Li Zicheng's retreating army had been going smoothly before, but when it reached the vicinity of Taiyuan, something went wrong. The Ming Dynasty army, which had surrendered, received an edict from His Royal Highness the Prince, in which he called on the old ministers of the Ming Dynasty to rise up against Li Zicheng, and said that Wu Sangui, the general of Pingxi, had begun the westward expedition, and the people who continued to work hard for Li Zicheng would be connected to the three clans.

Therefore, after entering Shanxi, Li Zicheng's troops were attacked and harassed by the Ming Dynasty army from time to time. During the Eastern Crusade, they were basically greeted in the past, but when they came back, they had to fight all the way back. It's ridiculous.

The most unbearable thing about this kind of defeat of a thousand-mile march is Niu Venus. Since Niu Jinxing defected to Li Zicheng, it has basically been smooth sailing, but now that he has escaped for a thousand miles, he really can't stand it.

Niu Jinxing had a large retinue, and the number of miscellaneous servants in the Prime Minister's Mansion was more than that of Li Zicheng's camp. His line walked very slowly, and his baggage line stretched for two miles. There were more than 300 people in a team carrying furniture for him, and the large bed, high chairs, tables, and cabinets were all made of extremely heavy and precious wood, and it was very difficult to lift them.

Li Guo has sent people to urge him many times, and he said: "If you are so slow again, the chasing soldiers will be behind the buttocks." ”

But Niu Jinxing was reluctant to throw away these things, he was also anxious, and he was afraid of death, so he scolded and beat those who carried sedan chairs and things, which made hundreds of people angry.

The Qing army's encirclement of Beijing has not been lifted, and Dolgon is adjusting his strategy. As Li Laiheng considered, he isolated Beijing on the one hand, and on the other hand, he adopted a two-pronged attack, all the way from the southeast of Shandong, and the other from the west of Shanxi.

The situation facing Li Zicheng is very dangerous. Wu Sangui marched from Hebei to Henan, and Azig led all the way to the west of the Qing army, and soon caught up with Li Guo's rearguard.

But Niu Venus was still walking there slowly, and he couldn't walk fifty miles a day. Li Guo was angry, slapped his horse to catch up, and yelled at Niu Jinxing: "Do you want your life or your property?"

Niu Jinxing saw Li Guo yelling at him like this, his pride was hurt, and he also shouted: "You are broken, what are you doing here after you leave your position? Aren't you going to cross the Yellow River now? What are you anxious about?"

Li Guo saw Niu Jinxing put on a prime minister's stand, didn't say a word, and brought his own soldiers to bring Niu Jinxing among the people who carried furniture and property for Niu Jinxing, and shouted: "Throw things into the ditch for me! These big guys, smash them for me!"

When the people heard it, they really relieved their hatred, Li Guo's words were over, they put the things down, Li Guo ignored Niu Jinxing's big eyes and stared, turned around and patted the horse away. After solving the problem of the prime minister, the baggage of other officials was easily solved, and everything that should be lost was lost, so that before crossing the Yellow River, Azig's Qing soldiers did not catch up with Li Zicheng's main force.

As soon as the Yellow River was crossed, Li Laiheng hurriedly organized the Yellow River defense line. Back in Chang'an, Li Zicheng did not feel relaxed, the Qing soldiers led by Azig had already pressed over, and Li Guo blocked the enemy in the area of the Yellow River.

Azig was the twelfth son of the Qing Emperor Nurhachi and a famous Manchu general. In the battle of Shanhaiguan, the regent Dolgon, he served as the vanguard, defeated the Dashun army, and then was appointed as the general of Jingyuan, leading more than 30,000 Manchurian, Mongolian and Han armies such as Wu Sangui, king of Pingxi, and Shang Kexi, king of Zhishun, to pursue Li Zicheng to Shaanxi.

Return to Chang'an. Li Zicheng is like a dream, from the high-spirited triumphant march to Beijing to the panic and escape to Chang'an, in just over three months, everything is like a dream.

He remembered that in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen's expedition to Beijing, on March 18, he successfully entered the outer city of Beijing, and then he sent the eunuch Du Xun, who surrendered in Changping, into the city to negotiate secretly with Chongzhen, hoping that Chongzhen would take the throne, and the Forbidden City fell on March 29. During this period, his plans were all successfully realized. Just as he was about to ascend the throne, there was news that Wu Sangui had no intention of surrendering and was likely to join forces with the Manchus, so he had to conquer Shanhaiguan himself.

On April 21, he and Wu Sangui fought a stone battle, but when he was about to win, the Qing soldiers suddenly appeared on the battlefield, the main general Liu Zongmin was wounded, and the Dashun army was defeated. On the 26th, he fled to the capital, and in this battle he was left with only more than 30,000 men. After that, the Qing army pressed forward step by step, and on the 29th he had to hurriedly proclaim himself emperor in Beijing, and then retreated.

Looking back now, Li Zicheng realized that not only did he make a major mistake in decision-making, but it also seemed that providence was not so favored by him. He thought that if he listened to the persuasion of Li Yan and Li Laiheng before the Eastern Expedition to Beijing and did not rush to capture Beijing; if he was more prepared and brought 100,000 more elite soldiers; if he was not in a hurry to punish the Ming Dynasty officials and extort their silver taels when he was in Beijing; if he was more strategic towards Wu Sangui, especially if he did not touch his women; if he listened to Li Laiheng's prediction before the Eastern Expedition and thought that the Qing troops might enter the customs through Shanhaiguan; and if he ...... Alas, too many ifs.

It's a pity that everything is late. The most bitter fruit in the world is if.

Now that the Qing soldiers have entered the customs in large numbers, it is no longer like the Chongzhen era, they are just harassing and looting, and this time they are ready to focus their living space on the Central Plains. There is still a lot to be done, and some things must be done first. Last time, Li Zicheng, who was originally in Beijing, readjusted the positions of some people and gave them knighthoods. Among them, Li Guo was named the Marquis, and the prince's affairs will be discussed in the future. Luo Hu is dead, and he is posthumously named the Marquis of Yong.

Just when Li Zicheng was slightly stable in Xi'an, Beijing was once again besieged by Dorgon's main force. Originally, the Qing soldiers entered the customs under the banner of avenging Emperor Chongzhen, but now he no longer pretends to say so, so he is ready to kill Emperor Chongzhen's three sons.

But a serious problem arose, and the people sent by Dolgon to kill the three princes of Chongzhen came back to report that except for the crown prince, the other two princes were rescued. The person who rescued them was the one surnamed Zhang who rescued them from the Forbidden City.

Zhu Cijiong, the third prince of the third prince, was the third prince of Zhu who appeared repeatedly in later generations, and the fourth prince, Zhu Cihuan, the king of Yongwang, was about to be killed when they were suddenly attacked by a guard and rescued them, while the other guard who saved the prince Zhu Cihong was not so lucky, he was stabbed by Dolgon's personal entourage, and finally had to give up saving the prince and fled by himself.

Dolgon was very angry and said to the prince, "Who saved your two brothers?"

"I don't know. "The prince came first, but he had some backbone, and secondly, he really didn't know who saved him.

Dolgon couldn't ask who saved Chongzhen's other two princes, so he groaned for a long time, and suddenly shouted: "Daring, who are you?

"I ...... Pretending to be the prince?" Zhu Cihong scribbled, followed by surprise. I thought: I pretend to be the prince and have treasures, and now it's too late to hide my identity, and I will come out to pretend to be? Idiots know how dangerous the prince of the kingdom is!

Why did Dorgon suddenly ask like that? Oh, I see. Although Zhu Cihong was only sixteen years old, he was very smart, and he knew Dorgon's purpose, and Dolgon was ready to kill the prince publicly.

True, Dolgon was indeed preparing to kill the prince publicly. But he won't kill Emperor Chongzhen's crown prince, he entered the customs under the guise of revenge for Chongzhen, he can't kill Chongzhen's crown prince. However, he will not support the crown prince to live in the Forbidden City, and the person who lives in the Forbidden City must be the smart and clever Fulin, the son of the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, the first beauty in Manchuria.

Dolgon was very wise, he smiled slyly, and said to Chongzhen's son: "You are a fake, you are pretending to be the crown prince, you know, this is a capital crime. ”

The crown prince has already seen the country broken, and he has also seen the king of the family, he has already put life and death away, and sneered: "It is inevitable that you will kill me." But you can't kill me as a false prince. Many of your subordinates know me. Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui, I once cooked wine for them to show my respect for them. ”

Dolgon snorted twice in his nose, with a sneer on the corner of his mouth, and said to his cronies: "Send a document and ask Wu Sangui, the king of Pingxi, how did you get a fake prince to bluff this king?"

Then he said to Zhu Cihong: "Wu Sangui will come back soon to ask for guilt, and he will tell this king that you are a fake prince." Haha, don't you believe it?"

Believe, what is not believing? A man's mouth speaks, sometimes telling the truth, sometimes telling lies, sometimes speaking human things, sometimes telling nonsense. It's all too common. The crown prince Zhu Cihong was speechless, he knew that Wu Sangui would confirm that he Zhu Cihong was fake, and Hong Chengchou would also testify, he would say that Zhu Cihong was not so tall, and such a tall person would not be Zhu Cihong.

Sure enough, a few days later, Wu Sangui sent a letter to the regent from the front, saying that Zhu Cihong had died in the artillery fire when Beijing fell, and now it was a fake Zhu Cihong.

However, unexpectedly, Hong Chengchou did not say that Zhu Cihong was fake, he said to Dolgon that the minister was already a Manchu person, and he had forgotten and didn't recognize the people of the Ming Dynasty, as for this self-proclaimed Zhu Cihong. He knew that the day Dorgon conquered Beijing was the day of his death as the false crown prince.

As soon as Lao Jiu entered the door, he didn't have time to sit down, so he hurriedly said to Li Laiheng: "Chongzhen's two sons were not known to Zhang Wenxiu where they got it? The crown prince Zhu Cihong was not rescued, and Dolgon was ready to kill him in the name of the fake prince, and it is said that Wu Sangui had already helped Dolgon testify that he was a fake prince." ”

"Oh?" Li Laiheng was not very surprised, he said to Lao Jiu: "Lao Jiu, Azig's offensive is very fierce, I am worried that the Yellow River defense line will not be able to hold out for too long, and then Tongguan should also be the focus of Azig's or Duoduo attack." You can pass this information on to the emperor. ”

"Okay, I'll tell the emperor this information as soon as possible, and Tongguan will be used as a key defensive area. General Li Guo's Yellow River defense line was very difficult, and the emperor was ready to abandon Shaanxi. ”

"Give up Shaanxi?"

"Yes. It's just the emperor's personal thoughts, he only revealed it to Li Shuangxi. ”

Li Laiheng pondered for a while, and then asked, "Zhang Wenxiu, he should be preparing to go back to Sichuan, right?"

"Yes. ”