Chapter 199 Taking over unfinished goods, of course you have to settle the account first
"I'm really ashamed. If my nephew hadn't finally pacified Huguang and eliminated the remaining thieves, I might not have been able to get my grievances to light, let alone get another chance to be loyal to my country."
After receiving the order, Shen Shuren could not help but leave Fang Kongzheng to reminisce about the past, and these words of gratitude that Fang Kongzheng said sounded very awkward and unfamiliar——
It's strange that they are not strangers, because the eunuch who announced the decree was also invited to accompany him. In front of Chongzhen's confidants, of course everyone had to pretend to be more businesslike.
The eunuch who announced the decree was also surnamed Wang. I heard that he changed his surname and became godfather to Wang Cheng'en, a popular figure next to Chongzhen. It was completely normal for young eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty to regard senior eunuchs as their godfathers.
Therefore, Shen Shuren's reply was also business-like, and he did not forget to take the opportunity to convey some information inadvertently, so that the prince could take it back to Chongzhen, so that when there were more bad news in the future, Chongzhen could not accept it in his heart and would blame him again.
Local governor.
"Uncle Shi, there is no need to blame yourself. Brother Fang Nian and I are as close as brothers. We should help if we can. The current situation is like this. Many things cannot be changed by human beings. We are just governors and can manage our own jurisdictions well.
It is very difficult to cause chaos."
In his words, Chen Shuren did not shy away from the friendship between him and Fang Yizhi who was promoted to the same year, and showed some generous support. It seemed that he was so generous to his old boss just for the sake of his friendship with Fang Yizhi.
quite.
After all, this relationship is well known to everyone. If we don't even mention this friendship, it would be too fake. That prince is not deaf or blind.
After saying the words of comfort, Shen Shuren changed the subject and reminded: "I'm afraid it will be quite difficult for Uncle Shi to go to Sichuan. I have to be prepared for a hard fight. I also just received the news when I was reorganizing the troops here yesterday.
Another urgent report from the Qin General Soldier stationed at Fengjie.
It is said that the city of Chongqing was already believed to have been captured by Zhang Xianzhong. Zhang Xianzhong must have succeeded in a long-term attack and accumulated a lot of resentment. He seemed to have carried out a massacre in Chongqing, and His Royal Highness Prince Rui must have been killed.
Now Zhang Xianzhong's troops are divided into two groups. One group goes to the hinterland of Sichuan to plunder various parts of the hinterland, raising food and grass to enslave the poor. The other group attempts to divide his troops to capture Baidi City in Fengjie. If he really succeeds, our Huguang Army will want to go upstream through the Qutang Gorge.
I'm afraid it will be quite difficult to enter Sichuan."
The bad news told by Chen Shuren really surprised Fang Kongzhen, and the prince and uncle who came with him were also very worried.
The prince took the lead and asked: "Is it so critical?! Uncle Shen, can you give me an accurate answer? Can the General Qin soldiers defend Fengjie? Can't the imperial army rush to the rescue?"
Chen Shuren first said humbly: "The prince is very polite, and I have been granted the title of earl by my subordinates, but I am still young and cannot be called an uncle. Besides, Your Majesty has given me a surname, so I should change my surname."
If you really want to pay attention to etiquette, why don't you call me Lord. The same goes for Fang Shishu. From now on, my nephew will be from Zhu Shu, not Shen Shu."
Wang Gonggong and Fang Kongzhen also quickly agreed, saying that they had indeed forgotten to change their words for a while.
(Note: From now on, when the book mentions Shen Shuren, it is all changed to Zhu Shuren. This is also the protagonist’s name in modern society before time travel. This book has reached 1.11 million words, and the protagonist finally changed his name back to his original name. It’s so big.
A pit.)
After Zhu Shuren corrected him, he comforted him again: "Don't worry, sir, Fengjie Baidi City will definitely be safe. The terrain of that place is dangerous and it is extremely difficult to break through. Moreover, General Qin is a good general in the world and has been famous for decades.
load.
Although the white-pole soldiers under her command suffered heavy losses when they were sent north to fight the Japanese in the past few years, they still left behind thousands of skeleton veterans who returned to central Sichuan to recuperate and expand the army. Now they have another 20,000 troops.
Governor Shao had improperly deployed the troops before and only allowed General Qin to focus on guarding the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, thus neglecting other directions. But because of this, the defense forces around Qutang Gorge were absolutely sufficient, and they had stocked up on food and grass in advance, so they were not afraid of siege.
More than half a month ago, our Huguang Army, under the leadership of Zhang Huangyan, the former magistrate of Jingzhou, marched westward with more than 10,000 troops, attacked the tail of Sun Kewang's army, killed more than 2,000 enemies, recaptured Zigui and Wu County, and restored the Three Gorges.
waterway.
This time Zhang Xianzhong used his troops to block Fengjie. Zhang Huangyan had sent reinforcements from Jingzhou and Yiling in advance to occupy the Qutang Gorge, forming a corner with Baidi City. Our army wanted to enter Sichuan through the Three Gorges, and the road was absolutely impossible.
It won’t be blocked. And with Zhang Huangyan’s help, General Qin will be even more at ease.”
While Zhu Shuren was talking, he also asked someone to bring the map, and at this dust-washing banquet, he unfolded it and showed it to Wang Gonggong and Fang Kongzhen.
Wang Gonggong was not very knowledgeable about military matters, but seeing that Zhu Shuren had made it clear that the road to Sichuan was still guaranteed, he felt relieved: "In this case, when we go back to your Majesty, we will be able to explain clearly. The situation in Sichuan has the surname Lao Guo.
I’m with Fang Futai.”
Zhu Shuren bowed his hands humbly and said, "Your Majesty, you are so polite. This is because we are deeply grateful for the country's favor and we should do it. I just want to ask Your Majesty to explain the difficulties of our soldiers and civilians in Huguang——
The news that the city of Chongqing was broken came yesterday, but in fact, the city had been broken seven days ago. From Chongqing to Fengjie, it was a full 700 miles along the Yangtze River waterway, and it took two and a half days to send the message. From Fengjie to Fengjie
Jiangling is also 700 to 800 miles away, and it only takes a day and a half. From Jiangling to Wuchang, it takes 600 miles to go by a fast horse.
Xiaguan returned to Wuchang ten days ago. The troops had just experienced the bloody battle with the intruders in Chen County. They were exhausted and suffered many injuries. As soon as Xiaguan arrived ten days ago, the entire division immediately marched westward. Three
The most they could do in one day was to march to Jiangling, and it was absolutely impossible to rescue Chongqing, which was 1,500 miles away.
Therefore, please be aware that the death of King Rui and the massacre in Chongqing cannot be saved by our human power. What's more, the official is only the governor of Huguang. How can he enter Sichuan without clear instructions?
During these ten days, the lower official could only guard the place, allowing Zhang Huangyan to send troops to help guard the border area between Sichuan and Huguang, and at the same time rotate the tired divisions.
We originally had 140,000 troops in Huguang, 90,000 of whom participated in the bloody battle with the bandits, and another 50,000 who were severely damaged in the battles at Changsha and Hengzhou. They were retained by the lower officials to guard the place.
.
Now, the battle with the invaders has lasted for more than three months. The 90,000 troops heading north have suffered losses of 10,000 to 20,000, and have more injuries, so they can only turn to the defense. The 50,000 soldiers defending the territory have to recuperate and regain their strength.
This time, Xianguan was planning to use these 50,000 troops and the troops gathered in Henan to head west to Chongqing to help his colleagues gain a foothold in Sichuan.
If Chongqing is regained in the future, our Huguang ordnance, baggage, reinforcements and other troops will naturally be limited to being sent to Chongqing. As for the pacification of the hinterland of Sichuan in the future, it is inconvenient for lower officials to intervene, so it will naturally be handled by the governor Fang. I don’t know what the prince thinks,
Is this method in line with His Majesty’s wishes?”
The prince listened, and when he was halfway through, he suddenly realized that because of his fear, he had forgotten to ask more about the sad news that Chongqing was being massacred and King Rui was killed.
This is also the art of Zhu Shuren's speech. He just chose to describe the situation in a worse way first, so he asked the prince to first shift his focus to "Even Fengjie Baidi City and Qutang Gorge may be lost. In that case, the Huguang Army
"You can't even save Sichuan even if you want to", and temporarily lowered the focus on the point in the same paragraph that Chongqing was destroyed and massacred.
This is Zhu Shuren's attempt to squeeze out Chongzhen so that Chongzhen will not pursue the matter of the massacre of Chongqing and the murder of King Rui in the future. Therefore, it is necessary to draw a clear line first and distinguish "which issues are caused by Shao Jiechun being the governor of Sichuan and Fang Kongzheng still being the governor of Sichuan?"
Before he took office, before Zhu Shuren received the order to "cooperate with Fang Kongzheng to put down the chaos," he had already caused this."
This is like an unfinished project. The previous contractor gave up and was fired by the developer. A new contractor will take over. The project quantity and progress list when the project was taken over must be clearly stated.
It is necessary to make it clear how big the disaster was before, otherwise it is very possible that Chongzhen will be in trouble with the mud in the future due to his unstable mood, and the merits and demerits will not be divided.
In addition, Chen Shuren's current location was actually not legal even if he just went to Chongqing. It was already outside the Huguang Governor's defense zone.
But now the situation is made more critical, and then he proactively proposes, "I am just escorting Governor Fang to take office and helping him establish a foothold first, at least enough to set up a temporary governor's office." He also promised that he would never go to Chengdu.
.
Then the situation is completely different. Even the people around Chongzhen will not think that "the surnamed Guo wants to expand his direct power again." They will only think that he is loyal to the country and is worrying about the Ming Dynasty.
Heartbroken.
The prince's father-in-law was already quite emotional in his heart.
The Ming Dynasty has reached this stage, and there is still such loyalty. Who says that the loyalty of Mr. Guo Xingye is not as good as that of Sun Chuanting?
However, he only came to announce the decree. When he left the capital, Chongzhen did not explicitly ask him to supervise the army. He was only reminded by Wang Chengen that when it came to the place, he might find that the situation was getting worse, and he was allowed to act according to circumstances to a certain extent.
After thinking about it, the prince decided to compromise, and said in a consultative tone: "Even so, our family originally had the responsibility to ensure that Fang Futai and Shao Jiechun handed over, and escorted Shao Jiechun back to Beijing.
Our family will go to Chongqing with Mr. Guo Xingye and Fang Futai's troops, so that we can observe Fang Futai taking office and confirm Shao Jiechun's life and death. Once we have the confidence, our family will return to Beijing to resume his duties. Before that, we
I will first send a deputy envoy back to Beijing to report the latest situation to His Majesty. I wonder what your Majesty’s wishes are?”
The prince's treatment was reasonable. Zhu Shuren thought about it and couldn't make a mistake. Because the imperial edict he carried was for three people. He wanted to give Zhu Shuren a title and a surname, and also ensure that the square hole was square.
Zhuang and Shao Jiechun handed over.
In this case, let him follow him to Chongqing for the time being and watch the army regain Chongqing. No matter how delicious the food and drinks are, it will not be too late to return after confirming the news about Shao Jiechun.
At that time, "what will be the current situation in Sichuan and what blame was caused by Shao Jiechun during his tenure" will naturally be determined when Shao Jiechun's border news is confirmed. Before that point in time, all the lost Sichuan territory has nothing to do with Fang Kongzheng and Zhu Shuren.
.
Of course, before that, Zhu Shuren must also take credit for the territory he took back from Zhang Xianzhong.
Credit should not be counted as a crime, this is also a situation of maximizing interests.
Zhu Shuren was very satisfied with this division of the spoils, so he expressed his position with great responsibility: "I would like to ask Uncle Shi and the prince to rest for two or three days to relax after the fatigue of the journey, and then they can set off to follow our rear army to the west. I will take the front and middle troops first.
The troops and horses will set out in two days, first to Jiangling and Yiling, and then to Fengjie by boat."