When Wu Sangui's autographed letter was rushed to Sichuan by his subordinates for 600 miles, Geng Jingzhong, who "pretended to be loyal to the spirit", had been defeated by Yang Xiuqing and fled back to Fuzhou in disgrace.
Speaking of this defeat, Geng Jingzhong was really on the verge of tears. Originally, the good thing was to "fake defeat"... His understanding of fake defeat was that when the "cannon" sounded, the two armies faced each other, and then a strong man on each side rode a big horse and made two gestures, and one of them pretended If you lose, just slap the horse and run away, and then everyone can escape together.
But what Yang Qilong understood as "fake defeat" was actually "blow up". It was late at night, and he sneaked with a rocket launcher battalion near Geng Jingzhong's camp and set up more than thirty rocket launchers. Then they fired more than 300 sugar rockets into Geng Jingzhong's camp... How scary those things were! It was flying in the sky dragging a fire tail, and screaming "Jie Jie Jie" as it flew. Dozens of them fell into Geng Jingzhong's camp impartially, and then exploded like divine thunder from the sky. The explosion killed and injured many people, and also frightened many mules and horses. The whole camp was in chaos!
And Liu Jinzhong and Wu Qifeng are not good people. As soon as the Ming army's rocket attack started, these two people escaped with their men!
Moreover, both of their armies were temporarily expanded. The original number of troops was only 5,000, but now they have brought in many battalion boys and retired veterans, which is a bit confusing to begin with. Coupled with the rocket bombing and the overnight escape, it was really panic to the extreme.
When Geng Jingzhong's men saw that they were all running away, they thought that the Ming army was coming to rob the camp, so they also ran with them!
Geng Jingzhong had no choice. He couldn't restrain his subordinates at all, and he himself didn't know if Yang Qilong had deceived him? So just in case, he quickly got on his horse and ran away.
But because his own horse was scared away by the rocket launcher, he had no choice but to escape on a bad horse brought from nowhere. But the strength of this horse was obviously not good enough. It carried Geng Jingzhong for dozens of miles and failed. Without a word of greeting, it fell down and lay flat, foaming at the mouth. Geng Jingzhong also fell and suffered a bloody injury. flow, and broke a right leg.
Fortunately, several of his geshiha were still loyal and did not abandon the useless Jingnan King and run away. Instead, they carried him with all their lives and ran away.
The place where Geng Jingzhong's troops were "defeated" was on the east bank of the North River of the Rong River in Jieyang - Yang Qilong placed the rocket launcher battalion on the west bank to bombard him. But when he ran, he couldn't stop. Because Liu Jinzhong and Wu Qifeng had no intention of returning to Haiyang and Raoping counties when they sent out troops, they took away the local officials, civilians, and military family members, leaving a "vacuum zone" in the two counties. The clan forces in these two counties took advantage of the opportunity to fill the "vacuum". These clans are all Chaozhou people. They have suffered enough from Qingyao, so of course they want to turn to the "Third Grandson of Chaozhou".
So when this group of people found out that Geng Jingzhong had been defeated, they all cut off their braids and started to work on the great cause of resisting the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty.
So all the cities, forts and fortresses in Haiyang and Raoping counties closed their doors to Geng Jingzhong's army. All the bridges in the two counties had their decks demolished, making it impossible to cross... If it weren't for the discovery of several wooden boats on the west bank of the Han River, Geng Jingzhong's people almost would not have been able to return to Fujian.
And the most hateful thing is that these Chaozhou people have guns! And they were still hiding in the woods, rice fields, and gated buildings on both sides of the official road that Geng Jingzhong's troops passed through when they fled!
Although they did not dare to get too close to Geng Jingzhong's men, so their shooting was not accurate. But the Geng family army had already been frightened. When they heard the crackling gunshots, they thought the soldiers were catching up with them, and they ran away. In order to run faster, these Geng family generals also threw away the weapons, armor, and rations they carried with them!
As a result, Geng Jingzhong's army had already run out of food before they could escape to Fujian. Even the war horses and pack horses were eaten up. Geshiha, who was protecting Geng Jingzhong's escape, also lost his food rations. As a result, Geng Jingzhong had to starve with his subordinates. After starving for a day and a night, he returned to Fenshuiguan at the junction of Fujian and Guangdong... This "fraud" defeat was so "fraud" that it seemed like the real thing!
Anyway, Fan Chengmo, who rushed to visit Geng Wangzhuang in Fuzhou after hearing the news, was 100% convinced that Geng Jingzhong had lost the war... If Geng Jingzhong was really defeated, he could rest assured and go to Zhejiang to be the governor.
Because it doesn't matter if Geng Jingzhong loses the battle, as long as he is really loyal to the Qing Dynasty.
"Fan Zhijun, it's so, so scary. The traitor's thunder arrows are so scary. They not only fly and explode, but also scream... That's a magic! There really is a magic! Wuwu. .....I almost couldn’t come back!”
As soon as he saw Fan Chengmo, Geng Jingzhong, who was lying on the bed recovering from his injuries, burst into tears - it makes me sad just thinking about it! The "fake defeat" turned into a "bombing defeat", and two thousand people were lost inexplicably, and so many armors and equipment were also lost!
What makes Geng Jingzhong most sad is that his military skills seem to be a little bit poor... With this level, is there any hope of becoming emperor?
When Fan Chengmo saw Geng Jingzhong, who was pale and thin, with gauze wrapped around his head and a splint on one thigh, he was completely convinced that this useless Geng Jingzhong was a true loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty.
And he still felt a little guilty - he had previously suspected that Geng Jingzhong had disobedient intentions, and even when he received an edict from Emperor Kangxi to come to Beijing to see his majesty, he excused his poor health to stay in Fuzhou, trying to figure it out. The truth about "anti-songs" and "prophecies".
But now seeing Geng Jingzhong's bearish look, Fan Chengmo was finally convinced that it was all a conspiracy of the enemy... Who are the people fighting for the world now? Wu Sangui and Zhu San's father and son are so good at fighting! Compared with them, Geng Jingzhong was so weak that he still wanted to rebel and become emperor? How can it be?
Just when Fan Chengmo was thinking about making a secret speech to praise Geng Jingzhong, Geng Jingzhong's military advisor Zuo Chunqiu hurried to the door and loudly opened his throat and reported: "Your Majesty... Zhangzhou Hai Duke Cheng's Mansion urgently reports that the commander-in-chief Zhao Desheng has defected to the pirate Prince Zheng, and welcomes the pirate soldiers to land in Haicheng!"
"What? His surname is Zhao..." Upon hearing this, Geng Jingzhong immediately struggled to get up, "Here, help me get up quickly, I am going to send troops to rescue Zhangzhou!"
Fan Chengmo thought to himself: "What a suspense! If I were still in office as governor, I would probably die together in Zhangzhou and the city!"
Thinking of this, Governor Fan hurriedly said to Geng Jingzhong: "My lord, don't worry, Zhangzhou City has strong walls and there are elite soldiers of Duke Haicheng guarding it. Although my husband has been seriously ill for many days, Wu Dutong is in charge of the city. We can always hold on for a few months. It won't be too late to find a way to break the siege of Zhangzhou after the prince recovers from his injury.
In addition, when I arrive in the capital and see the emperor, I will also explain the situation in Fujian to the emperor... As long as the emperor knows your loyalty, he will definitely not ignore Fujian. "
Geng Jingzhong was of course grateful when he heard this, and said repeatedly: "Then please leave it to the army..."
...
The time finally arrived at the beginning of January in the twelfth year of Kangxi, when the year was approaching. Wu Sangui's No. 3 or No. 4 counselor (depending on whether it counts Yang Qilong or not), Wang Shirong, finally went through all kinds of hardships and reached Guyuan Prefecture in Pingliang Prefecture, Gansu Province, and even entered the Admiral's Military Gate Wang Fuchen's house through the back door. In the yamen, in a secluded courtyard, I met Wang Fuchen, known as "Huo Lu Bu" and "Ma Yaozi".
Wang Fuchen, who met Wang Shirong in this courtyard, was of course a rare "loyal minister", but he had not yet decided which family he wanted to be a loyal minister to.
Be loyal to Wu Sangui, his background is so unusual among the Wu family army! There are two types of people leading the troops in the Wu family army. One is the old brother Guan Ning, and the other is the new brother who surrendered to Nanming. The former and Wu Sangui have lived and died together for decades, while the latter cannot be used by anyone except Wu Sangui.
And he, Wang Fuchen, was born as a slave in Kuyi, Bao Xinzhe, so he was too isolated in Wu Sangui's group!
Be loyal to Kangxi, he is too lowly a slave!
He already has a high position that is disproportionate to his slaves, and his benefactor, Emperor Shunzhi, who he particularly admired, is no longer alive.
Although the little emperor seemed to attach great importance to him, this was different from the importance Emperor Shunzhi placed on him. Emperor Shunzhi regarded him as his good servant, while Emperor Kangxi regarded him as an important minister... This is the difference between inside and outside!
As for Prince Zhu who is loyal to Guangdong... he is too far away and cannot be loyal for a while!
Thinking of this, Wang Fuchen sighed and looked at Wang Shirong, who had a good relationship with him, "Why is it you? I'm sorry! Someone... help me take down this anti-thief lobbyist!"
