The officials in Jiujiang saw that there were soldiers with weapons standing behind them, where did anyone dare to oppose Dong Weiguo, but the voices supporting Dong Weiguo were not loud, and they only made a few noises. In a hurry, everyone weighed the pros and cons, and no one dared to say that Zhang Chao would not be able to bring troops back.

However, Dong Weiguo did not rush to force everyone to express his position, but invited another person to come out.

"Consul Le!"

Many generals exclaimed, and the person who walked in with a smile on his face was none other than Le Shaohua, the Jiangxi consul of Sichuan stationed in Jiujiang, and some people immediately guessed that Dong Weiguo had received the support of Chengdu.

"Under the Treaty of Peking, the Qing court could not change a governor or governor in the event of an opposition from Chengdu." Le Shaohua said slowly. In the sixth year of Kangxi, after learning that the Ming army that landed from Tianjin was approaching Beijing, the Empress Dowager fled to Chengde with the emperor and ordered Prince An Yue Le to defend Beijing to the death - I didn't expect Deng Ming to kill them all, and promised the army not to enter Beijing; Yue Le, who was unwilling to be a substitute for the dead ghosts, and the other Manchurian princes who stayed behind gritted their teeth and agreed to all the conditions put forward by Deng Ming, without even bargaining: "Now your court thinks that the Zhang Dynasty is no longer suitable to be the governor of Jiangxi, and the empire has also approved it." ”

As he spoke, Le Shaohua took out a document and said to the generals present: "This is the secret decree of your imperial court to Dong Bu's political envoy, deprive Zhang Zhao of his position, and Dong Bu's political envoy will take over, I have already read it, it is indeed a secret decree." ”

Zhao Tianba, as the special envoy of the Yuanhui, was fully responsible for handling the crisis in the two rivers. Although it is not impossible to keep the Zhang Dynasty, Zhao Tianba's instructions to Le Shaohua are that if Dong Weiguo wants to overthrow the Zhang Dynasty and stand on his own, then the empire should fully cooperate, because this can further weaken the authority and cohesion of the Jiangxi governor's yamen. Even if Dong Weiguo seizes the throne, there will be many people below who are unconvinced, so in the next few years, Dong Weiguo, like Liang Huafeng, will have to focus all his energy on consolidating his position, and will not have the spare strength to start a war, or dare to disobey the instructions of the empire.

When the Zhang Dynasty arrives at the border, there will be a confrontation with the Jiangnan army. He was facing an army that had been unified under Liang Huafeng's banner, and Dong Weiguo would definitely not send reinforcements and grain and grass - the 10,000 troops of the Zhang Dynasty would definitely fall into a dilemma of not being able to advance or retreat, which was not unclear to the officers present. And Le Shaohua also assured that the Yamen of Premier Deng would also be on Dong Weiguo's side, and it was comfortable for Zhang Chao to go downstream, but it would not be easy to overcome many obstacles and return to Jiujiang.

"Crusade against Zhang Yi!" Suddenly, someone shouted with all their might.

"Zhang Rebellion! I don't share the sky with you! ”

"Master Dong, the last general will listen to you."

The atmosphere in the venue suddenly became warmer, and this time everyone was much more enthusiastic than at the beginning.

"Actually, this official doesn't want to be this governor." Dong Weiguo should be modest as usual.

"Master Dong, can you not do it."

Immediately, there was a cry of pleading below, and many people immediately beat their chests and feet, expressing their vows to support Dong Weiguo to benefit Jiangxi.

"Since my brothers think so highly of me, then I have to reluctantly embarrass it." Dong Weiguo knew that now was not the time to be polite, and he had already explained a few words about the scene just now, so he quickly got back to business: "These banknotes are a little bit of the official's heart, let's take them back and buy a glass of wine for the brothers." ”

……

It has been five days since Zhang Chao got the news. Like Jiang Guozhu, the army around him was suddenly in chaos. Soon, the expeditionary force in Jiangxi not only learned what was happening in Jiujiang, but also heard about Jiang Guozhu's descent into the field in Chizhou. Not only are they homeless, but there is also no gap ahead. In just two days, more than 5,000 of the 10,000 elite soldiers of the Zhang Dynasty were dispersed, and a large number of officers and subordinates returned to Jiangxi without saying goodbye to Dong Weiguo's command to serve as soldiers and eat food.

"Disperse, disperse." Zhang Chao saw that the army's heart was gone, and he reluctantly announced the disbandment of the army. The Jiangxi troops stood around dejectedly, and after listening to Governor Zhang's last lecture, they returned to Jiangxi in groups.

Zhang Chao looked at the departing army and smiled bitterly: "With these 10,000 officers and soldiers, they are specially for me to see me off; I worked so hard to get them out of Jiujiang just to disband them here. ”

Zhang Chao's ferry ticket, Zhou Peigong also sold it early. Dong Weiguo didn't know if he would have to go to Sichuan one day, so naturally he wouldn't be forced to take all his property away by Zhang Chao's family; In addition, Dong Weiguo also sent a sum of money, which can be regarded as thanking Zhang Chao for his years of support.

The melancholy Zhang Chao boarded the ship in Anqing.

The ship would not dock in Jiangxi, and it was on full alert, allowing Zhang Chao to go ashore only after entering Kuimen — part of an agreement between Zhou Peigong and Dong Weiguo.

The cabin prepared for Zhang Chao was quite comfortable, cleaned, the bedding was brand new, and fresh tea and fruit were prepared. Sitting by the window and waiting for the boat to sail, Zhang Chao recalled the scenery of the past ten years, which was really like a dream of Nanke. Just as Zhang Chao was falling into his memory, he suddenly heard a soft knock on the door, and then someone outside asked, "Is Zhang Weng here?" ”

"Come in." Zhang Chao responded.

The door was pushed open with a bang, and a person walked in with a smile on his face, arching his hand at Zhang Chao: "Zhang Weng, I haven't seen you for many years, but your demeanor is still the same." ”

Zhang Chao fixed his eyes for a while, and suddenly shouted "ah", and hurriedly got up and saluted: "Governor Jiang, don't come unharmed!" ”

"Xianyun Yehe, where is the governor?" Jiang Guozhu also wants to take this boat to Sichuan. Although he hated Liang Huafeng to the core, when he learned what happened to Zhang Chao, his hostility towards Zhang Chao suddenly disappeared without a trace.

"Please be seated, Jiang Weng, please be seated." Zhang Chao greeted politely. Like Jiang Guozhu, in the face of a great enemy who has been intriguing for more than ten years, Zhang Chao suddenly let go of all his past grievances.

After talking for a while, Zhang Chao took out a pair of Go: "There is nothing to do on the road, I wonder if Jiang Weng is willing to talk to the old man?" ”

"Dare to disobey?"

……

Watching the ship carrying this pair of enemies raise its sails, pull anchor and set off upstream, Zhao Tianba exhaled lightly and said to Zhou Peigong: "The order of the academy has finally been successfully completed. ”

In the sixth year of Kangxi, when Deng Ming led the army to land in Tianjin, Zhao Tianba was also in the army, and after learning that the empress dowager of the Qing court fled with the emperor, the morale of the Ming army was uplifted, and they all felt that the fall of the Qing court was imminent. However, Gong Yan, who was in the same company, resolutely opposed Deng Ming's immediate attack on Beijing. Gong Yan pointed out that if Beijing is taken, Deng Ming must be defended, and Beijing and western Sichuan are too far apart, and Deng Ming is difficult to separate; Gong Yan further pointed out that once the Qing court lost Beijing, then in the eyes of the people of the world, it would be no different from annihilation, and careerists everywhere would take advantage of the situation, and Deng Ming would not only defend Beijing and Chengdu, but also suppress these people who fought with him for the world; Eventually, the governors of the southeast, who were originally wary of the Qing court, would immediately regard Deng Ming as their number one enemy, fearing that Deng Ming would take away their territory, and without the deterrence of the Qing court, these governors would be able to use all their strength against Deng Ming.

Therefore, Gong Yan believes that it is necessary to temporarily preserve a discredited Qing court. As long as the Qing court could still counterattack, the governors of the southeast could not concentrate on confronting Deng Ming; The Qing court's cunning was also a kind of suppression of careerists, and the Qing court would even suppress the vassal kings with the idea of "preferring foreign enemies to domestic thieves", and if the Qing court felt that Deng Ming might leave them a way to live, it would do so.

At that time, many people couldn't help but ask Gong Yan, when is the right time to overthrow the Qing court?

Gong Yan replied that he needed to wait for Deng Ming to further erode the ambitions of the vassal king and governor. When Deng Ming actually controlled half of the world, or the vassal king and governor recognized Deng Ming's authority from the bottom of their hearts and lost the confidence to compete with Deng Ming, the time was ripe.

When Yue Le signed the contract and the Ming army was about to fulfill the contract and retreat, Zhao Tianba saw Gong Yan looking at the city wall of Beijing for a long time, and sighed: "The old man probably can't come to Beijing for the third time." After the general (then Deng Ming's position) recovered Beijing...... Let the old man's son come and see it for the old man. ”

……

"It should be soon." Zhao Tianba recalled in his heart Gong Yan's words in front of Beijing. Gong's children and grandchildren were all brought to Sichuan from Shaanxi, and some now teach in academies and others serve in the government. The governors of the southeast seem to have lost confidence in separating their territory, and they are getting closer and closer to the conditions put forward by Gong Yan, and after the Liangjiang crisis subsides, the crumbling prestige of the Qing court and the governors will be further hit: "The admiral said that when he returns from this expedition, he will be able to redeem all the power of the people of Hubei, and the annual trade income in the future will be able to redeem at least one province." ”

Zhou Peigong was equally overjoyed, and the scale of the conflict was quite small, and it had little impact on the transportation of the Yangtze River. Moreover, the armies of both sides only followed Chiang Guozhu and Zhang Chao in a circle, and did not invade the land of the neighboring provinces, so there was no looting of the area, and no large numbers of people were displaced—and there was no adverse effect on the economy of Jiangnan and Jiangxi.

Just when Zhao Tianba and Zhou Peigong were celebrating each other, another urgent report came from Hangzhou, which was Zhao Guozuo's distress document.

"Geng Jingzhong announced that he had regained his sight against the Qing Dynasty?" After reading the letter, Zhao Tianba suddenly became angry: "He also invaded Zhejiang? ”

Although Zhao Tianba already knew that Geng Jingzhong was plotting against him, he thought that the crisis in Liangjiang would be solved so quickly, and Geng Jingzhong would definitely not risk the world's condemnation and brazenly invade Zhejiang. However, Zhao Tianba underestimated Geng Jingzhong's ambitions. As soon as he learned the news that Jiang Guozhu was preparing to send troops to Jiangxi, Geng Jingzhong concluded that this battle would definitely be protracted, and that this battle between the two rivers would inevitably attract the attention of Chengdu and Beijing for a long time. Since Zhejiang is definitely isolated in the short term, Geng Jingzhong felt that there was no need to delay time, so he immediately announced that he would return to Daming anyway and immediately send troops to attack Zhao Guozuo, the governor of Zhejiang who was pseudo-Qing.

Since the infighting between the three kings, Geng Jingzhong is still the first heavyweight to go public. Geng Jingzhong felt that with the weight of this "Shouyi", coupled with the agreement to cooperate with Zheng Jing to attack Nanjing, the Eastern Zhejiang Army would definitely remain neutral; After taking half of Zhejiang, Geng Jingzhong also opened up the road to Liangjiang. At that time, it was estimated that Shang Zhixin also sent troops to Jiangxi, and the entire south would be a pot of porridge. Even if Nanjing gives Zheng Jing, it would be good if he could get a few prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River. Besides, as long as Geng Jingzhong acts quickly, he still has a chance to get a piece of the pie in Jiangxi.

At the same time as making it public, Geng Jingzhong also asked the emperor's eunuch who had made up to deliver him a letter to rush back to Beijing. Geng Jingzhong's secret letter to Kangxi said that he was loyal to the emperor, and this time he claimed that he was forced to make a last resort anyway. Because many traitors, such as Zhao Guozuo, are under the wing of Deng Ming, and Geng Jingzhong is invincible with two fists; In order to achieve the effect of each defeat, Geng Jingzhong had no choice but to disguise himself as a Ming army to defeat Zhao Guozuo, who was disguised as a Qing army. Geng Jingzhong implored the emperor to be considerate of his painstaking efforts - although he was not optimistic about the Qing Dynasty, if he only needed to say something beautiful to bet on both sides, Geng Jingzhong would not be stingy with such a few words.

"I can't go back to Sichuan for the time being, and the crisis in the southeast has not completely subsided." Zhao Tianba said with a stiff face.

Zhao Guozuo is definitely not Geng Jingzhong's opponent. Now Zhejiang is divided into three parts, one of which is the territory of the Eastern Zhejiang Army, and of course they will not obey the dispatch of Hangzhou; Zhuang Tingyue, Zhu Nianshao and Zhao Guozuo in northern Zhejiang were also wary of each other, and had several negotiations before, but the former Jingnan army in northern Zhejiang resolutely refused to go to the south to obey the command of Hangzhou. Relying on one-third of Zhejiang, where can Zhao Guozuo withstand Geng Jingzhong's attack. But Zhao Tianba must not watch Zhao Guozuo fail, because Hangzhou is a model province in the eyes of the academy, and before leaving Sichuan, the academy also specially told Zhao Tianba to ensure the safety of Hangzhou. Not to mention that if Geng Jingzhong succeeds, it will further fuel the ambitions of the vassal kings and governors, and maybe the idea of competing with Sichuan will sprout again. Therefore, you can't let the vassal king or governor who wants to expand the territory get his wish, otherwise others will can't help but want to try it - whoever dares to provoke trouble will destroy whom, this is the strategy that Zhao Tianba proposed to the academy before he set off, and it was also approved by the academy.

However, Geng Jingzhong is the first righteousness, and he is the first to stand up Anyway, the emperor ** team can't fight him. In this way, Jiangnan and Jiangxi are both loyal and filial sons of the Qing Dynasty, and they have just expelled Jiang Guozhu and Zhang Chao of 'Tongdeng', if they send troops to fight against Geng Jingzhong anyway, it is always reasonable!