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Text Section 42 Neutrality (Part 1)

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    It was not until the beginning of May that Zhao Guozuo and Songkui asked several groups of envoys from the defeated troops in Huzhou that they realized that this was something strange. When a village owner saw the regular army, not only did his legs and legs not tremble with fear, but instead, guns and cannons fired, and he even came out in a vicious manner.  Pursuit¡ª¡ªZhuang Yuncheng actually came out to pursue the officers and soldiers. The soldiers who escaped said that the enemy was still fully armored and had more guns than usual.

    "The first time was when Gui'an County sent officials there," Zhao Guozuo read Jia Zhennan's confession several times. Even the county did not take this confession seriously before, but now the governor of Zhejiang does not dare to take it lightly and analyzes it carefully.  : "The official knocked on the door politely and shouted at the door to ask Mr. Zhuang to go to the county to explain it clearly. As a result, the villagers opened fire without saying a word and killed almost forty officials. It was so fierce.  old wealth."

    Zhao Guozuo and Songkui both felt that this was too abnormal, and suspected that someone was backing Zhuang Yuncheng behind the scenes. The firearms described by Green Camp were too powerful, and they sounded like military muskets. The most important thing was that there was a squatting tiger cannon. It seemed like  It is the standard equipment of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty - it seems that the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty participated in the battle in Huaiyang at the end of last year, so it seems that the Duke Baoguo of the Ming Dynasty in Sichuan had a chance to seize a batch.

    "It seems that there are eight Han banners garrisoned in Chongqing." Songkui went through the imperial reports about Deng Ming over the years and found some reports about Deng Ming. At this time, his and Zhao Guozuo's faces turned pale.

    "We have an envoy from Duke Baoguo." Zhao Guozuo hurriedly ordered to a confidant.

    Because he had reached an agreement with the governor of Sichuan, the governor of the Yangtze River, and the governor of the army that supported the Qing Dynasty and destroyed the Ming Dynasty, half of the properties seized by the Zhejiang government in the Ming Dynasty case belonged to Baoguo Gong, so Zhao Guozuo agreed to allow people named Deng to review the files.  Deng Ming gladly sent an envoy, and also asked the envoy to bring a letter from him, in which he suggested that Zhao Guozuo make this envoy permanent - Deng Ming said that he thought consul was a good title and could be granted to these assignments.  As an envoy from the provincial capital, he also warmly invited Zhao Guozuo to also send a consul to Chengdu to facilitate communication between Sichuan and Zhejiang.

    However, Zhao Guozuo did not take Deng Ming's suggestion seriously. After the "consul" sent by Sichuan arrived in Hangzhou, Zhao Guozuo had no desire to meet with him. Although the envoy not only requested communication, Zhao Guozuo felt that the Ming History Case had not yet begun, and there was no  When it was necessary to meet, he sent his confidants to feed the visitor in a secret place with good food and drink, and ordered that the communication between the envoy and the Ming army should not be interfered with to show Deng Ming the sincerity of Zhejiang.

    Soon Deng Ming¡¯s envoy Zhang Tao was brought to the Governor¡¯s Yamen. Zhao Guozuo began to test in a roundabout way, trying to detect whether there was any shadow of Deng Ming behind the banker.  Although Zhao Guozuo was vague, Zhang Tao admitted openly: "Gong Baoguo had long ordered me to explain to Governor Zhao that there were arms dealers in Sichuan who were selling armor, swords, bows, etc. to Zhuang Yuncheng and other Jin gentry suspected of Ming history cases.  Crossbows, rifles and cannons¡­¡±

    After hearing the types of goods offered by Zhang Tao, Songkui jumped up: "Didn't Lord Baoguo promise not to interfere in the Ming Dynasty case? Why did he go back on his word?"

    "Of course Duke Baoguo will not interfere. He ordered me to explain the situation to Governor Zhao to show his sincerity. However, I have been rejected several times when I asked to see Governor Zhao."

    Zhao Guozuo and Songkui looked at each other. Songkui's status was similar to that of Guan Zhongzhong, but he was much smarter than Guan Zhongzhong. Last time, he was the one who came forward to hand over the city redemption fee to Li Xinghan and others; no matter what difficulties they encountered later, Songkui and  Zhao Guozuo cooperated closely, so Zhejiang officialdom can be said to be monolithic and very united.

    "There are so many weapons and armors, but Duke Baoguo said he would not interfere. Is this deceiving himself?" Zhao Guozuo shouted in a stern voice.

    "These weapons and armor were sold by Baoguo Gong to merchants, and then the merchants resold them to bankers. They were not sold directly by Baoguo Gong to bankers. Moreover, if Baoguo Gong didn't have a clear conscience, how could he order me to sell these weapons and armor to bankers?"  Should you inform Governor Zhao of the matter as soon as possible?" Zhang Tao talked eloquently, without any shame or anger on his face because of Zhao Guozuo's shouting: "Mr. Baoguo will strictly maintain neutrality in the war between Governor Zhao and Mr. Zhuang, absolutely.  The army will not be dispatched to assist in the fight."

    "If the businessman who sells weapons to the banker is obtained by me, will Baoguo Gong not care about it?" Zhao Guozuo asked.

    "Of course not. They are all subjects of the Ming Dynasty and are not suitable to be judged by Governor Zhao. Although the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty are currently at war, Governor Zhao and Lieutenant Colonel Li Xinghan have a secret truce agreement. Governor Zhao does not intend to  Destroy it, right?" Deng Ming's instructions to Zhang Tao were very clear: "In addition, Baoguo Gong also asked me to inform Governor Zhao that the arms dealer also invited several Ming army soldiers to Zhuangjia to help him train Zhuangding, because Zhuangjia  The arms dealers were paid, so Duke Bao could not stop them; but Duke Bao kept in mind the ceasefire agreement with Governor Zhao and strictly ordered them not to step out of the Zhuang family compound. If Governor Zhao found out that they left the Zhuang family compound to participate in the attack on Zhejiang  The prefectural city and county seat,Duke Baoguo will no longer ask Governor Zhao to return them to us, but will leave them to your disposal.  However, if such a thing really happened, I hope to read the evidence and observe the interrogation of these soldiers, so as to convey the truth to Duke Baoguo.  "

    As for the Tiger Crouching Cannon owned by the dealer, Zhang Tao also admitted that it was sold to Zhuang Yuncheng by the Ming Army.

    While Zhao Guozuo and Songkui convened their staff to discuss countermeasures overnight, several more batches of arms were transported into Huzhou from Jiangnan.  Now the situation in the entire Huzhou Prefecture is out of control, and there is no trace of the Qing army on the official roads; and those road bullies who set up cards to collect fees will respectfully let them go after seeing the dealer's flag, so the arms purchased by Zhuang Yuncheng flowed smoothly all the way.

    With the banker's successive victories, a large number of Jin gentry suspected of participating in Ming history cases defected to his banner. During this period, a large number of local officials took the opportunity to extort money, causing people to panic; many scholars were obviously not on the blacklist, but they were  He was tortured very hard by local officials, and he mistakenly believed that even if he lost his family and property, he would probably not be able to escape the crime of treason.  In the past, these desperate scholars had no choice but to hope for mercy from the government. However, Huzhou Prefecture Green Camp could not even defeat two landlords, causing the prestige of Zhejiang Green Camp to be ruined.

    Soon someone from Jiaxing came to see Zhuang Yuncheng secretly, and through the latter's matchmaking, he ordered twenty rifles from Anlesi's shopkeeper at a high price of one hundred and eighty taels of silver each.  Zhuang Yuncheng and Zhu Youming, who were invincible in fighting all over Huzhou, also sent support to Jiaxing Prefecture because of the reduced pressure - twenty riflemen and more than a hundred armored villagers.  The Jin gentry in Huzhou knew very well that the soldiers in the provincial capital were unlikely to be easily mobilized. Now they not only had to support the Jiaxing uprising, but also had to burn the flames of war to Ningbo and Shaoxing Prefectures to form a siege on Hangzhou. In this way, the soldiers in the provincial capital  The horses are even more afraid to be sent to Huzhou easily.

    At the end of April and the beginning of May, Jiaxing Prefecture was also in chaos. After the Jin gentry had the courage to unite because of the victories of Huzhou Zhuang Yuncheng and Zhu Youming, the Green Camp completely turned into a paper tiger.  As in Shandong, as long as most of the local gentry formed an alliance, the green camps in prefectures and counties began to escape the control of the prefect and county magistrates. When two small-scale conflicts broke out in Jiaxing, reinforcements sent by Zhuang Yuncheng and Zhu Youming and rifles purchased  Once again exerted great power.  The Jiaxing Prefecture, which had failed to suppress the situation, learned from the experience of Huzhou Prefecture and did not dare to send out soldiers to run around. Instead, it concentrated its efforts on defending the surrounding areas of the city.

    The Jin gentry in Huzhou and Jiaxing also came to the same conclusion as Zhuang Yuncheng and others, that is, they need to purchase a large number of rifles from An's Arms Trading Company. This kind of weapon will give them the ability to protect themselves - even if they spend all their bribes, they still can't get it.  A guarantee of the safety of the clan, it is better to spend money to buy rifles, and the situation is becoming more and more obvious. As long as the Jin gentry unite, at least the government will have no way to deal with them.

    The shopkeeper said that one hundred rifles would be shipped in May. These goods were sold out. All the Jin gentry were eager to own a few. What made the Jin gentry feel that the only flaw was that An's Arms Firm did not have more cannons for sale.  , it has eight-door tiger squat cannon and has been sold out.

    On May 5th, the Jiaxing Prefecture's request for help report was sent to Hangzhou, and the Ningbo Prefecture also reported that the wealthy households under the rule were acting abnormally, as if they were making a connection that was not conducive to the imperial court. The defeat of Huzhou and Jiaxing Green Camp not only brought trouble to eastern Zhejiang  The greater confidence of the Jin gentry also caused the officials in Ningbo and Shaoxing to have no confidence in force suppression. They suffered greater losses in previous battles with the Sichuan army and were severely infiltrated by Zhoushan.  The biggest problem is Ningbo Prefecture. Because of the maritime ban, Ningbo Prefecture has lost half of its tax revenue. It originally relied on support from the provincial capital to survive.  Now the Zhoushan army is more active, and the attitude of the Jin gentry is becoming more and more unreliable. The Ningbo government is wailing that if the provincial capital does not send troops to garrison, it will be completely unable to support itself.

    "Ask for help from the imperial court." Zhao Guozuo, who was helpless, could only plead guilty to Beijing, hoping that Beijing could reduce some of Zhejiang's taxes and agree to amnesty for those involved in the Ming Dynasty case. In fact, many of the Jin gentry who are making trouble now will not be in trouble at all. They blame local officials.  Their insatiable greed led them all to join Zhuang Yuncheng in betraying the emperor.

    At the same time, Zhao Guozuo also hopes that Beijing will send some Han Eight Banners to Zhejiang, or lift the firearms restrictions on the Green Camp. Now even if Zhao Guozuo wants to buy some rifles from Deng Ming to form a balance of force with the Jin gentry, he cannot issue these equipment to his subordinates.  of troops.

    "But you still have to look on the bright side in everything." Seeing the low morale of his staff, the Governor of Zhejiang encouraged them: "The only rebellious parties in Huzhou and Jiaxing are tigers squatting and cannons. This is what Bao Guogong's consul assured me. This is  There is no problem in planting firearms to defend their houses, but they cannot be used to attack county towns. When the court understands the situation in Zhejiang, it will at least give us some tiger squatting cannons. When the time comes, the officers and soldiers will fight against these village owners, and the equipment will not be bad.  Even if you get too much, you still have the ability to protect yourself.¡±
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