Forbidden City, South Study.
On the day after Emperor Kangxi received the sugar fire thunder presented by Shi Lang and Deng Zhong, Geng Jingzhong, the king of Jingnan of the Qing Dynasty who went to Beijing with Shi Lang and Deng Zhong, finally entered the daily office of Emperor Kangxi neatly wearing a flower feather and robe. and the south study room where ministers were summoned. He met Aixinjueluo Xuanye, the Little Holy Lord of the Qing Dynasty who had made him "miss and miss him" for many days.
"My servant Geng Jingzhong respectfully wishes you a holy peace. Long live my emperor, long live, long live!"
Geng Jingzhong, the sharp-mouthed and monkey-cheeked man, was still an honest man after all. Although he had been secretly discussing how to deceive the emperor with the military advisor Zuo Chunqiu along the way, when he kowtowed to Kangxi now, his mind went blank and he was only trembling with fear.
"I beg you."
Kangxi answered, and then looked at Geng Jingzhong, who was kneeling on the ground sweating and trembling, as if he had done something wrong, and asked half-jokingly: "My brother-in-law, what are you afraid of? I'm not a tiger. Can I eat you? You must have done something to offend me, right?"
Geng Jingzhong was also related to Kangxi. He married Hauge's daughter as Zhengfujin and was Kangxi's cousin-in-law. Before he ascended the throne and became a vassal, he often lived in Beijing and met Emperor Kangxi often, and the two parties were relatively familiar with each other. So it was okay for Kangxi to joke with him.
But there is something wrong with Geng Jingzhong! Moreover, he was not a very courageous thief. After hearing what Kangxi said, he was so frightened that he fell to the ground on the spot, and he repeatedly apologized: "The slave is guilty, the slave deserves to die..."
Faced with Geng Jingzhong's apology, Kangxi didn't take it seriously. Because his Qing Dynasty was created by a group of masters from the Aixinjueluo family leading a group of slaves and slaves of slaves. There was a clear distinction between masters and slaves. Asking for forgiveness and damning were all the slaves' mantras. Just listen to it as a master. If you really want to "catch the guilty" and "death to death", the Qing Dynasty itself will be gone.
Moreover, during this period of time, Guangzhou, Quanzhou, and Qiongzhou fell one after another, and some important officials in Guangdong and Fujian gave Kangxi excuses to plead guilty. It was really "everyone is guilty and everyone deserves to die."
So Geng Jingzhong's current attitude is not very strange...it's still a bit strange. He knocked his head a little loudly and his voice of apology was a little trembling. Those who didn't know better thought that this guy really committed some heinous crime!
But Emperor Kangxi knew Geng Jingzhong better... Even those with the surname Geng are cowards!
His grandfather Geng Zhongming violated the "Fugitive Law" by accepting 300 "fugitives" under his generals. He was questioned by Dorgon and was so frightened that he hanged himself. Dorgon was baffled by this. Just asking, why did he die?
At that time, Geng Zhongming was supervising the army in Jiangxi and was preparing to go to Guangdong with Shang Kexi. He had an army of 10,000 under his command. How could the Qing court want to kill him just because of three hundred "escapees"? So everyone in the court was trying to excuse him, saying they wanted to be lenient... but in the end, this guy scared himself to death.
And Geng Jingzhong’s father, Geng Jimao, is also a coward. It’s enough to just report his father to death. But I dare not, I have to report it truthfully. As a result, Dorgon felt that he could not get out of power, so he ordered Geng Zhongming to commit suicide in fear of crime, and refused to allow Geng Jimao to seize the title... Geng Jimao actually tolerated it, and followed Shang Kexi diligently to fight against Nanming and Guangdong. people. Later, Emperor Shunzhi, who was in charge of the government, felt embarrassed that he had bullied honest traitors too much, so he made Geng Jimao the prince.
Because there are characters left by two generations of honest traitors, Geng Zhongming and Geng Jimao, Geng Jingzhong's "honest image" can easily be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people - what evil intentions can this Geng Jingzhong have?
Seeing Geng Jingzhong kowtow to plead guilty, Emperor Kangxi could only comfort him with gentle words: "Sir, please don't plead guilty. I know your loyalty to the Qing Dynasty."
fine......
Geng Jingzhong has a guilty conscience, he is really rebellious!
Seeing that Geng Jingzhong's mood had stabilized, Kangxi asked again: "Sir, if I entrust you with full power in Fujian, how do you plan to deal with the false traitors?"
"Report to the emperor, the slaves will concentrate all the manpower and material resources of Fujian Province to fight against Chaozhou!"
Of course Geng Jingzhong had already prepared his speech. He and Zuo Chunqiu had discussed it all the way!
"Attacking Chaozhou?" Kangxi was a little puzzled, "Is Chaozhou important?"
"Your Majesty doesn't know something," Geng Jingzhong said. "Although Chaozhou is located in a corner of Guangdong, its people are fierce and fierce, and clan thieves are everywhere. There have been many bandits, pirates, and tyrants there since ancient times. And since the late Ming Dynasty, Chaozhou has There are many people who go to sea, and Chaozhou people are all over Southeast Asia. Although the imperial court temporarily cut off the communication between Chaozhou people in Guangdong and overseas Chaozhou people through the sea ban and border relocation... After all, the sea ban only lasted for ten years, and this communication required Recovery is not difficult either.
By then, the false traitors will be able to collude with foreign countries, monopolize maritime trade, and make huge profits! What's even more frightening is that many of those Chaozhou people who went out to sea were engaged in piracy and pirate activities. Once they were used by the puppet Ming court...then the pirate Zheng Sen's northern expedition to Jiangning might happen again! And Zhu Ni and Ji's soldiers are much stronger than the pirate Zheng Sen! "
Geng Jingzhong is now an honest man who speaks the truth. Among the three major ethnic groups in Guangdong, the Chaozhou people are currently the greatest threat to the Qing Dynasty!
Although the Hakka people also like the Chaozhou people to form large clans and get together to fight with weapons, and everyone is very fierce.
However, at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the Hakka people had not yet expanded to the seaside, and not many people went out to sea. However, the Chaozhou people went to sea in groups, traveling to Southeast Asia and exploring the world together with the Hokkien people.
Therefore, if Zhu Heji gets the support of the powerful Hakka people, he will at most attack from Hunan and Jiangxi to the north step by step.
If we get the support of Chaozhou people, especially overseas Chaozhou people, we can go north across the sea, directly to Dagukou, or even land outside Shanhaiguan!
Emperor Kangxi didn't quite understand the war, so he turned to look at Yue Le, who was accompanying him to meet Geng Jingzhong.
Yue Le had previously advocated concentrating all efforts to conquer Guangzhou, but now Geng Jingzhong mentioned the "Chaozhou threat theory", which seemed quite reasonable.
"By the way," Yue Le asked, "with the strength of the whole province of Fujian, can we capture Chaozhou? Now that the pirate Zheng family has occupied several counties in Quanzhou, does Fujian still have the energy to take care of Guangdong's affairs?"
"Your Majesty," Geng Jingzhong said, "if the whole province of Fujian plus Liu Jinzhong's troops in Chaozhou, the power can be used in one place. Even if we cannot conquer the counties of Chaozhou and Quanzhou for a while, we will not fall behind... ...We can completely concentrate our forces, sometimes in Chaozhou, sometimes in Quanzhou, making it difficult for the rebels to take care of both the head and tail, and they will be exhausted and unable to support Guangzhou."
Yue Le nodded and asked again: "Then with the troops under the command of General Dingnan, can Guangzhou be captured?"
Geng Jingzhong frowned and asked: "Your Majesty, how many troops did you say General Dingnan has? Does Guangdong's military respect General Dingnan? In addition, the green camps in Huguang, Jiangxi, Jiangnan, Zhejiang and other places are now all Didn’t dispatch...is it too much to underestimate the enemy?”
As he spoke, Geng Jingzhong turned to Kangxi and said, "Your Majesty, this servant has something from the bottom of his heart, should I say it or not?"
"Just tell me," Kangxi said, "You are my cousin-in-law, what can't the family say?"
Geng Jingzhong said: "Your Majesty, now that the false Prince Zhu and the Third Prince have conquered Guangzhou, we must no longer treat them as lonely and poor thieves. They should kill chickens with a knife! Even if the Eight Banners heavenly soldiers are not used, all the elite green soldiers from the southeastern provinces should be used. !”
He glanced at Yue Le again, "And a minister who can truly command the entire army should be sent to Guangdong to supervise the army..."
The suggestions Geng Jingzhong is making now seem to be for the sake of the Qing Dynasty at first glance, but in fact they are all a trap devised after consultation with Zuo Chunqiu... not only the Qing Dynasty, but also the third prince Zhu and the third grandson of Zhu. .
Because once Emperor Kangxi sent the main force of the green camp in the southeastern provinces and the most capable princes in his hands to Guangdong, the Yangtze River Basin in the north would be empty!
Unlike Wu Sangui, who has not seen the Eight Banners Heavenly Soldiers for more than ten years, Geng Jingzhong is also a "Beijing native" and knows very well what the current Eight Banners Heavenly Soldiers are like.
So in his opinion, he only needs to send Yue Le and the elite soldiers in the Southeast Green Camp to Guangdong, and then his opportunity will come...
