Kangxi suddenly woke up from his dream and found that he was not on Jingshan Mountain, but lying peacefully in the bedroom of the Jingzhao Palace.
Only then did he realize that he had had a strange dream, no, it was a nightmare! Kangxi immediately thought of several key factors that made people's hair stand on end - Jingshan, the Crooked Neck Tree and a loyal eunuch!
Isn't this the scene when Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself? How could I have such a dream? Could it be that I think about it every day and dream about it at night? Or...a warning from God?
Thinking of this, Kangxi suddenly broke into a cold sweat and murmured to himself: "I will never be the Chongzhen Emperor of the Qing Dynasty!"
"Long live Lord, what did you say?"
The voice of Little Guizi's father-in-law rang in Kangxi's ears again, and only then did Kangxi find that his most loyal eunuch was standing beside his bed.
"Oh, nothing, nothing..." Of course Kangxi would not tell Xiao Guizi such an ominous nightmare. He looked at the window paper again and found that the sun was already shining on it, "What time is it now? Isn’t it time to go to the South Study Room to discuss politics?”
Emperor Kangxi is recuperating these days, so he will naturally not be able to attend the morning court, but the political affairs in the South Study Room must still be carried out.
"Returning to the Emperor," Little Guizi's father-in-law said with a smile on his face, "It's almost half time now...so the servants came to help the Emperor get up.
In addition, Duolong just sent a piece of good news. A report was also sent to the slaves at the sticky post that Zhu Heji had returned to the court. "
As he spoke, Eunuch Xiao Guizi handed the two memorials to Kangxi.
One of them was sent personally by Duolong, the minister of the bodyguard. The title of "Minister of the Guard" sounds very big, but in fact he is the "Minister of the Concierge". In addition to guarding the door, he is also responsible for sending and receiving letters.
This memorial sent by Duolong was sent by Tuhai who led his troops to station in Xiangyang, and it was also a good news - although Xiangyang is now surrounded on all sides, the Ming army's encirclement is not tight, especially in the Han River There are still relatively large loopholes outside Fancheng on the north bank. . The two Gushans who were besieged in Xiangyang were both elites. They were the Zhenghuangqi Gushan led by Tuhai himself and the Zhengbaiqi Gushan led by the veteran Namuturu Laita. These two Gushans There are elite Manchu cavalry below, and it is not difficult to break through the Ming army encirclement north of Fancheng and deliver the message.
Kangxi first picked up the memorial sent from Xiangyang and read it. This was a good report!
It turned out that three days ago, on September 26, the besieging Ming army launched the first wave of fierce attack on Xiangyang City. They first used heavy firearms including long cannons weighing 20 kilograms and six-barreled rocket launchers to blast for three hours. Then they sent out dead soldiers to forcefully cross the Xiangyang moat in light boats and launch a battle to climb the city. As a result, the Qing troops who boarded the Xiangyang City Wall in time (they all went down to hide from the shells during the Ming army's bombardment) were defeated with flintlock guns and double-cell cannons, leaving as many as 300 corpses and wounded. There are countless people who have left.
"Okay! Kill three hundred enemies. This is a great victory!" Emperor Kangxi, who had not tasted the sweetness of victory for a long time, couldn't help but cheer loudly after reading Tu Hai's report, and his spirits suddenly recovered.
Then he took out the report on the stick and read it. The report on the stick reported that Zhu Heji held a grand military parade in Jianglingfu City, and then announced that the Ming Dynasty had successfully recaptured Huguang, forcing Wu Yingxiong and Wu Guogui to Surrender, and declare victory as a class teacher.
In addition, this report also described in detail that after completing the military parade, the troops participating in the military parade immediately drove to the Shashi Pier outside Jiangling City, boarded hundreds of large ships that had been waiting there, and finally The scene of sailing eastward...
"Zhu Heji is gone... It seems that he also knows that Xiangyang is difficult to fight, and is ready to imitate the Mongols in using a long girth!" Kangxi just breathed a sigh of relief, but then his brows tightened again, "Xiao Guizi, wait here I will change my clothes and ask all the ministers in the South Study to wait in the South Study."
"嗻!"
...
When Emperor Kangxi walked briskly into the South Study, he was greeted by a relaxed atmosphere that he had not seen for a long time.
It seemed that the ministers had all heard the good news about the "Great Victory at Xiangyang" and the return of Zhu Heji to the court. They were all very happy and had smiles on their faces when they saw Kangxi walking in and bowed to him three times.
"Ping Shen, Ping Shen." Emperor Kangxi's tone was also unusually relaxed. The young hero who "had everything under control" seemed to be back.
After sitting grandly on the throne, Emperor Kangxi glanced at the several ministers of the South Study Room below and found that there was one more person than usual, and this person was too long to kneel down.
Kangxi took a closer look and frowned suddenly. The kneeling person turned out to be Yue Le.
"Uncle Emperor, are you back?"
Yue Le kowtowed and said with tears: "Your Majesty, this slave is guilty!"
His sin is too great!
He led an army of 120,000 to fight the "Battle of Red Cliff", but instead of being regarded as Zhou Yu, he ended up similar to Cao Cao... The 120,000 army defeated more than 70,000, and there were another 20,000. (not counting the 120,000 people) were surrounded by Zhuge Sanhe and could not get out of Xiangyang City.
The Qing Dynasty only had a total of 240,000 new Eight Banners!
But Kangxi could not punish Yue Le severely now, not because Yue Le was tricked by Wu Yingxiong, Kangxi's trusted "Bear Team member". It's because there are still nearly 6,000 people in Zhenglan Banner Gushan under Yue Le's personal charge... Fei Yanggu's secret attack arrived at Jingzhao Mansion seven days earlier than the defeated army led by Yue Le, which has already been explained. situation.
In this battle of Wulin, three Gushan troops were wiped out, and the remaining eleven Gushans also suffered heavy losses. Among them, the two Gushans with the smallest losses were the troops led by Yue Le and Fei Yanggu. When they fled to Gucheng County in Xiangyang Prefecture, the two Gushans had more than 6,000 troops, and they could still fight as long as they were replenished.
Since Yue Le's strength was still there, Kangxi didn't dare to do anything to him.
But the appearance still needs to be done.
Kangxi sighed: "Uncle Emperor, we are all one family...Now that the Qing Dynasty is facing a national crisis, we can't learn from the Chongzhen Dynasty in the Ming Dynasty, and we must unite! Let's do this, I will cut you off The title and the minister in charge of the army, but the minister of the south study room will still be reserved for you. In addition, I will also reserve for him the new army commander of the Zhenglan Banner Middle Road in Seleng'e."
"My servant thanks you for your kindness." Yue Le breathed a sigh of relief, kowtowed to Kangxi again, and then lay on the ground waiting for Kangxi to speak.
Kangxi looked at Yue Le and said, "Uncle Emperor, do you know the situation in Xiangyang and the return of Master Zhu Heji to the court?"
"The slave already knows."
Both of these reports were not confidential and were copied to the ministers as usual.
"What do you think? How long can Xiangyang... be defended? Will Zhu Heji launch a Northern Expedition from the east after returning to the court?"
Yue Le thought for a while and said: "Reporting to the emperor, it is true that Xiangyang City's defenses are strong, but the reserves in Xiangyang City are not rich. There is no problem in persisting for a year and a half. As time goes by, I'm afraid..."
Kangxi's brows furrowed again. He had not thought that Xiangyang would be surrounded, so he would not have stored enough military rations in the city for several years. The food currently in Xiangyang City was left by Wu Yingxiong for use by Yue Le's army!
If you save some food, it will only last a year at most. And what's worse is that the people in Xiangyang City are very smart and they all followed Wu Yingxiong to escape, so the trapped Qing soldiers couldn't eat human flesh even if they wanted to...unless they eat the flesh of their own people!
In addition, will this Tuhai become a "Tucheng category"? Although this Tuhai usually seems to be quite loyal, but the only way to survive the hardships is to die! It's so cold now, and the water in Xiangyang City's moat is so cold. And Tu Hai also has a record of surviving two dives...
Thinking of this, Kangxi had already made up his mind, "Nothing will happen to Xiangyang. Tu Cheng... The 20,000 troops led by Tu Hai and Laita are the essence of our Manchuria, and we cannot afford to lose anything! I have made up my mind. , we must open up the grain road and send the general grain to Xiangyang City. If you have any good suggestions, please come and listen!"
