scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 396 Provoking Discord
When Fatty Lu was in Hangzhou working as a hands-off shopkeeper to observe whether the southern front battlefield could be handed over to the old lackey Li Tianzhi alone, the opponents of the Fatty Army, the Honghua court and the Qing court, were not idle, and one after another happened inside the control area. This earth-shattering and far-reaching event has brought about earth-shaking changes-but unfortunately, everyone in the world knows about fat, and these things are basically beneficial to Fatty Lu and Fatty Army.

First of all, let’s look at the Qing court. Although relying on the arrival of the autumn harvest and the gradual large-scale planting of potatoes and sweet potatoes in the north, some of the food shortage crisis in the Shandong area of ​​Zhili has been alleviated, but after September, the situation in the north began to get out of control again. It's time - because it's time to return the military coins issued by Kang Mazi.The huge debt of 340 million taels of silver with interest is undoubtedly an astronomical figure for the Qing court, which can't even afford military salaries, official salaries, and mite grains. hurdles to overcome.

In desperation, the old hag of Xiaozhuang had no choice but to bite the bullet and promulgate a decree to the people in Zhili and Shandong, deciding to extend the period for repaying the general's coins for one year, and return the capital with interest in the second year.As a result, it was natural that as soon as this decree was promulgated, Zhili Shandong immediately exploded. The Han people who were overwhelmed by exorbitant taxes and famine rioted, and cut down more than [-] people in less than a month. The head of a local official was cleared, and the official warehouses of two prefectural cities and six county towns were robbed. , Barely maintaining the order in the capital area, they are helpless against these Han mobs who don't know the truth.

The house leak coincided with continuous night rain. At this extremely critical moment, there was another big problem inside Miqing’s northern green battalion. Cai Lu, the Hebei military officer stationed in Huaiqing, Henan, took advantage of the opportunity of Henan Governor Lang Tingxiang to order him to send troops to suppress the rebellion. Suddenly launched a mutiny to control Huaiqing City, killed all the civil and military officials and their families in the city who refused to surrender, and led the people in the city to cut their braids and hair, and swear allegiance to the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Similar rebellions of general soldiers were common in the San Francisco Rebellion, but after the news of Huaiqing's rebellion spread back to Beijing, the old hag of Xiaozhuang couldn't help but cry, because Huaiqing's location is close to Taihang in the north and the Yellow River in the south. It just happened to cut off the connection between the Qing court and the Tongguan Qing army. Kang Mazi dug up the south bank of the Yellow River before, and blocked Tongguan's detour from the hinterland of Henan to Beijing and rescue Shandong and Zhili. Even if the old witch of Xiaozhuang wanted to mobilize the last elite soldiers of the Qing court to return to Shandong and Zhili, she would have to detour through Niangziguan in the middle of the Taihang Mountains.

As a last resort, in order to take precautions, the old witch Xiaozhuang had to make a major military adjustment, that is, order Tong Guoyao, the admiral of Huguang who was stationed in Xunyang, to go north, take over the important area of ​​Tongguan, and replace the pack army led by Tong Guogang to return to Huaiqing. , to pull out the nail of Huaiqing, and open the way to return to Zhili and Shandong.As for the Xunyang and Xiangyang areas that Tong Guoyao originally guarded, they can only resign themselves to fate.Abandoning the retreat west of Taihang Mountain, or even abandoning the entire south of Shanhaiguan, has also appeared in the consideration of Xiaozhuang old hag.

Of course, abandoning the west of Taihang Mountain and the entire south of Shanhaiguan can only be the last choice of last resort. The old hag of Xiaozhuang will never give up easily until the last moment. Besides, the old hag of Xiaozhuang still has a little hope and fantasy. That is, the conflict between the Fat Army and the Honghua court has become public, and the contradictions within the Wu Army have also become public.Especially after receiving the news that Wu Guogui led the Wu clan to attack Guo Zhuangtu, the old witch of Xiaozhuang seemed to see a glimmer of light, and immediately sent an envoy to Yunnan to contact Guo Zhuangtu, expressing her willingness to send Honghua The imperial court paid tribute to the court, drew the Yellow River as the boundary with the Honghua court, and provided help for the Honghua court to put down Wu Guogui's rebellion.

Confessing vassals to Wu Shifan and Guo Zhuangtu is not enough. After careful consideration, the treacherous old witch of Xiaozhuang sent a secret envoy to infiltrate the southwest to contact Wu Guogui, expressing her willingness to provide assistance for the Wu clan to crusade against Honghua power traitor Guo Zhuangtu , but the prerequisite is that after the Wu clan successfully pacified Guo Zhuangtu, they must agree to a truce with the Qing court and draw the Yellow River as the boundary.

As for the most dangerous Fatty Lu, the old witch of Xiaozhuang dared not provoke this little fatty who had a deep hatred for the Qing court. The only thing she could do was to hope that Geng Jingzhong, who was in the south of Fatty's army, could restrain Lu more. For a period of time, Fatty also prayed to the ancestors of the Qing Dynasty, begging them to bless Fatty Lu to fight the civil war first, and then consider the Northern Expedition, so as to give the Qing court a little more breathing time.

The internal chaos of the Wu Army was actually not much better than that of the Qing court. After receiving the news that Wang Shirong and the old traitor Wu ordered Fatty Lu to raise troops to conquer him, Guo Zhuangtu, the first official of the Honghua court, was of course furious and almost wanted to kill Lu. Fatty's eldest son, Lu Bangjing, chops it into dumpling stuffing and feeds it to the dogs!But after thinking about it again, Guo Zhuangtu, who is good at juggling power, suddenly had his eyes lit up again, shouted "God help me, too", and then immediately issued an edict in Wu Shifan's honor, making his brother-in-law Xia Guoxiang the king of Chu and Hu Guozhu Hu Guozhu the name of Jiangxi. The king ordered the two brothers-in-law to send troops to put down Wu Guogui's rebellion.

A dry decree and two empty-headed princes want Xia Guoxiang and Hu Guozhu to send troops. The difficulty is naturally extremely high, but Guo Zhuangtu is not the only one. He sent another letter to Xia Guoxiang and Hu Guozhu. He firmly insisted that the traitorous edict of old man Wu in Fatty Lu's hand was a false edict, and then pointed out that if the edict was true, then the sons-in-law of old traitor Wu might be even more dangerous, because once Fatty Lu took power, he would not be able to tolerate private detaining Xia Guoxiang, the traitor of the old man Wu, and the Wu family can't tolerate Guo Zhuangtu, Xia Guoxiang and Hu Guozhu's three relatives continuing to be in power. Basically, the day when Fatty Lu and the Wu clan take power is also the day when Wu's relatives are destroyed!I, Xia Guoxiang, and Hu Guozhu are three grasshoppers tied to the straw. If I can't fly, I can't run away from you!
In fact, when Guo Zhuangtu's letter was still on the way, Wu Guogui's army had already started fighting with Hu Guozhu's team. It is because Hu Guozhu understands that once Wu Guogui's army returns to Yungui, the civil strife in the Wu army will be irreconcilable, and countless Wu army elites will die under their own swords, which will benefit the Qing court and other enemies in vain.Therefore, after persuading Wu Guogui to stop the troops and use negotiation means to solve internal problems and failed, Hu Guozhu, who had an overall view, resolutely ordered his army to strictly guard the dangerous pass to prevent Wu Guogui's army from returning to Yunnan and Guizhou. While blocking Wu Guogui's footsteps, he tried to resolve the conflict.

Wu Jun’s first internal fire took place at Chenlong Pass in Chenzhou. This pass was stationed by Gao Qilong, a deputy sent by Hu Guozhu in advance to prevent any emergency. The terrain is extremely dangerous. , The pass road is narrow enough for only two vehicles to run side by side. After confirming that Wu Guogui sent troops, Hu Guozhu ordered Gao Qilong to guard the pass, and at the same time ordered Fu Zulu and Yang Baoyin from Chenzhou Fucheng to send troops for reinforcements. Then Hu Guozhu personally led the army from Yuezhou to the south. Chasing Wu Guogui's army all the way, preparing to use both kindness and power to urge Wu Guogui to strike back.And when Wu Guogui's soldiers came to the pass to negotiate to no avail, he resolutely launched a battle to tackle the key.

The battle at Chenlong Pass was very fierce, with heavy casualties on both the offensive and defensive sides. Relying on the dangerous terrain and Guo Zhuangtu's continuous supply of new firearms from behind Yunnan and Guizhou, Gao Shenglong successfully blocked Wu Guogui's footsteps for more than half a month. At the same time, Hu Guozhu's army has also arrived at Zhengjiadian behind Wu Guogui's army, but in order to avoid further stimulating Wu Guogui and the Wu clan, Hu Guozhu did not let the army attack Jiqishan Firearms Camp and Changde City controlled by Wu Guogui's army, but kept An envoy was sent to contact Wu Guogui, expressing goodwill, and requesting to negotiate with Wu Guogui face to face. Wu Guogui, who had been attacked before and after, hesitated again and again, and finally agreed to negotiate with Hu Guozhu face to face.

The meeting place was set at Xindian Township between Chenlongguan and Zhengjiadian. Wu Guogui, Wu Yingjing, and Liu Zhifu came forward to negotiate on the Wu clan side, and Hu Guozhu was the only one on the Hu Guozhu army side. After the meeting, Hu Guozhu first On behalf of his brother-in-law Guo Zhuangtu, he apologized to the Wu clan, admitted that Guo Zhuangtu had indeed killed Wu Yingqi without permission, but soon presented ironclad evidence that Wu Yingqi was attempting to rebel and usurp the throne, and escorted the soldiers who had accompanied Wu Yingqi back to Kunming to let the soldiers State Wu Yingqi's [-] remarks in Guizhou face to face, explaining Guo Zhuangtu's difficulties in having to kill Wu Yingqi and his son.

After introducing the truth of the matter, Hu Guozhu, who was loyal to the old man Wu, begged the Wu clan to withdraw his troops with tears again, not to fight among themselves, and to cheapen Mangou and other enemies. Wu Guogui, Wu Yingjing and others were finally moved by Hu Guozhu's sincerity After negotiation, Hu Guozhu proposed two truce conditions. One is that Guo Zhuangtu hand over the family members of the Wu clan detained in Yunnan and Guizhou, and the other is that Guo Zhuangtu sends Wu Shifan to Wuchang. Hu Guozhu assisted the government.Only in this way can the Wu clan spare Guo Zhuangtu and no longer pursue his crime of killing Wu Yingqi and his son without authorization.

For the sake of the overall situation, Hu Guozhu agreed to the two conditions of the Wu clan, saying that as long as Wu Guogui withdraws his troops, he will immediately go to Yungui to negotiate with Guo Zhuangtu, and ask Guo Zhuangtu to release the detained family members of the Wu clan and welcome Wu Shifan back to Wuchang Dingdu, Wu Guogui and others knew that Hu Guozhu was very reliable in matters of right and wrong, so they considered and agreed to Hu Guozhu's conditions again and again, and agreed to withdraw troops and return to Changde to station. After Hu Guozhu said goodbye to Wu Guogui and others, he immediately rushed to Kunming to negotiate with Guo Zhuangtu. calm.At the same time, Hu Guozhu asked Wu Guogui to come forward to write to Fatty Lu, asking his son-in-law to stand still, not to provoke internal strife, and to wait for the result of his negotiations with Guo Zhuangtu, and Wu Guogui also agreed.

Hu Guozhu, who managed to temporarily quell the civil strife in the Wu army, was self-defeating once. Let alone Guo Zhuangtu, who is obsessed with power, it is difficult to agree to the conditions proposed by the Wu clan. Hu Guozhu expects Fatty Lu to stand still. , How could it be possible for Wu Jun to stop the civil war?How could it be possible to tolerate Wu Jun, whose comprehensive strength is still higher than that of Fatty's Army, reuniting into a regiment, and fighting against himself under the banner of the Honghua court?So after Wu Guogui's letter was sent to Nanjing, it was...

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On November [-]th, Fatty Lu’s royal ship returned to Nanjing Wharf. Almost at the same time, Wu Guogui’s letter also passed through the water blockade of the Qing army in Anqing and was sent to Nanjing City. After reading Wu Guogui’s letter on the way into the city, He also basically understood the history of the Chenlongguan battle that came from spying on him. Fatty Lu secretly scolded Hu Guozhu for being troublesome. When he returned to the Yue Palace, he didn't even bother to see his wife and son. Confidant lackeys, discuss countermeasures together.

"Your Majesty, don't worry, the civil strife in the Honghua court will not end." After reading Hu Guozhu's letter, Wang Shaobo said with great ease: "Hu Guozhu is daydreaming, Guo Zhuangtu will never agree to the conditions proposed by General Wu Guogui, not a single one. Promise! Handing over the family members of the Wu clan and the Emperor Honghua, there is no restriction on the Wu clan, and there is no power to control the princes by the emperor. For a powerful official like Guo Zhuangtu, it is more difficult It's hard for him to kill him, he can't agree."

"Uncle Shao is right." Yao Qisheng also thought so, and said with a smile: "General Wu Guogui and the Wu clan promised that as long as Guo Zhuangtu handed over Emperor Honghua and his family, they would not blame Guo Zhuangtu. Although Hu Guozhu could believe it, he could also He acted as a guarantor for General Wu Guogui and the Wu clan, but Guo Zhuangtu absolutely couldn't believe it, because once he handed over the power, life and death, honor and disgrace, and the lives of his family, it was all at the whim of the Wu clan. Will take this risk, and dare not take this risk, and the internal strife and conflict in the Honghua court will continue."

Xie Dong, Huang Ji, Zhu Fangdan, Mu Tianyan and others all nodded in agreement. They all thought that Hu Guozhu was too wishful thinking. It was simply whimsical to try to resolve the sharp conflicts within the Wu army through negotiation. Negotiate peace!Only Fatty Lu shook his legs and refused to speak, and the small eyeballs in his triangular eyes spun around like thieves, and he refused to make this judgment lightly.

After a long time, Fatty Lu finally spoke, and he said firmly, "I don't think so! In my opinion, Hu Guozhu may not be able to persuade Guo Zhuangtu, and Guo Zhuangtu may not agree to the conditions proposed by my father-in-law!"

"Why?" Yao Qisheng asked in surprise along with Wang Shaobo and others.

"Because the military situation is very unfavorable to Guo Zhuangtu!" Fatty Lu jumped up, walked to the national map sand table left by Li Ji, and beckoned all six henchmen to come to him, pointed at the map sand table with a bamboo pole and said: " You see, if Guo Zhuangtu resolutely rejects the conditions proposed by the Wu clan and decides to confront the Wu clan by force, then his military situation will be very unfavorable. The north is Wu Zhimao and Wang Pingfan, the northeast is my father-in-law Wu Guogui, and the east is Wu Shicong. The old ministry, although Wu Shicong is dead now, Guo Zhuangtu also appointed Dong Chongmin as the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, but Wu Shicong’s old ministry may not be obedient, at least Emperor Zhaowu’s cousin Zu Zeqing will never reconcile with Guo Zhuangtu, even Dong Chongmin , and may not necessarily follow Guo Zhuangtu's orders!"

"In this way, if the two armies go to war, Guo Zhuangtu will immediately be attacked from three sides!" Fatty Lu analyzed again: "Guo Zhuangtu only has more than 2 troops in Yunnan, and his biggest military support is the team of Guizhou President General Li Benshen. However, Li Benshen is the former subordinate of Emperor Zhaowu. Even if he temporarily obeys Guo Zhuangtu's order, if the situation is unfavorable, he may turn against him! Under such circumstances, Guo Zhuangtu and the Wu clan will simply seek their own death if they fight against each other by force. At most, some family members of the Wu clan will be buried with them, but in the end they will die in Huangquan and be ruined."

Speaking of this, Fatty Lu put down the bamboo pole in his hand, folded his hands on his chest and said in a low voice: "If Guo Zhuangtu wants to fight against the Wu clan by force, in fact, the biggest reliance is his two brothers-in-law Hu Guozhu and Xia Guoxiang, and it is not Wu's brother-in-law. However, the clan of the Wu clan holds the powerful Ma Bao in their hands. As long as one of these three people falls on him, Guo Zhuangtu will have the power to fight and can greatly restrain the army of the Wu clan. If two of them fall to him, Guo Zhuangtu Zhuangtu will be able to share equal shares with the Wu clan. If Hu Guozhu, Xia Guoxiang and Ma Bao all fall to him, then he will have the hope of putting down the rebellion of the Wu clan."

"Originally there was another Wang Fuchen, who could also be a weight to balance the balance, but Wang Fuchen, like us, is too far away, and at most can only play a role of solidarity. Even if troops are sent, it will be a year of the monkey when we reach Yunnan." Fatty Lu Continued: "So in this case, Guo Zhuangtu would never dare to offend Hu Guozhu, Xia Guoxiang and Ma Bao. Also, Xia Guoxiang and Ma Bao are both ambiguous at present, neither expressing support for Guo Zhuangtu nor expressing opposition. I decided to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, but there was only one Hu Guozhu running around, trying his best to mediate, and even sent troops to prevent my father-in-law Wu Guogui from entering Yunnan. Tell me, do Guo Zhuangtu dare to ignore what Hu Guozhu said?"

Fatty Lu and his confidant lackeys were silent together. After a long while, Wang Shaobo took the lead in applauding, flattering him and said, "It's still the prince who can see people's hearts and analyze them very well. Yes, if Hu Guozhu threatens Guo Zhuangtu, saying that if Guo Zhuangtu doesn't agree Wu Clan's conditions, then he will stand by and ignore Guo Zhuangtu's life and death, and Guo Zhuangtu must consider submitting."

"No wonder Hu Guozhu dared to go back to Yunnan to negotiate with Guo Zhuangtu." Yao Qisheng also came to his senses. I am worried that Guo Zhuangtu will kill him or detain him."

"We can't let them reconcile." Zhu Fangdan yelled, "The Pingxi Palace is the best one for us with the chaos inside."

Several of Fatty Lu's confidantes nodded together, thinking that what Zhu Fangdan said was absolutely right, only if the Wu army continued to fight among themselves, would it be in the fundamental interests of Fatty's army.Although Fatty Lu himself does not speak or express his opinion, his small eyes are rolling wildly, but he has already begun to plan how to smash Hu Guozhu's dream of yellow beams, how to cheer Guo Zhuangtu, and fight Wu's clan to the death, both sides will suffer, including using the lurking Despicable thoughts such as the secret assassination of Hu Guozhu by the Fatty Army from Yunnan and Guizhou kept coming to Fatty Lu's mind one after another.

Despicable villains are usually easy to think of together, and after a long time of thinking, Fatty Lu opened his mouth and ordered: "Uncle Shao, draw up an order for this king, and this king will issue a grand decree."

"Understood." Wang Shaobo quickly walked to the desk next to the Yinluan Hall and sat down, stretched out a paper and picked up a pen, and asked, "My lord, who is the order for?"

"Issuing an edict to Prime Minister Xia." Fatty Lu replied with a name that was unexpected to all the lackeys. Fatty Lu ordered: "You look at the edict, and the writing should be as arrogant and rude as possible. There are three main contents. One, ask him why Detain the edict issued by the former emperor to this king and ask him to explain. Second, ask him why he did not send troops to help my father-in-law Wu Guogui suppress the rebellion, and ask him whether he is in collusion with Guo Zhuangtu's rebels. Third, order him to surrender his military power and send Hand over the army to my father-in-law Wu Guogui..., no, hand it over to General Ma Bao, let General Ma Bao lead the army to help my father-in-law Wu Guogui put down Guo Zhuangtu's rebellion!"

"My lord is so ruthless! I was afraid that Guo Zhuangtu would not be able to defeat the Wu clan, so I simply pushed Xia Guoxiang to Guo Zhuangtu to give Guo Zhuangtu courage and strength!" Several of Fatty Lu's henchmen gasped. Whisper together in my heart.Then Wang Shaobo tentatively asked again: "My lord, wouldn't it be more effective if Xia Guoxiang handed over the military power to General Wu Guogui?"

"No way." Fatty Lu sighed, and said with compassion: "My father-in-law, General Wu Guogui, has openly rebelled against Guo. If General Xia Guoxiang handed over the military power to him, it will inevitably cause greater civil strife and bring disaster to the people. But Ma General Bao is reasonable and has never stated who he is supporting. Only by letting General Xia Guoxiang hand over the military power to General Ma Bao can General Ma Bao control the situation and avoid harming the people."

"Fuck! Be a bitch and set up a memorial arch! Are you trying to take the opportunity to drive a wedge between Xia Guoxiang, Guo Zhuangtu and Ma Bao? Don't say it so nicely!" Fatty Lu's lackeys cursed together in their hearts, and at the same time Together they sympathized with Xia Guoxiang in their hearts, "Poor guy, if you don't listen to our prince, you are violating the will of Emperor Gao, the great ancestor of the Zhou Dynasty. The way of clans and clans killing each other is gone."

"By the way, by the way, give General Ma Bao a Jun decree." Fatty Lu added, "Make him ready to take over Xia Guoxiang's army, and reward him with some gold, silver and jewels by the way, more rewards."

(End of this chapter)