"Interesting." Wu Sangui's interest was aroused at once, and he asked for a detailed report from Xia Guoxiang and read it carefully.

After a while, Wu Sangui put down the information about Deng Ming's title and discussed it with Xia Guoxiang with a smile: "You say, what does Yongli Tianzi mean by doubting Deng Ming?" Or are you suspicious of Li Dingguo? ”

"The last general doesn't know, dare to ask the king to make it clear." Xia Guoxiang knew that Wu Sangui probably already had an idea, so he didn't guess at all.

"I'm afraid that both of them are suspicious, and both of them want to use it, Yongli Tianzi is really painstaking." In front of his cronies, Wu Sangui's title of Yongli is still very respectful, a mouthful of a "Son of Heaven", Emperor Daming is the master of his Wu family for generations, even if Wu Sangui rebelled, this kind of prestige accumulated over generations still makes Wu Sangui still in awe of Yongli, even if it is not a lot but there is still a little.

In the past, Wu Sangui hated Li Dingguo the most, and the second was Deng Ming, which Xia Guoxiang knew very well, because Yunnan was Wu Sangui's fief, so in the eyes of King Pingxi, Li Dingguo was a villain who occupied his family property - King Pingxi was not easy to mess with, and never knew what it meant to suffer a loss. The Manchu Qing asked him to defend Shaanxi, so he had to marry the princess to his son; Xia Guoxiang knew very well that whoever took advantage of the king of Pingxi was his enemy, even if the emperor robbed Wu Sangui's vassal state, he might have to fight hard, let alone a Jin king Li Dingguo. And although Deng Ming did not rob King Pingxi's property, if he hadn't set a fire, Yunnan would never have been snatched away by Li Dingguo's villain, so King Pingxi hated Deng Ming so much.

But this is all in the past, Xia Guoxiang knows that now Zhang Changgeng has replaced Deng Ming's position, because the food and salary promised by the Qing court to Wu Sangui have been withheld by Zhang Changgeng, but even so, the war situation in Hubei has not seen any improvement. Zhang Changgeng looked half-dead, half of Hubei was in the hands of the camp, and Deng Ming was still going back and forth on the Yangtze River again and again, and Wu Sangui still couldn't get food supplies.

When everyone scolded Zhang Changgeng for being incompetent, King Pingxi once said something unintentionally, saying that Zhang Changgeng was a bit similar to his father and son when they were guarding Guanning, but King Pingxi reacted quickly and did not continue to talk but scolded Zhang Changgeng for being weak and incompetent with everyone. However, Xia Guoxiang firmly remembered King Pingxi's evaluation, but he felt that Wu Sangui was definitely not referring to the hardships of staying alone in a lonely city.

On Wu Sangui's list of enemies, ranking higher than Zhang Changgeng is the Wei Jueye Righteous Brothers known to Deng Ming, who ransacked several mansions when Daniel Zhang and Zhao Liangdong left Guizhou last time, making Wu Sangui angry. As far as Xia Guoxiang knows, it is probably that Li Zicheng's reaction after confiscating the ill-gotten wealth of the Wu family can be compared with this time - after all, most of the old Wu family's property was earned back by Wu Sangui and his son, and this family business in Guizhou was obtained by Wu Sangui himself, and the pain after being robbed is also very different.

"The king sees thousands of miles." Xia Guoxiang agreed, and then asked, "Then how does the king plan to take advantage of the discord between the Yongli monarchs and ministers?" ”

"Utilization? What am I doing with this? Could it be that if I use it, the imperial court will let Zhang Changgeng transport the grain to me? Wu Sangui's tone was full of resentment, and he didn't hide it in the slightest. Guizhou is not without material reserves, nor is it without troops, but Wu Sangui is resolutely unwilling to attack Yunnan -- after two tug-of-wars in Yunnan, production has withered and the people are poor, Wu Sangui knows that if he wants to restore the livelihood of the people in Yunnan, he needs to invest a lot of money and grain, and Wu Sangui originally asked the imperial court for this money in the name of the grain and salary of more than 100,000 troops -- since the end of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to embezzling military salaries, warlords often used the excuse that the military salaries were not enough to rob the people, but after Wu Sangui worked hard to get money and grain from the imperial court, But he was reluctant to stuff it into his own pocket but used it to support the people of Yungui and Gui, and this was not because the court promised him to Yongzhen Yungui for generations, so that Wu Sangui was determined to use the money and grain of the Qing court to win the hearts of the people, resume production, and build a foundation for his descendants.

Now, if there is another tug-of-war with Li Dingguo in Yunnan, no matter whether they win or lose, it is estimated that there are not many living people left in Yunnan, and if the people of Guizhou are asked to bear all the war expenses, it is estimated that the household registration will have to be halved. Therefore, Wu Sangui's 100,000 troops stayed in Guiyang honestly, and did not even symbolically harass Yunnan, so that they could save some military expenses and reduce the burden on the people of Guizhou -- let the king of Pingxi bring his own dry food to contribute to the imperial court? Unless the sun comes out in the west.

After reading this report about Deng Ming, Wu Sangui had a lot of speculations and thoughts, he pondered for a while, and finally did not confide in Xia Guoxiang these immature ideas, but picked up the secret letter that was not of much interest to Mangbai and read it.

"Well, killing a brother is self-reliant, what a beast. And the Son of Yongli did not congratulate or recognize him...... has backbone, worthy of being a member of the old Zhu family, even the most timid one is not useless. Wu Sangui asked himself if he and Yongli changed places, he would definitely not be able to do it: "No wonder he wants to sell the son of Yongli, he wants to make meritorious service so that the court can recognize him, so as to suppress the domestic dissatisfaction." Also, most of them also fancy the property brought by the Son of Yongli, he killed his brother, there must be a lot of dissatisfied people below, he not only needs the court to admit to help him establish his authority, but also needs to use a windfall to buy people's hearts, hehe, this barbarian king is still a talent. ”

Although the secret letter was full of loyalty to the Qing court, Wu Sangui easily counted out all his reckless thoughts: "Do you want this king to fight Li Dingguo with him?" This is really wishful thinking, if he is let into Yunnan, it is estimated that he will have to move all the children and jade silk of the place he passes back to his house, right? ”

"And how is the king going to reply to him?" Xia Guoxiang asked.

"Well, just reply to him like this, read in his heart of Xianghua, as long as Mang Bai Ken provides the grain and grass needed by the king's 100,000 army to conquer Yunnan, the king will help him ask the court for a canonization, and his subordinates are not allowed to enter Yunnan on their own, or hand it over to the king for moderation, or stay on the border honestly."

"Most of this reckless white will not agree."

"If you don't agree, you don't agree, as long as Zhang Changgeng honestly transports the grain and grass, this king won't need him." Wu Sangui sneered: "When the time comes, if Mangbai doesn't obediently send the Son of Yongli to the Emperor, this king will go to crusade against him, and then tell the court that you will be the king of Burma." ”

"The king and the general are joking." Xia Guoxiang hurriedly diverted the topic.

"It doesn't have to be that it can't come true." Wu Sangui said again, but since Xia Guoxiang was reluctant to mention it, he would not continue the topic.

Wu Sangui always thought that he was in a very advantageous position, and when he borrowed troops from the Manchu Qing Dynasty to attack Li Zicheng, the scholars and doctors in Jiangnan shouted good about it; And the Manchu Qing claimed to have avenged the revenge of the monarch's father for the Ming Chen, and Wu Sangui also had a reason for them to work for the Manchu Dynasty, anyway, Li Zicheng was a scoundrel who caused trouble in the world, as long as Li Zicheng was charged with coercing the people and passing through thousands of miles of red land (although he had never done so in the camp), then the Manchu Qing was naturally a righteous teacher who hung the people and killed the crime.

Until Wu Sangui invaded Kunming, his image was still good, and he also knew that many scholars and doctors in Jiangnan still had hopes for him, hoping that he would turn against him anyway, and then rush back to Shanhaiguan in anger. This good image brought a lot of benefits to Wu Sangui, and also meant a greater threat to the Qing court, so Shunzhi and Aobai gave the vassal state to Wu Sangui with knowledge and interest, so that he could cherish the glory and wealth in front of him, and not turn his mind to rebel.

However, it is also because of this good image that Wu Sangui knows that the Qing court is also more suspicious of him. For example, after entering Guizhou, Wu Sangui knew that this would be his future territory, so even if he encountered stubborn resistance, he did not allow the army to carry out massacres, and Shunzhi immediately issued an edict to reprimand him after learning about it, believing that Wu Sangui's Huairou policy was "extremely unreasonable"; For example, the last time Daniel Zhang and Zhao Liangdong left Guizhou, Wu Sangui suspected that Sun Sike's prison army did not play a good role in it - but Wu Sangui did not write to impeach Daniel Zhang or Zhao Liangdong, he estimated that Ao Bai would definitely be very happy in his heart, impeaching Daniel Zhang's three villains is actually equivalent to asking for credit for them, as for Sun Sike, Wu Sangui first has no evidence, and the second is also unwilling to ask for credit for him.

Before the Kunming fire, Wu Sangui had carefully considered the problem of self-pollution, and at that time Hong Chengchou was not dead, and he once privately suggested to Wu Sangui: If you want to live a stable life, you must not let Yunnan be idle for a day.

Wu Sangui was submissive on the surface, but he scolded in his heart: "Old horseman, there are rumors that you slept with the Queen Mother (Shunzhi didn't die at that time, so her mother was still the Queen Mother), maybe you really didn't frame you, it's rare that you are so loyal!" If Yunnan fights every day, making itself poor and poor, and complaining, doesn't it make it easier for the imperial court to cut down the domain? Are you trying to make excuses for the imperial court to send troops into Yunnan? ”

However, it was precisely because of Hong Chengchou's suggestion that Wu Sangui made up his mind: as long as the imperial court kept his word and gave him the vassal state, he would kill Yongli to prove his intentions, and at the same time, it could be regarded as completely ruining his good image, making the Qing court believe that he could no longer rebel anyway.

Of course, now this idea has been thrown away by Wu Sangui without a trace, and in recent times, he has been communicating with Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao, and the words are all the same meaning: since the imperial court has deducted the military salaries of Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao, it is very reasonable compensation to give them a vassal state with governing power - the prestige of the Qing court has been greatly reduced after the first battle of Gaoyou Lake, and Wu Sangui began to think about finding something for the imperial court, saving himself from staring at himself all day long.

In addition, Wu Sangui has a serious thing that has been planned for a long time: "The autumn harvest of all prefectures is over, right?" ”

"Rest assured, the king has all the grain and grass."

"Okay, report to the imperial court immediately, the Shuixi family colluded with Li Dingguo, and planned to welcome the soldiers and horses of the Pseudo-Ming Dynasty into Guizhou to make trouble." While issuing an urgent report, Wu Sangui ordered the garrisons in various places to launch a surprise attack at the same time, and he was sure to wipe out the Shuixi Tusi -- the land, population, and wealth accumulated over the past thousand years were not without much help for Wu Sangui. However, the king of Pingxi will not follow Hong Chengchou's suggestion and let his family be in chaos, according to Wu Sangui's plan, he will uproot the An family within a few months and change the land to the river - of course, this official is an official of the Pingxi Palace, not the imperial court.

(End of chapter)

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