"Your Majesty! The Nanhai County magistrate we sent to Foshan has just escaped, and the Wang family's troops have already entered Foshan Town. It is said that the unscrupulous people in Foshan Town offered guns and cannons to welcome the Wang army!"
"These Cantonese people have gone too far to bully others. Master, you'd better run away!"
"How to run? Where to run? Shaozhou? Our family business is all in Guangzhou, and there is nothing in Shaozhou. If we run there, the food and clothing of hundreds of thousands of people will be a problem!"
"If you can't run, then you have to fight to the death. At least you have to come out with a fighting posture. Let's frighten Wang Fuchen and Wang Zhongxiao first!"
"Where are the soldiers? Where did the soldiers come from? The second master brought out two thousand banner soldiers, three thousand coated servants, four thousand green battalion soldiers from the two wings, one thousand soldiers from the governor of Guangdong, and three thousand soldiers from the admiral of Guangdong. .A total of thirteen thousand, how much will be returned now?”
"Your Majesty, the remnants of the governor of Guangdong and the admiral's pacesetters all fled to Huizhou. Only the second master escaped with less than 3,000 remnant soldiers and suffered heavy losses!"
In the nine halls of Prince Pingnan's Mansion, there was a commotion among the ministers below Prince Pingnan's Mansion. Since taking over the power of Pingnan Palace the day before yesterday, all kinds of bad news have been pouring in like a tide towards Shang Zhixin, the dutiful son of the Shang family, the loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty, the person who encouraged the advancement of Sangui, and the mortal enemy of the Wang family and his son.
When Shang Zhixin didn't take over the power, everything was easy, but once he got the power, he realized that what he had tried so hard to snatch from his unfilial father was a mess full of holes.
His good brother Shang Zhixiao was defeated so thoroughly that he sent away at least 6,000 elite members of the Pingnan Palace, including more than 5,000 strong men who belonged to the Pingnan Palace!
The total number of vassal soldiers in Prince Pingnan plus the population of the vassal was more than 100,000. If you mobilize hard enough, you can recruit more than 10,000 strong men. Now that 40% of the young men have been lost in one battle, the inner city of Guangzhou is also the same as that of Sichuan earlier. Just like in the inner city of Beijing after the great defeat, every family mourned and every household paid filial piety.
But the Qing Dynasty had a strong foundation and many minions. As long as the slave door is wide open, people can still be filled. But Prince Pingnan’s Mansion has enemies everywhere in Guangdong! Moreover, when the Qing Dynasty could not protect itself and the world was in chaos, who in Guangdong would be willing to be a slave of the Shang family?
Moreover, Guangdong has long been known as "Guangzhou alone". Compared with Guangzhou, other state capitals are inferior. Therefore, those people under Shang Kexi are all "Guangzhou people". Their industries and families are all in Guangzhou, and they are also concentrated in and around Guangzhou City. They are not even prepared for the Three Nests of Cunning Rabbits.
Now the army is about to attack the city. If Guangzhou is destroyed, the vassals of Pingnan Palace will be eradicated.
Shang Zhixin previously wanted to run Shaozhou as a retreat. But the plan couldn't keep up with the changes, and Shang Zhixiao's disastrous defeat put Guangzhou Fucheng in danger!
Even if Shang Zhixin can bring all the people there, what arrangements will be made after they arrive? Let alone defending Shaozhou, it is a problem for hundreds of thousands of people to eat and drink in Shaozhou.
Moreover, if Shang Zhixin can escape to Shaozhou, why can't Wang Fuchen and Wang Zhongxiao pursue him to Shaozhou?
When the time comes, Shang Zhixin will still have to run. And where can he run?
If he had known that this business was so bad, he shouldn't have gone back to Guangdong. How about just living in Beijing?
The noise down there was still noisy, and it was getting louder and louder. Shang Zhixin had not slept for almost two days, and he was extremely upset. Finally, he couldn't bear it and yelled: "That's enough!"
His voice was extremely loud and ferocious, which startled everyone in the room, and everyone fell silent.
Shang Zhixin pressed his forehead with extreme fatigue, and was about to kick everyone out so that he could rest for a while, when he heard a voice at the door of the hall loudly said: "Master, good news is that the Marquis of Xin'an and General Ao have agreed to withdraw their troops. As long as we can Give them one million taels of silver as military expenses and two hundred thousand shi of white rice, and they will leave immediately!"
Everyone turned their eyes and saw Jin Guang and Shang Zhijie standing at the door with tired faces. Jin Guang also held a roll of paper in his hand - this was the "Wu Shang Treaty" that he, Monk Zhijie, Wu Sanwei, and He Tianran discussed on Haizhu Island for a long time before signing.
Shang Zhixin stood up suddenly, rushed forward, snatched the covenant from the hands of the Jin Guangjin military counselor, unfolded it, and read it word by word. The content of the treaty is not complicated, it just cedes territory, pays compensation, declares itself a vassal, and pays tribute. Well, it is very unequal!
But it is what Shang Zhixin dreams of!
Because of this "treaty", he, Shang Zhixin, even informally (Wu Sangui has not yet approved it) joined the Xiwang camp!
From now on, he is Wu Sangui's dog!
When beating a dog, it depends on the owner!
Wang Fuchen and Wang Zhongxiao would hesitate for a moment, right?
As long as they hesitate for a while, Shang Zhixin will have time to reorganize the army and organize the defense of Guangzhou!
Thinking of this, Shang Zhixin suddenly turned his head and shouted: "Prefect Fu!"
"The official is here."
Fu Honglie, the prefect of Guangzhou, quickly picked up his robe and came forward, bowing and obeying the order.
Of course he is loyal to the Qing Dynasty, but at this time he must also hide his true position, and then act according to the opportunity, so that he can be in the Shang (Wu, Wang) camp and feel clear.
Shang Zhixin handed the "unequal treaty" in his hand to Fu Honglie, "Prefect Fu, please quickly copy a copy and take it to see Wang Fuchen and Wang Zhongxiao. Tell them that I am already the King of the West! In addition, Tell them again that I have sent Li Junmen to Xi'an at night to ask the emperor to mediate."
"Prince" Fu Honglie was confused, "Who are you from?"
"It doesn't matter either way," Shang Zhixin snorted, "What matters is Guangzhou! As long as they don't come to attack Guangzhou, everything is easy to negotiate!"
He paused and then added: "Prefect Fu, I know that you are Kong Sizhen's covert. Wang Fuchen can still listen to your words. You can persuade him carefully. I can join the King of the West. There is no harm in me. The grandson of the King of the West, but he can’t. Unless he doesn’t want his two sons! So he shouldn’t be busy taking Guangzhou, take Guangxi, and help Kangxi contain the King of the West is the most important thing!”
"Xiaguan understands. Xiaguan will go to Foshan immediately to meet Wang Zhijun!"
Seeing Fu Honglie copying a "treaty" and leaving in a hurry, Shang Zhixin sat down on his throne again, glanced around the hall, and said: "Go back and count the number of people. Look at the leaders and leaders of each group. How many men are left in each battalion? How many men can be replenished? We must replenish the men as soon as possible and prepare to defend Guangzhou to the death!"
"嗻!"
"Go!"
After hearing Shang Zhixin's order, most of the people left. Only Shang Zhijie, Shang Zhijie, Shang Zhiying, Shang Zhihuang and Li Tianzhi, Shang Zhixin's true confidants, were left.
Shang Zhixin glanced at them and said in a quiet voice: "Tianzhi, you will take over the military and government affairs of Shaozhou when you go to Shaozhou! The fourth, the twelfth, and the fourteenth are all yours to take care of. Everyone, get ready!”
Shang Zhijie probably understood what his brother meant, but he was still a little reluctant to let go of Guangzhou, so he asked: "Brother, are we really going to abandon Guangzhou and retreat to Shaozhou?"
"Retreat to Shaozhou?" Shang Zhixin shook his head slightly and asked, "Can Shaozhou be defended?"
Just when great changes occurred in the city of Guangzhou, Shang Zhixin replaced Shang Kexi as the leader of the Ping vassal, and began to use two boats. He was also preparing to defend Guangzhou openly and escape secretly. On the other side of this Guangdong version of the power game, Wang Zhongxiao has entered the most loyal town in the world - Foshan Town!
Foshan is the territory that Wang Zhongxiao must occupy, and its importance is almost as important as that of Guangzhou City!
Foshan Town occupies a large area. It is said to be a town, but in fact it is larger than any other city. As early as the Ming Dynasty, it was known as one of the "Four Gatherings in the World". By the Qing Dynasty, it had become "the largest village in the world" in the words of foreign missionaries!
The reason why it is called "the largest village in the world" is because it is thirty-four miles around Dafoshan Town and has a very large population, even more than Guangzhou Fucheng, which was massacred by Shang Kexi and has not yet recovered its vitality.
The second reason is that there is no city wall in Foshan. Foshan Town is surrounded by water and is located on a large sandbank. It is surrounded by the Xijiang River, the Pearl River, the Lion Ocean and other waterways. These waterways are very wide and form natural dangers, so they do not need city walls for protection.
In addition, Foshan Town is the most important military industrial base and heavy handicraft industry center in China and even the whole of East Asia in this era, so it specializes in guns. Everyone has guns, including rich households!
For such a town that was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and overflowing with guns and artillery, even though it was a good thing back then, I didn't dare to rush in and massacre. I didn't even set up a county government in Foshan Town. I just continued to regard Foshan as a town under Nanhai County. , sent a county magistrate to take care of things.
In fact, it is to allow the gentry in Foshan to govern themselves!
However, Shang Ke is happy not to massacre Foshan, which does not mean that Foshan people do not hate Shang Ke!
Because most of the 300,000 to 400,000 people now gathered in Foshan have lost their land due to coastal migration and have become "propertyless" handicraftsmen!
Moreover, Foshan is very close to the capital city of Guangzhou, and Guangzhou and Foshan are not separated from each other. Many people in Foshan have relatives in Guangzhou. Those relatives in Guangzhou were killed by Shang Kexi, and their property was occupied by Shang Kexi's people!
Finally, Shang Kexi has always been a loyal enforcer of maritime bans and legal smuggling! The maritime ban and legal smuggling have monopolized the downstream of Foshan craftsmen - not only monopolizing foreign trade, but even monopolizing domestic trade routes!
This is because the domestic trade products made in Foshan must be sold by sea. Once the Qing Dynasty implemented the maritime ban and the relocation of coastal boundaries, it would be inconvenient for Foshan products to be sold to Jiangnan by sea, and then sold to other parts of the country through the Yangtze River and canals.
So in Foshan Town, there is now no one who hates Shang Kexi!
Foshan people's hatred for Shang Kexi is not only blood hatred, but also class hatred. It is the hatred of the emerging industrial handicraft capitalists against feudal lords like Shang Kexi.
From this perspective, when Foshan's handicraft capitalists beat gongs and drums, offered guns and artillery, and welcomed the Guangdong Township Army led by Wang Zhongxiao into Foshan Town, a bourgeois revolution had already begun!
A bourgeois revolution must involve many bourgeois, right?
In the past, few of Wang Zhongxiao's team had anything to do with the bourgeoisie. Yang Qilong may be one, Chen Yonghua may be one, and Wang Zhongxiao himself may be the same - he also set up a customs bank, which can be regarded as financial capital!
But if the three bourgeoisie of the Communist Party also revolutionized the feudal dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, was their power too small?
But now, I have finally entered Foshan, sitting in the Nanhai County Cheng Yamen in the extraordinary town of Foshan, looking at the owners of Foshan blacksmith workshops who are full in the lobby, and looking at the muskets and guns outside the County Cheng Yamen. With artillery and ammunition, Wang Zhongxiao finally felt a little like doing a bourgeois revolution.
"Wang Daotai," a fat president of the Foshan Chamber of Commerce named Qu asked Wang Zhongxiao with a smile while stroking his beard, "Are you and your father the ministers of the Qing Dynasty or the King of the West now?"
"Yeah, who are you from?" Another president of the Foshan Chamber of Commerce, surnamed Sun, also asked, "Are you going to rebel, or are you going to continue to be loyal to the Qing Dynasty?"
As soon as the two of them raised this issue, other big capitalists in Foshan immediately agreed.
"Wang Daotai, please tell us the truth. Who are we supporting?"
"Yes, yes, who has a greater chance of winning now? You can't support the wrong one!"
"Wangdaotai, we need guns and cannons to fight a war. We in Foshan specialize in making guns and cannons. Whoever we support will have a greater chance of winning. However, we still have to be more precise!"
"Yes, if it's Adou who really can't help him, no matter how many guns he gives him, it's useless."
"Wangdaotai, who do you think is more like Adou?"
The Foshan bourgeoisie is indeed incomparable to the English bourgeoisie. It seems that they have never thought of doing it themselves, breaking into Beijing, beheading Kang Mazi, and establishing a bourgeois republic or something.
But Wang Zhongxiao is preparing to be "Wang Lunwei"!
Thinking of this, he smiled and coughed, and the county magistrate's office suddenly became quiet. He smiled and said: "Everyone, I will talk to everyone today. It can also be regarded as asking for the opinions of the Foshan Chamber of Commerce. !”
Although the businessmen in Foshan don't have any great ambitions, they have big guns and real big guns!
Therefore, Wang Zhongxiao could only coax and reason with them.
"First," Wang Zhongxiao said, "Zhongqing and Wu are not important. They are fighting for the world in the north. When they figure it out, we can join in! Don't worry, I have a way on both sides, and I won't deceive you. of.
The important thing is that we all oppose Shang Kexi! "
"We also oppose Shang Kexi!"
"That's right, Shang Kexi is so bad that he won't be able to forgive his hatred even if he's caught and cut into pieces!"
"That is, my father-in-law's whole family was killed by his men, and only my wife was left. As a result, my father-in-law's dock was occupied by a man named Shang!"
Hateful indeed!
Speaking of the bad things Shang Kexi did, all the capitalists in Foshan became bitter and resentful!
"Second," Wang Zhongxiao said again, "if we want to find a good future, we must control Guangdong and Guangxi. This is also good for you! The firewood and iron ore you need for ironmaking come either from Shaozhou or along the I heard people say that there are also very good iron ores on Qiongzhou Island! If we cannot control Guangdong and Guangxi, you will have no place to get raw materials!
To control Guangdong and Guangxi, we must expand the Guangdong rural soldiers! To expand the rural soldiers in Guangdong, it is necessary to equalize the land. And equalizing the land will inevitably hurt everyone's interests. However, I also know the priorities, so I will agree with you on some conditions. First, the land on the sandbank where Foshan is located is uneven; second, anyone who cooperates with the equalization of land can get corresponding compensation in Guangzhou Fucheng. Real estate in Guangzhou City, Guangzhou The properties in the Tianzi Pier area outside the city can be converted into land prices. You are all in business, so you should know that the price of this land cannot rise too much. After all, you cannot collect much rent for one acre of land. But the property prices and the value of the docks in Guangzhou may not be worth much now, but once Guangzhou's business prospers, it will be great! "
The land still needs to be divided. However, as Wang Zhongxiao's territory expands, he cannot adopt the same high-pressure and stable control as when he first governed the three counties. He doesn't have that much energy, and he doesn't have that many reliable men.
Moreover, Shunde and Foshan are both inland and do not have the big cake of coastal relocation areas to cultivate the grassroots, so compromising with the industrial and commercial landlords in these areas is a last resort.
"Third," Wang Zhongxiao continued without waiting for these Foshan businessmen to settle the accounts, "from now on, Guangdong's domestic and foreign trade will be liberalized. Guangzhou, Macao, Xiangdao, and Foshan can all become Foshan, the treaty port, can also be used! The key is whether you are willing? If you are willing, then goods from Foshan can go directly to the sea, and the Guangdong Customs Road can set up customs in Foshan. The method of taxation is easy to discuss, and can be measured based on the amount. The price can also be paid by the chamber of commerce! What do you think? This is a big deal!"
(End of chapter)
