The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 633 Dinghuguang

Zhu Linming continued: "Then you proclaimed yourself Grand Master and Shang Guozhu, and you also preached that you would fight me to death, but what did you say?"

He Tengjiao scolded Meng Zhengfa and others ten thousand times in his heart, and said anxiously: "The sage has clearly observed that the minister has never proclaimed himself, let alone dared to be an enemy of the imperial court. rumor."

Zhu Linming knew that although He Tengjiao had always supported his own self-respect and rejected dissidents throughout history, he did not have the courage to take the initiative to rebel, but if what he just said was true, it must not be the case.

It is very likely that the matter started with Meng Zhengfa's own selfish desires, and designed to hijack the little emperor, while He Tengjiao saw that it was profitable, so he half-pushed and waited and watched the development of the situation.Otherwise, he could arrest Meng Zhengfa and others from the very beginning, report to the court at the same time, and return Zhu Linyuan.But he certainly did not expect that the Empress Dowager Zeng would resolutely announce the little emperor's abdication, which made his wishful thinking come to nothing and fell into a predicament.

But at this time, He Tengjiao had the intention of being subdued, and Zhu Linmi was concerned about the general situation of the lake, so naturally she saw it through and didn't say anything about it.

"Let's say what you said is true. But no matter what the cause of the incident is, the emperor was imprisoned and the government and the public were shaken. As the chief officer in charge of Huguang's military administration, you cannot escape the blame!"

Seeing that He Tengjiao was trembling with fright, he changed the subject and said, "Of course, if you can fully cooperate with the imperial court to quell the chaos in Huguang, I can also see your performance and reduce your guilt appropriately."

He Tengjiao hurriedly kowtowed and said: "Thank you, the emperor, for your kindness, I will do my best to make up for the mistakes, for the court..."

"Okay, let me ask you first, the current king of Tang, ah, is Emperor Taizheng, where is he?"

"Go back to the emperor, God...His Royal Highness Tang Wang is still on the boat from Jiujiang to Hukou, protected by Zhao Guan."

"Okay, tell him to hurry to the mouth of the lake, and I will send Luo Mingshou to take him back to King Tang."

"Sir, obey the order."

Only then did Zhu Linmei wave her hands and said, "Let's all get flat."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Although Zhu Linmi made a lot of arrangements in the early stage, he did not expect that the Huguang matter would be resolved smoothly. Seeing that the internal strife in Ming Dynasty was eliminated, he was also relieved.

After He Tengjiao and others climbed up from the ground, he continued: "Since you said that you have no intention of confronting the imperial court, then immediately return to Wuchang and open the city to welcome the imperial army. Then write the Chu army everywhere and order them to lay down their weapons and accept the dispatch of the Ministry of War. "

He Tengjiao wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and spread his hands in embarrassment: "Your Majesty, I really want to calm down the situation in Chu as soon as possible, but right now it is really difficult to welcome the army into Wuchang and order all the equipment in Huguang to surrender..."

"Huh?" Zhu Linmei's face suddenly darkened.

He Tengjiao panicked and knelt down again, "Holy Master Mingjian. At the beginning, there were rumors in Huguang that the minister was going to welcome the emperor into Wuchang. The generals in Chu thought they had a good chance to "fly to the top". after people.

"At this time, there are more than [-] soldiers and horses everywhere, ready to fight, even if the minister ordered them to turn around, I am afraid..."

He peeked at Zhu Linming, "Like Changsha Liu Tiren, Hao Yaoqi, Wang Jincai and other ministries, they were all descended from the bandits. In recent years, there have been many looting places that did not follow orders. If you press hard, I'm afraid They immediately resumed their old jobs.

"Even though Zhang Xianbi, the commander-in-chief of Wuchang, and others are directly subordinate to the ministers in name, recently they have repeatedly asked their ministers to proclaim themselves kings, and they have also taken the initiative to send troops from nearby Huangzhou, Xiaogan and other places to Wuchang. They often have other plans in their hearts..."

Zhu Linmei frowned when she heard the words, but she knew that most of what he said was true.Huguang Fan has been in power for a long time, and He Tengjiao, in order to maximize his power, almost refuses all comers, resulting in extremely complicated composition of soldiers in Chu.There are not only "Southern Soldiers", that is, various miscellaneous troops originally stationed in Huguang, but also the old guards, and He Tengjiao's self-trained "supervisor".But the most powerful ones are the "thieves", that is, several groups of Dashun troops who surrendered.

The so-called vassal forces are nothing more than a group of warlords gathered for their own interests. The leaders seem to be well-known, but they are actually "kidnapped" by their subordinates to a large extent. They can only keep moving forward to satisfy their greed.

This situation is very common in the late Ming Dynasty.Just like Zuo Liangyu, the largest warlord in Nanming, who had 30 troops, but frequently plundered places to support his generals.Later, his garrison was rotten and there was a threat of Jianlu. His soldiers saw that there was no profit to be made, so he led the 36th Battalion generals to make trouble, led by Huang Shu, the censor of the supervising army.In desperation, Zuo Liangyu had no choice but to follow Huang Shu's suggestion to launch a rebellion in Nanjing in the name of "the Qing emperor's side", and looted everywhere along the way to fill the stomachs of his warlords.However, the Nanjing imperial court was surprised to mobilize the Jiangbei defense line to resist the rebels. In the end, Jianlu was taken advantage of, leading to the collapse of the Hongguang Dynasty.

Even Hades has seen him, how can he be stopped by these brats?Zhu Linmi took the imperial troop deployment map just now, lowered her head and thought for a while, raised her hand to call He Tengjiao, and said: "I will send an order to the Sichuan Army to let them deliberately show off a loophole. After you return to Wuchang, send Zhang Xianbi to lead Wuchang The main force goes out of the city to attack the camp. On the other hand, you send your confidantes to open the city gates, let Wanji enter Wuchang, and control the situation in the city. When Zhang Xianbi is defeated and flees back, you only need to let him enter the city, and the Jiangxi army will take care of him.

"As for Changsha, you first send people to tell them the great victory of Wuchang. You defeated tens of thousands of the imperial army and captured countless soldiers. Call them to chase and suppress the defeated soldiers. I will let the Zhongzhen Camp and Li Dingguo's troops get out of the way and wait for the Changsha soldiers. Go to the city of Wuchang, and attack from behind. At this time, you will come forward to appease, and all the ministries in Changsha will surrender."

"Your Majesty's great plan!" He Tengjiao bowed immediately, "Your Majesty is determined to put his mind to the ground, so as to secure the whole Chu as soon as possible!"

"Okay," Zhu Linmei nodded and said, "When the situation in Huguang calms down, I will issue an order to clear up your grievances and seal you as Marquis of Guang." He added another sentence in his heart, but Huguang caused such a big disturbance, You don't have to think about fiefdom.

How could He Tengjiao dare to ask extravagantly at this time, when he heard that he could still be granted the title of marquis, he immediately knelt down and thanked him, "Thank you, the emperor, for your kindness, I will repay you with death..."

"Get up." Zhu Linmei reached out her hand to signal, and then remembered someone again, so she asked, "By the way, where is Meng Zheng found?"

"Returning to the emperor, after the thief sent the king of Tang to Jiujiang, he went to Changsha with a woman who was a prisoner, where he sent cronies to spread rumors and encouraged the generals to gather troops to prepare for war..."

"Jianlu?" Zhu Linmi immediately thought that it was hundreds of Jianlu who hijacked Zhu Linyuan at the foot of Zijin Mountain, and Meng Zhengfa's concubine also confessed that he had had secret discussions with a Manchu woman before, so she frowned, "Do you know Jianlu?" What is the purpose of this move?"

"This, the lower officials also know that it is ominous." He Tengjiao said, "I just heard that Meng Zhengfa said that when Huguang and the imperial court go to war, the Eastern Captives will definitely send troops to attack along the Yangtze River in response.

"By the way, I suddenly remembered that Meng Zhengfa sent back a copy of Dorgon's handwritten letter, in which he swore that if I agree to rebel, they are willing to cross the river with me and stop fighting for three years."

(End of this chapter)