Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 109: Living Qin Hui

January 6

Anji
After Nikan defeated Huang Degong's troops in Wuhu, he tried to recruit surrenders and rebels along the way, and only stopped here to set up camp.

As to why we chose this place instead of going directly to the city of Hangzhou, there is a reason for that.

Anji is only a hundred miles away from Hangzhou. This distance will neither make the advance appear too slow nor steal Duoduo's limelight.

Choosing to camp here is a safe choice.

"Uncle Fifteen, Chen Hongfan is already waiting outside the tent. Do you want to ask him to come in?"

"Don't worry, tell me what you think."

Yingtian is very far away from Anji. Even though Duoduo worked day and night, it still took some time to arrive at Nikan’s camp last night.

After a night's rest, he planned to meet the person in charge of negotiations in Hangzhou first, but as soon as he opened his mouth, Nikan said that the person was already in the camp.

Only then did he realize that when he arrived last night, Nikan had already ordered someone to summon Chen Hongfan.

"The situation in Hangzhou is much more complicated than in Yingtian. Although Ma Shiying is the Prime Minister, he still has to be wary of officials in Zhejiang. His life may not be as comfortable as in Yingtian."

"The internal fighting is still too intense."

Duoduo sighed, and then seemed to have thought of something.

The Ming Dynasty had serious internal strife, so was the Qing Dynasty also experiencing internal strife.

However, the territory of the Qing Dynasty was constantly expanding. Instead of fighting with others for the old ones, it was better to put all efforts into grabbing the new ones. Therefore, the conflicts between the various banners were always within a controllable range.

if.

Thinking of this, Duoduo couldn't help but smile.

There would be no such thing as if. After swallowing up all of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, he would turn around and take over Yingtian. By then, no one in the world would be able to stop the Qing Dynasty from swallowing up the world.

"Call him in."

Before he finished speaking, someone left the tent, and in a moment Chen Hongfan appeared outside the tent.

"Your Highness! Chen Hongfan pays respects to His Majesty, and pays respects to His Majesty Beile."

"It's been so long since we last met. How are you?"

Chen Hongfan was very polite, so Duoduo naturally reciprocated by showing enough closeness.

"Thanks to the prince and the prince, everything has been going smoothly since I returned to the south."

When talking about the word "smoothly", Chen Hongfan behaved more respectfully, but there was still a hint of pride in his words.

When he returned from Beijing last year, he requested the Qing court to "submit a secret letter on the way requesting Zuo Maodi and Ma Shaoyou to stay with him, to voluntarily lead the troops to surrender, and to recruit generals from the south."

Later, when he passed by various towns in Jiangbei, he instigated the town commanders in the name of visiting them. Except for Gao Jie who rebuked him loudly, the others seemed to be willing to move.

If the collapse of the Hongguang Dynasty was entirely blamed on Chen Hongfan, it would be an overestimation of him, but it is appropriate to attribute one or two percent of the blame to him.

Therefore, when he mentioned the word "smoothly", he could hardly hide the pride in his heart.

Duoduo was well aware of his thoughts, and he himself was extremely disgusted with such people who sold out their masters for fame and fortune.

But the situation is stronger than the people.

At this time, Hangzhou still fell into the hands of this villain, and the Prince Yu of the Qing Dynasty had to make fun of him.

"Your contributions are known to the Regent and the Emperor. When you return, how can the Qing Dynasty be reluctant to give you a high position and generous salary?"

"Thank you, Your Majesty. I will do my utmost to take Hangzhou for the Qing Dynasty even if it means sacrificing my life."

"Well, get up."

Now that the process is completed, everyone knows it's time to get down to business.

Then Chen Hongfan told Duoduo in detail about the situation in Hangzhou City.

In the city of Hangzhou at this time, the person with the most status was naturally Prince Lu, the one with the strongest military force was naturally Ma Shiying, but the one with the greatest influence was the local civil servants headed by Liu Zongzhou.

Under normal circumstances, this power structure would be considered stable, but Prince Lu seemed to be extremely afraid of Ma Shiying and refused to summon Liu Zongzhou on the grounds that "Ma Fu did not allow it."

As a result, the influence of this small court was very limited.

After hearing this, Duoduo already had some ideas in his mind, but he still asked Chen Hongfan as if he had no idea.

"Then according to your opinion, should we negotiate peace with Ma Shiying?"

"Your Majesty, Ma Shiying is not sincere in seeking peace. I am 90% sure that he is just trying to gain a chance to catch his breath."

Having said this, Chen Hongfan raised his head and glanced at Duoduo. Only after seeing that his face was as calm as water did he continue speaking.

"I heard that the four counties have fallen into the hands of the royal army. How can they use the cities of the Qing Dynasty as bargaining chips for the Ming Dynasty?!"

"Oh? Did you hear the news?"

Chen Hongfan spoke passionately, but Duoduo seemed only concerned with gossip and did not respond to his remarks.

In this situation, even if he was confused, he had no choice but to answer the prince's question.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Jiangnan is densely populated by waterways, so news spreads faster than in the north."

"Oh, what other news did you get?"

Hearing this, Chen Hongfan became even more confused, but he couldn't figure out what Duoduo wanted to ask for a moment, so he just said some irrelevant things.

After a while, Chen Hongfan was dry-mouthed because of some trivial matters, but when he looked at Duoduo who was very interested, he had to continue talking.

"With fewer merchants, there was less business, and slave rebellions broke out in Jintan and Liyang because of this."

"I've heard about this, too," Duoduo seemed to be very interested in the matter. He said to Nikan, "When Tulai went to Jintan, he fought a battle with this gang."

Although Duoduo did not say what the outcome was, Chen Hongfan could guess what happened to that group of people with just his toes.

At this time, he had no choice but to flatter with all his might.

But who would have thought that before Chen Hongfan opened his mouth, he saw Duoduo stretching beautifully, then yawning and saying: "Tell me how you will deal with it. I will respond to Tiancheng as soon as possible, then Qin."

"Cough! Cough!"

Before Duoduo could finish his words, he was interrupted by Nikan's cough.

If he were somewhere else, Chen Hongfan would probably have let out a laugh that all men would understand, but in front of such a distinguished person, he could only pretend not to understand.

Afterwards, Chen Hongfan told his plan in full, and at the same time he did not forget to complain in his heart: What prince, what perseverance, it turned out to be just rumors.

After a while, Chen Hongfan left the camp and returned to Hangzhou, leaving only Duoduo and Nikan in the military tent.

"You're quite responsive."

"Uncle Fifteen, you acted the best."

After the uncle and nephew praised each other, Nikan asked with some confusion.

"Uncle Fifteen, Chen Hongfan would not leak the news, why are you still hiding it from him?"

"It's better to be careful. You never know when these people will change their minds." At this point, Duoduo glanced at Nikan and said, "If the Han people knew that Yingtian has not been taken, they might cause us a lot of trouble. The weather is getting hotter day by day, so we should end this matter as soon as possible."

Chen Hongfan naturally didn't know what kind of character he was in Duoduo's mind. He had previously reported his thoughts to Duoduo and received Duoduo's approval.

So after he came out of the big tent, he rushed back to Hangzhou without stopping, so that he could take Hangzhou for his master as soon as possible.

It was almost dinner time when Chen Hongfan finally returned to Hangzhou.

After receiving Nikan's letter last night, he rushed to Anji overnight. After meeting Duoduo in the morning, he hurried back.

By now, he, who is over fifty years old, can no longer bear it.

But in his heart, he regarded his masters' affairs as more important than anything else. After hesitating for a while, he rode his horse towards Ma Shiying's residence.

After waiting outside for about two or three cups of tea, he was finally summoned.

"Dongming, I heard that you will be coming back from the Tartars?"

"Replying to the Lord, I went there last night."

"Come back so soon?"

"Replying to the Lord, I have something important to report, so I have no choice but to do this."

"Oh? Say it quickly."

According to common sense, even if Chen Hongfan was fully responsible for the negotiations, he still had to report before going to the enemy camp.

Therefore, Ma Shiying's original intention of asking questions was to use this matter to give him a warning.

But who would have thought that Chen Hongfan would bring up the "important matter" after just a few words, and Ma Shiying's attention was immediately drawn to it, and he no longer remembered about knocking.

"Sir, I met Duoduo last night, and he seemed very dissatisfied with the conditions."

"Snapped!"

Before Chen Hongfan finished speaking, Ma Shiying slammed the table and stood up: "The four counties in the south of the Yangtze River have been ceded. Does he still want Huguang?"

Seeing his indignant look, Chen Hongfan couldn't help but resent him inwardly.

Needless to say, Duoduo's troops would have arrived at the city of Hangzhou long ago if Nikan had not been cautious.

Ajige's troops in the middle were no less powerful than Dodo. They had not only occupied dozens of cities in Jiangxi, but also Huguang and Zhejiang.

Under such circumstances, you are planning to give up only the four counties in the south of the Yangtze River. Isn't that just a daydream?

Although he criticized in his heart, Chen Hongfan still had to be a little careful when speaking. After all, he was still a minister of the Ming Dynasty.

"Sir, the Tartars are indeed greedy, but..."

"But what?"

Ma Shiying asked in a deep voice, and then stared at Chen Hongfan, ready to rebuke him harshly if he dared to speak for the Tartars.

He was not unaware of Chen Hongfan's reputation as the "living Qin Hui", but that reputation was mostly spread by the Donglin people, so how much of it could be trusted still needed to be carefully considered;

Furthermore, Ma Shiying does not have the right people to handle this matter now. If he does not use Chen Hongfan, does he have to hand over the control of this matter to Donglin?
With these two factors combined, although he could not say that he had much trust in Chen Hongfan, he had no choice but to do so due to the circumstances.

"Sir, please forgive me for speaking frankly. The Donglin Party in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is quite powerful. We should just give this piece of rotten meat to the Tartars."

Chen Hongfan's turn was extremely abrupt, but to Ma Shiying it was like an enlightenment.

To be precise, he had no personal grudge against Donglin, and he even had some cooperation with Shi Kefa at the beginning of the Southern Migration.

However, because the four towns supported Hongguang, Donglin believed that he was treacherous, and Ma Shiying himself had his own difficulties and could not give any explanation.

Coupled with some other things, the rift between the two families grew wider and wider, and eventually became irreconcilable.

Now Chen Hongfan's suggestion can not only solve the urgent problem of the Tartar army at the gate of the city, but also leave the Donglin nest and get rid of its constraints.

No matter how you look at it, it's a win-win situation with no harm.

As a result, Ma Shiying's eyes became more friendly when he looked at Chen Hongfan.

"Dong Ming, this is a good plan, but we still need to think about how to proceed."

Having said that, Ma Shiying picked up the tea bowl on the table. Although Chen Hongfan wanted to say something, he could only leave.

He was originally a high-ranking official, and was previously bound by the inertia of thinking, so he did not think of a way to completely get rid of the Donglin Party.

Now that his mind was open, even if he still needed to seek other people's opinions, it was after he had figured out the whole thing, so how could he let Chen Hongfan say anything more.

After leaving Ma Shiying's residence, Chen Hongfan still had no intention of returning home. He wandered around the city for a few more laps, and when he saw that no one was following him, he turned around and went out of the city.

According to his original thought, someone like Ma Shiying who had escaped once would not have any psychological burden to escape a second time.

But he didn't expect that after Ma Shiying accepted his suggestion to escape without any burden, he didn't even give him a chance to speak again.

In this way, the plan he had thought of all along would not have the chance to be presented to him, and he would lose the ability to make any further arrangements.

But then again, the master's errand still needs to be done, and since it is impossible to arrange it calmly, then choosing some less calm methods is a last resort.

After about three or two minutes, a military camp appeared in front of Chen Hongfan. After some notification, Fang Anguo, who had previously asked him for information, came out to greet him.

"Oh, Brother Dongming, I didn't know you were coming. I'm sorry for not welcoming you. I'm sorry for not welcoming you!"

"Alas, I am anxious and don't know where to vent to, so I came to your camp. Don't blame me, don't blame me."

After the pleasantries, Fang Guoan ordered people to prepare some wine and food in the tent. After some more toasts, he took advantage of the alcohol to test the water.

"I see that you are worried. The safety of Hangzhou depends on you. You need to take care of yourself."

"Hey!"

Chen Hongfan sighed heavily, but just drank the wine in the glass without revealing anything.

Seeing this, Fang Guoan knew that the time was not right yet, so he stood up and filled his glass with wine before continuing to speak with concern on his face.

"Could it be that the negotiations are not going well?"

Fang Anguo was not a gossipy person, but rumors were rife in Hangzhou city right now, with all kinds of stories being spread. As a military general, how could he not try to find out?

"No, the Tartars were very aggressive, but after I argued with them, they did make some progress. But... Alas!"

At the end, Chen Hongfan sighed heavily and went back to drinking, which made Fang Anguo anxious, but he had no idea what to do with him.

"Brother Dongming, if you don't believe me, why did you come to my camp? Please go back."

"Ah? Lord, what are you talking about? You and I are the only two warriors in the city. If I don't trust you, who else can I trust?"

"How can you be so hesitant if you trust me?!"

"This is a serious matter. I am afraid of causing trouble for the Marquis."

"The Tartars are approaching the city, why should I be afraid of getting in trouble? Brother Dong Ming!"

Having said this, if Chen Hongfan still keeps silent, he will probably be beaten out of the army.

Then he moved closer to Fang Anguo and spoke in a low voice.

"Ah?! How dare Ma Shiying do something against the will of Heaven again!"

(End of this chapter)