When receiving the news of Zhu Guozhi's disobedience, Jiang Guozhu jumped up in shock, and hurriedly read the "letter of request for war" signed by the Anqing generals, Jiang Guozhu's first thought was to break Zhu Guozhi's body into pieces.

"You've been blocking me all along, aren't you? I didn't hurt you, did I? Why are you driving me to death? Fortunately, Jiang Guozhu still had a trace of sanity and did not tear the war letter to shreds on the spot. After hesitating for a moment, Jiang Guozhu carefully put away this war letter, and immediately drafted a chapter to impeach Zhu Guozhi, complaining to the court about Zhu Bu's incorruptibility.

Jiang Guozhu's tone in this letter is very intense, and when it reads, it gives people the feeling that he wants to share the sky with Zhu Guozhi, and even if the imperial court does not remove Zhu Guozhi from his post, he will return to his hometown.

"My lord, are you waiting a little longer?" When the staff saw the content of this recital, they all felt that the tone was a little too much, and it was completely inconsistent with the golden mean of officialdom. No one would like this kind of prickly official, even if Jiang Guozhu and Zhu Guozhi were in competition, and the imperial court was happy to see them compete to flatter the imperial court for a position, but too drastic means were still not advisable.

Therefore, Zhu Guozhi's methods are very dangerous, as long as he can't achieve big results, he will be defeated, at this time, the staff feel that Jiang Guozhu just needs to wait and see what happens, and Zhu Guozhi can't get a few cold words to clean him up; And after all, there is still a possibility that Zhu Guozhi really defeated Deng Ming, after all, the intelligence has always said that Deng Ming is not strong, and Jiang Guozhu's judgment is just a guess. Even if Zhu Guozhi really wins, then Jiang Guozhu may not be able to share the credit from him, as long as he finds a way to win over some generals who participated in the war, mentioning that it was Jiang Guozhu's wise decision to concentrate the Qing army in Anqing before...... There are many ways, and there is every opportunity to describe Zhu Guozhi as a villain who robs the merits of his boss and takes Jiang Guozhu's credit for himself.

It's already very bad to snatch the credit of your subordinates, and in most cases everyone still makes a deal, and it is really appalling to snatch the credit of your boss. The staff felt that although Zhu Guozhi's tricks were fierce, this kind of way was still too extreme, Jiang Guozhu had many ways to deal with it, and it was best not to fight with Zhu Guozhi with enthusiasm.

"Do you think Zhu Guozhi can still win?" Although the staff did not say it explicitly, Jiang Guozhu immediately understood the meaning of their words, and he sighed and said: "Zhu Guozhi is killing himself, he has fallen into Dong Weiguo's pit, and he is still dragging me, if I don't write this letter, I will be dragged into the pit together." ”

Although Zhu Guozhi's disobedience and the letter of war sent back are very important, they can help Jiang Guozhu prove to the court that he is not the main responsible person, and it is completely Zhu Guozhi who is doing his own thing; But in any case, Jiang Guozhu was Zhu Guozhi's superior, and Zhu Guozhi's defeat was his defeat, and Jiang Guozhu's justification would be seen by officials in the imperial court and other provinces as he was excusing himself -- all officials had done this kind of thing, and every boss would do everything possible to justify himself after the defeat of his subordinates, and try his best to clear himself of responsibility.

But Jiang Guozhu was too innocent this time, he really didn't have any responsibility, and there was absolutely no hint that Zhu Guozhi should take the initiative to attack, or have an ambiguous attitude on the issue of war defense.

"Zhu Guozhi is already fighting against the water, he will definitely go out and fight with Deng Ming, the end is a complete defeat, if I don't rush to take this recital before the news of the big defeat comes, any defense will be much weaker after that." Jiang Guozhu couldn't help but think that if it weren't for běijīng's intention to arrange Zhu Guozhi to compete with him, it wouldn't be like this now, but of course Jiang Guozhu couldn't complain to běijīng that the imperial court sent people to contain him, let alone hint to the officials in the world to clear himself of responsibility, so he would definitely have to bear this black pot for the imperial court.

In his reply to Zhu Guozhi, Jiang Guozhu was still cordial, as if he did not take the killed standard battalion officer to heart at all, but angrily accused that person of ignoring things, and there was a misunderstanding between the governor and the political envoy.

In this letter, Jiang Guozhu begged Zhu Guozhi not to go out to fight with Deng Ming, as long as this battle is not big, everything is easy to discuss; Jiang Guozhu also swore that he would not leak Zhu Guozhi's disobedience, and as for the letter of invitation, as long as Zhu Guozhi agreed to retreat, Jiang Guozhu would immediately burn it to ashes...... In this letter, Jiang Guozhu swore an oath, but he estimated that Zhu Guozhi would not believe it, and the governor of Jiangning, like other officials, did not have a good reputation for trustworthiness. The ancients had a saying: soldiers are not tired of deceit, and the battle in the officialdom is only more despicable and shameless than on the battlefield, and if Jiang Guozhu is in the position of Zhu Guozhi, he will never believe that the governor of Jiangning will let go of the opportunity to fall into the trap against his competitors.

"It's better than nothing," Jiang Guozhu sat on the chair and sighed after sending the letter full of lies: "I won't believe it, unless it is written by Deng Ming, he is a trustworthy gentleman." ”

……

After annihilating Zhu Guozhi's army, Deng Ming marched to Anqing, the capital city of Anqing now only a hundred old, weak, sick and disabled people in the city, the prefect knew that he could not resist at all, so he planned to hang himself - the previous prefect is a good example, he was first defeated and captured, then waited for the opportunity to escape from prison, and organized a government to recapture Anqing from the Ming army - although the experience of the previous prefect was so legendary, he was finally dismissed; The incumbent prefect asked himself if he had the ability to escape from prison, release the servants, and retake the city, so he would definitely not be able to get away with the crime, and it would only be a dead end, and he would not even be able to do the kind of leniency that the previous prefect did.

Knowing that the prefect was preparing for the future, several leaders of the yamen hurriedly came to see him, all wanting to snatch the great merit of this savior in danger.

"Why did the prefect make such a decision?" After rushing into the back hall of the prefect's yamen, he saw that the prefect was crying and tying a white cloth noose with the concubine, so he rushed forward together and hugged the prefect.

"Ants are still greedy, sir." Seeing the reinforcements coming, the little concubine threw the half-knitted noose on the ground, and cried bitterly, she was still young, and was bought by the new Anqing prefect a few months ago. The second half of his life is guaranteed, and it would be more perfect if he had a son and a half daughter. When she was proud, why did she suddenly accompany her husband to die?

The prefect didn't treat these local officials very well, and in the prefect's mind, these locals, who usually hardly received any special benefits from him, must have fled home with oil on the soles of their feet, or swept the yamen and waited for the arrival of the Ming army. The prefect never expected that the officials here in Anqing were so simple, not only did they not tie him up and dedicate him to the Ming army at the critical juncture, but they actually came to persuade him to cheer up.

"The building will fall, and it will be difficult to support it alone." The prefect wept and said, part of it was because he was sad for himself, and the other part was because he was moved, in his impression, these Jiān cunning officials did not have a few good things, and they were all people who tended to be inflammatory. The prefect was in a high position, and he was not worried at all that the officials of the yamen would not try their best to meet them, so he never thought of giving them some additional benefits. He pointed to a few boxes in his house, and said to the officials who rushed to save him with emotion and shame: "After you put the body of this official in the coffin, take these boxes, and give you all the contents of them." ”

"Adults don't have to be like that." Several officials of Anqing hurriedly knelt down, after the experience of the last Anqing loss, these local snakes can be regarded as understanding, Deng Ming does not plan to stay here at all, in this case, the prefect of the Qing court must still be the first object to be stammered, even if the one in front of him cannot keep his official position, as long as he recommends himself to stay in office like he took office, or promote it before leaving, it is also good.

Shut down

One of these officials was the one who helped the former prefect escape from prison and made great contributions in retaking the city, and he immediately told the truth about the last escape, that is, there were many greedy officials in the Ming army, and Deng Ming himself was not interested in Anqing: "...... The former prefect bribed a guy named Yu Youming, he was a subordinate of Deng Ming, but he was ordered to guard Anqing, and when Deng Ming retired from the army, he was in a hurry to leave, and the prefect spent a little money to successfully escape from prison, and Anqing was exempted from capital crimes. ”

"Sir, sir." After listening to the official recount, the concubine of the current prefect shook her husband's arm vigorously, her eyes full of anticipation.

"Ugh." Until now, the little will to die just now has also been almost lost, the Qing court has been extremely strict since entering the customs, and the loss of the city must be a dead end for the Anqing prefect, so he decided to commit suicide, and now since there is still a glimmer of life, the Anqing prefect is determined to fight.

"Do you still have news of that Yu Youming?" The prefect of Anqing asked, "Do you still have a way to meet General Yu?" ”

"The villain has never heard from the general again," this official beat the mood of the Anqing prefect back to the bottom with one sentence, but he immediately made a generous statement: "The villain is willing to risk his life to investigate in the Ming army." ”

"The little people are willing to go, too." Several other officials in the house saw that this guy was trying to take all the credit and benefits, and they were willing to agree, and they all quickly knelt on the ground together: "Deng Ming won't be embarrassed by the villains, who are like ants, so the villains will set off and go to the opposite side to inquire for the prefect." ”

In order to avoid the hardship of besieging the city, and in order to quickly gain control of the city, the army generally spoke favorably to the local gentry and officials. Seeing that his subordinates were so righteous, the prefect was even more moved, and told them: "This official will never surrender, but you can go to prison and stay in prison, as long as you let this official recover Anqing with his own hands when he retreats." ”

"Don't worry, the adults understand." The officials agreed in unison, leaving one or two companions to monitor the prefect, lest he would not think of committing suicide again, and everyone would not be able to continue to benefit from the Qing court.

A few officials who went to the camp of the Ming army went straight to Deng Ming's camp after leaving the city, and unlike the ordinary envoys who asked to surrender, these Anqing officials were in a very relaxed mood, and they hummed a little song along the way.

Last time, the Ming army was not so much a deal with the former prefect of Anqing, but a deal with the local gentry and officials in Anqing, the prefect is a kind of civil official is a flow official, a few years to change, although it is important, but the next time the Ming army comes back, I don't know when it will be, and I can't predict what will happen halfway. But the officials are different, they all do it all their lives, the son follows the father's business, and the brother dies with the brother.

Therefore, it is not the former Anqing prefect who has been imprisoned who is qualified to trade with the Ming army, but these hereditary Xu officials who have served in the Anqing Yamen for generations, since the Ming Dynasty. Even the release of the prefect by the Ming army was initially raised by the Xu clique - because they hoped to receive the prefect's gratitude and ensure that the prefect would ask the Qing court for credit for them before leaving their posts.

Although Yu Youming was nominally responsible for all the transactions last time, these officials were not fools, they knew very well that this must be an instruction and order from the top of the Ming army, so after learning that Zhu Guozhi was defeated, not only did they not have the slightest fear, but they were also very happy - if the Ming army could not defeat Anqing, they would not have the opportunity to make meritorious contributions to the new prefect.

As these Anqing officials had predicted, the Ming army was indeed quite polite to them, and soon a Ming officer came forward to entertain them, this officer called himself Mu Tan, and could agree to all reasonable requests on behalf of Deng Ming. As soon as he came up, Mu Tan proposed to the representative of Anqing Xu that if the other party had no objections, it would still be good to act according to the settlement model of Anqing last time.

"General Mu, although it is good for us to recover Anqing by ourselves, after all, in the eyes of Běijīng, it is still lost; The prefect is definitely going to go to work, and we have to re-engage with the newcomers. ”

"So what do you want to do?" Mu Tan asked, and when he saw that several of the representatives of the officials had hesitation on their faces, he encouraged them to speak boldly: "Don't be afraid, is there anything that is not easy to say?" Can't you trust our Admiral? ”

The officials hoped that the Ming army would not take Anqing, as long as Anqing was not lost, the prefect would obviously be innocent, and he would be even more grateful to these officials who helped him tide over the difficulties.

Mu Tan thought for a while and put forward several requirements: first, the Ming army should obtain the reserves in the Anqing treasury; Second, the Anqing side could not make hostile acts against the Ming army; Finally, in order to ensure the implementation of these two points, the Ming army had to send some people into the city to monitor, and also sent some soldiers to disguise themselves as Qing soldiers to control a city gate.

Mu Tan's request was agreed to by the Xu Officials group, and with the cooperation of these local snakes, the Ming army could not see even the prefect Yamen of Anqing, not to mention the control of a city gate. In order to make the Ming army more reassured, the gentry and Xu officials group in Anqing will also send hostages to the Ming army.

After the two sides reached a basic agreement, Mu Tan put forward a business invitation, and there was no need for those hostages to stay in the barracks every day in the Ming barracks: "We brought some Jiangxi native products this time, I don't know if Anqing wants it here?" ”

"What kind of local products, is there porcelain?" After hearing this, several business-minded officials have their eyes lit up, the developed Yangtze River shipping trade has been shrinking for most of the past six months, even if there are merchant ships passing by, most of them will send goods to Nanjing, where prices rise faster, or Yangzhou, where merchants gather, and rarely unload a large number of goods here in Anqing.

"Since it is a native of Jiangxi, how can there be no porcelain." Mu Tan burst out laughing.

……

After learning that Zhu Guozhi's entire army was destroyed, Jiang Guozhu was silent for a long time, and then sighed in the study, and he had no appetite for three meals.

"Zhu Guozhi, you are sincere, right? It's sincere, right? Jiang Guozhu weighed the form in front of him, and found that he had basically been caught up by the Zhang Dynasty, Anqing was defeated worse than Jiujiang by the Qing army, and Anqing's status was far more important than Jiujiang, and now the eyes of the people of the world are definitely attracted to Nanjing, waiting to see if it will be another big war related to the gains and losses of the southeast. No one will pay attention to Jiangxi again, and Běijīng will not take another look at Jiujiang.

After learning that the 10,000 Qing troops in Anqing had been wiped out, the Yamen, the governor of Liangjiang in Nanjing, fell into a state of panic, and everyone in Jiang Guozhu's shogunate felt that a great disaster was imminent. In the absence of Su Song's naval division, the Qing army in Jiangnan could only spread out its forces in an all-round way, putting on the appearance of being beaten passively - this is a bit similar to the situation last time Zheng Chenggong besieged Nanjing, when Su Song's naval division did not dare to move at all under the threat of Zheng's powerful naval division. The difference is that Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Huangyan had nearly 200,000 soldiers that time, so Lang Tingzuo chose to abandon all other prefectures and counties and concentrate his forces to hold Nanjing, and now Jiang Guozhu could not give up a large number of prefectures and counties for more than 10,000 Ming troops.

However, Jiang Guozhu knew in his heart that his situation was not much better than that of Lang Tingzuo, and at that time, the green battalion in Jiangnan was still relatively combat-effective, and there were many officers and soldiers with combat experience among the tens of thousands of armor. However, after fighting hard with Zheng Chenggong for several battles and losing a large number of directly subordinate Jīng soldiers, Lang Tingzuo dispatched all the prefectures and counties to Nanjing; then was beaten by Deng Ming, and even the more combat-effective armor in the prefecture and county was annihilated; In the end, there was another game of Ma Fengzhi anyway, which completely exhausted the strength here in Nanjing. Compared with Zheng Chenggong's invasion of the Yangtze River, the number of people in the current Jiangnan Green Battalion may not be much different, but the experience is too bad, and the equipment is far from being completed. Jiang Guozhu would not have felt the slightest surprise if he knew that some armored soldiers had this name, but in fact had no equipment, and had not participated in a single cāo exercise.

After they were annihilated by the Ming army, the Jiangnan Green Battalion had completely lost its rescue and field capabilities, and no matter what Deng Ming wanted to fight in that city, he only had to face the city's own strength.

"If Anqing, Chizhou, and Taiping are lost one by one, I will be surpassed by Zhang Chao," Jiang Guozhu was horrified to find that he was about to become the last one in the race: "At least Dong Weiguo has 'recovered' Jiujiang, can Zhu Guozhi recover Anqing?" Even if I could, could I let him reclaim it? Anyway, Dong Weiguo and Zhang Chao are still of the same mind. ”

After some hard thinking, Jiang Guozhu had no choice but to send secret messages to the prefects and yamen in Chizhou and other places, asking them to do their best to keep the city, as long as they could ensure that the city was not lost, no matter what method was used.

"As for Anqing'......" Jiang Guozhu felt that it was probably too late, but he finally decided to send the same message: "Do your best and obey the destiny of heaven." ”