I have a cornucopia

Chapter 207: Zhuguo, go south, three thousand miles of rivers and mountains...

Seven days later.

Anton Wei.

"So, this is the birth of another Emperor called Men?"

Yang Zhuguo said with a profound smile.

"Call the Emperor of the Gate?"

Zhu Dadian smiled bitterly.

"The emperor who calls himself the door emperor is no longer worthy of being the emperor. No matter what, he cannot cooperate with the barbarians. What is the emperor? The ruler of the world. What is the barbarian? A slave. How can there be a ruler and a slave? Where is the moral code? If we follow the example of the Song and Jin dynasties, wouldn't that mean that the north will become the enemy again? It took Emperor Taizu Gao three hundred years to reconcile the north and the south and unite the people of the world. Now, for a moment's gain, they are torn apart, and three hundred years of hard work will go to waste?

This move is a betrayal to Taizu and the people. Even the True Lord would not agree to it, let alone usurping the throne."

Then he said directly.

So this guy is indeed very strong-willed, which is very consistent with his original historical ending.

In fact, he made a special trip from Huai'an to the north, firstly to inform Yang Feng and secondly to make his own position clear.

In fact, the current situation is not too bad, because Zhu Cilang did not persuade the people of Yangzhou to leave. Although the Qing army in Xincheng finally controlled the situation, they had to put most of their forces into Xincheng because of the resistance in the city. In the next three days, they did not actually organize an attack on the old city...

I guess not yet.

Although there should be no resistance in the city, the new city of Yangzhou is basically in ruins.

Some salt merchants who would rather die than save their own incense set fire to the city, based on the principle of destroying it if they couldn't save it. The people in the city also ran away because of the massacre by the Qing army. After all, there were two other directions to leave the city, and many people were directly pulled up by the people on the inner city wall with ropes. The Qing army was only concerned with looting and didn't consider the problem of firefighting. In the end, the fire in the new city burned for three whole days. The once prosperous city turned into ashes, and the city of hundreds of thousands of people was left with countless corpses for the Qing army.

Moreover, this massacre also made the soldiers and civilians of the old city truly choose to fight to the end with one heart and one mind...

All this happened right under their noses; they could witness it all from the walls of the old city.

What's more, the truth had already spread. It was because some salt merchants in Xincheng opened the gates and surrendered under Huang Shu's instigation that the Jianlu were able to enter Yangzhou. But in the end, all these salt merchants were killed.

In other words, the Qing army had no intention of letting Yangzhou go. They came here with the intention of massacring the city. Even if they opened the gates to welcome surrender, they would still be killed. If there were still people considering surrendering, it would not be just being mean but being extremely stupid.

In fact, most people are not that stupid.

Moreover, the massacre by the Qing army did not achieve the expected effect. Because they could not completely break through Yangzhou, they had to invest most of their troops in Yangzhou to avoid wasting their previous efforts. Therefore, the Qing army could hardly launch a strong enough attack in other directions. Liu Zhaoji, who retreated to Xuyi, still defended Xuyi with the support of Zhu Dadian. However, because the navy with the Zheng family as the core firmly controlled the water on the Yangtze River, the Qing army had no ability to cross the river directly at Pukou without opening Chaohu Lake.

In this case, the cities behind this line would not be terrified by the massacre. On the contrary, the bloody cruelty and betrayal of the Qing army made them start to consider the consequences of surrender...

Those surrendered salt merchants in Yangzhou are watching with their eyes wide open!
Who can guarantee that the same result will not occur after surrender?

In the final analysis, it is still the same sentence, slaves are interested in my money. The fundamental reason why the Qing army chose to massacre Yangzhou even if it was a betrayal was that it could maximize the looting. After all, if they accepted the surrender of the Yangzhou salt merchants, they had to keep a part of their wealth. It was better to plunder them in moderation than to take everything away after a bloodbath. The nature of the barbarians determined that their choice was usually to take it all. Which of the major cities in Jiangnan had less silver than Yangzhou? Suzhou probably had more, Changzhou, Songjiang, and even the wealth of Wuxi County in Changzhou Prefecture was not necessarily less than that of Yangzhou. The three families of Zou, Hua, and An in Wuxi were all wealthy people on Yan Song's list.

In which city can the Qing army be guaranteed to be able to hold back the happiness I want?
Rather than hoping that the Qing army, which has broken its promise once, will keep its word, it is better to hope that this line of defense can stop the Qing army.

At least that's realistic.

Of course, some people think that instead of being so worried, afraid that the Qing army would capture Jiangnan and massacre the city, and afraid that Li Zicheng would go south to put him in a trap, it would be better to let Yang Feng protect everyone. Although he is also greedy, at least he has a bottom line. He will not massacre the city, and he will not put himself in a trap...

Although Liu Zongmin bought the clamps from him.

But he did not have any record of swindling gentry, and before that, he had only swindled nobles in the capital.

Besides, what better choice is there at this time? Even if the Jiangnan militia performs well, it will take time to arm more of them.

Now Dorgon is drinking water from the Yangtze River.

Before, he imitated Tuoba Tao and went to Guabu Mountain to show off.
However, the Yangtze River in this era was much wider than it is today, so Guabu Mountain was actually on the river bank. Therefore, it was attacked by the Zheng family navy at Longjiang Pass. The regent, who was not familiar with the latter's heavy artillery strength, refused to go down the mountain, and was hit by a cannonball not far away. It should have been hit by the collapsed rubble. In short, Zheng Sen reported that it was hit, but Dorgon did show up the next day, but after a brief appearance, he did not show up for two consecutive days on the grounds of occasional cold.

So now it seems that as long as Yangzhou is still holding on, he will not be able to move forward.

Although the Qing army quickly captured or forced the surrender of cities upstream, it was unable to move downward as Anqing and Chaoxian were still stuck.

The north-south offensive and defensive war on the Yangtze River was like this. If you can't get the key node of the entrance, it's useless even if you are on the Yangtze River. Even if you climb Guabu Mountain, you will have to retreat in disgrace. All the famous battles since ancient times were to seize this key node of the entrance. Mongolia fought Xiangyang for decades because it had to fight to the death. The result of Kublai Khan not fighting Xiangyang to the death was the defeat of Ezhou. Sun Shiwan fought Hefei to the death because he had no other choice. Fortunately, he still had Ruxukou behind him, so he could withstand the defeat of Hefei. Since the construction of the canal, Yangzhou has been massacred every time the dynasty changed, because after the canal was built, this city became the most critical node.

One of these lines has to be taken down.

The canal Yangzhou line takes priority, followed by the Xiangyang to Wuchang line, and then the Shouchun Hefei Chaohu Ruxukou line. Finally, if there is no other choice, you have to rush to the Xianrenguan Diaoyucheng Chongqing line and learn from Wang Jun's tower boat to go to Yizhou.

You always have to take down a line.

If you can't take down any of them, how can you conquer the south of the Yangtze River?

"Zhuguo, please go south. The three thousand miles of mountains and rivers are in danger. Zhuguo has the trust of His Majesty and the Regent. In this critical moment, we can't delay any longer."

Hu Congzhong, a Confucian knight from Huai'an who came with Zhu Datian, said somewhat anxiously.

Well, the Knights of Confucius and Mencius have long been beyond the scope of Shandong...

This is actually quite normal, and there is no geographical restriction. Those who are actually under the jurisdiction of Yang Feng, or attached to his system, have joined the Order of Confucius and Mencius, such as Xuhai Guide, including Huai'an. Hu Congzhong was originally a major member of the Huai'an local literary society Wangshe. At present, there are three halls of the Order of Confucius and Mencius outside Shandong. One is centered in Xuzhou and headed by Yan Ermei, a scholar from Pei County. One is centered in Huai'an and headed by Hu Congzhong. There is also a more strange one, headed by Wan Shouqi, a scholar from Pei County, and composed of northern scholars living in the south of the Yangtze River in Zhenjiang.

Their fighting power is not weak.

Now this hall has more than fifty knights and more than a thousand followers.

The funds come from trade with other knights in the north. This internal trade is very profitable, even in financial aspects...

Don't worry about credit issues!
After all, internal dishonesty must first face the internal discipline of the Knights. Although it cannot be said to be discipline, it is difficult for the Confucian Knights to gain a foothold if they cannot even keep their word. Of course, this is only within the Knights, and it is another matter to the outside world. The equipment is also purchased by the Knights. At present, they have entered Guazhou, and relying on the advantage of all cavalry, they continue to attack small groups of Qing troops outside Yangzhou. Together with Wu Zhikui's troops stationed in Guazhou, the Zhenjiang militia led by Ge Lin, and the Changzhou militia led by Lu Xiangguan, Lu Xiangsheng's younger brother, they control Guazhou City as the main external aid for Yangzhou.

Ge Lin was a son of a local noble family who was a juren. Lu Xiangguan certainly did not have the ability of his brother, but he was something that Changzhou Prefecture could show off. Originally in history, both of them died in the Allied Forces' fight against the Qing Dynasty.

and so……

"Zhuguo, let's go south!" Yan Ermei said excitedly.

He mainly defended Xuzhou together with Jin Shenghuan.

The Qing army's feint attack on Shandong had actually failed.

After all, he had never intended to succeed, and Dorgon was still very clear-headed. The current fortified defense systems in various parts of Shandong were simply not something that his small population could contend with.

The various Qing troops that entered Shandong hardly captured a single entrenched county town.

Especially in Wenshang, 2,000 Qing troops attacked fiercely for two days, and after more than 400 people died, even the firepower on the city wall was not affected, and then they had to retreat. However, on the night of the retreat, they were surrounded and beaten by Confucius and Mencius knights from Yanzhou, Jining, Dongping and other places. In the end, less than 1,000 of the 2,000 Qing troops escaped the canal. The situation in other directions was similar. The Qing troops that harassed Xuzhou did not even cross the Yi River. They had to retreat because they could not grab food supplies. However, they were ambushed by Jin Shenghuan and Confucius and Mencius knights on the way back, and also suffered heavy losses. Jin Shenghuan also killed a Mongolian Zasak Beizi.

In fact, as long as it is not a field battle against the heavy infantry corps of the Eight Banners Manchuria, even the Ming army is enough to deal with the attacks of the Mongolian light cavalry.

The successive victories have made the military group with Yang Feng as its core realize that it is a military group, and even something is starting to feel wrong.

Go south!
How many benefits are waiting for you?

It’s time for Yangzhou’s salt industry to have a new wave of fortunes.

It's time to get a share of the trade on the Yangtze River.

What's more, this time the Huaixi people all surrendered to the Jianlu, so the cleansing after the victory would be another huge wave of wealth.

……

All wealth and power.

Let’s go south!
Pillar of the country!

Amid all the eager gazes, Yang Feng was there in deep thought...

"The imperial edict has arrived!"

Suddenly, shouts were heard outside.

Next, Gu Junen, who had changed into an official uniform, walked over with the air of a third-rank official, striding forward with the imperial edict in hand.

Zhu Dadian and others looked at him in astonishment.

Yang Feng coughed, then stood up to receive the order.

The content of the imperial edict was very simple: Li Zicheng sent troops to rescue Nanjing.

Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty ordered Li Zicheng, the Prince of Qin, to lead an army of 300,000 out of Wuguan and go south to rescue Nanjing. He ordered the troops of He Tengjiao, the Governor of Huguang, to cooperate and accept the control of the Prince of Qin. He ordered Yang Zhuguo, the Grand Secretary of Nanjing Dongge, to lead the army of Ji and Liao to counterattack the capital and cooperate with the Prince of Qin to wipe out the Jianlu in one fell swoop. In recognition of Yang Zhuguo's merit in capturing the fake queen mother of the Jianlu again, he was granted the title of Prince of Donghai County, and was appointed as the Governor of Coastal Military Affairs and the Governor of Korea, and the Co-director of the Lifanyuan...

The latter has already been established.

In order to win over the northwestern Mongolian tribes, Li Zicheng asked Chongzhen to issue an order to establish the Lifanyuan, which was responsible for all vassal affairs.

As for the Honglu Temple, it no longer needs to be involved in vassal affairs.

Moreover, there was no Lifanyuan in Nanjing, so originally the vassal states had to go to Xi'an to pay tribute. This time, His Majesty the Emperor showed sympathy to those who paid tribute by sea, so they did not have to go to Xi'an, but could go directly to Haizhou. Then a branch of Lifanyuan would be set up in Haizhou, which would be in charge of Prince Yang.

……

In short, everything Yang Feng asked for was given to him.

Because of such a short time, it was impossible for Gu Jun'en to run back to Xi'an to report to Li Zicheng and then bring back the imperial edict from Xi'an, so the first half of the imperial edict should have been written long ago, or he actually had a semi-finished imperial edict on him. Then Li Zicheng authorized him to judge whether Yang Feng's request was acceptable. If it was acceptable, he could fill in the rest of the content himself. If it was unacceptable, he could go back to Li Zicheng. But in Gu Jun'en's opinion, Yang Feng's requests did not need to bother Li Zicheng at all.

this……

Although the King of Qin trusted him very much, he didn't seem to respect the King of Qin enough?
Yang Feng looked at Gu Junen who was reading the imperial edict with a strange smile.

"Your Majesty, please accept my order."

Gu Junen said with a smile.

"Yangzhou is in imminent danger. The troops from Shaanxi are thousands of miles away. By the time they reach Yangzhou, it will probably have already fallen. Your Majesty is only a few hundred miles away from Yangzhou. Why would you choose a distant place over a nearby one?"

Zhu Dadian sneered.

"This is the imperial decree."

Gu Junen said.

Then, as if to deliberately irritate him, he held up the imperial edict and let him see the jade seal on it clearly.

Zhu Dadian...

He certainly understood Li Zicheng's sinister intentions. He used these benefits to win over Yang Feng, and at the same time gave the north to Yang Feng in exchange for Yang Feng no longer caring about Jiangnan. Although Li Zicheng's 300,000 troops seemed far away, it actually took less than a month to reach Nanjing, because he only needed to go from Xi'an to Wuchang, and the rest was just going downstream. Dorgon obviously couldn't attack anymore, and the southern armies were almost at their limit. If he really took 300,000 troops downstream, then unless the southern gentry turned around and surrendered to Dorgon, or welcomed Zhu Cilang to Nanjing to ascend the throne and then the Ming and Qing dynasties formed an alliance to deal with Li Zicheng together.

Otherwise, it would be like the fisherman benefiting from the quarrel between the snipe and the clam.

"Your Majesty, I am not subject to your orders when I am away from the army. Please send troops to rescue Yangzhou. I will do my best to ensure your military supplies."

Zhu Dadian said.

"Your Majesty, please accept my order."

Gu Junen said while holding up the imperial edict.

……

(End of this chapter)