Ouch, this attitude is okay!
Li Zhongshan looked at Shang Shuying, who was taking the lead in kneeling to him, and then at Liu Jinzhong, who was standing silently behind him. He bowed in return and said softly to Shang Shuying: "Princess Bei, you are Your majestic princess, how can you give such a great gift to a member of my department? Are you trying to offend me? Get up quickly."
Shang Shuying was not polite, stood up, looked at Li Zhongshan with a smile and said: "Since the Inspector of the Cabinet has asked the Supervisor to transfer my concubine to be a general, and the Supervisor has agreed, I should obey the order and follow the etiquette of the military. Serving the governor, the governor must not break the rules of the army just because I am the concubine of the Northern King. If I violate the military law, the governor will punish me, but he will ask Shang Fang's sword to chop off my head. There are no complaints. The King of the North will definitely not blame the Superintendent for his strict military laws!"
Hey, Li Zhongshan glanced at his military advisor Zhou Chang out of the corner of his eye - Shang Shuying has become smarter and has seen through our plan!
Then Li Zhongshan looked at Liu Jinzhong again, and Liu Jinzhong said with a smile: "Superintendent, Shuying has led troops into battle and knows the rules of the army. Now that she is your general, she will naturally abide by military laws. If true, She violated military law, and she deserves to be killed by the supervisor with one sword!"
Li Zhongshan smiled and said: "King Bei is serious. Although military law is ruthless, it will be fine as long as you stick to it honestly." Then he shouted again: "Xiaohuan!"
"The slave family is here!"
Yang Xiaohuan, also in military uniform, stepped forward from behind Li Zhongshan.
"General Shang will be incorporated into your family camp," Li Zhongshan ordered. "You must take good care of him."
"yes!"
The so-called family camp is actually a hostage camp!
Of course, Li Zhongshan transferred Shang Shuying to his command not to let her charge into the battle, but to treat her as a hostage pledged by Liu Jinzhong. And Liu Jinzhong is definitely not the only one who wants to hand over the hostages!
Liu Jinzhong's subordinates, including those from his own system and those from the former Xushun Gongfu system, were all to be handed over as hostages.
If the hostages handed over are female dependents or underage children, a group of Guangdong Hakka female soldiers led by Yang Xiaohuan will be responsible for the custody, called the dependent camp.
If the hostage handed over is an athletic young man, he will be incorporated into Li Zhongshan's "Shanzi Camp", which is his personal barracks.
When Li Zhongshan was recruiting troops in Guangdong, he did not force his officers to hand over hostages.
Because the basis of the Guangdong New Army is the rural army divided into fields, the backbone of which comes from the rural military capitals allocated to the fertile land along the coast - the entire capital (equivalent to the administrative unit of the township) is composed of rural military households, and every household is from Li. The family was assigned land and sent out soldiers to serve as soldiers. The families of these rural soldiers were naturally under the control of the Li family, and there was no possibility of rebellion.
The military cadres who followed Li Fuchen and Li Zhongshan and his son from the north to Guangdong all brought their families with them. These family members initially lived in Zhaoqing and were looked after by Zhang Xiaoyu and Zhang Xiaobao.
Later, some of the family members who followed Li Zhongshan moved to Macao, Foshan and Guangzhou, and were looked after by Wu Xiaotuo and Li Fuhan.
Later, the officers who came out of the Guangdong Lecture Hall also allocated houses in Guangzhou and Zhaoqing. Of course, their families also moved into the city!
Of course, the above resettlement work for military dependents is done on a voluntary basis and is not mandatory.
However, this "non-coercion" principle can no longer be implemented in Nanjing. Yingtian is surrounded by enemies on all sides, and the situation is still a bit crisis.
Therefore, the family members of the regiment training in the five counties south of Yingtian are now detained by Lu Sanhao in Nanjing City for "protection".
Most of the backbone of Li Zhongshan's Huai army were warriors from Chuzhou, Fengyang, Hezhou, and Sizhou in the north of the Yangtze River. Of course, it was impossible for them to bring their families to Nanjing to join the army. But this time, isn't Li Zhongtang going to lead his team to visit Huaixi? Why are you so polite? Control it as much as possible, at least there is a leader on the team who must hand over the hostages!
As for Liu Jinzhong’s troops, they didn’t bring their families with them when they came to Nanjing with Geng Jingzhong, but now many people’s family members have arrived from Chaozhou Prefecture, and some people, such as Liu Jinzhong himself, got married here in Nanjing. daughter in law.
These Liu Jiajun's family members are now living in Jiangpu County and have not been sent to Geng Jingzhong.
Li Zhongshan asked Shang Shuying to be his general, which was actually a hint to Liu Jinzhong to take the lead and hand over his wife to him as a hostage!
If Liu Jinzhong is willing to take the lead, then the others will have nothing to say. Who can resist?
And handing over the hostages is tantamount to surrender!
Liu Jinzhong was previously regarded as half a vassal of Li Fuchen and Li Zhongshan. His territory in Chaozhou Prefecture was protected by the Governor's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi. His army in Jiangbei was also supported by the Guangdong Customs Road with 50,000 taels of silver per month, but he did not Even after handing over the hostages, they did not formally surrender to the Li family and his son. Moreover, he was also the Northern King of the Ming Dynasty, theoretically equal to Li Fuchen, and even married Princess Shang Shuying of Pingnan Palace, the enemy of the Li family. And it was with the help of Geng Jingzhong that the good things were accomplished!
This position of Liu Jinzhong made both Li Zhongshan and his dog-headed military advisor Zhou Chang a little unsure.
Zhou Chang proposed this method of testing Liu Jinzhong by asking for Shang Shuying to be his general. If Liu Jinzhong readily handed over Shang Shuying, it would mean that he married Shang Shuying just to swallow up the people of Duke Xushun. . Now that the goal is achieved, if you want to continue to be the eagle dog of the Li family, you can continue to raise this domain (the domain of the Li family).
If Liu Jinzhong refuses to make friends, then this Liu Jinzhong must not be kept!
As for Shang Shuying, Zhou Chang's suggestion was to wait until the mission of managing Huaixi was completed, and then find a reason to legitimately kill her with Shang Fang's sword, so that he could use her good-looking head. Come to force Monk Geng Jingzhong to rebel against him!
But seeing how well-behaved Shang Shuying is now, it’s a bit hard to find a reason to kill her!
Thinking of this, he glanced at Shang Shuying again and found that this woman was standing next to Yang Xiaohuan, also looking at him!
"The last general, Chief of the Taiping Mansion, Weixing, met with the Governor of the Pavilion!"
As soon as Li Zhongshan took his eyes away from Shang Shuying, another general who attended the court announced loudly.
Li Zhongshan turned around and saw a bearded man about the same age as Liu Jinzhong, with a ferocious face and a Shaanxi accent.
"Mr. Ma, please get up," Li Zhongshan said with a smile, "You are my elder when it comes to seniority, and Ada and your brother Ma Sanshu are considered brothers."
Ma Weixing and Wu Sangui's fierce general Ma Bao were brothers. They originally surrendered to Wu Sangui. Later, the Qing court felt that Wu Sangui had too many rebels, so it was not good, so it transferred Ma Weixing to Fujian and was controlled by Geng Jimao and Geng Jingzhong. . This is to go to Fujian and Jingnan Palace on behalf of Prince Pingxi to exchange experiences in rebellion!
"Superintendent, it is San Bao who calls Nan Wang brother, not a lower official." Ma Weixing stood up and did not use his relationship with Ma Bao to get close to Li Zhongshan. Instead, he stepped aside and let others continue to announce their names and official positions.
His cold attitude is not surprising. Zhou Chang and Li Zhongshan had already analyzed it. Liu Jinzhong might readily hand over Shang Shuying, but Ma Weixing would never hand over hostages to Li Zhongshan.
Because Ma Weixing's younger brother was Ma Bao, who was originally Wu Sangui's master and went to Fujian to exchange experiences in rebellion. Now that he is bringing his troops back to Wu Sangui's camp, how can he hand over hostages to Li Zhongshan?
However, Li Zhongshan selected Ma Weixing's general just to help Ma Weixing return to Wu Sangui's camp. In other words, he wanted a strong general like Ma Weixing to help his good friend Wu Shifan, and at the same time weaken Geng Jingzhong.
After Ma Weixing saluted and recognized his name, Liu Jinzhong and Ma Weixing's generals saluted Li Zhongshan one by one, and finally Li Zhongshan and Liu Jinzhong met with courtesy.
Although Liu Jinzhong had handed over the hostages, he was the Northern King of the Ming Dynasty after all. Li Zhongshan was just the Minister of the Ministry of War and the governor of Jiangbei, and was not qualified for Liu Jinzhong to attend the ceremony.
After the two of them met, Liu Jinzhong smiled and pointed at Puzikou City, not far from the pier, and said, "Supervisor, please speak to the city."
Li Zhongshan smiled and said: "Okay! I have something to discuss with Bei Wang and Mr. Ma!"
"Supervisor, please!"
Although Puzikou is just a town, it is the key point from Huaixi to Nanjing. It is separated from the city of Nanjing by the Yangtze River. It has always been the only way for Huaixi merchants to travel to and from Nanjing. This town was already very prosperous in the era when Zhu Yuanzhang was in power, so it was well repaired by Zhu Hongwu, an infrastructure maniac. In the following hundreds of years, construction and repairs were continued. When the Hongguang Dynasty was about to end, Ma Shiying sent people to repair Puzikou City. Unfortunately, it was of no use in the end!
But now, with the joint efforts of Lu Sanhao and Liu Jinzhong, Nanjing's Jiangbei bridgehead has become a truly impregnable fortress!
The 15,000 Northern Expeditionary Army led by Li Zhongshan will temporarily settle in this fortress. Before he crosses the Yangtze River himself, the Northern Expeditionary Army that arrived earlier has already arrived under the command of three generals: He Tianran, Yu Haitao, and Wang Leiyong. Under the control of more than ten thousand troops.
Probably because Jieshu's army has already arrived in Hezhou, which is very close to Puzikou Town, this originally very prosperous town has turned into a rather simple military city. Almost all the shops in the city have their doors closed, and the merchants have fled long ago. Only the civil servants recruited from Jiangpu County are like hard-working worker ants, pushing carts and carrying poles. The materials transported from Nanjing City continue to flow from the dock. Go up to Pukou Town.
Liu Jinzhong occupied a rather spacious and luxurious house in Puzikou Town. At this time, he had prepared a banquet in the house for Li Zhongshan to welcome Li Zhongshan. It's not yet dinner time, the cooks invited from Yangzhou are busy in the back, while Liu Jinzhong and Ma Weixing invite Li Zhongshan and Zhou Chang into the second hall to drink tea and talk.
Li Zhongshan chatted with Liu Jinzhong and Ma Weixing for a while, and finally started talking about business. He saw a serious look on his face: "King of the North, Mr. Ma, the mission I am undertaking this time is important, and everyone understands it. Now Nanjing is surrounded by enemies on all sides, and the Tatar army is encamping step by step. It is difficult to open the situation for a while, so King Dong just He proposed the strategy of using the Northern Expedition to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao."
Hearing Li Zhongshan mention the Northern Expedition, Liu Jinzhong couldn't help but frown: "Superintendent, the edict of the Supervisory State requires us to follow Emperor Taizu's method of the Northern Expedition, cross the Huaihe River and the Yellow River north, attack Youyan directly, and recapture the northern capital! Let's! Do you really want to fight like this? It seems a bit risky, right?"
"Isn't this just a little adventurous?" Li Zhongshan laughed, "It's simply very adventurous!"
"Then you still want to cross the Huaihe River and the Yellow River to the north and go straight to Youyan?"
"Yes!" Li Zhongshan said with a smile: "Isn't this how Emperor Taizu made his northern expedition to the Central Plains and restored China?"
"But it seems that our current territory and military strength cannot be compared with that of Emperor Taizu, right?" Liu Jinzhong frowned, appearing worried about the future of the Northern Expedition.
"That's why we must imitate Emperor Taizu's method of the Northern Expedition!" Li Zhongshan said, "How did Emperor Taizu do the Northern Expedition back then? There were three thousand tigers, and it was the Red Scarf Army of Han and Song Dynasty that swept through the land of Youyan, not us. Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty. King Bei, do you still remember how Emperor Taizu went on the Northern Expedition?"
"Well, Emperor Taizu didn't defeat Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng and others, unified half of the southeast, and then went northward." Liu Jinzhong said, "We are still far behind!"
Li Zhongshan said: "Taizu also rose step by step! At that time, Emperor Taizu was a begging monk at the beginning. He came to Haozhou, which is now Fengyang Mansion, where he voted for Guo Zixing. Then he gradually became a beggar under Guo Zixing. He rose to prominence, and later got the opportunity to capture Chuzhou, and then Hezhou. He crossed the river and captured Jiqing Road the year after Guo Zixing's death. After capturing Jiqing Road, Taizu truly flew into greatness. Yes. We already have Yingtian Road, which is Jiqing Road, but why can’t we fly high? I think it’s just that we are missing Haozhou and Hezhou Roads.”
"Haozhou and Hezhou are missing?"
Li Zhongshan nodded and said with a smile: "Jiqing is a good place, where dragons and tigers live, and there is plenty of money and food. The only flaw is that there are no Huaixi elites! The Jiangnan regiment training trained by Lu Zhongtang is better than my Huai army and Bei Wang, your Jiangbei Army is always a bit off, right? This time we aim to capture Hezhou, Fengyang, Sizhou, Yingzhou, Luzhou, and Lu'an Prefecture! Take the source of Huaixi troops in In my hand, I will open up contact with King Li Zhong and King Wu Xi, and form an encirclement against Jieshu who is entrenched in Jiujiang, Anqing, Nanchang and other places!"
This Li Zhongshan has a big appetite!
After listening to Li Zhongshan's words, Liu Jinzhong and Ma Weixing already understood what he was thinking.
Li Zhongshan wanted not only Huaixi, but also Anqing, Jiujiang, Nanchang, and the Jiangxi territory that stood between Guangdong, Jiujiang, and Nanchang.
After acquiring these sites, land transportation between Nanjing and Guangdong will be smooth. By then, Li Zhongshan would not only be able to obtain soldiers from Huaixi, but he would also be able to obtain muskets, artillery and silver from Guangfu!
The powerful Guangdong New Army can also go north to help in the battle!
At that time, the old Li family can not only swallow up Geng Jingzhong, drive away or eliminate Yue Le, Li Zhifang, Fan Chengmo and others, and completely control the southeast, they can also give Wu Sangui a try, and maybe break Wu Sangui into Chen Youliang. !
Liu Jinzhong thought for a while and asked: "But now there are soldiers from the Manchu and Qing Dynasty's Jiangbei and Jiangxi camps north of the Yangtze River. How can we take over Huaixi, the source of soldiers? We only have an army of 20,000 or so. !”
"Let's pretend to be in the Northern Expedition!" Li Zhongshan said with a smile, "Let's pretend to imitate the Red Scarf Army of Han and Song Dynasties, give them three thousand tigers and brave men, and sweep straight into the land of Youyan! And we can also get Wu Shifan to cooperate. He went from Nanyang to Luoyang to fight After crossing the Huaihe River, we cut off the canal and headed north along the Grand Canal."
"But will Wu Shifan cooperate with us?" Liu Jinzhong was a little unsure.
"Then there will be Chief Laoma Town!" Li Zhongshan turned to look at Ma Weixing, "Does Chief Ma Town want to return to the command of the Western King? Do you want to assist the descendants of the Western King?"
Ma Weixing originally did not want to get involved in the Northern Expedition, but he was forced to go north because of Li Zhongshan's name. Now when I suddenly heard Li Zhongshan talk about his return to the West Prince's Mansion, I felt like he had just gotten lucky.
Moreover, he can directly join Wu Shifan. From now on, he will be an old member of Shisun Mansion! Although he is old and may not be able to see Wu Shifan ascend the throne, he still has sons and grandsons!
"Zhongtang," Ma Weixing still couldn't believe it, "Xia Guan is a minister of the Third Prince and a subordinate of the East King. Can he really serve in the West Prince's Mansion?"
Li Zhongshan smiled and said: "Of course you can! But you have to take a risk and act as the Three Thousand Tigers who go straight to Youyan. As long as Mr. Ma is willing to cut off the canal after Liu Bei Wang and I cross the Huaihe River, we can open a section further north. The next comings and goings are all decided by you, Mr. Ma. No matter where you go, King Bei and I will carry it for you!
In addition, I will also write a letter and recommend Mr. Ma to Shifan! "
"Okay!" Ma Weixing is a cheerful person, "It's a deal!"
At the same time, Huai'an Prefecture, Jiangsu Province!
Huai'an was the old mission of the Caodu Yamen, and it is still the core of the water transportation business. Although Mingzhu had previously moved the Caodu Yamen to Yangzhou, the only one that could be moved was the Yamen. The warehouses, wharves, shipyards, etc. related to water transportation remained in Huai'an.
So Mingzhu, who was ordered to transport rice, silk, and cloth to Beijing, returned to Huai'an these days to do this. Also coming with him were Suzhou-made Cao Xi and Yuan Linjing, the head of the Jiangnan branch of Ruixin Hall. These two don't plan to stay together in the southeast. They have to run away quickly with the benefits gained in the past two years, as well as the inventory of Suzhou Weaving and the remaining silver deposits of Ruixintang.
And just when the three of them were preparing to take the official ship to the north together, a shocking news reached Huai'an!
It turned out that Fengyang Fucheng, the central capital of the Ming Dynasty, was accidentally defeated by a Northern Expeditionary Army of tens of thousands sent by the "Little Ming Dynasty" in Nanjing!
The Ming army that conquered Fengyang had no intention of giving up. They immediately crossed the Huaihe River and posted something like "Three thousand tigers and brave men, sweep straight to the land of Youyan" everywhere. It seemed that they were about to go on a northern expedition to attack Beijing!
Is this too much of an appetite?
And the water transportation to the north will not be interrupted because of this Northern Expeditionary Army, right?
No, we have to get on the road quickly!
(End of chapter)
