Author: Scholar Wu

Tong Yangjia naturally knew that Ganzhou was in danger, but he also had his own concerns. What Li Chengdong said was not wrong; the Yongli regime of the Southern Ming Dynasty was eyeing Guangxi, and if he went north with all his strength, Guangdong would be depleted of troops.

But if you sit back and watch the city of Ganzhou being destroyed, firstly, it will be difficult for the court to explain; secondly, if Jin Shenghuan's 200,000 troops go south to Guangdong, it will be enough for him to drink a pot.

Therefore, he must save Ganzhou no matter what.

After seeing that Li Chengdong finally agreed to lead his army to the north, Tong Yangjia was afraid that he would regret it, so he said: "I will order the chief envoy's Yamen to allocate 60,000 taels of silver and 100,000 shi of grain. I hope that Admiral Li will send troops as soon as possible."

After receiving the promise of silver and food and grass, Li Chengdong said: "As soon as the military pay and food and grass arrive, I will send troops immediately!"

But what is strange is that after waiting for two days, the salary and food and grass promised by Tong Yangjia have not been delivered to Zhaoqing.

So Li Chengdong found his adopted son Li Yuanyin and said: "Yuanyin, the things Tong Yangjia promised have not been delivered yet. Please take 500 sergeants quickly to the Guangdong Chief Envoy's Treasury and bring the things back to me.

"

Li Yuanyin said: "Father, don't worry, the child will definitely live up to his destiny."

Soon Li Yuanyin took people to the Yamen of the Governor of Guangdong.

Seeing Li Yuanyin and others approaching in an aggressive manner, Sun Heyi, the Chief Envoy's Si Zuo Counselor, knew that they were here to beg for supplies, so he said with a smile: "Young Admiral came to my Chief Envoy's Yamen in person. What do you want to do?"

Seeing Sun Heyi's expression, Li Yuanyin immediately got angry and said angrily: "Don't try to trick me. Why haven't the salaries and grain allocated by Governor Tong been sent to Zhaoqing for so long?"

Sun Heyi said calmly: "How dare we neglect Governor Tong's allocation of military funds? It's just a coincidence that the vassal treasury is counting the supplies and checking the accounts these days. Please wait patiently, Admiral. As soon as the accounts are checked, we will send the supplies immediately

Send to Zhaoqing."

Hearing this, Li Yuanyin was furious and immediately said: "It's ridiculous. Our army is about to set off. How can we delay the trip because of the vassal's inventory and reconciliation? Can you afford to deal with such a big thing?"

Sun Heyi was not afraid, and replied: "Military matters are not something that I, the little chief secretary and counselor, can control, but the chief secretary's office has its own rules. I hope the young admiral will forgive me!"

So Li Yuanyin pulled out his saber and said fiercely: "I will decide on the military salary today. You must give it to me whether you give it to me or not!"

When everyone in the Chief Secretary saw Li Yuanyin drawing his sword, they were so frightened that they retreated.

At this time, Yuan Pengnian, the chief envoy of Guangdong, walked out of the Yamen and said: "Young Admiral is very angry. Please calm down first and let's talk inside."

Li Yuanyin put away his sword, snorted, and then said: "I want to see what you have to say?"

After entering the inner hall of the Yamen, Yuan Pengnian retreated to the left and right.

The position of chief envoy is a lucrative position. When distributing supplies, these people often delay and withhold money for various reasons in order to ask for bribes. This is a very common thing.

Li Yuanyin has been in the army for a long time and is very familiar with this set of things.

However, Li Chengdong was the Admiral of Guangdong and Guangxi, so someone dared to "rip off" him. This was something he did not expect.

So Li Yuanyin asked: "Yuan Pengnian, what do you mean by deliberately withholding military funds?"

Yuan Pengnian said: "How dare I, a small chief envoy of Guangdong, deduct military expenses from the admirals of Guangdong and Guangdong?"

Li Yuanyin thought for a moment and said, "Is this what Tong Yangjia meant?"

Yuan Pengnian looked at Li Yuanyin and whispered: "I have heard for a long time that the young admiral is a loyal man and has always been concerned about the Ming Dynasty. Since Jin Shenghuan moved to Jiangxi, he has persuaded your Majesty, Admiral Li, to raise troops to fight anyway. Is this possible?"

Li Yuanyin has been depressed since Li Chengdong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. He repeatedly persuaded Li Chengdong to return to the Ming Dynasty anyway, but how did Yuan Pengnian know?

Looking at the confused expression on Li Yuanyin's face, Yuan Pengnian said: "Young Admiral, there is no need to deny it in a hurry. To be honest, although Yuan Mou had no choice but to serve as an official here in the Puppet Qing Dynasty, he never forgot that he was a Han. Nowadays, there are rebellions everywhere.

The rising and falling waves of clear voices are a good opportunity for my Ming Dynasty to make a comeback!"

"Why don't we use the military resources to make your father think that Tong Yangjia is deliberately making things difficult? Maybe this will happen."

Soon Li Yuanyin returned to Zhaoqing empty-handed.

Seeing Li Yuanyin returning without success, Li Chengdong was very unhappy and scolded: "What's going on?"

Li Yuanyin knelt on the ground and cried: "I want to report to my father, the people in the Chief Envoy's Department tried to shirk the situation, and the boy drew a knife to threaten them, so they had to tell the truth. Tong Yangjia secretly ordered them to deliberately withhold military supplies."

After hearing this, Li Chengdong became furious, smashed the wine glass to the ground, and cursed: "The old thief bullied me too much!"

Li Yuanyin took the opportunity and said: "Commander Father, I will go and rectify the troops and horses, rush into Guangzhou immediately, and take the head of the old thief Tong."

Li Chengdong said: "My son will go to rectify the troops first, but don't act rashly. You must obey your father's orders."

Seeing Li Chengdong relent, Li Yuanyin said excitedly: "My child obeys!"

After Li Yuanyin left, Li Chengdong continued to drink. Facing the table full of dishes, he had no appetite at all and just kept pouring and drinking.

Seeing Li Chengdong's sad face, Mrs. Zhao quickly sat in his arms and said softly: "Why are you drinking here alone?"

Seeing the beautiful concubine in front of him, Li Chengdong felt a little better. He stroked Ms. Zhao's delicate and fair face and said, "It's not like I don't know that I, the old thief Tong, bullies me all day long, and my husband is very depressed.

"

Mrs. Zhao smiled and said: "Master, don't worry, I can take care of my worries for you!"

After saying that, Mrs. Zhao got up and walked to Jin Shenghuan's bedroom and took out a wooden box from the cabinet.

Li Chengdong looked at Zhao in front of him in surprise and asked, "How do I know this, my concubine?"

After Li Chengdong captured Guangzhou, he confiscated more than fifty seals of former civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty, and hid only the seal of the "Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi".

All this was under the eyes of Li Chengdong's concubine, Mrs. Zhao. As Li Chengdong's pillow, Mrs. Zhao naturally knew what Li Chengdong was thinking.

She was originally the concubine of Chen Zizhuang, one of the "Three Loyalists of the Southern Ming Dynasty". After Chen Zizhuang died heroically, Li Chengdong coveted his beauty and took the Zhao family as his own.

Although Zhao was committed to Li Chengdong, she never forgot Chen Zizhuang's last wish to rebel against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty. Seeing that Li Chengdong was dissatisfied with Tong Yangjia, she kept looking for opportunities to persuade him to return to the Ming Dynasty anyway.

At this time, Zhao said: "The imperial court is unfair. Since the Qing court is unwilling to give it to the governors of Guangdong and Guangxi, why don't you surrender to the Ming court?"

"Look at Jiangxi's Jin Shenghuan. As long as I raise my arms and give him a shout, the governors of these two provinces are not yet in your pocket."

This Zhao family was very popular with Li Chengdong, so she naturally spoke to his mind.

Although Li Chengdong was already inclined to return to the Ming Dynasty in his heart, he still hesitated at this time.

He said worriedly: "Although I have the intention to return to the Ming Dynasty anyway, dozens of members of my family are in Songjiang Prefecture, which is under the jurisdiction of the Qing army. According to this, they are thousands of miles away. Once I start an army, my family will definitely be killed by the Qing army!"

After learning about Li Chengdong's concerns, Mrs. Zhao said: "A man is born between heaven and earth, how can he be so affectionate as his son and daughter? I don't dare to enjoy the wealth alone and become a tie-up to the master, so I will die to make my ambition clear, hoping to inspire the master to achieve great results."

The great cause of Qing Dynasty and Ming Dynasty."

After saying that, Li Chengdong was unprepared, so he pulled out the sword beside him and killed himself immediately.

Soon, blood seeped out from Zhao's neck. The incident happened so suddenly that Li Chengdong had no time to grab the knife and quickly helped Zhao.

However, it was still a step too late. At this time, Zhao had no breath.

Li Chengdong was greatly moved. He did not expect that his concubine could have such ambition and magnanimity, which made him feel ashamed.

Holding his concubine's body in his arms, Li Chengdong secretly swore: "In this life I must fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, and accomplish something great in order to comfort my concubine's spirit in heaven!"

That night, He Wuzou and Huang Shijun, two former bachelors, expressed their full support for Li Chengdong with the help of Li Yuanyin. Coupled with the support of Yuan Pengnian, the chief envoy of Guangdong, all military and political power in Guangdong Province was soon transferred.

It was in the hands of Li Chengdong.

With the cooperation of the Guangzhou defenders, Li Yuanyin led 5,000 troops and horses into Guangzhou City without any bloodshed.

At this time, a soldier came to report: "The Governor is not well. Li Yuanyin brought a large group of troops to surround the Governor's Mansion."

Hearing this news, Tong Yangjia's expression suddenly changed. You don't need to think about it to know that Li Chengdong must have rebelled against him. But now he only has dozens of close servants in his hands, and he has no power to fight.

So before Li Yuanyin could enter the house, Tong Yangjia cut off his braid and presented the seals of the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi and the Governor of Guangdong with both hands, expressing his willingness to return to the Ming Dynasty and obey Li Chengdong's orders.

Seeing that Tong Yangjia was so understanding, Li Chengdong did not kill him immediately. He just asked Tong Yangjia to come forward and issue written orders to officials at all levels to cooperate with Li Chengdong's actions. After that, he placed Tong Yangjia under house arrest in the mansion.

On April 10, the second year of Yongli, Li Chengdong took out the "Seal of the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi" from his private collection and promulgated a proclamation, deeming Yongli the first day of the lunar calendar, ordered the hair braids to be dissolved, the Ming Dynasty clothes to be restored, and a new secret flag to replace the Qing Governor-General's flag.

Hong Tianzhuo, a surrendered Jinshi, and others were sent to Nanning to invite Emperor Yongli to station himself in Guangzhou.

As the admiral of Guangdong and Guangxi, the military power of Guangdong Province was originally under Li Chengdong's control.

Soon Guangzhou Prefecture, Shaozhou Prefecture, Nanxiong Prefecture, Huizhou Prefecture, Chaozhou Prefecture, Zhaoqing Prefecture, Deqing Prefecture, Gaozhou Prefecture, Huazhou Prefecture, Leizhou Prefecture, Lianzhou Prefecture, Qinzhou Prefecture and Qiongzhou Prefecture were under the jurisdiction of ten counties in Guangdong.

All three governments announced that he would return to the Ming Dynasty anyway.

After Geng Xianzhong, the governor of Guangxi, heard that Li Chengdong was rebelling in Guangdong, he also led his troops in Wuzhou with Yang Youguang, the commander-in-chief of Wuzhou, and Chen Shi of Cangwu Road, and immediately sent an envoy into the area under the jurisdiction of Nanming to report that Guangdong and Guangxi rebelled against the Qing Dynasty and returned to the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, life was not easy for the Yongli court in Nanning.

Although Emperor Yongli is now the co-owner of the Ming Dynasty, the forces of King Lu in Zhejiang and Fujian only superficially respect Yongli as emperor, and are actually in a state of self-reliance. They are just one of the various titles conferred by King Lu.

The performance has been confirmed by Yongli, that's all.

But this is much better than the previous fight between King Lu and Long Wu.

At the beginning of the year, the surface territory of Nanming also included the three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and most of Guangxi in the southwest, as well as some of the territory of King Lu in Zhejiang and Fujian.

Since the Zhongzhen Camp and the Governor of Huguang, He Tengjiao, were driven out of Hunan, the territory that Emperor Yongli could actually control was only half of Guangxi, and Yunnan and Guizhou were actually controlled by the Daxi Army.

But with Jin Shenghuan in Jiangxi in the first month of the year, it seems that the Ming Dynasty has begun to turn around, and it can be said that there are good news one after another. In addition to Jin Shenghuan's occupation of Jiangxi's 11th Prefecture, Qian Mo and Zhang Mingzhen also won consecutive battles in Zhejiang.

Now that he learned that the entire province of Guangdong and Guangxi had lost its capital, he was so happy that he couldn't believe it was true.

Emperor Yongli Zhu Youlang pinched his thigh hard, and the pain he felt told him that this was indeed not a dream.

The handprint of the Supervisor of Ceremonies said Pang Tianshou said: "Congratulations, Your Majesty, this is really the blessing of the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty. First, there was Jin Shenghuan in Jiangxi, and now there is Li Chengdong in Guangdong. I have hope for the revival of the Ming Dynasty!"

"Of course, this is all because the emperor is wise and can bring the world back to his heart. I don't think Jiangnan will be pacified until the sun sets."

Pang Tianshou's rainbow fart made Yongli very excited, but he did not lose his mind because of it. He had made many jokes before due to inaccurate intelligence.
To be continued...