Nanjing.

Since the Qing army suffered a crushing defeat in northern Sichuan six years ago, the life of the governor of Jiangnan has become more and more comfortable. In recent years, not only has Jiang Guozhu's white hair not increased at all, but also has become more and more red. He felt that serving the country for ten years in the position of Governor of Liangjiang was not a problem; the most troublesome question now is how to ensure that his son can succeed. Originally, Jiang Guozhu was looking forward to making great contributions in Deng Ming's actions to unify the world to ensure his descendants' wealth, but because Deng Ming was reluctant to fight in the country, this wish could not be realized. In addition, Zhang Chao of Jiangxi was still a heart-wrenching problem for Jiang Guozhu. The latter, like him, prolonged his life due to the defeat of officers and soldiers. Now he still ruled over Jiangxi, making Jiang Guozhu's Governor of Liangjiang still have no name.

Because Deng Ming went abroad to go abroad, Jiang Guozhu's thoughts became active again and he asked his old comrade Liang Huafeng to discuss - now Admiral Liang is not only the commander-in-chief of the Liangjiang troops, but also becomes Jiang Guozhu's children's family like Zhou Peigong.

"I'm afraid that Xiang Deng will not be able to come back for a year or two in the past?" Jiang Guozhu had no interest in discussing the military adventures in Beijing with Liang Huafeng at all. Emperor Kangxi had already lost before the troops were sent. Half a month before the war began, various insider information about the Qing government's troops were circulating in the exchange. Kangxi's court bought a large number of bonds from Sichuan, and senior officials and generals had deposits and real estate in Chengdu. Even the Manchu Taijun sent their children to Sichuan to go to school, and the prince's concubine also went to accompany him to study... Before sending the troops, the commander and senior officers misappropriated military pay to speculate in futures. If the emperor could win this battle, it would be a damn.

"I will definitely not be able to come back in the short term." In recent years, Liang Huafeng helped Jiang Guozhu build a very good army, and also hired a large number of veterans from western Sichuan to help train officers and soldiers. Now, even when the central troops of the Qing Dynasty met, they all had the courage to fight. Liang Huafeng also knew very well about Jiang Guozhu's thoughts. Before Deng Ming rose, the Qing court was very powerful, and everyone had never thought of attacking each other; after the war in northern Sichuan, the Qing court was disgraced, but Deng Ming came out to suppress everyone, making everyone drool at the neighbor's territory, but they did not dare to take action.

The annexation of Guangxi by Wu Sangui was a topic that Jiang Guozhu and Liang Huafeng had discussed for several years. Jiang Guozhu believed that there were two key factors for Wu Sangui's success. First, it was to grasp the timing well. At that time, the Battle of North Sichuan had just ended, and Deng Ming and the Qing court were both in the north. Wu Sangui happened to take advantage of this gap that Beijing and Chengdu had no time to interfere; secondly, it was to move quickly. If Wu Sangui fell into a protracted war, Sichuan would at least sell arms to the weak side. If it was delayed for a while, maybe Deng Ming would dispatch troops to the war.

"Does the Governor interested in Jiangxi?" Liang Huafeng asked. The experience he summarized from Wu Sangui's success was different from that of Jiang Guozhu. Liang Huafeng felt that he had to be good at turning against others when doing big things. However, Liang Huafeng thought about it and did not discuss this topic with his immediate boss.

"If Deng Xiang had to come back for more than a year, this would be a good opportunity to unify Liangjiang." As Liang Huafeng expected, Jiang Guozhu was indeed thinking about Nanchang. First, Deng Ming is not here, and the Qing court has lost another new battle, and the timing seems to be very appropriate; second, this is ultimately the internal affairs of Liangjiang. Jiang Guozhu was the governor of Liangjiang, who was recognized by Beijing and Chengdu, and it is legitimate to eliminate the separatist forces of Zhang Chao in Nanchang. Third, Jiangxi now relies on selling a large amount of porcelain to Sichuan merchants, and the financial situation is quite good. After Jiang Guozhu unifies Liangjiang, his strength will become stronger.

Logically speaking, Zhejiang is also a goal that can be considered. However, the current national situation is hard to say. If it is not a chaotic era, it is clearly already divided. If it is a chaotic era, Beijing and Chengdu still have considerable deterrence to the provinces. If everyone wants to bully their neighbors, they also need to make excuses. Zhao Guozuo's Zhejiang is not within the sphere of influence of the governor of Liangjiang. If Jiang Guozhu forcibly attacked him, it would be easy to be criticized by the governor of the north and south. Moreover, Zhao Guozuo is very well-behaved. The shipping to Beijing every year is always maintained at more than 70% of the tax payable, and he also vigorously developed banned sea areas. Several years ago, Ningbo, Wenzhou and Taizhou were banned.

It's a sea area. At the beginning of this year, Yiwu's ban on the sea was also put on the agenda - so that most of Zhejiang is a ban on sea area. Even if Jiang Guozhu attacked Zhejiang, he would not dare to go to the ban on sea area to accept the territory of the East Zhejiang Army. The most important point is that Zhao Guozuo and Songkui relied on the strict ban on sea area and took a lot of money from the East Zhejiang Army. They saved half of them in banks in Chengdu, and half were used to bribe senators and imperial MPs of the Council. Chengdu was full of good words to Zhao Guozuo and Songkui; just last year, Hangzhou General Songkui also submitted a memorial saying that the shaving order was outdated, and suggested that the court revise its policies and announce the cancellation of Zhejiang's shaving order.

"Governor General Gao Wei, the last general thinks so too." Liang Huafeng nodded heavily. He had been unhappy with Jiangxi for a long time, and Liang Huafeng asked himself that he was no longer young. He had been waiting for Deng Ming to launch the war of unification for many years, but he could not wait on the left and the right. If he continued to be peaceful like this, Liang Huafeng would not have the opportunity to make achievements.

After receiving the support of Liang Huafeng, Jiang Guozhu secretly convened a meeting of staff from the Governor's Office, followed by a military meeting with a large number of Jiangnan officers. Over the years, relying on the continuous sale of silk, cotton and other raw materials to Sichuan, the Governor's Office in Liangjiang also accumulated some savings; and Jiang Guozhu was far from being as honest as Zhao Guozuo, and always tried every means to withhold Beijing's shipping. After the Battle of North Sichuan, Jiang Guozhu owed half of the annual taxes, and raised a war against Jiangxi without any problem with military expenses.

Most officers also raised their hands to welcome the governor's plan. Their ideas were similar to Liang Huafeng, and their soldiers would have no value in existence if they did not fight. These officers patted their chests and assured Jiang Guozhu that they could easily defeat Zhang Chao and assist Jiang Guozhu in achieving the great cause of unifying the Liangjiang River.

Although Jiang Guozhu strictly prohibits everyone from leaking the content of the meeting, after the two meetings, the exchanges in Nanjing and Nanchang responded quickly, and the wind followed. The stocks of the provincial ceramic group under the rule of Zhang Chao fell sharply, while the futures prices of ceramics rose rapidly. Although the rise and fall in Nanjing was not so large, many people also panicked because they heard that they were going to fight.

"What's going on?" Jiang Guozhu couldn't help but be furious and called Liang Huafeng again: "Why has I not ordered the preparation for war yet? Even Chengdu knows? The Sichuan Consul had just come to find him. He asked him to take peace as the most important thing and tolerate his country!"

"I heard that someone wants to make a fortune with insider information." Liang Huafeng said carefully: "There are always many people who trade stocks in the Governor's yamen, and the Governor's yamen of the Governor's yamen."

"Oh." Jiang Guozhu sighed. He felt very interesting when he saw the emperor's joke not long ago, but now it's his turn, and realized that this taste is very bitter: "I have said long ago that we should be the same as Chengdu. Officials should not trade stocks with close relatives within the third server, and the officials' property should be disclosed."

"Mr. Governor must not be the case. This approach does not conform to the people's sentiments of Liangjiang." Liang Huafeng was shocked when he heard this. As the first person in Liangjiang who learned that Jiang Guozhu was interested in attacking Nanchang, his wife and son were among the first people to speculate in the Nanjing stock market based on insider information. Seeing that Jiang Guozhu looked a little hesitant, Liang Huafeng was afraid that the other party would give up: "Mr. Governor, since we have started doing it, we must do this. If the Mr. Governor retreats at this time, the last general will probably damage the reputation of the Mr. Governor."

"Well, how could I not know the reason why there is no turning back?" Jiang Guozhu glanced at Liang Huafeng, and suspected that his chief general also leaked the secret - but as Liang Huafeng said, it is indeed difficult to get on the verge of the tiger now. It is estimated that a large number of aides and officers have already gone to speculate. If Jiang Guozhu goes back on his word, there will probably be many people under his civil and military personnel who will lose their fortunes, which will even lead to the disagreement of the Governor's Office of Liangjiang.

"As long as we occupy Jiangxi quickly, Chengdu can only admit the facts. Did the Governor tell the consul that we have absolute confidence to ensure the supply of porcelain, and if porcelain is in our hands, our selling price will be lower than that of Zhang Chao." Liang Huafeng said confidently: "Don't Sichuan people just want to make money? As long as we can guarantee that they earn more, is this still a problem?"

After the news reached Nanchang, Zhang Chao personally rushed to Jiujiang to take charge, expressing his swearing to defend Jiangxi for the Qing Dynasty. He also accused Jiang Guozhu of intending to manipulate the candidate for Jiangxi, which was an absolute betrayal of the Qing Dynasty and would only give up the Chengdu rebellion. While accusing Jiang Guozhu of Tong Deng to the governor of the whole country and expounding the justice of Jiangxi's self-defense, Zhang Chao also met with the Chengdu Consulate who was stationed in Jiujiang, hoping to purchase an emergency batch of arms.

Although the matter has been exposed, Jiang Guozhu retorted that Zhang Chao was in power and held the position of governor of Jiangxi for many years and tried to pass it on to his son. He was really a sinner of the Qing Dynasty! Moreover, Jiang Guozhu also listed some evidence of the crime and refuted that Zhang Chao was actually "Tong Deng". As the governor of Liangjiang, it was his unshirkable responsibility to fight against the rebellious Zhang Chao. Jiang Guozhu knew that because he had been deducting money and grain transported to Beijing over the years, the court had a very bad impression of him and would definitely not agree to him asserting Zhang Chao as "Tong Deng". So until now, Jiang Guozhu did not continue to spend more time in Beijing, but met with the consul in Sichuan to Nanjing again, saying that he would do his best to ensure the smoothness of porcelain trade, and Jiang Guozhu was also willing to ban the sea in Chizhou, Tongling and other places.

In addition to Beijing and Chengdu, Nanjing and Nanchang are also very concerned about Anqing Zhou Peigong's attitude towards this.

After Wu Sangui annexed Guangxi, Zhou Peigong rushed to Guizhou for mediation and obtained the title of governor of the two provinces from Wu Sangui. When he returned from Guangdong and Fujian, the vassal kings of these two provinces appointed Zhou Peigong as governor of their two provinces out of vigilance against Wu Sangui or other neighbors. In addition to the favor of Gao Mingzhan, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, Zhou Peigong was already the governor of the twelve provinces at this time. In recent years, Zhou Peigong held high the banner of "suppressing Deng" in Anqing, invited various banks in Sichuan to invest, and invited Sichuan arms dealers to invest, and opened many arms factories. His suppression of Deng Corps could also invite active-duty officers in the imperial world rather than veterans as instructors, and his strength was quite considerable.

Now that the war between Jiangnan and Jiangxi is about to begin, Zhou Peigong's attitude becomes crucial, and the eyes of the world quickly focus on Anqing. For a moment, it means "If Duke Zhou does not come out, what will the people do to the people?"
Chapter completed!