Chapter 233: The Manchus and the Hans’ North-South Pincer Attack (VII)
The speed at which the Qing army retreated from Liangshan was beyond Huo Chong's imagination. Yang Wangfu's war report was already very lyrical. It was so lyrical that when Huo Chong was arranging the annual autumn harvest plan, he specifically called Qian Qing to show him this thing.
After Qian Qing finished reading it, he just asked, "Sir, do you want me to beat him up?"
Huo Chong was amused. His eldest disciple was definitely not joking. As long as Huo Chong agreed, Qian Qing would run to Liangshan and beat up her cousins.
"Qing'er, these are two different things. Wangfu did this because he wanted me to think highly of him. All children are like this. Don't you also want to make me happy ?"
"I'm different from him. He can't do it, but I only care about how much I can do." Qian Qing immediately expressed his strong opposition.
"Haha." Huo Chong was amused by his apprentices. Watching the children grow up day by day, Huo Chong felt the joy that only an old father could feel.
However, Huo Chong did not dare to immerse himself in it, "Qing'er, before killing Yongzheng, you know how I judged."
Qian Qing immediately responded, "Yes. Sir, you think that after the Qing Dynasty panicked, they would hastily send troops to attack us. We took advantage of their panic and fought several times, causing the Qing Dynasty to lose at least hundreds of thousands of people. Sir, it was the reckless behavior of that old man that prevented the Qing Dynasty from making a fool of itself."
"This cannot be blamed on Lao Ba. I underestimated him. I originally thought that Lao Ba would seize power in the capital, but I didn't expect that. But this result is actually better. After the autumn harvest this year, as long as we can form a field army of 50,000 people, the Qing Dynasty will send 200,000 people to die. After the autumn harvest this year, we will go south along the canal. Just like the Qin State in the past, make friends with distant countries and attack nearby ones. We will get every inch we gain."
"This... isn't that what Gao Pang said?" Qian Qing's expression looked quite subtle.
"That's what smart people are like." Huo Chong deliberately tested.
Qian Qing pursed his lips unconsciously, with a rather interesting look on his face.
"Qing'er, you are much smarter than Gao Pang. There are two types of smart people, one is smart enough to be smart about themselves, and the other is not smart enough to be smart about themselves. I'm not sure whether Gao Pang can be smart enough to be smart about himself."
"Sir, you taught him so much. You didn't teach me anything." Qian Qing suddenly started to act coquettishly with Huo Chong.
"I told you that you only listened for 20 minutes and then said that you would rather continue to listen to the class or be beaten..."
"Ah~~~~~~" Qian Qing screamed, interrupting Huo Chong's description of the past.
Huo Chong still didn't want to make his child so embarrassed, so he could only laugh a few times and stop provoking Qian Qing.
After laughing for a while, Huo Chong stopped joking and said, "Qing'er, we are going to rule the world in the future. What Wangfu did is harmful to our business and his growth. If you see him, don't scold him, educate him. I think that in the future, no one can be worse than me! What he did, I did too. I do it better than him. I quit because I think it's not good for anyone. If you want to scold him, tell him this first."
While Huo Chong started to educate the people internally, the Qing court began to criticize him. Henan Governor Tian Wenjing was the target of public criticism. At least 30% of the Qing troops guarding Liangshan were from Nanyang Town.
Seeing that they could not defeat the Han army, the Qing army retreated decisively. The Qing court immediately launched a new round of attacks on Tian Wenjing. Although Li Fu did not die, he was a criminal. After Hong Zhou came to power, Li Fu and Xie Jishi and others who were not particularly malicious, but were impeached by Tian Wenjing, were reinstated by Yongzheng.
Li Fu impeached Tian Wenjing again without hesitation. The reason for the impeachment was simple. "At that time, Tian Wenjing did not appease the army to persuade them to fight again. Instead, he pushed the blame onto the government troops, causing the army to be unstable. If the government troops mutinied, it would be all Tian Wenjing's fault..."
Although Hong Zhou did not rule the country in theory, the Thirteenth Brother had actually started comprehensive training. He hoped that Hong Zhou could take on the important task as soon as possible. After reading Li Fu's memorial, Hong Zhou frowned. However, the Thirteenth Brother was already in poor health and could not disturb him for such a small matter. As a result, Hong Zhou asked the Fourteenth Brother for advice.
After reading Li Fu's memorial, the Fourteenth Elder thought for a moment with an unhappy look on his face, "Why not let Li Fu be the governor of Henan?"
"Why?" Hong Zhou felt that this was not his feeling.
"Your Majesty, since Li Fu thinks Tian Wenjing is not capable , I think he can probably handle this situation. Let Li Fu be the governor of Henan, and those officials who attack Tian Wenjing will be able to calm down."
Hong Zhou couldn't help but say, "Fourteenth Uncle, shouldn't we be looking for someone who can handle the situation now?"
Old Fourteen smiled bitterly, "Your Majesty, if Nian Gengyao were still here, I think there would be someone who could handle the situation. At this time, I think that Ortai might be able to take on the important task. However, Ortai is recognized as someone who can be used in the north. Besides, if Ortai is unfortunately defeated, and the court lets him deal with Huo Chong, and he loses again, what will the court do?"
In recent days, Hong Zhou had heard many people say that Nian Gengyao could deal with Huo Chong, and he had been angry for a long time. At this time, he couldn't help but said, "Fourteenth Uncle, many people say this, are they trying to say that the late emperor was not careful in employing people?"
The Fourteenth Old Man was stunned. For the first moment, he felt that Hong Zhou actually had some of Yongzheng's ideas. Not only did he want to kill people, he also wanted to destroy their hearts!
But thinking about it again, the fourteenth prince hesitated. He found that he was really mocking Yongzheng in his heart. It was Yongzheng's fault for employing Nian Gengyao, and it was also Yongzheng's fault for killing Nian Gengyao without mercy.
Hong Zhou understood this, it would be strange if he wasn't angry.
"Your Majesty, I... was wrong." The Fourteenth Old Man sighed.
Hong Zhou answered decisively: "Fourteenth uncle can say this, which makes him a hero of our Manchu people. I don't think it's strange for Fourteenth uncle to think so."
After hearing what Hong Zhou said, Old Fourteen felt relieved, and the resentment that had been accumulating for many years also dissipated a little.
Then Hong Zhou continued, "But we have to deal with Huo Chong now, so we have to come up with a solution. Huo Chong is a bandit, and the most worrying thing is to give him time to expand. Li Fu criticized Tian Wenjing, and I think there is only one thing he said that may be reasonable. That is, Tian Wenjing only reprimanded and punished the government troops, and doing so will only make the government troops more disunited. The court does not want these, the court wants troops who can win battles."
Since Hong Zhou was talking about serious matters, the Fourteenth Old Man brought out an idea that he had recently thought of, "Huo Chong is so good at fighting because he has strong armor and powerful cannons. The court must quickly forge cannons for these. In the past year, the court has supervised the production of thousands of cannons, and many have been basically completed. Now is the time to fight Huo Chong. However, there must be a sequence for this battle."
"Is Fourteenth Uncle willing to lead his troops north?" Hong Zhou asked the core question directly.
When the Fourteenth Old Man heard this, he remained silent. He was very dissatisfied with the Eighth Old Man. For many days after the Eighth Old Man escaped from the capital, the Fourteenth Old Man felt that it was the Thirteenth Old Man who killed the Eighth Old Man.
When the news came, Old Fourteen realized that he had been fooled by Old Eight. This anger made all his previous good intentions towards Old Eight vanish into thin air.
However, he still couldn't accept asking the Fourteenth Brother to lead his troops to kill the Eighth Brother.
