Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 308: The Assassination of the Governor
The Red Army wiped out all the soldiers in Dingnan and defeated the famous king for the first time, shocking the whole country. The Qing government quickly responded and decided to use the traitor Hong Chengchou.

Hong Chengchou was already the Grand Tutor and the Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, the Grand Secretary of the Imperial Academy of History, the Minister of War and the Right Deputy Censor of the Censorate. Dorgon trusted him very much and would consult Hong Chengchou whenever he had any major issues to decide.

Now that Dorgon was dead, his political enemies wrote to him to expose his high treason. Dorgon's close confidants, including Suksaha, a minister of the two white flags, also defected when they saw that the situation was not going well.

Aixinjuelu Fulin took advantage of the situation and first put Luoshi and the other five people in jail. Then he announced fourteen charges against Dorgon, revoked all his titles, and destroyed his tomb and exhumed his body. Finally, Fulin punished Ganglin, Bahana, Lengsengji, Tantai, Baiyintu and other close associates of Dorgon. There were also close associates such as Lekedehun who had made great military achievements. Fulin was not convenient to punish them publicly, but deliberately reduced their treatment. The power that Dorgon had cultivated for many years collapsed in an instant.

During this major political upheaval, the thirteen-year-old Fulin cleansed out Dorgon's power efficiently and effectively, demonstrating political wisdom that was not commensurate with his age.

Influenced by this, Hong Chengchou also left Beijing to supervise the front line, and was ordered to "manage Huguang, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places, supervise military affairs, and manage food and wages."

In order to prevent the people from making random guesses and mistakenly thinking that Hong Chengchou was driven out of Beijing, the Qing court gave him great power: "Governors, admirals, and generals below are all under his control, and soldiers and food supplies are all under his control. Civil officials below the fifth rank and military officials below the deputy general who disobey orders will be punished according to military law. All matters of pacification and suppression will not be controlled by him, and they will be reported to the emperor afterwards."

Hong Chengchou gained power comparable to that of Zhang Cunren. Under the influence of Hong Chengchou, Zhang Cunren regained the imperial edict, which was changed to "governing Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang and other places, supervising military affairs, and managing food and wages."

The Qing court's intention was clear. Because Zhang Cunren was old and weak, and unable to manage many provinces, Hong Chengchou was given the responsibility to deal with Sun Kewang's Dashi Army, while Zhang Cunren was mainly responsible for dealing with Cen Danchu's Red Army.

In the southeast, Chen Jin, the Manchu governor of Zhejiang and Fujian, and Jin Li, the general of Pingnan, broke through the Siming mountain stronghold in Ningbo and were actively planning to attack Zhoushan.

In Jiangnan, Ma Guozhu was stationed in Jiangning. Ma Guozhu's official title was "Governor of Jiangnan, Jiangxi, Henan and other places, supervising military affairs, food and wages, and managing the affairs of the South River". During his tenure, he collected food and wages from Jiangnan to supply the capital, defeated the righteous army in his jurisdiction, and played an outstanding role in the Qing army's stabilization of the south.

In the northwest, Meng Qiaofang, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, was stationed in Xi'an to suppress the civil unrest and protect the capital.

Although Zhang Cunren, Hong Chengchou and others were incorporated into the Eight Banners of the Han Army, they were all Han Chinese after all, and most of them were Ming Dynasty officials who surrendered. The Qing court implemented the policy of using Han people to control Han people, and fully employed Han people as high-ranking officials and generals on the front line. There were indeed hidden difficulties.

First, the Manchurian population was small and the Eight Banners Army was weak. After entering the Pass, the Eight Banners fought many battles and suffered heavy casualties. With the renaming of the Three Shun Kings to the Three Nan Kings, the Qing army began to drive the Han people to fight on the front line. The Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners no longer went deep into the front line to fight, and were mainly responsible for monitoring the Han army, the Green Camp, and mobile support.

Second, the Manchus’ famous generals who founded the country died, and the capital city repeatedly suffered from smallpox plague, which killed many Manchu high-ranking officials. The most serious ones include Prince Yu Duoduo who died in the sixth year of Shunzhi (the third year of Yongli), Regent Prince Rui Dorgon who died in the seventh year of Shunzhi, Prince Su Haoge who died in prison in the fifth year of Shunzhi, Prince Yanxi Luoluohun who died in the army in the third year of Shunzhi, and Prince Raoyu Abatai who died in the third year of Shunzhi...

Third, Shunzhi stepped up his efforts to purge the remnants of Dorgon and reshuffled the power distribution within the Qing court, making it inconvenient to send Manchu generals deep into the front lines.

On the 20th day of the first lunar month, a group of heavily guarded cavalrymen slowly galloped towards the north gate of Guangzhou. In the middle were three elderly men in their 50s, one in plain clothes in front and two in armor in the back, wearing brightly colored hats, which showed their noble official positions.

The man in civilian clothes is Zhang Cunren, the governor of five provinces, wearing a three-eyed peacock feather and with white hair and beard. He was originally a general of Liaodong during the Ming Dynasty. He had fought fiercely with the Later Jin at Guangqu Gate in the capital during the "Ji Si Incident" and was hit by eight arrows, which left him with a chronic illness.

Zhang Cunren had been ill for a long time and could not wear armor. He had requested to retire long ago, but the Qing court did not allow him to do so. First, the Qing court forced him to be the governor of Zhili, Shandong and Henan provinces, the governor of Baoding, and the admiral of Zijin Pass. Now that the situation in Guangdong was urgent, he was promoted to the governor of five provinces, responsible for dealing with Cen Danchu, Zhu Chenggong, and Lu Jianguo.

The men in armor are Shang Kexi, the Prince of Pingnan of the Qing Dynasty, on the left, and Bashan, the General of Jingnan, on the right. These two are brave and good at fighting. Although they are nearly fifty years old, they can still wield swords and ride horses. They are known as famous generals among the Tartars.

Not long ago, Guangzhou was captured, and the three of them stayed in the camp outside the city. Inside the city, Geng Jimao, the Asihahafan, was in command and led the Qing army into the city. Geng Jimao was eager to inherit the title of King of Jingnan, and fought very hard, so he rushed into the city first to find out the truth before welcoming the army into the city.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty had the strictest hierarchy. Shang Kexi and Bashan followed Zhang Cunren in armor, looking like entourage guards.

The road was heavily guarded, and pedestrians on both sides of the road all had their heads shaved. When they saw Zhang Cunren and his party, they all gave way. Those who could not give way in time fell to the ground with the vendors along the road, not daring to breathe a single breath.

Bashan looked at the Guangzhou people who were lying on the ground with an arrogant attitude. He was very proud and said, "I heard that the people of Guangdong are unruly and fierce. After this battle, the people of Guangzhou have seen the power of the Manchurian soldiers. Seeing how obedient they are, we can see that the people are loyal to them. From now on, Guangdong can be stable and the people can live in peace!"

Shang Kexi was preoccupied and did not hear clearly what was said before, so he could only guess what Bashan meant and said:

"Geng Jimao and I were stationed at the gate of a fortified city. Our division was old and our soldiers were tired, and the southern bandits kept coming to harass us. Fortunately, the general came to our aid, and the southern bandits were frightened. Fan Chengen took the initiative to surrender, and our army was able to capture this famous city. Once Guangzhou is captured, the conquest of western Guangdong is just around the corner."

Bashan was very proud and couldn't help laughing. Guwaljia Bashan was a member of the Bordered Yellow Banner of Manchuria. His grandfather Badai led his people to surrender when Nurhaci started his rebellion and was granted the title of Zuoling, which was then passed down to Bashan.

In the fourth year of Chongzhen, Bashan followed Huang Taiji to attack the Ming Dynasty and besieged Dalinghe. The Eight Banners were not successful in the first battle, and the deputy governor Tun Bulu and the assistant commander Langge were killed in the battle. Bashan rode into the Ming army and took the bodies of the two back, thus becoming famous in this battle.

In the first year of Hongguang, Bashan was appointed as the deputy governor and stationed in Jiangning, and served as the governor of Jiangning for a long time. During this period, Bashan defeated Zhu Yishi, the Prince of Lu'an in the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Fuhuan, the bandit of Lu'an Prefecture, and others with only a thousand Manchu soldiers. He also led his troops into Gan to attack Jin Shenghuan without any defeat.

He was very arrogant and never took Dongxun and the Red Army seriously.

Zhang Cunren did not dare to neglect him and said with a smile: "The general has great ambitions and is a role model for us. However, the Red Bandits rose up late and were able to defeat Dingnan, which shows that they should not be underestimated. We still need to make long-term plans for the counterattack in western Guangdong."

Bashan refused to accept the offer and retorted, "Why should the governor boost others' morale and destroy his own prestige? We have been in the army for more than 30 years, from the White Mountains and Black Waters to the south of the Five Ridges, and have seen all kinds of opponents. The Red Bandits have only been around for two or three years, can they be better than Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong?"

Zhang Cunren smiled and said, "Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong failed to defeat Dingnan, but Cen Danchu did it."

Bashan was a true Manchu, and he didn't care that Zhang Cunren held a higher official position than him. He refuted, "Cen was just taking advantage of the situation. He had never experienced a hard battle. Dingnan absorbed too many surrendered soldiers. Cen held the families of Dingnan hostage and married Kong Sizhen, and then Dingnan surrendered. The King of Dingnan has been through many battles and is a real head-on fighter. How could he lose to this young man named Cen?"

Zhang Cunren just smiled and said nothing more.

After entering the city, the streets gradually became lively. When we were two blocks away from the Guangdong-Guangxi Governor's Office, a group of gentry and common people knelt by the roadside, with two rows of tables in front of them, filled with wine, food, vegetables, fruits and snacks.

Zhang Cunren used the Governor's Office as his headquarters. Shang Kexi had the highest rank and occupied the Tang Palace. The Tang King was a distant vassal of the Ming Dynasty, and during the Southern Ming Dynasty, he produced two emperors. One was the famous Longwu Emperor, and the other was the obscure Shaowu Emperor.

The common people welcoming Zhang Cunren with "food and drink" was a trick created by Geng Jimao. Zhang Cunren was experienced and knew it was fake, but he was still happy. He turned around and said to Shang Kexi and Bashan: "Your Majesty, General, I am not happy that the heavenly army has conquered Guangzhou, but I am happy that the people of Guangzhou have sincerely surrendered."

Shang Kexi had also been in the political world for a long time and was quite humble. He said, "It is all thanks to the benevolence of the governor and the bravery of the general."

Geng Jimao stood in front and bowed to Zhang Cunren, saying, "Your Excellency's reputation is well known, and the gentry of Guangzhou have presented food and drink to welcome the royal army." Zhang Cunren quickly returned the greeting and said, "My Lord, thank you for your courtesy."

There was a sudden commotion at the corner of the street. A young man in his early twenties, wearing a short shirt and barefoot, rushed to the side of the line with a stack of petition papers in his hands and shouted, "Sir! I have a grievance! Sir! I have a grievance!"

Geng Jimao looked displeased, and the Guangdong Provincial Surveillance Commissioner behind him was even more terrified, fearing that he would offend Zhang Cunren, and hurried forward to chase him away, shouting: "Asshole! You are blind! How dare you stop the Heavenly Official?"

Several Han soldiers also surrounded him and were about to arrest the young man.

Zhang Cunren was impatient, and in front of everyone, he didn't want to give others a chance to talk about him, so he said, "Stop it. Judge, you are in charge of the criminal case. Go take the complaint and read it to me."

"Zha!" After the Manchus came to power in the Central Plains, Manchu customs began to be popular in the officialdom. Han soldiers often changed their surnames to Manchus, so much so that the Qing court ordered that Han soldiers could not change their surnames at will. It became popular among Han officials to eat hot pot, using "Zha" instead of "Nuo" and "Shi".

The judge's expression changed immediately, and he smiled as he came to the young man, ready to accept the petition. It was said that it was late, but it was fast. The young man shook open the petition paper, pulled out a shiny white dagger from it, and slashed it at the neck of the censor.

The censor was also a soldier, so he was alert and quickly dodged. But the young man was a skilled fighter, so he was quick-witted and slashed the censor's throat with one move.

Blood spurted out a dozen feet away. "Ah! Ah!" The provincial prosecutor covered his throat, as if trying to stop the bleeding. Because of the excessive blood loss, his face became paler and paler, and his groans became weaker and weaker.

At this moment, gunshots rang out, and two Eight Banner soldiers fell off their horses. There were assassins nearby, and the scene suddenly became chaotic, with the people scrambling to escape.

The situation was urgent, and the "Xia" guards, that is, the Manchu guards, hurried to Zhang Cunren's side and surrounded him as he rushed to the Governor's Mansion. Zhang Cunren, Shang Kexi and others, regardless of their old age, rode their horses and followed closely behind.

The incident happened suddenly, and the Qing army was in a hurry to escort Zhang Cunren and Shang Kexi, so they forgot to capture the assassin. The assassin calmly finished off the censor and shouted, "Here are 100,000 heavenly soldiers! Capture the Tartar quickly!"

However, Bashan was not afraid because he was wearing armor. He reined in his horse, kicked over a table on the street, hid under a nearby restaurant, and then led his Han army to fight with the assassin.

The assassin was a skilled warrior, and he had grabbed a sword and wielded it up and down, defeating many with a small force. Not only could the Qing army not move forward, but they also suffered several casualties, and the ground was covered with blood.

Gunshots rang out occasionally, but they were sparse, and it was obvious that there were not many assassins. Bashan was warlike, and he was excited to see the prey, so he shouted: "Good man! Good swordsmanship!"

Behind him was a group of Manchu soldiers, who joined the battle to besiege the assassin, ignoring the nearby cold guns. This group of Manchu soldiers had fought in many battles and were all elite soldiers. They quickly shot the assassin with a bow and arrow.

Geng Jimao also reacted and dispatched a large group of Han troops to search for the remaining assassins.

The assassin was injured and gradually lost the upper hand, so he tried to steal the warhorse and escape.

Bashan then sighed: "What a pity! What a pity!"

The assassin was eventually outnumbered and was captured and taken to the Governor's Palace. The rest of the assassins escaped, and only a few old-fashioned matchlock guns were found at the scene.

Zhang Cunren personally interrogated the case, and Shang Kexi, Bashan and Geng Jimao were jurors.

The assassin was very frank and answered every question. He said, "I am Li Erlong, a righteous man of the Heavenly Dynasty. I am under the order of Emperor Taizu Gao and General Cen Gong to fight against the Tartars. I have a total of 100,000 Heavenly Soldiers to drive out the Tartars. I should have entered the city at three o'clock tonight and beheaded you, but because of my impatient personality, I was unwilling to wait, so I started at the north gate."

Bashan didn't say anything, but nodded frequently and sighed, as if he admired the assassin very much.

Shang Kexi was stunned and said, "This is a crazy man."

Geng Jimao was puzzled and advised: "Since you dared to assassinate, you must have an accomplice. Now your accomplice has abandoned you. If you can confess your accomplice, I will pardon your death penalty and give you a high position."

Li Erlong, a native of Xinhui, Guangdong, was a loyal and righteous man. In history, he once single-handedly seized a horse and rode into the Qing army camp to assassinate Shang Kexi.

He laughed heartily and said, "I don't care about the officials of the dog Tartars. But as for accomplices, I do have a few."

The Red Army Intelligence Bureau knew of his loyalty and recruited him as a detective. However, he was a strong-willed person and hated the Qing army's occupation of Guangzhou. He decided to assassinate a high-ranking Qing official despite his comrades' objections. His comrades were also inspired by their sense of righteousness and disobeyed military orders to help him assassinate Zhang Cunren.

At this moment, he had already seen that Zhang Cunren had the highest status, so he bowed to Shang Kexi, Geng Jimao, Bashan and others, and then said to Zhang Cunren: "Sir, the people I bowed to just now were all insiders."

Geng Jimao was so angry that he cursed, "Bullshit! Sir, why don't you take Li Erlong back to the prison and torture him severely? We will surely be able to find out who his accomplices are."

Zhang Cunren sighed and said, "This is a righteous man who is not afraid of death, so why would he be afraid of torture?"

He turned to Li Erlong and asked, "I disciplined the soldiers and did not massacre the city. You should be thanking me. Why did you try to assassinate me?"

"Hahaha!" Li Erlong laughed and retorted, "You can fool the ignorant people, but you can't fool me. You don't dare to massacre the city because you are new here and want to win over the people's hearts. You are afraid of the Red Army's revenge."

Zhang Cunren was stunned and asked again: "You knew you were going to die, why did you still want to assassinate me?"

"I want to use my death to awaken the Chinese people, to frighten the traitors, and let the Tartars know that there are still righteous men among us Han people!"

Zhang Cunren collapsed in his chair like an eggplant hit by frost, muttering to himself, "I know why the Red Army was able to defeat Dingnan."

(End of this chapter)