"The Slave Chief has retired!"

On Rufeng Mountain, the prison guard Zhenghua shouted in surprise, and it was difficult to hide his excitement.

Zhu Cihong picked up the telescope and looked at it from afar, only to see that a bright yellow banner on Bauhinia Mountain was gone, and the Qing army under the mountain was also slowly retreating.

Huang Taiji's united front ability gave Zhu Cihong a great feeling, and seeing that the Qing army retreated in an orderly manner, Zhu Cihong did not order the pursuit.

The towns of the Ming army just followed behind and gave chase, slashing and killing some of the heads and hurriedly returning, lest they be killed by the Qing army.

Zhu Cihong crossed the Xiaoling River and came to the battlefield on the north bank, only to see a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood in front of him, which was unbearable.

In this battle, the Tianwu army suffered 6,000 casualties, half of whom were killed in battle, and some were seriously wounded.

The Qing army suffered even more losses, with no less than 20,000 people killed, and even more ran away.

In the afternoon of the same day, the Xiaoling River was covered with dense pontoon bridges, and the Jinzhou City on the north side of the Xiaoling River was also surrounded by the camps of the Ming army, densely fluttering flags, and the sound of hunting and agitation in the cold wind.

In the hall of Jinzhou City, the generals of the Ming army gathered together to hold a grand celebration banquet.

The civil officials humbly gave up their seats, the generals brazenly boasted to each other, and everyone was happy, admiring the wisdom of the crown prince and the courage of the Tianwu army.

Hong Chengchou stroked his beard and smiled, looked at the gentlemen in the hall, stood up with a wine glass, and looked at Zhu Cihong who was the first seat and Fang Zhenghua who sat second, he laughed and said: "The holy grace is vast, the kings are gathered, under the wise leadership of His Royal Highness the Prince, the loyal and brave soldiers of our three armies fought bravely, and only then did they achieve a great victory in Jinzhou. ”

Zhu Cihong stood up, and everyone immediately stood up, raised their wine glasses, and said loudly: "Congratulations for the Ming Dynasty, congratulations for thousands of soldiers!" ”

Everyone drank it all, and then laughed out loud, very heroic.

After a glass of wine, the tall and mighty Jinzhou chief soldier Zu Dashou walked out of his seat, faced Zhu Cihong and knelt down on one knee with his fists and said: "In the Battle of Jinzhou, the last general did not lead his troops out of the city to meet the enemy, and asked His Highness for his guilt." ”

Everyone was stunned for a while, and secretly said what Zu Shuai was doing.

The ancestral family gave Ning Yuanwei the military position, and he was a prominent family in Liaodong, especially after Zu Dashou's status rose, his brothers and nephews Zu Dale, Zu Dacheng, Zu Dabi, Zu Zeyuan and more than a dozen people, all of whom were officers at all levels from the general army, down to the deputy generals, staff generals, and guerrillas, and were stationed in Ningyuan, Dalinghe, and Jinzhou Zhucheng.

In order to commend the merits of the ancestral family for generations of Zhenliao, Emperor Chongzhen also specially ordered the construction of the merit archway of the fourth Zhenliao of the Zu family in Ningyuan City, and the Wu family of Wu Sangui also prospered only by relying on the ancestral family.

It can be said that Zu Dashou is a bigwig-level figure in the Liaodong military circles, and Zu Kuan, the chief soldier who was killed last year, is just a servant of Zu Dashou.

Zu Dashou didn't take this matter seriously, but after seeing the strength of his Tianwu army, and hearing that the crown prince was dissatisfied with Guan Ningjun, he felt that it was better to ask for guilt.

Zhu Cihong helped him up and said with a smile: "General Zu has guarded Jinzhou for more than ten years, making Jinzhou City impregnable, which is a great achievement, what is the crime?" ”

Zu Dashou couldn't stand up, he sighed: "The ancestral family is unfortunate, Zu Zerun, the eldest son of the last general, is still in Jiannu to serve as Gushan Ezhen, please let His Highness allow me to resign from the post of Jinzhou General Army." ”

Zhu Cihong said seriously: "This palace has long heard that the slave chief Taiji has always wanted to recruit General Zu, and there have been no less than 100 letters of surrender sent in the past few years. ”

Zhu Cihong said again: "The slave chief Emperor Taiji enabled Linglang, it is nothing more than a fake grace, once the grace fails, it will become a countermeasure, let me transfer General Zu away, such a small skill of carving insects, how can this palace not know?" ”

Hearing Zhu Cihong say this, Zu Dashou was relieved, what he was most worried about was the fate of his old boss Yuan Chonghuan.

Emperor Chongzhen had issued an edict three times to let him meet, Zu Dashou found an excuse to refuse every time, worried that he would be tied up as soon as he arrived in Beijing, and now that the crown prince was here, he was faintly worried that the emperor would turn over old accounts.

Zu Dashou bowed heavily and said: "Even if the last general dies, he will never do such a thing as selling the country!" ”

Zhu Cihong helped him up again and said a few words, although the ancestor Dashou in history had no choice but to surrender, but after surrendering, he only wrote a letter of persuasion to his nephew Wu Sangui, and was rejected.

After the failure of persuasion, Zu Dashou did nothing, blindly at home to care for the elderly, after Shunzhi entered the customs, Zu Dashou also followed the customs, and continued to care for the elderly in Beijing until he died of illness more than ten years later, and did not help the Manchu Qing move a finger.

This is also the reason why the history has been cleared, why the reputation of Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui is so stinky, but the reputation of Zu Dashou is not bad.

What surprised Zhu Cihong the most was that in history, more than 200 years after Zu Dashou's death, during the Republic of China, the British leather merchant Crofts was commissioned by the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada to purchase a set of tombs of high-ranking officials during the Ming and Qing dynasties in China.

The British merchant selected the tomb of Zu Dashou after several selections, and transported the grave, tombstones, stone carvings, stone camels, etc. to the sea ship, and sailed to North America. Zu Dashou's tomb is still in the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada........

Zhu Cihong looked at Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui again, these two political speculators were happy, and they didn't know what to enjoy.

He looked at the people in the hall and said, "Today's celebration banquet, all the gentlemen drink to their heart's content, no need to scruple!" ”

The generals cheered, and the atmosphere was suddenly driven, and for a while, everyone drank in big cups and bowls, shouting to each other and fighting wine, and it was noisy.

Li Fuming, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan, came to Gao Bang, the commander of the Tianwu Army, with a wine bowl, and said with a smile: "Brother Gao, how much do you drink?" Do you want to do a wave? ”

Gao Bang was a burly Shandong man, and he smiled and said, "You ask me how much I drink?" Then you have to stand on the Bauhinia Mountain and look in the direction of the sea. ”

"What do you mean?" Li Fuming didn't react at once.

Wu Sangui walked over with a bowl and said with a smile: "General Gao means that he is massive!" ”

Li Fuming looked at Gao Bang and shook his head and said, "I don't believe it, you haven't been drunk?" ”

Gao Bang grabbed the wine jar and said with a smile: "Lao Tzu only drinks full, not drunk!" Come, blow up, don't get drunk and don't return! ”

Seeing that he began to blow the jar, Wu Sangui hurriedly retired after drinking a bowl of wine in his hand, leaving only Li Fuming, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan with a hooded face.

Wu Sangui first toasted Hong Chengchou, Fang Zhenghua and others one by one with a wine glass, and then carried the wine jar to the table of the Tianwu Army to get acquainted with it, and then walked around the general soldiers of the towns on the nine sides.

On this kind of intersection occasion, Wu Sangui is like a courtesan, he is very easy to behave, and he is very good at being a person, although he is from a famous family, he has no arrogance of a family, and is highly praised by the generals of Liaodong.

With the support of his uncle Zu Dashou and the Wu family, Wu Sangui faintly became the next leader in the Liaodong military circles.

Not only that, Wu Sangui is also good at clinging, such as recognizing the eunuch of the prison army as his father-in-law, and worshipping the governor of Liaodong and the general soldiers from all walks of life, which are all his forte.

After Fang Zhenghua was appointed as the supervisor of the army, Wu Sangui also visited him several times, and he even began to talk to Xu Sheng beside Zhu Cihong, intending to worship him.......