Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 120: Captured General
The hall was completely silent, leaving only the angry roar of His Royal Highness the Regent.

The convoy moving the capital was suddenly attacked, and the entire court, including the Emperor Regent, was almost captured in one fell swoop.

At this point, Zhu Lang's fear, terror and anger finally burst out, and the ministers below also knew the situation of His Royal Highness the Regent, so they did not dare to speak up to persuade him.

The atmosphere in the hall was heavy, and everyone was silent.
After a while, a sound of footsteps suddenly came, breaking the silence in the room.

Li Chengzhi's robe was stained with blood, but he didn't care at all and rushed into the hall.
Li Chengzhi entered the hall, ignoring Chen Bangyan who was almost bent on the ground. He looked serious, bowed to the Regent Palace above him, and said directly:
"Your Highness, I have found out."

"Among the prisoners this time, we captured a Qing army lieutenant general named Ma Bao. According to him, the Qing army that raided this time was led by Li Chengdong, the pseudo-Qing general of Guangdong Province..."

"impossible"

Before Li Chengzhi could finish his words, he was interrupted by His Royal Highness the Regent.

After hearing what Li Chengzhi said, Zhu Lang stood up from his seat with a look of astonishment on his face.
The people below looked at His Highness the Regent, whose expression changed drastically. They were also slightly surprised. They didn't know why His Highness the Regent reacted so strongly.
The situation was chaotic at this time, with all kinds of true and false news flying around. There were even rumors recently that Emperor Longwu was not dead, but had secretly fled to Guangdong Province, preparing to make a comeback.
The people in the Central Committee had no idea what the name Li Chengdong meant.

But others don't know, but Zhu Lang knows it very well. How could he not know Li Chengdong?
In his previous life, this man led his army to raid Guangzhou and capture Guangdong Province!
But according to his memory, Li Chengdong assisted the Qing army in attacking and killing Emperor Longwu in Tingzhou, which earned him the trust of the Qing court.
In other words, Li Chengdong should be in Tingzhou, Fujian Province at this time. How could he suddenly appear outside Guangzhou?
If Li Chengdong attacked Guangdong Province, he would not be surprised, after all, he was the one who led the army to attack Guangdong Province in his previous life.

But Tingzhou and Guangzhou are more than a thousand miles apart, and there are also Chaozhou and Huizhou in between.
Chaozhou had not received any news of the Qing invasion, so how could Li Chengdong suddenly appear outside Guangzhou?
Zhu Lang thought about the memories of his previous life. In his previous life, Li Chengdong took advantage of the dispute between Shaowu and Yongli to suddenly lead his army to attack Guangzhou.

At that time, all the troops in Guangzhou were sent by Emperor Shaowu to fight against the Yongli Dynasty. The city of Guangzhou was empty, but Li Chengdong led dozens of people to capture Guangzhou City, capture and kill Emperor Shaowu, and overthrow the Shaowu Dynasty.
In the previous life, Li Chengdong led his army to raid Guangzhou, and now, it is Li Chengdong who is leading his army to raid Guangzhou again.

When Zhu Lang thought of this, he couldn't help but feel a sense of absurdity. Is the inertia of history really so strong?

By this time Zhu Lang had come to his senses, and then he began to notice more things.

Ma Bao!
Li Chengzhi actually said that the commander they captured was named Ma Bao

The most famous generals of this era are naturally Li Dingguo, Zheng Chenggong, Li Laiheng and others, but the next one will probably be Ma Bao's turn.
The most outstanding figure in the entire Sanfan Rebellion was this Ma Bao.

There is little information about Ma Bao's early life. It is only known that he was a general in Li Zicheng's army. After Li Zicheng's defeat, Ma Bao surrendered to the Qing Dynasty with the remaining Shun army and was transferred to Li Chengdong's army.

Afterwards, Ma Bao served as a general under Li Chengdong and followed Li Chengdong to attack Guangdong. This was also the time when Ma Bao officially stepped onto the historical stage.

Soon after Li Chengdong captured Guangdong Province, he rebelled against the whole province and defected to the Southern Ming Dynasty. Ma Bao also followed Li Chengdong and transformed himself from a Qing general to a Ming general.
After Li Chengdong returned to the Ming Dynasty, Li Chengdong and other Qing generals who surrendered to the Ming Dynasty were classified as Eastern Honors, and they fought endlessly with the Western Honors of the Yongli Dynasty. The Yongli Dynasty was once again in internal strife.
Li Chengdong returned to the Ming Dynasty for only one year before he was defeated by the Qing army and drowned. The Guangdong Province that he had conquered was also lost again.

After Li Chengdong's death, some of his generals died in battle, while others surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. However, Ma Bao stayed with the Yongli court.
Even though Emperor Yongli later lost the only remaining provinces of Guangxi and Hunan, and the Dashi Army took over Guizhou, Ma Bao still did not surrender to the Qing Dynasty. Instead, he followed the Southern Ming court and joined the Dashi Army under Li Dingguo and others to continue fighting against the Qing Dynasty.
It was not until Li Dingguo was defeated by the Qing army and even the last base in Yunnan Province was destroyed that Emperor Yongli fled to Burma. Seeing that the Southern Ming Dynasty had no hope, Ma Bao surrendered to Wu Sangui.
It can be said that during the Yongli reign, although Ma Bao did not die for his country, he persisted until the last moment, which was very worthy of the Southern Ming court. At that time, Emperor Yongli fled to Burma alone, the Dashi Army was scattered everywhere, the country was no longer a country, and the ruler was not a ruler. After Li Dingguo died, even Li Dingguo's son surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. At that time, what choice did Ma Bao have except surrender?
After surrendering to Wu Sangui, Ma Bao once again appeared on the historical stage in the Three Feudatories Rebellion more than ten years later.
During the Three Feudatories Rebellion, Ma Bao led his army and almost broke through the two provinces of Guangxi and Hunan, shocking the entire southern Qing court. That was also the most glorious moment in Ma Bao's life.

Zhu Lang thought about Ma Bao's information. If it was just the name Ma Bao, there might be a possibility of a duplicate name.
But Ma Bao and Li Chengdong appear together, so this Ma Bao must be the Ma Bao, the Duke of Huai in history.

Zhu Lang had an ugly look on his face. He had not expected that this time, the capital was moved, not only did Li Chengdong appear, but even Ma Bao was caught by him.

The ministers below looked at each other in bewilderment. When His Highness the Regent heard the name Li Chengdong, he was shocked at first, and then stood in front of his seat, lost in thought. He didn't know who this Li Chengdong was that made His Highness the Regent lose his composure like this.

Li Chengzhi saw that His Royal Highness the Regent was thinking, so he did not speak, but waited quietly below.
After a while, Zhu Lang finally came to his senses, staring at Li Chengzhi below, and said

"Since Li Chengdong is leading the army, are these people coming from Fujian Province?"

"And are you sure the lieutenant general you captured is called Ma Bao?"

Li Chengzhi was shocked when he heard this. He hadn't reported it yet, so how did His Highness know that this Qing army came from Fujian Province?

After he had just interrogated Ma Bao, he thought he was being deceived. It was not until he tortured the remaining prisoners that he confirmed that this group of people were really from Fujian Province.

But he reacted quickly and replied immediately

"Your Highness is wise. I have interrogated many times and have confirmed that this Qing army is indeed coming from Tingzhou, Fujian Province."

"As for Ma Bao, he gave his name himself, and I did not interrogate him further."

"However, when we captured Ma Bao, his eldest son was also captured. When I asked him about it, Ma Bao was quite cooperative, so there should be no mistake."

Li Chengzhi didn't know why His Royal Highness the Regent suddenly asked about the lieutenant general, but he still answered according to what he had learned from the interrogation.

"How is this possible? How could the Qing army from Fujian Province appear outside Guangzhou?"

When Lu Daqi, Chen Bangyan and other officials heard this, they were all shocked. Fujian Province and Guangzhou are separated by two whole prefectures.

But Zhu Lang was no longer in the mood to care about them. He thought for a moment and then said
"Bring that Ma Bao here, and I'll ask him in person."

Zhu Lang waved his hand. Li Chengzhi was just slightly stunned for a moment, then bowed and left. Soon Ma Bao was brought to the hall.
(End of this chapter)