At the foot of Nuwa Mountain, there is Pingli City.
Wang Guangtai looked at his younger brother who was pretending to be a refugee, then looked at the letter home written by his elder brother in his hand, and let out a long sigh.
"Second brother?"
Wang Guangtai poured a cup of tea for his younger brother Wang Chang, "Third brother, it's been a hard journey."
"Second brother seems unhappy?"
"My eldest brother has given me a very difficult time." Wang Guangtai said bluntly, "I think back then, the three of us brothers couldn't survive because of famine and the lack of justice in the court, so we had to join the peasant army uprising. We three brothers started the army early and were with Zhang Xianzhong.
Yes, my eldest brother became famous as a rebel because of his courage in fighting. He accumulated a reputation and became known as Hua Guansuo. Later, we also had many soldiers and horses, and eldest brother was even honored as the Little Qin King."
"It was just that after the war was defeated, we were all scattered. My eldest brother accepted the invitation and sent a letter inviting us brothers to join the imperial court. We met without saying a word, joined the imperial court together, and guarded Yunyang Gucheng for several years."
Wang Chang nodded, "You need brothers to fight tigers. This time, the eldest brother surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. The Tatars were very sincere. They directly named the eldest brother the King of Yunyang, made me a marquis, and also made you a marquis for the second brother.
The eldest brother is still the admiral of Huguang. Give me the admiral of Yunyang. Second brother, when you come back, you will be the admiral of Yunyang and I will be your deputy admiral."
Wang Guangtai could only sigh when he saw his younger brother, whose brain was not particularly sensitive, acting upright.
"Brother is wrong, it shouldn't be like this."
"Second brother, why?"
Wang Chang’s brain was burnt out since he was a child. He is not very smart, but he is very strong and brave. He rarely thinks carefully about what to do. Anyway, he has his elder brother and second brother to choose for him. When the elder brother said that he could not survive, we
He rebelled, and he didn't hesitate. No matter if he was beheaded or something, he just followed his brothers.
Later, the eldest brother was defeated and surrendered to the imperial court. He sent a letter to invite them back, but he did not hesitate. Will the eldest brother harm him?
After staying in Yunyang for several years and suffering for several years, he was granted the title and reorganized into Zhongkai Town, promoted and conferred titles. He followed the rising tide, and his eldest brother suddenly wanted to be demoted to the Qing Dynasty, but he didn't feel anything wrong.
Anyway, just follow the big brother.
He originally thought that the second brother would listen to the elder brother without hesitation like him.
"I led my troops into Guanzhong last year. Although I was defeated, I thought a lot and saw a lot along the way. I feel that in today's world, the Manchu Tatars may not have a future.
Not to mention that we are Han people. When we rebelled against the imperial court, we would not be able to survive. If we did not rebel, we would only die. Later, we accepted the invitation and guarded the isolated city of Yunyang for several years for the imperial court.
Today we have launched an army to the southeast, and we will treat our three brothers from the Wang family and our generals from Yunyang very well.
We have no merits for Emperor Shao, but we have been promoted and conferred with titles. Isn't this enough?
"Second brother, the Ming Emperor only gave my eldest brother a marquis and you a count, but the Tatar Emperor made my eldest brother a king and all of us marquises."
"This is not a comparison. A man should be careful about loyalty."
"Back then, the imperial court was unethical, so we really had to rebel. But today, the people are only kind to us. How can we rebel? How can we rebel?"
Wang Chang was confused.
With the eldest brother on one side and the second brother on the other, he didn't know what to do.
"The eldest brother asked me to come to the second brother and said that he was going to lead troops to Xing'an and asked the second brother to help the enemy seize the city."
"I will not listen to my elder brother and work as an internal agent for him. I will not seize Xing'an or surrender to Qing."
"Third brother, please go back. I, Wang Guangtai, will be a minister of the Ming Dynasty for the rest of my life and will not change. Tell your elder brother that the Tatars will not truly trust him and hope that he will behave himself."
Wang Chang was stunned.
"Then I won't go back, I'll follow my second brother."
"Why?"
"Second brother treats me better," he said. "Second brother once helped me block a gun."
"Silly boy, if you don't come back, don't come back. Clean up and follow me to Xing'an."
"Didn't the second brother say that he won't act as an intermediary for the eldest brother?"
"Well, let's go to Governor Gao to explain the situation and ask him to be on guard against Big Brother's attack."
Wang Guangtai called the deputy general Li Haosheng and explained the situation to him, "You stay and take care of the brothers and strengthen the city defense. I will go to Xing'an to see Gao Butang. If I can't come back, you must be loyal to the Ming Dynasty and must not surrender."
"
Li Haosheng was originally a scholar in Yunyang, but was later rescued by Wang Guangtai, and his whole family was saved by him, so he took the initiative to join Wang Guangtai's subordinates. At first, he was his master Shuqi, and later he became his military advisor, and later he led the army as a scholar.
, became a deputy general. Wang Xingtai even married Li Haosheng's sister and became relatives.
As a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, Li Haosheng had a deeper affection for the imperial court, not to mention that Emperor Shaotian had previously awarded him a fifth-grade civil service.
"You are right to do this, but I suggest that I go to the high governor on your behalf to explain the situation."
"No need. If I don't go there in person, how can Governor Gao trust me?"
After some simple arrangements, Wang Guangtai took Wang Chang and a group of soldiers to Xing'an.
Xing'an originally belonged to Hanzhong Prefecture, and Jinzhou was initially established. Later, it was separated from Hanzhong Prefecture and became a Zhili Prefecture. It was directly under the Chief Secretary of Shaanxi Province and controlled Hanyin, Pingli, Xunyang, Ziyang, Baihe, Shiquan and other counties. The imperial court was in Jinzhou.
Xing'an was established as the easternmost prefecture in Hanzhong.
There is Baitu Pass between Pingli County in Jinzhou and Zhuxi County in Yunyang, and Lu Pass between Northeast China and Yunyang.
In the south, it is separated from Sichuan by Daba Mountain, and there are Gouping Pass, Yanchang Pass, etc. in the south of Ziyang County.
To the west of Hanyin is Fangshan Pass.
Passing Hanyin is Ziwu Town, and Ziwu Valley connects Xixiang and Guanzhong.
Although the entire Jinzhou is relatively remote, it is located in the upper reaches of the Han River and close to the Ziwu Road, so its military geography is very important.
Gupo
Last year, after Gao Doushu, He Zhen, Sun Shoufa, Liu Tichun, Wang Xingtai, Wu Dading and others attacked Xi'an and were defeated, they retreated to the Zhongnan Mountains, and finally most of them retreated step by step to the Jinzhou area.
Wang Guangtai was stationed in Pingli and Baituguan, while Liu Tichun was stationed in Zhuxi, Sun Shoufa was stationed in Xunyang and Luguan, He Zhen was stationed in Hanyin, and Gao Doushu was stationed in Xing'ansuo.
Ma Ke offered Hanzhong to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, which made He Zhen and the others even worse. Fortunately, part of Jinzhou, which is close to Yunyang, was in the hands of the Ming army before. They were unable to capture Hanzhong City, and they received a decree from the imperial court to let them go here.
They were withdrawing from the border, so they withdrew in batches.
Reorganize the camp, recuperate, and lick the wounds while working in the fields.
Wang Guangtai and He Zhen all suffered considerable losses.
"Report, Wang Guangtai is asking for a meeting outside the city."
In Jinzhou City, Governor Biao's personal soldiers came to report.
Gao Doushu heard this and asked, "How many people did Wang Guangtai bring?"
"Took dozens of riders with me."
"Just a few dozen riders?" Gao Doushu was surprised.
Governor Sun Shoufa said, "Could it be that they are here to deceive others? We should be careful."
He Zhen slapped the table directly, "Let me chop this guy named Wang directly."
Liu Tichun said, "You might as well meet him and hear what his purpose is."
Several generals who entered Guanzhong together at the beginning gathered in Xing'an today. In fact, it was precisely because of Wang Guangen's sudden rebellion and surrender to the Qing Dynasty. They were originally defeated and retreated here to rest and recuperate. It was relatively safe with Yunyang at their back.
But who knew that Wang Guangen suddenly rebelled, which caught them off guard.
Wang Guangtai was in Jinzhou and had to be on guard, so they met quietly to discuss how to deal with Wang Guangtai first and then recapture Yun Xiang.
Unexpectedly, Cao Cao arrived just as he was told.
"If there's anything good to see, just cut it off." He Zhen said bluntly.
In last year's defeat, He Zhen suffered the greatest loss. Originally, he was a submissive general and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty first, but the Tatars were not well-intentioned. He saw through Meng Qiaofang's trick and resolutely accepted Emperor Shaotian's offer to join the Ming Dynasty. He took advantage of the opportunity to attack Guanzhong.
, he wanted to integrate the various rebel armies in Guanzhong.
But it turned out to be contrary to expectations. His position as President of Guanzhong only lasted a few days before he collapsed and retreated all the way back to Hanzhong. As a result, the thief Marco was actually surrendered.
I think back then, Ma Ke sent the Sichuan Jiedu envoy to Sichuan on Li Zicheng's order, and fought with Zhang Xianzhong in northern Sichuan. After the defeat, Hanzhong surrendered to him, and he kindly accepted it. He entered the pass to fight, and allowed Ma Ke to stay in Hanzhong City.
But after his defeat, this bitch surrendered to the Qing army and cut off his return.
After all this trouble, he lost his wife and lost his troops, his troops and horses were greatly damaged, and his territory was lost.
There was always a fire in my heart.
Gao Doushu reassured him, "What General Liu said makes some sense. You might as well listen first before talking about it. Since Wang Guangen's rebellion, Wang Guangtai has not rebelled in Pingli. It is worth seeing."
He Zhen glanced at Liu Tichun and shut up.
Both of them were generals of the Breaking Army, but He Zhen joined Li Zicheng later. He was originally an officer of the Ming Dynasty, and unlike Liu Tichun, a veteran general of the Breaking Army, he was not a direct descendant.
After Li Zicheng's defeat, He Zhen was ordered to stay in Hanzhong and maintain the passage for the Shaanxi-Gansu army to move south. However, when Li Guogao and others from northern Shaanxi passed by, He Zhen had already surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and sent troops to block it. The two sides fought.
After a battle, Li Guo and the others forced their way through, and finally took a circuit through Sichuan to reach Jingxiang.
Therefore, although Liu Tichun and He Zhen were once Shunjun soldiers, their relationship was extremely poor.
When He Zhen was in Guanzhong, she used the name of the president to suppress Liu Tichun, but with his defeat, Liu Tichun did not give him any face.
"Please General Wang!"
Wang Guangtai entered the city, and his soldiers were taken away. Finally, only the two brothers were brought over, and even their armor, swords, etc. were detained.
Wang Guangtai was very indifferent to these.
Entering the room, I saw that besides Gao Doushu, Sun Shoufa, Liu Tichun, He Zhen and other partners who had previously fought in Guanzhong were all there, which was a little surprising.
"Guangtai paid a courtesy visit to Gaobu Tang, a visit to Sun Fuyuan, a visit to Admiral He, and a visit to General Liu."
Gao Doushu smiled and said, "You're welcome, please sit down."
Wang Guangtai said, "I will tell you the truth, today I am here to plead guilty. My brother rebelled against the Ming Dynasty and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. I feel deeply guilty, so I came here to apologize."
Several people looked at Wang Guangtai with some surprise in their eyes.
Wang Guangtai blurted out Wang Guangen's plan, and then said that Yunyang was currently short of food.
He Zhen looked at Wang Guangtai with some suspicion, "Wang Guangen is your eldest brother, why are you telling us this?"
"Because I am a minister of the Ming Dynasty. How can I not be able to distinguish between public and private affairs when the emperor bestows gifts on me? My eldest brother does not care about loyalty, so I can only destroy my relatives out of justice."
He Zhen didn't believe these words. In troubled times, how could there be any loyalty? Just like him, he was originally a Ming general, but later he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, then to the Qing Dynasty, and then to the Ming Dynasty. All the choices he made were just because of interests.
That's all.
He didn't believe that Wang Guangtai, who was born a thief, really had any deep loyalty.
But for a moment I couldn't figure out what part of this was going on.
"I asked Gaobutang to immediately send someone to Pingli to take over my troops. Now they are temporarily commanded by my deputy general and my uncle Li Haosheng. I have already told him that I will do my best when Gaobutang sends someone to take over.
Cooperate."
Liu Tichun, Sun Shoufa, and Gao Doushu also looked at Wang Guangtai with doubts.
"Please be more vigilant, Gaobutang. If Gaobutang doesn't believe me, he can just put us two brothers in jail. If you believe me, please strengthen your deployment quickly."
"We brothers are also willing to use our tactics to help Gao Butang defeat the invading enemies from Yunyang!"