Hearing this, Liu Zongmin's face changed greatly, and his facial features were instantly distorted, showing a strange appearance.

It seems that the guy who fought with him just now was really Li Xiao, this guy, who was so ruthless that he almost killed Lao Tzu.

Unexpectedly, Li Xiao's guy was so affectionate and righteous, he ignored the danger, and when he couldn't return from Liaodong with the whole army due to lack of time, he led his own guards alone and hurriedly sneaked into the capital in disguise to rescue the emperor. This feat is really a world of difference compared to those foreign soldiers and horses who are hesitant to patrol and dare not enter the capital to help.

If the Ming army was as brave and decisive as Li Xiao, would the Dashun army still be able to successfully reach the capital, I am afraid that it would be impossible to even establish Dashun in Shaanxi.

And after the death of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Li Xiao was still not too burdensome, and personally took his corpse out of the city and left, such benevolence and righteousness are really unmatched in the world.

When Liu Zongmin secretly sighed, the eunuch who was pressed by the knife on his neck saw Liu Zongmin frowning and silent, thinking that he didn't finish talking about it, so he replied again: "General, King Tang not only brought the emperor's corpse, but also took the two princes out of the city. The slaves and maids are all truths, and if the general does not believe it, he can ask others. ”

The eunuch's words surprised Liu Zongmin again.

Chongzhen's death was what he expected, and Li Xiaozong took Chongzhen's body away, but it had nothing to do with the overall situation. However, he also took Chongzhen's prince away, and this problem is very serious.

Because, the original plan of the rogues was that after entering the city, if Chongzhen died in battle or committed suicide, then he would also catch several princes of Chongzhen as a bargaining chip and tool for future negotiations with the Ming Dynasty. At the same time, after they escape from the city, there will be a chance to regain the mountain.

Unexpectedly, Li Xiao was quick enough to take the lead and plundered the prince first. Then, the plan of the Dashun army will be seriously disrupted, and the plan to take advantage of the Ming Dynasty's ownerless country, so as to quickly invade the south and occupy the territory of the Ming Dynasty, will also be completely defeated.

Thinking of this, Liu Zongmin's heart was extremely unpleasant.

It's hateful that now, almost all of his soldiers and horses are looting in the city, and it is impossible to urgently gather them back and chase Li Xiao, who has escaped from the city.

Let the enemy escape, there is nothing to do, how can the true love be embarrassed!

There is really a feeling of a cooked duck, watching it fly away, that indescribable nest strength, can suffocate people.

He was in an irritable mood, and he no longer wanted to listen to the eunuch's chatter, so he raised his foot and kicked the eunuch who fell to the ground fiercely.

At the same time, Liu Zongmin shouted to his subordinates to imprison all the remnants of the eunuchs and soldiers who surrendered for future verification. Then, he turned on his horse, took several retinues, and hurried into the city to find King Li Chuang.

Liu Zongmin knew that if such a major incident happened, he could only report it to Li Chuangyu as soon as possible, which was the most appropriate measure.

Liu Zongmin and his entourage, in a chaotic capital full of killings and crimes, went around and asked people all the way, and finally asked where the king was.

It turned out that Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, heard the report that his soldiers were itching and rejoicing after they captured the palace.

Wow, this Chongzhen guy who has been fighting with me for more than ten years is finally about to fall into my hands now, but he must not be cheapened!

He wanted to capture Chongzhen alive, but he couldn't hold back the joy in his heart anymore, and immediately took his subordinates from Deshengmen in the north of the city and hurried to the palace.

Li Zicheng and his entourage, all the way through the streets and alleys, beating horses and galloping, they rolled out of the blood and fire, they were almost familiar with the blood and corpses all over the street, and now he only wanted to capture Chongzhen, who was already like a turtle in an urn.

When he was about to reach the palace, a fast horse suddenly galloped to report.

The visitor hurriedly told him in a panicked tone that there had been a sudden battle outside the palace Jianji Hall.

In this battle, a cavalry of unknown origin attacked the rogue army that was attacking the palace from behind, causing the rogue army of nearly 2,000 people in the vanguard of the rogue to be almost wiped out under the powerful surprise attack of this cavalry.

Hearing the news, Li Zicheng was almost stunned.

No way?! How could this happen?

You must know that most of the five battalions of Beijing soldiers in the capital surrendered outside the city as early as some time ago, and the current defense in the capital is so empty, how can there be such strong soldiers hiding in it?

Moreover, since the Dashun army entered the city, the remnants of the Ming army have basically surrendered to the wind, and it is almost difficult to meet resistance, how could it be that such a strong cavalry suddenly came to the city for no reason, with a mere number of hundreds of people, it was able to destroy its own vanguard with one blow? !

In the Ming army, when did there be such a strong army?

And how could such a powerful army have been hiding in the capital in obscurity, and their own meticulous work and investigation have not been noticed at all, which is also incredible.

What the hell is this cavalry coming from?

"Now, where did this cavalry go?" Li Zicheng's thick eyebrows furrowed, and he asked sharply.

"King Yuchuang, I don't know. It's just that according to the report of the remnants of the army, it is said that the body of Emperor Chongzhen was also taken away by this cavalry. After the whole cavalry team left the palace, they disappeared. ”

"Oh? Is there such a strange thing? ”

Li Zicheng had mixed feelings in his heart, and he stroked his beard and thought for a long time, but the second monk couldn't figure out what was going on.

However, in his heart, he was full of emotion.

This Chongzhen guy has already died in the city, but he can still be rescued by his subordinates, and he has not fallen into his own hands, so that he can vent his hatred, but he is lucky.

Just when Li Zicheng was confused, Liu Zongmin rushed to the noon gate with a group of entourages and asked to see him.

As soon as he saw Li Zicheng from afar, Liu Zongmin immediately called out in succession: "King Chuang!" It's not good to break the king, it's not good to be a big deal! ”

Hearing Liu Zongmin's continuous shouting, Li Zicheng, who was already depressed, suddenly became even more upset, he turned his head and shouted at Liu Zongmin, who was rushing over: "! What's wrong, fuck it up! ”

Liu Zongmin rode his horse a few steps away from Li Zicheng, snorted, reined in the horse's reins, wiped the fine sweat on his face, and said to Li Zicheng urgently: "King Chuang, it's not good!" That Li Xiao has taken Chongzhen's corpse and several princes out of the city! '

Liu Zongmin's words made Li Zicheng stunned: "Li Xiao? Which Li Xiao? ‘

"Which other Li Xiao could it be? It was Li Xiao, the king of Tang who was leading his troops to fight with Tatar Qing in Liaodong! Liu Zongmin gritted his teeth and said hatefully: "This guy took his guards and sneaked back from Liaodong, and when our army broke the city, he pretended to beat the banner of our army, sneaked into the city, rescued Chongzhen's corpse, and found those princes again, and they have been taken out of the city together......"

"Huh? How did you know that there was such a thing? Li Zicheng's face changed drastically.

"King Yuchuang, Li Xiao, when he led the guards to abscond out of the city from the Dongzhi Gate, he was stationed at the city gate. was caught off guard for a while, and almost let him sneak attack! Liu Zongmin touched the scar on his neck, and his face was full of deep hatred: "Fortunately, I reacted in time and captured the infantry and some eunuchs behind him who had not yet escaped, so I finally asked the reason." Because he entered the city with all his troops and horses, he really couldn't draw enough troops to pursue Li Xiao and the others. Therefore, I hurriedly came to see King Chuang, and now that such a thing has happened, what should I do next? “

Liu Zongmin's words made Li Zicheng's heart more and more panicked.

Exercise! The emperor is dead, and the corpse is snatched away, but now even the prince has fallen into the hands of Li Xiao, which, this is simply leaving endless troubles for himself!

He could almost foresee that after Li Xiao took these princes away, he would definitely return to Shandong as soon as possible, establish a new lord, restore the Ming court, and reorganize the state organs, so as to coerce the princes of the Son of Heaven to reintegrate the internal forces of the Ming Dynasty, and then make a comeback, and then launch a retaliatory attack on himself.

Correspondingly, his original plan to take advantage of the Ming Dynasty's ownerless state, so that his good wishes to be able to break them one by one have completely come to naught.

Li Zicheng's face was very angry, he smashed his fist on the thigh, and immediately ordered: "Ruhou! I order you to go to the tent outside the north city as soon as possible, mobilize the 3,000 veteran cavalry as a reserve, and be sure to catch up with Li Xiao as soon as possible, and never let him escape! “

"Order!"

Liu Zongmin gave up his hand and left, Li Zicheng was still angry, he was like an anxious beast, after going around in place for a few times, he ordered again: "Pass my military order, if there are still resisting Ming soldiers and horses in the city, all of them will be killed!" In addition, those princes and nobles of the Ming Dynasty were all taken care of, and their generals were ordered to strictly pursue the stolen goods and salaries, and if they did not pay the order, the whole family would be killed! “

'Order!'

Under Li Zicheng's order, the city of Beijing, which had gradually calmed down, began to fall into greater turmoil.

Batches of princes and nobles, no longer have any of the prestige of the past, they are like a herd of pigs to be slaughtered, they were chained by the Dashun soldiers, tied their necks and hung their feet, and were escorted all the way to the palace and other places with a clanging sound, and then in these places, they were severely tortured, and they were ordered to spit out their own hidden silver to redeem themselves.

Li Zicheng vented all the anger of Li Xiao and his troops on the successful retreat of this Ming Dynasty official, and he ordered to increase the amount of ransom silver on a large scale, and personally announced that the cabinet Shangshu asked for 100,000 taels of silver, the ministry and the Jingtang Jinyi Shuai 70,000 taels, the Kedao officials 50,000 and 30,000, the Hanlin 10,000, the ministry Cao Qianji, and the rest had a difference in the amount of stolen goods.

Among these officials, Li Zicheng decided to personally interrogate the last first assistant of the Ming Dynasty, Chen Yan, a scholar of Dongge University.

There is also a reason why Li Zicheng wants to go down in person and go to Chen Yan, the highest official position among the ministers of the Ming Dynasty.

In doing so, he had the intention of killing chickens and scaring monkeys, and he also deeply hated Chen Yan, a former Ming bureaucrat who had secretly surrendered to Dashun, and did not do enough work before, resulting in the failure to prevent Chongzhen from dying in battle, the failure to prevent Li Xiao from seizing the body, and the failure to hide the prince in time, but was plundered by Li Xiao. These three charges are superimposed, and Li Zicheng has the heart to kill Chen Yan, let alone use Chen Yan to recover the stolen goods to vent his anger.

And this Ming Shoufu Chen Yan, who had already secretly communicated with the Dashun army and secretly prevented Emperor Chongzhen from fleeing south, never expected that the Dashun army would be so ruthless and ruthless, crossing the river and demolishing the bridge like this, not only did he want to give himself a large reward as promised before, and he wanted to continue to reuse himself in the new dynasty, but he actually began to fight the idea of such a meritorious minister as himself, to recover the stolen goods, and to put himself to death.

Rabbits and dead dogs are cooked, and birds are all hidden!

Damn, I knew that Liukou was so ruthless, and he would take revenge like this, even if he was killed, he would not stop Chongzhen from moving south!

Thinking about it now, what a word of repentance!

"King Chuang! It's a merit to the new dynasty in the next! King Chuang, you can't do this to me! I also hope to break through the king's grace and put it on the next life path! ”

Seeing a group of wolf-like soldiers, taking out the thick clamping sticks that had been stained dark red by human blood, Chen Yan was so frightened that his legs were weak.

He fell to his knees with a thud, kowtowed like pounding garlic, and wailed like a mourning dog.

'Clamp the stick!'

Li Zicheng's face was blue, and he did not show the slightest sympathy because of his bitter pleading.

'Order!'

A group of soldiers swarmed up, pressed Chen Yan to the ground, and unceremoniously put clamps on his legs. Immediately, the two sergeants stood on both sides, pulled the rope in their hands, and clamped the clamp stick vigorously.

'Ahh

After a piercing scream, Chen Yan, a literati, was tortured for the first time, and he fainted to death at once.

At this time, he was stuck on a clamping stick, unable to move like a dead dog. This clamping stick, more than three feet long, is made of poplar wood, more than five inches to the ground, runs through iron bars, and each one is tied with three pairs of clamps. When a person is to be clamped, the stick should be erected upright, and one person should hold it, and the tortured part of the tortured person should be placed on it, and a stick should be used to hand it to the left of the foot, so that the tortured person cannot move. Then he used a large bar six or seven feet long and more than four inches in circumference, and struck his shin from the right side, causing his calf to bleed and spill on the ground.

Moreover, there are various combinations of sticks, which can clamp hands, feet, and thighs, which is the most torturous.

"Report! King Yuchuang, Chen Yan has fainted, can he be tortured again? ’

"Damn, I want to play dead, no way! Keep it up! After clamping the legs, clamping the toes, clamping the toes and clipping the fingers, and clamping the Lao Tzu to death! Li Zicheng's eyes were blood-red, and he gritted his teeth and ordered.

The soldiers listened to the order, did not dare to slack off, and continued to torture Chen Yan, who had already fainted.

At this time, Chen Yan was already tortured, whether it was the bones of his fingers, or the bones of his toes, or the bones of his thighs, he had broken everywhere, and the flesh and blood all over his body were blurred, swollen into a terrible and strange appearance, and drops of blood gushed out from the wound and flowed all over his body, which was shocking at a glance.

At this time, the soldiers were also tired of torture, they gasped for breath, and even kicked Chen Yan, who was fainting on the ground, several times, but Chen Yan was like a dead dog, not moving.

He lay limply on the ground, covered in blood, like a disgusting red slug.

"Come on, pour cold water on me, this guy wants to pretend to be dead, but he can't!" Li Zicheng roared again.

With a bang, a basin of cold water was splashed over, cold water choked into the nasal passages, and Chen Yan woke up in a violent cough.

This former Ming Shoufu, a scholar of Dongge University, had tears rolling down his beard, and he staggered to Li Zicheng's seat, whimpering and pleading: "King Chuang, I can't hold it anymore!" You're an adult, spare it! ”

Seeing him like this, Li Zicheng looked contemptuous, and before he could speak, he saw Liu Zongmin, who had a face of wind and dust and mud, and hurriedly ran into the hall out of breath.

Immediately, Liu Zongmin pounced and knelt down next to Chen Yan.

"King Chuang, incompetent below! I led 3,000 elite cavalry and chased all the way eastward, until I reached the boundary of Hejian Mansion, but I couldn't catch up with Li Xiao......"