Zu Zeqing, the commander-in-chief of Gao Lei with a traitorous bone on the back of his head, was actually not trusted by Tu Hai, Shang Zhidian, and Jin Guangzu.
These people are not stupid, how can they not know that Zu Zeqing has been admiring his cousin Wu Sangui since he was a child?
Moreover, Yang Qilong, who went to Guangdong to contact Shang Zhixin on behalf of Wu Yingxiong, and Liu Xuanchu, who went to Guangzhou to look at houses on behalf of Wu Sangui, were both very close to Zu Zeqing. This Zu Zeqing is seriously suspected of being a collaborator!
In addition, this Zu Zeqing is not a good slave... When other slaves reached his level, they had already obediently accepted the offer of apology, surrendered their military power, and stayed at home to suspend their duties.
But this Zu Zeqing was still very arrogant, refusing to apologize and not handing over power. Not only did they not hand over power, they also recruited surrender and rebels in the Gaozhou and Leizhou areas and expanded the army. In just a few months, the number of Green Camp soldiers under his command was expanded from the original 4,000 to 10,000!
Although the newly expanded troops were originally bandits, their combat effectiveness was sparse and their military discipline was poor. But most of them had used the slogan of opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty before, so they dared to confront the Qing Dynasty when things happened!
If the third prince Zhu and the third grandson of Zhu had not made the market so big in Guangzhou, Zu Zeqing would have been close to death with his approach. But now it happened that he was in such a situation that he couldn't be touched.
Tu Hai, Sun Yanling and others finally managed to gather fifty or sixty thousand troops, but they were not necessarily as many as the puppet Ming court troops in Guangzhou. How could they dare to force the rebel ancestor Zeqing? If we really wanted to force Zu Zeqing, who was still stationed at a high position in Zhaoqing Fucheng at that time, to rebel, we would be in big trouble.
However, not daring to force Zu Zeqing to rebel does not mean that he is not on guard against Zu Zeqing... nor does it mean that Zu Zeqing cannot take advantage of him.
After Tu Hai, Sun Yanling, and Sun Sike combined their efforts, they sent Zu Zeqing's army to the south bank area of Zhaoqing Prefecture in Xijiang. On the surface, he was asked to guard Gaoming County and Lanke Mountain to cover the right flanks of Sun Yanling and Shi Lang. In fact, it has another great use.
Since Tuhai and the others already knew that Zhu Heji's army was going south via the Xijiang River to fight against Xinhui, placing Zu Zeqing on the south bank of the Xijiang River was tantamount to letting him act as a bait to lure Zhu Heji to go north along the Xijiang River - because he would not destroy them After Zu Zeqing and Zhu Heji went north to rescue Guangzhou and Sanshui, Zu Zeqing might fight back to Xinhui County, and even take Xinning and Kaiping with them.
Therefore, going north along the Xijiang River, defeating Zu Zeqing, and then advancing towards Zhaoqing Prefecture seems to be Zhu Heji's best strategy...
When Zu Zeqing was fiercely attacked by Zhu Heji, he would definitely give up Gaoming and retreat to Lanke Mountain on the bank of the Xijiang River. He could even abandon Lanke Mountain and retreat to the north bank of the Xijiang River.
Once he retreats to the north bank of the Xijiang River, the half of Zhaoqing Prefecture south of the Xijiang River, as well as Luoding Prefecture, Gaozhou Prefecture, Leizhou Prefecture, and even Qiongzhou Prefecture and Lianzhou Prefecture may all be controlled by the puppet Ming Dynasty because of the area on the south bank of the Xijiang River. All fell into the hands of false Ming.
At that time, Zu Zeqing's crime would be very serious...but it was just enough to lead Zhu Heji's army to the Zhaoqing Prefecture section of Xijiang River.
If Zu Zeqing, who was stationed in the south of the Xijiang River, wanted to defect to the Puppet Ming Dynasty, Tu Hai, Sun Yanling, and Sun Sike would not be worried, because this could also shirk the responsibility for the loss of the area south of the Xijiang River, and it could also induce Zhu and Ji to join forces. The Xijiang River moves northward.
Create an opportunity for Shi Lang to severely injure Zhu Heji's navy!
Sun Sike and Shi Langke never planned to conquer Guangzhou in one battle. Their real target was actually Sanshui and the wealthy area of the Pearl River Delta protected by Sanshui... And they did not intend to capture it, but I want to ravage the richest area in Guangdong.
To achieve this goal, Zhu Heji's navy must be severely damaged!
The Xijiang Waterway west of Sanshui is now controlled by Shi Lang. Although Shi Lang's Xijiang Navy is still very weak, he has seized Qingqidu, a key point on the other side of Lanke Mountain, and guarded the water fortress from Xijiang into Beijiang. road!
Shi Lang's army also rushed to repair camps and forts on the river bank of Qingqidu. Not only did they set up general cannons on the forts, but they also secretly built a batch of cannons that could launch fire mines.
If Zhu Heji's army goes north via the Xijiang Waterway, Shi Lang will dispatch the weak Xijiang Navy to lure Zhu Heji's navy to the vicinity of Qingqi Village, and then use sugar mines dropped by cannons to launch a surprise attack... ...Even if Zhu Heji's navy cannot be completely destroyed, it can still be severely damaged!
As long as Zhu Heji's navy was severely damaged, even if Zu Zeqing and the territory of Guangdong Province south of Xijiang were lost, it would be completely worth it.
Because Zhu Heji, who had temporarily lost his navy, had no way to rescue Sanshui County, Sun Sike would be able to use "Sugar Fire Thunder" and the corpses of the Green Camp soldiers to storm the fortress of Sanshui County.
Once Sanshui County is captured by the Qing army, the Qing army's position in Guangdong will be revitalized.
Because the three counties of Nanhai, Shunde, and Xiangshan in the lower reaches of the Beijiang River will all be ravaged by the Qing army... It is the richest and most prosperous "oil and water area" in the entire Guangfu region except Guangzhou City. ah!
The Qing army did not have to conquer those "oil and water areas". As long as they could continuously send troops to plunder those "oil and water areas", it would be enough to make the Guangzhou court of the Third Prince Zhu and his grandson Zhu San a big headache!
In other words, what Sun Sike and Shi Lang are planning now is to use Zu Zeqing and half of Zhaoqing Prefecture on the south bank of the Xijiang River, the entire Gaozhou Prefecture, Leizhou Prefecture and Luoding Prefecture to "conquer" the key point of Sanshui in order to ravage the South China Sea. , Shunde and Xiangshan counties!
This is Sun Sike's "tie" plan!
Of course, as a chess piece to be "redeemed", Zu Zeqing also knew that his situation was not good.
And he doesn’t know how to solve the problem?
It seems impossible to defect to the Ming Dynasty... because he wants to follow Wu Sangui to conquer the world, and does not want to hang out with the Ming Dynasty. Because his father Zu Dashou betrayed the Ming Dynasty, and many of his closest relatives and friends also betrayed the Ming Dynasty and became lackeys of the Qing court.
So he felt that if he joined the Ming Dynasty, he would probably not get any good results...
And Wu Sangui is taking his time to rebel. Who knows when he will really be able to rebel? It seems a bit hesitant to ask him to wait.
What if Wu Sangui is beaten to death by Zhu Heji before he can rebel, or falls into the hands of the two traitors Tu Hai and Sun Yanling?
When he was in trouble, he received a secret report from his son Zu Lianggen stationed in Gaoming County - his old acquaintance Yang Qilong was visiting!
...
"Young man named Yang, you have tricked Prince Pingxi and my father-in-law, and now you want to trick me again? Go ahead and dream!"
In a house occupied by Zu Lianggen in Gaoming City, when Zu Zeqing saw Yang Qilong dressed as a wandering Taoist priest, he became furious and pointed at him and scolded him.
"Bitter?" Yang Qilong was stunned, "Is Prince Pingxi having a hard time in Yunnan? Not really...his father doesn't want him anymore?"
How could you not? Wu Sangui was not a stallion. He only had two sons. One of them, Wu Yingqi, was adopted, so Wu Yingxiong was the only son in the family tree.
Zu Zeqing snorted: "What about my father-in-law? He was killed by you!"
Yang Qilong smiled and said: "My father-in-law has run away and gone to the north by water. He won't die for a while."
"What? He went to the north...is he crazy?" Zu Zeqing looked at Yang Qilong, "You, you are not trying to trick me, are you?"
"No, no...if my father-in-law had not run away, our Ming Dynasty Supervisor Prince Ding would not have captured Xinhui so easily. If he did not capture Xinhui, he would not have sent me Come see you, Mr. Zu!"
As Yang Qilong spoke, he took out the decree written by Zhu Heji himself and handed it to Zu Zeqing with a smile.
"What is this?" Zu Zeqing's eyes widened when he saw the scroll handed over by Yang Qilong, but he refused to stretch out his paws to take it.
"This is an order to make you the general of Guangxi." Yang Qilong smiled, "As long as you do a small favor for the prince, from now on the whole province of Guangxi will have the surname Zu... Guangxi will be forever!"
"Hmph!" Zu Zeqing snorted coldly, "My ancestor is a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty! Moreover, my ancestral family has received great favor from the emperor, and I am not allowed to seek glory behind my back!
You go back and tell Zhu Heji that even if he comes here, my ancestor Zeqing is not afraid of him! "
Oh, quite loyal!
Zu Zeqing's words surprised Yang Qilong a little, but how could this difficulty stump Yang Qilong?
I saw him laughing and saying: "Zong Zongrong is on duty... Zu Zongrong can do a small favor for my heir apparent, and it won't stop you from becoming a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty!"
In fact, you can only continue to be a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty if you help my heir apparent!
When the time comes, you will not only be a loyal minister of Xuan Ye, but also a loyal minister of my heir apparent, and a loyal minister of Uncle Ping... That is truly unspeakable loyalty! "
As he said that, Yang Qilong suddenly lowered his tone, "If you don't help me with this, my heir apparent will lose all the troops you have... Who wants you to be a loyal minister? Without your strength, you No matter how loyal you are, it's useless. Once your strength is gone, you will be a sinner who has lost your master and lost your land! When the old and new accounts are settled together, you'd better be a slave of Ning Guta. How can you be the king of Guangxi if you are a slave of Ning Guta? compared to?
General Rong, think about it again... Do you want to be a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Ping Xibo, or do you want to be a guilty slave of Ning Guta? "
