After Liang Huafeng read out the secret order, Guan Xiaozhong and Jiang Guozhu returned to Nanjing with their troops dejectedly. Liang Huafeng, the new Jiangnan admiral, sent them and their troops to the border of Suzhou Prefecture, and then turned back to appease the morale of the army and tied up with the new subordinates. Seeing that the civil and military officials who had flattered him for a long time now avoiding himself as if they were hiding from the plague, Jiang Guozhu was so angry that he said in jealousy that he must give these villains some colors in the future. But Guan Xiaozhong seemed to have completely seen it. After hearing Jiang Guozhu's private complaints, he said calmly: "If I were them, this would be the case. This is no longer my business."

As Shunzhi expected, after leaving the Suzhou Prefecture, Jiang Guozhu began to raise hope again, believing that the court's handling of them might not be too heavy, and it was probably just a punishment of silver and demotion. After all, they finally repelled Zheng Chenggong. Jiang Guozhu found Guan Qizhong again and secretly guessed what kind of punishment the court would give them, but Guan Qizhong still looked discouraged and shook his head, and still said the same thing: "How can the court deal with us? Don't do my business, I just need to obey the order and bring the troops back to Jiangning."

As soon as the two and their army stepped into Changzhou Prefecture, they saw that the beacon towers along the river were ignited. When Jiang Guozhu was shocked and suspicious, the people who were seeking help from Nanjing also rushed over like crazy, saying that Deng Ming commanded tens of thousands of troops, and suddenly rushed to the city of Nanjing. The governor of Liangjiang Lang Tingzuo fell into the enemy.

"Isn't Deng Ming in Huguang? How did he fly over?" Jiang Guozhu was shocked and asked in disbelief: "And how did tens of thousands of thieves sneak into Jiangning city?"

As the former governor of Jiangnan, Jiang Guozhu was very clear about the deployment of the Qing army. He knew that after Zheng Chenggong retreated to Chongming Island, the navy of the two rivers had all rushed to Wuhu to encircle and block Zhang Huangyan's Zhejiang army. Not long ago, although he heard that the Qing army was frustrated in Anqing, it was not harmful to the overall situation. The Qing army still steadily controlled the Yangtze River surface upstream of Nanjing.

"There are definitely not tens of thousands of people," Guan Qizhong seemed to have recovered some spirit after hearing this. He immediately made a judgment: "It must be an exaggeration. Without mentioning the daily food and grass of tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, how can they transport supplies without the Yangtze River? Even if they have enough mules, horses and vehicles, how much noise would it be if they go on land? They must have been discovered long ago. These must be the few traversing defeated enemies, and there is no weapon and baggage."

"Then how did they defeat our army under Jiangning City? They also captured the Governor?" Although Guan Qizhong had much more combat experience than Jiang Guozhu, and the latter had always believed in his judgment, the situation suddenly changed drastically, and it was still difficult for him to believe that this was something a defeated soldier could do.

"It's probably because the Governor was not prepared, just like we were fighting Zheng Chenggong." Guan Feizhong said in a light tone. He had worked hard for the Qing Dynasty since the Huang Taiji period. Songshan and Jinzhou had participated in it, and had experienced dozens of battles. After entering the pass, he fought with the Ming army more than a dozen times as commanders. It was precisely because of these numerous contributions and rich military experience that the Qing court appointed him as the admiral of Jiangnan and guarded this vital place for the Qing Dynasty.

Jiang Guozhu's eyes suddenly lit up and he shouted to Guan Xiaozhong: "What a chance, we rushed back to Jiangning to rescue the governor at night, and rescued the Governor. This is God's chance to make meritorious service and atone for us."

"It's useless." Guan Xiaozhong shook his head. He felt that this was no longer a matter of making meritorious deeds, but the Eight Banners of Manchuria felt that he owed them a blood debt. Guan Xiaozhong thought carefully over the past few days. There were not many people in the Eight Banners of Manchuria, and most of them were related to their relatives. In Zhenjiang, four thousand Eight Banners of Manchuria were killed. From princes and ministers to ordinary bannermen, almost all relatives from far or near. Friends he knew were killed. There would definitely be no one to say good things about him. Guan Xiaozhong glanced at the excited Jiang Guozhu and felt that this brother and brother were better than his situation. After all, Guan Xiaozhong was the commander of the first army and the first person responsible for defeat.

After hearing Guan Yizhong's reasons, Jiang Guozhu was stunned. He had bribed Oboi, Sony and other emperor's confidant ministers, hoping that they could help him with some good words, but these two people also had distant nephews or favored slaves who died in battle.

"Besides, after hearing about it, the garrison in Wuhu will definitely return to Jiangning immediately. They went downstream much faster than us." Guan Qizhong mercilessly broke Jiang Guozhu's last lucky mentality: "I concluded that Deng Ming had no supplies and food, and his troops were very weak. It is estimated that he would be seen through the truth in less than two days. He would be driven away again until we return. Alas, this has nothing to do with us."

Jiang Guozhu and Guan Qizhong worked together for a long time, and knew that the other party always had a say in military issues. The main reason for the defeat in Zhenjiang was Zheng Chenggong because of his strong army and strong commandership. He could not just say that Guan Qizhong was incompetent. However, Jiang Guozhu was still a little unwilling to accept it, and he still hoped that Guan Qizhong would make a mistake in his judgment. The Qing army in Wuhu was slow to react and failed to rescue Nanjing in time. Jiang Guozhu even hoped that Guan Qizhong's speculation about the court was not right, and the emperor would forgive the two because they repelled Deng Ming.

After walking in Changzhou Prefecture for three more days, new news came. Guan Qizhong's judgment was correct. The Qing Dynasty's navy returned to Nanjing, but was caught by Deng Ming. In addition to the navy, all the green camps that Jiangxi went to Nanjing were also annihilated. This result naturally made Jiang Guozhu stunned. Guan Qizhong was also inexplicably. After careful inquiry, the two of them understood what happened:

After rushing back from Wuhu, the Qing army who had been running around for several days was already very tired. When they saw the deputy general Hu Laoxiao of Yuezhou who arrived first, they had built a large camp. The walls were tall and strong, and they were double-layered. The trenches were dug quite deep, and the antlers were arranged on both sides of the inside and outside. The Qing army was very happy, thinking that Hu Laoxiao was also timid and had the benefits of being timid. Such a solid camp was worth a hundred thousand troops.

The officers and soldiers fell asleep when they entered the camp and wanted to have a good rest and fight with the Ming army tomorrow. But Hu Laoxiao, who didn't want to prepare the camp for everyone, was the real identity of Li Laiheng, the giant gangster of Xingshan. He broke into the army and burned the camp that night, and used the camp wall to surround the chaos of the Qing army with the Zhejiang army. Together with the camp wall, Li Laiheng repaired such a solid fortification for the Qing army. There were many brave soldiers in the camp. If the Ming army had not built the double-layered camp wall and trenches, although the incident suddenly began, these elite soldiers from Jiangxi and Nanjing might not have been caught by the Ming army.

The most unlucky one was probably the Biaoying of the Governor of Liangjiang. They had originally gone to Chaohu to pursue Zhang Huangyan and killed the last guards who were following him. Although they did not chase Zhang Huangyan himself, they also successfully completed the task assigned by Nanjing. After Biaoying returned to Wuhu, he had not yet sat firmly and received news of Nanjing's danger, so he hurried back on a boat, and died together.

"It's so despicable!" Jiang Guozhu was furious and scolded Deng Ming and Li Laiheng for being shameless.

"What are we doing?" It seems that nothing can move Guan Qizhong. He listened calmly to what happened and continued to urge the troops to advance towards Nanjing.

"What is the trick of Lord Guan?" Jiang Guozhu calmed down and asked hurriedly.

"I have no clever plan. The emperor asked me to take my headquarters back to Nanjing, so I will go back to Nanjing." Guan Xiaozhong replied.

"What should I do if the thieves outside Nanjing?"

"Don't do my business, I'll take my subordinates back to Nanjing anyway, and then wait for the imperial court to surrender." Guan Feizhong paused and said, "The city wall built by Zhu Hongwu is definitely not easy to break. What can they do with such a few people? In the end, they have to withdraw their troops."

...

Deng Ming and Li Laiheng had no movement in the following days, and the Ming army had no power to surround Nanjing, and even half-encircled Nanjing like Zheng Chenggong. Guan Xiaozhong and Jiang Guozhu led their troops to the north of Nanjing. They had no intention of fighting with the Ming army outside the city, and the defenders recognized the two and opened the city gate to let them enter the city.

Liang Huafeng's imperial edict only dismissed Jiang Guozhu from his post. He had been in Nanjing for the end of his post, so naturally the Governor of Liangjiang was dealt with. But now Lang Tingzuo was captured by the Ming army, and Jiang Guozhu, who remained in office, naturally took over the Governor of Liangjiang and took the power of Nanjing into his hands.

After Jiang Guozhu took over, he first asked Ma Fengzhi where he was, but he found that the prison cart had not arrived in Nanjing at all. After Ma Fengzhi was arrested, some of his confidants followed the escort team. These officers who had prospered and suffered losses and suffered losses had thought of bribing officials in Nanjing to see if they could help the chief escape. However, after learning that Deng Ming had defeated the Qing army in Nanjing, the soldiers in the prison cart escorted were also panicked. After secretly following Ma Fengzhi's troops behind, they were determined to rob the prison cart. They put on their makeup and attacked the panic escort troops, and released Ma Fengzhi and all the arrested guards.

Several escort soldiers escaped. As soon as Jiang Guozhu asked, he guessed the true identities of the people who robbed the prison van. Sweat on his forehead suddenly flowed:

After Zheng Chenggong withdrew from Chongming Island, Guan Qizhong concluded that Ma Fengzhi had missed the best opportunity to turn against him. The defeat of the Fujian army would make it difficult for Ma Fengzhi to convince his subordinates to follow him anyway. It is precisely because of this confidence that Guan Qizhong dared to issue an ultimatum to Ma Fengzhi, asking him to leave the army and come to Suzhou to pay homage to him.

But the situation is very different from that time. Deng Ming wiped out the Qing army near Nanjing, and Ma Fengzhi's subordinates might have the courage to rebel again. Moreover, Ma Fengzhi himself knew that the Qing court would not let him go. If he did not ask where he was after the escape, he must have rushed back to Wusong Mansion to incite the troops and fight to the death with the Qing court.

Now there are no other reliable partners around him, so Jiang Guozhu can only continue to discuss countermeasures with Guan Qizhong, but Guan Qizhong still looks like he is not concerned about his own affairs, saying that this is the matter of the new Jiangnan admiral Liang Huafeng. It seems that Guan Qizhong has no interest in notifying Liang Huafeng of this news.

Jiang Guozhu couldn't stand it, so he slapped Guan Xiaozhong and scolded Guan Xiaozhong for a few words, saying that he did not take national affairs seriously at all, and failed the longing of the late emperor and the emperor. Guan Xiaozhong did not talk nonsense to him. He immediately asked the guards to see him off, announcing that he would think about his mistakes behind closed doors and wait for the court's punishment. After leaving Guan Xiaozhong's mansion angrily, he was blown by the wind and Jiang Guozhu's mind became clearer. He lowered his head and thought for a while, but in the end he did not send an envoy to Suzhou to alert Liang Huafeng.

The next day, Jiang Guozhu visited Guan Qizhong again. This time he brought the imperial decree of the court - he found it from Lang Tingzuo's yamen.

"The Emperor wants to confiscate our home." After seeing Guan Xiaozhong, Jiang Guozhu trembled and took out the imperial edict, but he could no longer bear it. He threw himself on the table in Guan Xiaozhong's study and cried loudly.

House search means nothing. As for relatives, wife may be able to keep them, and most of the concubines will be left to others. Jiang Guozhu knows that house search is better than beheading. In theory, there is still a day of comeback, but that is only theoretical. Generally speaking, if the emperor is old and endures until the Emperor Bintian, the new emperor may recover some down-and-out old ministers, making them grateful and let them work harder. But now Emperor Shunzhi is only over twenty years old, and Jiang Guozhu feels that he will definitely not be able to survive that day. As long as Emperor Shunzhi is still sitting on the dragon throne, a criminal who has been punished so much will not be used - don't say that he will not be resentful, from a high-ranking official to a rank without, there will be resentment in person.

Guan Qizhong did not say a word and took the secret order over and looked at it. His punishment was even heavier than Jiang Guozhu, and he actually sent it to a Baoyi slave as a slave. After reading it, Guan Qizhong sighed. Baoyi lived a miserable life, and their own wives were often insulted by their masters. When encountering such a thing, Baoyi would greet him with a smile. If Guan Qizhong became a Baoyi slave's slave, he could imagine what the outcome would be for his family. Shunzhi placed him in a position where he could be bullied at will. Any bannerman could insult Guan Qizhong without hesitation and vent his hatred in his heart. Perhaps he would also have the jealousy when he saw him, the Han army bannerman, when Guan Qizhong thought of his daughter, they would definitely not have the chance to get married, let alone sons. After humiliating himself severely, there would definitely be people in so many enemies who would think of killing the roots.

Jiang Guozhu beside him had already cried, but despite his loyalty, he wanted to cry without tears.

Just as the two were speechless, suddenly an official from the Governor's Office came to him, saying that the Ming army outside the city sent an envoy to negotiate with Nanjing.

Jiang Guozhu wiped his tears. No matter what, he is still the highest commander in Nanjing. If the officials saw him like this, the hearts of the people in the city would probably be dispersed.

"Don't you go?" Guan Qizhong, who was dismissed from office, is still the highest military commander in the city. Jiang Guozhu asked casually, but immediately regretted it and laughed mockingly: "This is not about adult's business. Alas, what's the matter for me?"

After saying that, Jiang Guozhu sorted out some official uniforms and was about to leave, but he didn't want Guan Xiaozhong to speak up: "I'll accompany Lord Jiang." After seeing Jiang Guozhu's strange eyes, Guan Xiaozhong smiled bitterly: "Go out for a walk and have some breath, otherwise Lord Jiang can come to collect my body tomorrow."

The two men came to the Governor's Office and saw Deng Ming put two low-level captured officers back, and sent an envoy to express that he wanted to exchange prisoners.

Deng Ming had always wanted to do this before, but the Jiangning prefect believed that his status was too low and he did not dare to take the initiative. Yesterday, when Deng Ming sent someone to shout at the city, the prefect asked someone to respond that the governor was back, so Deng Ming sent an envoy today.

Most of the prisoners of the Fujian army were killed by Lang Tingzuo, but Yu Xin and Gan Hui and other captured senior generals were still locked in prison, waiting for Beijing's decision: to escort the capital or be executed on the spot. Deng Ming expressed his willingness to exchange captured Qing generals for Yu Xin, Gan Hui and others. In recent battles, Deng Ming captured several generals, and the number of Qing generals at the deputy general level, the number of guerrillas and others was large.

After understanding Deng Ming's meaning, Jiang Guozhu's face darkened and wanted to reject the other party's request: Most of the Qing generals did not regard soldiers as human beings, and senior officials rarely regarded generals as human beings. Ordinary guests were polite because they were still worth it. Now these generals have been captured by the Ming army, and their troops have been destroyed, and there is no use value at all. Then what does Jiang Guozhu care about their lives? Moreover, Yu Xin and Gan Hui are all creditworthy. If they are handed over, then there will be no credit. Of course, Jiang Guozhu will not use valuable credit and exchange for the worthless captives of his own side.

Jiang Guozhu was planning to be passionate and scold Deng Ming for his delusions, claiming that these generals would let down the Lord's kindness and be traitors who were greedy for life and fear of death.

At this moment, I suddenly heard Guan Xiaozhong sigh: "It's pitiful."

This sigh also touched a string deep in Jiang Guozhu's heart, and made him suddenly feel sad. On the list that the Ming army envoy just reported, several of them had drunk and talked with Jiang Guozhu and had served him in front of him. Now that Jiang Guozhu's family is about to be destroyed, these former old subordinates are also in danger of being in the enemy camp - Jiang Guozhu suddenly felt sad about the death of a rabbit and the fox.

"And what's the use of merit now?" Jiang Guozhu thought sadly: "The emperor issued a secret order to Lang Tingzuo, wanting to raid my home and escort me back to the capital. Yu Xin and Gan Hui and others have no connection with me. Forget it, that's all." After Jiang Guozhu figured out this festival, he planned to discuss it seriously with the envoys of the Ming army and exchanged more groups of Qing army generals for a group of Qing army generals. He said to himself in his heart: "Even if you use this to buy some favors for me, I hope they can recite my life-saving grace in the future, and when I come to my door, I can help me with some money so that my family will not be exposed to the streets and are hungry and cold."

Seeing that the two Qing court civil and military officials present showed signs of agreement, Deng Ming's envoy was also very happy and struck the railway while it was hot: "If there were other Fujian soldiers in the prison, my admiral would also want to redeem them together. Two or three can be replaced. After they are all returned to us, my admiral will also return the governor of Liangjiang to you."

"What?" Jiang Guozhu shouted.

Without waiting for Jiang Guozhu to object, Guan Qizhong, who had been listless for so many days, suddenly jumped up from his seat and shouted angrily to the envoy: "Imagination! The Governor has received great favors from the country and is loyal to the emperor. Even if he has no chance to kill himself, he will never agree to us release Haigui for the sake of his safety!"

"Mr. Guan said it well." Jiang Guozhu shook his head and exclaimed, then pointed at the envoy and shouted to the guards: "Boom out!"

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