After a bloody battle with the Qing army, the Ming army occupied Zhenjiang, but at this time Zhenjiang was no longer the pearl city on the Grand Canal. The less solid city walls were bombarded with several large holes by the Ming army artillery. There were corpses everywhere inside and outside the city, including the Qing army and ordinary residents in the city.

After Zhang Guozhu occupied Zhenjiang, he immediately led his team to re-emerge and threw the entire Zhenjiang incident to the later civil servant, Xie Qikun, the new prefect of Zhenjiang sent by the court.

Xie Qikun is from Nankang, Jiangxi Province, and is considered half of Jiang Yueguang's village party. When Jiang Yueguang was persecuted by Ruan Dacheng and left his official position, Xie Qikun was implicated and changed from a fourth-rank ritual doctor to a seventh-rank ritual chief.

However, Xie Qikun stood in the right team after supporting Zhu Lunkui. After Zhu Lunkui took office, he regained Xie Qikun's post and transferred him from the Ministry of Rites to the Censorate, and served as the right assistant censor. This time, Ma Cheng won a lot of territory and needed officials to govern the local area. Xie Qikun changed from the Censor's censor to the local official and served as the third-rank prefect of Zhenjiang.

Xie Qikun is a man who is very capable. He has been working since his tenure. While issuing an announcement on the people, he arranged for people to collect corpses inside and outside the city, and at the same time he also severely suppressed the gangsters who took advantage of the situation and the local gentry who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

You should know that Zhenjiang is the territory of the Donglin Party. In order to avoid property losses, many of these gentry shaved their hair to express their loyalty to the Qing Dynasty. However, no one expected that the feng shui would change, and Zhu Lunkui in Nanjing could turn over and beat the 400,000 Qing troops away.

At first, these gentry heard that Xie Qikun came to be the prefect and had fantasies, because Xie Qikun was Jiang Yueguang's village party, and he was considered the first half of the Donglin party, and his family was easy to talk to. But what disappointed these gentry was that Xie Qikun was not ruthless to them at all. As long as he shaved his head and changed his clothes, he had no discussion at all. The whole family was arrested and waited for the court to deal with it.

Zhu Lunkui had just settled the throne at this time and was just in need of using these unlucky guys to revive the court. Therefore, the killing of people was rolling, and more than 300 gentry who defected to the Qing Dynasty were killed in various places.

Although Xie Qikun had ruthless methods, after this iron-blooded suppression, Zhenjiang's atmosphere was clear and his vitality gradually began to recover. However, when the house was raining all night, Zhenjiang had just become a little stable, and the Lu King of Hangzhou proclaimed himself emperor.

At first, Xie Qikun did not take Lu Wang Zhu Chang seriously. Can Ma Cheng defeat the 400,000 Qing army, and still be afraid of your 150,000 rabies? But the subsequent military situation surprised Xie Qikun. Zhang Guozhu, who was invincible, suffered a defeat and finally lost Suzhou, the important town in the Taihu River Basin.

After Zhang Guozhu retreated to Zhenjiang, Xie Qikun discovered the horse. The new army led by Zhang Guozhu seemed to be defeated, and they all looked refreshed and raised their chests. Seeing this, Xie Qikun immediately knew what was going on. With the news that Ma Cheng was dismissed from office in Nanjing, Xie Qikun knew that Ma Cheng was raising the enemy and respecting himself.

Xie Qikun belongs to the Donglin Party and hates Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng very much. However, it is not appropriate to remove Ma Cheng from office in the country and external difficulties. Therefore, Xie Qikun wrote a memorandum to Emperor Zhu Lunkui, hoping that the emperor would not destroy the Great Wall himself. Now the right way is to be unanimous to the outside world.

But Xie Qikun's identity is too low. He is considered a big shot in the third rank, but he is not even a big deal in the center. His comments are like a mud bull.

There is no news.

Xie Qikun is here to care about state affairs, but Zhang Guozhu only stayed in Zhenjiang for five days before he had to retreat to Longtan Town. This scared Xie Qikun. Zhenjiang can be said to be the last line of defense in Nanjing. If Zhenjiang loses Nanjing, there is no danger to defend.

But Zhang Guozhu had already received Ma Cheng's secret order, so he could listen to Xie Qikun. No matter how Xie Qikun tried to keep him, he still left with his army.

The evacuation of the army made the originally stable Zhenjiang City panic again. The Zhenjiang City Wall has not been repaired yet and is completely unable to resist the Lu Wang's army. The residents in the city suffered from war and began to leave Zhenjiang and hide in the countryside.

Xie Qikun sighed when he saw this. He, a civil servant, had no soldiers in his hands. Even if he wanted to kill the enemy for the country, how many could he kill alone? Thinking of the emperor's kindness to his understanding, Xie Qikun decided to sacrifice himself for his country.

Just when Xie Qikun decided to commit suicide, news came from Suzhou that the Lu Wang's army stopped attacking and was going to celebrate the New Year in Suzhou. Xie Qikun, who received this news, was very happy and quickly sent someone to send a letter to Zhang Guozhu, asking Zhang Junmen to return to Zhenjiang quickly and take advantage of this gap to renovate the city walls, so that he would resist the Lu Wang's army in the beginning of spring next year.

But Zhang Guozhu had already received the news from Ma Cheng, and he wanted to give up the pressure on Zhu Lunkui in Zhenjiang. What can you do with your order from Xie Qikun? After receiving the news that Zhang Guozhu was not able to send troops, Xie Qikun completely gave up. It seemed that he would die for his country in the end.

Just when Xie Qikun was preparing to die for the country for the second time, good news came from Nanjing that the emperor wanted to re-activate Ma Cheng to deal with King Lu. After learning this news, Xie Qikun was already numb. No matter which force is around, Xie Qikun hopes to come sooner and not torture him like this.

On the third day of the first lunar month after the New Year, Ma Cheng finally led the army to fight. On the 14th day of the first lunar month, Ma Cheng came to Zhenjiang and re-occupied this important canal transport town on the south bank of the Yangtze River.

After receiving the order, Xie Qikun didn't know whether it was joy or sorrow. He was the Donglin Party and was born to be disgusted with eunuchs such as Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng. However, at present, only Ma Cheng can restore the Ming Dynasty, so Xie Qikun was very conflicted.

But no matter what Xie Qikun thinks, he will go out of the city to welcome Ma Cheng according to his identity. After all, Ma Cheng's identity is to supervise Jiangnan and take charge of government and military affairs in various parts of Jiangnan. Although Xie Qikun, as a third-rank official, was not controlled by Ma Cheng, it was enough for him to be dealt with by Ma Cheng.

On the morning of the 14th day of the first lunar month, the prefect Xie Qikun and the magistrates under Zhenjiang, Jintan, Danyang and Liyang, stood outside the damaged Zhenjiang city gate, waiting for the arrival of Ma Cheng, the commander of Jiangnan.

Xie Qikun and others stood outside for an hour, and they didn't see Ma Cheng's army coming from afar. Xie Qikun was full of anger, but there was no way. Ma Cheng managed the government affairs of several provinces in Jiangnan, and was Xie Qikun's direct superior.

Although Ma Cheng came late, he did not have any bureaucratic style. He got off the horse and walked quickly from afar, which made Xie Qikun, who was full of resentment, feel a little more uncomfortable.

"Xie Qikun, the governor of Zhenjiang Prefecture, and the magistrates of the four counties under his jurisdiction, Jintan, Danyang and Liyang, met with the General Secretary!"

After Xie Qikun finished speaking, he was about to kneel down to salute, but Ma Cheng quickly helped Xie Qikun up and said, "Sir Xie, this gift is free of cold weather. Please get up quickly!" The four magistrates behind Xie Qikun saw it.

In this way, instead of kneeling down, he stood respectfully on the side with his hands hanging down.

Ma Cheng looked up and down at Xie Qikun, and then said, "Mr. Xie, I have heard of you for a long time. As an official, you are honest, neither humble nor arrogant. You are really a role model for us!"

Xie Qikun originally had no good impression of the Ma family and son. Although Ma Cheng was complimenting him, Xie Qikun still said: "There is a junior official who has only fulfilled his duty as a scholar!"

Xie Qikun said this sentence very rudely, ridiculing Ma Cheng for not studying, and mocking Ma Shiying for not being a good student. The four magistrates behind Xie Qikun are all scholars, and the second most one is a juren, so naturally they can understand what Xie Qikun means, and they all have their faces turned pale.

Zhenjiang is not far from Nanjing, and everyone knows who Ma Cheng is in front of him. He is a sinister and vicious villain with a honey sword on his stomach. It is really unwise to offend such a villain now.

Behind Ma Cheng was Wang Xian, the chief of the Marquis of Zhenguo. Although Wang Xian was just a scholar, he understood Xie Qikun's sarcasm. Wang Xian looked at the ignorant Xie Qikun and laughed in his heart that this guy was going to be in trouble.

Everyone thought Ma Cheng must be furious, but then they knew that Ma Cheng was like nothing happened and said with a smile: "Okay, let's go to the city now! Our army of governors will stay here in Zhenjiang for two months, and wait until the snow melts in March and march after it is marching!"

Xie Qikun didn't expect Ma Cheng to let him go. He was originally fighting for the danger of being impeached by Ma Cheng and was also cursing the father and son who were harming the country and the people. But now seeing that Ma Cheng had no reaction at all, Xie Qikun had no choice but to follow Ma Cheng into the city.

The war a year ago caused great damage to Zhenjiang Prefecture, and most of the prefect's yamen was burned down. After Xie Qikun took office, he raised funds from many sources and reluctantly repaired the main hall of the yamen.

Standing in front of the broken prefect's office, Ma Cheng sighed, "I remember there is a saying that people suffer, and people suffer when they perish. Now the world is in chaos and suffering!" After Ma Cheng said that, he turned to the four magistrates and said, "You four must work hard and love the people. Don't let me know what harms the people. Otherwise, I will never let them go, do you know?"

The four magistrates did not have Xie Qikun's true nature. After Ma Cheng said this, he quickly promised that he would do as the Supervisor said and manage the people under his jurisdiction.

Xie Qikun didn't expect Ma Cheng to say this. In his impression, the Ma family father and son did everything they could do and only attack dissidents. But now he didn't expect Ma Cheng could say things that were diligent and loved the people.

"Master General, Zhenjiang's entire government was destroyed by a military disaster last year. Now the entire government lacks food. Please help solve it!"

Last year, the Qing Dynasty set up the logistics base in Zhenjiang. In addition to collecting grain from various parts of Nanzhili, it also collected the grain from Zhenjiang Prefecture. However, unexpectedly, the grain collected was burned by Ma Cheng in Longtan Town. Now, more than Zhenjiang Prefecture, most of the prefectures around Nanjing are short of food. Many people starved to death due to shortage of food this winter.
Chapter completed!