"The south of the Yangtze River is beautiful, and the scenery is old. The flowers in the river are redder than fire when the sun rises, and the river is green like blue when spring comes. How can you not remember the south of the Yangtze River?" In the Shizhongshan Zen Temple, Guo Puxia, who could not sleep at night, stood up in the clothes and wrote Bai Juyi's poem "Remembering the south of the Yangtze River" in front of the window, as if it was entrusted with something.

Yes, he must be remembering the beautiful scenery of Jiangnan! Mr. Guo, who had been patrolling many places along the Yangtze River in a gunboat, was more or less worried about the increasingly fierce war recently. After living in Jiangxi for so many years, he also had some feelings for this land and was unwilling to see many people who were together day and night being affected by the war. But how could such a thing be controlled by him, a senius envoy to Shunguo?

The people on mainland China have always been firm believers in the great unification, and they must fight to the death until the end of unification. Even in the era of separatist rule in the Southern and Northern Dynasties or vassal states, what the local forces think in their hearts is how to accumulate strength, launch wars, and then unify the other party. In other words, even in the period of division, the Chinese are always brewing a war of unification. This obsession with great unification is indeed terrible, and it is also the main reason why this country can always maintain its basic territory in the last two thousand years of time in the future and even expand in the last three hundred years.

If such a country is not prepared for a full-scale invasion on the east bank, it is indeed better to stay away from it, otherwise it will suffer a great loss. For this reason, Guo Puxia, who has lived in Jiangxi and Huguang for many years, thinks there is no big problem. Take Dashun, a separatist regime in the three provinces for example. After their emperor Li Laiheng ascended the throne, he never completely gave up his dream of unifying the country and establishing the Central Plains. For this reason, for many years, he has been trying his best to enhance the comprehensive strength of the country under his rule that has quickly transformed into the spokesperson of the landlord class.

Dashun is like this. Didn’t the small court in Kunming who is still under the banner of the Ming Dynasty think about it? No, they have even publicly declared that they would expel the Tartars (now not to mention eliminating the rebels of the rebels) and restore the Ming Dynasty. Even though they were beaten by Wu Sangui a few years ago, this politically correct slogan has never stopped.

In addition, has the Lu regime in Zhejiang not had such a trace of luck in his heart? How is that possible! They are all former Ming royal families, and they all fought against the Tartars the same. Are everyone willing to surrender? Even if the King of Lu is willing to do so, will the civil servants agree with the generals who have followed him for many years? Obviously, the answer is no.

Of course, the biggest wish of separatist forces such as the Zheng family in Fujian, the Li family in Guangdong, and the Wu family in Sichuan on the other end of the Qing Dynasty should be to separatist the country and become a local emperor. As for winning the world, they should have never thought about it this way, and there is still a fundamental difference between them and the people in Dashun.

This time, the Qingshun War caused by the tens of thousands of troops of Liu Zhonggui's troops entering Sichuan by the Zuoying Camp has become increasingly turning into a full-scale war. The two sides have more than hundreds of thousands of people in Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, Sichuan and other provinces. The scene is unprecedentedly spectacular and is no less than the wars launched in Europe at the same time. In that war, on the main battlefield composed of France, the Netherlands, the West, Austria and the German princes, the total number of troops invested by all parties reached 600,000. The secondary troops of Sweden, Prussia, Italy, Denmark and North Germany also had more than 100,000 soldiers, just like the more than 100,000 soldiers from all sides on the battlefields of Zhejiang, Guizhou, Gansu on the land of China.

The whole world went crazy at almost the same time! Guo Puxia was originally in the Fortress (now there were many ships anchored in this fortress, and the defenders had been replaced by an East Coast Guard of about 500 people). He lived a good life, but unfortunately, the Shun Army and the Qing army were in Jiangxi, and there were many battles in southern Anhui. The Qing general commander Shen Rui (son of Shen Yongzhong), the third Xushun Duke, led his troops to break into the northeast of Jiangxi and fought against Guo Shi'an, the governor of Jiangxi in Dashun (he can only control the northeastern part of Jiangxi now, and could not compete with Guo Sheng's period) and had victory or defeat.

Under such circumstances, the people on the east coast stationed in the Madang Fortress were a little uneasy. Although this fortress has been operating for many years and is extremely strong, it only has more than 500 soldiers. Even if they temporarily strengthen their vigilance and increase their troops, they can only expand to a thousand. No matter how many, the fortress can no longer accommodate them!

The garrison power of a thousand people, coupled with the strong city walls and numerous artillery, is probably indestructible against the soldiers of some countries with lower civilization levels. For example, when the Portuguese built a base on the Indian coast, they faced the siege of the Indian Tumen. However, the Qing court was obviously not a mentally retarded regime like the southern Tumen, and the Qing soldiers were not those of the ignorant and backward, with extremely poor equipment and poor organization. Therefore, if they transferred enough artillery and siege of the east coast, the people on the east coast would not be able to defend it, and they would eventually break through the river in shame and escape.

Therefore, after considering the above situations, the East Coast people took the initiative to contact Dashun. When the trade location between the two sides was changed to Hukou County, the medicinal materials, grain, porcelain, bamboo utensils, silk, satin, pig bristles and other specialty products in Dashun were transported here. The East Coast people sold war horses, muskets, armor, knives, cannons, heavy carriages, ammunition packs, tents, and engineer shovels were at least a few luxury goods, and they were also transported to Hukou County Wharf, and we all carried them together for delivery and settlement. The reason for this was mainly to prevent the Qing army from raiding and causing significant losses.

This time, Guo Puxia brought a fleet of 8 72-ton steamer and 4 inland shallow water gunboats to the Hukou County Wharf. During the trade between the two sides, he was idle, so at the invitation of his master, he strolled around the surrounding scenery and stayed in a Zen temple in Shizhongshan, a few years old.

This Zen temple is said to have been built by Guo Sheng a few years before his death, in order to fulfill his wish. Now that this person has left, the incense of Shizhongshan Zen Temple has become increasingly prosperous, and he has also received gifts from nearby officials, gentry and merchants from time to time. This Great Hall is magnificent. However, even the solemn jungle with a solemn appearance, when facing distinguished guests at the level of Guo Puxia, he still had to put down his airs and greet him in a hurry. The abbot even vacates the best room in the Zen temple for Mr. Guo to rest. At the same time, he also accompanied him throughout the journey, talked about poetry, painting, and played tea and chess. The service was very thoughtful.

However, perhaps because he slept until the sun set during the day, Guo Puxia was no longer sleepy at this moment, so he simply pushed open the door and signaled the adjutant who was sleeping next door to get up quickly and the sentry outside the door to stop making noise. Then he walked outside the temple and looked at the night view.

"The east coast prairie is probably the spring sowing, a season full of hope. In the countryside, farmers are making seeds, and the managers of the cooperative should also be renting agricultural machinery all over the world. Foreign merchant fleets have almost begun to arrive at the port one after another to participate in the annual commodity fair." Sniffing the slightly damp air and listening to the sound of waves on the lake, Guo Puxia said in an extremely melancholy tone.

"Sir, are you homesick?" The adjutant, who was wearing a coat, sat directly beside Guo Puxia, regardless of the frost on the ground and said, "After completing this mission in front of you, you can go back to Madang to pack your luggage comfortably and wait for the ship to return home. This makes the envy of those who have been away from home for a long time."

In fact, Guo Puxia's whereabouts have been basically decided, that is, he will return to China to serve as one of the few deputy commanders of the military police headquarters, which is a relatively noble position. Originally, he expected to serve as the military police commander in the Far East and take over the squad of Deputy Commander Wei Boqiu, who was said to have been seriously ill and bedridden for a long time. Unfortunately, this miserable person was taken away by others. He had no blessing and could only bring his luggage back to his local office. He said that he was a little unwilling to accept it.

But what's the use of unwilling to give up? This is the case in this world. Compared to the Yangtze River Basin where people are killed and killed in troubled times, many people will be envied by many people. Even those warlords and generals who are majestic at this moment do not know what their fate will be next, and many people want to ask for a comfortable life of Guo Puxia, so it's better to be content.

"After completing this mission, hehe, this mission is not so easy to do..." Guo Puxia took off his military cap and put it in his hand. Looking at the Poyang Lake with a little fishing fire, he said with a wry smile: "We were soldiers, intelligence officers. It would be fine if we were allowed to work as businessmen and diplomats in the local area, but now we have made us work as human traffickers. This job is becoming increasingly difficult. You just returned from the western Huguang area yesterday. Tell me how you did the job of collecting people?"

"It's not very good! The Qing and Shun armies were in a tug-of-war. The local people did not stay enough, so they all ran into the mountains or hid in the back. We searched everywhere in the business partners we had accumulated over the years, and some Shun army officers also opened a door of convenience for us, but in a month they still found less than 3,000 people, and they were basically people who couldn't survive. Of course, there were a few more Qing and Shun armies who dared not return to the barracks and did not want to stay in that war land, so they defected to us. In short, if it weren't for the real difficulty, no one would follow us. Alas, this job was really difficult." The adjutant also replied with a wry smile when he heard Guo Puxia's question, and complained a lot in his words.

"It's fine if you can't find it, it's not a forced mission anyway. The war on the Huguang front is not large enough. Although the 300,000 to 400,000 troops on both sides are pressing here, there are not many real battles, with fortresses and rivers and lakes everywhere, which is not an ideal place to fight. Unfortunately, we can't go deep into Sichuan now. Once Wu Sangui died, it was already in chaos. Sichuan Province has always been rich and has a large population, so no forces are willing to give up. I guess Sichuan will have to fight for a few years until one side is completely exhausted. It's a pity that we can't make use of such a good opportunity to seize the opportunity of the war and collect population. It's a pity that Guo Puxia said in a slightly regretful tone.

He once followed the Zuoying of Shunjun to Sichuan to inspect. During that operation, he realized how rich the "Tianfu Country" was through his own field observation and the narratives of the people around him. This province, which was not seriously damaged during the change of dynasties in the late Ming Dynasty, was only occupied by Zhang Xianzhong for a while in the early years, and the people also managed it as a foundation, and the killing was not serious. Later, Wu Sangui led his army into Sichuan, because of the idea of ​​using it as a fiefdom, and he also restrained his subordinates and did not commit much. After the past few decades of peace, he recovered quickly. Although it was incomparable to the peak of the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, it was quite good. At this time, the land of China was definitely a big province and a rich province. If it was seized by Shunjun, then its strength would increase suddenly. Therefore, the Qing court fought for it even though he had to compete with them.

At present, Wu Sangui of the CD is dead. Although his son Wu Yinglin has succeeded to the throne, the Wu group has irreversibly collapsed. Only a small number of its core old ministers and generals commanding troops are loyal to Wu Yinglin, helping him to barely guard the CD office. Most of the other officials and generals surrender to the Qing Dynasty. In fact, it cannot be said that they surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, because strictly speaking, Sichuan is also a province of the Qing Dynasty. A small number of officers led their troops to surrender to Liu Zhonggui and Zhang Neng in the Dashun side for other reasons. However, civil officials and some local gentry were still obsessed with the former Ming Dynasty and surrendered to the Southern Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, in the vast Sichuan, except for the CD Prefecture, which is still barely under the control of the descendants of the Wu family, other prefectures and counties have basically been divided up, forming a situation where the Qing and Shun armies fought against each other, and Nanming hid on the side to prepare to steal the opportunity - of course, their main task now is to persuade the remnants of the Wu army stationed in northern Guizhou to recover the entire province to serve as a barrier to Yunnan.

The people of the East Coast predict that Guizhou will soon fall into the hands of Sun Kewang and others, and some prefectures and counties in southern Sichuan will most likely fall into the hands of Li Dingguo, the general of the Southern Ming Dynasty, who came out from Qujing Prefecture. There is no doubt about Dongchuan at present. Zhang Neng is already in Chongqing. Liu Zhonggui has just defeated Zhang Yong. The situation is good. It would be good for the Qing court to be able to protect the northern Sichuan region. It is unrealistic to expect them to counterattack into Dongchuan. As for the ownership of the most important CD plain in Sichuan, we must see clearly. Follow the result of the final decisive battle between the two sides. Whoever wins Wu Yinglin will probably surrender. There is no doubt about this.
Chapter completed!