When he returned to Anqing, Zhou Peigong was full of sadness. Jiang Guozhu has already claimed that he is scheduled to set off on July 15, half a month later, to swallow all of Jiangxi; The Zhang Dynasty was also mobilizing troops from the south and west of Jiangxi to Jiujiang, determined to thwart Chiang Guozhu's armed attack and counterattack to the ground south of the Yangtze River. Now Nanjing and Nanchang are attacking each other as "Tongdeng" Qing traitors, and they are fighting happily.

Just a few days after his return, Suo Etu's secret letter arrived, saying that Zhao Guozuo had secretly reported to Beijing, and Geng Jingzhong seemed to be secretly gathering troops to southern Zhejiang, with the intention of spying on Zhejiang. At the same time as secretly reporting to the imperial court, Zhao Guozuo also urgently met with Zhuang Tingyue, the son of the former marshal of the Jingnan Army, a graduate of the infantry department of the Sichuan Military Academy, and the current commander of the security of northern Zhejiang. If Zhejiang really encounters an invasion, Zhao Guozuo hopes that Zhuang Tingyue will look at the face of Zhejiang's fathers and elders, and fight side by side with Hangzhou to resist foreign humiliation, and hopes that Zhuang Tingyue will immediately send a northern Zhejiang security team to the south to the border of Zhejiang and Fujian.

"Within three days, Zhejiang's stock should have plummeted, right?" Zhou Peigong stopped first when he saw half of the letter, ordered Premier Deng Yamen to immediately sell stocks related to Zhejiang, and instructed his staff to study the short-term investment strategy of Zhejiang options. If Suo Etu can't keep it secret, then Zhou Peigong needs to act quickly to avoid damage to the interests of this yamen; If Suo Etu does a good job of secrecy, then Zhou Peigong is the first person to use inside information to trade, and he will definitely make a lot of money - so regardless of whether Suo Etu is confidential or not, Zhou Peigong's choice not to keep it secret is the best solution.

And Zhou Peigong's leaks were all justified, because he was also cheated by others. Besides, with Suo Xiang's intelligence, as well as his years of experience in pit people and being pitted, he must have expected that Zhou Peigong would leak the secret as soon as he saw this secret letter. It is estimated that Suo Xiang must be completely prepared, and Zhou Peigong knows that he doesn't have to worry about Suo Xiang at all, let alone have the slightest guilt or other psychological burden.

After completing the leak work, Zhou Peigong continued to read Suo Etu's letter, and the other party demanded that Premier Deng's yamen must make every effort to maintain the excellent situation of domestic stability and unity, and not let Jiang Guozhu, Geng Jingzhong and other careerists succeed. If Zhang Chao intends to counterattack Jiangnan after winning the victory in the defense of Jiangxi, it must also be resolutely blocked.

Suo Etu and the thoughts of the high-ranking officials of the imperial court, Zhou Peigong, knew very well, that is, to maintain the position of the co-ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and continue to wait for the opportunity. The two battles in the fourth and sixth years of Kangxi made the Manchurian Taijun understand that Chengdu would definitely not be able to fight, but as long as the status quo was maintained and a certain warlord did not come to the fore, Beijing could ensure the current position of second only to Chengdu and second in strength in the world. If Deng Ming suddenly hangs up and his subordinates start large-scale infighting, it will naturally be "my Qing Dynasty" that has dominated the country for thousands of years; If Deng Ming is still strong, then the Manchurian Taijun will be able to sell the land and people he has robbed in the past few decades to Deng Ming at a good price. If the world is in turmoil and the Qing court loses its status as the co-master, then the Eight Banners aristocratic group will be able to sell much less goods, in short, it is important to maintain the status quo.

However, Suo Etu also said that for the time being, Beijing could not provide much help to suppress Premier Deng's yamen, because the emperor was still noisy -- although the Manchurian princes had accepted their fate and began to cooperate with Deng Ming to dump the property of the Qing Dynasty, the emperor was unwilling to let his family property be sold out by his subordinates, and now he is still endlessly trying to block everyone. And the emperor also has his news channels and loyal to the royal family, after hearing that Geng Fan is unstable, the emperor was so excited that he couldn't sleep, and wrote a secret letter to Geng Jingzhong overnight, praising him for his loyalty to the country. He also sent letters to Guangzhou and Guilin, asking the vassal kings to help him crusade against the governors of Tongdeng - the first few letters were desperately intercepted by the imperial court, but later I heard that the emperor had sent eunuchs to make up and leave the palace with secret letters and go south.

In Suo Etu's words, Emperor Kangxi was intent on creating a "rebellion of the three feudatories", and now everyone is trying to appease the emperor and beg this lord to stop making trouble. Not long ago, the queen said that the emperor had lost a lot of silver for speculating in futures, and after Suo Etu reported the matter to Jieshu, Prince Kang and his old man took the lead in private, asking everyone who relied on inside information to speculate and profit from a little silver to compensate the emperor - but it did not go very smoothly, and everyone in these speculative Manchurian princes cried poor, and swore to Prince Kang that they didn't earn much, and even more wives and children were waiting for this life-saving money to grab medicine and eat.

As long as Jiang Guozhu or Geng Jingzhong really blatantly provoked an armed conflict, Suo Etu promised that the imperial court would overcome the emperor's obstruction and declare them the traitors of "Tongdeng". However, in the military aspect, Suo Etu could not do anything, so he could only pin his hopes for maintaining the dignity and stability of the Qing Dynasty on Zhou Peigong, and it was even more justifiable to suppress Prime Minister Deng's yamen to send troops to crusade against the traitors of "Tong Deng".

As for the compensation given to Zhou Peigong, Suo Etu said that the imperial court was discussing granting Zhou Peigong the title of envoy to Shanxi, Henan, Zhili, and Yunnan (even if Li Dingguo had an opinion and the Qing court did not care), so that Zhou Peigong's merit would be considered complete. This time, Suo Etu also sent a new official seal with the four big characters "The world is political". Suo Etu said that when Zhou Peigong finished his errand, this mention should almost be passed.

Seeing that Beijing's support was only verbal, Zhou Peigong smiled bitterly. Although Premier Deng's yamen is strong and has offices in various provinces, its stalls are also very large. Now that Premier Deng Yamen has controlled most of the Qing court's officials, superintendents, business, and business profits, whether it is Beijing or Chengdu, it is impossible to tolerate Zhou Peigong's control of a certain province, so Zhou Peigong's interference in the provinces is destined to offend people fiercely, but it is not possible to completely eliminate these governors who hold a grudge against him.

"If you don't die if you fight a snake, you will suffer from it." Zhou Peigong muttered to himself. But no matter how worried he is, he still has to do it, because this is the common wish of Chengdu and Beijing. Zhou Peigong now positions himself as a middleman between these two places, and since both sides have this intention, Zhou Peigong has to offend people.

Just as Zhou Peigong was thinking about how to raid the Jiangnan army, disarm them and repatriate them to their hometown, a guard suddenly reported that someone had come to visit.

Zhou Peigong hurriedly invited the visitor into the living room, and said, "General Zhao is okay here?" ”

The person who came was Zhao Tianba, a major general of the empire, and he said to Zhou Peigong straight to the point: "The court will order me to come to Anqing to assist Zhou Bu's political envoy in coordinating the relationship between the two rivers. ”

"With General Zhao's help, I'm really relieved." Zhou Peigong said this, but in fact, he was still a little lost in his heart. Of course, he knew that Zhao Tianba was a general under Deng Ming, but this person's reputation was too small, and if it was any of Ren Tang and Mu Tan, who also stayed in Chengdu, the deterrent effect on Jiangnan would be very different.

Zhao Tianba seemed to see through Zhou Peigong's thoughts, and said lightly: "The academy specially asked me to be in charge of this matter, and they feel that low-key also has the benefit of being low-key." ”

After learning that Zhou Peigong planned to raid the Jiangnan army, Zhao Tianba was a little disapproving: "First of all, the attack may not be successful, is the political envoy so confident in the secrecy work of your subordinates?" Secondly, even if it succeeds, it is a deep hatred, and Jiangnan may not be willing to give up. And it will have an impact on both commerce and trade. The purpose of the Yuan Council was to prevent the war, not to prevent the civil war in Liangjiang, but to start a major war between Anqing and Nanjing. Besides, what if we can't get along? Will Zhang Chao think that his opportunity has come? ”

Zhao Tianba asked a few questions in a row, and then mentioned Geng Jingzhong's question: "Our people in Beijing sent news that Geng Jingzhong from Fujian was about to move, I don't know if the political envoy has heard about it, and what are his plans?" ”

Seeing that Suo Etu's secrecy work was really poor, Zhou Peigong scolded in his heart. However, fortunately, Suo Etu's letter arrived in time, so that Zhou Peigong would not be caught off guard: "General Zhao rest assured, Prime Minister Deng's yamen has long been aware of this. I plan to impose an arms and trade embargo on Fujian, issue a warning, sell more arms to Hangzhou, and if necessary, send the Deng Corps to Zhejiang to participate in the war. ”

"We want to fight Jiang Guozhu in Jiangnan and Zhejiang, and it is an embargo and a big war, which is not in line with the wishes of the Academy." Zhao Tianba shook his head: "However, let's take it as a last resort." I'll go to mediate first, and if they don't want to sell my face, then I have to watch the political envoy show his might. ”

Zhou Peigong is not very optimistic about Zhao Tianba's mediation, after all, because his prestige is not enough. Zhao Tianba arrived in Anqing silently, casually change Ren Tang or Mu Tan to come, I am afraid that as soon as they come out of Kuimen, it will already be the attention of the world, it is estimated that they will not wait for them to arrive in Anqing, and the Liangjiang Yamen will send envoys to inquire about their intentions for this trip. Zhao Tianba is not famous enough, he doesn't know publicity, and he doesn't bring a group of elite soldiers with him, how can he get a chance of successful mediation by acting in such a low-key manner?

Having said that, Zhou Peigong understood that it was better to help than nothing: "I don't know how General Zhao wants me to cooperate?" ”

……

July 15, Nanjing.

Jiang Guozhu was reviewing the tens of thousands of soldiers in front of the stage.

A few days ago, Zhao Tianba mediated again, which made Jiang Guozhu a little nervous at first, thinking that Chengdu might oppose fiercely, and he was ready to argue on the basis of reason. However, Zhao Tianba came to Jiangnan alone this time, although there was a threat in his words during the mediation, but it was not very clear, and it seemed that Chengdu also planned to bet on both sides.

Since Chengdu's attitude was ambiguous, Jiang Guozhu also made up his final decision, politely rejected Zhao Tianba's mediation, and assured him that only when Jiangxi was placed under Jiang Guozhu's rule could it better serve Chengdu. The day before yesterday, Jiang Guozhu received information again, saying that Zhao Tianba had also been to Jiujiang, and that Zhang Chao had made concessions to Nanjing, and when Zhang Chao refused, Zhao Tianba told Zhang Chao that if the shape was unfavorable, Chengdu welcomed him to take refuge.

When this information was made public by Chiang Guozhu inside the yamen of the Liangjiang Governor, his staff and officers immediately rejoiced, and it seemed that Chengdu was ready to accept the fait accompli. Liang Huafeng, who was originally worried about this matter, was also completely relieved and no longer persuaded Jiang Guozhu to be cautious; In the end, Zhou Peigong reluctantly replied, reiterating that the general army of suppressing Deng would remain neutral in the conflict between the two rivers, and would not stop the army in Jiangnan, nor would it prevent the Jiangnan army from using the ships on the Yangtze River that belonged to the Yamen control of Premier Deng.

"The soldiers and horses are so majestic, the Governor sent troops this time, and Jiangxi must be defeated." Liang Huafeng, who accompanied Jiang Guozhu to inspect the army, complimented loudly.

"Huh." Jiang Guozhu was complacent and accepted Liang Huafeng's compliment without hesitation. This time, he will personally lead the army to Chizhou, and then supervise the formation in the place -- the main force of tens of thousands of taels, and the large amount of grain and salary hoarded in Chizhou, if it is not firmly in his own hands, Jiang Guozhu will not be able to sleep well at night.

Liang Huafeng was not on the list of generals who went out to fight, and Jiang Guozhu felt that if Liang Huafeng made meritorious contributions in this battle, how to reward him would be a very troublesome matter. It was impossible for Jiang Guozhu to hand over the military power of the two provinces into the hands of one person, let alone allow Liang Huafeng, who had military power, to gain the governing power of Jiangxi; And Liang Huafeng was also very well-behaved, and after deciding to send troops, he claimed to be old and sick, hoping to stay in Jiangning, and Jiang Guozhu agreed to Liang Huafeng's request.

After three cannon shots, Jiang Guozhu led the army out of Nanjing and marched along the Yangtze River to Jiangxi. This was the largest military build-up in Jiangnan in more than a decade since Zheng Chenggong besieged Nanjing. The army formed a long serpentine formation along the Yangtze River, and by the time Chiang approached Chizhou, his vanguard had already reached the border of Jiangxi and engaged in an exchange of fire with troops loyal to the Zhang dynasty, while the rearguard of the Jiangnan army was still far behind, still east of Tongling.

"Your Excellency the Governor, Chizhou, Chizhou has refused us entry." A personal soldier came to report to Jiang Guozhu in a trembling manner.

"What?" Jiang Guozhu could barely believe his ears.

"Chizhou also sent an envoy to say that the imperial court had declared the lord a rebel of 'Tong Deng' and deprived the lord of his official position." The soldier's voice trembled even more.

"Thank you for your big guts!" Jiang Guozhu laughed angrily. Xie Gao, the prefect of Chizhou, is his old subordinate, and he has been obeying Nanjing's orders for ten years, why did he suddenly claim to be loyal to the imperial court?

When Jiang Guozhu mobilized his army to attack Chizhou, he suddenly learned that the Yamen, the prime minister of Deng, had also lifted support for his army, and not only refused to continue to help Jiang Guozhu carry soldiers, but also sent warships to block the warships of the Jiangnan army. And the people who suppressed Premier Deng's yamen actually said that they had always promised to cooperate with the yamen of the governor of Liangjiang, but now Jiang Guozhu is no longer the governor of Liangjiang; At the same time that the Chizhou prefect turned against the water and suppressed Premier Deng's yamen, there was a terrible rumor circulating in the army, that is, the remaining Admiral Liang Huafeng planted the flag in Nanjing, accepted the appointment of the imperial court, and became the new governor of Jiangnan, acting as the governor of Liangjiang Yamen. And the first order issued by Governor Liang Huafeng Liang was: the army following Jiang Guozhu on the expedition immediately stopped the war with Jiangxi and returned to the garrison at full speed, without mistake.

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