In the third year of the Republic of China, it was the tenth day of the eleventh month.
Li Zhongshan, who had moved to Yuezhou, an important town in northern Hunan, accidentally met his two teachers Nalan Mingzhu and Duolong. They followed Li Zhongshan's father-in-law, Lao Taishan Wu Guogui, from Jiangling, the capital of Jingzhou, to Yuezhou to meet the Ming Dynasty. of the general.
Of course, these two people did not come all the way to talk to Li Zhongshan about the friendship between teachers and students. In fact, they came to see Li Zhongshan as envoys of Wu Xuanye and Wu Mazi, the "United Emperors" of the Qing Dynasty.
Moreover, these two envoys from the Qing Dynasty and Wu Guogui told Li Zhongshan a piece of news that made him laugh or cry - the Qing Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty have now reached a "Northwest Mutual Protection". If the Ming Dynasty wants to attack the Qing Dynasty or the middle of the Zhou Dynasty, For any country, the other country will definitely send troops to help. Because the Zhou Dynasty is in the west and the Qing Dynasty is in the north, this is the Northwest Mutual Protection!
After hearing this shocking news, before Li Zhongshan could do anything, his father Li Fuchen had already mocked him in a strange way, "Northwest Mutual Protection? Brother Wu, why does the old Wu family have to rely on the Tatars at every critical moment?" Come to protect me?"
"What are you talking about?" Wu Guogui refused to give in to the "Supreme General" at all. He glared and replied, "Kangxi is no longer a Tatar. He has already recognized my father as his grandfather. He is Wu Xuanye. ! That is, the emperor is the cousin of Emperor Honghua of the Great Zhou Dynasty. You can’t write two characters for Wu in one stroke. They are all emperors of the old Wu family. Isn’t it right to support each other? "
Li Zhongshan turned to look at Nalan Mingzhu and Duolong: "Two teachers, is this what happened? Kangxi has changed his surname to Wu now? Are the ancestors of the Aixinjueluo family no longer wanted?"
Nalan Mingzhu smiled and replied: "Shikai, Wu is the Han surname of the Qing emperor, and Aixinjueluo is the Manchu surname. This is not contradictory!"
Duolong nodded and said, "Yes, it's not contradictory! I thought back then, Song Gaozong Zhao Gou was also given the surname Wanyan by the Jin Dynasty?"
Wu Guogui also smiled and supported Nalan Mingzhu and Duolong: "Well, Kangxi's Han surname actually has more than one Wu surname, and his surname is also Li."
"The surname is Li?" Li Zhongshan was stunned, "Li Chengliang's Li?"
"Yes!" Wu Guogui nodded, "Nurhachi is Li Chengliang's adopted son. Of course his surname is Li Shikai. Speaking of which, this Kangxi is not only my family, but also your family!"
Well, Kangxi already had three surnames in the blink of an eye, and he was in the same family as Li Fuchen, Li Zhongshan, and Li Zicheng.
Li Zhongshan smiled bitterly: "Are we fighting for hegemony among the Three Kingdoms together, or are our own people fighting our own people?"
"Originally," Nalan Mingzhu said, "she is one of our own! Not to mention how many surnames the Qing Emperor has, just from the perspective of marriage, the three families are also our own! Today's Queen of the Qing Dynasty, Nalan'er's Han The surname is Yang, the diminutive is Xiaomi, and she is the biological sister of Shikai's concubine Yang. Shikai, your eldest wife Wu is the cousin of Emperor Honghua of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and your other concubine is the biological sister of the Emperor Honghua of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Look, aren’t these all relatives?”
Li Zhongshan said in his heart: In fact, Kangxi and Prince Zhu are also brothers-in-law. But he doesn’t know it yet!
Wu Guogui said with a smile: "Shikai, since we are all relatives, why don't we all stop fighting and let each of us recuperate and recuperate, so that the people can take a breather and each family can cultivate their virtues."
"That's right," Nalan Mingzhu said with a smile, "Shikai, this is also the intention of the Qing Emperor. He stationed 200,000 troops in Kaifeng Mansion this time not to fight with you, but to end the fight!"
"Resolving the fight?" Li Zhongshan smiled, "Kangxi also learned from Lu Fengxian now? I wonder how he wanted to resolve the fight?"
Nalan Mingzhu said: "What the emperor means is that the territory of the Qing Dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty in Henan will remain the same except Guangzhou, which was transferred from the Zhou Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty. The dividing line between the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty in the east of Henan will be along the The provincial boundaries of Shandong and Jiangsu were divided; the western boundaries of the Qing Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty were divided along the Yellow River. The east of the river was the boundary of the Qing Dynasty, and the west of Hexi was the boundary of the Zhou Dynasty; the Zhou Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty divided Hubei into four or seven provinces, and the Zhou Dynasty occupied it. There are four prefectures: Xiangyang, Yunyang, Yichang, and Shinan. The Ming Dynasty occupies seven prefectures: Wuchang, Huangzhou, Hanyang, De'an, Anlu, Jingzhou, and Jingmen; The boundaries between Guizhou and Sichuan provinces, as well as the boundaries between Guangxi and Yunnan, and Guizhou provinces.”
Wu Guogui said: "This is also what Prime Minister Wu of the Great Zhou Dynasty meant. The world has been in chaos for many years, and now the situation of the Three Kingdoms standing side by side has formed. Although the Ming Dynasty is strong, it does not have the strength to sweep two-thirds of the world. It is the same as Jiang Wei The Northern Expedition has been in vain over and over again, so why not give the people of the world some time to recuperate. The three of us can also use this time to sort out our internal affairs. Shikai, do you think this is good?"
Li Zhongshan frowned and remained silent. He seemed unwilling to suspend his progress in sweeping the world, but in fact he also understood that he could not complete the great cause of unifying the world in just a few years. In history, if Zhu Yuanzhang For such a fierce man, there was an interval of eleven years between the capture of Jiqing Road and the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains!
It has only been five years since he occupied Nanjing, and only six or seven years since he took over Guangdong. In 67 years, it occupied all eight provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, and Hunan, plus most of Hubei and part of Henan. The territory it occupied has already caught up with the territory of the Ming Dynasty before Zhu Yuanzhang swept north. .
This cannot but be said to be a miracle!
But the route to achieve this miracle is a bit special. This route is called "Republic"!
Although this "republic" can mobilize the enthusiasm of the people to fight for the country to the greatest extent, it can also reconcile the contradictions among the major domestic factions. But this "republic" is, after all, a long-lost ancient system for China, and in a sense it is also a new deal.
It’s not easy to straighten things out, it takes time!
In addition, the enthusiasm of the Chinese people to fight does not come entirely from the republican system, but also from the generous treatment. And generous treatment requires strong financial backing! The reason why the Ming Dynasty was able to rise so quickly was actually due to a method of raising military expenditures that was rarely used in the past in China - borrowing!
But in this era, debts still have to be repaid. Therefore, General Li Zhongshan cannot put aside the issue of financial rectification and only focus on conquering here and there.
To rectify the finances, of course, a few years of rest and recuperation are indispensable.
Finally, the promotion of this republican system in various parts of the Ming Dynasty will also take time. The Republic of the Ming Dynasty now only exists in a small number of state capitals, far from being extended to the whole country!
What's even more troublesome is that the "kings" who participated in the Republic have not actually completed the transformation from great warlords to political kings!
A republic is not a warlord regime!
However, Li Zhongshan could not easily agree to the peace proposals put forward by Zhou and Qing just because he himself needed time to rectify his internal affairs. After all, the Ming Dynasty was now winning consecutive battles and it was time to gain the upper hand!
So we have to kill those with the surname Wu and those with the surnames "Aixinjueluo, Li, and Wu"!
"If Wu Shifan and Aixinjueluo Xuan Ye can declare themselves ministers, then the general can agree to the harmony of the three families." Li Zhongshan stated his conditions word for word.
"That's easy to say!" Wu Guogui said with a smile, "Old Wu's family was favored by the Ming Dynasty. Although he has become the emperor now, he has not forgotten his old master and it is natural for him to surrender to the Ming Dynasty again! As for Wu Xuanye, he had surrendered to the Zhou Dynasty before , can’t we just transfer it to Ming Dynasty now? In this way, Wu Xuanye will also be a second minister!"
Well, this time Kangxi was not only a slave with three surnames (Aixinjueluo, Li, Wu), he was also transformed into a second minister!
If there is another Qianlong in the future, when he asks people to compile "The Biography of Erchen", the first one should be his grandfather, Emperor Kangxi Aisin Gioro Wu Li Xuanye!
"Teachers," Li Zhongshan looked at Mingzhu and Duolong with a smile, "I can help you two to tell Kangxi!" He then said to his father-in-law Wu Guogui, "Old Taishan, I can also help you to visit the Great Zhou Kingdom. Go and talk to Emperor Honghua and Prime Minister Wu. If they can agree, then bring the professed minister and the envoy. I will wait for news in Jiangxia City!"
This time Wu Guogui met Emperor Honghua and Prime Minister Wu in Xiangyang Fucheng. They arrived in Xiangyang in early November and did not move again. They planned to spend the winter in Xiangyang and go to Chang'an next spring.
The reason for this is that Wu Zhou's retreat was not just about the transfer of troops, but also a large number of government soldiers who had to be transferred with their families, and then relocated to Sichuan - it was almost like Huguang, Shaanxi and Gansu filled Sichuan at once !
It’s okay if you don’t fill it out!
In the past, the rich land of Huguang in the Great Zhou Dynasty allowed for the collection of grain and silver. Although the soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty did not receive much military pay, the military rations were enough, not only for themselves, but also for the food and clothing of their families.
Therefore, a large number of government soldiers who were assigned to farms in Sichuan did not actually go to Sichuan to cultivate land.
But now it’s no longer possible. The rich and prosperous land of Huguang has almost been lost. If we don’t go there, we won’t have anything to eat!
So this time Wu Yingqi planned to send all the Fu Bing households who had moved out of Huguang, some of the Fu Bing households in Shaanxi and Gansu, and Sun Jiqing's troops who had escaped from Guangxi to farm in Sichuan.
To send so many people to Sichuan, the food rations for the first year after entering Sichuan, as well as the agricultural tools, cattle, and seeds needed to cultivate farmland, all had to be raised from the rich land of Huguang that had not yet been evacuated. If you can't raise enough, you have to ask Li Zhongshan and Wu Guogui to buy it, so Wu Yingqi and Wu Shifan have to sit in Xiangyang.
In addition, Wu Yingqi also planned to ask Wu Shifan to make an alliance with Wu Xuanye and conclude a "Mutual Protection Agreement in the Northwest".
Regardless of whether the Ming Dynasty agreed to make peace, the Zhou Dynasty in the west and the Qing Dynasty in the north needed to conclude an alliance.
Of course, this alliance is not only for the Ming Dynasty. The Zhou Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty also have common enemies in the west and north, and their spheres of influence need to be divided.
As for the matter of surrendering to the Ming Dynasty, Prime Minister Wu and Emperor Wu were quite open-minded.
"That's it? Then let's do it, it's not like I haven't done it before!" Wu Yingqi didn't care, and smiled and said to Wu Shifan, "Your Majesty, have you known the Third Prince Zhu a long time ago?"
Wu Shifan nodded and said with emotion: "I went to Guangdong with the Third Prince Zhu, but I didn't know he was the Third Prince Zhu at that time. I didn't expect that among the group of people who left Beijing together that year, there were actually two emperors!"
"This is fate!" Wu Yingqi asked with a smile, "Lao San, um. Since we have surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, can we buy some seeds and cattle? It's best to get it on credit, in the name of the emperor."
Wu Shifan also sighed leisurely - he, the emperor, seemed to be the same as Zhu Cijiong, a master who was short of money in the five elements and was destined to be heavily in debt.
"This." Wu Guogui looked confused.
"Can't you?" Wu Yingqi looked at Wu Guogui, "That General Li is the son-in-law of our Wu family! He can't be so stingy, can he?"
Wu Guogui frowned and said: "It's not impossible, but can the Great Zhou Kingdom still pay it back? There are many banks in the Ming Dynasty that specialize in lending money to merchants and the court. As long as there is a way to repay debts, there must be a way to borrow debts."
"It's still good!" Wu Yingqi said, "To be honest, before the war with the Ming Dynasty started this time, I had already asked Shi Cong to go to the Western Regions! The soldiers in the Western Regions were weak, so I sent Shi Cong back to lead tens of thousands of soldiers. If we fight with horses and open up the trade routes in the Western Regions, won’t I have money in Zhou Dynasty?”
"Trade route in the Western Regions?" Wu Guogui thought for a while, "Is there such a trade route?"
"Yes!" Wu Shifan said, "In the Tang Dynasty, Chang'an was a place where Hu merchants gathered. It was only after the Tang Dynasty lost the Western Regions and the trade routes were cut off that Chang'an changed from a prosperous place to the desolate place it is today. If our family can start again, By occupying the homeland of the Han and Tang Dynasties in the Western Regions, we can turn Chang'an into a prosperous commercial capital again."
"That's a great relationship!" Wu Guogui said with a smile, "Otherwise, you can send an eloquent envoy to Jiangxia to meet Li Shikai with a petition to declare himself a minister and a plan to borrow money to travel to the Western Regions."
Kaifeng Mansion, the Qing Emperor is here.
Emperor Kangxi is leading an army of 20,000 men these days, falsely claiming to be 200,000 men, stationed in Kaifeng Mansion in the name of relieving the Ming and Zhou dynasties.
Of course, if Li Zhongshan, the great general of Ming Dynasty, must fight to death Wu Shifan, the new emperor of Zhou Dynasty, he, Wu Xuanye, can only provide all support except help.
However, after Kangxi's analysis, he felt that the probability of his success in "resolving the struggle" this time was still very high, because Ming could not swallow the entire Wu Zhou in one breath, and Ming's top priority was not to swallow Wu Zhou, but to unify the interior.
This war between the Ming Dynasty, Wu Zhou, and Geng Jing was actually an internal strife between the kings of the Ming Dynasty!
The reason why this internal strife occurred was because the Ming Dynasty was not unified within the Ming Dynasty. The kings who discussed politics had too many territories and armies, and they seemed to be the kings of a country. After the Ming Dynasty was controlled by Li Zhongshan, Li Fuchen, Lu Sanhao, and Chen Yonghua, there would naturally be forces that dissatisfied with them and rebelled.
If Li Zhongshan wanted to completely eliminate the risk of internal strife, he would have to use the power of a great victory to rectify the internal affairs and nationalize all the armies and territories of the kings who discussed politics.
But this is a very difficult matter, and it won’t be solved within a few years. If you don't get this done, you will only have to cover your head and march here and there. The bigger the territory you conquer, the stronger the vassal kings below will be. Sooner or later, people like Wu Sangui and Geng Jingzhong will appear.
In fact, Kangxi himself was also troubled by the princes and ministers who discussed politics. Fortunately, there were no particularly powerful princes in the Qing Dynasty, except for Prince Gong Chang Ning and the Korean Supervisor Yang Qilong. Yang Qilong and Chang Ning were not in the same group, so the two would not collude to rebel, so Kangxi could still control the situation for now.
If he can continue this "fighting", reach a "Northwestern Mutual Protection" with the Zhou Dynasty, and successfully negotiate a peace with the Ming Dynasty, even if he can only win five or ten years of peace, then he can further consolidate his power in the north. Qing's dominance.
However, the peace terms negotiated by Nalan Mingzhu and Li Zhongshan brought back by Duolong made him a little embarrassed.
He had already lost a lot of prestige by surrendering to Wu Sangui. If Fuquan's fighting skills were not so advanced, he would not be the emperor now.
This time I have to become a second minister again and submit to the Ming Dynasty. Don’t provoke Chang Ning again!
So when he met Mingzhu and Duolong today, he didn't nod immediately. He was still thinking about his thoughts while returning to the harem.
"I respectfully welcome the Emperor!"
Yang Xiaomi's delicate voice interrupted Kangxi's thoughts.
Kangxi looked up and found that he had arrived at the palace where Queen Yang was walking.
"Pingsheng," Kangxi forced out a smile, "Queen, please accompany me for a few steps."
"Your Majesty, what's on your mind?" Yang Xiaomi stood up and followed Kang Xi to pace in the yard. When she saw Kang Xi's expressionless expression, she took the initiative to ask.
Her behavior belongs to harem politics! Kangxi was very opposed to the harem intervening in politics, with the exception of Empress Yang. Her Manchu name was Nalalaner. Isn't it natural to do politics?
"Li Datou wants me to surrender to Prince Zhu San!" Kangxi said, "I have already surrendered to Wu Sangui, and now I want to do it again"
"Oh, is it because the emperor doesn't want to be a second minister?" Yang Xiaomi really dared to say.
Kangxi's face suddenly darkened and he became unhappy, but when he turned around and looked at Yang Xiaomi's face, chest, and belly, his anger dissipated.
She wants to have a pretty face, a good figure, and she also wants to have a son!
With a son, Kangxi's throne will be secure!
"It's okay to be a second minister," Kangxi said, "but if someone uses this as an excuse to start an army again, wouldn't it cause chaos in the world again?"
"This is easy to handle," Yang Xiaomi said, "just let the fifth master go to Nanjing as an envoy to declare his vassal status to the third prince Zhu."
"Let Chang Ning go?" When Kangxi heard this, Mayan was very happy. If Chang Ning became the minister, what reason would he have to rebel?
He then frowned a little: "But is he willing?"
"How could you refuse?" Yang Xiaomi said, "He doesn't have a share in the Qing Dynasty? The Qing Dynasty is about to be conquered by the Ming Dynasty's Northern Expedition, and he is the first one in Shandong to be beaten! Your Majesty, it's inconvenient for you to tell the Fifth Master about this. , I went to talk to him. I will keep it and let him propose to go to Nanjing as an envoy!"
"That's great!" Kangxi said with a smile, "Chang Ning will come to Kaifeng Mansion in two days. Then I will go to Xuzhou to make an alliance with Wu Shifan. You stay in Kaifeng Mansion to meet Chang Ning."
(End of chapter)
