I have a cornucopia

Chapter 218: Awakening Era
"Du Yinxi, what do you want to do?"

Zhao Guangbian rushed over and looked angrily at Du Yinxi who had held his son hostage.

The soldiers pouring in from behind the latter were quickly climbing up the city wall. As for the Jiujiang militiamen originally stationed there, they all stood there at a loss, looking at these uninvited guests...

I was really at a loss.

First, the leader was held hostage, and Zhao Shifu was still very respected.

Second, Du Yinxi was the governor of Huguang.

Without an order from someone responsible, who would dare to attack a fourth-rank official?
This is what Old Zhao was guarding against!
But he never expected that he, a man who was also ruthless, would raise a son who was too kind. He told him clearly that he should close the city gates and not let anyone in, whether it was Li Zicheng's men or Du Yinxi. Du Yinxi was especially cunning. He had to prevent him from using his status as governor and his image among scholars to trick the city gates open and control Jiujiang.

Once he controls Jiujiang, we will be swept away with no way out.

You have to fight even if you don't want to.

Once the fighting started in Jiujiang, the Jiangxi gentry would have no way out. They had to stand together with the gentry downstream and do their utmost to stop Li Zicheng in Jiujiang.

If they win, they will suffer heavy losses, not only will they lose lives but they will also lose a huge amount of silver. Defending Chao County and Anqing is already painful for them, and now Jiujiang is added. It can be said that the hearts of the elders are bleeding. If they lose...

Losing is even worse.

Li Zicheng will take revenge.

Even a win or loss is dangerous, because Li Zicheng, who cannot take Jiujiang, will try to attack Jiangxi from other directions, such as bypassing Jiujiang by land and attacking Nanchang directly. For Li Zicheng, who is used to mountain activities, the northwestern mountainous areas of Jiangxi are not an obstacle. Then the gentry of Nanchang will have to face the war in their homes, and there are a lot of shanty dwellers waiting in the mountains. When Li Zicheng raises his arm and calls, they will rush out like a herd of beasts in the mountains.

As long as Li Zicheng cannot move freely in Jiujiang, all other outcomes will be bad for the gentry in Nanchang.

"Mr. Shigu, I was ordered to be the governor of Huguang. Now I heard that the Jianlu intend to cross the river. I traveled hundreds of miles to Jiujiang to help. Mr. Shigu, don't you welcome me? I'm so sad."

Du Yinxi said with a smile.

"So what are you doing?"

Zhao Guangbian controlled his emotions and said.

Du Yinxi turned around and looked behind him. All his three thousand men had entered the city and were rushing towards other gates along the city wall.

These are his Fubiao, or the soldiers he recruited himself. After the last war, he succeeded He Tengjiao, who was promoted to the Governor of Huguang. Then He Tengjiao was mainly responsible for the Hanjiang River, and he was mainly responsible for the eastern part, that is, the Huangzhou Prefecture area. He recruited 10,000 mountain people in the Dabie Mountain area and trained them into an army. As for the source of funds, one was to squeeze the gentry who had surrendered to Dorgon before, the second was to borrow money from Yang Feng's bank, and the third was his teacher, Ma Shiqi, an elder of the Changzhou Prefecture Elders Association, who raised funds for him in Suzhou, Songjiang and Changzhou. The latter was a veteran of the Donglin faction. Originally, Li Zicheng committed suicide after entering Beijing in history, but this time, because of the civil strife in the capital, and Chongzhen's plan to go south, he resigned and returned home before Li Zicheng entered Beijing.

They actually wanted to use Du Yinxi as a secret agent in Huguang...

Li Zicheng must have gone through Huguang when he went south.

This is inevitable.

Similarly, with the awareness of the elders in Suzhou, Songjiang and Changzhou, they also knew that the gentry in Huguang might not be so noble. If the gentry in Huguang were to welcome the royal army to trap them, then the Huguang governor who was from Yixing and had control of the army would be very useful.

Just like it is now.

This time, Du Yinxi selected 3,000 elite soldiers to follow him. Their combat effectiveness is definitely stronger than that of the Jiujiang militia, which was hastily formed after the Qing army moved south. It is not much stronger than the conscripted men. Its only advantage is that it is local. In addition, the Jiangxi Elders Association also allocated 18 heavy cannons. Relying on the advantage of copper mines, these cannons are all bronze, and the range is enough to block the Yangtze River. After all, the Yangtze River in Jiujiang is only more than 1,000 meters wide. Originally, they were afraid that the Qing army would move westward and directly cross the river from the north bank to attack Jiujiang. These cannons were on the city wall between Jiuhua Gate and Yueshi Gate.

And there are newly added turrets.

It can be said that once Jiujiang is controlled, these cannons can be used to easily block the Yangtze River.

Du Yinxi immediately put away his pistol.

"Mr. Shigu, I was just joking with your son."

He said.

then……

"The upstream warship is coming!"

A terrified shout suddenly sounded above him.

The city immediately fell into chaos.

But Du Yinxi remained calm, as he had known that Li Zicheng's vanguard was approaching.

"Mr. Shigu, if you want to learn from He Yuncong, then I will wait for you. I am a disciple of the Donglin gentlemen, and I dare not be ashamed of the teachings of the saints. Li Zicheng used the emperor to command the princes. He was a minister of the Ming Dynasty, but he was actually a traitor. I can only repay the emperor's grace with my death. However, you are the elder, and I dare not be disrespectful to you. If you want to welcome Li Zicheng, please tie me up."

He put on a stern and righteous look, bowed towards Zhao Guangbian and said.

Zhao Guangbian looked at him deeply.

Of course, there are also the fully armed soldiers behind him.

Solve Du Yinxi...

It's not that he can't do it.

At his command, nearly 10,000 militias and tens of thousands of young and strong men in Jiujiang City had no problem dealing with Du Yinxi's 3,000 men. Even if they could not be solved for the time being, they could just open the city gates and let Li Zicheng's men in. But the price was that Jiujiang was destroyed. Similarly, Li Zicheng controlled Jiujiang, and he would be infamous for hundreds of years and scolded by the downstream, including the Jiangxi gentry. The Jiangxi gentry would also scold him. What he did was right and not scolding him were two different things. Scolding him was politically correct. Even if he did not resist, he could not let Li Zicheng's men enter the city. He Tengjiao welcomed the king's conditions, but Li Zicheng would not cross the river or enter Wuchang. The principle of the Jiangxi Elders Association was that Li Zicheng could cross Jiujiang at will, but he could not enter Jiujiang. In the past, he could find a way to explain, but there was no room for explanation if he entered the city.

Everyone is in a dilemma.

Cannot place bets.

Especially for him personally.

If Du Yinxi was killed or kidnapped and handed over to Li Zicheng, he would bear all the bad reputation. In order to shirk responsibility, people downstream, including the Jiangxi gentry, would write articles from generation to generation to nail him to the pillar of shame forever. He would be infamous for thousands of years, and his family would bear the infamy for hundreds of years, becoming a victim abandoned by all parties.

So at this time, not resisting became the worst option for him and his family's reputation.

He didn't want to bear the stigma of betraying Jiangxi and the downstream for generations.

Behind all this are those who hold the power of discourse.

"Get out of the way, I'm going to go out and take a look. Li Zicheng's vanguard is my old subordinate, I think he still has some sympathy for you, I'll delay as long as I can! I'm a criminal who has been dismissed from office, I dare not disturb the Censorate's affairs. All the militias in the city are under the command of the Censorate. I only ask the Censorate to think more about the people in this city."

he said angrily.

Then he walked towards the city gate with a sullen face...

"What are you looking at? Hurry up and climb the city walls. If anyone passes through Jiujiang, start bombarding them!"

Du Yinxi shouted behind him.

……

Nanjing.

Cabinet value.

"Ha, it's true that loyal ministers are revealed in times of crisis. I didn't expect Lord Shi Gu to be so resolute!" Yang Feng said with a smile.

Li Zicheng's vanguard was Xue Minzhong, the general who had participated in the last battle of Shandong. He had been conferred a marquisate by Li Zicheng. In order to let the garrisons in various places see the benefits of following the King of Qin, Li Zicheng sent him to lead the vanguard on a warship to the east. After arriving in Jiujiang, Zhao Guangbian, the former governor of Ji and Liao, who was dismissed from office, immediately went out to greet him. Xue Minzhong, who had been under his control, naturally met him with courtesy. Zhao Guangbian told Xue Minzhong that the city was preparing to reward the army, but was afraid that the army would enter the city and disturb the people, so he asked Xue Minzhong to wait outside the city first. Xue Minzhong did not doubt it. He was originally ordered to take over Jiujiang, and Li Zicheng also told him to show the style of the king's army, so he naturally had to respect this old boss and local snake.

As a result, he was coaxed.

Zhao Guangbian deliberately delayed him so that the people in the city could complete preparations for battle.

Xue Minzhong waited outside Jiujiang City for three hours, drinking with Zhao Guangbian, talking about the past, and expressing his feelings about life. Du Yinxi, who had arrived in the city a long time ago, quickly completed the arrangements with his subordinates and militia.

Even the city gates were blocked.

Then, when the unsuspecting Xue Minzhong was foolishly leading his troops to enter the city, they were suddenly bombarded by Du Yinxi's cannons. Xue Minzhong not only suffered heavy losses, but was also injured. He was so angry that he chopped Zhao Guangbian to death as soon as he returned.

Then the original takeover turned into a violent attack.

Moreover, Li Zicheng did not actually gather enough ships and was still waiting for those that were originally frozen on the Han River.

The latter has already started to move south.

Therefore, it was impossible to deploy too many troops in Jiujiang in a short period of time. After all, even if it was fast to go downstream, you had to have ships first. In addition, the ships that Xue Minzhong sent to Jiujiang directly were bombarded by the heavy artillery on the Jiujiang city wall, and they had to retreat after many ships were sunk. These heavy artillery were all cast in imitation of Zhang Guowei's batch of 24-pound cannons. They were seriously overpowered for warships on the inland river, and could even sink small warships with one shot.

The civilian ships that Li Zicheng collected were from Hankou, and they were not on the same level as the warships that Zheng Chenggong had.

Jiujiang's throat was blocked.

It can be said that the thing that was originally the most worrying here was solved in one go because of Du Yinxi's cunning...

Temporary solution.

After all, Du Yinxi can't hold on for too long.

In a few days, Li Zicheng's army will arrive in Jiujiang in an endless stream. It will be good if the few people under Yinxi can hold out for half a month. Does he really expect the Jiujiang militia to share life and death with him?
"My king, is it your turn to take action?"

Zhang Guowei said.

"Go, go now, prepare a fast ship for me, I will personally lead the troops to reinforce Jiujiang!"

Yang Feng said with great interest.

Of course, the main reason was that the elders headed by Gu Tianxu had arrived one after another. He could not get involved in things like scripture debates. However, the Shandong Tongshan Association also sent a delegation, and at Yang Feng's insistence, Duke Yansheng was also dragged along.

It was indeed a delay, and Duke Yansheng refused to come no matter what. However, Yang Feng had already ordered Su Dunsheng to bring him even if he had to be tied up.

This is a debate about his ancestors' scriptures, wouldn't it be appropriate for him not to come?

The poor Duke Yansheng was dragged into the carriage crying.

They are still on the way and will arrive soon. Because the canal has not thawed yet, they are taking a boat from Andongwei to the south by sea. Now the sea route is the main mode of transportation between Shandong and Jiangnan. But other invited gentry, such as Jiangxi and Fujian, have to wait. Guangdong and Guangxi have been invited, but there is no need to wait for them to arrive. Nanzhi, Zhejiang, Shandong, and some other exiled gentry will be enough. The key to this debate is to provide a legal basis for the regent regime to stop Li Zicheng, or to provide a legal basis for public opinion. The people are the most important. Since the people are the most important, they certainly have the right to refuse the king's chaotic orders.

The legal basis for Li Zicheng to go straight down the river was that the emperor had issued an edict to him.

Under the past theoretical system, it was impossible to disobey the order.

Therefore, it is necessary to argue a legal basis for resisting the order.

The people are the most precious.

That is public opinion.

Public opinion did not agree with Li Zicheng going to Nanjing.

Because his past record is so bad, the people do not trust him, and this is the public opinion.

Imperial decree?

So what if it’s an imperial edict?

Can an imperial decree go against public opinion?

This was the purpose of the debate, or to explain a result that had long been confirmed. The great Confucian scholars headed by Duke Yansheng and elders from all over the country jointly debated a result that public opinion was more important than the imperial edict. The regent court then used this result to refuse to obey the imperial edict and refused to allow Li Zicheng to go to Nanjing as ordered.

Ultimately, public opinion can veto imperial power.

Yang Feng wanted it, and the gentry wanted it, so it was a result that they hit it off. Although Yang Feng's people were not the same as the gentry's people, at least no one would consider this issue for now. After all, he was also a member of the gentry group, so how could he have any bad intentions?
But the nature of this kind of thing is that a group of corrupt scholars are spreading rumors to confuse the people. If it were the Qing Dynasty, all of them would be killed along with their entire clans. So how could a loyal minister like Prince Yang, who is devoted to Your Majesty, get involved in this?
Wouldn't that make us a rebel?

"My lord, what about the troops?"

Yuan Jixian said.

"Troops? There are plenty of troops upstream, but those downstream should not move. We have to keep an eye on Dorgon and don't let him take advantage of the situation. The troops upstream are enough."

Yang Feng said.

"King of the East Sea."

At this time, shouting was heard outside.

Yang Feng and others turned to look at Kou Baimen who was wearing a female official uniform outside.

"The princess is calling!"

She said.

Yang Feng immediately walked over, and the two of them walked out of the cabinet duty room together.

Yang Feng looked at her with a questioning look.

"The princess just summoned Gu Tianxu, but she was a little uneasy about some of what he said. These elders are very dissatisfied with Your Majesty, and they said that the people are the most important, and the monarch must listen to the people's will and cannot go against the people's will. They can't act recklessly like Your Majesty. They also said that the Ming Dynasty has fallen to this point today because of Your Majesty's stubbornness."

Kou Baimen said in a low voice.

"Well, what he said makes sense, doesn't it?"

Yang Feng said.

"That makes sense. Princess, you know that your majesty has to take responsibility for the Ming Dynasty's current situation. But if you follow the ideas of these elders, won't the court have to listen to them in everything in the future? Now they have the final say in the local areas. If the court still has to listen to them in the future, won't the monarch become a decoration? In the past, when the court was in power, it couldn't collect taxes from them. If it follows them, won't it be even less likely to collect taxes in the future? The so-called public opinion is not theirs. The elders of the Elders' Association all have to own 100 hectares of land. Except for the Jinshi and Juren, there are not even many Gongsheng. Which of them is the people?"

Kou Baimen said.

“She seems to have really grown up!”

Yang Feng stroked his mustache and sighed.

(End of this chapter)