The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

"The Yi army not only has dozens of Hongyi cannons, but the shells are also very powerful and can be fired accurately."

"Yes, our army's artillery was just placed, but half of it was destroyed by the Yi army's artillery."

"That small person in the Wei army is very vicious when facing ten thousand enemies. It's impossible to guard against him."

"Even if you throw away cannons and ten thousand enemies, the soldiers of the Wei army are more difficult to fight than the Ming army and the Shun army. They are not afraid of death, but they have strong armor and sharp blades. Almost all of them are Ming army servants or our soldiers. The combat effectiveness of the vest.”

"It may be an exaggeration to say that Sergeant Wei's soldiers are as powerful as our army's vests, but they are definitely not inferior to our army's infantry."

"···"

After listening to the generals of the Southern Route Army, Dorgon and Jierhalang could not help but frown deeply and fell silent for a moment.

Perhaps these generals exaggerated the strength of the Yi army in their words, but they would never lie collectively. If they do this, all it takes is one soldier to tell the truth and the lie will be exposed.

In addition, although almost everyone in the Eight Banners Army who returned from Abatai was injured, it is enough to show how tragic the battle in Sangyuan Town was.

And this proves that the fighting power of the Yi army is probably as strong as Abatai and others said.

Dorgon had to face this fact no matter how unwilling he was.

"You should retreat first." Dorgon waved his hand and ordered all his generals to withdraw. Only he, Jirhalang and Abatai were left in the hall.

"You don't have to kneel anymore, get up." Dorgon said to Abatai again.

Abatai's knees hurt, so he stood up unceremoniously.

Dorgon then said: "Do you think the Qing Dynasty still has hope to occupy Hebei?"

Abate was still angry and had no idea about the overall situation, so he simply remained silent.

Ji'erhalang said: "I'm afraid it will be difficult - if Abatai met only the top elites in the Wei army, it would be okay. But according to the intelligence learned by the army, these more than 10,000 people were numbered 'Fifth trip'.

Although this number is strange, if you think of it according to the literal meaning, I am afraid that the Yi army has at least 50,000 to 60,000 such elite troops. "

Jierhalang not only made great achievements in battle, but also was not bad in culture. Not only was he proficient in Chinese culture, but he was also at an average level. The same was true for Dorgon.

Therefore, after learning the number of the fifth brigade of the Yi Army, they had some guesses.

After all, Dorgon was a little unwilling and said: "We still know too little about the Yi army. Maybe we can spend a lot of money to have spies go to Shandong and Henan to find out more information about the Yi army before making a decision."

Ji'erhalang was more conservative and said: "No matter what, we should first report the battle of Mulberry Town to the emperor; in addition, we also need to have the two groups of troops, Haug and Azig, withdraw and shrink the defense.

In this way, it will be more convenient whether it is to concentrate the troops and fight against the Yi army later, or to withdraw the troops directly outside the pass. "

Dorgon nodded after hearing this and sighed: "This is the only way we can do it first."

···

There is no airtight wall in the world. Although Dorgon and other senior officials tried their best to conceal the news of the Qing army's defeat in the battle of Sangyuan Town, the news soon came out.

After all, Abatai led thousands of defeated troops back to the capital, and his embarrassed appearance was seen by many people.

In an ordinary small courtyard in the west of the inner city, Zhou Yanru came to visit his "good in-laws" Feng Quan again, and he also brought a little brother, Gong Dingzi.

Speaking of which, although Zhou Yanru in this time and space was not destined to die by Emperor Chongzhen, his series of experiences after the fall of the Ming Dynasty made him suffer a lot.

Previously, he was served by Liu Zongming, and he had no choice but to extract the money (bribery) he had "hard-earned" to receive. Later, he gave up on himself and exposed many other corrupt officials of the Ming Dynasty.

As a result, although he still held the position of Dashun Zuofu after he was released, he actually became a pauper drifting to the north.

Many of the people he used to know were also impoverished by Li Zicheng, and some of them were even provided by him.

Therefore, even if he wanted to find someone to borrow money to improve his life, there was no one to borrow from.

In the end, it was Gong Dingzi, who was originally an inconspicuous military officer in the Ming court, who gave him a little help and allowed him to survive the difficult month before.

Zhou Yanru originally thought that after this period of time, when Li Zicheng knew about his ability to govern the country, he would naturally reuse him and reward him with gold and silver.

Unexpectedly, it didn't take long for Li Zicheng to be defeated by Wu Sangui and the Qing army in Shanhaiguan. He abandoned the capital and fled westward in embarrassment.

Moreover, Li Zicheng only cared about bringing gold and silver treasures, and did not care about bringing them, the surrendered ministers of the former Ming Dynasty.

However, at that time, when Zhou Yanru and others saw the Shun army fleeing in panic, they felt that Dashun was probably a rabbit with a tail that could not grow, and they had no interest in continuing to follow Li Zicheng, so they simply stayed in the capital and waited for their loyal next master of the Forbidden City. .

Not long after, the next master came, but it was Qinglu.

Although Zhou Yanru felt a little uncomfortable, for the sake of glory and wealth, he still bit the bullet and went to the city gate with some other former Ming ministers to greet the Qing army. Perhaps because the Qing captives were foreigners after all, according to Gong Dingzi, who greeted the Qing troops together, there were much fewer Ming officials coming to the city gate to greet the Qing troops this time than the last time they greeted the Shun troops.

As for where the Ming Dynasty nobles from Beijing have gone?

The few who had backbone and loyalty committed suicide just like Chongzhen when the Shun army broke through and entered the city.

Most people later surrendered, but they became the focus of Liu Zongmin's efforts to serve him, collect stolen goods, and pay him. Many people did not make it through and simply disappeared.

Later, Li Zicheng abandoned the capital and fled west. I don't know whose advice he listened to, and started killing the remaining nobles of the Ming Dynasty. So most of the remaining noble nobles of the Ming Dynasty in Beijing were forced to go to the Ming Dynasty to be buried with their whole families.

Regarding the surrender to the Qing Dynasty, Zhou Yanru was not only a little bit resentful in his heart, but also more uneasy.

As the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty, Li Shun suffered such misfortunes from the Han family. Now that the master of the capital has become a foreigner, I don't know how he will treat them, the surrendered ministers of the former Ming Dynasty.

As a result, after the Qing army entered the city, although they were quite polite to these people, they gathered them all to the west of the inner city to settle down. They said they were settling in, but seeing that there were many soldiers and horses outside, you knew that they were actually being detained by the Qing army. .

Zhou Yanru regretted it at that time.

If he had known this, he might as well have given up his official robe and followed the example of other officials who refused to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, pretending to be a commoner and hiding in the outer city. In that case, there might be a chance to escape.

Most of the former Ming Dynasty ministers who were under centralized care were living like years during this period, feeling extremely miserable, but there were a few exceptions, and that was some people who had long been secretly colluding with the Qing army.

For example, his father-in-law Feng Quan.

He guessed that this father-in-law had hooked up with him several times before when the Qing army invaded.

Although Feng Quan is now under centralized supervision, he is often called for consultation. It is said that he has now been appreciated by Prince Guorui of the Qing Dynasty and has become his guest.

Zhou Yanru was afraid that he would eventually become a useless person in the eyes of the Qing court and be defeated by the Qing army, so he took the risk to visit Feng Quan at night.

As for bringing Gong Dingzi with him, not only because this little brother had helped him, but also because he felt that Gong Dingzi had a good mind and good eloquence - young people are always more perceptive than old people like him and would be a good helper.

Feng Quan was not happy to see Zhou Yanru.

"Why did my father-in-law come to see me this late at night?"

Zhou Yanru was not thick-skinned enough, so he muttered and said: "I heard that Bo Heng is appreciated by His Highness Prince Rui, so I came here to find out how long the superiors are going to keep us in custody?

In addition, we are also willing to serve the Qing Dynasty. If there is any errand, we can arrange it. "

Hearing this, Feng Quan took a deep look at Zhou Yanru, and then looked at Gong Dingzi.

After all, they were in-laws who had known each other for decades. Zhou Yanru immediately understood that Feng Quan had something secret to tell, and he wondered whether Gong Dingzi was reliable.

Zhou Yanru trusted Gong Dingzi quite a lot and said: "Bo Heng, don't worry, Zhilu (Gong Dingzi) is a strict-talking and loyal person."

Feng Quan didn't believe it.

Can loyalty be reduced to Chuang first and then to Qing?

"It's better to invite this little friend to the side room for tea first."

Gong Dingzi also understood what was going on. He stood up, handed over his hands, and followed a Feng family servant to retreat.

Feng Quan went to the door and took a look to make sure there was no one nearby. Then he walked to Zhou Yanru and said in a very low voice: "I heard that the Qing army fought against the Yi army in the south in Sangyuan Town, Hejian Prefecture. defeat."

"What?!" Zhou Yanru was quite surprised when he heard this, "The Yi army was able to defeat the Qing captives?!"

"No, I was surprised. At first I thought it was a rumor, but later I heard that thousands of Qing troops did come back from the south yesterday. Many of them were injured and dejected."

After hearing this, Zhou Yanru remembered his initial hesitation in Tianjin and regretted it even more. When he looked at Feng Quan next to him, he felt even more resentful.

Feng Quan said helplessly: "Why do my father-in-law think so of me? If I had known that Li Zicheng was not up to par, I would not have advised you to surrender. Fortunately, although you have surrendered to the Qing Dynasty now, you are not as valued by the Qing court as I am. There is still a chance to serve again."

Zhou Yanru smiled bitterly after hearing this, "I am now being detained here like other surrendered ministers. If I am in prison, how can I still have a chance to serve as an official?"

Feng Quan leaned close to Zhou Yanru's ear, lowered his voice, and said: "If I guess correctly, the Qing army probably has no intention of staying in the pass and will probably withdraw outside the pass. By then, they may not be able to control you people, my father-in-law." You can look for opportunities to escape.

When you get to the south, don't expect to be a high-ranking official there. Even if you can get an idle official position, that's fine. "

Feng Quan really tried his best to show Zhou Yanru the way.

The marriage relationship between the two was one of the reasons. More importantly, Feng Quan understood that he was too tied to the Qing army and it would be difficult to change his family. He would probably even be taken away by Dorgon.

He gave Zhou Yan advice on Confucianism and officialdom, just to leave a way for his family to retreat within the pass. (End of chapter)