Since there were always some Western missionaries gathered around Xu Guangqi, You Wenhui, as a Jesuit monk with short hair, was unanimously recognized by the court officials as a Western monk like Matteo Ricci. He had been to Japan during the Wanli period. During the Japanese Rebellion in Korea, in terms of his status as a subject of the Ming Dynasty, he was considered a foreign spy at that time. However, he followed Matteo Ricci to preach in the mainland for more than ten years, and no one doubted his identity at all.
During this period, many Chinese and foreign Catholics came in and out of China and Japan, but the Ming Dynasty had no idea what these people were doing or where they came from. It can be seen that the Ming Dynasty at that time had no regard for things that were only a short distance away from the country. Completely blind, completely ignorant.
Qianhu, the Jinyiwei who guarded the mission, did his duty well and sent one of his generals to accompany You Wenhui to Guazhou to inquire about the situation and contact the pirates. At the same time, he also found a living servant from the Yangzhou government office to lead them.
This person is always very unlucky to be drawn by lot. His name is Zhou Xiang. He is from a hereditary military family. He entered the Jinyiwei because of nepotism. He was kicked out of the capital because he was not clever enough and was thrust into the south to recruit the emperor. He sent the team to go, but this time, he was unlucky enough to draw lots, and he had to accompany the Western monk to take risks among the pirates.
Both of them put on Confucian robes and rode two horses out of the south gate of Yangzhou City. The Yangzhou government official dressed as a servant followed behind them on a donkey, all the way south along the canal bank road. This kind of dress Completely nondescript, unlike businessmen or traveling Confucian scholars, anyone would regard them as suspicious.
Therefore, after the three of them walked for a few hours, they were suddenly surrounded by a group of armed men wearing dark blue short jackets and leggings and holding sophisticated fire guns that appeared on the roadside.
This place is less than ten miles away from Guazhou, and is already within the patrol range of the Chinese Army's patrol posts.
You Wenhui has been working for Yin Feng for several years. He knows the shapes of various uniforms in the Chinese army, as well as the meanings of various armbands and badges. Before the leader of the sentry group could ask questions, he handed over his hands and asked: "You are the Taiwan Fleet Marine Corps." Brother from the third post, please inform your minister that we have something important to ask him."
The commander in chief of the Jinyi Guard nervously grasped the short knife in his arms without saying a word, and the servant dressed as a government official hid aside and shivered. This scene was very strange. These marine sailors of the Taiwan Fleet were all short and dark-skinned from the south. They surrounded the three people in the center with flintlock muskets with fixed bayonets. The leader of the sentry was a sergeant. He stared closely at You Wenhui's face and asked in Mandarin with a southern Fujian accent: "Who are you and how do you know The ranks in our army, haha, you must be spies in the army,...Brothers, tie them up and take them back to the camp!"
As soon as he finished speaking, several Marine sentries immediately took action and used the butts of their rifles to knock the commander off his horse and seized his hidden dagger. You Wenhui raised his hands and jumped off his horse: "Brothers, this sergeant, please take me with you. Go see your Shangguan..."
Marine sentries rushed forward and tied up the three men. One sentry handed the dagger to the sergeant and said: "There are words engraved on the dagger, it should be someone from the Imperial Guard of the Capital."
The commander thought for a while and said: "Take it to Guazhou City and let the people from the military intelligence department of the squadron interrogate you. We can't control the spies from the capital."
The Jin Yiwei general was not good at being an official, but he was not an idiot. Although he was being tied into rice dumplings, he clearly heard the conversation between the two men and was very surprised: these sentry soldiers could actually read.
The former Ming Dynasty Tongzhi Office in Guazhou City is now the location of the old camp of the 10th Fleet of the Second Taiwan Fleet. Liu Xiang was urgently called back from the canal dock by his subordinates. As he walked into the main hall, he wiped the sweat from his head. He said to the messenger who called him back: "What's going on with the Military Intelligence Department? I'm busy at the dock. I caught too much from Yangzhou this time. Everyone will have a share by then..."
In front of him, a supervisor from the Fleet Military Intelligence Department stationed in Guazhou saluted him. Liu Xiang did not dare to neglect the people from the Military Intelligence Department and quickly returned the salute: "What's going on? It's the army. Oh, there is movement in the Ming army."
"That's not the case. A patrol post caught three people on the bank of the canal, eighteen miles away from Yangzhou in the north. They were acting very suspiciously. They kept asking to see our military supervisor. One of them had these things on him."
Liu Xiang took a few things handed over by the other party, raised a small jade pendant, and frowned: "This, isn't this a hidden token of your Military Intelligence Department? Where is this person now?"
"The three have been separated and detained in the backyard,"
"Lead the way, I'll go meet the man with this thing,"
As soon as the door of the temporary prison in the backyard was opened, a gray-headed middle-aged man was holding the cross on his chest and praying silently inside. Liu Xiang exclaimed: "Mr. You, why are you here?"
Liu Xiang actually knew You Wenhui: about three years ago, You Wenhui served as Yin Feng's personal painter, and the secretary followed Yin Feng everywhere all day long. Liu Xiang was studying at the military academy and serving as an intern staff officer in the old camp's combat department, and met him many times. He passed by You Wenhui, who was dressed in monk's robes and Confucian clothes. You Wenhui was also a teacher of field mapmaking courses in the military academy. Liu Xiang had taken his class, and the two had a master-student relationship.
The two recognized each other as soon as they met. Liu Xiang knew that someone like You Wenhui must have something important to do when he appeared here. He quickly invited You Wenhui into the inner room. Then, You Wenhui's task was to bridge the gap between the imperial court and the Chinese army. Basically half done.
Five days later, dozens of people including the imperial envoy of the Ming Dynasty were anxious in Yangzhou City. They all speculated whether You Wenhui and the others had gone away. At this moment, You Wenhui came back.
He brought a handwritten letter from Liu Xiang, the Chinese Army's Guazhou garrison, declaring that the war on the Guazhou front line had ceased and that the appeasement envoys could go from Guazhou to Suzhou: The general manager of the Chinese Army's Jiangnan March Road was there, and the imperial court's request to recruit the imperial envoys could only be made by the Chinese Army. The president must ask Yin Feng to reply.
Everything went well, and it seemed that the recruitment matter had become clear. However, Liu Xiang requested that the recruitment mission did not need too many guards except civil servants from various ministries, and that Dongchang spies were not allowed to enter the area under the jurisdiction of the Chinese military. Only ten Jinyi guards were required to accompany them. group.
Everyone in the mission was very angry and shouted: "...the pirates are so lawless and dare to disrespect the envoys of the Celestial Dynasty..."
Some people even said that they would take a group of officers and soldiers to Guazhou to see if these pirates dared to close their doors.
Xu Guangqi ignored these unrealistic and uninformed remarks. He opposed all opinions and insisted that the appeasement mission's southward movement should be carried out in accordance with the other party's requirements.
Several censors in the mission had made up their minds about the matter and immediately went back to their rooms to write articles impeaching Xu Guangqi for "acting inappropriately", "disgraceful to the dignity of the court", etc.
The spies didn't have any objections to the few Dongchang eunuchs who were excluded. They were all small figures in Dongchang who came out to get their qualifications, but if they stayed in Yangzhou City, they would be big men. Therefore, these people were not willing to go to the "bandit area" for official business. It was a very dangerous job, but the secret report they sent to the court did not say anything good about Xu Guangqi and his entourage.
On April 29, the third year of the Apocalypse, the Ming Dynasty imperial envoy officially began to carry out the mission of "appeasing the pirates" one month after leaving the capital.
On this day, the gentle spring sunshine filled the earth, the fields on both sides of the canal were green, and the wildflowers on the roadside gradually revealed their colors, creating a vibrant scene.
At this time, the news that the imperial court was going to appease the pirates had spread throughout Yangzhou City.
Many people in Yangzhou have not yet recovered from the disasters of the past few days. They hid behind the doors of their homes and saw through the cracks in the doors a large group of high-ranking officials from the imperial court sitting in sedans and riding horses through Nanmen Street. Go out of the city.
Xu Guangqi sat in a four-person sedan, holding a small silver cross on his chest in his left hand, silently reciting verses from the "Hymn to the Virgin" translated by Matteo Ricci. After a while, he unfolded a Chinese translation of "Elements of Geometry" , began to mentally calculate a geometric exercise.
Others in the mission could not do Xu Guangqi's Qi-nurturing Kung Fu. Although they all heard that the discipline of the Chinese navy and pirates was acceptable, they were not really top-notch pirates. They should not be concerned about the imperial ambassador who was responsible for recruiting peace talks. Will be harmed, but after all, this is to do business in an area controlled by hostile forces, and various risks always exist.
Deputy envoy Sheng Yihong, the rites department, the official department and the Jinyiwei entourage mostly left Yangzhou City in a panic and uneasy mood.
…
In May, the Chinese Army posted notices in various occupied areas along the Yangtze River: Because of the beginning of peace negotiations with the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese Army and Navy will completely withdraw their troops from Zhenjiang and the Yangtze River in the upper reaches of Guazhou within one month. At the same time, the Chinese Army's infantry will Evacuate the area around Jinling City, but retain the occupation of Zhenjiang, Suzhou, Songjiang and other prefectures.
On the Wuchang front line, from the end of March to the beginning of April, the Ming army organized Miao and Yao barbarian soldiers from the southwest to launch a counterattack in an attempt to regain Wuchang City. This information was quickly picked up by the Military Intelligence Department.
The top commander of the Chinese Army in the Wuchang area and the commander of the Taiwan Fleet, Mai Dahai, heard about the heroic and heroic deeds of the southwest barbarians. He withdrew his troops from Jingzhou, Yuezhou and other places, and gathered in Wuchang, intending to seriously fight the Ming army's counterattack. battle.
However, among the Ming army gathered in the south of Wuchang City, some Miao soldiers came from the chieftain soldiers of She Chongming, the chieftain of Yong'an.
Fan Long and Fan Hu, the She Chong Ming generals who were originally recruited to fight against the Chinese army, launched a rebellion a year ago and killed the governor, Taoist government, and general soldiers because the Ming government owed them military expenses. More than 20 officials and other officials occupied Chongqing. After Chongqing was occupied by Fan Long, She Chongming named himself "Daliang", appointed five prime ministers and other officials, commanded the ministries and sent tens of thousands of foreign barbarians, and separated from Fan Long to Chengdu. Attacked and captured Zunyi and Huzhou successively.
The barbarian soldiers outside Wuchang City were the chieftain soldiers of She Chongming who were deployed along the Yangtze River in advance, or the native soldiers of the chieftain of She Chongming Alliance. Therefore, they did not want to fight the Chinese army at all. They did not wait for the Chinese army to leave the city. In addition, these barbarian soldiers started a rebellion first, planning to fight all the way back to Sichuan to join their own people.
The Ming army's counterattack on Wuchang turned into a farce before it even started. The camp itself was in chaos. The troops composed of mature Miao people in southern Hunan firmly supported the Ming government and stood on the side of the Han officers and soldiers to fight against the rebels. The Miao and Yi chieftains fought,