Ping An Biography

Soon after, Zhang Ning followed Zhu Heng's suggestion and temporarily abandoned Jingzhou; then the Suzaku army stationed food, grass and military supplies in Yuezhou, transferred ships to transport supplies down the river by water, and soldiers traveled by land, and the water route approached Wuchang government.Although they occupied Yuezhou, they could only block the entrance of Dongting Lake because of their insufficient navy, and could not cut off the Yangtze River.Its waterway supplies are still under the wexe of the Jingzhou navy, and it is agreed that the army can only protect the fleet. If it encounters an attack by the government and navy, the fleet will be approached to the south bank, and then it will resist the enemy with artillery from land.

The army drove down, fought another battle in Linxiang City, and then surrendered without a fight.The front of the soldiers was approaching Wuchang, but no reinforcements were reported from the powerful army. It seemed that there was nothing that could stop the Suzaku army from capturing Wuchang City.

At this moment, the mission that had previously departed from Changde City to Nanjing returned and joined Zhang Ning's army on the way.The main envoy is still Chen Maocai, who is eloquent and has been ordered to do such things several times for some reason.

Zhang Ning first met Chen Maocai in the big tent of the Chinese Army, and when he learned that the King of Han had also sent a few people to contact him, he immediately felt that there was something interesting about it, at least Nanjing responded positively.

In fact, the content of this negotiation is very simple: the guards of Jiujiang Mansion had already responded to the King of Han; Regardless of the fact that there are not many soldiers, the defense against the official army is better than that, and the local officials may repeat themselves.Zhang Ning hoped that the King of Han would send a general to lead troops to Jiujiang Mansion, and properly manage the surrounding strongholds. [

This proposal was originally beneficial to both parties.The overall situation is to connect the middle and lower reaches into a complete line, forming a situation of confrontation between the north and the south; for the King of Han, when he made an expedition to Wuchang Mansion at the beginning, now he only needs to consolidate Jiujiang Mansion to complete the previous strategic intention, and there is no need for a big war. Why not eliminate wexe in one direction?

Unexpectedly, when Chen Maocai described the attitude of the Han Palace, everyone in the Senate was greatly surprised.This time, the king of Han sent several envoys to accompany him. It turned out that they were talking about conditions: Nanjing agreed to Huguang's proposal, and in exchange for a few conditions, first, let the "Jianwen Army" hand over the traitor Zhu Heng and escort him to Nanjing to wait. Second, after the Han King's army arrived at Jiujiang Mansion, the Zhuque Army had to provide some money and food and some new firearms to consolidate the management and defense of various places...

After listening to Chen Maocai's narration, the members of the Senate did not curse.One of them yelled: "If it wasn't for our weak troops, we would have gone straight down the river after defeating Wuchang, and taken Jiujiang and other places without any hassle. At that time, the King of Han was under attack from both sides. I beg you, if we don't have enough time, we still have the nerve to negotiate terms?"

When Zhu Heng heard that he was mentioned, he had no choice but to stand up and knelt down to express his opinion: "After all, we are aggressive, and for the sake of great things, the prince can hand over the humble ministers, and use one person to exchange for the stability of the overall situation."

Zhang Ning stepped forward to lift him up with his own hands, and said without hesitation, "Obviously it is impossible." Everyone knew that Zhu Heng was highly valued by the king of Xiang, and he was regarded as a minister of the humerus. Unexpectedly, one sentence is very simple, and it is impossible to finish the job.

Liang Yan, a staff member of the Senate Department, is usually very low-key, and at this time he couldn't help but say: "Did the king of Han commit suicide, or the people in the mansion are all pig-headed! If we go down to the Beijing camp and fight to Nanjing, then all the civil and military Who can escape death penalty?"

Zhu Heng sighed: "Maybe the King of Han's mansion expected us to ask for help from others, and took advantage of the opportunity. No matter what, we must protect the King of Han right now. In case the Beijing camp breaks the river defense from the downstream or the middle reaches, once the King of Han falls , our situation will be unfavorable, and we have to investigate the coldness of our lips and teeth."

This is indeed a reason, but Zhang Ning feels that it would be too childish for the King of Han to negotiate negatively because of this... But no matter how the King of Han has an army of hundreds of thousands, it has played a great role in restraining him; otherwise, if the Eastern Front is also controlled by the imperial court, Suzaku The army obviously has to face the situation of being besieged on all sides.

It is conceivable that Jingzhou is still in the hands of the government and the army, and there is a wexe in the upper reaches; the northern front is also a long front; the east is approaching with Nanjing as the center, and the river defense is gone; although Mu Wang on the Yunnan side is far away, it is not negligible. Excluding.

Therefore, Zhang Ning personally received the envoy of the King of Han, and actively bargained with him. Except for the first item, which stated that there was no room for negotiation, other benefits were negotiable, even if it was a reasonable request.

The envoy of the King of Han specifically mentioned that he wanted new firearms from the Suzaku Army. Apparently Nanjing also noticed the situation in the Huguang battle.In the battle of Yuanshui, more than 1 broke through [-]. The performance was too eye-catching. All parties were aware of the power of the firearm in Zhang Ning's hand.Zhang Ning was afraid that after rejecting the conditions for handing over Zhu Heng, the King of Han's House would lose interest in the negotiations and treat them negatively... As a member of the Jianwen family, the King of Han was probably wary; Zhang Ning was ready to propose conditions to assist the King of Han's arms.

The Senate has disputed the matter.

Opponents are worried about the spread of firearms technology and losing their own advantages;In the end, the Yanwang faction and the Jianwen faction had no room for compromise. Not only was the Han Palace on guard against the Suzaku army, but the Suzaku army's Senate was also wary of them.

Among the supporters is Zhu Heng. Zhu Heng believes that the firearm technology has been leaked to the government and the army. The government and the army have not used it on the battlefield for the time being, but because it takes a process from mass production to actual training, it will appear sooner or later. on the battlefield.

"More than half a year ago, we confirmed that Jin Yiwei persuaded some people from the Weapons Bureau to surrender, including Fan Si who was promoted by the former Weapons Bureau; there were also several times when we lost cities and lands, the army was wiped out, and the battlefield was chaotic. It is impossible for the defeated army to destroy all the weapons, and some real objects must have fallen into the hands of the officers and soldiers. Except for the long-barreled field guns newly made a few months ago, the mortars, Francois machine guns, and arquebus guns have all been leaked; I once went to the weapons bureau workshop After many inspections, I thought it might not be easy to design these firearms first, but imitation would not be too demanding. Not to mention that Fusi of Jinyiwei Nanzhen specially developed these things, even folk workshops can imitate them...

If the officers and soldiers use these firearms in the downstream battlefields in the future, the King of Han's army will definitely be at a disadvantage in the battle, and it will not be good for us if the King of Han's army is wiped out; since it has been leaked to the court, it is not impossible to use firearms as a condition to show favor to the King of Han.Just now someone suggested raising tigers as a threat. I don't quite agree with it. The current situation of the Han Palace is not a serious problem for us at all; the real enemy is the imperial court of the capital. "

At this time Wang Yu got up and said: "Mo Xue has an idea, and I dare to put it forward here, I hope you don't laugh at me."

Zhang Ning encouraged: "Only by expressing your own opinions can we brainstorm, and Qingmo can speak up if he has something to say."

Wang Yudao: "Right now we are occupying quickly, and in the eyes of the imperial court, we may have a growing momentum. Since we want to unite with the King of Han to deal with powerful enemies together; Convince the King of Han? After all, the Xuande Puppet Emperor and the King of Han are in the same line, after they feel wexe, why not guarantee to deal with us together?" [

Zhu Hengdao: "To put it this way, Lord Jianwen and King Yan are both descendants of the Taizu. Although Xuande and the King of Han are uncles and nephews, who of them doesn't know that things have turned into fire and water? As long as one party loses, the other party will never be able to win." Take a step back... Even if the imperial court and the King of Han ceased their troops, the King of Han would not be so stupid as to really help the imperial court reduce the pressure and help the tyrant to abuse us, and instead beat us; It became us to contain the Beijing camp, and the essence has not changed."

After hearing this, Wang Yu hurriedly said, "Zhu Butang is right."

After some debate, the Senate finally reached a decision to use firearms to help the King of Han in exchange for sending troops to Jiujiang Prefecture.The next step is to negotiate. After all, the conditions proposed by the Han Palace also include Zhu Heng; Zhang Ning sent Wang Yu and Liang Yan to assist Chen Maocai in negotiating with the envoy.

The conditions put forward by the Zhuque army were quite generous, promising that once the Hanwang army arrived in Jiujiang Prefecture, it would provide a large number of matchlock guns and artillery, and send officials to help them establish workshops for manufacturing and repairing firearms; City defense is more effective in blocking the attack of the Beijing camp.In addition, after next year's autumn harvest, the Suzaku Army will transfer food and grass to Yuezhou, and then send a large amount of money and food from Yuezhou to Jiujiang Mansion...

Of course, the last one is just a picture cake, which looks good, but I don't know what the situation will be like after next year's autumn harvest. Maybe the Suzaku army or the King of Han army will be wiped out.But later I added that opening up business exchanges between east and west is actually good for the King of Han. The southeast coast is rich but lacks food. Once a large amount of trade is allowed, Huguang and other places can provide sufficient military food guarantee for the King of Han.

The Senate has expressed enough sincerity and benefits, and the envoys of the King of Han are also tempted. They said they would send someone to report to Nanjing urgently, and then reply.Liang Yan was actually still in the negotiation period, implying the emissary's self-interest: money should be allocated for building firearms workshops and other matters, and the responsible bureaucrats can also earn some "fire consumption" from it after completing the errands; collect taxes...

Liang Yan just hinted, but the emissary actually responded, saying that he knew a lot of people in Nanjing and made a lot of friends. If the King of Xiang was willing to support him and he came forward to give gifts, it might be easier.

Wang Yuliangyan quickly reported the news to Zhang Ning and made some suggestions.It was only at this moment that Zhang Ning suddenly realized that he had been focusing on the pros and cons of both parties' business affairs before, but he had neglected that business affairs were also handled by human beings.Immediately, Wang Yu and others were instructed to promise the envoy a certain amount of money and help deliver it to the place when he went back to Nanjing;

The members of the Senate thought that this method was safe, otherwise they would give all the money to the messenger. If this guy took the money and refused to do anything, who would he turn to?