On March 13, the pontoon bridge over the Yellow River was finally built, and the artillerymen crossed the river with artillery and a thousand newly trained cavalry and came to Puzhou.

Two days later, after resting and recuperating, the troops headed for Jinan under the leadership of Li Yan. Wang Renfu stayed behind to guard it.

Li Zicheng's troops only occupied Zhendingfu, and Li Yan did not continue the offensive northward, so Quang Binh became a buffer zone between the two sides, and the officers and troops there lived in fear every day. The worst thing is that whether they surrendered to Li Yan or Li Zicheng, both sides unanimously refused. This made them feel even more frightened, and they didn't know what the two sides would do with them in the future.

Li Yan led his troops into Shandong, and along the way, he just went to the city while resting around the county seat, and saw the original court officers and soldiers and gentry who maintained order in the city. Although there are also officials and village chiefs from all over Henan in the county, there are only one or two, which play the role of surveillance. Most of the people are still in the villages outside the city, registering their household registration, measuring the acres of land, and preparing for the future conscription and distribution of land and tax collection.

Li Yan can't believe the fish scale books and household registration books kept in various counties. The big families hid their fields, the common people hid their populations, and the officials took bribes. In short, everyone is cheating, in order to pay less taxes and bear less labor. Moreover, after the plundering of the Qing army, there was also a great loss of population, and naturally some fields became ternullius, so they had to grasp the latest data.

Those gentry and big families are also inquiring about Li Yan's policies these days, knowing that Li Yan will collect full taxes from them, and will re-determine their land and property, subject to the red deed issued by the government. Which of these families did not occupy the land and make contributions? If they followed Li Yan's rules, their land would be reduced by half, so they were quite dissatisfied. However, in view of Li Yan's military strength, the incompetence of the officials and soldiers, and the enthusiasm of the people, they could only give in temporarily.

Li Yan didn't care about the feelings of these gentry, and now he didn't have time to pay attention to them. Even if they rebel, they can take the opportunity to destroy some.

However, this idea is also difficult, the people are preparing to send their children to Li Yan to be soldiers, so that they can own their own land, can those gentry gather people to rebel? Even the bandits couldn't find much, and when Li Mu led the team over, he easily suppressed a large number of bandits, and Huang Desheng continued to encircle and suppress them. Did the gentry carry their own weapons? They don't have the courage. Those who have courage became heroic martyrs as early as last year when they fought against the Qing army.

Li Yan and Li Mu met in Jinan, leaving a thousand people here to be used as a material transfer station. After learning about the specific situation in Shandong, Li Yan asked Li Mu to lead the troops south to receive the southern prefectures and counties, while he led the troops to the north. Liu Fangliang went north from Baoding to the capital directly, and did not send troops to take over the place, so he wanted to take this opportunity to develop as far north as possible.

It's not just about occupying territory, it's about leaving a safe space. Even if he wants to fight Li Zicheng, he will have to fight outside his control area. It takes a long time to restore order, and a lot of food and supplies will be consumed, but to disrupt order, all it takes is a big war.

Li Yan and the others marched with their troops, and then all the counties surrendered. Now that Beijing is in danger, Liu Zeqing has fled again, and the officers and soldiers defending the city also know that the Ming Dynasty is about to collapse, so it is logical to surrender. However, there were also some officials who wanted to be loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty, and either committed suicide, or were caught or killed by the people and officers and soldiers.

In fact, those officers and officials wanted to take refuge in Li Zicheng's Dashun army. Now Dashun is like a bamboo, and it is very likely that a new dynasty will be established, and it will be more promising to surrender to the past. However, Li Yan came first, and they couldn't beat them either, so they surrendered first to save their lives, and then joined the new dynasty when they had the opportunity.

However, they may not have this opportunity, and their soldiers are also waiting to divide the land for their families, and few people are willing to rebel against Li Yan with them. As for Li Zicheng coming, at most, the two will not help each other. They all know that Li Zicheng couldn't beat Li Yan before, but now, it depends on the situation.

On March 15, Tang Tong at Juyong Pass surrendered to Li Zicheng, and the last barrier north of Beijing disappeared. And Baoding Mansion in the south has also been besieged by thieves, and the fall is also a matter of urgency, and Beijing is already in danger.

As early as the end of February, the dignitaries and nobles in the capital had already left the city in droves to the south. Not only because Li Zicheng was coming soon, but because Emperor Chongzhen began to ask the gentry to donate again.

At the beginning, it was to ask the relatives, eunuchs and hundreds of officials to donate, with a donation of 30,000 taels as the best, to raise people to assist the Beijing camp to defend the city. However, only Taikang Bo Zhang Guoji donated 20,000 taels, the eunuch Wang Zhixin was forced to take out 10,000 taels, and the others were only donations of dozens of taels or 100 taels.

Needless to say, other officials, even Chongzhen's father-in-law, Jiading Bo Zhou Kui only donated three thousand taels. Originally, Chongzhen asked him to give 120,000 taels as an example for 100 officials. But Zhou Kui was reluctant to come out, so he only promised to give 10,000 taels. Chongzhen relented and asked him to donate 20,000 taels. Zhou Kui sent a letter to Empress Zhou, wanting his daughter to persuade the emperor.

Empress Zhou did not persuade Chongzhen, but took out five thousand taels of silver to send to Zhou Kui. But Zhou Kui was very powerful, deducting 2,000 taels of them, and only handed over 3,000 taels to the emperor. Not only did he not pay a tael of silver, but he also earned two thousand taels from his daughter.

Chongzhen saw it and confiscated a few dollars, so he simply apportioned it. Based on the nationality of the officials in Beijing, Jiangnan donated 8,000 taels, Zhejiang donated 6,000 taels, Huguang donated 5,000 taels, and Jiangbei, Shaanxi, and Shandong donated 4,000 taels. But the officials are stupid, and they all find reasons not to pay.

Chongzhen was ruthless and ordered the officials to recommend who was rich, and the yamen would force them. He thought clearly, now it's time for life and death, since the officials are waiting for the Ming Dynasty to die one by one, then he doesn't have to give them a good face anymore. The main reason is that there are less than 40,000 people in the Beijing camp, and for Beijing City, these generals are not even satisfied with the battlements, how can they defend the city?

Therefore, the officials and gentry were afraid, even if they knew that Shandong was not safe, they had to go out of Beijing first. It's a big deal to go to Tianjin to take a sea boat south, anyway, this capital can't stay, who knows if the emperor will come up with a new way to continue to ask them for money in two days?

In addition, there was another plague in the city of Beijing, and even more officials and gentry escaped from Beijing. Anyway, the Ming Dynasty will not die, they don't care. They felt that the emperor himself was reluctant to take the silver from the inner money, but instead stretched out his hand to be a courtier with them, which made them feel cold.

And they have a theoretical basis, Mencius said: the king regards the minister as a mustard, and the minister regards the king as an enemy. Since the emperor doesn't treat them as subordinates, they naturally won't be loyal to any emperor.

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