"How about a Hongmen Banquet? Can someone named Wang fall into the trap?"
"Isn't that right? The man named Wang is so cunning. How could he be killed by a Hongmen Banquet?"
The brother and sister Shang Zhixin and Shang Shuying still had some brains. After hearing the strategy proposed by Liu Jinzhong, they both felt it was unreliable.
Liu Jinzhong seemed to have known the reaction of the two brothers and sisters. He smiled and said: "We will host this Hongmen Banquet. Wang Fuchen and Wang Zhongxiao will definitely not be fooled. But what if Wang Shirong hosts it?"
"Wang Shirong came forward?" Shang Zhixin shook his head, "It's difficult, Wang Shirong has been in Guangzhou for a while, and he sent several waves of envoys to Wang Fuchen in Zhaoqing and Wang Zhongxiao in Foshan, but they didn't even get a reply! "
Shang Shuying frowned and lamented: "Wang Fuchen and Wang Zhongxiao are really stubborn and won't give face to anyone! What should we do?"
"No, no, no," Liu Jinzhong waved his hand, "It's not that Wang Fuchen doesn't give Wang Shirong face, but the prince and the prince are still unclear about the West. If your Shang family doesn't officially surrender to the King of the West, then Wang Shirong will be the King of the West. An ambassador sent by the king to Guangdong, why should he mediate the conflict between Shang and Wang? Neither Shang nor Wang can be completely regarded as ministers of the King of the West!"
"This." Shang Zhixin frowned, seeming to be thinking hard.
"Brother Liu, do you mean that in order to trick Wang Fuchen into taking the bait, my Shang family has to rebel with Wu Sangui?" Shang Shuying frowned even more tightly, "Isn't this inappropriate?"
Liu Jinzhong smiled and said: "Sister Shuying, you misunderstood. How could I advise your eldest brother to rebel? I just suggested that he pretend to rebel in order to win the trust of Wang Shirong and Wang Fuchen, and then hold a Hongmen Banquet to capture Wang Fuchen in one fell swoop!"
"Can this rebellion still be fake?"
"Yeah, how can you pretend to be rebellious?"
The two brothers Shang Zhixin and Shang Shuying were still hesitant about rebelling or pretending to be rebellious.
Among them, Shang Zhixin really wanted to rebel, but there were still troops loyal to the Qing Dynasty in Guangzhou City. For example, Zhu Guozhi and Li Lan led two thousand people to help the Shang family defend the city. Hundreds of people were also loyal to the Qing Dynasty. Even within Shang Fan, there were still people who were still loyal to Shang Kexi and Shang Zhixiao.
If Shang Zhixin openly rebels and goes to Wu Sangui, will any of Zhu Guozhi, Li Lan, Shang Kexi, Shang Zhixiao, and Shang Shuying go to Wang Fuchen?
Although Wang Fuchen also showed his opposite behavior, as long as he did not openly raise a flag of rebellion, he would still be the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi in the Qing Dynasty!
It doesn’t take much. If one or two people turn against each other and cause trouble in Guangzhou City, Wang Fuchen and Wang Zhongxiao’s people will break into Guangzhou City!
Moreover, Wu Sangui can't spare any time to support Shang Zhixin in Guangdong. Wang Fuchen and Wang Zhongxiao have to fight for it, and Wu Sangui has no choice. He might even hold his nose and admit it directly. As long as Wang Fuchen and his son can surrender to Wu Sangui after they win Guangdong. .
Therefore, Shang Zhixin was always hesitant on the issue of anti-Qing.
Shang Shuying, on the other hand, is more inclined to continue to be a "little vassal" of the Qing Dynasty. The "Xushun Gongfu" she heads is actually similar to the four major vassals (Pingxi, Pingnan, Jingnan, and Dingnan). , but the scale is much smaller, with only five subordinates. The actual territory occupied is half of Chaozhou Fucheng - there is a wooden fence in Chaozhou Fucheng, which divides the city into two, half of which belongs to Xushun Gongfu, and half to Chaozhou Town Chief Soldier Liu Jinzhong.
Without the protection of the Qing Dynasty, with the little strength of Xushun Gongfu, not to mention keeping the Gongfu, even Xietai Yamen would not be able to protect it, and Liu Jinzhong might be swallowed up in one go. Although Shang Shuying was already in love with Liu Jinzhong, and she kept saying that she wanted to marry Liu Jinzhong, and that she wanted to use Xushun Palace as a dowry. But that was just a retreat. If the big tree of Pingnan Palace really gave Wang Fuchen and Wang Zhongxiao If it is cut off, then the Xushun Palace will not be able to survive with just five assistants. Combining with Chao Zhen is the only way out.
She is sleeping with Liu Jinzhong now just to pay the down payment for her husband's family, that is, the future of Duke Shun. She should be regarded as a rare chaste and martyr woman, right?
Liu Jinzhong took in the expressions of the two brothers and sisters. The performance of the two people was pretty much what he expected. He smiled and said: "This rebellion must be staged like this, no, it must be pretended like this. First of all, we have to pretend to arrest Mingzhu, maybe Zhu Futai and Li Junmen and hand them over to Imperial Envoy Wang!"
Secondly, we have to grow our hair, change our clothes, and display the banner of President Xi Wang.
Third, after we finish these things, we can ask Wang Qinqi to come forward to take charge of the two broad bureaus and divide the territory of Guangdong and Guangxi for the Wang family, Shang family, Sun family, Ma family, Guo family, Shen family, and just a few!
Prince, you can also write a personal letter to Wang Fuchen and Wang Zhongxiao, expressing your willingness to give up Guangzhou Prefecture and only retain the territory of Shaozhou, Huizhou, Nanxiong and Lianzhou, a total of two prefectures and two states. Although the Wang family's intention must be to take over Guangdong, if they could win Guangfu without a fight and get Wu Sangui's canonization, the Wang family and his son would probably be fooled.
By the way, we can also ask Fu Honglie, the prefect of Guangzhou, to come forward as the messenger. Fu Honglie is Kong Sizhen's cover, and Kong Sizhen will definitely believe his words. Moreover, Kong Sizhen must want his son, King Dingnan, to be canonized by Wu Sangui, so he will definitely persuade Wang Fuchen to come to Guangzhou Mansion to discuss with us the division of territory."
At this time, Mingzhu, the imperial envoy of the Qing Dynasty and mediator, had been placed in the palace of Pingnan King Shang Kexi.
Shang Kexi has long since lost power, but Shang Zhixin, a filial son, has not yet been promoted to the role of a filial son, so he still saves enough face for Shang Kexi, and allows him to live in the extremely luxurious Pingnan Prince's Mansion, and also allows Shang Zhixiao to live in the Prince's Mansion. , personal service, professional support.
After Mingzhu entered the city, he refused to go to the post arranged by Shang Zhixin and insisted on seeing King Pingnan. So Shang Zhixin asked Zhu Guozhi, the governor of Guangdong, and Li Lan, the admiral of Guangdong, to accompany Mingzhu to the Pingnan Palace.
After paying tribute to the half-blind and out-of-power Pingnan King Shang Kexi, Shang Kexi offered to let Mingzhu live in his palace because he was afraid that Mingzhu would be kidnapped by his rebellious son Shang Zhixin and handed over to Wu Sangui.
The place had just been settled, and when Shang Kexi, Shang Zhixiao, Zhu Guozhi, and Li Lan were staring at each other in the flower hall of the palace, Shang Kexi's military advisor Jin Guang came to report that Wang Shirong, the imperial envoy of the Western King, asked to see Nalan, the imperial envoy of the Qing Dynasty. Pearl.
"What?" Shang Kexi was a little annoyed when he heard this, "How dare Wu Sangui's lackeys come here? Fight me out!"
Now he only dares to say "fight him out" and dare not say "hack him to death". Although Wu Sangui is a rebel, he only opposes the Qing Dynasty and not the King of Ping Nan! Not to mention that I will not take the lead for the unruly people in Guangdong. What a happy old life!
"Your Majesty," Jin Guang did not move out to drive away the people, but stood there and said to Shang Kexi, "Prince Envoy Wang said that he wanted to inquire about Obai's situation from us and the Prime Minister!"
"What?" Shang Kexi was stunned, "Obai? Didn't Obai go to Lianzhou? He should have set off for Hanzhong by now, right?"
"Your Majesty," Jin Guang said, "this is what Beizhi told Wang Qinchen. But Wang Qinchen told Beizhi that he had not seen Obai in Guangxi and Lianzhou. And as far as he knew, there were no people in Lianzhou. I’ve never really seen Oboi!”
"What?" Mingzhu was also stunned, "Didn't the people from Lianzhou come all the way from Ruian, Wenzhou? How could they not have seen Obai?"
"Ming Xiang," Jin Guang said with a smile, "I think this matter is very strange. Why don't you meet this Imperial Envoy Wang and discuss Oboi's issue with him?"
"Check the account." Mingzhu wanted to refuse, but it was a matter of great importance to Obai, "Okay, then let's check it out!"
"That's right!" Shang Kexi could only nod his head and said, "Then please invite Imperial Envoy Wang Wang!"
It’s so much fun now!
The imperial envoys of the Qing Dynasty and the imperial envoys of the Western King of the Ming Dynasty are going to reconcile the affairs of Obai at the residence of King Pingnan Shang Kexi!
After a while, Imperial Envoy Wang came, still dressed like a Ming Dynasty civil servant - the hood was actually used to cover his braided hair. Now that Imperial Envoy Wang's "hair" has grown, naturally there is no need for the hood.
After being led into the flower hall by the golden light, Imperial Envoy Wang saw Imperial Envoy Ming sitting there angrily, so he smiled and cupped his hands and said: "Prime Minister Ming, you are an imperial envoy, and I am also an imperial envoy. So when we are imperial envoys, see the imperial envoy today." There’s no need to be too polite, let’s forgive each other!”
"Hmph!" Mingzhu said rudely, "I am the imperial envoy of the Qing Emperor. Who are you, and you dare to sit on an equal footing with me? Look, is there a place for you here?"
Wang Shirong smiled, glanced around the flower hall, and found that there were no chairs prepared for him. This is a flower hall, not a lobby, so there are not so many rules. Shang Kexi, Shang Zhixiao, Mingzhu, Zhu Guozhi, Li Lan, and Jin Guang all have chairs. , he was the only one standing!
This is inappropriate!
But this couldn't help Wang Shirong. He was holding a Shangfang sword and strode up to Li Lan and glared at him: "Young man, give way!"
Li Lan glanced at the sword in Wang Shirong's hand - this sword was said to be Shang Fang's sword! It was given by Wu Sangui! You can kill him first and report later. Although Li Lan is still an official in the Qing Dynasty, who knows what will happen in the future?
Thinking of this, he really stood up and muttered: "My butt hurts a bit. This chair is a bit harsh on my butt. I'd better stand!"
When Wang Shirong saw that the chair was vacated, he sat down in a hurry, then glanced at Mingzhu, and then said: "Mingxiang, let's stop talking nonsense and get straight to the point. We have never had anything here in the West Prince's Mansion. Obai! Ever since Obai got into trouble, no one under the Xiwang vassal has seen Obai! You have always said that Obai defected to the Xiwang, but do you have any solid evidence?"
"What? What did you say?" Mingzhu was shocked, "Obai isn't here with you? It's impossible that Wang Jizhen and Lu Yifeng could have seen Obai enter Yunnan with their own eyes!"
"Lu Yifeng has never met Obai," Wang Shirong said. "Do you believe that Wang Jizhen may not have met him?"
"this."
Wang Shirong smiled and said: "Now that things have happened, do we, the King of the West, still need to cheat on Obai? The King of the West asked me to investigate this matter because I was just curious. Why are there rumors everywhere that Aobai has surrendered to him? Who is this rumor? Made?"
"This Rumor" Mingzhu actually had doubts about Ao Bai's defection to Wu Sangui, but everyone said so at the time, so why should he be independent?
At this time, Li Lan also remembered what was wrong. He frowned and said, "That Ao Bai from Xiangdao and Shenzhen is not quite right either. They all say there is Ao Bai, but who has seen it? Even if he has seen it, it is only from a distance. At a glance, no one has ever seen him up close! The envoys we sent to Wu Sanwei’s army have never seen Ao Bai himself!”
Wang Shirong said: "There is no Obai at Fourth Master Wu's side. Where can you meet him?"
"What about that Obai from Suzhou?" Mingzhu asked again.
Wang Shirong spread his hands: "We don't know anything about Suzhou!"
"You don't know? Where is the Third Prince Zhu? Is the son-in-law of the King of the West the Third Prince Zhu?"
"No!" Wang Shirong shook his head, "Not at all. That is, the prince had an engagement with an old man in his early years. The prince found the daughter of an old man in the vassal as his adopted daughter and married that Wang Yongkang. He also gave him some Money, let him go back to Suzhou. Somehow, you mistook him for the third prince Zhu, and even made a case of Obai and the third prince Zhu joining forces to fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty in Suzhou!"
"This" Mingzhu frowned tightly. By now, if he didn't know that someone was up to something, then he, a bachelor, would be a big fool.
But who is the troublemaker?
Could it be Wang Fuchen and Wang Zhongxiao?
Aren't they the ones responsible for chasing and killing Obai that day?
Just when Mingzhu was about to come into contact with the truth, there was a sudden commotion outside the flower hall, and someone seemed to be vaguely shouting: "Your Majesty, what are you doing? Your Majesty, why are you dressed like this? Your Majesty, why do you bring so many soldiers? coming!"
Hearing these words, everyone in the flower hall couldn't sit still and stood up. But before they could really think about what to do, they saw Shang Zhixin, who was wearing a regimental robe and a red hood, and the same-dressed Liu Jinzhong and Shang Shuying, who had changed into Han women's clothes and held a sword in their hands, led a group of soldiers with red scarves on their heads and round collar robes to rush in.
Seeing how Shang Zhixin, Liu Jinzhong, and Shang Shuying were dressed, everyone in the flower hall except Wang Shirong felt their hearts drop.
This Shang Zhixin rebelled again!
Last time, he rebelled against his father, which was quite gratifying. This time, he rebelled against the Qing Dynasty!
Shang Zhixiao hurriedly listened to Shang Kexi's ears and told Shang Zhixin, Liu Jinzhong, and Shang Shuying that they had rebelled together.
"Shuying, why did you rebel?" Shang Kexi was a little confused. While asking, he rubbed his eyes vigorously, as if he wanted to see Shang Shuying rebelling with his own eyes.
"Dad," Shang Shuying didn't care about calling Shang Kexi "Ama", "Now that things have happened, if our family doesn't follow Long Live the King of the West to fight against the Qing Dynasty, I'm afraid there won't be any space left in the whole of Guangdong. Dad, are you still here?" Do you want your whole family to go to Hunan and Jiangxi to beg for food together with the hundreds of thousands of people in the domain?"
Liu Jinzhong smiled and said: "Old Prince, it is not easy for the people of the Shang family and the Heping vassal to go to Hunan and Jiangxi. Guangzhou is already surrounded on three sides. It is hard to say whether the last little way out is a way out. Maybe it is surrounded by three towers. Yeah! The only way to survive now is to surrender to the King of the West, and then ask Wang Qinchen to help the Shang family come forward to negotiate with the Wang family. In this way, at most one Guangzhou Prefecture will be cut off! Wang Qinchen, do you think this negotiation can be won?"
Wang Shirong also felt like he was hit in the head by happiness. He didn't expect to be able to defeat the forces of Pingnan Palace, Xushun Palace and Chao Town Liu Jinzhong so easily!
Even if Prince Pingnan gives up Guangzhou, he still has one palace and two states on hand. Liu Jinzhong and Shang Shuying combined to have Chaozhou. If these three families join forces again, Huizhou will most likely not escape.
As for Pingnan Palace, Xushun Palace, and Liu Jinzhong surrendered, plus half of Guangzhou Palace (half of them were already surnamed Wang), Wang Fuchen and Wang Zhongxiao would most likely have no choice but to join the Western King.
The territory of the two provinces suddenly returned to the West Prince's Mansion!
So the territory under Xiwang includes Guangdong, Guangxi, Huguang (still missing a part), Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Shaanxi and part of Gansu. If you round up, that is the territory of seven or eight provinces, almost half of the country.
In addition, Wang Zhongxiao now controls Foshan, the world's largest iron smelting town, and can also import fire, saltpeter, and sulfur through Macao. With the firearms and gunpowder supplied by the Wang family, it shouldn't cost the King of the West too much to grab the remaining half. Time, right?
Wang Shirong said heartily: My founding hero is finally stable!
Thinking of this, he quickly patted his chest and said, "No problem, as long as I intervene to mediate, it will be okay. But..." As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and pointed at the stunned Pearl, "But you have to do it first. Capture Mingzhu for me! King Xi also wants to use him to exchange for the Crown Prince’s wife and children!”
As soon as Shang Zhixin heard this, he quickly called to the people around him: "Where are the people coming? Quickly capture the Tatar named Nalan Mingzhu!"
"yes!"
Liu Jinzhong shouted and strode forward to catch the pearl.
Mingzhu was also a former imperial guard and had some martial arts skills. She also practiced wrestling. When she saw Liu Jinzhong trying to arrest her, she immediately put on a show of resistance and actually started fighting with Liu Jinzhong.
However, the soldiers brought by Shang Zhixin did not have martial ethics. Seeing that Liu Jinzhong could not take the pearl for a while, two people came up to help. One of them grabbed the pearl's braid and pulled it hard, while the other one pulled it hard. Mingzhu's calves were her feet. It was obvious that Mingzhu couldn't stand anymore, and Liu Jinzhong knelt down with a plop. He knelt too hard and knocked his knees. It was painful, and he immediately screamed repeatedly.
Now Mingzhu had no ability to resist, and was quickly captured alive by Liu Jinzhong and others. However, Mingzhu was not honest, and even said "curse", "You will not succeed, the emperor will not let me go to redeem me." Wu Yingxiong’s wife and children are dead. They are dead! Woohoo, I am dead too!”
Shang Zhixin didn't care about the life or death of Wu Yingxiong's sons and Mingzhu. He just smiled and said to Wang Shirong: "Wang Imperial Envoy, do you think you can invite Wang Fuchen to come to Guangzhou for a while?"
(End of chapter)
