golden scales

In March of the 17th year of Chongzhen, Yanjing fell.

In the same month, Emperor Nanxing was stationed in Shandong.

The officials in the south of the Yangtze River waited for the emperor's holy car to appear, but they did not wait for it.In Shandong, there was no news that the emperor came to the Shandong palace to set up an office to consult the government.For a while, rumors spread everywhere. Some said that the crown prince forced the palace, and the emperor was under house arrest; others said that the emperor had actually died in the country, and the crown prince kept the mourning secret in order to consolidate people's hearts.Those officials who knew that the emperor was indeed in Laizhou did not dare to figure out the inside story of the Tian family.

The reality is far less complicated.

When Zhu Cihong went to the temporary palace to meet Chongzhen and Zhou Hou, he generously kicked the ball at Chongzhen's feet:

"Should Father stay in Shandong, or go to Nanjing?"

Chongzhen also replied readily: "Nanjing." He attended Zhu Cihong's military council and political council once, and it can be seen from the audience that the crown prince has already built a team as if by magic.Although this team is not enough to govern the country, it is enough to distribute the prefectures and counties, especially at the moment it only occupies the two prefectures of Deng and Lai, as well as a part of Qingzhou prefecture.

In such a siege, the emperor's halo was concealed, and his orders could not even leave the inner hall.Although Chongzhen had thoughts of escaping such as suicide and Zen, but calm down and take a look, at any rate, Jiangnan is still the territory of Ming Dynasty, and soldiers can still be used in the Jianghuai area, so the country may not necessarily perish.What's more, the ancestors set up the two capitals, isn't it just for the purpose of retiring them in case of urgency?If you stick to the mausoleum, you will fail the painstaking efforts of your ancestors. .

Chongzhen didn't understand this truth before, but it was really difficult to calm down under pressure.After observing the military discussions of the Eastern Palace system, he asked for a map of Huang Mingkun, locked it in the room and looked at it for three days, and finally decided to go to Nanjing to revive the imperial court.

——If it doesn’t work, I will personally lead the army to fight!The ancestors can do it, the son can do it, why can't I!

Emperor Chongzhen's blood boiled for a while, and he only hoped that he could unify his army and horses after arriving in Nanjing and launch the Northern Expedition.

But the reality is cruel.

"I can't go." Zhu Cihong didn't really have the ability to make the emperor do multiple-choice questions, but just used this topic to draw out the reason he wanted to say, so as to avoid the emperor's thoughts.He shook his head and said, "Father, there is really no troops to dispatch. There are bandits in the mountains along the way, and it is too dangerous without a battalion of troops to escort them."

Chongzhen was at a loss for words for a while.He knew that Zhu Cihong had two battalions of soldiers, and he had seen the sand table with his own eyes, and knew that these two battalions would be distributed on a four hundred-mile long defense line.Moreover, that line of defense is all planned strongholds, not natural moats, making it even more difficult to defend.If troops were drawn from this stretched deployment of troops, Chongzhen himself would not be able to justify it.

"Zhou Yuji has set up a horse farm in Pingdu Prefecture and has started training cavalry battalions." Zhu Cihong said, "Tan Ning is also training a reserve battalion, as well as Xiao Tugeng's firearms department. Once these three troops form an army, we can go to Jiao Advance to the west, connect to Nanzhili, and escort the father back to Nanjing."

"Should we tell the world to order King Qin's army to come to Shandong?" Chongzhen was no longer able to dictate to Zhu Cihong as a father, and even the humble but hard-won life now was all due to the crown prince.

Zhu Cihong shook his head and said: "Father, if there is King Qin's army, he would have gone to Yanjing a long time ago. The current strategy is to rely on self-reliance."

"Aren't you worried about thieves going south?" Chongzhen frowned.

Zhu Cilang smiled, drew a triangle in the air, and said: "Father, it is 560 miles from Shanhaiguan to Yanjing, and it will be another 560 to [-] miles from the four cities of Yongping. Let's say the farthest Forget it, [-] miles, where can Li thief go south? He can only go to Wudi County, which is the junction of Shandong and Beizhili. Father, Wu Sangui is now the king of Guangning, and he can be passed down from generation to generation. Don’t you have any other ambitions? For example, destroying thieves for Emperor Ming, gaining more land in the pass, even occupying Shenjing, annexing Youyan.”

Human ambition never suddenly expands.Back then, Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty only wanted to be a Jinwu—an official position like the Great Han General of Jin Yiwei—and finally became the emperor.Another example is Li Zicheng, who at first just wanted to have enough to eat, and later became a Chuang general, and then a Chuang king. Now he dares to sit on the throne in a big way, thinking that he is the real man.

Wu Sangui is much taller than them, and he grew up in Liaodong for generations, and is Zu Dashou's nephew. The father and son have run the business for two generations, with a solid foundation.Although the number of Liaozhen soldiers and horses in his hand is not large, they are elite soldiers who have been honed with the Manchus all the year round, and their reputation is not small.If Li Zicheng comes out all over the city, Wu Sangui has absolutely no reason to sit idly by.

What's more, after Wu Sangui established himself in the Qing court, he tried his best to rebel despite his old age and frailty. How could such a character miss any opportunity to expand his power?

"If Li Zicheng hadn't all gone south," Zhu Cihong said with a smile, "I might not be afraid of him."

In addition to the more than 780 people in the two guard battalions, Zhu Cihong also had a hidden army—the Sichuan soldiers led by Luo Yukun.This large army successfully defeated Liu Zeqing's troops the day before yesterday. Under the protection of his servants, Liu Zeqing broke out of the encirclement and fled southward, never exceeding fifteen cavalry.In this battle, Luo Yukun suffered more than 20 casualties, captured [-] people from the Liu Department, captured [-] taels of silver, [-] good horses, [-] pack horses, donkeys and mules, [-] shi of grain, and some cotton cloth and satin.

These things were the loot that Liu Ze cleaned up and robbed Linqing. Before he could sell the spoils and enjoy them, Luo Yukun's copycat mandarin ducks caught up and beat them violently.

"I'm so dizzy that I chased him too far!" Luo Yukun finally breathed a sigh of relief after the battle, and accidentally exposed the truth about Liu Zeqing's siege.

Chen Chong was writing a report, when he heard that the pen flickered, and the ink on the paper suddenly became a ball.He was surprised and said: "I thought it was you who used your soldiers like a god and surrounded them just right."

"Who knows if these refugees can be beaten? How dare I just surround them like this?" Luo Yukun leaned over and glanced at Chen Chong's report: "You said we captured so many good things, will the crown prince reward you?"

"Reward?" Chen Chong said solemnly, "Do you know how many of us died?"

"More than 600, why? They're not our own people, they're all refugees." Although Luo Yukun cherishes the lives of refugees, the lives of fellow villagers in Central Sichuan are more important to him.Because the only ones who are truly reliable are still his direct descendants, every time a person dies, it makes his heart ache.

"That's one of our own." Although Chen Chong's voice was low, he said firmly: "This time we wiped out more than [-] enemies, and the battle loss ratio was two to one, and twice as many died as the enemy. This is enough in the East Palace." It was a mistake to be dismissed."

Luo Yukun was taken aback for a moment: "It's really difficult to survive in the East Palace."

"But we don't have standard equipment, so we shouldn't be warned." Chen Chong took another piece of paper: "I'll also see if I can order trainers and green shirt doctors."

"Okay, okay!" Luo Yukun finally saw the unusual aspect of the mandarin duck formation, and was very eager to learn the full set of formations.Just the formation of this cottage has the strength to fight against the officers and soldiers. If you learn it all, wouldn't it be invincible in the world?

"This battle, I really don't feel complacent." Chen Chong said while writing: "If we didn't have a large number of people and scared most of Liu Zeqing's army away, how could it be so easy to win? We still have to arrest ** Lian. "

Luo Yukun nodded aside, and said: "Even if you don't fight this formation, it's scary enough to stand neatly. Originally, those refugees looked at the chaos, but they didn't expect to have such an aura when they were arranged in a formation."

It was this aura that scared Liu Zeqing's men away.And because Linqing Prefecture had just been looted, the soldiers had somewhat private goods on them, and they had no intention of fighting.If the refugees were equipped with iron tools instead of just sticks and mallets, the casualties of Liu Zeqing's troops would be even more serious.

"What should I do with the things? I have to hand them in too?" Luo Yukun asked.

"Of course." Chen Chongdao: "All seized items must be handed over to the public. Those who dare to keep them privately will receive fifty sticks, and they will not be expelled."

"Then can we pay the soldiers first?" Luo Yukun asked tentatively.

"Of course not!" Chen Chong insisted: "This matter is one yard for one yard, and the East Palace will definitely pay the salary on time!"

Luo Yukun was bored, and walked out muttering: "I'm so dizzy! This little bug is also fighting against me!"

Chen Chongquan pretended not to hear it, and concentrated on writing the report.He felt a wave of hot air circulating in his body, as if he suddenly became a normal person. (To be continued.)