In Fuzhou City, Geng Jingzhong was sitting in the flower hall of Jingnan Palace, listening to the news reported by the people below, with an unpredictable expression on his face.
Guangzhou fell, and Shang Ke was happy to hear the news of Xinhui's defeat. Logically speaking, Geng Jingzhong, the King of Jingnan, should be the one who dies like a rabbit and is saddened by something like a fox.
After all, he and Shang Kexi are both big traitors!
However, Geng Jingzhong was not sad at all.
On the contrary, there is some gloating and eagerness to try!
Geng Jingzhong is ambitious and wants to wear a white hat for himself.
Only when the world becomes chaotic again, will he have the opportunity to wear a white hat. Although he has complicated feelings about the affairs in Guangdong, in general, he is still more happy than good.
Geng Jingzhong asked the counselor beside him with bright eyes.
"Sir, the Supervisor of the Ming Dynasty sent someone to deliver an imperial edict to the king, inviting me to raise an army to conquer the Qing captives together!"
"Restore my Han family clothes and the Chinese nation!"
As he spoke, he took out a roll of imperial edict made of bright yellow silk.
The imperial edict was unfolded, and the contents above were seen by Geng Jingzhong’s trusted advisors.
It’s more like a promise than an imperial edict conferring the title of king!
He promised that as long as Geng Jingzhong was willing to raise troops to fight against the Qing Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty would recognize him as the king of Jingnan.
The counselor thought for a while, then followed Geng Jingzhong's wishes and spoke.
"Your Majesty, although the Qing Dynasty suffered a defeat in Guangdong, it is still strong!"
"Even if the Qing Dynasty's heavy troops in the north were suppressed by the troops from Jiangnan, Fujian, Lianghu, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou, the Ming thieves would definitely have no chance."
"Although King Pingnan is strong, the Qing Dynasty's strongest soldier in the south is King Pingxi!"
"To be cautious, Your Majesty must not act rashly!"
Just from the fact that Geng Jingzhong called Zhu Hongyu a supervisor of the Ming Dynasty, not a thief of the Ming Dynasty, the counselor knew what Geng Jingzhong meant.
Most likely, he was moved!
As a counselor, he naturally knew Geng Jingzhong's little intention of wearing a white hat, so he immediately spoke.
"If the prince wants to do something big, he must choose the right time!"
"Impatientness is a no-no!"
"Unless the Ming thief can win a few more big victories, my subordinates don't mind if the prince's cavalry responds!"
Geng Jingzhong nodded thoughtfully and said.
"Sir, what you said is true. Now is indeed not a good time to raise troops!"
"But since the Ming Dynasty has given me such an imperial edict, it will be difficult for me to use troops against Guangdong!"
"Send the order and mobilize the troops to prepare to attack Kinmen!"
In order to explain the past to his superiors, Geng Jingzhong ordered the deployment of troops to Kinmen.
…
In fact, Zhu Hongyu issued more than one copy of similar imperial edicts.
He gave one share to Geng Jingzhong, one share to Wu Sangui, and a share to each of the Qing government's civil servants and senior officials in Hunan, Jiangxi, Jiangnan, Guangxi and other places, and almost all the leading soldiers and generals.
If you say it is valuable, it must be valuable. No matter from any angle, these imperial edicts are true. They were all written and sealed by Zhu Hongyu, the supervisor of the Ming Dynasty.
If these people choose to surrender to the Ming Dynasty in the future, this imperial edict will be their talisman and an important means for them to preserve their official positions and wealth.
But if you say it’s not valuable, it’s actually not valuable either!
After all, things are expensive, no matter what they are, if there are too many of them, they are worthless!
In fact, the reason why Zhu Hongyu issued the imperial edict so generously was because he did not think that he could use an imperial edict to instigate the civil servants and generals of the Qing court.
This is unrealistic!
He just hoped that these people who had accepted the imperial edict would be more "sneaky" when working for the Qing court in the future.
One person's cheating may not have much impact on the Qing court!
But what if all the officials in the south consciously engage in adultery?
The impact would be huge!
Reality has proven that Zhu Hongyu’s method is still effective.
No, after receiving Zhu Hongyu's imperial edict, Geng Jingzhong gave up the idea of leading troops to counterattack Guangdong.
The military pressure faced by the Ming army was significantly reduced!
What's more, the imperial edicts issued by Zhu Hongyu even played a role in disrupting the officialdom of the Qing court.
Some Qing court officials accepted the imperial edict but kept it secret.
Some Qing officials were loyal to the Manchus and chose to report it to their superiors after receiving the imperial edict from the Ming Dynasty.
For a time, suspicion inevitably occurred!
The superior officials are suspicious of the inferior officials and want to surrender, and the inferior officials are suspicious of the superior officials and want to rebel against the Qing Dynasty. Everyone is suspicious of each other.
The administrative efficiency of the Qing government was visibly reduced!
The original efficiency of Hunan, Jiangxi and other places in mobilizing troops and preparing food and grass to prepare for a counterattack in Guangdong slowed down significantly.
…
Zhu Hongyu summoned representatives of Guangdong's landlords and gentry in Guangzhou City, because the inner city of Guangdong was almost burned to rubble.
Zhu Hongyu is preparing to receive these famous local gentry in the central tent of the Ming army!
The flags are flying, and the sound of drills is endless!
The sound of muskets and artillery firing can be heard from time to time!
A famous sentry rider formed a team and patrolled around the camp, checking people coming and going.
The entire camp was surrounded by sentinels, both bright and dark, closely monitoring everything.
On the high watchtower, there are several soldiers holding telescopes at any time to observe the outside world.
As soon as the He family's motorcade reached the outskirts of the camp, it was stopped by a group of patrolling Ming army sentries.
"Who is coming?!"
"Stop quickly! There is an important military camp ahead of you. Anyone who intrudes will die!"
A majestic Ming army cavalry wearing red armor galloped over and stopped his horse in front of the He family's motorcade.
He asked condescendingly.
The head of the He family stuck his head out of the carriage, clasped his fists and said.
"This little brother, I am He Zhongda, general magistrate of Zhaoqing Prefecture. I am here to summon us and other local officials to Guangzhou for an audience with His Majesty the Supervisor!"
"Brother Wanwang, let me know!"
The He family was a wealthy family in Zhaoqing. After the Ming army defeated Xinhui Station, the He family contacted the landowners and gentry inside and outside Zhaoqing and prepared to change their banner and return to the Ming Dynasty.
The former prefect of Zhaoqing cooperated with the He family, and the Qing-style flag hanging at the top of Zhaoqing City met almost no obstacles and became a Ming-style flag.
Afterwards, in order to reward his merits, Zhu Hongyu allowed the former prefect of Zhaoqing to remain in his original post. Those officials in the government who were greedy and had a bad reputation were purged, and then the local landlords and gentry were asked to send people to fill the vacancies.
In this way, the He family became the general judge of Zhaoqing Mansion.
Therefore, when Zhu Hongyu wanted to summon local officials in Guangzhou, the head of the He family came running over with his eldest son in tow.
The sentry rider of the Ming Army nodded slightly and said.
"Please wait a moment, I need to verify your identity before I can let you go!"
After that, he waved his hand to the subordinates behind him to go to the camp to verify the identity of the He family.
Since the head of the He family has been appointed as the general judge, there will definitely be records in the Ming Dynasty.
If the record and official seal are paired together, things will probably go right!
The eldest son of the head of the He family stuck his head out of the car window on the other side and looked in the direction of the Ming army camp.