Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 278

With almost no waste of effort, the Manchu Qing took Huai'an Mansion, which surprised the entire Nanjing court.

However, it was the other three towns of the four towns in Jiangbei that were more irritating.

Azig was simple and rude, and directly asked Liu Zeqing's family to pack up and go to Beijing to divide up his troops.

He also has reason to do so.

From the city of Pizhou, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses were captured, and with the addition of those from Shanyang, the number of prisoners in Nanming exceeded [-].

And you must know that the number of Qing soldiers who went south was only [-], including [-] Guanning soldiers and [-] Han and Eight Banners. If these [-] captives were added, it would be difficult to control.

Therefore, getting rid of its leaders and taking its soldiers and horses, and flooding the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty to balance the Guanning Army has become a must-do choice.

Understanding is understanding, but for Gao Jie, Liu Liangzuo, and Huang Degong, it can be said to be a bolt from the blue.

Although the four towns in Jiangbei are called military towns, they are no different from warlords. All the state and county taxes under their banners are collected but not handed over. On the contrary, they continue to demand military pay from Nanjing.

Last year, the four towns in Jiangbei were not established, and the four of them almost started fighting for the fertile land of Yangzhou.

The entire Huanghuai area was continuously plundered by him, to the point where the prefectures and counties were closed to avoid his people.

As a last resort, under Shi Kefa's adjustment, he could only guard Yangzhou himself, and avoid the party struggle in Nanjing by the way.

But he said that Gao Jie joined forces with Liu Zeqing in Pizhou, preparing to stop the Qing army, and by the way, bring disaster to the east.

Unexpectedly, the army was defeated like a mountain, half of the soldiers and horses under his command had gone, and the remaining two or 30,000 people could only curl up in Suzhou, panicking.

Regarding the surrender, Gao Jie was naturally embarrassed, as long as it wasn't Li Zicheng, he would be fine, but after learning of Liu Zeqing's result, he immediately became decisive:
"Never surrender."

Years of fighting made him deeply understand that the soldiers and horses under his command are the basis for preserving his life and wealth. Once he goes to Beijing, he can only help himself.

"I don't want to go to Beijing."

The Xing family, with a tall peak and a slim waist, has always been Gao Jie's think tank, controlling military resources. She is not only beautiful, but also shrewd and decisive:
"Even a veteran like Fan Wencheng has his wife taken away. I don't want to be spoiled."

"Where did you know that?"

Gao Jie was taken aback, his fair face was full of doubts, logically speaking, such a secret story would never come to the Huaihai area.

"From here."

Xing took out a piece of paper full of words from her bosom, the densely packed words made Gao Jie's eyes hurt when he looked at it.

"This is an internal reference, made by the King of Yu. It contains some interesting news. Look, it also says that Dorgon stayed in the palace overnight and was served by Emperor Shunzhi's wife."

"Hey, let me add a word at the end. Dorgon, like Li Zicheng, is a man with bad eggs, and he can't give birth to cubs at all."

"King Yu..."

Gao Jie narrowed his eyes and thought about it.

"Back then in Xi'an Mansion, my relationship with Zhu Yixi was neither good nor bad!"

"Do you still want to vote for King Yu?"

Xing's beautiful eyes changed, and then he became shrewd: "The Manchu Qing Dynasty is coming menacingly, Nanjing is dangerous, Huguang is a good place, and even if it is not good, you can escape to Sichuan."

"I want to vote but I can't!"

Gao Jie shook his head with a wry smile: "Sister Xing, we are near Xuzhou, there are no rivers connecting us, and the Dabie Mountains are separated, how can we get there?"

Xing frowned.

Just when the two were hesitating, spies suddenly came to report that under the leadership of General Xu Dingguo, nearly [-] soldiers and horses fled from Guide Mansion in Henan.

"Ok?"

The two were full of astonishment.

Soon, they realized that it was Hong Chengchou of Luoyang who was unwilling to be lonely, and sent troops to occupy Guide Mansion, drove away the Ming army, and approached Xuzhou.

As a result, Gao Jie immediately fell into trouble.

On the left is Hong Chengchou, on the right is Azig, and below is Liu Liangzuo. There is almost no escape.

At this moment, Hong Chengchou sent lobbyists to persuade him to surrender:

"Governor Hong is in Henan. As long as the uncle returns, not only will he be safe, but he will also be promoted to a noble position, with a generous salary."

After hesitating for a while, Gao Jie said directly, "I don't want to live in Beijing. It would be great if I lead troops to recapture Henan and make great contributions to the Qing Dynasty."

I have to listen to this, the envoy can't be the master, he can only return to Guide to return his order.

Hearing this, Hong Chengchou pulled his beard and sighed, "I am not in charge of this matter. It seems that Gao Jie is still thinking about the feudal town."

"In this way, Daqing will not tolerate you."

As he said that, a sternness flashed in his eyes.

Soon, in his sleep, Gao Jie learned that the Guide army had rebelled and was attacking Suzhou City.

Before he could react, he was taken away by the Xing family, and he left Suzhou with thousands of soldiers and headed south.

"Many soldiers and horses under your command have already opened the gates of the city, cooperating from the inside and the outside. If they can't fight, they can only run for their lives."

Xing said decisively.

"Hong Chengchou has a poisonous heart, Xu Dingguo deserves to die."

Gao Jie took a deep breath, and rode on the horse, feeling resentful in his heart.

With such a method, who else could have it except Hong Chengchou, who is good at buying people's hearts?

The soldiers and horses that have been recruited since last year are almost all defeated and bandit troops from all over the country. They are barely controlled, so they have been found out.

The only ones who can really trust him are the soldiers who escaped with him in Xi'an.

"Where are we going?"

Sitting on a horse, Xing was holding her son Gao Yuanjue in her arms, her chest rose and fell, and she hurriedly asked.

"East, west, and north are the Qing army, and now they can only go south."

Gao Jie's eyes were full of resentment: "I, Gao Jie, must repay this hatred."

As a result, thousands of people came to Huaiyuan City to rest temporarily.

At this time, someone in the city asked to see him suddenly, Gao Jie was taken aback, and responded with a gloomy face.

Immediately, a philistine businessman came quickly, and when he saw Gao Jie, he straightened his back, his eyes were bright, and he said seriously:

"Under King Yu's command, we searched for hundreds of households. Chu Liang met Uncle Xingping."

"Prince Yu?" Gao Jie was startled immediately, looked left and right, frowned, and said fearfully, "How do you know I'm in Huaiyuan?"

"I really don't know."

Chu Liang shook his head and said with a smile: "I'm originally in Fengyang, and I want to go north to inform Uncle, but when I arrived in Huaiyuan, Uncle came just in time."

Gao Jie heaved a sigh of relief, and then said: "What orders does the old man, Prince Yu, have?"

When talking about King Yu, Gao Jie had a much more respectful attitude and directly used respect words.

When Chu Liang heard this, he thought about it, but said directly:
"Uncle, I was originally in Fengyang. I found out that Liu Liangzuo was bewitched by Hong Chengchou, and he was going to lead his troops to surrender. After much deliberation, I decided to inform you to prevent you from being attacked."

"What? Liu Liangzuo surrendered to the enemy?"

Gao Jie couldn't sit still anymore, what the hell was going on with these Ming troops, I didn't even surrender, you guys did it first, it's really unreasonable.

"Uncle, Liu Liangyu, the younger brother of Liu Liangzuo, surrendered to the Manchus in the Battle of Daling River, and now he is going south to be a lobbyist."

(End of this chapter)