Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 350 Puzzled
Negotiate peace?

What the hell is this peace talk!
When he had no silver earlier, Zhu Cilang had no intention of negotiating peace with the Qing court, let alone now that he has earned millions of silver.

Therefore, for Zhu Cilang, the so-called prerequisites for negotiations were just to stabilize the "peace faction" within.

Since ancient times, it has been extremely difficult to conquer the north from the south.

The only person who completed this hellish mission was Zhu Yuanzhang.

There are thousands of factors involved, but the root cause can be summarized as the war of unification is not in the interests of the South.

Take the situation in recent years as an example.

At first, the local clans all felt that the Ming Dynasty was beyond salvation, and that it would be better to change masters and pay taxes in peace rather than fight like a trapped beast.

What's more, the Hongguang court was ruled by Ma Shiying and others, who spared no effort in suppressing various forces in Jiangnan.

Under such circumstances, these forces naturally had no intention of maintaining the Hongguang regime, and it was reasonable that they would collapse rapidly or even be defeated by a single edict.

But to their surprise, Zhu Cilang suddenly appeared.

Afterwards, the Qing armies in the central and eastern routes were defeated successively, and the "fake prince" finally became the real emperor.

They can actually accept this.

After all, the new emperor only carried out a limited reckoning with this betrayal from another level, and the ministers he used were all "his own people" such as Qian Qianyi and Huang Liu Erzhou.

No matter from which perspective, the new emperor is different from the two previous reckless guys. It is in the interests of all parties in Jiangnan for him to hold power.

But these are two different forces after all. With the arrival of the Qing envoys, differences between the two sides immediately emerged.

For the emperor, the Northern Expedition was naturally a great achievement that could be written into history.

But for many forces in Jiangnan, the north has become devastated by years of war. Not to mention whether driving the Tartars away can bring them any benefits, the struggle for the right to speak in the court is enough to make all parties in the south do their best to promote peace talks.

If we go by past versions of the story, the brief honeymoon period between the emperor and the various southern forces has come to an end.

If the emperor's power prevails, there will be a series of inexplicable failures in the Northern Expedition; if the power in the south is stronger, and even the emperor has no intention of launching a northern expedition, then the entire court will be isolated in a corner under the barrier of the Yangtze River until changes occur.

But for Zhu Cilang, this variable had already existed.

But at this time of year, the changes came from the sea, not from the grassland as in the past.

That's right.

The Dutch, or the Age of Plunder, were the change he needed.

As for how this variable should work -
January 5

Changde Prefecture

Since returning to the Ming Dynasty, Li Guo and Gao Yigong's troops have been stationed in this strategic location.

Normally, this area that had experienced so much war could not possibly support such a large army, but because the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty obtained a lot of food from overseas, they finally got rid of the precarious days of the previous few months.

just
"Madam, my nephew and uncle are here."

In a not-so-big house in Changde City, Gao Guiying, who was staring out the window in a daze, was brought back to reality by a gentle call.

Her story with Li Zicheng is somewhat similar to that of Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma.

However, Li Zicheng ended up dying inexplicably and failed to rule the world like his predecessor.

Normally, a traitor's widow like him would not have had a good end, but to everyone's surprise, the current emperor not only did not kill her to avenge his father, but also used such a small trick that was not worthy of being shown on the public to completely dispel the doubts of all the generals of the rebel army.

The world should belong to his Zhu family.

After carefully reviewing all of the current emperor's experiences since he came to power, even the resourceful Gao Guiying had to come up with such thoughts. The preparations for the future that had originally been in her mind gradually disappeared like melting snow.

The change in mentality will naturally be reflected in your actions.

After marrying Li Zicheng, she was responsible for handling all military affairs.

Although she was a woman at that time, the power in her hands was no less than any general in the rebel army.

But now.

Li Guo and Gao Yigong clearly obeyed her orders, and she was also quite good at military and political affairs, but after settling in Changde, Gao Guiying became a traditional widow in her house and never interfered in any military affairs again.

This probably means seeing the situation clearly.

"Why are they here?"

"He said he came to say goodbye."

Hearing this, Gao Guiying suddenly transformed from a lazy noblewoman into a general commanding troops. She relaxed only after asking a few more questions about the situation in the city.

She is actually quite satisfied with her current life.

Although the emperor ordered the reorganization of the army, he neither took away the military power of Li Guo and Gao Yigong nor added much sand in the army.

In addition to these, he even distributed land to the old and weak who were laid off, and supplemented the remaining elite troops with several months' military pay.

Regardless of whether the little emperor did this out of self-confidence or out of trust, Gao Guiying was still quite grateful for this action.

So when she heard that the two of them came to say goodbye for unknown reasons, her first reaction was to worry that something unexpected had happened.

There is nothing wrong with such a reaction from a woman who has lived in the inner house for a long time, but she has held power after all, so she should not be so cowardly.

But she knew very well that she and her people were all born into poor families, and when it came to playing power games, they were no match for those old villains in the Ming court.

If you don't tuck your tail between your legs and make the higher-ups wary, you're probably going to end up in a bad situation.

"Your subjects greet the Queen."

A moment later, Li Guo and Gao Yigong appeared in Gao Guiying's room, but her face immediately turned cold when she heard their names.

"Are you two going to offer me to the emperor?"

"Queen! Where did this come from?"

"Sister! How could we have such thoughts!"

Gao Guiying is only in her early thirties, but she still has some charm. Such a person would be a huge temptation to some people. If someone really wants to use her as a means of advancement, it is not completely impossible.

But who are the two people in front of us?
One was Li Zicheng's nephew, and the other was Gao Guiying's younger brother. When they heard these words, it was as if they were slapped in the face. Apart from explaining with a look of astonishment on their faces, they had no other reaction.

"If that's not the case, why do you call me Queen?!"

After the words fell, Li and Gao breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time they didn't know how to explain it. "Your Majesty not only kept you two in office, but also laid off the old and weak and gave them land. This treatment is already very kind and righteous. You two still call me queen. Are you planning to keep the Dashun flag and seek independence?"

What are heart-piercing words?

This is a serious and heart-piercing statement.

Li Zicheng had no heir, and Li Guo had thought about this before. However, the situation changed dramatically over the past year, and his little thoughts had long since disappeared due to a series of failures.

Up to now, he just wanted to serve safely under the Ming Dynasty, so he didn't have such extravagant hopes.

Gao Guiying was naturally aware of this, and she said this just to shut Li Guo up in advance.

So when she saw the two men in front of her blushing with anger, she began to explain in detail.

"As for emotion, His Majesty has forgiven us and given us a place to stay; as for reason, you are all eating his military pay and receiving his rice allowance;

Moreover, His Majesty defeated the Tartars one after another, and even Ajige died at his hands.
If you meet a wise leader like this, you should assist him wholeheartedly. You are just making people laugh at you for what you are doing."

They are all grown up, so they naturally understand this truth.

But the transformation of identity always takes a process, especially for relatives of King Chuang like them.

However, since Gao Guiying had said this, they naturally understood the reason. After the room was quiet for a while, Gao and Li changed the topic.

"Sister, His Majesty has ordered the two of us to follow Wang Butang and lead the troops into Guizhou. We will definitely fight well."

"Yes, Aunt Huang, we are grateful for your kindness, and we will definitely repay you with military merits when we enter Guizhou this time."

If others heard the two's explanation, they would find many faults. However, Gao Guiying was helpless towards these two rough men. After seeing that they no longer called her queen, she turned her attention to the matter of entering Guizhou.

"What is the situation in Qianzhong? What does Your Majesty plan to do?"

Li and Gao could say something about the situation in Qianzhong, but as for His Majesty's plan, they knew nothing except that "no conflict with the Dashi Army was allowed."

This was one of the reasons why the two came. After all, Gao Guiying, who had been the queen for more than 40 days, was much stronger than the two of them, so it was reasonable to ask for her opinions.

"Wasn't He Zhen still in Hanzhong when we retreated south? Has he been defeated?"

"He surrendered to the Tartars, and then somehow joined forces with Sun Shoufa. The Tartars were able to enter Sichuan so quickly this time because they gave up Hanzhong."

"Oh? Give up Hanzhong? Is the information reliable?"

"It's reliable. We received a letter from them a few days ago, saying they wanted to attack Xiangyang from both sides, but we ignored them."

"Nonsense!"

In the middle of a question and answer conversation with Li Guo, Gao Guiying suddenly yelled.

She knew that Li Guo had no good feelings towards He Zhen, who had rebelled against the Dashun regime, but she also knew the importance of Xiangyang.

In her opinion, the Qing army had just suffered a defeat in the center, and if they could attack from both sides, then this important town would definitely fall into the hands of the Ming Dynasty.

But now Li Guo had missed the opportunity to fight because of a previous conflict. Whether it was to repay the emperor's kindness or to take their safety into consideration, Gao Guiying had to scold him.

"Don't worry, auntie. Although I haven't replied yet, I have already informed Wang Butang."

After hearing this, Gao Guiying's anger finally subsided a little, and she then began to speculate what the emperor's intention was in ordering this group of people to enter Guizhou.

After being here for such a long time, they naturally knew that Wang Yingxiong was transferred to Hunan temporarily by the emperor because he had a conflict with Fan Yiheng.

But now the emperor had no idea what he was thinking. Not only did he order him to enter Guizhou, he also transferred tens of thousands of elite troops under his command.

Judging from the previous relationship between the two, this would inevitably lead to a lot of friction.

By then, let alone fighting with the Qing army and Dashi, even if there was no internal strife within the Ming army, it would be considered restraint between the two sides.

After thinking it over for several times, Gao Guiying still felt that this was a bad move, but when she thought about the emperor's previous wisdom, she always felt that there must be some backup plan behind it.

As a result, she, the hero who was half a family member of the Chuang Army, fell into deep thought, and only came back to her senses when she heard her younger brother's soft call in her ears.

"You all know the relationship between Wang and Fan. You must be cautious when you enter Qianzhong this time and don't get involved in the court struggle."

"Sister, don't worry about this. This road is rugged and difficult to travel. It will take at least a month for the army to enter Qianzhong. This time is enough for us to find out the internal situation."

Gao Guiying didn't know what to say about Gao Yigong's self-confidence. After Li and Gao left, she started to think about it again.

It is obvious that due to the losses of the two Qing armies, the Ming army is now in absolute control.

So she still couldn't understand why the emperor would ignore the important and easy-to-attack Lianghuai and Xiangyang with the protection of the Dashi Army, and instead put a large number of troops and main energy in Sichuan and Guizhou.

It's not her fault.

After all, Gao Guiying didn't know about the original arrow in history.

After dealing with the remaining rebel troops in Shaanxi, the Qing army decided to have Prince Haoge lead the Qing army westward to attack the Dashi Army.

At that time, Zhang Xianzhong was leading the Dashi Army in the southwest region and intended to attack the Central Plains directly.

However, due to the resolute resistance of Sun Shoufa and He Zhen in Hanzhong, the Qing army led by Hauge was once in a stalemate.

At this critical moment, Zhang Xianzhong's trusted general Liu Jinzhong suddenly rebelled and led the Qing army into Sichuan.

Liu Jinzhong was well aware of the internal intelligence of the Dashi Army, and his betrayal dealt a heavy blow to the Dashi Army.

After delaying in Hanzhong for several months, the Qing army, led by Liu Jinzhong, finally attacked Zhang Xianzhong's camp and set up camp on Fenghuang Mountain.

Faced with nearly 100,000 aggressive Qing troops, Zhang Xianzhong was completely unprepared. At first, he even reprimanded the spies who reported the enemy's intelligence. It was not until he saw the Qing army with his own eyes that he hurried out of the camp to fight.

On the morning of the second day, Haoge sent Oboi to launch a surprise attack on Zhang Xianzhong, and the Qing army and Zhang Xianzhong's Dashi army officially encountered each other.

In order to observe the enemy situation, Zhang Xianzhong watched the Qing army formation by the river.

At this time, the rebel general Liu Jinzhong recognized Zhang Xianzhong and informed Hauge.

Afterwards, Hauge led the main force of the Qing army to the battlefield, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides.

In this fierce battle, Zhang Xianzhong was shot in the throat by a heavy armor-piercing arrow fired by the Qing army general Baijia Layabulan and died.

The death of Zhang Xianzhong caused the Dashi Army to be in disarray, and they fled in all directions. The Qing army then pursued and destroyed more than 130 Dashi Army fortresses, winning the final victory in this fierce battle.

In general, the battle between Zhang Xianzhong and Hauge was full of drama and twists and turns. In the end, Zhang Xianzhong's accidental death marked the defeat of the Dashi Army and the victory of the Qing Army.

This battle had a profound impact on the course of history in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.

Fortunately.
(End of this chapter)