Shang Kexi: You unfilial son!

The ladder trucks had barely been attached to the city wall when, urged by their generals, the Green Standard Army soldiers, one by one, biting their short swords and carrying the molten gold overhead, began to climb.

"Trying to press on in one fell swoop? Dream on!" Zhao Liangdong muttered, surveying the surroundings before waving his hand forward. "Thunderbolts! Throw them quickly! Throw them where there are lots of people! Don't worry about the cost!"

"Use the catapult to launch it, launch it far away, and blast these beasts who don't treat people like human beings to death."

"These beasts," Zhao Liangdong was referring to, of course, those Han Chinese generals who forced the Green Standard Army soldiers to be cannon fodder.

As Zhao Liangdong issued his military order, dozens of catapults were launched from the city wall. They were all modified from the beams and pillars of civilian houses and were not as powerful as real catapults. They could only throw gunpowder packages weighing ten or twenty kilograms fifty or sixty meters away.

But that's enough!

The gunpowder packs that had been thrown out landed in the crowd, and several Green Standard Army brigade officers and deputy officers were blown away!

A single explosion was enough to shatter the overwhelming momentum of the Green Camp, revealing that attacks could result in casualties.

Galdan brought a hundred flying thunder cannons this time, including a thousand primers and seven or eight hundred gunpowder packages weighing ten or twenty kilograms each, which was enough for the army.

Moreover, after half a month of dismantling, there were no houses left in Pei County. All the wood, mud bricks, and blue bricks were placed next to the city wall.

With sufficient manpower and resources to defend the city, the Qing army launched a two-hour assault before sounding the retreat, demonstrating that they came and went quickly.

This was not due to Kangxi's benevolence, but rather the result of nearly half a day of fierce attack. Of the more than 80,000 Green Standard Army soldiers, nearly 10,000 had already been killed or wounded. If the attack continued in this mindless manner, the army would mutini!

This isn't the late Ming Dynasty; those surrendered soldiers were so poor they only had one life left.

Inside the Qing army camp, Kangxi looked at Tuhai.

"Tu Hai, what should we do now?"

"This time, I have mobilized over 30,000 elite Green Standard Army troops from Jiangxi. We must break through the city and capture Galdan as soon as possible, otherwise, if Geng Jingzhong discovers this, he will surely march north to Ganzhou!"

Tu Hai hadn't expected Galdan to be so resilient. In the past, it was the Green Standard Army that did the sieges. Now that the Qing Dynasty had retreated to the southeast, the Green Standard Army generals such as Wang Fuchen and Zhao Liangdong had been subdued by the Han, and Tu Hai was at a loss!

"Your Majesty, Galdan has rushed south this time, so the city of Pei must be running low on supplies. If we can besiege it without attacking, he will surely come out to fight within five days!"

Kangxi nodded upon hearing this. He had been angered by Galdan several times, but he himself hadn't realized that their patience was becoming increasingly astonishing!

……

In the Prince Pingnan's mansion in Guangzhou, Shang Kexi was enjoying a bowl of snake soup with relish, while a beautiful woman of about thirty years old wiped his mouth with a handkerchief beside him.

"Your Highness, the five-step snake in Yongzhou Prefecture is extremely venomous. It is said to be able to dispel wind and dampness. As a northerner, Your Highness should eat more of it."

The beautiful woman's soft, gentle words made the seventy-year-old Shang Kexi blush. Just as he was preparing to catch up on his senior citizen classes, the small door to the villa was kicked open.

Covered in blood, Shang Zhixin walked into the courtyard step by step, carrying a long knife. After throwing a severed head on the ground, he coldly stared at Shang Kexi.

Looking at the blood-stained human head on the ground, Shang Kexi was initially stunned, not understanding what was going on. But when she could clearly see the face of the head, tears welled up in her eyes. She stood up and knelt on the ground, holding the head in her hands.

"Loyal brother!"

After letting out a wail, Shang Ke looked at Shang Zhixin with a mixture of joy and anger.

"You unfilial son, you've gone mad! This is your Uncle Zhong, the brother who has fought alongside me across the country, the one who's taken knives for me!"

How could you do that?

At this moment, Shang Zhixin was completely blinded by Wu Sangui's letter about dividing the world equally, and he no longer cared about anything else. He directly pointed his knife at Shang Kexi.

"I'm not crazy, I want you to abdicate right now!"

"I must control the troops in Guangdong!"

Faced with his son's near-madness, Shang Kexi sat back down in his recliner, his anger gone, replaced by a calm expression and a thoughtful look.

"A message!"

"Wu Sangui must have told you something, right? I guess it's about sharing the empire with you after destroying the Qing Dynasty?"

Shang Zhixin knew his father well; once he stopped getting angry and became gentle, it meant he was about to make his move. So he stopped wasting words with Shang Kexi.

"Father, you guessed right. Wu Sangui had no sons, but how old is his grandson, Wu Shifan? Once the Qing Dynasty is overthrown, am I, Shang Zhixin, not even a child to deal with?"

"Don't even think about waiting for reinforcements; the brothers outside are all eager to advance!"

"You're getting old, and you're starting to block the way!"

After Shang Zhixin finished speaking, he grabbed Shang Kexi's concubine, brought her close to his nose and sniffed her, then looked at Shang Kexi with a cruel expression.

"Father, you may be old, but your heart is still young!"

"Give me military power, and you can continue your carefree life; otherwise, I will ruthlessly destroy your beauty!"

As expected of his own son, Shang Kexi had over thirty sons in his lifetime, and it seems that he loved this concubine the most. In the end, with a heavy heart, he took out a wooden box from under the rocking chair.

Shang Zhixin snatched the wooden box, opened it, and revealed a greedy look. Inside was an imperial seal, the very seal of a prince. Most of the veteran Green Standard Army generals in the region, besides recognizing Shang Kexi, only recognized this seal.

"Father, you are truly shrewd, carrying this thing with you at all times. It's been so hard for me to find it!"

Shang Zhixin mocked as he released the beautiful woman and turned to leave, but Shang Kexi shouted at him.

"You wicked beast! Your brothers all serve in the Qing court. What will become of them by doing this? The Qing court will kill them just like they killed Wu Yingxiong!"

Shang Kexi thought Shang Zhixin would have reservations, but to her surprise, Shang Zhixin burst into laughter upon hearing this, then revealed a look of disdain and ruthlessness.

"Don't worry, Father. If the Qing court dares to harm even one member of the Shang family, I will surely slaughter the Aisin Gioro clan and even dig up their ancestral graves!"

After Shang Zhixin finished speaking, he left without looking back. A dozen generals had already gathered outside the villa. When they saw Shang Zhixin come out with the seal in his hand, they couldn't wait to step forward and pay their respects.

"My lord!"

"Your Highness!"

……

For the first time, Shang Zhixin felt like he was above everyone else, and he started to feel arrogant. He waved to the crowd.

"Generals, you may dispense with the formalities!"

"Now that the Manchu Tartars occupy the prosperous southeast, tell me, where should our 50,000 troops go to fight?"

Indeed, at this time, Shang Kexi had 15,000 of his own elite troops and more than 30,000 members of the Green Camp.

These Green Standard Army soldiers outwardly obeyed the Qing court, but in secret they had long been bribed by Shang Kexi.

Jin Guangzu, the Guangdong Provincial Commander, was nearly fifty years old and had a stern appearance. He was originally a general who surrendered from the Southern Ming Dynasty. He became the Guangdong Provincial Commander under the Manchu Qing Dynasty by flattering the emperor. Now that he saw that the Manchu Qing Dynasty was weak, he took the initiative to contact Shang Zhixin.

"My lord, Wu Sangui has occupied Hunan and is now attacking Hubei. We should stick to our cooperative plan and head directly north to Nanchang, Jiangxi!"

"At that time, with Jiangxi and Guangdong under our control, and after defeating Geng Jingzhong in the south, this half of the country will be within our grasp!"