Ming Zhengzhi, I am Zheng Kezang

Jingkou changed hands, Nanjing fell, Kangxi fled south to Hangzhou, and the [-] banned brigades of the Eight Banners were wiped out in Changzhou. This series of dizzying news spread throughout China like shock waves. The bureaucrats and gentry who were not optimistic about Ming Zheng became alive again.

However, these vacillating speculators have not yet acted, and Zheng Jun captured Dangtu Zheng's Taiping Fucheng on the fifth day of May to kick off the prelude to the Western Expedition.On the westward journey, under the leadership of Wu Shu, the newly-appointed military officer in Anhui, Zheng's army went up the river to Anqing. Since most of the Qing court's troops in Anhui were transferred southward to Fujian Province, Zheng's army went to Wuhu, Fanchang, Nanling and other places in a row. .

At the same time, the main force of Zheng's army, which had annihilated Yabu and Miaoqina's tribes, swept southward, and soon besieged Suzhou.Although Song Luo, who replaced Zheng Duan who died of illness, as the governor of Jiangsu, and Suo'etu, who was stranded in Suzhou City to raise food and fodder, repeatedly mobilized people and prepared regiments for training, but because the main force of the Qing army in the south of the Yangtze River either went south or was lost in Changzhou City, the defense The army's combat strength is extremely weak, and it is impossible to persist in the face of Zheng's artillery fire and storm.

In just three days, Zheng Jun broke through the wide moat outside Suzhou City, attacked Qimen, Shemen, and Changmen towers, and then captured the whole city.Suo'etu, who had no escape, took Song Luo into the fire and committed suicide. Most of the remaining Han officials below Tang Zongyao, the chief envoy, surrendered.

Now that Suzhou has fallen, Taicang, Songjiang, Jiaxing and other places that had been attacked by Zheng Jun will no longer be able to resist. Since Jiasong cannot stop Zheng Jun, Hangzhou will be exposed to Zheng Jun's soldiers.Since the main force of the Qing army's Southern Expedition, which entered Fujian province to fight, had not had time to reverse, there were also less than five or six thousand defenders in Hangzhou City, and they could not face the upcoming attack of Zheng army. As a last resort, Kangxi could only leave Shi Lin and others behind. Sticking to Hangzhou, he traveled westward all the way.Knowing that Zheng Jun was attacking Anqing, Kangxi did not dare to cross Tianmu Mountain directly to enter Ningguo via Huzhou or enter Huizhou via Yanzhou, so he could only go up Zhejiang, from Quzhou to Jiangxi Guangxin Mansion, and then to Raozhou Mansion to Nanchang.

But this "safe" road is extremely difficult because it has to cross the mountains of western Zhejiang. What's more, the news was cut off after Kangxi's westward journey. Rumors spread everywhere in Beijing, and people from all walks of life with ulterior motives contributed to the flames. For a while, there were rumors that Kangxi was dead, which further stimulated the ambitions of some speculators.

"Now that Suo'etu is dead, and the whereabouts of the emperor are unknown, no one in the court can compete with Mingzhu." In Tong Guowei's private residence, several conspirators were whispering. "If he does not agree, it is impossible for the crown prince to successfully succeed to the throne."

"Ming Zheng has always supported the elder brother, so how could he agree to the crown prince's succession?" Echoing the words of Farha, the left deputy capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Si Gese, the right servant of the household department, said. "Furthermore, Eldest Brother once fought against Galdan, and Prince Yu, Prince Gong and those Qiu Ba all favored him a lot, and now the Jiangnan war is still going on."

"That's right, not only would Mingzhu not agree to the crown prince's succession, she might support the elder brother," Xi Zhu, the inspector of the Ministry of War, gritted her teeth and said to her master. "Uncle Guo, the obstacle of Mingzhu must be removed, otherwise the crown prince will be in danger."

Farha said hesitantly: "But our people alone cannot pose a threat to Mingzheng."

"Then join hands with Suo Dang." Xi Zhu said viciously. "Presumably they are exactly what they want at this moment."

"But it's not enough just to join hands between the two parties," Sige said, frowning. "If you want to bring down Mingzhu, the infantry commander must control the yamen. In addition, Mingzhu's guards outside the palace are tightly guarded, and there is absolutely no possibility of doing anything. If you want to get rid of the old thief, you have to do it inside the palace. Is there any side?"

"Uncle Guo, my lords, in case the emperor is not dead." Sanzhi Minister Bo Shumin listened for a long time, and he was terrified when he heard that the daring Sige Se was actually planning to create a bloody case in the palace. Shi finally couldn't help but interrupted. "Uncle Guo, my lords, let's wait for a while and wait for the exact news from Jiangnan."

"Uncle Guo, the so-called strike first and then control others. If Mingzhu strikes first, we will let people kill us." Xi Zhu's words are actually very unreasonable. Speaking of it, Tong The party is not at the same starting line as the Ming party and the Suo party. Ming Zhu may be a little jealous of Tong Guowei, but he may not have the desire to clean up the Tong party's pawns. Tong Guowei fought hard, so it's normal to speak a little harder. "As for whether the emperor is dead or not, it doesn't matter. Just follow Tang Xuanzong as the Supreme Emperor."

"Preemptively strike others, and then strike against others." Tong Guowei smashed these words, squinted his eyes and thought for a while, and finally made a decision. "Inside the palace and outside the palace, those who need to be contacted should be contacted first. I think it will take time. If everything is ready and there is no news from the emperor, then the arrow will have to be fired."

Leaving aside the conspirators in Beijing, another group of speculators finally couldn't hold back and made their own choices.

On May [-], He Yinbin, the magistrate of Ningguo in Anhui Province in the Qing Dynasty, announced the change of flag after sending someone to contact Zheng Jun. Wu Shu, who had eliminated the threat from the side, immediately led [-] veterans and [-] recruits to Chizhou Prefecture.Facing the menacing Zheng Jun, Gao Jin, the prefect of Chizhou, who had only five or six hundred green flag soldiers on hand, conspired with Wang Yuan, the deputy general of the Chizhou Association, to kill Chi Taidao Yitala, a Manchurian Zhengbai Banner, and Manzhou Xianglan Banner. Mingtai, a fellow acquaintance, begged to surrender to Zheng Jun Kaicheng with the heads of the two men as a pledge.

On May [-], Wu Shu, who had arrived in Qingyang County, decided to accept the surrender of the two men. Therefore, Zheng Jun marched into Chizhou Mansion without bloodshed, and then accompanied by Zheng Jun's navy marching westward, they moored the Anqing River of the Yangtze River and bombarded Jiangbei.In the Qing Dynasty, Ma Qi, the acting governor of Liangjiang, the governor of Anhui, went to the city to defend the city. Because the Zheng army was not strong enough, and the Henan Zhi Qing army that was transferred to the south to defend the south of the Yangtze River had arrived one after another, Ma Qi was able to confront Zheng army across the river.

Leaving aside the side divisions of the Western Expedition, the main force of the Zheng army that captured Suzhou continued to go south, successively conquering Songjiang, Taicang, Jiaxing and other places directly to the city of Bohanghu.Sandwiched between Ningguo Mansion, which changed banners, and Jiaxing Mansion, which changed hands, the Huzhou garrison accepted Zheng Jun's envoy's persuasion to surrender after weighing the pros and cons, and surrendered to Zheng Jun in Kaesong on May 22. For the Qing court, the most important land of wealth has all fallen into the hands of Zheng Jun, except for the precarious Hangzhou, which is still lingering.

On the evening of May 23, Kangxi and his entourage, who managed to get out of the mountain road in the west of Zhejiang Province, entered Guangxin Mansion. But on this day, Tong Guowei, who couldn't hold back, finally staged a coup in Beijing and killed Mingzhu, a scholar in the south room. , the elder brother Yinti was put under house arrest, and the crown prince Yinti was supported as the new emperor.

On May 24th, Yinreng was officially enthroned in the Hall of Supreme Harmony under the witness of hundreds of officials in Beijing, and announced that he would change Yuan Shaozheng in the second year and posthumously posthumously Kangxi as the Emperor of Hetian Hongyun Wenwu Ruizhe Respectful and Frugal Filial Piety Honesty Merit Dacheng Ren The temple name was Gaozong, and at the same time, Yinreng appointed Tong Guowei as the minister of Gu Ming, the uncle of the country, and issued an edict declaring "the king who destroys Zheng".

However, Yinfeng's edict could not immediately reverse the situation of the battle. On May 25, Zheng Jun launched a military operation to attack Hangzhou. Shanmen, Qingchunmen and other places invaded Hangzhou. Seeing that the situation was not good, Shi Lin changed her clothes and hid in a pre-prepared residence.

Kangxi, who finally returned to Nanchang under the escort of Jiangxi Governor Yu Jackie who hurried back from the battlefield in western Fujian, received the two major news of the Beijing Incident and the fall of Hangzhou almost at the same time. Before Kangxi, who was about to vomit blood, calmed down, The news from northern Fujian gave him another blow--the Qing army in northern Fujian who learned of the sudden change in Jiangsu and Zhejiang was ordered to retreat in a hurry. There was a mutiny on the road, and some green flag soldiers turned to the Ming anyway and attacked the camp. Axitan, the general of Hangzhou and the admiral of the Zhejiang Army Division, and Lang Hualin, the admiral of the Jiangnan Marine Division, were caught off guard and seriously injured. Surrendered, and more became bandits and scattered in the countryside---fortunately, the Qing army in northwestern Fujian was basically completely withdrawn from Jiangxi, which gave Kangxi the capital to protect himself.

In view of the fact that the nature of the Beijing incident was far more critical than the change of hands in Nanjing, Kangxi, after careful consideration, notified Beijing that he was safe and asked Yinfeng to abdicate, and on the other hand led Yu Chenglong and the main force of the Qing army in Jiangxi to cross the Yangtze River on the Jiujiang line. Drive to Anqing to join forces with Ma Qi.Because Kangxi took away a large number of Qing troops, the Zheng army in Fujian Province was able to counterattack smoothly, and recovered the vast land of the three provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi.The speculative gentry from all over the country took care of the pulp pots and joined the Zheng army. The Zheng army that entered the two provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi expanded rapidly, and soon developed into a team of several 10 people.

On the first day of July, the main force of the Zheng army going south and the Zheng army counterattacking from northern Fujian joined forces in Ninghai; on the fourth day of July, the Qing troops in Jinhua and Chuzhou surrendered to the Zheng army; Go to Guangxin and Raozhou and go straight to Nanchang; on July [-], Zhu Da launched a mutiny in the left-behind green battalion in Hubei. Due to the sudden change and the impact of the Huguang mutiny, Governor Sang E of Pianyuan led his troops to flee to the Hunan-Guizhou border. Leaps of development.

Of course, it was not all smooth sailing for Zheng Jun. In addition to the Anxi and Northern Jiangsu Qing troops deployed along the Yangtze River, Jingzhou General Shuonai and Sang E were still peeping at Jinghu Lake. Guangxi Governor Jiang Youliang and Yunnan-Guizhou Governor Ge Stai He also led tens of thousands of people to spy on Guangdong. All of this shows that the battle to determine China's destiny is just in the ascendant.