In the 11th year of Kangxi, the first month of the 26th year of Yongli, Guilin, Pingxi Palace,.

Since the capture of Guangxi, Wu Sangui moved the palace to Guilin. Because he had already shifted his strategic direction from Kunming to Hunan and perhaps Guangdong, there was no point in staying in Guiyang, and moving to Guilin would also show Li Dingguo's sincerity.

Wu Sangui's mood has been quite unhappy these days, and he hasn't even had a good New Year. A few months ago, when the two rivers were fighting, the king of Pingxi immediately fought hard and waited for a surprise attack on Hunan. As a result, within two days, first Jiang Guozhu and then Zhang Chao successively announced that they would return to their hometowns...... No, it was the old man who ran to Sichuan. At about the same time, Wu Sangui heard that Geng Jingzhong was anyway, and he led the army into Zhejiang. At that time, Wu Sangui secretly said "bitter", the two rivers have not been chaotic, and they have not been able to attract the attention of Chengdu and Yanjing, so hasn't Geng Jingzhong become the target of public criticism?

Sure enough, as expected by King Pingxi, Geng Jingzhong's attack was smooth at first, but in early August, it fell into a stalemate under the city of Shaoxing. The armies of northern Zhejiang and Jiangnan arrived in a steady stream, relying on strong cities and rivers to block the offensive of Geng Fan; After a month of stalemate, the Zhang Huangyan Department in eastern Zhejiang, which had been neutral, suddenly announced its aid to Fujian and ordered the Ming army in eastern Zhejiang, which was hidden near Wenzhou, to attack the back road of the Geng army -- Originally, the eastern Zhejiang army wanted to wait a little longer and let the Jiangnan Green Battalion and Geng Fan fight for a few more days, but when they heard that Geng Fan, who had made unfavorable progress, brazenly pulled Zhuang Ding and forcibly requisitioned grain and grass in southern Zhejiang in order to storm Shaoxing, and the Ming army in eastern Zhejiang could not bear it anymore and launched an attack in advance.

Geng Jingzhong was fortunate that at this time he had not yet pressed all his troops onto the Shaoxing front, and the Zhedong Army, which hastily launched an attack, was also unprepared and failed to cut off Geng Jingzhong's retreat in one fell swoop. Geng Jingzhong divided his troops to resist and withdrew his troops back to Fujian at full speed, but he still lost 30% of his troops and horses in Zhejiang.

After the rebel army, the Jingnan army and the eastern Zhejiang army to aid Fujian joined forces, they joined forces to attack Fujian. Geng Jingzhong gathered the remnants to resist at Xianxia Pass, relying on his geographical advantages to block the attack of the Ming and Qing coalition forces. Seeing that Geng Jingzhong would die so soon, Dong Weiguo immediately ordered the Jing rebel army to launch an attack on Fujian, and at the same time issued a document saying that he would cut off Geng Jingzhong's head and present it to the emperor as a New Year gift. However, although Dong Weiguo had a big tone, the Jiangxi Green Camp couldn't capture Geng Fan's city at once.

It's just that Geng Jingzhong is not alone, and at this time, Zheng Jing suddenly landed in Jin and Xia. After annihilating Geng Jingzhong's defensive forces, Zheng Jing issued a letter in Kinmen, saying that Geng Jingzhong was unfavorable anyway, and that the two Qing armies of the Jing Nan Army and the Rebel Army had invaded Fujian from the northeast, and the Jing Rebel Army sent by the Jiangxi Green Battalion had also invaded the western part of Fujian, and the Ming army (Geng Army) in Fujian was already in danger. As the king of Yanping County of the Ming Dynasty and the general of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng Jing categorically could not sit idly by, so he personally commanded the army to come to the sea to aid Fujian and Geng.

When I saw Zheng Jing's writing, from Gao Mingzhan, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, to the governors of the southeast, and then to Wu Sangui, the king of Pingxi, everyone invariably had a thought, isn't this Deng Ming's usual trick! Zhang Huangyan and Deng Ming in eastern Zhejiang are in the same group, and even if they aid Fujian, why has Zheng Jing learned it now?

Zheng Jing brought 100,000 troops in one breath, and there was also the second largest fleet in Asia to ensure mobility, and suddenly the entire coastal area of Fujian was in the wind. After being raided by Zheng Jing, Geng Jingzhong not only could not continue to support the front line, but also had to transfer troops from the front line back to defend the coastal areas; The two armies of the Ming and Qing dynasties attacking Geng Jingzhong in the north were greatly boosted after receiving the news, knowing that Geng Jingzhong was already dead, and now it was time to divide the fruits of victory.

In September, the two defensive lines in the northwest and northeast that Geng Jingzhong had painstakingly maintained were broken through successively. However, relying on years of operation in Fujian, Geng Jingzhong's subordinates are still struggling to support themselves in various strongholds, and at the same time send peace envoys to all parties in an attempt to find a force that can be relied on to surrender. However, Geng Jingzhong's efforts are destined to be in vain, Zhao Tianba has reached an agreement with all parties, and no one is allowed to make peace with Geng Jingzhong alone. Originally, Zhao Tianba was also worried that Zheng Jing was the weakest link in the alliance to encircle and suppress Geng Jingzhong, but this time Zheng Jing was very happy, he and Zheng Zhanxu, who commanded the naval division in eastern Zhejiang, met in Kinmen, at least on the surface, the two cousins released their previous suspicions, and the Fujian army in eastern Zhejiang and the Fujian army in Taiwan gathered together, Zheng Jing assured Zheng Zhanxu that the Ming army in Taiwan would act in unison with the Ming army in eastern Zhejiang.

It was Shang Zhixin who gave Geng Jingzhong the final blow. The troops of the Shang Fan in Guangdong completed the assembly in August, and in September, although they saw Geng Jingzhong being repulsed and returned to Fujian, Shang Zhixin felt that the shape was not clear, so he never expressed his attitude. At the beginning, when he saw that the progress of the Jing Rebel Army was not going well, Shang Zhixin was still thinking about how to raid Dong Weiguo in order to achieve the greatest results. However, after Zheng Jing landed, the situation began to be one-sided. When Xianxia Pass was lost and the coalition army marched towards central Fujian by land and water, Shang Zhixin couldn't hold it back.

Shang Zhixin thought that the Ming army was more powerful, so he decided to raise the banner of Guangdong's aid to Fujian. Shang Zhixin also saluted first and then the soldiers, sent a letter to Geng Jingzhong, and the other party ordered the magistrate to welcome the Shang family's reinforcements.

A frightened Geng Jingzhong hurriedly replied that he still had the strength to fight, and now he was only luring the enemy into the depths, and before he could do so, he would launch a thunderous counterattack and wipe out all the enemy troops that set foot on the territory of Fujian, whether they were Ming or Qing troops. At the end of the letter, Geng Jingzhong begged Shang Zhixin to see that the three feudatories were in the same breath, and Fujian and Guangdong were all derived from the Dongjiang lineage, so don't come to help Fujian. But Shang Zhixin was unmoved, saying that Fujian's shape was very bad, so he must come to help Fujian, especially in the Dongjiang lineage, and even more so to Fujian Province.

By December, Geng Jingzhong had lost all of his territory except Quanzhou. Now the remnants of the Geng clan are cowering in the city of Quanzhou to fight the trapped beasts, and outside the city are the three armies of Jingnan, Jingjing, and rebellion, plus Zhejiang, Taiwan, and Guangdong to support the Fujian army, a total of six route armies. Among them, there were three Ming troops and three Qing armies, which surrounded Quanzhou.

Among them, the Guangdong aid army to Fujian was the most peculiar, because Guangzhou did not admit that the army supporting Fujian was an army subordinate to the Shang clan of Guangdong -- when he learned that Shang Zhixin had played the banner of "aiding Fujian", Shang Kexi was shocked and blurted out in front of the left and right: "Oh, it's wrong, it should be in the name of 'rebel army'!" ”

Although the strength of Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Jing's Ming army was far stronger than that of the Qing army in the three provinces, and the Jingnan army in the three Qing armies was all Ming army dressed as the Qing army, Shang Kexi keenly found that the most critical problem now was that the Ming army did not seem to welcome the vassal king anyway. The joint attack of Zheng Jing and the Zhedong Army on Geng Jingzhong shows that this is not an isolated act, but a strategy on the side of the Ming army. Anyway, the opportunity can't be wasted casually, and it may be useful to save it for later.

"This foolish kid, doesn't he know how to judge the situation at all? Don't know how to improvise? Shang Kexi knew that Shang Zhixin was chosen according to his instructions before leaving Guangzhou. But if you don't know how to be flexible, it's your own son, and if something goes wrong, you still have to find a way to solve it. If it were an ordinary person, maybe Shang Zhixin would be strictly ordered to come back anyway at this time, but Shang Kexi is really a grandmaster who bets on both sides, and after a little silence, he found that although the situation is grim, it is not impossible to turn bad things into good things.

Soon Shang Kexi made a decision, calling the army under Shang Zhixin's command a rebel, and the Guangdong monk was still a loyal courtier of the Qing Dynasty; Soon, Shang Kexi further claimed that the Guangdong army that entered Fujian was actually fleeing from Guangdong, thus separating Shang Fan and Shang Zhixin - if Shang Zhixin was assigned a territory, then there was no essential difference between being in the hands of his son or being assigned to Shang Fan, at most it was a little troublesome in management; Although Shang Zhixin was declared a rebel, in fact, Guangdong's support for Shang Zhixin has not changed, if this cannot gain a firm foothold in Fujian, it means that it is difficult for Shang Fan to seize part of the territory from Fujian, so let Shang Zhixin return again, and Guangdong still retains the opportunity anyway.

Because the city defense of Quanzhou is strong, and the New Year is coming, Geng Jingzhong can still survive in the city for the time being, but it seems that he must be powerless. King Pingxi finally looked forward to Deng Ming's going to sea, and various forces in the country were ready to move, but they jumped out one by one to die, first Emperor Kangxi, then the governor of Liangjiang, and then Geng Jingzhong's turn, not to mention the disappointment in King Pingxi's heart.

"I shouldn't regret it." Wu Sangui said to the sorrowful Xia Guoxiang, and the voice of King Pingxi sounded a lot older: "When Deng Ming went to Jiangnan twice, this king should have poured out of the nest and destroyed Li Dingguo first." If Yunnan had been taken at that time, Deng Ming would not have dared to move so calmly, and he would not have been so difficult to control! ”

Xia Guolian said yes, but he was a little disapproving. He still remembered that at that time, Wu Sangui's biggest worry was to put the old book together, so that the Qing court could take the opportunity to remove his vassal state. If there was no Deng Ming, it is estimated that Wu Sangui would be happily satisfied with the status of the vassal king, but now that the Qing court could not hold the world, Wu Sangui's ambition came out again.

"Could it be that this king is going to lose the two provinces to that Deng Ming child in the end?" The more Wu Sangui spoke, the more sad he became, and he angrily cried out: "The emperor, Jiang Guozhu, and Zhang Chao, don't you know that they are discussing together?" It's good now, it has been broken by Chengdu, and it took ten years to look forward to such an opportunity, how many more decades can this king wait? ”

"The emperor's secret decree is useless at all." Kangxi's holy decree was also sent to Wu Sangui, but this kind of secret decree could only play some role in Huguang if Chengdu did not interfere; And if Chengdu wants not to interfere, it needs the chaos of the two rivers and Fujian and Zhejiang, and gives Wu Sangui the opportunity to fish in troubled waters. Now that Geng Jingzhong had one breath left, Wu Sangui suspected that Chengdu had pacified the core area, and now began to shift his vigilant gaze to the remote areas of Yunnan and Guizhou.

After groaning bitterly, Wu Sangui found that he had no feasible countermeasures, and could only watch Geng Jingzhong be eliminated. He estimated that the princes who were eager to try everywhere would be completely frightened, and no one would dare to jump out and disrupt Deng Ming's strategy anymore. In fact, Wu Sangui is the same, he doesn't like to take risks in nature, but likes to be down-to-earth; As long as he is not forced to a dead end where there is no way out, Wu Sangui is not willing to gamble with more losses and fewer wins. Now, if you jump out alone to fight Huguang, no matter how you look at it, you don't have much chance of winning.

Just when Wu Sangui was about to despair, a new opportunity seemed to suddenly appear.

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