scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 386 The world is in chaos
The news that Fatty Lu had captured Kangxi, the supreme chief of Miqing, alive on the battlefield in Huai'an, was like a shocking thunder, resounding through the whole world at once!
Hearing this news, the old hag of Xiaozhuang passed out on the spot. After being rescued, the old hag of Xiaozhuang cried again, beating her chest and yelling at her grandson for being unfilial. Hope, the country that my father-in-law, husband, and brother-in-law finally brought down is destined to be defeated by Kang Mazi, an unfilial descendant.

And just as Fatty Lu expected, after finally crying enough to calm down, the old hag of Xiaozhuang hastily issued a decree to immediately stop using Kang Mazi's Zhu Pi throughout the country and use Shangshang's Blue Pi, that is, let the mite All the official yamen in the Qing controlled area refused to carry out Kang Mazi's imperial decree, lest the ruthless Fatty Lu steal Kang Mazi's jade seal and further disturb the doomed world.At the same time, the old hag of Xiaozhuang held her last hope and sent two secret envoys to contact the old traitor Wu and Fatty Lu respectively, trying to use political means to rescue her disappointing grandson.

At the same time, the Qing government and the army around the south of the Yangtze River also fell into chaos because of Kang Mazi's capture. Local officials, large and small, were in panic all day long. Prepared to rescue Kang Mazi by force, the smart ones abandoned their officials and fled, and the smarter ones simply embezzled the treasury and sent their confidants to hand over the surrender form to the Fatty Army or the Wu Army, and voluntarily led the people under the rule to cut their braids and grow their hair, and accept the court of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Jurisdiction.

The army of the Qing Dynasty was even more chaotic. The soldiers of the Qing army who were full of resentment over the lack of food and salaries either fled home, or voluntarily surrendered to the surrounding Fatty Army and Wu Army. Grabbing food and robbing women, gathering poles on the hills and falling grass to become bandits, there are countless people.

Regarding Kang Mazi being captured alive by Fatty Lu, the warlord forces controlled by Fei Miqing were terrified, especially Geng Jingzhong who stabbed Fatty Lu in the back. Geng Jingzhong retreated for [-] miles without hesitation. While beheading Fatty Lu's confidant Huang Kun and apologizing to Fatty Lu, he pleaded with all his strength to re-sign the alliance with Fatty's army and never invade each other.

There is also Taiwan's Zheng Jun, who is ungrateful and unwilling to save him at the critical moment. He is guilty and cowardly. He understands that the fat man's army will never forget his behavior of repaying his kindness and revenge. Army, apologized to Fatty Lu, explaining that we were not strong enough, so we couldn't help when Fatty's army was besieged by the fourth line.As for Fatty Lu's uncle, Shang Zhixin, he simply sent a secret envoy to instigate Fatty Lu to betray the old man Wu and support himself as a traitor. .

In addition to being frightened, the major warlords, including most of the generals of the Pingxi Palace, are inevitably envious and jealous. They understand that Fatty Lu's vicious character of plucking the hair of geese, scraping meat from the legs of egrets, and scraping oil from the belly of mosquitoes, is the reason why the Qing court is so cruel. The next time I have to be ripped off by Fatty Lu, I don’t know how much money Fatty Lu will pay for food and land in exchange for Kang Mazi, and maybe the Qing court will be forced to surrender to Fatty Lu. Controlled by old traitors, direct independence!

To everyone's surprise, and at the same time, what everyone didn't expect was that within a few days of catching Kang Mazi, Fatty Lu actually dragged Kang Mazi directly to the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, and cut him to death in front of millions of Jiangnan people. up!Not only did they drive away the envoy who was going to redeem Kang Mazi with money and food, but he also burned Kang Mazi's bones to ashes, mixed the ashes into clay and burned them into toilets, and distributed them to Jiangnan City, which was murdered by dogs, so that Jiangnan The people vent their anger!The resolute attitude of being at odds with the Qing court, and the quick action of avenging the Han people made everyone's glasses smashed, and he also made a lot of despicable people maliciously speculate in the face, and established himself The glorious image of a great hero for the country and the people!

All of a sudden, Geng Jingzhong, who used the banner of anti-Qing and supporting the Ming Dynasty but flirted with the Qing army, lost his face. Zheng Jing, who was the most determined in Fuming, was also extremely embarrassed. He killed more dogs than Old Man Wu raped and killed, and killed more dogs than Fatty Lu. What face does he have to claim to be the backbone of anti-Qing and Fuming?And Fatty Lu, who comes from an innocent family background and has the most resolute anti-Qing attitude, has completely surpassed the old traitor Wu who usurped the throne and self-reliance, and Taiwan Zheng Jing, who is in a corner of Pian'an, and has become a true hero in the eyes of anti-Qing righteous people all over the world. savior!

The news of Kang Mazi's death spread, and the already chaotic land of China became even more chaotic. The local officials and army generals who could not find their allegiance were at a loss. The Qing court was at a loss, and the old hag of Xiaozhuang was forced to listen to the government behind the curtain again, standing up to preside over the overall situation and stabilizing the hearts of the people.

But it is a pity that the old witch of Xiaozhuang is now over sixty years old. Not only is her body and energy far behind the previous two times of listening to politics behind the curtain, but she is too old and too old to hook up with her brother-in-law to work for her—not to mention Xiaozhuang. The old witch's uncles were all dead, and even the four veteran ministers Shunzhi left behind for Kang Mazi were all dead. Thanks, Sony's Suo'etu is struggling to support, even if the old hag of Xiaozhuang has the power to reach the sky, she can no longer support this building that will collapse.

Maybe it was also at this time that the old hag of Xiaozhuang really saw clearly what kind of mess Kang Mazi had left for her. The combined treasury and internal treasury had less than 200 million taels of silver in total, and she still owed money directly. People in Li and Shandong have 300 million taels of Hades debts, and there are only two months left to repay the debts. In the land controlled by the Qing court, the price of food has soared more than ten times, starvation is everywhere, uprisings continue, and people's upheavals There were as many as a cow's hair, but the Qing court could no longer produce a decent army to quell these uprisings and civil uprisings. It could only watch the debt repayment deadline getting closer and closer, and the civil uprisings became more and more violent.

What's more troublesome is Kang Mazi's successor. The only son of Kang Mazi who has not been cheated by Fatty Lu and taken away by God is Yinti, who has just turned four years old. In addition, Kang Mazi has another brother, Longxi, who is full He is 16 years old, but unfortunately he is weak and sickly, cowardly and incompetent, and it is difficult to be a big responsibility-with such a good brother as Kang Mazi, Longxi can live to this day without being weak and incompetent?No matter which successor Xiaozhuang chooses, it is impossible to shoulder this burden, and he cannot stabilize the current critical situation.

So Xiaozhuang had no choice but to bite the bullet and push Yinti to the throne on the fourth day of June in the 14th year of Kang Mazi, and the fire line became the new chief of the Qing Dynasty, and changed the year name to Qianlong, Xiaozhuang For the third time, the old hag shouldered the heavy burden of the Qing court, and sat on the actual throne of the Qing court for the third time.

This time the throne is not as easy as the previous two times, just as Xiaozhuang quietly cried to his two confidantes Lagu Su Ma and Li Yinzhen, "Aijia is too difficult this time, too difficult, the first time I have Prince Rui, he is a good helper in military affairs and government affairs. The second time there is Sony, Oboi is unruly and unruly, but he is never ambiguous in major matters, and he is reliable in war. This time, Aijia even has a There are no helpers, but the situation is more critical than the previous two times, and the country is more dilapidated than the previous two times, how long this mess of the Qing court can last, I really don’t even know Aijia himself.”

"Ancestor, please rest assured. With the protection of the true God, the great Qing Dynasty will not collapse, and there will be a turning point." Aunt Su Ma, who is the same age as the old witch of Xiaozhuang, comforted her softly and persuaded: "Ancestor, please don't worry. There must be a way to the front of the mountain. At least Lu Yifeng's dog thief did not take advantage of the trend to launch the Northern Expedition. Our Qing court still has time to breathe. Besides, Lu Yifeng's dog thief is ambitious and has long been disobedient. This time he captured the emperor. If you don't ask Wu Sangui for an order, you will directly harm the emperor, Wu Sangui must be very dissatisfied, and sooner or later, these two thieves will fight each other."

At this point of persuasion, Aunt Su Ma paused, and added: "As long as these two most dangerous rebels fight, other rebels will definitely take advantage of the chaos and kill each other. Our Qing court As long as we catch our breath and survive this difficulty, we will definitely have a chance to make a comeback."

Lagu Su Ma's words reminded the old witch of Xiaozhuang, and the old witch of Xiaozhuang quickly wiped away her tears and asked, "Li Yinzheng, did you hear back from the envoy that the Ai family asked you to contact the old thief Wu Sangui?"

"Go back to the ancestors, not yet." Li Cizhen replied respectfully: "Maybe it is because the war blocked the road and the news was transmitted slowly, so there is no reply yet. Please wait at ease, the ancestors. After all, the news should come back."

"Today is already the sixth day of June. It's been almost a month. No matter how the roads are blocked, there should be an answer on whether it will be successful or not?" No confirmation, the old thief Wu Sangui moved from Xi'an to Wuchang, where did he go now?"

"This..." Li Yinzheng, who was in charge of the intelligence affairs for the old witch of Xiaozhuang, showed embarrassment, and answered after a while: "The ancestor forgives the crime, but the slaves don't know, and the slaves below have not figured out what the old thief Wu Sangui is now. place."

"How is it possible?" The old witch of Xiaozhuang exclaimed, "The old thief Wu Sangui has ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, and he uses a luan to get in and out. Why can't you even find out where he is?"

"Damn the servant, I really can't find it." Li Cizhi knelt down helplessly to plead guilty, and said dejectedly: "The servants below, the last time I confirmed the location of the old thief Wu Sangui was in Changde, and the time was also on May [-]th. It has been almost two months now, and the slave has not received any news of the old thief Wu Sangui's movements. But the slave thinks that it is impossible for the old thief Wu Sangui to stay in Changde, which is far away from the battlefield, and suspects that he may have quietly left Changde. "

"Then Wu Sangui's army, has there been any unusual movement recently?" Xiao Zhuang stood up and asked, "Especially in Wuchang, is there any sign of a large-scale assembly of troops and fleets?"

"No." Li Citing honestly replied: "This point is absolutely certain. First, our detailed work did not discover the Wugou army gathering in Wuchang. Second, our insider Lin Xingzhu is the deputy commander of the Wugou Navy. The Wugou Dongting Lake navy led by Wugou Du Hui has always been stationed in Dongting Lake, and has not been transferred to Wuchang to listen to it."

"It's strange, why did the old thief Wu Sangui stay put?" The old hag Xiaozhuang calculated, "It stands to reason that the dog thief Lu Yifeng has wiped out the main force on the western front of our Qing Dynasty, so the old thief Wu Sangui should send troops down the river immediately. He went to Jiangnan to pick peaches and collect the wealth in Jiangnan. Why has he not moved yet? Now as long as he moves eastward and joins forces with Lu Yifeng's gangsters, the world will basically be his. Why would he miss such a good opportunity? ?”

"Could it be..." At this point in the calculation, the old witch of Xiaozhuang suddenly shuddered, and blurted out: "Could it be that the Ai family, the emperor, and Lu Yifeng's dog thief were all tricked by Wu Sangui? He has already passed away from illness, but he kept secret and used a substitute to deceive the world, prompting our Da Qing and Lu Yifeng to kill each other, to buy time for his successor? And let his successor take advantage of it?"

"The old thief Wu Sangui is dead?" Aunt Su Ma and Li Yinzhen exclaimed at the same time.

"Yes, that's the only possibility!" The old witch of Xiaozhuang nodded vigorously, and said through gritted teeth, "Because the old thief Wu Sangui is dead, Wu Gou is fighting for power and falling into civil strife, so this golden opportunity is missed! Because the old thief Wu Sangui has already died. He is dead, that's why he deliberately canonized the rebellious Lu Yifeng dog thief as king, pretending to appease, in fact, it is to lure our Qing Dynasty to encircle and suppress his most dangerous thug Lu Yifeng dog thief, and divert our attention. Take the opportunity to eliminate hidden dangers and smoothly transition the military regime!"

"If that's the case, wouldn't our Qing Dynasty have missed a great opportunity to turn defeat into victory?" Aunt Su Ma exclaimed again.

The old witch of Xiaozhuang was silent, nodded after a long while, and said in a low voice: "It is very likely that this is the case. Our Qing Dynasty has missed the last chance to turn defeat into victory. If the Ai family and the emperor can find this out earlier, they will not use the main force. If we are thrown into the Jiangnan battlefield, then we still have hope of turning things around, but now, everything is over, and the only benefit is that Lu Yifeng who went crazy and wiped out the main force of our Qing Dynasty regardless of his own interests."

Aunt Su Ma and Li Yinzhen think about it carefully. Now that the Qing Dynasty court has been abolished by Fatty Lu and Fatty Kang. Old Traitor Wu is dead. No matter who the successor is, it is impossible for Traitor Wu to be like that Centripetal force, let alone subdue the self-respecting Fatty Lu, if Wu Sangui's army has civil strife due to the transition of power, then the one who is most likely to reap the benefits may be the insidious and cunning Fatty Lu who holds a heavy army and pays money and food.

"Could it be that the world of the Aixinjueluo family is going to fall into the hands of that failed scholar?" The old hag of Xiaozhuang smiled wryly, suddenly feeling absurd. The old hag of Xiaozhuang raised her here more than seven years ago. It was the first time I saw Fatty Lu in the Heart Palace. At that time, Fatty Lu's mouth seemed to be wiped with honey. His mouth was full of loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness, and his face was simple and honest. He concealed his lightning-like eyes. In just over seven years, that fallen scholar full of benevolence and morality has become the biggest competitor of his Aixinjueluo family, and at the same time the most dangerous competitor.

Shaking her head with a wry smile, the old hag of Xiaozhuang thought for a while, and ordered: "Lagu Su Ma, draw up a decree for Ai's family, ordering all civil and military officials south of the Yellow River to surrender to the Great Zhou court, not to surrender to the Lu family." Yifeng dog thief surrenders! Whoever surrenders to the Great Zhou court will not be held accountable to his family and relatives north of the Yellow River. Those whose parents, wives and children are in the capital will be given Lumi to support their families according to their rank. Whoever surrenders to Lu Yifeng dog thief, regardless of Whoever it is, parents, wives and children will be punished, and there will be no pardon! Also, there will be another imperial decree, and the entire family of Zhangtai and Zhuman will be escorted to the execution ground tomorrow and beheaded, leaving no one behind."

"Old ancestor, do you want to join hands with Wu Gou to avenge the emperor?" Aunt Su Ma asked tentatively.

"That's right." The old hag of Xiaozhuang nodded, and said calmly: "Tomorrow, I will call Ma Qi, the new cabinet scholar, and Aijia will let him carry the national ceremony and credentials to go to the southwest to congratulate Wu Shifan and ask for an alliance with Wu Shifan. Join hands to destroy Lu Yifeng's thief, he eradicates the rebel ministers with ulterior motives, mourns his family and avenges his grandson! As long as Wu Shifan agrees, any conditions can be negotiated."

"Wu Shifan is young, even if he succeeds to the throne, the military and political power will definitely be in the hands of powerful ministers." Aunt Su Ma said in a deep voice, "But no matter which powerful minister is in power, Lu Yifeng's dog thief who holds a heavy army and sits in a land in the south of the Yangtze River, It is bound to be a thorn in his side and a thorn in his flesh, and he must get rid of it quickly, and it is very possible to agree to our sincere request. But... "

Aunt Su Ma hesitated for a moment, and finally said: "But old ancestor, the death of old thief Wu Sangui is just our guess. The south of the Yellow River was given to the old thief Wu Sangui?"

"Can we still keep the south of the Yellow River?" The old witch of Xiaozhuang smiled wryly, and then said leisurely: "Let's not say that the old thief Wu Sangui is impossible to die, even if he really didn't die, it doesn't matter if he is cheap, old thief Wu Sangui At least he has made great contributions to our Qing Dynasty, and his heart is not bad. He has never slaughtered a city. If you give him the country, our Aixinjueluo family can still have a chance. But if you give the country to that Lu Yifeng dog Thief, that Lu Yifeng dog thief who ate our Daqing Lumi but never did us a good thing, then we Aixinjueluo family, we are full of people, we will definitely be wiped out."

Aunt Su Ma stopped talking, and went down to draw up a pen to draw up an order, but Xiao Zhuang turned his eyes to the outside of the hall again, looking at the dark southern sky, and murmured softly, "Wu Shifan, you can't be Lu Yifeng's dog!" The thief's opponent, Aijia doesn't ask you to kill Lu Yifeng's dog thief, Aijia only hopes that you can hold him back, buy some time for Aijia, buy some time for Daqing, the last hope."

........................

Different from the gloomy clouds and mist in Beijing, at the same time in Nanjing, there are lights, festoons, colorful drums and music all over the sky. On the sixth day of the first lunar month, it is very important to spread the collected books, calligraphy and paintings in the sun in the sun, which is naturally very important in the Jiangnan water town with a strong cultural atmosphere.Therefore, Fatty Lu, who paid great attention to attracting the gentry and students from the south of the Yangtze River, did not dare to be negligent. He spent his money on a celebration, and shared the grand event with the literati in the south of the Yangtze River. Scholars can come to the city to participate in the celebration at will, trying to curry favor with these landlords and gentry.

It was also thanks to Fatty Lu's order that a middle-aged beggar with disheveled hair and ragged clothes was able to stumble into the gate of Nanjing City, and even asked about where Fatty Lu lived when he met everyone. When he learned from a scholar that he valued literati After General Lu was celebrating the Book Sunning Festival with Jiangnan at the Confucius Temple in Nanjing, the middle-aged beggar hurriedly asked the way, and then followed the flow of literati and scrambled to find the Confucius Temple. I found where Fatty Lu was.

Seeing Fatty Lu sitting upstairs in Mingyuan with a large group of literati reciting poems and composing Fu, plagiarizing the poems of later generations to scare the literati of this era, the middle-aged beggar finally heaved a sigh of relief, hurriedly pushed away and went to the Gongyuan When he reached the door, he was stopped by Fatty Lu's personal soldiers and asked him why he came. The middle-aged beggar was furious and shouted: "Call Xiao Erlang, Liu Zhen, Liu Xu and Shen Xin to see me. I will follow the general At that time, there were no you!"

The tone of the middle-aged beggar was so loud that Fatty Lu's soldiers didn't dare to neglect, so they hurriedly called Liu Zhen, Fatty Lu's old running dog. When Liu Zhen came to take a look, he found that although the middle-aged beggar was unkempt, he didn't even have shoes on his feet. The mouth was full of blood, but it looked familiar. When he took a closer look, Liu Zhen suddenly exclaimed, "Li Xiongfei! General Li! Why are you here?"

"Don't ask, take me to see the general." Li Xiongfei's body was on the verge of falling, and he might fall down at any time. Liu Zhen didn't dare to neglect, so he quickly picked up the most unlucky general of the fat army and walked in - he was indeed the most unlucky fat man The general of the army was left behind in Jiujiang by Lu Fatty, and the Fatty's army ran thousands of miles to attack Nanjing City. Li Xiongfei didn't get any light, and he ate a lot of melons because of it.

Not a moment later, Li Xiongfei was helped up to Mingyuan Building by Liu Zhen, and when he saw Fatty Lu who was being flattered by a lot of gentry students, Li Xiongfei knelt down on his knees with a plop, and shouted tearfully: "General, the last general Li Xiongfei!" , Greetings to the General!"

"Li Xiongfei? Brother Li? Why are you here?" Fatty Lu also recognized Li Xiongfei, rushed up to help Li Xiongfei, and asked in amazement: "Brother Li, why did you become like this?"

"General, something serious happened!" Li Xiongfei burst into tears, crying loudly and said: "The prince died of illness, and the funeral order was kept secret. Wang Shirong and Fang Xueshi escorted the prince's coffin back to Yunnan in secret, and the last general and the second prince were tricked back to Yunnan. Only in Kunming did we know the truth! Later when we returned to Wuchang, Guo Zhuangtu sent his lackeys to falsely preach the imperial decree and hanged the second prince! The sons of the second prince, Wu Shijun and Wu Shixuan, were also murdered by Guo Zhuangtu’s thieves! The last general escaped from Guizhou by fighting to the death with his own soldiers, hiding his name all the way, avoiding Guo Zhuangtu's pursuit, and finally came to Nanjing to report to you!"

"Ah!" Fatty Lu screamed like a pig, and plopped down on his knees in the southwest direction, crying heartbreakingly, "Grandpa—! Uncle—! My relatives! I My benefactor...!"

Before he finished chanting, Fatty Lu had turned over and passed out, and there was a sudden chaos upstairs in Mingyuan. Yao Qisheng, Wang Shaobo and other cronies also rushed up to help Fatty Lu, shouting that Dr. Zhu came to save people, and at the same time He murmured in his heart, "If the boss didn't pretend to be dizzy, then he must be dizzy with joy. This time, he even has an excuse to start a war with Guo Zhuangtu."

Note: A note that I have forgotten for a long time, Wu Shifan's name is actually written as Wu Shifan accurately, but the ghost character '璠' is really difficult to type, so I always typed it as Wu Shifan.In addition, it is a historical fact that Guo Zhuangtu sent someone to falsely spread the will of Wu Shifan, and hang Wu Yingqi, Wu Shijun, and Wu Shixuan to death in Zhenyuan, Guizhou. At that time, Hunan, which was controlled by Wu Jun, basically fell.

(End of this chapter)