Chapter 227: The Manchus and the Han attack from the north and south (I)
In the third month of the lunar calendar, the governor of Shandong, Seleng'e, received a document that appointed him as the Minister of Revenue of the Kunlong Dynasty. The next day after receiving the document, Seleng'e was on the road to the capital.
The speed of this trip was so fast that it could be said that he was as anxious as a frightened bird and as nervous as a fish that had escaped the net. It was not until he crossed the Daqing River and confirmed that Huo Chong had not sent troops to pursue him that Lord Saileng'e was relieved. However, this did not slow down Saileng'e's progress. He entered the capital and immediately went to pay a visit to the Thirteenth Master who held real power in the Qing court.
Fortunately, the Thirteenth Master still remembered Saileng'e, and the Minister of Revenue should have some priority when he came to pay a visit. In the end, Saileng'e passed through the people waiting to see the Thirteenth Master's Prince Yi's Mansion and was led into the mansion by the guards.
When he arrived in front of the Thirteenth Master, Saileng'e quickly knelt down and said, "I pay my respects to the Master."
"Get up." The Thirteenth Master replied. After giving Saileng'e a bench, the Thirteenth Master asked about the situation in Shandong. Saileng'e knew that he had made no achievements in Shandong, and that he almost depended on Huo Chong to survive. Since the Thirteenth Master asked, he picked out the most effective things to say, "I will report to my master. In the past month, the gentry in various places that fell into the hands of Huo Chong have sent people to deliver letters, requesting the court to send troops to wipe out the Huo bandits. Once the royal army arrives, they are willing to lead the way. I have written down the names of these people, and this is the list."
It was undoubtedly a great achievement to make the gentry remain loyal when the court encountered such a disaster. Saileng'e had already prepared the list, and the location, native place, name, and family of the gentry were all investigated clearly. The letters they sent were also specially packed and classified into small boxes in a box. Such clear classification is for easy inspection. Seeing that the Thirteenth Master had finished reading the list, he casually pulled out a few letters to read. Saileng'e was nervously waiting for the Thirteenth Master to give him an evaluation.
Old Thirteen inserted the letter back to its original position and then praised, "Thank you for your hard work."
Saileng'e felt relieved. As long as he got the approval of the Thirteenth Master, Saileng'e's future would be guaranteed.
Before Saileng'e could say anything, Lao Shisan continued to ask, "Saileng'e, when you were in Jinan, what was your evaluation of the military discipline of Huo Chong's bandits?"
Saileng'e was a little embarrassed. After thinking for a moment, he stood up and knelt down in front of Old Thirteen. "Master, I really want to make the military discipline of Huo thief loose, and want his men to kill people and burn people, and do all kinds of evil. I want to cause the wrath of heaven and the resentment of the people, and bring about my own destruction. But I really dare not lie to you, master."
"Just speak boldly! I will never blame you!" Old Thirteen ordered.
Saileng'e quickly told what he knew, "Huo Chong has composed many songs, one of which is the "Three Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention Song", which tells what Huo's subordinates can and cannot do. Huo ordered them to sing it every day to make it clear that discipline... Huo's subordinates are not all from good families, there are also criminals... I heard that a meritorious officer raped a woman after drinking, and the woman's family only asked the officer to marry the woman to prevent the family's reputation from being damaged. Huo Chong arrested the officer and executed him in public..."
The story of killing the officer who raped the woman was not made up by Seleng'e, but was processed by Seleng'e. Because the officer fled to Jinan City, Seleng'e learned about the various events in Huo Chong's army from the interrogation of this officer.
But when Saileng'e found a letter placed on the desk in his study for no apparent reason, with the cover signed "Mr. Huo Chong" (Chongshang Huo Chong), Saileng'e, who was then the governor of Shandong, knew that as long as he was in Jinan for one day, he would have to obey Huo Chong's orders on most matters.
In this letter, Huo Chong, or someone pretending to be Huo Chong, asked Saileng'e to hand over the Han officer who had fled to Jinan City. Saileng'e had no choice but to get all the information from the officer and then secretly hand him over to the people sent by Huo Chong. Later, Huo Chong wrote a letter to express his appreciation for Saileng'e's wise choice.
Of course, such things could not be told to Prince Yi under any circumstances.
After telling Prince Yi what he knew, Saileng'e took out a thick file and said, "Master, I have written down everything I know."
After saying this, Seleng'e found that Prince Yi was actually in a daze, so he could only call out softly again: "Master, Master."
"Uh." Prince Yi finally came to his senses and took the things handed over by Seleng'e. He didn't say much and let Seleng'e leave.
After leaving Prince Yi's mansion, Saileng'e felt refreshed, as if he could fly to the sky with wings. He no longer had to worry about Shandong, and no longer had to be frightened by war... and kneel down...
Saileng'e knelt down along with the officials waiting outside Prince Yi's mansion, kneeling before the other of the two regents appointed by the Empress Dowager. Someone had already shouted, "Your servant greets the Fourteenth Master."
Saileng'e followed the crowd and shouted, "Greetings to the Fourteenth Master." He pressed his forehead against the ground, not daring to look up. Then he heard footsteps, and the Fourteenth Master walked to the gate of Prince Yi's mansion. Then he heard the gatekeeper shout, "Fourteenth Master, please come in..."
Seeing that the Fourteenth Master had gone in, many officials stood up and left. Once the Thirteenth Master and the Fourteenth Master started talking, it was unknown how long they would talk. It was getting late now, so they might as well go back.
As for Saileng'e, he was ready to leave and head to the Ministry of Personnel. But he couldn't help wondering why the Fourteenth Master came to see the Thirteenth Master. Aren't these two supposed to be mortal enemies?
The Thirteenth Prince no longer considered the Fourteenth Prince his mortal enemy. At this point, the Qing Dynasty really had no more capital to waste on internal strife. Although the Fourteenth Prince was confused, there were also advantages to being confused. As long as the Fourteenth Prince felt that something was right, he would continue to do it.
Seeing Old Fourteen coming, Old Thirteen didn't say much, just served tea to Old Fourteen, and then waited for Old Fourteen to speak. Sure enough, Old Fourteen said bluntly: "Huo Chong is marching into Liangshan. Do you think the garrison can hold it?"
The Thirteenth Elder said nothing, but handed the information about Huo Chongjun collected by Saileng'e to the Fourteenth Elder. The Fourteenth Elder read less than half of it and said angrily, "Who wrote this? It's nonsense!"
"Where is Hu Yan?"
Old Fourteen immediately said, "It's just that a meritorious officer slept with a woman, but he was publicly executed. Is Huo Chong crazy? He could have been severely punished, but if he was killed, wouldn't that make the army lose their morale? What's more, their rules, huh!"
"Fourteenth brother, what if Huo Chong really did it?" asked the Thirteenth Brother.
“These things really do it!”
Old Thirteen sighed. Even now, Old Thirteen still believed that Yongzheng was the one who could see through Huo Chong the most. Just before Huo Chong came to Beijing to assassinate Yongzheng, Yongzheng sighed when he was having dinner with Old Thirteen, "It would be great if Nian Gengyao was here."
For Yongzheng, who was extremely resolute in character, it was extremely difficult to say such words. Even in such a state of mind, he could still say such words, which proved that Yongzheng believed that Huo Chong was a famous general comparable to Nian Gengyao.
With helplessness, Old Thirteen said: "Before his death, Nian Gengyao spoke highly of Huo Chong. With Nian Gengyao's strict military discipline, I'm afraid his soldiers can do it."
Although Old Fourteen had suffered at the hands of Nian Gengyao, he still had a very high opinion of him. Hearing what Old Thirteen said, he was speechless for a moment. After a moment of silence, Old Thirteen said, "Then I will go to Liangshan to supervise the battle."
"No. Fourteenth brother, the capital cannot do without you." The Thirteenth Brother immediately said in a tone of great trust in the Fourteenth Brother. This was half true and half false. As a minister of state, if the Fourteenth Brother made a mistake, it would have a major impact on the Qing Dynasty. Moreover, the Thirteenth Brother did not dare to trust the Fourteenth Brother completely. After all, there were 100,000 troops stationed on that front. If some of them had bad intentions, the Thirteenth Brother did not want to lead the Eight Banners of the Miyun Camp and have another decisive battle with the Fourteenth Brother.
"Then...release Yue Zhongqi and let him supervise the battle. What do you think?"
"Yeah. Okay." Old Thirteen agreed with Old Fourteen's suggestion.
At about this time, Lao Ba in Shengjing Shenyang opened a secret letter. There was not much in the letter, and it was read in a few glances. Although there was no heading and no signature. However, the agreed code inside proved that it was written by Huo Chong himself. The content was very simple. According to the agreement, Huo Chong launched an attack on the Liangshan area .
Even though he was able to escape the fate of being forced to death because of Huo Chong, Lao Ba still felt that he could not understand Huo Chong. At least in Lao Ba's opinion, Huo Chong was a man who was so serious that it was a bit inexplicable. He was never vague about any promise, and never compromised. For example, this time, Huo Chong only asked Lao Ba to provide a stallion, and did not make any other excessive demands. Even if he had to send troops first, Huo Chong executed it very thoroughly.
This style of work made Lao Ba feel indescribably cold, not to mention that the two sides were destined to fight in the future. This kind of character alone was really disturbing. Lao Ba knew that he would definitely find an opportunity to trick Huo Chong in the future. When that time came, what kind of revenge would he face from Huo Chong?
But there was no time to think about it. Lao Ba threw the letter into the brazier, and when the paper burned to ashes, Lao Ba went to the palace. This was Nurhaci's palace and the most important city during the rise of the Qing Dynasty.
Hongxi was already an adult, so there was no need for the Eighth Elder to be the regent. There were not many Han people in the Shengjing court, except for the bannermen and Mongolians. Hongxi had already read Huo Chong's manifesto in private over the years, and it can be seen that Hongxi understood what had happened. In other words, except for the unclear death of Kangxi, Hongxi matched everything he had experienced with Huo Chong's manifesto and found the truth he believed in.
Of course, an important person who knew the truth was also in the court of Shengjing. He was Longkodo, who was believed to have murdered Emperor Kangxi. However, in the current situation, no one mentioned this embarrassing issue.
After the Eighth Elder bowed to Hongxi, he said loudly, "Your Majesty, I am willing to lead the troops to Dalingkou and seize the horse farm over there!"
