Liang Huafeng, the new governor of Jiangnan, had a bad day today, he had just received the news that Ma Fengzhi, who had already been arrested, had fled back to Wusong, and instigated the old troops to make trouble overnight, regaining control of the original troops.

"Why didn't anyone notify me of such a big thing? Are all the people in Jiangning rice buckets? Liang Huafeng was furious, and he hurried back to Nanking with 2,000 soldiers and horses, leaving only 1,000 men to reorganize Ma Fengzhi's army—if no one had taken the lead, these forces would have been enough to deter the ill-intentioned. But the war in Nanjing was unfavorable, rumors were flying all over the sky, and now Ma Fengzhi suddenly appeared again, Liang Huafeng's men and horses were caught off guard, and they were immediately defeated by the rebels.

After the men who fled back reported that something had happened, Liang Huafeng had the intention to return to the division to suppress Ma Fengzhi, but now that they were loyal to Nanjing, Liang Huafeng's soldiers and horses and the Qing army in Suzhou Mansion could not gain the upper hand over Ma Fengzhi. Liang Huafeng thought about it for a while and decided to continue to return to Nanjing, although this would give Ma Fengzhi more time and allow him to stabilize the morale of the army, but Liang Huafeng felt that as long as he could keep Nanjing and repel the Ming army, it would not be too difficult to turn around and deal with Ma Fengzhi; On the other hand, if Nanjing is lost, everything will be over, not to mention that the Qing army in the southeast will become unreliable, even Liang Huafeng's own troops will be demoralized.

After the order continued to advance, Liang Huafeng scolded the civil and military officials in Nanjing in front of his subordinates, if he had informed him that Ma Fengzhi had absconded, even if Liang Huafeng could not stop Ma Fengzhi's rebellion, at least he would not let the soldiers who remained in Ma Fengzhi be suddenly attacked.

After passing through Guò Jurong, when Liang Huafeng felt that Nanjing was in sight, he suddenly met an envoy who claimed to be sent by Lang Tingzuo, and these envoys Liang Huafeng knew each other, and they were indeed officers of Lang Tingzuo's standard battalion. It's just that Liang Huafeng has heard that Lang Tingzuo was captured, and he doesn't understand how the other party can still send envoys, and it's even more strange how these envoys know that they want to take this road.

"Liang Shuai." After seeing Liang Huafeng, these envoys also seemed to see their relatives: "It's too miserable, Liang Shuai must save the Governor and save Jiangning, and now the entire southeast is counting on Liang Shuai." ”

These standard battalion officers were also Deng Ming's captives, and after Lang Tingzuo agreed to cooperate with Deng Ming, he selected these henchmen from the captives and asked them to send a letter to Liang Huafeng. The letter to Liang Huafeng introducing the situation was dictated by Lang Tingzuo and recorded by Deng Ming, because Lang Tingzuo felt that if he wrote a letter in his own handwriting, he would fall into the trap and it might become evidence of his deal with Deng Ming; In addition, Lang Tingzuo also had to guard against Liang Huafeng, afraid that he would not advance and retreat with him, but fled to Jiangbei with the letter and handed it over to the imperial court to prove that the retreat was a last resort.

In order to convince Liang Huafeng that the letter was indeed written by himself, Lang Tingzuo also wrote a second letter by himself, in which he chatted with several words of greeting, not only vaguely but also did not indicate the time, and finally listed the name of the messenger on it. In the first letter, Lang Tingzuo informed the envoy that there would be a second letter and repeated the contents of the second letter. When Liang Huafeng got two letters at the same time, he could confirm that it was indeed given to him by Lang Tingzuo, but if Liang Huafeng wanted to sneak away alone, then he had no way to think of the imperial court to prove that the first letter was not made up by himself - the content of the second letter was very ordinary, and the imperial court might think that Liang Huafeng had received it before, and he had no way to prove that the two letters were received at the same time.

After listening to these people's narration of Guan Xiaozhong and Jiang Guozhu's plot against Lang Tingzuo, Liang Huafeng only felt that the world was spinning, and now Ma Fengzhi rebelled, Guan Xiaozhong and Jiang Guozhu were also friends and foes, and Liang Huafeng was already an out-and-out lone army. The envoy also told Liang Huafeng that the reason why they were able to find him was also because Guan Xiaozhong and Jiang Guozhu wanted to kill people with a knife and informed Deng Ming of his whereabouts.

Liang Huafeng was shocked and angry, he hurried all the way back to Nanjing, and Nanjing revealed Liang Huafeng's whereabouts to the Ming army, which was no different from murder: "Since the governor knows about this, why don't you impeach these two thieves to the imperial court?" ”

"Now that the Governor is in the hands of Deng Ming, it is useless for him to write any recitals." The envoy complained: "Therefore, the Governor must be rescued first, and then he can be impeached, and the court can believe that the Governor did not say this because he was coerced by Deng Ming." ”

"Why did Deng Ming sue the Governor about this?"

"Because Deng Ming is not worried about managing his loyalty, he wants the governor to help him release people." The envoy told Liang Huafeng what had happened from beginning to end, and Liang Huafeng interrupted the envoy several times to ask them to re-speak. Because of the complexity of this situation, Liang Huafeng had never experienced it, and he felt dizzy after listening to many of Deng Ming's logics, and finally tossed for several hours before Liang Huafeng barely figured out the ins and outs.

After listening, Liang Huafeng took a few turns in the camp tent, if it weren't for Lang Tingzuo, he would definitely not be able to fight the alliance between Governor Jiang and Admiral Guan. After just figuring out how dangerous the shape was, Liang Huafeng also had the idea of escaping, regardless of the fact that he crossed the Yangtze River first on 3721, and then cried to the court when he arrived in safe Yangzhou, and fought a pen and ink lawsuit with Guan Allegiance and Liang Huafeng.

However, Lang Tingzuo's envoy pointed out to Liang Huafeng that as long as he fled to Jiangbei, the imperial court would definitely rely on Guan Zhongzhong and Jiang Guozhu, hoping that they would be able to hold Nanjing; And as Deng Ming's only partner, the possibility of them holding Nanjing is not small. If Guan Xiaozhong and Jiang Guozhu held Nanjing, and Lang Tingzuo was killed, then most of them would have charged Liang Huafeng with escaping, and Liang Huafeng only relied on one mouth and these witnesses of Lang Tingzuo's standard camp to bring down the two heroes who defended the city.

Even the imperial court did not trust Guan Xiaozhong and Jiang Guozhu, and punished these two people regardless of the perception of the officials in the world, and Liang Huafeng, who escaped from the battle, did not have a good result - the government and the opposition would only see that he left the battlefield on his own, and neither returned to the division to suppress Ma Fengzhi nor reinforce Nanjing, then Liang Huafeng would become the shortest-serving governor of Jiangnan in history.

Of course, Liang Huafeng was unwilling to accept this result, so he picked up Lang Tingzuo's letter and read it a second time, and then asked the envoy a few more words. Lang Tingzuo claimed to have reached a preliminary agreement with Deng Ming: once Nanjing released the Min prisoners of war, he would be able to obtain zìyóu, and then the alliance between Lang Tingzuo and Liang Huafeng would be enough to overwhelm Guan Chiang; Many of the prisoners of the Min army were the credit of Liang Huafeng, Gan Hui, Yu Xin and many of their subordinates were captured by him, but Lang Tingzuo pointed out that Deng Ming was willing to exchange them with the Qing army instead of releasing them in vain, so Liang Huafeng's exploits could not be completely erased, especially since Deng Ming also captured a few banner people, and they were not executed but would be exchanged; In the end, Deng Ming was willing to give Liang Huafeng another credit, saying that he attacked the Ming army camp and rescued Lang Tingzuo.

"After the Governor was rescued by me, it can be said that he heard about Guan Allegiance and Liang Huafeng's conspiracy in the enemy camp; The Governor is still a banner man, and his words are more credible than Jiang Guozhu's guilty governor; When the time comes, Guan Xiaozhong and Jiang Guozhu will be slaughtered, not only can I avenge them for murdering me, but I can also get the credit for defending Jiangning. This Jiangnan Admiral was earned back by me with all my hard work, how could I be snatched away by Guan and Jiang and the two thieves in vain? Liang Huafeng pondered in his heart for a long time, and finally made up his mind, he suddenly reached out and picked up Lang Tingzuo's two letters, and tore them apart without hesitation - since he wanted to cooperate with Lang Tingzuo, the reputation of the governor of Liangjiang must be well protected, and he must not leave a chance for others to attack, and at the same time, he also showed his attitude to Lang Tingzuo's henchmen and showed his loyalty to never steal his life.

Letting go of his hand, Liang Huafeng let the debris fall to the ground, raised his head, and saw that the envoy also showed a relieved expression on his face, he knew that the other party was finally completely relieved at this point, knowing that he would not hand them over to the imperial court: "What does the governor want to do?" ”

……

In the past two days, Deng Ming has not sent a messenger, Guan Xiaozhong and Jiang Guozhu have become suspicious again, and they don't know what the Ming army is planning.

"We even copied him a copy of the secret decree, and it is impossible for Lang Tingzuo to speak more clearly than we do." Guan Xiaozhong said this to embolden himself, and what he was most afraid of now was that the soldiers at the city gate would report that Lang Tingzo had returned intact.

Just in case, Guan Allegiance also secretly gathered henchmen, if Lang Tingzuo really came back, he would have to fight, although the blatant murder of the governor was not a small crime, but Jiang Guozhu and he could also insist that Lang Tingzuo came back to persuade him to surrender. Most of Lang Tingzuo's henchmen were annihilated by Deng Ming, and his prestige was reduced even more when he was captured, and now there is no army in the city that swears allegiance to the governor of Liangjiang; Although Guan and Jiang did not have many henchmen, and they could not count on Guan Allegiance due to resentment against the Eight Banners, they could still make up one or two thousand dead friends, which was a huge advantage for them to Lang Tingzuo.

"Deng Ming is not a stupid person, it is impossible for him to let Lang Tingzuo come back," Jiang Guozhu comforted Guan Zhong: "Only if Lang Tingzuo is alive, he can threaten us, if we let Lang Tingzuo come back, whether we kill him or he kills us, Deng Ming will not sing; Needless to say, if we win, even if Lang Tingzuo wins, he will definitely break his promise. ”

"But do you really want to give them back to him?" Guan Xiaozhong asked.

"Of course not, this is the only place where we can hold Deng's name. Now we're just dragging and seeing who can't hold their breath first. Jiang Guozhu said hatefully that the first batch of reinforcements led by Dasu had arrived in Shandong and were rushing to Nanjing along the canal: "When the reinforcements are about to arrive, Deng Ming may not be able to help but kill Lang Tingzuo." ”

"But it's hard for us to handle the reinforcements when they arrive." Guan Xiaozhong felt that as soon as Da Su arrived, it would be difficult for them to trade with Deng Ming, and if Deng Mingzhen released Lang Tingzuo alive, they would not be able to kill people, not to mention that they were still counting on the credit of defending Nanjing.

"That's why I said it depends on who can't hold their breath first, and whoever moves first at this time will lose." Jiang Guozhu planned to grit his teeth, and then make concessions when he couldn't stand it anymore, and fight with Deng Ming.

However, in addition to the troubles, there was also good news that Ma Fengzhi really killed Liang Huafeng by surprise, which made the already chaotic situation in the southeast even worse, so that the imperial court would not dare to dismiss Jiang Guozhu and them; In the future, after the Ming army retreated, they would have no confidence to punish these two loyal ministers who stuck to the lonely city.

"Maybe Deng Ming went to fight Liang Huafeng." Guan Xiaozhong patted his head, and suddenly showed a look of sudden realization: "Counting that Liang Huafeng should arrive in the past two days, Deng Ming must have gone to ambush him, he is not in the army, so he did not send an envoy to negotiate with us." ”

"That's right." Jiang Guozhu also slapped his thigh and praised sincerely: "Guan Shuai really woke up the dreamer with a word, it must be so, I am worried about nothing." ”

Just as the two of them breathed a sigh of relief and looked at each other and smiled, a herald from the city gate rushed into the Liangjiang Governor's Palace:

"Lord Governor Qiyu, Admiral Liang has already entered the city."

"Admiral Liang, which Admiral Liang?" Jiang Guozhu suddenly changed.

"It's the Admiral of Jiangnan." The herald's face was quite confused, and he didn't know why Governor Jiang would ask this.

"Why didn't you let him into the city without informing me?" Guan Allegiance also shouted.

"Yes...... However, it is indeed the Governor of Jiangnan himself, and Governor Liang was ordered to come to help. The herald didn't know how to answer.

Liang Huafeng came from the east, but bypassed half of Nanjing, and entered the city from the south, several of the officers at this city gate were Lang Tingzuo's people, and as soon as they saw Liang Huafeng arrive, they immediately opened the city gate, and the others saw that it was indeed the governor of Jiangnan, and the surprise was too late, of course, they would not stop such an action.

Guan Xiaozhong and Jiang Guozhu looked at each other, but they thought that Liang Huafeng had temporarily changed the road and missed Deng Ming, so they sent someone to invite Governor Liang to the governor's yamen to discuss matters. But Liang Huafeng said that he would not come at all, saying that he was too busy with military affairs to be separated, and if Governor Jiang and Governor Guan had urgent matters, they could go to his camp and say. These two people had ghosts in their hearts, of course they didn't dare to go to Liang Huafeng's army, and when they were discussing countermeasures, someone outside the door came to report, saying that Deng Ming's envoy was coming.

The two hurriedly asked the envoy to be brought in, and after seeing the envoy, Jiang Guozhu asked impatiently, "You didn't bump into Liang Huafeng, did you?" ”

"Nope." Deng Ming's envoy told the other party that he was still following the old path, and that he would go to the city by Guan Zhi's loyal henchmen, and then bring it directly to the Liangjiang Governor's Palace.

Jiang Guozhu's heart was immediately put back in his stomach, but he still instructed: "Be more cautious in the future, and tell your commander when you go back, Liang Huafeng has entered the city, and you must be careful of his ears and eyes in the future." ”

"What did Admiral Deng send you to do today?" Guan Xiaozhong asked angrily - Deng Ming is so famous, he has informed him of Liang Huafeng's whereabouts, but he still can't stop him - now Guan Xiaozhong is very dissatisfied with Deng Ming.

"Governor Jiang and Admiral Guan have been refusing to return the officers and soldiers of the Yanping Domain for a long time, our army has consumed a lot of food and grass, and the military salary must always be calculated according to the double salary of the battlefield." The messenger immediately replied, "Therefore the Admiral of my house would like to ask the city to allocate some rations as appropriate." ”

"What?" Guan Xiaozhong jumped up: "Do you want us to pay you the Ming army?" ”

"Exactly." The envoy replied without humility or arrogance: "The reason why we cannot leave is because you have been slow to release the people of the Yanping Domain, so the Admiral of my family thinks that these extra expenses should be borne by you. ”

"!" Guan Xiaozhong shouted and retorted angrily: "It's easy for Admiral Deng to leave, as long as we say ......"

Jiang Guozhu coughed, signaling Guan Xiaozhong to calm down, and after the latter shut up, Jiang Guozhu said calmly: "Admiral Deng, this is really difficult for a strong man, even if we can get the military salary from the treasury, how can we transport it out of the city?" Needless to say, there are millions of pairs of eyes in the city, and Liang Huafeng, who has just arrived, will also be suspicious, if the news leaks, we and Admiral Deng will no longer be able to talk about exchanging prisoners. ”

"Is Governor Jiang worried about Admiral Liang?" The envoy said quickly: "Although Governor Jiang is relieved, my Admiral has already negotiated with Admiral Liang before entering the city, if Governor Jiang is worried about leaking the news, then it will be shipped from the gate where Admiral Liang is stationed." Admiral Liang promised that he would be able to do things unknowingly and unknowingly, and even the reason had already been decided: Admiral Liang set up a camp outside the city, and the food and salary were said to be the baggage sent to the barracks. ”

When Jiang Guozhu spoke again, his voice had changed: "You say...... You say Liang Huafeng already knows? ”

"Yes," replied the envoy in a serious manner, "Admiral Liang, and Governor Lang, who was a guest in our barracks, both believe that it is very reasonable for the city to provide our army with food and salary until the exchange of prisoners is completed, and it can fully show their sincerity in seriously settling the matter; I don't know what Governor Jiang thinks? Does Governor Chiang think that this is an unreasonable demand on our side? ”

……

The first sum of silver was not much, Deng Ming only needed 50,000 taels, and along with the silver, there were 200 pigs and 100 sheep. Now that the daily cāo exercises of the Ming army are becoming more and more intense, the soldiers continue to replenish their protein and calories.

"It's good to feel like you don't have to give kickbacks." Deng Ming ordered pigs and sheep to be slaughtered and fed to the soldiers.

Li Laiheng on the side also smiled: "I finally tied the carrot to the donkey's head, this is the benefit of competition." ”

At this time, outside the camp of the Ming army, a group of people walked from afar, led by an old man dressed as a Taoist priest, followed by several partners dressed as merchants.

The group stood in the distance outside the wall of the Ming military camp, looking at the red flag fluttering on the camp, but they hesitated and did not get closer.

Soon the Ming army also noticed these people, because Deng Ming had told to exercise restraint, so the Ming army did not attack the Qing army spies outside the camp, but just paid attention not to let them get too close. Although these men were still far away, they had stayed too long for the Ming sentry who had been watching them and began to hesitate to go over and drive them away—the sentry was not sure of their identity, and their appearance was suspicious, but it did not look like the Qing army's meticulous work.

At this time, a few people in the distance seemed to have suddenly made up their minds, and the old man who led him strode straight to the camp, and the companions behind him also followed closely.

Lao Dao didn't stop until he walked to the camp gate, and looked at the Ming army who came up without fear: "Are you the governor of Jiangnan or the subordinate of Linguo Gong?" ”

"It's under the command of the Duke of Linguo." Seeing the demeanor of the person who came, after hearing the other party's question, the soldier felt that the other party seemed to be a little pretty, and replied in a very polite tone: "Dare to ask Mr. ”

"The Book of the Ming Army: Zhang Huangyan." The old man replied -

Today's editor informed me that tomorrow, March 1st, this book will be on the shelves, and tomorrow I will write a testimonial on the shelves.

Maybe many readers don't have a VIP number, but I still hope to click on it often, continue to recommend tickets to me, and so on.

In addition, there is also a hope, that is, I hope that readers can speak more in the book review area, which will be of great help to the popularity of the book. It's like a post on Baidu's post bar, even if it's one on both sides.