At the end of the first month of the ninth year of Yongli, the Ming army of Fujian set off from Zhongzuo, arrived at Chongming Island at the estuary of the Yangtze River after two months of sailing, and officially entered the Yangtze River on the first day of April. Tianlai Novel. |2

Half a month later, the army won the Guazhou victory, defeated Manchuria, and thousands of Han Eight Banners and Green Camps, and killed the defenders in formation and broke through the Yangtze River defense line of the Qing Dynasty. After a few days, 15,000 Manchuria, Mongolia, Han Eight Banners and the patchwork green camp were defeated by the Ming army in Fujian, and most of the losses were lost. No ten people could escape back alive.

On May 12, the Ming army in Fujian began to siege the city and deployed defenses to the north of the inner city of Nanjing, echoing the navy. By the dawn of May 23, it was raided by the Qing army. After losing for a while, it was defeated by Guanyin Mountain in the outer city and was defeated again. It was forced to give up Zhenjiang and other places and withdraw from the Yangtze River.

The Fujian Ming army led by Zheng Chenggong achieved brilliant results during this period, but eventually withdrew from the Yangtze River in disgrace. In original history, it was the last large-scale counterattack of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

However, now, the time has been four years and two months ahead of schedule. While Nanjing is besieging the city, the siege in Hangzhou is also in progress. Like Zheng Chenggong, Chen Wen has also won a decisive victory in the field battle before, and the defenders in the city have also requested to slow down the attack for 30 days.

On May 11, the ninth year of Yongli, the three Confucian scholars visited the Ming army camp again, but this time, in addition to speaking vernacular, they brought another woman out.

"Your Highness, this is Mrs. Rong, the concubine of His Highness Lu."

Without an answer, Chen Wen waved his hand, and a man and a woman were led into the tent by the guards. A moment later, the woman fell to the woman, and the man told Chen Wen that the woman was Rong, the concubine of the West Palace of Zhu Yihai, the governor of Lu.

"Mrs. I will send my wife to reunite with His Highness, Lu, for a few days."

As soon as she returned to the place of the Ming army, Rong's heart was extremely complicated. She had no idea about the filth between Chen Wen and the Lu Jianguo Group. She just left the city and told her that the current Kuaiji County Prince was no longer the rising star of the Lu Jianguo Group in the fifth year of Yongli, but was dominated by the Yongli Emperor of Guizhou. Now, most of the Kuaiji County Prince in the southeast have been restored!

The Lu Jianguo had already left the title of the Jianguo, so she, the concubine of the West Palace, was naturally trembling. However, when she heard Chen Wen's words, her mother's love immediately overwhelmed everything, and Rong immediately fell in front of Chen Wen.

"I have no face to see the king. I just hope that Your Highness can save my children from prison so that they can reunite with their father and son. In the next life, I am willing to bring you a bridle to repay Your Highness's great kindness."

"Madam, please get up quickly, I should do my best."

It was not convenient for Chen Wen to help his former boss's concubine. Fortunately, the woman was originally a palace maid who was walking in Zhoushan, so she still had some eyebrows and eyes. She quickly helped Rong up and retreated.

"I remember, the day before yesterday, I told you that the concubine Xigong and the prince were sent to you. Why, don't you understand?"

Chen Wen had a bad tone, and the three gentry hurriedly fell to the ground and kept pushing all the responsibilities towards Xiao Qiyuan. In their words, the person named Xiao was afraid that Chen Wen would attack the city if he got the prince, so he wanted to leave some bargaining chips for himself, thinking that the effect of throwing a mouse was avoiding the weapon, so he told Chen Wen that the prince was sick and should not go out for the time being.

"Xiao Zhe said that in order to show sincerity, he is willing to take out the kuyin to honor the king."

"Oh?" Chen Wen liked this suggestion very much. "How much?"

When it comes to money, turning against each other is faster than turning over books. These three gentry breathed a sigh of relief, and they couldn't help but complain.

"One hundred thousand taels."

"roll!"

Chen Wen slapped the table, and the force was so strong that it seemed as if everything on the table was shocked.

"When I go back, I tell the person named Xiao that the Prince of Lu is not my Chen Wen's son. Don't think that I'm afraid of him if I hold it in my hand. If you want to show sincerity, five million taels of silver will be delivered tomorrow at this hour. Don't say that I won't give him a way out, gold, calligraphy, paintings, antiques, porcelain, as long as it is valuable, it's not that my Chen surname is not sincere in doing this business."

The gentry retreated in panic. Yin Yue, who had been sitting in the tent, burst into laughter. After laughing, he said to Chen Wen: "Congratulations to the King, congratulations to the King, five million taels of silver, how many soldiers can this support?"

Hearing this, Chen Wen smiled and shook his head. "Take out five million tomorrow? Within thirty days, if he can take out one million, I will be more respectful to him."

"He dares?!"

"Of course he dares, and he must have a way to perfunctory me. We must believe in the talents of a second-rank official, especially in silver and matters related to silver."

……………………

When the messenger returned to the city, Xiao Qiyuan was glad that he could negotiate the money for this matter, but the amount Chen Wen asked for was too huge. It was not that there was no in the city of Hangzhou, even if it was not in the warehouse, this was Hangzhou, where merchants gathered, and there were some wealthy families in the city. Especially those who were involved in the sea trade, they would just pick up a few of them, let alone five million taels, and they could still be rich and put into the official bag.

But the problem is that it is difficult to settle down if you want to lose money.

This principle is simple. Today is five million taels. If you give it, tomorrow will be ten million taels, the day after tomorrow will be ten thousand five million taels, and the day after tomorrow will be twenty million taels!

Xiao Qiyuan never thought of giving up Hangzhou or surrendering to Ming Dynasty, and this was just a delay. But if the amount was too large, not to mention whether the money was enough, the people and the military morale in the city could not be delayed at all. At that time, the gentry in the city would be backfired, and relying solely on these Eight Banners troops, he could not control the situation at all, especially when many of the green camp generals were closely related to the gentry and wealthy families in the city.

"Get out 210,000 taels of silver from Fankuri."

……………………

The next day, a lot of morning than Chen Wen stipulated, Xiao Qiyuan's envoy drove a carriage with silver ingots to the camp of the Ming army outside the city.

"Report to the king that the city has been controlled by the Eight Banners soldiers. The 200,000 taels of silver were transferred from the vassal treasury after the head of the villain was finally transferred from the vassal treasury. The other ten thousand taels were taken out by the head of the villain privately to honor the king. I hope the king will be given a few days of gratitude."

After using the money, Xiao Qiyuan could not have let the three gentry be fully responsible. In fact, there were Xiao Qiyuan's spies among these three entourages. This time, he had to let his confidants come out to check.

Xiao Qiyuan's slave fell to the ground and kept knocking on the ground. Some bright red colors could be seen on the ground soon. But Chen Wen had not spoken yet, so he didn't dare to stop. If he continued like this, his brain might be able to knock out.

"What a loyal servant, get up."

Asking Xiao Qiyuan's slave to get up, Chen Wen waved his hand and signaled the three gentry to go out and wait.

"The king accepted the 200,000 taels of money. Go back and tell your master that the remaining 4.8 million taels must be sent in three days. As for the ten thousand taels of money, since it is your master's personal official, I will know the intention and take the money back. As long as I do my best, I don't need these things for me, and I can still get promoted and wealth."

After politely rejecting Xiao Qiyuan's kindness, Chen Wen chatted with the slave for a while before letting him go back. However, the slave had a big tent, but his head was full of sweat.

The slave returned to the governor's office and talked for a while in the secret room. His face was full of sweat and it was as if it was an infectious disease.

"The man surnamed Chen wants to kill the donkey before he can do anything."

Although it is awkward to describe it like this, Xiao Qiyuan’s first word that came to mind after hearing the retelling of the slave was this, and he didn’t think about it at all.

"Are you sure you heard it right?"

"No, I heard it really, I really said that I would give my master the kickback."

In the secret room, Xiao Qiyuan walked back and forth a few times. After thinking about it, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that Chen Wen was impolite him.

"There is also the inconvenience of the Eight Banners Army, so the rich gentry and family in the city paid the money to the Eight Banners Army, and the others paid the five million taels of silver, which was wrong, 4.8 million taels. This guy planned to use his official position as a scapegoat in the future, so that he could not only get the money for free, but also earn a wave of the people in Hangzhou, even Jiaxing and Huzhou. It was really too dark."

This trick is definitely not useful, even if he never planned to surrender to Ming Dynasty. Those gentry were all for money who could be both life-threatening and shameless, and they would make them bleed. On weekdays, the Qing army was very powerful, but at least the reputation of the Eight Banners Army was still suppressed. If they were to play now, these people could give Chen Wen the entire Hangzhou City in minutes. Maybe Chen Wen had such a plan long ago.

However, it would be impossible not to give this money. Chen Wen's words about Prince Lu's prince is not his son, which shows that Kuaiji Fan and Prince Lu have no chance of getting back together, but what did Chen Wen ask Prince Lu's concubine Xigong and Prince Lu for?

After thinking about it, Xiao Qiyuan suddenly remembered something he had heard before. It is said that King Lu went south to live in Fujian. Zheng Chenggong once planned to give King Lu to Yongli. Chen Wen also had this plan with this. When King Lu had the opportunity to get involved in the supreme throne, there was no difference between Chen Wen and Zheng Chenggong, and they would never agree, because once King Lu ascends the throne, they would face a dead end.

However, when I thought of Chen Wen giving the prince of King Lu to Yongli...

"This guy was playing with a knife and killed people, but he didn't even let go of the old master's only son. It's so cruel."

Thinking that he had touched Chen Wen's veins, Xiao Qiyuan's brain flew. There was no big difference between the prince of Lu and the death of Yongli in his hands. So what was the reason why Chen Wen had not attacked the city for a long time? Xiao Qiyuan would never believe the people in the city. It was just a group of ants and people, and he could not make any mistakes. Then there was only one answer left.

"Fuyang, did Feige's letter from the front line of Xincheng deliver it today?"

After running out of the secret room, Xiao Qiyuan grabbed the staff in the office and lowered his voice and asked. The answer he got was that the Ming army had not used giant cannons for Xincheng for some reason, Fuyang, and Anruoshan on the front line of Xincheng.

"That's right. Xincheng is Chen Wen's hometown. Li Ruixin was afraid of damaging the Feng Shui of the Chen family, so he did not dare to use heavy artillery. Chen Wen's troops were not strong enough to completely surround Hangzhou, so he could only wait for Li Ruixin."

Hangzhou Prefecture City is located east of West Lake. It is a city with short walls in the north and south and long walls in the east and west, and is awl-shaped as a whole. The Ming army was cruising in the south and West Lake in the west. Chen Wen's army was scattered and camped in the east and north to form an encirclement. However, Chen Wen's army had only one division, and surrounded a city with ten thousand people with ten thousand people. The number of defenders was not smaller than that of the Ming army. No matter how you look at it, they were all too arrogant. It was better to wait until another Ming army arrived before siegeing the city.

Chen Wen's goal was obviously to take all Hangzhou, and to the whole city and the Eight Banners Army in the city together. Xiao Qiyuan was sweating all over when he thought of this. Chen Wen had the right to make such a plan. Even Yue Le was no match for him, so what could a small Hangzhou be able to do?

There are only two roads in front of him now. One is to encourage the Eight Banners Army to retreat. They all have war horses. As long as they give up women, children, wealth and goods, there is still hope to escape alive; the other road is to defend the dead, and guard until they are really dead!

If he had a choice, no one would want to die, but as the governor of Zhejiang and the Hangzhou capital was lost, he would have died. The Qing Dynasty court has always been extremely strict with such banish officials who refused to die with the city, even if he was a bannerman, especially the Zhejiang bandit Chen Wen, who has not been able to wipe out for so many years. There are too many powerful people in the court who want to kill him, but now no one is willing to take over, so he has to use him.

It’s not impossible to escape. There are no Ming troops camps in the west of Hangzhou. The west lake is the west, and there are only some roars in the northwest. However, the mobility of this Ming army is really fast enough. If you take your wife, children and wealth, you can’t escape at all. But it’s not possible to let these Eight Banners Army give up these. Not to mention anything else, these bannermen will throw the blame on him without hesitation when they escape. At that time, they will work hard to serve the emperor, but they will not be able to lose anything.

"There is no such thing as a loyal master."

After thinking about it, Xiao Qiyuan decided to continue to stick to it. He could defend himself and defeat his mistakes with his merits; if he could not defend himself, everyone would not be too harsh on his family. It was better than donating his life with hard work. In the end, he was framed by those guys who had received favors to save their lives.

Loyal ministers are qualified and should also be praised by others, and loyal ministers' families should be treated preferentially. This is natural. Like King Yue buried by the West Lake, Yu Shaobao, who worked hard for the court all his life, but in the end he could not get well. Xiao Qiyuan asked himself that he was not so selfless.

"Chen Wen wants to drag, so let's drag together and think that the other party is blind."
Chapter completed!