 troops in the corners of Sichuan for three years to confront the imperial court in Xuzhou Prefecture for several years. So what did the Qing imperial court send so many officials to Sichuan to do? Why don’t you know how to accumulate grain and store grain?
Now we have to transport grain from Shaanxi and Gansu to Sichuan. Are we afraid that Li Zicheng will not be second?
"Your Majesty," said the great scholar Mingzhu, "for the present plan, it is better to start farming and at the same time use the trick of luring the enemy to coax Wu Yingqi out."
"How to coax?"
"The emperor can give Wu Yingqi an iron scroll and make him a first-class Duke, and then agree to hand over the three prefectures of Luzhou, Xuzhou, and Ningyuan to people from the Pingxi Palace for farming."
(End of chapter)
