Inner Fang Mountain is where the King of the West travels.
In Wu Sangui's study, a father and daughter who were not related by blood were looking at each other silently.
After Wu Sangui came back from the new town, he seemed to be exhausted. He rushed into his dormitory and said he wanted to sleep. He also ordered his soldiers to guard the door and not see anyone. I didn't seem to sleep well either. I don't know what kind of nightmare I had. I was still destroying things in my dream. The only sound was the sound of throwing things. It wasn't until the afternoon of the next day that Wu Sangui woke up from his sleep, but his energy had not yet recovered and his eyes were still red. When his subordinates asked him for military instructions, he ignored them and asked them to ask Hu Guozhu. Someone else reported that Li Jizhen, the eldest son of Li Fuchen, asked to see him, saying that he had brought the terms of the covenant that he had just negotiated with Li Zicheng. Wu Sangui was not angry and asked him to wait. Later, when Wu Xiaoji came to see him, he was blocked.
However, he did not meet anyone. Instead, he invited his goddaughter Kong Sizhen to the study room, where the father and daughter had a secret face-to-face talk!
It was said to be a confidential conversation, but after the two exchanged greetings, they were relatively speechless. I don't know how long it took before I heard Wu Sangui laugh a few times: "Sizhen, yesterday the king, oh, it was Li Fuchen who spoke to him personally I say it is enough to be Zhao Tuo of Nanyue."
When Kong Sizhen heard what Wu Sangui said, he breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "That's all he's worth. Don't look at him now. He has a strong army and a strong horse. His second son is still in the Nanjing court and has become one of the three middle halls. But his foundation After all, it is in Guangdong. And the local tycoons in Guangdong are not as interested in the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains as they are in going to Nanyang to make a fortune. Moreover, Annan has been in chaos in recent years. Nanruan, Beizheng, and Gaopingmo have been fighting each other for I don’t know how many years. Many wealthy Guangdong merchants who do business in Hoi An Port in Annam are encouraging the King of the South to send troops to Annam these days, at least to capture Hoi An Port first.
However, Annan has not been under the jurisdiction of the Celestial Empire for hundreds of years. It seems that it has been extinct since the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. It would probably be extremely difficult for King Nan to regain Annan. Therefore, father, you don’t have to worry about him coming north to cause trouble in the future. You can just go all out in the Northern Expedition. Once you capture Beijing, who else in the world will disobey you? "
Wu Sangui smiled and said, "Zhao Tuo is also an emperor. He was the Emperor of South Vietnam!"
Kong Sizhen was startled by these words and shook his head repeatedly: "Father, please don't misunderstand me. This is not what I mean. He just wants to be the King of the South."
Wu Sangui waved his hand and said with a smile: "Sizhen, you have misunderstood. My father does not object to Li Fuchen becoming the Southern Emperor. Today's world is either three or four points, and my father does not have the ability to attack Huanglong directly. He can win Zhongzhou, With the two territories of Gansu and Shaanxi, he would be satisfied if he ascended the throne in Chang'an and became the Emperor of the Zhou Dynasty! If Prince Zhu San could pacify the southeast, then he would be the Emperor of the Southeast. As for Kangxi or Fuquan, he might also become the Northern Emperor.
From my perspective, in the future, the world will most likely have its own emperors in the southeast, northwest, and southeast, and then they will confront each other for decades or hundreds of years before reunifying! "
There are emperors in the southeast, northwest and northwest? Kong Sizhen said sincerely: Are you trying to beat the horse? Now that three are short of one, why don't we invite Li Fuchen to the card table to play together? No, are you being sarcastic?
Wu Sangui saw that Kong Sizhen didn't understand what he meant, so he didn't mince words and said directly: "Sizhen, my father underestimated Li Fuchen in the past. Maybe Li Fuchen also underestimated himself. But yesterday he solved the problem between his father and Li Zicheng Fighting means that he has one fourth of the world's strength. Whether he is called the emperor or not in the future, he will be one fourth! You must know that having the throne and the positions of several military governors in the family is not the same. the same.
There is only one throne, and only one son can inherit it. Li Fuchen can't create any great emperor, second emperor, or third emperor no matter what, right?
There can be many Jiedu envoys, and Li Jizhen, Li Zhongshan, and Li Jiqing can all have one. Do you understand it? "
Kong Sizhen already somewhat understood that once Li Fuchen had a future as emperor, the struggle between the Li family's father and son would immediately escalate!
In fact, the relationship between Li Jizhen, Li Zhongshan and Kong Sizhen has always been very harmonious, and they call each other "Aunt Kong" in a very affectionate manner.
Although there were some differences between Li Jiqing and them, he had his own governor to serve as, and he would not divide the shares between the two brothers.
Therefore, the two brothers and this brother who suddenly appeared were still polite. It was for this reason that Kong Sizhen regarded Li Fuchen as a big supporter for himself and his son (also Li Fuchen's son).
But once Li Fuchen has the throne, whoever becomes the emperor will be the winner!
And if you can't be the emperor's brother, what can you be?
Well, it’s not easy to be the emperor’s son! Especially there is a "Li Er" on top.
"In addition," Wu Sangui continued, "you can now follow Li Fuchen without a name or status, or you can take the title of a concubine, as long as you are willing. Anyway, Li Fuchen's eldest wife can't control you, and even Li Fuchen himself can't control you. I can't help you. But once Li Fuchen becomes the emperor, you won't be as carefree as you are now! What are you going to be?"
How can it be better to be a female warlord when the emperor's wife is as uncomfortable as she is?
Kong Sizhen already laughed: "Father, my daughter understands what you mean. My daughter has read history books and has seen the great storms and waves in Beijing. Isn't it all the bloodshed of these imperial families? My daughter knows what to do!" "
Wu Sangui smiled and nodded: "Okay, okay, it's good that you know! As a father, I also know that you have a way. But don't take it lightly. Li Da and Li Er are not fuel-efficient lamps!"
Outside the city of Xi'an, there is a camp on Bashang.
In the study of Wu Yingxiong, the eldest son of the Western Prince, at this time, a pair of brothers were looking at each other silently. These brothers are Wu Yingxiong and Wu Yingqi, the eldest and second eldest brother of the Wu Sangui family!
Wu Sangui did not have many sons. They were the only ones born to him personally, and he also had an adopted son, Wu Guogui. Although Wu Guogui controlled most of Hunan and had tens of thousands of troops, he was an adopted son after all. It was impossible for him to take office. Not only Wu Yingxiong and Wu Yingqi could not agree, but Wu Sangui's three sons-in-law who led the army, Xia Guoxiang, Hu Guozhu, and Guo Zhuangtu, could not agree, and a group of Wu family elders would not support it.
Therefore, the only ones who are qualified to be emperor after Wu Sangui are Wu Yingxiong and Wu Yingqi.
And these two brothers are now leading tens of thousands of troops to meet under the city of Xi'an, and they have also surrounded the unlucky Emperor Kangxi in the city of Xi'an!
However, they do not have the ability to capture Xi'an now, because the main force of more than 30,000 Qing troops in the West Route led by Laita and Feiyanggu have already broken through the blockade of Wu Yingxiong's troops before Wu Yingqi's army arrived, and rushed into Xi'an in one fell swoop. city.
The city of Xi'an originally had thousands of elite soldiers, as well as 70,000 to 80,000 family members and servants. With full mobilization, 20,000 to 30,000 people could be put up to the top of the city. Now more than 30,000 people have been added, making the defenders the largest in number. It can reach 60,000.
This Xi'an handed down from the Ming Dynasty is not as big as Nanjing. Sixty thousand defenders are really enough to defend the city.
Although the total strength of the two brothers Wu Yingxiong and Wu Yingqi reached 100,000, which was more than Kangxi in Xi'an, they were not sure that they could defeat the Qing army that defended the city.
In this case, besieging the city and consuming military supplies seems to be the best option.
Now there are more than 200,000 Qing troops, family members, and civilians in Xi'an city, which is a huge consumption!
Although the Wu army outside the city has 100,000 troops and consumes a lot of money, as long as the food from Xiangyang and Nanyang can be transferred up in time, they can still hold on until the end.
But beyond the expectations of these two brothers, just when they were preparing to stay outside Xi'an for a year and a half and starve Kangxi to death, news that they had never expected came from Jingmen Prefecture.
Their cheating father Wu Sangui actually got into a fight with Li Zicheng at this critical moment! They sent troops to steal Li Zicheng's Jingzhou and Yuezhou, but that Li Zicheng also suppressed his evil intentions and personally led his fleet to attack Xiangyang!
The sneak attacks on both sides failed, and in the end they were still facing off across the water on both sides of the Han River near Fangshan in Jingmen Prefecture!
In addition, that Wang Fuchen is now called Li Fuchen. He is not a thing. He doesn't care if he doesn't help. He actually comes to "shoot at the gate to break up the fight" - in fact, it is armed mediation!
Moreover, this Li Fuchen is still partial to Li Zicheng. He is already in the same clan with Li Zicheng and worships the same ancestor. How can he be so different from each other?
Therefore, Wu Sangui really can't spare the strength to support Xi'an now - because he has to collect all the available ships and sailors in Xiangyang to form a temporary navy, and there is no way to use those ships to move food from Xiangyang to Nanyang.
If we had to go entirely by land, it would be nearly a thousand miles to transport grain from Xiangyang to Xi'an, and the consumption on the road would be very large!
Moreover, the number of civil servants is not enough, and it is a busy time for farming.
Therefore, Wu Sangui ordered the two brothers to withdraw their troops quickly!
However, don't withdraw to the end, you still have to maintain a base in Guanzhong. Wu Sangui meant that Wu Yingxiong's people controlled Shangzhou and held Wuguan, and Wu Yingqi's people guarded Fengxiang Mansion and controlled the passage to Bashu and Longyou.
In this way, the old Wu family can send troops to capture Xi'an after Kangxi runs away or has sufficient supplies for the coming year. It doesn't seem to be a big delay, which is good.
But the Wu brothers were really a little speechless. They were winning at first sight, so why did they drop the ball at the critical moment?
"Boss, look at what our father is doing..." Wu Yingqi just took the edict sent by Wu Sangui and read it again and again. Now he finally put it down, and then looked helplessly at his good brother who was holding his arms and frowning.
"Hey, who asked Li Zicheng to be by his side? His hands are itchy if he doesn't stab him! But even if he doesn't take action, Li Zicheng will take action! We will still have to be tricked by these two old men!"
"Um," Wu Yingqi asked, "Brother, how much food do you still have on hand? How long can it last? Let's find ways to buy more around Xi'an?"
Wu Yingxiong said: "I have already sold out the food in several counties around Xi'an. The food I have on hand can still allow our 100,000 troops to hold on in Guanzhong for another two or three months."
"Two or three months." Wu Yingqi thought for a while, "How about I lead troops to Fengxiang Mansion to collect some food and grass, and you can send people to search carefully in Xi'an Mansion. Maybe we can get enough food for six months. . As long as you have this number, you can continue to spend time with Kangxi."
It is obvious that Wu Yingqi is still unwilling to give up the high-value target of Kangxi!
Wu Yingxiong looked at Wu Yingqi: "Second brother, what do you mean by searching and searching? Do you want it?"
"Grab!" Wu Yingqi said simply, "War is inevitable!"
Wu Yingxiong frowned and shook his head slightly: "The one who wins the hearts of the people wins the world, we can't do this!"
"My father has done this countless times!"
Wu Yingqi also wanted to talk to Wu Yingxiong about Wu Sangui's glorious deeds, but the voices of the two brothers Wu Shicong and Wu Shifan suddenly rang outside the barracks.
"Uncle, father, many people have been driven out of Xi'an City!"
"Tanma came to report that there were many people, ranging from tens to hundreds of thousands! They were all supporting the old and the young, crying for their fathers and mothers!"
Wu Yingxiong didn't have much military experience. When he heard the news, he looked at Wu Yingqi in confusion: "Second brother, Kangxi is going to do this."
"Maybe we have to drive the people to attack our fortress!" Wu Yingqi said experiencedly, "The Tatars often did this in the past, and my father did it too!"
"Ah" Wu Yingxiong frowned, "What should I do?"
"Kill!" Wu Yingqi said, "Brother, Ci can't control the army!"
"Kill ordinary people?" Wu Yingxiong asked.
Wu Yingqi nodded: "If you find any enemy soldiers among the common people, they must be killed! Brother, killing people on the battlefield is not just a one-on-one attack with a knife, but firing a cannon first, then a gun, and shooting arrows at the same time. It is impossible to wait for the common people to distinguish clearly before taking action."
Wu Yingxiong stood up immediately: "Second brother, we have to go and take a look. We have to take a closer look and save a little if we can. Nowadays, people value scarcity! Sichuan is a fertile country with thousands of miles of fertile land, but now it's A thousand miles away from the earth.”
Wu Yingqi shook his head: "Oh, you are a woman's benevolent person, let's go together!"
"Go quickly, go quickly. The emperor's decree tells you to get out and die!"
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, we are not going out, our home is in Xi'an!"
"Gungungun, don't stay in Xi'an city to waste food!"
"But my family still has food!"
"There are no more now, they all belong to the emperor!"
"Aren't we going to starve to death?"
"Let's go to Wu Sangui's place for dinner! What other luggage should you bring? Leave it all to me."
"Master Bing, this is all I have!"
"Bring it here!"
On the top of the city of Xi'an, Emperor Kangxi was wearing a blue coat. He stood behind a crenel and stared blankly at a large number of miserable people, supporting the old and the young, crying while being yelled at by the Eight Banners soldiers. After being driven out of the city, many refugees were robbed of their only belongings. They felt strange in their hearts and couldn't help but sigh.
It’s not that I sympathize with the people, but I’m worried that history books won’t say good things about him in the future!
No, this is a real record. He has to take a good look at it. If it is inappropriate, he must change it.
"Your Majesty, we did this kind of thing a lot during the Qing Dynasty's efforts to pacify the world. Don't be too sad!" The one who was advising Kangxi on the side was Laita, who followed Dorgon, Dodo, and Aji. They are the best in the world! What haven't you seen?
"But I" Kangxi shook his head, "those are my people!"
"Your Majesty, they are Han!" Laita said. "If we don't point them to eating up Wu Yingxiong and Wu Yingqi's food and grass, we can send elite soldiers to follow them and drive them to attack the Wu army's camp."
"Driving the people away? Is it useful?" Kangxi asked quickly.
"It works!" Laita said, "Archers and musketeers can't keep shooting. If you shoot too many arrows, your hands will get sore, and if you shoot too many muskets, the barrel will get hot. Emperors Taizu and Taizong often used By driving the Han people to push shield carts to consume the Ming army as the vanguard, they can always gain the upper hand. It's a pity that not many people did this this time."
As soon as he said this, he heard Kangxi muttering in a delicate voice: "Such a good method was passed down by our ancestors, how come it was lost?"
"Woo."
The alarm bugle sounded suddenly.
Kangxi nervously raised his telescope and looked outside the city, and saw large groups of rolling cavalry suddenly emerging from the horizon! They all wore simple blue and gray cloth face armor, and their heads were wrapped in red cloth.
Laita also murmured in a low voice: "They are Wu Jun's cavalry! There are quite a lot of them. It seems there are generals. I wonder if they are Wu Yingqi or Wu Shicong or Wu Shifan?"
Those who came were actually Wu Yingxiong, Wu Yingqi, Wu Shicong, and Wu Shifan. Two pairs of father and son came to the west of Xi'an together, and they brought with them a total of 10,000 cavalry. It was really a dark area!
But this dark cavalry is really nothing compared to the people who are being forcibly driven out of Xi'an by the ruthless Qing soldiers?
The refugees walking in front, who had nothing in their hands and could only support their relatives, had already seen the large group of elite cavalry led by the Wu family. They immediately knelt down and shouted: "Long live King Pingxi! Pingxi!" Long live the king."
When Wu Yingxiong heard this, his spirits suddenly improved. This is because people's hearts are in Wu! Definitely win!
He quickly reined in his horse, then turned around and asked Wu Yingqi: "Second brother, do you see any Qing soldiers behind those people?"
"There are some, not many!" Wu Yingqi looked at it and was a little surprised, "It's just one or two hundred cavalry. It's okay to chase someone away, but it's not enough to fight. So what is Kangxi doing?"
"Whatever!" Wu Yingxiong said, "Listen, they are all good people who support our father! Send someone quickly to tell them that as long as they follow the Wu family, everyone will have land, clothing, and food. Kangxi If you don’t want them, the old Wu family wants them too!”
This Wu Yingxiong changed his accent in order to win people over, which is really good.
As dozens of messengers rushed around the refugees and loudly announced Wu Yingxiong's order, the voices from the mountains west of Xi'an City shouted "Long Live the King of the West" even louder. The sound was deafening and made Kangxi on top of Xi'an City pale. He muttered in a low voice: "Those idiots, they are all damned idiots."
(End of chapter)
