Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 338
Jiujiang is located at the mouth of Poyang Lake, and its geographical location is very important. Now the Qing general Wang Deren leads [-] troops to garrison.

Wang Deren was originally a subordinate of Dashun Army Wang Tizhong, and Wang Tizhong was a subordinate of Li Zicheng's general Bai Wang.

After Li Zicheng was killed in the Jiashen year, great turmoil broke out within the Dashun Army. Wang Tizhong took the opportunity to kill Bai Wang, led his men to surrender to Azige, and was awarded the rank of Deputy Commander.

After that, Jin Shengheng, who originally belonged to Zuo Liangyu, surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, fearing losing his military power, so he asked to attack Jiangxi. Azige then appointed him as Jiangxi Admiral, and together with Wang Tizhong, captured the whole of Jiangxi.

Relying on Wang Tizhong's military strength, Jin Shengheng falsely claimed that "20 Manchu and Han officers and soldiers will be taken from Jiangxi" so that Nanchang officials fled without a fight. Jin Shengheng took Nanchang easily. Annexed the royal army.

In June, the Qing government's hair-shaving order was introduced to Jiangxi. Jin Shengheng led his troops to shave their heads. Wang Tizhong returned to Nanchang from Fuzhou, but he firmly refused to shave his head.

Jin Shengheng thinks this is a rare opportunity, so he privately wins over Wang Deren's bid to attack Wang Deren, pretending that he will assassinate Wang Tizhong during the discussion, and the officers of the royal department are furious when they hear the news, and lead their troops to take revenge, but Jin Shengheng personally supervises the battle and kills Wang Tizhong, Wang's subordinates were recruited and annexed by Jin Shengheng one by one.

Afterwards, Jin Shengheng cooperated with Wang Deren and successively conquered the important towns of Ji'an, Taihe, Yongxin and other places, controlling more than half of Jiangxi. rights, but was rejected by the Qing court.

The official positions of Jin Shengheng and Wang Deren remained unchanged. At this time, Luck Dehun entered Jiangxi from Hubei again. With the support of Jiangxi Governor Zhang Yutian and Governor Dong Xuecheng, he seized the power of Nanchang, while Wang Deren who stayed in Nanchang was sent to Jiangxi. Jiujiang, guard against Huguang Ming army.

Jiujiang is surrounded by water on three sides, and the main roads are blocked. It is difficult for land troops to attack, but if the navy is strong and has tall ships and giant ships, they can directly set up siege ladders from the ships and fight against the city.

At this time, on the river near Jiujiang City, hundreds of giant ships were shuttling between the river and Taihu Lake, and on the land to the east of the city, more than 2 people from Li Guo's tribe set up a long camp under the city. , the scene is very spectacular.

Unlike Jin Shengheng who fought in southern Jiangxi, after Wang Deren was stationed in Jiujiang, he heard some news from Wuchang, and every piece of news made him tremble with fear.

The vanguard of the Ming army who appeared outside Jiujiang City undoubtedly confirmed what he had heard. Standing on the top of the city, he watched himself being defeated by the Ming army who was able to defeat the Eight Banners of Manchuria, and he was filled with fear.

Now the main force of the Qing army in Jiangxi is fighting fiercely with Wanji in southern Jiangxi. There are less than 2 Qing troops in northern Jiangxi. He really has no confidence to defend northern Jiangxi.

Originally, the defense of northern Jiangxi was not so weak, but in order to attack Yuezhou, Luck Dehun seconded more than 3 people and a large number of ships from northern Jiangxi, but all of them were buried in Huguang. Supplement, that's why there is such an unfavorable situation now.

At this time Wang Deren was standing on the city wall, sighing, but Chen Fang, one of his staff members, came up to the city, walked to him in a hurry, and reported in a low voice: "General, the envoy of the Ming army entered the city, and the humble official took the initiative and brought the envoy to the city secretly." In the general's mansion."

Hearing the words, Wang Deren couldn't help but suddenly turned his head, glanced at Chen Fang, and then quickly went down the city to the mansion.

Facing the siege of the Ming army, perhaps many of his subordinates were thinking like Chen Fang. It was not that he had never thought of surrendering the city, but he had scruples in his heart.

In fact, he was also very dissatisfied with the Qing court. He and Jin Shengheng made great contributions to the Qing court in Jiangxi, but the Qing court only gave him a lieutenant. ungrateful.

In particular, Wang Deren and Jin Shengheng used force to extort a large amount of money in Jiangxi and became upstarts. However, Zhang Yutian, the governor appointed by the Qing government, who supervised Dong Xuecheng, was jealous and forced them to donate money, which also made him very unhappy.

Jin Shengheng wanted to rely on military merits to make Jiangxi the governor, thereby suppressing Zhang Yutian and Dong Xuecheng, but his request was rejected by the Qing court, and this time Zhang Yutian and Dong Xuecheng supported Luck Dehun to obtain Jiangxi's full strength and sent him to Jiujiang , which made him even more disappointed with the Qing court.

If Wang Deren had every reason to surrender in Kaesong, if he could be captured by Jin Shengheng and kill Wang Xiuzhong who was unwilling to shave his hair, then he could also surrender in Kaesong for his own life.

He did have surrender in his heart, but he was worried about two things. One was that he was afraid of losing his military power, and the other was that the Ming army would also spy on his property.

At this time, he returned to the Taoist mansion, asked the guards to close the courtyard door, and only brought his staff member Chen Fang to the study, and saw a majestic old man sitting in the study.

The old man was Jiang Yueguang. When he saw the two of them, he stood up and cupped his hands, straight to the point and said: "General Wang, the old man came here today because he was entrusted by Marquis Xingguo to persuade the general to abandon the dark side and turn to the bright side to serve the Ming Dynasty."

On the way back, Chen Fang informed Wang Deren and Jiang Yueguang of their identities through scriptures, so he didn't dare to be negligent, and hurriedly returned the gift, and then said: "I have Lao Laoge's subordinates to go, I don't know what Xing Guohou has to say, I want to tell you What about this general?"

If it was in the past, Wang Deren would not have considered surrendering. After all, the power of the Qing army was there, but Wang Yan defeated the Qing army in Huguang one after another, allowing Wang Deren to see the fierce and restrained side of the Eight Banners. dissatisfaction, so surrender is not impossible for him to negotiate, the key depends on whether the price can satisfy him.

Jiang Yueguang took out a letter with a smile, handed it to Wang Deren and said, "The general and Marquis Xingguo both came from the Shun Army, and now Marquis Xingguo, Liu Fangliang, Gao Yigong, and Yuan Zongdi have all surrendered to Daming, and they are all named Marquis Even in the Shun Army, Yang Yanchang, Li Laiheng and others who were not much different from the generals were made earls, and the generals served the Qing court, but they did not receive corresponding rewards for their repeated military exploits. People are angry. General Xingguo Hou Zhi now guards Jiujiang, looking at the relationship between the same generals of Dashun in the past, he can't bear to meet each other, so he sent this old man to surrender!"

Hearing Jiang Riguang's words, Wang Deren was already a little moved. Now he opened the letter to read it, but frowned, and said with some displeasure: "If you want to surrender, you should promise benefits. Why didn't you get an official promotion? , but to reorganize our department~”

Wang Deren was greatly disappointed, and his attitude became indifferent. Jiang Yueguang then said: "The general has not yet helped Daming to make meritorious deeds, and it is already a great favor to be appointed at the same level. Besides, the army is reorganized. According to the established rules, all the ministries of the Shun Army have been reorganized. Isn't Xingguo Marquis still being reused by the Duke of Chu? It would be very unwise for General Wang to hold on to his troops and lose this opportunity. "

Wang Deren was silent. He didn't know the situation in Wang Yan's army, so he didn't dare to make a decision lightly. After a while, he said: "The conditions are too harsh. Even the Qing court didn't reorganize the soldiers under the general's command. Ma. This matter is very important, can I think about it for three days before replying?"

Wang Deren was obviously dissatisfied with such conditions, and wanted to delay the time so that Li Guo could raise the price.

Jiang Yueguang shook his head with a smile and said, "General Wang doesn't know something. The Marquis of Xingguo received an order to destroy the city in three days and open the passage to Jiangxi for the Duke of Chu, so we can only give you three hours. However, immediately attack the city, and after the city is broken, all the officials of the Qing court will be killed, and the three clans will be implicated!"

When Wang Deren heard the words, he couldn't help being furious: "Does Li Guo look down on me?"

But at this time, the door of the study room was suddenly opened by a general of the Qing army. When he saw Wang Deren, he hurriedly said: "Brother-in-law, it's not good. I really heard that you secretly saw the Ming envoy and brought the Eight Banners soldiers to kill him." Already!"

(Thanks to Yuedong Woxin, my UI, and the reward of Juzhanzhishang, and thanks to Ziye Sanlang for the gift chapter.)
(End of this chapter)