Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 826
It was the third watch, so it was ten minutes in the middle of the night, but the city of Beijing covered by heavy snow was already like daytime.

At this time, Beijing has already implemented a curfew, and it is not as vibrant as the south. The whole city is silent, only occasionally there will be a fast and two slow beating sounds from the streets. If the city wants to regain its vitality, it will have to wait until the fourth watch, and the officials are ready to go. In the morning, it will be more lively.

At this time, outside the Yongding Gate of Beijing City, on the official road in the distance, there was a rush of horseshoes, and several Qing soldiers with urgent flags, carrying a round bamboo tube behind their backs, rushed to the bottom of the city.

There are many types of expedited letters, different ones, with different flags, and like this group of Qing soldiers, they carried urgent letters in bamboo tubes, and those who knew a little bit knew at a glance that they must be urgent military newspapers from [-] miles away.

The cavalry galloped to the gate of Yongding, and the leading cavalry immediately raised its head and shouted towards the city, "Open the gate quickly, and report to the army for eight hundred miles, and report to the regent."

"Quickly open the city gate..."

The cavalry shouted two or three times, and only the soldiers at the top of the city stretched out their heads tremblingly.He looked down, and there were only seven or eight Qing cavalry under the banner of rushing, and immediately notified the Qing general on duty, and the cavalry below put the passable arrow documents into the hanging basket. After a while, the city gate opened slowly. Open it, and the cavalry who reported the letter immediately rushed into the city and galloped towards the residence of the regent.

Seeing the cavalry walk away, the Qing soldiers closed the city gate again, and muttered while pushing: "It's so urgent, can't it be that the south has suffered another defeat?"

Several Qing soldiers sighed a little when they heard this. They lost Jiangnan last year, and every family in Beijing did not have a good year. Many people didn’t even eat vegetarian dumplings. It was only the third day of the first lunar month, and the urgent army reported. , Could it be that this year is worse than last year.

The rapid sound of horseshoes galloped down the street, and soon entered the inner city from Zhengyangmen, and finally stopped abruptly in front of the Prince Regent's Mansion.

On the third day of the first lunar month, the Qing dynasty had not yet opened. Although there were still officials on duty in the Ministry of War, the situation was serious, and the regent had to be informed first.

The leading cavalry immediately got off their horses, stepped on the snow-covered steps, hurried to the gate of the palace, slapped the copper ring, and shouted loudly: "Eight hundred miles urgently report to the regent, you must report it immediately!"

After knocking on the door a few times, it creaked open, but only one head was exposed. The other end looked around and frowned slightly. It was midnight, disturbing people's cleansing, anyone would be angry, not to mention the third-rank official in front of the prime minister's door. Well, he, the regent's disciple, can be regarded as a second-rank official.

"Urgent military report, you must report to the regent immediately!" The leading cavalry, seeing his head sticking out, hurriedly said again.

After Menzi heard this, he glanced at the cavalrymen, all of them looked travel-stained, with tired faces and dry lips. If it was someone else, he would naturally want to show his prestige, but he didn't dare to rush the military situation.

Although it was a holiday in the first month, but the state affairs were not going well, Dorgon could not rest. He was busy until three o'clock before returning to the house to rest with the Mongolian princess Borzigit. Teshi gently pushed to wake up, "My lord! My lord!"

Dorgon was very tired, and his whole body was much older. He half-opened his eyes, propped himself up with one hand, and asked doubtfully, "Is it the fifth watch?"

After finishing speaking, he was about to get up, and there were still a lot of official duties waiting for him to deal with.

"My lord, it's only three o'clock. It seems that there is an urgent military situation, and it must be reported immediately."

It was only the third watch, and Dorgon felt lethargic immediately, but when he heard that it was an urgent military situation, he was startled again. What he was most afraid of now was that something bad would happen again, so he lost sleep all at once.

Dorgon lifted the quilt and sat on the edge of the bed. Borzigit, who was wearing a bellyband, knelt on the bed and hung up the veil.Dorgon sat quietly for a while, raised his head, and saw a eunuch kneeling in front of the bed.

After Borzigit hung up the veil, he got out of bed and brought Dorgon a cup of strong tea, and then got into bed again. Dorgon took a sip from the teacup, cleared his mind, and put the teacup on the bed. On the table beside the bed, he asked, "Is this the military report sent by King Yu from Yangzhou?"

In November, in order to alleviate the destruction of Jiangbei by the Qing army, Wang Yan gathered 8 troops and took advantage of the navy to cross the Yangtze River from Zhenjiang and attack Yangzhou. After Ergun learned about it, he was considering whether to abandon Yangzhou and retreat his troops to Hefei and Xuzhou to gather up his troops so that he could go on the defensive. However, Duduo's second memorial was sent to Beijing, and the Ming army arrived in Yangzhou. After the city fell, they did not attack the city. Instead, they concentrated on building their camps, as if waiting for the Qing army to attack.

Therefore, the Qing court judged that the purpose of the Ming army was to threaten Yangzhou and force the Qing army who looted in Jiangbei to reinforce Yangzhou, thus ending the destruction of Jiangbei.

The situation is not urgent. In addition, Yangzhou is an important town in the north of the Yangtze River. It is a pity to give up like this. Some people in Manchuria suggested that Yangzhou be used as a condition in exchange for an armistice with the Ming Dynasty. Set aside.

Could it be that the Ming army suddenly began to attack the city now, and Duoduo rushed to report to Beijing because of this?
Dorgon thought it was the news from Yangzhou in the south, but the eunuch lying on the ground replied: "My lord, it's not the Prince Yu, but the urgent military situation sent by King Pingnan of Henan Province, which is said to be urgent."

Henan?Years ago, there was a report from Henan that spread to Beijing, saying that Azig’s looting of Huguang was very smooth, the Ming army closed the city and defended themselves, and did not dare to fight in the field, and the Eight Banners’ cavalry were invincible. The urgent military newspaper is here?

Dorgon was stunned for a moment. Did something happen in Henan? He hurriedly got up and got off the big bed, "Where is the urgent report? Show it to the king!"

The eunuch lying on the ground immediately opened the bamboo tube, poured out a roll of military newspapers, and held it up high.

Dorgon came over, picked up the military newspaper, opened it, his face turned pale instantly, his whole body was struck by lightning, the military newspaper fell to the ground, his legs and feet went limp, he felt dizzy, and staggered back a few steps, Seeing that it was on the verge of falling, the kneeling eunuch turned pale with fright, got up hastily, and rolled Duo'er to support him.

The Borzigit family on the bed was also shocked when they saw it. After approving a coat, they hurriedly got out of bed, picked up Dorgon, and scolded: "You dog slave, what did you show the master?"

Dorgon was helped to sit back on the bed, he listened too much to Borzigit's reprimand, and kowtowed quickly, but Dorgon suddenly yelled, "Brother Twelve! Kill me too! "

After hearing Dorgon's cry of pain, Borzigit's face showed a look of horror, "What's wrong with Master Twelfth?"

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(End of this chapter)