Chapter 274: Inspiring the Admiral to Rebellion and Rebellion Begins
Changshu, Fushan Port.
Fushan is bordered by the Yangtze River to the north and crosses Langshan Mountain. It is known as the important town in northern Wu and the Jianghai Fortress. In the early Ming Dynasty, a patrol department was established, and later a castle was built and a general was established. It was then upgraded to guerrilla until the dignified Su Song Admiral Wu Shengzhao was driven from Suzhou.
here.
It used to be a fishing port and is now a military fortress. Although it is a distribution center for fish and salt and has prosperous commerce, it is nowhere near the paradise of Suzhou.
"Ten Ri Ping Chongming, they are trying to force us to death."
Wu Shengzhao had a bitter face and sighed repeatedly. Previously, due to the Su-Song Rebellion, he was driven to Changshu by Boluo to be stationed, and then Hong Chengchou also fined him half a year's salary.
In fact, he doesn't care about the half-year salary penalty. On the surface, how much does an admiral pay per year? Salary is eighty-one taels, salary is one hundred and forty-four taels, vegetables, candles, and charcoal are one hundred and eighty taels, and lamps and paper are two taels.
One hundred taels, the total is only six hundred and five taels, which is equivalent to fifty taels of silver per month.
This little money is not enough for him to drink.
A dignified governor of a province, not to mention other green camps, his own quota is only 5,000 troops, and in this war-torn era, it is not easy to make money? For the 5,000 town quota, he has to eat 20% of his salary, and this place is so big
A sum of money. Then every time I go out to fight, I look for opportunities to rob and extort, and I can easily earn tens of thousands of taels.
He is not afraid of a salary, and he does not rely on that little money, but if he is disliked by his benefactor Hong Chengchou, and then disliked by Baylor like Bolo, it will be a big problem.
Although he was born in Jibei, he was originally from Nanjing. In his early years, he was also a military attache of the Ming Dynasty. He led troops in Liaodong and Jiangnan, fought against the Tatars and suppressed the peasant army. Later, he was surrendered earlier, and he made some achievements along the way south.
After conquering Jiangning, he obtained the title of admiral, which was considered a success, but now he had no way to survive.
There were many disagreements with Governor Tu Guobao before, and they were just infighting within the officialdom, but now what is involved is property and life, and Chongming cannot be defeated within ten days no matter what.
"Yan Jinglue beheaded Zhang Cunren, Xiao Qiyuan and others as soon as he arrived. It can be said that he was ruthless. Who was Zhang Cunren? He was Zu Dashou, Wu Sangui's deputy general, and he was also very close to Hong Jinglue. Before Yan Jinglue
When he was in western Zhejiang, Governor Zhang still admired his care, and his rapid rise was also related to his promotion and appreciation, but now he has turned his back on him, why? Because Governor Zhang is Hong Jinglue's man."
"And Admiral, aren't you also a member of Hong Jinglue?"
Dai Zhijun, who joined the army, persuaded him on the side, "Everyone knows that the admiral and your local governor are both Hong Jinglue's people. Now that Hong Jinglue has left and Governor Zhang has been killed, admiral, you are afraid that you will also be in trouble. Deliberately
Find a reason and give the admiral a deadline of ten days to defeat Chongming. But how is this possible?"
"Not to mention that it takes time to return to Changshu from Jiangning and gather the troops, and who doesn't know that there are many Ming naval forces stationed in Chongming, and the big bird gunboats have more cannons on one ship than in our entire city. With these
The warships blocked the river, how did we get to Chongming?"
"Don't say that it is impossible for the admiral to gather troops and attack within the time limit. Even if he does attack, he will be bombarded and sink into the river to feed the fishes."
"Extending your head is like killing someone with a borrowed knife, and shrinking your head is military law, and you will not be able to survive. I advise the admiral to make plans in advance."
Wu Shengzhao looked helpless, "What can I do? Even if I appeal to Beijing now, it's too late. I'm afraid that when Beijing receives my report, my head will be chopped off by Mr. Yan."
"Besides, I have now been demoted to the rank of commander-in-chief."
"This is not what my subordinates said about finding another way. Admiral, you were once a general of the Ming Dynasty, and now you are the admiral of a province. Why not take advantage of the opportunity now and simply rebel against the Qing Dynasty and join the Ming Dynasty again?"
Wu Shengzhao looked at Dai Zhijun. This man was also from Jiangnan. He was very talented in literature. He was recruited as a staff member. He usually drafted letters and made suggestions for him, which was quite easy. Of course, Wu Shengzhao also knew that Dai Zhijun was secretly working with Lu Jianguo. There are contacts there, such as Wu Yi, the governor of water transport appointed by Lu Jianguo, Shen Youlong, the governor of Su Song, Governor Wang Yongzuo, and Gu Yanwu, the governor.
But he turned a blind eye. After all, in today's troubled times, who knows who will win in the end. Making more friends will also open up more paths, which may be useful at critical moments.
On the other hand, he also needs the support of these Jiangnan gentry.
Originally, I came to see Dai Zhijun today, but actually I had no way out, so I deliberately came to him to tell him this, just to contact the people over there through him.
"I'm in a hurry now and have no choice but to go."
As expected by Wu, Dai Zhijun stood up and said, "Admiral, don't be anxious, my subordinates do have a way to contact them."
"Do you really have a way?"
"Chen Zilong, Wu Yi, Shen Tingyang and others are all related to me. Time is running out now. Admiral Keli will write a letter and I will send it to Shen Tingyang, the governor of Huaiyang in the Ming Dynasty, on the opposite island of Chongming, and contact Zhou Hezhi in Chongming and Jingjiang. Ruan Jin, Huang Binqing and several naval admirals came to meet us."
Wu Shengzhao was very satisfied to see that things were progressing as he expected.
Pretending to hesitate for a while, he said, "I am willing to give up the dark side and turn to the bright side and do justice anyway. However, there are so many old brothers under my command who have been following me. Now that they are allowed to risk their lives and start troubles, I have to make arrangements for them and give them priority." Plan your future."
"I hope Ming Dynasty can promise to retain us with our original official titles after we leave."
Dai Zhijun agreed, "If the admiral performs justice anyway, the court will at least grant him the title of earl. If he can perform meritorious services, he will be rewarded."
Wu Shengzhao immediately wrote a letter of sincerity and gave it to Dai Zhijun to sneak to Chongming to contact him.
Here, he immediately summoned a group of confidants in the army.
His younger brother Wu Shengqin, nephew Wu Qi, brother-in-law Lin Kejin, as well as deputy generals Li Kui, Wu Zhu, Yang Wenqi, staff generals Lu Tong, Zuo Shuai, Liu Chenggao, deputy general Zhan Shixun of the Chinese Army, and Gao Yongyi, the commander-in-chief of the Zuoying Chinese Army, discussed in secret.
"I still have 4,000 soldiers and horses under my command now. If we are willing to surrender to the Lu Jianguo, we will definitely be willing to accept it, but we can't just go to Chongming Island. I want to be a big vote for him. It can be used as a vote of approval, or as a vote. He likes to compete for titles and official positions.
We are now in Changshu, which is not far from Suzhou. We will take advantage of them and go straight to Suzhou along the river to capture Suzhou and kill the local national treasure."
Li Kui, Wu Zhu and others were all old subordinates of Wu Shengzhao, and they were all willing to change their ways at this time.
"Anyway, justice must be done quickly and confidentially. Let us just discuss this matter. Don't pass it on. It is best to prepare coastal defense troops today. Chang is familiar with the county and other irrelevant officials, so we can send troops to suppress Chongming." We summoned them as thieves and then killed them all."
Wu Zhu also said, "Let's kill them, take out the money and food from the treasury, reward each brother with two taels of silver, and give them wine and meat. Let's say that Wu Risheng of Taihu and Shen Youlong of Songjiang are joining forces to besiege Suzhou. The superiors Let us go immediately for reinforcements. Let us lead the troops to Suzhou and wait until the troops arrive at the city before raising the flag."
This can be regarded as a traditional method of rebellion, falsely passing military orders and threatening the soldiers.