Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 487 Capture Hong Chengchou Alive

Merchant ships sail in the canal.

Hong Chengchou wrote a letter in the cabin. He felt that the task was arduous for his return from Beijing this time.

Before leaving Beijing, he gave his speech to the emperor, and the Holy Mother and Empress Dowager comforted him behind the curtain, hoping that he would stabilize the Central Plains for the court.And then the three regents also summoned him together, specially conferring on him the Marquis of Nan'an, the first-class marquis, the minister of state affairs, Jia Shaobao and Prince Taibao, and a bachelor of the Academy of Internal Secretaries.

Added the title of Shangshu of the Ministry of War and the right deputy of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Give the python robe and jade belt.

The court's reward to him even surpassed that of Fan Wencheng, a veteran of the three dynasties. It was absolutely impossible for a Han official who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty to be granted the title of Marquis when he first entered the customs.

"After all, the imperial court still knows your lord's loyalty and great talent. With his comeback this time, your lord will be firmly seated as the number one civil servant of the Han Dynasty." Hong Chengchou's staff said happily.

Hong Chengchou stopped writing and stroked his beard, but there was no joy on his face.

It is true that the rewards given by the imperial court were beyond the norm, but these were only because the situation was really bad, just like when Chongzhen was about to lose Beijing, he granted Wu Sangui and other generals earls in one go.

The Qing Dynasty first worshiped Manchuria, and then paid the most attention to military merits. He was a Han descendant, and he was still a civil servant. It was definitely not a good thing to be able to be a marquis.

Last year, he first appeased Jiangnan and then managed Huguang, but in the end it ended in a fiasco, he was dismissed from his post and moved to Beijing, and was even investigated jointly by the ministry.

This time he came back from Beijing again, the governor of Zhili, Shandong, and Henan provinces, and the governor of Shandong, he felt even more pressure.

"Qian Qianyi went to meet Emperor Ming to discuss peace, how hopeful do you think this is?" Hong Chengchou asked.

Zhou Shizhong said bluntly, "There is little hope. In the current situation, although the Qing Dynasty is still stronger, in fact, since the Nanming launched a series of counterattacks under the command of Zhu Yihai at the age of [-], they have an advantage on all fronts. Now Zhu Yihai is personally raising troops to attack Denglai. , the momentum is sharp, are you willing to negotiate a peace?"

"The imperial court also negotiated peace with Zhu Yihai before, but in the end Zhu Yihai was just trying to delay the negotiation."

Zhou Shizhong was Hong Chengchou's confidant and aide, but this person was not an ordinary Shaoxing master. He was also a Jinshi in the Ming Dynasty and once served as a magistrate.

This time Hong Chengchou went south, he brought a lot of aides, some were his old staff in Jiangnan and Huguang, and some were newly recruited when he was in Beijing. These people have a characteristic, most of them are scholars and officials of the Ming Dynasty, some In the past, they were censors, some were magistrates, and some even served as the governor of Hongguang.

For example, Zhao Kaixin, who served as the supervisory censor of Shaanxi Province last year, from the Chongzhen official to the member of the Ministry of War, feels that there is still a chance to negotiate a peace. "I think that although Zhu Yihai can fight, there is still a big gap between the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Well, Zhu Yihai's dominance is actually just one of his strategies. He is definitely willing to negotiate a peace, but there is a premise that the Qing Dynasty can contain his offensive.

When he is unable to attack, then he will definitely be willing to negotiate a truce to recuperate and accumulate strength. "

"This Zhu Yihai is the most outstanding emperor in the past 300 years of the Ming Dynasty. Who can stop the momentum now?" Liao Liansheng, another aide, said. "Relying on Boluo or Duoduo, or Liu Zeqing, Xu Dingguo and others?"

Hearing these words, Hong Chengchou fell into deep thought.

This time he was ordered to leave Beijing, Hong Chengchou was planning how to proceed along the way.

But there are so many things to know, there is no way to start.

Compared with the previous two times to appease Jiangnan and Jinglue Huguang, although the official position given to Hong Chengchou by the Qing court this time is lower, only the governor of the three provinces, but the power is not small.

It was directly written in the imperial edict granted to him that the matter of suppressing appeasement should not be controlled, and there should be no reports afterwards.

The governors and admirals of the three provinces, as well as the governors of rivers and water transport, etc., listen to the restraint, and if they do things that must be done, they will take advantage of them.

This cheap power includes the mobilization right to appoint 'pre-military and local' civil and military officials inside and outside the court, and the administrative power to promote, transfer, supplement, and transfer civil and military officials in the three provinces within the jurisdiction. Violation of orders can be executed before the criminal right.

For matters related to the front of the army, the military and official departments must not restrict the personnel they want to use, and the money and food used must be released immediately, and the household department must not delay.

It integrates military, political, criminal and financial affairs.

The most important thing is that the three regents directly stated that the two assistant king generals, General Zhengnan, assisted Prince Duanzhong, and General Yangwei, assisted Prince Shu Deyu, Prince Duoduo, and all Manchu and Han soldiers in the three provinces Although the horses have their own commanders, they must be dispatched and restrained with Hong Chengchou, and they must discuss and implement with Hong Chengchou when it comes to military opportunities.

That is to say, the two auxiliary kings who commanded the army had to obey Hong Chengchou's restraint in the three provinces.

Back when Hong Chengchou appeased Jiangnan, he had to discuss military matters with the county king Le Ke Dehun. When he arrived in Huguang, he also had no full power.

This time, although only the governors of the three provinces were awarded, the Qing government fully implemented the principle of no doubt in employing people in order to unify the scheduling, and gave Hong Chengchou unlimited power.

The festival is so important that there is no way around it for a while.

But Hong Chengchou's pressure is even greater.

Before he left Beijing, Hong Chengchou had already recruited old aides and recruited many new aides, such as Zeng Qixian, who was awarded General Mingwei by Chongzhen, who turned out to be a general of He Tengjiao's department, and recruited him to surrender when he was in Huguang last year.

Zou Zhuoming, the grandson of Zou Yuanbiao of the Donglin Party, is a man of strategy and good at planning.

As well as Zhou Yingyu, etc., when he left Beijing, he already had a large staff team, and he was still writing letters to the outside world along the way, soliciting the former old department or some more talented people to join him.

"My lord, don't have any expectations for the peace negotiation. Let Qian Qianyi do it. Whether it succeeds or not, don't worry about it for the time being. The most urgent thing now is to mobilize the two kings, Boluo and Duoduo, to lead the Manchu and Han soldiers. To defend Jinan and regain Denglai, Zhu Yihai must be driven out of Shandong, otherwise, it is difficult to talk about other things." Zou Zhuoming said bluntly.

Zou was from Jishui, Jiangxi. His grandfather, Zou Yuanbiao, was a member of the Donglin Party, and he was also a tyrant who lied to the imperial staff. There has been a saying between the government and the opposition, that if you can't cut a leek pocket, you can't beat Zou Yuanbiao.

Three generations of Zou Zhuoming's family have been Jinshi, but this is not a bookworm who only knows stereotypes, but a very intelligent person.

In the cabin, a group of aides made suggestions one after another.

To sum up, there are several main points. First of all, to be able to subdue people by force, you must first use soldiers and horses to defeat Zhu Yihai militarily, or at least force him to leave Shandong.

Then shrink the front line, withdraw to Huaibei, and after rejecting the Ming Dynasty in Jianghuai, concentrate on destroying the native villages in the Central Plains, restore order, and stabilize people's livelihood.

Especially the two provinces of Henan and Shandong. These two provinces cannot continue to rot no matter what. Not only must they hold on, but they must also step up and stabilize their recovery.

Otherwise, Qing Dynasty would not be able to fight Nanming.

"Defend Huaibei, fight Denglai, suppress along the canal, and caress the villages in the Central Plains."

Concentrate our forces to defeat Denglaiju Yihai, and focus on defense in the rest.For the native villages in Shandong and Henan provinces, we will focus on encircling and suppressing some large villages along the canal, especially those in Yanzhou.

For the gentry in Henan and Shandong, we should try our best to appease them, and take advantage of Hong Chengchou's current power to recruit more of them into the curtain or grant them official positions.

While discussing, a cannon was heard suddenly.

Then the boat shook violently.

"What happened?"

An aide exclaimed.

Then more cannon went off.

Hong Chengchou and the others were staggered, when a guard came down from the boat, "Ming thief, Ming thief is attacking!"

"Where did the Ming thief come from? This is Cangzhou!" Zhou Yuji shouted.

No matter how suspicious they were, at this time, a dozen small boats suddenly sailed out of the canal. Although the boats were small, they came at a gallop.

And on the river bank, there are gunners in ambush, manipulating small cannons to bombard the fleet.

Those boats were all merchant ships, although there were family guards on board, they were merchant ships after all, Hong Chengchou's family members were only dozens of people, and they were besieged on the river for a while.

The boat approached like flying, rope hooks had been thrown up, and the soldiers climbed up the rope with knives in their mouths.

The shells fell into the river and splashed high, and when they hit the ships, countless debris were blasted up.

The Ming army that suddenly appeared in front of them was the first battalion of Tu Guobao. They landed on the coast, attacked several salt farms, and then recruited troops wantonly. At this time, several groups of people actually pulled thousands of people to ambush here.

Ulala rushed out a large area, and people and horses were everywhere on the embankment and in the canal.

Big boats and small boats come around.

A group of aides who were talking and laughing with Hong Chengchou just now, and giving advice on the military, were frightened and paled at the moment, and their legs were weak.

Hong Chengchou's servants were commanded by Zeng Qixian, he had obtained the seal of General Mingwei before, but now he only has dozens of servants in his hand, how could he hold back the countless raiders.

Although he commanded on the deck with a knife, the Ming army still boarded the ship like ants.

Hong Chengchou also plucked up his courage and raised his sword to the deck, "Kill the thief!"

More and more Ming troops could board the ship.

"Catch Hong Chengchou alive!" Someone shouted.

A servant was shot by an arrow and fell at Hong Chengchou's feet, with warm blood splashing all over his face.

"Hi Gong Gong!"

Suddenly a burly man came forward with a knife and shouted at him.

Hong Chengchou looked over, surprised.

"National Treasure?"

"Exactly so, Lord Hong, please order to stop resisting!" As he said, Tu Guobao chopped down another servant with his knife.

Hong Chengchou watched as Tu Guobao, who was wearing armor and holding a knife, led people to hack on the ship. At this time, the ten large merchant ships were basically controlled by the Ming army, and looking around, there were besieging people everywhere.

He couldn't help feeling extremely ashamed and indignant at the moment, and he was still thinking about how to stabilize the three provinces, but he didn't expect to be able to reach the Daming Mansion and officially open the mansion to manage affairs, but he was besieged halfway.

Seeing that he was about to be captured alive, Hong Chengchou turned around and jumped into the river in anger.

The full expectation of the Holy Mother and Empress Dowager, the great trust of the young emperor, and the trust of the three regents flashed through his mind one by one at this time. He thought of Emperor Chongzhen, and also those civil servants and generals of the Ming Dynasty who had fought side by side.

He couldn't imagine how he would face Zhu Yihai, the son of tomorrow, and those officials of the Southern Dynasty after he was captured. There were many faces he was familiar with.

Maybe I deserved to die when I was defeated in the Songjin War. If I died then, I might still be famous for the rest of my life.

With a plop, water splashed everywhere.

"Your Excellency has dived into the water, save Master Hong!" Someone shouted, it was Hong Chengchou's servants and staff.

"The Hong thief jumped into the water and ran away, catch him!" It was the Ming army.

Soldiers jumped into the river one by one, some were rescued, more were caught. Hong Chengchou was from Fujian, and his water skills were good, but he did not escape after diving, but gave up struggling and wanted to commit suicide.

But he was towed back to the ship.

"Master Hong, why are you doing this?" Tu Guobao stepped forward, looked at Hong Chengchou who had his eyes closed tightly, stretched out his hand to test his breath, and found that he was still alive.

(End of this chapter)