On the seventh day of the seventh lunar month in the eleventh year of Kangxi's reign, Jinguang Jin Dazhonglie was hung from the beam of the second hall of the Guangdong Governor's Yamen in Qujiang County in tears, completing his transformation from a traitor and a butcher's accomplice to a loyal martyr of the Qing Dynasty. On the fifteenth day after. At the gate of Shuimen Gate in Gaoyao, Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province, a group of people in neat robes and coats have gathered, and a reception pavilion and a painted archway have also been built.
One look at this posture and it is obvious that it must be the newly appointed Dingnan General Sun Yanling and his Lord Fujin, Heshuo Dingnan Princess Kong Sizhen finally arrived.
In April, Emperor Kangxi issued an edict ordering Sun Yanling and Kong Sizhen to lead Guangxi soldiers and horses to Guangdong to participate in the war. However, at that time, Kangxi also issued an order to Kong Sizhen to recruit fifteen assistants to the Dingnan Prince's Banner Army. This matter could not be accomplished overnight.
Recruit the flag army!
Although it is not the Eight Banners Army, the Dingnan Prince's Banner Army is still much nobler than the ordinary Green Camp soldiers. Of course, it must have high standards and strict requirements. At the same time, we cannot openly recruit for the people of Guangxi... Raise the flag! Where can we give such good treatment to Guangxi people? This requires recruiting people from Kong Youde's old department and Ding Yu who were stationed in Guangxi.
There were 20,000 old troops who followed Kong Youde into Guangxi, half of whom were Liaodong soldiers who had followed Kong Youde in the early years, and were considered Kong Youde's true direct descendants.
After Kong Youde's death, this group of people was led by Kong Youde's confidant and Guangxi Admiral Lin Guoan, and was later supplemented to more than 10,000 people.
After Lin Guoan became seriously ill, this group of people came under the command of Kong Youde's son-in-law, Sun Yanling.
The other half are the northwest soldiers of Ma Jiaolin, the leader of the Northwest Guyuan regiment who defected to the Qing Dynasty during the Shunzhi period. Most of them are Tianfang believers and fellow northwest soldiers... The cohesion is very strong!
After Ma Jiaolin died, they followed Ma Jiaolin's adopted son Ma Xiong. After the death of Lin Guoan, Ma Xiong obtained the position of admiral of Guangxi and became the second-in-command of the Qing army in Guangxi.
Kong Sizhen burned incense and worshiped Buddha, and she was a woman. Of course, there was a gap between her and Ma Xiong's men. So her fifteen assistants still had to be recruited from the army under the jurisdiction of Guangxi general Sun Yanling and Ding Yu... This was equivalent to cutting out Sun Yanling's flesh and building a team for Kong Sizhen!
Moreover, these fifteen assistants were still in the banner army, so it was not just about recruiting people. They also had to occupy land for them outside the city of Guilin, Guangxi, build a vassal, and recruit some people to serve as banner slaves.
It was really expensive and laborious, and caused a lot of chaos around Guilin. It took until late June to finally pull up the flag troops of the fifteen subordinates and replenish the flags with the green battalion soldiers under their own hands.
The news that Sun Yanling was seizing slaves in the Guilin enclosure spread to Beijing during this process. A censor named Ma Dashi impeached Sun Yanling because of this. This was a thankless task!
What makes Sun Yanling most miserable is that his wife Ge Ge is very difficult to take care of!
This Kong Sizhen is more than ten times more difficult to serve than Princess Jianning of Wu Yingxiong's family... Princess Jianning lost her parents when she was a child. She married Wu Yingxiong in his early twenties at the age of twelve or thirteen. She started out as a lolita He was "raised" and didn't have any intentions, so he was at the mercy of Wu Yingxiong. But this Kong Sizhen grew up with Kong Youde's army, was familiar with cavalry and military skills, and had a strong personality, just like a tigress!
Moreover, she was sent by Empress Dowager Bumubutai to serve as a first-class bodyguard in the bodyguard department for a period of time, responsible for "protecting" Emperor Shunzhi, and she almost became Emperor Shunzhi's concubine.
After marrying Sun Yanling, Kong Sizhen didn't know how to restrain herself and treated her husband as a subordinate. But Sun Yanling didn't dare to provoke this tigress who only had a backstage, so she had to live in humiliation for several years. It was not until the fourth year of Kangxi's reign that Tigress was coaxed, and she took the path of the Empress Dowager for him, making him a general of Guangxi and finally having a delicious meal.
After becoming the general of Guangxi, Sun Yanling began to take the initiative and "bully" the tigress Kong Sizhen... Just when he was having fun "bullying", the Emperor Kangxi didn't know what he was thinking, but he was being bullied. , and Kong Sizhen, who was unspeakably miserable, "issued" three thousand flag soldiers and the title of Princess Heshuo Dingnan, as if he regarded her as the "female King of Dingnan".
Maybe Emperor Kangxi didn't even know that there was such a species as a tigress in the world. Even a real tigress would have to turn into a kitten when it came to the harem of Emperor Kangxi, a tiger hunting enthusiast!
In Kangxi's view, as long as he promoted Kong Sizhen, he could greatly encourage the "soft rice lover" Sun Yanling and let him see the hope of further becoming the king of Dingnan...
Even though Sun Yanling had ten thousand unwillingnesses in her heart, she could only follow Emperor Kangxi's imperial edict. This is "soft rice given by the emperor". No matter how unpalatable it is, you have to eat it, and you have to shout "it tastes so good" while eating it.
So after working hard for more than two months, Sun Yanling finally helped the Tigress Three Thousand Banner Army to stand still. On the seventh day of July, he led himself and Kong Sizhen's 13,000 troops, plus Guangxi Admiral Ma Xiong's 7,000 troops, for a total of 20,000 troops, and took the Xijiang waterway to Gaoyao City, the capital of Zhaoqing Prefecture!
At this time, Gaoyao County, with its difficult terrain and surrounded by the Xijiang River on three sides, had become the most important stronghold of the Qing Dynasty in the west of Guangzhou City.
This was originally the residence of Jin Guangzu, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. When Shang Kexi and Liu Bingquan both left Guangzhou for the Eastern Expedition, Jin Guangzu did not leave with them. Instead, he was always stationed in Gaoyao, the capital of Zhaoqing.
Most of Jin Guangzu's supervisors also stayed in Gaoyao City. Later, Shang Zhixin sent Shang Keai to lead a subordinate cavalry to Gaoyao, further strengthening the military strength of Gaoyao City.
Later, Jin Guangzu took advantage of the fall of Guangzhou to take in some of the banner troops and green camp soldiers who had escaped from Guangzhou city.
Later, Jin Guangzu also used the governor's token to transfer the commander-in-chief Zu Zeqing and his four thousand green battalion soldiers from Gaozhou Prefecture.
Now Sun Yanling, Kong Sizhen, and Ma Xiong have brought another 20,000 troops, bringing the total number of Qing troops gathered in Gaoyao County to close to 30,000!
...
"... Counting these, there are at least 30,000 Qing troops in the Zhaoqing Prefecture! On the Shaozhou Prefecture, there are hundreds of banner troops from the Xushun Gongfu, more than a thousand regiments withdrawn from Chaozhou, and The total number of more than a thousand people evacuated from Guangzhou and the three to four thousand green battalion troops from Hunan is five to six thousand. In Huizhou Prefecture, there are more than ten thousand people with one admiral and two general soldiers. Just these alone may be More than 45,000 people!”
Standing on the city wall of Gaoyao County, looking at the mighty fleet coming on the water of the Xijiang River, and counting the number of Qing troops around Guangzhou on his fingers, this man was none other than Wu Sangui's military advisor Liu Xuanchu.
The person listening to him count was Zhu Heji's right deputy military advisor Yang Qilong!
These two military advisors were now on Emperor Kangxi's blacklist, and Jin Guangzu, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, also received a letter from Kangxi to arrest them secretly.
However, these two men were indeed brave enough. They just put on the mandarin jackets of a Green Camp military attache and followed Zu Zeqing into Gaoyao City in a grand manner.
Now I am still standing on the city wall, watching the troops of Sun Yanling and Kong Sizhen arrive!
"Sun Yanling and Kong Sizhen brought all the soldiers from Guangxi, right?" Yang Qilong said, "These soldiers were originally used to restrain King Pingxi... Now that they have all come to Guangdong, can King Pingxi raise troops according to the order? King Qin?"
"Of course!" Liu Xuanchu said with a smile, "Zu Lianggan brought a secret letter from the prince... The prince has decided to raise an army."
What he said was actually only half of what he said. Wu Sangui had determination...but it was hard to say how much, maybe just a little bit.
"Really?" Yang Qilong was overjoyed when he heard this, "When will the troops start?"
"The letter didn't say anything," Liu Xuanchu said, "but the prince asked me to go to Guangzhou to pay a visit to His Royal Highness Prince Ding on his behalf."
"Okay!" Yang Qilong smiled, "I happen to be planning to go back to Guangzhou. Mr. Liu, why don't you take this trip with me."
"Okay!" Liu Xuanchu said with a smile, "I wish for you!"
