Because they were not familiar with the terrain, the light cavalry did not set off to chase Li Zicheng until dawn, but they were one step short and failed to catch up with Li Zicheng, and saw Li Zicheng enter Zhuozhou City. When the main force of the model army gradually approached Zhuozhou City, Li Zicheng did not stop after entering the city, and directly began to organize a retreat. About an hour later, the light cavalry noticed that smoke had risen from the city of Zhuozhou, and it was obvious that Li Zicheng was already burning the treasury.

At the same time, the gates of Zhuozhou City were also opened, and the Shun troops in the city began to withdraw in an orderly manner, but Li Zicheng's banner had not yet appeared. After about half an hour, Li Zicheng's banner went out of the city gate.

Li Zicheng came out so late, not to maintain morale or anything, but to ensure that the things in the warehouse could be burned clean. Li Zicheng knew that if he didn't stay there, as soon as he left, someone would come to put out the fire: the people in the city would try to see if they could snatch something out of the burned treasury, and the Ming cavalry who had already rushed outside the city, although they had been chasing for most of the day, the horses were close to the limit, and most of them had no combat effectiveness, but if the Shun army was gone, they could still go into the city to fight the fire. If they didn't wait for the things to burn through, let these Ming troops grab enough supplies, they would be able to keep following them and defeat them again in the pursuit. So, he had to stay there with his troops and watch as the food and other supplies were burned before he came out.

At this time, it was already afternoon, and it wouldn't be long before it was getting dark, but Li Zicheng didn't dare to stay in Zhuozhou for one more night, so he still led the army to the west. And the model army chased all the way, especially the war horses of their cavalry, which were actually close to the limit. Therefore, the light cavalry did not continue to pursue the Shun army, but entered the city after the Shun army left, and began to reorganize the order in Zhuozhou City.

When it was almost dark, the main force of the model army entered Zhuozhou, and at this time the fire in the city had been extinguished, but there was nothing of value left in the treasury. The supplies carried by the model army were not enough, so Zheng Sen decided to spend the whole army in the city for two days before returning to Beijing.

Early the next morning, Zheng Sen received two letters from Jinghai on a fast horse, the first of which was written by King Fu of the Prison State. In the letter, King Fu praised Zheng Sen for successively defeating Jianyu and Liukou, and said that after learning that Zheng Sen had recovered Beijing, he very much hoped to enter Beijing as soon as possible to pay homage to the martyred Emperor Chongzhen, and to comfort the ministers who had been martyred, and discuss together how to exterminate the Liukou and rejuvenate the Ming Dynasty.

The second letter was written by Wu Sangui, in which he said that the Qing army had retreated from Shanhaiguan, and he estimated that it was unlikely that Huang Taiji would go south again in a short time, so he planned to personally lead a force south, make peace with Zheng Sen, continue the pursuit, and destroy Li Zicheng.

Zheng Sen read the letter and smiled slightly, he knew that seeing that the model army had won one after another and recaptured the Jingshi, King Fu couldn't help but want to ascend the throne and be the emperor. And Wu Sangui is anxious to share some credit, at least, he also has to implement the merit of supporting.

Zheng Sen thought about it, and asked Liu De to draft a reply letter for the two of them. In a letter to King Fu, he first reported the results of the battle with Li Zixuan, and then said that because of the continuous fighting, the exhaustion of the army, and the difficulty of supplying military supplies, he had to temporarily shift the army. In addition, he cautiously believed that although the Liukou had been expelled from the Jingshi, the road was still not very peaceful. Therefore, he advised His Royal Highness King Fu to be calm and wait a few more days. He had already written to Wu Sangui, the commander-in-chief of Shanhaiguan, asking him to send an army to Jinghai to escort His Royal Highness King Fu into Beijing.

In the letter to Wu Sangui, he also said that his army needed to rest and recuperate, and it was difficult to pursue Li Zicheng with Wu Sangui, but Li Zicheng had suffered heavy losses in previous battles, and he should indeed continue to pursue him, and should not give him a chance to gain a foothold. So if Wu Sangui was interested, he could transfer some grain and grass to him, and suggested that he bring the generals who were still guilty of meritorious service in the capital to pursue Li Zicheng together. In addition, he also asked Wu Sangui to send a partial division to Jinghai to escort King Fu into Beijing and ascend the throne together with Jinghai's defenders.

Zheng Sen estimated that King Fu would definitely accept his advice, although he was clearly anxious to ascend the throne. He had already sent someone to deliver a letter to Qian Qianyi, asking him to come over immediately. And he also prepared a fast boat for Qian Qianyi, calculating the itinerary, he should be able to reach Jinghai in just two days. After taking Beijing, he wrote a letter to Ma Shiying through carrier pigeons, informing Ma Shiying that the Beijing division had been recovered, and asked Ma Shiying to immediately go north along the canal to Beijing. Zheng Sen estimated that after Ma Shiying got the news, he would definitely rush to Beijing non-stop, and should be able to reach Beijing before King Fu entered Beijing. In this way, when King Fu ascends the throne, his series of ministers will be ready.

After the letter carrier pigeon was sent back to Jinghai, (the carrier pigeon could only send the letter to a fixed location, so the model army could use the carrier pigeon to transmit the news back to Jinghai, but Jinghai could not use the carrier pigeon to send a letter to the model army fighting outside, and their letter to Zheng Sen could only be transmitted by horses.) The soldiers were given another day of rest, during which time Zheng Sen summoned Zhu Hongjian, who had presided over the last night raid, and praised him. And in front of the soldiers of the whole army, he personally hung a gold assault medal on his chest and hung it on several other medals.

"Captain Zhu Hongjian!" Zheng Sen said.

"Here!" Zhu Hongjian replied excitedly, he felt that the dream of becoming a famous general like Su Lie was getting closer and closer to him.

Zheng Sen looked into his eyes and said loudly: "Captain Zhu led the reconnaissance company directly under the First Division, and in the previous battle, he showed heroism and decisiveness, winning more with less, and crushing the enemy's main force in one fell swoop. This Gold Assault Medal is hereby awarded as a token of encouragement! ”

There are three main categories of medals for the Model Army: the Order of Merit for Logistics Personnel, the Assault Medal for soldiers and commanders, and the Medal for Valor for the wounded. The medals for brass are all made of brass, and the other two medals are divided into three grades: bronze, silver, and gold, depending on the amount of merit. The gold medal is of extremely high standard and is rarely awarded, and the gold assault medal is currently only awarded by the old Jack of the Navy for his outstanding contribution to the navy, and the gold meritorious service medal is still vacant. As a company commander, Zhu Hongjian was the first person in the army to receive the Gold Assault Medal, which made even those regiment commanders feel red. Because this medal not only represents honor, but also represents 200 acres of high-quality watered land in Taiwan or Luzon, as well as a pension of 200 silver dollars per year.

The day after the award ceremony, the model army left Zhuozhou and began to return to Beijing.