In another time and space, Li Zicheng was easily defeated by Wu Sangui and the Manchu Qing coalition army and withdrew from Beijing, and many people despised the combat effectiveness of the Shun army, thinking that Li Zicheng was just a rogue who did not understand strategy. In fact, the combat effectiveness of the Shun army is not so bad, and Li Zicheng is not a person without strategy, at least in Chen Yue's view, there is nothing wrong with the strategy adopted by the current Shun army.

The top brass of the Shun army had realized that the Manchu Qing would be the biggest enemy of the Shun army, so the main force of the 70,000 Shun army stayed in Beijing and did not make any rash moves, and all the troops sent to various places were the surrendered Ming army, including the strategic location of Shanhaiguan. It was really because the old battalion of the Shun army had limited strength, and there was no way to divide the troops.

In just two or three years, Li Zicheng has grown from 18 cavalry to more than 100,000 troops, and now the number of troops has reached 200,000 or 300,000, but the real elite is the main force of the five battalions, with only 70,000 or 80,000 troops. The Manchu Eight Banners were all soldiers, and the army that could be used was as many as 100,000, so how could Li Zicheng dare to divide his troops in this situation.

At present, when the two sides of Shunming are at war, the Manchus will definitely not let go of this God-given opportunity to enter the Central Plains, the direction of their attack is nothing more than the Shanhaiguan in the east and the border wall in the north, Shanhaiguan is by the mountains and the sea, it is the narrowest part of the western Liaoning corridor, from the sea in the south to the vast mountains in the north is only a few miles wide, the wall is high and solid, the terrain is dangerous, the Manchus want to attack will inevitably pay great casualties, and at that time Li Zicheng will naturally continue to send reinforcements, so that the Manchus will shed their blood under the Shanhaiguan.

Therefore, the Manchus would certainly not choose to attack from Shanhaiguan, but would follow the path of the previous invasions and break through the border wall in the north. After several invasions, the northern border wall was in tatters and was not strong enough to withstand the Manchu attack. And Li Zicheng didn't plan to resist at the side wall at all. He chose to let the Manchus enter the pass, relying on the strong Beijing city wall, and wiped out the Manchus under the city of Beijing.

Of course, relying only on the 70,000 main forces of the Shun army may not be able to destroy the Manchu Eight Banners in one battle, so Li Zicheng ordered Wu Sangui to lead his subordinate Guanning army to Beijing, because he knew that the Guanning Iron Cavalry was the most effective unit in the surrendered Ming army.

According to the strategy of the Shun army, there should be no problem in repelling the invasion of the Manchus, and the main force of the Shun army and the Guanning army cooperate to defeat the attack of the Manchus, even if the Manchus pour the country to attack, after all, even if the Manchus are mobilized, there will be at most 100,000 troops.

It's a pity, although the plan is good, I didn't expect Wu Sangui to rebel, and in turn captured Shanhaiguan, and turned around and surrendered to the Manchu Dynasty!

"After you and the two of you arrive at Shanhaiguan, when you reorganize the customs defense and prepare for the Manchurian attack, rest assured, if the Manchu Tartars really attack from Shanhaiguan, I will send reinforcements to reinforce them. As long as the two of you can defend Shanhaiguan, it will be a great achievement! Li Zicheng instructed.

"I will live up to Your Majesty's trust." Chen Yue and Tang Tong agreed in unison.

"By the way, Chen Yue, is Tianjin Wei your subordinate stationed? I will send someone to recover Tianjin, and you write a letter ordering your men to surrender, and there will be no other misunderstandings. Li Zicheng suddenly said to Chen Yue.

"Before the minister came to Beijing, he left more than 1,000 soldiers in Tianjin to defend, led by Yang Zhengping, the minister's general, and the minister went back to write a letter, ordering him to surrender to His Majesty." Chen Yue hurriedly said.

Li Zicheng nodded, very satisfied, "You two are good at doing things for me, and he will no longer be a marquis!" After speaking, he waved his hand and signaled that the two could retreat.

"Your Majesty, the minister has a word, I don't know whether to say it or not." Chen Yue hesitated for a moment and said to Li Zicheng.

"Oh? What do you have to say? Li became a self-enlightened man.

"I heard that His Majesty ordered the recovery of stolen goods and salaries, and I dare not question the state policy ministers of Dashun, but there is one person who hopes that Your Majesty can let it go." Chen Yue said.

"Oh?" Li Zicheng looked at Chen Yue with a smile, "I heard that you have a very bad relationship with the civil officials and nobles of the former Ming Dynasty, what's the matter, do you want to intercede for them?" ”

"The minister doesn't dare, the person the minister said is neither a noble nor a civil official, but Wu Xiang, the father of Wu Sangui, the general soldier of Ningyuan," Chen Yue said, "I heard that Your Majesty is going to recruit Wu Sangui, in order to stabilize his heart, I hope Your Majesty can let Wu Xiang go, so as not to repeat Wu Sangui." ”

In fact, as far as Chen Yue's own interests are concerned, it is very beneficial for Chen Yue for the Shun army to raid the Wu family and torture Wu Xiang, only in this way will Wu Sangui be afraid and dare not surrender to Dashun, so that it is possible to persuade Wu Sangui to return to the Ming Dynasty.

But in Chen Yue's heart, he was not very sure whether he could convince Wu Sangui, after all, the Guanning army was not as simple as only 30,000 or 40,000 troops, but also hundreds of thousands of family members. It was too difficult to retake Beijing by relying on the Guanning army, not to mention the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the best outcome was to persuade Wu Sangui to lead his troops back to the south. But thirty or forty thousand people can follow Chongzhen back to the south, what about hundreds of thousands of family members? How could those Guan Ningjun give up their relatives?

Therefore, for Wu Sangui, returning to the Ming Dynasty is really the worst choice, on the contrary, it is better to take refuge in the Manchu Qing than to follow Chongzhen to the south. And instead of letting Wu Sangui defect to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, it is better to let him follow Dashun, so that the Shun army and the Guanning army will have the strength to compete with the Manchu Eight Banners. And the Manchu Qing Dynasty also did not want to quickly defeat Dashun to occupy Beijing, so that the Southern Ming Dynasty also had a chance to breathe, for the entire Ming Dynasty, this choice was the best!

Listening to Chen Yue's words, Li Zicheng pondered for a while and nodded.

"You're right, General Liu Zongmin has always been responsible for recovering stolen goods, and I haven't thought about it so much. I then gave an order and ordered Liu Zongmin to release Wu Xiang. Li became a self-enlightened man.

......

In the torture room of the prison of the Criminal Department, two poor men were pulling a pair of splints, and the ten fingers of the prisoners were caught in blood, and they let out terrible screams, and after a while, the screams stopped abruptly, and they were already unconscious.

"Wake him up with water!" Luo Yang commanded coldly.

A messenger carried a bucket of cold water and poured it on the prisoner's body. Stirred by the cold water, the prisoner woke up with a groan.

"Wu Xiang, you must also know what Luo did before, hurry up and honestly hand over the family's property, otherwise Jinyiwei's eighteen punishments will be used on you the same as Lao Tzu." Luo Yang said coldly.

"Lord Luo, we still had some friendships before, please let me go, my family's money has been handed over." Wu Xiang raised his head and pleaded bitterly.

"Hmph, there are only 20,000 taels of silver, how can your Wu family have such a small amount of money!" Luo Yangxing snorted coldly, waved his hand and ordered to continue the torture.

"Stop!" With a loud shout, Luo Yangxing looked up and saw Li Wen, the personal guard general beside Liu Zongmin, walking in.

"By Your Majesty's holy decree, stop the torture of Wu Xiang. Send him home and no longer pursue the stolen goods. Li Wen walked into the torture room, glanced at Luo Yangxing contemptuously, and ordered.

"General Li, why do you want to let Wu Xiang go?" Luo Yangxing accompanied the smiling face, quietly handed over a piece of silver, and asked carefully.

"I heard that it was a man named Chen Yue who pleaded with His Majesty, and the general asked me to come over to give an order." Pinching the hard silver ingot in his sleeve, Li Wen's face softened.

The two soldiers who followed Li Wen set up Wu Xiang and took him out, and Li Wen nodded slightly and walked out.

"Chen Yue!" Luo Yangxing's face quickly turned cold, and he gritted his teeth and said hatefully.

Leaving the torture room and returning to his room, Luo Yangxing thought for a while, and ordered someone to call a former subordinate. In order to facilitate the recovery of stolen goods, Luo Yangxing told Liu Zongmin and incorporated many of the former Jinyi Wei's subordinates.

"How's that going on with what I asked you to check?" Luo Yangxing asked coldly.

"Lord Hui, my subordinates have found out that Chen Yue has indeed entered the palace, but I don't know what he is doing in there." Subordinates.

"I don't know if I'm going to check it? Rubbish! Luo Yang shouted angrily.

"But my lord, we are not Jinyiwei now, I heard that Chen Yue has a backstage in the Shun army, it is not worth offending him!" The subordinate said aggrievedly.

"Hmph, what do you know? Chen Yue's entry into the palace must be strange, if he can find out and tell General Liu, it will definitely be a great achievement. If we want to gain a foothold in Dashun, how can we do it without making meritorious contributions. In this way, aren't there a lot of eunuchs and palace maids who escaped from the palace, you quietly ask them, you must ask Chen Yue what he is doing in the palace? Luo Yang commanded.