Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 245: Clever
In the back hall of the Changsha Governor's Mansion, a man wearing a red official robe with a crane pattern and a refined face sat at the top. This man was He Tengjiao, the Governor of Huguang.

Below He Tengjiao sat the Huguang Military Supervisor Zhang Kuang and the Pianyuan Governor Fu Shangrui. These three were the people in charge of the Ming Dynasty in Hunan Province.
In February, the weather in Changsha was still cold. The cold wind whistled outside the room. Zhang Kuang's face was pale. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly started coughing violently.

He Tengjiao looked at the pale Zhang Kuang, and his heart sank. He Tengjiao called the servants and asked them to close the door, and then lit a brazier in the room. Zhang Kuang's face regained some color.

Zhang Kuang has been ill since last year, but there are only a few people in Huguang who can keep the situation under control. He Tengjiao, Du Yinxi, plus Zhang Kuang and Fu Shangrui, these are the four most experienced people in Huguang.
But even though they tried their best to maintain the situation, they were just struggling to support the situation and barely prevent Huguang from collapsing.

He Tengjiao said softly
"Huguang is in danger, and we still have to rely on Brother Yuye for all matters. Yuye should take care of your health." Zhang Kuang took the name Yuye.
"Thank you for your concern, Commander. The weather is cold, so my old illness has recurred. I think I will feel better when the weather warms up in the spring."

Zhang Kuang waved his hand, obviously not wanting to say more. After responding, he spoke directly.

"Last year, there was unrest in various parts of Hunan Province, and the harvests in various prefectures were also poor. Since the beginning of winter, the price of rice in Hunan Province has soared. Some time ago, Huang Chaoxuan and Cao Zhijian were at the border of Hengyang, looting and causing trouble."

"According to the report from the county officials, the two sides have been fighting and killing civilians. The nearby city walls are almost empty, and the people are fleeing to the mountains. Now is the time to start farming. If farming is affected, there will probably be a shortage of food this summer."

"These soldiers are really bastards!"

He Tengjiao's face was gloomy when he heard this, and he couldn't help but shouted coldly

The situation in Huguang is now extremely complicated. The Thirteen Towns have different origins. In order to fight for land and food, the military towns are constantly fighting, almost to the point of fighting each other.

The armies of Hunan Province can be roughly divided into three parts according to their origins.
One part is the remnant of Zuo Liangyu's army. Ma Jinzhong, Wang Yuncheng and Lu Ding are Zuo Liangyu's former subordinates.

During the Hongguang period, Zuo Liangyu was dissatisfied with the rule of Ma Shiying and others, so he set out from Wuchang on his own and went to Nanjing to purge the emperor.
However, just halfway through the journey, the Hongguang Dynasty was destroyed by the Qing Dynasty, and Zuo Liangyu also died of illness in Gan Province.
After Zuo Liangyu's death, the people in the left army were in panic. Zuo Menggeng led hundreds of thousands of troops to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. The Huguang army that the Ming Dynasty spent millions of silver every year to support was wiped out overnight.

Ma Jinzhong and others in the Zuo army who were unwilling to surrender to the Qing fled back to Huguang and joined He Tengjiao. This is the origin of the Zuo army.
The second group is the direct descendants of the Shun army who followed Li Zicheng, represented by Hao Yaoqi and Wang Jincai.
After Li Zicheng died in Jiugong Mountain, the remaining Shun troops including Yuan Zongdi, Liu Tichun, Hao Yaoqi and others fled to the vicinity of Changsha Prefecture.

They are called the remaining troops, but since Li Zicheng died unexpectedly, this part of the troops did not suffer much loss, and the number of people was nearly 100,000.
He Tengjiao had just entered Changsha at that time. He had few soldiers and generals, and was obviously unable to resist the powerful Shun army. So he could only try to persuade the Shun army to surrender.

At that time, the Shun army was in a panic because of Li Zicheng's accidental death. They could not put forward a successor who could convince the people. In addition, the Qing court was watching covetously behind the scenes. In the end, this Shun army was successfully surrendered by He Tengjiao.

Although the Shun army surrendered, it was only in name only. He Tengjiao was obviously unwilling to use the power of Hunan Province to support the remaining Shun army who would not obey orders.

The remaining Shun army stayed in Hunan for several months. Due to food shortage, Yuan Zongdi, Liu Tichun and others finally chose to go north and join forces with Li Guo and other loyal camps.
However, Hao Yaoqi and Wang Jincai, who were not in a high position in the Shun army, eventually chose to stay in Hunan Province and attached themselves to He Tengjiao, becoming the second group of troops in Huguang.

The third part is the old armies of the Ming court in Huguang, represented by Liu Chengyin, Huang Chaoxuan, Cao Zhijian, and Zhang Xianbi.
These four people were originally from the old army of Huguang. After He Tengjiao fled to Changsha, he gathered the old generals. With the endorsement of He Tengjiao and others, these people went from being minor generals during the Chongzhen period to military leaders with tens of thousands of soldiers in just two years.
The remnants of Zuo Liangyu, the remnants of Shunjun, the old generals of the Ming court, plus the 30,000 Dubiao Battalion recruited by He Tengjiao with all the taxes from Huguang, and the Zhongzheng Battalion from Hubei Province, these five troops are now the so-called Thirteen Towns in Huguang.

Apart from the Loyalty Camp, the various troops in Hunan Province, He Tengjiao, who had served as the governor of Huguang, was familiar with Zuo Liangyu's army, so Ma Jinzhong and others respected He Tengjiao.
Hao Yaoqi and others were rebel generals of the Shun army. They were unfamiliar with the land in Huguang and could only rely on He Tengjiao for support. Therefore, they obeyed He Tengjiao's orders.
However, Liu Chengyin and other former Ming generals, whom He Tengjiao had relied on when he first entered Changsha, became the most rebellious party in Huguang. They divided the salaries on the spot and plundered everywhere at will, completely ignoring the orders of He Tengjiao, the governor.

He Tengjiao saw that the left wing, the bandit army, and the old generals were all unreliable, so he simply gathered the financial resources of Huguang and directly recruited a 30,000-man Du Biao Battalion.

He Tengjiao formed the Dubiao Camp in order to suppress the generals of all parties with his soldiers, but the combat effectiveness of these hastily recruited soldiers can be imagined.
Last September, He Tengjiao and Wang Jincai of Shun's army swore an oath to march northwards with the Du Biao Camp they had formed. Tens of thousands of troops were marching northwards to recapture Yuezhou.

When the army reached the outskirts of Yuezhou, the front of the Du Biao Camp was suddenly attacked.

The Green Camp garrison commander of Yuezhou City ambushed and charged the enemy with hundreds of cavalrymen. The front line of the Ming army was immediately defeated. The Du Biao Camp and Wang Jincai's troops in the rear line also saw the defeat of the front line and immediately became chaotic and fled in panic.

Tens of thousands of Ming troops were defeated by hundreds of Green Camp defenders. This was the quality of the armies in Huguang at that time, and this so-called Northern Expedition became a laughing stock in the eyes of the people in Huguang.
It's not that the Huguang armies don't have capable fighters, but the problem is that under the current situation, everyone is busy fighting for territory, grabbing food and looting. The army leaders don't even have time to preserve their strength, so how can they fight the Qing army?
If their territory was taken by the Qing army, they could still take it back from other places, but if they really fought with the Qing army and wiped out their troops, they would really die without a burial place.

After the farce of the Northern Expedition last year, the so-called Governor's Army was nearly half destroyed, and He Tengjiao's prestige was also declining.

Now, He Tengjiao can only mobilize the Dubiao Battalion under his command, and basically no one else can be mobilized.

He Tengjiao was also upset when he thought of this, and said

"Later, I will order Meng Zhengfa to go to Hengzhou in the name of the Governor's Office to mediate between the two armies."

Zhang Kuang was worried when he heard this. He was about to make another suggestion, but He Tengjiao waved his hand to stop him and said

"This matter ends here. I have summoned you two here today for another matter. The imperial court has sent a new decree to Huguang."

Zhang Kuang and the other man were distracted by this incident and looked up at He Tengjiao.
However, when the two of them saw the gloomy look on He Tengjiao's face, their hearts suddenly sank.

He Tengjiao took out the transcribed imperial edict from his sleeve and handed it to the two men. After Zhang Kuang and the others read it, their faces also looked grim.

There was silence in the room for a while. Zhang Kuang looked at the decree in his hand and said in a deep voice.
"Last year, the imperial court summoned the military governor to the imperial court, but due to the unstable situation in Huguang, the military governor was unable to go."

"Now the imperial court has suddenly issued an edict to take away Wugang and Yongzhou. I'm afraid the court has become suspicious of the governor."

The people present were all senior officials with rich experience. They could understand the intention of the imperial court. Yongzhou was the hub of the passage from Guangxi to Hunan, and Wugang was also the main road from Guangxi to western Hunan.

At this time, the imperial court wanted to take away these two places, which was obviously to guard against Huguang, or even to regard it as an enemy.
When He Tengjiao thought of this, he couldn't help but said angrily

"Last year, the imperial envoys came and demanded taxes without paying any attention to the difficult situation in Huguang. When they saw that Huguang had no money to spend, they immediately turned hostile and asked me to report to the court. The officials in the court were so suspicious of me that they regarded me as a corrupt official."

"Now the armies in Huguang are arrogant and domineering, and the Qing invaders in Hubei are eyeing us covetously. If I had left Hunan and joined the court, Huguang would have been in chaos. For the sake of Huguang's stability, I had no choice but to submit a petition to defend myself and stay in Hunan."

"Huguang is in a precarious situation now. We have tried our best to barely maintain the situation. The court does not care about the danger of Huguang, but instead regards us as traitors and villains, and is on guard against us everywhere. How unfair it is!" Zhang Kuang and the others looked at He Tengjiao, who was looking angry, and they also felt sympathetic. They asked themselves, after Zuo Menggeng surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, if He Tengjiao and the two of them had not tried their best to manage it, Huguang would probably have ceased to belong to the Ming Dynasty.
They had defended their territory for the imperial court for several years, but the newly established Guangdong imperial court did not care about their hard work at all. First, they demanded silver, and when they failed to get the silver, they tried to force them to give up their power and return to the imperial court by using the principle of justice.

The Guangdong Provincial Government does not even consider the situation in Huguang. Without them, can the Guangdong Provincial Government suppress these arrogant and powerful soldiers in Huguang?
How can they be convinced that Lu Daqi and Ding Kuichu from Guangdong Province only know how to sit back and talk nonsense and slander others?
The three of them looked angry and cursed the officials of Guangdong Province for being jealous of talents and blinding the emperor's wisdom. Then He Tengjiao looked at Fu Shangrui below and said

"Has the envoy's statement about the great victory in Guangzhou been verified? Did the imperial court really defeat the Qing invaders in Guangdong Province?"

Fu Shangrui saw the suspicious look on He Tengjiao's face and said

"After the imperial envoys left, I sent people to Guangxi Province to inquire and found out that the Guangzhou victory was true."

"It is said that after the Qing invaders occupied Fujian Province, they underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, marching a thousand miles with a lone army deep into the city of Guangzhou, but were eventually defeated by the imperial court."

"According to a letter from my friend in Guangxi Province, the imperial court killed nearly a thousand Zhen Tartars and 20,000 rebels this time. This is truly an unprecedented victory since the Jiashen Campaign."

He Tengjiao still looked unconvinced when he heard this, and couldn't help but say
"Destroyed tens of thousands of enemies? How could the imperial court have such a strong army? Can you find out who led the army to defeat the Qing invaders?"

"It is said that it was Jiao Lian, the former commander of Guilin. I heard that this man had previously saved His Royal Highness the Regent Gui. Before His Royal Highness ascended the throne, he had recruited him into the court."

"And the wolf soldiers under Jiao Lian's command are also brave enough to fight. The Qing army of Fujian Province penetrated deep into the country and cut off their food supplies. Jiao Lian led his army and defeated 20,000 Qing troops in one battle. Now everyone in Guangxi Province knows the name of General Jiao and regards him as a famous general in the world."

Due to the long distance, the news was also distorted. The Portuguese gentry in Guangxi only knew that the court had won a great victory, but they did not know the inside story. At that time, Jiao Lian happened to be transferred to the court as an exception, so Jiao Lian led the army alone to defeat the Qing invaders.
He Tengjiao heard this, but his face was full of regret, and he couldn't help but say

"It's such a pity. Guilin and Hunan are just across the border. If I had known that Jiao Lian was so capable of fighting, I would have reported to the court and transferred him to my side."

"If I had a brave army in my hands, how could the towns in Huguang dare to be so rebellious? What a pity, what a pity!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Kuang on the opposite side also had a flash of realization on his face. No wonder the imperial court was so arrogant and dared to demand taxes as soon as they entered Huguang. It turned out that they had an elite army in their hands, so they wanted to plot against Huguang!

He Tengjiao also thought of this, and his expression darkened. Although the Qing court was alone in the deep, the court was able to defeat 20,000 Qing captives in one battle, so the army at its disposal must be strong.

His refusal to enter the court must have caused dissatisfaction among the court. If the court decided to forcibly take Huguang back by force, his situation would be very bad.

He Tengjiao thought for a moment, then said in a deep voice
"As the Governor-General of Huguang, I failed to pacify the enemy, which led to the Huguang bandits harming Guangxi Province. This is really wrong."

"Since the imperial court wants to resume the suppression of the bandits, I will obey. Governor Fu, you will write back to the court later and tell them that the Huguang Governor's Office will definitely follow the order and cooperate with the imperial court to eliminate the bandits."

Fu Shangrui and the other man looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief, but then Zhang Kuang looked hesitant and said

"Yongzhou is narrow and is still under the control of the Governor's Office. This place is simple, but Wugang is where Liu Chengyin is stationed. I'm afraid he won't give up Wugang City easily."

He Tengjiao frowned slightly when he heard this, but after a brief thought, a gleam of brilliance flashed in his eyes. He glanced at Zhang Kuang below, his face straightened, and he said loudly
"The whole world belongs to the king. As subjects, we should obey the orders of the court. It is not up to Liu Chengyin to decide whether he wants to or not."

When He Tengjiao said this, a stern look flashed across his face. He looked at Fu Shangrui on the side and said

"Governor Fu, you will later, in the name of the Governor's Office, convey the imperial decree to Liu Chengyin and order him to withdraw from Wugang immediately and hand Wugang over to the Governor of Guangxi Province. The wording must be stern and don't let him get away with it."

"Also, block the news of the great victory in Guangdong Province from the imperial court. Liu Chengyin must not be informed of this. Do you understand?"

Fu Shangrui was stunned when he heard this. After thinking for a moment, a trace of admiration flashed across his face. He couldn't help but praise softly.

"This is a brilliant plan, Commander-in-Chief. Liu Chengyin is in a desperate situation, so he deserves this disaster."

He Tengjiao had no expression on his face, but a hint of cruelty flashed in his eyes. Last year, He Tengjiao wanted to transfer Liu Chengyin to the battle, but Liu Chengyin ignored the order of the governor's office.

He Tengjiao only had someone reprimand Liu Chengyin for a few words, but Liu Chengyin actually sent people to Liping to capture He Tengjiao's son, and used his son to demand tens of thousands of yuan in salary from He Tengjiao, making him lose face.

When He Tengjiao first entered Changsha, Liu Chengyin was just a lieutenant general of the central army. If he hadn't strongly recommended him, how could Liu Chengyin have become so powerful?
But Liu Chengyin was ungrateful and heartless. At that time, Liu Chengyin had more soldiers, so he could only endure it. However, He Tengjiao never forgot this humiliation.
Liu Chengyin has always regarded Wugang and Baoqing as his own territory. After receiving the imperial edict, Liu Chengyin will definitely not hand over Wugang.

The imperial court, with the victory in Guangzhou, was eyeing Huguang covetously. If they found that Liu Chengyin disobeyed the imperial order, they would most likely send troops to attack him.

Although Liu Chengyin also claimed to have tens of thousands of soldiers, He Tengjiao had lived in Huguang for a long time and knew the true and false of these so-called tens of thousands of troops.
The imperial army had just defeated the Qing invaders, so Liu Chengyin would definitely not be a match for the imperial army.

As long as the imperial court sends troops, Liu Chengyin will die without a burial place. He Tengjiao doesn't have to do anything and can just sit back and watch Liu Chengyin die and be defeated.
Moreover, if the imperial court really sent troops to attack, he could take the initiative to lead troops to assist the imperial court in attacking Liu Chengyin, so that he could take the opportunity to eliminate the rift with the imperial court!

When He Tengjiao thought of this, a stern look flashed across his face. He looked at Fu Shangrui below and said

"Governor Fu, you must immediately send someone to take over Yongzhou. Once the governor of Guangxi Province arrives, immediately hand Yongzhou over to the court."

"Also, immediately send someone to deliver the imperial decree to Liu Chengyin. Regardless of whether he refuses or agrees, come back to me immediately after receiving his reply. I will report it to the court immediately!"

He Tengjiao sat on the chair with a cold look in his eyes. Liu Chengyin, he wanted to see how he died this time. After all, the world belonged to the scholars and the court, and he, a mere warrior, could not be so rampant.

Fu Shangrui was shocked when he saw the cold look on He Tengjiao's face, and he immediately responded respectfully.
The three governors discussed the matter and took quick action. In the afternoon, two groups of people rushed out of Changsha and headed towards Wugang and Yongzhou.
(End of this chapter)