Chapter 744 You can talk about anything

The eighteenth day of the winter lunar month, Xinye County, Nanyang Prefecture.

After a month, the southern expedition army finally reached the intersection of the two provinces, three days later than the originally planned time.

Overall qualified.

Due to the heavy wind and snow, reports from the front said that the road was knee-deep in snow, making it difficult for carriages and horses to move at all. Jia Liu then ordered all the troops to postpone their advance. Some of them went to Xinye City to avoid the wind and snow, and some of them camped on the spot outside the city.

In order to prevent the soldiers of the Eight Banners from disturbing the people, Jia Liu even issued a strict order: "Don't demolish the houses to death from freezing, and don't plunder to death from starvation. We must follow the example of the Yue Family Army and carry forward the spirit of Yue Wu Mu. Anyone who dares to disturb the people will be severely punished!"

"

Xinye County was also ordered to promptly organize civilians to deliver fire wood to the army to protect the officers and soldiers from the cold to the greatest extent and avoid non-combat casualties.

The special service team under the Eight Banners Internal Affairs Committee led by Ding Qing temporarily acted as a military police team, on duty at major traffic intersections in Xinye, and patrolled back and forth in small teams to ensure that the military orders of the General Wang could be effectively implemented.

Originally, Jia Liu planned to stay outside the city. He always advocated the unity of the officers and soldiers, but he could not resist the persuasion. The prince of the capital was the purple gold beam that held the sea and the white jade pillar that supported the sky. If he was exposed to the wind, cold and sun, even if he was asymptomatic.

It is also a huge loss to the country.

It is said that the son of a rich man cannot sit down in the hall.

Jia Liuyi thought so. He was wearing the last breath of the Qing Dynasty, so he couldn't be careless, so he stayed at the Confucian Temple, the largest hotel in Xinye City, under Wenwu's persuasion.

Local rumors say that more than a hundred years ago, when Li Zicheng, the great invader of the Ming Dynasty, was defeated and retreated from Xi'an to Huguang, he stayed one night in this Confucian Temple and wrote a poem.

The poem goes: "The world is confused for a while, and I live in Chuangping for a while and sleep comfortably."

Nourishing Qi will make the army ready for attack, and remember the Fu when regaining the lost ground."

It is impossible to determine whether this less neat poem was written by Li Zicheng. Jia Liu and others believe it is not because the poem was not written as well as his.

However, considering the current situation, Jia Liu believes that this is undoubtedly a good sign.

Of course, the person he replaced was not Li Zicheng, but Dorgon.

With the arrival of the General Wang, this 400-year-old Confucian Temple not only welcomed the second emperor, but also became the focus of the whole country, at least within the fifty-mile radius of Xinye.

News keeps coming in for days.

Le'er, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, sent an official document saying that he had ordered Wang De, the admiral of Shaanxi, to lead 5,000 Shaanxi Green Camp soldiers, 3,000 Gansu Green Camp soldiers, and another 2,000 Eight Banners soldiers stationed in Xi'an, totaling more than 10,000 people, thousands of civilians, and more than 3,000 horses and camels.

, headed south from Xi'an on the 9th of this month.

It is expected that we will join forces with General Wang's headquarters in Xiangyang Prefecture early next month.

By then the reputation will be strong.

"The Shaanxi-Gansu Green Camp has been the top of the Green Camps since the beginning of the People's Republic of China. Now tens of thousands of people have come to help, which is like an even more powerful force for the prince."

The speaker was Ji Yun, the Minister of War, who was also the only high-ranking official in Beijing who came to serve the army. According to convention, he was called the Counselor.

Ji Yun was mainly responsible for the exchange of official documents between General Wang Xingyuan and local governors, frontline ministries and the imperial court. He was also responsible for the allocation of food and fodder for the army.

A bit like the logistics minister.

This is also the system of the imperial court. When the general king goes out to recruit troops, he must send court officials to accompany him on the expedition.

Jia Liu asked Ji Yun and Wang De what his background was.

Ji Yun hurriedly said that Wang Deyong, like the prince, was also a son of a general. His grandfather was Wang Jinbao, one of the "Four Han generals in Hexi" who pacified the three feudal lords during the Kangxi period. His father, Wang Guobin, was once the second-class imperial guard and the commander-in-chief of Gansu Town.

, died for his country in the battle against Burma.

After hearing this, Jia Liu nodded and told Ji Yun: "Pass this king's military order to Wang Deyong, and ask him to take charge of the armies together with Yunnan Admiral Chang Qing after he arrives in Xiangyang. No troops can be mobilized before I arrive."

Ji Yun responded and took note, reminding the prince that Yunnan Admiral Chang Qing was seriously ill and could not lead the army at all, so he should replace the Yunnan Green Flag Army with a good general.

Jia Liuquhe said that he would wait until he arrived in Xiangyang to see the severity of Chang Qing's condition before deciding who would lead the Yunnan troops.

His favorite candidate is Zu Yingyuan, the gray grandson of Zu Dashou, because this boy is the only talent he, the honorary president of the association, can offer except Yang Yuchun so far.

But Zu Yingyuan was internally designated as the Admiral of Huguang, so it was a bit tricky who to appoint as the Admiral of Yunnan.

Let's wait and see if Chang Qing is really sick and can't get out of bed. If it's really not possible, Jia Liu won't be able to embarrass others.

Ji Yun said yes, unfolded the next newspaper, glanced at it and said: "Your Majesty, Wang Fu, the commander-in-chief of Sichuan Army, reported that since the defeat of the Wuchang battle, all the units on the western front of Wuchang have retreated on a large scale, and Jingzhou has also been defeated.

Unfortunately, the morale of the army is currently low and the people are in panic. The generals of the Sichuan army are looking forward to the prince as much as they look forward to the warm sun. Please come to the prince as soon as possible to take charge of the overall situation."

"I also want to reach the front line as soon as possible, but God doesn't allow it."

Jia Liu sighed with emotion. He was actually eager to see his old subordinates, but the weather was wrong and there was heavy snow on the way. At the moment, he could only stop in Xinye temporarily and wait for the wind and snow to stop before setting off.

Anyway, there is no rush for a few days.

He also ordered Ji Yun to draw up military orders and give them to Wang Fu and other Sichuan generals. The main idea was that the general should not rush into action before Wang Fu arrived.

A few days ago, the governor of Sichuan, his father-in-law Bo, and the governor of Sichuan, President Li, both sent people to congratulate the president on his coronation as the General King.

In addition to expressing their sworn support for the General Wang, the two men also proposed that the Xinghan Army should not be allowed to continue to grow in power, especially that they should not be allowed to move eastward along the Yangtze River to capture Nanjing. Otherwise, it would be really difficult to control them, and they would even become the General Wang or even advance together.

The biggest enemy.

Jia Liu was still alert to this. Back then, Li Chengliang was raising bandits in Liaodong, which resulted in the creation of the Qing Dynasty.

He can't really support Ming Dynasty here.

The bigger the territory, the more soldiers and horses, and the people's hearts will not be the same.

In order to win the cooperation of his father-in-law Gu Shidao and his nephew Gu An, he has sent people to Baoding to ask his wife Yuanyuan to bring their son Keqing to the army, hoping to impress the Gu Group, which has been upgraded from a small workshop to a large enterprise, with family affection.

Under the premise of one China and one emperor, anything can be discussed.

But Yuanyuan said that Keqing was suffering from wind chill and was running a fever, and the doctor said that it was too cold to travel far, so he could only come to Huguang in the spring after the new year.

He casually looked through another pile of official documents and secret letters on the table. After a while, he frowned slightly and threw the secret letter in his hand to Ji Yun very unhappily: "Who is this Zhu Shaogong? Who is Marquis Yanen?"

"Zhu Shaogong? Marquis Yanen?"

Ji Yun was puzzled and quickly picked up the secret letter and looked at it. He found that there was no signee and there was no official seal of the relevant unit, which meant that he didn't know where it came from.

However, there is a small word "Communist" inscribed on the left side of the top of the secret letter, which may be the source of the information in the meeting.

Half a month ago, when passing through Luoyang, Jia Liu personally set up an altar to invite Ji Yun to join the Gongjin Association. This was the next high-ranking ministerial official to join the Gongjinhui after Asha, Kuini, Jin Jian and Enming.

.

The secret letter of unknown origin stated that Chen Huizu, the governor of Huguang who had surrendered to the bandits before, was persuading the bandits to support a descendant named Zhu Shaogong. It was said that Zhu Shaogong was a descendant of Zhu Ming and a member of the Yanenhou clan.

Of course Ji Yun knew who Yanenhou was.

"Your Majesty, this Marquis of Yan'en is the first-class Marquis granted by the Yongzheng Dynasty. The first Marquis of Yan'en, Zhu Zhilian, is a descendant of Zhu Gui, the thirteenth son of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty. In order to show the benevolence and generosity of the Qing Dynasty, the late Emperor specially appointed Zhu Zhilian as the Marquis of Yan'en.

, responsible for the sacrificial affairs of Xiaoling Mausoleum in the Ming Dynasty, and is hereditary like Duke Yansheng of Qufu."

Ji Yun also said that Zhu Zhilian enjoyed the honor of carrying the flag and changed from the white flag of the lower five flags to the pure white flag of the upper three flags.

The current Marquis of Yanen Zhu Yifeng is the great-grandson of Zhu Zhilian, and his father is Zhu Shaomei. Therefore, based on the contents of the secret letter, it is estimated that Zhu Shaogong may be the uncle of the current Marquis of Yanen Zhu Yifeng.

They may be direct relatives, or they may be collateral relatives. The exact relationship needs to be explored further.

Jia Liu didn't quite believe that Marquis Yanen was really a descendant of Zhu Ming.

As far as he knew, during Kangxi's reign, the third prince Zhu who was over seventy years old was beheaded, which caused Zhu Ming's descendants to change their surnames one after another. No one dared to say that he was a descendant of Zhu Ming, because once his identity was exposed, he would

The whole family was executed, so this Zhu Zhilian might be a fake descendant of Zhu Ming promoted by Yongzheng to confuse people.

Ji Yun couldn't say for sure, but he felt it was true.

Lord Yongzheng is indeed as he said, a good and honest man who will not lie.

"Your Majesty, if Zhu Shaogong is adopted as emperor over there, it will be detrimental to our Qing Dynasty and to the prince. What if Anqing is conquered and Jiangning is occupied?"

Since ancient times, the prerequisite for success in rebelling against thieves is to have great righteousness, that is, to be able to confuse people's hearts.

The secrets of the Xinghan Army are actually the survivors of the Ming Dynasty in Xiaojinchuan. These people still regard Zhu Ming as their orthodoxy, so it cannot be ruled out that this group of people really made Zhu Shaogong the emperor.

Although it has been a hundred years since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, Zhu Ming's influence on the minds of the people is still very heavy, especially in the southern region where anti-Qing and Ming thoughts are extremely serious.

The civil unrest that has broken out frequently in various places in recent years has the shadow of the rebellion against the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty behind it, such as the previous religious unrest in Shandong and the current war in Taiwan.

Xiaojinchuan was the last base of the Ming Dynasty.

When the army attacked Burma, it was also because there were many descendants of the former Ming and Jin king Li Dingguo in the Burmese army. These people wanted to use the Burmese military power to expedition north to the Central Plains, so the imperial court had to send troops abroad to attack.

Therefore, Ji Yun believed that if the Xinghan Army really elected Zhu Shaogong as emperor, it would definitely set off a wave of rebellion against the Qing Dynasty and restoration of the Ming Dynasty in the south.

The front line is now tight. The loss of Jiangxi has made Anhui in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River face the pressure of the rebels. It is also said that the rebels have been besieging Anqing for more than a month. Although General Songgui of Jiangning has led his troops to reinforce, everyone with a discerning eye knows that the battle of Anqing is very important.

Once it falls, it means that there will be no more troops to defend Nanjing.

The situation is just like the pirate Zheng family invaded the Yangtze River in the early days of the Republic of China.

If the rebel army breaks through Anqing and marches to Nanjing, and pays homage to Xiaoling, the situation south of the Yangtze River will probably change.

Zhu Shaogong ascended the throne in Nanjing, wasn't he the second Zhu Yuanzhang?

Therefore, Ji Yun suggested that a diplomatic note should be sent to the Xinghan Army immediately to strongly protest this matter.

"Now all the cats and dogs are competing with me for the head and the stick. Humph, I finally made the wedding dress, so I can't be the groom."

Jia Liu also had a headache. After rubbing his temples, he suddenly asked Ji Yun: "Do you think it is possible that this king is also a descendant of Zhu Ming?"
To be continued...