Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 227 Ambition

Ma Jixiang and the other two, under the escort of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, entered Guangdong along Guangxi. After receiving the news, Li Chengdong personally picked up Ma Jixiang, Wang Huacheng and Jin Bao, and then hosted a banquet for the three of them in Guangzhou Prefecture.

At the banquet, Li Chengdong's generals, Zhang Daoying and Wu Wenxian, kept boasting about Li Chengdong's achievements. After three rounds of drinking, Li Chengdong drank the wine in his cup in one gulp and asked the three people in a bad tone: "What contributions have the four surrendered generals of the Western bandits Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu, and Ai Nengqi made to the country that they are vying to be crowned kings? I have made great contributions to the country by recovering Guangdong, but why does the emperor only reward them with dukes?"

Wang Huacheng, who was arrogant in the court, could only laugh dryly and said perfunctorily: "The Duke's wish will be fulfilled in the future. When I return to the court, I will report it to the emperor."

Li Chengdong was delighted when he heard this and said, "Your Excellency is right. I will prepare a letter today to ask Your Majesty to confer the title of king to reassure the soldiers. Your Excellency does not have to wait until you return to the court. You can sign with me now!"

Wang Huacheng was stunned. How could this person be so shameless? How could he ask for the title of a king and drag him into it? Isn't this framing him? Wang Huacheng shook his head and evaded the question, saying, "It is not appropriate for civil officials of the imperial court to have a private relationship with military generals, let alone to jointly submit a petition. This is inappropriate, inappropriate!"

Wu Wenxian, a general under Li Chengdong, was furious and said, "You just said that the Marshal's achievements were enough to make him a king. Why are you trying to shirk your responsibility now? Are you trying to deceive us? You have to write this memorial even if you don't want to!"

Li Chengdong pretended to curse: "How can you be so rude to the prince? Since the prince said that my achievements are enough to make me a king, he will not go back on his word!"

Under Li Chengdong's gloomy eyes, Wang Huacheng reluctantly agreed to Li Chengdong's request, and Li Chengdong's cloudy sky immediately turned sunny, and he clapped his hands vigorously. Then a guard pushed open the door and walked in, holding a plate with a memorial on it. Li Chengdong picked up the memorial and placed it in front of Wang Huacheng, smiling and saying, "Please, Lord Wang."

Wang Huacheng's face turned red, but he still filled in his name on the memorial reluctantly. Jin Bao snorted coldly upon seeing this. Li Chengdong put away his smile upon hearing the voice and looked at Jin Bao coldly, but Jin Bao stiffened his neck and said nothing, showing no fear at all.

Wu Wenxian and Zhang Daoying took turns persuading, threatening and bribing Jin Bao, but he still refused to sign. Ma Jixiang saw that the situation was becoming more and more awkward and Li Chengdong was about to lose his temper, so he hurriedly said, "Don't be upset, Duke. I'll sign, I'll sign." Then he picked up the pen and quickly signed his name.

Seeing that Jin Bao was stubborn, Li Chengdong snorted coldly. He thought that two signatures were enough. He could rely on his own troops to be crowned king. He asked these people to sign just to make it look less embarrassing. Then Li Chengdong was too lazy to pay attention to Jin Bao. He accepted the memorial, ordered the guards to leave, and started talking about romantic matters again.

When the atmosphere at the banquet calmed down a bit, Li Chengdong commented on the place the three men were going to, saying, "Meng Jun is a thief, sinister and cunning, with ulterior motives. He is arrogant and claims to be the king. His wolfish ambition is obvious. I assert that the future disputes and chaos in the world will be caused by this man."

Ma Jixiang nodded quickly and responded, "That's a good idea, Duke!"

Li Chengdong hummed complacently, and then said: "However, you don't have to worry. If this thief Meng Jun refuses to withdraw from Nandu, I will send a large army to defeat him and kill him."

At this time, only Ma Jixiang agreed at the banquet. Wang Huacheng and Jin Bao had cold faces, still resentful of Li Chengdong's coercive behavior. Li Chengdong then said a few more words, and seeing that no one responded, he felt a little bored. Then he snorted coldly and said, "I'm tired. Please do as you please." After that, he left on his own without paying any attention to the two of them.

The three of them looked at each other in bewilderment. Now it was really different from the past. When had there ever been such a domineering person among the gentry officials around the emperor? He treated the emperor as nothing and asked for the title of a prince. After Li Chengdong left, Jin Bao cursed in a low voice: "The thief is so arrogant and has no respect for the emperor. He is really a great threat to the country!"

After saying this, Jinbao looked solemn and worried. He knew that such a rampant gang would bring chaos to the court and endanger the country. However, he felt helpless and powerless to change the situation.

At this time, Wang Huacheng had no intention of fighting with Jin Bao. They drank some more wine in a depressed mood and then went back to their rooms.

After a night's rest, Wang Huacheng, Jinbao's Ma Jixiang and the other two hurriedly left Guangzhou with their guards early in the morning, as if avoiding the plague, and headed for Fujian.

Li Chengdong did not care. After ordering someone to submit the memorial to the court in Anlong Prefecture, he sent his confidant to contact Jin Shengheng, intending to join him in attacking Meng Zhou.

Li Chengdong planned to seize Fujian first and then Zhejiang. He had fought with Meng Jun twice and suffered great losses both times. He knew that since Meng Jun was able to kill the Manchu Prince Lekedehun, his troops must not be a motley crowd. So he let the fool Jin Shengheng go and touch Meng Jun's main force first to attract their attention, and he would take advantage of the opportunity to seize Fujian and Zhejiang.

After receiving Li Chengdong's letter, Jin Shengheng was hesitant and said to his confidant Wang Deren: "Li Chengdong's private expedition without the imperial order may be inappropriate."

Wang Deren advised: "In the past, Zuo Gong had an army of 800,000 and the whole world was watching. He could decide the dethronement and enthronement with a single word. Now the emperor is far away in Anlong and he has no soldiers under his command. All he relies on are the western bandits. Besides, how could the western bandits be loyal to the emperor and love the country? The world has come to this point, and the fault lies with the two western bandits. If the commander-in-chief can capture Nanjing, wouldn't it be the destiny?" At the end, Wang Deren could not help but lower his voice.

Jin Shengheng was startled, then looked around and whispered, "Don't talk nonsense, don't talk nonsense!" Although he said so, he couldn't help but feel distracted because of Wang Deren's words.

The two discussed for a long time, and finally Jin Shengheng agreed to Li Chengdong's plan. Li Chengdong marched into Fujian, while Jin Shengheng led his troops directly to Nanjing. Both Jin and Wang said that Li Chengdong was a man with great ambitions but little talent, just like Yuan Shao in the Three Kingdoms, who was willing to do great things but cherished his body, and forgot his life when seeing small profits. What's the point of seizing Fujian, a place that military strategists don't fight for? If they took Nanjing, wouldn't they be more prestigious and be able to command the world?

Afterwards, Jin Shengheng issued a strict order in Jiangxi, recruiting soldiers and forcibly conscripting able-bodied men to serve in the army. It was a time of chaos and the people were suffering. Jin Shengheng's move was like adding insult to injury, and the people suffered greatly.

Under his order, officials went out to extort money and grain from the people, using every possible means. Under the heavy taxes and levies, farms and houses were deserted, merchants closed their doors, and the people were full of resentment. However, Jin Shengheng did not care about the lives of the people at all, and his behavior was extremely cruel.

Jiangxi had already experienced war, and now it was hit by this disaster, making life even more difficult for the people. Jin Shengheng's tyranny made the people of Jiangxi say: "Although the Qing Dynasty was tyrannical, the Ming Dynasty was far inferior to the Qing Dynasty!"