Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 100: King Xiang: "My surname is Zhu, the same as Zhurong"

Zhu Changgan woke up suddenly and almost knocked the oil lamp on the table to the ground.

"Father..."

At this time, he realized that Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming had gotten up at some point and grabbed him.

"come over!"

"Don't make a sound, and don't call me father." Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming opened the hole under the kang for burning fire in winter, "Hide first, don't come out."

"Father, what's going on? Is it so serious?"

Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming swallowed hard and said, "You don't know that horse bandits are very vicious. They not only steal money, but also kill people."

The noise outside was getting louder and louder. Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming first locked the door, and then moved all the tables and benches to the door.

"What a pity that the earth pit cannot be moved." King Xiang thought for a while and took out a wooden bench, holding it in his hand, and placed it at the door and window.

"Fuck you!" Zhu Changgan was almost stunned and almost cursed.

Right now, banditry is raging in Huguang and Henan areas, and I am trying to think of ways to calm them down.

It's not that there is no solution, but we are going to discuss countermeasures after the Qing Dynasty's entry into the Pass is over.

I left a special message to Chongzhen a few days ago, asking him not to rush to Beijing, but I didn’t expect that he still went to Beijing?
What he couldn't have expected was that something happened on the first day.

……

"Kill!"

There were constant shouts and screams outside, and arrows hit the roof of the inn, making a "rap~rap~" sound, but there were more sounds of hand-to-hand combat.

Those horse thieves didn't seem to expect that there was such a strong resistance in this inn.

He suddenly rushed in and the fighting became intense in an instant.

The guards of Prince Xiang's mansion and the two hundred or so hired men were temporarily in a stalemate with the other side, but the other side's number was too large, and the hired men saw that there was no way out, so they turned around and ran away.

"Liu Laosan, you son of a bitch..."

Lu Tinghui on the second floor watched the other person run away with red eyes, almost bursting with tears.

But before he could finish his words, he was shot in the thigh by an arrow.

Lu Tinghui gritted his teeth, roared suddenly, turned around, raised the big knife in his right hand, and chopped it on the head of a horse thief.

"Pfft~"

A stream of hot blood dyed his entire chest red.

But the next moment, a figure had come close to him at some point, and the ghost-head sword in his hand was suddenly raised, slashing towards Lu Tinghui's back.

Lu Tinghui reacted instantly, and with a sudden move, he knocked the opponent's knife away.

He swung the knife back and slashed the man's neck. The man staggered a few steps, stepped on empty air, and fell from the building.

"Old Jiang...ah~Go to hell!"

Shouts, roars, howls of pain...intertwined together, the entire inn fell into complete chaos at this moment.

There were too many thieves, but there were only dozens of guards in the palace. Lu Tinghui was no match for four people and was injured.

Some thieves had already started to break into the door. The wooden door of the inn could not withstand the chopping of knives and axes. They broke open the door in a few strokes, rushed in, and suddenly opened the things in the room.

"There is silver..."

The next moment, he was hacked to death by a palace guard, and blood flowed all over the ground.

Then more thieves rushed in. The room was small to begin with, and dozens of people crowded in.

The figures suddenly became a mess.

There was a fire outside the inn, lighting up the entire inn.

Ping pong, bang bang~ the flash of knives and flames, along with shouts and screams, lit up the entire night sky at this moment.

A guard from the palace was thrown down from the second floor. Lu Tinghui shouted, "Jing Yibo? Go to hell~"

He suddenly shouted loudly and chopped down another thief.

But then there was a loud noise and a figure rushed over. The man was holding a guillotine, more than eight feet tall, and most of his body was stained red with blood.

"How dare you kill my brother?" He looked over here ferociously like an iron tower, and rushed towards Lu Tinghui like a madman.

Lu Tinghui could only fight with the enemy while waving the sharp knife in his hand.

The weapons collided, creating countless sparks.

……

Inside the room, a thief pushed the door hard but found it couldn't be opened, so he got in through the window.

"Go to hell!" King Xiang Zhu Yiming suddenly shouted, and then with a loud bang, he smashed the bench in his hand hard on the back of the opponent's neck.

After two hits, the opponent stopped moving, and Zhu Yiming's face and body were stained with blood.

But before he could catch his breath, someone else climbed in through the window, the knife in his hand flashing coldly in the firelight.

Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming didn't care about anything else. He quickly threw away the bench in his hand, picked up the dead man's knife from the ground, and slashed at the other party. The thief who wanted to get in obviously knew some tricks and dodged it in an instant.

Then he waved the sharp knife and attacked Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming.

"Bang bang bang~" The door of the room was suddenly smashed wildly, and the tables and chairs piled at the door also loosened at this moment.

Seeing that the situation was urgent, Zhu Changgan suddenly crawled out from under the kang and leaned against the tables and chairs.

"My son..."

When Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming saw this, he was about to speak, but he heard Zhu Changgan say, "How can I let you, father, face danger alone, while I live alone?"

"Brothers fight together to fight tigers, fathers and sons fight together in battle. If we die, we die together, and if we live, we live together."

Someone outside shouted, "Hurry up, grab as much as you can, don't wait until daybreak. Once the government troops come, you won't be able to escape even if you want to."

"Bang~" Zhu Changgan's pupils suddenly shrank.

Because he saw that the guard leader Lu Tinghui was actually smashed away by a big man's guillotine.

When I got up from the ground, the left half of my face was swollen.

"Pfft~"

The next moment, his head was chopped off. This scene shocked all the guards in the palace, but the thief was roaring and almost boiling with anger.

"The second in command is so brave!"

"The second in command is so brave..."

"Kill these idiots!" the big man said in a muffled voice with a gloomy face.

He brought more than 500 people with him and almost failed here. How could he bear this?

"Kill me!"

I was really angry.

……

Several houses outside the inn were set on fire, whistling in the night wind, like a giant hand with a ferocious mouth.

The flames swayed like crazy tentacles, devouring everything they touched.

Shouts and screams continued to spread. With the death of Lu Tinghui, the guards of the palace all fled in all directions. Some went to chase and kill the thieves, while others rushed into the rooms to search for valuables.

"Father...what should I do?"

"Don't be afraid, we... we are wearing servants' clothes and we will find a way to get out later." Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming said he was not afraid, but the knife in his hand was shaking.

He looked at the bloody scene outside the inn.
The thieves scattered around and hacked and killed people in the inn.

It seems there is no way out.

Soon, there was no sound in the inn. Several thieves surrounded the room where Zhu Changgan and the others were. The blood on their bodies was like felt, and they looked hideous under the firelight.

Zhu Changgan clenched his fingers tightly, "It's over, it's over... I've been ruined by this stupid dog Chongzhen."

At this time, it would be a lie to say that I am not panicking.

I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen, but if both of us are dead, what’s the point of exchanging bodies?
The key is that his main line progress is only one twentieth, and the Ming Dynasty has only been continued for more than a hundred days. However, the financial reward is more than two million, which is enough to buy a house in a second- or third-tier city.

What the hell are you thinking? In more than 100 days, why buy a house?

At this moment, his brain worked rapidly, and he used everything in the room to the fullest extent. King Xiang had practiced martial arts when he was young, and although he was old, he still persisted in practicing boxing and kicking.

In a short period of time, several thieves died one after another.

"Ah~"

"puff!"

People were constantly being killed, and there were flames, blood, dust, and dirt... they were constantly reflecting each other.

at last,

The big man who was called the second in command came over with a guillotine in his hand and said, "Get out of my way."

"drink!"

With a loud bang, the door was split open, and even Zhu Changgan was blown away, crashing onto the heated kang, and was knocked unconscious. Tieta kicked all the debris at the door open, raised the guillotine, and looked at King Xiang fiercely, "Old man, you..."

Just then, a woman in red came riding a horse.

"The boss!"

"The boss!"

"..."

All the thieves saluted the newcomer.

The woman was dressed in red, riding a red horse with a silver spear on her crotch, and carrying a large bow on her back. There were still half of the arrows left in her quiver.

Her beauty is not ordinary beauty, but a unique beauty all over her body. She does not seduce the world with her seductive looks and behavior, but dominates with her heroic spirit.

The woman shouted, "Rukeshan, I've told you so many times to save lives!"

"Have you found out? Who are they?"

"Is it an official, a businessman, or a commoner?"

The scene suddenly seemed to freeze.

The giant man put down the guillotine he had raised and dared not say a word.

The other two thieves who were about to take action also quickly lowered their heads.

Even the King Xiang and his son inside the house could not help but look through the broken door and window at the woman on the chestnut horse outside.

Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming's Adam's apple rolled. It was actually her?

A few days ago, I heard that there was a female bandit in Xinyang, known as "Red Lady".

Thousands of people revolted.

This person was none other than Hong Niangzi, the female general of the uprising army during the Ming Dynasty, also known as "Rope Skill Hong Niangzi".

Originally, she was an actress who performed acrobatic tricks similar to tightrope walking to make a living.

Unfortunately, people were living in poverty during the reign of Chongzhen. Even farmers became refugees, not to mention street performers, who could not make a living. In addition, she was skilled in martial arts, so she followed her master and some poor peasants to revolt in the area around Jigong Mountain in Xinxiang.

He embarked on a path of robbing the rich to help the poor.

After her master died, she became the top person.

"Senior sister, this..." Lukeshan pointed at Prince Xiang and Zhu Changgan and his son in the room and said in a muffled voice: "They killed several of us. If we don't kill them... what is it worth?"

The moment Zhu Changgan saw this woman, he suddenly lost his mind.

Beautiful, really beautiful.

Her beauty is of the ultimate kind, a beauty that is both strong and gentle.

The heroism of the man and the grace of the woman, the combination of strength and gentleness, are beauties that make others envious.

Especially those eyes, which are the most captivating.

Matchmaker?
It was not until this moment that Zhu Changgan suddenly realized who the person in front of him was?

In the tenth year of Chongzhen, she had actually rebelled?
No, she can't be considered a rebel now.

To be more precise, she should be called a bandit. Now she should be the king of the mountain with a group of acrobatic artists and a large number of poor people.

Being called "King of the Mountain!"

Soon after, he joined Li Zicheng's army and marched north to Beijing with Li Zicheng...

"Who are you?" Hongniang's eyes were blurry and cold, interrupting Zhu Changgan's thoughts.

Before Zhu Changgan could say anything, he heard Prince Xiang crying, "My righteous man, we were going to Beijing to take the imperial examination. We passed by here and stayed for one night before continuing on our way. I don't know how we got involved. These people wanted to kill my son with knives, so I had to fight back..."

As he said this, he pulled Zhu Changgan aside, and with his bloodstained hands, he took out something from a package beside him, "Please look, my righteous man, this is our document. My son is the first in the provincial examination and the first in the provincial case."

Hongniang jumped off her horse and took it with some doubt.

As an artist, she naturally knew some words. "Xiangyang Prefecture, the first in the prefecture? This name..."

"Oh my... my dear mother, why am I so careless? What should I do?" Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming's eyes suddenly widened and he cried in agony, "Son, I am sorry for you. What... what should I do?"

In fact, when Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming saw Lai riding towards him, he had already recognized who the other person was.

So he just deliberately defiled the first two characters of his name "Zhu Changgan" with his bloody hands.

In this world, the only people with the surname "Zhu" and those who use the character "Chang" as their generation name are the royal family.

He had to do this to save his life.

As for having their names tarnished, ordinary people would certainly not be able to enter Beijing again and could only return to their hometowns and ask the prefect to write another document.

But for the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty, especially Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming, as long as they could meet the emperor, their names were not a problem. The most important thing at the moment was to save their lives.

"My name is Zhu Yiming, and this is my son, Zhu Yonggan."

"Zhu Rong's Zhu?"

Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming nodded quickly, "The righteous man is transparent, that is Zhurong's Zhu."

Inside the inn, the fire burned even more fiercely, charring the corpses in the yard.

Hong Niangzi stared at the two men with burning eyes, "We are in need of people who can read and write in the village, so don't kill these two."

There was a person in the yard groaning in pain, looking at Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming and saying, "Save me, save me..."

But before Zhu Yiming could react, the two-meter-tall Lukeshan suddenly raised the guillotine, and the man could no longer make a sound.

Lukeshan grinned at Hongniangzi, "He's going to die anyway, so we might as well send him off as soon as possible."

Lady Hong glared at him and said, "Go back to the village and kneel down in front of your master's grave!"

No one noticed the chopsticks held in the hand of King Xiang behind his back. If Lukeshan had not taken action first, he would have killed the other person.

There is no other reason. The other party knows King Xiang's background, and there is no guarantee that the other party will reveal the truth in order to save his life.

……

On the way back to the village,

The dark clouds in the sky are like an overturned ink bottle, and the "ink" naturally flows out.

Suddenly, a strong wind blew up, the trees were blown to and fro, and the leaves and banana leaves were rustling.

Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming and Zhu Changgan had their hands and feet tied, thrown into the cargo, and taken back to the mountain stronghold together.

When they arrived at the mountain stronghold, it was just dawn. In the dim light, Chongzhen suddenly sat up, looked around, and his eyes widened.

But Chongzhen and Zhu Changgan exchanged positions again.

"Father..." Zhu Yiming slapped him hard on the face and looked around. Fortunately, the wind was very strong at the moment and he could not hear clearly even though they were face to face.

He breathed a sigh of relief and then said, "Call me dad, don't you want to live anymore?"

He swallowed dryly, "Dad...what happened?"

"Are you scared? We've been caught..."

Only then did Chongzhen notice the sound of horse hooves, the sharp flash of swords and guns, and the blood-stained thieves not far away.

"Gudu!"

Chongzhen turned his head and looked around, his throat couldn't help rolling and he kept swallowing saliva.

"The boss!"

"The boss!"

Lady Hong nodded to everyone and said tenderly, "It's going to rain, everyone come and help!"

Chongzhen finally realized that everything he saw was real. He had been captured by the rebels. Some died, some fled. Only Prince Xiang and himself were still alive. It was a blessing in disguise.

The rebels outside were wearing straw raincoats and going in and out, fighting the heavy rain to snatch goods, and the rain water splashed high under their feet.

Among the rebels, there were old people, women, and children... They braved the wind and rain to move things inside, and they were all very happy.

The scene was also extremely lively.

Just as he was in a daze, a very beautiful woman holding an oil-paper umbrella walked up to him, "Zhu Yonggan?"

Prince Xiang was so frightened that he kicked Chongzhen on the buttocks, "I'm calling you, but don't make a sound!"

"Oh, yes, yes, yes..." Chongzhen quickly agreed.

"Untie them both, give them some food, and give them some dry clothes." Hongniang ordered several of her men to untie the ropes of Prince Xiang and Chongzhen.

"Also, gather all the children in our village and tell them that from today on, they will have books to read and teachers to teach them."

"And this gentleman is the top judge in Xiangyang Prefecture!"

……

ps: I will listen to everyone's opinions carefully. If I owe you one chapter, I will make up for it with two chapters.

I have finished writing the detailed outline for the rest of the book today. I will write two chapters tomorrow and two chapters the day after tomorrow to make up for it all.

(End of this chapter)