scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 414 Profit maximization
General Ma's wise and unexpected decision not only made the decision-makers of the Fatty Army unexpected, but also made the decision-makers of the Fatty Army dumbfounded, and made the decision-makers of the Fatty Army feel completely caught off guard.

It's not that the Fatty Army doesn't want General Ma to surrender with his troops and territory. As an old warlord with territory, army and prestige, General Ma took the initiative to surrender with his territory and troops, and offered to accept the reorganization of the Fatty Army and hand over military power. The meaning and symbolic significance are so great that it cannot be described in words at all, and the benefits brought to the fat army are so great that they cannot be calculated only by benefits.

The key point is that the timing of General Ma’s surrender was inappropriate. After the conflict with Ma Baojun, the Fatty Army responded with soft measures and did not rely on the strong to bully the weak. This is because after the Fatty Army expanded too fast, various internal problems were exposed, and time was urgently needed. Stand firm, eliminate hidden dangers, don't want to start a new battlefield at this time, and make new enemies, so I have to bow my head to General Ma, intending to stabilize General Ma first, and continue to use General Ma as a buffer wall to block The Honghua court team, destined to be impossible to reconcile, bought time for the fat army to solve the problem.

It's just that Fatty Lu didn't expect that General Ma would come here with his team and territory just because he was so casual. In this way, General Ma's threat to the Fatty Army was resolved, but the Fatty Army suddenly With the army of the Honghua court fully bordering, and directly face to face with the biggest enemy, Huairou has such a result, Fatty Lu really can't help crying and laughing.

I can’t laugh or cry, General Ma surrendered so sincerely, and even surrendered his military power and territory, of course, Fatty Lu would not refuse, let alone refuse—if he doesn’t set an example of General Ma well, what else will Fatty Lu use to appease others? warlord?So there was no other way, Fatty Lu had no choice but to quickly order Cao, the householder of King Yue's mansion, to clean up Prince Qingkang's mansion in Langfang Hutong, and announced that he would reward General Ma as his mansion in Beijing, and with the imperial decree of the Great Zhou Dynasty, King Yue For the honor of the order, the old general Ma was granted the title of the first-class hereditary marquis, the general of Fuguo, and the yearly salary of 5 shi. Two, [-] taels of silver, gave General Ma enough benefits, and also left General Ma with a chance for further promotion.The big and small generals in Ma Bao's team also have their own rewards.

At the same time, in order to prevent the Honghua court from attacking Jiujiang and Nanchang in anger, Fatty Lu hastily ordered Li Mao, who was stationed in Anqing, to send troops to Jiujiang to take over the defense from Jiujiang to Nanchang, reorganize the old general Ma's team, and at the same time seal the former surrender The fat man's army was elected as the governor of Jiangxi, escorted by Li Mao's army, and rushed to Jiujiang and Nanchang to form a local government. Then he appointed Li Xiongfei as the admiral of Jiangxi and asked him to lead a team to Jiujiang and Nanchang to strengthen the defense. The team of General Ma, who was inextricably linked with the imperial court, was transferred to the south line and handed over to Li Tianzhi, so that these old men could abuse the weak Prince Geng and Prince Zheng to their heart's content.

At the same time that the Fatty Army quickly adjusted its deployment, Xia Guoxiang, the king of Chu in the Honghua court, became furious after receiving the news, and immediately led the army down the river to find Ma Bao to settle the score. To meet Xia Guoxiang's anger, they just closed the gates of Jiujiang and Nanchang and waited for the reinforcements of the Fatty Army to arrive. The superior navy of the Fatty Army stationed in Anqing did not disappoint General Ma. The Jiujiang War lasted only five days. The fat man's navy arrived at the Jiujiang battlefield and started a decisive battle with the Honghua navy led by Lord Wei's good friend Lin Xingzhu. The Jiujiang navy led by Du Hui also took the opportunity to attack and joined hands with the fat man's navy to face Lin Xingzhu.

This was an evenly matched battle on the surface of the water. The main force of the fat army's navy was divided into three, and the other two main forces had already rushed to Zhili and Wenzhou respectively. Therefore, the navy of the fat army led by Li Jiyang did not account for the number of ships. The advantage is that like Lin Xingzhu's navy, it has two hundred or so large warships. Du Hui's Jiujiang navy ships are old and few.It is also because of this that Lin Xingzhu, a good friend of Lord Wei who has been on several boats, is full of confidence and is determined to give Fatty Army a little color on the water and avenge his real master, the Qing court.

It is of course good to have fighting spirit and determination, but when it came to the final battle, General Lin Xingzhu, a good friend of Lord Wei, found out that something was wrong. The artillery on the fat man's warship was not only more accurate than his artillery, but also shot farther. Looking through the binoculars, the cannons of the Fat Man Army were the same as those of the Honghua Navy, they were the same Hongyi cannons and mother-child cannons, without any difference.But when Lin Xingzhu was puzzled, the fat man's navy gave full play to the long-range advantage of high-precision shells, always hiding outside the range of the Honghua navy and firing, desperately using the range to bombard the Honghua navy, what did they say? Lin Xingzhu was forced to take advantage of the upper reaches to launch a charge because he refused to start a close-board battle with the Honghua navy. Li Jiyang, who had won his father's true biography, fought and retreated, and led the navy back into Poyang Lake.

It wasn't until he led the Honghua Navy to chase into Poyang Lake, and Lin Xingzhu, a good friend of Lord Wei who made a fortune by betraying the enemy, found out that he had been fooled. Although the fat man's navy didn't ambush in Poyang Lake, the open water of Poyang Lake However, it gave the Fatty Army more space to use their long-range cannons. They used the open water to continuously weave and intersect, and kept bombarding Honghua Navy's warships with cannons. Sweating profusely but helpless.In desperation, Lin Xingzhu could only lead the navy to turn around and flee, and fled back to the relatively narrow Jiujiang water surface. Li Jiyang chased after him, biting Lin Xingzhu's butt, and fired shells one after another, weakening Lin Xingzhu little by little. .

If you want to fight Jiujiang without a navy, of course you can't do it. After receiving the news that the navy's battle situation is unfavorable, Xia Guo made a decisive decision and ordered Lin Xingzhu to withdraw to the shore ten miles upstream of Jiujiang, dispatched an artillery team to cover, and dispatched the town's treasure. , rushed to the Jiang surface battlefield for reinforcements, intending to use the air superiority to severely damage the navy of the Fatty Army and cut off Ma Bao's reinforcements from the water.

After the Fatty Army got rid of the control of the old traitor Wu before and became independent, there was a move that made all the enemies of the Fatty Army very puzzled, that is, Fatty Lu never built an airship to gain air superiority, and even if he captured Anqing, he won Zhang After the prince seized the two airships from Xia Guoxiang, the Fatty Army did not let the two airships re-launch to participate in the battle, but shipped them to Nanjing as samples for storage.Xia Guoxiang has always been very puzzled about this, but after Xia Guoxiang took out the airship to deal with the fat army today, Xia Guoxiang understood everything.

In front of Fatty Army, the three airships of the Honghua court were exactly three tea tables—full of cups and utensils.When Xia Guoxiang's three airships loaded with ammunition approached the fat man's navy, they really scared the fat man's soldiers at first, but Lin Xingzhu's cheers shook the sky. Li Jiyang, the commander of the army and navy division, quickly took out the kit sent by Fatty Lu - the kit that was ordered to be allowed only when encountering the airship of Honghua's army.After opening it, Li Jiyang laughed immediately, and immediately ordered the three good rockets to gather and shoot at the three airships of Xia Guoxiang's army.

Fiercely piercing through the air, one after another the Miyoshi rockets whizzed out and shot at the approaching airship of Xia Guoxiang Army in a slanting attitude. The airship of Xia Guoxiang Army invented and built by Fatty Lu himself was slow due to technical limitations, and it was impossible to dodge. , can only watch the Mihao rocket fly to the surface and explode, being blown up and down by the air wave generated by the explosion of the Mihao rocket, and the soldiers of the Xia Guoxiang Army on the airship screamed and screamed, holding on to the side of the ship and crying loudly, afraid He fell off the airship and fell to his death.Then when a Miyoshi rocket finally hit the airship airbag and exploded, an even bigger tragedy was born.

Friends must still remember what kind of gas Fatty Lu filled the airbag of the airship?What will happen if this gas encounters a flame? I believe there is no need to explain it, right?In short, just like the Hindenburg airship crash hundreds of years later, Xia Guoxiang’s airship was shot and exploded by a rocket, and the black airbag ignited a huge fire. It was as if a huge fire dragon had spewed out, and the hull of the boat also fell rapidly, smashing into the surging Yangtze River water with soaring flames. No one survived the death of the martyrdom explosion caused by the fire igniting the ammunition in the boat.

Seeing such a scene, Xia Guoxiang's entire army was of course dumbfounded. Fatty's army and Ma Baojun's cheers were like thunder, and Xia Guoxiang's soldiers on the remaining two airships were naturally crying and howling, scrambling to escape by parachuting. Fatty's rockets did not With relentless launches, the remaining two airships were blown into two balls of fire, and the airships smashed into the river with flames, shamelessly creating the first, second, and third man-made air crashes in history.

The three airships, the treasure of the town army, were shamelessly killed by the Fatty Army. The morale of Xia Guoxiang's army was naturally drained, but the morale of the Fatty Army was like a rainbow. The concentrated artillery bombarded Lin Xingzhu's navy indiscriminately. Even if Lin Xingzhu had land artillery Unable to resist the cover, he was forced to flee upstream again. Xia Guoxiang hesitated for a long time, and finally gave the order to withdraw the troops helplessly—it would be impossible if the troops were not withdrawn. There is no guarantee at all, and once the war is delayed for a long time, Wu Guogui, the deadly enemy in the rear, will also have an opportunity to take advantage of it.After Xia Guoxiang's army was forced to withdraw, the battle to defend Jiujiang finally ended with a small victory for the fat man's army.

After defeating Xia Guoxiang, the next thing will be much easier. The soldiers of Ma Baojun who are short of pay and food are looking forward to eating and clothing in the fat army. They all thought that the Fatty Army would get promoted and get rich. With this mentality, the Fatty Army would naturally have no problem taking over Jiujiang Defense, and the land transfer and army reorganization were completed smoothly. In Huguang and Pianyuan areas, most of Jiangxi and some of Henan's prefectures were taken into their pockets, while Ma Bao, Du Hui, Liao Jinzhong, Xue Qilong and other veterans of the Pingxi Palace took a boat down the river, and first went to Nanjing to enjoy it. After a few days, he took a boat north along the canal and rushed to Beijing to meet Fatty Lu.

At the same time, as the news spread that General Ma had defected to Fatty Lu with his territory and army, the anti-fat alliance that had been formed in secret quickly fell into chaos. So he sent an envoy to Kunming to ask Guo Zhuangtu, asking whether Ma Bao was the fat man who had defected with the secret of the anti-fat alliance? ——For Prince Geng and Prince Shang, this matter is no joke. If Fatty Lu knows that they initiated the anti-fat alliance, will their lives be lost?
Faced with the questioning of the two lords, Geng Shang, Guo Zhuangtu and Guo Xiangye were extremely hesitant. Let’s not tell the truth. Fatty Lu promulgated a message to the world, and decided to crusade against the lord Geng and the lord Shang who are eating their own food and turning their backs on the bottom of the bowl. The prince can definitely vent his anger on himself.Tell the truth, Lord Geng and Lord Shang can jump up and point their noses and scold their mothers immediately, and then no one can say whether these two ignorant princes will turn to Fatty Lu again and shoot themselves to redeem their sins .In a dilemma, Guo Xiangye really didn't know how to choose.

In the end, it was Guo Chang, the governor of Yunnan, who gave Guo Xiangye a bad idea, "Mr. Xiang, don't worry, just say that the Ma Bao rebels don't know the secrets of the anti-Lu alliance--a low-level speculation, even if the Ma Bao rebels shake the secrets." In front of Lu Yifeng's traitor, with Lu Yifeng's traitor's character and consistent behavior, he must pretend not to know and then settle the score after autumn. He will not announce the news immediately and force the whole world to oppose him. Keep it secret for now. Geng Jingzhong and Monk Zhixin, let them speed up their alliance against Lu in private, launch hostile actions against Lu Yifeng's rebels, force Lu Yifeng's rebels to attack them first, and our army can reap the benefits."

When Guo Xiangye applauded, he immediately summoned the envoys sent by Geng Wangye and Shang Wangye, and told them that he had confirmed that his younger brother Guo Zhuangmou had not disclosed the list of the anti-Lu alliance when he contacted Ma Bao, and that he had already He decided to use Ma Bao's family members in exchange for his only younger brother, so he didn't have to worry about his younger brother leaking the secret.The envoys sent by Prince Geng and Prince Shang believed it was true, and overjoyed, they hurried back to Guangzhou and Fuzhou to report. After Prince Geng and Prince Shang heaved a sigh of relief, they accelerated the action of pulling Zheng Jing into the water and joining forces against Lu without mentioning it.

Old General Ma has already turned his back. Of course, it is impossible for Fatty Lu to not know the existence of the Anti-Lu Alliance. However, after hearing the news, Fatty Lu's first reaction was to laugh out loud. For such a thing, I don't believe that my character has been reduced to the same despicable level as Kang Mazi, and I can make all the heroes in the world attack and punish him.In the end, it was Yao Qisheng who presented the original covenant that he had found from Guo Zhuangmou, and Fatty Lu finally found out sadly that his character seemed to have fallen to the level of Kang Mazi.

Sorrow is sorrow, but after carefully reading the full text of the covenant, Fatty Lu laughed out loud again, and he was rocked back and forth, as if what he saw was not the covenant that the heroes of the world swore to swallow him alive, It's the funniest joke in the world.Fatty Lu's lackeys, Yao Qisheng, Zhu Fangdan and others were also baffled by Fatty Lu's laughter, and they couldn't help asking, "My lord, what is so funny? There is a typo in the covenant written by Guo Zhuangtu himself?"

"I'm laughing. Is it the genius who came up with such a whimsical idea to draw so many people into an alliance to deal with me?" Fatty Lu rubbed his smaller and smaller belly, and said with a painful expression: "Could it be that he doesn't even have the most basic I don’t understand the truth. The more people form an alliance, the more difficult it is to implement it? I also want to bring in Zheng Jing, Wu Guogui, Zu Zeqing, and the remnants of Mangou. The person who proposed this alliance must not know how to write dead words Right?" After saying that, Fatty Lu couldn't help laughing wildly again.

Yao Qisheng did not laugh and flatter Fatty Lu, but said with a serious face: "My lord, I don't think things are so simple. It is indeed impossible for so many heroes to work together and unite to attack our army." It was done. However, according to General Ma’s report, although Guo Zhuangtu was the one who initiated the covenant, it was Geng Jingzhong and Monk Zhixin who first proposed the covenant. Others may not need to consider it, as long as these three people Joining hands, being able to work together and unite as one, is likely to pose some threats to us."

"Yeah, these three people have territory, people and weapons. If they work together, they may pose a huge threat to us." Zhu Fangdan echoed: "These three guys have borders, and the transportation and communication are quite convenient. , the strength is not weak, if they are united together, it is possible to cause trouble for us."

"It's not that easy." Fatty Lu stopped laughing, and said with a sneer: "Guo Zhuangtu's goal is the whole world, Geng Jingzhong's goal is Jiangnan, Shang Zhixin's goal is self-protection, the interests are different, and people who work together Siege me and live his mother's Spring and Autumn Dream!"

"It may be difficult for them to join forces to attack us, but if we let them join forces to protect each other, it is very possible." Yao Qisheng said in a deep voice: "Especially at the critical moment of life and death, out of the consideration of death, these three guys It is very likely that they will join hands to fight us desperately, and to keep their allies is to keep themselves. This is extremely difficult for our army to defeat them one by one."

"It's possible, but it doesn't matter. I'm the best at alienating and destroying such fragile alliances." Fatty Lu waved his hand confidently, took a closer look at the alliance, and said with a puzzled expression: "But there is One thing I am very surprised, how can Shang Zhixin get mixed up with Geng Jingzhong and Guo Zhuangtu? Logically speaking, there is no conflict of interest between me and him for the time being, and the relationship is also in an intimate period, so why did he start to be hostile to me? ? Could it be because of that enclave in Chaozhou, that enclave, I also ordered Shaobo to negotiate with him?"

"About this point, Old General Ma has introduced it in his watch." Yao Qisheng took out Ma Bao's watch again, and while presenting it to Fatty Lu, he explained: "Guo Zhuangmou once introduced Shang Zhi roughly in order to pull Old General Ma into the water. The reason why Xin is hostile to the lord seems to be that Shang Zhixin has something in your hands, lord, you have been holding back, and Shang Zhixin is worried that you will settle accounts with the lord, so it is better to strike first."

"Shang Zhixin has something in this king's hands?" A cold light flashed in Fatty Lu's small eyes.

"Could it be the wax pill secret book?" Huang Yanbo interjected, "My lord, could it be the wax pill secret book we found from Mangounan's study?"

"There is only this explanation." Fatty Lu nodded, and said with a sneer, "My brother-in-law did such a shameless thing, of course he was afraid that I would know, and he was even more afraid that I would use that secret letter as evidence to kill his head and take his body away." Guangdong."

"If this is the case, then there is a plan for the lower officials to make Guo Zhuangtu, Shang Zhixin, and Geng Jingzhong suspicious of each other, and prevent each other from working together." Yao Qisheng said with a smile.

"What's the clever plan of Master Yao?" Zhu Fangdan asked happily.

"It's very simple. Send the wax pill secret letter back to Shang Zhixin, tell him that I don't mind and don't pursue it, and then let Guo Zhuangtu and Geng Jingzhong know about it." Fatty Lu answered for Yao Qisheng.

"My lord, Shengming, this is exactly the plan of the next official." Yao Qisheng quickly flattered him with admiration, and asked again: "My lord, what do you think of this plan? Return the evidence of the crime to Shang Zhixin for the time being, and stabilize him for the time being. In the future, the overall situation will be settled." If you want to deal with him, you can find any excuse."

"Yes, yes, but..." Fatty Lu hesitated for a moment, "But my brother-in-law is also a cunning, he may not be able to believe my verbal promise, and he may not be sure to return the Lawan secret book to him." I will not join hands with Geng Jingzhong and Guo Zhuangtu again."

"It is possible, how does the prince plan to deal with it?" Yao Qisheng asked.

"Let me think about it." Fatty Lu walked around the Hall of Martial Arts with his hands behind his back, suddenly stopped, raised his head and said, "This king thinks that if Shang Zhixin really rebelled against me because of this secret letter, then he must be very serious." Paying attention to the significance of this secret book, we can also push the boat along the way, maximize the value of this secret book, and use this secret book to force or lure Shang Zhixin, Geng Jingzhong and Guo Zhuangtu to meet each other, so that the Maximize the interests of our military."

"My lord's words are very true, but what should our army do?" Yao Qisheng asked respectfully.

"I haven't figured out how to do it yet." Fatty Lu squeezed the mustache on his chin, and said in a deep voice, "I think we must first find out whether Shang Zhixin and Geng Jingzhong, the two bastards, know about us. We already know about them, that is, whether we know that they have formed an alliance in the dark and are preparing to join forces against me, and then we will make a plan."

"This is easy." Yao Qisheng said with a smile: "If they know that we have figured out their details, they will definitely seize the time to strengthen their defenses and prepare to meet the prince's wrath. As long as we find out their combat readiness, we can analyze whether they know at this point."

(End of this chapter)