scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 412
"Forgive me, my lord. I have no way to teach my son. The dog caused such a catastrophe for the first time on an official business. It ruined the lord's gentle plan. Both the official and the dog deserve to die! Please punish the lord severely. Willing to accept the crime!"

Not to mention, when Yao Qisheng kowtowed in front of Fatty Lu and said these words, Fatty Lu, who was recalling the big iron mines and alum mines in Beijing and Hebei, was really shocked, and almost suspected Yao Qisheng's son Yao Yi He fled with his army and surrendered to his enemies.The upstart Zhu Fangdan, Mu Tianyan, Huang Yanbo, Zhang Fengyi, and Jin Zhen, who were acting as agents for official duties, were also taken aback. They thought that Yao Yi would not win Yao Qisheng's reputation, and lost the Fengyang granary as soon as he arrived in Anhui.

"What's the matter?" Fatty Lu hurriedly left the table and went to help Yao Qisheng himself, "Mr. Yao, please get up quickly. If you have something to say, speak slowly, there is no need to do this."

"You should be punished for the crimes of the lower officials. You are young and impulsive, and you can't hold your breath. As soon as you arrived in Anhui, you had a conflict with General Ma Bao." Raising his head, he said with a sad face: "Although there is a reason for the incident and our army has not suffered a loss, the dog still ruined the prince's Huairou plan. Please punish the dog severely. The lower officials dare not take sides."

"What the hell did Yao Yi do?" Opening the pond newspaper in confusion, and carefully reading the content, Fatty Lu immediately heaved a sigh of relief. It turned out that Yao Yi did not want to let Yingzhou down because the soldiers and civilians of Yingzhou insisted on only sending down fat soldiers. The army and the people expected, but also feared that the hearts of those who wanted to surrender were cold, so they were forced to send troops to Yingzhou on their own initiative. They fought a battle with Wang San's team under Ma Bao's command under the city of Yingzhou. They lost more than 600 people and killed more than 100 Ma Baojun. Soldiers, drove Wang San out of Yingzhou, and Yao Yi also knew that she might have caused trouble, so she hurriedly made a plea.Along with the military intelligence pond newspaper, there are also a memorial to defend Yao Yi by Wu Xingzuo, the governor of Anhui, the fat man's army, and a blood letter from the military and civilian officials in Yingzhou.

Zhu Fangdan, Mu Tianyan, and Huang Yanbo were all silent after reading the military intelligence report sent by Yao Yi and Wu Xingzuo, and they all found it extremely difficult because this matter was too complicated. It is only natural for the Fat Army and Yao Yi to send troops to take over Yingzhou. At the same time, if the Fat Army does not accept the blood letter from the soldiers and civilians of Yingzhou to surrender, they will sit back and watch Yingzhou be captured and ravaged by Ma Baojun. If it is necessary to recruit and surrender hostile forces, it will inevitably increase a lot of difficulty, so Yao Yi's own initiative to send troops to Yingzhou should be regarded as meritorious and innocent.

The complexity lies in the battle between Fatty Army and Ma Baojun. The three Anhui prefectures, Yingzhou, Lu'an, and Anqing, have always been buffered by Fatty Army and Wu Army. The situation was complicated and chaotic before. Unwilling to take these three state capitals and directly border them, countless incidents and dangers have arisen out of thin air, so neither side has attacked these three state capitals. For the time being, the remnants of the Qing army are entrenched in these three state capitals. Generally speaking, these three state capitals are blank areas.

Since it is a blank area, of course whoever comes first will get it. It is legal and reasonable for Ma Bao to send troops to attack Yingzhou. You can no longer reach into Yingzhou and grab territory with your allies, but now Yao Yi not only reaches into Yingzhou, but also directly fights with Ma Bao's army for the sake of Yingzhou city. The infamy of the civil war naturally made the fat army bear the truth. The fat army won the battle, but lost morality.

These are still relatively light, but what is more troublesome is the possible consequences of this incident. Ma Bao, the general of the Wu army who merged with Fatty, is not only the favorite general of the old man in the Pingxi palace and the traitor of Wu, but also the most powerful neutral in the Wu army's civil war. Even Fang Guangchen, the only surviving first generation of the Pingxi Palace who always hated Ma Bao, admitted that he had misjudged himself. He did not expect Ma Bao to remain calm at such a time and not to interfere in the Wu army's civil war. , has an excellent reputation within Wu Jun.At the same time, because Ma Bao is not from the Wu clan and holds a heavy army, he has always been the main target of Fatty Army's recruiting and appeasement. Fatty Lu's personal and Fatty's army as a whole will naturally benefit endlessly.And now Yao Yi fired the first shot in the civil war for the Fatty Army, but it happened to hit Ma Bao, and this shot was fired when the main force of the Fatty Army was leaning north and its foothold was not stable. What kind of consequences would it cause those who The variable is that no one can tell clearly.

Yao Qisheng, Zhu Fangdan and others waited in fear for a long time. After closing his eyes and thinking for a long time, Fatty Lu finally opened his eyes, smiled and supported Yao Qisheng with both hands, and said with a relaxed smile: "Mr. Small conflict, what's the big deal, kowtow to plead guilty? Please get up, sit down and talk."

As he said that, Fatty Lu pulled Yao Qisheng up and pushed him to the seat next to him, while Yao Qisheng said worriedly: "My lord, but in this way, your plan to Huairou with General Ma Bao will come to naught. The Yue Palace may also be forced to get involved in the civil war in advance due to insufficient preparation."

"If the king had been in Fengyang at that time, the king would have fought this battle." Fatty Lu replied that the donkey's head was wrong, and waved his hand and said: "The king is a boat, the people are water, water can carry a boat, and it can also carry water." The boat capsized. The soldiers and civilians in Yingzhou would rather bleed into rivers than surrender to Ma Bao. They also wrote a letter of blood to ask our army to surrender hundreds of miles away. Only the soldiers and civilians in Yingzhou voluntarily accept our jurisdiction and rule. We can only support and encourage such things, but not strike or reject them. Otherwise, all our previous efforts and painstaking efforts will be in vain. gone."

"My lord's golden words, my ministers will keep them in their hearts, and they will never look back." Fatty Lu's lackeys hurriedly flattered him, with a solemn expression of listening to his teachings.

"Let's do this." Fatty Lu ordered: "In the order of Jun Jun, Admiral Yao Yi of Anhui, disregarding the brotherhood of the friendly army, brazenly sent troops to attack the friendly army and killed the friendly army soldiers. He should be punished, but there is a reason for the incident. The merits and demerits are equal, the crime of harming the friendly army will not be held accountable, and the contribution to the restoration of Yingzhou will not be rewarded. Lu Youshan, the prefect of Yingzhou, surrendered his heart, surrendered his sincerity, and rewarded him with 500 taels of silver. Make."

"Xiaguan, on behalf of the dog, thank the lord for his great kindness." Yao Qisheng heaved a sigh of relief, and quickly saluted to thank him.After the internal adjustment and regulation of Fatty Army, it is now the job of Li Cao officials to draw up the decree and seal for Fatty Lu.

"Father-in-law, this decree must be made known to the world, and the specific details must also be written in." Fatty Lu instructed Huang Yanbo: "We must increase publicity and let more people know the cause and effect of this matter." , I know the benefits of surrendering to our army with sincerity. Also, you can let your big son-in-law Hong Sheng compile this matter into a drama, the plot is as twisted as possible, and performed on the stage, so that Wei Guang, who is not favoritism or favoritism in our Yue Palace, can be corrected. Show it on one side."

Huang Yanbo agreed again, while Zhu Fangdan said cautiously: "Your Majesty, is this too much? This matter is that Ma Bao is at a disadvantage and we are taking advantage of it. We still want to gain word of mouth and moral advantages. Will it anger me further? General Ma Bao?"

"That's right, I also think this move should be carefully considered." Mu Tianyan also echoed: "General Yao started the war with the friendly army for the people of Yingzhou. Although he did nothing wrong, the impact of fighting with the friendly army is too bad after all. If you want to make a big deal out of it and slap General Ma Bao in the face, you will completely anger Ma Bao, and the consequences may be serious."

"It's okay." Fatty Lu shook his head, and said in a deep voice: "Ma Bao attacked Yingzhou to test the limit of our army's tolerance for his expansion. This king should also test his attitude of surrender. He died in the 16th year of Mangou Shunzhi. After following the old prince Wu, he was also the Duke of Huai in Li Dingguo's team. His age and qualifications are much older than mine. I want to recruit him for my use, but I really can't open my mouth. Taking this opportunity, I also want to test whether he has any plans to serve me. Even if the test fails, it doesn’t matter, anyway, sooner or later we will fight, first find out his specific attitude, and our army can formulate countermeasures.”

"My lord, how to test?" Zhu Fangdan asked again.

Fatty Lu thought about it again, and ordered: "Give Wang Shaobo an order to send an eloquent envoy from Nanjing to Jiujiang with 5 taels of silver to visit Ma Bao, and to ask Ma Bao for Yingzhou's affairs. An apology, 5 taels of silver is the first batch of compensation from our army. In addition, in order to express my apology, this king will also compensate every soldier in his team with one month's military salary - but the prerequisite is that he must allow this king Send someone to verify the actual strength of his troops."

"Verify the actual strength of General Ma Bao?" Zhu Fangdan was taken aback, and quickly asked, "My lord, how is this possible? If we want to verify the actual strength of General Ma Bao's troops, we must go deep into his army and contact his troops." How could General Ma Bao agree to the many secrets in the book? Also, you are not unaware of General Ma Bao’s temper. He likes to hide filth and crazily expand the army. In Yingzhou, which was half-flooded by the Yellow River, it doesn’t count to give Ma Bao 5 taels of silver, but it’s too bad to pay so many people a month’s military salary, isn’t it?”

"Master Zhu, you don't need to feel sorry for this little money. I think the prince's move is feasible." Mu Tianyan said, "The prince took the initiative to give out a huge sum of 5 taels of silver to compensate Ma Bao. Turn against our army, otherwise we will definitely accept our apology, our army can also avoid joining the civil war in advance under insufficient preparations, and it can also win the reputation of respecting friendly troops."

"As for sending people to check the actual strength of Ma Bao's troops, the prince holds the edict of Emperor Gao of the Great Zhou Taizu to control the whole world's Great Zhou army. It is justified to check the actual number of Ma Bao's troops, and it is also a good intention to compensate the soldiers of Ma Bao's team. It is reasonable for us. It’s all in the past. At the same time, you can also take the opportunity to test General Ma Bao’s attitude. If he agrees to our request and allows us to find out his details, or just refuses politely, he would rather not have the military salary than let us know his strength. It proves that he is not deeply hostile to us and can win over and win over. If he gets angry and drives away or even kills our envoys, then needless to say, we have to prepare to go to war with him."

"In that case, it might be worth a try." Zhu Fangdan finally understood.

"Actually, there is another benefit, Mr. Mu may not have noticed." Fatty Lu said with a smile: "If I guess correctly, there may not be many soldiers in Ma Bao's team who can normally receive their salary. This king will pay for Ma Bao. , Those soldiers who haven’t received military pay for several months or even never received military pay, the one who is grateful is this king, and when they come to the battlefield in the future, it will be much easier to win these people over.”

"It's possible." Mu Tianyan hurriedly nodded in agreement, "Although General Ma Bao's expansion is fast, the territories he can grab are all poor places, where he can't get much money. Nanchang and Jiujiang, which are in the best situation, are again Those who were severely scratched by the prince and Xia Guoxiang once could not grab much. Now that the civil war in the Honghua court is raging again, General Ma Bao can't find someone to lead the army. The situation in the team must be very serious. serious."

Several fat army upstarts agreed one after another, thinking that they could give it a try, and if they failed, they would pay a maximum of 5 taels of silver - which is only equivalent to one-thirty percent of the fat army's tax revenue this year, and they can also get a respectful friend who respects the friendly army. good name.But if it succeeds, and then take advantage of this opportunity to bring Ma Bao over, the fat army will save tens of millions of taels of silver just by saving military expenses.Only Yao Qisheng repeatedly pleaded guilty and took the responsibility on his own son, causing Fatty Lu to pay so much money for no reason.

"Immediately draw up an order for Wang Shaobo and let him follow the order." Fatty Lu made up his mind with a wave of his hand, and added: "Anyway, it's a favor, so just do enough. That Wang San, who was dealt with by Yao Yi, also Send him 5000 taels of silver. There are also those useless so-called rare treasures that cannot be eaten or worn, and are useless to keep, so you can also send some to Ma Bao."

"Also, let Li Maozhuo and Li Jiyang prepare for battle. If Ma Bao doesn't want to accept my king's kindness and intends to use force to speak, give me a resolute fight back! In addition, those new troops from Shandong will send another [-] to Taiping Mansion. Under the direct command of Nanjing."

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

After Fatty Lu's order was sent to Nanjing, Wang Shaobo and Xie Dong, who stayed in Nanjing for Fatty Lu, did not dare to neglect, they hurried together to discuss the details, and then immediately dispatched Fatty Military Salute Director Cao Chen Renjie as an envoy, and asked him to bring 5000 taels Xianyin and a batch of jewelry that Fatty Lu said could not be eaten or worn, and carrying the letter written by Fatty Lu, took the Yangtze River channel all the way upstream, and rushed to Jiujiang day and night to seek Ma Bao. The day arrived at the destination.

Because he just had a fight with Ma Baojun in Yingzhou, after Chen Renjie came to Xiaogushan and entered the Ma Baojun defense area, he naturally didn't get any good looks. The defenders Ma Bao sent to Xiaogushan even refused Chen Renjie to enter, However, after Chen Renjie sent 100 taels of silver, ten altars of daughter red, and ten pieces of Jinhua ham, and stated that he was going to pay the soldiers of Ma Baojun, Deng Guiping, the guard of Ma Baojun's Xiaogushan, immediately changed his face. They escorted Chen Renjie to Jiujiang with two Ma Baojun warships, his expressions were so affectionate that Chen Renjie felt goosebumps all over the ground.

When he entered the city from Jiujiang Shuimen smoothly and came to the gate of General Ma Bao's commander-in-chief, Chen Renjie encountered a little accident. General Ma Bao was receiving guests and did not want to meet the Fatty Army envoy for the time being.Chen Renjie, who was born under Xie Dong's family, took another ten taels of silver to open the way, and the soldiers in front of General Ma Bao told Chen Renjie in a low voice, saying that the guest that General Ma Bao met was the confidant of Lord Xia, Prime Minister of Xia State, and the guest of Guo Zhuangtu Guo Xiangye. My younger brother - Guo Zhuangmou!

"Oops!" Chen Renjie, who was originally full of confidence in this mission, changed his face, and secretly cried out in his heart, "I'm in trouble, why did I meet this guy? Could it be that Xia Guoxiang also heard the news that we and Ma Bao were in conflict, so Guo Zhuangmou was specially sent here to pull Ma Bao to Guo Zhuangtu's side? If this is the case, Uncle Chen, my life, I might have to give it to Jiujiang City today."

After waiting in fear for a long time, a general with gauze wrapped around his head finally came out of Ma Bao's Marshal's Mansion. He led a few soldiers and walked up to Chen Renjie in a coquettish manner. He asked with a ferocious smile: " Are you the envoy sent by Lu Yifeng?"

"Return to the general, the envoy is the envoy sent by Lord Lu." Chen Renjie respectfully agreed, and then said cautiously: "I, Chen Renjie, have stolen the post of Li Cao's chief in the Yue Palace of the Great Zhou Dynasty. How dare you ask the general...?"

"My name is Wang San." The general Ma Baojun promised grandly, pointed to the gauze on his forehead, and said with a smirk: "See? This is the memory you left for me! When you were in Yingzhou, if you shot again One inch to the left, and my life will be reimbursed!"

"Fuck! Uncle Chen, I must have missed the imperial calendar when I went out today!" Chen Renjie murmured in his heart, and hurriedly bowed his fists and said respectfully: "General Wang, our army is very sorry about the incident in Yingzhou. Make it to the general..."

"Okay, okay, stop talking nonsense!" Wang San interrupted rudely, and said with a sneer: "Let's go, our Marshal Ma is waiting for you, and Guo Shangshu is also waiting for you. Let's talk in front of them!" After finishing speaking, Wang Sanyi waved his hand, and several Ma Bao's soldiers rushed forward, without saying a word, he set Chen Renjie up and walked in.

(End of this chapter)