The envoy sent by Jing Fan to negotiate peace with Emperor Longwu, Grand Tutor Ding Kuichu, staggered slowly and slowly arrived in Fuzhou. It was already the eighteenth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of November of the first year of Hongguang.
Although the old man walks slowly, he has already thought clearly about how to handle the peace talks while sitting in the carriage.
Before going to Fuzhou, Ding Kuichu had already asked the deputy peace envoy, Wang Gui, the guest of honor of the Prince of Jingjiang, to ride a fast horse to the residence of Zheng Zhilong, the powerful official of Longwu. Nothing is difficult in the world, as long as you find the right person. Taifu Ding has become a high official.
For so many years, the old man has been well-connected with official matters.
The reason why Wang Gui, the royal guest of honor, was appointed as the deputy peace envoy was mainly due to the fact that when he was in Wuzhou for Zhu Hengjia to receive the old squires who came to intercede for Qu Shichun, he showed that he would not fight back, would not retaliate when he was scolded, endured the humiliation, and was polite.
Ninja magnanimity. Ninja is invincible!
Zhu Hengjia felt that he had captured four prefectures and one state in Guangdong from Emperor Longwu, and he should be on the defensive later. It would be better to choose a deputy with a good temper.
Wang Gui and Zheng Zhilong had a cordial and friendly meeting, and the two sides reached a consensus: maintain the existing border and stop all military operations in Guangdong.
After listening to Wang Gui's report, Taifu Ding was very satisfied. A good start is half the success. Don't be in a hurry, take your time.
Before coming, Zhu Hengjia gave Ding Kuichu the bottom line for the peace talks: he would give up the title of "Supervisory State" and keep Zhaoqing, Lianjiang Second Prefecture, Gaozhou Prefecture, Qiongzhou Prefecture, and Luoding Prefecture in Guangdong to return to Emperor Longwu. Ding Kuichu felt that this condition was too favorable.
Based on this result, you cannot show your great talent.
Therefore, the bottom line that Ding Kuichu set for himself in the peace talks was that Zhu Hengjia went to the "Jianguo" and returned Luoding Prefecture on the territory.
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Ding Kuichu met Emperor Longwu in Fengtian Palace. When he saw Longwu, Ding Kuichu burst into tears and was heartbroken: "Your Majesty! I almost lost my sight of you!"
Emperor Longwu was extremely angry: "Ding Kuichu, as an important minister of the country, you committed yourself to rebel. You helped the rebels to repair the book and recruited four of my prefectures and one state to surrender. Now you dare to come back! Do you think I can't kill you?"
"Your Majesty, I have been wronged. Those letters to persuade me to surrender were all written by the rebel vassal, using the seals I found on my body and forging my handwriting. I wanted to die in the enemy camp to serve the country, but what's the point of dying in vain for Your Majesty? So,
I have retained my usefulness to find out clearly the true and false status of the rebel vassal, and I came here to take advantage of the peace talks to report to Your Majesty."
"Oh, how is the military strength of the rebel vassal? Is the money and food sufficient? Is the relationship between the civil servants and military generals harmonious? Please tell me carefully."
"Your Majesty, there are thousands of generals who are fighting against the vassal, and they are armed with millions of armors. They are all fierce warriors. The food and wages are sufficient, and the money is piled up like a mountain. The civil and military harmony is all against the vassal. It is unattainable." Ding Kuichu deliberately exaggerated his own strength,
Fortunately, keep the initiative during the peace talks.
"So the anti-vassal soldiers are strong and strong, and I can't do anything to him?"
"Your Majesty, a benevolent person is invincible. Since ancient times, kindness can be worth a million soldiers, so you might as well allow him to negotiate a peace."
"It seems that this old thief is sincere in surrendering to Nifan", Emperor Longwu sneered.
However, Emperor Longwu also had the need for peace talks. This emperor was playing a big game of chess, and what he was fighting for was not winning or losing, but the world and the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty.
After Dorgon, the regent of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, defeated the Hongguang and Lu regimes of the Southern Ming Dynasty, he thought that the world was settled and ordered the main force of the Eight Banners to return to Beijing to escape the summer heat.
In June of the first year of Longwu in the Ming Dynasty, Prince Azige of the Qing Dynasty returned to Beijing for a "triumphal victory"; in September, Prince Duduo of Henan Province of the Qing Dynasty also led his troops back to Beijing.
In this way, the Qing army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang was left with only a Manchurian army of Pingnan General Luck Dehun and some surrendered troops of the traitor Hong Chengchou; in Hunan and Hubei, only a small number of troops of Qing Governor Tong Yanghe of Huguang were left.
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Emperor Longwu, who had a keen eye, naturally saw the weaknesses of the Qing Dynasty in Huguang and Zhejiang. He felt that a good opportunity had come to expand the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains and regain Nanjing. So he ordered a counterattack against the Qing Dynasty in three directions:
In the direction of Fujian and Zhejiang, he ordered Pinglu Hou Zheng Zhilong to send troops to attack Zhejiang. Emperor Longwu didn't have much hope in this direction. Emperor Longwu still knew the temper of Lord Zheng. As expected, Zheng Zhilong's subordinate Huang Kehui visited the Zhejiang-Fujian border.
Just came back.
In the direction of Jiangxi, Zheng Cai, the uncle of Yongsheng, was ordered to send troops to Jiangxi. Zheng Cai listened to his uncle Zheng Zhilong and went to play for a while. Huang Daozhou, the cabinet scholar, was very angry and recruited three thousand volunteers to rescue Jiangxi. Huang Ge Lao Neng
Will the situation be opened up in Jiangxi? Emperor Longwu was very worried.
In the direction of Hubei, Hunan, Emperor Longwu had great hopes in this direction. He ordered the governor of Hubei, Du Yinxi, to take the surrendered Li Chuang's old loyal camp to attack Jingzhou, and also ordered the governor of Huguang, He Tengjiao, to march north from Yuezhou to attack Wuchang.
"If Wuchang can be recovered, it will be a great achievement for the restoration of the land. At least it will show to the people of the world that I really want to expedition to the north of the Central Plains and restore the mountains and rivers. After conquering Wuchang, the momentum should be enough to suppress the two small courts of King Lu and King Jingjiang.
When the time comes, with the combination of kindness and power, we will definitely be able to force the two kings to abdicate and become vassals," Emperor Longwu thought.
Although he was ready to negotiate peace with Zhu Hengjia, the emperor was a political master who had experienced ups and downs after all. He did not relax the military pressure on Zhu Hengjia. While asking Zhu Hengjia to abdicate unconditionally and join the vassal, he ordered Wugang Commander-in-Chief Liu Chengyin to lead his army from Hunan to attack Zhu Hengjia's territory.
Base camp Guilin.
Talk and fight at the same time, work on both sides to get the maximum benefit.
"It's a pity that the army in Guangdong listens to Zheng Zhilong and I can't mobilize it. Otherwise, it would be better to send another army from Guangdong to deter Jingfan," Emperor Longwu thought.
Liu Chengyin was good at using an iron rod, and was known as "Liu Tiegang" in the army. He was originally an arrogant little warlord. After receiving the imperial edict from Emperor Longwu, he thought he had an opportunity to expand his territory, and actively led his troops to surround the entire Guilin Prefecture.
State.
Liu's troops invaded Guilin, and Zhu Hengjia had to order a guerrilla attack on Yang Fuchen's troops to rush back to Guilin.
Without a battalion of veterans from Yang Fuchen's department, his subordinates advised Zhu Hengjia to wait for Zhaoqing's deputy general Yan Zungao to arrive before attacking Chen Bangfu in Si'en.
However, Zhu Hengjia believed that Chen Bangfu was a local snake and could not give him time to recruit troops. So he decided to attack Chen Bangfu immediately without waiting for Yan Zungao.
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Zhu Yihai, the Manchu and Qing dynasty, also saw the weakness of the Qing Dynasty's lack of troops in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Among the three regimes in the Southern Ming Dynasty, Emperor Longwu was the strongest, Jingjian was the second most powerful, and Lu Supervisor was the weakest.
Therefore, Zhu Yihai, the governor of Lu, decided to attack Hangzhou, and then attack Nanjing along the Yangtze River, pay homage to Xiaoling, and make an immortal contribution so that he could compete with the two kings for supremacy.
In the first year of Longwu, the eighteenth year of Emperor Chongzhen, and in August of the first year of Hongguang, Lu Jianguo's generals Fang Guoan and Wang Zhiren crossed the Qiantang River, recaptured Fuyang, Yu Qian, approached Hangzhou, and fought fiercely with Manchu deputy generals Zhang Jie and Wang Dingguo's troops.
.The Lu army was defeated, and Fang Shiyan, the son of the commander-in-chief Fang Guoan, died in battle.
In November, Lu Jianguo made Fang Guoan the Duke of Yue and Wang Zhiren the Duke of Xingguo. He ordered Fang Guoan to control the troops and then attack Hangzhou.
On December 19, Lu Jianguo personally went to the Qiantang River to supervise the war.
On December 24, more than 20,000 Lu troops attacked Hangzhou from Zhuqiao, Fancun, and Sanheta. The Qing army met them on three routes. The Ming army was defeated and 59 generals above the garrison level were captured. After the Battle of Hangzhou, the ambitions of the Lu Jianguo regime suddenly disappeared, and they only dared to defend passively according to the natural dangers of the Qiantang River.