But said that the abbot Jiading Bo Zhou Kui, seeing that the Ming court was gone, he was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, he was the emperor, as long as the Ming Dynasty died, he would lose his power, and the generals of the world would not have a place for him. After Chongzhen sent the prince to his mansion to hide, he felt quite embarrassed, he felt that this day would be Li Zicheng sooner or later, and he could only escape with the prince as a dead end. In order to keep his wealth and safety, Zhou Kui started the idea of the prince, he felt that if the prince was dedicated to Li Zicheng as a meeting gift, he might be able to save his life, so he sent someone to send a letter to Li Zicheng, explaining his intention to surrender and sacrifice the prince. Li Zicheng asked the messenger to bring a message to Zhou Kui, saying that he accepted Zhou Kui's surrender, considering that the prince was young and did not do evil, so he agreed to keep the prince's life, and planned to give the crown prince the position of prince, and as long as Zhou Kui could prepare a ransom of 200,000 taels of silver and pay it to the rebel army, he could retain Zhou Kui's title.

Zhou Kui was overjoyed when he got the reply, and rushed to Wu Xiang's mansion, he and Wu Xiang were very close, and such important matters naturally had to be discussed together. Zhou Kui arrived at Wu's mansion and hid in the study with Wu Xiang to talk secretly.

Zhou Kui first told Wu Xiang in detail about his surrender to Li Zicheng and Li Zicheng's reply.

Wu Xiang heard this, and said enviously: "Oh, your brother has settled down this time, and he is stable." I was so envious. ”

Zhou Kui said proudly: "That's nature, this prince is a huge treasure, and now that it has fallen into my hands, how can I let go of this opportunity." I advise your brother to hurry up and find a way. ”

Wu Xiang said: "Don't hide it from my brother, I am also discussing this matter with my son Sangui's correspondence, but it is still unresolved, my son Sangui has a heavy army, Li Zicheng also sent someone to say surrender, promised to give my son the title of general and the title of marquis, but according to Sangui, Li Zicheng has always treated the generals of the Ming Court with no importance, once he surrendered, he was afraid of being stripped of his military power and trapped in an unpredictable place, so he hesitated

Decide. He planned to wait and see and talk to Li Zicheng about the conditions, so he would never surrender until he had to. ”

"Ahem! Sangui is really, it's all at this juncture, what are you waiting for! Li Zicheng has millions of soldiers in his hands, and Sangui only has tens of thousands of horses in his hands, how can he be Li Zicheng's opponent? Isn't that touching an egg on a stone? Zhou Kui said urgently.

"Alas! I said the same thing, but Sangui didn't listen to my persuasion, and insisted that Li Zicheng would surrender only after he had enough conditions, and I couldn't do his idea. Once he fights with Li Zicheng, not to mention victory or defeat, my Wu family is afraid that they will be implicated and poisoned by bandits. Wu Xiang frowned, with a sad expression.

Zhou Kui sighed: "Alas! How can Sangui, this child, be less than a family? By the way, didn't he even save my goddaughter Yuanyuan? ”

Wu Xiang suddenly said with an annoyed face: "Ahem, don't mention that mourning star." I'm not afraid that your brother will be surprised, since she entered my Wu family, we haven't had Ansheng. On the wedding day, Wang Qiang's little eunuch wore filial piety clothes and disturbed the wedding banquet, how frustrated he was. Since then, Sangui has asked to return to Beijing several times, but the emperor has rejected it, and I don't know what's going on, they have been married for three years, and they haven't even had a room, what do you say this is called! She is in the house, she doesn't even go out of the door all day long, she stretches out her hands for clothes, opens her mouth when she eats, and she will dance and play the strings and sing some clichés all day long. I think this woman must be born by a fox, she will only be charming, and she will bring disaster to whom, what a disaster! I wanted to send her out of the house and go to this calamity, but my family Sangui didn't agree, but he promised not to treat this woman like a lady in the main room."

Zhou Kui originally married Chen Yuanyuan to Wu Sangui in the name of his goddaughter, in order to win over the Wu father and son, he had no family affection for Chen Yuanyuan, so now when he heard Wu Xiang say this, Yuanyuan was not angry, but felt a little embarrassed.

He thought for a while and said, "Brother, since that's all I said, brother, I don't know whether to say something here or not." ”

Wu Xiang said: "I'm in a hurry, I don't choose what to say, don't blame my brother, if there is anything wrong, just say it." ”

Zhou Kui stroked his beard and smiled and said, "Hehe, since Sangui is uncertain, your brother should still find a way to protect himself." As far as I know, these robbers have millions of people, and the expenditure on food and salary is huge, and they proposed to exempt the land from taxation, although they won the support of the people, but the food and salary have no source, and they all rely on blackmailing the officials and gentry and landlords to support the expenses. Therefore, as long as the ordinary Ming court officials are willing to pay enough ransom, they can be exempted, and if they can have a rare offering or meritorious performance, they can even get an official to do it, and your brother might as well do the same. ”

Wu Xiang said: "I have also thought of this, I have prepared a ransom to save my life, but when it comes to curiosities, where can I find them?" ”

"Hey, hey!" Zhou Kui laughed and said to Wu Xiang in a low voice: "I heard what you said just now and I am very disgusted with that Yuanyuan, and your Sangui is not very fond of her, so it is better to dedicate this woman to Li Zicheng, I think that the thief has never seen such a charming woman in the middle of the horse all day long, and he will definitely love it and be a rarity. ”

Wu Xiang nodded contemplatively and said: "It makes sense, although she visited the church with my son, but the wedding did not take place, and she had a funeral, naturally she can't be regarded as the lady that Ming Media is marrying, at most she is a small star in the middle of the house, and she is a woman born in fireworks, her status is low, and she is not worthy of my son, and it is not a big deal to send her to the thief, just to take me to the disaster star." This matter will be handled by me and Sangui Branch. If it can be done, you and I can keep our official positions and continue to live our peaceful life, wouldn't it be happy! ”

"Hahahaha," the two of them laughed triumphantly.