scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 9
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Sure enough, as Liu Xuanchu said, three days later, on September [-]th, Wu Sangui met Feng Xiang again on Wuhua Mountain, agreed that Feng Xiang would go to Beijing to meet with His Majesty as usual, and then explained the current situation to Feng Xiang, asking Feng Xiang to be in Beijing as usual. On the way to Beijing, they took a detour to Guangdong to persuade Shang Kexi and his son, and let Shang Kexi and his son submit a petition to the Qing court to ask for an increase in salary, which relieved the pressure on Wu Sangui's side, and added an important bargaining chip to Wu Sangui in negotiating with the court on the allocation of military salary. Feng Xiang, who was prepared in his heart, agreed without hesitation, and patted his chest to promise to complete the task.Wu Sangui was overjoyed when he heard the words, first he highly praised Feng Xiang's loyalty, promised to give Feng Xiang some short-term benefits, and then gave Feng Xiang fifty catties of sand as the activity fund, then sent Liu Xuanchu and Wu Yingqi to personally deliver the letter Xiang down the mountain.

On September [-]th, according to Wu Sangui's order, Feng Xiang set off directly from Kunming City, detoured to Guangdong to meet another old traitor Shang Kexi and his son.When parting, Liu Xuanchu who came to see him off in person not only repeatedly told Feng Xiang to be careful, but also gave Feng Xiang an official document issued by Wu Sangui himself, and also sent twenty royal guards to protect Feng Xiang.At the same time, Liu Xuanchu also directly told Feng Xiang in secret, "In addition to protecting you, these twenty palace guards also have another task to monitor you. You should know how to do it yourself. But you can also rest assured, as long as you treat the prince Loyalty, if a teacher speaks for you in the palace, they dare not make things difficult for you casually." Feng Xiang solemnly agreed, and said goodbye to Liu Xuanchu with tears.

Going from Kunming to Guangzhou must pass through Guangxi. Unlike Wu Sangui, who controls Yunnan and Guizhou alone, the situation in Guangxi, which is also a vassal, is much more complicated. The first is that the veteran traitor Kong Youde has been defeated by the Han mob Li Dingguo in Guilin. His wife None of the sons escaped, only Kong Sizhen, a daughter who was rumored to have an affair with Emperor Shunzhi of the Tartars, survived, but because she was a young woman, she was unable to control Guangxi at all.Later, Line Guoan, a veteran of Kong Youde's department, made great contributions in forcing Li Dingguo out of Guangxi, and was named Admiral of Guangxi by the Manchu Qing court.But at the beginning of the sixth year of Kangxi, which Feng Xiang traveled to, Lin Guoan begged to be appointed because of his old age, and the gang of wolves and tigers under the veteran traitor Kong Youde suddenly started to move again.

Kong Youde's gang of wolves and tigers are eyeing the control of Kong Youde's fief Guangxi, and among them, there are four forces who are qualified to inherit and have the strength to inherit Kong Youde's political legacy. Ma Xiong, Kong Youde's veteran brothers Dai Liangchen and Wang Yongnian, the third son of Lan Guoan, Lan Yuxuan, who is quite popular in the army, and finally Kong Sizhen's husband Sun Yanling and Sun Yanling's brother Sun Yanji, all of the four forces are qualified to inherit Kong Youde At the same time, no one has the certainty of winning. For this reason, they have been fighting openly and secretly, making Guangxi a miasma and chaos.However, none of the first three forces expected that the current rulers of the Manchu Qing court were so politically wise that they broke the rules and issued an order to allow Kong Youde's only daughter, Kong Sizhen, to take control of the fief in Guangxi. Unconvinced and can't find any reason to object.Sun Yanling, who was engaged to Kong Sizhen since childhood, happily rushed to Beijing to take his wife back as his master, and then dreamed of taking over power from his wife and becoming the real and unknown king of Guangxi.But it is a pity that Kong Sizhen, who grew up beside the old witch of Xiaozhuang and was loyal to the Qing court, would let Sun Yanling get his wish?
In view of these complicated situations in Guangxi, Liu Xuanchu's guidance and recognition of his own shortcomings and his shoulders required Ren Fengxiang to act more cautiously. In order to avoid unnecessary troubles, Feng Xiang and his party arrived at Luoping County, which borders Yunnan and Guangxi. He immediately ordered the twenty accompanying guards of Pingxi Palace to put on plain clothes, pretend to be drug dealers with himself, and enter Guangxi with several carts of Gastrodia elata, Eucommia and other drugs.Regarding this order, Erlang and Kong Fanlin, the head of the guards of the West Prince's Mansion, were very puzzled. Kong Fanlin, who had a fairly good attitude, asked Feng Xiang cautiously: "Master Lu, we don't need this, do we? Master Lu, you are the first time When you are an official, you must not know that the customs clearance official document issued by the prince can pass through the world, basically except for the Imperial Palace, no matter which checkpoint you reach, no one will dare to stop you."

"Brother Kong misunderstood, I'm not afraid that the official document issued by the prince will not work." Feng Xiang shook his head and patiently explained: "This time, I took a detour to Guangdong to run an errand for the prince under the sign of going to Beijing to see you. For example, when I enter Beijing, I see that I should take the road of Guizhou and Hunan, and then board a boat in Hunan, go down the Yangtze River, and finally turn into the canal and go straight to Beijing. In this way, if I enter Guangxi with an open identity, I will definitely attract the local government Suspicion, missed the important matter of the prince. So for the sake of prudence, it is better for us to pretend to be businessmen." Kong Fanlin and other guards felt that Feng Xiang's words were reasonable, so they followed suit.

Feng Xiang's caution seems to have played a role. From Luoping all the way to the east to Badahe Township directly controlled by the Guangxi army, Feng Xiang and his party planned to abandon the car and take a boat to the Nanpan River to join the Pearl River, and then go straight to Guangzhou by the Pearl River waterway. , but when they arrived at the pier of Nanpanjiang, Feng Xiang and his party immediately realized that something was wrong.On such a relatively remote small wharf, there are actually hundreds of Guangxi Qing soldiers stationed, closely searching every passerby-you know, in such a remote place, the number of travelers and businessmen who come and go every day is usually no more than a few hundred people , There are so many troops stationed for inspection and management, and the taxes received every day are simply impossible to support so many troops.

"Huh? Strange, what happened? How come there are so many Guangxi troops?" Kong Fanlin, the head of the guards of the Pingxi Palace, said in surprise: "I was here last time, and there was not a single garrison on the pier of Badahe. The Guangxi army set up checkpoints only in the downstream area of ​​Qingyuan Mansion, why did it change this time?"

"That's right, there is no danger to defend and no food to go to such a place. According to the teacher's book, it is not worth investing too much troops to garrison?" Feng Xiang was more confused than Kong Fanlin.On the other hand, Erlang next to him said nonchalantly: "Master, General Kong, Yixiao is in charge of how many troops he has stationed, and we didn't do anything against the king's law, just board the boat and leave us."

"That's true." Feng Xiang and Kong Fanlin nodded together.Although Feng Xiang and his party changed their clothes and changed their names and rushed to Guangdong, they did not violate the law at all. Even if someone saw their flaws, they could still use the excuse that they were afraid of being robbed by bandits and thieves on the road, so they had to go to Beijing in a low-key manner. One thing can also be excused as visiting relatives and friends. It will not cause too much trouble if you reveal your identity and arouse some suspicion.So after thinking about this, Feng Xiang beckoned and ordered: "Go on, get on the boat at the pier, and leave them alone."

"Stop, what are you doing?" Feng Xiang's team had just arrived at the pier, and before they had time to hire a boat, someone beside them asked lazily. Feng Xiang's team rummaged through the vehicles loaded with medicine.It was only at this moment that Feng Xiang finally understood the difference between Wu Sangui's army and the ordinary demon Qing army. In Yunnan, Wu Sangui's army was so disciplined that it was almost harsh. Although they also made money when they searched the merchant's goods, they could walk, stand and raise their hands. However, the demeanor of a first-class sergeant is still fully displayed-otherwise, if Wu Sangui led [-] Yunnan-Guizhou troops to rebel, Kangxi would not have devoted all his efforts to mobilizing millions of troops to compete with Wu Sangui.Those Qing soldiers in Guangxi wore caps crookedly and exposed their chests, humming obscene tunes, and stuffing valuable gastrodia elata in their hands.

"Fortunately, the old traitor Wu Sangui gave me the golden sand. I let Erlang and Kong Fanlin separate and carry them on my back in advance. Otherwise, I would have given these traitors a favor." Seeing the virtues of Guangxi Qing soldiers, Feng Xiang was shocked again. Contempt and joy.On the other side, under Feng Xiang's order, Xiao Erlang stepped forward to answer, nodded and bowed to the commander in chief of the Guangxi Qing army, and said: "Mr. Jun, we are all merchants selling medicinal materials. We will bring some Gastrodia elata to Guangdong. Please check it casually, we didn’t dare to carry prohibited items, just please hurry up a little bit, as it’s dark and there’s no way to load it.” Then, Xiao Erlang stuffed a tael of silver into the hand of the general manager .

"Really? It's good if you don't bring anything with you." The boss was always thinking about the money, thinking that he had waited for a few days in this ghostly place, and he finally got some decent benefits.In a good mood, the chief yelled, "Okay, there's no need to search the goods, just search the people and let them board the ship." The boss gave orders to Xiao Erlang again: "Tell your people to tear off their hats and bamboo hats. Lord, we are looking for important criminals. If there are no important criminals in your caravan, we will not embarrass you."

Erlang agreed, and after running back to report to Feng Xiang, Feng Xiang didn't take it too seriously, and asked his servants and guards to temporarily tear off the bamboo hats that shade the sun, and passed in front of the general manager one by one to board the boat, and the general manager took out a sheet The small painted portraits looked carefully at Feng Xiang's team.But fortunately, the general manager still has some good words. When Xiao Erlang, Kong Fanlin and other servants and guards pushed the medicine cart in front of him, the general manager just glanced at it casually and waved to let him go. Only when Feng Xiang passed by When the president was in front of him, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he hurriedly shouted: "Stop."

"Are you kidding me? I look like a wanted criminal?" Feng Xiang wondered, but he still stood still.Xiao Erlang came back quickly, nodded and bowed his head and said: "Master Jun, you must have made a mistake. He is our young master and our treasurer, and there is nothing wrong with it."

As he said that, Xiao Erlang leaned forward to look at the portrait on the wanted warrant, trying to find out the difference between that portrait and Feng Xiang's appearance so that Feng Xiang could pass the test. He waved his hand and said, "Go, I was wrong."

"What the hell are you doing?" Feng Xiang was very dissatisfied when he was almost regarded as a wanted criminal and passed the customs easily, but there was no trouble at all. The two cargo ships loaded and set off.But when boarding the ship and setting off, Feng Xiang, who was looking out from the cabin, felt that something was wrong. The Qing soldiers who were on the pier to search the merchants and people stopped their inspection, and the soldiers scattered around the pier also started After gathering, it looks like they are about to withdraw the team and return to camp.

"It's not right." Feng Xiang frowned.Xiao Erlang next to him asked curiously: "Master, what's wrong?"

"Erlang, did you see that?" Feng Xiang pointed at the pier and said, "The army on the pier was originally very strict, but as soon as we got on the boat, those soldiers started to gather together. What does this mean?"

"What does it represent?" Erlang asked stupidly.Feng Xiang was furious, he gave Erlang a chestnut on his head, and cursed in a low voice: "Idiot! How could I have such a stupid servant like you? The army was withdrawn as soon as we boarded the ship. Doesn't this mean that this An army is likely to be directed at us?"

"Aiming at us? Why?" Erlang covered his head and asked in amazement: "We didn't do anything wrong? Why did they come at us?"

"How do I know?" Feng Xiang asked angrily, and recalling the situation just now carefully, Feng Xiang felt that the situation was not right—why didn't the general of the Guangxi army just let Xiao Erlang see the portrait on the arrest warrant?Who is that pictured on the arrest warrant?Also, why did the boss call him, and why did he let him pass so easily?Recalling this point, Feng Xiang remembered something again, although the general manager put him on the boat directly, but when he boarded the boat, he accidentally looked back, the general manager seemed to be looking at him, and when he found himself turning around, he immediately Turn your face away, very much as if you have been observing yourself.

If it was the previous Feng Xiang, Feng Xiang would definitely not take these small problems to heart, but after receiving Liu Xuanchu's guidance in Kunming City, Feng Xiang has already realized his weakness in character, and is determined to work hard to correct it.So after thinking about it for a while, and looking at the rough map of Guangxi brought by Kong Fanlin and other guards for a while, Feng Xiang made up his mind, discussed with Erlang, Kong Fanlin and the others: "Well, let's be careful, our ship will probably be gone tonight. If we can reach Jiuzhou, then you two and I will take five or six people to disembark and take the land route of Baise to Guangdong, and the rest will continue to take the water route, and then we will meet up in Deqing in Guangdong."

"Lord Lu, do you need to be so troublesome?" Kong Fanlin asked suspiciously: "In any case, we are all from King Pingxi, although the brothers Lan Yuxuan, Ma Xiong, Dai Liangchen and Sun Yanling from Guangxi are not from the prince. The subordinates can also be regarded as colleagues of the prince, can they still be disadvantageous to us?"

Feng Xiang was also a little hesitant, but the doubts he discovered just now still lingered in Feng Xiang's heart, so after thinking about it for a while, Feng Xiang said in a low voice: "Maybe it's not necessary, and people in Guangxi may not dare It is not good for the prince. However, when he left Kunming, Mr. Liu Xuanchu once told his subordinates that the situation in Guangxi is complicated now. The four forces, Ma Xiong, Line Yuxuan, Dai Liangchen and Sun Yanling, have been fighting openly and secretly for the actual control of Guangxi. It must be dark, and there is no guarantee that some of them will not have the idea of ​​dealing with the prince to please the court. We shoulder the important task of contacting the prince and the Nanwang, and there is no room for any mistakes. What happened on the pier just now is so strange, so I I think it would be better to be a little more troublesome, but to proceed with caution."

(End of this chapter)