In the Forbidden City of Beijing, the little emperor Kangxi sat on the dragon chair, the empress dowager sat behind, and there were two rows of Manchu and Han ministers standing in the main hall.

When the news of Li Guoying's defeat came, the Qing court was shocked. The impact of the defeat of the Qing army in Sichuan was even greater than the defeat of Aobai in Jiangnan! Although Aobai was defeated in Jiangnan, half of Jiangnan was still in the hands of the Qing army, especially fortified cities such as Jiangning, and more importantly, the vital Caoyun line was still controlled by the Qing court.

As long as the Caoyun line is still there, even if Aobai loses most of the south of the Yangtze River, there are grain-producing areas such as Huguang, it can still meet the expenses of the ironcore crops of the Eight Banners in the capital, and the Qing army still has the opportunity to counterattack and recapture Jiangnan.

However, the Qing army in Sichuan suffered a crushing defeat, which was the most fatal blow to the Qing court. Originally, after more than ten years of painstaking management by Li Guoying, the power of the Kuidong Righteous Army was compressed little by little, and it was about to be wiped out, but at this critical moment, the Qing army was defeated. This not only brought the dying Kuidong Righteous Army back to life, but also completely lost Sichuan, and it was difficult for the Qing army to re-enter Sichuan in a short period of time.

The seriousness of the problem is not only here, originally Ao Bai planned to wait for Li Guoying to exterminate the Kuidong Righteous Army, and then transfer the Sichuan Qing Army to Jiangnan to deal with the Ming army. Now that the Qing army in Sichuan has been destroyed, Aobai's overall plan has failed. In addition, there is a more serious thing, that is, after the loss of Sichuan, the rebel army occupied the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and could go down the river at any time to attack the Huguang area, echoing with the Jiangnan Ming army at the mouth of the Yangtze River. The loss of Sichuan also made the Qing army in Yungui fall under the attack of Burma and Sichuan, and the Qing court was not very at ease with Wu Sangui at first, and now it is even more uneasy.

No matter how Wu Sangui showed his loyalty to the Qing court, in the eyes of the Qing court, he was a guy with two ends of the head. People like Wu Sangui only have interests. Without righteousness, no matter who you are, you will not be truly faithful.

If it weren't for Ao Bai's strong favor for Wu Sangui, he withstood the opposition within Manchuria and persuaded Shunzhi to marry Princess Jianning to Wu Sangui's son Wu Yingxiong, and let Shunzhi give Wu Sangui complete military power and governing power. I'm afraid that Wu Sangui has long been disobedient.

And Ao Bai concluded that Wu Sangui was a guy who was a little rich and peaceful, and his methods were enough to make Wu Sangui die of old age and death in bed with satisfaction.

As for the imperial court's promise to the southwest of Wu Sangui Yongzhen, the solution can completely fall on Wu Yingxiong. First use the extravagant life and favor to make the prince of Pingxi grateful to the court, and wait until Wu Sangui's death, Wu Yingxiong is the natural lord of the vassal state, and then let Wu Yingxiong come forward to ask the court to take back the vassal state, and the emperor agreed to it. At that time, Wu Sangui's elite soldiers and good generals were almost dead, and even if a few people had different intentions, they couldn't turn the storm up.

Now Sichuan is lost. Wu Sangui directly faced the Ming army from both sides, and no one dared to guarantee whether Wu Sangui would make any changes at this time, not even Aobai.

Wu Sangui is a guy who is a little rich and safe, but when his interests are threatened, this person will not hesitate to choose the side that is beneficial to him! In Sichuan, the Qing army was completely lost, and faced with the Ming army from both sides, Wu Sangui in order to protect himself. It is likely that they will choose to compromise with the Ming army, as long as the Ming army offers favorable conditions. Wu Sangui may even create a rebellion against the Qing court.

"Your Majesty! Li Guoying and Tu Hai, the two minions, actually lost Sichuan! What an unforgivable sin! According to my Qing law, you must know what the crime of losing the land should be, right? Even if the county order loses a county seat, it is a beheading! But these two dog minions, not counting the loss of the whole of Sichuan, even left more than 100,000 soldiers to flee for their lives. It's even more of a crime! Li Guoying and Tu Hai, the two dog minions, should be killed! Curb Pilon stepped forward.

"Can't be killed!" Sukh Saha stepped forward. He knew very well that Tuhai was promoted by the Empress Dowager Bumu Butai, and it was an important force used to contain Aobai! As for Li Guoying, this person is very talented. He is especially good at defending cities. Although Sichuan was lost, Li Guoying was placed in Hubei, and the righteous army never wanted to take a city in Hubei!

"Tell me why you can't kill!" Entrusted by Aobai, he was bent on putting Tuhai to death.

"Li Guoying is a rare general! His defeat this time was completely careless! The grain road was attacked, and the terrain of Sichuan was complicated, and the grain transportation was difficult, so it was a fiasco! But Li Guoying is especially good at defending the city! With him in Hubei, the thieves don't want to capture any city in Hubei! If you kill Li Guoying at this time, it will be tantamount to cutting off your arm! "Sukh Sahadao.

Suppilon asked, "The state has its own laws!" If you don't punish such a big crime as Sichuan, wouldn't it be a child's play with national law? Won't every official be able to lose the city in the future? Setting this precedent will only make people have a fluke mentality! Anyway, you don't have to die for the sin of losing your land! When thieves attack, they won't fight to defend the city! ”

"This Sichuan was also beaten down by Li Guoying! It's just that the terrain of Sichuan is treacherous, the transportation is inconvenient, and the loss of Sichuan is not entirely Li Guoying's responsibility! After all, Li Guoying is good at defending the city, so he can demote his governor to the prefect and order him to garrison Xiangyang! We can warn him that if Xiangyang is lost again, the whole door will be beheaded! As long as Li Guoying is here, the thieves will not want to seize a city and a place in Hubei! If we kill Li Guoying at this time, who will defend the city for us? "Sukh Sahadao.

"Take 10,000 steps back and say, even if Li Guoying can deal with it lightly, what about Tuhai?" Suppilon asked again.

"The loss of Sichuan is not Tuhai's responsibility! Why kill him? Sukh Saha shot back.

In the main hall, the Manchu and Han officials talked a lot, and all the people were divided into two factions, some said that Li Guoying and Tuhai should be severely punished, and some said that they should be spared.

In the end, it was Borzigit Bumubutai who spoke: "Now is the time for the imperial court to employ people, although Li Guoying and Tuhai have committed the crime of losing their land, but the mourning family feels that they should be spared death, Li Guoying was demoted from the governor to the prefect of Xiangyang, and fined him for three years; Tuhai was dismissed from the post of General Dingxi and demoted from Dutong to Deputy Staff! He was fined for three years and transferred back to the capital to stay on standby. ”

Since it was the Empress Dowager who spoke, the ten-year-old little emperor also drafted a holy decree according to his grandmother's wishes and promulgated it, and this matter was treated as such.

Back in the harem, Kangxi went to Cining Palace to ask the Empress Dowager for peace.

"Grandma, why don't we severely punish Li Guoying and Tuhai for the crime of losing their land? We set this precedent, and when the thieves attacked again in the future, those officials were lucky and refused to defend it. If they escape, won't they be able to escape punishment? Kangxi asked puzzled.

Bumu Butai gently stroked Xiao Mazi's head: "Good grandson, this Tuhai is a chess piece we use to contain the four auxiliary ministers!" Back then, your father belittled him, and the mourning family used him again, just to make him grateful to our ancestors and grandchildren! In this way he is the most faithful to us! If we get rid of the sea of figures. Didn't you cut off your own arms and wait for that group of people to pinch us casually? So Tuhai must be saved! ”

Kangxi asked again: "Grandma, Tuhai is our person, and it is understandable to keep him." But what about Li Guoying? I committed such a big crime, not counting the loss of Sichuan, but also escaped from the battle, losing more than 100,000 of my army! Is this sin forgiving? ”

"Good grandson, if we punished Li Guoying, we didn't punish Tuhai. What would others say? People will say that we are doing things unfairly. Although Li Guoying has already raised the flag, he is a subordinate of the former dynasty after all. If we punish him severely, but let Tuhai go, will those former courtiers still be determined to do things for us? Bu Mu Butai said with a smile, "What's more, this Li Guoying is also a rare talent, how many thieves have been exterminated in the past ten years?" Leaving him to guard Xiangyang, Huguang can sit back and relax! ”

"Thank you grandma for your teaching! The emperor and grandson understood! Kangxi said.

Thousands of miles away. Xiangshan County.

An old man in ragged clothes appeared at the gate of the county office, and the official outside stopped him: "Where did the old man come from, called Hanako!" Don't look at what this place is! Get out of here! ”

"What if I'm going to come in and plead a grievance?" The old man said with a smile on his face.

"Coming to sue? You're called Hanako. Do you have any money to complain? But you just don't have any money! Coming to a lawsuit is also a loss! The servant laughed.

Who knew that the old man took out a document from his arms and handed it over: "Then look at this, if the old man takes this to fight a lawsuit, can he win?" ”

The official took the document and looked at it, only to see that it was covered with the big red seal of the government, and he was immediately startled, and then took a closer look. I saw that it was written: Yao Qisheng, the new county magistrate of Xiangshan. Seeing these words, the official was so frightened that he hurriedly knelt on the ground: "The villain has eyes and doesn't know Mount Tai, and I hope that the old man will not care about the villain, and I hope that the old man will forgive his sins!" ”

Yao Qisheng laughed: "The upper beam is not right, the lower beam is crooked!" No wonder the old man of the former county magistrate was dismissed for corruption and bribery! There is such a county master, and there is also a tolerance like you. Normal! Hahaha! ”

"Master, you are wronged! The original master is very famous for scraping the ground, but the villains are all honest, and the trick is not to oppress the people, I hope the old man will see it. The servant knelt on the ground and kowtowed.

Yao Qisheng looked up to the sky and laughed, and walked into the county office.

No one knew that in a large courtyard in Xiangshan County, several big men were discussing, and the topic of discussion was the newly appointed county magistrate Yao Qisheng.

Fang De flipped through the materials in his hand and said incredibly: "It's really incomprehensible, this Yao Qisheng will slash and kill two Qing soldiers with a knife in order to save a woman, why should he be a Tartar official?" And it's going to be in the flag! He was already the governor of Fujian several years ago, but he secretly helped the king of Yanping to be dismissed. I really can't understand this person. ”

"Then do you think we can do it if we look for him and ask him to open a sea ban for us?" Li Kaishi asked.

Although the army has captured half of the south of the Yangtze River, and the problem of some silk exports has been solved, it is still difficult to solve the problem of the source of goods for the export of the most important goods ceramics, especially Jingdezhen porcelain, and the raw silk output in the south of the Yangtze River is not enough to support exports, and other raw silk production areas are controlled by the Qing court.

The Qing court must have adopted blockade measures for the lost half of Jiangnan, and some goods were difficult to get their hands on. Wu Sangui's land export, due to the long distance, the transportation volume is very limited, can not meet the needs of the Qiongzhou army export sea trade, and it is also necessary to find a way to export goods from Xiangshan.

"In this way, I'll find a time to visit Yao Qisheng." Fang De said.

"Uncle Fang has to be careful!" Li Kaishi reminded, "Other people's officials are getting bigger and bigger, but Yao Qisheng's officials are getting smaller and smaller!" This person is honest and honest, don't think about what way to bribe, otherwise you can only ask for your own hardship! ”

"I'm in my own way of doing this!" Fang De smiled.

More than ten days later, Fang De, who was dressed in satin, walked into the county office. At the door, two officials stopped him. Fang De took out two silver ingots of five taels from his arms and stuffed them into the hands of the two officials: "Two grandfathers, the grass people are here to find the master to discuss business, and I also invite the two grandfathers to introduce them!" ”

The official took the money and weighed it in his hand. One of the officials looked at Yinzi's face, lowered his voice, and reminded Fang De softly in his ear: "This merchant, we have no objection to you going to see our county master. But I also kindly remind you that our county master is different from us, he doesn't eat this set. When you go in, you're probably going to touch a nail. ”

"Then trouble the two grandfathers to send the grass people's famous thorns in." Fang De took out his famous thorn. No matter how you say it, he is also a very famous businessman in Guangdong, and in many places in Guangdong, let alone the county master, the prefect will give him face.

Yao Qisheng saw the famous thorn and snorted coldly: "Zhaoqing big merchant Fang De? Why did he, a businessman, come to the old man? ”

The official who sent the famous thorn in said: "Back to the master, the villain doesn't know what happened to him, just let the villain send the famous thorn in to show the master." ”

"This Fang De is quite a bit magical! It is said that the prefects of many places here in Guangdong will give him face! Hum! But the official just didn't give him face, so what? Yao Qisheng disdainfully threw his name on the table, and secretly thought in his heart: This kind of profiteer doesn't know how much silver he gives as a bribe! Otherwise, his business could be so big? The old man just doesn't eat this set!

The official walked out, and with an apologetic face, Fang Deyi arched his hand and said: "Mr. Fang, I'm really sorry, our master said that he was busy with official business and didn't have time to see you, Mr. Fang, please go back." ”

Fang De touched a nail and returned to Xiangshan County in despair.

"How's it going?" Li Kaishi walked out and asked.

"This Yao Qisheng is really not easy to deal with! But just to invite him out for tea? He doesn't even give this face! Fang De said indignantly.

"As I said, the more important someone else's official is, the smaller his official is. This man is even torn in his clothes, and he is so poor that he eats two meals a day, and you are a rich businessman who wants to meet him, will he meet you? Just think about it with your ass, you want to bribe! He's definitely not going to eat it! Li Kaishi said with a smile.

Fang De sighed: "Such a clean official, but why do you want to do things for the Tartars?" What a pity! ”

"Maybe he has a hard time! He would kill the Tartar soldiers in order to save the people's daughter, and he would secretly give food to the king of Yanping, so it was clear that this person should not really do things for the Tartars. Li Kaishi said.

"In that case, why did he join the flag?" Fang De said disdainfully. (To be continued.) )