*****
After asking his two lieutenants to leave, Li Dingguo took out a piece of letter paper from the book "The Art of War" he was carrying. He had already memorized the seven or eight lines of words on the letter paper by heart and was very familiar with it.
At this moment, under the dim light, Li Dingguo's eyes fell on the last four words on the letter: Mandate of Heaven belongs to Qin.
"Could this Qin be referring to Qin Mu?"
A gust of night wind came in through the window, and the light flickered. Li Dingguo could not help but sigh silently.
Who in this world can defeat fate
Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong stirred up the world, and they had experienced countless hardships and suffered many defeats before. However, no matter how badly they were defeated before, they were always able to make a comeback quickly in adversity.
However, not long after both of them proclaimed themselves emperors, one died under a farmer's hoe and the other died from a stray arrow. Their era came to an abrupt end. Both of them were less than 40 years old and died in the prime of their lives. Coincidentally, both of them had no children.
Isn't this God's will
God destined that neither of them could become the true ruler of the world. Their self-proclaimed emperors were only rewarded with God's punishment.
In the past, Li Dingguo would definitely not believe in such a destiny, but every word on this piece of letter came true, from the report in the court, to his death in Tongguan, to his trip to Coal Hill alone, to the national mourning. Ten days in Yangzhou, and then he rushed to the river. All these things came true one by one;
The last four lines are: Holding a hundred thousand weapons, we will restore our clothes and hats. Sweeping across the country, the destiny will return to Qin. Li Dingguo dared not doubt these last four lines any more;
The question is, is the "Qin" whose destiny belongs to Qin really Qin Mu
Should I go against the will of heaven or follow its will
The words that Wang Huanran, the envoy sent by Qin Mu, said again echoed in Li Dingguo's ears: "General Li, although my governor had friction with General Li, it is often said that brothers fight against each other and fight against foreign humiliation together. Now the Manchu Tartars are spying on China and destroying our clothes and hats. At this time of national survival, all descendants of Yan and Huang in the world should join hands to resist foreign humiliation together;
Our governor is willing to put aside past grudges and become brothers with General Li. From now on, we will share happiness and overcome difficulties together to drive out the Tartars and restore China. General Li controls 16 battalions of troops and has a close personal relationship with General Ai... ... ... ... "
Wang Huanran's words not only expressed Qin Mu's sincerity, but also showed that Qin Mu was very familiar with the current situation of the Dashi Army.
Since Zhang Xianzhong was killed suddenly by a stray arrow, the Dashi Army was in chaos and was pursued by He Luohui all the way. They retreated from Hanzhong to Guangyuan and even lost Jianmen Pass. Fortunately, He Luohui did not dare to advance further alone, and the Dashi Army retreated to Mianzhou before it stabilized its foothold.
The threat from the Qing army was temporarily far away. However, because Zhang Xianzhong died so suddenly and did not designate a successor, it was difficult for the three of them to decide who would be the commander of the Dashi Army.
Although the four of them had not yet quarreled openly, they had already been arguing behind closed doors, especially Sun Kewang, who was very aggressive and had no intention of hiding his desire to seize the throne.
However, Li Dingguo saw it clearly. Sun Kewang was cunning, arrogant, arbitrary, and intolerant. He also had no vision to rule the world. Such a person was definitely not a wise leader.
Li Dingguo was alone under the lamp, struggling to weigh the pros and cons, whether to accept Qin Mu's kindness and become sworn brothers with him, or to make other plans.
If you have other plans, what are they
When He Luohui was chasing them closely, the four of them were still able to cooperate with each other. Now that the external threat has been temporarily lifted, the contradictions between the four of them immediately come to the fore. If the current uncompromising situation continues, the Dashi Army will most likely split into four and fight each other.
Should he join the battle with his 16 battalions? If he fled, where could he go
In an ordinary house in Wantong Lane, Chengdu, the lights were dim as well. Qin Zhaoming, the chief of the Sichuan branch of the Night Watch, asked his deputy Lu Wanzhong in a low voice, "What happened? Did you tell Sun Kewang about Wang Huanran's private meeting with Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi?"
"Don't worry, boss. It's been done. Now we just have to wait for Sun Kewang to take action."
"Don't be careless. This is just the first step. The next step is the key. If we can't save the lives of Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi, we will end up shooting ourselves in the foot."
"I have already arranged a retreat for Li Ai and the other two."
"Your Excellency has entrusted this matter to us, which shows his great trust in us. If we can take Shu without bloodshed, all the people involved in this operation will be rich and prosperous for generations. If we fail miserably, we will have no choice but to go to see Your Excellency with our heads on our shoulders."
Lu Wanzhong replied carefully, "Boss, I know the seriousness of the matter. If I mess it up, I will be the first to take off my head and apologize to you without your telling me."
"It's good that you know. Go back quickly in case something happens."
"Yes." Lu Wanzhong responded and quickly left the courtyard through the back door;
After walking around the dimly lit streets at night, I bought some snacks that my sister liked, and then returned to the General Pingdong's Mansion.
Lu Wanzhong is now Sun Kewang's "brother-in-law", and his sister Lu Xiaomei is Sun Kewang's favorite concubine who has been taken in for less than half a year. With this relationship, Sun Kewang has become one of the managers of the General Pingdong's Mansion, and it is no problem for him to enter and leave the General's Mansion.
However, whether Lu Xiaomei is his biological sister is not something that outsiders can know.
In fact, his sister was a young prostitute that Ye Bu Shou had found in Jiangnan. After nearly a year of training, she was sent to Sichuan.
There are many female spies like Lu Xiaomei who are both talented and beautiful and are trained every day. Huang Lianshan will use any means to get close to some important target figures.
When Lü Wanzhong returned to the General Pingdong's mansion, Li Dingguo was still hesitating and thinking in his own mansion. Not long after, a personal soldier came outside and reported: "General, the General Pingdong sent someone to invite you to come over to discuss matters."
"Discussing matters?" Li Dingguo was inexplicably surprised. It was already the first watch of the night. Sun Kewang couldn't wait until tomorrow morning to discuss anything. "What are you discussing? Have you asked clearly?"
"General, the person who came didn't say anything, just told you to hurry over."
As the saying goes, when something happens, people are alarmed. Li Dingguo was even more suspicious and made some arrangements quietly before heading to the meeting... ... ... ..
***
Longwu sent an envoy, Zhu Guoying, to bestow the surname of the state on Qin Mu and confer him the title of King of Liao. However, Gu Junen was the first to question Longwu's qualifications for the throne and refuted Zhu Guoying speechless on the spot.
To be honest, Longwu's qualifications to succeed the throne could not stand up to questioning. He and Chongzhen were already ten generations apart, and he was a criminal vassal designated by Chongzhen. Logically, it was not his turn, even Zhu Yihai, the Prince of Lu in eastern Zhejiang, was more qualified than him.
The reason why he was more respectable than Prince Lu was simply because he had the support of the more powerful Zheng family. But in the final analysis, he was at best just a puppet set up by the Zheng family.
Therefore, not only was Gu Enjun, who was guilty of "regicide", unwilling to serve Zhu Youjian as his master, but even Qin Mu's old team members such as Sima An were unwilling to recognize a puppet of the Zheng family as their master.
In one word, Zhu Youjian is the master. It would be better to appoint another grandson of the Zhu family.
Qin Mu actually considered setting up a descendant of the Zhu family as a puppet at the beginning, but there are pros and cons to doing so. On the one hand, he could win over some talents loyal to Zhu Ming, but on the other hand, these talents loyal to Zhu Ming would sooner or later become a big trouble in the future.
It's very simple, they are loyal to Zhu Ming, not Qin Mu. After these people arrive, if they find that Qin Mu still holds all the power, they will definitely cause disputes, which will become the biggest obstacle.
On the other hand, supporting Zhu's descendants would disappoint his soldiers and generals, and put the remaining Li Zicheng troops who had surrendered in an awkward situation. It would also be detrimental to winning over the remaining Zhang Xianzhong troops.
Therefore, when Qin Mu was in Macheng, he sent an order to Sima An and others to welcome him with great ceremony, and to publicize his martial arts in Jiangxi and Huguang. This was consistent with his long-term practice of creating miracles in Jiangxi and Huguang, making the people believe that he was a real dragon descended to the world and was destined by heaven.
Even Sima An and others thought that the time was ripe for Qin Mu to establish himself.
When Li Zicheng proclaimed himself king in Xiangyang, a large number of talented people, such as Gu Jun'en and Yu Dayou, were willing to join him.
After the Qing dynasty took control of Beijing, many people were willing to be its running dogs.
Qin Mu defeated Ajige, commanded 300,000 strong troops, and controlled the most stable and prosperous areas of Jinghu and Jiangyou in the world. He raised the banner of expelling the Tartars, marched his troops to Heluo, and suppressed Jiangzuo.
Under such circumstances, it is hard to believe that there would be no talented people willing to come and surrender. If there were really so many talented people in the world loyal to the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty would not have perished.
After sending Zhu Guoying away, Sima An, Zhuge Min and others accelerated the pace of persuading him to ascend the throne. Following the second persuasion by the generals in the army, officials from Huguang and Jiangxi soon launched a third wave of persuasion.
Officials above the rank of county magistrate in various places and generals above the rank of thousand households in the army wrote to Wuchang together. Even thousands of scholars from Yuelu Academy expressed their support. In Wuchang city, scholars brought tens of thousands of common people to the main gate of the palace, Zhenchu Gate, to kneel and persuade him to ascend the throne.
The momentum of this persuasion was so great that it was shocking. Qin Mu went out of the town and tried to persuade Chumen again and again, but the crowd gathered and refused to leave. For three consecutive days, the crowd kept gathering. Qin Mu knew for sure that these people were not organized by Sima An and his men to make a show.
The people of Wuchang had suffered enough from the war. The Ming army robbed them once, and the rebels robbed them again. Many people lost their homes and were separated from their wives and children.
Only after Qin Mu took control of Wuchang, distributed land, stabilized society, reduced taxes, and developed people's livelihood, did the people begin to live a stable life.
The people had very simple thoughts. They would support whoever gave them land and allowed them to live a stable life. Moreover, the legend that Qin Mu was a true dragon born into the world and was destined by heaven had long been widely accepted among the people.
Qin Mu could laugh off all the officials' persuasion, but he was deeply moved by the people who came to persuade him spontaneously. In front of Zhenchu Gate, he accepted the request with tears in his eyes, and thousands of people cheered.
People no longer had to worry that the good policies implemented by Qin Mu would change, that the land they were allocated would be taken back, or that their stable lives would be destroyed by war.
Some people even shouted out their thoughts. Gu Yanwu, who was following behind Qin Mu, heard the people's shouts and suddenly realized that although Qin Mu had only been managing Huguang and Jiangxi for two or three years, he had already cultivated a huge vested interest group;
The officials he appointed, the people who were allocated land, the refugees who were properly resettled, tens of millions of people were Qin Mu's staunch supporters.
Qin Mu encouraged industry and commerce and provided banks with loans to support industry and commerce, which made merchants and handicraftsmen his supporters.
He supported scholars in prefectures and counties, personally planned the construction of Yuelu Academy, allocated funds to set up prefecture and county schools, and expanded the enrollment of students. Such moves were supported by scholars.
As for the troops under his command, needless to say, many of the generals were trained by him personally, and the political brainwashing of the soldiers was unprecedentedly strong;
When receiving their monthly pay, they had to say "Thank you, Mr. Qin, for the pay." The first sentence of the military oath, which they chanted several times a day, was "Absolutely obey Mr. Qin's command."
There were also assistant officers in the army who were specifically responsible for instilling Qin Mu's will and thoughts. In addition, military families enjoyed high honors and the interests of the soldiers were well protected, which made the Qin army loyal to him enough.
Scholars, farmers, merchants, and soldiers are all so supportive of Qin Mu; compared to the situation in other places in the world, they are all vested interest groups, and the means Qin Mu uses to protect the interests of these groups is his amazing ability to make money. After all, the people only care about practical benefits.
After thinking this through, when Gu Yanwu looked at Qin Mu in front of him again, he no longer saw his invincible aura, but his all-round planning ability and his silent means of moistening things. Qin Mu's current reputation is definitely not just due to his military exploits.
Under this tide of persuasion, Sima An, Zhuge Min and others secretly stepped up their precautions to prevent local officials from opposing and causing unrest when Qin Mu proclaimed himself king. Once such a phenomenon occurred, no matter who he was, the army would be dispatched immediately to extinguish it.
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ps: I feel discouraged when I look at the monthly ticket list, and I don’t feel like writing for a long time.
I updated my first two books basically continuously, with more than 6,000 words every day. I sat in front of the computer day and night and wrote. The results were average, but I persisted. Two or three years passed in a flash, and my health collapsed. When it came to this book, I had the will but not the strength. Alas!
I hope all book lovers will understand and support me!
.(To be continued..)
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