At the same time that Zhu Pingjin's soul was pierced, Zhang Xianzhong, a giant thief chief who was famous in the Ming Dynasty, was leading a peasant army to brave a thunderstorm and march north in the direction of Chengdu, the provincial capital of Chengdu, the center of Shu. After several days of fierce fighting, they finally broke through Renshou County yesterday, killed Liu Sance, the magistrate, and slaughtered the whole city according to Zhang Xianzhong's pre-war oath.

When the main force of the peasant army was rapidly advancing northward, an advance force of more than 1,000 people had secretly rushed to Chengdu Mansion in advance on a rainy night, and hid in the houses or grass under the western city wall. The advance force was led by dozens of men to dig the city, and dozens of others were ready to replace them. The brigade of men and horses quietly hid a hundred paces away, enduring the invasion of hunger and cold, and watched the hazy figure of the brother in front of him sway.

It is not complicated to dig a city to deal with a city wall like Chengdu Mansion that has been in disrepair for a long time. The soldiers first used knives to clean up the debris in the cracks of the city bricks, leaving room for the spear tip to wedge into, and then held the spear shaft and shook it up and down left and right to loosen the city bricks, and then used the knife to pry it down piece by piece. After nearly 300 years of erosion and gravity squeezing, the bricks of Chengdu Mansion have become crumbling, and the brick joints have become no longer compact, and in some places they are so big that they can even be inserted into fists. Therefore, the progress of the excavation of the city was very fast, and in less than an hour, they had already peeled off a large piece of bricks, revealing the rammed earth inside the city walls. Now, the tools they are most familiar with, hoes and iron tips, have finally come in handy.

No one in the city-digging team spoke, but they were not worried about being discovered by the officers and soldiers on the city walls. With the laxity of the official and military defenses, the soldiers on guard should have taken refuge in the grass huts to avoid the rain and wind, and they should not have discovered the night raids of the rebels. Besides, the lanterns and torches of the officers and soldiers have been blown out by the wind and rain, and the sound of digging has been suppressed by the sound of the wind and rain. (Note 1)

On the nineteenth day of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, early in the morning, the fourth day after the thieves dug the city.

The center of Chengdu Mansion, the west gate of the Shu Palace, Zunyi Gate City Tower.

The lead cloud hung low, and fine snow needles faintly fell. The snow needles in the near distance are blocked by the cornices of the castle towers, and the farther ones fall on the top of the city, burrowing into the cracks of the green bricks in the blink of an eye, becoming a little wet, accumulating in patches of moss or a tuft of weeds in the root system. Except for a few chickens and dogs in the distance, there was silence around the tower. The palaces of several county kings are hazy, and the thousand-year-old city is hidden in this gray-white coldness.

The cold winter wax moon is the coldest time of the year. The chief steward of the Shu Shizi Mansion, the eunuch Cao Sanbao lightly stomped his toes in his boots. A trace of cold wind quietly burrowed into his body, causing Cao Sanbao to tremble uncontrollably. But Cao Sanbao's forbearance skills cultivated by waiting for nobles for many years have played a role. In the cold and cold of the morning, his body was still able to maintain a natural forward bend for a long time, with a smile on his face and a respectful look.

Cao Sanbao knew that there were two little eunuchs behind him, one was named Wang Sizhong, the other was named Li Sixian, and several palace maids were listening at any time from a distance. Although these two younger ones are more filial than their own sons in front of themselves, Cao Sanbao knows that the rules in the palace are to compete for favor all the time. If you are a little negligent, you are stabbed next to the bad guy, and you lose your favor in the eyes of your master, and you will never recover. Guarding the king's tomb and brushing the toilet are considered to be virtues. Pull it out and kill it directly, and throw it in a mass grave for wild dogs to eat, this is a common thing!

Thinking of this, Cao Sanbao's body remained calm, and his ears carefully searched for the trembling sound behind him. He was secretly proud in his heart: "Two pups, it's really tender!" ”

"Cao Banban!" There was a call ahead. The voice was subtle, without a hint of anger.

Cao Sanbao instantly retracted his attention, fast-forwarded three or four steps, and walked to the back of the master's side.

"Lord Shizi!" Cao Sanbao's waist bent lower, and the smile on his face became thicker.

"Is there any news about the thieves today?"

Cao Sanbao knew that the meaning of the prince's question was whether there would be any trace of the thief in the city today.

Four days ago, on the fifteenth night of the lunar month. The front team of thieves took advantage of the rain to dig the city in the northwest corner of Chengdu Fucheng, almost piercing the city wall, but fortunately, Chengdu's fate should not be extinguished. The new governor, Liao Daheng, was worried that something would happen at the end of the year, so he sent Fubiao to the head of the city. There was a battalion of Dong Bu barbarians in Fubiao, patrolling to Xicheng and immediately discovering the danger. Dong Bu's barbarian soldiers quickly warned and attacked, and the officials and thieves fought each other, but the thieves were defeated and retreated, and Chengdu turned the corner.

The city wall of Chengdu Mansion has four sides: south, south, west, and northwest. South, north and east are surrounded by the broad Jinjiang River and the Nanhe River (the Jinjiang River and the Nanhe River are both tributaries of the Minjiang River) on three sides, and the base of the wall is piled up with stones, and the upper half is the rammed earth brick. But outside the west city wall, there is only a river in the western suburbs that is not wide or deep, and it is all rammed earth and bricks. It is the west wall that the thieves carved the city, which shows that they have already discovered the reality of Chengdu! At dawn the next day, the thief brigade appeared outside the southern city, but did not forcibly attack the city. Soon after, the brigade of thieves traveled from south to north, bypassing the eastern city. The team stretched intermittently for dozens of miles, and walked for a whole day.

The thieves are in the city, and the officials of Sichuan are naturally very nervous. They closed the four gates, and as if they were burning their buttocks, they dispatched officials and soldiers to recruit people to go to the city to defend the thieves, and they made a fuss for several days. But the thief went north, but he did not come again. On the seventeenth and eighteenth days, there was no movement of thieves outside the city. This morning, the palace has sent people to inquire clearly: before the time has passed, the governor yamen has sent a few groups of fine workers out of the city to inquire around, and all of them have returned by the time of the morning. In detail, within ten miles of the four gates of the provincial capital, no trace of the thief was found. Now no one in the yamen knows where the thief has gone, and I don't know if the thief will use a knife plan, kill a horse pistol, and attack Chengdu again.

Cao Sanbao hurriedly replied to what he knew. At the end, Cao Sanbao carefully looked at the little master's demeanor from behind. I saw that Shi Ziye was still holding his hands behind his back, the corners of his mouth did not move at all, and his eyes were looking straight out of the house, but he didn't know where to focus, only his right finger occasionally tapped on the back of his left hand. Cao Sanbao didn't know if he should speak now, saying that the weather was too cold and asking the prince to go home. After all, as the great eunuch in the prince's mansion, he has a great responsibility for the prince's health. He is also the companion of the prince, and there is nothing wrong with saying a word of loyalty. It's just that...... Since he lifted the futon that night, Cao Sanbao has been uneasy. From childhood to adulthood, he has always been with him. He had never seen such a look in the eyes of the Son...... Where the lantern is lit, the son of the world is like a bloodthirsty beast!

"This damn world! If the sky has changed, will people's hearts also change? Cao Sanbao thought to himself, "I'd better be more careful." Those thieves who have received a thousand swords! ”

After standing for a while, Cao Sanbao, who was almost frozen on half of his body, finally spoke: "Lord Shizi, it's cold ...... this day."

Cao Sanbao had just spoken, but he saw the young man's son raise his hand and turn around: "Let's go." Go back to the Prince's Mansion! ”

Note 1: "Shu Bi" said that the time when Zhang Xianzhong chiseled Chengdu did not occur when Chongzhen went north to Deyang in the thirteenth year of Layue, but when Chongzhen went south from northern Sichuan to southern Sichuan in the autumn of thirteenth year. The rebel army almost cut through the city wall, but was beaten out by Dong Bu's Tusi soldiers and killed 10,000 people. Mr. Gu Cheng did not accept this statement. Dong Bu Tusi, also known as Muping Tusi or Baoxing Toast, one of the eighteen Tusi of Jiarong in the Qing Dynasty, in Baoxing County, Ya'an City.