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After taking Guixian, Ai Nengqi immediately sent Feng Shuangli with 3,000 troops to Wuxuan in the north, and Ma Weixing with 5,000 troops to attack Xingye, Yulin, Beiliu, Rongxian, and Cenxi.
He led an army of 10,000 down the Xunjiang River and headed straight for Xunzhou Prefecture.
The Yujiang River and the Liujiang River meet in Xunzhou, basically forming the main channel of the Pearl River. However, because this section of the river is called Xunjiang, Xunzhou got its name from this.
It is said that Xunzhou Prefecture in Guangxi is the hometown of Yang Guifei, whose beauty was reflected by the hot spring water and whose smile was charming. Lychees produced in Xunzhou Prefecture were Yang Guifei's favorite. Hence, there is a famous saying that goes, "A horseman rides through the dusty world and the concubine smiles. No one knows that it is the lychees coming."
Well, it is said that nowadays, besides pancakes, Concubine Xiang also likes to eat lychees. We must take it down, we must quickly take down Xunzhou, so that Concubine Xiang can eat the authentic "Fei Zi Xiao" produced in Xunzhou this year.
No matter what Ai Nengqi was thinking, his speed of advancing was absolutely amazing. In one day, the army marched from Guixian to Xunzhou.
When Xunzhou defender Wei Ping saw the Qin army approaching with flags covering the sky, he immediately opened the gate to welcome them and surrendered without a fight.
Apart from Qinzhou prefect Wan Zhiliang, Wei Ping was the second high-ranking official in Guangxi to surrender voluntarily, which made Ai Nengqi feel slightly comforted.
In his original expectation, once the Qin army arrived, the officials of all prefectures and counties in Guangxi should surrender. Even if not all of them, at least more than half of them should surrender.
But this was not the case. Although most of the troops from Guangxi were transferred northward, his southern army encountered very little resistance and was able to advance unstoppably. However, not many of the defenders in the prefectures and counties took the initiative to surrender, although they were vulnerable.
This phenomenon even made Ai Nengqi doubt whether it was because of his bad reputation.
As one of Zhang Xianzhong's four adopted sons, his previous reputation could not have been worse.
Wei Ping's initiative to surrender the city comforted him a little, so he treated Wei Ping very well and immediately ordered Wei Ping to lead the charge towards Teng County.
Wei Ping's voluntary surrender was fatal to Wuzhou. The Qin army had already reached Teng County, but Wuzhou was still unaware of it. The two factions in the court were still "debating" the issue of whether to stay or go.
Ai Nengqi left two thousand troops to besiege Teng County, while he continued to march towards Wuzhou without stopping.
Wuzhou City had just received the news of the Qin army's attack. Zhu Youlang was so frightened that he knocked over the precious elephant on the altar when he stood up. With a clang, the precious elephant rolled onto the court.
The pair of bronze elephants on the Danchi have special meanings. They represent the stability of the country. If the bronze elephants fall down, it is a very unlucky thing.
But Zhu Youlang turned a blind eye and shouted in panic: "How is this possible? How is this possible? Where are the defenders of Xunzhou? Where is General Wei Ping..."
"emperor!"
"emperor!"
The court was in chaos, and no one wanted to discuss it any further. The cabinet chief, Ding Kuichu, even took advantage of the chaos to sneak out of the hall and ran back home.
"Someone come here, I want to lead the army myself. I want to lead the army to Guilin myself..." Zhu Youlang's face turned pale as a ghost. Now there was no need to "discuss further". He made the decision extremely quickly.
Unfortunately, not many people cared about this decision. Teng County was very close to Wuzhou. If they were faster, they could reach there in one day. At this point, not many people really cared about the life and death of the emperor, especially the officials of Ding Kuichu's faction who had advocated peace. After discovering that Ding Kuichu had escaped first, they also took advantage of the chaos to escape from the hall.
The court, which was originally in a state of quarrel, was miraculously reduced by half. Now the war faction finally had no opponents.
Wu Bing, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, and Wu Yu, the Minister of Revenue, shouted at the same time, "Your Majesty!"
Zhu Youlang, like a headless fly, stopped and stared blankly at the two men. Wu Bing bowed solemnly and said, "Your Majesty, now that things have come to this, I'm afraid it's too late to leave..."
Zhu Youlang interrupted him immediately and asked in a trembling voice, "Why? The enemy hasn't arrived yet, right? Why can't we leave?"
"If Your Majesty had made up his mind to lead the army in person earlier, this would not be the case today. Your Majesty, if you look at this court, you will know that if you order an evacuation now, the troops in the city will be defeated. Your Majesty, I dare to ask Your Majesty to release the money and silver from the treasury and give it to the soldiers in the city, and then ask Your Majesty to go to the city to supervise the battle.
We, the ministers, will follow the emperor to the city walls and fight to the death. Many of the soldiers in the city are loyal to the Ming Dynasty. As long as the emperor gives us money and personally goes to the city walls to supervise the battle, the three armies will surely fight and it will not be difficult to repel the enemy.
Your Majesty, the enemy is coming in a hurry, without any logistical supplies. As long as we can hold on for three or two days and dampen their spirit, we will surely be able to turn defeat into victory!"
The Minister of Revenue Wu Yu also knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, time is running out. Please make the decision!"
As far as Wu Bing knew, the Gui Palace had accumulated wealth over decades, worth at least two to three million taels. As the saying goes, a brave man deserves a great reward. If this money could be used to reward the soldiers, and if the emperor personally went to the city to supervise the battle, Wu Bing believed that keeping Wuzhou would not be a problem. If Wuzhou was kept, there would still be hope.
"How dare you!" Wang Kun, the eunuch in charge of ceremonies, shouted, "Wang Bing, do you still have the emperor in your eyes? The enemy is about to come, and you actually let the emperor personally face the arrows and stones. What's the use of you ministers?"
In the end, all the efforts of Wu Bing and Wu Yu were in vain.
If Zhu Youlang had the courage to go up to the city to supervise the battle, this would not be the case today.
He did not listen to Er Wu's words at all, and hurried back to the harem, asking Wang Kun and the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to make rapid preparations, loading as much treasure as possible from the treasury into the car, and then preparing to flee Wuzhou with the concubines.
Wu Bing and Wu Yu, with more than 20 pro-war officials, blocked the gate of the imperial palace and tried hard to keep Zhu Youlang. They knelt in the middle of the road, knocking their heads until they were bleeding and crying loudly.
Zhu Youlang had only one thought in mind: escape, and he would not listen to anything. He asked the Jinyiwei to escort Wu Bing and others to the roadside, and then hurriedly left the city through the north gate.
"Da Ming! Da Ming!" Wu Bing and others fell to the ground on the street, crying loudly, tears streaming down their cheeks.
They watched Zhu Youlang's carriage leave the city, and there was nothing more sad than a broken heart...
As soon as the emperor fled, the Wuzhou defenders collapsed. All the men took off their military uniforms, threw away their swords and guns, and pretended to be civilians, because everyone had heard that the Qin army treated civilians well and never killed innocent people.
When the Qin army's vanguard general Dongfang Sheng led a thousand troops to Wuzhou City, Ding Kuichu and others led the crowd to meet them.
Dongfang Sheng was too lazy to pay attention to them. After finding out where Zhu Youlang had gone, he led his army in pursuit and finally caught up with Zhu Youlang who had fled to He County the next morning.
In the melee, Zhu Youlang's carriage fell into the valley. Dongfang Sheng spent most of the day before finding Zhu Youlang's body in the deep valley.
Dongfang Sheng was extremely upset. It was a great regret for him that Zhu Youlang fell to his death. After all, capturing a living emperor was completely different from finding a corpse.
Fortunately, the Queen Mother Wang, the Queen Wang, as well as Zhu Youlang's eldest son Zhu Ciluan and second son Zhu Cilan were captured together.
Dongfang Sheng returned to Wuzhou with the captives and treasures. Ai Nengqi was very upset to see that Zhu Youlang was dead, but there was nothing he could do.
At this time, the shameless old man Ding Kuichu came to flatter him again. According to Zhao Sheng, the chief judge, Ye Bushou had been investigating Ding Kuichu for a long time. This guy had amassed countless wealth and was a complete parasite who sucked the fat of the people. Over the years, he had plundered countless gold, silver and treasures in Guangdong and Guangxi.
Ai Nengqi decided to do something radical and, despite Zhao Sheng's dissuasion, he cut off Zhu Youlang's head and put it in a box, then gave it to Ding Kuichu, asking him to take the box to Guangzhou to persuade Zhu Youlang to surrender.
Ding Kuichu was so frightened that his face turned pale. He begged desperately, but Ai Nengqi remained unmoved and had him escorted away. Ding Kuichu had no choice but to go to Guangzhou.
Zhu Yulang from Guangzhou thought that Ding Kuichu had brought some treasure, but when he opened the box, he saw a horrifying human head. He was so scared that he knocked the box over.
Seeing the head, Su Guansheng and others were also shocked and angry. No matter how Ding Kuichu cried, they immediately had him dragged out and beheaded.
Fortunately, Ai Nengqi had anticipated this and wrote a letter.
The content of the letter was very simple, asking Zhu Youlang to immediately give up his title of emperor and surrender to the Qin Dynasty, so that he could live a life of leisure and wealth like Zhu Yihai, the Prince of Lu. His officials could also continue to serve as officials of the Qin Dynasty.
If you continue to resist, your entire family will be exterminated when Guangdong is pacified!
People like Zhu Youlang and Su Guansheng were certainly unwilling to surrender just like that.
It took the Qin army only one and a half months to defeat Guangxi. Guangdong has become a turtle in a jar. Anyone who is not severely cerebral palsy knows that Guangdong is just a grasshopper after autumn and will not last long.
So not everyone is like Zhu Youlang and Su Guansheng who would not shed tears until they saw the coffin.
Wu Guilong, the defender of Qingyuan, was the first to choose to be a "hero". He took the initiative to send his confidant to Shaozhou to contact Han Xiu, and then replaced the big flag with the word Qin on it on the city wall of Qingyuan.
Suddenly, a spring breeze came, and thousands of pear trees blossomed.
The Qin army flag raised by Wu Guilong was like a spring breeze, blowing across Guangdong in just a few days.
Cities such as Zhaoqing, Changning, Chaozhou, and Huizhou all replaced their flags with large flags bearing the Chinese character Qin.
If you change the flag, you can continue to be an official. If you don't change it, your family will be confiscated and your clan will be exterminated.
When the Manchus came to rule the Central Plains as a foreign race, countless people surrendered. When Li Zicheng, who came from a humble background, proclaimed himself emperor, the seven northern provinces also surrendered.
There was no psychological barrier for everyone to surrender to the Qin Dynasty. After all, it was unquestionable that the Qin Dynasty was the legitimate government in the world.
At the beginning, Qin Mu decided to take Guangxi first. Firstly, it was to prevent Zhu Youlang from escaping into the mountainous area of western Guangxi, which would be very troublesome. Secondly, it was to make Zhu Youlang in Guangdong become a turtle in a jar, unable to escape.
It now seems that the effect is very good, and Guangdong basically does not need to send troops to conquer other provinces.
This avalanche of changes in Guangdong overwhelmed Zhu Youlang and his ministers, leaving them with no place to cry. Ai Nengqi was so bold that he personally led 2,000 soldiers and horses to take Guangzhou as if he were in an empty land.
Zhaoqing and Sanshui along the way all opened their cities to welcome him. Ai Nengqi reached the outskirts of Guangzhou without firing a single arrow. His speed was so fast that he could be called a "Flying General."
At this moment, Guangzhou City is
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ps: I have written two million words without realizing it, and the civil war is basically over. It has taken me a whole year to write Ming Yang Tian Xia. I have been typing day and night for the past year, which is really tiring. In today's situation, I don't know if I can keep the monthly ticket award this month. One thousand yuan is not a small amount for me, and I can't calm down to write. In the last few hours, brothers, please check your ticket folders to see if there are still monthly tickets. I beg for monthly tickets. No matter what, please help me keep the eighth place, don't let the duck in my mouth fly away.
I will try my best to update one more chapter in the early morning. The next chapter will be a new starting point, sailing overseas and heading for the deep blue. So, brothers, please support me and don't let me fall at the last step. I beg for a monthly ticket again! I beg for a monthly ticket!
.(To be continued..)
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