Section 145: The First Appearance of the Fu Bureau
Chapter 145: The First Appearance of the Fu Bureau
The war on Hainan Island is still going on - of course, this can no longer be regarded as a war. There are cities everywhere that are waiting for the wind to fall. Although some counties have not officially opened cities, they have successively set up aftermath bureaus. Then, the Fubo Army
Entering the city of Haikou, the navy attacked Baisha Water Village from the sea. The typewriter on the spy boat quickly thwarted Tang Yunwen's last hope of a showdown at sea. After losing six warships and more than a dozen guns,
After the ship, all actions in Baisha Water Village stopped. The last strength of the Ming army on Hainan Island was divided and surrounded. They were neither able to fight nor willing to fight.
Qiongshan County is still under siege, but the executive committee has considered the final negotiations and has not launched a forceful attack on it. However, negotiations with the city are already underway in secret. Hainan Branch Patrol Zhao Ruyi is not in the city, and the prefect is.
With the support of the county magistrate and the city's gentry, they carried out surrender activities without any hindrance.
On the entire Hainan Island, except for the southern states and counties that have always had little information, the Ming Dynasty's prestige on the island has plummeted. The gentry from all over the country sent people to contact them one after another, saying that they wanted money and grain, as long as they could protect themselves.
The place is safe.
Almost overnight, the prestige of the Senate was established on the supremacy of everyone on the island. The gentry realized that no matter how many years the Ming Dynasty ruled, at least on Hainan Island, a new master would have to be replaced.
The wealthy gentry families are not worried about new masters - no matter who becomes their master, they will rule according to the same old methods.
Even the officials of the Ming Dynasty have nothing to worry about. If they do not intend to die in the city, they can continue to be his officials in the county government. Some officials even send special personnel to come and have secret talks to discuss whether they can continue to get along with each other.
plan.
"This group of officials are so shameless." Xiong Buyou sent off another group of envoys and complained, "I can understand them as gentry and wealthy people. After all, they are people with families and businesses. They can't walk with their houses on their backs.
."
"What's wrong?" Liu Muzhou's body was buried in a large pile of documents. "As an official, you really serve the people and the emperor? The key is to serve yourself! What's so strange about this."
"Three groups of people came today as never before." Xiong Buyou raised his finger: "The first is the group from the county magistrate, who of course wants us to protect his ability to continue to be an official - whether it is from the Ming Dynasty or ours; then the group from the county magistrate
There were a lot of officials and historians in the county, saying that as long as he was allowed to be the county magistrate, he would do a better job. Finally, there was a big family in the county who didn't know his background, and he also wanted to get an official position. He even lay on the ground and shouted "Ao Song" three times.
Long live the emperor..."
“Didn’t he shout Long Live Chairman Moon?”
"He called Chairman Moon Chitose Chitose Chitose Chitose Chitose."
"Isn't this great? It shows that people's hearts are towards me..."
"This person is so shameless."
"There are dissatisfied people in every era. If everyone loved us sincerely, loved us wholeheartedly, were fully satisfied with our own situation, and would be five times happier, would latecomers like us still have a chance?"
The situation in Hainan Island has developed rapidly in this way. The raging situation in Hainan has dealt a fatal blow to Guangdong officialdom.
News of the Ming army's disastrous defeat in Hainan soon spread to Guangdong. Wang Zunde's already weakening body could not bear this heavy blow and fell ill.
In order to facilitate the central dispatch of military operations and supplies, Wang Zunde led his staff and subordinate officers to Guangzhou as soon as the military operation across the sea began. There was a wealthy man's garden near Baietan on the bank of the Pearl River, and he set up the governor's headquarters here.
The first news of the defeat was an urgent document sent from the prefect of Qiongzhou. He was still doubtful about the defeat on the front line. After all, this was an army mobilized by the entire province. If victory could not be achieved in this way, he could not imagine what would happen in the future.
Sample.
Then, news of the defeat came from Hainan one after another, each one more accurate than the last. The official army was defeated miserably in Chengmai, the entire army was wiped out, and many members of the imperial army were killed. This news was like a bolt from the blue, which greatly affected Wang Zunde's spirit.
A big blow. Then, the news that the Kun bandits captured Danzhou and surrounded the city of Haikou and Qiongzhou Mansion made him completely despair.
From the mouths of the defeated soldiers who had been defeated and returned from Hainan, and from the cryptic documents written by He Rubin and others, he knew that the Kun thieves not only had sharp firearms, but also had extremely powerful military power.
Soon, there was no more military affairs to deal with in Guangzhou. News from Hainan Island was completely cut off. The warships of the Kun thieves entered the Qiongzhou Strait, and the official and military ships could no longer enter the strait.
Rumors in the officialdom spread faster than anything else. Everyone knew: Wang Zunde was doomed. Not only was it impossible for the emperor to allow such a disastrous defeat, but his political opponents and enemies in the court and local areas would not give up this great opportunity. Many people were already secretly thinking
We are talking about the day when Wang Zunde was dismissed from office and even arrested in Beijing.
People in the officialdom are the coldest people in the world. Under this situation, he became an ignored governor in Guangzhou. No one came to discuss anything with him except his staff. Even the prefect of Guangzhou and the magistrates of the two counties became indifferent.
He got up and moved back to Zhaoqing out of desperation.
There was also nothing to do in Zhaoqing. His face became very haggard. Due to the fatigue of traveling and traveling, he fell ill soon after arriving in Zhaoqing.
Newspapers and documents are still being sent to the Governor's Yamen in a steady stream, but the staff are rarely summoned to discuss the next military strategy. In fact, the staff are very clear that the troops in Guangdong are already empty-except for those from Dongxishan
Apart from the anti-Yao generals, Guangdong no longer has any organized troops.
His condition became worse day by day under such anxiety. What made him most anxious was that he didn't know whether the Kun bandits would take advantage of the situation to invade Guangzhou - if so, Guangdong would have few soldiers to defend against the enemy.
Not many days later, there were reports that strange-looking ships were seen peeping at the mouth of the Pearl River. These ships sailed briskly and had slender hulls. They were different from Chinese ships and red-haired ships. They were obviously Australian fast ships.
The crisis he faced forced him to struggle to support himself and summoned his staff several times to discuss countermeasures and strengthen the defense of the Pearl River Estuary.
On this day, he was in slightly better spirits. He was reading documents in his study. A document came from Gao Shunqin, the imperial censor. He had submitted a document requesting that Guangzhou Bay be invaded and trade with the Portuguese in Macau be completely cut off, "in order to eliminate the bandits."
kind".
Wang Zunde could only smile bitterly at this time - if the Australians came to attack Guangzhou, the Portuguese in Macau would probably be the only maritime force that could be counted on to defend the Pearl River Estuary, so there would be no talk of "defeating bandits". The Australians were even more
A large number of bandits are coming.
"Master, Li Zanhua is here." A servant whispered.
He said feebly: "Please come in!"
Li Xijue came in. Ever since Lu Yizhong went out with the army, he had become Wang Zunde's most powerful and trusted aide. In many cases, only he could see the governor.
Wang Zunde asked someone to serve tea and tried his best to show a calm smile. Li Xijue's face was pale. After sitting down, he looked at the governor's expression and leaned forward and asked:
"Is your health feeling better?"
Wang Zunde smiled and shook his head and said, "I feel the cold, but it's nothing serious." When he saw a document in Li Xijue's hand, he asked, "What document are you holding?"
Li Xijue replied nervously: "It's Lingao who got the secret message——"
"What?" Wang Zunde's fingers trembled, "Who wrote it?"
"It's Mr. Lu." Li Xijue said in a disdainful and nervous tone, "The letter came yesterday. Because the Lord is ill, I read it first."
Wang Zunde's fingers were trembling as he took the document and asked: "Lu Zan painted him...?"
"He is still alive and became a prisoner of the Australians." Li Xijue couldn't help but sigh, "The letter said very detailed things."
Wang Zunde hurriedly read the document with trembling hands. Unable to hold on any longer, he threw the letter in his hand to the ground without caring about the dignity of the court officials.
"Damn it! Such a shameless villain!"
Seeing that his face was flushed and his breathing was rapid, Li Xijue was afraid that he would become ill from anger, so he quickly tried to persuade him. The governor's personal servant also ran in to help him back to the bed in the back room to rest.
"No, I'm fine!" Wang Zunde shook his head and said with great sadness, "I didn't expect this person to be so shameless - he can't die to serve his country, and he can't live as a prisoner of Chu. He actually wrote such a letter!"
"Sir, please calm down." Li Xijue quickly comforted him, "The letter was not written by Mr. Lu, but it was stamped with his official seal. Moreover, Mr. Lu is in jail, so even if he wrote it, he might have had many reasons to do it. For now, let's read it first.
The content of the letter is important!”
It doesn't matter whether the letter was written by Lu Yizhong or whether it was his true meaning. The key is that this secret letter revealed the Australians' intentions.
Since the Australians are willing to use Lu Yizhong's name to pass the money, there is still something to be done, and they won't have to go to war with each other - the government and the army can no longer afford to lose.
The content of the letter is divided into several parts. The first is to ask Guangdong to redeem people. Including the captured officers and staff, the Australians have all issued prices according to their official ranks. For example, a handful is always ten taels of silver, except
In addition to their net worth, each prisoner has to pay one penny a day for food and accommodation according to the number of days he stays in the Lingao prisoner-of-war camp. In other words, redeem early and save early, otherwise the "late payment fees" will become astronomical.
Already.
Secondly, it is about the peace negotiations between the two parties. Lu Yizhong paraphrased in the letter: The Australians had no intention of attacking the Ming Dynasty, but they just wanted a place to trade and live. Now they are attacked by the army and suffered heavy losses. Now the Australians are very angry.
We are preparing to send dozens of large iron ships from Australia to attack Guangzhou.
However, when swords and swords met, both sides suffered losses. Especially the Australians came for trade, not to occupy land. For this reason, the Australians hoped to negotiate peace with the government to "quench the flames of war."