"You are all people who have followed Zhang Xianzhong for many years, why don't you surrender without a fight?"

Facing the three people who surrendered, Cao Bianjiao was also very curious, and led the army into the mansion, and directly saw the three people kneeling at the door waiting for surrender, which was really disappointed.

"Although we have followed Zhang Xianzhong for many years, it is just forced by the harsh government, which is really helpless, but since Zhang Xianzhong entered Shu, it is easy to kill and brutal, we are also people, killing people is for survival, not for fun, and I am not willing to go down with such a brutal butcher, so I am willing to return to the imperial court, please General Cao be merciful, even if I want to kill me, I hope to send me back to my hometown for burial after death!"

"Who said that I was going to kill you, you abandoned the darkness and turned to the light, it is really a righteous act, I am too late to be happy, how can I deal with you, even if it is to be disposed of, it is a reward, not a punishment, Zhang Junyong, I will show you as a general, Guo Shangyi, Song Guan, you two are guerrilla generals, stay under my account in the future, serve the court, and do not waste your skills."

"Thank you, General Cao!" The three of them also hurriedly thanked them.

After Cao Bianjiao listened to them, he naturally wouldn't punish them, keeping them was an example, killing them, who would surrender under Zhang Xianzhong's account in the future, Cao Bianjiao would naturally not be so stupid.

"How many men do you have?" Cao Bianjiao continued to ask.

"There are a total of 30,000 people in the Mabu Water Army, and there are 70,000 or 80,000 accompanying family members!" Zhang Junyong replied.

"Good! Leaving 20,000 young and strong, the rest all migrated to Hubei, and were given acres of land to cultivate, and the accompanying families were also taken away, and the families of the soldiers were placed in Kuizhou......"

Cao Bianjiao is the official army he leads, not a homeless person, and it is impossible for them to march with their families, so it is reasonable to separate, the families to farm, and the soldiers to fight, and each to perform its own duties.

With the cooperation of Zhang Junyong and others, Cao Bianjiao immediately led the army to the north and raided Shunqing Mansion, and Liu Jinzhong, the defender of Shunqing Mansion, was defeated and fled, and Cao Bianjiao immediately occupied Shunqing Mansion, occupied the favorable terrain of Badong, rested his troops and horses, collected the Sichuan people, and Xu Tu fought again.

At the beginning of the new year of Cao Bianjiao, when Cao Bianjiao was busy recovering the land of Bashu, Chen Hongfan, the governor of Zuodu, and Ma Shaoyu, the secretary of the Taifu Temple, who were sent to the Qing court as envoys, were also all the way to Beijing, and finally arrived in Beijing on the sixth day of the first month of the first month.

Ganglin, a scholar from the inner courtyard of the Qing regime, asked why the south did not send troops to fight the thieves and threatened with force, saying that the Qing Dynasty was ready to go south to quell the chaos, except for the "imperial book", the rest of the gold, silver, and silk coefficients were accepted. Ganglin also read out the "three deadly sins" of the Nanjing regime on the spot: not rescuing the first emperor, establishing the emperor without authorization, and supporting troops and abusing the people in various towns. Ganglin said: The Qing army will soon hold high the banner of righteousness, raise troops to the south, and crusade against disloyal and unfilial ministers for Emperor Chongzhen and the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty!

On the 17th of this month, the southern delegation left Beijing, ending its humiliating trip to the north for peace talks. Soon, under the persuasion of Feng Quan, Dolgon, the auxiliary political king of the Qing Dynasty, suddenly woke up and found that the tiger should not be released to return to the mountain, Ma Shaoyu and others traveled to Cangzhou, and were detained back to Beijing and imprisoned by the Qing army who chased up.

At the beginning, Li Zicheng was defeated all the way, and the Qing army successfully entered the Forbidden City. What's next? Disagreements arose among the Manchu aristocracy, with the "conservative" aristocracy believing that it was already a big advantage to take Beijing, and that they should take it as soon as they saw it. Azig, who was the leader, suggested that a prince should be left in Beijing, and the main force of the Qing army would still return to Guanwai. Dolgon was no longer satisfied with Beijing as the "southern gate" of the Qing Dynasty, but wanted to use it as an opportunity to seek further development in the Central Plains. In order to persuade Azig and others, the helpless Dolgon even moved out of Huang Taiji's last words - "If you get Beijing, move to the capital immediately in order to make progress."

At the time of the battle with the Dashun army, Dolgon had always been very worried that the Qing army would launch a full-scale decisive battle with the Dashun army in the Yellow River Valley, and whether the Nanjing regime would go north and stage a good show of "praying mantis catching cicadas, and yellow finches behind"? Cao Bianjiao had already taught them a cruel lesson before, but Dolgon immediately got the news that Cao Bianjiao was impeached and exiled to a remote mountainous area, which made Dolgon see the stupidity and weakness of the Southern Ming court.

During the period from the lunar month to the first lunar month, the ministers wrote to Dolgon, suggesting that the Qing army immediately move south, drink the Yangtze River, and pacify the world in one fell swoop. The Nanjing regime must not be allowed to seize the opportunity and form a situation of confrontation between the north and the south; if it does not take the rich land of the southeast, it will be extremely difficult to support the survival of a regime based on the economic level of the north alone.

Before grasping the pulse of the Southern Ming, Dolgon also began to carry out a tentative attack, so that Haoge stationed in Texas sent troops to attack Shandong, Shandong general Qiu Lei was defeated in Yucheng, 20,000 soldiers and horses were defeated in a battle, Shandong governor Wang Xie faced the Manchu army pressure, fled without a fight, abandoned Jinan, fled to Yanzhou, Jinan garrison Yang Wei died in battle, but ten days, the Qing army immediately occupied Jinan, Qingzhou, Dongchang and other places.

The inability of the Hongguang regime made Dolgon very happy, since Nanjing was a group of straw bales, the Qing army no longer had to worry about the future. On the 28th day of the first lunar month, Dolgon, who had already figured out his cards, moved the book to Shi Kefa, as if he regarded himself as orthodox, and urged the south to surrender immediately and unconditionally.

After Lu Jiude, the eunuch of Nanjing, the master of ceremonies, gained power, he "drafted" in Nanjing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou, and openly sent people to search the whole city, "visiting ladies door to door, and those who are hidden in the rich officials' families sit together." Wherever there is a woman, they all paste it with yellow paper, grab it and leave, "the neighborhood is silent, dare not criticize it", the internal official Tian Cheng and others are waiting for the opportunity to take advantage of the robbery, which makes the people panic and complain.

In addition to Shi Kefa, Chen Zilong and a very small number of honest officials in the Manchu Dynasty, the vast majority of them were also rapidly corrupted, Shi Kefa was transferred to Yangzhou to command the army, out of the town to guard Huai'an, Yangzhou, Chen Zilong was transferred to Ningbo to form a water division, Ma Shiying bribed inside and outside, got to hold great power, made a fortune, in addition to accepting bribes from subordinates, Ma Shiying also marked the price of official positions at all levels, and openly sold official beards, so that the people quickly spread a folk song: "Chinese books are everywhere, all governors are all over the streets, there are many prisons and disciplines like sheep, and the staff is as cheap as a dog." Shade the dust of a thousand years, pull the tribute to the head, sweep away the money in the south of the Yangtze River, and fill the Majiakou. ”

Zhang Zhengchen was also worried about the current situation, and bluntly said in Shangshu: "Today's Jiangzuo situation, it is more difficult to regard Jin and Song as more difficult, and the people involved vent and steal their breath and entertain themselves." Wenchen was busy making money, and the military generals were busy fighting privately, and everywhere was a gloomy and smoky miasma. It is necessary to quickly send troops to the north and make concerted efforts with the gentry of Shandong, Henan, and Hebei to support each other. Zhang Zhengchen's righteous words were not only not adopted, but were hated by Ma Shiying and other real power factions, and he was changed from a speech official to Dali Temple, "taking away his words", Zhang Zhengchen resigned angrily.

After the defeat in Shanxi, Li Zicheng reversed the decline of Dashun in Shanxi and Henan, and began to counterattack Huaiqing in Henan on November 20, Lianke Jiyuan and Mengxian, defeated the Qing army in Baixiang Town, and beheaded the Qing Governor Jin Yuhe and the deputy general Chang Ding and the general Chen Guocai, etc., and attacked Qinyang by victory. When Dolgon heard the news, he urgently ordered the Prince of Yu Duoduo to lead the army to besiege Qingzhi, and then cross the Yellow River from Henan, and form a north-south attack with the British Prince Azig to attack Dashun. Li Zicheng personally led the elite troops such as Liu Zongmin and Liu Fangliang to the north, preparing for a decisive battle with the Qing army of the Azig Department in northern Shaanxi. On the fifteenth day of the first month, the Duoduo troops entered Shaanzhou, defeated the Dashun garrison at the border of Lingbao County, and then moved west to Tongguan. On the 28th day of the first month, Duoduo defeated the Dashun army at Tongguan, and Li Zicheng led the main force to withdraw to Xi'an overnight. Tongguan was occupied by the Qing army, and the entrance to Shaanxi was opened. After the Qing army of the Azig division entered northern Shaanxi, they besieged Li Guo and Gao Yigong's Dashun army who were guarding Yulin and Yan'an with a part of their troops, and led their troops south to Xi'an.

At this time, Cao Bianjiao was transferred from the Central Plains and was belittled, missed the opportunity, Dashun was defeated again and again, and was unable to reverse the decline. Nanming is also in crisis.