In the evening, the guards who went out to inquire about the news returned one after another, and they found a lot of news, mainly including: Emperor Chongzhen is said to have hanged himself in the Shouhuang Pavilion of Long Live Mountain, and there was only one old eunuch by his side to accompany him to death; Before his death, Emperor Chongzhen killed the empress and other concubines in the harem or forced them to commit suicide; The Dashun army has basically wiped out the remnants of the enemy in the city, and is cleaning the Forbidden City, preparing to hold a ceremony for Li Zicheng to enter Beijing tomorrow; On the one hand, the officials of the Dashun Dynasty were allowed to vacate the mansion to prepare for the placement of the officials of the Great Shun Dynasty, and on the other hand, according to their official rank and status, the standard of paying the ransom was formulated, and those who paid the ransom in full could be exempted from death, and those who could not pay were imprisoned and severely punished to recover the stolen goods, and ordered them to hand over the hidden gold and silver treasures; Lu Xiangsheng, under Shang Dayong's response, had already escorted Concubine Li and the three princes to the south, and the Taiping sect members made marks along the way. In addition, several guards also got back several sets of military uniforms of the Dashun Army, ready to use them in disguise and escape.

When Wang Qiang heard that Concubine Li, his son and the team had all withdrawn safely, his heart sank. In fact, because he was lost with the team, Shang Dayong and the others were very anxious, and the Yan brothers took people to stay in the city, and they were looking for Wang Qiang all over the world in a hurry, but the city was too chaotic, and the two groups of people did not meet.

After dinner, a few people rested for a while, then changed into the clothes of the Dashun Army and quietly went out of the hospital. It was already late at night, the street was still very lively, the soldiers of the Dashun Army were shuttling back and forth on the street with torches, and many ordinary people were also greedy for excitement when they saw this great change, standing on the side of the street and talking excitedly. In the palaces of some princes and ministers, there were loud noises, and the soldiers of the Dashun army happily carried the extorted "booty" in and out.

Wang Qiang and the others walked all the way to the north city along the street, a guard had already explored the way, and led everyone to prepare to go out of the city from the bombed city wall in the north, and their group was wearing the clothes of the Dashun army, as if they were doing office work, but no one doubted the interrogation. When they arrived in Beicheng, Wang Qiang and the others crouched in the dark to observe the movement at the gaps, and found that there were soldiers of the Dashun Army guarding those gaps, and these soldiers put torches on the broken city and sat in one place to drink and chat. It turned out that Liu Zongmin estimated that after the city was broken, those officials of the Ming court would take advantage of the chaos to escape, so he specially arranged to strengthen precautions at various entrances out of the city.

Wang Qiang estimated that with the skills of a few guards, there should be no problem in rushing out, but in this way, I am afraid that the other defenders will be alarmed, and if the Dashun army raises troops to chase after them, it will be difficult for him to get out. He was pondering, only to hear a sound not far away, a soldier of the Dashun army seemed to have been hit by a hidden weapon, screamed and fell to the ground, clinging, only to see a figure in the dark shaking, fleeing to the south, a few soldiers guarding the gap saw it, immediately got up and shouted and chased over. Wang Qiang remembered that someone injured Liu Zongmin with a hidden weapon at noon today, and he saved Yuanyuan, thinking that it should be the same person who helped him in secret, and this person was a friend rather than an enemy, he saw that there was no one at the gap, and with a wave of his hand, several people quickly took advantage of the darkness to penetrate through the gap in the city wall.

At this time, the outer city was already dark, silent, there were no soldiers on the streets, and there were no lively people, they did not dare to light torches, only by the faint starlight, that Chen Yuanyuan was weak, and his skills were not as agile as others, and he walked forward with a deep foot and a shallow foot, and unconsciously pulled Wang Qiang's sleeve. After traveling for about an hour, Wang Qiang and his team had already left the outer city, and there was a military camp of the Dashun Army not far away, and there were still lights swimming. Wang Qiang and the others bypassed the camp, went up a hill in the northeast direction, and marched north along the ridge path. A few guards saw Wang Qiang all the way to the north, and they didn't know what he meant, but Wang Qiang was the leader of the sect, and they had always been absolutely obedient, so they didn't ask much.

Descending the hill, several people bypassed a mountain beam again, came to a fork in the road, was discussing which way to go, only to hear a gong in the dark night, and suddenly shouted from the front and back, left and right, and then the torches around lit up, illuminating the intersection, Wang Qiang and they found that they had been surrounded. An officer in front of the ranks of the Dashun army on the opposite side pointed a knife at Wang Qiang and shouted, "What are you doing?"

Wang Qiang replied in a hurry: "Our own people, we are on the order of the general to go to the north on business." ”

"Official," the officer asked.

Where did Wang Qiang know the password of the Dashun Army, and after a while, several guards around him had quietly drawn their blades and prepared to resist.

Seeing this, the officer smiled and said, "Sure enough, it is the remnant of the Ming Court, General Zhi has long expected that someone will escape from this road, and he really guessed it." ”

Wang Qiang heard him mention the general, and knew that it was Li Yan who was talking about, so he smiled and said: "Hehe, then Li Yan is my old friend, we are from Shandong, we are going to vote for him, don't misunderstand."

The officer mocked and said: "No, if you want to vote for my general, you can go directly to the barracks, how can you bypass the barracks and sneakily come here"

"There is a reason for this, it's a long story, if you don't believe it, you might as well take me to meet your general, and you'll know at first sight." Wang Qiang said calmly.

The officer was also afraid of catching the wrong person, so he said suspiciously: "Okay, forgive me and a few of you can't escape." First of all, lay down your weapons and come here. ”

Wang Qiang motioned for several guards to put down their swords and came to the front of the Dashun army, which surrounded them in the core and escorted them to the camp.

Li Yan, the general of the system, had not yet slept, and was reading a book in the big tent, when his own soldiers outside the tent came to report that they had caught several suspicious people and claimed to see him, and he ordered these people to be brought in.

Wang Qiang entered the big tent, and saw Li Yan at a glance, it was the Li You who had been saved at the beginning, so he hurriedly clasped his fists and said, "Brother Li You, don't come to harm."

Li Yan heard someone call out his pseudonym, looked up and looked up, and already recognized Wang Qiang, so he hurriedly stepped forward and took Wang Qiang's hand and said, "It turned out to be you, it's really an old friend visiting, please take a seat." Come on, serve tea" Then Li Yan knew Wang Qiang's identity, and in order to avoid suspicion, he did not call Wang Qiang's name.

The soldiers who escorted Wang Qiang saw that Wang Qiang was indeed Li Yan's friend, and they all took their blades. Li Yan saw Wang Qiang's sudden visit, and it was estimated that there was an important confidential matter, so he said: "Hahahaha, old friends meet, fortunately, you and I say goodbye."

It's time to have a good chat for a few years, so let your friends go to the tent next to you to rest first, and our brothers will talk about it at night."

"Just what I want." Wang Qiang said.

Everyone in the tent withdrew from the tent after hearing this, but Chen Yuanyuan only knew Wang Qiang, and was reluctant to leave, and gently pulled Wang Qiang's sleeve, Wang Qiang understood that it was inconvenient for her to rest with those men as a woman, so he smiled and said: "This person is my cronies, just stay by your side, and there is no need to shy away from speaking." ”

Li Yan had already guessed that Chen Yuanyuan was a woman from her figure and demeanor, thinking that it was Wang Qiang's family, and motioned for her to sit.

At this time, there was no one else in the tent, Li Yan first waved at Wang Qiang and said: "Lord Wang, that day in Yanzhou, you took the risk to save you, and you have never had the chance to repay you, thank you here first." ”

"Eh, General Li doesn't have to be polite, I escaped from the capital this time, but I have to rely on you to save me." Wang Qiang said with a smile.

Li Yan smiled: "Hehe, that's natural, in fact, since the separation, I have been paying attention to what adults do, and I deeply admire your talent and personality, not to mention that you have saved my life with me, even if you go to this relationship, I will try my best to help you." Now that Chongzhen is dead and Daming is dead, I don't know what you plan to do next."

Wang Qiang said: "Don't hide it from the general, I have stayed in the Northeast for a long time, and I know a lot about the Manchu Dynasty, and the Manchu Qing have been peeping at my Huaxia country, and when there is a suitable opportunity, they will take advantage of the situation to march into the Central Plains, so I founded the Taiping Sect, and I plan to gather the sect to resist the Qing army." Now that the Ming Dynasty is new, the world is already in chaos, according to my estimates, they will soon send troops to compete with Dashun for the world. Therefore, I sincerely hope to join hands with your army to resist foreign humiliation, and I have written to King Chuang about this, but it has backfired, and King Chuang did not agree, so I had to make some preparations on my own. ”

Li Yan had read Wang Qiang's letter to Li Zicheng, and had been reprimanded by Li Zicheng for it, so he nodded and said, "I know this matter." However, now that the king of my family has unified several northern provinces, the people love them, and all the people have returned to their hearts, and the remnants of the Ming court are already vulnerable, and it is only a matter of time before the Great Shun Dynasty dominates the world. Although the Manchus were brutal, after all, they were in a corner, and the Ming Dynasty was so weak that they were still powerless to attack, not to mention that I have a million male teachers in Dashun, saying that the Manchus will compete with Dashun for the world, it is sensational. ”

Wang Qiang listened, and felt that Li Yan still hadn't seen through the general trend of the world, but it was not easy to say too deeply, so he said: "I established the Taiping Sect just to resist the Qing Dynasty, and I don't want to be an enemy of the Great Shun. As for saying that the Manchu Qing Dynasty is not the opponent of the Great Shun Dynasty, I think you are underestimating the enemy, and the Qing army has been preparing for many years, but it is not as easy to deal with as the Ming army, you should still be more careful. ”

Li Yan said: "It's natural to be careful, but even if that's the case, we have the same goal, why don't you just vote for King Chuang, it's not the same way to resist the Qing Dynasty There is a way to be a good minister to choose the lord and serve, with your talent, you will definitely be able to do a career in the Dashun Dynasty." I will do my best to defend before the king, and I will never let you be wronged. ”

Wang Qiang shook his head and said: "It's good to say that a good minister chooses the lord and serves, but it is true that if it is a master, at least I feel that there is no master in the world today who is worthy of my lifelong follow." His words actually implied that Li Zicheng was not the master.

Although Li Yan also has opinions on some of Li Zicheng's practices, after all, he still respects him from the bottom of his heart, so he said: "My family is a hero of the king, broad-minded, courageous, deeply loved by the people, can be the lord of the world, although a little stubborn, how can it be better than that Chongzhen"

Wang Qiang said with a smile: "It's true that King Chuang is a hero in the world, but it is okay to rely on a brave body to fight the world, but it is not possible to rule the world." When fighting the world, the righteous army shares weal and woe, the generals are of the same heart, cherish the people, and there is no crime in the autumn, so it is naturally invincible, but can it still be like this after winning the world, I don't think it may be more than that, not to mention the tigers and wolves outside the Guanwai now, half of the south of the Yangtze River has not yet arrived, I still want to see how the general trend of the world develops, but I want to remind the general that the times change, this person will change, and you yourself must be on guard. ”

Li Yan listened to Wang Qiang's words and also felt reasonable, at present, there is indeed a trend of pride and complacency in the Dashun army, which is very dangerous. However, he did not agree with Wang Qiang's statement that he reminded himself to pay attention, he knew that King Chuang was a person, and knew that he would never become to the point where even his brother would harm him.

The two had different thoughts, and naturally this topic couldn't go on, so Li Yan changed the topic and asked, "That's it, we don't force each other." Oh yes, you want to go to the north this time, do you want to go north?"

"This" Wang Qiang was embarrassed to say that he was going to escort Chen Yuanyuan, and said in a cover-up: "Oh, I fled this time, considering that the north should be a place where the defense was lax, and I plan to go out from here, and then take the sea route, and then go to the south." ”

Li Yan said: "That's good, don't go north, our army may soon go north, there will be a big battle there, it is very dangerous." ”

"Oh, are you going to attack Wu Sangui," Wang Qiang asked.

"Exactly." Li Yan nodded, his face solemn and continued: "Before attacking Beijing, this Wu Sangui had already handed over a surrender table to King Chuang, claiming to break away from the Ming court and return to my Dashun Dynasty. King Chuang also sent an envoy to Shanhaiguan to discuss the surrender, and promised to give him and his father the title of Marquis of Wu Xiang to keep his family safe. I don't want this Wu Sangui to be insatiable, he grabbed the military power in his hand at both ends, and offered to give him the title of general, and only after retaining his right to command the army was he willing to surrender, and sent my envoys back. King Chuang was angry, and once again sent an ultimatum to Wu Sangui, limiting him to disarm and surrender within three days, otherwise he would send troops to suppress it, and now it has reached the three-day period, and my envoys have not replied, so it is obvious that Wu Sangui refused to accept our request, so it is imperative for our army to go on a northern expedition. ”

Wang Qiang speculated in his heart and thought secretly: "Didn't this Wu Sangui turn his face with Li Zicheng because Chen Yuanyuan was robbed, but Yuanyuan's robbery was only a matter of noon today, and Wu Sangui couldn't get the news so quickly." Then why did he risk raising troops against Li Zicheng?"

Chen Yuanyuan sat behind Wang Qiang, and when he heard them talk about Wu Sangui, he also mentioned it

Be alert and listen attentively.

Wang Qiang said worriedly: "Oh, this Wu Sangui has a good command of the army, and he has tens of thousands of elite iron horsemen under his command, and he is very capable of fighting." Besides, the walls of Shanhaiguan are strong and there are artillery, I am afraid that it will not be easy for you to attack, so why not grant him what he asked and give him the title of general."

Li Yan said disapprenously: "Eh, you can't say that. Now there are many generals and officials of the Ming court who have surrendered to our army, and our strategy is to reward the lord without appointing the official, if these subordinates want to retain their own power and reach out to our court to ask for officials, then it will be necessary, and as soon as this precedent is opened, it will be even more difficult to do later. Besides, like I followed King Chuang for half my life to General Liu Zongmin, and made so many contributions, and only then was he named a general, he Wu Sangui did not make an inch, and he wanted to be a general by virtue of his status as a general, isn't it wishful thinking"

Wang Qiang sighed lightly and said: "It seems that this battle is inevitable, don't you worry about this Wu Sangui dog jumping off the wall in a hurry and descending to the Manchu Dynasty?"

"Hahahaha" Li Yan said with a smile: "No, he Wu Sangui is also a dignified seven-foot man, he has fought with the Manchu Qing for many years, and he has a deep grudge, if he descends to a foreign race and does such a thing that is inferior to beasts, wouldn't he have carried the infamy of the ages and made the world laugh at it, and even if he is willing to surrender, so many soldiers under him will not agree, this can be assured." ”

Wang Qiang also felt that this matter was unlikely, but this is how history happened, he thought that if Wu Sangui did not surrender to the Qing Dynasty, then the Manchu Qing Dynasty would not be able to easily advance into the Central Plains, and maybe it would be possible to avoid the suffering of the people of the Central Plains; But if Wu Sangui surrendered to the Manchu Dynasty, then Yuanyuan would naturally keep the promise and leave Wu Sangui, and he would have a chance. He couldn't figure out for a while whether he wanted Wu Sangui to clear or not, and his mind was so confused that he couldn't think of anything, so he only lowered his head and sighed.

Li Yan saw that Wang Qiang's face was tired and in a trance, so he arranged for his attendants to take Wang Qiang and Chen Yuanyuan down to rest. At dawn the next day, Wang Qiang said goodbye to Li Yan. Li Yan sent a few war horses to Wang Qiang, Wang Qiang knew that Chen Yuanyuan couldn't ride a horse, so he said that he didn't dare to ride a horse anymore, so he asked for a carriage, and he sat with Yuanyuan, took a few guards, and continued to go north. Walking out of Lixu, I saw that the Dashun army behind me had also marched towards Beijing as a team.

Wang Qiang sent a person to turn back and go south to chase Shang Dayong and them along the way, tell them their whereabouts, he took others to disguise themselves as merchants, and marched to Shanhaiguan, and there were no obstacles along the way, he and Chen Yuanyuan sat in the car, Wang Qiang guessed whether Wu Sangui would descend to Qing, and Chen Yuanyuan considered whether Wu Sangui really abandoned himself, the two had different ideas, but they were in the same mood, and they were not in the mood to talk about poetry and papers, so they walked all the way in silence. Chen Yuanyuan had already discovered the beard on Wang Qiang's chin, and thought that he had put it on in disguise, so he didn't care.

Two days later, the group arrived at Yongping Town outside Shanhaiguan, the tall city wall of Shanhaiguan was already visible, Wang Qiang's attitude towards Wu Sangui was not yet thorough, and he felt that it was too risky to rush into the city, so he decided to send someone to the city to inquire first, and by the way, Chen Yuanyuan's letter of safety was sent to Wu Sangui, and Wu Sangui's attitude was seen before making plans. Chen Yuanyuan was also worried that Wu Sangui really disliked him, and he also had the idea of testing it first, and the two hit it off. The few of them stayed in a hotel in Yongping Town, and the next day, Wang Qiang sent someone into the city to deliver a letter.

said that Wu Sangui was also a hero in the world. In his early years, he practiced martial arts diligently, determined to serve the country, followed his father to garrison Jinzhou outside the Guan, fought against the Qing army very bravely, and accumulated rich experience in leading troops to fight. However, as he grew older and his experience increased, he began to realize the importance of mastering strength, especially after his father Wu Xiang was defeated and dismissed by Chongzhen, he believed that only by mastering the army could he be as stable as Mount Tai in this troubled world, and be the king and hegemon, so he took "strength determines everything" as his creed, and strived to build an army that only obeyed his orders, whether it was during the period of serving as the general army of Guanning or later as the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan, he trained hard, and vigorously cultivated his cronies, for a few years, The more than 50,000 Ming troops stationed at Shanhaiguan have been trained by him into elite iron cavalry, and have become the most combat-effective force in the Ming army. Not only that, but he also set up a card in Shanhaiguan privately, and collected money from passing merchants in the name of raising money, and most of this money was used by him to purchase armaments and as a reward for winning over his cronies.

Wu Sangui will take this team as his own housekeeping capital, no one can touch it, when Jinzhou was besieged, Hong Chengchou ordered him to send troops to rescue, he found an excuse to ignore it, resulting in Jinzhou was trapped for three months after the fall, this time Li Zicheng marched into Beijing, Chongzhen ordered him to enter the king of Beijing Qin, he still did not move, he has seen clearly that the Ming Dynasty is about to decline, Li Zicheng will become the lord of the world, he immediately wrote a table of surrender to Li Zicheng, he wants to use this army as a weight, and Li Zicheng to negotiate conditions. Unexpectedly, Li Zicheng did not buy his account, and the envoys sent to negotiate pointed at him with the attitude of a victor, and he was arrogant, without taking him seriously at all, and there was no room for negotiation on the conditions of surrender. Other conditions are fine, the key one is that he must leave this army, this he can't accept it anyway, let him leave this army, this is more uncomfortable than his life, he feels that he has lost his military power, and if he returns to Beijing to be the empty marquis, then he will become a lamb to be slaughtered, and there will never be a day. He originally thought that with his military strength and the particularity of the situation in Liaodong, Li Zicheng would not be stupid enough to really go to war with him, and would definitely give in to himself, so he categorically rejected the conditions of the Great Shun Dynasty and put forward his own requirements, but he did not want to quickly summon Li Zicheng's ultimatum.

After receiving the ultimatum, Wu Sangui was really a little panicked, because he just wanted to sell himself at a higher price in his heart, and he didn't want to be hostile to Li Zicheng. With the current situation, the Ming Dynasty has been destroyed, and he has become a grass king without a master, although he has tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in his hands, but it is far from enough to fight against Li Zicheng's powerful forces, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty has also hoarded hundreds of thousands of troops outside the pass, staring at himself with a tiger's eye, and he may pounce on himself if he makes a slight mistake, and when the time comes, he will not succeed in stealing chickens, but he will lose rice. He was helpless, sleepless all night, and when the three-day deadline came, he still couldn't make a final decision, whether to fight or surrender

Still looking for "Little Eunuch Zongheng Daming" for free?

Baidu direct search: "easy" is very simple!

( = )