scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 192 Strategic Mistake
In the end, the old traitor Shang Kexi Shang, who was captured by his son-in-law, was tied up and stuffed into a sedan chair, and carried back to Guilin Mansion in a sedan chair and carried into Guilin City.On the day of triumphant return and entering the city, the whole city of Guilin was a sensation, and so was the whole territory of Guangxi. Not only the brothers Sun Yanji and Sun Yanling who were stationed outside the city of Guilin, but also Shang Zhixiao and Geng Juzhong who were also stationed in Guilin Mansion. Even Ma Xiong, the admiral of Guangdong who was far away in Liuzhou, was present in person and expressed his warmest congratulations to Fatty Lu and Wu Jundong Route Army.Especially Shang Zhixiao, who bowed and bowed affectionately to Fatty Lu during the city entry ceremony, as if he was not his own father who was captured alive this time.

No way, the generals of the Allied Forces of the Three Provinces, Ma Xiong and others were completely stunned by the horrific fighting power of the Yunnan-Guizhou army, and they were dumbfounded. More than 1 troops entered Guangxi, and in less than two months, they swept across the entire territory of Guangxi, attacking everyone all the way Invincible, the momentum is like a broken bamboo.In the end, in the face of the full-scale counterattack of the [-] Qing troops in Guangdong, Wu Jun's East Route Army only sent a civilian-born Fatty Lu to lead an army of [-] to fight, but the result was that it broke several times in less than half a month. The Guangdong Qing Army captured Guangdong Qing Army coach Pingnan Wang Shang alive on the battlefield!In the face of such a perverted army, Sun Shanggengma and his gang are extremely courageous, so I'm afraid they don't dare to have two hearts, right?

In short, after this battle, the situation in Guangxi, which was precarious before, was completely reversed. Before Shang Zhixin, who stayed in Guangdong, responded, the Wu Jun East Route Army had plenty of time to consolidate its rule in Guangxi and digest the newly occupied territory and the Returning to the army, Sun Shanggengma and his gang of [-] boys are completely dead, and then they will honestly accept the reorganization, accept the official title of the Wu army, and board the Wu army thief ship to work for the old traitor Wu, looking forward to the day when the old traitor Wu Being able to dominate the world, let us enjoy the blessings and prosperity, and enjoy the glory and wealth.

At the entry ceremony to welcome Fatty Lu triumphantly, unlike the flattering Sun Shanggengma and others, Fatty Lu’s other brother-in-law, Wu Shizong, the coach of the Wu Jun East Route Army, was a little absent-minded, and he seemed a little preoccupied when he spoke. The heavy appearance made Fatty Lu start to worry—could it be that he made a great contribution and aroused the jealousy and hatred of this cheap brother-in-law?Fortunately, taking advantage of everyone's distraction, Wu Shizong quickly winked at Fatty Lu, and said in a low voice, "Brother-in-law, don't waste time with those sycophants, I have something to do."

Fatty Lu suddenly realized that he quickly got rid of the entanglement of Sun Shanggengma's sycophants, hurriedly ended the triumphant ceremony, and ordered the three armies to be rewarded, and the meritorious soldiers were rewarded heavily.Before entering the table, Fatty Lu and Wu Shizong came to the back hall alone. As soon as they were seated, Wu Shizong immediately said with a gloomy expression: "Brother-in-law, something serious happened again. I just received the news last night that the eldest son of our Pingxi Palace was killed." Already!"

"The prince was killed?" Fatty Lu jumped up suddenly, and asked in alarm: "Who did it? Didn't Emperor Mangou express his determination to fight to the death by making peace with us and killing the prince?"

"It wasn't caused by Emperor Mangou." Wu Shizong shook his head, and said with a gloomy face: "Mangouming's mansion newspaper showed that it was the killer sent by the old thief Oboi before his death in order to vent his hatred for Guizhou's disastrous defeat. Sneaking back to the murderous hands of Beijing, he killed our eldest son of Pingxi Palace in the sky prison, and planned to kill our youngest brother Wu Shilin. Fortunately, the guards of Mangou's sky prison found and rescued him in time. Afterwards, Emperor Mangou returned his son All the official positions during his lifetime, posthumously conferred the title of grand master, and put them into the coffin generously, preparing to send the coffin of the eldest son back to Yunnan for burial."

"Oboi sent someone to do it?" Fatty Lu said suspiciously, "Is Oboi such a narrow-minded person? After losing a battle, killing a prisoner who has no strength to resist is like venting his anger." Is it his character?"

"Whether it was Oboi's hand or not is not important now." Wu Shizong said with a distressed expression: "The key is, what should we do now? What will we do in the future? What I am most worried about now is that if the news of the son's murder spreads." , will it cause instability in the hearts of the people again, and make those new generals and officials have a different heart?"

Wu Shizong is indeed worthy of being an outstanding representative of the third generation of the Pingxi Palace. He is very thoughtful and comprehensive. Now that Guangxi has just been occupied by the Wu army, the newly surrendered army is several times the size of the Yunnan-Guizhou army, and several important surrendered generals have not had time to completely control it. , the news that Wu Yingxiong was killed by Oboi spread, and the generals who surrendered would inevitably be suspicious, worried that the old traitor Wu would take them out in a fit of anger, and even more worried that the old traitor Wu would completely break with the Qing court and push them out as cannon fodder for the anti-Qing dynasty .

At the same time, from Wu Shizong's tone, Fatty Lu can also see that Wu Shizong has also discovered an extremely important problem, that is, after Wu Yingxiong's death, in case the old traitor Wu died halfway in the anti-Qing war, what should he do? Who can take over the burden of old traitor Wu and become the undisputed successor of the Yunnan-Guizhou army?Count on the famous [-] Wu Yingqi, or count on Wu Shifan who just turned eight years old?Although Wu Yingxiong and Wu Yingqi have a very good relationship, Wu Yingqi has never peeked at Wu Yingxiong's position as the eldest son. In order to prevent Wu Yingxiong from being suspicious, he changed his name to Wu Qihua and became a monk. Are you obedient?
"Brother Uncle, you did the right thing in blocking the news." Fatty Lu said in a deep voice, "It's also fortunate that the time was just right. We first repelled the old thief Shang Kexi before we received this news. Otherwise, this news Once it is accidentally leaked, our troubles will be even greater."

"I'm afraid it won't be blocked for long." Wu Shizong frowned and said: "The murder of the son, Man Gou used the mansion to report to the world. We just received the news for a few days first by relying on fast horse delivery, no matter how much we block it. It is estimated that in less than ten days, the group of youngsters will know the news of the son's murder from other channels, and people will be panicked by then, and the situation in Guangxi that you have just stabilized, brother-in-law, may be shaken again."

"It's not too late, we have to act first." Fatty Lu hesitated for a moment, and immediately said through gritted teeth: "Within three days, we must immediately solve these trivial problems so that they can no longer cause trouble .”

"Brother-in-law means...?" Wu Shizong asked in a beheading pose.

"No, absolutely not." Fatty Lu shook his head resolutely, and said in a low voice: "Although these grasshoppers are unreliable, since they surrendered to our army, they haven't done anything like crawling around. If they get rid of them, it will only make people more terrified, and those who descended will be more uneasy, which is counterproductive."

"Then what should we do?" Wu Shizong asked.

"Find an excuse to transfer them out of Guangxi." Fatty Lu said in a low voice, "Brother, give me an order to take them and escort Shang Kexi, the old thief, to offer prisoners in front of grandfather, and ask them to be appointed officials by the way. Asking for rewards, as long as the leaders of them are transferred out of Guangxi, everything will be easy for you to handle in Guangxi. Even if the other little loaches want to make trouble, they will not be able to cause any big disturbances."

"It's a good idea." Wu Shizong asked lately, "But brother-in-law, you don't want to stay in Guangxi and continue helping me? Without you helping me in Guangxi, there are so many things in Guangxi, can I come here alone?"

"Uncle, you have to be a little confident in yourself." Fatty Lu said with a smile: "Actually, Uncle, you can do quite well by yourself. During the time I left Guilin, Guilin, Pingle and Liuzhou These places have always been peaceful, the soldiers did not dare to make trouble, and the people paid their taxes and food honestly. Even the bandits from Wanyang Mountain honestly ran to you to ask for surrender. This is enough to prove that uncle Brother, you are not only good at martial arts, you are also very good at martial arts. Besides, like me, you are the third generation of the Pingxi Palace. In the future, the old people under my grandfather will die of old age. Sooner or later, we will stand up Take the lead, brother, if you don’t take this opportunity to experience yourself, how can your grandfather entrust you with important tasks in the future?”

"That's true..." Wu Shizong hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Then let's do this, since the two of us are reunited now, and those idiots don't dare to make trouble, so I ask my brother-in-law to lead them out of Guangxi." Now, here in Guangxi, I will do my best to maintain it and try not to cause trouble to the main battlefield."

"Then Guangxi will be entrusted to my uncle." Fatty Lu reminded: "After I leave, I ask my uncle to make more use of the line troops. Not only are they reliable, but the line Guoan has guarded Guangxi for Kong Youde for many years, and the prestige is still there. , can help you consolidate your control over the Guangxi army. As for dealing with soldiers surrendered in Fujian and Guangdong, you must have sticks in one hand and sweet dates in the other. Those who are obedient should win over more, as long as these two points are done well, there will be no trouble in terms of surrendering troops."

"In terms of dealing with civilian officials, brother-in-law, you must know people and be good at their duties. You must use more capable officials around you, and you may use more sycophants at the grassroots level. Don't want these people to be so mediocre. As long as they work hard to get promoted and get rich, Work hard to collect money and food for us, and work hard to govern the place for us, so we can effectively control the local state capital. Be careful with those literati and celebrities who take the initiative to join us. Don’t treat them slowly just because you don’t like them dropping their schoolbags. Reuse them, the more famous they are, the more important they are, because they have pens in their hands, they can do propaganda for us, and they can confuse the people for us. Good heaven."

"Thank you brother-in-law for your advice, I'll do my best." Wu Shizong remembered with a wry smile, and said, "It's getting late, let's go to the banquet, otherwise, those fools will definitely become suspicious again. By the way, At the banquet, let’s sing more double reeds, to lay the foundation for us to transfer those nonsense out of Guangxi.”

………………

After finalizing this decision, Wu Shizong and Fatty Lu had to sing and play the oboe at the celebration banquet venue, bragging that the old traitor Wu was very satisfied with the victory in Guangxi during this period, and he wanted to reward not only the soldiers of Yunnan and Guizhou, but also the soldiers of Yunnan and Guizhou. Rewarding and reusing Sun Shanggengma and the group of second-five youngsters who are reused, and even the old traitor Wu is going to ask Xiao Mazi to reward Sun Shanggengma and others in the upcoming truce negotiations with the Qing court. Sun Shanggengma and his gang were overjoyed and grateful.

In the end, Wu Shizong decided in public that Fatty Lu would personally lead the army to escort the old traitor Shang to Pianyuan as a prisoner, and ask Sun Shanggengma and others to be appointed officials and ask for rewards. I went to Hunan to offer prisoners together, and also publicly stated that I would give Sun Shanggengma part of the credit for defeating the main force of Shang Lao's traitor, and asked Wang Shaobo and Zhu Fangdan to write a victory report in public, so that the four Sun Shanggengma and Sun Shanggengma who were hiding in the back and watched trembling also Added to the list of meritorious service, in order to win the trust of others, Sun Shanggengma and his gang are even more grateful, and they are even more grateful to Wu Shizong and Lu Fatty.

Seeing that the time was right, Wu Shizhong took the opportunity to agree to Fatty Lu's request, and decided to let the brothers Sun Yanling, Shang Zhixiao, Geng Juzhong, Ma Xiong's son Ma Ning and others leave Guangxi temporarily, and accompany Fatty Lu to the old traitor Wu to present prisoners and ask for rewards in person. Accept the official title of the old traitor Wu, and then return to Guangxi to guard the place.Hearing such an order, although Sun Shanggengma and the others felt that the situation was not good, they didn't want to leave the army of the direct line that depended on their lives, but Wu Shizong and Fatty Lu had good reasons and firm attitudes. In addition, Fatty Lu's army had already returned to Guilin. Sun Shang Gengma dared not make trouble even if he had the courage to do so, so he had to bite the bullet and agree together, agreeing to go to Hunan to offer prisoners with Lu Fatty.

So, after a series of intensive preparations, three days later, on August 28, Fatty Lu led [-] elite soldiers directly from Guilin to the north, and personally escorted the old traitor Shang to Hunan to offer prisoners. The Sun family brothers, Shang Zhixiao, Geng Five people, Ju Zhong and Ma Xiong's son Ma Ning, each accompanied with twenty entourages, and Fatty Lu's Longyang concubine Yu Xuan also accompanied Hu Tongchun and two Guangxi warriors from the whole festival.Wu Shizong stayed in Guangxi alone, and with the support of the old Ministry of National Security, he took the opportunity to absorb the troops of the three provinces and consolidate his rule.

When Fatty Lu's team marched to Yongzhou Mansion, Hunan Province, the news of Wu Yingxiong's murder was finally announced. Monk Sun Yanling, Monk Zhixiao and others were surprised, and they couldn't help shouting in their hearts that they had been fooled. Dare to escape back to Guangxi, so that the two white-eyed wolves Lu Fatty and Wu Shizong have sufficient reasons to kill them, so they had no choice but to secretly scold Lu Fatty and Wu Shizong for being treacherous, while continuing to go on the road, accompanied by Lu Fatty with snot and tears Going north, I hope that the old traitor Wu will show mercy and release us back to Guangxi to become local emperors again.

At this moment in Hunan, it can only be described as a panic. Although the main force of the Wu army has not had time to capture Yongzhou Prefecture in Hunan Province, which borders Guangxi, Liu Daozhu, the prefect of Yongzhou, and Li Zhilan, the commander-in-chief, have already been frightened. The frightened bird, even because of the road, the five thousand Wu army led by Fatty Lu did not intend to pass under the city of Yongzhou, but when the fat man marched along the official road and just arrived at Lengshuitan where they could go south to attack the city of Yongzhou, Liu Daozhu and Li Zhilan He even took the initiative to send an envoy to test Wu Jun's sincerity in recruiting and surrendering first.

Facing the credit that came to his door like this, of course Fatty Lu would not be polite. First, he let the envoy visit the captured Shang Kexi, an old traitor, to catch everyone's attention. Surrendering with Li Zhilan, Liu and Li will not only stay in their original positions, but also get a huge reward - of course, the reward has to be paid from the official warehouse in Yongzhou City.

What is surprising is that Liu Daozhu and Li Zhilan agreed to Fatty Lu's surrender conditions, given that the troops of Wu Guogui and Zhang Guozhu, two generals of the Wu Army, had captured Hengzhou and encircled Yongzhou Mansion from the north to the south with Wu Shizong's army. Rewarded himself with silver from the official storehouse in Yongzhou City, Yi Zhi was entrusted to accept the jurisdiction of the Wu army, and finally sent someone to help Fatty Lu escort the old traitor Shang to the north, so that Fatty Lu picked up this big man without a single soldier cheap.

Taking advantage of the sheep and taking Yongzhou Prefecture, which has one state and eight counties, the fat man army continued to go north, and arrived at Paishan Township at the northern end of Yongzhou Prefecture on the tenth day of September, where it joined forces with Zhang Guozhu, the Wu Army who was ordered to go south to capture Yongzhou.It was also at this moment that Fatty Lu finally learned from Wu Guogui's deputy, Zhang Guozhu, that the old traitor Wu did not take advantage of the momentum to attack Wuchang, but stationed in Changsha City to rest. He only sent Wu Yingqi and Ma Bao to lead him. An army of [-] went north to attack Wuchang, the throat of nine provinces, which was guarded by heavy troops from the Qing Dynasty.

"My lord, didn't he go to fight Wuchang himself?" Hearing this news, Fatty Lu inevitably turned pale with shock, and exclaimed: "Only the second prince and General Ma led [-] troops to fight Wuchang? The army in the hands of the second prince Is it mainly the elite of our Yunnan-Guizhou main force, or the new troops?"

"Of course the new army is the main one." Zhang Guozhu spread his hands and said helplessly: "The main force of our Yunnan-Guizhou army is only 8 to [-] people, occupying such a large territory all at once, we can go to the veterans and bring the new recruits one by one. In Yuan's various state capitals, where did so many elite elites go to the Second Prince and the others?"

"It's broken, it's broken." Fatty Lu cried bitterly, ignoring Yu Xuan's angry eyes, and screamed: "Where's my father-in-law, General Wu Guogui? Where's Wang Shirong? Where's Fang Guangchen and Hu Guozhu? Why don't they persuade them?" My lord? Wuchang is such an important place, why don’t you go northward to seize it with all your strength? What’s the use of dispersing the main force and grabbing Yongzhou and Guiyang? These places can’t support a large number of troops, so send new soldiers to go there It's so easy to take, why have so many elites been sent instead, isn't this a waste? It's like throwing away the watermelon to pick sesame seeds!"

"Lord Lu, in this situation, who dares to persuade you?" Zhang Guozhu sighed and said, "You think General Wu and the others didn't see our strategic decision-making mistakes? But now, after the prince heard the news that his son was killed, he cried like tears every day." Similarly, he fell ill in the city of Changsha, and he didn’t have the mentality to understand military and political affairs, so who would dare to persuade him?”

"Old thing, the bones are still so soft!" Although he was very sympathetic to the traitorous white-haired man who gave away the black-haired man, Fatty Lu cursed in his heart - he was about to change to a tougher commander, and heard that his son was killed by the enemy , It should be to take the army to fight the enemy desperately and avenge his son.As a result, after the old traitor Wu heard the news of his son's death, he cried like a woman and ignored political affairs.

"By the way." Zhang Guozhu suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly said: "I once heard General Wu and Mr. Fang say that it would be great if you were in Changsha, Mr. Lu. With your eloquence and strategy, you will definitely be able to persuade the prince to return to Changsha. Cheer up and take us to fight against Man Gou to avenge the prince! Master Lu, why don't you go to Changsha and have a try, maybe you still have a chance."

"I'll go to Changsha right away!" Fatty Lu also knew that this opportunity must be missed. Once Mangou was relieved to gather an army to guard Wuchang, it would be even more difficult to take down the throat of the nine provinces, so Fatty Lu immediately stood up , decisively said to Line Yuxuan: "Three generals, further north will be completely controlled by our Pingxi Palace. The team will be led by you and Li Tianzhi. I will take Erlang and the others to go north on Qingqi, and go to Changsha to meet the prince. You is that OK?"

"Of course no problem." Line Yu Xuan is very reliable in this regard, immediately nodded in agreement, and said with concern: "You have to be careful, if the prince sends you to Wuchang for reinforcements, don't go alone, wait for me to help you , I will rush to Changsha as soon as possible.”

"Understood." Fatty Lu nodded vigorously, and then said in a low voice: "You also have to be careful of those fools, if they dare to play tricks, kill them immediately, and I will bear it for you if anything happens."

Line Yu Xuan nodded gently, then gently squeezed Fatty Lu's fat hand, reminding Fatty Lu to be careful and cherish himself.And Zhang Guozhu next to him saw the affectionate appearance of Lu Fatty and the famous third son-in-law, and he couldn't help getting goose bumps on his body, gloating in his heart, "Ha, if Wu Guogui sees his son-in-law and man like this, I don't know What will be the reaction?"

(End of this chapter)