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In late April of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, there was a dramatic turning point in the whole world, in the north, Li Zicheng suffered a heavy defeat under the Shanhai Pass, returned to Beijing and hurriedly proclaimed the emperor, and then abandoned the city and fled.

Before leaving the city, he set a fire, but only burned some palaces such as the Huangji Palace, the Qianqing Palace, and the Kunning Palace, and the others were not burned, and the palaces behind were safe and sound, and the Jingshi fell into the hands of the Manchus.

And in the south, too, there are dizzying variables.

Just when the Donglin Party was busy creating public opinion for the support of King Lu, on April 24, under the planning and auspices of Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang, Zhu Yousong, the king of Fu, took the Caoyun express boat of Lu Zhenfei, the governor of Caoyun, and arrived at Yizhen, which is separated from Nanjing by a river, under the escort of Liu Zeqing, Huang Degong, Liu Liangzuo, and Gao Jie.

At the same time, even Qin Mu, who was busy fighting with the Dashun army in Jingxiang, also wrote to Nanjing to express his support for Liyan and support King Fu to inherit the unification. This caused tremendous political and military pressure on the ministers of Nanjing.

On 26 April, Lu Daqi, Jiang Yueguang, Qian Qianyi, Huang Daozhou, Gao Hongtu, Zhang Shenyan, Xu Hongji, Liu Kongzhao, and other civil and military ministers urgently convened a court meeting to discuss the matter of supporting the establishment of the army under the pressure of the army.

The meeting lasted from the morning until noon without any results. The Donglin Party, which supported King Lu, quarreled fiercely with other ministers who supported King Fu.

Zuihou, the main force of the "Tingfu faction", sincerely Bo Liu Kongzhao and others threatened death, and the people in Donglin realized what it means to come out of the barrel of a gun.

They had no troops available, and Lixian was legally untenable, and in desperation, they were forced to agree to support the succession of Zhu Yousong, the king of Lifu. and immediately drafted a public notice to welcome the king of Lifu.

Subsequently, Nanjing notified Ma Shiying and Shi Kefa and others in Jiangbei of this decision, and Ma Shiying was overjoyed when he saw that it was done.

Shi Kefa was originally the main general. However, what he wants is King Gui, and he can only choose to accept this result.

On April 27, officials of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites went to Yizhen to welcome King Fengfu with a hundred officials in hand, announcing that the ministers of Nanjing would jointly support him to inherit the orthodoxy of the Ming Dynasty, and implored him to move to Nanjing to preside over the country's military affairs.

King Fu arrived at Pukou on the 28th and was greeted by officials headed by Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei.

The next day, King Fu's boat crossed the Yangtze River and anchored at Yanziji in Nanjing at noon.

Thirty days. The ministers of Nanjing boarded the boat together to meet the king of Fu, the king of Fu horn scarf and Ge Yi, dressed very plainly, calm and reserved, looked quite mature and steady, and the image created by the Donglin Party for him is like two people.

He said to the officials who came to persuade him: "This king has fled to the south alone, and now the mother concubine does not know where she is. The king just wanted to find a secluded place in the south to escape the war, and he never dared to imagine the throne. ”

Zhu Yousong's remarks are both sincere and untrue.

At first, he was really just trying to avoid the war. But in order to save his life, it is also a fact that he was separated from his mother Zou on the way to escape.

But after Huai'an received the news of the fall of Beijing, he took the initiative to fight for the gun, but that's it. This kind of struggle was only taken after the Donglin Party first denied the inheritance rights that should have belonged to him.

Therefore, his words are quite sincere, and in the face of groups of officials who have come to Jin, he feels that yesterday is not the same. Zhu Yousong was very moved and cried bitterly on the spot.

On this day, Zhu Yousong left a good impression on the hundred officials in Nanjing. It is said that welcoming this prince is "the blessing of the sect".

On the first day of the first month of May, King Fu landed at the Shuixi Gate in the southwest of Nanjing, and under the support of the ministers, he rode a sedan chair from outside Nanjing to the filial piety gate of Emperor Gao of the Ming Dynasty, and got off the sedan chair and rode in.

There are east gate and west gate of filial piety, the east gate is the so-called royal road, that is, only the emperor can walk the road, Zhu Yousong was very humble at this time, he avoided the east gate, but entered the filial piety tomb from the west gate, and came to the palace of Taizu to pay respects.

In the filial piety mausoleum, Zhu Yousong also went to pay special respects to the mausoleum of Zhu Biao, the prince of Yiwen of the Ming Dynasty, which once again won the favor of many ministers. So far, it marks a major victory for the Tingfu faction.

On May 3, King Fu officially took charge of the country in Nanjing and mourned Emperor Daxing.

On 10 May, Zhu Yousong, the blessed king, announced to heaven and earth, Zongmiao, and Sheji that he was the emperor at the Wuying Hall in Nanjing, and set next year as the first year of "Hongguang".

In the matter of mourning, it is a little weird, as if Qin Mu is the one who inherited the orthodoxy, because he mourned Chongzhen in Huguangjiangxi a month ago.

And at this moment, when everyone is fighting openly and secretly for the establishment of a new king, it is inextricable. Qin Mu had already led the army to the Northern Expedition, fought fiercely with the thieves, and avenged his father.

This piece by piece, one by one, let the people of the world see the difference of Qin Mu, and also won the hearts of countless people. In particular, the people in Yangzhou moved to Huguang in batches.

Because everyone is very afraid of Liu Zeqing and Gao Jie, these two armies went all the way south, and everywhere they passed, they burned, killed and looted, especially those rich people knew very well that Liu Zeqing and Gao Jie had made great achievements from the dragon, but I am afraid that no one can control them.

Huguang and Jiangxi have become the safest places in the world, the army strictly abides by the three major disciplines and eight points of attention, the officials are also clean and efficient, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and industry and commerce flourish, like a paradise. As a result, many people chose to take refuge in Huguang, Jiangxi.

There are many people with lofty ideals who have also joined Huguang, including Gu Jiang.

Gu Jiangzhi's decision to defect to Qin Mu was not because he knew that he and Zheng Sen had received the same letter from Qin Mu, but because he was extremely disappointed with others except Qin Mu;

Liu Zeqing, Gao Jie, Huang Degong, and Zuo Liangyu, who ran eastward, each had 120,000 horses crowded in the Huainan area, not thinking of going north to recover the lost land, but in order to grab the territory, there was a dog-eat-dog, Gao Jie attacked Huang Degong, Zuo Liangyu attacked Liu Zeqing, Huainan soldiers were in chaos, and it became a pot of porridge.

Nanjing was not only powerless to stop it, but even Shi Kefa was afraid that the four towns would be displeased, so he hurriedly sealed it to comfort him, with Huang Degong as the Marquis of Jingnan, Gao Jie as Xingpingbo, Liu Zeqing as Dongpingbo, and Liu Liangzuo as Guangchangbo. Later, Zuo Liangyu was crowned as the Marquis of Ningnan.

This situation disappointed many people of insight like Gu Jiang.

Looking at the world, warlords from all walks of life are busy grabbing territory, dog-eat-dog, only Qin Mu is still holding high the banner of righteousness to beg for thieves and attack Xiangyang. As a result, many people chose to defect to Wuchang.

When Qin Mu heard that Gu Jiang was coming to vote, he personally greeted him twenty miles outside the city, and he was extremely courteous, and the people on the street heard that Qin Mu went out of the city to welcome people, and they all guessed what kind of person he was getting such courtesy from the governor of Qin.

Zhu Yousong gave Huang Degong and others the title of official knight, and naturally Qin Mu's share was indispensable, Qin Mu added the title of secretary of the military department, and led the governors of Huguang and Jiangxi provinces, because the people called him the governor of Qin.

As the governor of the two provinces, Qin Mu deigned to go out of the city to welcome a cloth cloth, which caused a sensation in the whole city for a while, and many good people even went out of the city to see who was worthy of such a grand welcome from the governor of Qin.

And this is exactly the effect that Qin Mu wants to achieve. Gu Jiang's integrity and knowledge are certainly worthy of his attention, but Qin Mu also wants to express his thirst for talent and the demeanor of Corporal Lixian to the people of the world through this move.

When they met, Gu Jiang was also quite moved, and he didn't dare to say anything.

Qin Mu said enthusiastically: "Zhongqing Wentao Wu is slightly higher for a while, I have already heard that Zhongqing can come to Wuchang today, it is really my great luck." ”

"The Governor praised it falsely, the students disdained it, and they did not contribute to the country, and what the Governor said really made the Bachelor ashamed."

"Where there is a will, there is a way, and Zhongqing does not have to be so self-conscious. By the way, Zhongqing, you are good for everything else, that is, this name is called Ten Twists, the Manchu Qing Dynasty is now stealing from the Beijing Division, and the heart of China has been revealed, Li Zicheng is not a first-class Kole, and it will be difficult to become a weapon in the end, you must know that the Manchu Qing Dynasty is the enemy of our dynasty. ”

It's good that Qin Mu didn't mention it, but after he mentioned it, Gu Jiang also felt that it was really inappropriate to call him Zhongqing, so he immediately said: "If the Lord does not give up, I hope that the Lord will give him a name." ”

Qin Mu blurted out: "Then change it to Yanwu, the word Ningren." ”

Gu Jiang Wenzhi said happily: "Thank you for the name." ”

The two of them returned in the same car, the new rain was clear, the rice fields on both sides of the road were full of green, and the clouds passed by, and occasionally a string of farmers' joyful songs came from the fields, full of joy in anticipation of a good harvest.

As far as the eye can see, the tranquil and serene idyllic scenery is like a paradise.

All this made Gu Yanwu very emotional, he came all the way, even near Nanjing, there were refugees on the way, crying all over the road; However, as soon as I entered Jiangxi, I found that the prefectures and counties along the way were setting up porridge shops to relieve the refugees, and at the same time organizing a large number of boats to transfer the refugees who had no food or clothing to Huguanglai.

When he arrived in Huguang, Gu Yanwu also personally visited the site to see that the refugees who were transferred over were now resettled, and he found that many places here had built batches of thatched houses in advance, and the refugees could move in as soon as they came.

The local officials then organized the household and distributed relief grains, although they were mainly coarse grains such as dried sweet potatoes, but it was enough to keep the people from dying.

After the households were organized, the government distributed grain seeds, agricultural tools, and fields to the refugees, and on the other hand, they also selected young and strong soldiers to patrol law and order in turn, and also conducted some military training in their spare time.

In short, the stable environment here, the thriving scene, and the good spiritual outlook of the people are like two different shijie compared to other places.

Gu Yanwu sighed sincerely: "The adults are well governed, and the people of Huguang, Jiangxi are blessed." ”

Qin Mu glanced at the pastoral scenery outside the window, and said slowly: "The water is full of fields, the rice leaves are full, and the sunlight penetrates the trees and the smoke is low. The yellow warbler also loves the new cool and good, flying through the green mountains and crying in the shadows. ”

After a pause, he continued: "This quiet and peaceful pastoral scenery is the most beautiful poetic and picturesque, and the greatest wish of this official is to let such a poetic and picturesque intention continue on the land of China, and whoever wants to destroy it is the enemy of this official." ”

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(To be continued......)