At the end of February, 28 newly cast 4-inch guns and 5 4-and-a-half-inch guns were finally delivered to the artillery, and the other guns with quality problems were recast.

At this time, there were more than 20,000 troops assembled in Puzhou, but at this time, the Yellow River happened to thaw, and the flow was dense, and neither the ferry nor the pontoon bridge could make the trip, so they had to continue to wait.

In order to prevent the troops in Shandong from falling into a situation of lack of logistics, Li Mou, who had just taken Jining, also asked the troops to stop and recuperate, waiting for Li Yan's army to arrive.

This gave Liu Ze time to clear up. He hadn't figured out what to do. If he talked about starting a war with Li Yan, he himself would not have confidence. At the beginning in Henan, they saw Li Zicheng's men turn around and run, but Li Yan defeated Li Zicheng under Kaifeng City, and this gap can be seen by comparison. But if he doesn't fight, where will he go?

At this time, not only Li Yan, but Li Zicheng's partial division was attacking Zhending Mansion, and Li Zicheng obviously wanted to attack Beijing on both sides. So Liu Zeqing naturally wouldn't go north to die, so he could only run south. However, he had to hurry up and not let Li Yan block the road to the south.

So Liu Zeqing took advantage of Li Yan's suspension of the offensive and ordered a large-scale raid of Jinan Mansion, and then fled to the southeast with the looted treasures and grains. Along the way, except for extorting some money and food, he didn't dare to stop for more than until he arrived in Linyi. After another search, he went south to Haizhou with his belongings, and then went to Huainan, which completely stopped.

And Li Zicheng also came to Datong all the way easily. He went all the way north from Taiyuan, passed through Xinkou and Yanmen, and the officers and troops surrendered in Kaicheng, only to meet resistance at Ningwu Pass.

Zhou Yuji, the general soldier of Ningwu, refused to surrender, and Liu Zongmin, as the vanguard, directly ordered the siege of the city. However, in the end, it was not well prepared, the siege equipment did not keep up, and the power of the artillery fire was not good, so it suffered some damage, and the city was not captured.

Liu Zongmin immediately said that he would not surrender within three days, and there would be no chickens and dogs left after the city was broken. Originally, Zhou Yuji's subordinates didn't want to fight, if Zhou Yuji didn't usually treat them well, they wouldn't have resisted. But now that they only have a few thousand people, it is a matter of time before the city is breached, and they don't want to accompany Zhou Yuji to be martyred.

Zhou Yuji saw that the soldiers and generals were unwilling to fight anymore, and they no longer forced it. He was promoted from a soldier to a chief military officer, and he thought that the court was very kind to him, and he decided to be a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty. So the next day, he left the city alone and entered the camp, claiming that according to the city guard, it was his order to defend the city, and it had nothing to do with the soldiers and civilians in the city.

Li Ziyuan wanted to give Zhou Yuji an official title. However, Zhou Yuji resolutely refused to surrender, and kept scolding, which angered Li Zicheng and others, and was executed by Li Zicheng Lingchi.

After Li Zicheng led the army to Datong, he was going to prepare to attack, but Jiang Jiu, the general soldier of Datong, unexpectedly surrendered in Kaicheng. And a few days later, Wang Chengyin, the chief soldier who was far away in Xuanfu, also sent someone to send a table. That is to say, Yanghe Town, where the governor of Xuanda was located, has now become an isolated city, and there is only one obstacle to entering Beijing.

Li Zicheng is in a good mood here, but Chongzhen is like falling into an ice cellar. Before, he saw that the defenders in various places ordered to surrender and invade the thieves, so he sent a large number of eunuchs to supervise the army, but it still did not work. The music that came back was full of thieves, thieves, or thieves, and there was no one who fought to the death.

And Li Jiantai, who went to the expedition on his behalf, also said in the song that the thieves were powerful and irresistible, but he was willing to escort the prince south. Chongzhen finally made up his mind at this time to move the capital to Nanjing.

So he immediately summoned Li Mingrui, who had been moving the capital south in order to survive the dynasty.

"Your Majesty." Li Mingrui kowtowed to Chongzhen.

Chongzhen hurriedly asked Li Mingrui to get up, and sent the eunuchs and palace maids and others away. Only then did he whisper: "Aiqing, the situation is critical now, and I have decided to move south." However, the ministers of the DPRK and China are against it, and I need Aiqing's help. ”

Li Mingrui immediately bowed down and said, "Your Majesty, don't worry, the minister will play tomorrow, please Your Majesty to drive the southern expedition." At this time when the world is at stake, I hope that His Majesty will say nothing. Moving the capital to Nanjing, the Ming Dynasty is particularly promising, and it can also be ruled by dividing the river if it is not good. As long as Your Majesty works hard, cultivates politics internally and cultivates the royal road outside, Your Majesty is in his youth, and he should be able to return to the capital of Beijing, and it is a great shame to snow. ”

Chongzhen nodded: "Okay, okay, then there will be Lao Aiqing." ”

Although he promised in his mouth, he still did not dare to act arbitrarily in his heart. Abandoning the capital and fleeing, rowing the river and ruling the river, and being in a corner of peace, this is all a matter of the old Song Dynasty, it has been hundreds of years, and he is still criticized by the scholars and doctors, and he still does not dare to carry this responsibility on his body.

The next day, Chongzhen asked about the strategy of war defense, but the ministers were still silent as usual. At this time, Li Mingrui put forward the idea of letting Chongzhen drive the expedition in person and leaving the prince in Beijing to supervise the country.

"What do you think" Chongzhen still asked as usual.

What he was thinking now was that as long as one or two important ministers came out to agree, the matter would be settled. Although Li Yan is now attacking Shandong, Shandong still has Liu Zeqing guarding Jinan, and the road is still smooth. And he thinks that there should not be many people who oppose the move to the south. Not only is Li Zicheng's army getting closer and closer to Beijing now, but after Wu Sangui evacuates Ningyuan, there is only one Shanhaiguan defense line, and Beijing is always under the front of the Qing State, so he is still relatively optimistic.

But the result was a big disappointment for him. At first, no one spoke, but when someone finally spoke, almost all of them were opposed. Even those who agreed to move south only agreed to let the prince go to Nanjing, and one by one they asked to escort the prince south.

"Your Majesty," Li Banghua said loudly: "Fang Jin's country is sluggish, the people's hearts are in danger, Your Majesty is the lord of China, and he should guard China; If you are Zhaomin's parents, you should take care of Zhaomin; For the main temple of the mausoleum, it is the temple of the guard. Zhou Ping and Song Gao's ugly plan has absolutely no merit. Your Majesty should be determined to uphold the community. And those who go to Nanjing to supervise the country should take the crown prince as appropriate. The ministers please seal the king, the eternal king in Taiping, Ningguo, and the country of speed, thinking that it will be in case. ”

"The minister seconded the proposal, and please escort the prince south."

"Please assist the prince in supervising Nanjing."

Chen Yan, Zhang Jinyan and others, all of them were out of the ranks, and they all invited themselves to go south to assist the prince.

Chongzhen had an epiphany at once, this is a forced palace. In the future, if the capital is defended, but these ministers and the prince go to Nanjing, then who will be the emperor, do you want him to be the emperor If the capital can't be defended, his brother will die alone, but these ministers can continue to hold power in Nanjing, and they will be rich and noble.

"Shut up," Chongzhen scolded sharply. He swept over the faces of the ministers one by one, and said decisively: "I have been running the world for more than ten years, and I still can't make money, what can a child's family do, you only talk about the strategy of war and defense, and there is no need to say anything else."

At this time, the matter had already been decided, so Guang Shiheng immediately impeached Li Mingrui: "Your Majesty, Li Mingrui is good at mentioning the heresy of moving south, bewitching Your Majesty, and causing trouble to people's hearts. Please let Your Majesty handle it strictly."

Chongzhen was angry, and immediately scolded: "It's all about moving south, how can you only refer to Li Mingrui to show that you don't want to investigate your friends."

The crime of friends is not small, and Wen Tiren, the first assistant of the year, was taken down because of his friends. At this time, Guang Shiheng could only silently return to the shift to wipe his cold sweat.

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