Entering Beijing, this once exciting but distant dream, unconsciously, seems to be close at hand. From Xuanfu to Beijing, it is only more than 300 miles, and if it is unimpeded, it can be reached within five days. However, at this time, Zhao Dangshi, who had raced against time in Henan, Shaanxi, and Shanxi, became calm.

Wu Sangui was bound by the generals anyway, and nearly 20,000 troops surrendered without a fight. Bai Guangen, Niu Chenghu and others pleaded with Zhao Dangshi for extrajudicial mercy, but Zhao Dangshi did not deal with them for the time being, but only let them settle down and serve the court well. As for Wu Sangui, he was imprisoned and waited for the follow-up court to take it.

After being rescued, Shangzhuang Fort was ruined and withered, and the defenders were less than 3,000. Zhao Dangshi walked in from the castle gate shaped like a ghost cave, and it was Hao Mingluan when he saw him. If it weren't for Hao Mingluan kneeling in front of him with tears in his eyes, he would never have recognized the man in front of him who was ragged and covered in blood, but he was the high-spirited young man in the past.

"It's been a hard time for you these days." Zhao Dangshi helped him up, looked at him carefully, looked at his weather-beaten appearance, and couldn't help but regret his original decision, "From today on, you will take care of yourself in the army." ”

Hao Mingluan shook his head violently and said: "Don't be like this, if you go to the battlefield and kill the Tartars, even if I have thousands of knives and arrows in my body, I can still hang in one breath." But if I stay in the back and tease the birds, I'm afraid that a small gust of wind and cold can kill me. ”

Zhao Dangshi smiled dumbly, patted him and said, "It's really my good son!" ”

Hao Mingluan smiled straightforwardly, and said immediately: "Qiao Yuanzhu, He Zhen, and Sun Shoufa are all waiting for the lord in the festival hall. ”

Zhao Dangshi asked, "King Anxi is not here?" ”

Hao Mingluan shook his head and said, "He said that he didn't want to see Bai Guangen and the others, so he went first." He also said that the lord has arrived, and in the future, the military and government in the army will all be from the lord. ”

When Zhao Dangshi heard this, he smiled bitterly twice, and said lightly: "I'm afraid it's not that he doesn't want to see Bai Guangen and them, but he doesn't want to see me." ”

Sun Chuanting's attitude towards himself, Zhao Dangshi knew it well, just like when he first met Shi Kefa and He Tengjiao, these civil officials who climbed to the power center of the Ming court through the imperial examination were rejecting a reckless martial artist like himself in his heart. Especially in the context of the Hongguang Imperial Court being supported by itself, such as Sun Chuanting, He Tengjiao and other generations' remembrance of the previous dynasty and their inadaptability to the old dynasty are obvious. He Tengjiao planned to establish the monarch of Nanjing and Sun Chuanting to go deep alone, and they were all under the same banner of the Ming Dynasty, competing with the emerging Zhao Dangshi in their own way. Even if in hindsight, most of their actions may be absurd and unreasonable, but from their own point of view, who is not upright and has enough motives? Until the dust settles, there is no right or wrong.

However, Zhao Dangshi proved in his own way and results that he was right, and he was where the way of heaven was.

Sun Chuanting was defeated, not only to the Qing army, but also to Zhao Dangshi. He failed to win over Jiang Xuan, Tang Tong and other local forces to further expand his strength, but gave up the opportunity, and tossed the 20,000-strong army, and finally ended up with a defeat similar to He Tengjiao.

Zhao Dangshi garrisoned the army in the Xuanfu for three days, on the one hand, the whole army and the military, and on the other hand, he continued to investigate the news in Beijing. During this period, Shandong's thousands of miles of hurried horses galloped to report that Shi Kefa and Zuo Mengeng's Ming army had invaded Shandong.

The Ming army, which was nominally Shi Kefa as the supervisor and the real power was controlled by Zuo Mengeng, arrived at Huai'an Mansion at the northern end of Nanzhili for a long time. Not only in order to coordinate the problem of logistics and supply with Huaifu and Governor Cao Yun Lu Zhenfei, but also to clear and annex many large and small forces that are still entrenched in the surrounding areas. Like Dong Xueli, the former deputy general of Huamachi who descended to the Qing Dynasty, he "woke up" and led the crowd to return to the Ming Dynasty. In addition, Liu Zeqing, the Marquis of Dongping, who occupied the Xusu area and was self-contained, also expressed his obedience to moderation.

Shi Kefa and Zuo Mengeng could have advanced into Shandong half a month early, but Liu Zeqing said one thing and did another, although he promised to bring troops to join him, but he turned a deaf ear to Zuo Menggeng's repeated urgings, and later even began to build a defensive line in Xuzhou and other places, with a faint sense of confrontation. As early as March, when Emperor Chongzhen issued an edict ordering Liu Zeqing to quickly go north to King Qin, Liu Zeqing lied and shirked in every possible way, so that the city of Beijing was broken, and his army did not go half a step north, but retreated south to Xuzhou, taking advantage of the weakness to seize the territory of Liu Liangzuo, the then commander-in-chief of Xusu.

Yin Jian was in front of him, Shi Kefa and others all believed that Liu Zeqing was inconsistent and had different aspirations, so they persuaded Zuo Mengeng to focus on this matter. If he were someone else, Liu Zeqing might still have room for turnover, but he was unlucky, and he ran into Zuo Mengeng. Zuo Mengeng was anxious to enter Shandong and fight to Beijing, Liu Zeqing had been upset by several shirks, and then he heard that this person still had a criminal record, so he immediately did not hesitate to lead the army to attack Liu Zeqing and exterminate it by force. According to Zuo Menggeng's own words, "I am the Duke of Xingping, and he is the Marquis of Dongping." The public university is too much, and the official is crushed to death, and I beat him like a father beating the ass of his descendants, which makes a lot of sense."

Jin Shenghuan, Gao Jinku, Xu Yong and other Ming generals led their troops to besiege Liu Zeqing's old base camp in separate ways. At the moment of life and death, Liu Zeqing refused to admit defeat easily, relying on the defensive positions in Xuzhou and other places, leading 10,000 people to resist. Tens of thousands of Ming troops fought in the nest, fighting in Caopu and Xusu and other places for more than half a month, and when Zhao Dangshi defeated the main force of the Qing army in Datong Mansion, Shanxi, Liu Zeqing's hometown Caozhou was also captured, Liu Zeqing took his wife and children, climbed the high-rise building in the city and set himself on fire and died. Zuo Mengeng then incorporated his army, a total of 70,000 troops, and marched to the hinterland of Shandong through Jining Prefecture.

Shandong has been a continuous civil uprising, and the Qing court was unwilling to disperse elite troops to quell the rebellion and defend it everywhere, so it only appointed Wang Aoyong, Fang Dayou, Ke Yongsheng and other officials to go to the local area to raise their own troops to suppress the local thieves and rebels. These officials were backed by the Qing court, although they could use various means to maintain a dominant position over the local rebel forces, but in any case they were not the opponents of tens of thousands of regular field troops of the Ming army.

Even if the Qing court in Beijing had been prepared and sent Duoduo to lead 20,000 Eight Banners in advance to wait for battle on the outskirts of Beijing, to be honest, the Ming army, which came with 20,000 against 780,000, had no full chance of victory. Soon, the news of Azig's defeat in Shanxi spread throughout Beijing, and for a while, people were panicked and discussed, and even Dolgon, who had always been as stable as Mount Tai, was greatly shocked.

Victory and defeat are a common thing in soldiers, and when Azig set out from Beijing, Dolgon comforted him so that he would not have too much psychological pressure, and he was more or less prepared to accept defeat and frustration. However, Dolgon never imagined that the elite of the Eight Banners, whom he was proud to regard as the strongest army in the world, would be defeated so badly.

In the Shanxi war, Azig sat on 40,000 Eight Banner Army, which was the main force of the Qing army, and finally lost consecutive battles, not only lost Shanxi, but also escaped less than 15,000 soldiers and horses. Such casualties were unprecedented for the Eighth Banner Army for more than ten years, and it greatly damaged the vitality of the Eighth Banner Army, which was already lacking in troops.

Dorgon did not dare to let Dordor go south to rescue Shandong, and ordered him to clean up Beijing. However, with Zhao Dangshi's forced landing of Wu Sangui's 20,000 troops in Xuanfu, the Qing army became more and more weak.

Almost every day, spies would report to Dolgon who was plotting and who had committed misdeeds, and before the foreign enemy arrived, the Qing court, which had been struggling to support Beijing, was like a boat raging on the sea, with ups and downs and unstable, and could capsize at any time.

What shocked Dolgon even more was that two days after the defeat of Azig, a messenger from Shenyang outside the Guanguan reported that a large number of Ming troops were attacking from the sea, capturing many islands in eastern Liaodong, and even invading the interior from time to time, killing soldiers and civilians.

It was Zheng Zhilong's sailor.

After parting ways with Zuo Menggeng from Nanjing, the Zheng family sailor first stopped at Hirado Port in Japan according to the original plan. Zheng Zhilong has a good relationship with the Japanese shogunate, and Fuji Nobuyo has repeatedly paid tribute to the Japanese shogunate Gen Iemitsu on behalf of the Zheng family, and the Zheng family is also one of the few foreign businessmen who have obtained the seal to enter and exit Japan's designated ports since Japan issued the national closure decree.

However, after several uprisings and confrontations with the red-haired people, Japan was still in a militarily sensitive period, and Zheng Zhilong, in order to avoid suspicion, did not moor all the fleet in Hirado, but moved the main force to Tsushima Island. Tsushima Island is located between Korea and Japan, and although it is subordinate to Japan, the clan that governs Tsushima Island has maintained a relatively independent special status because of its long-term relationship with Japan and North Korea. The current lord of the Tsushima Middle Domain, Zong Yoshinai, also had trade contacts with the Zheng family, and was willing to provide a port for Zheng Zhilong's garrison, so Zheng Zhilong's 20,000 sailors were able to be distributed in the vast sea area along the line between Tsushima and Hirado.

Dolgon led the main force of 80,000 Eight Banners out of the pass, and the soldiers and horses left outside the pass were few and weak, and the urgent report from Shenyang can be seen that the Ming army that was currently harassing the coast of Liaodong was far more powerful than the Dongjiang Town, which caused the Qing army a headache back then, and the Ming army's naval division has captured a number of coastal islands.

In addition, the attitude of the North Korean state is also uncertain. During the Huangtaiji period, although the Qing army conquered Korea by force, the North Korea was in Cao Ying's heart in the Han Dynasty, and it was not uncommon for the Yang to be in violation of the Yin. The king of Joseon, Li Liang, remembered the Ming Dynasty, and every New Year's Day and other festivals, he "looked at the Ming Dynasty and paid homage, as if he was close at hand", and repeatedly thought about the Ming Dynasty, but also for it, and burst into tears. The Qing army forcibly conscripted troops into North Korea, and Li Liang secretly sent people to the Ming Dynasty to express their hardships and ask for forgiveness, and even "set up a tablet in the palace and cry to the Central Plains in the west".

Most of the Qing court knew about all this, but because they didn't want to change drastically behind their backs, as long as it wasn't too excessive, they turned a blind eye. However, no one can guarantee that once the DPRK is affected and decides to turn against the water, the situation in Liaodong will evolve. As a precaution, Dorgon could not have placed the Manchu foundation under the aggressive Ming army and the pretentious Koreans, and remained indifferent.

A total of 200,000 Ming troops from Shanxi and Shandong were advancing, the situation in eastern Liaodong was turbulent and precarious, and the hearts of the people in Beijing were fluctuating and difficult to stop, and several pressures were hitting like a mountain. The defeat of Azig made Haug and other Manchu magnates who had opposed the long-term occupation of Ming land very dissatisfied, and took the opportunity to attack Dolgon, speaking with the fact of Azig's defeat, and vigorously questioning his overall strategy.

With strong enemies on the outside and political enemies on the inside, Dorgon was so anxious that he had lost control of the situation.

Attacking Yanyun and then sweeping the world is an enterprising plan, if the momentum is not up to others, but return to Liaodong.

At the beginning of September, Dolgon, who was unable to return to heaven, gathered up the remnants of the Azig army and ordered the whole army to withdraw from Beijing and retreat to Guanwai. In order to flaunt his benevolent and righteous image that he was not an enemy of the Ming Dynasty, he strictly forbade soldiers to burn, kill and loot, and the city of Beijing was preserved. They were also taken away by Zuo Mao's first northern mission from Nanjing, which was held by Dolgon, as Zhao Dangshi had predicted, as a bargaining chip for subsequent mediation with the Ming court.

"Tell the brothers to be neat under their feet, and let's go into Beijing to touch the golden dragon chair!"

Not far away, Guo Ruke shouted loudly and excitedly like a child, his dream was finally coming true. Han Gon, Yang Zhaofeng and others galloped back and forth on horses and whips to greet the soldiers, also full of smiles.

Zhao Dangshi looked at the countless soldiers and horses that stretched for miles in front and back, in strict order, and marched forward, and just smiled faintly.

At this time, Zhao Dangshi was only the last hundred miles away from Beijing City.

Half ninety of those who travel a hundred miles, from the king of the Ming and Song dynasties to the great ministers, there is only the last hundred miles left on the road under the feet of Zhao Dangshi, and he will never stop. It took him almost ten years to get here on the long road to Beijing.

Running all the way to the east and west, surviving in death, iron and blood, love and righteousness continue to depict the fairy land of his dreams. On both sides of the road, there is an endless golden grassland dotted with equally golden poplar and birch, and the official road in front of you winds on the plain to the endless distance, lonely and heart-wrenching.

"Volume 6 Once the Demon Atmosphere of Hulu is Collected" is over

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Note: Once the sixth volume of "Hulu Demon Atmosphere" ends, the main chapter of "Ming Bandits" will also end. If it weren't for the strong support of the brothers, it would have been difficult to persist until now, and there is a high probability that they would have entered the palace in the middle of the process, so in any case, I have to say a big thank you to the brothers first!

At this point, the things that I originally conceived of "Ming Bandit" have basically been written, and I can indeed continue to write it, but in fact, the significance is not particularly great. For the Qing army, through the deployment of Han Gon to Ye Chen, Guo Ruke to Shang Kexi, and Zhao Dangshi to Azig and the overall situation, we can see the final direction of the war. There are also some regrets, for example, there was originally a volume of "Wind Drums and Angry Waves and Sea Monsters" in the middle, which was intended to write in detail the story of Brother Zhao Ying's operation of the southeast sea and dealing with overseas forces, but after careful consideration, it seemed that it did not play a big role in promoting the whole plot, so he reluctantly cut his love. In addition, the stories of some characters in the book seem to be able to be dug deeper, but they are also limited by the overall length of the frame, and they are not forced to be written in detail.

The story of Zhao Dangshi and his brothers has come to an end here, and the last volume of "Memories of the Cross-Saddle Expedition in Dreams" will explain the aftermath of some of the main characters, which should only be one or two large chapters long, and will be updated one after another, but it will be slightly delayed. Because since the middle of last month, while updating "Ming Bandit", I have been secretly preparing a new book, and now I have eyebrows, the theme is fantasy Xianxia, compared to "Ming Bandit", it is a new world, a new story, and the rest is not afraid to say, here I promise to conceive it well, absolutely wonderful. And because some details of the new book and the release platform have not yet been finalized, so I will meet with you a little later, tentatively scheduled for the first half of August, will be released along with the chapters of "Dream Memories of the Cross-Saddle Expedition", I hope you brothers don't scatter, you can give a little time to sort out.

Finally, I have to thank you again! Thank you brothers for your love, thanks, thanks, thanks!