Huzhou is adjacent to Taihu Lake in the north, with mountains and hills in the west and plains in the east. It is also located at the intersection of Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui. It is a famous city with a history of thousands of years.
There are two prefectures in the city, Wucheng County on the left and Gui'an County on the right. The first minister of Chongzhen, Wen Tiren, was a native of Wucheng, Huzhou.
"Sir, gold conquers jade, Bai Xiangfu is here, and he also leads the army of Lu Jianguo."
The official historian of the county hurriedly came to report to Zhu Guofan.
Zhu Guofan didn't panic, picked up the tea cup and took two sips of the local famous purple bamboo shoot tea, "Kaicheng surrender!"
"Again?" Dian Shi couldn't help but be stunned.
One word after another has already shown that this is not the first time they have surrendered. In fact, Zhu Guofan, a native of Ganzhou, Jiangxi, has served as a magistrate in Huzhou, and his previous political achievements and official reputation were good. In the past, the white grain democracy movement in Huzhou was a waste of people and money.
There are always corrupt officials, eunuchs and middle-ranking officials who take the opportunity to exploit the people, causing public resentment to boil.
After Zhu Guofan took office, he immediately stopped being honest, diligent and diligent, curbed all the traitors, and eliminated old burdens forever. When he was collecting grain, he encountered extremely poor people who couldn't pay for the grain, and would find ways to borrow money to transport it on their behalf, so in
Although Huzhou is only a common knowledge, it is praised by the people.
But for such a good official, he lacks some backbone.
The Qing army went south to attack Huzhou, the city fell, and the prefect Wang Shiyu escaped. Chen Shangxun was sentenced to death by drowning, and Cai Fan died in the battle. Scholar Jin Gongyu killed his wife and rebelled, but Zhu Guofan, a fellow intellectual, immediately led the army after the city was broken.
Everyone surrendered.
The Qing army appointed official Feng Rujing and Tongzhi Zhu Guofan as prefects and Tongzhi respectively. Then Jin Gongyu welcomed the king of Tongcheng to resist the Qing Dynasty. They gathered the general Huang Guangzhi, deputy general Shen Guangsheng and other defeated officers and soldiers of the Southern Ming Dynasty. They also joined forces with local gentry Fei Hongji and others to counterattack.
Huzhou.
Huzhou was defeated, and Zhu Guofan once again proposed surrender.
So they presented the city, Jin Gongyu beheaded the prefect Feng Rujing and the counselor Wang Yuanjue, but in the end they spared Zhu Guofan, who had a good official reputation. After Fei Hongji was appointed as the new prefect, Zhu Guofan was even appointed as the co-prefect.
Then Jin Gongyu led his troops back to his hometown to regain Changxing. As a result, the Jin gentry Qiu Wenbo and Jiang Lichen in the city secretly surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. They cooperated with the outside world and led the Qing army to break the city.
The prefect Fei Hongji and his brother were defeated and died by diving into the country. The commander-in-chief Huang Guangzhi and the deputy general Shen Guangsheng were all killed in the battle. King Tongcheng abandoned the city and fled, and then Zhu Guofan surrendered with the Huzhou officials.
Miraculously, after the Qing army broke through the city, they actually accepted Zhu Guofan's surrender and massacred many officials and people who resisted the Qing, but did not touch Zhu Guofan and others.
He was still appointed as Tongzhi.
It has only been a few days, but now the Ming army is back again.
And this time not only did the wife-murderer Jin Gongyu come, but he also led Lu Jianguo's army.
But Zhu Guofan didn't panic at all and simply surrendered.
"Sir, think again. We have surrendered several times. If we surrender again, we may not end well." Dianshi couldn't help but persuade him.
One can do it twice, but can it be done again?
But Zhu Guofan didn't care at all.
"I was born in Gongsheng, and I know all the civil servants. All I can do is to encourage people to work in agriculture, educate the people, and make the people happy and prosperous. As for fighting and fighting, those are the responsibilities of military commanders. If military commanders cannot defend the country, can they?
You want me to wait for the civil servants to come and fight? But I have no soldiers and no pay, so what can I do to fight? Should I lead these unarmed people to fight?"
"That's not called fighting, that's called committing suicide. How can the people be so innocent?"
"Yes..." The official could not refute.
"The people have completed their duties by paying taxes, paying taxes, and doing corvee work. Do they still have to sacrifice their lives? I can't do it. If those generals and soldiers cannot defend the country, then we local officials must What we do is not how to encourage them to die, but how to let them live."
"Can····"
"Nothing is wrong. I know that if I do this, I will be scolded by countless people. So let me bear the infamy. It would be nice to have a few more people alive. The world is like this. Is it okay for everyone to die? Just for the sake of everyone." In the name of loyalty?”
"Seal the money and food in the treasury, organize the account books, and come with me to open the city and surrender."
Zhu Guofan surrendered again. This was his fourth surrender. He surrendered twice to the Qing Dynasty and then twice to the Ming Dynasty. However, the officials in the county all obeyed his words. When he said to surrender, everyone obeyed him without hesitation. He said that he would sort everything out and then surrender to Kaicheng.
The city gate opened and the whole city was quiet.
Jin Gongyu was wearing armor and riding on a horse. He looked at Huzhou City and saw Zhu Guofan standing in front of everyone. He had the urge to step forward and challenge this dog official with a shot.
It's just that this time, he is just leading the way.
"Superintendent Shen, that dog officer was originally a fellow magistrate of Huzhou. This is the fourth time he has surrendered, twice to the Qing Dynasty and two to the Ming Dynasty. Let the last general go and kill the dog officer. Such a capricious villain, If you have no credibility, you will not be able to stay.”
Shen Wenzhong looked at Huzhou City.
Huzhou can also be regarded as a famous city in Wuyue, especially because its location is very important and its geography is also very special. It is adjacent to Taihu Lake in the north, mountains and hills to the west, and water network plains to the east. It is connected to Wuyue. It can attack and defend and is very wealthy.
Previously, the Northern Expedition took advantage of Yan's favorable conditions to pacify Zhejiang and successfully penetrated into Huzhou, igniting the flames of resumption of resistance against the Japanese in many villages. However, it did not penetrate deeply into the cities.
Shen Wenzhong had heard about this Zhu Guofan, and Yan Wogong also said that although this man was not a loyal person, he could be regarded as a good official. This may sound contradictory, but he was neither greedy nor harmful to the people, and he could also bring peace to the people. It's just that he's not loyal enough to Ming Dynasty, so it's really hard to evaluate.
At times like these, this kind of person is worth fighting for or using.
The Northern Expeditionary Army is now divided into several groups. Shen Wenzhong leads one group to the west of Taihu Lake. Next, they will operate in Huzhou, Changzhou and even Guangde, Yingtian and other areas on the west coast of the lake. Shen Wenzhong is the vanguard, and Huzhou is the The first station.
"The Jianguo has decreed that we only have one enemy, and that is the Tartars. Although officials like Zhu Guofan are not loyal ministers, they are not traitors to the country. Since he can save the people and is willing to open the city and surrender, then we will accept it."
"Prisoner, think twice. This kind of person is capricious and cannot be trusted."
"I asked General Jin, although Zhu Guofan has repeatedly committed crimes, did he kill innocent people indiscriminately and harm loyal soldiers and civilians?"
Jin Gongyu thought for a while and said, "That's not true. The first time he repeated this, after we recaptured Huzhou, we killed several other pseudo-officials but did not kill him because he did not do anything bad."
"Then if he surrenders to the Qing Dynasty later, can he harm the loyal soldiers and civilians?"
"Never."
"That's okay."
"But he surrendered to the Tatars, gave them food and money, and helped recruit young people and send soldiers."
"That's just the magistrate's job."
Shen Wenzhong stepped forward and accepted the surrender of Zhu Guofan and others.
Then he publicly appointed Dai Zhong, the Huzhou official who was originally a rebel, as the magistrate of Huzhou, and also appointed Zhu Guofan as the magistrate.
After the appointment was announced, Zhu Guofan was also very surprised.
He originally thought that if he surrendered again this time, he might inevitably end up being killed in front of the city gate, but he didn't want to have to reject the city to resist the Ming army because of this, and he didn't want to implicate the people.
He thought that even if he was killed, only one person would die, but unexpectedly, the young Superintendent Shen not only did not kill him, but also awarded him the title of Tongzhi.
"Zhu Tongzhi, I have been monitoring you for taking care of the people, so I won't charge you with surrendering to the captives. However, this can only happen once and twice, so you can keep it to yourself."
Then Shen Wenzhong looked at Wang Shiyu, who was tied up by Zhu Guofan and was kneeling on the ground, trembling and begging for mercy. This man was the former magistrate of Huzhou. When the Qing army came to attack, he abandoned the people in the city and fled. Later, he ran back and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. After Zhu Guofan surrendered to the Qing Dynasty for the second time, he was again appointed as the prefect of Huzhou.
Then this time Zhu Guofan directly tied him up to surrender.
"Du Jian, my subordinate is a Jinshi of the Tianqi Dynasty and the former magistrate of Huzhou." Seeing that the capricious Zhu Guofan could be retained without being held accountable, he felt that he still had a chance.
After all, he only surrendered to the Qing Dynasty once, and Zhu Guofan did it four times.
Shen Wenzhong looked at Wang Shiyu and then at Zhu Guofan. Wang was a Jinshi and Zhu Que was only a Gongsheng, but their behavior in these troubled times was completely different.
One abandoned the city and fled, but later took the initiative to come back and surrender to the captives, and even pursued and suppressed the rebels after becoming the puppet magistrate. The other had always stayed in Huzhou and maintained the stability of Huzhou.
"Come here, drag this fake prefect down and chop him down." Shen Wenzhong waved his hand.
Wang Shiyu screamed in fright, but several Ming soldiers came up, pulled him aside, and chopped off his head with a knife in front of everyone.
"Enter the city!"
Zhu Guofan, who had repeatedly surrendered four times, was not only not killed, but was still awarded the title of Tongzhi. However, the prefect Wang Shiyu, who was a Jinshi, was only demoted once, but his head was beheaded in public, which shocked countless people.