Ningbo Prefecture, Zhenhai, March 18th, the third year of Dongxing reign of Dajing.
This emerging maritime trading city located on the banks of the Dapan River looks gray in the spring sunshine. There are very few people on the city streets. Even the busiest shopping mall on the bank of the Dapan River in the past is now deserted. All the shops have their doors locked. On the top of the city, there was only a blue flag with the word Geng fluttering feebly.
After the Battle of Chashan, the main field force of 50,000 that Geng Jingzhong had managed to piece together collapsed. Geng Jingzhong sat in a mule cart and fled in panic under the protection of a group of soldiers from Geng Wangzhuang. Fortunately, the Ming army had only one battalion of cavalry at that time, and there was no time to chase down the tens of thousands of defeated troops who were fleeing madly. The official road from Chashan to the south was not wide, and there was a long stretch of mountain road. Tens of thousands of people crowded in together, which would inevitably cause congestion. This made it easier for Geng Jingzhong who "ran away" and the thousands of people who fled with him. . It only took most of the day for the group of them to reach Hangzhou City. Then he took a short rest, gathered some remaining soldiers, took the gold and silver from the Hangzhou treasury, and extorted a batch of silks, carriages and horses from the Hangzhou Chamber of Commerce, and continued to flee. After running for another two and a half days, I finally escaped to Zhenhai County, where the Ningbo government office and the Dajing Oriental Trade Minister's office were based. At this time, there were only less than 5,000 people who were loyally following Geng Jingzhong. Half of them were from Geng Wangzhuang, Fuzhou. The rest were either confused and followed, or they were Manchurians who originally belonged to Yue Le. soldiers. These five thousand people, plus the two thousand pirates under Li Daoren who were recruited to serve as the navy, left a total of less than seven thousand people.
Geng Jingzhong's 50,000 field elites were defeated miserably by Li Zhongshan and Chen Yonghua with more than 10,000 men. Now, of course, Ningbo cannot be saved with only 7,000 men.
Since Ningbo cannot be saved, there is nothing to talk about. These seven thousand people immediately began to act recklessly in Zhenhai County and Zhenhai Commercial City, occupying houses, extorting money, and robbing women, and they had a great time. Geng Jingzhong, the subjugated king, did not restrain his men. Instead, he ordered them to rob. He also actively participated in the robbery and robbed all the merchant ships from various countries moored in the Dapeng River!
Although this robbery was very unpopular with the people, it could help Geng Jingzhong, who was at the end of his rope, to rally his military morale. Of course, those who are still following him are not good people. They are either doing evil and have no place to go, or they are just returning. I fantasize about being able to have some fun with Geng Jingzhong one last time.
This time Geng Jingzhong led them on a large-scale plunder in Zhenhai. They did bad things together and offended Fujian maritime merchants and Zhejiang gentry. The former's backstage is "Zheng Jing", while most of the latter's have spent money to donate money from Chinese people and scholars, and they are all small shareholders of Ming Dynasty. Moreover, half of the key members of the reformist Guoshi were from Zhejiang! If you offend these two groups, don't even think about surrendering to the Ming Dynasty. Just follow Geng Jingzhong to the dark side.
And after Geng Jingzhong commanded his men to harm Zhenhai County and Zhenhai Shang Town, "retribution" was coming soon! One after another, some buddies of the Geng family who escaped from the Chashan battlefield and some family members of the Geng family generals who ran away from Jiande County arrived in Ningbo, and brought two pieces of bad news to Geng Jingzhong and others.
One is that Jiande surrendered, and most of the officials and family members of civil and military officials in the Jing Dynasty became prisoners of the Ming army!
Second, Shang Shuying, who did not have time to leave before the Ming army besieged the city, was executed by Lingchi after being handed over to Li Zhongshan by Geng Juzhong and Ma Hu.
"What? Is it really late?"
"Why? Li Zhongshan and Shuying don't have such a big hatred, right? Although many members of the Shang family were killed by the Li family, the Li family was never killed by the Shang family. And after all, Shuying was the former Princess of the North. Isn’t Lingchi too miserable?”
"Is the news reliable?"
Geng Jingzhong and his confidants Yu Renying, Li Daoren, Sai Leng'e (son of Yue Le), and Xu Wenhuan were fine when they heard that Jiande surrendered, but when they heard that Shang Shuying had been beheaded, they were all frightened.
Of course Shang Shuying is guilty, she is a rebel! He also led troops to attack Prince Mochou Lake's Mansion, which was a big crime, so it would not be considered an injustice if he cut her in pieces. But the problem is that the sins of Geng Jingzhong, Yu Renying, Li Daoren, Sai Leng'e, and Xu Wenhuan are only bigger than Shang Shuying!
Shang Shuying is so miserable, how can they be better?
"You can't be wrong, this is what Ma Hu, the bachelor of Qixing Pavilion, said," said an older man from the Geng family. "He was the one who took Shang Gege to Li Zhongshan's camp. The old man was also present at the time and tied her with a rope. At that time, she was still chatting and laughing with the third master (Geng Juzhong), saying that as long as she behaved when she got to Li Zhongshan's place, she would be beaten at most, which would not cost her life, and she told the third master not to worry. Unexpectedly, Ma Hu came back and reported that Ge Ge was killed. He was left in Li Zhongshan’s military camp and chopped into pieces!”
Several other family members of Geng Wangzhuang's retainers who came with the old man also gave him certificates.
"Shang Gege has been chopped into pieces. He is in terrible pain. We all heard the screams in Jiande City!"
"I've been calling for most of the day."
"Absolutely true!"
It’s over!
Geng Jingzhong's heart froze, so he had to wave his hand to let these people retreat and rest first. After they left, he looked around again.
"Your Majesty, let's go to sea!" Yu Renying said, "A thousand and hundreds of miles to the southeast is Shangshi Ryukyu. We still have dozens of sea ships in hand. If we squeeze in, we can bring all the brothers in Zhenhai with us. !”
Li Daoren added: "Your Majesty, as far as I know, the country of the Ryukyu Sho clan was originally a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, but it was occupied by the Satsuma Domain of Japan decades ago. The current Ryukyu Kingdom is one vassal and two lords. The vassal of the Ming Dynasty is also a foreign vassal of Japan. However, the people of Ryukyu all love the Celestial Empire and are unwilling to be Japan's foreign vassal. If we claim to be the Ming Dynasty's foreign vassal, then the people of Ryukyu will definitely support us and oppose the Satsuma vassal."
"How many soldiers does this devil have?" Geng Jingzhong asked.
"There are about ten thousand people, right?" Li Daoren said, "But most of the Lao Sa family's soldiers are on Kyushu Island in Japan. There are only a few soldiers in Ryukyu. There are at most five hundred, right?"
"Five hundred is not much, but are they powerful?" Geng Jingzhong had suffered enough from underestimating the enemy, and now he became less courageous. "I heard that these Japanese pirates are quite capable of fighting."
"No matter how hard you fight, you can't beat us!" Yu Renying said, "How many years have we been fighting? The last time Japan fought was sixty years ago!"
"Sixty years" Geng Jingzhong sighed, "I didn't expect that the Japanese in Japan have already enjoyed sixty years of peace and prosperity!"
Xu Wenhuan, the leader of Geng Jingzhong's personal soldiers, squinted his eyes and reminded: "Your Majesty, Japan has been closed to the outside world for the past sixty years, and the methods of fighting are probably the same as sixty years ago. Maybe the Sajia soldiers in Japan have never seen Sui. Shooting!"
Yu Renying nodded and said: "General Xu is right. Although we have always lost battles in the past few years, our horizons have still broadened a lot! In the early years, we couldn't even use the matchlock gun well. Now we already know how to use the flintlock gun." How should the gun be used?"
Geng Jingzhong nodded helplessly and said to himself: I have been learning how to fight with Li Datou in the past few years! It’s just that the tuition is really a bit expensive!
Sai Leng, who had just died, said with a mournful face: "But we don't have many flintlock guns in our hands!"
Li Daoren interjected: "My dear prince, we still have some flintlock guns. Starting from this year, Foshan, Zhangzhou, and Quanzhou will no longer make matchlock guns. They are all flintlock guns! And the foreign guns sold by the foreign devils , are all flintlock muskets. Therefore, since this year, the muskets purchased by Xianguan for the imperial court are all flintlock muskets. There are three hundred brand-new flintlock muskets in the warehouse of Zhenhai Minister of Commerce and Industry Yamen alone!"
Li Zhongshan is really a good teacher. He not only makes progress himself, but also leads everyone to make progress together! The military industries in Guangdong, Fujian and other places have even been upgraded. Now the warlords no longer want to buy matchlock guns there!
"Three hundred," Geng Jingzhong asked, "do we still have some in the army?"
"Yes!" Xu Wenhuan said, "Although most of the people ran away with nothing, we can still get together two to three hundred flintlock guns."
Geng Jingzhong thought for a while and said: "Then we will gather five hundred fusiliers first, all equipped with bayonets, and form a team according to the method of the Chashan Ming Army."
"Okay!" Xu Wenhuan stood up and bowed to Geng Jingzhong. "Don't worry, Your Majesty. I will hurry up and train the Fusiliers within half a month."
Geng Jingzhong waved his hand: "Wen Huan, don't call me emperor anymore. My country of Dajing has perished, and I am a king who has subjugated the country!"
As he spoke, his eyes started to water.
Look at me, look at you, the few confidants in front of Geng Jingzhong, but no one advises him to continue to be the emperor. He has failed to be the emperor! If he didn't covet the emperor's false reputation, he would still be the Eastern King of the Ming Dynasty!
"Then my lord," Seleng'e asked, "Why don't you think you are the emperor? How should we call you in the future?"
Geng Jingzhong was stunned by this question.
Why is he not the emperor?
"My lord," Li Daoren suggested, "the people of Ryukyu are bright. Otherwise, you should become the Eastern King of the Ming Dynasty and the General of the Conquest of the East!"
"Am I to be the Eastern King of the Ming Dynasty?" Geng Jingzhong couldn't help but smile bitterly. "How should I be? Do I have to go to court to plead guilty and be granted a title? I can go to court, but can Li Zhongshan absolve me of my sin and then grant me the title of Eastern King? "
Yu Renying smiled and said: "My lord, why do you ask Li Zhongshan for a title? He is not the emperor."
"Then I ask for a title from the Emperor of the Republic?" Geng Jingzhong shook his head, "It's impossible for him to grant me a title!"
"You can name yourself!" Yu Renying said seriously.
"Self-proclaimed?" Geng Jingzhong was stunned.
Yu Renying nodded: "Yes! Isn't it a republic now?"
"Can you proclaim yourself a king after a republic?" Geng Jingzhong asked.
"Of course!" Yu Renying said seriously, "Isn't it mentioned in "Yuanjun" and "Yuanchen"? The emperor and his ministers should be mentors and friends. They govern the world together. The reason why the emperor wants to appoint Ministers, because the world is too big for one emperor to manage, and ministers need help. So is Ryukyu part of the world? Is Ryukyu's land a royal minister?"
"Of course!" Geng Jingzhong already somewhat understood what Yu Renying meant, and his mouse eyes shone a little.
Yu Renying then explained: "Ryukyu has always been a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, and the king of Ryukyu has always been a minister of the Ming Dynasty. But now the Kingdom of Ryukyu does not pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, but pays tribute to Japan. It has changed from a minister of the emperor to a minister of Japan. It is no longer The king is here!
And why didn’t the Ming Republic Emperor send troops to expel the Lao Sa family of Japan and turn the Ryukyu Kingdom into a royal minister of the Ming Dynasty again? This shows that the Emperor of Heaven is too busy and his ministers are not free either.
And now, my lord, you are sending troops to Ryukyu to expel the Japanese Sa family and turn Ryukyu into the land of kings and ministers again. You are doing the Emperor of the Republic a big favor! Of course you are the royal minister, the royal minister who leads the land of Ryukyu. Therefore, you restore the throne of the Eastern King, and in the name of the Eastern King, you perform the duties of a royal minister, send troops to Ryukyu, and restore the royal territory. That is justifiable! "
Geng Jingzhong nodded and muttered: "That makes sense. I am here to help the Emperor of the Republic! But it seems a little inappropriate for me to proclaim myself king, right?"
"No, no, it's not self-proclaimed!" Yu Renying said, "It was the Emperor of Heaven who made you the King of the East and the General of the Conquest of the East, and ordered you to send troops to Ryukyu to restore the kingdom!"
"The Emperor of Heaven will grant me the title?" Geng Jingzhong asked, "Am I helping the Emperor of the Republic to grant me the title of King of the East and General of the East?"
Yu Renying stood up and bowed to Geng Jingzhong to the end, "Your Majesty, I sincerely request your Majesty to accept the decree of the Emperor of the Republic! Be the Eastern King of the Ming Dynasty again!"
Li Daoren, Sai Leng'e, and Xu Wenhuan saw Yu Renying urging him to come in, and they also persuaded him: "Your Majesty, I sincerely request your Majesty to follow the imperial edict and restore the king of the East!"
Geng Jingzhong also nodded shamelessly and said: "Well, since the Emperor of the Republic has issued an edict, I will reluctantly continue to be the Eastern King!"
Whether Geng Jingzhong's false edict and self-proclaimed King of the East is in line with the principles of "Yuan Jun" and "Yuan Chen" is another matter, but Geng Jingzhong's Dajing Kingdom must have come to an end.
With the fall of Dajing, the people of Republican Nanjing suddenly became more popular. Originally, some people were worried that their "investment" would be lost due to the defeat of the Ming Dynasty. However, in early April of the third year of the Republic of China, as General Li Zhongshan escorted the officials, clan members and their families captured in Jiande, The family members returned to Nanjing in triumph, and a grand triumphal ceremony was held on the inner street of Yifengmen. No one had any doubts about the future of the Ming Dynasty.
Subsequently, a group of newspapers and periodicals advocating the republic, led by "Guo Shi Ping", began to report at length on how the Ming Republic's model army defeated Geng Jingzhong with one enemy and five hangings in the Battle of Chashan. In addition, news continued to spread that every prefecture and county in Zhejiang Province had been recovered one by one. Not long after, there was also good news that Geng Jingzhong had escaped to the island and that the entire Ningbo Prefecture had also been recovered.
In the streets of Nanjing, the people of Nanjing began to talk about when the Ming Dynasty could defeat Wu Sangui, regain Jiangxi and Huguang, and when the Ming Dynasty could defeat the Zhou Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, and then unify the country!
Although the Ming Dynasty now only has five complete provinces: Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong, plus one each of Guangxi, Henan, Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangxi, people who are full of confidence in the Republic already feel that they The country we live in is a country full of vitality and everything is in full swing. It is completely different from the lifeless Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty that made people always fearful.
And how could such an emerging country full of vitality be able to resist the likes of Wu Sangui and Kangxi?
The one who will rule the world in the future will definitely be the Republic of China and the Ming Dynasty!
It’s the right time, why don’t you hurry up and increase your position?
This is the case among the people in the market. Of course, the civil servants and generals of the Republic and Ming Dynasty were more interested and more motivated. They were all shareholders and worked for themselves! Can you be less positive? If you miss this "big market" that makes you great achievements, will you regret it for the rest of your life?
So Li Zhongshan, who returned to Nanjing, had to meet a large group of civil servants and generals who wanted to fight every day. No one took Wu Sangui seriously, let alone Kangxi?
However, Li Zhongshan himself was quite cautious. After returning to Nanjing, he went to the Wangjiang Terrace on the Lion Mountain inside Yifeng Gate almost every day to watch the training of the Yangtze River Navy. Now the Ming Army had nothing to worry about. It was nothing more than expanding the Model Army. One town is not enough. Expanding to two towns and three towns will be enough.
But the Ming Dynasty's Yangtze River Navy was a weak point!
In recent years, Li Zhongshan mainly developed the army. The navy was basically outsourced to the Zheng family. Even the Guangdong Navy was run by the Zheng family's general Zhu Tiangui and a group of Chaozhou people (Qiu Hui's party) who once relied on the Zheng family. .
And the navy run by the Zheng family seems to have a big problem. They are a navy, not a river navy! That’s why the warships now appearing on the Yangtze River under Lion Rock are all very big! Many of these warships have no oars. As long as the wind direction is wrong or there are no weapons, they will be unable to move. It is not completely impossible, but this method is a bit ridiculous no matter how you look at it!
"Brother Shikai, am I right? Those big ships are being towed by small boats?" The one who spoke was Wu Xiaoxian. Today she was with Yang Xiaohuan, who had just given birth to "Xiuzhong", and Shang Shuying, who was still a guest at Li Zhongshan's place. Together, we accompanied Li Zhongshan to stare at the Lion Rock and watch the naval training.
Hearing Wu Xiaoxian's question, Li Zhongshan turned his head and looked at Shang Shuying with a smile, "Shuying Gege, do you see clearly? Do you know what to say when you meet Wu Sangui?"
It was not the first day that Shang Shuying followed Li Zhongshan to climb Lion Rock. Every time she could see the training program of small boats towing large ships - this was obviously not a fake, Li Zhongshan really planned to sail these dozens of large ships Entering Poyang Lake
Thinking of this, Shang Shuying asked half-jokingly: "General, do you want me to tell the truth to the Emperor of Zhou? Does this count as leaking your military information? Will my crime be increased in the future?"
Li Zhongshan smiled and said: "Shu Yingge, are you more afraid of sin? Go and tell Wu Sangui the truth. On land, Wu Sangui has no chance, but on the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake, his navy can still fight with My Ming Dynasty’s navy is very competitive, but he must be careful to become Chen Youliang’s second best!”
(End of chapter)
