Wuchang Fucheng, Chuwangtai.
Although it was still early morning, the sky above our heads was filled with clouds that looked like lead gray. The snowflakes were fluttering and curling, getting bigger and bigger, and it was about to turn into the biggest snowfall in the second year of the Republic, and it was about to fall with a roar.
The cold wind on Chu Wangdai also became more and more biting. But Li Zicheng, the gravedigger of the Ming Empire, the experiencer of the Dashun Emperor, and the defender of the Ming Republic, was about to leave Wuchang Fucheng, which was loyal to him, for the Jiugong Mountain that once frustrated him, but he couldn't feel it. A little chilly. He just wanted to take another look at Wuchang Fucheng, which he had worked hard for three years!
As Wu Sangui's dragon flag appeared in Hankou City, across the river from Wuchang Fucheng, Li Zicheng's resistance in Wuchang Fucheng had to come to an end. In fact, before Wu Sangui arrived, Wuchang Fucheng had already been engaged in street fighting for nearly 20 days. Although Li Zicheng's old camp troops and the Zhongwangfu troops that had been withdrawn from the banks of the Yangtze River and Han River tried their best to defend the city, Wu Zhou's troops were too many. There were tens of thousands of troops who followed Wu Shifan all the way south from Zaosuidao and invaded Hankou!
Since there were a large number of ships moored at Hanyangmen Wharf that could be used by Wu and Zhou, the troops who arrived at Hankou were quickly transported to the south bank of the Yangtze River one by one and joined in the battle for Wuchang Fucheng.
The continuous addition of these new forces soon put Li Zicheng into trouble, and the action of abandoning Wuchang Fucheng began from then on. Wuchang Fucheng is the base camp of Prince Zhong's Palace, and it is also a base camp that has been painstakingly managed. Of course, there are many altars, and there are even more supporters of Ming Dynasty, Republic of China and Prince Zhong's Palace!
So many people supported the old and young, carried burdens, pushed carts, and braved the falling snowflakes to run into the mountains with Li Zicheng, and many of them did it spontaneously. This simply made Li Zicheng not know what to say. What's better?
I remember when he was the king of Chuang and the emperor, not many people were willing to follow him if he didn't forcefully coerce him. When he fled Beijing, Xi'an, Xiangyang and Wuchang Fucheng in a hurry, at most there were only some family members of military generals following him. As for the people, I'm afraid they had long been expecting him to run away!
But this time, Prince Zhong's Mansion did not coerce the people. It just posted notices inside and outside Wuchang City, telling everyone that Prince Zhong's Mansion had prepared temporary settlements in the camps in Xianning, Tongshan and Mubu Mountains for the people who were willing to follow. I dare not say anything else, I can only say that we will ensure that everyone has food to eat, clothing to wear, and a thatched hut to live in!
In the future, they will all be "his own" in Prince Zhong's Mansion. Prince Zhong promises that they will be allowed to be citizens of the country, and they will be divided into fields and homesteads in Jiangxia, Hankou, and Hanyang!
Just a piece of notice caused nearly 200,000 people in Wuchang Fucheng and surrounding villages, supporting the elderly and children, to gather in waves at the Chu Watchtower located in the southwest corner of Wuchang Fucheng in the past ten days, and then in Zhongzhong. Under the organization of the generals and subordinates of the royal palace, they headed south in the wind and snow.
In order to cover the transfer of the people, the army of Prince Zhong's Mansion could only rely on Prince Zhong's Mansion (formerly Prince Chu's Mansion) and Sheshan, and resisted for a few more days.
However, when Wu Sangui's imperial camp arrived in Hankou, the resistance of Prince Zhong's Palace in Wuchang Fucheng could not be sustained at all. So last night, Li Zicheng abandoned Prince Zhong's Mansion and retreated to Chu Wangtai, his last stronghold in Wuchang City. Chu Wangtai is located on a low hill with Ziyang Lake on the side. To the south is Zhonghe Gate, the last city gate under the control of Prince Zhong's army.
Now the last batch of people leaving Wuchang Fucheng, probably several thousand people, are leaving one by one in the heavy snow and cold wind. These people have been organized into "men's camp" and "women's camp" in advance. Among them, the "men's camp" are all young and strong. Prince Zhong's Mansion has issued them swords, spears, bows and arrows, and they are armed casually. Not only are they the last defenders of the "Female Camp", they also carry the rations to keep themselves and the "Female Camp" alive along the way.
The "women's camp" includes the old, the weak, women and children. Everyone is holding a wooden stick, supporting each other, and trying to walk forward. Among them were many half-grown children, who were neither crying nor fussing at this time. If they slipped on the snow, they would get up and continue moving forward.
When Li Zicheng saw this scene, he burst into tears again and murmured: "I have been in Wuchang for three years. I dare not say how much good governance I have done, but I have not done any evil. I don't think so many people will follow me today. If I could have done less in those years How could such virtuous policies lead to the world being trampled upon by barbarians and suffering decades of chaos?"
"Your Majesty, you are too self-effacing. You and Prince Zhong have done something for some people. In Wuchang Prefecture alone, more than 100,000 poor peasant households have been allocated land. Moreover, the officials under your rule have also You are well controlled and do not dare to bully the people. The people remember your kindness and are naturally willing to follow you."
The speaker was Huang Zhisheng and his father, Huang Lao Hanlin. The old man was old and no longer an official. He was living in Wuchang City for his retirement. From time to time he would go to Prince Zhong's Mansion and accompany Li Zicheng to reminisce about the glorious past. He actually made friends with the Emperor Yongchang of Dashun.
He is still very clear about what Prince Zhong's Mansion has done in Wuchang Mansion.
Prince Zhong’s Mansion of the Ming Dynasty is probably the only regime in the world today that truly operates in accordance with the “Celestial Land Acquisition System”!
Even in Guangzhou Prefecture, the "Chinese Land Acquisition System" was only partially implemented and was not implemented throughout the territory. After Li Zhongshan's career became bigger, he was not willing to take over those landlord class intellectuals and landlord class capitalists who were willing to take refuge with him. Push it out!
Therefore, his land allocation policy was mainly divided into increments - the land cleared by the coastal boundary relocation plus the vassal of Pingnan Palace were all considered increments. The second is to watch people order food when dividing the stock, and try to compensate them as much as possible.
As Li Zhongshan ruled more and more territories, and there were more and more officials and officials representing the landlord class and industrial and commercial people in the regime, the "Chinese Land Acquisition System" was no longer implemented, and gradually evolved into the "Chinese Land Acquisition System". , that is, only soldiers who have served for a period of time will be given farmland and national status. It is somewhat similar to the citizenship rights of "Old Rome".
However, Prince Zhong's Mansion in the Ming Dynasty was more practical in handling affairs and was more sympathetic to the working people at the bottom. They have no increment to divide, they just divide the existing amount, and their execution ability is also strong - their territory is small, their power is concentrated, and they can implement rule without relying on too many landlord class intellectuals. Therefore, those palaces are directly under the jurisdiction of Prince Zhong's Palace, and there is no National People's Congress.
In the past three years, Prince Zhong's Mansion in the Ming Dynasty has created many die-hard loyalists and mortal enemies in the five prefectures of Wuchang, Hanyang, Huangzhou, De'an, and Anlu!
Someone in the feud was acting as Wu Sangui's guide, so of course the die-hard loyalist would follow Li Zicheng and run away.
And Li Zicheng also had a place to retreat.
The Zhongwangfu regime was not a rogue regime, but a local snake regime. It not only ran the city, but also managed the countryside through the division of fields and land and the military system. It was hundreds of miles away from Wuchang Fucheng, at the intersection of Hubei, Jiangxi, and Hunan provinces. The Mubu Mountains there were gradually turned into their own cottage by Prince Zhong's Mansion.
Now Wuchang City cannot be defended, but Prince Zhong's Palace can still retreat into the mountains.
This point cannot be compared to when Li Zicheng dominated the world.
If Beijing was no longer defended, Yanshan and Taihang Mountains could not be reached. The Guanzhong Plain cannot be defended, and the Qinling Mountains and the mountains of northern Shaanxi cannot be entered. Xiangyang was no longer defended, and it was impossible to gain a foothold in the mountainous areas of western Hubei and southern Shaanxi. In the end, it was no choice but to open up a base in the Kuidong mountainous area.
Although he didn't hold on in the end, it was not easy to persist until the Kangxi period.
But this time, while Li Zicheng and Li Laishun were "locating the capital" in Wuchang, they had already regarded Mubu Mountain as a retreat. There were a large number of Fubing farms and cottages in the management mountain. Jiugong Mountain, located in the center of Mubu Mountain, has long been the residence of Prince Zhong's palace.
So now the people who followed Li Zicheng had somewhere to go.
However, at this time, Wu Sangui in Hankou City did not know that his old enemy was not going to travel far away, but was blocking him outside his house. This was Wu Sangui's "Qi" in the future!
This anger is not just a once-in-a-lifetime anger, but a constant anger.
"Haha. Li Ziguo is really a dog that can't change his habit of eating shit! I think he ran out of Wuchang Fucheng to cheat his death. Does he still want to cheat his death this time?"
In the palace of Wu Sangui in the city of Hankou, the Emperor of Zhou burst out laughing when he heard that Li Zicheng had taken many people with him and ran away again.
A group of civil servants and generals around Wu Sangui were also very happy. No one thought that Li Zicheng went into the mountains to establish an anti-Wu base - Li Zicheng was not a chieftain, he was a rogue bandit!
And what if he turns out to be a bandit?
Now it is Wu Sangui, Li Fuchen, and Li Zhongshan who compete for the world. Although Li Zicheng has joined forces with Li Fuchen, Li Zhongshan and his son, he is no longer important. He is Wu Sangui's excuse to start a war!
Now that the war has started and it's going smoothly, who cares about excuses?
That's why Wu Sangui wouldn't bother going to Mubu Mountain to find Li Zicheng! Let’s avenge half of Chongzhen’s hanging!
"Father," Wu Yingxiong, who accompanied Wu Sangui on the expedition, hurriedly approached, presented a booklet, and said with a smile, "This is sent by Prince Kang Jieshu of Jiujiang."
"Jie Shu? Has he figured it out?" Wu Sangui didn't accept the book, but just asked with a smile, "Is he finally planning to become a second minister?"
"Father, you are a wise man," Wu Yingxiong said with a smile, "Jieshu is now besieged by Li Fuchen and Li Laishun, and is retreating steadily. The outer perimeter of Jiujiang City has been breached and is about to be surrounded, so I am willing to surrender to the emperor!"
Although Jiujiang Fucheng has dangers from all sides, it can also be surrounded. Historically, the Hunan Army general Li Xubin led 20,000 people to surround Taiping General Lin Qirong in Jiujiang City until Lin Qirong ran out of ammunition and food.
Li Fuchen and Li Laishun now had as many as 30,000 troops, and Li Fuchen's troops were equipped with a large number of flintlock guns and even thousands of rifled guns. Jieshu's army suffered heavy losses outside Jiujiang and had to retreat into the city. Seeing that he was about to be besieged, he didn't care about pretending to be a loyal minister, and quickly sent someone to surrender to Wu Sangui for help - he and Wu Sangui were also relatives. Kangxi called Wu Sangui grandpa, but he didn't know what to call him. He is a junior anyway, so it is natural to ask for help.
As for surrendering to Ming Dynasty, this is impossible!
Because Li Fuchen never sent anyone to persuade him to surrender.
"Hmph," Wu Sangui snorted, feeling proud, "Kangxi even called me grandpa, how can he be considered a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty?"
"What my father said is absolutely true," Wu Yingxiong said, handing over another formal memorial. "This is the memorial of your great-nephew Emperor Geng Jingzhong. It seems that Shang Shuying has convinced Geng Jingzhong, and this memorial is also an outstanding memorial." The messenger of the book brought it along the way."
"Oh?" Wu Sangui smiled, "What does Geng Jingzhong mean? Are you going to abdicate and become emperor?"
"That's not true," Wu Yingxiong said, "Geng Jingzhong means to be your grandnephew emperor just like Kangxi. From now on, the three emperors of Zhou, Jing and Qing will attack Canming together."
"Haha," Wu Sangui said with a smile, "It is said that there are no two days in the sky and no two kings in the people. It's good now that there are three emperors in the world. Then why do I want to destroy Can Ming? Let Zhu Cijiong also become an emperor, and the four emperors will be together. Can’t it be cured?”
"Father, you are joking. How can there be such a thing in the world that the four emperors can rule together?" Wu Yingxiong said with a smile, "Even Kangxi and Geng Jingzhong will live in peace and happiness in the future."
Wu Sangui nodded with a smile, "Chen Liu, peace and destiny are certain, but I can't make Geng Jingzhong an emperor with all beards and tails. He is different from Kangxi. Kangxi now inherits the Liao, Jin, and The legal system inherited from Mongolia. But why does Geng Jingzhong have the right to be the emperor? "
"Father, isn't this a temporary measure?"
"The expediency cannot always be my expediency. He must also make an expediency!" Wu Sangui twirled his beard and said thoughtfully, "How about this. I will make him the Lord of Dongjing Kingdom and the Grand-nephew Emperor."
"The Lord of Dongjing?"
"Back then, Zhao Gou was the lord of the Jiangnan Kingdom, and he called himself the emperor internally." Wu Sangui said with a smile, "Li Yu was also the lord of the Jiangnan Kingdom, and he also called himself the emperor. As an expedient, I made Geng Jingzhong my grandnephew emperor. It is also expedient for me to make Geng Jingzhong the emperor." For a moment, I will become the lord of Dongjing, the lord and the emperor, what do you think?"
"Of course my father's intention is good!" Wu Yingxiong said with a smile, "I think Geng Jingzhong would not dare not agree. If he agrees, he will still be the king for a few years. If he doesn't agree, it will be his turn after Can Ming is destroyed. .”
Wu Sangui nodded: "Boss, my father is getting old. After conquering Nanjing, I don't want to bother anymore, so I will retire in Wuchang. As for the destruction of the Qing Dynasty and the Jing Dynasty, we can wait until you become the emperor to fight slowly. We must let it go. The people of the world should take a breather and leave some military merit to you, so that you can convince the public."
According to Wu Sangui, the Great Zhou Dynasty will make Wuchang its capital in the future!
This is an unexpected surprise for Wu Yingxiong!
Because his power is mainly in Xiangyang and Henan, while Wu Guogui, who is closer to him, has power in Hunan. If Wu Sangui becomes emperor in Wuchang in the future, he won't have to worry about the changes in the Xuanwu Gate - there is no Xuanwu Gate here in Wuchang! Moreover, Wu Yingqi didn't have much troops to dispatch.
When Wu Yingxiong was excited, Guo Zhuangtu's voice came from outside: "Your Majesty, the Emperor's Grandson sent an envoy to report the victory. He has captured Chu Wangtai, and Wuchang City has been breached by the Emperor's Grandson!"
Guo Zhuangtu's daughter has been promised to Wu Shifan. His son-in-law performed so well, so he was naturally overjoyed.
Wu Sangui also smiled from ear to ear, "Good job, Shihuan Young Hero, I have a successor in the Great Zhou Dynasty! Prepare the dragon boat, I want to cross the river into Wuchang!"
"yes!"
"General, General, six hundred miles is urgent. Wu Sangui has already entered Wuchang City! In addition, Wu Sangui has just issued an edict, canonizing Geng Jingzhong as grand-nephew emperor and lord of Dongjing Kingdom."
On the fifth day after Wu Sangui entered Wuchang City, which was December 15th in the second year of the Republic of Ming Dynasty, Li Zhongshan, who was preparing to attend a meeting in the National Government Hall, heard the bad news hurriedly reported by Zhou Chang.
"The great-nephew emperor, the lord of Dongjing?" Li Zhongshan was stunned. "Is he the emperor or the lord?"
"What's the big deal?" Yao Qisheng, who was reading the invitation, interjected, "Whether he is the emperor or the leader of the country, he will not be able to serve for more than a few days. General, now we have five armies ready, just waiting for you We can invade Zhejiang with just one order!"
"Wait a moment." Li Zhongshan waved his hand, "Wait until Geng Jingzhong moves first. As long as he moves, he's almost done."
"Can he move?" Yao Qisheng was a little doubtful. "He only has tens of thousands of troops at his disposal. He can't defeat us no matter what."
"It can move!" Zhou Chang said with a smile, "Today's Six Hundred Miles Express also said that the Qing loyal minister Kang Prince Jieshu in Jiangxi has surrendered to Wu Sangui and became the second minister! It seems that Wu Sangui will soon Send troops to Jiangxi!"
(End of chapter)
