I have a cornucopia

Chapter 287: No Jianlu, Very Important
Li Zicheng arrived in Nanjing two days later.

Moreover, he did not encounter any resistance along the way, just like when he marched into the capital.

The gentry in Wuhu, Dangtu and other places also welcomed the new Ming emperor just as the gentry in Northern Zhili did in the past. Even the gentry in Jiangpu Township Association knelt on the river bank and shouted "Long live the Ming emperor" who was about to land at Dashengguan. The place where they knelt was where Chongzhen was beaten to death. So even though they have tried every way to humiliate the gentry in Northern Zhili over the years and portrayed themselves as steadfast warriors, when they really find themselves in the same situation, they kneel down just as fast as the latter.

They are all the same!

And there was no difference in Li Zicheng's rewards to them.

Because immediately afterwards, Li Zicheng produced a list of rebels, including the elders and local sages of Chizhou and Taiping Prefecture, who had welcomed the royal army before, and most of them were on this list...

Before, he was just coaxing these guys to not delay the journey to Nanjing. Now that they have arrived in Nanjing, there is no need to coax them anymore.

Then the Jiangpu folks on the north bank who were still shouting "Long live the emperor" were shocked to find that the landing government troops were carrying tongs and rushing towards them. Similarly, in Anqing, Chizhou, Wuhu and other places where Li Zicheng had passed by, the government army generals who had taken over these cities also began to carry tongs to arrest the old folks who were still rejoicing that they had made the right choice and were even waiting to work for the new emperor.

Rebel party!
They are all on the list.

We can't just let the late emperor's matter go like this, can we?
The legitimacy of Li Zicheng's throne came from those loyal ministers who were loyal to the late emperor. It was these people who wanted him to lead everyone to avenge the late emperor, so they put the yellow robe on him. Revenge is his main task now.

His noble cause was to avenge Chongzhen.

The elders of the Senate, the elders of the elders' associations in various prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River, and even the local celebrities of the local celebrity associations in various counties are all on the list of rebels. In order to avenge the late emperor, they must of course be put in a siege.

Besides, Li Zicheng actually didn't get much so far. He was blocked in Jiujiang before, and he just spent money. Although these places are indeed not as good as Suzhou, Songjiang and Changzhou, they are also meat. If nothing else, at least his generals and soldiers can see the benefits. More importantly, since he has already arrived in Nanjing, he will have to show his true colors if he moves forward. If this is the case, why should he pretend? Those generals under him who have been waiting for a big fight have also endured a lot of hardship along the way.

The areas upstream, which had originally been immersed in the atmosphere of welcoming the royal army, immediately began to waile.

Inside the government offices, the elders and local sages who used to dominate the area were screaming in pain in the clamps, while the soldiers opened their mansions, looting their gold, silver, treasures and even their women.

The unruly people who followed the soldiers burned their land deeds, indentures, etc.

Of course, Li Zicheng could do what the Jingnan Army could do.

In the final analysis, everyone is the same, they are all here to grab a wave of wealth.

Of course the gold, silver and jewelry are yours, but you can't take the land and real estate with you. Wouldn't it be nice to use other people's money to coax the common people to support you?

It is said that the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River are all crying. Li Zicheng in the upper reaches, under the banner of revenge for Chongzhen, brought those wolf-like and tiger-like northwestern soldiers, threw the elders and local sages into the clamps one by one, and robbed their wealth. The Jingnan Army in the south, under the banner of exterminating traitors and rebellion, is also killing the elders and local sages and robbing their wealth. Gao Jie is also doing the same thing in the middle. In addition, there are countless unruly people in various places who are rising up and following these hungry wolves to divide up their land and real estate. It turns out that they are the most unlucky!

Of course, they can choose to resist.

So on the same day that Li Zicheng landed at Dashengguan, the Susongchang militia also fought a fierce battle with Li Benshen's troops in Danyang, and actually won.

But it's of no use.

It would be useless even if they killed Gao Jie.

After all, Li Zicheng who came later was much more terrifying than Gao Jie.

Therefore, the Susongchang militia, which had won the battle, chose to give up protecting Danyang despite the pleas of the Danyang Township Association. They took advantage of Li Benshen's defeat and could not pursue him in a short time to retreat eastward to Changzhou as quickly as possible. In the final analysis, for the Susongchang militia, they wanted to protect Susongchang. Helping other places was a favor, and not helping was also nothing wrong. Who would care about others at this time? At the same time, the Shen Tingyang Navy, which was blocked on the Yangtze River, faced the Jiaoshan Fort in front and the Li Zicheng Navy pressing in from behind, and finally chose to force its way into the Jiaoshan Fort.

Of course, before breaking in, he actually deposited 500,000 taels of silver into Gao Jie's account through the Yang Family Bank in Guazhou.

However, he could only collect 200,000 yuan in Guazhou, and the remaining 300,000 yuan was borrowed from the bank.

In short, under the brilliant strategy of Commander Shen, his fleet that was trapped in the alley took advantage of the low tide and the sudden southwest wind to break through the Jiaoshan Fort and escape, bringing back this powerful fleet to the downstream.

The day after he left, Li Zicheng's naval vanguard arrived in Zhenjiang...

Linhuai Pass.

"It's chaos, it's all chaos!"

King Yang sighed.

His entourage in Guazhou and the Confucian Knights stationed in Guazhou repelled Li Zicheng's troops.

Of course, the latter was just a small force of dozens of warships.

At most, they went over to test the waters, but the weird thing about this matter is how did this navy pass through the Nanjing River? You have to know that only Jiangpu County welcomed the royal army, and the Yingtian militia was stationed in Puzikou City. They did not surrender, so how did this small force of dozens of warships pass through the crossfire of Puzikou City and the pile of huge cannons of the Lion Mountain Fort...

Unless the latter doesn't care at all.

So Jin Sheng was not ignorant of adaptability. He knew that Li Zicheng’s real target was not Nanjing.

But Nanjing was blocking Li Zicheng's way, so since Li Zicheng wanted to test him, he might as well tell him that he didn't have to worry about Nanjing. If he wanted to go downstream to rob the silver, he could go ahead. Although we would not surrender, we were not ignorant either.

"Fengsheng, if this continues, Quanjiao will not be able to control it."

In order to show that the Jingnan Campaign had nothing to do with Yang Feng, Su Dunsheng, who came specially to serve as his aide, said.

"Them? Tell them that they can go back if they want, and I can't stop them. But since they disobeyed the military order and left, they are no longer eligible for my protection. Their families were killed by the Jingnan Army, so it has nothing to do with me. Also, tell them that I also gave Li Zicheng a list of people who were protected by me, and Li Zicheng agreed to give me this face. If they disobey the order and leave now, then if Li Zicheng kills their families later, it has nothing to do with me.

Let them choose for themselves!"

Yang Feng said.

He really gave Li Zicheng such a list.

And Li Zicheng did agree to give face to the King of Qi.

Of course, he didn't dare not give it.

His unstoppable momentum was based on the premise that Yang Feng did not interfere. Although Yang Feng seized eastern Zhejiang and allowed Gao Jie to cross the river, as long as Yang Feng did not take action personally, these would be trivial matters to Li Zicheng. If he did not give face to the King of Qi, he would be in danger of losing everything.

As for the Northern Expedition troops in Quanjiao...

They will not make irrational choices.

Besides, it was difficult to go back now. They were actually trapped there. On one side was Chuzhou controlled by Gao Jie's troops who had already been in the Jingnan Rebellion, and on the other side was Li Zicheng's troops who had already landed. How could they go back to Jiangnan? Including the Zhejiang New Army who were still on Yang Feng's side, now they could only look at the elders and local sages in Jiangnan who were asking them for help, and sighed helplessly. These two elite corps with a total of nearly 50,000 people were all blocked in Jiangbei, watching the elders and local sages who had spent a huge amount of money to build them being killed by the Jingnan Army and Li Zicheng.

but……

What can they do?
They are also very helpless!
"Your Majesty, the Jianlu envoy has arrived."

At this time, the escort outside came in to report.

"Bring it in!"

Yang Feng said.

Then the messenger from outside was brought in.

"Hong Chengchou?" Su Dunsheng said in surprise.

Yang Feng immediately got angry and looked at Hong Chengchou who had a golden rat tail...

"It seems that Dorgon is really desperate, and he even sent someone like you as an envoy."

He said.

Hong Chengchou has always been Dorgon's main adviser. Unlike Huang Shu and other consumables, Dorgon truly regarded him as his right-hand man. From the time Dorgon went south to attack Wuchang, it was Hong Chengchou who gave him advice. And these plans actually proved his talent. As for the failure, it was purely because of his encounter with Yang Feng. No one could do anything about it, so it did not affect his trust in Dorgon.

Now they actually sent him here as a messenger...

"It's obvious that consumables are still consumables. Even if you shave your rat tail, you can't change your status as a slave."

Yang Feng said immediately.

Hong Chengchou just smiled slightly.

"Your Majesty, we are all sensible people. It is useless to say these things. Now that Li Zicheng has arrived in Nanjing, Nanjing will certainly not be saved. Even if Your Majesty has no intention of competing for supremacy, who would allow Your Majesty to continue to rule a part of the country?
Li Zicheng was not strong enough, so he treated the king with courtesy and responded to his requests. But if he annexed Jiangnan and ruled the world, would he let the king continue to rule Shandong? The king was indeed brave and invincible, but he could not fight the world with only one corner. Before Li Zicheng unified the world, he could regard the king as a brother. If he unified the world, even if he was a brother, he would not be able to do so.

The Qing Dynasty is indeed no longer what it used to be.

But it is precisely because the Qing Dynasty is no longer what it used to be that it has no ambition to unify the world.”

He said.

"So, you want me to cooperate with you?"

Yang Feng walked up to him and looked at him with interest.

"The regent does not dare to ask the king for help. As long as the king withdraws to Xuyi, the rest has nothing to do with the king."

Hong Chengchou said.

In his opinion, this is really the best solution at the moment.

That’s very thoughtful.

Yang Feng doesn't need to cooperate with Dorgon, he just needs to stop attacking.

It would be bad for everyone if Li Zicheng annexed Jiangnan. If he really annexed Jiangnan, the next one would definitely be our Qing Dynasty. At least Huaixi would be finished. Similarly, his annexation of Jiangnan would be equivalent to completing the unification. After all, Huguang and Jiangxi have already surrendered, and those who are left waiting and watching are simply watching whether he can solve the Jiangnan problem. As long as he can solve the Jiangnan problem, these people will immediately follow suit.

This was also not a good thing for Yang Feng. Firstly, he lost the empress he wanted, and secondly, Li Zicheng, who had unified the world, would not tolerate his separatist rule.

It doesn’t matter what Li Zicheng is like now.

But anyone who wants to achieve unification will not tolerate someone like Yang Feng.

Therefore, maintaining the divided situation is most beneficial to people like Yang Feng who rule a certain area.

Of course, he is both in power and in authority. In this case, we should give him face. You don't have to do anything. Just don't attack the Qing Dynasty again. The rest of the problems will naturally be solved by the Qing Dynasty.

"You know what's most important to me?"

Yang Feng said.

"Power?"

Hong Chengchou said.

"wrong!"

Yang Feng said.

"Wealth, that's even more wrong. With power comes wealth, so it's still power. Otherwise, it can't be a woman. Could it be that the king is also a romantic man?"

Hong Chengchou said.

"Of course not. Power, wealth, and women are not important to me. But without you, it is very important to me. Whether Li Zicheng is the emperor or the Zhu family is the emperor, or even if Li Zicheng unifies the world or the Zhu family unifies the world, or even if Zhang Xianzhong unifies the world, it is not important to me. But without you, without Jianlu, it is very important to me.

I don’t actually have any ambitions. There is no one in this world who can threaten me, so I can live the way I want.

So are the power and wealth that you desire important to me?
Power?

How could a man who could kill people in front of the emperor in the palace when he was still a scholar be interested in your so-called power?

Be it the emperor or the nobles, I can kill anyone I want, and they all tremble like dogs under my feet.

Wealth is even more of a joke.

As for women, even your queen mother kneels at my feet.

You see, the things you desire are not worth mentioning to me. Now only by destroying you can I have some fun. Go back and tell Dorgon that no matter how many benefits the gentry in Jiangnan promise him, he should not dream of it. After all, he is dying. My cannons are already installed in Huai and will be shipped here in a few days. He is waiting for me in Fengyang. I will let him taste the taste of slow slicing like Duoduo. "

Yang Feng poked his chest and said.

Then he looked at his followers...

"Break both of his legs, smash the bones into pieces, and then throw him out."

He said.

The followers stepped forward immediately, and one of them swung a small hammer and smashed Hong Chengchou's knee.

Amid his screams, Yang Feng suddenly turned around.

"Also tell the Fujian Elders Association not to do such stupid things again. My patience is limited."

He said.

Hong Chengchou certainly did not come for Dorgon.

Given the current situation of the Qing Dynasty, he would have wanted to abandon the ship long ago, but the Fujian Elders Association allowed him to do so. Hong Chengchou's clans are all in Fujian. In fact, his brother still considers himself a Ming Dynasty survivor. He lived on the ship until his death and refused to set foot on the land of the Qing Dynasty. Moreover, there is no hope for the Qing Dynasty, but he is still a prisoner. Even if he leaves the Qing Dynasty in the future, he will have to rely on the protection of the Fujian Elders Association if he wants to live in anonymity.

So he was working for the Fujian Elders Association.

It just so happens that this is exactly what the Fujian Elders Association wants.

The latter was also afraid that Li Zicheng would take over Jiangnan and then attack Fujian.

(End of this chapter)